Mittig family

Back to Reality

2009-04-16T15:50:00.003-04:00

Easter Sunday. We didn't have time for pics that morning, so this is after Eric and I taught kids' church with a billion preschoolers and sat at lunch for a couple hours. Of course, the one family picture where both kids are looking AND smiling!!!!

After an Easter Egg hunt, I couldn't get the kids to look up because they were much more interested in the candy they'd found!

At the park the other day-Big brother and little sister

The kids cracking a confetti egg on Uncle Scotty's head
Brandon and Will coming off the slide at Trail Dust-Will's new favorite restaraunt
Tyler, Ethan, Will, and Tyler's cousin Devin at the neighborhood Egg Hunt-Will got fourth place this year! We had just finished a soccer game and we decided it was more important to stop for donuts than to go home and change clothes!
Maggie and Will Sitting and Spinning as a fireman and princess. Gotta love dress up days!

Will playing goalie-he's so involved! In his defense, Macy and Molly were at the game and he just wanted to play with them!
My sweet Mags hanging out in the truck. This is the only picture that I can vaguely see a resemblance of me even though everyone lately says that we look just alike.
Waiting for Daddy at his second marathon. He took over an hour off his time so we weren't waiting long!
Will and Tyler chasing the ball on the soccer field.

Cabo

2009-04-08T08:58:00.011-04:00

We ditched the traditional white and khaki color scheme this year and we're going with blue now!
We missed having Eric there! These pictures seem strange without him!

His hair is a little alfalfa here, but it was crazy all over the place and I forgot to take gel, so I wet it down and thought it would dry before we got to the beach for pics. Whoops.
That splash is a whale-the picture below is him coming back up. This is the extent of whale watching we did-

Everyone who's been to Mexico knows there are no shortage of people on the streets trying to sell you something. But this woman was just carrying iguanas around, putting them on people's head and hoping they'd like it so much they'd give her money! Everyone did a head shot but the Mittigs-we're not so big on reptiles sitting on our heads.

Will was less than thrilled to be so close to this puffer fish that washed up!

When we got home from our ski trip, my sister and her girls came in the following day to spend a fun weekend in town before heading to Mexico. We left EARLY Monday morning for an all girls plus Will vacation to Cabo San Lucas, the best place on Earth! Thankfully my friend Stacey agreed to come along and was a big help! We did a lot of eating, relaxing, and...well that's pretty much it. We didn't even know what time zone we were in for the first day and went to bed at 7:30!
Will and Macy with their Captain Tony's hats

We were a little off with the change in time-two hours is a lot to overcome in a week! So this is the kids, probably about 7 in the morning, ready to get in the pool that was a teeny bit cold this early!
Maggie watching the waves get close (close to her was about 50 feet)

And running away from them!

Stomping out "stompin castles" that Aunt Stacey made for them!

Senorita Maggie, digging the guacamole. This dress isn't supposed to be an "off the shoulder" one of course, but it kept falling and I thought it was funny until I realized she had a sunburn over both shoulders where I had sprayed around the straps that fell.

This is more about the story than the picture-all week, Maggie was afraid to walk across this bridge-I guess she thought she'd fall in the pool? But it's really more of a path than a bridge-it gets you from the driveway to the front door, the front door to the lounge chairs, etc. and it's too much trouble to walk around the pool so it's just the path that we took. But sweet Mags would stand at one end and look for someone to carry her, or tip toe slowly down the middle line of the bridge and then when she got a few feet from the end, she'd take off running with a big, determined smile like "I did it!"
We were on our way to Sushi one night, but I wanted a picture of the kids first so I told them whoever gives me the sweetest smile gets a gummy worm. Who said bribery doesn't work?
This is also about a story-Will loves loves loves garbage men. He is seriously upset when it's trash day at our house if we miss the men that pick it up. If we see them on the road, he waves frantically and is crushed if they don't wave back. So imagine his little face when the trash men came to the house in Mexico!
"Chillin out" at the pool one afternoon.
The bridge jump
Digging in the sandlot because it was too cold to swim at 6 AM!
The kids love getting off the plane on the tarmac!
This was our last night in Mexico-we went to a restaraunt called The Office on the Beach for a Mexican Fiesta-this was about 30 minutes into our evening, and Maggie took a seat in the ocean just after I took this picture. I guess she hasn't learned that you can see through white when it gets wet!

I promise he's not drinking a margarita! We ordered them lemonades and I think it was a little on the sour side judging from Will's face!
Practicing blowing bubbles

Eating lunch one day

Stacey and I taking pictures of ourself Harding Style!

On the stage about to hit the pinata. The guy was asking everyone what their name is and where are they from. So he says "What's your name little boy?" And Will said "Texas!" Everyone in the crowd went crazy. So the man laughed a little and said, "No, what's your name?" And Will very proudly spelled out "W. I. L. L."
Will loved the men who came to sing at our table and he and Macy kept requesting more songs!

For some reason I just thought this was a funny picture.

Stacey and the kids dancing on the stage
Safe to say Will was excited about his balloon animal--it WAS a fairly impressive Elephant that he named "Elfie." We tried to trash him at the airport, but Molly saved him (Will was fast asleep)

Our First Ski Trip

2009-04-02T15:33:00.008-04:00

The pictures are all in reverse order so start at the bottom and work your way up!

Barreling down the hall in this right outside of our door-did it wake up Will?? Not so much...

Will and Allie Grace

Eating icicles

Will and Allie going over the ramp that Cade and Blake had made. I told Will a hundred times to make sure he was holding on-three year olds listen so well!

Okay, this made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe and there's no way to tell it to where anyone can understand how funny and NOT scary this was, but Maggie decided to take this little sled out for a spin one afternoon, and trust me when I tell you we had sledded in much faster sleds down this same hill a thousand times this week and each and every sled followed a certain path that did not include running off the edge and into the trees fifty yards away...until Maggie. Joel was at the bottom of the hill "catching" people, Eric was on his way back up, and I was at the top when I gave Maggie a light push and off she went. Within ten yards, I could see her veering off the path and I shouted for Eric to grab her-so off he turns from the path to run and get her because at this time it was a little nervewracking to see our 2 year old in a sled heading for a forest. One step off the path and "Where is Eric???" He had fallen waste deep into the snow as he ran but his momentum carried him into a faceplant. Never fear, Maggie glided ever so slowly into a snowbank near this tree and waited patiently for someone to come get her.

On the chairlift

Having a snack on the way down from skiing-that'll wear ya out!

Allie took this picture in the hallway one afternoon-how do kids always get other kids to smile for pictures?

Mondo and Eric out skiing
Eric, Will, Blake, Cade and Joel
Will and Eric getting on the chair lift for the first time
Waiting in the LONG line to get to the lift
Will, Allie, Cade, Maggie, and Blake at my new favorite place to get pizza!
I think this was when we were sledding the first day-yes, I know Will's hat is on backwards!

Check out Will's face as he prepares to launch one at an unsuspecting Joel

Wendy, me, and Anyssa-friends since birth!
Will and Maggie chilling on the sled that was quickly losing air!
Maggie and Maddie in the back of our truck eating popcorn-these girls do nothing but eat and they're both teeny tiny!
Eric and Will at the sand dunes
Maggie finally agreed to get down for a quick picture. We were almost back to the truck, and after this picture she decided she wanted to stay and play!
Will, me, Wendy, and Ethan having fun at the sled hill
Will's first time on skis!
Will and Ethan testing out the sled
Eric and Will running (flying-notice the arms out?) down the sand dunes

We were doubly blessed this spring break in being able to take two fantastic vacations! The first was to Monarch, Colorado with a large group from our Church. We left early on Saturday morning, still a bit "hungover" from Maggie's birthday week. I'm going to describe it in much more detail than anyone will want to read, so for those not related to us, skip on down to the pictures!

We took two days making the trip, traveling with Mondo, Wendy, and their kids. We only had a few hours remaining on Sunday, so our family took a little detour and played on some sand dunes somewhere in Colorado. Maggie was tired and ready for a nap, so Will and Eric had most of the fun that afternoon! Everyone from our group arrived at various times on Sunday to get settled in and ready to ski Monday. Sunday evening, we went to the best little pizza place with the Garcias and of course, a Walmart run to stock up on snacks! Monday morning, we got all dressed and ready, got our skis, and a resounding "NO" from the kids about putting them on. I didn't want to push on the first day, so Eric took off to get his "ski legs" under him and ended up helping several of the newbies learn how to ski. Meanwhile, the kids and I rounded up all the other mommies and toddlers and trekked across the parking lot to sled. After a few tiring hours, the daddies made their way back and we drove to the Old Monarch Pass for sledding. This was quite a hit, and the kids were definitely ready for naps. During nap time, I stayed back with the kids at the lodge and Eric was able to ski with Mondo on all the runs I don't even want to think about!!! Every evening, we all had dinner together and a devo, and then it was time to PASS OUT from a busy day!

Tuesday we were able to convince Will and Ethan to try skiing. Eric had found a wonderful hill to teach them on just past where we were sledding. It involved lots of walking and carrying gear, but it was the perfect place to teach Will, Maggie and Ethan. I think Maggie tried it first (she's the fastest to accept skittle bribes) and seemed to really enjoy it. Next came Will, and while he started out crying and telling us he was NOT going to ski, by the end of the hill he was begging for more. We quickly realized that he would be fine on the bunny slopes at the mountain and left for the chair lifts. Will and Eric went up (Maggie had decided she wasn't into this whole thing by this point) with Mondo and Ethan and they all did great! No falls, no scares, and Will was ready for more! I'm pretty sure this was the evening that he fell asleep on our way home from sledding with the group around 4, slept through an insane amount of noise as Maggie and the Garcia and Malec kids ran up and down the hallway, slept straight through dinner, and around 8 o'clock, I woke him up to go to Devo and he laid on my shoulder through the whole thing. I guess he was pretty wiped. After devo, some of the kids played soccer for awhile, then we all moved to Mondo and Wendy's for a game night-SOME people got pretty competetive and weren't happy when they lost, but it was a lot of fun!

Thursday Will was begging to go skiing. We also convinced Maggie to try it, but while we were waiting in the chair lift lines, she started throwing a serious fit! Everyone was looking at me like I was the meanest mom ever, but I knew once she got on the lift she would be fine! Thankfully, I was right. I skiied with her while Eric and Will stayed together, and somehow we all made it down with no falls. I tried crisscrossing the hill to keep my speed down, but Maggie would scream at me to go faster and faster! After a few runs of the bunny slope and long lines at the lift, we decided to go to the top. The chair lift ride was a little intimidating because it was LONG ride and it went directly over all the black diamond runs. Maggie almost fell asleep, but we managed to make it to the top! The kids loved the hills and they really loved when we would see people from our group skiing on the same hills where they were! My back started hurting on the way down, so Eric and I switched (Maggie needed a little mroe help than Will at this point) and they got ahead of us a little bit. By the time we caught up, Maggie was fast asleep on Eric's shoulder and he had to ski the rest of the way holding her-I'm so mad at myself for not getting a picture! By the time we got to the bottom, my back and thighs were killing me and Will was begging to go back to the top!

We had a great dinner out that night and left early the next morning for the trip home. This time we caravanned with the Garcia family and their trusty GPS "Gina." All in all it was a fantastic trip and we are so thankful there were no major injuries!

I'm working on it!

2009-03-30T21:30:00.003-04:00

I seem to be constantly apologizing for my slow blogging, so once again, I'm sorry. But I'm working on our Spring Break #1 Blog to Colorado, and our Spring Break #2 Blog to Cabo-they're just full of pics so it's taking me longer than I have the patience/free time for. But I AM working on it, and hopefully will have it done by the end of the week for those of you who actually still check in with us!

She's TWO!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-13T16:16:00.004-04:00

What a fun birthday Maggie had! Her big present was her new big girl bed! I searched forever for just the right bedding, but couldn't find anything I was happy with (except one comforter that was 1200 for just the spread-yikes!) so I decided it would be fun to make her bedding. Maggie's my special girl, and she is such a mix between pretty pretty princess and one of the boys, and she's got enough spunk for everyone in town! Anyway, I loved all the fabrics I picked, and thankfully the timing was perfect because my fabulous aunt was in town and she and my Granny had the whole thing cut and pieced in less than a week! I love how it turned out and it's exactly "Maggie" to me! Anyway, I don't have the decorations switched out yet, but the main part is in and now I can work around the bed. We took the crib out and put her new bed in while she was in school that morning, so it was all set up when she got home that afternoon. She took a quick nap in it, then it was off to Pump It Up for her party. We had a great day all the way around and it's so hard to believe my baby girl is TWO! She's already three months older than Will was when she was born-I can't imagine having another baby right now!!!!!!!

We love you Mags-Happy Birthday!

Crazy Jumping Girl!

Jumping in the crib on her last night to be one! This had become a nightly tradition-bath, PJs, dance party to Christmas music, jumping in Maggie's crib, stories in Will's room, then to their separate beds. Sad to see it go, but they've moved right on to jumping on her big girl bed!

My mom's first outing in who knows how long that wasn't to the doctor or the hospital-we were so glad she was able to come party with us!

Jumping on her new big girl bed! The transition was SO SMOOTH-this girl's happy as long as she can jump!
If you're wondering why she has this crazy smile in all her pictures, I was bribing her to take her pacifier out for the pics, so you'll notice it's in her right hand while she smiles, then she would pop it back in and move on with the fun.

At Pump It Up for her party-I got hardly any cute pictures, and the group one was kind of awful, but at least the two of them semi-posed for this one! I think he had just as much fun as she did and he's ready to start planning his party now!

Ready to take her first nap with some of her favorite babies!
Hanging out in the big girl bed

As long as I can remember, it's been a family tradition to have chocolate chip pancakes on your birthday. Since her birthday morning was also a school morning, and I needed them to go to school so I could change her beds out, I got up extra early and made the pancakes, got ready, got everything packed, and then sat around waiting. These kids slept WAY IN and we ended up having to rush through the whole breakfast (not to mention eat cold pancakes), but it was still fun. Clearly this is one of Will's favorites!
With one of her cupcakes from school-she had princess cupcakes to celebrate with her school friends!
During breakfast, we just put the phone on speaker when it would ring and lay it on the table so they could both enjoy all the singing and birthday wishes!
I just love this one because of those sweet looks they're giving each other!

Catchin' Up

2009-03-09T15:47:00.004-04:00

This is the "chill out" position, so we had to get a picture in their shirts, of course! They both sit like this in the car sometimes-who said we're not laid back?

The following are attempts at trying to take some pictures of the kids-

Will trying to see what Maggie's doing for this picture...

Maggie checking out Will's pose...

Will's fake sweet smile that comes out when Mommy starts bribing

Maggie trying to figure out when Mommy will follow through with the promised M&Ms.

At the zoo-we've gone the last couple of weeks because the weather has been so fantastic-I guess Ethan got tired and needed a ride!
This one is probably only funny to Wendy and I, but Will was trying to share his fruit roll up (not a normal treat-it was left over from our plane trip to Michigan) with everyone and kept asking if they "want a lick" Ethan thought he must be crazy!
Yes, she has on PJs, but more importantly, she's wearing about 8 tubs of fingerpaints. This has become one of her favorite things in the world, and she always starts off very ladylike-dipping a Dora paintbrush very gingerly, painting a neat line across the page, and then she starts digging in. Sooner rather than later, she is dipping her hands, not her fingers, into the tubs and on warmer days when she's naked, she's in full body paint.
The kids and Eric went to a hockey game one night with several other Dads and their kids. It was Maggie's first outing on a Dad's night and I think she had a blast. Unfortunately, I spent my Mommy night curled up in bed with the flu. I didn't really get any good pictures, although Eric did a great job of taking a lot of pics-but this is Joel, Blake, Cade, and Will.

So I know I keep saying this, but sorry for the delay between posts. I really mean to do better, but lately everything has been so hectic. Let's see-this week, I'm packing for a ski trip to Colorado and in another set of suitcases I'm packing for the trip to Mexico we're taking as soon as we get home from skiing. I'm also re-doing Maggie's room into her big girl room because she turns TWO this week! In my spare time, I'm getting things ready for the party, and oh yeah-trying to keep up with these kiddoes! We are also spending a lot of time helping out with my mom, so there's not a whole lot of time for blogging. These are just some random pics from over the last month or so. I have to say, I've been really bad about taking pictures lately, but we should have enough to go around once we get home from our "travels" and after Maggie's big day! I tried to take some on Sunday of the kids because anyone who knows me knows that your birthday starts on the Sunday before the actual day and goes straight through the whole week (or more, depending on when the party is...) but they weren't in such a picture taking mood--I know, it's crazy to think that a 2 and 3 year old don't want to stop to pose for Mommy's camera! :)

Michigan!

2009-02-16T15:30:00.006-05:00

Me and my girl watching the "men" ice fishing!

Maggie being Maggie-food in one hand, drink in the other

Will and Papa were watching Kynthia feed their goats-she told Will to look at them stick out their tongues and check his out!

Devin, Shane, Maggie, Will, Brandon, and Brandon-these are the professional Wii players!

Not sure what happened to this picture but they were playing hockey in the basement. I couldn't get wide enough to get the whole shot, but they were all playing and it was like a real game!

Kevin, Eric, and Bayer-friends since high school or maybe before-
Kevin and Kynthia's kids-Shane and Brandon--cousins Devin and Brandon--and Will. These boys had so much fun playing together!
Will was a big fan of sledding. I'm guessing we'll be doing a lot of this in Colorado!
Eric pulling Princess Maggie-that's the frozen over lake behind them where we ice fished

Okay, maybe I overpacked a little. This didn't even count our 4 carryon bags! But I'd like to say we wore everything I took!
Gotta say, I was a little bit nervous about ice fishing-especially after that little problem on Lake Erie, but we had fun-this was his first fish!

Throwing a fish back that wasn't a keeper!
It's so hard being a princess-she was pulled EVERYWHERE in this sled, so I'm not really sure why she's the one yawning!

The grandkids with Grandma reading stories before bed on our last night there!

So I know I am the WORST blogger lately-we've been super busy with my mom and traveling and I'm splitting what little time I have left between the blog world and facebook. So...I'll try to keep the updates coming as frequently as I can because I'm horrible at scrapbooking and this is how I remember things, and so I can update the few loyal blogfans I have left.

We went to Michigan last week to see Grandma, Papa, Aunt Alison, Uncle Andy, and cousins Devin and Brandon, as well as some old friends Eric hadn't seen in WAY too long! We had so much fun, and thankfully the weather wasn't as cold as I had imagined it was going to be. We also celebrated Eric's birthday while we were there, and even though the suprise part of the party didn't go off as planned (rather WHEN it was planned), he was still surprised and we had a great time.

For those keeping track, my mom is home from rehab finally and is doing better. She goes back in a few weeks to schedule the correction for the left leg. We found out the company that made her titanium hip replacements the first time around that are now breaking and causing her to go through all these surgeries went out of business. Can you believe that? Who knows how many other people are affected?

We are having a fun year so far-Maggie and Will are just so much fun-I had forgotten how much I loved this age Maggie is-or maybe I don't remember it since she was a newborn when Will was this age! Either way, I am loving it and so thankful I'm "home" with them to enjoy every minute!

You're Hot, then You're Cold...

2009-02-01T20:12:00.006-05:00

I love her big blue eyes-pardon the fact that my windows are full of handprints and she has food all over her face-she was eating a banana muffin and I had put a little bit of butter on top and she started licking it off. I started laughing and with her most serious voice and face she said "Don't laugh Mommy-I just like butter" This story is funniest to my family I'm sure since I've heard tales of me doing the same thing when I was little.

Walking with one of my brother's dogs, Sugar

"Jumping" through the doggy hoops-I don't think she understood so much that a dog park was not there for her entertainment but the dogs'!

Two really huge dogs, girl named Jennifer that owns them, and Uncle Scotty with Mags.

Will and Caroline at the dog park. They were cracking themselves up!

At the dog park-the kids had such a great time watching all the dogs play together-from the littlest teacup one to the biggest great dane!

Up, up, up they go...
And-nothing...She was so disappointed when she realized this was not a slide!
Will and Caroline waiting for the rodeo to begin

I don't think Will was really sure about what he was about to see...but he loved it! Thanks for a great time Greenbergs!

Playing on the iced over trampoline

Making "ice angels" Hey-you work with what ya got, right? This is Texas!
Will getting ready to fly down the iced over slide!
Even the dogs enjoyed the ice storm...

Until Torpedo Maggie came through!

In true Texas fashion, the weather was crazy this week! We went from short sleeves Sunday, to an Ice Storm Tuesday that cancelled school Wednesday (and a birthday party unfortunately!) to short sleeves over the weekend. We managed to fill up our week with random and unexpected surprises and had a lot of fun! I learned how (or taught myself-not like it's rocket science) to build fires in the fireplace this week, so we took full advantage of that new talent-of course a fire means smores, so we also had a good time roasting marshmallows with family and friends during the cold weather. Will and Eric had front row seats at the rodeo and had a great time with friends (while Maggie got some good one on one with mommy and Grammy at the hospital) and we circled around to a new park and a dog park along with a few parks that we frequent on Super Bowl Sunday to get them good and worn out so Eric and I could watch the game in peace (thank you TIVO)! It was just too pretty of a day to waste time taking a nap! So anyway, enjoy the pics and have a great week-whatever the weather!

The First Slumber Party

2009-01-22T21:51:00.004-05:00

Shayla and me-somehow being 8 years apart age wise and living five hours away from each other doesn't keep us from constantly saying the same things and wearing matching clothes without planning it!
Molly and Maggie "painting" Maggie's hair with glitter hair pens. Gotta say, not my favorite thing that happened. It just turned into one sticky mess!
I had to put this picture on here because I caught Molly in a cross eye! This girl has some of the best expressions!
I can't remember why he was in this chair, but I'm pretty sure we were trying to get him to wake up from a nap (yes, he's almost four and still naps!). He slept in the middle of all the action, just like this, for probably close to an hour. Guess that slumber party didn't involve much slumber!

This past weekend, my sister and her girls came back for a long weekend to spend some time with my mom. Usually when they come, they stay at my parents' house which is less than a mile away and we spend all our days together but the nights apart. THIS TIME...considering my mom's been in the hospital for almost four weeks and my poor dad's been splitting time between there and work, we decided it would just be easier for them to stay with us. The timing worked out well, because about a few weeks ago, Will convinced me he needed a bunk bed. I had taken Maggie to start looking at beds that she liked for her big girl room, and he was just facinated by all the bunk beds. He had his heart set on one almost from the get go, and the more I thought about it, the more I was able to rationalize it! We've chosen (for now) now to put the second bed underneath and he just uses that as play space/reading space, etc. This weekend it was "the cave" because we hung blankets off the top part and the three kids set up their ready beds underneath for a night full of good rest...
We had a great time with them but we've gotten spoiled lately with our long trips here or there. Three days was just not enough! Shayla and I spent most of the weekend with my mom while Eric somehow managed with all four kids all weekend-thanks honey! My brother and his family pitched in too, and hopefully my dad was able to get some rest along the way.

Welcome 2009

2009-01-16T16:51:00.003-05:00

We've had a bit of a rough start to 09 with my mom in the hospital-still. Actually she's moved to rehab (physical, not drug :)) now, but we're still not sure what will happen with her left leg. So it's been a long few weeks with me spending so much time there with and without the kiddos, but it's starting to look up a bit now. I've been horrible about taking pictures lately and blogging as well, but I'll try to be better about both soon. I took Rudy (shortened from Rudolph-our kitty) to the vet today and it was the first time I'd written the date since New Years. I couldn't believe it was already the 16th! Hope everyone is having a great start to their new year!

Maggie is VERY into playing with babies lately and sometimes joins the fun they're having!

I was trying to get some snow inspired pictures for my January picture frames and the kids were not into it. I got lots of them playing with the snow and each other-not so much smiling lovingly at the camera!

Since Christmas...

2009-01-03T15:23:00.011-05:00

Things have been a little crazy around here. We had a great time while Shayla's fam was in town, but we were SO exhausted when they left! Will wouldn't leave the house for two days. Then my mom ended up in the hospital with two broken legs-long story for those who aren't up to date but it was not an "all of a sudden" accident type thing. We've spent time up there, gone to Six Flags a few times now that Maggie's really into the rides too, to the train display at North Park Mall (but sadly, not much shopping there), and spent lots of time with friends and family. Sorry for the jumbled up pics-
Quite an outfit-hat, gown, high heels, lei, and baby in carrier

Ethan and Will riding their bikes-yes, Will DOES have a helmet that he wears when he rides

Maggie has inherited Will's tricycle but I forgot to get her a helmet (at this point-she has a princess helmet now), so while we were getting Will's helmet on, she ran back into the house and came back shouting "I need that" while holding up her tiara. She wore it proudly on her first "bike" ride.

Maggie and Will in their conductor hats at the Trains at North Park

Will on a quick tour of New York

Maggie snuggling up with Rudolph to watch a little Baby Newton while Mommy gets ready

Feeding her babydoll something she cooked in her cottage
Almost getting kicked off the swings for ramming into people in front and behind her

I wish I could get them to both do cute faces in the same pic-I guess I need to learn how to photoshop

"sharing" a pink thing on the way out of Six Flags.
Maggie literally RUNS from ride to ride.

Walking on the rocks like a big girl (and boy)

Poor baby was WIPED OUT after the first few hours there. She had a quick power nap on the train and then was back at it again!
Will's first time down snow hill. Not so sure about this ride. And yes, he's wearing short sleeves. It was 88 degrees outside.
Will and Macy on the stompin boots. After my kids had ridden this a thousand times over the last few months, I finally rode it last night and I have to say, it's actually kind of fun. But all you Nashville girls will be happy to know that the Titan is my fave.
Maggie on the Mexican Hat ride. She still prefers the rides in Looney Tunes I think, but she's ridden every ride in the park that she can, including the conquistador-that huge boat that goes back and forth really tall!
Will and Frosty

The kiddos on New Year's Eve. Little did they know at this point that their parents would let them stay up until the ball dropped at the New Year (fake New York time anyway). They had so much fun making smores and doing sparklers and just being crazy until WAY past their bedtimes. It was so much fun to all be together!

Will and his smore
Maggie stripped her smore down to the bare necessities-the chocolate bar.

Will and his sparkler. These turned out to be quite a hit with both the kids

Tyler, Ethan, and Will with their sparklers
She decided she liked the marshmallows at some point and SOMEONE (Aunt K) was giving them out freely!

Will and Grammy (Mom, don't kill me for putting this picture on here) having their New Year's lunch and watching some football
Maggie and Will gearing up for a nap. Will thought the chair that folds out into a bed at the hospital was the coolest thing ever-he ended up staying so he could nap in the "bed."
Playing Candy Lane Castle with Chief and Grammy

Merry Christmas To All...

2008-12-26T09:46:00.011-05:00

We had such a great Christmas! It really was everything I had always imagined Christmas to be with two little kids-tearing through present after present, sheer joy on their faces when they see what's inside (then tossing it aside and asking where their NEXT present is-or just grabbing what's close to them and opening that one), running around the room to show everyone what they got, and CRASHING so hard at the end of the day that they're still asleep at 9 this morning so I have time to blog! I have tons of pictures, of course, so I'll let them tell the story.
Playing a little golf at Bass Pro. This boy loves his sports! We did this last week but I haven't had time to post it so we're throwing it in with everything else!
At Bass Pro-it was a new addition to our Christmas Activities List this year and it was so fun!
Maggie get your gun!
GG went with us and we had a great time!

Will was driving the remote control car and Maggie thought she'd help give it a little push!

Writing their list down for Santa

Putting their letters in Santa's mail boxes
Hoping a big hug would help Santa remember his ever growing list!

Maggie is very into trains this year-Bass Pro had some really neat displays up

After the Live Nativity at our Church, all Maggie was interested in was checking out Baby Jesus
Throwing reindeer food out on the lawn the night before Christmas

Waiting outside Uncle Scotty's house to see what Santa had brought

Maggie in her cottage
Will's list grew and grew-the bike was the original request, then a jaguar, then kitty cat, then I lost track. Then there became a new Mittig family rule about how many presents Santa can remember.

Someone forgot to tell Maggie the wheely ball isn't a chair!

I get a lot of comments on how the kids always seem to get along so well, so I wanted to make sure our blog is a little more true to life-they love each other and really are the best of friends, but toys are toys and it's not always fun to share!

Maggie learning to walk in high heels

Maggie is very into makeup after Molly introduced her to it this week. There have been many, many makeovers! Molly wanted to do some eye makeup so she told Mags to close her eyes...

Now it's time for some pretty nails

A little bottle for Baby

A little bottle for Maggie

Learning early that reading the instructions makes things easier

More Diego stuff! Thanks Aunt Manda!

Will giving Maggie the Build a Bear/Rabbit he made her-Cotton Candy

Maggie's first candy necklace. Thankfully it broke right after this picture was taken and she never figured it out!

Will discovered Diego a few weeks ago-which turned out to be very good timing for gift giving this year. And yes, he has to pee. We actually had to force him to go yesterday because he didn't want to stop opening!

Maggie and Santa's gift to her-she ran straight for the babydoll and hardly paid attention to the little cottage she got-but once she figured it out, that was one happy girl!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Hopefully we'll do the Texan, Six Flags, and Prairie Lights this week so check back for more pics!

Santa Came Early...

2008-12-24T13:56:00.004-05:00

Santa's first gift-Santa didn't have enough room on the sleigh with all the other gifts, so he brought these little guys early. They're the tiniest kittens I've ever seen. The black and white one is Will and Maggie's-the gray one goes back to LR with the girls. It's been named Rudolph, Blitzen, Boots, and a few others. Considering our Elf is named Cucumber, you never know what they'll end up on.

On the Polar Express Train in Grapevine. The kids had a blast!
It's too bad they just don't have any fun when they're together-this was the night before we rode the PE Train-the kids had a popcorn/movie night with 3D Polar Express while the 'dults watched the Cowboys lose.

On the Polar Express Train. She might have had more fun than anyone!
Since I couldn't get a picture of both lookiing and smiling at the same time, here's the best we got Sunday
Maggie and Maddie at church Sunday. All the craziness around them-and I mean a LOT of craziness around them, and they were content just hanging out.
Will telling Santa he had added one more thing to his list since the previous 10 times we saw him-a kitty cat

We've had a busy week so far-Shayla and the girls came Saturday just in time to watch the Cowboys disappoint...again, Church and riding Polar Express on Sunday, Monday the stomach bug hit, and the rest is too much of a blur to remember. Since I already have over 200 pics from the week, I wanted to do a midweek blog. Short on time, so better save rest for later.

White Rock Marathon

2008-12-15T12:52:00.005-05:00

Will cheering "the cow" on. I don't know if it was a promotion for Chick Fil A or what, but the kids loved seeing this guy. Other interesting people: the inevitable Santas and Elvises, the man who has run 105 marathons this year (why???), the lady who wore the shirt that said "I'm single" on the front and "catch me if you can" on the back, the sick children who crossed the finish line with their sponsoring groups in wheelchairs or whatever means necessary as a huge crowd cheered them on, the senior citizens and amputees with artificial limbs who were running-and at fairly impressive clips I might add...it was so interesting to see all the different people who come out!
At one point, we were waiting a little longer for Eric to pass than we had anticipated and the kids had to find ways to entertain themselves...
Michaela and Brittani were kind enough to help me with the kids from stop to stop-thanks to the whole Malec family for all your help!
Cheering on the runners-the sign got cut off, but we were standing right in front of the "Suicide and Crisis Center" I might have been heading in there if I was in the marathon-I think this was the 22 mile marker.
Waiting for Daddy-Maggie had just fallen asleep as we got there and the 40 mile an hour winds woke her up!
More entertaining-hide and seek
That's Will, Brittani, and Michaela running with Eric at one point. Their mom, Natalie, ran with him for about a mile but I didn't get any pictures for some reason!
Maggie and Allie Grace hanging out after the race was over. Thanks to the Garcias for coming out to support Eric!
I had promised Maggie she could run with him the next time we saw him, but he had picked up the pace at this 24 mile crossing point and we missed him. She chased after him for a little while, but we had to book it to meet him at the finish line!
He stopped to grab the kids so they could cross the finish line with him!
I think Will was just as tired as Eric after all the running around he had done chasing him!
Joel, Eric, me, Michaela, Will, Mark, Brittani, Natalie, Blake, Leanna, Allie, Maggie, Cade

We're so proud of Eric for running in the marathon! He decided he wanted to do this because his friend Kevin had started running them awhile back. After about a month of good training, he hurt his foot and had to put the breaks on running for about a month. But in true Eric fashion, he laced up his running shoes and completed the race after hardly any training. Maybe now he'll go to the doctor and get his foot healed before his next one in February (hint hint Daddy). We're so proud of you!

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

2008-12-08T11:44:00.006-05:00

So we made our first attempt at sitting on Santa's lap, and probably our last for the year. We had already seen Santa once this year and Maggie loved him, but no so much the Santa at the mall. I was prepared with special Christmas cookie bribes, and I had the luxury of a candy store directly across the hall from Santa, but Maggie wasn't hearing any of it. Will did fantastic-he climbed up on his lap, asked him if our Elf on a Shelf "Cucumber" had been telling him all the good things he's been doing, and asked very nicely for Santa to bring him a bike. Then came Maggie-already screaming. The people asked if I wanted to take her on a walk and try again later, but I know Maggie, and that wouldn't have changed the fact that a big bearded man wanted to hold her. So this is the picture we got. I learned last year not to be disappointed and remember that this will be funnier in the long run.

CHRISTMASES PAST

I'm just realizing I bought him the same shirt to wear this year as last. Other than Maggie being a year older, these pictures are remarkably similar!

I can't find the disc with Will's second year visit to Santa, but see how easy his first visit was? It tricked me into thinking they were all going to be this easy.

Thanksgiving Week

2008-11-30T22:41:00.007-05:00

These boots were certainly NOT made for walking-at least for Maggie. She climbed in on her own but then got stuck. It gave me enough time to run and get the camera though!
Maggie throwing out deer corn-the most we saw come to eat was 8, but they don't stick around long with Maggie around!

As I was trying to cut up a fruit salad, my little helper was eating it almost as fast as I put it in the bowl. It was about half the size I had intended it to be.

Will borrowed my shoe to kick a smoke bomb and ended up kicking my shoe on top of it! They haven't smelled the same since...
I do love sequence pictures. This first one is one I took without them knowing. See how they're both pulling each other's hair? The next one is the one I took immediately after the flash went off on the first one. Busted!

Maggie loved throwing rocks at this creek. At first I think she thought Will was tricking her-trying to get her into trouble.

It was such a pretty day, so we let the kids eat Thanksgiving dinner outside while the adults watched football inside!

Will and Ariel-I mean Molly-playing with their boxes. Of all the toys and things to do, they had the most fun playing house in a huge box. I think they were "making soup" in this smaller one.

Will loved riding the mules and I need one of these dogs-it's a labradoodle and it's the sweetest dog ever!
Maggie gathering eggs-she wasn't real sure about this whole process, but she loved eating those eggs!
The kids holding up their empty egg crates ready to gather some eggs-they weren't quite as excited once they made it into the coop.
Feeding the chickens-then trying to catch them. Not so easy!
Our first Santa sighting of the year at the retirement home we visited with our Young Families class at Church.
Molly and Will saying goodbye the morning we had to leave LR. Will was so bummed to leave his "cousits" but was excited to come home to his dogs!
Will and Allie Grace-how fun is her skirt?
Maggie excited about decorating the tree. Every time she "hung" one on the tree, she would dance around and sing "I DID IT" with this huge grin!

It's been such a busy few weeks around here with Eric out of town for work, then all of us at my sister's for Thanksgiving. We've had a great time and I have WAY too many pictures. Highlights of the last two weeks-time to reflect on my many many blessings, my 6th anniversary with my wonderful husband, a great week in Arkansas with my sister and her family, going Black Friday shopping with my sister and Eric-it makes all the difference having a driver and package carrier!, and getting out all the Christmas decorations and watching both my kids decorate the tree for the first time (even though they're all on the bottom two branches or on the floor (or broken)).
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T12:48:00.002-05:00

We have so much to be thankful for this year and hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving Week!

Bye bye baseball...

2008-11-17T15:18:00.004-05:00

This proves that she DOES have hair!

Digging into the baseball cupcakes

Will receiving his certificate and trophy from Coach Eric

Hugging his Daddy at the end of the trophy presentations

Sadly for Will, our very first t-ball season is over! We had such a great time and made some fun new friends along the way! Our last game was Saturday morning in the freezing cold wind, then everyone came back to our house for the end of season party. I spent most of the time with the video camera instead of my still, so I have very few pictures.

The other pics are some of Maggie at her first haircut, and then her first ponytail (if that's what you can call it!). Someone told me if I put it in a fountaintop, it will make it grow faster. Since she actually likes it and it seems to fit her personality, it's become her new style.

Other than that, we're just getting anxious for the holidays and are enjoying the pretty weather. We had a young adult's retreat for our church this weekend, and I kept looking at the speaker thinking I knew him from somewhere and I finally figured out he used to lead singing in chapel at HU a lot-Pat Bills. Kind of a blast from the past-

Happy Fall Y'all

2008-11-09T15:40:00.004-05:00

Hook 'em horns! This is Will in his "Colt CaMoy" jersey

Maggie was a little tentative at first-then she saw Will take off and warmed right up!

We had our first week of "fall" (you know, the holiday that follows Halloween?) here and enjoyed every minute. We raked leaves and jumped in them, made our fall crafts (fun with feathers and paint), went on nature walks for pretty leaves, picked tomatoes, and decorated the house with all the fun fall stuff (and for you KB and PP, we loaded up on sweet cinnamon pumpkin at B & Bworks). The kids have really enjoyed the weather and we've basically moved outside. It seems like every meal is a picnic these days.

Maggie got her first haircut this week. I know it seems like there really wasn't enough to cut, but I'd heard the "m" word (mullet) mentioned around (and about) her a few times recently, so it was time. Will's first haircut was so ceremonial, on his very first birthday at the place where you sit in fun cars and watch cartoons and he had an envelope full of hair to put in his silver keepsakes. Maggie's was a bit different, but I must say far more successful. We went to Miss Lisa, the only person to ever cut Will's hair without a fight, and she did great. All 2 centimeters that was cut off...but hey, no more mullet talk!

The Justice League

2008-11-02T20:18:00.005-05:00

Ready for action. They started begging to go around 4, but I managed to hold them off until about 5. It was a struggle that first hour to find a house we could visit, but they had fun anyway.

The batkids "flying" from one house to the next

The Justice League and their siblings-Caleb and Ethan, Tyler and Maddie, Will and Maggie. Unfortunately we got no pictures with the rest of the league-Allie, Caroline and Carter
Tyler, Will, and Ethan

Will asked me what I was going to be for Halloween, and when I didn't have an answer, he suggested dressing up as Grammy and Chief. There are lots of private jokes in our outfits that some people may not get, but trust me when I say our impressions were a hit! My brother and his wife did the same thing, so my sweet Maggie was confused all night when she was looking for me or Eric and all there was were GrammyChiefs everywhere.
I'm sorry, Scott, but I had to put this picture on here...All night he kept tricking her into coming to him (remember she's a MAJOR mama's girl, but she will almost always go to her chief)-right before this picture, she gave him a sweet hug and kiss so I got my camera out to capture the moment and caught THIS. There are so many possible labels for that face! This sweet lady decorates her whole front porch every year, so I was determined to get their picture here-unfortunately they all kept getting caught up in that sticky spider web!
Maggie and HER baby, Maddie

Poor Maggie-she was a trooper with this mask, but it was sliding down all night!

At the Halloween light fest-the kids had a great time, but unfortunately I got very few good pictures.
Carving Jack-o-lanterns. This was fun for about, oh, five seconds, but he really liked them as a finished product.
We were cleaning things out of the garage and Will found these seagrass mats that we use at the beach. Now they're his "outside nap mats" for when he needs a "little rest" while he's playing outside. It started out kind of funny, but now he's started moving books outside to "read in bed" and having my dad get down there to tell him stories...

Our neighbor brought us a cord of wood the other day and the kids were intrigued by this for some reason. I felt kind of bad sitting and watching him carry the wood from his truck to our back yard, but that's what we did. It felt like watching paint dry to me, but the kids loved it. They even wanted a snack while they watched. Oh, to be three (or one).

Okay, nothing to do with Halloween, but one day Will convinced me that he and Maggie should take their nap together in his room. I must have lost my mind when I agreed to this. I told them some stories, scratched their backs, and tucked them in and they actually seemed almost asleep. I tiptoed quietly out, and within 10 seconds heard giggling, banging on the wall, more giggling, then screaming, then singing, and so on. I grabbed my camera and ran to his room. As I opened the door, all the noise stopped and I aimed my camera in the direction of his bed (it was dark so I couldn't see). I almost died laughing when I saw the picture. Needless to say, they went their separate ways.

So this was a week full of superheroes around here. The kids had several chances to get dressed up and practice their trick or treating skills before the big day, and it paid off! We have more candy around here than we know what to do with! They had such a fun week, complete with parties, Halloween light shows, more parties, baking with mom and of course, trick or treating. We also decided to throw in a birthday party, t-ball game, and a concert (Laurie Berkner band) for good measure.

Happy Halloween Week

2008-10-27T15:28:00.004-05:00

I know, Batgirl doesn't wear Halloween crocs, but it turns out that Maggie doesn't like black boots (or gloves). Will has never seen anything Batman, Superman, Spiderman related moviewise, but he's suddenly very into Superheroes. So my initial costumes of cowboy and cowgirl were overruled when all of his friends decided to be superheroes this year. They love to "fly" around the room with their capes flowing out behind them. If only I still drove the batmobile I drove in college!

"FLEX"

The original costume selection for the year-the cowboy and cowgirl. Oh well.

Old Friends and New Ones

2008-10-19T21:44:00.004-04:00

Round 3 at the Pumpkin Patch-this time with our new friends Jules and Jillian!
Will and Jillian

I love how they're all squished over to one side on the Ferris Wheel-maybe a little unsure of this crazy ride perched on a trailer?
Maggie on one of her faves-the airplanes
Driving a truck with Will-check out that backseat driver!
On her true favorite-the stomping boots. This was the biggest spectacle getting her out of here!
Every time they circled past us, she would wave and say "Hi Daddy"

Maggie and Stacey with their first attempt at making a bouncy ball (one of our favorite crafts ever BTW...made by Rose Art)
Choosing Stacey over me to play ball!
Will and Stacey making a ball-he didn't stop smiling the whole time she was here!

My friend Stacey was able to come spend a few days with us this week and we had such a great time! I knew Will would love her, but I was a little apprehensive about Mags because she's a little of a mama's girl, but she loved her! Almost right from the beginning she would let her hold her and carry her around, and after a day or so she started going to her instead of me! It was nuts! We loved having her here with us and thanks to Eric, we were able to have some much needed girl time with dinner out one night and a morning of shopping in South Lake. When I came home without her that day the kids were so bummed! Thanks for coming Stacey-we love you!

We also got to spend time with some new friends this week-Jules and Jillian! Brittney and I were at Harding together and reconnected through the blog world. We were finally able to get our schedules on the same page and met at the Pumpkin Patch last week. It was such a fun day and hopefully we'll be able to get together again soon! (Sorry I got no pics of Jules-she's SO cute!!)

After a long and crazy week, we decided to have a nice, easy weekend...by having a t-ball game and going to Six Flags twice. The weather was just so pretty and we had planned on going to the Fair Saturday to enjoy it, but Will had been begging to go to Six Flags lately so we ditched the fair and headed out. It was our first time to take Maggie (except for once as a baby last fall). I was pretty sure we were going to be spending a lot of time on the swings while Eric and Will rode everything else, but she hung right with Will. There are still some things she can't ride yet, but she was able to ride about 15 things and had everyone around us in stitches with her huge grins and belly laughs while the rides were on and her screams of "AGAIN!!!!!" when I tried to take her out of her seat. We had so much fun Saturday that we decided to go back Sunday for more. Needless to say, I'm sure we'll be making a few more return trips now that the weather is so nice!

The Pumpkin Patch and Air Show

2008-10-12T21:17:00.005-04:00

Tyler and Will at the pumpkin house

Am I the only one who thinks she's terrified of a pumpkin that large?

Will and Maggie, Ethan and Caleb
Look at my mischevious children-planting hay in Ethan and Caleb's hair while they're obliviously taking pictures!
This was a little confusing for Maggie
Hopefully not a sign of things to come!

Supposedly one of the largest inflatable slides ever
Will thought it was neat that the tires were so big

We made a return trip to the Pumpkin Patch this past Friday. We had never been on a weekday before and I was expecting a lot smaller crowd-the first hour or so was perfect...beautiful day and not many people. Then the school buses arrived. It was nuts how many people showed up in about a 15 minute interval. We made the best of it and went next door (for the locals, I know we're not supposed to support the "other" FM Patch) where there were about 15 people. They also had pony rides and a petting zoo, so the kids were thrilled. All in all, it was a great day.

Saturday we had t-ball, then Eric took the kids to the Alliance Air Show and let me come home to watch the OU/Texas game without interruption. What a husband! They had a great time and Will was already asking Eric on the way home when they could go back again.

The first Pumpkin Patch Visit

2008-10-05T21:47:00.007-04:00

I'm not sure who they were looking at in this picture, but I've decided the attempts at getting both of my children looking and smiling at the same time are futile!

This is him in the recovery room. Such a sad sight, but let me assure you that he was loving all the popsicles and stickers and he was sad to see that moveable bed stay behind when we left-this boy was LOVING the giggle juice they gave him!
Will with one of my brother's new dogs, Sugar
Maggie with both of them
Her first wagon ride through the pumpkin patch this year
Maggie in the wagon last year-how do they change so much in just a year?
Will teaching Maggie how fun it is to play with straw last year

Will sat here the whole time we were on the hayride (when I wasn't trying to get a family photo) watching this tractor. Maggie sat on the ground, playing with the straw Will introduced to her last year!

on the hayride-I don't know why we try this every year while bumping around on a trailor! Will just wanted to reclaim his front row seat to watch the tractor

The annual "sitting on a pumpkin" picture. This may be the last year for that one!
This is not the best shot of Tyler, Maddie, Maggie,and Will, but that thing to the right of will is a BEE flying in front of the camera. They were everywhere!

I have to say that we've been waiting for this day for a long time-I think Will has asked about the pumpkin patch every week since last October! It was the first Saturday it was open, so we had planned on going-the only problem was Will had his ear tube surgery on Friday, and Saturday was Home Depot day and he had a t-ball game. No problem-we just squeezed it all in somehow! Needless to say, there was some serious napping today!

Like I said, Friday Will had his second set of tubes put in. It's been such a long process, and definitely one that's taught me the importance of advocating for your kids! Our ENT seemed to be dragging his feet, waiting for it all to correct itself-meanwhile Will gets an ear infection every time we turn around and cold/flu season is coming up. I don't like confrontation, and I know there's a reason that we go to a specialist, but I just knew he needed tubes. He finally agreed to go ahead with them, and when he came to get us in the waiting room, he said that his poor little ears were just completely full of fluid.

Hope everyone is having a great Fall so far! It's one of our favorite times of year because there just seems to be so many fun things to do all the time! Maggie's really starting to enjoy her MDO program, and Will is learning a lot this year in school-when did 3 year olds start going to computer lab and math class?

T-ball and Gymnastics

2008-09-29T20:45:00.005-04:00

He was so excited about his uniform!
"Baseball Ready"

Telling the "third base coach" where he's running next
His favorite thing-running home!

Little Miss supporting her big brother!
Will and the birthday girl
Will and Carter in the foam pit-all my action shots of
him jumping in turned out blurry

Okay, I know I've been the worst blogger lately, so here's to getting back on track. We've started t-ball now, and it's crazy how adding just one extra curricular to your schedule changes things! Will really enjoys playing, and I have to say it may be the most entertaining thing I've ever seen! We're also going to start gymnastics this week, at least to try it out. Will went to a birthday party at a gym and was so sad when it was over. I've been wanting to get Maggie into it for awhile now and they offer a Mommy and Me for 18 month to 3 year olds and that means both my kids are in one class!

We also finally went to a Ranger's game last week. We went really early so that Will could see batting practice and get autographs from the players. Eric was explaining to him on the way out there and he said "What do you do with an autograph? Do you drink it like lemonade?" Oh, to be three again. He's been saying lots of funny things lately and I really should be writing them down. The only other one I can think of is the hilarity of him learning the books of the Bible. Matthew, Mark, etc. is one of his current favorite songs, but he WILL NOT include First and Second Peter, and if you try to add it in, he starts over and deletes it again. Now we've started on the OT a little, and it's Genesis, Accidents, Leviticus...

Maggie's finally adjusting to MDO. We tried it out with Eric taking her in the mornings, and it's going a lot more smoothly. I'm really enjoying those 6 hours a week all to myself! I went to the eye doctor last week for my yearly exam and found out I have some eye issue that's usually caused by old age. Talk about the worst 30th birthday EVER. I was sick the day before, of, and a few after, then find out I'm officially old from my eye doctor!

Will is having his second set of ear tubes placed this Friday. Here's hoping for a cold/flu season with no ear infections!

Are You Ready for some Football????

2008-09-17T14:27:00.005-04:00

My little Cowboys

I know it looks like we're obsessed with the Cowboys, and, well, I guess we kind of are, but not in that really annoying way (at least to those who are also obsessed). I promise I usually only let the kids wear their jerseys on game day, but we were going to Brandon's first football game, and Will had just gotten his new cleats (for t-ball), so he thought he needed to wear it. And what Will does, Maggie does. She calls hers a "Romo." There was obviously the game on the field, then there were some other kids playing behind the end zone, so Will and Maggie started their own little pick up game.

Eric had to go all the way to New York to find my birthday present

for this year!

Oh wait, I guess he just went for the Yankee game...

Then to Boston for a Red Sox game. There was a Mets game involved

somewhere too, but is that really worth blogging about?

Preschool is still in the "transition" phase for Maggie. She cried, make that screamed, for about 45 minutes yesterday, and when we went to the pediatrician today for her 18 month checkup, they actually had to do a throat culture to make sure she didn't have strep because her poor little throat was so red. Unfortunately the pedi didn't have much new advice to offer on that topic. Maggie ALMOST got to the 20 pound marker today. I fed her all the way there and had her drink a cup of milk in the waiting room and she was just one ounce shy. Maybe next time. The doctor said she's still following her growth chart and that she's not worried about her weight.

Will is getting another set of tubes on October 3. It wasn't easy talking them into it, but I just couldn't bear to watch him suffer through cold season and all the ear infections that are bound to come with it.

The Beginning of Fall!!!

2008-09-09T14:18:00.004-04:00

I am planning to get Maggie a jersey, but she's so little and I haven't found one that doesn't fall off her shoulders! She'll have to be a cheerleader for now!

Maggie and her friend Vance at their first Cowboys party

This is most of the babies Maggie will grow up with at church-Zane, Darcy, Maddie, Vance, Maggie, and Caleb. Now I've taken plenty of pictures where I can't get everyone to look at the same time, but this is my first where NO ONE was looking!

She's very into summersaults these days. I've got to get this girl into gymnastics!

Outside the school on our very first day!

Will showing Maggie how fun it is to walk in! She did fine, right up until we got to her classroom door.

Will and Tyler getting to go to school together for the first time.

We always have to stop and greet the fish on our way in.

Maggie loved all the kids and toys, as long as she could see her Mama!

I guess she was tired after a long first day of preschool.

This is one of my favorite times of year! Really I love all changes of seasons I guess, but the beginning of fall means cooler weather, new wardrobes, school shopping, the holidays are coming, and of course, football season. We went to a party at church Sunday night and we had to all wear our Cowboy gear!
We decided to switch schools this year and go back to the program Will attended when he was Maggie's age. It was a tough decision, but it made it easier to have Tyler and Ethan switching too. Will was so excited to go to school with his friends and he loves his teacher.

Maggie, I knew, was going to be a little trickier. All the cute monogram backpacks and telling her how much fun it was going to be were not going to matter much once I left the room. We had orientation last week, and she cried for about 20 minutes once I left. I know, most babies "cry it out" but that's not really her style. She cries until you give her what she wants. Her teachers are wonderful, and they invited me to come in and start the transition process a little more gradually. So I got to go to school too! Our first real day was today, and there were two other parents "invited" to stay as well. All the kids had a great time, and Maggie barely acknowledged I was there, but if she looked up and I wasn't within eye shot, it was a different story. Looks like my errand running child-free will have to wait.

The Cold that Never Ends...

2008-09-02T15:49:00.003-04:00

"Of all the things I have to play, I'd choose my brother any day"
I borrowed this quote from my friend Amber's blog and I just love it. Maggie really adores her brother, and I'm pretty sure he likes her okay too!

I know they're going to kill me for these bathtub pictures someday. Here they are checking out each other's mohawks.

I don't have many updates because unfortunately, we are all still trying to get rid of this cold that started two weeks ago. We've managed a trip to Chuck E Cheese, several shopping days to get ready for school, swimming at Uncle Scotty's, and a few other fun things here and there, but for the most part, we've been home, santizing every surface with bleach or a lysol wipe. I'm totally off my game, so I've taken only a few pictures, but we had Meet the Teacher at school this morning, and I managed to grab a few on the way out the door. We're very excited for the new school year, and we're all crossing our fingers that Maggie won't scream the teachers into deafness when I leave the room!

As for updates on the kids, Maggie is really starting to talk, adding new words everyday and combining them now. She still thinks she can do everything Will does, and won't usually accept any help. One day last week while I was trying to sanitize the house, I let the kids play in the backyard by themselves (Eric and I could both see the backyard and Payton was guarding the gate!). I had gone into the laundry room for a split second and Will came in the backdoor laughing. He said, "Do you want to see something funny, Mom?" I told him "of course", so he led me outside and Maggie was on the top rung of the tallest ladder on the playground. I didn't want to panic and scare her into falling off the ladder, so I slowly walked over to guard against a fall, but by the time I got there, she had shimmied through the tunnel and was laughing at me from the other side. I'm used to her getting into the trampoline by herself, climbing into her chair at the table and demanding food, and climbing into the bathtub because she wants to play in the water, but that was a new one for me. I didn't even let Will climb the tallest ladder alone until this summer.

Guess that's all. Will starts t-ball soon, and I'm hoping to find Maggie a good gymnastics class!

Playing Catch-up

2008-08-26T13:56:00.003-04:00

Will's "graduation" party from swim class. I can't say this was Will's favorite two weeks of the summer, but Chris was a great teacher!

This is an older picture, but my Dad has become a little obsessed with building block towers for Will, one always taller than the next. I think this one was 30 something inches, and his new record is 54 or something. Oh, to be a Grandpa...

Will's first trip to the circus. Sadly, his favorite part was getting that spinner thing. And I have to say that clowns freak me out less than I remember!

Some sad news in our family that only dog lovers can appreciate. My brother's English Mastiff, Jersey, passed away. She was born about a week later than Maggie and was such a sweet puppy. They recently discovered she had a football sized tumor in her liver, and after they took it out, said she had some rare fungal infection and probably wouldn't make it. This is her when she was about a month old.

She really was a member of their family!

Brandon, my nephew, and his sweet dog.

Since we got back from vacation, our whole family has been sick-not all at one time, but it seems like someone has been battling a cold almost every day. One good thing though, is that both the kids had follow ups with the ENT this week, and pre-tubes, Maggie would have most certainly had an ear infection but she was ALL CLEAR! It was such good news-I don't remember the last time she didn't follow up a cold with an ear infection. Will had his first trip to the audiologist while we were there. His hearing checked out fine, which was not a surprise, but they did another test called a tympanogram and it showed negative pressure in both middle ears and that his tubes were officially not functioning. I guess that wasn't a huge shock either, but the surprise was when the ENT didn't recommend a second set of tubes...yet. He said to come back in a few months for a reassessment.

Other than that, we've been getting ready for back to school with shopping, picking out backpacks, and attempting to adjust sleep schedules although I have really enjoyed waking up at 8:30 all summer!

Florabama

2008-08-16T14:43:00.015-04:00

*************WARNING**********************
There are WAY more pictures than you will want to see and I got the weeks backward--the top pictures are of our second week and the bottom ones are the first week but I don't have the patience to flip them all around-

This girl loved those waves!

This was the view when we got off the elevator at our second condo. For whatever reason he just loved looking out there, and wasn't that impressed with the beach off his bedroom balcony. I guess you never know what kids are going to like!

Will tried his best to help us keep up with Maggie. It's not an easy job!

Macy and Will on our last day of finding hermit crabs at the little lagoon.

Maggie loved this arcade. We found lots of things to keep us busy in all the rain.

Molly, Will, Maggie, GG, Macy

Once again, someone trying to keep Maggie from running into the ocean. This was also an unsuccessful attempt.

Leap frogging on the beach with Macy

Just chillin' at the pool one afternoon when we FINALLY got some sunshine!

Will just loving on his GG

Look at those clouds!

Playing in the shower. For some reason, this was a big hit when we were in Cabo earlier this summer too. It took about 2 seconds before they found it here.

I don't know any other 87 year old GGs that can keep up with four small kids as well as mine! It was so much fun to see them all together. And she was such a big help to me keeping up with Maggie! She was finally given a break on our last day by Maggie taking a three hour nap under the cabana by the ocean. It was such a peaceful morning!

One of the days it rained ALL DAY LONG. It finally stopped around 6 that evening, so Shayla and I threw the big kids in the truck and set out to find dinner. The Crab Trap is my new favorite place! It had a huge sand pit with a giant playground in the middle of it and we were seated at a picnic table right next to it. Shayla and I enjoyed a good dinner and lots of time to talk while the kids ran out some stored up energy.

After a day of storms, we braved the beach for a few hours and there were tons of beached jellyfish. Now I've seen jelly fish before, but never ones this big. The biggest one we found was about a foot in diameter. Macy and I had fun with a few other brave souls catching them and stacking them up. Will and Molly kept their distance and made stick castles.

Surprise, it started raining again. The kids cuddled up and watched "Cars" that morning.

One of the rainy day activities of week 2. Not exactly like playing on the beach, but we found some great deals at the outlet mall!

We ended up here almost every night-the go carts. It was such a fun track and we all had a blast racing the cars.

Maggie's very first train ride.

Macy introduced Will to sleeping in a big t-shirt, rather than PJs. He was quite skeptical in the beginning, but I practically have to take this shirt off of him in his sleep to get him into something else now. He loves that Macy and he have the same one. I miss all those cute PJ sets I just bought him!

This was Will's first "real" crab catch of the trip. We went again the second week with my sister and the girls and ran into some nice men that had caught about 10. They were nice enough to let them go on the beach and let Macy and Will run them down. Unfortunately I didnt' have my camera with me!

The kids had so much fun on this sandbar. I had never seen such a big one, especially so close to the beach. And it made me feel a little more secure after watching shark week specials every night the week before we left!

Running from countless waves was a pretty fun game

I didn't get many non silly pictures of him this night-he was in the goofiest mood for some reason!

Maggie, of course, walking in to the ocean in her dress. She ended up sitting in the middle of a giant wave about 2 seconds later so this was the last picture I got of her!

Half the pictures I have of Maggie are of her backside. She always seemed to be running away from anyone who wanted to hold onto her in the ocean!

Will's first drip dry castle of the vacation.

Will eating his first bite of alligator tail. He's not usually an adventurous eater, but he requested this several more times!

Maggie re-fueling after jumping a thousand waves and chasing seagulls all morning.

If Eric or I looked away for a second, this was Maggie, running fearlessly into the waves. She didn't even care if they knocked her down-she was right back up looking for more.

Maggie wasn't happy looking at the dolphins. She would have preferred swimming with them.

The boys had such a great time spending a whole week together.

Snuggling with my baby on the dolphin cruise.

I had to put this picture in here for my brother who tortured me for years when I was little by messing with my cheeks. I have never seen Will do this before, but for some reason when I was trying to get them to take pictures he started doing this and it was cracking him up. Poor Maggie.

Will, Maggie, Tyler and Maddie

Maggie got back in touch with her inner baby on the trip. It seemed like every time Maddie got out of the exersaucer, Maggie was climbing her way in!

The boys had so much fun with all their matching stuff. Not sure the daddies felt the same way...

It seems like I have a hundred pictures of me and my siblings on the cannons at Vicksburg. We didn't stop to see the battlegrounds, but they had this cannon at the rest stop entering Vicksburg.

Will was looking for those dolphins!

The four kids on the dolphin cruise. I know, Maggie is not wearing a life jacket. Trust me when I say I carried that thing with me everywhere!

With such a long trip in the car, of course there had to be some pictures! On our way to take Eric to the airport, Will was supposed to be taking a nap so we could go to the beach when we got back. I turned around to see this. Looks so restful!

This is his first time through the Mobile tunnel. I think it was one of his favorite parts of the trip!

Will and Tyler burying each other in the sand. My sister has since informed me that this is dangerous and the sand can collapse under them and "swallow them up." Who knew? Apparently the Today Show ran a story on it earlier this summer.

One of Will's favorite thing was "crabbing" while we were there. He and Tyler found tons

Will and Tyler on their first crab hunt

Sorry for the long delay between posts. I meant to post one about swim lessons, but got a little distracted getting ready for two weeks on the Florabama coast. Originally it was only going to be a week with the Joyce's in Gulf Shores, but the day before we left, my sister decided to pick up my GG in Mississippi where we had dropped her at her sister's house on our way to Alabama and meet us for another week on the beach. Unfortunately Eric had to fly home after the first week, but my sister, GG, me, and our four kiddoes moved down the beach and across the state line to Perdido Key, Florida and spent another week there. I have way too many pictures of course, and I realize several are only funny to me or "had to be there" pics, but since this is my online scrapbook, I had to include them all!

Our favorite memories of the first week are the sandbar, finding hermit crabs, the dolphin cruise, hearing the kids laugh CONSTANTLY together, watching Maggie chase seagulls and how her face lit up when she saw the ocean, watching her run to the door screaming "Pool" every time she woke up, seeing how much fun Will and Tyler had doing everything together, watching Tyler and Will be so super sweet with Maggie and Maddie, enjoying the boys' "baseball games" around the condo, and spending 7 straight days with my family and our wonderful friends! The guys played golf one morning, and Kristy and I were treated to massages one afternoon. It was such a fun week and I'm so thankful we had the chance to take this trip!

The second week was equally as fun, but completely different. We were able to spend the first afternoon at the beach and pool, but day 2 started the week of rain. We loaded up and went to the outlet mall not far away, then came back for an early dinner and a night at the go-cart track. It was cut short by some scary lightning and the rain came back, so we headed home. The next day is the one you see in the pictures with no rain but some scary clouds. We found all the jellyfish that day! It didn't rain again that day until later in the evening, so we were able to spend a good part of the day outside. The next day it rained all day again without any break. We always found a way to entertain ourselves and we had a great time catching up and playing. We had one more beautiful beach day and we soaked up every minute. We were thinking of staying an extra day, but after 13 days away from home, we were starting to feel it a little. Will was so bummed when he realized we were leaving, but he was thrilled to see his daddy, dogs,and grandparents when we got home. He and Maggie pulled out every toy in the house!

Well that's where we've been the last couple of weeks. Hope everyone's doing well!

Maggie's surgery

2008-07-27T16:56:00.004-04:00

I guess she thought that baby should be sharing her pacifier!

She couldn't have anything to eat or drink before the surgery, and for Maggie, two hours awake with no milk or oatmeal is WAY too long! I was worried when she started pulling out plates and cups.

I just thought this picture was cute. Look at that sad little sock that was too small! She was more upset that they wouldn't let her wear her sandals!

She carried this baby and carseat all morning. She actually took her own baby doll with her and the nurse put a little hospital tag on her ankle too.

Maggie had tubes put in her ears this past Saturday. I know ear tubes are not major surgery, but anytime your baby is taken away and put under anesthesia, it can be traumatizing. It really made me thankful that we were only there for such a minor procedure. We had to leave the house around 5 that morning and that was a little early for all of us! They called us back to start the meds around 7:15, and the first thing they do is some kind of "happy juice" to relax them. I remember with Will that after just a couple of minutes he was VERY relaxed and when the nurse came to take him from me, he just went without any fuss at all. Now Maggie is a tad attached to her mama (slight understatement maybe), but I wasn't really worried because Will was pretty attached at this age too. When the nurse came to get her, she was still clinging onto me, and although she initially went to him, she quickly changed her mind. They ushered Eric and I out of this room and into a hallway, where I can hear her crying "MOMMY" and then see her wheeled out on a giant hospital bed. She was sitting up in the middle of it crying for me. I knew they should have given her two squirts of that happy juice! Eric and I made it down the hallway, got a diet coke, sat down on a couch in the waiting room, and the surgeon was out to tell us she was finished. He said there was lots of fluid in both ears. Poor thing. After a few more minutes, they brought us to recovery where I immediately saw Maggie with a different nurse across the room and could tell she was still asleep. But yes, she was still crying for her mommy. It was really sad. I held her and tried to get her to drink something, but the poor little girl's head was bobbing up and down and she couldn't get her eyes to stay open. I always have pretty strong reactions to medicine, so I guess she gets that from me. They let us go after about 15 more minutes and we were back home by 8:30. She slept from then until 2, then back down about 7:30 that evening until this morning. She still has a slight fever that comes and goes, but they told us to expect that. Other than that, she should be good as new (or better) by tomorrow.

Okay, other than that we've been keeping busy with swimming lessons for both kids. Will is doing pretty well; he can swim with a life jacket on by himself if you don't tell him you're not holding on. Once he figures out he's on his own, he panicks. Maggie did not like swim lessons, which surprised me, but we'll try again tomorrow. Eric's been out of town for a week so I think I'll give him a shot at it now! We also went back to Six Flags. I've been promising Will forever that I'd take him and his friend Allie Grace. Usually Eric or some other adult is with me, but I thought I could do it on my own this time. The only problem we ran into is that little legs have a hard time making it all the way around and through the park. Both the kids were about to pass out by the time we made it back to the truck! But we had a great time anyway and maybe that will tide them over until it gets a little cooler.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Beating the Heat

2008-07-22T14:11:00.006-04:00

At Pump it Up last week. As usual, Maggie had a blast doing everything the boys do.

Because their moms forgot to communicate that morning, the boys ended up in matching shirts. They loved it!

And matching swim suits/shirts at the water park...I didn't get a picture of their matching outfits at church on Sunday!

Maggie on her way down from being thrown for about the 100th time that day!

Poor baby played so hard at the water park-this is leaving the parking lot.

It's next to impossible to beat the heat here this summer, but so far our favorite options are Pump It Up and the water park. There's only so much playing in a plastic pool or running through sprinklers one can do! We've also just started swim lessons with both the kids and their friends Ethan and Tyler, so hopefully I'll be able to take them swimming more by myself once that's over. For now they're too much for me to handle without another set of hands (and eyes!).

We also celebrated my Dad's birthday last Saturday. Happy Birthday Chief! I didn't grow up close to my grandfather, so it makes it even more special watching my kids with theirs. I was working on a project for his birthday and I was looking back through a bunch of old pictures from when Will was a baby. I thought I'd post a few since he didn't get his first two years captured on a blog!

Will at 5 days old. This was the picture for his birth announcement

He still makes this face when he's either deep in thought or trying not to cry. How sweet is that little face?

This was the picture on his first birthday invite. I know, he needed a haircut, but I had always heard it was bad luck to cut it before the first birthday! Is it fair that he had all that hair so early and his poor little sister still doesn't?

Swimming at the old house. I think he was about three months old here.

At 9 months. It wasn't enough to play with the toys, he had to sit in the toy basket. I think we were in Shreveport here.

He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

As promised, the day of his first birthday we took him for his first haircut

I just like this picture. I think he was about 5 months old.

At our old house, Will would sit at the tupperware cabinet and empty it all out onto the floor. I got so tired of washing it everyday that I decided to give him a whole drawer in the kitchen with balls to empty out and play with. This is the exact moment he discovered the drawer.

On a trip to the cabin in Oklahoma for New Years with Shayla and her fam.

His first Easter. Oh how I miss dressing my baby in shortalls and knee socks.

I think this was one of our first trips to the zoo. Pretty sure he's zonked out here.

He's always had a special bond with Payton. He still calls her his dog.

I think he was about 6 months here. He was just starting to use those push walkers to get around.

One of his first year portraits

Adventures of a Three Year Old

2008-07-15T21:45:00.004-04:00

Sorry for all the "candids." I'm learning that getting two children to look at the camera and smile while enjoying whatever activity it is, for me, is next to impossible!

Maggie and Will in the exam chair at the ENT

Will having his teeth examined for the first time!

Will, Tyler, and Carter at VBS. They were supposed to be at a Jewish Marketplace-thus the yamakas!

They were supposed to be writing their names in Hebrew. I'm no expert, but...

By the time the petting zoo got there, most of the kids were heading out, so Will had lots of one on one with the goats. Unfortunately they were pretty picky eaters and didn't want what he had to offer!

Will has had quite a busy week! Along with the normal playdates and trips to the park and friends' houses, we threw in his very first trip to the dentist, his first official VBS (last year was a special one for 2 year olds), and a trip to the ENT. He did a great job at the dentist-I have to admit I was a little surprised. You never know what you're going to get with a three year old! VBS was lots of fun too-he loves to do anything with his friends and there were several "building" crafts that he enjoyed, not to mention the candy shop!

This part is kind of boring, I just want to write it down so I don't forget and for those who may actually be interested in the details---the ENT said that his tubes have detached, probably a few months ago, and that is why he started having ear infections again around that time. He also said that the tube in his right ear kind of stuck to his eardrum, even though it's not functioning anymore, and that it is causing some localized irritation that could mimic an ear infection to a "non specialist." Have I mentioned our ENT is very high on his specialty? He's supposed to be one of the best, and he'll tell you that if you have any questions! Anyway, he said to do ear drops for several weeks and come back. If he has more trouble with ear infections or if this tube won't detach, he may need surgery again. Honestly I wish they would have just done another set of tubes when Maggie is getting hers, which BTW is next weekend. Her pre-op appt. is Friday and the surgery will be sometime Saturday.

The kids are doing really well. Maggie is starting to really talk and her little personality is just so cute (I know, I'm biased). We are really having fun with her at this age and she always has us laughing at something she's come up with. She still follows Will around everywhere and wants to do everything he's doing. Some of the time he likes it, sometimes he runs to his room and asks for his "privacy." He's turning into such a big boy now-hardly any "baby" left in him at all! His favorite things these days are painting, playing "I Spy", using his scissors, playing hide and seek (does this ever get old???), and being with his friends. He wakes up everyday asking who's coming over or where are we going today? We actually spent the whole day today just Will, Maggie, and me at home for the first time in forever and all day long he kept asking why. Guess I'm not as fun as I used to be!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Happy Fourth!

2008-07-05T22:10:00.006-04:00

Just had to add this one in-how sweet is that? I was getting ready to rock her for her nap today and Will said he wanted to, so he climbed up in the chair and held his arms out. I wasn't sure what she was going to think about letting go of me, but she just reached out to him and laid her head on his shoulder. He gently sang "Jesus Loves Me" and rocked her and just as she was almost asleep and his song was done, he pushed her off and said "I'm all done Mom."

Daddy and Will at the ballpark. They are having such a great time with all the father-son things they're getting to do!

Tyler and Will driving down the street in Tyler's golf cart.

I know it seems like she's always got something to eat, but I'm not sure any of it actually makes it INTO her mouth!

Last time Maggie didn't get to go to the Airhogs game and this time she made sure she didn't miss out on anything!

Will with a "real" ball player! All these guys were so nice, staying out on the field and playing with the kids, signing autographs, etc.

She literally ran around the entire ballpark when we got there, checking it all out.

Uncle Scotty helping Will catch a fly ball in the outfield

Maggie and Will both LOVED the fireworks this year

At the end of a VERY long and VERY fun Fourth of July holiday!

We've had another fun few weeks since I last blogged; unfortunately I've been HORRIBLE about taking pictures. It's very unlike me, I know! We've been back to the zoo, this time with some friends for Will and some little girlfriends for Maggie too. We had great weather and a great time visiting! We've been swimming a lot, both in the play pools in our own backyard and some good friends and family's "real" pools. Both the kids are loving the water, but Maggie is getting a little daring for her mama's taste.

Our holiday weekend has been so much fun, and I have to say I am EXHAUSTED! Thursday night, we went with some friends to catch the first of the fireworks displays at the horse track. I thought Maggie would sleep through it, but I didn't want to miss out on seeing Will watch them, so I went ahead and took her. Not only did she stay awake until the show, I think she liked them the most! She was saying "pop" and "bang" and grinning ear to ear. After our late night, we slept in Friday, then headed to my brother's house for swimming and lunch with my family. A three hour nap later, and all 10 of us headed out to the Airhogs game. There were SO many more people out there than I think they expected, so after the game, the fireworks, playing on the field, and the traffic getting out of there, the kids got to bed around midnight. No mother of the year awards coming my way this year! But they had such a great time. Will loved being out there and playing, and Maggie just loved all the wide open space to run. We had plans to spend this evening with more friends and catching one more fireworks show, but we just didn't have it in us. After a cookout with friends, both the kids crashed by 9:00! Will was asking where the fireworks were as he drifted to sleep. It seems like so long ago that Maggie's bedtime was 7:30 or 8---not just Wednesday!

Sorry I don't have more pictures of other fun things, and again for the delay in between blogs. Time seems to be going so fast this summer-I can't believe it's already July! Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Sum Sum Summertime...

2008-06-23T21:16:00.006-04:00

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!! It is impossible to overexaggerate this, though I know it sounds crazy. Maggie is OBSESSED with these shoes. As you can tell, they are pretty worn. She literally WILL NOT wear another pair. When she wakes up in the morning, she is saying "SHOES" and looking in her shoe drawer for these. She will cry and throw fits until these shoes are on her feet. Try another pair, and you get kicked by a crazy wiggle worm who is screaming "NO" and looking for her favorites. It started out kind of funny, but it is getting a little out of control. And what's even more scary is that they are now getting to be too small. I bought them on clearance at the end of last year so now I can't find them anywhere! I've checked ebay, online stores, outlets, everywhere I can think of. So if anyone sees THIS style shoe in a size 5.5, please tell me!

We've had such a fun beginning to our summer! Father's Day was nice-church with my family, lunch at a restaraunt of Eric's, my Dad's and brother's choice, then home for a nap! That night we did ice cream with some friends and a visit to the kids' favorite fountain to splash a little. Since then we've been busy with water parks, minor league baseball games, swimming, and just enjoying our summer. We had Maggie's 15 month check up today and she broke the 19 pound barrier! Yea Maggie! Bad news for both kiddos is a trip to the ENT. Maggie needs tubes (no shock there) and Will is probably going to have to get another set. Other than that, the kids are doing great and for the most part, they don't seem to affected by their ear troubles. Okay, onto the pictures...

Father's Day-The kids are so blessed to have such wonderful men in their lives!

The family that pees together...
Maggie is still into whatever Will is doing, even if it includes going like a country girl/boy!

And inside the house too of course.

Eric and Will going through the lazy river at the water park.

Will with the "Airhog" at the game. What is that really?

At the top of the "mountain." Apparently they had tons of activities for kids. I'm not really sure they actually watched any baseball

Maggie and I went to our first Mother-Daughter Tea this weekend. Mags is a big fan of the tea sandwich. When she had been "cut off" by her great granny, grammy, and mommy, she took it upon herself to find some more.

Two weeks of crazy!

2008-06-12T17:07:00.003-04:00

Will playing hide and seek in the middle of my Dad's ferns, groundcover, etc. Yes, he took a snack with him to hide!

Maggie in our friends' baby swing

Macy, Maggie, Molly

Eric may kill me for putting this picture on here, but Will did LOVE Molly's "fluffy" shoes

At Home Depot day last Saturday. This picture is probably only funny to those who know this is totally NOT Molly's cup of tea.

This is the baby swing set that my parents have in their backyard and these kids climbed all over it. For some reason, the swing was pretty popular. If there was a weight limit on here, safe to say we probably exceeded it.

The kids with their catamarans

Maggie's famous "busted" face

Mine and Erics' moms enjoying the cool of the fans under the patio-maybe our best investment yet!

I know I've been a bad blogger lately, but it has been such a busy few weeks with visitors! First my sister's girls were here for 8 days while Shayla was on vacation, then overlapping with that, Eric's Mom came into town! We had a great time with everyone and are so thankful for the time we had with them. Will always loves to be with Macy and Molly, of course, and then to get spoiled by Grandma too was the best! For those who don't know, she is from Scotland and is still very active in the Scottish community, especially Scottish dance, so she was in town to judge at the Arlington Highland Games this past weekend. After she finished up, it was time for a trip to the toy store where Will was literally piling everything into the cart that he saw! The rest of the week was spent trying out all the new stuff and trying to adjust Grandma to this Texas heat!

Also, I wanted to wish Maggie a Happy 15 Months. She was going to get her own blog, but I'm behind and then Father's Day is coming up so I was afraid I'd never get back to it! What a special little girl God has blessed our family with. She brings such joy into our home with her HUGE cheesy grins, her loving hugs and huge open mouth sugars, hilarious dances, imitations of all her favorite animals, the way she follows Will no matter what he is up to, how she needs a bow in her hair as soon as her outfit is on and how she loves to pick out her own shoes (even though they rarely match her outfit or each other!), how she eats from the second her eyes are open to the time they close at night and she still just weighs 18 pounds, how excited she gets when she sees a familiar face, her constant game of "peekaboo" and how much she loves to play it! She is really starting to talk now too. Some of my favorites are "Mommeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee", "Daddy", "Will"(it's about 3 syllables and is the cutest thing ever), bow, baby (she loves to love those sweet babies), any facial feature because she will grab onto whosever nose it is she's describing and laugh that mischevious laugh, and shoes. I love that her "Texas accent" is going to be just as pronounced as Will's!

Hope everyone has a Happy Father's Day!

Flashbacks

2008-06-04T13:27:00.006-04:00

I can't upload new pictures right now because something's going on with my cord, so here are some extras from Mexico and randoms from the past couple weeks.

Will and Molly in Mexico-we drink that V8 Fusion here, but they had it in juice box form there. The kids never knew they were drinking a fruit and a vegetable serving in each box!

This is all of us getting ice cream one night.

Maggie is finally leaving bows in her hair, even while swimming! It's funny now-each time we get her dressed, she starts saying, "bow" over and over until she has one in place, then she checks herself out in the mirror, goes to get her purse and a necklace (Mardi Gras beads) and heads for the door.

The kids haven't quite gotten the hang of the slip and slide yet. That's at Tyler's birthday party a couple weeks ago.

We are having a crazy week with half my family leaving town and the other half coming in. Anyway, I haven't posted anything for awhile and don't have much time now, but I wanted to tell you moms about a new thing we found online. We have always liked the www.gamequarium.com site, but my Dad stumbled onto something new on the site that we are really enjoying. Will has been into Dr. Suess books for awhile, and on the site, if you click on the icon with Horton from Horton Hears a Who, it gives you the option to select one of about 30 different titles where it plays a little movie of each book. I don't know if anyone else is into those books right now, but they're pretty short and if you've ever tried to read Fox in Sox, you'll appreciate someone else doing the tongue twisting for once!

**I forgot to mention Will's three year check up. She said that he had been in the 20 percentile for weight and 50 for height at his two year check up and now he's in the 70 for height and 50 for weight. I love our doctor, especially for well checks because she spend so much time on every little thing and is full of positive feedback! Unfortunately, he had some more ear issues. Another double ear infection and one of his tubes is clogged. He had no symptoms at all and never even mentioned to me that his ears were bothering him. I'm starting to really think he just always has an infection and doesn't know what life is like without one. Poor thing. We go back to the ENT sometime soon, so I'm curious what they'll do next. Maggie also has another ear infection. Their eustachian tubes must be completely level. She had tons of symptoms, so at least she still knows the difference. Anyway, just pray that their poor little ears, especially Will's, get better soon. She said his ears were more likely to blame for his sudden separation anxiety and "three year oldness" than him actually turning three!

Hope everyone is having a great start to their summers.

The Birthday Boy

2008-05-24T22:28:00.012-04:00

Warning-tons of pics, tons of talk. Everything's WAY out of order...

After Church on Sunday

She really thought he needed that bow instead of her!

The birthday boy at his birthday party. This was after he'd been playing for a couple hours and had already changed into his swim suit. Better late than never.

This is to show how Maggie holds her own pretty well with these older kids. She was right there with them no matter what they were doing. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe she's just 14 months old.

Maggie was scamming everyone else's cake

Two forks, meaning two plates of leftovers she'd taken. Now she was lookin' for more...

Will and his GG, my Granny. They got to spend a few hours together this week while I was running errands with Maggie. I love that she just sits and talks with him for ever-our crazy life is so fast paced, and she lets him just move at his own pace. Such a special relationship.

Will getting into the cheese puffs at his party

Trying to dig into the cake before it was time

How sweet, he was holding her hand to keep her back while other kids were swinging at the pinata!

Telling me he's three!

I love this face. He was in heaven listening to Happy Birthday yet again...

Will with my parents opening some presents

This was during the "Happy Birthday" song. Maggie was tired of waiting for a cupcake

Diggin' in

Will and his Chief

Will at the bottom of the slide

Will at his first movie

By the Horton poster

Will and Maggie eating the traditional birthday chocolate chip pancakes. He seems to be making the face of a three year old who knows 300 pictures will be taken in the next few days and this is only the beginning!

Ethan, Will, and Liam at school eating Spiderman birthday cupcakes. He's never seen it before and doesn't have any spiderman toys, but he keeps talking about Spiderman for some reason. If you're wondering why he doesn't have shorts on at school-but they were in the process of changing out of their swim suits because it was splash day at school!

Enjoying their selections from their first trip to the ice cream truck

Maggie sees Will putting on underwear now and thinks she needs some. Everytime I get a pair out of his drawer, she goes and picks another pair for her. I guess we need to get her some pink ones!

We've had such a busy week celebrating Will's third birthday! He got to go to his first movie, Horton Hears a Who. Eric has been reading him that book every night for the past few months and we've been telling him he could go see it when he started pee peeing in the potty. Well the week before we went to Mexico, he decided he was just done with diapers out of nowhere! It was crazy, but the doctor had warned me that would probably happen one day. Anyway, he finally got to do that this week so it counted for potty training and a birthday fun night. For his actual birthday, it was his last day of school, so it was also the day of his program. We took cupcakes to school that morning to share with his friends, and since we had leftovers, we took them to the church office and shared the rest with the staff. Will loved that everyone kept singing Happy Birthday to him. It was at that point that he really got into the whole "I'm the birthday boy--anything goes" attitude!

That evening, he wanted "britos" for dinner, so we had a stacked taco picnic with my family. On a side note, most of the work we've had done around the house is complete and we are really enjoying our new covered patio, especially the fans in this 95 degree weather! If you tell my kids that it's time to eat, even if we're inside, they run out back to their picnic table and wait for the food. I don't remember the last meal we had at the kitchen table!

After dinner, we had quick baseball cupcakes, then we were off to his performance. That wasn't Will's favorite part of the day by any stretch and he cried when they were walking on stage. After we got back from Mexico, he was kind of "done" with school. Oh well, he was fine right after and we even made a quick trip to the park on our way home.

Let me also say, he was OBSESSED with presents. For the past two birthdays and Christmases, I have WAY over bought for him and he usually opens one or two things and is done. He actually opened a lite brite as a rainy day gift about a month ago that I had bought when he was 18 months for Christmas, then rewrapped when he turned two, rewrapped for Christmas last year, and just never given him. Anyway, not so as a three year old. He was opening things all day long, whether or not I was looking. I ended up just wrapping up some underwear and outfits I'd bought him just so he could unwrap them.

The "official" birthday party was Saturday. I told him he could pick what he wanted for his party-Pump it Up, Little Gym, etc. All he wanted was exactly what Maggie had. So we got the bouncy slide, the pinata, the friends, family, and food, and repeated what we did two months ago. Thanks to all those who came and made it such a special day for Will. I didn't get any pictures of him with Eric, me, or any good ones of him with his friends unfortunately. Crazy, I know, but I kept forgetting to take pictures!

Happy Birthday Will-we love you so much! I wanted to try and post some pics of him at one, two, and now three (and memories of course), but this is SO long already...that might be a post for another time!

I do want to make a brief list of the things I LOVE about Will at this age for posterity. I love that the second he wakes up in the morning, he wants to know what the plan is for the day, and that every night when I go in to tuck him in, he wants to talk about everything we did that day and what his FAVORITE parts were. I love that he laughs all day long, and about anything and nothing at all. I love the sweet moments he and Maggie share, and that he loves to go in and climb up her crib to "help" me get her out of bed. I love the conversations he has with his friends-let the eavesdropping begin, I guess, but those kids are so cute when they're having their little talks! I love hearing him say his prayers at night and trying to follow his train of thought. I love his bluntness, his innocence, his oblivious-ness if that's even a word. I love watching him learn something new and then practice it until it's "perfect." I love the excitement on his face and the animated "wow"s and how he says things are "really cool." I love that he's a hugger and a kisser and is always ready to say "I love you" and then show me how much with his hands! I just realized how long I'm rambling...

I guess I should sum up. To anyone who stuck with me this long, have a great week and a Happy Memorial Day!

Oh, Mexico

2008-05-14T16:28:00.013-04:00

We got back yesterday from a wonderful vacation in Cabo. My sister's family had so much fun they extended their trip a few more days! It really was such a great week, and I'm so thankful we had the opportunity to get away for awhile. The kids had a blast together, as usual. Okay, on to the pics since probably no one's reading this anymore anway...

My sister and I had gone to lunch on Mother's Day and there was a little store next to the restaraunt that had these hilarious capes-we couldn't resist.

Not a bad place for an afternoon nap!

Shayla and I post massage-Happy Mother's Day!

Will has this new thing when the person taking the picture says "Say cheese" he gets this hilariously confused/sad look on his face. Not so cute for the picture, but his consistency is impressive!

Maggie loved watching the bigger kids jump into the pool-and even tried it herself a few times!

This was so precious-everytime I told Maggie "Look at the waves!" she would wave to them. I guess that is a hard concept for a little one!

Will's first attempt at sushi. He ended up just eating chicken that he stabbed with chop sticks.

Maggie never could get these goggles on, but it wasn't for lack of trying!

Will was very into the seatbelt buckle on the plane. I think it reminded him of the ones at Six Flags to be honest. He thought the mountain our house was on was a roller coaster when he looked back at it. Guess that doesn't say much for the landscape of Dallas!

This is literally when Will fell asleep on the way back. Notice the planes in the background? We were already taxi-ing to the gate when he just couldn't take it anymore!

Since we were in Mexico for Mother's Day, the dads took the kids for a few hours and Shayla and I were treated to massages and facials at the house. When everyone came back, we went off for a long lunch and had such a great time catching up. I'm so glad to have a sister who is also my best friend. We always have the best time together! And what a blessing to be a mom to two such wonderful kids who make me so happy (and a wife to a pretty fantastic man)!

The rest of the trip was spent eating, relaxing, swimming, and a little more eating! The kids did great going and coming on the plane, so that was an answer to prayers...and a response to lots of snacks and a portable DVD player! Maggie had a little trouble with her ears on the way down when we were getting to Mexico, but we think that might have had something to do with her being tired and getting four new teeth! She looks like such a big girl now!

Will had some pretty funny things to say while we were there-for one, he thought the house we were staying in was Mexico-literally, just the house. One day we were swimming and he and Molly were squirting water through one of those water noodle things and Molly got it to spray really far-Will said, "Whoa, Molly, that almost went all the way to Mexico!"

He is really into the show "Little Einsteins" still, and it's really funny to hear him use musical terminology in real life settings (Mommy, go adagio-ly) and to hear him talk about real places. We were walking up the hill back to the house from the beach and he said "Here we go walking up Mt. Fuji on our way to Mexico"

Well I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures. I know there were a ton, but out of the 200 plus that I took, I thought I narrowed them down pretty well! As Will would say, "Buenos Nachos"

Week in Review

2008-04-30T22:30:00.003-04:00

Anyone that knows Maggie knows that this girl LOVES to eat. She'll eat anything, and she literally eats from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to sleep. Family dinners are important around here and I always try to have something that we can all eat, but sometimes Eric and I like to splurge on a supreme pizza or something so I fix the kids their own "special dinners." Well after Maggie had eaten hers, she decided she'd like to try some supreme pizza as well-I'm talking mushrooms and peppers and onions, etc. She loved it of course and dug in as you can see.

This is Will on his way to my parents' house for an overnight last weekend. We're having him practice with his luggage to prepare for our Cabo trip! Oh, and for those who have flown with little ones, I'd love any tips!

I constantly hear the song "Anything you can do, I can do better" in my head when I watch these two!

Maggie at Pump it Up. Nothing beats a 17 foot inflatable slide!

So it was kind of a calm week around here, mostly just hanging out with friends and family and lots of time outdoors. I do have a couple funny things that Will has said lately that I want to jot down so I don't forget:

Will was eating dinner at my parents' house one night and my mom tried serving him broccoli (for whatever reason, he has never liked broccoli). My dad, thinking this would help, offered that Macy (my sister's oldest) loves broccoli and when she was Will's age, she called them trees. Will said "I call it broccoli, and I don't like it."

My mom and Will had gone on a little walk one day and after awhile, my mom said "Will, you're such a special boy" and Will said, "Grammy, you're just old."

I have to say, my days are filled with more laughter than I could have ever imagined-and more challenges.

Tale of Two Days

2008-04-21T20:36:00.008-04:00

What sweet babies! Unfortunately getting a shot of them both smiling and looking at the camera is next to impossible, but I love catching them being sweet just as much!

I got back the CD from Maggie's One Year Portrait session-she wasn't exactly at her best that morning, but we got a few smiles

Sorry this is sideways-this was Will showing Maggie how to pose for pictures

Sorry again-don't know why I can't rotate this-Maggie's one year portrait session

Maggie splashing in the inflatable pool

We hadn't expected the weather to be quite so warm so we were a little underprepared for splash time-check out those diapers! (Don't worry, as soon as I took this shot they both got suits and swim diapers)

Eating watermelon in the fort-one of the best seedless watermelons ever!

Will hanging out on the zip line-my action shots were a bust!

Maggie digging the watermelon also. I think she had 3 or 4 huge pieces

Will wanted to watch a a little bit of a "Little Einsteins" episode to wind down that evening-keep in mind we had played from about 8 that morning until 7 that night with no naps or breaks at all. I went to check on Maggie and came back to find this.

I love that Maggie is such a split personality-one second she'll be digging in the mud with Will and the next she'll be walking around the house carrying one of her 50 purses!

We had another fun week last week-Will is just at this wonderful age where everything is so much fun and to Maggie, it's all new and exciting. We love the summer time and all the outdoor activities and this is really her first year to enjoy them. It is such a blessing to be able to stay home with my babies and do all the things with them that we get to do, and even more so that Eric is home with us as well now!

So the post is titled that way because the kids look so "proper" in the first few pics and our Saturday was anything but! We've been calling it our "WT" day, and for good reason. After a morning at Farmer's Market, we ended up at Tyler's house to paint while Eric and Jeffrey made a home depot run. You've seen the pics of Will doing his best plumber impersonation after an unexpected dip in the pool. When we took his diaper off, we decided to just give him swim trunks, no diaper, and work on potty training. Well it turns out, he is great at peeing in the grass. Every 30 minutes or so, he would come and get us to help him and never had a single accident. He still won't go near a potty, but at least we made some progress (if you can call it that?) After awhile there, the guys decided they could build a zip line in our backyard, so we headed over here. While the guys rigged a zip line between two trees, Kristy and I inflated a splash pool and put it at the bottom of the slide on our playground. Let me also set the scene of our backyard right now-half of our yard is still covered in the dirt they brought before they poured the foundation for Eric's office. We also have scrap wood, a door and door frame, trash the construction workers have left among the wood pile, etc. in the part of our yard that actually has grass. Oh well, we had such a fun day and the kids ran themselves ragged so we all had an early evening! This was all after Will had stayed up late the night before at a dodgeball birthday party! Happy birthday Blake and Cade!

Hope everyone's having a great week!

Trip to Little Rock

2008-04-14T20:18:00.005-04:00

My sister's dogwoods and tulips, etc. were all in full bloom so I attempted a mini photo shoot. Didn't go quite as planned...

I think this picture is so funny because it looks like Maggie is actually drawing that train!

Sliding under Macy's bridge

Hanging out with Molly

We learned all about static electricity

Will and Molly at Macy's soccer game Saturday morning-it was SO windy and cold, we didn't stay too long

Our last night there-we hadn't made Will or Molly take naps that day and this was at about 8:00 that evening. Molly had already gone to bed without anyone knowing-we just found her asleep in her bed. After Will wandered around aimlessly with his partner in crime already gone to sleep, I convinced him to let my dad tell him some stories. After about 2 minutes, this is what I found.

This was at home the day before we left. Will had been carrying around or wearing his rain boots for a few days, so I didn't really think it was strange to see him hanging out in his raincoat with the umbrella. He asked to help me get the mail, so we walked outside-keep in mind it was a pretty warm (and rainfree) evening-and he just stood there like this. A lady walked by and said hi to him and asked what he was doing. He said "Oh, I'm just waiting on the rain."

Payton was not impressed with the new patio cover. Since it's dried in now, I let her stay outside when it was drizzling one day rather than her usual comfy dog bed in the house.

Maggie attacking a banana. By far her favorite food. She'll stand in the kitchen under where I keep the fruit bowl and say "nana, nana, nana" now.

The kids and I took a long weekend trip to Little Rock to visit my sister with my parents and granny. The weather cut our trip a little short because we were afraid we were going to get stuck driving in a tornado, but we made it safely and squeezed in plenty of fun times. Will and Molly, who is 6 months older than Will, have finally turned that corner from competitors to co-conspirators and it's hilarious to watch them together. Maggie loved all the craziness and activity that used to really overstimulate Will. She just can't get enough! Thanks for a great trip Williams family!

Loving the Spring!

2008-04-07T17:14:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday was the kid's workshop at Home Depot-they made flower boxes!

Maggie loving on one of those obnoxiously large (but incredibly soft) teddy bears.

I guess this is what they mean when they say "sleeping like a baby" How much would you love to sleep that hard in the middle of the day?

For whatever reason, Will thinks it's fun to get in Maggie's crib and play. He did this a little just after she was born, but he decided it was fun again recently. Unfortunately it looks like he may have woken her up in the picture!

Will and Tyler at the hockey game Saturday night.

I don't know what it is about the springtime, but it makes me feel like we need to have an activity planned every day! We had a mommy-son day at Pump It Up this week and had SO much fun. Of course we missed Maggie, but it was a nice change of pace to spend several quality hours with just us, and Maggie was getting some serious one on one grandma time. Saturday was a father son day with Home Depot workshop in the morning and Will's first hockey game that night. They went to a minor league game which is geared largely toward kids and had so much fun. I think the kids got a little scared when the guys slammed into the glass right in front of them, but they had such a great time other than that! Eric said Will was mesmerized watching the screen and all the people cheering and he kept calling the goalie a robot.

Other than that, we've just been spending time outside, planting more flowers and taking lots of walks. Maggie had her well check last week and tipped the scales at 18 pounds (I think it was the fifth percentile). Dr. Julie said even though she's "petite" that she's following her own growth curve perfectly. Will is deep into the "why" phase which is really more of the "where, when, why, how" phase. He's getting to be so big in the way he talks and does things-we're already starting to plan his third birthday. Time goes so incredibly fast.

We hope this finds you all doing well and enjoying the spring as much as we are!

A Day with Thomas

2008-03-31T14:13:00.004-04:00

What started out to be a lazy Saturday with not much planned ended up being a fun day with lots of "firsts" for both kids. We decided to go to Farmer's Market that morning so we loaded up first thing and headed out. I expected Will to be really into it and Maggie to be fighting to get out of her stroller most the time but I got the opposite. Maggie ate a little bit of everything they had to offer and still wanted more! When the double stroller couldn't hold anymore fruits and veggies and the back of the truck was full of flowers we headed home. After a quick Sam's trip and lunch out, we heard about this fun thing in Grapevine called "A Day out with Thomas." Our friends had stumbled onto it and let us know, so we hurried home to get Will a quick nap before the train ride. You can tell from the pictures that they had a blast!

Not much else going on besides the usual here. Our covered patio is almost dried in, as is Eric's new office/my new closet. We're anxious for that to be finished so we can get our backyard ready for the summer!

Oh-two quick prayer requests. For those who don't follow Ethan Powell's story, he needs some serious prayers right now. And our friend Caroline broke her leg and is in a cast from her hip to her toes (she's three).

Hope this finds you all doing well!

Will and Eric by Thomas

Eric and Jeffrey put those temporary tattoos on the boys' hands and as soon as they finished I wanted a picture of course. So when I said "Let me see your hands" they both held them up for a photo op...

Then they had to check out what they had!

After his very first train ride, he rode his very first pony!

I really thought Maggie would be all about these pony rides, but she wanted NOTHING to do with that horse!

Will and Tyler riding the train-they started out so in awe of everything and sat quietly taking it all in...

Then they had to check it all out. Don't worry. We were holding onto them!

Will has gotten really into creative play lately-he thought Spot needed a haircut (no blade in these scissors) in Maggie's chair. The "Easter Bunny" brought the kids chairs (Will's is camo, not pink leopard) and golf clubs but with the workers outside all the time we've just kept them indoors.

Believe it or not, Maggie started this fun thing of playing in the dogs' water bowl. I made the mistake of laughing when I saw her and letting her continue to play (why not, she was already soaked?) so now everytime we go outside, that's her first stop. And this girl LOVES to be outside!

Since Maggie didn't get much love in the Thomas pics, this was her that day. She was a good sport about the whole afternoon and I'm sure she'll have her day soon!

Happy St Patty's Day, Easter, Birthday Part 2

2008-03-25T17:22:00.008-04:00

We'll do the pics first the week...there are tons, and they are mostly out of order. Sorry!

Will digging into Maggie's cake!

Will and Molly at the Dallas World Aquarium

Maggie did not understand that this highchair was for her dolls. I know she's skinny (a whopping 18 pounds at the doctor last week) but this girl is a bottomless pit-the poster child for exercise I guess.

Talking on her new cell phone

We busted Will and Molly digging into their Pinata grab bags-clearly they had no shame!

Maggie with the pinata

Into the cake

Still...into the cake

Eric, Me, and Mags with her cake

After the pinata fell

Will helping Maggie with her mash cake-not that she needed it!

Macy, Will, Molly, Brandon, Maggie, and Allie Grace

She was NOT drinking this-but all the big kids had juice boxes and one got left on the table so she decided she wanted to try it too. She looks like such a big girl!

Digging into some spaghetti at Old Spaghetti Warehouse in West End

Maggie at the Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Will at the Hunt

On the way home, Maggie was resting her head on Will's shoulder-so sweet (he's already gotten into the candy from the Eggs he found--he won third place for his age group so I guess all that practice paid off!)

Maggie's birthday table

Maggie's cakes. I love my new favorite bakery---Kathy's Icing on the Cake!

Will dyeing Easter Eggs

They couldn't wait to taste the icing I guess

Maggie on her "birthday Sunday" not sitting still for a picture...

What a crazy couple weeks this has been! The day after Maggie's "real" birthday, we started the Easter celebrations with Will's Easter parade and party at school (he had Spring Break the week before Easter). That began the practice Easter egg hunts that took place daily (like 24/7) for the next week. Will was so into doing this, and that was even before he figured out there was candy in some of the eggs! We also found out Maggie had a double ear infection that weekend-I'm really hoping this means they'll do tubes, but we had to go to Saturday clinic so we haven't seen our pediatrician yet.

Monday was St. Patty's Day, which we really only celebrate by the clothes that we wear, but we said it all day long while we ran errands, so it still broke up the Easter celebrations. The next day it rained ALL DAY here, so we spent a whole day at home. We decided to have Easter Tuesday, so my mom, grandma, and nephew Brandon all came over to help. We dyed Easter Eggs, had more hunts, and made an Easter Egg cake (very into this cake decorating thing now!). So the rest of the week we celebrated Easter with more hunts and visits to see the Easter Bunny (and unfortunately Maggie was popping in two new molars while struggling with her ears) until Saturday when we had Maggie's official birthday party (after a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt that morning). God gave us beautiful weather that day and all the kids had a blast! My sister's fam, brother's, parents, grandma, aunt, cousins, and some friends came to help us celebrate. After a few hours of celebration, everyone crashed and we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had come for a visit. My kids must be so confused!

My sister and her girls stayed for a few days past Easter, but most of the activities from that visit will have to come on another post! Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Maggie!

2008-03-12T21:01:00.009-05:00

It's so hard for me to believe, but my baby girl is already one year old! She has brought such joy to our family, and we are so incredibly thankful that God blessed us with our little Maggie. We decided to celebrate Maggie's big day in the most fitting way we could imagine-full of activity, lots of smiles, loved by friends and family, and all new experiences. The day turned out better than I could have dreamed! Rather than explain it all with words, I'll let the pictures tell the story...I'll warn you that there are way more pictures on here than anyone other than family will want to see!

The start to our day...Maggie in her birthday hat at her birthday table

Getting ready to "blow" the candle out on her first ever chocolate chip pancake-a family tradition for birthdays in our family

Loving that pancake!

Typical-feeding Miller her leftovers!

At Pump It Up-I wasn't sure what she'd think about all the action here, but she loved every minute!

Maggie practicing a cheerleader pose maybe?

Pump It Up was such a fun place to celebrate! We were scoping things out for Will's birthday party and I think he approved!

All four of us had a great time on the slide

Will and Maggie sliding together-I know I say this a lot, but they are so fun to watch, especially as they are able to do more together

I kept trying to get a good picture of Maggie with Eric, but she's such a wiggle worm and all she wanted to do was get back up that slide!

Maggie and Mama

Maggie and Will feeding the ducks after our picnic

I love how they were swinging their arms

Maggie thought the bread was for her to eat instead of feed to the ducks

We have found that the best entertainment for Will has been the construction going on for Eric's office. This morning, a huge dump truck came to our house and dumped a monster pile of dirt. Since the workers didn't get everything done in a day, the kids really enjoyed playing in these dirt piles all over the backyard!

Maggie in her new rocking chair trying to figure out which present she wants to open first!

Tyler and Maddie came over to bring her a new PINK bubble mower-Will has the matching blue one...

At Toys R Us test driving a pink corvette-maybe next year!

I just thought this was a funny one-they both ran over to the train table, and Will grabbed as many trains as he could hold

Leaving Toys R Us, Maggie loving on her big brother-I think he gets more hugs than all of us put together!

Maggie with her cake-this is the first of two parties we'll have for her, so I decided to make one of her cakes-it took forever and didn't turn out quite like I'd pictured (and for those who know me well, I know you're laughing at the thought of me trying to decorate a cake), but it was made with love and tasted great!

No shyness here-Maggie DUG IN!

The face of sheer joy!

Now all the icing's gone, time to start on the chocolate!

This is Maggie's sign for "finished", and that she was...after a long day and a mild sugar crash!

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-04T17:08:00.005-05:00

Poor baby was half asleep, but loving the snow!

Maggie is not one for using things the way they are meant to be used-her toy basket is a nice, cozy place for reading books

And the bottom of Will's armoire is a fun place to play hide and seek

Climbing on Will's train table provides a great view out the window on cold days when we can't play outside!

Not a great picture, but it shows Maggie's fearlessness. Not only can she (nearly) climb the playground ladder by herself, but she will race Will to see who can be first down the slide, which she sometimes rides face first on her belly!

It seems like there is always a picture of the plasma cars on here, but we spend a lot of time riding around outside and I like this pic-just to the right of the kids is where they are building Eric's office.

At Magic Time Machine-they had horse and carriage rides in the parking lot, but all Will wanted to do was pet the horse

Well we had our first and most likely only snow of the year last night! It started around 9:00, so Eric and I quickly pulled Will out of bed and threw on a coat over his PJs. I know Eric thought I was crazy at first (because he's from Michigan), but once I reminded him this would be it for the snow this year, he understood! Eric just carried Will around outside, mostly because he was half asleep, but at least Will got to catch a few flakes with his tongue and leave a few handprints on chairs and tables. Of course, being Texas, the snow was gone when we woke up and it was 60 degrees today. But we enjoyed it while it lasted and will take the warm weather anyday!

It's been a pretty uneventful week. We did get to go to Magic Time Machine for my nephew Brandon's 11th birthday. We were there for over 3 and a half hours, but the kids did great and we all had fun.

Eric was out of town for business all last week, so the kids and I had lots of playdates and thankfully, lots of great weather so we could be outside. Eric brought back souvenirs from San Francisco, and Will is excited to ride a trolley car one day!

As for going private, I entered about 3/4 of the e-mail addresses and then got distracted (shocking, right?). When I came back, I entered the rest and pushed enter, and it said they encountered some kind of error. So...I'm too impatient and too short on time to try it again now, but hopefully soon.

Have a great week!

Going Private

2008-02-25T15:37:00.003-05:00

Lately several of the blogs I like to read have posted about going private. I didn't really know why or understand until I followed my friend Brittney's link to her friend's blog and saw a strange comment from a really strange man's blog. So now I can't wait to get my blog to private so that I can control who sees pictures of my kids! I love keeping connected with old friends and new ones through blogs, but I have to protect my children. I would love to stay connected to everyone, so if you'd like to continue checking in our family, please post a comment with your e-mail address or e-mail me so I can add you on to the "safe list." Thanks to everyone who has kept up with our family this past year and I'd love to add all the non-freaks that would like to continue!

2008-02-22T12:22:00.005-05:00

Ethan, Will, and Tyler at the zoo

Feeding the birds

Will and Allie Grace watching "Elmo Grows Up" from the suite

Carter, Allie Grace, and Will after the show

This is a face my children share-it's called "busted" I'm not exactly sure what they were doing, but I happened to catch this moment on camera, and though I'm sure it's a picture only a mother can appreciate, I thought it was still funny

Maggie has learned this from the master-once you're "busted" on something, Mom's a sucker for cuteness and will immediately forget whatever it was you were doing before. This picture follows the other one by a few seconds. Probably why I can't remember what it is they were doing just before the above picture...

Playing chase on the plasma cars

It's been a fun week-another trip to the zoo which seems to be a weekly thing now, lots of fun at school, and a special treat getting to go see Elmo in a suite at Nokia Theater with his friends Allie Grace and Carter. Thanks for inviting us Allie Grace! Maggie got to go too, but she was more interested in the food and climbing up and down the stairs than the actual show.

Maggie's still trying to cut her molars, poor baby. It's not stopping her from anything but sleeping-she eats and eats and eats, probably even more than Will does. They continue to find more things to do together and I'm still loving to watch their relationship grow.

One more quick note-for those American Idol fans out there, I went to high school and was in the play "Oklahoma" with Jason Yeager, the guy with a son and a random gold streak through his hair. We weren't really friends, and he's coming off as kind of a strange bird on TV, but still...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-16T15:47:00.008-05:00

Maggie in her tutu. She was NOT digging this home photo session at all. See pic below...

I was trying to get a picture for her birthday invitation, but as you can see, this crown was not a hit. I had another one I thought she'd like better, but...

She was ripping this one off as soon as I put it on!

Will decided he wanted to join in for some reason and I was so excited. But I think we may do pictures too frequently because he said "Mom, go get me a white shirt so we can take some pictures." So well trained!

Making Valentine cookies. I guess asking him to smile for a picture before he ate it was just too much!

After all the thought we put into our Valentine's gifts, all the kids wanted was the balloons and the candy. They were barely even interested in opening anything at all. I kept trying to get Will into the whole "present" thing and he said we should put up our Christmas tree again.

We had a great Valentine's Day! Will had a party at school and came home with two bags of valentines and candy, so of course he was happy! Eric and I grilled steaks for a dinner at home that night, but we were able to go on a double date Friday night with our friends Kim and Lee. Our church had a thing for our bigger kids and thanks to my GG for keeping Maggie! Holidays are so much more fun when you can experience them through your children, but it's nice to be able to celebrate with adults too!

Now the Valentine stuff is all packed away and we're onto decorating for Easter and getting ready for Maggie's first birthday party. It's hard to believe almost a year has already gone by, and it's also hard to believe when Will was this age I was about to be pregnant again!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's!