Things have been so busy around here! We hosted playgroup at our house (well, my parents' house) today and it was a blast. I decided to throw a cookie decorating party because I will take any excuse to throw a party! Imagine 5 four year olds, 2 one year olds and a 7 month old decorating cookies with every kind of sprinkle under the sun. It was a blast, but sadly I didn't get a single picture.

I have been trying to finish up my Christmas shopping, get all my Christmas cards out, and get ready for Garett's office party all at the same time. I just don't feel like I am getting much done because I am not finishing anything! I think I have about half my cards addressed, about half my shopping done and only a dress to wear to the party. All my dress shoes are packed up, so tomorrow I go shoe shopping with the kids. Fun.

Emma is growing up before my eyes. When did my baby girl become a little girl? She is talking more and more now, saying Mama (ALLLLLLL the time), Dada, Buba, Bath, Moon and wow. She can also tell us how an elephant, dog, and cow sound. She has such a strong personality that it literally cracks me up daily. She is the most head strong child I have ever met in my life, but I LOVE that about her. Of course, ask me if I still love that about her when she is a teenager.

It is actually snowing in Houston! Can you believe it? What next? The Saints winning the Super Bowl? ;)

I took the kids out for a few minutes. I am ashamed to say that neither of the kids has a heavy coat yet--I mean, we usually don't need one--so we didn't stay out too long. They both loved it, but little E was so not ready to come in!



Then later, our friend Lisa came over with her daughter. They stayed for a bit and then played in the snow. N and I even made a tiny baby snow man!




Plus, rumor has it, Garett's office closes early today!

What a great snow day!

Emma isn't much of a sleeper. In fact, she sleeps a lot less than Nathan did at this age and that is saying A LOT since he didn't sleep much either. So, it is hard to find that special Nathan and Mommy time. When she does take those little naps, N and I have so much fun together. Don't get me wrong, we have tons of fun with Emma, too, but they both need their alone time with me.

Anyway, during today's half hour nap, we went outside in the cold and took a few pictures. When did my baby turn into such a little man????

I love this boy so much.

I haven't blogged in almost a full month! Things have just been so hectic around here. I think the most major thing is that my friend Lisa and I decided to open up a photography business together. We have been swamped taking Christmas pictures and I am finally coming up for air to breathe! It has been fun, though. I have two more sessions this weekend and then I am done until after Christmas! We're only taking pictures on the weekends, though, since she works and I am with the kids during the week.

Anyway, I am sure that people have missed pics of the kids. They have gotten so big so fast! We have been battling some sort of virus this week and last. Luckily, the kids are almost better, now it has moved on to Garett and me. Ugh!



Our house is looking good! The outside is done except for the brick and I am hoping that they sheetrock it this week. I really need to take a pic of it!

What do you want to do when you grow up?
Be a teacher because I want to teach all the kids to recognize.

If you could to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Target or at the park. I want at the park, yeah, at the park.

What is your favorite girl's name?
Emma Grace.

What do you think is more important? Being pretty or being really smart?
Being really smart because I am smart!

Wow! I am so, so late on this. So late, in fact, that we just had Emma's first birthday party this past weekend. I felt that I should post about N's party first, though, SINCE IT WAS TWO MONTHS AGO!

I love to throw a party. I love the planning, the preparing and the fun that goes along with it. It is something that consumes me. Nathan loves the zoo, we were in the middle of a move back to Houston, so I figured we would have his 3rd birthday at the zoo! We did a whole zoo/safari theme and it was a blast! We weren't allowed to decorate the walls, which was a bummer, but oh well.

Here are some pictures from his party. First up is his cake--loved it and it was soooo yummy! We have a tradition now where the same lady, Misty, makes all the cakes for the kids' birthdays and other special parties.

We also did a candy buffet. His party started at 10 in the morning, so we didn't serve lunch. Instead, we had the candy buffet, the cake, and a fruit tray.

For the favors, I filled little take out boxes with different goodies for the kids--there was zoo bubble gum, a blower thingy, chapstick for the girls, a little zoo animal parachute, and animal cookies.

We had a few babies at the party, too. SO, I filled zoo sippy cups full of Crunchies. Emma is in love with them!

I had a little photo op for the kids, but it didn't get much use. They mainly stayed by the candy buffet. ;)


We also had carousel tickets for the kids. I think N rode the carousel half a dozen times. He loved it.


The pavilion was at the Children's section of the zoo, so after the party, we spent some time there. They have a playground, a petting zoo, and a little show.


The show was actually pretty funny. We walked in on the end and the guy was taking kid volunteers from the audience. Well, I guess N just figured that kids could walk up there. So, next thing I know, my baby is walking up on stage. I am saying, "Nathan, Nathan! Come back here." But my shy little boy just kept walking. They guy was a good sport about it once he found out it was N's birthday and kept him upon stage. N had to stick his hand in a box and guess what was in it. He guessed right--a turtle!

I found this site that gives you five new questions a week to ask your little one. I thought it was pretty cool and am going to start doing this with N. Anyway, number 4 breaks my heart because he started school last week and I actually thought he liked it. :(

1. What is soap made out of?
What? Bubbles. Bubbles mommy, bubbles!

2. Why does batman wear a cape if he can't fly?
He can fly!

3. What is the hardest thing in the world to do?
Clean up.

4. What is something that you wish you didn't have to do?
Go to school. I really just want to stay at home.

5. If you had a blog, what would you name it?
A blog? Like what's a blog?

It has been so nice here lately! We have been trying to spend as much time as possible outside or doing things, but unfortunately that has gotten all four of us sick. It is no fun being sick while everyone else in the family is sick. All you want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep, but that is the last thing you can do with sick kiddos. To top it off, since E is still nursing, I can't take anything. This shall pass.

Here are some pictures pre getting sick. Nathan is such a little ham. Here he is riding on Emma's little ride on toy. He loves it. I think that each one of them just loves what the other one is playing. It is so much fun to see them interact, but they are really starting to get into that brother/sister fighting mode. Ay! I didn't know that would happen so fast.

Not only is little E walking everywhere, but she is dancing too! She is such a hoot. She presses the little button on her Kai Lan riding toy, throws her arms up in the air, squats those little legs down, bounces and then claps. It seriously cracks me up everytime! Here are a few of the "Emma Dance".


Our house is coming along nicely. We had a little snafu that caused us to put a hold on building. After a week, it is now fixed. We decided to flip the floorplan of the house so that the backporch is over looking the yard. Our backyard is a little odd shaped because it is a cul de sac lot. The way they had it, the back porch was facing the closest corner of the yard. We didn't like that at all. We want to put a pool in there one day and want to be able to see the entire yard from the porch and living room. Anyway, it is fixed now. They have the form layed out and will be doing the pipes and putting down the sand this week. It is so much fun to drive by and see it everyday.

My little Morning Glory is 11 months old and once again, I cannot believe it! Where on earth did 11 months go??!!!

She has been so busy this month! The major new thing she is doing is WALKING! She is all over the place! I really wasn't expecting an early walker, but I guess she had good motivation. She wants nothing more than to do whatever her big brother is doing and the fact that he can get around faster than her was really bugging her. It is so, so cute to watch her try to chase him or try to run from him when she secretly snuck one of his toys. And yes, she does run. Anyway, I love her little toddle.


We still only have two teeth, but she thinks that she can eat anything. She wants nothing to do with babyfood anymore, unless it is crunchies! One of her favorite things to eat is chicken and boy does she gobble that up!

She is saying mama and dada right now, but I swear that she said Rachel the other day, too. She does hold little conversations, you just can't tell what she is saying yet! She is great at pointing to let us know what she wants.

I love you baby girl! One more month until you turn 1 year old!

Well technically we sold it a while ago. We closed at the end of August, but everything happened so fast. From the day that we accepted the offer, to the day that we closed and had to be out of the house, we had 11 days--talk about a whirlwind!

We moved in with my parents while we tried to decide where to buy and what to do. After looking in Cinco Ranch for a while, we decided that we liked it there, but that we didn't like any of the used houses that were for sale. So, we decided to build. I am in love with the house that we have chosen and can't wait to actually live in it! We just signed all the papers on Friday and we have already driven by our lot at least 3 or 4 times. We even met some of our neighbors!
We were able to pick our our brick and trim color on Saturday and go to the design center within the next 14 days to pick out the rest of our things. We are over the moon excited!

My poor blog has been neglected lately. So much has been going on, and I will fill you in on everything later. This post is dedicated to my little 10 month old Morning Glory.

Before I start her 10 month post, I never posted her 9 month pictures! So, here it is! THis is our last Lufkin picture, too!



It just seems like every single day my baby's personality is getting bigger and bigger. She is such a stubborn little girl that it makes me laugh and wonder what it is going to be like when she is 16. We are going to have our hands full, there is no doubt about that!

This month, Emma, you learned how to clap. You adore it when everyone claps for you. If, for some reason, we miss something that you think deems a round of applause, you promptly look around at all of us with the biggest grin on your face and just clap your little heart out until we all join in. I LOVE it!

Speaking of little grin, you have the sweetest one ever! You wrinkle up your little nose and just put everything you have into that smile. Your first two teeth came in this week, so it is no longer a toothless grin, but it is still just as cute.


You are cruising like crazy around everything and will be walking really soon. You are a total handful, but I love chasing and following you around. You go right where you know you are not supposed to go, then turn to me and smile, then continue on to the forbidden thing. I don't know how many times I have pulled you from the stairs!

You learned how to play peek a boo this month and love putting anything you can grab in front of your face to play. You squeeze your little eyes shut as hard as you can and then open them and peek around whatever you have in front of you.

You and Nathan are starting to whole sibling rivalry thing already. For some reason, you only want to play with his things and he is having a hard time sharing his "special" toys. The other day, you were playing with one of his toys and he grabbed it for you. Before anyone could make him give it back to you, you crawled after him with some sort of battle cry and tackled him down to the ground! You grabbed that toy back and crawled away. I think that Nathan was the most surprised out of all of us!

I love you, my spunky little girl! You and N are the best things that have ever happened to us and I couldn't be more thankful that you are a part of our family!

I am probably the most over protective mother you will ever find. I didn't leave Nathan with anyone until after he was a year old--not even once. I am super careful with everything he does. I sanatize his hands constantly. He knows what germs are and now asks to wash his hands after we leave every playground, inside and out.

None of that over protectiveness saved us from what happened on Saturday. My poor baby boy fell off of the swing at the playground. He flew straight in the air at the highest point and then fell right on the ground. He screamed and cried. I thought he was fine afterwards, though because he stopped crying and things went back to normal. Sunday he didn't complain at all. Monday, it was a different story. He slipped and fell and landed on his arm again. Again, he cried and cried and just layed in my lap for a long time. After a while, daddy came home and Nathan ran to give him a highfive. It hurt my poor baby and he cried again. I knew right then that something was wrong.

I took him to the doctor today and they sent us to an orthopedic specialist. His little arm is broken. My baby has a broken arm. I feel like the most horrible parent ever.

The doctor asked him what color cast he wanted. He promptly answered pink. I told him that he needed to pick another color because daddy wouldn't be too thrilled with a pink cast. He chose manly blue. I love that little man.

Well, there are no pictures today. I lent Jason one of my cameras and the cord that transfers the pictures to the computer for his trip to Alaska. So, I won't have that back until Sunday. We took Ems' pictures today, though! Cute!

Wow! What a month for my little Morning Glory! It has been full of firsts. Two weeks ago, while we were in Galveston, Emma crawled for the first time on the bed. She has taken off since and can crawl pretty much anywhere she wants, and fast! She sets her sites on something and she will not give up until she has it. I think the most wanted thing by her are Nathan's Crocs. Yuck!

That same week, she began to be able to sit up all by herself! She rolls over on her belly and then pushes herself up. It is so cute to watch, but sooooo hard to change a diaper now. I cannot keep her laying down for very long at all!

She is also cruising around on things and can stand up with just one hand holding onto something. She thinks she is pretty hot stuff, and I think so too! Of course, now our coffee table has to be cleared off of everything. Nathan often leaves his snack or drink on it and she has been known to get into those.

I am still breastfeeding her, but she is now a babyfood champ! She loves sweet potatoes and applesauce the best. I started giving her Puffs and Crunchies this month, too. She LOVES them. It is so fun to watch her try to feed herself. Most of it gets lots in her little hand.

She had her 9 month checkup yesterday. She weighed 17 pounds, 13.5 ounces and is 29 and 1/4 inches long. That puts her in the 25th-50th % in weight and off the charts in height. So, may baby girl is growing great! Emma is wearing 6-9 month clothes right now, but can also fit into the 9-12 month clothes as well.

I think the most exciting thing is that she said MaMa! She says mama when she is crying and really wants me. She really only likes for me to hold her right now and that is just fine with me! She has also said dada and loves to just say dadadadadadada over and over. Now we are working on buba for Nathan!

My little Emma, I love you so much. You fit right into our family and I cannot even imagine life without you. You are my little pumpkin, my Morning Glory, my baby girl and I love you with all my heart.

Last night, N wanted to play Cars in Emma's room. So, I brought in the piano for little E to play with while Nathan and I played Lightening McQueen. I look over, and I see that she is trying to pull herself up. I watch, and lo and behold, she does it! All the way up! We were all so proud of her, and so was she! I called Garett in right away and ran to grab my camera of course!

I love how you can see how proud they are in this picture--notice N's little hands on his hips. He does that all the time now. LOVE it!


Mobilization is not far! N had better watch out!

1. We are leaving for Galveston tomorrow morning! I can't wait to just get away from all the stress of trying to sell our house. We're going with my parents and sister through the 4th. We are really looking forward to it and have a lot planned. Rach actually made up a gameplan for us on what we are going to be doing each day. It should be lots of fun.

2. Ugh,I could strangle the people who came to look at our house yesterday. I have been sick since Friday night. My fever got up to 103.4 on Saturday and I have just felt miserable. Since N was sick on Thursday, my house has been neglected. So, we get a call saying that these people want to see our house in the next hour. I explain that we have been sick and I needed a bit more time to get it show ready. They say that they don't want to catch what we have and that they would just drive by to see if they even want to come in. Ten minutes later, we get a call saying yes, they want to see it. So, while running a 101 fever, Garett and I bust our boohinds to get the house clean. They came, they went. Well, come to find out, the LOVED the house, LOVED the neighborhood, but were really looking for something no more than 2000 sq ft since they are a retired couple.

WHAT???!!!! They KNEW it was bigger than that! Just driving through the neighborhood and looking at it you can tell it is bigger, not to mention the MLS PAPER SAYS SO! I swear, if they were in front of me when my realtor said that, my sick self would have strangled them.

3. Garett had an interview with a firm on Thursday. If you are the praying type, please pray that they hire him.

4. Thanks Aunt Anne for the cute outfit! She finally fits into it!


5. Will it please rain??? It teased us today, but literally rained for like 2 minutes, if that. I wouldn't even call that sprinkle rain.

6. Nathan is so cute. He looks at his daddy and says and does "Hook 'em, Horns." Then, he will turn to me and say and do "Gig 'Em Aggies , Mommy," with such pity in his eyes. He doesn't want to leave me out, but you can totally tell which one he prefers. I have lost him to the dark side. Ah, well.

7. My dad and the kids. I love N's look in this picture. I have no idea what he is doing, but he is pretty serious about it. He's wearing his light up Hulk towel. Have I mentioned that he loves superheroes???


8. I have forgetten how good Nilla Wafer are. Yummy. Same goes for Cherry Limeades. We have been getting Cherry Limeades every day after 'nastics. Nathan love the cherries and steals mine everytime!

9. Jon and Kate Plus 8 made me cry last week. Ugh, I just feel so bad for Kate and the kids. Jon is such a tool and needs to et over this little mid life crisis that he is going through. I mean come on--the hair plugs and the earrings look a little ridiculous.

10. I need help with our wood floors. I just can't seem to get them gleamingly clean. How do you clean yours? I hae tried Orange Glo, Method Wood Floor Cleaner, just plain water, the Swiffer. Help!

My Precious, Happy Baby,

Before you were born, I used to wonder how I could ever love someone like I love Nathan. I panicked over the fact that you would always feel second and I worried that Nathan would resent you and me for the attention that I gave you. My fears couldn't have been more wrong. I learned from the second I saw you, from the moment that I held you that I loved you with all my heart. It truly is possible to love each and every child with every ounce of your being. I also learned that very day that Nathan loved and adored his baby sissy just as much as daddy and me.

It has been a very fast 8 months. All day long, I couldn't help but think back to the day that you were born. You were so tiny, so precious...my perfect little girl. And here you are today, smiling at me with your big toothless grin, reaching for me, talking to me. Ah, Emma Grace, I love you so much.

This month your big personality has really shown through and boy do you love your mama. You will let other people hold you for a bit, but you always look for me and reach out to me. If I don't grab you right then, the tears start and of course I come running. The funniest part is the minute I take you, you ALWAYS, ALWAYS give the person who is holding you the "look back". You whip your little head towards them as if saying, "See, this is who I wanted all along." I secretly really love it!

You have also started to really enjoy playing with little N's toys. He is pretty much ok with sharing most of his toys with you, but he is not ok with sharing his superheros with you at all. He has gotten a bit upset with you several times this month because you are pretty persistent about trying to reach for what you want, even after he gently bats your hands away many times.

We started you on babyfood at 6 months, but you didn't really take to it. This month you have sort of started eating it, but you would much rather have our food. You drool over Chick Fil A and Nilla wafers. We started you on Puffs and you love those. We let you have little tastes of our food sometimes, but you don't have any teeth yet. I actually thought that you were going to crawl over my legs to my Subway sandwich today. Again, you are very persistant.

You stood up twice this past week, which I was very proud of. It was a complete stand, but close enough for a clap, hugs and kisses. You were sitting next to me on the floor playing and I was sitting with my legs folded under me. You turned your little body around and pushed your legs straight into a standing position, but kept your hands on my legs. I really think that you are going to be on the go soon, baby girl! I cannot wait to chase after you!

We started swinging you at the park and you LOVE it, just like your big bubba does. You let the breeze blow through your little mohawk and just smile. It is super sweet. We have to carry our own swing to the neighborhood park, though, because it doesn't have a baby swing for you.

I love you so much, baby girl. You are one sweet, and very happy baby. You truly have blessed our family and have fit in perfectly. You are our little Princess.

We enrolled Nathan in gymnastics twice a week and to say that he loves it is an understatement. He has such a good time and cannot wait to go every Tuesday and Thursday. He adores the teacher, Miss Lindsay, and I think the feeling is mutual. He is always the one that she picks to demonstrate things. Here he is doing the rings. He likes to do these, but not for long.


Little N was sick yesterday, so we had to miss "nastics" and boy was he ever disappointed. So, these pictures are actually from Tuesday.

N says that his favorite thing to do at gymnastics is the balance beam.

I love watching Nathan play. It reminds me just what life is about. He is so carefree and happy and has not a worry in the world.

Garett and I have been grumbling about having to water our huge yard (an acre) everyday since we are not getting a drop of rain. We literally spend hours each evening doing this. Today, when we came home from the park, N went right to the sprinkler and started playing in it. He had a blast. How can you not smile when you watch a child enjoy the simple things in life? I will never look at watering the grass the same again. He has made it fun.

And Ems watching N act like a crazy boy!

Almost everyday N gets on his little Hulk bigwheels and E gets in her red car and we head on down to the neighborhood park. Nathan loves it. I love it. Emma loves it. Even in the 95 degree heat. N loves to dig in the rocks


and E is content just watching him.


And now for the news... We are getting the heck out of dodge. It turns out that the lawyer Garett came here to work for is the biggest flake and a hole in the world. He has decided that after Garett commuted here for 7 months and we picked up our lives in Kingwood to move here, that he is closing down his practice and retiring. I hear a lot of jaws hitting the ground, right? Yes, so after we bought a house here, we now have it back on the market. We have decided that Lufkin just isn't where we want to stay and raise our kids. It is too far from our families and too far from Houston. So, as soon as we can sell this place, we are outa here. We haven't quite decided where in Houston we are going to move to, but the move is a for sure thing,

Anyway, that is our big news!

Its been a fun, yet simple Saturday morning. I love Saturdays.

We all woke up around 9 and just layed in bed talking. Ems loves to roll over and grab Nathan's hair and just laugh. She thinks its funny. And Nathan loves to wrap his arms around her and kiss her. Have I mentioned how much I love my two kiddos???

Then we all went outside to play. I thought it would be a good time to snap some pictures of the two of them together, although it is next to impossible to get both of them to look at the camera at the same time. This was Emma's first time so sit in the grass (on a blanket of course) and she loved it. The dogs got more attention than I did from her, though!

And this is the look she gave me when I tried to make her look at me instead of the dogs. Attitude already!

Okay, we're off to enjoy the rest of our Saturday!