I don't want to forget....

We are so blessed to have both sides of our families nearby. We had lunch with Keith's parents and brother's family and then went to my parents house for dinner.  We don't get to see our Katy cousins too often so my kids LOVE it when we get to spend time with them. AK loves being around other boys! EK loves her big boy cousins and gives out lots of smiles. :) EJ celebrated her first Thanksgiving with some gluten free puffs and pureed apples & blueberries.  Some playing in the living room after eating. EJ was so easy going, despite only a 30 minute nap. Proud of this little one. We got a picture with all seven cousins! Yeah! :) It was a full day spent with family! Lots of fun!

Last year I had a sweet friend (who's a great photographer) offer to take pictures of my kids. The high that day was 40 degrees and we only got some great pictures of AC. (Because she is a trooper and knew she'd get some peppermint hot chocolate.) This year I decided to take the pictures myself for several reasons. First, EK does best when it's just mama with the camera. Second, I could decide at the last minute based on the weather prediction and lastly, I have a good camera that I need to use more.  I asked my mom to meet us so I'd have an extra hand and it worked out pretty well. In about 20 minutes, we were done. My kids don't get better with practice. Either you get a winner in a short amount of time or you don't. Ha! It was interesting trying to get all four to look happy. I wasn't even trying to get everyone looking. Sometimes the candid pictures are much better! Tuesday afternoon Ms. Kendall came by to see the kids. We are so thankful for her. E...

Oh no!! We are getting dangerously close to turning 1 years old! It is crazy to think that she's been with us for more than 3/4 of a year. What a sweetie and drama queen EJ is! Food: You still love milk! Because I'm kind of lazy, you only eat one meal of baby food right now, usually dinnertime. You LOVE puffs! You're really good at using the pincer grasp to eat. I need to start introducing some other soft finger foods. Sleep: You take 2 good naps a day still and usually sleep a good chunk at night. You are worn out by 7:30 most nights and then sleep until 4am...sometimes later. The past couple nights have not been good, but that might be because of more teeth. Teeth: You have 4 on top and 2 on the bottom with the 3rd on bottom coming in.  Moving: You are army crawling everywhere and you're fast! You can find the tiniest piece of trash or get to something of AK's or AC's in just a few seconds. You can't sit yourself up yet and you're not pulling ...

Keith had a meeting in San Diego last week with some other pastors. We took the younger three kids and stayed a couple extra days.  We love San Diego: the weather,  the ocean, the food. It was the all three kids first time to fly. Obviously, the middle two did fine. EJ didn't stress me out too much. She didn't sleep much going out there, but did nap at least 30 minutes on the flight home. You don't realize how long a 3 hour flight can be until you have a baby to occupy. Ha!  We got to see some of my relatives. We also took the kids to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World.  I think they really liked both and they slept well each night after all the walking. :) EJ did pretty well, considering her naps were minimal or sometimes non-existent.  The last time Keith and I were at the zoo we had EK who was a little older than EJ. Crazy how time flies. It was really good to get away for several days.  EK spent the week with my parents at our house.  I know she mi...

One Keith's best friends, one he has had since college, came in town with his family this past week for our church's annual Bible conference. We had such a fun time together!  On Thursday we went to the Fort Worth Zoo.  They have four kids ranging from 14 to 8 years old. Their youngest is a few months older than AC. AC loved having more girls around.  :) Even though their oldest is 10 years older than AK, he thought it was great having another boy around. It was EJ'S first time to the zoo. She was a good baby. :) So very thankful for good friends!