Our Big Girl is 2!

Our baby girl, Trinity, is now 2 years old...goodness, how time flies. Here are just a few pics of the last 2 years. She is still our angel- just more vocal- and sometimes her wings aren't easily seen! ;) She is full of love, joy, independence, laughter, and ornriness! Trinity Ann-Marie fills our hearts with more love than we thought possible! Trinity, we praise God and thank Him everyday for the miracle of you as our daughter! To our family and friends...thank you for loving her and praying for her- we pray she is also a blessing to you!

Happy Birthday, Trinity!

It took several tries to blow out the #2 candle! After getting closer and closer, she finally got it!

Being sung "Happy Birthday" to...she is ornery and wild at times, but when she's around a lot of people and is the center of attention, she tends to be shy!

The Cake!! I'm not very good at making and decorating cakes (just ask Aaron!)...but I was excited how Trinity's snowman b-day cake turned out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving this year we traveled with Aaron's parents to see Aaron's sister Audrey and her family in Dekalb, IL...the drive there we made a 2 day trip...the way home we did all in one day- 16 hours in a car- whew! it was a long day! The kids, though, did awesome! We stopped every couple of hours to let the both out of there car seats...and I think the adults appreciated being able to stretch our legs as well! It was a wonderful trip to see Audrey, Ty, Jordyn, and Xavi!

This is what much of our time there consisted of....sitting in front of the fireplace watching tv, movies, and playing the Wii- lots of relaxing time!

Eli and Papa doing their fair share of relaxing!

Aunt Audrey and Eli...Aunt Audrey loves to snuggle with her nieces and newphews!!

Jordy and Trinity...after bathtime and ready for dinner!

While we were there we got to celebrate Jordyn turning 10 years old!! Happy Birthday, Jordyn!!

2 Months & Big Sister

Our sweet little boy is 2 months old already!! At his check-up he weighed 12 lbs., 6 oz. and the dr. said he's just perfect...I guess we're not biased- someone else recognizes his perfection, too!! He's starting to coo more and more and smiles more also; I really think he gives the most smiles to his big sister!

Trinity is starting to become more and more independent with her own opinions...many times her opinions are contrary to her mommy and daddy's opinions on what she should do....screaming 'no!' seems to be one of her favorite opinions right now...and so the terrible 2's have begun...we're working on praying her quickly through them...and for us to keep our sanity! As ornery as she can be at times, most of the time she is full of sweetness...here is an example- she loves to lay by Eli and has recently started going up and giving him hugs...very cute!

I was taking Eli's 2 month pictures and big sister had to be in the middle of the action!! Here she is showing her 'cheese' smile with Eli enjoying her company...it didn't last too long because Trinity soon said that Eli was too heavy on her!

Misc. pics

I love this picture!! Apparently boys will jump off anything they can...including their moms!! Grandpa and Eli...he loves stopping by for hugs!

Tortilla girl...Daddy thought this was really funny!!

Playtime!!

Emalie and Trinity giving hugs. Trinity would follow Emalie around and 'police' her- tell her, "No, no, Emmie, no, no." Emalie was a pretty good sport about it!

Trinity and Papa out for a stroll around the yard!

Getting Papa to hide with me...it wasn't too hard, just a little tug of the hand and a sweet little, "Papa, come hide."

Playing puzzles with Audrey- Trinity doesn't quite understand that the goal is to keep the puzzle together!

Zachary and Trinity hiding from Papa together...they usually play pretty well together!

Snuggling with Mimi!!

One last hug before we hit the road! Love you, Mimi!

Trying to help Eli get rid of some gas!

Aunts, Uncles, & Cousins!

Last weekend we drove down to Mom and Dad's for a visit...the weekends never seem to be long enough! It always goes by so quickly! Eli got to meet some more of his cousins, aunts, and uncles...and Trinity got to play!

Uncle Jeremey (my sister Jessica's husband)...I wonder if he's telling him that he'll teach him how to fly one day?!

Aunt Karen (my brother Jerid's wife)- loving up on Eli! And cousin Audrey...Trinity was more her speed, but she did like to lay beside Eli.

Oh, miss Abbey...she was wonderful with Eli!! Even if he cried when she held him, she wouldn't hand him back, she'd try to comfort him...and most of the time she did! Here she's trying to help him feel better with his gassy tummy! Miss Abbey, you're a wonderful niece and cousin!

...and here's Emalie. At one point during the visit, she was sitting on the floor giving Eli 'love pats' to his head. Of course she could have been meaning, "What are you doing here? I used to be the baby in this family! You're in my territory...I'll show you who's boss, little boy!" She did like him and I'm guessing that the two of them will cause much trouble as they grow up together!

Fireproof Your Marriage

Last night Aaron and I went to see the movie Fireproof with our young couples bible study. It's a movie about a firefighter named Caleb (Kirk Cameron) who's marriage is falling apart and a dare he takes to try to save his marriage, and more importantly, learns about Christ in the process. I HIGHLY recommend this movie for everyone to see!! If you want to know more about it, go to www.fireproofmymarriage.com - it will be well worth your time and money!!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!! Trinity was a Butterfly Princess for Halloween this year. We dressed up last Sunday for a party at our church- games and candy. On Halloween we were in Hays cheering on our niece, Danica, at the state volleyball tourney, so we didn't get to trick-or-treat that evening. (Our volleyball team had an undefeated season and came up against some very good teams at the state tourney- as hard as the girls tried, they didn't make it to the finals. We are so proud of you, Danica!) Since our whole town was in Hays at the volleyball games on Halloween, kids trick-or-treated yesterday evening (Sunday). Aaron and I went to a movie, Fireproof, with our bible study, so Trinity went to Aunt Shelly's and helped hand out candy, which she loved doing! Here is her in her costume!

Her favorite candy- Tootsie Rolls!

Our little almost 2-year old is really starting to show her independence more and more. When getting her dressed for the party at our church, I tried to put a crown on her- every princess needs a crown! She decided that it was cold out and she would need a hat...after several minutes of me trying to persuade her that it wasn't cold out, she won and wore the hat...then, and only then, would she wear the crown!!

Here is the way I wanted her to wear it...it took me a bribe of candy to even get this picture!

One Month Old!!

Our little boy doesn't seem do little anymore!! Here he is...one month old!! He weighs in at over 8 pounds already! He's usually awake now for about 2 hours in the morning and 1-2 hours later in the evening. 2 night ago he started sleeping for 3 hours at a time...I was thrilled to get that extra hour of sleep!! He's starting to smile and coo...Trinity gets a big kick out of him cooing...we tell her he's talking to her and she loves it!

Lauren's Visit

One of my very best friends from high school, Lauren, came to visit us for the weekend this past weekend. She is living around the Dallas area and flew out to see us! Thank you, Lauren, for coming- it was a great weekend!

It took us a while to get a picture with Trinity- she was occupied with other things! It's hard to get an almost 2 year old to do what you want them to sometimes!

Lauren and Trinity playing with Lauren's phone- Lauren was so good about letting her push all of the buttons and 'talk' all she wanted!

One of Trinity's new favorite things to play- clean people's tummies! Here she had Lauren lay down on the kitchen floor so she could clean her tummy! Lauren was such a good sport!

A Big Boy!

I go back to work in 2 weeks...not excited about that...don't really like to think about it at all right now...anyway, so when Eli turned 1 month old, we started giving him a bottle once a day to make sure he'd take it and to start getting him used to it for when I go back to work. Here he is taking his first bottle from Daddy...and it didn't even phase him!

I go back to work in 2 weeks...not excited about that...don't really like to think about it at all right now

Bonding Time!

Trinity is starting to like Eli more and more. This day she wanted me to lay him on the floor to get him dressed...I thought she wanted to watch...the next thing I knew she had ran to her room to get one of her favorite books and was 'reading' to him about Jesus! It was very cute!

Trinity is also becoming more and more of a helper...Eli lost his pacifier and she was very helpful in putting it back in for him- usually she takes it from him! She can be an angel when she wants to! Don't let her cuteness fool you, though- she has an ornery streak!
"Okay, Mom! You can take our picture now!"

Growing Boy!

Here's Eli at about 3 weeks...he's really growing and filling out! He's been in a pattern of being awake about an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening; tonight, though, he was awake for almost 3 hours!! I'm hoping that means tonight he'll sleep longer than 2 hours at a time before wanting to eat again!

Playtime with Daddy!

Trinity and Aaron goofing around in the living room...they would hang upside down on the chair and just giggle together!

Here Trinity wanted to be swaddled like Eli...and of course Daddy couldn't say 'no'!

Mimi's Visit!

Mimi, Julie's mom, was able to come out and visit this past weekend and meet Eli. They both loved snuggling up together! Of course, Trinity wanted her time with Mimi and pulled her around the house politely commanding her to, "Sit down." Thanks for coming out, Mom, and for all of the baking you did!! We loved having you and can't wait until you're able to come back!