The Venables Family

Christmas 2009

2010-01-14T08:38:00.006-06:00

We had a great Christmas around here and were so very blessed to have great family to share it with. Hope you are all enjoying 2010!

(These pics are in the wrong order but I am too lazy to move them.:)

Allie on Christmas Eve- 6 months. So sweet and kissable!

We went to have Christmas with the Hoelzle family on New Year's weekend and had a GREAT time as always. Here is how excited Allie was about opening her presents.....

Seriously, I was helping Mabry open presents surrounded by serious chaos and noise and looked down and realized this baby was fast asleep. I LOVE that she will do this because we all know this would have NEVER happened with miss Mabry!

And THIS is how excited Mabry was to be opening presesnts at Mimi and Pappy's house....

Sweet cousins. I love this pic! They are all such buddies and Mabry just loves playing with her cousins. And they ALWAYS play sweet.;)

The Hoelzle grandkids - all 10 of 'em

Mabry on Christmas morning at our house on her new ride from Santa.

Allie "opening" her presents from Santa. Mabry was a little concerned about the fact that she only had 3 presents. Allie didn't seem to mind.:)

Allie stoked it's Christmas Eve

My sweet girls on Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning with Mabry's loot from Santa

See ya next time!!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-09T09:10:00.005-06:00

Here are some pics from Halloween this year. We kept it simple and Mabry went as a black kitty cat just like two years ago. I wasn't going to dress Allie up but decided to put some bunny ears we had on her at the last minute. We went to Trunk or Treat at our church and then tried to get Mabry to go trick or treating in the neighborhood but she wasn't interested. She had lots of fun answering the door and handing out candy at home. We had a great family night!

Just for kicks.....Remember this kitty from 2 year ago?

So sweet.

And now this year.....

Family pic. Allie was a little tired.;)

Sweet kitty cat.

Mabry with her friend Ty from church. Does anybody else smell trouble?? Look at those goo-goo eyes on Mabry. Time for Daddy to get out the shotgun.

Me and my sweet girls.

What is on your head?

Lovin' me this bunny and kitty!

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Pictures of the Day

2009-10-15T13:45:00.003-05:00

"Practicing" rolling over as Mabry would say.:) I can tell Allie is ready to go any day now!

The sweet ones

2009-10-14T11:09:00.008-05:00

Since I am so bad about posting because it always seems like such a daunting task, I figure the least I can do for the both of us is just give you a few pics of the sweet ones.:)

The beach in Port Aransas. Mabry got to enjoy a "special drink."

No, Mommy does NOT want to touch the fish. Thanks anyway. Just like her Daddy.

With my sweet girls on my b-day. I won't tell you how old I am now!

Sweet baby having some "belly time".

Looks like we lost a sock somewhere. Oops.

The girls got to spend Labor Day weekend with some of their cousins. Here are the ones that were there. I have counted and Mabry and Allie now have 12 cousins! WOW! They are so blessed!

3 Cousins the same age on the Hoelzle side. Chandler is 3 months older than Deacon and Allie who are just 2 days apart. Yes, Allie is a wee one.:)

Matching gals. The first of many. Poor things. Their mothers are crazy.

My sweet babies.

Some of these pics are a little old, but you get the idea. Our summer in a nutshell. My kind of post! Hope you enjoyed!

Our little sweetheart

2009-08-24T10:35:00.004-05:00

Hey! So I still don't have many great pics of Allie but I figured I better post a few just so you know she really does exist....and to get a few people off my back!:)

Our little Allie is truly a sweetheart and we feel so very blessed to have her in our life. So far she seems more laid back than Mabry was as a baby and she sleeps much better too! For this I am SO thankful! Allie has really started giving us lots of smiles the past couple of weeks and she is starting to coo more also. So much fun! She is finally starting to get some rolls on her. I can't wait for her to get really big and fat.....I love me some baby rolls! She doesn't seem to be getting as big as Mabry did, but that is probably because she weighed less when she was born and doesn't wake up EVERY two hours to eat like Mabry did.:) Allie seems to have her Daddy's big blue eyes just like Mabry. I love those eyes! Hopefully they will stay blue.....we will have to wait and see. Anyway, here are a few pics of our sweet angel. Hope you enjoy!

Sweet smiles:)

Bath time - Allie seems to really like the water just like Mabry.

Sweet sleeping baby

That's all for now! Hopefully I'll post again soon;)

Mabry's 1st Haircut

2009-07-21T15:19:00.002-05:00

Mabry FINALLY had her hair cut for the first time a couple of weeks ago. She had been insisting for some time that she did NOT want her hair cut so I held off as long as I could from taking her to get it done because I feared we would get to the salon and she would scream bloody murder. The girl doesn't tend to do things she doesn't want to.:) The hair eventually got to where I couldn't stand it any longer so off we went. I'm not sure if it was the bribe of ice cream that did the trick or what, but she did great! She was such a big girl and had a smile on her face the whole time. I love her haircut! It looks so much better and is so much healthier. You can't tell much from these pics but hopefully you can get the idea.......

Before the cut. Unfortunately, she has her mom's thin, stringy hair.:)

Looking down like such a pro!

All smiles with her new "bob". What a big girl!

As for life with 2 kids....we are making it.;) We are slowly but surely beginning to adjust and somewhat get the hang of things and I think Mabry is beginning to accept her new life with a sibling. She is still adjusting but getting better. I will try and post some one month pics of Allie as soon as we take some.:) Poor second child.

Gotta run....stay tuned!

Baby Venables is Here!

2009-06-20T18:22:00.005-05:00

Allie Murlyne Venables was born this morning at 2:34 AM! She weighed 6.6 oz and was 19 inches long. After a quick labor and delivery, Mommy and baby are both home already and doing great.

Now Andy is going to attempt to post some pictures.

This is about 13 seconds after birth....i might get in trouble for posting this one.

Who is this little dark headed baby?

We will have to post some side by side pics of Mabry's baby pics. This child is a duplicate of Mabry, minus the dark hair of course.

Seriously, why is it so difficult posting pictures in this blogging business? I post a pic and it doesn't go where I want it, moves the text all around, and can not copy/paste text. I am just impatient and leave this kind of thing for Addie to do. I'm off my rant, enjoy the pics and I am going to go try and take a nap....right.

Where did May go??

2009-06-01T22:38:00.012-05:00

So, here is our last month in a nutshell.....

We spent a wonderful Mother's Day weekend in the Hill Country.

We went to Pedernales Falls State Park for a few hours one day. Mabry LOVES being in the river and throwing rocks!

We have ripped our Master Bathroom apart and Andy is in the process of remodeling it. Did, I mention that our baby is due in less than 3 weeks??:) We are crazy, but figure if we don't get the bathroom done now it will be another year before anything productive gets done once the baby arrives. Let's just hope our baby doesn't decide to make an early appearance!

We spent a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend in Longview with lots of the Hoelzle clan. We had a great time being together and Mabry LOVED playing with her cousins.

Here are some pics from our Memorial Day Weekend

Mabry and Caden taking a walk together.:)

Mabry's first fishing experience.

Definitely Daddy's little outdoor gal.

The cousins singing songs and learning sign language from Uncle Braden. Later they went back into the entryway and just sat in their chairs laughing and screaming as loud as they could. So much fun!

Mabry and her Great-Grandmother Hoelzle. Priceless.

In other news.....

Here are a couple of belly pics around 35 weeks I think.....

This was a couple of weeks ago so I have probably had sufficient growth since then but we haven't done a good job of taking belly pics this time around. Hopefully, I'll get some new ones soon.;)

I saw the baby on ultrasound today because my midwives wanted to make sure she was head-down. So precious! I have never had an ultrasound this far along and it was like taking a sneak peak at our little angel. Wait, it wasn't "like" that, it WAS that! Anyway, her eyes were open looking right at me and she was smacking her sweet lips. So priceless. Getting excited about meeting our sweet baby girl!! Now, if only we could pick a name!

Mabry is starting to get excited about baby sister coming. She keeps saying that baby sister is going to come soon and go to the park with her.:) I love it when she puts her hand on my belly and talks to her little sis. So sweet. Mabry is getting to be so grown up and it makes me a little sad that she won't be our "baby" anymore but I am so excited for her to experience the joy in life that comes from having a sibling.

A couple of shots of Mabry that Andy took recently.....

The last interesting fact I have for now is that Mabry just fell asleep for her nap by herself for the first time ever! Wow! She must know she is about to get "de-throned" as Andy would say so she has to learn to be a big girl. Now I think I'll go snuggle with her while I still can.........

Chandler Grace Rotzler

2009-04-17T15:11:00.004-05:00

My sister Rebekah and her husband welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world on Thursday, April 2nd! Chandler Grace Rotzler was born at 6:28 AM weighing 9 lbs. 6 oz. and was 22 1/2 inches long. She is absolutely adorable! We are so proud of Rebekah as she was an absolute CHAMP during the labor and labored for 10 long hours at home, getting to 8 cm "au natural" before finding out the baby was breech and having to get an unexpected C-section. While this was a definite change in plans for Rebekah and Hilliard, we praise God for answering our prayers for a healthy baby and healthy mommy. We trust in Him and know His ways are best. We are so excited for Rebekah and Hilliard and they are already doing such an amazing job as parents. Chandler is one lucky girl! Unfortunately, I didn't get any great pics of my sweet niece while we were there, but here are a couple just to tide you over until I go visit again.....soon!:)

Sweet Chandler Grace (and her Daddy's legs:)

You can also check out Rebekah's blog for a few more pics.

Happy Birthday, Andy!

2009-04-16T15:24:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday, Andy! We celebrated Andy's 29th birthday last night with a low-key night at home. Andy requested blueberry cobbler for his birthday dessert this year and I am happy to say for my first cobbler-making attempt, it wasn't too shabby. Don't get me wrong, probably not the best cobbler you have ever tasted but it got the job done! Luckily my sweet husband doesn't expect too much when it comes to my cooking skills.:) I am so thankful for Andy and the wonderful husband and father that he is. He works SO hard to provide for our family while Mabry and I get to sit around during the day eating yummy treats and taking naps.;) He never complains about his long hours at work or all the tasks he gets to tackle once he gets home. Mabry is so thrilled when her Daddy walks through the door in the evening and I must say, I spend my share of time watching out the window for his truck to pull into the driveway as well. Our happiest hours of the day are when Andy is home from work and we get to spend some time with our man. Andy, we love you so much and are so thankful for the blessing you are to us!

Happy 29th, Andy!

In other news, I have a few more posts I need to do (imagine that) but I am waiting to get the pics off Andy's camera. Stay tuned for more!

Rodeo!

2009-03-16T14:45:00.006-05:00

It's Rodeo time! We finally took Mabry to the rodeo on Saturday in the cold rain, but we still had lots of fun! Mabry has been asking and asking to go to the rodeo and see the animals. She was so excited....it was pretty cute. I'll just fill you in on our adventures with pictures as always. Sorry there are so many random pics of Mabry......I am a sucker for a little Tot in pigtails!

Mabry spent most of the day riding around on Daddy's shoulders. So cute!

Andy took Mabry into the petting zoo while I stood with the stroller. If you know me, you know I was not super disappointed to miss out on touching all the animals.;) I like animals and all.....just more from a distance.

Here is Mabry checking out the baby goats (and playing with the stuff on the ground which I wasn't too excited about). She seemed to like the animals as long as they were in a cage. Otherwise........

......she seemed to take after her mother.:) Run baby, run!

I mean how would you feel if you came face to face with this guy?! It was seriously eye level with Andy. Crazy business.

Done with the petting zoo and after lots of hand sanitizer....here is Mabry loving seeing the chickens. She did ask to get in there with them so maybe she isn't ruined after all.;)

And this picture depicts how I was feeling....

HUGE! This cow was in the birthing center and ready to pop! Check out that bulge! They expected her to go into labor anytime. So, if you are wondering what I look like now at about 26 weeks pregnant.....here you go.:)

Here is a sweet pic of Mabry at lunch. Anybody else think I should send this into Coca-cola and see if we can make some money??

These are a couple of cute pics Andy took while I was on one of my bathroom breaks.:)

And now on to Mabry's favorite part of the rodeo.....

Dippin' dots!!

And after she helped Daddy finish those off, she moved on to help conquer Mommy's ice cream!

Yes, also my favorite part of the rodeo.

And here we are headed to the car in the cold rain. While I was ready to high-tail it to the car, Andy made us stop in the COLD RAIN for a picture. Not a happy camper.

Hope you enjoyed! We are so excited the rain is gone and the sunshine is back! Here's to lots of fun times enjoying the outdoors this week!

IT'S A........

2009-02-19T15:03:00.003-06:00

GIRL! That's right, we are having another girl! We are completely thrilled that Mabry will have a little sister. I am so excited for Mabry to have someone to play with, fight with:) and hopefully be the best of friends with someday. My sisters mean the world to me and I am so thankful our daughters will get to experience the special relationship of sisterhood. It is such a blessing!

I think Andy is a little nervous about taking on 3 girls on a daily basis, but I know he will do great! And don't worry, we haven't given up on that boy yet. Lord willing, we hope for more babies to come!! As soon as we left the doctor's office after getting the sono Andy turned to me and said,"We are still going for 3, right?" Silly boy wanted to make sure he still had a shot at getting that son and hunting buddy. I guess we will just have to keep trying until we get one! I must say I do love God's sense of humor when dealing with Andy. If you know Andy, you know he often makes BOLD statements about the way things should be. For instance, on our first try for a kid he said he did NOT want a baby around the Christmas holidays. Mabry's birthday.....December 9th. I also remember something about not wanting this baby's b-day in the summer. Due date......June 20th. He also mentioned long ago that his worst fear would be having like 4 or 5 daughters! Well, my dear we are well on our way! You would think he would stop making such statements. Maybe someday he will learn! Personally, I believe God IS going to bless us with that son someday. However, he won't like to hunt or fish but would rather spend his time playing soccer. Andy's favorite sport.:) HA!

Thank you for sharing in our joy with us and thanks be to God who is the giver of life and this most precious gift! We pray for His hand to be on our sweet little girl as she grows and develops and for us to be the best parents possible. We are so blessed!

Doe-Does

2009-02-16T15:58:00.004-06:00

So, I guess it is about time for an update. What do you think?:) There is probably lots I could post about but I have been pretty terrible at taking pictures lately so I don't have much for you. We had a great, low-key Valentine's Day. Mabry was sick this weekend so we stayed at home for most of it, although we did get to see some of our great friends in College Station on Sunday. Andy cooked us our traditional Chicken Parmesan dinner for Valentine's Day and it was yummy as always. He also got us donuts or "Doe-Does" as Mabry calls them on Saturday morning. She has taken quite a liking to doe-does ever since Daddy took her to get them one Saturday morning a while back. It is kind of her and Daddy's special thing together which I think is super cute. She has only had them a few times now but certainly makes a point to let me know when we pass the Doe-Doe store (Shipley's) and she asks for them quite often. So, as you can imagine she was quite thrilled about her Valentine's Doe-Doe. Cake donut with pink/red icing and sprinkles of course! Andy and I also got to squeeze in a movie on Saturday night which was really nice. We finally got to see Fireproof and really enjoyed it. Highly recommended. So, I guess that is our news for now. We also found out the sex of our baby but I think I will post that in a later post just to keep you guessing!:) How cruel am i??:)

Mabry eating the 2nd half of her Doe-doe after lunch today. You didn't think I would allow her a whole donut in one day did you?;)

Our little butterfly-princess. She wanted to stand up on the counter to look in the mirror at herself and insisted she stay up there for her picture. Hence, the counter pic.

Stay tuned for baby news!

Christmas

2009-01-05T11:08:00.005-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and had a great time being with family. Mabry was so much fun this year as she finally got into the whole Santa thing and opening presents. We spent Christmas eve and Christmas morning with just our little family and had so much fun being together and watching how excited Mabry was. Here are some pics of Mabry's 3rd Christmas!

This picture cracks me up!! Andy got a new camera just before Christmas and little Mabry has been hounded by her Daddy taking pictures of her for practice. I think she forgot how to smile!!

We baked cookies on Christmas Eve and Mabry was such a big helper! These are the same cookies my mom made when we were growing up. This is what the Hoelzle family calls some good ol' dough cookies! They are heavenly to our family, but most other people don't really like them.

So proud of the finished product! She was so excited to leave cookies for Santa. The next morning she ran to see if he ate them all and then finished off the crumbs he left behind.:) She definitely got the Hoelzle genes when it comes to loving dough cookies!!

Our Christmas Eve family photo. A little far away, but that is a good thing. Maybe next year I will take the time to put on makeup. I doubt it.:)

Mabry with her loot on Christmas morning.

Mabry's favorite gift from Santa! She pushes this thing everywhere!

Rebekah, Me, and Catie

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are enjoying 2009!

Mabry's First Snow

2008-12-23T10:20:00.004-06:00

I couldn't believe it, we actually got snow at our house a couple of weeks ago! I was feeling pretty bummed as I began facing the fact that we would NEVER get snow at our house and.......VOILA! It snowed for about 2 hours and it looked so beautiful on the rooftops, cars and bushes. The next morning when we woke up it was melted but it was nice while it lasted. I'm so glad Mabry finally got to experience a little snow at the ripe old age of 2. She loved it and can't wait for it to come again! Good luck, darling.:)

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

2 Years Old!!

2008-12-15T16:42:00.002-06:00

I can't believe it! Our little girl turned the big #2 last week. We had a great time celebrating with our little family. We had dinner, ate cake, and opened presents. It was a very low-key, but wonderful birthday celebration for Mabry. Andy and I had a great time, too! It was so nice to just have a relaxing evening with our family and watch Mabry take in all the excitement of her 2nd birthday without the stress or craziness of a party. Mabry enjoyed having all Mommy and Daddy's attention on her and getting to open her presents slowly and play with each one. She really enjoyed her cake as well. She hopped up in my lap to get a few last bites of her cake and told me with a big smile, "Mae Mae LIKE cake!". Our sweet little girl is growing up so fast! She is starting to put 3 or 4 words together and form little sentences and can really communicate with us now. She got several puzzles for her birthday and has mastered them all in no time. She absolutely loves doing them over and over again. Here are a few pics from the "party".......

Mabry patiently waiting for the dinner portion of her party to begin!

Mabry LOVED this balloon and played with it just as much as her new presents. In this pic she is having fun seeing herself in the balloon.

Waiting for us to sing and cut the yummy cake!

Family pic with the big 2 year old!

Mabry enjoyed talking to Oma and Opa on the phone. She didn't want to put it down. She just walked around the room with the phone up to her ear and drinking out of her sippy cup. So grown up!

Happy 2nd Birthday sweet girl! We love you!

And then there were.........

2008-12-05T10:56:00.006-06:00

FOUR!! That's right, soon our little family of three will be a little family of FOUR! We are so excited to announce that we are expecting baby #2 in late June. I am 12 weeks today and we just had our first appointment yesterday. It was such a joy to hear that sweet little heartbeat. Music to my ears! Mabry is super excited to be a big sister, even though she probably doesn't have a clue what that means. She will touch my belly and say, "Baby" and even give it kisses at times. Lets just hope she is as sweet when Baby makes his/her debut into the world.:) Honestly, we know Mabry will be a great big sister and do a great job keeping the little one entertained. Thank you for sharing in our joy with us. God is so good!

In other news, here are a few things we have been up to since Halloween.....just to get you quickly caught up!

Our sweet niece, Julia, celebrated her 6th Birthday! Happy Birthday Julia!

My whole family met up in Dallas to surprise my Dad for his 60th Birthday! It was such fun to be together and celebrate this man we all love so dearly.

While in Dallas, we also got to celebrate our nephew Jacob's 6th Birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese! What a big boy!

This was Mabry's first Chuck-E-Cheese experience. While she really enjoyed the restaurant and games, she wasn't too fond of the big mouse!:)

Mabry LOVES being outside, especially helping her Daddy with yard work. Before Thanksgiving, she "helped" Andy rake some leaves and enjoyed playing in the big pile!

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house with Andy's family. Here are the cousins enjoying the yummy food at the kid's table.

And finally, we got our Christmas tree up and decorated the other night and Andy got the lights up on the house! We are so excited about this Christmas season and how much fun it will be with Mabry this year!

Merry Christmas! Enjoy the Season!

Halloween

2008-11-06T17:36:00.003-06:00

Here are some Halloween pics FINALLY of our little butterfly. We went to our church for Trunk or Treat and then just came back to the house and handed out candy for the rest of Halloween night. We had a good, low key Halloween and Mabry was thrilled that her cousin Caden and Aunt Bethany and Uncle Braden got to join us for the fun! I didn't get very many good pics but here are a few. You can tell Mabry's costume was just put together by her dear mother and not too extravagant. Oh well, she sure thought she was cute as usual.:)

Our little butterfly (yes I know butterflies don't wear tutus but what can I say...I like the girl in a tutu!)

Mabry and Caden holding hands. Too sweet.

Our sweet insects.

Happy Fall!

Tutu Cute

2008-10-21T10:01:00.003-05:00

Here are some cute pics that Andy took of Mabry in her tutu the other night. This child is such a silly girl and constantly keeps us smiling. She is learning new things everyday and growing up so fast. Mabry currently loves playing with stickers and organizing her blocks and other things into piles/categories. I think she is a little OCD.:) She loves to put on her tennis shoes and run across the room as fast as she can. Mabry thinks she is such a big girl when we go to the park and she struts across the playground like she owns the place. She loves to go down the slides and climb up all the stairs. Mabry still gets super excited when her "Dadd-ay" gets home from work and loves to squeal and have silly time with him in the evenings. She melts our hearts and we can't get enough of our little fireball!

Mabry poses for the camera

This pic is for all you Hoelzles out there.......does this remind you of anyone? Mabry totally posed like this on her own and it reminded me so much of her Aunt Catie when she was little. Hilarious!

Our little fireball!!

10 years? Really??

2008-10-08T16:27:00.004-05:00

This past weekend we went to Longview for my 10 year high school reunion. I can't believe I am so old! I had SO much fun getting to be with all my great girl friends (minus a couple that couldn't be there......we missed you!). It is so fun when we all get back together because it feels just like old times. I am so thankful for such wonderful friends that will always hold such a special place in my heart. I love you girls!

Unfortunately I didn't get very many good pics but here are a few.

Let me introduce you to the gals.......

The girls and our kiddos

The "girls" from left to right on the floor: Cathy, Christi, Candy, Holly, Ginger, Amy and Kathy. From left to right on the couch: Amanda, Beth, Kim, Ashly and Me.

These are the mommies with their babes. What cuties!

Thanks to Andy, my parents, Catie, Rebekah and Hilliard for all helping take care of Mabry this weekend so I could enjoy my time with friends!

Can't wait to see what we are all up to in 10 more years!!

Quick update

2008-09-22T16:17:00.004-05:00

Just a quick update to let you all know that we have made it back to the 21st century and now have electricity after 10 days without power! We didn't suffer any real damage to our home and are very thankful for our safety during this crazy time. We are super excited to be back at home and trying to get back to life as normal. We are SO thankful for our families and friends who housed us, fed us and took such great care of us. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such loving people. And....just for kicks I have added a few pics of Mabry from a year ago.:) My how things change!

Keep smiling!

Lake Fun

2008-09-03T15:03:00.006-05:00

Catch up time again. A few weekends ago we rented a house on Lake Livingston with Andy's family and had a blast being out on the boat and playing together. Mabry was THRILLED to be with her cousins and get to ride in a boat for the first time. And of course, she enjoyed the swimming as usual. I am so glad Mabry has lots of sweet cousins to grow up with and she just absolutely adores them. She even talks about "Bobo-Bryce" in her sleep.:)

Mabry loves to kick in the water. Our little water baby will be swimming in no time.:)

Daddy is quite the teacher

The two "little misses" talking things over......
...and having a stare down.:)
Andy seems to handle three children all at once pretty well! We better hurry and have some more!
The girls and their Dads. Mabry and Julia definitely rank number one with their Dads. They can do no wrong.;)

See you next time!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2008-08-28T15:33:00.009-05:00

This past weekend, on August 23rd, Andy and I celebrated 5 wonderful years of marriage! We took a little trip to Galveston and had a great time relaxing and being together. It is great to look back on the last five years and see all we have been through and how far we have come as a couple. God has certainly blessed us abundantly and things get better every year. I can't wait to see what fun we are having in 50 years! Here's to many more adventures!

First a trip down memory lane......

Andy proposes with me looking my best.:)

August 23, 2003

Our honeymoon (who are those young hotties?!)

And now some pics from this year.......

Some might think it is strange that we took the "little miss" along with us but I guess that is just how we roll.:) While we would definitely welcome a little alone time, we love being together as our little family!

Andy & Mae going down the waterslide at Moody Gardens. Such fun! Seriously, I think I liked it more than Mabry!

A yummy dinner at Fisherman's Wharf

Why would you want to spend your anniversary alone when you could spend it like this?!

And like this. Mae decided to be quite the stinker during dinner but she shaped up once we let her have some of the crab queso. Yummy! (For the record, we did have plans to have dinner alone but Mabry got a case of Pink Eye so that messed things up a little. We had a great time anyway!)

Mommy and Mabry at the beach

Daddy and Mae. I can only speculate they were watching the jumping fish while searching for sharks. Way too far out for me, but this girl LOVES the water just like her old man.

One of the many reasons I love Andy.....
he gave me this little sweetheart!

Our little family
Thanks Andy for 5 amazing years. I love you babe!

But-ball!

2008-08-11T14:57:00.003-05:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this post up. Better late than never, right? I know you have all been on the edge of your seats waiting to hear what we did Saturday evening (well, two Saturday evenings ago). That's right folks, we took Mabry to her first major league baseball game, or "but-ball" as she likes to call it.:) We had a GREAT time! Mabry loves baseball at the grand old age of 20 months. What can we say, we have raised her well! She loves to hop up on the couch with her Daddy in the evenings and watch some good All-American baseball and going to the game in person was no different. Mabry would sit and watch as the pitcher threw the ball to the batter waiting in anticipation to see if the batter would get a hit. And around the bases they would go. Well, you know how it works. It was such fun to watch Mabry enjoy the game and cheer the Astros on. About halfway through the game we went down to the vendors to get a snack and Mabry kept saying, "More, more" and pointing back to our seats. She couldn't wait to get back to the game! So funny. And, of course the Astros did not disappoint. They were down the entire game but came back and tied it up in the 9th inning to end up winning in the 10th. Exciting times! I have a feeling this will not be our last "but-ball" outing as a family!

Family Pic

Mae and her Daddy enjoying some baseball

Mabry put on her rally cap and the Astros came through:) Way to go 'Stros!

Concert

2008-08-05T15:27:00.005-05:00

We had such a fun time last weekend. It was filled with good ol' family time and lots of great entertainment. Not to mention a couple of "firsts" for Mabry. On Friday night we took Mabry to her first concert! We went to see Mercy Me because Brielle had some extra tickets and we had a GREAT time. We had lawn seats so Mabry really enjoyed getting to roam around, dance and play with the big kids. I was painting my toenails before the concert and Mabry wanted her's painted too. She was so proud of her pink "toes" and couldn't wait to show her Daddy when he got home from work.

All grown up with pink toenails!

Here Mabry is posing with her pink "toes" for her Daddy.

Mabry and cousin Bryce sitting together at the concert. She adores Bryce and had so much fun getting to be with her cousins!

This picture cracks me up! Mae looks to be about 15 years old in this pic and FULL of attitude! Are you kidding me? What happened to my baby girl?!

The concert wasn't over until after 11 PM so most of the other kids were pretty tuckered out by the time it ended. Mabry was still going strong!

Stay tuned for more exciting times from our weekend! I know you can't wait to hear what we did on Saturday. Let me just say it was good All-American fun!

Deer-Meat Sloppy Joes!

2008-08-01T11:17:00.004-05:00

I am happy to report that Mabry is eating MUCH better these days! Three nights this past week she has actually eaten what we were having for dinner, and the meal even included meat......something we can NEVER get her to eat! The first two nights we had chicken spaghetti and I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw a piece of chicken go into her mouth and she didn't spit it back out! The third night was venison sloppy-joes. That's right, deer meat. I usually frown a little when Andy insists we eat venison with one of our meals instead of our usual beef or turkey, but I must say these venison sloppy joes did not disappoint! They were actually pretty tasty and our little eater could not get enough. Andy was very proud that his little girl loved the venison on her first try and was happy to be eatin' some of her Daddy's "killin". Thanks Andy for all your hard work to get that venison on the table. I know it was nothing less than misery having to kill that deer so your little family could eat.:)

Our little meat-eater!

Don't let these pics fool you....Mabry hardly EVER sits in her highchair these days. I gave up that fight long ago. She would much rather sit at the big table with us or in my lap for that matter. Her meals usually consist of switching off between sitting in one of the chairs at the table or wandering around the house coming by for scraps every now and then. Whatever gets her to eat!

A happy child makes a happy mother:) Thanks to all of you for your encouraging words regarding Mabry's eating habits. It was nice to know I wasn't alone in the matter and that we would get through it!

Every little girl needs a pic in her Daddy's boots. What fun!

Camping

2008-07-22T14:24:00.010-05:00

And......I'm back! July has proven to be a busy summer month for our family so I won't even attempt to post about everything we have been up to. We did, however, enjoy our annual camping trip with the Hoelzle family to Arkansas a couple of weekends ago and this is definitely post-worthy! We had a great time as always and were very surprised at how great Mabry did on her first real camping experience.....sleeping in a tent and everything! She had a blast playing with her cousins, Jacob and Caden, and of course her Mimi and Pappy and Aunts and Uncles, too. Her favorite part of the camping experience was no doubt being in the river, especially if she was with her Daddy. Mabry and Andy spent lots of time sitting in the river throwing rocks and she couldn't have been happier. It's so much fun to see our baby enjoy the great outdoors. Here's to many more great camping trips for our family!!

Little Missouri River (right by our campsite)

Me, Mae, Catie and Jacob

Mabry riding in her "boat" in the river

The boys had another "boat-building" competition this year. I believe the idea is to build a "boat" out of sticks, vines and things you find in the woods and then you all put your boat in the river and throw rocks at eachother's boats. The boat that survives the longest wins.

Andy's boat (his boat was apparently sponsored this year by the can he found in the woods).

The boys putting their boats in the water (you can see Hilliard's in the bottom right corner, since he has to take all the pics:) I believe Braden's boat was declared the winner this year. The three engineers in this contest might have been a little upset by this outcome. Better luck next year Andy, Hilliard, Scott and Jacob!

Sunday morning we woke up and it was raining outside so we played in the tent for a little bit. Mabry LOVED being in the tent.

Trip to the store for an ice cream treat!
Braden, Bethany and Caden cooking dinner. Yummy!Sweet Boy. I love the curls!
Jacob lost his first tooth on Saturday morning. What a great camping adventure!
These are pics of Andy and Mae throwing rocks and playing in the river. Thanks Hilliard for the great pics!

2008 Venables family pic
2008 group pic (turn around Mabry!)

5 minutes into our drive home. Camping wears a girl out!
God's beautiful creation....Until next time!

Eat Much??

2008-06-25T15:35:00.004-05:00

We have been having quite a time with our little angel lately. Trying to make her sit in her highchair has somehow backfired to say the least and she is now hardly even eating anything at all. I don't know if this is related to the highchair ordeal or not, which by the way....we totally lost that battle since now we are just focused on getting the child to eat something anyway we can! Forget that crazy highchair! Mabry refuses to eat breakfast most mornings now and it is a struggle to get some lunch into her belly before her afternoon nap. And....what we do get her to eat, it isn't much......just enough to get by. I am at the end of my rope here. I am starting to get worried about her and wondering if something is wrong as to why she won't eat. Not to mention, my patience is being tested since she is super cranky for large parts of the day since I am sure she is super hungry! This is one strong-willed girl. If she makes up her mind she doesn't want to do something, you can bet it is going to be a fight to get her to do it. I am currently trying to make her think eating is her idea and not push her into it. We'll see if this works.:) Please let me know if any of you Moms out there have any grand advice! Love to hear what you have to say.:)

In the meantime, I wanted to share some sweet pictures of Mabry from Memorial Day weekend that didn't make the earlier post. I love these pictures because I think Mabry looks so big and grown up. They also help remind me that she truly is our little sweetheart, despite the tough times we may encounter.

Hope you all have a blessed day!

Beach Fun

2008-06-18T14:42:00.006-05:00

We took Mabry to the beach for the first time this past Saturday. We had a GREAT time! The weather was wonderful and I must say, I was pretty impressed with the beach in good ol' Galveston this time around. Mabry was a little unsure about the water at first, but by the end we couldn't keep up with her when she would take off running into the water. So fun! We spent about 2 hours playing at the beach and then headed to The Strand for a yummy chocolate malt. Can't beat it! Here are some not-so-great pics of our time at the beach. Oh, and of course I got burned to a crisp since my skin hadn't seen the sunlight in about 2 years!:) Luckily we were good parents for once and put sunscreen on the babe.

Hot babes playing in the sand.
So sweet. Mabry had the best time with her Daddy in the water. She definitely gets her love for the water from Andy. I have a feeling they will be going fishing together in no time.

Mabry LOVED sitting on Andy's lap and letting the waves crash into her.

More fun in the sand.
Beach Babe
Happy Summer!

Summer Days with Mabry

2008-06-18T14:31:00.003-05:00

Just a quick post to fill you in on some of the new things going on in Mabry's life. She is growing and changing so quickly, we can't keep up!

Mabry has started saying "Cheeeese" when I get the camera out sometimes. Super duper cute.

CHEEEEESE!
M loves to climb in and out of all the "big girl" chairs inside and outside. Fun for her, but makes Mom a little nervous.:)

Mabry has decided that sitting in her highchair to eat is not fun anymore so she CONSTANTLY wants to get out when we are eating meals. This is quite frustrating considering the girl isn't the best eater to begin with. So, usually the only way to get her to eat something is while she is on the run but we are trying to break this habit and make her sit at the table. Good times at the Venables household.:)

Here is Mabry eating her yogurt out of a "special cup" (a margarita cup). Whatever works!

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-31T18:41:00.006-05:00

We spent Memorial Day weekend with the Hoelzle crew at Mimi and Pappy's house and had a great time! We spent lots of time visiting and hanging out in the backyard while the little ones enjoyed the baby pool. It was Mae's first water fun of the summer and I think she might finally be getting some sun on that pale skin of hers.....unfortunately Mom still has some work to do on her tan.:) Such a fun and relaxing weekend. We always enjoy time with family! Here are some pics (mostly of Mabry enjoying the outdoors) of our weekend......

Mabry and Cousin Ella
Mabry and Aunt Catie-Lou
Mabry LOVED the watermelon
Mabry and Cousin Caden being entertained by Aunt Bethany! Thanks Bethany!:)

Family Pic
Mabry in the baby pool
I LOVE this expression on Mabry's face....we see it quite often! I'm so thankful Hilliard captured it with his camera!
Mae wasn't too excited about getting water poured on her:)

Another expression we see all the time:)
Pouring water on other people, especially Daddy, is super fun!

Mae Mae

2008-05-21T20:35:00.005-05:00

I feel the need to post some sweet pics of our little girl after that last post ended on such a sad note. I wanted to reassure all of you that she is still a happy, fun-loving girl and hasn't been scarred too much by her "Backyardigans" episode. These pics are old but they are all I have right now.....I will get some better ones soon!

TV Land Misery

2008-05-18T20:55:00.007-05:00

So, somewhere along the way our daughter has found a love for the TV show "The Backyardigans". I am not really an avid TV watcher myself and not an advocate for my child watching very much TV at all. Most days, Mabry and I don't even turn the TV on during the day. However, desperate times call for desperate measures so I have occasionally been known to let her sneak in an episode of "The Backyardigans" (because this is the cartoon I like the most - I think their singing and dancing is super cute and it is a pretty mellow show). Thankfully, Mabry has never taken a TON of interest in sitting down to watch the TV show all the way through....mostly she just enjoys watching the introduction and the end when they sing and dance. This is probably because I would sing the theme song of the show to her and Andy downloaded it on the computer and has been known to play it for her over and over again.:) She has this super cute dance that she does with her hands in the air, swaying back and forth and shaking her cute little bottom so it is pretty tempting to play the theme song just to see her dance. So ANYWAY.....the other day I decided to turn the show on so I could video her cute dancing. Well, I didn't get any footage of the bottom-shakin' dance but I did get this video of some extreme emotions........

This video is of Mabry at the beginning of The Backyardigans........

And this is her at the end of the show.......

I am not usually one for taping my daughter crying and showing it for the amusement of others, but I thought her extreme emotions this day were pretty amazing. I had no idea this was coming....I had only hoped for some cute dancing but you never know what you are going to get with this girl.:) Needless to say, we haven't watched The Backyardigans since.

Mae in May

2008-05-16T10:01:00.006-05:00

Here are some recent pics of our little fireball. Mabry is at a very fun age, although we can see the signs of defiance making their appearance.:) Unfortunately, my reprimanding doesn't seem to phase her in the least.....she just smiles at me and even laughs at times so we are going to have to find something that works and FAST! Mae is definitely an outside girl and loves to play with balls, pine needles, leaves and smell all the flowers (or "zsha zsha" as she calls them). Her favorite indoor activity is walking around in our shoes. She is the perfect mixture of girly and sporty if you ask me! But, I might be a little biased. Mabry never ceases to amaze us with her fun-loving personality. She is such a silly girl.....we have no idea where she got this from! She keeps us laughing and our heart full on a daily basis. Thank you God for blessing us so abundantly and giving us such joy in this life.

Mabry loves taking a bath!

Mae with a big-girl ponytail!

In other news......Andy and I had our first night out alone together since Mabry was born! We went to a beautiful wedding for one of Andy's childhood friends and Mabry stayed home with Oma (Andy's mom). We really enjoyed ourselves, although I was a little preoccupied with wondering how Mabry was doing. We made many phone calls to check in and we are SO thrilled that she did great. Thanks Oma for taking such good care of our baby! Here's to many more dates to come!!

Happy Friday!

Fun at the Zoo

2008-05-07T15:52:00.007-05:00

So, we went to the Zoo a couple of weekends ago. (I am starting to notice a trend in my posts.....I usually get around to posting pics of an event about 2 weeks after they happen! Oh well. Better late than never??) Anyway, we met Andy's sister and her kids at the zoo and had a great time seeing all the animals. Here is our day in pics.....(sorry most of these pics are kind of dark.)

Even more exciting than the animals.....Mabry had her first taste of Dippin' Dots! Yummy!
Mabry spent lots of the day riding on Dad's shoulders which made my life pretty easy:)

The zoo is fun for kids and WORK for Mom! Ha. I promise I was having a good time, just ready to put this girl back on Dad's shoulders!
Is this ME in 10 years??!

Bryce watching the "monkey thing" eat peanut butter.

"The Zoo Gang" minus Andy
Julia, our sweet little navigator, showed us on the map where to go next.

All in all, a fun day at the Zoo!

Turkey Hunt

2008-05-01T14:49:00.006-05:00

Andy got to go turkey hunting with his brother-in-law, Jason, recently. They had a great time and Andy even brought home a turkey which I look forward to eating.:) Julia and Bryce went with them out to the lease and had a great time playing in the great outdoors! Here are some pics from all the fun.

Way to go Andy!

Julia and Bryce didn't get to do any turkey hunting, but they sure did their share of some good ol' FROG HUNTIN'!

Uncle Andy with the "frog catchers"!

Bryce with his frog-catching contraptions

Sweet pic of brother and sister having such fun together!

Julia and Bryce hard at work!

Sweet Julia with her "frog cage"!

Since I didn't have any pics of our little Mae in this post, here is one just to hold you over until next time........:)

Happy Thursday!

Happy Birthday Andy!

2008-04-21T15:02:00.002-05:00

Well, not today.......but about a week ago, on the 15th, Andy celebrated the big #28! We had a great evening at home with a lasagna dinner and dessert. Andy is so easy to please.:) I am so thankful God has blessed my life with such an amazing man who works so hard and loves Mabry and me so much. We are forever thankful for the "man" in our life!

Happy Birthday Andy! We love you!

Egg Huntin'

2008-03-31T16:02:00.006-05:00

Okay...so here are the pics from the Easter Egg Hunt FINALLY! We went over to Jason and Brielle's on Easter Sunday afternoon for a great time of huntin' eggs and a yummy dinner. We weren't sure how Mabry would do with the huntin' but she ended up doing pretty good and getting the hang of it pretty quickly. I guess she is a natural "hunter girl" thanks to her daddy's teachings.:) Here are way too many pics from the huntin'.....I couldn't choose which pics of Mabry to post so I posted almost all of them!

Ready, Set, Hunt!

Now, what am I supposed to do with this egg?

There's another one!

Thanks for the help, Daddy:)

Filling up her basket

Mabry really enjoys collecting things, putting them in neat little piles and then transfering the pile around the yard. Hence, the egg pile.

Mommy and Mae swinging. I promise I really was having a great time despite the look on my face!

Madeline and Mabry discussing current events and the taste and texture of the balls.

Julia with her findings!

Mabry's goodies from the hunt

Sweet Madeline

Bryce smiling for the camera while doing some serious hunting!

Look what I found!

Easter

2008-03-27T14:07:00.005-05:00

Here are some pictures from Easter morning before church. We had a wonderful Easter and got to enjoy church and lunch with my parents, Catie, Rebekah and Hilliard. What a blessed day.

Mabry with her loot from the Easter Bunny

A soccer star in the making

M in her Easter dress just after pulling out her bow:)

Thanks Gage family for the great dress!
We tried getting some pics of her outside in her dress but the only ones of her looking at the camera turned out like this.....bright out maybe?!

Sweet girl

The rushed family pic before church. I don't like this pic of me.....but whatever!

Pics from the Egg Hunt to come!

Happy 1st Birthday Caden!

2008-03-25T22:20:00.005-05:00

We celebrated Caden's 1st birthday at his house on Saturday and had lots of fun! It was a quick day trip but we really enjoyed getting to see everybody and watch Caden eat his yummy "dirt dessert". Caden is such a sweetheart and we are so thankful God has blessed our family with him. Here are some great pics taken by Hilliard......

What a sweetie! Don't those puppy-dog eyes just melt your heart?! I tell ya, this boy can do no wrong!

I love this pic of Mom, Catie-Lou and Dad

Mabry loves to sit on the ledge on our back porch, too.

Family pic

Mabry and Caden going for a ride in his new wagon!

Rodeo!

2008-03-25T12:31:00.003-05:00

We had a very busy weekend filled with lots of family and loads of fun! There is no better way to start a great weekend than with a trip to the Rodeo with the Gage family. This was Mabry's first time to the Rodeo and she LOVED it! She loved seeing all the cows, the animals at the petting zoo, watching the pig races, and had a great time being with her cousins.

Mabry ready to go to the Rodeo!

The Gages enjoying some yummy funnel cake! What's a rodeo without great fried food?!

Mabry loved the baby chicks

M wasn't too sure about touching the animals....but she had fun looking at them.

Cowgirl Julia and Cowboy Bryce

Feeding the animals with Daddy

Mabry lookin' good in Mommy's glasses.

Body Parts...

2008-03-18T19:35:00.003-05:00

Mabry likes to show off sometimes after dinner.

Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

2008-03-11T18:15:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Grandma Muriel!

We had the joy and priviledge of celebrating my Grandmother's 80th birthday with lots of family this past weekend. I have been so blessed in my life with great family and Grandma Muriel is no exception! She has such a sweet spirit and not to mention a great middle name that she shares with me! Here are some of the pics from an exciting weekend with family......

Mabry and Caden give eachother sweet kisses. Mabry is slowly warming up to these cousins of hers.....she is always anxious to give kisses now and we even caught her feeding Caden cheerios at dinner on Saturday night. Wish I had a pic....it was hilarious!

Andy reading to Mabry and Caden and Mabry isn't freaking out because another kid is touching her! We are definitely making progress!

Mabry had a blast wrestling with Jacob at the birthday party..... more proof that Mabry is overcoming her issue with her "personal space". She also kept trying to tackle Jacob and give him kisses. Apparently she likes to hold boys down and kiss them already.....we might need to work on this one.:)

Ella-Bella is on the move!! She is walking now and it is so cute to watch her wabble her way around. Check out that grin!

Pigtails!

2008-03-10T17:02:00.004-05:00

Well, it has been about a month since our last post.....I know, shame shame. Anyway, our little girl has officially grown up since then. Mabry wore pigtails for the first time the other night to church! Those females out there know this is definitely a landmark in a little girl's life. I decided to try the pigtails out when she threw her only matching bow into the toilet.:) So, we had to improvise of course and try something else and pigtails it was. Granted, all I had to use were my own ponytail holders so they look a little silly, but at least we know we can do it now! These are some pics from AFTER church so they look a little raggedy and the pics aren't too great.....but you get the idea.

Thank you to those of you who actually keep checking our blog for updates......we will TRY and do a better job of posting! Happy Tuesday!

Happy LATE Valentine's Day!

2008-02-18T15:29:00.006-06:00

Just an update to let you know what we have been up to lately. Mabry was sick all last week with a horrible cold (I don't know if it was the flu or not:), but is FINALLY better which we are so thankful about. Andy and I also felt pretty crummy for a couple of days but luckily didn't seem to get things as badly as poor Mae. Regardless, we had a GREAT Valentine's Day with our traditional Chicken Parmesan dinner and dessert and Daddy made his Valentines feel very special with sweet gifts. Andy got Mabry a teddy bear just her size which you can see from the pics that she absolutely LOVES! Thanks Andy for making our day so special!

Mabry gives the bear sweet kisses

Final Christmas Post: Just Plain Mabry

2008-02-05T16:36:00.000-06:00

Here are a few more pics of Mabry from Christmas at her Mimi and Pappy's house that I couldn't leave out! Thanks to Rebekah and Hilliard for taking all these great pics with their new, snazzy camera. Hope you enjoy!

Mabry reading a book with her Mimi and Pappy. She LOVES her Mimi and Pappy!

Mabry loves being outside at Mimi and Pappy's house......especially when Aunt Bekah takes her out and creates fun games for her!

Cousin Jacob helps Mabry complete her "project".

Mabry gives Santa a big kiss! We always had this Santa in our house when I was growing up.....that means it is 30+ years old! I love seeing my baby girl enjoying the same things I did as a child. Oh, the circle of life......so precious.

All smiles with Aunt "B"

Mabry LOVES to play with balls.....especially soccer balls. That's my girl!

M loves this ball she got from Rebekah and Hilliard for Christmas. She kicks it all over the house. And yes, she can "palm" the soccer ball. She is an all-around sporty kind of girl!

Mommy and Mae love eachother!

Thanks for hanging with us through all the endless Christmas posts! You can all go take a nap now and recover! Hopefully we will have something exciting to post about soon BESIDES Christmas!

Christmas Part Three: Hoelzle Cousins

2008-01-30T15:18:00.000-06:00

Mabry had so much fun being with all her cousins over the Christmas holidays. Our family is so blessed with such great little ones. Here are some pics of all the wee ones.......

All the Hoelzle cousins with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Andrews!

Sweet Jacob (Scott & Michele's son)

Big boy Caden (Braden & Bethany's sweet baby boy)

Ella Grace (Scott & Michele's fun-loving little girl)
Aunt Rebekah with Mabry and Ella
Jacob and Conner (Todd & Jen's oldest son)

Carter, Cooper and Jacob

Carter and Cooper with Cookie-dog (Todd & Jen's youngest and middle child)

Aunt Rebekah reading to the sweet babies. It is so much fun for
Mabry to have cousins her own age! We can't wait to watch them grow up together.

We are so thankful to God for the many children He has blessed our lives with. They are truly a gift from God!

Christmas Part Two: Hoelzle Family.....Oh the games we will play!

2008-01-30T11:05:00.000-06:00

We headed to Longview for our Hoelzle family Christmas a couple of days after Christmas and stayed until New Year's Day. We had a great time spending time with the whole fam as always. These pics aren't very good but they can give you a little taste of how our time was spent. It seems we have turned into quite the gaming family......

Run Bethany!!

Good old fashioned "Around the World" ping pong was a blast.....especially late at night while the kids were sleeping! Don't you love Scott's visor??!

And then there were the exciting games of late-night Catch Phrase!

Pappy gets a little worked up if you can't tell.........
and then we all get worked up because he is laughing so hard......
Just plain overcome with excitement!

We had our annual white elephant gift exchange. Lots of fun as usual with lots of great goodies!

Braden is being counseled by his loving wife to steal the "stock pot" from Mom so she can have it.............but, did he listen??
Nope! And what did he get........a great make-up bag! The lesson of this story....ALWAYS listen to your wife!!

Braden, Bethany, Andy and Hilliard spent LOTS of time playing this game. It's called "Settlers of Catan" and looks unbearably boring but they promise it is loads of fun!
Andy is up to something, as always.
The boys set out for many adventures of Frisbee Golf.
Sweet Jacob
Go Andy Go!
And, that's a wrap!

Stay tuned for more pics from the Hoelzle family Christmas since I know you haven't had enough yet!:)

Christmas: Part One

2008-01-28T16:51:00.000-06:00

I know everybody is probably sick of hearing about Christmas by now so I will try and make this as painless as possible! We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our house with just the three of us and had a great time. We baked, decorated cookies and went to look at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. The next morning Mabry opened her gifts from Santa along with her stocking. Around lunch time we headed over to Jason and Brielle's to celebrate Christmas with them and the Venables. We had such a great time being with family, exchanging gifts and had a WONDERFUL Christmas dinner. I am so sad to say that it seems we didn't get any pics of our time with the Gages and Venables on Christmas. I could have sworn we took pics....but they are no where to be found! You will have to trust me in saying we had a great time! Here are some pics of our Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning.......

Family pic on Christmas Eve (I hated to post this pic because I look horrible, but at least Andy and Mabry look cute. That's all that matters, right??:)

Here are the cookies we decorated and left for Santa. Of course, mine is the one that looks like an alien with chicken-pox! Andy, as always, showed me up and made his look extra cute. That is what life is like being married to an engineer.....he ALWAYS thinks things through before doing them and his projects usually end up spectacular, while mine.....well, you see the cookie.:( I think I redeemed myself a little on Mabry's cookie......better luck next year for me!

Mabry with her stocking on Christmas Morning

Mabry and her gifts from Santa

Mabry kissing her baby doll from Santa....so sweet!

Mabry LOVES her red wagon! She loves for Daddy to pull her around the house in it and likes to put her toys, laundry and anything else she can find in the wagon, too.

Christmas Season!

2008-01-15T13:36:00.000-06:00

Okay, I have about 5,000 pictures I want to post from our Christmas holidays so I have decided to do multiple posts to get us all caught up! Here goes for the first one.......

These are some pics of the days leading up to Christmas and the excitement in our house! As I have said before.....Mabry loved the lights, presents, and decorations. She was so much fun this year and we know next year will be even better!

We took Mabry to the mall to see Santa but were too cheap to pay for a picture of her screaming in his lap. Since we weren't allowed to take pics with our own camera of her with Santa we went to the other side of the big Christmas tree and tried to get some cute pics of her for a possible Christmas card.........

No such luck! She was too busy looking at all the fun decorations to look at the camera.

We even tried putting her on the other "forbidden" side of the railing in direct contact with the decorations......but no....she still wouldn't cooperate.

While at the mall, Mabry spotted this 4-wheeler and decided this is just what she wanted for Christmas! And yes, she is once again on the "wrong" side of the chains. She and her Daddy are quite the rule-breakers!

Good ol' family fun on the couch

Mabry and the ottoman got into a tiff and Mabry received her first black eye about a week before Christmas.

You lookin' at me?

Stay tuned for more of this Christmas girl to come!

Our Big One-Year-Old!!

2007-12-19T11:07:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I'm a little behind on the updates once again.....so sorry! We had a wonderful Christmas which I will get to soon enough, but first I must post about our big one-year-old! That's right......our baby girl turned the big ONE on December 9th! I can't believe our sweet little baby is growing up so quickly. She had a great birthday party with family, friends and her first taste of yummy cake. She loaded up on lots of great toys and clothes just in time for Christmas!:) It is so crazy how quickly this year has passed and yet how LONG it seemed to take at times. Our little angel has changed our lives and our hearts forever with her sweet smile and laughter. She brings such joy to us everyday and we are so thankful God handpicked this little one just for us.

First a look back.......

These pics are of Mabry the day after she was born....what a sweetheart. And yes, Andy and I are wearing matching t-shirts! Total accident but very funny. You can also see from these pics that Mabry got her Daddy's beautiful blue eyes. I am so thankful for this.....her eyes even match....what a relief!!

Mabry didn't get too crazy with the cake or even eat that much of it. She thought the most fun was having everybody staring at her waiting to see what she would do. The girl loves attention!

This is Mabry "reading" her card she got in the mail from her Great Aunt Jan. I love the expression on her face here.....she is like, "WHOA....mail for me?!!"

Here are a few (or 13) facts about our big one-year-old:

Mabry is quite the walker these days! She took her first real steps around 11 months but really mastered the walking thing just in time for her first birthday. She is so proud of herself!

Mabry loves to put toys on her arm like a bracelet and carry them around the house that way. I think this girl is ready for some "accessories".

She has just recently gotten really interested in her books. She will sit down and look at them quietly by herself as she turns the pages. She will pick one up and bring it over to me as if saying, "Mommy, please read this to me." I love it! The cutest thing is that she will sit in your lap while you read the book to her and she will look up at you as you read and crinkle her little nose and smile at you as if she is having the best time. Melts my heart!

Mabry gives great hugs and kisses (open-mouth of course). I love it when she wraps her arms around my neck and presses her head against mine as if to say, "I love you."

She just learned about her nose, eyes and mouth thanks to her Aunt Rebekah's teachings. She likes to point at her nose and touch my eyes to show me where they are when I ask.

Mabry is a sweet snuggler sometimes in the morning.

Our precious little girl still doesn't sleep through the night but likes to wake Mommy up a few times a night for some quality time.:)

Our baby girl is DEFINITELY a Christmas baby! She LOVED all the Christmas lights and decorations this year. She got pretty good at pointing and saying, "Lightsshh!" Looking for Christmas lights out the car window was our favorite distraction for her when she was fussy in the car. Boy do we hate that Christmas is over and the lights are gone!

Mabry loves to smile at everybody when we are out in public. She is quite the little flirt as long as you aren't an older-looking man in which case if you touch her or get too close she will most likely begin to wail.

Our little girl has quite the personality. She is a DRAMA QUEEN! (I have no idea where she got this from:) She knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it. Not quite the easy-going baby, if things aren't going her way she will let you know about it. Along with this strong personality comes the positive too, however. When this little girl is happy, she is HAPPY! She is so sweet and fun-loving most of the time and keeps us laughing always with her endearing personality.

Mabry loves her "rubs" as we like to call them around here. She LOVES to have her feet tickled or lightly scratched/stroked along with her back, arms, legs, and tummy. If you are scratching one of her feet or legs, she will stick the other one out with an "uuh" sound ready for you to switch to the other foot/leg......and on and on we go. She most DEFINITELY gets this trait from her daddy as he is CONSTANTLY asking for his head rubs and back scratches. Between the two of them, Mom stays quite busy!

Mae Mae is definitely a Mommy's girl, but she sure loves her Daddy too. It is so cute to watch how excited she gets when she hears him get home from work in the evenings. A big smile stretches across her face as she waits for him to walk through the back door. She and Daddy love to play silly together and Mabry loves it when Daddy chases her around the house on all fours.

Andy was watching a duck-hunting video on Christmas eve and then took Mabry to change her diaper. While he was changing her diaper she began making gun-shot noises! Quite possibly her Daddy's proudest moment! Now, whenever Andy tells Mabry to "get the ducks!" she makes a noise like she is shooting them. (She has also been known to make the noise at dogs and other things as well......we have some fine-tuning to do.) It is super funny but also a little disturbing at the same time.:) Our poor daughter doesn't stand a chance.

Okay....sorry I got a little out of control there. I could go on and on of course but I will spare you all! Thanks to Mabry for making this the greatest and most fulfilling, joyous year of our life! We can't wait to see what the future will bring with this bright-eyed bundle of joy!

A Birthday and A Christmas Tree

2007-12-11T10:45:00.000-06:00

Our sweet nephew Bryce turned 3 and had a great birthday party a couple of weekends ago. We really enjoyed playing at the party and getting to spend time with the Venables and Gage families.

Bryce got a toy chainsaw for his birthday and decided to cut down one of the pine trees in the back yard. What a cutie!
They had one of those big blow-up jumpy things for the kids.

Mabry enjoyed crawling around in the bouncy thing (I don't know what it is called in case you can't tell!) and bouncing with her Daddy.

She also LOVED this little bouncy "Rody".

Mabry thought she was such a big girl sitting in this kid chair. I thought she looked awful big and wanted to cry! My sweet baby is getting to be so grown up!

After the birthday party we went with the Gages to cut down a Christmas Tree. So much fun!

Poor little Bryce was tuckered out and slept on the hayride out to the trees.

Mabry and Dad on the hayride to find the perfect tree!

Mabry and Daddy found a good one!

Mabry and Mommy on the hayride.

Mabry loves the Christmas tree and lights. She is a Christmas girl all around!

We hope you feel as blessed as we do this holiday season. Merry Christmas!!

Hoelzle Fun Continued......

2007-12-06T10:42:00.000-06:00

Here are a few more highlights from Thanksgiving that I didn't get to post earlier because our little angel was giving me fits........

Mabry playing in the leaves

We had a ping pong tournament which was lots of fun. The only person I beat was Rebekah......yes, I got beat by my mother which was quite a humbling experience.:) Braden and Andy competed in the finals and although Andy gave him a good challenge......Braden was declared the ping pong champion for Thanksgiving 2007!

The spectacular bleachers for the fans! Aunt Kay, Grandma Verna, Pappy and Caden all watch anxiously.....this is three generations of good-lookin' Hoelzles.

Champion Braden in action. Look out.....that ball looks like it is moving pretty fast! This must be his game against me (Addie)!

Here are some pics of the 3 cousins all the same age! Caden and Ella are only 5 days apart and Mabry is 3 months older than the two. They enjoyed "playing together" as best they could at this age. We can see many exciting times with the three of them together in the future. Mostly the visions are of Mabry bossing, Ella giggling, and Caden following orders.......so sorry sweet boy.

Caden, Mabry and Ella hard at play.

Mabry and Ella intently watching something while enjoying their pacifiers.

Caden and Ella having fun.

Pretty Ella-Bella

Sweet Caden can do no wrong with those puppy dog eyes.

Mabry found a hiding place from all the craziness.

Mabry swinging with Aunt Bekah

Me and my baby sister Catie (always the adorable, blonde-haired baby girl in our eyes. Mabry takes after her Aunt Catie in some ways so look out!)

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-12-04T11:09:00.001-06:00

Of course it has taken me forever to post about Thanksgiving but better late than never.........right? We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Hoelzle family in Longview. It was so good to spend time with everyone and be reminded of the blessing of family. We are so very blessed and have much to be thankful for. Here are a few highlights of our time together....

Mabry was sick with an ear infection before we left for Longview and I didn't have any clean clothes for the poor, deprived child so I put her in the smallest shirt of mine I could find and some of my socks for leggings. I think I did it more for my entertainment than anything!

Mabry enjoying the ride to Longview (for the time being).

Scrambling to find our place at the table so we can EAT!

Sweet Ella with her Daddy.

The boys worked hard to build our bonfire!

I think Jacob was the hardest worker of all!

Our Fightin' Texas Aggie Bonfire!

Whoop!

More fun adventures in Longview

2007-11-14T13:22:00.000-06:00

Here are a few more pics I wanted to share with you of our adventures in Longview. It's always a treat to be back in good ol' Northeast Texas!

Mabry went to her first Lobo football game! She had a great time watching all the action with her Mom and Aunt Bekah!

Go Lobos! Mabry loved being outside and all the noises and action until about the second half. Then, she got a little bored and tired but we made her stick it out to the very end to watch another Lobo victory!

Mabrys favorite thing to do at Mimi and Pappy's house is to watch the dog out the back windows.

There he is!

She LOVES that stinkin' dog! Seriously, cracks me up.

Mabry had a great time playing with Mimi, Pappy, and Aunt Bekah....

and she even warmed up to Uncle Hilliard! So sweet.Mabry and Aunt Bekah loving (eating) on the baby doll. (Yes this doll is naked and about 20 years old.:) Yummy!

Hooray for Mimi and Pappy's house!!

Halloween

2007-11-08T17:42:00.000-06:00

Mabry and I spent last week with my parents in Longview since Andy had to be out of town for a few days. For Halloween we took Mabry to Trunk or Treat at my parent's church. We had lots of fun and as you can see, Mabry was the cutest little black kitty-cat you have ever seen!

Check out those Smurfs!!

Look out! This kitty is ready to pounce!

Meow!

2007-11-07T17:34:00.000-06:00

Things have been pretty busy since our last post. Sorry it is taking me so long to get these updates on the blog. I will try and catch you up........

A couple of weekends ago we went to College Station to see some of Addie's college friends. It was so great to see dear friends and get to catch up a little bit. Of course, I didn't get any pics with our camera of our lunch together.......sorry! But, luckily I was able to add this pic that Jessica sent. Thanks Jess! Linz, Jessica, Virginia, and Kate.......It was GREAT to get to see you all (and hubbies, too) if even for a short time. You are all so dear to me! Can't wait until I see you again!!

The gals at Wings N More

While we were in College Station, Andy also took Mabry and I out to Warren's land so we could check it out and take a look at the duck blind the boys have worked so hard on. I must say, I was quite impressed. Although, I wouldn't expect anything but the best from these boys when it comes to a duck blind. If you know them, you know this is serious business.:)

Do you think the ducks can see me??

Mabry in the blind with Dad. This is the closest Mabry is getting to hunting this year. Sorry Andy.:)

Mabry enjoyed riding on the Mule.

Nothing like riding on the open land with the wind blowing through your hair.:)

Mabry's Mohawk

2007-10-11T22:20:00.000-05:00

Love it, love it, love it!!

I am super excited about these pics! I know they may seem a little lame to most of you since your kids probably have been able to do this with their hair for a long time. Mabry hasn't had a whole lot of hair in her lifetime and it is just now getting long enough for the post-bath mohawk. So exciting! I can't wait until her hair is long enough and thick enough to actually hold a bow. Until then, I guess we have to accept the fact that strangers will often call her a boy.

Bekah, Hill and Catie-Lou come to town!

2007-10-11T22:11:00.000-05:00

Rebekah, Hilliard, and Catie came to visit us last weekend and we had a great time as always. Mabry loves playing with her Aunts (and Uncle Hilliard, too). We had lots of fun eating out, shopping, listening to the Aggie game (that's right.....we have to listen to it on the radio since we don't have cable!), and chillin' out. Andy and Hilliard had fun being boys and playing with Andy's new welder. Of course I didn't get many good pics from the weekend, but here is one of Aunt Bekah and Uncle Hill before they head to a wedding on Saturday. What a couple of hotties!

Our little talker...

2007-10-08T20:59:00.000-05:00

2007-09-29T18:05:00.000-05:00

Mabry has something to say from the BOTTOM of her heart..........

Gig 'Em Aggies!

4 years and counting!

2007-09-19T13:21:00.001-05:00

Andy and I recently (almost a month ago), celebrated our 4 year anniversary. We went out to eat for a great dinner at Carino's followed by a yummy chocolate malt at Marble Slab.:) We enjoyed our first anniversary with a little one tagging along. How romantic! Seriously though, we are so blessed!Check please! Mabry was so sweet to pick up the bill.

Good Morning Sleeping Beauty!

2007-09-19T13:07:00.000-05:00

Check out that stylish hair-do! I couldn't resist taking these pictures the other morning of Mabry when she woke up with some pretty wild hair. I thought it was so cute!

What a sweetheart! She is even cute with a side-spike! Me, biased?? No way!

Aunt Jan comes to town!

2007-08-29T11:55:00.001-05:00

Mabry's Great Aunt Jan came to visit a couple of weeks ago all the way from New Jersey. It was Mabry's first time to meet Aunt Jan and she had a great time playing with her. We had a great weekend jam-packed with lots of family and loads of fun!

The big kids had lots of fun on the Slip 'n Slide............

...........including Andy and Uncle Jason.:)

Good times at the pool......Mabry loves the water!

A pic with the cousins. I love how Bryce is holding Mabry's hand.......so sweet.

First things first........

2007-08-29T11:06:00.000-05:00

Here are some recent pics of our little gal. She is growing up so fast. She is busy crawling and pulling up on EVERYTHING. She loves to walk around the room holding onto her Daddy's hands. She is such a joy.

On the go....

Our baby blue eyes.....she loves that remote!

Powerful Video

2007-08-21T20:00:00.000-05:00

Camp of the Hills

2007-08-07T16:38:00.001-05:00

We went to the counselor banquet at Camp of the Hills on Saturday to celebrate all the hard work Catie did this summer. COTH is such a special place to us and it was so great to take our daughter out there for the first time. Bethany's grandparents graciously let us stay at their lakehouse for the weekend. We had a great time relaxing with friends and family. As you can see from the pics, a great time was had by all! We are truly blessed!

Way to go Catie! We are so proud of you.

Taking pictures.......love the bag Hilliard!

Look out! What a hottie!

Pappy poses in front of the beautiful lake view. What a stud!

COTH brings out the kid in all of us!

The kids on the infamous "Back Porch"

Family pic

The reason for Camp of the Hills

Old Friends and Shopping

2007-08-07T16:19:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was jam-packed with loads of fun! We left Thursday and went to see our good friends from Illinois in San Antonio. It was so great to see them and finally meet their 2 year old daughter! After that we headed to Marble Falls, but not before a quick, four hour shopping spree in San Marcos.:) Thanks Andy!!

Mabry enjoyed the pool with Dad in San Antonio

Mabry loves shopping already!

Wedding

2007-08-01T16:11:00.000-05:00

We attended a wedding this week for our friends Rachel and Jeremy. It was absolutely beautiful and so much fun. Mabry enjoyed her first wedding by hanging out in the lobby with Dad. Thanks to Andy, I got to enjoy the whole wedding without worrying that any second Mabry might let out one of her "oh so cute squeals".

Mom and Mabry before the wedding

Dad and Mabry

The happy couple

Thanks Rachel and Jeremy for a great time!

Family Camping Trip

2007-07-24T19:50:00.000-05:00

We went on the annual Hoelzle camping trip this past weekend to Albert Pike, Arkansas. It was Mabry's first camping experience.....if you call staying in an air conditioned cabin "camping". We had lots of fun visiting with family and enjoying the great outdoors! Overall, I would say Mabry is quite the camper girl.

Nap time

Play time

Family Pic

Little Missouri River

Daaa da

2007-07-23T20:33:00.000-05:00

Not sure if you can classify this as Mabry's first word....but it sure is cute. She just started this new language over the weekend.

4th of July

2007-07-13T22:06:00.000-05:00

Mabry had a great time watching the fireworks and all the kids around her. Andy was happy that she wasn't gun shy from the fireworks.

Here is a cute picture from the pre-party photo shoot.
It was raining outside but Mabry still had to put on her bikini.