Say Cheese!

Last week I took Keaton to get professional photos done for his "2 year pics". I had JC Penny (blah!) do them when he was 6 months and then my personal photographer, Cara, took some of him when he was 8 months so I really wanted and needed to get new ones! So far I haven't seen all the proofs yet but the first 4 samples that she finished are posted if you'd like to see a little preview: Mindy Harmon

Mindy is so fantastic! She was so great with Keaton, playing with him and making him laugh! She also lets the kiddos take snack/juice breaks and stuff so they don't get bored. I highly recommend her if you are anywhere near the Houston area (she's based out of the Woodlands). If you do see her you have to tell her I sent you! =)

I had brought the cutest pair of converse shoes for him to wear with his overalls but I could NOT get those suckers on his fat feet!! I knew they were his size because I had tried on the high top converse in that size so I just assumed the slip on converse would fit the same but no! We tried for literally 15 min to get those shoes on him and after I finally got the right one on, the left just wouldn't cooperate so he went barefoot the whole time. Mindy was shocked that Keaton allowed us to work that long on his shoes without having a fit but I informed her that this kid LOVES shoes!! I think he wanted them on just as badly as we did!!

I'm so excited to see the rest of the pictures!! I do wish his hair was a little shorter but let's just say when I took him in to get it cut about a week before the pictures were taken it didn't go so well!! He was screaming his head off so much that you would have thought we were abusing him! The lady did a little snip here and there but she couldn't get much and I think we all had had enough! =) Why do kids hate getting their haircut? He did fine when he was really little, I don't get it!

I will leave you with the shots that Cara took of Keaton when he was 8 months. She did way better than JC Penny! The pics she took have always been some of my favorites of Mr. Keaton! I see a bright future for her in that industry if she wanted to pursue it!! =)

Haha, I just realized that Keaton is wearing the exact same Aggie jersey in these pictures that he's wearing in his 2 year pics!! Fits differently (obviously) but it worked for both ages! I think I need to invest in some new Aggie gear for him! Whoop!!!!! =)

Last Weekend of March

We had a fun, busy weekend!

On Friday Keaton left with Kyle's parents to spend the weekend at the ranch. I knew he would just have a blast because he LOVES being outside and I knew he'd get to ride around on the ranger and tractor (we all know "driving" is also one of his favorite things)! Kyle then left to go to the deer-lease so I was a "free" woman! I went to my best friend Jaimie's house and we talked for hours, ate delicious tacos (she puts garlic in her ground meat and its really yummy!), and then we watched Twilight! It was my first time to see it and although the book is of course better, I thought it was really good! I'm ready to watch it again Jaimie!! =)

Saturday I woke up at 6 to pee and realized I didn't have to get up with anyone or for anything that morning so I went back to sleep and woke up around 9:45 but didn't get up until 10. It was so nice and I honestly don't remember the last time I slept that late! After I got up I didn't know what to do with myself. Keaton and Kyle were out of town and both of my parents were at work so I was alone in the house! I didn't know whether I should go run errands or sit and do absolutely nothing. I chose absolutely nothing and just relaxed all day. I watched Sex and the City while I painted my nails and really enjoyed myself! Kyle came back that afternoon and we just snuggled for a couple hours on the couch which was fabulous because normally we have a little 2 year old jumping all over us!

That night I got ready and went to my beautiful friend Sarah's 27th birthday party. We all had dinner in Houston and it was just so great to catch up with her and see some other faces that I hadn't seen in a while! After dinner they all headed to a bar but since I'm prego I passed on that and met Kyle at our friend Brad's birthday party. Brad grew up with Kyle's older brother, Bryce, and was turning 30. Again there was a lot of faces that we hadn't seen since we had been gone so it was so nice to spend the evening visiting with old friends! Everyone kept saying how glad they were to have us back and we were so glad to be there!

Sunday was such a beautiful day and I couldn't wait for Keaton to get home!! They didn't arrive until about 7:20 but when I saw the car pull up I started running toward it and I could hear Keaton laughing from the truck. Once I opened the door he was cracking up and kicking his feet. He was so excited he didn't know what to do with himself. He started screaming, "Momeee!!" and then he saw Daddy coming down the driveway and started laughing even more and screaming, "Dadeeee!!!". It was the cutest thing and of course just made mine and Kyle's day!! We hung out in the backyard for a little while since dinner wasn't ready and Keaton showed off his T-ball skills. He actually did pretty good and it made me think of our future if he were to play on a little league team! =) Each time he hit it he would make a sound like he was in karate, "hi-yaaa!". Sometimes he would swing and swing and still miss it which was just as entertaining, hehe! =) I hope yall had a great weekend too!

Birthday Season!

We have had 3 birthday parties since Saturday (including Keaton's) and he has loved every second of it! Jumping is his favorite thing and moonwalks were involved in all the parties!

Saturday after I finished the cake we headed to Keaton's (second?) cousins birthday party. Cori was turning one and was just the most adorable birthday girl ever! Keaton played inside for the first hour but once he saw the moonwalk it was over and he was in there until we left! =) Jami (Cori's mom and Kyle's cousin) is the only one of her sisters that's not pregnant right now. Melissa is due in July, I'm due in Sept, and the youngest of them, Kristen, is due in October! So fun!! Our Christmas next year is going to be babies galore!! We're jumping from 4 kids in the fam to 7!!

Then Sunday was Mr. Keaton's big day! I couldn't have asked for better weather! The sun was shining and it was a beautiful warm day (but not too hot that you're miserable)! I decorated my parents porch with Lighting McQueen balloons, table clothes, hanging things and of course the plates, napkins, etc. We had a monster truck moonwalk that Keaton pretty much stayed in the entire day. It was so great to see all our friends and family and celebrate my little baby's birthday together!

Happy Birthday to You!!!

He wouldn't put this firetruck down!

Another one of his favorite new toys! Now he's just like Daddy! =)

After the party we just hung out in the backyard and let him play with all his new toys. He was soooo tired but just kept playing. When they came to take down the moonwalk he was so sad. He kept pointing at it saying, "Jump, Jump!!" At 6:35 we gave him big kisses because that was his exact two year birthday! We just love this little guy and can't imagine our lives without him. I'm so excited that we're having another one! It's so hard to imagine another baby in our family but I know once it's here I'll never be able to imagine life without it!

6:35 kisses

We love you more than you'll ever know Mr. Keaton!!!

The party festivities continued yesterday when we went to Inflatable Zone for Logan's 3rd birthday! The kids jumped like crazy and had a blast! I've never seen Keaton sweat so much! Afterwards we went back to their house for chicken nuggets and cake. It's so neat to see Keaton playing with the kids of the same friends that Kyle and I grew up with! We're having a blast! =)

Just Call Me Martha...

Martha Stewart that is! OK so I'm very far from that title but I am very proud of the job I did on Keaton's birthday cake! I had some set backs and really thought it wasn't going to turn out but it ended up looking exactly how I had imagined it and everyone, including myself, was pretty impressed!

I started baking it on Friday afternoon. I baked part of it in the cars pan and the other part as a regular sheet cake. Once they were finished the car was too long to fit on top of the sheet cake so I decided to bake another sheet cake (a white one this time) and I'd just fill in the rest of the serving pan I had with the white cake. So an hour later my cake looked like this...

After I took it out I was stressing that the Lighting McQueen lines didn't all come out and was going to go buy another cake mix to try again but my mom and hubby insisted it would turn out the same, I would just have to draw it in with a toothpick and do my best. This is when I started thinking this cake was going to turn out to be crap because I can't draw at all!

That thought was put on hold and I then left to go have dinner with some of my girlfriends that I hadn't seen in way too long! Cara was in town so it was so great to see her and catch up with everybody!! Besides my date (Mr. Keaton) being a little difficult at times we all had a great dinner together but of course it was just too short!

Once I got back home I decided to do the checkered flag first and then the car. I have never decorated anything with these bags and they were a mess! I was cussing at them and used way more than I was told I would use because they kept ripping but I was still getting the job done which is all that mattered, right?!!

I was really excited to have the flag finished and I liked how it looked so my hopes were rising that maybe this cake wouldn't turn out so bad after all!

I know I'm a dork, hehe! Can you tell I was excited! =)

I was done for the night but when I went to cover it nothing worked! I was going to use toothpicks to hold up the saran wrap but it made me really nervous getting saran wrap anywhere close to my icing job! So my mom and I headed up to Wal Mart around 10 and after we looked all over creation with no luck I saw a cleaning lady behind the bakery counter. My mom said that she had already seen her and asked her if they just sell lids and she said no so I decided to tell her a little white lie. I told her I had been given the wrong size lid earlier (as I showed her the lid that had come with the pan the cake was in, it was just not deep enough) and asked her if there were any deeper lids back there. She found one for me and saved me $9 because I almost bought these ugly cupcakes just for the lid. I went home, put it in the fridge, the lid worked great and off to bed I went! I couldn't sleep very well because I couldn't stop thinking about the cake and all that I still had to do for his party!

Once I got up Saturday I started right away doing everything in the exact order that the directions told me to and everything seemed to turn out the way the directions said it would, miraculous! =) My mom suggested I use Ziploc bags instead of those messy icing bags I was using and that worked much better! I was clean and getting the hang of this icing business!

And the finished product...(drum roll please)....

Keaton was thrilled when I showed him! He just loved it!! It was well worth all the hard work for that little guy!

His party was a huge success and so much fun, I'll be posting lots of pictures and details on that later this week! It was such a busy weekend! I hope yall had a great one too!!

My Lil' Boy

I had to go buy Keaton some shorts and sandals because all he had was jeans and boots which just wasn't appropriate for this warm weather! He LOVES his sandals! I'm not kidding when I tell you he wont let us take them off! He's slept in them for the last two nights. Now I know I'm the parent and if I really cared about it that much I would make him take them off but really what does it hurt? Once you have kids you learn you have to pick your battles and if the boy wants to sleep in his shoes that's fine with me! =) He did take them off today for a while because after we left from our delicious lunch at The Cheesecake Factory he spotted a fountain outside that he wanted to sit by and splash his feet in. He kept trying to turn and submerge his whole body in the water but momma wouldn't let that happen, it's not that hot yet and the water is gross! =)

I can't believe my baby turns 2 years old this Sunday!! I've been preparing all week for his birthday party and I'm so excited!!! Last year we had been living in CO for just about a month when he turned one and we really missed being able to share that day with all our family so I'm really excited that everyone gets to be there this year! The theme is of course CARS and I have never done this before but for some reason I've got a "wild hair" and have decided to decorate his cake on my own. I bought a Lightening McQueen cake pan and I plan on decorating it tomorrow with the help of my mom! She used to do them for us when we were little and although she hasn't done one in about 20 or more years I'm hoping she remembers the basics! I figure if I do it tomorrow I'll have time to go buy a cake if mine turns out a disaster because the party isn't until Sunday. =) Wish me luck and I'll be sure to post pictures of my masterpiece, good or bad!!

Pregnancy Update and Our Weekend

I am 2 days into my 13th week, which means that I'm a full 12 weeks prego and have started my 2nd trimester!!! So exciting!



Here's the latest developments:

1. The baby is now the size of a lime.
2. Reflexes are developing and he/she can open and close fists, curl its toes, make sucking movements with its mouth, and if I push on my belly the baby will squirm and move in response. I can't feel it yet, but its great to visualize!
3. The kidneys will begin excreting urine into the bladder.
4. Already has pretty much every structure, organ and system needed for life by this point. Everything will continue to develop and mature, but he/she is a perfect little miniature human being. =)
   

Kyle's insurance with his new job doesn't kick in until he's worked for them for a month so in the meantime we have COBRA for emergencies but otherwise we didn't want to schedule our next appointment until his insurance kicks in so it's cheaper (ALOT cheaper)! My appointments used to be every 4 weeks around the 11th of every month but now I don't have one until April 20th and I'll be 17 weeks! My last visit was when I was 11 weeks so that's a big stretch! Oh well, it will be here before we know it! =)

Everything else is going great! I went to New Orleans this weekend with my mom, sister Amie, and niece Taylor for her cheer competition. I've never been able to go watch her compete so I was one proud aunt!! I don't know if it was pregnancy hormones or if I would have cried anyway but I was a mess! I was just so proud of her because she really did so good! They hit every stunt and she really rocked out on the dance portion of the routine! I was just beaming, screaming, and I shook my noise making tambourine so hard that the little metal pieces that make the noise starting flying everywhere...OOPS! They ended up getting a VERY well deserved 1st place trophy! I forgot my camera which really pissed me off because I ALWAYS have my camera but hopefully I can get some pics/video from them and post them on here! It brought back so many memories of cheering and dancing and how much I miss it! I would have loved to have jumped up there and joined them! I think I'll have Taylor teach me the routine for fun! =) hehe!

Another thing that made me cry was a "special needs" cheer team that performed there. They weren't judged, they were just there to preform and it was so cute! They did their cheer, cartwheels and stunts and they all had smiles just plastered to their faces! Afterwards they got a standing ovation and I of course just lost it and was boo hooing again! One of the girls would go to the end of the stage and wave her arms up and stick her hand to her ear as if to say, "I can' t hear you!" and then everyone would yell louder. It was just adorable and you could tell they were so proud of themselves. What a great thing for those kids to have!

While I was gone Keaton enjoyed the weekend with his daddy at Snow and DeeDee's house. They all had a blast and Kyle's parents enjoyed every second of having Mr. Keaton around! I missed Keaton a lot this weekend but I got 2 messages on my phone from him that sounded something like this, " Mommeee. miss. love. bless. bye!" hehe! Translated that means, I miss you, I love you, God bless you, bye! =) Sentences just aren't his thing yet!

He is just loving being outside! See at our house in CO our front yard was mainly gravel and it was all slanted since we lived on a mountain. We did have one part of the yard that was flat but it didn't have nice green grass on it and it was surrounded by rocks and steep sides so he was never allowed to just run all over the place. Here we can go in the backyard and he just runs wherever he wants because it's all flat, soft grass that's fenced in. Yesterday he was just running all around the yard yelling, " grass, grass, grass!" Haha! He just loves it! Hope yall had a great weekend!

Home Sweet Home

There's no place like home.

There's no place like home.

There's no place like home.

We're Baaaaaaack!!! YIPEE!! Can you tell I am just thrilled!?!! I have never been more excited for heat and humidity in my life! I'm in love with my home town and state so much right now! Everything happened so fast with the move! We got everything packed and cleaned so quickly that we decided to leave on Friday. We didn't announce anything because we wanted to surprise some of our family. We left that morning and drove through Amarillo and stopped at a hotel for the night. I felt sooo excited to arrive in Texas even though we were still many hours from home!It took Keaton a while to fall asleep because he was jumping all over the place after being in the car for so long but he finally did and slept great...

Saturday we got up and started on the rest of the long drive. We stopped in College Station (our home away from home, whoop!) for yummy Freebirds (the BEST burrito place ever!) and then we finished the trip around 4:00. I grabbed Keaton and we snuck in the backdoor of my parents house. My mom had her back to us and when she turned around she just screamed! They were so thrilled and although Keaton was scared from the scream he was still smiling and laughing! My sister, 2 brother in laws, niece and 2 nephews then came over and my sister didn't know we would be in town either. When they pulled on our street Keaton started waving and she practically jumped out of the car as it was still moving! We spent the evening on the back porch letting the kids play while we had some drinks (sparkling wine for me!) and just visited. It's so great to see our boys playing together. Keaton just adores his cousin Breyton who is 5 and they just hugged and hugged and Keaton had the biggest smile on his face! It was also so nice to visit with my niece (who is now almost 17!) in person and just hear what she's been up to and remember those High School days! =)

Sunday night Kyle's parents got in town from the Ranch and when they pulled in the driveway we were standing there waving. His dad was in on it but his mom had no clue and was just thrilled! Monday night we barbecued and spent the evening on the porch again with both of our parents visiting and laughing at Keaton as he entertained us!

Since then we've been busy running errands, unpacking and getting settled in and just hanging out with our family! I must say I am the happiest I've been in so long! Unless we were going camping or skiing, my days in CO were just pretty boring and living so far from everything was getting to me. I love having my family and friends close by now, there's just nothing like it! Keaton has all these people that love him so much here and I'm thrilled that they get to see him whenever they want now! I also love the flat grass and I can just let Keaton play all around the yard and not have to worry about bears, mountain lions, him falling into a ditch of rocks, or slipping on ice! We were stuck inside so many days because of snow that I was racking my brain with ideas to keep him busy. Sadly he watched more TV than he should and every morning he wanted to watch A Bugs Life or Bee Movie. Since we've been here he hasn't watched ANYTHING and I love it! We've just been playing outside all the time and it's great!

He was waving to Mommy before he slid down! =)

The weather has just been beautiful!! It's nice and sunny and warm! I swear the "cool" days here are like the hottest days I ever had in CO. I'm just loving the sun and can't wait to take Keaton swimming in an OUTSIDE pool everyday this summer! =) I keep looking at Kyle with a huge smile on my face and say, "I'm just so happy!" It feels great to be home!!

Pregnant and Packing

Well we have been very busy packing, organizing, and cleaning the house! There's really not that much left to do! I actually didn't mind all the hard work because I'm so excited to be moving that it doesn't really feel like work! Plus it feels great to organize and get rid of all the crap you never wear or use! I took Keaton to McDonald's to let out some energy because the poor kid has been entertaining himself inside while we scurry around doing stuff. He's been obsessed with the movie, A Bugs Life, which he calls "Bugs" and every morning he wants to watch it! I feel guilty so was really wanting to get him out of the house.

I LOVE that last one! You can tell he had a BLAST! He was wearing windpants so those really helped him move quickly down the slide and he cracked up each time... made my day! =)

We went to the doctor this week and everything looks great! She wasn't sure if we'd be able to hear the heartbeat or not but she put the stick on my belly, moved it around and there it was, this quick beautiful sound of our baby's heart beating!! The heart rate was 170 and rumor has it that boys HR is quicker than girls! Only time will tell, hehe!

I thought my energy was somewhat coming back but after all the work we've been doing I'm more exhausted than ever! I've also been feeling even more blah than before! Last night after dinner I really thought I was going to puke and had to just go to sleep. I don't know if it's just this pregnancy is so different than my first or if it's the progesterone I'm still taking but I'm so ready for this upset stomach business to be over!! Although it's so worth it! =)