family time

so as most of you know we spent the last weekend in february in h'ville/houston/austin. yep all three in one weekend! but it was a blast. so here is how the story goes.... well after much debate of even making the trip because deuce was sick with the flu then a touch of pneumonia, we hit the road or shuld i say skyways and landed in austin where we were supposed to meet up with the ellis' and be picked up by the chances' in the "henke hooptie" (yes i realize that none of us are actually henkes' anymore but we just can't let it go, and our husbands i think have finally learned to just live with it). once the ellis' arrived after an hour delay we loaded up in the 15 passenger van (quite a site to see) that we rented for the weekend festivities! we made it into h'ville with everyone happily in tote except for deuce who cried/wined pretty much the entire way. we left the next morning for houston pretty smoothly, minus the fact that we were all prepared for much warmer weather. the zoo was great with lots of funny moments. we then made the treck to u.lary and a.linda's for his retirement party. it was great getting to visit with everyone before the party got started. then it was back to h'ville that night, which we made poor kelly drive and most of us fell asleep and those that didn't sure thought bout it. the next morning we got the whole crew ready again for church and then kenzie's baptism that afternoon. plus deuce went to visit his great granny repka and great nanan marchoine. the baptism was very nice and kenzie did great. then it was back in the hooptie and on to austin. deuce got to stay with nanna for the next week. dave and the ellis' left out monday morn and i stayed in austin to visit with new mommy tam tam and the chances'. so all in all it was a great visit but once again i did terrible with the picture taking. so here are some of the few pics that i ended up with.

the first set of pics are of deuce battling the flu/pneumonia

the fevers kind of wore him out and he fell asleep watchn tv (backyardagains)

notice the soaking wet hair....its from finally breaking one of the many fevers he ran

after spending half the night in the emergency room he was having a hard time sleeping so he got to sleep with daddy (not me because he took over my spot)

he started to feel better thursday night before we traveled which is why we decided to go

next are the pics from the weekend festivities

so here we are loading up the "henke hooptie" at the airport

i would say klayton has seen his daddy do that a few times!

deuce n i checking out the goldfish

daddy n deuce going down the slide at the childrens zoo

check out those prairie dogs

deuce talking to the frog

deuce jumped right in at the chance to pet the goats

everyone enjoyed the giraffes

cousins on the fisher side

deuce enjoying lunch after kenzie's baptism

the time i got to spend with tam tam n jillian and of course james was wonderful. just wish it could have been longer (but tammy may not agree). i was all about swaddling and scheduling! i know shocking coming from this free bird. but anyway thanks tam tam for letting me spend some time with your new little one.

me and jillian

new mom tam tam (who looked great), me and jillian

i tried to get a pic with jillian and deuce but he just wanted to run around and play

so those are the few pics i remembered to take but it was a great visit and i guess we were too busy having fun to take pics. but i promise i'll try to get better!

until next time,

luv me dave n deuce!

busy bees

i know it's been a while but what's new. when things get busy, unfortunately, the blog is the first thing that gets put off. but i figured i better update it at least once before we travel home and i have to post that blog. well we have ben busy little people up here with lots of changes. dave n i are still busy with school and now deuce is too. i started a new job at day care so deuce started as well. it took him about a week to get adjusted but he is slowly figuring it out. i am now working with the four year old classroom, which brings lots of challenges with it. the classroom has never really had any structure to it so the kiddos are kind of used to just playing all day so me trying to implement a curriculum is a bit of a challenge but i think they are starting to understand now. other than that we are now getting ready for our trip home so dave has been busy trying to finish up projects at work so he can take the time off. here are a few random snaps of things that we have been up to. i will title these first few as BOYS WILL BE BOYS

here deuce is playing and then getting caught in the drying rack

and here he is playing with a few leaves that fell off the silk tree. they were the best toys for several days.

this is his new favorite way to watch tv and yes he really is watching tv

and last of the BOYS WILL BE BOYS is deuce making bronco lay there while he tries to balance his toys on top of him (notice the little green trinket, there were more but fell before i could snap the pic)

oh i forgot about this one. here are all the boys playn/watchn madden football on the xbox

the next are just some random shots from the last couple of weeks

deuce on his first day of school

getn all bundled up to head out. on our first day of school it was snowing

daddy n deuce braving the first part of the snow. we ended up getting about 6in

daddy n deuce bbq on super bowl sunday

and as usual i will leave you with this fun video of deuce learning now to "shoot" the ball

we....are....walking!

we started walking while nanna was here in the beginning of january and now it is our full time mode of getting about. we still hit a few bumps here in there that cause us to crash but we are getting better and better. here are a few videos of him learning! so the majority of them he is in
his pajamas, but he did his best walking at night! i promise we do change him during the day.

well i guess that's all for now. just wanted to let everyone know our little man was up and walking

luv mel, dave n deuce

christmas

so i realize it has been a long time but what can i say.....nothing really. i guess it's that good ol excuse of once you get behind it's soo hard to catch up? does that work? so i guess you will have to miss the pics from when we came in for thanksgiving and deuces bday and lets not forget about the tailgating as well. i think kelly was able to get a few of them up at least. anyway, not much has changed since we last saw everyone. dave is still enjoying his job in combat camera and is taking onlines courses to get his personal training certification. i am still working at american eagle and let me tell you that i can't wait for the holidays to be over just for that reason. i am also back in school and should be teaching by next school year. and as for deuce....where do i start? i guess with no he still isn't walking yet :( he walks from toy to toy but won't just get up and walk on his own. other than that he is all over the place and is really enjoying playing with nana and all his new toys from christmas and birthday. yes, that's right i said nana! she got here on the 18th and deuce has been in heaven ever since (i think nana has too). they play soo hard all day and it is soo cute! she always thinks of great new ways to make him laugh. now, as for christmas....this is my first one away from family so i tried to do as much the same as i could. we went to christmas eve childrens mass and then went christmas light looking around the neighborhood and then the madness came........

we made christmas cookies on christmas eve (kinda, they were obviously from a box)

nana n deuce giving hugs after church

deuce opening his pj's (one of our biggest traditions)

deuce opening his gifts from the secret santa at dave's shop

i got my texas decal from the chances (got to keep my texas roots on the east coast)

dave modeling his north carolina hat from the chances

me showing off my purse from the ellis family

dave and his new coffee pot

love my christmas tree decoration

nana helping deuce open his wagon for all his blocks

dave is all ready to bbq

deuce getting his pony from nana and popo

nana had to test out the car from santa

deuce taking his car for a ride christmas morn

dave's apron from santa and deuce

deuce with his "moo moo's" from santa

deuce chilln watchn toons in his bean bag chair from santa

here are some random fun shots from the week of christmas

going to see santa

riding dumbo at toys r us

deuce trying on hats at the mccs exchange with nana

last i will leave you with a video of what christmas is all about....funny!

well... as u can tell we had a wonderful christmas and we hope everyone else did too! and hope you have a happy new year as well!

until next time

luv mel dave n deuce!

deuce turns 1

well this past week deuce turned the big 1! we are doing his main celebration the day after thanksgiving but we culdn't just let this big day slide by without doing anything so.....a couple of the sgts from dave's shop came over and we bbq and had a little cake. it was prob more for the grown ups but i think deuce still managed to enjoy himself.

blocks!

he got a "tony romo" football, don't think dave liked it very much but i sure was excited

i made him a small cake but i think he was more interested in the flame from the candle

he eventually dove in, but none of it made it to his mouth until dave helped out

mommy n deuce in his bday hat!

daddy n deuce with his bday hat. he thought it was sooo funny

and i guess i will leave u with this photo.....i don't know why i like it so much but i guess it's bc he looks like such a big boy.

cant wait to see everyone next week and celebrate our little mans big day again and of course thanksgiving and not to forget the big game!

luv mel dave n deuce!

who needs toys.......

when you have tupperware! deuce has discover the tupperware cabinet in the house and reeks havoc on it daily. we have been holding off buying any "big boy toys" with his bday and christmas right around the corner so he has resorted to the tupperware cabinet. whatever works right?

as most of you know deuce n i went home (texas) for a surprise bday visit for my sister kelly! i would say we were pretty successful! however i was not so successful in taking pictures! we spent her bday shopping and then met everyone for dinner. the next day was halloween and then saturday was the bday party that she actually knew about. deuce n i got to visit with a lot of family that we have missed and it was wonderful! here are the few pics that i managed to get

deuce n i snuck in on wednesday and got to spend some time with grandmar before the surprise

the three sisters at shady grove after a fun day of shopping and gossip!

deuce n aunt tam tam

klayton giving kenzie kisses....what a great big brother!

me n my little pumpkin on halloween!

here is kevin (the redneck)..klayton the pirate (arrgh maybe)..and deuce

nanna and popo were able to join us for some trick o treating fun

tyler and deuce getn in on the fun at kelly's bday party

well i guess that's all for now....we had a great time back home and look forward to seeing everyone again in a few weeks!

luv mel dave n deuce!