My dear sweet baby girl,

I can not believe you are 18 months already! The time has flown by and yet you still some how feel older than 18 months. Maybe that is because you are SO independent. Here are some things you are up to these days!

-Love to put your jewelry on every morning at your vanity.

-You are so smart….You understand EVERYTHING we say.
-You add new words to your vocabulary everyday! Some that you say are help me, please, thank you, Ali, Poppi, Nana, outside, Maw-Maw, “Tayten” for Caden, doggie, cat, balloon. Lots more!
-You weigh 28lbs…which is 89%.
-You are 34 inches tall….which is off the charts (literally) for your age.
-You wear size 5 diapers.
-You wear size 2T clothing, some like target brand at 3T!
-You wear a size 6.5 – 7 shoe.
-You love to read books….well in your own way anyways. (please excuse my mom at the end! haha!)

-You like to help me empty the dishwasher, I always go to the silverware drawer and you have put all sorts of stuff in there!
-You tell us when your diaper is dirty, you come to us and say “poo poo” while you point to your diaper
- You like to go “mmmmmm” after you have eaten something. It is adorable.
-You can identify most of your body parts.
-You love to laugh and DANCE! Dancing is your favorite!!
-You love to be outside and love being in water so much! You are such a water baby! Bath time is your favorite part of the day!

-You love fruits! You will eat an entire carton of raspberries or blue berries in the store while I am grocery shopping and you have eaten 5 clementine oranges in one sitting!
-You love everything and everybody. Nothing scares you. You wave to random people all the time. You make new friends so easily.

-You are so adventurous. Your most recent trip to the zoo included feeding goats with no hesitation and chasing around peacocks until they got out of your reach!

You seem to lead Caden. Now that you and him play well together, he always does what you do. There are some instances when you copy him as the younger sister. But if you know what you want to do you do it and more than likely he copies you!! Again, so independent. Yet, definitely a daddy’s girl. Whenever dad comes home you run over to him and scream, with joy, at the top of your lungs until he picks you up. It is quite adorable and I can’t get enough of it.

We love you so much princess. You are growing up, but will always be our baby girl!

Love,
Mom

It started with a day at Aunt Sandy (Chris’s sister) pool.

And hanging out with them and feeding their fish!

That night I headed out to Allison’s bachelorette party! Her wedding was that coming saturday!

Kelly and I

On friday we hung out at the pool some more and got ready to have a fun get together we some friends! Chris, Amir, Karrie and Josh!

I didn’t get many photos of my friends Mike and Emily that came over with their little girl Lila. Mike and I were living abroad in Australia at the same time in 2004 and have stayed in touch since. Caden and Lila hit it off immediately. I see an arranged marriage in their future! ha!

The next day we headed over to the Auto Mile in South Austin and bought a car! I know it sounds like it was no big deal….but due to the hail totaling our other one, we had been searching and found one online in Austin that we liked. And sure enough it was still available when we went to the dealership. So it really was a more thought out process.

Allison and Christian’s wedding was that night. I graduated high school with both of them, so it was a fun high school reunion. My volleyball coach was even there, that brings back memories! It was such a fun wedding! The Winfield Inn in Kyle is such a romantic, elegant venue!

Us with Josh and Kelly

Most of the gang in our prom pose! Not prom dates this….husbands! Crazy what ten years does! All married and 5 kids with two on the way between us all!

Coach Bennett (and his wife) with 3 of his seniors from the 1999 season!

The next day we went to see Grandpa’s(chris’s dad) plane in Georgetown. Hoping to have Caden go flying in it soon!

Lots of fun watching the planes come in.

Trying on Grandpa’s fighter helmet from his days in the Air Force!

On Monday we hung out with Nana and Grandpa while daddy went to work! It is so great that Chris can pretty much work from anywhere…gives a whole new meaning to a staycation!

That night we grilled out with some friends that Chris graduated high school with! Such a fun, relaxing night watching the kids run around in the backyard.

Tuesday I got to meet two new babies! My friend Kelly had her baby girl Clara in February.

And my friend Janica welcomed her little boy, Wade to their family in September.

Wednesday was Maw Maw’s and Poppi’s(my dads) Birthday. So Ali and I stayed home and got ready for the birthday dinner at home that night! Bob came to visit at lunch and bring the kiddos ice cream!

Fun with Poppi

Thursday we went to the zoo with Ali.

Taylor LOVED the peacocks…..she chased them everywhere!

Had lunch with daddy at one of Austin’s fun restaurants! This particular one had cows to climb!

That night Chris and I got a date night with my cousin Valerie and her husband Austin! They visited with the kids and my parents a bit before we left!

The next morning I helped host a bridal shower for Alicia, a family friend of Chris’s. Linda, Alicia, Sandy and Me

Saturday night was Alicia’s wedding. It was a gorgeous ceremony. And the reception was at Twelve Oaks which is a huge pavilion in the middle of the Texas Hill Country!

Sandy, Joel and Chris and I

Fun time with Maw Maw and Great Grandma

Caden’s cars go everywhere of course.

If you made it through all that and want to see more pictures take a look at the April 2012 slideshow under pictures!

Happy Easter from The Mechsner Family! (more pics to come soon)

And because the Easter blog is a great one to share this on….go check out this article!!! I fully agree with all of it and am so proud of the author for putting it out there!!

Caden liked to pretend to be a lion creeping in the bluebonnets on his prey….which of course was Taylor!

Sydney and Jesse joined us for one of the photo shoots!

Taylor’s friend Landry agreed with Taylor that sitting in a bunch of flowers was not their kind of fun. But sweet Rylie was all for it and couldn’t figure out why the girls around her were screaming their pretty little heads off. :-/

Caden and Audrey taking a stroll in the bluebonnets

Obviously….having fun doesn’t even describe it!

Lots of climbing walls

And Taylor had a little meet and greet with the sidewalk at one of the said parks. :-/ Nothing a bubble bath can’t help!

Before I left for my night of fun, all I wanted was a picture with my kiddos, well that didn’t go too well, these are the best shots we got. Caden kept wanting to step in front of Taylor and I!

I had one of my favorite meals for dinner…BBQ!! Yummy!

Me and the girls, so blessed with these rich friendships!

Then we headed to Billy Bobs to dance and watch Robert Earl Keen. I only brought my iphone in so the pictures aren’t that great.

Two of the best!

Saturday was a relaxing day and Sunday we woke up and went to church, which was wonderful. We hadn’t been in over a month because of other commitments, it was great to go back and be fed spiritually. After church Chris handed me this: (you can click on it, and it will open in a new window, then click on the picture again and it will be big enough to read)

I figured out it was Sonic and arrived to find one of my best friends, Lauren there as well. We quickly realized we were going to be doing a scavenger hunt together! Such a fun day that ended with a delicious dinner with our men and an incredible letter from Chris that he had printed on beautiful paper so it could be framed! Needless to say…it is already up on my vanity so I can read it every day!

Here are some more of clues. There were 8 total! Our men are so thoughtful!

Lauren and I spotted Chris and Drayton from afar…turns out the were tailing us the whole time! ha!

Reading our last clue that we had completed our scavenger hunt because we found our men!

Indeed we did…find our wonderful husbands!

There are more photos in the February slideshow.

Caden and Taylor both love their snuggle time with Nana, only she can get them to sit still for over an hour, her secret…..rubbing their back!!

Baseball time!

My brother, Charlie and his wife Magdalena stopped by on their long drive from Austin to NY. It was so great to visit with them for a bit and Caden and Taylor LOVE their Aunt and Uncle. As soon as they walked in the door a “let’s chase Caden game” began! Lot’s of tickling and hide and seek filled the night!

Think Caden did something silly when I was taking this photo, hence Magdalena’s face!

Shelley, Moses and Abraham also joined us, Stephen was on the business trip with Chris. It was so good to have a full house, I love company. I caught this cute pic of Abe and Shelley! precious!!

Not sure what to think about turning the big 3-0, but this past weekend made it worth it, well expect for the baby girl keeping me up at all hours! I will turn 30 all over again if it means I get one great weekend my mom and then the next weekend is spent with my in laws! Lucky to have a great family!

There are lots of pictures below and even more on the pictures page. go check them out!

As soon as we arrived on Thursday we went straight to our hotel, The Marshall House, dropped our bags at our room and walked to Mrs. Wilkes. We were told by many to go there. We didn’t know they closed at 2, until it was 1:30 and we were at the hotel. Luckily, because we got there at 1:45 there was no line at all (usually there is 1.5 hour wait) and we got to sit and eat with Mrs. Wilkes grand daughter. It is family style southern food. 2 main courses and 22 sides including summer squash, collard greens, sweet potatoes, cream corn, and yummy biscuits…just to name a few!!

After lunch we did as girls do and started shopping! They had the cutest boutiques!

The Paris Market was by far my favorite shop there! I got some great ideas for decor in the house!

The historic downtown of Savannah is one mile wide by one mile long. There are 22 squares/parks throughout that are just gorgeous. In almost every square there are historic churches.

The Candler Oak, over 300 years old!

The First African Baptist Church

Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist

The homes of Savannah are gorgeous as well! I would live in any of them!

The Mercer House, The home of Jim Williams in the book The Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Thursday night we hung out at our hotel for the wine and cheese time and met some other out-of-towners.

On friday we took a tour bus of the city. I am so glad we did! There is so much history in Savannah, it was nice to be able to know some facts about the beautiful city that we were walking around for 4 days. My mom on the bus!

The Six Pence Pub that is featured in Something to Talk About

Headed to River Street! A cobblestone street of shops and yummy restaurants all along the river!

We ate some delicious seafood at Wet Willies. I had shrimp and grits!! It was so good.

After lunch we shopped some more and then went back to our room to get ready for our birthday dinner at The Old Pink House and a show at The Savannah Theater. We saw “I love you, your perfect, now change!” Pretty funny show!

I had the BLT salad, it was so good with fried green tomatoes!

The next day we did more shopping and had lunch at Papillote, a french cafe. It was so good, check out the pic of our sandwich that we split! Yes- those are apple slices on top!!

We then decided to take the city bus to Bonaventure Cemetery. I am so glad we ventured out of the city to see Bonaventure. Yes walking through a cemetery is a bit creepy, but also peaceful and so intriguing, especially a historical cemetery. Here are a few pictures from our trip. Including musician Johnny Mercer’s grave site.

That night we headed back to River Street to get some beer and raw oysters! Yummy!

It was an AWESOME trip! I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband who kept the kiddos and a fun, active, amazing 60 year old momma who likes to take adventures in new cities!

Check out the awesome cupcake stand that Cory’s dad made!

Hostesses with the mom to be. Kristin, Cory, Kelly and me

Kelly and I

My parents with Kelly

Got to shower the parents to be with lots of love and baby gear!

Kelly and Josh

The blessing Tree with “Wishes for Clara”

Beautiful flowers

While I was at the shower Caden got to spend some great quality time with Nana and Grandpa!