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

September '09

Fall family picture

Doesn't it just feel amazing outside?!?! I doubt the cool weather will stick around long, but it makes me hopeful that maybe it won't be over 100 degrees again any time soon.

Here are playtime pictures from the end of our summer when it was that H-O-T out

Here are the kids' new bestest friends Ellen and Carter. They're kind of like 10-years-older-versions of our own kids. We were invited to go to Lake Marble Falls on Labor Day with their family. Super fun!

summer family picture

After a very busy and fun end to the summer, we have plunged headfirst into the new school year. Ben is starting his first year of preschool and Ashlyn is starting her last year of preschool (tear!). Both kids are enjoying their classes and are learning a lot. I am teaching my first year of preschool, I am in the nursery class with the 18-24 month kiddos. It works out wonderfully- only 5 hours long and just 2 days a week. I am really enjoying my class too. Paul's job is going well, he has been traveling regularly but not too, too much. That is all I have as far as updates about us. We are looking forward to an awesome autumn!

A couple of pictures from Eric and Alison's wedding

These were a sampling of the pictures that my Mom sent following my last post... Thanks for your quick response, sorry it takes me so long to hold up my end of the bargain! There are some pictures that are less chaotic looking, but I thought these were the funniest ones. Oh, the wedding was beautiful and so much fun! Alison's aunt made her dress, it was the most gorgeous wedding dress I have ever seen!! Didn't hurt that it was being worn by a beautiful bride!

For us, it was quite an eventful day to say the least- Ben scared me to tears when I found him in his bed after nap time with his finger in an "unbulbed" lamp (thank God everything was okay), we were rear-ended on the way to the wedding, somehow left Ben's shoes at home (I thought I left them in the car!), couldn't find Ashlyn's hairbands (later found them in my makeup bag, which I know I looked there), I was barely ready and dressed in time for pictures...

... it was otherwise a lovely day in which I got to watch my brother wed the woman of his dreams and the love of his life. It was a blessed day - I could not be more glad to have Ali as my sister-in-law!! The ceremony went well- Ashlyn the proud flowergirl was upset that she forgot to toss any petals, but I was thankful she was more concerned with navigating the rock steps that were a bit more treacherous for her little brother the ring bearer who was hanging on her arm. When they made it to the front, she quickly tossed out several handfuls of petals... and so did Ben since he could easily reach into the basket. Ashlyn spent the first few minutes of the ceremony picking up any petals that Ben threw down. I don't know how noticeable it was to everyone else.


Love you Eric and Alison!! Congratulations!