Oh No...The BIG 3-0!!!

Well, it's birthday week again...only this time one of us is not in our twenties anymore!! That's right, Alan turns 30 on Monday October 6th. On Saturday we threw a little surprise party for him at our house in the form of a football watching party. Go Tech! Anyway, to get him out of the house before the party, we went to the lake for another birthday celebration in honor of Alan, Kevin, and myself (thank you Ron and Cindy.) While at the lake our little Maci got to ski with her daddy for the first time. Talk about adorable! It was very fun to see them ski. When we got to our house Saturday, we had a party to honor Alan and his BIG milestone. Our dear friends and family helped make it very special for him. Here are a few pictures from the lake and from Alan's party. He really had a great time. He looks pretty good for 30, don't you think?

I guess these guys are the proof that we are all fast approaching our thirties...look how many babies we've accumulated since college. Very hard to believe!

This is for you, Stacy...the cutest little Red Raiders I know!!! Hope you enjoy :)

We took the girls to Toys R Us tonight to get a few ideas for birthday and Christmas presents. Payton's birthday is in November, then we have Christmas, then Maci's birthday is in January so we are now in the season of big time toy shopping. Payton is HUGE into babies, so that's probably what she will mostly get. Maci has, for the first time, come up with one gift she wants Santa to bring her...a PINK GUITAR!!! We aren't sure where she first came up with this, but we are certain that its something she came up with all by herself. She's been specifically asking for a pink guitar since the beginning of the summer. Tonight we saw one out of the box in Toys R Us and she absolutely LOVED it. We think its sooo sweet that this will be the first Christmas where she asks Santa for a specific gift and then gets it from "him." Anyway, we all had a great time toy hunting, well until the end when the girls threw tantrums on our way out. (can you blame them??) It was a fun night!

She holds it so cute, don't you think??? I guess you can all expect to see her on stage some day!

Payton Skips School

Payton spent Tuesday and Thursday with Mimi and Granddaddy while Maci and I started our first week of Mother's Day Out (Payton will join us this week, but we let her play hooky last week). On Thursday they went to the park and Payton had a ton of fun. She even met a little friend (don't tell her daddy.)

It looks like she wanted to push the wagon home instead of riding in it. Cute!

Labor Day Fun!!

We had a very wonderful Labor Day weekend! We traveled to Austin to spend time with my family. On Saturday the boys put gutters on the back of my parents' house, then we went to dinner. We ate at the Iguana Grill overlooking Lake Travis. It was really a very neat place. Our table looked directly over a cliff at the lake, which was really neat, but it also had an outdoor live music stage. We ventured over to the live band after we had our dinner, and I think the performer was upstaged by our sweet Payton. It was a really fun dinner. On Sunday we just played at the house after church and watched as Gustav made its way in. On Monday we all came back to Houston for an extended visit. What a fun time!! We all had so much fun.

In their manliest voices, they are saying "Gutters!"
I guess that made it ok to pose in a picture together.

We're checking out the band!
Alan and Payton looked so cute watching together.
The musician is serenading our little Payton. She watched intently through an entire song as he stood right there on the rail next to her and sang a whole song just to her. She never took her eyes off him. It was unbelievably cute...not something we will soon forget. When he finished his song to her he asked her name and told the crowd that she inspired him. Way too cute! And, just look how big she looks sitting there all by herself.
She stole the show!

Daddy dancing with his girls. Maci taking a bow!
The girls played dress-up in Mimi's old clothes. Maci insisted on being called Princess Maci.
The family swinging together.

Short But Sweet Lake Retreat

We went out to Lake Conroe Friday and came back home Saturday. It was a short trip, but we maximized our time on the water. Papa bought the girls (and Alan) a new tube to pull behind the new boat and they LOVED it. I think they would have stayed on the tube for hours if given the chance. They got to swim, tube, and even watch Daddy do some pretty fancy skiing! What a fun day! The girls really love being at the lake.