The Koenning Kronicles

Marjorie jumping

2012-01-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

Tooth Time

2012-01-23T11:30:00.000-08:00

Last Monday evening, Lillian noticed that her front bottom tooth was loose. She was eating dinner and I was cleaning the kitchen and she came and told me that her tooth was hurting. I just thought it had to do with her going to the dentist a week ago, but then I looked closer and saw that it was very loose. Then while brushing her teeth that evening, I noticed you could already see her new tooth coming in behind it! I called my mom who is a dental hygientist to ask if that was normal and she said that it happens sometimes, but Lillian really needs to get that other tooth out so it doesn't prevent the new one from growing the right way. I talked to Lillian about wiggling it all week and that if she didn't keep wiggling it and get it out that Grandma would be coming soon and she would pull it.

Well, Grandma came and we made the trip to Rotan and the tooth still hadn't come out. So before my mom was leaving, Lillian decided she would let Grandma pull it. She layed down on her lap and then changed her mind. My mom told her she would just wiggle it and she did a bit and then pulled it out really quick. Lillian was very angry and ran off in the other room for a minute, but then realized it was done and got very excited about being a big girl and that the tooth fairy would be coming.

My mom had promised her frozen yogurt for letting her pull it, so we all went and celebrated with yogurt. Then mom and Tory had to head back to East Texas. I had ordered Lillian a tooth fairy pillow, but we hadn't gotten it yet, so we put the tooth in a medicine cup and Lillian wrote the tooth fairy a note so she would see it.

The tooth fairy was very nice and left $5 since it was her first tooth and she was so brave. She told me it would only be $1 after this though! My baby girl is growing up! It is so strange to think that that new tooth coming in will be with her the rest of her life! And so begins the tooth fairy years at the Koenning household.

Parker's 1st Birthday

2012-01-23T10:55:00.001-08:00

We made the long trip out to West Texas this past weekend to celebrate my nephew, Parker's 1st birthday! Because the trip is so long and Brandon had to work, I was lucky that my mom and sister Tory could come and ride with us so I had help with the kids and probably also a shorter trip since I would have had to stop a lot more to feed Marjorie and tend to her. Tory was the great baby whisperer of the weekend and took on that job and visited with the kids in the back of the van so we could keep going.

We went out there on Thursday evening, so we got to spend Friday with Katy and Parker before the party. Our eventful day was eating out at Dairy Queen and playing at the city park. The kids loved it!

Then Parker had an awesome "Up" themed party on Saturday. He had lots of people there to celebrate. He got some great gifts and loved his birthday food and cake. It was fun getting to see him with all the "ball" presents mostly since he is obsessed with balls right now. My mom got him a tent ball pit and the kids all went crazy jumping in the balls and throwing them everywhere.

It is so sweet getting to see Marjorie and Parker together too as they are getting bigger and more aware of each other. They just grin so big at each other and Marjorie would be playing in the exersaucer and Parker liked coming up and showing his toys to her. They have many many fun years ahead playing together.

Happy 1st Birthday, Parker! We love you and were so happy we could be there to see you turn the big 1!

6 month stats

2012-01-17T12:16:00.000-08:00

Marjorie is 17 and a half pounds and 25 and 3/4 inches. She has a head circumference of 44 cm. this puts her at 75% for her weight, 30% for height, and 90% for her noggin. She is the first of my babies to be on the short side. Lillian and Andrew were both even up at 75% for height and weight most every check-up. We'll see if she catches up! We survived 4 shots this morning and hopefully she'll be fine the rest of the day. I just hate seeing that awful "Why are you hurting me?" face when they get those shots! :(

Cousin Visit

2012-01-15T18:28:00.000-08:00

Brandon's niece, Nicole came to Texas to visit this past week. She lives way up in Spokane, Washington. She is from Texas, but ended up there after being in the Navy and meeting her husband who was from Washington. We do not get to see them very often since they live so far, so we were glad to get to visit with them in Shiner on Saturday. We will also get to see them again in April. They are having a 2nd wedding here for her family since everyone couldn't make it up to her wedding in Washington. Lillian is excited to be her flower girl.

Andrew out playing in the garden

Marjorie snuggling with Nicole

Nicole and Lillian playing memory

6 Months Old

2012-01-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

Marjorie turned 6 months old this past Thursday. Growing like a weed and still making us all smile! Marjorie loves her stage 2 foods we started last week. She has pretty much taken to all the foods we have given her. She still doesn't really care for peas, but will eat them if I mix them with her rice cereal. Her favorite food so far seems to be squash, but she definitely still loves all fruits as well.

She still isn't quite sitting on her own, but we are practicing and she can sit for a minute before falling over. It won't be too long until she can do it on her own. We got some very cute pictures done at Sears on Thursday and some are of her sitting and I just had to be next to her and reach and grab her quickly if she started falling over. The lady taking her pictures was impressed with out well she did and how happy she is.

Marjorie still has just the 2 bottom front teeth,but seems to be working on a few more. She can still wear a lot of her 3-6 month clothes too, but I went ahead and packed them up so she can be wearing her 6-9 month clothes since we have so many cute hand-me-downs from Lillian she can be wearing.

Marjorie's personality is developing more and more as well. I think the funniest thing in the world to her is Duncan and other dogs! I swear, she thinks they are just funny looking hairy people. She just looks at him and smiles so big and then will laugh and laugh when he barks or shakes. One afternoon last week, I took her out in the backyard and our neighbor's dog, Buddy was out and he and Duncan were running up and down the fence chasing each other and barking and Marjorie had a huge giggle fit! She couldn't stop laughing. It was so cute to watch and listen to.

We will be visiting our peditrician on Tuesday for he check-up, so then we will have her stats, so I will report on those later.

Happy half-birthday to my sweet baby girl!

Class Pictures

2012-01-03T12:32:00.000-08:00

The kids started back to preschool today! I got their class pictures back so I wanted to share.

Enjoying the Weather

2011-12-30T18:54:00.000-08:00

We had to take advantage of 70 degree sunny weather after all the wet and cold days we have been having. Lillian got some good practice on her new bicycle and is getting the hang of it. Andrew followed around on his trike. Marjorie just relaxed out on a blanket in the grass for a bit taking in the fresh air. It was a great day to get out!

Christmas Day in Shiner

2011-12-30T18:35:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas day at Shiner with Brandon's side of the family. They had awesome homemade food and goodies and we opened gifts and enjoyed the time together. Andrew loved his new race track and Brandon helped him get it going there. Lillian's favorite gift there was her new dress up dress. Then when we got home, they opened their tents that they got there as well and I think they may be the hit for this year. They are playing with them everyday. I love them because they just pop out like those pop up hampers you can buy and are easy to fold away to not have out all the time. We had a great Christmas 2011! I can't believe this year is almost at an end. I think Marjorie enjoyed her first Christmas very much too!

Christmas Morning

2011-12-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning, the kids got up to see that Santa had indeed visited overnight. Lillian came into our room telling us that Andrew was downstairs looking at the presents. I asked, "There are presents??" Lillian replied, "Yes! There are lots of them, come look!" So Brandon and I went down to see them check out all of their new toys. Lillian got the big bicycle she wanted and Andrew got some playsets he loves....especially the Toy Story Landfill playset. He just loves all the Toy Story stuff! Then we opened gifts for each other and Brandon was happy about his new shoes and I love my new Ipod Nano! I was still working out with the original iPod video, so it was bulky to run with and this is so tiny and neat! I love that it has the radio option as well. Afterwards, Marjorie finally woke up and we showed her her gifts which she loved. Then we had to quickly get dressed to head to Shiner for the day.

Lillian's Santa gifts

Lillian checking it all out

Andrew playing with his Toy Story Landfill

Andrew's Santa goodies

Marjorie and her Santa gifts

Christmas Eve

2011-12-30T18:09:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve, Brandon was working a long shift and we were stuck at home. It was a rainy and cold day. I wanted to do something special, so we went out in the late afternoon to throw out our reindeer food for Santa's reindeer before it got dark. The kids enjoyed it, but were shivering to run back in the house fairly quick. Then we came in and watched Christmas movies and had hot cocoa and ate some of the cookies we made for Santa earlier that day. The kids were so excited to get ready for the next day! Oh, and of course Andrew didn't dump all of his reindeer food outside, he had to save some for the house, so I had him clean it up and he went and got his vaccuum! ha ha

Marjorie rolling over

2011-12-28T15:11:00.000-08:00

Christmas at Grandpa JD's

2011-12-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, we spent the day at my dad's house for Christmas. Everyone had a great time opening gifts, the kids played outside a lot, and we broke in Molly's new poker set!

me and Marjorie

Katy in her new footed pajamas

Grandpa JD

presents

Tory and Jory

Grandpa reading to Lillian

Christmas at Grandma Teddy's house

2011-12-21T18:35:00.000-08:00

We had a great early Christmas visit with my side of the family this past weekend. We spent Saturday at my mom's house. The kids had an awesome time at Grandma Teddy's opening gifts and playing inside and out all day. I could tell Andrew was wiped out because Brandon and I took him with us to Rusk to pick up pizza that night for everyone and we were in the car a minute and he passed out!

Grandma Teddy and Marjorie

Grandma Teddy's annual tradition of reading the Christmas
story to the grandkids.

Marjorie looking at her new gift from Grandma Teddy

Parker on his new riding toy from us

Lillian and Andrew opening gifts...Andrew's dino from Katy and Clay

All the kids in their matching pjs!

Lillian sings with her preschool class for Christmas

2011-12-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

Andrew sings with his preschool class

2011-12-15T14:31:00.000-08:00

5 Month Old Baby Girl

2011-12-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

Marjorie turned 5 months on Monday! She is still our happy, easy-going baby! Only on this past Sunday, she popped her first tooth on the front bottom right side and the matching one is about to pop as well! So she has understandibly been a little cranky. But she has still been very happy mostly. She absolutely loves watching her brother and sister play and they make her laugh often. She also loves watching all the kids play at the gym daycare while mom gets a work-out in!

Marjorie has rolled over a few times, but doesn't have it down yet, but loves to grab her feet and roll to the side and look around. She has also been trying out baby food. I feed her once a day usually around 4:30 just so it is easier when not trying to feed the other kids at the same time. She loves bananas the most so far. She has also tasted momma's sweet potatoes when we are eating dinner and seems to enjoy them too.

Preschool Christmas Parties

2011-12-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

The kids had some great holiday parties at school today! To put it how Lillian did,"Mom, this was the best party ever at school today!" ha ha!

I recorded both kids singing with their classes and I'll share those videos in seperate posts once they are uploaded.

They also had lots of goodies, exchanged books with classmates as a gift, and made some cute crafts. I'll have to share some pictures of the crafts too! I was lucky enough to have Brandon home this morning as well, so he watched Marjorie so I could be a little more free to enjoy the kids' parties.

St. Nick's Day 2011

2011-12-06T12:28:00.000-08:00

We celebrate St. Nick's Day every year. My husband grew up celebrating it due to his German heritage, so we wanted to continue it with our kids. I have posted about this the last several years, so you can look back to read more about it. St. Nick came and left things in the kids' stockings last night and after me finally reminding them this morning about it, they finally ran in to see. They were very excited about their Veggietales DVDS and a couple of little stocking stuffers and Marjorie loved her fairy wand rattle! Lillian helped show it to her! It was a fun morning.

Laughter

2011-11-30T11:54:00.000-08:00

SANTA

2011-11-30T11:43:00.000-08:00

We got dressed up today and went to visit Santa! The kids were so cute this year. They went right up to him and Andrew looked all shy as they sat on his lap. Lillian leaned across and and whispered in Andrew's ear to remind him to tell Santa he wanted dinosaur toys for Christmas! ha ha....Then Andrew said "Dinosaurs" softly to Santa and then Lillian went on tell Santa what she wanted. I was so glad we didn't have any scaredy-cats this year! Marjorie was a little unsure of being held with her brother and sister, but it was a cute picture!

Marjorie's First Food

2011-11-30T11:35:00.000-08:00

Marjorie had suddenly gotten interested in what we were eating, so I decided it was time for baby food! We tried apples and rice cereal and it was a success! She loved it and gobbled it down! My baby girl is growing up!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-11-30T11:19:00.000-08:00

Fun times at Grandma Teddy's house on Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Day was spent at my dad's house in Rusk. It was cloudy and cool, but we had a good time....besides the kids getting out in the mud and dog poop and me having to clean off their nasty shoes! Yuck! Jamie made lots of great food and we all filled our bellies!

Marjorie and Aunt Tory

Marjorie and Jamie

Parker and Marjorie

Dad with Lillian and Andrew

Dad with Marjorie and Parker

Dad with Marjorie

Thanksgiving Parties

2011-11-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

The kids had some great Thanksgiving feasts at preschool! They were so excited to go to school today and show me their placemats and crafts that they made. They also enjoyed some yummy food! Lillian's class sang a few Thanksgiving songs as well before they ate their feasts and I posted that before this. Here are some pictures of the kids at their parties.

Thanksgiving Songs

2011-11-22T12:05:00.001-08:00

Lillian's preschool class

Race for the Cure 2011

2011-11-14T12:00:00.001-08:00

The annual Komen Austin Race for the Cure was held on Sunday. My mom and sisters all came in for the weekend to visit and participate in the race. We are so excited to participate and raise money for this cause that has affected us with my mom being diagnosed twice. My kids even count down the days until the "pink ribbon race." They were all smiles Sunday morning getting up and putting on their shirts for the race day.

I ran the 5k in 30 minutes and 22 seconds. Not to shabby for only having 2 months to prepare after having Marjorie. This was my 4th time running this 5k and my 5th 5k overall. I hope to now train to run the Capital 10k in April next!

We had a great time visiting with all the family here. My aunt Kathy and uncle Randy also made the trip so we got to see them and she did the walking portion of the race with mom, Katy, and the kids. My sister, Katy and brother-in-law, Clay brought their nephew on his side, Cooper, too. My kids had a blast with him playing.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T18:54:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time in a land called Round Rock, 3 Koennings had a very happy Halloween! Princess Aurora, her royal chef and his specialty of peas were pleased to celebrate with us! They had a fabulous time trick-or-treating up and down our kingdom streets and loved handing out goodies to others. The pea pod, however, fell asleep pretty quick from all the excitement of the travels! We hope you and yours also had a fabulous Halloween!

Halloween Festivities Begin

2011-10-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

My older kids were so excited about today! At their preschool, Harmony Hill, they had their Halloween parties and costume parades. It was so cute to see all the kids in their costumes! It is always a fun occasion. Then they got set for a sugar high in their classrooms for their parties. Here are some pictures of the kids at school today.

Lillian wanted a picture with Marjorie, so I had to be in it!

Andrew and Mrs. Karen's class

Lillian and her buddy, Quinn as Madonna

Lillian and Mrs. Deslyn's class

Andrew enjoying his cookie at his party

Lillian's 5th Birthday Party

2011-10-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Lillian had a great 5th Birthday party at the park with her buddies! It was a beautiful day with comfortable temperatures, a nice breeze and sunshine. The kids ran all over the place playing and stopped for cupcakes and juice before running around some more with their sugar highs. Lillian was so excited about every detail. She had chosen princess cupcakes and they were delicious! She got lots of great gifts that she has been playing with at home since she opened them all! I can't believe I already have a 5 year old!!!

Eating the cupcakes

Yum!

With her friends Quinn and Lucie

5 Years

2011-10-20T05:07:00.000-07:00

At 7:46 pm on this day 5 years ago, I became a mother. Lillian Claire Koenning came screaming into this world and my life was forever changed. She broke me in well, being a drama queen from the very beginning. But, her sweetness stole my heart! I cannot believe my baby girl is 5 years old! She is growing up too quickly! She'll even be leaving me next fall for Kindergarten! She would go now if she could, but I'm so glad to have her another year. I'm very much enjoying being able to be home with my children and watch them grow. I'm loving seeing Lillian getting into things I loved as a child like Barbies and creating her own storybooks she thinks up. I'm also very impressed with her love of learning and how quickly she absorbs information. I think she got that eternal student gene from her Daddy who is always teaching himself new things and studying just for fun. Happy Birthday, Lillian! Thank you for making me a Momma! I love you!

Spooky Pizza Cookies

2011-10-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Jamie for the Creepy Pizza Cookie decorating kit! I finally remembered today for us to make them and the kids loved them and it was perfect today since Brandon was running late to get home for dinner, so that gave them something to help them make it to dinner time.

The kit has sugar cookies, icing, and creepy decorations like gummy worms, eye ball candy, finger shaped candy, and such. Here are pictures of ours:

And of course Marjorie was happily watching us in her Bumbo!

Marjorie's Baptism

2011-10-16T16:02:00.001-07:00

Marjorie Elizabeth was baptized this morning following mass. It was a sweet ceremony and she did great! We are so proud of our little blessing and so excited to have this special day to celebrate her growing up in the church. Her Godparents came in for the ceremony, Brian and Melissa Hajek. Brian is Brandon's first cousin and was his best man in our wedding. They are super sweet and we were so blessed to have them accept our request to be Godparents of Marjorie.

Brian, Melissa, Marjorie and us

Our family minus Andrew (he refused to pose with us)

Marjorie being baptized

Marjorie with her Godparents

Dancing Girl

2011-10-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

Lillian was all into dancing last night at the Texas State game vs. Lamar. They were playing some songs over the loudspeaker between the band playing and the football players coming back out on the field at halftime. Lillian started dancing to it all, so I caught some of it on my camera.

Pumpkin Time

2011-10-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

I am amazed at how things sneak up on me now as a mother of 3! It always seemed like I had plenty of time before and then I looked up and it was already pumpkin time! We squeezed in going to the pumpkin patch today after the gym. I knew with Lillian's birthday next week and then Halloween 11 days after that, it would fly by and we have a lot going on. Plus, if you wait until that last week, a lot of the pumpkins are gone, so it isn't as fun to go and take pictures.

My kids aren't being very cooperative taking pictures these days. I'm wondering how they will do next week taking school pictures. Then the next week we are attempting a family picture at JC Penney, so we'll see if anything comes of that. But anyway, it is so tough to get them all to look at me to take their picture and Andrew refuses to sit by Lillian when I ask him, so I have some random pumpkin patch pictures. Then I took a few of the girls at home with our pumpkins. I'm hoping when we take family pictures, since Andrew will probably be on one of our laps, we can get them to sit!

3 months old!

2011-10-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

My baby girl, Marjorie Elizabeth is 3 months old today! Wow! She has moved up into her 3-6 month clothes. She can still wear a lot of her 0-3 months clothes, but Lillian had a lot of summery 3-6 month stuff I wanted Marjorie to get to wear before it got cold, so I went ahead and moved her up...otherwise these outfits wouldn't get worn!

Marjorie has been growing and doing wonderfully! She is officially my best sleeper as of yet. She slowly backed up her bedtime to around 7:30 and most nights sleeps all night until around 8 or 8:15 in the morning! I have to wake her up and the other 2 kids have already gotten me up! But since she sleeps so long, she eats a lot during the day, but that is good with me since I'm getting a full nights sleep....well, when Andrew isn't waking me up!

Marjorie has started to laugh. I haven't gotten a long one yet to try and record, but it is so cute and I'm trying and trying to get another one out of her. I just love that beautiful sound!

I took her to JC Penney today to have her picture taken. I had both other kids pictures taken at the same age there and have a sepia of each of them in my room, so I wanted one of Marjorie to do the same. I'll share those pictures when they come in.

For now, here are some recent snapshots of my little squirt!

Twins???

2011-10-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

I shared this on facebook last week, but forgot to post it on here. Marjorie was wearing one of the jumpers Lillian wore as a baby, so I took a picture of her and found one of Lillian wearing it too. I was amazed at how much they look alike! What do you think?

Aunt Tory and Grandma Teddy Came to See Us!

2011-10-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

Grandma Teddy and Aunt Tory came to visit this weekend! Brandon had to work, so they kept me company and we got to visit and they got to see the kiddos! We went to the park, did a little shopping and they came with us the the Texas State game on Saturday night. We had a great time! Aunt Tory was the designated Marjorie feeder for the weekend and she enjoyed snuggling with her! It will be a month before we see them again for the Race for the Cure, so glad we got to see them now!

Growing girl

2011-09-23T18:36:00.001-07:00

My sweet girl at 10 weeks! She'll be 3 months before I know it! Her latest development is that she has slowly eased back her bedtime to between 7:30 and 8:00. This is great for me because that is when the other 2 kids go down, so more time for me on my own in the evening. The only downfall is that she has been waking up around 2 to eat again since she is going to bed earlier...and she had her first cold this past week so wasn't sleeping well with a stuffed nose. But it isn't too bad since after the 2 am feeding, she has been sleeping until about the time the other kids get up.

Below is her growing picture at 10 weeks with the Care Bear. Then her modeling her jeans. Then a sad day for Momma....the last episode of All My Children. She got to sit with me and watch me cry about it!

Bobcat Football 2011

2011-09-19T12:04:00.001-07:00

It is here again! Texas State Football time and the kids were very excited! We went to the home opener on Saturday against Tarleton State and it was a great game! We were very surprised to see all the people there too! We usually have a good crowd for the home opener, but this was way more people! It was the 3rd largest crowd ever at the stadium. I'm so glad we are finally building up a big fan base. With Texas State being such a large school, there is no reason the students shouldn't be there cheering on their team! Such a big change from when I was in school and you would see about 50 people it seemed on the student side! We are moving up next year to Division 1 into the WAC conference and the only downside is that although we are playing in the Southland conference this year, we aren't competing in it since we are moving up, so no chance for playoffs or anything this year. But it is still fun! The stadium is also really coming along as they are doing construction right now to bowl in the side of it that is off of the road (Aquarena Springs). Here's a picture of my future Bobcats and a few Jamie took at the game since I forgot my camera in the car! Dang it!

Early Birthday for Lillian

2011-09-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

Dad and Jamie came in to visit this weekend and go with us to the Tx State football home opener game and since they thought they may not see Lillian for her birthday, they went ahead and brought her birthday gift. I had told them how obsessed she was with using my iPad and about this new Leapster toy that came out like an iPad, so that is what they got her and she is hooked! Now we have to invest in some games for it. Good thing her birthday and Christmas are coming up! Thanks Grandpa JD and Jamie!!

Oh, and if you look to the back of the first picture you will see what they got Marjorie as a baby gift....her convertible carseat for when she outgrows the infant seat! Momma was excited about that one! :)

Marjorie Talking to Me

2011-09-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

2 month check-up

2011-09-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

Marjorie had her 2 month well-baby check-up yesterday morning. She was a happy girl waking up and going there, but left just miserable after those shots. She was so sad looking and tired yesterday. I can't wait to get my happy girl back! She weighed in at 11 lbs 13 oz and 22.5 inches which is 50th percentile for height and 60th for weight. The doctor said she was doing great and growing well. We've just got to work on some more tummy time! Here is my happy girl yesterday morning in her cute dress she got from my friend Michelle.

2 Months Old!

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Marjorie Elizabeth is now 2 months old!! I know I say it over and over again, but time is sure flying by! Just in the past week I've noticed how she is trying to baby talk to us now and smiles so much! She has almost gotten a laugh out and I'm excited for that to happen, so we are trying for that soon! I started back to the gym this past week too, so she has had her first days at the gym daycare and has done well. Of course 4 out of 5 days I've been called in to change a poopy diaper though! ha ha...I guess she wanted to make sure I would come if she needed me! She has continued to sleep really well at night too. She has slowly eased back to wanting to go to bed right at 8 pm which is perfect since that is when the other 2 kids go to bed. That gives me a little time in the evening to myself or to get some things accomplished....like typing the blog! :) Then she has been waking somewhere between 4 and 5 for a bottle...yesterday morning it was 5:10! Then she is back to sleep until 7:30 or 8!

We are going to her 2 month check-up tomorrow morning, so I'll update her stats then. Poor angel is going to hate me for those shots she will be getting! :( But we put her on the scale here during the week and she was 11 lbs.

Here are some beautiful pictures my sister Katy took of her last weekend and then one cute shot in her swimming suit before we went to a birthday pool party this weekend! Her only swimming suit time this year, so I had to put it on! She'll be crawling next time it is swim season!

8 weeks old

2011-09-06T18:25:00.001-07:00

And Growing and Growing and Smiling and Happy!!!

First Day of Preschool 2011

2011-09-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

The kids were so excited to start back to preschool this morning! We went to see their new classrooms and meet the teachers last Wednesday evening and ever since then, they have been asking when they would be going back! They love Harmony Hill Preschool and missed it during the August break. Andrew has Mrs. Karen. She was Lillian's teacher over the summer and she really enjoyed her. I think he is going to do great. And Lillian is in pre-K! I can't believe this is her last year until she starts Kindergarten! Where does time go?! I know she is very excited about this school year and learning so many more things! Here are the kids this morning before we left for school.

Labor Day Weekend in Alto

2011-09-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

A while back, I saw that Brandon was to be working Labor Day weekend. When he works weekends, it is a 12 hour shift so the kids do not see him both days and that also means no breaks or help for me. So I decided it would be a good time to go see family. When other family heard we were coming, they also decided to come, so we got to visit with a lot of people and Marjorie got to meet more of her family. It was a bit scary taking off in the car with all 3 kids on the long ride by myself for the first time, but it really wasn't bad. We stopped twice to feed Marjorie and that was it. She didn't cry besides when she was hungry. It definitely could have been a lot worse.

We had a nice 4 days visiting with my mom, Tory, Katy, Clay, Parker, Mamaw and Papaw, Dad and Jamie. And we also had Koleta and Olin and Kathy and Randy come in to visit for a bit! The kids enjoyed it and so did I! We also had a spell of cooler weather after this awful 100 degree weather everyday summer, so we all sat outside a lot and soaked it in!

Marjorie with my Papaw (her great-grandpa)

Marjorie with Mamaw (her great-grandma)

Andrew and Lillian with their great-great uncle Olin

Marjorie and Parker

My dad with all his grandkids

Marjorie's great aunt Kathy

Smiling on Aunt Tory

Same Mobile, But Smiles this Time

2011-08-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Sisterly Love

2011-08-23T09:33:00.001-07:00

Guess Who Was Smiling at Me?

2011-08-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Marjorie has been smiling for a couple of weeks, but I never could catch it on camera, but this morning I was ready to take her 6 week picture with the Care Bear and had my camera handy. After changing her diaper, she was grinning like crazy! Here are a few pictures:

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2011-08-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Brandon had to work yesterday, but the kids and I wanted to make sure he had a special day, so we met him at the door when he was coming home in birthday hats and gave him the cards the kids made him. Then after dinner, we brought out the cake we bought him at the store earlier and sang him "Happy Birthday" and watched him blow out the candles! Lillian and Andrew had been waiting to eat that cake since we bought it! Marjorie wasn't all that impressed, but she enjoyed her birthday hat.

Happy Birthday, B! We love you!!!

One Month and Counting....

2011-08-23T08:45:00.001-07:00

Marjorie is now a month old! Time is flying! She is getting so big and I can see a personality developing for sure. She seems to be a momma's girl. She loves snuggling with daddy too, but loves playing with momma. We've had some great nights of sleep on and off. I know it will all even out eventually. But on average she usually goes to bed around 9 and then wakes up around 3 or 4 and then again around 6 and then sleeps until 7:30 or 8. One night she even slept from 9 to 5:10 the next morning! That was nice! I have a great husband that gets up the first shift with her too, so I can sleep for a long stretch before I get up with her so I'm a saner mom the next day. Here are some pictures to share:

Hanging with Daddy

1 month old with Care Bear

Dazed in my bouncer

I met my Aunt Mole!

Marjorie Watching Her Mobile

2011-08-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

2011-08-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

My proud Big Sister and Big Brother

Silly Big Sister and Big Brother

And 1 tired Little Sister after a photo shoot with them

We Are Making It!

2011-08-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

I still haven't been on here too often. Life is too chaotic tending to the needs of all 3 kids! I can't believe it has almost been a month now since Marjorie was born! It has flown by! I'm just so thankful Brandon had lots of vacation time saved up so he could be home with us this long. He goes back to work on Monday and so will begin me making it on my own. I'm going to miss having him home for sure and I know the kids will too! They have loved every second of spending more time with their daddy. They have kept him busy!

Marjorie has been growing up a storm and she should be for all that she eats! She sure does love her bottle! She was 9 pounds on Tuesday when Brandon weighed her on her 3 week birthday. I'm curious to see what she weighs now, but will probably weigh her on Tuesday again. She had a rough almost week of crying and crying all day which we thought was colic at first, but then figured out she has a little acid reflux, so with her medication for that, she has been a lot better! She is now sleeping more and crying a lot less! She fell asleep early last night and we forgot to give her the medicine and she was up screaming at 1 in the morning, so we won't make that mistake again! Poor baby!

She is a sweetie-pie that loves to snuggle and getting attached to her momma already, it seems. Everyone comments all the time about how alert she is. She really is! When she is awake, she is very bright-eyed and looking all around. She is interested in everything and I think would be asking us a million questions if she could. I'm very curious to see how much she changes in this coming month as she develops more personality. I'm eagerly awaiting those first smiles and giggles! :)

Here are some pictures to share from the past couple of weeks:

1 Week Old

2011-07-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

I have been slow on my blogging lately as you may understand with the amount of sleep you get with a newborn plus having 2 other kids and lots to get done around the house! I barely get on to check email, so have been putting off getting on here to update.

I didn't write much about Marjorie's arrival, so wanted to share. I had a scheduled c-section this time after having labor and then c-sections with my other two. This was so much better! I wasn't exhausted from all the labor and labor pains and we got to pack our bags the night before and make sure we had the kids taken care of as we went to the hospital. I went in at 9:30 and they put in my IV. That was the worst part. I got a little lightheaded after not being able to eat since the night before. Then once my doctor called the nurse, we were go for the delivery room. I got there and they had me sit up to put in my spinal to numb me and then laid down and it all began. This time the surgery seemed to last longer than my previous ones,but I think it was because I was so awake and the last 2 times, I was out of it and so tired that I slept through my recovery room time. I was awake all the way until that evening.

That joy of hearing your newborn for the first time is still the most amazing feeling. When they pulled her out and said, "here she is!", the tears came as they always do. Then they brought her around to me and I saw her sweet face. She reminded me of Andrew at that time. But after that, she has looked more like Lillian to me. We shall see as time passes! I was so excited to finally hold her in the recovery room and give her her first bottle. She snuggled in right away. Then they took her to the nursery to get cleaned up.

Lillian and Andrew got there with my sister Tory about that time and so they got to see Marjorie getting her first bath. Lillian was mad she couldn't go in there! Once they got me settled in my room, everyone came down to see Marjorie. Lillian said, "Momma, you have a pretty baby!" :)

My mom, sister Tory, dad and Jamie, and my kids all got to meet her and hold her a bit before everyone left to give me my rest.

My c-section recovery has been pretty good. I had some rough days in the beginning, but am finally starting to feel better without pain meds. My incision is actually healing better than both other times. It is just hard to take it as easy as I should when I'm very into having my house clean and mess-free. I have to remind myself to let Brandon carry things up the stairs for me and not push it too much.

Marjorie has been great! I hate to jinx it, but she has been so much easier than my other 2 newborns so far. Lillian had terrible colic and Andrew had a little as well. Marjorie has had a few fussy evenings, but mostly will eat and go back to sleep. You can't ask for more than that for an almost 2 week old baby.

I am eating up getting to snuggle and kiss her sweet little cheeks! She gives me a little smile when I do and it is so cute and makes my heart smile. It saddens me to think of her growing up.

While my sister, Katy was here this week to help out, she took so great pictures of Marjorie on her 1 week birthday to help me have some for her birth announcements, so I wanted to share a few. Happy belated 1 week birthday to my almost 2 week old baby girl! I love you!

Marjorie is Here!

2011-07-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

Marjorie Elizabeth Koenning was born on Tuesday, July 12th at 11:20 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs 8 oz. and was 19 and 1/4 inches long. We are still in the hospital while I recover from my c-section and we are loving getting to know our new precious angel! She is such a wonderful miracle!

Happy 4th!

2011-07-03T15:39:00.000-07:00

It is Brandon's holiday to work this year on the 4th and it also happens to be the only evening in the past 2 months that they offer the baptism class at our church to prepare for Marjorie's baptism when she is born, so we won't be really celebrating tomorrow. Also with the Texas drought, all fireworks are cancelled anyway! So today, we did a little family fun at the sprinkler park. The kids love it and it wasn't super crowded. We stopped at the grocery store on the way and got them some buckets to play in the water with. Here are my little firecrackers:

Swim Lessons 2011

2011-06-30T18:08:00.001-07:00

Lillian and Andrew did 2 weeks of swimming lessons through the city of Round Rock. Andrew started out the first couple of days crying and not wanting me to leave, but by the end of the first week, he was excited to go and would go right to his instructors. The parents aren't allowed in during the lessons so that the kids wouldn't be watching you instead of the instructors, so I would spend half an hour in the car reading, but today on the last day of lessons, parents got to come in and watch and take pictures to see what the kids learned. I think both kids learned and did well! I can't wait to see how much they move on to next year. Lillian, especially, is a little fish and just loves the water!

3 weeks or less!

2011-06-21T11:48:00.001-07:00

Today marks 3 weeks until my scheduled c-section! I can't believe it is so so near! I went in the Carter's store today and couldn't resist buying some matching shirts for the girls! It is going to be so cute and fun to match them! Lillian LOVES it too! She gets so excited to see she has the same outfit as Marjorie. Here are some of my purchases:

Just a few more weeks and we can try them on! :)

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T12:34:00.001-07:00

Happy Father's Day to my awesome husband! I'm so lucky to have him in my life as well as my kids'. His is a wonderful daddy and we love him so much!!!

Aunt Mole Came to Visit

2011-06-14T17:40:00.001-07:00

My sister, Molly...a.k.a....Aunt Mole came to visit yesterday and today. She graduated from A&M in May and got a job with Pilgrim's Pride in Waco that she will begin next week, and she had a week off between her finishing up her college job at Radio Shack and beginning her new job, so she wanted to try and visit everyone while she could.

The kids had a blast playing with her at the pool. Lillian pretty much told her what to do the whole time and hung on her back around the pool. We also visited and ate with the kids at Chic-fil-a last night and then while the kids were at school this morning, she did some shopping with me and we got to hang out. Today she left out to Rotan to visit Katy, Clay, and Parker. It was a fun short visit. Thanks for stopping by, Aunt Mole!

Ready for Marjorie

2011-06-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

I've been cleaning out and organizing the nursery for months to get ready for Marjorie. Then I was waiting on my baby shower and a few other things to put the final touches on it and finally am pretty much done. I wanted to share pictures of Marjorie's room! Special thank you to my step-mother, Jamie for making her name letters for the wall! They turned out so cute!

The Crib

Name

Room view

Bassinet

Dresser/hutch/changing table

Last Visit to Alto with Only 2 Kiddos

2011-06-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today marks one month until my scheduled c-section and at that point, they do not want you traveling too far from the hospital just in case something happens early. So, I planned a last visit to Alto to see my family before we are stuck at home for the next month.

We had a great visit with Dad and Jamie. We met them for lunch at the Yellowjacket Cafe on Friday and then spent the evening up at their house. Dad grilled burgers and hotdogs. The kids were busy playing all around their yard and Lillian was cracking us up with her games and songs she was making up. She even had Dad doing a dance she made up. Jamie had gotten them some little packets that when put in water turn into little sponges and they thought once they were sponges, they would use them to clean up the door to the little house. ha ha....Then after dinner, they enjoyed some ice cream sundaes!

Saturday morning, we went with mom over to her neighbor's swimming pool and took the kids swimming. They were impressed that there was a swimming pool over the fence from Grandma's house. They were wondering how we were going to get to a pool without getting in the car. Mom had gotten them little swim rings, some pool toys, and goggles and they were excited about them. Lillian was all over the pool in her new princess swim ring. Andrew wasn't as excited, but he has been getting braver at the pool lately, so he did venture around the pool a bit with his new gear.

Besides that, the kids just played, and we visited with Tory and my Mom before driving back today to start another week! The kids start swim lessons a week from tomorrow, so I'm hoping all their swimming lately will have them ready for that! We'll see.

Baby Shower

2011-06-04T18:22:00.001-07:00

I was very very blessed today to have such wonderful friends to throw me a baby shower! My sweet buddies, Irene and Karen put together the shower. I enjoyed it very much! I can't believe the hard work and time they must have put into it! There was such yummy food and the cake was so cute and tasty! Ya'll are the best!!!

Marjorie got fixed up with some great new stuff! Since she is our 3rd, we have a lot of the big stuff, but some of the smaller stuff needed replacing like bottles and a new baby monitor. So now she is set! I feel so loved today and thankful for all my great friends!

The diaper cake my neighbor, Mary, made for me

my sister Katy, my mom, and me

Me and my awesome hostesses, Irene and Karen

Memorial Day Weekend at the Cades

2011-05-30T14:06:00.001-07:00

We wanted to go visit my sister Katy and her family sometime before my doctor won't allow me to travel before the new baby comes, so we figured out that Memorial Day weekend was perfect to go visit. Brandon had both Friday and Monday off work, so we could go and not be rushed right back since it is a 4 hour ride without stopping...usually 5 hours for us by the time we stop a few times for gas, restroom breaks, and to eat.

So, we packed up and headed out Friday morning early and made it there by afternoon. The kids enjoyed the pool. Lillian and her fearless self jumps in now with her floaties and is all over the pool. She loves for the adults to throw her up and into the water. Andrew on the other hand wanted to just sit on the ladder. We got him in a few times, but he was screaming! I guess we'll see how swimming lessons go in a few weeks!

Clay made us lots of yummy food and we did lots of hanging out and relaxing when we could. I got lots of time with my nephew, Baby Parker. He just turned 4 months old and is a sweetie!

It was sad to leave them today, but a little easier knowing Katy and Parker are coming to our house this next weekend for my baby shower! :)

Sprinkler Fun

2011-05-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

The kids finally got to play with their new sprinkler toy from Grandpa JD and Jamie today. Brandon was out watering the plants and I told them when he was finished, they could play...the grass needed more water anyway with this 100 degree day we had today!

We have been going to the pool and sprinkler park a lot lately with the hot weather upon us, so they are developing some nice tans already! Here's to a summer of fun! :)

My Mother's Day Gift

2011-05-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

Brandon ordered my Mother's Day gift a week or so ahead, but apparently not soon enough to get here for that day, so in my card from him and the kids, he had a picture of my new Ipad 2 that was coming. It got here on Monday, so I've been having fun figuring it all out. If you know me, you know I don't have an Iphone or even a phone with texting or internet, so this is kind of a fun way to do some of the games and things that I don't get to do because of that. And when we go on vacation we can activate the mobile internet on it to use, so that will come in handy eventually.

Well, Lillian has become obsessed with my new gift already. She wants to sit with me and go through my facebook newsfeed and look at everyone's pictures. And today I uploaded some learning games for her and she was hooked! Here is Lillian with MY Mother's Day gift! ha ha...I guess I will have to share!

The End of Another Year at HHP

2011-05-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

My kids finished up their preschool year at Harmony Hill Preschool today. It is always bittersweet. It is exciting to see how much they have grown and changed, but also so sad to see them growing up and moving on to the older kid classrooms. Both kids really loved their teachers this school year and it was sad to leave them for the last time today. We really have been lucky to have such great ladies in their lives.

Andrew with Mrs. Char

Lillian with Mrs. Jill

For the last day of school, they had a carnival theme and had booths set up in each classroom and they all rotated to do the fun activities. I got to see a few of them.

The kids will start summer school June 6th, but with new teachers. We sure will miss the fun they had this school year, but look forward to all the fun days to come!

The Youngest Sister Graduates

2011-05-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

My whole family packed up yesterday for the day to College Station, TX a.k.a. Aggieland. My youngest sister, Molly a.k.a. Mole graduated from Texas A&M University with a Food Science degree. We were very proud and I know my parents are very excited to have all of their daughters finally out of college! Lillian was okay and sat with us the whole time....of course she was walking back and forth seat to seat to talk to everyone, but Brandon quickly ended up taking Andrew outside to walk around and then to the car to watch a movie since he isn't exactly the sitting type.

After graduation, we all met up and Chuy's and had a nice meal, visited with everyone and took pictures with the graduate.

Sprinkler Park Time

2011-05-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

We have already had a few weeks of 90-something degree weather, so we have hit up the local sprinkler park twice! I took some pictures the first time, but forgot my camera the last time. Here are a few of some kids having fun in the sun!

Alto Visit

2011-05-06T17:17:00.001-07:00

We took a quick trip to Alto last weekend to visit. My mom is nearing the end of her Chemo treatments and hasn't been feeling well, so we wanted to go hang out with her and keep her company. We also got to spend time with Tory since she was off work and also had dinner with Dad and Jamie on Saturday night as well. We had a nice trip and the kids soaked up all the love from the family!

The kids with Grandpa JD after dinner.

Lillian worked hard making books for us at Grandma's house.

Lillian showing Daddy a book she made while he was playing basketball.

Andrew playing with the pinecones outside.

Tball is coming to an End

2011-05-02T16:03:00.000-07:00

I went to my last Cubbies t-ball game this past Saturday. Next weekend is our big neighborhood-wide garage sale and I've been piling things for months ready to get rid of them, so I'm definitely not missing the garage sale! So Brandon will be taking Lillian to her last game. I think Lillian learned a lot this season and look forward to seeing how she does next year! Plus, she made some new buddies and I met some great new people as well. I wanted to share her tball picture and team picture with you.

Sprinkler Fun

2011-04-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

My neighbor and friend, Karen bought a new sprinkler toy the other day, so after nap that day, she invited us over for the kids to all play. They had an awesome time!

Easter Morning

2011-04-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

We had an early, but nice Easter morning today. We were going to Mass at 8 a.m. so we could leave for Shiner after that and spend the day with Brandon's family, so I had to wake up earlier than usual this morning to get myself dressed and ready for church before getting the kids up, fed, and ready as well besides fitting in them looking over their Easter basket goodies and taking pictures, so we were busy!

The kids forgot about the Easter Bunny coming and this morning when they got their poptarts and were headed to the kitchen table, Lillian said, "OHHHH! Andrew, look!" She was very excited and Andrew came running to the table thinking it was all for Lillian until he recognized his basket and they both went through looking and showing me everything. Lillian got the Tangled DVD and 2 Leapster games besides the fillers and Andrew got 2 dvds as well. I think their favorite thing however were some magnifying glasses so they can go look at bugs outside! ha ha!

After I convinced them to finish their breakfast and put down their Easter goodies, I got them dressed and we took a few pictures before church. Too bad we didn't have someone to take one of all of us, but Brandon and I took turns each taking pictures of each other with the kids. Then we were off to Easter Mass. It was packed of course and I think with that many extra people to pass the offering around to and that many people taking communion, it made it a long one! So I was proud of how well the kids lasted with it being an hour and a half unlike the normal hour. It was a nice service and I loved seeing all the kids in their new Easter outfits.

Family Fun Day

2011-04-24T18:32:00.001-07:00

We haven't had a day in ages that we had nothing going on and Brandon wasn't working, so we took advantage of Saturday. We started out with lunch at Mighty Fine Burgers....gotta go there if you haven't ever been when you are in Austin. They make awesome burgers and shakes and it is recognized for being all natural.

Then we took the kids to a movie. This was Andrew's first theater movie experience, so he didn't quite understand we weren't going to buy the movie and take it home. He went in and kept saying how dark it was. He was fussy and wanted to leave throughout the previews. So I was worried, but when the movie started, he watched it and loved it. We saw "Hop." It is about the Easter Bunny. It was a cute movie and Brandon and I enjoyed it too. Andrew walked up and down the stairs during the movie and would go sit in the very front theater seats for a bit and then sit on the steps and then come back to us, but he wasn't bothering anyone and as long as I could see him, I just let him wander. I figured I would be disturbing other people watching less that way.

Then after that, we were home later than their usual nap, but they went down after the morning excitement and napped for 2 hours! It was nice. We all had a good rest before playing outside while Brandon finished up some flower planting. It was nice to spend time together as a family!

First Swim of the "Spring?"

2011-04-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

It was in the low 90's today, so my friend and neighbor Karen and I decided we would take the kids to the sprinkler park for the first time this season. However, we got there and learned it doesn't officially open until May, so we were a little over a week early. So we headed back to the neighborhood and took the kids to the neighborhood swimming pool. They had a blast! I was impressed at how Lillian remembered to kick her legs from last summer and Andrew was even brave this year and was walking all around the baby pool which he wouldn't get in last year and was scared. We will be taking swim lessons in June, so I'm glad to know they aren't scared. I'm a little nervous about the weather already being this hot now, but I'm thinking we may be at the pool and the sprinkler parks a few times a week when they are open now because they kids loved it and I think they will sleep very well tonight with all the kicking around they did.

School Easter Party

2011-04-21T16:06:00.001-07:00

Lillian had her school Easter party earlier in the day, so I didn't make it to hers, but made it to Andrew's and they had a buffet of some yummy looking stuff! One of the moms made some really cute cupcakes that looked like grass with Easter Eggs on them. Afterwards, I followed them outside on the playground to see them all play and Lillian's class was out there too, so I got to see her too.

Our First Easter Egg Dying

2011-04-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

Growing up, we never dyed Easter eggs. We always got those plastic decorated wrappers that when put in boiling water, shrunk onto the eggs. Well, I decided this year that the kids and I would dye eggs since I haven't really done it that I remember. So Brandon boiled them and had them ready and then I mixed the colors and the kids got busy mixing the eggs into the dye. They enjoyed it, but it was stressful for me worrying every second that Andrew would grab one of the bowls of dye and spill it all over the place. He kept grabbing eggs out of the bowls and putting them in his mouth! Yuck! But we all survived and the eggs turned out nice...until they dropped them later on the floor cracking most of them, but still, we did it and had some Easter fun. Maybe with experience it will go a little better next year!

Spring Fun

2011-04-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

Brandon was off work today after working the past 6 days, so while Lillian was at her occupational therapy, he, Andrew, and I made a Wal-mart run to pick up miscellaneous things. We saw a huge bottle of bubbles which the kids have been obsessed with lately, so we got a couple of bottles to stock up and while Brandon worked on planting more flowers in our flower beds....which I may say are looking so great this year....the kids had fun blowing bubbles. I've been so excited to get the yard in shape this year after the deadness it was all in after winter and want it to look great for our guests this summer coming to see our new little blessing and to take pictures! Here are some pictures of the kids and the flower beds. (I'm expecting them to get even prettier and will post more pics as they do. Brandon just watered them this evening with the awesome Miracle Gro mix and we are finally going to get some rain tonight!!! Yipee!)

Neighborhood Egg Hunt

2011-04-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

I took the kids over to the neighborhood egg hunt this afternoon. They were excited and had a great time picking up eggs and then having a snack and listening to the live music. Poor Andrew has my head cold that I have had for the past 4 days now. He just looked plain tired, but he still enjoyed it. Lillian was all over the place checking it all out and couldn't wait to hug the Easter bunny. Andrew didn't want anything to do with the bunny and kept a watch on him to make sure he stayed his distance! One more week until he visits our house!

Andrew with his eggs

Posing

Lillian with her eggs

Andrew is very into music and loved watching the man singing and playing guitar

Lillian wanted to pose for me today

Lillian as the Easter Bunny

Lillian's First T-ball Fan (besides us!)

2011-04-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

Lillian played early this morning at 8 a.m. and it was a cool morning! We had a little front come through last night and it was chilly. So most of the kids were in jackets today, but still played well. Lillian cracked me up today because she was very into playing! She was ready to run out and catch the ball and hit very well! She didn't hit the tee at all and hit it once out to the outfield. She even kept wanting to go out and catch the ball when the other team was out there.

I think she was extra excited because her Uncle Clay was there to watch her. When she hit or caught the ball, she would immediately look over at us to make sure we saw her do it. She ran over and gave me and Clay high-fives. Both kids were very happy to have him there and have been keeping him busy playing this morning after we got home. I wish someone could watch her play every game because she just loves showing off what she has learned to do. Only 2 more games left for her this season!

Baby #3 Update

2011-04-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I've been having weekly appointments the past 3 weeks because Marjorie's heartbeat has been being irregular at my check-ups and they wanted to keep an extra eye on it. It has been doing this on and off. Today I had an appointment at an ultrasound office for them to check and measure her heart and do an echocardiogram. Well, from what they could tell, everything looks great. The heartbeat was normal for them and everything was measuring okay. I was so relieved. It was a painful ultrasound though because baby girl was all bunched up not wanting us to see her heart and so the doctor was pushing really hard on my belly to see it well. So, I'm glad we are done, but glad we got to see her one more time. It was actually the first ultrasound Brandon has been to because he had to work for Lillian's and then when we went for Andrew's Lillian was throwing a fit, so he had to take her outside and missed half of it. So it was nice for him to get to see everything. He thinks she looks like Lillian...I guess we will see. It was very cute to see her in there balled up and you could see her opening and closing her mouth like she was eating the fluid in there. Today I am 26 weeks 2 days along, so we are less than 13 weeks away from her birth! Wow, this is flying by!

Here are two of the sonograms...the first you can sort of tell her mouth is open and then the 2nd is her full profile all snuggled up with her knees on her chest.

More T-Ball Fun

2011-04-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

Lillian had her 3rd t-ball game today and I've definitely seen an improvement! I think she is finally into the pattern of what to expect to do. Last week, she was doing her little tantrums about not wanting to go out and bat....just to make me mad and then would be upset if she didn't get to bat. But this week, she went out without any forcing from me and just did great. She also hit the ball well off of the tee instead of hitting the tee and stood out in the field ready when her team was out there. I was very proud of her. When it was over, she ran to me and said, "I DID GOOD!" ha ha...she knew she had!

We also took team pictures before the game and this was NOT a fun experience. As the team mom, I was trying to coordinate and have kids there for the pictures on time and of course it was very un-organized and they ran 30 minutes behind...so on top of the 15 minutes early we were there, we waited 30, which made for some frustrated parents and fussy kids...especially Andrew since he wasn't even taking a picture and was just along for the ride. Lillian just stood and frowned when they took her individual picture. Afterwards, though, she was upset that she did that and wanted to re-take her picture and luckily the lady, who was a not very nice person to me, did let her take her picture again, so hopefully we have some sort of smile. I was also in the team picture, so I guess I'll be in these kids' scrapbooks for the rest of their lives...ha ha...at least I was behind them all, so my big Marjorie belly was hidden.

Here are some snapshots from today's game. BTW...we played at a smaller field this time which was difficult because there were no dug-outs to keep the kids contained, but nice because we were closer to the kids to take pictures and talk to them and encourage them during the game.

Bluebonnets

2011-04-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

Flower Girl To-Be

2011-04-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

My niece, Nicole recently got engaged and is getting married this fall! She is Brandon's sister Dianne's daughter. She lives in Washington state, so is planning 2 weddings: one up there and one in Texas since everyone is not able to travel and she wants to celebrate with us all. So for her Texas wedding, she asked Lillian to be her flower girl! Lillian is excited to see someone "getting married." And she is just going to feel like a little princess in her dress! Here is a preview of the dress. I just ordered it today from JCPenney! I was so excited Nicole found us something that was not only from there, but on sale as well, so with a coupon I had, I got it for only around $26! I can't wait for it to come in and try it on Lillian.

New Old Friends

2011-03-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with Lillian, I joined the site Whattoexpect.com. I met so many great ladies there going through what I was going through at the same time. I still talk with many of them today on Facebook. I also joined the February 2008 message boards on there when I was pregnant with Andrew. I wasn't as active that round since I still talked mostly with the first group of ladies, but I did meet a few new people and yesterday I finally got to meet one of them in person.

My friend Melissa and I have been keeping in touch on facebook for a while. She lives in Germany since her husband is based there for the military, but her family lives in Cedar Park which is about half an hour from here. So since she is in visiting them right now while her husband is deployed, we finally made plans to meet up. We drove over to her parent's neighborhood park and the kids had fun playing and we got to chat. Lillian and Andrew were very excited about their new friend Maya and they ran around and played a lot! When we left, Lillian was already saying she wanted Maya to come to her house and play dress up with her. We'll definitely have to try and play a few more times before they head back to Germany at the end of June.

Family Visit

2011-03-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

We drove out to Boerne for the day to visit with Brandon's first cousin, Brian, wife Melissa, and little cousin Zachary. We haven't seen them in quite a bit and they moved into a new house in the past year, so we got to go check it out and all hang out for the day. The kids thoroughly enjoyed playing with Zach and exploring the house and yard and us adults got to catch up. We had a great lunch at their favorite Mexican restaurant in town as well. We are excited that the kids had such fun playing together and that we should see them again in a few months as they have agreed to be Marjorie's godparents. Here are some pictures of the kids today:

Our Little Slugger

2011-03-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

We began a new chapter in our lives today as little league parents. Lillian had her first tball game today at Connally High School baseball field....it is one of the Pflugerville high schools.

Lillian was being her not wanting to cooperate self at first, but by the end of the game, she did great and had fun too. She hit the ball well and ran the bases and even got the ball 3 times when the other team was hitting. She was so excited after she got it and threw it to first. She ran to me saying, "I did it, Mommy! I did it!" It was really cute. I'm excited about her learning the concepts of the game and how to play. In this league for this age, they do not count runs or have outs. We just have every kid bat and run all bases. She has 5 more games this season, so I also look forward to seeing how much the kids improve by the end.

And here is a video of Lillian at bat.

I'm 30!

2011-03-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm finally entering my 30's and exited the crazy decade of the 20's. From what I hear, the 30's are great for most people. I think I'm through with all the major life changes like graduating from college, getting married, and having kids. So now maybe I can just enjoy all these things. I'm still having kids of course now, but not going through that first and 2nd kids adjustment from having none. I'm looking forward to what is to come!

We didn't do anything big on my birthday. Brandon had to work an evening shift, so he got me an ice cream cake and we ate it for dessert after lunch. Then I went shopping that afternoon and got myself a Kindle with my birthday money. It is really neat and I think I will use it a lot once I get some books downloaded. I have downloaded a couple of free classic books so far. So if you have some great books to recommend, I'm all ears!

Andrew's Birthday Gift

2011-03-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

While my mom, Katy, Clay, and Parker were here visiting 2 weeks ago, that Sunday, Brandon took the kids to Shiner to visit their grandparents, aunts and uncles there since we haven't seen them since Andrew's birthday. From what I hear, they had a fun visit and Andrew got some great birthday gifts. He got more clothes, so he is really stocked up now for the spring and summer weather. He also got a few toys and games.

He loves his new Thomas the Train block set. I finally helped him set it up on Monday and he played with it for a while before bed. Here are some pictures.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

2011-03-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

Brandon was off work on Friday since he was working all weekend and with it being such a nice windy day, we decided to take our kite out to the park and try to fly it. It was perfect weather and the kids had so much fun. Each took a turn holding it and then Brandon decided to see how high he could get it up. Here are some pics and a video.

Lillian and I took a break while Brandon and Andrew had to run way off to get the kite when it fell down.

St. Patty's Day at the Austin Zoo

2011-03-17T14:04:00.001-07:00

This morning we all got dressed in green and I wanted to take our picture together before we left, but Andrew refused to cooperate, so here is me and my 2 girls!

And here she is by herself

Since he wouldn't stand still for a picture in the house, he started jamming out in the car, so I took his picture then!

We made it to the Austin Zoo...definitely unlike any other zoo I've ever been to. It was very rustic and hard to push strollers around! But it was a neat place to visit! Here is the closest pic of all the kids we could get today.

Love for the rooster!

The kids feeding the deer

Andrew checking out the tortoise

And a tiger

The kids at some monkey cages

My ducklings

Pausing for lunch

We decided to stop on the way home at Amy's Ice Cream! Yum! Marble Slab just thinks they have good ice cream...wow, I had forgotten how awesome Amy's is! Lillian was amazed at the guy throwing the ice cream up and catching it in the cup.

It is safe to say Andrew enjoyed it too!

Cades and Grandma Teddy Visit

2011-03-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

My brother-in-law, Clay had some agri-business to attend to nearby, so they went ahead and decided to come spend the weekend visiting with us and he could tend to it on Monday. And with Katy and Baby Parker coming, Grandma Teddy decided to visit again too since she hasn't seen him since he was born and the trip to Rotan is too far for her right now with her on chemo treatments each week.

So Friday afternoon, everyone arrived at our house. We ate a good Mexican meal at Antonio's and visited.

Then Saturday, Brandon grilled and we hung out together all day. Katy helped Lillian practice tee-ball. And Grandma Teddy and I watched Parker. The kids always have a blast playing with Uncle Clay and Aunt Katy.

We had a nice weekend with everyone and were so glad for nice weather to enjoy it.

Here are some cute outfits Grandma Teddy got at the Carter's store at the outlet mall. Now when Marjorie comes home, we can take a picture of all the kids in matching outfits! :)

We Are T-Ball Ready

2011-03-06T19:54:00.001-08:00

Growing up, my sisters and I were raised as softball players. No soccer for us and I want to keep it that way for my kids! I, in no way, want to be a soccer mom. I love little league softball/baseball and that is what we are going to pursue. Lillian is finally old enough to play t-ball with a league this year, so we got her signed up and had a team meeting this weekend. I'm excited that a lot of the team members live in Forest Creek or close by, so we are practicing at the elementary school...very easy for us since we live a minute away! I was also designated "Team Mom", so I'll be responsible for coordinating some things. I'm just glad I'm not coach! That is a tough job even though as parents we will all be kind of coaching together. I helped my mom coach my youngest sister's t-ball team back in the day and boy is that stressful...especially since back then there were so many competitive parents in town that just had to go after that t-ball championship! ha ha! I'm glad we are in a league that at this age doesn't count runs and lets every kid bat and run bases just to get the rules and foundations of the sport down.

This should be very interesting to see! Lillian will be on the Cubs. We made the trip to Academy today and bought Andrew and her gloves, a bat, a tee, and some practice balls. I worked with her in the car while Brandon ran in another store just on how you keep the glove on one hand and throw with the other...there are so many concepts you just don't think about that don't come naturally to them and have to teach them! Anyway, we are off to a good start. We played with the tee outside when we got home and both kids loved hitting the ball. Poor Andrew is going to be so upset when he realizes he can't play at the games. Their first game is March 26th at a high school baseball field! I'll share pictures of that for sure! For now, here are some of them practicing outside today.

Austin Kite Festival

2011-03-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to take the kids for several years now to the Austin Kite Festival. We really were going to go last year, but then it rained it out and it got moved to a date we couldn't go, so when I saw it was this weekend, we thought we would finally check it out. The kids were very pumped to see all the neat kites. Of course it wasn't very windy today, so a lot of the kites stayed down or went down fast, but a few people got theirs up high and they were so pretty to see, especially with the beautiful backdrop of the city of Austin behind them. The festival is at Zilker Park and there is a huge rock wall in the middle of it, so the kids spent some time climbing around on it too. Here are some pictures from the festival this morning:

A Nice Day for a Picnic

2011-03-04T13:43:00.001-08:00

A Long Weekend Visit

2011-02-27T18:02:00.000-08:00

We were so excited to have my sister, Katy and my baby nephew Parker come stay with us for a while! They drove in Wednesday afternoon and stayed through Sunday lunch. We haven't seen them since we were in Alto when Parker was born. Parker is growing so much and it was so wonderful to see him awake and soaking in his surroundings more. He is such a sweet baby and snuggles all the time! Lillian wanted to hug and kiss him all the time. We also loved having Aunt Katy here to visit with and play with too. We sure do miss them now that they are gone!

Then Grandpa JD and Jamie came on Friday night and spent the weekend, so we had lots of family fun. Andrew got his birthday gifts which he loves...some Toy Story games, clothes, and a Toy Story table and chairs set for outside. We did a lot of visiting and playing with them. Katy and I were so excited to be treated to a pedicure and manicure with Jamie. That was a very welcome break...nice and relaxing and my feet just loved it! We also picked out letters for my baby girl's wall, so Jamie is going to decorate them and mail them to me and I'll share them in the future. Yay! Thanks Dad and Jamie for a nice weekend. It was fun!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2011-02-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that my BABY is 3 years old today! Where did the time go? Seriously! Where did it go?

My sweet Andrew, a.k.a. Brother, is my biggest handful of a child and really tests my patience more than enough, but he is also the most loveable and cuddly little man! His smile and laugh put a spark in my heart everytime! He is such a wonderful blessing from the Lord above.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Brother! We love you to pieces!

Andrew's 3rd Birthday Party

2011-02-18T18:02:00.000-08:00

We had Andrew's 3rd birthday party today! He had a blast with his friends. The weather was very questionable this morning with drizzle and clouds, but the afternoon turned out to be lovely! Lots of sun and warm! The kids ran around all over the backyard and we paused for pizza and cupcakes. Andrew loved his Toy Story themed stuff. Hopefully all the kids will sleep well tonight after all that running around!

The kids eating

Swinging

Andrew eating pizza

Looking at his cupcakes

Blowing out his candles

Brandon and I with our baby boy