Happy FIRST birthday Caitlyn!

OK, so I have to ask again .... where DID the year go?
How'd these babies get so big so quick?? Here are some pictures to enjoy ...

Just a swingin'

tiny Caitlyn

At the park in late February

Sweet babies together!
LaLaLa Laaaaaa ....

Elliot turned one today - where did the year go??

Elliot today - acting like a big kid!

Elliot's official birthday!

Awwww, last Easter
Elliot TWO days old!

Wow, this year has ZOOOOMED by!

I still can't believe Elliot is officially one year old today!

It seems like just yesterday he was a little bitty (well, as little bitty as Elliot can be!)

Now he's officially a little boy and entering toddler-hood!

When he gets mobile I fear we are in serious trouble! He is showing more interest in walking but is really not all that interested in crawling. He seems to understand that it is easier to get things out of his reach if he gets on his tummy and scoots ... but he hasn't figured out that if he crawls he'll get there much faster!

Happy Birthday to our little bug man!

Emily and Elliot playing!

Emily and Elliot have so much fun together! Here are some shots of them playing the other day ... such sweet kiddos!

Elliot and his buggy

Elliot loves his little buggy ... HA!

He hasn't figured out how to go forward yet, but he has figured out it's fun to drive up to the table for a snack!

Leaving the Park ...

Hey, get that camera out of my face!

At the park ...

Here are some pictures of Elliot having fun at the park!

Sister pushing him in the swing!

Sweet boy...
"Hey Emily, what does this ball do?"

"Push me higher sister!"

"Come on Dad, let's go really high!"

Stolen pictures (from Chris and Trina's Kodak Gallery) - HA!

I'd like to knw what he's plotting?!

Maybe one day they will all look the same way AND smile!

Elliot's buggy ride!

Wayne brought the little buggy down from the attic and Elliot LOVES it!

First a blast from the recent past ... Emily at 9 months old!

Elliot at 11 months! His first ride on the buggy
OK, where is that buggy?
A little tweak here and there and this baby will move!

#1 Pee Wee Showman

Here are some pictures of Emily showing her little cow Victoria Louise (born on Grandma Gentz' birthday!)

Walking to the show ring!

Getting ready!
Helping Paw Paw set up!
Her Prize!
Being silly at the restaurant!

February!

Yes, February ... wow, time does fly!

We've been busy, but I can't remember what we've been doing - HA!

Emily showed in the Pee Wee Show in San Antonio. She had a really good time!
Mom posted about it on her blog (I need to see if I can find those pictures now!)

We are planning for our Chevy Chase style vacation in April.
We are heading to the Grand Canyon and making a few stops along the way.
First Lubbock (Wayne's old stomping grounds) then somewhere between Lubbock and the Grand Canyon ... then we aren't sure .... ! It'll be an adventure for sure (and we are looking forward to it!)! Trina loaned us Vacation to watch and prepare!

Elliot is growing and growing! He isn't crawling, but he's getting REALLY good at the butt scoot. He is still a little wobbly when he stands, but he's getting better at it.
He's a little ham for sure. He gets a kick out of making people laugh ...
He LOVES to eat. I am going to have to get a second job to feed him when he's a teenager!!

Emily is getting ready for Kindergarten. She always asks when she gets to start "big school" ... I tell her never ... HA! We do have registration in April (YIKES!)
She's doing really well on her razor scooter and I think we'll be able to take the training wheels off her bike in the summer! She thinks it's the end of the world if she's not able to play with Abi (our neighbor). She keeps us on our toes for sure!

That's our update for now!

Random pictures

I am so behind! I can't believe it's Mid February!

Here are some random January and February pictures.

Big grin

Emily learning about static electricity

Emily dropping off the dontations from her Birthday party!
Emily playing at the Central Texas SPCA
Elliot is the KING!
Elliot being silly with his bottle
Emily's bed all made up
Emily's friends at her 5th Birthday party!
Big Man!
Silly Big Man!

Leaving to go to MeMe and PawPaw's Emily and Abi swimming
Emily's party!
Emily and Abi with balloons
Emily's ice cream cake!

The Furry Ones ....

Alvin - if I don't look at them, will they go away?

Max wondering how he ended up with such weird people!

Vivian telling Wayne to turn on the sink
TC trying to fit in Emily's dog bed
Bridget pretending she's a person

Our house feels very strange still without Cammie dog

Another year older, not so much wiser

Well, I am officially on the backside of 30 ... sliding veeeery fast to 40!

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!!!

I had a great weekend!

We attended two birthday parties (and I pretended they were mine - HA!)
Emma (one of Emily's bestus buddies) had a cheerleading party for her 5th birthday and our friend Rick had his 38th birthday (no cheerleaders!)
Both were tons of fun!

Sunday started off a little rough but ended up being a great day!
Elliot didn't sleep well (he's been a little plugged up since starting table food!) and Emily woke up with an upset stomach (and barfed!) ....

Grandpa called at 9am (a few hours later than usual) to remind me that he is only 39 even though I am 36. I had to remind HIM that Dad is turning 55 this year, so he can't REALLY be 39 anymore - HA!

I went to church then met Trina for lunch at Jardin Corona (yummy!) - poor Chris missed out because Caitlyn needed an earlier than usual nap. Trina took him some enchiladas to go tho!

We then met Nancy, Eddie and Traci for dinner at this cool little winery in Driftwood (Mandolas)! Dinner was very very good and lots of fun! I am ready to go back!

My birthday continued today with more well wishes and some yummy cookies at work!

Sooo, even though I am one year older and not a bit wiser, I do feel super duper loved and VERY blessed!

PS: I scored some very cool birthday goodies :-)
Thanks to everyone for ...
the cash - sweet!
the Sunflower Charm
the extra cool cat ring holder
the Bath Junkie stuff
the digital frame
the Amazon gift card (OK OK, so I used it already, and Dad says I am just like Emily, but it's different since I already had my eye on something isn't it??)
the Picacio print that wil be worth ga-zillions one day

WebKinz Maddess ...

The WebKinz are out of control ... but they are soooooo cute.
Emily keeps them all on her bed - HA!

Dad asked for a list of the ones they have , so I thought I'd post them here!

They have 17 of them. Yes, 17.

Valentine's Day is a pink frog (from Trina and Chris)
Emily is a monkey (from Austen and Jessica)
Caitlyn is an elephant (from Caitlyn)
Louie is Elliot's frog (from Me Me and Paw Paw)
Girl Rudolph is a reindeer (from Austen and Jessica)
Girl TJ is a terrier (from Me Me and Paw Paw)
Valentino is Elliot's cow (from Me Me and Paw Paw)
Cinderella is a persian (from Jessica)
Jasmine is a kitty (from Paw Paw)
Snow White is a raccoon (from Me Me and Paw Paw)
Boomba is a panda (from mommy and daddy)
Rawhide is Elliot's lab (from Me Me and Paw Paw)
Sleeping Beauty is a pony (from Me Me and Paw Paw)
Ariel is a unicorn (from Me Me and Paw Paw)
Dora is a clydesdale (from mommy and daddy)
Princess is a chihuahua (from mommy and daddy)
Alisha is a Bassett Hound and the one that started the maddess (from Me Me and Paw Paw)

Heartbroken...

Yesterday started out being super happy and ended up being VERY VERY sad.

Cammie (our sweet dog) started acting weird on Wednesday (refused to eat) and seemed to be getting worse on Thursday. We took her to the vet to make sure nothing was wrong and found something was horribly wrong.

We were treating her for diabetes and a thyroid problem. She was doing really well and as our wonderful vet (Dr Treadway) said "She is the lowest maintenece diabetic dog we have". I figured her weird-ness was related to the diabetes, but found out it was actually a very fast moving, untreatable cancer. Dr Treadway gave us a name, but I was in shock and do not remember what she called it. I will have to ask her when we go pick up her ashes.

All I know is by the time Wayne and I arrived at the vet Thursday afternoon her lungs and abodomen were full of fluid and she was in horrible pain and just miserable.

We were both with her when Dr Treadway gave her the injection and it was a very peaceful moment.

We are lucky that Emily is with mom and dad this week (see mom's blog for an update on her trip) but I am really not looking forward to telling her tomorrow when we pick her up!
Dr Treadway is going to make Emily a paw print (see, she is wonderful) and suggested we cut off a tuft of hair for her.

Cammie was a one of a kind dog! It's hard to imagine when we got her she was terrified of men, hairless and about 25 lbs! She really thought she was a 50lb cat and would probably have climbed on the back of the couch if she could have figured it out! She loved everyone and everyone loved her. She was a sweet sweet soul.

We will miss her so very much!

Halloween - helping Wayne with his pumpkin!

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin
From Emily's camera

UPDATE - we told Emily coming home from San Antonio last night (we put it off until the last possible minute!). She took it much better than I expected. The first thing she said was "Well, now we have to get a new dog"

Wayne and I aren't ready yet, but we will entertain the idea of a new dog in the summer.

She did ask a lot of questions today (how did it happen? what did the vet do? what did the vet say?) and told me she really misses Cammie when she saw a picture of her this afternoon ... but so far she's doing well.

I picked up a really cute book from Barnes and Noble Dog Heaven that seems to be helping her understand (but wow, it makes me cry everytime I read it!).

I highly recommend it (there is one called Cat Heaven too)

Our vet recommended a cute little book called The 10th Good Thing about Barney. We will probably read it this week too.

Yes, we are picture slackers!

We haven't been taking many pictures lately.
I've dubbed our house the sick house as we've been sick off an on since before Christmas and just haven't thought to break out the camera.
We'll try to get better (as we are finally seeing the light at the end of the sick tunnel hopefully!)

We are having Emily's birthday party this weekend at Emler swim school ... it should be tons of fun ... I'll post some pictures after the party - I promise!

Go check out Trina's MySpace Music page!

Trina's CD is almost ready!! To hear a samples of her originals click here and bookmark the page.
I am sure she'll be updating it often with gig dates!

Oh and by the way, that's Chris is on the keyboard :-)

Happy Late Birthday Emily!

Wow, I just realized I didn't post Birthday wishes to a special 5 year old girl yesterday!
I really can NOT believe she's 5 and starting actually starting Kindergarten in the fall (YIKES!)

She wanted a new bike for her birthday and picked out a hot pink one!
It's super cute.

Elliot gave her some clothes for her Webkinz animals and a cute little journal with a big jeweled letter "E". She loves to draw and usually carries a little journal with her everywhere.

We went out for a special Birthday dinner at Mesa Rosa and had a Marble Slab Ice Cream cake for dessert. Yummy! She is a little confused since we are not having her party until the end of the month and asked "Am I really 5 now?"

Silly girl!

PS: With her Birthday money she bought a new Razor scooter (2 wheeler)

Happy Birthday to Yoooooou!

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Austen and Chris!
Happy Birthday to yooooooou

Just think, if Emily would have been born 3 days earlier, she could share your special day too!

Hope you both have a super duper day!