Christmas Recap!

I don't want to forget this Christmas cause it was so fun with two sweet little girls. We had a great week prior with Mike being off work. Watermark takes off the week after Christmas, but since Mike is on a ski trip the student ministry team took off the week before Christmas. We had such a great week just hanging out at home. We got so much done around the house and laughed lots. Our girls were both in really good moods/behavior so it made for a great week! We are now back to working on obeying and all that fun stuff! Here are some highlights:
* Christmas Eve service at Watermark was awesome. I think Mike and I have talked about it so much and what a celebration of Jesus birth we had with our church family!
* I loved hearing Ellie talk and sing about Jesus' birthday. She is totally into singing all the songs she knows so we hear the same 10 or so lots each day!
* Spending time with my whole family in Arkansas.
* We were so blessed with amazing gifts from our family! Thanks so much!
* Anna really likes presents and loved to open them. It was really fun to see her get so excited.
* Ellie saying "one more present, please"
* Anna's favorite present was this crazy purse that holds little puppies. I saw it for her at Wal-Mart and she would not let go of it. She loves to carry anything in her hand and becomes quickly attached to whatever that item of the day might be!
*Ellie's favorite present was art supplies or the fishing game where there are tons of plastic fish that open their mouths. She has a little plastic pole to try and catch them . They also got a fun Dora tent, but we haven't set it back up in the house!
*Yummy food! We ate so much and enjoyed it way to much. My dad always gets a honey baked ham from a customer as a gift so we have it for Christmas dinner. It is so good. Mike and I also went to AQ Chicken in AR. It is a really popular Chicken restraunt in AR that is soooo good. They always cater to the President when one happens to visit AR which is about once every four years.
* We saw the movie "Seven Pounds". It was really intersting and I really liked it. Will Smith is becoming one of the actors where I want to see all of his movies. Mike also saw "Valkerie" and he said it was awesome.

Mike is now in CO on a ski trip with the high-school ministry. My mom is here with me and we've been busy here. She's helping me organize all the kids clothes. I so wish I knew if this one was a boy or girl cause it would make my process a lot easier. I find out January 15th and I am so excited. I am starting to really show now, but am still feeling good. I am so thankful to be healthy and not in any pain.
I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Tis The Season......

We had many attempts this year at the "perfect" Christmas family picture and it just didn't happen. Ellie was totally into it, but Anna would not sit still for a minute and then on the second attempt she wouldn't let go of her blankie so I could only get her from her neck up! I got some good individual ones, but not to many family ones. I still like our cards as we used some other pictures from earlier in the year. I can't even imagine with three little ones next year!
I am now 16 weeks and just went to the doctor this past week. The apptmt. went great and I am feeling good. I thought I would have gained at least 4 pounds or so, but only 1/2 pound. I think it was a good day! I have been enjoying my Christmas food to say the least. We've had lots of fun parties to go to and they are all over with now. We are staying in town for Christmas Eve service at Watermark and then we are off for a few days to my grandpa's house. We are looking forward to it! I am so glad we are not flying anywhere this year. I am exhausted just thinking about it and our fun Christmas present this year is we got a mini-van! I am so excited and love it. Our pilot would not hold 3 car seats and the van is perfect. We looked for a long time and finally found a great deal and what we wanted. We went with the Honda Odyssey. It has so many mom features that make life so much easier. My favorite has to be the automatic sliding doors where all I have to do is push a button. I was also able to fit my whole high school girls small group in it tonight which was nice. Anyways, we have a fun week ahead and I am excited to celebrate Christmas with the girls. Ellie sings Happy Birthday Jesus so cute. I will post it on video soon!

Ellie's first performance!

Ellie had her first performance on Wednesday night with her preschool. She loved it and they did such a great job! They sang Jingle Bells and Happy Birthday Jesus. She knows all the words and sings them all the time. It was so fun to watch her! We are so thankful for their school and it has been such a blessing this year.

New York Day 1!

New York Day 2!

New York Day 3!

Busy Times....

I am doing a quick update before we're off tomorrow. We leave for NYC in the a.m. for Mike's brothers graduation. We are so excited for him and to see all the family. The girls will be in GA at my parents house. We had such a great Thanksgiving and were so thankful to be able to spend it with my family. We have traveled so much lately and this will be the last flight for awhile. The girls have flown 3 times in one month. It is still never easy and you never know how it going to go! I am watching The Rockefeller Christmas show in NYC that is on t.v. tonight. I am so excited to go to the city during Christmas time. I really don't know what to expect since we have never been before. I will take lots of pictures and update when we get home. I really need to get to work on the Christmas Card pictures, but it will have to wait!

I am feeling really good! I am 14 weeks today and time is flying by that is for sure. We will find out the gender in January. I would love for him to do an u.s. at our next appointment (16 weeks), but it is doubtful. He's super nice though so you never know. Mike is really busy preparing for a ski trip that is over New Years and trying to stay healthy for his marathon that is on December 14th. He did 24 miles a couple of weeks ago and it went well. However, his knee has been pretty sore since he did that run. He's kind of had to take it easy the past couple of days. I know he will do great and I can't wait to cheer him on.
Anyways, I hope you are all doing awesome and I'm sure you are all busy with the Christmas season. More soon!

It's finally Fall.... and 12 week appointment!

We wait awhile here in Texas for it finally to be fall. Our leaves have changed and the weather is cool! I love it! We took these pictures a couple of weeks ago at Mike's parents house in KS. It is always so beautiful there in the fall.
I had my 12 week appointment today after preschool. It was a very long Thursday cause we were all at preschool today and then drove to my dr.'s appointment. I ended up taking the girls cause I knew it would be a short appointment. My dr. was on time and the kids did really good. We got home at 6:00 and were all pretty exhausted. All is great with baby #3. He asked how my appetite has been and let's just say I am for sure eating enough for 2. I am so hungry all the time and it is so nice to not be sick. The doctor found the heartbeat right away and it was so amazing to hear it so clearly. Ellie and Anna are totally amazed by the whole doctor process especially when the drew blood and I got a band-aid. We leave tomorrow for my parents house for Thanksgiving. I am so excited as I haven't been there since June. I'm sure I will eat plenty of turkey and pie!

How it all went down.....

I've yet to tell how I got to surprise my family with the announcement of baby #3. I kind of felt yucky and tired the week prior to taking a test. It was a Saturday and Mike was out with Ellie. I snuck off to the Dollar Tree to buy a test (Yes, the work)! I took it and there was for sure 2 positive lines. I went out that afternoon to do some errands. I stopped by Pei Wei and got us dinner as well as a cookie cake. I hid the test under Mike's fortune cookie. He was totally shocked and it was the first time it was a surprise for him cause with the girls I would be throwing up so he knew I was pregnant. It was a really fun night!

I Survived!

I wanted to thank you all so much for your comments and prayers. I could totally feel so many people praying for me. I have learned so much about pain and suffering through this time. I cannot imagine the slow suffering of cancer etc... The pain can be so unbearable at times to where all you can do is pray. I felt really awful from Saturday-Tuesday. I started to not vomit anymore on Tuesday. I think I vomited around 20 times during this three day span and so the relief of that alone made me feel better. My mom was such a servant to us and literally did everything for me and the kids during her time here. She made us awesome meals and cleaned my house! The girls loved having her here and in the mean time they both got colds. She was taking care of three pretty pitiful girls. I saw my doctor today for a follow up visit. It was really informative as he did another ultrasound. The baby is great. It pretty much sounds like the fibroid will not effect the baby just me. I can have a normal delivery he thinks so far and everything seems fine. He said I was in so much pain because of the rapid growth of the fibroid due to all the hormone changes with the first trimeter etc... I look huge. I am not kidding it really makes you show a lot earlier and he said it was normal. The fibroid has not grown, but it could. I am praying it just stays the same size. I was able to go to work today and did pretty well. The huge praise is that we've had a trip planned to FL since June leaving tomorrow. The doctor said it was fine for me to just to take it easy which should be pretty easy to do. I am so glad I didn't have to cancel our trip. Mike has so been looking forward to it since it is his first break after a busy fall. We are going with another family in our church and their children. We will do Disney a few days( I may get a motorized wheel chair ha ha!) and just relax at our timeshare. I will keep you all posted and I have so many pictures from the past month that I hope to upload in Florida. Thanks for your friendship!

ps-I forgot to mention the doctor is predicting a boy because I have had no morning sickness etc... until this last episode, but that was due to pain. I feel totally different than I did with Ellie and Anna. We will have to wait and see, but maybe not to long cause I think I will get an ultrasound almost every visit. I am 9 weeks and due June 10th!

Update on my Wife...

*UPDATE: Sorry friends that I have not even wrote the post yet about baby #3. I've been wanting to do it in a fun creative way and life got really crazy and now sickness. I'm glad Mike decided to put a picture up of a fibroid! PLEASE PRAY that this pain will go away. My mom flew here to help us and I don't know what I would do without her. I am going to my Dr. on Thursday so hopefully he can help us out as well instead of just the ER doctor. I have the best husband in the world. He has been there for me and the girls in amazing ways. Please, pray for this sweet baby. I don't know how he/she is making it with all the stress going on in my body. I am throwing up almost everything including vitamins. I am truly learning how to call out to Christ in the midst of my weakness. Thanks so much!

It has been a crazy couple of days. Many of you are probably wondering what has happened to my wife, so I'll explain, but let me first back up a few months. Last June we were at our church's family camp in Estes Park when my wife had some really bad back/abdominal pain and was throwing up quite a bit. We took her to the ER, they gave her lots of fluids, tons of pain medicine, and the pain went away. They said it might have been a kidney infection, but weren't sure. The pain eventually went away, and Holly was eventually able to enjoy the rest of the week. Friday morning pretty early the pain came back. She just happened to have some pretty stellar pain meds left over from her wisdom teeth taken out a couple months ago, so she took a pill and the pain went away, but if she got off the couch or out of bed she'd throw up. Friday she refused to see the doctor because the trip to the ER in Estes cost us $1500.00, and our insurance didn't cover it. She figured the pain would go away like it did in Colorado, and she would be back to normal. Saturday the pain was still there, but she's thinking it took two days in Estes for it to go away, and that she'd go see her doctor on Monday if the pain hadn't gone away. In the midst of all this we had a pretty big event with our high school ministry that I couldn't get away from, so we're still not sure how our kids survived during this time. Sunday morning I got in at 2:30 a.m. from our high school event, and then left at 6:30 a.m. to go run a half-marathon with about 4,000 other runners at White Rock Lake. Crazy, I know, but everyone in my house would be asleep right up until I got home from the race. It was good therapy in the middle of a crazy weekend. (this doesn't have anything to do with the reason of writing, but I ran a personal best, 1:52 after getting very little sleep, I was excited). So I get home, shower, and my wife's not feeling very well. So, I take the girls and we give mommy some alone time to continue to rest and she takes another pain pill. We had a lunch planned with some friends from church, so we went to their house and stayed until about 2:30. As we were leaving the Hornberger's house, Ellie is sitting in the car screaming about her ear. I rush her home and ask Holly what we should do. We load everyone up, and take Ellie to Urgent Care. On the way there, we pull over so Holly can puke. Crazy. We find out that Ellie has an Ear Infection, and get two prescriptions for her. We leave there and I've had enough, and take Holly to the Emergency Room. I'm glad we did. The ER doctor did an ultrasound, took over 40 pictures (according to Holly he was touching her ovaries with the ultrasound thingy, OUCH!) of the uterus, etc....We find out the baby is fine, but he has some concerns and wants to move Holly to the OB floor. This morning we find out that Holly has a baseball sized Fibroid (non cancerous) attached to her Uterus. That's what hurt so bad. The OB thinks that's what was hurting back in June in Estes Park. Crazy huh? It's grown to be the size that it is now, and nobody has ever picked up on it. At the end of this post I've put some info on Fibroids I found online if you're like me and have no idea what a Fibroid is. The Doctor tells Holly there's nothing they can do until after the baby is born. So the pain will come and go during the next 7 months, and he's prescribing some more pain medicine. We're supposed to leave on Friday for vacation, if you could pray for minimal pain/discomfort that would be great, and are obviously still thrilled that we'll be having a little one on June 10th!  One other thing I would mention that I learned during this time is how important community is.  I was dumb and didn't think to call our community group into this until yesterday afternoon.  Once I did it was a HUGE blessing.  All of the couples in our group either called or came by, and our friend Adam came over, watched our kids, and I was able to go to the hospital to be with my wife.  Thanks for reading and praying,  here's the info. on fibroids if you're still with me at this point :)
"Fibroids are muscular tumors that grow in the wall of the uterus (womb). Another medical term for fibroids is "leiomyoma" (leye-oh-meye-OH-muh) or just "myoma". Fibroids are almost always benign (not cancerous). Fibroids can grow as a single tumor, or there can be many of them in the uterus. They can be as small as an apple seed or as big as a grapefruit. In unusual cases they can become very large."

Ellie on video!

"High Stakes" Parenting Conference Video from Steve V on Vimeo.

Schedules.....

I was going to get some mommy opinions on if at any point after the first year you felt like your kids schedules started to change? Ellie is a little over 3 and takes a nap 3-4 days a week. On those days she goes to bed at 8:30 or so. If she does not take a nap then she goes to bed at 7:30. I'm wondering how long I should expect her to nap? I know that no matter what she will have quiet time in her room for at least an hour. Anna is the one who is changing like crazy. It seems like all summer she would take these crazy 3-4 hour naps in the afternoon. She still takes a good nap, but it is more like 2 hours. It really is not long enough for her cause instead of waking up at 4:30-5:00. She wakes up at 3:30 or 4 and is really cranky. Tonight, I put her to bed at 6:45 and she was totally ready. She hasn't made it past 7:30 this entire week. I don't know whether to try and go back to her old schedule in which she went to bed later or just work with this new one and let her go to bed by 7:00. Ellie doesn't have meltdowns no matter what amount of sleep she gets which is really nice. Anna is like her mama she needs her sleep!

It is starting to feel like Fall....

Today, it rained and I loved it cause it dropped below 80 degrees! It was so nice and we now have a pumpkin for our front porch. Here are some more pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch!

What a difference a year makes!

We went to a pumpkin patch by our house tonight that a local church sponsors. We drive by it everyday and the girls always notice it. We had a great time and couldn't help to think that last year Anna was just a baby. She has changed and grown so much. Tonight, we couldn't keep her from running all over the place. They loved it! I also noticed how my awesome husband has lost 20 lbs. since last year. He's worked so hard and is looking so good! People notice it all the time and I know he's going to do awesome at the marathon in december. I can't say that I've lost 20 lbs., but I have changed a lot since last October. We are so thankful to not be "new" anymore and feel so blessed to have friends and our church! I will post more pictures soon. I have to go to bed cause 6 2yr. olds will have me busy tomorrow at pre-school!

I've been tagged....

My friends Tasha and Stacy tagged me and because I needed a new post on something besides our toddler filled lives, I am participating!

THE RULES::

* Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

* Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.

* Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

* Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

...Here you have it, folks: 7 Random Facts about me:

1.) I've lived in lots of different states such as Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Texas. My favorite of all is a tie between NC and VA. They are both beautiful and so unique in different ways.

2.) Since we've moved to Texas I have developed a strong craving for chips and guacomole. I love it and could eat it for my meal. Many parties here have it for an appetizer. I want to make it soon!

3.) Mike and I love to travel. We bought a timeshare off of ebay in seminary and it has been so much fun to get to go on vacation and stay at really great resorts. I feel like we work the system and get great use out of it. We are going to FL in November along with some free airline tickets from our air miles it makes for a pretty cheap trip!

4.) I grew up with all my family pretty much in the same town. I went to school across from my grandparents house and I stayed with them all the time. I loved having all my family right there. I have such fond memories of everyone being at my games or track meets. I loved Friday night dinners at Luby's or Sunday lunch at my grandparents house. I was really spoiled as a child with so much love and I had my grandma wrapped around my finger. We were really good friends and I miss her a lot as she passed away last year.

5.) I really want to adopt someday. It has been something I've always wanted to do and feel like it is a way I am gifted and have always seen it as a way to totally change someone's life. We will see when and if it happens, but I pray it does!

6.) I like to take a short nap almost every day. It is becoming way more difficult now with preschool and Ellie getting older. I function so much better if I can get 20 minutes of doing nothing on the couch in the afternoon.

7.) I like to cook and it has become somewhat of a hobby for me which is exciting to have something these days. I love to do it on days when the girls are both asleep in the afternoon. I brew some iced tea, turn on the ipod, and follow a new recipe. It is such a relaxing way to get dinner done opposed to when they wake up which is next to impossible.

I would love to hear 7 random facts about you. So I tag:

Amy
Cassie
Katrina
Katie
Jenn
Amy

Camp Barnabas

Barnabas 08 from Watermark Student Ministries on Vimeo.
Here's a video Mike and Bode put together talking about their trip to Camp Barnabas this past summer. Get some kleenex!

Saturday Night Live....

Well, since we are home on a Saturday night I thought I might catch up on the blog. We've had a good week and are home tonight watching our friends kiddos while they are out. We love them cause they return the favor often. It works out really well. Mike is watching the "Ultimate Fighting Championships" and is a little bummed cause the guy he wanted to watch is hurt. The guy also had a guy who is on staff at watermark in his corner (long story). However, we are still watching it and I don't really see why anyone would ever want to fight this way and it could be interesting when it is the ladies turn! Here are some random things from our week:

1.) I took Ellie and her friend to see the movie "Space Chimps" today at the dollar theater. I am very glad we did not spend more than a dollar on this movie. They loved it and thought it was so funny!

2.) Our classic pink toilet from 1959 broke this week. We now have a new one that our friend Russ installed in 3o minutes! We still have our pink tile, sink, and tub.

3.) It is supposed to be fall in Dallas, but it is still 90 degrees on most days. It is getting very old.

4.) Mike is training for a marathon in December and he is doing so good! He's up to 13 miles and is looking good. I think I am training for the 1/2, but it changes all the time cause of my crazy schedule, kids, etc.....

5.) Anna is talking/singing all the time now and it is very cute. She's becoming not so attached to mommy at home which is very nice.

6.) We cleaned out the garage all day and it looks so much better. I now need to do the house!

7.) Our good friend Sean came down for the weekend. He was Mike's roommate from college. We had a great time seeing him.

8.) We have been here for one year now and feel so blessed. We love our church and all that God is doing it here. It really is amazing to be a part of it all.

9.) Can you believe the election is in one month. A lot is about to change no matter who wins. I think we have lots of surprises still in this last month.

10.) I am reading the newest Karen Kingsbury book and it is so good. I'm sad I'm almost through with it.

8.)

After a long day at school.....

Ellie's class does not take a nap at school and by Thursday she normally crashes on the couch. She was so asleep last week that it was pretty funny to watch.  I have noticed as she has gotten older that she sleeps much deeper than she did a year ago. 

A very fulfilling day!

Well, I have been waiting for this day since May. Ellie is so great at going pee pee on the potty, but has always been terrified of going #2. She holds it all day till I put a diaper on her for nap time or at night. I tried a couple of times to let her sleep in undies, but she has not been ready and it is a huge wet mess. I preferred the nap over the other! She woke up this morning and said I go in the potty! She tried for a really long time and then we all went out for a jog. We came home and she tried again with success! I got teary eyed because we have talked about this for months. We often pray for her to go in the potty and or pray during the act. She has known for months that the day she goes #2 in the potty that she could go to the toy store to pick out a toy. We celebrated Ellie all morning today as Mike had lots of errands for work to do so we went along. She loved getting to pick out something just for her. She picked some new paint and some markers/notepad. The Dr. told me not to push it and when she is ready she would do it. Ellie has always been this way in that she will do it when she wants to and to force it is just awful. I have been so excited all day for her and I think it is because of all the work that had gone into this potty training moment. I'm hoping Anna will be much easier. I think she will as she already loves to "act" like she is going potty. Sorry to inform you all of such boring info, but it was a big deal at our house!

Our little artist.....

Ellie loves to paint and today she enjoyed painting her arms along with her paper! It was washable so I let her have some fun. Her teacher said that anytime the easel is open during center time it is immediately the center that Ellie goes to. I am so not artistic, but I love that maybe she has a love for artistic things! I haven't ever let Anna paint. I'm not sure that is a disaster I am ready to conquer!

It's just a season.....and I'm lucky!

Well, the school year has for sure begun and we are at that point where Mike says "It is just a season" which means we are really busy where we are passing each other in and out of the door. It is really just a week where there seems to be a lot and a big retreat is coming up for student ministry. It also happens to be a week where Anna does not feel well and is fussy cause of having allergies/cold. I feel so bad for her cause she is congested and actually asked for medicine. Tomorrow night we are hosting the 9th and 10th grade leaders for a leaders mtg. We have them every other Thursday and this semester they are doing something different where they divide us up by grade rather than us all meet as a big group. We are excited to have them over, but with pre-school tomorrow it is going to be a really busy day. I am refusing to clean my house till tomorrow afternoon so the girls will not mess it up. They seem to be pretty good lately at making messes!
Tonight, I got to lead my 10th grade girls group for the first time. My co-leader was out of town and it went well. They are so sweet and really stand up for Christ at their school. We went out to dinner before and then did our small group. I am really excited to get to spend the next 3 years with them. I did feel a little old when we got on the subject of text messaging. I asked them how many they sent/received a day. They said most the time it is close to 200 a day! One girl said she for sure uses her 6,000 messages a month. I still don't understand why you would want to have a conversation by text rather than over the phone?
A big highlight of the week was I put my name in a drawing at our salon and I won! I get $450 worth of services of $37 a month for 9 months. I am pumped and know I will look forward to this monthly pampering session. Anyways, I hope you are all enjoying your week and you can slow down in the midst of busyness.

Are they twins....

I get the question "Are they twins" almost everyday? It is normally when they are in the double stroller and you can't tell that Ellie is a few inches taller. They are startng to look alike and can share most clothes and Anna's foot is growing like crazy so I am guessing that she may be a little bit taller than her big sis. They are so alike and so different in so many ways. It was so sweet this morning cause in the middle of the night Anna woke up screaming so I moved her to our guest room. Ellie woke up this morning crying and saying "where's Anna"? She was kind of panicking and when I told her that I moved Anna to the other room she said " I was really nervous, mommy!" Anna always wakes up and her first words are "sissy, bed". They play together almost all day and then share a room most nights. However, they are different in many ways. Here's a few I want to remember:
*Ellie was a paci girl and loved it so much. Anna sucks her thumb to go to sleep.
* Ellie is very independent and has never cried when she gets dropped off anywhere. She runs to the church nursery. Anna takes awhile to warm up and normally cries for a minute or two.
* Anna is a momma's girl and loves to sit in my lap or me carry her everywhere. Ellie loves whoever and will go to almost anyone.
* Anna is a great sleeper. She never misses a nap and will go right to sleep at night. Ellie would stay up till midnight if we would let her and never have a melt-down. She has an abundance of energy.
* Ellie loves movies, tv, etc.... Anna has never watched it for more than 5 minutes.
* Anna is obsessed with things like shoes etc.. and loves to carry them around all day in her hands. She would also love to have a blankie, but I try to limit our time with it so I don't have to keep up with one more thing.
* Anna has done everything early and amazes me at her lack of fear. Ellie has taken awhile to figure things out. However, once she does she loves it!
* I don't think either one is going to be a girly girl. They might surprise me, but so far they are not interested in princess or baby dolls. They love to play outside and with their friends.

I am so thankful for my girls today. We've had a great day in the "cool" weather (low 80's) just being together. I know God has great things in store for them and I am blessed to sit back and watch!

#200.....

It is my 200th post and since I have nothing important to write I figured it was exciting enough to have written 200 posts! We had a good weekend that was filled with the following.....
*Mike spoke at a retreat for home-school seniors at Pine Cove Camp. He enjoyed it and quite a few of our students were there.

* I spent the night with some friends while he was away. We took the kids to CiCi's which is always a huge success cause of the games, pasta, and lots of loud children. Ellie had a sleep-over with her friend Caleb. They actually fell asleep in his twin bed and slept the whole night. It was pretty sweet.

* Saturday night we watched football and hung out with our friends Russ and Amy. We don't get to see them to often cause of work etc... However, we always have so much fun with them and can't wait for their baby to arrive in February!

* Sunday was a busy day as it kicked off student ministry on Sunday nights! Our church started a Sunday night service to ease the crowding on Sunday mornings. It is at 5:30 so I decided to take the girls at night then go to Shoreline (h.s. weekly event) at 7. It was really fun and we ended up going to the zoo for the morning. They loved it and it was like an extra weekend day. I won't always go, but Mike was busy all morning so I thought it might be a nice change of pace. It was really fun for Shoreline to start again and we are so excited to see what God is going to this school year. Mike's passion gets me excited and it is so neat to see him exactly where he is supposed to be in ministry.

* I am doing better this week as far as not feeling overwhelmed and on a routine. Last week was really rough with all the changes for school, small group, etc... We were all so exhausted by Saturday that we all took a 3 hour nap. It was so nice!

Sorry for the boring 200th post! Have a great night!

School Days....

Well, we started school on Tuesday and I must say I think the girls look so cute and so much older in these pictures! It has been a really different week than we've ever had. Ellie is in the young 3's class and Anna is in the 18-24 mos. class. I am teaching the older 2's class. Ellie has loved it and runs into her room everyday. They are there from 9:30-2:30. Anna has done so good and has the sweetest teacher. I cannot imagine having 6 18mos. old children in one class. Wow! She has taken a nap everyday on the floor with her mat. Ellie has learned a lot already and gets to go to Spanish, Music, and Bible. Anna goes to Music and Bible. I am co-teaching the 2 year old class with my friend LeeAnn. We've had a lot of fun together figuring out how to teach pre-school. The teaching part is easy it is the management part that can get a little interesting. However, today we had all 11 children asleep at the same time on the floor. It just shows me that all children need a nap at this age. I've enjoyed being on a routine and seeing the girls grow apart from each other and me. I am learning all about little boys as I have 5 each day with only one girl. The whole p.t. thing is way different with boys! I am really thankful for this job as it is perfect for me and our stage of life. The only challenging thing is since Anna takes a nap at school she didn't take one today after school so it made for kind of a long afternoon. However, she did on Tuesday so we will see how it goes. I haven't really tried putting Ellie down so that she will go to sleep at 7:30. I do make them have room-time so that they can play by themselves for a little while after school and I can take a little break from toddler world!

Labor Day in Lawrence....

Mike and I got to go to the Kansas football game!

We went to the Topeka zoo and it was so much fun!

We are so glad that we got to see Momma!

Ellie and Granddaddy on the train!

Mike and his grandmother! She's almost 91 years old and so sweet....

Ellie and Daddy on a fun train ride!
We went to Lawrence, KS for the weekend to visit Mike's parents. We had such a great time and the girls loved it. It is always so nice to get out of the city and go back home. We got to do so many fun things while we were there and it was so fun for Mike and I to go to the KU game. Mike's mom got us 2nd row tickets right behind the Kansas bench. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings on Mass Street right before the game and after the game. It was such a fun date night. Thanks so much Mimi and Granddaddy!

Life this week....

It has been a good week so far and kind of busy. I had "inservice" day at the preschool yesterday and tomorrow is "meet the teacher" day. My friend LeeAnn (co-teacher) and I have been getting everything ready and I think it is all done! I have 7 children now in my class and it just so happens that each day there are 6 boys and 1 girl. I don't think I will know what to do with myself and all these boys! Ellie will be so excited about starting school next Tuesday, but I haven't really talked about it cause if I do it will be the only thing we talk about! Ellie's teacher asked if I thought she would need to meet her and get used to the room. I told her I thought she would be okay. There will be no tears from that child only sprinting into her room with much joy! Anna might take a few minutes, but she is normally okay. We've had some fun things going on lately such as:

Outside the Camp Leaders Retreat- Every year the student ministry takes the leaders away for a retreat right before school starts. I got to go on Friday night and stay in the bunk room with all the girl leaders. It was so much fun and I kind of felt old as I met the new 6th grade leaders who had graduated last year from Baylor. We have awesome leaders and I am so excited to start my new small group this year. I am joining an existing group of 10th grade girls who have been together since 6th grade. Their current leader just needs a co-leader as she recently got married. It will all start next Wednesday.

80's Skating Party- It was the high school ministries kick-off night. It was super fun and there were some great outfits that everyone put together. I wore many of them during my elementary school years.

Gloria's- Last night we went out with our friends Cory and Jamie to a fun mexican restaurant called Gloria's. I really liked it and I loved the fact that I didn't see one high-chair the whole night. Ellie and there little boy had a great time together. They love to have a sleep over and they actually went to sleep.

Clothes- Our wonderful cousin brought over 3 trash bags full of clothes from her little boy and daughter. I was able to give away all the cute boys clothes to two different friends who are now set for the whole winter. I was so jealous of all their cute gap khaki cargo pants and long-sleeved t-shirts. I have 2 bags full of girls clothes that I am saving for the girls for when they get a little older. We are stuck in our 2t and under clothes! However, they loved playing dress-up in the tinkerbell and snow white costumes.

Lawernce, KS- We are so excited to get away this weekend to visit Mike's parents for Labor Day in Lawrence. The girls will love it. Mike and I are going to the first Jayhawk football game on Saturday night!

Anna- My incredible sleeper woke up early for the first time in forever during her nap today. It was so strange to hear her early as she normally sleeps for a really long time. It just so happened to be on a day where Ellie is taking a nap. They are so different!

I'm off to figure out what to cook for dinner... Hope you are all having a great week!

Highs and Lows....

*The picture above was taken after I wrote this post. Ellie was really quiet after her nap in her room. The crayons were in a pencil bag that has a zipper pretty high up in her closet. I threw those crayons away and I tried to clean up the toy box with no success? Any suggestions? There was also a p.t. disaster in the room, but I won't share a picture! I am so glad we are going out to dinner tonight. We all need a break!

It seems like the girls and I have had lots of these this week. Although, I know that each day with them is precious and a gift from God. We've been kind of busy this week with things to do at night to where Mike has watched them the past couple of nights. I get home and we are just wanting to lay around and watch gymnastics. I'm still wondering if the drama is ever going to end, but I just saw that Nastia is flying home today to DFW! I've been reading in my Beth Moore book about perspective and I have really been challenged to be careful of my thoughts and words. She is teaching on the Psalms and the verse that struck me is:
" I lift my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven." Psalm 123:1. She says "I'd like to suggest that an entire chain reaction begins with our eyes and ultimately affects our hearts, souls, and minds. Where we look-Where we ultimately fasten our gaze amid continual life challenges has a tremendous impact on how we feel. God is worthy of our fixed attention. Everything else will downsize into its proper place when we look to God alone."
I've thought about this a lot this week during this very short season of having two toddlers and feeling stretched in so many directions. It is so easy to feel sorry for myself or make excuses. When I think about this is exactly where God has me and He wants to use me here with Ellie and Anna it makes such a difference. I read a friends blog the other day whose stage of life is just like mine except she is pregnant with her third and her husband is an attorney. He's about to start working really long hours and often times she feels like she is doing a lot of the work. Her desire is to always have a big family (5 kids) and she was saying how easy it would be to say I think 3 is enough, but she knows she would regret not having more children just cause of the current stress level. It really encouraged me to think through this short season and enjoy it. I know it will only get more difficult, but I don't want to let the daily craziness of p.t., naps, working, laundry, crying, tantrums, etc.. bring me down to where I just give in to my attitude. I want to thrive during this season in the highs and lows. I hope you all have a great day!

The Fall.....

It feels cooler here today in Texas and I thought today wow the summer is almost over. All the pools are now closed except for on the weekends and I noticed today that teachers went back to school. It is our last week without student ministry weekly programs. We don't have normal Sunday night program in the summer or small groups. I am looking forward to our normal routine and seeing what it will look like this year as it will be way different than last. We are now in a community group so that is one night a week and we each co-lead a student small group once a week. I am excited to meet my new group this year. I know it will be an awesome opportunity to invest in these girls and learn so much from them.
The BIG change for us will be that I got a job at Ellie's mothers day out program. I had signed her up to go one day a week. I knew that I wanted to get a p.t. job and really had been praying for the right one. I had shared with some of our comm. group girls about this need. The next day I bumped into a friend at the gym who also has her boys at this MDO. She said the director had called her to see if she knew anyone who was looking for a p.t. job. She gave her my name and it worked out perfectly! The other great thing is that they needed one more teacher and my friend who lives in our neighborhood got that job! We will be co-teaching the 2 yr. old class on Tuesday's and Thursday's. The girls will both go for free and I get paid! I am really excited for them as well. I know they will love it. Anna really needs to gain some independence from me as I am her favorite person at all times. I love it, but it can get so exhausting. Ellie is very ready with her backpack and she thinks every school we drive by is "her" school. I know our lives are about to pick up a lot and I hope I can balance it all with a great attitude. We've been so blessed by such an incredible summer and I now think I am ready for the Fall.

Ellie's Birthday

Thanks for making the incredible cake Amy!

What else do you do for an August birthday in Texas?

Ellie loves all of her new presents!

The care bear went everywhere with Ellie

Sweet girls loving their cake

Fun in the bounce house

Fun Cupcakes
The Yummy Cake!

Early Morning Birthday Picture