Family Time

Here are some pictures from Friday evening. We were just hanging out in Ella's room. The boys were hiding in their "secret hiding spot" aka under Ella's bed. Yes, that is correct....Jason somehow manuevers himself under her crib so that they can hide from me. I am not sure how he does this, he is clearly not a small guy. Ella was laying on her rug and I looked down and Quin had come to lay beside her. It was really sweet, Quin loves her and always wants to be near her and tries to kiss her when she cries.

As I sat there watching the boys play and looking at little Ella, I once again was overwhelmed with gratitude for my family. After a few tough days, I was brought back to the place that God always brings me, which is the place of feeling thankful for all that I am given. My friend Meredith's blog is titled "Crazy, Beautiful Life" and I love that so much. I think about how my life has changed in the past 6 weeks and that is the perfect description for it. It is often crazy, chaotic and wild, but at the same time so beautiful. I find beauty in seeing Jackson kiss Ella and tell her he loves her and wants to take care of her, in hearing him sing the ABC's to her when she cries, in watching my babies sleep, in seeing the amazing father that Jason has become, in the few moments that Jason and I have to just sit and be together. I could go on and on about how I love this crazy, beautiful life.

Maggie & Baby Payton

This past Saturday my college friends and I hosted a baby shower for our good friend, Maggie, who lives in Colorado. She is due in May with a baby girl, Payton Ashley. It was a lovely shower and we had such a fun time seeing each other and especially Maggie and her sweet family! She brought her 3D sonogram for us all to watch....so neat and fun that we all got to see it together. My college friends are so special to me. There is a large group of us and I am thankful that we have all remained so close. We have been through so much together over the years and I cherish each one of them dearly. Here are some pictures from the shower. I love you girls!

Sara & Samantha

The girls - Brittany, Me, Lane, Kristin, Maggie, Robin, Stephanie 1, Stephanie 2, Stephanie 3, Sara & Sam

Sara, Sam & Me


Kitty & Stephanie H.

Cute Maggs

The Zoo with Zane & Jaime

Jackson, Ella and I headed to the Ft. Worth Zoo today with our friends Jaime and Zane Truman (Rowan was in school). The Truman's are good family friends of ours (Jaime is the daughter of Chip & Zana Davis - best friends of Scotty and Cindy). The boys had a ball running around and seeing the animals. Jackson said that his favorites were the tigers and the hippos (which is interesting bc we did not see hippos) Jackson thinks Zane hung the moon and laughed at him constantly. It was so cute. Miss Ella slept the entire time! Jackson was a little bit concerned on the way there that the tigers were going to get his "nite nite" so it took some convincing that Mommy would not let this happen. The weather was beautiful...could not have been better. It was so nice to be outside and enjoy the lovely day. Hope you all had a chance to enjoy it as well! I will post pictures as soon as I get them from Jaime.

Cousins

Heston and Jackson are finally able to really play together and it is hilarious. They are like brothers and so fun to watch. They wrestle, chase each other, fight, hug, and have screaming contests! Shadie and I were very entertained on Saturday when the contest began. They jumped on the bed, laughed and screamed and loved every minute. Notice Heston in the picture...he would close his eyes as tight as he could, and hold his hands out and scream at the top of his lungs. So funny. He has the funniest personality and loves to put on a show! Jackson loves him so much. I am so thankful that they have each other and I pray that they are always close and the best of friends.

Fancy Panties

This is what my sweet friend Maggie calls these bloomers that she sent to Ella. How cute is that?? I love it.

She smiled at me!

Ella smiled at me today for the first time! I was so excited and it absolutely made my heart smile! Jason says that she has been smiling at him for a while now, but I have never seen it :) We did catch a picture of her smiling at YaYa yesterday - see below. Tonight was the first real smile that she has given Mommy and it was priceless!

Jackson Day

This past Saturday we had an official Jackson Day. We were needing some one-on-one with him so we took Ella to stay with YaYa and Heston for the day. We went to eat at "Chick-a-lay" and then to Marble Slab for "Nilla with em-en's" (that is M&M's in Jackson language). Next we headed to see Elmo! Jackson loved it and we loved watching him enjoy it so much. We had such a fun day with him and being able to spend quality time after a crazy past few weeks! Don't get me wrong, we all missed Ella while we were away from her! We spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Shadie, Todd and Heston eating mexican food and playing Wii. It was a wonderful day!

On our way to see Elmo!

Love that grin!

My boys

Anxiously waiting for Elmo to come on stage

Enjoying the show