First Day of School

Before school. Fresh and ready for the day.

...an early morning. Getting 2 kids ready is definitely more involved than getting 1 ready, especially when an infant is involved. We woke up early, made lunch for Kate and bottles for Jude, then woke the kids up to get them fed and dressed. Well, actually Jude was awake and smiling at us while we got ready. He likes to do that. I like it too.

Dropping off Kate was a breeze, mainly because I knew how much she wanted to be there. She went in and immediately started playing. Then I took Jude to his room. I didn't want to leave at all. However, his sweet teachers and student assistants were so attentive to him that I felt a peace about leaving him. Sarah also sent me an email later in the morning with a picture of him smiling. That always relaxes a mommy.

I stopped in at lunch time to drop off an emergency supply of formula and to get a quick cuddle. He was so happy and had eaten pretty good for them, which was a huge relief. His reflux is still terrible. Ugh. I peeked in on Kate from behind the one-way mirror since it was nap time. She was clearly not napping, but was at least on her nap mat. Lately she wants to rest, but sings for about 2.5 hours. It's a joy to listen to her sing "Jesus Loves Me" over the monitor.

It was finally time to pick up the babies so Michael and I hurried over to the CDRC. Let me just say, Jude has the ladies wrapped around his fingers. He's the man. I was so happy to cuddle him. Kate was on the playground. We met her outside. She was a sweaty mess, but filled with joy. Her teachers reported she had a great day but wanted to know who "Sam" was. I had to inform them that she was actually saying "Sham."

"Who is Sham?" you ask. Well, he is the horse who challenged Secretariat in the race for the Triple Crown. I guess today she decided to be Sham, although on her way home she became "Super-tariat" again. AND then we watched it...AGAIN. We should start saving for her to go to the University of Kentucky and study equine science. Tonight she told Michael she wanted horses when she grew up. She said she wanted "big ones" and to "help them run fast." He then asked her if she wanted to help them feel better to which she replied, "no, just run fast." We have a future Bob Baffert on our hands.

After school...not so fresh. Poor Jude was wiped out and covered his own face with his blanket.

A Brand New Year!

...a new "school" year starts tomorrow! Kate is so excited to go to school tomorrow she was asking if it was time to go to bed starting at about 5:30. Amanda is not so sure she is as excited as Kate for school to begin. She is really not sure she is ready to let Jude out of her sight yet, so I know tomorrow will be a rough one for her.



The kids' school had an open house on Friday, which is where we they got to meet their teachers and see their classrooms. These are Jude's teachers, Sarah (on the left) and Layton (right). They are really sweet teachers and completely smitten with Jude. Of course, who wouldn't be smitten with Jude, am I right? He also likes to turn on the smile when there are ladies around, so he had them eating out of his jolly-green-giant baby hands in just a few minutes. (Seriously the kid is wearing 9 month pajamas because his spindly arms and legs are so long that his 3 month old body can't squeeze into them.) He also likes to turn on the smile with his mommy, which makes her melt, and like I already mentioned, consider never letting him out of her house.





This is Kate with one of her teachers, who is also named Sarah. Sarah told us that she decided to decorate the classroom for the beginning of school with barns, farm toys, and animals because she knew Kate would love it. Well, it took Kate about 10 minutes to find the barns, and Sarah's plans already started to pay off.



Kate's other love, after horses and barns, is dress up princess/dancing clothes. Apparently she doesn't spend much time at school in her real clothes, but instead spends most of her day in princess dresses and plastic high heels. Well, we were in her room for about 30 minutes, and after playing with the horse barns she quickly found the princess dresses and became "Princess horsey Supertariat (Secretariat) Kate." Nobody can accuse her of not having an imagination.



Amanda and I are praying for a terrific school year for our kiddos full of good things. Good things like crayon art, glue and popsicle sticks, finding new ways to use cotton balls, and making new friends. We hope our kids have fun at school which will help them learn to love learning. Happy New (school) Year!



"Princess horsey Supertariat (Secretariat) Kate" will see YOU on the playground!

Funny Girl...Quick Update

...our funny girl. I took this picture of one of Kate's birthday presents, which I forgot to blog about. This is a gift from Kate's school friend Nico. Nico is kind of the boy version of Kate, so they are the best of friends. These two friends spend most of their school days dressed up in "play" clothes--Nico as Spiderman and Kate as a princess. So, this gift was so sweet, because Nico thought of Kate when he saw this.

Back to the funny stuff Kate has said this week.

First, Kate had her 3 year old check-up. When we got into the exam room the nurse wanted her to lay down on the table so she could measure Kate. Kate got upset and started crying because she thought the nurse was going to give her a shot. Her tears were collecting on the cheap, crunchy paper that always gets wadded up when you sit on a doctor's table for long. The nurse left and soon Dr. Holly came in to check Kate out. As soon as Holly started talking Kate cut her off with the following exchange.
Kate: Hey, Dr. Hey, Dr.
Dr.: Yes, Baby Kate, what is it sweet pea?
Kate: Hey, you see that? (pointing at her tears on the paper) Those are my feelings.

Second, we had lunch with our good friends the Hill's after church today. We were eating in a busy Mexican restaurant when Kate announces to the table, and anyone else within listening distance, "Hey, I have a bagina! Hey Kristi, do I have a peanut? Nooooo, I'm being silly, I have a bagina. Bagina, bagina, bagina, bagina."
I was afraid Kristi was going to fall out of her seat drunken co-ed style, because I have never seen her laugh that hard. The rest of us were laughing too hard to ask her to stop, which made Kate laugh and of course, since we were laughing kept her going.

She. Is. Too. Much.

Church Again!!!!

...FINALLY getting to go to church again. Red Raider Orientation is rough on our church-going in the Summer since a session always starts on Sunday. However, ORIENTATION IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (with the exception of a few 1 day events next week). To celebrate having Michael back home on Sundays we went to church. It was so great. The message about relying on God could not have been more perfect. We took time just before church to take a few pictures of the family.



Since her haircut the other day she has insisted on having a braid of some kind in her hair. I'm not as talented as Lisa, but I thought this looked pretty cute.




This is Jude in his first button up shirt. It was a gift from his godmother Stephanie, aka TT. Can I just say it will not be his last button up. He looked so handsome, just like his daddy.

Tiny Dancer

..Kate's first day of dance class. When I walked in her room this morning the first thing she said was, "Is it time to go to dance class?" Well, it was almost time! She was so excited and in the best mood all the way there. Once there she remained happy, but in a whirl of activity the teacher came and got her and she was off. I didn't really get to reassure her to I would be just outside the door, but I'm doubtful it would have made a difference.

She is taking dance at Talent Plus. The neat thing about the studio is that I have known the people who own it for a long time. Their daughter did pageants with me growing up. It's rare we are able to actually have known someone in town for a long time since we are not from here. It gives me peace of mind knowing the people I am trusting my daughter with. The studio has monitor in the lobby that allows parents to watch the class. I could hear her crying, but could see that she wasn't trying to escape. For the first 30 minutes she didn't move. AT ALL. Then when they changed shoes into their ballet shoes something turned on. She started dancing with excitement. When the class was over she was so excited. In fact, right now she is "napping" but all I hear over the monitor is stuff about dance. She must be telling Boo and Spirit all about it.







Waiting on class to start.



Being led in by the owner. There she goes. She looks so big.

Long, Tall Texan

...our little boy growing and growing and growing. It's so crazy how different Jude is from Kate at this age. Since she was born so small it seems it took her forever to grow in to the cute outfits she had. Jude, however, grew in and out of them before he was even able to wear most of them. I thought I was being clever this spring when I bought some 3-6 month long rompers. Unfortunately, Jude will be out of them by about next week. I am now hoping the 6-12 month stuff I bought for Thanksgiving and Christmas will still fit. He sleeps in 9 month pajamas (although I sometimes squeeze him in to the blue guitar ones that are 6 months because they have a zipper instead of snaps, making late night diaper changes exponentially easier). He wears a 3-6 month onesie, but most of those are getting rather short.

To show how long, and handsome, he is I grabbed the camera during bath time the other night. On a funny note, Kate likes to tell people that other things are big too, but this is a family blog so I won't go in to the details. Let's just say she has become aware of the differences between boys and girls since having a baby brother and she's not afraid to tell anyone who cares to listen!

Holiday Road!

...a trip with friends to the New Mexican mountains! We really have not had many vacations that were not with family members or to Oklahoma or on a conference, but we've never vacationed with just friends. Our great friends here in Lubbock, the Hills, invited us to their family's vacation home in Ruidoso (see the pic above) to spend the weekend with them and their two kids. Kate and the two younger Hills play so well together, and of course we enjoy spending time with the older Hills. So, since orientation was finally over for the summer and I didn't have to work on Sunday we sacrificed our weekend in the 100+ degree dry Lubbock weather to go to the mountains. I, Michael, had never been to Ruidoso, and really all I cared about was finding cooler weather. I didn't care where we went. Fortunately, not only was the weather amazing--65 to 70 for the high with rain every afternoon--but it was also a beautiful, relaxing, pine scented weekend with some great friends.

Poor Jude is still too young to be out in the heat for long, which means this summer he is only outside if he's going from a building to the car. Having 60 degree weather was perfect for him and the little guy finally got to spend some quality time outside. With Jude's acid reflux issues one of the ways to hold him is across your body with his stomach on yours and his head on your chest. The picture below was at breakfast the first morning in town. This picture is not of Jude's favorite position, but halfway through breakfast Amanda realized, and alerted us, that the entire restaurant has been shooting glances at her all morning because with the blanket over Jude it looks like she is breast feeding him over waffles. Now, there's not anything wrong with that, but apparently the crowd at the Log Cabin at 9 am in New Mexico did not appreciate the show (although, there was no show).



Smiling is Jude's favorite hobby.



Our silly, happy little girl. Somewhere along the way this "scary" face, complete with a roar, replaced smiling.



Kate loves the whole Hill family, and as you can see from the pictures I think it is mutual. Kate and Logan are so cute together and are always playing. On the last day of the trip she and Logan ran around the house being horses the entire morning. They were chasing each other, jumping over things, and racing. When we got back to Lubbock, she made me be "Logan horsey" so she could pretend to be playing with him. She missed him when we got back. Insert "awww" here.



Sydney wanted to hold Jude so badly all weekend. She was very, very sweet with him, and surprisingly wanted to help him even when having huge crying fits because of reflux. Syd is a very sweet girl that is going to give her mom and dad all they can handle! She is the ultimate negotiator, and has a business minded approach to life--she is her father's daughter, and will no doubt make him pay for his raising.



I have never seen Kate this comfortable with other people outside of her family. She had Jeremy and Kristi reading to her all weekend. She loooves Jeremy. Anytime we would go anywhere she wanted him to get her out of her carseat or carry her, or at least make sure he was going wherever we were. "Where's Jeremy?" was a constant question from our backseat.




My girls together. How happy and relaxed do we all look? This was the most relaxing trip I think we've ever had as a family. All of us felt great and were just happy to be together. Now, we're always happy to be together, but rarely do we get the opportunity to be so during the summer. I am so thankful we had this trip!




The fam at the Ruidoso Downs horse races. Amanda and I have love horse racing, but haven't been since leaving Kentucky. While we were no good at picking Quarter Horses it was a blast just to be out watching them run.



Since we were having no luck picking any winners, we thought we would give the kids a chance. Turns out they were better than we were. Jude is studying this program intently don't you think? He was so happy to be outside, and he did amazing for the 3 hours we were at the races. Although, he did eventually insist on going back to sleep in his favorite position, which means I'm sure everyone at the races thought Amanda was nursing for a couple of hours. Oh well!



Seriously, how cute is this kid? He is one handsome little boy, who is no doubt going to break his momma's heart a lot. If he will ever leave her side that is. There is no question as to whom he prefers--he loves his mommy!



I'm not sure Sydney and Logan ever knew they were even at the horse races. I think they probably could have taken it or left it. Kate on the other hand was very serious about the races. We would tell her which horses to cheer for and she would yell the whole for them the whole time during the race. As soon as they finished, she would ask, "Are the horses going to run again?" She would sit patiently, look at the program, talk about which horses to bet on, and then yell during the race again. Seriously, everyone was ready to leave after a couple of hours except for Kate. We had to pry her away from the races. As soon as we left she asked if we could come back tomorrow. When we got back to Lubbock I asked her what her favorite part of the trip was, and she didn't hesitate--"the horse races."



See what I mean??? She was into it big time.




This is what trouble looks like. You know something crazy was going on when they would all stop and stare at us when we would walk into the room. Thank goodness the house is well built!



Another favorite part of the trip was just taking walks outside. After surviving the heat of this summer, just being able to stand outside again without feeling like someone has a blow dryer in your face was a major blessing. There were deer everywhere and the kids (who am I kidding, all of us) loved watching them in the meadow. Not sure why the giant walking sticks all of the Hill family was carrying, sans Kristi, were necessary since we were on paved roads with nothing but menacing deer. But, whatever.



A storm rolling in across the mountain. Rain still does exist! And Jeremy keeping us safe from the big, bad deer. Thanks Jeremy.



The kids found a "river" to trek through for most of the walk.




Sadly the trip had to come to a close. By the time we made it out of the mountains and back on flat ground it was back up over 100. Oh well. It was refreshing to have a breather! Thank you Hill family for a great trip!



This was how Kate looked for most of the van ride home. She was exhausted. And happy.



The next several photos detail one of my favorite vacation traditions. We started a tradition with Kate that we get a sticker for her suitcase anytime we all go on vacation. So, this was Jude's first official sticker for his suitcase! We got both the kids a sticker from Ruidoso Downs to commemorate the horse racing. Jude is pretty excited...can't you tell?



He has a ways to go to catch up with Kate. Check out her collection, and we're even missing the Hawaii sticker (thankfully her godmother Brandy is bringing one back from her vacation since we forgot). This is the front of Kate's suitcase: The Wimberley sticker from our Texas Hill Country vacation, Tinker Bell from Disneyworld, Harvard from our trip to Boston, the Texas Tech girl since she lives in Lubbock, and the Don't Mess with Texas sticker for our trip to Houston.



One side of her suitcase with stickers from the tour of the Shiner Brewery, the trip to the OKC Zoo, and her new Ruidoso Downs sticker.



The other side of her suitcase with the Rice University sticker from our walk around the campus in Houston, the dog sticker to commemorate Jude's birth, and the Equal sign from her in utero trip to San Francisco.



I'm excited to see how many more stickers we can pile on our kids' suitcases, and with as well as we all travel I think we will have plenty more. Until next time!