San Antonio Vacation

Sunday- Wednesday of this week we went to San Antonio.  It was JoJo, Auntie, Joshua, Isabella, Katelyn, Adelyn, and me.  We stayed in a vacation house close to the airport and had lots of fun (expect we terribly missed Meggie being there... Bubba needs to plan his hunting trips when she doesn't have volleyball!!!)  On Monday we woke up, had breakfast then headed to the zoo.  Adelyn was in charge of caring for Isabella... Not really, but she seemed to think so.  She kept sticking the pacifier back in her mouth and gave lots attention to Isabella.  Adelyn is a little momma, just like Katelyn!

Joshua enjoyed doing whatever Katelyn did a lot of the time.  Auntie said that he would jump off a bridge if Katelyn said to...

The San Antonio zoo had a great little toddler play area, complete with lillypads for the kids to jump on like little frogs!  This is before Joshua started going through the water instead of on the lillypads :)

Adelyn rode in the stroller most of the time because she just can't keep up, but she did enjoy mimicking her sister when she was out of the stroller!

Here is almost everyone admiring the turtles down below-

Then on Tuesday we went to ride the train which was ironically in the same parking lot as the zoo.  I'm not sure why, but I think Katelyn looks so old in this picture with JoJo... I think she might be growing up on me!

Got a quick picture of me with the girls while we waited on the train-

Attempted to get a picture with JoJo, but apparently there was something really interesting on the ground, or maybe scary from Katelyn's body language?!?!

Isabella was ready to go on the train! 

Adelyn enjoyed the train ride too!  She would get excited when a bird would fly by or we'd pass a tree.  She'd point and make sure I saw whatever fascinating thing she saw!

Here is the grin I caught on Katelyn as the train took off.  She thought the train ride was pretty fun, especially since she got to sit by Joshua!

We made a short trip up to the mall one night.  JoJo bought Adelyn her first nightgown.  Melt my heart, is she not the most precious thing you've ever seen?!?!

Joshua and Katelyn also got new pj's.  They couldn't wait to wear them!

We had a great time with JoJo and Auntie and are so thankful for getting to spend such special time with them.  We will cherish the memories and experiences we had this week!  Thanks JoJo for planning this fun vacation.  I think this picture is a great example of how Katelyn and Adelyn felt about this week- if you look closely, they all have a huge grin on their faces and if you could hear when this picture was taken- they were all laughing and having a great time- just being together!

HSU 2011 Reunion

This past weekend we loaded up and headed to Abilene for our annual HSU reunion weekend. It honestly doesn't revolve around HSU at all, just a chance to hang out with our HSU friends!  We did however go up to HSU for the kids corral that morning.  Katelyn and Adelyn has lots of fun riding one of the white horses,

going down the huge slide,

more sliding,

and the ball pit!

Jared went to check out his old mailbox...

Here is Jared, Jeremy and Ben.  They were roommates 7+ yrs ago, and it still seems like yesterday!

Here we all are.  Thanks to Uncle Ben and Auntie Ash for being such wonderful hosts!  We arrived Friday night and even though Ashlee had been at work all day she still managed to whip up a yummy dinner of meatloaf, mashed taters, and honey-glazed carrots- YUM!!!

It is always a blessing to see these friends and HSU 2011 was no exception! 

What's Katelyn up to?

What is Katelyn doing right now?  She is in her room for naptime/rest time.  She is currently singing a song that she is making up with each second.  Ten minutes ago she was teaching her 'kids'.  I have been known to go into my room and turn on her monitor to sit and listen to what she is "teaching her kids".  She likes to teach them Bible stories, songs, and she also disciplines them.   The discipline part is rather interesting, she sounds like a mini-me most of the time.  What I love most about when she is disciplining her kids is her tone (very motherly) and her words.  As we discipline Katelyn and Adelyn we try to instill a heart change, not just behavior change.  As I hear those words come from Katelyn I can tell that she is taking to heart what we are teaching her.

What is Katelyn wearing?  This is a very important question to my precious little 4 year old.  She has an opinion on what she should wear and what accessories need to go with it.  Even just a month ago I could pick out what she was going to wear and she'd be okay with it.... Now she would prefer to pick (and it would be pink and a dress/skirt each time), or at least let me give her options to pick.  Typically if it is a dress, pink, has ruffles/flowers/etc., sparkles, or twirls she is happy.  Lately she has also been telling me that she needs to wear her "pregnant lady dresses".  I crack up each time.  She has even given me fashion

advise lately.  I don't think I have enough 'sparkle' for her liking!

Growing Babies

This weekend our BFF's Ben and Ashlee came to Austin to celebrate Ashlee's birthday. We had a great weekend shopping, eating, and visiting with them.  Ben and Ashlee are due with their first child, a boy, 4 days after our little guy is due.  Thanks to my amazing, wonderful sister who kept Katelyn and Adelyn Saturday evening so we could go on a trailer hopping date night.  Food trailers are big in downtown Austin, there we many to pick from.  We started out at The Mighty Cone. 

I had the Fried avocado and shrimp cone.  It was delicious! 

We then went to a few other trailers to sample their goodies and ended the night at gourdoughs, a donut trailer.  It took close to an hour to get our donut, but it was delicious! 

Haha, I love this picture.  Although Jared doesn't gain sympathy weight when I'm pregnant.  Actually quite the opposite, he tends to get on a health kick when I'm pregnant...   I mean seriously, he wants me to cook

all healthy- not saying that happens, but it's what he wants!

Speaking of growing bellies... Here is the progression of the Hughes/Johnson boys....  This picture was taken in June.  Jared and I found out we were expecting 2 days before this picture and Ben and Ashlee found out they were expecting a few days after this picture!  So, we are about 3-4weeks along-

And here we are this past weekend, 21 weeks along!

What a joy it is to be experiencing this with our dear friends! 

Little lady is 19 months old!

Today is Adelyn's 19th month birthday!  She is becoming such a toddler these days.  She is my little cuddle bug who asks to "raaaa" (rock) before bed and nap time each day.  It doesn't have to be long, but she wants to sit for at least 30 seconds and lay her head on my shoulder before she lays down, so sweet!

Her personality is coming out more and more each day.  She can be feisty, silly and sweet- all within a few seconds of each other.  When she was little Jared nicknamed her "squeaks".  This month it has become more of a high-pitch, ear piercing squeal!  When Katelyn is doing something that she doesn't like she will stick her hand out as far as she can and squeal, "NOOOO".   While the sound actually hurts my ears, I'm also glad that she has her own opinion, we are just working on how to get that opinion out without squealing!

Adelyn is really enjoying crafts these days.  She painted a pumpkin a few nights ago and then at Bible Study today she colored a picture.  The lady in her room told me that she was very particular with her colors and wanted to use just about each and every one of them!

Adelyn's attention span is also developing.  She will sit and build with blocks for a while and will sit and watch a whole show with Katelyn. 

Adelyn has been having some tummy trouble this past month, so we've adjusted her diet (no fruits or juice- more fat) to try to get her back on track.  We will see if that does the trick.  She has also slowed down on her eating.  She was finishing her food at each and every meal and asking for more.  I was actually having to cut her off because she would just keep eating.  That has stopped however.  It is strange to see, but most meals she actually has food left on her plate now!  She has also discovered the joy of dip, if she sees that someone else has some, she wants some too!

Adelyn loves shoes and will bring me shoes all throughout the day to put on her.  She loves to carry her bag into church or Bible Study.  She loves baby dolls and plays with Katelyn's all the time.  She will bring me 5 shirts for the baby doll and gets upset if I can't get them all on the doll (I'm telling you, she has an opinion!!!).  Adelyn gets really excited when she hears Jared's car pull into the driveway each night.  She turns to me and starts saying, "Dada, Dada, Dada" then runs to the door to greet him.  I know he loves coming home to that each night!  Happy 19th month birthday sweet lady!

AWANA with Daddy

Last night Katelyn and Jared sat down to work on her AWANA stuff for the week.  They were discussing Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He made everything beautiful" as well as Genesis when God created the plants, seeds, fruit.  So Katelyn and Jared shared an apple, discussed God's creation and taped seeds in her book.

Katelyn is absorbing so much these days.  Between AWANA, Thursday morning Bible Study, and Sunday school, she has really taken so much in this past month or so.  She will randomly tell me or Jared a Bible fact.  It is lots of fun to see her discover how much God loves her and how great God is!

Watching Jared and Katelyn go over her AWANA lesson was a blessing to see.  He is such a good daddy who shows God's love to his children. 

Paintin' a pumpkin

 While at HEB last week I found a bag-o-pumpkins with paint included and I thought that would be a perfect craft for Katelyn and Adelyn.  So, after dinner last night we cleared the dishes, armed ourselves with pumpkins, paint, brushes, and paper towels.  Jared was upstairs working on the computer so we had to wait patiently for him to finish.  And by patiently I mean, Katelyn asked about every 20 seconds if it was time yet...

and Adelyn pretended to paint her face...

Jared finished his work and it was was time to get started.  Katelyn was very meticulous about her paint.  She is one craft-loving little lady so she enjoyed each second of it. 

This was Adelyns first time with a paint brush and she was quite the pro!  I fully intended to get the finger paint out for her, but after seeing her use the brush, there was no need for finger paint.  As long as Jared or I refilled her brush with more paint, she was good to go!

I got Katelyn to look up from her pumpkin for .34 seconds- just enough time to catch the overwhelming joy she was going through as she painted.  I think she could live at the table doing crafts, coloring, cutting, painting, cooking, etc.

Adelyn was actually way more into the painting than I had expected.  I was thinking she would enjoy it for a few minutes and then lose interest.  However, she also loved every second of it!