Kirsten's Disney Cruise

Kirsten got to go with Grandma, Papa, and Emily on a Disney cruise last week! She had so much fun, she stayed up until midnight the night she got home telling us all about it. She told us her favorite thing was going on the water slide on the boat. I guess she didn't want to go on it, but after she was convinced she didn't want to stop. She got to eat mac and cheese for every meal.
Her favorite character was Snow White, because she was so sweet. She was so excited to show us her autograph book and show us all her "treasures". She even made a sand castle with Mickey Mouse! On the night she got home she asked when she was going to see Emily again. I told her in just a couple weeks. She said "that's not as long as we usually do, but I'm so used to seeing her." I think she really loved hanging out with her aunt.
She had a great time and I'm so glad my parents and Emily took her, but man did we miss her! This house was pretty quiet without her.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Crazy!

I don't think it's been a secret that I don't exactly love it here in West Texas. It's not that I hate it, we have made great friends and have found happiness here. But, I have never really felt settled here. Something about not being able to see water and trees that I just can't handle. So at the beginning of this year we realized that we had lived here for 2 years now and were kind of looking for a way out I guess. Jonathan has been planning on getting his MBA since he went to business school. The timing just has never been right. So we thought now would be a great time. He applied to Rice and got in and we thought we could easily get transferred to Houston. We were wrong. The week after getting accepted to Rice and finding out that we may not be able to move their until the end of the year Jonathan was offered a job in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. I must say I never thought we would go back there, but we felt good about it and he accepted it. So we are heading back to Oklahoma, but this time we are moving to Collinsville (closer to Tulsa). We are actually really excited! We went last week and found a house and we are moving in 2-3 weeks! It's crazy and fast, but we are really excited.

Max's New Look

We went to Dallas to get Max's helmet this week. He has taken to it pretty well. He clawed at it a little the first day but he's gotten used to it. I've got to admit I think he looks pretty adorable in it. 2 months of weekly trips to Dallas is not going to be fun, but at least he'll have a "beautiful round head" (as the physical therapist always says).

Firsts

Kirsten lost her first tooth this week. Her tooth was practically falling out of her mouth Monday night but she would not pull it out. So Tuesday I was in the shower (as I am when all crazy things happen) and Kirsten came in the bathroom crying and said "Colton punched my tooth out".






And Max rolled over this week. He has to spend most of his time on his belly so his head shape doesn't get any more messed up than it already is. I guess he got sick of it and rolled right over. He goes in this week to get a helmet to fix this.

Sibling Love

Isn't it just the best when your kids are just happily playing on the floor together, or laughing, or sharing with each other? It is my absolute favorite thing!

Kirsten is so patient with Colton. She's a very protective older sister.


Of the course the kids love to play with Max.


It wasn't a big surprise that Kirsten would "mother" Max and adore him.


But I can't believe how much Colton loves his little brother. I thought for sure Colton would torture Max. I constantly try to catch these sweet little moments on camera but Colton is just way to quick. He will be running all over the place like a wild man and then notice Max on the floor, come over, and lay his head on his belly and say "hmmm, hmmm". In December Max had to get his blood drawn to see if he had an infection in his blood (because he had an ear infection and the doctor thought that was weird for such a little baby...he didn't) The nurse had a hard time getting the needle in and, of course, Max was screaming. Colton was so mad that that nurse was hurting his brother that he started hitting the nurse and tried to pull the syringe out of her hands. I was both mortified and a little proud that he's already so protective.


The other day Jonathan went to check on Colton and Kirsten. He came out and said that he just saw the cutest thing ever.




Kirsten constantly reminds me that she actually has 3 brothers, including the dog. She adores him and loves to play that she's "a brown Boston Terrier and Marpie's wife."

Snow Day

Like the rest of the country, we had snow this week. We started the week with a beautiful 75 degree day on Monday. Jonathan got the day off so we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and spent the afternoon at the park. We knew it was supposed to snow that night and snow it did. But not very much, at least not compared to the Eastern side of Texas and Oklahoma.
Kirsten got up first thing on Tuesday and wanted to go outside and play. Colton decided it looked pretty fun and wanted to join her. Since it really doesn't get that cold here that often he doesn't even have a big coat. So he had to wear a hand me down that is WAY too small, Kirsten's pink gloves and cowboy boots. Oh and he saw Max's little Santa hat and wanted to wear it too. When he got outside he decided the gloves and hat had to go. About two seconds after that he decided it was way too cold to be outside without a hat and gloves and came back inside.













The roads really weren't that bad but we were stuck home anyway because Colton was sick and Kirsten didn't have school. We had to find some way to occupy ourselves so Kirsten and I had a little Cupcake War.

Kirsten set up a "display" for her cupcakes.


And then stood before the judges. We ended up winning, so that was pretty exciting!

Colton enjoyed eating the cupcakes.


Little Max was sick this week too.


Our hot water heater froze so we had no hot water for a good part of the week. Boiling water on the sink to do dishes and take a bath is a not fun. I don't know how people did it back in the day. Before the nice warm water went away Max had his first bath in the big boy tub.


Trying to enjoy a Sunday afternoon nap.