A Happy Trip to Houston

Last week, Kolbe, Reagan, my mom, and I all flew down to The Woodlands for a very special meeting. Kolbe is now almost a year and half old and he had yet to meet my grandmother (my Dad's mom)! All great-grandchildren need to meet their great grandma! Several weeks ago my parents and I began orchestrating this trip, and although it had a few hitches, it really was a wonderful experience. My mom flew up here to Lubbock so she could fly down and help me with the boys on the plane. (No, I was not brave enough to fly with a 17 month old and a 2 month old by myself...) Despite my mom getting to Lubbock on Monday instead of Sunday because of full flights and the four of us arriving in Houston on Tuesday night instead of Tuesday morning because of doctors appointments due to a bad lupus flare in my wrists, we all arrived happy and healthy around 10pm on Tuesday! Grandma and my Aunt Cathy had arrived Monday morning from Birmingham and were waiting for us. We had a wonderful visit with them! Grandma was smitten with the two boys and loved getting to cuddle Reagan. Kolbe, the wild man, offered up a few high fives and posed for some pictures but wasn't big on the cuddling...just the showing off!

Grandma and Kathy had to leave on Thursday morning, but Kolbe, Reagan and I stayed until Saturday morning for a few more days with Pinkie and Pa. Kolbe had a blast exploring some of the fun activities around The Woodlands. He especially loved the water spouts in the middle of Market Street. Overall, we had a FANTASTIC time and were so blessed to finally bring together the boys with their other great-grandma! She and my Aunt Kathy will be moving to Washington DC to live with my Aunt Debbie soon, so this trip couldn't have come at a better time! Now we're back home and recuperating and preparing for the big Hefferly family trip to the beach in just a few short weeks!

Four Generations! Grandma, Dad, me, and Kolbe and Reagan

Aunt Kathy and Reagan

"Pa" swinging Kolbe through the water spout as it shot up!

Kolbe was fascinated at how the water just shot up out of nowhere.

He proceeded to find an old water bottle and use it to try and catch water and then pour it on himself. Such a boy!

Happy Easter 2009!

Well, I certainly didn't get the pictures up the day after Easter or anything, but better late than never! We had a wonderful Easter this year with our two little boys! We went to Good Friday service on Friday night after Mark got home from Midland. That little adventure probably wasn't the best idea. The service started at 7:00 pm; Kolbe is used to going to bed around 8:00! So needless to say, he definitely wasn't on his best behavior. Good thing Reagan was the perfect little angel!

On Saturday, we had fun dying Easter eggs and making homemade macaroni and cheese. Kolbe loves to help cook! I let him help me once and now he wants to help EVERY time! Definitely makes cooking "interesting."

On Sunday, Kolbe decided to make things complicated by waking up at 5:45am. (His normal wake up time is around 8:00am.) Usually we can get him back to sleep, but not this time! He was wide awake and ready to party. By the time we went to 11:00am mass, Kolb was already getting tired. Luckily, that turned out to be a good thing. He mainly just wanted to sit with mom and dad and drink his milk. We didn't have to take him out of mass at all! (that rare for Kolbe...) However, the car ride home from mass was a nightmare! He was totally pooped, but the Easter celebration at Grandma's (Miss Lora) was due to begin at 1:00pm. We rushed over there anyway and Kolbe managed to find his second wind. He was so excited to see everyone, especially his cousins Caleb and Adan. He was a total trooper and didn't pout or fuss once! Of course, Little Reagan just slept, ate, and looked around throughout the entire thing. He's such a laid back baby! We got to partake in a wonderful feast of all kinds of different food and of course, had fun Easter baskets and eggs for the kiddos. Kolbe's basket even had a fun pair of Sponge Bob pajamas in it from Granny that he just LOVES! (Who wouldn't love a pair of neon yellow pajamas with a big face on the front!?!)

We had hoped to go over to Ben and Erin's for a second Easter celebration around 5:00pm, but around 4:15 when we were preparing to leave Miss Lora's, Kolbe finally crashed. Being awake for nearly 11 hours is a lot for a 17 month old! So unfortunately, we never made it over to Ben and Erin's and missed out on what I'm guessing was a ton of great food based on the goodies Dave brought home to me. (not to mention the good company too!) Of course, Kolbe woke up shortly there after and was a total grouch until I finally got him to go to bed for real around 9:45 pm. Oh, the joys of parenting! Still, we had a wonderful Easter and really loved getting to spend it with such a wonderful family. Plus, it's so exciting to see Kolbe growing up and starting to figure out what Easter is all about! And didn't they just look ADORABLE in their little outfits that Pinkie sent them!