Pray

I found this link from someone's blog and I read there story today. A family who needs peace and has encouraged me greatly today.

www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com

And then there was ONE.....!

You can tell we've had a couple of exciting days. Mike said I could not blog about KU till it was over! We are so excited and shocked. There was much yelling, frustration, joy, nerves, etc... in our house tonight! We really did expect the Kansas "Choke", but it didn't happen! Maybe, cause the curse of Roy has been lifted. You can tell we were at the Final Four on Saturday. We saw KU destroy UNC. It was awesome and we had to go once we found out it was KU/UNC. It was only 4 hours from us so we had to go! More soon! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

THE PAUL MITCHELL SCHOOL OF COSMETOLOGY...

So I went to get my haircut today and decided to try a little something new. I heard a rumor that I could go and pay way less than I normally pay (10 bucks) and have someone in training cut my hair. Sounded like a great idea, and it really worked out good. My coworker David Penuel tried to talk me out of it, but my hair student did a great job today (Thanks Maria) and I got a great deal...Here's a couple pictures of her and her instructor...Mike

KU VS UNC...

Enjoy...our trip to the Final Four! ROCK CHALK!

A quiet night....

Well, I'm just catching up on A.I. while Mike went to a late movie with a friend. I love it that he's watching whatever guy movie without me. He rarely gets to do this, but has somewhat of a slow day tomorrow. I can't say I have a total favorite this year on A.I., but I guess it would be Brooke White. I love her voice and she seems so normal. It has been a crazy past couple of days. The girls both have colds and just don't feel that great. We haven't been able to get out like we normally do which leads to Ellie being crazy. She tends to just walk around all day looking for something to knock over or pull down from a shelf etc....My patience has been stretched which leads me back to "I can't do this on my own". I have to rely on Christ all day. Tonight, we had our community group and it has been so encouraging to walk through life with one other couple. We are a "small" group and are thankful to meet with them twice a month. The other great thing is in a month or so they will live about 6 houses down from us. They are renovating a home in our neighborhood and we are so excited to have them so close!
Mimi and G-daddy (Mike's parents) came to visit us over the weekend. They had not been here since December so we were excited to see them. We had a great time watching basketball. It is now Mike's dream game. Can you believe both of his favorite teams are playing each other! He picked Kansas over UNC. He will always pull for the Jayhawks over the Tar Heels, but the great thing is we are for sure going to be cheering for one of our teams in the national championship game! We are so pumped for Saturday! We took the kids to the Dallas Zoo on Saturday. They loved it. We've been to the the Ft. Worth Zoo, but it is much further and the kids do not know a difference. I really liked the Dallas one. Mimi bought us a family membership so now we can go whenever we want! Yea! Our girls both love it and it is nice to be outside all day. We are so thankful for our parents/grandparents!
I will post some pictures soon from our weekend. I hope you all are having a great week!

Changing my world....

We got a double jogger! I am so excited and have already used it almost every day. We had been looking for one forever on Craig's List. I wanted a good one cause I've heard pretty bad things about the cheap ones. The one we got is similar to the "Bob". It is a Kool Stop and originally they sell for $450 and we got it for super cheap. The lady selling it had used it about 3 times. The tread on the tires was not even worn at all. I tried it out at her house and then went to our local Bike/Running store to see if they had any used ones and they had a Kool Stop new one for $469 so I knew it would be good. It is really light of course so are our kids, but it is really not hard to push or turn at all. It helps on the days when it is nice outside and I don't want to drive to the gym. Anyways, I recommend it for those with two!

Easter Pics...

Our second family picture of 2008!

Mike looking handsome and Anna so cute!

Ellie on the way to church

Ellie quickly found out there was candy in the eggs!

Happy Easter and more...

We are back to the blogging world after a weeks vacation. I've enjoyed catching up on all your lives! We celebrated Jesus this morning at Watermark. It was a great celebration and then we went to a brunch/egg hunt at a friend's house. Ellie was all over finding all of the eggs and especially loved finding out that many of them had candy. We just got home from a short trip to Arkansas to stay at one of our timeshares. It was a great trip and I think I'll leave you our "Top Ten" of the week!
1.)One of our students from Raleigh came to visit us for the week. She is an awesome girl who will be transferring from Wake Tech to UNC-Wilmington in the fall. She picked a great college don't you think?
2.)Spending time with Mike and the kids w/o cell phone, internet, laundry, etc..I would have said T.V., but it is March so you know it has not turned off.
3.) Ellie playing her first mini-golf game. She loved it and preferred it over the playground. She "played" all 18 holes.
4.) My children sleeping till 9:30 everyday. We put them in the bathroom(it was really big) and it had no windows. They had no idea what time it was!
5.) Reading the book "Same Kind of a Different Me". It is set in Dallas and is a true story. It is sooooo good. You can find it at Barnes and Noble or the library.
6.) Anna is officially walking! She's been taking steps forever. However, she now walks more than crawls so I guess we have a toddler.
7.) I love to see the joy in March on Mike's face when UNC and KU win. He also is very happy when Duke loses.
8.) Our timeshare was in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas. We loved it cause it was so nice to be out of the city. It was in the mountains on a lake. It was so nice to see deer and drive on the winding AR roads. We almost floated away with all the rain we got in one day. I think it was like 8 inches. It was crazy, but so much fun.
9.) We got to see our good friend Sean from college. He is one of Mike's best friends and they live in MO. He drove down for a day and spent the night. We enjoyed eating mexican food with him. He and Mike always loved going out for mexican.
10.) Happy Easter... I was reminded again today of the hope of Jesus. How could we ever do this life without Him? It would all be so complicated, but with Jesus I have such peace and know that no matter what my hope will never be destroyed.

Blogging Break....

Well, it is spring break here like it probably is everywhere. I am going to be on a blogging break for the next week. Mike is taking off work and we have a friend visiting from NC. She was one of our students at WellSpring and is now in college. She wanted to come visit for her spring break. It was her first flight etc... really fun that she is here. Our girls are totally in love with her. It is so cute how someone new really adds some excitement to our house. Church was amazing this morning and a message that I totally recommend listening to sometime. A pastor at our church spoke on pain and suffering. His son was diagnosed with leukemia last summer while his wife was pregnant with their fourth child. His son is only four years old. He really spoke well on what to do with our pain and just when we don't get what God is doing in the midst of it. He did an amazing job and I know it related to everyone in the room in some sort of way. I don't think it is up yet on the web, but will be by tomorrow. Check out:
www.watermarkradio.com
I hope you all can reflect on this passion week about the incredible hope we have in Jesus!

DTown Commercial

We recently had Dtown (DNow) and the "sponsor" for the weekend was deodorant. There are some other really funny videos on youtube. However, I thought this one was so funny especially with Baby Penuel!

Nice day, Girls Night, and Baby...

It is a beautiful sunny day here and we have been able to spend so much more time outside. We play in the front yard a lot. I can sit on the porch and the girls can run around in the grass. We see the neighbors and lots of people walking outside. I know in just a few short months it will be to hot to do this during the day.

Last night was a girls night and we had so much fun! It has been on the calendar for 2 weeks or so and the timing was perfect cause I really needed a break from the kids and be with adults! I got to go out with Julia Morrison (aka old seminary friend) they go to Watermark and her husband finishes up seminary in May. We are also friends with 2 other couples that the Morrison's told us about and Mike works with them. It was so great and Mike got to hang out with David. They took the girls out for dinner and Anna actually fell asleep at their apartment so we ended up being that their place till after 11. It was so fun to spend time with them.

Anna's favorite word and her first word was "baby". She says it all the time and it is so cute. I am now a nanny PT for a sweet baby that comes to our house a few days a week. It has been a really great job and the girls have done really well with her. Anna loves to make her smile and Ellie likes to give her the paci. She reminds me she's a big girl and doesn't need a Paci. It is really nice to be a paci-free home. I do not miss looking for that thing! Anyways, I hope you all have a great day and that you get to enjoy nice weather!

Our not so snowy day....

Ellie and her favorite friend next door!

Anna looking cold!

Love this picture!

Sweet Anna

A picture to frame

Mom, Is this all the snow?

Well, we only got a 1/2 inch of snow and it has already melted. However, so many other places near us got tons of snow. Oh well, I did get some great pics this morning at 7:30 A.M.. I don't think I've ever been out this early to play in the snow!

Read this blog...

Hi friends and I hope you are all having a good Friday. We got 1/2 inch of snow and it was such a disappointment cause 15 minutes from us got 3 inches and an hour from us they got 8 inches. Oh well, I will post some fun pics when we were outside this morning at 7:30 A.M.. Wow, I've never been out that early to play in the snow. Anyways, for a good laugh today you need to go check out my friend Cassie's blog. Mike and I both LOL last night cause we so relate to the last picture. Go to our links and click on
The Oake's! Enjoy your day

SNOW!

Yea!!!! I am so excited... we love snow and lots of it which is a problem here in TX. However, I just saw on the news that we could get 3-5 inches. I'm pretty sure we will have winter weather coverage from now to midnight on our local channels. They might take a break for AI results show. I will be relaxing now at home enjoying it before it melts. Have a great afternoon.
*I think E is taking a nap!

Nap Struggles...

I have a quick question for my blogging friends... so we took Ellie's paci away about a month ago. She did really well at first and there were no problems with her going to bed at night. However, the last week or so she will not take a nap. She seems sort of tired, but not like she used to be when she was younger. She used to miss maybe one nap a month where she was just not tired and she would sleep for 2-3 hours. Lately, she just talks, laughs, plays, etc... I cannot get her to calm down. We replaced the paci with a little stuffed animal cause she is all about something to hold onto while asleep. I put her down and she never really screams to get out for atleast 45 minutes so I do get some quiet time, but I miss my 2-3 hours of solitude. I go in lay her back down and go through the whole night night routine. I discipline her probably 3 times during our battle of the nap. She is wired just like her daddy and could stay up until midnight if we would let her. However, I know she is tired cause the past couple of nights we've gotten in the car to go somewhere for the evening and she falls asleep in like 5 minutes. Any advice for my non-napping toddler?!!! I would watch out by saying my toddler naps so well cause I used to say that and now look where we are at these days!

Celebrate Recovery

Celebrate Recovery from Steve V on Vimeo.

Here's a video my friend Steve from church made to share with our body what Celebrate Recovery is doing in the lives of believers here at Watermark...

"No more night night"

Ellie has been not so easy as she was about taking her nap after we took the paci away. She still will crash almost every day. It just takes a lot longer for her to fall asleep. It seems like I never know how I will find her at the end of nap time. She is really into taking off some of her clothes and has even taught Anna how to do it. Anna always takes off her pajama bottoms in the morning. She loves to leave us a "wet" surprise which is not so fun!

Pretty Funny Clip from Student MInistries...

You'll want to watch this video we made; we took American Idol footage and put one of our students in it. There's a post on our youtube page by someone who actually thinks it's real...

Good Morning!

It has been a good morning so far. The girls slept until 8 and so did I. Mike left really early this morning (6:00) and it was so quiet in our house. It is raining outside and we have Hillsong United playing on Itunes. You must listen to their new song "Saviour King". It is so good and I actually love any of their songs. Ellie even likes singing a few in the car now granted they are normally the ones that have the words "fire fall down" in them or "take it all"! We have Building Blocks this morning which is kind of like MOPS at our church. It is only once a month and it should be great! I hope you have a blessed morning and can slow down some to enjoy it.

Dress Up!

I'm not so little anymore. Check out my tummy?
Ellie loves to wear her costume and big girl flip flops (Thanks cousin Lauren)!

Ellie picked a bikini top and snow hat for Anna

The girls love to play dress up these days. We have a drawer full of swimsuits, hats, big shoes, etc... It is the one "girly" thing that Ellie loves to do and Anna loves to watch her. It has provided lots of entertainment these days. I think I am lucky that Ellie never "insists" on wearing her costume outside of the house!

Ellie and Anna on Vday!

We tried for a "sister picture" again and they are so hard to get a good one. However, I love their expressions in these pictures. We had a good Valentine's day even though the girls had no clue. Ellie picked out a Spiderman valentine chocolate that she thoroughly enjoyed. We had a great day.
* I just got back from the gym and I normally just do the treadmill. However, I am noticing that I need to tone up some. I went to a class called Core Central. OUCH! It was really good though and I think I might go again on Friday. I am so clueless on the step moves. I look like so uncoordinated, but oh well. We're off to the library this afternoon. Have a great day!

Blog-Slackers...

Mike and I just were talking about how we haven't blogged much this week. We have been busy and exhausted by the end of each day.  We had something almost every night of the week until Thursday. However, we've had a nice relaxing weekend. I thought I'd randomly post what we've been up to this week.....

* Our VW died. It got towed to the VW dealership in Richardson. It has been there since last Friday. It is now going on 8 days. We are not looking forward to this bill. We've loved our Passat, but it may be on its last days?

* My mom is in town and we have worked a ton on our house. She has painted the girls room (pink) and a wall of our "formal"living area. It looks so much better. We also organized all the closets, hung pictures, etc...I will post pictures of the girls room soon.

* Ellie went to the ped. dentist to get her tooth pulled. Read a previous post for details. She was so brave and I was so proud of her. She was given a baby valium pill to make her loopy. It really didn't do much. She screamed the most during the shot they gave her to numb the area. It only took about 5 minutes for them to do the extraction. She now has no front tooth and I can't get an artificial one until her 2 year molars come out. I was also informed on this day that she couldn't suck anything for three days. The dentist said no sippy cup, straw, or PACI! It really was the worst day in Ellie's life. She was traumatized by the extraction and now she couldn't have her paci. It was probably a good thing caused it forced us to get rid of the paci. Ellie was quite an addict. She had one in her mouth and one in her hand while she slept. She loved her paci from birth. She has done really well with giving it up and has taken her nap the past 2 days!

* Anna is teething like no other child I have ever been around. I basically cannot put her down all day except to sleep without her crying. She is becoming a mama's girl to the extreme. We think she is cutting all four molars. Oh my goodness I can't believe how bad it is for her. Last night I was up with her for 2 hours. She never wakes up in the middle of the night. We are giving her motrin and teething tablets. I don't know if it is helping, but I am really ready for my normal Anna! Any advice from my blogging friends?

*Mike and I got to go to a really fun restaurant with our friends the Liggit's. It was called Asian Mint. It is right by Watermark for all of our Dallas readers. We are not sushi fans, but we loved the Lo Mein and Cashew Chicken. Yummy! We had a great time with them. They are about to move into our neighborhood and we are so excited to be in a community group with them.

* My senior girls small group celebrated Valentine's Day together at a fun restaurant. I have really enjoyed getting to know these girls and wish they weren't Seniors. 

* I went to the gym 4 times this week! Mike has also been working out this week!

*We are really into American Idol and Survivor this season. I really like a lot of the contestants on AI. I like the 16 yr. old boy a lot. I think his name is David. He's awesome and I know all the girls are going to like him.

I'm sorry to write so many random things, but I haven't uploaded any pictures to post. Have a blessed Sunday!

Unbelievable Video...

Thanks Wes :)

Ellie's trip to the dentist....

Well, little Ellie survived her trip to the pediatric dentist. I would highly recommend you all to take your children to a ped. one! We got there and Nemo was playing on their t.v. which was a big hit with Ellie. They actually had an indoor play area there as well. We did not have to wait to long and they called Ellie back to see the dentist. I had to wait in the waiting area... I was expecting this cause my friend Sarah who is a dentist said when parents come back it ruins everything for the dentist. I heard Ellie scream a couple of times. Actually, it was more of a terror scream for mommy. However, I told them to do whatever they needed to get an x-ray cause I was concerned about her front tooth. It has a little chip and a line going through it with one side of it kind of a gray tint. They had "cars" playing for Ellie above her dental chair. They hygenist held her for her xray picture. I don't know if they were being honest, but they said she did really well. She wouldn't let them brush her teeth, but she did enjoy brushing her teeth for them. She also got a flouride treatment. The bad news is that Ellie's tooth is fractured. We were at chick fil a about 5 months ago and she got hurt there. Her lip was bleeding and I guess she actually fractured her tooth. It is hard to explain, but she also damaged the nerves. They now have to REMOVE her tooth. I like the word REMOVE much better than EXTRACT. The dentist said if we don't have it removed she could get an infection and the tooth is also moving around. I can't believe it has not fallen out as many suckers as she has eaten. I know all of my mom friends are wondering how they will get it out without her going crazy. They prescribed her a pill of "valium" which I have to give her one hour before the procedure. It will make her sleepy and out of it. When they do the procedure they will give her nitrous oxcide etc.. and it should not be to big of a deal. I immediately thought so she isn't going to have a front tooth. It is the one on top as well. They do make an artificial one they can glue in place of her missing one. However, she still doesn't have her 4 molars and the dentist said we might have to wait awhile. She said many people never get an artificial one cause of cost. However, cause Ellie has been so slow on getting many of her teeth. She said that she could be really slow on losing her teeth. I think I am going to have to get her the artificial tooth. I would feel so bad for her if in every picture she is missing her front tooth. Please, pray it all goes well. Also, if anyone has any experience in this stuff let me know. The good thing is when we left Ellie said " Go again". She loved her stickers and toy they gave her. It is never to early to go to the dentist! I was going to let Steph and Jenn know that Ellie now has a treatment plan!

Fun Blog Header!

I know many of you have commented that you like our new blog header! We love it and are so thankful for our friends for making it for us. The Penuel's have started a logo/blog header business. David can design anything and is so talented at anything creative. He is the middle school director at our church. He would love to make any of you a blog header and they are only $10! Check out their website for all the details (loudmouthlogos.com). I just added them as a link as well!

Routine!

Well, life is back to normal this week and I can say that it does make it so much easier with the kids. We are back to Bible Study this morning which is great for me! We are studying Galatians and 1/2 Thessalonians. I am really excited cause Mike told me he is going to the men's study at 6:30 in the morning which will be great cause we will be studying the same thing. Our church all studies the same thing and we also have a website that sends you daily Bible readings, questions etc... to go along with our weekly large group study. Anyone can sign up for it so if you are looking for something to study daily check out www.jointhejourney.org . The girls love getting to play with their friends at church and I love the time with other ladies! Anna went to the doctor yesterday for her 1 yr. appointment. It is such an experience to take both kids to the doctor. It would go so much better if the Dr. was in a hurry! We survived with 3 suckers and a few stickers. Anna got 4 shots and I found out she is cutting 4 molars which explains the fussiness. She weighed a whopping 15 lb. 15 oz. She is smaller than Ellie was at 1 by a few ounces. However, she is on the growth chart for height! She is at a really fun stage and is just about to walk. The girls are now sharing a room together every night. It works out really well. Anna goes to bed first, but Ellie knows that she can't cry anymore when we put her to bed! She loves having Anna in the room with her. I can picture them in a few years in bunk beds or a trundle. I am really glad that they are close in age for the reason that they will always have a playmate etc....It is neat to think that they will probably share a room for the next 17 years! Tomorrow, I am taking Ellie to the dentist for the first time. I wouldn't take her so early , but I think she has a chipped tooth. Has anyone taken their 2 yr. old to the dentist? It is a pediatric clinic so that should help. I hope you are all doing well and walking in the grace of Christ. It has been so evident to me lately and I am so thankful for my Savior. This is a recent picture of Anna from her 1st birthday. She was not very smiley cause she was not feeling well.

Costa Rica Slideshow

Here's a quick slideshow summing up the AMAZING trip we went on to Costa Rica!

Happy Birthday Anna!

Anna's First Days...
Anna looking cute!
Anna's 1st Birthday!

Wow! How time flies and Anna is 1! It seems like just yesterday that we were driving to the hospital in Raleigh. She was born at 8 A.M. and it was a relatively easy labor (as easy as it can be...)! She is such a sweet little girl who has brought so much joy to our lives. She has been our easy sleeper and has yet to ever fight us on it. She loves to play with toys and be outside. She is much more of a "dare-devil" than Ellie and is not afraid of much. We celebrated her birthday tonight as a family. We are having a little party for her next week when my parents are in town. We took the girls to Maggiano's and to Build a Bear. We've never been there, but it was really fun. Ellie made Anna a little bear. We had a great night in spite of them both not feeling that great. I am so thankful for our girls and their daddy who loves us so much!

Quick Pics of Costa Rica...

Wanted to get some pics up while we're here; more will come when we get back :)

Our crib in Costa Rica...

Three more days till we will be here......

We leave tomorrow morning at 7 A.M. for our flight to ATL to drop the kids off.This could be insane, but we are actually flying to Birmingham and driving to ATL cause we have a friend who works for Southwest and she got us good tickets. We fly out Saturday morning for C.R.. We are so excited and I think I've accomplished almost everything on my list. Wow! What a task it is to get 4 people ready for a trip especially one on an airplane. Please, pray everything goes smoothly. We really don't want to have a crazy can you believe this happened experience on this trip. More in a week with pictures from C.R..




Many people have seen this little guy from their bedroom...

We will probably spend some time here

The pool at our villa and a great view

Taking a break.....

I don't have much to write about today. I have no pictures it is kind of a sad bloggy day! Anna is much better and of course I got her bug. It was a miserable 24 hours. We are all feeling better now and I'm just taking a break from the busyness of this week.
Ellie and I normally take a break about this time of the morning. Anna is down for her morning nap and Ellie is watching Wonder Pets (super cute show!). It seems like the morning time is a sprint to get everything done before Anna's nap. We have to eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, start laundry, put away breakfast, etc...all in about 1 1/2 hours. Somewhere in there I get ready and this morning was a good one cause I got ready before the kids got up!
Anyways, we leave for Costa Rica on Thursday. We are dropping the kids off in GA at my parents house and then we fly out on Saturday morning for Costa Rica. I have my list made of things to do this week and I'm maybe half way there. We are so excited and I can almost feel the warm sun and sand on my feet. Mike is fulfilling his last duty this morning after staff meeting for winning the trip. He has to jump in the pond in front of our church and completely submerge himself. I'm glad I am not him cause it is super cold outside today. However, everyone who entered the game for a chance to win the trip also has to get in the pond today as well.
Ellie and Anna are doing awesome. Anna turns one on February 1st. I still have to plan that party. She has changed so much in the past month or so. She's standing alone and wants to take steps. However, she is so fast at crawling that she prefers to get around that way. She has said mama, baby, and ball. She is super happy except when I leave the room and loves to play with Ellie.
Ellie is talking so much and it is really nice to be able to communicate so well. I tell Mike that there are so many days that I don't think her hands or mouth have stopped moving all day. She is into pulling stuff out of drawers, cabinets, etc...She is so sweet and loves to cuddle with us. She has been into books a lot lately and likes for us to read to her as much as we can. She has a children's Bible, but she prefers the adult Bible. We read random verses in all different books cause she turns the pages so quickly. She loves to play games and dance. Her current favorites are Hokey Pokey, London Bridges, and Wheels on the Bus.
Well, I should get back to the list. I hope you all have a blessed day.

Poor Anna....

Well, it has been quite a day so far. We got up and got ready to go to the gym. Anna did not eat much breakfast and was kind of fussy. I thought she might just be teething or something.... She was still fussy when I dropped her off in childcare, but she normally stops crying once I leave. I do my workout and go get dressed in my jeans etc.... I pick up Anna and she is still not very happy. I pick her up and she throws up everywhere. It went all over her and me(so much for clean clothes). I have never seen a baby throw-up that much. It was so gross and all over me, Anna, and the kids club floor. I felt so bad for the workers. I'm trying to get Ellie to leave and get to the car quickly, but of course she is wanting to look the swimming pool, etc.. Anna was asleep within the first 5 minutes in the car. I think she has a virus. I'm just hoping it does not make it rounds through the rest of us! She seems better after a long nap. We'll see what the rest of the day holds and to think I was so motivated to get lots of things done today! Oh, well there is always tomorrow.....

Ski Trip 2007

If you've got a few minutes, sit back, and enjoy our high school student's ski trip that we just went on; very fun video!

Christmas 07!

Anna's first Christmas

Thanks for all of our presents! Grandparents are great!

All the children at our staff Christmas party got these cute jackets.

Sweet Sisters

Anna kind of liked Santa Clause. Ellie not so much!

Our first attempt at a Christmas picture!
We finally put these pictures on our computer. It was a wonderful Christmas and so different from any other. We were in Dallas the whole time with visits before and after with family. However, we are so glad we were not traveling through the airport around this time of year with two little ones. We really enjoyed spending time together and worshiping at Watermark on Christmas Eve. Have a great Monday!