Happy Birthday, Honey!

Some call him 'Clint,' others call him 'Daddy,' some call him 'son,' I call him 'Honey' (or 'Best'), and today I wish him a happy 28th birthday! He is a man of many names, a many of many talents, a man with many children (he, he!), a man with great looks, a man with an incredible faith who has taught me so much, a man that I am honored that he chose me to love...
So many times I take too much for granted. I am thankful for birthdays because they cause me to slow down the hectic, craziness of my life and take time out to honor someone at least one day out of the year! I am thankful for Clint and the many ways he has made me the person I am today. I am thankful for every moment we have shared... the happy times, the bad, the joys, the rough patches, the laughs, the tears, the babies, the changes... We have learned so much together and I would not have wanted to travel this road with anyone else! Here is a short list of things I love about Clint:

• *He is so thoughtful... he thinks of little ways to show me that he loves me or the kids. We are kinda strapped for money, so many times it is just post-it notes all over the house in places that he knows I frequently visit thru out the day... but he always reminds me how much he cares and appreciates me.
• *He is a man of faith. And I see his faith growing each day. For that I am thankful. I am so proud of the way he has chosen to lead his family to love the Lord and honor him. I pray each day that this incredible faith is passed on to our boys!
• *He is a hard worker... he works so hard at work, and then comes home to be immediately handed a fussy baby or take the boys outside to play basketball or ride bikes... and then many times he stays up late doing honey-do's to keep the house running. I am so thankful for all he does for our family!
• *He is such a great daddy. The boys look up to him so much, and he does so much for them. I can count on him every night to bathe them and put them to bed while I have some time to myself (usually spent doing the dishes or getting clothes ready for the next day, but at least it is done in peace!). He is always willing to keep all 4 of the boys for me to run errands, go shopping or have a girls night with my friends. These boys are blessed to have such an awesome daddy!
• *He is patient with me.... thank the Lord! I am a picky gal, and I like to have things organized and "just-so" and he does his best to make it that way... and he is so patient with me when I am having a moment when I am overwhelmed or needing someone to talk to... he is a great listener!
• *He is hilarious... I never thought I would meet someone that still makes me laugh after so many years... we laugh together every day! I love that!
• *He is a hunk... maybe not to all you ladies, but he will always be my "hottie" as we endearingly call eachother...

I could go on, but I dont want to bore my readers! I will stop with that one!

I love you, Clint! Happy Birthday!

You know me... I couldnt do a post without pictures... so now for your viewing pleasure:

Here he is about 28 years (well, probably more like 27.5 years) ago!

Here we are 9 years ago when we were engaged... how young ( and skinny :o) ) do we look?!!

And here we are 4 babies and 9 years later..... I love him more every year!

And here are the boys with Daddy yesterday at our family birthday celebration! (Micah had been playing outside in the cold... hence the red nose and the hoodie!)

Happy Birthday, Sweet Coby!

I just cant belive he is 5 years old... and about to start kindergarten. It is so cliche, so man, where does the time go? In honor of my Coby turning 5, here are 5 of the many things that I love about him:
1. Coby is hilarious!!! He is always telling funny stories, making funny faces, being goofy or silly, talking to strangers, and keeping us all entertained. He is most definately the life of the party.
2. Coby has a heart of gold. He is so concerned when someone is hurt or sad. He can not stand for someone else to cry. He has to know all the details. Recently when Micah was inthe hospital, he was crying because he was afraid that Micah was going to die... he is so sweet!
3. Coby is an affectionate little booger. He loves to wake up early and crawl in bed with me to snuggle. He is always up for a hug and kiss. If ever anyone is sad, he is the first to offer up a hug. He still enjoys sitting in my lap in church and cuddling with me... I hope he will never be to big for a hug for his momma!
4. Coby loves his brothers! He can get Bryson more excited than even I can. He thrives on playing with his brothers and making Bryson laugh. He always spots the babies in the grocery store and talks to them or tells their mommy that they have a cute baby!
5. Coby says the sweetest prayers. I love to listen to the thoughts that are in his head. And to hear him lift things up to our heavenly father. It is so sweet to hear him apologize for his behavior or tell God thank you for every item he played with that day... every-single one!


okay, and I guess this makes 6, but I cant mention Coby without mentioning his beautiful big blue eyes... they just up any room he comes into!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Coby!

We love you!

Precious Baby Coby: April 5, 2002

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

Bluebonnets!!

One of my favorite parts of spring is witnessing the beauty of God's creation all around us... the beautiful bluebonnets in Austin just make me happy... they remind me of my momma and how she took us all every year to have our pictures made in them... and Yes, I admit it, I am becoming my mother!!! :o) The boys get excited when they see them along the side of the road, and they always ask if we can stop and take pictures in them! Well today, we were all well, so we stopped up at church/school and had ourselves a photo-shoot!! And I am so excited about the great pictures I got! I took a TON (the beauty of digital), but here are just a few of my favorites!

Here are my favorites of all 4 boys together:

Here are my favorites of each one individually:

Here are a few more of my favorites:

Love this one!!!

Bryson loved the bluebonnets... we could hardly get him to look up at the camera!

HAPPY SPRING!

Snug-A-Bug

That is our new nickname for Lil' Bry... especially when he first wakes up from his nap... here he was helping me wake Coby up from his nap.... sweet boys....

Jesus, our superhero!

The other night, Clint was reading the boys' bible story at bedtime, and it was the story of Jesus' ascension into heaven. Cason saw this picture and he said, "Wow, Jesus really can fly... he has a cape like Superman!" I love how his little mind works.



Another funny Cason story: last week before Micah's relapse, we took them to the dollar movie to see Charlotte's Web. They loved it. Cason has always had a fear of bugs, and I thought it would help him not to be so afraid of them to see how nice Charlotte is. Well right now with the weather being warm and moist, we have lots of those flying bug things with the long legs... kinda like flying daddy long legs.... do you know what I'm talking about? Anyways, there was one of those in that bathroom and I heard him in there talking to it in his little high pitched baby-talk voice that he uses with Bryson, "You sure are a sweet little spider aren't you? You are not gonna bite me, are you? Are you my new friend? You are a cute little thing... what is your name?" All the while, he had just gotten out of his bath, so he is squatted down beside it talking to this new little friend totally in the BUFF! It was hilarious! He came running out and said, "Mommy, I found a sweet spider and it is my best friend!"

fever-free!!!

yeehaw! As of this morning, Micah is fever free.... so things are looking up... knock on wood! Hopefully we are now on the upswing of all this and he will get to go back to school sometime next week... I am starving for some normalcy around here! Thanks everyone for all the prayers, sweet notes, phone calls, visits, coloring books, etc! We are so incredible blessed to have such awesome friends!!!!!

Updates

Well, we discovered last night that Micah had a fever of about 103.5, which is a really bad sign... we waited until this morning to call, at which time it was down to 101.7. They are just having us monitor that form home and be sure it doesnt get any higher. I dont know how much more I can take of the ER!! He is not showing any signs of infection, so they are thinking it is from blood loss and the body's way of showing the stress/trauma of what he has been thru... poor baby! But he is feeling so much better and his spirits are just great... It was an absolutely beautiful day so we spent some time out doors and shared Micah's popsicles with everyone! Even Bryson!

Needless to say, he loved it!!

And here we are discovering the sorrow of the melted, disappearing popsicle. It is rough being one!

This is just a sweet picture of my little Red-head! I know I am bias, but seriously... how sweet is he?

Micah feels good enough to show some love to his favorite baby!

And a quick game of peek-a-boo never gets old to a one-year old!

The other 2 munchkins enjoying their popsicles!
Cason is all smiles!

So is Coby!


He wanted to show off his boo-boo from his bike accident! This actually looks better than it did... it has been quite a week here at our house!


I have some other pics of the first hospital stay and some original pictures of Coby's bike accident, but they are on the memory card that will not download onto my computer for some reason?! Anyhoo, I will figure that out and post them someday! I just felt like I needed to give an update after my scary last post, and a few fun pictures always help bring everyone a little cheer!!

Complications

So I take back what I said in the previous post.... I have now experienced the longest night of my life. Everyone was all snug in their beds last night when I heard Micah cry out at about midnight. I went in to check on him and give him a drink, etc. He had blood all over his face, jammies, pillow, etc. It was a scary sight. So we called the dr and he advised us to meet him in the ER. So, 1:00am micah and I headed into austin to the ER while clint stayed here with the other 3 boys. He vomited twice in the hospital, and when they saw the amount, things started moving quickly. I was scared, but thankful that they werent dragging their feet becasue he was in a lot of pain, and I was ready to do what it took to ease it! By 2:00, they had him in emergency surgery to repair the left tonsil and stop the bleeding. The surgery took about twice as long as they told me it would, so at 3:30 I was sitting in a huge dark, cold waiting room, all alone... wondering what is wrong. There was nothing for me to do but pray (and cry). I had never heard of anyone dying from a tonsillectomy, but my head was spinning with ideas. Finally the dr rounded the dark corner to talk to me and tell me that he was fine. He said after they got him to sleep, when they put the breathing tube down his throat, he lost one more "clot" (as they called them) and it was on a artery. (They say these clots are the throat's way of healing itself, and usually about 1 in 100 cases have trouble with them falling off. Some folks are 1 in a million, we are 1 in a hundred!) His description of the bleeding during surgery made me just sick, but I was thankful to know that my baby was ok. The dr was incredible. He was focused, yet his bedside manner was great. He was serious, yet sensitive. He was honest with me and gave it to me straight, but he assured me that he was going to be fine. He offered to let me into the dr's lounge for some much needed Starbucks. So I got to go sit by him until he woke up ( grouchy), we gave him some ice chips and some pain meds, and he went back to sleep. The sweet nurses brought me a recliner so I could rest beside him, so I napped from about 4:00 to 5:00 when he woke back up and they moved us. He was jolly as can be at about 6:00am... it is amazing how kids bounce back! They did a blood count and his had gone from a 12 to a 9, which was not good. He is supposed to take it easy and let his blood replenish itself. The recovery basically starts over here... So back to Blockbuster it is, but I am incredibly thankful that Micah was released at about 7:30, and he is back home and doing ok. He was so incredibly brave! I am so proud of him! Please continue to pray for a speedy recovery this second time around.

Tonsillectomy/Adnoidectomy.... check!

We made it... it was maybe the longest night of my entire life, 4 childbirths excluded, but we survived! Micah is now home and doing good. He had some trouble with vomiting from the anesthesia... and the thoughts of vomiting with fresh stitches in his throat just makes me cringe. He had a rough day yesterday and a horrible night with the pain, but we have now got it all under control here at home (that is... Mommy has him all drugged up!! Thank you Lord for codeine!), and he even went outside to play for just a bit this afternoon after we got home. He is just loving the ice cream at every meal... and he picked out some powdered donuts as a "soft food" too...
One of the sweetest things during all this crazy time was my sweet Coby. Most of you know him as the crazy one with all the funny stories, but he has a heart the size of Texas, and he was just so worried about Micah. He had tons of questions about tonsils and what they were, if we would see them, if they would fix them and put them back, how they got them out ('do they use scissors?'), if Micah would cry, bleed, etc..... He overheard me telling someone on the phone that he was throwing up blood and he started crying! I looked back and saw he was sad and I asked him what was wrong. "Is Micah gonna die?" He said with those huge blue eyes and crocodile tears... Break a momma's heart!!!! So I decided to take them all up to see him and see that he was ok... even thought he was not really up for visitors, it lifted his spirits a bit to have them all come get on his bed, see his fun stuff, and push the buttons on his bed... that was Cason's favorite part! Mimi and Paw Paw took them back to their house for a while and Clint picked them up there while I stayed the night with Micah.
Thanks to everyone for the prayers that have been answered! I am so glad the surgery is all over, and I am SO glad to be home, back in my water bed (as opposed to the 6 inches of bed that Micah shared with me last night!) Now lets pray that the recovery continues to go well!
Once again, I have some pics to post, but my stinkin camera wont download them.... I cant figure out what the deal is!!

Nothin' routine about it.....

When your "baby" is having surgery!!! My sweet Micah (who is actually 6 years old, so not a baby by any means, but he will always be my 'baby') is having a tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy (sp?) tomorrow morning at 11:00. They say it is a routine surgery, and I know they say that so moms like me will not worry, but there is just nothing routine about putting him under, inserting a breathing tube, and using a knife to cut these things outof his throat! Yes, I know kids have it done every day... and they are all fine... but PLEASE pray for Micah... and for me.... and for the pit in my tummy because I just cannot stop worring about it.... and for me to keep it together so he wont be scared! I will keep you all posted... but for now, I am going to go pack our bags and then clean my house from top to bottom as therapy for my anxiety! :o) And so I will be able to come home from the hospital to a clean house.... a clean house always makes me happy!

ps-- a special thanks to my sister-in-law and my momma for helping us out with our other munchkins!

JoggyFun

Actually it is called Jog-A-Fun, but all day long Coby begged me to take him back to Micah's joggyfun! It was cute! BCS does a huge fund raiser where the kids run for 30 minutes and get sponsors for their laps... I did it when I went to school here (back in the good ol' days), but it is a huge ordeal now! Micah ran 22 laps in 30 minutes! That is the equivalent to almost 3 miles! Not bad for my little 6-year old, huh?! I was so proud of him! He jogged the entire time, and I must admit that he did more that I would have done had it been me out there for the entire 30 minutes! :o) Kindergarten was the first group to run at 8:10, so they had to be there at 7:45... which meant leaving the house around 7:00 to fight traffic into town, which meant getting the entire family up with the chickens to go watch him run and then hang out until school started at 10:00. Clint and I traded off taking turns running laps with Micah and encouraging him to go, go, go! Coby and Cason even took a turn there at the end when most of the kiddos were slowing down! It was a super long day, but they all had a fun time. Cason was asleep before we had left the parking lot this afternoon! I had a few cute pics, but my camera wont download them for some reason? Maybe I will post them tomorrow!

Just for fun.....

I am copying my friend and old college roomie, ElisaJJ on this one because I thought it was funny how accurate these things were as well! I dont know how to link her by clicking on her name, but she is linked over to the side of my blog....

Pepperoni Pizza

Robust and dominant. When you go for something, you go full force. You tend to take control of situations easily. And in return, you get a ton of respect.

What's Your Pizza Personality?

Robust and dominant?? Nice! But I do have to admit that I am a bit of a control freak!

You Are Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

You are kind, popular, and generous. You tend to be successful at anything you try. A social butterfly, you are great at entertaining a crowd. You are most compatible with strawberry ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

I guess this is why we made good roomies, elisa! :o)

You Are a Smiley Face Cookie

You're happy go lucky. So happy, in fact, it's a little past the point of normal sanity. You usually make those around you smile ... when you're not creeping them out!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

Really?? My happiness creeps people out?? If I could not laugh about the insanity of my life, I would be checking myself into the looney bin! :o)

Now, I am curious to know about all of you!!

"Cason said a bad word...."

that is what Coby told me as he came running into my room this morning...
I gave the typical response, "What bad word did he say?"
"He called me rubbish!"
Rubbish?? I had a hard time keeping a straight face, but there were tears in his eyes, and it was obvious that his feelings were really hurt. I felt pretty silly discussing it with the 2 of them because I can't remember the last time I used the word 'rubbish'... but we did establish that we should not call each other ugly words... where do they get this stuff?

Where have I been???

Okay, so I know I have kept all 3 of my readers in suspense wondering why it has been so long since I had posted.... I have been completely overwhelmed in so many areas of my life that I am not really sure where to begin... so I will give a quick update and the some pictures....

1. Blessing in disguise: I recently applied for a position as the director of the preschool/mothers day out where I work... It was a position that I had thought about for some time now, but I really wanted it to come available in about 3 years when I only had one little one at home and more time during the day... but our director's hubby has taken an incredible opportunity at the Richland Hills c of c, so she is leaving us with HUGE shoes to fill. When the spot came open, Clint and I just prayed about it... do I go for it now, with the 2 boys at home next year and Bry being so young? It seemed like an answer to the prayers we had been praying for financial freedom for our family... but the timing seemed off. But I decided to interview and let God take it from there... I got up into the top of the closet and dusted off my portfolio which had not been updated since 2001... a lot has happened since then! :o) I have spent so much time revamping my resume, writing a new philosophy of education, working on my application, references, etc. It was actually really neat to think about how much things have changed for me since 2001! I interviewed with 2 of the most Godly, incredible women I know... they were the principals of BCS when I went here years ago... and I balled several times during my interview... I was so emotional about working full-time, leaving my kids with someone else.... but we are so desperate for the money.... I love working with these children and I really felt called there..... They called me into the office today to tell me that they have hired someone else whose children are both already in school and who is equally qualified... it makes since, and I am actually relieved. I kept picturing little Bry and thinking about him growing up... knowing he is my last baby... and it made me so sad to think that I was growing him up so quickly! So here I am... back where I started.... just an ol' preschool teacher, but most importantly a mommy to 4 precious boys!!! And I feel so incredible blessed to be here!



2. The curse of Peter Pan: Little Bry has had an awful stomach thing going on for almost 2 weeks now... Basically I was doing a load of laundry with each diaper change... it was awful! We thought it might be from all the Peter Pan peanut butter he eats bc all 7 of the jars in my pantry had the 2111 number on them... (and he eats a TON daily), but we finally did some blood work that told us that he had an awful virus... he is now on the mend, and I am glad to have my well baby back!


3. I am just not June Cleaver: I had bunko at my house this week, and so I was doing all those "extra" things to clean.... baseboards, window sills, etc.... I never clean those things until I am having some big event at my house... and I know I should... but Hi HO Cherry-O and UNO are so much more fun! I have been using most of my spare moments during this last week getting my house ready to host 12 of my best friends in the world for bunko... and I got to thinking.... why do we put on this "june cleaver" impression for others? Do they really think that my house looks like this everyday? Do I admit that my children have been either watching movies or banned to the back yard for the entire day so I could get ready for all this? I did take them to the park for a picnic to make it more fun. I really had already swept, mopped, vacumed, etc, so I did not want their eating mess all over the place! And my wonderful hubby got off work a little early and took them out for the evening... I love bunko..... but I love it more when it is not at my house! :o)

4. A PINK nursery: But NOT for me! My sweet friend, Kaylee is expecting a girl any day now, and she decided last minute to paint her nursery.... actually I convinced her last minute to paint, so I have been painting while she hung out with me.... it is pink and chocolate colors... and her bedding uis pink, chocolate, and green... it is so pretty!!! So I have spent some late nights over there with her... it has been a fun time for the 2 of us to spend before her new little bundle arrives!

5. T is for "Texas:" Lastly, we had our "Texas Rodeo" at school today. The kids come dressed up in cowboy attire and we have all this fun stuff for them to do... it is a lot of work, but they love it. That is where the pictures tie in! How cute are these cowboys???

THE PICTURE BELOW IS FROM LAST YEAR! I know it is confusing bc the outfits are the same, but the kids are different... I just thought it was cute to see how much Coby has grown up!

And now back to this year....

The boys with mommy (or 'Ms Summer' as Coby calls me at school.. hilarious!)

Here Cason is panning for gold... the tongue cracked me up!!









And just so I dont leave them out... here are a few pics of the rest of the family:

Sweet boys!