Fun times for the Bday

I have the best husband! He made my birthday so fun. The night before he took me down to the riverwalk for dinner. It was so yummy! We had planned to do the river boat tour, but it was closed because of the weather. bummer. Here's our one attempt to get our riverwalk pic. ha ha

On my bday, I was served breakfast in bed from Aaron and my two darlings. Hallie LOVES holidays. It's so fun to see how excited she gets. She had already planned months in advance what she wanted to get me for Mother's Day and my bday and kept her secrets quite well (even with me trying multiple times to get it out of her). She asked me numerous times what kind of cake I wanted, what kind of party I wanted, who I wanted to invite, and was very thoughtful in deciding that I'd want a princess party. I love that little girl. Aaron was so cute to take the time to help them make cards, get me flowers, make homemade handprints (I will have to take a pic. I forgot), get chocolate covered strawberries, pic me out some pretty jewelry... so sweet.

My sweet friends Ashley and Brittanie took me for a birthday lunch to Red Robin. I was so embarrased when they had the people sing to me. Ashley and Brittanie really got into it though :). I was thrilled to hear the waiter announce that I was having my 21st birthday though! ha ha.

Well Aaron could not dissapoint little Hallie, so he threw a little bbq together last minute with a few friends. It was so fun to have our good friends the Fitches come. We are thrilled that Todd and Heather are moving to Austin. Travis and Lindsey just recently moved there too and we have enjoyed getting together with them a few times. It worked out perfect that they were in San Antonio that day. We had a good time. Aaron was quite the hostess, getting everything together, cooking and even making me a bday cake and cupcakes for the kiddos. He's the best!

ahh so cute. he he.

The craziest end to the day...a snake in our bedroom!!! Seriously!!! I had just gotten out of the shower and didn't have my contacts in but thought I saw something moving across the floor by our bed. I couldn't quite make out what it was, but when I got closer and realized what it actually was, I screamed! A snake slithering across the floor!Luckily Aaron came to the rescue. We had the back door open all day with people coming in and out, I'm guessing it just slithered on in. Ewww...! I'm just glad we found it before we went to bed.

It was a fun day! I love my little family and they make life so fun. I am getting quite old in the number department, but bring it on! I'm lovin life.

Cinco Party

Our good friends the Wests had a party for Cinco De Mayo. We had so much fun. The food was amazing! I am craving those yummy homemade tortillas right now. They even had a pinata for the kids. Peyton was all over the candy once it dropped. Thanks Wests for a fun night.

Do a Little Dance #2

Hallie had another little performance. She was cute and LOVES dancing. I may be biased but I think she's a little natural. Here's some pics.

It was fun to have her friends Laney and  Pate come too.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO CLIP  (Thanks Megan)

Far Away Friend

One of my bestest friends Carly, who I met when we first moved to Iowa came to visit me in April. I could never put into words how much it meant to me that she would DRIVE from Iowa to Texas with a 3 yr. old and a 10 month old all by HERSELF! SO SWEET! It had been a hard month for me and knowing this visit was coming was what got me through the month. We had so much fun together and I was so sad to see her leave. Hopefully she'll forget the awful drive enough to make it back here sometime :).  And pretty much we looked homeless the entire time they were here! Gosh, every pic I look at makes me laugh. We rarely got dressed and ready the entire time they were here and just played in the pools, made sure to get our drink runs in, watched our shows, ate lots of treats and junk, shopped, played cards and chatted and laughed till the wee hours!  Here's a few pics. (lots are from my point and shoot)

I finally got to meet little Avery. She is a doll and was always smiling. Peyton was obsessed with her and would walk around saying, "baby" or "I want baby" as soon as she woke up.

Laney and Hallie had a blast swimming and playing in the playhouse. They loved playing with each other.

Trekking our kids to Red Robin

My friend Brittanie was super sweet to offer and watch all the kids so we could go play kid free. We went and got pedicures and out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. (Carly, why didn't you tell me you were hiding your peace sign the lady kept insisting we do? ha ha). Don't get blinded by my pasty whites.

Took the bikes to the park to play (Carly LOVED this activity :). ha ha)

The girls attempted to have a sleepover one night. "Attempted" was the key word. With them already being overly tired, it didn't quite work out. But it was cute while it lasted.

This picture just cracks me up. I'm glad at least one little cutie likes to look at the camera and smile. Looks like Peyton would rather just sit there and pick her nose.

We made Aaron who was half asleep quickly snap a shot of us before she headed out the door back to Iowa. It didn't take long for my kids to start asking when they would be back to play, Hallie to start writing Laney a letter telling her to please come back, and Peyton to walk around the house looking for "Baby".

ThAnK yOu tHaNk YoU Carly for being such a wonderful friend! You're the best and we miss you dearly!

ANIMAL LOVER

Hallie has a new favorite obsession these days. aNiMaLs. She is either playing with them, taking care of them as pets, or pretending she is one (along with Peyton).

She set this little tea party up for her and her animals and had a blast. It was so cute to watch.

She also loves to have me babysit her pets. This is a regular occurrence of what I will find in the kitchen or wherever I am followed by a phone call asking if I can babysit her pet while she runs some errands. She makes sure to inform me that it's on a leash so I should be okay and goes on to show me everything she's packed in her bag that I can do if the pet gets sad, hungry, tired, etc.

And one of the favorites, pretending she is a pet herself. Peyton, Daddy and I are asked multiple times a day to take her for a walk on her leash (jump rope or ribbon). Or she says that she can't eat her dinner at the table because it's not polite to put your paws in your mouth. She goes "missing" in the house because she has found the perfect cage where noone can find her, etc.

Oh, I love being a Mom! Couldn't be happier with my sweet little girls. They bring me so much joy.

April Captured Sayings

Hallie’s Captured Sayings

April 2010

• “Know what my favorite thing is? Peyton’s hands. They are just so soft.”

• While driving, “Mommy when we were on that hill, I could see the whole world. Except I couldn’t see our house.”

• “My eyes are working really good today. I bet its cause I ate my carrot last night.”

• Aaron was lying by Hallie watching a movie. In the middle of it she says, “Dad, how bout you go brush your teeth.” “Why?” “Well cause you don’t smell berry good.”

• Me: “Tomorrow is Sunday. Do you know what that means?”

Hallie: “Yeah! That means we get a newspaper!”

(I was going for the church route, but she is right. We do get the newspaper and I do get excited about my ads :))

• Aaron was going to turn on the nightlight while the room light was still on. “No Dad, not yet! That’s wasting energy!”

• When Hallie plays pretend and is about to wake up from “sleeping” she always yells, “cock a doodle do” before getting up. It’s like her way of saying it’s morning and time to get up. pretty funny.

• Hallie: “Mom, did you know when we die we will come back alive? It’s called resurrected!”
Me: “Yes, isn’t that so great?”
Hallie: “So like where will we live? In heaven?”
Me: “yah”
Hallie: “So like what will our house look like?”
Me: “I don’t know, but we will be perfect and our house will be perfect too.”
Hallie: “YES!!! So what you mean is it’s gonna have purple polka dots with brown stripes? Can’t wait Mom, can’t wait!”

• Hallie: “Daddy, I want you to help me put my jammies on fast tonight.”
Aaron:”Ok” (as he starts to grab her clothes and help her).
Hallie: “No Daddy, you can just cheer for me. That will help me go really fast.”
Aaron: “Go Hallie, go Hallie, go Hallie go!”
Hallie: “Yeah Dad! That’s working!”

• “I don’t want my body to go down the drain. Then I’d have to get new fingers!” (when letting the water out of the bath)

• Me: “Hallie you need to be nice to me and not be so bossy.
Hallie: “okay, I’ll be nice to you tomorrow.”
Me: “Well how about you be nice now?”
Hallie: “No, I think I’ll start tomorrow.”

• “Your phone is just amazing!”

• (After watching the movie All Dogs Go To Heaven)
Aaron: “Everyone goes to heaven?”

Hallie: “yep”

Aaron: “even bad people who do naughty things?”
Pause
Hallie: “Dad, I’m just a kid. I don’t know ALL things.”

• Hallie and Peyton LOVE to have dance parties before they go to bed. One day she telling me that she needed to get her exercise and dance done. They were hilarious with all their different moves. Ballerina dancing, crazy dancing, best amazing dancing, jumping jacks, and my favorite donkey kicks. At the end she said, “Wow! I’m really sweaty. That means I work Ed out way good. I better just go straight to bed.”

• “MOM! What the heck! When are you ever coming?”

Peyton's Captured Moments
April 2010
21 Months

• Loves holding hands (especially Hallie’s). She always says, “han, I wanna han!”

• “I want” and “I wanna” are the famous saying. Every morning when she gets out of bed, “I wanna show.” “I want cereal”, “I wanna do”, “I wanna walk.”

• Still LOVES to be a tease.

• The screaming fits are decreasing. Definitely still there, but not as much. We went to the library and before we walked in the doors we had a big talk about not screaming and being quiet in the library. She did such a good job! When we got done and we were walking back to our car I said, “Peyton, you did such a good job at the library today! Good job!” She looked at me with big eyes and a smile as she said, “Ahh (a little scream), no no! Ahh (a little scream), no no!” Like she was telling me that she didn’t scream but she could’ve if she wanted to. Later that night Aaron asked her if she had fun at the library and she said the same thing, “ahhh, no no! Ahhh, no no!” .

• “I wanna go! I wanna go!” As soon as we enter a shopping store. (who’s child is she? j/k)

• Loves to accumulate a ton of stuff in her arms and refuses to put any of it down. When she goes to bed, she wants to be holding her blanket, water bottle, and like 10 books. She looks hilarious going to sleep. When she wakes up as soon as she sees me come in the room she is quickly hoarding everything in her crib to take with her before I get her out. When we eat, she grips her baby tightly in a headlock because she’s afraid I am going to take it away and put it next to her while we eat. She’s so funny. I love her.

I took this picture (from my phone so also forgive the quality) while we were leaving the doctor’s office. You can’t see everything she’s holding but she had 3 books, her baby and her purse with a dog in it. She insisted on walking all the way to the car and if I got near her to help her carry anything she would scream. It was hilarious.

• Loves her big sister and is always concerned for her. We went to Costco and Hallie had fallen asleep in the car and was pretty tired so she lied down on the cart. I was talking to someone and then turned around to see this (from my phone so forgive the quality). She’s got her baby in one arm and was rubbing Hallie’s back with the other. She did this during our whole shopping trip. It was so sweet.

• One of her favorite things to do is chill in the backyard and water all our tomatoes, strawberries, etc. She could be busy doing this forever.