Our Spring Petal

Yesterday was Olivia's 3rd dance recital! It's so odd to me that as shy as she is, she absolutely loves to get up on stage for her dance recital! We countdown for months and she is always so excited for the day to arrive!

Bumpa and Gigi are the best grandparents, they have been to every one of her recitals! And this year was no different! They got into town Friday evening (no small feat these days!) and Olivia has loved having them here, of course!

Olivia's class chose to do a ballet number and they were called the Spring Petals!

(whoops, we forgot the shoes!)

After her performance!

Lindsey, Olivia and Siena

Bumpa and Gigi

Olivia, you were a beautiful ballerina, Mommy and Daddy could not be more proud of you!

Four Going on Fourteen

Olivia has discovered the magic of an ipod! The other day she put it on, threw on some Hannah Montana and did her chore of putting up her dishes from the dishwasher! I turned around and looked at her and had this flash of her as a teenager! It was so scary! :)

So of course now, at the top of her wishlist for her birthday is an ipod! Any takers???? ;)

10 Months!

Sweet Baby Jack is 10 months old! He is so close to turning a year it is scary!

I have to say it's been a big month for him... or it's almost been a big month for him! He is on the verge of doing so many things. He is close to cruising and every day I feel like he is closer to crawling. And I think he might be the first baby ever (or at least that I've heard of), to be mobile on his back. He can move pretty well on his back... only backwards of course! But it is hysterical to watch, he lifts his little hiney and pushes himself back with his heels!

And he does have a few new tricks that are very exciting... pulling up on certain things, falling to a sit, and waving! The waving is my personal favorite, but he LOVES to pull-up, stand, and then fall down, he just smiles and laughs! And he says dada (indiscriminately) and something that I think might be hi (that was his sister's first word).

Every day I wait for another tooth to pop out. It is playing hide and seek and tends to make my life, and Jack's of course miserable at times! Darn teeth!

He loves Olivia's hula-hoop, but don't tell her he plays with it!

Perhaps Jack's biggest accomplishment this month was he got his first haircut! And very appropriately at Sports Clips. :)

Oh ugh, look at that hair over his ear!!!

The guy that cut his hair was awesome! Jack was enamored with a comb he gave him to play with!

Deer caught in headlights... what is going on mommy?

Happy 10 months sweet boy, we love you with all our hearts!!!!

Memorial Day Weekend

Our Memorial Day weekend was a lot of fun! We started Friday night with a sleepover for Olivia. Kennedy came over to spend the night and as always the girls had so much fun! I didn't know it at the time but Olivia was fighting off something which explained why she was so grumpy after her nap (yes, you read it right, this girl actually slept in the afternoon, that should have been my first clue something was amiss!). But after she shook off the sleepiness, all was well and they played great! Even better, they went to bed great!

Saturday some friends from church invited us over for a crawfish boil! Lucky Olivia got to see Kennedy again, and her friend Ally! The girls were so funny playing in the rain! And Ally had much fun scaring Kennedy and Olivia with the boiled crawfish! Obviously these girls aren't the "outdoorsy" type!

Ally, Kennedy, Olivia

Jack enjoyed the boil from his stroller.

The Schmidt family

Julie and Cambry

And sweet little Sam! He is so cute I could eat him up! He played in this sandbox forever, and he had the sand all over to prove it!

Then on Monday we went over to the Smith's house with the Martins and grilled out for Memorial Day. The girls had a great time in the pool and we all really enjoyed the afternoon!

The pool scene - good thing they had the rafts in that deep water!

Jack hangin' in the shade with dad

A post swim hot dog dinner! I think this was the 4th hot dog meal for both of these girls in 4 days!

As I mentioned earlier Olivia must have been fighting something off all weekend. I thought it was a combination of allergies and just being busy and up late. However, come last Tuesday it all came to a head. She had been playing at a friends house and when I went to get her she was ASLEEP on their sofa! I knew immediately something was wrong! I took her home and she had a fever of 103! I felt horrible! So off we went to Acute Kids and she was diagnosed with pneumonia! So random, she has never had that before and she really didn't seem that bad. But her heartrate was 145 when we got there, yikes! Thank the Lord for antibiotics! One dose of those and she was on her way to recovery! She still has a lingering cough, but can breathe easily and has her energy back! I pray she and Jack both stay healthy until and through our California trip!!!

Olivia's Pre-School Graduation

A couple of weeks ago my sweet baby girl graduated from pre-school. Not to get too sappy, but things like this make me wonder where the time has gone! There is just no way my baby is done with pre-school!!! I know it's small in the scheme of things, but so far, this is a pretty big milestone for her... or for me! :) Obviously with Bumpa and Gigi in Cali, there was no other family with us for the ceremony. And I can't help but think of my dad and how proud he would have been. To think of all the ways she has grown up since he last saw her, is crazy to me! I feel like it was just yesterday, until I sit and look at her and realize how much she really has matured. It has been 2 and a half years after all! But I know he would have been SO proud, as we all are! I can see him so clearly staring at her in disbelief and then shaking his head and saying, "Guys, it doesn't get any better than that little girl up there, gosh, I am so proud!" And that makes me smile!



The ceremony was super cute and they played the biggest tearjerker of a slideshow you have ever seen! I am so thankful we captured that on our video camera! Olivia has gone to pre-school with the same 3 little girls for over 2 years and they have known each other almost since the day they were born. They have become such good friends, it is hard to imagine making new ones next year! And, it is crazy to me that 3 of this foursome live within 2 miles of one another and none of them will go to the same elementary next year! But I digress...

Olivia before the ceremony

Receiving her diploma - and obviously not looking anywhere near our direction!

And the bosom buddies, Maci, Sawyer, Emma, and Olivia

A week later Olivia had her last day of school. I just think she looks so grown-up in this picture!

They had a carnival on their last day and she got this awesome butterfly painted on her face!

I know I will definitely miss the pre-school schedule next year as we will have to be up and out the door early and I will have to get used to not having my buddy around every day! But I really look forward to this new chapter in Olivia's life! In the meantime, I hope we have the best summer yet!

Mother's Day and Jack's Dedication

Well, so much for getting caught up over that nice, long holiday weekend!

So, I will keep the next few blogs short and sweet since these events happened eons ago at this point!

For Mother's Day Olivia's school had a Mother's Day Tea. They made us sweet invitations and had us up to school for tea and muffins. It was cute, but Olivia was way more excited to see her friends than having me there! ;)

Mother's Day was somewhat chaotic this year as we decided to have Jack dedicated on that day. It was the first baby dedication of the year at our church, so we jumped on it. Looking back, I think I would have preferred another date! :) It wasn't bad, it just wasn't the relaxing morning I had been hoping for! But it definitely had meaning!

After church we went to Canitna Laredo for brunch. Which was another not so good idea! After church Jack is definitely ready to eat and then go straight down for his nap. The people behind us may not have appreciated his high pitch squeals letting us know he was not happy about being stuck in his highchair while we waited to pay!
This is the only solo picture I have of our little man on his big day. And I have no idea why his hair looks so wet?

And our usual family picture on the stairs, but it is the best spot to set-up the camera's automatic timer!
We all look a little rough in this picture, but I was determined to get one of all of us!
I really did have a great Mother's Day (even though it may not sound like it!) I got some cute gifts from Olivia and Jack and a panini press from Denny! I am honestly just so thankful that God has loaned me the sweetest, cutest kids to raise the best I can while I walk this earth! Their hugs and kisses were the only gifts I needed!

*I guess that was really not short at all was it?!

Way Behind

I'm sure it's no surprise, but I am way behind on blogging! I will do my best to get caught up over this nice, long weekend.

In the midst of all the kid's activities we did manage to squeeze in a concert at the beginning of the month! Denny and I went to see Kenny Chesney with some of our good friends the first weekend of May. If anyone remembers it was the Saturday that it rained cats and dogs all day... and all night. We spent the afternoon tailgating under a tent that luckily had sides on it, so we stayed fairly dry. Despite the rain (and the eventually canceled concert) we really had so much fun!

Carey, Sheryl, Me, and Chasity

(And yes, Sheryl does have on gloves, as well as TWO jackets AND a winter coat - she said it was cold???)

Denny, Marc and Bob

Me and Denny during one of the rain storms!

And a pic of Kenny!

These are not the tickets we had, but it is where we were able to sneak and squeeze our way to!

Unfortunately we didn't get to go back for the "make-up" concert last weekend, but hopefully he will be back next year, and hopefully it will not rain!

There is NO way

my sweet baby boy is already 9 months old! He is really starting to grow-up! It makes me so sad to look at him and realize that he is no longer a little baby! I think back to when he was first born and how skinny and small he was, and now he is a big, pudgy mess, and I wonder, when did that happen??? I feel like I fell asleep one night and he was a week old and I woke up the next morning and boom he's on the verge of toddler-hood!

But I think someone needs to tell him that! :) He is still very content just to be! He is not crawling, pulling up, etc... Which I am fine with really, and Dr. B does not seem concerned (just surprised), so we will just wait and see! He does want to move when he is on the floor, he just won't get himself up and do it! Like I've said, he is laid back (aka a tad lazy).

These days he will eat anything he can pick up himself. I really think he could eat an entire box of Cheerios if I let him. He LOVES his bath and to stand up, with a lot of support! :)

He hasn't gotten any more teeth, yet. I feel one is coming though!

Here are some pics from the month!

Watch a Baby Einstein DVD

Look at those DIMPLES!!! I could eat him up!!!!

Had to get a shot of the pudgy thighs! A close-up look does them much more justice!

Studying hard...

And our visit with Dr. B on Wednesday. He was not so happy anytime he was laid down onto the table!

And here are his stats:

Weight: 20 lbs. 12 oz. - 55th%

Height: 29.5" - 85th%

Big sis for fun comparison:

Weight: 19 lbs. 3 oz. - 55th%

Height: 30.5" - >97th%

Yes, big sister was a whole inch longer than him at 9 months! Let's hope that trend doesn't continue forever! ;)

Another favorite thing to do... take apart his exersaucer!
So much fun!

(please forgive the hodge podge of furniture in the background, I had to rearrange for a day!)

We are anxious to see what the next month brings for this precious boy! He is truly a joy for all of us!

A Birthday and A Concert

At the end of April we celebrated my birthday! Denny and Olivia did so many sweet things to make my birthday special! That morning we got up and they immediately gave me my gift and cards, and then they took me to breakfast! It was so fun just because it was out of the norm! Then that evening Denny arranged for a babysitter so we could go out on a date night! But before the sitter arrived they brought out a cake they had made me the day before and sang Happy Birthday!

At Taco Diner for the big birthday dinner!

(By the way, the shirt was my gift from Denny and the kids, didn't they do good?)

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Yum, chocolate cake with chocolate icing, my favorite!




The day after my birthday Olivia's school put on a Spring Concert! It was so cute! But this is the best picture I could get from our seats! Olvia was almost overtaken by the organ!