What's going on with me?

Oh me oh my....my blogging just continues to go downhill. Or I guess in reality I am just so busy living that there is not much time to "write" about it.

I will back up to Easter. We had a wonderful couple of days with my parents Easter weekend. They came up for a night and joined us at our "Journey to the Cross" at church. They were able to watch Ali and I make our acting debut as ladies explaining the palm branches. Ha!! Ali wasn't too thrilled. (ummmm, she's a preteen...enough said) The program turned out wonderfully, especially considering it was the first year for it. Easter morning...not sure what we were thinking...but we decided to attend our sunrise service. I will admit that it was a lovely service, but we had to leave our house at 5:40am. (yawn!) Thinking we will catch the second service next year! Anyway, it unfortunately rained that afternoon, so the Easter bunny had to leave the eggs inside this year. Creativity was the key to pulling that off.

Last weekend was spent at the University of Houston for one of Ali's swim meets. It was the first long course meet of the season, so Ali was a little nervous. She did just fine, and looks forward to other meets during the summer. She decided to join the community summer swim team in addition to her year around team. We will have swim meets every Saturday mid May through the end of June. We are changing year around teams as of this Friday. We weren't completely happy with some dynamics with the team, so another opportunity presented itself and we ran with it. We hope this is a great opportunity for her...a new coach, new team, and a more dedicated Ali. She truly loves the sport of swimming and wants to push herself to improve. She is probably going to start swimming 6 times a week now. Don't ask me HOW...but we will figure it out as we go along. I know it sounds crazy to a lot of people (going to swim practice 6 times a week), but if it is what she loves...then we will do what it takes. Some days that means running from swim practice, to a soccer game, and back to swim practice...but that is life as we know it. And have I ever mentioned, I LOVE my life. Even with the chaos of running 10 different directions at times, I wouldn't change a thing.

Clark is loving soccer. He had his second game on Saturday. The game last week was rained out. We have gotten massive amounts of rain 2 weekends in a row...enough already. Ha! Anyway, he ran his heart out at the game. He definitely wants to have the ball...ALL the time. He will even try to kick it away from a kid on his OWN team. He doesn't care...he just knows he WANTS that ball. It is pretty funny. He is understanding the rules better now, which is definitely a good thing. He actually kicked it to the correct goal this week!!! That was a great bonus. He will be sad when the soccer season is over. However, there is an indoor soccer place here that I might look into. Well, speaking of Clark...he continues to make us laugh with a few funny sayings. Here are a couple from the last few weeks.

Clark: (he was playing with an 18 wheeler truck and he proceeded to tell me what he was pretending...) "Mama...I am driving, Ali is right here (pointing to the passenger side) and you are in the back." (meaning the trailer portion....GREAT...see where I line up in the grand scheme of things)

Clark: (we were in the van on the way to the swim meet last weekend and he was drawing on his magna doodle) "This is you, Mama...you only have ONE eye because an alligator bite it off." (ummm, that is just fabulous...he erased it and started over...but this time...) "Now you have a hundred eyes and LOTS of legs" (his drawing this time was a person with MANY eyes and LOTS of legs...I am beginning to get a complex)

We are down to 5 days until we head off into the wild blue yonder!!! (vacation that is) Wew, lots to do between now and then. I keep telling Ali to wear old clothes this week so that I can keep the newer things clean and get them packed. We will see if she listens. We decided to spend a couple of nights in Ft. Walton Beach, FL on the way down. The beach is just too beautiful to pass up. The kids will enjoy playing in the sand, and T.C. and I will enjoy some relaxation before the craziness of "the happiest place on earth." Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Disney as much as a child...but relaxing, it just isn't. I might also get to see some old friends along the way.

13 years.......seems crazy to say that. T.C. and I celebrated our 13 year anniversary this weekend. How is that possible? Seems like just yesterday he was sweeping me off of my feet as a cadet at the Air Force Academy. Surely I'm not 13 years older....I mean I was JUST a 21 year old young thing becoming rather smitten with a handsome young fellow! How did the time pass so quickly? Yet, when I look at where we have come since those days so long ago...I realize how much time has passed since then. We have lived in 4 states, not counting Colorado where we started....have 2 children, endured graduate school, spent time on active duty in the military, and changed careers to hopefully settle down. Wew, a lot happened in a 13 year time frame. All I know is that we are more in love now than we ever knew possible. God blessed me beyond measure when he sent that cute dark headed cadet over in my direction...and my life would never be the same...thank you Lord!!

Here are some pictures from Easter and beyond....

Easter and beyond...

I am getting worse instead of getting better at this blogging thing! I'm not sure what's up with that. I guess I feel like my weeks are repetitive and therefore not usually "blog worthy" if you will.One day leads to the next, and before I know it, yet another week has flown by. I am looking forward to the approach of summer. Things might slow down a bit, and I can perhaps enjoy some laid back time with the kids. It is nice when we don't have deadlines with schoolwork, and preschool to run off to. The kids will have their usual activities of swim team, gymnastics, and hopefully some swim lessons for Clark. Somehow though, summer seems a little more carefree. Ahhh, I look forward to it.

The countdown has begun for our vacation. We leave 3 weeks from Sunday to head down to the "happiest place on earth"....Disney World. The children are so excited. (ok, the big kid is too...and that would be ME!) I have such fond memories of going there as a child, that I want our kiddos to have that too! We will be getting 5 day hopper passes and plan on visiting all of the parks along with one of the water parks. It is such a blessing that they are having a special for military right now and giving away a 5 day pass to the military member (and we LOVE free!!) and only charging $99 for the other family members! What a great deal. It is saving us quite a bit of money. I also found a great rate at one of the Disney value resorts. I go a little overboard on all the vacation planning, but hopefully it will pay off in the end. We have reservations for a character meal with all of the Winnie the Pooh characters. Clark should enjoy that. We wanted to do the same character meal that we did last time, when Ali was 7. However, it was already booked....who knew you needed to plan your meals 3 MONTHS ahead of time. Jeepers! Hopefully it will be a week filled with many wonderful memories that we will think back on for years to come.

Clark had his first soccer game last Saturday. T.C. was sad that he had to miss it. It was his National Guard weekend, so he had to work. Well, the game was definitely "America's Funniest Home Videos" worthy!! It was hysterical. Clark sure had enough enthusiasm. He would get so pumped when ANY goal was scored...even if it wasn't his team member. Ha! The kids would generally kick it into whatever goal was closests to them, regardless if it was the correct one or not. Clark is turning out to be quite the ball hog. He got tackled a few times as a result of that. Oh maybe the rules will click in the coming weeks.

Ali made good grades on her last report card...all A's and a B. Thank goodness she got her daddy's brains. I think she is looking forward to this being her last 9 weeks of the school year. She has another big swim meet next weekend. It is at the University of Houston. She is really wanting to join the community summer swim team again. It is hard juggling 2 different swim teams, different practices, different meets...not sure yet what we are going to do. She swam on that summer team 2 summers in a row, and really looks forward to it. Oh the things we do for our children, like live at the pool all summer long in the 100 degree heat. :)

Ali got her braces off last week. To say she was excited is an understatement. After 4years of having first expanders and braces, a small break with permanent retainers, and then braces again, she was ready! Her teeth look beautiful. (thank goodness, after all the $$$ spent..haha)

We hope you are enjoying spring. It is lovely with all the flowers and trees in bloom. The warmth in the air, and the wind in the trees. For us Texans, it is a much appreciated time of nice weather before the heat of summer arrives.

I hope you join us, as we try and turn our focus to Jesus' empty tomb. May we anticipate the celebration of the resurrection this Easter weekend. I am so undeserving of what Christ did for me at the cross. But so thankful he paid the price for OUR sins! Thank you Jesus.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks. Clark attended an Easter egg hunt at the church where he goes to preschool...the bunny was there too! He was so excited.

Spring breakin' it...

Wow, it has been a while since I posted. I am getting bad at the whole blogging thing! I guess I just get busy living daily life that I forget to blog about it. Life is passing me by at an incredibly fast pace these days. I see first hand how our children's childhood will pass all too quickly. It makes me sad at times. I just want to freeze time sometimes. (and at other times I want to fast forward...haha...just kidding...just a fleeting thought when I deal with yet another tantrum or preteen attitude)

We have been spring breakin' it this past week. It was a fun time, free from school and other activities. We went to Lake Charles and spent several days with my parents. The kids always enjoy getting royally spoiled by the grandparents. Funny how when you become grandparents, you forget all the things you didn't let your own children do when they were young...but somehow it is perfectly fine for the grandchildren!! HUMMMM....oh like cookies for breakfast, coke galore (or should I say Root Beer..and I believe Mom's words exactly were "Ali can have an much Root Beer as she wants, I know it is her favorite" heehee), candy (as often and as much as they want), etc. Hahahaha...oh Mom and Dad you know I am kidding...Ali and Clark LOVE the spoiling immensely. I wish I had had that growing up, so I am so thankful they do!

While in Lake Charles, we were also able to get some baby Kai sugar!! He is so precious. He is over 11 lbs. now, I believe. At six months old, that doesn't sound like much...but considering he started out at just over 2 lbs., that is great!! That little guy will be going off to kindergarten before we all know it.

We were also able to fit in a couple of outings with friends towards the end of the week. Ali wanted to get together with a friend from church, and Clark wanted an outing with a school friend. Bayou Wildlife Park was one outing. It is a lot of fun. You take a tram ride around acres and acres of land where the animals are free roaming. There is also a petting zoo...Clark fell in love with a baby goat. For Clark's outing, we went to the Downtown Aquarium and had a great time. We had never been before, so it was fun trying something new. We had lunch at the restaurant, and rode the shark voyage train. It goes through a shark tunnel, which the kids loved.

This weekend was mostly filled with house cleaning. Ummmm, not my favorite chore...but a necessary evil. We did, however, manage to sneak in a trip to the beach on Saturday. Galveston is slowly but surely trying to make a comeback. The beach was packed! The kids made sand castles til' their hearts content.

Today I HAD to clean out Clark's closet...wouldn't it be nice if those things cleaned themselves out? Ahhhh! By clean out I mean pull EVERYTHING out and start over. I did get a little sentimental cleaning out his dresser. I came across the clothes I bought him in Ukraine! They were so little. He was so little! He wore 12 month shorts back then. (sniff~sniff) The next couple of days I am tackling my side of the our closet. We bought a new cabinet today that I am going to use to get organized in there. I am bound and determined to organize that closet!!! I am wondering......after cleaning out a couple of closets......can this qualify as my "spring cleaning?" But too bad we have to start out in the garage next. YUCK!!!! Now that will be a major undertaking!!

Clark started soccer this week. It was so cute. Let me tell you, what he lacked in talent, he more than made up for in enthusiasm. Hopefully the rules will sink in eventually! His first game is in a couple of weeks.

Ali gets her braces off on April 1st. She can't wait. The countdown has begun.

Well, I will leave you with some photos from our week!

spring break

Goin' for gold

Ali had another swim meet this weekend...today and tomorrow. Today, she got a gold medal in her 50 free!! This was quite a surprise for her, as she doesn't usually place! She was beyond excited. It was a champ meet. She also got a 5th place ribbon in her 100 back. Her hard work is paying off, as she seems to be pushing herself more than in the past. We are so proud of her. We don't care whether she places or not, just that she does her best! But it was sure a nice bonus for her.

Just wanted to brag on our girl a little. Here are a few pictures of Ali's medal, the kids playing some indoor basketball (I know...crazy, this goal should be OUTSIDE!!), and Clark showing off his batman pj's!

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention our excitement on Tuesday...ok, maybe not "excitement." Ali was finishing up her breakfast on Tuesday when I came in to get Clark something to eat. She was taking her dishes over to the sink when we bumped shoulders on accident. She happened to loose her footing and fell over our trashcan. It was such a freak thing. Needless to say, she headed for the tile with dishes in hand.......glass was everywhere and she ended up slicing her thumb. (her cereal bowl broke in her hand when she hit the floor) We got her cleaned up and headed for the ER. She ended up needing 4 stitches, as it was a very deep cut. The doctor said she was fortunate it was in the pad of her thumb and not further down...it would have cut tendons. She did pass out on the last stitch...it wasn't numb and she felt the needle enter and exit...OUCH! She was such a trooper though! The doctor couldn't believe she didn't even flinch when he gave the numbing shot right in the middle of the cut. It was enough to about make ME pass out watching. (it doesn't take much) However, she just squeezed my hand and made a face. Never a dull moment around here......

swim meet

The season of Lent has begun.....

Growing up Southern Baptist, I was not familiar with the Lenten season at all. However, since becoming Lutheran, it has been fascinating to me to learn all about the traditions other denominations celebrate. This season has to be one of my favorites. We began the season at our Ash Wednesday service last night at church. We were all given the sign of the cross on our foreheads with ashes. It is such a beautiful remembrance of what all this season holds for us as Christians. You can read all about it here. Actually, the children entered and exited the church Sunday with the Alleluia banners. We will not be singing alleluias until Easter morning! Clark made a cute alleluia picture in Sunday School and he carried that, as did the other children in his class. It was so cute! I hope to spend this season reflecting on my life, and all Christ did for me on the cross. Ali and I will be participating in a program for the children called Journey to the Cross. You can read all about it here. We are going to be doing the palm branches station. Children will wave palm branches in the air and place them on the pathway. It will be the first time our church has done this, and we are so excited about it. It will give the children a tangible example of Jesus' journey. I can't wait for Clark to experience it all. The children will end their journey at an empty tomb.

Tuesday did not start out so well for Ali. She should have slept late and avoided the incident all together! But as it was, she was in the kitchen eating cereal when I came in to get Clark some breakfast. She finished up, and was taking her dishes to the sink. I was walking past her headed to the pantry when we bumped shoulders. No big deal, however, somehow she lost her footing...turned around...and fell over our trashcan...onto the TILE floor. Yeah, generally not something you want to face plant on. She, of course, instinctively tried to catch herself........but with her breakfast dishes in her hand! The glass went flying, but the cereal bowl broke in her hand. We didn't realize immediately that she had cut herself...I was more concerned with if she was hurt from the fall. I grabbed her to help her up and we realized her hand was dripping with blood. She had gashed her thumb pretty badly. After washing it off, we realized it definitely needed stitches...so off to the ER we went. The doctor said she was fortunate it was the pad of her thumb. If it had been the lower part, it would have cut tendons...NO FUN! It was a very deep cut, requiring 4 stitches. She was a trooper, the doctor couldn't believe she sat so still for it ALL...even the numbing shot RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CUT. I couldn't watch that part!!! I would have had to have been picked up off the floor....and hospital floors REALLY gross me out! Try keeping a 5 year old boy off the floor....yeah right! Clark definitely got a good scrubbing off that night! Anyway, when all was said and done...she was all stitched up and in quite a bit of pain. It seems to be feeling some better now. The stitches will come out next Wed. She went from an ear infection last week, to stitches...I do believe she is ready to not see a doctor for a while!

Clark is going to play on an Upwards Soccer team! He had his evaluation this past Sat. It is going to be so cute. We had to buy the smallest cleats that they make..oh, and also the smallest shin guards. Practices begin the week of March 9th. He are hoping he runs towards the correct goal. Haha!!

The most recent Clark funny is what he came out of children's choir last night saying. His teacher, Miss Stephanie, was talking to the kids about Lent and that yesterday was Ash Wednesday. So this was Clark's take on it after choir. He came running out to us after choir was over with a cute Lenten calendar page to color. It is in the shape of a cross, etc. and you color one number a day leading up to Easter. He proudly tells us, "today is after Wednesday." Me, "it is Ash Wednesday, honey." Clark, "oh yeah, Ash Wed."

Ali has another swim meet this weekend. T.C. will miss it, as it is drill weekend for the Guard. She hopes to improve her times even more than she did a few weeks ago.

Have a great rest of the week!

Having fun at putt-putt

Last weekend, the kids and I met some friends at Putt-Putt Fun House for a day of goofing off. They had a blast. On Saturdays, they have a great $10 deal that we had to take advantage of! The kids played putt-putt, some games, Ali and Sierra rode the bumper boats, and had lunch. We will definitely be doing that again soon! You should have seen Clark playing putt-putt. It was hysterical! He didn't care if the club was turned the right way or not...he just started swinging! :)

Nothing new around here really. We are trying to get estimates for our fence. We need our entire fence replaced. Can you say it with me........cha-ching!! Yikes. We hope our neighbors are willing to pay their portion. We are supposedly only responsible for half of the fence, but we seem to be the only ones READY to get it replaced! I am a little tired of the ghetto look in our backyard. The orange plastic temporary fencing is not so cute.

Clark seems to be doing well with his speech therapy. I love the therapist, she is SO patient and sweet. She is really trying to get him to focus on the hypernasal sounds. It is going to take some work on his part...we'll get there.

He loved exchanging Valentine's at school this week. He brought home a bag of goodies. He has been taking huge Reese's hearts to all of teachers. He loved doing that. He wanted to bring flowers to his music (hand bells and choir) teacher at church. Isn't that funny? (but we just stuck with the chocolate) A girl in his class wanted to give Clark a special "big" Valentine. The mother thought it was so funny that she had to stop me the other day and tell me. She said when they were shopping for the class Valentine's, the daughter said "I want to give Clark a big one." I thought that was too precious! Such a ladies man....haha.

Ali is just swimming her heart out. She has another swim meet in 2 weekends. She is also thinking about playing in the "strings" band for the Lenten season at church on Wednesday nights. She is going to take a look at the music this week to see if she can play it. Our music director was so excited to find out that she plays the guitar. It will be good for her to play in front of a group and to get comfortable with that. God has given her a talent that I want her to learn to share for His glory!

God gave me the MOST precious moment this morning. He does things right when we need them the most. Ali has swim practice on Saturday mornings from 8-10am, and this is one of my days to drive (we carpool with another family). I usually take Clark to a McDonald's playland to play for a while during the wait. This morning was a little rough, he got in bed too late last night...and I had to wake him up too early this morning. Needless to say...he was a little whiny! I was trying to do a little of his speech therapy homework in the van before we headed to McDonald's...there were a few tears shed...and a little frustration coming from the mom, I admit! However, we make it to McDonald's, order our food, and start eating. After a few minutes, a nice man (maybe early 50's or so) comes up to our table and rubs Clark's arm. He told me what a precious boy I had, and what a blessing he was. The entire short time he talked he was just staring intently at Clark...it was beautiful. He almost looked like he had tears in his eyes. It was very touching. I just told him thank you and that yes, he was a blessing. The man then just walked off. It left me wondering if this man had gone through something sad with a child, but I will never know. However, it also instantly reminded of this wonderful blessing that sat right before me eating his sausage biscuit. He is SUCH a blessing, and I was very thankful for that reminder! We will always be grateful for the children God has entrusted to our care.

I am posting some pictures from our outing last weekend...and our furry babies.

putt putt

Ali....the serenading swimmer

Ok, maybe she can't REALLY mix her two interests. However, she was in a swim meet this past Saturday, and also a guitar recital. She literally hopped out of the water from her last event, and ran into the dressing room to change for the music recital. We made it in time, thank goodness. She was nervous about the recital, as she doesn't like to play in front of people. However, once she started, you couldn't even tell. She did a great job. I will post some video clips at the end. She played a duet with her teacher. Her teacher considers her one of his "advanced" students...so after only playing for about 3 years, that isn't too bad. She really loves it.

As for the swim meet...we were blown away. She improved SO much from the last meet she was in. She shaved 30 seconds off of her best 200 freestyle time. That is awesome! Her second best improvement was shaving 24 seconds off of her best 100 backstroke time. We were so proud of her! As her coach said after one of her events, "if you can do this well at the meet...don't be farting around at practice." Hahahaha!!! Ali thought that was pretty funny. I must say, the girls can definitely do some talking at the practices. Ha!! (to be expected) As Peter Pan says, "girls talk too much." :)

Clark is coming right along. He began speech therapy a couple of weeks ago. His first actual therapy session was today. The last 2 weeks were evaluation. They are working on his hypernasal speech. The therapist is hopeful it can be correct. She said a little time will tell if it is actually a medical issue that doesn't allow him to cut his airway off when saying some sounds. Hopefully it is just a matter of retraining. We will wait and see. Each week we will have "homework" to work on prior to the next weeks session. He did just fine today...was a little distracted with some toys that were in the room. Of course, the boy lives to play!!! The therapist was impressed during his evaluation. She said he has a great grasp of the English language after only 1 1/2 years. We have been trying to do a little more schooling at home. He is doing so much better on writing his letters. He started out behind the curve, but we are hopeful that he will catch up. He would just much rather be riding his bike than sitting in front of some school books. (of course) Another funny I can add to the list...the other day Clark comes out of our bathroom holding MY toothbrush:
Clark: Someone left their toothbrush on MY sink
Rachel: Well actually that is OUR bathroom and that is MY sink...so I left my toothbrush by my sink
Clark: (with a confused look on his face) You need to put your toothbrush up.
hahaha!!!

swim meet and guitar recital

Happy Birthday...to my honey!!

I just wanted to send a Happy Birthday shout out to my wonderful husband! We decided to celebrate last night, as we had to get Ali to swim practice tonight. It was fun. Ali cooked up the dinner with a sandwich recipe she got out of one of her cookbooks. She even made the cake, though she let Clark act like he helped a little too.

T.C.'s birthday

It's been a long time......

I can't believe I haven't posted anything for several weeks now. Time flies. Not much has happened at all...guess that's why I didn't want to bore you guys with the details. Ha! Sadly, we didn't get our Christmas trees and decorations down until LAST weekend. Can you believe that? It seemed to be one thing after another on the weekends, hence the delay. The house felt so much larger after it was all put away. I mean, we do kind of go overboard with the decorations...I admit that. (2 big trees downstairs, 1 smaller one on the landing upstairs, and 1 in each kiddos room) What can I say, I LOVE Christmas decorations...it is just the putting away that gets me every time. YUCK!

I thought I would share some funny things that Clark has said over the last couple of weeks. (more or less I just want to have a copy of it so I don't forget!)

I was helping Clark with something in the kitchen one day and he told me, "thank you, Mama, but I don't need any help." (ummm, ok..at least he was being polite, right?)

We were running late for gymnastics last week (as usual..haha) and I ran a yellow light (ok, that happened to turn red right as we were passing through it) Clark yells out "red means STOP...you didn't stop" and later on our way home we came to a yellow light and he tells me "be careful." How funny is that?

Some twin babies were being baptized last Wed. night at church, and after the baptism was finished he tells us in a not so inside voice, "I want a baby at my home."

Yesterday during breakfast (out of nowhere!!) Clark informs me, "I want a baby at my home...I didn't get one for Christmas...I can have a baby boy in my room and Ali can have a baby girl in her room." So I ask him if his "baby" is going to sleep in his room and he says, "no, in yours"......love how he doesn't feel the need to run adding 2 other children to our family by ME first. hahaha...gotta love kids!

So as you see, Clark can say the funniest things at times. God definitely added him to our family to keep us young...or at least try!

I had my first official "girls night out" last weekend. It was so fun! I mean, of course after all these years I have gotten together with other moms, etc. But this was a larger group of gals that gets together once a month for dinner or a movie, etc. A mom at Clark's preschool invited me. Clark and her daughter are friends. Anyway, we went to one of those movie theaters where you order dinner and eat while watching a movie. I hadn't been to one of those before. We saw Bride Wars which was really cute. Afterwards, we went to a French cafe and had desert, etc. It was a lot of fun...I plan on making that a monthly ritual now. I took along a good friend of mine, and she enjoyed it as well.

T.C. offered to take Ali to swimming this morning because I wanted to get in another Curves workout...guess I better get off of this computer in a minute so that I can do that!!

Ali is doing well. She has a swim meet all next weekend. We are anxious to see how she does, as she hasn't been in a meet in several months. She also will participate in her first music recital for guitar. She isn't thrilled about that...she doesn't love playing in front of people. It will be good for her though.

All of you out there.........if you have put in some type of wood flooring....give us your comments. We are thinking about putting some in within the next year or two. Who knows if it will actually happen, but we would really love to. We have an interest in bamboo flooring. We don't know anything about it though. We really just love the idea that bamboo grows back so quickly.

Better run workout before the fam gets home. LOL!

random...

Happy Birthday, Clark!!

We simply can't believe it...5 years ago today, thousands of miles away...God brought our son into the world. We will be forever thankful for that! This little man has brought so much happiness (and craziness) into our lives.

He has had a fun few days. He started out celebrating on Saturday, with a few friends over for lunch and cake. (a batman cake, that is!) Today I brought cupcakes to his school so he could celebrate with his classmates. You should have heard all the kiddos when I walked in with the goods...."yeah...yippy...look.." We finished up the birthday with a trip to play at the McDonald's playland while Ali was at swim practice. He had a great time. He was excited this year, as he understood more of what was going on. He goes for his check-up tomorrow to see how he has grown this year. We are hoping he is at least on the growth chart now! heehee! Interestingly enough...his sister is off the chart in the other direction.

Clark's birthday

Update on our Christmas

We hope everyone had a blessed Christmas! Ours was quite nice, albeit a little rushed to get everything squeezed into Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Since we traveled the week prior to Christmas, I didn't get everything done prior to our travel that I would have liked. However, in the end it worked out great. We spent Christmas Eve making cookies, attending a service at church, singing Happy Birthday to Jesus with cupcakes, hunting for Rudolph in the sky with Clark, putting out milk and cookies for Santa, talking about the following day being Jesus' birthday, etc. It was a fun day filled with much anticipation from our children. When I tucked Clark into bed that night, he was giddy with excitement and told me "I am SO excited!" It was priceless. He woke up on Christmas morn asking if Santa (or Noah as he calls him at times) had come. Ali, being 12 now, is still a little "too cool" to act too excited. Ha!!

The kids had a wonderful time searching through their gifts. Ali's favorite gift was an electric guitar (what were we thinking?) and Clark's favorite was a Batman batcave. He also got a bike and was proud as he rode it around the kitchen.

After we celebrated as a family and had brunch, we headed out for our Christmas service at church. It was a nice way to turn our focus back to the true meaning of the day. After the service, we made our way to Lake Charles, LA to spend the day with my parents and brother and his family. We were able to see baby Kai again. He has grown since we last saw him at 3 1/2 lbs. as he is a little over 7 lbs. now!! What a precious little guy.

We returned Saturday afternoon from Louisiana....without our kiddos!! My parents wanted to keep them a few days since they were on break from school. I miss them...it is just too quiet around here!

We are trying to work in our 4th bedroom while the kids are away. We wanted to surprise them when they returned home with a new playroom. However, we are never going to get that room finished in time. Oh well!! We have decided to turn our guest room into a playroom for the kids (and T.C. when he wants to play Guitar Hero!!). We are taking the beds down...adding some shelves for toys...setting up Clark's drum set to go with Ali's electric guitar...etc. We still WELCOME guests as we asked for a great Comfort Zone Raised Aerobed for Christmas. It is so neat...the height of a regular bed...but portable when not in use! We thought it was the perfect solution. I think the kids will love having a space that is theirs for all the excess toys/games/movies!!

Here are some pictures from our Christmas.

Christmas

Long time no post....

Well since I last posted we have traveled to and from Indiana, visit with our friends in Louisville, celebrated Ali's 12th birthday, watched Clark be an angel in the children's program at church, made our annual gingerbread house, took Ali to a Toby Mac concert, anticipate the celebration of the birth of our savior, and much more! Oh yes, we also got a little snow down here in south TX! It has been one busy December. This week I just want us to slow down and enjoy the season. (is that possible...the slowing down part?)

We just returned home Sunday from our week long trip up to Indiana and Kentucky. Traveling with 2 kids and 2 dogs definitely had its interesting moments. Ali was able to celebrate her birthday with old friends from Louisville. We had 2 parties in the same day! (she got 2 birthday cakes!!) She had the first celebration with some homeschooled friends. They had a blast making an ornament, playing out in the cold, and having pizza and homemade hot fudge ice cream cake!! (talk about yummy!) Later that evening, she also had cake and ice cream with her friends at our old church. She enjoyed her day very much!

In Indiana, the kids had some special time with their cousins Jackson and Sawyer. Clark and Jackson are only 8 months apart, so they played cars and trains until their little hearts content. All in all it was a good time.

Yesterday Ali and her best friend were able to have a little joint birthday celebration with a couple of friends. (their birthdays are only a few days apart) They went to a place called Main Event and played laser tag, inside golf, and arcade games. They had a blast.

Now I am in a mad rush to wrap gifts for my side of the family, unpack/finish laundry/and repack to go to see my family Christmas afternoon, get everything ready for our kids "Santa" visit, hopefully bake some more Christmas cookies, etc. All that said I need to get off of this computer. Heehee!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas as we reflect on the birth of our savior!

December

A new roof at last....

As I am typing this, our roofers are on their way! We will finally get rid of the blue tarp that has been covering our roof for 2 1/2 months now.

Though we all ate way too much, our Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful. Our friends flew in from New Mexico, and my parents came in. We had fun cooking in the kitchen and enjoying a delicious meal.

The day after Thanksgiving, we hit the stores at 4AM........or NOT!!! I can never bring myself to do that...I breakout in a cold sweat thinking of those crowds. However, we did take our friends to Space Center Houston. We stayed all afternoon and had a great time. We took a tram tour, watched an IMAX show on becoming an astronaut, and walked the exhibits.

When our friends had to return to New Mexico, we figured it was time to start preparing our home for Christmas. I guess I am a little obsessed, I admit...but a dozen plastic tubs and 5 trees later...we are decorated. Ok, one tree is very small and in Clark's room! However, we do have 2 full sized trees downstairs, one 4ft. tree on the upstairs landing, and a 5 or 6ft. tree in Ali's room. I LOVE Christmas...the sights, sounds, smells, tastes...and especially celebrating the birth of our saviour! It just all came a little too soon it seemed this year. It doesn't seem like it should be Christmas yet. But, it is and we have to run with it. I am not quite finished with the shopping. We hope to get it finished up very soon. We leave for Indiana a week from Saturday...so I am kind of in a time crunch. We are so excited to also be able to see our friends in Louisville, since it is only an hour away from T.C.'s family!! Ali is TOOOOO excited.

Clark had school pictures taken a while back, and we were to pick out our favorite pose yesterday. Pose? Shouldn't school pictures be you get what you get. That is how it was when I was a kid...you take your ONE picture...and hope for the best. Ummm, it doesn't work like that anymore in preschool. Some (overpriced) photographer shows up and low and behold...we go in to look at the pictures...and Clark wasn't even wearing the clothes I sent him to school in. The photographer CHANGED all the kids clothes into these goofy staged photos. To say they were lame is an understatement. Here is the rundown on the photo shoot...the boys all got their pictures taken in a nerdy button down shirt (buttoned up to the top) and a sweater vest...they even combed his hair straight down like a dork...then another with a soccer jersey and ball and the final one was a NASCAR picture with a jacket and hat on. Like seriously....we don't even watch NASCAR nor does he play soccer. Ummm, hello people!!! I was thinking to myself that I sent him in a polo shirt and cute shorts for a reason. Long story short, I felt obligated to purchase a pose...get this...for $25 a SHEET!! Ugh...

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is enjoying the start of this blessed CHRISTmas season!

Preparations for Thanksgiving....

The time has come...I have put it off for as long as possible. (the dreaded Thanksgiving grocery trip, that is!) I love eating the Thanksgiving meal, just usually put off the shopping trip for as long as I can. However, the day has come!!

We are so excited to have friends from our Albuquerque days flying in on Wednesday. It is Ali's best friend while we lived there, and her mom. We can't wait to see them! It has been 3 years since we last saw them. My parents are also coming in tomorrow for Thanksgiving. We will hopefully have a great time visiting and making yummy foods in the kitchen. However, today is the day to finish getting the house in order and kitchen stocked. (not to mention homeschooling, orthodontics, and swim practice, etc...are there enough hours in the day?)

There hasn't been much going on lately to blog about..same old same old. The kiddos are doing well. Ali had a sinus infection last week and T.C. had the crud also. I think they are both on the mend, or at least I hope. Clark has a touch of it, but seems to be fine.

Last week we were able to have dinner with a family that just adopted a 5 1/2 year old little boy from Ukraine. They live outside of San Antonio and used the same adoption agency as we did. We were in contact with them prior to their traveling to give them tips from the "been there done that file." Their son is SO cute. They have only been home for 2-3 weeks, so he is still speaking fluent Russian. He and Clark just played and played despite the fact that they couldn't speak to each other. It was so funny, I asked Clark that night as we were putting him to bed if he and Jamie talked to each other. He said "no, we didn't talk...yes, we did...but he still talks Ukraine...like I did in Ukraine" Then I asked "well, did you understand him?" He got this funny look on his face and answered "No." Ha...I guess it at least sounded familiar. They were in town for an appointment with a doctor that specializes in internationally adopted children.

Our nephew is out of the hospital. He was able to go home since my sister in law is an RN and knows how to take care of his medicines, tube feedings, etc. What a blessing for them! Now we just continue to pray he gains weight quickly so his little heart can be repaired.

I must start my crazy day! We have much to be thankful for this year. We hope each of you takes time to give thanks to our heavenly father for all the blessings he bestows on us. I know we are thankful for our family...our precious children mean the world to us. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Kids Christmas pictures

Go to www.smilesbywire.com and enter Rachel Judd (space between) as the name and LTPP0019100192JCP as the access code.

Watch out HGTV!

HGTV better just watch out...because my hubby made a pretty stinkin' cool wall today! We have had the idea, for about a year and a half, to turn one of our blank walls in our downstairs into a "wall of fame"...or not so fame. Anyhoo, we wanted all of our family photos in one spot. It turned out so neat. (or at least we think it did) The frames don't match, as we have just collected them through the years...but that is how we envisioned it. Just a hodgepodge of memories. Thank heavens for the engineer in the house! He had the idea to use our living room floor as the design center...he measured the wall...mapped it out on the floor...and went to town. (then just transferred them over to the wall) We are pooped now. We spent all weekend and today either shopping, putting things together, etc. etc. Let me explain...we finally made it into 2008 and broke down and bought a flat screen T.V. We are always (and I mean always) behind the times. But, we're alright with that. We don't really put much thought into buying up the latest and greatest gadget. However, the T.V. that the kids have upstairs in the 4th bedroom (for movies and PS2) is going out. It's only 17 years old...don't know what could be the problem. heehee!! So we broke down and bought a flat screen for downstairs so we could move our old one upstairs for the kids. All that said, Saturday was spent T.V. shopping. Then after we had it set up on our old shelving...we realized it looked pretty silly. Needless to say, Sunday (after church) was spent shopping for new shelves. We finally (like I said...behind the times) made it to IKEA!! That is the coolest store, and talk about HUGE! Too bad it is about 45 minutes away in downtown Houston. Well, that is probably a good thing on our wallets. Anyway, a couple of hours later we left the store with just the right shelves. Yesterday was spent putting them together (again, thanks hubby!!) and moving everything from our old shelves. So tonight we sit here totally wiped out.

Our little nephew is doing better. He is gaining weight again. Now it is just a waiting game for when he is strong enough/weighs enough for the heart surgery. We can't wait to see him again, as he is just such a precious doll baby!

Clark has been doing much better the last several days. God knew I needed some good days. He generally has such a sweet personality, and is so funny. We just have to work through the other issues.

My mind isn't working well tonight...so I will update again at another time. Wanted to post some pictures of T.C.'s handy work.

Please pray

Please join us in lifting up our little nephew, Kai, to the Lord. He was admitted into the hospital this weekend. He is in need of heart surgery for a hole in his heart that didn't close up. The doctors would like him to weigh about 10 lbs. prior to surgery, and he is currently under 5 lbs. He will remain in the hospital until surgery. Just join us as we pray for God to close the hole, and heal this precious little guy.

Other less important matters...the kids had a fun time trick or treating Friday night. They have enough candy for an army. We took Clark to a little fall festival, then we all headed out trick or treating. The 3 Musketeers (Ali, Sierra, and Lilly) wanted to trick or treat together...so they joined us.

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to training classes we go...for the dog that is! We hope it is a $110 well spent. Mandy the maniac is in much need of some "training," to say the least. She is one crazy, wild gal. I feel for that pet trainer next Monday when we start...GOOD LUCK!

The kids had their Christmas pictures made today. They are so cute...though I WOULD say that. I will post them when we get them back in a few weeks. I wanted to get them done early this year.

Speaking of Christmas, I can't believe the stores have their Christmas decorations out already. Like could we enjoy Thanksgiving first?

Well, here are some photos from Halloween.

I'm on my way to the loony bin....

As if there were any doubt, it's official. I need to check myself into the loony bin. WHY, you ask? Oh it has one little word written all over it...CLARK! Enough said! I just hope we all survive life with this sometimes little monster. Now that wasn't very nice, right? But it is SO how I feel today and most days lately. He is either sweet and great.......OR......not so sweet and not so great. But, we love him. Hopefully as he matures he will gain some self control over all the crying fits. Oh we can only HOPE!!

On to other things. Friday we were able to get a sneak peak at an air show that was taking place over the weekend at Ellington Field, where T.C. does his Guard duty. Since he is on orders right now, we were able to join him in watching a run through of the show. We weren't able to stay for all of it, but we enjoyed what we did see. Let me tell you, that is THE way to watch an air show. NO CROWDS!! (and free!) The Thunderbirds were there, but the kids and I didn't get to stay for that portion...as Ali had a guitar lesson. We did get to watch some old Japanese planes do a mock Pearl Harbor attack...that was pretty cool. Clark was in little boy heaven around all those planes and helicopters. He was too cute. He kept telling me that he could fly the planes and that he would wave to me. We just acted like we knew what we were doing and we walked right up to all the planes...no one ever asked us what we thought we were doing. Ha! We didn't have a good explanation, so that was good.

Saturday we decided to venture down to Galveston to check out the devastation. It was so sad. We used to just love going down there to the beach on the weekends. I don't know if it will ever truly recover. The Strand District where we would take the kids to an old fashioned ice cream and candy shop, was stripped down the sub flooring. There was absolutely NOTHING in the store...just the walls, staircase in the back, and the sub flooring. They had these great old glass candy cases...gone. I can only hope that they are in the process of renovating and hopefully were able to save some of the candy cases. We also drove through neighborhoods and there is still just piles of rubble on the sides of the road. There were piles of peoples earthly possessions, just waiting to be picked up by the garbage trucks. It was humbling, to say the very least. How often do we catch ourselves wishing we had this or that like so and so has? I mean really, and yet so many families lost everything from a storm named Ike. And so we drove back...to our comfortable life, comfortable home, perhaps changed somehow....wondering what in the world could we do to help.

Last night we had our trunk or treat at church. Clark was a puppy dog. That is a funny story in and of itself. We have friends that have a son that is in kindergarten this year. He and Clark are only about 8 or 9 months apart, but he is quite a bit larger that Clark. Clark sometimes gets a few hand me downs from Justin. The last round had a dalmatian Halloween costume in it. Do you think I would have ever put a used costume on Ali when she was that age..........of course not. I would have politely accepted the hand me down, and then turned around and bought her a brand new costume! However, child #2 comes along and I am like "heck yeah he can wear a hand me down costume...sweet!" Not that we love him any less, but money sure has to stretch farther the second time around. Just wait if we ever have a 3rd...heehee.

We were quite proud of Ali's report card for her first 9 weeks. She made all A's. As a treat today, I surprised her and took her to Red Lobster. We NEVER go, but she loves it. (though she hadn't been since we lived in Louisville) Clark was in school, and I just told her to put on her shoes and that I had a plan. She kept trying to guess where we were going. I knew she would never guess Red Lobster, I was right. We pulled into the parking lot (I was watching her in the rear view mirror), and she got the funniest look on her face. She kept saying, "I didn't do anything..why did we come here." We sat down at our table and she kept telling me, "this is so weird, I can't believe we came here." She was so excited...and ordered her favorite, shrimp scampi. She was all smiles! She even came up with a clever explanation of why kids say they are so full but yet still have room for dessert. "I have a place for my food, and it can fill up...but then there is another spot for dessert." So, she was able to order dessert and her choice was a chocolate chip lava cookie with ice cream. I have to admit, it was awesome. Needless to say, we left very full and quite happy. It was a great lunch with our sweet girl.

Today was picture day at Clark's preschool. When I went to pick him up after school, the teacher said, "Clark was such a ham at picture time...he was so funny." That was it, no explanation...and I surely didn't necessarily want to know what he did. Ha! If it was embarrassing, I didn't want to hear it out loud in front of the other moms. So...I laughed...and politely exited the room.

Here are some photos from the last several days.

Our mini vacation

So Thursday we loaded up the kids and luggage and headed to San Antonio. We just love it over there, especially the hill country. We ended up getting out of town right before rush hour, and were able to make great time. We didn't time it so well last year when we went, and it took us over an hour to get through the Houston traffic.

We spent Friday at Sea World. It was wonderful because the crowds were so low compared to last year. I am sure being a Friday helped a lot with kids in school. All of the lines were short, and we had our pick of seats for all of the shows. Believe was pretty full, but we still ended up getting pretty good seats. That is the name of the Shamu show. Clark loved all of the shows. The kids were also able to feed the dolphins this year. We got to the dolphin pool too late last year and they had closed the window where you purchase the fish. Needless to say, they were excited to be able to do that this time around. Clark is still "vertically challenged" so he wasn't tall enough to ride much. He did ride the Shamu coaster (a cute little kiddie coaster) and the log ride. He is the brave one...so once he IS tall enough, I think he will be T.C.'s roller coaster buddy! However, T.C. was determined to get his dear daughter on a coaster this time around. (she is like her mom and doesn't really like huge coasters...I am more of a Disney World roller coaster rider...ya know, the smaller ones!) He actually BRIBED her to ride a big coaster...yep, $40!!! I couldn't believe it. His price just kept going up...$20,$25,$30....He finally got her at $40. She loves money, so she finally caved in. I was shocked that she actually took him up on his offer. She was quite adamant at first about absolutely positively NOT going on a roller coaster. But she put on her semi brave face and walked off into the sunset with her dad, ready to get on the coaster...ok, really she was just ready to get her 40 bucks! However, she did it...pretty much hated it...and said she was never ever riding something like that again. Ha!! Clark, on the other hand, was quite upset that he couldn't ride with them. He was a little perturbed when they walked off without him!

Saturday was a more laid back day. We decided to check out another town right outside of San Antonio called New Braunfels. It is a small town, but home to one of the largest water parks in the country Schlitterbahn. Of course the park is closed right now, but we got to drive by and see part of it. It is supposedly among the 10 top best water parks. We ended up at Landa Park, a great city park with a little train ride going through it. They also have a great aquatic area during the summer. They have an Olympic sized pool and a HUGE spring fed pool. They blocked off part of the river and it feeds the pool. It looked like a lot of fun, and we will have to go when that section is open. The kids did feed some precious ducks and we rode the train. We also ventured into their small downtown and visited a little train museum that is in an old train station. They had a steam engine and a caboose in the back that we could climb around on. It is a little German town, so T.C. just had to eat in a German restaurant and get his schnitzel fix! After we left New Braunfels, we drove up the Guadalupe River and made our way to Canyon Lake. We had no idea that the hill country was so pretty. It was beautiful. The river is gorgeous with hills right there. It actually reminded us of driving through back roads in New Mexico or Colorado. We look forward to going in the spring/early summer so the kids can play in the river. The big thing to do around there is tubing. You just float with the current. Canyon Lake was pretty as well, and we enjoyed walked on top of the dam. We had planned on strolling around another little area called Gruene, but a huge market/craft bazaar was going on and people were everywhere with nowhere to park. So, we drove through and look forward to checking it out the next time we are there. It just a small sleepy town with neat shops. Can't wait to browse through them! With a great day behind us, we then set out to see some old friends. We have some friends from our Albuquerque days that are now stationed in San Antonio. Ali and their youngest are the same age. It was fun to see how the kids had changed in the over 6 years since we had seen them. Bryan was a single dad for some time and is now remarried. We enjoyed meeting his wife Karen. They now have 2 Great Danes! You will see in the pictures just how massive these dogs are. They are gentle giants though...which is something I didn't know. I had never been around Great Danes before. One weighs 155 lbs. and the other is 145 lbs. HUGE!! They are so sweet, as you can tell by the pictures. It was a great evening spent with old and new friends.

Sunday we parked near the Alamo, and spent quite a few hours in that area. Ali wanted to go a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum. T.C. took her across the street to that while I walked around the Alamo grounds with Clark. I was able to get him to sleep while I sat near a fountain. I browsed the Alamo store and walked around while he took a snooze! Once T.C. and Ali rejoined us, we walked along the Riverwalk and had lunch outside near the river. The weather was gorgeous. After lunch, we walked 1/2 a mile or so down to the Market Square and checked out the Mexican market. Clark got to watch some children doing Spanish dancing, and he really enjoyed that.

That is about the extent of our long weekend. We enjoyed it very much. Now I must finish wading through the laundry...I always dread that part of a trip!

Our crazy new pooch has a name at last....Mandy. Ali named her, and we think it is quite fitting. As I type this, she is running around like a mad woman. Full of energy doesn't begin to describe her. CRAZY girl!! She is sweet, but we have to watch out what she chews on...like everything in her path. Ha! Ok, she was just chasing her tail...oh wow! (and we thought she might be through the puppy stage...ummm, NO)

We want to ask you to pray for a couple of things. Our little miracle of a nephew, Kai, is fighting an infection. He is on antibiotics, but I didn't get an update yesterday...so I don't know much. My mom said he seemed to be more comfortable as of Saturday. We just hope God heals the infection, and he will continue to progress very well. Another is a decision we are having to make regarding T.C.'s job. He was approached a couple of weeks ago by NASA to interview for a government job. He did, and was called yesterday with a job offer. We are praying about it, and trying to make the best decision. The civil service job offers more job security...but as a contractor you make more money in the long run...but you can also loose the contract. So, we are leaning more toward job security, especially in today's uncertain economy. We are truly so thankful for his job.

Here are so photos from our trip.

Our family has grown again...this time it has fur!

Oh dear heavens, what in the world were we thinking? Maybe we weren't...that's the problem. We made our usual stop to Taco Cabana for lunch after church on Sunday. So far so good...then we decided to go to Petco to get dog/cat food on our way home. We never should have done that...LOL! We went in for pet food, and came out with a 4 legged friend. Actually the kids and I have been looking at her for several months now. Every Sunday at our Petco they have pet adoptions from a local shelter. We spotted her and her sister this summer. However, T.C. was pretty adamant about NO MORE DOGS! I agree, we never really wanted 2 dogs in the house. However, our sweet little Timmy is 14 years old now. It goes without saying that we aren't sure how much longer he will be around. He is doing pretty well, but 14 is 14! Anyway, I thought it would be good for the kids if we had another pooch when Timmy started to go downhill. T.C. didn't seem to share my thoughts. So, we were minding our own business on Sunday walking into Petco....then I made the mistake of looking over at the adoption area. There she was.........the pup from the summer! Her sister was adopted a couple of weeks ago. I just HAD to walk over and give her a little pet...then T.C. walked over. I could tell that he thought she was pretty cute...and ya know what happened a minute later...he said "I don't care if you get her...she IS pretty cute." Ha!! Of course Ali had an absolute fit. Needless to say, we now officially have a ZOO! As if we needed another dog to prove that. So...now we keep asking ourselves "WHAT WERE WE THINKING?" She was named Xaria by the lady that has been fostering her since she was only weeks old. As of now, she is nameless...poor baby. We are still calling her Xaria, Xara, or Xar...but not sure if we will keep that...it is a little strange. She is about 7 months old, black with a little white, wire haired, terrier mix. A sweet little mutt that is very skittish right now. She is good with the kids though (so far).

We had a fun weekend. We took the kids to the Houston Children's Museum downtown. Clark had more fun than Ali, as expected. She did enjoy some of the exhibits. Clark LOVED it though. There is a neat Mexican town area that he absolutely could have spent all day in. It has little mock stores, kitchen, school, etc. He was very cute to watch.

This coming weekend, we are packing up and heading to San Antonio...just for the weekend, that is. It will be our annual (ok, it can't really be annual yet since we just started this last year) trip to Sea World. Military families get in free once a year through their "Hero Salute" program. Free....we LOVE free! We are excited to have a change of scenery. There are a lot of fun things to do in San Antonio. That is where we went on our first little family trip with Clark. We went last year just a few weeks after returning from Ukraine. He has changed so much since then.

I forgot to mention that last week I made a flying trip to Lake Charles with the kids to see our little nephew, Kai. We had not seen him yet. He is just too cute. I will post pictures when all of my sister in law's family has seen him. I wasn't able to hold him, as he is only 3 1/2 lbs. or so and still can't be out of the isolette much. Ali was allowed into the NICU to see him also. He is just precious...such a miracle.

Here are some pictures from our weekend and our new furry addition.