A Griffin Girl gets Married

{Angela, Amber, Me, and Natalie}

Wow! Where do I start with my Griffin girls? No, I'm not talking about my mom or my aunt. I'm talking about Angela, Natalie, and Amber. These girls came into my life about 1993, I was a junior in high school and went to prom with their big brother. I'm pretty sure they stole my heart immediately, seriously. I would never be able to put my finger on it exactly but these girls have the most precious spirits. I'm pretty fond of their parents too, and I figure that's where they get it from. Over the next few years I got to know the Griffin girls even better. My freshman year in college I began picking Amber up from school every day and babysat until Natalie got home. We watched the Brady Bunch every day. I was allowed to leave when Natalie got there but often stayed. How is it that a little girl I used to babysit got married? And how is it that a little girl I use to pick up from school everyday and let take over my radio in my car, just graduated from college? I know I talk about time flying all the time with Bella, and this is just proof that I need to hang on, cause it's going to be a fast ride! So, time went on and during that time we went to quite a few UH football games to cheer on the big brother. One time even traveling to Lake Charles to an LSU/UH game where we were led straight through the LSU tailgating and became "tiger bait". YIKES! Oh the memories.... Angela became a Wranglerette and I was so excited for her as I too was a W-Gal! Several years later Amber followed in her footsteps. Yeah!! Our parents were (are) good friends so I always knew what the Griffin girls were up to even after I went off to college and got married. I still remember seeing them sitting near the back of the church when I started down the aisle. In 2004 Terry and I headed back to Nac AND later a Griffin girl showed up!! Natalie made me one proud babysitter when she decided to become a Lumberjack! While there, Natalie came over to our house a few times to work on homework and we hung out. Angela and Amber came to visit. Fun times! So now Angela is an Assistant Principal, Natalie is an Interior Designer and MARRIED, and Amber is a college graduate and is going to be a teacher! I will not hold it against Amber that she graduated from Sam Houston. HA! I can love a Bearkat :).

So now onto this beautiful wedding.


Natalie was one of those brides that you knew was going to be gorgeous but she was absolutely stunning. I couldn't see her new husband, Jherad, but I heard he got very emotional. I finally got to meet him and he was precious too. I'm so happy that Natalie found a perfect boy for her. Even if he did graduate from Sam Houston.... what's up with that, Amber AND Jherad!

Beautiful, happy couple!

Natalie dancin' with her daddy. So sweet.

Me and my love! He is pretty precious too!

Natalie's cake was unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it. Gorgeous!

Oh, sweet Angela. There really is no other way to describe this one. She makes my heart smile just thinking about her. She is so beautiful on the inside and out. I remember many times just chatting with her about high school and dance. I would be on my way out the door but find myself just hanging out to chat with her. I always love a good chat with Angela. We need to do more of that!

I spent the most amount of one-on-one time with Amber. She was in kindergarten when I first met her {and I literally just got a text from her that she got a job teaching kindergarten}. WOW! I'm so proud of her! Amber was hilarious as a little girl. I always looked forward to my afternoons with her. She would get in my car and take over the radio. Somehow Spice Girls always found there way out of the speakers. Oh those are sweet memories of driving around with her. She always cracked me up! I am so proud of the beautiful lady "Miss Griffin" has turned into. I have no doubt that she will be a fabulous teacher and her little ones will love her with all their heart. That's just the kind of person she is!

And the beautiful bride. Oh the beautiful bride! One year I gave Natalie the movie "Little Women". She still talks about me giving her this movie and she often recites lines from it. I'm told you really don't want to watch it with her because she knows ALL the lines. Love it! I loved having the opportunity to hang out with her at SFA. Natalie is so precious and now she is so MARRIED!

These 3 girls really do mean so very much to me. I love them so much and I have loved watching them grow up into the beautiful people they are today. I hope and pray that Bella grows up to be as wonderful as these girls. I need to take some notes from their parents :).

Isabella's 2nd Birthday Party

Well it has come and gone and the baby girl is officially 2. And yes, I will still refer to her as a baby.........probably for a long time to come. The birthday party this year was monkey themed and held at Acrosports, a gym in the area. I ordered all of her decorations from Etsy ........ I LOVE Etsy. The girl I ordered from did a great job and couldn't have been more happy with how it all turned out.

You can't have a monkey themed party without bananas.

We ordered her cupcakes from the Cake Lady in Friendswood. You can never go wrong with anything from the Cake Lady. DELICIOUS!!

This was the banner that came with her decorations from Etsy. I absolutely loved the colors!

The kiddos {big & little} had fun playing in the foam pit, sliding down the slide and jumping on the trampoline. Kenzie {Keke's} and Laura played in the foam pit too!

The kids loved this slide. They slid down and landed in foam pit. Don't worry there was always someone there to catch them!

Bella and "Corky" lovin' on each other. On a side not, My parents had all three grandkids spend the night Saturday night. Bella and Courtney slept with my mom. Bella woke up in the middle of the night and was so excited to see Courtney in the bed with her. She kept saying "Corky pway". Mom said Courtney never woke up but Bella stayed awake about and hour hoping she would. That child LOVES her cousins so much!

I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed sliding down that slide. It went pretty fast.

Kenzie playing on the trampoline.

Aunt Kay even found her way into the foam pit to catch Miss Lexi!

WHEEEEEE!

We finally got to meet Landry! It took a year but we finally did it. We were so excited the Gibsons were able to come down and enjoy the fun.

Landry is quite the climber.

My precious girl!

In the foam pit with Uncle Tim and Lexi.

Bella enjoyed climbing all over her daddy in the pit.

Courtney tried out the trapeze swing.

Ryan and his mama.

Cutie pie!

The kiddos got to play with the parachute. I remember this being my absolute favorite thing in PE when I was kid. To say Bella loved it would be an understatement. She squealed and had a great time!

Happy Birthday to my silly little monkey!

I got the kids monkey masks instead of party hats. Terry put this on Ryan and he quite moving. It was hilarious. We kept trying to call him to make him turn his head to look at us and it was like he was frozen. He would only move his eyes. Too funny.

Cousin Tiffany got in on the action with the monkey masks too!

I'm having a hard time believing that this child has been in our lives for 2 whole years.

We have her a little help blowing out her candle.

A monkey eating his banana.

Lexi chowed down on the cupcake. She knows Cake Lady when she tastes it!

Time to open presents. Bella got a lot of really cool stuff.

Can you say DIVA?!?!

Lexi Lou

The Gibsons!


Thanks to everyone that came to celebrate her birthday with us. Terry's family all drove in from Corsicana and Dallas and Tiffany drove in from Dallas as well. We are so thankful that they were all able to make the trip! We love ya'll!

Happy Birthday, Silly Monkey!

This is what a birthday girl looks like when she is asleep in her mommy and daddy's bed. This is where she ends up every morning because she gets lonely her room.

Daddy thought it would be a good idea to put her new "ride" on the bed with her. She woke up and VERY sleepily, the first thing out of her mouth was "ride".

Wild morning hair for her new ride.

She had to get in a little riding time before going to Nana's for the day. Nothing like a ride on your tricycle at 7:30 in the morning.




Dear Isabella,
Where do I even start? It seems like only yesterday you entered our lives but at the same time I have a hard time remembering what life was like before you. Sure I got more sleep and maybe we had a little more freedom. But I gladly trade those things for you. You are so funny and you know it. You giggle at yourself and watch to make sure we are giggling along with you. Of course we are because we think you are hilarious too. You can be running around like a wild child one minute and then decide you need a kiss or a hug the next. Your kisses are always wet and your hugs often result in you getting distracted by my hair. You like to play with my hair. You have this very high pitched girlie scream that you LOVE. We often tell you to stop. You do it anyway. You are talking like crazy. I couldn't even begin to list all of your words at this point. Some of your favorite things to say are "gonna gonna go owside", "gonna gonna go pool", "gonna gonna go slide", "gonna gonna go ride". For some reason you say gonna twice most times you say it. You are doing a fabulous job of following 2 step directions. I asked you to go get your shoes and put them away and you DID IT!! "I did it!!" you say. My favorite is when you ask for kiss or say "Come on, Mommy" when it's time for bed. You love your daddy so very much. I love to watch you with him. He is the best daddy. You have such a sweet spirit and a funny little personality.

I love you so much and with every passing day I think I love you more. We prayed for you for so long and now you have blessed us for 2 whole years. You made the heartache of trying to get you here worth it and better yet you have made it go away. I would go through it all over again for you, that's how much I love you.

Love, Mommy