The Great Snow In of 2010

We like everyone else have lived a life interrupted of late on account of the weather. Thursday was not too bad, though our electricity flickered in and out for much of the evening.

At about midnight, Bryan and I went to play in the snow, and it was amazing. The whole world appeared to be blanketed in the snow, and an amazing hush had descended on our street. We also got some pretty sweet pics.

(Yep--that's me in my PJs in the snow :)

We then lost electricity some time around 1:00am, and we did not get it back until after lunch. We have a gas fireplace and stove luckily, so we were able to huddle by the fire under blankets. We had hot chocolate and oatmeal for breakfast and soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. It was a fun day that we will remember fondly.

After we got power back and knew we would be able to warm up, Robby and Bryan went to play outside and had a great time making snowmen.

We did not venture out of the house until today, when we went to get an amazing list of groceries. Here are some pics of us getting ready to venture out for the first time:

Happy 4 Months Juliet!!

Juliet's party dress for Lucy's Birthday Party!!! Happy 2 Years Lucy :)

Today my sweet baby girl turned 4 months old. I honestly cannot believe how quickly time has flown by. She has truly grown out of being an infant at this point (in fact, now that her cousin Sloan is here, she is not even the youngest grandbaby on the Sloan side).

(Juliet saying good morning to Daddy this morning)

In honor of her four month birthday today, she decided to go for the gold and hit a major milestone. So, this afternoon she rolled over from her back to her front. I set her on the couch on her back and then went into the dining room to talk to Bryan. When I looked over to check on her, she was lying completely on her tummy as if for tummy time. The only difference was that she had her arm still under her. She seemed to be completely surprised by this turn of events (remember that she hates tummy time)

Finally, I put her back on her back and decided to call it a victorious roll even though her arm did not make it out from under her. Then, all of a sudden, she was back on her tummy, and this time she was able to pull her arm out :). Then, just for good measure, she rolled one more time before bedtime.

(Juliet wondering why in the world she is on her tummy all of a sudden)

Bedtime has become a sweet tradition for Juliet and me. We lay on her furry pink rug and read stories together (well, I read, she tries to eat the pages). It is one of my favorite times of the day as she laughs and coos just for me.

(Juliet wondering why Daddy does not want to wake up)

Then after bedtime with Juliet it is time to put my big boy to bed. We also have a story time with him each night. The two most likely books are "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight" by Jane Yolen or "Hug" by Jez Alborough. He continues to do very well in his big boy bed, and he really is a great big brother to Juliet.

(This camera smile just cracks me up!)

Big Boy Bed, etc

My pediatrician is outspoken about many child-rearing things, including when we should potty train and when we should move Robby to a big boy bed (answer to both: Not Yet). So, even though we had been thinking about it for a while, we had not made the big move. It was either her advice or the fact that I could not find sheets I deemed worthy. One or the other. Anyway, the fear was that once we moved him to a big boy bed, we would never sleep again, but then Pottery Barn introduced a line of toddler sheets and immediately put them on sale. What was a girl to do?

So, we set up his big boy bed on Monday, and it was as easy as a dream. We put him in bed at night, and he stays there until we get him up in the morning. I don't know how long it will last, but I am definitely quite pleased all in all.


Here is a pic of Robby after he pulled down Mommy's makeup bag and decided he needed some makeup too. All in all, I would say his use of mascara reveals something of an artistic flair :)



And here are a couple of pics of my sweet Juliet smiling as we went for a walk enjoying the nice weather of the last few days.

Happy 3 Months Juliet!

Today is my sweet Juliet's 3 month birthday. I can't believe how time has flown by since October. We have been blessed with such a good baby for the second time in a row. She sleeps 13 hours each night consistently and has two good naps per day as well. By temperament she is mellow and low key happy just to be around and to casually check out her surroundings and maybe even suck her thumb for a while. The only thing sure to rile her up is tummy time. She is definitely not a fan of that. She is working on rolling over and is now sitting (or something like sitting) in her Bumbo for short periods of time each day. I know that it is almost no time before these lazy days are over, and so I am enjoying while they last.

We ventured out to Barnes and Noble, and she was well bundled for the occasion!

Laughing right before we put her to bed tonight! She thinks her daddy is very funny. Of course she already has him wrapped around her little finger. Who's surprised?

Like I said before...

We were trying to take pics to document her 3 month birthday. Of course the only time Robby really wants his picture taken is when we are trying to take pictures of Juliet. Don't you love that camera smile?

It appears that she might not have loved this idea as much as the rest of us. It was so cute, every time she would start to cry, Robby would lean over and give her a hug and say "Don't cry Juliet." He would then lay back down, plaster on his smile, wait for the flash, and then repeat the process all over again.

Today he told us he wants more babies. Not for a while at least little man :)

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

We have had a crazy, wonderful holiday season with lots of great family time, and now that we have a new camera, I have pics!!! The snow that we got at my parent's house was amazing. Robby would not venture out for the first day or so, but once we got him to go outside, he of course loved it. However, he absolutely refused to wear a jacket, strange child that he is. Here are some great pics of him playing in the snow with Ten Cup the dog.

We also had a season of lots of fun new games, including Bananagrams (my favorite--check it out!), Wits & Wages (right up Bryan's alley), and Dicecapades. The pic below is my mom and Bryan arm wrestling during a particularly heated match of Dicecapades.

Juliet of course loved her first Christmas. She is sleeping like a champ up to 13 hours per night, and when she is awake, she is usually as happy as a lark. In the pic below she is modeling her new Texas Rangers hat. No prize for guessing who bought that for her!

Bryan and my brother Curtis also really got into the spirit of things with the snow. They build a snowman who stayed up for almost a week. Then, they took turns face planting into the snow. I will never understand some things about the male mind. Not my idea of a good time, but I did enjoy the spectacle!

One of the biggest blessings of this holiday season is that my sister-in-law Jenna came through a very scary and life-threatening ordeal with pulmonary embolism and other blood clots to her heart. She was released from the hospital on the 23rd, though she has a long road of recovery ahead of her. She and Juliet are very good friends and nap buddies.

This pic is from our family Christmas at our house (one of the few days we seem to have been home this season). Robby loved opening his stocking, though I am not sure he knew what to make of the slinky he got :). It has been quite a holiday season, but all of my holiday decorations are now boxed up and safely back in the attic where they belong. We are soon headed to Dallas to ring in the new year and new decade!

As I look back on this milestone year that included some wonderful moments such as the birth of Juliet and the recovery of Jenna as well as some very hard times with the loss of our nephew Samuel, I am joyous in the knowledge that God has a plan for our lives and that thus far His plan has included many blessings for our family.

My prayer for this upcoming year and decade is that it will hold as many joys and blessings as the one to which I must soon bid adieu.

Pictures and Other Updates

So, it turns out that it is basically the same price to purchase a new camera as to repair our old one, thus a new one is now ordered and on the way. Hopefully once it arrives, I can up my ante on blogging again.

I do have some fun Christmas pics to share though:

This is the pic that Robby's school sent home yesterday from when Santa visited the school. See my earlier posting for the story about this :).

On Saturday night, we went downtown to see Santa as a family. This excursion to see Santa went much better, though probably only because we got in the sleigh with Robby. He would not give Santa the requested high five or say one word to him. By the way, if you live in Ft. Worth and are looking for a Santa, I cannot recommend this one highly enough. You can take your own pics, if you buy one it is only $7, and the money goes to charity. You can find the hours here. Plus, Sundance is so pretty this time of year!

We went to a party at our church last night. Of course, Juliet had to wear a Christmas outfit! She was very cooed over, and we all had a really good time. I hope to post more on that party soon.

Robby has started to really develop an interest in books of late. We took him to Half Price the other day, and he kept picking out different books to go and read on this chair. Right now though his favorite book is Hug by Jez Alborough hands down. I hope that what we are seeing is the beginning of a lifelong love affair with books!


Robby was born sucking his thumb, much like his mommy. Juliet has just picked up the habit in the last week or so. She, like her brother, favors her left thumb.

Robby for whatever reason loves to wear this hat. It is actually his PahPah's hat, but from the moment Robby saw it, he felt it should rightfully belong to him. His PahPah, being a grandfather and thus a pushover, never even tried to reclaim it back.

Another favorite pastime--tower building. Robby is really good at building them on his own these days. What he is not good at? Putting the legos away once he has finished with them.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

So, yesterday Santa came to visit Robby's school. He was apparently not okay with seeing Santa at all. His teacher said he literally clawed her when she tried to put him on Santa's lap. But then Santa offered him a candy cane, so he was okay after that. Moral of the story--we need to do much more with Robby about not taking candy from strangers :)

After we picked him up though, we ran over to Hobby Lobby where it looks like some possessed Santa stalker has set up shop--there are santas everywhere, and Robby wanted to talk to each one (nevermind that they were just figurines). Afterwards, when we were driving home, we would point out Christmas lights, and he kept saying "More Christmas lights please." He clearly has some of his tah in him. And, he clearly has some good Christmas spirit! (We also let him watch Elf--I didn't think he really liked it, but when it was over, he cried, so maybe he did).

All of my Christmas stuff is out of the attic, but the boxes have yet to be unpacked. That is my goal for this week. We did get a supercool advent calendar from my uncle and aunt yesterday, but Robby really needed to open more than one, so I think we are already on like day 4 for that :)

I am determined to go to downtown for a picture with Santa this year, so I will post that when I have it. In the meantime, our camera is broken, and I don't have much in the way of new pics.