A Day with Thomas

What started out to be a lazy Saturday with not much planned ended up being a fun day with lots of "firsts" for both kids. We decided to go to Farmer's Market that morning so we loaded up first thing and headed out. I expected Will to be really into it and Maggie to be fighting to get out of her stroller most the time but I got the opposite. Maggie ate a little bit of everything they had to offer and still wanted more! When the double stroller couldn't hold anymore fruits and veggies and the back of the truck was full of flowers we headed home. After a quick Sam's trip and lunch out, we heard about this fun thing in Grapevine called "A Day out with Thomas." Our friends had stumbled onto it and let us know, so we hurried home to get Will a quick nap before the train ride. You can tell from the pictures that they had a blast!

Not much else going on besides the usual here. Our covered patio is almost dried in, as is Eric's new office/my new closet. We're anxious for that to be finished so we can get our backyard ready for the summer!

Oh-two quick prayer requests. For those who don't follow Ethan Powell's story, he needs some serious prayers right now. And our friend Caroline broke her leg and is in a cast from her hip to her toes (she's three).

Hope this finds you all doing well!

 

Will and Eric by Thomas

 

Eric and Jeffrey put those temporary tattoos on the boys' hands and as soon as they finished I wanted a picture of course. So when I said "Let me see your hands" they both held them up for a photo op...

 

Then they had to check out what they had!

 

After his very first train ride, he rode his very first pony!

 

I really thought Maggie would be all about these pony rides, but she wanted NOTHING to do with that horse!

 

Will and Tyler riding the train-they started out so in awe of everything and sat quietly taking it all in...

 

Then they had to check it all out. Don't worry. We were holding onto them!

 

Will has gotten really into creative play lately-he thought Spot needed a haircut (no blade in these scissors) in Maggie's chair. The "Easter Bunny" brought the kids chairs (Will's is camo, not pink leopard) and golf clubs but with the workers outside all the time we've just kept them indoors.

 

Believe it or not, Maggie started this fun thing of playing in the dogs' water bowl. I made the mistake of laughing when I saw her and letting her continue to play (why not, she was already soaked?) so now everytime we go outside, that's her first stop. And this girl LOVES to be outside!

 

Since Maggie didn't get much love in the Thomas pics, this was her that day. She was a good sport about the whole afternoon and I'm sure she'll have her day soon!

Happy St Patty's Day, Easter, Birthday Part 2

We'll do the pics first the week...there are tons, and they are mostly out of order. Sorry!


Will digging into Maggie's cake!

Will and Molly at the Dallas World Aquarium

Maggie did not understand that this highchair was for her dolls. I know she's skinny (a whopping 18 pounds at the doctor last week) but this girl is a bottomless pit-the poster child for exercise I guess.

Talking on her new cell phone

We busted Will and Molly digging into their Pinata grab bags-clearly they had no shame!

Maggie with the pinata



Into the cake

Still...into the cake


Eric, Me, and Mags with her cake

After the pinata fell

Will helping Maggie with her mash cake-not that she needed it!

Macy, Will, Molly, Brandon, Maggie, and Allie Grace

 

 

She was NOT drinking this-but all the big kids had juice boxes and one got left on the table so she decided she wanted to try it too. She looks like such a big girl!

 

Digging into some spaghetti at Old Spaghetti Warehouse in West End

Maggie at the Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Will at the Hunt

On the way home, Maggie was resting her head on Will's shoulder-so sweet (he's already gotten into the candy from the Eggs he found--he won third place for his age group so I guess all that practice paid off!)

Maggie's birthday table

Maggie's cakes. I love my new favorite bakery---Kathy's Icing on the Cake!

Will dyeing Easter Eggs



They couldn't wait to taste the icing I guess

Maggie on her "birthday Sunday" not sitting still for a picture...


What a crazy couple weeks this has been! The day after Maggie's "real" birthday, we started the Easter celebrations with Will's Easter parade and party at school (he had Spring Break the week before Easter). That began the practice Easter egg hunts that took place daily (like 24/7) for the next week. Will was so into doing this, and that was even before he figured out there was candy in some of the eggs! We also found out Maggie had a double ear infection that weekend-I'm really hoping this means they'll do tubes, but we had to go to Saturday clinic so we haven't seen our pediatrician yet.

Monday was St. Patty's Day, which we really only celebrate by the clothes that we wear, but we said it all day long while we ran errands, so it still broke up the Easter celebrations. The next day it rained ALL DAY here, so we spent a whole day at home. We decided to have Easter Tuesday, so my mom, grandma, and nephew Brandon all came over to help. We dyed Easter Eggs, had more hunts, and made an Easter Egg cake (very into this cake decorating thing now!). So the rest of the week we celebrated Easter with more hunts and visits to see the Easter Bunny (and unfortunately Maggie was popping in two new molars while struggling with her ears) until Saturday when we had Maggie's official birthday party (after a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt that morning). God gave us beautiful weather that day and all the kids had a blast! My sister's fam, brother's, parents, grandma, aunt, cousins, and some friends came to help us celebrate. After a few hours of celebration, everyone crashed and we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had come for a visit. My kids must be so confused!

My sister and her girls stayed for a few days past Easter, but most of the activities from that visit will have to come on another post! Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Maggie!

It's so hard for me to believe, but my baby girl is already one year old! She has brought such joy to our family, and we are so incredibly thankful that God blessed us with our little Maggie. We decided to celebrate Maggie's big day in the most fitting way we could imagine-full of activity, lots of smiles, loved by friends and family, and all new experiences. The day turned out better than I could have dreamed! Rather than explain it all with words, I'll let the pictures tell the story...I'll warn you that there are way more pictures on here than anyone other than family will want to see!


The start to our day...Maggie in her birthday hat at her birthday table

Getting ready to "blow" the candle out on her first ever chocolate chip pancake-a family tradition for birthdays in our family

Loving that pancake!

Typical-feeding Miller her leftovers!

At Pump It Up-I wasn't sure what she'd think about all the action here, but she loved every minute!

Maggie practicing a cheerleader pose maybe?

Pump It Up was such a fun place to celebrate! We were scoping things out for Will's birthday party and I think he approved!

All four of us had a great time on the slide

Will and Maggie sliding together-I know I say this a lot, but they are so fun to watch, especially as they are able to do more together

I kept trying to get a good picture of Maggie with Eric, but she's such a wiggle worm and all she wanted to do was get back up that slide!

Maggie and Mama

Maggie and Will feeding the ducks after our picnic

I love how they were swinging their arms

Maggie thought the bread was for her to eat instead of feed to the ducks

We have found that the best entertainment for Will has been the construction going on for Eric's office. This morning, a huge dump truck came to our house and dumped a monster pile of dirt. Since the workers didn't get everything done in a day, the kids really enjoyed playing in these dirt piles all over the backyard!

Maggie in her new rocking chair trying to figure out which present she wants to open first!

Tyler and Maddie came over to bring her a new PINK bubble mower-Will has the matching blue one...

At Toys R Us test driving a pink corvette-maybe next year!

I just thought this was a funny one-they both ran over to the train table, and Will grabbed as many trains as he could hold

Leaving Toys R Us, Maggie loving on her big brother-I think he gets more hugs than all of us put together!

Maggie with her cake-this is the first of two parties we'll have for her, so I decided to make one of her cakes-it took forever and didn't turn out quite like I'd pictured (and for those who know me well, I know you're laughing at the thought of me trying to decorate a cake), but it was made with love and tasted great!

No shyness here-Maggie DUG IN!

The face of sheer joy!

Now all the icing's gone, time to start on the chocolate!

This is Maggie's sign for "finished", and that she was...after a long day and a mild sugar crash!