Ladybugs and Dump Trucks

2010 Family Pictures and Christmas

2011-01-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

My awesome friend Christiana took our family pictures this year. She did a fabulous job!!!!

Paxton's 9 month Picture!

2011-01-10T15:05:00.001-08:00

Paxton is 8 months old!!!!

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And a random pic of me too with my favorite boy!!!!

Pumpkin Patch Pictures and Paxton's 7 Months Picture

2011-01-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

I took the kids to the pumpkin patch one day after school to pick out some pumpkins! I also got Paxton's 7 month picture. He is such a ham in front of the camera!! This was also Pax's first Halloween, he was the cutest monkey I've ever seen!!!!

Gracee had to decorate a pumpkin and then she was in a Pumpkin Parade showing off her pumpkin that daddy helped her with. They did such a great job!

She also got to dress up as her favorite story book character and she picked Thing 2!!!!!

For Halloween she was a Vampire Queen!

My two beautiful girls! Even with blood running all down their faces!!!

Avree was a princess fairy!

Paxton's FIRST trip to the pumpkin patch!!! Can you tell he LOVED it!!!! 7 months old!!

Our pumpkins!

My Monkey!!!

My Monkey and I!

My other Vampire Queen!!

My adorable children!!!

Pax's 6 Month Pictures

2011-01-10T14:38:00.000-08:00

I had my friend take some professional pictures of Paxton when he was 6 months old. They turned out PERFECT!!!!

Maternity and Newborn Pictures!

2011-01-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

So I know that I have not blogged in awhile and I have quite a bit to catch up on! I finally got my maternity and Paxton's newborn pictures! So better late than never here ya go!! Oh yeah and some family pics from 2009 before Pax joined us!

Special Day August 15, 2010 ~Kalee's Baptism

2010-09-04T17:39:00.000-07:00

A few years ago Kalee accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. Last year sometime Kalee started asking questions about being baptized. Almost every week she would tell us that she really wanted to be baptized. So finally she talked to Pastor Trent about it and he said "let's do it" so we did. We invited our family and friends to come out on August 15, 2010.

It was a very special day for our family and Kalee was very excited. I am so blessed to have her in my life. :-)

5 Months Old

2010-09-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

He's getting so big and cuter by the day!!!

4 Months Old

2010-09-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

I thought I had done a 4 month pic on here, but apparently I did not! Here it is!!!

July 11, 2010

My friend is having a Giveaway!!

2010-08-10T20:22:00.001-07:00

My awesome cool friend, Lesley is having a give away on her blog! Go check it out! She's awesome!

http://racingitoff.blogspot.com/2010/08/csn-40-gift-card-giveaway.html#comment-form

Sea World Vacation 2010

2010-08-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

This year we finally got to take the kiddos to Sea World!!! We had a great time!!

This is the first day while we are waiting on our lunch and the kids are VERY EXCITED!!!!

Shamu Show!!!

The Alamo

Sea World Again!!

July 4th Weekend at the Lake!!!

2010-08-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Like every year we went to the lake this weekend and had a blast!!! Here are some pictures!

May 2010

2010-08-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

We had so many activities in May that it will get it's own post!! May is always our super busy month of the year other than December!

First up is Daisies!! We had a great first year with the Daisies! These are pics from our Daisy Induction at the end of the year.

Next up is Gracee's 6th Birthday! I can't believe she is SIX!!!!!

Then we had Kalee's Bridging Ceremony, she went from Brownie to Junior! I am so proud of her!

Daisy Party that we earned by selling lots of cookies earlier in the year!!

Gracee Before:

During

After

Kalee's Wax Museum at School. She was Taylor Swift.

Field Day!

Mrs. Bailey holding Pax, she loved holding and snuggling him! Who doesn't?!?! He's a handsome boy! hehe!

And some random cuteness!!

Family Photo Shoot by Chera 5/2/10

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3 Months Old!!

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At three months we've got a happy smiling, giggly, rolling baby!!!!

June 11, 2010

2 Months Old

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I know I have not been keeping up with my blog as well as I'd like to, life with four kids is SUPER busy so little time to blog!

Here is a pic of my precious baby boy at 2 months old:

At his appt he weighed 11lbs 1.5 oz and doing awesome!! Holding his head up to look around! He's been doing that since birth!!

Blogging for Breast Cancer!! 4/14/2010

2010-04-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

I will start this post by saying...I HATE CANCER!!! Any kind of cancer! Tonight I am blogging about breast cancer. It affects lots of men and women. In 2005 I met a special women who had breast cancer. She was one of the sweetest women I had EVER met. She had two beautiful children and a huge family that loved her to pieces. I followed her story for 2 years. Prayed for her and her family. In 2007 she lost her battle with breast cancer after living with it for 5 years. She was only 34 years old when she passed away. She had two young children. It broke my heart when she passed away. I was broken hearted for her and her children and family. My husband and I walked in the Susan G. Komen 5k. We walked for her. We are still friends with a lot of her family and I continue to pray for them everyday and everyone who is affected by this horrible disease.

Today I am blogging for boobies all around the world....for all those MEN and WOMEN who have been affected or touched by breast cancer!!
Today we are participating in a HUGE Breast Cancer Blogging Event! Hundreds of blogs around the globe today are encouraging our readers to take a moment out of your day and donate $5 or $10 to Jacqueline Reitz, a Breast Cancer 3 Day walker. Jackie is a fellow blogger based out of Dallas, and she's on the 3day team "Betties for Boobies". While the original hope was to include over 300 blogs, only time will tell how many have participated, so be sure to check out the www.bettiesforboobies.com blog tomorrow for more information.
If just ONE of the readers from each of the 300 blogs takes a moment and donates $10, that will raise over $3,000.00 in the fight against Breast Cancer. AMAZING!
So help us out. Let's make this a tremendous success. Head on over to Jackie's fund raising page (it's all tax deductible!) at http://www.the3day.org/goto/jackier and send her some donation love! Totals will be posted on the team's blog tomorrow, to see what an impact we were all able to make!

I hope you will consider donating to this cause today! Thanks for reading!

1 Month Old

2010-04-12T19:32:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my baby boy is One Month Old.....it's already going by so quickly! The first few weeks were tiring and still are. Being a mom of four keeps me busy and on my toes!! At four days old my awesome midwives came to do a follow up appointment with Pax and I. My midwife that missed my birth got to meet my little man! She told us on that day that he looked a little jaundice and to keep an eye on it and put him in the window as much as we could. So we did that but a couple of days later his eyes started turning a little yellow and caused us some concern. So we called and made an appt with a new pedi and took him in. The did a blood draw and his levels were at 19....which is really high. So I was told to keep him in the window for natural sunlight and nurse him as much as possible. Well, that was on a Friday and that weekend was the first weekend of Spring so you would think that there would be lots of sunlight and it would be nice right?!?!!? Wrong!! It was March 20 and it was SNOWING in TEXAS....overcast all weekend...go figure. So I just nursed him as much as I possibly could, I had to do lots of waking him up. LOL!! We had to go back a few more times but his levels were thankfully coming down and he was fine. At his two week appointment he weighed 8lbs 13 oz. So we did another weight check at three weeks to make sure he was gaining and he weighed 9lbs 10oz. I am sure he weighs even more now!! He is already starting to grow out of his 0-3 months clothes and he barely fit into newborn diapers as it was! He smiles all the time at his sisters, daddy and I. Over this last month he even went to his first soccer game. A lot has happened in his first month of life. I guess that is what happens when you have three older sisters who are already SUPER SUPER busy!

Collin Paxton's Birth Story

2010-04-04T20:44:00.001-07:00

Since I was a little girl I’ve always dreamed of one day finding an awesome man and marrying him and having a big family and living happily ever after. What little girl doesn’t think of these things? I always envisioned myself with four kids…2 boys and 2 girls to be exact. As I got older I still held on to the dream of someday being a wife and a mom. I loved kids, I loved being around kids and I knew I’d be a great mom. After meeting my husband and falling in love with him and getting married we talked about how many kids we would have. He wanted 2 and I of course wanted my four that I always dreamed of having. We decided three kids would be a perfect compromise. LOL! God was probably laughing at all our plans because HE had other plans for us, better plans than we could have ever imagined having. After having two girls my desire for a boy was even greater, especially knowing that I was only going to have one more baby. After my third daughter arrived I knew that my three girls were perfect for me and that God knew what he was doing. I was sad that I would never get my dream of having a baby boy. But I had my girls and I was very thankful for all of them! From time to time over the next three years I talked to DH about having one more baby. He was NOT on board at all. He was happy with our girls as was I, but I wanted more kids, whether it would be another girl or a boy. Of course I dreamed about having one more and it being a boy. Finally, DH was on board and said OK, we have one more but no matter what we were done after four kids. We started charting and “trying” to have another baby. This was the first time we charted and it was a different experience and it took us a little longer to get pregnant than previous times. I found out in July that I was pregnant and I was so excited!! In October at 17 weeks we found out what our little bundle of joy would be. It’s a BOY!!!! Neither one of us could believe it. Matter of fact we both figured it was another girl and we were just happy with that. We were both in a state of shock when we found out it was a boy. I had a feeling but I figured it was just my desire and longing for a boy that was making me feel like it actually was. We got another sonogram at 22 weeks and it confirmed it was a little boy. The girls were so excited. All three of them wanted a baby brother to have.

From day one we had told the girls that the baby would be here around Spring Break as I was due March 14 the day before Spring Break started! Starting around the beginning of March they asked me almost every day when the baby would get here! I just kept telling them soon, he would be here soon! I loved that they were excited and David and I really enjoyed sharing the excitement of when he would come. The girls would take guesses, they would always say “I think he’s coming tomorrow.” J

On March 9^th I woke up to get the girls ready for school and I started having contractions, I could talk and breathe through them but to me they seemed a little stronger than your normal Braxton hicks contractions. I was 5 days away from my due date so I figured it was just my body getting ready for his birth and went on about my day. I did ask DH if he could work from home because I was starting to have some anxiety about him being 45 min away and him missing the birth. So he stayed home and my contractions were very sporadic throughout the day. They would be regular then stop, start up again, then stop again. I had texted with Delilah throughout the day to let her know how I was feeling. I love talking to her, so any excuse ya know! J I didn’t get very much sleep that night as I had contractions all night long. On Wednesday it was pretty much the same thing. Delilah checked on me on Wednesday and all I was able to tell her was that it was the same as the day before. After we got the girls from school we all went to Costco to get a few last minute things that we needed. We walked around for about an hour or so and then got dinner at the little café there. After Costco DH asked me if I was up for going to Connect Group (bible study with some of our church members) I told him sure, it would get my mind off of these stinking contractions that weren’t doing anything! We got home around 9pm that night and got the kids all in bed. DH and I started catching up on some of our shows and around midnight I actually decided to start timing the contractions I was having. From midnight to 1am they were 10-13 minutes apart. It was then that I told DH maybe we should try and get some sleep. So he came to bed and I continued to time my contractions using Contraction Master. I tried to sleep and at first I was able to sleep in between them. Around 3am I could not sleep in between them anymore because waking up to them was starting to get rough on me. At 4am I texted Delilah to let her know what was going on. She encouraged me to try and go back to sleep just in case. So I did and I just couldn’t. I texted Joyce around 6am to let her know what I was experiencing and she called me right away. She and I both decided to let Rachel stop by and see if I had progressed any since my appt on Monday. The plan was for her to check me and give me something to help me sleep because I was EXTREMELY exhausted. I called my mom to ask her to go ahead and come help me out with getting Avree to school. Around this time my sister had called to check on me and I told her she might want to head this way as I didn’t have any other way to get a hold of her, I told her I thought that MAYBE we would have a baby today but I wasn’t too sure. Rachel got to my house around 8am and I only remember this because DH had just left to take the girls to school. She tried to check me and couldn’t get to my cervix but told me it was VERY soft like melted butter. Delilah and I continued to text throughout all that was going on. After Rachel tried to check me she called Robin the other midwife who was closer than Joyce to give her an update. About that time I had a contraction and it was pretty strong and I started moaning through it. Robin told Rachel she was on her way. Rachel told me she thought we were going to have a baby today and that we could get the tub ready. I on the other hand wasn’t so convinced but I called my friend Natalie who we invited to the birth, I told her I wasn’t sure if this was really it but that she might want to head this way just in case. At that time Delilah told me to let her know when I was ready for her….I told her I was ready NOW!! So she headed my way. Rachel told me to sit up through some of my contractions to get the baby to come down so I did.

DH started filling up the tub and we got the ok from Robin who was still on her way to go ahead and get in. I got in and I have no idea what time it was. All I remember is seeing everyone who was supposed to be there start to show up, mom, sister, Natalie, Delilah, Robin, and Michele. I remember thinking to myself I really hope that I have a baby today I would hate for all these people to be here for nothing! DH asked me if he should send my mom to get the girls because they really wanted to be there when Pax was born. And they were concerned they would miss it when he dropped them off. I told him yes to have mom go get them, I knew they were excited and have been waiting a very long time for this day. As I was in the tub my contractions were finally getting closer together and I kept asking if it was really happening today. Everyone kept telling me and assuring me that yes it was happening today. I was still in denial though. I started feeling pressure during my contractions but just light pressure, I now realize I was feeling the baby moving down. They told me if I felt like I needed to push to push. I just let my body do what it needed to do even though the thought of pushing was NOT appeasing to me because I had no energy and was really tired. I just wanted to go to sleep. I kept telling everyone that I just wanted to go to sleep and they told me to rest between my contractions. So after each contraction Delilah would give me some apple juice/water and I would rest my eyes. At some point my mom came to the door so all the girls could see me. They were looking at me and smiling at me and I smiled at them and told them I was ok even though we talked about what would happen when I went into labor I felt the mommy in me to reassure them that I was ok even though I knew they knew I was. I had more contractions and more pressure and more pushing. I told them they just needed to get him out so I could go to sleep. I was really exhausted. After each contraction the pushing got more intense and I could feel him moving down. I really felt like I couldn’t do it and kept telling everyone that. Delilah and DH both kept telling me I could and as soon as I did I could go to sleep. Did I mention how tired and exhausted I was….lol!

I pushed some more and then something happened that I had never felt before. A gush of warm water. I kind freaked and said WHAT IS THAT?? I could hear a few laughs and was told it was my bag of waters breaking. I said oh wow, I’ve never felt that before.

After getting through a contraction and continuing to push Rachel told me to reach down there and feel my baby’s head. The first time I couldn’t really feel much but the second time I could and I wanted to cry. I was actually having a baby that day. It was so neat to feel my baby, I had never had a chance to do that before. I pushed and a few times and finally I could feel his head coming out. All three girls were in the room at this time and I could hear Rachel telling them to look so they could see their brother coming out. I pushed some more and the rest of him came out and Rachel told me to reach down and pull my baby out of the water so I did. And I just started crying, I laid him on my chest and they placed a towel over his body. He popped his head up and started looking at DH and I. The girls were standing by DH and looking and touching their baby brother. We were all just in awe of him. I was still tired but didn’t want to sleep. I just wanted to look at him. We sat in the bath tub as we were waiting for the cord to stop pulsing and everyone was talking about how big they thought he was. After a couple of minutes I was ready to get out of the bath and lay in the bed. So the girls left and I got out and got onto the bed with our baby. I just laid my head back with a smile on my face and closed my eyes and thanked GOD for my handsome little son. I delivered the placenta and DH cut the cord and then got to hold him for the first time. It was a sight to see DH holding his son. I don’t think a smile left his face the entire time. I was cleaned up and the baby was cleaned up and the girls came back in and got to hold their baby brother. He was given back to me and I was able to nurse him. Then it came time to weigh him and everyone was throwing their guesses around. Robin and I said around 9lbs 2 or 3 oz. I heard someone say 9lbs 8oz and another person agree. I think some more went around but I don’t remember. So we weighed him at 9lbs 3 oz 20 ¼ inches long. Everyone left but DH and the two older girls and I was able to sleep while DH played games with our girls and from time to time came in to check on Pax and I. He even got to nap with us a little bit. We were all on cloud 9 and still are. I could not have imagined a better birth experience. And to have all three of my girls experience it with us was truly awesome!

Welcome Collin Paxton...He's HERE!!!

2010-03-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

Collin Paxton was born on March 11, 2010 @ 10:22 am weighing 9lbs 3ozs 20.25'
He is handsome and we are all totally in love with him!

I will post my birth story later but for now I will leave you with a few pictures of my sweet little man! <3

39 weeks today!!

2010-03-07T21:04:00.001-08:00

Nope, no baby yet! He's still nice and cozy in there and apparently is NOT done growing yet. I am so ready to meet this little man and hold him in my arms. I cannot wait until I get to introduce him to his big sisters. Tonight at the dinner table while Kalee was saying her prayers Avree was saying pray for my little brother. So precious. I know she is just three but I really do think she gets what is going on. I am sad she probably won't remember much about my pregnancy and when he gets here but she will have the rest of us to tell her about it. The girls are so excited about him which I could not be happier about. He is already so loved by everyone around us.

Today I was bad and skipped church, I haven't been getting much sleep and really needed to rest so I pretty much spent the day in bed sleeping on and off. I got up and made dinner for the girls and made them help me clean up their messes and I threw in a load of laundry and loaded up the dishwasher.

I have been meaning to get the baby bed put together...one of the last touches to the nursery before he gets here....I finally did that tonight.

Tomorrow I have my 39 wk appt so I will get to hear his little heart beat! I am getting so nervous and excited!!

Well, that is all for now.

Pax's Baby Shower - 01/17/2010

2010-02-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

A group of my lovely friends got together to throw me a lovely shower for our baby boy Pax!!

These pictures aren't in any kind of order. Don't like how blogger uploads the pics! Ugh!

My girls and I!!

From left to right: Natalie, Jenn, ME, Kristi, Cristiana, and my mom Brenda!

My best friend Nat and I!!

They each did a scrapbook page for Pax's first year of life. I can't wait to see it all put together!

My friend Heather and I. She is 6 weeks in front of me.....she actually had baby Malorie on 1/25/10!

Mom and I

LOVED his MONKEY cake!!!!

I was 32 weeks pregnant in this picture!

Snow 2010

2010-02-19T07:37:00.001-08:00

On February 11, 2010 North Texas received a record breaking snowfall of about 10 inches. The kiddos went to school and their teachers let them play out side. It snowed ALL DAY without stopping. I got the kids a little early from school and we all bundled up, got our rain boots on and went out to play in it.

They were so excited! We stayed outside at least an hour!!

It was hard but I got them all three to stop and pose for a picture even if Gracee is trying to catch the snow on her tongue!! I thought it was too cute!

Here is the rinky dinky snowman we made. It's not easy for an 8 month preggo mama to make a BIG snowman! I promised them once daddy was there he'd help them make a bigger one. Although they were satisfied with the small one we made!

And of course you HAVE to make snow angels!!!

Here's our snowman!

This was the night of Feb. 11th........our sidewalks and everything was COMPLETELY COVERED!

ON the 12th they were out of school and there was still LOTS of snow on the ground. These pics are backwards! Oh well!!

This snowman was just the RIGHT size for Avree.....

All the girls with thier snowgirl as they told me!!!

Kalee put her scarf on the snowgirl!

This is daddy helping them make a snowman!

Our lovely snow covered house!! I should've taken this pic before the kids played in the yard!!! The snow was BEAUTIFUL, WHITE, and FLUFFY!!!!! It was awesome!

Changing up my Blog....

2010-02-19T07:12:00.001-08:00

to get ready for our new addition COMING SOON!!!!

I am 36 weeks 5 days. So in about 3 weeks we will meet Collin Paxton! We are so excited. It's hard waiting out these last few weeks! Hope you enjoy the changes coming up. Not sure if I am changing the link to my blog....I probably will eventually but for now I am leaving it the same.

Thanks for reading our blog and keeping up with us. I am going to try my best to keep it updated! Especially after Pax arrives!!

It's A Boy!!!!

2009-12-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

A little late since we found out about a month ago...but we are def having a little boy...FINALLY!!!! We are so thrilled and excited to start on this new journey with a little boy....not sure we will know what to do with a boy! ;-)

I'm 26 weeks now....so a little more than 3 months away and we will meet this little guy. So far his name will be Collin Paxton and go by Pax or Paxton.....who knows though, it may change. We are STILL throwing names out there. LOL!! We were NEVER this indecisive with our girls!

He is a very active little boy that is for sure. We like to sit and watch him just move around my belly...it really is very entertaining! LOL!

The other night the girls were in bed and David and I were talking and everytime he would talk the baby would just go to town kicking and moving all around! When David would stop talking the moving and kicking would stop. It was the funniest thing!

So I leave you for now with a 26 week belly picture....and hopefully soon we will get the sono pics up!!

Also....I NEED to change my blog name.....any ideas would be awesome!!! Thanks!

Fall Soccer Season 2009

2009-09-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the start of Kalee's 4th season and Gracee's 2nd season. Gracee moved up to U6 this season with the same team from her Spring Season and we changed colors, both girls are now PURPLE!!! So if you come to games make sure and wear your purple!

I didn't get any pictures because of all the rain. Gracee's team got to play in the rain. They were excited at first but after awhile they were ready to go home! Kalee's game got cancelled and she wasn't very happy about that. Hopefully next week it will not be raining and the girls can start playing! I will get some pictures next week to post!!

13 week Update!!

2009-09-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

Small Update and Belly pics! It's amazing what two weeks will do. I am feeling MUCH better this week. Still sick a little but not nearly as often or as much as before! I am still feeling lots of movement, mainly at night when I am sitting. They are still little flutters. I can't wait to for the girls and David to be able to feel this baby kick!

6 weeks! I know but let's remember this is my 4th baby, by now my body should know what's it is doing! You can't tell but I am NOT even wearing Maternity clothes!!

12 weeks

11 Weeks 5 days

2009-08-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today I am 11 weeks and 5 days pregnant!! We went to the midwife today and heard the heartbeat of this sweet baby!! It was a great sound to hear! My official due date is March 14, 2010. Avree was a little concerned when I was up on the table and kept asking me if I was ok. I kept reassuring her that I was ok. She kept wanting to get up on the table with me so my midwife put her up there with me. They are so great and caring. I just love them. They also gave Avree a small baby that was about the same size as the baby is now. They gave one to Kalee and Gracee when I was pregnant with Avree. The girls were excited to come home and see it. They will be at our next appt so they can hear the heartbeat as well! They keep asking me when they will get to feel the baby move. LOL!!! They are so excited!

This past week I also felt the baby for the first time. It made me jump. It was like a little poke and it surprised me. LOL!!

Everything seems to be fine and for those of you wondering THERE IS JUST ONE HEARTBEAT!!!!! :-)

The beginning of this week was really really bad as far as sickness goes. I was not doing too good and tried to sleep when I could. Yesterday and today was MUCH better, so I am hoping that most of the sickness has ended! We shall see.

First Day Of School 2009

2009-08-24T21:06:00.000-07:00

This is the girls first day of school. Kalee is in 3rd Grade and Gracee is in Kindergarden!!

They both enjoyed it!!

This is my nephew Hayden, my mom and Hayden met us for ice cream after school!! The kids had fun!!

And a little bit of fun before dinner and bed!!

Family Time March 2009

2009-07-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

First, I will start off with a really cool story that I have not shared here on my blog yet. David and Amy had a brother they knew about but had not ever met. They both talked about how cool it would be to meet him one day and we all prayed that one day it would happen.

Going to August of 2007 while David was working in Chicago for his company, his dad calls him one day and says hey I just got off the phone with your brother's wife. David says, yeah ok not really understanding what he was saying. And his dad says, "you know your brother Joel, I just got off the phone with his wife." David said he was at the mall and had to sit down on one of the benches close by to take it all in. So he and his dad are talking about his talk with Julie (Joel's wife) and then he says do you know where this city in IL is. David is like yeah it's about 5 min from where I am staying. His dad told him that is where Joel and his wife live.

So for the last 8 months that he was working in Chicago, he was only 5 miles from his brother. We totally believe that God had a hand in David working there at that particular time. So David got Joel's information and called to go have dinner and meet him. He did just about a week later and it was like they were never apart from each other. They hit it off very well from the beginning. I was so excited for him because this is something we had talked about before and I knew he was happy to get to finally meet his brother.

On labor day weekend 2007 David, Joel, and Julie all flew to Dallas, while Collin and Bucki (David's parents) drove from Tennessee to Dallas to meet Joel. We all had an awesome weekend of getting together and meeting!

At the end of March of this year 2009 we all got back together for some family time and pictures. This time Joel and Julie brought their gorgeous daughter Keira who was 8 months old. Here are some professional pics we had taken by the awesome Angel. Thank you Angel for capturing such wonderful photos of our new family! These pictures will be greatly and forever treasured!

These are all out of order.

This is Grandma and Grandpa with all the gran girls!!! At this point Avree was DONE taking pictures!

Top: David, Amy, Joel

Bottom: Me (Holly) and Julie

And this is our CRAZY family!

Ok, Ok, it's not really us but here is a serious shot!

Joel, Julie, and Keira

(beautiful family)

Gracee loved Keira and would NOT leave her alone! She also loved Joel! This shot captures her perfectly!

The Farrell Girls!

Me, Bucki, Amy, Julie

ALL the Farrell Girls!

The Farrell Boys! (ALL of them, hehe)

The boys and their girls!

Sibling Love!

The Farrell "adults" :-)

The Farrell Little Girls!

My girls!

The Farrell Little Girls!

Fun Jumping Pictures!

Soccer Camp June 8-12

2009-07-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is our first year for soccer camp and we decided to host a British Soccer Coach. It was an awesome experience and we got to know three really great coaches.

Coach Dan stayed with us and was Kalee's coach. Coach Leon stayed with our friends and was Gracee coach. And Coach Gayle stayed with our other friends and helped with both girls' groups.

Pictures in NO ORDER! LOL!!!

I have no idea what they are doing! But it was cute!

Kalee and her friend Leah

Action Shot

They got put on teams and Kalee's team was Team England and they wanted her to wear a red shirt so I spruced it up a little with a little help from daddy!

Group Shot of Kalee's group at the end of the week!

Gracee's group shot at the end of the week!

Gracee and her T shirt!

Coach Dan and Kalee

Coach Dan and the girls!

Coach Leon and Gracee

First Day of Soccer!

Gracee's 5th Birthday Party May 17, 2009

2009-07-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

On May 17, 2004 at 1:32 PM I gave birth to my beautiful Gracee Rhodes. She was 7lbs 10oz and 21 in long. It's really hard to believe that she is 5 YEARS OLD!!!!

We had her party at the Splash Park in Rockwall. It's was still kinda chilly out so not much splashing was done. But the kids had a great time!

Here is her Mermaid Cake.

My Beautiful 5 year old!!

Time to blow out the candle!

Presents!

Some of the kids at the party!

A little soccer was played....by daddy! LOL!!

Mermaid swimsuit she got for her birthday!

Pinanta Time

We're Pregnant!!

2009-07-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's been FOREVER since I posted. Life kinda got away from me. But hopefully I will get back into my groove of writing here soon. I need to update lots of events that have been going on the past 3 months. But this post is to announce our pregnancy!!! We are expecting baby #4 due sometime mid-March! We are SOOOOO excited! I know some people start different pregnancy blogs but you will here all about my pregnancy on this blog. Not sure how much I will post, I am not promising anything! LOL! But I will post as much as I can. Here are the girls responses to when they found out mommy was having a baby!

Kalee: "screeeeech" with lots of giggles
Gracee: "No your not" hehehe
Me: Yes, I am.
Gracee: "Really?!?" hehehe
Avree: (we told her at another time with just her) There is a baby in my belly.
Me: No, there is a baby in mommy's belly
Avree: No, in my belly

Every now and then she will say something about a baby being in her belly and play with her belly button a little bit! LOL!!
The girls are so excited and after we told them you could here them talking about my mommy is having a baby I can't wait!!

We told Kalee she couldn't tell anybody yet because we wanted to make sure all the grandparents and aunts and uncles knew first. But she got to tell some of her friends and she has been so EXCITED to tell them. We asked Kalee and Gracee if they wanted a brother or sister and Kalee said a sister and Gracee said a brother!!

I am surprised and thrilled to be pregnant again. God has truly blessed us!

Mother's DAY GIVE AWAY

2009-05-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

My friend is having a Mother's DAY GIVE AWAY for some of the cute stuff she makes!!! Go here to enter: http://bagbybunch.blogspot.com/

Anybody can!!! Good Luck!

Spring Break 2009

2009-03-30T16:06:00.001-07:00

My friend Kristi has FOUR kids and offered to take care of 3 more for Spring Break...she is nice but CRAZY lady and that is SOOOOO something I would do!! Guess that is why I love her! I also had my nephew that week so I had four kids and she had 7..a total of 11 kids....yep we are pretty crazy....11 kids under the age of 9.....

Anyway, we had a fun week planned for the kids! Here is what we did:

Monday: We rode bikes and played outside and had a pretty low key day! I didn't get any pics of this day. I thought I had but I am not finding them....oh well!

Tuesday: We went skating at Texas Skatium and then on to McDonald's for lunch. I also don't have any pics of this day because i forgot my camera! Oops!

Wednesday: We were going to go to Bowlarama but when we got there they told us we had to wait for 45 minutes....WHAT!!!! No way we could wait with 11 kids for 45 minutes. We were going to push our limits. So we went to the park to play and got them all a Sonic drink...

Thursday: We decided to take the kids to the Dallas Zoo...we added a friend of Macey's this day so we had a dozen kids! Thankfully Nick (Kristi's brother) didn't have to work and went with us to enjoy the day!

Friday: I cleaned and did laundry all day. We had a slow day but that was good after being gone a lot the week before!

My car on the way to the park!! Kalee, Ashlyn and Kalee

Sonic Drinks at the Park for 15 kids and 3 adults!

15 Kids Drinking Sonic Drinks! LOL!

Kalee and Avree Swinging

Daddy and Avree Swinging

My Nephew Hayden

Avery and Gracee

Hayden (I think my camera messed up)

The Crew at the Dallas Zoo

Hayden being silly

The Crew again!

Gracee and Macey

Snack Time

The Crazy Girls!! Kris and I

Kalee and I

Nick and Avree

Hayden being a FROG!!

Macey and Kalee playing with my camera!

The end of the day and she's OUT! And so darn cute so you have to take a picture!

We had a great week....would I do it again....only with Kristi!!!! LOL!! Love ya girlie!!!!

Soccer Season Has Begun!!

2009-03-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

This is Kalee's 3rd Season and Gracee's 1st season. They were both really excited about thier first games! I got a few pictures and some videos of Gracee's but I am a bad mama and didn't get many of Kalee's....I will though!

Before the game! I should probably tell about her jersey and why she doesn't have one...I did Spring Cleaning last week and somehow I believe I threw it away so we had to get a new jersey and she did not have it for her first two games...OOPS!! We have it now and I promise NO THROWING IT AWAY!!!! :o)

You can't tell here but she has her arms in her sleeves because well it was cold at 8:15AM!!

Taking a water break!

Running through the tunnel at the end of the game!

Here is a small video of her running! On her second game (THIS ONE) she got TWO goals and my battery LITERALLY died in my camera SECONDS before her goal...this is her almost goal before her REAL one!!

Funny and Cute Avree Story!

2009-03-08T18:03:00.001-07:00

Tonight we had pizza for dinner. When we have pizza we let the girls eat on the living room floor and they think its the coolest things. Probably because they never get to eat on the floor or in the living room normally. So I have the computer up and the my plate with my pizza (hawaiian) on the other side so I could not see the plate. Avree kept bringing me pineapple and I kept telling her to eat it so she did! When I went to go grab my pizza to eat it I had no pineapples...wonder where they went off to????

Kalee's 8th Birthday

2009-02-23T18:30:00.000-08:00

Yes yes, I know that Kalee's birthday was over a month ago but it's been busy and crazy and everytime I sat down I forgot to post pics. So I am updating my blog TONIGHT! Yay!

Since she was about 5 years old she has always wanted to have a Pool Party. Well, since her birthday is in January that wasn't so much possible. It's expensive to have indoor pool parties! So anyways a friend of mine and I decided to go in together and do a double birthday party for the girls! Yay! Then another friend joined in! So it made it really affordable and she got her dream birthday party! Boy was it COLD that day, but inside the pool area was nice and warm.

Kalee and her friend before getting in the water!

My little brother Taylor!

Gracee surprised by the camera I guess! LOL!

Avree not wanting to smile!

The boys doing tricks!

Nick, Daddy and Avree (still NOT smiling)

Kids playing in the pool!

Kalee Jo

Cake TIME!!

Making Wishes!

Kalee and Taylor!

Falling + Gracee = STITCHES

2009-02-16T10:31:00.000-08:00

Ugh!! Yep my clumsy baby finally had her first trip to the ER..... Last night Gracee was running in the kitchen and she fell and hit her chin really hard on our linolium floor. She split her chin open so we took her to the ER where she got stitches...ugh! My poor baby. That was so traumatic for her. here are some pics DH took with his phone...

Before Stitches and after they cleaned it a little bit...

after the numbing cream and cleaned up a bit more...

After getting stitches...

KALEE

2009-02-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

Yep, another post about my oldest. She just turned 8 and she is already falling apart on me! LOL!! I took her the week before to the doc for her check-up and she did NOT do well on her eye exam and COMPLETELY failed her hearing test. So of course I start to worry. I went home and made appts for the ENT and the Eye doctor. Our first appt was the ENT and they basically told me nothing was wrong and she could hear just fine......can we say that she has a case of "SELECTIVE HEARING??" I believe so. Ok so on the eye doc. She told everything was blurry and man was she getting ALL the letters and numbers wrong! No wonder she's been having issues with school! So yesterday we went to pick up her glasses and she looks so cute and so grown up!! Where did my baby go????? Ugh!!! I will post a pic later when I upload my pics.

Fur Babies!

2009-01-29T15:28:00.000-08:00

I just realized I never write about my fur babies!! So that is what this post is for!

Here is Mikko, she is a Dalmation Mix that we got at Pet Smart while we still lived in Georgia.

When we got her, we were living in an apartment waiting on our house to close and we really really wanted a dog but we had to wait 2 weeks til we got our house. But we decided to go look at Pet Smart one Saturday. We walked in and dogs were going crazy barking and Kalee who was 3 at the time was kinda scared and held on to my leg as we walked by all the kennels with dogs. We walked by one and Kalee said look at that pretty dog mommy. We looked and Mikko was just laying there so very sweet, not barking or anything. They opened her cage for us and Mikko slowly came out and right to Kalee who just loved on her. DH and I looked at each other and we just couldn't not get her. So that day we went home with 6 month old Mikko and decided to keep her name. She is now 5 years old and she is the best dog!! She is so sweet and loving. We love her lots!!!

This is Pooky (I hate the name, but this is DH's dog so he got to name her...hehe)
Our friends found her but could not keep her because they already had two dogs. She kept her to 3 weeks and posted pics of her around the neighborhood and nobody ever called her. So we took her in. DH fell in love with her right away. It took awhile for me, she is a very hyper dog. But I love her too now. :o)

Those are our two fur babies!! We have some hermit crabs too, but I don't have any pics on my computer of them!!

GIRL SCOUT COOKIE TIME!!!!

2009-01-28T18:12:00.001-08:00

Kalee has about a week left to sell Girl Scout Cookies so if you are interested please let me know!! Kalee is VERY close to her goal!! Here is the website to go see the cookies that we have! They are $3.50 a piece. We are also participating in the Troop to Troop program and will be sending Cookies to our troops overseas so let me know if you would like to donate some boxes!

Thanks!!

Comments!!

2009-01-22T21:34:00.000-08:00

I know a few people have tried to comment on my blog and have been unable too. So I went into settings and had it set on Registered Users Only...not sure if that made a difference or not but I changed it and took the word verification off as well. So please COMMENT away!! I love reading comments and it lets me know that people actually do read my blog!! hehe!!!

Happy 8th Birthday To My Kalee!!

2009-01-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

8 years ago today at 6:34pm Eastern Time I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl. She was 4 days early. Aunt Jennifer and Daddy helped welcome her into the world. Here she is three days old right after her first bath at home.

1 year old:

2 years:

3 years with her baby sister, she was so proud of her!

4 years again with little sis:

5 years:

6 years:

7 years:

Here she is now:

Christmas 2008

2008-12-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year!

Ok so let's start with comparsion pics just because I LOVE to do this...although this year I did not get really good pictures. So anyways....

2007

2008

Matchin PJ's....Avree wouldn't post for our picture! LOL!!

Here's the best I could get of Avree:

Here is what Santa brought:

My Cooking Blog

2008-12-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

I finally started a cooking blog!! YAY!!! Go check it out!

www.whatscooking8.blogspot.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

2008-12-24T22:29:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to peak in here and say MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I hope everyone has an awesome day with thier family today!!! I will be back shortly with TONS of pics!!!

Angelina Laurejandra Ramirez

2008-12-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

A Mom in my local Moms Group lost her child last week. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
Angelina was 16 months old. Her life ended when a TV fell on top of her. They were able to save her organs and donate them. A 10 month old baby received her heart and a 7 year old boy received her liver. And another recipient received both of her kidneys. A miracle has been able to happen out of this tragedy.
Angelina is survived by her parents, Jessie and Miguel and two siblings, Yesenia (5) and Elena (4). I can not even begin to imagine what they are going through right now.
Please say a little extra prayer for Elena, the 4 year old sibling. The accident happened on her 4th birthday. Angelina was rushed to the hospital and survived till the 10th. It was on that day that they feel they lost her, but the hospital kept her "alive" till the 12th so they could use her organs.
Donations to cover the cost of the funeral can be made today only by calling (tomorrow is the funeral)
12649 Lake June RoadMesquite, TX 75180(972)288-4663info@laureloaksfuneralhome.com
Angelina Laurejandra RamirezSeptember 19, 2007 - December 12, 2008

Christmas Edition of "Get to know your fellow bloggers"

2008-12-15T19:31:00.001-08:00

Ok well I wasn't tagged but I wanted to play.... *giggle*

It is the Christmas Edition of "Get to know your fellow Bloggers". How this works...I will answer the questions and then I will "Tag" a couple of my fellow bloggers for them to answer these questions on their blog. And then they will tag someone else, and so on and so on. So here we go.
1) Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both
2) Real or Artificial tree? Artificial
3) When do you put your tree up? Weekend after Thanksgiving
4) When do you take your tree down? Usually after New Years!
5) Do you like eggnog? Nope
(6)Favorite gift received as a child? The first thing that comes to mind is my bike I got one year!7) Hardest person to buy for? My dad's and my FIL!
8) Easiest person to buy for? The girls
9) Do you have a nativity scene? Yes
10) Mail or e-mail Christmas Cards? Mail
11) Worst Christmas gift you ever received? LOL!!!
12) Favorite Christmas Movie? It's a Wonderful Life
13) When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after Christmas
14) Do you hang mistletoe? No
15) Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? This is a really hard question cause I like it all!!! LOL!
16) Lights on tree? YEP!!
17) Favorite Christmas Song? O Holy Night
18) Travel at Christmas or stay home? We used to travel EVERY SINGLE YEAR.... now we stay home!
19) Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Nope!
20) Angel or Star on top of tree? Star
21) Open the presents Christmas Eve or Morning? Usually ONE present gets opened on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas Day!
22) Most annoying thing about this time of year? Rude people
23) Favorite ornament theme or color? I love all the home made ornaments my girls make!
24) Favorite for Christmas Dinnner? HAM
26) What do you want for Christmas this year? I actually just got my present that I've been wanting tonight...DH just couldn't wait to give it to me and I was really surprised that he got me a Wii Fit!!!! YAY!!!!
26) Who do you Tag to answer these on their blog? Cortni and Melanie

Avree is 2!

2008-12-08T19:48:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I forgot to post about my baby turning 2!!!!!

Two years ago on December 6 about 2am I went into labor with my precious Avree Joy. I gave birth via bath tub at 11:15am.
Since I never did a slide show last year of her first year...here is one from her last two years.....

click the picture...

My Montage 12/8/08

Trip to the ER...

2008-12-04T20:24:00.000-08:00

So I was cleaning the house up on Wednesday and I walked into my room and stepped on a loose part of my wicker laundry basket and it lodged INTO my foot...and oh boy did it hurt like crazy!!!!

So I tried to get it out and it wasn't budging...so I called David freaking out!!! He came home and by the time he got home it broke off...and after that, there was NO getting it out! So off to the ER we went!

I went to Rockwall Presby and I had the best experience!!! They were so nice and accomadating to us!!

The doc had to cut my foot a little bit to get to all of it so it's pretty sore today...and I took it easy last night but today I was back at getting all my laundry and house cleaned! LOL!!!

Here is a pic...please beware this pic may be a little graphic....

Thanksgiving, Family, Food, and EARLY SHOPPING

2008-11-28T18:57:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our families this year....I AM STUFFED!!!! We went to my mom's house at NOON for a yummy Thanksgiving Lunch with our family! We stayed there and hung out and visited until about 4:30 and headed to David's Aunt and Uncle's house for Thanksgiving with his family! So yeah we ate....AGAIN!!!!! But it was soooo YUMMY!!!!

On Friday morning my mom and my sister talked me into going shopping for some good deals on "Black Friday" I got some really awesome deals and I AM D O N E shopping for Christmas....boy let me tell you how NICE that is!! I usually don't get done until a couple of days before! YIKES!! It feels good to be done. We headed to Walmart at 4:00am this morning and waited. We talked to and met some really nice people. I really wanted to post about my positive experience because I've been hearing about all the horror stories which is why I've NEVER gone until today! We did run into a few rude people but that is too be expected...it was really no big deal. While waiting for 5am to roll around I talked with people I've never met before! It was really fun. After Walmart we went and got breakfast at Chic Fil A!! Then off to Target. Then JC PENNEY and BEST BUY, HOBBY LOBBY, and HOME!! Boy was I glad to get home, I WAS TIRED!!!!

I hope that everyone had a FANTASTIC THANKSGIVING and enjoyed visiting with family and friends!

100 Days

2008-11-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

As some of you know my Aunt has been in the hospital for quite some time now. My mom wrote this on her blog and Ihave to say she writes very well so I just copied and pasted. Please be in prayer for my aunt and uncle and family. I am sure this whole ordeal is going to be even harder as the holidays are approaching.

By Brenda: my mom

It's well after midnight and into the 100th day of Vicki being in the hospital and fighting this horrible disease that has taken this young, beautiful and vibrate woman into what I call the Twilight Zone. Although it is real and true, and Vicki and Charlie have lived it everyday since the first day of 100 days ago. Since day 1, so many things have happened to the lives of my sweet and wonderful brother in law Charlie as I call him and his sweet loving wife Vicki. She began complaining of a simple back ache. No big deal, we've all had them. A strained muscle or a pinch nerve. Just living life and getting aches and pains. Well the back ache was much more than just your everyday run of the mill back ache. After weeks and weeks of getting miss diagnosed, the final diagnosis was Neuropothy Vasculitis. A debilitating and the most painful disease you can ever ever imagine. How she has endure all of this, is beyond my belief.

The disease is the inflamation of the blood. It effects every portion of your body and all the nerves. Just the touch of a human finger or a prick of a small tiny needle is so painful that it sends her whole body reeling of pain. From the tip of her head to the tip of her toes. Vicki has lost all function of her body, she is litterly paralyzed, she can't move her body. She has been through every test imaginable 3 or 4 times, stuck, prodded, evaluated and then to just do it all over again. It took what seemed like a life time to just have them finally diagnose her and begin her treatment. I can't even begin to tell you how many doctors she has had or the specialities of each of them.

But Charlie can tell you from day one what doctor she had seen and what her diagnosis was and the prescribed medicine that was given to them for her to take. How many wrong diagnosis that they had to go through before finally finding the true and right one. He has never given up not one time. Sure he has been frustrated, discouraged, aggrivated and helpless. But he never ever left her side for one moment. He has had to endure many opticles himself to fight for Vicki and keep everything straight. He doesn't have a pen and paper to write this all down, he has lived every moment of everyday right along her side. And all of this has been stored inside his brain and locked up like Fort Knox.

The future doesn't look bright, which was finally conveyed to Charlie this week. But we still believe in miracles and know that God is incharge and it his will that will begin another chapter for Vicki and Charlie. Or end the chapter for Vicki and begin another chapter for Charlie. Although we would rather think of the positive, and pray for a miracle, he must face his hard decisions ahead to get all the affairs in order.

Charlie has endured many mountains, peaks and valleys through this whole ordeal. He never waivered in his fight for Vicki to get better not one bit, and he still fights today and everyday until it will be the last. He is a true Prince among men riding on that white horse that anyone would want to be saved by. For he is a dedicated and honorable man who dearly loves his beloved wife and has done everything in his power and will continue to do so, for Vicki.

Charlie you will always be my HERO! Just know I love you very much.

The past two weeks.....

2008-11-20T12:36:00.000-08:00

have been crazy! About 2 weeks ago Kalee got really sick with a what I thought was a cold....I finally took her to the doctor and it had developed into a sinus infection...I also took Gracee at the same time cause she was sick with fevers of 103for two days! Gracee had a virus. She finally got better and Avree got sick! FINALLY get Avree better and *I* get sick!!!! All of this while I was painting and reorganizing the girls rooms...it was crazy! But I think we are all better, I am on the mend..I was pretty miserable! Hopefully daddy escapes it, we will see though!!

I hate the sick season but it's here and in full swing! I hope everyone gets through this season without getting too sick!!!!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

My girls had a blast!!

Lily from Hannah Montana
Gracee the Little Mermaid
and a Little Lady Bug

NKOTB

2008-10-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, that stands for New Kids On The Block and YES I went to thier Reunion Concert!!!
It was the most fun I've had in awhile and it was DEF the BEST show I've EVER SEEN!! I was so super excited!! My sis Jen, her friend and I all went and we had a blast. I had SEVERAL friends go as well and I got to talk to them via TEXT MESSAGE....it was FUN!!!

So here are some pictures from the New Kids Concert I went to back in (gasp!) 1990!!

And a slide show of the 2008 Reunion Show!!!

4 Answers

2008-10-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Jamie posted this on her blog and I thought it would be super fun to do too!!

A) Four places that I go to over and over:
B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly):
C) My favorite places to eat:
D) Four places I'd like to be right now:
E) Four people I think will respond:
F) Four TV shows I watch all the time:

Here are my answers!!

A ) Four places that I go to over and over: Kroger, Walmart, Soccer Fields, Church

B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly): Kristi, Mom, Natalie, Heather

C) My favorite places to eat: Olive Garden, On The Border, Chic Fil A, Red Lobster

D) Four places I'd like to be right now: in bed SLEEPING! in Hawaii with my hubby, in Colorado skiing, in GA visitng all my old friends!

E) Four people I think will respond: hmm....Helen, Cortni, Heather, Dawn

F) Four TV shows I watch all the time: Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Ghost Whisperer, Army Wives

Now repost it on your blog!! :)

Family Pictures!

2008-10-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

So we got our family pictures done and they turned out really good!! Take a look here:

http://heatherfamilyphotos.com/sessions/100403/

Gracee's Dinner Prayer

2008-10-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

So the other night it was Gracee's turn to say the prayer at dinner and all of her prayers are so awesome and cute but I just had to share this one...

Dear God,

I love you and thank you for all the animals and my mom and dad, sisters (insert like 20 other things here) and all the grass and trampolines. I love you Jesus. Amen.

Here is another one from a few days ago too:

Dear God,

Thank you for everything. And THANK YOU SO MUCH for making my dinner...I KNOW it's going to be so good. I love you Jesus. Amen.

Homeschool and Field Trips

2008-10-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

We've have been super busy with our work and field trips the past two weeks.

Kalee is doing very well homeschooling and she loves it. We've been working on fractions a little bit but mostly addition and subtraction facts. We are working on Addition and Subtraction Lapbooks to help her out.

I finally found something Gracee enjoys. She has been a bit of a challenge. She is so eager to learn and wants to do everything big sister does so she gets to do some of it with us. But we started on an Alpha bugs lapbook. I will have to take pictures to post on here. They both LOVE doing lapbooks. So far we have done "A" for Ants and we learned all about the different kinds of ants. We did the Butterfly for the letter "B" and loved looking at our butterfly books and all the beautiful butterflys out there. She is really enjoying it! This week we are going to start on Cricket for the letter "C" She is excited about that. We are also starting on a Halloween Lapbook for both girls! So we are busy busy busy!!

In September we went to the Arboertum to the Mommy and Me day! The girls got to pet some animals, see a pumpkin patch, do a craft and sing and play. We missed out on getting our faces painted because of not so great adverstising. But we made it up to them with ice cream and they seemed happy about that! :)

Last week we went to the Ft. Worth Zoo for "Homeschool Day" and we got to see some baby lions and tigers...they were so cute!!!! Here are lots of pictures from both trips!

Arboretum:

Ft. Worth Zoo:

Homeschool Memoirs #6

2008-09-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

So sorry I haven't been very on top of this. I've been so busy lately. But things are going well so that is exciting.

THEME:

This week I want to invite you to take a moment and post a Summer Photo Essay memoir. Starting from around the official date of Summer to this past week - just give a basic summary of your summer as I know someone of you are photoholics! Haha! Make sure you jot down your memoirs about each photo so everyone can read about your summer. You can do the essay however you want. You can journal a lot of just caption the photo! Can’t wait to see what you all do!

I love pictures so I take alot! We had a lot of fun this summer! We did a lot of swimming!

At the beginning of summer we attended my cousin's wedding. She got married on 6-7-08. Here are a few pics from the wedding and reception.

This is a random picture of Avree eating watermelon, we had lots of watermelon this summer!! Don't know why I don't have MORE pics of it!

We went to the Wetzone with my mommy's group and the girls had lots of fun:

Then on the 4th of July we went on our annual family camping trip. We haven't been in the last two years. Last year we didn't get to go because it was all flooded. The year before last we were in Chicago. So we were glad to get some time with my family! :)

Avree being her cute little self!

My brother Corey and my daughter Avree. He is a great Uncle, the kids love him so much!!

My dad sittin by his smoker! :)

Gracee up by the campsite!

Me, My Sis Jen, and My cousin Amanda

Gracee and My nephew Hayden

Gracee down by the lake

My Sis Jen and I

My Sis Jen and her Son Hayden

Kalee and Hayden

The kids buring Kalee in the sand. They had such a great time.

My Uncle Jem smoking with his smoker!

Mom Chillin'

The boys playing Volleyball

Watermelon Salsa...it's HOT but good! I can't each much of it at all!

On the way home, we all had a blast but were VERY tired!!

Swimming FUN at Nana's House!!

We had a few tea parties, I actually got pics for this one!!

Then Taylor my little brother turned 9 and he LOVES Indiana Jones!! :)

That is basically what we did this summer! Just laid back and took it easy! Thanks for looking!

Libby Lu/Birthday Party/Soccer

2008-09-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

We've been busy the past couple of weeks so I am going to fit everything in one post! :)

First, Kalee started soccer a couple of weeks ago. She loves it and this year Daddy is her coach. I missed the first soccer game so my sister came by and fixed her hair and helped get her all ready!

Here she is week before last at her 2nd game:

Then we had a little get together at my house for my birthday! Here is one pic of me and two friends!

Now on to LIBBY LU!!! The girls went on the Cookie Money from Girl Scouts!! Here are some pics!!

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

THEY had so much fun and keep asking me when can they go back!! LOL!!!

HIVES!!!

2008-09-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

My poor baby keeps breaking out in hives!! Since THURSDAY!! I took Avree to the doc the FIRST time she broke out and the doc said to just give her bendryl so that is what I have been doing but she KEEPS breaking out and has been very fussy and uncomfortable lately. I feel so bad for her. The doc said if it was still going on in A MONTH to bring her back.....REALLY??!!? I have to wait a WHOLE MONTH!!! I think I may have to go get a 2nd opinion if she is still breaking out by Thursday.... I will have to see if I can't get a picture of them next time (sad that I am pretty sure it will happen again!) MY POOR BABY!!!!!!!!

Labor Day Weekend FUN!!!

2008-09-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

We had a BUSY BUSY weekend!!!

On Friday Night we went to a Rough Riders game with David's company! We had the "Owners Suit" great seats right behind home plate and lots of yummy food to eat!! They lost but oh well, we still had a great time!!

Saturday Night we went to a friends house for some faijitas...YUMMY!!! We all had a great time there as well.
Then Sunday we had some friends over for lunch and we went swimming for a few hours!
Then Monday we just relaxed and enjoyed the day with our girls! Busy Busy weekend but lots of fun!!

Homeschool Memoirs 2 Homeschooling Agenda

2008-08-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

This week’s theme is about sharing your 2008-09 homeschool agendas and plans. You’ve been preparing your plans for sometime and you’re ready to go. Or you’re still in the planning-stage and need some inspiration or tips on what to use. Because many use different curriculum and methods there is always something new to be gleaned from other homeschoolers. It’s always fun and interesting to see what other’s are using and the WWWWH as Robin Sampson suggests. So this week I hope you will share what you’re doing this year for your homeschool agenda. Share the different curriculum you’re using. You can also include what age/grade you’re using it for, how long you’ve been using it, and why you like it.

Please share a Bible verse that has encouraged you or inspired you during this planning-process, and how.

Agenda? We're supposed to have an agenda? LOL!! Well, this is my first year and while searching for the perfect curriculum and asking my fellow homeschooling mommy friends lots of questions I decided to go with the 2nd Grade Abeka Curriculm. I am liking it ok so far. My husband who was also homeschooled really wants me to look into Saxon Math, she loves Math and so does he....I HATED MATH in school! So sometime soon I am going to look into getting the Saxon Math for 2nd grade, until then I will be using Abeka.

With Gracee, (she's 4) I am kinda making up my own stuff. I used to teach Pre-K so I am going to use some of the stuff from that. We started with letters. She knows that her name is Gracee and it's spelled G R A C E E but she doesn't recognized those letters. So that is what we are working on right now. Recognizing her letters and numbers. We are also reviewing colors and shapes and patterns. And of course learning how to write those letters and numbers.

Other than this I don't really have any agendas or plans. I am kinda just learning my way around and figuring out what works for us best. I did join a homeschooling support group and I am excited about that.

It's been a challenge with my 20 month old. But we are learning and so is she. If anyone has any pointers on what to do with younger siblings I'd love them! :)

First Day of School....

2008-08-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

for my hubby!!! YAY for him!! He started classes on Monday again after 3 years of being out of school. He is trying to get his degree in Applied Sciene Digital Art Technology. That was a mouth full! Anyway, I am very proud of him so I thought I would share!!

Feels so Weird!

2008-08-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as I was leaving to go to WOMEN OF FAITH I saw lots of cars at the neighborhood school where Kalee attended last year. And wondered what was going on then it clicked with me....MEET THE TEACHER night was that night. And I thought to myself wow, this is weird that I didn't have to worry about Meet the teacher or school supplies (well not the school's list anyways=)) Anyways, as I was driving I just kept thinking wow, this is really real, I am homeschooling and it feels so nice. So it's official...well, it's been official but now it really FEELS official...I am a HOMESCHOOLING MOM!!! YAY!!!

Homeschool Memoirs #1

2008-08-21T22:06:00.000-07:00

I signed up for this Homeschool Blogger Class call Homeschool Memoirs. So if you would like to know more about our family and homeschooling please follow along. I will warn ya though, I am not the best writer! :)

The first theme begins today, August 20th, 2008. This week, we want to hear about YOU. The author behind the words. The Momma behind all the homeschooling kiddos. Just write up something about you, your family, and your home. How long you’ve been homeschooling and why you decided to homeschool. It doesn’t have to be anything lengthy at all, but we’d love to hear it! You might include a family photo too!

I am Holly, I'm 26 and married to the most awesome hubby ever for the last 8 years!! We have three daughters together! Kalee is 7, Gracee is 4 and Avree is 20 months. We lived in GA for 5 years while my hubby served in the Military and 3 years ago we moved back to be closer to family! We are enjoying being here close to family but miss all of our friends in GA.

This is our first year of homeschooling. Homeschooling had been weighing on my heart and mind for the past 2 years so I prayed about it and decided that it was what I was supposed to do. I am excited and nervous all in one! My daughters are excited too and were asking me everyday when were we going start so I just went ahead and started and they are loving it. And so far so am I! I am excited to get to talk about our journey with other homeschooling moms and look forward and welcome ANY advice!!

Here are some pics:

This is Kalee and she is a sweetheart! She is a great big sister and loves to help her mommy and loves to be the younger girls 2nd "mommy" even though sometimes they don't like that. She has a big heart and LOVES learning and reading! She also LOVES reading to her little sister and sometimes they like it too. When Avree was born you could find Kalee reading to her all the time. It was and still is so sweet!

This is Gracee and she is my girly girl. She loves to dress-up and put "makeup" on and she LOVES dressing her baby sister up! She is very loving. She lets you know what she wants and will stop at nothing to get what she wants and that usually gets her into some trouble from time to time.

This is Avree, she is my youngest and I can't believe that she is almost 2. Just makes me want to cry. She still loves to cuddle and give lots of kisses everyday all day whenever I want them! She loves her sisters and loves to play with them.

And I guess I will post a picture of me and my hubby before heading off to bed:

Prayers Please UPDATED!

2008-08-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure if I could put this out online yet. Here is what my wrote on her myspace about the family members in the hospital! If you could send some prayers up I would appreciate it! Thanks!

I am asking everyone to please add my sister in law Vicki and my nephew Marshall to your prayer list at Church.

My wonderful sister in law is in the hospital fight what they call G B Syndrom. She is at this time reacting well to the medication that they are giving her. Physical Therapy has been started and she is hanging in there. She is great & loving person. She has an infectious laugh that will make you smile from ear to ear when you hear her laugh. She is quiet but a great Wife and Mom. We are hoping she will get to go home soon. But her recovery will be ongoing until we can get her back to 100%.

My nephew Marshall will be 7 years old on October 29th. At this point the doctors have not found out what is prognosis is, but I can tell you it's serious. He is working on about 25% of blood in his system right now. If that was a grown person and they had that blood count they would be dead. We need you all if you can to donate blood. If you are interested please email me @ hjfarrell@gmail.com He is an absolute doll. He has such a sweet face and blonde hair. He is quiet little boy believe it or not. But loves to give hugs. I ask you to please donate blood in his name and bd if you can and please please keep him in your prayers. His life is just beginning and he deserves to grow, learn and live his life like we all have. I have faith in God that he will do just fine, but your added prayers will be very appreciative.

Thanks for your donating blood if you are able, your thoughts and prayers.

Prayers Please!!

2008-08-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

Please keep my family in your prayers! I don't want to go into detail right now but several people in my family are in the hospital and very sick so please keep them in your prayers!

Thanks!!

FRIENDS!

2008-08-16T09:54:00.000-07:00

Today I have been thinking about my friends and how thankful for each of them I am and what each of them bring to my life.

First, I want to thank My Heavenly Father for giving me all the friends that I have. I believe that HE had a hand in this! :) And I want to give HIM all the credit for the awesome friendships that I have had over the years.

I want to say that I have three awesome online mommy groups that I have made some lifelong friendships in! I cherish all of the friends I've made through those groups. I have learned so much from them and grown as a person, a wife, and a mommy from all of those ladies.

Today I want to talk about three special girls that have been through a lot with me, and put up with a lot from me. They are Natalie, Heather, and Tiffany. I don't know what I would have done if God didn't put these three girls in my life!

First, I will talk about Natalie.....I met Natalie about 23 years ago! We were 3 years old at the time. My parents had divorced and I was going to my dad's every other weekend and at the time he lived with my memaw. Next door to my Memaw live Mary Bell and across the street lived a lady named Denise with twin daughters about my age. Mary Bell and My Memaw have lived next door to each other for a LONG LONG time, I will have to ask my dad about how long. Denise and my dad grew up together. Mary Bell is Denise's mom and Natalie and Ambers grandma.

Well, one day and I have vague memories of this, I don't remember all the details but I do remember some. My Unlce Mike who also lived with my Memaw took me to Denise's house to introduce me to Natalie and Amber....aka "the Twins" LOL!! They hated that when they were younger! Since then Natalie and Amber and I have been friends. I don't really see or talk to Amber as much as I used to but Natalie and I have remained VERY close. We've been through a lot together! Heartbreaks and happy times. We've even had our fights here and there. Even when I lived in GA and we were at two VERY different places in life we remained close. I was married with kids and Natalie was in College. She even came to visit us in GA because she is awesome like that!! We have MANY MANY memories and fun times together!
Now that we are both mommies I think we are closer than ever!

Natalie, I don't even know if you read this but you mean more to me than you know. I cherish our frienship and thank you for sticking by me even through the hard times we've had together. Thanks for being there for me even during my weakest moments. For listening to me rant and rave about everything and anything and not being or annoyed with me or at least not showing me you were annoyed! :) Thanks! I love you!

The other two girls have the same story kinda...

I will start with Heather.

Heather and I went to Middle School together but we didn't really hang out at all. Our friendship started our Spohmore year in High School in Mr. Logan's Chem Com class. Which is where we also met Tiffany when she arrived from Wisconsin! I don't konw the three of us just hit it off! We've been friends for 11 years! We've also been through a lot together. Heartbreaks and Happy times! Weddings and babies! Both of these girls have been there for me a lot! They both mean a lot to me and I cherish the friendship we all have.

Tiffany and Heather,
Like Natalie I have no idea if you guys even read my blog but I wanted to say Thank you for your friendship and to let you know that I cherish the friendship that we have! You guys have been there for me through some hard times as well and I am so thankful that God gave me such great friends that I know I can rely on!

I don't know why I felt the need to be sentinmental today but I really felt like I needed to put my thoughts into words. And to publicly (well kinda) thank those friends that mean a lot to me.

To all my friends:

Thank you for being you and being my friend. I cherish all the friendships I have!

Homeschooling ~ First Day!!

2008-08-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know or not know that I have decided to homeschool Kalee and Gracee this year! Today was our first day. I really think that once I get the hang of this I will enjoy it! I am excited and the girls are too, they couldn't go to sleep last night knowing we were going to be starting school this morning.

We got off to kinda a rough start though....David downloaded the printer stuff for me last night but we didn't test it out so this morning when I went to go print out what I needed I couldn't. So I called him and he walked me through what I needed to do. And an hour later we were able to start school! It was a bit challenging to figure out what to do with Avree while I was teaching the girls. She demands a lot of attention these days. First I put her in the chair to color and that wasn't happening...so I took her down and she was mad that I was not holding her and playing with her! I put her down for a nap about 30 min after we started and we were able to finish before she woke up. I am thinking we will need to do most of the stuff while she is down for her nap! Hopefully as she gets older it will be a bit easier!!!

Anyway, first day is down and we are going to be trying to different things out to see what works for us, but so far so good. I am excited!!!

Day In The Life Of Three Princesses

2008-08-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

This was actually last night because they always wake up before me!

None of Avree sleeping!

Good Morning Gracee who is usually the first up!

Good Morning Kalee (mom why are you taking pictures?)

I don't usually take pictures of Avree while she is asleep cause she ALWAYS wakes up, but I got one this morning!!

Right after

Avree watching Kalee clean her room while I make breakfast!

Gracee cleaning her room while I make breakfast!

Good Morning Snowee!

Avree getting kisses from Daddy!!

Giving love to the kitty!

Breakfast!! Muffins yummy and Avree drinking out of her big girl cup!!

Bye Daddy!! What a good sport!

All three

Then we played on our rocking horse and she actually let me take some pictures of her!!

Time to let Mikko out to the potty but she doesn't want to go, I don't blame her it's hot, she will come back in when she's all done!

This is what I find when I get out of my shower!

Gracee was pottying so no pics of her!

While I was uploading earlier I fixed Avree's hair and took a couple of pictures!

Kalee was trying to keep Avree occupied while I uploaded pics!

Kalee teaching Avree how to make a silly face...

Avree's attempt...

Time for teeth brushing before we head out...

Lunch before swimming!

My nephew being silly!

My mom showing the kids Halloween Costumes...oh dear!!

Avree giving Nana some love

Avree and I

The kids getting into the pool!

Kalee in the pool!

Hayden in the pool...

My mom's pool is shaded so the pool water actually stays cool even during the HOT HOT days!!

Gracee with her floatie (she can swim she is just too scared too, she will get it!)

Don't know what Avree's pointing at, but she's cute!

Kids on the Flower Float!

Drying off in the sun....

Drying off in the sun and eating some fruit snacks

Waking up from nap....sorry no before nap pics!

Some fruit for another snack!

Here is the rest of our day....kinda borning around here in the evenings. We just try to relaz and take it easy! The girls were playing so GOOD together tonight too, I was happy to get some great pictures of them!!!

Avree is NOT happy and has been fussy this evening...

Gracee cuddling up with daddy watching tv while mommy is cooking dinner!

Dinner is FINALLY ready, I think they all asked me like 10 times....we ate at our normal time too!! We had yummy roast, carrots, potatoes and some bread...

After dinner the girls went to play in Gracee's room...barbies and my little pony...FUN!!!

Daddy cutting up our snack...WATERMELON...YUMM!!!!

Avree mad again....she wanted some watermelon but didn't want to wait on daddy to cut it! Poor baby!

Watermelon...YUMMM!!

Night Night kisses from Daddy!

Night Night kisses from my sisters! (I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!)

Night Night Avree...

More playing....they stayed in there for like two hours playing...I kept going back to check on them and snap some pics! LOL!!

They just couldn't get enough of each other so they asked....ok BEGGED to be able to sleep together....which reminds me I need to check on them and make sure they aren't in there playing! LOL!!

Good Night and Thanks for Sharing our day with us!!! Hope you enjoyed it!

Introducing Keira Ann

2008-08-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

My niece was born on July 21, 2008 at 1:23pm
She weighed 6lbs 15oz 19 inches long....
I can't wait to meet her! She absoulutely BEAUTIFUL!!

Mommy and Daddy are enjoying thier sweet baby! We are so excited for them!

Congrats Joel and Julie!!!

Avree being CUTE!!

2008-08-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight Avree got on her rocking horse for the first time ever. We've had it out since she walk. But everytime we put her on it she was start crying so we just left it alone. Well, tonight she got it out and got on it and started rocking back and forth. The cat kept coming up behind her and getting under the rocking horse and she would start screaming and laughing and rocking. So after about 5 min I got the camera out and she got MAD!!! She started screaming at me and would go to get off the horse.....we did some good pics though!

First she got off and started screaming at me when she saw the camera..

Then she got back on and so I got the camera back out and she got MAD again....

Then she got up and turned her horse around so she could rock w/o getting her picture taken..

Taking a peak to see if I still have the camera out

She got off again and I moved her horse so she started playing with me by closing her eyes..

And I finally got a somewhat good pic of her..

4th of July

2008-07-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Ok I am finally getting these pics up!!

My camera battery went dead the first day so these are all from my sister's camera!! he quality isn't that great! Ugh so sorry!!

We went to Lake Texoma with my parents and my uncle and aunt and cousins were there too! IT was lots of FUN!!! They are all out of order!

Me and The Girls

Mom/Nana

Sparklers

Sparklers

More Sparklers

Hayden, Avree and Gracee

Kalee being Buried!

Kalee and her Mommy

Kalee in the Water

Me and my sister Jen

Me and Jen

My sister Jen and her son Hayden

Hayden

My hubby being silly

Gracee and Hayden!

Gracee being cute!

Kalee and Hayden

My brother Corey and Avree

My brother and I

Cousins!!

David and I

Amanda and I

Avree being cute!

Avree

Avree's New Words!

2008-07-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

I so wish I would have done this with the other girls but I didn't so I am going to do it with Avree. She seriously says a new word EVERYDAY!!!

Here are the words she can say now....
Mommy
Daddy
Bye
Hi
Nana
Papa
Dora (she LOVES Dora!! LOL!)
No (I think this one is her favorite one)
bowl
ball
doll
kitty
dog (she will say "that dog")
that

Ok Kalee and I can't think of all of them so I will have to come back and add some!

She also signs!! only a few of those though...
please
more
milk
thank you

Beat The Heat Summer Contest

2008-07-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

Enter this cool contest...

http://blog.thenatureschild.com/2008/06/beat-heat-summer-contest.html

8 Years Ago Today.....

2008-07-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

David and I started our life together. I can't believe it's been 8 years. It's been truly 8 awesome years! I am married to the most patient, understand, caring, most amazing man. He is MY BETTER HALF. I love you sweetie. Here is a slide show I put together today! Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Father's Day

2008-06-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know I am a little late but I wanted to post something anyways.....

My hubby is the most amazing father ever. The girls absoulutely ADORE him. I remember years ago all the way back to 2001 when Kalee was about 6 months old...I picked David up from work and we were riding with the windows down when we heard 2 little girls joyfully scream "DADDY DADDY!!" We look over and the dad had barely even gotten out of his car when the girls reached him. He bent down and both girls leaped into his arms...David looked at me and said "That is going to be me one day with my girls" Little did he know that we would have 3 girls! :) Not too long after that Kalee started doing it when Daddy came in the door from work. To this day she runs up to him when he gets home. Just recently Avree started joining in on the fun. He loves it, one day I need to get my camera ready because the smile on his face when they greet him at the door is priceless!!! Thier faces are priceless as well.

I got the pleasure of getting this greeting a couple of weeks ago when I was gone all weekend. It is a great feeling! To know how much you are loved and missed...it's great!!!

Here is a slide show:

Thank You David for being an amazing husband and father. Thank you Lord for putting this wonderful man in my life. I couldn't have chosen a better husband or father. I love you, honey!

So Happy Father's Day to all those Daddy's out there!!!!!!

What A Weekend!!

2008-06-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

We had a wedding this past weekend in Fort Worth! My little baby cousin got married to her long time boyfriend William! They are a WONDERFUL couple. We miss them so much! Anyway, they are off in Tahiti on thier honeymoon....I AM SO JEALOUS!!! Anyways here are some pictures of the BIG DAY!!

Baby Birds....

2008-06-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we walked outside to leave and heard a loud chirpping noise. We were trying to find the bird but we couldn't. David starts walking closer to the noise and just stops, he was about 2 inches away from one of the baby birds! We thought it fell out of the nest...but now we realize that is must have jumped out or flown out of the nest! Today we noticed ALL 4 birds were gone, but we also realized that there were 5 baby birds but one did not make it. :(

But they are all gone and it was fun watching the whole process from the eggs to them flying off. I am sad though. I looked forward to seeing the birds in thier nest everyday!

Baby Birds!

2008-05-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago I noticed a nest and a mommy bird in her nest. I felt so bad for her the few days that it rained ALL day and ALL night cause she just kept on that nest. On Tuesday I walked outside to take Kalee to school and saw the mommy feeding her babies. I saw 4 little mouths opened! They were so cute from a distance. I didn't want to get too close to them. Well, today I actually got a few pics and David got some really good pics. But we felt bad cause after he took the pics the birds thought they were being fed....oops!! The girls FINALLY got to see them and they LOVED it!!! So here are our pics....

My Babies Are Getting So BIG!!!!!

2008-05-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

Avree is getting so big! She is talking more and more! Last weekend when she was with her daddy she pointed at a dog and said "that doggy!" This morning she pointed at our dog again and said "mommy, that doggy." Later on we went to the park and she was swinging in the swing and loving it!! She was saying "Weeee!!" it was great. When I took her out she kept saying "I wing, mommy.....I wing" It was so cute! I can't believe my baby is 18 months old!!!

Gracee is also getting so big and I am so proud of her. Last year when I took Kalee and Gracee to the dentist she would NOT let them come near her. LOL!! This year she hopped in the seat and even let them clean her teeth!! I was so proud of her! She didn't cry or scream or anything!! Good Job Gracee!!

Kalee...my first baby!! Tomorrow is her last day of 1st grade! After tomorrow my baby will be a 2nd Grader!!! Where have the last 7 years gone?!? Nobody told me it would go by this fast!! Anyway, she is a 1st grader reading on a 3rd grade level!!! She got an award for being on the A B Honor Roll and Good Citzenship!!! She is a great help to me with the younger girls and I couldn't be more proud of her!

4 YEARS AGO!!!!! Saturday 5/17

2008-05-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

May 17, 2004
At about 6am I woke up with some VERY strong contractions. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for some time but these were A LOT stronger.... so I woke up David told him and he said well, let's go to the hospital. His parents were visiting us at the time so David went and woke his mom up to tell her we were going so she could watch Kalee and I hopped in the shower really quick. We got to the hosptial around 7am I guess and my contractions were STRONG, they were hurting. I was 3cm. They told me to walk around a little bit so I did. David didn't like that idea. He kept saying we need to go back. I was having a hard time and really didn't want to be walking. We went back in and I was still a 3 so I told them I was ready for my epidural. About 30 min later the anestithioligist came in tried to give me the epidural and it didn't take. I wasn't happy and pretty close to tears at this point. I went through some more contractions and we tried again. This time we got it. David napped for a little bit then Collin and Bucki and Kalee came up to see us. Kalee was excited that her sister was going to be here soon! Not long after they got there Gracee was ready to make her apperance. at 1:32pm and about 4 pushes later she was here.She was 7lbs 10oz 21 inches long. She was beautiful!!!

3 weeks old

4 months old

Playing in the rain ~ 5/6/08

2008-05-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

It was a very nice day but raining. So when Kalee got home from school I let the girls play in the rain. They had a blast!! Pics coming soon....

Mother's Day!

2008-05-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post about many different things but haven't had a lot of time so there will be a few posts today!

First I will start with Saturday!! In the morning we worked on our flower beds and the girls helped us! It was a fun morning! That evening we went to a birthday party at Harry Myers Splash Park!! Here are a few pics....

Mother's Day this year was AWESOME!!!! My hubby and my kids did great!!!

I wake up to the smell of eggs and bacon but I stayed in bed resting and enjoying the WONDERFUL smell of the house. :)
Then all of the sudden this VERY LOUD ANNOYING SOUND fills the house....it's the smoke alarm so I lay there for a few more seconds thinking David will turn it off, finally I get up to see if I can go help him out. I open my bedroom door the lots of smoke!! He comes around the corner and says "I tried to turn it off" so I go and try and no finally get it to turn off after like 5 minutes. He said "I hate cooking bacon" I know he does but still thought he was so sweet to try for me. My sister had spent the night with us because she was going to church with us and he said I was trying to make both of yall breakfast in bed. Sorry! We both laughed and said it was fine. I know he felt bad and I felt bad for him. He tried very hard so he gets MAJOR hubby points for that. And isn't it so sweet that he was going to do it for my sister too?!? I love that man, he is just awesome!!! So instead of in bed we all ate breakfast together and it was awesome! We get ready for church and go to church, then we met my mom at Texas Land and Cattle for lunch. It was a nice lunch. Then we went home and relaxed for the rest of the day. It was a great day!! Pics coming soon...
Here are a few pics we took...

And my Mother's Day gift from the girls...

Kalee's Mom's Day Gift from school!

2008-05-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

I thought this was SOOO CUTE!!!

It's called: A Moment With Mom

My mom's name is: Holly
Mom's favorite food is: pizza
In her free time, Mom likes to: clean (giggle)
Mom likes the color: purple
My mom's favorite vacation spot is: the living room (giggle)
Mom's favorite holiday is: her birthday (my daughter knows me too well)
She likes that holiday because: it's her day
My mom likes it when I: help her clean
What my mom likes the best about being a mother is: having me and my sisters
And then it says to make my signature...it's cute! I need to take a picture of it. She also drew a lovely picture of me!

This one is called: MY MOM
My mother's name is: Holly
She is: 26
She has: brown hair and hazel eyes and is 5 feet tall. She doesn't like to discuss her weight, but I think she weighs 50 pounds. I enjoy playing with my mother. Her favorite thing to do is shop. The funniest thing I have ever seen my mother do is play with my daddy. She makes me happy when she plays with me. I love all her cooking but my favorite meal is taco salad. I could do without chicken pot pie. Her favorite tv show is Dr. Phil. I'd rather watch Hannah Montana or H20. Her favorite color is purple mine is purple and pink. My mother works a Home cleaning. My mom is special to me because she is just special. I wouldn't trade her for anything!! I love her dearly!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE getting cute little things that this. They are really THE BEST gifts ever and they always put a smile on my face! I also got a PURPLE card and another drawing of me! It was all VERY cute!!!!

Gracee and Hayden's Double Birthday Party!!

2008-05-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

It was lots of fun!! We had a bounce house, water slide and a small pool for the younger kids!! They had a blast. It was kinda chilly and we weren't going to put up the slide but we didn't want a bunch of upset kiddos and it started to warm up so we put it up! If the wind wasn't blowing it would not have been so bad! LOL! They were cold but they had FUN!!!!

Crazy Hair Day!!!

2008-05-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Kalee's school had Crazy Hair Day!! Here are some pictures!! She got some pink spray for her birthday and has been begging to use it and we finally got to!! She was excited!!

"Hi!"

2008-04-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Night we decided to go to the Harbor for some Ruby Tuesday. I was carrying Avree and she was waving and saying "Hi" to everyone we walked passed. Of course everyone thought she was the cutest thing ever!! And she was. Her personality has just really blossomed over the last couple of weeks. When we left she waved at a few people and told them "BYE" She is such a ham!!

SOCCER!!!

2008-04-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

YAY!!! Kalee's Soccer team did so good yesterday!!! They have come a long way! They didn't win but they didn't lose! YEAH!! They were so excited and Kalee has been doing so good. She is really enjoying it! We are putting her in a soccer camp this summer and she can't wait!

Our Weekend!

2008-04-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

Whew! We had a busy weekend!! Friday night we had some friends from one of my mommy groups to play BUNCO!! It was FUN and I am glad we got one started in our area! I love being able to play a game and get to interact with everyone that is that. It's a great game all around!

Saturday we slept in just a little bit. Got Kalee ready to get her soccer pictures taken and while Daddy and Kalee were gone doing that I was busy getting Gracee, Avree, and my nephew ready for the day. When they got back we piled in the car and off we went to Target to get a birthday present for my grandmother and a wedding present for my cousin. Most of my family live in the Sherman/Dension area and we had two events up there for Saturday. My Grandmother's 80th Birthday Party and My cousin's wedding shower. I got my grandmother a nice fleece blanket cause I know she loves those!! And I got my cousin a gift card. My mom, sis, and I all pitched in for it.

Rush back out to the car and off we go. It was a pretty quiet ride Avree and Hayden slept and the girls played quietly to themselves. Kalee did ask me a few times "are we there yet" Thank goodness it was only an hour away!!! LOL!!

So we get to the birthday party and everyone is already there. I eat real quick give the present to my grandmother hugs and kisses. She was playing dominoes at this point cause we were late! HA!! She LOVES dominoes! Then I leave to go around the corner to my cousin's wedding. These are two different sides of my family in case you were wondering! LOL!! I get there give her the gift card and hug everyone visit for a little while and jet out back to my hubby and kids at the birthday party where we spent the rest of the afternoon.

The kids all wanted to go to my dad's house so that is where we headed next. He lives not far from where we were and my kids don't get to see him and my little brother every often. My little brother is 8 almost 9 years old. Anyway, so we go there to visit for a little while and then at 8:30pm I was trying to get my family out the door so we got home a decent time. But no they all wanted to go out to dinner. Oh yeah and my sister had met up with us at this point! She had a class to go to and that is why I had Hayden with me! So we all go to IHOP at 8:30pm at NIGHT!!! Someone please tell me next time that it's really not a great idea! LOL!! It really wasn't that bad. It was WAY past my girls bedtime but they were wired! So we get done there at oh, 10pm or so and head back home! Let me just say my kids were WORN out and we were not even out of the parking lot and they were ALL THREE ASLEEP!!! It was a nice quiet ride home! We got home around 11:00pm or so. VERY LATE!! But we still managed to get up and head to church the next morning.

Sunday was a LAZY day and I was VERY thankful for that! We were supposed to have some friends over but they forgot and didn't come over! That was ok with me we just layed around all day watching TV and playing the Wii.

This next weekend won't be so busy thank goodness!!

Kalee's Birth Story (kinda long)

2008-04-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

So I decided to type out Kalee's birth story for her to read someday. I've already shared it with her and she loves hearing about it. But I want to write all the details of it for her to look back over and read someday. So here goes....

January 24, 2001 was my due date and the plan was to have my sister come out to be there for the birth, but deciding when she should come was kinda tricky. She didn't want to miss Kalee's birth but could only take off a week of work.

On Wednesday January 17, 2001 Jenn calls me and says I am coming up on Friday, I just bought my bus ticket. Uh, ok but my due date isn't for another week and everyone kept telling me I'd go WAY past my due date. She said No, I am SURE you are going to have her this weekend so I am coming up so I don't miss it. I said OK but if she doesn't come it's not my fault! LOL!! So her bus was to come in on Friday January 19 at 1:30pm and I was going to go pick her up.

Thursday January 18 was a pretty normal day I was having some braxton hicks but nothing abnormal for me I'd been having braxton hicks contractions for several months, in the last month they had picked up a lot and were a little more painful than normal. I pretty much did nothing on that day. I was pretty miserable but that was most days! :)

January 19, 2001 3am....I woke up with HORRIBLE contractions that kept me up. I tried to go back to sleep for 3 LONG hours and couldn't. So at 6am when David got up I got up to take a shower and told him I'd been up in more pain than normal. He asked if he needed to take me to the hospital and I told him No, the contractions were braxton hicks they weren't consistant at all. But I was a little scared and didn't want to be left alone. But he had to go to work. I understood but was still very scared and I knew my sister would be there later so I went back to sleep and couldn't sleep I was still having really painful contractions, but they were VERY sporadic 20 minutes here 5 minutes there, never more than 20 minutes apart though. But I just chalked it up to Braxton Hicks. David's Sgt's wife called me to check on me and make sure I was ok. I told her I was scared and I wished David were with me but I knew he had to be at work. She told me to call her if I needed anything and about hour later David was home in time to get my sister from the bus station. We were a little late picking her up but we got there and she was here and so was David and all was good. I told her what was going on and she said, see I told you it was going to happen this weekend. I just laughed and told her these were just Braxton hicks I was still a week away from being due. I told her I had an appt on the 23rd and she told me I wouldn't make it to the 23rd. So anyways, she said well, let's go to the mall and walk around. I was game because I was starving and wanted to eat. So we went to eat at Ruby Tuesday and walked around the mall for about and hour or so. That was about all I could handle and I was ready to come home, I could barely even eat at this point my contractions were getting closer together.

That evening our friends came over to play some spaids. I let Jenn take my place since I was hurting pretty bad and couldn't focus. Then FINALLY at midnight I got some relief and was ready to eat. So David went to McDonald's for me and I ate a cheeseburger and some fries and a shake! LOL!!

Saturday January 20, 2001~3am
I woke up again at 3am and this time the contractions were more painful and more intense but still sporadic. About 8am I finally woke up David and asked him to run a bath for me, he did and sat in the bathroom with me while I tried to relax. Around 10am the contractions were about 10 minutes apart and my sister came down stairs to see how I was doing. I really just wanted to be left alone.Jenn called my dad and told him that he needed to leave cause I was going to have the baby soon! He was going to be driving with my little brother and step mom from Texas to Georgia.We called my mom and David called his parents to tell them too. They were all excited.

David kept asking if I needed to go to the hospital and I kept telling him no because I didn't think I was in Labor. SO, finally around noonish David talked me into calling L&D at the hospital and they told me to come in.

Well, they said the contractions were braxton hicks and weren't doing anything and I was only dialated to a 2 which is what I was at on Wednesday at my last appt. That was VERY disapointing to hear cause I was in pain and having regular contractions.

Around 3 or so they were like 5 minutes apart and I got up to go to the bathroom and there was a little tiny bit of blood and I freaked out, so we went back to the hospital to hear the same thing again, I was so mad and upset I just wanted some relief! So they gave me something to "edge" of the pain.

We got home and David and Jenn tried to talk me into laying on the couch, but I insisted that I would more comfortable upstairs in my bed. Well, I got upstairs laid down and the contractions were getting closer and closer together. David and Jenn were downstairs trying get something to eat cause they hadn't eaten all day, they tried to but they couldn't cause I was pretty high maintence I guess! LOL!! Anyway, the contractions were even closer like 1 to 3 minutes apart and Jenn and David were like let's go back to the hospital and I did NOT want to go back at all. I hated being in the car I hated being messed with and told I was only a 2. I went to the bathroom again and this time MORE blood and liquid and contractions were REALLY close together. David and Jenn of course were in the bathroom with me since I was a little out of it with the stuff they gave me to "edge" off te pain so they had to carry me to the bathroom. Since I was bleeding again and contractions were closer David and Jenn pretty much told me I didn't have a choice we were going back to the hospital. I wasn't happy but felt like I needed to go too.

5:45pm
I got there and they told me I was a 5, I was so happy to hear that!! David said ok, I am going to check you in and grab a candy bar to eat since he was starving and still hadn't eaten! I was fine cause I knew that soon I would get my epidural and all would be fine in the world.....
15 minutes later I wheeled into the delievry room where the nurse checked me again and said oh she's a 9 get the doctor. I told her I was waiting on my epidural and she quickly told me it was too late for that....WHAT?!?!!? She said you are going to have a baby soon, where is your husband....uh, downstairs getting something to eat! So they called him on the loud speaker....PFC FARRELL please report to L&D...QUICKLY! About the same time David and the doctor arrived the doc checked me said I was 10 and NOT TO PUSH....um, I'm not my body is doing it anyways. So they are all yelling at me telling me not to push not to push, I asked where Jenn was and David said in the waiting room, I said HURRY go get her....so he ran to get her and was back pretty quickly. I kept telling them she' coming she's coming and still they are telling me NOT TO PUSH...I wasn't, my body just kinda took over and I could feel her coming out so I was yelling at them more she's coming, the doc just grabbed his gloves, I pushed twice and there she was....my beautiful baby girl. David cut the cord and I got to kiss her head they cleaned her up while I delivered the placenta and got fixed up, David was holding her and then when they were done he gave her to me and she was just so beautiful! David went back with her to get cleaned up more in the nursery while Jenn stayed with me. I had her at 6:34pm so less than 45 minutes after I got to the hospital!!! She was 6lbs 8oz 19 inches long. We called all the NEW grandparents as this was the first granbaby for both our parents and of course they were so excited!! Dad finally left around 4 or so to come up, so he was a little surprised when I called him and said "hey there grandpa, how are ya" He was pretty shocked. They got to GA the next day to meet Kalee.

That night was kinda scary, I had to room with somebody so they wouldn't let David stay. He was sad to go and I was sad and scared for him to go. But I ended up being ok. They left about 11 pm and there I was with my precious baby, just she and I. I couldn't believe she was here and I was a mommy. All I could do was smile at her and kiss her. I nursed her and we fell asleep together.

I love being a Mommy!!

2008-04-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

Today I had an appt so I was up in the shower before the kids got up and when I got out I could hear Gracee and Avree giggling!! So I got out of the shower and came into my room and they were playing in my bed beside my sleeping husband!! LOL!! Gracee was acting like she was asleep and starting "fake" snoring...then Avree laid on her and started doing the same thing!! Ok so maybe it was cuter in person, but I just had to share all the cuteness!!

It's moments like these that I just love being a mommy!! I love hearing my kids laugh and play together! I will cherish these memories and laughter forever! I think I need to get a tape recorder and record them!

Our Spring Break Vacation to Tenneesee!!!!

2008-03-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

We took a detour on the way there to go see old friends in GA for 2 days and that was really nice to catch up them. The girls also got to see thier friends. We had a great time! I was hoping that a friend of ours who is VERY pregnant would have her baby so I could get my baby fix while there but she didn't and is still pregnant! He just wants his mommy all to himself.

We left on Friday about 2pm Texas Central Time and arrived in GA about 4am GA Time! It was a LONG drive! The kids were great and we had lots of fun! We woke up about 9am so that kinda STUNK! But we had fun anyways. We went to a birthday party and dinner with some friends. We were able to see pretty much all of our friends!

On Sunday evening we left for Tennessee and the girls were really excited. They had been wanting to see thier grandparents for awhile. The last time they saw them was in September.

On Monday we slept in and got some MUCH needed rest! Then we got up and got dressed to go to Walmart and Ihop for a Green Eggs and Ham breakfast! I should have gotten a picture of it but I didn't..oh well! I did get a picture of Kalee and Gracee's pancakes though.....

That morning I woke up a little early when Avree pulled me out of bed and I looked out the window to the most beautiful sunset over the lake. It was so awesome, even though I was VERY sleep deprived I just sat and looked at it. I am now wishing I would have gotten a picture of it. The Cabin is such a relaxing place to go, I love it and could kick myself for it taking 3 YEARS to return to it. Hopefully we will be able to go more in the future. David has some very fond memories of the cabin and I hope that my children can have that as well.

On Tuesday we slept in again....Big Surprise there! Then we got up and went to the Tenneesee Aquarium! Right out front there were two ladies painting faces and the girls really wanted to get thier face painted so we let them....

Kalee was a Patriotic Butterly and Gracee was a ladybug!

The girls LOVED the Aquarium!! We looked at all kinds of stuff!! I think thier favorite parts were getting to pet the Sting Rays and the Butterfly's. Kalee actually let a butterfly sit on her finger....she loved it! Gracee was a bit shy about it. We tried to get to do it but she would scream everytime and it would scare the butterfly away. It was very cute!

We tried to go to the Imax but we were too late. Oh well! After dinner we headed to...WALMART!!!!

On Wednesday, we didn't plan much because it was supposed to rain all day....BLAH!! We slept in and in the afternoon we visited with family members! David's cousin Anne and her husband Art came by! I didn't take any pictures though... I wished I had. The girls love Art and Anne. They are great with them! Gracee hadn't seen them since she as a baby so she was very shy at first but it didn't take her long to warm up to them. We visited them for about 2 hours and then went to dinner and Walmart! We also went to a friends house for a presentation on and Ionic Water Purifier
http://www-ionways.com/
It was very interesting and my in-laws ended up buying one!

On Thursday the plan was to leave the house by 9am so we could go to the Creative Discovery Museum and the Imax. So I set my alarm for 7:45am got up showered started getting the kiddos ready and I was ready by 9:10am.....So I let everyone know we were ready to leave. We were suppposed to meet Art and Anne for lunch after going to the Discovery Museum so we needed to leave at 9am or so. When David asked what time he should tell them to meet us I said well it's 9:30am now so probably around 12:30 or 1pm. My mother in law then tells me it's not 9:30am, it's 10:30 am....WHAT?!?! Now way, so I look at the clock and sure enough it's was 10:30 so I looked at my phone and it said 9:30am...IT WAS STILL ON TEXAS TIME!!!!!! UGH!! Oh well, so we changed our plans nothing to stress out about! We went ahead and met them for lunch at Cheeburger Cheeburger at 11:45am. Those were some AWESOME burgers! After that we headed to the Creative Discovery Museum where we spent 3 HOURS about!!!! There were all kinds of neat things to play with and look at. I took a million pictures! Well, that is what it seemed like. We even took a optical art class! They even had things for Avree's age! All the girls enjoyed it!

At 4pm we headed to the Imax, we got there at 4:10pm and realized we had missed the last show and they weren't letting anybody in there late so once again we missed it...oh well! Then we headed back to the car to go to an Ice Cream Shop called Clumpies that has been in downtown TN for a VERY long time....it was some really YUMMY ice cream!!!!!!!

After that we headed downstairs to this little shop, David got some boiled peanuts...can I just say YUCK!!! LOL!!!

Afterwards we headed to the carousel for the girls to ride and we get there 10 minutes too late!!! BUMMER!! So the girls played on some statues for a little while and the we headed to.....WALMART!!!!

That eveing the girls painted easter eggs with grandma and I totally forgot to take pictures! They had fun and there hands were stained with pretty pretty colors for the next day!

On Friday, our last day there we got up kinda early to head to Fall Creek Falls. On the way up there we had to pull over so I could sit up front because the windy roads. I was getting so sick! I've NEVER gotten car sick so I am not sure what was up with that! After getting up front I felt a little better. It was better to just be out of the car.

It was GORGEOUS when we got there!! Lots of walking up and down hills and stuff but it was all so well worth it!! The girls really enjoyed it too!

After that we headed to WALMART to get some plastic eggs to hide them for the easter egg hunt we were going to do.

Here's the Easter Egg hunt...it was fun. Grandma and I hide the eggs a little too well and I think we walked around looking for two of the eggs (one hard boiled and one plastic) for at least 30 minutes! Grandpa and Daddy were laughing at us. We found the plastic one but not the hard boiled one. OH well, it will be a nice surprise for whoever gets to the cabin next! LOL!!

On Saturday morning we left around 6am TN time and got back home around 7pm TX time. We had a good uneventful drive home! We are so glad to be home! When we got home both girls were asking when could we go back to the Cabin to see Grandma and Grandpa!! LOL!!!

There were a TON of pictures taken so please go here to see our vacation pics! Thanks!
http://picasaweb.google.com/hjfarrell/SpringBreakTripToTenneesee

If you make it through all 457 pics you are great! LOL!! Enjoy!!

Sorry, just realized there are also pictures from Easter Sunday on there! LOL!!! Enjoy!

Valentines Day!!

2008-02-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day was fun! We went to Kalee's school party and played bingo and had some juice and cookies!! Her party was only for 30 minutes. What is up with parties not being as long as they used to, I remember we used to party for awhile! It sure wasn't 30 minutes long! We had fun anyway though!They all had to do a Valentine Box for the party and they were all going to be judged to win prizes... here is what Kalee's looked like:

She didn't get any prizes for it and was dissapointed but I think she did a pretty good job. She pretty much did the whole thing on her own, the only part I helped her with was the flower and red things at the top because we had to use a hot glue gun.

That evening one of my brother's dogs got out so I had to call him to help me look for him since the baby was asleep and I wasn't about to wake her up. Anyway, after looking for him for about 30 minutes he found him on the other side of the neighborhood. We've had the dogs for about a month now and I am so ready for them to go home!!!!! LOL!! We had Chili's take out for dinner and then we played the Wii with the girls which they LOVE, then we gave them there V-day gifts, let them play with them for a little while and went to bed!! The next night David and I went on a MUCH needed date night. We went to On the Border and to see the movie Jumper. It was really good and I enjoyed it!!! It was a nice date! That was the first time in 6 months we had been out together!!! We need to do that more often!!! Here are some cute pics of the girls I got!!

And how could I forget the VIDEO of Avree walking!!!!! This was NOT on Valentines Day but a few days afterwards:

We are all better now!!!

2008-02-07T07:14:00.000-08:00

Avree still has a runny nose and cough and NOT sleeping well at all! But NO FEVER!!! Kalee went back to school on Monday and David went back to work!! YAY!! I've been busy cleaning house all week for a V day party on Friday!!

Finished up all the work for the Girl Scout Cookies...well the first part! LOL!!! Just a quick short update!! Oh and I JUST realized that I had comments!! YAY!! People actually read my blog that is AWESOME!!! Thanks Yall!!!

Dog Sitting!!

2008-02-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

We are dog sitting my brother's two dogs. They are really cute and smart dogs! They are Boston Terriers. One weighs about 10lbs and the other about 15 or so. My girls LOVE them. Not sure how long they will be with us bu they are fun!
And I have some random pictures of my babies to post!!

Breakfast for Dinner!!

2008-02-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

So tonight I made breakfast for dinner and my kids LOVED it! They were so excited! Why this excited them so much! I DON'T KNOW!!! We had a breakfast casserole, waffles, and bacon. It was YUMMY. Kalee asked if I could make it again soon! LOL!!! I told her SURE! They were so happy all through dinner. I was surprised by this reaction. But I guess it means we will be eating breakfast for dinner more often!!