NICU Reunion

A few weeks ago we went to the 2nd annual NICU reunion for the hospital where both kids were born. The last time they held it, Harper was 18 months old and I was pregnant with Jasper. We had a great time then and had never thought we would be celebrating anyone other than Harper at the gathering. Little did we know we would be celebrating both babies at the next gathering!

It's a great opportunity to see all the babies and kids who have been taken care of by the NICU team, along with the team itself. All babies are miracles, and it's really wonderful to see how far those who have a tougher start than others have come. There are always lots of twins and triplets, and they are so much fun to see.

This year's theme was NICU Roundup, and it was held at Nash Farm where we went last fall for their harvest pumpkin patch. They had sherrifs badges and cowboy hats for all the kids, and lots of activities as well as ponies and a bounce house. We had a great time watching Harper do all the activities and though she wasn't as eager to get on this pony as she was a few weeks ago at the Bluebonnet Festival, she eventually did and had a great time.

We sprayed him down with sunscreen and unfortunately some got in his eyes, so his eyes were still a little red here.

She won a prize at one of the games.

Sitting on a tractor.

Riding the pony!

New Addition

We have a new addition!!!

It took almost a month of spare hours and weekends here and there, but the kids' big birthday present finally got completed. Yes, the swingset is DONE!


Of course Jon did the vast majority of the work, though while Mimi was here, I was the best assistant I could be. :) We didn't make it our number one priority, and instead chose to make family time the most important thing in our spare time, so it really did take longer than we had planned. But Jon did a wonderful job and the kids absolutely love it!

It has a 10 foot slide, 2 swings, a see saw swing, a rock wall, telescope, steering wheel, picnic table, and 4 levels! It's AWESOME!

Jasper can't explore everything just yet, but he likes to sit at the picnic table and swing on the dual swing which has great hand grips for him.

Harper of course is all over the place. She mastered the rock wall right away and absolutely loves the slide. Well, she loves all of it! She goes up to the top deck and steers her "pirate ship". She used to be afraid of swings in general, but this has given her more courage to try them, and now she loves to go out there and swing. It's great to see her have so much fun. It was a huge investment for us that Nana and Papa contributed to, but we know it's going to last a long time and was totally worth it!

Happy Easter!

(still playing catch up, sorry for the delayed Easter wishes!)

We had a great Easter this year! Not everything turned out as we had planned, but we tried to make the most of it. The day prior, I dyed Easter eggs with Harper. She had never done this before, and she was completely fascinated with how bright and colorful eggs could be. I loved watching her expressions when I would pull the eggs out of her chosen color, and she could see the designs she had colored in wax crayon showing up. She chose the colors for everything, and once I showed her you could dip them in many colors, she wanted to try all of them.

She is holding up the egg with an H on it that she was so proud of.

On Easter morning, we awoke to this:

We had had some really bad storms the night before with crazy winds up to 70 mph. Our fence was no match for the winds and 4 posts snapped and it blew over. We were really disappointed and knew we had quite a road ahead of us in order to get it fixed.

Church was great, and we got home and started prepping lunch. Jon went to go buy supplies for the fence while the kids napped. Nana and Papa and Jon all got there at almost the same time, and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch and celebrated Papa's birthday with a yummy chocolate cream pie.

I had so been looking forward to doing a big egg hunt out in the backyard, but because the fence was blown over and the grass hadn't been cut, we knew that wasn't the best idea, so we instead hid some eggs in the living room. Not quite the fun running around game I had envisioned, and it last about a minute and a half, but we made the most of it!!

Harper and Jasper absolutely loved their baskets and Harper was amazed by all the candy. She very rarely gets to have sweets, but we let her go nuts with all the candy and chocolate. It was too funny!

It was definitely a great day, and lots of memories were made. We are so thankful for the reason for Easter and for the people we have to celebrate it with!

Bluebonnet Festival

A couple weeks ago, we drove down to Ellis County to go to the Bluebonnet Festival they hold every year. Ellis County is known as the "Bluebonnet Capital of Texas" and we saw some amazing fields as we drove down.

We hijacked the trip our friends Wes, Jessica and Mia were planning on taking and invited ourselves along. We left after church and since the kids are always exhausted after church, we knew the hour and a half drive wouldn't be a problem since it would allow the kids to nap. Well, just like our last road trip, the best laid plans never happen. The kids didn't sleep a wink!!! I was dreading what was in store for us, but really hoped for the best.

We met up with them and enjoyed walking around the quaint little town. The festival wasn't exactly packed with people, but seemed to be mostly local people there selling their goods, and other locals there shopping. The weather was great (though windy!) and we enjoyed hanging out with our friends and seeing what we could see. We found the kids end of the street, and let the girls jump in the bounce house for a while. Harper always loves bounce houses, but part of this one was in the sun, so it was hot on her feet. She enjoyed trying to teach Mia how to bounce!

We spotted a train, and since Harper absolutely loves everything about trains, she bee-lined for it. They gave little rides just around the street, but Harper thought it was the best thing ever. I loved seeing her have so much fun. After the train, she saw some ponies. Harper's past experiences with live animals at petting zoos and things have not been so great. She usually really wants to do it, but when it comes time, she gets scared and refuses to participate. I thought for certain that was what was going to happen with the ponies, but maybe it's because she spotted the pink, glittery one with a heart that made her SO excited to ride it. She hopped right on and had the biggest smile on her face the entire time. I loved it!!

After we had seen pretty much all there was to see, and the kids were nice and hot, we had lunch with our friends and started on our way home. We had planned to meet some friends from church that day at 4, so we didn't even have time to stop and take pictures at the bluebonnets. It was a little disappointing that we were in such a hurry to leave, but we had a great day anyway.

Oh, and of course the kids fell asleep on the way home before we even hit the highway! d'oh!

She doesn't look like it in this picture, but she loved the train.

Pony Time!