Girls Trip to Little Rock

I flew out to Little Rock Thursday night, to visit my friend Ashley. A few other friends (Deborah, Kim & Laura) joined us on Friday. We had a wonderful weekend and Ashley thank you for having us and treating us to breakfast and a yummy dinner. Your home is beautiful!

I am going to take this time to ask everyone to pray for Ashley and her family. On Feburary 25, 2008, Ashley's precious baby boy, Carter Rylan Purnell went to Heaven. We wanted to go to Little Rock to be there to support Ashley,to listen and maybe provide a little distraction from the pain and heartbreak she (and her family) is going thru. Ashley has 2 precious daughters whom she must get up for everyday and I commend her for doing her best for them every single day. May God embrace Ashley and Nathan and help them use their faith and the support of their family and friends to get thru the difficult times.

All of us taught middle school together and this is how we became friends. We have been thru many life changing events together and feel so blessed to have one another.

Our Little Miracles!

Look how far they have come! They were once so tiny and now they are getting so big. Not much going on this week, so just thought I would share a little piece of our past. I can hardly remember the time we spent in the NICU, but while we were there for 8 LONG weeks, it felt like they were never coming home. I can't believe it has been 3 1/2 years--time goes by way TOO fast (it makes me sad). We feel so blessed to have such happy, healthy preschoolers (most days anyways). Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I am off to Little Rock to spend time with a few friends and to stay with my friend Ashley!

Spring Break Fun

Spring Break was last week and I would love to report that we went to Disney World or Mexico or did something really exciting, but we didn't. We pretty much stayed around here and had a low key week, which wasn't all that bad. Collin keeps saying "I'm a potty train"...and that was the highlight of Spring Break, getting Collin potty trained :) Above are a few pictures from the play area at the mall -- and we also had a play date on Friday at the Wiggly Play Center. The kids had such a good time playing with Jake and dancing with the dog from The Wiggles!

Easter with Coco and Papa

After church on Sunday, we headed over to Carolyn and Eric's (Jeff's parents aka Coco/Papa). We had a nice, traditional lunch and we ate way more than we should have. Also with us to celebrate Easter was YaYa (Carolyn's cousin) and Great-daddy (Jeff's grandad). The kids napped and when they got up we had an egg hunt with TONS of eggs and then went for a nice walk (and the kids were able to ride their scooters). We had a full weekend with many Easter celebrations, but we are so thankful for family we love and enjoy our times together.

Easter Morning --"Hoppy Easter"

Sunday morning we woke up and the Easter Bunny had left scooters, baskets with treats and a few left over carrot crumbles (we had left him some carrots and Reese insisted he needed some Ranch dippy). After our bunny festivities we got dressed for church and headed off to celebrate the true reason for Easter.

Easter with Nana & Apa

So Saturday morning we headed to Kemp where my mom and Fermin live (Nana and Apa). They live on 23 acres of gorgeous land and the kids have so much room to run, play, explore and be free. It was such a beautiful day--we had the best time. We had a yummy lunch, Easter egg hunt, kids went fishing (with Daddy, Apa, Uncle B and Aunt Ali) and the most amazing time with our family. PLUS, my mom made the cutest bunny cake and my kids LOVE cake--so it was an absolute hit!

FINALLY!!!!!

Disclaimer: Poo poo and pee pee are the topics of this entry, so if not interested, just skip this one.

After one morning of sitting on the potty for books on end, or running to the potty every 5 minutes, or peeing 3 times in a row---we have finally done it! I think Collin is finally potty trained (at least pee pee). I haven't convinced him to poop in the potty yet, but we are wearing BIG BOY underwear and never looking back!!!! I realize he is 3 1/2 years old, but I think it went much easier than anticipated. We started this on Tuesday and it is now Thursday, so I am hoping there is only progress ahead. Anyways, just wanted to share the EXCITING news.

I have never really tried to potty train Collin before now. I hate to admit that, but he is somewhat immature for his age (I believe b/c of his prematurity) and I just did not want to push it until he was good and ready. I am so glad I waited, although I probably could have done this a few months ago, I am not sure it would have gone as smoothly. He is so proud of his underwear and I am so proud of HIM!!! Way to go Collin!

My Little Lucky Charms

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day and I had to capture a couple of pictures of Reese and Collin. Hope everyone wore their green and didn't get pinched. Jeff leaves at 4:30AM everyday and so the kids do not see him until after work (usually around 4:30 or 5:00). So, I coached them to check Jeff's clothes AND if he did not have on green to PINCH HIM!!! Well, of course he didn't wear his green so he got a couple of pinches from the little ones. Collin is already saying he wants to pinch him when he gets home today--hard to explain he is only "allowed" to pinch him one day a year :)

Easter Pictures with the Live Bunnies

Today Nana (my mom) took all the grandkids to get their pictures taken with the bunnies at North Park. The kids loved it--and really enjoyed petting and cuddling the bunnies. They also enjoyed seeing the turtles, ducks and the fountain. Thank you to Nana for treating us to a fun morning and our pictures with the bunnies!

**Don't know why I can't edit the picture box to fit the picture (well I think I know why but not going to say on my public blog).

Happy 60th Birthday Papa!

It is Jeff's Dads (Eric or Papa) 60th birthday! So, we wanted to send him a little message and a birthday wish from the kids. We are having an adult get together to celebrate, so my little monkey's won't get to see him--but we called and now are sending a little photo. So, Happy Birthday Papa!

Easter Party at School

Today Reese and Collin had their Easter party at school. This included games, an egg hunt, and chic-fil-a for lunch. What more could you want??? It was so fun to go to their party and watch them play a few games. I never knew how much they love to play duck-duck-goose (the last 3 pictures are of them patiently waiting to be picked as the "goose"). The egg hunt was fun to watch as well. Both Reese and Collin gathered many eggs and were so excited as they added each egg to their basket. The chic-fil-a lunch was just icing on the cake. I can see we will be dragging out the Easter celebration for a couple of weeks--I will be sooooo over hunting eggs by the time Easter gets here :)

I Love Warm Weather

The weather today was absolutely gorgeous. The kids played outside and Daddy pushed them in the BABY swings--but they were loving it. After dinner we went for a bike ride and Reese and Collin rode along in the bike trailer. I am thrilled it is warming up and turning into Spring like weather!

What a Weekend!

We had an action packed weekend. Friday night Jeff hosted poker night at his office and he had a great time with the guys. He was really tired Saturday morning, because he had to stay until the last man was standing (which was really late) b/c he was the host. I am sure he hated every minute of that (heehee!) The kids and I ate pizza and stayed in.
On Saturday--we had 2 birthday parties, one party for a friend from our playgroup (Tyler) and the other party was for one of Jeff's friends kids (Jordan). Tyler's party was at his house and we went to Gattitown for Jordan's party. The kids had a blast at both parties. Saturday evening we went to eat with Jeff's parents and his cousin, the kids had a sitter. We ate at Clay Pit (which is Indian food), so that was a new experience. It was nice to get out and have an adult evening, we really enjoyed our company and it was such a nice gesture for Mary (Jeff's cousin) to treat us to dinner.
Sunday we woke up and went to eat at IHOP with the kiddos--then we ran a couple of errands (we skipped out on church this Sunday). After nap we went to Drake's birthday party (Mimi & David's son) which was an indoor swimming party and the kids had so much fun. They haven't been swimming since last summer and it was nice to see they hadn't skipped a beat--they were ready to jump in feet first. I am really sad that I didn't get any swim pictures. I had put my camera in my purse, and put the battery on the charger. So, technically I took my camera but did not have the battery....so frustrating! Hopefully David can send me a few pics and then maybe I can add them to the blog. We are so thankful for all of our friends for including us in their birthday celebrations!

Playing Dress-Up...1st thing this morning

As you can see, we have already dressed up as many different people today. Reese and Collin are really getting into dressing up and pretend play. Reese has really started to think she is a truly a "princess"--I mean why not--right??? Collin even thinks HE is a princess sometimes (but we keep trying to encourage PRINCE and knight in shining armour). Jeff is not quite sure what to think of this, but I keep trying to convince him that it is just a stage and come on, girl stuff is MORE FUN!!!! We have tried to incorporate some "male" dress-up clothes, but for some reason we have an abundance of "princess" gear. I think it is so funny to see then dress up and be so proud of how they look--just thought I would share. I hope no one blackmails them with these pics one day--Collin might kill me!