Happy Maddox!

Paxton was in Mississippi all week last week, so I texted him tons of pics of the kids while he was gone.  We didn't do much, MA helped me out a lot with the kids, and I got a few things done around the house.  Anyway, this was one of the pics I sent him, and Maddox was in his little bouncer, which he LOVES.  He just smiles when anyone stops their busy routine to pay attention to him, and he is just adorable.  What else is new.... hmmm..... well, I am looking forward to our 9 year anniversary next week, and we will be heading to the Dominican Republic on June 9th.  I met Stacie for pedi's and lunch yesterday which was fun as always, so good to have girl time!  I have a few camps planned for Channing this summer, and Jaxson, well, let's just say I hope we get through the summer without having an excessive number of melt downs (both of us!).  Boy, almost 3 year old boys are quite a handful, but I think I will keep him.  He is pretty darn cute!  I am planning his b-day party for June 18, and I've hired a traveling petting zoo to come to the house, along with pony rides... hope he loves it (and really, I just hope they show up!  I am always nervous about that kind of thing!).

Maddox at 16 weeks in picture

"Blog 2 Print" is Better than "Blurb" (in my opinion)! Just got mine!!

Last year I ordered my first "blog to book" from blurb.  Here is the thing....  it does look awesome because I was able to really customize the cover, and there were multiple sizes to choose from, but it took me FOREVER to get the pages right, get rid of empty space, and it still ended up costing $100.00.  This year I just didn't have the time to sit there and sort through all of the pages, delete blank space, change fonts, etc... and I found blog 2 print.  It was so easy- took all of about 30 minutes from start to finish to upload and place the order, and it was half the price.  There is no wasted space on the pages.  The only cons are that the pics are smaller, I couldn't do a ton of customization to the cover, and some of the captions I had under pics ended up in odd places.  But still, overall much more organized and less waste than Blurb (and much cheaper! )

End of the Year!!!

We came into the new pre-school halfway through the year, and it was such a blessing that we found it!  The kids both excelled, the teachers were awesome, and I love how excited they both were to go each day.  Jaxson went 2 days a week, and Channing went 4.  It's a church pre-school so they put on a little program with all of their bible versus, songs, etc.  It was great to be able to see them both on stage at the same time.  Jaxson was laughing, pointing at us, etc... and Channing was as serious as could be.  So into it, but also looked slightly terrified.  She's so adorable.  After the program, Channing had her graduation.  Can't believe she is going to KINDERGARTEN!!  Seems like she was just Maddox's age!

Easter Morning at Home

Easter with the Hursts

In Merit.... we had fun watching all of these crazy kids!!!

Easter in Abilene

We had so much fun with my side of the family this year.... my sister has 3 kids and one on the way, and with my 3, and my 2 cousins Megan and Gracie, it was a Blast!!!  My great grandmother also made it this year, and we all met at Abilene State Park just outside of Abilene in Buffalo Gap.  We couldn't cook out because of the burn ban, but had great food, a fun egg hunt, and the weather was great!

Maddox Meets Grandmother

When Maddox was about 8 weeks old, I took him to Shamrock to meet my Grandparents.  My Grandmother has always been such an important person in my life, and since she married my Grandpa, he has been, too.  Has treated us just like his own.  My Grandmother has Alzheimer's, and she is managing quite well and seems to be progressing rather slowly.  She has her moments of confusion and near-panic, but over-all, still very "with it".  I drove to the panhandle by myself with Maddox, but it is only about 4.5 hours from here, and I feel blessed that I have the opportunity to live closer to family again so that I can do these things easier.  She was soooo good with him, and he just listened to her talk and sing, and smiled at her.  I was in heaven watching them together.  Grandpa made the best meals while we were there, and it was such a relaxing, peaceful visit out in the country.  The only downfall was that this was in the middle of the high winds we were having and fires were breaking out everywhere.  I was nervous about getting on the road to come home, but it all went okay!

Easter 2011- Part 1

Like most of our holidays, we celebrated Easter about 50 times.  The first mini-celebration was the weekend before Easter, and we had some good friends over for a cookout and the kids hunted a few eggs.  I was running around like a mad woman that week....  barely had time to get anything prepared and only stuffed about 20 or 30 eggs, so between 8 kids, they didn't go very far!  But the kids were all pretty young and didn't care too much.  I didn't get many pics because I had Maddox most of the time, so here are a few for the sake of documentation.  We had a great time!

My Baby Laughed at Himself!

This has been a super weekend....  Chann played AWESOME this morning at T-ball (got her first "out" and hit from the pitcher 2x... usually has to use the T").  I took Jaxson to Lucas's b-day party and he had a BLAST on the water slide.  We are slowly but surely getting to know the folks around here, and they are all very welcoming and sweet.  Chann and Jax went to stay with M&M tonight, and we are going up there for lunch tomorrow.  I am making lemon cream cookies and a squash casserole (you HAVE to watch 5 ingredient fix on food network..... AWESOME!!!).  But- the whole reason I took the time to quickly type this post and that I got such a kick out of my precious Maddox tonight!  I was about to bathe him and just like always I was holding him up in front of the mirror.  He has never noticed himself until tonight, and he looked at me, looked at himself, grinned from ear to ear and chuckled.  It was the cutest thing EVER.  This does NOT get boring the 3rd time around, it just gets better!

Chann, Jax, and Maddox- Spring 2011

Love my little munchkins!   Had to try to get a few of them all together FINALLY, and I love them with all the white.  Just a challenge to get them all posed, keep their hair in any sort of neatness, get Jaxson to open his eyes, and forget having time to iron his shirt... no way!