Allie played in her last soccer game on Wednesday. She had such a great soccer season and really grew a lot! She scored a 1-2 goals most games and on her last game she scored 4 goals!!! We are so proud of our sweet little girl. She is so girlie about things, but when it comes to soccer, she gets down to business! At practice, she is very serious and when she plays, she is focused and determined. She does not like it when the other team scores. This season, we discovered how fast and how much endurance she has. She played almost the entire time during most games (most people on her team had never played before, so they got tired quickly). She never gave up and always kept running all over the field. She got to play with her sweet friend Hannah and I loved seeing them work together on the field. We are so proud of our Allie Jane!
This was her first goal on Wednesday
Sweet friends and teammates
Jack is her biggest fan!
My sweet Allie Jane turned 5 on the 17th of April. That day did not start out how I had hoped...I woke up with an ear infection, but it turned out to be a nice day. We celebrated her birthday out at the park. It was nice and warm but very windy! Our decorations did not go as planned, but no one seemed to care. Allie invited several of her "girl friends". She wanted to have a "girl only" party. The girls played at the playground, had an Easter Egg hunt, ate cake and opened presents. I did not do a great job of getting as many pictures as I had hoped to. I was not on my "A game" that day. Luckily, Jarod's family were able to get some pictures too! This was an extra special birthday because, we flew in Jarod's mom from Florida to be here for not only Allie's birthday but for her birthday too... she was turning 50 two days later. Jarod's uncle, aunt and cousin also came in from Houston to help celebrate. It was a great weekend of celebration with family. We were so blessed to have so many of our family members out there with us.
It's really hard to believe how grown up Allie seems to be lately. She will start Kinder in the fall and I'm not sure if I'm ready! I know she is ready. She loves to read and write, draw and create pictures, color, play with her toys and play with her brother. She makes me laugh on a daily basis and says some pretty funny things. She enjoys dancing and playing sports. She does not like wearing jeans and prefers to wear skirts only! She is learning to tie her shoes, she has taught herself how to snap and she is trying to learn how to whistle (random). She is the BEST Big Sister and loves Jack so much. God blessed us our lives so much when he gave us this precious little girl. Happy Birthday Allie Jane!
We had a wonderful Easter Sunday filled with lots of laughter, fun, love and of course yummy food! We are so blessed that we live close to all of my family and we are able to spend Easter with them every year. I really enjoyed Easter this year, b/c last year we had just had Jack and everything was a blur! Every year, we go to church with my parents and they have an Easter Egg Hunt for all of the kids. Allie loved it this year and Jack thought it was fun too! He loves to be outside and he actually put in a few eggs in his basket. He had practiced several times during the week.
After church, we headed to my parents house and had a wonderful lunch and lots of laughter around the table. Then we hided ALL of the eggs for the kids. There were so many eggs, we hid them in the front and in the back. Jack liked to walk around and pick up the eggs, open them up and dump the candy. The kids had a lot of fun finding all of the eggs. Then we dyed eggs and my mom, my brothers and I went to see my Granny. It was so good to see her. She was in a wonderful mood!
Hope everyone had a blessed Easter! 
This was the best family picture we could get...even with the lady in the background
Jack loves to take pictures with his big sister
Its hard to believe how quickly a year has gone by...I really am still in denial that my sweet little boy is 1! Jack was 1 on March 24th and we celebrated his birthday with family a few days later. We all woke Jack up on his birthday and sang to him. Allie was the most excited I think. She couldn't wait for him to have a birthday (secretly I think its b/c her bday is 3 weeks later!). We took a few morning shots of the bday boy and when I picked him up from school, they had given him a birthday Mohawk! Very funny! We had pizza and cupcakes for his birthday dinner. He loved his cupcake as you can tell from the pictures below.
My family came over on Sunday to help celebrate his monkey themed birthday. I tried to keep it pretty low key and I found a cute idea on how to make cupcakes look like monkey faces. My art teacher made the toppers for the other cupcakes. We grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs and opened presents. Jack was not very interested in opening presents and Allie was happy to fill in for him! I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I had hoped to at his party...I was too busy playing hostess! We are so thankful that Jack was able to be surrounded by those that love him so much.
Here are some fun 12 month facts about Jack that I would like to remember:
Weight: 27lbs. (95%)
Height: 32 in. (95%) Yes...Jack is a BIG BOY!
Wears mostly 18-24 month clothes and some 24 month...it depends on the store
Wears size 4 diapers
Has 7 teeth (3 on top and 4 on bottom)
Is officially a walker...he still crawls and is just now starting to push up off the floor, but he walks a lot!
He is a great eater...there are few things that he will not eat!
Only takes two bottles a day (one at nap time and one at bedtime); he drinks milk from a sippy
Has a really funny personality...he loves to make us laugh and looks for ways to constantly entertain us.
Peek a Boo is one of his favorite games to play
Enjoys playing with his toys and likes to make things crash and bang on things (just like a boy)
Gets into everything and does not like being told no...his fits are pretty pitiful!
Has several words-dada, mama, short a sound for Allie, bye bye, hi, tries to bark when he sees a dog, all done (and signs this), more (and signs), signs please and his new favorite word to say is ball. Balls are probably his favorite toys!
He knows that shoes go on his feet, headbands go on your head (thanks Allie) and tries to "talk" when he holds a toy phone or our phone to his ear.
He loves to dance and sing...his favorite songs are Twinkle, Twinkle and This Little Light of Mine
He still takes a while to adjust to a new place and has to "warm up" first
He still likes to snuggle
He only takes one nap-at school we are lucky if it's an hour long. He takes anywhere from 1 1/2-3 hrs. on the weekend
cup during the day. I have a feeling breaking him from his two bottles is going to take us a while!
Obviously, I'm really behind on Jack's 11 Month happenings, but in all honesty, it was such a crazy month, I'm having a hard time remembering what "new" things happened. I really wish I could have that month back b/c Jack was sick for the entire month. Between the flu and ear infections, he wasn't a very happy little boy. We did manage to get in a few silly times and sweet smiles but for the most part, he did not feel well and was pretty cranky! Once Jack had the flu, he developed double ear infections and we could not get them to go away. He was on 3 different antibiotics, and still nothing helped. We decided to go ahead and get him tubes. It all happened quite fast, but I think it was a great decision. I could immediately tell he could hear better and he was back to babbling a lot and trying to talk. Yay!
Jack is my mischievous child...he gets into everything, opens everything and doesn't really care when we tell him No touch. If he wants something, he is bound and determined to find a way to get it, even if he has to push his way or dive over something to get it. He bangs on everything and the louder he can be, the better! He is constantly trying to get us to laugh and acts very silly most of the time. Allie is his favorite person to play with, but also enjoys playing with his toys and discovering how they work. He loves music and tries to sing. His first word was bye-bye (just at 10 months like his sister) and he can also say dada, "a (short a sound)" for Allie, all done (he also signs this), hi, momma, and he can sign more. Yesterday when he saw a dog, he started making sounds (like barking sounds) and recently when he plays with his phone, he will put it up to his ear and say "hi". He loves playing peek-a-boo and will do it with about anything or anywhere. He still does not like to have his clothes changed or his diaper changed and would rather be naked. He is down to 1 nap a day, eats really well and drinks from a sippy cup. This past week, we have introduced cow's milk and he's tried eggs. He also got his first big boy haircut (will post pictures later). Last Friday, Jack took steps for the first time. He thinks it's lots of fun and likes to practice but still not a full time walker.
It's hard to believe he will be 1 in exactly one week from today...I wish I could stop time for just a little bit.
We managed to squeeze in the Cow Town race to support my brother. He ran his first 1/2 marathon. He's been bitten by the running bug and now plans to train for a marathon! Way to go Scott! 
*Other exciting news...we've decided that I'm going to stay at home next year part time. This is very exciting and scary all at the same time. Those of you who know me, know that all I've ever wanted is to stay home with my sweet kids. I feel so blessed that an opportunity has presented itself and would really appreciate prayers. I'm so thankful that I will be able to be at home for Jack and be available to Allie who starts Kinder in the fall! My part time plan is to sub in schools, unless another opportunity presents itself. ---OH, its still not official at work so if you could please not announce it to the world, I would appreciate it!
