New Toys, business trip, and cuddle time!!

I am trying to post more often....=) After seeing Sophia and Emmerson having so much fun playing at their new picnic table....I knew Clara would just love it too. We made a trip to Target and bought this neat picnic table that also transforms into a water/sand table so that she can play and learn at the same time. We also picked up a few extras of shape blocks to sort and ring stackers. Here are some pics

Notice Clara's new PJs. They are part of the love box Tierra sent! They are adorable!!

This was a pic from this morning. She loves to climb on her table too as I knew she would!!

Clay and I are going to Arizona for a work trip and the kiddoes will be staying with my parents. Some of our trips are more "play" with a little work mixed in but unforunately this trip will entail a lot of work for Clay. So we will not get in a lot of "couple" time until late evenings. We have dinner plans that are work related the whole time. So Meemaw (my mom) graciously offered to watch the kids a bit earlier on Saturday so Clay and I can drive to Dallas a night early and have a "date" night. Clay has planned a wonderful dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.....YUMMY!!! Our flight to Arizona is Sunday morning and we will be back Wednesday. It will be a nice break from cleaning, homeschooling, and daily life. I will be ready to get back to my kiddoes though. I am happy and feel blessed for the break in the routine though.

Before I call it an end to a post....I had to share this picture of Clay and her baby girl. He finally got Clara to fall asleep with him the other night. He loves cuddling and the boys always slept with us. Clara has always enjoyed her bed which I LOVE because it is a good break, but Clay was missing his snuggles.....He got his moment. Clara had woken up (I guess bad dream) and was a bit fussy. Daddy took her to cuddle in bed with him with a big glass of milk. After finishing up some TV watching in the living room this is what I walked in on....

Bunch O' Stuff...playin' catch up!

Okay...sorry so long to update you guys. A lot has gone on and I just have not made time to post. We had a great Valentine's Day. Before heading out for Christian's gym meet we met Meemaw and Pawpaw at one of their favorite "small" town breakfast places. It was very nice to share some time with them on Valentine's day. Meemaw could not wait to give the kids their Valentines and even pulled a Valentine out for Clay and I. Here are some pics of our wonderful breakfast. Clara got a Valentine's puppy and the boys got some great pencils and candy. Clay and I got truffles...mmm mmm good!! Clara has a thing for stuffed animals and baby dolls. She just loves them and I love watching her love on them.

We headed to Dallas for Christian's gym meet. He did wonderful and improved on everything. I posted videos right after his competition in my link on the top right if you have not already seen them. Here is a pic of him with his awards!! We are very poud of him!!

Clara went to the doctor on Thursday for her 15-month check up. She got her first two shots then. I felt so badly for her. We decided to put off her shots until she was older and so she got the HIB shot (and will only have to have it that once since she is 15-months.) We are also getting her DTAP so she got her first one. You should have seen the looks she was giving to the door to make sure that that nurse was NOT coming back into the room. She is still a big girl and over 90 percentile in everything but her head circumference which is 80%. Her weight is 27.4 lbs. She is 32 inches tall which is 91 percentile for her age. She is happy and healthy. She will be going to see a general surgeon on Thursday to discuss fixing her umbilical hernia. So I will try to keep you guys posted as to what will happen there. I so want to get it fixed but I am also fearful for my baby girl going through that....uggh!! She loves to eat and enjoys most every type of food. She loves sweets though...that's my girl!! She basically eats what we are eating. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES stuffed animals and dolls. She loves lovin' on them. She will kiss her dolls but no sharing those kisses with us...=( She has shared a couple of times. Another thing that she loves is being outside! She enjoys riding the plasma car with Cullen. She is a very cautious little girl and thus still not walking on her own even though she knows how to. She has to have a hold of at least a finger and she is off!! She loves to climb on everything! She loves to sleep and sleeps WELL!! She wakes up around 8 ish. She naps around 11-2 or 3. She goes to bed around 7 (sometimes later sometimes sooner). I am telling you they don't get any easier than Clara has been for us!! The boys were great babies but she blows them out of the water. She is super smart and really listens well. She does test her limits but that is her job right about now. She is just a fantastic little lady and I am so honored to call her my daughter!!

God has blessed us beyond measure and I cannot imagine how He will continue to top Himself over and over again!!

I have to share with you guys how long Clara's hair is. You do not realize how long her hair is until you pull it out of her braids to wash it. Is she not the cutest thing you have ever seen!!! I know I am partial but they just don't come much cuter than her!! I am really excited. I have ordered an easy beader and some beads and I cannot wait to get them in. She will just love shaking her head around with all those beads in her hair!! She already gets a kick out of the snaps!!

Tierra out did herself this time. She sent us a gift package!! She had something for everyone in it. She sent dart guns for the boys which they love. She sent the best little puppy that teaches ABC's, body parts, songes, etc. and you can actually understand clearly what he is saying. Clara loves him! She also sent some books and great clothes and hair toys!! My favorite out of all of it was an updated photo album of everyone and even the kids' great drawings and crafts for Clara!!! I just cherish it!! I uploaded a video so you guys could watch us opening it. Thank you Tierra and tell the kids thanks!! Here are a few pics of Clara with her puppy!

Hopefully I will post more often in the coming days. I hate when I get behind. I have this guilt about being behind. Do you guys feel that way when you get behind in your posts...guilty? How silly is that.

Park Fun and Photo Editing Fun

I have added some new videos of Clara and Cullen riding on the plasma car. She loves that thing! We enjoy riding her around on it. One day she will be doing it all by herself. I also added video of Clara at the park. She absolutely loves the slide and since she has learned to climb she thinks that is just GREAT to climb up the slide.

Here are a couple shots taken before editing. Christian took the shot of Cullen and said it was horrible. I told him no that it would be great after editing.....well here are the Before and AFters of that on.

Here is a shot of Clara climbing up the slide. he had a blast doing it. Here is the Before and After.

Here are some shots of more Clara hair!

The other day Clara wanted to play in her Moses' basket. She is such a goof. She was standing and laughing and giggling. I will try to upload a video of us playing around. She was trying to catch the ball and was throwing it to me a couple times. Her aim can be rather wild but it did not bother her any.

We had been pretty sick. All of us got it except for Cullen. It lasted about 12 hours and was horrible!! We threw up and got a bit of diarrhea. Clara had it the mildest and first. She puked a couple times. It then passed to Christian whom had it pretty bad!! Then Clay came along and got it awful bad....then I came along and came right behind Clara with almost the mildest case. It was tough stuff but over with fast. Cullen has lucked out so far and hopefully will. We just don't get sick that often.

Hopefully more to come soon.....

Happy Birthday Candy and My Crazy Guys!!

Saturday we headed over to Meemaw and Papaw's house to celebrate Candy's 29th birthday. For those of you still trying to get the hang of my family, Candy is my newest sister-in-law. She married, Matt, my youngest brother. We had a great time. Meemaw and Pawpaw cooked steaks out on the grill which we are always more than happy to eat up!! We spent the first part of the day outside. The weather was beatiful. Christian showed off his back flips. There are videos in the top right of him doing this and flip flop back flips. He amazes me!We also attempted to feed the catfish which come around for food every year. They did not show up Saturday because they had not been fed in a while. They will be back and I will try to get video of them for you guys. It is really neat. It was Clara's first time to feed them though. It was a big process to try and teach her that the fish food was not "Clara" food. YUCK!! She snuck in a few bites though....GROSS!! She got the hang of throwing it "towards" the water but rarely made it directly into the water. I cannot wait until the catfish show up and she gets to see them. I have a video of Clara feeding the fish up in "Tidbits of our life in Video" in the upper right corner along with a lot of others that I will get to in a sec. Clara also loved walking on the pier of the boathouse by herself. She LOVED peaking through the slats in the railing! She thought it was so neat! Here are some shots

Notice Pawpaw in the background grilling up our steaks!! Mmmm, mmmm good!

Clay took Clara ove to the neighbors playground and swung her for a little bit. She was worn out. It had been a very long day. We had looked at a house earlier that morning and she had no nap but about 30 minutes for that day. Clara has to have her sleep and she only sleeps in her bed or at Meemaw & Pawpaw's in her playyard in the back room. She stay awake in the car nowadays for the most part. We then went inside and gorged on our steak, potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, and salad! It was great. Thanks Meemaw and Pawpaw! We then sang happy birthday to Candy and watched her open her presents. I gave her a Scentsy plug-in she had picked out along with one of her favorite scents and a car candle. Meemaw learned from Candy...Candy is the ultimate in picking out personalized and thoughtful gifts. Meemaw put a mug, truffles, a Christian CD, warm and cozy socks, MONEY, journal, and some other things in a cute little box!! It was her spa box. Great idea!! I will learn someday. I am just not a real thoughtful gift giver.

I had to show this picture of Candy's Christmas present to my parents. Candy made up a Christmas box for my parents. One of the many items included were these GREAT cards. We like playing cards and what better things to have on your deck of cards, but family pictures. Each person has their own number. Clara is 2, Luke is 4, Matt & Clay are the jokers...ha ha!! Couples are the aces like Matt & Candy, Clay & myself, Meemaw & Pawpaw & Mike & Casey. They are pricey so I have not gotten myself a deck...but maybe one day! Matt & CAndy's wedding photo is on the front of the whole deck. Then here is a shot of a couple of them. They all got mad when I tried taking pictures during our card game but I thought you guys would want to see them. I was tring to get more...it is not my fault you just get to see these few. They only have one deck so we combine with 2 different decks thus the other cards with the cool cards!

Okay...I have to wrap up our card playng with a typical scene. Matt is "that" uncle. He is my baby brother and I love him. When you are around him you cannot help but laugh! This pic is showing how used to it Candy is. Matt farted at the table while playing cards. Pawpaw jumped out of his seat and ran far away....Candy on the other hand grabs the nearest candle and just goes on like normal......

Okay , bare with me I know this is a long post. I had to show the difference that a little editing can do to a photograph. I had a friend do this edit for me....Thanks Heather. I am hoping to teach myself how to do stuff like this soon.....This amazes me. Two of my favorite subjects....My girl and My Man!! The first one is unedited. The second one is obviously the edited picture!

OKay...now to wrap this up. Check out the videos at the top right. My CRAZY guys ended up going for a bit of a swim yesterday before the Super Bowl. Cullen thought it was warm enough to go swimming and then all bets were on!! If you want to laugh....watch 'em!

That's it folks!!