Stuff

Well, still no baby.....just thought you might be wondering.

Whew....this week has been a beating! All I can figure out is that Sam feels so crummy. She is still complaining that her tummy hurts 3-4 times daily. She has been SO incredibly fussy.....wanting me to hold her and take her to the bathroom......stuff that just isn't like her. On top of that, she has had an especially hard week without Daddy. She is typically all about Daddy when he is here but once he leaves she doesn't really ask about him much. Last night alone she woke up two times yelling for "Daddy."

OH and speaking of last night......I got to be up from 2am until 5am....it was simply fantastic. I don't know what was going on....(except that she doesn't feel good) but she just screamed for like 30 minutes! Once I got her down, Spencer woke up and had no intention of going back to sleep! AAAHHHHHH! Praying tonight will be better!

Aren't they precious!

Sam has her very own live dress up doll!

Poor Maddie! She's such a good sport!

Yesterday I spent some time making squash for Little Man. I am so amazed at how easy it is, how much money we save AND that it is better for him! It really is easy. When I was making food for Sam, I found these little 4oz containers at the dollar store. There were like 10 for a $1 and they have been PERFECT! It is even easier this time around because Josh's grandma gave us a Bullet for Christmas last year! I only put 2 oz in them this time because he won't eat that much at first and then I froze them. I made 20 of these and the squash cost me $4.40. That means I paid $.22 a jar.....not a bad deal! (and NO trip to the store! WOOHOO) They run approximately $.99 a jar at the store.

From this.....

To this......

To this!

Do you see all that blonde hair? It's a little hard to see in this pic but his hair is growing back blonde!

Oh ya....isn't it annoying when you have something in your teeth in public and NO ONE tells you? WELL, it is equally annoying when you make a stupid mistake like putting IX when you should have put IV and no one tells you. If you noticed and said nothing....shame on you!

Picture Overload

We MUST get out of the house today. Sam is getting cabin fever and driving me CRAZY! I don't know what we'll do......maybe the park?

Talked to to my Mom last night and my Grandma is doing MUCH better. Things were getting pretty scary there for a while. They are talking like they will let her go home today.

Just thought I'd share some of the latest pics.

At Mom's Touch this week we did a super cute craft (thanks, Jaclyn). They were family trees. We decorated them with pretty papers, pictures of the fam, buttons, ribbon, etc. CUTE! Anyway, a few mornings ago Sam ran into the kitchen when I was putting my clothes on. I came in and found this.....

This may not look so bad to you but then I saw this......

Yes, that would be all the buttons in her hand! The little stinker had pulled every button off the darn thing!

Little Man

This picture is soooo my serious Sam. Isn't is piercing? If looks could kill she would be in real trouble. I think she gets that from J. ; )

There were several of these......she was "posing" for me! She was cracking me up! She isn't normally such a willing subject!

This is before church on Sunday. We had her all dressed and then J gave her a powdered donut. Turned out like I expected.

Isn't is just the cutest when they find their feet? They are his favorite toy right now....he will not leave them alone.

Isn't he getting ridiculously chunky?

Here is my little monkey. She likes to jump on the bed. AND, the funny thing about this shot is that I caught her watching herself in the mirror while she jumped.

Our beautiful Maddie. Here you see her laying in the "box"...... or so Sami has named it. There is a big hole full of sand where we pulled up the pool. They both LOVE it! They think it is just a huge sandbox for their enjoyment!

In a funk!

So, I am sure you have noticed that my posts are sadly lacking. I don't know what is going on, I am just in a funk. Maybe the cameralessness is keeping my inspiration at bay......I don't know.

We went to Joey & Melissa's yesterday for the Cowboys game.....YAY for the win! Joey videoed Sami's B-day so I downloaded that. Sam and I were watching it today and she was doing all the things she wouldn't do that day........liking the gifts she got, saying thank you (for the gifts), wanting to eat cake, smiling, blowing out the candle, hugging everyone (yes, she was trying to hug my computer, saying, "HUG"! She is so goofy!

I tried to upload a video from the party just so you could see what a not great mood she was in but the darn thing wouldn't load.

The rain is WONDERFUL. I did find out what a sissy Maddie is though. Night before last when it started thundering she started crying.......she ran away from the back door and came over and slept on my side of the bed.....FUNNY! (I seriously don't think she has ever even been on my side of the bed before!) Then, last night it started up again but I didn't know until I was plowed over by a 70 lb mass in my sleep.......NOT funny! She jumped up into our bed and just happened to be right next to me when she decided to do so. Wow......now that was a rude awakening!

Josh finally got all of the pool stuff pulled up......what an ordeal. Sami has a HUGE sandbox right now and she is LOVING that! Of course everything looks pretty silly but hopefully we can get it all looking good again soon. We don't really know what to do with the deck and bushes and stuff but I am sure we will figure something out. It has been SOOOO nice to not have to worry about the pool being back there.

A Weekend of a Thousand Pics

So, this is really late, I realize.....better late than never, right?

Well, we didn't make it to church again on Sunday. This is the second weekend in a row that we haven't been able to go because of sickness. Last weekend it was all of us....this weekend only Sam. Poor thing was going on 2 weeks of this junk. I THINK she is finally over it!

Saturday night was a horrible night....Sam woke up in the middle of the night screaming....only going back to sleep with Daddy rocking her and then woke again at 4:45 but that time it was to stay. Early morning.

We played outside a BUNCH! That is about all that will make her happy when nothing else will. Her and Maddie have really become buds.....it is really cool.

Mom & Dad got her skates for her birthday so after her nap we went out and let her skate for the first time. It was pretty cute.

As most of you know, the Cowboys played so we had to put Sami's cheerleader outfit on. We went to my grandparents to watch the game but left at 1/2 time because of fussy babies. It worked out fine though because Josh wasn't even willing to watch the end of the game he was so irritated. Stinkin' Cowboys!

Josh left for Oklahoma yesterday so lots of traveling for him this week.

Our 12 year old niece was baptized last night......it was AWESOME! Mom kept the kids so I could actually enjoy myself.....thanks Mom, you rock! It was wonderful to see her dedicate her life to the Lord.

Here you can see Sam's new "seat". Isn't Maddie the best?

Isn't Little Man getting big? TIME FLIES!

Here is here first skate!



Oh, I just had to share this one. How perfect that I got that sibling love shot. She picks on him.....isn't that nice!

Here is our beautiful dog!



Oh, and once again....a wonderful dog. She likes to dig in Sam's sandbox (which of course Sam thinks is sooo cool) to get to cool sand, lay down and cool off. BUT, once she lays down she is fair game. Poor girl.....Sam throws sand on her....and not just anywhere, but in her face.....isn't that mean? But Maddie just chills. If she gets irritated enough she will just get up and walk off.

These pictures are just funny. The first one she was saying, "Maddie eat". She is in a stage where she has to copy EVERYTHING so here she is eating, watching Maddie eat. And the second one is just a perfect snapshot of my dramatic daughter.

Here is Little Man. I put him in the swing while she was playing....I guess he enjoyed it.

And here are the cutest pictures ever. Isn't he precious?

Here is a before & after of Sam & I. I know you can't really see her hair in the after of Sam so I put some more up.

(I told you I took a ton.....of course this was only a VERY small helping)

Party Preparations

4:30.....that's what time I got up this morning! Little Man woke up hungry and then Sam came in about 5:15! UGH! Guess God is just giving me more time to get things done!

It's now been 7 days and can I tell you life is just different without a camera! I still can't find the darn thing! Seriously I think I have lost 1/2 of my brain since getting prego with Sami. There have been sooo many photo ops and NO camera! I have used my camera phone and the still shot on my video camera to catch a couple of things but it isn't the same! I might go crazy if I don't find it soon!

Maddie(the dog) is AWESOME! In fact, she is Sami's new "seat"! She has THE best temperament. She is wonderful with the kiddos and doesn't even try to snatch table food or dig through the trash. The only complaint I have is that she likes to pull when you take her for a walk.

It feels funny to blog without pics......hopefully that won't last too long.

Well, this week has been pretty crazy getting ready for Sam's party on Saturday. I did get a nice surprise in the middle of the week though. I was pretty much stressing out about getting everything done but Josh took Sam to Oklahoma with him Wednesday and they got home yesterday. He has been wanting to take us up there to meet his customers and since it would work out for both of us for her to go, he took her! We were both nervous but she did great! Josh has become good friends with one of his customers and occasionally stays at his house when he travels. He has a 5 year old little boy so Josh thought it would be fun to stay the night there! Apparently Sami had a blast! She went on her first 4-wheeler ride (which she would not have been able to do if I had been there). It was so sweet when she got home and her face lit up when she saw me!

Oh, cool huh! Right there, over there, up there......these are just a few of her newest phrases! I know I have said this a thousand times but she is FUNNY! I have never had any one thing/person make me soooo happy and soooo mad! It's amazing what kids can do to you!

I have been baking and mixing and mixing and mixing the past couple of days preparing the cake for Sam's party. I will let you know how it turns out once I finish today once I am done decorating.

The Divine Switcharoo

We have a HUGE praise! It has been so amazing watching God work this out. We found a home for Foxy and have also found a new member for our family, Maddie.


At the beginning of the week I had someone contact me about adopting Foxy. (and this was the first inquiry that wasn't a scam....weird, I know) After a long exchange of e-mails we both felt comfortable with Foxy making her new home with her. She is a student at UNT and lives in an apartment......Foxy is an excellent apartment dog. She has another small dog so Foxy will have a friend to play with. We will be taking her tomorrow to drop her off. Oh my goodness this is going to be so hard but I feel soooo blessed that we were able to find her a good home where I know she will be loved and treated like a part of the family.

After finding Foxy a home I felt OK with looking for a new dog. BUT I am picky and didn't expect to find anything for quite some time. While we would have adopted from a rescue we didn't really want to. Our ideal situation was to find someone who had to give up their beloved pet for one reason or another. I wanted them to have had small children so we would know their temperament. Usually if you are able to find this situation they will give you all of their belongings which is a big deal for us because we have NO large dog stuff and that can be a fairly large expense. I knew it was going to be next to impossible to find this but we wanted to make a wise decision and this was what we felt would work out best for us. We also were really wanting to find a Golden Retriever because of their reputation with children, though I was quite nervous about the hair.

God has worked things out more perfectly than I could have planned!

While looking on Petfinder I found a classified for a golden/lab mix that sounded like the perfect dog for our family.

Maddie is a FANTASTIC family dog. Great with kids (even with my daughter when she was an infant) of all ages, and loves to be indoors. She is house trained, and is past the chewing/digging stage. Sadly, my husband received orders and we cannot take her on this move. She would do great with either elderly as an "inside" dog, or with a family with children. She thrives off of lots of attention, as she's in a home with a SAHM right now. Will accept any good homes, she must go soon, we move in the next few months. She will come with all of her things, including an Igloo and a travel kennel. Make me an offer!

I just knew she was going to be gone. I e-mailed the owner and lo and behold she was still available! Come to find out they have a little girl only a month younger than Samara and they had the dog while she was an an infant! This seemed too good to be true. BUT, they live in Abilene and I had no idea when we would have a chance to get there! I talked to Josh about it and guess what.....he was coming home through Abilene from his trip this week!!!! Seriously???? God most certainly heard all of the prayers for us! Thank you! It was so cool to tell Maddie's mommy that this was an answer to prayers and her e-mail back saying, "Praise the Lord, this is an answer to prayers for us as well!"

We are so excited! (and sad about Foxy). Josh is on his way home with Maddie right now so I will let you know how it is in a day or two!