What a WEEK!!

Whoohooo!! School is O-U-T!! I hope you can hear my excitement throught my words ;)

Last week, Poppy took Jacob fishing at the lake and surprisingly enough they actually caught some fish. Jacob made us cook them and he ate them for dinner (ugh!) but he said they were great!

This week has been a whirlwind though. We had a great time last weekend for Memorial Day. The kids really enjoyed the lake and so did we. I'll post those pictures soon.

Jacob had his awards ceremony on Wednesday, and he got 4 awards for the year. He was second in his class for overall AR points and also got an award for reaching his goal 100% of the time. He was also recognized for doing UIL Storytelling even though he didn't place. Both the kids also got "almost" perfect attendance. They both missed 1 day.

Lauren graduated from kindergarten on Thursday morning and was just precious. Seeing her with he best girl friends hurrying to get each other their phone numbers for the summer was priceless.

Powerful

Something worth reading. http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2008/05/past-and-pitcher.html

Praise God

I wanted to give an update for Will. He had his 2-week post-op visit this week to check his ears and I am thrilled to say that he got a good report. And get this, he said his ears looked
'normal'. Praise God. We also got all of his bloodwork back and ALL of it was 'normal'. Praise God! The child doesn't even have as much as an allergy. Praise God!

To My Daughter, I Love You

When you were born

I held you in my arms

and just kept smiling at you

You always smiled back

your big eyes wide open

full of love

You were such a

beautiful

good

sweet baby

Now

as I watch you grow up

and become your own person

I look at you

your laughter

your happiness

your simplicity

your beauty

And I always know that you will

be able to enjoy a life

of sensitivity

goodness

accomplishment

and love

in a world that hopefully is at peace

I want to tell you that

I am so proud of you

and I dearly

love you

by Susan Polis Schutz

Birthday Girl

I couldn't just let Lauren's birthday go by without doing anything for it, even though she already had her party. We told her we would take her out to eat although Preston swears off restaurants while Will is still young. She asked if we could go to Bonsai Garden so she could hit the "gong" for her birthday. Here are pics from the evening. Note the one of Will escaping his high chair...for this reason Preston still refuses to go out to eat as a family.

Hannah and Lauren watching her Disney mix-max.

Riley and Jacob

Here's that sweet boy already escaping!

Poppy finally rescued him.

Lauren getting to hit the gong. I was a little late for the whole picture.

The Graduate

Also... next Thursday, Lauren will be graduating from Kindergarten. I just got her pictures in from school and they are precious. Our little girl is growing up. (I know I've said that a lot lately)

"Ooo la la" Someone's Turning 6!

Lauren had her birthday party this weekend and it was so precious. Like I said in a previous blog, I just can't believe how big she is getting. She has the BEST disposition and is a blast to be around. She can make anyone smile.

Her party theme was the Parisian pink poodle (I'm not sure everyone quite got that I themed everyting right down to the menu,but I can apprecitate it)and it turned out really cute. Here are some pictures from the event. She got so many great gifts and at the end of the night she would just randomly say, "Oh, I wish I had really hugged so and so, I really appreciate them". It was really sweet and she meant it form her heart. She got some "Fancy Nancy" books and they are the cutest things.



One funny story: I had made the cupcakes on Friday and woke up early on Saturday morning to ice them and Will was absolutley determined to have one. I finally told Preston to let him have one and maybe it would get it our of his system and would leave them alone on the table (not exactly). Later I left to go to town and pick up the balloons and asked Preston to lay Will down for a nap before the party started. When I got home Preston and Lauren were out front with some friends talking and I asked Preston if Will was asleep and he reassured me that "he gets the job done" and he was definitely sleeping in his crib. Well....(I'm sure you know where this is going)as we bring the balloons in we look over at the table where Will is so peacefully sitting casually eating the top of his third cupcake! Needless to say Preston DID NOT get the job done. All was well though, we had enough cupcakes still for everyone and Will was VERY happy. ;)

Grateful

It wasn't until I wrote that word that it doesn't looked right spelled. But spellcheck says it is--so I guess it is!

After spending the weekend relishing in the days of my birthday AND Mother's Day (my husband lets me do anything I want while he takes care of everything around the house and the kids--not often I can get away with that)I have had a lot of time really enjoying my life :). I am so very grateful for every body that is a part of my life. I have great friends who really desire living a fantastic life as well as family who do anything I would ask of them and then some. I know I don;t say it near often enough, but I want to be sure each of you know how truly grateful I am for each and every one of you.

In all of this thinking time I finished another book by Nicholas Sparks, At First Sight. It was really good. I would recommend it and now am almost finish with another one by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley, Redemption. It is even better and I can't wait to finish it and read the next in the series! I have also been planning for Lauren's birthday party this weekend. I cannot believe next Tuesday she will be 6 years old. We tease her everyday that we aren't letting he have another birthday and she'll just have to stay 5, and she hates it when we say it. She loves getting bigger and you can tell that in one conversation with her. She has so much personality and intelligence. I am so proud of her.

Here are some random pictures from this weekend. I got a new PINK camera for Mother's Day and I just now figured out how to get the pictures off of it. Go figure.

"Do All Things Without Complaining"

I spent the morning reading blogs and came across one that really spoke to me. You definitely need to click here to really understand what I am talking about.
I really started to reflect and realize I probably don't speak two sentences that don't include a complaint. How awful am I! I profess it daily to my children, of course, but it takes more than just telling and telling them. I need to SHOW them. I have even gone so far to give them videos on scripture (thanks, Ashley) and it too teaches them about doing things without comlpaining. But how can they when that's not what they see from there own mother. I will really need to revist over and over this entry so I will stay convicted and instead of complain, PRAY.

My Husband

I can't believe I've been married for nine years. I don't know what brought this all on, I was just looking over our photo albums and came across our wedding book. As I scroll through the pictures I can't help but think how young we were. Crazy huh? I loved our wedding. I so wish we could re-do it over and over again (to the same man, of course!) Maybe some day.

Maybe I got to thinking about our wedding because I just finished a great book called The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks (he also wrote The Notebook, Message in a Bottle). If you haven't read it you definitely should. Anyways, it's amazing to think how quickly time goes by and when you look back it seems so long ago.

I want to take a minute to tell just some of the reasons I love my husband:

1. He makes me laugh

2. He comforts me when I am sad

3. He can fix anything

4. He LOVES his kids

5. He can't stay mad at me :)

6. He is cheap (yes, that's a good thing)

7. He can't keep a secret

8. He's a great friend

9. He's ambitious

10. He is a christian

11. He is a great brother/son

12. He'll do anything for me

13. He is strong

14. He is kind

15. He can build anything (except a sidewalk :))

16. He loves my cooking

17. His smile

18. His heart

19. Because when he is around I know everything will be okay

20. He's MINE!!

Welcome!

We have a new addition to the family.

Preston's brother, Brian and his wife Helena, had a baby boy yesterday afternoon.

Meet Braden Daniel Scherr

He was born May 6 and was 6lbs 14oz and 19 3/4 in long.

How exciting we have new life!

I will have to have a talk with him though because he WAS supposed to born on my birthday tomorrow :) I guess since he is sooo cute I'll have to forgive him.

OK

Okay, so we're home now and Will is sleeping in his bed. It surprisingly was a pretty tough morning. He naturally woke up around 5:30 and the first thing he wanted was his juice. It was so hard having to refuse him for the next three hours. He is also so wise to what is going on and is very afraid of anyone in the medical field. Poor guy. We got there around 6:20 and they took him around 8:10. The doc said he was going to be sure he irrigated his ears well after removing the tubes. He used a liter of antibiotic to irrigate the ears!! WOW! He said by the end they had finally started to run clear. Good news was the infection was still on the outside of the eardrum and the mastoids were still clear. He went ahead and did a full work up of blood. They are doing more allergy testing and doing his blood count again to see if the anemia has resolved. He also for safe measure went ahead and is testing his immune system to see if anything has changed. The last time they did this the levels came back normal. So I am not too terribly worried, although there is always a bit in the back of your mind. They went ahead and gave him IV antibiotics while he was in recovery so we hope he is topped off and is good to go. He had a very hard time in recovery. I have never heard my son cry the way he did this morning. It absolutely broke my heart to know there was nothing I could do to soothe him. I pray so much that this is the last time he EVER has to go through this again.
Thanks for all of your continued prayers. I know they are working.

Play Time

The week has been relatively uneventful. We were able to enjoy some things we haven't done in the past. On Thursday we had some friends out for dinner and had a great time! It's been a long time since we have gotten together, and despite a some-what messy house, the night went along quite well. I have come to realize the important things in life, and it's not to always have the most immaculate house, or ALL of the laundry washed and put away. If I waited for all of this to happen, we would probably never do anything. (Kind of like we have in the past.) But I'm over it. So, sorry in advance to any other guest in my house. I also enjoyed a night out with just the girls. I was invited by another friend who I haven't been in touch with for some time to go to the movies on Friday and I really enjoyed myself. (Thanks, Ash) It is a rare occasion that I do anything without a kid or spouse, so it was nice to be "alone". I have made it a goal to really focus on my friendships now. It is so easy to get swept away in this monotonous life that consumes us. We all have this routine that we stick to and in the meantime things get pushed aside and one of those things for me are my friendships with others outside of my family. I am changing this NOW! So prepare yourselves for the new and improved me :).

On another note, yesterday while I was on the computer Will had been watching his daddy on the tractor in the front yard out the office window. He disappeared and things were really quiet. (For those of you who talk to me regularly, you know that this means he has escaped on his four-wheeler halfway down the street), but not this time. After searching all of the bathrooms (another favorite) I heard some banging on his baby monitor in my bedroom. So I quietly proceeded to his room where I CAUGHT him!!! He was actually PLAYING in his room on his floor all by himself. I had to take a picture of this momentous occasion. He never plays in his room, and he certainly never plays in there alone. He must be growing up.

His surgery is on Tuesday. Please pray for him. Please pray that this is the answer and for a full recovery. Please pray there are no complications and we are home quickly. I'll update after the surgery.