According to Braden...

Its a little cool outside with the sun shining and its 40 hundred degrees cold. This is part of his morning ritual of opening the door to see what it feel like outside and give me a forecast before venturing forth to play.

GGGGggggrrrrr!

Lately, whether pleased or not, Ailey Grace has taken to growling as a way of expressing herself. Its sounds a lot like a kitten growling while its playing. Its pretty funny.

She's also consistently getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth....soon the full out crawling will begin!

Calling all those interested in learning to ballroom dance!

Sam and I are taking lessons from In the Mood Ballroom in Temple. They are willing to give group lessons in Killeen if there are enough people showing up. If you are interested, please let me know. I've got several of their business cards with their info or you can click on this link to see their website. Its a lot of fun, people, and its good exercise!!! C'mon, you know you are at least curious.....;p

I Forgot!

These are my ballroom dance shoes. They are swing dance style.
This is the African violet that Sam brought me:

Its Friday!!!! Yay!!!

I am soooo glad its Friday! Sam has been working over-time the past two weeks and on Friday he gets off early. We've really missed him! He's been working til 5 everyday instead of getting off at 3 and even though its only two hours, its amazing what a difference that makes! I notice that the kids get restless in between that time and Ailey Grace gets more fussy and when Sam comes home, we are ALL very happy to see him!;) We have had a crazy two weeks and we are in need of some family down time. It has been very rainy here and while I am incredibly grateful for the rain, it has meant that the boys have had to stay cooped up in our motor home quite a bit. I don't know if I will ever want to watch Snow Dogs or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang again! Braden had all the stuffed puppies in a row and was mushing them this morning. Funny. Zekey keeps saying, "Waaaaatch (pause) Chi, Chi, BANG, BANG! (pause) MOMMA!" Braden calls it chippy, chippy bang bang as is just as insistent about watching it over and over and over again. AAAAAAAaaaaahhhhh!!!!!

So, today dawned sunny and you can understand my excitement!:p Maybe they will get to go out and play for a while. I did have them outside playing yesterday even though it was still wet and a bit cool and Zekey decided to take a dip...apparently up to his neck in a mud puddle. So much for mud boots. When I caught him and had him come inside, I could hear the water sloshing in his boots as he walked. Yeah, that "dip" necessitated a full blown shower. Yeah, there was no just rinsing him off. I really shoulda taken the time for a photo shoot. Gotta get better at that..... Anyway, I had to completely undress him outside and have him go straight to the shower. His yucky clothes are still outside waiting for me to determine what on earth I'm going to do about them. Yeah, these are the times I miss having my own washer and dryer. It'll work out. :D

Okay, back to my earlier ramblings. Monday was the only night this week we didn't have something going on. I'm supposed to go to a jewelry party tonight, but I don't know if I'm going to make it. Last night we went to look and pray about a possible church building for the Killeen campus. The main campus is in Temple and the Killeen group currently meets at the convention center and we have to un-pack and pack up all equipment and supplies every Sunday, so the search for our own building has been going on for a bit now and we are hoping that we will see that come to fruition soon. All in God's time. Anyway, while at the meeting, my throat started feeling scratchy and I new a sore throat was coming on. I'm not sick, but my allergies can really give my sinuses a good beating and now I've got drainage and its making my throat really raw. I took immediate action when I got home and gargled with salt water, took my flonase and used my saline spray. I may have to go full nasal rinse...its about time anyway! (Rachel, I know you are loving this portion of my monologue! Mmmwwwaahahahahaha!) This morning at about 6, it dawned on me that an Advil would help immensely with the swelling and irritation, so did that, gargled some more and went back to sleep for a couple of hours til about 8. I'm drinking lemonade, gargling with salt water, taking advil every 6 hours and blowing my nose a bunch. I'm also praying, can't forget the most important thing! I think it'll get better pretty quickly.

I made Maple Pecan Pie the other day and it was pretty tasty. The recipe actually called for bourbon, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just made it with only the maple. Again, got the recipe from the Chickens in the Road blog and here's the link to the recipe. She has a burnt sugar and molasses version as well. Gonna try them all, including the maple with the bourbon. I ain't skeert! Here are pics of the one I made. I actually remembered! Yay!

Pecan pie is one of Sam's favorites (German chocolate cake, cheese cake and carrot cake are the others in that category;) and it has been far too long since I made one for him.

Sam really likes it because he says it has a lighter flavor and isn't as sweet as traditional pecan pie. I think I should have baked it a little longer because it didn't set up as well as I would have liked. Didn't damage the taste, though. MMMMmmmmm.....

AND as requested by Meemaw ;), here are some pics of the kiddos of late:

That's right! Found another use for the Bumbo....Ah, yeah! This thing has been worth every penny!

See, Michawn, turns out I don't need no stinkin' baby bucket tub! Hahaha!:p

I believe Aunt June got her this outfit...isn't she CUTE?!?!

They really do enjoy each other. I love it! Isn't God amazing?!

AND I did my nails again....shiny.....

If you look very closely you can see my tan line from my crocs, shoe of choice most days. It'll have to be pretty cold before I stop wearing those suckers. (Nessa! No foot commercial comments!!!;)

Braden read his first HOP book!

We've been doing Hooked on Phonics on a regular basis the last couple of weeks and Braden has worked through the work book and Friday read the first little individual Hooked on Phonics Book "Cat". He was soooo excited and we made a very big deal out of it. We called both Granny and Meemaw and had him read to them and then today he read to Gran-Gran (my mom's mom.) He is really doing such a great job! Go Braden, Go!!!!

He loves me!

Sam came home and surprised me yesterday with a potted African Violet! I love African Violets. He said he didn't know which to get, an African Violet or an orchid. I told him that I like them both about the same, but that to me, orchids are far more temperamental. Anyway, I was pretty surprised and had a big ole smile on my face for the evening. Now I get to go and pick out a pot for it. Exciting!

Braden's knock on the head is healing just fine. As far as I can tell, the towel precaution was unnecessary, though I'm glad we did it just in case. The bump will probably take a few days to go all the way down, but he doesn't seem the worse for wear and is playing like nothing happened. He even got on his bike again a little bit after the incident and yesterday rode it quite a bit.

I ordered Sam's dancing shoes and am very excited... I didn't order me another pair just yet. I'm going to wait and just use the ones I have for now and then later get another pair. I have my eye on a ballroom practice skirt that would do double duty for church and date occasions as well as allow us the opportunity to go to church one Sunday in a Mennonite community not far from here. I have one skirt and it is knee length and apparently not appropriate for that occasion.:) I don't wear it very often anyway. I'm usually in pants of some sort, but that wouldn't do either. I'll talk more about that later. Gotta go feed my brood now...

No, pigs are not flying...

And the hot place hasn't frozen over, but its official....Friday night Sam and I went...wait for it, wait for it...BALLROOM DANCING!!! I'm in no way kidding, joking or otherwise making a funny. We really did. I had been thinking for a bit now that it would be nice to get back into ballroom dancing. Get some exercise, have a bit of a challenge in that arena and have fun. I kept coming to the place of "should I", though and had many conversations with God about it. I ended up with the perspective of "I want to do NOTHING that isn't in God's will for me." So, I said that I didn't want to do it if He wasn't okay with it and also if Sam wasn't okay with it. Anyway, God totally worked it out. When I called the ballroom place to get more info and told her a little bit about my goals...(I used to want to train for competition and also to learn both the man's and woman's part so I could teach, but since having kids and a very full life right now, I just want to have fun in an exercise setting of sorts and see if I can remember all the stuff I learned.)...she said that it just so happened that Friday night was guest night and it was free for us to come and have a sample dance lesson, have the opportunity to purchase a package deal for a very low price and just see how they operate. Well, I was super excited and she suggested that Sam and I come. Well, I told her I didn't know if Sam would go. He told me many years ago that someday he would be willing to go with me and see what all the fuss was about, but it hadn't gotten to that point as of yet. She said she would put us on the list and for me to let her know if it was going to work out. Well, I asked Sam if he would and lo and behold he said "Yes." Willingly! I know, right!?!?! Then, I called the girl that has been babysitting for us to see if she was available and she said she was. All this totally at the last minute. Love it! Then, we had to try and make it all work. We had a meeting at 4pm that lasted past 5:15 and then we had to get something to eat, since I wouldn't be able to fix dinner and still have the boys to the babysitter's on time. Then, on we went to drop the boys off and then swing back by the house to get changed and get my ballroom shoes that I bought in Hawaii and hadn't yet used. Oh, yeah. We were supposed to show up at around 6:45, but strolled in at about 7:30 instead. The ballroom is about 30 mins+ from where we live, but I was determined not to let this opportunity pass us by, late or not! We really weren't all that late because they had just started their demonstration when we arrived. We got settled at a table and were shown several dances by the owners of the ballroom. Then came the most interesting part. We had to bring Ailey Grace with us since she is still nursing and all and we had hoped she would sit in her car seat for a while, but no. Since I had already run all this by the lady who runs the place, she offered to hold Ailey while we danced. Apparently there was no shortage of baby holders willingly waiting their turn while we took our lesson and it went very well. Sam did a fabulous job! The instructor taught the basic steps to five different dances and Sam hung in there. I had a good time, too. It was a review for me, but being able to dance with Sam was marvelous. The funny thing was, instead of being so uncomfortable and frazzled that he didn't want to come back again like I thought he would be, he agreed to the package deal and is now determined to learn some dances! Isn't that awesome?!?! Thanks, Father God!:) So, now we are going to have a private lesson with an instructor on Sunday and then we'll have a group lesson and then a Friday night dance. They also offer Monday night classes here in town so we won't have to drive so far and our friends have agreed to watch the kiddos for us every other Monday so we can go! Wow!!! All I have to say is, I'm so glad I gave my desire and attitude for this to God and let Him say yay or nay and coordinate it in His way instead of me trying to push and pull and arrange and head-butt until I did it in my own strength. Yep. Now, I'm working on getting Sam some ballroom shoes. He mentioned it first and everything! I looked some up and he picked out a pair. I'm also getting another pair for practice. Very exciting stuff, I tell ya! Okay, I'll stop gushing now.:)

In other news.... Braden has taken to falling over on his bicycle lately and today was a doozy! He fell over and landed on the back of his head, started screaming as is usual and I didn't honestly know what was going on until Sam turned the back of his head toward me and asked for something to stop the bleeding! I was in shock for a few seconds and then got some towels. It wasn't bad. It did bleed a good bit, but head wounds usually do even if they aren't bad and that was the case with this one. He has a lovely bump accompanied by a bruise with a tiny "hole" where an obliging rock took a wee bit of skin out of its way. The cleanup and doctoring were more traumatic for Sam and I than him, I think. I don't believe our hearing is going to recover from the dramatic screaming it endured. Peroxide was involved....need I say more? The atmosphere changed when neosporin came upon the scene and after the application of said salve, he resumed life sort of as normal. The motrin helped, too, I think. ;p Anyway, we had a long and involved discussion of how we were going to prevent any kind of oozing aftermath from getting on his pillow and sheets and ended in deciding to lay down towels in the hopes that he would move as little as possible. Yeah, we'll see what comes of that in the morning.

There was one interesting side affect from all of this. Zekey, who is normally very calm when he gets hurt, was fake screaming and crying when he fell down or bumped into anything after that. I think he wanted the attention that Braden was getting. We had a good tickle, hug, kissies and snuggle session, so I think he may go back to his laid back self. Well, one can hope, right? Sam and I are still trying to figure out how to get Braden to cope better. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....!:)

Nice weather we're having..

It is sooooo nice today. Its overcast and its a breezy 69 degrees. I think I smell fall coming! Spring and fall are my favorite times of year. The leaves change color, it gets cooler, you can break out the hot chocolate and your longsleeves. Aaaaaah, then there's the food...warm soups and stews and yumminess and, of course, there's Thanksgiving! Love it....I've got to start getting my recipes ready....time for pumpkin bread again. I'm also looking forward to seeing what recipes pop up on some of my favorite blogs. I have one for cranberry bars....oh, yeah! Who knows, maybe we'll get snow for Christmas? Hey, I can hope can't I?! I've already started my Christmas shopping. I intend to be done before October is over. We'll see how far I get.:)

A succession of busy little nothings

We have been so super busy lately! Its been a little crazy. We had a lot going on last week because I was in charge of bringing dessert to a little farewell party at our pastor friend's house on Saturday. I ended up making 4 desserts - 2 chocolate pies, one lemon chess pie, a lemon-blueberry cream cheese pound cake and an allergen free chocolate-zucchini cake. Yeah, and as I'm writing this, I just realized that I didn't take any pics! What is up?!?!?! Okay, gonna try for the pics next time. Goodness!:) Okay, here are a few updates because I've been a bad blogger lately.

Ailey Grace - almost crawling! She's got the Army crawl down where she pulls herself where she wants to go with elbows and forearms while giving herself a little push with a foot or two. She's also very nosey. She is so curious about EVERYTHING. She is such fun and the boys love her and she gets right in there with all the toys and playing. I love to watch it all.

Zekey - lots more communication. He is repeating everything we all say to him. Its really funny when he and Braden are playing because he says it all back to him like he's reciting a poem or something. He's also been responding with a very enthusiastic "Yeah!" anytime we ask him if he wants something or wants to go somewhere. So stinkin' cute! Another pretty funny thing is whenever I ask him to take something back to the bathroom, later when I go look to make sure it made it in there, it is in the shower....toothbrush, steppy stool, towel... I'm just glad its not in the potty. ;p He is also trying to be a big boy and every time we change his diaper or Braden has to go potty, Zekey announces that he has to go tee-tee! So, we get his diaper off, his shirt too because its a two-fer affair, and off he goes to the bathroom. He pulls the steppy stool in front of the potty, lifts both lids and stands there attempting to aim in the bowl. Nothing is actually coming out as of yet, but its funny to watch and it just means he's taking the next step in potty training. Nice.

Braden - busy bee. He is so imaginative and will make all kinds of things out of, well, all kinds of things. He's one of those kids that makes you ponder the purpose of even bothering to buy actual toys at the store because he either makes his own outta junk or uses his current cache of toys for entirely different purposes than they were meant. He's also doing really well with the Hooked on Phonics. He's read through the first story and gotten his first star sticker on his reading chart and boy is he wanting to get another one. We were trying to review and go on to the next step all in the same 30-40 mins, but I've backed off to about 15 mins at a time because his attention gets otherwise occupado if we try to go for too long at a time. I ordered the My Father's World curriculum for him and I'm very excited about it. I looked at it and A Beka. While A Beka is no doubt more extensive than MFW, it is also waaaaaay more expensive and to be honest, I don't really think we need super in-depth at the Kindergarten stage. MFW is a complete curriculum and the thing that I am really excited about is it is subject based talking about the Bible and all the curriculum centers around that. Its what I was trying to do in the first place. Anyway, I'll have to report once we get started on it. We will continue with Hooked on Phonics because we've already started it and any reading stuff in MFW will be review at this point. I like that. Here's the link if you are interested in perusing.....:) Oh, and I had Sam's mom look it over to tell me what she thinks and she said it looks very complete. (My mom, an Occupational Therapist, is the one who told me about it and Sam's mom is a Kindergarten teacher with her Master's in Childhood Development, so I'm very grateful for both of their imput! Thanks, Mom and Meemaw!)

Sam - is doing great. He's having a wonderful time getting more involved in church and seeing how God is working His will for us. He is currently working some over time, which looks like God's way of providing a little extra fundage. Yay, Provision! He's had a really good time going through his "One-year The Message Bible" and listening to Randy Alcorn's "Heaven" on cd turned MP3 for his iPod. We had a bit of a shopping spree at Mardel's when we were in East Texas a few weeks ago. :)

Me - well, I'm enjoying my job. I feel like I am finally back up to speed with keeping up with kids, house and activities. Still trying to work out my eating habits and drop some poundage, but that will come and if I fail one day, I close the fridge the next day. Hahahaha! Anyway, we've been going for walks every evening, but got off that schedule the past 4-5 days because its been raining. Also, we've had a busy social calendar and end up coming home after dark some days. I'm looking forward to getting back on track there. It gets me outta the house and makes me feel better. Love it! I'm also having a good time eBaying. Its been totally God-blessed, though, and I only want to sell things on eBay as long as it is fun, doesn't take up too much time, my heart is right about it (as in I don't start getting obsessive about it....I did that as a Pampered Chef consultant several years ago and I don't wanna go there again!;) and most of all as long as God still gives me favor and its within His will for me and Sam is fine with it. Wanna stay under his authoritative covering, ya know.

And so ends yet another frequency challenged post by yours truly.

Ailey Grace is six months old!

Well, I guess I'm gonna get this in before midnight. I mentioned that Ailey went to the doctor last week at the same time Zekes did for her first well baby visit. Seriously. I am totally taking time with her. She got her first round of immunizations and she was a trooper. She only had to get two shots because they are continuously able to combine more vaccines apparently. All I know is that is good news pain-wise.:) Here are her stats from the visit:

Height - 25 1/2"

Weight - 15.2 lbs

She is right on as far as clothing sizes go. She is just now moving into 6 mos. This is a first for us because Braden and Zekers have always been 6 mos - 1 yr ahead at any given time. Her hair is starting to grow more and she's definitely gonna be dark headed. I don't know if there are any red highlights yet, but I'll keep everyone posted. Also, she is going to have eyes and eyelashes like Sam and her brothers. Sam has the most beautiful big brown eyes framed by incredibly long lashes. Ailey Grace's are getting very long, too. Very exciting to see. She is also showing her personality and she's very laid back. We've had so many people say that about her. She really is such a good baby.

I haven't started her on solid food yet. I bought some rice cereal, but I just don't want to slow down on the nursing yet. Its so funny because with the boys, I was sad when they weaned at 6 - 6 1/2 mos, but I was also relieved to have my body back to myself as it were. I'm really not experiencing that this time around. I'm hoping I can nurse her for a full year. We'll see what happens. Right now, nursing is just going really well and she doesn't seem to need anything else at this point. I'm just sitting in contentment with her. Totally from God. Love it!

Well, I think that about covers it. I'm very excited to see her grow and become a beautiful Godly girly. Aren't kiddos so stinkin' fun?! :)