Family

A couple of recent family pics...

Happy Birthday to ME!

My birthday was on Monday & I got 2 birthday cakes, a dozen pink roses, and 4 days off with my 2 favorite boys! :)

Fall Recap

I missed a couple of holidays, so here's a recap:

Halloween:

Trunk or Treat: Thanksgiving:

Oh wait, This is literally the only picture we took.

We SHOULD have taken the following pictures:

The turkey BEFORE we devoured it. It was my first time to cook a turkey on my own. Although, I did Skype Mom to make sure I had it positioned right in the pan before I put it in the oven!

My dad carving the turkey with me standing by 'supervising' (meaning stealing little pieces like some sort of scavenger).

The whole family (My parents & brother, & John's parents) at the expanded dining room table which was covered with food, flowers, and Mimi's china.

Little Jack in his rocking chair sleeping through his first Thanksgiving meal.

Matt passed out on the couch. ;o)

Pie. Lots and lots of pie provided by Grandpa M. Yum.

Not only did I forget to take pictures, we also forgot to go around the table & say what we were thankful for this year! Other than that it was a wonderful time with family, & the food was delicious!! I will make a point of taking pictures on Christmas...more than just the turkey carcass.

One of my Favorite Pictures

It's October!

This Wednesday Jack will be 1 month old & he is changing every day!

New developments:

• Going longer between feedings - We're starting to get one longer chunk of sleep each night (3 & 1/2 to 4 hours). It's inconsistent, but exciting.
• He's awake! Newborns sleep soooooo much, so it is exciting that Jack is staying awake for longer periods of time each day.
• Growing, growing, growing! He has already grown out of some of the smallest clothes & all of the newborn stuff is starting to get tight on him.
• Lots of tummy time! He seems to like it, so that's good, plus it's fun to watch him pick his head up & look around (with that cute wrinkly forehead I love so much).
• This one's my favorite: We now have eye-contact. Jack will look at us, turn toward our voices, look at himself in a mirror, & stare at toys/mobiles. I love looking at his sweet face & seeing him looking back into my eyes. It completely melts my heart!

This past week was wonderful. My sister (Now Aunt Amy) came to town & stayed with us. It was a very special visit to me & I already miss having her here.

Jack also met Aunt Mary, Uncle Billy, and his cousins Will & David last weekend.

Baby Jack, you are so very loved!

It's July! (AKA: June Wrap-up)

I can't believe how fast the summer is zooming by! I've been meaning to update the blog, but I just haven't taken the time to sit down with the computer. So, here's a quick run down:

• We spent a week in lovely Breckenridge, TX with about 80 junior high & high school kids. It was our annual youth mission trip for church & we had a great time seeing God work in and through those around us. It was hot hot hot & I wasn't even on a worksite! I had to rest a lot & keep my feet up whenever possible, but overall it wasn't too bad! I rode around with John & helped take pictures & video of the different worksites. The teams did everything from mowing, painting, and trimming bushes, to building wheelchair ramps, porches, rebuilding a bathroom, and roofing an entire house. They worked so hard & I know their clients felt the love of the Lord through their service & conversations. John made a ton of videos & this was the first year he put them up on youtube throughout the week. Pretty cool! You can view them here. As always, I'm so proud of my talented man!
• Over the last couple of weeks I've also gotten the chance to reconnect with different friends (and family). I think pregnancy made me a little reclusive for a while & I'd almost forgotten all the wonderful people God has put in my life! I'm thankful for the pool time, lunches, movies, deep conversations, and laughter we've shared!
• We've spent the last week really working on our house. It's been a wreck ever since we got new carpet & painted 3 rooms. At some point you don't even notice that you have to step over a tool box, printer, and pile of extension cords to get to the kitchen! In other words, there was just stuff everywhere, nothing was in its place, & it was just overwhelming to me. John & I finally tackled it together & now it is at least to a manageable state & I feel like I can work a little everyday to get it where it needs to be.
• We've also been working on Baby Jack's room. It's so exciting! John put in a new ceiling fan & put up the curtains & wall decor this weekend. I'll post some pictures soon!
• Speaking of Baby Jack - we made the final decision on Father's Day that we wanted to honor our fathers (not to mention grandfathers & brothers) through Jack's name, so he is officially Jackson William! The name William is all over both sides of our families, so it was a perfect fit. Also, did you know Jackson literally means "John's son"? Like the name John, it also means 'God is gracious'. Amen to that!
• Lastly, I'm at 29 weeks which puts me into the 3rd trimester. I'm definitely having those surreal moments & I can't believe Baby Jack is going to be here so soon! I can't wait to meet him! Lately he has made a home for himself in my ribs - at least it feels that way. He seems to like to push on my bottom right rib all day long. Now I see why 30 years later my mom still remembers me doing that to her! He is super active all the time now, & John & I spend a lot of time watching him move around. I'm trying to enjoy every minute & not take this time for granted.

That's it for June! If you made it to the end of this, I commend you! :) You have some serious stamina.

Family Fun at The Ranch

This weekend the whole family (minus Matt who had to work - missed you, Man!) loaded up & headed out to the"The Ranch" in Ben Wheeler, TX. The Ranch is 400 something acres in the middle of nowhere which makes for a peaceful place to run away to! I love the feeling of driving away from the city - it's like the stress just melts right off. We had a great time talking, hanging out, walking around, looking at animal tracks, playing with Lucy, watching the deer walk through at sunset, watching the stars with assistance from the pocket universe app (I'd forgotten there were so many stars out there - it was beautiful), playing Mexican Train Dominoes (Dad won first place, John 'won' last place), reading, laughing, eating amazing food (thanks, Mom!), being silly, and just enjoying time together. It was awesome. I put most of the pics on Facebook, so I'll just include a quick video here! Lucy got the chance to be a country dog & spent all her time running around & getting people to throw her ball...until she dropped it off the dock into the lake. oops. At least we all know what she's getting for Christmas now...

Holiday Wrap Up

This morning I woke up to a lingering stress dream about school. I don't know if normal people get these about work, but I know other teachers get them. I usually only get them in August & they usually consist of showing up for the first day of school completely unprepared. This one was similar - I kept losing my kids, I picked my class up from the library 37 minutes late, and basically messed up everything I did the whole day. Ugh. Not a fun way to wake up...so I slept for another hour & then got up - all better! Well, to be honest, I haven't completely shaken the stress feeling, & I think I'm just gonna have to pick a day next week to go get some work done before I feel relief. Oh well, on to the fun stuff... Week 1 of the 'semester break' AKA Christmas Holiday was quite a whirlwind. We spent a couple of days with my family. Highlights include: Amy & Matt coming over to help put up our Christmas tree & just hang out; making cookies with Amy (my crappy ones & mom's good ones); visiting Aunt Betty & watching birds in her wildlife sanctuary of a backyard (if you look up 'peace' in the dictionary, I'm pretty sure you'll see a picture of her beautiful backyard); & all the good hangout time with my family. Christmas Eve is always reserved for church. John is involved in all 3 services (5, 7:30, & 10) so we're pretty much up there for the whole evening. It's actually become a nice tradition for the two of us (Side note: we are grateful for sweet Etta who takes care of us & makes sure we get a yummy dinner between services. She is a huge blessing & I am so thankful for her!) Other than the Christmas Eve worship services, our tradition is to come home (usually around midnight) and wrap each other's presents. Then, as soon as we're finished, we open them. I love it. John was very creative this year and got/made me some hilarious gifts. I'll have to post about a couple of them later on... Christmas day was spent with John's fam. Our sweet nephews were made to wait for us to get there until 8:15 (actually we got there at 8:17 - we're cruel that way) to open their presents. They were patiently waiting - each with a present in his lap - when we walked in the door. Chaos ensued & we enjoyed watching them play the rest of the day with all the fun new toys they received. Billy & Mary got us a cool hot beverage maker, so if you're feeling like a little Hot Chocolate, you now know where to go - we can't wait to try it out!! The day ended with the traditional Christmas dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, etc., the watching of 'It's a Wonderful Life', and the introduction of John's parents to Guitar Hero. Ha ha! The next day we went to the zoo & it was awesome! The weather was in the mid 60's & breezy, & all the animals were out and about. We got to see the giraffes let out of their little (meaning really tall) house (I've never seen them run before!), the hippos walking around before their pond was filled up (they so look like cartoons), the male lion do his morning roaring - which is quite impressive, & the lion cubs frolicking around with their mama. It was really really cool! We came home around 3 to meet Aaron & Esther who stayed with us last night. It was great to get a chance to hang out & reconnect. We hadn't seen them since their wedding last June, so we had plenty to catch up on - plus they got to introduce us to the Chai Tea Latte at Starbucks & we got to introduce them to Rob Bell & his cool books & Nooma Videos. All around it's been a great week! Yay for holidays!