The Campbell 5

I Have to Brag

2009-01-09T10:05:00.003-06:00

You know those days when you feel like you're just not getting through to your children about anything. When they won't listen and their behavior is out of control, you feel like you're fighting a losing battle. There are even times when maybe you feel like you're not teaching them the right spiritual lessons and values.

But then something like this happens...Logan has had a really bad week at school behavior wise this last week. He has had his color changed every day, for the teachers you know what I mean. Their color list is blue=good behavior, yellow=lose 5 min. playtime, orange=lose 15 min. playtime, green=lose all of playtime and note goes home, red=trip to principal's office and call to parents. As a mom and a teacher, I try not to overreact, but before the holidays, he came home on yellow two days in one week and on orange another day. The last day he wasn't there long enough to get in any trouble. So overall, not a great week. This week he has come home on yellow everyday until yesterday. One day, he even had to work his way back up to yellow which means he ended up somewhere lower than that early on in the day and improved his behavior by the end of the day. I'm glad he did that, but I was still not happy about his behavior and being on yellow.

The reason he was on yellow, his mouth. He can't seem to stop talking. So, we had several long talks about his talking and behavior in school and how he's being rude and disrespectful to his teacher and the other kids in his class. He was also disciplined and had privileges removed until his behavior improved. We also made him go back to school and apologize to his teacher. One of the things we tried to talk to him about was that his behavior was disappointing to us and to God. We told him that God had put us and his teacher in charge to keep him safe and raise him the right way. We also reminded him that God is watching over him and sees when he makes these bad choices. In his evening prayers one night, we asked God to help him remember to make good choices and be better behaved.

I emailed his teacher as well about all of his behavior issues and one other thing I needed her help with. This morning she emailed me back and this is directly copied from her email. "Oh and by the way Logan's behavior was much better yesterday. Thank you for working with me. He is a very sweet boy, he really blessed my heart yesterday when we were finding sentences for the word "four" - Logan said " For the Lord God is with me...." LOVE IT, TOO CUTE!" Maybe, just maybe, we are getting through to him and doing something right. I sure pray so.

Oh, How I Wish...

2009-01-02T16:25:00.002-06:00

Oh, how I wish I could post pictures of Christmas. We had a wonderful one, well at least everyone else did. Unfortunately, Mommy woke up Christmas morning with another stomach bug. I had one the week before Thanksgiving. This one wasn't as bad, but it spoiled my appetite and most of my joy in seeing my kids enjoy their Christmas morning. It also spolied my ability to take pictures as I could hardly stay in the room long enough to open my presents much less take pictures of everyone else. I do think I managed to get one or two after the fact, but when I went to upload them, I discovered that my card reader is broken. Easy fix, right? Just plug in my camera via the cord to my computer. Nope, no such luck. My camera is too fancy for its own good and requires that I have a CD to load software on the computer before I can upload the pictures. Cool, just load the CD, right? Wrong. Gotta know where the CD is before you can load it into the computer. So far, no luck in finding it. As soon as I do or buy another CF card reader, I will upload the few pictures I have from Christmas. We hope you all had a good one and are having a Happy New Year.

Mrs. Claus and a Reindeer?

2008-12-24T21:20:00.005-06:00

Meagan found the empty diaper box headed for the trash today and decided it would make a great toy.

Mommy actually put her safely in the box after watching her try to climb in it, but it was Bubba's idea to push her around the house.

Then he decided pulling her around the house and acting as the reindeer was more fun than just pushing. She loved every minute of the attention and fun with her big brother.
We almost had a mishap and a run-in with the tree, but Bubba pushed her safely out of the way and around the rest of the room. At least it gave Mommy a few minutes not to have to entertain and chase her around. What a great big brother Meagan, or should I say Mrs. Claus, has.

I'm Ready for My Own Napmat

2008-12-24T15:39:00.002-06:00

Meagan has decided that she likes to lay on Matthew's nap mat which we had out for him to take his nap on today. Obviously it didn't work, but Meagan thought she might like to try sleeping or playing on it.

Where's Meagan?

2008-12-24T15:32:00.003-06:00

Can you tell which things are toys and which one is Meagan?

She has discovered how to climb up on Matthew's bed and decided to climb up there while we were cleaning their room and had put all the toys on Matthew's bed for the purpose of vacuuming. What a cutie and already so precocious.

Christmas Pictures

2008-12-23T20:23:00.011-06:00

Well, we've been trying to find time and energy to get a family picture for our Christmas picture. With everyone being sick off an on, though, it's been kinda difficult. Well, I finally gave up and decided to just take one of just the kids myself in front of the tree. The other night when it was cold and we had a fire going, I decided it was the right time. It took several tries and a lot of coaxing and patience. The results were actually quite hilarious in my opinion. Below are a few of the resulting pictures I managed to get and in some cases clean up a little.

This was the first try...hmmm...someone's missing.

Oh, wait, there she is. Or should we say, there she goes. Not sure what Mattie was looking at, the TV maybe. Bubba's doing his best to keep everyone in place.

Try number 3. Everyone's there, sorta. They're just not all looking the right direction.

We thought maybe adding in the chair would help keep them in one place. Somehow, I don't think it's working. What's your opinion?

Well, we're a little closer. They're all in the picture, looking the same way, sorta. If we could just get Maggie closer to the chair and her brothers, we might actually have a great picture.

Yah, we got it. If only Maggie would look at the camera. I guess her brother was just more interesting than Mommy.

Merry Christmas to one and all!!!!!

Bubba's Train & Super Matthew

2008-11-26T16:12:00.006-06:00

Our favorite thing of late is to play in Logan's room with his trains. Or more accurately to tear up the track of Bubba's train. A few weeks ago, we set up Logan's GeoTrax train set in his room. He loves to play with it and watch the trains go around the track. Matthew and Meagan like it too, but they spend more time tearing up the track and making a mess with it than watching the trains go around. And of course, Mommy spends the time putting the train track back together again. They're a lot of fun to watch as they play in Bubba's room. Matthew and Meagan love their big brother and his toys.

Matthew's new thing is to wrap his burp cloth around his neck and run around the room. I caught him doing it the other day and had to take a picture. He used to love to fly around the room in Daddy's arms and we called him Super Mattie. When he was a little older, Logan would turn his bib around when Matthew was done eating and call him Super Mattie. So, now Matthew does it to himself. Here are the pictures of our Super Mattie.

Just a Little Bit of Fun

2008-11-23T22:09:00.004-06:00

Well, we've had a fun week and more fun to come with grandparents coming for Thanksgiving. Meagan is now a year old as of last Monday, and she is growing just as she should be. She had her one year check up on Friday and weighed in at 19 lbs. 2 oz. with a height of 28 1/2 in. She is most definitely catching up to her big brother, Matthew. She's eating and drinking just like a big girl most of the time. This weekend has really seen an improvement in that area. She suddenly seems to like table food much better and the cup is becoming more fun as well, as long as we can keep her from throwing it on the floor that is. Walking is her new favorite pasttime. She wants to walk everywhere including outside. This is such a fun age. Her smile is my favorite trait of hers.

We Have a Walker

2008-11-12T16:05:00.004-06:00

Yes, folks, you read that correctly. We now have officially 3 walking children in our family. I have always heard or read that the subsequent children do not usually walk or develop other gross motor skills as early as the first one. I think it has something to do with lack of time to work with the other children due to the first one(s). My daughter has proved them all wrong. She started walking before both of the boys did when they were her age. She will not be one until next week, so this week she decided to really start walking. She is not crusing, she is full blown walking across the room even while holding objects sometimes as long as she is. She's a hoot and so proud of herself. It's so much fun to watch her and how excited she gets. In fact, she just came walking out of her room smiling at me. What a cutie! So here are some pictures of her walking. I swear she was walking across the room not just standing there.

Halloween and BU Homecoming Parade

2008-11-02T21:35:00.008-06:00

Well, the weekend is over, and I have to say I am kind of glad. Friday night was Fall Festival at our church, and we all went and luckily met the grandparents there. Without them, we wouldn't have been able to handle all three of the kids. They were a big help especially when Matthew refused to go anywhere near the bounce houses. He and Daddy and Gigi ended up in the toddler area while Logan, Mommy, Meagan, and Grandpa stayed in the worship center to enjoy the bounce houses. Thank you Grandpa and Gigi for helping wrangle these three little trick-or-treaters.

Meagan's first Halloween. Isn't she a cute little Tigger?

My cute little Elmo freak. By the end of the evening, he was out of the outfit and actually running a fever.

Gigi and the little ones. Too cute.

Logan, aka King Peter, with one of his best friends showing off their costumes.

Sliding down the huge slide was lots of fun but what a line.

Saturday morning we actually got up and made it to the Homecoming parade at Baylor. It wasn't as good as years past, but we did enjoy ourselves. The band actually stopped to play right in front of us with the drumline standing right in front of Logan. He was in heaven. He loves the drumline and still insists that one day he is going to learn to play the drums. He definitely has the rhythm to do it. Mommy didn't get that many pictures because Meagan wanted to be held especially after the band stopped in front of us. She wasn't very trusting of the rest of the parade. Here are a couple of pictures I did manage to get.

After all that, we went to a birthday party for one of Logan's friends. We were there a couple of hours in the afternoon. It was a lot of fun and a chance for the kids to run out any energy they had left. Once we got home, everyone went down for a nap. Yaaahhhh! Whew, what a weekend. I'm tired now, so I'm going to bed. Goodnight!

Movie Night

2008-10-25T19:37:00.005-05:00

Well, Logan had his first date last night, with Mom of course. He has been bugging me to take him to see High School Musical 3, and I'll admit, I wanted to see it too. As someone who grew up watching the likes of Grease and Grease 2 and other classical musicals, I've really enjoyed all 3 of these movies. So we went, just the two of us. We both really enjoyed it. We ended up running into a friend from church and her 12 year old son whom she had dragged with her to see it. I think there was only one other boy there who wasn't a dad. However, I think he actually enjoyed it too.

It's a great movie with lots of singing and dancing and a great male role model who has decisions to make about his future. It's also a sweet love story that's chaste and real. Some would say it's a little schmaltzy, but I like the way Disney and Kenny Ortega portrayed their relationship. It's more than just a physical relationship, it's an emotional and growing relationship. In fact, in what's become a running joke concerning their physical relationship among fans, they only have one kiss toward the end of the movie. Every time they go to kiss, someone or something interrupts them. Anyway, all that to say that we had a great time seeing a great G rated movie that my son already knows many of the songs to and wants to own the DVD. I think this is one we will pick up when the time comes. If you're looking for something entertaining, cute, and wholesome, go see this and don't be afraid to take your kids if they're old enough to sit through an almost two hour movie. It's worth it.

Birthday Pictures

2008-10-07T21:24:00.005-05:00

Well, Matthew is 2 now, and we did actually have a birthday party, and Mommy did take pictures. I've just been too busy dealing with sick children to have time to post them. So, grandparents, sorry for the wait, but here they are. Enjoy!

The cookie cake, easier than a regular cake.
Of course, it had to be an Elmo party. We're all about Elmo.
You want me to do what???? That's a candle!
Mmmmmmmmm! That was good.
My buddy, Patrick. We like Patrick a lot.

Playing with friends in Bubba's room

We love our Elmo bathtub toys

Elmo houseshoes from Carson that must be worn every night before bed. Thank you Carson for such a fun present

Thank you Grandpa and Gigi for the Elmo DVDs. We could watch all day if Mommy would let us.

A Little People excavation playset from Grandma and Grandpapa. What fun noises it makes.

A big dump truck from Mommy and Daddy and Bubba and Sissy. I love to push this around, so does Sissy.

All in all, despite the delay, Matthew had a great birthday. Thank you to all who came and celebrated with us.

Family Picture

2008-09-17T21:12:00.005-05:00

Well, we're back on track, and a lot has happened this last month. Logan started Kindergarten and loves it most days. Mommy, Matthew, and Meagan started back to Mother's Day Out on the same day. Matthew loves his new teachers and now walks in completely by himself most days. Every once in a while, Ms. Christy has to bribe him to come in to Early Drop Off by making sure Elmo is playing on the TV. Meagan is still suffering from separation anxiety, but as long as Ms. Janice is there to take her in the morning, she goes just fine. Mommy has a new class of students and a somewhat new age group. These kiddos are about six months younger than the age group I usually have, so it's been a bit of an adjustment. Baylor started classes again, so that means Daddy is busier than ever.

The other neat thing that happened is Matthew turned two on September 12th. We were supposed to celebrate on Saturday the 13th but Ike had other plans. He sent us rain, so we postponed to this Saturday. Mommy actually got her camera back on the Wednesday before the party, so there will be new pictures forthcoming especially of party day. In the mean time, though, Logan had to have a family picture to take to school as they are discussing homes and families these two weeks. I realized on the Monday the note went home that the last family picture we had was from when Logan was 2 1/2 and Matthew and Meagan weren't even born yet. Without a camera, what was I to do? Ask a friend who is a great photographer and has a camera kinda like Mommy's. We met her at the park one evening and she got some great shots. Here's the best.

Thank you so much Jennifer. We really appreciate your help.

I'll try to do better about posting now that I have my camera back. And for the family, yes copies of these pictures will be forthcoming.

One last shout out to Aunt Shar, Happy Birthday!!!! We love you and miss you.

9 Months Old

2008-08-18T21:15:00.002-05:00

Well, we made it to month 9. Meagan was officially nine months old yesterday, but we had her checkup today. Our doctor is finally back from maternity leave, good news, Jen. It was great to see her again as she knows all the kids and knows everything we struggle with concerning getting the kids to eat. Meagan is starting to have a few problems with that. I think mostly it's a taste and texture thing. She doesn't like anything with apples or greens or coarse textures. It makes feeding her very interesting. She does like the meat and veggie combos so that is a good thing. She still won't eat table food even puffs. She tries them, but she hasn't figured out how to bite them or how to leave them in her mouth long enough to melt. She tries to swallow them whole and ends up choking and then throwing up. Not fun.

Well, here are her stats: weight - 17 lbs. 13 oz. (Matthew still outweighs her, but not by much)
height - 26 1/2 in. (Matthew is taller by about 5 in.)
head - 17 1/2
The doctor said she is doing great and we didn't have to have any shots or blood drawn. We were so excited by that. Her one year checkup will include all of these in a few months. Should be a great start to our Thanksgiving holidays.

She has started crusing as of last night. She's been pulling up on anything she can reach for the last two weeks, but last night, she actually decided to take a few steps hanging on to the couch. One more mobile, very curious child to add to our family. Tonight it was the dog's water bowl. She dumped the whole thing over on her and the floor. Luckily, it wasn't very full, but it did require a change of pjs. I didn't even realize she had crawled into the kitchen until Dennis heard her playing with the bowls. She's a quiet mischevious little thing. We're going to have to keep our eyes on her. I will post new pictures once I get my camera back. Sorry.

Meagan's New "Tricks"

2008-08-09T21:17:00.003-05:00

This has been a week of many firsts for Meagan. I wish I had pictures of them. I'll get some of her doing these things once I get my camera back. At this point, I'm just hoping to have it back by Matthew's birthday in a few weeks. Anyway, back to Meagan. We figured out part of her fever issue last weekend, her first tooth finally cut through. It's so cute on the bottom with another one about to pop through right next to it. Let me tell you, that one little tooth sure can hurt. She bit down on my finger while I was trying to feel for the other one a couple of nights ago. OUCH!

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that she was scooting around in her own little fashion, not quite army not quite crawling. It was kind of a push and pull thing with her hands and toes. Well, a couple of afternoons ago, she decided she was going to crawl on her hands and knees. So, she pushed up on them and started going. She didn't get very far with the first attempt, but she didn't quit. She kept trying until she got where she wanted to go, Bubba's room. That is now her favorite place to crawl. On Thursday night, we put her on the floor after the boys were in bed. Logan likes to leave his door open just a little once he goes to bed. We have to put his trash can behind the door to keep it from opening all the way. That didn't stop Meagan. She decided she wanted to go into Bubba's room, so she crawled over there, pushed open the door, and went right in. Logan was not asleep yet and got the biggest kick out of her coming in his room. He started laughing because of course we already were laughing just watching her. Whenever he laughs, she starts giggling too. So needless to say, we were all laughing as she crawled in to the darkness of Bubba's room. Daddy went and retrieved her though so Logan would go to sleep. We were hard pressed to keep her out of there for the rest of the night. She just loves her Bubba.

She has also started trying to pull up. Her favorite ledge, Mommy. She will crawl over to me, reach up her hands and pull to a standing or kneeling position. Sometimes she tries to use the couch, but the lowest handhold is still too high for her to quite reach. She has tried to use her exersaucer but has learned not to use it after bumping her head and face into the cold metal bars of it. They hurt but she gets over it and is a fast learner. She's a lot of fun to watch, but then sometimes I realize I'm watching my last baby do all these things discovering her world. It's hard at the same time as being fun. She seems to be doing everything so quickly once she tries, but I know she is only trying to keep up with her brothers. Now, I just have to wait until she discovers the kitchen. It's childproof of course, but it's hard tile and you can't see around the corner if you're sitting in the living room and the opening is too big to put up a gate. Well life won't be dull around here anymore. Not that it ever is with three kids.

No More Pics

2008-08-04T21:57:00.002-05:00

Well, bad news, friends and family, my digital camera died tonight. The problem with it is so bad that I'm going to have to send it in to Canon for service. This means no new pics for quite a while. Hopefully it won't take too long or cost too much. If it is more than the body of a new camera, we probably won't repair it. Even still, we're not sure where the money for repairs or a new one will come from. I'll let you know when we're up and running again.

My Toys

2008-07-31T21:21:00.004-05:00

We recently found one of the boys' old toy bins and emptied it of their toys and put Meagan's in it. Matthew has a larger toy box and Logan has the shelf and bin system in his closet. We realized that Meagan didn't have a place to put her toys, so we knew we had to do something rather than letting them clutter up the floor where we kept tripping over them especially in the middle of the night. There are not a whole lot of things in there, a few teething toys, some soft squishy cloth blocks, a handful of balls, stacking cups, and a musical star stacker is about it. Most of these toys are hand me downs from the boys. She doesn't care, but Matthew sure does. He must still remember playing with them because he continues to want to play with them. The first day we did this, if Meagan was playing with something, he came over, took the toy, and announced, "Mine!" I encouraged him to share with Sissy and let her play too. He wasn't real sure about the idea at first, but he is slowly warming up to it. I try to remind him that he has other toys that are his in their room. Sometimes it works, but other times he insists on playing with what are now Meagan's toys. Meagan has figured out how to get them back, though. If they take them from her, she starts crying or screaming. That either gets Mommy's attention or they end up giving it back to make her hush. Either way she ends up happy. Mommy's solution is that if she has one of their toys which inevitably happens, they should trade and give her one of her own toys and get theirs back. Again, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I'm still trying to figure out which of my children is going to be the most stubborn and strong-willed. Right now the race is neck and neck...and neck.

Meagan is scooting around now in her own way and at least getting to where she wants to be. A couple of days ago, I put her on the ground just by my feet in front of the couch. A few minutes later, I looked up and she was across the room at her toy bin trying to get to the toys inside. Smart little thing. She was so cute with her head buried inside that of course, like any mom, I had to take a picture. I had a hard time getting her attention, she was so involved in what she was doing. She can be a very intense little girl already. After a minute or two, she finally looked over at me with this great big smile that said, "See, they're my toys now." Too cute for her own good. I hope she always stays that way.

Today wasn't one of those days, though. Today was a 'worry Mommy to death' day. Last night, Logan had a birthday party to attend at Chuck E. Cheese, so Grandpa and Gigi agreed to keep Meagan so we could be more available to both Matthew and Logan at the party. Things didn't go as planned. She started pitching a fit shortly after I left and cried for an hour straight off an on. I finally had to go get her. She was fine as soon as I walked in the door. When I finally got her home, she felt warm again, and I thought, here we go again with the fever. Yes, it was a fever, 101.8. Just a little too high for Mommy's comfort. It got up to at least 102 in the middle of the night. Needless to say, I took her to the doctor first thing this morning. She has a lovely ear infection in the right ear. She will be on antibiotics for the next 10 days, but we will have to watch her closely as this is her first exposure to penicillin and both of the boys are allergic to it. The one huge fly in the ointment is that she hates to take medicine orally. She does everything from gagging to completely throwing up everything. This is what she did this afternoon when I tried to give her Motrin for her fever that was up to 103.3. I called the doctor because we can't keep doing this, and he had me bring her back in real quick so they could give her an antibiotic shot to help the process of healing get started. She's doing better, but still running a pretty high fever. We did discover that she will tolerate Tylenol with only a little minor gagging. Right now, we're just praying for a good night's sleep, but I'm not counting on it. Although, she is currently sleeping through the raging thunderstorm outside. I can always hope.

Happy Birthday

2008-07-25T10:10:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

We love you and miss you lots.

See you in a few months.

FUO not FUN

2008-07-15T21:36:00.002-05:00

We have had a not so great 3 weeks lately with Meagan. Every afternoon and evening she runs a low grade fever. At first it was nothing I worried about, but when it kept on for 2 weeks, I took her to the doctor. That was last Wednesday. She couldn't find anything wrong with her, but took a urine sample to be sure it wasn't that with Meagan's history of kidney infection. The results came back normal with no signs of bacteria, but since she was still continuing to run these low-grade fevers, the doctor had me bring her back in yesterday. Her conclusion was that it was an FUO (fever of unknown origin), not my idea of FUN. She took some blood and ran a CBC and two other tests that would check to see if there was any type of inflammation anywhere in her body. The results came back today and everything is normal. Her thought now is that it must either be a virus or Meagan now has a higher normal temperature than most people including the entire family which all have lower normals. Go figure.

Please pray that Meagan's fevers will go away and return to her old normal. Her attitude and personality have been great lately. She has been in great spirits like there was absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, she's doing so well that she gained 8 ounces in 5 days. She now weighs 17 lbs. 4 oz. She's going to outweigh her brother before long. (Like in the next two weeks if she keeps this up.) My concern is that the fevers will go up higher indicating a true problem, so please pray that I will be vigilant without being overprotective. It's disconcerting to pick up your baby and have her entire body feel hot to the touch. When I check, her temperature is never over 101, but still it can be nervewracking never knowing when a higher fever might strike. Please pray that I can leave all of this in God's more than capable hands and not worry about her.

On a fun note, we bit the bullet and joined the crowds. We bought a Wii. We've been talking about it and thinking about it for months now. Now that they're a little cheaper, we decided to buy one. We got a pretty good deal at Walmart. What fun! Even Logan is able to get in on the action. He loves to play baseball and he's not half bad. We're looking forward to the fun and getting a little exercise sorta. As Dennis put it, "at least we're getting our bottoms off the couch and doing something." :-)

More pictures for the grandparents and out of state friends to come soon. BTW, love to Kat, Dee, and Dana. Say hi to Buck, Jeff, Langley, and Day. We miss you all.

Fun in the Sun (and the Shade)

2008-07-02T13:33:00.006-05:00

Last Saturday was a lot of fun. We spent the morning in the pool again, all of us, Meagan included. She spent time in her own little pool with just an inch of water. But she sure could splash a lot in that little inch. I think she sprayed as much water as her big brother who was in the big pool doing backwards "dives". We had a lot of fun, even Matthew, who still needed his cup in the pool. He at least got in the pool this week and splashed around a little bit. Mostly he got splashed by his brother like the rest of us. At least he didn't cry about it this week. Here are a few of the pictures I took from the morning. Logan's diving abilities

Matthew and his cup

My little waterbug splashing

We like to sit up and splash too. I like the tongue sticking out like she's soncentrating

Here's a close-up of the tongue.

New Pics Especially for the Grandparents, Aunt, & Uncle Far Away

2008-06-26T21:16:00.005-05:00

We spent part of yesterday trying to get some nice pictures that would look good enough to frame. We came up with a few good ones. Thank goodness for Photoshop because the lighting in our place stinks. Here are some of the cutest. I hope the grandparents and aunt and uncle enjoy.

The color ones are cute, but this one looked adorable in black and white.

Too sweet for words.

One with big brother too.

What a face.

A Little About Me

2008-06-25T12:52:00.003-05:00

Oddly enough, the same day I read Cindy's blog about this, a friend sent me the same quiz via email, so I thought I would post it instead of forwarding it via email.

In your entire life, have you ever...
gone on a blind date? No
skipped school? Skipped class a few times in Seminary with Angie of course, :-), does that count.
watched someone die? No
been to Canada? Not even close
been to Mexico? Very close but not quite
been to Florida? Does living there for 5 years count
been on a plane? several times
been lost? not for very long
been on the opposite side of the country? only the east coast, but I live in the middle of the South, so would the opposite be the North? If so, the answer is no.
gone to Washington, DC? not yet, but I want to
swam in the ocean? once or twice
had your booze taken away by the cops? No
lettered in a high school sport? didn't play sports in high school
cried yourself to sleep? Yes
played cops and robbers? a couple of times
played dolls? I'm a girl, what do you think
recently colored with crayons? with my son and at school
sang Karaoke? No
paid for a meal with coins only? Does Taco Bell count as a meal
done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Yes
cheated on an exam? No
made prank phone calls? Not intentionally
laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose? Many have tried, but no one has succeeded in making me do that
caught a snowflake on your tongue? Yes
danced in the rain? When I was younger
written a letter to Santa Claus? once or twice
been kissed under the mistletoe? Yes
watched the sunrise with someone you care about? The millenial sunrise with my then fiance, now my loving husband. I have the pictures to prove it. Look just inside the door next time you walk in our house.
been arrested? No
blown bubbles? I try to do it as often as possible with my students
gone ice-skating? Yes, I love it
been skinny dipping outdoors? No
had a nickname? not really, my dad's one for me doesn't count, and I'm not telling, so don't ask.
been to Africa? No
eaten cookies for dinner? homemade chocolate chip my senior year at Baylor
been on TV? don't think so
stolen any traffic signs? No
been in a car accident? nope

What is your...
mother's name? Gayle
favorite drink? Dr. Pepper
birthplace? Baytown, Texas
favorite vacation spot? anywhere with my husband and kids, right now, Orlando, FL.
favorite salad dressing? Ranch or honey mustard
favorite pie? Buttermilk, and yes it's delicious
favorite number? 3
favorite movie? of all time...Singin' in the Rain or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
favorite holiday? Christmas
favorite food? Toss up...Italian or Mexican, but not both together
favorite day of the week? Saturday
favorite brand of body wash? Bath and Body Works, either Sweet Pea or Moonlight Path
favorite toothpaste? Crest Multicare with Whitening
favorite smell? My daughter just after a bath. She smells so sweet. There's nothing better.

Do you have any...
tattoos? No
body piercings? not any more.
Do you drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? a 4 door van, a typical mom with 3 kids vehicle
What do you do to relax? Read, color, photography
How do you see yourself in 10 years? Raising my family, watching my son get ready to drive, getting ready for my other son to enter 6th grade, let the craziness begin, and watching my daughter turn into a beautiful young lady. Hopefully all of this will be in Waco, but only God knows for sure.

All very interesting and sometimes though provoking questions. Thanks to Amy for making me think about some of these things.

A Day Off (Sort Of)

2008-06-23T16:37:00.006-05:00

Well, VBS is over, Daddy is back from his week long convention in Las Vegas, and Mother's Day Out has started up for the summer. Our lives are starting to get back to some sense of normal, whatever that is. With the warmer, okay, hotter, days going full blast now, we decided to get out our pool again and set it up for the boys. I decided to do it, actually, the week Dennis was gone to Vegas. I needed the boys out of the house for just a few minutes one day and figured the pool was an easy solution. Much to my dismay, there were purple spots on the bottom of our blue pool. There were also some amazing black spots as well. This all adds up to pink algae and black mold, not safe for the children. Needless to say, we had to buy another pool. Luckily Walmart had some that were pretty reasonable.

We waited until Daddy got home to really enjoy it. Logan woke up Saturday morning glad to see Daddy but also excited to go swimming in the pool. So, he and Daddy spent some time out by the pool. As you can see, they were really enjoying themselves. I sent Matthew out too, but he wasn't feeling very well and refused to get in the pool, something he usually loves. This was the only thing he would do, walk around the yard with his cup. Daddy and Logan stayed out for a while, though, and got each other completely soaked. Between the water guns, the beach ball, and the plain old splashing, I guess it was inevitable. At least they had fun. Meagan and I stayed inside pretty much and she took a nap while I cleaned up a little. It was a good way to spend a morning. It was a day off in a way too as Grandpa and Gigi came by later in the afternoon to watch the kids so Mommy and Daddy could go out to eat just the two of us. We love having one set of grandparents so close. We miss our other set and wish we could see them more often too.

Splashing and Rubber Duckies

2008-06-04T16:03:00.005-05:00

Meagan has finally discovered how to have fun in the bathtub. Since she hasn't completely mastered sitting up, she still takes her bath in the baby bathtub. She can lean forward now, though, and has discovered that she likes to splash. She also likes to chase after her rubber ducky and other toys. Now, she manages to do it without falling face first into the tub. She was so cute last night doing this that I couldn't resist taking a picture or two. She was splashing so much that my sleeve ended up soaked, but I didn't mind. She was just so cute. She finally managed to catch her ducky and hold onto it. She seemed so proud of herself. Here's the smile to prove it. What a cutie. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. We can't wait to see what God has planned for our fair-haired little girl. Yes, that is blonde hair growing in on top of her head. We may have a towhead on our hands eventually.

Climbing

2008-05-31T22:18:00.005-05:00

Matthew has taken to climbing a lot lately. Climbing on the couch to sit with us. Climbing up in his chair at the dining room table. Climbing in and out of the van on his own. He's always been a good climber, but he was never tall enough to really pull himself up completely on these things. When we moved in to the new place, he tried to climb the step ladder we had out while we were trying to hang pictures and other things. Since he mastered that he figured he would move on to the ladder on Bubba's bunk bed. At first, he would just slide through the bottom rung. Then he moved on to standing on the bottom rung and crying to get down. Then he moved up to the next step and did the same thing. Lately he's been getting braver and climbing to the next step and even up to the fourth step. Usually he doesn't get further than that before Logan sounds the alarm or Matthew starts yelling, "I stuck, I stuck." Well, today he changed all that. This is what I found earlier this afternoon when Logan started yelling about Matthew being on his ladder.

The sad thing was he didn't want to get down after this. I guess I will have to start really watching him when he goes into Logan's room.

20 months and 20 pounds

2008-05-30T13:17:00.002-05:00

At last, Matthew has broken the 20 pound mark. We have been waiting for months for this to happen. We went for a weight check today, and he weighs 20 lbs. 4 oz. Lately he's been actually eating. We think it's because we finally hit on an allergy medicine that stops the draining and allows his throat not to hurt and his stomach not to fill with yucky stuff. All that means he's actually hungry and eats. Now we just have to find food that he will eat continuously. Unlike most toddlers, he doesn't like to eat the same everything day. He prefers a little change in his diet almost every day. Sometimes we can get away with the same thing two or three times in one week but not usually day after day. I guess he gets bored with food a little too easily.

The nurses all cheered when we said that he had broken the 20 lb. mark. Our doctor is on maternity leave already. She went a week early, so she didn't get to celebrate with us. One of the other doctors in the office took a look at his chart and said that as long as he continues to eat and seems to be doing good, then we don't need to bring him back in for a couple of months. He didn't say anything about the GI specialist although he may not have known anything about it. I think though, we are going to hold off going up to Ft. Worth until August when our doctor is actually due back in the office. Hopefully, by then, he will have gained a lot more weight. We will continue to pray that way anyway.

Celebration

2008-05-27T21:37:00.005-05:00

The most wonderful thing happened in our household last night. Logan prayed to accept Jesus into his heart all by himself. There was no prompting on our part, just a childlike belief and acceptance on his part. Every night one of us tucks him in and listens to his prayers and says a prayer over him. He has horrible nightmares we can't explain, but when we pray over him before he sleeps, he tends to sleep better. Lately his prayers have become almost flippant with almost an apathetic attitude. He would start with "God bless and protect..." and go down a long list that started with the dog and himself and ended with his friends and their families. Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad he was praying and including his friends, but I was getting a sense that he was just saying the words and they meant nothing in his heart.

So a few nights ago, I had had enough, and I told him so. I talked to him about talking to God and how important a conversation it was. We talked about how we pray and how we should be respectful when we pray. I talked to him about how Jesus taught the disciples to pray in private and bring their praises and their needs before God. We went over the Lord's prayer one section at a time, and then we talked about how he needed to change the way he prayed and how Daddy and I would help him. Something we talked about must have gotten through because last night he did very well when he said his prayers with Daddy. After Dennis had prayed over him, he asked Daddy if he could have a minute just to talk to Jesus. During that prayer, he asked Jesus to come and live in his heart and help him to do the right thing and not do bad things. As his parents all we could do was cry and thank God for him. We are so proud of him and this decision. He has fulfilled my greatest wish and dream for him. I know God is watching over him and the angels are rejoicing in Heaven. Please pray for this little boy and his future. Whatever God has planned for him is something amazing and wonderful.

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T21:19:00.003-05:00

Well, the day is over, and the sun has set on another day we honor those who have given their lives in the fight for freedom. We thank them and we pray for those who are currently serving and fighting for the freedoms of others. I never lost any one in the wars, but I've had many family members serve in the Armed Forces. My grandfather and Dennis' grandfather served in the Pacific theater in WWII. My great uncle served as well in WWII. His grandson, my cousin, served in Afghanistan, and I have two other cousins currently in the Navy. We are proud of these men and their service. We are glad they came home alive, but we know there are many who will not return to their families. We pray for them and thank them for their sacrifice. May God bless and protect them and their families and friends.

Please Pray

2008-05-22T17:02:00.002-05:00

Please pray for the family of Steven Curtis Chapman. Also make sure you hug your babies tight today and tell them how much you love them.

Doctors' Visits

2008-05-21T20:26:00.002-05:00

Well, I don't have any pictures this week, but I thought I could at least update everyone on Matthew and Meagan's current progress. Matthew is still struggling with his weight and eating, but we are working on figuring out what's going on. Three weeks ago he started losing weight 2 ounces at a time every week for three weeks. This caused the doctor to request that we do a sweat chloride test to test for CF. The test came back normal, so we are headed to various specialists from here. The first stop is the gastroenterologist (sp?). They have agreed that we can see a different physician from the last time. We will be scheduling that some time after VBS and Dennis' trip to Vegas for a conference in June. We are hoping that in the mean time, Mattie will start gaining some weight as he recently started eating a bit more. He goes for a weight check on Friday, and then our pediatrician goes on maternity leave for the summer. She has said that after the GI specialist we'll wait till she comes back to decide our next course of action. Hopefully the GI specialist will have the answers.

Meagan seems to be doing much better. She had her six month check-up on Monday and passed with flying colors so to speak. She is right on track for everything. She even decided to sit up with help something she has refused to do at home lately. She always wants to stand straight up to her feet. She was in the 25th percentile for everything which is great in our book. She weighs 14 lbs. 15 oz. and is 25 inches long. I don't remember her head circumference, but I do remember it had grown a good bit. It had even jumped up in the percentile rankings from the 19th percentile. Needless to say she is a great eater. She even has thunder thighs, something we never saw on Matthew. She was a real trooper and took her shots well. As soon as I picked her up, the tears were gone, and she even smiled at the nurse before we left.

We love our nurses, and they love the kids. Thank you to Julie, Ashley, and especially Tamara. We are blessed to have them as our nurses. God has truly gifted these ladies as well as our doctor, and he has blessed us by bringing them into our lives. If you know a nurse, tell him/her thank you the next time you see them. They do and know more than we realize. They have a true gift and a special calling. Okay, I'm off my soapbox and headed for bed since all my little ones are finally sleeping peacefully. Good-night and God bless.

Meagan's Butterflies

2008-05-13T21:24:00.007-05:00

We decided when we found out that Meagan was a girl that we wanted to decorate with butterflies. Or as my best friend in seminary taught me, chou chou. (Japanese for butterfly) Okay, I decided. :-) Anyway, it's taken awhile and moving to our new place to decorate with her butterflies. Thanks to Tiffany who threw us a great baby shower last October, we had butterflies with which to decorate. We've been working on it since we moved in, and we finally got it finished tonight. This is her side of the room that she shares with her brother Matthew. Eventually, once Daddy gets them built there will be shelves to the left of the quilt hanging on her wall. I know it's hard to see, but there are butterflies hanging from the ceiling over her bed as well. I think she will like to lay in her bed and look at them as they swing overhead. When the air comes on, they start flying a little bit too. Here's a better look at them from below. Meagan did spend a little bit of time this evening watching them as they flew above her, and we turned on her aquarium for some music to go along with it. She really seemed to enjoy staring at them. Here's more the way she sees them, sort of. At least they're up, and now she has her special colorful butterflies. Like her grandpapa, I think she really likes them and likes watching them. We can't wait til she grows up and can notice and enjoy the real thing.

Look Mom, I'm Driving

2008-05-09T15:26:00.004-05:00

Well, Matthew has had quite a week. Last week we went for his follow up to the doctor concerning his ear infection and everything was well except for the usual allergies. Unfortunately, he had dropped two more ounces off his weight, but the doctor wasn't overly worried since he wasn't eating because of his ears. After that he developed a nasty cough and a nastier nose. We came to the conclusion that his allergies were getting worse, and his medicine wasn't working as expected. He did actually manage not to run into anything or bruise or cut anything on his body this week.

However, we did have to take him back to the doctor today because of his cough and nose. He has a cold and allergies, so we changed his allergy medication again. Hopefully, this one will work. He also lost another two ounces from last week, so now we are headed for more tests. This time we're doing a sweat test that will determine whether or not he has cystic fibrosis. This is a little scary, but we are trusting God to take care of him. As I am a carrier of CF and Dennis is not, the probability is low, but the possibility is still there. We have the test scheduled for Tuesday, so we'll see what happens.

We spent last night out in the garage working on a few things with the vans. Dennis was putting the portable DVD player in the Odyssey for the long trips. Logan likes to watch movies when we're in the van for too long. Matthew and Logan decided they wanted to help Daddy. I convinced Logan to go ride his bike, but Matthew wasn't so easily swayed. He wanted to help and be near Daddy. This is where he ended up. He decided he was big enough to sit in the driver's seat. When I tried to get him down, he refused and pitched a fit. Five minutes later, he was back up in the driver's seat. Who knows, maybe he'll be a great race car driver one day. Just kidding, grandparents.

T-ball and Kindergarten

2008-04-29T21:34:00.005-05:00

Logan has been playing t-ball this spring and having fun doing it for the most part. He plays at the Woodway Family Center where it's about teaching them how to play and the basics of the game. They play for fun and don't keep score. He has a great coach who is very patient with all of the kids and is really trying to teach them the fundamentals of hitting, catching, and playing a position. He allows all the kids to play each position for one whole game and then switches it up for the next game. I think it really works because I've noticed over the last few weeks that we are one of the only teams where the whole team doesn't go chasing the ball out into the outfield every time. The kids play their positions well and know whose turn it is to chase the ball.

Logan is a pretty good player. Like all of the kids, he has his 'daisy-picking' moments, but he also has some really good times when he catches and throws pretty well. He's been practicing his hitting and getting pretty good. Evidence seen here. Yes, the ball went pretty far after he hit it off the tee this time. Here he is playing "pitcher" and throwing to first base. He's got a pretty good arm and usually has pretty good aim. Sometimes, though, the first baseman isn't always watching.

To top off our week, we signed up our little ball player for Kindergarten tonight. It was Kindergarten Round-up in our school district. I can't believe my baby will be starting "real school" in the fall. That's what he calls it. Mother's Day Out is school but not "big kid school." Maybe I'll be ready for this the closer we get to August. At least I still have my two little ones at home.

New Pics

2008-04-26T21:55:00.002-05:00

Fun in the Pool

Yes, those are his phones in the pool with him.

Pretty smile

I'm the Baby, Gotta Love Me

2008-04-22T21:15:00.007-05:00

Living with an infant again for the second time in just under two years is very interesting. Just when we were getting used to sleeping through the night again, here comes Meagan. We know she's teething because of all the drool, but we also think she's going through a growth spurt because she can't seem to get enough to sleep through the night like she was doing just a few weeks ago. So, we tried some cereal to see if that would help.

We tried some plain rice cereal, but it wasn't very popular. She would barely tolerate it, and we couldn't seem to get the consistency quite to her liking. Picky child for one so young. So we decided to try the rice cereal with apples in it. This was a little better.

However, these were the results of the rice and apples cereal. Not extremely popular, but at least she will eat most of what I fix rather than clamping her mouth shut. We just get to keep trying and pray that something will fill her tummy enough to sleep through the night.

As you can also see Logan likes to get in on the action and entertain her while she's trying to eat. She does love her big brother.

Adventures in Self-Feeding

2008-04-17T21:14:00.005-05:00

Matthew is 19 months old now, and we're trying to allow him to begin feeding himself with a fork and/or spoon. We've had some interesting results with this. Under our watchful eye at home, we can control somewhat the mess he makes. We are able to generally intercede before yogurt or applesauce winds up on the floor, the tray, the dog, etc. You get the picture. As these are the easiest to clean up, we have started with them and moved onto pasta and meat combos that can be messier especially when they contain tomato sauce. He's done okay with them with just a few smears on the clothes or high chair tray. All this said, I suggested to his teachers yesterday morning that they might try letting him feed himself his morning yogurt. A short time later, I got a request to go to his room with my camera. See for yourself the results.

I especially like the positioning of the spoon.

New to Blogging

2008-04-14T15:16:00.002-05:00

Well, Dennis and I have been talking about doing this, and since I have more time, I thought I would go ahead and get the process started. This is for our friends and family who don't get to see us and the kids very often if at all.

For any others, Dennis and I have been married for eight years and have three children. Logan, Matthew and Meagan are 5 years, 19months, and 5 months respectively. They truly are very special children, and we are blessed to have them in our lives. I am a part-time stay at home mom. I work 2 1/2 days a week at the church we attend in the Mother's Day Out and MOPS programs. Dennis works at Baylor University where he works in the Electronic Library with all of the classroom technology equipment. We both enjoy what we do and feel blessed that God has put us in the positions we're in.

Dennis also works with the sound and media at our church. He really enjoys that as well. In fact, he likes it so much that he is taking a week off during Vacation Bible School to be there to take care of the sound and media needs for our children's minister. VBS will also be my one week out of the classroom. Besides teaching kids, I also like photographing them. I am the designated photographer during VBS. I can't wait, I'm truly excited about taking pictures of the kids and prepping and running the daily pictures slide show.

These are my own children.

This is my big boy, Logan, age 5.

This is my blue-eyed boy, Matthew, age 19 months.

And my baby girl, Meagan, age 5 months.

Don't they all look alike? I think they do.