In 4 days

In just 4 short days I will have a one year old! Yikes! When did she stop being 6 months old? I think that's the age I stopped letting her grow...but it turns out she has a mind of her own. Oh she sure has a mind of her own. So yesterday Lauren and I took the kids for a quick walk to the park so I could take some pictures of Paige. It turns out it wasn't the best day for pictures; because besides the Mosquito's that were literally eating us alive, and besides Paige having battle wounds all over her face from a nasty wipe out last week, she is also teething and a bit sick. So I was constantly trying to wipe her nose and constantly trying to get her to open up her heavy lidded eyes. The poor girl is too congested right now. But I did manage to get a few cute pictures of the babe...and I was able to edit out her battle wounds too! So all is good.

A few things about Paige right now:

• She has 8 1/2 teeth (the half being the molar that's almost through)


• She doesn't talk at all - but grunts a LOT, she's really great at pointing to things and signing for what she wants. We don't technically have signs, but she's come up with a few on her own that we all understand. So it works for us


• She adores her sister and also can't stand her


• She Loves Loves Loves Loves her soother


• She weaned herself from the bottle last month when we went to Vegas (speaking of which, she also weaned herself from Nursing a month earlier...she's just in a hurry to get things done I guess)


• She eats...and eats...and eats...oh and she eats! Food is always a hit


• She's slowly overcoming her aversion to anyone but me - I'm still the first on her list, dad's now a close second and a few other friends and family members are on the list now too! Thank goodness


• She sleeps like a champ! Two naps a day and 13 hours at night. And (I don't mean to brag here), she sleeps in most days until 9am! I'm a lucky mom


• She's crawling - not walking! But she has the skills. She can get into standing position on her own and stand for a LONG time. She can take 3 or 4 steps and balance herself. She can also walk behind her walker and then pick it up and readjust when she needs to...but she still will not walk exclusively. Soon enough though!


• She is the cutest little cuddle bug and the most adventurous kid I've had to date. She's teaching Hailey all sorts of new tricks - things like how to disobey mom, how to climb out of the tub, how to jump on beds, how to get into cupboards and diaper cream and all that good stuff. Hailey up until now has been quiet the obedient little thing - and now Paige is here and she's learning just how much trouble they can get into together!

Anyway, that's my Paige. She's a lot of fun. She's a lot of work. But most importantly she's a lot of LOVE. And we just love her to pieces!!

p.s. I can't forget about my sweet Hailey too. She will be three soon, and I will have a post dedicated to her then, but here's a picture of the big sister from yesterdays Little 'photo shoot'. I think she's a keeper too!

We're LIVE!

That's right, we're live!

McCance Plumbing and Heating that is.

Check it out:

www.mccanceplumbingheating.com

After years of getting by the old fashioned way, Ben and his Dad decided to start a website for the company. I'm extremely proud of them and all the work they've done in getting this business going these last 5 years. We've spent a lot of time getting the website to where it's at now, and it's by no means perfect yet. But it's up and running and it actually looks legit. And that's all that matters. Now we just have to figure Google out. How in the world do we get our name at the top of the Google search - or even on it? Any advice?

June...already?

June...oh June, you are busy!! In a good way of course. We've got our little calendar ("More Time Moms Family Organizer" of course) booked solid! Oh the fun we're going to have this summer. Oh the fun we've already had. This little blog entry is full of pictures and is VERY long. But I'm the creator, so I can do whatevah I want! Bwa ha ha ha ha.

So most importantly - Ben's sister (his little itty bitty baby sister) Ashley got married this last weekend!! We had so much fun! It was a beautiful day! Not hot by any means, but I think it was still just perfect. The bride was stunning, the groom passed our inspection, and everyone couldn't have been happier! Onto the pictures:

The happy couple

The girls and I

Ben and the Happy babe (for the moment at least)

This grandma LOVES her grandkids!

Hailey has been looking forward to this wedding FOREVER!! She had to give the Bride a big hug of congratulations!!

And then the hugs continued. These two little cousins LOVE each other like you wouldn't believe. Really, it's so cute.

Once the reception ended (i.e. the Bride and Groom had escaped, we found where Hailey and her cousins had disappeared , and Paige had met her crying quota for the evening) we took our trailer out to Writing on Stone to camp out with the Allred's and some other friends. It was our second trip ever in the new trailer and even though Paige was sick and woke up a TON at night, we still had fun. Speaking of camping...did I tell you that we bought a new trailer?? We sold our old one and bought this beauty:

Which has a fancy door in the back like this:

To hold this beauty:


Fun hey? Ben might just be a bit spoiled; which pretty much means I'm next in line for some spoiling right? One day.

So this is sort of out of order, but I can't mention the new trailer and not post a picture or two from the maiden voyage. So...here are some pics from our first trip to Little Bow.

Hailey in the Sand

Paige - not in the sand (for many many reasons...all involving her mouth - and the sand)

The gang hanging out at the Allred's site. We had so much fun that weekend.

And finally onto the point of this post. The trip we took this weekend to Writing on Stone.

The fam - 2010

Ben and Hailey - 2010

Are you having a little deja-vu moment right now? You should be...because exactly one year and one week earlier we took these two pictures in the same general location. I smell a tradition brewing.

Our fam just shy of two weeks before Paige was born (June 2009)

Hailey, the baby at the time, and her wonderfully photogenic dad (June 2009)

Back to 2010:

Paige really loves climbing things (notice her hoody? Notice Hailey's hoody from a year earlier?)

Hailey and her friend Kyla can now be trusted to sit still for a picture

One of the many reasons why we love the Allred's

What would a day at the Beach be without a kid buried in the sand. We ALL have one of these pics in our family. Here's ours:

END camping trip. Ok, we had fun, I was exhausted from the weekend (read: Paige was sick...didn't sleep well...cried a LOT). But it's always fun to be together as a family, and to have good friends nearby. I have never ever regretted buying a trailer. In fact, I think it's been one of the smartest and best purchases ever!

So...onto the rest of this post. Yesterday Ben had a Birthday. He's 30...shhhhhh. Oh wait, you already knew that. Anyway, he's already celebrated in so many ways (i.e. Vegas, new trailer, new quad, wonderful family, beautiful smart perfect wife....uh anyway), so yesterday all I did was make muffins! Poor guy didn't even get cake, or ice cream, or cupcakes, or anything Birthday like. Nope. He got muffins! This is how excited he was about it all:

You can tell his excitement was contagious hey?

At least they pulled it together enough to blow out the candles on the...mini muffins. he he he...I'm such a cool wife. So there ya go. Week one of June down. We have two more camping trips...with the start of a third one to look forward to. We have a FIRST Birthday for our littlest. And so many more fun things to keep us busy until July! Yay for summer!

Vegas Baby

This year my good ol' Hubby turns 30!! So since he never goes with me when I travel, I decided to take him somewhere small fr his Birthday. As a surprise that is. He knew he was getting a surprise gift, and he knew he was allowed to guess what it was. And he did pretty good at not guessing the right thing, in fact, he swore it was a gun right up until the second I told him. So ideally I would have kept the secret until the second we arrived at the airport, but things just didn't work out that way. I'll take full credit for spoiling the surprise too. I just can NOT keep a secret, at least not from my husband. Especially if it's something as fun as this.


Anyway, on Friday of this week we drove across the border, caught our flight, and landed safely in Vegas!! Arriving in Vegas late on a Friday night had me convinced that I had packed the wrong wardrobe (i.e. I brought the normal wardrobe instead of the rhinestone miniskirt one - my bad). Thank goodness when I woke up the next morning the rest of humanity emerged and I felt a bit better in my wardrobe decision for the weekend.


So while in Vegas we ate...and ate and ate and ate! Seriously, I gained a million pounds. We hit up three buffets; in order of appearance: Paris, Harrah's, Rio. In order of yumminess (best to semi best): Rio, Paris, Harrah's. Ben was in heaven with all the crab legs and shrimp he could stomach. I was in heaven with all the food - I didn't care what it was. I ate it.


Also, while there we went to the "Blue Man Group". It was indescribably fantastic! I really really loved it! We also got $100 in free gambling (lame story about going to a time share presentation, and getting tickets to an equally as lame show) But we DID get a lot of free slot time out of the deal. Of the $100 dollars we were given, we walked away with $65. Not bad for free money, but not so good if it were our real money. Plus we got another great meal out of the deal. We could have done better as far as the 'free show'- but it's a sensitive subject right now. So I'll shut up. We did have a LOT of fun though!


Anyway, enough of the talking...here are some pics.

Me - New York New York

Ben - waiting in line at Paris - to EAT EAT EAT!!

Us - waiting for Blue Man Group to Start

Me - Post Blue Man Group Playing a little Pipe contraption

Us - driving in the car - LOVE the self portraits!

Hoover dam

And Again

Me semi-winning

Goodbye Vegas - see you again sometime!

P.S. Did I mention how GRATEFUL I am to my parents for watching my little babes?? Well I am. And I'm especially happy that my Paiger decided that other people (besides me) are ok. She made some new friends this weekend!! YAY!

But BUTT...

We're cool like this...

Really, both Ben and I thought we were being so funny by covertly taking pictures of each other's behinds. Looks like we're both busted! Like I said, we're cool like that.

Anyway, you know it's been a rough month when your blog address isn't even in your computer's memory. Oh well. We've been busy. Let's see, since we last talked we celebrated Easter and Mother's day. Hailey worked on her smile a little bit. Paige made friends with Sarah. And that's pretty much it. Busy - I know!

Paige will willingly go to 4 people without crying at all - Me, Ben, Sarah, and most strangely - Lauren's sister (as in my sister in laws sister)! Soooo strange! I'm not too sure what the Grandma's think of this.

So this is Paige and Sarah. And in case you can't tell, Paige is happy...very happy!

Hailey - just pure concentration

Hailey - just pure joy

Both girls - just pure interest? Shock? Excitement?

Probably the best Easter picture EVER (my nephew Max - pure excitement)

Hailey learning to smile

Me and my big girl...Paige was in the middle of a MUCH needed nap. I'm obviously missing a much needed chin...and a neck

And - as close as I got to kissing her...without her fully making out with me (if you know what I mean)