Greg's Birthday

Last night, Greg and I got to go out on a date without any children. Carlee stayed with Grammy and Pawpaw (Greg's folks), while Zac stayed with Aunt Rachel (my sis) at home. This was the first since Zac has been born. We went to Red Robin (Greg's choice) for dinner and enjoyed sharing some buffalo wings. He tells me now that eating buffalo wings was a prerequisite for seeing if I was the one for him. We ate our burgers and fries with little conversation, but exchanged glances and smiled enjoying the ease of it all. No fingers to keep out of our food, no disciplining our two year old, and no bouncing a baby. It was nice! Then we went to Main Event and played games. We had lots of laughs as we competed against each other in Air Hockey (I won), racing race cars (I won, only b/c Greg wiped out at the end on purpose), and in basketball (Greg won, of coarse). Good thing it was not a prerequisite for me to be good at sports. I literally stink when it comes to playing basketball. After that, we went to Market Street and walked around a bit before going to get some Coldstone. We sat with our ice cream and enjoyed watching the kids play soccer in the park. It was so nice to reconnect with my bebe' and remember the reasons we love each other. I will try to never take these times for granted again. I am so thankful for my husband. He is the best man for me!

Hook 'em Horn's

Carlee and Zachary are sporting their Longhorn overalls. My aunt Anita made these for them to wear for the football season. Too cute!! On the back they say, "Texas" and "Hook'em." We actually let them wear these overalls over to my cousin Jack's birthday (A&M Family) this weekend. I was surprised we were aloud to stay. As you can see we are still wroking on getting these two to look at the camera and smile at the same time.

Special Moments

Tonight as I was talking to my sister, I was leaning up against the doorway with my hip resting on the door frame and my leg cocked up with my toe pointed on the ground. Next thing I know Carlee is trying to imitate me on the other side on the doorway, but that wasn't good enough because she was not on the side I was on, so she asked to switch sides with me. Then Carlee says to her Aunt Rachel, "you doin' fine?" This was her way of making herself involved in the conversation. On other occasions, Carlee crosses her arms in front of her and says, "So, how you doin'?" It's the cutest thing. I love that I have a shadow and it is such a blessing to think this little girl looks up to me. Today, she told me, "Happy Valentine's Day," for the first time, while I was pouring her some juice (something I do all the time). This meant the world to me because in Carlee's world Happy Valentine's Day means I Love You. Carlee says this to daddy sometimes while sitting on his lap sharing his bowl of cereal. It always melts my heart.

Zoo Day Continued...

I probably should have switched the order on this. Oh well!
Carlee and I rode the carousel while we were at the zoo. Carlee choose the tiger. As soon as the music started and the ride began, Carlee smiled at every person and waved. My jaw was sore from laughing and smiling with her. Carlee is so personable and free-spirited. She can brighten any one's day with her precious grin.

Zac was such a trooper while we were there. He hung in there and enjoyed the ride.
We visited the water park in Herman Park. Greg's company had lunch for us there in the pavilion. It was a fun long day!
Carlee loved crawling through the tunnel in the aquarium. She did circles around that thing and did not want to leave. She was fun to watch.

Zoo Day

This past Saturday our family, as well as, some of Greg's co-workers spent the day at the zoo. We got there right when it opened and spent about 4 hours walking around looking at the animals. The first thing we saw was the sea lions and there was a zoo man cleaning the tank. Carlee thought he was so cool, so for the first hour of our time there she kept saying, "I want to see the zoo man in the water," over and over. It was hilarious! It did not matter how cool the monkeys were or anything else she was set on the zoo man in the water. Carlee thoughht she should help him clean too.
I am so glad we got to see the tigers out swimming and all. I think everytime I have come to the zoo the tigers are always hiding. Check out the tiger in the background. Pretty cool, huh? Zachary loved the tigers. haha
Carlee wanted to pet the lions, tigers and bears. Oh My!! haha.... If she only knew?
Carlee loved the mama and baby elephant. She would stand on the fence and say hi and wave to them as if they understood. She talked about riding on them too. She would say, "Want me to ride them?" and I am thinking, "Are you crazy?"

Refine Me

I never realized that having kids would change me and draw me closer to the Lord. My life is a process of refinement right now- with a toddler following me and wanting to be like me, I realize that some of the things I do and say are not okay anymore. I am convicted by the Holy Spirit and want to change. It's time to say good bye to some old habits. I know I can not do this overnight. It will be a process of purification, but oh how I am ready to be different. Growing up I learned from my older sisters mistakes. Well here I am learning from my mistakes and it's a lot harder than I thought. In some ways I feel like a baby Christian, but I know it is just a new area in my life that needs some pruning. I have always wanted to be perfect striving to be the best. Trying to be perfect is extremely difficult. I realize now that Jesus lived a perfect life so I wouldn't have to. He has given me the free gift of grace and all I have to do is receive it. Wow, how FREEING!! I don't have to be the perfect mom, the perfect wife, friend, daughter, etc. I am forgiven and free from all imperfections. Thank you Jesus!! All I have to do is depend on my God to come through and I already know He will because He has won. I thank Him today for where I am, even though I might not like it at times. It's exactly where I am supposed to be... dependent, desperate, in need of Him. I know I will make some mistakes, but by His grace I am forgiven and able to stand back up and try again. I just need to get in the habit of saying and doing the right things. My sister told me to pray, "Lord, lead me not into temptation," when I face the temptation to get angry or say something I will regret. Praying this has helped me not fall into the trap of the enemy. I never would have thought that being off dairy for two months would help me see how easy it is to form a new habit. At first it was hard to go without eating ice cream every night (especially when it was in my freezer), but then over a period of days without it I seemed to not have the desire to want it. It is a choice I have been given everyday to stay away from temptation. I have to choose each day, each moment to live for Him. It's time to start forming new habits: a positive attitude, saying encouraging words, a patient spirit, and the list goes on. I will not do this alone. I can not do this alone. It will be a process, but it will be worth it. My family's life in on the line. After all it's not about me!! 1 Peter 1:6-7 says, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may prove genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." Refine me Lord so that all of me is genuine and you are revealed. May You be glorified in me.

3 Months

Our sweet little boy is three months old. How the time has flown?! Zachary is sleeping about 6 hours at night now and will go almost 8 hours without a feeding. He is doing great!! I finally feel like he's got the whole nursing thing down. He even sticks his tongue in and out of his mouth when not nursing just to show me he's got it. Lately, his sweet coos have turned into deep, low moans and groans (very boy-like). He's beginning to touch and play with his bouncy seat toys, but still can not handle too much stimulation. Zac is getting more used to his carseat. For the first month of his life he used to cry when he was in it for more than 10 minutes, but now he actually sleep in it and does quit well. This makes it a lot easier when traveling to grandparents house. Zachary is still very active and fascinated by all ceiling fans. Carlee has gotten more used to Zac and has found ways to play with him by cooing at him, tickling him, wiggling a toy in his face and kissing him. She is surprising us daily by the things she says to him or just taking notice that he is awake and moving. It blesses my heart that she loves him and enjoys being his big sister.

Mac and Cheese

Carlee loves to help me make supper. She sits right there on the counter and does what mommy says. Carlee wanted macoroni and cheese, so she helped pour the noodles in the bowling water and stirred the pot when needed. Then while waiting for it to be done, she draws on the white board on the fridge. On this particular day, she wanted to eat the mac and cheese right out of the pot with the big wooden spoon (I guess she has seen me do this one too many times) so I let her do just that. She loved every bit of it and made sure she told me how yummy every bite was. It was so precious!