Christmas: Lubbock

Originally Pace and I wanted to stay in Lubbock for Christmas, then head to Arizona the day after to visit family for a couple weeks. Once we realized that we'd be silly to not go spend it with them while we could (who knows what next year will be like), we determined to head over the 23rd, surprise my Mom, and spend Christmas Eve at her house.

First, our card:

My friend Natalie Mitchell took our pictures - she does great work!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We opened our gifts here early :)

Sydney helped Drew open his, they were excited with new toys! Then we packed and prepared for our journey to Arizona.

On the way to Arizona....

We left early (5 AM Arizona time), and it was smooth sailing the first 9-10 hours of the trip. We stopped only twice for potty/gas breaks - amazing when you have a potty trained three year old and a one year old stuck in a car seat for that long! The kids were happy, we were happy...

Then we got into Overguard and the snow storm hit. People at the gas station warned us, "Fill your tank, bring water, cause it's a mess down there. Cars off the road everywhere, some upside down; rigs jack-knifed..." We thought,"Oh, we'll be careful, no big deal, we're almost home!" SEVEN HOURS we sat in our car outside Forest Lakes. Should've been down off the mountain and at my sister's by 5PM, nope, we rolled in at 2AM! I have never been so nauseous in my life as I was driving down that icy mountain! My stomach was in KNOTS, and I seriously thought I'd throw up behind the wheel there a time or two. It was CRAZY (this was 10:30 at night when we finally were able to follow the snow plow and begin our decent). The kids were amazingly fine for the first 5 hours or so of sitting there. We had no DVD player, no IPOD, NOTHING to entertain the poor things, and it was freezing outside so we all just sat in our seats. Here are some pictures we took while we still had the energy to make it fun. :)

Lots of cars in front of us

Lots more behind us

Pace jumped out to see what the deal was... We were stuck behind a jack knifed rig, and between road closures - not good.

The kids were excited to see all the snow at first

We invited a freezing FedEx driver to sit with us (bummer, no pic). He was nearly out of gas and couldn't leave the truck and heat running. We had a full tank so were nice and toasty. At 7:30 we had to bring the kids up front and rock them to sleep, both were crying hard. We all fell asleep around 9:00, woke once we could follow the plow down the mountain. Holy cow what a night! So glad we made it, but pray we never have too do that again!

Baby #3 - It's a boy!

The Wednesday before Christmas Pace & I found out our third baby is growing fine, everything looks good, and yes, we have another boy joining the ranks! Hooray!!

Catch up Part 1: Drew's 1st Birthday

So, finally I am updating our blog! So much has happened... Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Drew's 1st Birthday

Our little guy turned 1 on November 15th!
Yeah, I know, it's about time I blogged, but hey better late than never :)

Didn't put on quite the theatrics Sydney did at that age, but that's our little Drew! He is one super chill, sweet, but fun little dude!

Lots of friends came to play and celebrate with us...

Hanna, Christopher, Eli, Kayden, and of course Sydney and Drew had a blast breaking out some fun new toys :)

Happy 1st Birthday Drewby!! We love you!

First Moments

Drew's First Halloween

Our Little Frog Prince: I think he'll forgive me when he's older, but doesn't he look cute! It was half off at Babies R Us the week before Halloween. It really was exactly what I wanted, I was so thrilled!

Although he looks a little sad here, he was totally mellow in the outfit. Didn't mind wearing the suit or the hat one bit!
And it kept him warm

What a change from last year's screaming and tugging fit Sydney threw in her Tinkerbell costume - "Get off get off!" :) Now she loves to play dress up while she watches Tinkerbell... I love this girl :)

Speaking of Sydney and her fairytale make believe....
She bit into 8 apples

then fell asleep in her Cinderella dress :)

Her fun & imagination is never ending!

The Princess & The Frog Prince

This year Sydney was the most "beau'ful, wonderful - Gorilla!" in her cinderella dress. Gorilla is how she pronounces any double-L word :) Hilarious.

I bought the dress a little early, and after three days of wear and tear it really was worn and torn. My friend Cherisse altered it for me, salvaged it really, and made it what it is today - thank you Cherisse!!

Sydney actually got into trick or treating this year - so cute!! She was timid at first but once she saw they were giving out candy she exclaimed, "Oh! OH!! Okay!" and stuck out her silver Cinderella bag (compliments of Cherisse); she was as friendly as could be. At the third house she tried to walk in once they opened the door! Cracked us up. We trick or treated 7 houses or so before going to our friends', the Stebbings, Halloween party. We had a wonderful evening!

Drew's First Haircut
Before:

He was super chill during it, barely whined...

That's our Drewby :)

After: Handsome little boy!

(Mom got her hair trimmed too)

Here he is in action, at bedtime the other night :)


He is growing up so fast! We can't wait for his first birthday - in just a week and a half. Lots of photos and a video clip or two of the party to come! :) Happy Belated Halloween everyone!