Friday, February 20, 2009

After LIFE Group

What do we do after LIFE Group on Wednesday nights? Sometimes we just chit chat and eat dessert. Other times we play Rock Band. (I took these pictures because of how cute Hannah was. She gets right in the middle of it, plays her guitar, dances, and sings. SO CUTE!)


"Whooah! Livin' on a prayer...."



Two little drummer boys.



Sometimes we fix each others hair. (Poor Breck!)

I left the best for last. Sometimes we wrestle/dog pile.


That's Jackson down there on the bottom. He thought it was hilarious for a while!


Having second thoughts, maybe...

"Momma! Get him off me!!!!"


We have so much fun!!!! We love our LIFE Group!!!!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

There's no place like home...

Hannah and Lincoln, this is the home I grew up in. I lived here until I went off to college--about 20 years! It was a WONDERFUL place to live!


This was the backyard! It used to hold many emus (big birds kind of like ostriches), believe it or not! Your Pappaw used to raise them! Before that, me and your uncles and our friends used to ride our scooter and 4 wheeler back here, swing on the swing set, play in the sand box, play with the many dogs/cats we had growing up, play "The Dukes of Hazard", ride our bikes, play basketball and baseball, and many other fun things! I will never forget those times! How fun it was to be a kid! We lived in a wonderful neighborhood and had great neighborhood playmates! We rode our bikes and scooter all over that neighborhood without a care in the world! Those were the days!

On the weekends, we'd always go down to my Papaw and Mamaws' house in Cass, Texas (my dad's parents). It was about a 30 minute drive from our house. They lived on a farm and raised cows. They always had gardens. There were always cousins to play with. My cousins, brothers, and I had so much fun playing in the barn, playing hide-n-seek, feeding the cows, and getting into whatever we could find! I have so many memories from those days!

Fast forward some 10+ years after I left home. My parents owned about 20 acres of land not a mile from our house. Dad always wanted to build a house on it. Well, late last year, he finally did! He and my Mom built a brand new house on their farm. Here it is!



Dad has a couple of barns for all his hay and tractors! He is living his dream! He and my mom have cows and are planning a BIG garden this year! Dad and my brothers both just purchased 4 wheelers. There is plenty of room to ride!! I had SO much fun this weekend riding these things! The kids enjoyed it too!







Silly girl! She was just so happy this weekend! I could really tell she was having a blast just being outside!
Opening their Valentine from Uncle Wes!



A little Color Wonder from Mommy and Daddy!

Lincoln getting to work!

Hannah was serious about the coloring!

More 4 wheeler riding! This time with Pappaw!


Lincoln was a little scared of the cows. He didn't want to get too close! I am loving that my kiddos get to experience a little bit of what I did as a kid, going to my grandparents farm and soaking in everything about it--the cows...
the garden...

the tractors....

and getting to be with family! Here is Hannah helping Uncle Wes clean the swing so they can hang it on the front porch. She probably talked his ear off during this. I watched her. She was just chatting away and working really hard at cleaning the swing.

Hannah also helped her MiMi make Valentine cookies on Saturday!


The best part. Everyone is exhausted from the days activities! This was probably the only time Lincoln was still the entire weekend. Oh, he was a booger--getting into everything!

So, Hannah and Lincoln, my hope for you is that you can enjoy getting to experience your grandparents' farm just like I did growing up. I pray you make many wonderful memories there! I know for me looking back, there is just no place like home and the memories I have there!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Couples Bunko 2009!

Last night we had our annual Valentine's Couples Bunko at Amy's. This year Amy had the idea for us to all come dressed up as a Famous Couple! We had so much fun laughing at everyone!!! What a blast! Thanks Amy for such a fun evening! Now...enjoy the pictures!!!

Napoleon Dynamite and Deb (Tim and Jennifer)

Sonny and Cher (Stephanie and John)

Simon and Paula (Mike and Stacey)

Adam and Eve (Ryan and Cortney)

Thing 1 & Thing 2 (Me and Kris)

Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson (Jason and Joelle)

Prince Charles and Princess Diana (Jason and Amy)

Edward and his following (from the movie Twilight) (Frank and Rachel)

Hockey Players (Amy and Toby)

Us again just so you can see the crazy hair!


And the winner was..... (They were HILARIOUS!!!)
Kris and I got 2nd place and Adam and Eve were 3rd! There were some GREAT costumes!!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Hannah Update

I know I've written a lot about Lincoln lately (He is just doing so much at this age.). So, it is time for a good Hannah update.

Hannah is just really growing in all sorts of ways. She can't wait to be 5. Fixing her hair everyday is becoming challenging. She has gotten quite opinionated about how she wants her hair. She used to let me do all sorts of things with it (It was so fun!), but now she lets me know that she doesn't like what I'm doing. She is also getting more opinionated about what she wears. This is hard for me. I know I probably need to just give in more. She likes certain clothes better than others.

She has gotten very interested in writing lately. She really wants to write her letters. She loves to write her "lists" (Wonder where she gets this from?). She can write her name and is very proud of herself for this!



She is not very interested in drawing pictures yet for some reason. I'm hoping this will start soon. I can't wait to see what she'll try to draw. She loves to cut, glue, and tape things. I mean, LOVES!


Hannah loves LIFE Group! She gets excited when she knows it is Wednesday. Last week I was in the playroom babysitting all six of the little boys. The beginning is always a little hard for some of them because they are being separated from their parents. Hannah had some stickers she was playing with and whipped them out and started giving them to the boys that were crying. It was a HUGE help to me in calming them down! I was so, so proud of her for that! She is really good with all the little ones. I've had several moms tell me how good she is with them. She really has a sweet heart.


Some of the things she really enjoys playing right now are:

**Rock Band. She loves to be in the middle of it when we are playing with our friends. She likes to sing "Eye of the Tiger".
**Dress up. She loves to look beautiful in all her princess attire.
**Board games. Either by herself or with me.
**Kitchen or Cooking Show. She loves to watch cooking shows with me, especially Rachael Raye. Then, she likes to pretend she is cooking for a show afterwards or during the show.
**Babies. She plays with her babies alot. She feeds them, changes their diapers, reads them a story for their nap, disciplines them, and pushes them around in buggies. She pretty much has a baby and/or purse with her everywhere she goes.

Hannah aka Rachael Raye



Hannah is still taking 1 afternoon nap. It will usually last from about 1:30 to 3:00 or 3:30. Somedays she might not take one and she'll just play in her room for a while. She is a wonderful sleeper at night. She LOVES to watch tv. I seriously think this girl would sit in front of the tv all day if I'd let her! She likes to watch any Disney movie. We are into Tinkerbell and Sleeping Beauty right now. Her favorite tv shows are probably Lilo and Stitch, Dora, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She has gotten a little bit better about allowing Lincoln in her room to play.


Fits are still happening with Hannah fairly regularly. She can have some major tantrums! It usually occurs when Lincoln does something she doesn't like, when she can't do something that she is trying to do, or when she gets in trouble for something that she was told to do but didn't do. Fits are hard for me. I finally feel like I am in control now and not her though. I pretty much send her to her room and let her do it there and not in front of me. Sometimes she needs a little "prodding" to stay in her room, but I have been able to stick to my guns better I think lately. Hopefully she will completely out grow these fits soon!


Hannah has gotten quite shy with strangers these days. She didn't used to be that way. She's always been pretty friendly/talkative to people. Many times she won't answer when people at church or in public ask her a question. I know this is probably a little stage she is going through. I'm trying not to push her. She is definitely a daddy's girl. Hannah and her daddy get along great! Kris is really good with her. She loves her grandparents and her uncles too! Oh, and she still has that crush on her cousin Logan!


As far as her health is concerned, she is doing absolutely wonderful! We could not be more pleased. She was supposed to see her rheumatologist the other day, but the appointment got cancelled due to the weather. So, she goes March 11th. Hannah has never complained about taking her medicines every day. This has been such a blessing. We are excited about the possibility of tapering her off her meds this summer some time if all continues to go well. We feel extremely blessed that her body is healthy right now! We went to a breakfast that the Arthritis Foundation had a couple of weeks ago at the Hilton to try to raise money from businesses. Kris was asked to speak for a few minutes about how arthritis has affected our family. He did a great job and we were encouraged by those we met there. We were also struck by how devastating this disease can be to people. We are hoping to get more involved with the Arthritis Foundation in the future.


Hannah went to Sean's Clone Wars birthday party on Saturday. She had a lot of fun.

Emma and Hannah with their tattoos!



She and Sean sort of had a rematch from her princess/knights party!


The birthday boy!

Time is just flying by! Hannah is just learning so much! I'm proud of the beautiful little girl she is!