1 year

Well one year down... its been a whole year since I last saw my Daddy. It hurts to miss someone so much. Even though I miss him terribly, I just have to remember that he is so happy and in the presence of Jesus. If that isn't comforting I don't know what is. It's just so hard to be on this side of heaven where we still miss him so much. But one thing is for sure, he is still, and will always be a part of our everyday lives. Even little Callie talks about her Pap a lot. Yesterday I was sitting on the floor with her and I told her that I loved her very much. Right after I said that she said "Pap"? And I said, yes your Pap loves you too! As big as the sky! Then she said "sky"! It was one of the sweetest moments ever, because she has never said that before and somehow it just came to her. Every time that my Dad held her he would repeat over and over that he loved her as big as the sky! :) Every now and then I'll ask Callie, "Do you know where your Pap is? He is in heaven! Do you know who he's in heaven with?" and Callie says "Jusus". :). I wish we could have him back as healthy as can be. But since we can't, it comforts me to know that he is somewhere right now (in heaven) as healthy as can be! I wonder if he gets some kind of cake for being there for a year now? Haha! Dad would want us to be happy and tell funny stories today so that's what I'm going to do! Matt and I have laughed and cried almost in the same sentence just remembering all of the goofy things he said. Haha! There is so much I could say about this day and about my Dad, but the words just wont come. All I can say is that I love him, I miss him and I am so thankful that God took mercy on him and called him home one year ago today. Here are some verses that I think are encouraging for a day like this: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. - Revelation 21:4 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. - Philippians 1:21-23 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. - Philippians 3:20-21 Here are a few random picture of my Dad! I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend! Love you all!

Lindsey's HS graduation! :)

Matt and Dad with the T-6.

At Matt's Pilot training graduation!

Dad and the "Del Rio Kid"! Hah! Such a great pic of Mom and Dad in Colorado!

Dad, Matt and I and the winery in Del Rio.

What can I really say about this pic..?!

Pap teaching Callie about the trees.

The day he became a Grandparent!

Dad walking me down the isle on my wedding day!

:)

Love this picture!

One of my fondest memories!

February!

Can it really be February already? WOW! It seems crazy that its almost been a year since Dad made his trip to heaven. I miss him terribly, but I praise God that he is breathing with ease, and in absolutely no pain. But it still hurts. And I wish he was here so badly... healthy of course. February is a bittersweet month because I have always loved the fun of Valentines Day, but k]now it is also the month I lost my Dad. It's really easy to feel sad, but I can just hear the Lord reminding me that he is well, and I will see him again. I still feel sad, but comforted to know that 1 year ago my Dad went from this crazy messed up world into paradise. I am so thankful that my dad had a personal relationship with Christ and that death on Earth is just the begining of his Life.

Well in other news, Callie is almost 20 months old! She is the sweetest, cutest most independent child EVER! She is talking up a storm. She is starting to talk in mini sentences, which is really fun! I love hearing her try to put words together! At bedtime she HAS to sleep with her favorites: baby, Dora and Hat (hat is a Cat in the Hat stuffed animal). Every night after we say her prayers she says, "night night baby, night night Dora and night night hat". It is precious. Callie is very good at letting me know what she wants, and does not want. Like I mentioned above, Callie is very independent. Well at least she really wants to be. She doesnt want help with ANYTHING. She doesnt want to hold hands while walking, she doesnt want help with her food or her drink. She wants to do it all by herself. If by chance you do try to help her... she gets quite frustrated. Slowly but surely though, she is starting to respond to discipline and the word no. YAY! Most days we can go to the store without a meltdown! YAY! This makes me very happy and more inclined get out of the house. We have spent a lot of time here during her tantrum phase... haha.

Callie continues to be fasinated with letters. She points them out when we are out and about. She loves seeing them and knowing what they are! She still has trouble with the letter R, but shes got the rest down pretty good. Numbers and counting are fun too lately. She loves to "count"... its more like "one, one, one!" Sometimes she gets the two, but mostly one. She knows her shapes and some of her colors. She is learning new things left and right. Oh another fasination lately is stickers. She loves them. Matt's mom "Gaga", bought her some Dora stickers when we came to Texas in January and there has been no turning back! Outside time is also one of her favorite times of day. She loves playing in her house and just running around. Well enough of my jibber jabber... her are some pictures of my sweet.

This pic was taken at sunset from our backyard! So pretty!

My sweetie eating goldfish. Love her.

Shes a model... haha!

Cheese!

Callie loves to brush her teeth!

Callie pretending to sleep. It looks so painful... haha!

Cutie pie!

Love this!

Oh, another first... Callie got her toes painted for the first time today! Aw!

18 months! Really??!!

My sweet little baby is growing up so fast. No matter how old she is, she will always be my precious baby. Time continues to fly by, with no signs of slowing down. Well... I will say that when Callie decides to "wake up for the day" at 2am.... time seems a little slow. Haha, but other than that its going by way too fast.

My sweet baby is now a cute toddler, wanting more and more independence by the minute! Callie does not take well to things that are not according to her plan. Simply put, there are lots of tantrums in the Rowan household right now. The girl can scream. Slowly but surely we are learning how to use our words when situations are just soooooo frustrating. Her word of choice when something is awry is "uh-oh", and occasionally "help". I would say that little Miss Callie is still screaming the majority of the time as her first instinct, but with a helpful reminder she remembers that she can talk instead.

Speaking of talking, Callie is learning new words everyday! Its nearly impossible to keep track of them now. She did say a new word tonight though and it was so cute. She said bubble! I was reading to her before bed and the book had bubbles in it and she repeated what I said! Love it! Another cute thing that Callie says is "istuck" (which means its stuck or im stuck). She loves to purposefully get stuck in something just so that she can say that. I then tell her oh no, you're stuck? Well you better get out of there... and then she does, and claps for herself. Hahah!

At 18 months Callie Michelle:

~wears size 2T!! I can't believe it!!! ~ still has beautiful blue eyes with that light hair! (And more hair now yay!)

~ has over 30 words ~can identify 9 letters and 2 numbers

~loves to scream... (had to put that in there haha)

~sleeps very well most nights

~colors well without eating the crayons about half of the time...

~identifies a circle, triangle, star and square. ~loves to give hugs and kisses.

~has some pretty snazzy dance moves.

~loves Elmo and Dora.

~eats like a champ. Loves just about EVERYTHING...

~loves to pretend sleep and make an adorable snoring sound. ~almost never eats Chile's dog food anymore... (knock on wood)

~can crawl up and down the stairs with supervision of course!

~is very picky about her bedtime stories.

~learned the word no..... BOO!!!!

~is just the sweetest most beautiful daughter in the world!!!

I know I say it a lot, but I feel so blessed to be her Mommy. She is just so much fun. There is nothing sweeter than when she comes over to me gives me a hug and pats me on the back while saying "mama". Hope you enjoy a few pics of my sweetie! We will be going to see Santa tomorrow, so that should make for an interesting picture.... my guess is that she wont be happy, but who knows! Blessings to all and Merry Christmas!!!!

Erin

Callie didnt like Santa this year... poor thing. Its cute anyway! :)

After pictures with Santa back at the house! Much happier! :) Callie wearing Mommy's shoes! :)

Our Christmas Tree! Sweetie pie!

Callie and Daddy playing! So sweet!

Thanksgiving!

Well we had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! It was so awesome that everyone came here to celebrate the holiday. My mom, Memaw, and three uncles drove all the way from Texas! Yikes! But it was great because they got to stop and see the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forrest, and also Hoover Dam! It was Memaw's first really long road trip outside of Oklahoma and Texas. Lindsey and Ryan also came to Vegas! It was so awesome that we were all together. We stayed pretty busy around here during their visit. We went to Mt. Charleston one morning, and then went down on the strip during the evening. It was a neat experience watching Memaw experience the Las Vegas night life. Haha! We went and saw the garden display at the Bellagio and then watched the water show. I always love watching that... and its free... even better! Matt and I had to leave the strip when it was close to Callie's bedtime, but they stayed down there for several more hours. The next day was Thanksgiving Day! We spent most of the day cooking, eating and watching football of course! The Cowboys got a win, but sadly the Aggies did not... boo! It was a great day and we all had such a good time together! Later on Thanksgiving Day, Mom, Memaw and my Uncles all went to a nearby casino. They all had a great time, but sadly nobody won big! The next day they started on their way back home. We were sad to see them go, but were so thankful that they were able to make it out here. It may have been a little crowded in the house, but I don't think anyone cared! We have so much to be thankful for, and it was great to be surrounded by family. I missed my Dad. A lot. But I just have to remind myself how thankful I am that he is restored, whole and in no pain. I like to think that he was looking down at us... well I guess he would be cracking jokes and laughing at us... haha. We sure missed him, and its definitely not the same without him, but I guess things can't always be the same. And even though its different, it was still good. Callie was spoiled rotten of course! She loved every minute of all of the attention that she got. My little sweetie loved having all of her family to play with. Callie was just running around all over the place this Thanksgiving. She is pretty much non stop these days. I wont lie, it was nice to have some reinforcements for a few days! Ha! My baby is growing up so fast. Its starting to make me a little sad that shes already a toddler! She is talking more and more each day. She has started saying please (more like "peas") and all done in the last few days. I should write it down when she says new words, but she is just copying so many things that its hard to keep track. Oh, another word she says is "help". This is the word that I encourage the most right now. I'm trying to replace her very loud, shrill scream, with a simple "help" when she is frustrated about something that she is trying to do. Haha! Can't blame me for trying! She's getting it though. I'm starting to her a little less screaming, and more words! Yay! Well I have been slacking on pictures lately, but I am charging my camera up tonight so that I can get some pictures of my sweet girl. Oh and Callie now wears a 2T in clothes. (Tear....) Makes me a little sad, but on the bright side the toddler section has many more options! :) I cant believe my baby is a toddler. It's going too fast. We are just so blessed to be her parents. Even when her sweet little tantrums aren't so sweet, I just cant help but think about how lucky I am to have her! God is soo good. I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Ill post some new pictures soon!

What? A picture of us? haha. I love him!

Aw! Sisters! My child... eating a stick....

Mom, Memaw and the Uncles!

Poor Callie. She had lots of layers on and felt like a marshmallow... she kept toppling over haha!

Callie's first snow! :)

Grandma and Grandpa visit/Halloween!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and we had a blast! Callie really enjoyed being spoiled for a few days. In fact, it took a few days to get used to plain old Mom and Dad... haha! Callie really loved spending time with her Grandparents! We picked them up from the airport on Thursday and they stayed until early Monday morning. Right when we got home Grandma and Grandpa gave Callie her Halloween presents. She got her cute Halloween costume, a Dora doll that sings, Dora crocs, a new outfit and new Dora Pjs. She also got some Halloween books and a bingo game that she and Grandma played. She was happy to say the least. While they were here we went to the park, The Rainforest Cafe, saw the Lion exhibit at the MGM casino, had a picnic up at Mt. Charleston, went to a Trunk or Treat Halloween Carnival at our church and shopping of course! Callie's favorite activities were all of the outside ones. She LOVES to be outside. Callie started saying "okay" while her Grandparents were here! Its too cute! It sounds more like "ah-tay". Callie dressed up at a leopard kitty cat for Halloween. She looked too cute! I did let her have some M&M's from her Halloween candy and she liked them very much! While Callie was sad to see Grandma and Grandpa go, it will only be 3 months until we see them in Texas for Lindsey's wedding!

My sweet little girl is growing up fast and I am having a blast watching her! She is so much fun, and gives the sweetest voluntary hugs and kisses now. Another sweet thing is that she says "amen" after we pray! Its really sweet. Callie is also starting to show interest in letters and sounds. She knows the letter C, P, and T. If I point to the letter she will say the sound! She almost has D down as well! I can't believe it! I thank God for my family everyday and I truly feel blessed! Well here are the pictures from Grandma and Grandpa's visit! Hope you enjoy, much love!

-Erin

Callie and Grandpa at the Rainforest Cafe!

This girl loves to swing can you tell? Callie getting her face painted for the very first time!!

Patiently waiting for some candy!

We took this pic in front of the Candy Land display because Matt used to love the game Candy Land... well... he loved cheating by folding the cards so that he could win... haha.

Finished product from face painting... shes starting to get tired!

This candy is all for me?!

Grandma and Grandpa at the Halloween Carnival!

My sweet family.

Beautiful.

Grandma and Callie throwing the Frisbee.

A stick!

:)

Grandma and Callie at Mt. Charleston.

So pretty up there.

See-saw fun!

Cutie pie!

Look Grandpa!

Aw! Great picture at the Rainforest Cafe!

Callie LOVES apple juice.