The Bankhead Bunch

Vacationing in Galveston!

2010-05-10T14:09:00.011-05:00

Well, it's been WAAAAY too long to catch anyone up on my blog at this point, so I'll just let you know a few things:

1. We moved and now live in Waxahachie, TX (pronounced Walks-a-Hatchie)
2. Jason is the Connections Pastor at a wonderful church here called The Avenue
3. I work at the church with Jason as the Next Generation Assistant
4. It felt like home in Month #1!
5. We miss our friends and the shopping from "up north"
6. But are surprisingly content with what this area has to offer!
7. We've pretty much just been living life like every other North American.....busy and crazy.

Okay, so now that I've given an update.....it's the week of May 8th and we're in Galveston on family vacation with Jason's whole side of the family. That means BMom and Pop, LaShay and Steve, Brad & Shannon and their two girls Mallory (4 yrs) and Morgan (2 yrs). We're staying in a really nice house just a walk away from the beach. Julia and Johnathan are loving the time with their cousins!

Here's some pics to prove all the kids LOVE everything to do with the water and the beach!

cupcakes, haircuts & lollipops

2009-09-19T22:09:00.012-05:00

first, we made cupcakes. the kids licked the cupcake beaters. johnathan had been enjoying some (baked) cheetos before indulging in the cake batter.

then type-a mom let three year old and one year old "decorate" cupcakes.

julia stayed clean. johnathan didn't.

then we left to get their first haircuts. julia had a trim-ish type thing years ago. but she was sitting in her stroller and it was done on the fly by my hair stylist friend. so i don't count it.

johnathan was uncertain the whole time and didn't like that cutting thing boys get behind the ears. dad held him tight. i took footage.

julia just got a trim, but still looks like a big big girl to me. and johnathan got that long on top, long in back, long all over hair cut (thank god!). jason loved it and didn't want to get it cut (he called it soccer hair!). he definitely looks older. he had his first lollipop after and loved every minute of it.

we got hair locks for their (to be started one day) baby books.

ahhh, i love my kids!

pics i took of the kiddos tonight

2009-09-16T20:40:00.005-05:00

i feel cheated on...

2009-09-16T15:33:00.008-05:00

...we had a couple looking at our house all last week. they came THREE different times, the last with like 6 other people...one was even equipped with a measuring tape, measuring the width of our garage and everything.

((how do i know this? because we spy from across the street during showings, don't you?!))

anyhoo, we were on the edge of our seats waiting to hear back from them thinking that if they're in our house three times for no less than 30 minutes each time, they are ready to make us an offer. the news is:

they. decided. to. go. with. a. new. build!!!

my stomach turns thinking about it. i'm quite upset. i feel like they cheated on us. don't they know our house is amazing? it's better than the other girl, i mean the other house. yah it's 10 years old, but it has character and a small toy room and a gas fireplace and great neighbors (on both sides!). you can't find those things with a new build!

i guess i'm just sick of it. sick sick sick of it. well, i'm sick of everything besides the house being immaculate every single day. nonetheless i'm just sick of the unknown. i want to know where i'm going to live, when i'm going to live there and when i can pull out my grammy's wing back chair out of storage and use it again. i want to leave my towels hanging on the towel bar again for a day and i wouldn't mind having the toaster back out on the counter again.

and i know all the spiritual answers you're thinking to give me right now.

i KNOW the lord just hasn't brought the right, sweet, incredible, gonna be great neighbors to my great neighbors, amazing young couple with one point two kids and possibly a dog...to our neighborhood yet!

i KNOW the lord has great plans for us in his timing.

i KNOW the lord is in control.

i KNOW it was just not meant to be.

look, i KNOW all these things and yet i'm still upset.

so, to the people who cheated on us: i hope you enjoy your new house with no character and mean neighbors. it just means that the lord has something better for us. just love your NEW house as much as we love this one. make a home of it, like we have this one. enjoy every single room, angle, stair, toy room, floors...every single part of it, like we do. and despite my feelings about you, i do truly wish you the best!

update: we had a showing yesterday and one today. so i know, i know it only takes one to make it all happen.

thanks for your prayers!

19 months old, oh and 44 months old too!

2009-09-06T14:59:00.020-05:00

Since both the kids were born on the 4th (jan 4th and feb 4th), i always feel compelled to include them both on their 4th of the month "birthdays".

i'm a snish (one month) late for johnathan's year and a half birthday update, but then again.....i've been kinda late on a bunch of blogs lately, huh?

julia (44 months, aka 3 years 8 months old): let me just say that she is hilarious! she says the funniest things ever and is really clever coming up with her own stuff. but the cutest things are when she mixes her adjectives up when she's describing something.

- she was trying to explain something to me the other day and when i couldn't understand what she was talking about, she got completely upset and told me i wasn't being lady like!

- she told us the other day at lunch that she didn't want to eat because she didn't have time to eat. why? do you have to be some where or something? no, i just don't have the time.

- i've taught her to say libRARY the correct way. that libERRY is a fruit and libRARY is the place where books live.

- she loves to draw and right her name (backwards, i should point out, but nonetheless!). she also colors inside the lines (almost, all the time)

- she for sure likes to pick out her own outfits. ((but moms, i actually do the picking out)). i put 7 outfits all together on sunday nights (shirt, shorts/skirts, bow and shoes). so that on monday she has 7 different ones to choose from herself. it works like a charm and there's no arguing that we're not wearing pink tights with shorts today! try it out, moms. it will empower your little one and make you feel like you're still in charge all at the same time.

- SHE walks the dogs. this is also great. we are always telling her that we know best, that children obey their parents and that we're the boss. well, we walked the dogs a few weeks back and she took the lease and we taught her how to give brady commands. we told her that he has to obey her. she absolutely loved that! what a great way for a 3 1/2 year to feel a sense of control.

Can you believe she was ever this little?

- she loves dancing and gymnastics. we've enrolled her in gymnastics (which she picked up really well) and she dances any time there is music on the tv. she also dribbled the ball the other day (like basketball) and was running and dribbling the ball with her feet too (like soccer). she also has lots and lots of battle scars from falling on the concrete in our cul-de-sac.....who knows what she'll end up doing recreation-wise.

- she hugs and kisses us all of the time and says she loves us.

- she said i looked like cinderella the other day and that i was beautiful with my freckles!! then i paid her the twenty dollars later for saying it!

- she tells daddy he's handsome and johnathan's handsome too.

- she tells me to smile when i'm thinking about something or slightly frustrated, which is a constant reminder to be kind. i love how the lord uses our children to remind us the basics.

- she asks johnathan where's his nose, ear, toes, hair, etc. are and then praises him after by saying, "good job, bubba!"

- she sings constantly. i especially love when she sings or talks about the lord. the other morning she came in and asked, "god lives in our heart, right?"

- and she tells me when i'm not obeying god. especially if i tell her not to do something she wants to do. ha!

she's our encouraging, loving, very passionate about life in all areas, independent, god-teaching almost 4 year old going on 30 sweet cheeks of a girl. she'll be a doctor or a nurse or a teacher or a nanny or a soccer player one day for sure.

johnathan (19 months, aka 1 year 7 months old): he is sooooo outgoing and such a flirt. he is funny in his own way and surprises us daily with his new discoveries.

- he says momma, dadda, johnathan, sissy, snack, box (bock), duck, gigi, juju, boppy (bopba), bmom (bah-mama), pop, backpack, go, no, yes (jess) back (to the dogs mostly), please, milk (muk), milk cup (muk cuck), dog, ball (of course!), and shhhh (with his finger over his mouth)!

- he loves loves loves to be naked (but i hear this is a boy thing....weird, but cute!) Even though he's not naked in this picture, he couldn't wait to get in the bath forgetting he was FULLY clothed!

- he is NOT afraid to swim. he'd gone under the water this summer several times and doesn't get afraid at all.

- he adores his boppy! when i had her car this week he would try to get in it and kept saying, "bopba, bopba" over and over again. so sweet!

- he does somersaults, hangs off of any and everything, stands on any and everything, jumps on any and everything, kicks, throws and bounces balls.
- he blows his own nose (well, i hold the kleenex)

- he eats with a fork and spoon (still a little messy for my type-a self, but i'm getting over it)

he is our full of life, smile once and gets his way, football player solid chunk of all boy, a little on the momma clingy side (love this!), sweetheart of a treasure from heaven. we can't wait to see all the lord has in store for him.

happy 4th birthdays this month, little chillins. you keep me on my toes, on my knees, my blood pressure high, but my heart soft. i love you very much!

go away party #2, back surgery & house stuff

2009-09-04T11:14:00.008-05:00

Go Away Party #2: the airhart's and the toney's threw us a going away party last Sunday for all the sweet prosper people who have been in our lives for the last 9 1/2 years. well, me for 7 ish years and jason for the 9 1/2 years.

there were so many people we don't get to see often anymore but it was so nice to see them again. thank you so much for throwing us the party, airhart's and toney's....ya'll are amazing!

Back Surgery: so what have I been doing this week? mom had back surgery on Wednesday. she's doing okay....other than being in a ton of pain and not being able to sleep since the surgery....awwwh, it's going great! NOT! so please pray for her. she's sick of just lying there in the bed and can't get any relief from the pain.

i've been up here everyday (am here right now) trying to be of some help. pray for her.

House Stuff: well, we've had a ton of showings, three families seriously interested, but no offers. show me the money! that's what i want to say.

family #1 asked for our seller's disclosure last saturday. they have a child in plano ISD, so they wanted to look at plano houses this week. if they don't find anything there, we're hoping they'll make an offer on our house.

family #2 has a contract on their house and they are in that 10 day waiting period until they know for sure their house will sell, and that they're very interested.

and family #3 said our house was beautifully staged (thanks!) and that our house was on their short list.

sooooo, we have a showing tomorrow (i'm sure more will come in) and we're patiently and optimistically waiting for our realtor to call and tell us we have an offer.

i'll keep you posted. thanks for your prayers.

go away party

2009-08-26T15:23:00.003-05:00

well, they had a "go away" party for us at NEXT today (named by matt beaver, of course). technically it's jason's last week, since i'll still be here through the fall. but nonetheless, it was a party and it was for us!

they took us all to jinbeh. one of jason and i's most favorite places to go (when we have saved up for it!). we like to call it jennjay's!

anyhoo, no pics to show as i forgot to even take my camera out! i know, sinful!

right now? kids are napping (glorious) and we have a showing today from 5:30-6:30pm. third time's a charm, right? meaning, this is our third showing.....hey, it only takes one.

pray.

in view of a call

2009-08-24T21:43:00.004-05:00

we went down to our future hometown of waxahachie on saturday.

we arrived to the hotel and when we opened the door to the hotel room, it was as if the music was playing in the background and i felt like a red carpet was being rolled out (mainly because it's my favorite color) to the end of the table where a gift basket FULL of goodies was waiting for us. and you know i love me some gift baskets full of goodies! it was from the avenue church.

crayons. t-shirts. fruit snacks. crackers. cookies. toys for the kids. coloring books. markers. and a sweet sweet card from all the staff at the avenue saying welcome.

well, it made us feel VERY welcome. i think i want to join that church for sure now...you had me at hello!

so that night, after we rolled the red carpet back up, we met at the church for dinner with all of the small group leaders as well as the deacons and their wives. the place was packed! jason shared our heart with them and why we feel god has called us to the avenue. it was great. i personally felt right at home. the people were just lovely and so welcoming. we couldn't wait until the next morning.

jason was going "in view of a call", which pretty much means that the personnel committee and staff has met with you and feel you are the man god wants for your church and they pick a weekend for you to go before the entire church for them to officially vote you into the church.

there are three services, so jason talked a little about his vision and heart again for a short time in each of the services. the kids and i showed up for the second and third services (well, they were in the children's area). again, we felt right at home and absolutely loved the worship AND the preaching (it was my first time to hear my future pastor preach....he's pretty darn good!).

i've said it before, but i'll say it again....i'm so proud of jason. i feel honored to be doing life with him. but i wanted to brag on him and say that he got a complete 100% unanimous vote (never has happened at the church before) from all three services. sooooooo, after we found that out, jason leaned over to me and whispered, "well.....ya wanna move to waxahachie?" ha! i guess so!

we are pumped.

we sold jason's truck yesterday. and bought a more economical one tonight. now we just need the house to sell.

thanks for your prayers. we'll keep you posted.

love!

sunday school, def leppard & tattoos

2009-08-22T09:19:00.005-05:00

four sunday school couples = eight people total. and pretty sure we were the only sober people at the cheap trick, poison, def leppard concert friday night.

disclaimer: tattoos compliments of yours truly used with waterproof eyeliner and mascara. rock on!

So Many Things.....

2009-08-21T14:16:00.002-05:00

...so little time.

there is so much going on in my world these days. half of you have already given up on me and my blog posts. and quite frankly, i was starting to give up on them myself.

but i will say that i've missed you, sweet blog page. you allow me to vent, to record, to wrap my life up as it happens in just a few sentences on a page. so i am faithfully going to start back. who needs pictures? i have words, lots of them. and besides, if it helps get out things that are swirling around in this head of mine and makes me feel better, than why not throw out a post here and there?

sooooooooo here's the breakdown of our lives in a nut shell. really bigger than a nut shell, so here goes:

we are moving.....AGAIN! there are a lot of things i hate about those three words - we. are. moving. but there are a lot of things i am extremely excited about too.

hate:
- leaving some of the dearest friends i've ever known in my life
- leaving the most incredible, amazing neighbors i've ever known in my life
- knowing that julia is leaving the day to day interaction with some of her friends, even though SHE doesn't fully grasp it
- leaving our sunday school class
- moving from my beautiful, very well laid out floor plan, now very neat and clean, staged home
- leaving the people in our church who we dearly love
- leaving NEXT and all of the incredible people we've worked with over the years, especially warren samuels
- leaving a close sam's club
- leaving a close sam moon
- leaving la hacienda ranch
- and pretty much anything about leaving

i don't like change, despise packing and i absolutely HATE unpacking.

excited:
- the thrill of moving to a new place
- a new church
- being close to jason's best friend and getting to know some of the other friends there
- moving into a rental to pay down debt
- meeting new people
- full time day care
- being closer to brad and shannon
- being closer to lashay and steve
- a simpler life
- in some sick way, actually having to PLAN to go to sam's club, sam moon and maybe i'll be skinnier if there isn't a "la ha" near us

where are we going? WAXAHACHIE, TX! jason accepted a position as the pastor of connections (small groups) and missions. he starts september 6th. he will commute back and forth to mckinney until we sell our house.

pray we sell our house quickly.

i will work with NEXT through the end of the year, probably. maybe just until november-ish. they are going to be moving to flower mound around then so i'll help train the next person and then stop working there.

i will find a new job in waxahachie.

we are excited about the move and absolutely know god's hand was in it 100%. doncha just love when you know god's in it 100%? i like following god's plan rather than our own. it's both scary AND exciting all at the same time.

mom will move with us. she's putting her house on the market at the beginning of the year.

sooooo, be on the outlook for more postings in the future.

tonight? we go to def leppard, cheap trick and poison with some peeps from our sunday school class (see i told you they were awesome!).

Coming Soon

2009-07-27T09:41:00.002-05:00

I haven't forgotten, I just can't download any pics because my computer is full. And I don't like to post without pictures. New blogs and blog updates coming soon.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Years?!?

2009-05-24T09:18:00.003-05:00

....and although he has learned way more bad things about me over the years than I even care to mention, he still likes me!!!

Yep, it's been SIX years since we tied the knot. I can't believe it. It still amazes me how you grow closer and closer to someone over the years.

I never understood when people who have been married for 20+ years would say how they love each other more now than the day they married, but I'm starting to truly understand it as we experience, go and grow through more together.

Anyhoo, here are some fun (skinny!) pics of both of us from back in the day......

And here are two sweet children who are a product of our marriage.....

Free Giveaway at Jelby's!!

2009-05-16T20:56:00.004-05:00

Check it out, my friends. My sister-in-law, Shannon, is giving away a free set of Ahhh-MA-ZING burp cloths.

I love what Shannon wrote, so I'll copy it here......

Anytime is a good time for a giveaway when it's for a baby! Jelby's burpies are the perfect gift to give your own babies, a first time mom, second time mom, anytime mom, or just to have on hand for the last minute shower. This giveaway is for one set of burpies. You pick em' and she'll ship em'!

Click here and enter to win!

MOM's Day

2009-05-11T21:40:00.016-05:00

THAT WAS THEN...

Julia and I:

Julia so sweet...

Julia and Johnathan...

Johnathan and I:

THIS IS NOW...
Ohhhhhhh, what a fun Mother's Day I had.

Thursday morning when I dropped Julia off at school, they had a little breakfast for us moms. They had put together a photo book for the whole year starting with Julia's first day of school picture this year, her height (36 1/2 inches) and her weight (30 lbs). She is now 38 inches tall and 31 lbs.

All us moms sat on the floor and looked at the books with our little ones. Then we ate muffins and opened little gifts they had made us. It was really really special. The gals at our church made it memorable.

Then, here are some pics of the kids making BMom and Boppy's Mother's Day cards (only we called it BMom Day and Boppy Day since they aren't THEIR mothers).....BUT! I wouldn't be their mother without our mothers.

Julia was so into it, covering every detail. Johnathan, um, he ate his paint! Thank goodness for non toxic paint (and washable, I might add!):

So on Sunday, actual Mother's Day....I had just taken a shower, gotten dressed and was about to start blow drying my hair and getting ready for church when Julia walks in with a dozen red roses and right behind her was my little man carrying me a card.

Then I opened the gift I have been talking about since January. A hair dryer!!

I HATE HATE HATE drying my hair, and I needed something more powerful than the one I had (it was getting slower and slower with each use). Love it!

So we went to church, our whole class skipped Sunday School to go out to lunch together for Mother's Day, then mom came over, we gave her the homemade card and other gifts, then she and I left to go see Earth. Very good.

Then we got back to a dinner that hubby made for us (he's a keeper) and then Julia, Boppy and I planted two big plants together as well as a little Julia-sized herb garden.

Then the kids went swimming at the Bankhead Waterpark (this is what I call it now). Soooooo nice!

It was a great day. A wonderful reminder of God's little gifts. Even though it's tough at times and I don't know what I'm doing half of that time....it is so rewarding. God continually reminds me of the two lives He has given us responsibility over - a true blessing.

Hope YOU had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Fifteen Dolla....

2009-05-11T21:17:00.011-05:00

...make my kids holla!

Doncha love when a small purchase of just $15 from Walmart ($16.24 with tax!) can make you and your kiddos smile!?

Here are some pics of them playing in their new pool...

Weekend O Fun

2009-05-09T21:21:00.006-05:00

Jason went to the annual Harris family reunion in Comanche, TX last weekend while I was at the women's retreat in Pine Cove, TX. Julia and Johnathan got to play with their cousins, Mallory and Morgan. And they got to spend time with their BMom and Pop.

Here are pictures from his weekend:

And pictures from my weekend...we went to Canton on the way to Pine Cove on Friday (left at 6 AM, thanks to Jen Bishop being obsessed with getting to Canton when they opened....mission accomplished!). There, we saw some pretty interesting scooter concoctions.

We were totally making fun of all the young people renting scooters, only to find that at the end of the fifteen thousand two hundred and twenty two miles of shopping grounds, WE were the silly ones and those people were making fun of us walkers! Here's a pic of a husband and wife scooting around, well they were actually going negative two miles per hour. He had a trailer hooked up to his scooter and they had tacked down a white plastic lawn chair to the back of it, equipped with a basket underneath for her purse and purchases. So cute! And then we have the classic John Deere Scooter. Very clever.

The retreat was called Tea Time in The Woods (the reason for the crazy hats). We canoed, played team building games, had lots of free time, learned the Lord wants us to pour our lives out to others (the tea pot theme!), we got to know other gals in the church better, squeezed in a game of wahoo, we did the zip line (thought I was going to die!) and rested rested rested (something I cherished every moment of!).

Let me just say something about the zip line video. Even though it may look like only a few feet off the ground....it WASN'T! And although it may look like we are just slightly flying by.....we WEREN'T! We were FLYING.FAST!

Stay Tuned

2009-05-08T21:50:00.002-05:00

I haven't forgotten.....I have a couple of blogs in the works right now, I just can't seem to find time to finish them. Stay tuned for the following:

- Family Weekend (Family Reunion/Retreat)
- Fifteen Dolla, Make You Holla
- Introduction of New Decorating Blog
- Mother's Day (I'm sure it will be special!)

Okay, see you soon!

"Rain Rain, Go Away...

2009-04-27T12:34:00.011-05:00

....do not come again another day!"

When I was four, mom said she came into my room one morning and she said, "guess what it's doing outside" (in a kind of sad face voice).

She said I looked at her, whipped the covers off of me angrily, shuffled to the window, pulled back the curtains (angrily again) and said, "oh man!".....then shuffled back, got into bed and pulled the covers back over my head.

I have always disliked the rain (I would say hate, but I'm trying to be kind). I feel trapped, isolated, cornered, entangled, confined, suffocated, the perfect definition of H.E.double-hockey-sticks for me!!

When we had the drought a few years ago, I loved it! I know the farmers suffered, even my dearest friend had to sell their entire cattle due to the drought, but I absolutely did not miss it one tiny bit.

So, I feel sorry for my kids when we have to be indoors for any length of time. Today has been one of those days.....I captured some pictures (one being my house is utterly a pigsty now)!

We made the most of it but I think it's really just me who's suffering the most.....HELP!

Sun, sun come out, come out where ever you are!

More Sweet Sleeping Pics

2009-04-27T08:51:00.008-05:00

April 13 - Sweet pics. I heart the innocence of a sleeping baby......

April 18th - I LOVE these two nightnight pictures. I told you Julia gets into some crazy positions! This one is just sweet.....love the hands. ((Of course I didn't leave her this way))

April 19th - Johnathan. I always get a pic of the both of them, so I'm not sure why I didn't get Julia, hmmmm?

April 20th - Julia (didn't get Johnathan because when I went in there to take a picture, the Mister stood up.....whoops!)

April 21st - Just got Johnathan because.....well, I don't remember why.

Sweet Baby Bankheads

2009-04-19T22:53:00.015-05:00

Doncha just love when they're sleeping?

I always tell Jason that if I die, he HAS to take over the tradition of checking on the children before going to bed.

I go in and check on Johnathan first, which he seems to always have his blanket over his face or his hands in some cute position, etc. He is just the cutest boy EVER! He snores, which I think is hilarious.....so cute!

Then I move on to Julia's room, she manages to end up in the oddest positions. I pick her up and shove her as close to the wall as I can hoping she doesn't work her way back into the same cock-a-mee-mee position again in the middle of the night. Such a sweetheart.

Anyhoo, I started taking photos of this tradition to be reminded of the sweetness of their little lives. Here are a few in date order starting from the beginning of the year to a couple of days ago. **And even though it looks like pictures from the same night (cuz of their jamjams), these are all different nights.

Happy Birthday, Jason!

2009-04-18T22:09:00.011-05:00

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy BIRTHDAY dear Jason, Happy Birthday to you!!!"

It's Jason's birthday today! We had a fun day. Kids gave them his cards and present ($$ to Home Depot), HE cooked breakfast for us (whoops! my intention was to have Julia and I cook HIM breakfast), we left and went to Kohl's and bought a couple of shirts for him (he got some money from Boppy), then we went to Dave and Busters for a surprise lunch with our dear friends.

We got home about 3:45, kids (and mom) napped til 5ish, we left about 6:15 pm to take them to Kiddin' Around and then the birthday boy and I went to the movies (a very rare thing we do these days)! We saw Monsters vs Aliens 3D. Soooo cute of a movie

So that's it.....another year to spend with Jason. I thanked his mom for having sex 34 years ago so that I could now have a wonderful husband to spend the rest of my days with. Thanks Sharon!

Here are some pics from the birthday lunch and some ice cream with the kids afterward:

TEA Party

2009-04-16T12:00:00.008-05:00

TaxedEnoughAlready!! We went and joined others last night to stand up for what we believe as far as how the government wants to spend our money.

Ever since going through the Truth Project, my eyes have been opened to a whole new perspective on the world we live in. If you go to the site, watch one of the videos there in the middle of the page (either the short or long one). And hopefully you make it a priority to go through the study. It asks some really hard questions, but will cause you to think about what you REALLY believe in.

If you haven't already sent your tea bag into Washington, you can click here and do it now.

Anyhoo, here are some pictures of mi familia at one of the Frisco TEA Parties last night.

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T22:24:00.027-05:00

Oh my! I could just scoop this boy up with a spoon and eat him! He is sooo cute to me! And I think Julia looks so grow'd up!

We started the weekend by heading down south. We were going to stay with cousins, Mallory and Morgan (it's no longer Brad and Shannon's, it's all about the cousins!) in Temple. But Morgan was running a fever and possibly contagious, so we decided to use one of our free room passes at the Embassy Suites in Austin.

We made a stop at Cracker Barrell for dinner and for the kids to play on the rocking chairs out front and run around a bit. It's a perfect midway place....

Soooooo much fun! We got into Austin around 8pm and because we had already spilled the swimming pool beans, we had to head down to take a little swim with the kids. We got back....got ready for bed, etc. The room was set up perfect and Julia loved sleeping on her make shift bed on the couch with a chair pushed up against it.

The next morning we got up, Jason and Julia went down for a goodbye swim while Johnathan and I "packed" (yah right!). Then we all went downstairs and ate our wonderful complimentary breakfast.

After checking out, we headed to the Longhorn Coop to buy Jason a new Longhorn hat and the kids a t-shirt to add to their wardrobe. It was fine. Lots of cute things, although they would have been much cuter had we been surrounded by maroon things rather than burnt orange. Nonetheless, I obliged and took cute cute pictures of Father, daughter and son.

We then headed to Zilker Park, sort of ate lunch there and played on the play ground. Then we met BMom and Pop and cousin Mallory!

Mallory hopped in our car and us girls followed all of the boys down to "Shay and Steven's" house on KENNA MIST (you had to be there).

We got settled in, got dressed to go to the Easter program (ShayShay sang in it), which the whole thing was AMAZING! I think I got saved again!

Here is THE cutest/sweetest pic of BMom and Pop with the girls.....I'm black and white-in this one!

And the next day we made a trip to see the dog park where Briley and Landry get to play with other dogs...then on to a kid park for the kids to play, then to lunch, then a long drive home.

These are pics from the park. And a pic of all of us girls with our flip flops on (Mallory and Julia switched shoes, just fyi!). We missed Shannon and Morgan's feetsies - we'll get 'em next time:

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We got up and were at our church by 9am for praise team practice, early service and working in childcare for second service. Then lunch out with Boppy, home for naps and an Easter egg hunt after naps.

Whew! It was a long weekend, but so great to celebrate that we are His. Still amazed how much Jesus took on so we could live eternally. If you do not know the Lord, you will NEVER regret asking Him to reveal Himself to you. I promise your life will NEVER be the same. Happy Easter!

Hey, the Eighties Called.....

2009-04-13T22:07:00.005-05:00

and they want your style back!

Friends, Jackie and Trevor Schelp, had an eighties party for Trevor's 40th birthday! I wore units, stirrup pants, my hair JUST the way I used to, big earrings, and eye liner on the INSIDE of my eye. And Jason.....well, let's let you take a look yourself!

P.S. Please extend grace. I know I look really fat in these pictures because.....well.....I AM! But hey, I'm a work in progress. I just had a baby (14 months ago!).

Enjoy!

Cousin Visit/Mom's Big Birthday

2009-03-31T21:04:00.007-05:00

My cousin Craig (mom's sister's son) and his wife, Martha and daughter, Lila came for a visit from Boston.

It was mom's 65th birthday so it was perfect timing for them to come celebrate with us.

Even though the pictures are WAY out of order.....we went to the zoo on Friday, had a surprise birthday party that evening for mom, went to mom's on Saturday, church on Sunday and to the indoor pool in Frisco on Monday. We had tons of fun.

I really want Julia and Johnathan to know their extended family (on my side) as much as possible since they all live far away.

Anyhoo, here are pics from their visit:

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2009-03-30T15:01:00.001-05:00

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Happy Sert Praatrx Day!

2009-03-17T13:58:00.004-05:00

"sit down, no, because I'm the mom......

2009-03-04T18:28:00.000-06:00

....don't pull your brother like that, STOP!, what did you just say to me?, use your manners, say excuse me, let's go!, no no, come here, sit down, brush your teeth, time for bed, no touch, that's a no no, no you can't have candy for breakfast, hurry up, why did you just do that? and where did you hear that word!?, from ME?, ooops......"

These are just a few of the things I've said all day. In one day.....just one day. And there's just enough hours in the day to say all of these things in one day!

Tell me if YOU'VE ever had a day like mine!!! This describes it perfectly!

Make the Most of Mondays......

2009-03-02T16:11:00.008-06:00

......cuz sometimes the weekends are tough!

I'm so glad it's Monday (have YOU ever said that?)! I was jealous that Jason and his entire family were partying all weekend celebratin' Pop's birthday without me while I was home taking care of sick babies.

BUT!

As much as I was glad to go to Walmart last night and get out of the house, it was such a blessing to take care of them all weekend. Julia is especially clingy and cuddly when she's not feeling well and I absolutely LOVED IT! And Johnathan needed me to be hands-on more than usual and I loved that too.

I didn't even mind getting up every 3 hours to administer medication. There's just something about being a mom and being needed....when they don't know they need me. I guess God designed it that way so that when they need to rely on us, we're to rely on Him.

So thank you, Lord for the blessing of being a mom. As tough as it is sometimes, it was kinda nice to "rest" in Him this weekend.....

Happy 60th, Pop!

2009-02-23T15:16:00.014-06:00

The number of the day on Sesame Street on Monday was 6. Thought that was perfect because we needed to make your birthday gift from the kids since you are turning 6....ty.

Soooooo we made you a "pupcake" as Julia says it. But then she cleverly started calling it, "a 'popcake!'" Where did she get to be so witty?

We started here (of course! I can't come up with these things myself!). Then we laid out the stuff: 3 pieces of construction paper, glue, marker, cotton balls, scissors, black paint, paint brush, bowl and the plate we painted was from Kirkland's, I bought last year for like $1.

Sooooooo here is your cupcake/popcake, Pop. We couldn't put all 60 candles on it, so we made 6 (number of the day) candles and a "D" at the end.....for "SixD".

So sorry the kids were sick, wish we could be there. We love you!

Happy Birthday Pop!

"Q" is for Queen

2009-02-23T11:49:00.004-06:00

Well ever since Shannon told us about this website, we're addicted!

On Sesame Street today, the letter for today was Q. So as soon as Johnathan went down for his morning nap, Julia and I decided to capitalize (no pun intended) on the opportunity of learning more about Q.

We did the number for the day, too....but pictures of that are coming next week.

Walking!

2009-02-22T21:19:00.003-06:00

Johnathan took his first steps back on January 8th, but I can officially say that he is walking. He is still speedy gonzales on the ol' knees, but really likes to walk. He was even running (in his own way) to Jason tonight. So cute!

Sooooo for documenting purposes: Baby boy is walking on Two Twenty Two Two Thousand Nine.

Baby, Gum, Teeth, Stairs

2009-02-19T22:45:00.007-06:00

BABY MAMA:
Sooooo sweet. I got home late from our women's ministry dinner and saw DogDog outside of Julia's door. I grabbed him and thought I better make sure he's in her bed before she wakes up and can't find him. I walk in her room and quickly change my mind.....she's moved on (well at least for that night anyways!). Soooooo sweet!

GUM:
One of my best friends, Kristi, has allowed her same aged daughter, Brianna to chew gum since - I don't know....she was 6 months old or something crazy like that. Okay, maybe not that young, but the girl's been chewing gum for a long time. Well, I finally gave in a couple of weeks ago and we've been chewin' gum ever since. She LOVES it and does really well with it.

TEETH:
Doc said to start brushing J4's teeth, so we started and boy does he love it.....sucks off all of the toothpaste, but I get those 8 teeth shinin' and plaque free!

STAIRS:
My worst nightmare happened tonight. I was getting Johnathan and Julia undressed upstairs in the "play room" for their baths. Jason had to leave to go pick up a friend. He thought we were going straight to the bathroom, so he left the gate open to the stairs. In the corner of my eye, I see Johnathan over by the stairs, but I didn't think anything of it because he always walks over there and looks down he stairs. Well, he got more than just a look tonight. He got the ol' heels over head, body rolling all.the.way.down.the.stairs!

I don't think I've screemed that long and loud since Prosper beat Celina. I was absolutely and utterly devastated. And if I think long enough about it, I could start crying again. Fortunately Jason was still in the house downstairs, so he was able to pick Johnathan up.....who, by the way - cried for about two point six seconds, then kept staring at me wondering why I was still hysterical!

I think he secretly liked the tumble and is probably plotting his next rolling session already. Here's a pic of him right after.....Mr Smiles, no problems, Johnathan Bankhead.

I Forgot.....

2009-02-18T15:45:00.005-06:00

.....to include the video of Johnathan eating his birthday cake. Click here and you can view it at the very end! Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T17:50:00.003-06:00

LOVE you all!

Happy ONE year, Johnathan!

2009-02-13T15:50:00.001-06:00

My baby boy is all growed up!!! He is a year now!!!

Weighing in at 27.2 pounds, 33 inches long and in the 97 percentile for his age, he's doing pretty good. He is taking more and more steps every day, but isn't walking all of the time yet. He does love to walk and gets a bit over confident sometimes slamming into the floor at full force at times.

He says ball, mamma, dadda, and as of just a couple of days ago, he says cat. We were at the doctor's office (getting his one year checkup) and there was a cat painted on the wall.....cat!

He doesn't like the word, "no", is pretty stubborn when it comes to touching the tv, is super sweet when he holds on to me at the door of the church nursery and doesn't want to go in (Julia NEVER did that!), has a sense of humor (thinks he's funny when he "blows" the house down reading the Three Little Pigs book), and is just a great little man.

We had a Tool Party (thanks Aunt Shannon for your idea!) at our house with both Julia's friends and his own friends. They bounced in the bounce house, opened presents, ate cake and posed for lots of pictures.

Aunt Shannon, Mallory and Morgan stayed the night after his party. It was so nice to get caught up with Shannon and to have the girls (and Johnathan) all play together. They are all so cute!

Soooooooo, here's to you, Baby Boy! It seems like just yesterday that we found out we were going to have you......we pray your next year will be filled with lots of joys, tons of fun and many blessings. Love you!

Outta Towner Part 3

2009-02-09T18:47:00.000-06:00

Well, our friends Joe and Rebekah moved to NM about a year ago and they are now BACK in Texas where they belong....that's for sure! They were the pastors at First Baptist Anna where Jason was their interim youth pastor for about 6 months......the first months of Julia's life.

Joe surprised Bekah on her 30th birthday just a couple of weeks ago and we made it on the guest list. She was super surprised and we were so glad to see our friends again.

Their daughter, Hannah, was born at the end of September of 2005 (so about 4 months before Julia). Then they just had their second daughter about 6 months after Johnathan and they named her......Julia! There are pictures of Johnathan and Julia (her Julia), as well as pics of their whole family and a sweet picture of Julia (my Julia) and Hannah.

Welcome Back, Joe and Bekah! We love you!

Outta Towner Part 2

2009-01-29T18:50:00.002-06:00

My dad's sister, Aunt Sue and Uncle Hal came to stay with us a night as they were traveling back from Florida (seeing my dad's other two sisters, Aunt Rudy and Aunt Judy).

They came to stay a night with us last year on their way TO Florida. I hope it becomes a yearly visit. I truly enjoy spending time with them and catching up. It makes me feel close to my dad when they're here.

Here are some pics from their visit.

Jason planned a weekend in Ft Worth because my first husband (ha!), Kenny Rogers, was going to be at the Bass Concert Hall there in January.

So for my birthday (back in October), my man got me tickets! Of course we very quickly changed the night into a WEEKEND away and boy did we need it! First, we met BMom and Pop at Braum's in Decatur to hand off the kiddos. I did great and loved how relaxed I became the minute we drove off.....off to spend some much needed time. alone. with. my. husband!

P.S. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the picture of BMom and Julia looking at the menu.....their hair is exactly the same color and they just look like grandmother and granddaughter. So sweet! I'm gonna black and white that one, for sure!

We arrived and when we opened the door (after we gave our door man $5!), we were like two kids in a new play room! There was a separate living room with a flat screen TV, kitchen and office....then in a separate room (with a door), was our bedroom.....with one of those heavenly beds (couldn't wait to jump in that and sleep in!), it had another flat screen tv in there, vanity and bathroom. Our own little house!

For the first few hours, all we did was lay on the bed and watch tv.....not Dora, not Diego, not Clifford the Big Red Dog.....OUR shows...anything and everything we wanted. We even spent $5 to watch an Office episode we missed the week before! So much fun.

Then we left and ate at the Italian restaraunt we went to on our second date. Not to worry, the waiter took a pic! We talked about everything with no interruptions, no wiping mouths, feeding babies or cleaning up random spills.....we just talked and stared at each other and even sat there WAY after we paid the bill!

Then it was on to see Four Day Weekend (improv comedy)! It was one of the best shows we'd been to. It brought back memories of our second date.

Then we got "home" and had a glass of our sparkling wine/cider and watched a movie on HBO and needless to say.....we were in bed ASLEEP by 11 pm in the heavenly bed.....sleeping IN to 7am.....

The next morning we just threw on some comfy clothes, kept our glasses on and went downstairs to eat our complimentary breakfast, which by the way was NOT just apples or bananas or a little muffin I could have bought at the local grocery store.....oh no! You could order ANYTHING you wanted or eat from the most amazing buffet (am I a red neck? or do I just not get out much?).

Anyway.....the weekend was topped off by going to see Kenny Saturday night, dessert afterward, and skipping church on Sunday to go to a movie instead. We just can't wait to do it all over again...... I don't think I've been that relaxed since before children, honestly. Is that bad?

Well, for the two of you who read my blog - do the same thing! Take time for your sweetie. I really enjoyed myself and I think he did too.

Outta Towner Part 1

2009-01-28T17:40:00.010-06:00

This is what it always seems to look like when Jason is out of town. I like to pride myself on being clean, but I think I get too exhausted and end up not caring....."I'll get to that tomorrow".......only when tomorrow comes, I don't "get to it!"

Sooooooooo, you can imagine that when I saw this I felt better about my life, my children, my lack of sleep, lack of time, etc. etc. etc.

To my mother-in-law: This was when Jason WAS out of town......he's not out of town right now!

Crafty Craft Day

2009-01-28T11:31:00.012-06:00

Thanks to Aunt Shannon, she encouraged us with this so Julia and I did a craft today while Johnathan was napping!

We just used what I already had in my now organized craft bucket. Julia loved it and I was okay with the mess (which really wasn't a big mess!). And thanks to BMom, Julia had a little cover up thing that she made Mallory and Julia when they went to visit her.

It was so icy and sleety outside today that our women's bible study got cancelled this morning (which is where we go for 2 hours on Wednesdays now), so I knew we were all going to get BORED today.

Anyhoo, per the blog......we even read a book that corresponded with our craft - great idea! Thanks so much, Aunt Shannon, you saved the icy yucky day!

TuTus and Burps

2009-01-27T21:23:00.008-06:00

Tonight was the night for early bedtimes. Johnathan was done with the day around 6 pm, but I stretched it out until 6:45 pm and Julia went to bed right after that at 7 pm (an whole hour earlier than usual).

This was okay because I had things to do.....meatball stew to make.......Idol to watch!

Well, I knew that 7 pm was a snish too early for her when I could hear her moving about frequently in her room (via the monitor). It didn't bother me since this is what she does at the beginning of her naps each day. She usually puts her baby in her "bed" (her new stool she got for Christmas opens up on the top) and up and down the stool she goes but always pretty much stays on her bed. So my plan was that if it went on much longer, I'd have to go up there and get on to her.

I hadn't heard anything for a while UNTIL.....about 8:15 pm, my sweet 3 year old comes down the stairs to tell me that she burped (random, I know!).....this is okay, but she was now dressed in a pink tutu and a black shirt that was not only inside out, but on backwards (notice the two white tags??)!

Did she think I wouldn't notice that her wardrobe had changed from what I put her in earlier? Did she not think that maybe she'd be in some big trouble if she came downstairs in a totally different outfit and perhaps she'd be found out?

Well, I turn around to stir the meatballs in the frying pan so that I could laugh and get it all out before having to tend to her original purpose for coming downstairs......her burping issue.

I had to take pictures because it was so darn cute and yes, for those of you who took Growing Kids God's Way with us.....I did tell her the whole shin-a-nagan was a complete no no as we cleaned her dress-up clothes off of the floor of her room!

God love her.....

Playing Catch Up

2009-01-25T21:44:00.004-06:00

Same story, different version. Or whatever that saying is.

I have three new/old posts that I have had saved in my "Edit Posts" for over a month now, but again.....it's so difficult to arrange pictures on my blog using my mac and I always have trouble getting that part done in a timely fashion. You know I don't like to post without pictures.

So then when I get a little behind, I tend to get a lotta behind and then I just don't care, even though deep down inside I really want to have my posts out there that I took time to write, so I sit down to battle the whole picture thing again and get frustrated....again. A little time passes, then a lotta time passes, then I don't care and well, before I know it......the whole dern cycle starts over!!!

Sooooooo all of that mumbo jumbo to say that I have three new posts below so that you can be caught up on our crazy life. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Julia!

2009-01-23T15:05:00.002-06:00

My baby girl turned 3 on January 4th! Whoah! It seems like yesterday (well, maybe more than just yesterday - but you know what I mean) that she was this size:

Now, she's all grown up! The last couple of years we have had her party at our house, but this year....it was going to be so cramped, we decided to have her party at a place called My Gym in Frisco. It was really fun. She had 21 of her sweet friends there as they ran around, sang songs, played on all kinds of great equipment and just had a ton of fun!

Happy Birthday, Julia. We love you!

Silent Night

2009-01-22T16:02:00.003-06:00

One night during the holidays during Julia's bedtime routine was just so sweet. #1, Julia never sleeps at school. #2, Julia USUALLY takes a nap after we get home from school. Well, #1 happened as usual, but not #2!

Needless to say, baby girl Bankhead was T.I.R.E.D. She didn't act up or anything like that, but the usual bedtime routine changed from: Bath, Read, Sing Songs, Pray, Kiss, Sleep tooooooo Bath, Read, Sing Songs, Sleep. She skipped the praying altogether (sorry "Shay and Steven").

It was now one of my most memorable times with my baby girl. I started singing Silent Night as our last song (you know the holidays and all) and her eyes started to droop. Surely this couldn't be. She's a partier, she stays up with the best of us. I thought, "Let me sing it again in case I was just thinking I saw her eyes starting to close".

So I sang it again....more droopy eye action. And I sing it again and again and again, droopy eyes turns into the sleep twitches turns into eyes closed for longer periods of time now....singing, sleeping, singing, sleeping, momma crying while singing because it's oh so sweet, more sleeping, more sing-crying and now she.is.silently.sleeping.

I settled for this picture since I don't normally take a camera in to her room at bedtime. But next time.....I WILL because I so wished I would have captured her little sweetness spilling out all over her chocolate brown polka dot pillow, hands under her cheek. Oh.so.sweet!

I love that girl and it's times like these the Lord gently reminds me of my little blessings. Thank you, Lord and thank you, Julia for letting me experience that with you.

Now, THIS is funny....can anyone relate to THIS bedtime routine? Enjoy!

Decor Galore

2009-01-20T15:27:00.007-06:00

Some of you were asking about our la casa and how it was decorated for the holidaze.

I made these trees - just wrapped them with cool fun yarn (that you make scarves with) around one of those triangle styro-foam thingies...and voila! instant decorations.

Also, here are some pictures of my very first sewing project. My friend, Emily, came over last week to help teach me to sew. She called me a little ambitious when I mentioned that I wanted to make Julia a new nap mat. that. night. !!

But before I show you pics of the new one....you be the judge and let me know if she was due for a new nap mat. This one was a child's garment bag that yours truly HOT GLUED (still my favorite) the ribbon around the edges. I secretly prayed Julia would lay on it at school with her legs bent so she didn't look too deprived of a nap mat that actually fit her!

And here is the new one!

I bought a body pillow pillowcase (one that was on sale in the teen section) which fits perfectly over the nap mats they give them at school.

Now, don't click on the picture because you will see a lot of, what I call, "drunk driving" with the thread and using that pedal thing on the machine....seems I'd catch myself driving a little too fast at times.

Comparison Picture

2009-01-14T15:14:00.008-06:00

I don't know if you remember this:

But here is my actual picture from 1990 (senior high school picture) my mom just gave me this week. I told you I had a real picture of myself from the 90's with the big hair!!!!

8, 9, 10 Month Comparisons

2008-12-12T07:27:00.020-06:00

Remember I told you as soon as I find pictures of Julia's 8, 9 (and now 10) month pictures, that I would post their comparison pictures?

Well, we had let Uncle Brad borrow our mini hard drive and all the pictures were on there. We just got it back from him, so I'm glad to find them...yeah! Enjoy and let me know what YOU think....do they look alike?

Here is Julia at 8 months in 2006 and Johnathan at 8 months just 2 months ago

Here is Julia at 9 months in 2006 and Johnathan at 9 months a month ago

Here is Julia at 10 months old in 2006 and Johnathan at 10 months old now (um, she has a wee bit more hair than the Mister....or maybe it's just darker - nope, definitely more hair!)

10 Months Old!

2008-12-10T16:28:00.012-06:00

Baby Boy is a whole 10 months old! I can't believe he is already just 2 months away from being a year old...where does the time go?

When I think about it, I get all teary eyed!

Here are some pictures from Bankhead Movie Night the other night so you can see how big he's gotten.....we went to Walmart, got one of those $1 movies from the movie machine (Kung Foo Panda), then went and picked up our pizza and sprite from Pizza Hut. We all went up to our new family room area we created upstairs.

If you see the picture below, there is a bare wall...no shelves.

Now we have shelves I bought for $35 each that go in the space perfect. We already had a TV, we brought up the trunk from downstairs, turned it on its side and viola! instant TV stand. Now while we're upstairs, we can play, watch TV (mom can get laundry done too) and we're all happy campers. The picture with Julia sitting on the toy chest....we're going to make that a wall of art where she (and Johnathan one day) can display their art projects, etc. And eventually we are going to build a desk between the shelves so they can do projects or homework, etc....but that will be a while from now. More pics to come in my blog later this week. Happy 10 months, Johnathan! Love you.

Thanksgiving Festivities

2008-11-28T13:11:00.008-06:00

BMom, Pop and Boppy came to our house for Thanksgiving.

We ate turkey, dressing, gravy, corn casserole, greenbean casserole, sweet potato casserole (how many casseroles could a wood chuck chuck!?), mashed potatoes, asian salad, rolls, olives (black and green), pickles, and cranberry sauce. Not to mention pumpkin pie, pecan pie, blackberry pie (we didn't get to this), and my favorite (I'm eating it right now as I type!).....BMom's white chocolate popcorn.

((You may think it's weird that I just told you what we ate for Thanksgiving, but I wanted it recorded so that next time we remember our favorites that we had from this year.))

Anyhoo, of course you all know by now that the Aggies lost to the Longhorns, so now they (the LH's) have a better chance of getting into the Big 12 Championship. I guess I'm telling myself that a happy marriage is better than winning a game against a long time rival.

Enjoy the pics and have a great rest of the Holiday weekend!

Happy TURKEY Day!

2008-11-26T21:24:00.007-06:00

"Happy Thanksgiving to you, Happy Thanksgiving to you, Happy Thanksgiving dear you-ooh, Happy Thanksgiving to you!"

This is a little "Happy Thanksgiving!" from some turkeys in Romania. Jason was there a week ago for their Leadership Conference to meet with pastors for their 2009 campaign.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. When I was growing up, my dad's sisters would travel in from California and Florida to be with us. They are a ton of fun and my dad just loved spending that time with them. We would cook and eat and eat and cook and rest and laugh and eat some more and laugh some more. Even at an early age, it very quickly became and has stayed my most favorite holiday.

It's also a tough time of the year too. My dad went the day after Thanksgiving to the hospital only to find out he had tumor on his back that was cancerous. That started a very quick 10 week battle for his life. I do believe there is a time to be born and a time to pass on, but it is probably still the most difficult thing I have ever faced in my life...the death of a parent.

Although it pains me deeply not to have him with me during this time of the year, I choose to hold on to all of the memories of Thanksgiving and how much fun we would have. I miss and love you, daddy. I'll eat some turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes for ya! And I bet we'll laugh a little too!

I'm also praying the Aggies win a third year in a row too, but like Jason said, "you will need A LOT of praying for that to happen!"

Happy TURKEY Day to all of you out there!

Copy and Paste this to hear a special Thanksgivin' song: http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ecard|10001|10051|143698|147551;-102001;11441;-102238;68110|ecard|P0R9S|ecards?&totalCategories=28&sortBySelect=&categoryId=68110

Midnight Twilight

2008-11-22T21:11:00.018-06:00

Twilight book series by Stephanie Meyer....GREAT book to read, if you're looking for something good to read.

I was a little skeptical being that the only books that grace the bottom of my shelves in the last 15 years are all pretty much self help books; How to Have a Godly Marriage, How to Raise Your Kids God's Way, Love and Respect, His Needs Her Needs, etc etc etc. I don't get into fiction much....but the Twilight series have been a great fast read.

Anyhoo, a group of gals and I challenged each other to get the first (of four) books read before November 20th since that was the day (night....midnight) the movie of the first book was coming out.

Well, we all read the book(s) and made it (in our old age) to the midnight premier! Of course books are always better than their movie and this was no different. However, it was great fun to be in a theater full of giddy teenage girls. Made me feel real young (and old all at the same time)!

Here are some pics of us crazy gals...From Left to Right: Sherry Samuels, Jackie Schelp, Jenni Graham, Emily Berg, Christy Smith, ME, Stacy Cameron, Kara Krouse, Krista, Abby Wood. Then a pic of the girls getting ready for the movie.

Bottom pic is of me, Amy Robinson, and Laura Samuels (Warren Samuels' daughters). Shirts read: "Bite Me", "I Like My Men Cold, Dead & Sparkly" and the regular Twilight shirt. I still wish I would have gotten the one that says, "My Marriage Survived the Twilight Series!"

Just an FYI...other Godly women love the Twilight series as well. This is a gal (who does the Home Script vinyl letterings), Ruth (the third girl from left)...she and her girlfriends went to the release of the last book, Breaking Dawn. See their cute t-shirts too. I'm telling you - go get the book, you'll really enjoy it!

Update

2008-11-17T16:01:00.000-06:00

Oh yeah, this is going to be a crazy LONG catchup. But I'm sick of not blogging. You wanna know the reason why I haven't blogged in so long. Because I can't find JULIA'S 8 and 9 month baby pictures! It's frustrating being a Type A personality.

I've let go and here is the catch up. When I do find the pictures, I'll post.

Johnathan: Johnathan turned 8 months old on October 4th (the day before my 36th birthday) and 9 months old on November 4th. He's growing like crazy, has 6 teeth, eats everything (hasn't eaten baby food in a long time), runs everywhere in his walker, army crawls everywhere on the floor, pulls up on anything and everything, still drools and snots, he laughs when you tickle him, claps, waves, says mama and dadda, still loves his bath and his sister, sleeps 10-12 hours at night, and we love him so so much. We couldn't imagine our lives without him.

Julia: Julia turned 2 years and 9 months old on October 4th and 2 years and 10 months old on November 4th. She's also growing like crazy, has all of her teeth (still, if she doesn't quit falling during her little toddler years!), eats everything also (except tomatoes like her dad and chunky chicken), she is pretty athletic (how do you tell at this age?), but she loves to run and kick the ball. She keeps us laughing at everything. Here are her top 10 sayings/words:

10. "Hippopatamus" (that's a hard word for a 2 1/2 year old!)
9. "Daddy's in Romania" (another one...)
8. "What did you dream about last night, Julia?" "Um, ABCs."
7. Her dinner prayer: "Thank you for mommy and daddy, Shay and Steven...Jesus Amen"
6. "Mallory's my cousin like Deego is Dora's cousin"
5. "I go poopoo - it's a heart!"
4. "Bubba just said, 'Dora!'" (does this girl love Dora or what?)
3. "Johnatin, you in time out....2 minutes!" (she thinks SHE'S his mommy)
2. "The zipper is broken! Get some batteries to fix it?" (her suggestion after I fixed one of her battery operated toys...she thinks batteries will fix anything....even zippers!)
1. "Mommy got a peeter like daddy" (in response to my new COMPUTER looking just like Jason's)

The Beginning of October: We went to see Brad's team play soccer. Mallory and Julia played together as well as Johnathan and Morgan. I made a make-shift bed for Julia in the hotel room - pushed the two chairs together and voila! a toddler bed!

Mallory and Julia couldn't WAIT to get in BMom and Pop's car to go spend a week in Burk. And Shannon and I celebrated when they did! ((I teared up a bit, but was quickly over it on the car ride home...in peace and quiet!))

I did some projects when Miss Julia was gone for the week. I put the ball fringe around her valance and moved some things around. You know that garage sale Shannon mentioned in her blog? I got the white shelf for $2 and put some fringe around the bottom to spruce it up. I hung it up over her bed along with that "Dream" thing I bought for real cheap at Hobby Lobby.

And I (uh, Jason) even did some redecoratin' in our closet. Took down that awful globe light in our closet and put up the $12 Trades Days find. Much better!

NOTE: No babies were harmed during this making of this film: This is what happens when you turn your back on an 8 and a half month old football player. He tackles everything - including our VERY HEAVY IRON barstool! He was laughing so hard like he'd really done something magical. I guess he did in his own world.

This is Brian, Kari, Jason and I trying to be real cool in our not-so-young-anymore-ages....going out from 8 o'clock to midnight and riding EVERY scary upsy downsy ride there is at Six Flags and Jen (yeah, that would be me!), getting el' sicko after!!!

Pumpkin Patch times a million. Mom took Julia on one of her school days because I wasn't able to. Then we went with MOMs Group, then....well, I guess that's it....it just FELT like a million!

Mom, me, Sherry Samuels and her daughter, Amy Robinson went to see NEIL DIAMOND! He's mom's favorite and I grew up listening to him pretty much every Saturday when mom cleaned the house! The concert was soooooo much fun and if you ever have a chance - it's an experience! He puts on an EXCELLENT show. We had a blast!

Friends of ours, Todd & Sonnya Airhart, sent Julia a Prosper Eagles cheerleading outfit equipped with pom poms! THEN! We went and beat the Celina Bobcats (our RIVAL) after 24 straight years of losses against them. It was truly an experience! We were out late late late with the kiddos (we usually leave at half time). Johnathan was KONKED out after! Soooo much fun.

Julia teaching Johnathan to drive....there are longer videos of this, but it wouldn't let me download them. Here's a little taste....

And Julia is helping me fix BMom's Chicken and Rice that we cook ALL OF THE TIME! She is cutting the bell pepper (bell pecker in her language, though!) and Johnathan is helping cheer her on in the background.

Then we have Halloween Halloween Halloween! I was soo tired of Halloween and all the costume days, that when November 1st came, I secretly smiled.

Julia went as a Ladybug (my mom has her own little business called Ladybug Wreaths, so we thought it was fitting!) and Johnathan went as a horse. So stinkin' cute. I love that guy.

Julia goes to two different schools, so it's double this, double that during the holidays. She had two costume days, plus we had storytime for MOMs Group at the library on Halloween (see picture of a ladybug in Julia-Ladybug's hand. How ironic that a Ladybug would find a ladybug during the photo shoot!), then that night we went to a festival in Prosper (not to mention all the pumpkin patch trips). Johnathan goes to a totally different school than either one of Julia's and had his own costume day.

So again needless to say, I was really really happy to put the costumes and halloween decor away after the festivities!! More stuff for November in the next post....LOVE!

Why Why Why

2008-10-29T10:19:00.007-05:00

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are almost dead?
Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they already know there is not enough money?
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars; but have to check when you say the paint is still wet?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Whose idea was it to put an 'S' in the word 'lisp'?
If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?
Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?
Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?
Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end you try first?
How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?
When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, 'It's all right?' Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, 'That really hurt, why don't you watch where you're going?'
Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?
In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?
How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?
Why don't I blog when I say I'm going to blog...and then blog about nothing I wanted to blog about in the first place?

Coming to a Theater Near You

2008-10-20T13:48:00.003-05:00

Okay, so it's been FOREVER! I promise, I have an update of our lives coming soon. Here's what you can look forward to (in order of date so be sure to read ALL posts):

Johnathan's 8 Month Birthday and Picture Comparisons
Cousin Week
Neil Diamond Concert (oh boy! for some of you!)
Ladybug Wreaths (go there NOW to check out my mom's line of wreaths!)
Julia's Driving Lesson...Teaching
Jogger Eggnogger!

Oh, just stay tuned.....and bring your popcorn and silence your cell phones. Love!

For Uncle Brad

2008-09-25T11:10:00.003-05:00

Jason always gets us (muah and the kids) a little somein-somein from the countries he visits. Anywhere from a pair of cool sandals from Africa (still my favorite of all the things), to cool red things (red's my fav color) like pottery or candles or such.

His last trip was to Ecuador where it is COLD, well to me it would be...it's pretty much Cali weather year round. Sooo he bought me a nice gray scarf.

He has brought Julia back some really sweet Mexican dresses, shirts or purses/bags. This time he brought back these really neat pencils. I know that sounds weird, but she LOVED them. They are huge and some are in the shape of a parrot. Anyways, she loved them.

But the ABSOLUTE CUTEST THING EVER was what he brought back for Mr Johnathan! He got Johnathan a little soccer outfit. Since Uncle Brad's a soccer coach (at Mary Hardin Baylor), we thought he'd enjoy these pics and video.

Soooooo cute! Maybe one day Uncle Brad will be Johnathan's soccer coach. We're proud of all you do with your team, Brad, and we can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks.

Latest in the Decorating Area

2008-09-13T22:13:00.020-05:00

Some of you are wondering how my mistreatments turned out. The kitchen mistreatments were tabbed curtains I had in my kitchen in Van Alstyne. I just got up on my counter (Julia thought that was pretty cool!), folded the tabs under and pinned them with upholstery tacks for both my kitchen window and the window right next to it....voila! done...no expense except the upholstery tacks (which are $1.99 for 24!).

Remember when I posted about my cool inexpensive wall art a while back? Well, here they are with my other new mistreatments hung (I know, I still need to add fringe to the bottom, but haven't found yet). My wonderful sister-in-law, Shannon, made these curtains for our living room in Van Alstyne...sooooooo I re-used them here. Again, folded the tabs and pinned. The middle one is just a smaller piece of the curtain (originally from WallyWorld), folded and pinned as well. It gives the living room a softer look.

This window is from our old NEXT office. Warren sold me a slew of them for real cheap. I used the biggest one to display black and whites of our family. And then the rest of the photos are just different things you all wanted to see throughout our house. Thanks for enduring the tour!

MOMs Group at the Library!

2008-09-12T11:12:00.005-05:00

MOMs Group went to the Library last Friday. We went to "Story Time". Here's a little taste of what we experienced. I LOVED it....I mean, Julia LOVED it! We now sing Where is Thumbkin as one of our night time songs before bed.

We went into the kids section of the library afterwards and Jen Bishop (the one on the left) spotted an open section with "big people" seating. YES! We were all excited about the section and made ourselves at home. We even had the "Family" section bookshelf at our fingertips....only the "Family" section bookshelf was not so "Family" oriented (a little more PC than we liked!).

It was like a Seinfeld episode...seemed every book we would pull off the shelf was awful for our age kids. One book said their cat was DEAD (not something you can or even want to explain to two year olds), one book was about fighting, one book had pictures of a bra in it (an animated kids' book with this kind of stuff in it!), and the others were ones the kids were pulling off the shelf, not knowing what they were about. Here are a couple of them:

I thought this book plus my two pregnant friends (Jen Bishop on left, Angie Schroeder on right) was fitting!

Then we had lunch outside and took some cute pictures of the kids. We had several moms and kids missing this day but here are pretty much the "every weekers": Starting from left: Addison Smith, Bailey Bishop, Georgia Schroeder, William Bishop, Jackson Schroeder, and Julia.

Aren't they all so presh!? That's MOMs group for ya!

Seven Month Comparisons

2008-09-04T09:16:00.026-05:00

Here are the pictures from when Julia was 7 months old in 2006 and Johnathan at 7 months now:

Holy Smacks! Where does the time go??? I remember when Julia was 7 months old, I wanted her to stay that way forever. It was the most fun age. ((Of course when she'd turn one more month older, I'd think the same thing))

September 4th Johnathan turned 7 months old!

He is sitting up all by himself with hardly any falls now. He tries to do crunches when he's laying down because he prefers to sit up, that's for sure! He isn't crawling quite yet (Julia was crawling just a few days after her 7 month birthday), but we haven't really encouraged it either. We do "tummy time"....well, he does his own tummy time turning over, turning around, moving to all four corners of the room, and he even does that bending his knees thing. But he isn't crawling....THANK GOD! I'm not ready for him to grow up that much yet.

I'm still feeding him the homemade stuff. Going on a month now, which isn't as bad as I thought it would be. We do still buy some of the fancy stuff, but I do the veggies and the fruit. It gives me that Proverbs 31 woman feel. It may not be considering buying a field for my family....but I consider buying foods I can puree and save money with! Speaking of pureeing....Jason isn't a fan of my deceptively delicious dishes. I was secretly trying to get some veggies in him too and it didn't go over too well. I am not giving up just yet, but maybe I shouldn't puree EVERYTHING (especially chicken!).

Back to the little whipper snapper: He still takes a great morning and afternoon nap and lets you know when he needs one. He's got some lungs on him, but once you put a bottle in his hands, he's good to go.

He is holding his own bottle, which Julia never did. It's still amazing to me (I know some of you moms are thinking, "what?!"), but to me it's our first time and oh so great. He probably got to the point and was thinking, "if I don't do it, I may never eat!"

He's still got his purdy blue eyes and I still consider myself a "boy's mama"! (see my post when I talk about this), and he's just as sweet as ever!

Julia is really good with him, although she thinks she's his momma sometimes! Just the other day Jason said that Johnathan kept "walking" over to her (in his walker) touching her and she kept saying, "No no no Bubba! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of it!" Um, I wonder where she's heard that!? Whoops! Anyway, she is very loving to him and loves to play with him.

So, Johnathan is just growing and growing! We are blessed to have him in our lives. We can't imagine life without him, that's for sure. Happy 7 month birthday, my cute mans!

Yearbook Pictures!

2008-09-02T23:21:00.019-05:00

Jason and I just have too much time on our hands! I have never laughed so hard!! Oh the internet....what fun things you can do!!

Starting from 1960 all the way to the year 2000....here are some "yearbook" pictures. Ha!

We dare YOU to yearbook yourself!

My New Favorite Place

2008-08-31T21:05:00.006-05:00

Okay, I stumbled on to this new website called Junk Market Style. It is a place where people from all around the country post their trash to treasure projects.

Right up my alley! Check it out. Here is one of favorite things from there...

No Lights, No Camera....No Action!

2008-08-27T14:43:00.001-05:00

For my family, stop rolling your eyes! No, I didn't leave my camera in some restaurant or drop it from the bleachers of a 90,000 seat football stadium.

And for my friends, you can start answering your phones and the late night texts again. I won't be asking if your kids picked up my camera thinking it was a toy or if you can check your garage ONE MORE TIME or anything of the sort.

I'm convinced my camera simply grew legs and walked off! Straight from the mouth of my sister-in-law, Shannon..."How does someone so organized lose their camera!?!?"

I DON'T KNOW! And I'm sick about it. There were pictures on there that I'll never get back (that's unless my camera decides to come back). I'll keep you posted!

Okay, so anyway. That is why I haven't blogged in the last week or so. I like to include pictures when I blog and well...no pictures, no blog.

But! I do have one pic to share with you and that is why I'm blogging now: I want to say, "we're proud of you, Jason!" Jason got ordained as a deacon in our church this Sunday. His mom and dad came in for the ordination and thankfully they had THEIR camera.

It was a special time. The pastor had all of the new deacons and their wives go up on the stage. He talked about what a deacon means....servant...and just perfect for Jason since he is a servant at heart! Then he talked to each of them telling them to serve the church well, to be men of God's word, to be the hands and feet and heart of the church. He had the elders as well as any man who has been ordained in the past to come lay hands and pray for each of the deacons.

It was special because Jason's dad was able to come up and pray for Jason. What an honor to have that kind of family line. Thanks Pop for being such a godly example to Jason! He has said more than once just how much he respects you and thinks the absolute world of you. You are such an incredible role model for him and he adores you. Thank you for not only teaching your son, but showing your son what it means to serve. He serves his friends well, he serves his co-workers well, he serves his family well, and he certainly serves us three well. May God bless you as much as you have blessed Jason. We love you!

Congratulations to you, Sweetie! You'll be the best darn deacon this side-a-the Mississippi! Wink!

So here's the pic. Sharon's camera was acting up, but I don't care because she has a camera and I don't:

I Got Tagged

2008-08-17T16:56:00.004-05:00

Okay, my friends Courtney and Valinda tagged me. I am supposed to tell you 6 of the quirkiest things about me:

1. I brush my t e e t h in the shower. It's great, you don't have to worry about it getting all over the place!

2. I take my contacts out right first, then left. BUT in the morning, I have to put them in left first, then right. What is that all about?

3. I HAVE to vacuum the whole house and clean everything before we go out of town. I don't like to come home from a trip, where you are unpacking things only to make a mess. If there's already a mess, I'd get overwhelmed.

4. I do little piles of laundry instead of great big ones. If I have too much laundry to do, it takes DAYS. If I have little piles to do, it only takes a couple of hours to do the WHOLE thing: wash, dry, fold, put away. Great!

5. My desk at work has to be completely all put away before I leave each day, even if I still have tons to do. It's all put away, then pulled back out again.

6. I have to drink m i l k out of a glass and not a cup. It seems to turn warmer in a cup. Yuck!

Now I tag (which means you have to put a tag on your blog or comment with your 6 things):
1. Boppy
2. Shannon
3. LaShay
4. BMom
5. Kelly
6. Jenni

Have a great day!

Going Green?

2008-08-13T21:43:00.010-05:00

Well actually, I'm not quite going green like you think I'm going green. I'm pureeing sweet baby boy's food! Can you believe it? For those who know me, know this is NOT like me. Just give me the easiest and fastest way to do anything and I'm there.

But! I can't get a vegetable other than corn or green beans into Julia (OR Jason for that matter), so I thought I'd finally put my Deceptively Delicious cookbook into practice and try some things. What you do is puree vegetables and then "hide" them in your favorite recipes.

So far, Jason and I have hated everything I've made.....except Julia! Which is good because she is half the problem. Now we (we as in me and....myself and I?) are still working on Jason. I made some meatloaf with turkey meat. I like to call it a "turkeyloaf", but I made it in a pan too small for the recipe and it came out mushy. YUCK! I threw it all away.

Then came the tofu nuggets (like her chicken nugget recipe) with hidden ingredient, broccoli. Jason? Not a fan. Julia? Thought they were cheese and pretty much ate them all. The next night was chicken "cigars" with cream cheese and chicken with hidden ingredient, carrots and cauliflower. Jason? Absolutely hated it (does not like cream cheese). Julia? She ate them all. So far Julia is deceived and eating her veggies; Jason will take a little more work. By the third night he sweetly said, "Jenn, I really don't want to eat EVERYTHING pureed".

Now, Johnathan loves the sweet potatoes, carrots, green peas and the bananas (see pic below for proof). He isn't a fan of the squash or cauliflower, however I still feed it to him with lots of sweet potatoes smoothered over the top. I'm waiting to introduce him to the broccoli.

Anyhoo, it really isn't that bad. It has only been a few days, so ask me how it's going in a couple of weeks.

The Olympics

2008-08-08T07:35:00.000-05:00

Eight/Eight/Oh Eight.

Ahhhh, the Olympics! We (Jason and I) are so excited. I have checked the schedule and have my own favorites ready for the TiVO.

I love the diving, gymnastics, swimming, cycling and track and then I even love the synchronized swimming too. I think I secretly envision myself doing these things.

Jason and I went to Las Vegas almost 3 years ago and went to the Cirque Du Soleil O Show. It's an amazing show that really depicts how all of your training in gymnastics, swimming and synchronized swimming can pay off after your career ends with the Olympics. Incredible what these athletes can do!

So enjoy your own favorites from the Olympics this month.

Mistreatment #1

2008-08-04T17:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, here is my first mistreatment. First let me just say that this was originally a shower curtain that I just had to have for Julia's new big girl room! It had little puffy things on the shoes and cute little sayings all over it, the colors in the curtain matched her baby room colors already and the whole thing was just simply delightful. I didn't want to buy two because one was enough money for me, plus it was wide enough to cover her whole window. If only I was brave enough to cut it...

So my sweet friend, Laura Washburn, took it, cut it down the middle and sewed (GASP!) black-out curtains on the back of it. Then she added some jewels to the purses that are on there. Sooo much fun!

I bought the valance at Habitat for Humanity a while back for $10. It was MINT GREEN at the time, but once I sprayed it with chocolate brown fabric paint ($12), it was like new. Sooo I got my (shower) curtains, put them on a tension rod...actually I put it on a shower curtain rod that you can twist to make it shorter or longer, then I hoisted those bad boys up under the valance. Well, you can't tell from picture #1 that the rod was hanging at the very bottom of the valance. This was okay until it was nap time and Julia wanted it darker in there. Her window is one of those that has a curve at the top. So lots of light would beam down from the top because the curtain didn't go up that high.

Well, then I got introduced to Nesting Place (again, thanks to s-in-law, Shannon and friend, Courtney).

So I went to Hobby Lobby, got a yard of black fabric and some ball fringe thingies (all on sale - total of $8) and headed home. I got the ol' hot glue gun out, the iron and went to town (not literally....I was at home). I am still working on this, but here it is. I think I'm going to put some big black ball fringe on the bottom of the valance and some small white ball fringe going on top of that....all hanging from the valance to tie in the brown, black, whites and pinks.

Please give me some advice on what YOU think I should do. The one who gives me the best idea might just get a little surprise in their mailbox soon!

Six Months Comparisons

2008-08-04T13:00:00.000-05:00

"Oh......my........GOSH!" is the lovely phrase my two and a half year old says from time to time when she is excited about something (which turns out to be quite often because she is pretty much always excited!)

But today would be one of those 'oh my gosh' days...my baby is SIX MONTHS OLD! What? I feel like I was just in the hospital answering all of the annoying questions doctors and nurses ask you right before they lay you out like Jesus on a cold metal table, right before they throw that ugly blue blanket thing in your face, right before they say, "lots of pressure here..." and then POOF! out comes a beautiful? baby? boy?, um...not so much...but beautiful from where I could see him!

I still think of you as this little whipper snapper who just lays there....now you're just my little whipper snapper who jumps around in your exersaucer and bounces in your bouncy seat and who really is my very own little JOHNNY JUMP UP! Now you're eating sweet potatoes, rice, peas and rice, & real bananas! You're growing up - stop it!
I love your smiles, your giggles, your kicks, your earring and hair pulls, your wanting to put everything in your mouth, your roll overs from your back to your tummy (never to return back to your...back), your little hands rubbing your eyes when you're tired, and even your spit up is okay (I've learned to wear a robe over my clothes now). And seriously....your first word being MOMMA!? That was joy to my ears. (Okay...for those of you thinking, "he's only 6 months old for goodness sake!", well...he DID say momma. I don't have proof of it, but Jason was there. It's true!)

So your daddy thinks you're the greatest. He loves to "jump" with you. And loves that you are quiet when sports come on, and he loves to tickle tickle tickle you making you laugh, showing off those TWO bottom teeth of yours!

Your sister absolutely adores you. Plays with you - even "FED" you the other day. You liked it. Nothing on the spoon. But you like it. And it was your time together. She screeched real high giggling at you and you thought that was the bomb! You laughed like I'd never heard before. Your first real real real giggle.

Your grandparents and aunts and uncles are amazed at how big you have gotten just in the last month. You have filled out, my little one. And I love it!

And me? Well - what can I say? I am just in love with you. I know one day you will break my heart and tell me no! But for now, I'm just enjoying your littleness. I want to capture every single moment with you in a bottle and remember it forever.

I pray your birthday today will bring you joy. You are such a blessing and answer to prayer for us, Johnathan Lawrence Bankhead.

Happy Six Month Birthday! Love, Momma

Here are pictures from when your sister was 6 months old in 2006 and pictures of you at 6 months old now:

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

2008-08-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

I can't believe out of the 9 months that we've lived here, I have NEVER heard my clock tick in the living room as I sit here in TOTAL SILENCE!

Yep girls...you heard me right. It's totally silent right now. Just me. No TV. No Music. Um....NO KIDS!!! Or a husband! Silence. Webster dictionary defines silence as:

si·lence

1.	absence of any sound or noise; stillness.

2.	the state or fact of being silent; muteness.

When was the last time you were silent? Whether it be to hear the birds chirping outside or the wind chimes blowing in the wind...or to be with God in prayer...or just to hear your clock ticking in your cozy living room? It's been a long time...a very long time for me. I hate to say it that even in my "quiet times", it's usually noisy.

I'm gonna practice this more. I'm going to call it my Clock Time from now on.

Jason and kids are headed to Burkburnett for some family time. Well, actually...Julia is going to stay with her BMom and Pop until next Thursday. Jason took Johnathan with him because I have a Beth Moore conference tonight and tomorrow. Mom and I are going and then tonight I'm going back to her house to spend the night! Girls' night! We've been planning this for months and it's finally here. Yeah!

J1 and J4 (that would be Jason and Johnathan) will be back tomorrow early afternoon. We have a jammed pack day (tell you more about that later). Sooooo my advice: Stop and smell the roses and listen to your clock tick every now and then. You might just enjoy it as much as I do at this very moment!