Titus Tackled...

Stitches:
The day before we moved into our new house, we went to go see it. Aaris and Titus were running around in the wide open new spaces and loving it. The next thing I know Titus accidentally got shoved into a window seal and there was blood all over his mouth. He had gashed his lip open all the way from the front of his lip into the inside. We had to find an urgent care facility. He had to get stitches which I think was much worse, more painful and more scary then the actual event of getting hurt. Getting the stitches out 5 days later was just as bad. His lip is finally starting to heal well and not scarring too badly.

Potty Training:
Titus is potty trained! We spent one week taking him every 30 minutes to the bathroom. The second week he started telling me he had to go. Now we holds it so well even on car trips. It took 3, maybe 4, times of trying to train him, but it finally was his time. Thank goodness. He had several motivators. One was getting to to play at the bouncy house when we were going to go with his church friends. He also was convinced that he was getting a prize of "blue roller skates". But, I think the key to success was not being able to go play with Aaris in the kid play area at IKEA because he wasn't potty trained (IKEA rules). So, I've provided a picture of Titus wearing his new skates the morning after he did #2 in the potty for the first time.

Matching Great Granddaughters

In June we attended two family functions with Aaron's two sides of his family. The first one was with the Dennington side and we all went to Mo Ranch together. Aaron's grandmother got all of her great-granddaughters matching dresses. They put them on right away. They looked so cute. We just had to take pictures. Titus is the only great grandson. He got to sneak into one picture. (In the pictures: oldest is Bethany (Aaron's cousin's daughter), Aaris, Cosette (Aaron's brother's daughter), and Skylyn))

Old Friends

Back in Jr. High and High School Aaron had a really great friend named Erin. We have all still been lucky enough to stay in touch over the years even though we've only seen each other 3 times now in the 12 years I've been with Aaron. While her husband was having to do new job training, she and her kids were in town visiting her parents. We all got together for a swim and dinner. Her daughter, Elena, is a true delight and the same age as Aaris. Her son, Egan, is following in his big sister's steps and over achieving and is only about a month older than Skylyn. The kids hit it off immediately and became instant friends. They were not happy to have to say good-bye to each other, and neither were Aaron and I with Erin.

Is It Over Yet?

Is it over yet? This is all I could think this year during basketball season. Aaron is a L.A. Lakers fan. I really had NO idea of this when I married him. I kind of think that was his strategy for marrying me so quickly after meeting so that I wouldn't know until it was too late. I quickly found out on our honeymoon, which happened to be right in the middle of the play-offs. And, actually that year the Bulls were a big team for him as well only because of Michael Jordan. It is one of those flaws of his that I try to look past because I do love him so much. I did say 'try'. I am all about Texas teams: Spurs first, Mavericks second, and Rockets third. Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers and Houston Astros are also sports teams I like. Anyway, my Spurs didn't do so well this year in the playoffs, but Aaron kept forcing me to have the Laker's play-off games on the t.v.. So, by the time it came to the final match up, I just wanted the Lakers to win so that I could quit having to watch them play. When they did win the championship Aaron celebrated with his reward of choice (as always) - a glass bottle of Coca-Cola.

(We were in the middle of our move, so we were at my parent's house)

Surprise Visit

When we were staying at my parents house in between moves I received a call one Friday morning from my Uncle Tim. Uncle Tim by true definition of the word 'uncle' is not my uncle, but by true definition of 'deeply loved family member' is. He is my dad's cousin. They have always been very close. Uncle Tim has been a part of many special memories growing up. He called that Friday morning to see if he could spend the night at my parent's house while he made a quick trip to Austin for the day. My parents were out of town on a trip, but I of course said come on over. He stayed the night and we got to have a little time to catch up. He got to play with the kids some and meet Skylyn for the first time. It was a short but special trip. Love you Uncle Tim!

April Activities

I'm still playing catch up since I was out of commission for so long with the move. Here are a few activities from April of this year.

We had a wonderful visit from some very dear friends of ours, the Whitelaws, that moved away several years ago. They have a precious, and might I add, very smart little girl, Jenna, who is about a year younger than Titus. We had such a great time together even though being around my three kids might have been a form of birth control to them for future children. :)

One weekend while Aaron went to our church's men's retreat the kids and I went to the school carnival down the street from our old house. The kids had a blast playing games, riding little trains, eating hot dogs and cotton candy, and petting the animals at the petting zoo (only Aaris because Titus is scared of animals). Aaris's big thing of the day was begging me to go on the rock climbing wall. I was all for it. So, she got harnessed up and started out strong and confident. Not too far up though she got nervous and came down. She still talks about it and wants to try again to go higher.

Finally, Skylyn started to actually attend her Cradle Roll Nursery Class. She seems to do very well and enjoy it. She has no anxiety about being left for now, so I'm enjoying this until the clingy stage shows up (it would be great if it never does).

My Three Little Longhorns

Here are three pictures I found of my kids all wearing the same hat with UT Longhorn shirts.

Aaris @ 12 months

Titus @ 8 months

Skylyn @ 6 months