Christmas 2011 Part 2

 My sweet Christmas baby!

 Yes, these are all Declan's presents.....ha!

 He was so excited about presents...but wanted to play with the present after he unwrapped it. At that rate, we would still be opening Christmas presents in June.

 Chocolate milk in 1 sippy cup, water in the other. ewwww!

The fire truck from Daddy was a HUGE hit! :)

Christmas 2011

I am very behind on blogging.....so sorry! We had plans to go to NC to see Cory home from Afghanistan but due to bad weather, Cory had big problems getting home on time. Sadly, had to cancel our trip but still had a nice & quiet Christmas at home. We missed all our family very much though!

 Waiting...and waiting to see Santa at Northpark. SO worth it though. :)

 Declan was in LOVE with Santa...a big difference from last year, when he just cried and cried. This was one of those moments that will be in my heart forever. It was just precious!

 Playing with BPaw on his Ipad....

 Creating a masterpiece!

 Look! Santa came!!

 Santa remembered my birthday too...he says I'm special!

 Christmas morning....

 Big yawns! And BIG excitement!

Arboretum Fun

Would you like to see something cute? Well of course you would! :)

http://arboretum.hphoto.net/

Go to the Fall Gallery

Click on the 10-25-11 pictures and go to page 5

Look at the sweet pictures of Declan and smile......

I have lots of fun pictures too...which I hope to post soon! xo

Mimi Visits! 21 months!

Here are some fun pictures from our 5th Anniversary weekend when my Mom was here. We took Declan to the pumpkin patch. Poor kiddo was very tired and really could have cared less. I want the internet to know that he fell asleep during the hayride. ha!

 Uh oh.....

 Dad to the rescue!

Declan hasnt stopped talking about Mimi since she left...and that was weeks ago now! They had a wonderful time playing while I got to go into the office & work one day. Matt and I also got to go on a very nice date.  It had been so long that I couldnt remember when our last date was. Yikes!

Thanks for the fun visit Mimi! :) We love you!!

Daily Life 21 months

Here are a few random pictures from our daily life around here! Enjoy!

My happy morning baby in his favorite Thomas Pj's!

 Making cookies with Mommy!

 Playing blocks with Dad...one of his favorite Daddy things! :)

Dad builds the big towers and lets me knock them down! Fun!!



Ruidoso - 20 months...more pictures

 Me and my sweet boy!

 My sweet sweet boys

Ruidoso - 20 months!

David & Beverlee planted this tree in honor of Declan's birth. :)

I think I probably say this every post, but I cannot believe how much Declan has grown! Sometimes, I feel like he's grown and changed overnight! He is a very curious little boy. Which is fitting because his most favorite is Curious George! He is so fun right now and as always, so happy. His little brain is just amazing. He is talking so well and busy. Oh, so very busy! Matt was in Artesia for work so we flew down and went for a visit too. For the weekend, we went to Trinket & G Paw's cabin in Ruidoso. We had such a wonderful time. It was really nice to get away for a few days! Declan loved all the birds. I pointed out a deer to him and he said "Daisey!" Anything with 4 legs is a dog. :) But after I told him it was a deer, he had it down. And if you ask him what a bear says, he growls. So cute.

More Hawaii pictures...

Waterfall on the road to Hana
Swimming with Daddy at the Ritz pool! :)

Sleeping at the big tree in Lahaina!

Hawaii & More.....

So, it looks like my last blog post was on May 18th! Yikes! Sorry guys! What can I say? It's been busy as ever around here!

Declan started walking (finally!) and is getting braver and braver everyday! I am amazed at all of the things he knows and can say. His vocabulary is pretty big these days and it seems like there is a new word every day sometimes! Last week, Annie taught him to say "good boy" so the next morning in bed, he was saying "good boy" over and over. And G Paw taught him about the moon and stars. I was just reading his favorite night time book and he got so excited when he could say "Moon" with me! We have an ABC magnet toy for the refrigerator and he can put the little letters in and out all by himself. He will put in the R and say "RRRRRRRHHHHH" like a lion. It's hilarious. He is so happy and so sweet. Matt is in Denver for work and last night we were talking on face time (on our iphones) and I said, "Do you want to give Daddy a kiss?" He leaned in and kissed the phone probably 6 times...over and over. It about melted my heart. We are having so much fun with him...always!

The Lanning family has started a new adventure too (if you havent already heard!)! Matt was offered a position at HollyFrontier Company in Dallas. He accepted and has been there 3 weeks now. We are both really excited for the opportunity. Everyone there is so nice and he is feeling right at home. It doesnt hurt that they have an office in Artesia and he knows several people he's working with. :) In fact, one guy said to him in the elevator one day, "Are you an Artesia boy? You look like an Artesia boy!" haha I dread the drive to Dallas for him, but they seem to be really flexible with his schedule (like my work was), so he can go in early and come home early to miss traffic.

We made some great friends at Sproles and we will always be grateful for the start Matt got there. They always treated us like family and even threw us a baby book shower for Declan. So many kind people there!

Last week, we had the ultimate gift of going to Hawaii with Matt's family. Annie & Pa Pa (Matt's grandparents) took all 22 of us to Maui. It was so very generous of them! We had such a wonderful time! Our only regret is that we werent able to spend near enough time with them! It was a crazy but wonderfully jam packed week. Our best friends, Terry & Michelle also got married! Matt was honored to be Terry's best man. It was the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to (besides mine...but I can say that right? :) ). Michelle was stunning. She made me (along with others!) cry as she walked down the isle. It was a great party afterwards too.

I was so nervous about the whole trip with Declan...I worried about how he would do when we got there...and how he would do on the plane. But it was a lot of worry for nothing because he did wonderful. He really was a dream. In fact, both the people sitting behind us on the plane on the way there and on the way back complimented him & us. As a parent, I think that is the best compliment you can get - from a stranger saying how great your child is. And when you consider this was a 7 1/2 hour flight, this is amazing! But for confidentiality reasons, I will say that the people in FRONT of us didn't say anything....Declan knows how to open and close (er...SLAM!) shut the tray table and kick the seat in front of him. Yikes! I did apologize to the people in front of us DFW to Maui and the lady laughed and said she drank and didn't even notice. I probably should have paid for her drinks. haha.

I promise...there are many more pictures to come...I will have to split them up in more posts!

Love to you all!

xoxo

Cory

I'm at a loss for words right now...forgive me. But found these pictures which made me smile. Matt and I went to Lubbock one weekend before Cory went to bootcamp. This was November of 2007. We had a lot of fun that weekend. We took the boys out for burgers, grilled steaks, and I made homemade mac & cheese for the boys. I also remember doing 5,687 loads of laundry for Shelby.
I love these boys so much.
xo