Marlie's First Haircut

So I finally broke down and decided to get Marlie's hair cut. It was almost long enough to tuck behind her ears, but most of the time it was in her face so I figured I didn't have a choice. Plus I get in trouble every morning with her teacher at school because I never have time to fix it. You should see us all getting ready in the morning to make sure Matt is to school before the bell at 8:00am. It's pretty comical and I end up doing what I hate most women do which is put on makeup in the car! Anyway.....now Marlie looks about 1 year older and of course I cried because my "baby" is not really a baby anymore. Matt has always been good getting his hair cut but probably because we've been going since he was about 6 months old so it's old news. We figured Marlie would cry hysterically and go a few rounds with the hairdresser but she did okay. There were tears of course but most were mine!

And of course we were up EARLY in the morning for our 8:00am TBall game. Why at 8:00? I mean really.....the grass is still wet everyone is grumpy....who likes playing baseball at 8:00am? Oh well I should get used to this. It's only the beginning. The game was great again. I really thought that Doug and I would get the most joy out of this but honestly, Matt is loving it! And each week he gets a little better. Uncle Jay was at the game this week! After the game we went out for breakfast and we each had our "No the best part of the game was" thought. Uncle Jay said it was when Marlie cheered really loud for her brother. Doug thought it was when Matt was in the field and I yelled to him to get in the "baseball ready" position and he did it and yelled real loud like a linebacker would after sacking the quarterback. I thought the best part of the game was at the end when Matt realized our team wasn't organized and no one brought drinks or snacks for the kids so I looked back and saw Matt digging in the other teams ice chest. He already had a snack is in hand from the other team's coach too. My Mom thought the best part was when Matt was making snow angels in the dirt at home plate at the end of the game. I could go on and on.

Matt's First Baseball Game

The day we've been gearing up for for months finally arrived! Matt's first TBall game was this Saturday and it was a success. Of course you must realize that "success" means no major meltdowns or injuries. The fact that Matt ran around the entire field when he was on defense and played in the dirt at times is part of what I call "success". One step at a time right? We're only 3.

He was so excited putting on his uniform and finally being able to put on the "black eye" or what most people call "eye black". The game went much more smoothly than we expected thanks to help from all the parents. Matt didn't hit as well as he usually does but did pretty good. He had 2 hits, threw 2 runners out on first (okay I'm exaggerating a bit here...basically he got the ball to first which is like me climbing Mt. Everest) and got 3 tackles too...oh wait this is baseball...well at this stage they all fight to get the ball in the infield so it's tackle baseball. Of course I have more pictures in the slideshow but these are a few of my favorites.

Marlie had a great time at the game too. She was the third base coach. She loved standing on the base so maybe in a few years she'll have to play TBall too. Doug is convinced she'll be the athlete of the two.

We also had a nice dinner at our house on Friday night and celebrated Uncle Jay's birthday. It is always nice to have family around to celebrate these great moments in life!

God Is In You

One of the neatest things happened the other morning and it has made this such a wonderful week because I replay it over and over in my head.

We were getting ready for school on Thursday morning and Matt had sat down to eat his breakfast. I was running around like a mad woman as always trying to get myself at least half way presentable for work and get the kids ready including packing lunch, snacks, extra clothes just in case, etc., when I saw Matt put his hand on his chest and said in the nicest tone of voice, "Mom did you know God is in you?" I stopped everything I was doing and knelt next to him and he continued, "And God helps you pray if you don't know how." I had all to do to keep from crying but held back because Matt doesn't quite understand "tears of joy". I learned something from my 3 year old that day and have kept that little moment close to my heart since then. Allelulia! Amen!

Party Animals

Well we are home and settled in after our unexpected but fun week long trip to San Antonio. When we are home we spend all of our time running around visiting family. But since we had all week I was lucky enough to see some friends too. Unfortunately I wasn't good with my camera and don't have any pictures. We saw my friend Kelli that I used to work with at Ernst & Young and her son Trajan. Funny you all know how tall Matt is right? Well Trajan is 6 months younger than Matt and just as tall if not more. Of course his Dad is what I'd call the friendly giant. He played basketball at Trinity and is a great guy. I like to be credited with playing love connection with Kelli and Steve! They are a cute couple....not just because he's almost 7 feet and she is shorter than me.....but they are great people.

We also got to spend time with the Hatters and Nicole and I took the kids to ride the train one day. I'm hoping Nicole has some pictures posted on her blog. We had a great time and I love seeing those kids. Parents also got to get out and have a drink too! Oh that was really nice!

This Saturday we spent birthday hopping and had a great time! The first was at Matthew Davis' party. Every time I told Matt we were going to Matthew's party he'd get all excited and say "my party mom?" But he had fun anyway and it was nice seeing some old friends and their children. After that we went to Alyssa's party. Alyssa and Matt have been in school together for a while and we all fell in love with Alyssa the first day we met her. She has the curliest, blondest hair and from the time she was tiny she would come up to all of us and give us hugs. She is pretty darn cute. Here's a picture of Matt and Alyssa being silly. Her Mom has a better picture that I will post when I get it!
Other than that we've been getting everything back in order at our house and most importantly...........we started TBall practice!! We had our 2nd practice today and our first game is this Saturday. Matt LOVES being out there and is having a great time. He's pretty good at hitting but not so good at throwing or catching. We'll work on it over the next couple of years but right now he's happy as can be just putting on his baseball pants and socks! So my next blog will for sure have tons of pics from his first game. I can't wait!!! We also tried on our Halloween costumes last night and had a blast! I'm dying to post some pictures but I'm going to wait until Halloween so I don't ruin the surprise. You can guess from my recent posts what Matt wants to be for Halloween and he wants his sister to be the same thing. So we've got our costumes ready to go.

We had our check-ups at the doc office. It was a horrible experience. Matt is usually great at the doctor and ended up saying "NO" to everything the sweet doctor asked him to do. I was so embarrased. Marlie has never been good at the doc. She cries when they try to touch her. But they are healthy and on track. Matt weighs 35 pounds and is 40.5 inches - 97% for height and 80% for weight. Doc said he's on track to be 6'4 but Doug thinks they mismeasured him and we shouldn't get too excited yet. Marlie is 22 pounds and is 31.5 inches - 50% for height and 40% for weight. For some reason she looks so big to me now. I am still amazed at how much she says. And still saying please and thank you constantly. I'm sure that won't last so I'll enjoy it while I can.

yIKEs

Take a hike IKE is all I have to say. We decided to stay through the storm. Our good friends that live down south in Friendswood came to stay at our house so we packed up and went to stay with my Mom. There were 7 humans including a 4 month old and an 84 year old great grandma in our house along with a dog and cat (plus our 2 dogs too). At my Mom's house it was all of us plus our small peas and my 90 year old Granny. Needless to say both houses were quite full. Thank you to my Mom for taking us in and feeding us!

We made it through the storm and it was actually a bit exciting. The winds were so strong and the trees almost bent over completely in the wind. But as soon as the power went out I got nervous. I knew it was going to be awhile before it was up but I never would have imagined it would be this long.

We had filled our tubs with water in case we had water issues and luckily at the time we were okay. However after the water sat for a few hours we realized it was a color that Martha Stewart hasn't yet identified and when we drained it the next day there was a film at the bottom of the tub that was a color I call baby poop brown. And these were filled before the storm. I am the cheapest person ever and have always sworn off bottled water but I'm reconsidering.

We survived the storm with minimal damage. Our gate on our fence blew off but that's about it. There were several trees down in our neighborhood but luckily 97% fell the right way. It was amazing. We have a huge pine tree in front of our house and we were more than happy to find it still standing. We were very lucky.

But after 2 nights without power we headed to San Antonio. Thankfully Doug's Mom took us in....well she really didn't have a choice. We just showed up as refugees on her doorstep begging for power and good food! Thank you guys so much!

We are still in SA as there is no power at home. Doug is working out of the GT office here in town which has been great. It's been nice to visit with our family and we hope to see some friends over the next few days.

Our prayers go out to all the families who were not as lucky as we were. Especially those in Galveston. If you live in other cities and would like to do your good deed please donate to these families that have lost everything. May God Bless you all!

Boys and Girls Weekend

So the boys headed to Chicago this weekend. Both Doug's Mom and Dad are originally from Chicago and most of Doug's extended family is there. Doug's tall and beautiful cousin Holly got married at Lake Geneva so the boys went to party while the girls stayed home (don't worry we partied too....you'll see those pics shortly).

I got a call on Thursday from Doug saying that their flight was 2 hours delayed here in Houston. Then Matt jumps on the phone to tell me that they are at Fox Sports Bar and asked if I could buy him eye-black for his baseball game. I wasn't sure if I was talking to a 3 year old or a thirteen year old but I could tell that my boys were already having fun.

They had a great time in Lake Geneva and enjoyed visiting all the family. Here are a few pics of Matt with his cousins and oh look....they stumbled across a place where they could ride horses. Could life get any better? Yes you will notice Matt in the same cowboy outfit from my last posting. You can't get these clothes off him!

Marlie and I spent the weekend in Houston. My Tia and Granny came up from Laredo along with my Uncle Johnny to watch Romancing Mary run in her big race. She came in 4th and I think she did great. She is a beautiful horse. And little Marlie had the time of her life at the races. She was almost as excited as Matt usually is and pointed at the horses all night and said "horse". Uncle Jay was in town again this weekend with his girlfriend Lynette so we got to spend time with them too.

I couldn't wait to pick up my boys from the airport Sunday night. Matt was excited to give me my prize that he bought for me.....a pink Cubs hat... and he had a giraffe for Marlie too. I kept Matt home with me on Monday because he had gotten in so late the night before. Oh heck...I just really missed him and wanted to spend some time with him. We had so many errands to run and he helped me the entire time. I am amazed at how helpful he can be.

Well I should wrap this up. There is just always so much to say. I will say quickly that Marlie is talking up a storm. The cutest thing now is she says "thank you" every time you give her something. It's so wonderful! We're preparing for Ike so please keep everyone in the line of the storm in your prayers!

But It's My Birthday Week

Those were Matt's words when we told him it wasn't his birthday anymore. Seems that the celebration went on for weeks! Sunday August 31st was his actual birthday and we had a really great day. Gustav scared my brother out of Lafayette, Louisiana which meant that he spent the weekend in Houston. Matt was SO excited and talked baseball nonstop. We went to church in the morning and then to Le Peep....our favorite place to have blueberry pancakes. By the way....Marlie loves blueberries and actually says "booberry" pretty good. It's so cute. Then we went to see the butterflies at the museum.

Now Matt has several sets of Grandparents so he has quite a bit for a child his age. So when it came time to figure out what to get him for his birthday I was stumped. The only thing he wishes for when we throw coins in fountains is a horse and well....that's not ever going to happen. But he's also fascinated with "cowboys" so I thought we should buy him some wranglers and a cowboy shirt to match his great uncles. So we took a quick trip to Cavendars, which honestly I hadn't been to in years. Brought back memories from my "cowgirl" days in high school. So we got our first pair of Wranglers and a pearl snap shirt. He couldn't wait to put it on. We were outside in 100 degree heat in this outfit

My little cowboy is growing up fast. He seems older than 3. I LOVE the stage we're in right now. Please don't let it end! This is what life is all about.