Merry Christmas from the Sotos!

What a great year this has been! God has blessed up tremendously this year with our health, our jobs and our family!

Just a little recap of our year -- Bobby continues to work at DBU as the Director of Undergraduate Admissions, as well as teaching a Freshman Foundations course. I am still teaching Hillcrest Child Development Center, two days a week, where Brenley also attends school. We love it and love the people I work with! I also, just recently, started working for DBU, part time, from home for DBU's Online Education Department. It was truly a blessing and answered prayer to be given this job! Brenley continues to keep us busy as she is now entering her TWOs! :) She is full of energy, personality and laughter, which keeps us busy, amazed and laughing as well! I feel super lucky and blessed to be able to stay home with her and am so thankful for God's provision this year.

Excited about what's to come in 2012!

Merry Christmas from the Sotos!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Brenley!

Yesterday my baby turned TWO! I cannot believe it! I mean, how can this be? I still remember every detail of her delivery and here we are two years later with a little toddler on our hands!

We had a great time celebrating Brenley basically over the course of a week and a half! :) It started with her school party last Thursday! There are 3 kids in her class with December birthdays. It actually turned out to not be a great day to have the party, but we had to move forward with it since we were providing lunch. Joshua ended up being sick so he didnt get to celebrate with us and then Jae's mom ended up not getting to come due to a family emergency, so I was the lone mom trying to get pictures of Brenley and her BFF, Jae Beth!

Love these little girls!!

Then last weekend we celebrated with a birthday party with her friends. We had the party at Nova Gymnastics and the kids had a blast!!!

Here she is with her friend Joshua who couldn't make the school party! He was all better by the weekend.

This girl sang every word to herself! I think we had been practicing for about 3 months. :)

The party decor

Cupcakes by Aunt Kara

Bren and Momma dancing -- she looks scared! ;)

The parachute was so fun!

But the trampoline was her favorite!!!!

Then we had an "after-party" at our house with family!! More presents!

Then this past Saturday we hung out at my Nanny's house and she got to open one gift! She loves her singing Minnie :)

Oh and she had to have an Elmo balloon! :)

Candles in Ice cream!!

Then on her real birthday (yesterday) she woke up to more gifts! :)

She was a pro by this point.

Then we had to go out for Hamburgers for her Birthday lunch -- and of couse top it off with ice cream! This girl loves her ice cream!

We love this sweet TWO YEAR OLD!!!

Sweet Brenley,

It's hard to believe how fast these two years have gone by, but they have been so fun and I wouldn't trade them for the world! You have learned so much and sometimes your Dad and I just look at eachother in amazement at some of the things you remember, do and say! You are talking so much and remember things that I didn't even know you heard me say! Just tonight you pointed at a triangle on the computer and said "Triangle!" You are so smart. Your Daddy loves to teach you things and is constantly quizzing you, counting with you or saying your ABC's. Speaking of, today at the store, you sang the ABC song over and over! It was so cute!

You are such a good eater! Every meal we sit down to, you eat like you have never eaten before, especially if it is Mexican or Italian. You love beans and rice!! You also use a little spoon and fork like a pro!

Your favorite thing to say right now is "Brenley do it!" or "No, momma, I do it!" You love to put on your own shoes, zip up your pjs, and brush your teeth! You are so good at putting on your socks and shoes. I can even tell you to go get them out of the closet and put them on and you will! Miss Independent!

I love getting your bear hugs and kisses and you are now asking to be held a lot. And all of a sudden you are attached to your blanket and want to have it draped over my shoulder to put your head on it when I rock you. You also love your baby dolls and you have quite a collection now after your birthday!

You are so fun and full of life! You truly make your Daddy and I so happy and we love you so much!! You are Daddy's "pumpkin" and Momma's "Doodle-bug".

Love,

Momma

First Week of School!

This week we started our second year at Hillcrest Child Development Center! Well, last week we I had our Teacher in-service week and Brenley just had childcare, but this week started actual school. I am sad to say that she missed her first day (Tuesday) -- she had a nasty cough all weekend and half of this week and had a rough night the night before so Daddy stayed home with her that day. But she was ready to go this morning! I am so excited her class and her teachers and I know she is going to learn so much!

I now have the 3 year old class and love it! They are such cuties and so sweet and innocent! Oh and they can go to the bathroom all by themselves. :)

I do have to tell one funny story about Brenley though -- Thursday was her first official day and she had to sit in Time out!! Well they call it "Quiet time" but she had to sit out for a minute during playground time because she was hitting and pushing other kids!! Can you believe it? HA, it makes me chuckle, but at the same time I want them to discipline her so she will learn that it is not ok! Oh my, I hope we dont have a bully on our hands! :)

Well, here's to a great school year!!!!

Summer 2011 - RECAP

WOW, I can't believe this summer is over! I can honestly say that this summer was one of the best of my life! I enjoyed spending everyday with my little girl and watching her smile and laugh and just have fun! We spent MOST of our days in the sun and water and I wouldn't have the summer any other way!

Here is a little recap of what we did this summer and few pictures too!

• We took THREE trips to Beaumont to visit my parents


• We celebrated my THIRTIETH birthday! I must say I am really enjoying being 30!


• I did a bootcamp for 6 weeks and LOVED it! Wish it was still going on. :)


• We went to Possum Kingdom lake with the Hubbarts and had a blast!


• We went to Lousiana to celebrate Kristy and Ryan's birthday! Overnight fun with no kiddos! :)


• We spent a lot of time with Aunt Serena - or should I say "Re Re" as Bren calls her. She hung with us on most Mondays and Fridays. It was nice to have the help and Bren loves her Aunt ReRe!!


• We celebrated two big birthday bashes for my dad - one in Dallas, one in Beaumont


• We hung out and played with my Nanny atleast once a week. Love seeing her and so does Bren!


• We spent many afternoons playing in her little blow up pool at the house! Anything to stay cool in the heat!

• We also stayed cool by playing at the fountains at Uptown Village!
  
  

• We went to Hawaiian Falls weekly with our friends, Melissa, Tanna, Brooke and their kids. It was a fun group each week. Yay for season passes. (The pic below is actually when we went with Cara and Berkley)

• We had playdates with friends!
  


• We played and played and played!
  
  


• We hung out a lot with our friend Jae Beth. I kept her some this summer and Bren enjoyed having a friend at the house!
  
  


• We swam at Melissa's mom's house a couple of times with Tatum and Cade
  
  


• We enjoyed popsicles! Again, anything to keep us from dying in the heat!
  

This summer was a blast! - And to be honest we enjoyed spending many days at home just playing, napping and doing the daily things of life - but I would not trade it for anything!!


(we are now back in our routine of me teaching Preschool and Bren going to Preschool. I love being back, but who doesn't look forward to another summer?!?) :)

Girlfriends - from birth!

Before I ever got pregnant, I prayed that I would have a friend to be pregnant with so we could talk and bounce questions off of eachother. Well God heard my prayer and instead of just one friend, he blessed me with THREE friends who were all pregnant at the same time as me -- literally all due with in a month of eachother and all having GIRLS!! Fun, right?!?


So pregnancy was fun because we were always asking questions or comparing stories via text or facebook and of course that didn't stop once the babies got here either. There was always someone who was going through the same thing or had already been through it. Basically we were all sleep deprived, zombies all trying to figure out this "mommy" thing. :) All four of us went to DBU, but not all of us were close at the time, but pregnancies and birth will sure bring girls together! :)

So, the end of 2009 was busy and fun with some exciting deliveries of all these girls!!

Cara had Berkley on November 21st, I had Brenley 3 weeks later on December 11th, Janae had Jae 2 weeks later on December 25th and Rachel had Presley 2 weeks later on December 30th! Whew!!! Yep that is a new baby every 2-3 weeks. :)

It is hard to get all of our schedules to coordinate especially since we are all spread out in the metroplex, but when we can we love to get the girls (and mommies) together for a playdate! Here are some pictures from the last year and a half of playdates, the most recent being today!

Jae-3 weeks, Brenley-5 weeks, Berkley-8 weeks (Presley was only 1 week old so she did not come) :)

But here is when Berkley and Brenley went to go and meet Presley at the hospital!!


Berkley, Brenley, Jae and Presley -- They are about 3 months old here

Here we are at Berkleys 1st birthday!

And then at Presley's birthday!

And Jae's birthday!!

Playdate (minue Jae) -- about 13 months

Today! Jae, Bren, Pres and Berk

19-20 month olds!!

They are getting so big, fun, cute and sassy! AND they are all over the place now. Girls, thanks for being so fun and helpful during our pregnancies and during the last almost 2 years! Can you believe it, our 'Baby" girls are almost TWO!!

So thankful for the friends (and their babies) that God has blessed me with. Love them all!

FUN in Shreveport!

This weekend, us and 20 other of our friends, went to Shreveport to celebrate Kristy and Ryan's birthdays! Ryan turned 29 on Wednesday and Kristy turned the big 3-0 on Thursday! So we did it up big and headed to Louisiana on Saturday around 1pm and got back yesterday around 2pm. Most of the couples have 1 or 2 kids so we were all able to find sitters and have an adult-only 24 hours! Ahhh! It was so nice to enjoy meals without distractions and not have to be worried about being home at a certain time! But I must say I was ready to see my girl when I got home!!

Here are a few pictures of the weekend that I took on my phone...

Kim, Cathy, Kristy and Me

Mel, me and Corey at dinner


Me and the birthday girl! This girl and I have been through 19 birthdays together! Yep, friends since we were 11! Love her!

Me and my hubby

All the ladies!

What a fun weekend! Thankful for great friendships!!

PK Lake!

This past weekend we enjoyed some R&R and some fun at Possum Kingdom Lake, with our friends, The Hubbarts! We met Riane and Case while we were students at DBU and have been friends all these years. We dont get to see them very often, so a weekend with them at the Lake was so fun!

We headed out there to meet them early Saturday morning and left EARLY Monday morning. Our days were filled with a little bit of everything, so here is a recap in pictures!

Water trampolining - a new sport for toddlers (yes, the trampoline is in the ground so perfect for whobbly toddlers)

Momma's water baby

Naked babies -- Dax is 2 yrs old and he and Bren had fun together!

Had to beat the heat with some popsicles! Yum!

The lakehouse was so nice and on some great property. Daddy and Bren enjoyed some swinging on the tree swing!

We set the baby pool up to help keep them cool

Here are the Hubbarts on the jet ski

Daddy and Brenley in the lake -- Momma was not a fan of just swimming in the lake water :)

Daddy took Bren out on the Jet ski but I think they only went about 5 mph :) Momma was nervous.

Then we all went out for a bit

We also got to go out without kids for a couple of hours on Saturday, while the babies slept. We jet skied and also rode the tube behind the jet ski -- so fun! We just kept the monitors outside and someone was always on monitor duty. Worked out great! :)

We saw quite a few deer on the property in the mornings and early evenings. We put out Deer corn for them to eat and they let us get so close to them!

Look at this big girl!

Brenley + Dax :)

All the kiddos -- Brenley 1 1/2 yr, Dax 2 yr and Tanner 5 1/2 yr

This trip was definitely much needed and I actually wish we were still there! :) Thanks again to the Hubbarts for the invite!