Our New Home

Things finally came together and we moved into our brand new home on June 14!  I'll be honest, the Saturday before we moved in, it didn't look very promising.  It's amazing what they can get done in a few days!

Strawberry Shortcake Fun!

Miss Allie Renee turned 5 years old this past week!  We celebrated all day long and then had a proper birthday party during the weekend.

Planting Day!

May 2nd and 3rd rank high in our family's list of most exciting days!  We planted our very first vines!  It was much simpler than I imagined.

Tracked out and boxed vines ready to be planted

Special Visitors

My grandparents came to visit this past weekend.  We always have such a great time when we see them.  They came all the way to Lubbock to see the house construction and where we will be planting the vines.

Rusty, Eli, Great Grandpa, Dad and Michael

Kid Quotes Second Edition

Ty 7 years old

 Ty: "Mom, I think my eyeballs are loose."

Allie (4) in my wedding dress

Allie: "I'm feeling sparkly today!"

Happy Birthday Papa!

We got to go to the lake this weekend and celebrate Papa's 65th birthday!  We ate like kings and enjoyed the incredible weather on Saturday.  I didn't get a single picture of the birthday boy, but here are a few of the kids:

Logan (8) and Allie (4)

House Happenings II

The house construction is moving along very quickly!  Every day we go out there, it looks more and more like a home.

Here is what it looks like in the order it's been completed...

Completed Framing

Spring Break with a Side of Mississippi

We started Spring Break a day early and hit the road on Friday so we could go meet this cutie.

Knox Freeman Standridge

Organ Donation

This article took me by surprise.  Neonatal organ donation is less common than I realized. This quote is what has been in my heart since August 12, 2012:

“Obviously, it was the worst moment of my life." 
said Slifka, 28, of Youngstown, Ohio.
"But I knew there had to be more to her life than 39 weeks inside of me. 

She held not just the potential to save another baby, 
but to save another parent as well.” 

Cold

Maggie would've been 18 months this week.  I try to imagine what it would have been like to have her here.  I picture her chasing butterflies, throwing those epic toddler tantrums, kissing her baby brother, terrorizing her big brother and sister, and falling asleep in my arms... 

Hello February

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here.  Catholic School's Week was lots of fun again this year.  We got to have Muffins with Mom and Donuts with Dad with Ty.  The kids LOVE having breakfast at the school!

Ty received the Citizenship award for Mrs. Bowman's first grade class.  He was very excited and Mom and Dad are very proud of him!

Kid Quotes

Here are a few examples of what we hear around the house these days...

• When asked why she repeatedly woke me up 4 nights in a row, Allie said:  "Well, I couldn't decide who to wake up, and you kept winning 'eenie-miney-moe'."

• Ty was helping me fill the suburban with gas. He looks at me and says, "We're using up the dinosaurs!"

Introducing Harry

Friday after school, we headed out to get a female Australian Shepherd. We told the kids we were going to get a puppy, and after lots of excited squeals and giggles, we were off.

On the way to get a puppy...

Eli Stats

Mr. Man reached the six month mark this past weekend.  It has gone by so quickly!  Everyday he learns something new.

 Here's his stats:

House Happenings, Life Happenings

Last week was busy! Ty started back to school after Christmas break.  That is rough on everybody!  Nobody wants to get up early after sleeping in for two weeks :)

They delivered the lumber for our house on Monday.  We are total nerds and take pictures of every detail.  Seriously, we took pictures of the stacks of lumber...  It's so much fun building our dream home!  

Day 1 of framing

And We're Off

...

That's what my brain looks like when I sit down to write a post.  I have all these great ideas, and then when I actually get a minute to sit down and type, nothing...

I've read blogs for years.  I am a faithful follower of many.  I find in these bloggers,  what I find in my friends, faithful marriage and parenting advice, someone to relate to, and mostly just a therapeutic laugh.  I am so blessed to have these women in my life.

Christmas Break

Today is the last day of Christmas break... It makes me sad.  We've had an awesome two weeks, filled with family, friends and WAY too many toys :)

Christmas at the lake was relaxing and fun!  We lounged around in our pj's the entire weekend, ate way too much food, and were spoiled rotten by Papa.

Memories

Last night I decided to back up our photos and videos to the external hard drive.  3 hours and a box of tissue later, it was finally done.

2013 Recap

2013 was such a fun year!  We made sweet memories, had lots of fun, and made big changes.

We began the year with a once in a lifetime trip to Disney World.  It was so much fun surprising the kids the morning we left.  We stayed for five magical days. It was a much needed change of scenery for our broken hearts.