Our Hearts are Full

We have so much to be thankful for, but I know exactly where to start.  Here:

These three munchkins have filled our hearts with more love than we ever thought possible.  Being a parent is the most difficult, most fun, most emotional, most fulfilling, most special thing I have ever done in my life.  I thank God for them every day, and I am so honored to be their Mommy. 

We spent Thanksgiving at our house again this year.  It's nice to be able to put all the focus on them for this holiday instead of running around like crazy.  I do, however, miss everyone back home. 

This year, the kids made "Thankful Turkeys" and we talked about everything we are thankful for in our lives.  Here is Austyn making (an kissing!) her turkey!

 

Here is a close-up of Austyn's feathers:



Can you believe she is thankful for piggies??  That was the very first thing she said!  I love that she says "The Leeziana."  I think it is too cute to correct ;)

Every night, she includes in her prayers, "And Dear Jesus, please let us move back to The Leeziana!"

Shawnee, you even got your own feather!!  :)

Here is Gannon making his turkey.

And, here are his feathers. 

Our Thankful Turkeys!

On to project number two: Potato Turkeys!  I saw this idea on Pinterest done with apples, then we did it with our kindergartners last week.  They turned out so cute, I had to let my munchkins try them!

They weren't really sure about the project at first...they just wanted to eat all the decorations!  They got into it pretty quickly, though.

 

Ta-daaa!!

This morning, we had a fun Thanksgiving celebration!  Have you ever seen A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?  Well, if you haven't, you should!  I have loved all the Charlie Brown movies since I can remember!  I have always wanted to have a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feast, too.  So, that is just what we did!  I can't give up the real feast, so we had this one for breakfast.  The kids loved it!  And so, a new tradition was born :)

buttered toast, popcorn, jelly beans, and pretzels :)

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope your hearts and bellies are full <3 p="p">






Oh, and a side note:

I am also thankful for Bryan.  I couldn't ask for a better husband, best friend, and father to our babies.  But, today, I am thankful that he can fix just about anything!

Our washer went out yesterday.  On Thanksgiving.  I guess that's why you don't do laundry Thanksgiving Day!  The mess is so much bigger, now, and the washer is in even more pieces, but he has found the problem.  Our problem now?  Everyone is closed for the holidays :(

Father's Day

In addition to the Rangers game, the kids had some special gifts for their special Daddy.


First, we went out and took photos for Daddy!

Because they did so well for the first shoot, I had them do a silly shoot, too.

It is hard to get a good shot of all three right now!  Actually, it is hard to get one of Mia period, ha!

*I love that G has the D backwards!*

Then they made him special cards.  I did an interview with each one separately, so they couldn't hear each other's answers.  This is what they came up with.  I think they are pretty sweet!

 Happy Father's Day, Bryan!  We love you!

Father's Day Weekend

 

This weekend we celebrated Bryan for being the greatest husband and Daddy we could ever imagine.  And just what does the perfect guy want to do for his special weekend?  He wants to surprise his kids with a trip to LegoLand and the Sea Life Aquarium!  That is just one of the things that makes him so great.

Here is a photo of Mia just as we arrived in Dallas.  She had no idea what was going on, but I guess she could just feel the excitement.

LegoLand was amazing!  We are definitely going to have to go back.  The kids loved it!  I wish I could have taken more photos, but it was pretty crowded.  Here is Austyn playing in the entrance.  There were piles of Legos set up for the kids to play with while they waited to get into the Lego Factory.  In the Lego Factory, the kids have to generate energy by jumping up and down.  This powers up the factory to make Lego bricks.  They got to see the process, and when it was finished, they each got their own special brick.

When we left the factory, we entered Lego Land.  The land of Legos!  Everything, and I mean everything was made of Legos!  Our first stop was a ride called Kingdom Quest.  The kids and Bryan rode in a cart through the land of "Lego bad guys "  They had to shoot them to earn points.  They loved it!!

In the background, you can see Lego City Play Zone and Fire Academy.  It is a play land with tunnel slides (built of Legos) and a Lego pit with giant Legos for building.  Austyn was a just a little bit too short to enter this play zone, but Gannon had a blast.  He raced in so quickly that he didn't even notice Austyn was not allowed in.  When he did notice, though, he came to play with her in the smaller one.  What a great brother!! 

I couldn't get any photos of him in there because he was so dang fast!  Ha :)



Here is Austyn playing in the smaller Lego pit called Duplo Village.


Mimi, check it out!  Mia even found an elephant!



After they played with the Legos for a while, Gannon and Bryan got in line for another ride, Merlin's Apprentice. 

Austyn and I went to Princess Palace.  Here, there was a karaoke stage and tables full of legos.  The princesses were to build their own microphones and then sing on the stage.  Austyn had lots of fun building, but I could not get her near the stage!  Very unlike her ;)

Here are Gannon and Bryan enjoying Merlin's Apprentice.  The faster the pedaled, the higher they went.  I love the excitement on both their faces!

Here is Miniland.  This is where they have built downtown Dallas completely of Legos!  They even built Rangers Ballpark in Arlington!

Finally, we made it to the gift shop.  The kids are standing in front of the Lego wall.  It looks like a candy shoppe!  At this wall, you can build your own bag of Legos.  There were so many colors!

On to Sea Life Aquarium!!

This is one of my favorite photos of the day!  These are shore fish, so they have to stimulate waves.  Just as soon as he walked up to the fish, a big rush of water came gushing out from this hole.  His reaction was priceless!

Here, they got to hold starfish and sea shells.

I know that seems like a pretty packed day, but the fun and surprises aren't over yet!  That's right, there's more!

See, two of their favorite cousins live just outside of Dallas, in Keller.  Boy, were they surprised and excited to see each other!  They stayed up until 2am.  Yes, 2:00 AM!  They were just too excited to settle down.  I cannot believe that after such a long day (with basically no naps) that they were still functioning with no melt downs!
 

Sunday morning, all the kiddos were awake by 8.  Yes, that's right.  Six hours of sleep.  Boy, this is going to be a long day!  My kids sleep later than that when they go to bed at a normal time!  But, again, they were fine.  I guess they were running on adrenaline.

That morning, we had a Father's Day pancake breakfast.  It was great!  I wish I had pictures, but to be completely honest, it never crossed my mind to take the camera out.  Oops :(

Oh well, on to the game!  This was the reason for our trip.  The kids and I got Bryan tickets to the Rangers for Father's Day.  Earlier in the week, Bryan suggested we try to catch a game this weekend, so I had to blow the surprise.  Otherwise we would have ended up with two sets of tickets!

When we first got there, the heat was just miserable.  I was so worried about Mia, and just knew that we would spend most of the game walking the halls where it was cooler.  Within about twenty minutes of finding our seats, a huge cloud settled right over the stadium, and stayed there for the whole game!  Whew!  It ended up being really great!!

Happy Father's Day, Bryan!  Thank you for all you do for us!  We couldn't ask for better!

Thank you, Daddy for teaching me by your example, and thank you, Bryan, for not only living up to it, but for teaching our kids as well!  I love you both, so, so much!

Celebrating Baby M

We had a very busy and exciting weekend.  We traveled to Lake Charles to celebrate our sweet Baby M.  I can't express enough how thankful I am for the love and support we have been given by our family and friends.  It means so much to Bryan and me to see how much our little "caboose" is loved, and it isn't even here, yet!


We started the weekend with a diaper party for Baby M.  We have decided to continue to use cloth diapers on Baby M (we have been using them on Austyn for a year), so a traditional diaper party wasn't a good option for us.  There is a local store, eLeMeNO-Pee, that sells cloth diapers and cloth diaper accessories.  I spoke with the owner about doing a cloth diaper party.  She was so excited!  She filled a tub with different types of cloth diapers (yes, there are different types--lots!) in all gender neutral colors and prints, and brought it to the party.  Instead of the guests bringing a package of disposable diapers, they just bought a diaper at the party.  It was so great to give our family the chance to learn about modern cloth, and to see just how easy it really is.  Everyone was impressed and on board with us!

Cloth diapers are no longer associated with diaper pins and "jiffy" pants (or those nasty plastic pants).  Modern cloth is great!  Just look at how cute they are!

The shower was absolutely perfect!  Instead of a traditional guest book, everyone signed a children's book for Baby M.  Everyone left the sweetest messages for Baby M, and I can't wait to share them :)

There were also cards with "Wishes for Baby M" printed on them.  Each guest took a card and filled out different wishes they have for the baby.  I had so much fun reading these!!

We had cupcakes by the fabulous Cupcake Crazy!  They were delish!  And yes, my friends love me so much, they got me two King Cakes, too!!

The cloth diaper representative explained a little bit about modern cloth diapers and how they work.  While she did this, the guests were able to pass around the diapers and then ask questions.  This part was hilarious!

After the Q & A, it was time to shop :)

Here are some of the party guests!

And here is the big sister with the greats!

I am so upset with myself for forgetting to take a picture with my hostesses.  I can't believe I did that!  I don't even have a picture of two of them or of myself.  I know, shame, shame.

After the party, Bryan and I were off to take maternity photos with the ever-so-talented, Ashley Wood.  Seriously, she is ah-maz-ing!!!  Those of you who know Bryan, know how much he hates taking pictures!  And what does he hate more than taking pictures?  Kissing in pictures ;)  I can't say how proud I am that he didn't complain at all.  Not once!  And we shot photos for two hours!  He loves me :)

These are just a few "sneek peaks" from the photo shoot.  Ashley did such a great job!  I love them all, and I can't wait to see the rest!!

I'll be sure to post the rest in a few weeks when they are ready!

While this weekend was great, it was very bittersweet.  We had so much fun with our family and friends, but it is going to be our last trip to Lake Charles until May.  This will by far be the longest we have ever gone without making a trip home.  We have decided that it is best for me not to travel anymore.  Austyn just came so fast, we feel that a four-hour drive (mostly though nowhere with no cell phone service) is just too risky.  I don't want to have this baby on the side of the road!  Ha ;)  We also don't plan to travel with a brand new baby.  We want to wait about a month or so. 

Those of you in Lake Charles, just remember--The road that brings us home will also take you here!  We would love to have visitors over the next couple of months!

I will continue to update everyone here, though, so stay tuned!