Steam engine comes through College Station

Yesterday on our way to church we made a quick stop to watch an old fashioned steam engine come through College Station. Tony & Bailey love trains so it was a fun and spontaneous stop which was enjoyed by everyone! The videos pretty quick but you should get a good idea about the size (yes this is the small version) and sounds that this little beast made... thankfully I stopped the video before it went through the crossing right in front of our truck!

Hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed seeing it live!

Favorite Bailey-isms:
- "Mommy you look great!"
- "Water make it all better..."
- "Daddy/Mommy is my buddy."
- "What's that?"
- "I have issues... you have issues?"

February turns to March turns to April

We've been busy, busy bees so here are some highlights of what we've been up to. Bailey is growing up (she grew another two & a quarter inches since January) and she expands her vocabulary almost daily it seems.

2-15-10: Bailey & Grandaddy being cute!

2-20-10: Bailey's first gymnastics meet (who knew 30 two year olds would sit and wait their turns for 1.5 hours - they even stood & put their hands over their hearts for the Star Spangled Banner... so cute).

2-20-10: After the gymnastics meet & nap time Tony, Bailey & I took a walk to a near-by park and Bailey actually wanted her picture taken!

2-21-10: Lately Bailey has been totally obsessed with playing on the fire trucks, so every time Tony is on shift we have to make time to have some quality time with the equipment.

2-23-10 : Tony, Bailey & Me with the snowman we built in our front yard.

2-28-10: Bailey's first bounce on her new trampoline (don't worry, we have the net around it now but at the time Bailey couldn't wait to try it out).

3-13-10: Bailey making the most of one of our first sunny days by getting sometime on her bike (with some push power from Tony).

3-19-10: Bailey & Tony fishing at Gibbons Creek Resevoir.

3-26-10: The Easter Bunny bags that Bailey, Moe (my mom) & I made for Bailey's gymnastics coaches plus Jamie, my mother's trainer, & Amy, my trainer.

3-27-10: Bailey double fisting Easter eggs at the annual Easter egg hunt at the George Bush Library.

3-27-10: After the Easter egg hunt Bailey wanted to climb this tree, so Tony helped her and even convinced her to pose for a quick picture.

4-2-10: Bailey dyeing Easter eggs at Moe & Grandad's.

4-2-10: Tony & Bailey dyeing eggs (I had to include this picture because I think the look on Bailey's face is priceless).

4-2-10: Moe & Bailey posing for a quick pic after dyeing Easter eggs.

4-3-10: Bailey at St. Mary's after the blessing of the Easter Baskets.

4-4-10: Nicholas, Launa Grace, Bailey & Brayton (left to right) search for Easter eggs behind Station 2.

4-4-10: Bailey opening all of her Easter eggs after the hunt.

4-4-10: Nicholas & Bailey check out the ladder truck (looks like they know what they're doing, doesn't it).

4-4-10: Bailey atop the engine playing with the deck gun.

4-5-10: Tony & Bailey playing chess. Tony started by telling her her options about moving, but she picked it up pretty quickly and even made a move or two which took Tony by surprise.

4-5-10: All smiles from Bailey & Tony.

Bailey astounds us every day with the comments which come from her mouth so we figured that we would share a couple which make us smile on a regular basis!

Favorite quotes from Bailey:

- "I've got an idea...."

- "What a great idea!!"

- "My favorite part... What's Mommy's favorite part? What's Daddy's favorite part? What's Itsy Bitsy's favorite part?...."

- "Now I lay me down to sleep"

- "Father, Son, Holy Spirit, knees & toes"

An Anniversary & A Trip To Phoenix

For our 7th anniversary I had a dr's appointment in Houston so Tony & Bailey tagged along and after our appointment we decided to drop in on our friends Carmen & baby Jacob. After a nice lunch at Panera Breads, Carmen & Jacob had to head out to a dr's appointment so Bailey, Tony & I headed to our favorite park in Katy... the Choo Choo park as Bailey calls it!



Feburary 1, 2010 - Bailey playing the piano at Carmen's

Bailey climbing the rock wall all by herself (our little girl is growing up so quick)!

Bailey climbing up the tunnel slide.

Tony, Bailey & I pose on the swings for a quick family picture.

On the 4th of February Bailey & I headed to Phoenix, AZ with my parents to visit family for a week. This would have been the longest time that Bailey & I had been separated from Tony but unbeknownst to everyone Tony & I planned a surprise visit so he could visit with everyone too. Tony flew in Friday evening and left Sunday evening but was able to visit with most of our extended family on Saturday at the Train Park in Scottsdale, AZ.

February 4, 2010 - Gigi, Moe, Bailey, Missy Girl, & Me with Aunt B in front.

February 6, 2010 - Aunt B, Gigi, Tony, Bailey & Moe (my mom) riding on one of the trains at the Train park.

Bailey, Me & Tony on the choo choo train!!

2nd cousins - Riley (3), Bailey (2.5), & Elyse (3)

Elyse & Bailey headed over to ride the train.

Tony, Elyse, Aunt Nita, Me, Bailey, Riley, Aunt Linda, Aunt B & Moe riding on the train.

Bailey & Riley go to explore the Pullman cars.

We had a great day at the train park and were glad that everyone had a chance to hang out for a little bit & the kids got a chance to play. There is more of this visit to show but its getting late & we have a crazy week ahead of us. I'll do my best to get another update up soon, until then we hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine's Day.

Long time no blog...

Happy 2010 Everyone!

So we realize that its been over two months since our last blog entry and for that we are truly sorry. It was one of those things that we kept meaning to do and yet never made the time to do, with the holidays it was just too easy to put it off for tomorrow. Thankfully with the holidays over & our back to back celebrations almost at an end, we are taking a chance to breathe just a little bit.

Here is a quick overview of the last two months:

November -

* I set up the Lil' Bit Boutique at the Aggie Mom's Camp in College Station

* We hosted the annual family thanksgiving at our home

December -

* We started a new family tradition of cutting down our own Christmas tree
* I set up the Lil' Bit Boutique to the Arts & Crafts Show at the Brazos Center in Bryan, TX for a weekend
* Uncle Brett flew in from DC to surprise my mom for her birthday & we had a fantastic visit with him capped off with a wonderful dinner with him & our family friends, the Rosetti's, at Christopher's World Grill
* We organized the 6th annual Clovis Court Food Drive and raised 100 lbs of food for our local food bank
* Bailey had surgery to repair a herniated belly button (mom's take note - Bailey herniated her belly button out by pulling on it so watch your kiddos if they like playing with their belly button)
* We attended the annual Kotch Family Christmas party a mere two days after Bailey's surgery, (children's recovery from surgery can be an incredibly quick process)
* Bailey, my mom, Tony & I enjoyed our annual tradition of making & decorating tons of Christmas cookies for friends, family & the residents of Clovis Court (my dad enjoyed his annual tradition of testing the cookies as they came out of the oven)
* We decorated our Christmas & Bailey instructed Tony as to the perfect placement of each and every ornament
* Tony had both Christmas eve & Christmas day off so we spent lots of quality time as a family
* Tony worked both New Year's eve & New Year's day so Bailey & I had lots of mommy/daughter quality time and lots of fun playtime at the fire station

January -
* We celebrated Tony's 33rd birthday and although Tony was on shift, Bailey helped to make and decorate the cupcakes we took to the fire station (and she truly enjoyed the made from scratch icing)
* Bailey is officially potty trained!! In only two days, with the help from a little mermaid named Aerial, Bailey bid farewell to pull-ups (although she still finds panties confusing, if she goes comando she never has an accident)

Bailey is growing up like crazy. She loves reading & gymnastics along with everything to do with the outdoors. Here is a little video from the other day of a newly discovered talent, thankfully she cooperated and let me film her. The first time she pulled this stunt Tony & I simply found all of the clothes from the hangers on the floor of her room, with her in the middle trying to figure out what to wear.

January 25, 2010

A quick closing picture of Bailey sitting on her bed with Tigger & Piglet.

Hope this finds everyone well, we look forward to catching up on reading everyones blog as well as keeping you informed as to the adventures that 2010 has in store!