2015 | January 17 - 31

Lucky us! We happened to be in Houston at the same time as the Calk family. Thankfully they were free for brunch and I was able to get in some Sarah time and kiss baby Noah. From the looks of it, the boys had a great time in Navasota. Parker loaded up and took off to the bottom with his Chief. It was pretty funny to hear all the stories about their adventure, including the one about the dead deer that didn't make it over the fence.

Chief said "We are heading to the river bottom hunting grounds to refill the feeder and bring in the tree stand for the year. Parker was a big help and asked the usual 50k questions."



Resting and relaxing today. Feels oh so good to be home with no agenda.

It was unseasonably warm enough to play on the back porch today. The boys loved splashing in the water and look forward to when this is the norm.

Pierce got so wet I had to strip him down to his diaper. He absolutely thought that this was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

All that playing outside led to an afternoon bath. Daytime baths are my fave.

Wyatt turned four and we celebrated after school at the park! It's so fun to finally be outside playing. Wyatt and his mama are very special to us -- they were our first friends here in San Antonio.

Many of our favorite people + 80 degree weather made for a fantastic afternoon.

Pierce and Hudson.

Wednesdays are a fave around here. No alarm so we are free to snuggle and play as long as we'd like. These sweet brothers make me so happy.

Parker loves kissing his brother goodnight every night.

Silly Pierce. A phase I have not missed at all: tearing through the tupper ware cabinet. I'm lucky big brother often cleans up the mess without my even having to ask. One of the things I DO love is that Pierce loves being upside down. He thinks it is hilarious and smiles so big for us when we play this game.

I have a video of this that is just way too cute. It was super cold outside and for some reason my teether thought it was the best idea to lick the window over and over. Parker and I could not stop laughing.

Wyatt's birthday party on a cold, rainy day. Caden, Wyatt and Parker have been friends since they were babies.

A beautiful day spent at the wild life ranch. We love this place and will miss being a quick drive away.



Nothing makes Parker happier than when Rylee is able to play. These two were the very best of friends and now we rarely see them. They're so cute in their bright orange hats.

A CFA date with my loves. Pierce chowed down like a big, big boy.

Happy loves. Pierce was so tickled that Parker wanted an open mouth kiss.

A water pipe was broken at school so we had to collect our kiddos early. Since the boys hadn't had lunch and I wasn't in a hurry to get home, we stopped for a picnic lunch at McAlister's. I love that Pierce is big enough to get to have impromptu dates like this.

Getting our chocolate veggies in.

Pierce & Erisa are getting so big! This reminds me of Parker & Ellie girl. Seems like they were just cruising the street in their car and truck.

Seems like we live at the pediatrician's office. Donuts and coffee accompanied us this morning so that we weren't bored while we waited. Poor Pierce man continues to have some crud, an ear infection or something. I'm tired of battling it all and hope he's well soon.

Stinky feet with my biggest after nap.

Big brother gave little brother a bath. He actually did a great job! I didn't know what to think. Love how helpful my Parker is.

Riding the tractor with their Chief. This is Pierce's first time on the tractor as a big boy.

Parker loves "Berto's kids". Ha! So glad he has friends to play with when we're in Navasota.


This month has been full of visits to and from Navasota/Cypress as we search for a home and a preschool. We're waiting, quite impatiently, for an official letter from Daniel's company so that we can make plans to move. Right now we still have no additional information. We just know it'll be happening soon. Excited about what's coming but also sad to leave San Antonio and all that we love in this city.

2015 | January 1 - January 17

It's the year two thousand and fifteen. Another new year. Sheesh, this one caught me off guard. This is our first full year as a family of four. My boys are almost 1 and 4 years old and I'm not quite sure how that happened. I certainly didn't say it was ok. I have a lot of hope for this year, but I'm not forcing anything. I'm going to spend some more time letting things be what they are because I know that this is how I'll get the most out of each little moment with my loves.

We spent the new year in Navasota at Cookie & Chief's. Since everyone was still out of school, we thought it'd be a good time to do some house hunting in Houston. Yep, Houston. Crazy, right?! We just moved to San Antonio...or did we? It's ridiculous how quickly four years can pass. Daniel is transferring within his company so we're looking at homes in the Katy and Cypress area. I think we spent 3 days, back and forth, looking at Chesmar homes. We absolutely love our current home and have been so happy with the build that we would like to continue to live in a Chesmar. We found several floor plans that we love and went over and over them both in person and in our minds. This literally consumed us for several days. In the end, we asked Cookie & Chief to bring the boys to Cypress and walk through a few homes with us. And more quickly than we expected, we decided on our next house. Is it perfect? Is it our forever home? Nope. Would I change things? Of course. However, once the move process begins it'll happen quickly so we want our house to be ready for us. If at all possible, we don't want to live apart. We've walked that road before and it's just too hard on all of us. Our Honeysuckle house will be just fine and good for this next phase of our life. We're excited about it.  So, big news for the new year is that we have a house -- in San Antonio and in Cypress. Wild!

"Mom, is this like Shelton's hat? I'm gonna show him my rattler hat the next time I go to a rattler pepper-alley."

One of my favorite memories in this home -- watching Parker play football with his Daddy.

Daniel and I celebrate 8 years of marriage this year. I could write an entire novel about marriage but I don't have the energy. Marriage isn't a fairy tale. It's really hard and soooo not glamourous. Love is a choice. And some days it's really hard to choose someone above yourself. We aren't always good at marriage. In fact, some seasons of our life together have plain sucked. However, after 8 years we're doing pretty good. We're happy. We have a beautiful life that we've built together. We are blessed beyond belief. And overall, we choose one another.  I'm so glad that I get to live life with Daniel by my side. He's the best person I know and I don't deserve him one bit. To celebrate, we made plans to go back to Olive Garden again this year. I'm a carbaholic and pasta makes me happy. On a whim, I asked Marissa if she could come sit with the boys so we could have a kid free meal and she was able to. Score! Dinner was totally business. We literally sat at the table with calendars out and mapped out the next few weeks of craziness. But that's ok. It's us. Ohhhh, and how can I forget that for the second year in a row Daniel has come home from work with a dead animal! This year, Stanley the stag joins us. Gracious.

Love my new shirt from Mama and fancy new boots from Daniel (I chose them).

Our annual anniversary photo. This year, no dogs and no couples only. It's just how it is for 2015.

I see a friendship forming. How sweet to watch (and exhausting to referee).

We had the best day at home today. No daddy tonight meant pulling a 13hr day alone (after bad sleep). Thankful for three good attitudes today. Praying for much better sleep tonight.

 Oh little brother, you make me laugh! This is the face you wear while we eat. It takes foreeevvvver but that's ok. You're happy. And the rest of us gather around you and watch you laugh and smile.

Mornings that we don't have to go anywhere are our favorite. These to wild things wallow around in Parker's bed for a few minutes. They love being silly together.

We'd just sung "wagon wheel" . It's on repeat in our home/car these days. I kind of love the way he sings "haaaaaay, mama rock me".

Little brother is such a champ. Face IN the glass, watching brother swim. We spend a lot of time watching Parker through this glass. Sometimes I think Pierce would rather be in the pool with his brother.

He complained of a headache at school, skipped his nap and was fussy all afternoon. Halfway to Cookie's house he threw up. Then again an hour later. I gave him tylenol, Gatorade, half a banana, a tooth brushing, lots of oils, songs and prayers. We have a date in Cypress tomorrow and I don't think he'll get to go. I know there are tons of bugs floating around...we need this to be it -- done. 2015 is the year of health for us 😜. I mean I just saw my dr for a kidney stone follow up today. 😱😉 Hoping we all sleep tight. I'm sharing a bed with Parker and Pierce is also in the room with is.

My sisters and I had plans to take a CHL class so we thought we could use some practice. It was a lot of fun to shoot together, even though we ended up not being able to make the class. Hopefully we will catch the next one.

Daniel and I attended the AADE Casino Night in the Woodlands. We had dinner with the Bonins and gambled with fake money before heading back to the hotel for a night of nurse free sleep. It felt nice to get dressed up and have a fancy date together. Parker had a super special date with Cookie & Chief. The Rattler Celebration took place at the field and he was able to meet all the 2014 state championship football players. They even autographed his cap! He talked about this for days and days. I love how excited he gets about sports and that regular ole high school boys are celebrities to him.