Life on the Farm

It's been 3 weeks since we moved out of our old house and moved in with my parents while our new house is being completed.  They graciously took us in, kids, dog, stuff, and all!  Besides the commute back and forth, our stay there has really been pretty nice.  We have been there during their busiest time of the year, corn harvest, but they have still made time to take great care of us all.  The girls and us have really been quite spoiled while staying there.  We are anxious to get into our new home, but I'm sure there are plenty of things we are going to miss.  From home cooked meals to time spent with family, rides on the gator, cousins laughing and playing together in the pool and sandbox, visiting on the back patio, and help with the girls.  It has been much better than we could have ever expected.  I think we all will be a little sad to go when it comes to an end this weekend.  Cooper has become quite the country dog, the girls will miss their NaNa and Papa and cousins, and I know we will miss all the home cooked meals and help with the girls.... Thank you Mom and Dad for a wonderful stay, we will never forget it! 

 Bath time is much more fun with cousins!

 Courtney is such a good Big Cousin!

 Papa and Avery

 Avery will make a beautiful bride some day!

 Poor NaNa isn't going to have any flowers left! 

 These 2 are inseparable!

 They spent an entire day together and had the BEST time!

 Playing in the sand

 Nat and Peyton... little twins!

 Garrett took Avery on a little drive to show her "farm stuff."  Love this cute little picture!

Checking out the combine

Showing her how to drive the tractor

Taking the jeep for a spin

She looks so tiny on this giant tractor

It's not hard to miss God's great creation when you live out on a farm.  From the beautiful sunsets, to the cool evening breeze, to the birds chirping, horses talking...

A crazy couple of months!

Wow.... Have we been busy or what?!?!  I haven't blogged in almost 2 months.  Yikes!  It has been crazy around here, plus we haven't had internet connection at home, so that makes blogging a little challenging.  Will try to do a quick recap of the past 2 months.  The first weekend in June, we took at trip to Port A with our group of awesome friends.  This was Avery's 2nd trip to the beach (she absolutely LOVED it) and Natalie's 1st (she tolerated it haha). 

Natalie's first look at the beach

Daddy and Avery

Avery had the best time with all her little friends!

Avery is was a fish... she loved the water!

Natalie turned 1 on June 6.  She got a special delivery from NaNa.  She now has her own special chair like Avery!

That weekend, we celebrated her Birthday out at my parents house with family.  The big kids got to play on this awesome water slide and pool.

Natalie and Peyton enjoyed some time on the blanket and baby pool.

She wasn't so sure about the cake at first, but finally dug in!

Happy 1st Birthday sweet Girl!!!  Looking forward to celebrating many more birthdays!

 We ended June with a trip to Kansas to visit all the family there.  This was Avery and Natalie's first trip there, so they finally got to meet all the Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.  We stayed at a really neat cabin with a lake and hunting grounds.

 Daddy and Avery enjoying a little fishing together.

 Natalie had plenty of corn on the cob!

 Avery enjoyed plenty of watermelon!

 Fun times with all the cousins!

 Rogers Family Reunion

 Several of the Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren with Grandma Rogers

Smith Family Reunion

 We finally got to meet our new little Nephew Cooper!

 Our 4 babies!  Cooper 3 months, Tanner 9 months, Avery almost 3 yrs, and Natalie 1 yr

Fun times in the bathtub!

 We got home in time for 4th of July parade in Belton.  Poor Natalie had suffered with an ear infection while we were in Kansas, so we got her into the doctor and taken care of. 

 The girls

The girls and Truett, so fun!

Ted hadn't been feeling well for a week, but didn't really know what was wrong.  After the parade and a day at the lake with friends, he really started to feel bad.  The following day, we ended up in the hospital with a perforated appendix.  Fortunately, he only had to stay for about 24 hours.  Surgery went well and he recovered at home over the next week.  Oh... never a dull moment around here!!!

 We had to be out of our house by mid July so our renters could move in, so in the midst of all our excitement with Ted, we got all packed up, got the house cleaned, painted, shined and polished...  Thankfully, we had some help from our parents and a moving crew.  Unfortunately, the new place isn't ready... so our stuff is literally everywhere at this point.  We are living with my parents for a few weeks until it is done. 

 We enjoyed our last few days in our house of 9 years...

 Lots of great memories there with our girls.

We are looking forward to moving into our new home in just a couple of weeks and are very excited about making new memories with the girls there. 

Natalie is 1 year old!

Our sweet Natalie turns 1 today!  Wow!  What a fast year!  Her personality is really blossoming now. 
She weighs around 23 lbs and wears 18 month clothes, size 3 shoes, and size 3 diapers.  She is starting to transition to cow's milk (not a big fan yet!), and she loves table foods now.  She is babbling away, says Momma, Dadda, baba (bottle), uh-oh.  She is walking, but crawling and cruising along furniture are still her primary means of transportation.  She can take probably 8-10 steps before falling.  She loves climbing up stairs and basically anything she can climb up on (just like her big sister!).  She loves giving hugs and kisses.  She has the biggest smile and the best giggle.  She is such a little angel at bedtime, she puts her head on your shoulder and holds on really tight and is just the best snuggler.  She loves to be sang to.  She just adores her big sister Avery.  She wants to do everything she is doing, she gives her hugs and just lights up when she sees her.  I could go on and on about this sweet little girl and all her accomplishments this year.  We have really enjoyed watching her grow and learn new things.  It has been a busy year, mostly just "surviving" our day to day routine with 2 little ones, but we wouldn't have it any other way.  Natalie is a blessing to our family, we just love her and thank God for her every day. 

 Natalie at birth... 6lbs 14oz

 Natalie's 1 year pictures... I took these at UMHB

Memorial Day Weekend

Life has been busy, busy, busy around here.  Thankfully, Memorial Day Weekend was pretty relaxing.  Ted had a much needed fun guy's day/night at a friend's deer lease... and the girls and I enjoyed some time with the cousins at my parent's house.  Memorial day was just spent hanging out with the girls at our house, taking some 1 year pictures of Natalie, getting some lunch together, running some errands, and really just not doing much of anything.  It was nice. 

 These 2 had so much fun together! 

 Hanging out with NaNa

 Our little gymnast

 Sweet Natalie

Avery loves her cousins!!  So much fun!

Mother's Day 2012

I am so blessed to be the Mother of these two beautiful little girls!  Being a Mom myself now makes me so much more appreciative of my own Mom and what she did for us.  We are who we are because of our Mother's unconditional, sacrificing love and hard work.  Being a Mom is the hardest job I will ever do, but also the most rewarding.  I am thankful to be a Mom and I am extremely thankful for my Mom and the example she has set for me. 

 I cannot believe that we will be celebrating this sweet girl's 1st Birthday in less than a month!!

 She's had a rough several months with illness and teething, but after getting tubes in her ears this week, we are hopeful that she will be happy and healthy again!! 

 She is crawling and pulling up on everything in the house, just babbling away.  She loves feeding herself finger foods now.  She loves giving hugs and kisses. 

She can stand on her own briefly, and has taken a couple of steps on her own, so we are thinking she might be walking by her first Birthday!