January 2014 - Happy Birthday Ryan!

On January 14, we celebrated Ryan's birthday! We are so lucky to have such a great daddy in our family. The kids loved singing Happy Birthday to Daddy. We hope you had a great day, Ryan!

The kids sang happy birthday to Ryan first thing in the morning. Since Ryan was already at work, I recorded it and sent it to him.

Link to Sing Happy Birthday to Ryan on YouTube

3 little cakes to celebrate 33 years!

Link to Happy Birthday Ryan on YouTube

Ryan and our great friends, the McClures, started a birthday tradition years ago while they were students at BYU. They would bake a cake and they had to eat the entire cake in one sitting. They started timing it and I think they said their record was under 3 minutes. We did it in 4-5 I think. I recorded it to have proof of our silly traditions and we baked a cake for the kids to all share too.  (I'm not a big frosting fan so they left a section frosting free for me.) Alissa and I hadn't eaten dinner so I ate a lot more than I usually do. I am definitely the weakest link for this game.  Here's a fun peek into some fun memories we make with the McClures.

Link to Ryan B Day 2014 video in YouTube

Happy Birthday Ryan!

January 2014 - Gymnastics

Bailey started gymnastics! Andrew did gymnastics over the summer and Bailey loved watching him. We thought it would be good to offer gymnastics to Bailey too! She has been up and down, but we are glad she has the opportunity to try something new.

January 15 - This was Bailey's first day. We got there early and she liked watching the other kids in the class before her. She was so excited. She was a little slow to start and that's fine. She was observing the other kids and her teacher. Bailey joined the class a few weeks after the other kids. I think that might help her because she can watch the things the other kids have already learned.

Link to Gymnastics - January 15 video on YouTube.

January 22- Ryan surprised us and came to gymnastics to watch Bailey. Bailey, however, was not in a very good mood and wanted to stay with Ryan instead of doing gymnastics. She didn't want to go in and when she did she started crying. She cried for about 25 of the 45 minute class. The coach was so good to her. He held her and let her watch but made her stay in the room with him. I'm glad he did. He really is so great with these kids.

Video of Gymnastics - January 22 on YouTube

January 29. Bailey wasn't too excited to participate today. She wanted to stay with me and when her teacher, Matty, saw she was still out with me, he came out and brought her in. He was helping her feel more confident. He is so very sweet to all the kids. It's made a big difference for Bailey.

Link to Gymnastics - January 29 video on YouTube

The end. :)

January 2014 - The Great Freeze

 Houston got hit with a "major storm" that shut down businesses, closed roads and canceled school. January 24 and January 28, 2014. I went to go shopping at a clothing store and it was closed!

Take a look at what caused such a fuss.

 If it's 29 degrees, just let it snow! We had "sleet" and "wintery mix" but I don't know what that means. Unfortunately we didn't get much actual snow.

Bailey had a good time playing outside in the sleet. 

 Link to The Great Freeze video in YouTube

January 2014 - The Zoo

Here's a look at our latest visit to the Houston Zoo.

We found a new area of the zoo this time. The kids crawled through some tunnels and came out in these big bubbles. They had a lot of fun playing here.

Link to Tubes at the Zoo video in YouTube

The Komodo Dragon was actually away this time!

My little monkeys!

I love my kids. Absolutely love them. More than words can describe. I love how much they love each other. They spent most the day walking around holding hands and it just melted my heart.

We hope you enjoyed the day at the zoo with us!

December 2013 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year! For the last few years we have gone to our good friend's house to celebrate New Years Eve. The Chandlers are always so fun and we love ringing in the new year with them. 

Andrew and I took photos on the stairs last year too. Maybe that's tradition now. 

Happy New Year video link 

We came home just after midnight and enjoyed some sparkling cider given to us by the Chandlers. The kids were so excited to stay up late. Our neighbors across the street do fireworks in our court so we watched out the front window. They kids stayed up till about 12:45am watching fireworks. (I then stayed up till after 2 am listening to them....so much for my new years resolution to be patient and kind. Seriously. 2am? Go to bed! Be considerate of other people! Ugh!) Anyway. Happy New Year!

The end of 2013!

December 2013 - Misc.

December was such a busy month but we had oh so much fun.

Shopping fun.

I told Bailey that Grandpa has glasses like this and she insisted I wear them.

Matching! Gosh I love this little girl. She loves shopping like her Mama!

Naked bums! (Yep I posted it. Move on.)

Bailey, you have a little something on your face.

Andrew likes to climb on the back of the chairs in the van. He's our monkey.

Love the pink.

Christmas cup stacking. I can't be beat! Andrew is quite good and did this one here.

Bailey found our elf on the shelf, Elvis. She's pointing to him in the entertainment center.

Pretty in pink!

He rolled up his pants and tucked his shirt in. Love his sense of fashion!

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My pretty princess.

Bailey enjoys watching Andrew practice the piano and doesn't want to get left out of the action. This is also the child that will sing to herself for hours. Yes hours. I've timed it, and I love it. (Unless you're all trying to sleep in the same room, then her lullaby that lasts past midnight isn't quite as cute.)

Bailey Singing and Playing Piano Link

I love watching kids learn and grow and figure something new out. I also love when kids have a difficult time saying a word or they say it in a way that is just too cute. Bailey used to call "water" "wa-dee" I loved it and didn't correct her. I knew she would eventually figure it out, and she did. I felt she grew up a lot the day she started saying it correctly. Here she's trying to say another word that took me a minute to understand. I love how she is old enough to describe what she is talking about to me. Both videos are pretty similar.

Say Animal 1 Link

Say Animal 2 Link

I realized this post had much more of Bailey than Andrew. He is in school 5 days a week now and it's showing in my photos. I'll make a better effort to photograph him next month.