Have I mentioned I LOVE church friends?!!!

(ON THE WAY THERE)
The 'girls' and I recently took a road trip to St. Louis. What a drive, what great memories, what a time to get sick as dogs, what a cool time to bond with one of my kids.
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Our mission was to take the kids to Six Flags one day, and the Zoo the next day. Ashley took her daughter Alyssa (who is 6 months older than Ty), I took Ty, and Carry took Molly (who isn't due to arrive until October...haha)
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The first day ended up being pretty much a disaster. Ty was already sick and had a fever, then I came down with something to the point that I was sure I was going to die and was having thoughts that I needed to hurry and call Ryan to tell him I loved him and then call mom to tell her to help Ryan with the kids. I'm not a big baby when it comes to pain and sickness, but this was just about as bad as I'd had it. Fever, chilling, nausea, other things. Ahem.
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We only got to spend 2 hours at Six Flags before having to bring me back to the motel. I begged the others to eat and go back without me but they wouldn't hear of it. THEN, it hit Carry as well. So she, Ty, and I all passed out in the motel and pretty much slept till the next day.


(ON THE WAY HOME)
The Zoo was a blast. Ty had so much fun. I tried to give him my undivided attention and "within reason" play and do whatever HE wanted to do. He got to feed a giraffe and was able to see and enjoy a load of other animals. FUN!!! We had a great time.
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We swam in the pool at our motel the night before the Zoo which he loved too. He wanted in the big pool with mommy where he could kick his feet like a fish. They had a really cool little kids pool that he and Alyssa had all to themselves, but he didn't want to play in it. He wanted all my attention, and I was definetly willing to oblige on this trip that, for me, was dedicated to him.
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Ashley's grandmother was sweet enough to let us borrow her Cadillac to drive up there. We endearingly bestowed the name 'the Hoopty' to the car.

In other news, I cut my hair. LOVE IT!!!! AND....*drum roll*....I made my weight loss goal and have officially lost 45 lbs. For those of you who check it, the updated ticker is on the bottom of my bloggie's page. I haven't been this thin since highschool and I love it!

Thanks to everyone who prayed for and encouraged me! I'm so excited that I made it. Ryan is buying me a massage as a congratulations gift! Thanks honey!!!
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Also, thanks to all you faithful bloggie readers and commentors. It's always great to hear from you to know who's reading.
MOST RECENTLY: *Sharon, I sure wish you HAD come to camp. Did you HAVE Lindsay already? I hadn't heard anything!!!* *Charlotte's Mommy, She only officially has 6 teeth, one of the other bottom teeth has a teeny tiny corner popped through, but not all the way and what would be her fourth bottom tooth hasn't even attempted break through at this point. I wish Macie was sticking more with Charlotte's schedule, that would be easier on this breastfeeding mommy for sure!* *RT, Hello friend how is your summer going?* *Andrea, Hope you're having a good time at both your summer camps too! You'll have to call and let me know. * *Jo, Those ice-cream sundaes sound like a great idea. Mom says that you have popped out but claims you're not a bit huge. haha*

Family Camp 2008

What a week....what a camp...what great friends...what awesome memories!!!

And, what a mean face. This is Ty's 'newest' favorite trick. You can tell him to make a "mean face" "silly face" or "happy face." They're pretty funny. He had a blast at camp playing with the "tids" (kids) and got EXTREMELY attached to his "Mawmaw."

In non-family camp related Ty news, he went to the dentist for the first time today to get a couple things checked. Every was A-OK and he was SUPER through the whole visit. WOOHOO little buddy!

My latest favorite picture of my little doll-face. Amanda took this. (Kudos friend, and thank you for this adorable pic!)

Macie cut her second front tooth while at camp. Poor baby. She's cutting two more on the bottom right now. She's running a low-grade temp and is pretty cranky in general because of it. I feel sorry for her. Once the bottom two break through, that will make our little Macie Jade EIGHT whole teeth.

Me and my honey. We had a great time together that week. The time together for the two of us, then the time with the kids as well, and THEN the time we got to spend with all our friends. It would be hard to ask for more! God really blessed us and it was a wonderful week.

We have actually managed to get a family picture in this same spot every year since Ryan and I have been married. Thank's to Jason's dad for the first couple of years, and then I tried to carry on with the tradition.

I only have hard copies of the ones Bro. N took, so I may try to scan them somewhere in all my sparetime someday and post us through the past few years.

It's good to be back to blogging. I haven't gotten a chance to visit all my favorite bloggies yet. I really didn't have time to post this, but I made myself sit down and get it done. Have a good night friends!

Upside-down***nwod-edispU

I actually meant for these pictures to be completely the opposite from what they are. So...you'll have to look at them from the bottom-up. Or...just get this post from the end to the beginning.

Isn't she just the cutest little bug you ever did see?!!! I don't know what I would do without my little baby girl. She's army crawling EVERYWHERE these days. She says "mama, dada, byebye, no no no, hi, and Ty" She jabbers on about a bunch of other stuff too, but I'm not really sure what it all means. haha



This is trully a "D" (my dad's family) look. WOW! I can't wait to upload this picture onto my dad's family website! They'll all go crazy over how much she resembles the family. :) *note: her eyebrows*

ON TO the BIRTHDAY BOY!!!!!!

As many of you know...our little man is TWO years old now and is completely into "helping" (all you moms know what that's like) and then saying "YAY Ty!!!" and then he claps vigourously for himself for doing such a good job. :)

Sandra took Ty out on his birthday since me and daddy were both working during the day. They went to the park, shopping, and Chuck E. Cheese. FUN!!!

Our sweet birthday boy eating his Chuck E. Cheese pizza!


This gift was a family collaborated thing. He hasn't quite mastered driving it yet, but this summer he'll have it down and will be all over the place in it. I'm actually looking even more foward to next summer when they'll both be in it driving all over our yard. He loves his new "vroom vroom."
When we took him outside to give it to him...he RAN to it and climbed in.

OH yeah! He just ate his birthday cake!!!! :)


It's "funner" opening your birthday presents if you can do it sitting on Grandma's lap!

Mom and dad bought him this cute little Thomas the Train plate set. The fork and spoon handles are trains. He LOVES to eat with them..because...you know..they're COOL!

I put FIVE adorable stack candles on his cake, and then put a #2 candle in the middle. That was my FAVORITE part of his birthday. He blew out all the candles himself! It was SOOOOOOO fun to watch.

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I'm not sure what I think about my kiddies growing up like they are. Wow...God is so wonderful to me. Even through my parenting struggles (which are everyday) He's always there to guide when I slow down enough to listen.

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I could go on all day about the way that God has worked in my life and in my family. I want SO much for us to be a godly christian family that serves and loves the Lord with their ALL. I want my kids to remember that their mommy told them about Jesus and that she loved the Lord. I pray that I can stop worrying about what I think and about what other people think about how the kids are raised and soley depend on God showing us the right way to do things. I know He will if we listen, pray, and follow His word. Pray for us when you think about us.

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Next week we'll be at Family Camp, so you can pray for us. I'll be MIA from blogging until after we get back.

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OH...today is my last day at work, so I am officially a Stay-At-Home Mom again.

Wordless Wednesday

Playing outside on the castle.

After Macie crawled into her toys.

Ty playing with his new fishing pole.

Cutie dimples.

Macie and Ty in his new "vroom vroom."
*picture credits go to "Benna" the babysitter. aka - Brenda =)*

Happy Birthday Bubby!

Today is my little man's TWO year birthday!

Wow! How did time fly that fast?! He's been such a joy and I love him to pieces. I tell him everyday that he is my 'favoritist little boy that I've ever had!!!'



This is Ty ONE year ago today!!!

HAPPY 2 YEAR BIRTHDAY Bubby!!!!!

SUCCESS!!!!!!! (and some other randomness)

There are actually a couple of success stories for this post I guess.

1. Macie officially had her first pigtails.

Aren't they just too cute?!!! The shadow on the picture below causes her to look like she has four pigtails, but there were only two. :)

Macie is getting SOOOOOOOOO big now and cutting new teeth everyday. She's working on her front two and another bottom one.

In OTHER news...

My sweet little man will be turning TWO (gasps) in just a couple short days. WOW! Can it be possible? He's getting so grownie these days and knows about fifty-gabillion words that I didn't even knew that he knew. He just comes up and asks for stuff or says stuff and we all just look at each other like, "WOW!"

This is going to be his family colaborated birthday gift. :) I think he's going to LOVE it!

By the way... 2. did you guys notice my new spiffed up blog?

Pray for Ty

Ty being a gooby head in Macie's car seat. He thought it was SOOOOO funny! ;p

Sandra took this picture and I just found it yesterday. Isn't it funny? That wasn't long after Macie was born. I'm not really sure what we were cracking up at, but I thought it was cute.

Ryan's working midnights (which in turn gives me the midnight blues.)

HOWEVER...we've had a few adventures the past couple of days. Ryan went in on midnights starting Friday night, so we'll begin there.

FRIDAY - Very sweetly, to keep us from being alone, friends from church, Matt and Ashley invited me and the kids over for supper Friday night. *Thanks guys!!!* So the kids and I headed that way once we said our goodbyes and got Ryan off to work.

Jason and Carry from church went too. We ate......I got ready to leave and Ashley asked if the kids could just lay down and sleep a while there so we could watch a movie together. Sounded good to me! Carry and Jason left just a while after I put Macie down...Carry's preggers and wasn't feeling so good

This is where our adventures start...

They have an enormous king sized bed, so I situated the pillows and blankets to where Macie was barricaded in the middle, HOWEVER...(I like that word)...shortly after putting her down, I hear her wailing, so I go investigate. I open the door glance at the bed and find the pillows and blankets perfectly in-tact, right where I left them. Macie was not. She was no-where to be found. The pillows and blankets hadn't been disturbed at all and I immediately felt my heart jump.

She cried out again and this time I could tell it was coming from the side of the bed. So I ran to get her. Apparently she some how got OVER the pillows without moving them at all and got all the way to the edge of the massive king sized bed and fell off. I felt AWFUL.

So, I scoop her up, take her out, check everything, make sure she's fine...nurse her a little. At this point the preggers friend...who was still there at the time that this happened...asked "Didn't you just feed her?" To which I responded, "Yes, but she's a girl and she's completely upset...this is comfort food." And for every girl who's reading this, you know exactly what I'm talking about. lol
I decide the bed is a bad idea so we rig up this little kiddie couch of Alyssa's and put her on it. Macie LOVES it and falls right to sleep. Ty crawled up in my lap, passed out and Matt fixed him a pallet on the floor and I laid him down and we started our movie.
Before we even got into it, Ashley sacked out on the couch, so Matt and I watched the rest of it. BUT...by the time they got Alyssa down, and Ty fell asleep it was already pretty late before we got started, so when it ended it was 1am and storming like crazy outside.

Thoughtfully, Matt told us to just stay the night, he'd take the couch and leave Ty out with him and I could sleep in the king sized bed with Ashley and have Macie in there with us. After much diliberation we decided to stay. ("We" as in ME because the kids were passed out) haha

I crawl in their SUPER comfy, vast king sized bed, yell goodnight to Ashley over the seemingly miles of mattress and roll over to go to sleep. Ashley clicks on the bedroom TV because she's used to watching her 40 minute show while falling asleep. I and Macie, however, are not. So we stayed awake and watched *WAITED FOR THE SHOW TO END* the show until it ended. As soon as it did, I jumped off the bed and shut it off. (in all fairness Ashley offered to turn it off, but I felt bad seeing that we were bunking at their house so I declined)

Macie passed right out. I was almost out too when I here Ty's shrill cry from the living room. Again, I bound off the end of the bed and run to the living room where Matt has already scooped him up. I sat and rocked him for a while, but to make a long story short, I ended up sleeping on the couch for part of the night and sending Matt back to their room, but then Alyssa got up at 4am and went to their room and they never sent her back. So I got up and grabbed Ty from off the floor vent, which is nearly in their kitchen, since that is where he had rolled all the way to and trudged into Alyssa's bedroom and crashed onto her double bed.

Needless to say, I slept in everyroom in their house other than the bathroom all in one night. (I say "slept" but there wasn't much sleeping involved that night)

Macie was the last to get up, so when we went in to get her, she had gotten off the kiddie couch and had managed to get under the bed. All you could see was her little smiley face sticking out. Goofy girl.
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Saturday:
I got up over there, ate breakfast...waited a while so Ryan could get some sleep before we got there and then went home.

Once Ryan left for work Saturday night, Deanna, Carry, Andrea, and Ashley all came over. Shane picked Ty up and Macie slept through it all. I cooked the girls supper and we played games until midnight! It was a BLAST!!!! THANKS girls!
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Sunday:
We got up, Ty acted odd...didn't want to eat or drink anything. I got the three of us ready and headed for Sunday School.

Half way there Ty starts coughing. He coughed until he eventually made himself throw-up. THUS, I had to pull the car over, get out, clean that mess up and start out for church again. At that point I thought about turning around and just going home in case he was sick, but he's done that before and been fine. So I figured it was just the devil trying to prevent me from going to church.

We arrived at church at 9:20am! WOOHOO! All by myself, with two kids, all dressed and ready to go and there EARLY! YAY for me.

We made it through Sunday School just fine, but when the regular service started Ty drank part of his sippy cup and started throwing up all over the floor. I handed Macie off and jumped into the floor with Ty and tried to catch it in a blanket. Fun fun... The church became stoney silent, everyone knew something was going on, but didn't know what or how bad it was, which is why I think he was silent for a bit.

Once I got him...the floor...and all our stuff picked up...I carried the kids out and headed back for home where we stayed for the rest of the day and evening.

SO...pray for Ty. He's got a 24 (I hope) hour bug and has finally managed to keep three crackers and some ice chips down.


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Other big news. We're getting a dog. He's ours, he's just at mom and dad's until we can arrange to pick him up and bring him home. So...fellow bloggers and faithful readers, meet Zeek.

Zeek is the german shephard, Marlee, mom's dog is standing behind him.