Hailey's 2nd birthday!

WHAT????!!!! My little baby girl can NOT be 2 already? Where has the time flown by? Hailey is the spunkiest, funniest, cuddliest kiddo I know. We are thankful everyday for her being a part of our lives.

Hailey is doing so well with her language skills right now. Her teachers are extremely impressed with how verbal she is and how well she is talking. Most people think she is older than she is because of how well she communicates. She is (and has been for some time) singing her ABC's, counting to 20 and learning letter sound correspondence. She loves to read and sit in laps as books are being read. She loves hide and go seek and making funny faces. She loves to get her pictures taken and say "CHEESSSSEEE!!" She loves, loves, loves her brother and sister and is often using every opportunity to play with them. She has hit a bit of terrible two tantrum throwing, but I really think that has a lot to do with nap taking and sleeping changes. She wants to go, go, go and would definitely stay up until midnight if we let her! (She takes after her big sister!)

She is a tough, tough girl and can usually hold her own with her "older" siblings. She doesn't get pushed around, that is for sure!! We just know that she is going to be such a tall girl with how much she is growing. She loves eggs, pancakes, french toast and will generally eat many things that we put in front of her.

Hailey, it goes without saying that we love, love, love every part of you. You are part of the sunshine that makes our day, everyday. We hope and pray many blessings for your life. Happy 2nd Birthday!

Giddey-Up! Rodeo Day at school

I'm becoming a believer in making my life easier and not pressuring the kids about the small stuff. Rodeo Day came around, I didn't really have outfits, but being the "crafty" mom that I am, I threw together some stuff without even having to buy ONE thing. But, lo and behold, Pete and Hailey just weren't having it. Hailey did wear the cute little cowgirl outfit that our friend Charlotte outgrew but refused to wear her cute boots. Pete refused all in all to wear anything. So, in my effort to be the mom that doesn't sweat the small stuff - I let them go as they wanted. Now Avery, that girl is a girly-girly mom's dream. She loved dressing up and posed all around for me!

Bathtime fun

My kids are a riot. They got some new bath playthings for Valentine's Day. I could hear bursts of laughter coming from the bathroom as Daddy Pete piled the colored bath foam onto our kids. The fact that Hailey let him pile this much on amazes me. Love that spunky attitude of that kid!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Mwahhhh!!! Here's a great big Valentine's kiss from our family to yours! In the first picture, our Valentine's pic, Avery and Pete are pretending to be T-Rex's and Hailey is quite perplexed. The kiddos had fun parties at school, handed out valentines and got all hyped up on sugar.

Zoo Mania

On Valentine's Day, Pete took off work and we took the kiddos to the zoo. It was a Monday, a bit overcast and by far, our best zoo experience yet. There was not ONE large school group, only a few other visitors and the animals were out and about! Best Valentine's Day yet!

And, yes, our kiddos were tiger growling at people passing by - we are so proud.

Ashley's getting married!!!

Wow!! It's hard to believe that the countdown to Ashley's wedding has begun! We gathered at a family friend's house to celebrate Ash's upcoming nuptials! They did a fantastic job of decorating, cooking, and just plain making everyone feel special! Thank you to Cecilia, Emily, and Heather!! (Fun fact: The Gooch family has been friends of our family since Ashley and Emily were three! Emily will be a bridesmaid for Ashley in April and Ashley will be Emily's bridesmaid in October!!)



Little Miss Avery was a fantastic guest at her first shower! So proud of my baby girl! She was so funny because everytime I would tell her Aunt Ashley was going to have a shower, it got a little confusing for her!! I finally just kept having to call it a party and promise that she would get some cake!

Lake house

Pete's parents took the plunge and bought a lake house at Lake Conroe. We were lucky enough to get to spend the weekend there and the kids just loved it! Going out on the boat was a lot of fun for them as they have never been on a boat before! Pete kept yelling "FASTER! Faster!" and all three kids were perched on the front of the boat (as Grandma and I held tightly onto them!) They enjoyed running around and checking everything out, as I'm sure we will have many happy memories there!

Country time visiting . . .

So reoccuring theme that will see over the next few months is: "We had a realtor showing so we had to get out of the house!" Luckily we have great family that is willing for us to come visit anytime. We took this oppurtunity to go out to the country with my parents. The kids got their share of four wheeler rides and tractor rides! This was the first time Papa had gotten the tractor out for the kids to experience. Not one of them was scared at all - pure country folk, right? This visit was a little chilly as we had just experienced a cold snap, but Saturday was absolutely gorgeous! The kiddos were even able to shed those big coats! My grandparents came over and they had so much fun swinging the kids! I think they might have gotten a little worn out (my grandparents not the kids!!)

Oh A-B-C, it's as easy as 1-2-3!

So one of the things I wanted to start working on this new year was "schooling" my kiddos. As a former teacher I know the value of kids who have received help at home. Now, my kids are only barely 3 but we're trying different activities to help them along. The Internet is so jammed full with amazing preschool ideas, often it is overwhelming.

Part of the reason I got so energetic about doing this was I became friends with one of the mommies in A & P's class. We started having play dates with the kids and decided instead of just playing we should incorporate some learning (don't you just love when former teachers get together!). So we've been doing a letter of the week, where we are each in charge of planning the activity or craft for the day around the letter we are studying. It has been great to get to use my teaching skills! Plus it makes you accountable when someone else is counting on you too! So much fun! We've made astronauts, bees and caterpillars so far! I'm so proud of A & P who know all of their letter sounds and can with about 90% accuracy tell you what letter most words start with! They amaze me everyday. Plus, little Hailey is doing so well too at letter sounds! Awesome!

Natural History Museum

One weekend we had to be out of our house for some realtor showings, so we decided to take our dinosaur loving kids to the museum. I really dislike going to huge places like this on the weekends, but we had to get out of the house, and it was raining so I thought "How crowded could it be?"

On a Sunday.
While it was raining.
And we parked in the parking garage that makes you come through the museum store on your way in.

Oh, it was crowded. And yes, my son threw a hissy fit for all the dinosaur toys as we walked through the store . But we still managed to have fun. I can't say it's my favorite thing that we have done in this great city of ours, but the kiddos seemed to enjoy.




Hopefully next time we come it won't be so crowded. And raining. And we'll remember to steer clear of the store with all the awesome dino toys. Hopefully.