TGIF....or so I thought

Brace yourself for this one......it might take awhile to read but well worth the read.

Daniel was going to fly home early Friday morning from North Dakota and be in San Antonio around 1:30. I received a call from him around 9:30 that his flight had been cancelled due to a falty issue with the plane. He said he ran to the counter and was able to get on the 2:00 flight out which would put him here around 7:30. Great....well until he called and said that his flight had been delayed...and then delayed again. He would then miss his connecting flight in Denver by 3 minutes....unbelievable. So, he was able to get on another flight but wouldn't be back in San Antonio until 10:30! I said ok and decided to load the kids up after baths and pj's and head up there to pick him up.

Meanwhile, we had a pretty rough day here at the casa. Cooper had had just about enough of Daniel being gone all week and well so had I! Before giving him a bath and putting his pj's on I decided I better water the plants because if I didn't they wouldn't get watered until the next day and by that time they would probably look dead and Daniel would be upset. I watered the ones on the front porch and then proceeded to go out on the back porch and water those as well. I walked back over to the door to come inside and to my surprise Cooper had locked me out! He has messed with the dead bolt lock a couple of times before but never when one of us was on the other side. I should've known this could happen eventually.....oh and I guess I should mention that the front door was also locked, garage door down, and no spare key outside, and the closest (in proximity) family to us who have a key to our house was Jim and Tricia who were at the lake. Lovely, huh?

I then began trying to coax him into unlocking the door not losing my temper for a minute. After several failed attempts I decided that I could probably get the neighbor next door to run me over to Jim and Tricia's and get a key until I heard screaming. I had left Kyleigh on the couch backed up as much as she could go (she's not rolling over yet so no harm in laying her on the couch) and when I peaked in on her a pillow had fallen over on top of her face thus smothering her. As if things couldn't get any worse.....

I looked for several things on the back porch that could be used to break the window because at this point I had to get inside ASAP. Of course I can break a window with a plastic hot dog! NOT....we had absolutely NOTHING on the back porch that I could use to break the window so I headed around to the front porch. The only thing that looked promising was a child's park bench given to Cooper by Grandma Hill last Christmas. I picked it up, ran to the back porch and shoved it into the glass. Wow I'm so strong....it broke the leg off! I know at this point you are probably thinking I made this up but even I couldn't make up a story this good.

After one failed attempt I decided to run next door to the neighbors house to get help. He followed me back over to the house and broke a small window with a hammer, got through the window and took the pillow off of Kyleigh's face. She had cried so much she went to sleep....poor baby. Everyone was fine and that was all that mattered. Needless to say I won't be making any more trips out back now without having a key hidden somewhere or one in my hand!!!!

MiMi to the Rescue!

MiMi's attempt at getting Cooper to take a picture with Kyleigh...pretty good!

Pop and Coop building a tower....or should I say Cooper knocking it down!

Cooper wearing MiMi's glasses

Coop texting on MiMi's phone!

Last week Daniel had to travel to Williston, North Dakota for work and so MiMi so graciously came to help me! I don't know what I would do without my mom....she is always willing to come and help me anytime I need her and even though she says I'm not letting her do anything to help...she's WRONG! She helps me so much in so many ways and she doesn't even realize it. She played with Cooper for endless hours, sang songs, read books, etc, etc. Cooper is at the stage where all he wants is just attention so she was the perfect person to help in that way! We had such a great time while she was here and even got to see Pop when he came to pick her up on Wednesday. I was so thankful to them for completely changing their travel plans just so they could help me....I LOVE YOU BOTH MORE THAN I CAN SAY!

Kyleigh is 3 months!

I can't believe my baby girl is all ready 3 months old! She is changing more and more every day. She's not a big fan of tummy time, but when I get her to cooperate with me, she is really doing great on lifting her head and strengthening her neck muscles. She has been smiling for awhile now but now she is trying to "talk" to us too! Dan got up in her face last night and was talking to her and she just cooed and opened her mouth and tried to talk right back! She is beginning to grab onto things more and really lets us know when she's not getting what she wants or needs. I'm not quite sure what she weighs at this point but I would have to guess around 13 lbs or so. We will find out a definite weight at our next visit at the doctor at 4 months. She is really growing in length as well. I am now putting her in a few 3-6 month outfits and she wears all of her 3 month outfits and fills them out pretty good!

Medina Lake 2010

Kyleigh sporting her swimsuit for the first time

Cooper and Layton enjoying the baby pool

Layton sporting his "Gasses" as he says!

Cooper before his big meltdown

Layton loving on his "bebe" Kyleigh

Jim and Tricia recently brought the travel trailer back to Pleasanton from Rockport so that we could leave it at Medina Lake for a month. We did this a couple of years ago and had such a great time we wanted to do it again!

Unfortunately, we have all ready had our first casualty. Clifton broke his talus bone wakeboarding this past weekend....first weekend the trailer was there and his very first run at wakeboarding. He thankfully doesn't have to be in a cast but he has to wear a boot and stay off of it for the next 6-8 weeks so I don't think he will be doing much water activity.

We had a great time overall and I'm sure I will have many more stories and pictures to add in the weeks to come!

The Potty.....

I know Cooper is only a little over 2 years old but remember I now have 2 children in diapers and lets just say that at this point the dirty ones are definitely outweighing the wet ones. Everyone knows that once you have children going to the bathroom alone is a thing of the past. SO, I decided if he was going to be in the bathroom with us I might as well go ahead and buy a potty chair just to see if he showed any interest at all in sitting on it.

I should've known that once he figured out that it had a "SONG" that plays he would think of it more as a toy rather than a potty. What he doesn't realize it that instead of touching it with his hand to play the "SONG" he needs to be filling it with something else! I know this is just the beginning but I have a feeling it's going to be a long road.......any advice is much appreciated!

Like Father, Like Son....

Cooper and Daddy grilling some burgers

"This hot dog needs a little Tabasco"!

I know I've mentioned it before but Cooper wants to be just like Daniel and copies absolutely EVERYTHING he does. I try to find toys and things that look like something Daniel has or does and Cooper loves it. I bought him a barbecue grill for his birthday and we put it on the back porch beside the real grill. He loves to go out with Daniel when he grills and make his own hot dogs and hamburgers.

Cooper is also very much into using ketchup now.....on EVERYTHING. He has noticed that when Daddy uses ketchup he also puts tabasco with it. Cooper has decided now that he needs tabasco on his food also so every time Daniel uses it he gives it to Cooper (with the lid screwed on as tight as it will go) and he then "splashes" his food with tabasco.

Daniel had a bad cold this past week and he was blowing his nose constantly. Well, as I said before Cooper wants to do everything Daniel does so what does he do? He pulls kleenex out of the box and pretends to blow his nose too.....lol. I laugh about it but at the same time it's so sad to see him growing up so fast and want to be just like Daddy.

We're Moving!

So I guess the title of this post pretty much sums up what it's about.....Daniel got a promotion at work recently and it is going to require us to move back to College Station. We are really anxious to move back but also very sad to leave our family and friends here. We have a tremendous amount of memories and support here and starting over will be exciting but hard at first. Once you create a life somewhere it is very difficult to just pick it all up and leave (even if it's for one of the greatest places on Earth!).

I am so proud of Daniel and all his accomplishments with Pioneer Drilling. He has been working for them as Asset Manager for the past 2 years and is now going to be the Business Manager for the Well Services Division. He is really looking forward to getting out in the field and in front of customers more often. This is a huge accomplishment for him and just another stepping stone in his climb up the ladder. He inspires me constantly to reach higher and farther and never give up on my dreams. Please pray for us in this new endeavor that we will always seek God first in all of our upcoming decisions.