Donnie 21 Months

We are quickly approaching the terrible two's.  Donnie is all boy and is acting more like a two year old every day.  He is insanely cute (most of the time), and loves to make everyone laugh.  He is not at all what I expected from a second child.  He demands to be heard and does not want big sister getting all of the attention.  He has this tae-bo looking dance that he randomly does when we're out in public.  He is jumping off playgrounds completely trusting that Daddy will catch him, and he is bumped, bruised and bloodied up almost daily.  His language is still booming. He's been putting two words together and sometimes three...he's a talker like his sister.  Car rides are interesting when they both want to be doing all the talking.  He is such an awesome little guy and he brings so much love and laughter to our family.

House Updates

Here's some pictures of our new front door and our back patio that just got finished yesterday.

The Rodeo

We used our Christmas gift from our babysitter (tickets to the rodeo), and had a late night date night.  We went to the rodeo and stayed for the concert.  The evening entertainment was Josh Turner.  We had a great time with amazing entertainment.

More Valentine's Pictures

Don and I celebrated on Friday night trying out a new restaurant.

Cadynce and Daddy at dinner.

Daddy took Cadynce to get a new pair of shoes.




Cadynce held on to the rose all night long.

Happy Valentine's Day

When Cadynce woke up this morning there was an invitation for her sitting on the counter.  It was from Daddy inviting her to a Valentine's dinner.  It was a long time for her to wait, but the time finally had come for her to get ready.  She wanted to wear a skirt with tights and a sweater.  We painted her fingernails bright pink and added a little makeup.  She was really feeling like a big girl now.  When Daddy arrived he had a rose for Cadynce.  She loved it, and she insisted on taking it to dinner with her.  They went to a little burger place for dinner and then went to the mall to get her a new pair of "park" shoes.

While Daddy and Cadynce were on their date, Donnie and I got to hang out.  I asked him what he wanted to do and he headed straight for the bike trailer.  We spent the next 20 minutes riding around the neighborhood.  He let me know each and everything he saw by pointing and yelling.  When I would get close to our house he would yell "GO" and "RIDE."  We played outside until it was dark then went to bed.  We all had a great evening and a fun Valentine's Day.

Super Bowl Weekend

As some of you already know, Don was at the super bowl on a "work trip."  I won't mention all the cool stuff he was able to do because it wouldn't sound much like a "work trip."  Anyways, Cadynce, Donnie and I had a great weekend.  One thing that made it so great was being able to skype with Don.  The kids thought it was so cool and spent much of their time showing Daddy their toes.  Donnie was probably the most excited and all he would yell was "Da-E, Da-E" and Don would say "Yes Donnie?" Then Donnie would giggle uncontrollably.

We spent the evening at our friend's house watching the game while the kids played.  Donnie likes to try to keep up with his big sister so he headed upstairs.  After several checks it happened.  Donnie was crying and saying "Owww" and the only witnesses were two three year olds.  Donnie hobbled around the rest of the night and I could only wonder what exactly happened up there.  He was still limping the next day so we went to get it checked out since there were no marks, no swelling, no bruising....just limping.  Later that night Cadynce revealed the story to us..."Donnie was trying to climb the rail so I picked him up.  We twisted and he fell."  That would have been good to know at the time of the accident, but all we got were two pairs of shoulder shrugs.

Our First Snow in San Antonio

The weatherman was right.  I didn't believe it, but I stayed up late just in case.  If it was snowing when I went to bed then I was going to wake Cadynce up and take her out to play in it so I could take pictures.  That didn't happen, but when we woke up this morning we had a nice thin layer of snow dusting our streets.  School was cancelled because of all the ice, and everyone in the city was pretty excited.  Our neighbor kids experienced their first snow, and it was fun watching them play and touch the snow with their hands.  The sun came out and the snow was gone by 11am.  It was fun while it lasted.   View Album for more pictures.

Playing in the Sand

I thought I would post this while everyone is getting blasted with snow, and we are experiencing the coldest day this winter season (probably not true, but it feels like it).  This weekend we had perfect weather so we headed to the park.  The kids had a lot of fun playing in the sand.  Donnie wasn't too sure about it, but that's what big sisters are for.  View Album for more pictures.

We're Back!!

We finally have our computer back after our hard drive crashed.  Thankfully we backed everything up and we didn't lose any pictures.  This is just a bunch of random pictures taken since Christmas.  View Album for more pictures.

Indiana Christmas

It's just not Christmas unless it's freezing cold and the snow is falling.  We left our 70 degree weather behind and drove 21 hours northeast to Indiana.  As much as I love our warm weather, it wouldn't be the same if we didn't spend Christmas in Indiana with all of our family.  We decided to drive our two kids and two dogs through the night until we arrived in Sikeston, Missouri.  The drive was mostly quiet with the kids sleeping, but unfortunately we were also feeling a little drowsy.  The Lord, so graciously, sent a crazy woman driver/road rager (who was playing a game on her iphone and not staying in her lane) next to us.  It's a long story, but Don made her mad and she tried to run us off the road (I'm only telling this story now that we are all home and alive).  That kept us wide awake for the next few hours because I was convinced she was going to do something really stupid. (Once she saw that we were driving a minivan she backed off!!)  We arrived at our hotel after 15 hours of driving and headed straight for the swimming pool.  We let the kids swim for a while and then we went to lunch at Lambert's - Home of the Throwed Rolls.  It was a unique restaurant, and if you wanted a roll you just raised your hand and they threw it to you from where ever they were standing.  After dinner we went back for more swimming then headed to bed early.  The next morning we had 7 more hours to drive before arriving in Chesterton.

We spent almost two weeks in Indiana.  There was never a dull moment in the day...we're up early and we stay up too late.  I was lucky enough to get strep throat two days before Christmas.  It was a blessing though because there were so many people around, I didn't have to worry about taking care of the kids.  Our three Christmases were awesome.  Our kids were spoiled with clothes, toys, and books.  Santa looked pretty bad this year!  We shared lots of memories with our families and we are so grateful for the time we are able to spend with them each Christmas.

Our drive back to San Antonio was less than perfect.  We decided after an exhausting two weeks we would do the short drive first.  We were in no rush to leave so we left right after lunch, and we stopped again in Sikeston, Missouri.  We spent our New Year's Eve at Lambert's for dinner and in the hotel swimming pool.  We left early the next morning, and we had no idea what we were in for.  Donnie is NOT a good traveler - at least not yet.  Cadynce couldn't make up her mind.  One minute she wanted to be in Indiana and then she wanted to be in Texas.  Cadynce took a couple of really good naps while Donnie was miserable when we wasn't asleep, and he only slept 2 hours...total.  We got home late, and no one was happier than Donnie to be home.  Cadynce requested to go straight to bed, and Donnie ran around the house as if he had been trapped in a car seat for an entire day.  Even though it was a little rough, it was a lot of fun driving together as a family.  View Album for more pictures.