family!

we made the trip to houston this weekend to see cody's brothers and sister and their families.  it was so much fun.  i love them all so much, and continue to count my blessings to have married into such an awesome family.  it was our niece tessa's birthday party, and there were tons of kids, it was a blast.  i loved having parties with my cousins growing up, and i'm so glad that we love close enough that mae will be able to have that as well.

grandma karen had all 12 of her grandkids together for the first time!
mae did not want to sit for the picture, nor did she really want to look at the camera.  brittany actually got some good pictures.

 this was the best i could get...

 mae was in little people heaven.  she loves other kids. i'm so glad she got to meet all of her cousins!
 i'm pretty sure her favorite part was sitting in this little chair...

 and breann.  she is mae's new favorite person. mae just wanted to sit with her, or be near her. it was really cute.

it made me so happy to see everyone!  and having made the trip, and knowing that they aren't that far from me has helped make the move a little easier.  and makes me excited to be able to go down and see them more often!


mae has become very opinionated, even though she can't talk very much.  the other morning she was trying so hard to get these tights on her head, and whenever i tried to take them off she threw a fit.  so, she wore tights on her head all morning.

 

tantrums have become part of our daily lives around here.  some days they are worse than others.  everyone who has had a toddler before i'm sure can relate.  here are a few live action shots.

there's a reason toddlers are so cute...

we had a rainy and cold weekend, so we were super excited to be able to spend the day outside yesterday!  we had fun down by the lake, mae was chasing ducks all over the place.  and almost fell into the lake chasing them...good thing i have cat like reflexes.  we love to be outside, and we love that we live on this lake!