EE's Birthday

Today is EE's birthday! To celebrate we went to McDonald's for a delicious happy meal lunch.
We made cupcakes

Delivered cupcakes to our neighbors.

And had a party!

Lane and EE were most excited about the cupcakes.

Lane loves to sing happy birthday. He usually wants to sing it three or four times a day.

Finally, time to eat our treats. Look at how happy EE is.

Delicious!

Marlee was happy just to be invited.
Lane got to help EE open his present.
What a fun day!

Two happy dudes!

Lane's Raker

Lane had to get his "raker" out to help Daddy rake leaves. They had a huge pile! Lane and Clint had so much fun playing together.

Daddy Duty

Clint took Lane and Marlee to the park so I could get some work done. I sent him with the camera and he did a great job capturing the fun they had.

Lane is starting to run like a big boy. We love watching him go.

Marlee is happy if she is around Lane. I think Clint parked her infront of the swing so she could watch big brother. Happy Girl! The proud owner of two new top teeth! I love this picture. Lane and Murph checking out the dog.

Working

I've picked up a little part time "job" sewing for a children's store. It's been a lot of fun. Clint has really been helping me with the kiddos so I can get work done. Last night I looked up to see Marlee up on Clint's shoulders while Clint was on his computer. She was as happy as she could be with an eagle eye view.
This is just part of the latest batch of sewing I've done.

Happy Valenitine's Day!

7 Months

I finally got around to taking Marlee's 7 month pictures with her dolly. Samantha seems to get a little bit smaller every month, or Maybe it's Marlee that's getting bigger. Marlee has gotten really good at sitting up all by herself. Still just has two teeth. Loves her baby food - especially sweeter veggies like squash and sweet potatoes. She has to be reminded she likes green veggies - like avacado, green beans, and zuchinni. She loves eating puffs and Mum-Mum crackers. Marlee just started drinking with a sippy cup, she likes holding it but needs a little help holding it up to drink. Marlee loves to be held and cuddle. She hates tummy time. She was caught scooting in the church nursery today. I tried it out and home and sure enough she scooted about two feet on her bottom. Marlee is such a happy girl and if she's not she lets you know about it. We love to hear Marlee laugh, especially at her brother. And speaking of Lane she is crazy about him, he can do no wrong.

We love you sweet girl! The past seven months have been a JOY!

Reading

For Christmas Auntie Sarah & Uncle T got Marlee an Olivia book and doll. Lane loves to read Olivia with Marlee. We read it every couple days. The other night I heard Clint up reading to Olivia with Lane. Clint would read part of a sentence and Lane would finish it! I couldn't believe that Lane could do that after having the book such a short time. I tried it with him and sure enough he can finish the lines. Tonight I snuck upstairs and filmed Clint and Lane reading.

WARNING: This video is almost 3 min long. If you are not a Grandparent of friend of a Grandparent who will probably ask if you have watched this video, this might be boring...

Consider yourself forwarned.

Potty Training

Potty training has been slow going in our house. Over a year ago Lane would sit on the potty and even went a few times. Then, he refused to even look at the potty. A couple weeks ago while I was giving Lane a bath he told me he needed to potty. I pulled him out of the tub and he actually went! We had a big celebration and guess what. He has refused to sit on the potty ever since.

Yesterday while we were at the grocery some gummy bears caught Lane's eye. I told him I would get them and they could be a reward for when he sat on the potty. He threw the biggest fit! He was not happy with me.

So, this morning he saw his treats on the counter and wanted one. I reminded him that if he wanted one he needed to go potty. He immediately ran into the bathroom and I caught up to him with his jeans pulled down trying to get his diaper off. I helped him with his diaper and sure enough as I took it off it was full and warm. He had done exactly as I said, he went into the bathroom to potty - it was just in his diaper instead of the potty. Lane got his reward as promised and next time I will be more specific.

Lane & his Ladies

This weekend we got to host a sweet group of 10th grade girls for our churches Disciple Now. We had a great time hosting them and Lane and Marlee loved having a bunch of girls loving on them. Lane ate all of his meals with the girls at the kitchen table. He was in hog heaven! And Marlee's bows inspired the girls purple feather poofs in their hair as our signature piece of flair. Clint even got a poof that he wore as a mohawk. I don't know what I was thinking not taking a picture of him!

Snow Day!

Big news... it snowed last night! I think we only got about an inch, but you would think it was a foot! School was cancelled for the day and luckily the Express just implemented a policy that they follow the RRISD's weather cancellations so Clint got to enjoy the snow too!

Lane was ready to go out and play as soon as he got up. Clint got him bundled up, he looked like a giant marshmallow, and we went out in the driveway. He was so cute shuffling around in the snow and I loved how he had to rock to get up.
We loaded everyone up to run to the ballpark, Clint just couldn't stay away. He had to record a message for the phones so we tagged along.
The marshmallow on the ride.
Miss Marlee out in her first snow. You can see she wasn't very excited about it.
Once we got to the park Lane was so excited to run around I could barely get a picture.
Lane ran and ran. He had so much fun!

He stopped for a minute to take of his mittens or Mips as he calls them. They just wouldn't stay on.

One happy dude.

Clint and Lane kept playing while I went to check on Marlee in the car and warm up a bit. When I went back to check on them I found Lane eating snow.

I wonder where he got the idea...

We had so much fun at the park, but it was so cold and windy that we came home.

I tried to get one more picture of Lane on the back deck.

Then, we all came inside for some hot chocolate.
What a fun morning!
It's 2 pm now. Most of the snow is gone and Laner is up in his room sleeping away. He ran a couple errands with Clint and was out before they got home. All the running he did at the park wore him out!

Court Time

About twice a week we head across the street to the High School to be with Clint while he announces our boys and girls basketball teams. We love going to hear Clint, Lane's gotten pretty good at imitating Clint's signature "twwooo shhhots". Lane loves the gym because he usually gets nachos and a water at halftime and when the games over he gets to as he says "race" on the court. At tonight's game I sent Lane to throw his nacho bowl into the trash and on his way back he accidentally ran onto the court just as a time out was ending! Luckily we got him off before too many people noticed but I was mortified!!

Tonight's incident reminded me of the game last week when Lane and some of his sidekicks took over the court during the halftime. They didn't do anything too exciting, but it is pretty funny that Lane laid down and let a random kid jump over him. When the boys come back onto the court I can see the wheels in Lane's head turning, deciding on his next move. It's obvious at the end of the video that he wants to stay out there with the big boys.