Cousins and a Big Birthday Party!

This week was a really fun week!  Tisha and Tanner visited from Montana, so that meant lots of cousin time, and we celebrated Ted's Dad's 60th Birthday with a suprise party on Saturday with all of us and his close friends.  Of course, we took lots and lots of pictures... so I'll just let them do the talking this week!

 Tanner (5 1/2 months) Natalie (8 1/2 months) and Peyton (nearly 4 months)

 Peyton came over for a little playdate with his cousins and cousin in-law.  It's so much fun getting the 3 little baby cousins together!!! 

 This was the 3 of them about 2-3 months ago... they've all gotten a little bigger and older looking!

 An attempt at getting a picture of all 4 of the kids together... always challenging! 

 They had so much fun together!

 Riding in the stroller together at our park... so cute!!

 Waiting at the park on Saturday in Houston before suprising Ted's Dad with a party!

Group shot at the party!

 Happy 60th Grandpa!

Loved getting the cousins together!!! 

Such great memories... until next time!!!

A little bit of this... and a little bit of that

It's been a busy couple of weeks with sick kids (3 calls from daycare in 2 weeks), a friend's wedding (fun times!), snow flakes, hanging out with family, Valentine's Day (romantic dinner for a family of 4!), and our usual day to day busy routine.  We are thankful for a quiet, rainy, lazy weekend to relax and recover. 
Here are a few pictures from the last week....

 Natalie's first snow!  (Although you can't really see the snow flakes in these pictures)

 Avery got to wear her winter coat for the first time this year... for a day, that is!

 Aren't these cousins so cute?!?!?  They are the same size and 4 months apart!  haha

 So fun!

 Natalie came home in pig tails twice this week... so cute!!!

Poor baby has had it pretty rough the past 2 weeks... but hopefully, she's on the mend today and will stay well for a while!

Avery is 2 and a half years old!

Avery is officially 2 1/2 years old today!  We look at her every day and are just so amazed at how much she has grown up since she turned 2.  She talks so well now, and is becoming more and more independent around the house.  She "doesn't miss a beat" according to her teachers at school.  She cracks us up, because she will now tell us things that we tell her all the time... like "Be careful Mommy, it's hot and it might burn you" or "Do not spill that" or "Do not wake up Natalie."  She likes to do everything by herself.  She LOVES watching Dora and snuggling with us on the couch with her blanky.  She is so good with Natalie now, they will just sit and play on the floor or watch Dora together, they take baths together... it is just so sweet!  We are really loving this age, and the sweet, smart, affectionate little girl that Avery is growing into!

 This is just such a funny, silly age!  She won't stop and pose for pictures, so we take what we can get!

 She still LOVES shoes and playing dress up!  She picked out this outfit for church last weekend!

Bubble Bath time!

 

Attempting a couple of pictures of the two of them... which wasn't very successful!  Ha!

Natalie is 8 months old!

Tomorrow, Natalie will be 8 months old!  She is growing up so fast!  She is around 21 lbs and wearing 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.  She has her 2 bottom teeth and is babbling away!  She is feeding herself snacks and holds her own bottle at school.  She sits up by herself and takes baths in the big tub with Avery... and she is sooo close to crawling!!  She claps her hands and likes banging toys together.  She reaches for us and gives us hugs.  She is such a happy girl, her big smile just lights up the room!!  We just love our sweet Natalie. 
Kathy took some amazing pictures of her last weekend in her tutu.  I am in love with them!!  My favorite pictures of Avery as a baby were in her tutu, so I just couldn't wait to have tutu pictures of Natalie as well! 

Weekend Highlights...

 Our sweet Natalie is sooooo close to crawling!

 The cousins enjoyed some time together.  Courtney is so good with the girls!

 Ted looks like he is holding a set of twins, but these two kids are actually almost 5 months apart! 

Natalie (nearly 8 months and 21 lbs) and Peyton (3 months and 19 lbs)

 Uncle Ted and Peyton

 My cute girls before church this morning... so blessed to be enjoying my Birthday with these 2 special girls!

 Silly Avery!

Precious Natalie!

Update on the girls!

It's been a couple of weeks since I updated the blog.  We've been busy with work and weekend activities.  Ted was gone 2 out of the last 3 weekends, so I had lots of quality time at home with my girls.  I am so happy that the girls are finally reaching ages where they can start playing together.  Avery is 2 years and 5 months.... and Natalie is 7 1/2 months.  It's so much fun watching them bond.  You can tell that they really love eachother.  Avery still likes her "own time" with us... and still thinks that everything is "mine," but it's definitely getting better around here.  These past couple of weeks (especially with this unseasonably warmer weather!), we have enjoyed time at the park, going on walks, playing on the trampoline, sitting on the floor playing with blocks and toys, lots of dress-up, and TONS of Dora.  We are definitely "Dora'd out" around here!!  Avery is suddenly OBSESSED with Dora.  Here are some pictures from our time together...

 Bath time is so much fun now that they can take baths together!!

 So sweet!!

 Playing dress-up together... love it!

 Just "horsing" around!

Early morning Dora.

 Yes... I still like to dress them alike when I can... just love these girls!!!

 My sweet happy Natalie!

 She's not so sure about the bows either...

 Eating breakfast before school... She starts the day with her haired pulled up, but takes it down almost immediately when she gets to school...She just hates having anything in her hair!!!

Natalie got her first two teeth in last week, and she's getting so close to crawling!  Oh, how she's growing up so fast!!



Fun in the leaves!

Seems like we should be doing this in the "Fall," but in Texas, our seasons are late or non-existent.  Here it is January, with temperatures in the 60-70's, and we're playing in the leaves! 

 Not sure what it is about dogs and babies loving eachother! 

 Natalie wasn't so sure about the leaves...

 My sweet Avery

 On second thought, she kind of liked them after a little bit!

My sweet girls, becoming good friends.  Love them!