Proud Momma Moment

Yesterday Lauren actually made me cry while doing our bible lesson.  This doesn't happen very often...actually it has never happened.  I was just so proud of her that I couldn't contain myself.  I'll give you a little background so you will know just how special it was.  Even though Lauren has made a lot of progress over the years she is still a little behind.  While she has surprised us with her progress and hit milestones we never thought she would; her overall development is not where it should be.  I have been trying to encourage her to stay in the lines while coloring.  She is just now starting to develop some control over her pencil/crayon. 

On Tuesday we were doing a review of our bible lessons.  We were talking about creation and I had the girls draw pictures in order to help me re-tell the story.  I gave Kristen the harder pictures and pretty much was giving Lauren the pictures where scribbles would be acceptable. Here was our conversation prior to the picture drawing.

Me: So, in the beginning God said let there be light.  What do you think that looked like?
Lauren: Bright
Me: Can you draw me a picture of what you think the light looked like?
Lauren: Yeah, Yeah
Me: What color crayon do you think you should use?
Lauren: Orange (we did end up using a yellow one)
Me: Draw me a picture of the light God created

While I was talking to Kristen about what she would be drawing, I glanced over at Lauren and she was concentrating very hard and very slowly drawing a sun.  She has NEVER drew anything without help.  This was the first time and she was actually, all on her own, drawing the most beautiful little sun I have ever seen. Of course, Kristen then asked if I was going to cry because her earth was so pretty.  I said yes.  I was crying because both of them made such beautiful pictures.

Today I was really tired so my mind was not functioning as sharply as it usually does.  We were reviewing our creation memory verse and....well, here is how the conversation went.

Me: What was our verse about creation.  Genesis 1:1. God said
(I paused to let them complete it. Kristen was looking at me very confused.)
Me: Let there be
Kristen: Genesis 1:1 is In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth not God said, Let there be light.

She was right!  Another proud Momma moment.

Happy 1st Birthday Dallas

 

 

Dallas is ONE!  I cannot believe it.  He has blessed our family so much over the past year.  I can't believe he is almost walking, but that's what happens when they grow up.  He is in to everything!  I can't tell you how many times the DVD's have been taken off the shelf or how many times he has pulled himself up on the end table and stolen the remote.  I love his cute little smile, his scrunchy "I can't really be in trouble" face, his cute little hands and chubby little feet, his belly laugh...well, just about everything about him I love.  Except his fussing and crying, but even that is cute sometimes.  He is a Mommas boy and his Momma loves him very much.  While I wish he wouldn't grow so fast, I am looking forward to being able to see him accomplish many more firsts.  He is such a lovable little boy and I am so blessed that God chose me to be his mother.  Happy 1st Birthday Dallas!

Dual Birthday Party

This was the first year that I had to plan two birthday's in one.  It would have been easier if it were for two boys or two girls.  But why do easy? I didn't know if I should make one cake for both kids or separate cakes?  Do you do one theme that is unisex for both or their own separate themes?  If one is a pink theme and one is a blue theme what color table cloth to do you get?  Do you buy two packs of party hats and blowouts (one for each theme)?  That's a lot of party hats and blowouts! Anyways, you see my confusion. 

Well, everything worked out and things started coming together all at the last minute.  I made two cakes.  Both themes had blue in them so I went with a blue table cloth.  We only bought one pack of blowouts (for Kristen's theme), and one pack of party hats (for Dallas' theme).  At the end of the day the party was a success and we ended up with a lot of cake left over. 

 Kristen's princess birthday cake

 

Dallas' turtle birthday cake

 

 Kristen and her "dog". She has talked about this dog and kept asking if she would be getting it.

 

 



 Her Doc McStuffins doctor's kit.

 

 



 Dallas checking out his toy. 

 

 

Dallas playing with his new toy.

 

My 6 year old birthday girl.

 

Blowing out her princess candles.

 

"Why is everyone looking at me and singing? And why don't I have any clothes on?"

(Also the "before" picture)

And the "after".

He had green icing up his nose and in his ear.

Happy 6th Birthday Kristen

Wow...six years! I never knew six years could go by so quickly. It is very hard for me to believe that my baby is now a little girl. She has grown so much over the last year. I really do wish I could stop time. Kristen is such a sweet little girl with a big heart.  She loves to learn and still gets excited when it's "school time". She loves listening to music and dancing. She likes playing outside with Lauren and "planting her garden". She is such a big helper and keeps Dallas entertained when I am busy. She loves books and going to the library. She even makes her own books. Her favorite books right now are the GiGi, God's Little Princess books. Her favorite movie is Barbie, The Princess and the Popstar. Her favorite television show is Doc McStuffins. She loves fruit and yogurt and would eat them for every meal. Her favorite thing to wear is a dress, as long as it isn't itchy. Her favorite game to play is I Spy. Her favorite saying is "Well, that's awkward", even though she really has no idea what that means.   I am so very very very blessed that God chose me to be her mother. She makes me so proud.

Into Everything

This morning we did school super early since we have errands to run and a lunch date with my parents.  Dallas usually naps from 9:30 - 11:30 (during "school time").  This morning was a bit challening.  Once he ate is poptart he wanted to be down moving around and was quite a distraction.  He finally got quiet and entertained himself with making a mess. 

See what I mean? He is cute even when doing something he isn't supposed to be doing. It is very hard to punish this cute little man.

Captured Moments

I thought I would post a couple videos I took of Dallas. He is growing so much and is just so adorable. Everything he does is cute...even if he isn't supposed to be doing it. When he wakes up from his nap Kristen and Lauren will go in his room and entertain him if I am trying to finish up what I am doing. They can usually really get him going. The first video is one I took when he first got up from his nap one day.

So, I definitely have to write an intro to the next video.  My sister got a fiddle for Christmas.  She learned to play Mary Had a Little Lamb in a day so she could play it for us.  When she started to play we all took out ear plugs and put in our ears.  We put these big headphones on Dallas and it was really quite funny.  Well, we didn't keep them in our ears, but forgot to take the headphones off of Dallas.  So, this video is very short, but Dallas looks super cute in his little headphones....so I just had to post it.  My sister is on her way to a successful fiddle career.

Merry (Belated) Christmas

One of my many New Year resolutions was to do a better job at blogging...and I have already failed. I cannot believe it is 13 days into January and almost 3 weeks after Christmas and I still haven't posted anything about our Christmas. My daily life has been a little crazy these past few weeks and I am hoping to get everyone back on a schedule come Monday.

Christmas for us was celebrated over two weeks. A couple weekends before Christmas we celebrated with Paul's dad and step-mom. The girls were very excited to travel to North Carolina. Surprisingly, presents weren't on the top of their list though. They just couldn't wait to play with all of the toys in the playroom. We had such a great time with a wonderful dinner and it definitely got us all in the Christmas spririt.

Grandaddy with all of his grandkids



This year Christmas brought with it sickness. Dallas was getting over double ear infections (he still has one) and both Paul and I were feeling under the weather. Well, that is an understatement. I felt horrible on Christmas Eve. I had a sore throat, cough, sinus drainage...all the icky stuff that comes with a cold. We didn't get to celebrate with my extended family, but we did go to Paul's mom and step-dad's house. We had another yummy meal and got to open some presents.

Since I was sick and Paul was starting to get sick, we didn't go to my extended family Christmas Eve get together. We ended up having a quiet Christmas Eve at home. It was really nice. The girls got these little stuffed animals from Paul's mom that they were able to stuff and sew themselves. They were so excited to do them, so we came home and got in our pjs and let them put together their stuffed animals.

After the girls stuffed their animals, we ate our Christmas Eve dinner of hamburger helper and then watched the Polar Express (great movie). Before bed we opened the presents under the tree and let the kids play with their toys. Dallas loved Lauren's toys (he has a HUGE crush on Dora) and Lauren loved Dallas' toys.

Who knew a game where Doggie Doos could make a little girls so happy. This is what Kristen really wanted.

Lauren loves her some Dora..and so does Dallas. He wanted to look at her Dora stuff instead of opening his toys.

Dallas had no interest whatsoever in his toys. He just wanted to try to climb on them.


We then had to set out the cookies and key for Santa and the reindeer food and dust for the reindeer.

Then Santa came....

Our last holiday get together was a few days after Christmas. We celebrated with my mom and dad and sister and brother-in-law (plus my cousin and uncle were there too making it extra special). I was actually feeling better...Paul was feeling okay and Lauren was starting to not feel good at all. We were just passing our sickness around at this point. We had another wonderful meal and it was a great Christmas spent in our new home.