Hadley turns 2 & Ascher catches 1st fish!

Halloween weekend was not just to celebrate Halloween. We also celebrated our niece turning TWO! She had a horse theme party and it was super cute. We got up after our exciting Halloween night and got ready for the party which was a breakfast (Jessica has always done breakfast parties- I think I'm gonna make Brynn's party a breakfast brunch as well). We had fun catching up with Roys family and their friends. 

After the party & naps, the kids rode in Hadleys new powerwheel and then the dads took the kids fishing. Ascher caught his first fish. He wasn't too sure about touching it and thought it was gross. He finally touched one of them. I think they ended up catching 3-4 fish while out there. It was so cute. And I don't know who had more fun...Ascher or Justin. The pride was just beaming off his face! 

Dad & Jessica were dancing to the radio.

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend we normally travel to Bandera, Texas for the rodeo!! It is something that we don't even discuss its just known that we are going. Granted- Justin has been a lot more than I have but we have gone every year we could. It is so much fun. Before we left though- we had some visitors on Thursday night. My cousin, Vanessa who lives in Louisiana and her hubby and 2 babies. Ty is less than 24 hours older than Ascher and Lucy is 3 months old. Bracy, her husband is about to be deployed again so they were driving thru Houston on their way to a little getaway before he leaves. I am so glad they stopped by and spent the night. 

After they left, Daniel & Megan came to pick us up. Mom was keeping Ascher so we had a baby free weekend (other than the one in my tummy) We stay at Daniel's grandma's house and we all call her Grandma. If I say "Grandma" even when we aren't in Bandera everyone knows who I am talking about. We drove up Friday and hung out. Grandma makes tacos (they are her famous tacos) and we headed to the rodeo. I love the Bandera rodeo. It is authentic rodeo. Not like Houston-- Before we left we took some pictures...of course : ) 

Saturday morning we got up and went to the parade but it was rainy so it wasnt as exciting as usual. We went and walked around the craft fair and I got Brynn 3 metal roses for her nursery that are super cute. After the parade we all went back to the house and took a nap after stuffing our faces with the "best burger in Bandera" for lunch. After our naps we got ready and went back to the rodeo for the final night. We sat in our box seats and had fresh squeezed lemonade and ate fried oreos and funnel cake. It was glorious. 

Another successful trip to Bandera for the rodeo!! Can't wait for next year! 

Month of May: Part II

I am determined to get caught up and if that means you get photo dumps for the month of May and June then so be it but I will be caught up. My computer died...like gone for good. Thankfully I got all my pictures off before it went to computer heaven. However, now blogging about them without them on the computer has proven difficult because I have to have the giant external hard drive plugged in and with a newborn & two year old I haven't had time to pull it all out. I would probably blog more once I catch up but am constantly saying I can't blog until I've caught up. Soo I've got 15 minutes before little miss wants to eat. We will see how far in part II of May I get....

I left off with our nephew being born the Saturday before Mothers Day.

Mothers Day we went to Kingwood and then I stayed the week. I'll do separate post on Mothers Day & week with Vicki. Back to random picture/updates from May

Doctor appointment...

Culvers deliciousness during my trip to Kingwood (separate post coming)

 I mean these two kill me. I love it.

Chowing down. These are the moments I love. A normal May afternoon sitting at the table eating some lunch hanging out with mom.

 This particular day at the park Ascher went down the big boy slide. He went over and over again. He was so brave. I was so nervous every time he went to the top because right next to the slide is an open ladder down. Not the smartest planning. I was so worried that he would decide he wanted to try the ladder- thankfully he just slid over and over again.

 These things are fabulous. Every night we ask, what color bath do you want to take tonight? He LOVES it.

 My little baby maybe growing up and getting big but he still is a little boy to me. And he still falls asleep in his carseat.

My guilty pleasure. We don't have one where we live. However, there is one by my sister in laws house and one in College Station so anytime I go to either place I must get one. ADDICTED.


For Memorial Day we went to Bandera (whole post on it to come as well). The end of May was just some more every day fun.

 little girl growing.

 Ascher trying out sisters bouncer- we worked in the nursery a lot and unpacked and washed a lot of baby stuff. Ascher loved trying it all out.

 Ascher sure knows how to play hard. This was after a play date with Kallee & Rachel at Chickfila. He passed out on way home. I moved him to bed and changed his diaper without waking him up. He was OUT.

 Pip is totally sensing the baby coming. He is acting so different. I love this photo of him. He insisted on laying with me on the bed like this. Love my first born, Pippy Poo!

 Trying out our new double stroller as a single stroller. He thought he was cool stuff and I must admit. He is quite a stud.

 We made slime with Metamucil. Ascher loved it but it didnt turn out the way I imagined. I think I'll stick to purchasing it from now on.

 King of the yard.

Little boys in the dirt. He adores being outside. He would stay outside all day- every day if I would let him. Even when its raining he asks to go outside and watch it. I love that he loves being outside.

So our month of May was crazy!! We did all kinds of things...the zoo, errands, doctor appointments, visits from long time friends (Vicki came to Kingwood- separate post), Tyler for baby shower (separate post), park & play dates, Bandera, dinner with friends and just living the good life. Life is good and we are blessed.

Strawberry Picking

Last Thursday Ascher and I sat out for Blessington Farms to pick strawberries with our friend Colleen and her kids, Ava & Will. We started our morning at Shipleys (Aschers favorite) where he counted sprinkles & told me the color of ever sprinkle he ate. I just love spending time together like that. The little moments.

After breakfast we met up with Colleen at the farm. We started picking immediately.

However, before long Ascher realized that in between all the rows of strawberries was all sorts of ROCKS. Ascher LOVES rocks. So I lost him quickly to the rock hunt. He kept trying to put his rocks into my strawberry basket. Had to cut that out real quick since they weigh your strawberries at the end.

I got him back on track by letting him cut (with my help) the strawberries off the vine and then he really wanted to eat them. I let him try one or two. ; )

But before long I lost him again to the rocks & stream. I gave up at this point...just let him play.

After we had filled our buckets with strawberries we walked over to the play area. Ava & Ascher played in the giant sand pile. Ascher was in heaven. It was sand with tons of different size tractors/trucks that he could play and fill up.

It was getting close to lunch time though so we got on the hay/tractor ride. Ascher was so excited that he was riding a tractor. He kept talking about it the rest of the day. "Ride TRACTOR!"

After the tractor ride he was ready to go back to the sand...however this preggers was hungry and it was getting close to nap time. Colleen and I decided next time we would pack lunches then they would be able to play for at least 30 more minutes before crashing. So despite a screaming 2 year old we packed up and headed to the car. He was passed out before we even got off the dirt road. It was a great day and I can't wait to go back and pick some more strawberries and play again!

November: Kimberlys Bachelorette Party

The first weekend in November we trekked to NOLA for Kimberlys Bachelorette party! We drove down on Friday morning and didn't arrive until almost dinner. It takes quite a while to get to NOLA from Houston when we had to stop 800 times because one of us would have to pee. Five of us rode together in Kimberly's moms suburban so we had plenty of space. Once we got there we checked out our rooms, set stuff up and headed down to the hotels happy hour while we waited for the rest of the gang (who flew in) to arrive.

After everyone arrived we searched for somewhere to eat dinner. We finally found someplace that didnt have a forever long wait and we chowed down. I had a headache so I was happy to go with Jordan to pick up the rest of the friends flying in. We drove and picked them up, went back to hotel, they dropped off their stuff and met the rest of everyone out. Jordan and I stayed in and went to sleep .We are lame.

Saturday arrived and I got up to put my contacts in...well...apparently someone when they came in at 2 am knocked over my contacts (I am allergic to solution so I have to use special stuff that if gets knocked over my contacts dry out and if they don't dry out I can't put them in my eyes for 6 hours) so I was screwed. Thank goodness I brought my glasses. I was a total hipster all day.

We ate breakfast at hotel and headed over to the French Quarter where we landed at good ol' Pat O'Briens. We snagged a table outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I, of course, had to take a pic in front of the jute box where Mom first saw Dad 37 years ago…but mostly we just sat out on the patio and enjoyed each others company before deciding we were starving and needed some food!

After lunch we went back to hotel and took naps and got ready for lingerie shower and dinner out. We headed up to their room and had a good time opening presents and goofing off. 

 However, before long it was time for our dinner reservations so we walked down the street to dinner. It was a very fancy meal but it was very good!! By the time it was over it was well after 11 and Jordan and I again played the ol' woman card (Jordan is pregnant- and I was too but unaware of it yet, but played safe just in case) and went back to hotel. Kimberly had plenty of girls with her so weren't worried about her being on her own! It was such a fun night!!

The next morning we all got up and loaded up before heading to brunch together to talk about the memories we had made the past two nights. It was such a fun weekend and I am so glad I got to go and spend time with my besties!!! Love them!!