Just a lot of meltdowns!

 What's been going on with us the last week??  Well, I'll tell you...

 Last Thursday, Katie needed some help with James in the afternoon so I took the kids up after school and we stayed with James for a few hours.  Everything was all great and easy....while they were sleeping!!!  However, I did get a little stressed when everyone was awake and I was responsible for 3 kids, two which are 3 months apart.  We went to the park and as long as I could keep the littles in the swing it was pretty easy.  I just had to monitor Cole and make sure he wasn't scaring the little girls he was chasing because he was being Optimus Prime. :)

Finley and James...their swing date

I like Finley showing off her belly in the background.  Visions of her when she's 14 are appearing and it scares me! :)

We had such a fun afternoon with these turkey's...it would have been even better had we not gotten locked out of the house after we left the park, oops!

Friday afternoon Finley had her 18 month well-check.  Here are her stats:

Height:  33 in - 81%

Weight:  25lbs - 58%

So basically, she's going to be a tall skinny blond.  Must be rough....

After the nurse left and we were waiting for the doctor, the kids decided to hide.  They were hilarious!  Had Finley known what the nurse was about to do to her (shot) at this point, I'd be hiding too, Finley!!

 Finley only had to get one shot but she definitely was not a happy camper!  She was pretty dramatic the rest of the day.  I had to make a stop at Academy Sports on our way home to get Cole some soccer stuff.  This was the only thing that would make Finley happy while we were there.  Otherwise....she cried.

 While Cole and I were looking at the socks, I looked down the aisle to find my precious daughter, throwing a fit, pulling out all the shoe boxes and chunking them as far as she could.  I did what every parent would....I looked around wondering where this poor girls parents were. :)

Poor girl continued to have meltdowns the rest of the night...

I forgot to mention that last Wednesday night, Nick got me a brand new phone for an early birthday present.  I hadn't had a new one in almost 3 years so I was pretty excited to get something new.  Well, by Friday evening, after having the phone for 1.5 days, it ended up in the toilet.  I'd love to blame it one of the kids, but it was all me!  This phone is so stinkin thin and light and apparently I stuck it in my back pocket and didn't even know it was there.  Plus, I hadn't completely decided 100% if I was going to keep the phone (had 14 days to decide) so I didn't purchase a case for it yet so that slippery sucker fell right into the toilet.  

I snatched it out of the toilet, took it all apart, dried it off but had to leave right away for our Women's church Christmas banquet.  I cried the whole way there!  Yes, I was more upset about my stupid phone than just doing $750 worth of damage to my car.  Oh, forgot to mention that one....

I think it was just a really stressful few days and that was the last straw.  My poor friends at church had to watch me have an emotional breakdown.  Pretty sure they thought I was a crazy loon for freaking out over a dumb phone. 

 Anyway, we soaked the phone in rice for 2 days, got a new battery and it seems as good as new...I was so relieved!!! 

Saturday morning, Cole had his first ever soccer game.  He was so excited and it's probably the cutest thing I've ever seen!  A couple of the boys have been playing for awhile so some are really good, but I know Cole will catch on quick!  It seriously melts my heart seeing him in that adorable soccer uniform!

 Couple other random things...Cole came up to me the other day and asked if I'd help him change Finley's babies diaper.  Seriously, I could just eat this kid up, he is the sweetest!  He actually did a pretty good job putting it on.

 This is the latest with our house.  The inside is coming along wonderfully, but after sitting in front of our house for about 6 weeks, they finally started on the brick!  I was a nervous wreck before it went up because we weren't totally crazy about the brick we picked out but I think I'm pleasantly surprised it turned out as well as it did.

Also, Stacey and Beau were nice enough to come check out the house with me and give me their painting advice.  Stacey has such an eye for that stuff so I knew she'd give me good ideas....and she did.  We want to get the whole bottom floor painted before we move in because Nick would rather have a double knee surgery than paint, so we'll have someone do all that for us.

However, when I went up there with Beau and Stacey, I walked into the kitchen area and was admiring the lovely coffee brown cabinets that had JUST been stained.  It would be lovely and all, except our kitchen cabinets are supposed to be painted white!  Yeah, that's a big job!  Our bathroom cabinets are supposed to be that coffee brown but not the kitchen.  I do kinda feel bad (but not really) because they have to take the cabinets out, sand them, prime and repaint.  If I didn't want white cabinets, I'd pick the color they currently are...but I want white, we paid a stupid amount for white cabinets, so I better get them!

They did push our closing to the beginning of January, totally not surprised,  so we are about one month out and getting so excited!

Oh, and tomorrow is my birthday...yay me! :)

Football...oh yeah, and Thanksgiving

 It was so nice having a whole week off of school, I definitely needed a break!  We stayed in Dallas for Thanksgiving this year and did a lot of fun things!  One of the days, I took the kids to the sitter and Tracy, Emily and I spent the day shopping.  It was so fun and even though I didn't get many Christmas gifts, I still found some great things....for me, ha! :)

On Thursday, Blake and Emily and Nick and I had tickets to the Cowboys game.  I have never been to the new stadium and to say it is ridiculously large is an understatement.  We had so much fun though!  We had rockstar parking and seats! 

 Auntie Em and Finley getting some snuggles in before we left for the game

 Of course we are all Baylor grads so we are huge RG3 fans but Emily and I decided to cheer for the Redskins since neither of us are Cowboys fans...RG3 rocked it by the way!!!

 

Nick, Blake and Emily

Go RG3!!!!

Friday afternoon, Blake and Emily hosted their after-Thanksgiving feast and it was so great to see Blake's family and other friends.  Blake made some super good food and we enjoyed sitting on their new patio enjoying a fire.  

Saturday we were up super early for the Baylor/Tech game.  Pretty exciting that I've never been to the Cowboys stadium and I get to go twice in three days.  We met up with a bunch of our friends and had an awesome tailgating spot and hung out for several hours before the game started.   It was such a nice treat to be able to spend the day with friends and watch our alma mater and know the kiddos were in good hands!  Thanks Granddad and Gigi for watching our kids!!

 For some reason we had a couple pesky bees hanging out at our tailgate and I was pretty determined to kill one....with a knife!?!

Jessica, Emily and Blake

Love this guy!!!

The game was amazing!!!  The first quarter wasn't looking too promising for our Bears but we ended up winning in OT and there is nothing better than beating a team when you have super annoying Tech fans sitting behind you, bashing your school!!  Sic em Bears!!!

It was such a great week and kinda sad to have to return to work but 4 weeks and we have Christmas break!!  AND, we will be closing on our house next month too, woohoo!!!

Lots of exciting things coming up this next month!

Lately....

 I've taken a little bit of a blogging break, just wasn't feelin it but that's ok, I still have lots to share from the last few weeks.  Two weeks ago, Finley woke up at midnight crying.  Being kind of out of it, I went into her room to pick her up and realized she was covered in throw up.  Yes, my every wish has come true!!!  Nothing I love more than puke.....not!  Once I realized we both had vomit all over us, I summoned my wonderful husband to come help and after a quick bath and change of sheets and wipe down of the crib, everything was cleaned up.  I was hoping it was just kind of a fluke thing because she does have a very strong gag-reflex and I was just hoping it wouldn't happen again.  Did my wish come true?  Nope......poor thing threw up every 15 minutes for 4 hours!  We have never experienced this before and didn't even know what to do.  

As big of a phobia I have with throw up, I was actually very proud of myself.  I helped out as much as I could and did a lot of the cleaning up.  Nick is such a great daddy and fell asleep with her on the bed with a little bucket next to her.  When I went in at 4am to check on them, he had her all propped up on some pillows so she wouldn't choke....ahhh!!!  Dad of the year!

After she took a long nap, she woke up feeling much better and didn't throw up the rest of the day.  Cole woke up acting totally normal but quickly declined.  Within an hour of waking up, he started acting strange and kept asking to go lay down.  We knew he wasn't feeling too hot either.  He ran a temperature all day and just laid around, but thank God....no throw up's from him!!!  Nick actually had to fly to Little Rock for the day and when he was leaving I pretty much had a panic attack that he was leaving me home alone with two possible puking kids and nobody around to help me (Gigi was in London).  Ha!  I'm pathetic, I know.  But again, I couldn't have lucked out anymore because as the day went on they got better and better.

But, there was a lot of this going on that day.....

 By the end of the day, Cole was dressed up as Jake the Pirate and being his normal silly self.

 Having sick kids is the absolute worst, but luckily God watched out for me and it was a very short-lived event!!!!

That same week, Mimi and Papa came for a little visit and it was so nice having them here.  I'm so mad that I didn't take more pictures but I did get a few.  While they were here they wanted to get the kids a little treat from the toy store so we all went and they each got to pick out something.  Cole is huge into Transformers right now so this is what he picked out....

 And he hasn't put them down since.....

Finley has no girly toys so I knew we needed to get her her first baby doll.  She even got a cute stroller for baby.  She also hasn't let this baby out of her sight, she goes everywhere with her.  As I sit here and type this blog, she has taken the clothes off her baby and the baby now has a diaper on.  Awesome!

 Why does Finley look like she's 4 years old here?!?

 She loved playing with Papa!  Even though they left almost a week ago, she still yells for "Papa....Mimi!!!"

 Finley, that bottle is for your baby.....

 Friday evening, we drove up to Frisco to walk through the new house.  I can't believe how it's coming along!  We have cabinets, wood floors and it's really starting to look like a real house.  Next time we go up I'll take some pictures.  The kids are so excited about the house, they just run all over the place and Cole loves to show everyone his new room :)

While we were there, Pete and Katie stopped by and checked everything out.  We definitely can't wait to move in and get settled up there, we definitely miss being close to our friends, church, schools, shopping! (ha!)

We decided to grab some dinner with Pete and Katie at a new pizza place in Frisco Square and it was amazing!  We love this place and can't wait to go back!

Here is Pete with the babes....watching them make pizzas.

Nick had to work a lot this weekend, they launched a big project so the kids and I were left to ourselves for the afternoon/evenings.  Saturday afternoon I took the kids to Stonebriar and looked at new Christmas jammies and I really wanted to check out the new iPad mini so I took the kids in there and Cole was in heaven!  

Nick had to work Sunday again so after naps, the kids and I headed to church for Life group and then we all went to eat an early dinner then headed to the Legacy Tree Lighting event in Plano.  We had such a fun night and I really think the kids had so much fun!  

Top:  Avery and Zachary  Bottom:  James, Addison, Finley, Cole and Reece

 

Reece and Cole....this is Cole's new favorite person!

We got home pretty late last night but they kids were so wound up.  Gigi and Granddad were also coming home and they couldn't wait to see them so I let them stay up pretty late so they could see them.  

Finley has been into this downward dog thing lately, whatever that's about :)

 It was such an awesome feeling last night, knowing I didn't have to get up for work in the morning and that we are going to have a lazy week.  I do have to meet with my grad school advisor today to go over everything so that's exciting to get that ball rolling.  Tomorrow we are taking the kids to the sitter and doing some shopping, yay!  

Thanksgiving day, Nick and I and Blake and Emily are going to the Cowboys/Redskins game.....go RG3!!!  THEN, Saturday is the Baylor/Tech game at Cowboys stadium so a bunch of us are going to that.  I have never been to the Cowboys new stadium so going twice in one week is pretty exciting!

Gonna be a good week!

Halloween 2012

 This year was definitely the most fun Halloween we've had as parents!  I'm pretty sure Cole had been wearing his costume for the last month (definitely got use out of that) and he was so excited about all the fun festivities.  Even Finley understood the whole trick or treating thing.  Probably from watching big brother is what made her excited about the whole thing.  

Our Halloween festivities started with Cole's class party on Tuesday.  I am so thankful that his class parties are in the afternoon because last year his parties were always first thing in the morning and with me working, I could never make the morning parties.  I would be crushed if I couldn't be there for his parties.  He is definitely a very sensitive child and would be sad if he didn't have family there when the other kids did.

They did all kinds of fun stuff, decorated pumpkins, decorated cookies, sang songs and told stories.  I absolutely love seeing Cole in his school element and how he acts around the other kids and adults.  Cole also had to go around to each kid and introduce me to all his friends...it was adorable!!

Thursday evening, the kids could hardly contain themselves.  I love when you have leverage like trick or treating and they eat all their dinner...every single bite! :)

We got them ready and took some pictures before we headed out.

Cole was Ironman and Finley was a Garden Gnome

Showing off his muscles

Our little gnome couldn't keep her fingers out of the candy dish

She nursed that sucker all night long!!! 

Cole was the sweetest and held Finley's hand from door to door

We were so impressed that Finley went up to the doors with Cole.  She'd get right in there, say "please" "thank you" and "bye bye"....then she's awkwardly stand and stare at them, ha!

No way were we going to pay for that Monty Python costume and not get good use out of it!!!

You are hot stuff Nick!!!

After we were done trick or treating, a bunch of the neighbor kids all gathered around Tracy's house and helped hand out more candy and played their little hearts out.

This is Joshua and Cole....Cole didn't know what to think about there being another Ironman!!

Who has the bigger muscles, eh??

It was so fun watching all the kids play last night, we found so many friends to play with!  We pretty much had to drag Cole into the house and he was very sad to say bye to his friends.  I love seeing him have so much fun.

Here is our family....I didn't have much of a costume, just a fun headband

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!

Standup and cutie pies

 This past Friday, a bunch of our Baylor people friends got together to see an old friend perform at Hyena's in Dallas.

 This is Clinton Pickens

 

 Clinton went to Baylor with us and was on the crew team for a couple years.  He was such a fun person to have around, always making everyone laugh!  We always knew Clinton would go on to do something fabulous because he was one of the most talented people we knew.  Clinton did go on to Los Angeles and has been doing stand up and commercials and I remember last year when we were watching the Super Bowl, all of a sudden we saw Clinton on TV!  Pretty cool!!!

It was so good to see him on Friday and he definitely did not disappoint...he's hilarious!  And a clean hilarious!

Again, there were about 10 of us that were out that night and it was so much fun to be with so many of our friends.  We hit up a couple cool places and it also was super nice not having to worry about getting back in time to relieve the babysitter because Dennis and Tracy stayed with the kids.  Nick and I got home after 1:00am and I can't even remember the last time we did that.  It was a blast!

Emily and I were trying to figure out how to work Conner's phone, both Emily and I have iPhone's but for some reason his iPhone was just a little tricky to figure out....apparently. 

Oh Blake....what are we going to do with you??

After about 5 tries, we finally got a good picture :)

 This weekend has been gorgeous weather so we've been trying to play outside.  This morning while Cole was running errands with Granddad, we took Finley outside to play.  Her and Dad were playing hockey and these next three pictures crack me up....she looks like a zombie, trying to get that hockey stick.

It's almost like a flip book...

 Cole and Finley wore matching outfits today and they were absolutely adorable so I "tried" to get some pictures of them today.  I mean, they were so cooperative, looked at the camera, said "cheese"...perfect angels!!!......Not!

This is about as good as I got....aren't they precious!

 "Cheese!"

 She is always making this face lately and it's hilarious!

 Cutest smile ever...love this kid, he pretty much melts my heart!

I had to share this picture of Finley during her nap.  She is always sticking her legs through the posts of her bed and today when I walked in I just had to laugh.  I guess she's taking after her brother in the crazy sleeping positions.

Meet Finley's best friend, her name is Roxy.  I can't remember the last time I've had a picture of the dogs on our blog but this is pretty much the story of Finley and Roxy's life.  If Finley has food in her hand, Roxy is attached to her hip.  Finley loves it though because she absolutely loves her doggies!  They were taking a break on Cole's bed this afternoon...:)

Hope Everyone had a great weekend!!!