Happy 8th Anniversary!

Today marks 8 years that Adam and I have been married!! He said I've put up with him for 8 years, but actually I've put up with him for 12 years!! It's amazing how much our life has changed in 8 years adding 2 more kids and one more on the way! Oh how I wish I could go back and tell myself to sleep all that I can and travel everywhere you want to go!! It's funny how you think you have responsibilities then, but you have no idea what lies ahead!

But you know what - even though we're probably a lot more tired and there's definitely not as much time to spend quality time together I can honestly say we are so much more in love than ever before!! I've grown to love Adam more and more every day - and appreciate how much the Lord has given me through him. I'm so thankful, first and foremost, for a man who loves the Lord with all his heart. For a man who loves me so unconditionally even when I don't deserve to be loved. For a man who still looks at me like I'm the most beautiful woman in the world even though cellulite and a giant belly has set in!! For a man who would do anything for his kids, and craves to be with him every chance he gets. Lastly for a man who lives his life to serve others at any cost!! How could I ask for more? I love you Adam Earl!!

Hi Again!

I don't know why I've gotten out of the rhythm of this whole blogging thing, but I'm just having a hard time getting back into it! Sorry, but this blog will have no pictures, because my camera seems to be erasing pictures on its own or something! I've lost a lot of our pictures from the last few weeks somehow, even all of Jonah's birthday pictures are gone - I have no idea how. Thank goodness I blogged some of them or else I'd be very sad!
We've had a pretty eventful last couple of weeks. Here's a short rundown of our happenings:
- Jonah turned 4 years old! I still can't believe I have a 4 year old! It sounds so old!!
- I had another ultrasound and this time it was very clear that it is a girl, so bring on the PINK! I've already gotten a lot of pink and girly stuff from (Thank you to Tootsie and G.G.) and I'm loving it. Tootsie even got us our crib set already and I can't wait to put it all together! I'm decorating her room in Ladybugs! I'm a little intimidated by all this girl stuff, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon!
- We had a short visit with Tootsie and G.G., visited with Pop & Nona(Adam's Dad and his family) in Houston (Jonah even got to have a birthday swim party with chocolate cake and everything) and drove all the way to New Orleans for my brother's wedding! We came all the way back Saturday night, an 11 hour drive!!
-The boys had so much fun at the reception after the wedding. They had a dance - and boy did the kids dance their little hearts out. It's so fun to watch kids because they're not worried about what anyone thinks! I love their honesty and joy in their dancing! We had a little mishap though and Caleb accidentally got behind a lady who was line dancing and she tripped over him and broke her wrist! I felt so horrible about it all, but she was really nice about it and told us not to worry that it could've happened to anyone! I still feel awful about it, but I guess it's just one of those things that happens in life!
-The last week or so we've been gearing up for VBS which starts this Thursday. We decorated our church, including a 15 foot rocket made with metal barrels! We're doing a 3 day VBS this year on Thur-Sat. and it's space themed Exploring the Awesome Wonder of God! I'm excited about it, but when your VBS director there's so much more to do than anyone ever knows!! It always all comes together, but it's always a little stressful this last week approaching VBS!

I'm still feeling good with the pregnancy, so Lord willing I'll stay that way! I am getting a pretty big belly now, and I'll post pictures as soon as my camera stops going on the fritz! I keep wondering how I'm going to make it until October, I feel like I'm already getting huge! I guess this little girl just wants to spread out!

Jonah's Birthday

Jonah had his 4th birthday party yesterday and we all had such a blast! It was actually a little windy, so the heat was bearable - we were all happy about that! It was complete with bouncy house, cookie cake, candy and a lot of tired kids at the end (Hooray for Naptime!) Here are some pictures from our SuperHero Celebration!

My parents got this bouncy house on clearance a couple of years ago and we have all gotten their money's worth out of it!

Since it was a TRUE Superhero party, of course we had to have capes. Thank you to my mom for making all the capes for party favors!!! Look at all the muscles bulging at Superhero training!

After Superhero training we were ready to get the key from the Yellow Bandit (aka Adam). We played a rousing game of Don't wake the Bandit to retrieve the key to get our rope back for the pinata!

As you can see, the pinata was a hit!

Now it's time for food! Here is Jonah's cookie cake that he requested. It was my first time to make one, but it was really fun. If you can't tell, it has a Superman emblem complete with a big J!

Caleb's like his momma and enjoys his sweets a little too much! This is a serious thing, can't you tell?

Another highlight of our day was going to get our fish for the new aquarium. You can't really see them in the background, but we have a new orange fish named Sarah, and a black fish named Shadow. They both love them! Caleb keeps trying to give his ball to the fish to play with. I'm thinking I'll come in one day and he'll be swimming with the fish~ I hope they don't go belly up because I accidentally dumped way too much fish food in there this morning. They were very happy fish, but I hope there's not consequences!

Last couple of Weeks

I've kind of forgotten about blogging for a couple of weeks! Here's a run down of some of the happenings...

Two of the cutest pilots around!

Two brothers love each other!

Jonah's award ceremony at school. They sang Twinkle, Twinkle, ABC song and got their certificates. Jonah got the Helping Hand Award, because his teacher says he always wants to help.

Isn't he cute sitting on the little couch?

Caleb slept in his big boy bed for the first time Saturday night! He did such a great job. Caleb would be sitting up in the bed playing and dancing and Adam would look in and he would immediately lay down and pull the covers over his head! He's becoming such a big boy now!

Doctor Today

Today we went to the doctor for our sonogram to find out the sex of the baby. We had gotten a special babysitter (thank you to my sister for coming up), Adam had switched his day off, and we had told everyone that today was the day! We get to the doctor and the nurse leads me back to a regular room, not a sonogram room. I told her - I thought we were supposed to have a sonogram today. She quickly said, "no just a routine visit"! I quickly went into 6 year old whine mode, "No I got a special babysitter and the doctor told me it would be today". Obviously not wanting to sympathize she just told me I'd have to talk to him. We sat there for 45 minutes waiting for him, while my husband was cool as a cucumber and I was so upset! "How could he tell me that and then not do it today - I can't wait another month"! Adam just kept telling me, "He'll do it"! My husband is always the optimist and I'm always the one preparing myself to be disappointed! After my 45 minutes of high blood pressure I'm sure, when he walked in he quickly took us to the ultrasound room. The baby was really shy at first and had the legs pulled up so we couldn't see. After some jostling and turning, it was revealed.....

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!

The nurse was laughing at us, because Adam and I just sat there with our mouths open for the rest of the time! I really had thought it was a girl the whole time, but I didn't want to get my hopes up so I had played those mindgames with myself convincing myself it was a boy. Even though another boy would have been wonderful, I guess this is what the Lord had planned for us! Adam is already ready to clean shotguns and sharpen his knife on the porch for her first date! Jonah was so excited because he had been wanting a girl all along! After we told him he just kept kissing my belly and saying, "Hi baby sister"! Caleb still doesn't realize what's going on, but I know he'll be a great big brother too! ... Well, I'm going to go and start searching for girly crib sets!

Weekend Review

Well, for those of you who were wondering - we did survive this weekend! I guess I should say Adam survived. We were so proud of him - he finished 495 out of 1000 people with a time of 1 hour 32 minutes and some seconds. Pretty impressive for a first race! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

And they're off - this is Adam's heat wearing the very manly pink swim caps. Notice the lifeguards all around - thank goodness!

This is Jonah cheering on Daddy at the beginning of the race. The race started at 7:00 A.M. Adam had to be there at 5:00 A.M. We were all tired by the end of the day!

You can see the SuperDad shirts I made for the boys. They were so proud to wear their shirts. Caleb even did a little cheer for Daddy it sounded like "Go Da Go" and punched his little arms up in the air as he said it - It was precious and I wish I'd had a video camera!

Here's Adam coming in from the 500 Meter Swim. He was so exhausted! He did not realize how different it would be swimming in the lake as opposed to the pool. Tons of waves and all the swimmers kicking you and splashing water in your face. He said it was really hard to breathe at times with everything. Next time he'll know what to expect!

Here he is getting on his bike for the second leg - the 15 mile bike ride. You can spot him by the neon yellow shorts. He was the only one with neon yellow shorts!

We all had a fun time playing on the playground while we waited for Adam to come in on the bike. Somehow we missed him - even though I stood over there watching the whole time, so we waited...and waited...and waited. The big guy eating the twinkie that I mentioned in my last blog rode in - so I said there must be something wrong. I went up to the finish line and Adam had already finished the run and was waiting on us!

Here's Adam at the finish line - he doesn't look like he just swam 500 meters, rode 15 miles and ran 3.1 miles does he?

We went back to where Adam's Dad was standing and he was still looking for Adam to come in on the bike. Adam snuck up behind him, put his arm around his Dad, and said, "Do you see him yet?" Larry was so surprised!

Adam 's Dad, Luke (his brother), and the rest of the fam.

This was another exciting part of the weekend. We went fishing in the lake behind Pop's house. Jonah caught this fish all by himself! He was so proud. The fish was actually taller than Caleb. We threw it back, because it wasn't a real edible fish, but Jonah went back for more after that. He wasn't real excited about touching the fish, but he became a real fisherman that day!

Party and Race

Just a quick note to tell you about our day and our upcoming weekend. Today Jonah had his almost End-of-school party. They had so much fun eating pizza and cupcakes, every kids dream meal! They don't end school for a couple of weeks, but he's already asking when he gets to go back after summer. It might be a long summer for us! It really has been a blessing for Jonah to go and spend time with other kids and adults and he's learned so many social lessons that I couldn't have taught him at home. We just thank the Lord for such wonderful Christian people who help with the school, their reward is definitely not $$$, but they just have such great hearts for the school!

And I don't have a picture of this - but I have a funny story of my little one. The other day I was changing his diaper when the phone rang. I was halfway through the process, so I thought it couldn't hurt to leave his diaper off for just a minute. (This is where all the experienced mothers who aren't in the baby stage anymore laugh a sympathetic, but evil laugh!) As I was talking to my sister on the phone, about a minute had gone by and I hadn't seen Caleb so I went back to the toyroom where he was. There I find my ALL BOY son standing on top of the train table peeing off of it. When I walked in he was just grinning. I think he actually went back there for that purpose. Had he been waiting for that diaperless moment for months, or what? I guess we'll never know. I do not have a picture of that one though.

Everyone pray for Adam this weekend - he's running his first Sprint Triathlon. If you have ever run in a race, you know that the worst part of it is the anticipation - and he's been anticipating for awhile. I have been so proud of him for losing lots of treasured sleep, getting up early while all of us are still in dreamland and working toward his goal. I know it's been such a stress reliever for him, well up until this point where I think he gets nauseous every time we talk about it. I have full confidence that he's going to do an awesome job, and we are proud of him no matter what happens for having the guts to get out there and try something new! A lot of people spend a lifetime talking about stuff - it's the doing that actually grows you! We love you Daddy and you always make us proud just because you're the best Dad and husband in the whole world! Just don't let the big guy eating a twinkie beat you!! (Inside Joke)