Sept. & Oct. Pics and Update

Okay, so I lied. Evidently I do not have all the pictures from my mom. So, here are a few from the last couple of weeks that we have taken with our new camera. I don't have many pics from the Pumpkin Patch because my mom was with us and she did most of the picture taking (and has all the really good ones).

In September my mom had surgery, so Claire and I went down there for a couple of weeks to help out. She took a lot of really great pictures then, so hopefully I will get them and post them eventually. Mom came back up with us and stayed for another week. While I was gone, Will's class at school started the color behavioral system and he wasn't doing so hot. He's a very willful and spirited kid! He likes to talk. A lot. So we started a reward system that he can pick something from a clear plastic tub if he gets one of the top colors (we put those little colored garage sale stickers on the prizes to coordinate with the color he gets at school). Since we started that, he hasn't gotten a bottom color. He's even gotten green a couple of times (the best!), so we are very excited about that.

Before and after my trip to Houston, I have been busy at work with homecoming mums and garters. Thankfully, last week was the last one, so we are done with that for the year! However, Christmas Open House is right around the corner and our shop has not one Christmas thing out! So, I will be quite busy with that coming up.

We are looking forward to Halloween this weekend. The kids have dress-up day and parties at school tomorrow and we'll go to a little festival on Saturday night. Claire is going as a flapper and Will hasn't quite decided yet. He has a great pirate costume, but if it's anything like last year, he'll change his mind at the last minute!

The only pics I got of when we went to Katy in September are of the kids swimming (it was still plenty warm enough!)

Scott tossing Will into the air.

Watching a movie after their swim. I just love how Claire perched herself on the arm of the couch.

I stole these of Mom's Facebook...Claire lying in my great-aunt Rutie's hammock at Lake Livingston.

Beautiful sunset at the Marina at Lake Livingston.

Lego fort that Will and Scott built

Sweet boy

Pretty eyes

Scott and Will at the Pumpkin Patch

Will showing off a prize he got (from us) for being good at school.

Cutie Claire

Claire dressed in Halloween shirt, skirt and leggings

Halloween arrangement I made at work...it's a cat ^~^

Breaking the Silence

I thought I should at least explain why I haven't posted in two months. Our camera was stolen on June 15, out of our car. It was partly my fault, as I forgot to lock the car, but I'm still blaming the thieves, too! I like to post pictures along with the text, so this is why I haven't posted. We have had a busy summer, though. Here are the highlights:

June 15-June 17 -- VBS. I taught 2nd grade with my friend Callie and it was great!

June 28-July 3 -- Mountain View Christian Camp. We had a great time visiting with old friends and making new ones. Scott taught classes and the kids and I found lots to do. I even learned a new card game that I am looking forward to playing again soon!

July 7 -- Area-wide youth devotional hosted by our church, with Scott as the emcee and speaker.

July 8 -- Claire's 2nd birthday!!! Poor kid didn't get a party because of all the craziness going on, but she did get brownies and some sweet gifts!

July 9-20 -- Scott on Wilderness Trek in CO, the kids and I in Katy, to visit Nana and Grandpa. Scott got to climb one of the tallest mountains in CO, sleep in a tent and not bathe for 5 days (he he) and the kids and I got to do lots of fun things including an Astros game, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and swim every day! The three of us came back with nice tans ;) My mom took lots of pictures while we were there, but alas, I don't have them. (Hint, hint, Mom!!)

July 21-22 -- Scott and Will went to Arlington with the youth group kids to see a Rangers game and go to Six Flags. Well, Will didn't go to Six Flags. He got to play with his pal, Raylee all day instead!

Since then, we have tried to rest! There have been a few little events here and there, but mostly we've just been working and enjoying family time.

Sorry I don't have much interesting news or pictures! Hopefully I'll have some next time!

Big Girl Bed

Claire now has a big girl bed! The actual bed is my old day-bed (it's almost an antique!), but the mattress and bedding are new. She seems to like it, but is still making the nightly trip to our room right now.

The kids decided to get in the picture. I tried to get them to pose to no avail :)

In other news, we have been trying to potty train Claire, but she is not very interested. She will sit on the potty if she has clothes on, but the minute you take off the diaper, she stiffens up and freaks out! I have tried buying her "pretty" panties to entice her but that didn't work either. She is ready in the sense that she is showing all the signs, but she just doesn't want to make that transition. Any suggestions?

Our lives are taking on that busy summer schedule that comes with being a youth minister. Scott is having service week this week, VBS is next week, then camp is two weeks after that. July is just as packed with activity, if not busier. However, we are enjoying the summer--playing in the pool, sprinkler, etc. We took the kids to see UP the other night and that was lots of fun. They both sat quietly through the whole thing. I was pretty amazed! I recommend the movie if you haven't seen it already. But bring tissue!

Where Have I Been??

Well, I'll tell you. I've been at work! But as of last week, I have gone back to part-time and I couldn't be happier about my decision. I am so glad to be back at home with my kids two days a week!

Since I will be at home a couple of days a week again, I will hopefully be able to update a little more often. Since my last post at Easter, a lot has happened! Scott graduated from LCU on May 2nd, earning his second Masters degree, a Master of Arts in Biblical Interpretation. Scott's parents and grandmother were able to join us for the event. We are so proud of our daddy and all his accomplishments!

That same day, when we got home from Lubbock, we had Will's 4th birthday party. This year, we went with a pirate theme; Will dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow in the costume we got him. It was a crazy day, but we had a lot of fun! Since we were going to be out of town the day previous to Will's party, I bought his cake from the bakery this year instead of making it myself. They did a great job and it was delicious!

Will's actual birthday came on Mother's Day, May 10th. That day we celebrated by going to Midland, eating at Rosa's, shopping, and having birthday cookies on Spider-Man plates at home. It was a good day for all. We just can't believe that our big boy is FOUR!

Here is a random picture of Claire reading in her chair that I thought was too cute and had to share! The next picture is Claire at her end-of-the-year CDO program. They are singing "Twinkle, Twinkle." I don't have a very good picture of Will; we took more video of him than pictures.

We are excited that my parents are here this weekend. They are going to take care of the kids while Scott and I get away for a couple of days (our anniversary is coming up). Then, summer is right around the corner and our lives will be filled with VBS, camps, mission trips, youth rallies and the like! It doesn't seem possible that summer is so close.

I am looking forward to updating more often and keeping myself updated with all of you!

Goings-On

Hello! I am still alive :)

So much has been going on, and most of the time I am way too tired to even consider blogging, but I thought I'd update since I have a few pictures to share.

A couple of weeks ago, we went down to San Antonio to visit my grandmother and meet up with my parents. The kids and I went on with my mom and dad to Katy and Scott returned home to work on his essays for his comprehensive exams. We returned a few days later by plane. THAT was an experience I'd soon like to forget. Plane travel alone with two kids is not much fun. I did survive, though :) My mom took a lot of great pictures of my kids riding my brother's girlfriend's horse, but alas, I do not have those. Maybe my mom will email them to me (hint, hint!) ;)

Scott has since finished his essays and turned them it (Praise God!) and we are done with grad school stuff for a while. We also found someone to baby-sit our kids on those days that they're not in "school." So that is another "Praise!" The flower shop was extremely busy last week with several funeral pieces, so I definitely got in some "practice." This week has been a little slower so far, so that's kind of nice (it is our local schools' spring break, which is always notoriously slow).

The kids are doing well. Claire was sick for a while before we went to my parents' house, but she is better now. Will is currently obsessed with pirate "jewels" (which will explain a couple of pics), however we haven't watched Pirates of the Caribbean for several days as he is currently hooked on Star Wars (my fault, I let him watch it the other day). He still likes to dress as a pirate, though. Claire likes to do everything that Will is doing and is a sweet little helper. She is showing her intelligence here lately by recognizing some of the letters of the alphabet and talking more and more. She loves to sing and dance and is even starting to show interest in the potty. Kids grow WAY too fast!!!

One funny thing that Will has been doing the last few days is asking me if I am going to have a baby. I am not sure what has prompted this question...maybe it was the fact that we went shopping for a baby shower gift a few days ago. Anyway, he's asked me several times since about it and I have told him, no, that I'm not going to have a baby anytime soon. He says that I should and he wants a brother. Hmm. I'm not so sure.

Anyway, time for the pictures!

Scott and the kids watching Cinderella in our bed.

Claire's ponytail!

"Smarty Pants!"

Man, I wish this picture wasn't blurry! It would have been so great!

Will watching a movie while wearing his "pirate jewels", a Mardi Gras mask, and his Capt. Jack Sparrow hat.

Will (again with the pirate jewels) and his St. Patrick's Day hat he made at school (so cute!).

Claire with the leprechaun hat.

This is how I found my children when I came home today...Claire asleep in her chair (but sitting in it the wrong way, with its back on the ground)...

...and Will deeply engrossed in Winnie the Pooh, with my couch's arm cover on his head and wearing (of course) his pirate jewels. Funny.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Oh, my. Where do I start? We've had an interesting few weeks at work. Valentine's Day was pretty horrible, not because we were so overloaded with work but quite the opposite. It was the worst V-Day that I've ever seen, and I've worked in the flower business for about seven years now. Aside from that, we've had some people leave the shop, mainly for health reasons; they needed health insurance and my boss can't really provide insurance that's reasonably priced--it's a small business! However, the people that left included the lead designer for the shop, who has had 25+ years experience in floral design. She is phenomenal in what she can create and do. The other person that left has been our other full-time designer since October. I have been designing some off and on for the past few months, but not in any major capacity. I only work three days a week.

Sooo....guess who's the new lead designer? Yep, you guessed it...ME! This is both exciting and scary at the same time. Today I went in thinking I would only work from 9:00 to 2:00, but ended up having to stay til 5:30 because we had a lot of funeral work orders come in. But, I made two $75 dollar standing easels and several other things and everything looked pretty good! Not 25+ years-experience top-notch, but certainly not bad.

This means I am going to have to try to go back to work full time. This is going to be hard because I don't really have anyone to take care of my kids. So, please pray for me in this new position and also that I might find a good place for my kids to go on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (they go to "school" on Wed. and Fri.). Scott is also trying to finish up his comprehensive exams, which is really 4 papers, in the next couple of weeks for his Masters of Arts in Biblical Interpretation from LCU. So, AHHH! This is a crazy time for all this to be happening. I am just asking for prayers as we try to accommodate all these new changes.

Oh yeah, and Claire has been sick with RSV for the past week--bad timing! She seems to be at the tail-end of it, though :) To close, I leave you with a couple of random pictures...because what's a blog post without pictures??

My sweet hubby surprised me with roses on Wednesday! Beautiful!!

At long last...Scott's diploma from ACU came in a couple of weeks ago!

Sweet little red shoes on Claire for Valentine's Day (from Nana).

And finally...

A sign of the future?? Will decided he needed to take a nap outside in this cardboard box the other day. (He stayed in there for about three minutes) :)

Trying Something New

We decided to convert Claire's crib to a toddler bed last night. Of course, she only slept in it for about an hour and when we went in to check on her she had fallen onto the pillows on the floor and woke up when we came in the room. Once she saw us, she wouldn't be consoled, so back to our bed she went. She did sleep in her bed for her nap this afternoon, though. She has weaseled her way into our bed for the past few weeks, making it increasingly hard for me to actually sleep and get up in the morning, as she likes to flop all over ME (meaning, not Scott). So, I was thinking maybe her own "big" bed would encourage her to actually sleep in it. We shall see! I'm sure it will be interesting.

Speaking of interesting, there hasn't really been any of that as of late. We are just taking life as it comes, living each day at a time. Work is slow right now, as it always is in January, but V-Day is just around the corner. Ugh. I don't want to even think about it! It hasn't quite hit Scott yet that he doesn't have to return to school this semester, as we're still in the break-time between semesters. I'm sure he'll feel more freedom in a couple of weeks when he realizes there is no homework to be done.

Will and Claire are still immensely enjoying all of their Christmas gifts. Their time is mostly occupied with playing or arguing over who gets to play with what. They did start back to Children's Day Out this week, and I have to say I'm sort of glad. I do love spending time with them, don't get me wrong, but our schedules work out a lot better when they are in "school."

I will leave you with a video Scott took of Claire (I think it was last week, or maybe the week before...I can't remember!). Will had a Frosty from Wendy's that he had forgotten about whilst trying to hide it from Claire. Well, she found it and dug in. It's pretty amusing and shows her personality quite well :)

Merry Christmas, A Little Late

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas this year! Ours was great; we had a quiet little family Christmas at home. Our kids were awesome and slept in til 9:30. After we opened presents we made Cracker Barrel pancakes (someone gave us a basket with the mix) and we enjoyed watching all the DVDs Will received for Christmas including WALL-E, Kung Fu Panda, and The Polar Express. I even got a nap! It was great!

Claire amid the mess!


Claire playing with her dollhouse


The mess in full view...Will and I are talking to my parents via Skype on the laptop.


Will and Claire playing with his new pirate ship in his room.

Will and Claire eating their pancake brunch while watching WALL-E.

We had "Christmas" with our families back on the weekend of the 12th & 13th when Scott had his graduation. It was nice to have everyone here then and get to visit. In the interim between our Christmases, we went to Lubbock to give presents to the kids at the Children's Home twice (we found a rouge present in Scott's office after returning from the first trip), hosted the LCU Praise Choir students for their Christmas Tour, and had a Christmas party for the Youth Group kids. Scott's 31st birthday was also last Monday; as his "present" to Scott, Will slept til 11:30 that morning!

Scott and Claire both have sore throats right now, but other than that, we are well. Since we were home for Christmas this year, I have been working at the shop as designer the past couple of days as our lead designer is on vacation. It's been really fun and I have done a lot of funeral work which I haven't been able to do yet. I have really enjoyed it.

I guess that's about it for now; Scott has to preach this weekend, so I'd better let him work on his sermon! If I don't post again in the next few days, I wish you all a happy New Year as well!

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas-time!

We had a busy but fun Saturday. In the morning, our friend Amber came to photograph us for our Christmas cards. She is a professional photographer that attends our church and if you live in or around Big Spring, you should check her out. She does amazing work. Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot:
If you are interested in seeing the rest of the pictures, you can follow this link: http://www.staceyphotography.com/prather/

That afternoon, I took Will to our local museum where Santa and Mrs. Claus just happened to be spending the afternoon (*wink, wink*). He had his picture taken with them, too, and we decorated gingerbread men cookies and looked around the exhibits at the museum. I then took him for a late lunch at his favorite place, of course--McDonald's. A grand time was had by all. We had a great "date." (The Santa picures won't be ready until Dec. 16th, so I will post it then).

Then that evening was the big Christmas parade. We ended up in the same spot as last year next to the same family. We had a good time chatting with them, waiting for the parade to begin. The kids soaked up the parade, crying, "LOOK!!!!" at every single thing that went by. We saw horses, monster trucks, motorcycles, classic cars, low riders, fire trucks, tiny cars, a boat, semis, and of course lots of people riding on the back of trailers. I think this year's parade was better that last year's. Some of the floats were really awesome.

The Steer mascot dressed as an elf led the parade.

Here comes the band!

I thought this guy was funny.

This one doesn't really need a caption...

Western Container's float (they make Coke product bottles--I think).

I guess this horse is a Clydesdale. It was enormous!


The boat full of cheerleaders.


That's the Grinch in jail! (Sheriff's Office float)

And last but not least, Santa and Mrs. Claus end the parade!

Since then, I have been trying to get my house decent for visitors. The first of the visitors come tomorrow; Scott's parents and grandmother. The first of his finals is tomorrow also and his second final will be Wednesday. Then we are home free! Graduation is this weekend and we are so excited. My parents will be meeting us in Abilene on Friday and then coming back to Big Spring with us for the rest of the weekend. I usually work on Mondays, but Scott needed extra time to himself to study and write today (he has a paper due tomorrow, too) so I stayed home today and it was probably a good thing because the house needs constant attention with my two running around taking apart everthing I've just done!

Claire is really starting to spout off the words now. She picks up a lot from her brother. You can really tell by the fact that she has started growling, much to my chagrin! Anywho, there's a little update on her.

As for Will, he just cracks us up all the time. Today he told Scott (albeit quoting from a movie), "Dad, sometimes I just think I'm a genius." Really?

Until next time (hopefully with graduation pictures!).