September in Review...

I haven't blogged very much this month, so here's what's going on in the Hickman house.

-Lexie turned 10 months old! Kaitlyn taught her how to clap a couple of weeks ago and it is so adorable. When she gets really excited she'll start clapping a ton. Lulu is also starting to eat a lot more solids. I've been feeding her a lot of whole milk yogurt to help her put on some weight. She's finally mastered the sippy cup which is great, because I'm trying to wean her before her 1st birthday. I am so done with breastfeeding! The next baby WILL take a bottle.

-Kaitlyn has been in pre-school for 1 month now and loves it. I was really worried that she would have a lot of potty accidents at school, but she hasn't had any! In fact she hasn't had one accident in the last month and half! The feedback her teacher, Mrs. Susie, has given me is that Katy is the best colorer in the class, is one of the most meticulous students, speaks the loudest and clearest, does very well in spanish class, is very accident prone =) and is a very good girl. I couldn't ask for more!

-Katy also started gymnastics class this week. Anyone who knows Katy is probably laughing because she is not very coordinated at all! However, Jared and I thought this class would help her and it already has. Before this week she would not even attempt to do a somersault and would cry when we tried to get her to. Now we can't get her to stop doing them!

-It was also my birthday this month and for the first time I have to admit that I'm feeling a little old. I realize that 27 is not old, but it doesn't feel young to me either. I had a great birthday especially compared to last year (hurrikane ike hit on my birthday last year and we had to evacuate). Jared made all my favorite meals, took me on a date, threw me a little party and bought me a fancy new camera. Since my birthday was on a Sunday, Jared even did my sharing time for me (he made one good looking King Benjamin)! Thanks babe!

Lexie loves to play in the curtains

This is how we found Katy taking her nap the other day. Yes, that hump under the rug is Katy sound asleep!

Blue Bayou...

Jared gets a few perks working for Exxon.

Perk #1 - Cheaper gas.

Perk #2 - Awesome work parties.

This weekend Jared's company rented out an entire waterpark/themepark that was only open to Exxon employees. All our meals, drinks, snacks and desserts were also free. Not to mention Jared won a saw too. The girls had so much fun. We went to an area in the theme park that was just for little kiddos and Lexie even got to ride on some of the rides. The first ride we took Lulu on probably should have had a height requirement because it spun so fast! It looked like such an innocent ride and we were the first of the day to ride it, so I didn't see it in action before we got on. I even asked the guy as I climbed on if it was okay to take her with us. I don't know why I trusted a braindead 16 year old! Lexie looked like she was going to puke the whole time; it even made me sick! Poor kid. Anyway, besides that one ride it was such a fun day. Here are some pictures!

Katy drove us around the track in this old fashioned car

Lulu is always crinkling up her nose and squinting her eyes. It's her new face she likes to do.I am such a wimp that even the ferris wheel scared me!

Two new milestones...

Today was Kaitlyn's first day of preschool and she loved it. When I dropped her off she barely looked up to give me a hug and a kiss. It was great that she did so well, but on the way home I have to admit that I got a little teary eyed. I went home and snuggled with Lexie the rest of the day and told her not to grow up...yet.

That brings me to the second milestone. Today Lexie turned 9 months old. She is so different than Katy in so many ways. One of the biggest differences is that she is a little daredevil. We were playing at the playground at chick-fil-A (my fav fast food restaurant) and while I was talking to my friend, Lexie climbed half way up the slide! I wanted to see if she could make it the rest of the way so I continued to follow her and she made it without my help! Katy can barely do that! Anyway, she finally has 3 teeth and is working on a fourth. She is such a doll and really brightens our lives.I realize this isn't the best picture, but she wouldn't stay still for 2 seconds!

One of Lexie's favorite things to do is crawl around the house and lick the knobs on our cabinets

She loves the bath!Jared built them a fort with the couch pillows - so much fun!

Happy 5th Anniversary babe!

I can't believe that Jared and I have been married for 5 years! I feel so lucky to have such a great husband who supports me in everything I do. He works so hard to provide for his girls and is such a good papa. I still get butterflies in my tummy when he walks out wearing a cute outfit or when I smell his cologne. I thought it would be fun to tell how we met. We were both in college at BYU and I was hanging out at my apartment with my roommate Natalie when our other roommate Erica came over with her boyfriend Dan. This night Dan happened to bring over his roommate Jared. Erica was on the women's BYU rugby team and Dan and Jared played together on the men's team. It was 9:00 on a Friday night and I was totally already dressed for bed. I was wearing basketball shorts and a white T-shirt (how attractive). Anyway, I thought Jared was good looking, but I totally was not interested in boys or dating because I had just gotten out of a serious relationship. Jared sat next to Natalie on the couch and we were watching t.v. Dan and Erica decided to leave and Jared was like "I'll stay here". Natalie and I kind of looked at each other like "why is he staying if they are leaving", but we were fine because we were having fun. Anyway, I laid down on the couch while we were watching tv and put my legs up on Natalie. Apparently, I put my legs all the way across Jared's lap and he totally thought I was flirting with him. I still hold to this day that I was not intentionally flirting, however, since he ended up asking me out and I eventually got a husband out of it then I guess I'm okay with that. Here are some wedding pics of me and my hunky hubby. Happy Anniversary honey, I love you!

Lexie's photo shoot...

I followed Lexie around with the camera. She loved it.

Hit and Run part II...

I brought the girls to the doctor to get them checked out this week to make sure they weren't injured in the accident. The doctor was talking to Katy while she was checking her out and this was part of their conversation:

Doctor: Your mommy will always keep you safe.

Katy: (With a determined look in her eye) No, Heavenly Father keeps me safe.

The doctor thought that was sooo adorable! The girls are injury free, but just as an update the Sheriff found the guy the car was registered to and it turns out that his brother was driving. Apparently the brother told the sheriff that I took off so that's why he didn't stop. Good thing I have two witnesses. He did more than not stop, he sped off! The bad news is that after googling the names of the guy who hit me and the name of the owner of the car I found out that the owner of the car is a sheriff in the same office that is investigating my accident! If you ask me the whole thing is very sketchy. I'm a little concerned about this guy getting off. First of all the sheriff took over a half an hour to get to the scene of the accident. Secondly, he only took the statement of one of the witnesses after I repeatedly told him that the lady in the post office saw the whole thing too. Third, the sheriff investigating the case gave me the name of the owner of the vehicle, but never told me that he worked in his office - I found that out on my own. Actually, it took several days before anybody at the sheriff's office would confirm that. Anyway, I hope I'm not venting too much. I really feel blessed that we're all okay and that there were witnesses that actually stopped.

Hit and Run...

Today I was involved in a hit and run. Besides some back and neck pain we're all okay - thank goodness. Here's what happened. I was driving Katy to her Gymboree class and I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed a white pickup truck switch lanes into my lane. You could tell he just wanted to go faster and that the car in front of him was going too slow. My first thought was, "oh, he's going to be disappointed because I'm about to turn right and he's going to have to slow down again". I proceed to turn on my blinker and then slow down. I looked in my rear view mirror again and this time I think, "wow, he's going pretty fast, he better slow down". I never thought he would hit me though. Before I knew it he slammed into the back of me with his huge truck and pushed me off the road and into the grass. I looked out my window and as he's driving away he looks me in the eye and then keeps driving. I was bawling. I get out and check on my kids, who seem to be fine and then called the police (who by the way, took 30 minutes to get to the scene). Luckily there was a witness who got his license plate # and got a description of him.

I am just shocked and appalled that somebody could hit me and then take off. It's not like he didn't know that he hit me. The sheriff is supposed to go to the home where the car is registered tonight, but who knows if he still lives at that address or if that is even his car. My feeling is that if someone is willing to risk being charged with a hit and run they were either drinking, on drugs, in a stolen car, have no insurance, have other tickets or warrants or they are just plain stupid. Please say prayers that the police catch this creep and throw his you know what in jail!

I was driving our Mitsubishi, which is 9 years old, but I was planning on driving it into the ground for the next year or two until we succumb to buying a van. However, I have a feeling that the adjuster is going to tell us that the car is totaled, because it will cost more to fix it than it's worth. We'll see, maybe I'll get that van a lot sooner than expected! It was nice having no car payments though!