She's 3!!!

I cannot believe our baby girl is 3!  I know I say that every birthday, but oh my gosh, where is my baby!?!  This girl is everything I'd expect a little girl to be and even more! 

 

She is sweet and has a big heart for all people, animals, and babies.  She is sassy and knows what she wants!  She is tough, I think this is partially from being the 3rd child, but the girl can hang with her brothers without a problem.  She is a princess and loves everything princess.  She loves to dress up and look pretty!  Arts and crafts is one of her favorite activities!

 

This year has brought so many changes.  A year ago she was talking some, but this year her vocabulary grew a million times, and her conversation skills took off!  It was amazing to watch her grasp onto language and conversation so quickly.  I love the talks we have and the things she says to me.  The girl does not forget anything, so that is always interesting, too.  This year she also potty trained, which was easier than I expected when we started, and she has done really well with it.  I still think it is weird to not have someone in diapers, my purse feels so empty without the diapers.  Hannah started gymnastics in August and her love for it grows every week!  She wakes up daily and asks me two questions..."What are we doing today?"  and "Is today gymnastics?"  She gets very upset when it's not a gymnastics day, she wants to go every day!  Her coach and the other coaches in the gym have been impressed by her love and excitement for the sport and her strength/ability have also caught their attention.  Who knows where this will lead, but right now I know that gymnastics has her heart.  I love watching her as she does her thing, her joy is contagious, and her focus during her time on the apparatus is impressive to me!  This year Hannah has learned to ride her bike with training wheels, and she is asking to take off the training wheels.  She's not ready for that yet, but she is getting faster and more controlled everyday!  The girl has never met a stranger...she talks to everyone we see, everywhere we go.  She cannot wait to start school like her brothers, she has already made friends with many of the teachers at Luke's school, and can't wait to start there herself.  She enjoys Sunday school very much!  She doesn't hesitate to go in the room, and honestly can't wait to go once we tell her we are doing that.  This past week she moved up to the 3 year old class, and she literally ran into the room straight to one of the teachers, she grabbed his leg and looked up to him with a big smile.  She didn't even say good bye to us, she was just so excited!  Afterward she had so much to tell us because it was so different than her previous class.  She got to go to big group lesson and worship and I could tell she enjoyed that.  She understood what was taught and was able to tell us so much about it!  It was pretty funny actually because Luke was in the same lesson, but he never tells us anything.  Once she started to tell us he jumped in and said things, too.  We laughed about the fact that we will now know what Luke is learning in SS lessons because Hannah will tell us.  The church gave her a bible for her birthday and she was thrilled!  She walked around all evening talking about "My very own bible!"  It was precious to see her reading it to herself.

 

Our Hannah is amazing, and we are so thankful for everything she brings to our family.  I can't wait to see her grow and see how the Lord uses her life.

 

 

Eating lunch with daddy shortly after she turned 2!

 

This girl has a special place in her daddy's heart...and around his finger.

 

 

Gymnastics...her life.

 

Our princess...she dresses up every chance she gets...and a princess dress is not complete without the crown and shoes.

 

Don't be mistaken, she is a princess, but also very much a tomboy who loves to "drive" and the faster the better!

 

Where did she learn to pose for pictures!?!

 

Her birthday party!

 

We are very proud of our princess...my prayer is that she never loses her passion, her tenderness, that she always puts all of her into all she does, and that she learns to love Jesus more deeply as she grows.

Winter 2015

This winter was our first REAL winter.  When we moved here in July we told the kids that we might see snow in the winter, but prepared them that it was a small chance, but bigger than Houston.  We were trying to get them excited about the move and thought that would help.  Never in a million years did I expect to have snow like we had this winter!  It was cold, it was beautiful, it was annoying, and it was fun!

 

 

 

This was the first snow, which was pretty icy, but still good snow for this south Texas family.

 

 

We had a lot of fun!

 

Their first snow man!

 

A few days later we got real snow!  It started light around 8:00 am and it kept falling all day!

 

I ended up getting pretty nervous about the roads, so I picked the boys up from school at about 10:00.  The roads were already getting slick, and I did not like driving on them!  Carl went to Fort Worth that morning and the drive home that normally takes 45 minutes took him 4 hours!  It was rough, but I was just thankful he made it safely.

 

Hannah thought the umbrella would help her stay warmer.

 

 

It kept snowing all day, so we went out multiple times that day to play in it.

 

SNOW ANGELS!

 

Once daddy got home we had to go out with him, too!

 

SNOWBALL FIGHT!

 

We ended up with about 6 inches of snow that day...real soft fluffy snow!

 

Then on March 5 we had ANOTHER snow day!

It started snowing around 11 pm on March 4, so we went to bed thinking we might have some snow on the ground, but we woke up to almost 6 inches!  This was the beautiful soft snow, too!

 

Tex enjoyed eating the snow, running in the snow, and wrestling with daddy in the snow.

 

Family TV time while trying to get warm after playing outside.

 

 

We had so much fun this winter, out little winter wonderland was beautiful!  I'm thankful for the blessing of this winter, it was a sweet time with the kids.  I will never forget their squeals of delight as they saw it falling, the laughs we had while playing, and the cute snow man we built.

Our first fracture...

January 28 was a beautiful day here in Texas.  The sun was shining, it was pretty warm, for January, so after school we decided to ride our bikes to the park.  We played for a while and were having a great time, the kids were sliding, climbing, and of course Isaac was going across the monkey bars over and over.  He loves the monkey bars, he is our monkey.

 

Just as we were getting close to leaving Isaac was starting another try on the monkey bars.  He stood on the tall platform, grabbed the first bar, and reached out for the second, but accidentally let go of the first one too soon.  He fell to the ground landing flat on his stomach, face planted in the mulch, arm bent trying to catch himself.  He has never had such a hard fall, it knocked the wind out of him, which really scared him.  I was right there helping Hannah, so I quickly scooped him up, he just said "I can't, I can't, put me on the bench."  Poor guy had to catch his breath.  He was covered in mulch, and looked terrible.

 

 

He laid on the bench like this for a while, and once he caught his breath he complained mostly about his arm/wrist.  I let him lay for a while, and the others continued playing.  Luke and Hannah were worried about him, they came over multiple times to check on him and Luke kissed his head many times.  So sweet.

 

After some time I decided we had to get home, problem was we rode our bikes there, and Isaac was still hurting pretty badly.  I didn't have another choice, we had to bike home (Carl was out of town, so there was nobody that could come pick us up).  With some encouragement, I finally got Isaac on his bike, but he was not happy about it.  He didn't hold the handle bar with his right hand, he just held it limp.  It was really sad and pathetic, I hate seeing my kids in pain.

 

He continued to complain about his arm for a few days, but it didn't swell or bruise.  It's hard to know sometimes how much is real and how much is exaggerated.  But on Friday and again on Sunday, he screamed and immediately began crying when we held his arm near his wrist.  We decided that we needed to get it checked.

 

After a doctor check and some x-rays, it was determined he had a buckle fracture in his forearm, just above his wrist.  He has to wear the splint for 3 weeks.  It was a sad day, but also a little fun for him because he was kind of excited about his splint.  The sweetest moment of this experience was right after the dr put the splint on Isaac.  As soon as she finished Luke climbed up next to Isaac, he gently took Isaac's arm, and sweetly kissed it.  Then he sat next to him holding his arm.  My mama heart melted, I love those tender moments shared between my kids.

 

I'm so proud of his determination and hard work...he has taught himself how to write with his left hand!  Before this I would have told you that he could never write with his left hand, his right hand is very much his dominant hand.  He has proved us all wrong!  He is doing great compensating for his injured right hand; he writes, eats, and does everything with his left hand.

 

He was scheduled for a follow up on Monday, Feb. 23, but the city is covered in ice/snow!  So now he is scheduled to get it checked on Wednesday...he is so ready to get it checked and get his splint off!

1st Camping Trip

 

This past December we decided that we wanted to get a camper for our family.  It's something we've talked about for years and knew that we would one day get one, but after some talking we decided that this was the perfect time in our lives.  We figured life will only get busier as the kids get older and get more involved in different activities, so let's do it now.

 

We had a beautiful weekend in January when the weather warmed up a little bit, so we called up some friends, booked a campsite, and ventured out.  We only went 10 minutes from home, but the campground was beautiful!  It was Pilot Knoll campground on Lake Lewisville, it was a perfect place to try out the new camper and learn the ropes a little bit.

 

Our sites were beautiful; we were right on the lake with a little bit of grassy area to play as well.

 

Our friends brought some kites, so when the wind picked up we quickly grabbed those kites and let them fly.

We also did some fishing, biking, and hiking.

 

The biggest loving on the littlest.

 

Hey cutie!

 

Roasting marshmallows was so fun!  Hannah could not wait for this part of the day, but then she took her first taste and got sticky goo on her fingers and she was done with marshmallows.  Heehee, silly girl!

 

This boy loved his first camping trip as much as the rest of us!

 

The kids thoroughly enjoy their bunk beds.

 

Fishing with my girl.

 

Even daddy snuck in a few minutes of fishing.

 

Isaac fell in love with our friends dog...he would have taken her home if he could.  I don't blame him, she's beautiful and so sweet.

 

The first camping was a definite success!  We learned a few things, we had a blast, and we started the countdown until the next trip!