The Kellogg Crew

I have a Blog?!?!?!

2011-08-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, 9 months since my last post. We've been b-u-s-y! I have missed getting to sit down and write out what's going on in our lives. It always gives me a good perspective to see it in writing :). Well, I guess since it's been 9 months I'd better start at the top and try to give you the condensed version...

We had a great Christmas, that I evidently did not take one picture of :). With Kyle being a teacher, we get lots of time off to spend with family and we always have a great time.

January brought the sad news that Kyle's grandmother had passed away. I am sad that the kids will not get to know her as they grow up, but eternally grateful for the legacy that she left with her children and grandchildren. Kyle's mom and uncles are stand up people, raised by one fantastic woman. Being around his family in Michigan is indescribably peaceful and energizing. I treasure any time we get to spend up there. Kyle attended the funeral while I stayed here and took care of the little ones. He loves getting to spend time with his extended family and was glad he was able to go.

February rolled around and we saw snow! The first the kids had seen in San Antonio, and extra bonus, Kyle got to stay home from school! Anytime it gets below freezing around here, the whole city shuts down. It's comical, but also something we really enjoy. The kiddos had a great time, they didn't care that it was just a dusting :)

Fast forward to April, and one of my favorite things about being a San Antonian - Fiesta! I LOVE Fiesta. Ok, well, really I love the food. I especially love the food when I'm 9 months pregnant like I was this time around. The kids had a good time, although you can't tell it in Kyle's favorite picture of Aubrey from the day:

I think she was sad because we told her she couldn't have more ice cream :)

And here's my little boy. This poor guys is wired just like his mama! He cannot stay away from the sweet stuff and he sure doesn't know when to say when.

Here's a shot of the action:

It can get pretty busy and crowded downtown so we always go early and leave when it starts getting too packed to be fun anymore.

Well, the best part about April wasn't Fiesta, it was this:

We got to meet our sweet baby girl, Mia. She was born right before Easter, so we couldn't resist this:

Ha! So precious!

Did I mention that we had our house on the market? I don't think I did. So, we bring sweet baby Mia home the day before Easter. Kyle goes back to work the day after Easter, which was new to me. See, Aubrey and Luke were born in the Summer when Kyle was able to be home with all of us for a month. This time, he was right back to work and so was I! Every morning we'd get up bright and early and Kyle would try to clean as much as he could so the house would be in the best shape possible for a showing. Then, I'd get a call and have to round all three kiddos up, pick up any toys, food, or clothes that had been drug out during the day and drive them somewhere for an hour while our house was shown. And I wasn't supposed to be driving, and man, did it hurt! We spent a lot of time at the park and going through automatic car washes. The kids look like this when the machines get going:

We used to love going through car washes when we were kids too, so this really makes me smile.

But, in the end all the running around was worth it, we sold our house when Mia was 3 weeks old. Then we were on the hunt for a new one. After a little searching, we found a house, made an offer and were all set to go on our 10 day trip to Michigan, when we went to the inspection. And guess what? The house had foundation problems. Boo! So, we left for Michigan without a house to move into. Our sweet families were kind enough to offer our whole brood a place to stay. We stayed with my Gramma for a little bit, travelled to Michigan and then stayed at Kyle's parents' house for a while. We finally found our house and it is perfect. Way beyond what we had hoped for and even better than the one that we had had the first contract on.

So, here are some of the pics from our summer trip to Michigan:

Ice Cream at "famous" L&J's. It's called "The Parlor" now in Jackson, MI. Kyle has always raved about this place and their enormous sizes. They didn't disappoint. Here was the 99c kiddie size:

Everything in Michigan was so green! Especially green to us because we've had such a bad drought this year in South Texas.

You can't beat the view from Uncle Leo & Aunt Mary's yard.

We also got to visit Kyle's cousin and her family. The kids all had a blast running around in this huge inflatable water slide/pool/climbing wall. They ran and ran and ran, and it was a great afternoon.

And we spent time up north at the cabin again, and again it rained the whole time we were there. Except, one afternoon when the kids were able to go out on the boat with Daddy. I love these shots. So, 1950s with no cell phones, not tvs or video games. Just Daddy and his kiddos out on a row boat. Peaceful & precious.

At the end of June, our Aubrey Grace turned 4. 4. Wow. 4. (sigh). 4. Time goes by SO fast. I don't even want to think about it. This year, since we still hadn't closed on our house, we had her party at Chuck E. Cheese with just a couple friends. To quote her: "This is the best birthday ever!". She got to go into the "Ticket Blaster" with Daddy:

She got enough tickets to get anything she wanted at the counter. It is funny how that makes you swell with joy and excitement as a parent to say "Honey, you can have anything you want". So, what did she go for? A Chuck E. Cheese lunchbox. Then she gave the rest of her tickets to her little brother and friend so they could have swords.

Then we moved into our house. I don't have pictures of that, but someday I'll show you. It has 4 rooms, so each child has their own space. The closets are huge and the pantry is ginormous. It really is a great space and I like it more and more every day.

At the end of June Luke turned 3. We had family come over so they could see the new house and Luke was happy as a lark. He wanted a green dinosaur cake, so that's what mama made :)

He's getting so big. I selfishly want him to stay little. He's just so stinking cute! And he's cuddly. I am sad for the day to come with he doesn't or can't sneak into my lap anymore and nuzzle his little face into my shoulder.

After birthdays, being homeless and moving, we were onto enjoy the rest of our summer. So, what exactly do you do in San Antonio in the summer when it's 104 every day and there hasn't been rain in so long you can't remember? This:

It kind of looks abusive, but I promise, she really likes it! And, while she's having fun, daddy's having fun and the yard is getting a little water :)

Well, now I've caught you up on the last 9 months. I hope it's not another 9 months for the next post. But, I'm not promising anything :)

We love you!

Sweet Michigan

2010-11-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

We were able to visit Michigan last month to see Kyle's grandmother. She was celebrating her 90th birthday, and she had never met Luke. It was a fantastic trip. Kyle's parents are both from Michigan and we have only gone up one other time since we've been married and it's a shame, because I'd love to be up there more often. Being around his family is energizing and encouraging; you couple that with the beautiful fall weather and scenery and I just never want to leave.

Kyle's grandmother has been in the hospital for a few months, has a hard time hearing and has a tracheotomy, but that doesn't stop her from lighting up the room. We were only able to take the kids in for a few minutes (like 3 minutes) and we had to wear protective gowns and the kids weren't allowed to touch her or sit with her. Couple that with her hard hearing and the fact that she cannot talk because of the tracheotomy and it didn't paint a good mental picture for how the visit with a 2 and 3 year old would go. God knocked my socks off when Grandma Harlow was smiling and blowing kisses to the kids and mouthing "I love you" to them. They mouthed "I love you" to her and blew kisses and told her "Happy Birthday" and it's a memory that I know I'll treasure and that I hope Aubrey will be able to keep with her. Luke is probably a little young to remember for long, but it brings me to tears just thinking about how incredibly glad I was that we took them up there to see her. She has been through some tough things in her life and not only made it through the tough times with grace, but is continuing to finish her life well and bring joy to anyone she's around.

We did not take the camera to the hospital, but we did get lots of shots of us staying at Aunt Mary & Uncle Leo's. Those two are fabulous! They were on the floor playing with the kids, reading books to them and took us on several walks to the beach (they live off Lake Eerie). I am very hopeful that we'll get to take a trip up there next Summer with the new little one, but until then, we have wonderful memories and these pictures:

Luke and Aunt Karen on the stairs at Leo and Mary's

Aunt Mary & Aubrey

Uncle Leo blowing bubbles with Luke and a little boy who lives 2 houses down.

Aunt Janeen and the kids on a backyard swing.

Luke and Kyle outside the hospital. Look at that gorgeous red tree!

What a beautiful family! This is Uncle Leo & Aunt Mary's backyard; not too shabby!

Luke And Aunt Mary having fun on the beach.

Aubrey walking in the water.

A Great Halloween!

2010-11-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

Howdy to anyone who still looks in on us :). Sorry it's been so long. We have our house on the market, which means we've hidden the computer out of sight and it's a little bit of an ordeal to get it out. Kyle's school laptop won't let me blog, so I only have the chance to update this every now and then.

Halloween was so great for us last night. Aubrey and Luke LOVED trick or treating and were pretty much pros at it. Here is our Cinderella and Dude (Squirt from "Finding Nemo")

I, being the graceful soul that I am, dropped the camera and broke it about 2 houses into our trick-or-treating. So, here's what the pics turned out like:

If you look hard you can see that the dogs in this house were dressed up. The kids got a hoot out of that. Aubrey was running from house to house and being very polite, helping Luke up stairs and down hills and patiently waiting for him when he lagged behind. By then end of our 30 minute trip around the block, we thought their poor little arms were going to be pulled out of socket their little pumpkins were so heavey. So, we called it a night and let them come home and check out the loot.

This should be enough candy to last at least a month. When Aubrey took her shoes off, they had rubbed about 3 huge blisters open per foot and she hadn't said a thing! That girl was having a blast getting candy!

Once we got home, Aubrey couldn't wait to hand out candy to the trick or treaters. We sat in our driveway and passed out candy to the rest of the kids and had a blast. Luke wasn't so thrilled about giving the candy away and was concerned enough to only give one piece per child. His big sister, on the other hand, gave away about 6 pieces per child, so they evened each other out.

Grandma & Grandpa Kellogg, Aunt Janeen and Cole, and G.G. Kellogg came over and got into the fun with us, which we were really greatful for. All in all, probably the most fun Halloween I've ever had and I can't wait for next year!

I have a ton more to post about the past two months, but I've got to get back to the little ones for now. We love you all dearly and hope to get to see you soon.

Love,

Jacqui

Turning 2 in the Kellogg House :)

2010-08-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

I hope your July was great and that as the Summer winds down you are looking forward to Fall like we are :). We had a fun July that ended with Luke turning 2! When you turn 2 in our house a lot happens. The day before your party you go to Chuck E. Cheese with the family, you have your party, the day after your party you throw your pacifier away, then 2 weeks later you get intense potty training. That's a lot for both mommy and new two year old! So, what does all that look like, you ask? I'll show you :)

So, here we are the day before the party and for Luke this year in addition to Chuck E. Cheese, we got to go swimming at Aunt Janeen's community pool! Here are the pics:

And from there we were off to Chuck E. Cheese!
Air Hockey with Dad.

Gettin' some precious lovin' from Aunt Janeen.

Gathering the loot :)

Whew! What a day! Now for the BIG day - the party :)

I made a bunny cake from one of the Wilton cake pans. This was a lot, let me say that again, A LOT of work! Kyle's mom made them these kind of cakes routinely when Kyle and his sisters were young and all I can say is that is one patient woman! The likelyhood that you'll see another one of these cakes made by me is slim to none :)

Ready to open some presents.

A face I can't get enough of:

Second Cousins Kaylie and Kylie enjoying some couch time!

I LOVE this picture! Luke took the camera into his own hands and got this great shot of a Pa Paw who was a willing subject :)

Great Aunt Gina and second cousin Christina brought bubbles for all the kids to enjoy, and enjoy they did.

The favorite gift, two basketball hoops!

All the cousins jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head... (couldn't resist :)

Still going long after the party has gone...

And where should we look for my precious girl when it gets a little quiet? Why at the watermelon of course!

The party was a great time to get to catch up with our family. We had the great joy this time of not only enjoying aunts, grandparents and great grandparents, but also a great aunt, a couple second cousins and even twin girls who are third cousins to the kids! It was really a fabulous time.

Now onto the next day; the day we toss the pacifier. I have to admit I was preparing myself emotionally for this all month. What we have had both Aubrey and Luke do is tell them that when they turn 2 they won't need their paci's anymore and we have them throw them away and in turn give them a big treat. I really thought we were in for hours of crying for countless nights and serious sleep deprivation as Luke worked out his emotions. I am SO thrilled to report that was not the case at all. He walked right over to the trash can and tossed his paci in and was all too delighted to trade it for a Super Blow Pop. We thought, well step one is done, let's see how the night goes@ He did cry, but only for 20 minutes, which was way less than I was expecting. He continued to cry for 20 minutes for the next nap and next bedtime, then it gradually decreased, to now, 2 weeks later, he might cry for one minute, sometimes not at all. We are so thankful!

Now that we got him through that traumatic event, we started intense potty training today! We bought him big boy underwear and treats to get him into the whole potty and pooping on the toilet thing. Let me take a sidenote here: little boys underwear are some of the most adorable things I have ever seen. I have always wanted another little girl because I love the hairbows and dresses and pink, pink, pink. But, I have to tell you after seeing his tiny hiney running around the house all morning in his "Cars" underoos, another little boy would be just fine too :). So, he's been sans-diaper all morning and has had one accident and has gone on the toilet 5 times, so I'm calling the morning successful and about to lay him down for a nap. I can use all the prayers you have the inclination to give as we hash this new phase out for the next few weeks! :)

I hope you enjoyed reading, and have an August full of positive blessings. We love you guys.

What a June!

2010-07-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

It was a busy, busy June and I loved every minute of it! Ok, if I am being honest, not every minute, but most of it :) We had a trip to Lubbock, swim lessons, a baby shower in Fort Worth, a birthday party and kicked of the start of July with a trip to the coast for the 4th!

We had so much fun on our trip to Lubbock. I loved getting to see all the nieces and nephew (Mason and Luke were two boys amidst 6 little girls!). We needed Jason's 3 boys in the mix to tip the scales a little. Madi, Gabi and Caden were p-r-e-c-i-o-u-s!!! I was so glad we got to see them face to face. Little Mason(4) was a super snuggler, Salem (1 1/2) had the kind of energy you want to bottle up and sell and McKenna was so good being patient with all the little ones. Her patience really shined when we tried to wrangle all 8 littles ones together to take a picture. Can you imagine 8 kids, 7 of them 4 and under trying to sit still for a picture? What you're picturing in your head is probably right on the money. It was hilarious. I heard some of the pictures turned out pretty good, I can't wait to see the end result, but I have to tell you the belly laughs I had in the process were worth it! Here are a couple shots from the trip:

Lubbock is windy. If you head 10 minutes outside Lubbock, it is WINDY. This is Aubrey on my mom's trampoline in the great West Texas wind :).

The kids really love feeding my mom's cows. And for some reason the pictures always turn out super clear on my mom's land.

Luke with his great-grandpa. This is a treasure to me.

A shot of only a portion of the kiddos sitting down to dinner.

And finally, look at these two old geesers hooked on their technology :) I love these guys.

Swim lessons went really well. I was curious to see how the kids would do and they did pretty good. Aubrey listened to her instructor really well and was completely comfortable in the water, even though she would not put her face in the water on her own. But, I was ok with that; I know it will come with time. Luke did not freak out in the water as I had feared, so that was a big blessing. He didn't love being dunked, but he only cried for an extensive time one day :). Here are a couple shots of the last day.

Luke liked the noodle the best.

Aubrey's little class. So cute!

I know this is not the best shot, but there was a big slide (maybe 2 1/2 stories?) and Aubrey went down with gusto the first day, then climbed right back up on the last day of class and then backed out. This is her little silouhette looking out from the top.

We headed to Fort Worth in the middle of the month for a baby shower for Mandy. It was a blast to see Amy, Mandy and Roni. I hope with all my heart that every one of you has friends like these. Even if we don't see each other for months, we come together without any pause or pretention and I treasure it. I did not get great shots of the shower, so I'll just post one of that and one of the kids.
Emma is too cute with her beautiful red hair!

Opening baby girl stuff!

The month ended with us celebrating Aubrey's 3rd birthday. It was perfect. We had family over and had a Cars theme. Aubrey and Luke were pretty glued to the movie playing in the background other than when presents and cake came out! Aubrey has got this birthday thing down now. She sat patiently and quietly while we sang "Happy Birthday", and promptly blew out her candles as the song came to a close. You know it's funny, because when she was 1, she kind of just stared at all of us singing to her and had to be fed each bite of cupcake. When she was two she was shy about everyone singing to her and wasn't really sure if she was supposed to chime in, or just sit back and take it all in. And when she knew what to do this year, it was just a visual for me to realize how much she's grown and changed in the past 3 years and just how fast all this goes. Somebody told me the other day that when you have preschoolers at home, "The days are long, but the years are short." Amen, sister. These years are going by so fast, even when the days are long and I am so glad that every now and then I am blessed enough to get to sit back and take it all in.

We love you guys and hope to get to see you soon.

Love,

Jacqui

Summer Time!

2010-06-07T18:17:00.001-07:00

Howdy!

We are in full Summer mode with lots of swimming and playing outside going on :). We have started what is going to be a really full June for us. Some of our best college buddies came to town to visit this weekend and we had a great time swimming and playing in the backyard with Justin, Amy and their precious babies. Then Trent and Lindsey stopped in tonight with little Matthew for dinner and more backyard playing while they were on their way back home to Corpus Christi. We are really enjoying our backyard this summer!

Other than that, Kyle's golfing, and about to start Summer School and I'm doing a couple bible studies, lots of house cleaning and the kids start swim lessons on the 15th! We are heading to Lubbock this weekend for a reunion with my step-brother and step-sisters on my dad's side and their little ones, which we are really looking forward to. We have not met Madi or Gabi our newest step-nieces and I can't wait to love on them! The weekend after that we are headed to Fort Worth for Mandy's baby shower (another great Aggie friend). And the weekend after that is our favorite little girl's 3rd birthday! That's one busy June if you ask me. But they are all things we are REALLY looking forward to.

I have some random pictures of the last few weeks, just so you have something to look at :)

Aubrey was sitting in Kyle's lap and he said, "You used to sleep right here when you were a baby." She said, "I wanna sleep there." Then she proceeded to pretend to sleep and asked that I take her picture. This is the result :)

Our precious Luke hiding :)

...checking to make sure I'm still there.

Kyle getting a good shot with the kids. He calls this Aubrey's Elvis lip.

Luke and Emma!

Luke and Emma getting surprised by some rogue water :)

Aubrey and Emma finished lounging.

I took this shot because up until 5 minutes before this shot was taken Luke wanted nothing to do with swimming pools. It was for proof in case he freaks out again the next time we go swimming :)

My last shot is super boring for you guys, but gives me a sense of accomplishment. I noticed that the siding above our garage looked really dirty yesterday, so when I had a moment this morning I let the kids run around in the water while I got on a ladder and cleaned the front of the house. It only took about 30 minutes, the kids had a blast running around in the water that was dripping down and it looks great! I took this shot halfway through to show Kyle how dirty it was :)

We hope you're having a productive and fabulous Summer!

Love,

Jacqui

Mother's Day Pics

2010-05-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

Good Morning!

We don't have much to post, but we did take some pictures to give to our moms for Mother's Day and I thought I'd share them with you :)

I hope you have a wonderful week and weekend!

Love,

Jacqui

April has come and gone

2010-04-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Howdy! Another month has gone by and we're all a month older! :). I turned 29 on the 18th and Kyle turns 29 on May 28th. We had a great month where we were pretty busy, but all really good things, so it was fun.

One of my friends from church broke her femur running a half marathon and needs a lot of help taking care of her 2 little girls, so we've been blessed to get to watch Molly and Maggie once a week. Molly is 2 and Maggie is 5 and they are two of the sweetest, most respectful, quietest little girls I've ever seen! We play dress up when they come :)

We've really enjoyed getting to spend time with them!

We've been playing A LOT in our backyard since the weather's been great and we have grass for the first time since Aubrey's been born. Aubrey has wicked hair static when she's climbing around in her "fort".

This is the new face Luke makes when we say "Smile". It is hilarious.

And one of my favorite memories of this month was this one:

Aubrey, Luke and I were watching a movie, and I noticed Luke was no longer sitting on the floor with us. I looked up and saw him sitting on the couch like this. He had gotten his hat, put it on, climbed on the couch and was "reading" a book. It was too cute to see only his precious little mouth peeking out from under his hat that I had to break out the camera. It's moments like this that I just want to freeze in time.

I hope life is going great for you guys and I hope you have gotten to do some good yard work and good play time!

Love,

Jacqui

For my Sister :)

2010-03-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

Howdy!

Since I logged on yesterday and saw Jonna's request for a new post, I thought I better sit down and oblige her :). We have done A LOT of stuff in the past 3 weeks! First, we said goodbye to Jason and family. We went out with a bang, getting to visit Sea World with them the weekend before they headed to California.

We sat in the splash zone at the Shamu show :)

The kids all loved feeding the dolphins

I don't think this precious photo needs any words...

We visited Trent, Lindsey and Matthew in Corpus. If you've ever met Trent and Lindsey, you can see clearly from this photo that Mattie is the spitting image of both of them.

And, finally: Aubrey played dress up for the first time, courtesy of Tony and Nicole :)

We've had a great month and are looking forward to Aunt Karen visiting this weekend and to Easter!

We love you guys a lot!

Family Gatherings

2010-03-01T07:06:00.000-08:00

Good Monday Morning :)

I hope you guys are all getting to enjoy some good spring-like weather. I can't believe Easter is around the corner! Aubrey has set her mind on getting a chocolate duck for Easter. I'm going to enjoy these days while it's still a $1 chocolate duck she's set on and not a $200 IPod! Luke loves those plastic eggs you see all over the place this time of year, so I think we'll stock his basket full of those and he'll be thrilled.

Well, the past 2 weeks we've seen a lot of family. My brother and sister-in-law are moving to California a week from today, so the extended family has come down twice in the last 2 weeks to try to get in all the face time we can with them before they leave. It has been amazing to have them here in Texas for the past 4 years. It's incredible what can happen in 4 years: Ethan, their youngest was only a couple of months old when they moved here, now he's 4! Kyle and I were just the two of us, now there are 4 of us! We had 2 incomes, now we have 1. My oldest nephew is now 10 years old!!! It is just incredible to me how quickly and drastically life can change.

So, with all that said, we will miss Jason, Julie, Eric, Alex, Adrianna, and Ethan more than we know. We've taken it for granted that we can get together for every birthday party and big event and it's going to be sad this year when we don't get to see them for all the little things. We know the people in California will be so blessed by them, but selfishly, we want them here.

Here are a few pictures I snapped over the past 2 weeks, they are kind of random, but cute nonetheless.

I'd love to say that the kids are all listening intently to a great lecture or something, but they're really watching tv :)

This is my newest niece Caden!!! She is precious beyond words.

This is just a classic shot I had to get for our albums.

And here's my cowboy :)

I hope you guys have a fantastic week and I hope we see you soon!

A fun month :)

2010-02-08T08:39:00.000-08:00

Howdy!

I hope you guys are all having a great February. I can't believe it's been a month since I've sat down and written our happenings! The biggest thing that we did last month was head up to Winter Park, CO for some awesome skiing!

We went with some of our great college friends, Kyle's little sister and her boyfriend, and a couple that were friends of our friends. It was SO fun! It snowed both days that we skied, which made the skiing a lot more fun for me, since I'm not that good. The extra powder made you naturally go a little slower, so I was more willing to try things I normally wouldn't do. It was such a blast. We stayed across the street from the mountain in a beautiful condo and had just as much fun when we got home from skiing as we did on the mountain.

While we were packing our stuff the night before we left, Aubrey and Luke wanted to wear our hats, and I think this picture is so cute!

Here are some pictures from our trip:
Awwwww :)

A shot of me slowly making my way down the mountain in all the snow!!!

Kyle and Janeen. I LOVE that these two are so secure with who they are!

The crew (minus Bernadette who was behind the camera for us!)

We really had a great time and were so blessed that the Kelloggs watched Aubrey and Luke so Kyle and I could have some time away. Other things going on around the Kellogg house are: Luke talking up a storm, Aubrey being a little mommy: "Luke, be gentle." "Luke, that's a no no.", she likes to "help". Both kids helped me in making some cookies last week and they thought that was super fun. They are non-stop energy burners and they are soaking up anything that comes their way!

We hope you guys are enjoying the new year and I'll try not to go so long between posts next time!

A room for our little girl

2010-01-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

Howdy!

We had some big happenings in our house this week! We moved Aubrey into a "big girl" bed Sunday night. I had been told by other moms that they moved their kids out of cribs when they climbed out. Well, Aubrey never tried, so the timeline was just whenever we got ready, and I was in no rush. But, nonetheless, we did it.

We used a convertible crib and just removed one of the sides. We did it during the day and had been telling her for a couple of weeks that we were going to put her in a big girl bed. She thought it was cool that she was able to get in and out of the bed by herself. So, then the test: night-time came, we took her in her room and when I got ready to lay her down, tears begin to form in her eyes, and she says "My bed's broken!" We chuckled a little, then told her that is wasn't broken and that this was her big girl bed. After reassuring her that she'd be fine, we said our prayers and left her for the night.

Well, we'd anticipated some drama, but praise God, it really wasn't much. She cried out to us about 3 times before 10:00pm (she went to bed at 8:00). We went in each time and told her she was fine, and she'd calm down. Then she was out. We were so excited! We had decided not to put on the little siderail we'd purchased to see how she did without it. Well, after 3 consecutive nights of her falling out of the bed around 1:00am, we decided to put the rail on the bed. Since then, it's been blessedly uneventful.

I was a little concerned that we'd waited too long to put her in a bed and that she'd be really attached to the crib, but we're so thankful that she took it in stride! We also cleared her shelves of baby things and in place of blankets, burp cloths and diapers are now books, play clothes and pillows. She LOVES to go in her room and get a book off the shelf and sit in her bed and "read". I'll go in to find her flipping through the pages silently, studying each one, sometimes making up words from looking at the pictures. She is such a joyful toddler and I'm already starting to feel the tug in my heart that 18 years with her just isn't going to be enough :) (Kyle might feel otherwise!) :)

This is a picture of her waking up for the first time after a night in the new bed:

Luke wanted to get in on all the excitement!

I hope you all have a great week and that your new year is starting off fabulously!

Christmas Blessings!!!

2010-01-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Wow what an incredible Christmas season we had!!! I hope you all had a wonderful time with family making memories and that you all were blessed abundantly - I know we were! Our Christmas celebration started at Thanksgiving at my Mom's house, then we had Christmas with our immediate Kellogg Family, then we had a celebration with my Gramma and Gramps, followed by an extended Kellogg Christmas and the grand finale was our parking lot Christmas with my Dad at the hospital where Jonna had Caden earlier this week! That is A LOT of Christmas to celebrate! So much so that when Aubrey was playing with one of her new toys this week, so looked at the wooden toy tree that came in a house playset and said, "Oh, no. No presents". She had become pretty used to the idea that every tree had presents under it for her!

Amidst all the blessings of clothing, toys, food, fellowship and housing that were given to us over the past month, we tried to continually remind Aubrey that it was Jesus' birth that we were celebrating and that we got presents to celebrate Him being born. We're trying to keep her grounded and it was a good reminder for us too. What an amazing story Christ's coming into the world is.

I know most of you just want to get to the pictures already, so here you go:
One of the fabulous gifts Aubrey got was tickets to "Elmo Live". I'm not sure if you can tell from the grin, but she's a little bit excited to be there :)

Here's a quick shot at the stage action.

Here are some shots of our babies in the beautiful outfits they got also as a gift. This picture does not do this dress justice, it is absoultely gorgeous and the brown satin bow and matching shoes were the perfect compliments!

I'm a sucker for Kyle reading to the kids, it makes my heart melt :)

Christmas morning Santa delivered the lollipop as expected; I'm pretty sure we have snack time covered for the next month!

Luke I think got the best presents any 1 1/2 year old could have received. He LOVED all the toys, books and blocks and we LOVED all the clothes and shoes!

One of the many cute moments of the holiday was Aubrey in her new tiara playing with her new remote control car - What a combo!

I'm sad that I didn't have my camera everywhere we went, but we had memories that will stay etched in our minds for a long time. We had two final blessings this past week: God brought a buyer for the 4 Runner and He brought beautiful Caden to bless Jonna and Chris's family. Jonna and Caden are healthy and Chris was an amazing partner to Jonna throughout labor and the next morning when we visited.

Sorry my camera was dead, so I don't have pictures of our new niece, but as soon as I get some, I'll post them. She's precious.

The next event is our anniversary! Sunday, Kyle and I will have been married 6 years. We're going to the Tower of the Americas for a late dinner tomorrow night to celebrate :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and we hope to get to see you all soon!

"Bah-Bee" thinks Santa brings candy

2009-12-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys!

The kids have been saying some really memorable things the past week. Luke has started calling Aubrey "Bah-Bee". He wants to know where "Bah-Bee" is all the time and follows her around like a little shadow. She does not mind. In fact, if he's doing something else and is too busy to realize she left the room, she'll call out to him to "Come on, Luke!"

Aubrey also has gotten it in her head that Santa brings candy; a pink lollipop to be specific. We were in the mall a few weeks ago and saw "Santa" with kids lined up to take their picture. I said, "Aubrey, who's that in the green chair?" She looked cautiously and when she saw him, she began emphatically saying "I don't. I don't. I don't see him." She was clinging to me and it was clear she wanted nothing to do with him. She said "Santa's mean." I said, "No, baby, Santa's nice. He brings toys." To which she replied, "We have toys." I thought, yes, you're right, we do.

So, I stopped pointing him out and we made our way out of the mall. When we finally got to a place where he was out of eyesight, Aubrey says: "I did. I did see him. Santa brings candy." She's such a hoot! Ever since then, she keeps telling me Santa brings candy, which honestly I'm all about since it's way less expensive than toys and we can make it last for weeks! Yesterday she told me Santa was going to bring her a pink lollipop. She stopped, thought a minute, then said "Oh, lollipop messy." She thought another minute and said "Santa bring bib." That's my girl; have a wish, realize the potential hazards and find a solution.

The kids are also in LOVE with the inflatable Christmas polar bear that the neighbors put in their yard. Every night when it gets dark and the polar bear is inflated and lit up, the kids want to go see him. Then, in the morning, when he's deflated, they say he's sleeping and they whisper when we're outside so they don't wake him up. They're a hilarious pair together.

I hope you guys are having a great December and are getting excited about Christmas!

Nanny

2009-12-01T07:54:00.000-08:00

Good Morning Everyone,

Last night my Nanny passed away peacefully after battling the effects of years of diabetes. She had recently been moved into my Dad's house, so the family was all able to spend precious time with her in the past couple of weeks.

Nanny lived her life exhibiting the biblical standards of kindness, patience, humility and a reverent fear of the Lord. She will be greatly missed.

Nanny is here on the left with her brothers and sister, whom she loved dearly and actively.

We'll be traveling to Lubbock for the funeral in the next couple of days to say goodbye to a lady who blessed my life more than she knew.

Showering Jonna!

2009-11-10T07:37:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys!

We had a fun weekend getting to shower my sister Jonna with lots of love and presents for our new niece Caden, who is due next month! Lots of family was able to come and I got to meet some of Chris's old family friends from Temple and Austin. Jonna looks awesome to be having her first baby and to be so close to the due date! I only took a few pictures, and I apologize because some of them are grainy, but I hope you still can tell how great everyone was at celebrating this fabulous new baby.

Just a little shot of all the gifts that wouldn't fit on our monster sized coffee table!

The food, after round one of eating :)

One of the most treasured things any McAfee grandchild gets at their baby shower. Our Gramma made each of her grandkids elaborate stockings that we all still have and cherish. So, for each one of our children, she has also blessed us by making stockings for her great-grandbabies!

We had a blast getting to look at all the adorable baby stuff and getting to sit and chat with some great ladies on a Saturday morning. Thank you to everyone who helped make this day special for Jonna!

Kyle and I are running our race this Sunday. So, please pray for good health and good weather. Kyle is running 26.2 miles, so pray for him extra hard!!!

We love you guys.

A Fishy Halloween!

2009-11-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys!

I am just now getting to posting the precious Halloween pictures! We had a great night with Grandma & Grandpa Kellogg, GiGi Kellogg and Aunt Janeen. I found an awesome deal on a Nemo costume for Luke, then Aubrey wanted to be "Dude", which is what she calls the sea turtle from Finding Nemo. If you haven't seen the movie, the sea turtle has a surfer lingo and says "dude", "sweet", and "totally" a lot. So, she's taken to calling turtles "Dude". The outfits were adorable, but of course look even more adorable on our babies.

The kids LOVED their costumes. They wanted to wear them all the time before Halloween and were so excited to get to wear them to go trick or treating on our block. Aubrey and Luke did great, but lostt interest after about the 4th house. I was suprised, I thought they'd beg to stay out, but Aubrey was all done knocking on doors and Luke was fixated on a Tootsie Pop he got at the 2nd house. So, our trick or treating only lasted about 15 minutes, but they got enough candy to last for weeks!

So, without further delay, here are our babies in their costumes. Enjoy :)

My "Dude" swimming :)

The back of Nemo's costume!

Walking down our block in great anticipation.

The loot!

We hope ya'll have a great week. I'll have something new to post tomorrow night :)

Jack W. Hollingsworth!!!

2009-10-26T07:28:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys! Kyle blessed me this weekend by watching our kids Saturday so I could go to Fort Worth to meet Amy & Justin's baby boy, Jack! It was an awesome trip. I got 4 hours alone in the car where I listened to what I wanted to on the radio, and sang as loud as I wanted :). Then, when I got to Fort Worth Amy and I were able to have a quiet lunch and a good chat while Jack was sleeping and Justin took Emma (their 1 1/2 year old) out to run errands. Then, the highlight of the day; getting to hold Jack and play with Emma! Emma is precious. She is happy and sings and dances and is just all the good things you think of when you think of a toddler. I took two videos of her singing to "Elmo's World", but couldn't pick between the two of them, so I am putting them both on the blog.

I was also excited to see Amy's mom, who came over to visit her grandbabies while I was there! Jack is a sweet little boy. He has adorable cheeks and cool hair that sticks straight up and he was making the sweet noises that newborns make. I LOVE babies, and I got to get a good baby fix :)

It was really great to get to see them all and I am so thankful that Kyle was willing to let me go!
The icing on the cake for the fabulous day, was that on the way home, I got to listen to the Aggie game. I was so proud of our boys. If you don't know, we got creamed last weekend by a pretty miserable Kansas State team, then turned around and beat Texas Tech pretty soundly, which is something we haven't done in a long, long time. I was whooping and yelling in the car and, like I said, am just so proud of those guys who came out and played their hearts out after such a rough week. That's all we have for you right now. I can't wait to post Halloween pictures!!!

Sticker Book Laughs

2009-10-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

Howdy everyone!

I hope you're all having a great week. We're enjoying some Fall-like weather, mixed in with good old Texas heat. It has been raining a lot, which is really nice for our yard, not so nice for Kyle and my training for the marathon & 1/2 marathon in a month!

So, Kyle's parent's got the kids a Halloween sticker book. They LOVE it. It has Halloween decorations, costumes and food that the kids put all over the pages to dress things up. One of the costumes is a rocker, complete with a guitar, purple jacket and "rocker" hair. I was going through the pages with Aubrey and saying things like, "Who should wear the jacket?", "Who should dress like a Bunny?", to which she'd respond by putting the stickers on the appropriate characters in the book. Well, when we got to the rocker hair sticker, I said "Who needs the hair?". Without hesitation, she reaches for Kyle's head and says "Daddy!". It was quite amusing to me. I think Kyle enjoyed her ability to rationalize such a seemingly simple question, but he might not have appreciated the honesty so much! I took a shot of our proud 2 year old with her good-sport of a Daddy :)

Also this week, we braved the rain and went to a pumpkin patch! It was really cute, even though we were the only ones out there! The kids got one pumpkin each, and Kyle and I got a big pumpkin to carve for the family. I took a couple of pictures of the kids. They aren't smiling, because the hay was wet and it was cold, but they really did enjoy getting to see tons of pumpkins, and getting to take one home. Aubrey picked a perfect, traditional orange one. Luke picked a gorgeous yellow one with an awesome long curly stem. I don't have pictures of the pumpkins, because no matter how hard I tried to explain to my one and two year old that pumpkins are fragile and you can't whirl them at your sister or use them as drum sticks on the tile floor, they were whirled and drummed with and before the sun set the two little pumpkins has endured too much abuse to be anywhere but the trash can!

I thought this last picture was really funny, because it was like I told them , "Please put your left hand on the pumpkin and look surprised." Which by the way, is way different than "Smile for Mommy!", which is what I actually said :)

I hope y'all have an awesome week!

I live the life of a rock star...

2009-09-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys! Kyle snapped this picture of our two precious babies a couple of days ago, while I was on a phone call in the pantry.

Aren't they hilarious?!?! If you aren't sure what you're looking at; they're trying to see me under the door. This is in between knocking on the door repeatedly, saying "Momma?, Momma?" It reminded me of a poem I wanted to share with you guys. It was posted in one of our MOPS magazines and it is so true!

I live the life of a rock star.

It’s true!

I have wild hair and make-up with frequent costume changes. Everywhere I go I have an entourage. People are constantly YELLING my name. I look out into the crowd and they are actually CRYING for me, REACHING for me.

I have no privacy. I’m watched when I shower, when I’m cooking, even when I use the restroom…for my own protection, I’m sure.

When I go places I must do so quickly before my fans get out of control and start a riot. Every night a different guy wants to sleep with me. Each of them seem genuinely hurt when I turn him away.

Occasionally, I get dirty undergarments whirled at me with a “whoop” and a smile. It’s even hard sometimes to walk through my home without someone spotting me and trying to grab my legs or my clothing!

Oh, and don’t forget about the stalkers! You know those crazed fans that follow you EVERYWHERE? Why, I can’t even talk on the phone in the pantry without an eye or two peeping in at me.

Yes, it’s true-I live the life of a rock star.

I hope that gave you a big smile for the day :)

We love you guys!

The Sullivan Family

2009-09-23T07:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I received a prayer request for a family who had been visiting our church for a few months. Brad and Sara Sullivan welcomed their first child, Chloe into the world 11 days ago. Yesterday, Sara passed away. I am blogging about this family that I haven't had the chance to meet yet, because the testimony of their faith in the Lord has inspired and renewed me. I cannot imagine the extreme emotions of the past two weeks for this family. The absolute joy and thrill of bringing a new baby home, then the anxiety and turmoil as Sara got sick, only to be followed by the agony over the loss of a wife, daughter and mother. What has struck me the most about this young couple is the peace, joy and hope they are clinging to during this time. If you have a minute, read their blog The Sullivan Family. Then, please pray for their strength to be continually renewed as the days and weeks come. Also, please pray that the people who come in contact with them see the light radiating from within and that lives might be eternally changed through the Sullivans. My prayer for you actually comes Kyle's prayer last night; he prayed that we would gain perspective from this family; that we would be able to have appreciation for the abundant gifts God has given us. That we would walk continually in a way that our lives might impact those around us. And that we would realize that not one more day or moment is promised to us on this earth. We have a finite amount of time where we have the free will to make our choices, then we spend eternity living with the choices we make while on earth.

I am grateful for the Sullivans for writing about their experiences. I am grateful that God gives us each such unique gifts and together we make up a complete body. I hope you take the peace and strength that the Sullivans have and realize that its available to all of us.

I hope you guys have a great week!

The little feet behind you are sure to follow...

2009-09-14T18:15:00.001-07:00

I stepped into the restroom, leaving Aubrey in our room with my purse on the bed. I came back in to find this:

In less than 2 minutes, Aubrey had gotten the mascara out of my purse, opened it, and applied it to her eyes. All without getting a single smudge of mascara on anything other than her own face. Wow. I knew she watched me as I do makeup, but I didn't realize how much she was learning. She said "Pretty eyes, Mama." It was adorable and a stunning reminder that these little eyes see everything I do. I did reprimand her for getting in Mommy's purse and let her know that opening Mommy's makeup was a no-no. But as I was teaching her, I was learning myself :)

Also new this week are two big events in Luke's life: his first tooth and he is walking everywhere! Our kids cut their teeth late, and Luke has finally cut his first one! The walking is adorable too, because he isn't very good at it at all, but he's at the point that he'd rather take 10 minutes to walk down the hall on his wobbly, unsteady legs, falling at least 10 times, rather than give in and crawl. It's cute and scary! Kyle looked at me Saturday and said, "So, is it official? We have two toddlers!".

We are at such a sweet time of abundant blessings right now and are enjoying (almost) every minute of it! This week we could use prayers for rest and energy as we kick into full school-year mode. We have something to do 4 nights out of 7, which is a lot for us. The kids will be with only one, or neither of us all 4 nights. So we need prayers that they'd be comfortable, they'd know that they'll be loved on whoever they're with and that Kyle and I would have the energy to show them some extra love and attention.

We love you guys!

My favorite video

2009-09-04T07:36:00.001-07:00

Let me set this up for you: We have been telling Aubrey she's going to get to see whales and sharks for about a week. We're finally sitting in Shamu Stadium. The intro music starts to play signaling Shamu is going to appear at any moment. Aubrey is sitting on Gram's lap, wringing her little hands in anticipation. At the last moment before Shamu appears, the music starts to make her uneasy and she isn't 100% sure she wants to know what's about to happen, even though everyone else seems really excited. This is her watching Shamu for the first time. I still get teary-eyed even though I've seen this a dozen times. I hope it makes your heart smile!

Mama, she's crazy...

2009-09-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

...crazy over her grandbabies! Only insanity could cause an otherwise rational human being to use her vacation to take care of 7 kids. Not only take care of 7 kids, but take those 7 kids to Sea World, Magic Time Machine, Chuck E. Cheese, and the Zoo - twice! In one week! Whew! Insanity driven by an intense love :)

My Mom and Stepdad used their vacation last week to have all but the youngest of their grandchildren come stay with them to treat them to "Gram Week". An annual tradition began by my grandmother; the week allows all the cousins to get together and be absolutely pampered by their grandparents. My grandmother only had 5 at a time. My Mom has 8 grandkids, one on the way, and we're counting on at least 2 more. So, she's a glutton for punishment! :)

The week started off with a trip to Sea World. Aubrey and Luke had never been to Sea World, so Kyle and I were really excited that they'd get such a great treat. It was more than I expected. Aubrey's absolute joy and excitement at the Shamu show was palpable and brought me to tears. I think I cried because she wasn't sure at first if she was scared or not, but then she didn't really want to not see. And then when the whales actually came out and started jumping she was just in awe. She kept saying "Mommy! Whales jumping!" Seeing her recognition of what was going on and that she knew it was something special was one of the moments I'll remember the rest of my life. I can't get the video to load, but hopefully I'll have it for you in the next couple of days. It is really precious to me!

I think Luke thought he was watching tv. He might be a little young to have had an appreciation for the show and the live animals. He did love the aquariums. He was talking to the fish and reaching out for them. He also figured out how to use a straw for the first time! He thought he was big stuff getting to use a big kid cup.

The next day we went swimming at the resort where my parents were staying. The kids had a good time playing on the beach and floating the river. The next day was zoo day! We saw bears, hippos, rhinos and Aubrey & Luke's favorite - the fish! They're hilarious. All these huge cool animals, and all they care about is the coy pond! :) We went swimming again the next day and the following day, geez, I can't remember what we did Thursday...hmm. Well I'm sure it'll come to me. Friday we went back to the zoo and saw the half that we missed the first day. We petted the goats, saw the monkeys and HUGE snakes. I have been to the zoo several times and I have never before seen the crazy-huge python that we saw this time. It could have opened it's mouth and swallowed me whole! It isn't the kind of image I like to get stuck in my head. But, it's the kind of image that gets stuck in my head.

The next day was Saturday and Mom and Mark were gracious enough to drive all the way over to our house to bring us the truckload of food they had leftover before they headed back to Lubbock. Our whole family had gotten the stomach flu Friday night, so Mom stayed and held Aubrey for an hour so I could get some laundry done and just give my arms a rest! It was so nice. And, if you know us, you know we only buy food for one week at a time, so having a completely stocked fridge and pantry is super-nice too!

The kids had a great time and Mom and Mark loved on all 7 of them with the kind of patience and care that can only come from grandparents. Thank you so much Mom and Mark for giving our kids more than we deserve.

Here are some of the pictures from the week. Enjoy!

How sweet is our niece Adrianna, shelding Luke's eyes from the sun?!?!

Luke is too interested in the fish to look at the camera.

The INfamous coy pond

This is how you take care of 7 kids! :)

Aubrey didn't actually go down this slide, Mom is just sitting her on the edge. My Mom walked her all the way to the top, then she was too chicken to go down. Smart girl, get's her chicken-ness from her Mama for sure!

That's one tired little boy.

We had a great week - we hope you have one too!

Pictures of the Kids

2009-08-14T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

Hop on over to my friend's blog and check out the pictures she took of our babies!

The end of not following through...hopefully

2009-08-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

This is a break from the normal "this is how the kids are doing" post. So, if you'd like to skip ahead to pictures of the kids, feel free to go to the bottom of the post :). I am shamefully using this blog tonight to get stuff off my chest and hopefully gain some accountability.

God has been really tugging at my heart strongly for a while now to get me to realize how much I don't follow through with what I say I'm going to do. It kind of started a few months back when Kyle and I were in a disagreement and he said, "Well, I've just always wanted my word to mean something." It's a simple statement, that on the surface I thought was true for me. But, when he said those words, my heart sank and I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, and God began to work on me.

How many times have I said something and not followed through, and not even that, but not even thought twice about the fact that I didn't live up to my word? What does that say about me? More importantly, how does God feel about that? A familiar verse, Matthew 5:37 says: "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." (NIV). Seems easy enough, right? Say what you mean and mean what you say. Isn't that who I am? Uh, no. Not by a long shot.

Sure, when my name and my reputation is big time on the line and I'd risk public humiliation for failing, I absolutely follow through. But, what about saying, "I'll be there at 8:00", then not showing up until 8:15? What about, "I'm serious this time honey, I'm going to lose 20 pounds, starting tomorrow." I can't tell you how many times I've said that in the past 6 years. And even worse, I lie to myself all the time; "OK, this week, I'm going to save $10 from my allowance." Then, there I am again 2 days left until we get money out and I'm scouring my car floor for a dollar's worth of change for a fountain drink that I feel like I have to have right now.

There are 20 other things like that that I could list that daily I lie to others or myself about, promises I don't keep. For some reason I never realized it was a big deal until now. I never realized the impact it has on others around me. Kyle brought it to my attention probably 2 years ago that he considers being late rude. I never thought of it that way. I guess I thought it just didn't matter. I am consistently 5-15 minutes late - everywhere. Sure, you can say, "Well, you have 2 kids." But I was late when I didn't have kids. And, yes - kids will cause you to be late every know and then, but I'm late 9 times out of 10.

So, what is the impact on others? They can't count on me. If I say something, they aren't sure I'm going to do it. Worse even, I say it and in their head, they think, "Yea, right." That makes me a liar. Ouch. What kind of witness for Christ can I be if my word means nothing?

I wanted to write this all down for you to read so that you might hold me accountable. Accountability helped me tremendously in reading the bible daily, so I was hoping for the same result here. Like, maybe if I write it down and people know I'm aware of my chronic lateness, inability to control my diet and random spending when I'm trying to save money, and just my inability to follow through in general, I might have more reason to live my life in the way I know it needs to be lived. What impact would it have on my husband and my kids if I became, or at least actually tried to be the person I have always thought I was? I have had this warped view that I am pretty reliable - not true! And what is pretty reliable anyways? Isn't that really un-reliable? I do want my word to mean something. I don't want to damage my witness because of my lack of follow through.

So, starting now, I am going to strive daily to be on time, to eat healthy, to spend thoughtfully and to mean what I say when I say something. I want my family and friends to know they can count on me, and I want those people in the periphery of my life to be able to trust what I say, so I might have the opportunity to be used for God's glory.

So, I'm not asking you to call me on the carpet or anything, but I just thought if I know the people in my life read this, then I'm going to have to follow through, or, well - it's just going to reflect really poorly on me and I'm really not going to be credible then.

Ahhh - I feel better and at the same time, nervous :) Ok, it's after 10:00 and one of the things I want to make a priority is getting a good night's sleep and starting the day off rested, so off to bed I go. I leave you with pictures of the babies.

We went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago. Aubrey really liked the statues of the lions.
We had Luke's 1 year party this weekend. I think he liked the cupcakes...
Luke got this baby swing for his birthday and LOVES it. Both the kids love to swing.
Have a great week, and sorry for the heavy post :)

Happy Birthday, Baby!

2009-07-31T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our little boy turned 1!!! In so many ways, it feels like we've had him for 10 years and in lots of other ways it seems like it's only been 6 months. This past year, God has used Luke to make me a better person and to draw me closer to Him. Luke's smile is absolutely infectious, and when he's sad, he's sad with every part of his tiny body. He has a huge range of emotions and from the very beginning has laid his heart out on his sleeve for everyone to see. We love this little boy more and more everyday and can't wait to see the person he'll grow up to be.

Here are pictures from Luke's first 12 months, enjoy :)

Luke's 1st picture.
At one month old, he was already really strong.

At 2 months he was so cute all bundled up!I can't believe he was so big! Look at those cheeks!
At 4 months, I vividly remember my Dad, after seeing this picture, saying, "You need to cut his hair, he looks like a girl." Dad, you were right! :)
By the time he was 5 months, he and Aubrey had become best friends.
One of my favorite pictures of him on the beach in Corpus.
My absolute favorite. He makes you feel amazing when he locks eyes with you and smiles.
Easter morning.
He LOVES playing on the bed. He giggles and crawls all around throwing himself into pillows.
This is Luke at 11 months with Matthew, who is bound to be one of his best friends.
And at almost 12 months, here is the face that makes my heart melt at least once a day.

You know, as I finish this up, I can't help but realize that we have been blessed beyond measure. And I am truly, truly grateful.

I hope you all have a great week and make some fun memories!

What we do when we're bored

2009-07-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

Long time, no post, huh? :) We have been out of town the last 2 weekends, which makes me tired during the week, which leads to not a lot of posting. I have managed, however, to take some shots of the kids around the house to document a few things we've been up to.

So, you know it's super-hot here in San Antonio. Well, I decided it was so hot that we could probably fry an egg on the sidewalk. Aubrey was so excited (normally, letting my 2 year old hold an uncooked egg isn't on my list to do for the day):
This is her, "Hehe, I just got to crack an egg on the sidewalk!" look.
This is what it looked like right after we cracked it:
And this is our disappointed little girl 15 minutes later.
I know she was thinking, "Geez, this is lame. I thought something cool was going to happen." So did I, baby. So did I.

When we aren't cracking eggs in our front yard, we find other, even weirder things to do in the privacy of our home. I was rounding up the trash from the trash cans in the house when I had to take a break. I left one of the little bags (filled with dirty diapers) from the guest bathroom tied up on the floor as I moved on to another task. I came back to find Luke fluffing the bag up like it was a pillow and resting his head on it. We both thought this was hysterical, and Aubrey loves to get a good laugh, so she went a step further and began diving face forward into the dirty bag. They did this long enough for me to get a stomach cramp from laughing so hard at them and long enough for me to find the camera and record this funny scene. I know it's been said hundreds of times by hundreds of moms, but really, why do we ever spend money on toys?

We had a great two weeks traveling and are looking forward to staying home for a while. We're extremely grateful to Uncle Greg and Aunt Karen for watching our precious babies this weekend so we could have some alone time. You guys did a great job, and it means so much to us that you gave up your weekend for us!

We hope you all have a great week!

Breaking News

2009-07-07T17:50:00.000-07:00

I am interrupting this regularly scheduled lull in posts to bring you this breaking news: Aubrey Grace has used the big girl potty!!!

Hallelujah!!! I realize we still have a long way to go, but we partied like it was 1999 anyway :)

Way to go baby girl!!!

Hats and shoes for babies make me smile

2009-07-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys! I hope you're all finding shelter from the heat in fun ways. We've been using the baby pool a lot and staying indoors when we're not in the water. Some of our friends from church let Aubrey and I come over last week and play in their neighborhood pool. She had a great time playing in the big pool and getting to play with some big kids (the boys are 3 and 5). Here are some shots of the kids staying cool.

The boys are on opposite sides of the stairs splashing with their feet.
My Mom found this adorable suit for Aubrey and boy, am I sucker for a baby in an oversized hat!
Luke likes splashing the water way more than he likes actually being IN the water :)

Also this week, my good friend from high school, Robin, graciously agreed to take pictures of our family. We just shot some this morning, but in preparation for the event, I bought the kids some shoes to match the outfits I wanted them to wear. Of course, there were at least 3 times as many little girl options as boy options, which is to be expected. What I did not expect was to find these ADORABLE little things, much less that Aubrey would go "OOOH!!" with excitement when she saw them. She truly is a little girl after my own heart :)In the picture above you can see how they match the little red checkered print dress, and below the real piece de resistance... they're little wedges!!!

Wedges for 2 year olds! Who knew? Kyle and I made sure to watch her closely while she was walking to make sure they weren't too hard to walk in. She's a pro. And she really, really likes them, which makes me happy.

We're on our way to Corpus this weekend to spend some time lounging with Uncle Trent, Aunt Lindsey and baby Matthew at their pad. I'll post about our trip when we get back.

Until then, try to stay cool all our fellow sufferers in Texas!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-06-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a week and a half it's been! I am exhausted in a good way. You know the way you feel after you've worked really hard on something to make it all go right, then you have the big event, then you get to sit back and relax and enjoy the fruit of your labor? I'm that kind of exhausted.

We had Aubrey's 2nd party yesterday and it went fabulously. But, before that we headed up to Lubbock for my 10 year reunion, my Mom's birthday and Father's Day. The reunion was great. We had a bbq on Friday night where I was blessed to catch up with some of my old basketball teammates, and see other people from high school that I knew I had seen, but didn't really know, you know? The weather was great and the food was really good too. We got to visit the school on Saturday morning and were chaperoned by some current students, who I was extremely impressed with. They were respectful, knowledgeable and really just great kids all around. The school was cool. I went to a pretty old school in Lubbock, Lubbock High, and I always really liked the architecture of the building and had always wanted to take Kyle in. So, we go to go visit and I really enjoyed it. From there, we went to lunch with one of my friends from the team and her family and had a great time visiting and watching our girls play together. She has a 5 year old that is absolutely wonderful. Here we are with our kids outside my favorite place to eat in Lubbock:
(L to R: Luke, Aubrey, Me, Rylee, Alicia)
That night was the big event. A dinner and drinks at a lounge. We got to see a lot more people, old friends from elementary school, cheerleaders, choir people and old classmates. It was great to get to sit around and have a leisurely dinner and visit with lots of people and fascinating to hear what other people's lives were like and what they'd been up to. I was terrible and forgot my camera at most of the events, but I did manage to get a great shot of Luke with my good friend Robin:
Luke really liked Robin, which is quite a compliment!

My parents hosted us for the weekend and watched the kids for us while we were out and about and really blessed us tremendously by letting us have peace of mind. Thank you so much Mom and Mark, Dad and Debbie!!!

My Mom also took Aubrey to "Critter Fest"; an event with camels and ponies and lots of other animals that Aubrey evidently LOVED. She got to ride a pony for the first time and Mom caught this cute short video that captures her excitement:

We also got to see Hannah, who has the most gorgeous hair I've ever seen on a little girl. It was so pretty that even Kyle kept commenting on how beautiful it was. The girls were playing on my Mom's trampoline and I caught this awesome shot of the West Texas sky.
My mom also has a swing that Luke loved :)
We had a great time in Lubbock and then came home to start preparations for Aubrey's party! I spent the week shopping, planning and cleaning and the big day finally came yesterday. A 2 year old's party really just consists of cake, presents and a lot of chatting. So, I had to focus on my part, the cake. I did cupcakes from a book called "Hello Cupcake". The theme of the party was ladybugs, so here's what I used, I think they turned out well.
Aubrey thought they were cool, so I think that's all that really counts, kind of :). I spent a crazy amount of time trying to get them right, practicing a week ahead of time and all that good stuff. But, it was worth it to me :)

Aubrey did a great job opening her presents and had a really good time with everyone who came to celebrate. Again, I was terrible with the camera and only have a couple of shots of the actual party.
The biggest news around our house tonight though is not Aubrey turning 2, but Aubrey turning 2 and giving up her pacifier!!! We had been telling her for weeks that when she turned 2 she would be a big girl and wouldn't need her "Pa" anymore. She has been taking it for naps and at night since she was born, so we weren't sure how well this would go over. Well the time had finally come and when she woke up from her nap this afternoon, I told her it was time to throw it in the trash and she said "Ok". I told her if she took it to the trash and threw it in we would give her chocolate, and she was very excited about that. So the actual throwing the paci away wasn't that hard for her. The hard part came tonight when we went to put her to bed for the first time without it. We put her down, not reminding her of the missing "pa" and went through her normal bedtime routine and left the room to wait. She was fine for a minute or two then we could hear here saying, "Where'd pa go?". She said that a couple of times, then seemed to have a realization that it was gone. She got quiet, then started talking with herself, then worked up to a cry. Kyle and I went in, held her and reminded her that she was a big girl and didn't need her "pa" anymore and that we loved her and would be there for her if she needed anything. She stopped crying, we laid her back down and we haven't heard a peep since! The whole ordeal took less than 20 minutes!

Our little girl has one of the most easy going dispositions I've ever seen in a toddler. She is incredible and we have been so blessed to get to have her for 2 years.

We love you guys, and sorry for the long post :)

Bring on the heat!

2009-06-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

Goodness! It has been one HOT week! The Kellogg Crew has been taking cover in our favorite shaded playground, indoors with our buds and in the backyard in the baby pool. San Antonio is under a huge heat wave and it shows no signs of stopping, so we're trying to manage anyway we can. I personally am so thankful that I'm not 8 months pregnant for the first time in 2 summers!

Our good buds Trent and Lindsey stopped by for dinner on their way to Austin and we got to spend some time playing with Matthew!Matthew is an adorable kid. He has huge dimples and smiles constantly.

Here are two boys that are bound to be good buds as they grow up together. Aubrey has now made "swim?" one of her daily requests. I don't blame the poor girl, it's hot out there!
She likes to take little cups of water our of the pool and make mud, which she then sticks her fingers in and says, "Yuck!" Kind of a fun game, I guess :)Here's our little man hydrating and stripped down to his diaper to get some relief from the Texas heat.And our biggest development of the last week has been....Luke walking behind the push toys! He just got up one day and started pushing the Lion toy around as if he had been doing it for weeks. He is very pleased with himself and we are too :)

I hope you all have an awesome week. We're headed to the windy city, no not Chicago, Lubbock, for the weekend for my 10 year reunion! I'll post about that when I get back on Sunday.

We love you guys!

Congrats again Ags!

2009-06-16T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well, after an over 60 year drought for a men's sport to have a National Championship we get two in one month! Both the Men's and the Women's track teams captured the Track & Field National Championship last weekend! Way to go guys! National Champs

A great weekend (a week ago)

2009-06-13T06:46:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys!

I actually have a lot of stuff to post about, so I'll have to break it up over a few days. We had a great weekend last weekend (June 5-6). We headed up to Dallas for the wedding of one of our great college friends and a graduation party for a cousin who is very dear to my heart.

We started off the weekend dropping off the kids with Aunt Jonna and Uncle Chris in McKinney on Friday afternoon. They (Jonna and Chris) were awesome; listening intently as I went over bedtime routines, menus and the do's and don'ts of the Kellogg Crew. We left for the wedding with a great feeling of comfort knowing the babies were in good hands!

The wedding was beautiful. It was in downtown Dallas in a very intimate courtyard that was surrounded by a gorgeous old building, inviting greenery and perfect weather. The bride and groom looked amazing...After the wedding we headed indoors for a cocktail reception while the bride and groom took pictures. We were then treated to an incredible dinner with the best service I've ever had. The staff at the reception were nothing short of exceptional. Our glasses never made it past half-full without someone being there to fill you back up, the food was delivered quickly and at the same time you didn't feel like they were hovering over you or interrupting your conversation. For a stay-at-home mom who does lots of cooking, dishes and serving as a part of my job description, this was an awesome treat! The room the dinner was served in was romantically lit with with candles that gave everything a beautiful gold tone, including the bride and groom...
After the dinner we were ushered back into the cocktail reception for dancing and merriment! We did the traditional Aggie War Hymn that is a staple and any good Ol' Ags wedding, and we had a great time telling embarrassing stories about each other and catching up. Here are my girls. Left to right: Roni, Me (I had red wine, which is why my teeth are stained!), Mandy, and Amy (5-6 months pregnant with Jack!)Roni and John doing their last dance as we blew bubbles around them.
We capped off this great night by heading to a hotel room with no kids! We had a great night, got to sleep in a little bit, take showers that weren't rushed, and we enjoyed every minute of it!

Saturday morning we headed back up to McKinney to meet up with Chris, Jonna and our babies. The kids did great, according to Jonna (but, really is anyone going to tell you if your kids act crazy?, I'm not sure). We spent the afternoon hanging out, then headed on to the next reason for the trip, my cousin Britany's graduation party!

I seriously cannot believe this little girl, - I mean, lady, is old enough to graduate! She will forever be 2 years old to me. We are 10 years and about a week apart from each other, and favored each other a whole lot as little babies, and she's always had a special place in my heart. My two favorite memories of her are: 1. Her being about 1 1/2 and rolling her eyes after my Uncle made what she evidently thought was a lame joke and 2. Her reading aloud from a chapter book in our living room when she was 4 or 5. A brilliant, beautiful and caring person; I am proud to call her family. Here are 3 of the Martinez cousins (we have one more who couldn't make it). Left to right (Me, Britany, Jonna).
Well, a post wouldn't be a post on this blog without at least one picture of the babies (you can see Luke's face in the picture on the left above). So, here's Aubrey with her Grandpa :)
I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and I'll have more to post in a day or two.

1st "Real" Haircut!

2009-06-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

Good Morning everyone, as promised, here are pictures of the 1st salon haircut for Ms. Aubrey Grace.To tell you the truth, it's going to have to grow on me. I think the bangs are too thick, and a little too short right now, but it is really awesome to have her hair out of her face. Lisa, who cut both of our hair was doing a great job trying to get through the haircut quickly, because I had Luke in the room also and I was holding Aubrey in my lap and really anything over 15 minutes with a 2 year old and a 10 month old having to be still is just hard. So, we didn't really have time to make the style really cute or shape it up much, but at least it's all the same length! She cut about 3 inches off some parts in the back and hardly anything off the front. So, it was in desperate need of some evening out! Here's Aubrey with Ms. Lisa after the haircut.Lisa is fabulous at listening to what I need for the day. Yesterday I needed Aubrey's hair evened out, and a simple cut for me, both done really quickly so the kids wouldn't go crazy waiting! She did exactly what we needed. She really has a gift for paying attention to her customers and I am blessed to have found her!

I had to take a picture of my little Luke, too. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a cuter little boy! This weekend we're off to Dallas for a wedding of one of my good college buds, and the kids are staying with Aunt Jonna and Uncle Chris for the night. We thought they needed the practice since they're expecting their own little bundle of joy in about 7 months! We'll blog about our trip when we get back. I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Love,

Jacqui

Way to go, Ags!

2009-06-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

Our Aggie Men's Golf team clenched the 2009 National Championship Saturday! Way to go, boys! Click here to read the story National Champs.

We have Aubrey's 1st real salon haircut scheduled for tomorrow, so I'll post those pictures within a day or two :) I hope you guys have a great week!

Wow, almost 4 weeks...

2009-05-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys! Sorry it's been so long since I posted. We haven't been crazy busy, but just busy enough to keep me from getting an hour to sit down and write you guys. We did have a busy weekend; we went to Corpus Friday night to run in the Beach to Bay Marathon Relay. We dropped off Aubrey and Luke with Kyle's parents and had a nice 2 1/2 hour car ride with just adult conversation, and no extra stops for stinky diapers! We stayed with our good friends Trent and Lindsey and got to see Brent and Kristin who we hadn't seen in a while. The run was fun, although the last 3 legs (it's a 6 person team), got stuck and didn't make it, so they all made it to the final leg, and just skipped legs 4 and 5. It took them 2 1/2 hours to go about 4 miles!!! Isn't that crazy? So, Trent ran the 1st leg and did awesome considering it is 4 miles on the beach! Then, Kyle did really well running over 4 1/2 miles, then I ran better than I expected, and we were on target to finish 20 minutes ahead of last year's time, but then the traffic fiasco happened, and it turned into just a fun run at the end.

Kyle and I drove back to San Antonio right after the race to see lots of my family, but mainly my cousin Russ and his family who I hadn't seen since they had their twin girls over a year ago. The girls were born extremely premature and are just little adorable miracles. They are so mellow and calm and happy and I have to believe it's from all the heaps of love they are blessed with. We had a great time. My grandmother booked hotel rooms at the Drury for everyone, so all the kids went swimming and their was lots of free drinks and food and fun! Aubrey took a liking to my cousin Christina who played really well with her. It is really sweet to see older kids taking such good care of littler ones. Luke got some quality Gram time, and enjoyed playing with her camera by the pool. My Mom and Mark came by our house in the morning to watch Luke and Aubrey for us while we went to church and then took us out for a yummy lunch afterward! It was a great weekend, but I do have to admit, Kyle and I are exhausted. I am really looking forward to the long weekend coming up so we can catch up on some sleep.

So, in the past 4 weeks, Luke has moved into the highchair and Aubrey is in a "big girl" chair. They are both doing awesome eating and staying in their seats. Luke is pulling up on anything and everything, although his favorite is to pull up on my legs when I'm standing up and reach up for me. He's a mama's boy deluxe, and I'm eating it up! I don't really have any cute stories I can think of, my brain is kinda mushy and clogged with tiredness, but if I think of something good I'll try to remember and write it down. Here are some pictures of our month!

This is Luke and Aubrey in their new seats:
Aubrey LOVES to swing in the backyard, and I LOVE this picture of her :)

Luke changing the baby's diaper.I put Luke in Aubrey's crib in the mornings, and they both love it. If I don't put him in, he tries to dive out of my arms to get in and she says "Luke!", and points to the mattress for me to put him in. It's really cute.
This is my cousin Russ with his daughter Kaylie.
And this is my cousin Kelly (Russ's wife) with KaylieThis is my Mom with Luke by the pool. Neither one of our kids is too into the pool thing yet...
I hope y'all have a great week, and hopefully it won't be so long before I post next!

Time marches on...

2009-04-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

This is a beautiful, bittersweet post for me to make. So many things in this last week have all been showing me how fast time goes by without me knowing it. Each day passes and we go through our routines and make little changes here or there, and those changes over a few months or years later add up to life looking completely different that it did 1 year ago, 5 years ago and 10 years ago.

So, for fun, journey back with me 1 year ago, 5 years ago and 10 years ago (if you have the time!) 1 year ago today I was blessed to be taking care of a little boy named Kylar who gave me some great insight into toddlers and little boys. I was caught up in preparing for Aubrey's first birthday party; What would the theme be? Would it be inside or outside? Should I invite her friends, or mine? I was blissfully and naively unaware of the changes having two young children would bring to our world. I was anticipating being a full time stay at home mom ( I started officially May 1 of last year!), not knowing how draining, challenging and rewarding and fulfilling this job is.

5 years ago today I was enjoying being a newlywed, working in a job I really didn't like (a call center taking calls on mutual funds and retirement accounts, yuck!), supporting (with help from family) my husband who was student teaching. We lived in a 1 bedroom, 800 sq. ft. apartment, Kyle was still driving his old Ford Ranger with the broken clutch and no a/c. We were racking up the debt that is now paid off (Praise God!) and were wasting lots of time doing meaningless, unfulfilling things, not realizing that we should be cherising all this free time as a couple with no kids!

10 years ago today I was a senior in high school, completely oblivious to anything other than what my next meal would be (probably a bean and cheese burrito from Rosas, with a Big Red!) I can't remember whether I had gotten into A&M yet or not, at the time, I was too dumb to care (it was only by God's providence that I am where I am today!) I was in the middle of track season, and I think probably looking forward to prom? I was not a Christian, but I thought I was. I wasn't smart at all, but I thought I was!

Today, I am a wife, a mom and by the grace of God, a daughter to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. I am in the middle of an amazing journey where God is humbling me, teaching me gently, blessing my socks off, and listening to my every cry for help, offering of praise, and all the stuff in between. I am so glad God has chosen to bless my family so abudantly and in such a short time. I found my first grey hair this morning, and with it came a sadness that I hadn't expected and a feeling of pride and maturity that I hadn't expected either. I'm almost 30, young to some, old to others, but I love where I am in life. This middle place is kind of a cool place to be. I love that I've had the lessons and blessings that I've had and I'm anxious and eager for the ones yet to come. All that said, let's get on to the next generation that is just beginning their journey...

Luke, my sweet angel, started crawling last week. I know I told ya'll that I haven't been as ready for his milestones as I was for Aubrey's, and even though part of me wants to hold him back, I'm so proud of him when he moves forward! As he gets more mobile, I can see his distinct boy characterstics really emerging; the adveturousness, the destructiveness and the fearlessness! I have loved so much being a mother and I really love that I get to see how different the sexes are and how different two kids can be. Ok, enough about all my feelings, here's our little boy crawling!

Another thing I consider as a milestone was Aubrey's 1st real ponytail! She's always had lots of hair, but it hasn't been long enough for a full-up ponytail until now. It made her look so old to me, and I couldn't help but think of her on the basketball court, or the soccer field with her little pontytail flapping as she runs!Wow, time goes fast! I'll leave you with some pictures from Easter. I hope you guys have a great week, and thank you so much for caring what we're up to, it means a lot!

It's Vegas, Baby!

2009-04-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

Geez, it feels like an eternity since we got back, but it was only last week! We went to Las Vegas last weekend to see Kyle's cousin Tony get married. It was a great trip and Nicole is a wonderful new addition to the Kellogg family! The wedding was beautiful; everything you want a wedding to be: full of promise, joy, and deep, sincere love. I realized when we got home that I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to, but I will share what I have for you guys.

The wedding was held in one of the chapels at the Paris hotel. You couldn't have flash during the ceremony, and my camera didn't do so well with that, so unfortunately the shots of the actual wedding didn't turn out great, but I had to put one in.

Here is the beautiful couple, sorry the picture is so fuzzy!

The stunning Kellogg cousins! (Janeen, Karen, Rhiannon, and Kera)
Me and Kyle :) I hardly have occasion to dress up, so after the wedding, it was kind of fun to walk around Vegas all dressy with my husband!
So, how did we do in Vegas?, you ask. Let me tell you something about my "Gamblitude" as our friend Trent has named it :). I have a problem. I actually have lots of problems and am truly grateful that God loves me and is working on each problem one at a time, rather than trying to do an "extreme makeover" all at once, I don't think I'd survive it! :) Ok, so one of my problems is self control in the area of food and gambling! I really don't have a gambling problem in the sense that I gamble any other time than the 5 or so times we've been gambling, but when I get in those casinos, something takes over me. That something is "gamblitude".

It all starts out well, I play safe, I have fun. I try to remember this is supposed to be for entertainment. I only gamble what money I have allotted for gambling, it's all going well, until I start losing. When my chip stack starts getting small, I start to feel some sense of entitlement or something. Like, I have to win my money back. Like I deserve to win my money back. Like all those lights in Vegas are paid for by people who lose a lot of money, not little old me. Me, the little person, I'm supposed to win. So, I when I get down I just gamble until all my money's gone in hopes that that last penny I put in the penny slot in a desperation move to win all my money back is going to be the one to turn it all around. I genuinely believe that this is the one that is going to be the jackpot and I am going to win all my money back and then some! It hasn't happened yet.

I only lost $20 the first day, then I lost $230 the next day. I get down and then I just keep playing to get back up, but I want to get up a lot, so instead of stopping when I'm ahead, I think, I need to get more ahead. Then, I get down. Then I lose everything I bet, then I pull more money out of my pocket, then more, then I think, oh, this is just a bad table. Then I get up a little at a new table, but again, it's not up enough, I think, I need more. Then I gamble until I've lost all I had at that table, then I'm sad. Then, as we're turning in for the night, making our way to the elevators, I feel a certain slot machine is for sure going to hit, so I put in my dollar and when it's gone, I think, "Well, it's going to hit on the next pull, and then I'll be upset!" So, in goes another dollar. It's the gamblitude. It's a lack of self control.

Gamblitude, it's a bummer :). I lost every dime of gambling money I took, plus $50 of Kyle's money because he wanted me to still get to play on the last night we were there. Kyle only lost $2 in 3 days of gambling, which is pretty awesome! He's much smarter about it than I am, but it was a fun 3 days, I don't know if I got my money's worth gambling this time, but now I think I know that next time I'd like to take less money to gamble with. You see, I always thought, I'm just not taking enough to make it fun, so I took more money, and it wasn't more fun. I would have had the same amount of fun with 1/2 the money, so I'll know next time, and in the mean time I earned a greater appreciation for just people watching, which is fun and free!

We had a great time in Vegas, and the last picture I have for you is of our beautiful babies who were lovingly cared for by Grandma and Grandpa Martinez. The kids did awesome and had a great time with their grandparents. I can't thank you guys enough!

Chasing roosters and low crawling

2009-04-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, after the "tease" as Jonna called it :), I am going to start with the not as exciting, but cute stuff I didn't post from two week's ago. It's been so long, that I'm planning on posting again in a couple of days about this weekend. But, enough dilly-dallying, onto the reports of what we've been up to!

We went to a local nursery that is right outside our neighborhood with our friends Joshua and Sarah. It was a beautiful day and Sarah and I enjoyed walking around looking at the gorgeous flowers and smelling all their beautiful smells and Joshua and Aubrey enjoyed chasing some roosters! If you have a nursery close by, and have a free afternoon, I highly suggest it as a free place to go that will lift your spirits and help you enjoy nature.

Ok, on to the funny part. At least one of the roosters liked the kids, because even though he kept running away when they chased him, he kept coming back to us for more torture! The kids were squealing with delight, and if you've ever seen toddlers run, then you know how precious they looked chasing these birds up and down the isles of flowers. I snapped a few pictures and a short video for your enjoyment :)

I love this picture because I feel like it conveys their fascination with the bird.
Joshua looking at Sarah, like, "Mom, can I go in and get it?"

And this short, adorable footage of the chase!

Also last week, I captured Luke's low-crawling on video. It's long, but cute. He keeps knocking the toy away so he can go get it. He is still doing this to get where he wants and not officially "crawling" yet, but he can sure get anywhere he wants to go, fast! It's funny with the first one, you can't wait for all the milestones and with Luke, it's like, - wait!, Slow down, I'm not ready yet! It's probably a blessing I don't get things my way, because all the babies in the world would stay 8 months old. I love this age!

The next post will be about our fabulous trip to Las Vegas! We had a great time, and I can't wait to share it with you!

An update is coming!!!

2009-04-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

... in the next two days I am planning to post about the last two weeks. Sorry it's been so long :) I can't wait to share all the excitement and exhaustion with you guys!

Luke rocks too :)

2009-03-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

So, Luke still isn't crawling, but I videoed him rocking. He has also started pulling himself forward using only his arms, I think it's called army crawling? But, the actual crawl has not begun yet. It's funny, because jealousy rears it's ugly head anytime I get out the camera. Aubrey who could be in another room, or intently watching a video, all the sudden has to be in my lap and pulling on my arm and just doing lots of fun things that make it hard to get a steady video. So, sorry if the videos are always shaky or loud, that's life with two little ones!

We don't have much to report, we're kind of boring right now, which is a nice thing :)

I hope you guys have a great weekend!

Dallas Rocks!

2009-03-18T07:36:00.000-07:00

We ended our Spring Break in Dallas. Jonna and I were running the Rock to Victory 1/2 marathon on Sunday, so we tried to see as many of our Dallas friends and family as we could. We started off the weekend in Fort Worth visiting Amy, Mandy and Roni. We had a great Rosa's dinner capped off by yummy cookies and brownies courtesy of Amy. We got to sit down with our friends and visit and see Emma, Amy's little girl, who turns one on Friday! Emma was precious. She was all smiley and you could tell she really loves her mommy and daddy, and her puppy Gracie. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the camera out of the bag, so I have no shots of Emma or anyone else from this visit. :( Thank you to Mandy and Randy for taking us in and letting us enjoy your company and tasty breakfast!!!

We left Saturday morning to head to Karen and Greg's (Kyle's older sister). We had a great time just talking and catching up while the kids took a nap. We only brought one pack n' play to Dallas, so we had to improvise to enclose Luke, this is what we came up with:
Ha! It is the cushions from outdoor furniture used as "walls", supported by two large glass containers Uncle Greg uses to make his own beer and one outdoor chair! It actually worked quite well :)

We put Aubrey to sleep in the office, and even though I thought I pulled her far enough away from the bookshelf, this is what it looked like when we came in to get her up:
The bookshelf behind her was solid with books when we laid her down, and the books that once filled the holes on the shelves are all in her crib. She must have gotten bored, because she fell asleep with all of them in the crib with her :)

This is Karen and Greg with Luke, aren't they all beautiful?

We left Karen and Greg's after we had succeeded in rearranging their whole house :), and headed for Jonna and Chris's (my sister). Chris made a great pre-race dinner of spaghetti, garlic bread and salad, it was tasty and carbo-licious! We got up early on Sunday to head out for our run, and made it there in time to hit the restrooms, exchange a race shirt and sing the national anthem. During the song, a plane could be heard getting closer and right at the height of the anthem we received a fly over courtesy of Southwest Airlines :) It was funny.

Jonna and I ran well considering the first 7 miles of the course was a slow and steady uphill climb and there was only one band and their was not a lot of crowd participation to keep our spirits up. Despite the negatives of the race, the weather was awesome and the second half being all downhill was really nice. So, we did what we set out to do, which was finish the race, and I even cut some time off my race from November, which was nice, and gives me hope that I can improve even more to beat Kyle's time next year.

Here is a picture of Jonna and I right before we left the house for the race:We had a great time in Dallas getting to see everybody and thank you everyone for feeding us and taking us in!

We have another party at Chuck E. Cheese this weekend, and Luke is going to crawl at any moment, so we should have a good post on Sunday or Monday. We love you guys!

Our Spring Break

2009-03-16T07:33:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody! It's been a while, so I have a lot to post about. I'm going to break this into 2 different posts, and really it's just a lot of pictures :)

This last week was Spring Break for Kyle, so we got to spend all week with Daddy!!! It was great, and the kids and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We kicked off the break with another party at Chuck E. Cheese for our niece Adrianna.

The birthday girl blowing out her candles
Like father, like daughter :)
It's no wonder kids have a hard time focusing on one thing!!! This picture adequately captures the insanity of Chuck E. Cheese
My chocolate lover...

Birthday parties usually mean the grandparents come to town, so Gram and PaPaw came by for dinner after the party to hang out with us!
and we got to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma Martinez!
Kyle and I had dentist appointments on Monday, what a joy that was :). But, it was necessary and it's done, so we stayed in town for those, and then we left for Corpus on Tuesday. We spent some good time with Trent and Lindsey and baby Matthew. The weather was perfect. The water was freezing. Aubrey had a great time, Luke didn't really know what to think, and he wanted nothing to do with putting his feet in the water. Grandpa and Grandma Kellogg came down with Aunt Janeen for a day on the beach too!Matthew wasn't too excited when we first got to the beach, Lindsey thought it was funny :)

Everybody getting beach readyI am so bummed this shot is fuzzy, because the colors are gorgeous, and look his smile!
Aubrey LOVES Aunt Janeen.
Matthew cheered up after a while. I know you can't really tell because the hat is covering his face, but he isn't crying anymore :)
The boys playing, aren't they cute? They are 4 months apart (Luke is older).Three generations of Kellogg men.

Aubrey watching the little sea shells dig back into the water.
If you click on this picture you can see Kyle and his dad catching some waves way out in the water.
My two favorite boys.
We finished the week in Dallas, I'll post about that in the next few days.

I hope you guys have a great week!

A blessedly uneventful week

2009-03-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! We had, just as predicted, a pretty uneventful week. It was great. We just enjoyed each other's company and hung out around the house, went for walks, read books, and watched videos. It's really nice to have weeks like that, when the alternative could be sick kids with doctor's visits, or a week so packed we don't have time to be together.

Aubrey has wanted to sit and try the toilet thing out 2 more times, so we're really psyched about that. She sits there and strains and strains to make herself go, and then says "All done", even though she didn't really do anything. Very cute, not so prodcutive, but it's good practice anyway.

Luke has learned to high-five with Kyle, which is really, really cute. He also started mimicking me making faces today at lunch. We'll try to get those things on video and post it so you guys can share in our joy of these sweet moments.

My running is going way better than I thought it would, so Aunt Jonna and I should really kick some tail and take some names in our run, which is in 13 days!!! Other than that, Kyle is getting pumped for Spring Break next week, and we are planning trips to both Corpus and Dallas while he's off. It should be fun seeing some family and friends we haven't seen in a while.

Here are some pictures for you from our week.

The kids hanging out on our bed
Aubrey LOVES playing in the backyard
She also likes dumping out her basket of hair ties and socks, and Luke enjoys the camera :)
Kyle was nice enough to squat beneath the coffee table to get this shot of Aubrey & me...
We hope you guys have an awesome week!

Sittin' Pretty

2009-02-23T08:07:00.001-08:00

Good Morning Everyone! I hope your week is starting off great. We are coming off a nice relaxing weekend where we got to enjoy some great family time, the nice weather outside, and great teaching in Sunday school yesterday.

We have a fabulous new development in Aubrey-land: she wanted to sit on the potty!!! We introduced her to the word "poop" about a month ago and have been asking her if she needs to go, and if she's going, and telling her when she's gone, just to get her used to the word and the feeling, and get her thinking about using the toilet. Until yesterday, she had always been adamantly opposed to sitting on the toilet, but yesterday, not only did she sit there, but she tried to poop! I know, I know, it's silly to get this excited about pooping in the toilet, but Kyle and I were just thrilled. We clapped for her and flushed the toilet, and washed our hands and let her know that we can try any time she wants. It was a nice family moment :)

(Any potty training tips or stories you want to leave in the comment section would be greatly appreciated!)

Also sitting pretty these days is our devilishly handsome Luke. He's getting better everyday at sitting up and he is just looking so grown up to me. I am going to be sad when they're both not babies anymore, I just want to keep them right at this stage sometimes. They are a lot of fun right now, and they really like each other and play really well together, which is a blessing.

We don't have much planned for this week, except that I'm training for another 1/2 marathon with Jonna that's coming up in less than 3 weeks!!! So, trying to fit in running and cleaning, cooking, devotional time and taking care of the kids can get exhausting, but all of it is really rewarding, so I could use some prayer for good use of my time :)

Luke lights up and loves to have the camera on him!
Aubrey can do no wrong in her little brother's eyes...
Look at all that drool!

A night with "The Big Cheese"

2009-02-17T18:12:00.001-08:00

I have to admit, I am stealing the nickname "The Big Cheese". Julie, my sister-in-law used it first, but I love it.

Our youngest nephew in town, Ethan, had his 3rd birthday on Sunday night at Chuck E. Cheese. Aubrey loves Chuck E. Cheese, even though she's only been twice. She, like her mother, is a sucker for advertising. The geniuses at Chuck E. Cheese have made a killer move by placing advertisements right before and after Sesame Street, which Aubrey watches every day. So, when we pass that big lovable mouse plastered on the side of their building, she shouts "Cheese! Cheese!", until I say, "Yes, honey. That's Chuck E. Cheese, I see him." She was so excited when I told her Ethan was having his party at Chuck E.Cheese. She was all smiles all night, and for the last two days she keeps saying "E, Cheese". "E" is short for Ethan. We all had a great time at the party, and Ethan is beyond cute. Really, he's a handsome boy and he was extremely gracious and happy, and just a joy to watch.

The Big Cheese came out to sing Ethan "Happy Birthday", and Julie was holding Aubrey while Ethan gave him a hug. Julie asked if Aubrey wanted to hug the mouse and she did, and she went up to him, gave him a hug, then promptly ran back to Julie and laid her head on her shoulder for the next 5 minutes. I think it took a lot out of her to get the courage to hug him, and Julie thinks Aubrey was like, "I immediately regret this decision!". It was cute and I am glad she loves and trusts her Aunt Julie so much. It's a unique bond those two have :)

So, here are some pictures from the party:

Look at this smile! (This is the mechanical mouse, not an actual guy in the suit, that comes later)
The birthday boy playing games
He's focused
Alex being the sweet older cousin, entertaining Luke
Adrianna taking a break from the action to pose for a picture
Eric jamming out on the blue screen.
G.G. being my second set of hands as usual :)
It's Chuck E.!!! (notice in this shot, Aubrey hasn't seen him yet)

Ethan telling Chuck E. he rocks. (Aubrey is memorized)
Aubrey immediately following the hugging incident.
We had a great time!

While were on the subject of cheese, I found a great recipe for queso. It's a twist on the old Velveeta and Ro*tel bit, and I can't get enough!

1 lb. Velveeta, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 can (10oz.) Ro*tel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies, undrained
1 cup Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella
1/2 lb. ground beef, cooked, drained
1/2 cup sliced green onions

Mix all ingredients except onions in large microwaveable bowl.
Microwave on HIGH 5 min. or until Velveeta is completely melted, stirring after 3 min. Stir in onions and enjoy!

One of My Favorite Milestones

2009-02-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long. Kyle and Aubrey have been sick and we've been busy around the house just doing some spring cleaning.

In the past 2 weeks, Luke has hit one of my favorite milestones: he's reaching for you when he wants to be picked up!!! I love this milestone because it is so sweet. When this precious little baby with chubby legs and a sweet little face reaches up for me, my heart melts. It's one of my favorite things about being a mom. He will be on the floor or in "Disneyland", and he starts whining quietly, he sounds like a little puppy, and if you look over at him, he's just staring at you, willing you to come to him. You walk over and he starts kicking his legs and getting really excited, and then he smiles a huge smile as you reach him and he throws his arms up towards you as if to say, "Pick me up, Mama!" So, I've been basking in the happiness of this stage the last two weeks. I know it won't last forever.

Aubrey is learning her letters. She knows, A, F,H, K, L, M, O and S pretty well. They're just little sponges at this age, and she's soaking up everything. I'm trying to take advantage, because right now she thinks it's all just fun and is willing to sit and learn, as long as I'm willing to squeal with delight and clap my hand like a lunatic everytime she answers questions correctly. I've lost all my dignity, well what little I had anyway.

We're having a blast at our house. I have a few random pictures of the last 2 weeks, enjoy!

This is what Luke looks like after eating his oatmeal.
This is Kyle trying to hold Luke's attention long enough to feed him. The goofy thing he's wearing on his head was the hood to one of Luke's sleep outfits that I cut off.
Luke really loves his Daddy.
Aubrey feeding her baby doll.
Aubrey and her doll posing for the camera.
I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day tomorrow filled with lots of Love!

Oh yeah - I forgot, Kyle and I finally watched "Fireproof", and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it!

My Fling with Facebook

2009-02-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I had to end my fling with Facebook and the first day was hard, but today has been much better. I originally got on Facebook a couple of weeks ago to see what Jonna's page (my sister) looked like and to catch up on old friends who I had lost touch with. I accomplished both those goals within a couple of days, but then found myself logging in like 5 times a day (if not more), just to see what people were doing. It became an unhealthy obsession, and instead of catching up with people, I had now moved on to snooping in their lives, and that's not ok.

So, I had to cancel my profile, and I was sad at first, but I know it was the right thing for me to do :). It was great catching up with everyone and seeing who had gotten married, where people lived, and what people were into these days. I am glad I got on and checked it out, and I am glad I am back to my life now; playing with the gorgeous babies I've been entrusted with!

Also, on Friday, I was on Fox Business talking to Dave Ramsey on his show about our family being debt free. It was great! I was nervous, but a friend recorded it and when I watched it last night, I didn't ramble nearly as much as I thought I had. I was sure I said something like "The Iraq", or "I carried a watermelon.", but I didn't - Yea!

I promise I'll get back to pics of the babies sometime this week and fun baby stories!

Milkjuice and Fun with a Water Bottle

2009-01-28T07:33:00.000-08:00

Fun title, huh? So, one of my favorite stories about Jason's kids goes like this: We were watching them one night when the boys were small and one of them (either Eric or Alex) wanted candy right before bed. We said "No", so he glanced through the pantry and asked for popcorn, we said "No, but you can have milk." Not convinced that he couldn't get us to give in, he persisted. "Cookie?", "No", we said, "But, you can have milk." I could see the wheels in his head turning as he thought of someway to get us to give into something better than milk. A lightbulb went off in his head, and with great anticipation, he says, "Chocolate Milk?" I loooved it. Adorable.

So, I have my own chocolate milk story to share this morning: Every morning when Aubrey wakes up, she says "Juice!", and I say "You can have juice after you finish your milk." She then says, "Juice!", and I say, "Milk!" This exchange usually goes on while I'm changing her diaper and getting her dressed, and it's all in good fun. This morning, instead of our normal exchange, after the first "Juice!", followed by my "Milk.", she says "Milkjuice?" I loved it. I love the thought process and the effort and I just love all of it :)

So, fun story about Luke. He eats his dinner in the Bumbo seat on the kitchen table. Either Kyle or I am always in arms reach and we don't walk away from him (that's just my "we're pretty safe parents, don't judge me" disclaimer) :). Anyway at dinner, he was intently watching me drink from my water bottle and I could tell he wanted it. So, I placed it on his tray, and he was all about it. He was so excited to grab it and chew on it, and just to get to have it.

If any of you have read the older Christmas post, you know Luke's been pretty skittish about loud noises thus far. So, when the water bottle fell off the tray, onto the glass table, and onto the floor with lots of jolting noise, Kyle and I braced ourselves for him to start howling. Instead, this is what ensued...

Seems like he's gone from skittish baby to destructo boy. And it begins....

I hope y'all have a great week!

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.

2009-01-23T14:03:00.000-08:00

We're debt freeeeeee!!!! It took us 3 years and 4 months, but add 2 kids, and drop one full time job, and we just paid off $44,559.59, and are debt free, other than our house!!! That means, we own 2 cars outright with no payments, we have no credit cards, no student loans, no furniture loans, nothing. We don't owe anybody a dime!!! Praise God!!! I don't think it will fully sink in until Kyle gets home tonight, but I have wondered for over 3 years how this would feel. I have to share the excitement with you guys, because it is just awesome.

God is faithful. God is good. And he doesn't have any favorites (Eph 6:9).

God used Dave Ramsey to inspire us and give us the tools we needed to get out of debt, and I am so grateful for his ministry. Because we don't have any payments, I am able to stay home with our babies, and Kyle doesn't have to take on extra jobs, or do some job he doesn't want to do, just for more money. We are so blessed and if any of you ever wanted to get out of debt, we're living proof that it can be done! ...And on a teacher's salary no less!

I'm so stoked!!!

She loves him!

2009-01-21T18:39:00.000-08:00

Last week I received an awesome blessing dropping off some clothes at Goodwill. I had lots of stuff to drop off, about 6 bags and a car seat. I drove up to Goodwill and let Aubrey get out of the car, because she was feeling confined in her car seat. I left Luke in his seat, because there was a guy who came out to help me unload, and we were right in front of the door, and he was just chillin' out anyway. Aubrey was a little leery of this strange man taking bags from our car, but after the 3rd trip into the store she had kind of warmed up to him. The last thing I gave the guy was the car seat from the back. As I handed it to him, she started crying and reaching for it, and saying "Luke", "Luke". She's only a year and a half, so at first, I thought she was calling the guy Luke, it wasn't until she became persistent and reaching back for the door as I was trying to leave that I realized she thought I had given Luke to this strange guy. My heart smiled so big it hurt as I took her over to our car and showed her that Luke was in his car seat safe and sound and we hadn't given him away. She looked in, became calm and said "Hi, Luke." It was precious. She really loves him! (or at least she doesn't want some stranger taking him :)

Boo to ear infections!

2009-01-19T14:08:00.001-08:00

My precious baby boy has a terrible ear infection. He had been waking up like 10 times at night crying because of the pain. He was diagnosed with an ear infection last Tuesday, and on Friday afternoon he woke up from a nap screaming uncontrollably, and would only calm down when I fed him. Once he'd been fed, he conked back out for 3 hours. When he woke up, I noticed he had a lot of drainage coming out of his infected ear. I got on-line to self-diagnose, and it appears that his ear drum had gotten a small tear from the infection. He felt tons better, because all the pressure that had been building was released, but it looked awful. I took him to the doctor Sunday morning, and he got some stronger anti-biotics (he was on amoxicillin), and some drops for his ears. The doctor didn't seem concerned about the tear, but told me to follow up in a week to ten days to check how he's progressing.

It is a terrible feeling to have your little baby be in pain and you not be able to do much about it. Thankfully, he has slept much better since Friday night, which is awesome for everyone, but I can't tell if the infection is getting better.

So, please pray for him if you get the chance!

Our Zoo Trip

2009-01-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

Howdy! It's been a while since I last posted, and I have a few cute things to post about, so for today, we'll just do the zoo. We went to the Zoo with the kids on Saturday and Aubrey looooved it. She was in awe of seeing all the animals that we read about in her books. It must be the perfect age to take kids to the zoo, because I'll bet 75% of the kids there were between 1 and 2.

I love the San Antonio Zoo. I think it's beautiful and well taken care of and I love the animals. The only animal who didn't cooperate was the giraffe who was hiding in it's enclosure, all the other animals were out and she got to see the hippos, rhinoceros, lions, jaguar, monkeys and birds. They have an enclosure where you can go in and be with the birds, who will eat out of your hands. She thought that was pretty awesome until one landed on Kyle's arm (he was holding her). He said he thought she was going to draw blood, she clung to him so tightly. She also liked the petting zoo part. She got to go in and pet (and chase) goats, and for the last 2 days she randomly has been saying "Goats!" and then laughing. They had some brushes in the pen, and I think you were supposed to brush their hair, Aubrey thought the brushes were to chase the goats with :)

Luke was awesome. I carried him in the wrap and he just looked around at everything and everyone and was just mellow the whole time. He's a cutie pie. Here are some pictures and a video!:

Christmas outfits

2009-01-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

We haven't been up to much, which has been really nice. The Kelloggs came over on Saturday and we hung out for a few hours while the kids entertained everyone. Kyle and I are doing on-line parenting classes that I think are aweome if you want to check them out: www.parentingministry.org, click on "Parenting Class". There are 10 sessions about 45 mintutes each, and they have really been both convicting and helpful. You can do them whenever you have time and go back and watch the videos over and over, which is great for us.

That's about it from our world. God has been awesome and faithful and we are just enjoying his blessings and praying that we use all he has given us for his glory.

Ok, so, Aubrey and Luke got lots of adorable clothes for Christmas and I've been taking pictures of Aubrey in her outfits when I remember. I haven't been so great about getting Luke in his, I'll work on that this week. So, here are a few pictures of them (ok, just one of Luke) in some of their new outfits. I hope you like them!
I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Cute Pics

2009-01-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys! I don't have much to say, but I know most of you log in just to see new pictures of the kids, so here you go!

This is what the kids look like when I'm doing dishes, aren't they cute?!?!
I think it's awesome that Aubrey will just chill with a book, and Luke loves this walker-thing. Kyle calls it "Disneyland". He says that way, they'll think they've been to Disneyland. He's a dork sometimes and I'm pretty sure the plan isn't going to work, but they both have loved this toy at this age.

Here's them being posed for a picture today:

Aubrey thought Luke's hair needed brushing

He didn't mind :)

Here's our handsome boy!

5 Years!!!

2009-01-06T07:12:00.001-08:00

Well, as of last Saturday, Kyle and I have been married 5 years. We went out to dinner while Janeen watched over the sleeping babies on Saturday night and had a good time just visiting and having some good food we didn't have to prepare or clean up! So, I'll tell you my version of our story :)

We met at A&M freshman year building Bonfire. Our dorms were connected to each other and my dorm was paired with his dorm for cut and stack, so we spent a lot of time together in big groups. During the cold nights out at stack, Kyle would give me his sweatshirt, and was always very chivalrous and just a nice guy. When Bonfire fell, our group of friends got much closer and the 4 girls and the 5 boys who were going to be Co-Chairs and Crew Chiefs the next year spent almost every free moment together during the Fall of 2000. It was during this time that I caught sight of Kyle's soccer legs. I had always seen him in jeans or overalls, and I have to tell you that at first sight of his super muscular legs in shorts, I was pretty interested. Now, he wasn't only a super-sweet guy, but he had a super-sweet physique to go along with his personality! (sorry to any family who is getting grossed out :).

Kyle and I continued to get closer and when he gave me an axe handle that he had made for me, I knew he was interested. One night, when some of us were out at the Polo Fields, where Bonfire had fallen, reminiscing, it just all clicked. From that night on, we were pretty inseparable. We dated for 2 years before getting engaged, were engaged a little over a year, then married.

I can't imagine going through life with anyone else. He's the perfect match for me. He is without a doubt my favorite person in the world. I love that he listens to me when I whine, and I love that he tells me when I've whined enough. I love that he is so rational, and yet he will do sweet mushy stuff to let me know how much he loves me. I love that after a long day of work, he comes home and gets on the floor with the kids and wrestles around even though I'm sure he's exhausted. I love that he is a strong man who humbly submitted his life to the Lord and that he isn't ashamed of sharing his faith. I love him more every day, and I pray that Aubrey finds a man as amazing as him to marry. It's been more of a marriage than I could ever have dreamed of, and I am extremely blessed to have even gotten to count Kyle as a friend.

Here's a picture of him driving back form Corpus last week (isn't he beautiful?):

From Christmas to New Years

2009-01-05T07:13:00.000-08:00

I am going to put a few days together in one blog, because I have a couple of pictures I wanted to share. After we finished celebrating all our Christmases, Karen, Kyle's older sister who was visiting from Dallas, came over to see the kids. We had a great afternoon eating pizza and playing cards on the deck while Aubrey ran around the backyard. We were practicing Blackjack because we are planning on going to Las Vegas in April for Kyle's cousin's wedding. Karen was "watching" Aubrey while the rest of the adults were engrossed in our game. I put "watching" in quotes because this is what Aubrey looked like when Karen brought her over to us:

Look at her mouth, it's filled with dirt! We all had a good laugh, and Karen was removed from the short-list of approved baby-sitters :)

This is the Kellogg Crew sitting around playing cards in our backyard:
We had a good time with Karen and Greg and always love it when they come down to visit. We left the next day for Corpus Christi to visit our good friends Trent and Lindsey and their new baby Matthew for New Year's Eve. We had a great time eating some good food and drinking some good wine after the kids all went to bed. We made it till midnight talking and reminiscing about our college days, and even had enough energy after the ball dropped to play some Wii. We were all very tired the next day and we drove home after lunch. Here's some pictures the morning after New Years Eve:

Trent with Matthew
Lindsey and Matthew sleepingI am planning on posting later today, or maybe tomorrow, about Kyle and my 5th anniversary which was Saturday. Talk to you then!

What a Wonderful Christmas

2008-12-29T13:29:00.000-08:00

All I can say is: "Wow." What a wonderful Christmas we had. We received more gifts than anyone deserves and were showered with great food and even better company. Thank you, thank you to: Gramma and Gramps, Dad and Debbie, Mom and Mark and Mom and Dad Kellogg for taking us in, feeding us and just pouring out blessings all over our family. There has not been a Christmas that I have felt more humbled than this one. I am grateful for the time you spent cleaning, cooking, shopping and wrapping presents all so that we could come and relax and be loved on. We had a great time!

So, here's how our Christmas break has gone so far: we kicked off the season with a trip to the Incredible Pizza Place with G.G. and Gramps two Fridays ago, we did the "Santa" thing for the kids the next morning before heading up t o Lubbock. We got to spend a couple of days visiting my Nanny who is in a rehab center trying to let her foot heal and getting dialysis treatments. We then went to my Mom and Mark's for a day of fun in Shallowater before going to Christmas Eve mass in Littlefield and opening gifts that night. We woke up Christmas morning and headed back into Lubbock for Christmas with my Dad and Debbie. We opened more presents and got to see all the cousins on my Dad's side and meet our newest niece, Salem for the first time. We left the day after Christmas at 9:30pm to get back to San Antonio around 3:30am (don't ask) :). We then had a day of rest before heading to the Kellogg's to have Christmas on Sunday afternoon for our final round of present opening. It was an incredibly busy, fun-filled time!

The kids got more clothes, shoes, bibs, books, toys, socks, puzzles and movies than I ever dreamed they could, so I think we're set for the next year. Our living room was so full of gifts that there wasn't a place to sit for two days until Kyle and I cleaned out the pantry and numerous cabinets for more space!

Here's a few pictures that I liked from our travels and gatherings:

Aubrey with her Great-Gramps at Incredible Pizza PlaceAubrey's dollhouse

Luke in a hilarious coat from Grandpa and Grandma Kellogg
Luke with Grandpa
Luke with Gram

Kyle and Aubrey jumping at Mom's house in the wind (look at the bumpers)A picture of the abundance of gifts for our family at just one place!

Aubrey & Aunt KarenAnd finally, the gift that keeps on giving......the Band in a Drum, complete with cymbals and maracas!

Just to catch you up

2008-12-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

So, I have a lot of little things to post about that happened this week, and not many pictures, but you'll have to cope :). Let's see, I still have a sore throat. This is after 2 rounds of antibiotics, first amoxicillin, then a Z pac. It's been over 3 weeks now, and I am just learning to deal with it until it decides to leave. I do pray that God will heal it every morning, but so far, that hasn't been his will. We took Christmas pictures for our cards. Janeen (Kyle's little sister) came over and was gracious enough to spend the afternoon trying to catch all 4 of us smiling. It didn't go as perfectly as I had planned, but we got a good enough picture. It's hard to get 2 kids under two to smile and look at the camera and it was really windy outside, so in the picture we ended up using, both Aubrey and I have hair in our faces, but Luke and Kyle look good. Here it is:

We also went over to Grandma Kellogg's for Christmas Cookies. The Kelloggs have a tradition that every year the whole family gets together at Grandma Kellogg's and decorates sugar cookies. It is a good time to sit around and relax with family before the craziness of the holidays sets in. Aubrey got to eat a cookie this year:

I went to my first MOPS (Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers) Christmas Party last night. It was fun! It was a ladies only party, so the husbands were left with the kids and we had good food, drinks, and did an ornament exchange. There were some awesome Emergency Room stories told. It wasn't until I was relaying them to Kyle that I realized all the patients were boys....hmmm... It makes me wonder what sort of fun I'm gonna get to have with Luke. Only time will tell :)

That's all from here for now. We're going to The Incredible Pizza Place on Friday to celebrate Christmas with G.G., so I will post about that before we head to Lubbock on Saturday. Have a great week!

G.G. to the Rescue

2008-12-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

She's Gramma to me, G.G. to Aubrey & Luke, but maybe there should be a "Super" added in front of both those nicknames. In the past month my Gramma has done no less than: go with me to a doctor's appointment to help with the kids, take in a vest & pants set for Luke, bring Aubrey about 30 books from her own collection, clean my house, volunteer to come shopping with me and the kids (she entertained them in the car while I ran into a store, and if you've ever been in a stationary vehicle with a 17 month old and a 4 month old, you know it's not something you volunteer for! :) and be ready at the drop of a hat to help me whenever I need it. She's just awesome.

She also happens to be the first person Aubrey ever recognized and called by name, other than Mom and Dad. We were getting in the car at the grocery store and Aubrey started pointing and saying "G.G.! G.G.!" So, I looked, and sure enough, there was a lady who was the spitting image of my Gramma.

Anyway, I wanted to document how helpful she is and what a blessing she's been to me while I am learning how to be a stay at home mom to 2 little ones.

Here she is with Aubrey:

Thanks, Gramma for all you do. We love you!

Aubrey also wore her first jean jacket this week, and it was too cute not to capture.

Luke's First Haircut

2008-12-07T15:45:00.000-08:00

So, I realize now that I was in denial. My beautiful baby boy desperately needed a haircut. My dad brought it to my attention, and Kyle and I had been meaning to do it anyway, so we went ahead and took the plunge. I cut his hair this afternoon, and I absolutely love it. I have to say that I thought he was cute before, but now I think he's downright studly. That may be a biased mom speaking, but really, he's a good lookin' boy!

This is a picture from last week:And the official "before" picture:

And these are the "afters"!!!

Tell me what you think!

Thanksgiving Memories

2008-12-03T06:21:00.000-08:00

So, I am finally posting Thanksgiving pictures, and I didn't take as many as I thought I did, and the quality isn't the best, but they hold memories and stories just the same. We had a great time, the turkey was super moist and there were great rolls and yummy pies, and all the other stuff was just icing on the cake (or stuffing in the turkey :). This year was at Mom Kellogg's and Karen and Greg made it to town from Dallas, Janeen was there with Cole, Grandma Kellogg came, and Tom, Sandy and their two kids, Ainsley and Christina rounded out the group. It was a smaller group than usual, but fun nonetheless. So, here is a picture of Kyle's Aunt Sandy holding Luke:

The story behind this is that my sweet son Luke does not like big crowds, new people or loud noises. Mix that disposition with the Kellogg family and it's a recipe for one unhappy baby. Sandy, not knowing Luke's disposition and seeing a sweet little baby sitting in his car seat, picked him up (he doesn't like new people and the room is really loud). This launches him screaming bloody murder. I was in the kitchen and didn't see this unfold, I only heard his cries. Poor Sandy was being heckled by her very loud husband, Uncle Tom, that the baby didn't like her, and she was pinching the baby, and lots of other things that are funny if you aren't holding a screaming baby. It was quite traumatic, I think for both Luke and Sandy. Eventually he calmed down and warmed up the the new environment, and Aunt Sandy was brave enough to pick him up again. So, I wanted to capture the memory of Luke being happy with Aunt Sandy, because once he'd calmed down and been in the house for a while, Luke was perfectly fine being held, and I think he liked Sandy, despite their less than ideal first meeting.

This is part of the Kellogg crew, left to right: Aubrey, cousin Ainsley, Cole (Janeen's boyfriend), Grandma Kellogg, Dad Kellogg, cousin Christina, Uncle Tom, Aunt Sandy, and Luke. They are engrossed in a football game.

This is Aunt Karen (Kyle's sister) holding Luke. Aunt Karen has been one of Luke's favorite people since the first time they met :)

This is Ainsley and Aubrey playing peek-a-boo behind the chair.
That was our Thanksgiving. It was a great day. Next year, we are planning to be in College Station for the big game and the 10 year anniversary of Bonfire.

Self-diagnoser

2008-11-29T19:42:00.000-08:00

I have strep throat. Well, according to everything I can find on the web, I have strep-throat. I am a self-diagnoser, and I have all the symptoms of strep throat and it has, as of last night, moved to my left ear, which hurts pretty badly. If I don't feel better by Monday (this has been going on for 4 days now), I am going to the doctor.

So, we need prayers that Kyle and the kids don't get sick. I know prayer works and I'd really like to avoid them getting sick, so please pray that they don't get sick. But, the sickness is why I haven't posted Thanksgiving pictures yet, and why I haven't posted in a while. I promise to post some pictures soon, maybe even tomorrow.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Bad Blogger

2008-11-23T12:20:00.000-08:00

Ok, so we had a really eventful weekend, but I didn't take one picture - what a bad blogger am I? On Friday night we went to my nephew Eric's 9th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. I can't believe he's 9. I was blessed to be in Hawaii 9 years ago when he was born and still can't get over how the time has gone by. But anyway, "Happy Birthday Eric!!!" We had a great time at the party and Aubrey had a blast running around the little play places with a loving Gram following close behind. Saturday my Mom, my Gramma and I went to an awesome crafts fair at the Freeman Coliseum. It was my first time and I definitely plan on going next year. I fell in love with a place called MyIzzy; they were adorable bows that were unlike the standard bows you see everywhere. I could have bought every bow in the place if God hadn't blessed me with a bit of restraint.

Last night my Mom and Mark were nice enough to come over and watch Aubrey while Kyle and I went to a wedding for one of his family friends. I didn't actually get to see the wedding, I was driving Luke around so he could sleep and be happy for the reception and we could - no wait, Grandma Kellogg could show him off :). The bride looked beautiful and we made it through about an hour of the reception before Luke had had his fill. He isn't too fond of big crowds yet, but in this family it can be sink or swim, so we'll see how he does when he's older.

When we called to tell Mom and Mark we'd be home in 15 minutes, they told us the score of the Tech game was 28-7, not quite the close game I was expecting. By the time we'd made it home 15 minutes later, the score was 42-7 - ouch. Well, here comes the inevitable craziness that is the BCS, somebody's gonna get the short end of the stick, and that's a bummer because the Big 12 had some awesome teams this year. We're looking forward to the Big Game this week, maybe we can pull off another upset against t.u., and while I'm not going to hold my breath, I always have faith that we can pull it off - Gig 'Em Ags!

I promise to take pictures of Thanksgiving, but until then, here are some random pictures of our week:

Daddy reading to AubreyAubrey and Luke in the morning

Aubrey's wake-up do

Howdy to the blogging world

2008-11-17T17:52:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys! I jumped into the blogging world once I found myself enjoying everyone else's postings. I hope to spend some time making my page prettier, but if I never get around to it, at least I'll be able to let anyone who cares to know, or any one who's bored at work, see what we're up to.
Kyle and I ran a 1/2 marathon yesterday, we didn't take any pictures, but Kyle did really awesome. He ran at 8:24 pace for 13 miles, which I think is pretty cool. I did it at 10:24 pace, which I am not disappointed with. It was a great run, and I think I am going to do it again next year (hopefully with Jonna!). The kids are doing great. They both have stuffy noses, but are taking it like champs. There is just a lot of bulb suctioning going on at my house. I will try to post a couple of times a week, it will help me take more pictures to capture the kids before they grow up on me.

I hope y'all enjoy!