Summer, it's time for you to go

I'm real serious. The heat, the mosquitoes, the humidity, I'm beyond over it. I don't think there's ever been a Houston summer that has bothered me so much. And I was 7-9 months pregnant in summer '11 people! The only possible good thing about it still being hot as hades is that the girls continue to enjoy the pool. We went today and I got a couple of good photos of Maddie in her towel hoodie.

They reminded me of photos of her big sister in the same hoodie, 4 years ago!

Equally adorable of course, but sometimes these girls 

don't even look related...maybe the nose?

I can't even adequately explain how glad I am that Avery is back to loving the pool. She's basically taken an entire year off from swim therapy and I'm eager to start her again.  Her new school year is going ok but everything is about to change this week as they add 3 more kids to the room, eek! Not sure how that's going to go. She's also getting a new round of Botox injections on Tuesday. That's Bub the hub's birthday too! Not the most fun way to spend his birthday, but we are just grateful that we can still get the injections and that they are still working. Hopefully we can make the rest of the day more fun for Bub daddy :).

Meanwhile, we are still unpacking and finishing the new house up. And I am still trying to find the time to organize all my house photos. Sigh. Just need to get one big card order out the door and unpack a bit more. And then decorate. We did make a huge change to the front of the house that I can share now. Behold an actual before & after!

original house at sale

house as of yesterday...painted and lots of landscaping!

More to come soon!

Back to School, again

Avery started school again on Wednesday. I couldn't be happier to get her back into a good routine. And I'm not gonna lie, I needed to get that girl out of the house! She gets so bored on summer break. I feel the mom guilt for not getting her out more, but finding things to do for a non-mobile, non-verbal, special needs princess is ridiculously hard. Throw in a running, bouncing, talking-a-mile-a-minute little sister and it's all out impossible.

Sadly, going back to school wasn't quite as fun as the previous years. Lil'bub is in a new classroom this year, with different teachers. Change is so hard. Especially when you feel like certain people (Avery's previous teachers) know your child almost as well as you do, and love them without judgement. I cried like a baby on the last day of school, knowing we wouldn't be back in that class, with those wonderful teachers again. Avery's head teacher changed her life, and ours, in so many amazing ways. 

I'm trying to keep an open mind about this new class, but it's hard for a lot of reasons. You know what else is hard? Seeing friends on Facebook posting adorable photos of their 5 year olds starting Kindergarten. Like mine should be doing, in a different world. I hope no one will take offense here, I don't mean to make anyone feel bad. It's a memorable milestone! I just wish we could join in the fun. And don't get me wrong, I love my daughter's school and I am beyond grateful that she can attend and get the help she needs....I can't help imagine though. There I go again. What if.

Here is my big girl on another first day. Hoping another great year lays ahead.

Baby Bub is TWO!

And in the blink of an eye, you are so grown-up and getting more beautiful and bright every day. Two years ago I held you in my arms and couldn't believe my good luck!

What a dream you have been, Maddie Brynn. I tell everyone that you balance me out, sweet girl, and it's true, you do. You bring constant sunshine and so much more love into our little family.

our little comedian, you always make us smile

you are growing up so fast, TOO FAST!! 

Precious girl, you light up our lives!

Happy 2nd birthday, sweetheart

Something's Gotta Give

And in my case, it's this blog! My intentions to blog once a week are always very serious. Somehow life continues to get in the way...imagine that. These past two weeks (of not blogging) we began summer break #2 for Avery, celebrated my 31st birthday, installed a new kitchen into the new house among a ton of other updates, and worked on a record number of cards! It's insane! I am DYING to share new photos of everything we have done to spiffy up the house. I just need to find the time to organize all of my "before" and "after" photos. Like 100's of them! ah!

Suffice it to say, we had (and have) a lot to learn when it came to renovating and updating an older home. We saved a ton of money doing a bunch of DIY projects, but we did not save any time! We also THOUGHT we were saving money using a couple of stores, ahem HOME DEPOT, who totally screwed up every. single. thing. we bought through them and pushed our timeline way later than we anticipated. But live and learn. It will be so worth it when we have everything done and settled and we can look back and laugh....maybe. Next up we have unpacking and decorating the new house and Maddie's 2nd birthday party! The fun/stress never stops! 

You know I would never leave you hanging without photos of the girlies, so here they are! As beautiful and sweet as ever.

and p.s. thanks for all the comments/emails/texts about the Avery walking video :) means a lot to me!