New baby!

These pictures are all out of order but I don't care! I cant fix it!

Collin cries if he thinks he doesn't get tot hold her. Its cute, he really likes his little sister.

Grandpa and Grandma!

Baby Grace getting ready to go home from the hospital.

Pictures at the hospital.

This is the story of Grace Lynn Gropp and how she came into the world! On January 2 I had some contractions every few hours but they didn't hurt and then on the 3rd I had some every hour and they hurt a little. We were waiting for Grandma and Grandpa Derrick to come to our house and they were suppose to arrive around 9 pm. Around 7 my contractions started to be around 10 minutes apart and by the time they showed up at 9 they were around 5 minutes apart. We ended up staying up and talking for a few hours and the whole time my contractions just got stronger and stronger until finally around 11 I announced that we would be headed to the hospital and hopefully the doctor wouldn't send us home! When we got in the car Cory told me he wanted to stop somewhere to get some food, it was gonna be a long night and didn't want to be hungry. Trusty Micky D's was open, a few hamburgers later we were back on the road! We got to the hospital just before midnight, ( Amarillo is about 20 minutes away) and Cory dropped me off at the ER.

I got all settled into the bed and they hooked me up with my IV and then some pain killers, I had the best nurse, she was on the ball! Poor Cory, about 5 minutes before I decided we should go to the hospital he took some Tylenol PM and by this time we was feeling the effects!! I already knew I wanted an epidural so around 2 am I got one. It was great, I was able to sleep a little and then around 4:30 the nurse came back in, checked me and said hey lets have a baby! She wanted me to push with her 3 times just to see how I would do and on the 3rd push Cory said, is that her head!! The nurse smiled and said yep, I'll go get the doctor! The doctor came in and said ok one big push, Cory announced her head is out, and the doctor looked up at me and asked if I was still pushing because the baby was sorta sliding out. The doctor said just one more small push and it was over! Emma took 3 hours to push out, Collin took 1 and Grace took 5 pushes! It was funny, Cory hardly said a word, it all happened too fast! She cried, they washed her, Cory held her and then I got too. We were surprised because she has brown hair, not a whole lot but its is brown!

Later that day Grandma and Grandpa came with Emma and Collin. Collin had a runny nose so I didn't let them get too close. We took some pictures, they got to see her and thought she was great. I only stayed one night in the hospital and we got home the next day around 2 or so.

Emma and Collin really like her and love to hold her and help me get diapers and blankets and whatever she needs.

More to come!!

Merry Christmas!


We waited in line for what Cory thought was an eternity to get these pictures! It was really hot in the building we were in and I was getting a bit uncomfortable standing the whole time but I'm glad we got them. We almost didn't. I was messing around with the camera and the low battery light came on! I took this first picture and it took the camera forever to charge back up to take the next one, it was almost bad!








Collin got grumpy just a few minutes before we got to Santa so he wouldn't smile for me.









Its been a long time since I have had to use desitin but Collin ate a few too many oranges one day so I had to bust it out. I guess it was too tempting because it got stolen out of the bathroom off the counter and used, not as directed mind you, while I was in the shower.

I thought it was kind of funny that Collin had hand prints on his back! They didn't touch very many things for which I was grateful but our house did smell like desitin for a while!
And his shirt has never recovered.

I did do a little research to see if eating desitin was bad and decided that he was probably going to be okay.

I was in the living room and Emma comes in and says mom you need to help Collin, you need to go get him. I don't remember what I was doing but I said ok in a minute. (next time I think I will come faster!) I think she came in and said that a few more times so I finally got up and this was what I found! I couldn't believe he could climb into that drawer from the rocking chair!

This dresser was my moms so it is more solidly built than some of the others he could have climbed upon. I'm grateful it did not tip over. With the TV on it also that could have been really bad.

I don't know if its all little boys or just my little boy but he does some crazy things! He is sporting a bruise on his cheek where he fell down and hit it on the line where the carpet ends and the linoleum begins.

Trunk or treat!

Happy Halloween, Almost!
We went to our wards trunk or treat and it was fun! Once he knew what was going on Collin was pretty cute. He would run up to the people and say something that could resemble Trick or Treat, laugh and take his sweet time picking the piece of candy that he wanted! I could tell his bucket was getting heavy but anytime I tried to help him or take it he would cry.

Emma was pretty excited to get her face painted. The kid doing it said that she was the stillest little kid he had done so far!

The day before it was like 80 degrees and that day it was 50 or so. I kept asking "Tinker Bell" if she wanted her coat and she never did until we were almost finished. Poor Collin looks so cold!

I made their costumes but Collins was harder than I thought it would be and I actually ran out of material! All and all I was pretty happy with them.

Emma loves Tinkerbell and looks like her so thats why we picked that for her costume.

These are out of order but we carved a pumpkin and this was taken in the dark! They loved when we put a candle in it.

After we finished the pumpkin we had some yummy cookies!

playing catch up

This was around March and Emma was going through a Bambi watching phase. It was cute because she called it Bani. I took this picture because she had just fallen down the stairs, head first. I dont know how she did it but I heard a lot of noise and she came in crying and this is how she looked! Poor girl!






Emma was helping me with Collins first birthday cake.

This was his cake. I am not very proud of it honestly. I should have used fondant but thought I could use plain ol frosting instead, note to self those who can use frosting are amazing but I am not one of them.

These where some of his presents. He was afraid of them actually! It was kind of funny he didnt touch any of them for a while!

We decided to take a family trip to Yellowstone and went the first weekend most of the park was open and it also ended up being a free weekend! This was in West Yellowstone at a bear and wolf exhibit.

This was the gift shop of the exhibit and the kiddos really loved this big bear. They almost didnt want to go see the real ones outside!

This is us waiting for Old Faithful. When we first showed up we were all alone and it was cold! We didnt know when it was suppose to go off again but eventually (45 cold minutes later!) a lot of people showed up and then 10 minutes later the geyser when off. It was cool and we got a video of it. On the way home we went through several buffalo herds walking on the road. The snow was pretty deep still so they all just walked everywhere on the roads. It was pretty neat. The kids loved it! Cory and I did too! Emma kept calling them cows and Collin would point out the window and talk. We really wanted to see a bear but never did although we heard some rangers talking about how one section of the park was kind of closed due to a lot of bear activity.

Cory started a summer family tradition where he would get a sleeping bag, the kids and their blankets and they would watch the stars come out. They would do this a couple times a week and had some good times doing it I think!

For Emmas 3rd birthday and kind of as a last get together before we moved to Texas she had a sleepover with her cousins Bradley and Danielle. It was her first sleepover and it went really well. We had dinner and dessert first with both families and then the kids watched Tangled, ate popcorn and had a blast with these little finger lights we had gotten. Everyone got a long really well and they all slept right there where ya see them.

We made some sugar cookies the other day. Some were regular shaped and some were "mickey" cookies. She got to put the icing and sprinkles on her mickey cookie and thought it was great fun!



I havent taken very many pictures with just c-man so I thought I would take a couple. He is getting soooo big! He army crawls, can stand in his crib and can even walk a little bit with help from this walker toy we have. This first picture is his new face. its pretty cute he makes it and then like hums to himself!



look at those cheeks! He has four teeth two on top and two on bottom.

Hes a pretty sweet little guy.