January: Part 2

I've mentioned these Trio blocks before, but we really just love them. We play with them every day and build really TALL towers! Each section of the tower always has to have a "bed" so all the people have places to sleep...

The kids chase each other up and down the halls all day every day... it totally cracks them (and me) up.

On Wednesday, Janette, Sissy, Jade and I went down to Round Rock to meet up with our cute friends, Steph, Ava and Aidan. We did a MARATHON Ikea trip... like seriously marathon. I'm pretty sure we were there all day. The kids loved it though, because they had each other. Jade and Ava jumped on all the beds, laughing there heads off the whole time.

It's so fun, because just like us Moms, the kids just seem to pick up right where they left off last time. I love it.

Then we went over to one of my fav sandwich places Wich Which.

And Ava and Jaden had a little lunch date.

We had totally planned on going to a Mall in Round Rock, and then down to Austin as well... but this ended up taking almost all of our day and definitely ALL of our energy, so we just went over to the park instead.

I love all my cute friends, and I am always grateful for any time I get with any of them... I wish all 6 of us could be ALL together more often, but any piece of them that I can get, I LOVE.

Ava and Jaden together again, giving cute hugs, so sweet!

They are only about a month apart.

And Sissy and Aidan making a mess together!! :) They are only about 3 months apart... perfect ages for friends... if only we lived closer... maybe one day we will again...

The 4 cute kiddos.

Ava and Janette doing silly faces...

So Aidan and Sissy had to do silly faces too! :)

Ahaha! We had a perfect day together!!

Today we had preschool here again. It went awesome. Sissy has been able to join us the past couple weeks, and it has totally made her day every time. She loves singing the songs, reading books, and learning about everything... especially today, because we talked about animals.

So, while I'm updating... Cameron graduates from Law School NEXT WEEK!!!!! YAYAYAY!! I am so proud of him, I can't believe how hard he has worked, and that he has been in school pretty much his entire life... I couldn't have done it, and I am so very grateful for him. So, next weekend will be a very special one for us, and I can't wait!! :)

January...

The first half of January was a rough one for me. Cam started intensely studying for the BAR, he had studied before, but since January started it's ALL he does. :( Before this he has always been around so much, so it's been hard. And on top of all this stress of the BAR, I had a bridal show last week.... anyway, it's over now so that is good. And I am officially outsourcing all my editing... which helps with my time.... anyway.... during the days I have just been trying to keep myself and the kids occupied!

This is Jade's new favorite toy. He got a toys r us gift card from Grandma Berrett for Christmas, and this was part of what he chose. It is The Wonder Pets from NickJr. He flies it all around the house, saving animals in trouble. It's cute. I love watching him play on his own... he has the best imagination! He is my little sweetheart, and is getting so smart. He's started telling us he's too big for things, like cuddling :( we tell him he'll never be too big for cuddles, I hope he'll always let us cuddle him! He started Sunbeams this month, and is LOVING it. I am one of his teachers, which he loves even more. He loves singing time, and playing with his friends.

Kennedy is growing up SO much SO FAST!! It's really kinda freaking me out... she's growing up way faster than Jade did, just because she is trying so hard to keep up with him! We are hanging onto her sleeping in her crib as long as we possibly can, and holding off at least another couple months for potty training... she loves going potty, I'm just not sure I'm ready for the challenge yet! :) She is going to nursery all by herself, and every time I go pick her up, all the cute ladies can't stop telling about how much they love her, and how good she is in Nursery. Makes my day. I love hearing about how awesome my kids are! :) She is talking SO much, and is learning to express herself so well. She is our little princess in love with all puppies and any stuffed animal... she is literally ALWAYS carrying at least one animal around with her, and sleeps with about a million every night. Speaking of sleeping, she is pretty much a dream sleeper... even though she's been sick basically the last 4 weeks (just a little cold, but lots of coughing at night) she sleeps through the night every night... 12 hours straight... I love it.

And she got 4 more teeth in the last couple months!!

We have had on and off good weather, one of our rainy days we went to Jumping Party, I got one picture and then my camera died...

We've also had a couple really nice and warm days!! YAY! I am so ready for it! So we've hit up the zoo a couple times! It's weird having both kids walking next to me, and not both in the stroller... have I mentioned how weird it is to me that my kids are growing up so fast?!

My cute friend Mich had her baby on January 1st, he was the first baby of the year in that hospital, and in their entire county! We are so happy for them, and cute baby Colt. Because we've been sick it took us forEVER to be able to go hold him... but I finally got my chance...

isn't he adorable?! Totally brought back so many wonderful memories...

And the kids were SO happy to be able to play with Missy again... I love this picture of Missy and Sissy.

I have taught preschool 3 times this month, and it has been so fun (and exhausting) One of the weeks our theme was plants and how they grow, so we decided to paint a flower pot, and plant a sunflower seed! It was really fun for the kids, and we talked about how they had to water their flower, and give it lots of sunshine...

These are a couple (really really poor quality) shots from the bridal show... this is my booth right before the show started, taken on my iPhone...

And this one was taken by the Waco Trib, not in love with it, and again, it's way poor quality, and I had no idea it was being taken... but it's kinda fun to see me in action! :)

The show went awesome, and I've been meeting with brides all week, so that's been fun! Bridals shows are SO MUCH WORK though, so I'm really glad to have it over with... and it MIGHT be our last show in Waco... WEIRD!

Another Zoo trip! This one was even MORE fun because Mich, Missy and Colt joined us, for Colt's very first trip to the Zoo!! Even though we had seen them once, we are used to seeing them at least a couple times a week, so we were still totally missing them, and SO excited to hang with them!! :)

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okay, I have been working on this post for about a week now, and just keep adding, because I haven't posted it yet... so I'm just going to post this one, and then start a new post for the rest of our January updates! :)

Our last day.

It's always bitter-sweet when it's time to go home! It's good to be going home, and to get back in the hang of things... but it's always so hard to say goodbye to all of our family.

Sissy playing with Keaton. She really had so much fun with him. One of the days Keaton was really, really sick, and slept a lot of the day :( poor guy! Sissy was SO worried about him, and missed him, she kept asking where he was and if she could go play with him! :(

Jaden and Grandma

another cute one of Keaton and Sis

our Fam

The cute cousins together!! We definitely missed not having Ben, Jacob, and Isabella there with us!!

Dan and Sharon drove us back to SLC, we met up with Derek and Jodi again for lunch, and then made our flight back to Texas. The kids did SO good on the flight. It's kinda nice getting out of the baby phase... it made the flight so much easier than what we were used to!!

It was a perfect trip!! Thanks to both of our families for everything!!

our first snowman!!

Our last night in Idaho, everybody seemed to be feeling at least a little better. So we bundled up and went outside to make our very first snowman!!

Jaden making the snowman's head!!

a carrot for the nose

coolest snowman EVER :)

and of course... Jaden's favorite part was destroying it after we were done! lol. He was majorly attacking our poor snowman! Which then turned into a snowball fight between Jade and Cam... so Sissy and I hurried inside! Too rough for us! :)

hanging in Idaho.

At the very end of our Utah trip we all got sick. So, it kinda limited what we could do once we got to Idaho. But we found plenty to do inside, and had TONS of fun! Sis had never met her cousins, and Jade really couldn't ever remember meeting them, so it was so cute to watch them get to know each other!!

playing ring around the rosie with Grandma

Jade playing some nerf-shooting game... (or something like that) with Keaton

Sis watched Jaden playing with Keaton and immediately wanted to be his best friend. She literally followed him around all week!

One of my favorite things about going to Idaho is all the games we play!! We always learn a new game, and play old favorites!! And we may be just a *little* bit of a competitive family... so it makes it even more fun!! Now that Jade is getting old enough to play games, and having cousins there to play with, he got to start in on the tradition of playing games at Grandma's house!

Kaiser and Jade playing Candy Land

we played lots of Wii! My favorite game always being American Idol...

I must say, Cam and I sang a pretty rad duet together!!

cuddling with cousins!

Kaiser, Sis, Danica

Cuddling together at bedtime. They are so sweet together. I love it.

Danica had the coolest doll house EVER, and Kennedy became quickly obsessed with it!

Her favorites were the little babies. She loved putting them in their little cribs, and high chairs and such...

Dani & Sissy

Sis and her bestest friend Keaton!

One of the days we decided, to head to Idaho Falls, and go to a movie, on the way down Sis got even MORE sick, and was throwing up all the way there. We kept thinking it would stop, but she just kept doing it. So we ended up going back home for some more playing and hanging out!! :)