Our Week In Photos (and scroll to the bottom for a semi-lame request....)

Yay for normal life! Parker started back to school last Tuesday and we have been enjoying the routine again. 

I actually don't have many photos from the last week--whoops.

Here's what I've got:

Lily the photographer. 

We made another trip to the fire truck park on the last day of Christmas break and had a picnic. The weather was perfect and the kids were happy (for the most part). 

We had a BIG day on Saturday because Bryan turned the BIG 3-2! Are we really that old?

We celebrated him with homemade lasagna and Texas sheet cake. 

We sure are thankful for him!!!! He is my favorite.

Our other treat of the weekend was having a very spontaneous overnight visit from the one and only Nonnie! My Mom had flown into Dallas to drive down and see my grandparents, but she also surprised the kids and gave us all a day of fun.

She was there for Bryan's birthday celebration and was also there to sit with us and watch the Cowboys lose (not the best birthday gift!). She also went to church and Uncle Julio's with us before heading off. (And have us lots of play/rest time!)

I am fairly certain my kids wore her out! But I'm also sure she loved it!

Parker was very upset when my Mom had to leave on Sunday night and the next morning when I went in his room to make his bed I found the book that my sister made him to show where our family lives propped open to the Colorado page. So darn sweet!

Other things that happened that I have no photographic evidence of and/or feel are worth the mention:

1. I went to see the Rachel Hollis documentary with my friend Aubree and it was SO good. She also texted to tell me that Rachel announced she is coming to Dallas for a RISE Conference! Anyone want to give me $200 so I can go? ;) (KIDDING.)

2. My friend Tara told us about a new podcast called The Bible Recap that gives you a reading plan to read the Bible through chronologically in one year and provides recaps to listen to after each reading. I'M DOING IT. I'm so pumped! I've attempted to read the Bible through about 45 times and always quit.

Anyways. It is very good and very interesting so far! I highly recommend checking it out on your preferred podcast app and catching up! Tara Leigh Cobble is the host and she is hilarious and just happens to live in Dallas and I'm really thinking there are too many people around this place that I could potentially stalk. ;)

3. Lily is sitting in my lap "talking" on my phone about birthdays and yelling "Bryan! I can't hear you!" Um, where on earth did she get that? (Insert raised hand lady and embarrassed emoji face here!)

4. I made a very tasty one-pot pasta dish last night that was deemed good enough to go in the recipe binder! It is called Creamy Sausage and Spinach Pasta and it is DARN GOOD. I found the recipe right here via Pinterest. (Maybe use normal tomatoes instead of the green chile mix if you don't like spice!)

(via)

5. I finished a book! And I may have read it in one day! Oops. This is why my reading is so sporadic....that whole "live a normal life and be a good mother" thing really gets in the way! Ha. BUT SERIOUSLY. I loved "Where The Crawdads Sing" just about as much as I can love a book. I keep thinking about the characters and I finished it a week ago. It's a little slow to start but the writing is superb (one of those where you feel like you are there because the setting is described so well) and it's got a good mix of heartbreak, young love, and mystery. All good things. 

6. OH!!! IMPORTANT: I've been hard at work on my Etsy shop! It's still FOR SURE a work in progress, but to anyone reading this: could you pretty please click on the link below and click around in the listings in my shop and spend time looking at them??? I know, such a weird request (!) but Etsy analytics and algorithms rank listings in search based on how many times they are viewed and how long each person stays on a particular page and since I don't have a single item from my old shop still listed, I'm really needing some help! 

Pretty please click over to my shop RIGHT HERE. Thank youuuuuu!!!

On a side note: Lily has now moved on from making phone calls to "taking selfies" and then saying things like, "Awwwwww, dat's so cute!"

Bye!!

One Last Halloween Post (Sorry): Hayes Turns Four!

I just got back from the most perfect girls weekend with some of my best friends from Lubbock. We headed down to Fredericksburg to enjoy the beautiful Texas hill country, eat some good food, do lots of shopping, and enjoy each others' company! These girls are some of my very favorites--they are very real, very encouraging, AND absolutely very hilarious (which is an important friend trait in my book)....they also make me miss Lubbock very much! 

I will blog about that trip later this week, but for right now, I wanted to go back in time a few weeks to share Hayes' Halloween themed birthday dinner. If you are over Halloween, my apologies!

Hayes is obsessed with Halloween and talks about it all year long, so it's very convenient that he is an October baby and can ask for a "Halloween" themed birthday dinner. He wanted everything "super spooky" so I pulled out every pieces of Halloween decor I had and went to town decorating.

We love this little boy! HOW IS HE FOUR?

My Mom, Dad, and sister were in town for the festivities and were wrangled into helping--Julie jokes that she can't come to my kids birthdays because she always gets all the grunt work. (Okay, it's actually not a joke! Muah-ha! Payback for stealing my clothes when we were growing up.)

We watched "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (because remember, I am a really great Mom) and hung around inside because, as usual, it was raining outside! (And Hayes evidently spent some time on Nonnie's iPad.)

Thanks to my brilliant mother-in-law for suggesting we freeze half of the cupcakes we made for Lily's birthday to use for Hayes' birthday! You are a genius. And good at making cupcakes.

I used the lights I had purchased to use outside on our patio for Halloween and we played "spooky" music (these were really the only decorations Hayes was excited about).

We had chill dogs and french fries for supper because the only thing Hayes loves as much as Halloween is a good hot dog.

Unfortunately, Parker Reed was sick and slept through most of the evening! Poor guy.

Hayes was loaded up on gifts with his favorite being, "Greedy Granny"--a very strange game where you steal cookies from a sleeping granny until she wakes up and spits out her teeth. I know, so weird. Hayes obsessively talked about it for weeks though and has since requested "ALLLLL the games" for Christmas. I laugh every time I think about how much this kid loves really random games.

He also got a scooter, which has actually become the hot commodity to play with (or fight over, if Parker is around) when we go outside.

So there's that!

And because I can't end a birthday post without a personal note to the birthday boy (you know, for him to read in 20 years)....

Hayes, you are SO LOVED and are such a delight to our family. You are smart, funny, brave, persistent, tender, compassionate, rough-and-tumble, and so very thoughtful. You are my snuggle bug, have my favorite kissy lips, and have the most mischievous (sweet) grin. I love to watch the way you laugh so big and so freely as you run around doing your thing--I hope that never changes! We love you to the moon!

More videos of Hayes' birthday on YouTube!

Lily Mae Turns TWO!

Our precious baby girl turned a whole two-years-old on September 29th and right now seems the perfect opportunity to share! We had a fun, family-filled weekend with all of our girlfriend's favorite things, namely---food, family, toys, chocolate, and Chick-fil-a! 

On Friday night, (her birthday eve) we met Aunt Abby who was in town for work (super lucky timing) along with Grammie and Bee (Bryan's parents) for dinner at Uncle Julio's (which was de-licious). 

You know who's also de-licious? This baby girl right here.

It was a fun evening complete with queso, tamales, AND a chocolate piñata! I think it's safe to say we were all hating ourselves as we waddled out of the restaurant. ;)

We got home and I finished up my party prep--mostly decorating cupcakes, hanging a birthday banner, setting out gifts, and admiring my very own DIY piñata--Y'ALL I am so proud of this thing! Unfortunately it seems the only crafts I like to make are the kind that get thrown away immediately or destroyed by 4-year-olds but hey it is what it is, right?

On Saturday morning we woke up to find that our Lily Mae had turned two overnight! How dare she! We got her one of those kiddy plastic roller coasters which she was so excited over she was practically shaking but of course I have no photographed evidence of this cuteness. 

We had breakfast and hung around the house for a bit (mostly because it was pouring down rain) and then Bryan and Bee took the boys to a friend's birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese (it was a HIT and I was thankful for a bit of quiet and alone time with my girl!) 

My Mom and my Aunt Cindy met me, Judy, and Lily at Chick-fil-a where Lily was, of course, and much to her delight, the center of attention.

Then we went home, put the birthday girl down for a nap and began our party prep for her "Two Sweet" birthday dinner.

(As you can see, Chuck-E-Cheese was obviously very exhausting for the boys...BAHAHA.) I LOVE YOU, BRYAN. YOU'RE STILL SO HANDSOME EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE SECRET NAP PHOTOS TAKEN OF YOU.

I win at taking the same photograph from 75 different angles. ;)

Lilybug LOVES her grandmas!

We had a taco bar for dinner and then cupcakes and an ice cream sundae bar for dessert. I TRIED to keep things simple, but of course, I am kind of horrible at that. 

Everything turned out perfectly with the help of the grandma's and aunt in the kitchen! I wish I could keep them here with me every day--then this mom thing would be a piece of cake, wouldn't it? 

The piñata's minutes were numbered so it of course had to be the centerpiece of the table.

My cupcake frosting kind of sunk/melted but they still looked pretty cute!

Naps, football, and the anxious anticipation of tacos.

Our precious Lily Mae!

After dinner we opened presents. Lily is really starting to understand how fun toys are (although I'm not sure if that's good or bad) so she had a lot of fun with her new stash of girl stuff. Pink is about to throw up in my house guys, and I am HERE for it.

Multi-tasking like a boss.

I wrangled her into her first PRINCESS COSTUME (I was way more excited than she was, can you tell?) and then she took a ride in her new baby doll stroller.

Then, the time had come...the time to kill the piñata. Parker seemed overly excited. Probably letting out some repressed anger towards me since he watched me work on it all week. (I'm only kind of kidding?)

The little princess taking her goodies. (And Hayes the candy hoarder.)

It was such a fun day. We cleaned up (alright, the grandmas and aunt cleaned up), put our baby two-year-old to bed, and then fell into our own beds completely exhausted. 

Bryan and I are unbelievably thankful for the gift that is Lillian Mae Roberts. God sure did know what He was doing when He made her. She is hilarious, smart, beautiful, curious, caring, brave, adventurous, compassionate, mischievous (in the cutest ways), and the absolute perfect addition to our family. I cannot wait to see how God uses these little gifts I already see in her as she grows up. What a blessing it is to have children and to be able to celebrate them growing older! We love you, Lilybug!