our little talker

Lauren is smiling and cooing a lot now. She is quite the talker! She will ooohh and ahhh all day long if you talk to her. Maybe she will be a little singer...

who is who?

Can you tell who is who?
Leave a comment and let me know if you think they look alike and who your guesses are.

free fall camping

This weekend loaded up the camper and headed to San Marcos to go camping with friends. It was Lauren's first camping trip. We had a very fun, very hectic time. Our weekend was spent chasing kids, eating steak dinner and skydiving. Isn't that what everyone does when they go camping?

The boys had fun playing with all their friends.

So did we!

Marcus and his family broke in their new camper this weekend.

Lauren and Daddy chillin'

Eric, Jared, David, Sharon and Marcus all decided to go skydiving at Skydive San Marcos. When it rained Saturday morning, we weren't sure if they would be able to jump. It was really cloudy and windy, but that didn't stop them from wanting to go! Thankfully the clouds parted and they were able to jump. The cloud cover actually allowed them to jump at 11,500 feet instead of 10,000 feet.

Austin sporting his airplane shirt

Boarding the plane

There's Daddy!

One of those tiny little specks is Eric.

Eric had a nice, smooth landing. He was glad he did it, but says once in his lifetime is plenty. I think it had something to do with the double loopty loo his dive partner did.

Next time, it will be me jumping!

it won't be like this for long

This song is just what we needed...

two months old

Lauren is 2 months old today!

She has changed so much in the last month. She is holding her head up pretty well and is starting to like tummy time. She loves her pacifier and we always have one handy. Her favorite thing to do is smile and coo when people talk to her. She likes laying on her activity mat as long as we come by and give her some attention often. She is going to bed around 8:30 every night and eating at 10, 2:30 and 6:30. She still isn't crazy about bathtime, but tolerates it pretty well. She has the sweetest smile and her cooing melts my heart. The boys love her to pieces and so do we!

Happy Birthday Austin!

Our little man is three! If you ask him though, he will say he is four. He wants to be the same age as his big brother. He has changed so much since last year!

My parents went with us to take Austin to Build-A-Bear for the first time. The boys had a great time picking out their animals. Austin chose a turtle he named Sea Turtle and Ethan chose a frog he named Hoppy. They both picked out swim trunks for them to wear. Man, I'm glad I only have one girl because a girl could go crazy in that store with clothes and accessories!

Austin helped to stitch up his turtle. He took his job very seriously.

Happy Birthday Austin! We love you very much!

Just what the doctor ordered

30 minutes lounging in the sun

(while Lauren napped in the swing and the boys played in the sprinkler next to me)

+

Shower and time to get dressed

(while Lauren and Austin napped and Ethan hung out with me)

+

Girl's night

(with my dear friends while my sweet husband put all three kids to bed)

=

One happy momma!

(Last night was just what I needed!)

************************************************

Last night we met at Z-tejas to celebrate Erica's 35th birthday. We celebrated there last year too. You can't go wrong with half priced appetizers and drink specials. It was so nice to sit outside on the patio, enjoy great food and spend time with close friends.

Happy Birthday Erica!

days like today

slacks. wedge shoes. makeup. starbucks. meeting for lunch with friends with no children in tow. driving in my car all by myself. jewelry. skirts. curled hair. running errands during lunch all by myself.

Days like today I actually think it would be nice to work again. Working that doesn't involve changing diapers, dealing with tantrums, a fussy baby, singing the alphabet over and over again, cleaning up playdoh and dealing with three children all day long.

Getting dressed every day sounds really good to me right now too. Washing my hair every day, wearing shoes that aren't house shoes, actually fixing my hair, wearing makeup and feeling like a normal person all sound fabulous.

I know I'm just sleep deprived and exhausted, but these thoughts do cross my mind. Lauren is 8 weeks old today and it's time for me to get myself together. Most importantly, it's time for her to start sleeping through the night. I'm going to have a talk with her when she wakes up from her nap.

Today I'm going to lay in the sun while the boys play outside, snuggle my baby as we watch Little Bear and wear pajamas all day until it's time to meet my girlfriends for happy hour tonight. Put it in that perspective, and my life sounds pretty great.

first road trips

Lauren's first road trip was to the lake house when she was 7 weeks old.

So was Austin's...

and so was Ethan's...

Easter

Friday we loaded up the car and headed to the lake house for Easter. This picture was taken right as we left when Kirby had a comfy spot to sit. Halfway through our 6 hour drive, her trip got a lot more uncomfortable when we put the seat back up so I could sit in it. Turning around to reinsert a pacifier isn't fun the 100th time you have to do it and I was much happier sitting next to Lauren and the boys.

We arrived at the lake house around 11 and unpacked the car. That's when we noticed a suitcase was missing. Miss Lauren's suitcase was accidentally left at home so the next morning we had to make a trip to Walmart to get her some clothes and pjs. Thank goodness we had an extra Miracle Blanket in the car!

Saturday Gege and Granddaddy hid over 100 Easter eggs for the kids to hunt. They had a blast!

Even Lauren got in on the fun.

Sunday morning the boys were very excited to see what the Easter Bunny left them.

Right after Lauren woke up from this nap, she smiled at me for the first time! It was so sweet!

Gege and the kids had a great time dyeing Easter eggs. Ethan and Austin had never done it before, so they loved it!

Ethan told us the Easter story and it melted my heart. I'm so glad they are learning the true meaning of Easter!

Lauren looked cute on Easter in her Walmart backup dress. I tore the bow off a gift bag so she would have one. A girl has got to have a bow!

We had our first annual deviled egg making contest this year. Jennifer came in first, I came in second and Jan came in third. Jan might have had a chance of winning if she wouldn't have put candy sprinkles on her eggs!

We had a great time at the lake house with Eric's family. We got to relax, play games, sleep in and take naps every day. It's just what we needed!

I couldn't let Lauren's real Easter clothes go to waste, so I had to snap a shot of her wearing her flower headband sitting in her Easter basket...

Then I couldn't resist putting her in her cute Easter bunny shirt...

I must admit I wasn't too upset when she got her bunny shirt dirty. What else could I do but put her in her Easter dress? :)

We hope you had a happy Easter!