Ok, so I am annoyed. I had a big long post written out about what a fun outing we had taking bluebonnet pics, and as I went to post the pics, it disappeared!!! I am so annoyed, and don't feel like retyping it. So, in a nutshell, we had a great time, glad we got it in before the nasty weather. Pics turned out great, blah blah, here they are - ha ha, enjoy :)
We finally made it to the rodeo! We will definitely be making this an annual event for the Picketts. The only thing to be changed is that we will not be going over spring break. It was too crowded! Despite the crowds, the weather was perfect and we all had a blast. Check out my cute buckaroos!
The leprechaun came to visit us for St. Patti's day! He made such a mess! He flipped over pillows pulled out all the toilet paper stuck the stool in the sink, and so much more! He even played in the toilet and made the water green! That crazy leprechaun. To make up for it, he left notes and "gold" around the house. He even left Luke a nice big prize for all the trouble he caused. We spent the day wearing green clothes and chasing that tricky leprechaun! We had a lot of fun. I know I am nuts, but we used to do it in my classroom when I taught and I thought Luke would appreciate it this year. He sure did, he got into it and we chased that leprechaun all over. Too bad he blamed everything on him ("that leprechaun must have left all my toys out") ha ha. This is such a fun age! (That picture is him finding a note among the strewn pillows, and checking out the green in the toilet)
I am trying to be better about posting things, at the request of my very wonderful friend Alicia, so I have been making an effort. I took some super cute pictures the other day. A few from bath time with daddy. They prefer him to give them baths, you will see why as soon as you see the picture. Daddy believes that the more bubbles you have, the cleaner they become. Oddly, I do not agree. But the kids love it, and I love having the night off every now and then, so I shut my mouth!! There is also a funny picture of Ella with several of her bows in her hair. She was just playing around while I was cleaning her room, and this is what came of it. Enjoy!
It is time in Houston for the rodeo. Luke's school had rodeo days last week, so Luke got dressed up in his cowboy best. He looked so adorable
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Although daddy came home to watch Ella so I could help out at Luke's school, she wanted to get dressed up too. She has two western outfits, but since it was cooler that day (unlike the next day- go figure) we chose the warmer one. Nana bought her this for her birthday. The boots light up on the sides, and the jeans are sporting fringe!! I just love girl clothes!
Nana gave Ella a cute little pink horse that you can ride on for her birthday. Here is a cute picture of her enjoying it! She is getting so big. She pushes EVERYTHING around, but just doesn't seem to want to walk. I guess she figures she gets there faster by crawling, who knows!
There is also a picture of Luke "helping" me bake the other day. He is such a ham, with a great personality!
I am really enjoying the time I get to spend with both Luke and Ella. I am so blessed to have two beautiful babies!!!
I can't believe my little girl is a year old. It seems like just yesterday I was big as a house and awaiting her arrival. She is such a blessing to our home. I remember crying one time wondering how I could ever love anyone as much as I love Luke. It is true, your heart grows. First came Jay my true love, then it grew for Luke and I thought it would burst. Now my b
eautiful, wonderful Ella. I am truly blessed! We had a wonderful birthday party for our little girl. I decided a cupcake theme would be fun. Her sweet daddy, who has a birthday 4 days before her, insisted that we separate her birthday from Christmas. It was a crazy time, but we pulled it off. It was a great party. The kitchen was finished - ha ha. I even made her cake. If you remember I made Luke's first cake, elmo, so I was determined not to short change Ella. I am sure it would have been cheaper and easier to buy one, but it was fun. My mom and I ended up making and decorating 48 regular cupcakes, and one GIANT cupcake. I will definitely remember this birthday. I love my family and friends, thanks for making it special for Ella.
Luke with his fireball race track!!
Ella with her kitchen
After the party, and Granny Kays arrival, the next day my parents came to visit. Luke was so excited!! He loves his Nana and Gramps. They came with a truck full of presents to add to it, so was totally beside himself! Later that night Jay's parents came, and Luke got even more excited, if possible. Our tree looked like a toy store was underneath it. I can't believe how blessed we are!
Christmas eve came next and more craziness ensued. My mom and I were working on getting the dinner on teh table, and talking about my kitchen. A few glasses later.... I started ripping off wallpaper. Needless to say, the next morning I was like, what have we done! I will write more about that later, and I have pictures too! All in all, Christmas eve was wonderful. My mom surprised me with beautiful Christmas dishes and wine glasses. It looked so great in my dining room. With all the family, yummy food, etc. we had a great time. Luke got to pick out the Christmas jammies this year and he chose Iron man and Ella got Tinkerbell, I figured it was ok if they were not decked out in Christmas jammies, just new jammies is fun. Oh and, Luke had a wonderful time sprinkling the reindeer food, and putting out cookies for Santa, it was adorable!
Christmas came next, and crazy continued. Crazy fun. Luke was our little Santa Claus. He was so excited that Santa came. He really got it this year, which made it so much fun!!! He got the big present that he had been begging Santa for for ever, and Ella go a super cute kitchen. It was one of many wonderful Christmas memories to come!
My wonderful hubby decided that we should make the most out of our shortened holiday season (because Thanksgiving was so late). So he decided we should do something Christmas related every night, even during the week. So every night Jay would get home from working a full day, and merrily load up his family and take us somewhere fun. It may have just been checking out some great lights in a new neighborhood, or the tree lighting, but it meant alot to us and we loved it!! One night we decided to go to the Memorial City mall. We had a blast, and got some cute pics too.
My poor kiddos were sick for two weeks this year! Poor babies, this was the first time Luke had ever been on an antibiotic!! I was sad to break our good fortune streak, but it could have been worse. I have been very blessed for 3 1/2 years to have such a healthy boy, one antibiotic is not so bad. Ella was sick too. Poor baby, I had to take them back again, and hers had formed into a double ear infection! She is such a trooper. In the middle of all this we got some crazy weather in Houston. It snowed!!! Although the kids were feeling yucky and did not get to enjoy it as much as they would have like to, we still found time to go out in the snow and enjoy ourselves!!
Although it has definitely snuk up on us, we have still managed to enjoy our holiday season to the fullest. Luke had a great Christmas family day at his school. They got their faces painted, ate Christmas cookies, and visited Santa. They even got to make reindeer food, which Luke loved. This year he is very into snowmen. He insisted on getting a snowman on his cheek, and then when the balloon man asked what he wanted him to make he again insisted on a snowman. Now let me first say that all the kids were getting swords, hats, reindeer antlers, all kinds of cool stuff. Luke insisted upon a snowman. So we waited in the super long line to see the balloon man (the kids loved) and our turn finally came. Luke asked for a snowman (despite moms many prods at "are you sure you don't want a sword or something"), nope snowman. The guy says, I don't do snowman, so as any mom (as overprotective as I may be) I said, well you better think of something cause this kid just waited a long time for a snowman!!! Well, finally the other balloon person came up and made it happen (thank you balloon lady) and Luke got his snowman. We had a great time at the party. Ella even wore her super cute My 1st Christmas shirt. I was so excited to put her in it, when her Aunt Chelle gave it to her. My chunky monkey barely fit into the 12month size!!! Glad she got to wear it some, and of course I got pictures! I am so glad Luke enjoys he school, and happy that our whole family is able to take part it his holiday fun.
Well, I guess the holidays are coming to an end around here. I must say it has been a very fun holiday season for us, but as the title states its been crazy. Good crazy though. Let's see.... my kids were super sick for two weeks. Yes, both kids super sick. Luke got his first antibiotic ever, I was sad because for some reason I saw my sons incredible health as an accomplishment. Ella was sniffly, then stopped, then Luke got a horrible cough and fever, then Ella followed with the same thing, only one day behind. I ended up taking both kids back the next week, and Ella's turned into a double ear infection! My poor munchkins.
So they were sick for two weeks, then just as they got better, we had a Christmas party at our house. It was a blast. We had a bunch of our friends and their kiddos there. We really enjoyed it and feel truly blessed to have such a great group around us.
The party was Saturday, then on Monday Jay's grandmother, "Granny Kay" came to visit. This was a surprise and we were very excited for her to come!! She made the kids some adorable Christmas gifts. For Ella she made this awesome rag doll and an outfit to match complete with red shoes. It was the cutest! For Luke she made him a cowboy outfit. Chaps, a vest, she bought boots and even a stick horse. He loved it, and looked absolutely adorable. We really enjoyed having Granny Kay in our home and look forward to more visits from her.
Here goes....
Ok, so I have been viewing all of the blogs of my friends and others and thought they were adorable! I decided I would take a crack at it for myself. I am not so sure how to do this, so I am just going to do it. I really enjoy sharing fun things about my family with others, and I love reading about their adventures too. My family is my number one priority these days, so I just thought I would share some of what goes on with us. We are so blessed to have two beautiful children, and a happy home.
With the beginning of this new year we have Luke at school two days a week, at St. Laurence Catholic church. He loves going, and enjoys playing with his friends there (mommy enjoys the time off too). Luke also has soccer practice once a week and games on Saturday mornings. This is hilarious! Luke loves soccer, just not the games. He is doing great though, and we love going.
Jay is well into his "civilian" job, and loves it. He is really doing wonderful, which is why he works a lot! The traveling is crazy, with places like Dubai, Aberdeen, and Singapore, but it is a heck of a lot better than year long deployments! We are very proud of him, and I am grateful to be allowed to stay at home with the kiddos.
Ella is fabulous! She is getting so big, which I am in denial of because I keep buying her clothes to small (we went to the zoo when she was 8months old and I bought her a 6month size tshirt). I guess I am just not ready to have two big kids. She is crawling all over the place, and loves standing. When she stands up, she is so happy until she realizes she doesn't know how to get down. Check out her new stand up toy! On a side note, you will never catch Ella with out a bow on top. I took her out at St. Patricks day when she was only a few months old, and she was called a boy. I vowed it would never happen again, so she has been a "bowhead" ever since.
Well, I have babbled enough for the first one of these. Let's see how long until I actually do another. :)
The leprechaun came to visit us for St. Patti's day! He made such a mess! He flipped over pillows pulled out all the toilet paper stuck the stool in the sink, and so much more! He even played in the toilet and made the water green! That crazy leprechaun. To make up for it, he left notes and "gold" around the house. He even left Luke a nice big prize for all the trouble he caused. We spent the day wearing green clothes and chasing that tricky leprechaun! We had a lot of fun. I know I am nuts, but we used to do it in my classroom when I taught and I thought Luke would appreciate it this year. He sure did, he got into it and we chased that leprechaun all over. Too bad he blamed everything on him ("that leprechaun must have left all my toys out") ha ha. This is such a fun age! (That picture is him finding a note among the strewn pillows, and checking out the green in the toilet)
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Although daddy came home to watch Ella so I could help out at Luke's school, she wanted to get dressed up too. She has two western outfits, but since it was cooler that day (unlike the next day- go figure) we chose the warmer one. Nana bought her this for her birthday. The boots light up on the sides, and the jeans are sporting fringe!! I just love girl clothes!
