Adventures in Amarillo

We had a ball in Amarillo. Lots to do and see, and in six days I still wasn't able to squeeze everyone and everything in. I worked one whole night and a little bit of another so I also had to try to sleep a little during the day as well, so that didn't help my endeavors.





Saylor explored the yard with Papa (seriously, their amazingly green yard makes me want to puke)


She saw all the great grandparents






She tackled mommy in the grass


She played with Averey


She ran and ran and ran around the barn (that's what we call the rediculously large shed in my parent's backyard) while Yonna chased her



And she played a little golf (or at least looked cute carrying around the putter)


We had a wonderful time. I'm already ready to go back. I'm just not ready for the four hour drive there and back again. Mas is out of town for another whole week so it makes me want to go back to Amarillo that much more. But, Kellen, Tana, and Ave are coming on Monday and I will really appreciate their company.

***Shoutout to Averey who's third birthday was Monday. I didn't have any pictures to post then so this is a little late.

She was the prettiest little princess at her "pwincess potty" (princess party)




This girl loves to dress up! It amazes me that a three year old likes princess dresses and high heels THIS much. She literally refuses to take them off. She cracks me up. She is so much fun!
We love you Averey! Happy Birthday!

happy birthday Samson

Happy Third Birthday Sambo!



I know that I gripe at you a lot for all of the hair and dirt you track in our house and your horrific flatulence that somehow lingers in the air for forever!

But, you are a pretty good boy! You protect us when Dad is gone, you entertain Saylor for HOURS, you do a great clean-up job under the high chair, and you make us laugh a lot. We never have to take out the trash or get the mail alone...your willingness is evident as you barrel out the door with us. You were our baby before the baby. You gladly shared hotel rooms and many, many long car rides with us, because you are just thrilled to be anywhere we are! Thank you, Samson for your loyalty! We love you!

Here's a fuzzy picture taken on the phone of Saylor and Samson loving on each other.

Home sweet home

We leave on Friday to go to Amarillo! Im so pumped! I haven't been there in 3 1/2 months and it seems like forever! My niece's third birthday party is on Saturday, which is the main reason we are going, but we have a pretty full schedule while we are there. We have to pack everything in, and see everyone we need to in a short amount of time. And it seems like we never quite get it all done, but I think that is just the reality of living out of town. Mas flies out of Amarillo to Kansas City for a two-week class so I am staying a few more days so I can spend more time with friends and family and so I don't die of sheer loneliness when I return to Oklahoma by myself. These are a few things on my to-do-list while in A-town:
*work--Im so excited to spend a night with some of my favorite gals, and hopefully deliver a baby or two as well, although I'm nice and rusty in that department, considering I haven't worked in about 4 months!
*get my hair did--I dont trust anyone else but my sweet hairdresser that has done my hair for a million years. I desperately need to have something done with this hair.
*hang out with my best pal, Missy and rub her sweet growing belly that I have completely missed out on--while Reid and Saylor play and Mas and Ross talk about random guy stuff.
*SEE MY NIECE! When they are this age they grow so much so fast. Can't wait to get a big Averey hug!
*Listen to Averey sing in the church choir on Sunday morning. It's going to be absolutely precious.
*Have a double date night with Kellen and Tana WITHOUT children. Thanks Mom--hope you were still planning on that :)
*And of course see all my family--my parents, grandparents, brother, sister-in-law, etc.! I'm so ready to see my mom....and she is SOOO ready to see Saylor! ha!

Happy Easter

Our church had an extra service last night (on Saturday) so we decided to go to that instead of this morning. And thank goodness we did, because the weather was pretty crummy today. We had a wonderful laid back Easter today. Mas and I made our own little mini-Easter feast, I took TWO--yes TWO naps today, and we had an Easter egg hunt in the house because it literally rained ALL day. I wasn't quite sure how interested Saylor would be in finding the eggs, but she loved it! She was just adorable. (Sometimes I really have to fight the urge to just squeeze her--she is irresistibly cute sometimes! I had to fight that urge a lot today.) I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of her hunting the eggs. But here are a few pictures from last night.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter with your families! Again, today was one of those days that I really miss the traditional get-togethers with my family. But.....we had a wonderful Easter here with just the three of us....and we will be in Amarillo in less than a week!! YAY

Bye Bye Binky

I've been waiting to write this until I was good and sure that we were OFFICIALLY done, and since I didn't give in when Saylor was up from 2-4:30 am crying the other night, I think I can say we are OFFICIALLY done, without a doubt!

See these?

They are no longer a necessity in our house!! Thank you, Lord.

I know this is probably not a blog worthy topic, but it matters to me and I want to be able to look back and remember when this took place and how truly easy it has been (for future reference for future children). Because I've been dreading getting rid of it since she was about 6 months old. I just put it off and put it off.
Saylor didn't even want a binky in the beginning. She gagged when we would put one in her mouth, but I forced the issue. I couldn't be her constant pacifier, I couldn't nurse her at every waking moment. Almost 15 months later, we are just now getting rid of it.

Saylor hasn't had a binky during the day for months, hasn't had it at night for several weeks, and has now not had it at naptime for about a week and a half! She isn't sleeping as long at naptime and hasn't been sleeping as late in the morning because she can't soothe herself back to sleep as well without a binky, but we are getting there. It has been so much easier than I thought it would be. It's been much harder on me than her--so many times I have just wanted to give in and give her the dang thing so I could get another hour or so of sleep. But, we haven't--we've all stayed strong!

No more sterilizing the darn things, no more making sure we have one before we leave the house, no more making sure Saylor isn't sharing her binky with Samson, no more searching under couch cushions for them, no more worring that I'm messing up my baby's teeth, no more reaching behind me in the car while trying to drive to search for the binky, no more dreading 'when am I going to get rid of this thing', NO MORE! It's done!

GOOD RIDDANCE, BINKY!

Our weekend

Mas' mom, Loretta, came to visit us this weekend. She hasn't seen Saylor in a year, so to say that she has changed a little would be a bit of understatement. Loretta thoroughly enjoyed our miss priss and her BIG personality! Unfortunately, Saylor cut two new teeth yesterday and was awake screaming for most of the night on Saturday. Loretta, Mas and I didn't go to bed until 4:30 in the morning!! Saylor makes it known when she's not happy. I felt so bad that her sleepless night happened to occur when we had company, though--NO fun!

We had a good weekend just hanging out, visiting, and laughing at Saylor. Thanks, Loretta, for coming. We enjoyed your company! (Sorry you didn't get much sleep)

Here are a few pictures of Loretta and Saylor last night after Saylor had her bath and was all greased up and ready for bed.