The Vest Family

and then there were 5...

2012-01-22T13:41:00.009-06:00

Mom came to stay with us the night before I was induced. Since she was here we were able to go to the hospital and leave the two bigger kids home with her. It was so nice not having to worry about getting them somewhere. The morning of my induction we got up about 7:15 and got everything gathered up and headed to the hospital around 7:45. I grabbed a Nutra Grain bar on my out the door. That was a mistake. I should have eaten a lot more because I spent most of the day STARVING!! :) We were supposed to get checked in at 8:00 and then Dr. Wilson was going to come check me around 8:30 so we could get things started...Apparently the drop in temperature sent A LOT of women into labor the night before because they were running behind and busy!

We finally got into the room around 9:00 and Dr. Wilson came by around 10:30. After he left the nurse started me on pitocin...or so we thought. About 45 min after she 'started' the meds I had to use the restroom. It was then we noticed she had never connected the tube to my IV. Nice!!! I was so irritated. Around 11:30 they re-started (or started) the meds. As soon as they did I started feeling some pretty strong contractions. They were getting to be only a few minutes apart but the anesthesiologist was in a c-section and wouldn't be out for another 45 minutes so they had to lower the pitocin and we had to wait again...I was getting real tired of waiting. He finally came in and gave me my epidural around 1:30 and Dr. Wilson came back over around 2:30 and broke my water. As soon as he did that my contractions were coming and I was feeling EVERYTHING! My nurse went home sick and the anesthesiologist was in another c-section!! I didn't have anyone coming in to check on me for a long time and then when they did it was far and few between. Sometime after 4:00 I remember telling Trent I was feeling a lot of pressure. They checked me and I was a 6, only 15-20 min later I was an 8 and before long I was a 10 and ready to push. There was a problem though...NO ONE WAS IN THERE WITH ME BUT TRENT!!! He went and told the nurses and they said my nurse was busy. I don't think he was very happy with that response and told them someone needed to get in there with me because I was ready to have the baby. The finally came in and realized I did know what I was talking about. Probably too much information but, the nurse literally held Karsyn in until they could get Dr. Wilson over. He got there and Karsyn was here within a few pushes.

Our sweet baby girl, Karsyn McKay Vest, was born at 4:56pm on Wednesday January 18th, 2012. She was 7lbs 9oz and 18 1/2 " long.

(they go by the computer time, not the wall clock so the time is a little off for the picture)

Karsyn & Dr. Wilson

Trent and I spent some time with her by ourselves before we started letting people in. After we had our time, he went and got Madison and Cooper. We were able to have some 'family' time before all the other visitors flooded in...

Madison finally getting to hold her little sister. She has been waiting on this day for 9months!

classic!

After we had some family time, we let the Grandparents come in. It was only my mom and Trent's parents. Dad, Laurie and Ron were not able to make it.

Our first family picture as a family of 5!!!

Then we started letting in the aunts, uncles and cousins!

Kara drove from Abilene for the day. I felt bad that she was here all day and only got to hold Karsyn for a few minutes before she had to leave and head back home.

Michael was there

Bart's family (minus Ross)

Madison and Trent squeezed in another turn...

And last but not least...Zack and his family (Eli was in the waiting room)
Joan, Dean, and Seth had all been there earlier in the day but had to leave before Karsyn made her appearance. Everyone was gone by 8pm and Trent and I had the rest of the evening to relax and enjoy our newest baby girl! The big kids went to Celina with Trent's parents so it was nice to not have to worry about them for the night.

The next day we had a few more visitors--Michael had a case at the hospital so he came for a long time. It was nice to have someone to visit with. Our pastor and LIFE group teacher came and so did Melanie. Then we had people coming to take pictures, the birth certificate lady, the people who do the hearing test along with all the nurses coming in and out. I was thankful that I did not have to stay 2 nights! This is the first pregnancy that I was able to leave the very next day!

The nursery did her hair. I didn't love it.

We were discharged around 5pm on Thursday night! We were so ready to get home. I don't think we realized how tired we'd be once we got home and had the 2 big kids back.

Our sweet girl all ready to venture out in the world...

These two were SO excited to get home and see their sister again! Trent and I realized within about 10 minutes that our relaxing time was OVER! Ha! It's definitely busy and there is never a dull moment with a 4 year old, 2 year old and newborn. We wouldn't trade it for anything. We are blessed with 3 beautiful, healthy children! We couldn't ask for more.

2012-01-22T13:39:00.000-06:00

They were pretending to be Santa Claus!

And her name will be...

2012-01-01T14:24:00.003-06:00

Karsyn McKay Vest

Yay! With 2 or 3 weeks left she finally has a name! We have been pretty set on Karsyn but were having a hard time with a middle name. We originally had wanted Carson McKay for a boy back when we were pregnant with Cooper. They were our two boy names. Then my brother dated a girl awhile back who was named Carson and Trent and I both thought, that's cute for a girl too. He actually decided he liked it better for a girl. Anyways, we really didn't talk about it much until we knew what we were having. Then we still didn't really talk about it. I sent him a list of 10+ middle names and he never really said yes or no. On Christmas Eve I was talking with his aunt telling her how we had wanted Carson McKay for a boy and we were having a hard time finding a middle name for girl Karsyn and Trent said he still like McKay. That was it. He said something he liked and I agreed to it. :) Yay! Now we just need little miss Karsyn to join our family!

This pregnancy has been very similar to my others. I was sick for the first 21 weeks. I'm gaining a lot of weight (like I did with Madison) I'm starting to swell (like I did with Madison but I did MUCH sooner with her). The swelling in my hands is causing them to feel like they are asleep most of the night. It's awful. Between my 6 trips to the bathroom (no joke), my AWFUL heartburn and my arms/hands that are tingling I do not get much sleep. I'm ready to at least be up with a sweet baby at night.

At my last sonogram, I think around 34 weeks, she was measuring in the 80%. She was 4lbs. My doctor is going to do another sonogram on Thursday to see where she's at. If she's still measuring that big then he will take her the following week, at 38 weeks. If she's within normal range then he will induce at 39 weeks. Which means, I only have 2 full weeks left and then she'd be here!!

I can't believe the time has come. I thought I slacked with Cooper. It was nothing compared to this sweet baby. Because our house didn't sell, we are still in a 3 bedroom and because our rooms are kind of small Trent designed these loft bunk beds for the kids. Madison and Cooper will be sharing a room until Karsyn is old enough to move in with Madison and then Cooper can have his own room again. Anyways, the beds are being made and are not finished so Cooper is still in what will become the nursery. Needless to say, there is no nursery yet. It's still filled with trucks, balls, cars and sports stuff. I did finally get all of Madison's clothes down from the attic to go through. My next step is to get all the bedding down and get it washed and ready. She will be here before we know it. Cooper came two weeks early. If she follows suit she will be here within the week! CRAZY!!!

We are all so excited and can't wait to meet our third and final addition to our family! Madison is so excited and asks everyday when her sister is going to be here. Cooper kisses and hugs my belly but I'm not sure he really understands a real live baby will be joining our family soon. We will keep everyone updated.

Christms Day 2011

2011-12-28T08:21:00.009-06:00

Santa came and delivered lots of goodies!

The train table/station was from Trent and I. We figured since Madison wasn't getting anything "big" this year it would look bad if Santa brought Cooper something huge!

Santa ate most of his cookies and drank his milk

Madison woke up first (around 7:45) so I made her close her eyes and go wait in our room with Trent. Then I went to wake Cooper up and did the same thing with him so I could get the video going and everything ready. Here they are coming out with Trent. The train was spotted first! Cooper ran straight to it and we had a hard time getting him to open anything else.

Madison opened her Toms first. She knew she was getting them because I had to have her try them on and I went ahead and bought them while she was with me. She still wanted me to wrap them and she wanted me to wrap them in red paper because 'that's a Christmas color'

Love his face opening his present. He was trying so hard. This boy LOVES Toy Story. We had to get him another Toy Story shirt because he wants to wear the one Mom and Ron got him everyday.

It was fun watching them open their presents. Madison said at one point, "I got everything I wanted"! What a sweet, sweet girl. Christmas was really low key for us! We didn't have anywhere to go. The kids opened their presents, we ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then they played all day! We watched the video from Christmas Eve and a few Christmas movies. We all stayed in our pajamas and enjoyed each other.

Madison got this doll and matching outfit from Gary and SueAnn. Isn't it cute?

Later that evening Drew and Madison were outside. Madison got a new bike and Drew got a motorized car similar to Cooper and Madison's. The kids wanted to go out and see them so we went out and rode on bikes/cars for an hour or so. We definitely enjoyed our low key Christmas with our kids. We just wish it wasn't over. Now to pack it all away and get ready for baby #3!

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-27T18:15:00.007-06:00

We spent Christmas Eve in Celina. We left the house around 10am and got home around 9:30pm. It was a long but fun day.
We started the day off at Trent's parents house. Sue Ann had brunch ready for us when we got there. After we ate we cleaned up and it wasn't long before we were opening presents at all the kids request!

Pop Pop with the girls (soon there will be one more)

Nana with the boys

Probably one of our last family pictures of 4!

My sweet girl opening some presents. She loved her 'ungrella'

A small view of the craziness that is Christmas with 8 kids!

He LOVES this barn with the horse and cowboy!

After all the presents were opened the singing began! Kailyn and Cooper definitely ran the show. Kailyn kept singing Jingle Bells and Cooper kept singing Behold the Star (a song from Madison's Christmas program). They didn't care who else was singing they were going to sing their own song and sing louder than the other one. :) I got a lot of videos. It was cute!

Around 3:30 we cleaned up the toys and packed the car. We went to a church service in Prosper before heading over to the Reynolds Christmas! I don't have many pictures from this point on. Church was great but crazy with 9 kids! We all survived. Madison loved the candle light part of it. Cooper wasn't too sure about it. We ate a great dinner at the Reynolds, had a gift exchange and did lots of visiting before heading home!

Cooper fell asleep in the car but woke up when we got home! They each picked a cookie to leave out for Santa and we filled a glass with milk! The longer the night went on, the more Madison got nervous about Santa coming in her house. :) She never said she was scared or unsure but she started asking lots of questions- "will I hear him", "will he come in my room", "when will he come", "will he talk to me" etc. Finally I asked, "would you rather me leave him a note and ask him to leave all of your presents outside and then we can bring them in, in the morning?" At first she said no but after her prayers as I was shutting the door she said, "momma- will you ask him to leave the presents outside?"

After we got them to bed we spent the next several hours putting together the train station/table that we got for Cooper! It was 1:30 before we got in bed. It's been a LONG time since I've seen midnight, much less 1:30. Brings me back to my college days living in the duplex!

These kids make the Christmas season so much fun again! Trent and I love re-living it all through their eyes. They have loved every bit of it--decorating the house, talking about Jesus, singing to Jesus, looking at Christmas lights, decorating cookies, opening and giving presents, listening to Christmas music and waiting for Santa. Next year we'll have 3! Can you believe it? I can't!

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-27T10:07:00.004-06:00

These two had a blast decorating and eating Christmas cookies. I made up my mind before we began that I wouldn't worry about the mess until after we were finished. We had flour everywhere while rolling the cookies out...

not sure where his new smile came from but he does it a lot.

The table before it was COVERED in icing and sprinkles...

He did a lot more decorating this time around. Don't get me wrong, he still licked a lot of icing but he did decorate a lot of cookies.

There was a lot of decorating going on...

and a lot of icing being eaten at the same time!

Trent and Madison's BIG cookie

our cookies and SOME of our mess-- I had already started cleaning up!

I thought they did a great job! I only did 3 and Madison and Cooper did all the others!
I spent the next 30 minutes cleaning up sprinkles. Almost a week later I'm still finding sprinkles on the floor! The huge mess was worth it. The kids had so much fun and so did we. We did say this might be Grammy's job from now on. :)

Leaves, leaves and more leaves

2011-12-27T09:59:00.003-06:00

We had some strong winds blow through a few weeks ago and it literally knocked off EVERY SINGLE leaf from our two trees over night. Our yard was a mess the next morning and for a week after that. We finally went out to rake them a few nights ago. Our neighbor, Madison's friend, had been wanting to play in them so we invited her to come over and jump in the leaf pile for awhile before we picked them up!

They had a blast playing but we had to rake them all up again to get them into trash bags. We filled up one HUGE black bag and 3 or 4 white trash bags. At least we won't have to rake again for another year!

Nichol's Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T09:43:00.002-06:00

We celebrated Christmas with the Nichol's (Trent's Aunts, Uncles and Cousins) on December 17th. The kids always have a great time together--there were 8 kids under the age of 6 and 1 in middle school. The adults had a good time visiting, eating and playing games. It was a great 3rd Christmas for us!

Cooper wore his new boots and was so excited to show his Pop Pop!

getting a 'normal' picture of these two together is nearly impossible these days...

The kids opened their presents before we did our gift exchange. Both of my kids gifts were a hit.

Madison's School Christmas Party

2011-12-26T09:25:00.005-06:00

Madison's school Christmas party was on December 16th. I took the morning off so that I could go with her. Trent was proctoring tests so he was not able to make it. He did walk down for about 5 minutes in between his tests to see her. She was excited about that. The kids had a good time. They decorated cookies, ate some snacks (and I did too because they had chick-fil-a chicken nuggets), sang happy birthday to Jesus and had a birthday cake for Him, opened presents and then it was over!
2

Madison's gingerbread master piece :)

Happy Birthday Jesus

Laken, Madison and Elijah

Being shy about opening her present...

Madison's class with Mrs. Cothes

I LOVE this little girl and was so happy to spend the morning with her before having to go back to work...

Christmas in Abilene

2011-12-25T16:47:00.010-06:00

We made the trek back to Abilene the 2nd weekend in December for an early Christmas. Typically when we're in Celina for Christmas we go to Abilene after Christmas but this year I wasn't able to travel after the 20th, so we went early. It was tough making sure everyone's presents were bought that early. I know my parents had a hard time as well :)
We got to Abilene on a Friday night and stayed through Sunday.

Saturday we had Christmas with Dad & Laurie...As always Santa did not disappoint!
\
Madison's Santa corner

Cooper's Santa corner

We opened lots of gifts. It was fun seeing Cooper having fun this year. Last year, he was still too little to enjoy it.

He examines every gift he gets. It's so cute and funny!

She got a DS and was super excited!

silliness

Papa putting together Cooper's race track

Later that afternoon we made cookies...boy was it messy!

He accidentally got icing on the sprinkle lid when he was decorating his cookie so he licked it off. Then he decided that was pretty good and decided to dip the sprinkles into the icing container over and over and over. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's what he did the entire time he was up there.

still licking the icing

I guess he did stop to decorate a cookie or two...

some of our cookies

think she used enough sprinkles??

On Sunday, we celebrated Christmas with Mom & Ron. We all got a lot more presents! The kids were definitely spoiled. Trent and I have decided we don't even need to buy presents after going to Abilene. :)
I didn't get to get a picture of their Santa goodies because they beat me in the door and had already grabbed stuff and started opening

checking out what Santa brought him...after we got him off his scooter!

LOVE his new boots and she loves her Justin Beiber pajamas.

She LOVES to help in the kitchen. Nana let her help make chicken strips!

Trent and Cooper exhausted from all the Christmas fun!
We had a great trip and got to visit with all of our family. The kids had a blast and were given way more than they ever needed. The next time we go back we will have a new member in the family! :)

Christmas Card Pictures...

2011-12-20T21:07:00.002-06:00

Going in for a kiss. My camera was too slow to catch it.

Trying to get two kids to smile (and not use a fake smile) and look at the camera at the same time is STRESSFUL! Madison was trying so hard to keep her sweet smile but she kept having to hold the smile for too long and by the time I'd get Cooper to laugh her smile would be miserable looking. We never did get a great picture for our Christmas cards but what do you do?

ECE Christmas Program

2011-12-20T20:50:00.003-06:00

My sweet, beautiful girl all ready for her 2nd Christmas Program! She was supposed to have a singing part and she was so excited about it. We were practicing at home and Cooper even learned the song. A few weeks before the program the music teacher called Trent and said she cancelled all singing parts because too many kids were too shy. She went on to say that Madison was not one of them and was doing so well with her part. I was disappointed. Last year she would have NEVER done a singing part. She's grown up so much since then. The program was still great. I was in charge of recording it this year because Trent kept moving the video off of her last year while trying to watch it. Well, apparently neither of us are good at it. I got the first minute but turned it off through some of the talking and introductions and didn't turn it back on again until the last 30 seconds when I realized the red light wasn't on. I was SO irritated!!!

Cooper was so excited to have his Uncle Michael there! He LOVES his Michael!

She did such a great job. It's so cute listening to these sweet little voices singing.

Madison with one of her friends, Laken.

Madison with everyone that was able to make it to her program this year!

Madison and Matt, another one of her friends. His dad coaches with Trent and they were in the same class together last year.

Thank you Nana, Pa and Michael for coming to her program. I know she was so excited to have you there. We missed everyone else but understand it's not always easy to make it.

An Abilene Thanksgiving

2011-12-17T07:03:00.004-06:00

We were in Abilene this year for Thanksgiving AND TRENT WAS WITH US!!! First time in our 7 years of marriage! We went on Wednesday morning and left Friday evening. We ate with Mom this year but watched the Aggie game at Dad's house.

Don't love seeing pictures of myself pregnant but here I am at 32 weeks!

I was waiting for him to start drinking the water like the dogs!

eating some cereal for a half time snack! Think she enjoyed hers?

We got a call when the Aggie game was almost over that Jack was gone. We had our neighbors checking in on him (something we've never done in the 5 years that we've left him) and they went to check on him Thanksgiving night and he was gone. He had busted some pickets out. I could hardly sleep that nigh. I was worried that he was either gone forever or the coyotes had gotten him because he doesn't run away when he gets out. We had planned to leave a little earlier on Friday so we could get home and get some flyers out but we got a call around noon that a flyer had been posted. Our other neighbors who live two doors down had picked him up at 1 in the morning on Thanksgiving. We hadn't met these neighbors because they haven't lived there long. They were taking care of him and hoping no one would claim him. :) We were able to stay and enjoy family and then picked Jack up when we got home later that night. What a relief. I don't think I could have handled losing two dogs within 5 months of each other.

We had a good Thanksgiving. It definitely wore me out being pregnant and having two little ones but it was great having Trent with us. Now we go back in two weeks for our Christmas...

Let the decorating begin...

2011-12-17T06:49:00.002-06:00

We decorated our house the Saturday before Thanksgiving! Madison just couldn't wait any longer (and neither could we)! We started with her tree in her room. We let her decorate it by herself...

She's super proud of it! Since we have taken this picture she has gotten about 10 more ornaments for it from her Grammy & Papa! We set it on a stand this year so you could see it from the street at night!

After finishing up her tree we moved to the rest of the house...

He wasn't too interested in helping! He walked around with the decorations pretending like it was a sword! He stopped for a second to check out Santa and Baby Jesus!

Madison loved helping! Cooper would stop every once in awhile to help for a few seconds...

I didn't take pictures of all of the decorations...maybe I'll add those later. This sweet smiley boy broke about 8 ornaments in the first night! He kept banging them together or throwing them like a football. We finally convinced him 'these are not balls' so he walked around saying that for the next few days, "not a ball, momma"

He loves this train that Grammy & Papa gave us! He plays with it daily. In fact, this too is now broken. :) Oh well. Our house is festive and we can't wait for Christmas.

l.o.v.e

2011-11-22T13:02:00.001-06:00

Mickey Mouse Day 2011

2011-11-22T12:59:00.002-06:00

Madison had Mickey Mouse Day at school last Friday. She took her Mini Mouse and wore her matching bow!

guitar time with Daddy

2011-11-22T12:56:00.001-06:00

These kids love playing their Daddy's guitar! They had a mini jam session in the living room!

Last home football game...

2011-11-22T12:51:00.000-06:00

Halloween package from Grammy and Papa

2011-11-06T16:47:00.002-06:00

The kids LOVE getting packages in the mail. This one came from Grammy & Papa

Look at those excited faces!! Love it.

Grammy and Papa just made this little girls year with the Justin Bieber shirt! Cooper LOVED his car and of course all the balls.

Grammy and Papa outdid themselves! What a fun Halloween package to get! They got tons of candy, A&M pins, balls, balls and more balls, a car, a coloring book, movie, tshirt, glow bracelets, markers, toys, stickers, a watch and more candy! :) Thanks Grammy & Papa! We love you.

Carnival 31 (2011)

2011-11-06T16:29:00.004-06:00

Our Superwoman and Superman

Cooper stayed home sick from daycare on Halloween (He was sick last year too) but he was fine all day so we decided it was ok for him to go to Carnival 31 at our church. I love their matching outfits! We had to bribe Cooper with candy to wear his. He kept saying, "I don't want sue-ker man". I told him he had to wear it so he could go get candy and he said, "Otay". He ran out the door yelling "candy, candy, candy" when it was time to go!

Our neighbors were outside so we had to get a picture with them. Aren't they so cute? Cooper and Drew go to the same daycare and are in the same class.

Carnival 31 was fun. We did some trunk-or-treating when we got there. Madison actually said trick-or-treat this year and Cooper did too a few times.

Cooper walked around with his bag open most of the night. He was taking it all in. He even wandered off with a crowd to go back for more candy. Trent was watching him the whole time and just let him. He thought it was hilarious.

She couldn't wait to get in the bounce house and he is finally getting his first (of many) piece of candy!

They bounced in bounce houses and played a ton of games before calling it a night!

Ethan, Eli, Madison and Cooper (Kailyn did not want in the picture)

Cooper was playing basketball but my camera wasn't fast enough to get an action shot. They had a lot of fun and got a decent amount of candy. They were exhausted by the time we got home and so was I.

2011-11-06T16:24:00.004-06:00

I love this sweet face!

I sent Madison to school in this cute jack-o-lantern shirt on Halloween...when I picked her up, it was covered up with another shirt. :/ Apparently when Liberty says they don't celebrate Halloween that means don't even send your kids in cute, sparkly pumpkin shirts.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-06T16:03:00.003-06:00

These two are ready to carve their pumpkin...

I decided to strip them down so we wouldn't have pumpkin guts all over their clothes...

Cooper got a few handfuls out but he had more fun watching Madison. I don't think he loved the feel of it. :)

The finished product...

Madison decided what kind of face he was going to have. I've never seen a pumpkin with a circle nose but that's what she wanted. :)

A look back...

2011-11-06T15:55:00.003-06:00

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-11-06T15:25:00.006-06:00

We went to the Pumpkin Patch the last weekend it was open. I was a little bit of a slacker this year. We got there right when they opened and it was GREAT. It wasn't crowded at all. It was the perfect time to go. The kids had a blast but we didn't get any good pictures. Madison was smiling but it was her fake smile and I couldn't get Cooper to look at the camera for anything. Oh well. They had fun and that's all that matters, right?

They went crazy with all the wooden cut outs. Madison wanted their picture taken with all of them. Here are a few...

He would not bend down on his knees.

we all rode this tiny train

Yes, my big pregnant self climbed up this slide to slide with Cooper!
We had a great time and were thankful Trent got to go with us. He had a Saturday off in the middle of football season. That's unheard of. :)

Madison's Birthday Celebration

2011-10-30T09:06:00.002-05:00

Madison's birthday celebration day at school was last Monday. They assign specific days to celebrate birthdays for the summer birthdays. She wanted to make cookies on a stick for her birthday treat. They turned out pretty cute.

I sent my camera to school with her so they could take a few pictures!

I can't believe my baby is in her 2nd year of pre-school and already 4 1/2 years old! Where does the time go???

muffins and giggles

2011-10-30T09:01:00.003-05:00

When Trent plays with the praise team at church he has to be there at 7:00. That leaves me getting everyone ready on my own. I don't do this too often because I'm usually already gone in the morning when they get up for school. I had given both of the kids some muffins and milk and gone into my room to get ready. I walked out to check on them to find them sitting like this. They had pushed one of the back cushions down and were sitting behind it on the couch, giggling and watching each other eat muffins. It was so cute and sweet. I love these two!!

Cowgirl Day

2011-10-30T08:55:00.002-05:00

Madison had Cowgirl/Cowboy day at school. Her pink cowgirl boots don't fit her anymore so we didn't have anything for her to wear. Luckily, thanks to a plee on Facebook, Cooper's old teacher brought her some boots and a pearl snap shirt. I didn't have to go buy anything.
She loved getting dressed up and had a fun day at school.

A package from Nana and Pa

2011-10-30T08:49:00.003-05:00

They were SO excited to have a package for them on the front porch!

Nana went shopping! She got them tons of long sleeve shirts! We were all so excited to receive this package! Thanks Nana and Pa.

Last swim of the year...

2011-10-06T21:27:00.002-05:00

Trent and Madison had some sort of conversation about swimming before school the other day. Trent must have told her that he might take her swimming because the first thing she said when I picked her up was, "Can we go swimming now?" I sent Trent a text (he was still in football practice) to prepare him for his last swim of the season. Right after dinner we headed to the pool. I sat this one out. :)

Cooper was prepared for our last swim of the year...

still wearing those goggles

my little fish

his googles were a little too tight! ha!

They got to ride in the back of the truck with their Daddy on the way back home...

a package in the mail...

2011-10-06T21:21:00.002-05:00

Madison was so excited to have a package on the porch

You gotta love when grandparents go shopping! We are so thankful that Nana and Pa sent us all these long sleeve shirts! Thank you Nana and Pa!
*Madison has worn a few, even in the 86 degree weather!

Homecoming Week 2011

2011-10-06T21:11:00.003-05:00

The ECE participates in all the homecoming activities that the high school does. Each day they had a different dress up day. Madison was so excited each morning.

Camo Day

80's Day

Clash Day

Class Color Day

Navy/Grey Day --My little ham wanted to get into the pictures with his sister! :)

And finally...the homecoming game! The kids had such a good time. They were super excited to see their Daddy afterwards. The Warriors won! Yay.

2011-10-06T21:07:00.002-05:00

Cooper loves coloring with his sister

playing on Pop Pop's saddle

Gymnastics

2011-10-06T21:02:00.002-05:00

Madison has started taking gymnastics. She LOVES it! Our neighbor is a year and a half older than Madison and gave us several of her old gymnastics suits. She goes once a week for 45 minutes!

Homemade Dip-n-Dot Ice Cream

2011-10-06T20:54:00.002-05:00

Michael and Kara decided it would be a great idea to get Cooper a dip-n-dot ice cream maker for his birthday! They got it so they could eat it but we never made any at the party. We did, however, make it a few days later...after having Madison beg us every day. We made strawberry per Cooper's request.

They had to let it freeze over night! This was the final result. It was ok. Next time we make it, we are going to try it with milk. Thanks Michael, from Madison and Cooper!

2 & 4 Year Pictures

2011-09-17T18:50:00.011-05:00

This was the first time I've ever taken both of them to get their pictures taken by myself. I was really nervous about it but they did great. I was happy with the way they turned out. These are some of my favorites. It's so hard to pick just one. These are all unedited. They are from the CD I got because I ordered so many pictures. :)

Some things I want to remember...

2011-09-17T18:33:00.006-05:00

Cooper had a good check up. He's 27.4lbs (46%) and he's 35 inches (66%). This is the shortest he's ever been. He's never been under 96%. He's still a head taller than most kids his age so I'm not 100% sure that is accurate.

At two:
-Cooper is talking a ton. The doctor asked how many words he had and I couldn't even begin to tell her. He is talking up a storm. He says 4 and 5 word sentences.
-He repeats everything right now. Almost to the point that it drives you crazy :)
-If you ask him a question he always says umm... before he answers. I'm not sure where this came from but he's just recently started doing it
-He's also telling me "no ma'am" when I do something he doesn't like.
-He loves yogurt right now. He always eats his vegetables first. He's our healthy eater. Although he does love party burritos and french fries.
-He still carries his two bears around
-He's recently started asking to pray. As soon as he walks in his room he says "Jesus". It's sweet to finally hear him ask to pray. He loves singing Madison's prayer from school before meals. He's our little prayer warrior right now.
-He knows ABC's, Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, The Wheels on the Bus, Baby Oh and I'm sure many more. Those are the ones I can think of right now. He likes Our God is an Awesome God but doesn't know all the words.
-He can HIT a ball FAR off a baseball tee.
-He calls coke 'bubble juice' and tries to sneak drinks when he can
-Still drinks tons of milk. We switched him to 2% instead of skim because he doesn't eat much.
-He likes to watch: Toy Story, Blues Clues, Backyardigans, Ni-Hao Kai-Lan, Bubble Guppies & Fresh Beats (They watched a lot of TV this summer while I was sick with baby #3)
-He's not interested in all about potty training. I think I've gotten him to sit on the potty twice. Any other time I ask he starts crying "no, no, no". I haven't pushed it too much but I do hope to get him started in that direction soon. I really don't want to be changing two diapers come January. I have a feeling I will be for awhile since it's already almost October.

I can't believe our baby boy is 2 years old already. Time is flying by. He is such a fun kid. He has the best personality and is already so funny. I think we have a class clown in our future. I have a feeling we might be getting some calls from his teachers when he starts school. :) We'll see. He loves to make people laugh and I love that about him. He's definitely all boy. He likes to be rough and hits his sister a lot. He's not doing it to be mean, he just wants to play. He love, love, loves to be outside. He likes any kind of ball or car or truck. He does wear princess dresses from time to time. He did get some boy dress up clothes for his birthday though. His daddy was tired of seeing him dressed like Tinkerbell. He loves music and loves to dance. He loves to jump off of things. He wants to do everything his sister does. He truly is a gift to our family and can't wait to see the young man he grows up to be. We are so proud of the little boy that he is becoming.

September 5, 2011

2011-09-11T19:01:00.004-05:00

Cooper's actual birthday fell on Labor Day this year. It was great that we had the day off to be with him. Typically, with Madison, we let her pick what she wants to eat for lunch and something fun to do for the day BUT Cooper isn't into food like his sister. When he woke up we let him open our present to him. We got him his own bat and ball and we ordered him a glove. He's left handed and it's hard to find a nice glove for his age. He loved it! He loves eggs and yogurt so that was what he had for breakfast.

Gary and Sue Ann were having everyone over for Labor Day. We had originally said we weren't going but then decided Cooper would have more fun playing with his cousins than he would going somewhere 'special' to eat lunch. We headed to Celina around 11:00. We ate lunch and the kids played and we headed back home later that afternoon.

eating some ice cream! one of his favorites.

Cooper's 2nd Birthday Party

2011-09-11T16:05:00.010-05:00

We celebrated Cooper's 2nd birthday party at Joan & Shon's house! They have a pool so we decided to have a swim party. We invited grandparents, aunts & uncles and cousins! Everyone but Bart and Randy were able to come. It was nice because the high was 92. Isn't it sad when 92 seems cool. :)
We had a dump truck theme because Cooper got a ton of dump trucks for his 1st birthday. He loves cars right now. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and had chips and fruit to go with it. After we ate, the kids swam and then we came back in to open presents and eat cupcakes!

I LOVED watching Cooper open his presents! He was SO excited about everything he opened. I can't wait to go back and watch the video to hear all the funny things he said. I've never seen a kid so excited about EVERYTHING.

He got his own radio so he can play his own Justin Bieber songs on it. :)

love his face in this one too! Look how excited he looks.

He was not interested in having cupcakes after opening all of his presents. His Nana and Pop Pop got him a car to ride on. He did not want to get off of it to sit by his cupcake. We held it close to him and sang to him anyways.

After a few minutes he finally decided he'd have some cupcake!

Then he went back to his car...

We had a great day celebrating our sweet boy! Thank you everyone for making it special with us. He is definitely one loved little boy!

1st home football game of the year

2011-09-11T16:01:00.003-05:00

Football season is here and in full swing! The first home football game was August 26th. Melanie brought her kids over to play before the game. These 4 have so much fun playing together and Eli loves to watch. They were all so excited to go to the game. Melanie got them all a sucker when we got there! We only made it until the 3rd quarter and then we left. It was already 10:00 and it was the end of our first week back in school. We were all tired! The Warriors beat Pilot Point 31-8!
*I need to get Cooper another Liberty shirt. They don't make them small enough for him so I have to have them made. I'm a little behind...

Pies with Daddy

2011-09-05T20:53:00.002-05:00

I had some left over pie crust from making chicken pot pie so Trent decided he wanted to make some 'fried' pies. He even made a trip to Walmart to pick up some canned cherries and apples. That night Madison helped him make some pies! She had such a fun time and made such a mess! :) They turned out really good. We baked them instead of frying them.

First Day 2011-2012

2011-09-05T17:41:00.002-05:00

Yes, this is their first day of school picture. Nice right? This is what happens when Dad is the only one home in the morning. I've decided I may have to stage a picture on the Sunday before school starts. Ha!
Apparently Cooper did not want to have his picture taken. He ran away from the camera several times and so this was Madison's attempt at putting her arm around him to keep him still....
I guess we can laugh at it years from now.

My sweet girl going into Pre-school

My not so happy boy starting daycare again after being home all summer

Meet the teacher

2011-09-05T17:36:00.003-05:00

Madison had her meet the teacher the Thursday before school started. She was so excited to find out that she had Mrs. Cothes. That was the teacher she wanted. She was also super excited to find out that one of her best friends from last year was also doing pre-school again. She has a summer birthday too.

Mrs. Cothes is wonderful. She's been at Liberty about 12 years. I think Madison is going to have a great year in her room. She has a CandyLand theme. Perfect for my sweet tooth girl!

pretty, pretty princess

2011-09-05T17:35:00.001-05:00

This girl spent most of summer in her dress up clothes. Her brother did too. We asked for boy dress up clothes for his birthday. His Daddy is tired of seeing him in dresses! :)

Looking back at summer

2011-09-05T17:26:00.003-05:00

I complained about being sick all summer and I honestly wouldn't want to do it again but it did make us have a slow paced summer. Looking back, as summer was coming to an end, I was able to appreciate our time at home together. Typically, we stay busy and go, go, go every day from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed. (I'm not good at just sitting) This summer was so different.
We still got up early (between 7-8:30) but we spent an hour or so laying on the couch in our jammies watching some of the kids favorite shows. Some days we'd still be in our pj's at the dinner table. How nice is that?? I got to eat a lot of Madison's creations from her kitchen, we played board games while Cooper took naps, we played house and school and colored a lot. I got to play cars with Cooper and throw endless amounts of balls. The kids dressed up in princess clothes (yes, Cooper too), read lots of books and just enjoyed being together.
Sometimes in the rush of life I forget to slow down and enjoy the small things. This summer allowed me to do that. For that I am grateful. Now when 3:00 hit, I was in bed and Trent had to take over. That seemed to be the time that my medicine wore off everyday and would never work again. Even though it wasn't the summer I had been counting down to, it was a good summer. I loved being home with my own babies for a short time.

Cold Front

2011-08-21T12:37:00.002-05:00

My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE picture of them!

We were lucky enough to have a 'cold front' come through one afternoon. The temperature dropped to the low 80's for about an hour. We decided to take advantage of it and play outside in the middle of the afternoon. The kids had so much fun. They rode in the gator for awhile and then drug out their other bikes to ride. It quickly started to warm up so we headed back inside. It was nice while it lasted, even if it was only for an hour. It made us really ready for fall.

Pool Time

2011-08-21T12:11:00.007-05:00

We spent SEVERAL mornings swimming this summer. We didn't make it as often as we usually do but we did get to go! I never remembered my camera so on one of our last trips I went a little over board on pictures. I wanted to capture some of the things they did this summer.

He LOVES this blue bucket! It used to be one of Madison's favorites too!

She loves her goggles. She goes back and forth between wearing her puddle jumper and taking it off to swim without it. I don't have any pictures of her without it. She's gotten so good at swimming, especially under water. She struggles to swim above. Without her puddle jumper: she jumps off the side and swims to the steps, likes for you to throw her into the air and she will swim back to you and she swims from one set of steps to the other. We are super proud of her. We just need to work on her coming up to take a breath. She's not so great at that yet. :)

This little guy loves these cups. He transfers water between the two, to his bucket, to the bushes, to the pool and anywhere else he can find to dump water! He also takes his puddle jumper off and has NO FEAR. He jumps right in and comes up smiling. He gets mad at me because I won't let go of him. When I do, he goes under and I have to pull him back up and he just smiles. We definitely need to get this little boy some swim lessons next summer.

This is one of my FAVORITES!!! Loves these two!

As you can see our pool was empty. That's how it's been all summer no matter what time we go. It's been so nice. It's almost like we have our own private pool and I don't have to clean it. :) It will be interesting next year trying to get all three kiddos there. Hopefully it will happen because I have two kids that LOVE to swim.

3rd haircut

2011-08-12T14:43:00.002-05:00

I normally take Madison to kid places to get her haircut...well the past two times I've taken her. She's only had 2 haircuts. The last place I took her I hated. This time I decided to just take her with me to my lady, Kristi.

BEFORE...

AFTER

She took 5 inches off the back! It looks SO much healthier. You can still see the chunk she cut herself this past year on the front right. It's at least a little closer to the length of the rest of her hair. Little stinker!

swim lessons

2011-08-12T13:53:00.007-05:00

Swim lessons were quiet an experience! We were so optimistic because she had become so comfortable in the water, especially when she has on her puddle jumper. She was jumping in, going under water and had even taken it off and swam under water to the side of the pool. Little did I know that taking off the puddle jumper & putting her in a pool with strangers would not go over so well. Ha. I should have known...

Here she is kind of excited, kind of nervous before her first lesson. I took her picture and Cooper wanted one of him so we did another with him. Something is wrong with my camera and the flash isn't working. This has to be fixed ASAP. All my pictures inside are blurry.

Still all smiles waiting on them to call her to the pool.

so cute. sitting with her other classmates listening to rules before getting into the water for the first time. There were a total of 7 kids and two teachers. They had a guy (Kenny) and a girl (Emily). Madison had Kenny the first night and did not enjoy him. I think he pushed her more than she wanted to be pushed.

This was soon her only face the rest of the evening. Yes, she cried. She was the only one that cried. She cried "momma" the entire 45 minutes. It was sad and frustrating. Trent and I both talked to her at different times but nothing helped.

This little dude watched cartoons on Trent's phone. He was such a trooper. He really wanted to get in the pool. It was so hot outside. I felt bad for him.

End of day one is over and did not go so well!
That night I had a talk with her and told her that if she would do her swim lessons and not cry then we would take her to a movie after they were all over. I also reassured her that they wouldn't let anything happen to her and all that. As soon as I mentioned a movie she quickly asked if she could see the Justin Beiber movie. I agreed. She was pumped.

Day 2: She did GREAT!!! She did everything they asked but had to have some extra help that the others kids didn't. She always wanted the girl to go to the bottom with her. She wanted to hold their hand to jump into the pool etc. She got skittles on the way home because she came running over excited to see her Justin Beiber movie. Oops. She didn't realize she had to make it through all 8 lessons.
Day 3: She cried again. Ugh. She did everything but she cried. It wasn't as bad as day 1 but still. I decided the movie motivation after all 8 lessons was too far away. I went to the each night thing. I didn't have a problem bribing her because this was a true fear for her. I would never bribe her to be nice, or listen to her teacher or things I expect from her. I know she was truly scared and wanted to give her some motivation. I told her that she could sleep with me if she did good on day 4. Trent was going to be out of town and that's her favorite thing to do when he's gone.
Day 4 &5 : PERFECT!! Day 5 she got ice cream.
Day 6: Sue Ann came to watch and she cried most of the lesson because "the normal girl" wasn't there. She had really become attached to Emily after day 2. She did everything they asked but not happily. She lost the movie since she cried twice. :(
Day 7 & 8: She did FANTASTIC --got to sleep with me because Trent was out of town again.

Here a few pictures from throughout the 2 weeks.

He went 'nigh night' a lot. Then he'd want me to take his picture so he could see it. :)

floating on her back --with a little help!

This little guy was always so hot but so good. He always wanted me to take his picture so he could see it.

Day 8: Our last day of lessons! By this time she was finally comfortable and having fun when she came. I just wish we had another week or two. I've learned my lesson. I think she needs private lessons and a girl for sure. She's always been more comfortable with women than she has with men. Maybe next year.

Waiting on her last lesson. Oh we had to go get goggles after the first lesson.

waiting to jump in and swim to the side

with her friends on the top dock, waiting their turns. I see she learned how to squirt water with her hands. Hey, at least she learned something...right?? One of her friends from church was in her class. That was fun.

So proud of this little girl!

She has learned how to swim under water for a long distance, she can get a ring from the bottom with help to be pushed down, she can float on her back although she's very nervous and has a hard time relaxing. She learned to do some strokes but doesn't do them on her own. She came a long way from day 1. I'm happy with it.

One last picture of my sweet boy on the last night! He brought his car to push around.

My little swimmer showing off her certificate of completion and a picture they took of her!

I will have to admit, I'm SO GLAD they are over. Trent was only able to come to 3 lessons. I had to do the other 5 by myself, sick, with a toddler who couldn't swim, sometimes with a girl who cried and all of it in 105+ weather. Next year, we will find an indoor pool. Ha!

Pictures from my phone

2011-08-12T13:43:00.005-05:00

Here are some random pictures off my phone from over the summer!

holding babies and watching cartoons!

This boy went through a phase where he LOVED having stuff on his head...didn't matter if it was a hat or a headband. Ha! He even has sunglasses up there in one of these. He loves his sister's fishing pole. He needs one of his own.

This has been one of their favorite summer activities - They throw all of the pillows from the couch onto the floor and them jump into them. On this particular day, Madison started bringing all the pillows from our bedroom to add to their pile. Crazy kids. At least they're having fun in this crazy heat.

Sleepy Kids

2011-08-12T13:40:00.002-05:00

My kids never sleep anywhere, unless they are in their beds. Apparently this chair is the exception. Cooper fell asleep here after waking up too early from a nap one afternoon. Not even a week later Madison fell asleep here within minutes of telling me she wasn't tired or ready for a nap.

Friends

2011-08-12T13:22:00.004-05:00

Our neighbors have two kids that are close to Madison and Cooper's age. They have a little girl named Madison who is 18 months older than our Madison and a little boy named Drew who is about 6 months older than Cooper.
Their dad is a coach and keeps them during the summer. One afternoon he came to borrow Cooper's car seat (because his wife had theirs in their car) to go get his tire fixed. I offered for them to come over and play while he went to take care of it by himself. He took me up on it because we both thought he'd only be gone an hour or two. Unfortunately, he had to wait forever and it ended up taking him 4-5 hours. I did ok. This was at the point when I was still pretty sick. The kids played great together. We went out back and they ran in the sprinkler and then did the slip-n-slide. We didn't last long. Then we came in and had lunch and they played with toys the rest of the time they were here. As soon as they left we ALL took long naps. My kids had so much fun having them over to play.
Here are some pictures from my phone:

Cooper didn't want to do the slip-n-slide but he had a GREAT time drinking the water spraying out!

I can't imagine having 4 kids! They were all so good but still, 4 is a lot! Ha.

PK

2011-07-16T10:26:00.005-05:00

We have had this trip planned for months and I was hoping I wouldn't have to miss it. My family grew up going to the lake. We went almost every weekend and we ALWAYS spent the 4th at my great uncle's lake house. He sold the lake house about 5 years ago and we've missed it BIG TIME! Since then my family has still gotten together on the 4th but it's been at a different place every year. This year they rented 'cabins' aka trailors at Sky Camp on Possum Kingdom. We didn't rent one because you couldn't take dogs. At the time, we still had Rosco and he couldn't stay home alone since he had to have pills twice a day. We had planned on going for the day!

Luckily my medicine was working decent at the time. I knew if I felt bad I could go to bed and my mom would help Trent. We left early on Sunday morning and headed to the lake. We were there by around 10am. This was Madison's 2nd trip to the lake and Cooper's 1st. I was nervous about how they would do. Until this point, Madison only wanted to swim with a death grip around your neck (if she can't reach) and Cooper wasn't interested in being in the water at all.

Love this one!

We had gotten them both puddle jumpers. My niece and nephew have them and they seemed to work great. They are much better than regular floaties. They also can be used as a life jacket too so that was great. We felt like they would get a lot more use out of these than regular life jackets.

She was fine playing on the dock for awhile. She wasn't sure about getting in.

He wasn't sure about this sea doo ride either....until they started going fast and then he loved it.

It wasn't 5 minutes and Madison was in the lake swimming with mom AND NOT FREAKING OUT. It's amazing what they'll do when you're not around. They loved playing in this relaxation station. It was like a mini pool.

Before long BOTH kids were swimming around the lake. I guess having a lot of people (especially grandparents) in the water made a huge difference. I was so proud of both of them.

It was so nice to have some land to go sit on and let the kids run around on when they needed a break from the water. Although, we only spent about 15 minutes up here all day.

We took a LONG boat ride to Hell's Gate that afternoon. Trent had never seen it.

before long Cooper was OUT! He slept most of the way there and didn't wake up until we stopped to jump in the water before heading home.

Then he wanted to drive with Pa.

She started to get super sleepy. This was after 3 hours on the boat.

After our long boat trip we went up to Mom's cabin and had brisket, ribs and chicken that Ron had smoked. It was AMAZING as always. After dinner Madison, Nana and I all went on a sea doo ride before we packed up and headed home. Thankfully, I made it all day. I started feeling really crummy right before we left but I was thankful I got to enjoy a fun day with my family. (I paid for it though. I have been really sick since that day )

It was always a tradition for our family to take a picture on the 4th. Here is our picture from this year. We always look so trashy but it's fun to look back from year to year. They give us a good laugh.

L.O.V.E

2011-07-14T09:30:00.001-05:00

I love that they love each other so much!

sweet friends

2011-07-14T09:28:00.004-05:00

Cooper loves to share his food with Jack despite us telling him not to share!
I walked into the kitchen to find him sharing his yogurt smoothie with him. Cooper was dipping his finger into his smoothie and then letting Jack lick his finger.
No wonder Jack follows him around everywhere he goes...

Going Bonkers Party

2011-07-14T09:00:00.011-05:00

When we started talking about where to have Madison's 4th birthday Going Bonkers immediately came up! This is where she wanted to have it, even though it's where she had it last year. I tried talking her into a gymnastics place or a Pump It Up but she wanted this one. So that's where we went!
This was the first year she invited friends. She has so many cousins that in the past 3 years we've only had the cousins. This year we invited our neighbors, the girls from her class and another friend. We had a great turn out. I think everyone got to come but one little girl.

Madison had so much fun playing with all of her friends. She was super sweaty by the time we did presents and cupcakes. She had also worn herself out so she was not the most pleasant child. You'll see in pictures. It doesn't help that all the attention was on her. She does not like that.

Last year I played with her a long time. This year I was only able to make one trip. I was not feeling 100%.

Madison, Abby, Madison, Laken, Reese, Cooper, Reid, Ethan
Drew, Brooklyn, Sydney & Sydney's sister
(Kailyn, Eli & Ross were not in the picture)

so shy

she was so tired she didn't even eat her cupcake

this guy sure enjoyed his

It's hard to get a family picture these days!

We survived the party (or should I say I survived) and it turned out great. After the party was over we went to lunch with both my parents, my brothers, Joan and Grandmom. Then we came back home and Mom and Ron let Trent and I take a nap while they watched the kids and mom cleaned the house! It was WONDERFUL!

Can't believe I have a 4 year old

2011-07-14T09:00:00.010-05:00

Our baby girl is 4!!!

2011-07-02T12:07:00.004-05:00

I simply CAN NOT believe I have a 4 year old! It seems like only yesterday I was pregnant with her. I didn't think I could love her more than the day she was born but I love her more and more each day. She has such a kind, loving heart! We are so thankful we were blessed with such a sweet, smart, loving little girl.

Her birthday was on a Tuesday and her party wasn't until that next Saturday! That morning when she woke up she came out and said "my birthday cake isn't out". It's so hard making a 4 year old understand the difference between your real birthday and your birthday party with friends. I told her we could go get ice cream later for her birthday. She was more than ok with that.
My original plan was to get her a new comforter for her birthday because hers has fallen apart in the washing machine. Other things put that on hold at the last minute and I didn't have time to go get her anything. I decided we would let her go to the store and pick out some things that she wanted. I think she really enjoyed it! Before we went to the store we let her pick where she wanted to eat lunch. She picked Bueno! Then we headed to the store...with lots of excitement and giggling.
She picked out a Justin Bieber barbie that sings (so annoyed with that in the first 5 minutes), a jump rope, a baby car seat and a barbie pool set. She had so much fun picking out her toys.

After nap time we went to the pool, another request from the birthday girl. This was our first trip all summer!! #1 because I have only been out of school 4 days and 2 of those we were in Sherman. #2 I haven't been feeling well.

Then that night after dinner we went to Braums. Madison's choice. She LOVES their chocolate ice cream. She even shared it with her brother! She's such a sweet big sister. :)

Overall I think she had a pretty good birthday--lunch at one of her favorite places, trip to buy some new toys, swimming and ice cream! Next up is the big party at Going Bonkers! :/

The Ranch

2011-07-02T11:18:00.005-05:00

I got out of school on June 9th and on June 10th we headed out to the ranch in Sherman. Trent's parents had it for the weekend (Trent's uncle owns it). It was nice start to my summer vacation, although I wasn't feeling very well. We got there Friday afternoon and swam, rode the 4 wheelers and visited while the kids played. My kids LOVE going out there. They would both live outside if we would let them. This is there one chance to be outside from the time they wake up until they go to bed, and they are! They stay dirty, shoeless and have fun playing with their cousins.
Friday night after dinner we headed down to one of the ponds to check on some fishing lines and then some were going to fish.

Madison and Reed hanging out in the gator while the adults were fishing! The grass was really tall by the pond so unless you had pants and boots on you had to stay up on the trail. That would be SueAnn, the kids and myself!

Bart and Trent out checking the lines

Cooper wanted to fish so bad!

very interested in the fish Trent brought back up!

When Trent was done checking the lines with Bart, he took Cooper down to fish! Cooper LOVED it. I mean LOVED it. When they caught their first fish and had to bring it back to the truck he cried because he thought it was over. We need to buy this boy a fishing pole.

His first fish...with Daddy's help :)

watching his Daddy take it off the line. I love this picture. I just wish it were a little brighter.

Saturday we got up and had breakfast and had a repeat of Friday...swam, rode 4 wheelers, and visited while the kids played. Friday night Ernie and his family came out and we had a fish fry with all the fish that were caught on Friday and even some from Saturday. It was great being able to relax and enjoy time with the family!

suckers for breakfast are ok while on vacation, right?

We had so much fun and hope to make it back out there before summer is over! We left Saturday night after the fish fry because Trent had to play in the 11:00 service the next morning! The rest of the family stayed through Monday.

RIP Rosco

2011-06-21T11:05:00.007-05:00

My sweet little Rosco died on June 7th. Probably one of the saddest days of my life so far. Trent and the kids had gone to Celina that Monday (the 6th) because I had to work and then had an awards ceremony until late that night. I got home about 8:30 and could tell Rosco had been sick that day. It appeared he had, had a pretty bad seizure. His bed was soaking wet and you could tell he wasn't right. As you know, he was sick often so I wasn't that worried. I put him in bed with me and tried to soothe him. He couldn't get comfortable. I tried to give him his medicine and he wouldn't take it. That worried me because he will ALWAYS eat cheese, even in the middle of a seizure he would try to eat it. That next morning he still wasn't himself but sometimes it took him awhile to recover. He wouldn't take his pill again. I text Trent and told him to come home early if he could because I thought he would need to go to the vet if he still wasn't better.
I got home around 4:15 on Tuesday. I beat Trent home. Rosco was not good at all. He was not with it at all. His eyes were open and he could stand but he wouldn't move. It was almost like he was waiting for me to get home because within minutes he progressively got worse. He was breathing really heavy. I called our vet, who is out on maternity leave so her office is not open as much as normal. As I was on the phone with them Rosco started breathing really heavy, making random loud noises and had some black tar coming out of his bottom. The vet said it sounded really bad and to get him to a vet right away. As I grabbed him to go out the door he went into a small seizure. By the time we were in the car he was out of it again. He looked dead. The only way I knew he wasn't was because of his heavy breathing. I drove to the vet (about 10-15 minutes away). As I got closer his breathing became lighter and lighter. I could tell I was losing him. I pulled in the parking lot, ran around to grab him and as I did he gasped really big and I'm 99% sure that's when he died. I ran in and cut in front of everyone in line to hand him to the vet. They took him back and were back there for an eternity. Really it was probably only 5 minutes. They called me into a room and shut all the doors. The nurse said the vet would be with me in a minute. At that point I knew he was dead. I cried and cried. He came in and broke the news that I knew was coming. He didn't make it. :(
I asked if he knew what caused it and he did not. He said it could have been a seizure that he never recovered from or he could have had an aneurysm. I was devastated. I always knew this day would come but I had hoped it would be when Trent was home and not me. Thankfully, I was alone and didn't have the kids. The vet said we could take him home and bury him, cremate him and leave the ashes for them to dispose of him or cremate him and keep him. He told me I didn't have the make the decision that day, that I could call him the next day to let them know. So I left empty handed. I sat in the car and cried for a long time before coming back home.
He was my baby. I had him back in Sanger before I had kids to keep me busy. Back when I wasn't used to being a coaches wife...spending so many nights/days alone. Rosco was so little when we got him he couldn't even get up the curb. He wasn't much bigger than a toilet paper roll. I spoiled him rotten and treated him like a kid. I loved that dog more than any other animal I have ever had. I have dreaded this day for a long time.
Trent didn't want to keep his ashes in our house so we brought him home and buried him in our backyard. I plan to add a little rock with his name on it soon.

This was in Abilene the day Michael got him (Rosco was his dog before he became mine). He didn't keep him long because he also had Bentley, a Great Dane.

A week or two after the above pictures Michael called and asked if I wanted him. He was afraid Bentley would crush him. I immediately drove to Abilene to pick him up. This is how he slept in my front seat from Abilene to Sanger!

see...he's not much longer than the toilet paper roll!

first bath

The day we got Jack! Rosco was a little over a year old here.

I sure do miss him! It has been sad around my house lately. The first few days were really sad...
-hearing Jack run out back barking and not hearing Rosco running after him barking as well.
-seeing his torn apart cheese in the fridge for his pills
-his pill chart on our fridge
-seeing his empty bed beside ours
-not hearing his snort as he ran around the house
-hearing Madison yell "Jack and Rosco" as she called them to eat the food she had dropped
-Madison asking where the other bowl was. Having to explain to her that she only needed to put one scoop of food out instead of two
-not having my sleeping partner right beside my belly at night
-no one there waiting on me to get out of the shower to lick the water off the shower door
I know it seems silly to get this emotional over a dog but I've done a lot better than I thought. I haven't cried in a long time (until making this post). I have two sweet babies to keep me VERY distracted! We will always miss our sweet Rosco! Jack is finally recovering as well. He didn't eat for over a week. He's eating again but he still looks sad to me. He loved Rosco. I don't think Rosco cared much for him. I think Rosco liked when it was just me, him and Trent. :) Unfortunately, Jack won't be getting another friend anytime soon. Until then, we'll just have to make sure we give him extra attention. :)

New haircut!

2011-06-21T11:03:00.003-05:00

Doesn't he look mischievous here?

Big Boy Bed

2011-06-21T10:59:00.003-05:00

Trent made Cooper's crib a toddler bed the first weekend in June! I was pretty sad about that. In the same weekend, he buzzed his head so he didn't look like a baby anymore! He's done well with it. He can't open doors so he couldn't come out even if he wanted too. I don't think he's even tried. I think it still feels like a crib to him with that side rail up.
When he wakes up in the morning he's still sitting in his bed yelling for us. I'm sure he'll be out the door before we know it. I will enjoy it while I can. :)

Track Party

2011-06-21T10:54:00.004-05:00

Trent had a track party for all of his track coaches after the season was over. We had it at Zack and Melanie's house since they have a bigger house/yard. We didn't end up having many people show up but we still had a good time. Trent grilled burgers and hot dogs and we sat around in the backyard watching the kids play.

Madison with her newest cousin, Eli!

invitation photo shoot

2011-06-21T10:51:00.001-05:00

I love this sweet girl more than words can say!

my sweet boy

2011-06-21T10:48:00.010-05:00

Isn't he getting so big??? He's such a little talker now!

He is saying 4 word sentences!
-flip flops is one of our favorite words he says right now. He loves to wear his sisters flip flops, more than his own.

Sincerity

2011-06-21T10:48:00.007-05:00

This was a letter from Madison's pre-school teacher, Mrs. Carpenter! She recieved the award for

SINCERITY

Sweet Madison,

This year I have given you the character award for sincerity; eagerly doing what is right with transparent motives. You always desire to do the right thing and your love for others is so sincere and pure. You are loyal and loving and those characteristics shine so brightly in you each day!

I have been so blessed to have you in my class this year. Every day I look forward to the moment that we spot each other on the play ground and you come running to me with one of your big giant Madison hugs! The sweet moments each day when you wrap your little arms around me and say "I love you" are treasured memories that warm my heart and lift my spirits. I will always cherish those sweet moments spent with you.

Madison, God has created you to be such an endearing little girl! You have stolen my heart this year as I know you have stolen the hearts of so many other children and adults who know you. You are sweet, pure, honest and devoted. All of those incredible gifts are a part of who you are and were given to you when God carefully put you together. You have the ability to access people's hearts and you can open them to the love of Christ. The bible verse that I have chosen for you is 1 Peter 1:22 "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply from the heart."

You are such a special girl. Your purity, sweetness and loving heart set you apart in so many ways. I will miss you so much next year, but I will always treasure the time that I have spent with you in your first year at Liberty. I can't wait to watch you shine again next year! Love you sweet girl!

Love always,
Mrs. Carpenter

*I typed the letter because you couldn't read it when I scanned it in*

End of Year Carnival

2011-06-21T10:26:00.006-05:00

Madison's school had an awards/end of year carnival the last week of school! I took the WHOLE DAY off and ENJOYED it so much. I very rarely take a whole day off. I got to get the kids ready and take Cooper to daycare and then Madison and I headed to her school.

They were supposed to wear their Wee Warrior shirts and their class color. Madison's class color was yellow, as you can see. My bright little girl is all ready for her carnival!

We started the day with awards. Mrs. Carpenter picks a character trait for each child and she wrote each child a SWEET, SWEET letter. Madison's character trait was Sincerity. I will scan her letter and post it in the next post. It's so special and something we will always cherish! We LOVED Mrs. Carpenter and wish she could move up with us each year. :)

After the awards, the carnival began. They had each classroom set up with different games. We started off with face painting and pin the tail on the donkey. Then we moved to a cupcake walk, followed by outside games - hula hoops, chalk, bubbles etc. We ended with play dough and a water duck game. After all the games were over we went back to her classroom for a chick-fil-a lunch!

Trent got to come for the awards and then for some of the carnival. He wasn't able to take the whole day off because he's been out so much for track. He was there for the important parts, so that's all that mattered.

all the kids wanted the paint on their arms. Who knows!?

Madison and Mrs. Carpenter!

What a fun way to end a GREAT pre-school year. After the carnival was over Madison and I had a girls day together. It was so much fun getting to spend the day with my girl.

Madison's Pre-School Report Card

2011-06-21T10:25:00.005-05:00

As you can see...we need to work on Self Confidence, which was not surprise to us! Apparently we had some trouble sharing towards the end of the year too! :) We are super proud of our smart little girl! She did exceptionally well this year. Lucky for her, she gets to do it all over again!

These are pictures that Madison colored. The first one is from the first week of school and the other is from the last week of school. So fun to see her improvements!

Prayer Praise Report

2011-05-17T16:41:00.003-05:00

I was so proud to get this Praise Report. As you know, Madison is SO shy (when she's out of her comfort zone). She is not shy in class when they are playing, being silly etc. But she's been super shy when all the attention is on her. So for her to volunteer to pray just made me smile and almost cry. I love her sweet, sweet heart.

Silly Faces

2011-05-17T16:36:00.002-05:00

This boy is ALL ABOUT silly faces! He's been making silly faces for a long time. He actually used to do them all the time and he's kind of stopped. Every once in awhile he'll get in a mood and just make faces. He loves for you to laugh at him. It gets him going even more. So different from his big sister. I tried to get a few pictures because I don't think I've captured very many of them. I sure love this little guy and he definitely keeps us entertained. He has such a personality.

ECE jeans

2011-05-17T16:32:00.003-05:00

What a special pair of jeans ~ Somewhere along the way these jeans were created and have been passed down to one special ECE girl each year. Madison was chosen to have them for next year. What's even better is that the original jeans were falling apart so a new pair was re-created and Madison is the first to get to wear them! She is super excited! They will look so cute with her Liberty shirts at football games next year!!

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-16T20:44:00.002-05:00

This was my sweet gift from Cooper

Love this card from Madison. Good to know that my favorite thing is to blow bubbles! She also made me a notepad!

We had lunch in Celina for Mother's Day. Gary ordered La Hacienda to go! It was wonderful!

This is not the best picture but it's the only one I could get. Cooper was NOT interested in getting his picture taken.

Ridiculous Banana Story

2011-05-16T20:36:00.004-05:00

This picture was given to us by one of the Liberty moms. Very early on in the day Madison had asked for her banana. She ate the banana. I put the peel on the ground under my feet. Not long after Madison decided to lay down under my feet. She apparently pushed the banana peel through the crack in the bleachers. She told me she did it. I told her it was ok (from where I could see, it would land on a building). About 5 minutes later a CRAZY man comes looking around under all of our feet. He sees Madison and points to her and yells, "that girl! Who are her parents?" I said "I am" He proceeds to yell at me about how she is throwing her banana peels on the people below and laughing about it. I apologize and tell him I won't let it happen again. He proceeds to yell more and even go to say "You need to do something about it. You need to talk to her". At this point I'm about to lose it. #1 YOU DO NOT TELL ME HOW TO PARENT MY CHILD. #2 She's 3 #3 She didn't realize it would hit people #4 She is 3!!! I tell him "I will take care of this. You DO NOT tell me how to parent and you can leave now". He tries to keep on at which point Trent stands up and puts his clipboard in the guys face and tells him to chill out, she's 3 years old and he's said enough. He finally left. I don't know what his deal was but he was having a bad day!!! Who takes the time to come look for a kid who dropped a banana peel?? Who proceeds to yell when they find out it was a sweet 3 year old little girl and not some bratty teenager who knows better??
Man, I still get heated just re-telling the story! Anyways, none of the parents could believe that he would get so upset and go on for so long. On Monday, a parent brought Trent this picture! Pretty funny!

Warriors are TAPPS 5A State Champs!

2011-05-16T20:21:00.002-05:00

I have not been to a track meet since Trent's first (or second) year at Liberty! He's been the head coach for three years so I decided it was time to go back! (Plus it was the first year in awhile that I wasn't pregnant, or didn't have a newborn). I wasn't ready to take Cooper quiet yet. I figured I would not be watching any track but chasing Cooper around the fields. Madison and I met Gary and Sue Ann on Friday evening to drop Cooper off. Then we headed to Waco. We left about 7pm and got to the hotel around 9:30! She was SUPER pumped to stay in a hotel. This was her first time.
When we got there Trent was in a meeting so we went to the room. She immediately wanted to get in bed and color. We tried to find cartoons but couldn't find any at 9:30 on Saturday night. She was super chatty and very hyper. Trent got back to the room around 11:00 and Madison went down to the lobby with him while he took care of some stuff with the rooms. When they got back she was still on 10. At midnight we finally told her she had to quit talking. The lights were out and we were trying to go to sleep but she just couldn't settle down. It was really cute to see her excitement.
Saturday morning Trent got up and left around 6:45. Madison and I got ready and went down to breakfast. She ENJOYED herself. She wanted fruit loops (They had eggs, bacon, bisquits, waffles, muffins and she chooses fruit loops). She ate two bowls. It took her over an hour to eat two bowls...she was people watching and enjoying her 'free' breakfast. After breakfast we went back to the room to get our stuff and we headed to the field around 9:00.

She was such a trooper! She did GREAT!!! We stayed at the fields until around 11:30. Then we decided to make a Sonic run. I didn't want to pay 4.00 for one corndog. Plus, I knew she could use a short nap. We got back around 12:30 and were there until 4:30! We got a sno-cone and then on one of our trips down to the team tent we ate lots and lots of strawberries!

Liberty won STATE again! This is the 2nd year in a row and our first year in 5A! I'm super proud of Trent. He's done a great job. As you can see, Madison had hit a wall. She was hot, she wanted a sprite and NEEDED a nap! Trent road the bus back. Madison and I headed to Celina to go pick up Cooper. She fell asleep soon after she got her Sonic sprite. She slept until we go to Frisco. We had such a fun girls trip!

Horse Races

2011-05-16T17:48:00.004-05:00

Trent went to Houston for his Regional Track meet the last weekend in April. He takes the kids to school. Madison's school doesn't open til 7:30 and I have to be at school by 7:35. Seeing as how that was impossible, Mom and Ron came in to keep the kids.
They came in late Thursday night and kept the kids all day Friday. They had a full day of fun...going to the park, getting new sand for the sandbox, eating lunch, and going on walks to feed the ducks. That night, after I got off, we went to Michael's and then headed to the horse races. None of us had ever been before. It was fun. There was more down time than I thought there would be. There was like 20 minutes between each race. The kids had fun running around, playing in the dirt, people watching and yelling for the 'horsies'.

he's waving at the horses that were walking by :)

my music man loved the live band!

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T22:18:00.011-05:00

My Easter babies! I tried to get a few pictures before church but they weren't cooperating. :) I got two semi-cute ones.

My family!

she tried to put her arm around him but he wasn't having it at all!

Cooper and Connor

Cooper talked Camryn into taking him outside! He found a new friend :)

The two Cooper's and Cooper and Cade

sweet Kailyn

Cooper LOVES Eli. Melanie was putting him in Ethan's lap in this picture. That's what he's grinning at. :)

Cousins!

Cousins + Abby & Cooper

They spent a long time throwing this pickle in the water! It provided lots and lots of entertainment.

cousins!

Look at this sweet, sweet face! We were waiting on the egg hunt.

We try to get a picture of all the kids each year before they go out! Cooper wasn't having it!

Both kids loved hunting for eggs! Cooper was doing great and going strong until he found a sucker. Once he found that, he was out!

She did much better at this egg hunt. She got a few more than her 2 or 3 at school :)

One more group shot!

Madison loves her newest cousin, Eli!

We had such a great day spending time with family. The kids absolutely love playing with all of their cousins and having the country to run around in. We are so thankful for our time together. Our night didn't end as well as our day had gone....

The kids in the first hour of four that we spent in the truck on Easter night. Trent had been having pains in his rib cage for a few days and it was progressively getting worse. He had tried to get into the doctor on Saturday night but they all had long waits and he was going to the Rangers game with his cousins. Sunday he got pretty bad and decided that we needed to head towards home and stop and the ER hospital on the way. The kids were sleeping so I stayed in the truck with them. I didn't really want to take them in. I was trying to keep them away from the germs. An hour passed, then two...we had eaten some candy in the truck, got in the bed of the truck to play, driven around a nearby neighborhood. In the third hour we decided to go get something to eat. At the same time, a huge storm was rolling in. Madison was getting scared of hail. Trent was waiting on his blood work and test results. They did a CAT Scan to rule out blood clots. At 8:30 severe weather was there. We had to get out of the truck. We went into the hospital and waited in the waiting room. Trent text me and told me to come back so we went back to his room. He was in a hospital shirt, had and IV and all kinds of cords hooked up to him. Madison was very concerned about him. She just kept telling him she loved him. They told him he had pulmonary effusion. Basically he has water around his lungs. They aren't sure how it got there or why. They said it could be anything from an infection to cancer. They are sending him to a pulmonary doctor to get further information. We finally got out around 9:30 and then headed to pick up some prescriptions for him. I'm so glad he finally went in. He's not doing good and I hope this will get us in the directions for some answers. Say some prayers for us! We are doing all that we can to get into someone soon. Most doctors we call say they can't see him until the middle of May. We've called a few people we know and hope they can help him out. We'll see. Until then, pray that he has comfort and starts to recover. I know he's ready to be able to breathe normally again, without severe pain. It's been a crazy 24 hours!

Easter Egg Party!

2011-04-25T22:06:00.003-05:00

We (the kids and I) decorated eggs on Saturday night. Trent was at the Rangers game. It was quiet an experience with Cooper. He threw his eggs into his cups, cracking all of his eggs. He kept putting his finger in the dye, he tasted one of them. He's a mess but made me laugh more than once. They were supposed to sit in the dye for 5 minutes. They might have made it 3. That was a lifetime for these two.

waiting on them....

They are out!!

We put Cooper to bed and then Madison painted on her eggs! This was interesting. It's hard for me to just let her paint. I wanted to make them 'cute'. She painted a face on one and then she decided to start painting them completely. The blue egg became green. The pink egg also became green except for a few finger prints. She had fun and that's all that matters. We only did a half dozen. I figured that was enough for her. She was happy with it and excited to show her Daddy. She had me send him a picture while he was at the baseball game. :)

The final product!

Cooper's Easter Party

2011-04-25T22:00:00.002-05:00

Cooper had an Easter party on Thursday at daycare. We brought all kinds of food for their special lunch and Easter eggs for an egg hunt. It looks like he had a good time! I was hoping they'd take some pictures with some of his friends but they only got pictures of him. My sweet boy is growing up WAY TOO FAST!!!!