Gig 'em Aggies

The Aggies are 0-3 versus Arkansas at Jerry World over the last three years but yet we Aggie faithful fans keep on going to the games and hoping that every year we will win. Sadly we have yet to win on the big stage but the games are still a lot of fun to attend! Keith's mom was kind enough to watch Anna while Julie and I went to the A&M game. (Keith was in New Orleans for a bachelor party so he wasn't able to come with us.) We lost this game in a heartbreaking way as we were up 18 points in the second half and as each minute passed, we lost that lead little by little until the end of the 4th quarter, Arkansas finally took the lead. I think the theme of this year is "what could have been..." but I suppose that is always the case. I love the Aggies but they are driving me crazy this year with their football season. :)

But on the brighter side, here are some darling pictures of Anna. Let the brainwashing begin...Howdy, thanks and Gig 'em class of 2033!

We missed you KW but thank you so much for the amazing seats at Cowboys Stadium!!!

Loving her activity mat

This is a daily occurrence for Anna and she absolutely loves her activity mat (bouncer and bear mat). Now that she is getting older, she can see herself in the mirror, grab at the toys dangling down at her, squeals and talks in delight at the music and lately loves to put all of the toys in her mouth. She also gets to spend a lot of tummy time on her mat and she is getting so much stronger with each passing day and I'm just waiting in anticipation for her to roll over any day now...

Anna started with Haley the Hippo pacifier in her mouth and I turned around for a second and when I looked back at her, Haley was on top of her head!

Anna goes vintage

My sister was a May baby and had some really precious summer clothes as a little one. It is really hard for my mom to get rid of things and even harder to get rid of sentimental items so of course she has a closet full of clothes from when my sister and I were little. (One of my favorite things to do in Midland is help my mom clean out closets and drawers probably for selfish reasons because I usually get to come home with a carload of treasures. We make piles for Goodwill, a pile for me and a trash pile. Call me crazy, but it's so much fun!) I took a few pieces of clothing and had them dry cleaned and here are some pictures of Anna wearing one of Harriet's cute summer rompers.

Just in case the few photos weren't enough, here is a little video clip of Anna talking a little bit.

Every time Anna smiles, I can't help but smile from ear to ear myself. Just the slightest grin or giggle melts my heart. I can't imagine my life without her and am so blessed to be able to spend every moment with her!

Hyatt Resort - wedding weekend

The weekend of September 17, we headed to the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort outside of Austin for a getaway wedding weekend. This was Anna's first wedding to attend and I wish I could say it went flawlessly, but with an infant, everything is always unpredictable! We arrived on Friday afternoon after a long 5 hour road trip and headed to the front desk to check in. They greeted us with a glass of champagne and escorted us to our rooms. After unpacking our bags and getting Anna's pack and play all set up, we had a knock on our door and a hotel employee walked in with a wonderful welcome amenity for us. I sure am going to miss all the perks of my former job. My Hyatt global sales rep is amazing and sent over this gift to our room. I'm going to miss the goodie baskets, sporting tickets, 5 star dinners, door prizes, etc. but in return I get to spend each day with my sweet daughter and nothing can replace those memories! Sorry Keith, no free Mavs, Rangers, Cowboys, Stars or concert tickets...guess we'll have to go back to purchasing them ourselves. Boo!

We had a nice little balcony that overlooked this courtyard and just beyond the trees was the Colorado River. We walked around the grounds with Anna and once my family arrived, we had everyone over in our suite to see Anna. My mom's cousin drove in from Austin so we were able to have dinner with him and his family along with my aunt, Mutti, Mom, Jim and Mutti's baby sister Aunt Mary Jane. Anna did pretty well until the end of dinner when it was getting past her bedtime. I walked around with her and the Hyatt had movie night for all the kids on the lawn so we watched a few minutes of Finding Nemo and I grabbed a bag of popcorn. They had s'mores available but because of the burn ban at the resort, we weren't allowed to cook them. Even the tikki torches surrounding the entire property weren't allowed to be lit.

Saturday we got Anna all dressed for the Aggie football game and while my family was lounging pool side, I was in the hotel room with Anna as she took a really long nap. Keith and the guys were all playing golf so I watched college football, hung out on the balcony and drank a glass of wine. It definitely is different traveling with a newborn but I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

The wedding was along the banks of the Colorado River and we got Anna all dressed up in a beautiful dress that Keith's cousin's wife (Sarah Neil) handmade for Anna. It is an absolutely gorgeous dress and she looked beautiful. The cute little ballerina shoes are from cousin Tilly. 

 Sound asleep during the cocktail reception on dad's chest.

Once she woke back up, Keith took her to the hotel room to feed her a bottle and see if she would nap for a few minutes. Well, NOTHING went according to plan and Keith was stuck with a hysterically crying baby for over an hour. After trying everything he could think of to calm her down, he finally had to call me away from the reception so I could feed her and calm her down. Our initial plan was for Keith and Anna to rejoin us at the reception but as soon as I walked into our hotel room, Keith had already changed out of his suit and had called it quits for the night. Poor Anna really gave him a run for his money this night. I was able to head back to the reception for an hour and see the bride and groom off for the evening. Luckily Anna fell right asleep after I fed her and Keith could finally enjoying a minute of her not screaming!

These were just a couple pictures of Anna on her beloved bear mat right before we left the Hyatt.

It never fails that after we get back from a week or weekend away, Anna is exhausted! She rarely takes a nap on her tummy and only when she's so tired she can't even fight sleep. I just love these pictures!

I didn't get any photos of the bride and groom so I had to steal them from Facebook. My cousin, ML, looked absolutely beautiful!

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Wallace!!!!

Keith's bday

Where have we been?!?! We've been quite busy lately and I haven't had a chance to download any of my pictures which is why I have not posted a blog in weeks. So sorry everyone!

Without further adieu, let's get back into the groove of things. Keith celebrated his 31st birthday way back on September 9 and to celebrate, he wanted to go out to eat as a family to Snuffer's and have lots of fried food. We indulged in fried pickles, cheese fries and spicy chicken strips and a couple beers to wash everything down. As we were driving to dinner, Keith got a surprise call from Blake wishing him happy birthday all the way from Singapore. The funny thing about the Snuffer's we went to was that the only changing station in the restaurant was upstairs and in the men's bathroom. HA HA! Keith has to make 2 or 3 trips with Anna up a really steep flight of stairs and change her. I thought it was hysterical that there wasn't a changing station in the women's bathroom but I got relieved of diaper changing duty for once in a restaurant. I'm not banking on this happening again!

Other than watching college football all day Saturday and NFL on Sunday, it was the perfect birthday weekend for Keith and this weekend was even more special because he had his little angel to spend it with. No, not me if that's what you were thinking!!

I just LOVE all of her facial expressions!

Here is a video of us getting Anna ready for her trip to Snuffer's. (Not sure how to turn the video, so just turn your computer screen!!)

Fun photo birthday card

Yes, I can still manage a few crafts when Anna is napping, which is getting less and less each week, so for Keith's birthday, I wanted to make him a card instead of buying one. One of my former co-workers is a huge scrapbooker (is that even a word?!) and told me about this idea a year or so ago. Anyway, all it takes is a 2 pocket folder and I picked one up for $.19 at the grocery store, some scrapbook paper, glue, embellishments and pictures. First you open the folder and then fold up the bottom portion about 1/3 of the way up. Glue the sides together which creates 4 individual pockets that you can put additional photos or notes or whatever inside. Once you've glued the sides, fold each side in half to create the accordion look. After about an hour of work and I had this beauty.

This is the back of the card..love the picture of Anna. ;)

The photos you see that have green and blue ribbons on them are the ones that I had tucked into the pockets. I think I'll have to pat myself on the back for this one because it turned out so cute! I made Keith take it to his office so now he has a lot of photos of Anna to see in case he starts to miss her during the day.