Wildflowers

I love the wildflowers that bloom in Texas. (fun fact: my Indian Princess name was Wildflower, my dad was Wild Turkey....I used to think it was because he loved hunting turkey! Too funny.) I especially love bluebonnets, and nothing is cuter than little kids in the bluebonnets. I waited too long this spring and learned my lesson- when we went last night to take some pictures they were basically all gone. Abbey and Zoey were over and so we headed up to the fields and made an evening out of it!

She looooves picking flowers and "smelling" them

My little wildflower dancing

Sassy

Getting pictures of her at this age is so hard! I am counting down the days until she will pause and smile for the camera! I got some great pictures of my nieces too. They are beautiful (inside and out). 

LOVE this picture! 

Update

This pregnancy is flying by. It literally feels like I just saw the positive pregnancy test and almost passed out! 

It was the week before Christmas and I was at the eye doctor preparing for Lasik surgery the next morning. The eye doctor came to talk to me to tell me about the procedure and he asked me if I could be pregnant. He said that they could not do the procedure if there was even a chance I could be pregnant. I laughed and said no. Getting pregnant with Hadley was difficult and Derek and I were planning on beginning that journey in January. 

The doctor asked if I would take a test- they had some in the office. I politely declined and signed the papers, paid the deposit and went on my merry way. At home, I was digging around in my bathroom and found an old pregnancy test and so I took it at the eye doctor's insistence, left the room and called Derek to tell him about the appointment. He was on the phone when I walked back in the bathroom and I'm pretty sure I dropped the phone. I called him back to tell him, " I think this pregnancy test says positive." He totally didn't believe me! I After about 100 questions, I hung up the phone to run to CVS for a digital test. Seeing the words pregnant on this test will be a moment I will never forget. I burst into tears (happy ones) and called Derek back. He was so, so excited and kept telling me to calm down and asked if he needed to come home! After I hung up I called Caroline and cried some more to her! I think I was in shock! 

It was such a fun time to find out since all of our family was going to be in town and together. The Ross' and Grams were coming in town the next night and we were going to all go to the Euting's for dinner. I made Hadley a shirt...

We headed over the Eutings and Hadley was wearing a jacket. When we were all in the same room, I wrestled Hads out of the jacket (of course this was the first time ever, she insisted on wearing the jacket!) Pa noticed right away but everyone else was quiet.  Finally Jenny yelled out "I thought it said BIG SANTA!" Hah. It was so fun telling all of them together! Jenny happened to be in town when we found out about Hadley too! 

We weren't going to be with my family until Christmas Eve and had to wait to tell them after their annual brunch. The day before Hadley got a new princess dress and so I snapped this picture of her to give to my parents. Caroline helped me get my parents into their room...

And snapped this picture....

Christmas came and went. And then I fell off the face of the earth for the next 12 weeks! It was a rough  1st trimester. Much worse than with Hadley. Of course, chasing around a 2 year old adds a fun dynamic! Aunt Jessica and my nieces were a life saver during this time. Every week Jess came to pick up Hadley to get her out of house and take her on fun adventures for a few hours. (Wednesdays with Aunt Jess are Hadley's favorite day of the week!!) And Abbey and Zoey came over every Friday after school and took over Hadley duties for most of the weekend.  They are the best. They came over and played with her outside, did crafts, built her tents, made up games, fed her, e.t.c. This list could go on and on!! They still come over most weekends and I can't wait until they are out for the summer!! 

Fast forward to now. I'm feeling great, have had really great doctor appointments and the house is slllllllooowwwwly getting prepared for another family member. When I think that I only have 3.5 months left I get anxious, but we're getting stuff done! I'm trying to savor every second with Hadley and get as much sleep as possible now! 

20 weeks at The Masters

Downtown

Today we did something I've wanted to do with Hadley for a long time. We rode the Dart Rail downtown and walked to Klyde Warren Park. The Parker Plano Dart Station is very easy to get to and only about 15 minutes from our house. Since Abbey and Zoey were on Spring Break they joined us.

We got up early to get ready, packed sack lunches and headed to the "train station". Hadley is really into trains and so we talked last night and all this morning about the 'choo-choos' and she was SO excited. We packed Hadley's bag with plenty of suckers, snacks, and coloring books (they were all very necessary!)

We waited for our train and Hadley was getting so excited!

We boarded the train and picked our our spots...Hadley was a little nervous, but as soon as the train started she was in Heaven!

We only had one quick crying session. But it was nothing a minute with her paci couldn't fix! 

After about 30 minutes we were at our stop and the train got off right by daddy's office. We all waved to daddy and then started our walk to the park! We ran into our friends and Hadley got to give them all a hug. Emily told Hadley about all the best toys in the playground! 

We played for a bit and then had a picnic lunch.

And then explored the park. They had about 10 food trailers out and it seemed that every spring breaker was out enjoying this beautiful day!

We found the Reading Area where they had 6 or 7 carts of books that you could borrow books and read at the park. This is Hadley's dream! We set up an area and she kept going back and forth getting new books! This was so fun. 

We walked back to the train station and timed it perfectly, as our train was due in 2 minutes. We had a great ride home and I cannot wait to do this again! Such a fun day with my favorite girls! 

Big News!

We couldn't be more excited!!!! God is good!

2012 Recap

In honor of the New Year, here are some of our most memorable moments of 2012:

January:

We spent time at the ranch and Hadley learns to walk!

February:

Hadley and Kitty officially become best friends

March:

Hads gets very sick for the first time. We spend a whole week quarantined at home with a bad case of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease and a double ear infection. Poor baby. 

April:

We spent the first part of Easter weekend in Georgia and then made it home to celebrate Easter with Hadley.

May:

We spent Memorial Day in Destin with the Schermerhorns! Such a fun weekend!!

June:

We kicked of the summer at a family friends BBQ and snapped this cute picture of Emily and Hadley

July:

In July we spent almost three glorious weeks in Destin....

August:

September:

Hadley's first day of pre-school

October:

Had a girls weekend at the Stoneleigh Hotel

Our first Halloween at the house!

November:

We celebrated Hadley's 2nd birthday!!

December:

What a great year 2012 was!!

Christmas 2012

Even though it was nearly two months ago, Merry Christmas!! We had another great Christmas this year and its hard to believe it was our third Christmas with Hadley! We celebrate Christmas for a week straight and it started when Grams came into town from Wisconsin. 

Abbey and Zoey were off from school, so they had a sleepover and Abbey and Hads made a snowman, and Hadley discovered her most favorite toy ever. A Christmas Karaoke microphone. It's taken me nearly a month to phase that microphone out....

The real party started when the Ross Family got into town. We played a lot at the Euting's and Hadley was in Heaven showing off all of her stuff there. Every Wednesday Hadley spends the day with Aunt Jess and its her favorite day of the week (mine too!!) and so Hads loved being there all day with all of her cousins. We even went on an "adult only" dinner while the kids played at home!

We had our Christmas at the Johnsons. And had a great day. We opened presents and Hadley really got into it this year. As soon as she opened her Cinderella dress from the Eutings, she demanded to wear it immediately. 

 Opening gifts...

We took some great pictures of the grandkids.

What a difference two years makes!!!

Mimi got everyone adorable cupcakes and Hadley thoroughly enjoyed her princess cupcake!

We had a great Christmas!

We had our annual Christmas Eve Brunch and this year the girls played upstairs with a babysitter. They spent most of the brunch upstairs but Hadley got very grumpy towards the end! 

We didn't take too many pictures at the brunch!

We went to the family service for Christmas Eve and Hadley lasted for about half of the service. She and Emily spent the other half out in the Narthex with Abbey!

We headed to the Gilmore's for the annual Christmas Eve party and caroling. One of my favorite nights of the year!!

We all spent the night at my parents and the girls were up wayyy past their bedtimes!

Hadley had a rough night that night and so Hadley and I slept until 10. We woke up and the kids (Us big kids too!) had a blast opening presents all morning!

The Rapunzel dress and their Doc McStuffins doctor kits were the big hits of the day. Uncle Mark was their patient all night long.

We all took naps and helped my mom get ready for dinner that night. The Gilmore's joined us for Christmas dinner and it was delicious!

It was such a great Christmas this year. We were exhausted on the 26th. Hadley slept until 10, took a 4 hour nap and still went to bed on time! The Holidays wear her out!! Thank you to all of our families for making this Christmas so special. We are so lucky.