Christmas Presents

This is my first attempt at posting a video taken with my new Flip Video (Thanks Jenny!). This is also the kids first attempt at using their new Christmas presents. Everyone is having a great time.




It has been a great Christmas. The girls and I went to Waco last Sunday. Jenny's boys were already there, and Jenny got there Monday afternoon. Andy flew to Dallas on Tuesday night and drove to Waco with Steve. There were lots of Christmas celebrations and fun with family. We drove back to Oklahoma on Christmas Eve day. We made it home just before the blizzard struck. We had a quiet Christmas day at home. Today we all bundled up and went over to my dad's for another Christmas celebration. The fun continues tomorrow when my sister and her family come to town.

Quick Update

Most of you already know what has gone on with my dad, but here is a shortened version. He had his surgery on Tuesday, September 8. The doctor ended up doing 5 bypasses and a maze procedure. A few hours after that surgery was over they had to take him back to surgery because he had lost too much blood. By Thursday he was having trouble breathing. His heart was not pumping hard enough to get blood to all of his vital organs. His kidneys were failing and his lungs were struggling. They took him back to the operating room to put in a balloon pump. He gained 68 pounds of fluid and had to be put on dialysis. He remained sedated and on the ventilator until Saturday, September 19. Fast forward to last night. He is now off of everything. He is out of ICU and in a private room. He actually walked for the first time!!!! That is amazing news. All of the doctors and nurses are calling him "The Miracle Man." There is definately power in prayer.

My Dad

Please say a prayer for my dad and his sugeon this morning. At 7 am my dad will be having quadruple bypass surgery. The doctor said he should be done by noon. As my dad said "The Club Med portion of my stay is over" They have been monitoring him at the hospital since Friday. Today the hard part begins.

Time Flies

I can't believe that it is already time to start planning my baby girl's 8th birthday party. I am not a big fan of putting birthday parties together. I did a few in the beginning that required a lot of work, but now my goal is no work. That is why I love parties at BounceU or Pump it Up. They do everything for you. But this year Kayla wants a sleepover. I just can't do it. First of all, I don't want to. Secondly, where would we put a bunch of little girls? We just don't have the space.



Kayla and I have talked, and I believe we have reached a compromise. She wants a skating party. I agreed to let her have one or two friends come spend the night. I think I can handle that, and more importantly she will enjoy it. Now if I could just get Andy to call me back so we could agree on a day and time. I need to get the ball rolling and put down a deposit on the skating rink. Let the fun begin!

Hard At Work

Working on her first homework assignment in 2nd grade.

My Second Grader

It has taken me forever to do this post, but Kayla has also started school. Her first day as a second grader was on August 20th. We went to meet her teacher the day before school started. She was very excited to get the teacher she wanted, but she was upset that all of her friends are in different classes this year. Here she is with her teacher, Ms. Conway (love her!)

She seems like she is going to be a wonderful teacher. She is young, has a lot of energy and is very personable. She is in charge of the AR program at the school. I think Kayla is really going to be pushed on her reading this year. This is the teacher Kayla told me she wanted last year. She told me that when Ms. Conway had bus duty in the mornings she always said "Hi cutie". Kayla took that to mean that Ms. Conway wanted her in her class! I think this will be a good match.

Kind of far away, but here is Kayla at her desk.

The first day of school was not the best time for taking pictures. We did get a few in before it started to pour. It was so dark outside. Here is my big second grader. Notice the waves in her hair. She rolled it the night before with her American Girl doll hair rollers. It was fixed really cute, but pretty much went flat the minute we went outside.

We normally walk to school on the first day with Libby and Mallory. The traffic is always so bad, and it is impossible to get back in our neighborhood from the school. Kayla and Caroline both had school that day, and they both start at 8:30. Even before I knew it was going to rain I knew we were not going to be able to walk. When Kayla found that out she said (very dramatically) "Everything about second grade is dissappointing!" She was still upset about her friends not being in her class. So this year I gave all of the girls a ride. Here they are in the van. We could not do our normal outside group shots. It was POURING by the time we picked them up.

We made it inside, and it was time for everyone to head to their classes.
Here is Kayla's class. Don't you just love her teacher's outfit?

I was so excited to pick her up. I love hearing about the first day of school. I only wish I could get Kayla to tell me something other than "It was good." I did get bits and pieces from her later on. She found a friend in her class to hang out with and she loves her teacher. To quote her she said "I like her. I love her. I want some more of her." (I think she may listen to the radio too much!)

It was a really fun day for her. Her cousins, Tyler and Shelby, were still here visiting from Houston. They did not start school until the next week. Kayla was so excited that they were both there to pick her up from school.

The Girls


We invaded Braum's for an afterschool treat. The noise level went way up the minute we entered the building. It was me, Kayla, Caroline, Brigi (Caroline's friend that comes home with us 2 days a week), Tyler, Shelby, Robyn, Libby and Mallory. They had a great time!

Kayla rode the bus the next day. There are 8 kids that catch the bus in front of our house this year. Here are some of the girls.
Second grade is off to a great start. Kayla is excited to be back. However, she is not so excited about having to do homework again.

Second grade already...I just can't believe how fast this has happened!

Caroline's New School

Caroline started a new school at our church on August 18th. She will go to this school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She will still go to her old school on Wednesdays. The day before school started we went to the open house. There were kids and parents everywhere. It really was a zoo. Caroline was the only child there that refused to get down and play. She had her little hand as far in her mouth as she could make it go (the hand goes in the mouth when she is nervous or uncomfortable - not just a finger, the entire hand!). I was not sure how things would go the next morning.

Tuesday morning she was excited to go to her new school. She was hesitant because she thought none of the other kids would play with her, but she was ready. She insisted on the princess dress and braids. I can't believe she already has such strong opinions on her clothes and hair. We are in trouble! It was finally time to go, so that means time for pictures. So I say "Caroline, stand up nice and tall so I can take your picture."

This is her version of nice and tall.

I try to correct myself by saying "Not on your tip-toes. You need to put your heels down.

I guess she did what I asked of her!

Here is what we ended up with. Such a big girl!

She was very excited about getting to wear her name tag necklace. We must have tried it on a hundred times the week before.

She walked right in to her classroom. There is a baby gate across the door so the parents don't actually enter the room. You say goodbye in the hall and the child goes on in. Once she was in she did turn around and look at me with a look that said "Wait a minute. How did I end up in here." She was not crying, so I took off.

She finished her first day. Here she is being walked to the car by one of her teachers. She had a great day!

Quack, Quack

I just looked at Jenny's facebook page. She put something on there about going to see the "chick flick" Julie & Julia. It reminded me of a funny story. When we were in Waco over the weekend Andy and I started talking about what movie we should go see. Andy's dad said we should go see Julie & Julia. Andy was very quick in saying he did not want to see that because it is a chick flick. I said "Hello, I am a chick!" Caroline quite frankly replied "Hello, I am a duck...quack, quack." It was hilarious. She is a funny little girl. We all got a good laugh out of it!

Happy Birthday Daddy

Here is part of Caroline's conversation with her daddy this morning.

Happy Birthday Andy!

Let the countdown begin!

28 days. I am counting down the days until school starts. It will be nice to be back in a regular routine. Kayla starts on August 20. We bought all of her school supplies yesterday. Twice, actually. We bought them at WalMart, and then we headed to Target. Everything was cheaper there. I will be returning our stuff to WalMart. Every little bit helps. School supplies are expensive! I am not sure why she needs 36 pencils (Ticonderoga brand only), 8 glue sticks, 4 big pink erasers, etc. Andy is mad we are providing supplies to kids that don't bring them. I think that is still cheaper than having to pay tuition at a private school. I don't mind helping stock the classroom a little. The teacher should not have to cover those costs.

The kids are starting to fight a lot, and the schedule is just crazy. I know school brings about a whole new kind of busy, but at least it will be more routine.

Now for the back to school clothes shopping...

VBS Songs

Caroline loves to sing. It does not matter if she has ever heard the song or not, she is going to sing. On the day that I took these clips she had been singing for a while. It is a song they taught her at VBS. She was doing a great job with the song and the hand motions - until I got the camera out. The first clip is pretty good, but she kind of gets the words mixed up. I still think it is as cute as can be. Most people will know the song (Jesus, lamb of God, worthy is your name...)

She got kind of silly, and this is what the song turned into...

I guess Jesus liked his carrots!

"It Hurts!"

It was only 18 short days ago that we were at the Urgent Care Clinic with Kayla. For a very brief moment this afternoon I thought we might be making a trip there again. Caroline fell and slammed her face against the corner of the wall outside her bedroom door. There was lots of bleeding right at first, and a LOT of screaming. But she is just fine - she does look a little rough though!

Here she is a few minutes after falling.

Here she is about 3 hours later. Poor baby...

Trip to Waco

We made a trip to Waco the weekend of June 26. It was sort of a last minute decision to go so that Andy could attend the funeral of his Great Aunt Kat. It was a long journey to Texas. We did not leave until around 7 pm. Poor Andy was not feeling well, so it was a really long trip. We spent the night in Plano and made it to Waco on Saturday morning. Andy went to the service while I stayed on the farm with the girls. Our girls are not very good at being still and quiet, especially after having been in a car for so long. This was the best arrangement! Saturday evening the girls and I went out on the boat with Nanny and Papa. Andy was still not feeling well, and being on a boat would not have helped matters at all.

Kayla was very excited, but a little nervous, when Papa let her "drive the boat."

Caroline just enjoyed the ride.

Kayla is more relaxed and having a great time.

Papa got Kayla all set up to do some serious fishing.

Caroline also thought she was fishing.

She had no idea there was no hook or worm on her pole.

About the time Papa got the fishing gear set up, the girls were bored. Kayla wanted to swim so it was time to hook up the tube. Kayla and Papa got the first ride.

They may not have been smiling if they had known who was driving the boat...

Next it was Caroline's turn.

This is Kayla pretending to be bored while Papa and Caroline are on the tube.

More Papa and Caroline
They finished the ride. Caroline really enjoyed it. However, once her lifejacket was wet all she wanted to do was go back to the truck. She did NOT like having that wet life jacket on.

Kayla decided she was brave enough to go by herself.

She loved every second of it.

Here are some little clips of each of their rides.

It was a good (quick) weekend. Luckily Andy was feeling better by the time we got back. But for some reason the trip home still took us 7 hours. This was our first road trip since Caroline has been potty trained.

We are looking forward to going back to Waco in August for a longer weekend.

Happy Father's Day

A Man With His Grill

That is a picture of a happy Andy! He got a new grill for Father's Day, and to celebrate he got to cook dinner. My dad, Sue, and Russ came over and Andy broke in the new grill with some yummy ribs. An added bonus: he grilled again tonight!

Here are the girls before the ribs were even ready. Luckily, we also made Aunt Jenny's mac & cheese so Caroline had already eaten. She was out for the night.

I think Andy enjoyed his day. The girls and I are so lucky to have both of these men in our lives and I am glad we were able to spend the afternoon together. Happy Father's Day.

Big Girl

This picture is from October, but it works for this post. We are very excited in our house. Caroline has gone poo poo (that is the technical term) in the potty two days in a row now!!! I did not think that was ever going to happen. Both days she just went in and got on the potty on her own. We did not even know she was in there until we heard "Mommy, I went poo poo." That statement caused instant frustration for me. It means having to clean out another pair of panties. But she was in sitting on the potty. Yay Caroline!

First Day of Swim Lessons

Yes, I know, these are terrible pictures. It is all I have. We were running a little late and things were very chaotic.

Today was the first day of swim lessons. Here are both girls before we went in. Caroline refused to look at me. Typical 3 year old behavior! Her lesson was first. When you go in the kids line up along a wall with their towel. Caroline got in line, but she had absolutely no clue what was going on. I tried explaining swim lessons to her. I am pretty sure she still thought that the two of us were going swimming. Here she is in line. Sorry for the blurry pic!

There were 3 girls and 2 boys. There were 3 teachers that I knew of, but Kayla told me there were 5. Anyway, Caroline would have been fine if it were not for her sister. Kayla kept going up to her and asking "Are you ok? Are you scared?" I got really frustrated because Caroline did not know there was a reason to be scared. So she kept getting out of line and coming over to me, whimpering but not crying. I just put her back in line. She went right in with the teacher when it was time to go. Parents do not get to watch until the last lesson.

It was a long 45 minute wait for me. I wanted to know what they were doing. When Caroline came out she had a blank expression on her face. Here was the descriptive and informative conversation that took place:

Mom: "Caroline, how were swim lessons?"
Caroline: "Good."
Mom: "What did you do?"
Carolne: "I swimmed"

That was about it. She did tell me that she blew bubbles. She told me she did not put her head under the water, but her entire head was soaked when she came out. A friend said "Maybe SHE did not put her head under..." The true test will be what happens tomorrow when it is time to go back.

Not to leave Kayla out, she said her lessons went well. She said only 2 kids got to play in the deep end during free-play and she was one of them. That made her day. That is about all I was able to get out of her.

Dance Rehearsal - Caroline's Birthday - Dance Recital

The last weekend in May was a crazy busy weekend for us. Friday night I went and helped my friend Jennifer with her dance recital. Saturday morning was rehearsal day for Kayla. We started her makeup at 8 am. Then it was off to the auditorium to wait.
Then we got to do some more waiting in the dressing room. This makes for a really long day.

Ballet

Tap

Kayla always amazes me at recital. She is never nervous and she knows her dances. She is one of the few that can stay with the music and she is always smiling.

We finished up with rehearsal around 2:00. That gave us a little time to relax before we started all over again at 4:30. Saturday night was Recital Night 1. Kayla was only in tumbling and gymnastics that night so we were not there very long.

Ready for Gymnastics

In the meantime it was Caroline's birthday. We managed to have a little celebration with cupcakes and a present. Thank you Dad and Sue for doing that for her.

There was a certain doll that Caroline really wanted. She drove me crazy every time she saw a commercial for it. "I want that swimming baby." That is what she got from her big sister.

Sunday morning we went to church and then at noon it was time to get ready again! It was Recital Night 2. She was in the opener, ballet, tap, and the finale. I think the whole show lasted about 3 hours that night. Kayla did a great job. She was really upset about making a small mistake in her tap dance. She has never messed up in recital before. I honestly don't know how she did as well as she did. The girl next to her in tap was very spastic. She was all over the place and kept running into Kayla. I am not sure how Kayla could concentrate on her own dancing, but she did a great job.

No recital is complete without flowers from daddy!

Good job, Kayla!