Nanny and PawPaw Visit

Nanny and PawPaw came to visit early this month for Katelyn's birthday.  It was such a blessing for them to be here and we made lots of special memories while they were here.  They first took the girls on an airplane ride to Amarillo for a few days.  Jared and I were able to go on several dates, just the 2 of us.  We were also able to go to bed at 8:30, that's right 8:30!  We are a wild and crazy couple!  Katelyn and Adelyn enjoyed the time away also!  They were able to see lots of the Hughes' family in Amarillo, visit with Meep and Peep, go to the park, and of course, ride on the airplane. 

While in Austin we made a trip to Mt. Bonnell (picture above).  This was while the Bastrop wildfire was in full force, so there is a haze over downtown Austin in the background.  We also took a trip out to the BBQ capital of Texas for lunch. The place we ate at didn't use silverware, so we ate with out hands, not something you get to do up in Washington!  The main thing we did was just spend time together, so fun!  Thank you Nanny and PawPaw for coming to visit and making lots of special memories with us! 

Katelyn's 4th Birthday Party

On labor day, just a few days shy of Katelyn's 4th birthday, we had her princess party.  She loved every second of the food, family, fun and princess stuff!

So what does a birthday party in the Hughes' house look like?  Well, the men gather around the meat.. Here is Jared, PawPaw and Bubba getting the burgers stuffed and ready- 

The weather was beautiful (as long as you were in the shade) so we moved the food outside .

No party is complete with out cupcakes!  Katelyn loved them, but wasn't too happy about the wind blowing the candles out... 

So we stepped inside to blow the candles out. 

The party actually ended up being right on Bubba's birthday so he got a crown (that was too small for his head) and a candle all his own.  He didn't mind that the wind blew the candle out :) 

Adelyn enjoyed the cupcake! 

Joshua enjoyed the cupcake! 

After lunch we went inside and Katelyn started to open presents.  You could see the joy on her face as she opened each gift.  Her first gift was her princess dress, shoes, crown, and wand from Jared and I.  She of course immediately put it on and wore it for the next 3 days straight!  The skirt is covered in gold glitter and I am still finding glitter EVERYWHERE!!! 

Another gift is her cd player with 2 microphones that Nanny and PawPaw gave her.  She is quite enjoying listening to the sound of her own voice on the microphone! 

Bubba and JoJo gave her a baby doll with all the accessories.  She loves to be the baby's momma and her favorite is putting her to bed. 

The party was lots of fun thanks to all the precious people who came.  So thanks Nanny, PawPaw, Bubba, JoJo, Auntie, Jason, Joshua, and Isabella for coming.  Thanks to everyone else who sent gifts and called on her birthday to make her feel extra.  And happy 4th birthday to my precious little girl! 

Two quick things

1. Adelyn went tee-tee in the potty Monday night!  She enjoys sitting on it and pretending so I've been letting her do that.  Well, Monday night before bath she actually used the potty!  She is no where near being potty trained, but she is at least interested.  Katelyn was no where near interested at 18 months...

2. On the way home from the store today Katelyn was asking question after question about a car that we passed that had been in a wreck.  The questions she was asking I didn't have answers to so I kept saying, "I don't know."  She then stopped asking questions for a second and in a frustrated voice says, "Mommy, do you know ANYTHING?!?!"  I thought they only started to question how much we know when they become teenagers?

Jared and Katelyn

Tonight I was getting Adelyn ready for bed while Katelyn and Jared played in her room.  Here is the exchange I heard-

Katelyn- "Daddy, let's play a princess game."

Jared- "Okay."

Katelyn-"Get up, lets dance together!"

Jared- "Are you sure princesses don't build with blocks?"

I'm sure thankful Jared is having a son, I think he needs some male bonding time!  (and just to note: Jared did dance a sweet dance with Katelyn)

Jared's Mountian Climbing Adventure

About a month ago Jared, along with his friends Travis and Scotland, drove all night to Colorado to climb Humbolt Peak (14,000ft).  They left work on a Thursday afternoon and drove through the night.  They arrived somewhere around 4am when they proceeded to hike in with all their gear, tents, etc.  a few miles and a few 1000 feet higher in elevation.  They set up camp and then began climbing the mountain, still with no sleep.  Jared suffered from elevation sickness pretty early on and was throwing up every 30 minutes or so.  However, Jared is one to persevere, so on he went.  Scotland and Travis couldn't believe that Jared was still able to summit with all the issues he was having. 

Once they got to the top (picture below), they then headed back down the mountain where they attempted to take a nap.  However, I don't think they were able to sleep due to a major hailstorm that hit.  That night they once again attempted to sleep but Jared couldn't sleep much.  The end of his sleeping bag was wet from the rain so he had cold feet, was still feeling pretty yucky, and just couldn't sleep.  The next day they got up and I think packed out and then drove several hours to see some gorge (can't remember the name).  When they arrived it was completely blocked off from public view and you had to pay a fee to see it.  They didn't want to pay the fee, so they decided to just head back.  They once again drove all night back to Austin.  They got home around 6:30am.  Regardless of the elevation sickness and lack of sleep, Jared still had a great time.  Below are some of the pictures Travis took while climbing.  I must say, the pictures are breath-taking!  Enjoy!

This stack of rocks is how you know where to go- it marks the path to take.

Panoramic view of where they camped

Getting close to the top

                                                  

You can see the storm rolling in on the right side of this picture.

After looking at all the pictures, all I can say is- Thank you Lord for Your beautiful creation!



We are having a....

BOY!  Yesterday was our ultrasound to find out the gender of our newest bundle.  Katelyn has been saying from day one that it would be a brother.  I had a feeling it was a boy because the level of nausea had been kicked up a notch during the first trimester.  Combine that with even Jared being able to feel him kick on the outside at 16 weeks, I was really thinking boy.  We also were really wanting a boy and I had been praying for a boy.  We love having our two sweet girls, but lets be honest, Jared needs another man in the house!  Jared had already declared that if this was another girl, he was going to need a man room all to himself.  Now he and JJ (Jared jr.) can share the nursery as the 'man room'!

We took both girls to the appointment.  Adelyn had no clue what was going on but Katelyn was very excited to see the baby on the TV.  Many people asked yesterday if Katelyn was so excited to find out it was a boy.  The answer to that question is no, she wasn't especially excited to hear boy.  Reason- she already knew it was a boy, she didn't need an ultrasound to prove it! 

Our sweet friends Ben and Ashlee are also having a boy (due 4 days after us).  Jared and Ben were roommates for 4 years and we are all now great friends.  We are thinking these two boys will be roommates at HSU in about 18 years!

We have no name picked our yet, but now that we know he is a he, we can start discussing it.  Who knows, maybe this pregnancy we will actually pick out a name before the birth?!?!

Cousins

These 4 = trouble  fun!

Cabinet Fun

A cabinet....

What is so special about this cabinet- why the contents of course!

Adelyn is loving playing in this cabinet and most days she can get Katelyn to join her in the fun. 

Why is she screaming?  She's not- this is her most excited smily face.... Yay for cabinet fun!

Adelyn- 18 Months Old

That's right, 18 months old! I am in shock that my precious baby girl is a year and a half old already! Adelyn is such a sweet, active, into everything silly little girl.  As of yesterday she has started to make this sweet, hilarious face when I tell her to smile.  Oh, she melts my heart! 

Here she is 'smiling' for the camera with Katelyn- her best buddy.  She looks like she might be in pain from Katelyn's arm around her neck, but she wasn't- don't worry!  Katelyn and Adelyn love to play together, read together, take toys from each other, etc. 

When Nanny and PawPaw where here we had a little backyard water party.  Adelyn thought it was such fun to drink from the water faucet, of course she must have drank a ton of water that night because she leaked through her diaper early in the night which rarely happens...

This is Adelyn's #1, favorite spot to play.  The tupperware cabinet.  I let Katelyn play here when she was Adelyn's age, but she wasn't as infatuated like Adelyn is.  I am actually thinking of emptying the tupperware out of this cabinet because there is always tupperware on the floor.  It doesn't matter if I clean it 20 times a day, she always empties it so she can crawl on in!

Adelyn's hair is growing in typical Hughes' mullet fashion (and some static help in this picture).  I think next month Adelyn may get her first haircut.  Although I think I said that last month too!

Adelyn is still my little eater.  She went for her 18 month well check today and she weights a healthy 26.2 pounds. Katelyn (who just turned 4), weights 33 pounds.  That's less than a six pound difference and they are 2 1/2 yrs apart!  The doctor was teasing her with all her precious leg rolls.  Adelyn will pretty much clear her plate during every meal.  She has started using a fork and spoon with some success. 

Adelyn loves to play with babies, push the stroller, vacuum the floor, crawl on any and all chairs, play in tents, read books, facetime with family, and her new favorite, watch cars drive by. 

Adelyn'v vocabulary these last few weeks has really picked up.  She signs please, help, more very often.  She says baby, momma, daddy, amen (ammmm), yes m'am (aaaa mmmm), Bubba, JoJo (oooo), please (pssss)... That is all I can think of for now. 

Well, another month has flown by and Adelyn is still as sweet as ever.  She went through a short phase of crying when going into the nursery at church, but this month she has overcome that!  She is becoming more vocal and will compete with Katelyn to see who can be the loudest.  She isn't a pushover and will fight for what she wants.  She has had her first experience in time-out and it actually seems to work.  She has been getting in trouble for climbing on things (like the table and ladder on the play set) and a time-out seems to do the trick.  Grateful for a wonderful year and a half with this sweet little lady!

Happy 4th birthday Katelyn!

Today is Katelyn's 4th Birthday, I can hardly believe it has already been 4 years! Katelyn is a joy and a blessing. Her imagination is running wild and she keeps us laughing all the time. She has started telling jokes (only funny to her of course). She loves to play with Adelyn and is eagerly anticipating having a little brother in February. If you ask her what if it's a girl she will just tell you it's a boy and we'll have another girl later. She would like to have 10 brothers and sisters- not gonna happen!

 Katelyn loves any and all dress up.  She has her own ideas on what she wants to wear (and usually on what her sister should wear).  Luckily she understands that Mommy still makes the final decision on what is to be worn.  She is a total shoe girl and loves anything with sparkles. 

 It usually takes Katelyn a while to wind down when she goes to bed.  However, once she is out- SHE IS OUT!  You can come into her room, move her around, pick her up, whatever, and she won't wake up. 

 This is one crafty girl.  She loves to color, draw, paint, cut, glue, use glitter, etc.  Today I went to get her from her class at Bible study.  All the other kids where running around playing and what was Katelyn doing?  Sitting at the craft table coloring a second 'project'.

 I love how Katelyn will get so excited over the small things.  This juice bottle for example; JoJo bought one for each of the girls when we came to visit a few weeks ago.  You would have thought JoJo bought her a new car!  She still loves the bottle and asks to use it almost daily!  She also got very excited that everyone called to sing her happy birthday.  I wish everyone could have seen the huge smile that went across her face as they began to sing! 

For her birthday, Katelyn wanted to have a princess party.  This Snow White dress was her big gift from us.  She literally wore it for 3 days straight!  More party pictures to come in the next few days. 

Here is a little Q&A with Katelyn on 9/8/11- (these are her words)

1. What is your name? Katelyn Grace Hughes
2. How old are you? I'm four

3. What is your favorite toy? I don't know... ummmm... my spelling wand
4. What is your favorite food? I can't tell you....It's a secret
5. Who is your best friend? Everybody
6. What do you want to be when you grow up? a princess
7. What is your favorite thing to do? go to the splash park
8. What does Daddy do at work? he works for us really hard
9. Where do you live? In Austin, Texas
10. What is your favorite book? Pinkalicious
11. What is your favorite color? pink and red
12. What do you think Adelyn likes to do? I don't know
13. What do you think Daddy likes to do? being silly
14. What do you think Mommy likes to do? ummm, play in the sprinkler
15. Where is your favorite place to go? to a splash park
16. What is your favorite thing to do with Adelyn? I just like to play with her
 
17. Tell me a joke- It's too silly for a billy (cracks up)... that's a joke
 
18. What is your favorite TV show? Dinosaur Train and I got a dinosaur paint book
 
19. What's growing in Mommy's tummy? A baby
 
20. What kind of baby? a boy baby
 
21. What if it's a girl? ummm, it's not
 
Jared just walked in and asked me how I feel about Katelyn being 1/4 of the way to being able to drive.  Ummmmm, I think I'm going to cry! My baby girl is growing up so fast!  Happy Birthday Gracie-Lou-Who!