After School Play!!!!

We have a pretty sweet set up with our friends, the Paredes's every Tuesday and Thursday. Virginia picks Laney up and we get to play with Max, Maddy and baby Annaleise while Virginia gets Abby from elementary school. It is like a little playdate every T/Th with some of our very favorite people in the whole wide world!!!
With the beautiful weather we had this week, the kids took advantage of the zillions of leaves in the backyard and had tons of fun! That's Maddy down there.......in the leaves!

Could not be cuter!

Max's turn to get buried!

Some crazy games of chase and leaf throwing!

Haircuts!!!

As it has been abundantly clear in recent pictures posted, our brothers have been in desperate need of haircuts! Their vision has been seriously obstructed by their bangs lately! It was really hard for me to ready myself for the big boys that would be looking back at me after those haircuts. Regardless of my desire to hold on to my little baby boys, I finally had to surrender and let Todd cut their hair. He started with Sam since Sam has already had two haircuts before, and because Miles is just more of a freaker outer.

I didn't get any pictures of Miles during the cut, because I was the one freaking out at that point. Todd made the first cut and then let out a huge, "UH-OH!" He cut it way shorter than he meant to due to some wiggling on Miles's part. So I started panicking and trying to figure out how to fix it. I still think that he looks a little bit like Julie Andrews from The Sound of Music with those short bangs, but he is cute enough to pull just about anything off!

Big Sister got a haircut too, and I LOVE it!

Sweet sibling hugs!

This is Miles's favorite shirt. His "Socca-Baa" shirt!

Happy Early Anniversary!

Todd and I just got back from a mini vacation to celebrate our TEN YEAR anniversary which is next month. It is impossible for us to get away in December since that is when work gets crazy for Todd. We planned a little get away to celebrate in San Antonio, which is where we went for our one year anniversary. We brought our kids over to Grommy's house on Thursday night and put them to bed over there. Lezlie kept them Friday and Saturday and then my mom took over Saturday night and all day Sunday. We are so blessed that our moms are not only willing to do do something like this for us, but actually jump at the chance. I got a text from Groms on Friday that said, "FYI, my grandchildren are perfect!" And the second we saw my mom Sunday night, she said, "Thank you so much, this weekend was such a gift to me!" I can barely get over how priviliged my three littles are that they get to grow up with this kind of love all around them! Then, we went out to eat to kickstart our vacation! We got home late and started packing and cleaning the house. At about 11:30, while Todd was steam cleaning the floors and I was putting away tons of folded laundry, I started laughing at how different the scenario was from that first anniversary trip. No scrambling to clean the house before a trip back then. If it wasn't clean, no big deal, we could straighten things up at our leisure upon arriving home. Not that there was quite the same mess to deal with back then anyway. Even though some late night cleaning might not seem that romantic, I love that we are side by side in the middle of this life of ours. Up to our elbows in dirty laundry, pulverized cracker crumbs, babydolls, and track-a-tows, and just about to burst with the blessing that God has poured out all over us! We are a good pair, me and Todd. I love him even more today than I did back in high school and college when I could not even think about him without getting butterflies. I am sure that I will be feeling even more ooey-gooey whenever it is our actual anniversary next month, so I will just move on to the super fabulous time we had together this weekend!





We got on the road early on Friday morning and decided to take a little bit of a scenic route, to avoid traffic and so that we could happen by some of those historical markers that Todd loves so much. We detoured into Dublin so that we could visit the Dr. Pepper museum and have lunch there. I was hopeful for some Diet Dr. Pepper goodness, but The good folks of Dublin are a litte bit snobbish in their Dr. Pepper worship. Nothing but the orignial for them. I couldn't even get a DDP from the fountain! Todd got this D.P. frostie made with Dr. Pepper syrup and Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla. Why do other ice cream companies even exist?


I successfully held down my desire to enlighten these so called Dr. Pepper enthsusiasts with the truth about their product, you know - how it is outshone by it's Diet contemporary.

We got to San Antonio in the afternoon and made our way to the little Bed and Breakfast that we booked. We have never gone the B&B route before, but we didn't have many other options this weekend. The San Antonio marathon was on Sunday, so there were literally no hotel rooms available for Sat. night. So, I found this little place and we decided try our hand at Bed and Breakfasting! We were so so pleasantly surprised. Look how cute our little house was. It was in the most amazing neighborhood and everyone we met was so nice!
Our room had access to the awesome upstairs balcony, and the weather this weekend was phenomenal!

We were right down the street from a branch of the YMCA, so we got up early on Saturday morning and went to work out. It was the swankiest gym I have ever been in. They had all of this incredible equipment, including an Anti-Gravity treadmill that looked like it should only be used by NASA. We had fun checking it out and even more fun replacing those burnt calories later!

We ate our yummy breakfast with our housemates, which was the part that I was worried might get awkward, but it wasn't! Our hosts were great. They even made me some scrambled egg whites when they saw that I wasn't interested in the french toast. I can't get on board with that soggy bread!! Then, they even snapped a picture of us at the base of the world's creakiest stairs.

Growing up in Texas, we have both been to S.A. bunches of times, which means we have been to the Alamo bunches of times. I love visiting the Alamo. I get emotional and proud and awed and sad every time. I have never been to any of the other Missions in San Antonio, so we decided to go and visit them. We started and the San Jose Misison, which is absolutely beautiful!! We watched a video in the museum before touring the Mission. The video was very somber and very thought provoking. Todd and I had lots to discuss and debate while walking the grounds.

After our touring, we made our way back to downtown, where we walked around, got some Pizza to eat at the Plaza, and then walked along the Riverwalk for a while. It was a really fun environment, because there were tons of marathoners in town along the Riverwalk.

We stopped to have dinner at the very same restaurant that we ate at on our one year anniversary. I have a picture from that night and a few others from that trip that I would love to post. They need to be scanned though, so that goal may or may not be reached!!!

We were going to get up the next morning and watch the racers run past. The course ran near our house just two blocks down, but it was mile one where they would pass us, and the race started at 7. We weren't up early enough for that. We planned to go to Oak Hills Church after that, which is Max Lucado's church, but we had the wrong times for the services, so we missed that too. We ended up doing some shopping and heading home though Gruene. We ate on the river and wandered through the town and little shops. It was so fun to get away together. And it was so fun to come home to our hilarious children and their huge smiles and hugs when they saw us!

Indian Pow Wow!!

Laney's pre-school had an Indian Pow Wow last week. It was really cute. Laney sang all the songs for weeks around the house and in the car, but when we talked about the Pow Wow, she always asked, "Are all the mommies and daddies going to be there?" She was a little anxious about all those eyes on her.

All of the teachers participated in the Pow Wow, but one of Laney's teachers, Mrs. Hansen, was the leader. She talked to the kids about all sorts of Native American customs and ways of life, like grinding up corn to make cornmeal and carrying her baby around in a papoose.

Laney's other teacher, Mrs. Melton, allowed Laney to be her assistant in operating the sound for the program.

She was an excellent member of the tech crew. I love that sweet Mrs. Melton made every effort to help Laney find success and enjoy their program!!!Laney was stuck to her like glue for the whole program! Our youth minister, C.J., was there to watch his unbelievably cute son in the Pow Wow. The brothers assumed that he was there just to pay attention to them with some hugs and cuddles!

Birthday Party!!!

We had the brothers' birthday party two weekends ago. It was so much fun. They are crazy about balls, namely soccer balls and footballs, but they really aren't too discerning. We had a sports balls theme, and the brothers loved it!!! We had so much fun with our family!! Pops, Nae Nae and Aunt Jenn got here early so we got to have lunch with them! Laney went on a shopping excursion with NaeNae and Jenn while the boys were sleeping, so I had plenty of time to get ready for the party! She had a blast with them and I was so grateful!!!!I made cake balls into little sports balls!My dad sent Miles and Sam these little riding ATVs, or in their language, "track-a-tows!" Needless to say they were a huge hit!!! They rode and rode and rode!!!

At this point, I think that the brothers are running Pops down. Rick suffered some minor injuries but has since made a full recovery!

Mr. Intensity!Grant and Claire had so much fun pretending that the brothers were going to run them over too!

We made up some of the viewing gallery!!
Laney had a great time at the party! She was very excited for her brothers!

It's never a bad thing to get some snuggles with Aunt Cait!!!Todd and his dad. They are fun to watch together. I am excited to see our boys grow up and love their dad like Todd loves his dad.Grommy and Kevin stood guard around the track-a-tow course, so we didn't have any off roading accidents!

Jenn and Renee got Laney a Me-Too present while they were out shopping. A new babydoll, which she loves and has taken care of every single day since. She was thrilled!!!After all those track-a-tow rides, it was time to come inside for some taco soup. Kevin helped Miles with his dinner!!

Not surprisingly, Sam was not hungry, so he went in the living room to hang out with Pops, who is a lightweight and couldn't eat dinner cause he was still full from lunch!!!


Let's open some presents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miles was super excited!!

Sam was excited to get some new cute shoes from Aunt Cait. Loving that I can see his little mouth saying, "shoes!!!"

Miles, ever clutching his tennis balls picked out specifically by Grant, diving into the next gift. Those tennis balls were a gigantic hit. They could barely stop playing with them to keep the party going!Some very cool tractors from Pops and Nae Nae!!!Grommy got these "wubby puppies" for them and Miles was loving it! Sam has since added it to his list of mandatory sleeping companions!Sam, with one of his hilarious expressions, loving his new tractor!Some more expression for these cute jammies from Sladana and Soraya.

We have never had a Sit and Spin, so we are loving this one from the Goods!Laney, Grant and Claire made their Me Too presents into chairs!



Pops and Miles sitting down to read a new book together!
Next up......Cake!!!! I made the brothers a little soccer ball cake for their candle, since I couldn't stick a candle in a cake ball for them!Happy Birthday singing time. That is definitely their absolute favorite song ever right now, so it was pretty ultimate for them to have everyone sing it to them!!

Kevin took this picture, and I think Sam looks so grown up with his little chin in his hand!
Laney chose a football cake ball. Chocolate = Happy Girl!!!Kevin gave Sam some rides on his back. Too bad Sam didn't like it one bit......

Laney and Pops were playing some silly games in her room, and she came bouncing out all potato sack-y in her Target bag!!

The brothers got some more reading time with Kevin!Pops and Nae Nae got some awesome new boots for the boys. We put them on immediately and they loved them so much!

Hailey, whose nickname "Old Hairy," might be in the process of being replaced with "Lee Lee" if the brothers or she have anything to say about it, got the boys these fabulous western shirts. They got perfectly with their new boots and cowboy hats from Pops and Nae.

Laney and Kev rehearsed their circus act with Laney's new ball!Cowboy Sam!Sam loved his toy gun and holster completing his cowboy look!Boots right over his footie p.j.s, he is a definite fan!!!