Christmas Eve Snow!

Yesterday it was 70 degrees, and today- snow in Waco! What a Christmas Eve surprise! We are all ready for Christmas, and we are celebrating in our own house this year!




(We'll head down to Houston after Christmas)

We had a Christmas lunch at Steve's work yesterday, and Santa paid a visit and brought the kids some presents. It was very nice. We also saw Santa at the bank's Christmas party, and Lindsey sat on his lap at the mall. I think he's well informed about what the kids want this year! Lauren wants a DS, and Jared is requesting a PS3 to replace his PS2 that was recently broken. Lindsey says, "da". We'll see what the Jolly Old Guy comes up with!
























The plan is to go to Mass tonight, and then we are invited to a little party at a friend's house. Of course we when get home, we'll listen to the "The Night Before Christmas" book that Mimi and Pa recorded for us, the kids will open a present (new jammies), and get nestled all snug in their beds!

Merry Christmas!!

Yum Thumb!

Lindsey loves that thumb! She took a break from it for awhile while she was learning to crawl and pull up on things. She also had some allergy problems, but now that she's able to breathe again, the thumb's plugged in! She is babbling a lot now, too. Lots of "da da da da" in every tone and inflection you can imagine. She's too cute! Everywhere we go, people comment on those "Big Beautiful Blue Eyes!" Oh, how we love our little Lindsey!!

New tricks!

Hi! I'm Lindsey, and I am two days shy of 7 months!

Look at me! I can clap my hands (as of yesterday!)
























I also have two new friends, called tooth #1 and tooth #2! I was not a happy camper when they arrived, but now I'm so happy to show them off!











I can also walk and ride a bike, now! Well...sort of...




































I can sit up in the bath just like my big sister...

































And I am about to figure out this crawling thing, and then I'll be into EVERYTHING!!























It's a good thing I'm so darn cute...

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween, we had Batman, Batgirl, and a cute lil' pumpkin!













Lauren loved getting the "guts" out of the pumpkin this year!
















Ta-da! Mr. Hot Head Jack-o-Lantern












Mr. Hot Head on his stand out front


















Batgirl in the front yard












Batman ready for action!

















Cute pumpkin! (And worst photoshop job ever! Where did Mommy go?? Haha!)

Fall

This fall has been a "flurry" of activity! Soccer and flag football season are finally coming to close (although the season was rather sparse since many of the practices and games were rained out this year). Jared is signed up for Upwards basketball next, while Lauren continues enjoying her dance class. I think we'll wait until next year to sign her up for basketball.

Lauren's class went on their first field trip to a Christmas tree farm. (I'm still not sure exactly what they did there, but Lauren was not very impressed- "It was boring!") Both kids have been doing "pumpkin math", and Lauren even got a job scaring crows in the school pumpkin patch. I love that her teacher takes all of these fun pictures, and they have a theme each week to go along with the letter they are studying. (Here is Lauren on "Minnie Mouse Day" for the letter M!)

Last weekend was Fall Fest at the kids' school. We all had a fun night! Jared especially enjoyed freezing to death in the dunking booth!





(More later...)

Orlando Magic- Pics soon

Steve's company had a booth at the NBAA convention in Orlando again, and wives were invited this year! Steve mentioned (while I was about 8 months pregnant) that his boss would be getting a couple of condos and everyone was planning to go. Needless to say, I was not sure I would be able to attend. I knew I would have a 6 month old, possibly still be breastfeeding, and I just wasn't sure how everything would work out. But...it did! After much planning, stress, preparation, stress, worry, and did I mention- STRESS???...the trip became a reality. We had a great time, and I am forever in debt to my mom and dad for watching the three kiddos!

My mom and dad drove up from Houston Friday night, and Steve and I caught a 7am flight Saturday morning out of Waco- through Houston- to Orlando. We picked up our rental car and grabbed a bite to eat at Maggiano's near the convention center. Then, we dropped our stuff at the condo and headed to the Magic Kingdom! (We were able to get 1/2 price tickets after 4pm- which was a pretty good deal!) We got there around 5pm and stayed until they closed at 11pm. We did some shopping and finally left the park around 12:30pm. A looong day, but we had a lot of fun! Disney was SO not what I had imagined! It was sooo much nicer, and easier, and...magical! I can't wait to bring the kids now!!

Sunday morning, we slept in and went to Denny's for breakfast. Ahh! I took a loong shower, and was able to enjoy eating my food as slowly as I wanted! Maybe a little vacation wasn't such a bad idea after all!! Around 3pm, the other couples arrived, and Steve and Mark went over to the convention center to get things in order. That evening, we all went to Downtown Disney and ate dinner at House of Blues (celebrating Randal's 60th birthday). After dinner, we walked around looking at all of the stores- Harley Davidson, Lego, T-Rex, Disney, etc... The weather was very chilly, and we got a cup of hot chocolate at Ghirardelli...mmmm!

Monday, we decided to spend the day at Epcot with two other couples from Steve's company. Steve and I did not enjoy it as much as the Magic Kingdom, but we still had a good time. Epcot had a few fun rides- like Test Track, and Soarin'- but the whole backside of the park was a representation of different "countries", which mostly consisted of places to shop or eat. We would have liked more rides and less "browsing", but I chalked it up to experience for when we plan our trip with the kids.

Tuesday, the convention started, and I was able to walk around for about 30 minutes before I had to get to the airport for my flight home. The show was enormous!! I got several freebies to bring home to the kids- pens, baseball caps, stuffed animals, tote bags... I think I could have spent two or three days there and still not gotten around to every booth. It was incredible!

The flight home was nice...glad to be back home and see the kids. Lindsey remembered who I was and is still happily breastfeeding!! Mimi and Pa stayed one more night and helped me get Jared and Lauren off to school Wednesday morning. Steve came back late Thursday night. Phew! Mission accomplished! So glad I went!

Lindsey at 6 months

I've been so busy, Lindsey is growing behind my back! I can't believe she will be 6 months in a couple of days! We had her baptized the day after Lauren's birthday- September 20th. She didn't mind the cold water on her head, and she did great! Mimi and Pa stood in for Lanette and Jacob Johnson as Godparents. Lanette made her an awesome photo book from the pictures I took at the baptism, and sent a cute cross for her room!



























Lindsey is now babbling a lot and has said "mama" and continues to say "dadadadadada"! She also does this combination squeal/gasp- like she is excited. She makes all kinds of noises- especially when she is tired. It's funny to hear her little voice! She uses different inflections and makes her voice loud and soft. I love it! She is also sitting up by herself now. Every now and then she'll take a dive forward, but she has pretty good control lately. Last week, she started getting up on her hands and knees, but hasn't figured out how to crawl yet. She can scoot all around and go backwards, but not forwards- yet. So I might be able to keep up with her for a few more weeks at least!

She has great control of her hands and is definitely a grabber! She'll go for anything that is close! She is very interested in looking at toys and anything else you are inclined to show her. When I feed her, she often puts her hands together in front of her face and will just study them for the longest time. Speaking of feeding, she is now getting baby food at lunch and dinner. She is not a fan of oatmeal...but will usually eat whatever else I offer her. Sometimes, when I am feeding her one thing, and then give her a bite of something different...she will pause and make a face and maybe grunt a little...like, "Ummm...not sure about that...that was different..." It's entertaining to watch! I usually hand her her own spoon to keep her busy, and she has gotten pretty good at holding it!

Another development, is that we have fallen into somewhat of a routine! She usually goes down at night around 8:30 or 9:00 pm and sleeps until 7:30 or 8 am! Then she'll eat, play for awhile, and then get fussy and ready for a nap about an hour and a half or two hours later. She wakes up again around lunchtime, and will be ready for another nap around 2 or 3pm. Her longest time to be awake is from about 4:30 until bedtime. She's still flexible...sometimes we'll be out and about if the other two have activities, and she pretty much goes with the flow. I guess she doesn't really have a choice!

The thing I love most right now is Lindsey's laugh! There's nothing that makes me happier than hearing that little giggle and seeing her big toothless grin! She loves to go "up in the air", or "fall down". She'll laugh when I pull her outfit off of her feet to change her diaper- (kind of dumping her out of it). She'll laugh if you tease her with a toy- giving it to her, and then pulling it away gently. She'll especially laugh at Jared and Lauren!!






Don't know where half a year went, but I hope the other half goes a little more slowly!!

Sweet Six: Earrings and Things

Don't know how it happened, but Lauren is now six years old!! She is such a girly girl, and has been wanting to get her ears pierced for a long time. I finally decided to let her make an informed decision about it. First, I showed her a picture of a friend's daughter getting her ears pierced. Then, we went to Claire's website and watched the video about how to take care of the ears after they are pierced. I told her that it might hurt a little, but then it would be over- and if she was willing to let me help her take care of them and really wanted them done, we could do it on her birthday when Mimi, Aunt Laura, and Aunt Leslie were here. So...after thinking about it for awhile, that's what she wanted to do!






Before-(purple dots where the earrings will go)

Saturday morning, she had soccer practice. Then, she took a bath and all of the girls went over to Claire's (except Lindsey who was napping). There was only one girl there, but we filled out the paperwork and Lauren picked out the earrings she wanted. We waited until the other girl got back from lunch- they each took an ear, and viola! Pierced ears! Lauren didn't make a sound! She hardly even flinched! She did fantastic!!


During

I was honestly a little surprised because she is usually very dramatic when it comes to any kind of injury or pain...no matter how small! (That's why I wanted to have two people pierce them at the same time.) But, she made us all very proud and was very excited about them! She must have wanted them pretty badly, because she is being very good about letting me clean them even though they are a little sore.



Pretty!








































Next, it was off to the birthday party at Got to Bead! This was one of the easiest and most fun parties we've ever had! The party room was super cute, and the girls each got to design their own bracelet with their name on it. It was so cute to watch them work. Some made a very symmetrical design, and others just grabbed a bunch of beads they thought were pretty. They had a fun time just talking and working. I thought all of the bracelets turned out great!



































Earrings from Mimi and a James Avery Charm from Mom and Dad (She gets one for every birthday. This year it's a schoolhouse since she just started Kindergarten .)