Happy Valentine's Day!

A tradition started by my parents continues on in our family.  For Valentine's Day I made a coupon book for the boys.  This is Barrett's first year to get one (last year he was too young).  This year they each get 2 coupons....one for a date with Daddy and one for a date with Mommy!  I know they'll both be excited...and they'll want to use their coupons ASAP!

Last Thursday was their Valentine's party at school.  Barrett came home from his party on a sugar high!  Check out his plate....(1 big cupcake, 1 small cupcake, 2 cookies, some goldfish, and a Capri Sun!)

Brody's teacher was a little more conservative in the sugar...she let them pick one cookie :)

 

We're going to celebrate Valentine's Day as a family tonight.  Ghost Runners (Mike's softball team) has a double header.  He's gonna win a game for me tonight as a V-day present ;)  It's gonna be a beautiful day today...so it'll be an awesome night to sit outside and watch some ball!  I'm such a blessed girl!

June's gonna be fun!!!

I have finally been given the go ahead to post the good news about the new babies in our family.  Mike and I are going to have not 1, not 2, but THREE new babies added to our extended family in June this year!!!!  This is a post that will tell you how we found out about each of the new additions to our family.

Mark & Angela

Mark and Angela use email as their preferred method of sharing good news.  I think it's because then they can tell everyone at once!  On October 25, 2010 Angela, Ann, and I had been emailing back and forth about our upcoming trip to Canton.  We were all super excited about the trip!  That morning Angela sent us an email talking about the trip.  She concluded the email with, "It's going to be fun...well mostly ;)"  I was a little confused about why it would only be "mostly fun" until I scrolled down and under "Love, A" was a ticker.  It was a ticker that said she was 7.5 weeks pg!  I knew they had been trying to get pregnant and was sooooooo excited for them!  I immediately called Angela and found out that she'd been suffering from really bad all-day sickness (which was why she said the trip would be "mostly fun").  Ann and I had fun in Canton with a pregnant Angela.  She wore anti-nausea bands on her wrists (they looked like sweat bands for exercising) and was always snacking on something.  I think we stopped at every vendor in Canton that was giving away free food samples! 

Fast forward to January 18th.  The all-day sickness is now just a fading memory and it's the day of the big sonogram.  Everyone is praying that the baby is healthy and that they're able to find out the gender!  Their appointment was at 10 am and when we hadn't heard anything by 1:30 pm I was starting to worry!!  I talked with Ann (who assured me they were probably just getting lunch after the appt) and waited until almost 2 pm before texting Mark to see if they were still at the dr's office.  He replied, "Angela's about to send an email and that's all I'm allowed to say."  So I sat there anxiously waiting  for the email!  Finally it came.  The baby is healthy!  Praise the Lord!  They were also able find out the gender.  The email said, "Now, I suppose everyone is wondering about the sex...and you all know what I have been saying this child was since the beginning [she'd been saying girl]. Mark and I are undecided on whether or not we should tell everyone just yet or just make you wait until the baby is born. :) I will tell you this for now...attached is a picture of the outfit we purchased after we found out this morning. You do the math :)" 

 

YAY!!!!  A girl!  We're super excited for them!  Brody was over the moon that it's a girl.  (He's been dying for someone in our family to have a baby girl!)  I found out yesterday that they've decided on a name. 

Laney Kaye is due June 10, 2011

Here's a cute picture of her sweet, little feet from their last sonogram.  (She didn't cooperate for a good profile picture.)  I'm gonna be kissing these little feet in a few months!

The doctor is wanting to do the c-section at 37 weeks, however, Mark and Angela are hoping to make it to 38 weeks.  So even though she's due in June, she'll most likely be born at the end of May.  I can't wait!!!

Tyler & Ann

Little did Angela and I know that Ann was also pregnant on our trip to Canton!  Tyler had given her strict instructions NOT to tell me...he wanted them to be able to tell all of our family together!  I think this was pretty hard for her since we talk on a daily basis!  In fact, she gave me clues which made me believe that they had NOT gotten pregnant that month! We found out later that the reason she insisted on pushing our Canton cart all day was so that she could sneak bites of all the snacks Angela brought with us.  She too suffered from morning sickness.

On November 13th Tyler and Ann had our family, Daddy Steve & Namaw, and Caleb & Audria over for dinner.  After we arrived I was standing in the kitchen talking to Ann.  I was telling her how much I was enjoying Jennifer's series that I'd downloaded online.  She knew that I was talking about a teacher from their church, but Daddy Steve (who was standing nearby) thought we were talking about Jennifer Lopez!  lol  Mid sentence I looked up and noticed there was a new picture on their mantle.  I looked a little closer and saw this...

 

I just looked at Ann and said, "Is that what I think it is?!?!?!?"  She just nodded with a big grin...and then I started screaming and jumping up and down!  Then we were hugging and jumping up and down!  Daddy Steve stood there looking TOTALLY confused!  I told him and Namaw to just go look at the fireplace...then they finally got it and were super excited.  Daddy Steve started laughing and said, "I thought y'all were talking about J Lo and couldn't figure out why y'all were excitedly screaming about her!" lol  Mike and Tyler were back in the Foosball table room (now baby's room) and when Mike heard my screaming he turned to Tyler and said, "Well...I guess congratulations are in order!  Staci would only be screaming like that if she just found out Ann was pregnant!"  He knows me so well ;)

Fast forward to February 7th.  The morning sickness is now in the past for Ann.  The sonogram (to see if the baby's healthy...and hopefully tell the gender) was originally scheduled for February 1st...but then we had a massive winter storm which closed the doctor's office for the rest of the week.  Thankfully they were able to get their appointment scheduled for Monday morning.  As soon as their appointment was over Tyler sent out a text...."We're having a BOY!"  Here's a picture from their sonogram at 19 weeks...

Tyler and Ann's baby doesn't have a name yet, however, I'm pretty sure it won't be Hortense (like GG suggested)!  I can't wait to hold and kiss on this sweet, little boy!

Baby H is due July 1, 2011

Caleb & Audria 

 

Even though their baby isn't due last...we found out about Caleb and Audria's pregnancy last.  It was Christmas Day. Our boys had just been spoiled by numerous presents from everyone. We'd been talking about how Ann (the pregnant girl at the party) was feeling a lot that morning and even had a little gift for their Baby H.  After the gifts had been opened, Caleb stood up like he was going to get something and said, "We have one more present.....but you'll have to wait a few months for it....because it's in Audria's tummy!" Aaaaaaaaaaa! Can you imagine all the screams of joy that went up throughout the room?!? We were so excited for them! We were even more excited when we found out that Audria was almost 15 weeks pregnant and was actually due 9 days before Ann (ironic because Audria is exactly 9 days older than Ann!)

It's fun to think back about all the times we'd been together in the past few months where they had a secret (that they were pg) and we had NO CLUE!  Halloween Party, Thanksgiving, Tyler's Birthday, Tyler & Ann's "announcement dinner"!  I have no idea how they were able to keep it a secret for so long!  They said that they were wanting to wait and tell us once they found out the gender, but they knew they wouldn't be able to keep it hidden while vacationing with the family in Red River.  Audria had a lot of all-day sickness.  She was on meds to help with the nausea and still struggled to make it through the day.  I can't even tell you how excited all of us were for them!  (In another note, it sure makes the waiting go by faster for all of us when we don't find out about the pregnancy until almost 1/2 way through! lol)

The Monday after we got back from New Mexico, Audria had a sonogram and they told her they could tell the gender of the baby. They weren't expecting to find out at that doctor's appointment (their big sonogram wasn't supposed to be until the end of January).  Since Caleb wasn't with her, she had them write it down and put it in an envelope for her to open with Caleb. He called us after work that night and let us know that they are going to have a SON! So exciting! I just love little boys :) 

Baby H is due June 22, 2011

Here's a cute picture of my nephew.  It's from a 3D sonogram they had when Audria was 19 weeks.  Isn't he so cute!  I can't wait to hold him!!!

 

I can't help but think about how fun it would be if our adoption came to fruition this summer and God also blessed our family with a precious little one!  No matter what he has in store...I'll be getting a baby fix come June!  Yay!!!!

Be Bop a Lula

As you know, the boys love to listen to Daddy Steve play guitar and sing.  As a result, they get some of the funniest songs stuck in their heads!  Instead of singing Old McDonald...Barrett randomly bursts out in songs like Baby It's You and Be Bop a Lula.  It's hilarious when we're walking down the aisle at the grocery store and my 2 year old starts singing Be Bop a Lula at the top of his lungs!  Barrett is our singer.  He's singing all the time!  I told Daddy Steve that as soon as he's big enough to strum a guitar...Daddy Steve needs to start giving him lessons.  I think he'd love it! 

Here's a video I captured this morning of him singing...

Barrett's Post-op Appointment

Today was Barrett's post-op appointment with the pediatric opthamologist.  We have been noticing that his left eye is now tracking out sometimes (rather than in), however, we were hoping that it was just the eye adjusting to it's new position. I was expecting Dr. P to tell me I was overanalyzing and that we needed to just wait for the eye to keep healing.  Instead he reafirrmed that indeed the eye is tracking out some of the time now, however, it's too early to determine if another surgery is needed. When they tested his vision, his left eye is noticibly worse than his right eye.  He kept trying to move the nurse's hand away when she covered his left eye so that he could see the picture more clearly.

For the next 6 weeks we have to go back to patching (UGH!) 2 hours a day and he has to keep wearing his glasses. On March 25th we go back and they'll dilate his eyes and re-evaluate. Dr. P thought he'd probably be prescribing him a different lens for his glasses. I'm not sure if we'll just do patching and glasses for another year before we find out about surgery or what. We'll have to wait until the end of March to find out. Right now the Dr. said that we need to let his eyes continue healing and he said that they are healing well. We can tell that his left eye is still working (at least when the right eye is patched).  When he was wearing his patch last night he was running around the house dribbling the basketball and didn't seem to have any problems seeing the ball or where he was going, so that's good. 

The appointment was a little bit of a downer because it told us that the surgery wasn't 100% effective this time around.  Please keep praying for the healing of Barrett's eyes!

Super Bowl 2011

Last night was the Super Bowl!  I know at least one person who was excited...

Chuck and Lou Ann invited all of us over to their house for the Super Bowl this year.  Brody and Barrett looked forward to it for the past week!  Anytime the word "Super Bowl" was spoken on TV Barrett shouted to me, "THEY JUST SAID SUPER BOWL!!!!!"  Brody asked me daily how many hours and it was until the Super Bowl (probably because he knew how many days)...and by Friday he was asking me, "How many seconds is it until the Super Bowl?"  lol! 

Each year we have a complex competition during the Super Bowl.  Not only do we pick point spreads, we have to answer lots of other questions (like "What will the temp be at kick off?  Who will score the first passing touchdown?  What will the first commercial be about?" etc)  I won the first 2 quarters, but Billy edged me out for the overall prize by one point!  The trophy was awarded to him by the 2010 champion, Chuck.

Brody and Barrett took turns holding the prized trophy.  (Barrett even smiles his cheesy smile when someone else is having their picture taken!)

 

We missed Kyle, Susie, & Kent last night.  Caleb was also MIA, but we got picture updates from him as he was actually AT the Super Bowl!  He didn't have seats in the stadium, instead he was given a ticket where they got to stand outside the stadium and watch the game on big screens!  (Crazy that you have to pay to do that! lol)  From the pictures it looks like he had fun...and he can say he was at Super Bowl 2011 at Cowboys Stadium!

We had so much fun last night...but ate WAY too much food!  I think all the sugar the boys had was a shock to their system.  Barrett was up several times during the night.  Of course, they're out to the world right now and I need to get them up so we can go to the gym.  I can't skip today after all we ate last night!!!

I love my boys!

 

The Faces of Brody

While Barrett was crying about being cold, Brody was eating snow.  He loved being outside and never once complained about being cold!

He also talked my ear off about everything snow related.  This picture cracks me up!  When he saw it he said, "Do you remember what I was saying?"

 

 

The Faces of Barrett

I took the boys outside to play before dinner last night.  After a while Barrett slowed down and then he started getting cold.

He whinned a little...

and told me that he was cold...

but he looked so cute that I just kept taking pictures!

 

I know what you're thinking (Mike would've said these very words if he had been standing by us), "Stop taking pictures and hold him!"  I could hear Mike's words in my head, so I finally put the camera down and held him. 

This made Barrett happy again!

He even put on his cheesy smile for the camera...

 

and gave me his "I'm ready to take on the world" look!

 

Grooming the Snow

 

Snow Ice Cream

1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup white sugar
1 gallon snow

In a large bowl, combine evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla and sugar until smooth. Gradually stir in snow until mixture reaches desired consistency. Scoop into bowl and top with chocolate syrup.  Yummmmm!!!

Fun in the Texas SNOW!

FINALLY...we have a FUN form of winter precipitation in Texas!!!  It's been icy all week (and still is under the snow), so we were super excited to wake up to white powder this morning!  There's 3 or so inches of snow sitting on top of the 1-2 inches of ice.  It looks gorgeous outside!  It's warmer today that it's been all week (it's in the 20's), so we've been able to go outside and play!  What a fun day! 

I know I said that I'd post a video of the boys when they woke up and saw the snow...but it's pretty anti climatic.  I was so excited to see their excitement...but I think they were still half asleep when they got out of bed.  I told them to go look out the window when they came into the kitchen this morning.  They walked to the window and stood there just staring...not saying anything.  I asked if they saw the snow and they just nodded their heads and smiled.  Maybe they hadn't found their voices yet!  Brody finally said, "I knew it was gonna snow."  (He's pretty all knowing right now.  I can't begin to imagine what it'll be like when he's an all knowing teenager! lol)

The boys decided to slide down the hill on their bottom as we headed to the forest behind Daddy Steve and Namaw's house.

 

Mike held on to Namaw as she tried to walk down the hill.  It's a good thing!  She's slid several times, but Mike was able to keep her from falling.  What's even more amazing is that he didn't spill a drop of the coffee in his hand in the process!  (The same can't be said for me.  As we were walking through the woods I was holding his coffee so he could hold Barrett and I bit it!  I stained a good portion of the snow with his fresh coffee...but at least I didn't get it on my camera!)

I went on the hike too :)

 

Brody wanted to climb the vines that grow up one of the trees behind Daddy Steve & Namaw's house.  It was much harder to climb with ice and snow on them!

After hiking around for a while,  headed to Daddy Steve and Namaw's house.  The boys decided it was a good time to wrestle!

Then they wanted to ride their bikes in the snow!  That didn't last very long.  They had a hard time peddling through the snow covered driveway!

 

So they got out the sled.  Mike ran around the circle drive pulling Brody.  He'd pull him fast and then spin around until Brody fell off laughing!

Barrett couldn't hold on to the sled very well, so Daddy Steve got out the recycle bin.  Rather than push him in it, he just ran around the driveway carrying Barrett! lol

Namaw had a better idea for Barrett...

Before long Brody was begging to go sled on the hill.  By this time other neighborhood kids began arriving with sleds in tow. 

 

Even I took a turn sledding down the hill!  If you click on this picture and look at the dad on the right you'll see the Texas version of snow boots (non hiking/snow vacationing Texans).  They seemed to work well in the snow...not so sure they would've helped Chad in the ice though.

When we got back to Daddy Steve & Namaw's house we got out the bubbles.  My friend, Sapphire, told me that if you blow bubbles outside when the temps are negative then the bubbles freeze.  We weren't close to 0 today, but since it was below freezing we decided to give it a try.  They didn't freeze in bubble form, but they did pop and fall as snowflakes!  Pretty cool!

Namaw decided to take the boys inside to warm up for a while, so Daddy Steve, Mike, and I climbed in the Jeep and ventured out to the grocery store.  I think Daddy Steve was really excited to go on a trip.  Since they only have 2wd vehicles, they've been stuck at home since Monday night!

The grocery store parking lot was almost as dangerous as it was when I went on Wednesday.  It's still covered with ice, only now there's snow over it too.  People were slipping and sliding all over the place!  We saw several people bite it really hard.  Thankfully none of them were seriously hurt.  I felt really bad for the one guy that Mike stopped the Jeep to help get up.  He'd just come out of the Starbucks by the grocery store and spilled a lot of his venti coffe all over himself when he fell (flat on his back)!  I don't know what I felt worse for him about...falling or spilling a precious cup of Starbucks!

On the way home we stopped in front of one of the local churches...one who forgot to turn off their fountain before the ice storm hit!

 

Dad couldn't help himself.  He asked me to video him spoofing that lady who fell into a fountain at a mall when she was texting while walking...


The boys are taking naps now and the sun is starting to peek out. I bet Brody doesn't sleep very long because after naps he wants to go sledding again!  Yipee!