Ellie's 1st birthday

Our sweet Ellie Hollyn is now a 1 year old! We had a cute cupcake birthday party for her complete with both sets of grandparents, a cousin, and several friends from church.

She is such a precious blessing from God, and we LOVE her so much!

It's been over a month!

Over a month. That's how long it's been since I wrote a new blog post. Wow. I will try to update our lives for the past month without spending hours sitting here doing it.

The girls enjoyed an Astros game although Katie cried because they lost.
We've enjoyed time at the pools, beach club, etc. Gracie & Katie took swimming lessons. Gracie is doing fantastic while Katie still needs quite a bit more work although she is definitely improving.Katie enjoyed having one of her "big" friends spend time helping her learn to swim last week.

We participated in a 4th of July parade at church. It was HOT!
We had VBS last week which was tiring but very good. The girls enjoyed it, and Gracie & Chris got to do a little acting in the play that was shown each night. It was "Esther: For Such A Time As This." My parents & Chris' parents were here for Ellie's 1st birthday. We're already planning for Gracie's birthday which is coming up soon. Ellie's birthday party (separate post) was a 'cupcake' theme. Gracie's is going to be an "almost sleepover" with a 'flip flop' theme.

Gracie: She is doing great. She enjoyed having a small part in the VBS play. She is looking forward to her birthday. She is also looking forward to attending Kids' RoadMap with a church group as well as going to church camp. Chris will be going as one of the counselors. She enjoyed having Gramps & Gramme help paint her room pink when they were here.

Katie: She is also doing well. She has developed quite a crush on one of the teenage boys at church which is hilarious. He is very sweet to her. She is very excited about going to Kindergarten soon. Me? I'm sad about it. :( I will survive. I will survive. I will survive. She has had some bike crashes which has been tough on her.

Ellie: Our little 1 year old is doing great! She is in the 35th% for weight & 40th% for height and just moving all over the place. Not walking yet but soon! She is precious.

First & Last of 3rd grade

First day of 3rd grade
Last day of 3rd grade
I am so thankful that Gracie finished the school year at the same school where she started this year! After last year, that is quite an accomplishment!

She had a great year. She seemed to develop "deeper" school friendships than she has in the past. She loved her teacher. She passed, and got 'commended,' on both the Reading & Math TAKS.

She has become so responsible...getting up with an alarm clock, getting dressed by herself, etc.

She is wonderful, and we're so proud of her and are blessed to be her parents!

another school year coming to an end

*Mother's Day was a great day. I was served breakfast in bed on Saturday and then Chris grilled salmon for Sunday after church which was extremely yummy! They all treated me special!

Katie had her Pre-K "graduation" & program which was really cute, of course! It's hard to believe that she'll be starting Kindergarten in August. We went to a playgroup yesterday that someone has organized with the intention of helping the kids get to know some friends they will be in K with next year. There was one earlier in the day that we couldn't go to which I heard about 12 kids came to. There were only 4 kids at the one we went to, but she played & interacted, and I was able to meet 1 mom & 1 grandmother. Unfortunately, Katie had a bike crash which resulted in some tears & blood. Poor thing has a scratched up face & busted lip! *We went to Nashville over Memorial Day where we got to see lots of family and celebrate my niece's 7th birthday. My parents & grandmother also came, and we got to see my cousin & his family which included his sweet little boy whom we hadn't met yet. He was born in January 2008, and it was really cute to see him with all the other extended cousins. It was a long drive there & back, but God blessed us with safe travels, thankfully!*Gracie has 3 1/2 days left of 3rd grade, and then she'll be a big 4th grader! Wow! She has had a fantastic school year and has done great. She got 'commended' on both the Reading & Math TAKS test which makes us extremely proud! She's such a wonderful child!
*Ellie is now 11 months old-crawling everywhere, pulling up on furniture, into everything! She has 4 teeth, but I think some more are about to pop through. Once she pulls up on the coffee table, she gets mad because it's like she's "stuck." She stands there holding on for dear life fussing. It's so cute. Katie warned me one day that she was on the stairs. Sure enough, she was on the 2nd step. She was sitting there still when I walked in, but as I walked to her, she turned to watch me and I literally caught her as she started to fall. Ugh-marble tile in the foyer. That would be an "ouch!" *We're looking forward to Gracie being out of school and spending more time at the pools and being involved with VBS and other church activities for the girls and planning Ellie's 1st birthday party!!!!!!!

updates

Thoughts from the past weeks:

We have decided that Houston likes to flood when it rains a lot. During one 24 hour period, parts of Houston received more than 10 inches of rain-crazy! Our street tends to flood too which has prompted us to get flood insurance-just in case. It has gotten up into our yard twice now in the past month, and both of us were sweating it out imagining the cost of replacing/repairing things if it got in the house. I know of at least 1 other family at church who didn't previously have it who decided to get it after our last big rainstorm. Nothing like a lake in your previous front yard to make you desire flood insurance! Gracie even missed a day of school due to the flooding-even on a TAKS day. Kinda crazy.

My aunt & uncle from Kentucky were going to San Antonio for vacation, and they came to visit us for a couple of hours and treated us to dinner. This was their first time to meet Ellie! Aunt Sandy is my dad's twin sister. It was really great to see them.

Last Friday night, we left the girls with our favorite babysitter and joined a couple of friends who had left their kids with grandparents to eat out at Benihana. My birthday was last weekend, so it was really fun to do a little celebrating sans children! I love my kids, and enjoy being with them-and am with them most of the time, but it's nice to have time without them as well. Good for us all from time to time! I'm thankful we've found a babysitter we like & trust! After eating at Benihana, we enjoyed dessert at "Ooh La La"-a favorite of mine! Yum Yum!

Saturday, I was treated to breakfast at Cracker Barrel which was great of course. While we were eating, a maid service was cleaning the house. Awesome! We then headed out to San Antonio where we had plans to spend time with Chris's cousin, Trey, who has been in Iraq serving as an Army Captain. However.........our van had other plans. Long story short - it broke down, it was towed back from about 70 miles outside of Katy, a friend drove to pick us up, van has been fixed, a lot of money was spent on the whole thing and it really stinks. BUT - we have plans to drive to Nashville for Memorial Day, so I'm really thankful all of this didn't happen on THAT trip!

Sunday (my actual birthday) was spent at church then our usual brunch at Pappasitos where we once again enjoyed "Huevos Con Carne." Chris & I split it, and it's soooo good! Chris also arranged for them to sing to me, and we enjoyed some big brownie thing with ice cream. I then enjoyed a loooong nap and church again that night. Not only did I enjoy receiving the maid service on Saturday, I got a cup with a "J" on it which I really wanted :), and a spa gift certificate for time in the aromatherapy steam room, a pedicure, and a massage. aaahhhhh! Can't wait!

I am still working part time for the church, and it is settling into a pretty good routine. I still only go in on Thursdays for a few hours with the rest being done from home for which I'm so thankful. I'm interested to see how it works out this summer with Gracie being out of school and a babysitter who will occasionally be occupied with youth group activities. I sure do enjoy earning a little money; it has come in handy during emergencies & for some 'extra' things (like trips to Nashville for Memorial Day!)
Thursday, Katie & Ellie enjoyed 'Splash Day' at preschool. Well, they said Ellie didn't enjoy being put in the water, but Katie enjoyed it! I was able to slip out of the office during my lunch to watch Katie on the slip 'n slide.

We had a play date today with friends from church which was lots of fun. It was so great to just sit & visit with my friend while the kids played. I have so many memories of play dates like this from Aiken, and honestly, I've missed that so much. I enjoy parts of living in a big city with so many neat things to do and places to go, but some days there's just nothing like staying home and letting the kids play with friends. It was great! Katie & Ellie were about to fall out from exhaustion, but we had to go get Gracie from school, so they were able to stay awake until we did that (although Katie was actually laying on me at the park she was so tired!) Both Katie & Ellie took a nap as soon as we got home. It was a good tired for both of them!
Tonight, Chris & Gracie went on a 'Daddy/Daughter Date' while Katie, Ellie, & I went to Target, picked up something for our own dinner, and rented some movies at Blockbuster. We are now watching "Hotel for Dogs" which is proving to be quite cute.

News I hear is that I get breakfast in bed tomorrow morning since it's Mother's Day weekend. I've requested breakfast burritos. Yum!

Updates:

Gracie is about to finish up 3rd grade which is hard to believe! She is still enjoying school although I think she may be about ready for a bit of a break. She adores her teacher, and likes hanging out with her friends at school. She is looking forward to having a small part in the play at VBS at church this summer. She has her sassy moments, but is really such a sweet, wonderful daughter. She is a huge help with Ellie, and does things for her without even having to be asked. She gets up on her own most mornings and is dressed with her bed made and sitting there reading when I walk into her bedroom. While I finish getting ready and get Ellie up, she usually goes downstairs and gets breakfast for her & Katie. These qualities are 100% from my dad. He gets up early and reads. I sure don't get up early if I don't have to!

Katie is looking forward to starting Kindergarten. I'm anxious about it and afraid she may have some clingy moments at first, but I know she's going to LOVE it. We're considering applying for her to be in a 'dual language immersion' program at her school. Half the instruction would be in English, half would be in Spanish. We'd have to commit to her doing it all the way through 5th grade with the same group of students with the goal being that she would be completely bilingual by the time she leaves 5th grade. There are only 2 elementary schools in the district who offer the program. It sounds so good in theory, but I have lots of questions. I plan to go to a meeting this next week. She is having some problems with following the rules and obeying, but is really such a great daughter, too. She is so much fun, and amazes us with her intelligence, creativity, & "think outside the box" qualities. She enjoys playing with Ellie now that she's getting older. She is a complete joy...just a bit of a handful at times!
Ellie is a joy!!!!!! Her 4th tooth has popped through, and I think 1 or 2 are about to. She is crawling and about to pull up to her feet-has already pulled up to her knees. She puts ANYTHING & EVERYTHING in her mouth that she can find which is not good. She babbles and smiles with a crinkled up nose. She is just wonderful!

Ellie is 10 months old!

Ellie turned 10 months old on Friday. How time flies! She has a 3rd tooth-her top middle right one. She started what I would call really crawling yesterday. She had done it a little bit earlier but was doing it with much more consistency yesterday. She has started a habit of squealing (some might call it screaming) in the car. :( It's getting better! :) She loves to sit and look out the windows in the living room. She is eating lots of table food. She is a total & complete joy!