Laura & Matt's Wedding 11.14.09

It was a beautiful wedding weekend. Laura & Matt were surrounded by all of their closest family and friends and we were honored to be a part of their special weekend.

Ready for the rehearsal dinner

Adam & I before the rehearsal dinner

Larissa & I

The Kaye brother's and their wives

David & Adam

Taylor all dressed and ready for the wedding

Mason mostly dressed and waiting for the ceremony to begin

Laura putting her garters on

With the gorgeous bride

Adam & Laura

Matt waiting for the ceremony to begin

The Groom and Groomsmen

The Bride & Groomsmen

Watching Laura walk down the aisle

The Bridal Party

Kissing in the Limo

Emily

Larissa & Tab at the Reception

Father Daughter Dance

First Dance as husband & wife

Best Man Toast

Matron of Honor's Toast

Centerpieces

The siblings and their spouses

Adam & I with Kara & James. Adam & James have known each other since they were five.

With my honey at the reception

Wedding Cakes

Dancing

Leaving the Reception

Congratulations Laura & Matt

Houston Trip Nov 09

How come every time we go home, the trip flies by? Seriously, whether we are home for a week or a month, it's never long enough. If anything, it just reminds us that it will always be our home and we will be back one day for good. A majority of our time revolved around Laura & Matt's wedding, but we were able to visit with our family and some friends.

Grandma with Mason & Taylor at the airport

Adam & his mom

With my baby girl

My nephew Connor was a big fan of the camera that night

Aunt Christina loving on Taylor

These two boys are so much alike, it's scary. We are going to have our hands full.

Granddad & Taylor

Celebrating my mom's birthday a few days early

Granddad & Mason

Daddy & Mama

Sweethearts

Uncle Adam & Connor

Taylor eating her puffs

Love those baby blues

Mason fell asleep in the bean bag chair

Trying to get my boy dressed. This is a big challenge in our house.

Gram, Adam & Mason. Mason slept most of her visit.

Gram & Taylor

Mason & Christopher checking out the fish at the park

Their attention was quickly averted due to squirrels

Mommy & Taylor watching Mason & Granddad on the dirt bikes

Daddy & Taylor

Mason & Grandad going for a ride

Mason loves the helmet

Playing in the fountains in La Centerra. Yes, he is in his diaper because he almost ran in with all of his clothes on. This was a better alternative.

Tribute to Laura & Matt

This week, we head back to Houston for a very special occasion. Adam's sister, Laura, is getting married. I actually knew Laura long before I met Adam, when we waited tables together at Red Lobster. I feel so blessed to not only call her my sister-in-law, but my friend. We are so happy for Laura & Matt and feel honored to be able to share in their special day. We love you and feel so blessed to have so many treasured memories over the years.

At our wedding

Laura gave a very touching toast

At our rehearsal dinner

Adam & Laura dancing at our wedding reception

With Laura & Nancy at my lingerie shower

Laura & Tab

Laura hosted the best bachelorette party

Laura, me, Emily and Jessica out on 6th street

The end of the night

Aunt Laura & Taylor

Taylor loved hanging out with Aunt Laura & Uncle Matty

It was so precious to watch Uncle Matty & Taylor together

Aunt Laura & Taylor meet for the very first time

Mason at Aunt Laura's graduation from Baylor College of Medicine

So proud of you Laura

The gang at David & Emily's wedding

Laura & Matt at David & Emily's reheasal dinner.

The fab four before David's wedding

Looking hot as always

With Laura & Larissa at Larissa's rehearsal dinner

Laura & Tab

Laura & Matt at Larissa's rehearsal dinner

Laura & Matt on our trip to San Francisco

Mason sporting the Auburn colors in honor of Uncle Matty

Aunt Laura & Mason

Aunt Laura & 10 day old Mason

The Kaye siblings all together for Mason's birth

Mason with his Aunt Laura & Uncle Matty celebrating his first Christmas

On our way to dinner in Austin

Matt's surprise party

Laura & I at one of the many Astro's games we attended

Family weekend at Baylor College of Medicine (Adam was out of town on business)

Laura & I celebrating Adam's 25th birthday

Celebrating Laura's 25th birthday

Hanging out at the house watching Sunday Night Football and eating icecream

Laura & Adam on her 25th birthday

With the Kaye siblings before David left for Afganistan

The fab four again

Out in Waco celebrating Larissa's Law School Graduation

A trip to Dallas

Flashback Fridays

My very first trip to the Houston Zoo. Have I mentioned how much I love the Houston Zoo? Out of all the visits to different Zoo's over the years, it ranks number one with Washington D.C.'s following in a close second. One day, we will take Mason & Taylor down to the San Diego Zoo and I can't wait. In this picture, I was about 3 years old and already had a ton of personality. Can you tell?

Taylor's 6 month checkup

Monday, I took Taylor to her 6 month checkup. Her checkups have been a little delayed due to us being out of town back in July. We are now all caught up and on schedule. We will start with the basics:

Weight: 18lbs. 6 oz. (75th%)
Height: 27 inches (75%)
Head: 41 cm (25%)

The appointment went well and she only cried for a few seconds during her shots. Dr. Shah did mention that her weight has dropped off in the percentile. She was in the 95th percentile at all of her previous checkups, but neither of us are concerned. She eats like a champ.

I'm still nursing Taylor and she nurses about 5 times a day. For breakfast she usually eats oatmeal or cereal and we add fruits in there. Lunch usually consists of a veggie and a fruit and the same for dinner. Her afternoon snack is either a fruit or yogurt. She is just now starting to eat puffs.

I decided to let her hold empty sippy cups for small periods of time during the day, to get her used to bringing it to her mouth. I wanted to try this, especially since she is nursing and doesn't really ever hold a bottle. Last weekend, I spent the day with the girls and Adam tried to give Taylor a bottle at lunch and she wanted nothing to do with it. I told him she would eventually get hungry and take it and sure enough she took it when she woke up from her nap that afternoon.

She is barely sitting up on her own. Most of the time, she still leans to one side and then starts rolling. Anytime I put her on the floor, she is rolling all over the place. The girl doesn't sit still. I'm sure this is only the beginning. If Mason has a toy on the ground near her, she will maneuver her way over to it before he tries to take it away. He still doesn't get the sharing thing with her just yet.

Mason and Taylor have the sweetest bond. She adores her older brother and the feeling is mutual. If she is playing with one of her toys and drops it, he will get it for her or get my attention so that I can give it back to her. The other day I looked over and he belly flopped on top of her, and as I gasped and ran over to get him off of her, she started laughing. She loved it.

Baby girl is changing before our eyes and we are soaking up every minute of it. It's going to be a fun holiday season with our sweet children. I can't wait!

Halloween 09

Two weeks ago, the kids went to Braden's birthday party, which also happened to be a costume party. I was so excited that they would get extra use out of their costumes and be able to wear them more than once. Of course, Mason loved the dinosaur costume. He picked it out and loved to pet it and hug it, just didn't want to really wear it. Anytime we would put it on him, he would wear it for a few minutes and would take it off.

I finally decided that we should return it, especially if he isn't going to wear it. We did this a week before Halloween and I didn't know what costume to get for him. His friend Braden was a transformer, and so we asked if he wanted to be a transformer. I don't really think he understood what that meant, but he liked his costume and picked the yellow one, which happens to be Bumblebee. I think it's funny considering he has never even seen the show or movie, but just knows what it looks like from playing with his friends.

After we got Mason dressed in his costume, it was Taylor's turn to put her lady bug costume on. As I tried to dress her, I realized that is was a little tight and didn't fit anymore. I was so bummed, but atleast she was able to wear it once. Luckily, we had two cheer leading uniforms, Baylor and A&M, that we had received as gifts. I was a nice Mom and put her in the Baylor costume and she looked so cute.

First, we went to our church's Harvest Festival. It had a ton of games,food and candy. I have to mention the food, because each year it is so good (popcorn, cotton candy, baked potatoes, hot dogs, frito pies, and cinnamon rolls). Mason was so excited, he couldn't stand still. He loved the hay ride and the bounce houses.

Afterwards, we headed over to our friends sister's house to go trick-or-treating. Mason loved walking door to door with his best friends and even wanted to go inside each house that opened their door. All in all, it was a memorable night.

Flashback Fridays

Since Halloween is tomorrow, I thought it would only be fitting to look back on Mason's first Halloween. I picked out his costume a month after he was born. I loved that this monkey costume had a banana on the head. Isn't he the cutest monkey ever?