Maggie's First Easter

So..better late than never.....
Back in April, we celebrated Maggie's first Easter! We first woke up Easter morning and went to church. Due to Maggie's love for randomly yelling to hear her own voice and laughing about it...we don't make many trips to church (which I need to change). She did pretty well, surprisingly. Of course she wanted down to walk/crawl, but that wasn't happening. We went through a few toys being thrown in the asile, but we made it to communion. On my way back to the pew, I just went and stood in the back.
After church we went home to find what the easter bunny left for her. As you can see in the pics below, she was very happy to get some cute spring/summer clothes. She pulled them out of the basket and of course waved them in her Sissy's (Annie) face.
For lunch we went to my Granny's house to see my mom and her side of the family. We put Maggie in my grandma's yard with the easter eggs and rabbit decorations to take pictures. Maggie LOVED the eggs! She shook them and laughed the whole time! After we ate, she played with all her aunts, uncles, and cousins until she was worn out! We headed home for a nap before we went to see Popo and Bev.
That evening we went to my Aunt Sheri's house to have super with my dad and his family. Once again we put Maggie out in the yard for some quick pictures. After a delicous supper, Maggie played with her great grandma..AKA Memaw. She was such a little turkey!
Overall, Maggie had a FANTASTIC first Easter!!!!!

Spring Break Ski Trip

Over spring break, Jackson, Maggie, and I, Chad and Robin, my mom, and the Stary family, went to Ruidoso snow skiing! We left EC at 5am on Wednesday morning and arrived in Ruidoso at 3:30 their time-they are an hour behind us.

On the way there, the girls rode in one car while the boys rode in the other. I was a little worried that Maggie would not be able to handle the 11 hour drive, but she did it like a champ! We stopped every couple of hours because someone either had to potty, get something to drink/eat, or we needed gas. During those times I would take Maggie out of her carseat and let her stretch her legs a bit. She didn't mind getting back in her seat to continue the ride. Robin and I kept her entertained in the back seat with all her toys, and she even slept a bit. I must say she kept us a little entertained at times as well! Robin was lucky enough to be sitting on Maggie's right side. Everytime Maggie was done playing with a toy, she threw over into Robin's lap! haha

Once we got to our house, we unpacked, grabbed a bite of food, got our ski gear, and hit the hay! Thursday morning we got up bright and early and headed up the mountain to hit the slopes! Alicia, Chad, and Layton to ski lessons that morning. Layton of course picked up on skiing way faster than everyone else, and was skiing like a champ in no time! Robin, Clay, Jackson, Slade, and I headed off to do some easy runs so we could get back into the grove of things. They, meaning Jackson and Slade, took us on a green that was pretty steep at the beginning of the run. Well, I must say I'm not the BEST skiier, but I'm content at "pizzaing" and "french frying" my way down....I'm not one that needs to go fast! Lets just say I took a bad fall at the beginning, hurt my should pretty bad, and it took me a LONG time to get down, but I made it!

After that run, I went back to check on my mom and Maggie. We had bundled Maggie up in her ski gear and put her in her stroller, and Nana was pushing her around and watching the others take their ski lessons. I put Maggie down in the snow and let her play for a bit. She wasn't too sure about the snow, but she liked it! Once they ski class was over, we spent the rest of the day skiing around and had fun!

On Friday, we went back up to the mountain and all the boys skiied all day. Robin skiied half a day, but Alicia and I did not. My should was still hurting, and I didn't want to waste the money and then not be able to enjoy it. Alicia, Nana, Maggie, and I, rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain to see the view. It was beautiful! Once we got back down, we hung out and watched the others ski.

Saturday morning, we got up and headed over to Winter Wonderland Tubing Park. Now this was fun....they had about 8-10 different tubbing paths you could go down, and it was nice because they had a conveyer belt that took you to the top so you didn't have to drag your tube up there. Clay, Layton, Nana, Alicia, and myself did this for a few hours. It was pretty fun and Clay and I caught quite a bit of air on some of them! haha That afternoon we went into town shopping and hit up the casino, however, I came home broke! haha
That evening we packed everything up and headed out early Sunday morning. We got back to EC around 6pm. It was a nice, quick vacation!
                                                              Maggie ridding on the way there....

Maggie and I chillin before we started skiing

The family

Maggie playing in the snow

Mags and Uncle Chad

Crazy Robin

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

HLSR-Turkey Show

Last week Maggie and I went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo-Poultry Show to watch Layton and Clay show their turkeys. ***For those of you that do not know, Layton won Grand Champion Turkey and Clay won Reserved Grand Champion turkey at the San Antonio show a few weeks ago.**

Maggie was the best ALL day!! We got there around 9:15am, and got home at 11pm! The boys showed their turkeys around 11am. Upon check in, Clay's bird was rated a 9 and Layton's a 10, so Clay was in the arena first. He started off at the bottom of his group...close to probably 35, but as the judge judged the birds, he moved on up to number 9!!! Whoo-Hoo!!  Also placing from EC: Jace Baker- 10th, Zane Baker-15th, and one of the Janak Sisters (don't know which one is which..sorry) 13th.

As for Layton....well, the judge felt his bird one time and put him aside! When the judge got down to picking #1 hen, he picked Layton's!! Yeah!! He got Champion Hen!! So...now he got to compete for Grand/Reserved. Clay went into the arena to hold Layton's turkey while it competed against the top two turkey toms. Once the judges picked a winner, they didn't tell us until 7:30 that night, so the boys showed their chickens in the meantime.

Once of Clay's chickens was in bad shape that morning so he took his alternate instead. He made the sale and placed in the 60s. Layton got 12th his chickens. Also, Megann Faas of El Campo got Reserved Grand Champion with her chickens!

FINALLY....after being in suspense ALL day....it was time to announce the winner.....see pictures below....                                                               And the winner is.....

Layton Stary! Grand Champion Turkey!!

This is honestly a once in a lifetime experience....winning TWO major shows in the same year...heck within 3 weeks of each other!! Now that he has won Grand, he cannot show a turkey in either show again. Oh, and did I mention, this is his first year to ever show!!! I'm so proud of him and Clay both, and all the other participants!! This shows that hard work pays off!!

Maggie and Clay hanging out

                                                             Maggie, Clay and Layton

                                                                     Clay showing his hen

More pics to come later...my internet is being slow! haha

My Little Crawling Machine!

Miss Maggie has been growing and changing soooo much!! In early January she started army crawling, and got VERY good at it! We had to baby proof the house and never take our eyes off of her! haha In mid-February she began crawling the right way. Since then, life has REALLY changed!! She is super quick!! She goes from one end of the house to the other in no time. I know my house isn't big, but still....she gets around quick!!! She has also become the little climber. She is pulling up and pulling everything off the couch, coffie table..etc!
Below are some pictures from the past few months!

Christmas

A few months later...here is a post about our first Christmas!

Maggie LOVED Christmas! Christmas Eve we went to church and then to my dad's house to have Christmas with him and his side of the family. Maggie got lots of fun gifts from Popo & Bez, the Starys, the Hensleys, and all her Great-Aunts-Uncles, and cousins! She is so lucky!!

  Maggie and Memaw

Christms morning we woke up, had a yummy breakfast and opened presents from Santa! Once again, Maggie was really into opening presents! She loved ripping the paper, and she only tried eating it once! However, Annie was kind of sad...until she got her gift from Aunt Robin and Uncle Chad!

finally got it open....

 taking Annie's new toy

After opening gifts at home, we went to Granny's house to do lunch with Nana and her family. Once again, I got lots of fun gifts from everyone!!

Holiday Season

Yay! The holidays are here!!!!

Over Thanksgiving, Jackson and I went to NOLA! We had a great time and of course ate and drank tooooo much!

Last Friday started my two week Xmas vacation! On Friday we headed up to San Antonio with a wonderful group of friends. We had some drinks at Hard Rock, hurricanes at Pat O's- which might as well be called mind erasers because thats the effect they had on me- then we ended the night at Howl at the Moon. Needless to say I don't remember much, but the bruise on my knee and arm confirm that I fell off the bar stool!! O-well, haven't had a night like that in years!!
On Saturday we headed to Gruene. We took it easy and even had a nap before we went to the Jerry Jeff Walker concert! Again, we had a blast!! This yearly tradition is wonderful! As a group, we have been doing this since December 2003 and we will continue as long as he is playin!!
Sunday we made a quick stop at the outlet mall and then headed home!

This week has been great so far as well! Monday Maggie and I were bums, Tuesday I went Xmas shopping, yesterday I did some cleaning and today...well I'm in the recliner. And I must mention that even though I say I'm being a bum, that does involve having to chase my lil' roller around! Haha
Below are a few pics that I have taken lately! There will be many more to come soon!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!