The End & The Beginning

Adam's Hooks baseball season is in the final week - YIPPEE! We look so forward to having him home every single night. Home for dinner, play time, bath time, bed time, and hanging out! He adds so much fun, excitement and love to our family and it is just not the same without him home. It is really funny how our jobs just slightly overlap. This being Adam's last week = my first week of our season. Tippi Toes holds classes September - May with sprinkles of classes throughout the summer. I am so excited for this year. We have amazing teachers, amazing families and darling little dancers. I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store for Tippi Toes. As May will have it, we will be ready for a break from Tippi Toes and excited for the Hooks to start again!

Lola is PULLING UP

Pulling up and hanging out!

crawling position

uh oh - downward dog...

ok, I think I will just sit down

For the past week Lola Caroline has been pulling up, first on pillows, then the ottoman, now in her crib. She is working hard to figure out the crawl but ends up in the downward dog position wondering how to get where she wants to go. It is amazing to watch her. She has moves I have never seen. She typically rolls where she needs to go, sometimes its a scoot, other times I am not sure how she makes it but she does. She is really wanting to be on the FULL ON move but just not there yet. She also REALLY wants to talk. She is trying to babble...she is working on her b's. She is such a dear I just can't get over how big she is getting. In a few weeks she will already be 9 months - HOW CAN THAT BE? OHH I love her SO MUCH!

Gumdrops, Lollypops and Chocolate for you...

We had such a fun 2nd birthday for Lucy! The pictures tell the entire story of the day!

The Invitation

Our dear friend Brooke whom has been working on Lucy's party for several months. She has an event company Gatsby events and you can see why. She has such vision and preciseness that made this party come together better than I ever dreamed. She is so creative and taught me so much. Thank you Brooke for spending hours to make Lucy's party so memorable. I love you!!

The candy bar

A view of the party room. Brooke and I spent all day Friday hanging the big gum balls, moving furniture and fluffing. It was SO MUCH FUN! We had 3 small helpers - Lola, Lucy and Connor ~ they made the day so much more fun! A memory for a lifetime!

Marshmallow pops - these were a total hit!

Party favors - Cookie lollipops! They were as good to taste as they looked

Happy Birthday Sign

This is about as long as Lola made it for the party. I thought with all the excitement she would make it through the party but she slept for almost the entire time!

We played a game "put the gum in the gum ball machine" - again Brooke is so CREATIVE!

Candy toss - the older kids loved this game

We served breakfast. Brooke made the centerpieces out of cocktail napkins! We served mini cinnamon rolls, donut holes (which Brooke made into a donut tower), bagels, spreads and melon balls.

Check out that donut tower - just perfect enough for a child to run by, take a donut and not get caught!

Lucy loved EVERYTHING!

We had lollipops that the children could color - this was a huge hit!

Our walkway was lined with huge suckers

The kids loved having a table just their size.

Check out this cake - my good friend and Tippi Toes teacher Shanda made this for Lucy. She is so talented.

This was the highlight - Lucy loved having everybody sing to her and loved blowing out those candles.

Look who woke up - Lola! This is a picture of the girls with our neighbors June and Skip, we love them to pieces!

Connor and Lucy - Connor had so much fun he partied his pants off!

Pinata time! I never grew up doing this at birthdays but it is a big tradition people do in South Texas. My friend Alma made this for Lucy for her birthday. The kids had so much fun beating this, just waiting for candy to drop.

Here is a look at all the cute little kids. They were all so great! We are blessed so blessed by so many good friends!

Grandmommy and Lola outside watching Lucy and Poppy.

Lucy got golf clubs from Grandmommy and Poppy. Poppy helped Lucy with her swing. It was so fun watching them together.

Adam had to work the evening of Lucy's birthday and so Lola, Lucy and I went up to visit. She loves the mascot Sammy the seagull.

Now thats a perfect ending to a perfect day! Lucy - Dad, Lola and I love you so much!

2 years of Sweetness - Happy Birthday Lucy

2 years old!!

This is a picture of her just home from the hospital - we were living in Memphis Tennessee

Today is Lucy's 2nd birthday! I am so amazed at how much our life has changed in 2 years. Lucy you have brought so much joy to our family it is hard to put into words. You are the sweetest little girl I know. You are so happy and have an amazing love for life. You love to learn, laugh and play. You are a wonderful big sister to Lola. You make us laugh daily. Your imagination is so clever that you take us into your make believe worlds with you. Your vocabulary is so great that I am amazed sometimes you are only two. You make everyone you meet feel special. You have incredible manners and use them all the time. You love to read and hear stories, you love to sing, you love to dance, and you love to run! You love new things! You love Tippi Toes, Elmo, fruit and shoes. You love dresses and hardly ever consider putting on anything else. You love our family and let us know by your sweet hugs and kisses and your "I love Me" - which you mean "I love you". Thank you for the best 2 years of our life. We are so excited to watch you grow and explore. You mean the world to us! Thank you Lucy for blessing our life!

Home Sweet Home!

After our awesome Utah trip, Adam and I had some work we needed to do in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. My parents told us they would watch the girls. This was my first time away from Lola and only 2nd time away from Lucy for an extended period of time. Who better to spend time with while away from my sweet girls than my best friend in the world my hubby Adam. This trip worked out really great. He went to check out other minor league baseball stadiums and I went to advertise and talk with potential Tippi Toes franchise owners. It just so happened to work out that we needed to go to the same place. Adam and I enjoyed every minute together. We were only gone 2 nights from the girls. In those 2 nights we - saw 2 baseball games, played golf, zip lined and slept in. We made the most of our special time together.

We were so thankful to my parents! They had a total blast. When we came back the girls were both still on their schedules better than Adam and I had done the week in Utah. My mom took Lucy to get her nails painted at a salon for her birthday, they took the girls to church and other than that they all just played and played. It was a great bonding time for all of them.

We came back to get the girls and drove to OKC so I could meet with our new franchise owner. Tracy and I sold our program Monday and half Tuesday. She is an amazing person and will do an amazing job. We are so beyond blessed to have her as apart of Tippi Toes.

Now after a little delay last night, and 2 weeks away we have made it back to Corpus. We did a lot of unpacking today and relaxing.We are gearing up for a fun birthday weekend as Lucy will be turning 2.

Blowing out the cupcakes

This is Lucy's favorite part

Lola and Papa Newt

Lucy opening one of her birthday gifts. My mom got her an Bitty Baby last year and this year got her the American girl doll Julie. She is starting Lucy a collection. We aren't big collectors as in "keeping them in the box" so our collection will show her love.

Brushing Julies hair

Adam and I have long gone by now!

Mountain Biking, Horseback Riding and Game Night

Megan, Chris, Adam and I decided it would be so much fun to rent bikes and ride down the mountain. Megan and I were wrong...IT WAS NOT FUN. IT WAS SO SCARY. The altitude made it really hard to breath, that could sound silly but it was true, we were on mountain bikes that we didn't know how to operate, it had so many gears I didn't know what to do with them. In my mind it would be a fun ride all downhill on dirt - WRONG. It was rocky gravel kicking up in our face, we were going up hill a lot of the time, trying to ride fast enough away from the ginormous rain cloud following us, only to find out we rode into a locked gate. We ended up thankfully getting off the hill and riding through downtown. That was the fun part. Megan and I thought shopping seemed like a better idea. The boys went back up the mountain - they loved and hated it at the same time. It was a lot harder than they thought it would be. Once they were finished they were really happy they did it.

Jennie, Megs and I took the kids horse(pony) riding today. They loved every minute of it. It was a great activity. They didn't ride far but they are still talking about the horses. The ride to the stables was beautiful. At the time we went we were the only people there so we were able to pet horses, take pictures and ask lots of questions!

A trip with my family isn't complete without games. My mom and dad brought the games stacking cups. It gives you time limits to do different stacking options. It was so fun and intense. Chris was the winner every time on the first night!

Church, Family Pics and Downtown

Family picture

Our family!

Lucy the tiger

She was so proud

A couple stopped us while walking down main street to get their picture taking with Lucy

Lola loved watching Lucy get her face painted, she paid very close attention

Marchal's Dinner - Spaghetti. It was awesome!

Today could not have been topped! We all went to church at this beautiful church in Park City, we were on time (SHOCKER), we took family pictures, then went to downtown Park City for an amazing brunch and the strolled the streets during the art fair. Lucy got her face painted and it was a huge highlight! Blessed, blessed, blessed - I feel very blessed for my family. I have an incredible husband, kids and extended family! LOVE LOVE LOVE our life!