Christmas 2010

Pearce's First Christmas! He had a really cute little Christmas outfit, but I forgot to get a picture of him in this.

Elyse showing off one of her dolls.

Madyson in her Tinkerbell dress up outfit. This was a big hit!!

Elyse and Madyson with their toys from Santa. Elyse asked for an America Girl Doll. She must have been a really really good girl this year. Madyson asked for a train set. She loves it! She loves putting it together and taking it apart.

I can't believe that another Christmas has come and gone. The girls had a great Christmas this year. Next year I would like to make it a little more simpler if that is even possible. Since we did not spend Christmas with any family the girls seemed to have a lot more gifts to open on Christmas day. They are so loved from their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and of course Santa Claus (wink wink.)

On Christmas Eve we spent the day making goodies and then that night we took the goodies around to our neighbors and friends in the ward. The girls had a lot of fun taking turns delivering the goodies. Madyson fell asleep really early (she did not get a nap that day). So unfortunately the other festivities I had planned for after goodie delivering did not happen. I let Elyse open her pajamas and Madyson opened hers first thing in the morning before opening their presents.

Blessing Day-Pearce at 6 weeks

Pearce and Grandma having some one on one time!

Isn't he the CUTEST little guy ever?!?! I think so!

At 6 weeks Pearce was given a name and a blessing at church. I found this little outfit with the suspenders to have him blessed in. He looked so cute! My Mom and Dad and brother Eric came to be there for the blessing. It was so nice to have my family come to be here with us on such a special day!

Clayton "Pearce" Hooten

Mommy and Pearce! How I LOVE this little man! He nestles his little head on my chest and I am in HEAVEN! I love that he does this and has done it since the day he was born.

Elyse holding her newest young sibling. She loves being a big sister. And quite honestly she is very good at it. She is at a perfect age now to have a younger baby brother. She is a big help and was from the day he was born!


Now this is the proudest Daddy I have ever seen! He loves his little boy! It is so fun to watch him with this little man of ours! Clay has waited a long time for this day!

Proud Big sister Mady!!!

Our First Family of 5 photo!

Proud and excited Grandma!

My mom came and was there that day. She spent all day

at the hospital with me. I am so thankful that my mom could be there
for me. She means the world to me.

Pearce's official weigh in!

I never finished my blogging from last year. The only thing I can do is move on and do better this year! That is my goal.

I have never officially introduced the newest addition to our family. He truly has made me the happiest mommy. My girls made me a happy mommy (and still do), but there is nothing like the look a little boy gives his mommy. I LOVE it! Pearce is very special to me. When we first found out we were having a boy we also learned that I had an amniotic band inside my uterus. Apparently if the band attaches itself to the baby then there could be a loss of limbs and so forth. I was very scared when I found out this news. I called Clay just crying ( I told him he could leave the doctor's office after the sonogram and go back to work). I was really scared. That weekend we had a friend come over and Clay and Rob administered a blessing to me. In the blessing Clay told me that the baby I carried would be fine. I felt so much peace after this blessing. This little boy truly is what I need at this time in my life.

Clayton "Pearce" Hooten was born on November 1, 2010. I labored 15 hours with him. By far the biggest of any of my children. Around 7 pm. The doctor decided it was time to go ahead and have a C-section. I was so scared. It was an AWFUL experience. Having experienced both natural and a C-section. By far having a baby natural is the NATURAL thing to do. It was much more enjoyable with the girls. I was in a lot of pain for about 3 weeks. After that I felt normal again and could pretty much do what I had done before. I will say it was worth it though for the BEAUTIFUL baby BOY I was given!

Pearce weighed 8 lbs and 2 oz. He was 21 inches long! He had a head full of dark hair. He is my biggest baby so far, but not by much. Mady was only 3 oz less.

Looking back on 2010

This year has been a whirlwind of a year. I wish I could say that I have written down every memory of the year when it happened, but I can't. The only thing I can do is look back and remember and hope that I do much better next year.

January 2010

We started off the year by moving into a larger home. Some friends of ours here in San Angelo were needing to rent there's and we needed a larger house and since we still weren't quite ready to buy a house we chose to rent another year and move into a much larger and nicer home. We have thoroughly enjoyed having more room for our growing family and now we don't want to leave. We just signed another 1 year lease so we won't be moving any time soon...Phew! In order for me to have the motivation to unpack we decided to host a New Year's party with some friends from the ward. Our house was full of people. It was a blast! I love having people over at the house.

This year also brought in a new job for me which was another reason why I needed motivated unpacking. I knew that I wouldn't have much time to spend on the house once I went back to work full time. I took a position as a Math aide at Lincoln Middle school in San Angelo. For numerous reasons taking this job was the right thing to do for me and my family. I had a really hard time going back to work, but I loved every minute of my new job. The first day I was there I found out that I was to be teaching a 7th grade math methods class. This is a second math class that the students had to take when they didn't pass the math TAKS test. It was challenging, but oh so worth it as you will see.



This pretty much sums up January.

Balmorhea, Texas (June 22 -24, 2010)

While I am actually sitting down at the computer I thought I should probably try to get a few blogs out of the way. I have been so bad this year. Since going back to work I have not been the greatest at keeping up with my blog and what the girls have been up to. Speaking of going back to work...I finally got a job as a 5th grade Math teacher! I am so excited!!! It is going to be a tough year with a tough class and being pregnant, but I know that it will be successful! Besides I get to take Elyse with me and that makes it worth it just to have my daughter at school with me!!!

Clay and I were very lucky this summer. We got a two week parent vacation from our children. I know some may say that I am horrible for doing that to my kiddos, but it was probably more of a vacation from us to them! They had fun visiting two different sets of grandparents for two weeks! the first week they spent with Grandma Sherry in Ruiodoso, MM. This was the week that I went to Girl's Camp (which was absolutely wonderful this year! It was not nearly as hot as it could have been, the facilities were nice, and the girls that were in my level were wonderful young women!) The second week the girls spent with their Grandpa and Grandma Hooten in El Paso. They were able to attend a vacation bible school in the mornings and play with their cousins in the evenings. They were definitely kept busy while away from us!

On our way to pick the girls up from El Paso Clay and I took a mini vacation to a neat place in West Texas called Balmorhea. If you live in Texas it is a MUST SEE! The pool is a naturally fed aquifer that is crystal clear. It was like swimming in Hawaii. In fact I haven't seen anything like it since I have been to Hawaii. It was a fresh water pool that had fish in it. Clay and I did snorkeling for two days! It was wonderful! The campgrounds aren't really anything to talk about other then it was just a place to sleep.

On Friday evening we went to the McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains and were able to look at the stars through telescopes! It was pretty neat!

We had a great time together. It was fun to work together to set up the tent and to cook dinner. We haven't really been camping since we went to Utah 3 years ago. we decided that this little place is going to be our place for our family every year to go to. It is only 3 hours from here and is well worth it.

After our two days there we drove another 3 hours to El Paso to pick up the girls. We drove home on Sunday...we made a spur of the moment decision to take the girls to the pool at Balmorhea. Elyse LOVED it! Madyson not so much. She was actually scared of swimming with the fish. We couldn't get her beyond sitting on the stairs. Oh well! Maybe next time!

My mama would be so proud!!!

I have officially accomplished something that I have wanted to learn FOREVER! I have tried braiding Elyse's hair for about 3 years and could NEVER do it. I began to think I wasn't cut out to raising girls because EVERYONE can french braid...well except me...until NOW! I am proud to say that after spending a week with a bunch of teenage girls who love to have their hair braided at Girl's Camp I have officially learned to French Braid. It is not perfect, but it is getting better...trust me! It has looked much worse! Thanks to Elyse for having so much patience with me to practice on her. Madyson was a trooper this morning. Usually she doesn't want me to touch her hair, but on Sundays it is a completely different story. She loves to get dressed up for church and will let me do her hair. I was almost halfway done before she decided she didn't want her hair done anymore when Clay bribed her with some candy...hey...can I do that every day just so I can do the child's hair???

June Scrap Swap photos

Here are my June Scrap Swap photos for those who need them!