Fall Begins

Right before school started we found out we are having a baby girl, Macee Marie.  We are so excited to meet her at the end of December! I believe Annalee has no idea how it is going to turn her world upside down but she will be a fantastic big sister.  She is already such a big helper!

 We needed to take some updated pictures for Dad's desk at school.  She was such a sport and the pictures turned out adorable.  Little stinker!

 

We went to check out Dad's classroom before school started...yes, he has a classroom this year! Woohoo!!  He is teaching one class of 7th grade Math again this year and has three 8th grade history classes now.  He is enjoying this year much more than the last!  Still coaching football, basketball, and track.

 

Here are a few projects I have made for Annalee's playroom:

Framed magnet board.  Frame from hobby lobby, metal from Lowes, letters from Mardels, and there we have it! Annalee went and stood over there and told me "picture, mom".

I found these large letter at Hobby Lobby and painted them to match the colors in the playroom.

The latest house project has been our yard.  Two weekends ago was spent putting in our sprinkler system. Since then a tree has been added and the yard hydro mulched.

Hard workin' men

 Last weekend my sis in law, Charlee, and I made the trip to College Station and Katy to go see family and friends.  I'm pretty sure the drive seemed longer than ever (or maybe I just haven't made it in a while) but it was worth it! On Friday I drove over to the Spring area to see some of our sweet friends we miss so much, Jennifer & Anne-Marie.  We had dinner and I got to snuggle little baby Noah for a little bit before Annalee was done with being in a high chair and ready to go!

 

She just wanted to rock the baby over and over. Poor Noah!

Annalee had such a blast swimming with Brooke at Aunt Amy's house

In College Station we of course had to enjoy some Freebirds and hit up the tent sales to update our Aggie gear. We had a great trip getting to see everyone and I miss being so close to my wonderful sisters!  I know Annalee was exhausted from her weekend of fun getting to play with all the kids.  Here are all the girls just missing mom:

I think we need a few more blondes in our family..

And finally here is a belly pic from this week:

 

Just a little bit about this pregnancy: I had morning sickness worse and a lot longer with this one but that is calmed down for now.  Haven't really had too many cravings - just love Cinnamon Toast Crunch :) and pickles -- don't worry not together! This pregnancy seems to be flying by but I'm pretty sure that's because I'm too busy chasing Annalee around to notice my belly growing.  Macee is loving flipping around in there and enjoys kicking Annalee if she is on my belly for too long. And as of right now Annalee is convinced everyone has a Macee in their belly.  Haha.  I can't wait for her to meet her little sister!

 

 

 

A few of Annalee's favorite things

I'm trying to write down milestones and quotes from Annalee as they happen but sometimes I forget and sometimes pictures are just better than words.  I know this will just get more difficult to remember to do when another one comes along so I figured I better put it on the blog for when one day I actual print this as our family journal.  So here we go..10 of Annalee's favorites.

1. Loves putting on my shoes and prancing around!  It happens each and every morning.

2. Eating corn on the cob.  It's pretty funny to watch!

3.  Gator rides at Pa & GayGay's house. 

 4. Digging...but she does not like to be dirty.  So if the dirt gets off the shovel and on her hands all we hear is "clean it, wipe it, dirty!!".

 5.  Drinks the milk from her cereal bowl like a champ.  Her cereal is normally still all in the bowl too - all she wants is the milk.

 6.  Swinging on anything and everything.  Current favorite is our dining room table or the island in our kitchen.

 7. Bouncing/Throwing balls.  Her daddy is teaching her early to love sports!

8. Brushing her teeth.  All by herself.

 9. Carrying things around much larger than her.  Again another hilarious one to see.

 

 10.  Anything Minnie Mouse.  Let's just say we have most Mickey Mouse Clubhouse aka "Toodles" episodes memorized by now.

 

 

Summer Recap

Our summer flew by! Back in June around 3 days before we were supposed to move into our house a crazy storm swept through Abilene.  Pictured below is my parents barn that we were living in.  Notice the roof being peeled back by the 70-80 mph winds.  This caused where we were living to flood so we moved into a room in my parents house until our house was completed.  None of our furniture was damaged just wet but the barn roof sure had seen better days.  The ceiling in the barn ended up falling in too but we had got almost everything out by then.

 



We were so excited to see a mailbox!  That meant moving in was so soon!

June 17th we closed on the house & were moving in! And then I got really bad about taking pictures of the house and still do not have pictures of the inside.  I'm still slowly getting everything decorated how I want it...just in time to take it down to decorate for Fall & Christmas!

At the end of June my college roommates, Lacey, Erin and her husband Brian, came to see the house and hang out for a weekend before Brian & Erin moved to California!  It was a fun weekend hanging out and one night we took them out to Perini's to experience a great Abilene steak.  Therefore, a picture with the giant armadillo was a must!

For the 4th of July we went to Amarillo to spend it with family at Grandpa & Grandma's house.  It was fun going to the parade that went through Canyon and watching the fireworks that night in the park.  Annalee enjoyed watching the parade but was worn out after and crashed in her stroller while we shopped the square.  She stayed awake to watch all of the fireworks that night though...she loves them like her momma! She also loved playing outside at their house and even tried feeding the goats with Grandpa.

4 generations

Next up was our annual trip to the Frio River with my family.  The river was low again this year so we did not get to float but it was perfect for Annalee and all the little kids. Dallas would take her to the top of a little rapid and she would float all the way down smiling until someone caught her.  She is definitely a water baby!

 

She loves having her daddy home to play during the summers!

 

At the end of July we went to a Rangers game.  This was the kids gift to Kerr for Father's day and the first date that worked out for everyone to go.  We went to the George Bush library before the game and Dallas enjoyed being President for 30 seconds.  I'm pretty sure it was the hottest baseball game I have ever been to...there was no breeze!  We had great seats though and it was a great game to be there until the end!

In August my friends from Katy, Nessa & Tamara, came to visit and see the house/Abilene.  I was so glad they came & apprecaited them making the forever long drive to come see us!  

After they left Dallas surprised me with a trip to Ft. Worth before school started.  It was much needed quality time before football season started for him.  We stayed at the Omni downtown and enjoyed a delicious dinnner at Del Frisco's on Saturday night.  It was a very relaxing weekend but we sure did miss that sweet girl talking up a storm in the background!  

Quick Picture Update

 

In April we went to see Wicked in Dallas.  It was a lot of fun!

Mother's Day

Annalee's first trip to the Zoo

We did not like our life jacket at first...

Now she loves swimming and will jump right in.

The house is getting so close to being finished!  We are hoping to move in within the next week!

Walking up like she owns the place

Sheetrock

Cabinets going in.  She enjoyed slamming all of the doors.

 

Tile work complete!

Daddy's little helper

Wood floors going in currently

Driveway was poured earlier this week.




And here's Annalee making her big announcement of becoming a BIG SISTER in January!

 

 

Easter & a House Update

For Easter we went over to Tim & Crystal's after church and enjoyed a delicious lunch then Annalee had the perfect gigantic "front yard" at HSU to hunt eggs.  She practiced hunting eggs at school the Thursday before so she was an expert on Sunday.  What a cutie she was in her little dress & shoes from Babs prancing around with her little basket picking up all the eggs!

 

On a mission

Dallas was very proud of his outfit this Easter...

 

My 2 bunnies

My new favorite picture - makes my heart happy!

 

It's tiring being so cute.

House Progress Update: Wiring is done, Windows are in, Trim is painted, A/C is in, Roof is on, House is foamed, Sheetrock got started today, Brickers are starting Monday....we are moving right along!

 

What the outside looks like right now.

 

I think we wore these 2 out or are they just sleeping on the job?

 

 

 

 

The Boss checking all our measurements.

What our Friday night date consisted of last week - cleaning up after they insulated the house. :)

The Boss checking in on her workers again.

 

Cleaning up the mess. Lets hope she always enjoys cleaning...I can dream, right?