We've Moved!!!

Well, at least most of our boxes are under one roof now. We are officially residents of Fredericksburg as of August 2nd but we still have our "city home" in San Antonio (not by choice but due to the market). The silver lining on that cloud is that I didn't have to have everything moved out so most of our wall hangings/decorations are still in place until we get things settled a bit more here.

Sadly, this past weekend Chris' Grandma Nixon passed away. She was 92 on Thursday and we took the kids by to sing "Happy Birthday" and gave her some chocolate cupcakes (which I think Nora and I mostly ate). Grandma was in great spirits and was commenting how the girls would surely be athletes with the way they were bouncing the birthday baloon around the room. The girls fed the birds outside Grandma's window with help from Aunt Courtney. It was a great visit and I'm so happy we were there for that special day. She will be greatly missed by all of the family but especially by Grandpa who she was married to for 75 years!!! Please keep him in your prayers.

I haven't blogged about so many of the things that we have done this summer because between having a house on the market, wrapping up things with my old job in San Antonio, moving, attempting to get our house (and other related matters) in Fredericksburg settled, and trying to get settled into a new firm (Bryla & Schoessow, my in-laws practice with another great local attorney) blogging hasn't exactly been a priority. The kids have handled the move like champs! Probably better than I have. We've only had 2 episodes where they have expressed wanting to be back at their old home or old school and both have happened when the girls were overtired. Addie starts school on Monday, 4K at St. Mary's Catholic School which is just 2 blocks from the firm:-) I almost have all of her supplies together, I think.

I won't be keeping full time office hours until October when Nora and Wyatt will start at their daycare. I'll post pictures as soon as I get a chance. For now I'm doing good just to get in a quick update. If anyone happens to be comning this way, give me a call! My cell phone number is the same...for now.

My Birthday and Father's Day Weekend

My 32nd birthday started with breakfast in bed (the girls helped with french toast)a cookie cake and roses from my kids - delicious breakfast! Chris also had roses delivered to my office from him and "the offspring" (yes, that was on the card). They were beautiful. The ladies at the office gave the pretty yellow flowers on the left side. After a busy day at work we ended the day with dinner and drinks at Yard House with Matt and Jen, Misty and Matthew. It was a great day!






I used to hate sharing my actual birthday or even my birthday weekend with father's day when I was growing up. Now it's not such a big deal - not because I've grown up anymore but because Chris is such an amazing father that I really don't mind sharing that time. I put Baylor gear on the kids for some father's day pictures. Nora wasn't cooperating but Addie and Wyatt did a decent job of at least looking at the camera. There were actualy many pictures where Wyatt and Addie were both looking and smiling but Nora's face was typically no where to be seen in those shots - boo.



On Saturday the girls loved playing in their pool at Oma and Opas. Wyatt was giggling at first when I just dipped his toes in. I think it was more laughing at his sisters though, because as soon as he realized he was in cold water he did NOT appreciate it at all. I later tried to sit him on the little step and that really upset him. Guess he's more of a warm bathtub guy at this age, not so much an ice cold kiddy pool kid.





I thank God every day for all that he's given me in these 32 years, especially for my beautiful healthy children and their dad who I love so much! Funny thing is, now when it's my birthday I appreciate my own mom because now I know what she went through on that day and for the past 32 years! And of course on father's day I appreciate my own dad who has taught me so much about life. The main family trait I share with my dad is that neither one of us is ever wrong (really...it is just a blessing and a curse to be right ALL the time - ha ha). It works just fine until we disagree with each other:-) June has always been my favorite month of the year for so many reasons, having Chris and the kids just adds to that feeling!

My Big Boy!

Wyatt is such a wonderful baby, and I say this not because he's mine but because he is such a sweet and happy easy-going baby that has a smile for everyone. Maybe it's because he's so incredibly sweet and happy at this stage, or more likely it's because he's almost surely my last baby, but every milestone is so bitter sweet for me. Every time he does something new (smile, coo, blow bubbles, bellly laugh) I am so proud of him but a part of me is also so sad because I know it's likely the last time I'll ever experience that "first." The most recent of these firsts is eating solid foods - rice cereal to be exact. No surprise, he LOVES it!




This little chunky monkey weighed in at 17.5lbs (88%) and 25.5 inches (71%) at his 4 month appointment this week. (Most likely the last 4 month appointment I'll ever take one of my kids to - sob)

Addie had her 4 year old appointment at the same time and she weighed in at 41 lbs and was 41 1/4 inches tall! They also checked her vision and hearing and it's official, she can hear just fine...it's the listening we have to work on! She recently informed me that she's "almost 5." This cracks me up because it was only days after she turned 4 but this is just like her grandpa who will say "It's going on 10 o'clock" when it just turned 9:10. SLOW DOWN!!! Let's enjoy being 4 for a while:-)

Addison Turns 4!

My baby turned 4 this past Saturday. My how our lives have changed drastically in the past 4 years. Starting at 7am I was telling Addie what we were doing 4 years ago - we were on our way to the hospital after I'd been awake and in labor from about 3a.m. Through out the day I shared stories with her. We had her third (more on that later) birthday party at my mom and dad's house at lunch and then Chris and I went to Jen Petrash's wedding that evening. I left for a while to feed the baby and it was right around 7pm when I got to my mom's house. After I fed the baby I took Addie aside and told her that this was the time of day she was born 4 years ago. I can't believe how much she has grown in 4 years and how lucky we are to have such an amazingly smart, funny, stubborn, and beautiful little girl.

Back to the 3 parties for this little 4 year old. It started two weekends ago in Fredericksburg. Since Oma and Aunt Courtney were going to be in Mexico on Addie's real birthday we decided to have a party in Fredericksburg on Saturday the week before her birthday. We simultaneously decided to have her 2nd party in El Campo on her actual birthday. This meant Aunt Misty couldn't attend because she had a wedding in the San Antonio area that evening so she joined us for the Fredericksburg party. It was a good time and it worked out perfectly because one of the beautiful dresses that Aunt Cassy gave Addie was perfect for her Pinkalicious party in El Campo. Addie kept telling me that she wanted a rainbow flavor cake so I took an idea that Misty gave me last year (which actually originated on Martha Stewart) and made her the best rainbow cake I could. The one on Martha Stewart's is much prettier but mine didn't turn out too bad. We had a fun lunch and then went fishing in Luckenbach that evening - a perfect day for Addie!






The second party was a Tangled/Rapunzel party at school with all her friends. The school was really sweet and let Nora go into Addie's class room to sing happy bithday and have cupcakes. We sent our camera to get pictures with Addie's friend and funny enough most of the pictures were of Addie and Nora together. Unfortunately the few that were taken of Addie's class were kindof blurry - boo. But there was one really great picture of Addie and Morgan who have been the best of friends since the 12-18 month class!






The third and final party had all of our little cousins which Addie ALWAYS looks forward to. As a special treat, Daddy and Uncle Dwayne had a little cotton tail that they caught the night before hidden under a big planter. The kids gathered in a semi-circle around the pot and we lifted it up. After sitting there for a while the bunny took off across the yard and then the pasture with the kids doing their best to keep up. It cracked us all up! You'll see in the photos Nora even ran after the bunny in her purple princess heels! Only Kennedy was smart enough to know from the start that there was no way that bunny was going to be caught. She just stood there and watched the bunny run! Next was the Pinkalicious pinata that we let them all beat on. (Eventhough it was a pull string pinata - what's up with that by the way, who wants to pull strings??? Beat the thing, that's the point!) After everyone got a chance to hit it, all the strings were pulled, and Camden beat on it some more, we finally ripped it open and out came the candy!


















Addie received amazing presents at both her family parties and we were so happy to see so many family members in the past two weekends. We are blessed in so many ways!

My Girls!

i'll have to post about Addie's 3 birthday parties but for now here are 2 pics I love of my girls. In the first one they were supposed to be napping at Oma and Opa's house but Aunt Misty was visiting so they both insisted on laying on the recliner with her. In the second one Nora is holding a much coveted (by Addie) frog by it's little back leg - poor thing! Addie the animal lover is talking Nora through the whole experience and trying to talk her out of custody of the frog and little Nora, not to be left out of any experience, is holding the frog despite her strong inclination to put it down. Funny how things are so much more appealing when someone else wants them!

Little Salties

Last weekend Addie was in her 1st Fishing Tournament - Little Salties down in Matagorda. She was super excited that her Daddy, Uncle Dwayne, Cadence and Skylar were fishing on Grandpa's boat with her. I was super excited that Dwayne's mother-in-law was there to take pictures of all the "monster" fish they caught (and promptly threw back because, really, we weren't even going to be close to winning the most weight caught).



We have been unknowingly preparing Addie for one competition in this tournament for most of her little life - the CASTING contest! One of Addison's favorite things to do is to take her fishing rod (or Nora's since it is pink) and go outside to the front yard or back yard and just cast, cast, cast her fishing rod. She's really good at it too but we've never worked on aiming and accuracy. Well, all that practice paid off because she won 3rd place in the 3-8 year old division!!



She was certainly the youngest winner up there at age 3 (yes, she turns 4 on May 21st but still, the other winners were definitely older than her). She was so excited to get both her trophies. Funny thing is she loves the one with the fish on it the most. Each participant received this trophy along with a fishing rod.



Nora, Wyatt, Grandma and I arrived Saturday morning and Aunt Holly and Luke came to the contest site to play with us before all the boats got back. Nora was "fishing" for a while but when Luke came they were all about throwing rocks into the water - big fun! Wyatt slept a good portion of the morning in Grandma's arms. Thank goodness for an extra pair of arms!







It was a great weekend and we are just so proud of our girl. Thanks to Uncle Dwayne and all the other sponsers for this fun tournament! Can't wait until next year.

A Few Favorite Pics...

...from our wonderful Easter weekend in Fredericksburg.