Go Colts!!!

So, last night was a very happy night at our house! It was very fun to see Jeff's team win the Superbowl! Here are a few pictures to enjoy. In other news... Luke got his first tooth yesterday! Have a great Monday...

Jesus loves you.

Today I overheard Claire singing 'Jesus loves me' to Luke! If that wasn't sweet enough, she went on to say "Wuke, Jesus wuv you!" I have a very sweet hearted little girl... I am thankful for that.

Have I mentioned...

Have I mentioned that Jeff is a HUGE Colts fan? He never misses a game, or even an episode of Sports Center if they are talking about the Colts. So, needless to say, Sunday will be a very big day at our house! Here is a picture of the munchkins decked out in there Colts gear from the game two weeks ago. Claire is dancing in the picture, it's really hard to get a still shot of her! Jeff taught her how to say 'Go Colts', 'Touchdown Colts', etc.
Anyway, I haven't posted in a while. I felt like I needed to post so that I don't lose my readers! Your still out there right? I know some of you read this and don't comment... it's OK, I read blogs anonymously too. However, I would love to hear from all of you! So, if you are brave enough... leave me a comment!
What else is new in our house: Claire is sleeping in her "bid dirl bed!" (Big girl bed). She loves it, I still don't know how I feel about it... she woke up too early this morning. I started going to the Richland Hills Ladies Bible study on Tuesday mornings. I am in the Beth Moore 'Breaking Free' class. I LOVE IT! I also love having three hours to myself!!! Luke is so close to walking. He pushes things across the floor, walking all the way. All he needs to do is realize that he can let go! Yikes! As for Jeff, he has been working long hours lately, but that should end soon. Well, I'm off to do my wifely duties. Laundry :( yuck.

Picture this...

Today Jeff had to go in to work because it is a very busy time of the year for him. So, I had to take the kids with me to Walmart to do my grocery shopping. I HATE Walmart. I don't use the word 'hate' much, but for this situation it applies. Well, after I got everyone ready for the day we loaded up the car and headed out. When I left the house it was not raining, when I got gas it was not raining, but when I had to get the kids out of the car it started sprinkling. No big deal, I had an umbrella with me. We get inside and Claire starts crying, I can't really remember why. Well, I am going as fast as possible, and then she starts screaming. She wanted a banana... so she is screaming "NA, NA..." Everyone is staring. Then I look up and Luke has pulled both of his socks off, and they are gone. He must have dropped them somewhere. So, while Claire is drawing attention to us, know people are noticing that my infant has no socks on and it is 36 degrees outside. I could just hear what they where thinking... what a horrible mother! Her baby is freezing and her toddler is starving! Ok, I can handle the staring, you get used to it when you have a toddler. So, I head to the check out and look outside, it is now pouring. I got Claire out of the cart and let her hold the umbrella (which is 3 times her size) and I try to cover Luke up the best I can. Out the door we go... cars are not stopping for us to pass. Finally we get to the car. I turn my head for one second to pull out my car keys and then I looked down... for some reason Claire decided that she would sit down in a nasty puddle on the ground. You have got to be kidding me... I am NEVER taking the kids to Walmart ever again.

Here is a new picture of the munchkins... it's a good thing they are so cute!

Claire's turn

The last post I did was about Luke, so being the Mom that I am, I feel like I have to make things fair and post about Claire too! Here are some fun things to know about Claire.

Favorite food: apples, grapes, "bresast" (breakfast), and rice milk.

Favorite toy: anything Diego or "fakpak" (Diego's backpack!)

Favorite thing to say: Anything that I say, that I don't want her to say... ex: "Oh, my gosh!". Claire will repeat the phrase, then I will say "Claire we don't say that." Then Claire replies with "Mommy say that!". (it's really hard not to laugh!) Then I have to follow up with "I know, but I shouldn't of said it..." Like she really understands...

Claire does not like: Claire hates it when Luke looks at her when she is crying! She gets so mad and says "NO, Wuke".

Claire loves: playing outside, singing, taking naps, going to church to "play with friends", and sing the "Jesus song" (Jesus loves me), The Wiggles, Diego and Dora, Hop (her pink bunny), and helping mommy with "baby Wuke".

Claire is: very sweet, a huge help to me, a great big sister, and a very precious little girl!

Today Jeff took Claire to Cook Children's to have chest x-rays, a sinus scan, and blood work for food allergy testing! We are finally going to get some answers that will hopefully help us in making her feel better. The last few weeks have not been fun for her. She has been having a horrible time with her asthma, and I am confident that it is linked to a food allergy that I am not all ready aware of. Please pray that these test will give us some answers!

I will leave you with a new video of Claire singing a medley of all of her favorite songs: The Goldfish song (Wiggles), Everybody Clap (Wiggles), ABC's, and Jesus love's me.




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My big boy...

Can you believe that Luke is 7 months old? I can't. He was born 4 weeks early, and he seemed so tiny. Now he seems like such a big boy. He already weighs over 20 pounds. He is crawling and even pulling up on things. Just today I saw him try to walk around his pack and play. He didn't get very far before he fell, but at least he is trying! He is such a blessing. I can already tell that he has a very sweet heart, a gentle personality. Don't get me wrong though, he is every bit a little boy! Here are a few pictures of Luke that I took today. The last picture was taken on the day that he was born... it doesn't even look like the same child! It amazes me that a child can change so quickly. Look at his little hands in the last picture. They are bruised from the IVs that he had to have. Now he has pudgy little fingers that get into everything! Well, that's all for now. I just wanted to share Luke with you today!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas. Both sets of our parents came down... it was a full house, but very fun! Claire and Luke didn't know what to do with themselves having 4 Nana's and Papa's around. Jeff's brother was even able to come for a few days. Jeff, Dale and my Dad spent the majority of there time in the backyard building a huge swing set, and a great playhouse. The playhouse is still in-progress, but when it is done, it will be awesome! Claire even got a rocking horse that Jeff built her. This was his first attempt at wood working, and I must say that I am really impressed! Here are a few pictures from Christmas... I don't have them all yet, so there will be more to follow. We hope you had a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

New Pictures

Luke enjoying his first biscuit
Mommy and Claire building a gingerbread house
Luke is crawling!!!
Happy Claire

Thanksgiving and Birthday parties!

I haven't posted in a while. It seems like I haven't had a spare minute to write anything. Well, we had a great time in Colorado. The trip didn't turn out like we thought it would, but we still had fun. When we got up to my parents house we found out that there was a huge recall on my SUV. GM ended up buying my car back from us, and we got to buy a brand new Torrent! It was a little stressful, but it was a relief to drive home in something safe! The week after we got home I spent every second of it cleaning... yuck. We had two parties at our house on Saturday. The first party was Claire's Second birthday party. I still can't believe she is two! It was very small, with just a few friends, and Claire had sooo much fun! The second party was our life group Christmas party. I am so thankful to have such good friends. Now that the parties are over I can start getting ready for Christmas. Both sets of our parents will be coming for Christmas, we are very excited. I haven't even started my Christmas shopping yet.
Luke update: Luke is almost crawling! Actually, you could probably say he IS crawling, he is just lacking some coordination! He gets were he wants to go, that's all that matters! He is also eating solids now, and the boy LOVES his food!!
Claire update: It seems like she is a big girls now... she is talking in small sentences, and you can actually understand most of her words! She loves to help with everything, especially of it involves Luke!
And last but not least... Congratulations Kevin, Angie and Natalie, on a new baby girl! We are so happy for y'all. We can't wait to meet her!
Here is a quick slide show with pictures from Thanksgiving and Claire's party...

We made it.

Well, for those of you that wondered... we made it to Colorado. It was a lonnnng trip with the two munchkins, but we did it. Imagine this: Jeff driving, me in the passenger seat, Luke SCREAMING and Claire watching Diego for the 50th time. Oh, and The Killers playing really loud to drown out the screaming and Diego. Your jealous that you were not in the car right? Well, just thought I would leave a quick update! More soon...

Thankful...

Hi all... I'm sure that some of you received this link in an email, or if you frequent youtube you might have seen this too. I usually don't put things like this on my blog, but this one really got to me. If you have kids, or you want kids, you really should watch this. It's about car seats, i know... not that interesting right? Well, take the time to watch this. I learned a lot from this video. I am very quick to use the seat belt to latch Claire's car seat in to the car instead of using the latch system. Anyway, on a lighter note, we are off to Colorado for Thanksgiving! Should be sooo much fun! Here are a few things that I am Thankful for...

1. Jesus
2. Jeff
3. Claire and Luke
4. Our families
5. Our friends
6. Jeff's job
7. Naps

I hope that you and your families have a very blessed Thanksgiving!

What do you think?

"Do not kiss your children so they will kiss you back, but so they will kiss their children."
-Noah Benshea

How do you feel about this quote? I really like it.

hello there...

I haven't blogged in a while. I will catch you up. Last weekend we had some friends over for dinner. Fun was had by all...even the kids. In all, there were three 5 1/2 month olds, and Claire. Claire had a great time playing with Korben and Eliana, Luke is old news. Let's see... there was more medical drama in our house. I feel like a live in an episode of "ER". Luke had a reaction to an antibiotic. Jeff took him to urgent care, and I took him to his doctor the next day. He's fine, but while we were in the office the doctor noticed Claire's constant wheezing. She decided that her current meds are not working well enough, so now we have to do breathing treatments a few times a day. How do you get a 2 year old to sit still for thirty minutes you ask? Diego. Go, Diego, Go!!! Claire is SO over the Wiggles, she has moved on to Diego. Well, that pretty much gives you a snapshot of my previous week... here are some pictures for your enjoyment!


Claire enjoying some pre-dinner "dip"!

Korben and Luke (BFF)
Claire, Korben, Eliana and Luke Korben, Eliana and Luke
Luke and his pretty rash!
I'm sooo tired...

Naked again, and again...

Does anyone know how to keep a almost two year old from stripping? Claire will NOT leave her clothes on. Every time I turn around she has taken her clothes off. That is fine and all, except, it is getting a little too cold to be in the nude! This will be a short post... however I wanted to share two videos with you all. The first video is of Luke and his friend Natalie. As you will see, Luke LOVES Natalie! The second video is of Claire, Grant and Natalie jumping on our bed (Claire's second favorite past time. Her first is getting naked!) I hope you all have a great weekend.

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Happy Halloween...

Our little Peyton Manning

Daddy, Claire (the Colt's cheerleader) and Natalie (the OU cheerleader!)

Daddy and Claire

Claire and Luke are Colts fans for Halloween this year. They look so cute in there costumes, and they made Daddy very proud!

New videos

This is a recent video of Claire reading her "tweet book". She still calls most animals by there sounds and not by there actual names. We are working on that!
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Here is a video of Luke laughing. It is a little hard to hear, so turn the volume up! Luke hasn't been doing much laughing in the last few days... he is pretty sick. He has a double ear infection and a stomach bug. I feel so sorry for him. Hopefully it will be gone soon.

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Pumpkin fun

This weekend we had so much fun! We went to the pumpkin patch with the Mullins family. Claire and Hudson had such a good time running around and climbing on pumpkins! We also got to carve pumpkins at life group on Saturday night! How fun! Claire and her friend Selah sported the "diaper only" look while playing in pumpkin goo! Here are some fun pictures for you to enjoy! (There are also a few of Claire playing in the playhouse that I made her.)

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Abilene

This weekend we went to Abilene for our five year reunion as ACU. We had so much fun seeing old friends! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

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Naked day

Today Claire decided that she would not wear clothes. After her morning bath I attempted to put her clothes on her and she screamed "NO, STOP MOMMY!" After several attempts she won, and I let her run around the house naked. This went on for 3 hours. Every once in a while I would mention the "big girl potty", but she said she was fine. Finally, she came to me and asked for a 'di-di' (diaper). I asked her if she needed to go potty, and she said no. I asked her if she did go potty, and she said yes. Oops. She showed me 2 little puddles... oh what fun. Once I got her dressed I went to start cleaning up the mess, that's when I saw it. Oh, my goodness, I wanted to scream!!! She had peed right next to my special diaper bag. Now, when I mean special, I mean... My amazing friends chipped in and bought me the Louis Vuitton of all diaper bags. The Petunia Pickle Bottom. So anyway, there it was, soaking up pee. I spent two minutes cleaning up the floor, and then an hour cleaning the bag. Don't worry, it is not ruined, and Claire finally did get clothes on. I think this will be one of those stories will be repeated when she is 20!

Just a few cute things...

Have you seen the website "Cute overload"? If not, you should check it out. It is similar to the Daily Kitten website, but with all kinds of animals. Jeff has a softball game tonight. I love taking Claire to his games because she likes to stand at the fence and yell "GO DADDY!" So cute. While we are on the subject of cute things... This is my favorite commercial. It would not let me embed the video on my blog so click here, and see for yourself. I laugh every time I see it, because I do the same thing in the grocery store. What funny things do you find yourself doing for your kids (if you have some!)? One thing that I have found myself doing is singing to Claire, IN PUBLIC! I would have never done that before I had her!

Luke

Here are some new pictures of Luke. He is getting to be SO fun. He is smiling and laughing more, and he loves being around Claire. Yesterday we had a little bit of drama in our house. Claire had been asleep for a few hours, a little longer than usual, so I went up to check on her. When I walked into her room she was balanced on the railing of her crib looking out the window. When she saw me she slid back down and started rattling off all of the things that she had seen outside. Kitty, mommy's car, airplane... I guess we need to start thinking about a big girl bed! Well, I don't really have anymore kid stories for you, so I guess I will say goodbye. We are going to ACU homecoming this weekend... I hope to see a lot of you there!


Enough kisses already! 

Random things.

I should be in bed. We have this really bad habit of staying up late and watching all of our DVR'd shows. These are a few things I am thinking about...
1. Ugly Betty. Have you seen it? It is pretty good. Kind of a spin off of 'The Devil Wears Prada' in a round about way. You should watch it next week.
2. The Office. SOO funny. I Ab Lounged it while watching it tonight. It is really hard to do crunches while you are laughing... maybe I burned more calories though?
3. The Ab Lounger. Yup, the one from the infomercial. I got one, and I LOVE it! It is so easy to do, yet it burns! Skinny, here I come (hopefully).
4. Chocolate chip "Smell'ems". Anyone want to guess what this is? Well, you probably didn't guess bubbles did you? Bubbles, you know, the bottle with the stick with the holes on the end. Tons of fun for kids. Claire LOVES "bubs". We ran out, and I have been searching for more at every store I can think of. Whoever decided that "bubs" were a "seasonal item" is not kid friendly. Well, after a week of searching I found some at Walmart in a tiny bin under the off brand toys. They are not any old "bubs", they are chocolate chip "bubs". Can you imagine a little kid trying to sniff "bubs" that are floating in the air? I am laughing just thinking of it. I'll let you know how that turns out tomorrow!
5. Project Runway. I was a little disappointed this week. I just don't get into re-cap shows.
6. Lost. Good... but our DVR cut out the last 5-10 minutes. I wanted to cuss... but I didn't.
7. The Bachelor. Yes, it's that time again ladies. My FAVORITE show. Although, this season I think it is truly about status and not just about getting the cute guy. He is a prince, from Italy. I don't think the girls care what he looks like. The season premier was worth quite a few laughs. I can't wait for next week. (Mel- do you want a reminder call? I would hate for next week to result in another tragedy!)
Well, that should do it for tonight. Now that I have cleared my head I think I will be able to sleep.

Wednesday

I switched my blog to beta mode. It is a lot easier to publish that way... if you haven't switched yet, you should check it out. This morning I put training pants on Claire. Not successful. I kept asking her all morning if she needed to go potty. She kept telling me no. She held it all the way until after lunch. I asked her again. This time she got really excited and said "YES, POTTY!" We ran into the bathroom (i was all excited too!), pulled down the training pants and YIKES... she had made me a present. I really thought it wouldn't gross me out, but it did. She felt really bad, she almost cried. This gives me hope though. I really think that after a few days of this she will be ready. You wanted to know all that right?! Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to Colorado. There aren't any of Luke... oops. Claire had so much fun with her Opa and Oma (German for Grandpa and Grandma). I thought I would also give you a Luke update: In two short days he has learned to rollover front to back and back to front. This morning he was up on his hands and knees. I hope it takes a while for him to learn to crawl... I'm not ready for that yet!




Claire playing in Opa's bird bath





Claire and Opa filling the bird bath














Claire smelling Nana's flowers













Claire playing with bubbles

I'm Back...

Well, it has been a long two weeks. My Last post was September 11th. If it wasn't a sad enough day to start with, it got even worse. My Grandpa Don had a massive heart attack that afternoon. He was taken to the hospital, put on life support and we all waited. I flew up to Colorado by myself, with both kids. It was hard to see my Grandpa just lay there. Claire and I sang to him, and he turned to look at us... it was very sweet. Anyway, one week after the heart attack he passed away. He was a great man, and a strong Christian. Please pray for my family as we mourn my Grandpa Don. On a happier note... It seems like ALL of my friends are prego!!! Makes me want another one... JUST KIDDING!!!! Two kids under two is plenty for the moment. Speaking of kiddos- Luke had his 4 month check up on Monday. He is a linebacker! He weighs in at 16 1/2 pounds! He is rolling over and even pulling himself across the floor to get to Claires toys! Have any of you seen the commercial for the Bill Parcels training camp video? It is a training video for Dads to help them teach there sons how to become NFL stars. Well, I think Jeff ordered it and is secretly taking Luke out back and starting him on the basics early! HA, HA! Claire is good. She is stringing words together now. Very cute. My favorite thing that she says is "Hello." It sounds like "Hewo"! Well, that's all for now. I will post pictures soon.

A tribute to Lisa Marie Terry

I have the great privilege of taking part in the The 2,996 Project. Each participant is to make a tribute to a victim of 9/11. As I posted earlier, I was assigned Lisa Marie Terry. I Googled her and I wondered if she would be happy with the tribute articles that people had written about her? I wondered if they did her justice? Probably not. Here is my attempt at a tribute to a woman that I will never meet, and that so many people are missing terribly. Lisa Marie Terry was a 42 year old Vice President for Marsh & McLennan. She was a mother of two year old twins, and she had a love for horses. I did not know Lisa, I have only read her tributes on various websites. She seemed like a beautiful person. On September 11, 2001 she was in the World Trade Center along with 295 of her colleagues. Although I do not know much about her, I am still sad for her family. She was a child of God, just as I am. Jesus died for her sins, and cared about every hair on her head. No one knows why the terrorist attacks happened, but I do know that the Lord takes care of his people. I know that God is taking care of Lisa's family too. I hope that they have felt comfort and peace in the last five years. I hope that people have surrounded them and showed them compassion. I hope that her children will grow up to remember her through pictures and stories. I pray that on September 11, 2006 Lisa's family will feel the warm and comforting hand of God holding them in His arms. When September 11, 2006 ends and the sun sets I know that the Lord will watch over them as they go to sleep... He will not forget them, He is always there.
For a complet list of all tributes for the 2,996 project please click here.

We love Jeff

I don't always take the time to tell Jeff what a wonderful Dad he is...

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Our trip to Indiana

We got home this afternoon. We were only gone for a few days, but it seems like we were gone for a long time. Traveling with 2 kids is hard, but overall, they did great! On Friday we flew to St. Louis for a family reunion. After the reunion on Saturday we drove back to Indianapolis with Jeff's parents. Sunday night we went to Symphony on the Prairie. The concert ended with a great fireworks show. Claire loved it. She kept saying "twinkle, twinkle!" , it was so cute! On Monday we met our friends Frank and Andrea and their three boys at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. It was amazing... I wish we had one here too! We rode the carousel, played in a sandbox, dug for dinosaur bones and even saw glass fireworks (see pictures!). All of the kids had a great time. That night we went back to Frank and Andrea's for dinner. Claire got to ride a horse for the first time. She seemed to like it! I haven't mentioned Luke yet... yup, he was there too! It will be fun when he can enjoy all of these things too! In the slide show above there are a few pictures of Luke in his sling. I "wear" him most places, and he really likes it! Well, i'm off to bed for some much needed sleep... it has been a long 4 days!

Big sister, Little brother

Claire LOVES Luke. She wants to hold him constantly. Luckily for me, he seems to like it too! She holds her hands out and say's "baby uke, baby uke!" When she is holding him she will kiss his head, and pat his tummy. He just lays there and coos at her. It is the sweetest thing. I know that when they get a little older they will probably not be so sweet to each other, so I am enjoying it for the moment. Labor day weekend we are going up to Indianapolis to visit Jeff's family. It should be very fun, once we are done with the plane trip. I am hoping for a tear free flight... we will see!

Friends

This weekend I got to see all of my good friends from high school! I went to a Shower for my friend Andrea! It was so much fun to see everyone... I am so glad that we are all still friends. Also on Saturday we went to Grant's 2nd birthday party. Claire had so much fun, and Jeff and I had a great time talking with friends. This weekend was great... I was a good reminder of how blessed we are to have such good friends!

The weekend and fun with makeup.

This past weekend Jeff's roommates from ACU came in to town to visit. We had a lot of fun! On Saturday we went to the zoo. Claire got to see the elephants and her favorite part was the reptiles. We were all a little surprised that she wasn't scared of them! On Sunday we went to the pool. Claire loves to jump off of the side and go under water! Luke still doesn't know what to think, but he sure looks cute in his swim trunks! So, Here is the part about makeup: today while I had my back turned, Claire got into my makeup...again. Posted is a picture of the end result. The face she is making is her new creation. She is imitating me. I don't think I really look like that, but who knows! When she gets in trouble I give here the "intense stare down" look. Obviously she thinks it is funny... I guess I need to come up with a new one! Oh, by the way... Happy 2nd Birthday Grant!