March and April

2013 is flying by!  I can't believe April is half over. 

Our Spring has been a lot of fun.  The beginning of March found Lucy and me in Utah (really fast/short trip) for my oldest nephews wedding.  It was beautiful!  Really Joey feels like a little brother.  I was 11 when he was born and my sisters and I were always tending or playing with him.  I had only met Josey at Christmas but she is amazing!  They will be so happy together!  It was wonderful to be together with so much of my family.  8 of my 10 siblings were able to come and we had so much fun.  I just wish we all live closer.

 The happy couple!

 

My sister Diane and her beautiful family

Sara, Mom, Michelle, Rachel, Barbara, Diane, Lynette (Lucy), Carrie

At the end of March I traveled with a friend, in her mini van, plus our 4 kids to Oklahoma for Easter.  The 10+ hr drive wasn't that bad but we were happy to finally get there.  We loved being with cousins for a few days and Easter with family was great.  Thanks Elggren's and Bills!

David and Lucy loved playing together!

Benson and Adalaide soaking their hands.  (Benson's fingernails were falling off due to Hand, foot and mouth so we'd soak them every day to help keep them clean.  And how can only one 2 yr old have all the fun playing in water?!)
 

 Benson feeding David

 

Mowing with bubble mowers (it's a really good thing they had two:)

 Lucy and David swinging

 

 He was so happy when he discovered there was something INSIDE the eggs!

 

 Cousins!

 

 Easter Sunday. 

 

While I was in OK Anth started building/fixing our side fence.  Every time the wind blew it would fall over.  He and Benson did a wonderful job!  Benson received his first "man-hammer" on this job (a name he picked himself).  He has about 4 others that are plastic or wood but they would break or couldn't hammer the real nails in so I surprised him with a "real" one.  He loves it!  It's the last thing he talks about before bed and the first thing he wants in the morning.  I am a bit nervous about the sharp edge on the end but we've talked about hammer safety so hopefully no one loses an eye or gets gouged in the head.

Frame work and posts

Finished!

Last week we celebrated Anthony's 30th birthday!  Welcome to the 30's dear!  We had a fun week giving him gifts the kids picked out from the dollar store and ended up with yummy Thai food and birthday banana cream pie!

9 Months

 

 I can't believe our little Lucy is 9 months!  She is so much fun!  I love this age because she's becoming her own little person.
At 9 months:
-14lbs 8oz
-25 3/4 in long
-17 in head
(5th percentile)
-has two bottom teeth
-lots of curly hair on the top of her head
-crawling
-pulls herself up on anything she can
-picks up cheerios and can put them in her mouth
-waves sometimes
-points with one finger sometimes
-loves, loves, loves the bath
-loves her toungue
-eats anything I can put in the food processor
-says "mama, mama" when she's mad or sleepy and "dada, dada" when she's happy
-adores Benson

January and February Fun

Although it seems like we've been sick the last two months (colds, hand mouth foot disease, ear infections, etc) we have had a lot of fun times.  I love living in So. Texas this time of year.  Plus our kids are at a really fun age.

We have seasons passes to the aquarium and the botanical gardens.  My kids love them both (and it's nice that the botanical gardens are 3 min down the road).

 

We met some friends up at a children's museum in New Braunfels.  The kids and adults loved it!

7 months

Our little miss is 7 months old today!  What a joy she is in our lives!  Almost daily I marvel at everything it took to get her here.  I love being her mom.
Some bits about her this past month...
-she's still around 13ish lbs.  Small but chunky :)
-she rolls to get around
-no interest in crawling
-loves to lay on her back
-loves to watch or have Benson talk to her
-loves strawberry yogurt and fruit and anything we are eating that I'll mash up for her
-sleeps 11-12 hrs a night
-usually takes 2ish 1 hr naps a day, I can't seem to get her to sleep longer
-loves her daddy
-loves to screech and scream
-loves baths
-loves to be sung to

William - 3 Years

Sometimes it seems like such a long time ago that we went through everything with our little William.  It was wonderful to celebrate his birth into our family.  It was neat to talk to Benson about Will and that he loved singing "Happy Birthday" to him.  I look forward to when he'll understand that he has an older brother.  I loved sharing memories with Anthony about that time in our lives.  I miss William. 

6 Months

Our little Lucy is 6 months! She is so cute and fun!  We love watching her learn and grow.
At a dr appt last week her stats were...
-12.4 lbs
-24 in long
So she's pretty much in the 3rd percentile, but she's stayed there so that's good.
Other wonderful and not so wonderful things about her...
- She was sick for the first time at Christmastime, so sad
-She's sitting up
-She likes squash better than applesauce
-Benson can make her smile faster than anyone else
-Pulls everything into her mouth
-Since being sick she sleeps only 4-5 hrs at night before wanting to be fed again (I don't know how to get her to sleep more, it's frustrating)
-Loves "patty cake" and "this little piggy"
-Loves to be thrown in the air
-Can stand with both legs in one of my hands and balance in the air (does that make sense?)
-Whenever we sing a hymn at church she "sings" along
-Loves to be sung to
-Is such a good, patient child and will play on the floor forever
We feel so blessed to have this little girl and still feel that she's another miracle baby (that's all we have :)

Christmas 2012

We had a fabulous Christmas season!

Our ward had a wonderful Christmas party.  It was so fun having Benson participate in the nativity.  He loved it and even knew the song!  But he hated Santa and wouldn't sit on his lap  We'd been talking about it for a couple days and he was pretty excited but when the time came he started screaming and would only watch everyone else.  Lucy was fine with him.

 
We saw/walked the lights on Candy Cane Ln with some friends.

Since we were heading to Utah Santa came mid December.  Benson and Lucy loved opening presents.

I love visiting home!  Being with family and friends is something that really makes Christmas for me.  We had family parties with both sides of the family.

Benson in the bounce house at the Vance family party

Cute Joey and Josey (soon to be married!) Their song was beautiful!

 He loved this" motorcycle" and rode it until it snowed.

 Books from Grandparents

 

Lucy in her Christmas dress

 Seeing the lights on Temple Square.  It was cold but she loved it!

 Christmas morning in matching pj's!

We loved all our Christmas activities!