Merry Christmas!

Photos taken by Marcie Kindred

Happy Birthday Sam!

My baby is turning 7 tomorrow.

His request for treats to bring to school tomorrow to share with his friends: brownies with chocolate icing and sprinkles.

His lunch request (I'm bringing lunch to eat with him at school): Sonic-two grilled cheese sandwiches with no crust, the biggest box of tator tots they have and I'm to surprise him with what color medium slushy I get for him.

His gift request: Alvin and the Chipmunks The Squeakquel soundtrack

He knows what he wants and I'm happy to deliver!

(my friend Marcie Kindred took this picture of Sam and it's one of my all time favorites. She took our family picture a few weeks ago, but I can't show you that until I mail out our Christmas cards!)

Silly Lukie

Thanksgiving Feast

Luke and Gabe had their "Thanksgiving Feasts" at school last week. Can you tell which of them was more excited about me eating lunch with them?

Luke did not understand what I was doing eating with him in his room when he thought I should be taking him home. It didn't help that he was exhausted. Gabe, on the other hand, was beyond excited to have me visit his class and show me around. It was fun to see him in his element and have some one on one time with them both.

Who's Going? Who's already been?

UPDATE: LOVED IT!!!! (and I'm so glad y'all are still out there!)

Who still reads this blog?

I'll be settled into a theater seat with two of my Twilight buddies at 5pm tomorrow evening. I'm excited, but nothing will ever compare to reading the books for the first time.

Another Tooth!

Sam lost ANOTHER tooth today! This makes 5 in 6 weeks!

It's Fall!

Ahhh, Fall. I love it. Boots, scarves, pumpkins, mums, spiced candles, fires, the leaves, the crisp air and pumpkin patches arm. Our favorite farm/pumpkin patch is open the whole month of October and we finally made it out there last week. It was a beautiful day to be outside, not too hot, not too cold. Here are a few pictures...

Gabe

My little buddy started PreK this week. He is happy to be back at school and him being happy makes me happy.

Best Friends (for now)

Minus Two

Sam lost two more teeth this weekend. Those sweet little baby teeth are slowly being taken over by big, adult teeth. My sweet little baby with chubby cheeks is turning into a sweet big boy who can open his own fruit snacks, read cereal boxes and write me notes.

First Grade

There he goes.

First grade.

Happiness

Here is a picture of me with two of my very best friends.

This is the most recent picture of us. If I showed you some older pictures of us, like the one of us sitting on the hood of Carrie's boyfriend's red truck wearing our jean jacket vests, you would be sure to laugh. We have known each other for years. Shana and I, since 6th grade and Carrie came into the picture our Junior year of High School. We haven't been together, in the same place for 5 years. I love these girls. I'm happy when they are happy, sad when they are sad, mad when they are mad. The past few years have been pretty tough, there has been a lot of sadness. So, when we got some amazingly HAPPY news, we knew it was time for a trip. It was so appropriate that what brought us to the same place was this precious little answer to ALOT of prayers...

Reese Elizabeth. Shana's daughter.

This is a picture of her laying on me. Can I just take a minute to tell you how wonderful it was to cuddle with this little angel all weekend long? We spent the Saturday we were together in our pj's, watching movies, cooking and taking turns cuddling Reese. It was like a dream, except it was real, so it was dreamy. It was a joy to look into her little face, to kiss her cheeks, to watch her sleep, to see her respond to Shana's voice, to watch Shana be a mommy.

Their story...it's God-breathed and breath-taking.

The days that we weren't laying around, we did what girls do, shopped and ate. We found a great deal on Lucky Jeans, my favorite, for $40 a pair. It's amazing what a good pair of jeans does to one's wardrobe. We literally stuffed ourselves with good food and daily runs to Sonic to fuel mine and Carrie's obsession and addictions to a drink that only needs to be described by two letters. DP. We ended our weekend with a shower for Shana and Reese at my mom's house. It was fun to see old friends and ohh and ahh over the cute little girly things.

It was, altogether, a fantastic weekend. A much needed break from my life and a joy to celebrate the life of sweet Reese. I love you girls!

The Big Camping Trip

Tonight, Sam prayed "...and please let us go camping again soon". Gabe prayed "....and please let us go camping with one of those campers with a TV and video games in it".

They survived the rain and were able to enjoy a campfire, complete with hot dogs and S'mores...both of which Sam did not like and Gabe loved. They went fishing Sunday morning and Gabe caught a turtle. I thought Sam was going to jump out of his skin with excitement when they got home and told me all about their camping adventure. When I talked to Neal on the phone, he was a little frustrated that it had rained. Then, he told me later that Gabe ran up to him, gave him a big hug (Gabe gives the best and most enthusiastic hugs) and said "thank you for taking me camping Daddy, I love you".

He was fine after that.

Mini Vacation

Sam has been begging Neal to go camping all summer, so Neal finally succumbed and they pulled out of the driveway an hour ago. They are going to a camping area an hour or two away and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon. Do you know what that means? I have the house all (well, almost all) to myself! I'll be the only one here who knows more than 3 words and can speak in complete sentences. I have a list of things I want to get done, starting with editing all the pictures that have been dumped on my computer this summer. Here are a few cousin pictures from our trip to Houston...

Addy feeding Luke Cheetos

Luke and Addy in the playroom

At the pool. Luke and Gabe were done.

My mom made all the cousins these matching shirts...so cute.

And, a few of my crazy boys