Our new addition: the Canon EOS 50D

We got our new camera this past Friday so hopefully we'll have some better pictures on the blog from now on. I cannot say enough, how much I LOVE this camera!! Just in the past few days it has been so much fun to take pictures and have them turn out well. Eric and I have taken a ton of pics of Taylor to "test" it and learn the functions (which I'm sure will be a continuous learning process.) Over the weekend we were able to get good shots of TNT Broomball, Taylor in the flowers, and Laurie's baby shower.
Here is our newest addition: (don't worry...our even better new addition - Jacob- will be on the blog in a couple of days!)

Daddy's helper

Today Taylor helped Daddy plant flowers in the front flower beds. She absolutely LOVES to "help" in any way that she can. (I know this will be very useful as soon as her little brother gets here!) For anyone who has been to our house in the past month or so, Thank You! for ignoring our front walk and "not" mentioning what a mess it was!! I finally got the energy to pull out all the weeds last week and Eric was so kind to offer to plant any flowers I found to fill the space. Also, our two big pots at the front door had finally lost the ferns in them from lack of watering in this Texas heatwave we're having. Those were replaced too! Here are some pictures of my two gardeners this morning - before the hornet chased us inside!!

Of course, Taylor has coordinating gloves and outfit!

First Sleepover!

Taylor had her first sleepover Friday night. Her best friend, Kinley, came over for the night so Kinley's mommy & daddy could celebrate their 5th Anniversary. (Happy Anniversary Jess & Ryan!) I only managed to get pictures of dinner since we got home so late. We took Kinley with us to a group birthday dinner for Daddy's friend, David, down in Houston. The girls were both so well behaved and we had a great night. As soon as we got home they both fell fast asleep. I'm sure the days (or nights) of giggling all night long are soon to come, but for the first sleepover, this suited Mommy & Daddy just fine!

First Astros Game

Taylor went to her first Houston Astros baseball game last week. Her Uncle Chris, Aunt Megan, and cousins, Chase, Tyler, & Zach were in town for vacation and we caught the game with them along with Taylor's Mimi and Uncle Andy.

Chris, Andy, & Eric

Taylor & Mommy

Megan, Zach, Tyler, Mimi, Chase, & Taylor

Taylor & Uncle Andy

Taylor went to her first Houston Astros baseball game last week. Her Uncle Chris, Aunt Megan, and cousins, Chase, Tyler, & Zach were in town for vacation and we caught the game with them along with Taylor's Mimi and Uncle Andy.

Big Babies!

We had our 36 week appointment this morning. At the ultrasound today and they are estimating Jacob to be 7lbs. 12 oz. already. And they expect him to add about 1-1.5 more lbs. in the next few weeks! Try as I might though, I can't seem to convince my Dr. to move the date any earlier. I guess we'll just wait till the 22nd to meet this little (big) guy! I'm heading out to my pregnancy massage (thanks Patty!) in a little while, so things could be worse! haha!

More nursery pics

Jacob's room is pretty much complete...we just need a baby now! Here are some updated pictures since we've added artwork, his initials, and a table and lamp. All of the animals in the frames and the "JTA" are Uppercase Living* (of course!) .

*new catalogs coming out August 4th!

Family Camp 2009

We had a wonderful time at Family Camp again this year! Taylor was old enough to run around and participate in some of the kid's activities. Eric was able to take vacation days to go and we even had our own room for the three of us (in the past we've separated in guys/girls rooms). It was a really great weekend spending time with our WOCC church family, studying God's word about families, and having real quality time together. The weekend was also very, very hot!! Being 9 months pregnant doesn't help any in this Texas heat so I was extremely grateful for the air conditioned dorms and meeting rooms. They were even better than the pool, which felt more like a bath!

We spent a lot of time and thought on organizing the camp and I'm really happy that it came off without a hitch. The teachers were all WONDERFUL!! Thank you, thank you to all who taught and watched the kids!!! I've heard that Family Olympics were tons of fun (I was napping at the time) and we even got to have the campfire this year with yummy cobbler and s'mores. I loved watching Taylor have so much fun playing in the dirt and running around with her Daddy at the kickball game.

Our numbers have grown over the past three years of camp from 54 campers to 122! I pray that we can continue this growth and get the rest of our WOCC family out there soon. It is such a blessing to have each other and to spend time together away building our relationships. Thanks again to everyone who made this possible!

Now here's some pics of the weekend:

Daddy & Taylor in line for breakfast. - 2009


Daddy & Taylor 2007