Birthdays and Fireworks!

I'm having mixed emotions today. Kaitlyn turns 4 today. I remember when it was just the three of us, when she was so tiny. I can't believe we are only one year away from kindergarten. Oh, it makes me want to cry. I miss taking naps on the couch with her. Now, I have a hard time getting her to take a nap at all. She is such a sweet little girl who really loves making her mommy and daddy happy.
Here she is around one and a half. This was the first time I was able to pull her hair up in pig tails!
Again, around one and a half, sitting in the sink, brushing her teeth. Love it!

Last one of her at one and a half. I just love her eyes.

Now, here she is the night before turning four. So much bigger, and messier! Ice cream on her face and Kool-Aid on her shirt. They were being rewarded for being so good....I'm glad we decided to do this outside! Ignore the date posts on the rest of these. They are all wrong!

This was such a cute pic of Abby on the 4th. She just loved watching the fireworks. She sat with Miss Liz (one of the other firefighters wives) the whole time and had a blast.

Kaity fell asleep on Daddy just before the fireworks started. So cute!

We woke her up and she loved them. Seeing their faces was well worth driving an hour after the show was over.

Kaity took this one of Abby and I, hence the shadow over half of my face!

Here are the two munchkins waiting (patiently?) for the fireworks to start. Kaity can be such a ham sometimes.

So, the day before the fourth, we found this HUGE frog in our backyard. I had Travis put his hand down next to it so you could see just how big it was, and Kaity decided she had to put her hand down too. I don't think I've ever seen a frog this big before!! I think he may have been hurt, though. Travis tried to nudge him to see how far he could jump and he seemed to get mad. He puffed up really big, so we left him alone.

The girls next to the frog.

I know this is from forever ago, but I just realized I never put these on here. While I was staying at my parents house in May, we painted my dad's office. This room has been pink since we moved into it (about 16 years ago). It has been used as a bedroom for some of us, but has been an office for my dad for the last.....I don't even know how long! It's been a while. So, as an early father's day gift, we painted the room and bought some new bookcases. The girls decided they wanted to help with the painting, so we let them help with the first coat. They really had a good time.

This one is even older than the last one! We were still living in Louisiana. It was a HOT day and the girls were just dieing to play outside. I let them play for a little bit, but their faces were so red, I made them get into their undies so I could hose them off, lol. We don't have a kiddie pool, so I filled up a bucket for them to splash eachother from. Appearantly, splashing isn't enough, and before I knew it, they were climbing in the bucket! I ended up having to get another bucket so they wouldn't fight over the one.

New House

Okay, so I have had people asking to see pictures of our new house. So here they are. Keep in mind, all furnishings are the previous owner's. We have not finished unpacking and decorating, so this will have to do for now. We are loving our new place. We are out in the country and have eight acres. It is really nice to be able to go outside and enjoy the peace and quiet. This is the "pool room". The pool table did stay along with all of it's accessories. The girls love to come in here and play "balling" (as Kaity puts it).

Master bathroom....a little smaller than I'd like, but it's nice.

Master bedroom. Looks a lot smaller in this picture than it actually is.

Upstairs living area.

Laundry room. I just love the fact that there is a sink right next to the washing machine.

View of kitchen from dining room.

Front of house.

View of dining room from kitchen.

This is now the girls' bedroom. Again, the room looks smaller in this picture than it actually is, but it is also smaller than we are use to.....

Hall bathroom.

This is the back of the house. There is a built-in bench, on the right behind the fence, is the hot tub, and just inside all of the fencing is a very nice flower garden.

This room is now going to be used as the baby's room.

Downstairs living area. To the right is a nice big open space and a fireplace.

When I have the time, I plan on taking some pictures of the flower gardens as well as our view from the tree swing (my two favorite areas!).

Also, I am well aware that people are antsy to see how big my belly has gotten and I would be happy to share with you, but it's kind of hard to take pictures of my own belly. The days that Travis is home, I just don't think about sharing the size of my belly with the world. I will try harder to remember to get one when he is home tomorrow.

Hoppy Easter!!

Well, I have had several people requesting some belly pics of me. I feel huge! But you've gotta give me a little bit of a break! After all, I am having my third child, so my body doesn't hide things the way it use to!! But, I feel great! I'm tired, but that's manageable, and I'm rarely sick. So, I don't have a lot to complain about. I do wish I had picked a better hair-day to take this picture, though..... Okay, so Travis is working tomorrow (Easter) so we decided to do our Easter egg hunt today. I got the girls in the newest spring dresses and sent them outside barefooted to find their treats.

My battery was about trying to die on me, so I wasn't able to get a picture of Kaity hunting eggs, but here's one of Abby.

And here they are just itching to get out the door and look for the treats from the Easter Bunny!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter with friends and family!!

Surprise, surprise.......

Well, it looks like we will be moving again! Our ultimate goal has been to get as close to home as we can. The closest Army base to home is about a 3 1/2 or 4 hour drive. Travis has been offered a job at Fort Leavenworth, KS. The picture above is of the old military prison on base. It is still standing, but they have built new facilities. Fort Leavenworth is only about 4 1/2 hours from home, so we have decided this will be our last big move. Travis starts work on May 11th, but we will be leaving Louisiana by the 1st of May. We had already scheduled to take vacation time at the end of April/beginning of May, so it works out really well. We are all very excited to be able to see the grandparents more often as well as our friends at home. Kaity keeps talking about moving to the place where it snows, lol. For the last three winters, we have lived in places that just don't have real winters, so it will be fun to see the kids build their first snow man and get to go sledding and throw snow balls......and all the other fun snow activities!

Picture update

Okay, so it has been quite a while since the last time I posted pictures, so here we go. I put them on here backwards and don't have the time to change it, so you'll just have to deal with it. Sorry! Hope you enjoy!

This is a picture of our dog, Boomer. Travis' dad got him for the girls for Christmas. He really is a good dog and is learning to obey very well.

Abby thought it would be fun to hide behind the fence and I just had to take the photo opp.

Travis is "attacking" Kaity and Boomer is going nuts trying to protect her from the "mean daddy", lol.

Here is Abby playing on her slide while Travis and Kaity play with Boomer in the background.

Abby was having a hard time going to sleep, so she came out to have daddy read one more story.

Abby loves to go over and look at the cows in our back yard. If we go out front, sometimes we will catch her trying to slip through the fence to out to the pasture for an attempt at petting them. She never gets too close before they run away, poor girl, lol.

Decorating the Christmas tree.

Abby scarfing a whole turkey leg at Thanksgiving. Amazingly, she actually finished most of it!!

Halloween with Cinderella and Snow White (Kaity and Abby).

Kaity built this all by herself and was so proud of it. She begged me to take of picture of it.

Appearantly, this is what happens when mommy has a job and leaves the girls at home with daddy.

Concentrating very hard on coloring in the lines.

Abby posing in mommy's shoes.

Kaity and daddy cheesin'.

Smiles

So, I decided it was time to quit my job and stay home with the girls again. I have been home from work for a little more than a month and I'm loving it. We were able to take a trip up to Oklahoma to visit our families. I have finally been able to get the rest I have been needing during this pregnancy. The weather has finally decided to be nice, so the girls and I have been going outside every day for some play time. I take a big pillow to sit on and try to read a book while the girls run around picking flowers and digging in the dirt. Soon, we should be able to start fishing again, and I can't wait.

On Wednesday, we had an appointment with my doctor which included an ultrasound. We were so excited to find out that we will be having a boy this time!! The baby looks healthy and he has five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. Right now, he weighs just under 1 pound, but it won't be long before it feels like I have a monster growing in my belly and I'm urging him to hurry and come out. lol

Kaitlyn has made a discovery. Things that are good for her make her grow. So now, every time she drinks a glass of water or eats yogurt or whatever, she says, "Mommy look! I'm growing. I'm going to grow so big, it will break your house!!" The things kids come up with.....

Happy New Year!

We've made it through the Holiday Season. Travis' dad came down for Thanksgiving and stayed for about a week and a half to help take care of the girls, since our babysitter was out of town. We all enjoyed having him here and the girls were very sad to see him go.

My family came down here to Louisiana for Christmas. We had quite the house-full! Eight adults and four children (3 & under) all squished into our three bedroom house. It was surprisingly more comfortable than I imagined it would be! We all had a great time together playing games and keeping the kids entertained. Travis' dad got a border collie puppy for the girls for Christmas and my parents brought him down with them. We all love Boomer. He is a really good dog.

Travis and I just celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!! It's amazing how quickly the time has flown but feels like I've never without him. He truly is my best friend and I love him more than ever.

Now, we have some news. We found out recently that we are expecting!!! Our due date is August 7th. While we would love to have a boy this time around, we really just hope and pray for a healthy baby. We are so excited, Kaitlyn and Abby are always talking to us about the baby in mommy's tummy and really enjoyed going to our first ultrasound with us. I will try to do better this year and keep everyone updated on the progress of this pregnancy.