A Little Photo walk down Memory Lane

My sister made this sweet video when the boys were born

FOUR YEARS AGO

today.

Happy Birthday Brody and Dylan!

You are the apple of my eye!

Call the movers and packers!

Because we are MOVING!

After 6+ years here in Abilene, we are moving to

Conway, Arkansas!



Michael has accepted a preaching position at a church in Conway.

We are really excited about this.

Which is a new thing for me.

I. don't. do. change.

However, I surrendered to this calling and Him (and it is SO HARD to do this)

and have been pleasantly surprised by the great amount of peace that I have had.

Merry Christmas 2011

Sharon from Redbud Designs worked her magic and made a precious card!

JEERS AND CHEERS of 2011

So excited to be typing from a new year!

I am HOPEFULLY aniticipating the PROMISES of 2012.

(more on that later)

time for 2011 JEERS and CHEERS!

Early in 2011 I deemed this the year of the LOSS. While we had many great memories, LOSS continued to be a prevailing theme of the year.

1. JEER/CHEER- My precious MeeMaw was called home. Her fragile body had fought a long hard fight with her cancer. At 91, she was no longer going to be suffering and no longer be in pain. It is also hard to experince loss through your children. As I right this, it has almost been a year and it is still a tender spot.

2. CHEER- a SNOWcation! We had a TON of snow fall this past winter. So much SNOW and ICE that we had 4 days of school! It was awesome to be at home. This snowstorm came right as we were returning from being in Houston for MeeMaw's funeral. Having those days at home to be still and KNOW was a precious part of my grieving.

3. CHEER-Brody and Dylan turn 3! A LEGO PARTY for 2 BIG BOYS!

4. CHEER- BOTH boys are potty trained! Potty Party!

5. JEER- I am still not feeling well after a year of blood work and medications. Meds for thyroid leave me feeling not so good. On to another Doctor!

6. CHEER- Another FUN Spring Break in Houston!

We always make a stop at the Houston Zoo and invite the rest of the city to join us! It's crazy, but my secret parking spot remains a secret!

The boys had been REALLY wanting to go to the beach! So we went down to Galveston Beach, did a fun trip to Moody Gardens and saw Dora and Diego 4D, and of course a dinner a the Rainforest Cafe! VOLCANO!

7. CHEER/JEER- Easter was so pretty...until the tornado rolled through and we didn't get to hunt eggs. Instead we crammed into the Laundry Room and watched movies on the laptop!

Cheese!

and then real life happens...

8. JEER- Saw a new endocrinologist. This was a JEER in my side. ugh.

9. CHEER- SPORTS! They boys played WeeBall in the Spring, Soccer in the Fall, and Gymnastics through out the year. We also went to every EAGLES game each Friday Night! They boys LOVE Friday Night Football!!!

Of course they had the greatest coach around!

10. CHEER-Road TRIPS!

We made a couple of trips to the beach.

We also made a few trips to Sea World. I love going to San Antonio! Even though its been over 20 years since I lived there, it still feels like one of my homes.

11. JEER- We had another sweet goodbye. Zeke's tumors took over. Debbie Riggs of Pure Photography came and captured these treasured moments in Zeke's last day. He was a good dog and we miss him a lot. With all the loss this year the boys and I have discussed death and Heaven a lot.

12. JEER- My Grandaddy's altziheimers had progressed to a point where he needed to move to a facility equip to assist him. In a quick month, he went from being at the house when we came to see him to not really knowing who we are. He enjoys our visits, but doesn't truly know we are his family. It was another discussion the boys and I continue to have as they don't understand why he's not there when we go to GG's house. (which is a lot since GG lives where my new Doctor is)

Muffin, their dog also had to be put down. I found Muffin with Grandaddy one summer right before I went to ACU. So we had another hard discussion to have with the boys about why Muffin isn't at GG's House.

12. JEER/CHEER- In August, I switched to another endocrinologist in the big city. He's AMAZING! I am so thankful for finding him. He was able to give me a diagnosis of what had been happening over the last 3 years. I actually have quite a few things and we haven't really tackled the fertility, yet. But this day in August was when I began to feel a little better.

I have a series of autoimmune diseases.

I have a "syndrome" and a "deficiency."

I had to morn the loss of my old "normal" which will never be the same.

I am remaining HOPEFUL that a new normal will still allow me to be a great mother and wife.

I am HOPEFUL that the sister the boys pray for, ask about, and I greatly have been waiting on will be a possibility soon.

Happy New Year!

Ready, set, Go 2012!

I'm ready for a year of great promises!

Summer Countdown

Say it ain't soooooo.

School is starting.

soon.

like real soon.

boo!

This summer has been great! The boys are at a stage now where they can go and do so much more, they play on their own (Hallelujah chorus,) and have such fun personalities!

Swimming

Baseball

the Beach

Family

Sweet dreams to all the kids and teachers starting school tomorrow.

Ready, set, GOOOOOO!

Zeke and Me

Last night Michael and I sobbed our way through Marley & Me.

I kind of have this rule about not watching movies where dogs die. I don't like sobbing my eyes out even if it is a great movie. I just rather do without.

This movie is like a page torn from my life.

How many times have I been Jennifer Aniston (I mean we look like twins!) waiting at the door for Daddy to come home; holding my breath after getting the kids down for a nap; loving the gift of motherhood, but wondering what happened to the me I knew...

I totally related to Luke as I too just had a big milestone birthday (13 is AWESOME!)

and wondering about the paths not taken....

And I totally get Marley.

Zeke is not as destructive as Marley, but close. He has chewed through a BBQ pit, countless toys left in the backyard, fences, wooden post, digs holes big enough to see China, and tears up my plants.

Zeke has been with us through almost all of our milestones.

He joined our family shortly after Michael and I bought our 1st house.

He evacuated with us when RITA was headed our way.

He moved with us here to A town.

He was there when we found out about our 2 little boys on the way.

He moved with us again.

He has enjoyed snow for the first time.

He has befriended the boys and Brody and him have a special relationship.

And he is sick.

Cancer.

And I think we have one of those goodbyes coming.

Hopefully, not too soon.

Zeke and Me.

5 days a Week

The boys have been growing like weeds.

This past Sunday I went to grab the linen pants that I just bought at Easter.

Pants no more...Capris.

After the sweet cries of my little boys saying that their underwear were tight we went to pick out some 4Ts.

We walked by the girls' underwear first and Brody liked the ones with monkeys, of course.

After explaining that the pack he just picked up was for girls and showed him the boy monkey underwear, I discovered an injustice!

For $9.99 you can get:

a. 7 pairs of girls' panties

b. 5 pairs of boys' underwear

Not sure why the underwear makers of America think little boys go commando 2 days/week.

But, every pack of underwear I have bought the boys only has 5 pairs.

I then checked all the boys' underwear displayed- 5 undies for 9.99; and walked down to the girls' section (where I never go) and saw all these 7 packs!

Weird.

So that's why if you peer over the fence, my little boys are sporting the natural look.

Target said so.

*Note: I went online to get pictures of the underwear we saw...Target sells Boys' 7 pks online. I guess you can get 7 pairs! But only if you pay shipping. Ha!