First bit of our SUMMER!

Summer so far has been awesome for the following reasons...
  ~ NOT rushing out of the house by 7:30
  ~ Staying in our jammies later than we should
  ~ Playdates with friends
  ~ Visits to the park
  ~ Art projects
  ~ Gymboree

We have been keeping busy, and summer has started off really well!  Annabelle did have a fever at the beginning of last week, and was a bit sick, but the rest of the week made up for it.  My kiddos are developing a really sweet relationship right now, and it is really neat to watch.  I know that other parents with more than one child have seen this, and I am now soaking up every moment of it.  They laugh and play together more, and wherever Annabelle goes, Carter is not too far behind.  It's just the beginning, and I am excited to see this little sibling relationship grow brick by brick.

I have been jogging again with both kiddos, which I haven't done in a while.  It has added a bit of a challenge physically, but it has also been awesome.  I did NOT think I was going to like running with both of them at all.  But, it has been great for all three of us.  I often stop to take pictures because I run on a super gorgeous trail not to far from my house.  Here is one of my fave pics from one of our jogs...

Annabelle chasing ducks...

Painting a BLUE letter B.

Cute cute cute to watch all three of these cuties play.

Painting a blue butterfly.  (last week was "blue week" when it came to projects. I have decided to keep Annabelles wheels turning in her little head during the summer by adding a little theme to every week.  Each week, we are focusing on a certain color, letter, shape and animal for the whole week.  Should be fun!)

Annabelle was fixing carter's hair in the pool. :)

JAMMIES all morning. 

Carter lifting weights.

Playing dress up with my scarf.

She was SO excited to be in Gymboree today!  It's been a while since we were there, and she loved it the same as she did before.  :)

We went to a play date at a park the other day and Annabelle decided to play in the water in her clothes.  I thought she would spend all her time on swings and in the sand, so I did not bring her suit.  Luckily, I did have a change of clothes in the car. 

Almost SUMMER!!

Annabelle has Splash Day at school today, and I'm sitting here wishing I could spy on her. I hope she has fun! She's been a little sad this week when I have dropped her off at school. I hate leaving her when she is upset, but I know she is in good hands.

TOMORROW is the last day of school, and I'm pretty excited about that. It will be nice to go back to the days where we didn't have to rush out the door by 7:30.  Annabelle gets to go back to "BO". (Gymbroee.  She says "BO" for Gymbo, the name of the happy clown puppet) AND, we can have more days like this....

Memorial Day breakfast at Cracker Barrel...

This past weekend, Craig and I celebrated our 7th anniversary! We had some good time alone, and both agree another 70 years together would be pretty great. ;)

Carter got his first haircut.  Just a little trim, and you can't even tell.  My babies just have a lot of hair. 

My kiddos love this guy.  Justin is a friend of mine from high school and he married an amazing chick!  We all love hanging out with them.  Pretty sure Annabelle has a small crush on Justin.  He's really good with my kids and I am thankful for the friendship we have with him and his wifey.

 
This is KIM.  (Justin's wife)



 Craig and I started teaching a preschool Sunday school class at our church once a month.  It is pretty awesome for many reasons, but one is that we get to be with Annabelle.  This past Sunday, she crawled up in the baby doll play high chair and was reading a tiny book.  I don't even think you can see the book in this pic.  It cracked me up.  I think she is the cutest thing of all time. 
 

HAPPY SUMMER!!

He Giveth More.

" He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase: TO added affliction He addeth his mercy, To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.  When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed ere the day is half done, when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving is only begun.  His love has no limit, His grace has no measure, His power no boundary known unto men: For out of his infinite riches in Jesus He giveth and giveth and giveth again. "

-Annie Johnston Flint

MAY.

The past few weeks have flown by!  Haven't they? Time flies by when you're having a good time.  Am I right?

Annabelle has been doing so great in school.  The first week was pretty hard for me, and a huge huge adjustment for Annabelle.  She cried every day at drop off and she seemed kind of overwhelmed.  Which is totally understandable.  Watching her cry and reach for me every day made my heart hurt. I was unsure if we had made the right choice to put her in school this young.  She is so tiny compared to the other kids.  It's also really hard that she can not totally communicate her needs with us, and she can't really tell us how her day was.  Her teachers are super sweet, and communicated really well with us all week.  They really helped me feel better about all of that.  Her teacher even sent me pictures of her at school, and a little video.  So sweet.

After that first tough week, she has been great.  She doesn't get upset when we leave for school, or when we pull up and she sees the bus, or when I hand her off to teachers.  She always looks like she is having a great time when I pick her up.   I still miss her a lot for those four hours in the morning, and I am SO excited to go pick her up every day.  We are really thankful that the experience has been a good one so far.  I still have some fears and concerns with her being at school, but I am still thankful.  We only have a few days left, and then we have our mornings back all summer!  :)

Carter is still growing like crazy.  I can not even believe he is 9 months old.  He's super busy and still loves his Annabelle.  He is clapping his hands, signing "EAT", and he waved "bye-bye" the other day.  It even sounded like he said "bye-bye".  Super cute. 

Mother's Day this year was so fantastic with two kiddos.  Craig never fails to make me feel so special.  We took it easy and just hung out with our kids.  I love my little family SO much.

OH, also in May, Craig's brother came to Texas for a visit.  It was so great having another visitor.  The time with him was so special, and I know Craig loved it!

Last Friday was our last MOPS meeting until after summer, and we had a little party.  Each table was to have a theme, and the meeting was just laid back and fun.  Our table was "Toddlers and Tiaras!"

 Annabelle at school...

Justus and Carter...

This picture cracks me up.  You can see Carter hitting him. 

Annabelle praying before dinner...

Uncle Hans...

One of my favorite pictures...

On Mother's Day weekend, we went to Dallas to see my sweet grandma...

Mother's Day dates...

Super love this pic...

We have had a lot of time together since Annabelle has been at school.  We are soaking it up. 

These kiddos are playing together more and more, and I love watching it!

Toddlers....

Annabelle reading in her corner.  :)
Have a great rest of MAY! 

Changes

The month of April has flown by, just like I expected.  It has been a VERY busy month, and our little family is going through some changes and transitions.  To assist my thoughts in to words, here are a few pictures from the past few weeks...

Carter's 8 month appointment.  Y'all, I waited about an hour before we actually saw our doctor.  He even got about a 40 minute nap in.  Surprisingly, I was very patient, but I am usually not that patient when I am made to wait that long.  ESPECIALLY with a baby.  It makes me want to leave a negative comment for this pediatrician.  But, other than that, the appointment was great.  Carter is still in about the 90th percentile for weight, and about 70th for height.  He is super busy these days, and in to anything he can get his hands on.  He has two bottom teeth poking through, and loves to eat finger foods now.  He is mostly happy and smiling, but has his share of whiney moments.  I LOVE LOVE this little boy so much. (Look how he holds his ear.  He does that when he is sleepy.  SO CUTE)

Our weather has been AMAZING this month!  Texas has a GORGEOUS Spring.  It totally makes up for the heat of the summer.  Texas really only has like 3 months of the year where it's just too hot to function, and even then, you can still go outside and have BBQ's and swim and play.  None of the weather makes me very upset here.  I say that now because it's been awesome! ;)

I just thought this picture was super cute.  She carried her little pail around, protecting the sidewalk chalk inside.

REAL ALE Anniversary party...

SUCH a blast!

We take silly selfies, and I am ok with it.  She is my best girl friend.  (so is my sister Rachel)

I want to go back!!!

I love it when I get pictures of my kids when other people are watching them.  My parents had them for a Saturday, and sent me pictures of them being the cute kids they are...

A couple weeks ago, it was hot enough for shorts and Popsicles.  A taste of summer...

Craig's best buddy, Eric came to Texas, and it was a blast!  We took Annabelle out for her 3rd birthday celebration, and somehow they got stuck with our babies for a minute.  ;)

This past week, Aunt Heidi and Nana came to Texas for a visit.  I had to take them to Gymboree, and Annabelle loved having them there.  She super loves her Aunt Heidi!  It's so cute.

We went for a walk around our neighborhood.  Annabelle pretty much hates the stroller these days, so I decided to let her walk.  It sort of slowed us down a bit, but she had a blast...

Heidi is so good with my kids.

This past Sunday, my parents and I did a 5k!  I ran it in 27:45, and was actually pretty happy with that time.  Not the fastest, but I did it! :)  I was intimidated when we started, because I could tell there were "real" runners around me.  I could tell by their clothes and their fancy GPS watches, and their awesome shoes.  I want THESE running shoes so bad, but I don't have that kind of cash to spend on running shoes right now. Someday I might, and I will look like a "real" runner. ;)  (I'll take them in a 7.5, thank you.)
After I finished, I turned around to walk the course back to my parents, and walk to the finish with them.  It was so fun, and makes me want to do another one, and someday do a 10k, and maybe just maybe a half marathon someday.  Maybe. ;) 

Pinterest gave me the idea to put sand in an under the bed box instead of an open sandbox.  With the amount of critters in our back yard, I wanted a lid on some play sand, and it has worked so well.  They love it! 

Ok, so Annabelle started school on Monday.  It was harder for me the first day than it was for her.  She did good.  She is only at school for four hours, which makes it a little easier, but it is every day.  Look how cute she is...

By Monday night, I was seriously thinking, "O my gosh, it's only MONDAY!"  I am so tired and the week really seems to be dragging.  I am ready for the weekend.  This is a big change for us.  There are some days that we don't even leave the house, and now we leave every single day.  I love our mornings, with coffee and play time and staying in our jammies.  Waking up to an actual alarm and not just the alarm of my kids, is a new thing for me too.  I know if something like this seems like such a change to me, it's got to also be for Annabelle.  I just wonder what she is thinking and how she is feeling.  She can't really tell me her thoughts, but her life is so different now.  (and it's only been three days)  She did not want to leave the house this morning.  She wanted to play with Carter.  I could totally tell, and I know I wasn't reading in to it.  She cried a lot today when I dropped her off and I had to hand her off to a teacher.  It is so so so hard to walk away from your child when they are crying.  She never does that for me where she cries and reaches for me.  I prayed for the Lord to give us peace this week. And trusted that He would.  He has.  I have some peace and I am not just sitting at home crying all week like I thought I would.  I really thought I was going to yank her out of school after the first day and never go back.  ;)  If you think of it, please keep our family in your prayers during this time in our lives.  It is different for all of us and may take some time to adjust.  I miss my girl. I am ready for the weekend, but even more ready for SUMMER.

Why I did this to myself all in the same week, I don't know, but here is another change.  I know it seems super late to be doing this, and it IS, but we finally moved Carter into his own room.  We have had many excuses over the last 8 months, as to why we never moved him.  But, we KNOW it is time.  Carter has never slept all the way through the night, so I am hoping that maybe this will help.  He has done SO great!  Much better than I thought he would.  The first night was the worst, but every night has gotten better.  These changes with my kids this week has been an emotional experience for me.  I am tired not only because I am up earlier, but also because I am feeling a little drained.  Annabelle going to school and Carter having his own room, means that they are growing up.  It has taken a little bit of me letting go.  I love every stage of these little lives so much, and sometimes I want to hold on to them so tight, that I don't move to the "next stage".  Does that even make sense?  I love these memories of my little ones.  And am looking forward to what the next milestone will be for them and also for Craig and me.  Look how peaceful this guy is....

 

I am so thankful for my life and the gifts that the Lord continues to give. We really miss our friends and family who live far away, but we are thankful for what is here in front of us.   I have a wonderful family, awesome friends, a church that we love and I really don't know what else i could ask for.  Thank you to those of you who checked up on us this week, wondering how Annabelle's first days were going.  It meant a lot to me.  Now I need to go make myself busy so that time passes quickly.  I want to go pick up my Annabelle!!