A few more Halloween pictures....

Kaitlyn and JoJo... I'm pretty sure she got the most candy at this house!

She loves all things skeleton. Anyone that she saw dressed like one, she loved. She shook this one's hand for about 5 minutes.

Kaitlyn and Emma with the ghosts...

Sweet girls..

Trick or Treat!

We had so much fun with Kaitlyn last night. This was her first year to REALLY get into running from house to house, ringing the doorbell and saying Trick or Treat. Except, she added her own version. At the very first house we went to she got a bag of Skittles. She quickly took them out of her pumpkin, proceeded to hand it back to the person, and said "No thank you, do you have any chocolate?" Yep, that's my girl. So, every single house after that she didn't just say Trick or Treat, she said "Trick or Treat! I don't like Skittles!" It was hilarious.

She went dressed as a cheerleader this year, and had lots of fun going with her friend Emma - the witch. It was pretty chilly outside last night, so we had to add on to her costume a little bit. But they still looked really cute. The neighborhood we went to goes all out for Halloween. One of the houses you could even go inside to see their entire Halloween "village."

Of course, I can only load one picture right now.. I'll try to put the rest on in a little bit.

A pretty awesome story...

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study .

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Cousins

We traveled to Fort Hood last Saturday to see James' brother in law off to Iraq. He will be gone for 18 months. I can't imagine not seeing James for that long and having to be a single mom. But, we had a nice visit seeing family that we don't get to see that often. Kaitlyn had a blast with her cousin Lofton. They played so good together and were just really sweet to watch.

Another photo blog...

This one is for the Grandparents and anyone else who cares to catch up on pictures of sweet Kaitlyn....


Enjoying her "treat" at her favorite ice cream place that she gets to go to on Fridays..

On picture day...

At the ACU Homecoming Parade....

At the parade with Abby and Anna Lea

Asleep with her precious pumpkin. She's had it for about 3 weeks, and sleeps with it every night. It got a crack in it, so she taped it all up with scotch tape.

A few pictures

Here are a couple of pictures to go with the post below. Hope you don't mind that I stole them from your blog Sara! :)

Homecoming!!

Well, I can't find my camera cord anywhere - so I have no pictures yet - but we had a wonderful Homecoming weekend! This was my 5 year reunion, so I got to see lots of fun people that came to town. This is one of the times that I love living in Abilene - because I don't have to go anywhere!

Friday was really busy at work with Preview Weekend - about 100 students and their families were here visiting. It was fun seeing them get excited about being on campus on such a fun weekend. Chapel was great - listening to the singing in Moody just never gets old to me. I got to see Luke, Sara and sweet Cooper in chapel too and that made it even more fun!

Friday afternoon I got to go pick up Meredith from the airport. Kaitlyn was so excited to go with me. She LOVES the airport. Yes, even Abilene Regional. It was so good to see Mere! A year is way too long to go without seeing your BFF.

We went from there to the carnival that they had on campus, which Kaitlyn loved. She got her face painted, took her picture with Willie the Wildcat (last year she was terrified of him), jumped in the Bounce houses, and even attempted the rock climbing wall. They basically had to just manually raise her up the entire thing, but she loved it. It was fun seeing more friends and all of their kids. It's crazy that last year, most of us could just stand around and talk to each other, and this year we could barely get 2 words in because we were chasing all of our kids everywere. So fun though.

Friday night, Mere and I went to Chilis and ate about all of the chips and queso they had in stock.

Saturday morning was the parade - Kaitlyn had been counting down the days for this. She loved "the guys that fell off that thing, and fell down and shot each other." Thanks Gamma Sigs. She probably ate way too much candy that was thrown her way, but she enjoyed all the attention from her cousins and other friends that were around. We stayed after the parade talking to more friends and taking pictures of all of our kids. Hopefully I will get some posted soon!! It was fun to see some Dallas friends that I had not seen in forever!!

James went to the football game - Go Wildcats! 6-0!! I stayed home and snoozed on my couch for awhile.

Saturday night was our reunion dinner. It was so much fun to mingle around, try to remember people's names, tell funny stories from when we were students.... We really do have a fun class.

Sunday was another great day at Highland..

Ok, this post is getting boring. Anyway, it was a fun weekend and just made me again so thankful that I was able to attend ACU.

SIDENOTE: I went to the doctor yesterday for my check-up and found out that I am a little farther along than I thought! My calander says I will be 29 weeks tomorrow, but he said I am 31 weeks. Nice! He also scheduled me to be induced on December 22nd. That's 9 weeks from Friday. Insane. I guess I better start getting things together! That also means it's only 9 weeks until Christmas! Yikes!

Precious words....

I just had to write this down. Last night we all just made our own dinner. James was heating up some Chinese food in the microwave. Here's the conversation Kaitlyn and I had:

What's Daddy makin'?
Chinese food.
I know that... what's it called?
Pad Thai.
Oh, like baptized?
What?
Like baptized?
Well, no not really. Where did you learn about baptized?
From everywhere.
What does it mean?
I don't know, you say it.
Well, it means when you grow up and you decide that you want Jesus to live in your heart forever, you get baptized.
Well, I wanna get baptized right now.

So sweet.

26 (almost 27) Weeks

I know I've already been through this whole pregnancy thing once, but I still find it so fascinating to read about what goes on each week in utero. Call me crazy. So, courtesy of verybestbaby.com, here is what Cora is up to at the ripe young age of 26 weeks:

As Baby grows, space is getting tighter inside the womb. Baby now measures about 12.8 inches tall and probably weighs almost two pounds. Most of this weight is bone and tissue, because she still doesn't have much body fat. In fact, the main development of body fat doesn't really occur until late in the third trimester. Between now and week 29, your baby will have a growth spurt and gain another pound. (Thanks, because I haven't gained enough already)

Lots of other developments occur this week:
Baby is beginning to blink and open her eyes.
Eyelashes are beginning to grow.
Hair is continuing to grow on BabyÂ’s head.
To support her growing body, Baby's spine is getting stronger and more flexible.
Although she hasn't put on much fat, Baby is beginning to look a little plumper.

So exciting!

I had to go renew my gym membership today. I pay for it through my paycheck each month, which is nice - but it means I have to participate in this Abundant Life program. It's a cool program, but each year you have to get your body fat percent checked. Nothing like doing that when you are 6 months prego. I will not release the number for fear that all of you would fall out of your chairs, but let's just say I'll be ready to hit the gym come January. As for now, you can find me laying on the couch eating popcorn and watching good Thursday night TV. Not anywhere close to thetreadmilll.

Update

Okay - I either need to blog as much as I used to, or quit all together b/c this blogging every 10-15 days stuff is ridiculous. Oh well, better than nothing I guess.

Let's see... what is going on with the Mayos...... nothing too much out of the ordinary! Here is a list - it's easier for me to think in terms of lists:

1. Kaitlyn got to enjoy the fair when it came to town. She rode this really huge ride that's like the Conquistador at Six Flags. She loved it. My eyes were closed the entire time. I just kept praying that James was holding her tight and that she wouldn't fly off. I enjoyed the roasted corn w/ lots of butter.

2. I spent all weekend working around the house. My mom even came down to help me clean out and organize my house. Yes. I could not do it alone. We got all of Kaitlyn's old clothes and toys out, hung curtains on her windows, and hung curtains to serve as her closet doors - since she doesn't have any closet doors.

3. I had an emotional break-down when I saw that my washing machine was dirty. You read that right. I opened the door to put a load in, noticed that the inside of the door was dirty, and starting crying. It was everything I could do to not become hysterical. Hi. I'm pregnant. Nice to meet you. Thank goodness my mom was here - she cleaned out my entire laundry area, cleaned off the top of the refrigerator, swept and mopped the floor, wiped off my kitchen cabinets, did the laundry..... I don't know if she was just being nice - or if she thought that if I saw one more thing that needed to be cleaned I would check myself into a mental hospital.

4. We got Kaitlyn's hair cut. I want it to grow out all one length, so we needed to cut a couple of inches off the back. It looks really cute. It sits right above her shoulders, and looks much healthier.

5. My TV shows are back! The Office was pretty funny - the gay stuff went a little far, but funny none-the-less. I loved Grey's too. McVet - don't you dare make me like you. I also watched 6 degrees. I think I'll stick with it for awhile. Anything by JJ Abrams has to be good, right?

6. Kaitlyn felt Cora move for the first time yesterday. She thought it was the neatest thing ever. I thought it was too.

7. We got to go on a "team building" retreat for work last week. We went to Ft. Worth to play paintball. Well, I didn't get to play - but me and the other prego in the office got to get pedicures! And then we all went to eat at PF Changs! It was SO GOOD. Good to get away from the office for awhile. Much needed I think.

8. I made my first Ebay purchase! We won the bidding for Cora's crib bedding. It's so pretty and I'm so excited to get it!

9. I have like 20 contractions a day. Is that normal? Just wondering... I may need to call the doctor about that. I never had these Braxton Hicks things with Kaitlyn, but I'm pretty sure that's what they are. Just a little concerned at the frequency of them.

10. Kaitlyn is the star student at school this week. We brought pictures, and her teacher makes a poster for her... I just love my sweet girl. There is nothing better than her hugs, smile, laughter, cartwheels, handstands, kisses, stories, prayers.... nothing better than being a mom.

I mean, really?

I don't even know where to start. I haven't blogged in SO long. I've seriously contemplated giving it up. But... alas, here I am again.

James and I have been on vacation! I took 6 whole days off work. Man, did I need that! It was our five year anniversary - crazy. We decided to drop Kaitlyn off at my parents and head for the mountains. We spent 4 days in Ruidoso, New Mexico. It was wonderful! We had our own little cabin up there and just chilled out. We played golf, went to a casino (didn't win anything, but only lost $20), saw a movie, went on a hike, I got to read an entire book, saw lots of deer, did some shopping, ate yummy Italian and Mexican food, took naps, watched football.... it was a great time away. I was sure ready to see Kaitlyn though! I really miss that girl!

We got Kaitlyn and headed home on Monday night - then Kaitlyn got sick. Welcome home! She ran a fever, "threw it out" (threw up), for 2 days. I did take her to the doctor, but she is fine now. I'm glad she's feeling better, and I'm glad we were back when she got sick - not that my parent's couldn't have handled it, but I'm glad I was there to take care of her. She hardly ever gets sick.

James also had to go to the dentist when we got back. He's had broken tooth for awhile, but it really started hurting him while we were gone. So, he needs a root canal and a crown. Nice!

The fair is in town! Hopefully we will get to go tonight or tomorrow night. Kaitlyn loves riding rides and playing games.

She is still loving gymnastics. She does cartwheels and handstands ALL of the time. She's pretty good at them too!

James' little Butterflies soccer team is back in full effect! He had to miss their first game of the season last Saturday, but they won - so he was proud. This will be his 3rd season with these same girls. He loves it and I know they all love him - so here's to another fun run!

I'm still feeling pretty good - for the most part.. 25 weeks and counting. This little girl moves around ALL THE TIME. Way more than I remember Kaitlyn moving. Literally, all night she moves. That makes it very hard to sleep! My body just doesn't feel as strong this time around. Exercise is out of the question, and I'm way more uncomfortable. I know I will forget about all of this the second she is here, but it stinks right now! :)

I guess that's about it for now. I'll try and upload some pictures from our trip this afternoon or tomorrow. It really was beautiful!

One week from today.... Grey's Anatomy and The Office!!!!!!!

A few fun things.....

At Gatti Land last week, I totally played Dance Dance Revolution, or as we call it in the office - DDR. It was pretty intense. I won't lie. I was sweating when I was done. My good friend Lindsay and I started out shaky, but eventually ended up even making it to the next stage! We were pretty proud.

I went to see Step Up. That's right. I'm not ashamed. I love any dance movie. And this one was GREAT! The dance scenes were awesome, and the acting wasn't too bad. Man. I wish I could dance. But, just ask my mama. That's never gonna happen.

The Office won best Comedy!! I was so excited! Pam/Jenna the receptionist is my friend on Myspace. Yes, I have a myspace. She even posted a comment! I feel like we are BFF. I can't wait for the new season to start.

ACU is back in session. The "hill" is alive! All the kids are back, cars driving way too fast down our street, longer lines at Rosas, the chapel bell rings, my student workers are back with fabulous summer stories... it's a much more exciting place around here!

The past couple of days Kaitlyn has been talking to me more in Spanish than she does in English. What is that all about? She has Spanish time every morning at school. Mix that with a few episodes of Dora a week, and you have my bi-lingual child. Well, maybe not quite bi-lingual...

A New Day..

I am much happier today. Thanks to some awesome friends at work, a good late movie last night, a precious daughter, and the fact that it's Friday and my boss is taking us all to Gatti Land for lunch.

So... no more Debbie Downer for me. Thanks for your sweet comments!

This is just how it is.....

WARNING!!! VERY HONEST AND BLUNT BLOG TO FOLLOW.... I do not intend to offend anyone in this blog, it's just how I feel lately.

Parenting just sucks sometimes. Sorry Mom, but it does. I keep trying to convince myself that where Kaitlyn is right now is "just a phase." What does that really mean anyway? A phase. A better way for me to put it is, "A time in your child's life when you just really suck at being a mom."

I am so tired of the attitude! It seems like I am always threatening to spank or put her in time out. She has learned to "talk back." This probably comes from being in a class of 15 three and four year olds and one teacher. Which really makes me mad that I have to work. Anyway, she is always saying things like, "You're not my friend!", "I don't like that!", "I don't have to!", "I am very upset at you!" And she doesn't just say these statements - her voice is definitely elevated.

NOTE: I LOVE Kaitlyn. And for the most part, she is a precious, sweet, smart, funny, beautiful little girl. But she is also 3. And I've never been the parent of a 3 year old. And sometimes, I just don't know what to do.

It's so hard for me to read the blogs of so many moms that seem to have it all together, and have everything figured out. Seriously? Are you really that put together? Because I have a lot to learn. Teach me please!

It is really hard for me to work 8:00-5:00 everyday too. It kills me that freaking Teacher Kathy gets to see Kaitlyn more than I do. I don't like it that some days Kaitlyn could care less that I walk through the door at 5:00. I don't like it that my time with her each day is from 5:00-8:30, when I am totally exhausted from my mindless job, and just want to be selfish and lay on the couch.

I just want to do things right. I know I'm a good mom, and lots of kids don't have moms....
But I long so badly to be a better one. I know I can be better. I just hope Kaitlyn knows that.

Gymnastics

Here is Kaitlyn in her first gymnastics class. Pretty funny!

Picture... finally!

Here is my 20 week picture!

OH MY....

I'm so sorry that this picture is so enormously huge!! I don't know how to do this!!! I'm so frustrated.... I'll try to shrink it. This is so humiliating!

20 weeks!

20 Weeks!

It's kind of hard to believe that I'm already half way through this pregnancy. But, in other ways - it seems like I've been pregnant forever! It has been SO much different this time around. I felt fine with Kaitlyn - but this little stinker has not been so easy. It's getting much better though and for that I am very thankful!

The doctor's appointment Tuesday went really well. I was so nervous for some reason! He could tell right away that it was a girl, but went back to check 3 times just to make sure. Kaitlyn came with us and she thought it was pretty cool. She was a little more interested in the "green jelly" that the doctor put on my tummy - but she enjoyed looking at the pictures. The doctor even gave her her very own picture to take home of her baby sister's foot. She looked at it for about 3 seconds and then she was done. Hmmm...
My parents were also able to come with us, so that was special to have them there.

I am still right on track for December 31st, but my doctor asked me how I feel about inducing early. Ummm - SURE! So she'll hopefully come right before or right after Christmas. Yay for the tax break!

I finally caved in and told James to take a picture of me for all to see. I'm not excited about this - but oh well. Sorry - no bare belly shots! It's no surprise that blogger is not letting me post the pic. I'll try a new post.

Oh- and baby sisters name will be Cora James.

A Baby Brother or Sister?!?!?!

We found out yesterday that Kaitlyn will have a











new










baby











SISTER!!!

Everything looked wonderful and healthy. I'll write more about our day and post a belly shot later. Have a good morning!

Top 10 Things I LOVE right now....

1. 24. James and I are hooked. We have never watched it before and just rented Season 1. It is so good!!!!! Jack Bauer is my hero - even though he's only 5'1".

2. Friends. We have made some of the most fun friends in Abilene. We are still getting to know a lot of people - but it's rare that don't have plans scheduled with someone. It's fun to see Kaitlyn really start developing relationships with her friends. We will be here forever probably, so I like to think about what they will be like when they grow up. Way far away, I know - but I still think about it!

3. Our high school huddle group!! I blogged about this a long time ago when I found out we would be doing it, but we finally get to meet our kids next week! We met with the other leaders last night and started making plans. I am so excited to see how God works through this over the next four years. We decided to take our Freshman on a trip to float down the river in a few weeks - how fun is that? The guys are already talking about making T-shirts. Hilarious. But I can't wait to start this new adventure. Weird to think that Kaitlyn will be 7 when we are done with this group! That is second grade people!!!!

4. Feeling the baby. James even got to feel it last night! He/she moves around all of the time. Especially when I am being still, or right after I eat. We find out on Tuesday if it's a boy or a girl! I'm so ready to find out. Mostly I just want to make sure everything is okay! Not that I think anything is wrong, but it's a good feeling to know for sure!

5. The smell of Sharpie pens and markers.

6. Ray LaMontagne. This is my new favorite guy to listen to. A friend at work introduced me to him, and then Kelly Clarkson sang one of his songs at her concert. He is awesome and has the greatest voice. Check him out if you get a chance - my favorite song is Shelter.

7. Kaitlyn was moved up to a new class at her school. She is now officially a Chipmunk. She is one of the only 3 year olds - the rest are 4. I was a little nervous about this at first, but so far she has done really well! Kaitlyn is a smart girl - and if she gets bored, it's not pretty! So, this teacher is really into teaching them new things all of the time, and keeping them busy. I really think she will do well.

8. I get to go home to Lubbock this weekend! I think it's been since early June since we were there. There's just something about it that just makes me happy!

9. Watching Kaitlyn dance. We went over to some friends house on Tuesday night and Kaitlyn and Olivia put on full ballerina outfits for us. Her parents turned on the soundtrack to Forrest Gump (this is Olivia's "ballet" music) - and the girls danced and danced. We don't get to see Kaitlyn be a girly girl very much, so it was really cute. They twirled and did jumps and everything. I'll post pictures when they get emailed to me.

10. Pickles, tomatoes, and beef jerkey. These are the three things I have craved with this pregnancy. I mean CRAVED. My hands are always so swollen in the mornings b/c of all the salt. But, man, It's worth it.

Kaitlyn and her lizard....

Here is the "lizard" that Kaitlyn is so very proud of. (Please excuse her extremely dirty face!)

Concert, weekend....

Kelly Clarkson was awesome! Granted, this was my very first concert to go to - but I thought it was GREAT! She is very good live - and really fun to watch. We had a blast singing along with all of her current songs - and hearing some new ones that she will release in February - yay!

The rest of the weekend we got to spend with James' family in Dallas. Saturday we took Kaitlyn to Sandy Lake park which is a mini amusement park. It was fun to go there with James because he used to go there when he was growing up. Kaitlyn was fearless as usual, and enjoyed riding all of the little roller coasters. It wasn't crowded at all, so was the only one riding a lot of the rides. She really had a blast. It was really hot - but thankfully, this place even had a huge pool! We cooled off in that for awhile before heading back to Nana and Papaw's house. Sunday we just relaxed around the house, played games, took naps.. then headed home!





We'll end this blog with a picture of Kaitlyn and her "lizard" that she caught a few days ago. She was so excited about holding it, and she CRIED HER EYES OUT when we had to let it go outside. She said she just wanted to keep it forever. I'm sure, unfortunately, we'll find another one in or around our house soon enough....

Never mind. Uggghhhh. I'm done with blogger.

Mike Cope

I just love our preacher. This picture, to me, perfectly portrays the kind of person that he is. The little girl that he is holding is Hope - a sweet little girl with Downs Syndrome. She is actually the daughter of our familydoctor. I have only talked to Mike personally maybe 3 times, but he has taught me so much. I learned so much about growing up and developing my own faith during college. Now, he has taught me much about how to be a good parent, a patient, forgiving person, an honorable wife and daughter of Christ. I am so thankful for him. Mike's eyes are closed, and he is just hugging on her with such sincerity. This picture just brought tears to my eyes! (Some of that is probably hormones!) Check out his most recent blog for 2 other awesome pictures.

Out of the mouths of babes....

I was making grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner - this is how Kaitlyn understood it:

"Mom, only you and me can have a girl cheese sandwich, and Daddy can have a boy cheese sandwich."

What I did this weekend....

* Experienced Vicotin for the first time. That's a nice one to start with! I've been having really bad headaches with this pregnancy and after some other options have failed - this is basically my last chance. I was so nervous about taking it, even though my doctor told me it would be okay. It took me 4 days to even go pick it up from CVS. I took one on Friday night and don't really remember anything else about that evening. I was out like a light. And I remember having a head ache until I fell asleep - so not sure if it even worked. Probably won't take it again.

* Went to an awesome sale at Old Navy! I spent $26 and got Kaitlyn 4 shirts, 2 skirts, a pair of shorts, a pair of shoes, and a shirt for James. Crazy! Everything was like $1.99! That's my kind of sale!

* Got a pedicure! This was my 3rd one of the summer. I think I'm addicted. Despite James' efforts for me to get a huge 'J' painted on my big toe - I ended up with a French pedicure with a small flower.

* Took Kaitlyn to a little dance class at church. Yes, dance - at church. This sweet lady is raising money for a new orphanage that just opened in India. She is from England, and used to teach ballet for many years. So, for 3 Saturdays she is teaching a little class to girls. It really is a sweet class - and she holds all the kids attention because of her awesome accent! Kaitlyn loved it the first week. This week, I had to participate with her a little bit. She kept saying she just wanted to go to Chick Fil A.

* Taught the 4 year old class at church. James and I signed up to help teach this class together for the month of July. I have to give a shout out to Jody Reese - the head teacher. She is amazing with these kids. She also teaches kindergarten and I'm sure is a very respected and sought after teacher. It's fun to watch her and learn from her. We have enjoyed 4 year olds. You never know what they are going to say - or draw a picture of.

* I may have felt the baby move. You would think after already being pregnant once, I would know exactly how it feels. There have been a couple of flutters - especially when I am perfectly still or when I try to get away with laying on my stomach. No more of that.

* James brought home Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and frosted chocolate donuts for me! I will be standing backwards on the scale when I go back to the doctor.

* I got to meet a fellow blogger! Courtney came into town to visit her sister Lindsay (who I work with), and they came over to visit for awhile. It was fun to meet her and her sweet Landry in person! Kaitlyn and Landry got along great, and we all enjoyed a short late night walk. Good to meet you Courtney!

* We had a small game night at our house on Thursday night. The girls whipped up on the boys in a game of Trivial Pursuit - Pop Culture! When you have someone on your team that lived in LA for a few years, you're gonna get a lot of answers right! Sorry boys... maybe next time.

* My brother came through town on Sunday. It's always good to see him, and Kaitlyn loves to play around with her Uncle Neil - and his best friend Micah who she said she wants to marry.

That's about it!!

Hope you have a good Monday!

Random....

Kaitlyn was pretty talkative this morning on the way to get a donut and then to school. Here is some of what she said:

"Hey Momma - I like to eat lobster." (She has never had it in her life)

"Hey Momma - I like you."

"Hey Momma - I care about Natalie and Connor."

"Hey! That flag says ACU!" (She is really into finding things that say ACU - Tshirts, flags, billboards, etc)

"That lady sure is wearing a lot of lipstick." (This is the Jack 'N' Jill donut lady that has worked there since I was in college).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love borrowed maternity clothes. I have two friends that have had babies recently that let me borrow theirs. This makes me REAL happy.

I could never work at Sonic. I would never be able to figure out people's change right then and there. I would have to whip out a calculator.

Why is it 137 degrees outside all of the time?

James drives around in an unairconditioned car ALL DAY LONG, and he has never complained. I would complain all the time. He's just not a complainer - one of the things I love about him.

Why is it that guys can lose weight so much faster than girls? I am over here getting fatter and fatter by the day - James has lost 19 pounds in less than 3 weeks. While I am very proud of him - I am a little jealous at the same time.

I love chocolate donuts.

Have a good Wednesday!

Pictures

Again, here are the rest of the pictures that go with the blog below.

Kaitlyn and my Papa - her great-grandfather.

Two of her 2nd cousins - Abby and AnnaLea

Most of the kids swimming.

On the way home - totally worn out....

Weekend fun

This past weekend we drove to Ft. Worth to spend some time with family that we had not seen in a long time. My aunt and three of my cousins were down from Washington State. They only come once every couple of years or so, so it was really good to see them. Kaitlyn LOVED being around all of her second cousins. It was so fun watching them all play together.

Friday night we drove in and had a cookout at my brothers apartment. It was such a pretty night - so we ate outside and then had a fun evening swim. Kaitlyn thought it was fun to get to swim in the dark. She made quick friends with a nice couple in the hot tub that I'm sure were just looking for a relaxing night alone. She broke that party up real quick. She wanted to stay in the hotel with Mamaw and Pappy that night - no hesitation on my part!




Saturday the boys worked on my brothers truck while my mom, Kaitlyn and I went shopping for maternity clothes and then to visit my Papa. It was good to see him. We recently moved him to an assisted living facility. It's a really nice place, but still hard to see him in there. He was sporting a sweet black tobagan under a cowboy hat. I took a real sweet picture of he and Kaitlyn.

Saturday night is when ALL the family got together over at my grandmothers house. We ate together, swam, told stories.. just enjoyed being together. Kaitlyn learned to swim a little bit with her head under the water. She wanted so badly to do everything her older cousins were doing. She caught a frog later that night - a pretty big one at that. I wish I would have had my camera with me. She got to spend the night that night with her cousins. All four of them stayed in the same room and didn't go to bed until after 11:00pm. Which brings us to Sunday...

She was not a happy camper during church. Fortunately we sat on the back row and it was easy to get out. For lunch we all went to the park and had a picnic so that all the kiddos could run around. Beats fighting a restaurant! It was pretty warm, so we were ready for the air conditioned car!

By this time, Kaitlyn was worn out....

Shocker. Blogger only let me post one pic. I'll try again in a few...

15 Week check-up....

I finally got to hear the heartbeat today! It took the doctor a VERY long time to find it - I was getting kind of nervous! It was beating at 152 beats per minute. Any predictions on boy or girl? I can't remember if 152 would be considered "high" or "low", but I know lots of people make predictions on this - so I thought I would get your insight!

Here is a 3D picture of what a baby looks like at 15 weeks - courtesy of verybestbaby.com.

Pictures that go with the previous blog:

At school during her 4th of July parade/party:

At the Zoo - she loved all the flags and always loves playing on these rocks.

Getting her face painted and squeezing her eyes shut while they sprayed the glitter.

Getting ready to see the fireworks. Kaitlyns usual face for pictures:

So excited to see the show that mom talked up sooo big!!

Man. That was lame.

Happy Fourth of July!

This and That..

Well, we had a fun Fourth of July. Pretty laid back - but that's the way I like to do holidays! We went to "Festival on the Fourth" at the zoo. Kaitlyn enjoyed getting her face painted, glitter sprayed in her hair, jumping in the bounce house, and eating the biggest pixi stick I have ever seen. (We dumped half the sugar out while she was jumping). One of James' customers had a booth set up out there so we even got hooked up with a free lunch! The food business does have it's advantages.

That afternoon we just hung around the house. I cleaned while James mowed the lawn. Kaitlyn swam in her pool for awhile and then took a late nap. We had some friends over for a cookout and then went to the park to see the LAMEST firework show ever. Kaitlyn was way more entertainment out there than the fireworks were. The show was an hour long and there was like 30 seconds in between fireworks. The finale was really awesome, but it lasted less than 2 seconds. Not exaggerating. I'm sure half the people out there missed it. But, it was fun being outside with friends, throwing the football around, and watching Kaitlyn run around and completely wear herself out.

Other things going on:

Kaitlyns new favorite thing is gum. If she sees anyone else with it she has to have a piece. We went to Cracker Barrel last night for dinner and she got to pick out a treat. She picked Bubble Tape. She wanted to sleep with it last night - that didn't happen. But, it was the first thing she asked about this morning.

She got to play the Grandmother at school yesterday when her class acted out Little Red Riding Hood. Her teacher said when she said her lines she even made her voice high pitched and shaky. Hilarious. I would have loved to see that.

I told myself last night that I am DONE biting my nails. It's getting a little ridiculous. I've been doing it for 25 years. That's just embarrassing. Right now they are so bad. My cuticles are all cracked and red, my nails are so short and ugly. Moms are supposed to have long pretty nails! Kaitlyn has even started picking at hers b/c she sees me do it. I took a before picture last night, so if I stick with it long enough to have an after picture I'll let you know. Wish me luck!

I'm almost 15 weeks along now - and finally starting to feel better. I have had the worst head aches of my life the past couple of weeks however. I haven't had one in a couple of days though. I'm in the "fat" stage. Not showing enough to wear maternity, but my regular clothes are so tight. Yuk. I go back to the doctor on Monday. I'm anxious to go, and look forward to seeing that everything is still okay. I'm much more nervous this time around for some reason.

That's about all for now. Kaitlyn's class is acting out Three Billy Goats Gruff today. I'll let you know what part she got to play. I'm thinking a troll would be fitting.

Pictures to come.....

Photo Blog #2

Here are some good pictures from our quick trip to Lubbock:

Hanging out on the hammock with Pappy.

Fishing with Daddy - with my new fishing pole! She came in the house later and said, "Well, I didn't catch anything today!" (Like she goes every day or something)

We got to meet sweet Charlie! Kaitlyn kept calling him a her, but she loved him anyway. She played Peek-a-boo with him and made him laugh. It was good to see the Bowmans!

Fun time at the water park! What?! You've never seen anyone down a drumstick in 3.7 seconds before?

At the ripe age of 3, my daughter got in trouble by the life guard for going down the slide every way but the right way. She has to make things as dangerous as possible.

Yikes!

Finally, the slide got kind of boring - so she would stop herself at the end, stand up and jump face first into the water. It's much more fun that way obviously.

Going down the big slide with Mommy! That was fun!

She was hilarious at this place. She wanted to do everything by herself. When we got in the lazy river she just looked at my mom and I and said, "You get out, and you get out. I'll go by myself." Right....

She would have done this huge slide by herself without a moment's hesitation. I had to literally run to catch up with her on the stairs.

Photo Blog #1

Here are some pictures from Kaitlyn's birthday party:

Riding her new bike for the first time. (Still a little on the sleepy side)

Getting the safety gear on!

She wasn't much into the knee and elbow pads that Pappy wanted her to wear. But she won't ride anywhere without her helmet on.

She loved the bounce house that we rented for the day... Some of the grown ups enjoyed it too!

Trying to sneak some cake. Actually, there was no "trying" about it. She successfully swiped her finger more than once!

Not too sure about everyone singing Happy Birthday to her. (Even though she had been singing to herself for about 2 weeks)

She loved getting to see James' parents - Nana and Papaw!

My sweet 3 year old at the end of a long, but fun day!

Happy Birthday sweet Kaitlyn...

This post is a little over due - her birthday was Monday. I've been waiting for blogger to be cooperative w/ pictures, but still no luck. Maybe tonight....

Has it really been three years? It is so hard to believe that my little girl is 3, already "turning to be four" as she says. Where did the time go? We had a blast celebrating her birthday on Saturday with lots of friends and family. It was so hot outside, so we just had the pool filled up and the slip n slide turned on. We also rented a bounce house, which was a huge hit with the kids (and James).

Her real birthday was yesterday. She got to take cupcakes, or "pupcakes" to school and all her friends sang to her again. Teacher Joy sent her home with lots of treats at the end of the day.

Here are a few of my favorite things about Kaitlyn:

She is absolutely hilarious. Listening to her talk and sing just makes me smile. She makes up songs all the time. When she gets really tired, she gets REALLY talkative. She will jump from subject to subject and talk so fast.

She is beautiful. She is starting to look so much like a little girl and not a baby/toddler anymore. Her soft curls are getting blonder and her eyes are so dark, but they seem so bright. I love her dimples and the few freckles she has on her nose.

She still likes to cuddle at night. She loves just sitting right next to me or James when she is watching a video or if we are reading to her. She wants her tummy and her backed rubbed every night before we leave the room.

She is potty trained! This happened a few weeks ago, I just never blogged about it. She has done so great!

She's a social butterfly. She loves hanging out with her friends, especially our neighbor Kelly. Everytime she comes over she says, "Do you want to stay at my house forever?" She rarely complains about going to school everyday, but it most times excited to see all her friends. She loves James' and I's friends too and always asks about them.

She's so smart. I feel like she does something new every day. She is getting good at writing her letters and recognizing words. She remembers everything you tell her (which comes back to bite me quite often).

She's so tender hearted. She loves ALL animals, little babies, and elderly people. Sounds funny, but so true. She loves taking care of things. I think she will be a great big sister! (By the way if you ask her if she has a brother his name is Chim, and a sister would be Kim.) Hilarious.

There are so many things I love about her. I'm just so thankful God chose me to be her Mom.

Babies and Fathers

This is a HILARIOUS Father's Day video. Enjoy!