Corpus Visit

The Diva sleeps!
Playing with Aunt Kelly
Scootin' along
It takes talent!

Just some pictures from our trip to Corpus Christi last weekend. We enjoyed spending time with family, eating some good food, and Gabe & I actually got a night out without the kiddos. It was great!! It had been a really long time... too long!

Chatty Kathy (or Sophie)

I took a video of Sophie talking, or saying some words. CRACKS ME UP!!!! And it's funny at the end of the video too. Zach joins in and let's just say that Sophie doesn't like to share the spotlight. She retaliates a bit. :)

Since the video got cut short we forgot a few words. Others that she says are: thank you, excuse me, hi, Dora, SpongeBob, woof woof, quack quack and of course mama & dada. Isn't she a genius (hahaha, that's for my sister, Sandra)?

Oh, and now her new thing is "uh-huh." For example, Sophie do you want some milk? She nods and says, "Uh-huh." Where she learned that, I don't know... but it is cute as anything! :)

A Healthy Snack? I Think Not.

She likes to color because she sees brother do it, but sometimes she gets the sudden urge to eat the marker (don't worry, they are mess free... they only color on a certain type of paper... I'm not crazy). So, we really have to watch her. Then she gets really, really mad when we have to take the marker away because she won't keep it out of her mouth. Fun times. :) Hmmm, I wonder what this tastes like?

I'll just put the lid back on... Mom is watching.

See Mom, I'm not eating the marker!

Protective Much?

Doesn't it look like he's thinking... "This is MY sister! Stay away boys!"

Rapunzel, Rapunzel Let Down Your Hair!

Before

After

Look how much her hair has grown!!!! Nobody confuses her for a boy NOW!!! :) Maybe by summer we can put ponytails... I can't wait. Another plus to having a girl... playing with their hair (if she lets me, that is). And look, it even has a little body to it. How cute!

Happy Easter!

Playing with Papa

Here's one!

What's this?

My lil Diva!

Actually took a good picture for me.

Well, we are a little behind, but....HAPPY EASTER! Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday and remembered the true reason of why we celebrate.

The kids had a good time hunting for eggs. Sophie didn't have too much of a good chance of finding her eggs... Zach was too fast for her. But I think she still enjoyed it. The Easter Bunny brought them candy, games, and some new sunglasses to sport for the summer. Sophie didn't even want to take hers off! She loved them!!

After hunting eggs and a quick pancake breakfast, it was time to get ready for church. We surprised my dad and went to his church instead. After church, we had to head back home and get ready for lunch. We were the hosts this year, so we had to get everything ready. We ate some yummy BBQ, potato sald, green bean casserole, and rolls. And for dessert... of course, my cupcakes and Mom's strawberry pie. De-lish!!

Thanks for spending Easter with us Grandma & Papa! We love you!

A Girl's Girl

Sophie has been cracking me up lately. Her new thing is purses... what woman's thing isn't purses. Right? :) Whenever I say, "Ok, it's time to go" she will find a purse, put it up on her shoulder, and head for the door. Hilarious! The purse can be as big as her, she doesn't care, that doesn't stop her. And she wants to take it to the car... just like mommy, I guess. She is too funny!

Speed Walker

Sophie has been walking well over a month now, but I remembered that none of our family in Corpus as seen her do it yet. She is all over the place and she is so fast. So, this is for you guys! Miss y'all!

14 Months

Happy 14 month Birthday, my sweet baby girl!!

Too Cute For Words

We took the kids to get their pictures taken on Wednesday. Let me just tell you, these photographers had their work cut out for them. At first, Sophie didn't want anything to do with sitting still for any kind of picture. So, Bryan (our photographer) thinks that starting with Zachary will be a good idea. He can show little sister how it is done...yeah right. Zach would sit still, but he would not smile for anything!! Bryan had to call in more help from another photographer to get Zach to finally smile. Then it was like he didn't want to stop smiling. And Sophie finally wanted to join in. They just needed to get used to their surroundings and these strangers taking pictures of them. :)
All in all, they took some really good pictures. I think we definitely bought too many pictures. But the ones we got are definitely keepers. The one posted at the top of the blog I got in black and white....PRECIOUS!!!!! I LOVE IT!
See, they ARE sweet with each other. :)

Baby Gage

We finally met Baby Gage (my great nephew)!! He is A-DOR-A-BLE. Ashleigh and Daniel were able to make the trip down from Oklahoma for everyone to get to meet him. He turned three months old today. We celebrated with some fajitas and homemade chocolate cupcakes, made with love by you know who. :) Sophie showed him a little love by touching his hand and then his head, but we had to remind her to be gentle. Thanks to her brother, she has to be reminded of this every now and then. It was so good to meet you, Baby Gage! Can't wait to see you again!

Laid Back

I was busy cleaning/organizing my bedroom and noticed that Sophie had disappeared out of the room. When I went looking for her, I found her kicked back in her old car seat just relaxing. She is such a funny girl.

TaYlOr SwIfT!!!!!

I can't believe that I almost forgot to blog about this! Oh my gosh... I saw Taylor Swift at the Rodeo! Usually Rodeo concerts are just okay, but this concert was awesome! This was the first time that I had been to the rodeo since 2004! I really lucked out with the ticket. My sister and her husband invited me. He got tickets through work and ended up with an extra one... so I got to go! :) We sat in the company's suite and as you will probably be able to tell, this was my first time to ever sit in a suite. I mean, this is the way to go! There was all this food, drinks, ice cream, great seats, and the bathroom... "The bathroom was as big as the blue banana!" (quote from Pretty Woman). Very nice. At one point in the concert, Taylor (because we are on a first name basis :) ) asked the crowd to hold up their cell phones while she was singing. How cool was this? With over 70,000 people attending, the seats were lit up! After the concert, we went outside to enjoy a few rides. Needless to say, I didn't get home till after 1 am! Whew! I hadn't been out that late in a long time. But I was very thankful for my night out. Thanks Martin Family!

Another Rash Update

As of today, I would say the rash is about 99% gone. Yea!! It only took 11 days!! Little stinker, I can't get her to look at the camera with open eyes anymore. Hope next week's pictures go better than mine. :)

My Medieval Monkeys

I came across an old Halloween costume of Gabe's and the kids had some fun with it. Too funny!

Rash Update

I took Sophie in to see her 'regular' doctor on Thursday. This appointment was to follow up on her ear infection, but of course now, we had to follow up on her rash also. It has cleared up a lot since Monday. Here is what we found out from Dr. Patel...
Ear infection is gone. Yea! Rash could be caused from 3 things: 1. Virus, 2. Reaction to the MMR vaccine that she had gotten two weeks ago, or 3. Allergic reaction to the Amoxycillin she was taking for the ear infection. It is hard to really pinpoint what it was since she just had the vaccine and she just started the medicine on the same day. To be on the safe side, we are saying that she IS allergic to Amoxycillin until we can test her for it when she is 5 or 6ish.

The Rash

Saturday, after the party, we took Sophie to the doctor. Gabe was changing her diaper that morning and noticed a rash on her belly and chest area. According to the doctor, it is a virus that causes this rash. A fever also occurs with the virus (which the only time she has really had a fever was when we were at the doctor's office). It is contagious while it is still in the "fever" stage, but the doctor acted like we didn't have to worry about Zach getting it. This only happens to the younger ones. Weird. He also stated that it will probably last about a week and will definitely get worse before it gets better. Well, he wasn't kidding. The next day (Sunday), it was definitely worse. My poor baby. She had spots from head to toe! I couldn't believe it. But I guess it isn't painful. She is still running around like nothing is wrong. She didn't sleep well Sunday night, but other than that, she has been acting normal. I did give her some Benadryl to see if it would help with the irritation. She started scratching at a couple of spots yesterday. I feel so helpless. She looks pitiful. Even Zach has been loving on her more. We have a follow up appointment on Thursday. I will leave an update then.

More Birthdays

Cole and Emma had a combined family party on Saturday. Cole turned 9 on March 4th and Emma turned 7 on Saturday, the 14th. We enjoyed some Carl's BBQ, garlic mashed potatoes, beans, sausage, and of course Estelle's famous cake.
A balcony seat to watch the present opening.
Sophie enjoying a ride in a "baby" stroller. Hilarious.
The yummy cake.
The birthday boy & girl.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear daddy, happy birthday to you!!!!!! March 12th was Gabe's 29th birthday. We surprised him with his favorite... yellow cake with chocolate icing. Yum! Yes, I made it myself. :) And we bought him a new toy... Rockband 2. Okay, it might be a present for me too. :)

Happy Birthday, Honey. I love you with all of my heart. xoxoxoxo