For What It's Worth...

What I've Been Doing

2011-06-28T20:58:00.004-05:00

~ a precious mother's day gift from my children ~

We have been busy. Though the blog doesn't reflect what my family and I have been doing like it used to, we have have been busier than ever. It's a "good busy". Wonderful, actually.

In talking to a friend recently, I described this stage of life with my kids as "the sweet spot". We are between the tedious "baby years" and on the cusp of all that the "teenage years" will entail, and all of the kids are old enough to experience some really fun things together. While the instructing and disciplining has not ended, I can see that the work that seemed unending a year or so ago - and for the 13 years before that - has changed to helping our kids live out the things that we have tried with our whole hearts to teach them in the first years of their lives. Physically, they are not so demanding. Assuming that everyone can find their shoes before we head out the door, we load up and go fast and furiously on a daily basis without a stroller or diaper bag and have no nap times to return home for. So, in that respect, parenting has become "easier"...

In other ways, parenting has become the most weighty thing that I have ever experienced in my life. The understanding of the job that we have to do is more overwhelming now than it has ever been. The importance of doing it well is more clear than ever before. The consequences are eternal and will affect others - not just our family and our comfort - for the rest of our kids' lives. The time that we have left - especially with our oldest - seems to be visible sands falling through an hour-glass. The end of this part of our journey with her is only four years away. Four years - what used to seem like an eternity when there where sleepless nights, strong-willed toddlers, diaper-filled days - seems like the flip of a calendar page away now.

Somedays I feel sad about that. Sometimes, I am fearful or anxious. But mostly, I just feel more focused than ever to fulfill God's will for my life in a way that He will be proud of and would bring Him glory. I want to raise these souls to follow Him and love Him with all of their hearts. I want to inspire them to be giving and considerate to the people around them. I feel desperate to teach them to make good choices and know why they are making them. I want to be more intentional than ever with the time that I have with them. I want to impart to them the complete and total love that I have for them and help them to understand that the Lord loves them even more than that. I want to seize every single opportunity that I have to spend time with them and pour into them.

So, that is what I have been doing. Well, the main thing, anyway... Working to do this job well, yet knowing that I fail at it on a daily basis. Teaching my kids as often as possible that just like them, I am a sinner. Saved by the grace of our Savior. In need of daily mercy and forgiveness.

Happiness From Sadness

2011-01-23T00:31:00.004-06:00

In my experience, the most profound joy can be birthed from the deepest sadness. The most intense thankfulness from the most intense heartache.

Last week, as I huddled up with my family on Main Street of The Happiest Place On Earth, held my children close, saw my husband's face glow, and watched the most beautiful fireworks I had ever seen in my life I had tears streaming down my face. Like the embarrassing why is that lady crying in public like that? kind of tears. It was not simply because I was happy or that I was at Disney World or that I was exhausted because I had been up since 3:30am or that I was thrilled to be on a one week hiatus from doing laundry, driving my mom-taxi, and homeschooling my kids. As I watched Cinderella's castle turn from pink to purple to blue and listened to the voice from the speakers talk about dreams coming true, my mind was thrown back to points in the last several years that were far from a "dream come true". They were a nightmare. Those of you that know me well know the details. Suffice it to say that the idea of being completely content and totally thankful were something that I seriously doubted I would ever feel again. I had been sad, lonely, desperate. For years. In the last two years, however, the Lord has been restoring me. He has redeemed the things that were lost in a way that I could not have imagined. He has provided in so many ways... He has transformed my heart. Made me thankful and content. He has given me a view of Him and of life that I needed so badly. He has worked in me to teach me about His goodness in all things... even things that don't meet my expectations of "good". He has relieved me from depression that I suffered from for years. He has worked in the life of my husband and me and has given us a desire to work on our marriage in ways that needed to happen for the last 18+ years. He has given our family many of the desires of our hearts and is working on aligning all of our desires with His. He has given me hope.

And that night - our first night at Disney World - as the 5 of us watched the sky light up behind the castle that we had all been literally been dreaming of standing beside for years - I was overwhelmed by the joy that I was feeling. That night, I knew deep in my heart that the intense and wonderful feeling that I was feeling could not have been as intensely wonderful as it was had the previous years not been as intensely hard as they were.

The rest of the week that we spent in Florida was just as much of a dream come true as that first night. It was not perfect by any means, but then my dreams are not that of a perfect life. I am too much of a realist for that. My dreams are mostly made up of the desire to be surrounded by my family. Watching them enjoy themselves and each other... And that happened.

So did a few other things... like a certain 5 year old falling on the ground proclaiming that "this is the worst day ever"... just moments before and/ or after he had proclaimed the exact opposite... several times during our trip. Or older children that complained about having to pose for a photo... "Again?!?". Or a mom that got angry because of that. Or several hours of rain that ruined my "plan" for the day. Oh, there are a whole list of things that were not the typical "dream come true" kind of moments, but that is life. In those moments I was able to (pretty) quickly put things into proper perspective. I was truly able to remain thankful for the opportunity to be in this place that we had prayed for over 6 years to be able to bring our babies.

He provided.

And through it all, He worked in my little bitty life to teach me something huge.

I am so very thankful.

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Psalm 126:3

January 2011

2011-01-23T00:16:00.001-06:00

Oh. My. Goodness.

I never would have thought that I would get nearly a year behind on my blog... I used to blog a few times a day. The thought of it breaks my heart. I love my little blog!

I guess this is what they call "spilled milk", so I better not cry over it.

There has been PLENTY going on with me and my family in the last several months. I think I just got overwhelmed with keeping up with it all in the bloggy style that I had going. And to be honest, Facebook and Twitter have become my way to connect with people and share life in that cyber-life-sharing kind of way. It is quick, easy, and can be done from my iPhone.

Who knows what this new year will hold for the old bloggeroo, but I am hopeful that I will take a moment here and there to sit down and write my thoughts down. I have missed that process so much.

If anyone is still "out there" checking in on For What It's Worth, I hope you have a Happy New Year and that we meet up here from time to time in 2011.

Catching Up April: Girls' Weekend Away

2010-09-24T16:34:00.002-05:00

On one of the weekends in April my friend, Jenny, invited some of her girlfriends to her in-laws' house in the Hill Country near Austin, TX. I had visited their home once before and remembered it being a couple of days of heaven... and this time it was, as well. The atmosphere and scenery there are beautiful. Jenny's in-laws, Steve & Shereda, are so caring and hospitable. And it is just relaxing. So very relaxing!

~ me & Jenny ~

We have been friends for over 10 years.

~ Friends ~

Randi, Amy, Stacy,

Vicki, Jenny, Kim, & Michelle

Shereda & Jenny are amazing hostesses. From being met at the front door with a margarita when we arrived to the goody bag on my bed to the water bottles and fresh flowers in my (very own) room, every detail was thought of...

The first night that we were there, Shereda made us a delicious lasagna, and we enjoyed a long, slow dinner with great conversation.

After dinner the girls all went out by the fire pit and made s'mores with Peeps Easter candy.

The next morning, Steve took us on a boat ride across the lake for brunch. It was fun and delicious!

~ Shereda, Amy, Randi, & Tate ~

~ Jenny & me at brunch overlooking the lake ~

The food was beautiful & delicious.

After the boat ride, we hung out in the hot tub and sat by the pool overlooking the lake all afternoon.

~ Steve, Shereda, & the girls ~

That night Steve & Shereda took us to a great Hill Country restaurant that is at a vinyard.

It was such a good weekend....

Catching Up April: Misc. @ Home

2010-09-24T15:41:00.000-05:00

As I am going through trying to catch up my blog, I am coming across some random photos that I will lump together into Misc. posts. Here is a look into the life of our family on some random days in April 2010

These days, Cooper can often be found in a costume reading the new children's Bible that he received on Easter.

He is ALWAYS ready to play a game!

One day in April, Corey told me to go in the backyard, and this was sitting on the table.

Just Because.

~ Tulips for Allie from Daddy ~

We have many birds in our neighborhood. We were surprised when we saw this red-headed woodpecker though. He looked just like Woody Woodpecker!

Catching Up April: Easter 2010

2010-09-24T15:24:00.001-05:00

April 4, 2010 - We had an untraditional, but really good Easter this year. Our pastor asked that if at all possible, the regular attenders come to the Sunday evening service at our church to make room for those that don't typically come to church but come on Easter. We decided to try to help by doing as he asked. We have never not been in church on Easter morning. It felt a little strange at first, but we ended up really liking it! Corey started the day early, alone in the backyard with the squirrels (as seen a few posts before), and the rest of us slept a little later. The boys woke up and had to rouse Allie from her sleep, then we were off to see what the Easter Bunny had brought to the kids' baskets and shoes.

We literally spent the rest of the morning and afternoon in the backyard.

I even prepared our Easter Dinner on the patio table. This is the preperation of the Apple Dumplings that I made for dessert. They were to die for!!!

~ Corey, 100% relaxed ~

~ coloring Easter Eggs ~

We invited Allan & Emily and their kids to join us for Easter Dinner.

~ my roast, potatoes, & carrots with a centerpiece from the backyard ~

~ Allan's homemade crescent rolls ~

~ Emily's cauliflower "brain" ~

~ The Kavaliches & the Powells ~

(Jacob & I are there - just not pictured.)

The men (even the tiny one) had their traditional after-holiday-dinner-naps.

~ our family ~

~ Corey & me ~

Since Allan & Jacob were sleeping at the house during our "photo shoot", I just took a quick iPhone photo of the Kavs at church.

~ me & my sister ~

I love this photo of us and that we got to share part of this holiday together!

Well, I Guess We Know How THAT Went

2010-08-26T19:29:00.000-05:00

Catching the ol' blog up in August? ...not so much.

I have blogged a little bit, however... just somewhere new.

The kids and I (or just *I*, so far) are keeping a chronicle of our (new and improved) school year on a blog that I created over here. If you are interested in keeping up with that part of our life, check it out.

And maybe, just maybe, I will somehow get back to this blog and catch us all up on my family's daily life. I miss it, and I still look through it every so often.

Here's one little tid-bit of an update (while I'm here chatting with you)... Allie had wanted a new puppy for a LONG time. I asked her to wait until summer to get one, so she could help take care of it. As soon as we got back from our (heavenly) summer vacation in June, she was anxious to look for a pup. We found super-cute, super-sweet little, baby ShihTzu at a rescue and adopted her. Allie chose her name - Norah Jonas - (remember her love of the Jonas Brothers?), and the whole family has fallen in love with her. Well... almost the whole family. I am not sure that Corey would admit it, but I think he kinda likes her too.

So, here is Miss Norah Jonas in her bloggy debute (at least on THIS blog)...

Isn't she just adorable?!?

Catching Up April: Easter Morning Photos by Corey

2010-08-02T13:35:00.000-05:00

This year on Easter we did something different than ever before. Our pastor asked for all that could come to the evening service to do so to make room for those that don't typically come to church on Sundays other than holidays. So we did. I don't think that I have ever slept in on Easter or hung out in my PJs/ swimsuit all day, but I did this year... and I kinda liked it.

Anyway...

Corey was up before the rest of us on Easter morning and spent some time on the back patio. He caught this little varmint stealing out of our bird feeder... and I thought that they were some really cool photos.

Catching Up April: Hard Rock Cafe & A Mavs Game

2010-08-02T13:27:00.000-05:00

Our April began with a night out to downtown Dallas. We ate dinner at The Hard Rock cafe then went to a Dallas Mavericks game. It was a great time spent together as a family.

~ Jack at The Hard Rock Cafe ~

~ Jack & Allie getting ready to go cheer for the Mavs ~

~ Jack watching the pre-game ~

Cooper's favorite part of the game... the snacks!

~ Allie ~

~ me & my boys ~

Cooper was having a bad "allergy day" and was worn out. By the end of the game, he was asleep in my lap.

Catching Up March: Misc. iPhone Photos

2010-08-02T11:59:00.002-05:00

With the wonderful invention of the iPhone came a gazillion more (not so clear, but equally loved) random photos of our family. Here are a few (and I stress the word few) that I imported in the month of March.

We spend a lot of time at Barnes & Noble. We love the atmosphere and the books there! And this spring, Cooper's reading has just blown me away. He is reading SO well... and at just 4 years old!

The kids started swimming in the "big pool" (not just the hot tub) in March. It was still WAY too cold for me!

Cooper and I spent a lot of time at the park as we waited for the big kids to get out of school or their activities this spring.

Allie made some really cute headbands and we enjoyed shopping for her new room at IKEA.

He still falls asleep on me sometimes... I adore it!

~Corey's 41st Birthday~

He spent almost the entire day in the backyard. His favorite place this spring! Then, the weekend closest to his birthday, the kids went to Waco to spend the night with family, and Corey & I got to go out on a nice date to a Brazilian steakhouse.

We still had some days that it was cold enough for stew. (Remember the Snow Day post?)

We spent a lot of time on the trails in our neighborhood. This was "recess"on a homeschool day... and it is the closest thing to a photo of why I homeschool.

~ Spring Break - The kids and I loving the soft, green grass between our toes ~

Allergies attacked Cooper for the first time this spring. This was a night at the ballpark. His eyes were totally normal when we got to the game, and they looked like this by the end of it.

~ Jack homeschooling in the backyard ~

~ Me and my Sky-Bo on the hammock in our backyard ~

Matt Chandler: "Can Faith Survive?"

2010-08-02T11:23:00.001-05:00

And while you are looking at videos from Life Today shows, here is a clip of the episode that my pastor, Matt Chandler, was on. I have learned more about faith in the midst of a storm from this man than anyone in my life. I am so thankful for his preaching and for the Lord's work that he and his family are allowing others to watch in their very personal lives. There are several clips of him on YouTube, and I would highly recommend them to anyone that is suffering, wondering where God is in the midst of your storm, or just wants to hear phenomenal preaching.

Something that I heard another pastor at our church say in the beginning of Matt's trial with brain cancer that absolutely blew me away was this... We must develop a theology on suffering before we need it. I had never thought of that before. Never. It is a process that takes wrestling and searching and that is almost impossible to walk through gracefully in the midst of tragedy. If I had heard those words before 6 years ago, I am certain that I would have handled the blows of life completely differently than I was able to. My prayer for my children is that they will have a firm theology on suffering before they need it - as it is inevitably going to come - and they their lives will be a testimony of God's goodness and grace... even when it does not make sense.

Angie Smith: A Short Life, But a Lifetime of Love

2010-08-02T11:08:00.002-05:00

Here is a clip of the show that I mentioned in the last post. I think that you can find the whole episode on James Robinson's website.

Catching Up March: Going To A TV Show Taping

2010-08-02T11:06:00.003-05:00

Late in March, my dear friend, Elizabeth, and I went to a taping of the TV show Life Today with James & Betty Robinson. Elizabeth and I read the blog of a woman named Angie Smith. She & her husband Todd (from the Chrisitan music group, Selah) were coming on Life Today to talk about their story of loss and faith that is documented in her new book, I Will Carry You. I cannot tell you how much Angie's blog, Bring The Rain, and her book have encouraged me over the last several years.

~ me & E ~

I love this lady!

It was so interesting to watch the behind the scenes of TV show making.

Angie's Book. I highly recommend it!

Every time that I log into Angie's blog, this song is playing. It is amazing to me how someone that has lost so much can honestly claim such words to be true. But they are.

"Bring The Rain"
by Mercy Me

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

Catching Up March: Jacob's Baby Dedication & A Selke Egg Hunt

2010-08-02T10:30:00.001-05:00

On March 28th, our family got together to celebrate the current baby of the family, Jacob Allan, as his parents dedicated him to the Lord and committed themselves to raising him in a Godly home. The dedication was held in their home, and it was perfect!

Allan, Emily, & Jacob

After the dedication, all the cousins enjoyed an Easter Egg hunt. I love this real-life photo of them!

~ Allie ~

~ Jack ~

~ Cooper ~

Poppie drew a family tree.

~ 2 turned into 6 and 6 has turned into 20 (so far) ~

~ me and my girl ~

Catching Up March: Opening Day Of Baseball

2010-08-02T10:15:00.000-05:00

I think that last spring was Jack's 11th season of baseball... and Corey has coached him every time. His Opening Day game was soon after Cooper's. My parents came to watch them both, and it was a great day.

~ Poppie & Gibbie with the baseball-playing grandsons ~

Catching Up March: Opening Day Of T-Ball

2010-08-02T09:57:00.000-05:00

This year Cooper moved up from Blast Ball to T-Ball. Corey was still his coach. Watching his first game - where every child was completely oblivious to what was supposed to happen - was the highlight of his season for me. It was SO cute... and funny! I just love this little boy so much!

Catching Up March: Playgroup At The Mall

2010-08-02T09:43:00.000-05:00

I love our little playgroup. Since these 6 kids have been babies, we have gotten together a couple of times a month to play. In March, we met at the mall to get a photo with The Easter Bunny, rode the carousel, and ate lunch at the food court (or "food faire" if you are Canadian... right, Randi?).

~ Joshua, Jonathan, Claire, Luke, Cooper, & Lila ~

~ my baby boy ~

~ my baby nephew, Jacob ~

The big kids, Emmie & Claire rode the spinning car on the carousel while Jacob & I watched.

~ Cooper on the carousel ~

Catching Up March: A Late-Spring Snow

2010-08-02T09:29:00.001-05:00

On the night of March 20th we got a late-spring snow with the biggest, most beautiful snowflakes! We quickly heated the hot tub, got our swimsuits on, and jumped in. We told the kids about the time that we were in Colorado on a ski trip with our youth group and sat in the hot tub as it snowed.

... and there were snowball fights

The next morning, the snow was so beautiful.

(This is Corey's Martin birdhouse.)

August?!?!

2010-08-01T19:15:00.001-05:00

I cannot believe it is August 1st. Just hearing the sound of the that word - August - makes me cringe a bit. Summer is inevitably coming to an end... and we LOVE summer break in our family.

The beginning of a new month always makes me think of things that I want to start doing, stop doing, or want to adjust a bit. Today, my goal is to pick up blogging on a regular basis again. I have said it before (recently, in fact), but today I am really putting my foot down, digging in my heels, setting a goal, and hoping to high heaven that I can find a bit of time several times a week to get back to this thing that I have loved to do so much for the last several years.

There are several great things about our summer that I want to recall here and several upcoming things that I want to document as well.

I'll see you again soon. Here's hoping...

The Questions That Surfaced

2010-07-28T11:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the boys and I were driving down a road that we travel several times a week, and Cooper's attention was caught by the cemetery that we were passing. He curiously and abruptly asked, "Hey! Is that where dead people are buried?" I answered Cooper and we discussed a few things about death, cemeteries, headstones, and heaven. Jack sat silently for a minute then said, "Mom, didn't you have some other babies a long time ago?" I explained to him that yes, I had been pregnant with 2 other babies a few years ago. "You've been pregnant FIVE times?!?" Yes, buddy... I have been pregnant 5 times. With 5 babies. As much as I remember every detail of Jack's existence during the times that those babies were developing and ultimately passing through this world and into heaven, I was surprised that he didn't really have a lot of memories of that time. He had so many questions, and I was honored that he felt comfortable enough to ask them as we drove along. "Were the 2 babies that died twins? Were they boys or girls? Did they have names? Did I see them? How big were they when they were born? Is that called 'premature'? Did you have them at a hospital? Aren't they at a cemetery now too? Can we go to their cemetery? Were you sad? How old would they be now? What are their birthdays?".... and many other things. I answered his questions honestly and calmly. Surprisingly, I didn't even feel the need to cry. I actually sensed some relief that someone in my family was remembering with me and wanted to recall something that is a huge part of me... things that I recall almost daily. Some of the answers to his questions were a little uncomfortable to give him simply because I didn't want to scare him or upset him, but I decided that if he had questions he deserved answers. The questions and discussion lasted for 15 or 20 minutes and ended with us walking the aisles in Wal-Mart. I was pushing the cart, and he reached his soft, little-boy hand toward me and put it on top of mine. As we headed to the paper towel aisle, I noticed that he was crying. Sweet little grief-filled tears were spilling out of his eyes... 6 years later.

~then~

~now~

It was one of the sweetest moments that I have shared with my boy, and it was healing to my ever-aching heart.

It all made me think of many conversations that I have had with many mommies enduring loss... How confusing it is that the loss that is such a huge part of her could be something that is hardly thought about or acknowledged by others in her family. How dates that are significant and pivotal in her life are not remembered by those that were also flesh and blood with the lost child. How everyone that is full of love and good intentions moves on to their normal, busy, distracted lives when her life still reverberates with the aftermath of losing a child. The idea that she is dealing with the loss almost-alone within her family is difficult... I believe that it is one of the things that draws mothers that have endured loss together.

I learned quickly after my losses that no one was going to hurt like I did. No one was going to remember like I did. No one was going to grieve like I did. I learned to not expect them to. Thankfully, I have even found my solitude in grief to be a sacred experience that I share with my Lord. But I must say that having Jack join me there yesterday... out of nowhere... was a blessing. A gift that I don't take for granted.

Things I Am Learning This Week

2010-06-10T12:06:00.002-05:00

Right now, my family is on a vacation to one of our favorite places on Earth. Colorado. There is just nothing like the mountains. I had every intention of working on my blog this week, and quite obviously I have not. I still have a few days, and I have caught the writing bug, it seems, so who knows what might happen... As for now, I wrote something this morning about what I am learning this week that I wanted to be sure and document:

This week has been full of opportunities for me to learn and think and pray. That is something I like the most about being in the mountains. My soul is at peace here. I am able to think clearly here which gives me the chance to listen to what God is saying to me more easily that in the hustle and bustle of home. And this week He has spoken clearly to me.
It kind of began last week, we got on the road early to drive from one mountain town to another, and while we were driving I "checked on my people"... checked my Facebook. Sadly, I found that a high-school friend of mine had been in a terrible car accident that morning. My heart was heavy for her, her family, her sister that was across the ocean with a newborn baby and a husband that is serving in the Middle East. I have thought of them all constantly since that day. As I have fun experiences here, in the place that I love with the 4 people that I love most in the world, I have been fully aware that there is pain and suffering happening for her and her family and so many others as we hike and play and fish and snuggle... and it has put every single thing about my life into perspective. The fact that I am blessed beyond anything that I deserve has not escaped me. And the fact that it could all be in jeopardy tomorrow has not either. Then, we have come to a place where our family that lives here is only months into the process of learning to live without a child. Our nephew has been gone 20 months. A miniscule fraction of the time that he lived and was loved by his family. The loss is still evident. The pain, sometimes just under the surface, is still raw and real. That, juxtaposed with the fact that we are here to celebrate the marriage of a niece from the same family... the complexity of it all is more than I can put into words. And then there are the things that are real to me, to my immediate life, that somehow seem so trivial in the light of the ones that I have just mentioned. But when they are happening to you, they seem important. Things like how to juggle the everyday ups and downs of relationships with grace and love. How to wait a second before reacting and think through what is really happening in any given situation. How to live a life in which your happiness is not dependent on your circumstances. How to go on about life without expecting people to meet your needs and live in way that you get your needs met from the only One that is meant to fulfill them. How to live in a way that meets the needs of your soul. How to find out who you really are, what you really believe, and how you will implement that into your life. How to live without fearing what others think and only living to please the One that is worthy of that. Those are the things that I have been grappling with. Trying to make sense of. Trying to find peace in. I am an emotional person. A person that thinks a lot and usually speaks little. I would not describe myself as a passionate person. I will not typically talk a person's ear off about what I enjoy or am interested in or am learning. I am introspective. I typically avoid conflict and situations where I am going to be challenged. Not because I am unsure of myself, but because I find it hard to articulate what I am feeling. But I feel deeply. And here, in the clarity that I find in the mountains, I have been feeling very deeply this week. I feel like life is a puzzle. Sometimes the pieces - facets from different parts of my life - all come together in such a revealing way. That has been the case for me this week.
One of my favorite things about Telluride is something that they have called The Free Box. It is literally a huge box with several compartments that are labeled "Men's", "Women's", "Housewares", etc. People bring the things that they do not want or need anymore and place them in the compartments. Then, people that don't mind digging through other people's things are free to take what they want from The Free Box. I love hunting for treasures there, and I always find something great. Since we are staying in town for several days during this trip, I have had the opportunity to find several things. The most treasured thing, so far, has been the book Tuesdays With Morrie. I "coincidentally" found the book a few days ago, and I have loved reading it. In fact, I find myself reading it slowly and taking breaks from reading it, so it won't end. As I read, I sometimes dog-ear pages of things that have spoken to me, and I have dog-eared many pages of this book. Although it is not a Christian book, God has used it to speak to my soul and help me put pieces of my puzzle together this week. I didn't go looking for a self-help book to help me figure out the things in life that I am working through right now, but He placed it in the place that He knew that I would frequent this week - a week when I would be feeling many emotions from many areas of my life. A week when I have time to sit and think and pray and listen for His voice. The book is subtitled "an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson". I feel like I am the only one on Earth that had not read Tuesdays With Morrie, so anyone reading this might know what this book is about, but just incase... in a nutshell, it is about a old, wise, dying man teaching a young man about life. The young man makes a list of things that he wants to talk to Morrie about: Death, Fear, Aging, Greed, Marriage, Family, Society, Forgiveness, A meaningful life. There are several things from the book that I love, but this one jumped out at me this morning as I read: Morrie, very close to death, explains - "What I am doing now is detaching myself from the experience.... And this is important - not just for someone like me, who is dying, but for someone like you, who is perfectly healthy. Learn to detach." But wait, I said. Aren't you always talking about experiencing life? All the good emotions, all the bad ones? (Mitch asked) "...detachment doesn't mean that you don't let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That's how you are able to leave it. Take any emotion - love for a woman, or grief for a loved one, or what I am going through, fear and pain from a deadly illness. If you hold back on the emotions - if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them - you can never get to be detached, you are too busy being afraid. You are afraid of the pain, you are afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails. But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only then can you say, "All right. I have experienced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now I need to detach from that emotion for a moment." "I know that you think this is just about dying", Morrie said, "but it's like I keep telling you. When you learn how to die, you learn how to live."

A few years ago I was experiencing deep loss for the first time in my life. I had no idea how to do that. It was completely foreign and scary to me. I had a friend, my Morrie in that moment, give me some advise. She said, "Grieve fully. If you don't, you will never get beyond this point. You will always live in this pain." So I took her words to heart and I fumbled through grief. It wasn't pretty. It was raw and intense and uncomfortable for me and many people around me, but I did it. And I am so thankful that I did. Now, that situation that could have made me bitter and depressed for the rest of my life has become something of a sacred place for me. A place that I am indeed not scared of. I have faced loss and pain and sadness, and I am not scared of it. I still feel it - sometimes more often than I would like to - but it doesn't scare me. I have come to see the reason for it. The things to be gained by pressing into it, and I am even thankful for it. It has provided me with a relationship of trust with my Lord that I had never experienced before. It allows me to love fully without the fear of the loss that losing a loved one can bring. It has given me the ability to sit in the room with a mother as she holds her lifeless baby and not run out the door in fear or speak/ listen often to my dear sister-in-law as she fights through figuring out life without one of her children or to read countless messages from young women who, like me, are dealing with the loss of a child that they desperately wanted. It has opened doors that I would never have walked through if I had not decided to face the ugliness of grief and pain head-on. I say none of this to brag about myself - I am far from anything worth bragging about - but to say that I am in awe. Who am I that the God of the Universe would choose to speak to me? But the fact is that He did. And He can do that for all of us - in many ways and in many places - if we are willing to listen. So, whether it is in the form of a book that someone else is discarding, or the most Holy book that there is or whether it is words from a wise friend or the silence of His creation, I am humbled and I am thankful.

Spring Break 2010: The Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens, Japanese Style (My 3)

2010-05-12T14:59:00.003-05:00

During the kids' Spring Break I took them to Ft. Worth for the day. While we have been to the Arboretum in Dallas many times, we had never been to the Botanic Gardens in Ft. Worth. On this beautiful Spring day in March, that was our first stop...

The Botanic Gardens is a huge place. We had not planned on only visiting the Japanese Gardens section, but on this day it is all that we had time for. It was so beautiful!

I love when my kids laugh!

~jumping on the stepping stones ~

We enjoyed feeding the fish!

I am honored to be their mom!

A New Adventure: Here We Go

2010-05-08T01:47:00.001-05:00

A new adventure is beginning for our family... and it seems like a really, really huge deal to me. While I have partially homeschooled my kids for 8 years as they have gone to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and been homeschooled the other days of the week, I have never homeschooled them 100%. I have never chosen a curriculum. Never considered lesson plans. Never been totally and completely in charge of my child's education.

Earlier this school year it was clear that the course we were on for Allie's schooling was not working. At that point, I began looking into our options for a new school situation. With her entering 8th grade in fall and nearing high school, I knew that there was much more at stake with her education than there had ever been before. I checked into a few schools and even toured one... Were we ready to move to a 5 day model? Was a full-time Christian school the route that we should take? Were we ready to leave our Christian school/ homeschool combination and enter the public school world? Should I look into homeschooling her full time? What would that mean? For her? For our family? For me? Was I capable of that? Would I be able to figure out how to do the whole thing by myself? I was open to whatever the Lord had for us, but even as I prayed for guidance I was completely confused about what I should do. As most parents do, I take this job seriously. The idea of messing my kids up or not providing the best for them makes me ill. Literally. The last several months have been very stress-filled as I have anxiously and repeatedly asked God to show me His will in this area and to give me peace regarding the kids' educations. And I have waited (some-what) patiently for His answer. A neon, flashing sign telling me what to do would have been my preference, but He doesn't seem to speak to me in that way.

As time went by, Corey, Allie, and I all felt led to consider the option of totally homeschooling more seriously. In the last couple of weeks I have had a passion to consume as much information about it as possible. I have talked to any mom of older homeschoolers that I could get my hands on. I have asked them for advise and prayer, and they have generously shared of their wealths of knowledge with me. I have researched classes and clubs and curriculums until I was thinking in scopes and sequences. And I have prayed. A lot.

Last week, I had the opportunity to take Allie to the art museum - just me and her. It was an unexpected treat. I didn't take her there with the intention of deciding about homeschooling her, but that is the day that I think I knew that we were going to do this thing. We arrived at the museum around 9:30 because I thought that it opened at 10:00. To our surprise, it didn't open until 11:00, so we strolled the streets of downtown Dallas and ended up in a Starbucks. While we sipped our drinks I asked her, "If we decided to homeschool you what would you want to learn about?" We talked about history, and english, and art, and many, many other things. We talked about her interests and passions. We talked about our strengths and weaknesses and how we would handle it when (not if) things get hard. It was a precious time with my girl, and I think I knew - right then and there - that we were about to embark on this journey together. When we were at the museum, we enjoyed the art - something that she loves - together, and I knew then, "I could do this!"

Today, I went to the huge homeschool bookfair in our area, and I spent 8 hours learning about different curriculums and piecing our puzzle together. The last few weeks of researching curriculum and deciding what I thought would work good for us right now coupled with finding the combination of subjects that fit together to meet our needs has taken more brain power than I have expended in a long, long time... and it felt good. I went from totally confused and overwhelmed with my choices to fairly certain and very excited as I made my decisions regarding which curriculums we will use.

I can't wait to see how this year plays itself out. If there is anything that I know for sure, it is that we will have to be flexible as we work out the details of how to homeschool in this new way, but I think it is going to be great. I don't know what the Lord's plan for us is beyond this school year, but I am anxious to get the chance to school Allie in a way that I have never thought that I wanted to before. I am ready for the challenges that we might face, and I am excited to see where this road takes us.

So buckle up... here we go!

'Cause He's Great Like That

2010-04-29T09:41:00.001-05:00

One night during our Spring Break, Corey made dinner for our family. Stir Fry. It was delicious! He is a great cook.... way, way better than me! So it is always a treat when he cooks. And what did I do while he cooked? Well, like any good sous chef I am always available to chop and dice and measure... and take photos of our food.

Thanks Honey, for taking good care of us and making us scrumptious food.

I love you!

Spring Break 2010: The Dr. Pepper Museum, Waco

2010-04-29T09:21:00.001-05:00

The second half of the "Waco Day" of our Spring Break we visited the Dr. Pepper Museum. I have lived near and visited Waco for about 24 years and I love Dr. Pepper, but I have never visited the museum. It was fun... and funny! You should see some of the advertising ploys that they used to use to sell this stuff... everything from health, to beauty was promised if you drank the drink that was originally called "The Waco" by the pharmacist that invented it.

~ The Museum ~

~ outside of the museum by the Dr. Pepper delivery trucks ~

~ inside the museum with the cousins, Chloe & Skyler ~

At the end of our time at the museum, the boys shared a Dr. Pepper float.

At the end of our time there, the kids added our admission stickers to the street sign outside of the museum.

After the museum, we met the rest of our Waco-family at Ninfa's for some yummy Mexican food then headed home for the rest of our Spring Break.

Spring Break 2010: Visiting Gibbie At Work

2010-04-27T11:08:00.002-05:00

Here I go again... trying to catch up the blog. Summer is very near, so maybe I'll do better at staying current then. Don't laugh... I said maybe.

Okay, so during Spring Break, the kids and I spent a day in Waco. First, we went to see my mom at work. She works in the athletic department at Baylor University which has a beautiful new facility. She took us on a tour, and we got to meet a lot of the people that she works with. I only had my iPhone with me, but here are some of the photos that I took:

~ Gibbie & the kids at her desk ~

Mom's desk overlooks Baylor's practice football fields. It is a pretty view!

Adrielle & the girls met us at Mom's office then we took the kids to The Dr. Pepper Museum. (That blog post is up-next. For now, I am off to get my sick girly some soup for her upset tummy.

Until next time... (and hopefully that won't be as far away as last time's "next time")

Spring Break 2010: The Backyard

2010-03-30T13:16:00.002-05:00

We are very thankful to be living in a home that has a pool and hot tub for the first time ever. We moved into our new house at the end of February, and we have spent a ton of time in our backyard so far. Over Spring Break Adrielle, Skyler, and Chloe stayed with us for a few days, and we spent some time having fun in the hot tub (with a few CRAZY jumps in the pool by the kids).

~ Jack and Sky-Bo ~

~ Jack, Skyler, and Allie ~

~ Cooper and Skyler having a serious conversation ~

~ Skyler drying off ~

~ the boys drying off on the hammock ~

~ Corey's favorite place to be - sitting outside by the fire ~

~ Jack spent a lot of time reading over Spring Break. This is one of his (and my) favorite places to read.

Spring Break 2010: The Dallas World Aquarium With The Cousins

2010-03-30T12:51:00.000-05:00

This year, for Spring Break we stayed close to home. We got to spend quite a bit of time with our family, and on this day we went to The Dallas World Aquarium with my sister-in-law, Adrielle, and her girls, Skyler and Chloe and with my sister, Emily, and her kids, Claire and Jacob.

~ the cousins ~

~ Allie and Baby Jake ~

~ Jackson ~

~ Adrielle & the girls ~

~ Claire and Cooper ~

~ Jakey ~

(I love this photo!!!)

Cooper loves his baby cousin!

~through the aquarium ~

~ in the shark tank ~

After the aquarium, we walked over to the Spaghetti Warehouse for lunch.

They are SO funny together!

Chlo couldn't make it through lunch, Sweet baby fell asleep right there on the table.

After lunch we walked over to an office building that has lots of fountains. It was crazy-windy, but the kids had fun.

Jack is so good to play with his little cousins.

~ Sweet Claire ~

~ Jacob was next to nap ~

~ Jack videoing all the fun ~

~ more Claire ~

(She must have been feeling photogenic.)

Allie took this super-cool picture of Claire through a hole.

~ wind! ~

Cooper At Preschool

2010-03-30T12:19:00.002-05:00

Recently, Cooper's preschool had a carnival fund-raiser. Here are a few pictures that I snapped of him that day. The first three are of him riding on the Boogie Woogie Choo-Choo. My kids have been riding on this local overall-wearing, train-whistle-blowing man's train for years. I think these pictures of Cooper screaming with delight are so fun!

~ Cooper riding a pony at the carnival ~

Today is a "school day" for my kids. 2 days a week, for a few hours, all 3 of the kids are gone to school. (Some days those hours seem very few!) Ironically, today, on this day when I was really excited about maybe - just maybe - working on my blog, Cooper is home. He has had an allergy attack this spring like none he has ever had. Last night, he literally looked like he had been punched in the eyes. See?

So today, as I was sitting in the parking lot of his preschool about to walk him in, and I thought, "Why does he need to go today? Why not take him home and to rest? You are only 4 once, after all." So that is exactly what we did. We came home. We have spent time together, sat on the couch and snuggled, and watched a show on the Disney channel. And now, as I have snuck off to blog - about his preschool, coincidentally - he is singing the Little Einstein theme song in his scratchy little voice (followed by a cough) in the other room. Yes, I made the right decision. Some days, you just need to stay home and be comforted and taken care of by your family. Today is that day for Cooper.

But the other day.... he went to school.

And Corey, Allie, and I went with him.

His preschool class was in charge of chapel that week, and I was so thrilled to watch him and his little 4 year old classmates lead the rest of the preschool in the pledge of allegiance, a prayer, and some songs. Then, they all showed a picture that they had drawn about Spring and his teacher told a story. It was so cute!

Fishing Buddies

2010-03-19T10:01:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Corey took Jack fishing. There are many things that Corey is good at, and being a daddy is at the top of that list! He loves all of his kids with a passion and devotion that I am honored to get to observe from an insider's point of view. Corey's father passed away when he was 13, and I think because of that he has a perspective on fatherhood and the way that precious things can slip away and the importance of seizing the moment that many people do not understand when their kids are little. He had a great relationship with his dad. They shared some very good times together, and most of Corey's happy memories from childhood involve his dad. While I know that Corey's dad had to have made mistakes, when I met 18-year-old Corey you would not have known that it was possible from the way that he talked about him. I never got to meet my father-in-law, but I am pretty sure that he has a lot to do with the man that I get to be married to. I just bet that all of those hours that he spent with Corey when he was a little boy teaching him to hunt and fish and be kind and resourceful and a hard worker made him into a man that is a good daddy like his own. And yesterday, he was a good daddy... teaching his little boy to live a good life through spending time in the great outdoors like his dad did for him. He took time away from all the work that constantly awaits him to invest in Jack and make memories with him... just like he's been doing for years.

~ Corey buying Jackson his first fishing pole ~

May 2003

~ their first time to fish together ~
Jack was 3 years old, May 2003

My little fisherman is growing up!

~ March 2010 ~

From The Vault: Spring Break 2006

2010-03-18T12:07:00.001-05:00

This week is my kids are on Spring Break. Four years ago, the kids and I spent a few days of our Spring Break visiting my sister, Emily, and her new husband, Allan. At the time, they lived in Austin. I love how sweet (and little!) my babies look in this picture.

Moving On

2010-03-18T10:49:00.006-05:00

Soon after the snow days, our family packed up and left this little house. This is the last photo that I took of the place that our family has spent most of the last 2 years of our lives together. It is a place that held many memories of many kinds. While we had some good times here, we also shared some sorrowful times, some times of regrouping and catching our breath, some times of figuring out where ground zero was... it was a place to begin rebuilding. We moved into this house in a blur of emotion and sadness and chaos. For me, this was the place that I was taken to be stripped of much that I held dear. It was a place to discover what is truly important and a place to learn about contentment in the midst of a storm. It was a place where, I believe, God placed me so that I could learn more about who He is. What this life is really about. How I fit into the grand scheme of things. And how He is the grand scheme of things. I didn't find all of life's answers while I lived here, by any means... in fact, I was taught that I will certainly never find all "the answers" in this lifetime, but I found some theology to rely on when life is full of unanswerable questions. This house was a place where our faith was tested and our resolve to be a family that loves each other and honors God, no matter what, was reaffirmed. It was a place where horrible news was delivered and a place that we clung together as a family as we processed it. We moved into this house with 2 kids and a baby that was still in diapers and was still sleeping in a crib, and we moved out with 3 big kids that can read and play video games and tell jokes and ride bikes. We celebrated 10 of our birthdays here. We hosted holidays with more people than could logically fit into the space that we had here. Our baby began his relationship with Jesus in this house. The children were homeschool here. Corey maintained a business here. My respect and love for him as he fought hard for our family grew here. And many spiritual lessons were learned for all of us here. So, all in all, it was a place that contained some challenging times and some good memories. A place with ups and downs... a place like life. This snow day was one of those good times... kind of a farewell and a reminder that there were some beautiful things that happened in this house.

Snow Day #2 (February 12)

2010-03-18T10:24:00.003-05:00

Day 2 of The Most Amazing Snow In Texas...

Corey woke early and took this photo of the trees in the front. It had snowed most of the day before and into the night.

~ the same tree when the sun came up ~

On Day 2, we were all able to play in the snow and were smart enough to get the ski clothes out of the attic. First activity on the agenda: make a snowman.

~ Corey and Jack in the street rolling up a snowball for the snowman ~

~ the kids and "Walter" the snowman ~

~ our family with our snowman ~

~ Cooper loving on the snowman ~

Cooper and our neighbor Kenny had fun playing in the snow together.

~ Cooper making a snow angel ~

~ sometimes you just have to lay in the snow ~

~ Allie taking a break ~

~ my 3 ~

~ me and my girl ~

The woods near our house were absolutely beautiful when they were covered in snow. I can honestly say that I had not thought that they were pretty the entire time that we lived here, but snow has a way of making everything pretty.

We went for a hike into the snowy woods together. I love this photo of Corey!

~ Allie ~

~ Jack in the woods ~

~ little boy in the big woods ~

~ my kiddos by the creek in the woods ~

~ Corey & me ~

When we got back home, the kids built another snow fort.

We found the sled, and they had fun pushing each other in the backyard on our very small hill.

~ Sleddin' Jack ~

~ happy boy ~

(an all-time favorite picture of Cooper, for me)

~ Cooper playing in the backyard ~

That night as the sun was going down, we realized that we had not taken a photo of the snowman that Jack had built by himself in the backyard. He and I ran out - me in flip-flops, him in shorts and no shirt - to get a picture.

Snow Day #1 (February 11)

2010-03-03T22:22:00.009-06:00

Boy! I'm behind on blogging again... Our family has been moving for the last couple of weeks, and blogging has been about number 127 on my list of things to do. ;) Tonight I am missing it, so I thought that I would give myself a little treat and would sit down and blog for a bit. Just before all the moving hub-bub started, we got the most beautiful snow that I have ever seen in our home state of Texas! It broke records for our area with over a foot of snow falling in about 24 hours. It truly looked like a winter wonderland!

The morning that it started, Corey and I woke up to check for school closings, knowing that the snow had started during the night. 2 of our 3 kids' schools were closed, so we made the executive decision that we were all staying home that day. It is not every day that a Texan gets to see snow like this...

We were so glad that we kept the kids home. Corey worked from home that day, and we spent the entire day enjoying the beautiful snow, the neighbors, and each other.

Jack was the first - and the last - one out in the snow. He and Milly ran out into the yard just about as soon as he could get his coat on.

~ Allie eating snow ~

This has always been her favorite thing about the snow.

Because he got too cold, Cooper did not last long on Day 1. This is the only shot that I got of him on the first day. (I made up for it on Day 2, don't worry.) He loved throwing snowballs!

I did get this one with my phone though.

(I don't know why sometimes my phone photos show up large and sometimes they are little.)

I played outside with the kids for a long time. I asked Allie to take a photo to take a picture of me, so we would all remember that I was in fact there... I wasn't about to freeze my tail off for hours and not get my presence documented. :)

~ Allie in the backyard ~

We made the mistake on the first day of not getting our ski clothes out of the attic. We had no idea how much snow we were going to get. We thought that we could just make due with layers of regular clothes. Ummm, not so much. We got cold. And wet. Jack is the only one that tolerated that. He would come in ever so often and give me his clothes to throw into the dryer as he would sit by a space heater and sip hot chocolate. Then, as soon as his clothes were all dry, he was right back outside... I think he played out in the snow for about 8 hours that day.

~ Jack and "the first fort" ~

~ Jack with the neighborhood snowman (snowwoman?) ~

We worked together with several neighbors to build this cute snowman.

~ neighborhood boys ~

~ my fun-loving snow guy ~

~ Jack and some neighborhood boys building "the second fort" ~

~ Jack beside the fort ~

Cooper was happy to sit at the window and watch the guys play in the snow out the window.

(I love this photo of him! He still looks little to me.)

Our neighbor got out their go-kart, and Jack got a ride.

Pretty Girl stepped outside to video her brother and take a few photos.

~ beautiful ~

~ Jack and Allie ~

~ Allie Cat and Milly Dog ~

I love this happy picture of my girl with the snowflakes hitting her in the face.

Daddy took a break from work to step out and look at the snow every once in a while.

Coop was happy to snuggle up in my bed and watch Batman.

Much more to come...

Just not tonight.

From My Valentine

2010-02-13T06:50:00.003-06:00

Yesterday Corey ran to the store and came home with Valentine treats for all of us. Allie and I received flowers, and the boys got giant Hersey's Kisses. I love that my flowers are tulips, and I love that they are red! I took a photo of them yesterday outside in the snow (much more on the snow to come) and last night in my sleeplessness, I played with that photo with a new app on my iPhone. I love the way that the altered photo turned out!

The Most Awkward, Hilarious, Embarrassing Parenting Moment I've Had In A While

2010-02-10T21:10:00.005-06:00

Tonight Corey took the kids to a special NBA event in Dallas. He was working down that way today, so instead of him coming all the way home then going back into the city, I met him for dinner then he and the kids left for their special night together. We were at a restaurant in a swanky, corporate (not too many kids) part of town where we were seated at a big, circular table. We all had placed our order and just as the waiter was writing down the last thing, Cooper leaned up on the table, looked the waiter straight in the eye and in a serious voice with a serious look on his face he quoted a favorite movie line...

"Keep the change, you filthy animal."

OH. MY. GOSH!

I felt like I was paralyzed! I was sitting across the table from him and could not really do anything except sit there and pray that the waiter had not heard him. But, he laughed... so I know that he did. I think that it was an "I don't really know what that kid just said to me." kind of laugh, and I'm pretty sure he didn't speak English very well, so hopefully he was not offended by my little movie quoting boy! All 4 of us - Corey, Allie, Jack, and I - were doing our best to not laugh at him. None of us succeeded! We were all so embarrassed and thought he was hilarious at the same time.

This boy! He is going to keep me humble.

All 3 of my kids are "quoters". That is the language that they speak. Movie lines and dialogue from shows. They even like to recall some real conversations over and over again. So, I should not be surprised that Cooper spoke a line from the movie Home Alone to the waiter tonight... but who would think that I would need to coach him on when he can and cannot use his terrific memory of all movies that he has ever seen? Until tonight, I'd never thought of such a thing.

I did tell him, after the waiter walked away, that not everyone understands our family's jokes... I have recently had to start teaching him this concept like, for instance, when he went into his brother's school last week and announced to the principal that he got a "pull my finger" toy for his birthday... (You might want to keep that to yourself, little guy.) I'll keep trying to teach him what is appropriate, but knowing him, he now has a new laugh-getting tool in his arsenal that is going to be tough to tame. 'Cause getting laughs... that is the important thing in life when you are 4 and your name is Cooper.

I'm scared. Very scared!

So, I'd like to take this opportunity to go ahead and apologize to all who will come across his hilarious and wildly inappropriate jokes in the future.

My dad says he needs to become an actor... and I'm not sure that he is wrong.

Sheesh!

Cooper's "Best Sports Ever"... This Week, Anyway

2010-02-10T12:31:00.005-06:00

Cooper was so cute bowling at Jack's birthday party on Monday night. I think that it was the first time that he has ever tried that sport - except for on Wii - and he LOVED it! And I LOVED watching him do it! He was so funny as he heaved the ball into the lane, squatted down to watch it roll, twisted around in delight to make eye-contact with us to see if we were watching him and his bowling ball, jumping in the air to celebrate the pins that fell, and proudly walking back to the chairs. Just watching him made me smile! He exclaimed, "This is the best sport ever!" and "I LOVE bowling!" and has asked repeatedly when we can go bowling again.

And yesterday, he began "swimming class" as he calls it... not "swimming lessons" because, as he says, "I already know how to swim". (Which he does not!) He was SO excited about starting swimming class and told several people (some he knew, and some he didn't) throughout the last week the details of where and when his classes would be. When the teacher opened the door to the indoor pool and called the 5 little swimmers in, he was not apprehensive at all. He marched right in and did all that they asked him to throughout his class. He would turn around to me and give me 2 thumbs up and tons of smiles during the class, and when he came out to me at the end, he exclaimed, "That was wicked awesome!" I am so thankful that he will enjoy the process of really learning to swim. Hopefully, he will be like a little fish by summer.

Allie: If She Must Research, At Least She Can Photograph Too

2010-02-10T12:21:00.003-06:00

Last week, I took the kids to the library. Allie is working on a research paper, and the boys and I did homework together while we had to be out of our house for a couple of hours. Allie is doing her research paper on the history of Times Square in New York City. (How do you think she was inspired to do that?) Evidently, she took a break from looking at the books to photograph them with my phone... and I think they turned out really cool!

From The Vault: Our 10th Anniversary/ Alaskan Cruise

2010-02-09T20:40:00.003-06:00

In June of 2002 Corey & I celebrated our 10th anniversary with an Alaskan cruise. We did not have much of a honeymoon and had not traveled to very many places at that point, so this was our first "big trip" together. It was the first "big trip" that either of us had ever taken, for that matter. I remember being overwhelmed with the beauty of Alaska and Canada... I think I'd have to say that it was the most beautiful place that I have ever seen. We loved the experience of being on a cruise and seeing so many places in the same vacation. We had never left Jack before, and it was one of the first times that we had left Allie. I remember that both of us missed them terribly, but the trip was a great time to spend together rekindling our romance and remembering why we had gotten married 10 years before. There are tons of pictures from this trip that I love. Some of them may make their way out of the vault at a later date. For now, here are 3 of my favorites of us together on our trip to Alaska.

~ College Fijord ~

~ Seward, Alaska~

~ Formal Night on the ship ~

Jack's 10th Birthday Party

2010-02-09T13:45:00.000-06:00

Remember Jack's surprise sleepover on January 29th? That night, we gave Jack a gift of a birthday party with several friends, and yesterday was the big day! Jack had invited 10 friends to join him, and we took them to a place in town that has Bowling, Laser Tag, Glow Golf, Video Games, etc. We only had 2 hours for the party, and we squeezed as much fun into those hours as we could. By the end of our time, we had a bunch of happy, sweaty boys on our hands, and Jack felt very celebrated and loved.

~ our birthday boy ~

~ bowling ~

~ Jack getting a spare ~

~ bowling brothers ~

Cooper LOVED bowling! I think he liked it so much that he will get a post of his own with photos and exclamations of his love of it!

~ Jack & Allie ~

In between turns, Cooper spent some time in Corey's lap.

~ buddies ~

(and a couple of little brothers)

Allie's friend, Katie, stuck around too. They both enjoyed bowling!

moving on to the next thing...

~ cake time! ~

Happy Birthday, Dear Jackson!

~ eating cake ~

After the kids ate cake, they all played Laser Tag. I was not allowed in the gameroom with my camera, so there are no photos of that, but they all loved it! After Laser Tag, parents showed up to pick up their kids, and we said bye to Jack's guests. We stuck around for a bit longer to let our kids play Glow Golf, another round of Laser Tag, some video games, and another game of bowling with the Rector kids.

~ Jack & Kirby playing Glow Golf~

~ Cooper putt-putting ~

~ Jack & Mom ~

~ Dad & Jack ~

It was a great finale to our long celebration of Jack's 10th birthday!

Oops. (I forgot to push "Publish Post")

2010-02-09T10:54:00.003-06:00

I wrote a post on Sunday night called "Taking 4 Kids To The Aquarium (and living to tell about it)" that I evidently forgot to publish. If you are interested in it go back a few posts from here, and you will find it.

1 Holiday, 3 Mommies, 6 Kiddos, 3 Years, 1 Sofa

2010-02-09T09:44:00.005-06:00

It is unofficially official... my friend, Randi, cannot ever get rid of her blue & white couch... and must always host a Valentine Party for these 6 kids. At least until they all go to college. Right, Randi?

Without really planning it, this sofa has become the place where time is measured for these six little buddies on Valentine's Day. When we started our Playgroup in the fall of 2007, it was out of a need to socialize, celebrate, and sometimes commiserate with friends that had babies that were going through the same things as we were. Through the years, we have seen our little ones grow into playmates that truly are friends. Our conversations have moved from how to move a baby from a crib to a big bed, to potty training, to choosing preschools (or not), to kindergarten plans. We have talked about how to get our kids to eat and sleep and share. We have found encouragement in each other as we all do things a little bit differently, but we all have a desire to raise Godly, kind, thoughtful kids. I am thankful for the women that I get to call my friends. These 3 - Cheryl, Emily, and Randi (among others) - are my teamates in this mothering thing as our kids grow - and we grow - up together.

Here is how our little ones have grown from year to year to year...

~ 2008 ~

~ 2009 ~

~ 2010 ~

~ The Playgroup Mommies ~

(This is one of the only photos of the 4 of us. It was taken last July.)

Playgroup Valentine Party '10

2010-02-09T09:13:00.006-06:00

Yesterday was our annual Playgroup Valentine Party with Cooper's little friends. My friend, Randi, hosted us at her home and as always, it was decorated with the perfect little festive touches... like these "circle of love" doilies. (She talked about making them here on her blog.) She is a good balance for me. While Cooper showed up to the party with store-bought valentines with tacky Nerds candy, her kids had wonderfully crafted homemade valentines. I love her for that... but more than that... for the fact that she doesn't look down her nose, not one little bit, at me, the anti-Martha Stewart... whereas she is Martha in the making. :) I say all that to say... I love you, Randi. And thank you for opening your home and making our little parties so special!

We all brought a snack to share.

~ snack time ~

~ Claire & Joshua ~

~ Jonathan & Lila ~

~ Cooper and Luke making sacks to hold their valentines ~

~ Cooper's sack ~

~ Claire Bear & her sack ~

(I think that it is funny to compare her girl-sack to his boy-sack. He stuck a couple of stickers on it and was done... ready to move on to "the good stuff".)

~ the crew ~

We have taken of a picture of our kids in this exact spot every Valentine's Party for 3 years.

I love that my niece (and now my nephew) are part of our Playgroup!

~ pretty girl ~

~ sweet boy ~

Jacob and Tate (Randi's baby) are the 2 new additions to the group. Yesterday it became official...

She gave him this adorable banana valentine...

... and he accepted with a kiss.

(Or an attempt to taste her head, I'm not sure.)

Happy Valentine's week! Hope you all feel very loved!

From The Vault: Cowboy Jack

2010-02-07T23:29:00.003-06:00

This is one of my all-time favorite photos of Jack. I had never shared it on my blog before, so tonight I decided to take it out of the vault. This was a day last February when our family went down to Corey's place to do some work - the place where he has very fond memories of time spent with his dad when he was a boy, and the place where he is making many fond memories with his son. I love to see my little boy that has been raised in the city wearing cowboy clothes and working with his daddy. Jack is learning so much from Corey as they spend time together at The Place, and I am thankful that Corey has land to take him (and someday Cooper) to and the desire to teach him how to be a man the way he does. He will be hard working, smart man someday... and a lot of that has to do with his daddy. Thank you for loving my sons and teaching them well, Corey. I am thankful for you, and I love you! And Jack... there is not a cuter cowboy on earth than the one in this photo! I love you too!

Taking 4 Kids To The Aquarium (and living to tell about it)

2010-02-07T22:02:00.011-06:00

Off and on this weekend, we spent time caring for my niece, Claire, while her parents were on a mini-vacation to the mountains. We had a great time spending some one on one time with her. She is a cutie and made us laugh a lot! On Friday, my kids, Claire, and I went to the Dallas World Aquarium for the afternoon. (I love this about homeschooling - we get to go on field trips at times when places like aquariums are not too busy.) We have absolutely loved having a membership to the aquarium this year! While it seemed like a costly investment at the time that we joined, it paid for itself in 2 visits and we have gone 5+ times so far... and we are members until June. Each time that we go, we see something new, and we love it. We have gotten to go as a family and have taken several trips where we invite friends to come along. This was one of those times.

~ Jack & Cooper looking at the penguins ~

~ 2 manatee ~

~ anteater ~

This was the first time that we have visited that the anteater was in his exhibit.

~ Allie, Claire, and Jack ~

This is where Claire hung out most of our trip through the aquarium - on Allie's hip.

~ another new exhibit - a baby croc ~

~ the girls ~

~ Cooper, Jack, Allie, and Clarie ~

~ by the big tank ~

(with a flash)

We ate lunch in the restaurant in the bottom of the aquarium. Good food, SLOW service, fun atmosphere.

I like this photo of my girl!

Claire took this one of Cooper and Allie. I think it is a cool shot!

~ Beautiful Claire ~

~ Photo of Mom & Jack in the restaurant (by Cooper) ~

~ Claire & Allie through the aquarium ~

~ in the shark tank tunnel ~

~ Coop & a shark ~

~ Jack & some sharks ~

~ Claire and a shark ~

~ look to the left ~

~ leaving the aquarium ~

Oh, and by the way... it really wasn't that hard to take 4 kids to the aquarium (and live to tell about it). With Allie's help and 3 other kids that were really good, we had a great time!

Celebrating The Big 1-0

2010-02-05T18:40:00.005-06:00

It's not every day that you turn into a double-digits-kid. Yesterday was that day for Jackson, so we celebrated his 10th birthday a little bit here-and-there all day long. It was a school day, so we started the morning out early. As soon as he realized that it was his birthday, he was up and attem, dressed in his uniform, and ready to open gifts.

He had a few gifts, so he decided to open 3 of them in the morning and 3 at night. This was the first thing he opened, and he was SO excited...

~ a hamster cage! ~

Jack had been wanting a hamster for a long time, and he was thrilled to find out that he was getting one for his birthday. Our plan was to give him the cage in the morning and take him to pick his hamster out after school that afternoon.

~ cinnamon rolls on the Special Plate ~

I had never taken Jack a lunch at school, and I thought that it would be a special treat for his birthday. He especially loved his chocolate milkshake. We also had brownies to share with his classmates, and they all sang him Happy Birthday.

Corey arranged his work day so that he could join us when the kids got out of school. We all went with Jack to pick the perfect hamster.

He settled on a sweet little Winter White Hamster and named him Einstein.

Isn't he a cutie?

We thought that Milly would be very interested in him, but she sniffed him a bit and went on about her business. When he rolls around in his ball, he sometimes bumps into her while she is laying on the carpet, but she is not phased in the least.

~ the last of the gifts ~

No special occasion is complete for Jack without some Lego action.

For dinner, we took Jack to a hibachi restaurant, and he loved it. (although Cooper hid under the table because he does not care for the fire on the table) After dinner, we all went to Chuck E Cheese's to play video games.

He is a fan of any games that give him tickets, so he can use them to "buy" things at the end of the night.

~ Coop playing in the tunnels/ slide ~

"I partied with Chuck E" balloons :)

~ Corey with the Birthday Boy ~

~ me and my 10-year-old

It was a great day.

Boy! I love that boy!!!

Happy Birthday To My Double-Digit Boy

2010-02-04T09:40:00.000-06:00

Today is Jack's 10th birthday! What a milestone!!! Double-digits! We have lots of fun things planned for today. I will document that soon, but for now I just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!!! I love you more than there are enough words to express.

Forever and ever,

Mommy

From The Vault: Jack's 2nd Birthday Party on 02-02-02

2010-02-02T22:46:00.004-06:00

My little boy is turning into a bigger boy in about 24 hours... Jack's birthday is on Thursday, and he will be 10 years old. Double digits! So in honor of that, I have pulled a couple of photos out of the vault to share.

As Jack's second birthday was approaching and I began to plan a party, I realized that the Saturday nearest his birthday was February 2, 2002. I simply could not resist having a birthday party on 02-02-02... and a 2nd birthday party, at that! At the time, he loved trains! We have a McDonald's in town that has a real caboose outside that you can rent for parties, and that was the perfect place to celebrate Jackson turning 2. I remember that day vividly... he seemed so big... but look at these pictures! He was such a little tyke. An adorable little tyke!

What's that? I think I feel a tear welling up in my eye. I truly can not believe that this was 8 years ago today...

~ our family in 2002 ~

~ me and my birthday boy 8 years ago ~

Catching Up November: Odds & Ends From The Month

2010-02-01T18:36:00.001-06:00

Here are a few random pictures from the month of November that I have come across in all of my Catching Up November posts.

~ mirror image ~

Cooper's class performed at his preschool's PTO meeting. They sang Thanksgiving songs and were really cute doing it!

~ after "the show" ~

~ "Just Because" roses from my man ~

I love him!

~ my favorite shirt ~

(I bought one for all of my kids. ;) )

On November 19th some of my friends and I continued our tradition of going to opening night of the Twilight series movies. This time, we went to the midnight showing of the second movie, New Moon. Not only did we go to that movie, but we went to a 9pm showing of the 1st movie right before that too. It was a blast... an exhausting one, but a blast just the same. This is a shirt that I bought in the real Forks, Washington (the town where the Twilight series is set) when my sisters and I visited there in October. (Oh yeah, I still need to document that trip!)

Allie took this cool photo of Cooper through Poppie & Gibbie's magnifying glass.

We have really enjoyed our membership to the Dallas World Aquarium. One day in November, I took Jack, Cooper, and some of their friends to the aquarium then brought them back to our house to play. I thought that they looked so cute all standing together playing Wii.

Every little brother has to go through this at least once. ;)

The day before we left to go out of town for Thanksgiving was so beautiful! I had been inside cooking, cleaning, and packing all day, so I took a break and enjoyed my hammock.

The night before Thanksgiving Corey, Jack, and my dad went hunting. Jack and my dad hunted in the same stand together, and Jack shot his 2nd deer ever. I was so glad that Jack got to share that experience with his Poppie!

My Morning

2010-02-01T11:16:00.007-06:00

Happy February! I can't believe that we are already in the second month of 2010! So far, it's been a great month.... I know, I know... we are less than 12 hours into it, but those 11+ hours have been really good. ;) This morning, I had a peaceful couple of hours awake by myself to read and pray and think before the kids woke up... It was lovely. Then, my warm little Buzz Lightyear PJ wearing boy woke up. We snuggled for a while then I headed him off at the "Can I play Wii?" pass with "Why don't we snuggle on the couch and read books?" He actually took me up on it with no fight, and it was the highlight of my day so far.

He, like a lot of kids (especially boys) moves a lot while he is "doing school". We started together on the couch, he moved to his tummy on the floor, then he got on his knees, etc., etc. I am so glad that my kids - even the older ones - have the opportunity to get comfortable, so they can learn the best way for themselves. He loved reading to me this morning and would get so excited when he read a word that he had to work to sound out, and there were many words that he read very quickly today just because they are becoming familiar. This is such an exciting time in his learning process.
This book, Pug, is an early-reader from 1972 that my granny gave Allie & Jack many years ago. I love it! It is special to me because her hands have touched it and because she gave it to my kids in love. Also, I just love the quaint "vintage look" of it.

At first, Cooper read many pages of words only. Then he moved to these 3 page stories. He would just light up when he realized what was going on in the story.

~ my happy reading-boy ~

A Prayer For Today

2010-02-01T07:53:00.003-06:00

"All things in me call for my rejection, all things in Thee plead my acceptance."

Last week our worship pastor prayed part of a Puritan prayer that was so beautiful. I have thought of one line from this prayer all week, and it has touched my soul. Yesterday at church we sang a new song called I Cling and this particular line of the prayer was part of it. Again, it stood out to me. This morning as I was thinking about it, I looked up that one line of the Puritan prayer that had been repeating itself in my mind all week and found the prayer in its entirety. It is simply beautiful and speaks exactly what I am thinking about today... hundreds of years later. As I was looking for this, I came across several websites that list many of the Puritan prayers... I think that God has opened my eyes to new things to meditate on today. I have loved all that I have read so far. Here is the prayer that contains the line that has been resonating with me during the last week. I hope it speaks to you too.

Puritan Prayer: The Broken Heart

O LORD,

No day of my life has passed that has not proved me guilty in Thy sight.

Prayers have been uttered from a prayerless heart;

praise has been often praiseless sound; my best services are filthy rags.

Blessed Jesus, let me find a covert in Thy appeasing wounds.

Though my sins rise to heaven, Thy merits soar above them;

though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell,

Thy righteousness exalts me to Thy throne.

All things in me call for my rejection, all things in Thee plead my acceptance.

I appeal from the throne of perfect justice to Thy throne of boundless grace.

Grant me to hear Thy voice assuring me:

that by Thy stripes I am healed, that Thou wast bruised for my iniquities,

that Thou hast been made sin for me that I might be righteous in Thee,

that my grievous sins, my manifold sins, are all forgiven,

buried in the ocean of Thy concealing blood.

I am guilty, but pardoned, lost, but saved,

wandering, but found, sinning, but cleansed.

Give me perpetual broken-heartedness, keep me always clinging to Thy cross,

flood me every moment with descending grace,

open to me the springs of divine knowledge, sparkling like crystal,

flowing clear and unsullied through my wilderness of life.

From The Vault: My Siblings

2010-01-31T23:59:00.009-06:00

Tonight I am sleepless, and I am looking at some old photos on the computer. Before last December the oldest photos that I had on my computer were from 2005. Thankfully, Corey was able to add some more when we got a new computer at Christmas. There are so many good ones and ones that have good memories attached to them that I have decided that I will randomly share them here as I come across one (or some) that I love.

First up, my siblings.

I have actually been missing them a lot today. I never thought I'd say that 20 years ago. ;) But now, I kind of like them. I really love them, as a matter of fact. As our families have all grown over the last few years, we have less time to actually keep in touch. Many phone calls are interrupted by "hold on"s and "wait just a minute"s and ultimately end in "Sorry, I have to go.", and many of our interactions and get-togethers are met with refereeing and normal parental tasks that seem to keep our conversations to a 3-5 sentence maximum. Don't get me wrong... we would not trade our jobs as parents for anything... and I think that we all would even say that we know that this is the most important time in our families' lives, but still... I miss them.

So tonight when I came across these photos, it made me smile. It kind of put a band-aid on my sad heart that was missing my crazy siblings... that I love like crazy. (That is such a great thing about pictures... they can take you to a different time and place.)

This one was taken in the summer of 2003 at a family reunion for my mom's side of the family. I don't remember how many of us there were, but there were a lot! We all had these matching shirts and wore them to an outdoor production at Palo Duro Canyon (near Amarillo) called Texas. It was a good weekend and a special time spent with my siblings and all of my family.

Emily, Sara, Amy, & Coby

July 2003

Palo Duro Canyon

This one was obviously taken after Emily's graduation. All 3 of my siblings graduated from Baylor, and I am very proud of them. (I was pregnant with Cooper in this photo.)

Sara, Emily, Amy, & Coby

December 2004

Emily's Graduation, Baylor University

And this one was taken when our entire family got to go to California to celebrate Emily & Allan's marriage at their wedding reception near Allan's home. It was very special that we all got to go a trip together! On this day, it was way too cold to get in the ocean, but we just had to go and see it! (Again, I was pregnant with Cooper.)

Coby, Amy, Sara, & Emily

(in birth order)

January 2005

Laguna Beach, California

SURPRISE!!! Jack's 10th Birthday Celebration Has Begun

2010-01-31T16:04:00.001-06:00

This year is a big one for birthdays in our family. Within a 12 month span of time Corey turned 40, Allie turned 13, Cooper will turn 5, and Jack will turn TEN... this week!!!!

Last summer Jack had told me that he has always wanted a surprise party, and I tucked that into my mommy-memory. So, that is what I have been planning. Over the last few weeks Jack has asked me over and over and over and over what we are going to do for his birthday, and I have tried to hold him off... That was not easy to do, by the way. He brainstormed several different ways that he would like to celebrate and all the friends that he would like to invite to his party. All along, I had already invited 2 of his best buddies to come over for a surprise sleepover. I knew that he would love that, but in all of his brainstorming I could also tell that my little social guy had his heart set on celebrating with several friends... so I had to come up with a brainstorm of my own...

On Friday night, Corey and Jack went out to pick up some pizza for dinner. As soon as they walked out the door Allie, Cooper, and I flew into action. We only had a few minutes to get ready for the surprise sleepover that was about to happen. Corey had bought balloons and cupcakes earlier in the day and we decorated with that and a banner, and I set out the gobs of snacks that I had bought earlier in the week. Soon, Jack's friends Brady & Jack arrived, and we waited for the birthday boy to come back.

~ Corey & Jack coming through the door ~

At this point, all he had seen was the decorated kitchen...

~ SURPRISE!!! ~

...then he saw his buddies.

He was SO happy that he finally got his surprise party!

~ The Birthday Boy ~

~ Jack W, Jack P, & Brady ~

These 3 have been friends since they were all babies.

~ the "silly picture" ~

Cooper followed the 3 big guys around all evening and wanted to do everything they did. As soon as I had taken a photo of them, he said, "Now take one with me."

~ Allie & Cooper celebrating their brother ~

Brady & Jack gave him Legos and a yo-yo. He loved them!

We gave him something that I think that he really wanted. A party that he could invite 10 friends to.

~ cake time! ~

~ building his new Legos... his favorite activity ~

The boys spent the evening, the night, and the early morning building a fort that covered the living room floor and playing video games. Lots of video games.

At 3:00am they were still going full-force... and were still having a lot of loud fun. Corey asked them to watch a show and go to sleep. At 5:15 Jack came in and told me that they were going to go to sleep and asked me to wake them up at 7:ooam so they could play a lot more before his friends had to go home. Needless to say, I didn't wake them up but still they were up by 7:20. Lots more playing and fun and noise and eating took place until we wrapped things up around 11:00. I think that Jack loved his surprise...

Catching Up November: "Cooper has something to tell you." 11/28

2010-01-27T00:00:00.004-06:00

As we were decorating for Christmas I had gone into my room for a bit, and shortly Corey yelled, "Amy? Where are you? Cooper has something to tell you!" I came into the living room to hear Cooper say, "I asked God into his heart! I am a Christian!" For our Christian family, that is the best news that we could ever hear - that our kids have decided to give their heart to our God and will someday be with us for eternity in heaven. We were so happy for Cooper and thankful to God that He has called our little boy to Himself.

When I asked Cooper how he came to this decision he said that he and Jack were setting up our nativity, and Jack explained to him that we celebrate Christmas because that is when Jesus was born. He then explained to Cooper that there was a reason that Jesus needed to be born - to save us from our sins and make a way for us to be with Him forever in heaven. He asked Cooper if he wanted to go to heaven. Cooper said yes, and Jack led him in a prayer to ask Jesus to come into his heart. It was as easy as that. A child's faith is so amazing! I know that Cooper has a lot of things that he will learn and grow to understand in his walk with Christ, and I am so glad that he is taking the first steps of that journey. And how special that he was guided to the place of beginning that journey by his big brother?!? For that, I am extra thankful.

Thank you, Jesus!

Catching Up November: Decorating the Christmas Tree 11/28

2010-01-26T23:37:00.006-06:00

Are you surprised to see a Christmas Tree post here at the end of January? Well, you know what that means... I am almost caught up with catching up November... and incase you don't remember (and why would you?) December has already been caught up, so just a few more posts and I'll be current, baaaaby!!! WOO HOO!

Let's get to it...

Each year, we make it a tradition to decorate our house for Christmas on the weekend after Thanksgiving. It is something that we look forward to each year. We put on some Christmas music and our Santa hats (we all have one), and we decorate away. Some years it takes me more than that weekend to get all the decorations put up, but this year I was determined to get everything decorated that we could on the weekend after Thanksgiving and get the rest of it put back up in the attic at the end of the weekend. With the help of a few elves (and the Big Man, himself), I met my goal.

~ Coop & me putting the tree together ~

~ hanging ornaments ~

~ Allie placing hers just right ~

I'm not sure how the other 2 elves missed getting into a photo, but they were there helping too.

~ the finished product ~

My New Toy

2010-01-26T23:22:00.001-06:00

I love my iPhone.

Anyone that knows me very well, knows that. It was an unexpected Christmas gift from Corey in 2008 - something that I had not asked for or even thought that I wanted. But Corey knew something I didn't know, and he upgraded my old phone that I didn't have Internet service on and hardly ever texted on to an iPhone... and I have LOVED it! I, of course, like it for the phone... but I also love the way that I stay "connected" (in the 2010ish sort of way) through all my apps... email, Facebook, Twitter. I also love the convenience of having a GPS with me at all times... I actually use it a lot! And I, along with my kids, love the games. I have become the master of my favorite game Tetris when I am sleepless at night and the kids love all sorts of games... their new fave is playing crossword puzzles. But one of my favorite things about my phone is that I always have a camera with me. No, it doesn't take fabulous photos like my "big camera"can, but it does okay... especailly when there is plenty of light. And something that I like even more than the camera are the apps that I have downloaded to make "playing" with my photos even more fun. I have one called CameraBag that has several options and one called CropForFree that I love. And now I have a new favorite! Yesterday I downloaded an app called Hipstamatic (like the camera from 1982), and I have been having a lot of fun with it tonight. It takes really cool photos... I love the vintage look of them! The app has a few lenses that you can "change" and even some more that you can buy, but so far I have only used one. Here are a few of my favorite pictures so far:

I went looking on the Internet for the history of the original Hipstamatic camera (because I can't remember the camera at all), and I found this interesting information:

A Little History

Founders: Bruce and Winston Dorbowski
Founded: November 1982 (Unofficially, as in no lawyers)
Location: Merrill, Wisconsin, USA

The Idea: Bring people a camera that cost less than the film. Bruce had a Russian plastic camera that our father gave him as a Christmas gift in 1972. The camera had since broke and was no longer being made or sold, at least anywhere he could find it. So Bruce and Winston came up with a plan to recreate something similar. Winston had fallen in love with his Kodak Instamatic and that was the start of the Hipstamatic.

Camera Specs

Model: 100

Material: Plastic Body, Plastic Lens

Produced: 1982-84

Type: View finder camera

Lens: Hipsta A1

Film: 35mm

Picture Size: 28mm x 28mm

Original Cost: $8.25

Focus: Automatic

Aperture: 2.8

Flash: hot shoe

Do you remember this camera from the '80s?

Do you have any cool camera apps for your iPhone (if you have an iPhone)?

What other apps do you like to use?

5

2010-01-21T23:41:00.003-06:00

I've been working hard today to get this ol' blogeroo caught up. I got 5 posts done today, so be sure to scroll down if you want to look at them all. We're almost there, people! Hang in there. Just a few more posts until we are not talking about fall anymore. (Maybe I'll actually have it current by spring! ;) )

Catching Up November: Asher's Football Party

2010-01-21T22:47:00.005-06:00

The day after Thanksgiving our family celebrated my nephew Asher's 3rd birthday. He had a "football party" and being the family of a football coach, we had the perfect place to celebrate him... a football field! We put on as many jerseys as we could find and the party began....

~ the birthday boy with his dad & mom ~

Ainsley got in on the football action.

In my hustle and bustle to get to Asher's party I forgot my camera, so Corey ran to get it. I was so sad not to capture the first part of the party.... it was really cute! First, my brother led everyone in some stretches. Then, the kids (and an aunt or 2) ran a relay which involved running with a football helmet on. So funny! Next, we all ran down the field to play some games by the goal post. The first one was "throw the football through the tire", (I totally just made that name up. Can you tell? ;) ) and then they all swung at a pinata and collected candy.

~ Cooper loving the football party ~

~ pinata time ~

~ the kids trying to gather more candy than Uncle Allan ~

... and then it was time for cake.

(Doesn't he look so cute and excited?!?)

The bench was the perfect place to eat cake.

Next, Asher opened his gifts. This sword was part of the pirate dress-up stuff that we gave him. I think he looks so cute (and serious) in this photo!

~ jersey girls ~

~ water boy ~

~ team captain ~

(Jack, the oldest boy cousin)

When the party was over, Poppie drove everyone around the field in his truck, so they could clean up the equipment. (The kids loved this part!)

Happy Birthday, AshMan! I love you!!!

(and good job on hosting a fun party, Sara!)

Catching Up November: Thanksgiving 2009

2010-01-21T22:10:00.006-06:00

Thanksgiving 2009

We spent Thanksgiving with my family at my parents' house this year. It was a good day filled with cooking, football, a movie, playing with cousins, and lots of visiting.

Do you ever wonder how someone gets a good photo of 9 kids at the same time?

Yeah... so do I.

~ Allie & Jakey ~

The oldest cousin (13) and the youngest cousin (5 1/2 months)

~ my baby and me ~

(Cooper had an ice pack on his neck because he had been stung by a bee.)

And that is about all of the photos that I took that day... Sometimes the photographer just needs a break. Just wait though, the next day we celebrated Asher's 3rd birthday... Selke Style. And there are lots of photos of that.

Catching Up November: San Antonio

2010-01-21T21:30:00.004-06:00

On November 21 -22 Corey and I had some unexpected time alone. Sadly, it was because of a funeral that we attended for his dear cousin, Cary. We were really thankful that my parents kept our kids while Corey and I drove down to the Hill Country on that Saturday. After the service, we went on to San Antonio for the night. Though we were exhausted, we enjoyed strolling along the riverwalk for a bit and having dinner on a patio by the water. The next morning, we went for a peaceful walk and had brunch on a balcony that overlooked the river before heading back home.

~ so thankful for time to spend alone ~

Corey and I have always tried to make our marriage a priority. Sometimes that is easier than others, but it is often quite hard. Finding time to invest in each other without the distractions of our everyday life can be difficult. Corey's business is in a stage that requires his attention the majority of most days, and I am kept pretty busy with the kids, homeschooling, etc. This time that we got a chance to steal away - if only for a short amount of time and through sad circumstances - was treasured by both of us. Thank you, Mom & Dad for caring for our kids while we were away.

The last time that we were alone in San Antonio was on our honeymoon 17 1/2 years ago. Wow, a lot has happened in those years. Some good, some bad, some great. I am so thankful that I have had someone as strong and devoted and faithful as my man to walk beside all of this time. I love you, Corey!

(photos taken with our phones)

Catching Up November: Cooper's Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

2010-01-21T21:08:00.005-06:00

On the day of Cooper's Thanksgiving party at his preschool he was so excited! He couldn't wait until I came to his school to join him at his "feast"!

He showed me where he listens to his teacher read stories...

... and where he has circle time and learns about the calendar & the weather.

Then, it was time to feast!

And after the feast his class sang a few cute little Thanksgiving songs for the parents.

I loved my visit with Cooper and sharing his special day with him at preschool.

Happy Thanksgiving... Don't mind the fact that it is Janurary 21st. ;)

Catching Up November: Celebrating My Dad's 60 Years Of Life

2010-01-21T20:18:00.002-06:00

On November 11, 1959 a great gift was given to the world.

My daddy was born.

This year, more than any other before, my family celebrated my dad's life. It had only been less than 2 months since it had, in some ways, passed before our eyes. On that day in September and the days that followed it we fought back thoughts of what life might be like if we did not have him anymore. It was scary and sad and I hated almost every moment of it. My kids did too. And on the night before he was scheduled to have a double bypass and as we all mustered up the courage to face what was before him, we cried. And we held on to each other. And we took deep breaths. And we prayed. And we tried to distract ourselves. And once we finally had the courage, we left him at the hospital... knowing that the next day so many things would change... and praying that so many things wouldn't. It was one of the hardest nights I have ever had in my life.

~ Allie & her Poppie walking to the elevator on the night before he had a double bypass ~

But as I have written about before here, God was gracious to us. He granted us all more time together here on Earth, and I am so thankful. So this year, we celebrated. Not just because he was turning 60. But because he was with us. Not only alive. But alive and well. Though as humans, we are bound to slip back into a "normal" life where we will not always remember to love the ones in our lives as well as we should, my family has a new and improved appreciation for each other and for having a chance to celebrate life together. And that night that was full of tears and fear and emotion before his surgery turned into this on his birthday...

This year, Dad's birthday obviously needed to be low key. All of our family came together at Mom & Dad's house just to hang out, visit, and eat a meal together. It was the first time that we had been together since his surgery where he was "himself". He was even able to hold the grandkids... gently. One of the things that he is the best at in the whole world.

~ Poppie, Jacob, & Claire ~

~ Asher in an antique flight helmet ~

~ Jackson & Skyler ~

~ Ainsley & Sara ~

~ Cooper ~

~ Chloe & Poppie ~

~ Gibbie & Allie ~

~ Poppie & Jack ~

~ opening his gift ~

We all gave him an engraved box. It was full of letters from each of us.

~ cake time! ~

~ making a wish ~

~ eating cake ~

It was a happy birthday for all of us!

Touching Base

2010-01-20T12:29:00.007-06:00

In case you are reading my blog in January (or after) and are confused about why I am blogging about last November, here's the answer... I got behind. For the last several weeks I have been working on catching up my blog and recording all the things that my family did during my bloggy break. At the first of November Corey, Allie, and I went to New York City, and I have written many blog posts about our trip. 18 to be exact. I just completed that huge project. It was too fun and important to us not to. I still have a few posts to do to get myself completely caught up then I will be back to blogging as usual... whatever that means. :)

~ see ya later, NYC ~

Thanks for being interested in my family's life. I would love to know who all is out there reading what I write. If you have been stopping by (and I know you have been, I have a sitemeter :) ), I would love to know who you are. Will you leave a comment on this post?

Up Next:

Catching Up November continues with

My Dad's 60th Birthday (and boy! did we have a reason to celebrate this year!)

Catching Up November: NYC: Day 4 - The Last Little Bit & Saying Goodbye To The Big Apple

2010-01-20T11:30:00.007-06:00

After our lunch at Serendipity, we headed back to the hotel (by way of The Emipre State Building & Times Square) to gather our bags and say goodbye to New York City.

~ our last ride on the subway ~

Daddy looks a little tired. ;)

~ The Empire State Building ~

Corey left Allie and me in Times Square to do some last minute souvenir shopping while he went to see the Chrysler Building. After we shopped, we sat at the little bistro tables that we loved and had sat at several times while we were there and had a drink from Starbucks and watched people.... soaking in NYC down to the last second.

~ a little sad that our trip was coming to an end ~

~ playing with my phone and sending one more picture from NYC ~

~ our last walk to the hotel ~

(Our feet thanked us when we arrived!)

Allie looking at Manhattan out the back window of the taxi.

We flew home via Washington DC, and Allie and I got to see the capitol building for the first time... if only from the air. It was all lit up and was really beautiful. A nice little unexpected "cherry on top" for our trip.

Our time in New York City was really a dream come true, and we are so thankful for the opportunity that we had to take this trip and mostly for the chance to spend some one-on-one time with Allie together. Corey and I are thankful for the dream that God placed in both of our hearts to cross this threshold into teenage-parenthood in a big and special way and for all that He did to help us make that dream come true. We have high hopes for our future together with our first teenager - one that will be filled with many adventures. Hopefully, they will mostly be as fun and wonderful as our first adventure with her to the Big Apple.

Allie,

I love you so much! You were a super-fun traveling companion, and I look forward to the many adventures that we will share in the future! You are fun and beautiful and helpful and kind. You love to experience life, and I love that about you! I hope that we are given many more experiences together... and hopefully one of them will be a trip back to New York City to ride a subway and eat a hot dog together. Happy 13th Birthday... again.

I Adore You,

Mommy

Catching Up November: NYC: Day 4 - Serendipity & Dylan's Candy Bar

2010-01-18T10:39:00.004-06:00

One place that we were sure that we wanted to visit while in NYC was Serendipity. It is a tiny little restaurant that has been featured in a few movies - Serendipity and One Fine Day - and is famous for its frozen hot chocolate. It is known for having a line to get inside, but when I called the restaurant the lady on the phone told me that if we got there before they opened we would be almost sure to get a table. We arrived at Serendipity a half hour or so before they opened and were about the 4th party in the line to get in.

While I waited in line, Corey and Allie went down the street to a candy store called Dylan's Candy Bar which is owned by Ralph Lauren's daughter. It looked really cute!

Once inside Serendipity, I was so impressed with how cute (and small!) the little place was. We were seated upstairs. The couple that you can see eating across the room from us by the fireplace were the first in line. They wanted the table by the fireplace because that is the table that was featured in the movie. Notice the empty tables? They all filled up right away after we were seated.

~ the menus were humongous ~

~ the famous frozen hot chocolate ~

Yes, it was as good as we heard that it would be.

~ fancy hamburger-eating ~

Serendipity is known for all of its Tiffany lamp shades. They made the place seem almost make-believe.

The clock from One Fine Day.

The door to the Ladies Restroom.

Catching Up November: NYC: Day 4 - Grand Central Station

2010-01-17T22:20:00.005-06:00

On our last day in New York City, we (sadly) packed up our things and checked our bags with the bellman at our hotel before we headed out to squeeze in as much of the Big Apple that we could before we had to leave for the airport. First stop - Grand Central Station.

Grand Central Station was beautiful. As I looked around, I could imagine all of the people that had rushed though that historic place hoping to make their train.

~ Allie waiting for us to decide which train to take to our next destination ~

Making More Sense Of It All

2010-01-12T16:39:00.009-06:00

Sometimes, I just don't have the words to articulate what I am trying to say... Sometimes, using other people's words seem to help me make more sense of what I am feeling...

So, I just got finished with the post about taking Allie to see Wicked on Broadway. It was an emotional post for me to do - for several reasons. As I pushed the "Publish Post" blog and glanced at my side-bar to see if any of the blogs I read had been updated, I saw that one called Resolved2Worship had. In her post from today, there was a quote that pretty much sums up a lot of what I am feeling right now... and what I felt that night that we were at the Broadway show... and the entire trip to New York City... and in mothering a daughter that is now a teenager, for that matter.

Suddenly, through birthing a daughter, a woman finds herself face to face not only with an infant, a little girl, a woman-to-be, but also with her own unresolved conflicts from the past and her hopes and dreams for the future.... As though experiencing an earthquake, mothers of daughters may find their lives shifted, their deep feelings unearthed, the balance struck in all relationships once again off kilter. ~ Elizabeth Debold and Idelisse Malave

Indeed, I often feel like I am experiencing an earthquake these days. In motherhood and friendship alike, I feel shifted. I am a perpetual ball of unearthed, raw feelings and often feel off kilter. All of these things leads me back to my strong belief that God is using our lives - our relationships, in particular - to refine us for Himself. My undying love for my children has shown me a fraction more of His love for me. The shortcomings that I face daily as their mother, as a wife, as a daughter, as a sister, as a friend show me more clearly than ever that I am inadequate. He is the only thing that makes me valuable or able to fulfill the jobs that I have before me. I am thankful for the sanctification that I find in all of these relationships and for the chance to experience a life of loving and living and growing because of them.

I have been - and continue to be - changed for good.

Catching Up November: NYC: Day 3 - Our First Broadway Show

2010-01-12T16:13:00.002-06:00

I cannot even begin to say how excited I was about taking Allie to a Broadway Show. When we decided to take her to New York City, I asked around to see what people who had been there thought would be a good show for us to see. Wicked was the one show that came up over and over again. I didn't really know the story at the time, but I researched it a bit and found that it was the prequel to The Wizard Of Oz (a movie that Allie LOVED and we all 3 could quote every word of when Allie was about 4 years old). So, I bought the tickets to give her on her scavenger hunt and took someone's advice and bought the soundtrack to the musical to listen to before the show... which was really good advice! By the time we got to go to the show, we had heard the songs a number of times. Seeing the musical was like putting a puzzle together - the story behind all of the songs became clear. And, oh! I kind of fell in love with Elphaba - the green witch. Wicked makes you think of so many things about The Wizard Of Oz a little differently than you might have before.
So the night that we were going to our first Broadway show, we came home from shopping, got all dressed up (although we have our coats on in almost all of the photos), and headed out to the theatre. Our walk to the Gershwin Theatre was just about the most painful thing I have ever done in my life. People that told us that our feet would hurt when we visited NYC were understating what we had in store for us. Severely. It was only a few blocks from our hotel to the theatre, but Corey had to coach Allie and me there the whole way. "Come on, you can do it... just make it to the next stoplight." Then, we got to that stoplight, and he would have to find a new landmark for us to set our minds on. Finally, we made it the 7ish blocks (don't forget that a New york City block is different than a Texas block), and it was all worth it!

~ Allie and I at our first Broadway Show ~

~ Corey giving his girl a dream night in NYC ~

~ our 13 year old Birthday Girl ~

~ the set of Wicked before the show started ~

There were no photos allowed during the show.

~ Corey & I before the show ~

(taken with my phone)

In case you can't tell... I loved the show. Everything about it! I even cried a few times. Once when it started - I just could not believe that I was there. In New york City. At a Broadway show. And I cried again when Elphie and Glinda sang a song about being friends, life changing, and friendship taking a turn. I felt like I could have been singing that song... It was beautiful. It is a duet between the 2 friends in the musical, but here is Kristin Cheoweth (the origianl Glinda) singing it with the Boston Pops Orchestra:

Allie loved the show too. It was so special to share seeing our first Broadway show together and watching her take it all in! Corey... like with all things theatrical and musical... enjoyed taking us to the show (I think) but could have lived with or without it. I'm really thankful that he treated Allie and me to something that we thoroughly enjoyed.

After the show, we went to a nice restaurant to celebrate our fabulous trip and the next stage of our lives together. I was sad that our time in New York City was coming to an end... but happy that I got to see my boys (who had been cared for well by my sister-in-law, Adrielle, and our good friend, Megan) the next day. Thankfully, our flight didn't leave the Big Apple until later on the afternoon of Day 4, so we still had half a day on the next day to squeeze in more fun.