Eric's Birthday Week

We had a great time celebrating Eric's birthday last week! Since his birthday was during the week, we did a simple take out dinner and Will made him some cupcakes with LOTS of additional sprinkles. Then on Friday, one of Eric's best friends from Michigan came in town with his girlfriend Angela. We had such a great time with them and are so thankful they were able to spend a weekend here. We had PERFECT 75 degree weather all weekend long so we played outside most of the time. Our friends Aaron and Collette, also from Michigan, brought their two kids over Saturday afternoon and we had a birthday party that night complete with red velvet cake and smores of course. The kids had a great time playing together and I know Eric enjoyed spending the weekend with Eric. We can't wait for them to come back to go to Six Flags with us!


Blowing out the candles on the cake-Will was so disappointed we weren't putting a candle on for each year

Aidan and Will stopped briefly for a pic-they were playing "bumper plasmas" I think!

Maggie on her plasma car

Eric, Aaron, and Eric hanging out Saturday night

The dogs have learned that Maggie will feed them anything except for her blueberries and strawberries.

Will "making" Eric's birthday cupcakes!


Maggie and Maddie at church on Sunday. Maddie is my friend Anyssa's little girl and Maggie was just loving her in bible class!

Maggie and Angela on the trampoline

Will is getting so much better with his tricycle. I think that growth spurt really helped!

Maggie at the zoo today-she was loving those fish!




Maggie seems to come up with one new trick a day to give me a panic attack-this particular morning I was doing breakfast dishes and since Maggie usually climbs into the dishwasher the second it opens, I wondered where she was. When I looked up, I realized she had taken Will's cooshie out of his chair at the table and used it as a step to get into this chair. But that's not where it ended...she gave me this devilish little smile and then climbed onto the table! There are NO pics of that because I had to throw down the camera and gather up the climber!


Of course the update is not complete without a pic of Will and Maggie!

Ready for Spring

Is this how I get back into my chair? I'm still hungry!

We got a few comments on how Maggie and Will look like they have such a great relationship, and they do, but they also have their battles...Maggie has finally learned to tackle Will like he tackles her!

We got home from church and Eric was with the kids so I could get ready to go somewhere. This is how I found them-Eric and Will had changed into comfy clothes, while Maggie was jumping on the trampoline in her dress and tights!

Maggie and Will in the tunnel up in the playground. I didn't realize it was such a dark picture-sorry!

Eric got a Wii for his birthday and this is the "Guitar Hero band"

Will went to the Kids' Home Depot Workshop with Eric last weekend and built a Super Bowl football stool! It came with a big sticker to put on it, but we decided to let him paint it himself instead. Love that apron!

I had this grand plan to start taking pics of the kids before church because Maggie only gets to wear her cute dresses once or twice and it's rare that at any other time (except bedtime) they are both clean and their hair brushed and Maggie with a bow still in her hair and shoes on. Well, you can see how well that went. But at least they're in the same frame.

Maggie is quite a little ham when the camera rolls out!

I hit a giant shoe sale with Maggie this morning because she grew a size and a half in less than a month! I was worried about her wanting to try shoes on because she usually takes them off and eats them or hides them from me, but she was quite the little diva. The lady kept putting shoe after shoe on and she would run to the shelf and find another pink one she thought she needed. Look how happy she is to be surrounded by all her new shoes!

Like Mommy, like daughter. For three years, Will has barely even noticed my DC cans, but Maggie is always reaching and grabbing. She thought she needed to drink one like Mommy always does!


Sorry I didn't get an update in last week. For whatever reason, I didn't take many pics last week and let's face it, who wants to read a blog without pictures? We've been keeping busy getting all the contractors in place for our new addition (Eric's office, no-I'm not pregnant) and updating the kids' bathroom and finally getting our covered porch that we've been wanting since we bought this house! The kids are so happy that the cold weather from last week past and the new 80 degree weather has been here for a few days! We've been living outside as much as possible.

Everyone's doing great here-Eric's birthday is this week and one of his friends from Michigan is coming in to help us celebrate with his girlfriend for the weekend, so we're looking forward to that. Maggie has almost completely switched to people food now and loves her new sippy cups. Anything Will is doing, she needs to be doing the same thing! She is signing "more" now, but it's turning into more of a clap because when she started out doing it I would clap for her and I think she thought I was correcting her sign! Oops. That's pretty much all our "news" for now.

Good luck to Kristy and Amanda who will be having their babies this week!

Miss Independent

She loves to rock in the big rocking chair in her room-none of the kid sized ones in the house!

Reading Pat the Bunny-the front cover is now missing and the pages are a little tattered...

So proud of her ability to walk now! She rarely crawls anymore at all :(

A new fun game-Will pulls Maggie in the lego wagon

Things didn't go so well when Will wanted a turn

I finally got them to forget about the wagon for awhile and go to the kitchen for a snack. When I looked down, Maggie was gone and this is where I found her.

I'm waaaiiiittttiiiiinnnngggg...

Finally, a compromise


At the Baby Blessing at our Church on Sunday morning. I don't know why, but she just sacked out right before it started and slept through the whole thing!

We had our first birthday celebration for Eric this past Saturday. His birthday isn't for a couple of weeks, but we had a great time-any excuse for cake! It was Jeffrey's (Tyler's dad's) birthday too. We also enjoyed a fabulous 2 hour dinner with friends that night with no children!

Maggie has become quite good at climbing out of her high chair and I just couldn't understand why because she LOVES to eat! I had this bumbo out to give to a friend and Maggie climbed in it and sat down next to the fridge with her mouth open. Now she loves to eat in that, and I guess it is because Will sits in a cooshie booster at the table and she likes to be a big kid like him!

I really needed to get some stuff done, so I buried the kids under a basket of toys and they actually stayed there for 20 minutes or so! It's amazing how quickly you can work without little hands tugging.

Time to rest after a hard day of playing!

The pictures really show how we've spent the last week. I didn't get any pics from a visit to Chuck E Cheese last week, but I think Maggie had even more fun than Will. She rode all the little kid rides, then walked around with the big kids looking for more to do. This last antibiotic really cleared up her ear infection quickly and she's been a different child this week. She babbles constantly and laughs all the time and ALWAYS wants to be down and running around. She does Patty Cake and waves and says bye bye, and loves to read her Pat the Bunny book. This is such a cute age!

This update seems heavy on Maggie and light on Will, but that's just because she's changing so much everyday. Will is still sweet as ever and keeps me laughing everyday! He's getting to be such a big boy and has really gone on a growth spurt this last month. I guess I'll have to go shopping...

Will and Uncle Scotty by the monkeys

Maggie was loving these monkeys!

Feeding the ducks

Maggie on her new blocks-finally something she is SUPPOSED to climb on!


Besides yet another ear infection for Maggie and the Cowboys meltdown (thanks, Jessica), we've had a great week! Uncle Scotty was able to take some time Friday to go to the zoo with us and it turned out to be one of the most fun days! Beautiful sunny weather, all the animals were out and "performing" and we were about the only people there! Of course I was a little nervous by the tigers after the San Francisco thing, but we made it! After we left the zoo, we went to one of our favorite restaraunts on the lake and Will got to feed the ducks and fish. Even Maggie got in on the action! For the first time I started missing our boat!

I also had a great day last Thursday-I had a haircut appt. so I dropped Maggie off at my Granny's after I took Will to school and decided I had a few minutes to run to Target. When I got there I saw all these ladies with multiple baskets completely full to the top so I asked what was going on and Target was having a 75% off sale on TONS of toys! I thought I was in heaven! Unfortunately I didn't have much time, but since I was kidless, I was able to work pretty quickly. I got Maggie these Parents brand plastic huge block things to climb on and slide down, etc. and they turned out to be quite a hit!

We went back to the doctor this morning for Maggie's ear check and one of her ears is still infected. We have to try a third antibiotic, but she said if it doesn't clear up this time we're looking at a trip to the ENT. I'm all for tubes-poor Maggie has been struggling with ear infections for 6 straight weeks now.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Little Sister

We've had an 'around the house' day today so I got the camera out to try to capture some classic Maggie/Will interactions. I've noticed lately how a lot of the times Will gets in trouble, it's because of something Maggie (yes, sweet little innocent Maggie!) has instigated. Maybe the reason I know this is because it's a trick I pulled on my parents with my brother lots of times growing up (Sorry Scott)! I love seeing the two of them interact more and more-this morning Will wanted to hold her and when I put her in his lap, he said, "No, like Mommy" so he stood up and I propped my knees under her without him seeing and he was SO proud of how he was holding her like Mommy does. He was even trying to sit her on his hip. Anyway, glad I was (kind of) able to capture a small moment in time from their play


Looks so innocent

Kind of a like a bull in a china shop. She took out the whole tunnel, but check out that smile...

Maggie and Will were cooking in their kitchen when something fell out of Will's pan.

Will is quicker to the floor to pick it up.

Maggie goes for the one arm tackle.

And she dives for it once he's out of the way.

My parents gave Will the Little People Nativity Scene, and he got really into playing with it. Now he's added a new twist where the school bus takes the shepherds to the stables and then they go to church and school all together. Notice the little hand in the bottom left corner...

Deep Thoughts with Will

There's really not much to report on this week, but I'm trying to keep this updated weekly for family, etc. so here goes. Will has said some pretty funny things lately, so I guess I'll write about those since it's a slow week.

He's been really bummed since Six Flags closed after the New Year. Everytime we drive by (which is pretty often), he says something about how he doesn't think it's closed and we should go. I reinforce how it's closed until the spring-time, and we'll go back when they open again. Well today he seemed particularly distraught when we drove by and said, "Mom, it's NOT closed." I of course said how it was indeed closed to which he replied, "Then where is the lid?"

We've recently brought potty training back up again (diapers for two is horrible on my Target budget!), so when Will is at my parents' house they give him a jelly bean for trying to sit on the potty. Well today I was over there with him and he came running to me that he needed to go potty. We hurried into the bathroom and as I'm getting ready to sit him on the toilet, I asked, "Do you need to go pee pee or poo poo?" His response-I just need a jelly bean.

So those stories may have been boring to some (or most) but I hope they entertained a few. This is the funniest stage-by far-yet and I am so blessed to be home to see it all. It's getting harder to get any great pics of Will lately because he either closes his eyes with a super cheesy grin or he runs away just as the camera flashes! But here's one of Maggie (thanks for the dress Nat!)


She's doing great-she's taking up to 6 steps now and getting a little sturdier on those feet. She is really happy with herself about this whole walking thing and as soon as she sits/falls, she looks around to make sure she gets some applause.

Tis the End of the Season...

It's always sad to see the holidays go, but we had so much fun with Eric being off of work, lots of trips to Six Flags, family visiting, SHOPPING!!!, Prairie Lights-such a neat place to see millions of lights though the carousel at the end is somewhat of a death trap..., Santa sightings everywhere we went (when does he have time to make all those toys???), the Owl's Nest at South Lake Town Center, driving around every night for 4 weeks to see Christmas lights, and living the Christmas holidays through a child's eyes again. It has been such a fun month for all those reasons and so many more!

We finally made it out to the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine last week to see the train displays, the life size Gingerbread house, 40 foot tall Christmas trees, and Will's favorite-the elevator. Oh, to a be a 2 year old. It is such a neat place!

Unfortunately we ended the holidays with another double ear infection for Maggie. I talked to the doctor about doing tubes early so she doesn't have to go through what Will did, but she said we have to wait until it develops into more of a pattern. On a positive note, the EarCheck worked again!

We hope everyone had a safe and happy New Years!



Will waving to the trains and Santa

I think he's wishing for more Christmas...

Will and Eric in front of a longhorn-Will's attempting the "hook em horns" sign with his hand if you look close.

Maggie had fun looking at the trains too.

Will was really wanting that yellow car as a late Christmas present

My Granny with the kids.


We finally got an outdoor fireplace and christened it by making smores. Yum!

Will on New Year's Day. He's wearing his Arkansas sweatshirt for my sister's fam, his Michigan jacket for Eric, and his Florida pants for my Dad. Unfortunately, not such good luck (except for Michigan!)

My dogs haven't made it to the blog in awhile, not that this is the best picture. But Payton climbs under this chair to take naps sometimes and Will decided to join her for one on New Years!

One of Will's friends gave him this briefcase with an office set up so he can work at home like Daddy. It's so funny to see him get so into it. He'll tell me I have to be quiet or play with Maggie in another room because he's got to finish up some work!

Maggie and Will at the Gaylord.