This weekend involved lots of great times!!  Levi got to go coyote hunting Friday and Saturday night. The girls and I made a Valentine craft and finished their Valentine cars for preschool.  The best part was building "our family" of snowmen on Saturday!  Pictures will come soon!! :)  Here are a few pictures that I have managed to take in the midst of our busy lives!!

Sweetness!!

All I have today is 3 faces full of sweetness!

Montana- 4 1/2, Aspen- 9 months, Autumn- 3

* They were all ready to go to the County Stock Show *

WOW

Ok, so 8 months have passed since I've blogged!  I'm ashamed and sorry, but I hope to be back in business! =)  Instead of playing catch-up, I will just feel you in on what's been happening within the last week!  FIRST of all, Miss Aspen is now NINE months old!  I can't believe it and with her being the 3rd child it is so much harder!

Last week I learned about a young woman in Childress that had nothing and by that I mean nothing!  Her daughter needed clothes that were a size smaller than what Autumn was wearing, so I thought, "Hey, I can help her out."  So I gathered up all of the clothes and took them to her, but that wasn't it!  In one week, Levi and I along with Levi's sister and husband and his parents managed to round up a whole bunch of stuff for her house.  Therefore, we have made 2 trips to her house and this weekend we will make a trip back with a trailer load of big items for her house.  We are still in need of bunkbeds for her kids room, (she has a boy and a girl) so if you run across one please let me know!

I love the fact that we are becoming friends~ even SWEETER than just helping with what we could.  We do ask that you pray for her and her children as they are starting off on a new path of their life!

Meet Aspen Laine...

Thanks to Ericka I have a picture of Miss Aspen!  Here is the 10x20 storyboard she made for me and I love it because it has all of my favorite pictures!  She was a month old on Monday; therefore, I don't have too much longer until I have to let go b/c she'll be heading to daycare.
 

Whew...time is flying!

Time has once again got away from me!  Since the last time, The Woods Family has added a "new" baby girl to our crew.  Aspen Laine Woods was born on April 26, 2010 at 5pm weighing in @ 8 lbs 1 oz and was 21 1/2 in long.  She is so darn cute and loveable!  The girls are adjusting well, but Autumn is having a harder time as expected (since she's not the baby anymore)!!  She is now 3 weeks old and growing like a weed!  I came back to work when she was a week, but I am bringing her with me- therefore, work is fun!! :)


Since Aspen has arrived we have had a lot of things going on from a baby shower, Mother's Day Tea @ pre-school, gymnastics recital, senior parties, newborn pics, etc.  The list could go on.  This week Montana will graduate from her 1st year of pre-school and she is looking forward to it!  We love having a crazy, busy life!  But in our crazy life, we have had some sadness.  Levi's grandpa passed away Mother's Day evening and was buried last Wednesday.  Levi was very close to him and there were lots of sad tears that day, but we know he is no longer relying on oxygen to breathe anymore.  Then last night I found out Cheyenne's grandma had passed away.  Cheyenne is a great friend who I became friends with my sophomore year in high school.  So a little later I'll be heading to Crowell for visitation to see her and the family.  In the past three weeks, I've really seen lots of happiness and lots of sadness.  All we can do is leave it up to God!

And I have been awful with my camera!!  I have hardly taken any pics of Aspen and she's already 3 weeks old.  I have learned the 3rd kid gets the shaft! lol  Plus, I haven't uploaded any on my computer so I stole this one from Belinda's blog.  She managed to catch Montana & Autumn wanting to take a picture @ Gerry's senior party.  Miss Aspen was sleeping away in her car seat during this. 

P.S.  I know I have LOTS of FAT to loose and I desperately NEED a tan!!  I am working on BOTH of these!!!

Flat tire...

Not only did this week feel like a "flat tire" week (feeling drained completely), I really did have a flat about 3 miles outside of Childress on Wednesday night. I had picked Montana up from gymnastics and gotten the girls McDonalds to eat on the way home. I heard a funny "fizzing" noise and I couldn't figure it out, but then my car started going all over the road and I knew right then it was a tire. Being already dark, I called a SUPER great friend, Marci, to see if her husband, Jeff was home and he was so he came out to help me. As I was talking to her, a deputy pulled up behind me and it turned out to be Doty's Dad (Montana's friend from daycare), so he stayed until the tire was changed to help keep traffic off of us.

All in all, the girls were happy b/c they had food and were excellent for the 30-45 minutes we sat on the side of the road. When we arrived at home I started thinking that most of the time if something happened like that it would have made my day horrible, but it didn't. It made me grateful!! For the friends that I have to count on when I need help and for the deputy stopping just to see if he could help! I wasn't going to let the girls have McDonalds at first, now I'm so glad I did. All in all, God had our night planned to the "T" and I think part of it was for me to just be grateful for what I have and the friends I have encountered throughout my life!

I leave you with a picture that Montana made at Ms. Angie's preschool a couple of weeks ago. It absolutely MELTS my heart! When I asked he what the picture was she said that Sissy was her best friend b/c she swings with her, plays with her, and something else (I forgot). All I could do was smile at her & give her a big hug! She has 2 friends (1 @ daycare & 1@ preschool) that she always says are her best friends so it just caught me off guard I guess. Tonight we are having my niece's 13th b-day party!  Have a great weekend! :)
 

Lots of projects

What a week it's been!  I still don't have the girl's toys organized in their room!  It's partly done, just not 100%.  They have been doing good sleeping in their own beds, but at least one of them (sometimes both) wake up during the night.  My "fat body" hates having to crawl out of the bed and function! lol  I know it's worth it though and that eventually they'll go back to sleeping all night again!  I know it has to be very different for them right now.  I now have to figure out what I'm going to hang on their walls.  I have a few things, but for sure they will be getting a couple of pink & brown crosses that I'll get Joycelyn to make for them.

This weekend we are buying paint for our bathroom and that project will get underway this weekend or next week.  We have the flooring already, I just need paint.  After this, ALL of the "major" projects I want done before the end of April will be done!!  Thank goodness!!  I know we'll find plenty of stuff to do outside, but the girl's room and our bathroom were the two things I wanted done this year.  Next year, I hope to lay laminate flooring in our kitchen, dining room & guest bath along with painting! *I'll be keeping my fingers crossed*

Levi is finishing up a couple of hog traps this weekend and tomorrow we're headed back to Childress to help Marci for the day!  I need to get lots of laundry and cleaning done too!!  I leave you with a picture of the girls I took in April '09 and I sent it to Ericka for her to edit and enhance it in photoshop.  I loved this picture before, and I love it even more now!  It's almost a year old and still my FAV!!  Thanks Ericka!!

Our Fiji Gifts!!

And no I didn't go to Fiji, but I wish I could've experienced the 85 degree weather!  But one of my friends, Amy W., did just return from a week and a half trip to Fiji.  She also brought back a gift for the girls and I.  I love mine and the girls are pretty fond of theirs too!  Thank you Amy for thinking about us!!

The girl's seashell braclets

(the lighting in either pic wasn't very good)

My gift

It was carved by the locals in Fiji; I would love to watch them do this!

A few pics from the past few months!

I love Saturdays where we have nothing planned and we can stay in our pjs all day!  Well, today IS one of those days!  My house is a total wreck, but I am picking it up slowly and enjoying playing with the girls.  I thought I would browse through my camera and find some pictures over the last few months to share with ya'll.  There are plenty more, but here are a few from Christmas and when we went to the Longhorn Ranch Steakhouse a few weekends ago with our friends Nick & Julie & Amy.  Amy's husband, David, wasn't able to come with us that night yet we did have a lot of fun!

My Fav of the girls

I love this too~ even with Autumn's crazy hair!

Montana & Doty (a good friend from daycare)

Her 1st "official" sleepover

Mommy & Montana @ the Rain Forest Cafe

She knows the camera is "bright" so she does this before the flash happens! lol

Daddy & Autumn @ Rain Forest

Aunt Nancy & Montana

Autumn styling in some new pj's! :)

Julie, Amy & Me @ the Longhorn Ranch Steakhouse in Crowell

Levi & I

(& please disregard how "big" I am getting! This may be the last pic ya'll see of me till after the baby-lol)

Nick & Julie

Have a great weekend!

3 months!!

I can't believe 3 months have passed since I have made even one post!  Sorry about that~ I truly hope to blog more often in the coming months!  So instead of playing catch-up, I will just inform you on what has been happening right now. 

In just two more weeks, I will be counting my last 8 weeks down until the new baby arrives and still have so much to do!  I am starting to feel like I'm in that miserable stage where it's harder to tie my own shoe, to pick something up, and just feeling out of breath quicker.  It's funny how the 1st trimester you're sicker then a dog, 2nd trimester- people just think you're fat instead of pregnant, and 3rd trimester- you're so uncomfortable b/c you're stomach is now huge! lol

The girls have had a rough winter this year!  Montana has had tonsillitis 2x and bronchitis 2x & Autumn has had the flu.  On Monday we went to the dr for Montana's bronchitis this time & she is having to do breathing treatments b/c it was borderline (meaning almost pneumonia).  I can honestly say I am SO ready for spring!  This past weekend my Mom kept them while we painted their room, put new blinds up, & put together new bunkbeds!  They really like them, but since Montana has been sick this week she hasn't slept more than half the night in hers.  Although, I really think it's b/c she keeps waking herself up coughing.  Autumn woke up around 5am this morning & I heard her saying "Mommy" in a whiny voice.  I jump up & run in the living room & here she was coming down the hall with her crazy hair.  It was really cute~ she's not supposed to be that big!!

I have started reading Beth Moore's new book- So Long Insecurity, You've been a bad friend to us & last night I finished Chapter 1 & I am hooked, but I literally fell alseep reading it b/c it was so late so I put it away for the night.  A little over a month ago, I started the Esther Bible Study also with our church.  Montana has gymnastics on Wednesdays so I haven't got to make it to our "actual class," but I am keeping up with it at home & loving it!

I gave you a brief overview over what's happening right now & I will have pics to post of the girl's "new" room as soon as I get the toys back in there & organized!  Hope you are having a great week!!

Preview

Here is a preview of the pictures that Ericka took a couple of weeks ago. These are a few of the ones she e-mailed me and I LOVE everything that I have seen so far! She is very talented and very cheap. I am wanting to see how our family picture of the 4 of us turned out b/c the day we took the group pictures Montana had tonsillitis and Levi was running fever and had chills. So these pictures are SO much better than expected! THANK YOU Ericka!

Our Family with Levi's sister, Joycelyn & her husband Marcus

I LOVE this!

And this smile is her personality!! It truly represents her!

I just love the close-up!

The Whole Family in black & white

Halloween, the Zoo & the Circus!

So much has happened that I don't even know where to start. My days and weeks are starting to run together and I'm starting to realize that May is just around the corner! Yikes! I am in the Christmas mood already and we plan to put up the tree and Christmas decorations this weekend, I just want to be able to enjoy it this year. And this year I am starting something new with our tree. I have always done a western tree because that is what we like, but this year to let the girls be involved we are going to make every ornament on the tree. I will still put my collectibles like my Breyer ornaments that are dated with the year, but other than that we as a family will make them. I'm even going to order a new tree skirt with snowmen on it to make it more for the girls. My only problem is I usually loop a rope around my tree and this year I want something different and I need a new topper because we have always used a hat. So, any suggestions? Can you tell that I'm excited? Well, YES I am!

I can finally say that I am starting to function again and feeling better. I cooked supper last night for the first time in a long time and it was SO good. Tonight we had smoked sausage stir-fry & a salad. It's nice knowing that I can cook & eat again! On a side note though- I can't eat hamburger meat in any way (HB, tacos, hb helper, etc). I was the same way when I was pregnant with Montana.

The girls have been extremely busy. Halloween was a busy week with a gymnastics party, preschool party, daycare party, 2 halloween carnivals & trick or treating. Montana was Tinkerbell & Autumn was Minnie Mouse. They had fun and I was more tired then they were! This past weekend they went to my Mom's Friday night b/c I had to work Saturday so my Mom took them to the Abilene Zoo on Saturday. They loved it; that's all they talked about- especially the alligator and the giraffe. The giraffe wrapped his tongue around Autumn's wrist trying to get the cracker from her and they are still talking about that! lol Sunday we went to the Shrine Circus in WF and Joycelyn went with us. It was fun but lasted 3 hours with an intermission. I thought that was extremely long for little kids. They both rode the little horses and then Montana rode an elephant with Daddy. That was the highlight of her day!! :)

This week we've all had some kind of bug except Autumn but all seem to be well now. I took Montana to the dr on Tuesday and we found out that she had tonsillitis, but 2 days of antibotics and she's SO much better! I'm looking forward to tomorrow b/c our family has made Friday "Family Movie Night" as long as we're home. We haven't done this in awhile b/c of me being sick, but tomorrow we'll have popcorn, a movie and get the tree out. There's nothing better than that!! The girls love it when we do a movie and popcorn!

I will leave you with some pictures from Halloween and the circus. My Mom took pictures at the zoo on her camera so mom please e-mail me a few of them!

At the Halloween Carnival

waiting on the music for the cake walk (we played 2x & Autumn won once)

She LOVES cotton candy!

Autumn playing games

At preschool- Montana & Olivia
They are in preschool & gymnastics together and they ended up with the same costume! :)

Miss Addison at Amber's baby shower on Halloween morning
She has grown so much & we loved playing with her!

Autumn, Montana, Skyler, Hutton, Heather & Harper @ MeeMaw & PePaw's
(Montana didn't want to take a pic & Autumn had to have me; therefore, I was trying to hide)

Miss Tinkerbell

Miss Minnie Mouse

This was after trick or treating- she stayed just like this for almost an hour! lol

Montana & Daddy on the elephant

Smiling away

Autumn before she started screaming! lol

My camera died at the circus so I didn't get a chance many pictures!

Contemplating on....

...to make my blog private or not?

This question has crossed my mind a lot in the past few weeks. I LOVE meeting new blog friends and sharing "our lives" with you!! I am stuck in the middle about my decision. This comes along with facebook. I absolutely LOVE facebook & staying in touch with friends, but again I am undecided on whether to quit facebook too?

Facebook and my blog are a way to communicate with YOU, but I also don't want to feel guilty about something that I say/ announce because I've learned that sometimes it may hurt someone's feeling's unintentional. I love blogging & I want to continue to feel that way!!

If I do decide to make this blog private, I promise I will let you know so that you can give me your e-mail address and I can send you an invite to read my blog. Facebook is still undecided as well. I will let you know soon!!! And I will be praying about my decision!

Blogging???

I don't think I know what blogging means anymore!! :) Joycelyn told me to at least post a picture for her, but I'll try to fill you in on what's been happening the past month and a half. I seem to have let facebook take over b/c it's just quicker! lol

Autumn turned 2 on October 9th!! We had a Mickey Mouse party with hot dogs, cake & ice cream! My good friend, Lacy and her kids came and stayed with us the night before the party so we had fun with 6 kiddos running around.

Around the middle or September we found out that we are expecting baby #3! I am 3 months along right now & due on May 8th. Part of the reason for no blogging is me not feeling good. In the evenings the sickness sets in. I feel sorry for the girls because I feel like I'm not doing enough with them, but it's starting to get a little better! I haven't even taken many pictures which is unusual for me.

Three weeks ago, Autumn fell as we were going into daycare & hit a concrete step. We ended up in the ER getting stitches in her mouth and it messed 2 of her teeth up; 1 of them being a front tooth. We have went to a pediatric dentist in Amarillo 2x since the accident and he thinks that both teeth will survive & be ok. We were worried about one of them. The front tooth is kind of embedded in her gum, but looks like it may be coming down some. We go back in 2m to make sure everything is good. Poor girl has been through it all!!

Tonight is the Pregnancy Outreach Center Fundraiser @ the Goodlett Gym. They have a silent & live auction and a great meal & it's all for a great cause!! Hope you all have a great weekend!! And Joycelyn- here's some pictures!

Montana & Hedi Hedi Ho

(Grandad's new puppy & her name is really just Hedi)

Autumn's b-day cake

Riley & Autumn

She was getting ready to blow the candles out- which she never did!

Quanah Homecoming 2009

Last Friday was Quanah's homecoming game and we attended mainly because Tara, Levi's cousin, was a Homecoming Queen Nominee. We got there with about 7 minutes left until half and then watched the opponent's marching band in which the girls were in awe of. I didn't get any pictures of all the nominees on the field b/c Montana was sitting in my lap while Autumn was with Joycelyn and then Sheri. So to top our night off- Tara was crowned Homecoming Queen. We were so excited!! Our section probably looked like a bunch of idiots screaming and yelling! lol

These pictures were after half-time. Autumn's hair was curled all pretty, but the weather staightened it out as soon as we stepped out of the car! My kids love Tara and Tana and we and thankful for them to be a part of our kids lives!!! :)

So cute but it looks like Montana is choking Autumn

More smiles & this time no choking!

Here's the one eye squint! lol

Tara & Montana (Tara gave Montana a rose- it made her day)

These were Tara's shoes after half time- it rained all weekend!!

*Side note*
Joycelyn made Autumn a mum too, but it only lasted about 10 minutes before she pulled it off!

1st Day of Preschool

Well today was Montana's 1st Day of Preschool. She has been waiting for this day for months, and when we attended Open House we were given her first homework assignment which was really cute. We were to trace her hand around a heart and since there are 5 fingers, we were supposed to write 5 things that were special about her. She had so much fun helping to determine the 5 things. And we wrote:

1. I am very loving and caring.
2. I am a great big sister.
3. I love to have fun- sing & dance.
4. I am a big helper.
5. I love to learn and read.

The funny part was her coming up with things that were special about her. One of her things was that she was "cute." It made us laugh! And Miss Autumn wasn't happy that she didn't have homework! lol Next year she'll get to go too! And Montana wouldn't let me take any pictures of her at home, but when we got to preschool she was all smiles!!

I am just excited that she has become such a cute and funny little girl! What else could I ask for?

All Smiles

In Ms. Angie's class