Castillejos Corner

THREE

2012-01-30T14:52:00.004-06:00

As I mentioned before, Annie is officially 3! I can't believe it! It's so amazing to me how quickly the time has gone by. I remember everything about the day she was born, and even the days leading up. So much has changed in our lives, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Annie is such a sweet girl. She is funny and silly, and super talkative. Except, she's really only super talkative at home. She is pretty shy around new people, and it is even taking her a while to warm up at school. She loves to read and play games. She likes Mickey's Clubhouse, Pooh, and she LOVES Tinkerbell. She got The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast for Christmas, so those have also become favorites.

She knows all her colors, can count to 10, and can identify numbers and some letters as well. She loves going to church and playgroup. She is getting so tall too. I feel like we were in size 2T clothes forever and in 3T for like a month. I think I'm going to have to start looking at 4T stuff soon. Yipes! :) Her sweet little hair is getting longer and we can now put it in a cute little ponnytail. She has been sleeping in her big girl bed for over a year now, and has always done great. She sleeps from around 8 pm to 8 am, and she still takes about a 2-3 hour nap each day. She loves Charlotte and has always been so good with her. They are starting to disagree about toys these days, but it's never too bad. :)

Annie, you are such a blessing to our family and we are so thankful that God chose us to be your parents. You are a joy to be around and you continually amaze us with how smart and sweet you are. We love you more than words can say. Happy 3rd birthday, sweetheart!

Here is what we did on your 3rd birthday: (January 23, 2012)

We started our morning with a surprise breakfast or sprinkle doughnuts. (Yes, I know she's in Christmas pj's, but oh well.) I know she doesn't look thrilled, but she was....just still a little sleepy. We only get donuts on occasional Sunday mornings before church, so this was a real treat! Charlotte was even excited. She didn't get a donut, but she was thrilled to eat cheerios. Ha! After breakfast, we got dressed in your birthday girl shirt and your new pink crocs and headed to your favorite grocery store, Market Street. This is why it's your favorite....the little carts. We needed to pick up a few things for the dinner you requested that night...spaghetti and meatballs. You even got a special cookie! I think you liked it. :) Charlotte looked super cute that day too,so I had to share a picture of her too! On our way to meet daddy for lunch, we made a quick stop at Chuck E. Cheese's. We were there super early, and apparently, they test the machines everyday. Well, if you are there early, they let you take all the coupons that the machines spit out while getting tested. Bonus! We were there for less than 30 minutes and ended up with over 100 coupons. Ha! You enjoyed your fan and a couple other toys on the way to lunch.

You also got to pick where we met daddy for lunch, and you chose Zuzu's. This is most assuredly your favorite place, and mommy loves it too! :) We enjoyed some yummy mexican food for lunch and enjoyed some special time with daddy.

After that, we headed home for naps, made rainbow cupcakes for your friends at school, enjoyed your favorite dinner, and opened some more presents. I think it was a fun birthday! :)

PJ Party

2012-01-30T14:32:00.005-06:00

Well...my oldest is now THREE! We had Annie's birthday party last weekend. Unfortunately, I got sick last week so that is why this post is late. Hopefully our family will start feeling better. David was sick for 2 weeks, Annie for one, Charlotte has an ear infection, and I was sick last week. 2012 started off a little rough with all the sickness, but we are looking forward to feeling great the rest of the year. :)

Here are some of the details from Annie's fun day....

We invited all our family over (about 20 people) and a few friends (bringing the total to over 30). We had pancakes, egg casserole, pecan scones (PW recipe), fruit, and muffins. The kids ate breakfast and then played while the adults mixed and mingled.

Then, it was present time. Annie got so many cute things from everyone, and we have so enjoyed playing with them all!

Then, it was time for cake and cookies. I made the cake and my sister, Christie, made the adorable cookies.

The kids played a bit more and then it was time to go.

Here is the favor table. It also had all the stuff for fruit loop necklaces that the kids made. I wanted to do something else, but it didn't work out. I wasn't too excited about these necklaces, but it turns out that the kids loved them! (Especially Annie!) Charlotte may have even tried a fruit loop or too. :)

I think Annie had a great time, and we were so thankful that everyone came and celebrated our sweet girl. Happy birthday, Annie!

Did I mention that we had fun playing with our new toys?! This is the bathtub fingerpaint that Andrew gave her. It was definitely a hit in this house! :)

10 Months

2012-01-18T15:07:00.002-06:00

Little Charlotte, you are officially 10 months old! I can't believe it!

You are even taking little steps! Where did my baby go? You've taken about 4 steps at a time, but you are so ready to get moving so you can just do everything your big sister does. You stand by yourself ALL the time, cruise along the furniture, and even just squat down to play with your toys.

You now have 2 teeth and you are still really only saying mama and dada. You LOVE your daddy. It's so sweet to watch you light up when you hear the back door open when he gets home from work.

You are wearing 6-12 month clothes and I think you're almost in size 4 diapers. You are still wearing a size 2 shoe too. You have little bitty feet like your big sister.

You think Annie is hilarious and you always want to be in on whatever she is doing. You play so easily by yourself, and are easily entertained. Playing in the kitchen is one of your favorite things. You can even be found (all the time) carrying around plastic forks and spoons. You do NOT like it when those get taken away. You have all kinds of toys, but those are the things you carry around. Goofball!

You are eating all kinds of baby food and then whatever table food we are eating that night too. You seem to like cheese and bread best. You're not too interested in what is on TV yet, but you do pay attention to Mickey Mouse, which is cute.

You are mischevious and curious, and you are just the sweetest thing. We are so glad you are a part of our family and we all love you very much!

Ps-I apologize for the lack of a super cute posed 10 month picture this month. It is nearly impossible to get her to sit still long enough to take a picture. :) At least all of her pictures are true to live....she's always moving and on the go.

Christmas Day

2012-01-18T14:51:00.004-06:00

David and the girls
Me and the girls (No we didn't get a family picture on Christmas day this year...ugh! Oh well, there's always next year!)

Christmas morning was SO fun this year! It was our first year to come home and sleep her so the girls could wake up in the own beds and see what Sants brought to our house.

Here is our tree from this year....

Another Home Depot purchase, and it turned out to be BEAUTIFUL! I seriously LOVE the way those trees smell. Does anyone know of a candle that smells like that? I would totally buy it and keep it out all year long. I LOVE IT!

Here are the stockings.

Here is all the stuff Santa brought this year.

Annie's stuff is on the left. Her big gift was a doll house and then some books and puzzles. Charlotte got a little alligator that bounces balls around and then some little pooh figurines. We got them each a little soccer ball and some Little People things. Annie's favorite gift at home was her Tinkerbell art set. We so enjoyed being home together and just celebrating Christmas at our house. It was super special.

After opening stockings, eating breakfast, and opening presents, we loaded up and headed over to Dee and Pete's house. It was super nice because we literally just got in the car....no changing clothes or getting ready, just hop in the car. I LOVE spending all of Christmas in my pj's, and I hope that tradition lasts forever. It's so fun!

Annie looks a little sleepy in this picture, but I think she is just watching all the craziness of everyone opening presents. :)

Charlotte playing with a cup while we all opened stockings at Dee and Pete's.

Mamaw (in her traditional Christmas sweater from the 80's..ha), Papaw, Katie, Sarah, and Natalie opening presents.

Charlotte and Pete enjoying the craziness.

Honestly, those are the only pictures I took all day. I know I need to do a better job about taking pictures of special days, but it is just so fun to actually be a part of what is going on. The girls had so much fun opening presents and then playing with everything. We loved getting to spend time with all our aunts and uncles, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. It was just a fun and special day. I am already looking forward to next year!

New Year...New Thoughts

2012-01-13T14:39:00.003-06:00

I don't have any pictures for this post...I know...I promise to post more soon. I have pics for Charlotte's 10 month post, but I can't figure out how to get them on my computer for some reason. I also need to add some from Christmas day.

I did want to write about some things that I think God has laid on my heart already this year. I never make resolutions because I think they are silly. (No offense if you make them...I just don't.) I have felt like God wants 2012 to be different for me. I feel like He wants me to be different in 2012. I saw a special on Nightline before Christmas about kids in the Ukraine. It was about how they send children as young as 5 years old with down syndrome to adult mental health facilities. Honestly, I don't know much about what they said in the story. The part that truly stuck with me was when a reporter bent down to talk to a little 7 year old girl, and the little girl immediately began to call her "mama." Even as I write this, I'm crying. I want to go pick that little girl up and bring her home with me and give her the mama that she so desperately wants and needs. All that to say, I don't really feel that God is leading me to adoption. My youngest sister, Martie, was adopted and she is the best thing that has ever happened to my family. If God opens doors of adoption, I will gladly do that. I just don't think that's what He is telling me right now. It feels more like He wants me to reach out to kids and help them by giving up some simple things in my life. I LOVE Sonic!! I go there all the time. With the amount of money that I spend on cokes each month, I know that I could sponsor a child with Compassion or something like that. I don't know if we will do that, but I think God wants me to sacrifice things that are really not that big of a deal in my life. (Ex..Sonic, new clothes for me, etc.) I think He wants me to give that money and even my time to helping others and sharing the gospel. Being a teacher, I truly am passionate about little kids, so I think He wants me to do something with children. David and I talked about all this and we are both open to what God wants to do through us this year. I think another thing He wants is for my children to see that my life really is different; that I am really living out what God asks of me rather than just talking about it. I want them to give to others and not always want more. I am really excited to see what God does in our lives in 2012.

In other news....Charlotte is officially walking! I never remember to write milestones in the girls' baby books, so I have to document on here so I can remember the actual date someday. :) She started taking a couple steps on Wednesday (1/11) and last night, she was taking 3 or 4 before falling down. I can't believe how big she's getting! I'll get some pictures of that soon too! Happy New Year!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-09T14:55:00.004-06:00

I know that I am SO behind in blogging, but we have been so busy lately. We had a wonderful Christmas, and I want to make sure I share all the fun things we did this year.

Christmas is my very favorite time of the year! I've always loved it, but with two little ones, it's even more special. I do think that things can get a little overplanned, and lots of mommies can get overwhelmed with all the stuff going on though. So, this year I really tried to just enjoy my time with the girls and not completely overwhelm all of us by trying to fit in every little thing. It was a success. We had a great time! The girls and I enjoyed ending our semester at MDO with fun Christmas parties, and we were so excited to have two whole weeks off. David had almost that same amount of time off with us, so that made it even more fun.

Annie was in a sweet Christmas pageant this year, and she was an angel. She didn't sing very loud (or really at all), but she looked adorable, and we were so proud of her!

We shopped, spent time with family that we don't get to see very often, ate lunch with friends, spent time at church, and just enjoyed being together.

We even enjoyed getting to know a sweet elf named Snowflake! :)

On Christmas Eve, the super fun festivities got underway. We met my family at Northpark for breakfast at Corner Bakery. (If you have never eaten breakfast there, you are seriously missing out. It was my first time, and it was amazing!) We did a little shopping, and then headed over to the Castillejos Christmas. The girls LOVED being with their cousins, and we had a blast openning presents and just hanging out. The kids opened their gifts first, and Annie couldn't have been more excited. She and Charlotte both got a sweet new baby doll with matching strollers for each. The LOVE them, and Annie always says that "Flower" (her new doll) is her favorite Christmas gift.

(Annie went and put all her presents on a rug while the adults openned theirs. It was so funny...almost like she was doing inventory or something. Ha!)

After naps and the adults getting to open their gifts, we had a lovely dinner and headed to the Christmas Eve Service. As much as I enjoy singing the Christmas carols and hearing the Christmas story, we will NOT be back at a Christmas Eve service until the girls are much older. They were both great, but just not ready to sit still for that long. Charlotte was wearing a beautiful red dress and pooped all over her Papa during the service, so that dress didn't last too long. Annie had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the service, but otherwise did great. It was just not a fun experience for mommy and daddy, so we will just wait until they are older to try that tradition again. :)

After the service, we went back to Oma and Papa's for dessert and put our pj's on. We took the girls home, and we all slept in our house for the first time ever on Christmas Eve. We missed being with my family that night, but it was so fun for our little family to be together at home.

On Christmas morning, David and I had to wake both girls up. They were sleepy! We went down stairs and Annie was so excited that Santa ate his cookies and milk. We got to look through our stockings and see all the things Santa left for us. Annie got a doll house and Charlotte got a little alligator play thing. (I can't find my camera at the moment, but I will post some pictures of the actual Christmas Day soon.) Then, we had breakfast and went back in the living room to open our other presents. The girls got some really cute things, and David and I enjoyed our presents from each other too. Annie openned a cute little Tinkerbell lunch box that she had seen at the Disney Store. She didn't seem too excited about it and mentioned some paints. It was kinds funny because when she openned her last present (which were the aforementioned paints), she just got so excited and said, " This is just what I was looking for!" It was such a sweet moment. David and I loved being at home with our girls. After openning all those presents, we loaded up again and headed to the Berry Christmas festivities. We openned presents, took naps, and ate a yummy meal with my family. The girls loved all their gifts and especially enjoyed playing with all their aunts and uncles.

It was such a special Christmas, and I am so looking forward to many more with both our girls. I am truly blessed with such a wonderful extended family, and then just the most amazing husband and 2 smart, beautiful, and sweet girls. God is so good!

8 and 9 months

2011-12-07T21:34:00.004-06:00

Dear Charlotte....mommy STILL hasn't posted your 8 month post, so I'm just going to include those pictures and then talk about what you're up to this month. :) Sorry sweet pea!

Well, you were 9 months old on Sunday. I can't believe that you will be a year old in 3 months. Where has the time gone? You are such a sweet and happy baby. You giggle and talk all day long. You love your big sister, and you love to play with her. You're standing up now, and even walking while pushing a little cart. You give kisses, clap, and wave hi and bye. It's precious. You say mama and dada, and sometimes you repeat no no when Annie tells you a thousand times a day. :)

You weigh almost 18 pounds and are in the 30th percentile for weight. You are 27 1/2 inches long and are in the 50th percentile for height. Now, your sweet little head is above the 97th percentile. You are obviously going to be super smart. :)

You brighten up our days, and we are so thankful to have you in our lives. Happy 9 month birthday, baby! We love you!

Zoo

2011-12-07T21:17:00.005-06:00

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the girls and I went to the Dallas Zoo. It's dollar day, and this is the 2nd year that we've gone. Honestly, it's a little crowded, but it is SO worth it. We just hung out in the African Safari area for most of the day. We had a great time. Aunt Martha took a day off school, and spent it with us. It was super fun!

Then, Pete met us for lunch, and we spent a little more time looking at the animals. It was CRAZY cold that day. Which was so funny, because last year was actually pretty warm. So, we had to be covered up all day, but we had a blast anyway! So, next year, check out dollar day at the Dallas Zoo! Totally worth it! :)

Annie and Aunt Martie

Pete and Charlotte checking out the elephants.

This is literally how she rode around all day. It was freezing!

Charlotte and Pete looking at the cheetahs.

Someone needed a nap!

The girls watching the gorilla eat his lunch.

Charlotte is ready to go!

Aunt Martie and Annie were ready too!

I'm Thankful for...

2011-11-30T16:50:00.003-06:00

-the undonditional and unrelentless love of Jesus Christ.

-the kindest, sweetest, sexiest, and most wonderful husband and best friend I could ever ask for. I truly love David.

-Annie and Charlotte--2 beautiful, sweet, smart, and healthy girls (who are also good sleepers...I'm thankful for that too.)

-Extended Family: Mamaw and Papaw, Dee and Pete, Oma and Papa, our sisters and brothers, our Pennsylvania family, all our cousins, and our precious nephews.

-Friends from college, church, and work

-God's provision: David's job, a warm house, food to eat, clothes to wear

-our health

-our freedom

-our church (NHBC) and all the people (past and present) that havce influenced our lives

-Texas, Sonic cokes, Baylor football, RG3, skiing, Steamboat Springs, Sportscenter, my sewing machine, ice cream, South Carolina, the ocean, the new cold weather, Harry Potter, books, rain, and teaching.

God has been teaching me about how truly blessed I am, and I want to make sure that I do a better job about thanking Him for everything I have. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we are so very thankful for everything we have been blessed with.

Latest Happenings

2011-11-28T16:46:00.003-06:00

This is what happens around the house when I'm cooking dinner. It's pretty funny to watch Charlotte's face as David pushes her through the house. (Don't worry, David always holds onto the back of her shirt to keep her balanced.)

These are the faces that Charlotte makes when she is in trouble. (It's definitely impossible to stay mad.)

Charlotte's first time in the swing. Thought we should take advantage of all the beautiful weather we've been having.

I know I talk alot about Charlotte on this blog, but I wanted to document a few things that my big girl, Annie is up to. First, her hair is FINALLY long enough to put in a ponytail. Woo-hoo! We usually french braid the front part, and then throw the rest in a ponytail. It's so cute!
She's loving her pink hat right now. We got it from school, and she adores it!

Annie is absolutely hilarious right now. She loves to talk at home, but isn't super talkative in public or at school. She's pretty quiet when she's not around family. She loves her best friend, Caitlyn, and she loves school. When you ask her if she wants to go to Baylor for college, she tells you no and that she wants to go to a pink college. Yes, that's right, a pink college. Pink is definitely her favorite color and she can't get enough of it. Hopefully we'll be able to convince her that green and gold aren't too bad. :)

Annie's so smart. She can count to eleven and knows her ABC's. She LOVES to read books and play dominoes right now. She would also play tea party all day if we let her. She is an absolute joy to be around, and I can't believe that she'll be THREE in less than 2 months. My, how time flies!

I know I haven't done Charlotte's 8 month post yet, but I think I'm going to have to combine that with her 9 month one. Also, stay tuned for details about our trip to the zoo.

Date Night!

2011-11-28T16:41:00.004-06:00

On November 5th, David and I had the chance to get out and go on a date by ourselves. We also got to enjoy the evening with old friends at Micah's wedding. It was a lovely evening and so great to catch up with old friends.

Just for fun! :) Our table with Brooke's mom, Betsy. She was definitely the funniest of the evening. :)

Rangers

2011-11-10T17:32:00.008-06:00

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the Texas Rangers made it to the World Series AGAIN this year! I know I should have posted these pictures at least a month ago, but I've been a little busy. Maybe I was trying to forget that we lost...again. Ugh! After what happened in game 6, I've tried to block the whole thing out of my mind. Now, I'm focusing more on Baylor's football season. Sic 'em.

Honestly, I don't even remember what game this was....I think it might have been game 6. We watched part of it at my parents and then took the girls home to bed. It was a great ride, and I'm hoping that the Rangers can be the first team to get to the World Series 3 years in a row! :)

More Halloween Pics

2011-11-10T17:32:00.006-06:00

These are seriously the best pictures we could get with us and both girls. It was a fun night!

My two sweet girls getting ready to trick or treat.

Annie's haul

This is what Charlotte wanted to do all night.

Halloween

2011-11-10T17:12:00.005-06:00

I'm super sorry that I'm so far behind on posts. We've just had so much going on that blogging has fallen to the bottom of my list. Sorry folks! :) Hopefully I'll be able to catch up this week and then do it more regularly. (Don't hold your breath though. Ha!)

Anyway--we loved Halloween this year. Annie is at such a fun age, and she just loved it. We started by going to "Highland's Harvest." It's our church's trunk or treat. Annie loved the bounce houses, petting zoo, riding a pony, and playing the games. She had a really great time seeing all her friends too.

The next week, we trick-or-treated in our neighborhood. This was really our first time to do it. The first year, Annie was super small and had no idea what was going on. Then, last year, I was sick so we didn't do anything. So, this year was a big year. Annie and Charlotte got dressed right after dinner and we headed out. We walked around for about 30 minutes before Charlotte completely lost it and was ready to come home. Annie LOVED coming home and going through all her candy. She has talked about her candy everyday since and loves taking it out and looking at it or giving a piece to all her stuffed animals. It has been so fun watching her get excited about everything.

David never trick-or-treated growing up, so this is all a new experience for him. With Annie being so easily scared, I think we both worried about her walking around the neighborhood and then having bad dreams when we got home. I am SO happy to say that she didn't get spooked by anything outside, and we haven't had a bad dream since. Woo-hoo! I think my little Tinkerbelle and pumpkin were the cutest kids out there.

(Ps-these pictures are totally out of order. Oops!)

Annie feeding a goat in the petting zoo. A total normal activity for most kids, but something that Annie would usually be too scared to do. So proud of my big girl! :)

Two little Tinkerbells (and best friends).

Caitlyn and Annie hugging goodnight So sweet!

Another big experience for Annie. She walked to the top with Cassidy and went down ALL BY HERSELF. I did have to go up with her, but only to help her get to the top. She watched Cassidy go down, and then before I could say anything to her, she just jumped down. I was so proud!

Our family of 4!

Annie walking with one of favorite people....Cassidy. (By the way, Cassidy was the flower girl in our wedding. That makes us super old! Hehe)

The cutest little pumpkin.

One of Annie's favorite places that night....the bounce house.

Annie and Caden in the petting zoo.

Riding a pony...another new experience that we weren't too scared to try! Woo-hoo!

I love this one!

The State Fair of Texas

2011-11-10T16:11:00.007-06:00

For those of you reading this blog that have never been to the State Fair of Texas (yes, I am referring to my Pennsylvania relatives who SERIOUSLY need to come down to Texas for a visit with my 2 sweet girls), it is a truly fabulous place! I don't care what we've got going on in our lives....there will be at least one visit to the fair each year. This year we managed to fit 2 visits into one week. It was lovely! :)

The first day we went was a Wednesday, and my mom (Dee) took the day off to go with us. We rode the train and had an absolutely fabulous time! I'll include a bunch of pictures so you can see all the fun things we did. Annie's absolute favorite thing to do is to see all the animals. They happened to be having a cattle show when we were there, and she could have literally sat there all day. It was precious. She loves cows! :) We also got to go to the Midway for the first time ever. Annie rode her first ride without me, and LOVED it! Then, we went down the huge slide together. She is a little bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to most things, but it was a big day, and she loved every minute of everything we did. After the slide, we went and got some ice cream and then walked through the cars on our way out. The girls were great and had such a fun time. It was a pretty perfect day.

We went to the fair with Daddy on Friday and had a great time too. It was a little painful trying to get through the midway on a Friday night in the dark right before bedtime. The girls did great, but I REALLY wanted a double stroller about then! :) We had a great time enjoying the animals, rides, and food. I seriously love the fair!

Annie liked sitting in the cars. :)

I love this picture of her sweet little head. Ha!

Enjoying some chocolate ice cream. (Mommy and Dee had the Pineapple, which is my ABSOLUTE favorite!)

Both the girls waiting on their ice cream. (I know Charlotte isn't supposed to have any, but she may have gotten a few licks of the pineapple ice cream. She wasn't too impressed.)

Annie riding in the purple car. She rode this on Wednesday, and then again on Friday. I was so proud of her for doing it all by herself!

This is right before we went into the Midway. Cutest thing ever! :)

Sweet Charlotte taking a nap.

Me and my girls waiting for the train. (We missed it by like 30 seconds...ugh! Oh well. We just sat around in the cold. No big deal!)

Seriously, have you seen anything cuter?!

Dee and Annie at the station
Charlotte and her tongue. We see this face all the time, and I think it is so stinkin' adorable! :)

The Big 3-0!

2011-10-19T21:27:00.003-05:00

Our little family....please excuse Annie's crazy hair. It didn't look like that all day. :)

(This is the hat that Annie picked out for David, all by herself. I'm not sure how often he'll wear it, if ever, but it was so cute!)

David turned 30 this weekend, and we had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends. I don't think we've ever had that many people at our house. We had a Cowboys themed party, so everyone came over around 3 to watch the game. Then, we had tailgating food (burgers and hot dogs) and cake after the game. It was super fun.

David and I have known each other for a really long time and been dating and/or married for 13 years. I have to say that I truly love him more with each passing day. He is my best friend, and I am so blessed to get to share everyday with him. I was going to have a place where everyone can write sweet or funny memories of David at the party, but I didn't have enough time to get that together. (David was really glad about that.) I thought it would be nice though. Here are a few of my favorite memories over the years.

(Sweet)

-My 21st birthday when David took me to Joe T's for dinner and then the Ranger game.

-The day we got engaged in Rockafeller Center in New York City.

-Obviously our wedding day.

-Our trip to Steamboat Springs on spring break. We had a great time, and loved skiing together.

-The days that we had both our girls were pretty perfect. David instantly fell in love and was a wonderful daddy from the moment he met them.

-Going to Steamboat with Annie and then Gulf Shores with both Annie and Charlotte.

-I love watching sports with David and playing with our girls. David is probably the kindest person I know, so I really do have countless sweet memories with him.

(Funny)

-One time, in college, David yelled an inappropriate remark at a referee in Waco at a Baylor game just as the crowd got quiet. It was HILARIOUS! I was wondering where my shy and quiet boyfriend had gone.

-Martie turned the outside shower on Alan in Charleston, and we thought it ruined his phone. David looked at her and told her that our parents weren't going to pay for her college. (It made her cry, but it was so funny!)

-Camping and hanging out on campus after formals in college....David was always funny after those parties.

-David truly makes me laugh on a daily basis. He's always saying something funny or doing something silly. Again, I love spending my life with him. It's always fun.

Puke

2011-10-19T21:21:00.002-05:00

Yup, that's what happened several times last week. Not in the house, but in the car! Ugh!

On Wednesday, we were heading to the doctor to get Charlotte's 2nd half of the flu shot and then to do some shopping for David's birthday. Half way there, we were stuck in traffic on central and then I heard something in the backseat. Annie had totally thrown up all over herself in her carseat. She has seriously only thrown up maybe 3 times her entire life, and never in the car. Well, I pulled over in a church parking lot, and started to clean her up. Of course, I didn't have any extra panties or clothes. So, she wore some bloomers of Charlotte's (that actually fit) and a t-shirt of mine that I happened to have in the car. Thankfully, David was able to meet us in the parking lot at the doctor's office so that I could still get Charlotte her shot. We did that, loaded back up, and spent the rest of the day at home watching movies. Not another symptom of anything else though. See....

So, Thursday, we went to school because Annie seemed like she felt fine. We had a perfect day. Then, we went to dinner to celebrate Oma's birthday. We drove like 15 minutes, and as we were pulling into the parking lot, Annie puked in her car seat AGAIN! It was awful. This time, Baby Fru Fru, was in the line of fire. Poor thing. Ha!

Well, I think she either had a mild stomach bug, or she gets sick when she reads in the car. (I do.) So, we can't read in the car right now because I don't really want to test my theory. But, needless to say it was a rough week.

7 Months

2011-10-19T21:09:00.002-05:00

Well, Charlotte....you're almost 8 months, but I'm just now getting this up on the blog. Sorry about that, sweet girl.

You are an absolute joy! You may have given us a little trouble this month in regards to eating your food, but other than that....you're pretty perfect! :)

You are wearing size 3 diapers and size 6-12 month clothes.

We had to lower your crib this month, because this is what I found one day at naptime. (I almost had a heart attack when I walked into your room.)

You eat 4 siz ounce bottles everyday, and you're eating some real food at every meal. In the mornings, you'll eat cereal with fruit mixed in. At lunch, you eat a veggie, and at dinner you'll eat a veggie, but NOT any type of fruit. Your sister could eat her weight in fruit everyday, and you HATE it! You shiver after almost every bite, and you've just gotten to the point where you refuse to eat it. It's actually kind of hilarious. You won't eat fruit unless we mix it in with cereal. We did try bananas this week, and that is the only fruit you have seemed the slightest bit interested in. You like your peas, carrots, and sweet potatoes so far though. We're going to try squash soon too.

You love Annie, and the feeling is mutual. You two are starting to "play" together while I make dinner, and I love listening to the two of you.

You still don't have any teeth, but you sure seem like you're cutting a few. I bet you'll have a couple in a few more weeks.

We love you so very much, Charlotte, and you are a true blessing to us.

Busy Time in Our House

2011-09-25T22:40:00.004-05:00

Well, the last 3 weeks have been super busy! We are all loving our school, and I'm having alot of fun crafting in my spare time. (Which isn't a ton of time, but it's nice to be able to do something for myself occasionally.) The girls are growing and are so much fun to be around.
I was at a Bible study last week, and this is what David saw when he walked into Charlotte's room that night... She was fussing, but stopped when she saw him. She was standing up in her crib, but wouldn't do that while daddy took a picture. (Of course!) Annie never chewed on her crib, but I think we might have a few teeth marks in the near future. :)
Charlotte had her first bites of carrots. She definitely doesn't love them, but she's eating them much better now. (It took about a week to get to that point, but oh well.) We are going to try some peas and maybe apples or bananas this week. Hopefully she'll like those as well.
The girls are loving school. Annie got to wear her Minnie Mouse t-shirt that Andrew sent her from London this week. She loved it, and I think she looked adorable in it. Charlotte looks a little sleepy in this picture, but she was ready too. Both girls have been sleeping until 8:30 or 9 on days when we don't have school, so they are a little tired when we get up on school days. I love this picture! This is what happened one day while I was cooking dinner. Charlotte was fussing, and I asked Annie to go in there and play with her for a second while I finished dinner. All of a sudden, it got pretty quiet and Charlotte was suddenly happy. Well, Annie surrounded her with toys and then gave her some Tinkerbell cards. Charlotte had a blast! I love how little kids think. :) It's always fun around here with these sweet girls!

Are you ready for some football?!

2011-09-11T22:20:00.004-05:00

We are! :)

I think David was the most excited about the beginning of Cowboy football season tonight, but we all had a great time watching the game together.

David decided that Annie's old enough to watch some of the game with him. We talked to her and told her that she gets to stay up late and watch the game with Daddy. I put Charlotte to bed, and we all headed downstairs to watch the game. She was super sleepy, but then decided she wanted to get up and play. Once we told her that it was either the game or bed, she decided to get a little more excited about watching the Cowboys. Ha! :)

We kept telling us to clap with her. She called the Jets, the green guys, and she asked us who our favorite players were. It was so cute! She may have yelled "homerun" a couple times. It was pretty cute. It was so fun to get a little special time with our big girl. I am so glad that David shares his Cowboy time with her. It's super sweet!

Ps-Just so I remember...we had a wonderful weekend celebrating Max's birthday. Hopefully I'll add a few pictures soon. On our way home from a fabulous day of parties and baseball yesterday, Charlotte started babbling and saying "dada." It was super fun! :)

First Day of School

2011-09-11T22:10:00.003-05:00

Well, it's that time of year again....school! :) We had a wonderful summer, but were excited to get back into our school routine. Honestly, Annie wasn't really excited, but she ended up having a great week. Charlotte doesn't really know what's going on yet, and we haven't experienced much separation anxiety, so she did great too.

We love our little school, and I was so proud of the girls this week. I really missed them, but I think it's good for all of us. I enjoy getting to teach again, and I know it's good for the girls to spend time with other teachers and their friends.

Seriously, how cute are they? :) We had a great day, and I know it's going to be a great year. Annie LOVES her backpack this year. She had it last year, but was still a little too young to care about cattying it. Now, she loves it, and insists on carrying it herself. (Which is FABULOUS for mommy who is totally loaded down with a ridiculous amount of gear. Ha!)

Daddy and his big girl.

Ok...I have to make a disclaimer. I would TOTALLY not have put Nike shoes with this sweet little skirt and pink shirt, but they are supposed to wear closed toe shoes on the playground. Normally, I do not put comfort before fashion (hehe), but in Annie's case, I will this year. I don't want rocks in her little shoes bugging her all day. So, we wore our tennis shoes.

Also--let me tell you about the cutest store where we got these sweet clothes. It's called "Peek" and it's at Northpark. I hadn't been in the store (because it looks kind of expensive), but I went in with Kristin and Amanda on the Big 6 weekend. It is ADORABLE!! The clothes are super soft and sweet, and it's not too expensive. I still probably wouldn't buy much if it wasn't on sale, but their sales are GREAT! I just love that store. Plus, it was fun for the girls to wear similar outfits on the first day without being all matchy-matchy. Loved it! :)

6 Months

2011-09-10T22:42:00.004-05:00

(Warning: This post contains LOTS of pictures of Charlotte, but I just couldn't decide which ones were best. They were just all so stinkin' cute!)

Sweet Charlotte is SIX MONTHS OLD! Time has gone by so quickly! I can't believe that we were in the hospital with our sweet new baby 6 months ago.Charlotte is in the 40th percent for weight, 50th percent for height, and 97th percent for head size. She is obviously going to be super smart! Ha!

She is wearing size 2 diapers, size 3-6 month clothes, and drinking 4 6 ounce bottles a day. She is also sleeping from 8 pm to 8 am. I would like for her to take 2 two hour naps, but that doesn't always happen. We're just usually on the move, so her morning nap isn't always 2 hours. Oh well.

Charlotte turned 6 months old on Sunday, and she started school on Tuesday. She did great, and had a great week in her new little room. I was so proud of her.

Charlotte, you are such a sweet baby! You're always happy, and so easily entertained. Your big sister absolutely adores you, and can make you smile almost anytime. She just talks to you, and you giggle. You're even starting to make little babbling, consonant sounds. Daddy is SO hoping that you say "da da" first! We love you so very much, and we feel so blessed to have you in our family. Happy 6 month birthday, baby girl!

Oh wait...I forgot to mention....Charlotte was SO excited about Baylor beating TCU this last weekend that she really wanted to take a picture with our little Baylor Bear! We could not have been more excited to watch our Baylor Bears beat those silly little horned frogs! It was a great weekend for sports in our house! Hopefully we'll get to be loud and proud with our Green and Gold outfits this year!

Look who's....

2011-09-06T15:18:00.002-05:00

Sitting up

and...

Eating cereal!

That's right, it's sweet Charlotte! She's not a huge fan of cereal, but she doesn't completely hate it. It's kind of hit or miss with her still. She loves sitting up though! She's doing great at it. David went to get her up one morning, and she was sitting up in her crib! Crazy! We haven't seen her sit herself up yet, but we've both found her sitting up. So fun! I can't believe this little one is growing so fast.

Stay tuned for her 6 month post, and a post about our 1st day of school! Both the girls did fabulous! :)

Lately

2011-08-17T16:16:00.003-05:00

Just a few pictures of my sweet and sassy girls! They are growing so fast, and absolutely the sweetest and most adorable kids EVER! I am reminded everyday of how blessed we are to have them both in our lives. Annie and Charlotte are so fun to be around, and I am so thankful to be their mom.

Matching for church

Sassy...just like her mommy!

I don't know what Charlotte's lips are doing here, but she loves her little exersaucer!

Annie is having a "picnic" with all her friends.

Napping in mommy's bed.

Big 6 weekend

2011-08-08T16:32:00.007-05:00

I talked about these friends a few years ago, but I was so blessed to get to spend another weekend with them this summer. This is something that we are really going to try to do every summer.

I know that "Big 6" sounds silly, but we never actually called ourselves that. Amanda's mom gave us an engraved picture frame for graduation, and it said "Big 6" at the bottom. It kind of stuck.

These are the girls that I went to college with, and they are the ones that I feel the most comfortable with. We don't get to see each other very often, but we just pick right back up where we left off. I feel like I can truly be myself around them. I'm so thankful for each one of these girls and how much fun we always have when we are together. My "puzzle piece" fits perfectly with them, and I have been so blessed by each friendship.

(Me, Kristin, and Amanda)
Thursday, Amanda and Max came over to play. Then, Kristin and Luke joined us. It was SO great to finally get all 4 of our kiddos together. The last time we all got together, there was only 1 baby, but now there are FOUR! It was kinda crazy, but fun. Annie and Luke are destined to get married some day. I'm sure they will fall in love while they are at Baylor together. Charlotte and Max will also get married one day. Hopefully they'll be at Baylor together too. :)

On Friday, we all met at the mall. The boys were with other family members, and David picked Annie up after lunch. Charlotte braved shopping with us. We had lunch at PF Changs and then got some cute little outfits for the kids. We even got Martie, Katie, and Isaac to come up to the mall and help us get some FREE Vera t-shirts with "BU" on them. It was SO fun! I can't wait to wear my Vera Baylor shirt during football season. It is super fabulous!

(Brooke and Amanda)

Then, we went to Lindsay's and chatted, headed to dinner, and just hung out all night. It was so fun! On Saturday, Kristin had to head out early and Lindsay had a baby shower, but the rest of us got our nails done before lunch. We enjoyed a yummy lunch at Panera before heading our separate ways.

(Lindsay, me, and Brooke....All 3 of us lived together for 2 years, and Brooke and I lived together for 3 out of 4 years at Baylor. So fun!!)

God truly blessed me with such special relationships with these girls. I love them all, and I am so thankful for such wonderful friends. I love sharing life with them, and I REALLY wish that we all lived in the same city again!

(Micah, Amanda, and me)

Love you girls, and I can't wait for Memphis 2012!!(Kristin and Brooke)

Ps-Yes, I totally know that we are all sporting our Tri-delta letters. That's how we roll...fast and out of control. Hehe

5 Months

2011-08-08T16:27:00.008-05:00

Charlotte, you are 5 months old! I seriously cannot believe it!

You are such a sweet baby! You wake up happy every morning. You definitely found your voice on vacation, and now I get to hear it over the monitor every morning. It's really sweet.
You like to stick your tongue out when something is funny. It's so cute! It curls up and is adorable.

You are sleeping through the night now. HALLELUJAH! This actually happened on vacation! I dropped your dream feed, and you never looked back. It is so fabulous to sleep again and get some more time with your daddy at night. :)

You're pretty much on a 4 hour eating schedule too, and still nursing like a champ.

You are rolling all over the place and have even started crawling. Your face is always down on the floor, but you manage to get places. I'm sure you'll figure out that using your arms will make things easier soon.

You want to sit up, but aren't quite able to do that by yourself yet.

You like playing in your exersaucer, but most of all, you like watching Annie play. You smile, laugh, and just enjoy being around her. It's really precious. I know you two will be best friends!

You are in size 2 diapers and wearing size 3-6 months clothes.

Charlotte, we adore you, and are so thankful that you are a part of our family.

Annie at 5 months

Charlotte at 5 months. I think they look similar, but definitely different.

VACATION!!

2011-08-08T14:56:00.011-05:00

Our first family vacation as a foursome was SO MUCH FUN!

David and I were pretty nervous about how both girls would do in the car on the 12 hour drive to Gulf Shores, but they both did great! Annie didn't have one accident in the car and only asked to make one unexpected stop on the way there. (This was on the side of the road and she wouldn't go without her potty because the grass was too high. It was pretty comical.) We were so proud of her though. She watched movies, read books, colored, and just had a great time in the car. Charlotte didn't like it nearly as much as Annie did, but she didn't have the ability to entertain herself. Poor thing. She did great though until the last 30 minutes of both car days. She pretty much screamed those last 30 minutes, but again...it's hard to blame her. :)

I know you may not want to read all the silly details of our trip, so feel free to skip ahead to the ridiculous amount of pictures I've put on here. :)

We got there late Saturday night and put the girls straight to bed. Annie was bummed about not going to the beach right away, but we promised that we'd go the next morning. We ended up all sharing the same room. Charlotte's pack-n-play fit in a walk in closet, so that's where she slept. We didn't ever close both doors because we kinda felt bad putting her in there. She slept pretty well in there though, and it at least provided some sound barrier for the girls. Annie slept in a twin bed in our room, and we slept in the king size bed. I think we were all nervous how everyone would sleep, but it went great. Annie was up at 6:30 on Sunday, but I think that's because she was so excited to see the beach for the first time. Every other day, both girls woke up between 8 and 9. It was glorious! :)

On Sunday, we went to the beach right away, and then David watched the girls while a bunch of us went grocery shopping. We spent the afternoon at the beach and pool. Annie and Charlotte loved it!

On Monday, we spent the day at the beach again. Charlotte took a nap each morning in a swing down on the beach. She did great! We enjoyed building sand castles and playing in the water. It was so much fun! We went out to dinner that night, and David and I took Annie to walk on the beach after we ate. She looked up at me and just said, "Mommy, I love the ocean!" It was just so sweet!

Tuesday, was spent at the beach. David played golf that afternoon too.

Wednesday was rainy, so we spent the day shopping, and eating lunch at the fabulous restaurant, Mellow Mushroom. It was seriously some of the best pizza I've ever had! We did get to spend a little time at the beach that day, but not too much. We went out to dinner that night too. It was super fun and at a dock, so Annie LOVED looking at the boats and fish.

Thursday, we spent another day at the beach, and David spent the afternoon at the golf course. Annie, Christie, Taylor, and I went out to the beach that afternoon after Annie's nap, and it was SO fun! Annie wanted to run around and then we played in the pool. It was such a fun afternoon.

We spent the entire day at the beach on Friday since it was our last day there. We had planned on eating in that night, but ended up eating at a little restaurant up the road from our house. It turned out to be the best food we had all week. We got home, put the girls to bed, packed, and played one last game of cards.

Saturday morning, we got the girls up early, jumped in the car, and headed home. We were a little tired on the way home, but other than that...everything went great. I am so thankful for David and our girls. The four of us had a wonderful time together on vacation. I'm also so thankful for my extended family! It was so fun to veg, talk, play card games, play Scattergories, fly kites, eat out, and just have fun with everyone there. Here are some pictures of our fun week:

Charlotte's little toes in the ocean.
Annie building a sand castle with David on the beach. This was the last day, and they stayed on the beach long after everyone else headed in to the pool. Annie loved the ocean and the beach.

Charlotte's favorite spot....under the canopy, in the swing. We would just give her her little swimsuit cover up, and she'd snuggle up and fall fast asleep. So cute!

On a stormy day, it was so windy that our canpoy blew away. We couldn't put the cover back on the top, so I improvised so that Charlotte could sleep in her swing without getting any sun. Don't worry....we were always sitting there watching her. It actually worked pretty well.

Under the makeshift canopy.
I know Charlotte looks scared here, but I think they are so cute!

The dock where we ate dinner one night. So pretty!

Short nap before dinner.

I really love him!

Annie enjoying her first popsicle.Charlotte watching Annie get all sticky while eating her popsicle.

Pete and Charlotte waiting for dinner Monday night.

David, Alan, and Taylor

We had such a great time, and look forward to taking the girls back to the beach someday!

Fabulous Time

2011-08-01T22:14:00.003-05:00

I know I've been out of the loop lately, but we've been super busy. We just got back from a week at the beach, and these two precious babies had the best time!

(Please excuse my leg in the background...I was afraid Annie would drop Charlotte in the sand!) I will crop it out shortly, but haven't had time yet. Anyway--we had a fabulous week. More pictures to come soon. Just thought I'd give you a sneak peak. :)

For those of you not living in Texas....

2011-07-06T21:39:00.003-05:00

This is what we look like after we spend (literally) 10 minutes outside:

Annie insisted on going for a walk today, and this is how we all looked when we got home. I was trying to get home as quickly as possible, but Annie started collecting sticks, picking flowers from a neighbor's garden, and then just dragging her little stroller and baby doll around.

I don't think we'll be taking anymore walks until it cools off outside.

Just because it's cute...this is what we look like when we put on mommy's shoes after we've eaten a really ripe plum for dinner.
So stinkin' cute!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-06T21:19:00.005-05:00

We had a fabulous weekend! Sunday was actually our 7th anniversary! It has been a wonderful 7 years, and I look so forward to the next 60 or so. :)

Anyway--we started off at the donut shop, then off to church, and then to Mi Cocina for lunch. We dropped the girls off at my parent's house for nap, and David and I headed out to spend an entire day together. We stayed at a great hotel by the Galleria and just enjoyed relaxing, eating a yummy dinner, watching Bridesmaids (it was HILARIOUS), and SLEEPING IN!! It was so glorious to get up whenever we wanted, and to not have any monitors in our room. :) The girls had a great time with everyone, and it was nice to get a little time to ourselves. I was so glad to see them on Monday morning though. Annie could not have been cuter! She loved telling us all about what they did the night before.

On the 4th, we just hung out at the pool, and with all our family. We had a great time with everyone. We are so thankful to live in a country where we are free to worship, go to school, and enjoy life with our family. Thank you to all the men and women out there who have made that possible.Swimming with Papa. Charlotte....seriously CUTE! :)Charlotte and Aunt Christie.Swimming with Oma.Mamaw with her new perm and a cracker! :)My girls with Aunt Martie.Dee and Annie

4 Months

2011-07-06T21:01:00.004-05:00

Charlotte, you are 4 months old! I can't believe how quickly time has gone by! It seems like just yesterday that you were born. And, now you're rolling over and talking constantly.

We're going to the doctor tomorrow, so I'll update this post with all your measurements tomorrow.

You're so smart. You love to just sit and talk to everyone. You will smile at anyone. You're definitely the smiliest baby I've ever seen.

You've been rolling over since you were 2 1/2 months, but now you can roll from tummy to your back, and then back to your tummy. You're all over the place!

You like to sit in your high chair while we eat dinner at night. You play with some toys and just watch us. I think you just like to be a part of all the action.

You love to lay down and read books with us.

You like to lay on your tummy, hold your head up, and just look around. That's how I find you every morning in your crib.

You've started sleeping through the night!! Mommy is thrilled. You even spent the night for the first time at Dee and Pete's while mommy and daddy celebrated our 7th anniversary.

Charlotte, you are such a sweet girl. We all adore you, and are so thankful for such a perfect blessing. I love watching you with your sister, and I can't wait to see you two interact as you grow up. Your daddy and I love you more than words can say. Happy 4 months!

This is what happens....

2011-06-30T21:24:00.003-05:00

when Daddy is left in charge.

Seriously, I left the room for like 20 minutes, and this is what I came back to.

I think they were having fun.

Charlotte is loving every minute of it. I think she may be a little mischevious....just like her big sister!

Dedication Day

2011-06-30T21:23:00.003-05:00

On Father's Day, we dedicated Charlotte at church. This is not a baptism or anything like that, but something where we (as parents) commit to raising Charlotte in a Christ centered way. One of my deepest desires is that both of our girls will come to know Jesus at a young age, and that they would want to follow Him all the days of their life. It's a pretty big responsibility, but one that I am so looking forward to. Annie already loves to read her Bible, so I'm hoping that Charlotte will like it someday too. It is so fun to hear Annie talk about people in the bible, and especially stories about Jesus.

We had a great time celebrating with our family that day. There were 5 other kiddos that got dedicated that day, so it was fun to stand with other families in our church. We had both sets of grandparents there and lots of aunts and uncles. We enjoyed the church service, and then went to Ghengis Grill to enjoy each other's company. It was nice to celebrate Father's Day with David too.

It was a great day, and we are so thankful for the newest addition to our family.

Projects

2011-06-07T15:51:00.008-05:00

The teacher in me misses projects and REALLY misses teaching. Well, we have been doing some fun activities together the last couple weeks, and Annie and I have both had a blast.

First, we have made rainbow cupcakes twice now. Let me tell you, if you have a little one, you MUST make these!! It's just like making a white cake out of a box, but you separate the batter, add some food coloring, and then cook. It is SO much fun! Annie LOVES eating the batter that drips everywhere, and she also loves the way they look after they are all cooked. We have had the most fun making these. We're even going to make a batch on vacation to impress the grandparents. :)

I've also been looking at some other blogs, and I have found some cute ideas. I'll eventually link up, but I don't have time at the moment right now. (Remember, I haven't posted in forever!) Anyway--most of these ideas are either from other blogs or from teacher magazines that I have been checking out from the library. (I know, I'm a nerd, but I just LOVE teaching!!)

Anyway--we read the story of Noah's Ark, and then made this adorable art project. We used the erasers of pencils to dip into paint, and then dot them all over the page. Annie enjoys less structure in her painting, so we will probably wait a while before we try this again, but it turned out really cute. Plus, I think the message is great.

Note...I know that clouds are not pink, but that is Annie's favorite color, and she insisted on including it in our project. :)

Finally, I got this idea from a fellow Baylor grad. We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and then we colored the egg cartons and glued on our eyes, pom poms, and pipe cleaners. Annie had a GREAT time with this one.

Just a few fun projects that you might like to do with your little one. :)

3 Months

2011-06-07T15:51:00.004-05:00

Charlotte, your mother is SO behind on this post. I truly apologize. :)

Anyway--here is what you have been up to at 3 months....you roll over from your back to your tummy, and you love to sleep on your tummy. This stresses us out a little bit, but we can't keep you on your back for more than 5 minutes.

You like to talk to all of us, but you adore your big sister. You're still not sleeping through the night, but I'm not too worried about it. You're such a little peanut, and I want to make sure you're getting enough to eat. We'll work on that soon enough.

We all love your sweet disposition and your adorable smile. You are the perfect addition to our family, and we can't imagine life without you. We love you, sweet Charlotte!

80

2011-06-07T15:05:00.003-05:00

On June 2nd, my Papaw turned 80! I can't believe that he is 80 years old! He is such a wonderful man, and one of my very favorite people in the whole world!

Every summer, growing up, the girls and I would spend a week on their farm. It was always so much fun, and I wish we got to go out there more often. I would take my girls more often, but they have this super awesome train that goes by their house ALL THE TIME, and is so stinkin' loud! :) Annie loves there farm though, and I know Charlotte will too.

We had a wonderful time spending the evening with family, celebrating my wonderful Papaw. Happy 80th birthday!Papaw with his 2 great-grand daughters.The FABULOUS cake that my sister, Christie, made. If you need something sweet, she is the one to call!This is what Annie did to her piece of cake. She ate all the cake and the chocolate icing in the middle, and then used her finger to get all the buttercream icing out from between the top of the cake and the fondant. We finally had to cut her off. It was so funny! That girl knows her desserts!

Papaw with his 4 grand-daughters. (Please disregard the fact that you can see my white tank top through my black dress. I did wear a slip too, but you can still see it. So annoying! (and attractive...hehe)

Lately

2011-06-07T14:43:00.003-05:00

We have had a busy, but fun few weeks. I was actually sick for part of last week, hence, no blog posts. (And, if you could see my house, that would explain the mess and HUGE piles of laundry...good thing you can't see in my house. hehe)

Anyway--the girls and I are enjoying summer already. We had a great Memorial Day weekend. We went to the Air Hogs game on Sunday and swam in Dee and Pete's pool for the first time this season. It was a little chilly, but super fun. We also had a big birthday party for Papaw on Thursday. He turned 80! (A whole post is coming on that one!) Then, this last weekend we were pretty busy too. I took Charlotte to a shower for a sweet friend who is expecting a baby boy in July. It was fun to get out and hang out with other adults. Charlotte was supposed to sleep, but she didn't...shocker! She was pretty sweet though. Then, we got home, got Annie dressed, and went to a birthday party for one of David's coworkers. It was in Wylie, so we checked out all the new stuff that has been built on our way out there. When David and I moved into this house (almost 5 years ago), we drove down 14th towards Murphy, and there was NOTHING there. Now, it is fabulous! We found all kinds of fun places that we are going to be frequenting this summer. The most exciting thing is a Chick-fil-A with an indoor playground!!! I could not have been more excited. One thing that I've been thinking about lately, and that has been annoying me, is that we don't have any indoor playgrounds/free indoor stuff to do in Texas. I mean, I seriously cannot take my kiddos out for a picnic and playtime outside right now. It is too stinkin' hot! (We may have learned the hard way when we went to lunch last week at Central Market and tried to play on the playground. Not cool!) Anyway--now we have a close indoor playground, and I am perfectly happy to buy a large coke so that Annie can play there once a week. Score! :)

Annie and Charlotte had a great time at the birthday party this weekend. Annie got in a little pool with all her clothes on. It was hilarious! (Thankfully, we had an extra change of clothes.) We went to Chick-fil-A afterwards and had dinner at 8:00! It was definitely a late but fun night! We just had a great time hanging out as a family the rest of the weekend. This week seems pretty busy with Girls Night Out (for mommy), playgroup, library, and just some fun activities that we have planned. Nothing too exciting, but just fun times together. I'm still trying to talk David into going on vacation this summer. I can already smell the salty ocean air!! :)

Here is what you've been waiting for through this whole post.....

Charlotte napping at Pete and Dee's on Memorial Day.

Annie hanging out with Martha on Memorial Day.

Annie being silly with Daddy. David got home, and she insisted that he sit on the floor in the kitchen while she drug in a TON of her little kitchen gadgets. Keep in mind that mommy is cooking dinner this whole time. :) It was pretty cute!

Annie enjoying a hot fudge sundae after her last day of school! I can't believe that she's already done with her first year of school! This year has just flown by. She absolutely LOVES school, but I am so glad to have her all to myself this summer. :) I wish you could have seen the front of this shirt after the ice cream. It would now be a fabulous commercial for oxi-clean. It's looks great now, but oh my word....it was just mostly brown from her chocolate ice cream. Hehe.

Sweet Charlotte hanging out on the bed with mommy.

Ps-I would LOVE to know who reads my blog! If you could leave a comment and let me know, that would be so fun! Mom....you can comment too...I'll show you how. :)

Go Air Hogs!

2011-05-20T15:12:00.002-05:00

My dad's lawfirm now owns the Grand Prairie Air Hogs minor league baseball team! My dad is so excited about it, and is loving his job right now!

Opening day was a couple weeks ago, but we weren't able to go because it was in the evening and across town. With 2 little ones now, that didn't sound like a whole lot of fun. :) My mom took this Wednesday off though, and we went to a morning game. My grandparents came with us too. It was SO fun! It was kids day at the stadium and it was FULL of Grand Prairie 5th graders. I think they were having a blast.

We have a family suite, and it was SO cool! We got to sit outside and watch the game (which was by FAR, Annie's favorite part), we had lunch inside, and we could rest and relax on the couch or chairs if we wanted to. It is the perfect set up for our family with kiddos. It was awesome, and we can't wait to go back. Thanks Dee and Pete!

Charlotte hanging out with Dee. She slept for the first half of the game and then got to enjoy the rest with us. :) So sweet!Annie was SO excited about eating a hot dog. She loved it! :) She's sitting at the bar, watching the game outside.I LOVE this picture! Annie could not have been more excited! She loved being outside and watching the game. She clapped a ton, and would randomly yell "Get a hit," "Go Rangers," or "AHH!" It was so cute! She also loved the mascot, which is a pig. She called him a bear the whole time though. Funny. Notice her sweet little purse. Dee got that for her before the game. We love our Vera Bradley around here, and now Annie and I match. :) It is the perfect size and she carried it around with her little Minnie Mouse cell phone in it all day. It was adorable!

What are you doing?

2011-05-20T14:47:00.005-05:00

Well...I just wanted to document a few things that our sweet girls are doing these days so that I can always remember.

Charlotte....you are laying on your side constantly! This is your favorite way to sleep. This morning when I went to get you up, this is how you were laying. I cannot believe that you are beginning to roll over at 11 weeks! CRAZY GIRL!

You smile constantly and you love your big sister. Any time Annie is around, you smile at her. It's precious. You are much more interactive and you talk to me and Daddy alot. You are a sweet and happy baby.

This week you started sleeping 9 hours in a row. Mommy has been THRILLED to get 6 hours of sleep in a row. It's glorious!! You like to sleep in like your big sister too. We are so thankful for that.

Annie...you are absolutely the sweetest and most hilarious child ever. You love your little sister and like to be around her all the time. You tell her not to fuss in the sweetest little sing-song voice. You try to pick her up and then say "Oh...big boy!" I've tried to tell you that she's a girl, but you still say boy everytime you say that little phrase. You told me you needed "permission" for something today. It was so funny! You also played on the Chick-Fil-A playground all by yourself today and got all the way to the top and down the slide. You were so proud of yourself. You love to play with play-dough, blocks, your Disney figurines, Angry Birds on the iphone, and you LOVE to read books. You can read Bear Wants More almost word for word. I love listening to you read. It is so sweet. You're going on the potty all the time now. You very rarely have accidents, and we are so proud of you.

I love you girls more than words can say. I am so blessed that God chose me to be your mommy. I love staying home with you and seeing you grow and change each day. I love you both!

Just some cute pictures of my girls....

2011-05-09T21:08:00.003-05:00

Annie in her robe. (Which she does not like!)

This is how Charlotte slept in the swing today.

Reading Madeline already.....I told you she was smart! Hehe

Annie playing on our phone while Mommy gets dressed.

Charlotte fell asleep while I was getting dressed. I LOVE her little arms in this picture! So sweet!

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T21:03:00.004-05:00

I am so thankful that my job is to take care of these sweet kiddos all day long! Some days are a little rough and I definitely miss teaching at times, but I wouldn't trade the time I get to spend with Annie and Charlotte for anything. I am so blessed to be there mommy, and I am so thankful for our family.

I'm also so thankful for my wonderful mom and mother-in-law! My girls adore them, and I'm so thankful that they have such great grandmas! Now that I'm a stay at home mom, it really makes me appreciate all the things my mom did for me growing up. Thank you for making breakfasts, cleaning up after me, teaching me to pee on the potty (hardest thing EVER!), wiping my nose, laughing with me, letting me be myself, playing with me even when you were tired or sick, dyeing Easter eggs, making Christmas cookies, going to my choir concerts, taking us on vacations, and all the other things that you did to make life specials. I love you mom, and I am so thankful for you!

Happy Mother's Day!

2 Months

2011-05-04T20:45:00.003-05:00

Charlotte is officially 2 months old today! It's so crazy how quickly time goes. I can't believe it's already been 2 whole months since she was born!!

She is such a sweet addition to our family, and we are so thankful for our sweet blessing. She likes to sleep, but takes a little while to actually drift off. It's really not that bad, but it's not super fun at 3 in the morning. :) Speaking of....she's going for 6 hours (usually) after her evening feeding, and then getting up about 1 other time during the night. It varies, but she's really doing well.

We went to the doctor yesterday and she weighs almost 11 pounds. She's in the 50th percentile for weight, 55th percentile for height, and wait for it....the 90th percentile for head size. Shocking! :) She is a little smaller than her big sister, but her head is just as big! It just means she's going to be super smart.

We are so thankful to get to see this sweet face everyday, and we are loving watching our two girls talk to each other. Annie is such a good big sister, and LOVES to talk to Charlotte.

Happy 2 month birthday, baby girl. Your daddy, sister, and I love you so very much and are so thankful that you are a part of our family. God is so good!

(This is one of my FAVORITE pictures! I think she looks like someone just told her a joke. She's just so stinkin' cute!)

Easter

2011-04-27T15:46:00.007-05:00

We had a wonderful time celebrating Easter this weekend. David had the day off on Friday, so we really enjoyed spending time together as a family. We had fun working in the yard and shopping on Saturday. For the past 4 years, we've had both sides of our family over for Easter lunch after church on Sunday. We had about 30 people here that afternoon. It was fun to spend time with our family and enjoy a delicious meal. The little ones got to have an Easter egg hunt after lunch too. I think everyone had a great time!

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love going to church and singing praises to a God that is not dead. It's pretty humbling to sing to a God who gave his one and only son so that I may have life and have it abundantly. I'm so thankful that death could not hold Jesus in the grave, and that someday, I will get to spend eternity thanking God for that. What a great day! He is risen!

Here are a zillion pictures from our day:The girls (and me) with their great grandparents.

Aunt Christie and Aunt Natalie (I don't know where Martie was for this picture.)

Katie and Sarah...she LOVES them! :)

In the middle of the hunt.
(Ps--You'll notice that her hair is in a ponytail in some of these pictures. Well...we started the day with an adorable headband. Then, we got home and she was sitting in my dad's lap, just sweating up a storm! This kid sweats more than anyone else I know. I had to put her hair up to give her a little relief. Poor thing!)

With Pete

Oh my word, how cute is he?! Our sweet nephew, Andrew.

Nathan and Charlotte (7 months apart)Annie and Charlotte, first thing Easter morning with their baskets.

Charlotte had a great time, but she was a exhausted by the end of the day.

Big Sister

2011-04-14T21:06:00.001-05:00

Annie is such a great big sister. She hasn't acted out too much, and seems to truly love Charlotte. We're still working on her entertaining herself while I'm feeding Charlotte or making dinner. Some days she does great, and others she is constantly asking me to do something while my hands are full. She doesn't throw fits or anything like that, but I can tell she's just dying for me to come play. :) Today was a good day. She played and entertained herself everytime I had to feed Charlotte. Then, while I was making dinner, she decided to go sit next to Charlotte and read her books. It was absolutely precious. If you haven't heard her read these books, it is so cute! She really knows all the stories and repeats alot of the phrases word for word. I just love this kid!! She's going to be a fabulous reader some day!

This is what happens....

2011-04-14T21:05:00.001-05:00

when you ask Annie to go get a tissue.

If you do not watch her as she gets it and then brings it to you, this is what happens in the span of the 3o seconds that you take your eyes off of her. Goofball!

Sleeping Beauty

2011-04-14T21:01:00.005-05:00

Charlotte likes her tummy time, for the most part. Apparently, she was not in the mood yesterday because this is what happened literally a minute after I put her down....

So sweet!

Mad About Plaid

2011-04-14T20:58:00.004-05:00

As I've been picking out Annie's clothes for school this week, I have noticed one thing....we have a TON of plaid this season. Apparently, that is the in thing this year.

Here are 2 of our plaid choices this week. We also wore the CUTEST shorts to school today, but I didn't get a picture because she had an accident in them. We also have a plaid pair of capris that will be on the blog later, and 2 plaid shirts. None of the plaid shirts and pants will be worn together, but everything is SO cute!! :)

Little Sister

2011-04-14T20:48:00.004-05:00

Well, I think this sweet little one is a pretty cute little sister.....

Just a few pictures from some of the "little sister" outfits that we are about to completely grow out of! Charlotte is gaining weight and getting bigger, but she just seems super long to me. She can't wear the little newborn pjs anymore because they are too short. All her little newborn onesies are getting too little too. Crazy!!

I LOVE these little outfits, but I can never get good pictures of the girls in them. I liked this one because Annie is pushing Charlotte's head up. Hehe.

This is how they both felt about taking these pictures. Charlotte...annoyed. Annie...who cares?

I know she's all scrunched up in this one, but she's just so cute!! She's smiling ALL the time now and is starting to talk back to us on occasion. That is SO my favorite thing that babies do. It's adorable!

1 MONTH!!

2011-04-04T15:42:00.004-05:00

I can't believe that Charlotte is one month old today! It is amazing how quickly time goes by. She is absolutely perfect! She's a sweet baby, and her big sister is absolutely in love with her.

The adjustment to 2 kids was difficult during the first 2 weeks. I think it was because of all the emotions you go through. It was SO hard to watch Annie struggle with me not being able to do everything that I used to because of having to heal from the c-section. Now that I'm feeling WAY better, things have gotten back to normal around here. (Granted, a new normal, but still...normal.)

Charlotte likes being in the car, and is a trooper when we go places. She's already been out with Dee several times for shopping and lunch, to firewheel for a picnic, and Central Market a few times to watch Annie play and eat lunch/dinner. She likes being outside for walks, and is usually a pretty content baby. She LOVES watching Annie, and even smiled several times this morning when Annie touched her cheek. She's trying so hard to talk to me, so I'm hoping that's only a few days away. That is one of my favorite stages...the cooing back to you. So sweet! We are all very much in love with this sweet girl, and are blessed beyond what we could have ever imagined with our 2 sweet girls.

Charlotte's Room

2011-04-04T15:36:00.004-05:00

This room hasn't changed too much. We changed a few wall hangings, the bedding, and curtains. Otherwise, this room looks pretty similar to when Annie was in it. The beauty of having 2 girls.

Here are the letters I made for Charlotte. Note to self: pick a shorter name next time! It took me a while, but I think they turned out pretty cute, and they go perfectly with her bedding.

Speaking of, this is her bedding. I LOVE it! I know I said I don't really like to do pink, but we couldn't help it this time. I think it turned out pretty cute.

The great part about the bedding was that Target had a line of pink bird stuff out at the same time we bought it. Woo-hoo! So, we were able to get some accessories that were way cheaper. Here is the changing table with our little owl picture above it. You can't really tell, but the picture on the right wall is the cross-stitch piece that my mom made with Charlotte's birthday and stats. It's really cute.

Here is Annie in the rocking chair. :) I made these curtains for Charlotte too. I'm sure Charlotte will love this room as much as Annie did.

Big Girl Room

2011-04-04T15:27:00.003-05:00

Well, Annie has been in her big girl room since shortly after Christmas, and I STILL haven't posted anything about it. Sorry! Honestly, I'm sure the only people that actually care about seeing her room have actually been in it. But, I'll just throw up a few pictures that I never forget my sweet girls first big girl room.

Here is her big girl bed. This was actually my bed when I was a little girl. The bedding was my sister, Natalie's, from college last year. I just LOVE how bright and colorful it is. I couldn't pass it up. I also put her letters above her bed. They ended up going perfectly with the room since they are all bright colors too. The dresser on the right has some blankets and toys in it.

This is her little reading spot. She's got lots of books, which are definitely her favorite things. Plus, we have our little dress up trunk that we get into occasionally.

Here is her tent that she got for Christmas. She LOVES it! It definitely made the transition to a new room way more fun for her. (Ps-I totally made her curtains!! I know they're not anything spectacular, but I was just glad I actually finished them.)

And, her little toy corner. We're going to have to move some clothes bins out of her 2nd closet and start keeping more toys in there. Our house looks like a toystore exploded downstairs. :)

I made this little hanging for her. She always brings stuff home from school and church, and I just don't have enough space to hang it all on the fridge. So...I thought it would be a cute idea to have it in her room. I think she really likes it.

Cupcakes

2011-04-04T15:23:00.003-05:00

Christie and Taylor brought us dinner last week. It was so thoughtful and absolutely delicious! Christie had called to tell me what she was making and she didn't mention dessert. Well, I needed a dessert that day. :) Annie had had a great day, so I thought it was time for us to make some cupcakes. Charlotte sat in her bouncy chair and watched as we "dumped" the ingredients in the bowl, stirred, and tasted the batter. Annie was adorable, and the cupcakes actually turned out pretty good. It was a little intimidating since my sister makes the most AMAZING cupcakes and sweets ever. (Check out her blog!) Ours were from a box, but made with love. They turned out perfect!

Our Little Artist

2011-04-04T15:21:00.002-05:00

Annie LOVES to paint these days. It's SO cute! We get our paints, water, and paint brushes out, and she just goes to town. She's really not too messy either. David asked the other day if she actually used the paint brushes. I just laughed. She's SUCH a girl because she does NOT like having stuff all over her hands. Finger painting is going to have to wait...we'll just stick with our paint brushes. :)

Are we crazy? Possibly.

2011-03-28T15:04:00.003-05:00

(This shirt is from Disney World! Katie went over spring break and brought it back for her. It has Marie on the front and Annie's name underneath it. It has been a HUGE hit around here. We love it and are so thankful for such a sweet and thoughtful friend.)

Well, Friday marked an important day in our household. The day that Annie officially stopped wearing diapers! YES!! We might be a little crazy to try to potty train our sweet 2 year old while adjusting to life with a 3 week old, but I think we were just done with the diapers.

Annie woke up that morning, and we put our big girl panties on and threw away ALL our diapers. Woo-hoo! We'd been talking about this for a few days, so she was thrilled. We started off with the 3 day method, but after 6-8 accidents (I forgot the exact number) I decided that I thought that method was stupid. :) If you used it, way to go....it didn't work for us. So we shifted to the PottyWise method that afternoon and had 2 successful trips to the bathroom. Already working much better! :) Annie literally peed or pooped everywhere on Friday, but I actually kept my cool. She was trying her best and that's all I could ask for. Thankfully, David came home with dinner that a friend made us (PRAISE THE LORD!!) and a large coke from Sonic. After the girls were asleep, I promptly took a shower and felt (and probably smelled) much better. Saturday was a better day. Annie had 3 successful trips to the potty and WAY fewer accidents. Daddy is usually the calm one in our family, but potty training is apparently not his thing. Hehe. He was great with Annie, but I could feel his frustration. Sunday, we again stayed home and had only 2 accidents. Woo-hoo!

It is now Monday, and we have not had any accidents today. (YET!) The only problem that we're having is her telling me when she has to go. So far, she is just going to the potty when I have her sit down. This goes with the little bear and everything, but I REALLY REALLY want her to start telling me when she has to go. I think that will be our major turning point. She's going to go to school tomorrow, so we'll see if that helps too. I know those ladies have been helping parents potty train for years. Annie loves her teachers, so maybe she'll get a little better about telling people tomorrow. We'll see. We'll be staying close to home this week, but I can already feel some sort of accomplishment. I'll just have to watch her when we go places and constantly remind her about going on the potty, but I think we could venture out a little this week. :)

Anyway--my sweet girl is almost potty trained. I can't believe it! I'm super excited about it, but I can't believe she's old enough to wear big girl panties. Weird!! Time sure does fly.

Sweet Charlotte

2011-03-23T15:16:00.004-05:00

Well, I have been SO bad about making sure that I'm documenting all of Charlotte's firsts. Ugh! Let me update everyone. :)

Charlotte's first outting was on Friday--her 2 week birthday. We went to Babies 'R Us in Allen to return a stroller. Hopefully we'll get another one soon...we just have to find which one we like best. After that, we went to Le Creuset to return a few things (from Christmas) and then out to lunch at Chili's. The next day, we went out for the first time as a family of 4. We went to Fire Wheel to play on the playground, Annie rode the train, and then we had a picnic. Next, we came home for a nap and then headed back out again. We met Annie's cousins for dinner at Central Market. Annie and Andrew LOVED playing on the playground, and the weather was SO great to just be outside. It was glorious. On Sunday, we went to church, and then this week is our first official week all on our own. It's been interesting, but it's going well.

We did go to Charlotte's first doctor appointment on Monday. She got a fabulous report. She weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces. Woo-hoo! That means that she's gained an additional 10 ounces on top of her birth weight. This kid likes to eat! She's in the 55th % for weight, 70th for height, and 85th for head. :) We were so glad.

She's also sleeping longer at night already. We've gone 6 1/2 hours one night and 5 a couple nights. Hopefully we'll keep stretching it and start sleeping through the night relatively soon. I feel much better already. :)

We are definitely in love with this sweet girl, and couldn't be happier to be a family of 4!

First time (outside of the hospital) sleeping on daddy!

Church

2011-03-23T15:12:00.003-05:00

We enjoyed our first Sunday back at church this week. Annie went the weekend that Charlotte was born, but David and I hadn't been in a couple weeks. It's not a huge deal, but I definitely wanted to get out of the house and be a little social, and I don't want Annie to get out of the habit of going. I know it will be just that much harder to get her back in the routine of going again. She was so excited to go see all her friends. It was adorable! Charlotte and I enjoyed our time in the cry room, and then we even ventured out to sit at the back of the church for a while. It was lovely. We had a great time worshiping and seeing our friends.

Sweetest baby there. (Obviously!)Sweetest big girl there. (Again, obviously!) We even threw in a little Baylor bow and some super fabulous gladiator sandals. Notice the Curious George book in her hand. This is her new favorite book!

Lucky!

2011-03-23T15:07:00.002-05:00

I got to spend a sweet St. Patrick's Day with my 2 lucky lephrechans. :) Last Thursday was actually our first complete day on our own, and it went fabulously! We didn't do anything super special, but the girls wore their green and we went on a walk. Ok...Charlotte didn't wear much green, but she had a little bit on. Annie's old onsie from her first St. Patrick's Day was WAY too big, so I just went with something that had a little green on it. Oh well. Annie loved wearing her "Kiss Me" shirt. I even got her to open her arms wide and yell "Kiss Me" when Daddy got home from work. It was adorable!

Ruth

2011-03-19T14:22:00.003-05:00

If you're wondering how we picked Charlotte's name....I'll tell you. :)

First of all, with Annie, we totally had a girl name all picked out. We had NO idea what we would name the baby if it was a boy. We didn't care if it was a boy or a girl, but we just couldn't decide on a boy name. Obviously, she was a girl and we named her Anne Grace. I don't know if I've said before that we named her Anne after my dad's mom. My grandma died when I was 12, but I thought it would be special to name my first daughter after her.

Well, this time around was a bit different. We kind of thought that baby #2 would be a boy. Again, we didn't care, but we had several boy names picked out and NO girl names. It was funny. Well, obviously Charlotte is not a boy, so we had to do some thinking after we found out. We had gone through a baby name book and the only girl name that we had sort of liked was Charlotte. We both thought that it was pretty, and we like picking names that aren't used very often. So, that's how we came up with Charlotte. For Ruth though, she is named after my mom's mom. I have to say that I wish I had known my dad's mom better before she died, but I have definitely had that privledge with my Mamaw. She was always there for birthdays, holidays, and babysitting when my parents went out of town.

The girls and I would always go to her house for at least a week in the summer. We never bathed while we were there, nor did we brush our teeth. I know....it's disgusting, but we LOVED it!! Mamaw and Papaw live on a farm, so you can imagine how dirty we got. Hehe. Mamaw let me make messes in her kitchen and she taught me how to sew on her old sewing machine. We like to read the same books, and I just love talking with her. She's definitely a crazy lady, but I couldn't be more blessed to have such a wonderful grandma. Her name is Kitty Ruth, and I thought it would be appropriate to give my daughter her middle name. It will always remind me of Mamaw, and be a special part of Charlotte. I'm so glad that Mamaw has gotten to meet her namesake and will hopefully get to watch her grow for years to come.

Lots to catch up on....

2011-03-15T14:52:00.005-05:00

As I'm sure you expected, we have had a lot going on over the past week and a half of being home. We had a great week last week with lots of family coming over to see Charlotte, hang out, and bring us meals. We are so thankful and blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful family. Annie, Charlotte, and I also enjoyed spending the week with Daddy. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love that man! It's funny to me to think back on times when we were 16 and in love or at Baylor. I never dreamed I could love him more, but I do. He is so selfless, and such a great dad. He played with Annie all week, listened to me cry, hugged me, and just loved on all of us. I am so blessed to be his wife.

He did have to go back to work yesterday, so that was a little bit sad. I only cried in the afternoon and then once when he got home. I do think the last time shouldn't count since I was watching the news, and they were talking about Japan and the families there. I couldn't help but start to cry! My mom and sisters have been coming over this week to entertain us and help me clean the house. We've also had some fabulous lunches. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family. (Have I said that yet? Hehe.) Annie is loving playing with everyone, and I am loving the company. Next week will be a little harder when everyone has to go back to work and school, but I know I can do it. I'm getting less and less emotional with each passing day. I don't have to take medication anymore, so that is fabulous! I'm also just feeling more like myself. I have truly loved spending this year at home with Annie, and it's really not too different. I mean, David and I are a little more tired than usual, but Charlotte is just a great addition to our lives. Annie and I will continue to have fun, we'll just include Charlotte in it. We probably won't make it to Northpark quite as much, but I guess that's not the end of the world. :)

We are all adjusting and loving life. We are so thankful to God that our girls are both healthy, and that we have such wonderful family that is helping to take care of us. Enjoy some pictures of my sweet baby girl.

Stretching today.
Our first visit with Mike and Mary (all the way in from New York)

Sleeping beauty

Daddy with his girls

Coming home outfit

Our little strawberry
This one looks just like one of Annie

After her first bath. She is obviously not happy, but she really doesn't hate bathtime too much.

Still in the hospital

2011-03-15T14:32:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the title...we're not still in the hospital, but all these pictures are from the hospital. :) Everyone had such a great time meeting Miss Charlotte last week. It was SUCH a different experience than when we had Annie.

When Annie was born, she wasn't breathing right, so they whisked her away to the NICU, and I didn't get to hold her until the next day. We didn't have any skin to skin contact for 3 days, and then she spent another 3 days hooked up to more monitors in the special care unit. God was SO good during that time, but it was a little stressful and overwhelming.

This time, we woke up at 4:30 on Friday morning, got dressed and ready, and headed to the hospital around 5:30. My parents got her to watch Annie, and everything was all set. We got to the hospital, immediately got checked in, and the ball was rolling. Shortly after all the information was in the computer, I got my IV put in. Honestly, that hurt WAY worse than I was expecting. Then, I got the epidural. Everyone had told me that it would hurt so much worse this time, but I hardly felt a thing. Once it kicked in, we headed into surgery and sweet Charlotte was here shortly afterwards. David got to hold her the entire time that I was being stitched up, and as soon as we got back to our room, I got to hold her. It was glorious. We just had such a good time snuggling and getting to see her. Our family came back and got to see her too, and then we headed up to the room. We had lots of visitors that day (as you can see), and we enjoyed getting to see everyone.

(These are the gifts that Charlotte gave to Annie. Hilarious!)

I will say that the recovery from this c-section was MUCH harder than the last one. In some ways it was better because I knew what to expect, but in others, it was just really hard. It was SO hard to not let Annie get too close to me because of all the stitches and IVs and stuff. I know she didn't understand that. It was hard to say goodnight to her every night and send her off to her grandparents. I know she had a wonderful time with them, and we so appreciate all they did, but I know she was ready to come home too.

I was definitely ready to go home too. We had Charlotte on Friday and headed home on Monday around noon. It was SO nice to bring her home and just lay down and relax for a bit. Annie got home and did NOT understand why mommy couldn't come upstairs for bath. It was the hardest night of David and my life. After I finished feeding Charlotte, I made it upstairs and helped put her to bed. I just couldn't listen to her cry anymore. Thankfully, since then, she has been great. She did throw a few fits those first few days we were home, but now she's back to her normal, sweet self. I can't even express how much I missed my big girl while I was in the hospital. I'm so thankful to all be home together, and for my sweet family of FOUR! :)

Charlotte Ruth

2011-03-04T20:27:00.003-06:00

Charlotte Ruth was born at 8:55 this morning. She weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 20 inches long. She is absolutely perfect!! We are both tired, but doing well. Annie absolutely loved her. She kept asking to hold her, and was SO sweet! She loved her little hands and toes. They were super sweet together. I'll post pictures of the 2 of them together tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers. Today was just SO much better than the last time we had a c-section. It was absolutely wonderful to hold her right after she was born and just snuggle all day rather than be wheeled to the NICU all day. We are so blessed and thankful to our amazing God.

The Big Day!!

2011-03-03T20:42:00.002-06:00

Well, tomorrow is the big day. In less than 24 hours, I will have 2 sweet little girls. Actually, in about 12 hours. Yipes! We are so excited to meet our sweet Charlotte.

Please pray for an easy delivery/surgery and that Charlotte would be healthy and happy. Also, that Annie would adjust to being a big sister with a little less attention focused on her. I think this weekend will be super fun for her, but once we get home, she may feel a little different. She has talked all day about meeting Charlotte and how little she will be at the hospital. It's so sweet. I can't wait to see my 2 girls together.

We will try to post pictures while we're at the hospital. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. :)

The eye doctor

2011-02-25T15:37:00.004-06:00

When we had annie's 2 year appointment, her doctor said that we needed to take her to an opthamologist to check her eyes. Poor baby. I hope she has not inheirited my mom and sister's eyesight. They think she has an astigmatism in her right eye. We will probably have to get glasses, but we are going to re-evaluate in 6 months. (I'm sure this might have something to do with the fact that keeping up with a newborn and glasses is not the best idea.)

Honestly, David and I aren't sure if we'll do glasses. We'll obviously get her whatever she needs, but we want to make super sure that she actually needs glasses this early. I just can't imagine her keeping them on. I guess we'll find out in 6 months.

She had to get her eyes dialated (which was so sad), but we did enjoy wearing these slammin' blue glasses for the rest of the day. I should have taken a picture of her riding through Pier 1 in the cart with her glasses on. Hilarious!! :)

Annie's First Haircut

2011-02-25T15:25:00.003-06:00

Well, I thought we would have to do something like this around her first birthday. Nope, my daughter's hair has not come in nearly as quick as I thought it would. She really didn't necessarily need a haircut this time either, but we thought we'd get everything kind of evenned out and then maybe it will start coming in a little more.

Here are our before shots:

Check out those little whispies on the side. They just crack me up. The lady trimmed them, but they are still there. She said they'll just have to grow out a little. I secretly love them.

The back...a little bit fuzzy. Now we have an even cut in the back and it looks like a little bob. Love it!!

Playing with the train table while we waited. Did I mention that we waited FOREVER? Annie did great, but mommy was about to throw something. :)

Here is my big girl in the red car that she liked driving.

The sweet lady that cut our hair.

I have to say that I'm so glad we got her hair cut, and that it was a special day. She was so excited about getting it cut, and she did so great with all the waiting and then while they cut her hair. We even went for Chick-Fil-A afterwards. I will say that getting a kid's hair cut at a special place is a TOTAL rip off. :) It is SO overpriced for them to cut like 1/4 of an inch off of your child's hair and let them sit in a car. I think we will always take our kids somewhere special for their first haircut, but after that....it's up to mommy, or we can go to Great Clips for like $8. My word! Hehe

Potty Training?

2011-02-25T15:16:00.002-06:00

Well....I was hoping that Annie would be potty trained by the time that Charlotte got here. I think she's ready, but I just haven't really pushed it yet. Honestly, the thought of bending over and cleaning up accidents while 9 months pregnant is SO not appealing to me. My new goal is to be in big girl panties before Easter. We had her little potty upstairs in her bathroom and then tried moving it downstairs during our week of being snowed in. Honestly, we have sort of forgotten that it's there. This week, it went back upstairs and we are working on going on the big girl potty again. Hopefully by mid-spring we will be in big girl panties and then only have one in diapers. Keep your fingers crossed for us. :)

Snow Day

2011-02-04T20:50:00.001-06:00

This has been the weirdest (but best) week ever! Monday was a typical day in our household. Then, we woke up Tuesday morning to 2-3 inches of ICE all over the roads. I woke up early to get ready for school, and was SO thankful that I could crawl back in bed once I saw that Plano ISD was cancelled. We didn't leave the house at all on Tuesday, but David got the day off too, so we all had so much fun hanging out at home. Then, that night, we saw on the news that everyone was cancelled again on Wednesday. When do Texas school districts call it the night before? It's been so different because the temperature hasn't even come close to 32 degrees, so nothing has melted. David got Wednesday off too, and we did venture out to the post office and Tom Thumb, but other than that...we stayed home.Then....same thing happened that night. School was cancelled for Thursday as well. Annie and I got the entire week off from school. Woo-hoo. David got to stay home AGAIN! We went to Sonic, but that was it. Then, everyone cancelled again for Friday because we were expecting snow. We didn't think that David would get Friday off too since we weren't sure we'd get too much snow. Well...we were wrong! This is what we woke up to yesterday morning:

After Annie's nap, we took her outside. It was SO fun! She fell face first pretty soon after we got outside and was N-O-T happy! It was hilarious. We dried her face off and she started liking things again. We had so much fun throwing snowballs (mostly watching Daddy throw them), going "sledding" in a big plastic box, and just running around in the snow. She could not have been cuter!

We have had such a great week. All 3 of us have gotten 4 whole days off together. We've played and gotten stuff done around the house. We haven't left the house much, but we did have Campisi's deliver some yummy pizza and pasta tonight. Glorious!! :) I do love hanging out with my family, but I will say that I'm ready for some of the ice to melt so that we can drive around a bit more.

Ps-If this post looks funny...I have no idea what these pictures are doing....weird! :)

Happy 2nd Birthday!

2011-01-28T21:01:00.001-06:00

Our sweet Annie turned 2 on January 23rd. I can't believe it's been 2 years since she was born. I remember that day like it was yesterday. She is just so stinkin' big and cute now! Here are a few pictures from our fantabulous day....

Mommy and Daddy got Annie up for church. Notice...she's in her big girl bed. (More pictures of the big girl room and bed coming soon.) Also, Daddy picked the pj's the night before, so that is why they totally do NOT match. :)

She wore the cutest little dress with presents and a cake on it to church, and then came home to a family birthday party. We had all our family over for a lunch with all of Annie's favorite foods. I made homemade meatballs and spaghetti. This is her all time favorite food. It's hilarious how much she'll eat of this meal! My mom brought salad and breadsticks from Olive Garden, and Davids' mom brought a fruit salad. Seriously, my child could eat fruit ALL day long! Every time I asked what kind of cake Annie wanted for her birthday, she always said "pink." So...I made a fabulous pink cake, and Christie brought us some pink cookies. Are they not adorable? If you need cookies, a cake, or cupcakes, she is the person to call.

After eating lunch we opened presents, and then had dessert. Annie went down for a nap, and then our little family of 3 went to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. She had SO much fun! It was just the perfect day! I can't believe my baby is 2 years old. I also can't believe that this time next year, I will have a 3 year old and a 10 month old. Yipes! We are truly blessed, and so thankful for our precious Annie. We couldn't ask for a more wonderful daughter. We love you, sweetheart!

Jesse Tree...finally!

2011-01-28T15:40:00.001-06:00

Ok...I know this is SO late, but I had to share one of my favorite things we did this Christmas season.

I read about this on several of my friend's blogs, and thought I'd give it a try. Several friends from church and I got together and made these ornaments. I went and bought some of them, we painted some of them, and then I made several on my own after our first meeting. We had a great time hanging out, and I SO enjoyed making all the ornaments.

Here's how it works...

Every night after Thanksgiving, you read a Bible story. Then, Annie would open a present that went with the story. We'd hang it on her little tree and end with a short prayer. You basically go through the stories of the old testament that lead up to Jesus' birth. It's a fabulous way to teach the stories in the Bible. Annie absolutely loved going up to her room every night and opening a present. She remembers the stories and can still tell us what most of the ornaments mean. It was such a special tradition to start this year, and I know it will only get better each year.

Here are the pictures of the ornaments that we put on our tree this year:

We started with reading the verse in Isaiah 11:1 about a shoot springing forth from the stump of Jesse. (This is talking about Jesus.) We hung this at the top of our tree, and then did another story that night too. The other story was creation, and then we hung our picture of the world on the tree.

Next was Adam and Eve. Annie can tell you that the snake gave them the apple and then they got in trouble. :) After that, we read about Noah and the Ark.

After Noah, it was on to Abraham and Sarah. We added a star garland to remind us about God's promise that their descendants would number more than the stars. (I completely forgot to get a picture of the tree with the ornaments on it, but this looked so cute!)

I made Joseph's coat on my own right after Thanksgiving. I know it's not the most spectacular looking thing, but Annie did love it. It was bright and shiny and definitely, and looked so cute on our tree. Annie likes to talk about Joseph's "robe."

Here are all the ornaments for Moses' stories. First, you have the passover story with the blood sprinkled over the door. Annie didn't really understand this story, but she'll tell you that it's blood on the door frame. After that, you have the bread or manna. Annie can tell you that God gave this to the Israelites. Then, we have the 10 commandments. She didn't quite get this story yet either, but I LOVE listening to her try to say the word "commandments." Hehe.

Here is the trumpet for Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. This was one of her favorites. She loved to pretend to blow into it, and then "shout." Then, we have David's staff, and Annie could tell you that he was a shepherd. Then, we have David's sling and 5 rocks that he battled Goliath with.
Then, we had Solmon's crown. Also, Jacob's ladder. (I know that's out of order, but I forgot to take it off the tree before taking the other pictures.)

Then, we had the story of Ruth and Naomi. This is a bundle of grain to remind us that Ruth picked up grain in the fields. Annie can totally tell you that. The next story was about Queen Esther. Annie loves to point at the sceptor and tell you that she saved her people. It is adorable!!

Next, it was on to 2 of Annie's favorite stories. First, we had Daniel and the lions Den. She LOVES this story and can tell you that an angel saved Daniel from the lions. Then, it's on to Jonah and the whale. She loves saying "gulp" when it's time for the fish to swallow Jonah. So cute! I got both of these ornaments at Hobby Lobby. (Sorry it's not right side up. This blogger thing is taking forever to upload pictures, so I don't want to change it at the moment. Ugh!)

Finally, we ended with these 3 stories. First, the angel came to Mary to tell her that she was having Jesus. Annie LOVES this story. Then, we read about Joseph and Mary's trip to Bethlehem. We used the map ornament for that story. Lastly, we read about Baby Jesus being born in the stable, and we used the nativity ornament.

This was such a special time for our little family every night, and I know Annie loved it. She loved opening the presents, but she really enjoyed reading the stories in the Bible too. She loves reading her Bible now and we read alot of these stories over and over. Santa still visited and brought her presents, but I wanted to make sure that she always knows the true reason that we celebrate Christmas.

There weren't enough ornaments for everyday from Thanksgiving to Christmas. We may have skipped a few nights, but we did open a present and read a story almost every night. I will probably add a few more stories next year. Feel free to ask me any questions or let me know about any ideas that you may have tried with a Jesse tree. It will definitely be something that we do each year, and I know something that Annie and Charlotte will always love!

Castillejos Christmas

2011-01-09T21:04:00.001-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! We were out and about, and just really enjoyed spending quality time with family and friends.

We started the Christmas festivities on the 22nd by making (what will totally be) our annual Christmas cookies. I was SO glad that David was home to help me a little bit, but we had so much fun. I think David was a little worried, but everything turned out great! Annie was absolutely adorable, and we just had a great time.

On the 23rd, we went to David's parent's house to decorate their tree. All the siblings were in town, and the kids had a great time hanging candy canes and being with their aunts and uncles. We had breakfast, decorated, and had lunch before heading home for a nap. Annie with her reindeer stocking. She LOVED talking about that thing! She also decided that the snowman one next to hers would be Charlotte's next year. It was pretty sweet to hear her talk about them both.

The next morning was Christmas Eve. All 3 of us were very excited. We went over and had breakfast, and then the kids got to start opening presents. Annie was a little bit excited. Nathan didn't exactly know what was going on, but he was precious. :) Annie got little Winnie the Pooh figurines, and LOVES them. Daddy and I actually found a Darby and Buster to go with them too, and I think those might be her favorites. She loves to play with them in the bathtub at night. It's so sweet because it SO reminds me of Martha....she used to love those little figures too. Santa came a day early and brought Annie a pink bicycle. She can't quite reach AND push the pedals, but she likes to be pushed around. It's pretty cute! After openning presents, attempting to take a good nap, and eating an early dinner, we all headed to church for the Christmas Eve service. David was not a huge fan of this little outfit at first, but it would have been impossible for her to look cuter! Family picture time after the service.

After having some dessert, we packed up and headed over to my parent's house to spend the night. (This will be our last year to do that. Next year, we'll wake up at home and head over to my parent's house later that morning.) Annie actually slept GREAT and we all got some rest. She didn't get up until after 9:00! As soon as she woke up, we all headed in to open all our stocking stuff. I wish we had waited a little longer because Annie just wasn't 100% awake yet. She was still cute though. She was SO excited about getting Duchess and O'Malley.

Checking Mickey out.

Opening her stocking.

Hugging her two favorites! I promise that I will take more pictures next year. It's just so hard to not be in the moment, paying attention to her reactions. We had a wonderful Christmas, and are so looking forward to sharing it with our 2 girls next year! :)

Bummer

2011-01-03T20:23:00.000-06:00

I don't have a picture to go with this post (I promise to get the ones from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day up soon), but I just had to share what Annie said this morning.

Let me preface it with the fact that David has been off for over TWO WEEKS!! December 16th was his last day, and we had an absolute blast while he was home. We did all kinds of holiday excursions, went shopping, and spent time with family and friends. It was SO nice to just be together and not have to worry about getting up early or anything like that. It was glorious.

Well....today was his first day back. Annie has been completely attached to him these last 2 weeks, so we weren't sure how this morning would go. There weren't any tears, but she wasn't too pleased. David sat down with her and said that he had to go to work, and Annie responded with, "Oh bummer." It was hilarious. She was definitely bummed today, and I think mommy and daddy were too. We are so thankful that David has such a wonderful job, and that I am able to stay home with Annie. It was just hard to be apart today after such a wonderful time together.

We love you daddy!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-22T15:22:00.000-06:00

Lots of stuff has been going on around the Castillejos house these last couple weeks. David gets these 2 weeks off, so we have just been enjoying the time as a family. Last Friday was David's first day off, so we started our day early at Northpark. We thought we'd miss most of the big crowds since most kids were stillin school. It was crowded, but we started our day off with the BEST parking spot:

I will admit that David was not super thrilled to be starting his day at 9:30 at Northpark, but I think he felt a little better when we parked here. We got there early to get a number for Santa, but we were told to come back at 2:30. 82 people got there before us. I mean, really?! I never really visited Santa growing up, but I really wanted Annie to at least experience it once. So, we finished our shopping, visited the trains,

went to lunch at McDonalds (this is a tradition that David and I started when we got engaged in New York 7 years ago), and then headed over to Dee's for a nap. After Annie's nap, we headed back to Northpark to see Santa. Since they had already called our number, we got to get straight in line. Once we were in line, it was only a 15 minute wait. Annie was so excited about seeing Santa, but apparently she did NOT want to sit in his lap!
The last one is the only relatively decent one, but she was still upset. It was kind of comical, but David and I decided that we won't be doing that anymore with any of our kids. Honestly, it was too much of a hassle. I don't want that to be one of our hectic and crazy Christmas traditions. Especially when it really upset her so much. As soon as we walked away from Santa, she was talking about him and saying what he was going to bring her. So, I think she loves him, but we'll just stick to sending him letters and waving hello when we see him at the mall. :) (I will say that I think the Northpark Santa is the absolute BEST around!! He could not have been sweeter, and I just love him!)

These next few pictures are from a few weeks ago, but they are just so cute. This first one is the night that we went to pick up our Christmas tree. It was FREEZING outside, and Annie didn't have a super heavy coat yet, so we threw this one on that Mamaw and Papaw got us. It is super warm, and I think she looked absolutely adorable. It was such a fun night!

David and I love this picture. It's just so funny. She very rarely stands this still, so I'm surprised we got one of her like this at all. This one has a bit more personality. This was our main picture on our Christmas card. I HATE that Annie is not in a Christmas outfit, but this was the best smile we could get. :)

This is the Saturday morning that we (mostly David) put the Christmas lights up. He did have a really sweet helper though.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures. I would have used it as our Christmas card picture this year, but we took it after I had already ordered them. Uncle Taylor took it, and he did such a great job. I'll do another post soon about Annie and add some of the pictures that he took of her. They are adorable. Did I mention that he's super talented? :) Annie's laughing at Martie in this picture, and I LOVE that her hair is just blowing in EVERY direction.

I'm sure I'll have lots to post about soon with Christmas only 2 days away. Annie is SO excited and can definitely tell you exactly what she wants Santa to bring her. I'm sure he'll come through. :) I can't wait to see her reaction on Christmas morning. We hope you have a very Merry Christmas with your friends and family. We are so thankful for all the magical things going on in our house at this time of year, but I will say that our favorite part of Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Without him, there would be no Christmas. I hope we can always instill that truth in Annie's life. We've been reading Bible stories each night leading up to Christmas and hanging on ornament on Annie's Jesse tree. It has been her absolute favorite part of the holidays so far. I'll be sure to post pictures of that soon. Again, we love you all and are so thankful for our wonderful friends and family. May the joy of Christ light your lives this week as you celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Black Eye

2010-12-13T16:04:00.000-06:00

Well, we had our first black eye a couple weeks ago. David took the Monday after Thanksgiving off, and he was playing with Annie in our room while I made the bed. Annie was just so excited that daddy was home, that she might have been playing

a little harder than normal. She ran to jump on the pillows on the floor, and ran STRAIGHT into the windowsill. It was HORRIBLE! The sound was terrible, and she just immediately started crying. Her eye also immediately started swelling and changing colors. She looked like she had a bit of a unibrow with the line where she hit. Then, the next morning, the corner of her little eye was definitely black. It has been 2 weeks, and we still have a little bit of discoloration in the corner of her eye. Thank goodness that it is finally starting to look better though. :)

I'm sure this will be the first of many injuries, but it was so awful! Mommy and daddy were both sick. Thankfully Annie didn't seem too bothered by it after the initial shock. Poor baby!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-13T15:50:00.000-06:00

Well...better late than never! :)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. David and I switch off our favorite traditions each year. This year we got to do my tradition, so we went up to Mamaw and Papaw's first thing Wednesday morning. Annie enjoyed a bagel on the way, and we went to Walmart to get a few ingredients once we got there. David helped my grandpa choose a new TV, and then spent the rest of the day setting it up for him. It was not what he was planning on, but it was really sweet. Annie, Mommy, Dee, and Mamaw spent the afternoon baking pies. It could have gotten done so much quicker, but Annie LOVED helping. She loves to "dump" the ingredients in the bowl, and then to stir. It was adorable.

The rest of the family came up late Wednesday afternoon, and then we all headed to Babe's in Sanger for dinner. It was fabulous, and this preggo mama LOVED every bite! :) Natalie and Ben didn't spend the night because they were going to Dallas for the turkey trot the next morning, but everyone else stayed. We had 12 people in a 3 bedroom house. It was pretty comical. Annie actually slept great this time, but mommy and daddy didn't. I guess that's ok though. :)

We got up Thanksgiving morning, had another bagel, watched the parade, got dressed, and did more cooking.

Annie loved it, and we all had such a great time being together. I think this was my favorite year for food. It was great. Here are a few more pictures of our day:

This is Martie and Annie getting ready to go see the cows that afternoon. They didn't stay out long since the cold front had already come through. I didn't get any pictures from Wednesday, but Annie's absolute FAVORITE thing was visiting the cows. We got to watch Papaw feed them, and he had a brand new baby that we got to see too. It was so cute. Annie even got to drive the mule with Daddy. She would yell people's names and then drive over to them. It was hilarious. She also kept telling David "no" when he would try to steer in the correct direction. Definitely has a mind of her own. (Possibly like her mommy. Hehe)

This is Uncle Taylor, Annie's favorite person for the day! It was so sweet, she kept walking over and just crawling up in the chair with him. They played with toys, and he definitely kept her entertained. It was just absolutely adorable. She loves her Uncle!Yearly sister picture infront of the mantle. I really should scan one of the older ones....my how things have changed! :)

50 Free Christmas Cards

2010-12-01T15:51:00.000-06:00

I absolutely LOVE this website! David and I ordered the cutest calendars for our parents and my grandparents last year. They were obviously covered in pictures of Annie, and I think they were a hit. My grandparents have said that is the only thing they want again this year. :) Sweet! So, we are already creating our 2011 calendar for them. If this is something you might be interested in, go here: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars. My only advice....order them as soon as possible, so you don't have to drive back to your house in an ice storm on Christmas Eve to pick them up and pass them out the next day. I may have waited until the last minute last year....oops! Who knew it would snow in Dallas on Christmas?! Hehe.

Well, Shutterfly is having a promotion for bloggers. They are giving away 50 free Christmas cards. How great is that?! I don't think I've sent Christmas cards every year, but I know I have for the past 3 or 4 years. (This will be our 7th Christmas as a married couple, by the way. CRAZY!) I definitely want to send one this year to family and friends so they can see our sweet little elf. (And the one on the way.) Even if you're not a blogger, you should totally go to one of these sites and check out their adorable Christmas cards.

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

I love that you can just get the cards with pictures, or the type of card that opens up. I really like writing personalized notes in my cards, so I might have to go with one of those. Who knows!

I particularly like the "Retro Christmas," "Peppermint Giftwrap," "Elegant Snowflakes," and "Most Wonderful Year."I can't wait to pick one out and add our family pictures for this year.

Also, if you need some thank you cards, their personalized ones are so cute!http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/thank-you-cards I might have to get a few when Miss Charlotte gets here!

Happy Shopping!

Piggies

2010-11-19T15:37:00.000-06:00

I got a pedicure last weekend, and Annie seemed to really like my toes. So, guess whose toes look just like mommy's now? So cute! (Secretly, I'm a little sad that she's old enough to sit still long enough for me to do this!)

Halloween

2010-11-19T15:27:00.000-06:00

Well....I know it's a little late, but oh well. Annie had a great Halloween, but mommy did not. I woke up feeling horrible that day, so I wasn't super perky for our Halloween celebrations. Thankfully, our church had our annual "Trunk or Treat" the night before, and Annie had a BLAST! She loved fishing for ducks and getting candy, jumping in the bounce houses, and walking around with all of us. We helped my parents sell hot dogs and other concessions, so everyone took turns taking Annie around. I think she might have had the most fun with Martie. (Shocking!) She was adorable.

I actually slept in a little on Halloween, then went to church for a bit, and then slept most of the rest of the afternoon. Ugh! We were going to go to her little school's Trunk or Treat, but missed it. Instead, we decided to stay home and carve and paint pumpkins. Thankfully Annie didn't know she was missing anything, so we still had fun. Hopefully we'll all feel good next year!

Here is my adorable little nurse:

Annie's painted pumpkin

Working hard with Daddy

Mommy's not feeling too hot, but we still had to get a picture.

Pete

2010-11-19T15:26:00.000-06:00

Here is Annie reading with one of her favorite people. She adores all her grandparents, but I have to say that Pete might be her favorite reader. She used to just sit in his lap in the

nursery at church and read the entire first service. She loves him!

Lots to Catch Up On...

2010-10-25T22:23:00.000-05:00

Make sure to check out all the posts about what we've been doing in October! :)

Also, please be praying for my friend, Erin. She had a baby a week ago today, and little Gwendolyn went to Heaven on Wednesday. This was totally unexpected and has been a complete shock to them. I don't understand God sometimes, but I do know that He is good and that He has a plan. Please pray for peace and comfort for this sweet family as they deal with their greif. They are clinging to Jesus' promises, and being covered by His grace. Pray for friends and family to surround them and support them through this difficult time. It definitely puts getting up in the middle of the night with Annie into a different perspective.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-25T22:09:00.001-05:00

Have I mentioned that we've been busy this month? It's been super fun though, and we are enjoying all the fall activities with a fun, energetic 21 month old! She has been a blast to be around at all these fun events.

This weekend, we went to the Pumpkin Patch at Owen's Farm. We went last year, but Annie had so much more fun this year. We met Aunt Natalie and Cousin Andrew, as well as the Baker family. The kids were adorable!

We started off by watching the Ramblers do a little country western dancing. Annie liked it, and clapped along. It was so cute! Then, we took LOTS of pictures in the pumpkins.

After that, we checked out donkeys, rabbits, and fed the goats. The goats were crazy, but Annie enjoyed it.

Then, we walked around and looked at a few more animals before heading over to the bounce houses. Annie had been in a bounce house at Andrew's birthday party this summer, but never one this big. It was SO cute to watch her try to bounce around in there. It was a little difficult to actually get her out.

After the bounce houses, we had a hot dog for lunch, went on a hayride, and then ran through the pumpkin field. This little pumpkin was pooped when we left. It was a great day, and we all had a wonderful time!

It's a....

2010-10-25T22:04:00.000-05:00

GIRL!!

That's right...baby #2 is a girl! Annie will have a little sister, and we couldn't be more excited. Everything looks healthy, and that's all we care about. We know lots about

girls, and have TONS of hand-me-downs, so this baby will have everything she needs. Annie wants to name the baby "Fru-Fru," but we're thinking about a few different ones. :) We haven't picked a name yet, but we've narrowed it down to 3 adorable ones. We'll definitely share as soon as we decide. I'm not good at keeping secrets, so you'll know soon. Hehe.

We are so excited to add another sweet girl to our household!

Arboretum

2010-10-25T21:57:00.001-05:00

My little pumpkin!

A few weeks ago, Annie and I went to the Arboretum with our play group. I was able to get some free tickets, thanks to one of my very bestest friends!! We just walked right in and enjoyed a leisurely walk around the beautiful grounds. Annie was not in the best mood that day, but we had a pretty good time anyway. The Arboretum has a fabulous display of pumpkins right now, and that is one of Annie's favorite things. Before the fair, that's all she talked about. "Punkas!" So funny!

We walked around, played with friends, enjoyed a great picnic lunch, and then headed home. (We might have stopped to get cookies at Casa Linda Bakery, but I'm not 100% sure. Hehe)

It was a great day!

The Fair

2010-10-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

Ok...if you know me at all, you know that I LOVE the State Fair of Texas. Before Annie was born, David and I went every year just to taste the food. I made him ride a couple rides the first year, and he was totally not impressed. It's ok, that just means that I will get to be the one to take our kids on rides...I LOVE it! Well, now that we have Annie, I love taking her to the fair. Last year was fun, but she was a little bit too young to know what was going on. This year...now that was a different story.

I am seriously not exaggerating when I say that Annie mentions the fair at LEAST once a day, sometimes more. We went almost 3 weeks ago! We rode the DART, and everything went really well. Annie was super happy on the way down to the fair, but the ride home seemed a little bit longer. :) We went to the dog show, and she hated it. We had to leave early. Well, that is what she talks about the most. If I've heard "doggies....jump...water...clap" once, I've heard it a million times. It is hilarious! She LOVED the animals this time. I knew she would, and it was so sweet to watch her face just light up.

She loved the horse barn, and was so cute on the little saddle.

We went on a Wednesday with some friends from church, and our cousin Andrew. The kids had a great time, and mommy enjoyed some fabulous fair food. Then, Annie and David and I went back on Friday night since we had free tickets to get in. We were going to the Baylor game on Saturday, so I could NOT pass up a free ticket into the fair. Annie loved it just as much, and had an even better time walking through the cow barns. She was enthralled, and still talks about the "big cows" on a daily basis as well. We all ate dinner, and then Annie enjoyed her 2nd pineapple ice cream cone of the week. I thought she would like it, but I think I completely underestimated how much. I can't wait to take her again next year!!

Just like her mother....

2010-10-08T14:59:00.001-05:00

Annie and I went to the fair on Wednesday with cousin Andrew and some of our friends from church. We had a fabulous time, and can't wait to go back. If you know me at all, you know that my VERY favorite part of the fair is the pineapple ice cream. I think I had at least 3 ice cream cones the year I was pregnant with Annie. I think I would have had a fourth, but David thought it would be a little ridiculous. :)

This year, I didn't eat breakfast so I could start my day with one of those cones. Well, the machine wasn't working. Ugh! It was ok though. We walked around and checked out the animals, had lunch, and then headed back to the pineapple ice cream machine. Thankfully, it was fixed. Well, mommy AND Annie got an ice cream cone. I obviously loved mine, but I had no idea how much Annie would love hers too. She ate almost the entire thing and barely got any on herself. I finally had to take it away because the cone looked like it was going to disintigrate. Annie was not super thrilled with me. :) We may be going back, and you can bet than the 2 of us will DEFINITELY get another pineapple cone. Hehe.

Cousins

2010-10-08T14:54:00.000-05:00

Well, Annie constantly talks about her cousin, Andrew! I mean, seriously...at least 20 times a day. It's adorable. David made a big TV purchase a few weeks ago (possibly even hours before the first Cowboy game.) Uncle Serge came over to help put our new entertainment center together and hang our TV. Thankfully, Andrew came too and Annie and Andrew got to play for a while. It was adorable! I can't wait until Annie is able to communicate a little better and the 2 of them will just be hilarious together.

First day of school!

2010-09-07T21:26:00.000-05:00

Annie and mommy had their first day of school today. We both did great! :)

I will say that Annie looked absolutely adorable and got a great report! I think we are going to love it! :)

I am so proud of my little nugget. Here are a few pictures.

Not wanting to let go of daddy.

At school with my new backpack.

This is what I get when I catch her not smiling.

But, this is what I get when I tell her to smile....eyes closed, but absolutely adorable!

The Zoo

2010-09-07T20:34:00.000-05:00

David took Thursday and Friday off last week, and we enjoyed a fabulous, long weekend. We got a few things done around the house on Thursday, but Friday morning we headed off to the Dallas Zoo. As a teacher, I have gone 4 out of the last 5 years. I love going to the zoo, but I've been waiting for the Savannah exhibit to finally open. Well, let me tell you folks, it was worth the wait! Annie could not have had more fun checking out all the of the African animals.

The giraffes were FOR SURE her favorite. She talked about them the entire day, and still mentions them at least once a day since we've been home. You could pay to feed the giraffes, and it was SO cool. Honestly, we didn't feed them since she did NOT want to touch them, but she loved being so close while other people did. When the giraffe would walk close to us, she would pull away and say "No, no." It was hilarious. She was so cute. They had tons of animals back there that it was just fun to watch.

Annie also loved the elephants and still talks about them as well. The "show" for the elephants wasn't super impressive since it only lasted 5 minutes, but it was nice to see them a little closer.

We also saw the "cats." Annie liked the lions and we got to watch the zoo keepers do some stuff with them and feed them too. There is a little restaurant in this part of the zoo, and one whole wall in the place is glass so that you can see the lions. It was SO cool!
After we checked out the African Savannah, we walked around the rest of the zoo. Honestly, it was a little disappointing. I'm ready for them to update the other half of the zoo. Annie did like the monkeys that we saw. She especially liked all the animals in the Children's Zoo section. That place was pretty neat. She LOVED looking at the ducks, fish, and horses. It was pretty cute. Crawling through the turtle shells. Hanging out on the giant spider web.

After we spent some time in the other half of the zoo, we just had to go back to check out the "raffs." Annie loved watching them, and I'm sure the lady over there was wondering why we kept coming back. It was so fun! We had such a great time as a family. Annie and daddy....my 2 favorite people! Annie and daddy driving on a safari in a big jeep.

This is the new face that we get whenever you ask Annie to smile. She does, but then as it flashes, she closes her eyes.

Annie is obviously thrilled to be sitting on this elephant.

Annie like standing on little metal circles and then trying to jump off of them. It was pretty funny.

One last picture before we go!

Table for 4

2010-09-07T20:16:00.001-05:00

Well, if you haven't been on facebook lately, or if you haven't talked to my mom, then you still haven't heard....we will be a family of FOUR in March!!

That's right, Annie will be a big sister! We are very excited. I am 13 weeks, and starting to feel a little better. Honestly, they last 2 months have been pretty difficult, but we are very thankful to be having a healthy baby.

We're talking about potty training now and moving into a big girl room. Don't worry...none of that will happen too soon, but it's crazy that we now have to discuss them happening. I am hoping to only have 1 kid in diapers at a time, but we will see. :) Annie is a little hard headed (just like her mama), so we'll see how all that goes.

Sorry I don't have any pictures yet. I am definitely showing already, which is so strange! I keep meaning to take a picture of Annie in her "Big Sister" shirt, but everytime she has it on, I forget. Sorry about that. I'll put some new pictures of her up shortly. In a few months she's going to have to share this blog with another cute face! So exciting!

18 months

2010-07-23T14:40:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't posted in a while, and I definitely haven't done a post like this in forever. Sorry about that! :)

Well, miss Annie...you are 18 months old today! I can't believe my baby girl is that old!! AHH!

You are so funny! You wake up every morning around 7:30 or 8, and you want to see daddy immediately. Then, you want your milk, and breakfast right away! After that, we love to play and just hang around the house.

You LOVE your family. Serge and Martie are definitely 2 of your favorites, but your grandparents and aunts and uncles are definitely a close second.

You love to eat, and you always love to drink water. You only drink milk in the morning and in the late afternoon, and you only drink it from a certain sippy cup. You're not particular at all. Hehe. You LOVE to talk!! You love to say your color words and color pictures everyday. You say all kinds of words: mommy, daddy, hippo, baby, milk, breakfast ("bressie"), lunch, outside, shoes, hello, cook, bed, shop, and just so many more that I can't list them. You love talking to people at the grocery store or mall. You are super friendly and super happy!

Your daddy and I love you so much, and are so proud of you! You are a fabulous little girl! We love you!

Rough Week

2010-07-23T14:28:00.000-05:00

Well, this has not been the best week in the Castillejos house. Personally, I am SO glad that it is FINALLY Friday! Praise the Lord.

To start off, the past 2-3 weeks, Annie has not been sleeping well. She's up for 4-5 hours at a time at night, and just fusses unless you're in there with her. It's not every night, but once every few nights. I'm not really sure what's bothering her. We finally went to the doctor on Tuesday, and they are running some tests. We are hoping to find out what's going on with her. She's slept fabulously the last 3 nights, so hopefully we will get back on a normal routine. Just pray that we can figure out what's going on, and that we can all get some rest and feel better. Poor baby.

My fabulous family came over on Tuesday and brought us dinner so that I could rest a little bit. Well, while we were giving Annie a bath, my dad got a phone call saying that his dad had passed away. Not the best way to end a day.

Pawpaw has had alzheimers for several years and just hasn't been himself for a while now. It's been pretty sad to watch. He always lived in Pennsylvania, so we didn't get to see him too often. My dad always loved to tell us stories about growing up with him and Nana, and just what wonderful parents they were. I know he loved growing up on the lake in Pennsylvania and being with his family. I wish we lived closer so that we could see all of them more often. Uncle Jomie, if you are reading this, I wish you would come visit us down here and meet your great neice!! :) She is named after your mother, after all. :) I know Dad thought Pawpaw was a great father, and I have to say that my daddy will carry on that legacy. I couldn't ask for a better father, and I know he learned from someone very special. We will miss you Pawpaw!

Annie getting to meet her great-grandpa last summer.

My crazy baby

2010-07-01T20:57:00.000-05:00

Annie has discovered her winter boots in her closet. One of my sweet parents (from my class) this year gave me a pair of her kiddos' winter boots. They were from Seattle and had some serious winter clothing. It was so sweet. We needed them in Steamboat, and Annie did great in them. She seemed to like them then, but has completely fallen in love with them now. Anytime I open her closet, that's what she wants. It's so funny. It's seriously like a millino degrees outside here in Texas, but we are walking around the house in winter boots.

I love this kid!

Mess pot!

This is why my child will not pick out her own clothing for several years. :)

Last week, we met Aunt Natalie and Cousin Andrew at the mall. We ate at Chick-fil-A for lunch, and Annie had her first real taste of lemonade. She loved it, and thankfully, it didn't seem to have any effect on her. (YEAH RIGHT!) Fast forward a couple hours after nap and she was insane! Martie came over and Annie was just on a roll. She was so silly and playful, and just a blast. Then, she calmed down, but fired right back up after dinner with Daddy. Here are a few pictures of Annie playing with Martie's cell phone. She texted several people, and had a blast! Martie is definitely one of her favorite people ever!

Learning how to text.

Texting in her chair.

Giving Martie kisses.

So fun!

Silly girl!

Swimsuits and Suntans

2010-07-01T20:50:00.000-05:00

We have absolutely LOVED this summer so far. I don't think I really realized how much I needed a break. I think Annie needed one too. Honestly, the first couple days were a little rough. We had to adjust to each other being home all day and to the different schedule. Then, we got rid of the paci. Thankfully, we're totally fine without it now. It was just a rough couple days. Now, we are having SO much fun! Annie LOVES going shopping. If we get in the car, that's what she asks to do. She claps and yells "shopping!" Then, she says "Shop, shop, shop" for a good 5 minutes in the backseat. Grocery shopping is shopping to her, and she loves it. I think she might like that kind of shopping better than the mall. We've just had fun getting out and about and seeing friends. It's SO nice not having to get up at 5:15 in the morning. Praise the Lord!

We are going over to Grammy and Gramps' house at least once a week to swim this summer. (By the way, Annie calls my parents "Dee" and "Pete." I'll say their name, and that's how she repeats it. It is the funniest thing ever!) Anyway--we have 2 adorable bathing suits, and we are enjoying getting some good use out of them.

Check out this sunburn!! I'm still recovering from that (Memorial Day), and trying to get rid of the tan line for Natalie's wedding. I have a little over a week, and if my halter tan is not gone, I'm going to have a heart attack. I'm going to get Martie to cover me in fake tanner. Ugh, gross!!

Last Day of School

2010-07-01T20:33:00.000-05:00

I know, I know....this was almost an entire month ago. It was a little sad though, so I've chosen not to talk about it too much. :) I'm enjoying the summer, but I'm supposed to be off now. It will all sink in about August. I will really miss my friends. (And going to buy new school supplies.)

Our family outside my room on the last day of school.

I packed up almost everything that last week of school,. and Amber started moving her stuff in on Thursday. That room looked like a disaster. It was hard to say goodbye to my kiddos and their parents, but it was infinitely harder to say goodbye to my teammates. And, honestly, to my room. I know it is totally ridiculous, but I love room 310 at that school. I taught for 6 years, at 2 different schools, but I was always in room 310. Just weird. When my school opened, I was there. I am the only teacher that's ever been in that room. I had a great view outside, and it was in the middle of the hallway. I know the kids that left that room at the end of the year may not have always been the smartest (I think they were), but I hope they knew how special they were and that they were loved.

Teaching is truly one of my passions. And, teaching in public school is a passion of mine. I know it's not a perfect system, but I love it. David and I are both products of public school, and we were able to get through it. I don't know, I just wholeheartedly support it. Annie will be going to public school as well. Ok, off my soapbox....I just love teaching. I love talking to sweet, funny kids all day and trying to make a difference in their lives, little by little. I also love the people that I work with. I have to tell you, the people at my school will always be so special to me. Especially this friend....

Shelly, I have spent the last 5 years teaching with you, and I could not ask for a better friend. We've made plans for each other when our kids have been sick, prayed for each other and our families, gone to dinners, lunches, and parties, talked for hours after school, hung out in the summer, and just shared life together. I am so thankful that you were in the classroom next to me for the last 5 years. We had a few rough years in the beginning, but you were really the reason I stayed. I am so glad that God blessed me with such a wonderful friend, and I know that we will always be friends. I will miss walking down the halls with you and talking about all the school gossip. (I'm sure we're not supposed to talk about that stuff, but oh well.) I will miss agreeing on stuff and liking the same stuff at team meetings. I will miss laughing across the table with you at team meetings when someone says or does something silly. I will just miss you. I really will miss the whole team, but Shelly is the only one I got a picture with on the last day. Shelly is having a sweet little boy, Andrew, in October, so I will have a fantabulous reason to go visit all the time! Also, my team leader, Dulce, is having a baby in December, so I'll just be up there all the time playing with babies!! Love it!

I know that I will go back to teaching someday, and I've already started teaching all the colors to Annie. She gets them right alot, but usually just calls everything blue or red. It's ok...she's still perfect! :) I know I will miss my kids, the sweet staff, and my fabulous team. What a wonderful 5 years. I have grown so much, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for these next 5 years.

Ps-Just as a disclaimer, I have NEVER, EVER worn a spaghetti strap shirt to school before!! It was my last day, and I'd already quit, so I didn't really care. Well, it bothered me ALL DAY! I wish I had worn a t-shirt. I would have been less self-conscious. Hehe

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T21:02:00.000-05:00

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful dad! My daddy has 4 girls, and has never complained once. He always told people that commented on how he probably wished he had a boy, that his girls were just perfect and he'd love to have more girls. I always LOVED that about my dad. I hated it when people asked about that, but I LOVED his answer. He always made me feel cute and funny even when I wasn't. I mean, I didn't wear boot cut jeans until my sophomore year of college, people. Yipes. But, my dad always thought I was pretty. He came to ALL my games, choir concerts, meet the teacher nights, and he even subbed for my teachers a couple times in elementary school. Dad always encouraged me to do my best, and he helped with my homework. (Even if we spent most of the time arguing about how to solve math problems...I was usually right. Psych!) Now, growing up in a house with all girls, you can imagine how patient he had to be. When we would have meltdowns, dad always calmed us down and listened, and tried to help us figure out a way to solve our problems. Another thing I love about my dad (and really both parents) is that I always felt that I could come ask them about ANYTHING. When I say anything, I really do mean it. Dad would talk to me about boys, issues with friends, and just questions I had about anything. As a teenager, you don't always want to talk to your dad about everything, but I did know that he was there if I wanted to talk. Dad cried super hard on the day he dropped me off from college, and he brought me flowers while I got my hair done on the day of my wedding. He's always been a crier, and he's never been ashamed to tell me how much he loves me. Thank you daddy for showing me how I want to make my daughter feel as she grows up. I love you very much, and am so blessed to be your daughter.

Now, to the other father in my life. This man is someone that I love more than words can say...

David is such an amazing daddy! Annie adores him, and so does her mommy. For the first 3 months of Annie's life, David was in a splint for a torn ligament in his finger. It made things around here a little difficult. I knew David hated that he couldn't pick Annie up and just walk her around like normal. (I know he didn't miss changing those diapers for the first 3 months.) As soon as he got that cast off, David was into everything with me. He changes diapers, helps with bath, helps clean this mess of a house, plays inside and out, pushes her in her swing, takes her to check the mail (sounds silly, but this is one of her favorite activities), and just anything else we need to do, David does it. I can't tell you how many times he stayed home with her this year because she was sick, or because I had to work when she couldn't go to school. Annie loves being home with her Daddy, and he does such a good job of taking care of her. David is a wonderful daddy, and I know that he is totally wrapped around her finger. For example....last week we got rid of the pacifier. Annie was fussing upstairs the first night and calling my name. Horrible! It was so hard not to run up there. David actually asked me how I could listen to that. Well, he went to get something out of the laundry room and she started calling his name. I heard him immediately run down the hall. He came in here and promptly told me that he was going up there. He couldn't listen to her call his name. It was SO cute! As I said, Annie adores her daddy and screams for joy every night when he gets home. We are so blessed to have him in our lives, and we are so thankful for all he does for our family. We love you, David. Happy Father's Day!

The Farm

2010-06-01T20:15:00.001-05:00

My grandparents live on a farm, and we ventured up to see them and some other family this weekend. It's not the most exciting drive, but I really do love it when we get there. Mamaw always comes and greets us at the door. It feels like a 2nd home out there. It's not super exciting, but there are just so many memories. My Papaw has cows, chickens, and 2 new kittens on the farm. We took Annie to see all the fun animals, and she loved it. She really liked driving the mule with Daddy the best! It was SO CUTE!!

We're going back up in a couple weeks for a garage sale, so I know she'll love it! I just wish it would cool off a little bit. I mean, really!!

Annie looking through the fence at all the chickens.Annie is trying to avoid the kitty cats. She eventually got used to them, but still didn't want them too close.See....we like the kittens, but they are still not our favorites.Annie and daddy!Annie's favorite animal...the cow. She can even tell you what sound it makes. :) Annie liked drivint through the pasture and looking at cows. It was just a great day!

Aunt Natalie's Graduation

2010-06-01T20:13:00.002-05:00

A couple weekends ago, we all made the trip down to good ole Waco to watch Aunt Natalie graduate! My poor parents have been paying for a Baylor education for the last decade. They finally get a 2 year hiatus from that. Hopefully they will send their money back to Baylor in 2 years with Martha, but I have a feeling that it might be going somewhere else. I've got my fingers crossed anyway. :)

We had a wonderful time. We drove down, had lunch, went to the ceremony, and enjoyed dinner with the whole family. It was just a great time to be around family and celebrate Natalie's accomplishments. Annie did great, and loved all the attention. She starts off pretty shy and quiet around everyone, but after a while, she opens up and giggles and plays with everyone. It was just a fun day!

Congratulations Aunt Natalie! :)

All the Baylor graduates in our family. Martha....I hope we get to add you next time! :)

Natalie with the grandparents.

Annie with her Papaw and Mamaw. She LOVES them and even asks about them when she's at home. So cute!

Grammy, Gramps, and the cutest baby ever!

Chairs with Daddy

2010-06-01T20:11:00.000-05:00

My 2 favorite people!

One of Annie's favorite things right now is to climb into the wicker chair in our kitchen with David when he gets home. She asks to get in, then pats the cushion and says "daddy." Once David sits down, she likes to play with the mail that he's opening, and then it becomes a game of getting up and down. It's pretty entertaining to watch actually.

I know David loves that she wants to sit with him, but I think after 5 minutes or so, I think he's ready to just let her have the chair to herself. Hehe

My Friends Tigger and Pooh

2010-06-01T20:05:00.000-05:00

Well, we have finally found an age appropriate show that Annie likes! She wakes up every morning and about 10 minutes later....she is asking to watch "Pooh." It is so cute! She loves dancing to the "Think, think, think" song. We have to limit her TV watching or else she'd sit in front of the TV watching Pooh. Of all the shows that Annie could have fallen in love with, I'm so glad it was this one. Who doesn't love Winnie the Pooh? :)
I can't find the logo for the show, but this sweet picture of Annie watching Pooh will have to do. :)

This week

2010-05-12T13:57:00.000-05:00

Well, we got through last week without getting sick. Praise the Lord. We had a great day on Monday, but I got a call on Tuesday about Annie. I was on my way to pick Annie up, and her school called to say that she threw up and had a fever. Poor baby!

Well, I picked her up and was expecting a pretty miserable evening. We came home, changed, laid on the couch, and just waited for David to get home. She was definitely feeling poorly, but at 7:00, she flipped a switch and became her old self again. She wanted dinner, to play, and to take a bath. She laughed SO hard in the bathtub last night. It was the cutest thing EVER! She was closing her eyes and just cracking up. Best part of my week! Then, she slept through the night and woke up in the best mood this morning. We've been playing and cleaning up around the house today. We even ventured out to lunch at Jason's Deli together...just the 2 of us. It was great. Annie loved her cantaloupe and drank out of a straw like a big girl.

She's napping now, but we plan on going to Target later. I didn't want to take the day off, but really....can you be disappointed when you get to spend a day with this sweet face?

I love my life!Playing in the kitchen with mommy.This is my new thing....throwing a fit when I don't get my way. Spanking me does NOT work right now...I don't care! Waiting me out and just letting me get over it seems to be the trick right now. This is Annie throwing a fit because she wanted to go outside and play. Goofball! Another new trick....crawling up on the window ledge and just sitting there. I can get up and down by myself!Waiting for mommy to bring me my breakfast on my "sick day." I think I'm feeling good!

Mother's Day

2010-05-12T13:48:00.000-05:00

Well....I don't have any pictures from Mother's Day. Sorry! It was a perfect day though. Really, it was a perfect weekend. David and I finally got to go out and celebrate my birthday since all of us were finally feeling better. David's parents came and watched Annie, and we went to Watter's Creek for some dinner and shopping. First, we had a fabulous dinner at Brio. I LOVE that place. If you haven't been there, you should totally try it. Then, we just walked around and did some shopping. I used some birthday money and a super fabulous coupon to buy a new Vera Bradley wallet. I LOVE that store! Then, we went and got some soap (I know...exciting, but it was nice to get something crossed off my list) at Bath and Body Works. Then, we ended the evening by getting Annie some books from Borders. It was just a great evening.

On Sunday, we woke up, got ready for church, and actually all got to go together. (This hasn't happened in at least 2 weeks.) Annie gave me my manicure/pedicure card, and was so cute! Then, we went to lunch just the 3 of us after church. You're going to think this is crazy, but I chose to have my mother's day lunch at....

Yes, I know this is a weird place to choose. We were definitely the youngest table there, and we were also the only table without an old person. Our waiter asked if we were waiting on anyone else, and when we said no, I think he laughed at us. Hehe. Please don't think David is cheap. I really wanted to go here. He tells me that it's because I'm country. I don't care. I wanted a salad, and the BEST broccoli cheese soup ever, plus squash casserole. It's the best veggie plate ever! I just love that place!! David said he might go to Golden Corral on his birthday....I hope not! I seriously hope he was just kidding. Hehe.

This was our first year not to celebrate with our own moms, but it was nice to have a more relaxed afternoon at home. It was the perfect day! We are SO thankful for both of our moms though. They both adore Annie, and they help us with whatever we need. We are so thankful to be surrounded by such loving families. Happy Mother's Day!

Nat's Shower

2010-05-12T13:38:00.000-05:00

Well, a lot has been going on around here lately. Honestly, it's mostly been our sweet baby getting sick. Other things have happened too though. 2 weeks ago, we were so excited to have Aunt Natalie's bridal shower at our house. Daddy snuck out for the afternoon and the girls had a party! It was super fun!

Annie woke up from her nap at the beginning of the party, and did not say a word the whole time. Once people started to leave, she warmed up. So goofy!

Here are some pictures of our fun day:

Christie's perfect cupcakes! They were so yummy too!

Other snacks

Sisters and mom

Sisters

Papaw watched the Rangers game in my room during the shower, but Annie sure liked being with him after all the fun. He sat in a black chair that we brought down from upstairs. Now, any time Annie sees the chair, she pats it and says "papaw." So cute!!

I don't know why these are small, but it's Annie with the bride!

Annie and Mamaw

A family full of women! Hehe

We are very excited about Natalie and Ben's wedding in July!