Then comes baby

My baby sister is going to have a baby!!!  I am so very, very excited for her and my brother-in-law!!!!  Hattie is going to be such an amazing mother.  She is due on Aaris's Holy Heart Anniversary, April 10.  She has had two fabulous baby showers that I was honored to attend.

In January my Mom and I hosted a baby shower for Hattie at my parents house.  A lot of high school friends showed up along with wonderful women from my parents church.  Aaris and Skylyn also attended.  Aaris loved being Hattie's little helper with bringing her the gifts to open.  I made her a door knocking sign for this shower.   

The first weekend in March Hattie's friends from her church in Dallas, Preston Crest, threw her another fantastic shower.  So many were able to attend, including many relatives.  I've never seen so many amazing gifts.  Hattie just beamed with joy, excitement and thankfulness threw them all.  They are naming my new niece Charolette Ruth.  Charlotte is going to one very stylish little beauty!  I made Charolette a littel tutu that matches ones that Aaris and Skylyn also have.  Can't wait to see them grow up together.

FLIP FLOPPED

When I was pregnant with Aaris, Hattie helped host a baby shower for me at my mom's house (6 years ago!).  Well, now with my sister's first baby I too got to help host a shower for her at my mom's house.  Here are the pictures of the roles now reversed:

GOOOOOOOOAAALL!

Both Aaris and Titus played in the Winter Season of Indoor Soccer at our local YMCA from January until the first week of March.  It proved to be a great year of growth and learning for both kids.  Aaris went from, as she put it in her own words, "running just to hear the sound of my feet", to actually hustling and being aggressive.  Titus went from crying so much that sometimes he wouldn't even step onto the court the whole game, to being excited to go in and play.  It was funny because the thing he came off the court yelling with excitement by the end of the season was "Mommy - I didn't cry!!!"  The coolest thing is that both kids scored goals during the season.  Aaris scored 3 goals.  I actually got to attend the game when she scored two and it was indescribable to watch her accomplish something like that.  Can you tell that this was my first experience of being a sports mom.  :)  Titus, in a round about sort of way, also scored 3 goals.  All in one game: 1 for the other team, 1 that got kicked back out as soon as it went it, so the ref. didn't call it properly, and 1 truly legit and very great goal!  Titus was the youngest and smallest by far player on his team (and maybe the league), so it was a huge triumph for him to not give up and try so hard!  I am so blessed to have these kids.  It's such a blessing to experience their lives with them. 

(We primarily always shot video of the kids, so pictures were hard to come by.  Thank goodness for the grandparents contributing their snapshots...and time at the games.)

Rodeo Day

The Kindergartners had rodeo day at Aaris's school at the beginning of the month.  Aaris had a great time and was really excited to dress up. (I remember this day because it's the day Aaron came home early because he had been laid off from work.)

Lauren and Longhorn Basketball

Aaris has been very blessed to have a very sweet young lady by the name of Lauren extend a friendship and kindness to her that has made a lasting impression.  We first meet Lauren about a month before Aaris had her heart surgery back in '08 when we went to a UT Longhorn basketball game.  Lauren was a UT cheerleader cheering that night.  Lauren ended up coming up the the hospital to see Aaris.  Ever since then she has stayed in touch with Aaris and has even gone above and beyond by sending her little gifts for Christmas and such.  On March 1, Aaris and Aaron went to watch Lauren cheer at a UT basketball game against OU.  After a little bought of tummy aches from eating too much cotton candy, Aaris just jumped into high gear with cheering and excitement.  Aaron and Aaris ended up having tickets in the student section and were able to be down low right in front of Lauren cheering.  During one of the give aways Aaris did an air guitar move and Lauren gave her some free Whataburger coupons.  At one point Aaron said that a UT player was on the line ready to shoot his free-throw and breaking the silence everyone knew to have Aaris yelled as loud as she could "GO LONGHORNS!"  Embarrassing and funny all at the same time.  After the game Aaris got to meet up with Lauren to exchange hugs and cards.  Aaris also meet two other cheerleaders who were just so kind as well.  By the time they got home it as 11:00 pm, but Aaris was still on an emotional high and couldn't hardly stop talking about the whole night to calm down and go to sleep.  Thanks Lauren!

Cards Aaris made Lauren actually say:

I lost my first tooth.  I looked for it.  I couldn't find it so I made the tooth fairy a note.  In the morning there was no note, but a one dollar bill. Yay!

I love you.  I am in kindergarten.  I am 5.  I learned how to read and write.  I love school. I love you too. There is much more.  There is a rodeo at my school.  I am going to perform on the stage.  My school is not far from my home.  My school is named "Dinos.:  You will have so much fun.  I will too.

I Love you. Love, Aaris. I Love You. I Love You.

Father/Son Campout '10

On Friday, Feb. 26, Aaron and Titus and Poppy attended our church's annual Father/Son Camp Out (two father/son combinations).  After a couple of days of beautiful weather, a nice windy cold front blew in for the big event.  They still managed to have a great time.  Even though they arrived late because Aaron had to wait to get out of work, he was still happy that they got a really cool tent site surrounded by water.  Aaron said the food was yummy and the company of all the other guys was so enjoyable.  Saturday morning they were able to canoe out to an island with a picnic table and take a little break.  Poppy and Titus also took a ride on the 4 wheeler.  Aaron said that the most memorable part of the whole trip was how Titus just never wanted to stop helping.  He never complained and he was super sweet and thankful the whole time!

(All pictures taken with Poppy or Aaron's phones so sorry about the picture quality.)

Active Week - Part 5

Once in the Fall and once in the Spring Aaris's school offers a chance to sign up for afterschool programs.  We decided to sign Aaris up this Spring for a program called Dynamic Dinos.  It basically consisted of staying one hour after school one day a week for almost eight weeks and learning to sing the music along with choreography.  For the finally of the class the kids got to have two performances:  one for family at night (Feb. 25) and one for the rest of the school the next morning (Feb. 26).  The theme for this year's show was Disney.  The show ended up being about 15  minutes long and was so cute.  Aaris really loved it!  My favorite part was hearing Aaris giggle out-loud several times during the performance.  I will have to add that one of the sweetest things was realizing how much Titus observed Aaris and her practices (which he begged her to constantly do).  He now does a lot of the moves whenever he plays her practice music (which he did all eight weeks of practice...and still does).

(By the way, Aaris is the first one, on the second row up, on the far right.)

Active Week - Part 4

On Tuesday, February 23 the Austin area saw heavy snow for the first time in about 6 years.  It was the heaviest snow I had personally every seen here.  And, what is in true Texas tradition it came just two days after a hot Sunday afternoon when people where out in shorts!  We received about 4 inches and it came in huge flakes.  Titus and Skylyn and I went out early in the morning when it was just starting up.  It ended up snowing all day long.  Unfortunately by the next day it was completely melted away.  Aaris said that their class got to go out and play in it for awhile at school.

Active Week - Part 3

On Sunday, February 21, Aaris lost her first tooth.  And, I mean literally lost it.  We knew it was so lose that it would fall out any day, but she refused to let us pull it out.  It wasn't until an after lunch snack that Aaron noticed that Aaris's tooth was missing.  Did she lose it during her sleep the night before?  Did she swallow it during meals throughout the day?  She was worried about the Tooth Fairy since she didn't have a tooth to put under her pillow.  She ended up writing a note and leaving it explaining everything.  She was overjoyed to wake up to find a one dollar bill left by the Tooth Fairy.  That afternoon after school I took her to the Dollar Tree store and she bought some blue bunny Peeps.  Sweet ending to a sweet memory.

Note reads:

Dear Tooth Fairy, I'm sorry I can't find my tooth so like the tooth its this note instead.  Can you still bring me money?  Love, Aaris  (And, next to the drawing of the tooth it says "The tooth is little)

Active Week - Part 2

Cosette, Aaris and Ttus hanging on the bike racks

Aaris, Titus, Cosette, and Skylyn playing in the windows of the Welcome Center.

This display is in the Moody Coliseum - Aaron is the big Hamburger Helper Hand when he directed Phi Kappa's very first Sing Song show back in '98

Aaris and Titus with Melani in her Cupcake costume.

Adrian directing the Galaxy show.

Melani performing as a Betty Crocker Cupcake.

Adrian accepting the award for the afternoon's 1st place men's group performance.

We took the kids to their first ACU Sing Song on Saturday, March 20.  We went to the afternoon show and they both really liked it.  And, even though they did start to get fidgety after 2 hours, they did wonderfully.  It really helped that they knew two people in the show and anticipated watching them perform.  Aaron's youngest brother, Adrian, is a senior at ACU and was the director for Galaxy's show this year.  Their theme was Toy Story and he was a Mr. Potato Head.  We also got to watch Melani Pruitt, also a senior at ACU and the new fiance of Adrian (one week after Sing Song), who is a Siggie and was a Betty Crocker Cupcake.  The whole show was fabulous and everyone did an outstanding job.  It was a very quick 24 hour turn-around trip, but it's always a joy to be able to spend time with family.  Aaron's mom, Vicki, and Aaron's brother Alan, our sister-in-law, Kristina, and our always cute niece Cosette also got to be in Abilene for Sing Song. 

Oh, also while there I got to see all the new building, statues, and upgrades that ACU has experienced since the last time I was there five years ago.

(And, CONGRATULATIONS again to Adrian and Melani!  We are so very happy for you two!)

Active Week - Part 1

This past week was one very active week.  There were a lot of 'firsts' for us around here.  In the roller coaster of life with 3 kids, we are on the upside right now and having fun! 

 Skylyn's hair has been growing lately and I was able to put it up into her first ponytail on Friday, February 19.  The main difference between her and Aaris hair-wise is that Aaris has always sat patiently for me to do her hair.  I have to make sure I'm done with Skylyn's in a matter of seconds.  The good thing is that she really likes bows and she doesn't try to pull out her ponytails.