Growing Girl

Weighing in at a lucky 13 pounds and 13 ounces...

Lily Kate Evans

She passed her 4 month checkup with flying colors.
And lived up to one of her nicknames, Tinkerbell, by turning completely red in the face after being given two shots.

She celebrated her growth with a little rice cereal. We were really excited with how well she did. She's been smacking her lips for weeks. It was almost cruel that all she got for all that smacking was tasteless mush.

I've been listening to a bunch of mommas talk about their babies flipping onto their tummys, wondering why Lily Kate hadn't caught on yet. I needn't have worried. Tuesday and yesterday she's gone through a flipping frenzy. I guess she just needed the go ahead from her pediatrician.

A Great Weekend

Gabby and Pops came in this weekend and they really outdid themselves.

Not only did they take care of the babies while Jonathan and I went golfing on Saturday morning, they stayed with Ace and Lily Kate while we went to dinner that night. We almost had the entire day to ourselves! It was a wonderful day together.

Lily Kate spent most of the weekend snuggling her Pops while Ace spent it learning Chutes and Ladders with Gabby and teaching them both all about Transformers.

Thanks Gabby and Pops!

Squeezable

I admit it. I take it for granted that Ace's cousins live in the neighboring subdivision. It is a huge blessing that I know will bring a lot of joy to Ace and Lily Kate as they grow.

Brynley loves her "K K."

If only my little toots knew how much they are loved!

Pops gets a sweet smile.

Gabby gets a scrunched face smile.
And I'm not so sure what Lily Kate is thinking.
Probably "Is it time to eat?"

I remember holidays with my cousins growing up (I had about 13 on my mom's side!). I know they'll share a special bond and I hope it's even stronger since we live so close.

Aubrey, Brynley, Ace and Froggie (Froggie stood in for Lily Kate who was asleep)

I am thankful to be in Houston close to cousins and family.

Froggy came to visit

At Ace's school, they have a backpack named Froggie who gets lonely when the kids leave so he goes home with a different child each weekend. Last weekend was our turn. Ace had a BLAST. (Sorry for the scanned pages. You may have to click on them to read 'em.)

Ace colored on every entry page. This is painful for his OCD Mom who wants everything perfect and pretty.
Got to love Lily Kate's ears. She gets them from her Mommy, Sashi and great-grandad Poppy Gil.

I didn't think he was going to let Froggie go so I finished the journal the night before school and we read it together. Last night, he asked me where Froggie was in a pitiful little voice and whimpered when I reminded him that he returned Froggie to Mrs. Maywald and Mrs. Coombs. He said, "Mama, I want a Froggie" to which I then threw the 3 stuffed animals at him which he's slept with for years: Horton the Elephant, Tole the Koala and Teddy Bear the...well, that's obvious. He asked if Santa would bring him one.

I think Santa's elves can whip one up before Christmas.

Turkey Day Travels

We loaded up and headed to San Antonio for Thanksgiving this year. When I say "loaded up" I mean it. Jonathan's favorite holiday is Thanksgiving so he set the menu, I did the shopping and we loaded it all up in coolers to take and cook down at Honey and Sashi's. Yes - we lost our minds.

We started out Thanksgiving with Turkey Cinnamon Rolls. (Used cinnamon rolls, biscuits and sprinkles to make a festive breakfast. Ace loved it!) Yikes, Mommy needs some makeup.

Ummm...yes. Lily Kate is wearing her Halloween shirt on Thanksgiving. Sometimes, I really think I've given all of my brains to my kids. Oh well, just look for the Thanksgiving duds in our Christmas photos I guess.
Daddy and his mini-me.

More cooking with Ace. Honey bought all of the goodies to make Turkey cookies. We constructed about 4 before he lost interest.

My FAVORITE part of the holiday was the lighting of the RiverWalk. Honey got us incredible seats at an italian restaurant and all of the lights came on when it got dark. Ace's comment was that it looked like Pixie Hollow (Tinkerbell's Home). He was just amazed at the river parade that followed with all of the lighted boats.

We took Ace up to Sashi's office on our last afternoon in town. The Lighthouse is having a door decorating contest and everything used has to be recycled. We cut up an old bathmat for the tree and some newspaper for the music notes. Our singing ladies are smashed and painted Coke cans. We made their bows out of old Capri Sun juice boxes and beer bottle caps (courtesy of Ace and Jonathan, in that order).

Lily Kate transitioned to Christmas in style.

I love the holidays.

Nicknames

I was smiling to myself this morning thinking about nicknames.

Here are Bubs and Mims.

I call Ace a million things: Bubba, Fuzzy, Bubs, Mini-man, Handsome, Bumble Bee & Dude are a few of the more common ones right now. Ace and I call Lily Kate "Mimmies" or "Mims" and it's rubbing off on everyone despite how silly it sounds.

My dad is King of Nicknames. When I was growing up, I had soooo many: Linus Gremlin, Cookin' Kell the Blonde Bombshell, Rottin Poot Bangs & Roozie are the memorable ones. They each have a long story behind them and make me giggle when I think of them. Mom and Dad still call me Rooz.

My sister was: Lonely Leona & Sissy Hot Dog Rainbow.

Jonathan was called "Easy." Hmmmmmm.

For me, they evoke such love and fun even though you sometimes sound ridiculous. I'm laughing right now reading back over this! Did you have a fun nickname???

Wings Over Houston

Aunt B and Uncle James have been going to the Houston Air Show for over 10 years. They used to go with my grandpa who flew during wartime. A picture of "Paw Paw Johnny" hangs in Ace's room and, though he is no longer physically with us, Ace talks about Paw Paw all the time and knows he flew. Paw Paw used to share his good candy only with me and he has a really special place in my heart.

Jonathan's grandad was a highly regarded airman too. Ace comes from good stock.
He was lovin' driving the hummer.
The big attraction this year were the Thunderbird. They were A-MA-ZING.

I cannot describe how closely they flew together. It was as if any of them changed their speed at all, they would touch.

Can't believe I actually managed a picture of one upside down and one right-side up! Most of the time, they were so fast my camera was pointed in the entirely wrong direction because they had flown past me.

Yup! He rode the mechanical bull. HE insisted that's what he wanted to do and, despite promising me he wouldn't cry, the bull bucked a little too much and he cried to be let off. Hey, high points for the attempt.

It was a fantastic time and Ace loved it. He told Uncle James as we left that "it was the greatest time." I have to give credit to Jonathan who stayed home with Lily Kate so that I could go. He did feedings, naps and everything!!! When I got home, she was happy, fed and clean. I am still pretty amazed. He was a little unhappy that he'd missed going to the HUGE Baylor win over Kansas in Waco but plans to travel to their bowl game to make up for it.