Abby & Matthew had a wonderful time on their first day in Disney World. Abby told me on the phone her favorite thing was seeing the fairies and her favorite ride was the Dumbo ride. Here are some pictures of Abby with the princesses. She didn't want to have her picture taken with Belle because she was not wearing her Belle dress yesterday - I think that's the dress she'll wear today.

Abby & Ariel

Abby & Sleeping Beauty

Abby & Cinderella

Half-Marathon!

The Winners of the 2009 San Antonio Half-Marathon

(Well, maybe not the winners)

Disney World Count Down, Nutcracker Ballet & The RiverWalk

Countdown to Disney World: 2 Days!!!

On Thursday Matthew and Abby leave for a daddy-daughter trip to Disney World, yep, just the two of them. Isn't that fun!?! This was Matthew's idea and he has done all the planning. One night in August I woke up to him turning on his laptop at 2 a.m. - I was so confused as to why he picked that time to do some work, but he set his alarm to wake up in order to book a meal with the princesses at Cinderella's castle. Apparently these things fill up quickly and he wanted to make sure his princess didn't miss out. I thought I loved Matthew as much as possible, but after that my love jumped to a whole new level!

Jacob is getting so good at feeding himself but sometimes food gets stuck on his face. Of course his sister finds this hilarious and insisted that I capture it!

On Sunday some of us moms took the kids to the Nutcracker Ballet. The kids were wonderful and sat through the 2 hour ballet, well they sat for most of it at least.

Abby and Mommy before the ballet.

Family trip to the RiverWalk. Matthew and I took the kids downtown on Saturday night for dinner and a ride on the boat to see all the Christmas lights. It was wonderful!

Abby & Daddy waiting to eat at Casa Rio.

Mommy and her babies

Thanksgiving & Other Fun Times

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent several days in Temple and then had some fun and relaxing time at home as a family. This is what we've been up to lately...

Somebody's been eating spaghetti! Sweet Jacob at dinner tonight. Jacob is such a joy to our family. He is so funny (yes, already at only 9 1/2 months) and happy. We are blessed.

It's done! Matthew and Abby just finished the see-saw. Unfortunately, Abby has not had the chance to test it out because of all the rainy weather we've had. But, isn't it just beautiful!?! Watching Matthew and Abby work on this project together has warmed my heart. Our children are blessed to have such an amazing daddy in Matthew. I'm a lucky lady!

The family musicians. Jacob saw Matthew playing his guitar and crawled on over to get the baby guitar. Both our children have been listening to Matthew play the guitar since they were in my belly. I love that our lives are set to background music!

Thanksgiving Bonus: The Stagg Family.

Some of our best friends moved to Temple and we got to spend Thanksgiving with them at my parents' house. Here I am with Amanda and little Jerry. We love you, Stagg family!!!

Cousin Lovin'

Abram and Abby can't get enough of each other!

Photography by Abby.

My man and our babies having a snuggle on the couch.

Matthew and Abby spent hours playing play-doh over Thanksgiving. Abby's smile kind of looks like Renee Zellweger's smile here, don't you think?

Abby and Matthew were illuminated by the sunlight. I tried to catch it, but I am not the best photographer.

Abby and Ruby Stagg - sweet little friends!

TROUBLE.

Abby and Samantha McHale

Some of our dear friends here in San Antonio, the McHales, just had their second child (welcome to the world, Josiah James McHale!) and we got to watch Samantha for the night. Abby and Samantha had tons of fun together!

Long Time, No Blog...

Oh my goodness! It's been way too long since I've posted anything. I don't have a good excuse other than we've been crazy busy - friends and family visiting, lots of traveling, Jacob had surgery, I've been working more from home, etc... Here are some pictures to let you all know how we've been spending the last month or so. Yes, they are a little random.

Sweet Abby.

A visit from the Reyes family and Aunt Judi before Uncle Scotty moved to Colorado.

Our kids in a box. One of their favorite things to play in/with these days.

We spent the day with our wonderful friends the Thompsons in Dallas.

Abby is excited to be at Sea World!

Abby's good friend Tyler and his family met us there - so fun!

Jacob before his surgery. Praise God all went well and our little guy is recovering!

Our little stinker on Halloween.

The ONLY (good) picture I have of Abby on Halloween.

Tonight in the backyard. Abby, working in her Little Mermaid costume, and Matthew are building a see-saw.

Sweet Jacob.

The Princess at work.

The Princess & Her Prince

Jacob eating black licorice. Matthew has taught both our kids to love this candy.

Fun With Family & Friends

We have had lots of fun recently with family and friends...
We went to Nashville to visit Chris and Kristine and, of course, had a wonderful time.
Jacob was dedicated at church so we spent the weekend with family that came in town to help us celebrate our son.
Matthew turned 30! More celebrating...
The Wells family came to visit and we spent all day Saturday at Sea World!
Some of our fun times were documented...

Jacob

Sweet Boy

Full of Laughter - Always.

Jacob and his hot dad.

Emma Kate and Abby at Sea World

Dads and Daughters on Shamu Express!

Abby's favorite ride (and the only one she is tall enough to ride at the moment, although I did see her look longingly at the big roller coasters).

Abby and Jacob with Aunt Kristine and Uncle Chris

Family picture in Nashville

End of Summer Update

Today we took Jacob in for his 6-month check-up. He is 19 pounds, 3 ounces (I really thought he already weighed 20 pounds!), which is the 75% and he is 29 1/2 inches long, which is the 95%. Looks like Matthew has a mini-me!

Jacob in his Jumparoo - he loves it! Thank you, McHale Family!

Rachel and Jacob
Rachel is one of my oldest and best friends in the world and we are thankful we got to visit with her last weekend. We love you, Ray Ray (Abby nick-named her:)!

Abby and Daddy working in the garage.

Jacob and Abby at H-E-B.

This was Jacob's first time to ride in the cart.

The best big sis!

Our little girl is growing up so fast. Tomorrow is Abby's first day of school at Aragon Spanish Academy, a Christian-based Spanish Immersion Preschool.

J-A-C-O-B!!!

Our little man turned 6 months old on the 12th of August! We are so thankful God has entrusted us to care for this precious little boy. Jacob is such a happy little dude and very laid back. He is a great eater and a pretty good sleeper (most of the time). He can roll across the room and can almost sit up by himself. I'll be taking him to the doctor next week for his six-month check up but I'm pretty sure we already know what the doctor will tell us... Jacob is still a big boy! I have had to get out the 18-month-sized clothes for him! We love our little man so much!

Jacob and his buds...
Shepherd (5 1/2 months), Jacob (6 months) and Luke (5 months)

The boys get lots of hang out time while their big sisters play. It won't be long and we will be chasing them all around.

The Girls - Modeling their new flip flops. Thanks, Laci!

Ellie, Abby, Sara Kate and Naomi