SUPERSIZE UPDATE!!!

Disclaimer: This is, by far, the longest post I have ever posted. I should have broken it up and posted about 5 seperate blogs, but I didn't. So, it totally won't hurt my feelings if you don't read it all. :)

Wow. I forgot my blogger user name and password. Sad people. Just plain sad. I have thought and thought about where to even begin. An update on each family member? Just pictures? Just forget the past 4 months and start from right now? I finally decided to give a brief rundown of each month that I haven't blogged. Stick with me everyone, it's a long one. Just a note - I started writing this blog on Thursday at 11:00 AM. Lets just see when I complete it.

Here we go.....

FEBRUARY:

James turned 31!! During his birthday weekend he went on a camping trip with his closest friends from ACU. I'm sure they celebrated big time.

James and Kaitlyn went to Highland's annual Father/Daughter Valentines Dance and Dinner. Kaitlyn had the flu last year and didn't get to go, so she was very excited. They had a blast.

Kaitlyn had a huge scrape on her forehead from trying to do a flip out of the swing in the backyard. Probably won't be trying that again anytime soon.

Our Huddle girls went on a retreat. All the way to the MCM Elegante across town. There were only a few girls there, but we had so much fun and grew even closer! I can't believe they are now all SENIORS!! Craziness.

The last weekend in February we went to Austin for a wedding. One of James's closest friends got married and Kaitlyn was the flower girl. It was so fun to catch up with lots of college friends that we hadn't seen in what seemed like forever. Shout out to Jordan for coming with us and hanging out with Kaitlyn so that we could enjoy time with our friends! We stopped at the capitol on our way out of town. Who knew Kaitlyn would be SO into it? She and James also enjoyed rolling down a hill. Jordan and I REALLY enjoyed watching that...

Flowergirl and Ring Bearer..

Thanks Jordan for coming with us and being the greatest babysitter ever!

This makes me laugh out loud every time I see it.

MARCH:

We had lots of fun playing outside and having play dates with friends. It was a pretty relaxing month actually. We stayed in Abilene for Spring Break. We took the girls to the zoo, and to Frontier Texas - which totally freaked them out. I had heard that it was going to be kind of loud... that was an understatement. They still had a good time..but Kaitlyn still talks about the mean Indians.

It was also that time of year for the HEB Retreat! We LOVE this tradition. This year was the first time we took all 3 kids. We stayed in a cabin with 2 other fun families and there were 7 kids in all. Bedtimes were a little crazy, but we just went with it and had a blast. Okay, so these pictures are in NO order..other than they all took place in March.

This is how I found them after I had unloaded the dishwasher one day...little stinkers.

Cora and her friend Kate. I like this picture b/c it looks like Kate is telling her some intense secret.

Another laugh out loud picture.

Fun times in the bath....

Frontier Texas Fun.....

Claire the climber. Always up in my business...

Playing with friends..

Kaitlyn's soccer season was in full swing. She had a great season. She still loves to play and does very well! Her team was Spirit and it was so fun to watch her play.

Kaitlyn and one of her good friends Haley Grace..

Future soccer star....

Megan and Garrison came to watch a game on probably the windiest day of the year...we love them! Kaitlyn and Cora will be in there wedding in January.

APRIL:

The first weekend we traveled to Lubbock for a wedding. Its always good and refreshing to go "back home." My dad had finished a tree house that he built for Kaitlyn. It was pretty impressive! We had an early Easter celebration..decorating eggs, hunting them.... we weren't prepared for the chilly weather though!

Getting to ride with Pappy in his big work truck. I used to hate riding in this when I was little, but my girls LOVE it...so now I totally love it.

For Easter we went to McKinney to spend the weekend with Grandpa and Grandmere. Kaitlyn always loves going there because they have a hot tub/swimming pool. She was in there every chance she got! We had fun just relaxing, watching movies, playing basketball in the driveway (I can still beat James by the way), and eating lots of yummy food! Cora was pretty sick all weekend, but we still managed to have a good time. :) Sadly, I didn't take ONE picture the entire weekend! What was wrong with me?!

The third weekend I got to go on a SUPER fun girls trip to Gruene with some girlfriends from church. We had SOOO much fun. It wasn't a group of girls that normally hang out all the time together..and honestly that made it more fun to me! It was great to get to know each other better. We just ate, shopped, ate and shopped some more!

Everything we bought... what recession?

We got a flat tire on the way there. This is Holly crankin the spare tire. For some reason I can't find the picture of the two guys that stopped to help us with SNAKES WRAPPED AROUND THEIR NECKS!!!!

The Monday after returning from that trip..I started a 2 week Bootcamp. It was so hard..but really fun. It was a good kick start to the summer and now I am better about getting outside and exercising on my own. I let my gym membership expire to save money - now I'm all on my own! James bought me a bike for Mothers Day and I have really enjoyed riding it. It's been fun to ride some with Kaitlyn too!

The last Wednesday in April our Huddle kids were SO excited (and we were too) to have Aaron Watson come and speak. He did an outstanding job and really impacted our group. It was a memorable night!

I love this picture of Cora and her boyfriend Todd. So precious.

MAY:

Kaitlyn and I went to the 2nd annual Daughter/Mama Pajama Party! Summer did a fabulous job organizing it and everyone had a great time! It was fun to watch Kaitlyn interact and dance with all of her little friends. I can't wait until Cora and Claire are old enough and I can take all 3 of them!

Kaitlyn and her friend Landry. She LOVES hanging out with her at ACU baseball games!

Look at all those monkeys jumping on the bed! There were feathers flying everywhere!

For Mothers Day weekend, we traveled to Dallas. James's grandparents were in from Mississippi and they hadn't seen the girls in WAY too long. Claire really took to them and let them love on her as much as they wanted too. It was another fun, relaxing weekend spent with family.

The next weekend I went BACK to Dallas to hang out with 2 of my college roomies - Sara and Sara. We Pricelined a hotel and got a great deal on the Westin in Dallas! We just ate and shopped (girls really like to do that!) It was so great to see them both - it had been tooooo long! It was fun to see Sara's pregnant little belly. I'm so excited that she is having a girl! We also went to see 17 Again. Let me just say that I think Zac Efron in the cutest thing ever.

Wow..lots of traveling. The next weekend was TOTALLY bazaar. We had plans to take our Huddle to Ft. Worth for a retreat, and I had also been asked to fly to Tennessee to surprise my BF for her 30th birthday. The retreat was planned first, so that was the obvious choice. However, not enough kids signed up to go, so we had to cancel it. I took a chance, emailed Ashley and asked if the offer was still out there for me to fly to TN. He worked his magic and had me on a plane the very next morning! I was SO INCREDIBLY thankful for this gift! The look on Mere's face when I showed up at her house was absolutely priceless. She had NO idea - and she is a hard one to surprise! They had all sorts of things planned. We got to enjoy a morning at the Spa, a fun downtown dinner with her family, and a surprise party for Meredith on Saturday night. They live in the neatest house right on a lake. It was beautiful. Mere took me kayaking for the first time. It was actually pretty relaxing. I just tried to stayed calm...she is 8 months pregnant. If she would have fallen out that could have been bad news. It was also great to be able to see Kelly and Travis and meet precious Bennett for the first time. I am in love with him. I'm pretty sure (and you can see from the pics) that he loves me too. Oh, he just melted my heart. I can't wait for my next trip to TN to meet sweet CHARLIE!!!!

Sweet Bennett..

We went to the Spaghetti Factory in downtown Nashville for Mere's bday dinner. It was YUM.

Meredith told me to stand with my arm like that because Paris Hilton said it makes you look skinner. I just look ridiculous.

JUNE:

Wow.. it's already June. Today is Kaitlyn's last day of Kindergarten and she is home sick. Total bummer. She's actually feeling fine, but she threw up all yesterday afternoon, so she couldn't go. She wasn't as disappointed as I was I don't think. I can't believe she is a 1st grader! She has learned and grown SO much this year. We have been very blessed by her sweet teacher. Kaitlyn has loved every minute of school. It has been so fun to look through her portfolio of the year, and read through her journals. Such precious keepsakes.

Cora looks up to her sister SO much, and is such a sweet helper with Claire. She loves to laugh and sing songs and tell stories. I just wish I could understand them! Her favorite joke right now is:

"Knock-Knock?"

(who's there)

"Princess!"
(Princess who?)

"I didn't mean to make you cry!!!!" Hilarious.

She loves watching the Wiggles (gag). She has to have her lip gloss with her at all times. She loves to dress up and watch me put on my make up - all three things that I put on. She imitates everything. If I'm crossing my arms, she is too. If I sit with one leg crossed over the other, she tries to do the same. If I cuss, she cusses. Just Kidding!

Little Claire. Let me try to think of something positive. Hmmmm... She is a HARD ONE! She is very stubborn and defiant right now. She screams like a small dinosaur pretty much all day and is constantly looking for something/someone to bite. Hard. I am terrified to leave her with people when I'm not there! Hopefully this too shall pass. She can be very sweet. She loves to look at books and color. She LOVES to be outside. She could swing for hours. She's a great sleeper, which I am very thankful for. She is a Daddy's girl for sure. Probably because he has way more patience than I do!

Kaitlyn and 3 of her friends on the last day of school. (Even though she was sick yesterday..I still took her up there at the end of they day so she could see everyone and say bye!)

I was too lazy to get the pool out the other day so I just filled up a plastic tub with water..the girls had just as much fun!

Word.

Playing on a statue on our walk around downtown.

Cora is such a water girl!! She LOVES to swim and totally doesn't mind the floaties, which makes it easier on me!

James and I are doing well! I am looking forward to having my summer off from teaching. We have lots of fun things planned! Vacations, camps, swimming lessons, Kaitlyn's bday, I turn 30!! Yikes! We also signed up to teach 5th graders at church on Sunday mornings. Definitely a new age group for us, but we are really excited.

Okay, I really do plan on being more consistent with the blog. I am better at Facebook..but I really want to get back into blogging. Hopefully I'll still have a few readers!

I'm finishing this at 9:35PM!!! 10 1/2 hours later it is finished. Wow.