The girls, Truman and I had a nice little vacation down in Texas for two and a half weeks when Jason left town for 10 straight days. Jason went to Pittsburgh for a guys' football weekend with a bunch of a Sigma Chi brothers - was home for four hours and then hopped on a C-130 to North Carolina for some training exercises - definitely a little too long for me to be home alone with a 16 month old and a six week old. The night before he left for his football weekend we packed the car with both kids, the dog and all our baby essentials and started our 8.5 hour drive to Austin. We left Little Rock around 10 PM and arrived at my parents house at 6:30 AM...it was a long, rough night especially since we drove in non-stop pouring rain - BUT we did it!

Here are a few pictures from Jason's trip with the UCF boys:

All the brothas!

On the ferry headed to the USF vs. University of Pittsburgh. Notice the U of P shirt...these Florida boys were not there to support their cross-town rivals!

Group shot - enjoying the Pennsylvania sun!

Can you feel the love?

This trip was the first chance my sister, Allison, and her family had to meet little Aurelia. Needless to say - they were smitten! :)

Auntie Allison with little Aurelia.

My handsome nephew, Jack. He started Kindergarten this year and LOVES going to school! He just lost those two front teeth - I just love this picture!

Sweet Andrew - he started Preschool and is one of the brightest kids in the class. He's oh-so-sweet and gives the best hugs and kisses!

My little niece, Kara. She is a pistol! I suppose she has to be with two older brothers who treat her as one of the boys!

I am so incredibly grateful that I was down in Texas while Jason was away because my precious little girl, Evelyn, got the swine flu - it was horrible...no...that's an understatement - it was the most horrific thing I've ever experienced. Around 3 AM I woke to Evelyn whimpering in her crib and when I went to check on her she was burning up - she had a 104 degree fever. My parents and I packed the girls up and headed straight to the ER. We spent 5 hours there doing all sorts of tests before they sent us home with a prescription for Tamiflu. It was so incredibly scary seeing my baby so sick and not being able to do anything about it - and then trying to stay healthy and focus on a 6 week old - not to mention try and keep the girls separated so Aurelia didn't catch it. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have my parents' help those three terrible days. Thank you, Mom and Dad - I love you so very much.

Evelyn getting a popsicle from Gram - even though she felt horrible she still managed to smile for Mommy and the camera.

Evelyn started feeling better just in time for Halloween! The girls, my parents and I went to their town's Boofest and had a great time checking out all the vendors.

Evelyn feeling much better - testing out a chair and enjoying the fall weather.

Loving her special time with Gram...or "Ga-Gee" as she likes to call her!

Poppa took Evelyn to her very first petting zoo! He bought her a bunch of animal feed and let her give it to the animals. She was a hit with the goats!


New friends.

"That tickles!"

'What you looking at?"

Mommy and Evelyn!

Next we visited the Alpacas!

Evelyn thought they were pretty cool!

I know this is gross...but doesn't their poop look like pine cones???

It was Halloween and the kids had to have great costumes! My sister found this cute parrot pattern and she and my Mom made the most incredible costumes for all the kids - including the Shephard girls since they were down there too.

Aren't they adorable!?!

Kara refused to be in the group picture - but I caught her heading out the door for candy!

Seriously...these costumes are ridiculously awesome.

This picture doesn't do the costume justice...but even Aurelia got in on the parrot action! My mom made this cover for her car seat - the brown fabric was the nest and the white was the cracked egg she hatched from. We put the parrot head on her and then stuffed another pink boa so it poked out from under the cover. Needless to say - the kids were a hit with the entire neighborhood!

We were only missing one parrot...

Enjoying the "fruits" of her labor.

Andrew's preschool had a costume parade so we all went to check out the cute kiddos and cheer on our favorite preschooler!

No doubt about it...cutest kid - best costume!

Poppa, Kara and Bill

Don't you just want to kiss those puckered lips!?!?

Kara and her Daddy

Evelyn's new favorite activity: pushing the stroller...just in time to help Mommy with baby sister!

I guess I should have warned you that I was posting about a million pictures from this trip...

The weather in Texas was absolutely incredible so we were outside every chance we had. My parents took me and the girls on a walk in this beautiful park in downtown Georgetown.

Poppa (or Poppie as Evelyn calls him) walking with his Peanut.

LOVED being outside!

We came across a large group of ducks and Evelyn was absolutely fearless in walking up to them...made me and Gram a little nervous.

Not sure what this particular duck was thinking - but we pulled her out of there shortly after this picture was taken.


Hi sweet angel.

Doing what I do best...obsessing over my children and taking a million pictures in the hopes of capturing every precious moment.

Like this adorable picture. Pure JOY on this little girl's face.

Taking a break for a few gummies from Poppie.

Yes...Aurelia was there...and she was having a great time...


Back at the house Evelyn helped Ga-Gi with a few chores. Her favorite was cleaning the windows...


Although I think she may have created a little more work for my mom...

Aurelia had no intention of helping. She didn't get that much sleep the night before - she was a little too busy keeping her Mom up. :)

Little punk.

Sisterly love in the early morning does a mother's heart good!

Checking each other out...Aurelia looks a little nervous about what might happen next...a little head butt hug perhaps?

Jason flew back down to Austin and we had a few days together before he was whisked away for some more football. UCF, Jason's Alma Mater, came to play the Texas Longhorns so Jason, my dad, Bill and Jason's BFF, Dave all went to watch the bloodbath - 35 to 3, Longhorns. In spite of the score they had a great time escaping the chaos of screaming kids and bonding over some pigskin.

Meanwhile...back at the ranch...my mom, Allison and I had 5 kids under the age of 5 to entertain so we packed a picnic and headed to a park with a pretty spectacular fort. The biggest hit were the swings!

Sweet Kara.

I just want to eat this kid up - isn't he delicious???

Jack helping his little cousin enjoy her favorite thing!

Ahhh...is there anything better???

Seriously...is this not a handsome kid?

I think this was the only picture I snapped of the boys not trying to beat each other up...boys.

I think this picture of my sister pretty much sums up how the afternoon went.

It was so wonderful spending all that quality time with my family and watching Evelyn enjoy playing with her cousins. It was tough to leave but I'm so happy to be back home with my man and the crazy routine we call our life.

A perfect ending to a great trip...a beautiful Texas sunset.