Overdue!

Below are some pictures I have been meaning to load for a LONG time now! I am just so busy and overwhelmed with all this new stuff at school that I just haven't had the time. SO...here you are....

Some summer fun with cousin Caleb....He adores Rachel!

Rachel and Timothy's first catch.....and some fries!

Timothy, Rachel and I joined Daddy at Disciple Now this year. Carlton wasn't able to get them their own DNow shirts, so I made them their own.....they loved them....and everyone else thought they were cute. Look at her face!!! LOL

My Boy's on Timothy's first day of school!

Timothy and Rachel....they really do love each other like this A LOT!

I don't do pictures well(I close my eyes all the time), and almost left this one out...but what the heck!

Timothy and his Kindergarten teacher.

There....got it done! Can check it off the list....now on to other stuff!!!

My Summer Thus Far (part 2)

I know that these posts are a little out of order for you, but if you haven't read part one, then skip below to the post directly under this one and read it first.

Let's see.....I left off with "Personally, I am about to have a nervous breakdown. Then my phone rings......."

Well, my phone rang and it was Carlton on the other end....

C - "Is this not a house key on your spare set?"
M - "It is suppose to be....WHY?"(Hysteria is about to set in....)
C - "It is NOT working!"
M - "Did you lock all the doors?"
C - "YES, I locked all the doors. Then you called and I was going back in and this key does not work!"
M - "NO WAY!!" (other mothers around saying..."it's going to be okay!")
C - "How much time do I have?"
M - "Well, they are still playing all the pre-show music. Then they have production, and one woman sings before the girls go on."
C - "HOW MUCH TIME!!"
M - "About 20 minutes!!!"
C - "I am breaking the window then! BYE!"

Me....I hung up the phone and looked at those other mothers and said..."He's BREAKING a window! Oh my gosh....he is going to be so mad!"

Rachel looked at me and said, "You okay Mommy?"
Immediately my whole demeanor changed and I looked right at her and told her that Mommy was okay, and everything would be just fine. Then she skipped off to play with the girls!

About 3 minutes later Carlton calls and says...."How much time??" I told him that Dorthy was just meeting up with the Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Lion (as if you couldn't guess, production was a mini version of the Wizzard of Oz) then I told him he had about 15 minutes MAX. To which he replied...."I just broke a double paned window....I BETTER make it on time for her to dance!"

Panic sat in once again for I knew that he had our son in the car and was breaking ALL kinds of traffic laws on the way. I told him to call me once he got to the street the theater was on and I would run out and get the costume. SO when he called, I ran, and ran, and ran....then I ran back in, got to Rachel and one of the other mothers had already unbuttoned her cover up. The woman was singing her song, we slipped Rachel in her costume, snapped the back, the girls walked backstage, I met Carlton and Timothy in the hall, we stepped in the theater and the Baby Ballet class walked out on stage!

NOW tell me he doesn't love his daughter and wouldn't do anything for her! That is one incredible man I have. However, he then had to listen to a million questions from Timothy who was trying to figure out why he was driving like a maniac....because you see, we live at least 15 minutes from the theater!

Whew......what a night!!!!

Well, $234.64 and one week later, the glass has been fixed!

Now for another part of our summer.....let's see....oh yeah, we finally got a fence put up around the back yard. Now the kids will be wanting another dog. They have wanted one for some time now, but we have put it off because our last one, Pongo, a Dalmatian, was an indoor dog....but....we have decided that we don't want another indoor canine in the family, so we have been telling the kids that we needed a fence first. (I'll let you know when the dog comes!)

And now for the best part of all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rachel was in her room the other night and yelled...."Mommy, come look at my crack!" Did your eyes just get big and your jaw drop to the floor?? Because when I heard those words, mine did! As I got up and walked to her room I thought, "We have NEVER called it that, where is that coming from!" When I walked in, she pointed to the wall above her bathroom door and said, "See it, up there!" And sure enough there was a crack in the sheet rock that was about 2 1/2 feet long from the corner of the bathroom door on up in an angle. Immediately I knew what we were looking at......the foundation. SO I called Carlton in the room and started looking around the other doors and windows, and sure enough there were other cracks. Some big and some small, but lots of them. So we walked into Timothy's room (they share a Jack-n-Jill bathroom) and sure enough, there were cracks in his wall too! Carlton said he noticed the doors were harder to shut the other day. Well on this night, the two doors in his room would NOT shut!

So the next morning I called a slew of foundation repair companies, and over the next several days they all came out, shared their two cents, and showed us how much it would cost us to fix our problem. The problem being the corner of the house that Timothy's room is in, has "sunk" a whole 2 inches! Well, the cost ranges anywhere from $1850 to $5765. The cheaper cost was using the most simple way to fix the problem but has no warranty to guarantee the work. The most expensive amount came from Olshan (the leader in foundation repair) and it includes a lifetime warranty that can be transferred to a new owner if/when we sell the home. It also included coming INSIDE the house and drilling holes in the floors of the kids rooms. (Not something I am totally thrilled about, but then again I am not thrilled about the whole situation anyway!)

We will probably go with Olshan, but please make it a matter of prayer. There is an older gentleman in our church that was pretty set on us going with a man's company that he knows. And although he knows him, I checked him out with our friends from the Better Business Bureau and they showed several complaints filled against him (the older man's friend that is) SO we just don't want to take the risk. We have had too many problems with this house as it is and don't want to do anything to "risky".

Well, that's it so far....crazy summer huh?? The kids and I are at my parents until early Sunday morning. We will get up then and head on home. Carlton and the youth will be coming home Sunday evening late and I want to get home before he does.

Hope you summer has been better than ours thus far! :)

My Summer Thus Far (part 1)

Well, I tried to load some pictures to go with this post but for some reason I am having a tuff time with Blogger here at my parents house. I wanted to catch you all up to date on what's been going on so far this summer. I know that my cousin Melissa checked my blog everyday before school was out so I told my mother she is probably having "withdrawals"! LOL

Well, where do I start......I SO wish I had pictures....

Let's see......Ok...the first thing that happened after school let out....a TUBING TRIP! Carlton took a group of youth on an overnight trip to New Braunsfels (sp) and I actually got to go without the kids! It was a much needed trip for me. We had a blast.

The next couple of days I spent getting Rachel's costume ready for her first recital. Did I mention I wish I could have loaded some pictures! Well, this was an interesting 1st recital to say the least. The dress rehearsal was extremely long! The dads were told to be there for the Daddy/Daughter dance part of the rehearsal @ 6:30 so they could be on stage by 7:00. Well, they were all there, many of them against their will, however they didn't go on stage until 10:00!!No, I am not kidding. So you can guess that the daddy of this house was very frustrated! At this point he had been the only staff member in town since two staff resigned and our pastor was on a trip in the Holy Land! He had spent the day with a family that he was preparing his first adult funeral for that day and was suppose to meet with them the following morning! He was one pooped Daddy!

The next day, Saturday, was the recital. We hung around the house as much as we could, the leisurely got ready. I took Rachel and left the house at 5:45 to arrive at the theater by 6:00 for what I thought was a 7:00 recital. BUT I was ALL wrong! The recital started at 6:00! As I was pulling down the street to the theater, the line mother called me and said "panically"...."Angie, where are you!!! We are lining up!"

Me... "No way, are you kidding me....I thought it started at 7!"
Line Mom.."No, it starts in 5 minutes!"
Me..."Oh MY GOSH!!! I am outside, be in there in a minute...."

Then I frantically get on the phone and call Carlton to tell him to get there NOW! So, after me explaining to him that I had gotten the times wrong, we hung up and he got himself and Timothy dressed.

In the mean time I realized as we were getting out of the car that I had left Rachel's costume ON THE BACK OF THE CHAIR AT THE HOUSE!! I got on the phone and called Carlton....

C - "What...where is it???"
M - "On the chair......hurry....they are on after production!"

As I am running in, the other mother's start asking "where is Rachel's costume?" Personally, I am about to have a nervous breakdown. Then my phone rings.......

Okay, this has gotten long, and my kids are giving me fits right now, so I will have to finish this later.....hopefully tonight, but if not, then tomorrow....come back, and hang tight, it gets CRAZY.....broken glass...cracked walls......OH YEAH.....it gets CRAZY.....

Parenting Struggles

Wow, what a week this has been for me. There has been so much going on with the kids and I have allowed my self to get to the end of my rope. (not a place I like to go often) Let me see where I can start......

Okay, Friday I left town around 2 pm. I talked to the kids that morning, and when I dropped them off at the daycare I reminded them that Daddy would be picking them up and that I would not be home until bed time on Saturday. We all had our hugs and kisses, and more hugs and kisses, and then they both went into their rooms and all seemed peaceful.....until.....

Around 10 that morning I got a call from the daycare. They told me that they had already called Carlton and had him talk to Rachel, but that she was still acting out....pushing, hitting, refusing to do anything the teachers asked..... SO I talked to her on the phone for a few minutes and thought it was over. But I was wrong.

About 30 minutes later, the daycare called Carlton again and he had to go to the daycare to talk to Rachel. He ended up taking her outside to spank her. They told him when he picked her up that afternoon that she had done much better after he left that morning. BUT.....Timothy's teacher told him that she needed to talk to him......

She pulled him aside and told him that she knew he had a rough day with Rachel and she really hated to have to tell him this, but that Timothy had pulled down his pants in class and everyone saw his......well.....you know.....

OH MY GOSH!!!!!! I couldn't believe it........when it happens to someone else, you almost giggle inside, because you think "OH MY, I hope my kid never does that!" But it was my kid! Carlton was horrified and so was this sweet young teacher. (Later she told me that she was so embarrassed to have to tell the minister that his son was exposing himself!")

So, Carlton took him home and they had a "chat" about all that, and HOPEFULLY that will never be an issue again. And I decided that maybe it was time that I STOP bathing the kids together!

The rest of the weekend went okay, but then Monday rolled around! Many of you have read in past posts about the issues we have had with Rachel and her behaviors. Well, they have started up again! From Monday to Wednesday she had kicked, pulled hair, bitten, refused to join the group, refused to walk from one place to another, refused to take a nap, told her teachers "no" and one day would not keep her dress down. And all of the things mentioned have happened EVERY day, not just a little on this day and some of it on the next day!

When I try to talk to her and ask her why she is doing these things, all she says is "I don't know!" or "Because" but never follow that because up with a reason. Sometimes her responses are so random. For instance, she was talking about how she and another kid were playing and how another kid got in her way, then she went started talking about my hair! When I tried to redirect her it didn't work.... In some ways I think it was because she knew what she did was wrong and the story was coming to that part and she didn't want to talk about it.....but I don't know!

I am once again at my wits end with her and all this. I know she is just 3 1/2 and that SOME of the behavior are "normal", but to me they seem a bit extreme. I don't know if I feel that way because I teach Special Ed, or what, but honestly I am about ready to refer her for some behavioral screening. I told Carlton I would wait until she was closer to 4 to see if this would "die down" but honestly, I don't know!

Give me your opinions. What would you do?

****UPDATE**** Carlton just called me and today already, before 11 am, Rachel had kicked another kid in the face!!! LORD help me!!!!

Timothy's Sweet Teacher

I MUST tell you the sweet, thoughtful thing that Timothy's teacher did for him the other day.

Timothy has had this "thing" for a while now about giving me an astronomical amount of hugs and kisses before I leave him in the mornings. IF for some reason I leave and he doesn't think we have hugged and kissed enough, then he gets very upset and many times cries and runs after me......very disturbing at times.....

Anyway, the other morning was one of those times and this is what his sweet teacher did for him........she grabbed an empty jar that has a lid on it and told him to quickly blow all his hugs and kisses into the jar. Then she put the lid on it and told him that when I came to pick him up that afternoon he could give me all those hugs and kisses. (I know...I was amazed at this quick thinking, and sweet thought.)

SO, when I got there that afternoon to pick him up she said, "Timothy, don't forget!"....and she reached for the jar. Then she told me what had happened that morning. She handed him the jar and as she was helping him open it, she said, "Get ready to catch all those hugs and kisses Momma!" So I wafted them in, breathed deep and said, "Oh, I love these hugs and kisses!"

You should have seen the look on his face! It was one of pure joy and happiness!

I thank God for this sweet young lady. I thank Him for leading me to this place for my children! They truly love my kids!

Rachel's Ski Trip Pictures

Ok, I posted Timothy's pictures so now here are Rachel's. To begin with, we didn't realize that we could put her in Ski School until the end of the 1st day. SO, on that first day when she and I went to peek in on Timothy, and she saw what he was doing, she was NOT happy!!!! She wanted to do what T was doing! SO, when it was time for us to leave for a little while, she plopped herself down and pouted!

POUTING!!!! But too cute!

Now, we are on to something! Rachel found a "little mountain" (that's what she called it) It was a mound of snow about 8 feet high, with a little "man made" slide one side of it and she was determined to SLIDE!

And she DID....on her belly the first time!

WOW!!! LOLOLOL that was so much fun, she did it a few more times. I did it with her some too! We had a great time.....about 2 hours worth of fun!!!

Here she goes again on her bottom this time!

WEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE MY LITTLE MOUNTAIN MOMMY!!!!!!!!

OK, I told you we realized that she COULD do Ski School, so here we go! Day 1.

I didn't get any pictures of her ride up the "Magic Carpet". I had the video camera out at the time. But here she is at the bottom of the slope, on her back.

Someone offering help.

Finally getting up!

OH NO!!!! She spotted Timothy's group coming out!

She was about to get on the "Magic Carpet" but wanted to see Timothy first. Everytime she turned herself around to go see him, someone picked her up and turned her around. SO she and her strong-willed self just plopped down!

Till this lady came along. Then as she was walking Rachel to the side to get ready to go in, Rachel reached out for Timothy. ( I wish I had the video going at this time, it was so sweet to hear her yell, "T" and him to say, "RACHEL!!!"

ALAS....she got her way.... and they hugged!!! Aren't they so sweet!!

After this little scene Rachel told the instructor that she wanted to go in! I think she just got mad and didn't want to do it anymore! The whole struggle getting to Timothy was quite a scene, but in the end it was really sweet! She was just as happy sitting in the "No" and eating it!!!

TIMOTHY'S SKI TRIP PICTURES!!!!!

I took tons of pictures of the kids, but not one of Me or Carlton! Anyway, here is Timothy's set.

This was his 1st day in Ski School! He was so excited and ready to go!

Here he is getting on the "Magic Carpet" for the first time!

Proud of himself! And realizing I still had the camera out!

Getting a gentle nudge!


Taking off and a little scared.

He made it to the bottom of the hill that time, but crashed instead of stopping!

This was day 2 of Ski School.

Flying down the hill!

PIZZA!!!!!! That's what they call it now! When I first learned to ski they called it "snow plow!" either way it means......"stop!!!!"

He made a little turn and is coming down the home stretch!

I DID IT MOM!!!!!! Thumbs up!!!!

I was SO proud of him! The first day he did fuss a little and wanted to quit and get out of there! But he didn't give up and he kept trying and eventually was taking that little ride up the "Magic Carpet" and coming down with no problems!

Now for a funny/scary story: Carlton picked him up on day 3 a little early. The instructors told him that Timothy had ridden the chair lift that morning or afternoon.....anyway, Carlton thought "Ok, I'll take him up the lift for the "bunny slope". When they got to the lift, Carlton said Timothy told him, "I didn't ride that!" Carlton asked him if he was sure, because the teacher had told him he had. But Timothy told him..."No, I didn't ride that." Carlton said he thought, "Oh, well, we are here SO up they went.

As they approached the top, Carlton was telling Timothy what he would need to do in order to get off the chair. As they got closer, Carlton got his poles together, and reminded Timothy that he had to push off to get off the lift. When they finally got to the top, Carlton pushed himself off, turned around to check on Timothy and didn't see him. HE WAS STILL ON THE LIFT!!!!!!!! Then Carlton said all of a sudden he heard the loud thump, and it was Timothy, he just jumped off the lift. He had a good 3 or so feet to fall, and landed on his feet!!!!!! Oh My!!!!!! I am so GLAD I didn't see that! I would have just about lost it to see my little man making the turn to come back down on the lift, only to jump right off!!!!

I couldn't believe it! BUT, he did it!

Potty Trained!!!!!!

Well, since I have forgotten my camera again today, so I have no pictures of Christmas or the ski trip, so I have decided that I will share our latest achievement with you all.

RACHEL IS POTTY TRAINED!!!!

I am so thrilled! She has finally done it! On the trip to Colorado she only had one accident going up and one coming home and both times she cried. And both times were right at the end of the trip, when the bus and van were not stopping as often because they were so ready to get to the destination. I was so sad for her. I praised her for being such a big girl and staying dry that whole time. She did so good! Her little jar of beads (i started with her as an incentive) is almost full and we will be going to get earings! I am still not sure if we will get pierced or clip-ons but either way, she will love them! I wear clip-ons a lot so she won't mind. Besides she is still so tempermental about things that if she didn't like the way it felt or didn't like the initial pain, she would want them out, and if she wanted them out, then she would find a way to get them out! I wouldn't want to put her through that until she can completely understand it all......okay.....I just talked myself into getting clip-ons for her!

My little girl is growing up!!!! *heavy sigh*

Some funny stuff and More!

My Timothy is a character. He has had the most amazing and animated facial expressions since he was an infant! Last night he put some of those expressions to work along with his "I never meet a stranger" personality.

Wednesday's are the days I take Rachel to Baby Ballet. Usually, I drop Timothy off at the church with Carlton, they eat the family dinner, then Timothy heads to children's choir. But last night there was no dinner and children's choir has been put on hold until after the first of the year. So, Timothy went with me, which I protested, but lost and took him anyway. Besides, he has been asking when he would get to see Rachel in her ballet class.

We got there a few minutes early so the kids and I sat and waited. Then Timothy saw a little boy come out of one of the tap classes. He looked at me and almost giggled while asking "Why was that BOY in that dancing class with those girls?" I just looked at him and said, "I guess he wants to learn how to tap dance." Well I guess that was not enough explanation for him, because he got up and started walking over to the boy.........NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Timothy, come back!!!!

Luckily I stopped him before he got there....I KNEW that he was about to go ask the kid! And just asking the kid would have been okay, but I knew by the way he asked me the question that it would come across as, "Why are YOU taking that dance class.....BOYS don't take dance classes!" and that would not have been nice! Especially since I see the boy's mother their every week, sewing sequence on sweat shirts and other things for him!!!

ANYWAY.....it just couldn't end there......After Rachel went into her class Timothy got bored and was playing with my keys!

I have a mini-swipe card on my key ring for the local gym that Carlton and I frequent. (okay, I go about 2 times a week.....if I'm lucky!) Anyway, Timothy held it up and asked (anyone that was listening) "Do any of you go to Exygon (the gym)?" At first no one answered, so being the persistent kid he is he said it again, but louder....."Do any of you go to Exygon?"

There was one lady that heard him the first time and grinned, she is usually kind of quite and to herself anyway, but she humored him and said, "I don't, but I probably should!" He grinned, and I (for what reason I don't know, other than to make her feel more comfortable) said, "Well, Mommy doesn't go enough!" And do you want to know what my darling little boy said???????

He said......"Yeah.....and that is why your belly is getting bigger!"

OH NO HE DIDN'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH YES HE DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe that?????? I had to laugh........it was either laugh or kill him!!!!!!!!!!!!

You see I know the truth.....my belly is not getting bigger, as a matter of fact it had gotten smaller, but here lately it has stayed about the same. I guess that's because I haven't been going to the gym regularly!

Thanks Timothy!

Rachel's Appointment

Yesterday was our appointment at Texas Children's Hospital with Dr. G. We headed out at 5:30 in the morning, and other than the usual flopping around when trying to get dressed, Rachel did really well. Carlton and Timothy went with us and he did really well too. They both fell asleep on the way there of which I was glad.

I was so glad when we got there that Carlton had decided to come with me. Fannin Street, which runs in front of the hospitals, was blocked off with fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars! We needed to go down that street to get to another street that would take us to parking garage #16. Now, if you knew me really well you would know that this would normally set me in a panic! Carlton had the navigation on his new phone turned on so it recalculated the route, but everywhere it told us to go to get to the address we were given was blocked off. SO, we had to park several blocks away in a garage down in front of Methodist Hospital. Now, if I had been by myself and this had happened..........it would have gotten ugly...........but I had my "boy" there to help me!

Anyway, we found our way to one of the buildings marked as Texas Children's and I immediately found a receptionist and got directions to where we needed to be and we were there within a couple minutes! :) Then the next "disaster" happened! I had left my little thingy that holds all my credit cards and insurance cards and everything like that AT HOME!!!!! But at this time it was not really a BIG deal...I just turned to my man and asked him for his.........That is when it became a big deal!!!!!!!! (honetly this time it was only a big deal to me and not him....suprisingly!)

He looked at me and told me that his was in the truck. I looked at the receptionist and asked if we could just send in the payment and she said that they would not see us if we didn't pay first! SO, Carlton looked at me and asked me what the name of the garage was that we parked in and I told him. Then he quietly headed toward the elevators grinning and shaking his head. I knew what he was thinking....."if I hadn't come this whole situation would have just gotten ugly!" AND he was RIGHT. I just don't handle that kind of stress very well! Then when my man came back he was carrying....STARBUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it!! You don't understand.....he thinks that place is nothing but a rip off. He just smiled and said, "Just remember who takes care of you!"

Anyway, for the part you all were really wondering about.....we finally got in to see the doctor. We sat and talked to him for about an hour....no kidding....we talked to him for about an hour about Rachel's diet, eating habits, exercise, behaviors....everything. Then he told us that he does not believe that it is an acid problem and told me to stop giving her the Previcid. He said that he believes that it is a bowel issue related to the consumption of sugar. We had already told him that we don't let them have a lot of sugary foods on a regular basis. Then he pointed out that with all the "holiday" foods that she has had in the past several months, since around Halloween, that she has had more sugar in her diet than usual for her. Therefore, causing much more discomfort.

We talked about how when she was about 18 months old we had a similar discussion about her. When he saw her then he basically cut out her apple juice and told me to giver her white grape juice if she wanted juice since it has less sugar, and then I had to put her on Lactaid milk. We did what he said then and the problem we were having (a severly distended belly) went away. But at that time, she was still on a pretty "parent guided" diet. Now she can pick and choose what she wants, in a lot of cases (church, daycare....). He stressed the importance of making sure she eats ALL the vegetables on her plate. He said we didn't have to make her eat everything else, but we needed to make sure she eats all her veggies........makes sense doesn't it! He said that he wants me to monitor the foods she eats, keep a log, to see how much sugar she is actually taking in daily.

Then he wants me to watch her poop! Yes her poop! He wants me to feed her something like corn, since it is not digestable, and see how long it takes it to come out. He said the normal passage of corn would be no longer than 24 hours. This would help him to determine more about her bowels. He said that a person could poop everyday and still be constipated. He told us about a patient he had one time that he diagnosed as being constipated and the parents acted as if he was crazy. He told them to feed her some corn and to let him know when it passed. So they did and 9 days later they called very concerned since the corn had NOT passed! They had to do some procedures on the poor child and now things are fine he says. He did not think this was the case with my little princess, but wants us to monitor that a few times to make sure.

Well, that's about it! Monitor her sugar intake and her poop and we will see if this makes a difference. IF it doesn't then we will make another appointment to discuss what's next. But if he believes this is the problem, then so do I. I have seen this man's "work" on some of my severly handicapped students in the past, and I trust him fully because of it!

Just keep her and us in your prayers. We are about to make some big changes in our diets at home. It will probably bother the little people in our house the most, but it might be an inconvience for the big people every now and then. But living healthier trumps a little inconvience!

Rachel's Appointment w/ Texas Children's

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The nurse from the office at TX Children’s just called and Rachel’s appointment there has been set for Tuesday, Dec. 18th, at 7:30 AM……I couldn’t tell them…”I live in Nederland, that is about a 1 ½ hour drive (or more if your are directionally challenged such as I) …” This was an opening because someone else cancelled! The earliest appointment otherwise was the END of February!!!! I can’t let her belly “burn” that long!!!! SO, with no hesitation, I told them I would see them at 7:30 in the morning on Dec. 18th!

For those of you who were not aware….she has been having some belly problems for a couple months now…recently she has been telling me and Carlton that her belly has “fire” and telling them at the daycare that it burns. So after talking to her doctor here and taking her to them several times, I (with support from Dr. McMahon) decided to take her back to Dr. Goplakrishna ( I call him Dr. G with his permission J) at Texas Children’s. He saw her when she was about 18 months old and “cured” the problem we were having then, so I feel totally confident that he will help us to find out what is going on with her now and take care of that too!

By the way, the blood that was drawn on Monday all came back just fine! Praise the Lord for that!

So, pray that morning that we have a safe trip and all goes smoothly!

Pictures

I finally brought my camera to work....and I have spent the day off and on uploading a few pictures to share with you all. This is definitely a mixture of pictures. The first one is my favorite. We took a few last night at the house before the Christmas program.


Look....they love each other!

Oh, how sweet! This one will be used to show them that they DID love each other one day!

I knew my boy was "big" for his age, but this is him standing among the other 4 and 5 year olds. I guess having a Daddy that is 6'3" pretty much sets you up for being the "bigger" kid of the class.

When he is in children's choir, the back seat of the car, at the house or the day care, he sings loud and with NO hesitation, but this time, he got quiet! Hmmmm....

Me and "My Boy" before the Cowboys game. It was COLD...so cold that I put that dorky headband around my head to keep the ears warm! Carlton had fun laughing at me, but I could have cared less, I was freezing!

This one is very random I know, but I thought it was cute. Before we left to go to Irving for the game, Rachel just wanted me to take a picture of her "stwabeddy". Too Funny!

Timothy's first BLACK EYE!!! Not from anyone, just a bike wreck in the driveway! He was pretty banged up. This was day 2 after the accident.

Finally, this was the night all the soccer boys got their trophy's. Timothy was SO excited he slept with it that night....wish I had gotten that picture!

Well, hope you enjoyed! I will put the next lesson on the Lord I Want to Be Whole study tomorrow. Hope you come back!

Monday Minutes from the Weekend

What a busy weekend! Friday I went home, and although I really wanted hubby to take us to dinner since I had SO much to do, I decided that I had made a MENU and I was sticking to it!!! So I did! I cooked, the kids helped me clean and then we started the process of making Rachel's birthday cake.

She had been telling me for weeks that she wanted me to make her cake. She told me that she wanted a pink cake with sprinkles. I decided a couple of days ago that I would make a cupcake cake. We had one of these for Timothy's 3rd birthday and it was great. It was so easy. I didn't make his though...we got it from WalMart. But I decided I could do this, so I did, and this is how it turned out:

I did it!!!!! But I must tell you that I had a few moments when I didn't know if it would come together. About half way through icing this "piece of art" I had my very first migraine! It sent me to the emergency room. I felf as if my head was about to explode. We were there from 11:30 until 3:30 in the morning. All I could think about was that my little girl's cake wasn't finished and her party was scheduled to begin at 10:00! The doctor in the emergency room gave me some medicine for nesaua and 2 500mg of Vicodin. The Vicodin wired me! I could not rest. So when we got home, Carlton went to bed and I finished the cake! Then I finally crashed around 6:30. Timothy came wandering in around 7:30. So I guess I got about an hour of sleep. Then I was up and running non-stop until about 3:30 that afternoon when I finally crashed. I slept for about 3 hours, got up, made grilled cheese sandwhiches and soup, then crashed again for the evening.

Below are some more pictures from Rachel's party. It started raining toward the end, so you can see in the last picture (the one of her on the swing) she has mud on her arms and legs! It was too funny! She didn't care......she wanted to play!

This was taken while we were singing Happy Birthday to her....she was acting bashfull!

She finally got to eat her "Birthday"! (that is what she kept calling the cake)

Doesn't she look SO happy on that swing? Mud and all!