Hello Again & Charlie's Updates

Hello sweet friends and family!  Yes, it's been almost a MONTH since I've posted on our family blog.  I'm going to blame it on the whole being a tired, pregnant, working mom of a toddler thing.  Where did the month of October go? 

Charlie is growing up on us, and FAST.  Here's a few new things he's doing:

• He's learning new things every day.  This last week in his class they brought home Halloween art every day, and he learned the color ORANGE.  You can ask him what color his pumpkin is and he'll say "Ohange".  It's precious! 
• He's also learning to count and is favorite number is definitely "twoooooo". 
• We've moved from being obsessed with airplanes and helicopters to BUSES.  He LOVES to see a school bus and squeals with excitement when we see one. 
• He loves stickers.  Any kind of sticker.  He calls them "steestee" and likes to put them all over his hands. 
• One day last week he heard me say "Oh Gosh" and now he says it all the time! 
• His favorite thing to watch on TV is Elmo (Sesame Street), The Backyardigans or the only Disney movie that we own- Beauty & The Beast.  He loves the music and will watch the entire movie! 
• He has started to CLIMB!  We have caught him climbing on the fireplace, on his toy shelves, on the tables and even out of his crib.  Time to RE baby-proof the house?  I think so. 

• If he spills his milk or snacks he'll say "made a mess!" 
• His favorite "nacks" right now are bananas (still), nutella on graham crackers, and applesauce.   
• He just loves to brush his teeth.  I'm sure it's the fruity toothpaste that he really loves, but I'll go with it. 
• He still loves to play in the dirt & loves the slides at the park.  We are planning to get him a playground to put in our backyard with a sandbox at the bottom.  :) 
• He says "pleassssss" for everything now.. and it's just so sweet he can almost get anything he wants because of it! 
• At his 18 month appointment he was 32" tall (42%ile) and weighed 25lbs (46%ile).  Dr. Eddings told us that our job from here until his next appointment at 24 months is just to keep him alive.  With the adventurous climbing and exploring, I now see what she meant. 
• His eyes have changed from the darkest shade of blue to the sweetest shade of green.  My boy is so special! 

The pregnancy is going well.  I'm in my 16th week right now which means the baby is the size of an avocado! 



Morning sickness is not every day anymore which I am excited about! The energy that they speak of in the 2nd trimester hasn't picked up yet, but hopefully it will soon! I've started to feel the little baby move and all of our prenatal tests show a healthy baby so we have much to be thankful for.

Mr. Independent

Charlie is such an easy toddler.  I keep waiting for these terrible-twos to hit, and I'm sure they will right when baby 2 is here.  For now though, he's so good.  He is very independent... often playing on his own in the playroom, outside, or in his room.  Yesterday the house got really quiet and Trey & I wondered what he was up to. 

We found him in his room doing this: 

I didn't even know he could climb up on that glider!

Sweet boy loves his books. 

We have so many that we finally bought him a bookshelf for his room.  He is very particular on which books he wants to read before bed, so now he can go to his shelf and pick them out himself! 



Excited to Become a Family of FOUR!

As most everybody knows, we will be welcoming our 2nd child into our family next April!  We are thrilled to become a family of four, and I know Charlie will be a great big brother! 

We had a fun time telling our family with these photos: 

These last few weeks have been a little tough- with the exhaustion & morning sickness in full swing.  It's not easy being a full-time working mom of a toddler & experiencing the joys of the 1st trimester!  BUT... I gladly accept the challenges because it just means that another perfect, healthy gift from God is on its way.  A couple more weeks and I'll be in 2nd trimester bliss!  Trey has been a HUGE help to me letting me rest and entertaining Charlie at times, as well as taking over in fixing dinners. 

Many thanks to everyone for praying for a healthy baby! 

From Disaster to Delightful

Hold on to your horses because here comes dear ol' dads first blog post!

What better to write about for my inaugural post than a subject I have been thinking about for a long time.

Ever since we bought our house in Houston almost five years ago, we have been saying that we were going to redo the back patio because the back patio was less than desirable as it was a ugly conglomeration of bricks, concrete, and rock garden.

Here is a picture of the back yard from five years ago. The best part about it is the petrified rock in the foreground. This picture actually looks better than what we had just before the project as the dogs had five years of "design" or should I say "demo" work.

Becki and I initially got quotes intending just to get it done and just "CTC" Cut the Check... but we could not bite off the quotes we were getting back for what we wanted.

I began to research what material to use and began to layout what exactly I wanted in a great free program called "Google SketchUp"

Here is a model of what I wanted to do. It, along with a detailed spreadsheet, proved to be invaluable in the planning of the quantities of material. Altogether, it would be about 300 square feet of pavers.

About two months ago we made a joint executive decision that it was now or never, so I sprang into action.

I busted out the plans, bought some hand tools, placed an order for pavers and cubic yards of Sand and Gravel, and purchased other items from Home Depot like cement and drains.

Weekend 1: Demolition

Weekend 2: Excavation


Yeah it rained the weekend I was digging out the dirt for the 8-inch cement sand base, but that didn't stop me!






Weekday 1 : Ordering the material
I called up the local Pavestone rep and got a pretty good deal on the Antique Buff Tumbled Ventian Stone. One of the few perks of being a civil engineer is that you are in contact with reps for material. I also made a few trips to homedepot and ordered sand and gravel to be delivered from a local yard.

Weekend 3: Delivery and Laydown

After much hard work, this is where the fun part starts as I began to finally see some results:

After 3 weekends we had a great patio in place.

Weekend 4: Drainage System

It rains quite a bit in Houston so I installed a 140' french drain tying into the street gutter.

Weekend 5- forward. Enjoy!

We also got some new furniture to compliment the new patio. 

Much work, but with planning turned out very successful!

Adams Family Golf Day! ...or Weekend!

It's a known fact that when we are visiting my dad and family, there will be golf.  And a lot of it!  They live right off of the golf course, and it seems that every member of the family (except me!) has become quite obsessed with the sport.  I'm seriously going to have to learn if I want to stay a part of the Adams Family.  Over our visit in July, we were there Sat-Tues and they played every day we were there!  If it wasn't on the golf course, it was chipping balls in the back yard.  Sunday however, we all went to the golf course- including Charlie & me for Adams Family Golf Day.  Charlie loved walking around the golf course & riding in the golf cart. 

We even bought him his 1st set of golf clubs.   They are his favorite toy right now by far, and since we bought the boy version with a blue golf bag. 

I'm ready to tee off!

Trey plays golf...

Pops plays golf...

Amy plays golf...

Quentin plays golf..

And Nate plays golf. He even plays for his high school team!

On a side note:  I can't believe my BABY brother is 16.  Quite handsome, don't you think? 

...Even Charlie plays golf...

Everyone plays golf.. but ME!

I take pictures.  And chase a toddler around.  That's what I do. 

And I enjoy rides in the golf cart. 
My family!

Charlie & his Mamy.  They are even color coordinated!

Q & Pops.  Do they look alike or what?!

Behind their house is just an empty field, so they turn it into a driving range.  Here's Charlie ready to drive some balls!

I am boy.  I love golf!

Are we really gonna hit all these balls?

Okay, better get started!

I'd rather throw instead.

My little AggieCat. 
K-State shirt from Uncle Q and A&M shorts from Auntie Emma.

Our aspiring golfer!  I love this big smile. 

Thankful for a Full Life

This last month as been a full one- with places to go & people to see.  I'll expand on some of these trips with additional posts soon, but here's a quick overview:

We started off our crazy month with a fun trip to the panhandle to see most of the Adams family for a much needed visit.  We enjoyed a long July 4th holiday weekend with my Dad, Amy, brothers Quentin & Nathan, Patti, Aunt Cherry and a visit to my grandmother 'Minga'.  We always enjoy going up there to enjoy family and the simple life. 

Charlie with his Uncle Quentin & Uncle Nathan

Charlie & Pops- Maybe Charlie gets his 'serious look' from him!

Charlie with Mamy, Boone & ChiChi

Visiting our Minga.
4 generations!  Love it.

For our next trip we drove to Tuscola, TX (south of Abilene) to see my cousin Katelyn get married to her fiance' Kolby!  It was a beautiful ranch wedding and we had a blast seeing everyone again. 

Mr. & Mrs. Horner with the proud parents- Uncle Danny & Aunt MB

Patti, Nathan, Charlie & me, Quentin

A picture with the Horners!

MB, Danny & us

Next on the calendar was a weekend trip to Midland to see Trey's cousin get married this time.  Robert & Jessica joined their families in a beautiful ceremony.  Jessica was my youth group leader at church when I was in high school.. talk about a small world!  I know the Melzer & Staib families are thrilled to welcome her.  It was a great weekend, although too fast.  Charlie loved being at Grandpa & Bebe's house. 

Robert welcoming his new bride.

Robert & Jessica at the altar.

That's as far as I got before having to take Charlie to the parlor.  He was patient for the 1st 15 min and then reached his limit.  :)

Grandpa, Charlie & Red.

Trey's lovely Grandma Melzer & Charlie's 'GG'

This weekend has been exciting so far!  It started off with my little brother Adam becoming a Daddy!  Adam & Amanda welcomed Toby Eugene Friday evening at 11:25pm.  We are so excited that he's finally here!

My mom, Granny & I went to visit the 3 cuties last night at the hospital.  Here are a few photos but you know there will be more soon.  :) 

He is just darling!

Looks just like Amanda!

Grammy & Toby

Yesterday morning we drove to Buda so we could celebrate our cousin Alice turning 2!  It seems like just yesterday we were welcoming her into the world.  She had a Wizard of Oz birthday party complete with a yellow brick road, rainbows, lollipops, munchkins, and Alice was Dorothy!  Charlie loved playing with all the little munchkins. 

My cousin Sarah & Alice, Age 2!

The birthday girl- doesn't she make the cutest Dorothy?

Charlie loved the rainbow lollipops!

Sweet cousins playing in the bubbles.

So even though we are exhausted and behind in our chores & sleep, we wouldn't have it any other way.  We must keep on going.. there are exciting things ahead!  Trey leaves Wednesday to fly to Orcas Island, Washington to see his other cousin Bobby marry his bride, Meghan.  Wish Charlie & I could go, but we'll be there in spirit!  Trey will be gone a whole week!  We will miss our Daddy. 

Also we are anxiously awaiting the birth of our good friends David & Jessica's baby boy.  Please hurry and meet us soon!  We can't wait! 

Hope everyone is also enjoying their busy lives and appreciating each day together with their families!

xoxo