Missing Daddy

Brooke is really starting to miss Daddy when he is gone. Last week Aaron got home Thursday night after she was asleep and gone in the morning before she woke up so it had been a long time since they had seen each other. She layed like this with him for about 5 minutes. It was the sweetest thing. 

Millie

Millie got to try on her costume for her dance recital (that she won't be attending, but she doesn't know that shhh...). It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. She immediately started doing her strut walk and spinning and looking at herself in the mirror. 

And can you blame this girl for loving to take naps and getting to stay up late at night. Aaron flew home on Thursday night and went straight to basketball. The other kids were asleep but he stopped by the house and picked up Millie and took her with him to play. She had a blast and then on the way home they got Wendy's. Mom and Dad's undivided attention, chocolate milk and french fries - no wonder she loves her late nights. 

17 Months Old

To celebrate her turning 17 months old I put a bow in her hair. :) 

Excerpt from my journal: 

Brooke is 17 months old! Crazy. In one more month she will go to nursery – hallelujah. She is starting to walk more and more but can still be found crawling. She likes to hold onto my hand and walk to the car, which makes for a SLOW, adorable process. She still smiles like the sweetest but is now starting to throw some quick tantrums to make her wishes known. She is saying new words all the time and is so funny about them. All animals say “quack, quack” and all body parts are he head. When I get her in the morning or after her nap and she’s poppy she says “poop” and grabs her diaper. She loves to be held and has a major attachment to her snacks and snack bag. She loves to hold it and carry it everywhere. She still loves taking a bath with her brother and sister and is suddenly becoming attached to her Daddy. But we both take a back seat to her blanket that is her most beloved companion. She likes to read books, sing songs and go down slides. She continues to be a ray of sunshine in my life. I so, so, SO love her! 

Also to celebrate we went to Costco (bow is already gone :) and she got her own smoothie. My big, big girl who sits all by herself and eats pizza and drinks her own smoothie. 

He's doing it!

As soon as we got home from camping Carson got out of the car, went right up to his bike and grabbed the training wheels and said, "get these things off of here! " Well as soon as we could all get unpacked and clean up they came off. It was raining all day but on Sunday morning it was gorgeous and we went to the parking lot by the pool and practiced. He did awesome! 

Bowling

For weeks Carson has been telling me that he wanted to go bowling when he filled up his sticker chart next. Well he finally filled it up this week and on Saturday afternoon Aaron took the kids to UT to bowl. 

Carson loved it. He even bowled a strike! 

Camilla was more interested in doing this. 

He wanted to get rid of the 6 pound ball real fast. 

He moved on to the 13 pounder. 

After bowling they played air hockey. Carson thought this was fabulous. As soon as he got home he set up it up on our kitchen table and we hit sippy cup lids back and forth to each other. 

When Carson went back to school today each child in his class got to tell one thing they did over Spring Break. I was anxious to hear what Carson told his class - maybe that he lost a tooth, all about our super fun camping trip, all the swimming or fun we had in Dallas, that he learned to ride a bike without training wheels - oh no, he told his class about the air hockey! Of course. 

Camping!

We had planned to go camping on Thursday and Friday night with out friends but the weather was not cooperating. We canceled our Friday night reservation and decided we would take our luck on Thursday night and we are so glad we did. The weather ended up being just perfect. We drove down to Lake Bastrop on Thursday afternoon and we walked over to the beach part of the lake. We played on the beach and the kids swam a little and we had fun just hanging out with friends. 

Then we went back to our campsites that were beautiful, and set up our tents and started working on dinner. I got a new, BIG tent for this trip and it worked out perfect. It was so big. Perfect for a queen size air mattress, a pack n play, two sleeping bags, and a dog bed. Oh yes nobody loves camping like Josie loves camping. 

I got a dutch oven for the trip and it was so fun. I made a pizza for dinner and then a peach cobbler for dessert. I was pretty proud of us for using the coals and cooking. 

The kids all had hot dogs and veggies. Oh Carson just ate 5 hot dogs. That's right 5. Geez! After dinner we did s'mores and the kids all played with their flashlights. 

Well we let the kids pick out new flash lights. Camilla chose, drum roll please... a princess flash light and Carson really wanted a head lamp. I kind of discouraged it but Aaron was like its fine. Well the head lamp was a total hit. All the Baldwin kids had headlamps too and all the kids wanted a turn with them.  

He even wore it the next day on our hike! 

After a yummy egg and bacon breakfast we head out on a hike around the lake. It was a lovely morning and we had a great time. After we got back and it was time to get everything packed up Carson wanted to try riding Simon's bike. Suddenly there was our boy riding a bike without training wheels! 

And just a shout out to my perfect baby girl who was SO good on this trip. Just went right to bed in her pack n play, crawled around in the dirt the whole time and happily rode in the ergo baby while we hiked. She is such a good baby! 

On the way home we all stopped at a restaurant that a couple in our ward just opened and it was delicious and fun. 

This camping trip was SO fun! Not sure if we can ever go camping without friends again. Camping is also a lot of work. After about 4 loads of laundry, a running dish washer, baths and showers for everyone (including Josie) and a vacuumed and washed car I felt like we were back to normal. :) Ready to do it again soon! 

Spring Break Part 1

Carson had Spring Break for two weeks. Two whole weeks of the C man home with us all day!! I was so excited and we had such a great time. The weather was less than wonderful but that didn't stop us from doing some fun stuff. We did a lot of our normal activities but Carson got to go to gymnastics with Millie and do some other fun activities. We were taking care of our neighbor's dog and we used their play set too. 

Aaron got to fly home a day early and surprise us and so we decided to drive to Dallas on Friday morning and I'm so glad we did. We spent the day at our dear friends' the Spitzers. Ambyr came with all her kiddos and I got to meet her new little baby. They heated the pool and we swam for hours. We ate good food, hung out and talked all day long. 

Brooke loved the pool. 

I left to put the kids to bed and Aaron stayed and hung out with everyone until late. We sure love that family and always have fun hanging out with them. 

After a trip to the donut shop Saturday morning, cartoons in bed. 

(PS- I had an 18 mile run that I had to do on Saturday morning and coming home to kolaches and strawberry milk was ah-mazing)  

Aaron took the kids to this great park we ran by and they had so much fun. 

It got a little cold. 

Brooke and I were visiting my Grandmother in her assisted living center. We went to visit her two times and both times it was sad because she is getting older and getting more confused but they were both lovely visits. The kids loved seeing her and she was just in LOVE with Brooke. Brooke was giving her kisses and clapping and waving for her so that was fun. 

Saturday afternoon we drove up to meet Aaron's brother at an indoor pool in Plano. It was awesome and Carson, Aaron and Brooke had a great time. 

Camilla and I were doing this in the car:

I waited in the car the whole time they swam while Millie snoozed. She was worn out. 

Sunday we did church and Cory and Delaney came home. So now we had Shep Shep to play with. 

On Monday we went to Chick Fila for lunch. Always a hit. 

Then after my dentist appointment that afternoon we all met at Chuy's for dinner. We were supposed to meet my Grandad and Allyne but they went to Chili's. So there was some confusion but it was a gorgeous day and we ate out on the patio and my kids love them some Chuy's. 

Brooke has officially become our newest Chuy's fan. 

After dinner I got this great shop of my kiddos.  

Brooke and Sheppard. 

The four cousins together, all smiling and looking at the camera! 

Then on Tuesday we finally went home after a wonderful visit. 

Its gone!

Carson has had a wiggly tooth for a couple of weeks. We have been so anxious for it to come out. Carson went to bed on Wednesday night with a loose tooth and when he woke up on Thursday morning it was gone! He told me it came out while he was sleeping and so he put it under his pillow. I so love this boy. 

He was so excited, every time he walked by a mirror all day he smiled into it. 

He was so excited for the tooth fairy to come. She was nice enough to leave 2 dollars and 2 batteries. 

Life is good. 

Texas Independence Day

We had our annual Texas Independence Day party this past weekend. It was SO much fun. Every time I plan a party its always so much work and I tell Aaron that I am done planning parties. Its especially not as much fun with Aaron out of town. But then it all comes together and we have so much fun that we do it again. 

I decided to get cowboy hats for everyone to wear that didn't have one. I got pink and green and red ones. They were super cute and the kids loved playing with them. 

I got these cute boot mugs and bottled root beer and cherry lime aid for the party favors. 

We set up this back drop for people to take pictures and dug up Aaron's old gun as a prop.

Oh the food, it was delicious. We did ribs and BBQ chicken and everyone brought the most delicious sides. It was so fun! Then after we ate we played the newlywed game and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Then we had Texas sheet cake and ice cream. It was a great night. We feel very blessed to have such wonderful friends here! 

Birthday Fun

So eventually we are going to have to let Carson go to a birthday party without Camilla but as long as we can get away with it we are sending her as well. :) Pump it Up seems to be the party location of choice these days. 

Waiting to go inside. :) Love these two. 

Pumping it up.

Pizza and Fruit. They had cake and Carson said, "no thanks just more fruit please." 

Camilla only had eyes for the cake. 

She didn't want to get very far away from it. 

Such sweet kids at Carson's school, we have had so much fun getting to know everyone this year. 

This girl

This girl, this girl, oh how I love her curls. I just can't get enough of them. I just find myself starring at them. Can't believe my little girl is getting so big. She is saying a few words now - down, ah don, hewo, hi, by. I just love seeing her little personality come out more and more. 

Spring Fling

Carson's school had a Spring Fling dance on Friday night. I wasn't so sure if we would go or not but Carson really wanted to go so we decided to buy a ticket. Well Carson reminded me every day that I had not bought him a ticket yet. One morning he was so worried that there wasn't any money in his folder for his ticket. I promised him I would bring some money at pick up but he was just devastated over it. I delivered at pick up and he just grasped his ticket and couldn't wait. Well it wasn't much of a contest who would get to take him to the dance. He easily picked Dad. 

Who knew my boy had these kinds of moves? 

He was the first one out there. I could seriously look at this picture all day long. 

He also danced with his good buddy Jeremy. 

They had so much fun. 

Carson danced the whole time. He didn't stop to eat, he didn't stop talk, he barely stopped to drink. They stayed until it was over and loved it. Seriously, who knew my boy would love dancing so much???!? 

Such a fun night! Love our little school.