Catching up... at little randomly.

Welcome to the world, Mina Claire Haynes! It's sad that our new niece is already a month old and I'm just now blogging about her. Abby and Jacob love their new cousin and we are so thankful that all went well with her birth. We got to spend lots of time together over Thanksgiving and are already looking forward to the next time we can all be together.

Pop, Jacob, Abram, Abby & Hootsie just a few hours after Mina Claire was born.

Pop and Abby holding Mina Claire. Abby refers to Mina Claire as her sister, which is great because Abby is soon to be outnumbered by brothers:)

This picture makes me so very happy! In early November we met up with my best friends from Temple at a farm outside of Houston and had the best time. I will post more pictures of the weekend soon.

Babymoon!

Here we are on our babymoon! Matthew and I took a little trip to Chicago last weekend to spend some time together and relax before we have our THIRD child. We arrived before lunch on Thursday and stayed until Sunday evening. We had a wonderful time - eating, walking, taking in the sites, eating, shopping, eating again and as a bonus we got to spend some time with Matthew's brother Scotty. Although we loved everything we did during our time in the Windy City, Matthew and I agreed that our favorite thing was dinner at the Signature Room - a wonderful restaurant located on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building. The food was delicious and the view couldn't have been better.
We did miss Abby and Jacob, of course, but I have been told one of the best gifts you can give your children is a strong, healthy marriage and getting away together is part of that. I loved getting to spend the weekend with my best friend - I felt like we got to hold hands all weekend and that is something that doesn't happen too much these days as the precious little hands we are usually holding are not each others:) Thank you to my mom and dad for taking care of our babies while we were gone. They loved their time with you!

Me and the love of my life enjoying dinner at the Signature Room.

Abby the Fashionista!

Abby picks out her own clothes daily. I just had to document this one outfit...

Kiddie Land!

When we were little our family used to come visit my grandparents in San Antonio. One of my favorite memories was getting to go to "Kiddie Land" when we would visit. When we moved here a couple years ago one of the first things I did was look up Kiddie Land because I wanted to take our kids to this magical place. But, I couldn't find it... then one day Matthew came home and told me he had driven past this place close to the zoo named Kiddie Park. As he began to describe it I realized he was talking about Kiddie Land! I'm sure my silly Grandpa Bob just called it Kiddie Land all those years. I was so thankful Matthew found this wonderful little place from my childhood!

Abby and Jacob on one of the rides - I don't think anything has changed from 25 years ago!

On the ferris wheel!

Abby getting her face painted.

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Date night!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Our little man - full of joy and energy!

We love you, Matthew!

On September 12th my man turned 31! Matthew's parents (more commonly known as BeBe and BaBaw) came to celebrate with us. Matthew and I enjoyed a night out on Friday night and then on Saturday we celebrated all day long as a family. Abby planned a wonderful family party for her daddy, complete with a pinata and cascarones (confetti eggs). The children and I could not ask for a more amazing, loving, kind and selfless husband and father than Matthew - we love you!

Labor Day Weekend

Now that we are halfway through the month of October I finally decided to free the pictures from my camera from our Labor Day mini-vacation to Lamar, Texas. The newest part of our family - the Starkeys - have a wonderful house in Lamar where we were able to spend a long weekend as an extended family. We played at the beach in Rockport, went crabbing, relaxed and ate delicious food all weekend. (One perk of our newest family is they are exceptional cooks and we all benefit:) Sorry for the delay in posting these pictures, but better late than never!

We finally timed it right and Becki and I are pregnant at the same time! I have loved going through this pregnancy with my beloved sister. She is expecting little Mina Claire on November 2nd and our little man should arrive about two months later. It is hard to believe that between us we will have had five babies in five years! I keep thinking about our parents and how grandparenthood has overtaken their lives in a relatively short time. We are thankful for such wonderful parents, in-laws and aunts and uncles for our ever expanding family!

Cousins playing at the beach. These two just adore each other!

The Starkey family introduced us to crabbing! We had so much fun on this little adventure.

Our little beauty!

Abby and Pop feeding the birds.

The Ranch

About two weeks ago we spent the day at the ranch of one of my college roommates, Laura. Laura and her family live on a beautiful ranch outside of Wimberley, Texas. One of our other roomies, Heather, was out at the ranch for the weekend so we had a fun little reunion!

Abby and Gwen, Laura's oldest

Laura and Heather with the kids in the fabulous pool!

Our brave little swimmer and Daddy!

Jacob always manages to find a lady friend. Here he is with Emma, Laura's youngest.