BOO at the ZOO

Several of my coworkers all went to celebrate Halloween at the Fort Worth Zoo's "BOO at the Zoo". My sister joined me and boy, am I glad I had the extra set of hands to help with the kids. There was about 8 of us moms from work all with our kids in tow along with several thousand other folks all joining in the festivities.




As you can tell, thanks to Aunt Li Li, Ian was Spiderman and London was a Dragonfly. Every year since Ian has been old enough to know about Halloween, my sister has let him pick out his own costume as is his Halloween gift from her! They usually go toghether to the store to pick it out, but this year, he knew he wanted to be Spiderman. He found his and his sister's costumes all by himself in a catalog. "Li, Li I want to be Spidey so I can shoot my webs, and London needs to be a dragonfly because it is soooo cuuuuute!" (his exact words)



From the time we all arrived at the first "Treat Station" until the time we arrived home, Ian ate candy...the entire time! The child is so mistreated...he never gets candy from us. Surprisingly, he DID go to sleep at a decent hour that night!

Cassidy is a coworker of mine who organized the trip for us all. Her little girl Emery and London are about 2 months apart. I think they could pass for sisters!!!



I took a cooler full of sandwiches and snacks. Boy was I glad I did that. Not only was the food expensive, you had to wait in line for it. This way, we just sat up camp whereever and ate our dinner. As you can tell, London is a PIG! She ate an ENTIRE peanut butter and jelly sandwich and still wanted more!


The Zoo had constructed a play place designed to look like a carnival. There was a bounce house, hay stack maze and grassy area for the kids to run and play. Under the pavilion was tons of games for the kids to play as well as a stage set for the "monster show". Li Li and I took turns looking after London while the other went with Ian. He played all the games available. His favorite was the green rubber frog game!









As the evening wore on, the weather turned a bit chilly. I had London all cozy in the Radio Flyer Wagon wrapped in a blanket. She loved the mittens I brought for her. It was like she knew they would keep her hands warm. When I went to put them on her, she totally held out her little hands! She loved them!!!

"Thank you Li Li!"
"I love my Spidey costume, & I LOVE U!!"

Time with Grammy & Pop

We spent Thursday - Sunday at my parent's house. I sure enjoyed the R&R and Mom & Dad sure enjoyed the kids! We really had nothing to do (surprise, surprise) so the days were full of just hanging out and playing. Justin stayed home and went on a all boy's weekend hunting trip. My grandaddy had hip replacement surgery the day before we arrived, so I did spend as much time as possible visiting him in the hospital. Hopefully he is on the road to recovery now!


Ian and Mur spent an entire hour looking at his dinosaur book. Mur would use her flashlight to point to a dinosaur and Ian would spell it out. As far as Ian was concerned he was "reading" to his Mur. Of course the book was way over their heads, but all they cared about was spending time together. It was too cute!


When Pop came home, Ian just had to show him the rocks he found in the front yard! "all sorts of kinds of rocks...long ones, round ones and even one that looks like fossilized wood" He was so proud!



Can you say DRAMA QUEEN?!?!
London totally found her shades and wanted mommy to put them on her. She is such a ham and thinks she is soooo big!


Of course the weekend would not have been complete without Grammy introducing London to lip gloss...at the ripe age of 12 months old! :-)

Hangin' with the Campbells

This past weekend the kids and myself travelled to Plainview to see my folks. I stopped off in Lubbock to see my dear friend Amy and her new baby boy. Hudson is 3 weeks old and such a sweet baby! I held him the entire time and he only fussed when he was hungry! His big sister Ava thinks he is pretty special too! She sure has grown so much. She has totally morphed from that baby stage into full blown toddler! She was such a delight and oh so cute!!!

Catchin' Up

Ok, I know...I've been really slack and haven't added any posts lately. No real excuse except we are just busy around here.

London had her 1 year check up with Dr. Shori last week. She is 20lb 5oz (45% on the growth chart) and 28in long (25% on the growth chart). Looks like she may be a little petite thing. Not to sure what to think about that except a) she is easier to carry and b) girls are supposed to be smaller than boys. As you know there is nothing small about Ian! :)

Dr. Shori was very pleased with how she is progressing. She is definitely more verbal saying ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba (for bubby) and several other mumbling words. She knows the sign for "please" and we are working on several more. She was impressed that she is already fully walking. I think Dr. Shori as well as myself are convinced that she is a "normal" one-year-old!

I have turned the car seat around in my car to forward facing now. She has the okay to eat anything she wants. It is now okay for peanut butter, honey and all the milk products she wants. She is not a big fan of milk however. We have tried warming it and putting sugar in it, but not so much! She prefers water. We just offer lots of yogurt and cheese. We are done and have been done with the bottle for a while now, she is straight sippy cup now. She does however love drinking from mommy's straw!

We are travelling to Plainview tomorrow for a visit and I'm going to Lubbock to see my friend Amy's new baby boy, Hudson. He is 3 weeks old now. I will take photos of the entire weekend for all to see when we get back. Justin is staying home and deer hunting all weekend. We will return home on Sunday then back to work for me on Monday.

My grandaddy is having hip surgery today. He has been battling hip and back pain for quite some time now. The hope is by repairing his hip, he will be able to get some relief from the pain. He is really nervous, for this will be a big operation. Please keep him in your thoughts and pray for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.

Hope everyone has a Happy Wednesday!!

My Awsome Kids!

These are just two random shots of Ian and London during her birthday party. They just constantly remind me of how fortunate and lucky Justin and I are to have two amazing children. Ian went to the dentist yesterday and I received raving compliments from the dentist about how well behaved and bright Ian is. He totally went back for x-rays and a cleaning all by himself without me by his side. Never once did he say "I don't want to" nor whine the entire time. Maybe the bribe of McDonald's lunch had something to do with that?! :)



And Miss Priss...
She is definitely finding her way in this world. Very much a "momma's" girl and very much knows how to scream for what she wants. It is such a joy to watch the wheels inside her little head constantly turn. She is learning so much right now and understands alot of what I tell her. She cuddles her baby and even tries to feed her a bottle. I will tell her to go find her baby and she totally starts looking for her. I picked her up from school yesterday and as soon as she saw me she immediately started squealing and saying "ma-ma, ma-ma". She DOES know how to say my name! Just this morning sitting having breakfast, Justin walked in the room and she looked all bright eyed at him and said with a big grin "da-da". I think that is the first time she has really done that. She has learned the sign for "please" and uses it for just about everything; food, hold me, and whenever she does not get her way.

We had her first trip to the dentist last week because she fell into my mom's fireplace hearth and hit where her two front teeth were trying to break through the skin. I was a bit nervous to say the least. The fall broke the skin and bruised the gums. I was afraid she damaged the teeth that have not even come in yet. The dentist was wonderful with her. No x-rays were needed, no fractures of her jaw were noted. She did however chip the two front teeth. That means when she fell, she broke the skin AND fell hard enough to chip the teeth that weren't even in yet. Poor baby. She has completely recovered and the dentist will follow up in 6 months. The chips are small enough that hopefully you won't even notice them. So, needless to say no more cute "toothless" grins anymore! :(

She is still a very serious soul, but when she does give you that little grin her big blue eyes light up and it totally melts your heart!

London turns ONE!!!

This past weekend was definitely a memorable one! It all started with Auntie Amy and Uncle Marky planning to come to Texas for London's FIRST birthday. After Mark sent us all on a roller coaster of emotions, he finally made his plane on time and joined us in the celebration of London's first year of life.

Friday we spent the day at the ranch cooking out Brats and fishing. London enjoyed "exploring" everything around her. The boys landed a few fish and Justin even caught a turtle. The highlight of the day was stalking the HUGE centipede followed by a freezing cold dip in the swimming pool.




Saturday was the day we celebrated Little London's first birthday. We spent the day hanging out and that afternoon my mom, Mur and Uncle Bill joined us at our house for the party. We opened presents which was so fun. London enjoyed rocking in her chair and playing with her new baby buggy more than she did opening presents. Big Brother Ian had the honors of opening the gifts.





The whole eating cake thing was quite interesting....
Not knowing exactly how she would react to the cake and candle, I decided to take a chance and hope for the best. Well, let's just say she LOVED the sweet cake, but had no idea about the fire from the candle. We place the cupcake in front of her and moved back hoping to capture that perfect photo of her staring at her sweet treat. She immediately wanted to see what the candle was all about, and in doing so grabbed the flame and put it out with her fingers. She immediately started screaming in pain and Ian started crying because London was hurting. We had a house full of sobbing. London even has a small blister on her index finger to show for it. After the drama was tended to, we all discovered that London definitely has a sweet tooth!





I am still in shock as to where this past year has gone. It seems like times goes by faster every day. It has been such a joy to watch London grow and develop over the past year. I just wish I could bottle all the little facial expressions and sounds she makes. She is such a fun baby and the best part is watching Ian the big brother play with her, protect her and watch over her.