You must be really bored if you read this entire thing.

Wow. Way too long in between posts. I have no idea where to even start. Since I last posted, we have celebrated Cora's first birthday, traveled some, had Christmas, taken down everything Christmas, celebrated New Years, had doctors appointments, re organized my whole entire house, and I'm sure lots of other fun things.

My "baby" is ONE!! Her actual birthday was on December 21st, but we celebrated it the weekend before. My cousin graduated from ACU and some of our family was in town, so we just decided to have a small family/a few friends party. She had just woken up from a nap when the party was getting started, so she was a little shy. She did NOT like wearing the party hats. She cried huge tears whenever we would put one on her. She loved her little toys that she got. She wasn't too sure about the cake. She didn't want to touch it with her hands, she would just lean over and take bites out of it. It was pretty cute. Here are some of the things my sweet Cora is doing at one year:

* Her vocabulary consists of mommy, daddy, sissy, Pappy (my dad), baby, diaper (biper), pat-pat (she does this to my fat tummy and to her baby dolls), night-night (ni-ni), no-no, bye-bye, yay (she yells this when Kaitlyn is driving her around in her Jeep), more (mo), and please (pees). She talks all the time - just in her own little language. But she is rarely quiet!

* She LOVES baby dolls. Kaitlyn never really had an interest in the, but Cora has quite a few! She loves to hold them and rock them and give them kisses.

* She loves Kaitlyn and anything Kaitlyn does. It is the sweetest thing to see them together.

* She is a very picky eater. She loves her bottle. She won't eat anything chunky. Or green. She doesn't like milk. We have been making her bottles half water and formula and half milk and she hasn't noticed a difference. But, she won't drink milk out of a sippy cup. She will drink juice or water out of a cup though. Any suggestions on how to break her from her bottle are greatly appreciated.

* She loves to kiss everyone and everything.

* She is beginning to show a little bit of a temper when things are taken away from her, or if she is being redirected from somewhere she shouldn't be. She either screams really loud, or she gives you the saddest face ever, covers her mouth with her hands, lays down on the floor and cries.

* She loves bath time. And splashing. Lots of splashing.

There are many more things, but this post is going to be very long as it is. So, here are a few pictures of our precious Cora James:

Christmastime!!! We traveled to the Metroplex the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with James' side of the family, and some of my extended family in Ft. Worth. We had a wonderful time and drove home with a van full of goodies. We are so blessed with such an awesome family. I am notoriously bad at taking pictures at Christmas for some reason. But, here are a couple from that weekend:

We were back in our own house again this year for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. Last year I had just had Cora and this year we were just a couple of weeks away from having Claire. Crazy. My parents and brother drove in and spent the holiday here, which was so nice. I think we are beginning to like waking up on Christmas in our own house. It will probably become our tradition. Kaitlyn got a new bike from Santa, and Cora got a little "sit and learn" chair that, believe it or not, she is completely obsessed with. This year Kaitlyn decided to leave Santa a cookie and she threw a piece of cheese out on the front porch for the reindeer. How thoughtful. I'm sure they loved that.

New Years!!! James and I actually got to go out on a date on New Years Eve. Thanks again Mom and Dad! We went out to a nice dinner and then to see Juno. I thought it was a great movie. Then we just drove around for awhile and stopped by our good friends David and Amanda's house. We thought for a second about ringing in the New Year with them and Ann and Derran, but being the completely miserable 9 month pregnant wife that I am - we were home by 9:30. I was the only one up at mid-night - and not by choice. I am just SO ready for this baby to be here.

So, that leads us to the arrival of Ms. Claire Elizabeth. She is now due to make her appearance NEXT FRIDAY!! January 11th. There is an end in sight. My doctor seems to think it could even be before then, so we will wait and see! I am so anxious to meet our third baby girl. I can't wait to see what she looks like. Mom and I finished getting the nursery re-organized with another crib, more closet storage, and a little re-arranging of furniture. I am a little overwhelmed and nervous to say the least. If you think about it, send up a prayer for us as we begin life with a 41/2 year old, a newly one year old and a baby!

Annnd..... if you are one of the 2 people still reading this, leave me a quick comment and I'll email you a surprise!

Happy New Year!

Getting closer to Christmas!!

We traveled to Lubbock this past weekend to visit my parents and do a few fun "holiday" things. We got in Friday night and Kaitlyn could not wait to help Pappy build a fire outside. This is one of her favorite things to do with them in the fall/winter months. This time we even roasted marshmallows, which she loved.




On Saturday my mom had set up a massage for me at my favorite place. It was SO great to be able to lay on my stomach! It was wonderful and just what I needed! We did some shopping on Saturday afternoon, and then we took Kaitlyn to see Enchanted. She really enjoyed this movie. She got a little scared when the mean witch turned into an old woman, but it didn't seem to bother her for too long. I thought she would remember the fun songs, the pretty dresses, the princess stuff - but the only line that she keeps repeating is: "Man, I've got to lay off those nuts." Some squirrel or chipmunk says this and she thought it was the funniest thing in the world. She says it ALL THE TIME.


Saturday night we braved the freezing cold weather and went to a fun Winter Wonderland that an awesome neighborhood puts on. We didn't stay for long, but we got a few fun pictures, Kaitlyn got to see Santa, and we took a little carriage ride. I don't think I've ever been that cold in my life - but it was a fun memory to make!

Sunday was great. Church, a yummy home cooked meal, an AWESOME Cowboys game on TV, and making a gingerbread house with Kaitlyn. It actually turned out to just be a huge gingerbread cookie because we weren't prepared for how long it would take to get the house to stand on it's own. So, we gave up and just let Kaitlyn decorate the different pieces. She still had fun and that's what matters!

It was a great, relaxing weekend!

Side note: Cora is walking! She wants to go really fast, so she still loses her balance quite a bit, but we are way excited! I've been trying to post a video of her up here, but it's not cooperating. We are celebrating her 1st birthday this weekend - crazy!!

Surprise!

I have a really sneaky husband and the best girlfriends ever!!

So, tonight after church James said he needed to run by some guy's house from work to pick up something. Not a big deal. We start driving over there (a place he's never been) and he decides to call his mom and ask about Christmas details - while looking for this house that is out in the middle of nowhere. Cora - in the mean time - is hungry and fussy and I'm trying to mix up a bottle that she can feed herself from her car seat. Kaitlyn is getting upset that she can't watch a show when she gets home. The cars behind us are all frustrated because James is driving 7 miles per hour, looking for a house, and talking to his mom about travel plans. We finally get to this house and he has the audacity to ask me, his 8 month pregnant wife to get out of the car, go up to the house and get whatever it is that he needs for work. WHAT?! He's still on the phone with his mom and just says, "Just run up there and get it, it looks like a CD." Wow. I sit there for a second and try to let all of this sink in before I just roll my eyes and get out of the car. I get to the front porch to find absolutely nothing waiting for him. Unless he was talking about the really cute mini lit up Christmas trees lining the patio. I turn around to go back to the car and I hear the door open and some girl say, "Hey, come here." Ummm... okay. I turn around and saw my friend Holly peering out through the front door. She opened it a little further and like 7 of my friends all jump out and yell SURPRISE!!! I was seriously in shock. It's only about 7 months until my birthday. I had no idea what was going on. I turn around and see James (still on the phone) start to drive away. See ya.

My sweet friends gave me the sweetest little mommy-to-be (again) shower! I was so surprised - usually I figure these things out, but not this time. They had the best desserts ever to eat. And they all pitched in and gave me a day at the spa!!! Manicure, pedicure, massage, facial - the works. I am SO truly blessed with such great friends. Thank you so much Kat, Hayley, Johnna, Amanda, Lindsay, Rachael, Katie, and Holly!!!! It was so fun to just relax and hang out with ya'll!! It was just what I needed.

A Little Christmas Cheer

Happy Holidays from the Mayos!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1168362307

Big Fat Update....

Almost an entire month without posting. Yikes. I know all of you have lost sleep over it. I don't even know where to start summing up a month's worth of activities. I'll try with pictures....

The Highland Family Retreat was a blast, as usual. This was our third time to go. We only took Kaitlyn - Cora had fun hanging out with Mamaw and Pappy for the weekend.

This picture cracks me up. James is just trying to keep us from flipping over, Kaitlyn is crying because she just smashed her fingers, and I really have no idea what I'm doing.

Kaitlyn and a few of her buddies.

This is just a random picture of Cora that I thought was cute.

Only in Abilene does Santa come in on a helicopter. Kaitlyn and her friend Lucy loved going to the mall to watch him land.

Raking leaves in the yard....

Cora... just excited that she didn't have to help this year. She just sat in her exersaucer and ate crackers.

Happy Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a long visit in the Metroplex. We were able to see most of our entire family.

Our first stop was Grandpa and Grandmere's house. Here's Kaitlyn and I painting Christmas ornaments. Quite possibly the cheesiest picture of me I've ever seen.

Kaitlyn getting to stuff the turkey

Playing a game of Sorry with Grandmere

A fun picture of the girls...

Cora hanging out with Grandpa

We also made a stop in Ft. Worth where Kaitlyn got to see her cousins, Abby and Anna Lea.


There are SO many more pictures, I'll have to post a Part 2 to my update. The past few days we have had pajama day at school, play dates with friends, decorated our Christmas tree, and put the outside lights on the house. I'm so excited that it is almost December!

Another exciting piece of news is we finally decided on a name for the baby. (James just never came around to liking Chandler) Her name will be Claire Elizabeth. I'm so glad to finally have one chosen. Thanks to my doctor who likes to have a plan as much as I do, it looks like we will induce on January 14th!! Not too much longer!

More to come......

Daddy/Daughter Moment....

Just a small conversation I heard between James and Kaitlyn a few minutes ago.

JAMES: "Do you have any Princess Jasmines?"
Kaitlyn: "GOLDfish!!"

I just love that James is playing Disney Princess Go-fish and is just as excited about it as if he were playing Hold-Em with the boys.

And Kaitlyn just makes me laugh numerous times a day. GOLDFISH.... silly girl.

Update and pictures to come from our awesome weekend at the Highland Family Retreat!

Fall Festivities

We've gone to the pumpkin patch....

Enjoyed Kaitlyn's last soccer game of the season....

Had a fun weekend visit from Nana...

Carved a pumpkin...

And dressed up for Trunk or Treat at church....

My little cat searching for Cheerios on the ground...

Two of our sweet huddle girls in their creative costumes....

Kaitlyn and her good friend Olivia dressed like witches...


Happy Fall!!!

Happy Homecoming

This time of year, I especially love living in Abilene. This weekend has been ACU Homecoming - and we just have to walk across the street to enjoy all of the festivities! Us girls have enjoyed the Homecoming carnival, the parade, the purple bubbles in the fountain, the purple Tower of Light, all of the ribbons and streamers around town, and seeing lots of friends. James and his ACU buddies decided to boycott Homecoming this year and all meet at the lake instead. I'm pretty sure they had a good time. Here's a few pictures from the weekend - and a couple of randoms.

Ooh - and I think that the highs are supposed to be in the 60's for most of this week. Maybe Fall is actually coming!!!

Uncle Neil and Brittany came last week to see Kaitlyn play soccer....

Kaitlyn and her BFF Emma

Cora - looking a little drunk...

Ho Hum...

I guess I'm in another blogging "funk," if you will. I don't have many new pictures - and that is usually what inspires me to post. So, boring as it may be, here is a re-cap of what each of us has been up to:

James: He got back last week from 6 days away from his girls! He was in the Virginia/D.C. area for a work conference. He really enjoyed it, and I think learned so much. He came back with lots of new ideas that he was excited about sharing with his co-workers. He was also able to visit Travis, Kelly and sweet baby Bennett while he was there. I was totally jealous!! We are so glad that Bennett has been doing so well. He is SUCH a fighter. And SO handsome!

James is also enjoying ACU pledging right now. He is a Galaxy sponsor, so he has had a few late nights - and a few funny stories. He'll have to blog about that, though.

He's doing great coaching Kaitlyn's soccer team! They are really fun to watch. James gets a little too competitive though for little 4 year olds. He usually has to seriously calm himself down after every game. And they don't even keep score!

Leslie: I got to enjoy some fabulous "me" time this past weekend. I traveled to the Metroplex all ALONE and loved it! I was able to have dinner with my sweet friend Cortni, enjoy some time with my Grandmother, and then spend the rest of the weekend with my sweet friend Meredith! We got the greatest pedicures EVER, saw a great movie - The Kingdom, got to eat at PeiWei, got Braums lime sherbet, and had a relaxing afternoon on Sunday. Thanks Meredith!! :) I was very ready to get home and see my family though! As much fun as I had - there was this lingering "guilty" feeling the whole time I was gone.

Last Thursday I had Bunko at my house. We haven't played in a really long time, and it was fun to catch up with those girls - and get to know a couple of new ones! I am so blessed with such great girl friends in Abilene.

Kaitlyn: She is still loving PreK. They are learning so much and stay really busy! She is getting so good at writing letters and numbers, drawing creative pictures, learning sign language and a little bit more spanish. She is always wiped out on Tuesday/Thursday afternoons though. I can't imagine how tired she will be when "real" school starts next year!

She is doing great at soccer! She really enjoys going to each practice and every game. I think she has scored at least one goal in each game. But, most importantly - she is having fun and getting some great exercise! Now, if the weather would just cool off a little bit!

Cora: She is finally crawling around everywhere! She loves to follow Kaitlyn around. She also loves to stand at the front or back door and look outside. Her four words are Daddy, Mama, Uh-oh, and Bye-Bye. She loves to wave and blow kisses. She pulls up on everything and has even stood on her own for a few seconds. She just can't wait to chase her sister around. She is a great sleeper at naps and night time. She is a CHUNK to say the least. I think she weighs around 25 pounds and she's 9 1/2 months old! She's so cuddly and loves being hugged and kissed on. She is truly a JOY!

Chandler: Yep - it's official. Thanks to all of your comments and lots of convincing from me and Kaitlyn - James finally decided that he liked it. I am so excited! So far, she is a very chill baby. I rarely feel her move at all. I go and get her heart rate checked fairly often (doctor's orders) just to make sure she is okay! Maybe she'll just be very laid back. A girl can wish right? !

So....there is the recap. I will try and take some new pictures soon!

Happy middle of the week!

Guess how much I love you......

I'm home from church tonight with Cora, who has not been feeling well the past couple of days. I really hope she feels better soon!

Earlier this afternoon, Kaitlyn told me that she wanted to tell me how much she loved me, Daddy and Cora - and that she wanted me to type it. I thought it was so sweet (and hilarious), so here is how much we are loved..... in her exact words.

i love Mommy all the way around the world 88 times,
and all the way through the states of America,
and all the way to the 50 States of America that we love,
and all the way to Arizona and Mexico,
and to America state 'merica,
and all the way through the stars,
all the way through the planets of America,
and all the way back to Abilene.

I love Daddy all the way through the world 80 million times,
and all the way through the states of you know,
and I love him how much you love me,
and back to Abilene.

I love Cora all the way past the world 80 million 80 times
and all the way through the planets
and all the way from the stars that you know in America,
and all the way through the million states,
and the oceans,
and the lakes and rivers and back to Abilene.

How funny is that? I love the way she thinks.

We are thinking about the name Chandler Brooke for baby girl #3. I need a LOT of comments on how much you love it, so that we can convince James - okay?