It's been awhile...

Hello old blog!  It's been awhile...  Things have changed.  2 more kiddos have come along.  Life is even crazier than it was 6 years ago.  We've got some catching up to do.

Another Niece!

Fun times in Rockwall!

We went back this weekend to see and hold baby Brooke, she is a DOLL!Ben and Hannah just played and played together... here is Ben in the Barbie house elevator he didn't get stuck until he tried to get both shoulders through to go out the bottom, I freed him with minimal effort
I should also include this picture from Ben's first day of preschool

he is my builder boy, he can play with these blocks for hours!

Aunt Kari came to visit a few weekends ago, Ashlyn wrote on her school paper that Kari is the person she most admires. Ashlyn is taking ballet/tap class. Here she is dressed for ballet.

and apparently tap requires a little attitude
...and that is what we've been up to

First day of Kindergarten!

She was so excited to go to school! Yes there were tears, but they were not Ashlyn's, just mine. I only cried for a minute once I got back to the car and Ben reassured me that Ashlyn would be back later. I told him a mommy is supposed to be a little tearful when she drops off her baby at kindergarten and he responded "mommy, the baby is still in your tummy!"

lots of important things

Yes I know how long its been since my last post...

here are 6 months worth of exciting happenings in our lives that we want to share with you:

Ashlyn turned 5 back in Feb

and she graduated from preschool

Ben is 3 this week

and baby #3 is due in November!

so I am 4 months into this pregnancy and feeling alright (just extremely tired!)

We should find out in the next 3 or 4 weeks if baby is a boy or a girl...

Oh, and I turned 30- my friend JoElla took me out to a wonderful lunch and that evening Paul pulled off a little surprise dinner party with several friends at a local restaurant. I shouldn't forget to mention that we also bought a new house and moved back in April! There, I think you're all caught up now

new baby cousin

Almost an entire month ago now, one of Paul's younger sisters had her second baby- little baby Hadley. We had to wait a few days after she was born to go to Houston to see her even though Ashlyn and I could hardly stand to wait! As soon as we walked in their front door, Ashlyn went straight to wash her hands, plopped down on the couch and asked to hold baby Hadley. She has ALWAYS loved babies, but now she just seems so grown up and she was so good at holding a newborn baby. It was hard to get a turn to hold Hadley b/c Ashlyn wasn't willing to give her up.

Ben was happy to see and hold the new baby too. In the car on the way to Houston, Ben kept saying was that he was "going to kiss that baby on the head!" "Head" is his joke word right now- he substitutes it for any other word and that cracks himself up... oh, 2 year old humor! I guess he wasn't joking about kissing that baby on the head, as you can see. Also cute, he wants to wear his #12 jersey EVERYday, or as he calls it- his "Colt K-Coy" shirt, and I try to indulge him as much as is hygenic.

As for the rest of the month of December...

Preschool Christmas parties and book exchange

We had a "Christmas morning" a little early so that we could go on up to Dallas.

We were excited to see snow on Christmas Eve while in Rockwall! I regret not taking very many pictures but we were just having too much fun! Once we got back home, we had 3 more Christmas celebrations with my side of the family, we are blessed to have so much family. It was such a Merry Christmas for us and we are looking forward to 2010.

and there goes November...

And at the end of a busy first week of December... Preschool Christmas program was last night. The kids wore their cute matchy outfits- thanks Grandma!

My precious girl! The dress is so pretty, but it's hard to really tell when she is doing a silly pose.

Such a handsome boy! Don't even think about calling him cute, it offends him.

"I'm not cute, I'm big!"(Barely got the tree out of storage and put up yesterday...

hope you didn't notice how badly it needs to be fluffed and of course decorated.)

Swinging while its snowing, you'll just have to trust me on that, nothing accumulated on the ground

Carly's winter dance show

Here are our November photos:

This is our November family picture, to compare to our Sept picture (to see what we looked like when we still had tans)

Thanksgiving DayYum!

Shhh!

Playing in the yard with Barkley

I thought this drawing of Ashlyn's was too cute!

Enjoying a cupcake as we celebrate Daddy's birthday ...Well that month went by fast!

Halloween pictures

We went to San Antonio for Halloween weekend, and what a fun-packed weekend it was!

Started out spending a little time with Paul's family at his sister's house. We tried to get a pictures of these cousins, but it was difficult b/c Ben was terrified of Ethan with his clown mask on. To be fair, he was pretty scary looking!

This is where he preferred to watch the action from

For trick or treating, we went with the Chances in their neighborhood

after having spent the day with them at Seaworld first. (BTW Carie, I did not get a good picture of all 4 kids in their costumes, can you send me one?)

They are so cute!The LITTLE kids (but don't try telling them that)The silly BIG kidsSee ya!

This year and Last year

Hard to believe but we have now lived here over a year. This is a photo comparison of last year to this year...

first day of school Sept. 2009

first day of LBC Sept. 2008

Ashlyn all dolled up for her date with Daddy. She had so much fun going to this year's Father-Daughter banquet.

2009see how much older she looks in only one year!

2008