18 Months!!

(eating cookies from our home teacher-no pants, messy hair) (and happy:)

NURSERY!!! Ahem. I mean, Abby is 18 months! Time is flying by.. I can't believe how grown up she is. And that she's a soon to be big sister! Abby is learning things so fast now I can hardly keep up. Here are a fun few facts about her:

• She weighs 26lbs (not sure how tall she is)
• She knows tons of words/phrases ("Lets Go!", "Bye, bye daddy!", Lyla, Emma, Buck (although it sounds like but), drink, eyes, hi, bye, no, yay, yes (although rarely used), etc.
• She knows where her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, head, and cheeks are
• She sings all the time, mostly to the tunes of "Old Mcdonald" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
• Every day when Paul gets home she gets her shoes and points to the back door saying "Owe iie?" (he's the only one that takes her outside) (judge me, I don't care)
• She's pretty good at getting her shoes on the right feet
• She loves to take showers
• She loves all her babies (everything is a baby; her bears, pigs, etc.)
• She talks to real babies like she's way older than them always saying in the babiest voice "Oh babe babe babe"
• She loves dogs. I think they will always be her favorite animal.
• Shes such a sweet girl. Always gives us kisses and hugs even when we don't ask for them.
• Today is day TWO in her toddler bed.
• She is some great free entertainment :)
• Her hair is a.l.w.a.y.s. a mess! ALWAYS! No matter how many times I fix it a day.

We have this drawer by our computer table. She and Paul decided to make a chair with pillows and blankets so she would sit and not fall off of it. It slides open really easily. She's gotten a few bruises from falling off of it.
Abby's first day of Nursery! (I'll blog more about that next)
She loves to be up high, so I sat her on the dresser we just bought for her little brother. She thought it was sooo funny.
And last, my little Raggedy Anne just playing with mommy on a typical day.

Abby really brings so much joy into our lives. It's so fun to watch her grow up and learn so many things so quickly. She's got the best belly laugh ever and the goofiest little smile. I hate that she's growing up so quickly, but it sure is fun to watch how it happens.

We've made it 18 whole months!! Yay!

July 4th and a dresser!

I lived in Midlothian for 99% of my life growing up. Every year for as long as I can remember, Midlothian does their fire works on the 3rd of July. They used to do it this way because the town was just so dang small, everyone wanted to go out to bigger and better fire works on the 4th. We're so glad they've kept with the tradition. It's so fun to go back to my old stompin' grounds to watch them.

This year we watched them with the Johnson side of the family (although, my whole family was just on the other side of the parking lot). Abby loved the fire works! Every one that went off was followed by a "Woah!" or "Wow!" It's so fun to get to do these things with Abby now that she's old enough to get it a little more.

In July we also found Abby a dresser! She'd been using wire racks with baskets on them since she was born. It really worked great until lately. She would pull everything out of the baskets and make her room even more of a disaster than it already was. I found this dresser on craigslist and repainted it to match Abby's room. I think it turned out pretty cute! And it's hard for Abby to open the drawers on it... so it's a win win! :)

Happy Birthday, Paul!

Paul had a birthday on June 14 (yep, I'm that far behind). The Sunday before his birthday the Mav's played their last game against the Heat and took the title of MBA Champs! That Sunday we had a few friends over and surprised Paul with a cake. He says it was the best birthday ever! (Only because the Mav's won :)

We had the usual birthday dinners with his family and my family. He got lots of fun gifts. Hopefully this year will be a wonderful one for him!

Birthday Cuteness

A week or so ago, Abby was invited to go to this little guys 1st Birthday Party! Lincoln's such a cute little man! So glad we got to share this small party with him!

Before the party, I asked Abby if she wanted to write in Lincoln's card, she said "mmhum!" and went right to work. I just thought it was too cute not to document. She worked on this for a good 20 minutes or so. (But she is my daughter, so everything she does is cute, right? Sorry about that. But my blog, my cuteness :)

Six Flags with PJco!

At the beginning of the month we had the great opportunity of braving the hot weather to have some fun at Six Flags over Texas! I have to admit, we were very, very skeptical about going because of how hot it was supposed to be, but we are SO glad we went because it really wasn't bad at all! We thought we'd only stay for about 2 hours... but we ended up staying 7/8!

This is the only ride I rode. I LOVE Six Flags so much, but with my "condition" (as Six Flags calls it) I wasn't able to ride any big kids rides. But really, after one ride on this thing that only went in circles, I wanted to puke.
Abby loved seeing all the cartoon characters around the park. She had such a great time walking around and running wild.
Right before we left, she clonked out while we were enjoying a funnel cake. I can say proudly that I've never been to Six Flags without enjoying a funnel cake! Although, for some reason this time it really wasn't all that great.
There have been some wonderful parties put on by PJco, and this one did not disappoint. Such a great company to work for! Can't wait to see what they have up their sleeves next :)

Baby Jack

My big sister, Chelsea is going in to have her baby tomorrow! My sisters, mom and I decided to throw her a surprise shower for baby Jack. It turned out to be kind of a bust because all her friends were busy/out of town (we didn't have it on the best weekend... very busy). Hopefully Chelsea got most of what she needed though.

I hope Baby Jack makes a speedy and safe debut into the world and everything goes well with Chelsea, too!

(amazing cake made by Amy!)

TOFW: Choose To Become

A couple months ago I had the great privileged to travel to San Antonio with my sisters and mom to go to Time Out For Women. It was such a fun girl's weekend. There were so many great musical numbers and speakers there. There's really nothing that can compare to the spiritual nourishment that happens in the two short days of being with people of your same faith, with your same worries, trials, tribulations, and thing's weighing on your hearts. They get it. And when we all ban together something fabulous happens that I really can't explain. The spirit is felt there so strong. You leave with your cup overflowing and you learn how to keep your cup full and your soul nourished. There's this fire that burns within- it makes your heart feel like it might burst. You learn to let the little things go and to focus on the things that matter.

Usually we're working TOFW and don't really get to sit and listen very much. This time we were able to sit and enjoy the full two days of speakers and musical numbers. It was so wonderful to get to experience the part of TO that most people get to. But I have to admit, it is really great getting to see both sides of it.

I can't wait till it comes back to Plano next year. Hopefully baby Jr will cooperate and be an awesome baby so I can work it with my sisters and mom again. It really is such a great experience.

While we were in San Antonio, we were able to go to the river walk a couple times to eat. Boy oh boy do I love me some authentic mexican food. Paul has never been to the river walk. I hope we can go down sometime soon and spend the weekend so we can both enjoy it together. The river walk brings so many great memories for me as a kid and teenager traveling there with school friends and family. If you live in Texas, it's a must visit!

Abby 14ish Months

Abby brings such a light and entertainment in our home. She is growing up so fast and I hate it! I've really started to realize just how fast she's growing since I found out I was pregnant again. I know I will miss my sweet little girl once another one is thrown into the bunch. Sometimes I wish I could just record every little thing she does: Her cheesy under bite smile, her giggles, her saying "hi mommy!", her "jumping", her animal noises, the way she lights up every time Paul gets home from work, blowing kisses.

So for my enjoyment, here are a few pictures documenting a couple of fun things Abby does.

Left Behind Anniversary.

Because I was too lazy to upload a really blog about anything the past couple months, these pictures from our anniversary were left out of the anniversary blog. So, I thought I'd share because I have a really sweet husband who loves me and really just wants to do anything to make me happy. :)

I really wish I would have taken a picture of just us that night, but frankly I'm really bad with the camera. I always forget when I have it and when I do want it I forget to bring it.

I'm so blessed to have such a sweet, caring husband who knows and loves me.
Can't wait to see what the next year brings :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Probably just my crazy hormones right now, but this video is great, especially with me being a somewhat new mom. I wonder if I will ever not feel like a new mom? So many new things keep happening daily. I don't think I will be a "seasoned" mom for quite some time.

Thank you to my awesome mom for giving up everything to raise me. I think you did a pretty great job.

Thank you to my mother-in-law for raising a wonderful husband for me and a spectacular daddy for my children.

Thank you to my sisters and sisters-in-law for being such a good example to me of how to be a great mother.

Thank you to my wonderful friends who are really like sisters to me now. You are all fabulous mothers.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!