Happy Veterans Day!

Thank you all who have and are serving in our military!

Halloween 2009

Maternity Pictures

Elliott and I were blessed to have our good friend, Tracy, take maternity pictures when were expecting Clarity.  She also took pictures of Clarity’s  first year and they were awesome!  Now that we moved we did not know who we would get to take pictures.  Well, our sweet friend, Mary, was kind enough to take the maternity pictures. She did such an incredible job and all while trying to get her family of five packed up for a three week trip!  Thank you Tracy and Mary for making such beautiful memories for our family!  Enjoy the pictures!

And one last thing, baby brother, we cannot wait for you get here!  We love you!

Fall Traditions

Elliott and I thought it would be fun to include Clarity in some of our fall traditions we like to do every year.  We thought she is old enough now to enjoy them.  They include watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” on television and carving a pumpkin.

We tried to make a big deal about letting her watch this show and got her all excited about it and for the most part I think she really enjoyed it.  She’s been talking about Snoopy ever since.

Now, the jack-o-lantern with a two year old was interesting.  She was a trooper and we probably sat at the table for a total of an hour.  I forgot how long it takes to complete a jack-o-lantern (at least for me).  When I was about half way into it I was ready to stop.  It was funny how Clarity did NOT want to touch the inside pulp of the pumpkin or the seeds.  She said, “it smells” and did not want any part of it.  So, I was on my own to clean out the pumpkin which took the bulk of the time.  Luckily, the next step was Clarity helping me color the pattern on the pumpkin.  She seemed pleased with the final product but was very upset with the idea of putting it outside.  We had to convince her that it would be fine and we were going to share her pumpkin with others.

It is so much fun to have a little one to share these fun traditions with and we see how each year she is understanding more and more.  I imagine Christmas this year will be even more fun than last year too!

Here are some pictures of Clarity enjoying these same traditions with us.

Pumpkin Patch

Well, we missed last year’s trip to a pumpkin patch and I wasn’t going to let that happen this year.  So, I found a cool Belgian Horse farm that also had a pumpkin patch.  Our trip included riding a surrey pulled by a Belgian, a tour of all the Belgian horses on the farm, feeding baby animals, feeding the horse graham crackers, and then picking a pumpkin.  We had so much fun and it sure helps when the air feels crisp like Fall and the leaves around us are changing colors.  It was a beautiful day!  Clarity’s music buddy, Kaitlyn, and her mommy and daddy came too and we all had a great time!  I have included a video, enjoy!

I can’t help but include a picture of Clarity’s very first trip to a pumpkin patch when she was only 2 months old.  It’s hard to believe that was only two years ago and how much she has changed.   It also makes me so excited to meet baby brother!

Clarity and "Little" Elliott 2007

Clarity 2009

Up, up, up

This story is for all my mommy friends who have either had a traumatic experience with their little one on an airplane or for those who it will happen to in the future.  I always like to know I’m not alone.

Last November we flew home and Clarity had a bad ear infection which we didn’t know at the time and screamed the majority of the flight.  People were commenting things like, “…I hope they don’t stay on the flight to Little Rock.”  It was awful, and not knowing why at the time made it worse.  We even had a man offer us a pacifier… and who knows if it was even clean.

And now we were about to fly again to El Paso to see my family and Elliott and I were a little nervous.  In fact, I wanted to take her to the doctor for an ear check just because.  We had been telling Clarity we were going to fly to see Grammy and Granddaddy and she was getting really excited!  We discovered a cool place to watch the planes take off and land and that was so awesome!  So, she was really ready to get on the plane.  Elliott and I held our breath praying her ears would be fine and it would be smooth flying.  She did great!!!  We even got compliments on how well she did.  It was like birds chirping and the sun shining.  She even napped on the flight from DFW to El Paso (see picture below).

THEN we flew home and it was the total opposite.  Clarity got sick in El Paso with a cold and we immediately went into panic mode wanting to make sure she was okay but also that her ears would be okay to fly home.  So, we had to go to the doctor and he gave us medicine and we started it right away.  Two days later Elliott and I held our breath and boarded the plane with Clarity.  We had not even taken off and she began sobbing not because of her ears but because she was exhausted.  We didn’t see that coming.  For a minute there, while she was screaming it felt like the sky grew dark and thunder storms were rolling in as Elliott and I looked at each other thinking the same thing, “is it going to happen again?”  She finally fell asleep when we got in the air.  She didn’t cry like that again but was pretty grouchy the rest of the way home.  But, we made it through!

Fall Is Here

Well happy fall “y’all.”  Being from Texas, Shelley and I never got to experience a true fall.  Well folks, welcome to Little Rock.  There’s a crispness in the air, the trees are dotted with yellows, oranges, and reds… it’s truly fall and we’re so excited.  Here are a few pics we took from our front door and also one of Clarity helping me weed the flower beds.  Enjoy and happy fall “y’all.”

30 something???

How old AM I?  It’s hard to believe I can’t remember how old I am, in fact when recently asked my age I responded with the wrong age and not on purpose.  I teased Elliott when he couldn’t remember how old he was and now I’m doing the same thing.  Oh well, regardless, the best thing about birthdays these days is to have our sweet Clarity with us to help celebrate.  Next year baby brother will be here to join in the celebration and I can’t wait!

Clarity certainly has learned how this birthday thing works and wants to sing Happy Birthday all the time.  Elliott took me to a restaurant I had been wanting to try and when they brought dessert Clarity was upset they didn’t’ sing Happy Birthday to me.  It was really sweet.  I’m including some pictures of the evening, it was a great day!

Before dinner.

At the restaurant. Clarity was such a good girl

Happy Grandparents Day!

“When grandparents enter the door discipline flies out the window.” by Ogden Nash  Isn’t that the truth! Hehehehe

To Grammy, Granddaddy, Nana, Poppy, and Great Grandma Autry we wish you a Happy Grandparents Day!  We love you!

Clarity loving on "Baby Blossom". A gift from the real Blossom (our neighbor's dog).

Clarity playing with Daddy's shoes.

Happy Birthday, La Chica!

Okay, I know poor Clarity, never gets to celebrate her birthday.  Let’s see,  just this year alone she celebrated 4 times (at the restaurant, La Familia, her birthday party, in Ohio at Aunt Ruth’s, and at Mother’s Day Out).  We are still signing happy birthday around our house.

Our sweet friends Ryan and Angela sent us some video and pictures from our visit with them this past August at our favorite mexican food restaurant, La Familia.  www.lafamilia-fw.com Aah, I can taste it right now!  I think we may have converted them too!  The pictures are so much fun I have to share them with everyone!   Anyway, we didn’t have our camera (I know can you believe that) BUT thankfully Ryan had his cool phone. We had a great surprise and picture moment when the waiters started to sing to Clarity, happy birthday, la chica! She even got to wear a huge sombrero and every time the waiters paused in the song she thought it was time to blow out the candles.

Angela and Ryan, thank you for the pictures and video!    We just want to say what a great time we had visiting with our very missed friends.  And Angela, YES, next time we’re in town you’re on for La Familia.  I can’t wait!  We love and miss you guys!