Too fast.....

Kaden had school today so it was just Presleigh and I. I enjoy this time with just her and half the time we just stay at home in our pajamas and play with her dolls and babies and read books and if the weather is nice we will play outside. It is precious time with her that I treasure. I spent 2 and a half years at home with just Kaden doing the same things so it is a blessing to get to do it with her too some. Today while she was eating lunch I was looking at a "Pottery Barn" magazine and she randomly says, " I want to get married". I was a little taken aback b/c I can't think of any movie or book we have ever watched or read where someone gets married. I don't know where it came from but I said, "really why is that?" to which she answered, "it is just something I want to do." Sigh..... I don't know where it came from but I am anxious to hear her daddy's response when I tell him about it when he gets home later. I told her someday she would get married and then kind of dropped it. :)

Time goes by too fast..... everyone tells you that and honestly I don't really like to hear it but it is true at times. I just got finished checking my email and came across an email from Kaden's preschool. They are having their "graduation" pictures taken next week. I remembered this but the part I forgot was that they are being taken in the cap and gown we ordered him!! The email brought me nearly to tears and as I write this I have to fight them back. I know that it is just Pre-K he is graduating from but it does symbolize a part of life that he is leaving, which is the preschool life. He is graduating to Kindergarten and for many reasons I have been having a hard time with this. I know I will cry my eyes out the day he "graduates" not only b/c I will see my baby in a cap and gown but b/c it also gives me a glimpse in to the future when he will wear it again. The Lord is so good to our family and how blessed I am. Time does go by but as I look back as I have done today I am overcome with Joy and gratitude at the Lords blessings he has given us.

Theta Friends

This past Saturday I got to go to Addison to my friend Megan's baby shower. She is expecting twins, a boy and a girl. :) I was so excited to do this because I have not seen these girls in a long time. I had such a wonderful time catching up with them and reconnecting with some girls from Baylor and they were all also in my sorority. What a fun time I had! I hope to see you girls before long! Congratulations Megan!

Amanda, Kelly, Megan and I

The Theta kite! :)

I had to add a picture of the kids. This is Kaden on one of his favorite outside toys; his "snake scooter" Santa brought him at Christmas.

Presleigh Joy practicing cheering before bubba's first T-ball game the next day.

Kaden is 5!

Sunday, March 20th my Kaden David turned 5 years old! It is unbelievable how big he is getting. I truly can not believe that my precious baby is 5! We had his birthday party on the day of his birthday this year also. I usually do not like to do this b/c I am a little sentimental with birthdays and like to just take it easy and enjoy being with the kiddos on their actual birthday. However, our snake entertainer could only come on the 2oth. :) So we made it work! Kaden is old enough now to remember the birthday traditions we started when he was 2 years old and looks forward to them so much now! We started these when he was 2 b/c when he turned 1 he was too young and I thought it would be so much fun for them and make for special birthday memories. I was right! The two big things we do on their birthdays are blow up an insane ammount of balloons the night before and fill their floor/room with balloons so when they wake up on their birthday it is filled with balloons. This also makes for hours of fun entertainment for both kids the first day or two. :) We also go on a birthday "scavenger hunt". Nick draws about 5 or 6 pictures of items/places in our house and they run around the house looking for clues to lead them to their presents. This is so much fun for everyone and lucky for Kaden and Presleigh their daddy is a great artist or they would never know where to go. :) I plan on doing these things as long as they live at home. I know it may not always be as "exciting" but my hope is that they will secretly like it. Hey, if they want their presents every year they will have to hunt for them! :)

This first picture we made Kaden stop real quick and hold up two of his first clues on his scavenger hunt.

This is after Kaden opened his presents from us. His favorite gift was 2 new pet hermit crabs. This is Kaden holding the green shell, "Hermie", and the other one is blue and named "Squirmie". He also got a paint/decorate stuffed robot from us and a lava lamp. A beautiful day for a birthday and party! This is the kids enjoying Kaden's birthday breakfast in the backyard.

This is Kaden and Presleigh having what they called a "dance, dance party" and they would run around like crazy and they had so much fun!

Me and my 5 year old!

The amazing snake cake my mom made Kaden and some snake cupcakes also.

This is the kids watching as the snake man just arrived. He was a big hit with everyone! Some of the kids watched from afar though and did not sit down in the front. :)

The birthday boy with two ball pythons, one around his neck and the other on his head!

He loved it!

I can not remember the name of this huge snake but if Kaden was sitting with me right now he would. I think it was a boa but not sure.

Sweet Presleigh Joy with the giant lizard. The snake man called this lizard his "baby" during the show and ever since then Presleigh loved it b/c she thought it was a "baby".

Having an older brother who loves snakes means they don't bother you at all! :)

Kaden did not want to stick candles in his snake cake so Nonnie made him a special blue snake cupcake to blow out.

What a fun day we had! The weather was beautiful, quite windy, but beautiful! Kaden loves snakes and has for years so this was a lot fun for him. The snake guy brought 11 snakes and his giant lizard and Kaden told me this morning he wants to have another snake party next year. :)

Christmas has begun :)

We are blessed to have so much family near by at Christmas. Because of this we have several "Christmases" during this time of year. This year we did something different (that will hopefully happen every year now) and had Christmas at our house with my cousins and their spouses and my Aunt and Uncle; along with my mom and dad and sister and brother-in-law. The kids were so excited and we had a great time opening gifts and playing games!

This is a picture of Presleigh dancing to her FAVORITE Christmas song "All I want for Christmas is you" by Mariah Carey. Kaden is sitting anxiously on the floor waiting to open his present that had been hissing at him since he touched it. :)

Kaden with his moving and hissing snake. So cool!


Presleigh in her new pink tutu. The girl loves pink and dancing so this was a big hit!

Presleigh helping daddy open his gift.

Presleigh made the rounds helping people open their gifts. This is her with Uncle Alan.

A group shot of the adults at the end of our fun night. :)

The North Pole Express

We took the kids to ride the "North Pole Express" in downtown Grapevine on Sunday the 5th. We went when it got dark so it would be more realistic. This was the night it was freezing cold! We had a great time and b/c it was a Sunday night they were not very busy at all.

The first thing we did when we got there was buy corn dogs. The kids were hungry!

They had a tent set up where you could make ornaments. Kaden chose to make a snowman.


Presleigh Joy chose to make a santa and despite how it looks she was smiling very big. :)



Sweet kids with the nutcracker.

Before you boarded the train you went into another tent where they put on a show for you. Presleigh really enjoyed this but Kaden just wanted to ride the train.

Presleigh Joy loves to dance and sing and be on stage! She has asked me repeatedly lately if she can "take dance and be a pink ballerina and dance on stage." This night showed me just how much she would love it. They asked for all the kids to come to the front to sing and dance and she marched right up there and did not want to get down when it was over! :) Our precious Kaden David was more hesitant and watched with us.

Our attempt at a quick family picture right before boarding the train.

Kaden loved riding the train and pretty much did this the whole time.

Seeing Santa!

They had so much fun!

Mexico!!

Nick and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this November. To celebrate we took a trip to Mexico for 5 days and 4 nights and stayed at the Zoetry resort in the Riviera Maya. It was amazing!!

Nick and I in the plane on the way to Mexico. Because of Nick's flight status we got bumped up to first class coming and going. I guess there are some perks to having a husband that travels. :)


Crazy iguans that were everywhere! One walked right up to our table one morning at breakfast. They lived in the big rocks off of the beach.



After breakfast the first morning we were there.

Relaxing in the hammock. We actually fell asleep here and took a nap. We payed no attention to the time or clocks. Ahhhh.........

This is me about to get blown away by the wind on the dock. The first day we were there it was very windy and a little rainy off and on.

At the entrance enjoying the sunset.

We look like drowned rats! On our way back to our room to get ready for dinner it downpoured on us. :) Our room was at the very end of the hotel, which we loved b/c it was private, but it made for a long and funny run in the rain!

Our first night in Mexcio enjoying an amazing dinner together.

One of the many peacocks right by our room. There were peacocks, turkeys, crabs, weird looking ducks and all kinds of things that you would see just walking from our room to the main part of the resort.

Breakfast the second morning.

Didn't get one of the coveted beach beds this morning so we enjoyed sitting by the pool instead. :)

Always the adventurer wherever he goes. :) Nick decided to go kayaking and I waved and watched from the beach. I got the red flag in the pic. b/c they put those up the day we got there and we could never figure out what they meant. Oh well. :)

One of my anniversary presents was a massage at the spa in the resort. That is me in the corner relaxing before my massage.

Our anniversary dinner. Nick had the guys decoarate our table special for the occassion.

Nick and I. Happy 5 years!

A surprise dessert from Nick. :)

These odd looking statues were at the entrance of the resort and we got our picture with them b/c there were pictures in the library at the resort with Robert DeNiro, Terri Hatcher, Enrique Iglesias, Cynthia Nixon, etc. with them. :)

Lunch at one of the restaurants.

Our sunset cruise!

Together on the boat.

Another dinner at our favorite restaurant. Zoetry is an all inclusive resort so Nick and I took full advantage and got dressed up for a 5 course dinner each night we were there. :)

Our last morning in Mexico. Nick staked out and literally guarded this beach bed so we would have one the last day. There were only 6 and they were very popular. Luckily we got one almost every day we were there. We had our breakfast delivered to our beach bed this last morning.

A little bit of the beautiful pool with the caribbean sea in the background.

This was in the main lobby area looking out to the ocean.

This is the living room area of our room. We were in the room called "Pompeya".

One of our balcony's with the relaxing bed to lay and look out at the ocean.

Our view from the balcony.

Picture of our room

bathroom

Standing in front of the entrance right before our driver took us to the airport to come home.

What a great time we had! My mom and Nick's mom took care of Kaden and Presleigh while we were gone and we were able to have a wonderful time. We were talking about the next time we come back even before we had left. :)