Our Happy Life

A BIG update is in order.....

2011-12-14T12:31:00.023-06:00

Let see where I left off.....

Oh yeah, back when I was only NINETEEN weeks pregnant. It's been A LONG time since I've blogged. I was hoping to do so much better at this and document so much of my pregnancy with Hallie but that didn't happen. Life did instead.

I'll see if I can get you all caught up. (WARNING: This could be a VERY long post).

The second half of my pregnancy was for the most part pretty uneventful. I continued to go to my monthly appointments and each time got the, "Everything looks and sounds great." I was gaining weight just as I should, Hallie was growing right on track, and I was feeling great with lots of energy.

At about 32 weeks the dr. wanted to do an ultrasound just to check in on Miss Hallie. She was measuring about 2 weeks bigger. He said we'd do another ultrasound in 4 weeks to see if she was still bigger and then we would decide our plan of action at that point. At 35 weeks, I was at my parents house with the girls swimming and I slipped on the wet tile inside the house. I was ok and it wasn't that hard of a fall. However, about 4 hours later I began having contractions and they weren't stopping. I was told to go to labor and delivery and just get checked out. Mainly for the fact that since I am O neg they wanted to make sure that none of my blood cells had "gotten loose" where they could potentially affect Hallie. I was given a shot and LOTS of IV fluids to slow the contractions. They also did the blood test to make sure the above hadn't happen and thankfully it hadn't. After about 5 hours at the hospital, my contractions slowed and I was able to go home. We did another ultrasound at 36 weeks and little miss was still measuring big (however my belly was measuring right on track). I knew she was bigger because when she kicked and moved it would literally take my breathe away. She had NO room in there. Everything went routine until 37 weeks when the contractions started again and I ended up back in the hospital. They were still not close enough together to make me go into full active labor so after being watched again I was sent back home. I saw my OB the next week and we decided that I would not go past 39 weeks due to the fear of her being too big.

My doctor was out of town the next week and they were having a difficult time finding a date that the hospital could fit me in for an induction. Of course, I was still hoping I'd go on my own. I was told originally that I couldn't come in until July 29 which was just 2 days away from my original due date. I began to cry and tell the nurse I had a fear of the baby getting too big and me ending up having a C-section. I think she felt bad because she called me back the next day and said be at the hospital July 24th at 11:00. (39 weeks exactly).

We showed up that Sunday morning ready and anxious to meet our third baby girl. Her big sisters were so excited to FINALLY get to meet their new baby sister. We checked in and got straight to our room. They got the IV in and began the pitocin at a little after noon. I was at 3cm when I got to the hospital. My dr. was still out of town but on his way back and hoped to be here by the time she arrived. One of his colleagues came in and broke my water at 12:45. I was contracting pretty good by this point. I had finally had all I could take and asked to get my epidural. The anesthesiologist came in at 2:30 and made my life so much more tolerable, or so I thought. I was still feeling all the HEAVY contractions on the right side of my body. I was in so much pain that the nurse called him to come back and give me more. Apparently the epidural had gone more to one side and therefore the other wasn't getting enough. He pulled it out just a bit and gave me some in my IV. Within 30 minutes, I was feeling NOTHING. My legs were so heavy I could finally relax. I was now in HEAVEN on earth. The nurse decided to check me once again at 5:00 and when she did I was complete and ready. They had me do one push to see how good I would do. She told me to push NO more that they needed to call my dr. who had just gotten back into town, THANK GOD!! My dr. walked in at 5:15 got "suited up" and was ready to start the show. I pushed 3 times and she was here. She arrived at 5:25 pm. All 8 pounds 15 ounces of her. She was a BIG baby. Thank God I didn't have to go any longer or I would have had a 9.5 pound baby. She was so beautiful and looked just like her oldest sister (just a pound and a half bigger).

Tipping the scales:

Mommy and Hallie meeting for the very first time. I'm so in love.

Big sister Macy and Hallie meet for the first time. All she wanted to do was hold her ALL THE TIME!!

Biggest sister Madeline and Hallie. She is the best big sister. She's like her second mommy.

Our first family picture of the FIVE of us. We are so blessed.

We spent two days in the hospital loving and adjusting to life with THREE kids. The girls couldn't wait to come up and see their baby sister, eat all my snacks, and get ice from the ice machine across the hall from my room. We had several visitors but it was mostly quiet and relaxing, which was good because we really got to bond with Hallie.

Here's a look at our days in the hospital.

This is what it looked like most of the time. If one of the girls wasn't in my bed with me, it was two if not all three. HA!!

I love this picture. You can see just how much Macy adores her new baby sister.

Look at those cheeks. They got LOTS of kisses.

All dressed up ready to take her hospital pictures.

The first picture with all three girls together. Aren't they beautiful?

Hallie Grace....so beautiful.

All dressed up and ready to go home. We were SO excited to bring her home. I really missed the other two and couldn't wait to get home too.

All ready to go. Madeline is the photographer so she's missing from the picture.

Waiting on daddy to get the car.

I think that is enough for one post. I will update what's been going on over the next 4 months. LOTS.

19 weeks 2 days

2011-03-08T10:16:00.004-06:00

Well here we are almost half way through this pregnancy. I'm finally starting to feel good. The nausea comes only once a week instead of EVERY morning. Praise GOD!! I'm not as tired and I feel like my energy levels are lasting longer.

When I last blogged we had just had our first big US (ultrasound) at 12 weeks 2 days and had blood work done to determine what are percentages were to having a child with any form of birth defect. About a week later the genetic counselor called to tell us that all my blood work came back and looked great. Knowing that, it dropped our percentages even lower. We were to go back at 16 weeks and have a 2nd round of blood drawn. They then compare the two and if all looks good the percentages drop even more. We received the news about a week later than again everything looked great. We had are next big US on March 1st when I was 18 weeks and 2 days. We got to see our precious baby once again. It's such an amazing sight to see that tiny little thing move all around, waving arms, crossing legs, and doing flips. They checked every part of the body and everything looked fabulous. It just amazes me how you can see the 4 chambers of the heart and the valves pumping, the kidneys, the brain. WOW, God is amazing in his creations. It came time to determine what the gender of our sweet baby was. Remember we had been told early on that he believed it was a girl. Well..............................................................

He was.............................................................................................................................................................

CORRECT!!! We will be adding ANOTHER sweet princess to our family. THREE girls!! What are we ever going to do. HA! I've told hubs to just get ready that it's gonna be a LONG time before we have that "dream vacation" or anything for that matter...HA!! By the time we pay for clothes x 3 girls, makeup x 3 girls, prom dresses x 3 girls, WEDDINGS x 3 girls. I'm ready!! I can't wait to see these three sister grow up together and become best friends. However, I do worry a little about the age difference. By the time she arrives Madeline will be 8 and Macy will be 5. I know it will all work out.

We've decided that her name is going to be.............................................................................................

Hallie Grace

We are so excited to meet her. I have been looking at fabric for the past week trying to decide exactly what I want to use. I have it narrowed down and I'm meeting with the lady who will be making it today to see what she thinks. We have began cleaning out what was the play room but will now be Miss Hallie's room.

I've been able to feel her move and kick for several weeks now and its the best feeling in the world. She especially loves to start moving right when I'm getting ready to try to go to sleep. Madeline did this too when she was a baby. The girls, especially Macy has really been wanting to feel her move but every time I put their hand on my tummy, Hallie stops. Already playing games with her sisters. HA!!

I'll leave you with a few belly shots over the past few weeks.

This is at 14 weeks before we went to the United Way Gala.

(I think I look a lot bigger than I really was).

This is at 18 weeks before church. Of course, my bottom hand is hiding a lot. HA!

The Big Announcement!!

2011-01-20T13:13:00.008-06:00

I haven't blogged in a while and I have several reasons why.

1. We've been busy with the holidays and trying to get back into the "swing" of things.

2. I haven't felt real good for the past 2 months.

3. I've had a big announcement to make but wanted to wait till the right time to announce it.

The time has come.

We are excited to announce that we are having BABY #3.

Yes, you read that right. We will be adding a new addition to our family in July 2011.

(Warning this could be long and boring to some. However, it's my blog and my way of remembering this time in our lives.)

Now Read on:

I couldn't not be more excited about this baby but it came with MANY emotions. We had decided in the late spring/early summer of 2009 that we wanted one more child. We decided to begin our journey in Oct. 2009. Hubs' sister was expecting her first child in Sept of that year and we didn't want to take away from her joy. Seeing as how we never had to "try" with our previous pregnancies we didn't think it would take long. God had a different plan. His timing is ALWAYS right. As some of you know, 6 years ago I suffered a miscarriage at 12 weeks. (January 13, 2005). You can read about it here. We found out November 17, 2004 that we were expecting our 2nd child. It was on this EXACT same day, 6 years later, that we learned we were expecting this baby. I had so many emotions that came stirring back but yet I was trusting in God. If he had chosen this was the time for this child everything was going to be ok.

After a year of trying to conceive, I visited with my OB to discuss a plan of action. We did several blood test in mid Oct. to make sure that all my levels were where they should be. We then followed up with an Ultrasound to make sure that everything was "normal". What we saw on the ultrasound showed that I had PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). We discussed options and decided that I would start on a round of clomid in November. I had everything I needed and was ready to start with our plan. I waited and waited for my cycle and it never came. I was scared to take a pregnancy test because I had done so so many times in the past months and had been let down by the Negative results over and over. I then noticed that I had a few "symptoms" of pregnancy and decided what the heck. I took the test fully expecting it to be another negative when much to my surprise it was POSITIVE. I began to cry, I was shaking, I was shocked, and had to tell someone. I called Hubs at work and told him, "I think I'm pregnant!" I took another test that night which came up NEGATIVE. Again, I was disappointed and my heart was breaking into a million pieces. How could one be positive and one negative. I decided I'd take one the next morning first thing. I woke up the next morning, my heart was pounding, I wondered What would I see this morning. I took the test and waited what seemed like forever (maybe 1 minute) and it was positive. I called my OB's office and told them about the test and they told me to come in on Friday to do bloodwork. I went in and gave blood and the nurse called me that afternoon saying that it showed I was pregnant but my numbers were really low and not to tell anyone just yet about the pregnancy. She told me to come back in on Monday morning and they want to see that the numbers had gone up. It was the longest weekend. There I was remembering this SAME EXACT scenario as with the pregnancy I lost.

Monday morning came, I gave my blood, and waited for the call. The nurse called that afternoon and said my numbers looked great and it was ok to tell our families. She said the numbers were probably low because I was only a few weeks pregnant. I was set to have an US in mid Dec. to find out how many weeks I actually was. We still decided to wait until after the US to tell our parents because we wanted to be able to tell them when they could expect their newest grandbaby. Boy was that ever hard.

On December 4th, we ended up in the emergency room because I couldn't keep anything down and I was severely dehydrated. I ended up having gastroenteritis. While we were there they did an US and we found out we were 5 weeks and 5 days pregnant at that time. It was great to get to see the little "Dot" of a baby on the screen. It made it more real. We then had our US with my dr. on Dec. 14th and we were 7 weeks 2 days. It was amazing how much bigger the baby had gotten in that short amount of time. The best thing was just seeing the heart beating. We were told we were due July 31, 2011. This is just 4 days past when our Angel baby was due. I feel this is the baby God took from us and now he's blessing us with that July baby.

Here's a look at our precious baby at 7 weeks 2 days:

We told both our parents by having the girls both wear "I'm a Big Sister" shirts. Of course, neither set of parents got it right away. They both questioned why Macy, our youngest, was wearing a big sister shirt when she is the little sister. They were not expecting us to have any more children. They were all VERY shocked but VERY excited.

I have felt a lot like I did with both of the girls through the first trimester of this pregnancy. I have had lots of nausea, very tired, and headaches. As it got later in the 1st trimester the nausea started to not come as frequent. Praise the Lord!!

I went back to my OB for the first time since our initial visit on January 11. I was 11 weeks and 2 days. I was SO excited to get to hear the heart beat for the first time not using US. I got on the table and the nurse got the doppler placed in on my stomach. She began to search for that tiny heart beat. Nothing. She moved it aroud. Still nothing. I started to panic, I began to sweat, and then the tears came. I was remembering all to well not hearing that heart beat. I was just a few days shy of the day I lost my 2nd baby. Finally after what felt like an ETERNITY (was really about 3 minutes) we heard that swishing beat. 172 beat a minute. Thank you God. I began wiping the tears and thanking the nurse as if she had just performed a miracle. To me, it was a miracle. Everything looked great and my OB and I discussed that because of my "maternal age" he was referring me to see a Perinatal specialist. Who would have thought that 35 was SO OLD. HA!! He explained it was mainly a precautionary measures because with being 35 I'm at higher risk for birth defects and chromosomal issues.

We met with him on January 18th. We first met with a genetic counselor who got all our family history, discussed in detail all the risks we face, and all the different issues that could be. We then had an extensive Ultrasound with a high tech machine. It was AMAZING all that we could see. The baby was VERY active and flipped all over the place. We were able to see a lot of baby. After the sonogram tech was done, they came in took my blood to test for my percentages of having any of the chromosomal issues. The doctor then came in and did his ultrasound, measuring different things, looking for signs of any defects like Downs Syndrome or Edwards Syndrome. They do this by measuring the back of the neck and looking for the nose bone to be predominant. Both looked great according to the dr. He said the baby looked wonderful. I was told he's good at early gender prediction so I had him take a look and see what he thought. At this time, he's saying GIRL. Oh my, what are we going to do with THREE GIRLS. However, I'm not going to run out and buy pink just yet. We go back on March 1st to find out for sure.

Here's are sweet baby at 12 weeks 2 days: (Sorry these pictures were taken with my phone)

Profile of baby looking down.

4D picture of baby. Looks like a little alien.

This is a picture of the top of "her" head and "her" arms out.

We got some AMAZING video but I won't bore you with it. We are just so excited and can't wait to spoil this baby. We did get the furniture ordered last week because the brand we chose takes 20 weeks to get in. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we go through this pregnancy. I'll definetly be keeping you all updated. This is going to be my "journal for baby".

I leave you with the first belly shot. I did not take belly pictures with either girl and I wish I would have. I'm going to document as much with this one as I can. Even if I look HORRIBLE!

We go back to the dr. for a normal routine checkup on Feb 8th and then back for more blood work at the Perinatal office on Feb 15th.

Till next time.

Show Us your life-Entry Ways

2010-12-03T09:03:00.007-06:00

This week on Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life it's entry ways. In our new home we don't have a great big entry way. We do have more than what we were going to have before. If you remember in an earlier post that we enclosed 2 walls that were meant to be formal dining to make it an office instead. In doing this, it created an entry way. Take a look....

A view of the outside entry from the driveway.

This is looking at the entry to our house from the street.

We're getting closer to getting inside.

Looking at the front door. I'd like to find a nice area rug to go in this area. That carpet strip you see is just scrap carpet from when we first moved in. I forgot to move it when taking the pictures. These were all taken 4 months ago when we first moved in. Ha!!

Yes, those cords still need some cord covers on them. HA!

This is the view you see if standing at the front door.

I would still like to do something to fancy this space up a little more but I just haven't found what I want yet. I can't wait to see what others looks like. Maybe, I'll even get some ideas.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-26T12:49:00.002-06:00

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. We loved spending Thanksgiving in our new home back in Oklahoma close to our families and friends. It did seem a little weird to not drive the 3 hours to see our families. This year I hosted Thanksgiving with Hubs side of the family. This was the first time that I have EVER cooked a HUGE meal for people. I must say, I was a little bit nervous. Many of the things I made I had NEVER made before and I was about to serve them to my in laws. What if I messed it up, what if they get sick, what if it's just PLAIN disgusting?

I prepared some of the items the night before and got up early Thanksgiving morning to finish all the cooking. It's A LOT of hard work. Now I know how much work goes into it. I have to say that everything turned out delicious and everyone thought so too. YAY, for me!! However, I'm not sure I'm ready to make this a tradition. HA!!

I have SO many things to be thankful for this year. God has truly provided for our family on HIS timing. The beginning of the year was rough with things going on with HUBS. God's hand was right in the middle and we learned more than ever to TRUST him. He provided just as he promises he will. We got to move back to Oklahoma to be closer to our friends and family. I'm loving being back but still miss SO much about Texas. We were blessed with a new beautiful home and even able to rent our home in Texas. God is good!! November started out with a scare with Mom suffering 3 heart attacks that ended up in surgery and a stay in the hospital. I'm SO thankful that God chose to keep her here longer. I can't imagine my life without her in it. I can't imagine my kids growing up and not knowing her and making memories with her. She lost her mom at around the same age I am now and so she knows what it's like to not have your mom around. As you all know, even as grown adults, there are times when you JUST NEED YOUR MOM! Love you momma and so blessed to have you here. Please do EVERYTHING you can to get healthy and remain that way. We need you!!

We still have a little over a month left of this year and there are still MANY things that we have to be thankful for.

I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband that works HARD everyday so that I can stay home with my girls, that we have the nice things we have, and that he loves me the way he does. I'm thankful for my 2 beautiful girls that are healthy, happy, and SO MUCH FUN!

May God bless you and your family during this holiday season.

Show us your life-Bathrooms

2010-11-12T13:12:00.009-06:00

This week at Kelly's Korner she is doing Show Us Your Life-Bathrooms. This is something that we DO have in our house. HA! The past few weeks I haven't been able to participate because we didn't have the rooms or talent that she was portraying. So come on and take a look.

First I'll start with my girls bathroom:

View from the hallway looking at the sink area.

More of a straight on view. I had the shower curtain made so it would be extra long.

Another wall.

The bathroom is right between their bedrooms. My oldest wishes she had her own bathroom. She doesn't like having to share with little sister. Get used to it sweetheart.

Next is our half bath/Powder bath:

This bathroom was already complete when we decided to purchase the house. The brick wall part is not something that I would probably chosen but it's growing on me. We may eventually decide to change it but for now it will have to work.

Now for our Master Bath:

Looking in from our bedroom.

Straight forward view. The back "room" you see is where the Potty area is. To the right the first door is our closet that wraps ALL the way around the shower which is on the right as well.

Inside our shower which I LOVE!! It has double shower heads and is like being at the spa it's so big. Big selling point for me to buy this house. HA!

Shower with door closed.

I don't have a picture of tub area. We have a large garden jacuzzi tub which I use quite often.

There you have it, our bathrooms. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. I can't wait to see the others.

My life is crazy....

2010-11-09T12:48:00.019-06:00

Time to play catch up again. I haven't been participating in Kelly's Korner -Show us your life lately because the areas of the house she's been doing we don't have. We chose not to have a formal dining room and right now we use our extra bedroom as a playroom for the girls.

I began keeping my nephew back in the middle of October when my sister in law went back to work. I keep him on Mondays, Wednesdays, and every other Friday. My mother in law keeps him on the other days so I can still have my "kid free" days to run errands, go to the doctor, etc. Those are the days that Macy goes to MDO. I have really enjoyed having him. He's a lot of fun but you quickly forget (since it's been 4.5 years since I had a little baby in the house) how much attention/time they require. I enjoy it though and I'm happy that I can help my brother in law and sister in law out. I'm not going to be doing it forever. We did it to help while he was still so small.

Macy and Jackson.

She likes him and loves to play with him but DOES NOT like it when he cries or when he takes too much of my time. She's the baby after all. HA!

The end of the month was busy with preparing for Halloween, we took a trip back to Texas to visit friends, and to surprise one of Madeline's dear friend at her birthday party. She really wanted Madeline to be there but didn't think it would happen since we now live in Oklahoma. It worked out that Madeline had Fall break from school for 2 days so we showed up and she was so surprised and so happy.

Here's Tyler answering the door and seeing Madeline for the first time.

We had a great weekend and got to see LOTS of our friends. However, I think one of the highlights of the weekend was going to church on Sunday at our church, Harvest. We LOVE that place and all it's people. We are missing it lots. It was so good to see many of our church family that day.

Halloween came and went and left us about 4 buckets FULL of candy. This candy has got to find it's way out of this house because I'm gaining by the day because I can't seem to keep my hand out. The girls had a great time this year. We went to a place called Storybook Forest which is a GREAT alternative to the SCARY Halloween doings. It is out by one of the lakes in our area and they have it out in the forest and it depicts all the different Storybook characters. The girls loved it and had a blast. These are just some of the stories they had in the forest.

Madeline and Macy getting ready to go in.

Rapunzel. Throw down your candy!

Peter, Peter Pumpkin eater.

The Little Old Lady Who Live in a Shoe.

The Three Little Pigs.

Hansel and Gretal's house.

At the end of the forest they had a hay ride, kid games, a tent with a girl reading stories, and they had about 7 different camp fires going where you could roast marsh mellows and hot dogs as a family or with friends. We will definitely be going back next year.

On the weekend we got together with my brothers kids and carved pumpkins. The kids had a great time digging all the pumpkin "guts" out. The girls were a little taken back at first then dug right in. They turned out so cute. Take a look...

Papa is getting the kids all ready.

Dig in. I love the looks on their faces.

Macy's didn't mind getting her hands all dirty.

All the cousins with their pumpkins.

Madeline (7), Macy (4), Lyric (21 months), & Garrett (10)

Silly Cousins!!

That night the girls got dressed up in their costumes and were ready to go do some trick or treating. We were so lucky that the weather was perfect. In Oklahoma, you NEVER know what the weather is going to be.

Veterinarian Madeline

Sweet Southern Belle Macy

Enough Pictures...We want to go get CANDY!!

We made it through...Until next year....!

On a more serious note. My mom had been having these "episodes" of severe nausea, intense pain, dizziness, anxiety, and fatigue. She'd had them off and on for the past 2 weeks. She said it felt like intense acid reflux or possibly her gallbladder. She had 2 of them last week so I made her go into the doctor to get checked and figure out what was causing the pain. She went in last Thursday (November 4) to her primary care doctor. He wanted to start by doing an EKG. What he saw sent him in emergency mode. He gave her a nitro glycerin pill and told her to head straight to the Heart hospital and that she needed to call someone to drive her there and he would be calling to let them know that she was on her way. She called me in hysterics scared because she didn't know what was going on. She had my aunt take her because she was the closest and my dad, brothers, and I all headed straight there. I was terrified because I didn't know what was going on other than the doctor saw something and sent her straight there. I got there and she was already back in an emergency room with my dad. We waited and waited what seemed like forever. My dad finally came out and told us that these "episodes" that she had been having were actually heart attacks and they were taking her right back to do an arteriogram and would fix whatever they find. The test showed that she had 100% blockage in one artery and 95% in another. They were able to go in and do a stent in the 95% blocked one and chose to watch the other for now. She said in the hospital for 3 days and was doing well. She is home now and resting and regaining all her strength. Mom was also diagnosed with diabetes about a year and a half ago and I guess the two go hand in hand (heart disease and Diabetics). She is going to have to make some lifestyle changes and I know she can do it. It's very scary to think that if she would have had one more attack that could have been it. I would no longer have my mother, my best friend. I thank God daily for allowing her to stay with us. I can't imagine my life without her and my girls not getting the chance to know her. I will do all I can to help her and my dad do what they need to do to become healthier and live as long as possible. I would appreciate any and all prayers that she recovers quickly and does what she is told to keep this from happening again.

I leave you with our crazy dog, Cooper....

Cuddling with his daddy.

This is how he lays out in the middle of the yard in the hot sun. He's so funny and that's why we love him so.

Busy Weekend...

2010-10-18T11:46:00.014-05:00

It was a busy weekend in our house this past weekend. Last week, Madeline took part in a cheer clinic put on by our local high school cheer and pom squads. She had a great time. During the week they learned a cheer and dance. They then got to present what they had learned during the week at halftime of the football game Friday night. She was super excited that LOTS of people would be watching her. I tried to video her but there were so many girls out on the field and with all the turns, leaps, kicks, jumps, etc it was impossible to record her so instead here are a few still shots of my beautiful girl.

The dance they learned was to Justin Bieber's "Baby, Baby" song. Hence why her shirt says "Bieber fever" on it.

Here you can see Madeline (back of her) talking to one of the pom girls.

Saturday was GAME DAY!! OSU (Oklahoma State vs. Texas Tech). Lucky for us it was televised. We had my in laws over to watch the game and we grilled some hot dogs. I made a 7 layer dip , deviled eggs, and rice crispy treats (girls request) for dessert. My mother in law brought over a yummy chocolate chip cheesecake. Im not a big cheesecake fan (it's a texture thing) but it was pretty good I have to say.

This picture isn't from this weekend's game but I had to show you how cute our OSU family is. This is from a home game we went to early in the season. GO POKES!! We are 6-0, 2-0 in conference play. Next week is Homecoming week at Oklahoma State which is a VERY big deal. OSU is known for their homecoming festivities.

Sunday, we celebrated my birthday. Let's just say, for some reason this year was a hard one for me. I only turned 35 but I think it's because I'm on that back hill slide towards 40. UGH!! My sweet family let me sleep in (we missed church), brought me a donut in bed and let me be lazy all morning. In the afternoon we went to have a late lunch with my parents at their house.

We then took the girls to the Pumpkin Patch. They were so excited. It was a really neat place. They had lots for the kids to do. There was a petting zoo where you could pet and feed the animals, we got to watch a pig race, took lots of pictures, went through the corn field maze, the hay bale maze, went on a hayride, and lastly, we picked out our perfect pumpkins which our now decorating our front porch and flower beds. Needless to say, we were very dirty and went straight to the shower when we got home. Enjoy our trip to the pumpkin patch,

Our family before going into the pumpkin patch!!

The girls riding the "tire horses".

Silly Macy. I don't know why but she thinks she has to "pose" for EVERY picture.

My sweet Madeline. Isn't she beautiful?

The girls at the beginning. Again, Macy is posing!

Madeline feeding the baby goat.

I think this was Macy's favorite part. However, she was a little stingy with her food. The goat would put its nose in her cup to get food and if it got ONE piece, it was done. HA!!

Petting the soft bunnies.

This must have been the "pose" for the day.

Madeline is my TALL child.

The girls found their way through the hay maze. They were SO excited. I think they thought we might be stuck in there forever.

Hubs and the girls going through the corn maze.

The girls were trying to decide which way to go.

The corn maze. We were "lost" in the there for about 30 minutes.

Waiting on the hay ride (dust ride) to begin.

Posing with the Peanut characters.

We had a BLAST!! Love this time of year. Happy Fall Y'all

Show Us Your life-Office

2010-10-16T10:59:00.007-05:00

This week it was Show Us Your Life-Office at Kelly's Korner. When we bought our house it didn't have an office in it but it did have a formal dining which we NEVER use. We had one at our house in Texas and never used it so we talked with the builder about how we could transform that room into a study because we DO use it. He said it would be a very easy fix. Looking at the room now you can not tell it was ever different.

You can see in the picture above the BEFORE picture. Just to the left of the front door (where the column is) is what was the formal dining.

Here's another look. Our one concern about closing it in and converting it into an office was that we'd lose some of the sunlight in the room and the entry way would not be large enough.

The construction had began. It was looking good.

The entry way was still big enough and open. We are about ready to move in.

Of course, we've since moved in (2 months ago) and we love our office. The AFTER:

The entry way (side view)

Looking into one side of the office.

Looking into the office from the living room.

Remember this was just a big open space? They added two walls, two french doors, and a transom window. I love it!!

So there you have it our office. Can't wait to see all the others.

Show Us Your life-Kitchen

2010-10-08T09:39:00.003-05:00

It's Friday which means its Show Us Your Life-Kitchen edition from Kelly's Korner. I LOVE my kitchen in our new house. It's one of the deciding factors for me. It's big, has TONS of storage, and is easy to cook in..

I still have some decorating to do in here but it will come. Hope you enjoy.

The Dining area that opens to the living room.

Looking in from the hall way

Looking from the hallway to the left side of the kitchen. The cutout looks into the living room.

View if standing in the dinette area.

Another view standing the dinette area.

So there you have it, our lovely kitchen. Can't wait to see all the others.

JASPER!!

2010-10-06T17:50:00.002-05:00

Enough said....

Ha. I love this small town in south east Texas. It is beautiful driving into town as you make your way through the Angelina National Forest. I didn't get a picture because I was driving and Hubs was too tired to get the camera out. Trust me, it's beautiful.

We took off on Thursday morning earlier than we intended. I think we were all so stinking excited to see our dear friends, that none of us could sleep. We were on our way with smiles, snacks, and drinks to get us through the LONG 8 hours ahead of us. It all went downhill FAST!! We got about 1 hour from our house when going down the highway at 75 mph our front passenger side tire BLEW!!! Talk about scary, I was horrified. Now if you know myself or Hubs then you know that neither of us know NOTHING about cars. Hubs has changed a flat before, in our garage with the help of our neighbor (who we were on our way to see). Now here we are on the side of the highway, loaded down with luggage and our two precious girls. We are about 1.5 feet off the highway. Not much room which made Hubs even all the more nervous. You see and hear about people running into the back of cars on the highway so our adrenaline was running high while we read in the auto manual how to change a flat tire. Oh and I forgot to mention that my lovely oldest child who has tons of FEARS and HIG ANXIETY is FREAKING out inside the car. (not helping us). My youngest child thinks this is all pretty cool. We finally get the jack out from under the seat, get the spare tire down, and start loosening the lug nuts. Let me remind you that this whole process has taken us about 25 minutes. Finally, by God's doing a trucker stops on the OPPOSITE side of the highway, crosses over to see if we needed help. Thankfully he did because we couldn't get the tire off. He had to run back across the highway to grab a hammer out of his truck. Im praying that this man doesn't get hit running across all 4 lanes of this popular traveled highway. We finally get the tire off, spare on, and put all the "tools" away. We're finally back on the road.

We had planned on stopping by and checking on our house in Keller but then decided it would be more important to stop and get a new tire just in case we should blow another we would have our spare. We spent another hour waiting for TWO new tires to be put on. We are running WAY behind schedule and I don't like it at all.

Thankfully the rest of our drive (last 5 hours) was uneventful and smooth. We finally made it to our friends house and everyone was beyond excited.

Madeline and Rachel seeing each other for the first time. In the background is Hubs and Mark.

We unloaded the car and decided to go eat. Well, all the girls did. The boys stayed and watched the OSU vs. A&M game. It was SO good to see Kristie and catch up. I really miss her.

We stuck around the house for the rest of the night. Friday, we got up and went shopping, had lunch, and took the kids out to swim and ride the golf cart while the men went to play golf. It was a beautiful day. Friday night was football night. Colby (their son) plays for the varsity team.

Girls ready to cheer on the Bulldogs!!

Our Best Friends!!

Our Family!! Go Bulldogs!!

Scoreboard before the game. We wont show the end result!!

Go #20!!

Saturday we got up and went to the Fall Festival in town. Mind you this is a very small town and it took us longer to drive to the festival than it did to walk around it. There were booths of people selling crafts, companies advertising, food, and a few games for the kids. The girls loved the DARE car.

Posing with the DARE car.

That afternoon we went to watch Rachel cheer on her football team. They were so cute and she did a great job.

Go Bulldogs, GO!!

Rachel after the game!

Once the game was over we convinced the guys that since we had the kids the past 2 days that it was their turn to keep them and we (Kristie, her oldest Kaleigh, and her sister Kim) were going to Lufkin (closest town with a mall) to shop. We had a great time. We laughed a lot and got lots of good buys. It was nice to just get to hang out. However, I knew that Sunday was just a few short hours away and it was going to be time to say our goodbyes. I had been looking forward to going to Jasper for a month and at the same time dreaded having to say those goodbyes again. The first time was hard enough.

Sunday came and we packed and loaded the car. It was time!!! We put it off for as long as we could but then with LOTS of tears, long hugs, and lots of I LOVE YOU'S we said goodbye and vouched that we'd see each other in December or January. I don't know if I can make it that long. I told Hubs on the way down there that I really didn't like there being EIGHT hours between us and his reply was me either but it makes it harder for us to just get in and drive here. I would trade the hurt of saying goodbye 100 times for the fabulous time we had together.

So that was our trip to South East Texas. Till next time.

Roadtrip....

2010-09-29T17:33:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow morning we will wake up. load the car, and begin our EIGHT hour road trip. We are all SUPER excited about this trip which is going to make the eight hours in the car even that much longer. Where are we going?

Jasper. Jasper, Texas that is? Heard of it? It's a VERY small town in south east Texas. Our former neighbors/best friends moved there in July. It's home for them. About 3 weeks after we found out we were moving back to Oklahoma they were offered the opportunity to move back to their home town.

We haven't seen each other in over 2.5 months. To many of you that doesn't seem like a very long time to be apart but trust me IT IS!!! We lived next door to each other for 4.5 years and we saw each other EVERY day (unless we were out of town). I miss that, I miss her, I miss her kids, I miss our sits on the porch watching the kids play, I miss our LONG talks, I miss praying together, I miss working together in our church nursery. I JUST MISS THEM!!!

I'm excited and yet dreading this trip all together. I can't wait to get there and hug her and spend a weekend laughing, crying, having the best time. However, I know Sunday will eventually come and I will have to once again say my "See ya laters". I hate that part. I just have to tell myself it will be for only a few months until I see them again. We are trying to plan to get together over the Christmas break.

I'll take lots of pictures and can't wait to share our trip with you. Pray for safe travels and that the girls survive (and Hubs and I) being in the car for so long.

Show us your life-Master Bedrooms

2010-09-24T10:36:00.006-05:00

I thought in order to have something to blog about I'll join in on Kelly's Korner home tour. She does it every Friday and this week it's Master Bedrooms.

We just moved into our new house a little over a month ago and I'm so excited about having a new bedroom to decorate. In our last 3 homes that we've owned since getting married we have NEVER had a master bedroom that was decorated. It was always the last room to get attention and well it never got the attention it needed. I vowed that this room was going to get the love it deserved.

It's still a work in process.

Looking in from the hallway into the Master. I love the wood on the ceiling.

We are in the process of having gorgeous curtains made.

I'm still looking for something to go above the bed. I just haven't seen anything that I just love yet. It will come.

It looks pretty plain right now but will look great when we get the curtains and wall decor up.

So there you have it...Our Master Bedroom.

O K L A H O M A!!

2010-09-23T11:45:00.020-05:00

Fine, I'm here!!

I have such a hard time sitting down and doing this blog. Maybe because I feel like there isn't much that people think is worthy of hearing about. Several have sent emails asking if I was ever going to update so here it goes. This could get pretty long so hang out tight.

I left off in May and A LOT has happened since then. Starting at the beginning on June, we had gone to Oklahoma to visit Hubs, look at houses, and see friends when I got a call from our dear neighbors telling me that our beloved beagle Riley was not acting right. He wouldn't eat and was acting pretty lethargic. I told them to bring him inside because maybe the summer heat was getting to him. They did and by the next morning was doing worse. I quickly loaded up the girls and started the 3 hour trek back to Texas. Meantime, I called our vet to make an appointment to bring him in as soon as I got back. They told me to bring him in at 1:30. If you remember, we lost our basset Buford in November 2008 while we were out of town. They always get sick when we are no home. I made it home by 11:45 and I figured that once I got home and Riley saw me he'd perk up and be ok. That wasn't the case. You could tell that when he saw me he was trying his hardest to wag his tail, lift his head, anything to show me he was happy to see me but he just couldn't. He did not look good at all. I laid there by him with the girls telling him it was going to be ok, we were home and taking him to the dr. He then started to yelp loudly which scared the girls so I ran them next door to the neighbors. Kristie came over with me and helped me with Riley. By this point he was starting to have seizures. Not the kind where you shake but his body would get stiff and he'd roll a little on his back. He did this about every 5 minutes for the next 30-45 minutes. I knew what was happening. He was trying to die. I felt so helpless. I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to keep him comfortable till I could get him to the vet. At this point the seizing got worse and he was uncontrollably shaking every 30 - 1 minute. I just sat over him crying, begging him to just go. I told him over and over, it's ok to go. We finally loaded him in my car and drove him to the vets office to wait because they were due back from lunch at 1:00. Right as we pulled into the drive he finally gave up and passed away. It was so hard to say goodbye. Riley was mine and Hubs first pet together. We got married in August 1999 by October I told hubs that I had to have a dog. I had grown up with dogs ALL my life and it was weird not having one. We lived in an apt. at the time so I knew we needed a smaller dog. I found a breeder that breed beagles and we went and picked him up the next night. He was our first BABY. He was with us for almost 11 years. He would have been 11 on Oct. 8th. Our poor Cooper, basset we got after Buford died went into SERIOUS mourning. He cried and cried for weeks, he wasn't eating, and really missed Riley. He never knew any different. We still miss him daily and often wonder what he would have thought about being back in Oklahoma.

Sweet Riley:

Playing with Cooper.

We made it through that only to have another big event happen. The week after we said goodbye to Riley, Madeline broke her collar bone. Yes, remember that while all this is going on, Hubs is still living in Oklahoma. I was one stressed out momma. It was a complete freak accident. She was feeding Cooper and at the time we had a baby gate set up on the back door to keep him from scratching the paint on the door since we were trying to sell our house and when she leaned down to put the food down the gate fell causing her to fall and catch all her weight on her collar bone. Off to the ER we went. Although she was in A LOT of pain, she did great while at the hospital and even after. She spent the first two weeks in a sling and sleeping in the recliner. It did however, make for an interesting summer. She was allowed to get into a pool but NO swimming, jumping etc. She couldn't do anything for 6 weeks. She was devastated that she couldn't do ANY cheerleading. She survived and the break healed great. Thank God. While I'm on Madeline, we did see the neurologist in June for her headaches and she was diagnosed with having migraines. He gave us some meds that she is to put under her tongue when she feels the headache coming on and hopefully that will help before it gets to the point that she's throwing up. We've only had to use it once about 3 weeks ago. YAY!!

Madeline in her sling. This is a week after she broke it.

Moving right along, next was the house. We FINALLY, after weeks and LOTS of houses we found our home. We put an offer and they accepted right away. We just needed to sell ours in Texas. The weekend of July 4th, we had 2 offers come to us. We decided to go with the first couple's offer because it was a good offer and because the second couple we could tell were going to be HIGH MAINTENANCE. Let's just say, they came to look at the house 3 different times and the 3rd time the guy brought a level in with him. Its a 5 year old house I can only imagine the things he thought he's find. Everything was moving very smoothly with the sale of our house UNTIL the week before closing. The couple that was buying our home had to sell their home in order to purchase ours. They had a friend of theirs that was buying their house and paying cash for it, however, he was in the middle of a divorce. We were a little sketchy about accepting the offer because of this but we got a letter from his attorney stating he had funds to purchase the home and that the divorce would be final by the close date we had set. GREAT!! Not so fast, the day they were set to go to court (week before our closing) to finalize divorce the man was put in the hospital so they moved the court date to 3 days before our closing. OK, it can still happen, we're good...not so much. The next court date the ex wife decides she's not happy with the settlement and decides there needs to be some more negotiating. So the day before we are set to close, our buyers pull their contract and decide to wait till the divorce is final. So needless to say, we had to go ahead with our move to Oklahoma because Madeline was going to be starting school in 2 weeks and our house there was ready. We are now the proud (hear the sarcasm) owners of 2 homes and not one of them is a vacation home. We are trusting in God and know that he has a plan for us. We have seen him work in every other aspect of our move back here that he will see us through to the end. We found out last week that the buyers that wanted our home have since moved into a rental because their friend/buyer was just diagnosed with cancer and the divorce is still not final. Please be in prayer that we sell our home quickly. If you know of anyone looking for a home in the DFW area, we have a great home.

Our Texas house for sale.

We were so excited to move back to Oklahoma and be close to our family and old friends. Remember in my last post, I was SO upset about having to leave behind my best friend/neighbors? Well, God knew all along what the plan was. About 3 weeks after we found out that we were moving back to Oklahoma our neighbors found out that there was a job opening for her husband within in same company back in their hometown. Thank you GOD. Even though it was still going to be hard to leave and IT WAS, they were going to be back with their friends and family too. I love how God works. We still miss them dearly and count down till we get to see them again which so happens to be next weekend. We are making the 8 hour trek to visit for a long weekend. I can't wait. We are loving our new home and are pretty much all settled in. We still have a few pieces of furniture to buy and decorations to get but that will have to come once we aren't the proud owner of TWO homes. HA!

Take a look at our new home.

Our Oklahoma home.

The living room.

Back patio. Can't wait to use the outdoor fireplace this winter.

One side of the kitchen (my favorite room)

Other side of kitchen

Master bath

The weekend we moved in was a very exciting weekend for our family as I became an aunt for the 4th time. Jackson Timothy was born August 6. He is precious.

All the cousins (minus Sutton). Big brother Austen wasn't so sure about baby Jackson at first

Aunt D (that's me) is very excited because once his mommy goes back to work in mid October, I get to keep him a few days a week. We will get in lots of snuggle time and play time. I'm excited and so is Macy. Since she's home with me on M, W, and F she'll get to play too.

Madeline started school the 3rd week in August and LOVES her new teacher and is making friends. She really misses her Keller friends but is getting adjusted. She's had a pretty difficult time with adjusting to a new house, new school, no friends, no extra activities, etc. We've had a little bit of seperation anxiety issues but they are getting MUCH better and think they will continue to improve as times goes on. Madeline went to try out for a competitive cheer team here in Oklahoma and they were very excited to welcome Madeline to the team but I think Madeline was a little overwhelmed at the time and decided she didn't want to do it this year. She was just released to start tumbling again from her break, the team already knew some of their choreography, and a new environment that I think it was just too much at the same time. She is going to cheer for our cities optimist team (little league). She's real excited about that and just take a tumbling class. She's also decided that she wants to try her hand at softball in the spring. We'll see. Plans can change.

Macy started MDO in late August and LOVES it. She was so excited and ready to get back into school. She loves her teachers and they love her. They are constantly commenting on how smart she is, how well behaved she is, how helpful she is. Personally I think they got the wrong child/momma combination..HA!! She is a good girl. Macy is also wanting to try T-ball in the spring. We bought both the girls gloves and have played catch a few times. Let's just say they both have a ways to go..HA!

I think that pretty much gets you caught up on our move, summer, etc. I hope to update more frequent. Not promising but I'll try.

Till then.....

Sorry for the delay...Here's the BIG news....

2010-05-25T13:36:00.002-05:00

It's now OFFICIAL....we are moving back to Oklahoma. We are so excited to be rejoining ALL our family and old friends but VERY sad to leave behind the ones we've made here in Texas. I spent the first week after we found out crying myself to sleep at night. Sounds crazy, right? I mean, I'm getting to go back "home", be with all our family, be around my dear friends, and back in a familiar place. Why cry to sleep? It kills me to think about leaving my BEST FRIEND/neighbor. Kristie and I have become as close as two people can get. Our husbands laugh because we can finish each others sentences, we can each only say 1 word and completely know what the other is talking about, we help ourselves in each other houses, we are mothers to ALL our kids. It's going to be SO HARD when the time actually comes and we have to say GOODBYE!! However, to me it won't be a goodbye but a see you later. I know that we will ALWAYS stay close. I have said from the beginning of our friendship that it was a TOTAL GOD thing. He knew just what I needed in a friend when he placed her in my life. Her and the rest of her family will always be dear to us.

We are relocating back to Oklahoma because Hubs took a job there. It's a great job with a great company. I am very excited for him. The beginning of this year has been a VERY tough few months. He had lots going on and needed to get out of the job he was in. After LOTS of prayers, God's timing came perfectly. So now, the fun is beginning with trying to sell our home in a market that is not great. We will begin looking for a house in Oklahoma and pray to be in and settled before school starts back up in August. Madeline will be starting the 2nd grade next year which is very hard to believe. She's pretty nervous about starting a new school, making new friends, leaving her cheer team behind, and essentially starting over for her. Texas is really all she remembers as she was only 2 when we moved here.

Speaking of Madeline, she's been doing great. We have had no major headaches in awhile. (knock on wood) We are to see the neurologist in June to see what he thinks/recommends.

Please be in prayer for our family and we will be separated for a while. Hubs started his job yesterday and will be staying in Oklahoma and the girls and I will be staying in Texas until Madeline finishes school and we sell our house. We got it ready and listed last Tuesday. We've had quite a bit of lookers already. We even had one couple that looked at it twice on Sunday and are currently trying to get pre-approved. Again, praying for God's will and timing. It's hard being away from Hubs and the girls really miss him. Hopefully it won't be too long.

I'll let you know how the process is going.

Happy Mother's Day!!

2010-05-09T20:59:00.002-05:00

First, I want to say Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mother and mother in law. God truly blessed me with a mother loves her children like no other. I know that there have been times in the past 34 + years that my mom and I didn't get along too well (teenage years) but I know she loved me still. I know I was a hard child to get a long with. I thought I knew it all, I was self centered, and had a mouth that ALWAYS had to have the LAST word. I know how tiring that is because I've created a clone just like myself in my sweet Madeline Paige. My mom is my best friend. I wouldn't have made it through half the things I've been through in life without her. I hope I'm half the mom to my kids as she was/is to me. I love you more than you'll ever know.

Thirteen years ago, I was introduced to a wonderful women who two years later became my mother in law. She has been like a second mom to me and the best Gramme to my children. She accepted me into their family just like I was one of "them". She's always made me feel loved and appreciated. She's always there when needed and gives great advice. When times have been difficult she's been a shoulder to cry on. I couldn't imagine having someone besides her as a mother in law. God truly blessed me. I love you Diane.

We've had a great day as a family. We went to church, came home and had lunch as a family. I got to lay down and take a LONG nap with no interruptions. It was wonderful. The girls both made me lots of sweet cards and gifts. I have the sweetest girls. Thank you God for choosing me to be their mommy. My prayer is that I will always be what God intended me to be for them and that I may always make them proud.

Still have news to share but waiting for the right timing.....Stay tuned!!

Will things ever get better?

2010-05-05T12:04:00.002-05:00

Well I'm still here. After spending 2 weeks in and out of doctor offices and hospitals with Madeline, I got to go to the doctor last Friday because of myself. A couple of weeks ago I worked all day in our front flower beds making them beautiful. When I woke up the next day my body was EXTREMELY sore. I don't think I had ever been that sore in my life. (Tells you how badly I am out of shape). I also noticed that my right forearm/wrist was very painful and hosted a HUGE knot. I began to ice it and take ibuprofen to help it heal. That weekend I went to Oklahoma to help a dear friend of mine clean out her father and step mothers house. She lost her step mom in November and her dad past away the end of March. Please keep her and her brother and half siblings in your prayers. So needless to say, there was not much resting of my wrist. A week later it was still hurting intensly. So much so that at night I couldn't go to sleep from the pain. I FINALLY decided to bite the bullet and head to the dr. I find out that I have SEVERE tendinitis and it needs to be in a splint for possibly 4 weeks. This thing is not comfortable and it's HOT!! I can't do anything with it on, I guess that's the whole purpose of it. So that's me.

Then Sunday after church I went to pick Macy up from her class and get ready for our BIG celebration picnic (It was children's day at church). As soon as I saw her I knew that she was not feeling good. She's the child that all you have to do is look in her eyes and you can see it. She told me her head was hurting and she didn't feel good. She was running a fever too. Why is it ALWAYS on the weekend when they get sick? I waited till the next day to call the dr. She ran a 104 temp all night. Nothing was getting it down. I stayed up rubbing a cool cloth over her. We got in to the dr. and found out she had HERPANGINA. She had a rough couple of nights and days but today woke up fever free and feeling a lot better. She still has a little bit of sore throat but she actually ate some lunch.

Hopefully that will be it for a while.

Please continue to pray for our family as some big decisions are about to be made. Pray that it will be GOD'S will whatever we decide. More to come.....

Opthamologist...Check!!

2010-05-01T18:48:00.002-05:00

I took Madeline to the pediatric opthamologist on Thursday to see if it could be her eyes that were causing the headaches. The doctor said if she is having trouble seeing and her eyes are having to strain to see then that could definitely cause her to have headaches.

I was VERY impressed with the doctor we went to see, Dr. Michael Hunt. His office staff was very nice and professional. They were great with Madeline and asked lots of questions. When we got into the exam room there was a sign on the wall that said, "As Christian physicians, we welcome the opportunity to pray with our patients and their families. Please let us know if you would like us to pray with you." I was very impressed. It's not everyday that you go into a doctors office and see a sign like that.

The doctor looked at many different things pertaining to Madeline's eyes. They checked her eye sight, (she saw 20/20 in her right eye and 20/25 in her left) her depth perception, to see if her eyes were trying to cross, and the fluid around her optic nerve. All of these things looked completely normal at this time. So when she tells me she can't hear, ha, I know otherwise!!

So are next step at this point is to see the neurologist in June, the first available appointment they had. However, I'm thinking I may call our pediatrician and ask her about possibly having Madeline allergy tested to see if it could be just plain old allergies that could be causing these headaches. I know during allergy season my head hurts often. We'll see what she says. I'm hoping that soon we will have an answer.

In the meantime, we are gearing up for Macy's FOURTH birthday on May 9th, which also happens to be Mother's Day this year. I can't believe my baby is turning 4 already. Where has the time gone? She is super excited about her "princess" party. We won't have her party until the 15th. All our family is coming down to help us celebrate.

On May 16, Madeline, our oldest is getting baptized. It warms a parents heart when your child asks Christ to live in their heart and become a part of them. We are so excited for Madeline. She asked him into her heart back in January. We were praying before bed and she started asking a bunch of questions and said that she had been thinking about it and that she wanted him to live with her forever. I wanted to make sure she COMPLETELY understood what it meant so we sat down with our Children's minister at church and she discussed with her and asked Madeline a lot of questions. I can't wait till that day when I know that she will be with me FOREVER.

I'll post pictures after all the big events. Also, I'd like to ask that you be in prayer for our family as there may be some BIG changes in our near future. I can't say a whole lot right now but should know more in the NEAR future.

Till then........

Praise the Lord!!

2010-04-28T09:41:00.003-05:00

Madeline's MRI went well yesterday. They had to put her COMPLETELY under with breathing tube and all. I was a little shocked, as I thought they would do a conscious sedation. However, I guess she can't move or make facial expressions while in the MRI so they put them totally asleep. She did great and had no reaction to the anestesea. She was a little upset when we got to her in the recovery room but that is normal. She was fine after she ate the TWO Popsicles they offered her. HA!! We got to the hospital at 9:00 and we were home at 1:30.

I received a call last night from our pediatrician that she had looked at the results and everything was NORMAL!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear that that news. She said the only thing they saw on the MRI was that there was some minimal thickening in her sinus cavity. She asked if Madeline had some congestion. I told her she didn't so she decided she would just watch it and not treat it right now.

Thank you for all the prayers!! Tomorrow we are going to the pediatric opthamologist to have her eyes checked to see if that could be a possible cause for the headaches. I'll keep you posted.

9:00 AM

2010-04-26T17:30:00.002-05:00

Madeline's MRI has been scheduled for 9:00 AM on Tuesday, April 27, 1010. Please pray for peace and comfort for Madeline and us (mommy and daddy) I pray that the images show us what we need to see or MOST importantly that there is NOTHING there. I'll update you when we hear back from the dr. They said the results will be there in 24 hours so we will know something by the end of the week for sure. Thank you in advance for the prayers!!!

MRI update!!

2010-04-25T11:17:00.002-05:00

We went on Wednesday for Madeline's MRI appointment at 1:30. We got there around 1:15 to check in and we were informed that the morning surgeries were running late so could we come back at 4:30. We agreed!! Poor Madeline, she was already so nervous and worked up and was prepared to get it over with. She was very nervous not knowing what to expect of the MRI. We left, went to the toy store for her to pick out a toy to help calm her nerves.
At 4:30, we returned back ready to get it over with. Madeline was still so nervous. However, the tech was fabulous. She apologized repeatedly about us having to be pushed back. She also was sad to report to us that the headphones that you wear during the MRI (to hear the radio) had broken earlier in the day so there would be no music for Madeline to listen to. She was a little concerned about Madeline's age and how this would affect her. If you've ever had a MRI, you know how LOUD that machine is.
We prepared Madeline, explained how everything worked, and got her ready to lay down on the bed. She was scared. I could see it in her eyes. She started to cry a little and we explained it would be ok.
Next, the tech pushed her into the machine. This was a closed MRI (the tunnel kind). Madeline began to FREAK out. She was crying begging me to get her out of the machine. She kept telling me, "Please, get me out, just for a minute." The tech and I both talked to her and got her calmed down, wiped away the tears and we were ready to take picture #1. She warned Madeline about the loud tapping and buzzing noise that machine was about to make.
Picture one started and as soon as it finished Madeline began screaming, "Get me out of here, I want out of here, I'm too scared, It's too loud." She was trying to sit up and climb out the machine herself. I decided at that moment that this was never going to happen. I didn't want it to traumatize her so I told the tech that we were going to have to sedate her and try again.
Poor baby girl. We are going to try again on Tuesday under sedation. Please keep praying that she'll be ok and that the test will show us what we need to see or NOT see. I'll keep you posted.

MRI...

2010-04-21T07:19:00.002-05:00

Today is Madeline's MRI of her brain. Im anxious to get it done and see what it shows. I know that there is nothing wrong but to know for sure will make it all the better. If it should show something we will take it one day at a time with God walking us through.

Madeline is very nervous. I've tried to explain to her what it's like but I don't think she totally understands. Please pray for her. She's my child that worries. She worries about little things so something big like this can cause her lots of anxiety.

I will update as soon as we get some results. We would greatly appreciate any and ALL prayers being sent up on her behalf.

Headaches...GO AWAY!!

2010-04-15T08:22:00.003-05:00

For the past 9 months or so, poor Madeline (my oldest) has been battling some horrible headaches. There has been several occasions where they have woken her from her sleep and made her so sick to her stomach that she has thrown up. They started at the end of last summer and have progressively gotten more frequent and more intense.

At the end of the summer when they first began happening I took her to the dr. to have her checked out. At the time, the dr. thought that maybe since it was the hot part of the summer that a lot of it could be attributed to the lack of fluids and the heat. We loaded her up at the time with lots of fluids and it seemed to help some, no headaches for a few months. They then started coming back almost weekly, however, not always real intense. They were just bad enough that she'd want to just go lay low.

Last Thursday, she went to bed at 8:00 and by 10:00 just awoke complaining that her head hurt real bad and her stomach hurt. I got her some medicine and back to bed. It wasn't 10 minutes later before she threw up. I called the dr. the next morning and made an appointment. We went in and the doctor checked her over. She asked us lots of questions, got more family background, and did some different motor skills testing on Madeline. Everything checked out to be normal. However, there were several things that she wanted to test out more extensively. She ordered for Madeline to have a MRI done of her brain to rule out a brain tumor. She doesn't think that is the cause but wants to be sure. Of course, when a mother hears that I got REAL uncomfortable. I know that the Lord is in control and will see us through whatever the outcome of the test shows. Another avenue we are trying is going to a pediatric opthamologist to make sure that its not her eyes causing the headaches. I have TERRIBLE eyesight so she could have inherited that lovely "flaw" from me. Lastly, she is going to see a neurologist but not until JUNE (this was their first open appt.). CRAZY, I know!! She is going to see him because the dr. HIGHLY thinks she is having migraines which are NO FUN. My husband and I both get them and I can't imagine my 7 year old having to deal with them.

So hopefully within the next few weeks we will get some answers and begin to be able to treat the symptoms better. PLEASE, be in prayer for all the test, results, doctors wisdom, and for us as we deal with whatever we find out. Pray for Madeline as she is nervous about seeing all the different doctors and the unknown of what each of these tests are. I'll update as soon as we find out anything.

I'm Back...Hopefully to stay!!

2010-04-06T15:22:00.006-05:00

Wow, it's been forever since I have visited my blog and even longer since I have updated it. Lots has been going on in our lives these past few months. Our computer crashed a few months ago and we had some debating on what kind of new computer we wanted to replace it with. Should we go PC again or go with the MAC. The MAC won and I'm loving it. There is still so much to learn on it but I'm enjoying seeing all that it can do.

I think I'll spend this post just getting you all caught up on us. Last time I blogged we had just been blessed with a new nephew, Sutton Kyle who is now SEVEN months. That I can't believe. He is getting so big, so fast.

See what I mean? Isn't he just the cutest?

We also found out that in August we will be blessed with another sweet nephew, Jackson Timothy. Hubs' brother and wife are having their second son. We can't wait to meet him.

My niece turned a year in January and is walking EVERYWHERE. We got to spend some time with them while we were "home" for Spring break. I hate living so far away that we only get to see them every couple of months. I feel like we miss out on so much of their lives.

As you know from my last post that Madeline has been doing competitive cheerleading and LOVES IT!! She is doing so well with it. They competed in 4 competitions. The first 2 competitions they competed just as a show team to get them ready for what it was really going to be like when they competed. In their first competition actually competing they got 1st place and they were so excited. Madeline has come a long way in her tumbling. She is doing her standing back handspring and does a round off back handspring. She is currently working on doing multiples (more than one at a time). We are very proud of her and all her accomplishments. Here's some pictures before some of her competitions.

Madeline has almost completed her first grade year. She has done superior in school. We are very proud of her.

Macy has been staying home with me for the past 6 months. Her "school year" started off rocky with lots of illness so we decided to pull her out and just kept her home, as I enjoyed having our time together. She tries to keep up with Madeline and one day wants to be a MVP cheerleader, just like sissy.

The end of October was a difficult time for our family as we lost Hub's Mema. She had battled with Alzheimers for a number of years and her health was slowly getting worse. Although it was very hard to say goodbye, we all knew that she was in a much better place and she was reunited with her love, Granddad. We loved her and miss her.

As for me, I took a MUCH needed girls cruise with 2 of my friends in January. We sailed out of Galveston and headed towards warmer weather in Mexico. We were done for 5 days and it was great. It was nice to get away just girls with no worries, no children, and no hubbies. However, I did miss them dearly but I'm ready to plan the next one.

Of course, so much more has gone on but that hits the highlights. More to come.....

I'm really bad at this.

2009-10-06T10:46:00.003-05:00

I'm blaming it on my IPhone. I rarely get on the desktop computer because now that I have my IPhone I can do everything on it so I have no reason to get on the computer, therefore, resulting in no blog posts. I want to get better and make the time to do it but I don't.

Let's get caught up.....

First, the last post was about our friends The Jaggears and their "Miracle baby". Just wanted to update you on them. Things are still going FABULOUS. She is in her 18th week and the doctor says everything looks GREAT. PTL!! I can't wait to meet this little miracle.

Next, September 4, I became an aunt again. My sweet, precious nephew, Sutton Kyle was born. He weighed 8 lbs. 2 ounces and was 19 inches long. He is the sweetest natured child. We were able to spend 3 days with them when he was born. He waited to come until he knew his Aunt D could be there and spend some time. Thanks Sutton. Momma didn't like it too much but she got what she waited for and if you ask her she'll tell you it was worth it. Take a look at this sweet little guy...

He has even made the 4.5 hour road trip to come visit us here in Texas. We spent lots of time snuggling together and I loved EVERY second of it. Thanks Mich, for bringing him here to see us.

Madeline is doing very well in school. She was chosen as the Student of the Month from her teacher. She loves school but hates having to come home and work on homework. I told her she better get used to it.

Madeline is doing great in cheerleading and they are gearing up for their first competition in November. She's a little nervous about the competitions but I know she will do great. She has done her back handspring and round off back handspring by herself. She just needs to work on getting more consistent with it. We are super proud of her and her efforts. They will have a two day competition in November and December and then they will compete in January and another in February. I'll be sure to post pictures after the competitions.

As for my sweet Macy, she started school FINALLY. Her MDO (Mothers Day Out) started the second week of September. Her teachers are SO GREAT and she LOVES them. Both happen to go to church with us too. She can't wait for Tuesdays and Thursdays so she can go see Mrs. Marcie and Mrs. Cherie. It's going to be a great year. We miss her teachers from last year too. She was so excited the other day she came home from school and asked me, "Momma, did you know that A says a.(insert a sound here). We're getting there. It's amazing to see the difference between Madeline and Macy at this age. Their interests are different, learning styles are different, attention spans, etc.

Hubs is still loving his job and just celebrated 1 year there. He is also super excited for this time of year because it means FOOTBALL ALL WEEKEND. We enjoy watching our OSU Cowboys play when we can and of course he has his NFL Fantasy Football team that keeps him occupied as well.

Hubs and I decided this year we were going to start teaching in the youth at our church. I am co-teaching the 9th grade girls Sunday school and Hubs has the 11th-12th grade boys. So far we are really enjoying it. I love to hear about what is going on in these young girls lives and hearts. We have a great group of kids. We can't wait to see what God does in the lives of these young adults. I'm also still teaching the 1st graders (Madeline's group) on Sunday nights. I don't leave sweet Macy out, once a month I work in her class during Church service. We stay very busy with church, cheer, school, work, etc. However, God has truly blessed out family.

Right now, I am home with Macy who has the flu....AGAIN. If you remember correctly she had the H1N1 flu in early August. Poor Macy catches EVERYTHING. Please pray that she recovers quickly.

I'm going to try to get on an update more often with more interesting things. Hope you all are staying healthy and enjoying this fall weather. GOD BLESS!!

Answered Prayers...Maybe?

2009-08-28T12:37:00.004-05:00

It's the post I have been promising you for some time now. Are you ready for this? Alright, let's get started.

First, I want to thank our friends Jake & Erica Jaggears for allowing me to share their lives on my blog. Thanks guys!!

Now, I want to give you a little background first. Our friends Jake and Erica, have tried for several years to have a baby of their own. After MANY trips to fertility doctors they were told that with the medical issues BOTH of them had regarding fertility the ONLY way for them to get pregnant was through IVF. Last summer (08), they began the process of IVF. If you have or know someone that has gone through this process you know that it entails A LOT. After all the injections, pills, ultrasounds, they waited for that day when the doctor tells them, Yes, you are pregnant or Sorry, not this time. They received the best answer ANY waiting parent wants to hear. You are PREGNANT!! You can imagine the happiness they felt at this time. Shock, excitement, joy, nervousness, fear, etc.

However, nothing could prepare them for what was to come. They went back a few weeks later (my time frames aren't perfectly correct but you get the point) to have a look at the baby when they hear THREE HEARTBEATS. Yes, TRIPLETS!! So they leave pondering the thought, still in shock, scared, and full of excitement at the thought of three. What joy to know that God has blessed them with THREE little babies. One singleton baby and a set of identical twins. They are excited, nervous, fearful but went about the pregnancy without complications until Erica's 16th week of pregnancy. She began having some difficulties and was admitted into the hospital on bed rest. It's at this point that they called on GOD more than ever. They knew at this point if the babies were to be born there was no way they would make it. Erica did EVERYTHING the doctors told her without hesitation with Jake right by her side. On October 15, their first son was born at only 18.5 weeks. Sadly, he went directly to live with our GRACIOUS FATHER in heaven. The other two, the twins, were still doing ok. Labor had stopped. Grieving the loss of the child she just loss Erica did everything she could to get the other two babies to a viable time. Again, she went into labor on November 7, and gave birth to 2 more sons at 21.5 weeks. All three angels are now in Heaven playing with each other.

Imagine going through the shock and excitement of having three babies at one time and then loosing all three in a matter of 2 weeks. However, Jake and Erica NEVER lost faith in our GOD. They praised him and lifted his name on high. They knew that God had a plan for all he does and they trusted him with whatever his will for their lives would be. What a testimony to all those around them. I can't say that I'd be the same way. I can pray that I would be but I can't imagine the pain, hurt, feeling of loss, grief, and anger. They had MANY prayers being sent up on their behalf and I know it's through those prayers that they made it through that trial in their lives.

After talking with her doctors they recommended that Erica take a break, give her body a rest, and try again in possibly 6 months. Jake and Erica NEVER gave up hope that they were meant to have a child. Erica did just as the doctor told her and met with him on June 4. Everything looked great. She was still a good candidate for IVF. They discussed what they'd like to see happen and that they were going to take it one day at a time. He was very positive that the IVF would work again. Erica began preparing herself again for the procedure (IVF). She began taking prenatal vitamins, she was to start on the Provera (progesterone) to help her have a cycle, after being on the Provera for 10 days she is to start her cycle no more than 5 days later. At this point she is to go in for an ultrasound while on her cycle to make sure everything is ready for implantation. She hadn't started and it was 9 days out. The doctor wanted her to come in to check for cysts that could be causing things not to happen.

On July 7, Erica went into her fertility doctor to have the ultrasound done to see what was going on when much to their (the doctor and herself) surprise....................SHE IS PREGNANT!!! She is pregnant on her own, no IVF. She didn't even think this was possible, the doctors didn't think it was possible but with OUR GOD EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE. God gives to those who remain faithful and trust in HIS PLAN. GOD IS GOOD AND HE DOES GOOD.

Erica is starting her 13th week and is having a great pregnancy (other than the typical morning sickness/tiredness). She had a cerclage (stitch in her cervix) on Tuesday just as a precaution. Since she went into early labor with the boys they want to be sure that this baby stays put for as long as possible. Please pray for Jake and Erica that this pregnancy continues healthy and easy for Erica. They appreciate and welcome ALL prayers.

If you are struggling with infertility know that God is in control. He never leaves you, he will never forsake you. He has a plan for your life and it's on HIS TIME not ours. Be patient and put ALL your faith and trust in him ALWAYS!! There are many out there that wait for YEARS to have a child and when it's time it will happen.

The happy couple.

You can read their blog and keep up with their pregnancy through Erica's blog HERE. They are also AMAZING photographers so if you live in the DFW area look them up, Erica Joyce Photography in Keller, Texas. You can see some of their work HERE.

Love you guys and can't wait to meet Baby Jaggears in March 2010.

She's a First grader...

2009-08-24T10:15:00.007-05:00

Wow...This morning began REAL early (at least for the Mueller girls) this morning.

Today marked the first day of school for a certain FIRST GRADER. That's right, Miss Madeline Paige started first grade today. She was very excited and VERY nervous. I have to admit it's going to be a little strange not having her at home for part of the day. Macy is really going to miss having her around to play with. Mommy will have to be her playmate and she doesn't think I'm as fun as Madeline.

I woke Madeline up at 6:15 so she could shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, get her hair dried and fixed, take "first day of school" pictures, and say her goodbyes to daddy (hubs stayed home with Macy while I took Madeline to school). I was worried that trying to get her up this morning was going to be hard, however, I think it was harder to get myself out of bed. Madeline usually sleeps for another 3-4 hours. I bet she is one tired girl when she gets home from school today. I can't wait to hear all about her first day.

She was most nervous about eating in the cafeteria. Some of her older friends have warned her about how MEAN the lunch lady is. I told her, do what you are supposed to and there will be no worries. She eats lunch at 10:30. That's what time she is used to eating breakfast. I'd better have a snack ready when she gets home today.

You should have seen her last night after we got home from church trying to decide just what outfit would be the PERFECT first day outfit. After laying SEVERAL out she finally decided on just the right one. I think she looks like a cute little school girl.

I know that the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are wanting to see her on her first day...So here she is.....The BIG FIRST GRADER!!!

Looking so grown up.

Madeline and Daddy.

Madeline and Mommy.

I can't believe she's old enough to go to school ALL DAY.

Sitting in her desk...Looking a little unsure of what's about to happen.

I've been praying since school let out last year that she would have a great first grade year. I pray that she will make more new friends, have a wonderful Godly teacher (we had the best last year), and that she would learn lots and have fun while doing it. We'll keep you posted.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
On another note, Many have asked how Macy is doing since being diagnosed with Swine flu. She was sick for a good week but recovered quickly and is back to 100%. We spent a few days at the beach in Galveston again last week. She didn't want to leave. Thank you for your prayers and concern for her. It's no fun for mommy or child when they are sick. I'm still trying to play catch up on all the sleepless nights we got.

Also, I haven't forgotten about the BIG POST that I have been telling you all about. I'm hoping to post this AMAZING story on Friday of this week..So check back, you will not want to miss it. It's another story of how GREAT our GOD is.

Hope you all have had a nice summer. I love the heat but must admit I'm ready for the Fall FOOTBALL weather. Hope all your BACK TO SCHOOL transitions were easy and that all your kiddos, grand kiddos have a GREAT year.

Ready for it to be over already....

2009-08-07T10:50:00.002-05:00

So I had planned on doing a long post about our Oklahoma trip but instead I'm going to post a SHORT update on what my past few days have been like.

It all began Tuesday night when I was putting the girls to bed. When I went to tuck Macy (youngest) in and gave her a kiss on her forehead I noticed she felt a little warm....hot...to be exact. I went to get the thermometer to take her temp and I was quite surprised when it read 102.7. UGH!!! Why me? Why her? She's been my sick child as of late. I dose her up with some Motrin and off to sleep she goes only to wake up a few hours later with an even HIGHER temp.

I call her pediatrician first thing in the morning and of course it's Wednesday and our doctor doesn't work on Wed. So we are scheduled to see her partner at 3:45. We get to the office and get called back almost immediately. The nurse walks in with a mask on (new policy) and asks what symptoms we're having (only high fever at this point), listens to her chest, takes her temp, and then prepares to swab her for the FLU!! What? It's not even flu season? "Are you still seeing the flu?", I ask her. "We never stopped," she said. Macy HATES the "tickling" of the nose test and fought her. She gets the sample and we are left to sit and wait.

Several minutes later, in walks the doctor (also covered with a mask) and asks if there are any other children at home? Confused, I answer yes, one, my 6 year old daughter. Does she have the flu? Yes, says the doc. WHAT?????? How in the world did she get the flu? We haven't been anywhere? Oh wait, just the McDonalds playground on Tues. and church on Sunday. Who knows. The doctor proceeds to tell me that it's Type A-SWINE FLU!! As you can imagine, my head is spinning. What does this mean? I mean, all I've heard is that SWINE flu is REALLY bad, it can kill people, etc. She proceeds to explain it to me and I calm down. She prescribed both girls with Tamiflu and tells us to call our primary doctor to get some Tamiflu.

Yesterday, was a ROUGH day for Miss Macy. She couldn't keep anything down and had very high fever. I called her doctor back and asked what to do. They told me to give her 1 tsp. of fluids every 10 minutes and called in some zofran for her. That helped TREMENDOUSLY with the vomiting and she even took about an hour and a half nap. However, she still felt yuck because her fever was so high (104.7)

We went to bed last night and all of us prayed over her and would you know that she slept all night and her fever stayed low. PRAISE THE GOOD LORD. She woke up this morning with a low grade fever, drank 6 oz. of fluids, and a piece of bread and is still doing great. Hopefully, we are over the worst of it. I know she is DYING to see our neighbors and get out of this house. Hopefully, by the first of the week she will be better. Continue to pray for her that it doesn't get bad again, which it says it can.

Also, I wanted to wish my WONDERFUL hubby a HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY!!! It was 10 years ago today that we stood in front of a church full of family and friends and pledged to love each other forever. It has been the best 10 years of my life. Together we have made 4 homes together, been parents to 3 loving fur babies, been blessed with 2 of the MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, and one angel that lives in Heaven. We have had MANY laughs, joys, disappointments, successes, failures, and trials. All those things have made us who we are today...and I love it.

I love you babe and look forward to MANY, MANY more years with you.
Sorry we can't go celebrate tonight but our flu infested child needs us more....Comes with the territory...HA!!

Love you,
D

A Baby is Coming...

2009-08-05T10:12:00.019-05:00

*Update* My SIL went to the dr. yesterday and is feeling much better. It must have been just a yucky virus. Her blood pressure was lower than the day before and Baby Sutton still looks great. Thanks for all your prayers. Now we just wait for his grand arrival.

Got ya, didn't I? No, I don't have a baby coming but my sister in law does. My nephew, Sutton, is due to arrive by September 2. The girls and I spent 10 days in Oklahoma in mid-July. During that time we celebrated his upcoming arrival by hosting a baby shower and then attending one.
My other sister in law, Katie, and several of my sister in laws friends helped me in hosting a great shower for Baby Sutton. We had a great time and she got lots of great gifts that will be very helpful for when he arrives. We had a mid morning shower where we hosted "brunchy" type foods. There were about 30 women there. Here are some pictures from that day.

Aunt Mich (Michelle) and Madeline with the glider that all the hostesses went in together and got them.

My two WONDERFUL sister in laws.

The beautiful table...

This is Baby Sutton's coming home outfit. So sweet!

Diaper Wreath on the front door. It was SUPER CUTE! One of the hostesses made it.

Me with my beautiful girls....

All the hostesses with the mommy to be.

She also had a shower hosted by a group of ladies from the church her husband grew up in. They were the sweetest ladies. They got a lot of things at this shower that they needed and not a lot of what they got at the previous shower. I think they are set and ready for Sutton to arrive. A glimpse at this shower........

The proud mommy and daddy to be.

I have to say that my girls will be really upset when Sutton does arrive and they realize that Uncle Brad is no longer just THEIRS. The use him for airplane rides, train rides, a human jungle gym, and so much more. When his time is occupied by his own child they will be so upset. I know he will still give them SOME rides just not constant rides. Right, Uncle Brad?

Look at my two BEAUTIES!! They look like they really do love each other....HA!!

Getting ready to open presents...

My father in law made this ADORABLE chandelier to go in the room. My brother in law loves airplanes. Isn't it cute?

At the end of the night we took one last picture. We love Aunt Mich and Uncle Brad.

We can't wait for Baby Sutton's arrival. However, please be in prayer for my sister in law. She has been very sick (unable to keep anything down) for the past few days and is having extreme swelling. As of yesterday, her blood pressure was fine and she had no protein. She goes back to the doctor today for her normal appointment. Hopefully, she is better and can hold on. We don't want them to have to take Sutton early and we definitely want her to feel better. She has had a very pleasant pregnancy thus far.

We did a whole lot more while we were in Oklahoma but that will be for the next post. Also, there is still an AWESOME, INCREDIBLE blog coming up that you won't want to miss...Keep checking back.

Lastly, PLEASE be in prayer for our family, especially my youngest, Macy. I took her to the doctor yesterday and she was diagnosed with the SWINE flu. I know, I was just as shocked as you are. We are all taking Tamiflu in the hopes that know one else catches it. The only place I can imagine that she picked it up was at McDonalds on the playground. That's the only place we have been where she's been around other kids. (other than her Sunday school class at church). Thank you in advance for your prayers.

A day of reflecting....

2009-07-30T12:04:00.004-05:00

Today has been one of those days where you sit and reflect on life, meaning, and understanding. Maybe it's the gloomy weather we are having but life has been so busy lately and I haven't taken the time to just STOP and look at my life and all the WONDERFUL things that GOD has given to me. I got into his word today and boy did he speak to me. Slow down....listen....respond.
I then got online to listen to some of my favorite songs. Today is going to be a great day.

I wanted to share some of my favorites with you. If you listen to the words and the meaning behind each one you will find yourself moved. Listen to what God tells you.

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That song is so powerful and such a reminder that even when we fail God's grace and love will pick us up and redeem us. Lord, May I always love you from the inside out.

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This song is a reminder of just HOW AMAZING our GOD is.

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We sing this in worship at church and there is nothing better than hearing an entire congregation singing about SALVATION. There is NOTHING better.

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This song reminds me of my relationship with MY FATHER IN HEAVEN. GOD IS GOOD!!

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My prayer for you all today is that your lives are touched in one way or another. Allow these songs to speak to your spirit. God is good and he does good. I know sometimes is hard to see that. Stay faithful in all you do and he will direct your paths.

God Bless you all........

Moving On and a New look....

2009-07-28T15:48:00.004-05:00

Hope you all enjoyed the last post. I know it was still SUPER long but I didn't want to leave anything out. The girls and I, along with my neighbor and her daughter are planning one last trip to Galveston for the summer before school starts. We are excited to head to the beach again.
Ok, so moving on. The next big event in our household was that the girls went and spent an ENTIRE 8 days with my parents in Oklahoma. That's right, I had a whole week BY MYSELF. We got back from the beach on a Friday and met my parents half way to drop the little darlings off to them on Sunday. They had a wonderful time with Papa and Nana. It sounds like my parents had a BLAST with them too. This was the first time and longest we have been without BOTH girls. I was able to go to dinner, shopping, lay by the pool, sleep all day if I wanted, eat when I wanted and what I wanted, watch MY movies all day, and most importantly, I got to take a hot bubble bath with NO kids playing in my water. HA! Hubs and I really enjoyed our time together but REALLY missed our girlie's. While they were in Oklahoma they swam EVERYDAY, played with cousins, went to the movies, earned some money helping Nana clean, and played with Papa and Nana's new puppy Posey.

Isn't she a cutie?

We went to pick the girls up the following Sunday. We all started crying when we were reunited. I think Madeline REALLY missed us. Macy, umm, not so much. She would have been fine to go back to Oklahoma with Papa and Nana. I believe Papa and Nana needed at least a week to recover. Thank you again SO MUCH mom and dad for taking the girls.

Sunday when we got back from Oklahoma picking the girls up we had just enough time to unpack their bags, grab a bite to eat, and then head up to the church for VBS. I worked with the kindergartners (going into 1st grade). We had a BLAST. The girls both had a great time and look forward to next year. VBS ended the month for June for us.

July came on and boy did it start out HOT!! Hubs and I, along with 4 other couples from our church went to a Texas Rangers game on July 3rd. Man, was it ever HOT there. I think I sweat off around 10,000 calories only to put it all right back on in ballpark food. Why is it that hot dogs and nachos taste SO MUCH better at the ballpark? YUM!! The Rangers won which made it all worth the sweat. After the game they had a huge fireworks show. Can't wait to do it again soon.

That's where I'll stop for now. We are ALMOST caught up hoping to never get behind again..HA!! Famous last words....

Before I leave....

Today (July 28th) marks a special day in our lives. This is the day that our 2nd child was due to be born 4 years ago. Not a day goes by that I don't think of my sweet baby. If you want to read more about my story you can go here.

To my sweet baby,

We miss you! We love you! Not a day goes by that I don't think about you. You would be 4. Getting ready to start Pre-K. You would be learning to write your name, learning your numbers, beginning reading and so much more.I wanted you to know that I got a special charm bracelet for Christmas and on it I have a little angel, that's you. You are with me always. I look at it and smile thinking about you running around with all the other children in Heaven. I can't wait for the day when I get to see you again and for you to get to meet your WONDERFUL sisters. You are going to love them. Continue having the fun your having and we'll see you again someday.

I love you,
Mommy

Back Tracking

2009-07-24T09:24:00.036-05:00

I can't believe it's been over a month and a half since I last posted a blog. I have LOTS of catching up to do. I won't bore you with one EXTREMELY LONG post so I'm going to spread all our events over a few days of posts.
Last time I blogged we were about to head out on our family vacation to Galveston, Texas. We left here on June 13 and came back on June 19. We had a wonderful time at the beach. The girls had a blast playing on the beach in the sand and splashing in the water. I wondered how Macy would do because the last time we went to the beach she wasn't too fond of the sand getting on her feet. This time she was ALL ABOUT the sand and getting dirty. We built lots of sand castles, hunted for crabs, looked for sea shells, and took lots of long walks along the shore. The adults even played a game of touch football, soccer, and even a mean game of sand hopscotch. The football game turned a little rough. On one occasion I was rushing the quarterback (Kristie) and tripped and ended up tackling her. Then I was trying to touch tackle their 15 year old son who plays football and he jucked (sp) one way and headed the opposite way causing me to plant my foot in the sand and go down straight on my face. Not cool for this old crippled girl. We stayed up late every night playing cards/board games and slept till we woke up sometimes not until 11:00am. It was awesome. We had a blast.

Here's a glimpse of our vacation. Ready to vacation with us?

Macy helped make a lemon cake...It was SO yummy. We ate

NON STOP.

Macy and Kaleigh making the cake together. Kaleigh is our neighbors oldest daughter. Isn't she beautiful?

Our first day on the beach.

Macy being her normal SASSY self. This picture looks hazy but it's only because the camera had been in the house in the A/C and when I went outside it fogged up. It's still cute nonetheless.

Madeline and her best friend, Rachel, deciding to get in the water or not.

They can't take a picture without "posing".

Playing so nice in the water and sand together.

My happy family on the beach playing together.

One thing that we do every time we go to Galveston is ride the ferry. The kids look forward to feeding the seagulls bread on the back of the ferry. However, you have to be VERY careful. Imagine a TON of seagulls flying overhead, eating bread. You are bound to get some form of bodily bird fluid on you. Poor Mark (our neighbor) got it this trip.

Thanks for the good laugh Mark.

Here is what the ferry's look like.

Here's our "CREW" waiting to board the ferry.

Madeline and Rachel. They are like sisters.

Sweet Little Macy passed out in the car on the way to the ferry. We did wake her up once we were on board. She would have been so sad to have missed it.

Me and my mini me waiting. I love this picture of us. Even if I do have my sunglasses on.

Hubs and Macy right after we woke her up. She was so excited to see the hundreds of seagulls flying overhead.

Here they are feeding the birds.

What a nice looking family.

There is one mini golf place on the island and I think the kids and the hubby's went there 3-4 times. It was cheap entertainment and it took them a couple of hours to play. It was a couple hours that me and Kristie had alone on the beach soaking up the suns rays. There was only a few minor incidents while they played. One trip Macy got mad and THREW her club (she takes after her daddy) and on another trip Rachel smacked Madeline in the eye with her club. HA! All in all they had a blast.

Madeline putting on the last hole.

This is the first hole and this ant squirts water out of it's mouth. When I walked by it the first time it scared me and I nearly broke my ankle when I jumped. HA!

Kaleigh and Colby (neighbors) acting their normal goofy teenage self's.

I loved this picture of Macy. Isn't she beautiful?

One thing we always try to do is have a "Date Night" with NO KIDS. This time we chose to go to Kemah. Kemah is a boardwalk with shopping, tons of restaurants, entertainment, and rides. They have an aquarium too. It's a nice place to go for a few hours and just walk around especially with no kids in tow. Last year when we came we brought the kids and had a blast but it was nice to enjoy it with just adults. Thanks to Kaleigh for watching the kids.

Dressed up and ready to go out for the night.

With our best friends/neighbors, Mark and Kristie. These two are truly GOD SENDS. I can't imagine my life without the two of them in it. I never want to move because if I do I'd have to bring them with me. We love them.

In Kemah

You never know when you might run into Spongebob.

He tried to eat me. HA!

Look at this cutie......We always love trying on all the silly sunglasses in the surf shops. We get good laughs.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

This part of the post is the Before and After section. As you know, last year Galveston was hit by Hurricane Ike. I was still shocked at some of the devastation left from the storm. Enjoy the before and afters.

The beach house we stay in suffered quite a bit of damage on the bottom half and had already had some repairs done to it. Thankfully, nothing was damaged inside. However, the beach is now their backyard. See what a mean.

BEFORE:

This picture was taken from down on the beach. There once was about a 10 foot sea wall and about 200 yards (at least) to the beach from the house.

This is the bridge that took you down to the beach.

AFTER:

There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to the house and you can see that the beach is right up to the house.

This is a pier that was right off the sea wall.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It is no longer there. Instead this is what it looks like.

Here are just some pictures of some of the damage that is still waiting to be repaired.

This is the house right next to the house we stay in. It looks A LOT worse in person but you can still see a lot of the damage it sustained.

This is the new Murdocks. The last was just as big and GONE. AMAZING!

Another popular place on the east end of the island. On Stewart Beach.

This is the famous Flagship hotel. It has been there a long time.

Can you see in the top left the bed and mirror?

Here's a truck stuck on a fishing pier.

It's just amazing how much damage water can do. It's scary to think what those people were going through. Thankfully it wasn't worse than it was.

I leave you with our group effort of making a sand castle.

Thanks for sticking with me. We have been so busy but I need to take the time to update more. Next update will be about our 4th of July and there will be a post you won't want to miss. It just shows how GREAT our GOD is. Stay tuned.

Water Day, Kindergarten Graduation, Last Day of School, and A Surgery

2009-06-07T10:51:00.029-05:00

(Warning-This post will contain A LOT of pictures)

The title says it all. Those are the things we have been busy with since I last updated. I have been HORRIBLE about updating on here. I never have the time or the WANT to sit at the computer and put into words what has been going on. However, I want these memories on "paper". I'm hoping that during the summer (even though we are EXTREMELY busy) I will update more frequently. So lets get started.

The end of May brought what Madeline said, "Was ONE of her favorite days of Kindergarten." It was water day. Being the homeroom mom for her class, there was A LOT of planning and organizing to make this day such a success for the kids. They all had a blast. We had 10 different stations that the kids spent 10 minutes at. We had shaving cream , a sprinkler, bounce house with a big slide and pool, marble pool, watermelon seed spitting, water balloon race, slip n slide, sponge race, bubbles, Popsicles/sidewalk chalk. I think the two favorites were the shaving cream and the bounce house. Here is Madeline having her fun.

Before leaving for school.

During the sponge race.

"Shaving" her legs. I told her not to get any ideas..HA!

Madeline and her good friend, Tyler, covered in shaving cream.

Madeline at the bottom of the water slide.

Water Balloon Race.

Sliding.

Wee... That is water day. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Next, we had Kindergarten Graduation. I can't believe she has already completed her first year of school. We were so blessed this year with Madeline's teacher. I prayed that she would have a Godly example and that is just what we got. She loved the kids and they all loved her. Madeline was sad to have to say goodbye to Mrs. Logsdon. Luckily, she goes to church with us and lives 3 blocks away. So we will still see her this summer. Madeline had all M's on her report card. Which means that she mastered everything she was supposed to. She is already reading on a 1st grade level. The goal was for the kids to complete up to List 5 in sight words, Madeline ended the year on List 12. She has such a apt for learning. She really enjoys school. During the graduation they sang 3 precious songs and did a poem using the letters in kindergarten. They were all so cute. Look how grown up she looked on her special day.

Before heading to Graduation.

Me with the Graduate and the little sister.

Madeline's picture on the slide show.

Standing so straight and proud.

I told her to smile up on stage and she did.

She had a speaking part during the graduation and she did SO GOOD. Standing in front of a LARGE group of people speaking is not her thing.

Receiving her diploma.

The GRADUATE.

Our family.

This isn't the best video. I couldn't get it to turn upright. It's cute regardless. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, June 3rd was the last day of school. Madeline was sad to say goodbye to her friends and Mrs. Logsdon but SO EXCITED for summer. I decided it would be cute for Madeline to wear to school on the last day what she wore on the first day. The clothes fit a little tighter than they did the first day but it was so fun to compare how much she has changed in the past 9 months. What do you think? Can you tell which one is the first day and which one is the last?

Which one is the first day and which one is the last day?

Do you know yet?

If you guessed the first picture is the last day, you are..........................

CORRECT!!

She has changed some. Don't you think? She looks a lot older to me. When people tell you to enjoy your little ones because they grow up right underneath you, they are SO RIGHT. These first 6 years have flown. When they announced that Madeline's class will be the Graduating class of 2021 we kinda chuckled because that seems like FOREVER a way. I know it will be here before we know it. Summer has BEGAN!! _____________________________________________________________________________________ Now, for the not so fun part. Surgery. Macy had surgery on Monday, June 1st. She had a SECOND set of tubes put in and her adenoids taken out. She did FANTASTIC. I was really dreading the surgery, mainly because of the recovery room. Last time, she was very inconsolable, angry, and frustrated. All that is normal for a child coming out of anesthesia. It's confusing and hard for them. This time however, Macy did great. She cried a little but was very easily consoled. We got there at about 6:15 and checked in. A little before 7:00 they called us back to get her hooked to a heart monitor, ask a million health questions, and get her dressed in her space gown. After a little bit, they brought in her "giggle juice". She was pretty funny. They give that to them so that when the time comes to be taken away from me she doesn't really care. They took us to the waiting room and about 20 minutes later the doctor came out and said everything went very well. Another 20 minutes and we were in the recovery room with her. After about 30-45 minutes, some apple juice, a cup of water, and 1 rainbow Popsicle she was ready to go. She wanted to be taken to the car in the wagon. Macy thought that was very cool.

Being taken to surgery. No Worries (from her). Momma was a nervous wreck.

A wagon ride to the car.

Recovering at home with her friends. A funny video of Macy on "giggle Juice" Excuse our voices in the background.

Now you are caught up on what has been going on in our household. We are enjoying the pool and having no schedules. We have a vacation coming up so that will probably be the next post...until then.

The reason he WON....

2009-05-22T09:15:00.003-05:00

How many of you are American Idol watchers? I have to admit, I didn't watch it this season like I have in the past. I watched a lot of it and was VERY impressed with many of the contestants. Kris being a favorite from the beginning. I must admit though I was SHOCKED when he won Wed. night. Adam seemed to be the "favorite" among the judges, fans, etc. In the end, the best pulled it off and won the title AMERICAN IDOL. I can't be happier for a child of GOD to represent America with his talent and music. Here is a reason he is the winner.....He represents the Christian faith...

Watch Here

He is so talented and I know his future in music and entertaining will take him far.

WAY TO GO KRIS!!!

Busy busy busy...

2009-05-18T15:20:00.007-05:00

We have been busy and sick around our house the past two weeks. Between Macy being sick, Madeline catching it, and then myself we have been taking turns taking medicine and lying around. Thankfully, we are all FINALLY feeling better. I took Macy to see the ENT specialist about her third ear infection since the end of January. After looking at her, she decided that she needed surgery. June 1st, Macy will be having her SECOND set of tubes put in and her adenoids taken out as well. Hopefully this will solve all her ear infection problems. I will definitely be recording Macy this time when they give her the "loopy" medicine. Last time she was SO FUNNY. We laughed so hard at her. See this post for her first experience. I just pray that everything goes smoothly and that coming off the anesthesia will be much easier this time on all of us. That's the hardest part. Please be in prayer for us all on that day.

The end of May is a busy one for us. As the homeroom mom for Madeline's class I will be planning her big end of the year party which the kindergartners do a HUGE water day. Then will be graduation day, June 2nd. I will record it and post it on here of her big day for you all to see. I still can't believe she is completing her first year of school. I don't know what I'll do next year when she is in school ALL DAY! Sunday was senior recognition day at our church and during the announcement of all the seniors Hubs leaned over and whispered, "That's going to be Madeline up there before we know it." Sad to say, but it is true. They grow so unbelievably fast.

Speaking of growing fast....look at this "little" guy.

It's hard to get a picture of him because he is NEVER still long enough. He is an absolute COMPLETE MESS. He's wild, crazy, into EVERYTHING, plays non-stop, barks DEEP and LOUD, wants to "rough house", and adores Riley. I'll just be glad when he is out of this puppy stage. HA! I know, I still have a LONG TIME. He is having surgery next month (neutered) maybe that will help some. I can wish right?

We are planning on staying home this Memorial weekend and getting things done around the house that need to be done (staining the swing set, working my flowerbeds, painting the kitchen, etc). Sounds like a lot of fun huh? If any of you are bored and want to come help, we offer ANY and ALL the help we can get.

I leave you with a few pictures of my sweet Macy from her birthday.

Showing me how old she is turning.

Birthday Girl...

Look at her eyelashes...I want them.

Have a great week and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather we are supposed to have this week.

Today she is 3!!

2009-05-09T10:20:00.004-05:00

It's hard for me to believe that my BABY is turning THREE today. The past three years have flown and she is turning into such a little girl. It's so funny to see the difference between her and Madeline. They are complete opposites. On this day three years ago she looked like..................

and now

Macy is a smart, ENERGETIC, drama filled, strong willed, independent, loving, charming, likes to have fun, loves bothering her big sister, and makes her mommy and daddy very proud.

I can't imagine what my life would be like without her being apart of it. She has completed our family and makes us laugh daily.

We love you sweet Mae Mae and hope you have a wonderful 3rd birthday....

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

One angry child.

2009-05-05T15:38:00.005-05:00

If you read the post below, then you know that sweet Macy has not been feeling well. Poor thing is not sleeping well at night, she's coughing, and just feels crummy off and on most all day. Now, add into the mix she's on a steroid that makes her irritable....

See what I mean.........................

MAD!!

MADDER!!!

I'M DONE!!!

If you could only hear the screaming and crying that took place while I took these pictures. Is it mean of me to be taking pictures while my poor sweet baby girl is struggling, wheezing, and crouping? I already know the answer to that...... YES!! I know, I'm a horrible mother who apparently like to take pictures of her helpless child (not really). However, I wanted you (mainly my family) to see what I've been dealing with for 4 days now. You all know how strong willed she already is. Add in that medicine and we have PROBLEMS!! I pray that in another day she will be feeling MUCH better....For both of our sakes.
I'm sorry sweet baby girl.

Please pray that she gets better soon and that none of us catch it.

Illness be GONE!!

2009-05-04T12:35:00.002-05:00

Conveniently, Friday evening about 5:00 little Macy comes to me and says, "Mommy my head hurts and my throat hurts like Dawsons did (a little boy in her class at MDO)." I feel her head and she does feel to be running a little bit of a fever. I go get the handy dandy thermometer and take her temp which was 100.8. I go search for the Children's Motirn and can't find ANY. What mom of young children doesn't have motrin on hand at ALL TIMES. Apparently, ME! I call Hubs who is on his way home from work and ask him to stop and get some for me.

Mighty dad shows up with the Magic potion that cures the fever for the next 4 hours. Sweet baby wakes up at 2:30am with a MASSIVE fever (103.2). I give her another dose and get her back to sleep. Saturday morning I wake up bright and EARLY to "web check in" for the Urgent Care clinic that opens at 8:00am. I get a call at 7:45 telling me that their doors open at 8:00 so to head that way. I get there a little before 8:00 and I am already the EIGHTH person in line with about 6 people behind me. WHOA!! We finally get in and see the doctor. After being there for TWO HOURS, a FLU test, a STREP test, and LOTS of waiting we get the diagnosis of Herpangina (viral infection in her throat). Nothing really you can do about it since it's viral. Oh, both Flu and strep came back negative. She felt pretty good until her fever would spike and then she'd lay around until the motrin broke it and then she was back to being herself.

Sunday, was children's day at our church. I was sad that daddy was going to have to miss Madeline helping lead the worship with all the other children in KID-U. We had a great time and Madeline did great. After church, I had a luncheon with all the moms that have been volunteering in Madeline's teachers class. She took us all out to lunch (her treat) and gave us a small gift. She is SO THOUGHTFUL and we are really going to miss her next year. Luckily, she goes to our church so we can still see her there. Macy continued to feel a little better......UNTIL....she woke up at about 11:30pm with this NASTY croupy cough and congestion. She was having a hard time breathing. I knew this was not good. She was up and down most all night, not breathing well, coughing, and saying she couldn't talk. I called our pediatricians office right when they opened and they told me to be there at 9:15 with her.
When we got there they had a sign posted that said, If your child has any of these symptoms (coughing, fever, sore throat, chills, body aches, feeling tired) see the front desk. Of course, Macy had EVERY symptom listed. The gave me a cute little mask for Macy to wear. Good luck on getting a 2 year old to wear something foreign on her face. Ludkily we didn't have to wait too long. Once we got in to see the doctor they ran another FLU tests just to be sure. Let me just tell you that Macy HATES to have her nose tickled (the test for the flu) and told me "It does not tickle, and I don't like when they do that." The doctor came in examined her and now we have NEW diagnosis. She has a double ear infection and Croup. She didn't see any trace of the herpangina. So who knows about that. Now my sweet little girl is on an antibiotic and a steriod to help shrink her airways so she can breathe easier. She still runs around like a mad women. Here's the best news yet. When the doctor was telling me about the steriod she said it will cause some irritability and hunger. GREAT!! As if she needs anything to help her be MORE IRRITABLE. Please pray for patience for me and for her to feel better SOON.

I do know one thing, this momma is VERY tired and needs a full nights sleep. I'm not used to this having to get up in the middle of the night. HA! I just hope Macy starts feeling better because she turns THREE this Saturday and I don't want her to still feel crummy. Keep us in your prayers.

Have a great week and AVOID THE SWINE!!

I'm so proud of her.

2009-04-30T15:24:00.001-05:00

Who you ask?

My girl Macy.

Why you ask?

First let me give you a little background so you will completely understand my pride. When Macy turned one she was not much for "table food" she still preferred her baby food. We slowly over the next few months tried to introduce her to more and more "table foods" and move away from the baby food. She did ok but still preferred the baby food. Once she started at the MDO (Mother's Day Out) they wanted her on solid table food. I sent her with finger foods I knew she would like and eat. However, she still wasn't a big fan of solid foods and now didn't want the baby food either. Now I was stuck with a picky eater who wasn't sure what she liked. During this time, she was struggling with weight gain. Although she was eating picky she wasn't gaining. We did a number of tests on her to see if we could pinpoint a potential problem. All tests came back negative or showed no sign of concern. We chalked it up as, She would just be my petite one. My pediatrician also put her on Pediasure two times per day. Thankfully, she LOVES it. It's her drink of choice. She'll pick it over juice anytime.

Just to give you a sample of what her meals normally consist of I'll give you a list of the foods she WILL eat.

* Chicken nuggets

* Mac n Cheese (most of the time)

* Spaghetti O's (most of the time)

* Cheese (she could live on cheese)

* Pancakes (most of the time)

That's about it for meals...She is a HUGE snacker. Although I try to limit her snacks so she will eat more at meal times. She eats a lot of fruits but eats NO vegetables. She also eats NO meats.

Now, I know you may think that that is a lot of different choices but when you think about 3 meals a day, 7 times a week, the pickings are VERY SLIM.

So, why am I proud?

In the past week, she has eaten taco meat and hot dogs. I know, not the healthiest choices but it's something different. I was happy that she would even try something new. I know that if she would try new things she'd find that she likes more than she thinks. Slowly, we are introducing new things and PRAYING she likes them. Meal times with her are always SO STRESSFUL. I know she will eat when she is hungry but it's so frustrating that she doesn't want to eat. Madeline was NEVER like that. She was and still is a FANTASTIC eater. Madeline eats things that I won't even eat.

Any of you have picky children? What do you do to get them to try new things or just to eat? I'm open to ANY and ALL ideas.

For now, I'm proud of her.

YAY FOR MACY GIRL!!!

Big Girls Weekend.

2009-04-26T13:06:00.013-05:00

I got to spend the entire weekend with only Madeline. Hubs and Macy left for Oklahoma Friday morning to spend the weekend with Granddad and Gramme. It allowed for Madeline and I to have a weekend of just Mommy and Mad time. We had a blast. Friday, Madeline had her GRADUATION pictures taken at school. Can you believe her kindergarten year is coming to an end. Before I know it, she'll be taking her senior graduation pictures. Of course, I had to snap a few pictures of her at home before taking her to school. She looks so grown up.

Isn't she lovely? I don't know where my girls got their LONG eyelashes but I wish I had half of what they have.

Daddy and his girls.

After I picked Madeline up from school we headed out to do some shopping. She had two birthday parties this weekend so we were on the search for the perfect gifts. She decided on a webkinz for each. After about 2 hours of shopping and getting all the "supplies" (ie. popcorn, candy, pop, chips) for our "Movie night" we went to grab some dinner. We went to a little hamburger place where we played a game of Trouble while we waited for our food. After we DEVOURED our dinner we headed home where we played more games. After playing Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, Pretty, Pretty, Princess, and Connect Four we decided it was time to watch our movies. We snuggled on the couch with all our comfort food in hand and watched Bedtime Stories. Very cute movie, by the way. I believe we were "crashing" from the sugar high we had been on that we both crawled into bed and slept till 9:30 Saturday morning.

Saturday morning we lounged around and then had to get ready for the first birthday party of the weekend. Madeline had a great time at Sweet and Sassy getting all made up. Check her out....

Here she's being asked questions about her favorite color (pink), favorite celebrity (Hannah Montana), Favorite store (walmart-seriously?), etc.

Before the party started and they were waiting for all the girls to get there, they let them walk the cat walk. I think Madeline has this modeling thing down. What do you think?

This is after she had her make up done, her hair fixed like a rock star, and her nails painted...

After the party, Madeline's friend Tyler came home with us to play for a few hours. While the girls played, I relaxed, curled up into the recliner and watched one of the movies I had rented for myself, Nights in Rodanthe. I had read the book so I was looking forward to seeing the movie. I liked it. Of course, I cried. Once Tyler left, we went over to the neighbors where my neighbor and I worked with the girls (Madeline and Rachel) on the dance that they have to know for their cheer squad. Let's just say, it took A LOT of time and A LOT of patience. OH MY!! My neighbor and I then went and had dinner by ourselves. It was nice to sit and visit in quiet.

Hubs and Macy arrived home at about noon. The girls were so excited to see each other. We sure missed them but REALLY enjoyed our weekend together. We need to have more weekends just like that. Thanks to Hubs for taking the little one with him. Madeline had her 2nd party of the weekend today at 1:00. She picked out her outfit and did look so super cute.

I also was a little creative this week and made a few more frames to show you guys.
I know many of you want the instructions on how to make them. I'll type them up this week and post them later in the week.

Oklahoma State.

I made this one as a gift for a teacher/friend at Madeline's school that just had her first baby girl Thursday evening.

I loved this zebra print and just made it a "generic" one.

If you'd like me to make one for you just leave me a comment with colors, verse, names, or whatever you'd like it to look like.

Have a super week!!

I got a little "Crafty"

2009-04-20T23:00:00.006-05:00

A friend of mine made me this AWESOME frame (don't have a picture) but it looks like a frame that you would pay about $35 from at a boutique type gift store. I was VERY IMPRESSED and wondered if I could make them too. Now, if you know me at all, then you know I am not a very "Crafty" person. I'm not "artsy", I don't have "the eye" for things, it's just not me. However, I asked my friend to give me the scoop on how to make these DARLING frames. After a short (ok, LONG, thanks Shawna) tutorial and a trip to Michael's and Hobby Lobby to get all the supplies needed, I sat down to make it all happen.
The main reason I wanted to make these frames was because this week is Teacher Appreciation Week at Macy's MDO and I thought these would be perfect for her teachers. I also made one for my wonderful friend and neighbor. I worked on them for a few hours this evening and here is the finished product....Tell me what you think?

I have so many more ideas for ones that I want to make for upcoming baby arrivals, Mothers Day, etc. So get ready friends and family. You know what your next present will be...HA!

This week is a busy week in our house. Tomorrow I have a meeting with the other homeroom moms to plan our end of the year party. Every Tuesday afternoon for the next 7 weeks I am meeting with a group of 4 women to do a Discipleship Bible Study. We get together for lunch and do the study and visit. Last week was our first week and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. Although, I will have to cut it short because Miss Macy has an appointment with the ENT doctor to discuss her ears and if she needs to have another set of tubes put in. Wish us luck! Thursday is the big Teacher Appreciation breakfast and lunch for Macy's MDO teachers and I am helping serve and set up for that. On top of all that is going on I have a house to clean and laundry that needs to be done. It will get done sooner or later.

Have a great week everyone.

Happy Easter 2009.

2009-04-13T14:10:00.011-05:00

I hope you all had a blessed Resurrection Sunday. What a blessing it is knowing that on this day Jesus rose again just like he promised and is alive today. Thank you my Savior!!

We had a pretty lazy weekend around our house. Saturday was spent finishing any straggling laundry, bathing the pup, (who isn't much of a pup anymore), tidying up the house, and hubs mowed the lawn. In the afternoon we let the girls dye and decorate Easter eggs. Macy had a blast and made a COMPLETE mess. I think she dyed her hands more than the eggs.

Can you see the Masters one that Hubs made? He was so proud.

We woke up bright and early Sunday morning to get ready for church as we chose to go to the early service (8:30) so that myself and my neighbor could work in the nursery during the 10:30 service. We had a GREAT group of 1.5 year olds. They are all so precious.

The girls loved getting dressed up in their Easter dresses and couldn't wait to see what the Easter bunny brought them in their baskets. Macy woke up and came into the bathroom where I was getting ready and asked, "Did that big bunny come last night?" HA!! She went to wake Madeline up so they could see what he brought them. Can you believe that I forgot to take pictures of them with their baskets?

Here are some pictures before leaving for church..............

Precious girls.

Looking so grown up.

My little ham.

Mommy and her girls.

Daddy and his princesses.

After we got home from church we had lunch with our best friends/neighbors, The DeCordovas. We had the BEST lunch. YUM!! After lunch, the girls all hunted Easter eggs and had a blast even though they had to hunt inside because of the rainy weather. I however, couldn't wait to take a nap. I was able to get in a FOUR HOUR nap. It was amazing. We had a great Easter although we missed seeing our families. We love you all.

One more thing before I go for today. Many have asked about our puppy Cooper. He's doing great. Growing WAY TOO FAST!! He's still into everything, chewing on things, and has an occasional accident in the house but is getting MUCH better. He is sleeping all night and LOVES his brother, as you can see in the picture below.

He loves to snuggle up next to Riley and Riley is getting used to Coop being around. I think he even likes him. Just to give you perspective of how much he has grown. This is Cooper the day I brought him home (Feb 6.) He weighed 12.5 pounds.

And this was taken last night (April 12) and he weighs about 30 pounds now.

You can't tell a lot of difference because he is laying down but he has doubled in size. I'll try to get some better pictures of him. He's so cute but a mess.

Until next time....

Loving Today

2009-04-08T23:01:00.002-05:00

What a beautiful day God gave us today! The sun was amazing, the wind was just right, and we enjoyed the warmth. I love days like this. I did absolutely nothing (well, I did empty and load the dishwasher) today. I told myself that was ok. I could have a day of doing nothing. Macy and I played and visited with my neighbor a lot today. I thought (for only a micro second...is that such a thing?) about cleaning out my flowerbeds and getting them ready to plant flowers this weekend but didn't do it. I thought about all the laundry that I still need to do but I didn't do it either. I thought about the shopping (getting Easter basket goodies, a dress for Macy (got Madeline's), something new for me to wear) but didn't do it. I thought about cleaning out under the stairs but didn't do it.
All in all I thought A LOT today and did NOTHING!! It felt good.
Maybe tomorrow will be different. That is TBD (to be determined).
Hope you all are enjoying this GORGEOUS weather we are having.

GOD BLESS YOU!!!

Pajama Party

2009-04-06T17:03:00.012-05:00

Madeline celebrated her 6th birthday by having a Pajama Party. We had 12 girls total for a Girly night. All the girls showed up in their pajamas and house shoes. They all looked super cute and so comfortable. What a way to party! I even wore my pajamas.

Mommy and Madeline before the party started.

Madeline, best friend, Rachel, and Macy

Mommy and her girls.

Once all the girls got there it was a full blown party. They were singing and dancing to High School Musical. Who knew 12, 5-6 year old girls could make so much noise. We ordered pizza for them to eat. Here are they are enjoying their pizza.

After the pizza it was time to do something "GIRLY". All the girls got their fingernails and toenails painted. They were super excited about this. Each got to pick their own color and design.

Getting toenails painted.

More painting...

After all the girls were beautified it was time to pig out again with cupcakes and ice cream cups.

The cake was actually 24 cupcakes covered in icing to make a cake. It was SCRUMPTIOUS!!

It was present time. Madeline got LOTS of good stuff. She has really enjoyed playing with it all. Her friends were very good to her.

At the end of the night each girl got to make her own Candy bag. I had bought 6 different kinds of candy and each girl got to get a little of each kind for her goodie bag. It was a real hit. What child doesn't like candy?

The pajama party was a HUGE success.

The whole gang in their pajamas....

Madeline is front and center with the green pajamas on.

Let's get caught up!

2009-03-30T13:04:00.027-05:00

*WARNING* This post is probably going to be ALL OVER the place and will include A LOT of pictures. It's necessary to get you caught up on our lives. Where did I leave you last? Oh, we had just found out that my brother in law and sister in law (Hubs' sister and her husband) are having a BABY BOY!!! They have decided that his name is going to be SUTTON KYLE. My SIL has always loved the name Sutton and Kyle is after a friend of my brother in laws that was killed in a car accident while they were in college. I love the name and can't wait to meet him. If you remember from the last post they were coming down to visit and we did LOTS of shopping. I think Sutton went home with at least 15 new outfits. It was so much fun. While they were here we had planned a special birthday surprise for our oldest, Madeline, who turned 6 on the 24th. Madeline LOVES (is really an understatement) High School Musical. I saw back in October that the play was coming to the Civic theatre in Ft. Worth. I knew she would LOVE it. It just so happened that the play was in March, right around her birthday, so I decided to get tickets for Madeline, Hubs, and I to go. We'd make it a surprise day for just her. I took her to get her hair all cute and put up, then Hubs and I treated her to lunch, and then on to the surprise. She had NO IDEA what we were doing until we got there. She was beyond thrilled to the point her stomach was hurting because she was so nervous. She loved the show and sang to EVERY song and danced around in her seat. It was a FABULOUS day! Here's how the day went:

Just getting started with her hair.

A little twist here, a little tuck here.

Almost done. Just a few more bobby pins to hold it in place.

The finished product. (It looked a lot cuter in person) On the way, she still has no idea where we are going. At lunch with Daddy. And Mommy.. On the marble steps inside the building. Reading the program, waiting for the play to begin. The backdrop. Now that was fun...Before leaving the theatre. I think she's ready to see it again....SOON!! I have to say, I'm very proud of Hubs because as you can imagine going to the theatre isn't a man's favorite place to go much less watching HSM. He was a great sport and we had a great time spending the day together, just us and Madeline. Macy got to hang out with her Aunt and Uncle while we were gone. I think she gave them a GOOD TASTE of parenthood, as only Macy could. She's my spitfire. Speaking of spitfire, a few days before our company was coming to spend the weekend with us Macy was coloring a picture with markers when she decided to color her forehead with BLUE marker(sorry no pictures). I had to give her the speech about how we only color on paper, yada, yada, yada. So imagine my surprise we she comes into me THE DAY our company is to arrive while I am vacuuming to tell me that she colored on the couch. Inside I'm thinking yea right. I walk into the living room and this is what I see...........

Yes, that is BROWN marker all over the cushions.

I immediately start FUMING. You know like on the cartoons when the steam comes out of their ears and their head boils over. Yes, that was me at this point. I took a VERY DEEP BREATH and went looking for the child who was already in her bedroom, in her bed because she knew SHE WAS IN BIG TROUBLE She got a spanking and had to stay in her room for a while. Thankfully our cushions zip off so I was able to throw it in the washing machine and it did all come off. Lucky for her, huh? See why she's my spitfire? Moving on, after my SIL and BIL left we headed to Oklahoma for Spring Break. We spent the first part of the week at my parents. My dad was gone fishing with his buddies so it was my mom, the girls, and I. We got to spend lots of time outside playing. While we were there my mom purchased Madeline a new BIGGER GIRL bike for her birthday. This one had NO training wheels and she had never rode without them. I was ready to spend an ENTIRE day trying to teach her how to ride this new bike. I was ready for the challenge. CHALLENGE...NO!! The girl took off on her FIRST attempt. I couldn't believe it. She did great as long as she didn't have to turn. HA!! However, she quickly got the hang of it and before we knew it she was riding circles around us, stopping and starting on her own, and having a blast.

Madeline with her new bike. Helmet and knee pads are a MUST!! Right Aunt Katie? Crash!!! (My parents dog, Willie, making sure she was alright. Can you see Macy in the background doing what she does best.) I got a video of her learning. Look how good she is doing.

Here's what little sister was doing while Madeline was learning to ride her bike. Playing in the dirt.

While we were in Oklahoma I got to see me precious niece and nephew Garrett. Look how chubby she's getting.

Madeline and Garrett smothering her.

She's definitely a lap baby. She loves to be held and loved on. Which we have no problem doing.

We spent the latter part of the week with my in laws and got to see LOTS of my handsome nephew, SIL, and BIL (Hubs' brother and wife). I can't get over how much my nephew changes and grows each time we see him. He is starting to talk more and more and is turning into a little man. He's not a baby anymore. The girls LOVE him so much and love playing with him. Madeline is kinda like his little mother and Macy, well, she's just his boss. See for yourself.....

Dragging him where SHE wants him to go.

Now over here, Austen.

Don't you want to play over here, Austen?

The three Stooges...

Just Austen (20 months)

Fishing in Gramme and Granddad's backyard pond. They can spend HOURS doing this.

She looks so cute and innocent here. Wonder what she's going to be up to next?

While we were there we celebrated Madeline's birthday with a little cake. Madeline helped her Gramme make it not knowing that it was her own birthday cake she was making.
Here she is blowing out the candles.

I have so much more to say and show you but my hands and neck are tired. I think I'll continue this tomorrow with all of Madeline's 6th birthday celebrations. Now you know what we've been up to.

How is it even possible?

2009-03-24T22:57:00.005-05:00

How can something go from this.............................................

to this............................................................

so quickly?

It seems like just yesterday I was checking into the hospital at 5:30 am on March 24, 2003 to be induced. I was so excited and anxious to meet my baby girl. She was the one I had dreamed of naming, Madeline Paige ever since I was a little girl. I'll never forget the moment I meet her for the first time. She laid there on my chest as we just stared at each other. It was love at first sight. Now, here we are SIX years later and I am more in love with that little girl than I was the day we first met. She has brought me more smiles, more laughs, more joy, and more happiness than I ever could have imagined. I thank God every chance I get for both my girls.

I have much more to blog about but I'm very tired tonight so it will have to wait until another day.

I just wanted to say...........................................

Happy 6th Birthday, Madeline Paige.

I LOVE YOU!!!

Mommy

Busy Days

2009-03-12T11:04:00.003-05:00

My life is flying by right now because we have had a lot going on. After spending a few days in Oklahoma while dad was in the hospital and then his homecoming Macy and I headed back to Texas. My mother in law joined us the next day and we had a great time with Gramme being here. It seems like we went non-stop for 3 days. Tuesday night, Madeline had Open House at school and we were SO IMPRESSED with her work. To see where she started at the beginning of the year and to see where she is now...WOW!! I can't believe my little girl can READ and WRITE on her own. Gone are my days of making up what signs say to trick her. She can read them now...HA!! While Gramme was here she got to see Madeline at gymnastics and cheer class. Macy impressed her with her swimming skills. She left yesterday afternoon to head to Tulsa to be with my sister in law and brother in law today when they found out FOR SURE what they were having. Remember I told you that her doctor does the 3D ultrasounds at every visit so at her last appointment he thought they were having a Girl but would know for sure at the next appointment. That appointment was today and they found out that they are having a.........

Beautiful...............

Baby......................

BOY!!!

That's right. We get to shop now. YAY!! However, since we thought it may be a girl there were a few things bought. I guess they will have to be held for the next girl. Thankfully, all the things that I had bought were for a BOY!! My sister in law and brother in law are coming to spend the weekend with us so that means sis and I will be doing some shopping. One of my favorite things to do.

This weekend Hubs and I are taking Madeline for one of her birthday surprises. On Saturday, she will get up and go to Sweet and Sassy to get her hair done cute and her nails painted. We are taking her to lunch where she so chooses and then we are taking her to the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL play in Ft. Worth. She has NO IDEA and will be SO EXCITED. HSM is her favorite right now. I will be sure to take LOTS of pictures. I can't wait to see her excitement. Her birthday is in a few weeks and she will be 6. Time sure flies.

Here are some new pics of my precious niece....She's getting too big, too fast.

So sweet.

Don't you love those dimples and double chins.

Prayer Works...

2009-03-06T09:42:00.002-06:00

First, I wanted to thank everyone for all the prayers sent up on behalf of my dad. It's great to have a "blog community" to ask for prayer. He had his colonoscopy done this morning a lot earlier than scheduled (6:00 am) and it showed nothing major. PRAISE GOD! It can all be fixed with medicine and time. Just wanted to give you all an update and thank you again.
Have a great weekend. We will be heading back to Texas tomorrow because I want to be at church on Sunday morning. It is the last time our pastor will be preaching before moving to Kentucky. We will miss Bro. Bill.

Asking for more prayers

2009-03-05T15:15:00.002-06:00

Yesterday morning, my dad woke up at 2:00 am with SEVERE stomach pains in his lower abdomen (under his belly button) and was bleeding (sorry dad, TMI). As the morning progressed his pain became more intense to the point he was in tears and feeling light headed. Now, if you know my dad, he has a VERY HIGH pain tolerance. He must have been hurting. Finally, my mom took him to the ER where they administered some morphine for the pain and did some blood work. After several hours, they decided to admit him for the night in order to better observe him. If he continued to have the bleeding they would keep him and prep him for a colonoscopy to take place on Friday. He did continue to have the bleeding.
They drew his labs again this morning at 4:00 am and it showed that he has lost about a pint of blood. Another concern has been his blood pressure. If you have read any of my precious posts you know he has EXTREME high blood pressure and is currently being treated for it. Today as they checked it at 9:00 am it was at 160/94, at 12:00 it was 90/70, and at 3:30 it was 175/85. That is not normal. My mom is in the process of trying to get in touch with his cardiologist to let him know the state my dad is in. Poor dad HATES hospitals and so he has not been sleeping, therefore he is very tired. However, my mom said he finally slept for a couple of hours this afternoon. He will begin is "prep" for the colonoscopy and if you've ever had one done you know how much fun that is. Please keep him in your prayers that the prep goes well, that there's no more blood loss, and that the colonoscopy shows something and that it's an easy fix, and if not, that the doctors have the wisdom to find the problem. His colonscopy is scheduled for 11:00.
I'll let you all know when I hear anything more but in the meantime I'm asking for all prayers for him.

It's a small world....

2009-02-28T17:39:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, I went to the DREADED WALMART to do my grocery shopping. I know that Friday's are normally very busy at Walmart and yesterday was no different. However, we had NO FOOD in our house. When your 5 year old opens the pantry doors to find a snack and says "There is nothing in here to eat mom." it's time to get some groceries. After dropping Madeline off at school, Macy and I headed to do the one thing I hate the most....getting groceries.
I'm going up and down the aisles, grabbing the things off my list (and maybe a few extras) when I see a very familiar face coming at me. Racking my brain very quickly, I try to think where I know this lady from. I look down at her TWO BEAUTIFUL daughters when I recognize the oldest one. Could it really be who I think it is? It comes to me that she is a blogger as well. I read (blog lurk) LOTS of blogs and hers was one of them. Is it really her or just a VERY SIMILAR look alike. If I go up to her, ask her if she is who I think she is and she's not, then I'm some CRAZY person. If I'm right, then WOW! I just met a fellow blogger that I love reading her blog. As I continue shopping, I past her a few more times but still chose to say nothing. However, I couldn't wait to get home, log in to the computer, send her a message asking if it was her. My instincts were RIGHT!! It was her, it was The Flying Mum. I was turned onto her site through Kelly's Korner, some time ago. I read as she prepared to have her second child and now has two precious daughters.
Now I'm kicking myself wishing I'd have said something to her. Come to find out after emailing a few times back and forth we live about two neighborhoods apart. Small world huh? Have you ever ran into a fellow blogger?

We met for the first time....

2009-02-25T09:21:00.018-06:00

I FINALLY got to meet my niece and let me tell you, SHE IS PRECIOUS!! Luckily for me, it was time for her to eat as soon as we got there, so of course, I stepped up and fed her. I did have my brother hanging over my shoulder trying to tell me how to do it. I have had TWO babies that took a bottle so I think I know what I'm doing. I guess he's just that protective. OH MY!! I loved sitting there listening to all her squeaks and grunts. She is so tiny and OH SO CUTE!! Have I said that already. Well she is, she's beautiful...See for yourself......

Madeline holding Baby Lyric

Me feeding her. Sorry my mom cut half my head off.

Macy loved holding Lyric. She was so gentle with her. However, you'd think Lyric was a dog the way Macy kept petting her. It was precious.

She was trying to go to sleep but Papa was trying to keep her awake.

Peeking to see if he's still there.

Finally she says, "I'm awake crazy man."

All the cousins. (Macy(2), Garrett(8), Lyric(1 month), and Madeline(5))

I didn't get to spend near the time I'd of liked to spend with her because our trip was a short one but we will be back during Spring Break and I intend on seeing her more. Also, please keep Lyric in your prayers. She has a knot on the side of her neck that they aren't sure what it is. She went to an ENT specialist on Monday but he didn't know what it was. He was going to consult with a colleague and discuss what it could be. Please pray that it is nothing and that it will go away quickly.

While we were in Oklahoma we were fortunate to spend time with ALL of my in-laws. It worked out that my sister in law and brother in law were in town from Tulsa so we got to see them as well. My sister in law is now 13 weeks pregnant and doing VERY well. She has had NO sickness (Not fair) and has gained NO weight. YAY for you Mich! The doctor she goes to does a 3D/4D ultrasound at EVERY visit. Isn't that CRAZY!! She's not even high risk he just does it that way. This last visit he was leaning towards a baby girl. HOWEVER, my sister in law and I, after looking at the ultrasound pictures decided that the "girl part" he was pointing at looked more like her little BOYS ultrasound picture. HA! In a few weeks hopefully they will get a better look and know for sure. I can't wait to start shopping. We also got to spend a lot of time with nephew, Austen. He amazes me at how much he changes each time we see him. He's not a little boy anymore. He's starting to talk more and more and getting quite the personality. He is 19 months. Madeline just adores him and they played pretty much non stop.

Just Austen...Can you tell he is saying "CHEESE!" Anytime he sees the camera he immediately starts yelling CHEESE!!

Playing with Madeline....

They look as though they could be siblings with their blond hair. I love this picture. I love the static in Austen's hair.

They love to play rough together.

I love how he is trying to do what Madeline is doing.

The girls had a great time in Oklahoma. They always love going and don't want to leave. They played outside at Nana and Papa's, rode the 4-wheeler with Mommy, went "exploring for treasures", chased Willie (my parent's golden retriever) and tormented Hunter (Hub's parent's golden retriever), went shopping with all the girls, met their newest cousin, played dress up, played on the swing sets at both grandparents, ate smores cooked over the fire, and got spoiled as usual. Can you blame them for not wanting to come home with just daddy and mommy. HA!

Here are the girls in their dress up attire.....

Aren't they too funny!!

When I got back into town on Sunday afternoon I received some very upsetting news from Hubs. During church that morning our pastor, whom we all LOVE, told the congregation that he was being called back to Kentucky to the church he grew up in. It wasn't something that he was looking for but the Lord spoke to him and he felt this is what he needs to do at this time. Although we have only been attending this church for 2.5 years we have grown close to him and love the way he speaks. He is an amazing man and that church is lucky to have him. I'm not good with change. I like things to stay the same especially in this instance. I have to admit, my first thoughts were I don't want to go through having to find a new pastor and the process of it all...We are going to have to find a new church. Then I stopped and listened to what God had to say. Stay put, there is a reason for all that he does. There is another GODLY man and family that was planned for our church. God will provide him and we will all be blessed. Please be in prayer that our search goes smoothly and that in the transition time we will all stay focused on HIM and not on the sadness and hurt we feel for our current pastor leaving.

Have a great week...

He's growing...

2009-02-16T09:00:00.013-06:00

Cooper has been a part of our family for a little over a week now and I must say he has adjusted WELL. He acts as if he's been here his whole life and thus far, it feels like we've had him a lot longer than just a week. You forget (or at least I did) just how much WORK a puppy is. It's worse than having a newborn baby. The girls are really taken with him. Riley, well, he's still trying to adjust to having a little brother around. We are really trying to work with him on potty training. I thought I had gotten through with potty training when I completed Macy's training in Sept. I was wrong. Cooper is WAY MORE work than Macy EVER was....Ha!! Hopefully, he'll get there....SOON!!! We are also trying to work with crate training him at night. He cries for about 10 -15 minutes STRAIGHT when we first put him in there at night and then wakes up about 3.5 hours later needing to go out and potty. Then it's 10-15 minutes of crying again when we put him back in there. We've started taking all food and water away at about 8:00 to help with him being able to hold it longer. Any other ideas from you that have a dog that is crate trained would be VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. We're new at this crate training stuff. So as you can imagine, we are all a little bit sleep deprived and tired. We'll get there though. Look how much he has already grown.......

Macy loving on Cooper.

Madeline and Cooper.

Here's Cooper trying to get Macy's feet while she swings. Macy thought it was so funny.

Here's what Riley does to Cooper when they play. He gets him on his back and then stands over him like he's the boss.

This is how you find Cooper sleeping about 95% of the time. He's pretty funny!

One tired little man.

Madeline had her big Valentine's party at school on Friday. Since I'm the Room Mom I had lots of planning and decorating to do to get ready for it. The kids had a great time and loved all the treats they got. It doesn't take much to excite a group of 5 & 6 year olds.

Madeline with the hat she decorated before the party started.

Madeline and Mommy at the party.

Madeline and her friend, Tyler.

Hubs and I went out with our neighbors on Valentine's Day. We had a yummy dinner (No holds barred). Since we've been doing the South Beach we haven't eaten much "YUMMY" food so we went all out at dinner. We started off with crab dip for an appetizer. Then for dinner, I had 3 different kinds of fried shrimp (regular, Parmesan pancko, and coconut), french fries, (first fry since Jan 1), and the best 6 layer Chocolate cake with ice cream. YUMMY!! Hubs had crab cakes, fries, cole slaw, and the cake. We were BEYOND stuffed but it was SO WORTH IT. However, today it's back on the diet.

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines weekend with your loved one. Have a great week.

It's just getting worse...

2009-02-12T22:31:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I'm really bad about blogging on this thing. I can't figure out what my deal is. Could it be that I've not felt well, my youngest hasn't felt well, I'm chasing a PUPPY EVERYWHERE, trying to keep a clean house, trying to plan a Valentine's party for my oldest child's kindergarten class, and trying to relax some too. There just isn't enough time in the day.
However, we are still enjoying (AT TIMES) Cooper. He has definitely found his ornery side and shows it FULL FORCE. He is into everything, takes everything and runs, bites on the girls ankles as they run and scream/laugh (he thinks they are playing), and not to mention trying to potty train...OH MY!! Any tips would be MUCH WELCOMED at this point. Riley was nothing like this dog. All in all though, we wouldn't trade him for the world. He is so much fun and that's exactly what he's all about....FUN!!
We've had another busy week. Macy hasn't been feeling just real great all week. She's had a little bit of a cough, congestion, and low grade fever so that's kept us in a lot more than I needed to be. Today, she did go to school because it was her Valentine's party and she was not about to miss that. She was so excited about all the candy and cards she got. Madeline has her party tomorrow and I will be so glad when it is over. I am the room mom for her class so I have spent this week trying to gather all the stuff needed for the party to decorate, eat, and made 23 foam frames. After tomorrow afternoon, I hope to rest.
Now, I'm going to take a paragraph of my own blog to BRAG on my Madeline. I can do that because this is my blog and well, I want to document important things that happen. So here I go. Today while I was at the school trying to get some last minute things for the party ready and talking to Madeline's WONDERFUL teacher she told me to come out into the hall that she wanted to show me something. We went to the hallway and on the walls the kids had written stories about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. She had asked them to write a sentence on each one telling something about them. Madeline wrote TWO PAGES on both. Her writing looked so good and she did a fabulous job on her spelling. Her teacher was very impressed with her and bragged that she was WAY ready for 1st grade and that in fact she could send her there (kidding). I told her, "NO WAY, she's staying with you and then next year could you move to 1st grade?" She is already reading at a 1st grade beginning level her teacher said. We are so proud of her and hope that she keeps this up ALL THE WAY THROUGH HER SCHOOLING YEARS! She gets it from her daddy. Thanks for letting me brag.
This blog is all over the place, can you tell? I've been pretty scatter brained as of lately. Don't know why. Some of you have asked if Hubs and I are still on the South Beach diet? The answer: Yes and No. We aren't following it TO THE T (like in the beginning) but are doing good and still making healthier choices. Remember, we started the diet on Jan. 1st. Hubs has lost 18 pounds and I have lost 15 pounds. It's a little harder on Hubs to do the diet strictly because he has been working some long hours at work and they have been bringing food in and well, it isn't always the healthiest choices but he tries his best to still be good. I'm still proud of us though.
That is us and all that is happening. Hope you all have a LOVELY Valentine's and get to spend it doing something fun with your Loved one. We are going to dinner with some friends and I don't know what else. We have a sitter for the entire evening so the possibilities are open.

A new addition to the family.....

2009-02-07T08:41:00.008-06:00

Let me introduce to you.......

COOPER!!!

Yes, that's right, we have a new member in the family in way of a bassett hound puppy. He is an early SURPRISE valentine's present for Hubs. As many of you know, we lost our 14 year old bassett hound in Nov. Hubs has always wanted another bassett so I decided to surprise him. I went to the breeder yesterday and FELL IN LOVE. He is the cutest thing ever. I must say that Hubs, was quite surprised when he got home and I gave him his Valentine's day card and in it it said "I hope you enjoy your present" He even made the comment, "Oh honey, a new puppy." (not knowing there was one laying asleep in the corner). I said, "Don't you wish." "Go open the sack by Macy." He walked over and saw Cooper laying there in deep slumber. HE WAS SHOCKED!! Even asking a few times, "Who does it belong to?" However, it didn't take him long to warm up and love on him. (as you will see in the picture below). He's starting to show that ornery puppy side today. Yesterday, he spent the evening getting adjusted to his new home. We are also dog sitting our friends female bassett, Maggie. Thank goodness, because Cooper thinks she just like his momma. Our beagle, Riley is still warming up to the whole idea of having a little brother. He's been pretty good with him, so far. Only a few little snaps when he's had enough of Cooper crawling on top of him. We've only had one small tee tee accident in the house. It's definitely different having a little guy in the house again. It's been over 9 years since we've had a puppy and even then it was just Hubs and I. We are already so in love with this little guy. I'll let you know what I think in a few more days once the biting and chewing start...HA!!! Oh the joys of puppies. Funny story.....

This morning I hear Macy screaming NO! NO! There are times when she is a little bit scared of Maggie. So I try to call Maggie and she doesn't come. I go in the living room to find Macy screaming at Cooper who is trying to use Macy's thigh as a chew toy. He has her pinned her chair. Poor little girl. So now anytime Cooper comes towards her she yells no and jumps to higher ground.

More of Cooper....

Playing with Maggie.

Tired as can be.

Look at those ears and those paws..SO CUTE!!

Plain tuckered out.

Cuddled up with daddy.

We are going to have a weekend of playing and cleaning...Hope yours is great too.

So bad...

2009-02-05T17:05:00.004-06:00

I have been HORRIBLE lately about updating this blog but honestly there hasn't been much going on and I haven't felt good. However, I did get some new DARLING pictures of my niece last night that I MUST share with you all...Take a look at this princess.

Doesn't this one make your heart melt? Big brother and Little sister. PRECIOUS!!!

I'm finally getting over the cold/allergies/sinus whatever. I went to the doctor on Wednesday to discuss with her the problems I'm having with my shoulder/neck. She did x-rays and some range/motion tests on the shoulder. She wants to do some physical therapy for 3 weeks with a special medicated ultrasound therapy and after that look at the shoulder again. If I'm still having the pain then we are going to do injection right into the shoulder itself. If that doesn't fix it and I'm still having pain the next step is surgery. I don't want it to come to that but I will if it means no more pain. So let's hope PT works. As for the allergies, she said that I may need to have some allergy testing done if I'm having to continue doing the FOUR allergy regimens just to keep myself "cleared up". It may come to having to take allergy shots. I'll be like you, Brad. HA!!

The girls are doing great. Madeline celebrated her 100th day of school today. I was the parent volunteer for the day so I got to join in on all the fun festivities. The kids were all SUPER EXCITED, as they got to have a snack in class. That's always a big plus for kindergartners. We are having some nice (above average) weather here in Texas. It's been in the 60's and supposed to be in the 70's this weekend. The girls are loving it because they get to play outside.
I need to start my spring cleaning because it's going to take me all spring to get it done..HA!!!

OK, I have a question for you all...This August, Hubs and I will celebrate our 10 YEAR anniversary. I can't believe it's been 10 years. That sounds like such a long time. We are starting to think of a place to go celebrate. Have any of you been to a place (besides VEGAS) that you just loved? We're open to any and all suggestions. Looking forward to hearing about some great places.

I did a VERY bad thing...

2009-01-31T23:22:00.002-06:00

I was trying to update a new blog address for someone on my list that changed their blog site and what do I end up doing? Erasing ALL of my blog list instead of just the ONE that I wanted to. UGH!! Thankfully, I had written down (on paper) some time ago all the addresses in case something like this were to happen. HOWEVER, I hadn't updated my paper in awhile and I had added a few since. SO, if yours is not on my blog list or you recognize one that may be missing, please comment me and let me know about it. I'll be sad to know that someone could be missing.
Today I did the UNTHINKABLE too. I ventured out (ON MY OWN) with THREE little girls (Rachel-8, Madeline-5, Macy-2)to Grapevine Mills Mall. We were gone for FIVE hours. I must say the girls were VERY good for the most part. I bribed them with getting to ride the carousel and getting to pick out a new outfit for one of their Build a Bears. It worked...HA!! We had a good time, just the girls.
Please keep praying for me. I'm still not feeling well. I will feel fine about mid-morning and then by late afternoon I feel AWFUL again. I'm hoping I can shake this off soon. I want to go see my niece but not until I am 100% better. I have an appointment with my doctor on Wed. but it was an appointment to talk to her about my back/shoulder. I guess I will be discussing this sinus yuck too.
Is everyone ready for the SUPER BOWL? Who are you cheering for? I'm going with the Arizona Cardinals. Have a great rest of your weekend. Remember let me know if I've forgotten you or someone else on my list.

Slow boring week...

2009-01-30T16:31:00.011-06:00

The title describes my life this week. Hence the lack of blogging. However, when my dad asks, "When are you going to update your blog?", I know it must be time. I haven't been feeling just real good lately. I have been suffering from what I believe is a NASTY sinus infection. My poor head feels like it could explode at any minute. Today, I finally felt well enough to get out and run a few errands that I needed to do.
We did have some yucky weather come through on Tuesday evening. It brought with it freezing rain and some sleet. Nothing near what they got in Oklahoma and Arkansas. They closed schools on Wednesday, which Madeline was excited about. Not so much, momma. Macy is feeling much better too. We have a follow up appoitment on Monday to make sure the ear infection is gone. She was so sad when I told her that she was done taking her medicine on Wednesday. She reminded me most every night that it was time to take her medicine. What a good girl.
Some of our friends called me on Wed. afternoon to ask if we could dog sit their dog, Maggie. They had to go to Oklahoma because her dad was having an emergency double bypass surgery. (He did well) They moved her a little over a year ago from Alaska (military family). I have known them since 2000. Anyways, when they were in the process of moving here they sent Maggie to live with us for 6 weeks while they took care of all the last minute stuff in AK and then started the trek to Texas. We love having Maggie here. Her and Riley are buddies (sometimes a little too close if you get my drift) Thank God both are fixed. So we have been a family with two dogs again for a few days.
Many have asked about how my dad is doing and I'm happy to report that he got his staples taken out yesterday and his shoulder is healing wonderfully. Thanks for the prayers and well wishes. He goes to the Cardiologist next week for the blood pressure issues he's been having so hopefully soon we will get that problem resolved. My new niece I hear is doing AWESOME. Mom says she is one of the best babies. She is sleeping well, eating, pooping, and just being plain cute. I am dying to see her. I think in a few weeks we are going to have to make a trip to OKC to see her. I want to kiss her so bad.
Look how cute she is....

Here she is with her daddy (my brother). He's so in love.

She looks just like my brother here.

Lyric and Mommy. Jaime already looks amazing.

Also, have you been following Baby Harper and Brayden? Isn't it amazing how God is working in both those young lives. GOD is good and does good. Praise HIM!!
So that is our life in a nut shell this week.

(Dad I know this is the real reason you want me to blog...Pictures of the girls)

Sweet Madeline...

I don't know what she is doing but she yelled for me to come take her picture. HA! Love the outfit.

Couldn't you just eat her up?

Check out those eyelashes...I wish I had half of them and that mine were half as long. Just beautiful.

Sweet sisters with the hats Nana and Papa got them while in Coronado, CA.

Pictures can say a thousand words.....

2009-01-22T17:46:00.023-06:00

*Warning, there are LOTS of pictures."

This blog is about pictures....
With each of these pictures....I had THOUSANDS of things going through my head.

Let me try to explain each scenario.

First....

The infamous Lemonade stand that Madeline and her best friend has been begging us to have for TWO YEARS!! I'm thinking inside....This is going to be a lot of work, who's going to buy it on a FRIDAY afternoon, I'm going to have to clean up the mess, etc, etc, etc. Well, the girls had the best time and it really wasn't much work. They sold it for .25 and ended up making around $8.00 in about 1.5 hours. Thank God for generous people who love children and tip well....HA!

All set and ready to sell....

The three little entrepreneurs....

They had a blast and can't wait for the next one. They ask us everyday still to have a lemonade stand.

Next.....
If life could only be this easy....

This is how we found Macy on the couch at our neighbors during one of our Friday night game nights. See, most Friday nights we cook dinner, eat together as families, the kids play, and the adults play cards/Mexican train/sequence/etc. This night Macy was trying her hardest to stay awake but just couldn't do it. They are so sweet, innocent, loving, QUIET, when they are asleep. I love to just sit and watch them sleep so peacefully.

Then.....
Just today as I was on the phone talking with my mother about the birth of my new niece, you know, getting all the details, did my brother cry when she was born, who does she look like, does she have hair, etc., etc. I noticed it was a little quiet in the house and Macy was no where to be SEEN or HEARD....Until I walked into their bathroom and saw this....

It looks like someone had a party in the bathroom, huh? Well, they did and her name was MACY. She dumped out FIVE tubes of bath confetti all over the floor, in the cabinet, and most of it is UNDER the rug. I guess she thought she'd hide it under there so I wouldn't see it....NOW, you can imagine the THOUSANDS of things going through my head at this time....I won't mention them. HA! But then how can you resist this....

She thought she'd give me this SWEET face and everything would be right with the world again and well.......IT WAS!!!

Now.....

I have the camera out, I might as well take some more pictures of this Short and Sweet (look at her shirt) little girl....Here's how it goes.....

1.

Cooperation....

2.

Orneriness....

3.

Non-Cooperation....

4.

Being just plain silly....

5.

Being cute....

6.

Just got bit by an ant....I'M DONE!!!

LAST BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST......CHECK OUT HANNAH MONTANA IN THIS VIDEO. (Pause the music on the right side before watching)

Now that is WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS!!! She's going to kill me for this one day. I love how dramatic and into it she is....LOVE IT!!

SHE'S HERE!!

2009-01-22T14:53:00.004-06:00

*********UPDATED*********

Lyric London Caldwell,

My first niece was born today at 2:08 pm. She is just beautiful. She weighed 6lbs 11 oz. and was 20.5 in long. She has a little bit of short hair and she has my brothers dimples, says my mom. It's hard to be here and hear all the excitement in their voices and not be there to share in it with them. I plan on going to OKC in a few weeks when things settle down and get my love on.. CONGRATULATIONS Aaron and Jaime!!

Just a few hours old and momma already has her dressed.

4 men and one little lady. (Uncle Joshua, Daddy Aaron, Big Brother Garrett, and Papa)

All the women and Garrett. (Jaime's friend, Heather, Sister Christina, Nana Caldwell, Nana Stroud, and Big Brother Garrett)

Daddy and his little girl. He's already wrapped around her little finger.

Beautiful Mommy and Lyric. How can you look so good after just giving birth? You are amazing, Jaime. I think mommy is in love.

Today is the day...

2009-01-22T11:40:00.002-06:00

Today is the day...FINALLY! My niece will be born. By the end of the day, Lyric London will have arrived. Last time I spoke to my parents she was doing well. Her contractions were every 3 minutes and lasting about 30 secs. They were about to check her but I haven't heard back. It's killing me that I am not there to see her born. I missed my nephews birth by about 45 mintues as we were in route from Dallas to Tulsa. I told my mom to take LOTS of pics and send them to me TONIGHT. I'm dying to see what she looks like. I'll keep you posted.

There is an end in sight...

2009-01-20T10:55:00.002-06:00

We're home. We had a great time, as usual in Oklahoma. We got there Thursday evening and found dad in the bed. He was in quite a bit of pain but his face lit up when he saw his girls. Dad is doing surprisingly well. He got to take off his surgery dressings while we were there. We were excited to see the 3 stitches that he got from the surgery. WRONG!!! He took it off and there was about a 10 inch opening with about 15 staples holding it shut. I think they meant it took 3 INSIDE stitches. HA!! It was pretty cool looking. The girls said he looked like Frankenstein. HA! He'll be able to make a real good story for that scare. I couldn't believe that in my dad's 60 years of life, this was his first broken bone. He goes back to the doctor on the 29th to get the staples out. He actually went to work yesterday.
While we were in Oklahoma we spent one afternoon with my older brother, his girlfriend, and her son. The girls LOVE Garrett and always enjoy getting to play with him. Jaime was pretty miserable. We were all hoping that she would have my niece while I was there but it just didn't happen. HOWEVER, they got the good news (hence the title of this post) yesterday from her doctor that she will be induced on Thursday. YIPPEE!! So that means, as of this Thursday I will have a new niece, Lyric London Caldwell. We are all SO EXCITED to meet her. Please be in pray that everything goes smoothly and quickly. Pray for good health for both Jaime and Lyric.
I guess I'll be making another trip to Oklahoma soon to see my new niece. Luckily it's not too far of a drive.
While in Oklahoma I came down with a yucky cold, as did Macy. She woke up from her nap on Sat. afternoon with a yucky croupy cough. By yesterday, she began running a fever and sounding even worse. I called the doctor and they were able to get us in with the evening doctor at 5:45 last night. Much to my surprise, Macy has a pretty bad ear infection. I had no idea. She never complained about her ear hurting. The doctor said she didn't see her tubes anymore so they have fallen out. I hope this isn't the start of what we went through in 07. It will be a year this week that she got the tubes put in. Please pray that this is a one time occurrence and not something that is going to continue to happen. She hasn't been sleeping well at night. She tosses and turns most the night. Poor baby girl!
My sister in law and brother in law got to see their baby for the first time yesterday. There was only one baby...HA! She is 8 weeks along. I can't wait to have another little niece or nephew running around. My mother in law and I were talking at Christmas that this time next year we'd have a 6, 3, 2, and 3.5 month old. Crazy, but so much fun.
I need to get to the laundry and house cleaning since I have been gone for so long. Please continue to lift up Baby Harper and Baby Brayden. They are in for a long road to recovery but are already showing slight improvements. Our God can heal.

Sorry no pictures..I forgot my camera this weekend.

Urgent Prayers Needed...

2009-01-17T08:43:00.004-06:00

Two of my "bloggy friends" had babies within the past two days. Both need URGENT prayers for the precious babies, Harper and Brayden.(click on their names to read about their stories and to get updates). I'm asking for you all to be in prayer for these two families. Even though I don't "know" them personally I have been following their blogs from the day they announced they were pregnant. Both couples struggled with even getting pregnant. They both seem like such amazing couples who love our God and are REALLY leaning on him right now.

LIFT THEM UP......

It's a new day.

2009-01-14T11:04:00.003-06:00

First, I wanted to thank all of you for your kind words about yesterdays post. I found myself in a "funk" all day. I battled a horrible headache all day. By the evening, I started to feel better and "pep up". However, I think I cried at EVERYTHING last night on the Biggest Loser. Do you watch that show? I LOVE IT!! I was so sad though with the ending last night. I won't ruin it for those of you who may have dvr'd it. Let's just day it was not the way I wanted it to go.
Today is my dad's surgery to repair the collar bone that he shattered. He goes into surgery at 11:30. It was supposed to be at 9:30 but when they got there they were informed that it had been pushed back to 11:30. He, nor my mom, was very happy. Especially dad because he hasn't been able to eat anything and you all know how men get when they are hungry. HA!! They are supposed to be putting a metal plate in the shoulder to hold it together. He's hoping that once they get it stabilized he will start to feel better. Right now, it hurts him anytime he moves. I'm still trying to decide if the girls and I will go to Oklahoma. I know dad would love to see his girls, but I don't want them (their noise) to stress him out. HA!!
Today after Macy's swim class her teacher told me that she wants to move her up to the next level because she feels that the class she is in right now is not challenging her enough. She is a little fish. She can swim the entire length of the pool (side to side) by herself underwater. I can't wait to see her this summer in the pool.
Hope you all are having a great week.

Glory Baby....

2009-01-13T10:42:00.006-06:00

Every time I hear this song by Watermark, (take a second to listen to it) I think of this very day. It describes EXACTLY how I feel. It was 4 years ago on this day that I lost our second child through a miscarriage at 12weeks. I still miss that baby every day. January 13th is a day that never goes without remembering what happened that evening. God decided at that moment that he needed that precious baby, that he chose for us, to come back home in Heaven with him. I'll never understand why but I find peace in knowing that HE was with me through it all.

To my precious baby,
Although I only had you inside me for 12 short weeks, I loved you from the start. We already had plans for you. We already dreamed what you would look like and what you would be like. Even though we never got to see you, hold you, smell you, we LOVED you and continue to today. I got a new bracelet for Christmas and on it is a sweet angel, YOU. Each time I wear it I have a little bit of you with me. That makes me happy. This Christmas while I was at your Papa and Nana's house I pulled out your picture and looked at you. You looked like a little peanut. You were a little peanut. We miss you and love you still. I can't wait for the day when we will see you again. Till then....have fun with Jesus.

Love ,
Mommy

*Update on my dad*

They went to see the Trauma Orthopedic doctor today and he will be having surgery tomorrow (time still unknown). It looks like they are going to be putting a plate in his shoulder to hold it together. He is still in a lot of pain. We also heard back on one of the tests he had done and it showed "something irregular". He will be seeing the Cardiologist on the 27th. Please be in prayer for his surgery tomorrow and also for the "something irregular".

A crash and a visit to the ER!!

2009-01-12T09:12:00.004-06:00

Last night as I am about to leave for church my mom calls to tell me that she is in the ER with my dad. My heart flip flops, the blood all rushes to my head, and I get a sick feeling in my stomach. My first thought is that he has had a stroke or heart attack because of the high blood pressure issues he's been having. Apparently, he was in an accident. A 4 wheeler accident. We all know that my dad just turned 60 in November. However, he still rides his 4 wheeler like he's 20. I know, cool dad and he is VERY cool....BUT....look what happens. Thank GOD he had his helmet on or who knows what would have happened to him. He was riding down a hill (I'm sure at a very high rate of speed, knowing him) and hit a stump that was sticking up out of the ground when the 4 wheeler threw him off the front and then it rolled over the top of him. He ended up breaking his collar bone in THREE places and getting a severe subdural hematoma on his hip. They thought originally that the muscle may have been torn away from his hip. Thank God it wasn't. I'm sure there are a few more bruises/scrapes/scratches. He was in quite a bit of pain my mom said. They are going to meet with the Orthopedic Doctor today to see if his collar bone will need surgery. Please be in prayer for him and my mom. Him for the pain and my mom for him being a pain...HA!! I love you dad and wish I could be there to give you a hug. Your girlie's send their love too. *UPDATE* Mom just called and they are back from the doctor and he said he has shattered the collar bone and has referred them to a trauma orthopedic surgeon. They have an appt. in the morning.
We have 4 days AND COUNTING until we are DONE with Phase 1 of the South Beach diet. We are both still doing well on it. I have lost 8 pounds and Hubs has lost 12 (that was yesterday's weight) I'm sure there was more today. YAY!! We are looking forward to Phase 2 and getting to add a starch and some fruit. We can't wait!!!
Many are still asking also about my dad's tests from last Monday. We still haven't heard anything. My mom was not a happy camper. When she called the Dr. office on Friday the nurse said it could be another week until they hear anything. My mom asked what she was supposed to do in the meantime about the extreme high blood pressure. The nurse asked what his blood pressure was and mom told her. The nurse proceeded to say, "He needs to go to the ER"....DUH!! Why do you think we have been running all these tests, genius. Sorry, but Dr. offices drive me crazy sometimes. Hopefully we'll hear something this week. Be in prayer still.
I have another prayer request. My friend, Jami, found out over the weekend that her mother has a VERY rare, incurable plasma blood cancer. They will find out more on Tues. when she sees the Oncologist. This will be a very hard battle to fight for this family but with others praying and God in control it will make it easier.
Let's see what else....Oh, we got to have a date night Saturday night. We had a yummy dinner (low carb, high protein) and then went to the movie and saw Marley and Me. I loved it. Of course, I cried and cried. Not a good movie to see when you have just lost your dog yourself. It was so good though. It was nice to get out and have a date with my hubby. I hear the weather is supposed to get REALLY cold the end of the week.....YUCK!!
Still no niece....She's hanging tight for now. Jaime goes to the Dr. this morning so hopefully we will get some new news. I really want her to come this week so we can go this weekend and see her.

Have a great week.

It's been a week...

2009-01-09T10:42:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, marked one week that Hubs and I have been on the South Beach diet. First I want to say, I am SO PROUD of both of us. It's not the easiest of diets to be on. However, I have lost 7 pounds in a week and Hubs has lost 9 pounds. YAY for us!! We have ONE MORE WEEK on phase one and then it will get a little bit easier. In phase two you can start adding fruits, 1 piece of bread a day, several other veggies, cereals, and a few other things. I must say after this next week I don't think I will touch another egg for a LONG TIME. Pretty much all you can have for breakfast in the first phase is eggs, bacon, Canadian bacon, and sausage. I know you are thinking, "that all sounds great." NOT when you are having to eat it for FOURTEEN days straight. It gets REAL OLD. I'll be happy when I can have a grapefruit or a banana. HA!
Keep the prayers up for us. This is really important to us to get healthier.

In other news, Jaime still hasn't gone into complete labor. She is not feeling very good so hopefully soon (before next weekend) she will have my niece, Lyric. Those of you that have ever been pregnant know how miserable feeling you are in those last days and how ready you are to meet that precious new baby. If she comes before next weekend, like we are hoping, the girls and I will be traveling to Oklahoma to see them.

Last night as we are watching the OU vs. Florida championship game (sorry SOONER FANS) Madeline came to me saying her earrings hurt (left ear). She says it feels like the earring is all the way in her ear. I'm thinking she's just wanting to change out her earrings. I tell her to go get all the "stuff"(peroxide, neosporin, cotton balls) to clean her ears and go pick out some new earrings. She gathers all the stuff and we get on the couch and I began to try to take the backs off the earrings on her left ear when "OH MY GOODNESS" !!! I try not to freak out because I know it will scare her. But I can't believe what I am seeing. First these earrings have two backs on them. The normal silver back and a rubber clear one to keep the silver one from falling off. I get the rubber one off when I CAN"T FIND THE SILVER ONE... After a little investigation I notice that the back is IN her ear. Somehow the back was working it's way into her lobe. I'm able to work it out a little and mean LITTLE. So I go to the other ear and see what the status is there. It's in a little bit not near as bad as the left ear. I get that one out with just a little work. We clean that ear good and move back to the left ear. I try and try to work it back out but of course, Madeline, is freaking out. I decide I need backup. I call my trusty neighbor, Kristie, who also happens to be a nurse. She came right over and assessed the situation. She says, "I've never seen anything like this." We look at it and begin to prepare for "surgery". I'm the "assistant" I hold the flashlight, the q-tips to clean with, and hand her tweezers. Madeline does SO MUCH better with Kristie working on her ear than me. She didn't make one peep with her. I knew that would be the case. After about 10 minutes or so working we finally get the back out of her ear. I will spare you all the icky details but lets just day it wasn't easy getting it out. We cleaned her ears real good and left the earrings out. We've decided that we will be leaving the earrings off for a few days letting the ears heal. I can also say that Madeline will NO LONGER sleep in her earrings.

That's the excitement around our house. We've hoping to go to the movies tomorrow night to see Marley and Me. Our babysitter, my neighbors 16 year old daughter, is on the varsity soccer team this year so she has tournaments all weekend. We've hoping she will be through with her games in time for us to go to the movies. I've heard the movie is so good. I read the books right after it came out and LOVED it. I can't wait to see the movie.

Also, I have a "blog friend" Amy, whom I've never met but would LOVE to, who has been struggling with infertility. Her mom is doing something very special for Amy and her husband, DW, *Dusty*. Instead of explaining it all to you, you can read about what she is doing HERE.
If you would like to help I know they would be so appreciative. They are such incredible Christian people, who love OUR LORD!! I will be helping so can you. Thank you!!

I leave you with my two DIVAS!!!!!
They are Hannah Montana here. Can't you tell? Thanks Nana for the wig. It gets used A LOT!!

FYI.....

If you read my blog I'd love to know about it, click to follow me on the right side of my page. I'd love to read your blog too if I don't already. Thanks for coming by.

You've all been wondering...

2009-01-07T13:58:00.006-06:00

What was the exciting news?

No, it's not what all you thought. I am NOT pregnant. I never understood why everyone always thinks that when I say I have exciting news they think I'm always pregnant. It's not like I've been pregnant like a whole lot or anything. I mean, I know that is very exciting news...but no I AM NOT PREGNANT!!

HOWEVER, my sister in law is. That's right, I am going to be an aunt AGAIN! Hub's younger sister, Michelle and her husband, Brad are expecting. They told us Christmas morning and of course, we were all SUPER EXCITED.

They put this little note in a gift bag for my mother in law to open. Of course, when she opened and read it she immediately started to cry. Which then I turned to her and said, "Are you pregnant!" YAY!! They had just found out that morning. We are so happy for you guys. I couldn't tell anyone because even though she took TWO pregnancy test and both showed up positive she still wanted to FOR SURE from the doctor. I can't wait to start shopping again. Oh wait, I already have. I already bought the baby it's first outfit. It is SO CUTE!!

In other news, my mom just called to tell me that my brother and his girlfriend are at the hospital right now. Jaime has been having some contractions this morning and afternoon. They checked her a little while ago and she was at 3 cm dilated. They are going to check her again in a bit and if she is still progressing they will go ahead and admit her which means hopefully REAL SOON my precious niece will be here. Please say a prayer for them all that everything goes smoothly. She had a hard time with her first child during birth. I'll be sure to post when I hear something else.

*UPDATE*
Jaime was sent home from the hospital. Apparently her contractions slowed and she was not dilating very quickly. I'm sure she is totally bummed. However, with babies, you just never know what will happen. Please keep her in your prayers. My brother said she was in quite a bit of pain. Of course, my brother would rather her hold off until Friday because of OU being in the National Championship game tomorrow night. He is a HUGE OU fan.