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!