Lots of Happenings!

I did it! It has taken me HOURS, but I have now updated everyone on the last month of our lives! Life has been good, so hopefully you can all hang in there!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Happy Easter! We hope everyone had as wonderful of an Easter as we did! We enjoyed a great buildup to Easter with community Easter egg hunts. Carter thought the day had come and gone a week before it was even here. Saturday we headed to my in-laws to spend Easter with them. Jennifer was down from Denver, so it was really nice to see her. We missed having Anton, Meemaw and Uncle Mickey with us this year. Hopefully we will see them soon. On Saturday we picked a few strawberries at the Strawberry Patch, but mostly just relaxed and enjoyed the day. Carter insisted on roasting marshmallows that evening, but other than that and a few more rocket launches, we colored eggs and called it a day. Sunday was nice. The boys were excited to see that the Easter Bunny visited and had a blast with Easter egg hunts. They got some Triops (ancient sea creatures) that should be hatching soon, so we'll have to let you know how that goes! If it works, they'll have their fish they've been wanting so badly and we never have to clean out their bowl and we only have to feed them every two days. Those are my kinds of pets! After church as I was changing my clothes I took the time to really think about what Easter is all about and I am so thankful for my Savior and his great sacrifice for me. It's so wonderful to know that there is someone bigger and greater out there that's in charge of my life and who has watch over me and has done everything He possibly can so that I may return to live with him again if I choose to follow His path and do the the things He asks of me. Seems pretty simple in comparison to the price He had to paid for me.

Friday, March 21, 2008

This last week was Isaac's Spring Break, with the week before being Eric's Spring Break. Since they didn't line up, we didn't get to do anything big, but we enjoyed several park outings, etc. On Wednesday I took the kids to Killeen with some friends to see a Dinosaur movie at the planetarium. We were running late and the exit was closed, so we almost missed it, but luckily it sold out with enough people still wanting in that they did a special viewing the next hour. My luck continued when the lady let me and the kids in free because she didn't have change for a twenty. Isaac and Carter thought is was great. Isaac sat there mesmerized while Carter could hardly contain himself and his talking. "Look at that HUGE long neck!" "Wow, did you see that Dinosaur?" and on and on. Note, the kid has no volume control. Fortunately there weren't very many people and most think he's adorable anyway! :) Ashlyn was terrified. She didn't cry, though. She just whipped around and buried her head into my shoulder, shaking. Poor baby doll. She would just stop shaking when a new roar or large shadow would pass overhead. The other babies we were with loved it. But I guess they were boys. Go figure?
I really enjoyed having Isaac home and was sad to have to send him back. I thought I'd be ready for Monday, but we actually had a wonderful time. I'm looking forward to the summer. I miss my little boy.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Here's a little bit of the world from Carter's perspective. He took the camera from us at Isaac's soccer game and we came back with some interesting pictures of garbage cans and lawn chair legs and cup holders, etc. I'll spare you those, but these were a couple of my favorites. He actually got some pretty good ones of Ashlyn.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Ashlyn had her one year check-up today. The boys were always such model patients, but not my princess! She started screaming the second the Dr. walked in the door. It was miserable! She did, however, happily accept her sucker at the end. At a whoppin' 16 lbs she has fallen off of the charts like her siblings before her. I'm a pro at recognizing the 'deeply concerned' look of pediatricians concerning my children's weight. Fortunately he's content with just keeping an eye on her for now. We can't help it. We make 'em small. They're easier to carry that way!

Saturday, March 8, 2008

After celebrating Ashlyn's birthday Friday night, we headed to Bruni (down by Laredo) to visit Meemaw. We hadn't been down south for awhile and were really wanting to go. The kids did great on the drive and we were able to pull straight into Lola's, which is Eric's all time favorite Mexican food restaurant. (It's good, but it's hard to beat Gila Valley Mexican food!) We spent the rest of the time walking, visiting, and eating BBQ. One of Meemaw's neighbor's had their pony tied up outside their fence and the boys loved petting it. Eric also had a bit of good fortune while we were there. His Poppa was really into model airplanes and it was something that always fascinated Eric. After he passed away, Meemaw sold his equipment and planes to another one of her neighbors. Eric wanted to go take a look at them and they just happened to be up for sale again, so thanks to his parents we are now the proud owners of Poppa's old planes We're still trying to figure out where to put all of the stuff - it's strung between Meemaw's, his parents', and our house, but Eric has been so excited ever since. He found a model airplane flying club here in Temple and the hobby shop in Killeen (where he's been working) has a flight simulator so he can practice during his lunch hour and not crash his planes the first time he flies them! He doesn't have a lot of extra time, but once he gets the hang of it, we have a large field by our house where he can fly them some in the evenings, and fortunately his schedule is letting up a little. Thanks to Meemaw for a wonderful visit. It's always nice to go and get away from the real world for a little while and enjoy the quiet streets of Bruni, Tx.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Ashlyn Elizabeth is 1! I can't believe this past year has gone so fast! She is definitely our little princess - in every good and bad sense of the word. She has me wrapped so tight, I mostly see the good. The rest has to be pointed out to me from time to time! She had a FABULOUS birthday, of course! We started out with birthday muffins and she had Grandma and Grandpa's present to open first thing. She loved all the paper, but was waiting to get in trouble.

"Did anyone see what I just did?"

"It's okay? Really?"

"This is AWESOME!"

She got a baby doll from Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks! She loves it!

We spent the day at home and then headed to my in-laws that evening when Eric got home to celebrate. Too bad I spent time making her strawberry cake since she wouldn't even TOUCH it! We put her on the table and she just stared at us until we tried to stick her finger in it and then she just sobbed and never recovered. She got a fun push toy from my in-laws but we didn't get any good pictures from the evening of the cake or of her finishing opening her presents.

Just another picture of my pretty girl!

Isaac took a break from birthday festivities for a serious game of checkers.

She got a little silly after her bath. It was a great day! Who couldn't love this baby girl?

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

My friends, Claudia and Lindsay, and I all have babies within a month of each other so Claudia threw them all a pudding party. The boys weren't shy at all about digging into their pudding, but Ashlyn did NOT want to get her fingers dirty. She was happy enough as long as I was feeding her, but if I tried to get her to do it herself I was in big trouble. When Ian was done with his, he decided he'd go for Ashlyn's, which she didn't mind as long as she had her balloon!

Ian Walker, Ashlyn Chapman, and Grant Hobbs. Pretty enthusiastic group!

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Every year one of the boys' favorite thing to do is to help Nana plant her garden. They look forward to it all winter, so we went and got a start with her potatos, onions, carrots, cabbage, and strawberries. The garden goes in pretty slow and not so straight, but Debbie is really patient with the boys and thinks that its more important that they help and have fun than to have a quick and perfect garden. She has WAY more patience than me!

Ashlyn swiping and enjoying half of Isaac's cookie!

Saturday, March 1, 2008 (More)

This was Isaac's first soccer game of the season. It was an awesome game with every player scoring a goal. Here is the video of Isaac scoring. I have to tell you that because you can't see a darn thing until he goes skipping off the field. His team is the Light Blue Bears (don't try to drop the Light). He suggested that they be the Light Blue Sharks, which Eric and I personally liked better, but what do you do? :) I think we're already earning the reputation of being "those" kind of soccer parents. We're yelling the whole time - "Isaac get in there", "Isaac turn around", "Isaac, where's the ball?" with of course a lot of "Way to go's" and "Wahoos!" I'm trying to work on taming myself, but what do you expect from a former cheerleader? (Apparently it downloaded the video at the bottom of this post. You can find it!)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Isaac had Spirit Week at school, including dress up days. They were awarding prizes for the best dressed of each day. Isaac was DETERMINED to win. Too bad he has a lame mom. He came home almost in tears each day because he didn't win. The funny thing is that he KNEW he was the best looking kid at school each and every one of the days. How could the judges be so blind? This was 50s day and he thought that he was SOOOO cool. I was laughing the whole way home from dropping him off about what a great mother I was to send him to school that way with him strutting around like a peacock. Perhaps the pegged pants were a little much....sometimes I'm stuck in the early nineties!

Monday, February 25, 2008

I've taken so many pictures at the Children's Museum in Waco, but here are a few more that needed to be documented. Carter has always been TERRIFIED of this buffalo. He won't go anywhere near it. A few weeks before we went, he decided it was time to overcome his fear and has been begging ever since to go the Children's Museum so that he could stand by the buffalo. This was a major milestone! I of course didn't get a good picture of it, but you'll just have to deal with what you get!

This is the first time Ashlyn has been since she was six months old. It suddenly becomes a whole lot funner when they can actually do a few things! She really loved that baby in the mirror!

Driving the bus was probably her favorite part. She looked so tiny up there on that big ol' bus, but she couldn't get enough!

She also loved these little cars. I was impressed that she figured them out. The kid can't even walk yet! Also for your entertainment is Isaac apprehending a bank robber. We were the only ones there, so we let them have free reign of the village in the basement. There isn't anything they can hurt down there...except each other, of course!