Seeing Little Tom

We loved seeing Tom, Aunt Whitney, Uncle Matt, and Tuck for dinner last night! 

We missed you, Emmy! :) 

These three were happily entertained with one another for a solid three hours. Both of the big kids are really good with Tom and he provided them with lots of entertainment!

Tom thought the big kids were pretty cool, too! :) 

Tom blew kisses to Lainey and Walker before he went to bed!

He's the cutest! He's saying SO many words! We love you, Tom! :)

Walker's 9th Birthday

Walker turned nine years old on Sunday, February 17th! We loved celebrating Walker at Urban Air Trampoline Park! He always has so much fun with his friends - they are his "people" - so needless to say, he had a wonderful time.

Walker, talking with Angelo, Declan and Daniel...probably deciding where to go first.

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I did learn that it's almost impossible to get a good picture of eight- and nine-year-old boys. Impossible! Someone (or always doing something weird. See examples below...

Walker is "meditating" at the top of the dodgeball court.

Walker's friend Jase

At one point, Walker did get frustrated that "everyone kept following" him around the trampoline park. Ha! I guess he didn't love all of the attention...but he was the birthday boy! 

Kaitlyn (Brayden's sister) stayed to play with Lainey.

Per usual, Walker requested a cookie cake!

The boys enjoyed a private dodgeball game as part of the party!

And then Walker got out...he still has a tendency to cry when he gets out. And when he does cry, he will pretend to have an injury (or just magnify the severity of a small injury) to justify the crying (that started when he got out). 

Walker's haul!

AND...the Rubik's cubes. I think he got about five or six of them for his birthday. He is obsessed with Rubik's cubes! These five (plus maybe one more) will (hopefully) stay in their original, solved state. Except when they accidentally get messed up... But thankfully, Walker has a good friend at school (named Prahlad) who will solve them in minutes! I think Prahlad is a genius. :)  

Impromptu (partial) family brunch at Eddie's Diner last Monday (after Walker's actual birthday) to celebrate the birthday boy. He loves their chocolate chip pancakes! 

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Happy 9th Birthday, Walker! We LOVE you and your love for family, friends, games (both regular and video), stuffed animals, Earth's Best Chicken Nuggets, basketball, baseball, football and Rubik's cubes. :) 

A Series of Random, Unrelated Photos

This house is on my parent's property near Quanah, Texas. It's about to be torn down (the house is pretty rundown) and one of my dad's friends took a photo of it for posterity's sake. I think it's a beautiful photo!

such an old, sleepy dog

Lainey (far left) and Jaci, ice skating at Jaci's birthday party

This photo was taken back in December. Minus a few people, it's Lainey's entire dance company! It was taken at the annual "Cocoa with Christy" event just before Christmas. :) I just forgot to include it in 2018! :) 

Days at the Preschool...

I had to take Lainey and Walker to the preschool with me yesterday (Friday, February 15th) because they didn't have school (but I did) and it worked out beautifully! They were the BIGGEST help! The little kids loved playing with them! :) 

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Lainey hung out with most of the kids on the playground...

 

...while Walker played basketball with two of the boys!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Each year, Lainey seems to get the best Valentine's Day cards! :) Haha! She and Drew are great friends and have been for a couple of years. :)  His main competition for Lainey's heart is Luka Doncic...the current point guard for the Dallas Mavericks...and Lainey's "celebrity crush." Goodness. She is obsessed!

The card reads... "Dear Lainey, I can look anywhere and you will be the most beautiful and kindest girl. I hope you've had a great day today. I can't wait to see you on Tuesday. It's impossible to have a better friend than you. And that's an understatement. Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Drew. (P.S.: Will you be my Valentine?)"

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(P.S. Dear Future Lainey...sorry for posting this as I'm sure it will embarrass the heck out of you! But that's what parents are for! We love you!)

January...in a Nutshell

I don't have much to report from the month of January! We slid back into regular life after our trip to Colorado, enjoying a month of calm after the craziness of the holidays. :)

Belle has become quite sweet lately. She's letting us pet her more and more, and she seems more agreeable to people fussing over her. :) 

Reagan does a lot of this. Sleeping. She loves to sleep. 

And bark. She barks a lot.

And follows me around so much that she starts to fall asleep while standing up...so I bring her a mat to lay on while I work in the kitchen.

Walker has really enjoyed basketball this year! He's becoming more aggressive and he plays it almost every day with his friends from the neighborhood. Well, when it's not cold or rainy outside. ;)

Lainey LOVES tap. She participated in a tap festival the other weekend and had so much fun; 

with their teacher, Miss Katlyn

a funny outtake :) 

onstage with Emma and Kerrington

Awhile back, in the fall, Lainey's tap company had the opportunity to get their photos taken by a professional photographer. She did a fabulous job! 

Their style was to be "70s streetwear" which I thought was so cute!

Above is Walker's rendition of our neighborhood, Origami-style. :) 

On the far left is Declan's house...then Nicco's is the green/yellow house...ours is the blue one with the "trampoline" in the back...and the Madisons' house is the orange one. Our elementary school is the big yellow building across from the houses. :) We may have actually mislabeled the sign...we'll have to fix that. I, for one, am quite impressed with Walker's neighborhood! :) 

Lainey and her friend Ally...a friendship divided. OU vs. TX. :) 

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Hope everyone has had a good start to 2019! I'm looking forward to a somewhat-slow February before the craziness of the spring begins! Dance competitions, baseball tournaments, dance recitals, fifth grade graduation...all things to look forward to in the spring. I think I'm ready for us to tackle this season head-on...this time last year, we were still with Ben in the hospital. He's come such a long way in a year, and for that, we are SO thankful. He's going to be a much bigger help this year, too, as we try to tag-team both kids and their commitments! :)