My Silly Kiddos!

As my last month of pregnancy has approached, I have contemplated a lot about our new addition. I again find myself wondering if I could possibly love this little girl as much as I do my other two children, and if there is enough of me to go around to give the love and support that they need. I remember thinking that before I had Cavin as well, and so I am consoled in the fact that I love Cavin just as much as Ella and that it didn't take long for me before I couldn't imagine my life without him. I am so grateful to have another child coming, and I assume similar fears will also dissolve once she is here.
I love these two kiddos and man they make me smile!

This is just my typical Cavin ;)

I love to make them laugh.


I can't believe we will have 3 little ones so soon! We are truly blessed!

Birthday Time!

It is birthday time again, and I can't believe I am now 28! I feel so old! 30 is going to be a killer! I couldn't find the camera when Ragnar was home in the morning, so you get a picture of the lovely edible arrangement he sent me while he was at work. I am not a real flowers kind of girl, so I always said it would be fun to get one of these and here it is. Ragnar had to work my birthday day and evening, so he took the morning off and we went to IHOP which was interesting. It is Spring Break so it was totally packed and the tables were like 2 feet from each other and lucky for us we got seated next to a like 40 year old creepy single guy and his mom who proceeded to talk to us the entire meal. It was lovely~ or something! Oh well, it was nice to get out and it is a funny memory now. That evening my brother Corey was kind enough to come take me to dinner and I was so grateful for that, I will be sad when he and his family move.....

My birthday is now gone and so is half of March..time is moving quickly now and I haven't blogged in a few weeks, because not much has been going on, Ragnar has been working constantly and I am hanging with the kids, anticipating another child entering our family. I am getting excited and am super nervous all at the same time. Her room is ready and her clothes are washed, and although I am not quite ready for her, I sure do wish I had just a minute to take a deep breath or lay on my stomach or not constantly feel my back hurting. Overall though, I am super lucky that I get to have the chance to carry another child and although uncomfortable, I am healthy and for that I am so grateful. Hopefully I will have more exciting pictures to blog next time :)

Austin Fun!

This week the kids and I spent a few days in Austin, Texas to go and celebrate my best friend Stacey's birthday. With kids ages 4,3,2, & 1 and both of us being pregnant, we just hung out and enjoyed each others company. My kids really enjoy being at their house and playing with their friends and I enjoy having Stacey to talk to.

Here they are Cavin (2), Madilynn (1), Gabriella (3), and Ella (4)

Here was Stacey on her birthday with her lovely cake we made her. Don't you love the Ariel candle addition!

I wish Ben could have been around to celebrate too. Our darn husbands work too much-I guess we shouldn't complain, just be grateful!

The girls coloring and playing together.


Ella and Cavin were so excited to just have a big backyard to play in. We really need to find a house!

Here is Madi chillin

And Cavin..... it's tough to be the only boy!

Tea party anyone?
We had a good time and were grateful Stacey put up with us for a few days. We are so glad that we have great friends to share our lives with. I hope you had a great birthday Stacey! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Simple Pleasures...

Things have been pretty slow around the house the past couple weeks. I was sick for a week or so with a bad cold and it was unusually cold for Texas, so the kids were great about finding their own entertainment for a while. It's amazing the imaginations that children have. I love to watch them create and imagine.

This was their space ship

Can you see Ella peeking through the hole???
I have been so grateful for my kids. They really are pretty good kids and I am lucky to have them. They really are at such a fun age, they listen, they are potty trained, they still take long naps, and I have so much to be grateful for. Their simplicity has made me more and more anxious to add a little gal to the crew. I know we will love her just as much, and I pray she is just as good of a kid as her brother and sister have been. I can't believe I am in the last trimester now. I am glad I have made it this far, and am so grateful that I have the chance to be home each day and watch my babies (or not so much babies anymore) grow. On a last little note, I am absolutely devastated to send Ella to kindergarten next year. I just want her home with me!!! I guess I still have 7 months to digest the thought! :(

Rockets Run 2011

Rockets Run 2011....hip hip hooray! Today our family all joined in the annual Rockets run. Typically it is on a Sunday so we do not participate, but we were excited to learn that it was on a Saturday this year. Even better, it is nice that the employees and their families get to run for free. Ragnar took the kids in the 1K kids race and I ran the 5K race. About 4,500 people participated. We all enjoyed ourselves, even if it was particularly cold for a Houston morning!


Ragnar and the kids with their numbers all ready!

Ella all bundled in the stroller before the race....she wasn't sure she wanted to get out because she was all cozy. Then the race began and she and Cavin took off. I wasn't sure that Cavin would want to run, but Ragnar said that he got out and ran the whole way! Go Cavin! As for Ella, well she is my daughter, what can I say....she is born to be a natural :) She took off and Ragnar, much to my later horror, just let her go and she finished strong in front of them. She loved it.

They were so excited about their medals afterward! They wore them practically all day today!

Now they had to wait for my race to begin and end....

At nearly 7 months pregnant, I am not near as fast as I could be, but I reached my goal time and felt good about still going strong (I'm the one in the black and red). Only tonight am I feeling it pretty good. Everything is much more sore than it should be....I guess that is what happens when you run with a growing baby inside of you!

The best part for the kids...a picture with the mascot Clutch. Great job family, and thanks Ragnar for inviting us to run with you. I hope we can make it a tradition!

Rockets Fun

On Martin Luther King day our family celebrated at the Toyota center. Ragnar loves to bring the kids to the game, but usually they are so late that I don't share that love unless it's an earlier game. So, every year he has worked for the Rockets we have gone to the Martin Luther King game because it's at 2:00 p.m. This year my mom joined us and we had a nice time.

Here is grandma and Ella.

A nice attempt :)

Cavin was mesmerized....I would love to say because of the game...but he has a staring problem like his mama!

Treats!!!

On the way home we decided to go visit our my brother's kids, John and Madi who live downtown. We all went and got a burger together.

Madi and Ella playing in the backseat. Silly girls have fun together. We were grateful for a nice day together and we are so grateful we have a fun family to share it with.

Christmas Time and Family Fun!

Christmas has come and gone again. I am always amazed at how much we look forward to the season, and then how fast it is gone. We had a wonderful holiday season and feel very blessed to be healthy, happy, and safe. I don't have great pictures, because we were in between cameras (we bought one and then Ragnar ended up winning one from work, so we took ours back), anyway, I am grateful for the ones Chira took for us.
We started our holidays with having my sister Marisa fly in with her husband Ethan and their son Liam. I was excited to see them and their sweet little boy. On Christmas eve my brother Chris flew in with his wife Chira and their sons, Caden and Coleton. So, with them and my other sister Natalie who lives here, my other brother Corey and his family, and my parents, everyone on my side of the family was all together in Texas for Christmas! It was great. Christmas eve we met together and had soup and caught up and read the Christmas story from the bible and then everyone went home to prepare for Santa! Christmas morning, just like last Christmas, it happened to be one of the few mornings the kids slept in, so we started to go in and check them often to see if they were awake! We were excited! This is what we found....

Ella got a box full of dress up clothes and she was ready to try them on!

Cavin loves trains, so he got a new train set.

Ragnar's co-worker bought them Lincoln logs which they love!


They were excited, but children always fascinate me. Out of everything they opened, they were most excited about coloring, their silly yo-yo's and slinky's! Next year maybe I will just spend the 50 cents and call it good!

We enjoyed Christmas at my parents house. They bought Ella a new dollhouse and Cavin more Thomas the trains. They generously bought Ragnar and I an ipad which has been a really fun gadget. We are very grateful for their generosity. On Sunday night we had a nice dinner together again and the kids loved playing. Cavin and Ella were SO excited to have Caden in town. Poor Caden had to endure Cavin endlessly following him and saying over and over.."hi Caden, hi Caden"!!!

Games...and fun

Hiding under their pretend tent!

On December 27th I went with my brother Chris and Chira, and my sister Marisa and Ethan and of course Ragnar to the Rockets game. It was Marisa and Ethans second anniversary, so we went to dinner and enjoyed the night!

A couple days later we took family pictures and went with the cousins to The Children's museum. My kids loved being with their cousins. I am not sure they really understood a lot of the museum because most of it is for a little older kids, but they loved being with the cousins.

Caden in a car pretending to drive

All the cousins...minus the two babies :)

Ella was being the cashier and Cavin and Caden were bringing their goods to buy.



All in all we had a wonderful time with our cousins and spending time with our parents and my siblings. We are so glad Caden, Coleton, and Liam got to come into town and that John and Madi already live close :) We have a great family. The only thing that would have been better is being able to spend the holidays with Ragnar's family too! We also appreciate their support and kindness. We are glad that they had a nice time in all the snow in Germany, and hope to join them again soon!