Calvin's 3-month-old pictures

Katie's 3-year-old pictures

Count George

George loves boxes. Whenever we buy something, or receive something in the mail, George always has some creative use for the box. Sometimes he turns the box into a robot head, sometimes into a time capsule (that I had to stop him from burying in the backyard), but this time we had a great, long box and he decided to pretend he was a mummy inside of a sarcophagus......I think he looks more like a VAMPIRE!!!!

Some of My Favorites

Calvin is growing like a weed! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last 11 weeks.

March 12th, 10 weeks old, George and Katie love to kiss "Calvie" (also known as "Cali-fu-na")

Calvin loves to smile at us when he has a full tummy.

Calvin thinks it's pretty entertaining to watch George and Katie run around the house.

Katie loves to get right up in Calvin's face!

March 8th, 9 weeks old, Calvin is being held on his blessing day by Grandpa Roger.

February 24th, 8 weeks old, Calvin has learned to turn his head to look into our faces. Here he is cooing at George.

February 4th, 5 weeks old, Katie STILL won't leave Calvin's side.

February 2nd, 5 weeks old, Calvin is my little, sleepy baby.

January 21st, 3 weeks old, Grandma Carolin says good bye and heads for home...mommy is left alone with 3 kids!

January 25th, 4 weeks old, Katie mimics us and does everything to her dolls that we do to Calvin.

January 4th, 5 days old, so tiny and new!

Happy 3rd Birthday Katie!

Calvin was born just about a week before Katie's birthday. My plan was to postpone celebrating for another week--I just needed a bit more time to organize a party and bake a cake. Well, Daddy didn't remember the plan and when she found out it was her birthday, she wanted her party by the end of the day. I explained to her that I wanted to invite her friends over for a party with cake and games, etc. and that if she wanted to do that she would have to wait a few more days. Without any hesitation, she just said, "No thank you. I just want a party today with my family. I want Daddy to come, and Mommy, and Calvin and George." And later, when she found out we were picking Grandma Carolin up from the airport, she said, "And Grandma Carolin can come too."

So, we went ahead and threw a party together. Daddy was sent to the store to pick up a cake topper and party supplies. After which he picked up Grandma from the airport. Mom stayed home to bake and ice a cake (which was a frustrating experience with a newborn--we should have just bought one!).

Katie loved to be the center of attention. Here she is blowing out the candles.
George thought Calvin needed a party hat too.

Grandma flew in to help Mom with baby Calvin. We were glad she got there just in time for the party too!

Katie opened her presents and then we played Hungry Hungry Hippos and Pin-the-bow on Hello Kitty. Katie actually had a great time. And I must say, it was much easier than throwing a big party! I initially just figured that George's parties had been so elaborate in the past, I needed to do the same for Katie. Apparently not! Katie is such a sweet little girl. We are so glad to have her in our family.

Calvin's arrival! (Yes, I know he's almost 2 months old)

Calvin arrived Dec. 30th at 10:44 am. He weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 inches long.

George and Katie were both so excited to see their new baby brother!

The whole family!

Glen Rose, TX, Camping Trip

George's persistence finally paid off. He's been asking us for the last two years to take him camping. Living in hot, hot Texas can be tricky though. Who wants to go camping when it's 100 degrees outside during the day and it only cools down to 85 or 90 degrees at night. So you either go early spring or late fall. Well, George's soccer season ended Nov. 1st this year, so the first available weekend was Nov. 8th--seemed a bit late in the year to go camping. However, the temperature was averaging around 70 degrees in the day, so I said, "Let's just do this thing!"
Everything about camping was so new and exciting, especially for Katie, who had no idea what a tent, lantern or camping stove looked like. As soon as it got dark, the kids started asking if they could go to bed (they were really excited about this sleeping bag idea). Well, the temperature started dropping, so settling down for the night sounded quite nice. However, that was the beginning of the longest night of our lives! Little kids roll around SO much at night. Jared and I were up every 30 minutes, ALL NIGHT LONG, putting George and Katie back into their sleeping bags and under their blankets. They were freezing all night because they wouldn't stay put!

When the sun finally came up, we decided to forget about "trying" to sleep. So we got ourselves dressed in multiple layers and ventured out. It was freezing! Pour little Katie's hands were bright red. We built the fire back up and that helped a little if we stood right up against it. The hot chocolate helped a bit too. We made pancakes and sausage for breakfast and the kids snacked on Smores Pop Tarts as a treat. We were all SO cold though. I felt a little unprepared--I should have brought the kids hats and gloves. Luckily, we brought a game along and that helped to distract us. Here George is pointing out his first win.

The sun finally started warming things up around 10:30 in the morning (we had been up for hours by then). Here, Dad and Katie are playing around.

We took a walk down to the river. The sun felt great! The kids wanted to get their swimming suits on, but the wind was still a bit chilly. Instead, we skipped rocks and enjoyed the view. The kids had fun collecting rocks, sticks and shells.

After packing up, we drove over to an animal reserve park called Fossil Rim. It was so neat! Most of the animals came up to the car to eat right out of our hands.

George reached out to feed one of the animals.

The giraffes were not shy! George and Katie were shocked at first when the giraffes leaned down to meet us. It was nice to have a sunroof and they reached right inside for a handful of food.

This is my favorite picture! Katie stood half way out through the sunroof. It was an amazing experience to be so close to animals that are usually behind fences at a zoo.