Who says 3 is a crowd?

This was the picture I snapped as I walked into Kate's room this morning shortly after the cat come in through the doggie door (again) and snuck passed mom, dad, Jake and Rex (so much for our reliable guard dogs) ......

And just last night, this is the picture I snapped as the kids were asleep on the couch..once again, the cat waited for everyone (Jake, Rex and Justin) to be asleep and Whiskers krept into the doggie door and found his two favorite peeps asleep on the couch...and he made himself quite comfy  :)

This is whiskers snoozing quite comfortably on Wesley...what you can't see from these pictures is that Whiskers' tail was tickling Kate's toes so she would giggle spontaneously in her sleep.  It was cute to share the pictures with them this morning.  It proves to them that there is 'life' happening even after they close their beautiful little eyes  :)

The difference in a month....

Well its officially one month since we moved into to our new house and we have been working super hard on the outside projects.  Our entire family loves working in the yard and Wesley loves riding with mommy on the John Deere tractor and Kate loves planting flowers and the dogs love watching us work hard  :)  We have a lot of grass planted, a lot of landscaping and crepe myrtles that have gone in (my favorite!) and we've done a lot of clean-up.  Justin hired a back hoe to come in and remove some piles of branches and debris so I am sure the neighbors are thrilled now! 

Kate's first slumber party.....

Kate had the pleasure of being invited to her friend Elizabeth's 6th birthday princess and pajama party on Friday night.  Elizabeth lives in Houston so Kate and Mary Grace (chaperoned by their mothers) headed up to Houston Friday afternoon to make the 6pm PARTY TIME!!!  All of the other local girls went home at the end of the night but Kate and Mary Grace (and their moms - me and Aunt Marianne) stayed the night at Elizabeth's house.  It was a fabulous time had by all!

kate, elizabeth, mary grace

Of course..dress up at a slumber party

Pizza and some girl talk

The birthday girl, elizabeth and her beautiful cupcakes

More girl fun!

Elizabeth, Kate, Mary Grace and Julia (the little sister)

The morning after cereal

My birthday gifts......

Oh how things change when you have kids. I remember when I used to ask for purses and earrings and other babbles and shiny expensive things.....now my requests are so domestic.  For Christmas it was a vacuum cleaner (and the vacuum was quite a hit with Wesley and probably one of his favorite gifts).  So for my birthday we got in a quick trip to the beach on Saturday evening with a great dinner at Pelican Landing (seared sea scallops and wild rice....my fave!).  I also got a standing clock for the living room since I was going crazy without having a clock on our DVR player.  But one of the most beautiful and lasting gifts were these 3 beautiful crepe myrtle trees that my husband picked out a local nursery.  They are stunning and I can't wait until next summer when they have had a chance to settle in and bloom georgeous purple/pink blooms.  Thank you guys!  I had a wonderful birthday!

Kate with her stunning smile at the restaurant...she was fascinated with the aquarium!

My favorite people in the whole wide world! Sharing a lemon and keeping dad busy  :)

New House Pictures - woohoo!

Finished house...When we started this process, I searched house plans online for months. I finally found this one (Our Dream House)and had the draftsman build from it to design our house. We changed a few things on the inside but hands down, our house turned out more beatiful than I could have ever imagined!

I can't capture the entire 2.5 acres and about 1 acre of it is still wooded...we wanted to keep a screen from the roads and neighbors..it worked perfectly

We now officially reside at 66 Post Oak Way

This is our HUGE garage....our garage has two storage closets that you can't see from this picture but one hosues an extra fridge and freezer and one houses left over tile for now...oh and I did I mention that we still do not park in the garage? For the first few weeks itwas becasue we had boxes to unpack. Now all boxes are unpacked and Whiskers has taken over...I don't know what he's going to do when we park in there ....happy cat

I call this Justin's man cave. He had a building constructed to match our house and it houses all his man stuff - tools, mower, etc

Our back porch sitting area

Our outdoor kitchen area

This is a look from our backyard that Justin fenced for the kids and dogs..

Kitchen bar area

Kitchen

Kitchen

Dining

Living room (jake had to make an appearance of course)

Entry way

Master bath - Jessica's area

Master shower - LOVE THIS..its like taking a shower at a beach but classier :)

Master bedroom - yes plain for now...need some creative juices to flow to make this warmer

Wesley helping Vanessa do polka dots for Kate's room

Kate's Polka Dot wall

Kate's room just as she requested..pink polka dots and horses

Some of my favorite pictures with Kate

Kate and Vanessa found this frame and this is one of my all time favorite pictures of my amazing husband and our beautiful girl

Kids bathroom - silly monster theme..they have a separate toilet and shower area and we have a polka dot shower curtain and monster trash can

Wesley's room

Wesley's custom curtains

Cutest John Deere tractors ever

Wesley's John Deere picture that he picked out in Hallettsville (my hometown)Kate picked out a matching horse one that hangs in her room now too

Wesley also has the small TV in his room for movie watching...so here is his movie shelf along with custom JDeere book ends

Wesley still does not stay in his room all night so he doesn't have a formal bed yet but he does have a twin size mattress inside this cool tent with Sponge Bob sheets that he picked out

Study/4th bedroom/Vanessa's room for the next year or so

My little office space although with wireless I usually end up anywhere but here...at the dining table, on the back porch, in the bonus room..love technology!

Utility room...absolutely one of my favorite rooms in the house

Upstairs

Bonus room upstairs with an amazing view of the country

The kids desk..yes..I swore that I would not allow anything particle board into our new house BUT the kids really love the computer and they got a cool art program for Wesley's birthday and they love to sit up here while dad is working out and play on the computer :)

We have a house....

and a mortgage and its never been greater!
There is just something very satisfying about making a mortgage payment vs. writing a rent check! And in case you are wondering where the final pictures are..well...my memory card is FULL (of course) and I just can't remove any more pictures without transfering them first (because you know that all 500 pics are just too cute to delete). So as soon as I have a new memory card, I will take some pictures. Until then, I can just blog about how fabulous the house is. The first night we got our dining table the kids got to sit at the new table and watch a mommy deer and her baby walk through our back yard. We have seen every species of spider and bug imaginable. We have chased fireflies in the back yard(just like when I was a kid at my grandma and grandpas. And most importantly we ALL have had a hand in mowing the grass and picking up rocks and planting shrubs. The kids have a home they will grow up in and call their own. They are very proud and so are we.

Wesley turned THREE (3)!!

Just had to blog about my special boy who turned the BIG THREE today!!

He is amazing and so darn cute too!

Since we have tons going on with the house right now we let today be pretty low key. Grandma came by and brought his gifts and brought him (and his big sis) chocolate cupcakes with Star Wars on them. They were a hit! Then grandma sang Happy Birthday to him..that was too cute.

He has requested some 'tools' like dad so tomorrow we are taking him to Lowe's to get his very own shovel and wheelbarrow :)
His formal birthday party will be shared with his big sisters birthday in October. She so graciously offered to share her Magic Bounce bday party with him when his friends are back in school. So very sweet!
And by the way...my granny got him a little toy cork gun which has been a hit with both Kate and Wesley (thanks Grandma..what was she thinking?!?!)
His milestones:
1. He has shoulders that will most likely prove to be linebacker shoulders...he is 'stocky' as they like to call it.
2. He knows his ABC's and can count to 10. He can identify most of his letters and numbers. He knows his shapes and colors and has even suprised his summer camp teachers because he is the youngest in the class and one of the sharpest.
3. He uses multisyllable words like he is 30...and he uses them in the appropriate context and knows that they are 'big words' and wants you to acknowlege that he used a 'big word'.
4. He just picks up on things so quickly. For instance, mommy dropped a very heavy wood board on her foot the other day and used a not-so-nice F-word. He immediately told mommy that the F-word was not 'appropriate' and I should go to my room for using it. Then proceeded to walk around the side of the house to find daddy and tell him what F-word mommy used and how he sent me to my room. It was hilarious! Not my choice of language but his 'handling' of the situation.
5. He loves his big sister so much! I catch them hugging each other frequently. Kate was nervous to go to the restroom by herself the first day in the new house and I overheard her ask Wesley if he would go with her to make her feel safe. He said "Sure Kate....you go with me to the potty, I'll go with you."
6. He idolizes John Deere tractors. IDOLIZES JOHN DEERE anything! Needless to say, his 'theme' for his new room will be John Deere.
7. He still looks 99.9% like his mommy. Wesley is my mini-me. And since we keep his hair a little longer and my mom kept my hair really short, he really mimics a lot of my childhood photos. He is outgoing and super social. So what is the 0.1% of Justin traits? Well he has Justin's gorgeous tan skin and at the very end of his hair he has the slightest curl and since my hair is bone straight..that MUST come from his curly haired dad =)
8.He weighs about 40 pounds (he is super dense) and weighs almost as much as his big sister.
9. His favorite pet is not cheerful and laid back Rex or the mellow cat Whiskers but he absolutely LOVES crazy Jake. Every morning Wesley wakes up and sits on the couch and pats his lap and says 'Come here Jakey Jakey' and Jake jumps up in his lap and curls up and Wesley pets him. In fact they have formed quite the bond. A few days ago I had to grab Wesley quickly because he was getting bitten by mosquitos and Jake thought I was being a tad aggressive and he growled at me when I went to grab Wesley's arm. They definitley have a special bond.
10. And finally..we have made it to birthday #3 with him still not being called Wes. Justin and I made a bet when we named him Wesley as to how long it would take until the majority of his world referred to him as Wes versus Wesley. I love both names but he will alwyas be my little Wesley :)