Summer Pics

While we were in Galveston I took the opportunity to take some sweet pictures of the kiddos. I'm not sure what to do to make the quality better for the web and still be able to upload a file that's not huge but I'll work on that! Enjoy!

Galveston Beach House

We spent part of last week at a beach house in Galveston with some good friends.  We all had a blast! The house we rented was called "Count the Views" and truly, every direction you looked had an excellent view of either the beach, ocean, or lagoon. We were across the street from the beach, but directly in front of the crossover. So getting to the beach was super fast and easy.

There were 8 adults and 6 kids ages 3 and under so there was never a dull moment! Each of the four families had their own bedroom and bathroom. Somehow we lucked out and got the master bedroom upstairs. This worked great for us since the closet was so big that we put Jacob's pack n play in there and he had his own little "bedroom" to himself! We also had a balcony porch off of the bedroom with rocking chairs and a great view of the beach and ocean.

The beach house was a new experience for us, and one that we definitely want to do again soon! We had lots of fun playing games until all hours, building sandcastles, catching sand crabs, and swimming in the resort pool. Not to mention all the eating that took place! We can't wait to go back next summer.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of our adventure...

View of the lagoon

View of the crossover and ocean (with the Newmans walking back)

Jacob's first time at the beach (and first taste of sand!)

View of the kitchen...notice the multiple baby monitors :)

By the way, Jacob is trying to stand on his own now.

Taylor building a sandcastle

Me & the kiddos

David and Caden

Beautiful view from the main patio deck.

Eric posing for me :)

We celebrated David's birthday while we were there.

Did I mention that Mr. David is Taylor's favorite??

Ms. Photogenic :)

She really didn't want her dress to get wet!

Another day, another sandcastle...

The fortress

Sweet Jacob

Cameron in the kids rocking chair

Jacob crawling down the crossover

I'm gonna get you Mama!!

Clint, Lisa, and Cameron

Watch Out!

IMG_4845
Originally uploaded by 4alarids

Jacob is on the move!! I've been so busy keeping up with him that I haven't added new pictures in almost two months! In that time, he has learned to crawl, pull up on furniture, cruise around while holding onto furniture, legs, etc. he's grown a tooth too :)

We've been really busy lately, it seems. So, I'll be putting up some pictures soon of all the things we've been up to.

Bluebonnets 2010

Well, it's that time of year again...Bluebonnet pictures!! I love seeing these beautiful wildflowers, the State Flower of Texas, blooming all over the sides of the roads and in parks around here. There is a relatively new park in the Woodlands, called Creekside Park, that planted Bluebonnets when it was being developed. I think it was a great idea and it has made for a wonderful place to take pictures of the kiddos without worrying about being hit on the side of a freeway! After you're done with acting as Mommy Paparazzi you can enjoy a picnic and let your little ones play on the playground or run around in the open grassy field. I'm a big fan of this park :)

So, today I took Taylor and Jacob to the park and we had a really great time. The weather was wonderful. Slightly overcast most of the day. (Which would have been great for pictures with no shadows but it was pretty sunny during the 20 minutes we were in the flowers so it didn't help me much.) We did have to watch for bees but they really only wanted the flowers, not us. I fished about 4 flowers out of Jacob's mouth throughout our session, hoping that they weren't poisonous. Afterwards, we ate and then played. The kids were in a really good mood the whole time! Usually we go with a big group of our friends to take these pictures but today it was just the three of us. And while I love the social aspect of an outing with friends, I must say that it was a very relaxed, enjoyable time that I was blessed to have with my kiddos.

Here are some pictures from today along with a few from previous years.

A new dress for Taylor

Here's the dress I made for Taylor this week. I had a fun afternoon sewing with friends, Nikki and Jess, last Thursday, and finished most of it in that one sitting. I had to make a few adjustments and line it (and make a matching headband!) once I got home. Of course, Taylor really wants nothing to do with it since she would prefer to wear her pjs all day long!! I have informed her she will be wearing this to church tomorrow and she seemed okay with that.

Boo Bear is 7 months!

Yes, we call him Boo Bear. No, he will probably never live this down. But Jacob is 7 months old now and having lots of fun!
He is now sitting unassisted for long periods of time and managing to roll over when he does fall. He has become a bit attached to Mommy and doesn't always want to be set down or for her to leave the room. He is doing pretty well with sleeping. We put him down at around 7pm now and usually don't hear from him until about 5am. Hopefully that will eventually turn into 7 or 8 am but for now its okay. He almost always just eats and then goes right back to sleep for another couple of hours. This growing boy is just hungry! At his 6 month checkup he was 17 lbs 10 oz so we're guessing he's a little more than that now. He is in the 75% for height and 50% for weight now. Jacob is really good at pushing himself up with his arms when he's on his belly but so far no crawling. He does manage to scoot around his crib quite a bit though and this has led to some waking up at night to get him "unstuck" from the end of the bed. He is such a good natured baby. Always smiling, laughing and loving to cuddle. He can sit and watch Taylor, the cat, and the dogs for a long time. They all do such interesting things I guess!
Mommy and Daddy are going on vacation soon without the kiddos so please pray that everything goes well and that they are good little kids for their Mimi!  We will miss them sooo much but we definitely need some R&R.

Happy Valentine's Day!