Another birthday

Shortly after the boys left, Edwin also left... again. He was gone so much last year I don't really remember why he left every time. Some sort of training I'm sure. I think he was gone for over a month, that seemed to be the typical amount of time, which made him miss Elsie's first birthday. I was pretty sad, however, I didn't want a big huge party for a one year old, it didn't really make sense to me. All I wanted was a nice little family party to make it special for us, but I wasn't going to get it. So being the emotional pregnant lady that I was I called my newly found friend, Crystal, sobbing. She also happens to be a military wife so I knew she would understand how it feels to have a husband gone during pretty much every special occasion of the year. Elsie's first birthday was kind of the last straw for me. Anyway, she has a daughter six days younger than Elsie and the two of them are the best of friends. I had called to see if they wanted to get some ice cream or anything really in celebration of Elsie's first year. She being the party thrower that she is invited us instead to have a little party at their house. I felt so much better, knowing that there would still be a small gathering in honor of my little girl. It was a wonderful day and Elsie had a blast! Her best friend got her a doll that laughs any time there is motion in front of it and I let her open one present in daddy's absence, a little outfit. Here are the pictures!

The cake!

Crystal cutting Elsie a nice big chunk!

Elsie ready to devour the nice big chunk of cake :)

Her birthday dinner was pizza!! She loved it and made a huge mess!

Well, I will have more videos as soon as they upload to youtube. They were too long to load on here so check back again and really the only people who will probably want to watch them are the ones who will think anything Elsie does is absolutely adorable, so like her Nana and Papa and Gigi and Papa and maybe her aunts and uncles and cousins. :D Check back later!

Edwin's birthday!

Thankfully Luke and Bryce were able to be here for Edwin's birthday! This wouldn't normally be the case but because Edwin was gone when we normally would have picked them up, we had to pick them up later which meant they got to stay later and that put them here for Edwin's birthday. I taught Luke a primary song called When Daddy Comes Home. I remember singing that song to my dad when I was little so I decided to pass down the tradition. :) This is a video of Luke singing to his dad right when Edwin got home on his birthday. So cute. :)

This is a video of singing to Edwin and him blowing out his pretend candles... :/ I was pregnant ok! Please excuse Luke getting in trouble at the end... the cup he was moving was full of water and he almost spilled it. I was a little uptight when I was pregnant... So glad I'm not going to be this summer when we see them again!

Boys' visit 2011

Ok this is really late I know but I've been a little busy alright? Anyway, the boys' visit last summer was exciting because they were able to spend a lot of time with their sister whom they had only previously met once for about 45 minutes during a layover in the Dallas airport on our way to California for my brother's wedding. This is going to be kind of a picture over load, sorry. Enjoy!

Elsie's favorite hiding spot for as long as she fit :)

Goofy girl haha!

I think Edwin was having fun with the camera for the next few pictures

Hahaha! I don't know. Funny though.

Little Bryce! I say little but he is actually quite large for his age. He didn't quite know what to think of Elsie. I think because he was used to being the youngest, that and she would run after him arms out screeching trying to get hugs and kisses from him. He would run away going NO! and acting really scared... :D It was cute.

This guy, Luke, loved Elsie from day one! He was very protective of her and loved palling around being the big brother. Elsie loved having both of them so much and was very upset when she realized they had left and weren't coming back. She kept grabbing her car seat and dragging it around trying to get to the door. :(

Super Luke!

Here he is doing the big brother thing :)

He loved helping with dinner. One night, being exhausted and pregnant, I picked up some pizza and Luke said in the dinner prayer, And we're thankful for Annie bringing us our favorite dinner... :) You're welcome Luke.

CHEESE!!!

Bryce starting to warm up to Elsie enough to wrestle :)

Luke getting in on the action

I think Elsie won ;)

These kids love and look up to their daddy so much! It's fun to watch them follow him around and be so attentive with his every move.

Ready for church! This picture is in our family frame above our couch. It fits very nicely there :)

Elsie trying to get used to sippy cups

This is weird. Usually Elsie was the one giving hugs with brothers pulling away

LOVE this picture! So sweet of Bryce to give Elsie loves!

Not quite sure why Elsie starting laying her head on Edwin's hand but was really sweet.

Perfect example of Elsie trying to give Bryce loves and him pulling away. Made me laugh every time!

The lanyard around Bryce's neck was from his daddy who put an old key on it to "open every door in the house!" :) Bryce LOVED it! He really did go around the house trying to open every door with it. So cute.

Texas trip

After mine and Elsie's trip to Oregon we flew straight to Texas where we met up with Edwin who drove there from NC. We spent the week with his family and his two boys, Luke and Bryce. Elsie had so much fun playing with all the big cousins and loved seeing her baby cousin Tatum. We went to a local water park with Gigi, Papa, Luke, Bryce and Dublin. Elsie LOVES playing in the water. We also had family pictures with the whole family. It was very special for us because we were finally able to get a family picture of us with the boys. 

Little sister!

Elsie loves her big brothers and they love her

Cheese!

Bryce!

Goofy Luke! :)

Pay no attention to the pasty white legs... I guess it's ok, Elsie is just a pasty haha!

Bryce surprised us and turned into quite the little fish!

The boys are always so enthralled with Edwin :) 

Lovin' their daddy :)

Haha, Dublin in the upper right corner

Kason making silly faces

Ross and Jessica, they are going to have a beautiful baby girl in a couple months :)

Elsie loves her aunty Jess

Even though we didn't manage to get many photos of Elsie with her Gigi and aunts Kaitlyn and Danielle, she loves them just as much as the rest of the family. :) We will have to work on that next time we visit.