Adelyn's birthday party/weekend

Last week we were so excited to have Nanny and PawPaw come stay with us!  It is always a special treat to get to see them, and this visit was no different.

What was different about this visit was the amount of work it involved!  We bought the girls a playscape for the backyard.  We were thinking it would take Jared and Stanley about a day to set it up.  We started it Wednesday night.  Jean and I labeled all the pieces since not-a-one was labeled. 

The next morning we all got to work.  Jean and I prepared all the pieces for each step while Jared and Stanley got to work... 

Here is the progress Thursday night. 

Friday afternoon they are getting closer... 

Saturday about mid-day, they finally finished!  I'm not sure if they are ever going to want to come back to visit because they might be afraid of the physical labor we put them through!  In all seriousness, we are so beyond grateful for their help, I don't know how or when Jared and I would have been able to do this ourselves!  Katelyn loves her 'tea set' as she is calling it!

Katelyn also loved spending so much time with Nanny.  Many books were read, games were played and memories were made between these two this week!

Here is PawPaw and the birthday girl before her party...

And here is Nanny getting some Adelyn time in! 

We have been working on getting Adelyn to walk.  Katelyn loves to 'help' her walk.  Katelyn actually does a pretty good job, most of the time. 

Then when Adelyn is finished practicing walking and starts to crawl, KG makes a choo choo train... 

Here is Adelyn standing up unassisted for the first time ever!  She now does it multiple times a day, but this is her first!

We always have to have PawPaw's famous mickey mouse pancakes.   

One afternoon we went to the duck pond to feed the ducks (who should be on The Biggest Loser because they were huge!).  Stanley snapped this pictures of Jared and Adelyn- I love it! 

Saturday afternoon we had Adelyn's 1st birthday party. 

Bubba and JoJo came down for the party.   

So did Byron and Meggie.

I think they look like models out of a catalog in this picture! 

Here is Meggie with the birthday girl!

Speaking of birthday girl, here she is!

Apparently she doesn't like to crawl on her knees on the ground because she was bear-crawling all afternoon.

She was also working on her standing skills.  She is getting pretty good.

The boys had to play a manly game of who can swing on the handles... Here is Jared

and here is Byron.

JoJo and Adelyn spending a little cuddle time.

I was trying to get a picture of her in her "1" birthday shirt, but she didn't cooperate very well.  Here is the best I could get.

GeraBeth, Jason and Joshua also came over for the party. 

Okay, it's party time.  Hat = check

Hat for birthday girl #2 = check 

Messy face cupcake eater = check 

Presents = check

We had a great week with Nanny and PawPaw, a great party with family and are now all going through Nanny and PawPaw withdraws. 

Happy 1st Birthday Adelyn!

Can we please find a pause, rewind, slow down button please?  Well, one year ago today Adelyn Elizabeth was born. What an amazing blessing you are sweet girl.  This month Adelyn has been doing lots of fun things.  We have spent lots of time outside since the weather has been 70's and 80's.  You like to be outside, but as you will see in some pictures of your birthday party (another post to come), you don't enjoy crawling on the grass on your knees.  You make lots of silly faces, this being one of them-

You like to pick up sticks, pieces of grass, or whatever else you can find and investigate them.  Luckily you have stopped sticking them straight in your mouth! 

One thing that you have learned this month is to reach for whatever it is that you want and say "uh, uh, uh..."  It could be your sippy cup, Daddy, a toy, up, whatever it is, you just reach like this...

or like this...

You are pulling up all the time.  Once you are up you can stand without holding on to anything.  Yesterday was the first day that you stood up without pulling up on something!

You also started making this face often.  Sometimes it is just this face, others you also say, "oh, oh, oh..."

Speaking of talking, your favorite words are "Dada" and "uh, uh".  Other words/sounds you make are, "mama, bubu, oh".   You have found your voice and you like to use it, but most of the time it is all babble.

  You enjoy taking your walking lion out to play with in the front yard. 

This month you have been working hard on cutting one of your top teeth, but it is having a hard time coming through.  Therefore, you have had lots of wet shirts and you chew on lots of toys!

You are eating and drinking milk/juice/water from a sippy cup like a champ.  You eat pretty much whatever we are eating.  Banana's are one of your favorite things to eat.  You also like lasagna, bread, waffles, and strawberries.  Avocado and green beans have been a favorite this month too.   You still sleep really well (except for waking up at 6:45 the last 4 mornings).  Your normal schedule is from about 7:15pm until about 7:30am.  You like to be held while in the nursery, and are easily made happy with some Cheerios and/or a sippy cup.  Sweet girl, happy birthday to you!  We love you so very much and thank the Lord for you!

3 1/2, Can you believe it?

Wow, I can't believe Katelyn is 3 1/2 years old today!  It is true what they say, time does fly by when you are having fun! 

One of Katelyn's favorite things these days is playing with friends.  She asks me just about every morning, "Who are we going to see today?"  Joshua has been spending a lot of time over here since Gera Beth broke her leg, and Katelyn is loving every second of it! 

We also get to see our church friends several times a week and Katelyn loves it!  Jacob (far) and Fielding (near) are two of her good buddies.

Of course her very most favorite friend is Adelyn.  They play together so well (most of the time).  Of course as I type this I can hear Katelyn tell Adelyn to go play somewhere else and not to mess up her 'work'.  Speaking of 'work', Katelyn loves to do jobs.  She will often ask me to assign her a job and when she is playing in her room she tells me she is doing her 'work' which means arranging toys in a certain order, doing a puzzle, etc.  She loves to help me clean and she is getting pretty good at helping me dust!

Katelyn is a sweet, beautiful girl.  She loves to be the center of attention around people she feels comfortable with.  If she just met you then she will be shy for a few minutes.

With the weather being so nice we have spent lots of time outside. 

At the park her favorite activity by far is-SWINGING!!!  She could swing for 30 minutes and she wants to go HIGHER!  She hasn't figured out how to swing herself yet, but I'm guessing she will learn soon enough!

At home her favorite thing to do is ride her bike.  We go out just about every afternoon while we are waiting for Jared to come home from work and she rides in a big circle over and over and over and over... You get the point!

Sweet girl, happy 1/2 birthday!  You are so special to us and we are so thankful for you. 

Here is a little Q&A with Katelyn on 3/8/2011- (these are her words)


1. What is your name? Katelyn Grace Hughes
2. How old are you? three (while holding 3 fingers up)
3. What is your favorite toy? ummm...kinda like the fetchy thingy???  (turns out to be the Frisbee)
4. What is your favorite food?  oranges
5. Who is your best friend? Heidi
6. What do you want to be when you grow up? ummm... a princess
7. What is your favorite thing to do? play
8. What does Daddy do at work? work
9. Where do you live? in my home
10. What is your favorite book? Bernstein bears
11. What is your favorite color? pink
12. What do you think Adelyn likes to do? I don't know
13. What do you think Daddy likes to do? play at my home
14. What do you think Mommy likes to do? I don't know
15. Where is your favorite place to go? Panera bread
16. What is your favorite thing to do with Adelyn? play
17. (this is a daddy ?) How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? what... I don't know that
18. What is your favorite smell? soapy
19. When will you be grown up? on Friday
20. When is tomorrow? (she held up one finger)

Cowtown 5K

Last weekend I headed up to Fort Worth for a fun weekend.  Jared stayed home with the girls so I could relax, run my first 5K (3.1 miles) and hang out with family and friends.  Friday night I went to Coppell and was able to see Marcy, Jaime, Makena and Aaron (friends who have all moved away from Austin).  It was so wonderful seeing these girls, I miss them so much!

Megan convinced me to run the 5K with her, but last minute her head coach had surgery so she had to coach for her.  I was so sad to not be able to run with her, but luckily Marcy said she would run it with me!

Here we are before the race showing off our bib's... 

My goal in running the race was to finish without stopping- check that off the list!  Here we are just after the race, we were still catching our breath...

Yay, we did it!

I loved every second of the race.   I even signed up to run a 10K (6.2 miles) in 4 weeks..

After the race I went over to Byron and Megan's.  I was able to spend the day with Byron which was really special because we just don't get to hang out or talk often enough.  Megan was coaching but luckily she finished by dinner time so I got to hang out with her too!  Thanks Jared for staying home with the girls and giving me a much needed weekend away. 

Beautiful weather!

With the weather being simply amazing lately, we have been spending lots of time outdoors.  The high is in the 70's to low 80's and it gets down to the 50's at night.  On Monday we headed out to meet up with Heidi, Lylah Grace and Jennie Dawes and Tanner and Tracy Crow.  The wind was actually blowing quite a bit which made me wish we had brought coats, but otherwise, we had a great time!

 Tanner is about a year and a half old and he is a big ball of energy!  Look at those eyes, what a cutie!

Since Adelyn is still not walking she spent some time hanging out in Jennie's stroller.  She is so laid back, it is quite amazing!

Katelyn loved the picnic at the park.  Her favorite activity is swinging... and not just swinging, but swinging REALLY HIGH as she said about 3 million times! 

Lylah Grace is a doll.  She and Heidi are such sweet little girls and play so well together!

Here are the momma's- all with extra large sunglasses on.  I'm thinking that when Katelyn and Adelyn are grown they will look at this picture and say, "Oh my goodness Mom, I can't believe you wore those."

With the weather being so nice KG and AE like to go outside each afternoon after their naps and wait for Daddy. 

Katelyn will ride her bike in a circle on the driveway about 100 times.  Each time she passes me she'll say, "Mommy, look at how fast I can go."  She is getting very good at riding her bike, but many days she would prefer to go on a bike ride with her Daddy instead.