Favorite Photo Friday - Snapshot #46

Well I have started about 3 different "Favorite Photo Friday" posts since my last one, but never got far enough to publish one!  This week I've been home from work -- ALL week -- with sick babies.  It's been quite a treat to get to spend more time with my boys, but I wish it wasn't for this reason!  So I've decided to try to catch up a little bit... bear with me, and please be forewarned -- there are a TON of photos! Eek!

Dada and our little Red Raiders!  Watching the game on a Saturday!

To sum up the last few weeks... I started back to work as a PT at an outpatient clinic in New Braunfels 4 weeks ago.  It's going pretty well so far, but there is definitely a learning curve with any new clinic/new documentation system.  My mom graciously came over and watched the boys for us during my first week back, to help with the transition -- it's so nice she's only 2 hours away now!!  The next week the boys started at a big daycare -- John still cries every morning when I drop them off! :(  But he does fine the rest of the day, and the teachers are so impressed that he knows all his letters and numbers already.  And Will's teachers just adore him!  So I'm sure it'll get better, but we are really disappointed that that's where Will picked up his illness -- he got RSV!!  :(  Poor baby!  Praise God that our once-tiny-preemie is big and healthy now, so he's only needing breathing treatments at home instead of something worse.  And like I said, it has been a blessing to be home with my boys all week.  I've sure missed them!

Gramma was so kind as to text us lots of photos when she was watching the boys:

John playing at a park with Gramma!

Our happy little guy!

Too much fun on the swings!

Peek-a-boo with Gramma!  Sadly, this is the only picture I got with Gramma!

Two brothers playing together.

"Oh noooo!"  John loves stacking and knocking over his alphabet blocks.

We went out to dinner with Gramma one night...

...and restaurant broccoli is the ONLY type of vegetable this kid will eat anymore.  Not kidding.  And NO idea why!?!

Three weekends ago, we squeezed in a QUICK trip back to Lubbock to visit old friends!  We had a blast, and although we weren't able to leave San Antonio until 8pm on Friday night (getting in at 2:30 am Saturday!) and only stayed for less than 36 hours, we had so much fun!  We stayed with dear friends Jeff and Paula Mustin, who are always the most gracious of hosts, and we got to see a lot of old friends from work and church.  Man we miss that place!

It's good to be back!  We got to go to a Tech game, thanks to our good friends Ben and Erin Johnson.

Andy and I at the game -- just like old times.  We got to see Tech beat West Virginia.  Wreck 'em Tech!!

Group pic with Ben and Erin -- it was so fun to catch up with these dear friends!

I wanted to take a pic of the boys the morning of their first day at daycare... and this blurry mess with John crying was my only shot.  Ha!  That about summed up our morning that day!

We finally put up our fall decor about a week and a half before Halloween this year... oops!  We finally had a cool front, but now it's back up to the 80s most days.  Bummer!  When setting up our "Fall Extravaganza" on the front porch, John helped by sweeping... the grass!  Ha!  Now if I could just get him to do that inside the house...  :)

Our completed Fall Extravaganza!

My little pumpkin!!

Somebody LOVES him some mac-n-cheese!  I can't remember what we just asked him in this photo, but is that a guilty face or what?  ;)

Two weekends ago, we enjoyed a day trip to Austin for Andy's cousin Audry's wedding.  Andy's brother Pat flew in from Vegas (he's stationed out at Nellis AFB) the night before, and we got to see a TON of family at the wedding.  We also enjoyed watching the exciting Texas Tech win over TCU with Andy's parents and siblings in his parents' hotel room before the wedding.  We had a GREAT time!! 

Will all dressed up in his HANDSOME duds before the wedding!  Thanks to Gramma for making the boys' ties!  This picture especially cracks me up after Andy's sister Laura said it looks like he's playing air guitar or air drums, haha.

My only photo of the two boys together at the wedding...  Better luck next time!

John had an absolute BLAST at the reception!  Thanks to Pinkie for keeping an eye on him all night!  He's at that cute age when they just LOVE dancing and jumping around -- I'm pretty sure he didn't leave the dance floor all night! 

...and I mean ALL night!  Our tuckered out boys after the reception... around midnight!!

What a sweetheart!  The morning after the wedding, the boys joined us for breakfast in bed...

...John helping to feed Brother.

And who wouldn't want to start their morning out right -- eating a muffin while wearing Dada's boots??

My guys!!  All decked out to watch our Houston Texans play!  It's been such an exciting season so far!

Last weekend, Andy's parents and brother Pat came over to visit -- we had such a nice time!  It's sure been a treat for the boys to see them more often now, and especially to see more of Uncle P while he's down visiting since he lives so far away!  John also loved playing with Pinkie and Pa's dog, Molly.

John posing with Molly in our backyard!

And now we're caught up to this week!  As I said before, I've been home with both boys all week.  Here's a photo of our sick little William Mark -- poor guy was all tuckered out from that terrible coughing!

Look at those sad eyes! :(  Poor tired boy!

John enjoying some tree climbing in the backyard!

And here's our little turkey, finally acting a little more like his old self!  He still has a bad cough but his fever has improved, and now he at least seems to be feeling better!

That's more like it!

Well that's it!  I apologize again for the picture overload, but you can't say I didn't warn ya! :)  We did have a wonderful Halloween, but I'll leave that to my next post...  If there is a "next post!"  At the rate I'm going, perhaps I'll get my next post done by Christmastime!  Haha.  Have a great weekend and God bless!

Love,

Abby, Andy, John, Will, and Wayne-Dog :)

Favorite Photo Friday - Snapshot #45

[Reposting this from a few weeks ago... not sure how it got deleted!]
Well hello again, blog world... It's been WAY too long! Since my attempt to summarize our whirlwind summer in one post may take a while, I decided that I'd at least try to get back on track with my "Favorite Photo Friday"
posts to share my favorite pics of the boys each week. They are growing too quickly, and I want to record as much of it as I can!

We are finally getting settled in San Antonio, and I will begin working on Monday. It's been SUCH a treat to be home with the boys the past 2 months! Here's a little taste of the joy they bring to our lives!

What a handsome little fella!

Rub-a-dub-dub, two brothers in the tub!

This guy has become a pretty good eater -- you'd never guess he was a preemie!

We've started a new family tradition of making homemade pizza at least one Friday each month -- John has really taken to it and enjoys adding the toppings...

...Though sometimes we can't put them on fast enough to keep up with him stuffing them in his mouth! Ha!

Although he has become a terrible sleeper, he still knows how to melt our hearts!

Have a great weekend!  Take care and God bless!

Love,
Abby, Andy, John, Will, and Wayne-Dog

Our Crazy Summer Plans!

Boy oh boy am I behind on blogging!  And with the crazy adventures ahead for our little family (more on that in a minute), I have no idea when I'm going to catch up!  I had planned to post photos of our Houston trip back in March, my sister Jenny's week here (with her two boys) to visit, Easter, and Will's 2-month birthday... but now Will's 3rd and 4th month birthdays have passed, and John just turned TWO!  Not sure when or if I'll get around to posting all of that, but I do want to post lots of photos of our sweet boys over the past 2 months, to share with you the JOY these boys bring to us, and to at least archive them for our little family if nothing else.  :)

As for our upcoming adventures, we have some BIG changes we are facing over the next 2 months!  As many of you know, Andy was accepted to the Army JAG upon graduating from Law School last May, but in November his appointment was cancelled (mostly due to federal budget cuts... so they quit offering medical waivers no matter the merit).  He began working here in Lubbock with a former classmate at a small firm as a general practitioner at the first of this year.  After 4 months, we decided it was time to make a change -- we wanted to get closer to family in Houston, and Andy needed to find an area of law that he was better fit for.  So as I transitioned back to work after my maternity leave, Andy transitioned out of work in order to watch the boys and job hunt full-time.  A big thank you goes out to both of our moms, who each spent 2 weeks up here helping to watch the boys (John's caretaker retired while I was on maternity leave) -- we couldn't have done it without you, Gramma and Pinkie!  Thank you so much!

 

Andy had a few leads in the Houston area, but the job market -- especially the legal market -- is just an ugly place these days, as many of you know.  After getting our hopes up and making plans to move to Houston, we discovered that God had different plans for our little family!  We instead will be moving to San Antonio!  In fact, Andy moved down there last weekend.

Andy has accepted a position with an oil and gas law firm, Foster and Harvey, and started back on June 4th!  He moved down to an apartment last weekend, and the boys and I will stay here through July.  For right now, our plans are for me to keep working here until July 11th, then spend 2 weeks packing up our home.  Then Andy will come home and our whole family will be moving down to San Antonio the last weekend in July!  Whew!  And with weddings and baptisms this summer, we'll be meeting up with Andy in 3 different Texas cities over the 8 weeks we're apart... To say it'll be a whirlwind is an understatement!  :)  But we feel confident that this is where God is leading us - at leat for now - and we're excited to open this new chapter.  Though closing this chapter here in Lubbock will surely be sad.

We've been in Lubbock for 9 years now, moving here when we started college at Texas Tech back in the fall of 2003.  We met, dated, graduated from undergrad, married, graduated from grad school, and started our little family while here in Lubbock!!  We have SO many great memories here!  It is a wonderful town, and we will surely miss our dear friends and family here more than anything!!  And my work family at PT Today will be greatly missed -- hard to believe I've been there 3 years!  Oh, and our parish at St. Elizabeth's...  Ahhhh... this Mama is going to have an emotional few months I imagine. ;)

 

Ok, well now that you've read my NOVEL.... (though any of you who know me know I'm incapable of being brief!), now on to more (and WAY too many!) photos! :)  Take care and God bless!

Our Cradle Catholic!

Scrub a dub dub...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Two boys in the tub!

Whoa!  Look what I can do!

Shopping for new Tech hats for the boys before we move away.

Fun in the pool in the backyard!

All three of our boys!

These boys bring us so much JOY!

The loves of my life!

Sorry for the picture overload... I haven't posted since March - and with our summer plans, I'm not sure how often I'll realistically get a chance to sit down and blog.  So here's to new adventures!  :)  Take care and God bless!

Love,
Abby, Andy, John, Will, and Wayne-Dog :)