Cousin Linda had all of us out to the family center on Sunday to celebrate Mother’s Day!  She outdid herself with the most amazing fajita/stack-up lunch this side of the Neches!  We are so blessed to have her always taking care of us!

Aunt Joe (Anna) got to meet both of her namesakes on her birthday.  Anna Kate and Anna are so blessed to be named after such an incredible woman! 

Drew and Noelle discovering birds in the spring scene.  We were so thankful there were two!

Happy Mother’s Day to my Mommy — the best Mommy in the whole best world!!!  

And to me — I’m doing it!  We’re all doing it!  Great job Moms out there!

Our sweeties with their Aunt Joe and Uncle Jim on Aunt Joe’s special day!

Happy Birthday Aunt Joe!  Michele had a little too much "kitchen help" while baking her famous carrot cake… we had so much fun teasing her about this cake.  It really did taste great!

Noelle is always so entertaining and silly.  At the supper table tonight Noelle asked, "Is everyone doing okay?  Does anyone need anything?  Just checking!" and she always LOVES to say the prayer.  Her prayers always start out: "Dear God, thank you for the whole best world."

Today we are thankful for our sweet Aunt Joe and what a blessing her tender spirit is to all of us!!!

Congratulations to two of my dearest friends who both had their baby boys on May 5, 2009.  Brad and Destiny welcomed Jett James Westbrook into the world and Ty and Elizabeth welcomed William Tate Kelly as well.  I’m so excited and happy for my friends and can’t wait to share Cinco de Mayo birthday memories in the years to come!

Anna Kate started smiling on May 2nd!  She was 7 weeks old!  I finally got her smiling on camera – isn’t she a doll!  I just love my little baby–she melts my heart!

Sweet cousins!

More sweet cousins!

I wanted two girls so badly so that I could do the match thing — it’s so much fun!

Noelle driving Anna Kate on the "school bus."

Goodnight sweet sisters!

If Noelle could have it her way, she would wear her swimming suit 24/7 and never take it off – particularly, her cherry swimsuit.  So… the minute we pulled into the wide open spaces of East Texas, she insisted on putting on her swimsuit. 

Drew put on his too, and the kids were now ready to celebrate in style!  Aunt Michele made delicious birthday cupcakes for Noelle, complete with these really cool crunchy Japanese sprinkles.  How thoughtful!

Michele heard somewhere that if you get the kids to say "Monkey" instead of "Cheese" you can catch them smiling while making the "key" sound.  This all sounds great in theory, however, I kept catching them saying the "Mon" part of the word!

The Eberts gave Noelle tons of princess and fairy gear (super cool shirts, cups, panties, stickers, etc) and Poppa and Rara gave Noelle a princess backpack with a princess sleeping bag inside.  Cool!

Noelle had a great time celebrating her birthday in Jacksonville!

We had such a blast at Poppa and Rara’s house last weekend with Michele, Drew, & Anna.  There’s so much going on this week, but I’m going to try to post more pics as soon as I can.

                                  We love you birthday girl!!!

                                   What a festive supper! 🙂

We had our traditional Pappasito’s birthday dinner tonight!  Noelle had a blast singing "Happy Birthday" along with us.  Her teachers said she sang along with the class as well at school today – what a sweet heart!

The perfect end to a perfect day!

We sporadically decided to head up to DFW to welcome Michele and her little ones to the states after school today!  Noelle loved seeing Poppa & Rara on her birthday!

"Are they here yet?"

"Where are they?"  "They’re HERE!!!"

Drew & Noelle really hit it off – Noelle couldn’t stop hugging and kissing him, and Drew was too tired to object… although I think he was kind of lovin the lovin too!  🙂

Poppa & Rara with all four of their grandbabies for the first time!

Noelle meeting baby Anna for the first time!

Noelle kept sweetly asking Drew to hold her hand.  My heart was melting!

Together at last!

Poppa & Rara with Anna & Anna Kate!

I love love love this picture!

Drew’s yawn sums it up!!!  After 22 hours of traveling, the Eberts are headed to Jacksonville for the first part of their visit.  We’ll see you in J’ville as soon as we can guys!

Noelle didn’t want to get her clothes dirty, so it was an apron only cooking session!

Rara came to help Mommy this weekend, and Noelle helped her cook some great entrees.

We stayed close to home this weekend just to be on the safe side.  We all sorta got cabin fever although we were never bored.  Lots of chores and games to keep us busy! 

Yesterday afternoon when we got home from dance, Noelle went upstairs, put on her Fancy Nancy dress, and asked us if we could go to the "King’s Crown" (ice cream shop in the Fancy Nancy book).  We said, "Sure!" and called Kay Kay to meet us there for a birthday eve treat.

Wow – Noelle is such a big girl now.  We are so proud of our little scorpion! (In the 2nd picture Mike is a monkey and Noelle is a scorpion)

"How old are you, Noelle?"  "I’m 3 years old on May Fifth!"  I kid you not she asked me this morning that if it was May Fifth today, then where is Miss Fifth?  She kept saying, "Where is she Mommy?"  It was so random and cute. 

Noelle is such a cute little nerdy ham! 

"I think Drew would like this cake (cars)!"  She is always thinking about Drew.  We can’t wait to see him on THURSDAY!!!

Our sweetie pie!

Girly girl central – admiring Kay Kay’s jewelry and talking about birthday shopping while at an ice cream parlor – the perfect combination for Noelle!

These pictures pretty much sum up our little girl’s personality – sweet, fun, lively, friendly, kind, and down right cute!

We are so proud of you Noelle and love you very very much!  Thanks for making our day every day and loving us back.  You are a complete joy, and it’s so fun being ALIVE with you!!! 

*we had to postpone Noelle’s Tinkerbell birthday party as a precaution due to all the swine flu buzz.  She has to have Anna Kate there, and we just couldn’t take a chance.  We keep telling her Tinkerbell’s still on her way from Pixie Hollow… birthday party pics to come in 3 weeks!