Growing Like Weeds!

My children are growing way too fast!

My kids are getting way too big...way too fast! I have been so busy the past few weeks that I snapped this picture the other day and then when I looked at it I teared up. Westin is not looking like an infant anymore! He looks so big here....Presley was playing on my bed and she pulled him onto her tummy and he went crazy. He was laughing and growling at her. And how much does he look like Jared in the picture?! 

And I had to share this pic. I love my daycare workers! They are so good to send me pictures of my babies all the time. This was Presley right as she woke up after nap time. Looks like it was a rough nap! And let me take a moment to brag on my Sweet Pea. I still make her nap and sleep overnight in a pull up. The rest of the time she wears big girl panties and has been for several months. I AM SO PROUD! And....I tried to leave pull ups at daycare the other day and they told me she hasn't napped in them forever. What?! How did I not know that?!

Photo Shoot

So I've kind of been MIA on the blogging....again. But now I am back into a routine so things should be better. I am back to working now and am at Texas A&M in Commerce, TX. I'll do a post later on that! But today.....I wanted to share some pictures. You guessed it. They are of my babies!

Westin is 5 months and 3 weeks old and getting to be so much fun. He is such an easy and happy baby. If I could have another one of him, I would!

Presley is 28 months old and seems so much older. She talks great, has lots of energy and is lots of fun. She was not super intersted in getting her pictures taken but we did manage to get a few good ones. It was WORK getting both of them to cooperate at the same time.

 I love black and white! This one is my favorite of both of them.

And here....I call this her pageant face.

 Presley did start to get tired and kept telling me she was done.

 And of course she kept moving Westin around and placing him where she wanted him.

But hey....they are my babies and I'd love them no matter how they were posing! 

Thank you to my sweet friend Leslie Spencer for taking them!

My Single Friend - Cindy!

I'm giving everyone a break from the usual zillion post of my kids and doing something fun today! I am linking up with Kelly's Korner Blog  (who I LOVE) and sharing one of my single friends on her Show Us Your Life Friday - Singles Link Up. So....here we go! She is going to kill me but I won't go down alone. My other sweet friend Marla might have been a little bit of an encouragement on this one!  

Meet Cindy....

Cindy is in her early 40s and is an amazing person. She is a strong Christian girl who lives just north of the Dallas area. She is fun, sweet, and intelligent. She is a blast to be around and has one of the most generous and giving spirits of anyone I know. She loves her family very much and will do anything to help them or a friend out. 

Cindy likes music, movies, great food, likes to travel, and spending time with family and friends....and just about anything else. Cindy is pretty traditional and definitely needs a gentleman! Like most of us southern girls she wants a man who will make the first move. (She is going to KILL me for that last comment!) 

This is Cindy and one of her best friends (and that's my sweet baby Donna is holding. Had to throw it in.) If you or someone you know might be interested in getting to know a little more about Cindy leave me a comment or send me an email at anna.hicks17@gmail.com and I will get the information to her. I'd leave her email but I haven't told her just yet that I am doing a post about her! 

More Christmas Pics

Okay...I told you there would be lots of pics so I'll just let them mainly speak for themselves. But I will say we had lots of fun! Can't you tell by this little girl's face?

We had lots of visitors and I tried to snap pictures through the weekend. This is a "Cousins" picture. :-)

 And I know I post lots of pictures of Presley but here's one more!

 Gavin was super pumped about his bow and arrow from Papa and MeMe. 

Presley was careful to remove every little piece of paper from the presents. I bet next year she doesn't take such care!

My sister, Sara helped Westin open his gifts. He has on his tiger hat from Papa and MeMe. 

 Trying out the toy food she got for her kitchen set. 

Amarah...need I say more? haha

 My stepmom, Amarah, Gavin, Presley, Westin and my dad.

And it wouldn't be Christmas without something crazy from Sara. Here she is demonstrating to Amarah how to twirl a baton. Luckily...no one was injured!

And perhaps my favorite picture of all....Presley is pretty much potty trained so she goes to the bathroom by herself most of the time now. After the presents were opened and everything was winding down, Presley came out of the bathroom and back into the living room looking like this...

After laughing...hard....at her I told her I was super proud of her for going by herself and her efforts to tuck her shirt in on her own. I love that girl!

Christmas Preview

How much do I love Christmas?!?! This year was by far the best because my little Sweet Pea was big enough to be in awe of everything....the lights, the food, the gifts! I have lots of pictures so probably most of my post this week will include pictures from Christmas. It's my favorite time of the year so I do not feel bad about devoting a whole week of blog post to it!

Presley loved unwrapping presents! She is showing off her mermaids that she got to play in the bath tub. I've had a camera in this poor baby's face so much she thinks it's natural. Now she's the one saying "Take my picture momma".  When she grows up to be a photographer, I want the credit! 

Westin is such a laid back little guy. He did lots of watching this year. Look how long those legs are! 

Of course we sang Happy Birthday Jesus on Christmas morning. We used cinnamon rolls but next year I promise to make a birthday cake. I know I should have but we always have cinnamon rolls on Sunday mornings so I just went with that this time. I love that Presley knows Christmas is Jesus's birthday. 

This picture might be my favorite picture from the entire weekend. I love these kids! They are growing way too fast. Amarah (5), Gavin (6), Presley (2), and Westin (4 mon). It started out with me saying Gavin could hold Westin because he is the oldest but as I was getting my camera I heard Amarah say that she was going to hold Westin's legs. When I turned around I HAD to capture this. I am so thankful my sister and her sweet babies live so close and are a huge part of my life. It's always crazy when they are all together but it's CRAZY FUN! 

Presley was a ham. She wanted her picture taken every time she did something. Here she had just tried on her princess house shoes from Aunt Deb. I love how she always has to pose!

I used pink and purple for the tree this year because I had left over Deco Mesh from Presley's first birthday. I love this stuff on the tree but I'm already thinking next year I will go a little more traditional and do a green and red tree. Maybe next year I'll actually put presents under the tree. I was just afraid it would be too much temptation for Presley! 

This was on my bar and probably my favorite decoration. I love snowman, I love this little rustic and simple tree, and I did my first printable and put it in a $3 clearance frame from TJMaxx. The frame was gold so I painted it black and distressed it a little so tiny amounts of gold would show through. The verse on the printable is "and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.  Luke 2:113-14". One of my favorite Christmas verses! I can't wait to go through the million pics on my camera and get them posted this week. I know it's probably going to be overload but I LOVE CHRISTMAS! 

A little behind on my blogging but I have lots of pictures so I hope to catch up soon. We have been busy lately and I know it will get crazier as Christmas gets closer. Presley has taken a huge interest in Santa this year and although we aren't pushing her to believe in Santa we don't have a problem with it. I know there are all kinds of opinions but I think if you keep Christ in your lives year round, then your child can separate that from the one night a year Santa is played up. To me it's no different than your child watching cartoons where the characters have magical powers, etc. Besides if you ask her what Christmas is about she will answer "It's baby Jesus' birthday". So I think we will be fine.

Last night was the Christmas Program and Kid's Kastle where Presley goes to daycare. It was super cute! All the kids were dressed up and they sang Christmas songs. Presley and the other toddlers had chairs to sit in on the front row and she spent most of her time turned around watching the other kids. I'm pretty sure she didn't sing a single word. But she was still cute! And after the performance, there were cookies and Santa showed up to see the kids!

Westin seemed content hanging out with his Daddy and talking to the other guys about deer hunting. While they did that, Presley and I stood in a VERY long line to see the man of the hour. He was great! After we finally got up there it was clear why the line was so long. He was practically telling each kid a story. I hear him telling P about how the reindeer fly onto our roof. Priceless!

She doesn't look excited in this picture but I am telling you she said "I want to see Santa" a thousand times before it was our turn. She is starting to get past being shy but she didn't say a peep to this guy.

This was at the end where she was starting to warm up to him. I am so thankful for such an amazing day care where my babies are cared for, loved, and taught. I love that they pray before their meals, they sing and dance, play outside, and most importantly they get to be kids. There are lots more Christmas pictures I want to share so I will post more tomorrow!

Check Up

Yesterday was Westin's 4 month check up. Yep...that's what I thought. How can my little man be FOUR months old?! Presley went with us and of course was entertainment for Westin while we waited. She keep asking where Dr Lips was. (His name is Dr Lipscomb. haha)

Dr Lipscomb said that Westin is perfect. I could have told him that! My sweet boy now weighs 13.6 oz and is 25.5 inches long. He is in the 12th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. Tall and skinny!

Dr Lipscomb didn't see any teeth even though this boy has been drooling and chewing his hands like crazy. And he said that his dry skin is eczema. Poor boy... he feels like a reptile but are going to start coating him in Cetaphil lotion every night. And we now have a steroid cream to use on the really irritated parts like behind his knees.

He got three vaccination shots and an oral vaccination. He only cried for a minute after the shots and Presley told EVERYONE we saw the rest of the day that "brother got shots and he cried". She's my little reporter!