~Four Moore's~

who will be visitor #14,000???

2010-08-31T19:34:00.001-07:00

I promise to update with new pictures and stories soon (b/c I have so many just waiting to tell...specifically back to school for my sweet baby girl or I should say Kindergartner!!!) But I just noticed that my blog counter is at 13, 991!!! So, I wondered who would be blog visitor #14,000?!?!? So anyone that visits between now and then...leave a comment with what number you were just for fun! I did this back at like 8,000 or something and my friend Meredith won (it was a HUGE prize too...a big pat on her back from herself!!!) hehe.

Anyways, just for fun...do it! ;)

sweeties....

2010-06-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

storytime...

2010-06-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

Asher had a date with three of his little girlfriends (ages ranging from 2 weeks to 4 years old!!!) We met my friend Sarah and three of her girls at storytime yesterday morning. It was a lot of fun. Asher and I had never been without Lynzi, but we really enjoyed our time together! Then we had a drive-thru lunch date on the way home! Asher and I really enjoyed this time together since Lynzi has been in summer school. It was quite an adjustment for him at first, since he's never not had Lynzi to play with! I didn't think about it that Lynzi had 3 years of practice playing alone, so she's really good at it. But after 20 minutes or so...Asher is ready to play with somebody, so needless to say we've done a lot of playing together the last few weeks! It was a good glimpse at what life without Lynzi will be like once she starts school in the fall. We did miss having her around all day, but we enjoyed our Mommy/Asher time. Here are a few pictures from storytime (none of them are great [again] b/c he was on the go from station to station they had set up, so i had to snap while he was sitting still in the "car wash" for a minute!) His friend is Gabrielle. One of the books they read was about a car wash, so they had a "car wash" set up made out of cardboard with streamers hanging down for the brushes and bubbles for soap and a box of cars and trucks for washing!!! This was their favorite station...

school's out...

2010-06-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of Lynzi's summer school and she is not happy that it's over! She L-O-V-E-D every minute of summer school and she is so ready to start "real/official" kindergarten! She already misses her teacher (and it's only been over for an hour and 1/2!) She started praying a few nights ago that Mrs. Doyle would be her teacher when kindergarten starts in August! We really loved her and she LOVED Lynzi too...so we're all hoping that we get her in the fall!

~Lynzi and her first school teacher Mrs. Doyle~

Asher...

2010-06-21T13:15:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pics of my sweet little man at 28 months old...2 1/2 is creeping up on us scarily fast! Everyone keeps telling me how big boy he is starting to look (and I don't like hearing it one bit!!!) But he's just as precious and HILARIOUS as ever!!! Love this boy...

Father's Day...

2010-06-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

We had a great Father's Day spoiling the sweet daddy that God blessed my babies with...and being thankful for their precious PawPaw, Poppy and great grandpas too!!! We are so grateful for the phenomenal men that God put into our lives...such an incredible blessing!

My little family woke up to the smell of freshly baked banana bread and all mosied out of bed and into the kitchen for a slice before getting ready for church. Then we headed to church for an amazing sermon about "The Blessed Man". It was wonderful and they gave each man a huge beef jerky stick! They also had steak giveaways in church...hilarious, but what man doesn't want steak!?!?

Speaking of steak, I think we joined about 94% of the American population in grilling steaks yesterday for lunch, along with corn on the cob, homemade sweet potato fries and fresh strawberry pie! That put everyone to sleep while I cleaned up and got to my 3rd round of cooking for the day. I was in charge of snack for life group yesterday, so I made a veggie pizza (crescent rolls covered with cream cheese/ranch mixture and piled high with fresh veggies...yum) and another batch of banana bread.

After everyone's naps...we gave Daddy his Father's Day presents! I printed and framed each of the kid's pictures for his office and we also got him a nice watch

Then we headed out to Life Group and had a great time of fellowship and studying the book "Crazy Love"! We are all really enjoying this book!!!

Here are the only pics I took yesterday. None of them are fabulous, but at least I got something! Nobody is even smiling in the daddy/kids pic...but we were short on time, so I just went with it! And Asher's pic is super blurry, but since I'm posting Lynzi's...I'll post his too! He's still cute...blurry or not! :)

~my sweet bunch...even though they're not smiling~

~Lynzi on our way to church~

~incredibly blurry, but incredibly cute~

modeling clay...

2010-06-16T06:08:00.000-07:00

Isaiah 64:8 "Yet, oh Lord, You are our father. We are the clay, You are the potter. We are all the work of Your hand." (NIV)

Remember that modeling clay that was on our Kindergarten school suppy list that was in a box with four different colored rectangular molds, hard as a rock and covered with that crinkly plastic wrap??? And as an excited Kindergartner, we couldn't wait to get our hands on all of our cool new school supplies, then FINALLY we got to open that box of modeling clay and we were surprised (because up to that point, we're used to gooey and soft play-dough) and slightly disappointed at how hard it was and impossible to use. But once we held it in our little kindergarten-sized hands for a while, it started getting soft and usable and we could create our very best and coolest kindergarten creation!

When we fully turn ourselves over to God (the potter), we are hard like modeling clay. He holds us in the palm of His hand and warms us up while He gets ready to use us. Once we're pliable enough, he begins to form us and make us into what He wants us to be. Sometimes He'll have to stretch us and it might hurt a little, but in the end we'll be a beautiful creation designed by God (worth more than anything to Him!)

Thank you, Lord, for taking the time to hold us and make and mold us into Your perfect creation...(and warming us up and comforting us before you begin to stretch us)!

Just a little thought He placed in my heart...

tooth fairy and tee tee...

2010-06-08T23:42:00.001-07:00

Lynzi lost baby tooth #2 tonight (well, technically it's already tomorrow...so i should say yesterday evening.) It was literally hanging by a string and she did not want us to touch it. Ryan tugged on it a little bit a few days ago and she said it hurt, so she has been very skittish about us getting close to it since then! This evening we were playing in the backyard and she sat on the hammock with me and I saw it just dangling around when she smiled at me, so I asked her to just let me feel it. She very calmly agreed, as long as I wouldn't twist it...i barely put my finger on it and gently wiggled it once and it came out without her even knowing it! She had to ask, "Did it come out?!?!" So I'm expecting a visit from the tooth fairy anytime now! Here are a few pics of...I can't say her missing teeth b/c she already had half grown adult teeth coming in behind the baby teeth (how weird is that for a 5 year old to have adult teeth...what?!?!) Anyways...

...and BIG ASHER NEWS...he sat on the potty and went tee tee this evening before his bath!!! YAY for Asher. I just casually told him to sit on the potty before he got in, like normal. But normally, he gets up before he really goes. But he actually went this time and we were so happy! I scooped him up and we did a potty dance and got a potty treat (m&m)!!! He's gone potty before, but lately he's been so disinterested...hopefully this will get him motivated. Even sister got a potty treat b/c she's been encouraging him to go. I've even found her hoisting him up on the big potty a few times...such a helpful big sister (either that or she just really wants her candy....hehe!) Either way works for me, as long as he is going. He has been completely uninterested in pull ups or big boy undies. Every morning I tell him to go get his undies and he says, "Noooo....biper(diaper)!" Then I'll tell him to get his pull up and even show him the cars on them and talk them up real exciting-like....."NOOOOO....biper!" (with 'biper' in hand!) We'll see how tomorrow goes....

Also, as a sidenote...I've noticed that a lot of people question the word "tee tee". I've come to the conclusion that possibly it is a Texas word??? Let me know if you aren't from Texas and you are familiar with it. Just wondering...

And you'll probably notice the lack of Asher pics lately! He is so hard to catch on camera right now. He's too fast and he knows when I want his picture and that's when he darts! I'm still chasing him though and I'll catch him and get a great one SOON! :)

and so it begins...

2010-05-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

...the school years! So bittersweet! I think I've been just as excited as Lynzi this week, but at the same time I really just want to keep her right under my wing all day...like it's always been! But change means growth and growth is good (right??? right.) She was the first one in her classroom this morning and her teacher had all the students' name tags spread out on a table where they walked in. So the teacher asked her to find hers and after Lynzi looked a second, she picked up the one that said "Lynzie" and she did not hesitate to tell her teacher (in her sweet way, of course) that her name didn't have an 'E'! The teacher made a new one for her and Lynzi found her seat and she was pleased that the name tag on her desk area was already spelled right! Once she sat down, she was ready to get busy. I asked her if I could take a picture of her with the teacher and she said, "No...I just want to stay in my seat!" Once she was settled, we headed out. I was ready to pull up a chair and hang out all day...would've totally made me happy, but I guess that kind of goes against protocol! So out the door we went. Ryan got in his car to head to work and Asher and I in our car to go run some errands. Just me and Asher. We were going to Wal-Mart and as we pulled out of the school parking lot, I could not remember a time that just Asher and I went to a store together since he was about 3 months old!!! Crazy, huh?!?! Even crazier is that we were done with our errands and back home by 9:00 am! As soon as we walked back in the house and I saw a couple little messy piles of toys that Lynzi had left lying around...I instantly missed her! I wished that she was sitting there playing in the middle of the mess, but she wasn't. She was loving every minute of school, learning and playing and having so much fun! We waited in a huge line to pick her up from school this afternoon. I had the windows down and was way back in the line when she spotted me from the sidewalk! I saw her pointing and could hear her shout, "MOMMY!" Ahhh....sweet music to my ears! She started telling me all about it before she even got in the van! She loved every bit of it, but her favorite part was recess (she got to go 2 times!) And she was happy to announce that she ate ALL of her lunch..."even the thing that wraps around the corn dog" (meaning the batter...she doesn't really like anything fried, so we never have corn dogs at home and the few times she's had them out...she's not a fan of the outside of the corn dog, so she just eats the weenie inside, but not today! I suppose it's because she's a big Kindergartner now!) She can't wait to go back tomorrow!

~cutest kindergartner that kindergarten has ever seen~

~sporting a sweet smile (minus one tooth)~

~daddy and his baby girl~

~crazy kiddos~

~waiting for the doors to open~

~her first school buddy~

~Ms. Doyle putting on the "new" nametag~

~ready to get to work~

~cute desk~

~mommy and her big girl~

~Asher enjoying his first solo trip to WalMart with Mommy~

Preschool Graduation...

2010-05-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

Wow...I never could have prepared myself for just how proud I would be tonight! The graduation ceremony was adorable. And Lynzi was just too cute! She had so much fun and I just couldn't stop smiling the entire time. I don't think I could have been more proud, even if she had been on that stage for two master's degrees! She was awesome! They started the "pomp and circumstance" and the tiny little preschoolers started filing in, sporting their precious grad caps and proud grins! When Lynzi came around the corner...she was boasting the most beautiful smile anticipating getting on that grand stage! After they all filed on the risers, the director told us that they were going to sing two songs and Lynzi quickly realized that she was lined up directly in front of a microphone and that made her so giddy....she tapped her friend next to her and excitedly pointed to the mic and they both put their fists up to their mouths and just shrieked with excitement! She sang her heart out and did the most animated motions you could imagine! Then they had each individual class come down and say their memory verse. Lynzi's class verse was Philippians 4:13. Then the director called out their names individually and they walked across the stage to get their diplomas! I told her afterward that if my heart had been anymore happy...it definitely would have burst! I got there early enough that the very front row, right in the center was open...but by the end, it was packed out. So, I'm glad we got great seats! Uncle Nate and Aunt Sarah came also and she was really glad for them to be there! There was a reception following the ceremony with graduation cakes and juice boxes!!! Haha...fun stuff!

On our way home, we stopped by her school to see which class she will go to tomorrow. They posted the class lists on the doors today. There are teachers from 2 schools teaching this summer, so we were really glad to see that she got a teacher that is from her school. She is READY. She picked out her outfit, complete with bow and flip flops today and her backpack is packed! She is ready to rock her first day of school! Definitely more pics (and probably tears) to come tomorrow...

~her old classroom~

~sittin 'n grinnin~

where's lynzi?

~Proverbs 4:13~

~diploma~

~graduated~

~Proud Grad~

~cute grad with cute cake~

~C-A-K-E~

~Uncle Nate and Aunt Sarah~

~Grad Buddies...Lynzi and Gideon~

~Proud Brother~

~Little Buddies...Asher and Adelle (Gideon's sister)~

~Lynzi found her class list~

big days ahead...

2010-05-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

I got a new layout today for my blog, but I'm not sure I like it just yet. I'll probably just have to get used to it.

So, a big few days ahead with lots of photo-opps! Tonight Lynzi has her graduation from the preschool department at church! It will be so much fun, including cap and gown ceremony and cake and juice boxes afterwards! The preschool department at church is called "The Zoo" and it is amazing. Lynzi will miss it, I know...because when she moves up on Sunday there will be no more beloved "playland"!!! That's okay...she'll do great with the transition, I'm sure!

Then tomorrow she starts her first day of Kindergarten Summer School! We got a call today from the school's automated message service, giving us all the details for in the morning. We're all excited about it. Well, I'm not sure how excited Asher will be to leave his Sissy at school and come home to just me and him! They are such great play buddies and I don't think he is going to like it very much! We'll see.

Plenty of photos to come in the next few days.....

she lost it...

2010-05-24T13:26:00.001-07:00

...and the tooth fairy paid her a cute little visit!!!

(don't ya just love the morning hair!?!?!?)

:)

Loose teeth, Kindergarten, ya know...big girl stuff!!!

2010-05-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

My oh my...I don't even want to do this post, but for memory's sake, I know I have to!

So....I don't even know where to start with this girl of mine, she's just getting TOO big! She just turned five and she already has 2 loose teeth...WHAT?!?!? I know...crazy! She had talked about loose teeth a few times over the last couple weeks, but I really didn't pay all that much attention to it because we had been at my parent's house and she had been hanging out with her cousin Jaym, who is 8 and has lots of loose and missing teeth. So I just assumed she was talking "big girl talk" and pretending she had a loose tooth, b/c it's not like her teeth were REALLY loose...she JUST turned 5!!! Ummm...WRONG! So I was fixing her hair in the bathroom the other day and she smiled at me in the mirror and I saw this gap in her bottom teeth that hasn't been there before. It looked like she already lost a tooth, but after looking closely...it was her two bottom middle teeth that were loose, so they were leaning on each other (Lynzi said they were "hugging") and it made a space on the outside of them that wasn't there before! And even crazier...she already has 2 teeth popped through the gums right behind them! I absolutely could not believe it. It didn't seem right, so I immediately called the dentist to see if this could possibly be somewhat normal and they said the normal "shedding" age for the first teeth are 6-7, but she could just be at the very early side of that. They pulled her x-rays from her last visit and said in fact that those teeth were close to the surface back in February, so they could come out anytime and it should be fine! So I came to terms that it was okay and took some pictures of her sweet, almost snaggly smile (b/c who knows how many more pictures I'll be able to take with all her baby teeth intact!)

And yet another big girl thing...Kindergarten "Summer School":
Our school district offers a free "summer school" program to all kids K-12, including those entering Kindergarten in the fall. The kindergarten program basically focuses on routines and transitions, as well as Kindergarten concepts, so they are better prepared when they actually start school in the fall (and free lunch, wow...can't beat that!) Our neighbor across the street teaches first grade at the school where Lynzi will attend and she said she highly recommends it, especially for Kindergartners (and more especially for those who have never been in a school setting, like preschool...which Lynzi has not.) She said by the end of it, they really "know the ropes" and are ahead of the game when Kindergarten starts in the fall and they are much more comfortable since they know what to expect and most of the time become leaders and helpers to the other kids, who didn't go to summer school (which Lynzi would no doubt do regardless, summer school or not!) The schedule is a little more intense than we expected it would be, but Lynzi begged us to let her do it...so she starts next week! My baby is going to school for the first time....and with 2 loose teeth!!!! Waaaaaa....somebody make it stop!!!

~sweet smile~

~look close and see her bottom middle teeth "hugging"~

~they love each other~

~my sweetnesses~

~cool guy~

~cute kid~

springtime...

2010-04-15T12:34:00.001-07:00

Everything is in full bloom right now and gorgeous (including my kiddos on both counts...hehe!) I took this first picture yesterday and just overnight the azaleas have bloomed even more, so I'll have to get another picture! We've really enjoyed watching all the trees we planted last May bloom out this spring (since we didn't yet have them this time last year, this is our first year to see their spring blooms!) Our red buds are so pretty and our apple trees in the back yard started flowering this week! It's so amazing to see how the trees change distinctly every season....not something we were used to coming from South Texas! And they are gorgeous no matter what the season....whether they're just bare limbs covered in snow, fully bloomed and flowered out, green leaves or orange leaves! I absolutely adore this time of year. The kids and I have played outside for hours and hours and hours the last few weeks. We've had so much fun, having picnics and playdates, etc!

Happy Spring!!! :)

~Asher, Lynzi and Azalea~

~love is in the air~

~snacking on a pear~

~cheese~

~red bud~

~maple~

Easter...

2010-04-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

We had a super busy weekend, but a great one celebrating that Jesus is alive! These are the pictures from Sunday before church. Our church had 4 services for Easter Sunday, so we worked in the nursery for 3rd service and went to the 4th service at 1:00. Between the two campuses, our church had 15,870 people in attendance (9 services total at 2 campuses!) There were 157 salvations, not including the kids services (over 300 salvations, including kids!) God is amazing...God is ALIVE!!! By the time we got home it was 2:30, so we ate a light lunch, put the kids down and I started working on a Jewish dish that I was taking to the Passover "Seder" we had that evening with our life group. I made a Noodle Kugel and it came out of the oven just in time to head out! We had a great time at the Seder...very interesting! We were all exhausted by the time we got home, but thankful for a great day celebrating our Savior!!!

Here are a few pics of my Easter sweeties...

~Sweet Easter Princess~

~Lovely in Lilac~

~Glamour Girl~

~So, I can't even believe these shoes she's wearing. They are a size 1, as in big girl size. Not even a year ago, I bought her a size 11 (so in the last year, she went through 11, 12, 13 and now a 1...oh gracious!) But aren't they CUTE!!!~

~walking to church~

~Sweet Daddy with Sweet Kids~

~Take 2~

~me and my babies~

~me and my sweet girl~

I have more photos from the rest of the weekend and earlier on Easter morning...will post soon!

Lynzi's day at Kindergarten...

2010-03-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from Lynzi's Kindergarten Preview:

~Kinder Lynzi~

~Lynzi and Asher~

~growing uP~

~Evan is our next door neighbor and they are excited to start Kindergarten together~

~in front of her school~

~Lynzi finishing her juice with Mommy~

~Evan and Lynzi ready to go in~

~Kindergarten Classroom~

~Evan is all smiles after the bus ride~

~Evan and his mom Angie~

~Asher boy...thinks he's ready for Kindergarten too~

busy girl...

2010-03-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

Little Miss Lynzi has been a busy girl lately. She started soccer practice again. We were glad to find out that has her same great coaches as last season. This season, her team will be navy blue and they deemed themselves the "Sharks" (much to Lynzi's disagreement...she thought they should be the "Kitties"!!!) Haha. She's one of the youngest on the team this year but she's pretty much the tallest too!

The most exciting news of the day is that she got to go to "Kindergarten Preview" at her elementary school today. She has been counting down the days for this (and at first she thought she was actually starting school on this day...so we had to get that straight!) She was so happy to get up and go today. I think I was as excited as she was! Ryan came home from work to go with us. Our next door neighbor boy (Evan) is starting Kindergarten too, so we left at the same time so they could go in together. When we walked in, they directed us to the cafeteria, where they had donut holes and apple juice for the kids. Parents turned in paperwork and signed the kids up for their kindergarten screenings, which are in May. Then the principal greeted us and introduced the Kindergarten teachers. They split the room in half and sent one group to one of the Kinder classrooms with 3 of the teachers and the other group to another classroom with the other 3 teachers. The kids sat on the rug and parents in the chairs. They gave us a sheet of what the kids need to know before the fall (all of which Lynzi already knew, OF COURSE!!!) The teachers talked to the kids and one read a book (which each child got a copy of, along with an alphabet chart!) Then they sang a song and learned the dance moves. Then came Lynzi's favorite part...THE BUS RIDE! They lined up and walked out to the curb, where the bus was waiting for them. The teachers rode with them and parents stayed behind to finish paperwork. She was all smiles and can't wait to start school "FOR REAL," as she states it!

A few funny things she said on the way home. She was looking over the alphabet chart they gave her and saying the letter with the picture that is next to it. She got to Q and there was a quarter pictured (she doesn't have all of her coins down yet) and she said, "Q, q, PENNY!" And she stopped for a minute because she knew that didn't sound quite right!!! Then I was going over the "need to know" paper with her and it had normal personal info (name, parents' names, bday, etc). This question wasn't on there, but I just asked her anyways b/c she's told me the answer just out of the blue before. So I asked her "where were you born?" (As in, what state?) She looked at me and said, "I don't know....a hospital?!?!?" (Like, duh...where else would I have been born?!?!!!) It was funny.

This week she has 3 birthday parties to go to and a playdate! Good thing soccer practice is cancelled for spring break!!!

Lovin' this girl...but have to post pics later because my memory stick won't work in my computer right now. :(

The time has come...

2010-03-17T11:49:00.001-07:00

We moved Asher to his "big boy" bed!!! He got his cast off yesterday (Tuesday) and we were afraid of him crawling out of his bed and hurting his sensitive leg (I'm not sure he would've tried it because it's so sensitive, but it's such a normal/routine thing for him to hop out of his crib that he might not think about it until it's too late!) So we changed his crib into the toddler bed last night before bed! He did great and was pretty excited about it. Lynzi thought it looked like a train for some reason, so she deemed it his "choo choo bed" and of course he liked it all the more better then. Now when we mention his big boy bed he grins from ear to ear and says, "choo choo!" He still hasn't put any real weight on his leg since the cast came off yesterday, so I also thought it might be a good time for the transition into the toddler bed since he wouldn't be so apt to getting out and roaming around the room b/c he's not getting around great just yet. So my other thought was that he would start with a good habit of staying in his bed! Anyways, we did our normal bedtime routine with him and he only got out once after we left...then went right to sleep after that and slept all night! I just now put him down for his nap and he did great again. Yay. :)

I had mentioned awhile back in an Asher update that he had started potty training and had really taken an interest in it. Well, as you can imagine...that came to a screeching halt once we got the cast on! That would have gotten messy really quick. So I'm hoping that once he's acclimated to his cast-less leg once again that he'll breeze right back into potty training...we'll see how that goes!!!

So, as for his leg, when they took off the cast...the lady had her circular saw thing and warned us that it was really loud and he'd probably cry from the noise, but assured us that it wouldn't cut or hurt him...it just vibrates, so it tickles. She turned it on and started cutting the cast off and Asher looked up at his Daddy and started cracking up!!! It was so cute...he was all smiles as he just giggled. The nurse was quite impressed since she expected tears! Then they took him to x-ray. The doctor came in to look at it and said that it was actually a clear break, rather than the "classic toddler fracture" that he originally thought it was. But he felt like Asher would be okay to go without another cast. We have another appointment for a final x-ray in 3 months to make sure the growth plates are growing back the way they're supposed to. So, now we're just helping him figure out how to walk on that leg again.

Oh, and the poor baby has an ear infection! You would NEVER know it though. Sunday he woke up and kept pointing to his ear and saying, "ouch". He did it consistently throughout the day, but was completely fine otherwise, with no other symptoms. I went ahead and made him an appointment on Monday morning and she looked at the non-hurting ear and said it looked gorgeous, then she looked at the left ear and said, "He's right...he has an ear infection!" I asked why he wouldn't have a fever, since there is infection and she said fever is not a good indicator of an ear infection...it's behavior change to watch out for. But she said in Asher's case, I guess that's not a good indicator either...as he happily hobbled (this was the day before his cast came off) out of her room! The doctor told the nurse as we walked out, "That is the HAPPIEST ear infection I've ever seen!" :)

Still as sweet as ever....

~last pic with cast on~

~cast coming off~

~watching intently as she starts cutting it off~

~Daddy laughing at Asher laughing~

I was taking these with Ryan's phone and everybody's heads were in my way, so I couldn't see what I was getting....but I thought this ended up pretty cute (even though 1/2 his face it cut off...you can still see how cute his expression is!!!)

~happy boy~

~there goes the top half~

~safe in daddy's arms~

"hmmmmm, now what do I do!?!?"

~skinny leg~

~gettin some lovin'~

~big boy bed~

~sleepy boy...long day~

Lynzi Grace is 5...

2010-03-10T21:06:00.000-08:00

Lynzi's birthday was last Thursday and we had so much fun celebrating ALL week! We had her birthday party on Monday night, while Grammi and PawPaw were still in town...it was at Incredible Pizza (or "Crediblin Pizza" as Lynzi calls it!) She had 15 little friends (and 14 adults) to help her celebrate...Strawberry Shortcake style!!! Here are some fun pictures from the birthday party:

~Birthday Princess~

~Happy Birthday Lynzi~

~Daddy, Birthday Girl, Mommy~

(brother was running the hallways with pawpaw)

~F-I-V-E~

~The Party Crowd~

~Lynzi and Gideon~

(one of her "boy" friends)

~cutie by the car~

~proud of her very own birthday sign~

~L-Y-N-Z-I~

"happy birthday to me"

~Pretty girl with prezzies and "pupcakes"~

"cheese...can i open my presents now!?!?!"

~spinning the prize wheel~

"oooh, a piggy bank..."

~pin the gem on Strawberry's tiara~

~Daddy and Li'l Bubba~

~driving...one of his may favorite things to do~

~Asher the race car driver~

New York City...

2010-03-08T13:53:00.001-08:00

Now for our trip! Back at Thanksgiving for my 30th birthday, my most fantastically amazing husband gave me a trip to my all time want to go to destination...New York City!!! He found a great deal on airline tickets, so he booked them for Feb. 23-27...right between the kid's birthdays and asked Mom and Dad if they could plan to come and stay with the kids. So it was all planned and I was shocked and so excited! It worked out so perfectly because we had a free night at a choice privaleges hotel (comfort inn) and there is one right in Times Square. We also had a lot of reward points racked up from our credit card...so we cashed in on those and got cash back for our trip. So God totally provided us an amazing trip for practically nothing out of pocket!!! And amazing it was!!!

It was so wonderful to get away and just hang out together...just the two of us (in the Big Apple, no less!!!) We did pretty much everything that we hoped to do, except go up the Empire State Building and ice skate (both because of the weather). They had a record snow storm while we were there, which was fine with us! We never mind a little snow (or a lot!) It made for some sloshy streets, but that was okay too!

We got there on Tuesday evening and took our shuttle to the hotel (interesting experience in itself!) We FINALLY arrived at our hotel and it was pouring down rain. We checked in, dumped our stuff in our room and headed out...to TIMES SQUARE (which was literally less than 50 steps from our hotel!) It was 8:00 at night, but it looked like 2:00 in the afternoon in times square! We went to one restaurant and ate dinner, then to another for dessert (with a great view of Times Square!) It was so much fun just to sit and take it all in. Then we ran in the rain (thankfully we brought our umbrellas...which we used pretty much everyday, whether for rain or snow) to Rockafeller Center to check that out. So many interesting and exciting sights to see every corner you turn!

On Wednesday, we went to a little corner pizzaria for lunch...it was DELICIOUS!!! Then we went back to Rockafeller Plaza to see about ice skating, since it wasn't raining anymore and the snow hadn't started. But they were grooming the ice and we didn't want to wait....and we had really decided to try and ice skate in Central Park anyways. We went into the huge M&M's store then we ran over to the Gershwin Theater, where the broadway show "Wicked" plays. They hold a "lottery", where you put your name in a drawing to get front row seats for $26 (there are like 30 tickets total). I had high hopes that we'd get them, but we didn't! We decided not to purchase tickets online before we left because they were just too expensive, so we were hoping to get tickets through the lottery (held 2 1/2 hours before each show.) So since we didn't get the tickets, we went the the famous TKTS booth to see what they had available for other shows (Wicked is never available there...always sold out!) One of the ladies told us about a comedy show called, "Newsical" that was funny and tickets were very reasonable. She gave us a brochure and we walked away to decide what to do and this guy randomly passes us on the street and sees our brochure and says, "Oh, you HAVE to see "Newsical"...it's hilarious!" So we bought tickets for the matinee show. We headed toward the theater and when we get there, I'm thinking it's a mistake b/c it's a tiny little building and the theater is no bigger than our living room and kitchen put together! Nobody mentioned to us that it was an "off-broadway show"!!! Oh well. It was pretty funny. But we left really wishing we had seen a real broadway production....we were in New York City, afterall! So we decided to go back to the TKTS booth and find some guys that sell "extra" tickets to the most popular shows on broadway. We knew they were legit because they had been there all day, everyday since we had been there. They work for a company who buys leftover seats at a group rate and sells them online, then sell the extras on the street. So we bought tickets for a pretty good price and were excited to get a real broadway experience that evening. Before the show, we went to Serendipity for dinner. It is famous from the movie, "Serendipity", where they have frozen hot chocolate! It was this tiny little place with a huge menu and amazing food. And obviously the frozen ho chocolate was to die for, served in a huge mug with 2 straws!!! Then we caught a taxi and headed back to the Gershwin theater for the show. "Wicked" is about the two witches from the Wizard of Oz, before they met Dorothy. It's the story of how they came to be who they are. It was a really great story and a fabulous show! I never considered seeing it when I was originally deciding on a show, just because of the name. I really didn't know what it was about, but wasn't interested either. Then 3 different people told me about it and how great it was and there were no spiritual connotations or anything and all highly recommended it. I'm so glad we ended up seeing it. We had GREAT seats too.

Thursday it started snowing...hard! We went to Macy's...it was HUGE. We went to the 7th floor and there were still more, I don't even know how many there were total. It took up an entire block! And that is A LOT for NYC! Then we went over to the Empire State Building. Because of the snow, there wasn't any visibility, so we couldn't go up to the top. We did this cool virtual helicopter ride though (called SkyRide), to fly over New York City. It was pretty cool and it was good to get a grasp on what all was really there and to see it all from above. Then we went to another pizzaria...it was in the Empire State Building. Again, fantastic pizza! Ryan pointed to a particlar "pie" and asked if it was italian sausage and the guy said, "No, it's eggplant...we're all kosher!" So we had kosher pizza in the Empire State Building! Then we ventured over to Central Park via subway. The subways were really interesting. Central Park was gorgeous with a fresh blanket of snow covering it! It was fairly empty too, just a few hardcore runners out! We didn't stay too long because there wasn't much more to see other than the snow covered park. From there, we took a taxi to a huge cathedral (St. John's, I think.) It's a good think we left Central Park when we did b/c by the time we went to the cathedral and stopped by the New York City Public Library (which was pretty cool, too) and back to our rom to get ready for dinner....the local news was reporting a death in Central Park! The snow was so wet and heavy that a tree limb fell on a man and killed him! Like I said, there weren't that many people in the park and it had to have been the same time we were there, or within minutes. That evening, we went to dinner then to a movie ("When in Rome"...cute movie), then dessert!!! At first we thought it was a sillly idea to go to a movie when you're in New York City, but after we thought about it...it's not something we get to do very often, so we took advantage of it!

Friday was our last full day there. We headed out to the World Trade Center to see Ground Zero. What a sight to see. It's incredible to see this big whole right in the middle of all these huge skyscrapers. On our way there, we both got a hot dog from a street vendor! It was all I hoped it would be...SO GOOD! Then we walked down to the Staten Island Ferry, which is a free ferry that passes right by the Statue of Liberty. It was foggy and snowy that day, but we still got a good look at Lady Liberty! She was so amazing to see up close and personal! After the ferry, we took the subway to Little Italy to go to the first pizza place that came to the United States! My friend told me about it and said it was delicious...and she was so right! It's called Lombardi's and they bake their pizza in a coal oven. It's a pretty famous place...they had an article in Rachael Ray's magazine framed where she said that it is her favorite place for take out pizza. We took the subway to Grand Central Station from there...very cool place to be! When we came up from the subway, before you actually get into Grand Central Station...there was a live band playing and this CRAZY lady dancing her heart out to the music (we actually got her on video!) It's amazing what all goes on underground in that city!!! We both could have sat there all day and just watched people, but there is far too much to do in NYC to sit for too long! We went back to Times Square and believe it or not went to McDonald's to eat dinner...haha! They have 4 seats that are perfectly prime to watch Times Square, so we did it! And I actually had a Big Mac, only my second time in my life to have one of those...I figured I might as well go all out in the Big Apple! Then we headed back to our rooom to get packed up.

/div>
Oh and our hotel could not have been more perfect!!! Perfect location, perfectly clean, comfortable and modern and perfectly priced...all that AND free breakfast (which is rare in NYC!!!) Our flight home was Saturday, late morning. So that day was just pack up, check out and leave.

What an incredible, unforgettable, magnificentally wonderful time we had....just me and my honey! What a way to celebrate 30 years of life (and 15 of those we've been together...i love that!!!) Thank you, Ryan, for being such a blessing to me. I love you beyond words and I'm so grateful for you. I love you.

~So excited to be in NYC~

~just outside our hotel...times square in the background~

~the times square ball~

~snowing in Times Square~

~my heart in NYC~

~incredibly handsome door man~

~The Times Square Church founded by Dave Wilkerson~

we found it quite funny that the beer truck was parked beneath the sign

~Subway sign in Times Square~

need a cab?

~Radio City Music Hall~

~Me and the Yellow M&M~

~King Kandy~

My very own personalized marquee..."Lace"

(it's the small purple sign above my thumb...I won't tell you what the place was, but you might figure it out!)

~Famiglia....corner pizzaria...YUM~

~Fox News Live~

(blurry but we just passed this window and noticed them in there!)

~Rockafeller Plaza~

~Frozen Hot Chocolate~

~Serendipity~

~The Clock at Serendipity~

~Wicked Secrets~

~Wicked the Broadway Musical~

~We found Spider Man~

~Lady Liberty Statue~

~Subway~

~Ryan heading into Subway~

~Laci coming out of Subway~

Don't ya love his warm cozy hat!!?!?
(compliments of his wonderful in-laws)

~falling on the tracks~

~subway driver~

~Fifth Avenue~

~cool city street~

~cool clock~

~Macy's~

~Empire State Building~

~Empire State Building Lobby~

~Central Park blanketed in snow~

~Central Park Entrance~

~New York City Library~

~St. John's Cathedral~

~Hot Dog Stand~

~Our reflection in front of the street vendor~

~behind this wall used to be the twin towers~

~the fire station that was first response~

~Ladder Co. 10~

~Ground Zero~

~Staten Island Ferry~

~Statue of Liberty~

~Foggy view~

~Grand Central Station Band~

~Grand Central Station~

~Lombardi's Pizza...Coal Oven~

~Y-U-M~

~Little Italy~

~McDonald's Times Square~

~Big Mac...Big Apple style~

~Comfort Inn -Midtown~

Asher's leg/birthday....

2010-03-06T09:22:00.000-08:00

What a crazy, busy, fun-filled, exciting last two and a half weeks we've had!!! Here's an overview: we've had a visit to the ER, a fully splinted little leg, a 2nd birthday (Thomas the Train style), a Grammi and PawPaw visit, a visit to the orthopedic surgeon, a neon orange full cast, a trip to New York City for Mommy and Daddy, a 5th birthday party with lots of friends, a birthday week full of celebrating, back to the airport to return Grammi and PawPaw and finally an official FIVE year old!!! Whew...I'm worn out just recapping it! So, for my personal documentation and for those interested in the details...here's a start to them:

Two weeks (and a few days) ago...Thursday night, Lynzi and Asher were running down the hallway, side-by-side taking turns kicking a basketball. As Asher came up to the big rug in our living room, his foot got caught up under it and twisted his leg around as he fell full-force and hit the back of his head. All I saw (and heard) from my view was his head hitting the floor, as he screamed. And screamed. And screamed. I was consoling him and checking his head (it was carpet that he hit), but for him to be screaming that amount...I knew it hurt. After a few minutes, I put him down and he buckled at his knee. Ryan saw it and automatically assumed it was his foot that he hurt, not his head. So we start examining his foot and he screams at everything we touch. So we know a trip to the emergency room is in our near future. Ryan took Asher to his room to change his diaper and started getting him calm enough to really figure out exactly what is hurt. And he realized it was his left leg, just uner his knee (upper outter shin.) I was on the phone with our nurse's line and calling urgent care, both of which told us to take him to ER since he couldn't bare any weight on it, he hit his head (which turned out to be nothing) and his age. By the time we were in the car, 30 minutes had passed since it happened and he was still crying...which is very un-Asher-like, so we knew there was a real problem. Finally once we had been driving for a few minutes...45 minutes after he hurt it, he started looking out the window and calming down. And of course once we were in the hospital, there were LOTS of interesting sights to see..so he calmly took it all in! Of course the night Asher hurts himself, everyone else in town does too...the waiting room was jam-packed and a several hour wait. Life flights and ambulances kept coming in the back too, which are obviously first priority. After they triaged us, Ryan took the kids out to the car to watch movies and wait (and sleep). THREE hours later...they FINALLY called us back. Asher was so sensitive when the doctor examined it and the doctor definitely suspected it was broken. After the x-ray (and more waiting), he said he couldn't see a visible break on the x-ray, but that didn't rule out a hairline fracture, so he still wanted to cast it. He put on a temporary splint from his toes to his upper thigh and referred us to an orthopedic surgeon. We got an appointment for the following Tuesday. In the meantime, he couldn't walk on it, but he figured out quickly how to crawl and drag it along behind him!!! Saturday (Feb. 20th) was his birthday! He turned 2. Poor bubba...Happy Birthday...here's a cast for you! It really didn't phase him much. I think his thoughts are, "Well, ya turn 2 and get a cast..normal business!" Grammi and PawPaw already had a planned trip to come in on Saturday evening to stay with the kids while Ryan and I went on a trip. Sunday after church we had a fun Thomas the Train party! Asher is all about choo choo's! I got him an adorable conductor's hat and a train shirt. Mimi and Poppy got him a new part for his train set that he got for Christmas, Grammi and PawPaw got him a wooden rocking horse and Uncle Coy, Bebe, Jaym and Jax sent him a tool set with a screw driver. He's had so much fun with all his new toys! So the hitch with the Tuesday orthopedic appointment was that Ryan and I were leaving for our trip on Monday. We had all the consent form paperwork filled out and ready to go for Mom and Dad to take care of it, but we still hated to leave him!!! Well, I'll finish up the cast story before I get into our trip. So they took him in on Tuesday morning and the doctor looked at the x-rays from the ER and said it's a "toddler fracture", which means it won't show up on an x-ray for 2-3 weeks, once it starts healing. He casted it from his toes to his upper thigh and said he'd be able to walk in after a few days of getting used to it. They got home with him and he was running around on it by that evening!!! It really doesn't slow him down...he just has an extra little hobble in his step. People started signing his cast and he was a little disturbed by that! He would point to it and say, "What dat?" over and over! We go back to the orthopedic on March 16 and they'll re-xray it and depending on what they see, he'll either put a short cast on it for 2 more weeks or he'll let him go a free little man! We'll see. So, I'm working on the rest of the posts about our NYC trip and Lynzi's birthday and so on. I'll stop now before I make blogger crash or something after all this blabbing! I'll post the other stories and pictures soon. Here are lots of Asher pictures for now:

~Lt. Asher~

just a fun picture that I love in his Daddy's old Navy uniform hat

~the morning after the E.R (temporary cast)...he's saying, "bobo"~

~talking to Mimi and Poppy in Belize on his birthday while he opens their prezzy~

~Asher's bday lunch~

~his new choo choo hat~

~Happy 2nd Birthday, Bubba~

~Grammi kisses~

(they arrived just in time...right before his actual bday was over!)

~Choo Choo party~

~Fun birthday presents~

~silly people~

~Party Goers~

~Grammi signing his hard cast~

~" What dat?" ~

~just chillin'~

~working on his horsey~

Tyler update...

2010-02-17T10:10:00.001-08:00

Since I posted the prayer request for Tyler last week, I figured I should fill you in on the miraculous update as well! I am posting the link to Chelsey's blog, if you'd like to see the latest on Tyler's recovery: http://www.thesheffieldscoop.blogspot.com/

Also, Channel 2 News from Houston came to his hospital room to interview him! Here is the link to see it: http://www.click2houston.com/video/22584402/index.html

Thanks for your prayers!

Please pray for Tyler...

2010-02-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

I copied and pasted the blog post below from my cousin's blog. It is about our 15 year old cousin, Tyler, who is having heart surgery tomorrow (Friday, Feb. 12) at 7:00 am. Please keep him in your prayers and if you live in the Deer Park area...at the bottom there is info on a benefit dinner/auction being held for Tyler. Thank you for your prayers for TYLER!

Taken from http://www.thesheffieldscoop.com/:

Tomorrow my 15 year old cousin, Tyler Boyer, will undergo Open Heart Surgery this Friday, February 12th. Many of you know him, and many of you don't. Please take a few minutes and continue to read!

There is a quote that says "Nature has perfections, in order to show that she is the image of God; and defects, to show that she is only His image." While we were all created in the image of God, we are not Him, and that leaves every one of us with afflictions, defects, conditions; whatever you choose to label them.

Tyler Boyer of Deer Park, Texas, is a 15 year old freshman at Deer Park High School. He is the son of Danny and Ginger Boyer; student pastors at Calvary Chapel Assembly of God Church in Pasadena. He is the grandson of Joe and Lynda Wilburn of Deer Park; owners of Baytown Music Center and former owners of the Lollipop Boutique of Pasadena.

Tyler was born with a heart defect called Fibro Muscular Sub Aortic Stenosis. To put it in simpler terms; the heart has four chambers and in the lower left hand chamber, the aortic valve works like a one-way “gate”. When the heart pumps, the aortic valve opens to let blood flow into the large blood vessel called the aorta; blood then flows through the aorta into the rest of the body. Tyler has a membrane growing from the inside of that lower chamber, and down on the valve, which causes his "gate" not to close all the way. This allows blood to leak back into his heart and at the same time, his heart having to work harder to pump blood through a narrower opening that is blocked by the membrane. Tyler's heart has been overworked for 15 years. After a lot of review on his case, a team of surgeons from Texas Children's Hospital have decided it is urgent to get this problem taken care of on an immediate basis. On February 12, 2010, Tyler will undergo Open Heart Surgery to remove this membrane from his heart and repair the damage done to his aortic valve.

Unlike most boys his age, Tyler has never been able to participate in contact sports, nor will he ever be able to participate in any organized team sports at the high school level, due to his heart condition. While most teenage boys are out running the fields and lifting weights, Tyler has been prohibited from doing so. But, that has never held his sweet, outgoing spirit back. Tyler is an active member of his youth group at Calvary Chapel Assembly of God Church, where he is also a part of the Praise and Worship band on Sundays and leads Praise and Worship in youth on Wednesday nights. He is most talented at the guitar, but can also play the drums and piano. Tyler also sings in the choir at Deer Park High School. His funny personality keeps him constantly entertaining his family and friends and uplifting the spirits of those around him. And even while he is facing this obstacle at much too young an age, Tyler's love for and faith in God has always been bigger than his heart condition. His faith speaks volumes of his character. Since Tyler was just a toddler, he has been praying daily for God to heal his heart and he knows that God has put this amazing team of surgeons in his life to do just that!

This is a young man with a heart of gold, but even gold has to be doctored and molded into its final destiny. The destiny of Tyler's heart is not to be defective and overworked, but to be strong and healthy. Please remember Tyler in your prayers!

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him of them all." Psalm 34:19

The cost of this surgery is overwhelming. The leading team of surgeons that will be performing the surgery at Texas Children's Hospital are not in Danny and Ginger's insurance network. This surgery exceeds hundreds of thousands above what the insurance will pay. Our family along with our church will be hosting a spaghetti dinner benefit on the 27th of February to help with the overall cost of the surgery. Please join us in an all out community effort to make this a great success!

Spaghetti Dinner and Auction - Saturday February 27, 2010
Calvary Chapel Assembly of God Church / Family Life Center
3822 Greenshadow - Pasadena, Texas 77503
Menu
Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
Garlic Bread
Dessert
Cost $10/per plate
Serving dinners from 11:00am - 3:00pm
Dine in or Take out
Auction 1:00pm - 3:00pm

If you would like to have your dinner delivered, we can deliver from 10:00am until 1:00pm with a minimum of 5 orders.

We will also be pre-selling briskets that are being made by award winning cook off team members. They will be ready for pick - up the day of the benefit. They will be about 12 pounds and the cost is $40. Please email the address below to order a brisket.

Donations can be made directly into the Tyler's Heart Fund account at Texas Coastal Bank.

You may also donate items for the live or silent auction. If you know of any businesses who would like to make a donation they can contact me at the email address below!

We would like most tickets to the benefit to be pre-sold for food prep purposes. If you would like to buy tickets please email Chelsey at tylersheartfund@yahoo.com ore message her on blogger or facebook.

Please visit the website at www.tylersheartfund.com

If you know Tyler, visit the website and see how to leave a note for Tyler to read before and after his surgery!

Thank you everyone for your prayers, love and support!

To read local newspaper articles about Tyler's surgery, click here: http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/02/11/deer_park_broadcaster/news/021110_tyler_benefit.txt

and here: http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/02/11/pasadena_citizen/news/021110_kid.txt

Lynzi's turn...

2010-01-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

...for a blog all about her! Oh boy, where do I even start with this girl!?!? These are a few of the sweet, crazy or funny things she's said or done in the last month or so...and I've just been waiting to find time to blog about it! If you keep up with me on facebook, then you've already heard a lot of these. Here are a few of my favorite Lynzi-isms of the month...

1.) A few weeks ago, I turned the t.v. on towards the end of the Rachael Ray show to see what she was cooking. We rarely ever have the t.v. on during the day (except for cartoons in the morning or occasionally the news.) So we hadn't seen Rachael Ray in awhile. But we had seen on the news the other day that Oprah was going off the air next season, and this is the conversation that came of it:

Lynzi: "HEY MOM, look who's on...I thought she wasn't on t.v. anymore...remember we saw it on the news the other day?!"

Me: "Oh no, that was Oprah."

Lynzi: "Yeah, Oprah...that's her."

Me: "No, this is Rachael Ray....they're two different people."

Lynzi: "Oh, well they look alike!!!"

Me: "HAHA." :)

2.) The other night I was putting Lynzi to bed and we finished reading some books and the Bible and we were about to pray...and Ryan came in at that time b/c he had finished getting Asher to bed, so he asked her the usual, "What are you thankful for?" and "What do you want to pray for?" It's usually pretty much the same...she wants to thank God for all she did today and pray for everyone we love and pray for sweet dreams for her and Asher, etc. Well this particular night...she says, "I want to pray for the 2 babies that mommy is going to have at the same time!" What?!?! Ryan and I just looked at each other, trying to figure out where in the world she would have come up with that?!?! The reason we were so flabbergasted by it is b/c our friend in California (who was actually Lynzi's pediatrician when she was born) had a 3 year old little girl at the time, who had been praying with her parents for them to be able to have another baby and suddenly she started telling them that God told her they would have 2 babies at once...and sure enough, the next month she was pregnant with twins! NOT that we have been praying for a baby at this time, but her comment just caught us off guard! YIKES! And several times since then, she's told me she wants a baby sister...

3.) She started a ballet class last Saturday. Today was her second class. It's a six week session for 3-4 year olds and during the last class, they will have a mini-recital to show friends and family what they've learned. Of course, she's an adorable little ballerina...I'm posting pics below of her first class, but they didn't come out very good...so I'll post more soon.

4.) The ballet class will keep her busy until soccer starts in March! She's already signed up and she cannot wait. Ryan and I definitely think soccer is more her forte' than ballet. She really wanted to do the ballet class, but she hasn't had a whole lot to say about it...other than it's fun and they twirl! Yet, she asks at least 5 times a week how much longer till March, when soccer starts!

5.) She got a haircut this week and it's now up to her shoulders. I don't guess it's really all that noticeable to just anybody, but to me...it makes her look so much older. I think b/c I got my haircut when I went to kindergarten, I associate her as looking like a kindergartener. I've been telling her all week that she looks like a kindergartener!

6.) She turns 5 on March "fourf" and she is SO excited to be 5...in fact, she's already ready to be 6! For now, she wants to have her birthday party at Incredible Pizza. She has about 16 friends to invite and she keeps mentioning more!!! She's such a social bug and thoroughly enjoys all of her friends (which are many!) We'll have a great time celebrating 5 years of Lynzi!!! :)

7.) She starts Kindergarten this fall and she CANNOT wait for that. She thought that she got to start Kindergarten on the day she turned 5! One night she told me she couldn't wait to go to school on her birthday! So I explained that she had to wait until school started again in the fall. Then she wanted to know EVERYTHING about school. Like...where would she get her desk, where would she hang her backpack, where would her school clothes from, and she let me know that she wanted a lunch box, not a lunch bag, etc, etc! Then she told me in complete detail exactly what she wanted in her lunch box for the first day of school: peanut butter and jelly sandwich, carrot sticks, apple slices and raisins. That conversation was right at bedtime, so once she finished explaining all the details of this day that was still 7 months away...I went out, so she could go to sleep. About 20 minutes later, I thought she was sound asleep and she came down the hall to inform me that she decided that banana slices would be better with her apple slices than raisins!!! :)

8.) She's learning to read and doing AMAZING! I've been doing preschool with her at home since September and we have calendar time and a math lesson and a reading lesson and usually some kind of activity or art or craft. I started using a book called, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." It's been around a really long time and is very effective in teaching children to read, using the distar program. We're only on lesson 12 and she's already reading many words, such as...am, sam, ram, at, rat, sat, mat, eat, seat, see, seed, me...and so on.

9.) And last night, this was her prayer..."Dear Jesus, umm I need to tell you something. Heal up Haiti from head to toe and protect Grace [her little missionary friend in Haiti] and her family and keep them safe...In Jesus' name, Amen! She has a super precious heart and I love her!

So, that's my girl...

~snowy smile~

(we had 2 weeks of snow a few weeks ago and we had so much fun playing and sledding in it!)

~snowbunny on a snowboard~

~beautiful ballerina~

~ballet class~

~ballerina in action~

~Lynzi and Asher on Christmas Eve~

~Lynzi and Cousin Jax on Christmas morning~

~PawPaw reading 'Twas the Night before Christmas' on the night before Christmas~

All about Asher...

2010-01-21T11:10:00.000-08:00

Wow, hello there blogland...oh, how I've missed thee!!! So much has happened since my last post and even before then, so I'm pretty sure I won't get caught up but I'll just start with the last few weeks.

Lots of changes have been happening in Asher's little world in this New Year. As he is quickly approaching 2, we knew we had to break his little love affair with his paci! In fact, his daddy declared it as Asher's new year's resolution! So, we discussed our strategy as to how we would help him lose interest in it and Ryan mentioned just taking it away cold turkey, but I had read about the idea of snipping the end off and decided it made more sense to let him make the decision that he was done with it, rather than it just disappearing and him not really knowing what happened to it or having any control over the situation. Well, it didn't even take a day and it was done! I snipped the end of the paci and told him it was broken. He looked at it and put it to his mouth, took it out (not really out b/c there wasn't enough left for it to be "in") and looked at me and said, "uh oh...it bo" (broke) and threw it on the floor! He's found it a few times since and does the same thing...just launches it across the room! And he's never mentioned it once since then! We were very pleasantly surprised, thankful and relieved (b/c i had been dreading dealing with taking it away)!!!

However, now that the paci is gone...our little amazing sleeper boy is not so much anymore! What is it about those things that instantly calm him and make all his cares go away...it's ridiculously wierd! Since we came home from the holidays...he decided he wasn't much interested in staying in his bed, so as soon as we would lay him in there he would climb right out. So we would try and rock him to sleep, so he would go on to sleep. That is working okay for bedtime (sometimes), but naptime...not so much! He'd much rather play with his sister or toys than lay down during daylight at this point in his life. When he had his paci, he was happy to lay down with that for 2 or 3 hours....but, noooooo...not now! We are NOT giving up naps before the age of 2...no, no, no! So with the climbing out thing...if he wakes up in the middle of the night (instead of finding his paci and going back to sleep), he just comes to our room and hops in bed with us now! The first night he did it was a little freaky! I suddenly felt this little thing beside my bed and I knew the "bigger thing" (Lynzi) was already in bed with us, so you can imagine my level of freaked-out-ness, trying to figure out who or what is at my bedside (since my "baby" should be in his baby bed!) So after that night, we had to get a gate to put in the hallway to make sure he could only come to our room and not go roaming the house in the middle of the night!

And the best news yet is that he is well on his way to potty training! I never expected him to be interested in it this early, but he's shown interest in going potty since way back at Halloween. He started following us to the bathroom and wanting to go too. So I got the little potty out and let him start sitting on it and he NEVER wanted to get off of it! On Halloween night, after trick or treating, he was about to take his bath and he sat on the potty and PEED! Mom and Dad were here that week and of course we all went crazy for him! Then two days later we left for Belize, so we really didn't work on it there. Then we came back for about a week before we went to Texas for Christmas and he went a couple times before we left on our trip. Now that we've been back, he's gone several more times. Most of them pretty much on his own. The other day, I went into the bathroom and he followed me and pulled down his pants and started working on getting his diaper off. So he sat down and when I was leaving the bathroom, I asked if he was done and he said no. So I went back to the kitchen and a few minutes later he came around the corner, real proud-like (he was patting his pants b/c he was proud not to have a diaper on...just pants!) So I told him lets go get a diaper on and when he turned around, I saw a wet spot on the back of his pants. So I got really excited and asked him if he went tee tee (b/c I figured he must have and dripped when he was pulling his pants back on.) So he ran to show me, hollering "tee tee" and pointing in the potty and sure enough there was pee in there! Then the other day, I was going to put him in a pull up, so we spent a little bit of time in the bathroom and he was on the potty and I stepped out to see something Lynzi was doing and I came back in and he had already gone pee in the potty! We're moving forward with it and we'll see if he keeps interest...I'll keep you posted. I'm so proud of him!

I can't get over how grown up he's getting and that he'll be 2 in less than one month (a month from yesterday)!!! He's just so darn cute and hilarious...(even at 2 a.m, when he meets me at my bedside!)

~my big boy on the potty~

~sweet smile~

just a few pics of my loves in beautiful belize...

2009-11-25T15:18:00.000-08:00

~L-O-V-E~

~With my beautiful babies in beautiful Belize~

my 20's are fading fast...

2009-11-24T21:25:00.000-08:00

Well, I have less than 24 hours left before officially leaving my 20's behind!!! Several months ago...the thought of that made me extremely antsy (and even now I have to say, it wierds me out just a little!) But in the last few weeks, I've come to terms with it and decided to enter my thirties with a thankful heart! Especially since my birthday falls on Thanksgiving Day this year...that means I HAVE to be thankful for it, right!?!? :) And why not? I have SO SO SO much to be thankful for. God has blessed me in more ways than I ever deserved. He's been so good to me.

I'm thankful for my amazing parents who have always loved me, protected me, trained me in the ways of the Lord and been my best friends.

I'm thankful that God chose to heal me of a deadly kidney condition as an infant...if He hadn't miraculously intervened, I would not have experienced the last 30 years and I certainly wouldn't be typing this today!

I'm thankful for the Godly heritage that God blessed my family with.

I'm thankful for the great childhood I experienced. I realize that so many people don't get to fully enjoy growing up.

I'm thankful for my dream come true...in the form of an adorable teenage boy that I've had a major crush on since I was 11 (and I "prophetically" [ :) ] told my mom when I was 12 that I would marry him!) That boy grew into an amazing man of God with a servant's heart and a genuine compassion for God's people. I've had the privilege of being "with" him now for half of my life (yep, 15 years!)...and we will celebrate 11 glorious years of marriage in a few weeks! I love him with every ounce of my heart and to say that I am so thankful for him is such an understatement! Thank you, Lord, for giving me the man of my dreams!

I'm thankful for the path that God set us on and the doors He opened for us along the way. It's been such a fantastic 11 years with Ryan...following God's direction. We're so happy with where he has brought us and of course we're so excited about what he has in store for our family's future!

I'm thankful for my sweet babies! Lynzi is such a smart, vivacious, creative and beautiful girl and Asher is a loving, sweet, hilarious and precious boy. I'm so glad God is in charge of designing our babies for us...he did it so perfectly!

I'm thankful for all of my family and friends! We have such an incredible family on all sides...from parents, in-laws, grandparents, brothers, sister-in-laws, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins. Also for our friends...some that we've known all our lives, some we've met along the way and some brand new!

What a blessed 30 years it's been. Thank you, Lord, for all you've done for me. I love you and will serve you all the days of my life! I'm excited about what the next 30 years will hold.

Halloween....2 1/2 weeks later!

2009-11-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are...2 1/2 weeks after halloween and I am FINALLY getting a chance to post some pics of the cute little critters! I have a lot of updating to do, so here we go....

Mom and Dad came in for a spur of the moment trip the week of halloween because we were leaving for a Builders International trip and it would be a while before we'd see them again and they hadn't gotten to see Lynzi play in a soccer game yet...so they found a good deal and came! We had a really great time (as always)! Halloween was a crazy, busy, but super fun day. We were up early for Lynzi's last soccer game, then we went to her soccer team party, then headed home for naps. Then the kids got in their costumes and we headed to our church for a big festival called October 31st Party! It was really amazing and we could have stayed all day, but we headed back home after a little over an hour to hang out with our neighbors. They built a bonfire in their backyard and we roasted hot dogs before all bombarding our neighborhood to trick or treat together. Lynzi had several costume changes before halloween ever even arrived! First she was going to be a "ballet expert" (in her words)...apparently a ballet expert is different from a ballerina b/c she said she wasn't a ballerina. Well, come halloween...it didn't matter because she changed her mind and wanted to dress in the poodle costume that's been haning in her closet for a year! Either way she was cute. There were all kinds of crazy and cute creatures in our group...here are a few shots of our cuties.

~Panting Poodle~

~searching for treats~

~monkey treats~

~Grammi and PawPaw's little monkey man~

~Monkey and Daddy~

~Monkey and Mommy~

~Pretty Poodle and Monkey Doodle~

soccer machine...

2009-10-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted about our little soccer girl. Since then, she has morphed into a SOCCER MACHINE!!! She is seriously an amazing soccer player. She can run down and score passed anybody on the field, including the boys! If you keep up with me on facebook, then you may have seen some of the videos I've posted. Last week, she had two games...she scored 2 in the first game and 5 in the second game. This week she scored 6 goals!!!

~ Lynzi dominating the ball~

~in action~

~5 goals...last week~

~Go Tigers~

~Asher gets in on the team spirit~

last one...

2009-10-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

This is definitely the last tree update for now! I just wanted to show you how many leaves it's lost just since the frost!

a few more...

2009-10-24T12:40:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more pics of our tree that I had taken last week. We have really beautiful sunsets here and we live at the top of a hill, so we have a great view too! The first two really capture the name "Autumn Blaze Maple"...

fall yard...

2009-10-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

This is our first fall to live in "The Ozarks" and we're loving it! It is so beautiful and we've been amazed by all the beautiful fall colors, even in our own front yard! We have an "Autumn Blaze Maple" tree in our front yard and I've been documenting it's color change...

These two pictures are from the first fall frost we had last week...

I need to take a picture since the frost last week because 85% of the maple tree leaves have fallen off already! Lynzi and I took a field trip to the front yard today and collected a bag full of leaves for a project. I'll have to post pictures of the project too!

Happy Fall! :)

a little Lynziness for ya...

2009-10-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

This girl is so much fun to hang out with all day! Between her and her brother, I am certainly not lacking in entertainment or sweetness!!! :) My favorite Lynzi quote of the day:

"Mom, when I grow up...I want to be a Mommy just like you!!!"

(melt my heart)

a spoonful of sugar....

2009-10-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

So, here I am...laying by the fireplace with strep throat! I've felt like I've had a softball in my throat for the last 3 days...never had a sore throat so bad and my parents finally convinced me to go to the doctor and sure enough...STREP! My sweet Honey just made me a chocolate milk shake...yummy!

I'm trying to keep my kids off of me, since I'm contagious for 24 more hours (after the antibiotics kick in)...and it's a terrible thing to tell your sweet baby boy not to kiss you when he comes up with arms wide open, saying, "MUAH!" After I tell him I'm sorry that I can't kiss him or it would make him sick...he turns his head the other way and lays his head on my shoulder and pats my back!!! He's so sweet.

Lynzi keeps saying and doing such hilarious and random things, so I thought that while I'm just laying here that I might as well blog about them:

I laid down after I got home from the doctor today, while the kids were napping and Lynzi came in my room to tell me that she heard Asher and he was awake. She asked me if she could get him out of his bed (which somehow she manages to do really well!) So after they scurried down the hall...I went in the living room behind them and there were coins all over the floor (that Lynzi had been counting.) She immediately told me, "It's okay, Mom, I put his paci in his mouth so he wouldn't put any money in his mouth!!!" I thought that was some pretty critical thinking on her part!!!

The girl needs to be in commercials! She's a little slogan machine! One of our local news stations here is called KY3 and their slogan is: "KY3 is the Place to Be!" Back in May when we went to the Wheel of Fortune auditions, KY3 was the host station there...so they had the whole audience shouting their slogan over and over. So earlier this evening, I had Wheel of Fortune on and Lynzi was laying on the rug and kept saying, "KY3 is the place to be" over and over again!!! Then a little bit later, she was drawing a picture at the table and I could hear her saying really quietly to herself, "Live Better. Shop Smart. Walmart!" I'm not even positive that is the slogan for Walmart, but if not...sounds good to me!!! I've heard her randomly quoting other slogans/commercials before too and we definitely don't watch much t.v. around here...that's what is so funny about it to me! She's said on occasion, "Look at me mom...I'm a commercial girl," as she poses or does something super cute! She's just made to be in the spotlight...someway, somehow, somewhere! :)

Another funny she said tonight, while sitting on the couch looking at a book, she said..."Mom, too bad I love you so much!" Ryan and I both laughed at how matter-of-factly she said it!!!

Anyways, there's a dose of my sweet kids for ya! Their sweetness is medicine enough for me and I'm sure I'll be better in no time! Just pray with me that they don't get it...that would be AWFUL!

Here are some recent pics of my cuties:

~excited much?!?!~

~my little man~

~precious in purple~

~headed out to help daddy grill~

~My Sweetnesses~

super sweet update...

2009-09-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

So, here's an update to the sweet story on Saturday:

Sunday morning, when we picked Lynzi up from class...she was sporting a sticker on her dress and a cool certificate that said,

"I asked Jesus to come into my heart and be my best friend forever!" :)

She said she went up to the front during "Zooper Church" (preschool church...3-4 yr olds) and prayed for Jesus to come into her heart! (WOW, after all this asking Jesus into her heart...she's definitely full of Jesus now - there's no better condition for a heart than that! That is what God created hearts for...to beat for HIM!!!) So when we have Sunday evening church, they have baptisms and take communion. I thought it would be a great time for her to see a baptismal service and take part in communion also. So I gave her the choice to go to her class or come into "big church" with us. She had a hard time deciding (because she LOVES her class and her friends!) She went back and forth and finally decided she wanted to go with us and she could go to class after worship, communion and baptism. She was glad she did because she thought it was really great...and it was a really special time with her! That evening, the pastor mentioned that 45 kids had accepted Jesus that morning during Zooper Church...so that was obviously their message that morning. But I think it is so special that God prepared Lynzi's heart the night before, so she was REALLY ready for ALL that he had for her on Sunday! Exciting stuff....

sweet, sweet girl...

2009-09-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

I know I am oh so behind in blogging and I do still plan to finish updating what I've missed the last few months, but I just had to post about Lynzi today so that I don't forget any sweet detail!

First of all, I'll just start with her soccer game this morning. She did AMAZING!!! She was literally on the ball non-stop! She scored 2 goals, several "almost" goals" and made lots of assists. She even got pushed by a couple kids on the other team, but that didn't stop her...made her even more determined, actually! We were so proud of her...our little fire ball!

Now to the real reason for this post: my sweetheart girl! Tonight while I was putting her to bed, we were reading in her Bible about John the Baptist...when he baptized Jesus, and she was really captivated by the story and asked lots of questions. When we finished it, she said, "Mommy, I want to be baptized." I told her when she gets just a little bit older and fully understands that following Jesus is a lifetime commitment then she can be baptized like Jesus. I'm not sure she was satisfied with that answer because she immediately said, "I'm going to pray about it." So she did...right then! She bowed her head and prayed this: "Dear Jesus, Thank you for this day and all your blessings and all you did for us and PLEASE COME INTO MY HEART and I WANT TO BE BAPTIZED!!! In Jesus' name, Amen!" How amazing is that?!?! I just LOVE her and I adore her amazing little heart and precious spirit.

So we talked more about being a Christian and what it means and she said, "I know Christian...he's Evan's brother!" (Evan is our little neighbor boy...and his older brother's name is Christian!!!) haha! :)

Here are a few pictures of the amazing little soccer girl:

~Soccer Star~

~Soccer Sweetie~

~Soccer Smile~

~Soccer Buddies...Lynzi and Isaac~

~Soccer Brother~

my oh my...

2009-09-11T20:37:00.001-07:00

...i have A LOT of catching up to do!!! I've pretty much taken a blog posting hiatus this summer. Everyone that I originally began blogging for now has facebook, so I started just posting my photos on there and sharing stories via status updates. However, I also began blogging for memory's sake....to keep a record of all the cute things my kids say and do on a daily basis, so it is still important to me to blog. I just haven't had time! I'm going to try to catch up on the last couple of months this weekend...we'll see how that goes! I guess I'll just rewind and start where I left off last time:

***************************************************************

Michael Jackson tribute...

Funny thing Asher was doing for quite a while...and even funnier is that he started the week that Michael Jackson died - wearing ONE sock on ONE hand! It was hilarious how often we'd find him walking around the house like that for several weeks! Must have been his tribute to MJ! :) I took pics everytime my camera was handy. Here are a few of them:

*************************************************************************

Silver Dollar City...

We were able to go to Silver Dollar City over the summer and had a great time! Here are a few shots of the kids:

~Lynzi enjoying the clogging show~

~doin' a little toe tappin'...she really got into it~

~Asher hanging out on a train~

~cutie pie~

***********************************************************************

General Council...

We spent a week in Orlando for General Council last month. It was a really busy week...with lots of work involved, but we had a good time. Here are a few of my favorites from the week:

~these two boys absolutely MeLt my heart~

~cutest head shot ever~

~gorgeous girl~

~baby boy...17.5 months old~

~Daddy and kiddos~

~my boys~

~me and my girly~

Well, that is ALL for tonight! Check back soon for more...

It's been...

2009-07-21T23:29:00.000-07:00

...FOREVER since I've updated! I don't like when that happens. I have so many pictures and memories just waiting to be written about! Well, it's way too late to be doing this, so here are just a few pics that I picked out of July 4th weekend! Mom and Dad were here visiting...and we had SO MUCH FUN (as always)!!! If you follow me on facebook, then you've probably already seen these...(which is rare...i usually don't update pics on facebook, just here.) I want to update more soon and I will...SOON!

~Fam on the 4th~

~PawPaw, Grammi, Lynzi & Asher~

~Lovely Lynzi~

~My 3 Loves~

~scouring the porch for MORE watermelon~
(this boy can DEVOUR some watermelon!!!)

Goodnight! :)

magnolia bloom...

2009-06-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

We have a Southern Magnolia tree in our front yard and I was so excited to see the first bloom a few weeks ago:

Happy Birthday....

2009-06-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

to my MOMMY!!! She is the most amazing woman in the world! I am so thankful that God chose me to be her daughter. What an honor to be raised by her, learning from her. She is the most cheerful, optimistic, warm, friendly, caring and hospitable person I know! One of my favorite things to do is hang out with her...she's just one of those people you can't get enough of! I am so excited Mom and Dad are coming to see us next week. Happy Birthday, Mom. I hope you have a fantastic day and I can't wait until you get here so we can celebrate together!!!

overdue pics...

2009-06-26T07:48:00.001-07:00

There are so many pictures that I haven't posted, just because I haven't had time. Here are a few from Nate and Sarah's wedding rehearsal:

~sweet daddy/sweet daughter~

~Lynz and Lace~

~Lynzi lovin' her Mimi~

~kissy, kissy~

WHEW...

2009-06-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

Where do i start?!?!

Well, I'll start with today. Lynzi is sick. She has croup and a high fever. Yesterday evening, she started "barking" and during the night, her fever spiked to 103.9. She had quite a time breathing several times in the night, which is always scary. Pray with us for a quick recovery and THAT ASHER DOES NOT GET IT. Thanks.

Speaking of Asher, many of you already know his latest antics, but I need to record them for memory's sake anyway. Too bad I don't have pictures for documentation, but after you hear the story, you'll understand why I didn't have time for pictures! Well, I had mentioned a few posts back that he really likes climbing. A few weekends ago, we painted his room. We had moved everything to the center of the room and we still had some touch ups to do, so we left all of the equipment in his room and just kept the door shut. Well, apparently at some point, a certain 4 year old in the house must have opened his door. We had just gotten home from church on a Sunday evening and I was getting their "night-night snacks" ready...when I realized Asher had been making this "I want your attention...come see what I'm doing" noise! As soon as I realized the noise he was making...I knew what he was doing! So I ran down the hall until I got close to his room and I slowed down, so I wouldn't startle him. I knew he had gotten into his room and was on the ladder. But I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I walked in...Asher was on THE VERY TOP RUNG of the ladder (7 ft) with his hands straight up in the air!!! The ceiling fan was on and his hands were oh so close...and he was so proud of himself, just cheering himself on! My heart jumped out of me and ran down the hall, I think! I got him down as calmly and quickly as I could and Ryan took the ladder down to the garage and we closed the door and went on with our night. But that's not the end of the story. The next night, the door was still supposed to be closed because we just hadn't had time to get everything out of their and the paint was still airing out before he could sleep in there again. So we took the 7 ft. ladder out, but didn't look or think long enough to take the 20 ft. extension ladder out. It was extended to the very top of the ceiling, which on this particular wall is 12 1/2 ft! Ryan walked back to check on him (not expecting him to be in his room since the door was supposed to be closed) and definitely not expecting to see him at the top of a 12 1/2 foot ladder, touching the ceiling and squealing with delight! Ryan's heart stopped and Lynzi came in to see what was happening and she just gasped...she was speechless!!! I was outside and Ryan came to tell me about it and he was still shaking! SO...needless to say, we got that ladder out and finished everything up in there and put it all back together so he could go in there without being in danger!!! And last but not least...he got himself stuck in a banister rail by our stairs. It could have been bad, but it wasn't (thank God.) We now have plexi-glass around the rails. So, he's been our little wild monkey lately! Super cute and sweet, but quite a handful!!! :)

What else??? I know there are more stories I wanted to share...but I can't really think of them now. I also wanted to post a few photos, but I've got to give Lynzi her medicine and get them both down for their nap...then take advantage of the time while they're down!

Happy Father's Day...

2009-06-22T13:54:00.001-07:00

What a great day Father's Day was...

Thank you, Lord:

for the amazing daddy you gave my babies!!! It's such a blessing to share life and the journey of parenthood with someone so phenomenal!

for my daddy too. He is an amazing man of God who has always been a great example in every way! He's also a fabulous PawPaw (he followed the role of PawPaw in some fantastic footsteps!)

for my incredible father-in-law ("Poppy") who I am grateful for as well.

and for all of our Grandpa's too!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day, celebrating the men in their life!!!

We had a great day celebrating Ryan! We got up early and went to the early service at church, so I would have time when we got back to finish cooking Ryan's special lunch! Here was the menu (some of Ryan's faves):

succulent roasted prime rib
baked sweet potato (with butter and brown sugar)
fresh spinach-greek salad
crispy garlic ciabatta bread
homemade root beer ice cream

mmm...mmm...mmm!!! :)

Nate came over too because Sarah is out of town, so after lunch...we just enjoyed the afternoon, playing with the kids. Then we had LifeGroup in the evening.

It was a great day to be thankful for our fathers and grandfathers.

i love my babies...

2009-06-08T13:09:00.001-07:00

Another amazing thing that Lynzi said the other night (as she and I were cuddling in the hammock in the backyard...watching the lightning bugs!) "Mommy, could you ever imagine in the world that we would love each other so much?!?!?) ...makes my heart smile!!! :)

Here are a few pics taken over the last week:

~Lynzi proud of her new strawberry shortcake puzzle we put together this morning~

This is Asher's 2nd new favorite spot...standing in a chair. His favorite spot is on top of the kitchen table, right in the middle of it! He is a climber-extraordinaire (and it drives me cRaZy!!!) I'm not sure if I'll get a picture of him on the table b/c as soon as I catch him up there...I'm sprinting to get him off before he gets himself off! I now have to keep the chairs pulled away from the table (or away from anything for that matter b/c he'll use it to climb up somewhere even higher!) It's quite a chore keeping him off of things during the day. Lynzi was quite the climber too....so I'm 2 for 2!!! :)

Asher eating his first VERY OWN ice cream cone...he was
happy that he didn't have to share with anyone!

Well, the next two didn't come out very clear b/c a certain 4 year old in our house played with my camera that day and smudged up the lens...oh well.

~Family prayer before dinner. Asher loves praying...you can see how excited he is about it!!!~

How sweet is this?!?! This was right before we prayed and Asher got a really good hold of Ryan's hand! I love it. He is really getting the idea that we always pray before we eat. One day I was getting everyone's food on the table and Ryan and Lynzi started eating before we prayed and Asher spoke up big time to let us know we hadn't prayed yet...it was cool!!! :)

I have a lot more pictures that I want to post....so keep checking back!

few pics from our trip...

2009-06-01T13:18:00.001-07:00

I mentioned in the last post that the kids and I were able to make a trip "home" last week for an "Operation Recupe Mom" visit!!! She had her second knee replaced, which is obviously a huge surgery and she really wanted us to be there to help her recover. Ryan was in the Phillipines, working on one of our missions projects...so it was the perfect opportunity to head home. It's LOTS of work to prep and pack and get ready to travel with 2 kids, but when you are doing it alone...whew! But it was well worth it. We had a great time and mom is progressing fantastically!!! I left my camera at my cousins house when we went there for her graduation party...and just got it in the mail, so I thought I would post just a few pics.

This was actually the day before we left. We had to make a library run to take back a few of Lynzi's books that were due, before we left. Asher got really tickled....

...and of course, this is what he was tickled about...she cracks him up!!!

The kids playing on the airplane ride. They both did really amazing. The flight there (the second leg) was perfect b/c nobody sat in the seat next to us, so we could spread out and toward the end...I let Asher sit in his very own seat, which you can't really tell he was excited by this picture (not sure what this expression is...actually, I think he is chewing on a cheerio) but he loved having his own seat!

PawPaw, Asher and I went to an Astro's game....and Asher was quite the fan!

So here was the true reason for the trip! Asher with his new walking skills was coaching Grammi on how to walk with her new knee!!! They practiced walking together alot! :)

This was at my cousin's graduation party...the luau boys!

and my favorite one of all.......

~Panama Ash~

more to come....

Another funny conversation with a "sweet girl"....

2009-05-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

I'm really just posting this so I don't forget it...so I can tell Ryan when he gets back.

She hung out at my Aunt Laura and Uncle Richard's today, while Asher and I went to an Astro's game with my dad.

***side note: I guess I haven't mentioned yet that the kids and I came "home" for a visit at my parents house this week. Ryan is in the Phillipines and my mom just had her second knee replaced)...so we came to help her recover! Thanks Mom and Dad for making it possible!***

Anyways, so after I picked Lynzi up...on our way home, I asked her if she was a sweet girl.

Her response:

"Oh, yes ma'am...I was sweet! Sweeter than you could ever imagine!!!" :)

I guess that answers that! That's my sweet girl....

Question of the day...

2009-05-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

Lynzi: Since Nate and Sarah are married now, will they GET a kid?!?!???

Ryan and Laci: hahahaha!!!

Laci: Well, maybe so...but you'll probably be like 10 before that happens!

Ryan: Where do you think they'll get a kid...Babies R Us?!!?!! :)

Lynzi: Ummm....SURE!!! (as she runs off to play again.)

I guess that answered her question enough!!!

just a few pics...

2009-05-16T10:40:00.001-07:00

Here are just a few random shots of my cuties:

~ I was doing dishes and looked down to see this...(and my camera happened to be nearby)~

~Asher just chillin' on the kitchen floor~

~proud of himself after sliding down the slide (over and over and over again)

at the play area in the mall~

~strikin' a pose on the couch~

Wheel...of...Fortune...

2009-05-11T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well...haha, sorry! I started this post yesterday and all I got to write was "well..."!!! I didn't know it actually posted. I think Asher was responsible for posting it b/c he was all over the keyboard (which is why I had to quit trying to type at the moment!)

So, the weekend I've waited for FOREVER has come and gone and my name never was drawn to get up on stage :(. But there is still a chance that I could be called back for the second auditions.

Several of you had asked how they did the whole thing, so here it is: There were 2 days of "shows". It started at 2:00 on Saturday. We all got ready and loaded up for an exciting weekend. We drove about 45 minutes to the Wheelmobile!!! For my Mother's Day present, Ryan reserved a room at the hotel where the Wheelmobile event was taking place...so he could take the kids back to the room for naps and we spent the night, so we were ready for the next day of shows. When we arrived, we went ahead and check in the hotel...then we went around to where the Wheelmobile was, just to get a feel for what was going on. Then we were going to get some lunch and I was going to come back and get in line. Well, WOAH..the line was already out the door. So, needless to say...I went ahead and got in line and Ryan and the kids got some lunch. It was fun/interesting...all the people I ended up standing by in line (lots of standing in line) throughout the weekend! The first people that were behind me, I found out, were the parents to a couple who just moved in at the end of our street...small world!!! We waited and waited...and finally they started passing out applications for us to fill out. Then they opened the theatre doors and there it was...the coolest little mini version of Wheel set up on stage!!! It was so exciting (for a WOF fan anyways!!!) Once we got in there...we waited even more. Then finally, 2:00 came and the show started! The "traveling Pat and Vanna" were there (not the real ones!) They were pretty funny...Marty and Heidi. So the way it worked was, everyone put their application in a box before we went into the theatre. Then they took all the applications and dumped them into a big tumbler-thing on stage. The "Vanna" girl drew 5 names at a time and gave them to the "Pat". He called those names out and those people ran up to the stage (their audition began as soon as their name was called...they were looking for PERSONALITY!) Then those 5 people got up on stage and did a little interview with Marty and played a speed-round to solve a puzzle. Then they called 5 more and 5 more and 5 more, etc...as many as they could go through in an hour. I think they usually called around 40-50 people per game. So we basically repeated that 2 more times on Saturday and 3 times on Sunday. I'd estimate that there were approximately 5,000 people there. What they do now is take the rest of the applications (who weren't drawn) and they draw a few from each of the shows that were left in the tumbler. So I have 6 chances to be drawn...so P-R-A-Y with me that I'll get drawn. Those who were drawn to come on stage that they liked...did a great job with interview and puzzle skills, along with those they draw from the group that was never drawn originally....they will contact within a month to let them know about the second audtion. So, I'm still holding on to that shot and I'll be waiting on an email from them!!! :)

It was a great Mother's Day weekend. After Saturdays games were over, we went to a really yummy little pizza place. Then we were all so tired, we headed back to the room for bed. And the next morning, we started it all over again!!! Ryan was amazing...he took care of the kids all day. They waited in line with me some, then they'd go out to the playground, then come back and check on me and go into the shows. Lynzi loved the whole thing...she was just as excited as me! She asked me everytime they came back to check on me..."Mommy, did they call you 'upstage'???"

So we had a great time. I'll let you know if I hear from them about the next audition! Here are a few pics from the weekend...

~The Wheelmobile~

~Laci with Pat and Vanna on the Wheelmobile~

~The Application~

~Me and my fellow excited little Wheel fan~

~Excited Wheel Fan~

~Pat, Lynz, Lace~

~Laci and Vanna~

~The Stage~

~Laci and Marty (aka Traveling Pat)~

My Superstar...

2009-05-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

Superstar, she is! Yesterday the kids and I were on our way to the mall and a commercial came on the radio. It was a company looking to hire a telephone person and the guy on the commercial says they're looking for a "superstar on the phone". Lynzi pipes up exhuberantly and says, "Ahhh....Mommy, I'm a SUPERSTAR... he's looking for me!" I said, "Yes, baby, you sure are a superstar!" Then the guy asks, "Are you a superstar?" Lynzi answered him promptly, "YES I AM!" :)

So, on with the story of why we were headed to the mall...I was looking for an outfit to wear to audition for Wheel of Fortune!!!! WOOOO HOOOOOO, yes I said Wheel of Fortune!!!! I get butterflies even typing it because I'm so excited about it. I've ALWAYS wanted to be on Wheel...since I started watching it with my Memaw and PawPaw when i was about Lynzi's age!!! I've filled out numerous online applications in the past (but so do millions of other people!) Then a few weeks ago, a commercial came on t.v. with Pat and Vanna. I was folding clothes and Lynzi was helping me...when I heard Pat say the Wheelmobile was coming to our area!!! I seriously couldn't breathe or talk for a minute...all I could do was put my hand over my mouth in disbelief and start laughing!!! It probably sounds silly that I would get so excited over a commercial...even Lynzi was wondering what was going on. When I could finally talk, I started jumping up and down and telling her that Wheel of Fortune was coming and she started jumping and joined my excitement!!! :) They've played the commercial many times since then and everytime I see it or just hear it...I totally get butterflies. Today Lynzi was in the bathroom, washing her hands, and she heard the commercial from in there. I was downstairs and didn't even know the commercial was on and Lynzi is hollering from her bathroom, "Mom are you laughing right now because 'leelofortune' is coming?"

So, to continue the shopping story, after we got to the mall...one more funny! I picked out a top and they had it in green and blue. I asked Lynzi which one she liked best and she said blue. Well, I was partial to the green...so i went ahead and got it in green. After we had been shopping for a little while longer, I started thinking that I already had blue jewelry, but I didn't really have any green jewelry...so after all that, I ended up going back and exchanging the green top for the blue top. I guess "daugther knows best"!!! :)

I'll let you know how it goes this weekend!

Oh and Happy Mother's Day to my most precious Mommy and my most wonderul Mother-in-law and Grandma Mabel and Grandma Thomas and Grandma Moore...and all the other amazing Mommy's who read this blog!!!

Love ya.

The Wedding....

2009-05-04T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well, wedding weekend is officially over!!! Everything turned out really great. The wedding was perfect. The bride was gorgeous, the groom was adorable, the flower girl was an angelic little sweetheart and the best man was...WOW!!! I actually didn't get any good pictures of the bride and groom together (there is one of them far away during the toast) but I had Asher in my arms the entire time...so it made getting decent pics difficult, especially during the wedding b/c I was stuffing Asher with cheerios, graham crackers, water, pacifier...whatever it took to keep him quiet during the ceremony :)! It was quite a morning, getting ready for the wedding...actually it was quite a weekend. Here's a recap:

Friday: get house ready for 40+ guests coming over after wedding to watch Nate and Sarah open gifts, rehearsal dinner at a hibachi grill...DELISH. then to rehearsal. back home and in bed, ready for the BIG DAY!

Saturday morning: finish getting house ready for 40+ guests coming over after wedding, bake 150 cookies for guests, got all the drinks chilled, put Asher down for his nap, get myself ready, get Lynzi ready...all the while, Ryan, Mimi and Poppy went to Nate's graduation from AGTS (Assemblies of God Theological Seminary) which was at 10:30 and the wedding was at 1:30! So, I was supposed to have Lynzi at the church at noon for pictures. I got Asher up and dressed and got them both a little bit of lunch before we left. I loaded them up and we headed out. Then we had quite a time getting to the church, between Ryan's directions, what the GPS was trying to tell me and detours....just a little hectic!!! But we finally arrived and here are a few pics of the big day:

~My gorgeous little flower girl~

~The beautiful bride and the little bride~

~the wedding party~

~the Best Man's toast~

~throwing the bouquet~

~my SWEET boys~

~adorable angel~

~me and my precious honey~

~Cousin Caitlin and Asher~

~Asher and Mimi~

~Asher, Mimi and Poppy~

~Our little Fam~

~At our house after the wedding...Grandma and Grandpa Thomas, Asher and Mimi...they were all laughing at Asher b/c he thought it was so funny that we were telling him to smile and he was laughing really loud~

~Grandpa and Asher~

~Asher lovin' on Mimi before they left~

quick pics....

2009-04-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated photos in a while and life is a little c-R-a-Z-y busy right now...so I thought I'd just post 2 pics of the kids with their grandpas! I haven't edited them or anything, but they are super sweet just like this...

~ Asher and Poppy~

~Lynzi and PawPaw~

Life "might" slow down a little after this weekend. Nate and Sarah's wedding is on Saturday, so we have LOTS of family coming to celebrate. It will be an exciting weekend. I know I'll have LOTS of pictures to post after that (not that I don't have 258,000 on my computer right now, waiting to be uploaded...just haven't had time!) So after wedding weekend, I will try to sit down and post some more pics. Have a great weekend.

Thanks for your prayers...

2009-04-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for those of you who prayed for my dad! He got out of the hospital yesterday. All of the heart tests they ran came out perfectly clear and the doctor determined that he passed out from his blood pressure getting too low, because he was over-medicated.

God healed him from his high blood pressure not long ago, but none of his blood pressure medicine had been officially changed. He was altering his medicine some on his own and his blood pressure was fluctuating and it just bottomed out on him last Sunday during church.

He actually stopped breathing and lost pulse for a couple of minutes...so that is another miracle. The people around him were praying over him and somebody was about to start CPR, when he started breathing again (THANK YOU LORD)!!! Our cousin who goes to their church is a safety guy and "happened" to have oxygen in his car...so he ran out to get it and put it on Dad until the ambulance arrived.

The ambulance took him to Houston. The ER doctor assumed it was heart related and they ran multiple tests on his heart/arteries and all came back fine. His heart doctor finally determined that he has a syndrome that makes you pass out for different reasons...one of those being low blood pressure, in his case from too much medicine that he didn't need anymore (thank you Jesus, again!!!)

We are SO THANKFUL for all of God's miracles: for healing Dad of his high blood pressure, for keeping him here with us and that his heart is all good! I truly believe that God restarted his body and he is starting with a clean slate.

God still has important work for Dad and Mom to do to further His kingdom! Thank you JESUS that by Your stripes Daddy was healed!!!

Who will be the big "winner"???

2009-04-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

I just noticed that my blog counter is at 992...only 8 away from 1000! I just wonder who will be the 1000th viewer??? If you're reading this post, then you have to scroll down to view the counter and if it says 1000...then leave a comment that you won, because no one else will know it was you...except you (so you gotta let us know!!!)

Okay, that's all....just wanted to mention that! :)

Have a great day.

Easter weekend...

2009-04-16T12:43:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted pictures in quite awhile...so here are a few from Easter weekend! We had a great weekend.

On Saturday, we went to our church (James River Assembly...http://www.jamesriver.org/) for their annual "Easter Express.") We had a great time. The kids got to have an Easter egg hunt and pet baby ducks, chicks and a goat, tour a school bus, ambulance and fire truck, make a craft and play in one of the coolest play lands ever!

After we came home...that evening we had another Easter egg hunt in the backyard.

Then on Easter morning, we were able to take our time because there were 4 services at church and the last one was at 1:00, which we went to! Pastor had asked those that could to go to the 1:00 service to make room for the many visitors they were expecting! And that they had...there were 15,211 in attendance for all 4 services!!! 106 people came forward to receive Christ in the main services, and 154 kids accepted Christ in the kids' services! What a great celebration of our Risen Savior!!!

Nate and Sarah met us at church and came to our house afterwards to hang out for the evening. I cooked dinner (Apricot glazed roasted pork tenderloin, baked sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, macaroni and cheese, wheat cracked rolls and FLAN!!!) It was quite yummy, if I do say so myself :)! Then we played games for the rest of the evening and watched a movie after the kids went to bed.

It was a great weekend...

~Off to have some family fun at Easter Express~

~Lynzi and one of the many inflatable bunnies that showed the way to the fun stuff~

~Asher finding eggs~

~Lynzi and Asher....counting their eggs~

~Me and My sweet Asher boy~

~Lynzi hunting Easter eggs in our backyard~

~she found one~

Lynzi crushing her brother!!!

Lynzi crushing her brother again...but this time he's looking (and she's not)!!!

~My 3 loves on Easter morning...after finding their Easter goodies~

~Lynzi, Uncle Nate, Ryan, Asher and Laci at church on Easter morning~

~Lynzi and Unkie Nate~

~Me and my sweet babies~

Thanks for the comments...

2009-04-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all my blog readers who left a comment that you read it! That was really cool to see who all is actually out there in blog land!!! I have a lot of pics that I want to post from the past few weeks...I'll get back and do it as soon as I can! Have a great day.

"Night-Night" Prayers with Lynzi...

2009-04-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well here are just a few of the amazing, yet silly things Lynzi said during our "night night conversation" while I was putting her to bed tonight:

I was praying and apparently went a little long for her and she said, "Mom...in Jesus' name, Amen, okay!?"

Then when it was her turn to pray...this is pretty awesome...even though she was praying in a silly robot voice, she said, "Jesus come into my heart and I love you and I love you too, Mom (kiss)...In Jesus' name, Amen!!!" Isn't that so cool?!?! Even though she was being silly...she actually asked Jesus to come into her heart all on her own. I didn't prompt it or anything. When we were reading her Bible earlier, there was a picture of a boy with a heart in his hand and lifting it toward heaven and we talked about giving our hearts to Jesus...so she must have really thought about it!!! :)

Also earlier today...out of the blue, she said that she wanted to move back to Texas because she missed Grammi and PawPaw! :( Then she asked if we could ask God to let us move back to Texas. I told her that we were right where God wanted us, but if that's what she wanted to pray then she could. So after we both prayed tonight, she said..."oh I forgot to ask Him about moving." She asked me to pray and I told her that wasn't my prayer...so she said, "OKAAAAY, I'll ask Him"... "Jesus, could you ask us to move back to Texas, please?!!!" :)

Then the last thing...Ryan came in to tell her goodnight after he had been out in the garage, building her bed and she said, "Daddy, you smell like 'sweet dust'!!!" (she meant sawdust b/c he had been sanding and cutting wood!!!)

That's my sweet girl...

Do you...

2009-03-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

read this blog???

I'm just curious who actually looks at my blog. If you are reading this right now...will you please leave me a comment, just so I'll know who my audience is :)!!! The main reason I do this is for memory-sake and also for our families who are far away to see what's going on with us...but I'd love to know who else looks at it.

If you have never left a comment...it's easy. You don't even have to have an account. Just scroll a tiny bit, just to the bottom of this post and click on "# comments" (right next to where it says, 'posted by Laci')...then type your message in the "leave comment" box and if you don't have an account or don't want to sign in, you just click on the "anonymous button" (but don't forget to sign your name if you do it anonymously!) Then click on the "publish comment" button and you are done.

Thanks. I look forward to seeing who all is out there in "blog land!" :)

Grammi and PawPaw to the Rescue...

2009-03-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

Grammi and PawPaw came to visit last week! They drove our extra vehicle all the way here for us, then stayed with the kids while Ryan and I went on a trip with Builders International. Everyone had so much fun and the kids did great while we were gone (and didn't get spoiled a bit, I'm sure...yeah right!!!) Thanks, Grammi and PawPaw for everything...WE LOVE YOU! :)

~ This is at our church~

After every service...Lynzi has to hug the big colorful elephant

that stands at the entrance of "THE ZOO" (kid's church)!

Happy Birthday Lynzi Grace!!!

2009-03-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

What a fantastic day it was celebrating Lynzi's 4th birthday! We got up and baked her birthday cake, then opened her birthday cards that came in the mail, then Ryan came home and brought Lynzi's new friend (Daphnie) to go to Chuck E. Cheese's with us. We met Nate and Sarah (yes, Sarah is Nate's girlfriend...several of you had asked me after I mentioned her several posts back) there and had such a great time! Then everybody came back to the house and we had cake and opened presents! Lynzi got a new bedding set from Mimi and Poppy and us and she got a new bike from Grammi and PawPaw!!! Then on to her favorite part of the day...church :)!!! I'll post more pictures soon, but for now here are a few of the bazillion and a half that are on my camera right now! Happy Birthday Lynzi Grace! We love you so much and we're so thankful that God has blessed our family with your wonderfulness!!! :)

Lynzi and Daphnie

~Mommy with Birthday Girl~

~Lynzi's New Bike...thank you Grammi and PawPaw~

Lynzi's new helmet was a little small...she's made it clear that tomorrow will definitely involve exchanging it!

Proof that she's such a big girl...she went to her room and took off her church clothes, picked out her own nighty ("tinkerbell since she had a tinkerbell party") and put them on, brushed her teeth and got in bed...all by herself!!!

All About Asher...

2009-03-02T22:43:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to post this since Asher's birthday...but have not had time. (This is mainly for me to have, so I can print it for his baby book...but I thought you might enjoy it as well!) So here are a few facts about my baby boy, now that he is 1:

Asher:

*is an INCREDIBLY happy boy!

*is such a sweet cuddler!

*is very attached to Mommy and Daddy! :)

*loves everything about Lynzi (especially playing in her room!)

*laughs histerically at his big sister!

*loves to kiss...a lot!!!

*has his 2 bottom-middle teeth (definitely working on some more...his diapers are proof!!!)

*loves to "get his groove on!" If he hears anything that sounds like it might end up being a beat...he stops what he's doing and starts bopping his head, then his shoulders get into it and then it's an all out "shakin' his groove thang"! However, he seems to know when it's worship music, then he goes right into "worship mode"!!!

*loves to clap...whether it's for himself or someone else. If he hears or sees clapping, he joins right in...with a giant smile!

*likes to talk on the phone....and usually carries on conversations with "Dada" when he is on any phone (play or real).

*LOVES the remote! And he can find them no matter how good they are hidden and he knows exactly where it should be pointed (no matter where the t.v. might be!)

*has always been a good sleeper. slept through the night since he was 4 weeks old (thank you, Lord!) Once we moved to our new house...he started waking up between 5-6, but I think he was just getting adjusted to his new (real) baby bed and his new room (which he hadn't had either of those until we moved...poor baby!) But he's doing great now. He sleeps from about 8:30 pm-8:ish am!

*weaned at 11 months (while in Belize) and made a fantastic transition...loves his regular milk!

*hasn't turned any food down so far! Loves to eat and can eat A LOT! A few of his faves are: yogurt, bananas, honeycombs cereal, tomatoes, green beans, asparagus, chicken, fajita meat...oh the list goes on...like I said, ANYTHING!!! :)

*usually takes 2 naps...he's always been a 10 & 2 baby, but sometimes his first nap lasts too long
and he'll go down a little later than 2 for his second nap!

*is very close to walking...he'll walk all day holding on to something, even if it's just a pinky!

*started standing up by himself (from sitting on the floor)...and he gets extremely excited when he does it! We're trying to get him to take steps to us once he's free standing...

*says "mama, dada, hi, bye, thank you," and will repeat several other words when you tell him too..."Lynzi, please" are a few.

*signs "more, eat, all done, please"

*LOVES his paci, but we only let him have it in bed. However, if he finds one somewhere in the house...it's in his mouth immediately (it's rather cute, actually!!!)

*has TONS of hair! I've actually lost count of how many haircuts he's had! Ryan gave him his first "official" haircut when he was 8 months old (I had trimmed a few extra long and stray hairs here and there before that.) Then he had another one at 11 months by Mimi in Belize (he had one in between those, but I can't remember when!) Then I just gave him one a few weeks ago at 12 months (while he was in the bath tub, believe it or not! It turned out to work pretty well because his hair was already wet and he was occupied!!!)

*speaking of bath...he LOVES LOVES LOVES the bath (just like his big sister!) And he loves taking a bath with her!

*definitely has an occasional dramatic side!!! if he gets upset...his face scrunches up and he can muster up a super fake cry-yell-noise (not sure what you call it!) I have a picture of his face when he is doing it...i'll try to post it soon.

*really enjoys being outside!

*gets SOOO excited when he sees an animal! His body tenses up and he squeals and points with delight, while bouncing up and down!!!

*thinks the dishwasher is so much fun! (I'll have to designate that as his chore when he gets older!!!)

*thinks his daddy's guitars are so cool...always trying to get to them!

*Loves to go up and down the stairs (which has been a bit of a challenge in our new house, but we got a gate...which works great, however if someone goes through the gate without him...watch out!) The first time I put him down to let him go down the stairs (I was right with him...don't worry), he crawled to the edge of the top stair and immediately turned around to go down backwards...that was before anyone had ever showed him how to do it!!! I thought it was pretty smart myself! :) Then if we're downstairs and put him down...he BOLTS for the stairs to try and get up them before we catch him...so funny!

*In my opinion, he has looked exactly like Lynzi at every stage so far...if you look at any given picture of Lynzi in her first year, just take off the bow and you have Asher! :)

***I know there are many more things that I will want to have recorded, but that is the end of my brain power for tonight. I'm sure that I'll think of more as soon as my head hits the pillow!

We love you, Asher! Thank you for filling our days with sweet love and laughter...and thank you, Lord, for blessing us with the most incredibly sweet baby boy we could have ever imagined!!!

We're still alive...

2009-02-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

...but we STILL don't have inernet, officially anyway! We just get occasional signal at our house. We're waiting on our modem to be delivered (the one that came in wasn't compatible with our internet provider...that was wonderful news, after waiting a week!) So we should be up and running for good in a few more days. We were at Ryan's office all morning getting things set up here. We're getting settled at our house...and we LOVE it. We have a lot on our to do list, but that will come with time!

Since I haven't updated since we've been here...I'll rewind back to our move (2 weeks ago.) We're thankful for Nate and Sarah and the work crew they put together when we got here to help us unload! Everything went so smoothly and we had everything in place in no time!!! Oh, and Nate made us a flan as our "housewarming" present ...and it was REALLY GOOD!!!

Here are a few pictures of our trip, then arriving at our house and moving day:

Our mid-way point was a stop in Arlington at

Grandma and Grandpa Thomas'...always great to see them!

What Ryan and Lynzi looked like driving down the road!!!

Lynzi loaded up in the U-haul truck...she was her daddy's navigator!!!

Our first family photo in our new home! You can tell Asher doesn't care about our first photo...he was DONE for the day!!! He had good reason to be over it though...it was a long few days and both of the kids were super troopers all the way here!

Ryan and Nate moving in the dryer!

Enjoying the flan that Nate made for us...YUM!

~Sarah and Asher~

more to come...soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHER...

2009-02-20T20:15:00.000-08:00

Happy 1st birthday to our sweet Baby Asher boy!!!

More blog updates and pics to come as soon as we get internet set up at our house!

Moving Day...

2009-02-12T19:47:00.001-08:00

Today was moving day (part 1)!!! We left this morning and stopped at Ryan's grandparents tonight (which is almost 1/2 way there.) We'll get up in the morning and start part 2 of the trek, which will end at OUR NEW HOUSE...YAY!!! We're so excited to get there and get settled in. We'll unload all of our stuff on Saturday...I can't think of a better Valentine's Day prezzy! Pray for our safety on the road tomorrow. Ryan and Lynzi are in the big Uhaul truck, pulling our utility trailer behind it and Asher and I are in the van! Our friend from Builders International, Cessi, went ahead with the B.I. Speed the Light truck and trailer full of our stuff, so it will be waiting on us when we get there! I'll let you know when we get there and post pics too.

p.s. BIG thanks to our wonderful friends who helped us load our house in record time yesterday (and made a miracle happen to fit it all in the two trucks...we were all a tiny bit worried at the end)!!! Cessi, John, Monte, Wade, Barney, Charlie and Debbie...THANK YOU!!! And Dad fed everyone gumbo for lunch and topped it off with an amazing dessert...and Mom babysat the kiddos for us....THANK YOU!!!! We love and appreciate you ALL!!!

Asher's 1st Birthday Party...

2009-02-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Asher's 1st birthday a couple of weeks early the other night, with a few of our family and friends. The party was all about construction...and so much fun! Here are just a few pics from the night. I'll try to post more later...

~cute little birthday boy~

~hard hat cake...created by none other than PawPaw~

Llittle guy on the move...I think he was trying to escape his construction work ;)!!!

~Our hard workin' little man~

~Daddy and his boy at the "construction site"~

It's OFFICIAL....

2009-02-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

We received a call from headquarters earlier this week and it's official...we've exceeded 100% in our itineration budget and we're approved to start our missions work!!! We're so excited. This was after Ryan went to Washington last weekend for a service and God provided a miraculous offering!!! The pastor handed him a check that was the same amount that we were short in our cash budget...PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Our house is completely packed up and Saturday (tomorrow), we leave for Arkansas for our LAST service on Sunday...come back on Monday...load on Tuesday and Wednesday...Head out on Thursday!!! So, busy week ahead...but we're so excited to finally start into the work that God called us to 10 years ago! And it will be amazing to finally get settled into OUR OWN house.

Just wanted to share our exciting news with everyone!!!

~Y~A~Y~

P.S. Here are a few links to pics of my cutie speaking at the church in Washington last weekend (photos courtesy of Lloyd Smith):

http://picasaweb.google.com/Lsmithtwin/CHAGRyanMooreSWeekend212009#5298050189606353538

http://picasaweb.google.com/Lsmithtwin/CHAGRyanMooreSWeekend212009#5298050208317781282

http://picasaweb.google.com/Lsmithtwin/CHAGRyanMooreSWeekend212009#5298050154647771730

25 random facts about me...

2009-01-29T22:51:00.000-08:00

This thing has been going around Facebook and I think just about everyone who has a facebook has done it and half of them had tagged me for it...so I finally did it. The rules are to list 25 random facts about yourself, then tag 25 people to do it also. Since I took the time to do it, I figured I'd post it on here. You should do it too!!!

1. I've had a HUGE crush on Ryan since I was a little girl...I told my mom when I was 12 years old that I would marry him someday!!!

2. I don't know why I am doing this thing...I do not have time (that's why I am doing it while everyone in my family is asleep!!!) But since 2.8 million people tagged me for it, i figured I would try to figure out 25 things about me to type. ;)

3. I taught 2nd grade when we lived in California (while Ryan was in the Navy...until I was pregnant for Lynzi.)

4. I can't believe that I've been married to my sweetheart for 10 amazing years! He is absolutely my dream come true!!!

5. Ryan and I were youth pastors for 4 years after we got married.

6. I was the church "janitor" for about 6 years!

7. I love carrying on a conversation and laughing with Lynzi..."we crack each other up" (as she likes to say!) She is my sweet little precious doll!!!

8. I never imagined I could love a little boy as much as I love Asher...I am completely SMITTEN with him and I cannot get enough of him!

9. I have so much fun going to the little playgroup that we put together (I'm not sure who enjoys it more...me or the kids!!!)...and I'm sad that tomorrow is most likely our last day to go (but I hope that the other girls keep it up after I leave!)

10. I'm 100% a choco-holic (I think pregnancy intensified it...yeah, I'll blame it on pregnancy!)

11. I loved being pregnant.

12. I played basketball from 5th grade until 12th grade.

13. Two of my bestest friends and I all had our babies within 3 1/2 months of each other (like we had always wanted it to be...but it wasn't really planned!!!)

14. We are about to move to begin our work as missionaries (which God called us to 10 years ago. We finally made it...in his timing! And it was a GREAT journey getting to this point!)

15. I love George W. Bush (and he put his arm around me for a picture when he was Gov. of Texas and I was a jr. in high school...he recognized our basketball team after winning state! Yeah, me and him...we're tight, but i cannot find the picture anywhere!) ***sidenote: if any of my b-ball friends has a copy of that picture...will you scan it and send it to me, please!?!? thanks.

16. My parents are amazing...they are the true picture of what a fabulous marriage looks like!!!

17. I am addicted to the "dot, dot, dot" when typing. You can look back at what I've written so far and I'm sure there are already like 30 "..."'s!

18. I do not like the flavor of coffee at all...but i do love the smell!!!

19. Tomorrow is my brother's birthday...Happy Birthday, Coy! (and my aunt's too.)

20. I love hanging out with my mom...next to Ryan, she is my very best friend and I want to be just like her!!!

21. I love the Lord my God with ALL my heart, ALL my soul, and ALL my strength!

22. I am a game junkie...game night is my FAVORITE!!!

23. I am very competitive..but in a loving, sweet-spirited way, of course!!! :)

24. I am a huge fan of roller coasters! Ryan and I used to get season passes to Six Flags every year and one summer, we went on a little vacation to all of the Six Flags parks in Texas...Astroworld, Fiesta Texas and Six Flags over Texas!

25. My in-laws are so wonderful. And my Kak is one of my very best friends!!!

***Oh wait, there's more...

* For the first 28 years of my life, purple was my favorite color. But suddenly in the last year...I can't get enough RED!!!

*Ryan and I graduated from college on the same exact day! Our colleges were 2 hours apart and we lived in the middle. His ceremony was in the morning and mine was in the evening...so we got to go to each others!!!

WOW...I never imagined I'd come up with 27 things!

YOUR TURN!!! :)

p.s. (It's much easier than it looks!)

Monkey See, Monkey Do....

2009-01-24T13:12:00.000-08:00

We went to a village called Bermuda Landing where howler monkeys live...(also known as the Baboon Sanctuary...Belizeans call monkeys baboons!) We hired a "monkey man" named Winston to find some monkeys for us:

~Cute little monkey we visited~

~Baby monkey hanging on to the mommy~

~Mommy Monkey eating a banana from the "Monkey Man"...look closely on her belly and you can see the baby still holding on~

~The monkey crawling over me to get to the banana...yikes!~

~Monkey striking a pose with me~

~Lynzi, Ryan and Asher checking out the monkey (he dropped down from the tree for a snack)~

~Ryan and Asher with the monkey~

~Mimi and Asher waiting to see the monkeys~

~Ryan, Poppy and Lynzi ready for some monkey time~

~Ryan and Laci~

~Lynzi with her new creole friend Damien~

He and his family lived in the house right by where our monkey man had us park, while he went to find the monkeys. So Lynzi played with him while we waited! It was like they had been friends forever. They chased a kitty cat, a dog and some chickens and they listened for the monkeys! He kept saying, "Hear da baboons!"

~Asher was quite interested in Winston the Monkey Man's goat-tee~

Last Friday in Belize...

2009-01-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

On Friday, we went to some more ruins called Xunantunich...which means "Stone Lady." We hiked to the top and it was quite a spectacular view!!! Yesterday we went into the jungle to see the howler monkeys...and one crawled all over me!!! I'll post pics of that in a few days! We're heading out to the island now!

~Ryan, Lynzi and Laci at the top~

~ View of the ruins from the highest peak~

~ View of Guatamala from the top of Xunantunich~

~Ryan in the sky~

~Lynzi, Ryan and Poppy on the way up~

~silly girls~

~Pretty girl resting after a hike~

~Laci and Asher together again....(he and Mimi waited for us at the bottom...and almost got attacked by a stray dog too!)~

Tuesday in Belize...

2009-01-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

Tuesday we went to some Mayan ruins called "Altun Ha." It was pouring down rain when we got there, so Mimi stayed in the car with Asher while the rest of us explored!

~Video~

~Altun Ha~

Poppy...the tour guide!

Poppy, Lynzi and Ryan...at the top!

Lynzi "trying' to stay dry!

~Ryan, Lynzi and Poppy~

~Me and My Girl~

~Me and My Honey~

~My Little Angel~
My shutter speed (I think that is what it was) was off on my camera when I snapped this of Lynzi and her arms looked just like angel wings fluttering!!! I guess it's true...she really is an angel! :)

"I did it"...she exclaimed!!!

~Asher and Mimi hanging out in the car~

Belize!!!

2009-01-13T19:39:00.000-08:00

We are in Belize visiting Ryan's parents and we're having a great time with them. I promised some of you that I would update and post pics as often as I can. So here is what we've done so far:

We left on Sunday and the flight could not have been more perfect!!! There were only 34 people on the entire plane, so we were able to spread out and take the kids to the back and didn't have to worry about a thing! And the flight attendants were so sweet to the kids.

First thing on Monday, we went to an Assemblies of God school here to deliver some eye glasses that an optometrist made just for these kids. The children were on their break from class, so we got to visit with them while we passed out their glasses. Lynzi was really excited to meet her new "friends"!!! She went up to each of the kids and said, "Hi, I'm Lynzi...what's your name?" :) Super cute! Then we went to the zoo. Here are some pics from Monday:

Lynzi and Mimi with some sweet girls

Poppy, Asher and Lynzi with some more sweet girls

A boy checking us out through the window

The Belize Zoo...

Mimi, Asher & Lynzi

Laci, Lynzi & Mimi with a Mayan statue

Asher telling Poppy about the birds!

jungle potty break...

Lynzi measuring up to the stork that tried to attack her (the real one did...not the statue!)

Poppy and Asher Boy

Lynzi proud of her sprite!!!

Asher drawing

Family Tradition...

2009-01-05T11:02:00.001-08:00

Here are a few more Christmas pics from our Farmer family party.

I'll explain one of our Farmer family traditions: trying to trip Santa Claus...

Each year we set up a trap of some sort to catch Santa (and his presents too!!!) This year, PawPaw put out this HUGE trap that he made several years ago. The trap was suspended from the rafters on the porch of his barn and we put a plate of food, along with a chair for Santa to rest in...all under the trap! A rope is tied from the trap to a jingle bell in the house. Throughout the night, everyone is listening for the jingle bells to start jingling...which means the trap went down! Then everyone runs out to see if we got Santa. Usually he ends up getting away...but the grandkids always end up with presents that fell out of his bag! This year, he managed to get out of the trap before we got to him and he got away on his motorcycle, but not without a good chasing from all the grandkids!!! It's fun every year and we never know how it will turn out!

~Asher, Jaym, Jax, Lynzi & PawPaw with the Santa trap~

~"Uncle Danny" telling Santa stories to the kids...while waiting on Santa~

~Jaym and Lynzi...anticipating Santa~

~More from Uncle Danny~

~Lynzi's not sure if she believes everything Uncle Danny is saying!!!~

~Jax listening intently~

~Jaym...just ready for some Santa presents~

~Lynzi after the whole Santa trap commotion and trying to chase him down on his motorcycle and finally finding her present that fell out of Santa's bag~

~Ginger and Asher~

~Asher and Randy~

December update...

2008-12-27T09:28:00.000-08:00

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. A lot has happened since our last update...lots of good things :)! I'll rewind back to where I left off on the last post.

From there, we headed to Missouri...for an itineration service and to house hunt. A couple of people asked before (sorry it took me so long to answer, Jenn) where we're moving to, so in case you don't know...we're moving to Missouri. That is where the Builders International offices are located, so we will base there and travel from there to the different projects around the world.

So after searching and looking and thinking and contemplating...we finally came to a conclusion on which house we wanted! We were so excited to finally make the big decision...and what better day for it to happen than on our 10 year anniversary!!!

Yep, 10 years....the MOST WONDERFUL 10 years I could EVER imagine :)! And I couldn't think of a better way to spend that special day than with my lovely little family, deciding together which house was OUR HOUSE! God showed us such favor in the whole process...and we're so thankful for what he helped us find!!!

And the kids...they were absolutely fantastic on the trip. We spent hours in our realtor's vehicle, driving around all day for several days...and they were great about it! Lynzi gave us her input on the houses. When we went into one that she didn't like, she would say, "Mommy, I don't want this to be my new house!" Then when we went into THE ONE...she said, "Mommy, I want this for my new house!!!" And Asher was just happy and content in all of them!

On our way out of town, we signed the contract! Our moving date is Valentine's Day-ish. In the meantime, we have several more big services that I didn't realize we had.

Then the Christmas parties began! On our way back home, we stopped at Ryan's grandparents house to spend time with them. Then we went to his other grandparents for a family party on Friday, came home on Saturday, had my mom's side of the family party on Sunday and my dad's side on Monday. Lots of celebrations...before Christmas ever even arrived. We spent Christmas Eve at my parent's house, since half of our house is packed up and we obviously don't have a Christmas tree this year. Lynzi asked, "Where will Santa leave my presents, since we don't have a tree?!?!" So we decided that my parents house was a much more festive place for Santa to stop by!!!

Here are just a few pics of the MANY that I took at Christmas-time:

~The four of us at a family Christmas party at my parent's house~

~Lynzi and Asher~

~Lynzi, Asher, Jaym and Jax~

~Me and Honey~

~Unkie Coy and Asher-Santa~

~Laci, Mom, Krystal~

~Lynzi listening to "Uncle Danny" tell Santa stories~

~Asher's first Christmas~

~Lace and Chels~

...and our boys...

~Randy and Asher~

~Laci and Asher-man~

~Lynzi sporting her new skates from Grandma and Grandpa Moore~

"But, he's my best frienddd!!!"

2008-12-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

This is what Lynzi cried as she was taking her bath in the hotel tonight! She wanted Asher to get in and play with her, so once he was ready to get in...I brought him to the bathroom. But she had been playing in the tub for awhile already and got a hold of a styrofoam cup to play with...and proceeded to tear it up into tiny pieces to float with her in the tub! So when I found the styrofoam pieces...I told her that I would just have to bathe him in the sink because all those tiny pieces weren't safe for him. She got so upset that he wasn't getting in with her and exclaimed...."But, he's my best friennnndddd!!!!!!" It was so sweet. She continued to beg me to put him in the tub, so I told her once the water drained and she picked up all the pieces that I'd put him in to play for a minute. This made her evening. I snapped a picture of him splashing in the sink, then both of them in the tub together! Good night!

Asher splashing in the sink

"Best friends"

Endless Road Trip...

2008-12-06T14:37:00.001-08:00

We're in the midst of what seems like an endless road trip! We're on day 5 of an 18 day trek. But it's good because this is our last big itineration trip :)! First, we headed to West Texas. I think it was supposed to be a 9 hour drive...but with several stops before we ever really got started and our many stops (potty, eat, feed Asher, gas, etc) along the way...we finally arrived at our first destination 12 hours later!!!

So our next stop was Corpus Christi, but after experiencing the first long leg of the trip...we didn't want to repeat that again, so we stopped in San Antonio. While we were there, we finished up our Christmas shopping and the kids got to sit in Santa's lap! Lynzi got really nervous when Santa talked to her...she couldn't even remember what she wanted for Christmas! Asher just didn't like it at all. He cried when we put him in Santa's lap! But they both left with a cute jingle bell bracelet (that I'm sure the shoppers at Target really appreciated...as Lynzi jingled all the way!!!)

Now we're in Corpus. Ryan just left to go speak at a men's dinner at the church where we will also be in the morning. They put us in a really nice hotel and left a beautiful gift basket in the room for us! It was so nice, complete with candy, cheese, fruit, coffee, mugs and gifts for the kids!!! Lynzi was ecstatic to see a Dora coloring book, box of colors and an Etch a Sketch...all for her! And Asher got a toy phone, big key toy and "Baby's first Christmas" bib set! It was such a nice surprise...what a blessing!!!

We have 2 services in this area tomorrow, then on Monday..we're off to Missouri for a service on Wednesday. Then some MAJOR house hunting!!! We're so excited to finally be able to look for OUR house! We know God has the perfect home, designed just for our family, waiting for us...and we can't wait to see it!

Then we'll be heading home just in time for Christmas...stopping at both of Ryan's grandparents houses in the DFW area to celebrate with them. And then Christmas week with my fam!

Yay for roadtrips...our LAST road trip (before our move, that is!!!) :)

Asher's first tooth...

2008-12-06T14:28:00.001-08:00

...finally! Asher's first tooth finally popped through yesterday. We were driving along and Lynzi was leaned over in her car seat, playing with him, and she said, "Ashy got a tooth!" I didn't think much of it, just because she always blurts out random things!!! But when we got to where we were going, I was playing with him and saw a little flash of something pearly looking...and sure enough...he had a tooth!!! Lynzi had her first tooth at 6 months, so I was surprised that Asher still didn't have any at 9 months. It was fine with me though...I'll keep him as baby as I can as long as I can!!! :) I'll TRY to get a picture of it as soon as I can, but that will be a difficult task. He is very proud of it, however! When we talk about it...he just smiles real big and shows it to us (but not quite long enough to actually get a picture of it!) We'll see!!!

Sweet Lynzi-girl...

2008-12-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

Just a sweet little conversation between me and Lynzi when I woke her up to get ready for church last Sunday morning...

***Lynzi SOUND asleep

Laci: "Lynzi, it's time to wake up, baby."

Lynzi: *nothing*

Laci: "Lynzi, it's time to get up so we can get ready for church."

Lynzi: *smiles really big...eyes still closed* "I love you, Mommy!"

Laci: *smiles really big, while heart melts* :) "I love you too, sweetie! Are you ready to get up now, so we can get ready for church and go to class?" (her favorite part of church!)

Lynzi: *eyes still closed and still smiling and stretching* "Yes ma'am."

Laci: "Okay, lets get up and get some breakfast, sweetie."

Lynzi: *eyes wide open* "I WANT SOME CEREAL!" *as she jumps right out of bed*

Haha! Sweet girl...and she LOVES her cereal :)!!!

Mini Update...

2008-11-21T21:24:00.000-08:00

I have been such a bad blogger lately and have had NO time whatsoever to sit down and update!!! I wish I had time to actually give a good update because so much has been going on (hence the reason I haven't had time to update!!!) But I decided to just sit down for a second and take the memory card out of my camera and choose one picture of each of the kids to add...

Lynzi Grace sporting my favorite "80's do" ever...the side pony tail!!! She sports it well, don't ya think?!?! ;)

And our Asher cutie...9 months old now! Crawling like CRAZY and into EVERYTHING...(and EVERYTHING into his mouth!!!) Loves to pull up on anything and apparently enjoys bonking and bumping his head on really hard surfaces...kidding, he doesn't really enjoy it, but it does happen all the time :(. Still no teeth...but that's fine by me. Super sweet baby boy!

I seriously wish I had time to fill you in on all the happenings in the last month...maybe next week! But I will say that we are packing our house right now, getting ready for our big move! We are almost at 95% of our budget and we are hoping to move in January...Praise the Lord!

Off to the next task...

Happy Retirement Daddy!

2008-10-20T14:34:00.001-07:00

Last Friday, we celebrated my Dad's retirement and it was so perfect! We had such a great time. Happy Retirement Daddy...thank you for working so hard to provide for us all these years...you are AMAZING and I love you!!! Below are some pictures from the celebration:

~ The Whole Clan~

~ PawPaw and Grammi with the grandkids~

~ Family by the waterfall~

Me and Chels with our precious baby boys (just 4 weeks apart!)

~Pretty in purple~

My Handsome Hubby....

2008-10-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I just cropped out this face shot of my honey and just had to do the world a favor and post it! Wow, I am a blessed woman...indeed! Thank you Lord for an amazing (and beautiful) husband!!!

The title of this photo is: GOR-GEE-OUS!!!

I love you, Honey! Thank you for being the most fabulous husband I could ever dream of and the sweetest daddy our babies could ask for. You NEVER cease to amaze me!!!

;)

Photos from a weekend of traveling...

2008-10-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

This weekend we traveled to Northern Louisiana for a service on Sunday morning. It was a super quick trip because Ryan had to be back for a meeting in Beaumont this morning. So we left Saturday morning and got back Sunday night. We were all very ready to get out of the car. It took us 7 1/2 hours to get there...so 15 hours roundtrip in a matter of 2 days is plenty enough to make 2 adults go stir crazy...and for sure enough to make 2 kiddos just plain crazy ;) (just kidding...kind of)!!! Here are a few pics from the weekend (I think some setting was off on my camera b/c most of them came out fuzzy, but they're still sweet!)

The first four pics are at Mickey D's! We go there WAY more often than we want to while we're itinerating. The only reason we go there is if they have a playland, so that Lynzi can burn some energy...which is much needed after being strapped in her seat for hours! So, as you can see in the fourth picture...we're really tight with Ronald these days! :)

The next three pics are at the church playground on Saturday night. We stayed in a hotel right across the street from the church where our service was on Sunday, so we walked across and burnt some more energy playing!

The last one is just a silly shot at one of our numerous stops on our trip! We stopped for a potty break and to feed Asher. Then we spotted this swing and it looked so inviting...so the kids and I wandered over to try it out!

Oh, and another Asher update...he waves when he sees us now and he's started using some of his sign language also. We've been using signs for: eat, more, and all done. He's occasionally started using more and all done...it's cute. I'll try to get pics of all of that soon!

Asher Update...

2008-10-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it's time for an Asher update (since he's already almost 7 1/2 months old!!!) He's such a joy and a sweet boy!

He started crawling about a month ago and he's EVERYWHERE! It's created a challenge when we're traveling (which we're ALWAYS doing) because he wants more than anything to crawl at the hotel...but the hotel floor, YUCK! So, needless to say...when I give in and let him crawl in the hotel room...he has some knees that are a nice shade of...dirt!!! Oh well, I guess that's what a good bath is for ;)! Then when we're home, our floors are all tile and the big area rug that we have is a berber/tweed type rug...kind of rough. Because of this, I don't think he'll be a conventional crawler. He does this scoot/pull thing. However, it doesn't slow him down any! This boy can get from one end of our house to the other in like 5 seconds flat..no exaggeration! Our new rule is to close a door when you come out of it because his favorite place to dart to when he finds an open door is in each of the bathrooms...that little cap under the toilet. He LOVES to get to that and pull it off and play with it. Even when I take them off...he still is very intrigued by that screw thing that sticks up. It's so gross, but it does keep me VERY motivated to make sure that it's spotless clean under there everyday...for when he does find an open door and slip past us!

And he’s been pulling up to standing for a couple of weeks now too (on everything)!!! Our house is so not conducive for that…the tile floor + his falling backwards from standing position, while holding on to our dining room chairs = one big loud thud, followed by a piercing scream (by all of us!!!) It's awful.

He’s also our little human vacuum cleaner…goes around inspecting my floor and picks up any little thing he finds and inspects it with his hands. For a while and he hadn’t been putting anything in his mouth. Maybe b/c I get to him too fast, I don’t know…that is, until this morning! He started hacking and drooling and gagging and I was patting his back like crazy…thinking he swallowed something. Then I stuck my finger around the roof of his mouth and this little plastic, tape-like piece of something was stuck to the roof of his mouth! Thank the Lord he didn’t swallow it!!! Just one more incentive to keep my house clean ;)!!!

He LOVES his big sister so much and cracks up at anything she says or does. She's so sweet with him and they entertain each other well!

Well, that's the Asher update for now. Here are some pics of my sweet boy!

~My Handsome Boy~

~Cutie Pie~

~Happy Boy~

~My 2 Lover Boys~

~Sweet Kiddos~

Big Boy...Pulling up...On everything!

P.S. I tried to post a video of him pulling up on the luggage cart in the hotel room, but it wouldn't let me...so I'll try again later.

Ike took a hike...

2008-09-17T11:21:00.001-07:00

The sky...after Ike

Well, Ike has come and gone and chaos has taken his place!

We were very surprised to get our cable/internet/phone back last night. It was unexpected and exciting!

We are completely fine and the only damage to our house was a broken fence, but Ryan already fixed it...so no problems here. We were so fortunate throughout the storm. We had power the night of the storm until 2:00 am. So we were able to watch the news and see the latest on the location of the storm and what was going on in other areas. Once we lost power, we listened on the radio.

It was pretty crazy being in the house during the storm. At some times, I seriously thought the wind would pick the house up off the slab and take us to another town or something (I kept having visions of the Wizard of Oz twister scene!) The kids had no idea...they slept through the whole thing. We "hunkered down" in the hallway though! But they never batted an eye at why they were sleeping in the hall. I've posted a few pictures of what we saw the next morning when we went outside. I felt like we were going to open the door and see a bunch of munchkins, and maybe Dorothy and Toto! :)

We were without power that next day and night. It was SUPER HOT and HUMID and STILL that day. We all showered in the backyard with the hose that evening. It was great that God gave us a full moon for this time of no lights. It really made a bright sky. The first night was awful...I hardly slept at all. We all slept in our room...since we had windows open, I didn't feel completely safe. It was so quiet and all you could hear were sirens across town and tons of bugs. Asher was drenched in sweat, so I felt bad for him. Then about 3 a.m. a breeze blew through and it started raining so hard that we had to close some of the windows! We left our bedroom window open for the breeze and just put a towel on the window sill to soak it up.

We woke up to cool bliss. God sent His "air conditioner" in the form of an amazing cool front. We were so thankful for that. Then a few hours later...Ryan walked out into the garage and the light was on!!! So we officially had power...WOO!!! We were only like 3% out of MILLIONS who had power from Conroe to Orange! Even our neighbors didn't have it. 4 of us in our neighborhood did. I was so thankful, but I felt bad for those still without it. Even now...there are so many (including the rest of our neighborhood) still without electricity.

Now that stores and gas stations are finally opening up...the lines are INSANELY LONG! Like miles!!! People are running out of gas, just waiting to get gas! FEMA has had PODS (points of distribution) where the Texas National Guard is there to help give away 24 packs of bottled waters, 2 bags of ice and a box with 12 MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) to each family. They have spread out in different cities and people wait in their running cars in line for hours and almost run out of gas...then they go get in line for gas! Like I said before...chaos!!!

Anyways, just wanted to update everyone. Thank you so much for your prayers. We are so thankful for God's protection. The night of the storm, I found peace in Psalm 91. Take a look at it...great testament to finding refuge in God, our Fortress and Protector!!!

Here are some pics of what Hurricane Ike did to our area:

Our neigbor's tree. If it had fallen the other way...it would have been on our car!

Our street flooded (not during the hurricane, but during the torrential rain the next night!) It wasn't flooded at our end of the street, but you had to have an SUV to get out at the front of the neighborhood!

This is a video of us getting out of our neighborhood!

More street flooding

This is Ryan, Lynzi and Coy at the feed Store. They are standing behind the feed store, where the hay barn used to be. It was pretty much obliterated. The store itself is still there....some roof damage and water damage inside...lots of work to do!

This is the night sky, a few nights later!

P.S. Lynzi finally got to eat her "hurricane snacks"...YUM!!! :)

Hurricane Ike skies...

2008-09-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the sky out our front door. This was taken when Ike was about 95 miles from Galveston. The wind is starting to pick up and it's starting to sprinkle. We still have power, so we'll update as we can. The city turned off the water at 2:30, so we'll have water until the water towers run out! We've got buckets, containers, tanks, tubs, sinks, pots, pitchers, etc filled with water...so we should have plenty. Thanks for your prayers.

Hurricane Ike...boarded up!

2008-09-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we've boarded up and we're hunkered in! Where we live is high enough elevation that it won't be in the storm surge and our winds are supposed to be a max of 80 mph. So our part of the city is not evacuating...just "sheltering in place", so we should be fine! We were planning on leaving for the Dallas area (until yesterday afternoon) so we didn't go out and buy plywood and the clips to attach to the brick, so Ryan got really creative with boarding up our windows (as you'll see in the pics below)!!! Pray for this storm and for our safety. We'll updae after the storm (if and when we have electricity!)

boarding up the windows in the backyard!

Yep, that's a table screwed into our wall!!! Then just some random wood on the bottom. Notice the sign above the window..."Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!" That sign has always been above that window and I didn't even notice it until after I took the picture...what a great reminder of Who is in charge :)!!!

These boards used to be a book shelf that Ryan's dad made out of fence panel...it was really cute and I was planning on using it Lynzi's room in our next house. Oh well, I guess Ryan will have to make me a new one!

And then there's the giant rug. We were in my parents garage yesterday and she had this stored away. So we screwed it to the wall in our bedroom to cover the window! Like I said, we got super creative...whatever works :)!!!

This is how we parked our vehicles....trying to protect them as best we can.

P.S. My dad asked me what Lynzi thinks about all this boarding up and I told him she's just excited because she knows that we get to get out our "hurricane snack box"!!! Last night when I put her in bed, she said, "Mommy, what are we going to do when we wake up?" I told her we're just going to wait on the hurricane and she said, "...and eat snacks!!!" ;)