Friday, March 26, 2010

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

Today was my youngest son's birthday. He is 8 years old now. Hard to believe he is growing up.

Jacob is a smart boy. He has a kindness about him that touches my heart. He is so polite, and always tries to do the right thing. He loves his video games LOL, what 8 year old doesn't?! Jacob is imaginative and silly :) I hope he knows I've been thinking about him all day, and wishing he has had the best birthday ever!

I love you, Jacob!! Happy Birthday, sweet boy!!



This is the hospital picture taken just before we brought him home.









xoxox~

Thursday, March 18, 2010

New pics

I just wanted to add a few new pics of my little "ray-a" sunshine. We had a fun weekend at the park. We LOVE LOVE LOVE our dog, no matter how silly he is (he really needs to be trained, and we are working on that). And just a couple of random wildlife pics.


Raia, and at the park:

Jack-in-the-box Raia!

My pig-tailed cutie :)

I was underneath this big thing she was climbing on at the park, peeking at her through a large step.

A couple of kids use this park and the surrounding woods to shoot their air soft guns. There are TONS of these little plastic ammo balls all over the ground, in all different colors. She was showing me a white one she had picked up. "Great!" I say..."Another thing for you to put in your mouth and swallow!" Ugh!! It was a cute picture though, she was so proud! And Granny, Nana, Doc, and Gran-Gran, don't worry! We never stay if those boys are in sight!!

Going down the slide!


**One thing I LOVE about living here is that all of the neighborhoods, or "villages" as they are referred to here, have several different parks, all within walking distance from your home. Another little PERK of living in our little bubble here in Texas :)

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Gibson:

Spoken in my best Gibson voice, "Mmmm! KONG time!! Treats!! Now leave me aloooone!!" --A KONG is a special toy you can put treats into (Gibson loves treats AND peanut butter in his!), and *"it will periodically release food or treats. The resulting rewards ensure longer enriching playtimes." [It] "will engage and stimulate your dog, while reducing boredom, destructive behaviors, and separation anxiety." *From the KONG website.-- If you don't have one for your dog, you should get one...they are awesome! They even make them for cats!

Raia just loves Gibson...they are buddies :)


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Random Wildlife:

This cute little guy comes at night and eats the cat food on the back porch :( As animal lovers, we just let he and his two raccoon buddies come and go as they please, as long as they keep the peace with the cats. And oddly, the cats don't even seem to be bothered by them, we have even seen them eat together out of two bowls side by side.

While we were at the park, this HUGE bird flew out of the tree above us and took off. I just got the camera in time to snap a pic. This is a cropped version of the original.

And this is uncropped. There were two really big nests in two different trees right there in the park. It was so neat to see it so close!



Thanks for checking in :)


Until next time.....

xoxox~

Monday, March 15, 2010

So sorry I didn't get this post up over the weekend as promised. Raia has been sick, and now I am getting it too. I usually have time to post late at night after she is asleep, but the past couple of nights she hardly slept.

There is lots going on in my/our lives right now. First, and most importantly, Sunday before last I rededicated my life to Christ! I went to the front of the church with Nathan and my sweet friends Cathy and Tammy by my side, and told the pastor that I was ready to rededicate my life. We all bowed our heads and prayed, then a lady took me and Nathan to a room to talk more. It was great! I can tell you though, it has been so hard. I have felt Satan trying to pull me down and make life hard for me. At night, before I put Raia to bed, I rock her, and we say our prayers. Really, she just says the "Dear God" part with me, and then I pray out loud and she is usually asleep within minutes. That is a time when I feel a calm wash over me and I feel completely at peace. I have been doing a lot of reading in the Bible, and I got a few books from another friend, Jenn, one called 'The Relationship Principles of Jesus' by Tom Holladay. I wanted to read that one in particular, to learn how to strengthen my relationship with Nathan, and with God. I am learning so much, it's amazing :) I am so excited about this journey! I am sad that we didn't get to go to church yesterday because Raia was sick. It would have been her first time to go and be in a Sunday school class. But, there is next Sunday! And the Sunday after...and so on! On March 26th and 27th, Nathan and I are attending a parenting conference at the church. We will learn how to raise our child the way God wants us to, I think it will be neat :) I've never been to anything like this, so I am really excited! While we are there, Raia will be in the child care classes with other kids her age. It will be good for her, and for us!

Next, I wanted to let you guys know that Raia is now sleeping in her own bed!! Today is actually 2 weeks that she has slept in her own bed (with the exception of last night since she was sick, I couldn't get her to sleep after 2 hours of trying, so I let her sleep with me). Her little bed is next to mine, and she usually sleeps in it until the wee hours of the morning, 4 or 5 am, and then she comes and crawls into my bed. Nathan has cleaned out her room, and has finished laying the carpet down, so it is only a matter of time before she is in her own room *sigh*. As much as I wanted this, it will be sad that I won't have my little cuddle bug to snuggle up with. She's growing up so fast!


Believe it or not, these pics were taken in the dark. The flash on this camera works!



Next, and this is a doozie.....we are going to Hawaii. A once in a lifetime opportunity for us. Nathan's job is taking him there to work for a week, so his airfare and hotel room and most of the food is covered. He gets 3 days off to spend enjoying Hawaii, and they encouraged him to bring his family along, as most of the other guys do, so YAY! We are going to Hawaii in April for about 8 or 9 days. I am scared to death to fly for 8+ hours with a 2 year old, so if anyone has any tips on that, I'm all ears! There are no overnight flights (we checked); that would have been nice. That way we could have all slept most of the way.

Well, I think that's about all I have for now. Thanks for checking in! I will leave you with a few more pics of Raia, she is such a cutie pie!


Pigtails!!!




This last one is Raia helping me feed Gibson. She helps every day. She just loves that dog! I took pictures of the whole process, and was going to do a blog post about it, but I never got around to it :( Maybe you will see this picture again (you know, now that I have officially made myself feel guilty for not posting about it LOL!).

xoxox~

Friday, March 12, 2010

Please stay tuned...

Sorry I have not put up a post in a few weeks. I promise to do so this weekend! I have lots to write about, I just need to find a time when I can type it all out - it will probably take me a while! Good things are happening in my life...our lives, and I couldn't be more excited! We are all fine, happy and healthy :)

Thanks for checking in, even though I didn't give you much to read today!

xoxox~