And A Few of This Year's Blessing . . .

Nails, and snails, and puppy dog's tails . . .
That's what our newest blessing is made of:

Anthony ? Staats - Due April 11th, 2011

This first picture shows his face and belly. It makes me think he's going to be nice and plump (judging by his round belly in this picture) - just like his big brother!

And, yes, we're positive that he's a boy! He wouldn't open his legs at first - but we could see his well formed femur bones closed up together. The sono tech jiggled my baby belly around to make him move . . . and those two femur bones opened up to show the unmistakable destinction!!!


Thank you Lord for our two beautiful boys! Please give me patience now that I'm even more out-numbered than before!!!

Speaking of boyS . . . Big brother Augie was quite the sport this Thanksgiving. He had a long morning and was a tad bit grumpy, but that was before his nap. We had a long morning of driving, eating a wonderful meal at Aunt Susie's house, and then finally got a nap in at Gamma and Pops house.



After his nap, we put on our game faces to go with our game attire and were ready to play!!! It was nice for the family to get to see him in action. He didn't hold anything back when we got to Marci's for the game and fun with cousins. Those cousins sure do LOVE TO PLAY!!! There's no stopping these girls!


Augie's just starting to try to keep up . . .





Now that he's starting to take his first steps!!!




He's up to about 6-8 steps at a time!!! Video please?! This isn't the best that he's done, but it is a great video none the less . . .


And . . . Gig 'Em Ags . . . If you couldn't tell, our Thanksgiving evening consisted of watching THE game . . . Ags ranked #18 now!!! Whoop!

SOOOOOOOOOO many things to be thankful for!

You are truly great in all You do and give!

Birthday Fun - Continued

In the midst of everything else that I promised myself I'd get done today, one of the top on my list is finishing Augie's Bday blog! If you've already ready the last one, this one will cover the actual birthday and the second party that he got to have with all of his and mommy's friends.

We'll start with the actual birthday. That is actually a lot shorter. He woke up and got to spend the day with his Grandma 'Raine and G.G.G. (Great Grandma Gates) while Mommy and Daddy went to work. He was a little more sleepy and less playful than normal. We were really hoping that he would pep back up for the party on Saturday though. We still had a family dinner, a birthday cupcake, received some of our gifts (some really cool John Deere monster trucks from Grandma 'Raine and warm PJs from Mom and Dad), and got measured before bedtime while wearing our new PJs. (We'll measure every year on birthdays - for all of our little ones! We even made our board portable for when we move to Moffat!)


Come time for the party, we hung the decorations, put out the food, prepared the gift table, and were ready to celebrate.


We decided to use our monster truck tractor from Grandma 'Raine as the cake topper this time! It turned out very nicely!!!

Our friends arrived, and shortly after, Augie was quite upset. He was tired - after already taking 2 naps. I knew something was wrong, but unsure what it was at that point. So, we let him sleep while the rest of the party went down to the park for a few minutes to play.

When we all got back, we woke up our little birthday boy and continued the celebrating!
All of the kids found something to play with . . .

including each other . . .

the hose reel . . .

and, of course, Ellie . . .

We found time for a quick family picture . . .

Prepped ourselves for some more cake eating . . .

(which didn't go quite as nicely as the first time since Augie felt so "off")

We opened LOTS more gifts - finished up for the day - and got ready to go to bed.

We spent a nice Sunday with Grandma 'Raine and GGG before they had to go - took some more pictures:
with the family . . .

with Grandma 'Raine's old fire truck . . .



with our new moose shirt from Grandma 'Raine - and our new "bomber jacket" from Tia Vicky, Tio Leo, and the kiddos . . . such a COOL KID!!!

and with some of our other gifts that we haven't said thank you for yet . . .

Our AWESOME new chair from Gamma, Pops, Tia Marci, Uncle John, and the girls . . .



THANK YOU ALL!
We had it shipped to the wal-mart by our house so it was a little less to travel with, and it ended up being a double present . . . it came with a "play house" made by Daddy! . . .
complete with window (that doubled as a door at times) . . .

DOUBLE THANKS!
And the new work bench from Mommy and Daddy - we're still slowly learning how to enjoy this one . . .



All in all, Augie made out like a bandit! We are quickly putting clothes away that don't fit anymore so that we can make room for all of the great new ones we received. And we have converted the den into a play room - and thank goodness for that . . . there are more than enough toys . . . and less nice things to break than in the main living room!!!

We are EXTREMELY BLESSED by all of the things we have - with a wonderful home, friends, family, and son!!!
THANK YOU LORD!!!

Birthday Fun - How Time Flies!!!

Time has really gone by quickly - especially this past couple of weeks! We've had two birthday parties and a birthday celebration on the actual birthday. Not to mention, we had lots of company to help us clebrate!!!

Where to start with the pictures is the best question now . . .
We'll start with the bday party theme: Tractors - John Deere for our "Little Deere"

Happy First Birthday Augie!!!

Augie's Cake:

The cupcakes for all of our party guests:

With the party favor / cake toppers:

And the favors that were made for guests of all ages - chocolate, tractor lollipops - they turned out really amazingly cute! The chocolate mold idea will be used again - it was easier & less expensive than expected - and, like said before, they turned out better than I ever expected!


Birthday Party #1:
Daddy grilled fajitas on Pops and Gamma's back patio.

Mommy chased Bubby around while Daddy cooked.

Played with cousin Xavier - and he shared the CUTEST kisses with Augie.

Played with the grass.

And moved on when it was time for cake!


We, of course, started with singing "Happy Birthday!" Augie was clapping before we finished singing - and it was wonderful to see and experience!!!

We blew out the candle.

And then - we enjoyed the cake!!!
Slowly at first . . .

and then . . .

he dug in . . .

and enjoyed . . .

every minute of it . . .

and every handful . . .



tried to eat the table when the cake was pulled away . . .

so, then he got to enjoy some more . . .

and more . . .

and more . . .

and more . . .

and more . . .

enjoyed his own party favor . . .

Alexa was near by to enjoy the fun.

And Elena was very helpful with the next step - presents!

Augie received SO MANY GREAT GIFTS, I'd be up all night trying to get all the pictures on here - so we'll end with the gift that ended the evening. Our brand new Aggie jersey from Aunt Natalie and Uncle Corey and kiddos. We were pretty much done for after that. A full day, a full belly, and it was way past bed time.

Happy, happy birthday Bubby!!!
We love you!

More birthday fun to come . . .