Busy B Family

Happy Birthday!

2012-02-20T08:19:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to my hubby!

We celebrated Saturday night with a little party. We cooked out burgers, had chips, dips, fruit, veggies and desserts- I think everyone had a good time!

I slacked on the picture taking til it was cake time.

Keevan and Kaden were guarding the cake

Having to help daddy blow out his candles

I took a few random pictures- sorry about the lighting on all of them, I don’t know why my camera blew the whites out so much.

Kinslee LOVED her cupcake! This baby girls big 1st birthday is this week too!

All the kids were a little out of control. You’ll have to excuse majority of them in different states of being undressed. We didn’t want to ruin outfits with dessert!

They all took turns pushing and riding in the grocery cart

Super star Ella

Super star Kinslee

Kinslee and Ethen

Harli was SO excited to have Terry here!

Sweet girls

Happy Birthday babe. Thank you for being a great dad and husband to us. We all love you very much and hope you have a fantastic birthday today!

Happy birthday Big Daddy!

Tori, Landry, Ansley & Harli

4 years.

2012-02-19T20:40:00.001-06:00

It’s been 4 years now since we lost my granddad to pancreatic cancer. I still miss him just as much today as the day we lost him.

I love you grandpa.

You will always be one of the greatest men in my life.

Mountains

2012-02-16T22:52:00.001-06:00

We enjoyed a few days in the mountains last weekend and got to spend a little time with just our little family. When we left Thursday, the weather was reporting snow, sleet and rain from here all the way to the mountains. We were in rain for about 15 minutes and never saw any other form of precipitation the rest of the way!

This was the first glimpse of snow we saw finally

We rented Landry ski’s again this time but he wanted no part of riding the ski lift after he saw it when we took him to the mountain, so we just played around the cabin.

Ansley even got to ski for the first time!

The slopes lit up for night skiing

We celebrated Ansley’s 18 month birthday our last night there, so we got to enjoy some cookies!

Sunday morning as we were getting ready to leave, it started to snow

About 45 minutes after it started snowing, we left the cabin and there was as least 3-4 inches of fresh snow. It was coming down so hard you could basically see only the back of the vehicle in front of you.

The road through the canyon was slick and at one point I really thought we were going to end up in the river, but luckily Chris didn’t freak out like I was and quickly got everything under control. There was a huge line of cars in front and behind us, so it took us awhile to get through there.

But by the time we got out of the canyon and made it to Cimarron, this is what we saw! No snow whatsoever!

We had perfect weather until we got almost home when we got into sleet. I-40 was horrible. There had been several wrecks and it was at a complete stand still. After about 20 minutes of not moving, we went off-roading through the ditch to the access road. This was the trucks we were behind which were several miles behind the wreck and there were cars and trucks behind us for miles as well.

Needless to say, we made it home safely thank goodness!

What a great little vacation!

I have several fun video’s to share of the kids skiing, but as usual I hate YouTube. I’ll try to post them soon.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Valentine’s Day! I know I did!

Iphone Dump

2012-02-01T13:13:00.000-06:00

I need to clean out my phone pics. I have close to 600 pics/video's on there! Here's some- a few are before Christmas hence the boxes and Christmas decorations!

Doesn't every little boy wear a yogurt box on his head?

Waiting on tubes, after the feel good meds kicked in

Doing what she does best...

Zia played dress up

Playing outside

I LOVE this pic of Landry!

Wearin' their new Harley shirts!

We babysat Addi and Haegan while mom and dad went to Houston/Austin (soooo jealous!), and they got lots of love!

All the dirt in the sky on a typically windy day

Ansley's valentine pants

Landry likes having his picture taken

The most awesome-est cake ever!

My new find! It's good, kinda just tastes like chocolate milk!

Have you ever seen mini banana's?

They're SO fun!

When Chris is at the station, Landry gets to be the man of the house and sleep in our bed. The other nite he wanted me to take his picture to send to daddy. (with the flash, he couldn't manage to keep his eyes open in any of them!)

Ansley face planted into the bench in our dining room on Friday. This is what it looked like about 15 minutes after it happened.

This was Saturday morning

Stud Muffin

Monday at Grammy's

I made Ansley an A-Line dress! This was the best pic she would let me get before school yesterday.

I swear she doesn't always look homeless. This was after they ate oreo's last nite. It was a little scary.

My little Valentine! Zia played dress up again!

At least that got some of pics taken care of!

Happy 1st Day of February!!

Kitchen Remodel…Finally!

2012-01-07T13:30:00.001-06:00

A year after we started this project, I’m finally getting around to posting the big reveal! And I’ve had the pictures saved in a draft since October, so I figured I’d better get to it!

When we bought the house a little over 4 years ago, this is what the kitchen looked like.

Dining room with the built in hutch

During the process of remodeling the entire house before we moved in, we managed to get the kitchen into this. New countertops, backsplash, paint etc. In order to clean the cabinets from the disgusting amount of grease and grime (and cat hair) that had accumulated on them, we sandblasted the doors, which in turn gave them a nice texture.

This was the wall in the living room that butts up against the kitchen

The nite Chris decided to tear up my house, the wall transformed into this….

He added a support beam across the length of the wall

and built a new cabinet under the opening

Then we decided to go ahead and paint the cabinets white, get new doors and drawers and get new flooring. Chris had a built in built for the refrigerator and the pantry.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the tile in here, but if we were going to replace it, I wanted a brick floor. After everything was said and done, I absolutely love it. But for a period of about 2 1/2 months, I hated myself for wanting that.

After they laid and finished the entire kitchen, dining, laundry rooms, the brick started breaking. Literally, if you walked on it or moved a chair, the tile would shatter. After taking it up with the manufacturer, they decided it was a bad batch of brick and they would pay to rip it up and replace it. It was awful.

In the end though, all the months of having my kitchen destroyed I think were well it. I could not love it more. It’s so much brighter and cleaner looking! Enjoy the BIG REVEAL!!

2011. A Year in Review

2012-01-01T15:54:00.001-06:00

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a great *and safe* New Year’s Eve.

I hope everyone is blessed with health and happiness in this new year!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T18:59:00.001-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year (as we do every year) and consider ourselves so very blessed by everything in our lives. I have way too many pictures as usual!

First off- here is Chris’ present. In reality, it was his present to himself since he paid for it with his side job money and I didn’t pay a penny! The only bad thing for him is that it’s no longer his truck. Once Landry laid eyes on it, he officially declared his!

Meet Big Daddy’s newest baby. A 1946 International pick up truck. It needs some windows, some carburetor work and of course some body work, but it runs and has wheels!

Banna and Kinslee came over on Friday to exchange presents

Landry got a dinosaur! Anybody watch Dinosaur Train? It’s too cute.

Ansley got a entire nursery set for all her babies! She LOVED it! Although, she usually tries to use the set instead of her babies.

Chris had to work on Christmas Eve, so it was just me and the kids. We headed to mom and dad’s for dinner and presents!

I had to include this pic because their Zia looks a little crazy! hehe.

My stud. Please excuse the chocolate milk on his shirt. What can I say? I’m in the running for mother of the year…

Harli got to go as well, which was very exciting for her! Haegan and Addison were not quite as thrilled.

The kids got tons of awesome presents

Notice Keevan’s face? The drums were a big hit! Both the kids love to play them!

Ansley getting her 2011 Christmas Barbie. It’s customary! :)

Another big hit was Ansley’s new kitchen!

Santa came to our house sometime after we got home! He must have been pretty tired after getting all those presents out and in order!

Please excuse the fact that my son still has on the stained shirt from the previous nite and only one sock. Once again, Mother of the Year….

Then we opened presents from each other

Some of the aftermath.

I meant to take a picture but of course forgot. Chris got me a beautiful wedding band to go with my ring! He had it wrapped in a huge box with tons of paper and bricks, only to get down to a tiny ring box! I took it in today to be sized and have them both polished, so I’ll have to remember to share it later. I LOVE it!

I finally got the kids rooms and the living room cleaned up yesterday. It looked like the North Pole had blew up in my house! Although, by now, the kids have completely destroyed it all again and you can no longer see my living room floor!

We are SO thankful for all that we received. As much as I enjoy sending thank you notes, I feel as though they sound so insincere. I can never thank everyone for all they give us with the meaning that it all deserves. I know that we are extremely lucky to have the ability to give and receive and want everyone to know how much everything means to me and my family. THANK you so much.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got to enjoy spending time with family and friends!

Mountain Getaway

2011-12-15T19:59:00.001-06:00

We got back from a nice 4 day getaway to the mountains on Sunday. We had gorgeous weather and an overall great time! Now prepare yourself for a major picture overload.

Friday morning as we were getting out and about, there was a fine snow blowing around and all around the sun was an incredible rainbow. I had to adjust it a lot to show up in the picture, but it was amazing.

We decided to rent Landry some ski’s and let him play around the cabin and try to get the hang of it a little. We honestly never thought he’d even put them on, more or less love them, but he proved us wrong and absolutely loved it!

This might be my new favorite pic.

I know they’re hard to see, but the field was full of elk on our way home from dinner

And a few deer

Saturday morning the community center was having a Breakfast with Santa that we took the kids to. It didn’t turn out to be much, but Landry got to do a few crafts and see Santa, so that’s all that mattered.

When we got there, there was only 2 other kids, so they had fun dancing with this guy.

Eating a few goodies before the guy in red showed up

Saying hi to Ansley. Landry didn’t really want anything to do with him, except to wave and the Santa didn’t really pay attention to the kids much so we left soon after.

The rest of the day was spent playing outside again

More elk

We kept seeing this guy around the cabin all weekend. I wish I would’ve got a picture of him out of the trees so you could see his rack, it was huge! I think Chris said he had 11 points, but the height and width on them was pretty impressive.

I had to get a picture of these gorgeous trees covered in ice on the way home. Aren’t they pretty?

Then we had to come back to reality!

Ansley had tubes put in on Wednesday and did great! Hopefully that’ll clear up all her ear infections finally.

Christmas is in 10 days! Can you believe it? Always remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-03T09:57:00.001-06:00

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, so I thought I’d add some pictures from the last few weeks. Between both kids and me, we’ve been sick for a month off and on, so we haven’t really been doing anything of value!

We took the kids to take pictures a few weeks ago, I won’t share the one we used for our card!

They did really well for approximately 3 minutes and then the rest looked like this! I did get several that I’m crazy about though!

Since Landry’s birthday was cancelled, he’s been getting his presents randomly! Em and the kids came over and gave him a CARS pully bag and TONS of CARS cars! He was in heaven! And we had to open them all immediately!

We took Terry and Trissa’s pictures last week and it just so happened that my kids wanted their picture taken (weird, I know. Never happens when you need it too!). I am in LOVE with this picture!

I love this one!

Love these boys!

Also took Savanna’s family pics. I think they turned out pretty good too.

All in all, we’re just like everyone else trying to get ready for the holidays!

Please keep Ansley in your prayers as she is getting tubes on the 14th of this month. After having 6 infections in her left ear alone (not including right ear infections or doubles) the ENT and us agreed it’s best to do it now instead of waiting any longer.

Hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful holiday season!

The birthday party that never was….

2011-11-18T21:34:00.001-06:00

Landry got to have his party at school the Thursday before his actual birthday. We took cookies and juice for the kids and had a fun time!

I think in the 30 minutes we were there, Ansley had approximately 10 cookies to herself.

Poor guy does NOT like being sung to.

Being the great mother I am, I didn’t take pictures of the birthday boy on his actual birthday. Horrible, I know. Chris was working, so it was just me and the kids. We had donuts for breakfast, met Grammy & Bam Bam for lunch at McDonalds and hung out with Zia.

We took him to the Mart so he could pick out a toy for his birthday since his party wasn’t til the next day. He chose a tonka tow truck which was really cool, until we got home and he decided he wanted the helicopter toy. Needless to say, his Zia went back to the Mart to pick it up for him and gave it to him that nite. He was in heaven!

We spent several hours working on party favors and getting things ready for the party. Here’s the chocolate dipped rice crispy treats *idea courtesy of pinterest!*

Sunday morning when Landry woke up, he sounded like he was barking and he literally could not breathe very good. The minute Chris walked in, Landry and I left for the urgent care. The got him in immediately since he was having a hard time breathing and after a breathing treatment, steroid shots, and being tested for everything, they decided he just had croup. Party CANCELLED. I know he’s at an age where he won’t remember, but it seriously made me sad to have to cancel it.

Anywho. We had a mini party for him and gave him his new dune buggy

Which sister thoroughly enjoyed her party favor in while brother was napping.

And Grammy and Bam Bam brought gifts and cupcakes!

He got an awesome Mater lego set from Alan and Nancy.

A bright red new “ski’ coat from Grandma

New movies, letters, chalk, CARS dish set

and an art easel from Grammy & Bam Bam!

Then we had cupcakes! *notice he still doesn’t like being sang to!*

Terry, Trissa and the boys came and hung out that afternoon and after having so many steroids in one day, Landry was hyper! It was nice outside luckily though, so the boys all got to play on the new ride!

Hopefully we’ll have a make up party soon for the big 3 year old! But overall, for having to cancel his party, I think he had a great birthday!

Happy Birthday Landry!

2011-11-12T16:52:00.001-06:00

Landry Wyatt,

3 years ago today at 7:29 pm, you came into our lives and entered us into the world of parenthood.

By the time you were born, we already loved you so much, but we had no idea how much that love would grow after meeting you.

You have changed our lives so much. You have blessed us with so much joy and laughter and love. God gave us such a wonderful gift to trust you to us and we thank him daily.

You are a strong willed, wild, crazy, funny, out of control little boy, but you have such a fun and kind hearted spirit.

I cannot believe that you started out as a 8.5 pound little baby and grown into such a big *little* man. You love your sister unconditionally, for which makes me love you even more.

Thank you so much for showing us the love you give everyday. I hope you get everything you want in life and you always remain such a carefree, sweet, caring person.

We love you so much big guy

We hope you have the best birthday ever and enjoy all that is to come

Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Love you bunches!

Momma, Daddy, Sister, & Harli

No one else will know the strength of my love for you. After all, you’re the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside.

Halloween

2011-11-08T16:46:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween.....

only a week late!

Chris took the day off from the station, so he stayed home with the kids. When I got home, they were excited to show me the pumpkin they had carved! (it even has the kids initials in it!)

1st stop was to Grandma's house

This is about as good as the pictures got- Landry didn't look at the camera in any of them and the rest the flast blew them out too much.

Then we headed to mom and dad's

For some reason, Ansley was very angry with her costume, which was weird since she loves it! Maybe it has something to do with her being a drama queen...

Landry's friend Annsley Belle (and her parents) met us there and we trick or treated at a few houses on their street

Since the kids had been sick, we didn't stay out long. After mom and dad's we visited a few of our neighbors, called it a night and handed out candy.
First though, Landry got to put a candle in his pumpkin so everyone could see it

Then the boys stopped by with Landry and Ansley's goodies and so i could get a picture with all of them. Aren't they SO cute! :)

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!

MDO Trick or Treat

2011-10-27T13:58:00.000-05:00

First off- IT SNOWED!! Can I get an amen hallielujah?!! (and these were taken this morning around 8:30 and at 2pm it just now stopped snowing- so we actually have a lot more!!)

We went "Trick or Treating" with Landry's MDO class this morning at the Assisted Living place across the street from his school. So- now you know what his costume sneak peak from the other day was! :) (Mater- from CARS, in case you don't know!)

A few kids from his class

Tara is the head honcho of MDO and is honestly one of the nicest people I've ever met. She gives me a hard time about how "crafty" I am- and this is her face as we got off the elevator.

Walking with Dad

Noticing mom taking pictures

Chris did lots of explaining to people on how we made his costume

He got bunches of candy

And TONS of compliments on Mater

I thought this little girls costume was so sweet!

After making his way through the line, all the nurses made him come to a different area so they could all take pictures

Going back for round 2- notice he's a little greedy? Don't worry, he said thank you!

Since Chris walked with Landry, he heard all the goods! He said all the little older people were excited because he was dressed as "TowMaster." He said all down the row if one person asked what he was, the next one would say, well he's "Tow Master!". Until an older gentleman got excited and said "oh look, he's a firetruck!" (Close enough I guess! :))

Needless to say, we all thoroughly enjoyed our short little Trick or Treat adventure very much!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-18T12:53:00.000-05:00

We visited the pumpkin patch last nite- the kids had fun, but as you can tell, they both won’t cooperate for a picture at the same time…. Maybe someday.

This is after we saw a mouse run across the ground and Landry was screaming like a little girl, cause he thought it was in the mini pumpkins! hehehehe

And just for a flashback, these were from last year!

Hopefully we can go back and try again for a cute picture of the two of them! We’ll see!

IPhone Pics & Sewing Projects

2011-10-17T20:40:00.001-05:00

I have close to 400 pictures on my iphone. I figure I should probably post some of them!

The boys made me a sign for my birthday

Landry gets to sleep in our bed when Chris is at work and now Harli gets to as well. They usually sleep cuddled up together.

Ansley sportin’ her b-day present from Diane

Playing in Landry’s firetruck

Naptime

Obviously her toes eat Cheeto’s….

Shopping for Daddy a new drill at Home Depot

Here’s a sneak peak of Landry’s Halloween costume- any guesses?!

We babysat the girls while mom & dad went out of town

And got to watch Keevan at the high school pep rally perform with his jump team (which was awesome! and he did SO amazing!)

I’ve been sewing a little lately. Here’s the first pair of ruffle pants.

And the halloween pair

My first go round at making a dress

And we made Kinslee a pillowcase dress for Halloween!

So far so good I guess! She’s got a lot of compliments at school, so that’s a plus!

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch last nite – so those should be up soon.

Hope everyone is enjoying fall!

Misc.

2011-09-25T11:03:00.001-05:00

I have lots of pics on my camera card that need to be erased, so I figured I better add a few here.

Landry has spent a lot of time bouncing lately. Macy came over a few weeks ago and they had a lot of fun playing for hours!

Harli thought she needed to join in the fun as well

Ansley is starting to learn to drive her own 4-wheeler (of course with help from brother!)

Ethen got to bounce as well. Once he got used to the noise of it, he was a little bouncing machine!

My friend Sasha celebrated her anniversary a few weeks ago, so I kept Annsley Belle overnite. Terry was out of town and Chris was working, so Trissa and the boys stayed the nite as well. This is what the living room looked like. Notice all of them covering their eyes from my flash? (We stayed up watching Pippy Longstockings til after 11, the big boys fell asleep a little bit into it, but the little ones watched the whole thing!)

Thursday nite, we went to mom & dad’s neighborhood for the homecoming parade to watch all the floats.

Two kids were walking down the street with boxes on their heads – not for sure what in the world they were doing…

Terry, Chris, Kaleb & Landry waiting for the parade to start

All the floats and groups were dressed up as something, best I can figure is they were dressed in their Halloween costumes.

Keevan’s football team got to ride in the parade- he’s SO big!

Dedicated to the troops

Wizard of Oz – they even had flying monkeys!

A few people walked their dogs in it and Landry was obsessed! He kept running to go pet them all.

Chris and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary yesterday! Terry, Trissa and the boys came over to play with the kids so we could go to dinner. This is the only picture I’ll show of us. I look like a whale in the others.

Chris gave me money and the day off from the kids yesterday to go do what I wanted. I left the house at 9:30 and got home around 5. I got me some new clothes, a few things for the kids and finished Chris’ gift. I had a great time and appreciated that he let me do that SO much! It was a nice break and I know the kids had a great day with their daddy!

The boys wanted their picture taken – aren’t they so handsome!

Hope everyone is enjoying the first few days of FALL! Now if only the weather would cooperate and quit being in the 90’s!

Have a great week!

Mountain Fun

2011-09-10T11:35:00.001-05:00

Landry has learned lately to love the camera- so now when he see’s me get it out, he says “oh, mama take my picture!” So pretty much the only pics I got while in the mountains were of him posing!

I really want a cute picture of the kids together, so I made Chris try to help me pretty much every nite! Landry usually tried to choke his sister and she usually just tried to lick her brother…

We had great weather all weekend, it was in the 40’s on Sunday and rained off and on all day and the other days it usually stayed in the 60’s. We had a great time!

Oh, Back to School…

2011-09-06T17:30:00.001-05:00

back to school, to prove to dad that I’m not a fool. (Anybody know what movie that’s from??)

Does anyone remember this little guy last June starting his first day of “school”? He’s so little!

Well, he started his new school today! We chose one a little closer to work for this year. On Tuesdays, they have a music class where a lady here in town comes in and teaches a class and on Thursdays they have a Movement Class. They teach them about their muscles and they stretch and they learn and do all sorts of new things with their bodies.

Showing me his “muscles”

He was really excited about school until we actually got there. It pretty much went downhill after that, so this is the only picture we got before we went in.

And this is after!

They said he had a fantastic day (only cried for a minute or two after we left), played great, was really sweet to the other kids and ate all of his lunch! He was in a great mood and anytime I ask him if he had a good day, he says “oh, yes!”

Hopefully he’ll get over the fear he has of me leaving him somewhere. Here’s to a great “school year”!

PS- If you guessed Billy Madison – you’d be correct! What a great movie!

Bear Farts...

2011-09-06T14:08:00.000-05:00

Ha! Bet that got you to wondering what was coming!

We just spent the long weekend in the mountains and while shopping in a local gift shop, I saw this candle burning. I thought it was funny- but then I smelled it and fell in love. So, needless to say I bought one!

Let's just clarify that I DON'T do candles. I don't trust myself to blow them out. That's why for years now, I've used Gold Canyon Candle Pods (love them by the way!). Anywho- I've been smelling this all day and it honestly is one of the greatest smelling candles ever.

This is the description on the website:

BEAR FARTS

OH WHAT A TREAT! This complex fragrance is anything but, what you might think would be disgusting. it begins with top notes of fresh bananas and juicy grapefruit, middle notes of kiwi, juicy bublegum, and strawberries, and a hint of vanilla as a base note. ALL TIME FAVORITE!

The website says you can only order wholesale through them, so I'm definetely gonna stock up next time I go!

Yummy!

Catching Up

2011-08-29T19:09:00.001-05:00

Not a whole lot has been going on here lately- so, nothing too interested to show you!

Ansley has become obsessed with getting on the couch, so Landry has learned how to remove all the cushions to help her.

This pretty much sums up Landry, he never slows down.

The boys brought their bouncer over one night, so that occupied everyone *except Ansley* for awhile

Last week, we went out to lunch for my birthday with Sasha & Annsley Belle and then went to the Discovery Center for a playdate. The kids had an absolute blast! Not to mention, I got in free and we were pretty much the only ones there, so the kids had free roam of the entire place.

Trying to get a picture of these two is near to impossible- they neither one will slow down. (Landry pretty much refuses to call her Annsley, he always calls her Tinker Bell)

He climbed all the way to the top!

Landry was the best at the bubbles- he did great!

Sister playing at the campfire

Having a cup of coffee

A few nites ago, Aaron came to help Chris with the porch and of course Miss Ella didn’t fail to entertain us as always!

Crabby britches swinging away

They also helped Keevan with his football plays

Ansley LOVES her pretty Fancy Nancy dress from Miss Chloe (and Kim & Mark!), she got SO many compliments on it.

That’s about all that we’ve been up to!

PS- Diane, THANK you SO much for the amazing dress you made for Ansley. I love, love, love it! I promise I will send a thank you note very soon.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Sweet Shoppe Party!

2011-08-14T21:18:00.007-05:00

A few days ago, I wrote that “my house is dirty, my laundry needs to be done, and my kitchen looks like a bomb went off.” After yesterday, the exact same can be said. Although I’m pretty sure the house looks worse now then before! I think the party went pretty well minus the fact it was a utter mad house here for about 2 hours.
xo

For her actual birthday, Big Daddy was working, so Em, Ella, Kaden, Terry, Trissa, Keevan & Kaleb came over and we had cookies to celebrate!

What we would do without this lady in our lives, I hope to never find out! She is such a great friend to me.

Sassy Ella (her shirt should be her motto…)

TT & Ansley

Aaron and Chris finished building the swing set from Grammy & BamBam Friday nite, so the kids didn’t see it until Saturday morning. Landry was THRILLED! Needless to say, we’ve spent lots of time out there already!

Saturday afternoon was her Sweet Shoppe party. This is the awning that dad made for the sweets table. We had cupcake push-pops and regular cupcakes *that Grammy made and were delicious!* (they sat on the colored trays, don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of those?), an ice cream bar & candy. It was a sugar coma waiting to happen…

The only pic I have of the invite, is off my phone.

Miss Priss’ smash cake

Here’s the “lemonade” stand that Big Daddy made. I LOVE it! Instead of lemonade though, we had a pineapple strawberry punch.

Ice Cream bar

Close up of the favor bags and water bottle labels I made. (The sweet bags are just computer paper – if you want to know how to print them, let me know.)

Little princess waiting to open presents

This is about as interested as she got.

Luckily, her brother is very interested in opening gifts!

See, she gave up on presents!

The adorable paper doll quilt Nancy made for Ansley. It is SO precious. She also made a pillow case to go with it, but I didn’t get a picture of that either.

Deciding she’d rather just chew on her new little Pony.

Landry got a punching bag!

Smash cake time was a little disappointing. I think it was the hat that threw her off, she never could decide if she wanted it on or off, or on the floor.

Once again though, Landry came through! He begged to eat that cake since Friday when I baked it!

This is “Banna’s” baby Kinslee. Ansley is slightly obsessed with her and doesn’t understand why we don’t let her just “love” on her all the time (it could have something to do with the fact that when Kinslee was like a week old, Ansley attempted to poke her eye out…)

And this would be Landry’s future wife (Ella) making out with another man (Ethen). Notice the closed eyes and everything?

Uh huh. They need couple’s therapy sooner than we thought.

Sweet Macy and Landry. She’s so good with him!

Finally, she got to play with the baby!

Silly girl had a GREAT birthday and was spoiled beyond measure!

I owe HUGE shout outs to several people-
xo

Mom- for EVERYTHING. Literally. You are the greatest mom / Grammy EVER. You rock, more so than you’ll ever know. Not to mention, everyone loved the cupcakes!

Dad- for making the awesome table awning! From a picture to reality in less than a hour and for helping me make the cupcake pushpop stands (and drilling all the holes!) and never once complaining about any of it!

Emily and Jaime- for helping me get everything ready the nite before and cleaning my childs room! (Oh, and listening to me complain!)

Sav- for helping with the sweets table & the super cute sixlets (and listening to me complain!)

Aaron- for helping Chris build the swing set (sorry you always have to work when you come over.)

Big Daddy- for making me the lemonade stand (in about 30 minutes!), finishing the swingset, painting EVERYTHING! and making sure the house looked great before the party! We love you bunches!
xo

Overall, I think it was a success!

**I got the idea for the lemonade stand here !**

12 Months aka 1 YEAR!!

2011-08-11T08:02:00.000-05:00

Oh my. I can’t believe I’m already writing this.

*WARNING- prepare yourself for a lot of pictures. And by a lot, I mean like 200. Don’t say you weren’t warned!

A year ago today at 8:17 in the morning, you, my baby girl came into our lives. Needless to say, you completed our family and we haven’t been the same since.

You entered this world at 9 lbs 6 oz. and were 19.5 inches long. You won the biggest baby in the nursery award! As of a week ago, you were 21 lbs 10.5 ozs. but you don’t go for your 1 year well check until the 17th.

Right now, you are mainly wearing 18 month clothing, size 3 diapers and a 3-4 shoe.

I switched you to whole milk a few weeks ago and you didn’t give me any problem changing. You’re not a picky eater *knock on wood* and I hope you remain that way!

You have 6 teeth. Top middle two and the one to the left; and the bottom two with the one to the left as well! You have a mouth full of teeth on the left side!

You can WALK! You mostly take about 4-5 steps before you realize it’s still faster to crawl.

You’re a climber. You will attempt to climb onto anything, which is not a good thing!

Anything that your brother has in his hands, you think you must have immediately. You expect there to be no questions asked and if he disagrees, you let it be known whose the boss.

You’re starting to really show interest in Harli. That poor dog, between you and Landry, y’all wear her out!

You still love to wrestle with daddy, you squeal with delight when he gets on the ground with you and your brother.

You have started laughing uncontrollably lately. But the only time you do it, is when your brother provokes it.

Notice a pattern? You worship your brother! I’m pretty sure he thinks you rock too.

You scream. I mean, SCREAM when you’re not getting attention, or if you want something, or just for fun.

Yes, I know. She is my daughter.

You are an outdoor type of girl. I swear you stay dirty all the time. Not just dirty, but down right filthy. You love the mud and water puddles on the patio the most. Luckily though- you also love bathtime!

**These are Ansley’s ONE YEAR PIC’S!**

We just think you are the most beautiful baby girl ever!

You have blessed our lives beyond belief. I honestly don’t know what we did before we had you and your brother (besides probably led a very boring life!).

You are such a happy little girl, and I pray that the world we live in doesn’t ever change that. I know there will be hardships and difficult times, but I hope you always remember to smile.

I hope you are as blessed in life as what we are now.

I know that down the road, you’re going to go through a time where you probably won’t like me. I just hope you remember that I will always be here for you, even if you think I’m not cool.

This is my favorite picture!

Enjoy life and live it to the fullest!

Second favorite picture!

Takin’ things Jungle Book style!

Sweet baby, I cannot believe you are a year old, it seems like just yesterday you were born. You have grown so much over the last 12 months, it has been amazing seeing the changes and watching you learn new things daily. You are so beautiful to us and we are so blessed having you in our lives. God has given me and your daddy such a gift by trusting us with you and brother. I hope you grow up feeling loved. Believe in yourself that anything you want in life, you can have and that you can accomplish great things. Your Grammy always told me to “reach for the stars,” live by that baby girl and you will go so far!

We love you SO much and hope your 1st birthday is absolutely grand!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy & Landry

There’s No Point….

2011-08-09T17:57:00.001-05:00

in this post at all!

My house is dirty, I have laundry to be done, my kitchen looks like a bomb went off in it and it’s all because my little girl’s party is this weekend. I’m way too entirely consumed. I want it to be perfect and everyone to love it, then I get a reality check! It’s her 1st birthday and I doubt she cares. Believe me, I know this and don’t need to be reminded. I just want it to be great….

Anywho. I was working on some pics and found a bunch of random pics from my phone and a few weeks ago. So- enjoy! :)

Doesn’t he look so little? This was a few months back

Sweet baby. (I make jokes now because the poor girl doesn’t have any hair, but when I look at this picture, I realize that she really does compared to how much she had a few short months ago!!)

Landry was napping and Ansley was playing on the couch like she was sleeping too. She’s REALLY mean to him while he’s napping.

Silly babies

Helping Bam-bam mow

Curious George at the dentist office when he had his teeth done.

Nappin’ with his new snake on vacation.

Goodness, is he not precious!

Serious little girl

This melts my heart. They were actually rough-housing, but I caught it at the right time to look sweet!

Okay, in this one she still looks bald, but in the back there’s more!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

New Porch

2011-08-02T20:06:00.002-05:00

As usual, work has been going on at this house! Chris has been wanting to extend the back porch all the way across the patio and this weekend he finally got the chance.

Terry and him started on Friday nite, worked all day Saturday and all day Sunday. Being the good wife that I am, I took ZERO pictures of the process.

These are from Sunday evening, so the pictures are not the greatest. The boys wanted us all up on the roof, so we obliged.

The view of the sandbox from the roof

And yes, Ansley joined us as well

She was not impressed with TT putting her on the chimney

Notice all the leaves in the front yard? I don’t think that’s normal for July/August. It looks like fall at our house.

You can see the addition in the shingles. Even though you can tell the difference in the picture, you can’t see it in person. They're the same color shingles, you can see though the fading in the older ones.

Such big boys

Harli was going crazy wanting up there with everyone!

Needless to say, all the boys were exhausted. They were literally dragging by Sunday evening.

All that’s left is the inspection for the framing and he can finish the under side of the porch. It looks so good and I’m sure glad it shaded Miss Ansley’s room!

Oh-ps. Is anyone else aware it’s 9 days til the little misses 1st birthday? Geez. I don’t know if I can handle it.

Sneak Peak–Jungle Book Style

2011-07-29T08:06:00.001-05:00

We took Ansley’s one year pics this past weekend so I could get them edited and printed before her party. I think that quite a few of them turned out great!

Anywho. When I was editing them, I came across this one- and it just might be one of my favorites. The first thing I thought of when I saw it was when Mowgli was marching with the elephants in the Jungle Book.

Too bad you can’t see her other leg sticking out due to her massive tutu! Silly girl!

I cannot believe she’s fixing to be one!

Another Wishlist Wednesday

2011-07-27T14:55:00.000-05:00

Last week I stumbled upon a blog post about iced coffee.

Let's get one thing straight- I L.O.V.E coffee. But, let's face it, it's very expensive to buy a cup at the local joe's. I have a Tassimo, which is great during the cold (ha, does it even get "cold" here anymore?!) months and I want hot coffee, but when it's 90 degrees when I head to work, I definitely do not want hot coffee. And if you've ever poured hot or luke warm coffee over ice... well, it's just gross.

Fast forward. I learned to make "cold coffee." Basically you soak coffee grinds in water for around 12 hours, strain the coffee, stick concentrated coffee in the fridge and you have your cold coffee ready for you in the mornings! I'm addicted!

The recipe on her blog is

1/3 cup coffee

1 1/2 cups water

I've been doing this recipe times 3. It lasted me a few days!

Anywho. After soaking the grinds, the straining is the crummy part. I've just been putting a strainer over a bowl with a coffee filter (thanks left over coffee filter wreath crafts!) in it and slowly adding the coffee mixture til it's strained. Honestly, it sucks. It's time consuming and dirty.

Until I saw this.

It's my today's wishlist item!

While looking through a linky party, I found this blog talking about her cold coffee and how she makes it using her "toddy". Oh my. Doesn't that look fun! I'm intrigued.

Or, you can do a gigantic batch like the Pioneer Woman! She does it like i've been doing it, only in epic proportions!

I'm not sure why i've never known about making cold coffee til now when it seems to be on every blog! All I know is I think it's amazing and if you like coffee, it's for sure worth a shot!

Don't you feel like it took forever to just show you what I wanted?! Sorry about that!

Wishlist Wednesday

2011-07-20T14:00:00.002-05:00

Seeing as how it's Wednesday, I thought I would make a wishlist!

Since I seemed to have broke my "kit lens" (which everyone on the internet complains about, but I use on a daily basis!) I found one on Amazon.

This lens on Amazon for $168.99

These next few are just light diffusers for the flash. Since majority of the pictures I take of the kids are inside, I'd like to get one someday so the flash isn't so harsh.

LumiQuest Soft Screen for only $11.95

LumiQuest-ProMax-Mini-SoftBox for $22.95

Light Scoop for $29.95

There ya have it! My Wishlist Wednesday!

Vacation!

2011-07-19T20:55:00.001-05:00

We spent 3 days in Colorado before we headed to New Mexico for the rest of the week. It was a great 1149.3 mile vacation!

Sorry some of the pics aren’t great. The first time I got my camera out for the trip, my lens wouldn’t work right, so stupid me started messing with it and ended up breaking the spring inside the lens. Needless to say, I fought with it the rest of the week. Booooo.

We originally planned to stay in Trinidad the first nite, but a storm pushed us to go ahead and go to Pueblo. We went to the zoo before heading to a hotel.

Then we headed to Colorado Springs to visit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo where we spent several hours. Definitely a must see! We visited all these places on our honeymoon and they were just as great this time!

From there we went to the North Pole. We were a little worried Landry wouldn’t like the rides, but he had the best time EVER!

As a note- we put him on this ride, not knowing that it went lightning fast! Poor kid by the end of it was mashed up against the side trying to hang on!

We stopped back in Pueblo to the “Children’s Museum” but it was an utter joke. We were literally there for 15 minutes and 13 of that was unnecessary.

Since we missed Trinidad the first day, we stopped at their Aquatic Center aka- Pool and played in the water for a while (iphone pics). Of course, Landry LOVED this probably the most! He had the biggest smile after coming off the huge slide with his daddy.

We ate dinner in Trinidad and the power went off because of a storm, so we decided to head on to Angel Fire.

These are through Raton Pass, it all burned a few weeks back.

We visited Red River and Taos there and just kinda hung around the cabin. The kids enjoyed getting to play with their new toys they picked up.

These are phone pics from Taos

We stopped at the Farmer’s Market in Eagle’s Nest and I picked up mini cantaloupes and cucumber pickles. And the other is the resident chipmunk we saw all week.

Landry is obsessed with horses. We stopped here a few times and before we left AF, I snapped some pics of him.

Overall, we had a fabulous time. Minus crabby babies in the car, I consider it a success! It sure stunk having to come back to reality!

Pool Towel Door

2011-07-18T18:39:00.010-05:00

A few weeks ago, I saw the cutest thing here. I knew mom & dad needed it at their house, so I bought a door, the hubster painted it and attached the hangers and I slapped on some vinyl! I LOVE it!

Mud Bath

2011-07-14T15:37:00.000-05:00

If there is a mud hole or a water puddle, you can guarantee that the little missy will find it!

Don’t worry, she didn’t eat any of it.

11 Months

2011-07-11T09:15:00.000-05:00

Precious baby, you are 11 months old today! I cannot believe that in one more month, you will be a year old. It seems like just yesterday you were born and while it’s so exciting to see you grow everyday, it hurts my heart that you’re not my little baby anymore.

Anywho, before I get too sappy on here, I guess I need to update you on the last month!

You are still in size 2 diapers, 12-18 month clothing and size 3 shoes.

(I didn’t even bother editing some of these because they’re just ridiculous, but it gives you a glimpse of how picture taking usually turns out!)

You still technically only have 2 teeth, although you can feel one coming in on the left of your bottom tooth and you can see the top two, they just haven’t come in yet.

You still prefer bear crawling, which I guess is fine seeing as how you’re really fast that way.

You stand up by yourself a lot. If you would just get the courage, you could walk.

You had another ear infection about 2 weeks ago and weighed 21.8 lbs. So I’m thinking next month you might be 23 or so.

As with every previous month, your brother is still your favorite. You’ve gotten really into wrestling this month and love when daddy & Landry get on the floor with you to play.

You’re also starting to be clingy. If you’re not near someone, you let it be known that you’re not happy.

You eat regular food all the time now and will start whole milk in a few weeks.

You love to pull hair (especially Landry’s) which he handles pretty well.

He’s always excited to see you, even if it’s only been an hour during naptime, that you’ve been gone.

I hope that you and him continue to be buddies! Y’all are so sweet together now!

Ansley, we hope you receive everything you can ever dream of in life and thank God we have been so blessed by you!

Happy 11 month birthday baby girl!

4th of July

2011-07-09T12:11:00.001-05:00

Our 4th pretty much consisted of swimming and cooking out! Perfect way to spend an evening in my book.

These aren’t actually videos, they’re just pictures put together, so they’re only a few seconds long.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Landry's Silly Video

2011-07-05T16:13:00.001-05:00

I finally got one video to load! You probably won't find this near as funny as I do but I just love his little voice. And pardon my annoying voice, just ignore it.

Untitled from Busy B Family on Vimeo.

As a side note- Harli does NOT bite Landry. Ever. Even when he deserves it. For some reason when anything happens to anyone, Landry blames it on her.

Side note #2- I promise there's not usually that many shoes in my living room. I had a pair in there, Landry had a pair and he had been wearing Chris' boots around. So, excuse the mess!

Total Randomness

2011-07-04T13:44:00.001-05:00

There is absolutely no point to this post. Just forewarning you!

Grampy and Ansley swimming a few weeks ago

Landry posing after a hard days work

His 4th of July parade a few days ago. Notice he’s in horrible clothes? I had him in his cute outfit for the parade (with a shirt mom had made) so I wasn’t too happy he wasn’t in that when I got there. Afterwards, I asked why he changed and they said he had a “horrible” accident and it was all over his clothes. I opened the sack when I got home to wash them and the only poo on his outfit, was a little bitty spot on the back of his shirt. Nothing anywhere else. Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy.

All the boys have been working at Terry’s for a few days and Keevan wanted me to take pictures of his flips. I took a bunch and thought they looked cool.

Landry of course had to “work” too

A little sneak peak!

Oh, and I got a tattoo. Actually, we all got tattoos (Big Daddy, me, Terry and Trissa). I got mine on my right ankle. Fun times! :)

I have a whole ton of videos to share, especially a funny one from last nite, but I’ve been trying to upload them to youtube since yesterday with no luck. It takes FOREVER and then about a quarter of the way into it, it says there was an error. I’ve been trying vimeo since this morning, with not much better luck.

Any advice? I’m tired of not being able to load them, are there any other sites to use?

Hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July!

God Bless America!

Private?

2011-06-30T13:24:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking of going private for awhile.

I know it's mainly family who reads this, but if for some reason you keep up with this dinky blog, please leave your name & e-mail in the comments so I can invite you should I choose to go this route! Also, I'd LOVE to know where you're reading from! Thanks so much.

Water fun and sleepovers!

2011-06-22T16:48:00.001-05:00

The kids have been having lots of fun playing in the water the last few (hot!) days. Landry is really loving Chris' "fire hose" nozzle on the water hose, so that has provided hours of endless fun!

Monday nite the boys stayed with us, so of course they all played outside.

This was Landry's first official sleepover! They've stayed with us before but this time Landry got to sleep on a pallet in the living room with them! He had a great time! Although Tuesday at MDO, he did sleep majority of the day!

Chris had Tuesday off from the station, so him and the boys tore down and put up all new sheetrock in the garage. The boys were so excited that Chris bought them new gloves and they got to actually work and not just play. Keevan had to measure the rock, Chris would cut it and then both Keevan and Kaleb would screw it up to the wall. It looks so much better already! I was shocked at the difference.

Needless to say, they wanted to stay the nite last nite too. Instead of just playing in the water though, they soaked the sand with water and played in the mud.

I don't know if I've ever seen 3 boys so dirty. It took a wash down outside, 2 baths and a shower to get them clean! They all had a blast though!

I definitely see more sleepovers in our near future!

Hope everyone is staying cool!