Making Progress

We worked so hard on Sunday afternoon on our house. We had a painting party and were amazed at how much got accomplished. We painted the entire house including the ceilings all except for the kitchen and family room ceilings. It looks great. The kitchen, main room and bath are painted kilim beige and our bedroom is done in hopsack. I am not sure as to what I am going to do to Bree's room yet. Her nursery in our old house was done in pink and cream stripes, which I absolutely loved but I can't decide if I want to do them on her room now. It is a smaller room and I just don't know how it will look. I have posted some pictures of her old room, and would love to know what you think. For now I did her room in the cream , which is actually antique white and am waiting to decide what else I should do. I have played with the idea of doing a chair rail and doing stripes half way down the wall. I know I am going to hang her name and do the same bedding and window treatment. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Kerry's talented Aunt Beth is coming in November and is going to help us again, so we have a lil time to decide. She did an excellent job on the stripes in the nursery, so I know whatever we come up with will be beautiful. We took Bree to the State Fair of Texas on Sat. and had a wonderful time. My Mom, Gramps, Bebe, Aunt Alice and Uncle Charlie went with us. Bree especially loved the bird show. Her favorite part was when a bird took a dollar out of her hand. She laughed so hard. She also enjoyed the rides and games. The ducky game was so fun to watch her play and we let her pick out her own prize. For those of you who know Aubree you won't be surprised that she picked a brown puppy dog. She grabbed it and instantly started kissing and hugging it. Probably not the most sanitary thing, but it was so sweet. The fun house was another one of her favorites. We all enjoyed watching her discover all the wonders of the fair. Kerry and I have been going to the fair since our first year together in 2001. We always enjoy all the neat shows and booths and loved sharing this special event with our daughter. Another highlight this weekend was the Marcus vs Lee football game in Tyler. We went with Justin & Audra to meet Katy Cranfill. Her husband, Greg is the quarterback coach for Marcus. What a game! We enjoyed it just about as much as we enjoyed visiting with Katy. Thanks for inviting us, Katy...hopefully we will see you again at Homecoming. Thanks for checking on us. I will try to post some house pictures soon. XOXOX

Bree is the silliest little girl. She loves to play and laugh. The other day she was laying on our bed and started saying "Binky" and had her hands turned up as if she didn't know where it was. so I started saying "Binky" too and looking for it. After searching for it for a few minutes she went to her secret hiding place and started laughing hysterically and grabbed her binky. I realized at this point that she had hidden her binky and was pretending that it was lost. It was too cute. And of course she wanted to do this about four or five more times. But it was worth it to see her get all worked up laughing at herself so hard every time she "found" it. She also loves to dance and sing and she finds it very amusing to have me dance and sing with her. This is pretty hilarious as I am sure you can imagine. Last Friday the 19th was Mema's 75th B-day and we enjoyed taking her out for dinner and having cake and ice cream with the family. We are so fortunate that Kerry and I have both sets of our grandparents still living. Saturday Bree and I went with Mom, Mema and Pa to Dallas to my great aunnt Doris' house for fun and then we went to lunch with my Pa's brothers and sisters and their spouses. It was great to spend time with everyone. That night we went to Gramps and Bebe's for supper and to watch the UT football game. And of course on Sunday we watched the Cowboys game with everyone at Bebe's as well. Bree especially enjoyed the pizza and playing with her cousins. Although, she is a bit jealous when her Mommy or Bebe or Gramps hold lil Kate. She instantly wants in the lap of whoever is holding Kate. We have had a pretty uneventful week. However, we did enjoy supper at Cecil and Sue's house on Tuesday night. They had the whole bunch over and Bree colored with the boys and played like she was as big as they were. I did see her running from Crew a few times. He likes to give her these huge bear hugs and she gets mad some times if they last longer than she thinks they should. I have been getting ready for a garage sale that Mema is having and Bree just doesn't understand why all our things are out in the carport. Kerry & I have been benefiting enormously from the marriage serious going on at MSBC. We are excited about seeing the movie next weekend, Fireproof. This weekend we are taking Bree to the State Fair in Dallas, so I will let you know how that turns out. Enjoy your weekend !!

Blessings beyond measure!

Blessed beyond measure is how I would describe my life. This past week has been one blessing after another. Bree has continued to talk non stop. Amazing me everyday with new words. She even said "I love you" to me today. Of course I said it to her first but it was still priceless to hear her say it back. She has recently started pointing her finger and saying "No,no, no." I don't do this too often, so I'm not sure where she picked this up, but she loves it. It is cute, for now. I still have to remind her not to say it to Mommy or Daddy, but its cute when she says it to our dog, Alex, or her babies. She also loves to play with her pretend camera and say" Cheese" as she takes a picture. She is at such a fun stage. We went to play with Finlee last night, Justin & Audra Phillips' daughter who is about a month younger than Bree. The girls have such good imaginations. They played with pots and spoons for the longest time. They would stir the invisible food and then take the biggest bites. They were such good sharers too. They had so much fun and we had as much fun watching them play. We spent the weekend mostly having family time. Mostly watching a bunch of movies together. Saturday I helped host a house warming for Lance & Jennifer Davis. They are good friends of mine from high school & also our soon to be neighbors. They have an amazingly beautiful home. Saturday night we hung out with Gramps & Bebe. Bree says "Gamps" for Gramps. Too cute! Sunday was another great message at church and a beautiful song by Bebe. Bree was waiving at Bebe from the congregation the entire song. I still don't know how Bebe kept from laughing. As for our house it is ready to be primed and painted which is what we intend to get done this next week and weekend. Having the walls textured really made a big difference on the looks of the house. Last Wed. the 10th was my 28th b-day. I had a wonderful day and felt like royalty. Kerry & Bree sent me a beautiful basket of flowers and Mom & Mema & Pa sent me a vase of flowers to work. Bebe brought Bree to the office and we had a yummy lunch at Red Lobster. After lunch the sweet girls in the office gave me presents and a delicious chocolate cake. That evening Mom, Mema, Pa, Uncle Kurtis, Kerry , Bree and I had supper at Papadales and then had cake and ice cream at Moms. I then went to pokeno at Cara's house where I had a great time and managed to escape with three lovely gifts. What a wonderful b-day, thank you for all the sweet cards, calls and gestures everyone did to make my day special. Then to keep the celebration going, Debbie(Bebe) had supper for me on Thursday night at their house with the family. This was very uplifting as I spent most of Sept. 11th remembering what tragically happened 7 years ago. My heart goes out to all of America for the pain we all experienced on that day. It was great to spend time with family and thanking God for all that he has done to rebuild the lives that were shattered on that horrible day. May we never forget 9/11. On a brighter note, we had so much fun watching Bree play with her cousins, Parker, Brett & Crew. She adores them and I think they are pretty fond of her too. She can't wait for Kate to get a lil bigger so she can really play with her too. Bree has mastered the art of climbing. She climbs on everything. And thinks she is so funny doing it. She really has a good sense of humor and can really laugh out loud at herself. She really likes to go riding in her wagon lately. That is a daily must right now. She is also getting good at the potty thing. A few times this past week she would take her diaper off and run to her potty to go the bathroom. Talk about exciting. We are so blessed by this precious little girl and all of the other wonderful people in our lives. May you all have a blessed week!

We love because He first loved us. I John 4:19

The sermon at church today was another wonderful message that moved me greatly. It was from I John 4:07-19. Bro. Ronald did an excellent job conveying the message. He spoke of how in order for us to truly love our partner, family and friends we must first accept and love God and rely on on the love God has for us. Very moving and has made me focus a lot on how I need to work on displaying God's love in my everyday behavior and actions. Bree has really grown to enjoy going to the church nursery. She loves to go in there and play and the past two Sundays she has not cried when I leave. This is such a blessing. I can really focus on worship and not worry as much about her because I know she is happy. Her latest is to say"Me need that." Talk about sweet...and hard to resist. Although I keep reminding her that she does not need it, she wants it, but she insist that she needs it. She also loves to play with her camera and say "cheese". It is precious! Friday night we went as a family to the Grand Saline football game. We met Gramps, Uncle Brandon and the boys and uncle Charlie and Martin. Bree was all decked out in her lil cheer leading suit along with her pom-poms. She had so much fun watching the boys run up and down the football field. She was definitely a tiny cheerleader clapping along with the cheerleaders and the band. Friday night football games are just one of my favorite things and I am so glad we get to experience this back in our hometown. What a fun night! Saturday was Jennifer Tolar's baby shower at the MSBC Hub. The old gang, Audra, Katy, Holly, Hollie, Jen and myself met at Papadales for lunch. After a nice visit we headed to the church to set up for the shower that was given by us girls. The shower was so much fun and Jen definitely got "showered" with gifts and love. It was so good to see all of my girls and I was reminded of how wonderful it is to have lifelong best friends who are such caring, wonderful women. It has been awesome to take our friendship to yet another level and experience raising our babies together. What a blessing! These extraordinary women have been close to my heart since elementary school and truly define what friendship is all about. We spent Saturday evening at the Phillips' residence with a few other wonderful couples. Mom took Bree with her and my grandparents to Tyler to a homecoming for my cousin Brad who just got back from serving in Iraq. We hated to miss this but it was definitely great to hang out with our friends. As for our house, it is being taped and bedded this week and will be ready for painting this next weekend. Then we have to tile & carpet the floors, put in the new doors, bathroom vanity and cabinets, light fixtures and appliances and a few other lil things and we should be ready to move in. Hurray!! There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I want to say thank you to all of my wonderful friends and family for all of your unconditional love and for being such an inspiration in my life. Hugs & Kisses to all!!