Mom's 50th Birthday Party

We went to Austin Thursday night for a surprise 50th birthday party for my mom. We met at a Mexican restaurant with my family and several of Mom's closest friends to celebrate. She loved it! This is a shot of her cake.Mom with all her "grandkids" and her real granddaughterMaci with Mom while she opened presentsMom and Maci posing with the birthday hatPayton and Dad (sorry for the pic quality)Payton wanted a picture of Holly (her moose) on the way to my parents' house after the party

Happy Birthday Mom!

Easter

We went to Sulphur Springs for my sister's engagement party this past Easter weekend. The party was on Saturday, but before it started, Tonya's soon to be inlaws let the girls and Tonya's soon to be niece have an Easter Egg Hunt since the weather was going to be awful on Sunday. So, the girls had their hunt in their travel clothes instead of their Easter dresses. In fact, because the weather was so stormy and cold, I don't even have a single picture of my girlies in their dresses, a mistake that will be corrected this Sunday! :) Anyway, the girls had a blast hunting eggs with a new friend. They got over a hundred eggs between the two of them! Yikes! We will be eating Easter candy thru next Easter! It was a very fun weekend for our family, even in spite of my strep throat! I hope you all had a very Happy Easter!

Enjoying The Sunshine on a Friday Off

Here are a few pictures from playing outside with the girlies today! We absolutely LOVE Alan's Fridays off. They are the BEST! We really enjoyed getting to play with him in the sunshine today. In these pictures, the girls are strolling their baby dolls in their doll strollers up and down the sidewalk. It was an adorable sight. They even came in the house and tore the playroom upside down for 2 pairs of sunglasses just like daddy was wearing! 2 pairs of sunglasses, 2 little purses, 2 doll strollers, 2 baby dolls (and a Snuggles), 2 baby blankets, and 2 adorable little girls! We just really had a great time together today and I thought I'd share my sweet pictures!

Aren't they precious little "mammas?"

March Lake Fun

We got a chance to get out to the lake, before the cold weather came back, and really enjoyed the beautiful weather. The Drake's joined us on Friday and Saturday, and the Meers' joined us on Saturday and Sunday! We all had a great time relaxing. We got the jet ski out on Saturday, but it was a little cold for my taste, so my ride was cut short, but Alan and Maci enjoyed it for a nice long ride. We also got the boat out, but again, it was pretty chilly for my taste. So, dockside was friend! My princess Payton agreed! These are just a couple of cute shots of the girls while we were there.

An Update and a Couple of Cute Pics

My little messes sporting some new spring outfits. (Special thank you to Grandma for the top outfit! We went shopping with Grandma on Monday and had a ton of fun!) I'm not excited that our winter was a short lived thing, but I always love the chance to by the new season's wardrobe! On Wednesday the girls and I spent the morning getting their closets stocked for spring, so we had to try a few things on for daddy when he got home!

Also, just a little update about Payton's new "big girl" status...she has been hugely successful! She has had 2 accidents at school, 1 at Chuy's, and 1 at home in the last 3 weeks! I guess I will call her officially potty trained! I am so proud!

Maci is loving school. Her teachers are constantly pulling me aside to tell me what a joy she is to have in class. They say she is extremely sweet and very smart (all things we know but love to hear from others :) ) Anyway, she is having so much fun! I think real school will be something she really loves!

Excuse my need to brag on my babies for a minute, I am just in complete awe of the 2 HUGE blessings God has given us to care for and am being a little sentimental today! (plus its easy to come up with nice things to say about 2 little people who are fast asleep for their afternoon naps...there's no more yelling and fussing at each other and I can now think! Just kidding!)

A Princess and a Big Girl Bed

Maci went to a friend's birthday party this morning and had sooo much fun! Sophie had a princess party and Cinderella came to see the girls! This was a BEAUTIFUL birthday party fit for a princess. Sophie's mom did an awesome job!! Here are a few pics from her party!

Payton decided to climb out of the pack'n'play in Breckenridge so we made the decision to put in in a big bed. I was nervous that she would try her new trick in her own bed ! Yikes! We put her bed up about 2 weeks ago. It was a little sad, but she looked so sweet in it. Please forgive the awful black eye..its all better now! Anyway, she has only gotten out of her bed two times, both at naptime, so the transition went really well!! Here are a couple of pics (new bedding coming soon.)

Two and Then Some

I am generally a picture only blogger, but I don't have a picture to go along with the HUGE milestone Payton crossed today. She started potty training!!! A while back I allowed myself the freedom to postpone any thoughts of potty training our youngest until at least the summer. What's the rush, right? Besides, I seriously HATE potty training...if you know me at all, you know that I have a "hands free" method for just about anything gross you can think of, but there's no "hands free method" for potty training. Yuck!
Anyway, it was going to be at our leisure this time. A couple of times at night in the months past, I would try to put little miss on the potty, but boy would she scream! So, there was another fantastic reason to wait. Well, several of my friends with children Payton's age decided to potty train now, so I put her back on the potty just to see, and what happened??? She became obsessed! She LOVED going potty and would throw tantrums if we told her no. So, I put her in big girl panties last Friday just in the evening, and she did fantastic. No accidents. A nasty stomach bug got us that night, so we jumped straight back into diapers.
Well, all week she has begged to go potty, so on Tuesday night I caved. I took her over to the outlet mall where she picked out some new panties. This morning when she woke up I took her diaper off and she put on her new panties. She was such a big girl all day. She didn't have a single accident. Our little princess got the hang of it like she'd been doing it for years. In all fairness, having a 4 year old sister truly helped a lot, I think. Payton is convinced that she is 4 just like Maci and that she can do anything Maci can do. That may not be great in some areas of her little life, but boy was it great for potty training...especially for her squeamish mommy!
Who knows what tomorrow holds, but today was AWESOME!!! I am beside myself proud of her. What a little big girl! (just say a little prayer for her teachers at MDO tomorrow...don't know how that's going to go) If nothing else, day number 1 was an enormous success!
Yeah, Payton!!!