Playing Catch Up

Wow! I had no idea that it has almost been two months since my last post. So, I figure that the easiest and fastest way to catch everyone up is with pictures.

First of all, never say never. I swore up and down that I would never (never,ever!) drive a minivan. But, a few weeks ago I gave in to the logical voice in my head and came home driving this..

a silver 2010 Dodge Caravan. I will admit that I like it. It has tons of space and the stow'n'go in the floor is pretty cool.

The past few weeks we having been spending what little spare time we have at the Airshow, Pumpkin Patches, and Magic Springs.

Daphne turned 8 years old this past Friday, October 29. To celebrate, we had a few of her friends from school over for a sleepover. It was a lot of fun. The girls ate pizza, painted, ate cake and ice cream, played a game, ate cheese dip, watched a movie, ate some popcorn, watched another movie, had a pillow fight, ate some more pizza,went to bed too late, got up too early, ate some donuts and more cake, and went home.

And then this past weekend, we attended Trunk or Treat at our church and then went trick or treating at a few houses Sunday night.

Well, that's just about everything that's been happening with us lately. We're planning on being at Homecoming at Harding this Saturday. Hope to see you there!

Camp Tahkodah Weekend

We got to spend this past weekend at Camp Tahkodah with Micah's family. We were all really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, on Friday night, Daphne, Kaylee, Noah, and I all got the same throwing up bug that Aubrey and Micah had had earlier in the week. That certainly put a damper on our weekend and we pretty much just layed around most of the day Saturday. Thankfully, we all felt much better on Sunday and Monday and were able to get in some canoeing and a hike up to the bluff. However, by then we had contaminated the cousins and Granddad so they took their turns lying on the couch all day.

Besides being sick and getting others sick, we had a wonderful weekend. The weather was beautiful as was the scenery. We got to spend a little time with Micah's brothers Mark and Marshall and their wives. I have not yet heard if they got sick, too. I'm really hoping they didn't. We got to play cards til late both Saturday and Sunday night which I really enjoy doing (as long as I can stay awake!). We also got to see some wildlife.

This is "Mousy the Mouse" that Micah and I caught in our bathroom Saturday night. Mousy does not like to eat cheese or apples. He would rather dine on some Garden Herb Triscuits. We were considering bringing Mousy home as a pet, but with our new kitten and some other factors, we decided that that would not be wise. Mousy was very cute, but he did not like it when I picked him up. To show that he didn't like that, he clamped down on my finger with his tiny fangs. Do mice carry rabies?
We released Mousy today right before we left expecting him to run off into the tall grass. Instead he ran up a tree. None of us knew that mice climbed trees, but now we do.

Our second encounter with wildlife was while we were canoeing. We got to see a big black Water Moccassin swim across the river in front of us. I wasn't surprised to see this considering that we were out in the middle of nowhere, but then we saw two more of them and realized that they had a nice little home made between some rocks. After seeing the second and third ones, I decided that there was no way that I would ever get in that water!



I have said many times how much I love Micah's family and feel love from them as well. I really cherish the times that we get to spend with them. Thank you to Steve and Gail for planning this little get away. We had a wonderful weekend!

First Birthday Pictures

Here are just some of the adorable pictures that my friend Terri took.

At Aubrey's check up she weighed 18 lbs. 11 oz. (25!!), was 28 inches long (25%), and her head was 18 3/4 inches (95%). She has gone from way off the curve to 25% for weight. That was exciting to find out. The doctor said that she looked great!

Just some pictures from the first day of school. (ok. I'll admit that I forgot to take pictures of the girls on their first day which was last Thursday. These are actually from Monday which was Noah's first day of preschool.)

Noah - Preschool

Kaylee - 1st Grader!





Daphne - 2nd Grader!!



And, of course, no blog post would be complete without some cute pictures of Aubrey!

More Birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday Aubrey!!

Aubrey turns 1 this Saturday, August 7. It is so hard for me to believe that a year has gone by since her birth. Needless to say, this time a year ago was a very stressful time for us. I was in the hospital and the doctors were trying to keep my blood pressure down. For those of you who don't know the story, I had been on bedrest for a couple of weeks, but it wasn't doing the job. I finally went to the hospital Monday night because I knew my blood pressure was high and I was not feeling good at all. When they check my bp at the hospital, it was 222/116 so I got an invitation to stay. After a few days of trying to get it under control, the doctors decided that they couldn't wait any longer, so they started inducing me. I had asked my doctor to just wait one more day because my parents were still in Hawaii, but he looked at me like I was crazy (I was on some strong drugs so I'm blaming the craziness on them!) and said absolutely not. After a long day to everybody else, but what seemed like just a few hours to me because I was so sedated, Aubrey was born. It was such a relief to hear her cry. She weighed in at 3 lbs. 10oz. and was 171/2 inches long. She looked like a worm. They immediatley took her to the NICU where she got to spend her first three weeks of life. We were so grateful that she had no major problems during her stay in the hospital. She was there mainly to gain weight and so the doctors could observe her. It was hard making trips back and forth. I remember that I would drop off Daphne and Kaylee at school, then Noah and I would spend the day at the hospital. Micah would usually go over there to feed Aubrey a bottle after he got off work at night. When she was just over 4 pounds, we were able to bring her home. Since then, she has been healthy and has been steadily putting on weight. She now weighs almost 18 pounds. She still looks small for her age (especially compared to some of the boys) and she's not doing everything a "normal" 12 month old would do. But that's okay with me!! I'm not really ready for her to be walking and getting into everything in the house. I have really enjoyed her being more of a baby for longer.

Here are some things I'd like to remember about Aubrey at this age....she doens't crawl, but she rolls and pushes off with one foot to get around the living room; she loves to pulls things out of bags and basket. This will keep her busy for a while; she's a great eater; she is content to sit and watch other kids. She is an observer; she is a momma's girl; she can say Momma, Dada, nenene (which I think means no because that's what she says to her siblings when they take things from her); she waves hi and bye; she understands a lot. She definitely understands when I tell her "no" or if I pat her on the bottom - both of those usually make her cry; she would love to play with the TV remote and my phone. She tries her hardest to get them if she can see them; she does a great job riding in the car; she loves the water and enjoys going to the pool and taking baths; she's a pretty good sleeper and has rarely ended up in my bed during the night; she's very loving; when I hold her, she lays her head against me and just pats me. It's so sweet; she loves Daphne, Kaylee, and Noah and will laugh for them or at them more than anyone else.

As many of you know, Aubrey was a big surpise for our family, but she is a joy and a blessing and we would not be complete without her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUBREY!

My 10 Things that I'm Thankful for this week:

1. Getting to go out to eat and to a movie with some great ladies from church.

2. Being continually reminded how blessed I am.

3. Finding a chest of drawers on the side of the road!!!! One of the drawers is messed up, but I can easily fix it.

4. Getting Noah's room and closet cleaned out.

5. Daphne and Kaylee needing very few new clothes and shoes for school. Almost everything from last year still fits!

6. Having very few things on my "to do" list this week.

7. Having a dependable car

8. Getting to go watch my neice and nephew swim at their meet last Saturday.

9. 4 kids that all go to bed when they are told!

10. Kids' Movie Night on Wednesday nights after church

Thankful Tuesday

I know that this is not Tuesday, but last night at my ladies' Bible class we were talking about how we should list the things we are thankful for no matter how small they may be. I mentioned that I used to do that on a weekly basis through my blog and realized that I need to start again. If any of my readers are interested in this, I highly recommend it. It makes you stop and think and thank. You could post these through a blog, facebook, or just do a personal list at home.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

This week I'm thankful for....

1. Getting to go to Ladies' Bible class. We have been learning about "The ABC's of a Godly Heart". It's a wonderful workbook with most of the verses coming from the book of Psalms. If you're looking for material for a Ladies' class, this series would be great!

2. Christian friends

3. Getting to go to Jessiville's VBS. Yes, it was a long drive, but my kids had a lot of fun and got to see some of their close friends as did I. Thank you for inviting us Darrah!

4. Medical information online. Aubrey had a fever one day, then no fever the next, but a rash had appeared. I was able to look up the symptoms and it said that she probably has Fifth Disease. It does not require a doctor's visit and there is no medicine that she can take for it. That mean's that my $20 co-pay can go toward something else. (for now)

5. My older three kids staying with my parents this week and getting to go to their VBS.

6. Getting a lot of cabinets and closets cleaned out (see previous post)

7. Getting to spend a lot of one-on-one time with Aubrey (see post #5)

8. Kleenexes! Aubrey's nose has been a constant waterfall the past few days.

9. Summertime.

10. And Somertime. On Wednesday nights we have a combined class for ages 1st-6th grade where we sing songs, hear a devo, and work on memory work. This year, every other week we seperate the boys and girls. The girls' class has been so much fun. We put a sign up on the door that says, "No Boys Allowed!". The girls love it. Our theme is "Finding Our Place" and we've been focusing on what gifts God has given us and how we can use them to serve Him. We've had great teachers that have had great lessons and great activities and games.

Summer Vacation

*********Warning!!Warning!!...Prepare to see a lot of pictures!***********

This past week we have been on vacation with my parents. We drove down to San Antonio and stayed there for a few days and then went to Galveston for two more days.

We were all packed into my parents' Expedition. It was a long drive, but we had a whole lot of fun!!

Kaylee and Me riding in the back


Noah being attacked by the map

Daphne playing her new DS (Kaylee and she bought it with their own money)


Aubrey cheesin' - She was a great traveler!

We had a great time and the weather was great, too. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...

Sea World

More Sea World

Our first attempt at spending the day on the beach didn't go so well. It was Thursday morning when part of the tropical depression was moving through.

Walking to the beach. I'm sure we looked pretty silly carrying our sand pails and towels.

You can see how windy it was. I cannot imaging what it would be like during a hurricane!


Aubrey was having fun until rain started pelting her in the face. I think she looks so pitiful.

Friday turned out to be a beautiful day so we spent most of it on the beach. The beaches on Galveston Island are certainly not as pristine as the ones in Florida, but the kids could have cared less. The were just excited to be on a beach and get to play in the ocean.

If you're still reading, this last slide show has pictures from downtown San Antonio and The Rain Forest Cafe in Galveston.

I thought that updating my blog was much more important (and more fun!) than doing all the laundry and unpacking. I'll get to it eventually (maybe).

P.S. - Aubrey got another tooth! She's also kinda slithering along the floor. It's certainly not crawling, but at least she's moving a little.