The Hill Family

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day

He falls asleep anywhere just like his daddy

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Valentine's Day weekend was pretty busy. Brandon had three full days of class and the kids and I went to Austin all day Saturday to hang out with my family. All 12 grand kids were at my mom's house on Saturday afternoon...talk about craziness! We ate lunch at the Salt Lick and then just played all afternoon. Poor Charlotte has not been feeling good since Saturday night, so she slept through Valentine's Day this year. Paul, Erin, and Cooper came down on Monday and we enjoyed the beautiful weather in the afternoon with a long walk and fabulous dinner (grilled up by B). I sure am glad for the sunshine, even if it is still chilly outside. Keep it coming!

Friday, February 5, 2010

2010 Underway

Well, January has flown by in a haze of activity and sickness. Brandon started his last semester of class a few weeks ago and has between work, school, and general life activities, he is one busy man. Charlotte and I were sick for a week and then Jackson was sick the next week, so that whole period of time is quite a blur. We had a few days of sunshine once we had all recovered, so we managed to make it to the park, but then the last week has been rainy and cold. Jackson is experiencing an extreme case of cabin fever. Sure glad we don't live in Seattle right about now.

I love my children. I have always loved them, but the ages they are at right now is just plain awesome. Jackson is talking up a storm and can carry on very interesting and many times enlightening conversations with us. He loves reading books with us, and is more and more like Brandon every day. No fear, extreme curiosity, and quite sensitive underneath it all. Some of his favorite phrases now days are "you hurt my feelings" and when asked what he is doing, "hanging out." We have not entered the world of "why" questions yet, but "what" is very prevalent. What are you doing? What is that? What do you have? Like I said, he is very curious. I just have to stay one step ahead.

And then there is Charlotte. She looks like B and acts just like me. She is straight joyful 95% of the time and yet when she gets her mind set on something, you better not get in her way. She will let you know all about it. All of Jackson's tackling and "hugs" don't phase her, but if she senses that someone is upset, she just falls apart. Oh, and she will take time out of crawling, eating, or really anything to dance. (I think both of my children get their rhythm from their daddy). Considering Jackson polices Charlotte all day long with "no no big girl," she is a really good sport. Someday though she is going to fight back and tell him what is up. If she is trully like me, it will probably be around age 5. :) Some recent pics:

Conquered the "big" slide

climbing wall (no matter it is meant for age 4 plus)...I was spotting him :)

I think he climbed the wall about 15 times

Charlotte loves swinging...every time she went back she would belly laugh

Exhibit A of Jackson's antics...no injuries as a result (he gets his luck from B)

My beautiful babies

Proud papa

the girls

sweet jacks

Me and Brandon...2010 begins

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Peace out 2009!

Well, after Christmas weekend, the fun continued with some visitors...

Brent and Emily (affectionately called Bent and Emmy) came into town on Tuesday and stayed until New Year's Day. Needless to say, we had a blast. Jackson spent most of his time requesting Emmy to read him books (his first crush perhaps?), and Charlotte could not have enjoyed playing with Brent more if she tried. It was so fun to have them here for several days now that we have a guest room! :) Justin and Tricia joined the fun on Wednesday, so we had a full house and a great New Year's Eve celebration. There was lots of good food, conversation, and story telling. And I will say that I have not stayed up past midnight so many nights in a row in quite some time. I am still recuperating. :) It was worth it though.

Jackson's first haircut (a la kimberly)

train outfit from Nana Kathy (Matt Davis's grandma)

Emily read and read without complaint. :)

B's New Year's Fire

The feast...yes that is 120 nuggets and four large fries...chump change.

Brent chose some delicious sparkling wine

Brent and Emily NYE 2009 (3 years and 1 day married) :)

Justin and Tricia NYE 2009

toasting the New Year

Me and B!

Keeping warm and watching fire works

Now after this week of fun, we packed up and headed to Midland on New Year's Day, for Christmas round 3! We rolled into town in the afternoon and had a yummy late lunch fixed by the marvelous tag team of Grandmother, Grandmommie, and Aunt Brittany. And despite three tired kiddos, we couldn't wait any longer for presents to be opened. So the fun began. I am pretty sure Jackson opened all of his gifts, Charlotte's, and Grandmommie's at least. He is more interested in opening then in playing at this point. Camryn and Charlotte would have eaten all of the wrapping paper if they were allowed, but I guess that is part of the fun of babies at Christmas. We received so many wonderful gifts and several I never saw until we got home due to the crazy baby present opening party we had! It was so much fun hanging out that day and the next. And even though Charlotte decided to stay up until 3:30 am, we all survived! Net, Jim, and Kevin Dean were in town, and that made it extra fun to catch up and visit.

It was a fast weekend, but we always enjoy seeing everyone in Midland and Jackson especially enjoys snuggling with Grandmommie at night. Watching Charlotte and Camryn made me wish we lived closer because they are so funny together. Camryn was teaching Charlotte some of her pulling up and walking around the table moves, so hopefully that will stick. And Charlotte will inevitably teach Camryn how to deal with Jackson over the years. :) I cannot believe that these kids are growing so fast and turning into little people with their own personalities. Precious Camryn is only a few weeks from her first birthday! Time flies is all I can say.

Not sure who is assisting who here. :)

Train hat on and opening his tool set.

almost there

matching dolls!

new socks

perfume for Grandmother

Grandmommie covered in her babies!

This was a crazy year but a good one at that. Charlotte Avery is a sweet gift that I didn't expect or deserve, so that alone makes 2009 precious to me. I realized while we were in Midland that I don't take time to observe her and just kiss her like I did with Jackson. I practically coached him through everything, and she just starts new things seemingly over night without any help from me. She is growing up so fast and sometimes it is nice to just slow down and watch her changing. I guess you could say that is one of my goals for this year. Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas 2009

As Brandon says, the rest of the year drags on, but November to January is gone like that! It is the truth. We have been in our new house for over a month now and it seems like a few days. Christmas was spread over several weeks for us this year which probably added to the blur. We opened some presents here on Christmas Eve Eve, and then went to Austin for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to celebrate with my family. That was craziness of course, but we had a good time seeing everyone and I got some quality cuddle time with Cooper (our newest nephew). We are back in San Antonio on Christmas night and then had the weekend to recover before our visitors arrived. That is for another blog though! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas

Believe it or not, just one year ago.