Home Sweet Home

We've been gone....in the last 9 days, three of those have been spent in our own beds. I like to go but I think I can speak for the kids, we missed home. The bright side to not spending much time at home is it is very clean. No toys out, anywhere! The only dirty clothes are the ones in the garage ready to be washed tomorrow. (maybe Tuesday)

It's tournament time...three weekends of softball=not much time with Daddy. Last weekend we went to Victoria/Cuero during the first tournament. Nana and Papaw kept Hadlee for the three days. The highlights of her time were eating a banana split from Dairy Queen, she only liked the strawberry topping and going clothes shopping with Nana. Thanks to Nana we are set with lots of clothes, new tennis shoes for the girls and swimsuits. I have a feeling the shopping trip was a little one sided because Hays had some throw-ins of stuff. Hays and Harper stayed with Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Kelly and Hannah so Mommy could have a Girl's Night Out on Saturday. They went out to eat, got to sleep in Hannah's room and then went to Sunday School with their favorite teacher.

I didn't take many pictures while we were in Victoria. Here are the girls putting on a show. We've been watching too much American Idol and the Olympics.

This weekend it was tournament time in Austin and Daddy let us come and stay with him! The kids had blast with their daddy, the coaches and the players, definitely something that they will remember. We watched four out of six softball games, rode on the bus, went swimming three times, enjoyed dinner with our daddy and the team and spent lots of time at the Austin Children's Museum. I think they did great this weekend...Mommy is tired...we've come a long way since three pack-n-plays and adjoining rooms with the grandparents.

Our Snow Fun

We made it back to Brenham just in time to enjoy the snow. The snow started falling in LaGrange and it definitely kept them entertained for the rest of the ride into Brenham.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day all you loved ones! We've had a mellow weekend, the kiddos are napping and I'm procrastinating from painting and laundry. After they wake up from their nap we're going to open up some presents and then go on a walk/bike ride somewhere....

After church Wade and I asked questions about love and what they love about certain loved ones. It started out great (like most things do) and then they started getting silly. I thought I'd share some of them. To all of our loved ones we miss you and wished we lived closer...

I love Daddy-
because he's special to me....Love, Hadlee
because he's nice to me I love him....Love, Hays
because he lets me go to the ballgames.....Love, Harper

I love Mommy-
because she give me hugs and kisses.....Love, Hadlee
because she's a lover...................Love, Hays
when I cry she gives me hugs............Love, Harper

Hadlee loves Hays because I just love him.
Harper loves Hadlee because she pushes me around on boxes.
Hays loves Hadlee because she is sweet.
Hays loves Harper because she is nice to me.
Hadlee loves Hannah because she lets her ride on the Barbie jeep.
Harper loves Papaw Wilson because when someone is a bad guy he shoots them.
Hays loves Aunt Cynthia because she's funny and makes silly faces.
Hadlee loves Nana because she gets me clothes.
Hays loves Aunt Melissa because she lets me have juice and water and dresses funny.
Harper loves Papa Berger because he takes me on rides to see the cows.
Hays loves Mema because she gives me kisses.
Harper loves Hannah because when I'm sad she cheers me up.
Hays loves Hannah because she lets me play at her house and with Raisin.

When's it going to be hot again?

Almost everyday one of the kids is asking me about the weather. Why does it get cold?, why does it rain?, when is it going to be summer?, why can't we play in rain when it's thundering?, when is the sun going to shine?........



McDonalds, we are loving you. The kids could play there forever. I had to get over my fear of sick kids...definitely like Chick-fil-A better.








Hays can fix it, we're becoming regulars at the Children's museum.







Joy and the kids, she let Mommy get a break while at the museum.






I can't believe your mom let you play with the mannequins at Old Navy (and she even took a picture of it)!




Hays finally got his turn to jump at the mall.

Hadlee got a second turn. No pics of Harper, she's waiting to jump when her Daddy goes with her.

Week in Review....

Valentine boxes for school were due this Thursday. I don't know what they tell them at school but Harper was bugging me to get shoe boxes for weeks. After school on Thursday Harper was going to make her box with or without my help. Harper is not a procrastinator like her mom, we had them finished last Thursday and at school on Friday. It was all about the glue and glitter, I helped by wrapping their boxes and cutting out their slots for mail but then let them take over. I tried to give my opinions....what does Mommy know about boxes.

It didn't take Harper long to figure out how to cut a heart.

Hays putting on some stickers that he picked out.

Hadlee cutting out some scrapbook paper to go on the bottom of her box.

Please just take our picture, we want to go and play!

Nap time is still so special.

I couldn't figure out what Hadlee was up to, this is where I found her. Not quite sure how she fit in or climbed into the sink.

Cooper with Harper and Hadlee. They are 4 months and Cooper weighs 16 1/2 pounds and Cannon is a full pound less. We laughed because Cooper looks almost as big as Harper.



Harper was waiting and waiting to feed the boys a bottle. When she finally got to feed Cannon, she lasted a couple of minutes. It's a little different feeding a real baby.






Mommy, please take a picture of me with Cannon.

Hays and his CRACKS!

We made an impromptu visit to Victoria on Saturday. The kids wanted to go to their Victoria church, thanks to their Aunt Cynthia for doing some neat things with them this year in Sunday School. I thought about getting an appointment with Cooper, Cannon and Hannah's pediatrician for Hays and his feet. We've been battling the cracks on his feet for two years and in the last year he has gotten eczema, which I seem to have gotten control of but the feet are still a big problem. Mema suggested that we try and get an appointment with the dermatologist and during church Hays had an 1:30 appt. on Monday.

Hays and I went to Dr. Aimone while Mema and the girls worked at church Monday afternoon. I planned on asking about these things that have popped up on Hays' chest last month during our visit but had no idea that they would become the focus of the visit. Hays' feet were examined then the focus of the appointment went to the bumps on his chest. They were a virus, Molluscum Contagiosum and are highly contagious especially in children. Poor Hays, had to get them cut off! He had one on his back, eight on his stomach and one on his leg. The tears started rolling and then the screams of PLEASE! NO MORE! MOMMY!... poor baby. He looked at me one time and said you said that I wasn't going to get any shots and this hurts worse. He settled fast and was back to his normal self with some pink gum and candy. There was an older man in the waiting area that told Hays that everyone waiting didn't want to have what Hays had done, then Hays told the man, it didn't hurt he was just pretending. Oh Hays, after reading up on MC, I sure hope this goes away soon.
Thank goodness it hasn't spread to the girls, I guess bathing them separately for the last six months has paid off for us with this new adventure. I can't decide if this or all the staph we dealt with Hadlee is worse.

He did give me some new help with the cracks. We were using way too much steroid cream on his feet. Hopefully we'll get the cracks healed with a new prescription and then just have to keep them dry and moisturized. He suggested changing his socks during the day. I have a hard enough time with handling socks X 3 a day, I can only imagine what socks X 5 is going to be like. I guess I'll just have to get a lounge chair for our laundry room or just buy new socks every couple of weeks.....or just have Hannah keep on being picky with her socks. Thanks to her we keep on getting new socks when we're in Victoria.

Ten Minutes.....

In the last ten minutes the kids have went from playing church, Harper getting married, and now it's American Idol time....

For all those times I heard your children will always have a play partner, so true and nice. Life on cruise control for Mommy .....LOVE IT!!



Harper waving after she got married, not sure if that's her baby or the "flower girl".

Hays and Harper playing with their dog. Hays in his tuxedo and Harper in a pink dress that she fell in love with at Costco. When we're shopping she never asks for anything (not like Hadlee or Hays) but begged me for this dress. It was only $15 and is very girlie.

Group picture after they figured out I was taking pics of them playing together.

Taking pictures after the wedding.

Cara, Ashley and Nick.........

Cara(Hadlee), Ashley(Harper) and Nick(Hays) have been around for a couple months now. These are their play names for each other and sometimes Mommy plays along with the crew.

Since Daddy has been gone more, I let them take a bath together. You would have thought they never got to bathe together, they were super excited and did great!

Softball practice started last week. We were up at the field every afternoon after naps. Cara and Ashley got to play together.

Nick played by himself and Mommy got to work on some projects.

We started "geocaching", which is the coolest thing!

We've done more shopping this year, Mommy has us going everywhere.

We get to go to the Children's Museum and then to all those not so fun places....Target, Gynbornee and TJAX as Nick calls it.

Matilda, the clown, made us the neatest balloon animals last week.

Naptime is almost over for today..... We started the new year with no naps and this is what happened. Poor Cara would fall asleep everyday and Ashley and Nick would keep on playing. Bedtime would roll around and Ashley and Nick were ready to go to sleep and Cara was staying up for another hour. I decided to go back to naps, even if they don't go bed until 10 p..m....