One Year Old

Lily-

You turn one year old today! This time last year you came into this world and completed our family. You have been such a wonderful baby and I have had so much fun watching you grow and change over the past 12 months. While I am sad that this year is over, I am excited to watch as you turn into a toddler. Here are some things I want to remember about you as we celebrate your birthday today.
-You are still a big girl! You are wearing 18 month clothes and size 5 diapers. I think you weigh about 23 pounds and am anxious to see your stats at your checkup in a couple of weeks.
-You still have 6 teeth- 4 on top and 2 on bottom.
-You can say one word- "uh-oh". You say it anytime you drop something on the floor.
-You are still not walking and are showing few signs that you will be walking soon. You are perfectly happy to crawl wherever you need to go.
-You have become quite the climber this past month. You love to climb up on the fireplace, into your coupe car, and today at your birthday party, you climbed into the bounce house all on your own. You have no fear at this point in your life and I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing!
-You are very sensitive and get your feelings hurt very easily. Anytime you are upset, you lay flat on the floor and cry huge tears. You are going to have to toughen up if you are going to keep up with your brother and sister!
-You love to eat! I always love this stage of eating because you will pretty much eat anything I give you. You still like to be independent when you eat and are happy as long as I am not trying to feed you. You have learned to drink from a straw and one of your new favorites is drinkable yogurt. Now that you are one, I am anxious to see if you like eggs. Hopefully, you will continue to be a good eater as you get bigger.
- You adore your siblings and they adore you! You are happiest when you are playing with Parker and Eden. One of your favorite things to do right now is go with me to wake them up in the morning. You start smiling, waving, and "talking" as soon as I start opening their doors. My prayer is that you will always have a close relationship with them throughout your life.
-Your favorite toy right now is the coupe car. You can climb into it on your own but can only "drive" it backwards. You also love for Parker to take you on rides all around the house.
-You have learned how to take you diaper off by yourself which makes changing you diaper a challenge. By the time I reach for your pants, you have it off! This means that you must be wearing either pants or bloomers at all times!
-You are such a momma's girl right now. Although it can be a pain, I know it won't last forever so I am trying to enjoy it as much as possible. You love to give me hugs and kisses and one is never enough. When you give me a kiss, it's always followed by another. And another. And another!
-You love to be outside but don't like to crawl in the grass. You have a modified crawl that looks like a bear crawl that you use anytime you are outside.
You are so precious and I am constantly thanking God for your sweet, happy, easy-going personality. You have brought me so much joy this year and I feel so blessed to be your mommy. I pray that the upcoming year will be filled with many more wonderful milestones and memories.

I love you to the moon and back, Mommy

Happy 1st Birthday, Lily!!

Happy Birthday to our precious Lily!

What a wonderful year it has been!

You have been such a blessing to our family and we can't imagine life without you!

We hope you feel very special today!

Gerard Fall Festival

Tonight we went to the annual Gerard Fall Festival and were excited when Addison and Aubrey came into town and got to come with us. It was pretty crowded so we didn't spend a long time there, but the kids did enjoy getting to play some of the games. A few of the favorites were the duck pond, getting Halloween tattoos, and the soda pop walk, which Parker actually won!

Eden did not want to participate in most of the games and chose to watch instead. Lily was big enough this year to get to play a few of the games, like the pumpkin grab. We had a good night and made some fun memories as a family!

Midlothian Fall Festival

Saturday we drove over to Midlothian for their annual Fall Festival. Cory's clinic always sets up a booth and we thought the kids would enjoy some of the activities. The kids were starving when we got there and all three were crying by the time we walked to the clinic's booth. I thought we might have to turn right back around and head home. Luckily, some nachos fixed them right up and they were ready to head to the bounce houses. Parker and Eden both climbed into the bounce house with excitement. After a few minutes, I realized that I had seen Parker sliding down several times, but had not seen Eden at all. When I asked Parker where she was, he told me she had gotten scared at the top of the slide and would not come down.

Sure enough, when I looked up, there she sat, frozen in the corner of the bounce house. She would not come down no matter how hard I tried. I was by myself at this point because Cory was working in the booth. Lily was hanging out in the stroller and I did not want to leave her to climb up and get Eden. Finally, after at least 5 more minutes of trying to coax Eden down, I had to leave Lily in the care of one of the bounce house workers and climb all the way up to retrieve her.

We decided to spend the rest of our time in the bounce house without a slide and they both had a blast! I let Lily get down and cruise around the stroller while I watched the other two kids, which made her happy too!

On the way to the car, we passed by the horses and Parker asked to ride them. He enjoyed it for about three times around the circle and then decided he was ready to get off.
Eden had just gotten some candy so she passed up riding the horses to enjoy her sweet treat!
After Parker got off his horse, we let Lily go over and pet him. She thought it was very funny and giggled every time she touched him. Maybe next year she will be big enough to ride too.
We had a good time on Saturday but quickly realized that we are definitely NOT ready to take three kids to something as big as the state fair! I think we will stick to small town festivals for a few more years!

Happy Birthday Grandma and Papa!

October is a very busy month for our family because we celebrate 3 birthdays in 9 days. Last week was Grandma's birthday, today is Papa's, and Lily's is Saturday.

Grandma is out of town and we wanted Papa to feel special on his birthday so we invited him over for dinner, cake and ice cream last night. The kids enjoyed playing outside with Papa before dinner and couldn't wait to cut the cake after we ate. Even Lily got to enjoy a little piece of cake!

Happy Birthday Grandma and Papa! We love you and hope you both felt special on your birthdays!

Some Things Never Change

As the years have gone by, Parker has gotten older, taller, and more mature. But one thing never changes- he loves to pull the wagon at the pumpkin patch!

2008-18 months old

2009- 2 1/2 years old
2010- 3 1/2 years old
2011- 4 1/2 years old

Pumpkin Patch 2011

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch this afternoon. The weather was beautiful and the kids were perfect! We could not believe how well they cooperated for pictures, although I'm pretty sure the constant bribery of candy helped a little bit!! They all looked so cute in their new Halloween shirts (Thanks, Granna!) and they all had a fun time exploring through all of the pumpkins. Parker enjoyed picking out some pumpkins to buy this year and decided that since he was 4 years old, he needed 4 small pumpkins. Lily had a fun time at her first pumpkin patch and Eden...well, Eden was just Eden!! Overall, this year's outing was a huge success and we are so glad Addison, Aubrey and Ryan were able to come down and spend this fun day with us!