New computer!

Well, our almost 4 year computer has bitten the dust...thanks to an ugly virus that wouldn't let me access the internet! So we've gotten the new DELL Hybird (very energy efficient)! I'll try to get new pics posted later this week. Last weekend we should have made the trip to Georgia, but due a change in my dad's medical care, we went home to spend some time with him. We were so glad to see that he was feeling better than he was over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving

On Saturday morning we traveled to Bellville to spend a week on the farm. Mary had fun playing on the farm, playing with her cousin Kathryn, and going to the flower shop. William had fun learning how to use the skid loader to push down dead trees and then burning them down! Amy had fun just hanging out at the house during the day with Pa-Pa. I had fun just being at home. We also attempted another family photo this year. It actually turned out pretty good, once again. We left Friday night and William drove while the kids slept (and I dozed off a time or too). We are home for the weekend and then Thursday after work we begin our cross country drive to Georgia to celebrate Grandma Betty's 70th birthday. This should be quite an experience with an almost 5 month old and 3 1/2 year old. 24 hours in a car...FUN!

Mary made her very first flower arrangement all by herself!

Amy's first tooth!

Amy is getting her first tooth!!! She is taking it surprisingly well.

Annual Family Photos

It's going to be a....

BOY!!!! My sister is expecting a little boy at the beginning of April. This will be the 3rd grandchild for my parents, but the 1st boy. And on Michael's side it will be the 1st grandchild.

Tummy Time

We've started giving Amy more tummy time since she hasn't started rolling over yet. She loves it!

Amy is 4 months old!

Yesterday was Amy's 4 month birthday. She celebrated by going to the doctor for her checkup! She weighs 14.1 oz (58th%tile) and is 25 inches long (74th%tile). She got 2 shots and an oral dose. She did really good. She had some fluid on her right ear, so he said he would like to see her back in a month.
Today she got to eat sweet potatoes for the first time.

First Cereal!

Amy got to enjoy her first cereal this morning. She ate really well and enjoyed it.
Later in the morning Mary was playing with Amy.

Surprise Trick or Treaters!!!

At about 8:45 we ran out of candy, turned out the porch light, and relaxed. Mary wanted to stay in her costume just a bit longer. Since it was Friday, we decided to let her stay up a little later. William was cleaning, cleaning, cleaning (which is usually not like him). We were having guests over Saturday night and he said he wanted to get as much done before Saturday as he could. So I started helping out. At about 9:15 the doorbell rang. I thought...the light is off and whoever it is won't be getting any candy, because we were all out, except for what Mary had gotten. But William went with Mary to open the door anyway. There were 2 people bending down and saying trick or treat! Mary started screaming and I was in shock! It was Granny and Pa-Pa!!! Pa-Pa had called William Thursday afternoon to say he was feeling good and wanted to surprise Mary. And boy, did they surpise both of us!! We were so excited they came for a visit. We stayed up to almost 11:00 that night visting and playing. Then Saturday we spent the day getting things ready for the get together that evening. Mary and Amy had fun playing Granny and Pa-Pa. Mary was very sad when it was time to leave. We will be making the drive this weekend to the farm.

Happy Halloween!

Although, I wanted Mary and Amy to have coordinating costumes. Mary did not. Amy used Mary's first Halloween costume and was a chick. Mary was so excited to be Ariel for Halloween. She has had her costume picked out for quite some time. We decided to spray paint her hair to match Ariel's. It took 2 cans to get it red and many rinsings and shampooings to get it out! She had so much fun. This year we went trick or treating with Lainey. Mary's bucket was full by the time we made it home around 8.

This and that

Neighborhood Fall Festival

Mary can write her name!

At 3 1/2 Mary can write her own name without any help at all.

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

Mary made a special lolly pop cake for my birthday. We all enjoyed a piece after eating out.

So cute!

Amy loves to talk! She has even started laughing. I haven't been able to capture it on video yet, but hopefully will soon. :)

The Austin County Fair

Finally done!
William and I both took off work Thursday and Friday. We loaded up the car and headed out Wednesday after work. The parade started at 10 am the next morning. Mary was ready with her new Wranglers and a red vest. William drove the car for them in the parade and I waited at the end of the route with the rest of the family. As they went by, William stopped and I got Mary out so she could enjoy the rest of the parade. William said about half way through the parade she got tired and just rested her head and hand on the car door, still waving to all of the parade goers.


After the parade, we went to the parade luncheon, where Pa-Pa was presented with a plaque for being parade marshall and another for all of the years of service and volunteering.
Afterwards, Mary and Kathryn enjoyed a lemonade.

That night we returned to the fair to enjoy the cool weather and more fair food! Mary also learned a difficult lesson on the stairs. She took quite a tumble down and busted her bottom lip and rearranged 2 of her top teeth. We thought everything was alright and the teeth felt tight. However, this week we noticed her front tooth started changing color and is loose. William will take her to the dentist on Tuesday to get it checked out.

Mary and Amy both wore their pink shirts to support the "tough enough to wear pink" to raise money for breast cancer research.

Amy is now 3 months old!!!

Saturday morning Kathryn came out for a play date. They took a break to enjoy some treats that Grandma made.

Mary had fun riding all of the kiddie carnival rides.

I think one of Mary's favorite things to do was to track down Ms. Sherry and ask her if she could pet the horse. Here they are together.

Here are more pictures from the fair week.

Make a Smilebox postcard

Busy Life!

Wow! I always knew having 2 kids would be a challenge, but I never imagined it being this busy. William and I make a great team handling all of the evening duties. It was so much easier when I was able to stay at home. Luckily, I prepared some meals and froze them before I went back, so atleast we are able to eat some "home" cooked meals.
The weekend before the last we went home again. On Saturday we went to a shrimp boil and dance. At about 8:30 William and I decided to take Amy home and get her to bed. Mary stayed with Granny and Pa-Pa for a little while longer at the dance. About 5 mintues after we left, Mary was up on stage requesting the chicken dance. She had walked up to the stage, all on her own. The lead singer was not able to hear her, so he picked her up and asked her again, this time she had the microphone. Thank goodness, she did not take after her Aunt Na-Na, who needed a lesson on the microphone when she was about Mary's age ;) Anyway, we were so bummed we missed it. Then on Sunday we went to church bazaar. Mary had fun playing the games, eating a snowcone, and spending time with Granny and Pa-Pa. I have pictures, but just have not had time to get them downloaded on to the computer.
Last weekend we spent at home...a much needed break from the 4 1/2 hour drive to Bellville.
This weekend we are headed to Bellville once again. We are leaving Wednesday night. Mary and Amy will be riding with Pa-Pa and Granny in the Fair Parade as Parade Marshall Thursday morning. I'll try to post pictures when we get back Sunday night, but it might not be until later in the week.

Weekend update and my last day

Over the weekend we went to Bellville for Uncle Mike's brother's wedding. Of course, Mary had a great time running around with all of the little girls. Her new friend is Brooke.
Today is my last day at home with Amy. I've been "working" part time to get all of my beginning of the year testing completed before I came back. I got all of it done. For those that are teachers, you know what I'm talking about. It was so nice to pull all of my kids while I still had my sub. Now I have all of my data and can begin groups as soon as I get back. Amy will stay at Kelly Cox's house. She had been an aide at our school for 3 years. She has 2 daughters, 3rd and 4th graders. There is another little boy, Caden, staying there. She is also keeping a 3 year old part time. Amy went for part of the day Mon and Tues. She didn't drink much of her bottle, but never got really fussy. Hopefully she will catch on pretty quick to the bottle.