Here I Go Again

Here I go again - catch up time.

• The weekend before last was soooo wonderful weather wise and we truly enjoyed it. I love this time of year and being out doors with the kids. Our yard desperately needed mowing but with the wet weather it had been so hard to find time to do it, but Sunday was the day. After church, we ate a quick lunch and got started. I mowed and Jody weedeated. And the kids swam in their "new swimming pool" as Savanna likes to say. But as I like to say, the kids swam in the mud hole in our drive way. I am so glad that kids can find entertainment spashing around in muddy water. They really had a great time until it came time to be hosed off with cold water.

Look, it's Forrest Gump! Oh no, that's just Jody on our trusty little Snapper

• This past weekend, we attended Jody's cousin's (Lacy Taylor) wedding. It was so beautiful! Jody is in shock that he now has two cousins (first Katie in December and now Lacy) that are married. A little history for those who don't know... Jody is the oldest grandchild on both sides of his family, but on his mom's side he is the only boy. Growing up he was out numbered 6 to 1. Or should I say, he was able to pick on 6 girls. By pick on, from the stories I hear, I mean throw and crack easter eggs on their heads, put frogs down their shirts, dunk them under the water at Granny's swimming pool, etc. I feel sure he was a mean cousin. So Jody is in shock that these little girls that he picked on have turned into beautiful young women who are walking down the aisle to become married.
  

The first pictures are from Katie's wedding in December and then from Lacy's wedding this weekend.

Katie Hare Elliott - beautiful




Mike and Katie



Cutting the cake (don't know why these pictures are smaller?)


Shane dancing with BreAnna



Katie and Molly




Savanna and Sarah

Bliss, Sarah, Lacy

Lacy and Phillip Mattek - first dance

Katie, Mike, Debbie, Sarah

Molly and Ryan
Maybe the next to get hitched - we'll see ????


DeAnna, Deaneth / MiMi, & Granny


Jody dancing with Aunt Debbie

Lacy was a beautiful bride and she makes me look like a big cow-lol!


We all had a great time!!!

• Shane officially has his first black eye, but we have no clue how he got it. They called me from daycare and asked if anything had happened at home, and I honestly can't remember him crying about anything. He surprises me all the time with his tolerance for pain. Savanna will cry or whine at the slightest pain, but Shane just keeps going - must be a boy thing. I am sure this will not be his one and only black eye.
  

Big Boy

Shane is becoming a big boy.

First, this weekend we finally took down his crib and put in a toddler bed that a friend gave me (thanks, Carrie!). Shane absolutely loves it. Which I am so glad. I really feared that he would always be getting up and coming into our room, but he hasn't! He had learned how to crawl out of his crib and one day I caught him doing it - he would just fall out and I was sure that he had broken his ankle or something - he didn't cry but the way he did it, I knew it was time to make a change.

Next, yesterday I took him to Aunt Penni and had his hair cut, not trimmed, but cut. I think everyone thinks I am crazy for doing this because his curls were so cute but let me explain - Shane is VERY hot natured. Even as a baby he always kicked the blankets off and he has never slept with covers on. In the mornings when I wake him up, he is sweating and with warmer weather coming, I wanted him to be cooler. Anyway, I keep telling everyone that it can always grow back out. I just hope the curl comes back when it grows out.

Finally, he is really starting to use his words and communicating really well. I am so trying to soak it all in because I have a hard time remembering what it was like with Savanna - wish I would have discovered the ease of blogging a long time ago.


The new bed!


Before.....

Before.....

After! He was so good and still!!

The remains. bye bye curls :(

the Big Sister and the Big Boy

March Madness

Wow! What a month! To be honest, I haven't really been in the mood to blog, but now I have a lot of catching up to do. Let's see.... where do I begin? Before spring break, Jody and I went to a horse sale in Lufkin. This is usually a three day sale that starts on Friday and ends Sunday afternoon, but this time it was a two day sale. This is a big show for us and it starts early and ends late everyday so we have never been able to take the kids with us. We have been going to this show 4 times a year ever since Jody and I were first married, so there are a lot of repeat customers who have seen me go through each pregnancy and always ask when we are going to bring the kiddos. It is such a stressful sale, so maybe when they get a little older they can come along. Below are pictures of our set up there. It feels like we bring everything but the kitchen sink. I can't believe Jody and I used to set up everything by ourselves (that's probably why I have back and hip problems now - I blame Jody -lol). Now we bring help with us.

The sale ring.

Demonstration of a horse cuttin a cow.

Because I had taken off work to help Jody out, I wasn't able to take off some time for spring break. But Savanna stayed a few days with cousins and then Jody helped her ride her pony a few days.

Next, of course, for the month of March was Easter. When all was said and done, I was just about Eastered out. Savanna had her school Easter party on Friday before spring break. Shane had his daycare Easter party the Thursday before good Friday. On Saturday morning, we went to the town Easter parade and activities. Savanna didn't feel well, so she didn't hunt eggs but she did get her face painted and Shane won a cupcake during the cake walk. It was probably better that Savanna didn't hunt because they split the kids up in age groups and they all hunted at the same time and I would have wanted to see both of them hunting eggs. There were so many kids that there really wasn't enough eggs for all of them. Shane got a total of 3 eggs. Then later that evening, some friends down the road invited us over for hot dogs and hamburgers and an egg hunt for the kids. We had fun. They had egg tosses for the kids and the adults. I wish I had gotten more pictures of them busting on everyone. Then, of course, we finally got to Easter Sunday. The kids love there basket from the Easter Bunny - bubble wands, coloring books, games, candy, etc. We went to church, then back home to pick up my prepared dishes and head over to Pam's in-laws for lunch and yet another egg hunt with all the cousins. It was a bit chilly but the kids had a great time!

Egg Hunt #1 - Shane's daycare

Shane wanted to use the bike to hunt eggs.

Shane with his buddy Devin

"Look Moma!"

Shane cheated a little by holding his egg on the spoon.

Story time - surprise, surprise, look who has his shoes off. I may let him go barefooted everywhere this summer - Would that be too redneck of me?

What a smile!

Shane's future girlfriend - Zoe.

Egg Hunt #2 - Mt. Vernon

Cute Cousin BreAnna!

It was like he was looking at me saying "Where are the eggs?"

I tried to talk Savanna into doing the sack races but she was just not feeling good.

Egg Hunt #3 - Sharp's home.

Egg Hunt #4 - Voss' home.

Holding up their favorite egg - Avery had the most eggs.

Shane had an egg roll under the car and he was not going to let it get away.

A good month of madness!

Growing up

Last week seemed to drag on and on for me but this week has gone so much faster - maybe it's the time change and sunshine. Well, last weekend we went to watch Pam's (my sister) girls play basketball and cheer one last time until next year. Avery and Ashlyn played basketball and Anna cheered. They all did so well. You know, I get so wrapped up in my kids and the events and happenings with us that I forget how much my nieces and nephews are growing up. They are becoming such great little people. I really want to take the time and get to know them each individually but it seems as though every time we get together the kids want to play with each other and the adults want to catch up on adult talk. They all call me Tia (spanish for Aunt) because Aunt Amy sounds weird to me and I sometimes wonder what they think of their Tia. I hope they don't look at me as the Tia who doesn't have time to visit or then again maybe I am prematurely worrying about it because we have plenty of time to develop a relationship together. Well, I didn't mean to get so deep. I just wanted to say that they are all growing up so fast and will probably be graduating high school before I know it.

Anna cheering. So cute!

Mom/Gran with Elli Kate, Savanna, & friends watching the game.

Avery running down the court. #11

Avery & Ashlyn getting some refreshment after the game.
(Hayden in the background)

Aunt Penni with Shane. Love your new glasses, Penni!!

Snow in March?

Just wanted to get a post in that it is snowing in March. Texas weather - what do you expect? Stayed home with Savanna yesterday, Jody is with her today. She came home from school with a fever, felt sick to her stomach - I set up trash can and she made it to it in time - yeah! I hate to see her sick. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of the fam will not get it. Hope all has a great weekend - we plan to stay in.

Longer Days - Yeah!

I am so glad to see that the days are getting longer and that we will spring forward Saturday night! I know we loose an hour but I don't mind it because when I get in from work it will still be daylight. My drive to and from work takes between 30 and 40 minutes, so I don't get in until around 6. I do not like the winter months (except for Christmas) because it is dark when I get in. I feel as if I should be getting the kids ready for bed right when we walk in the door.