New Hair and New Hope

I got my hair cut yesterday. It always makes me feel better to get my hair cut. I feel like a new person, somehow. I can't ever stick with one style for too long. It always amazes me when I watch make-over shows and these women (or men) say they have had the same hair-do for twenty or thirty years. I'm like, "Seriously? Don't you ever get bored??" But everyone's different!



This weekend we were blessed to visit our dear friends, the Malletts, in Arlington. We didn't do a whole lot--just took the kids to the park and ate out a few times--but we just had a good time being together. Since their son Ryland is one of Will's favorite people, he was just ecstatic. When Will found out that Ryland had a full gammut of pirate costumes, he was in hog heaven. I didn't take many pictures at all the whole weekend, but I did manage to get a couple of Will in Ryland's Jack Sparrow costume and of Raylee, Will and Ryland together with their guns and swords.



I just felt like I needed to express what I'm feeling right now about hope. My outlook has changed a bit since this past fall. I still don't agree with everything he stands for, but I am very hopeful about our new president. What I have seen these past few days and even weeks has been so encouraging to me; that maybe our country isn't "doomed," but is possibly in for a few good changes. I was so moved yesterday watching President Obama, just knowing that an African-American has done what so many never dreamed of, or never wanted to see happen, is awe-inspiring to me. That in and of itself, makes me proud to be an American. It was so moving to see so many people, of all races, so excited that this man has become our president. I am proud of our citizens, and that gives me a new hope. I am excited to see what lays in store for our nation in the weeks and months to come. I am praying that the many people who are still doubtful will support our authorities and our nation and not bring it down. Like he said in his inauguration speech, what we need now are hope and virtue in order to move forward.

On a completely different and lighter note: Will was the only one in his Bible class tonight. The story being taught was Adam and Eve. When the teacher told him this, he promptly told her, "No, it's Wall-E and Eve." I thought we ought to send that one in to Disney/Pixar. What do you think?

Lil' Ladybug

I was unsuccessful in finding a ladybug costume I liked or could afford for Claire. So I decided, why not make one? My extremely talented friend, Jen, was with me this weekend and we thought it couldn't be that hard. We set out to Wal-Mart to get a simple pattern and some material. However, as I was walking into Wal-Mart, I remembered something. Ours was remodeled this summer and they did away with the fabric department. The whole fabric department. You can't get anything. So, we decided we wouldn't give up hope yet...I had seen a red fleece blanket for $4. And they do have those little swatches of felt, so we got some of those in black. We made this costume in a couple of hours last night without a pattern. I'm so proud of us!

*By the way, in case you're wondering...no, we don't have carpet in our den anymore. That's just the bare concrete floor. Our hope is to someday refinish it (stain or paint it), but for now we just wanted to get rid of that carpet. So that's what you're seeing in those pics up there :)*

In other news...homecomings are over and we are trying to return to normal at work. Claire is really starting to walk well. Claire woke up with hives all over her on Friday so she had a big shot of benedryl on Friday. She's still got some, but it's much better. Will is as silly as ever...he is in that fun stage of not wanting to take any more naps! Yea!

As for me, I am busy working on several projects, one being our church's Ladies' Day coming up in two weeks. I'm one of the people "in charge," so there's several things to be done between now and then. I don't think our life will ever slow down. I should change the title of this blog to Life and Laughter in the Fast Lane :)

S.T. Prather, Treasure Maps, Mums and so on...

A lot has happened since my last post, and that's the reason I haven't been posting! We've been so busy in the last month...after Will's surgery and recovery we've been going, going, going. Will has changed schools--he's back at Children's Day Out on Wednesdays and Fridays along with Claire. He has been doing really well there, and seems to remember his old classmates. He is as funny as ever and one of his new things is dressing himself. He comes up with some funky outfits. Take this one for example. My first thought was gansta rapper!

Claire took her first couple of steps a couple of weeks ago and hasn't really started "taking off" yet, but she's gradually getting there. Every day she goes a bit farther on her own.

I have been VERY busy at work, making LOTS of homecoming mums and trying to get my other work done as well :) We had two of our local homecomings on the same week (not this past Friday but the one before) and our other one is this week. We are just trying to get caught up because they were all so close together at the beginning of the year. It's been nuts. I stayed at work one night last week til nine and the next night til eleven. I even worked today from 12:30 to 6:00! Craziness!This is the mum I made for Claire (we went to one of the school's homecomings b/c one of our youth group girls was on the court)

And of course, Scott began his semester on the 26th. He is taking two classes this semester, and both are 8:00 classes in Abilene, so he has to get up those two mornings at 5:30 and drive for 2 hours to get to class! But the nice thing is, he's done by 11:00 and can get back in town to eat lunch and get back to his office (that is, if he doesn't need to do any library time!).

We've gotten to do a few fun things since Will's surgery as well. On Labor Day weekend, I was able to travel up to Amarillo and spend a few fun-filled days with my two good friends, Jen and Chelsey. It has been a tradition for us for about the last seven years to spend Labor Day weekend together. It's something the three of us look so forward to each year and we really enjoy our time together. We had fun just hanging out, cooking, and watching movies. We went to see both Mama Mia! and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, which were both good girly movies.

The following Wednesday, Harmony came and stayed with us as she had some work to do here in her Big Spring office. It was fun to see her again and she stayed til Friday morning. That night, Jen came again (her hubby has a hunting lease and our house is on the way!) and stayed til Sunday. That next Wednesday, my mom had some unexpected time off and came to visit us. That was also the same week of Hurricane Ike. Her work was cancelled, so she was able to stay until Sunday.

On the hurricane: My Dad stayed home to weather the storm with their dogs and watch the pool, etc. He did lose power for about 12 hours, and had some minor debris and damage, but nothing too horrific. A neighbor down the street lost a pretty big tree, but thankfully it fell into the street and not on their house. My parents' backdoor neighbors had a worse fate: the house they had just spent the last 6 months remodeling flooded on Sunday due to backed up drains (remnants of Ike dumped another 5.5 inches of rain on Katy on Sunday morning). My dad helped his neighbors rip up the flooring they'd just finished laying not a month before. My grandparents still do not have power at their house, last I heard, but are managing. Thankfully the weather at night has been cool enough to allow for sleep. My great aunt who lives on Lake Livingston had some damage to her small peir and two trees came down. She sent me some amazing pictures of the waves slamming the bulkhead that are below. It is amazing how the storm held up so far inland.

Okay, so about S.T. Prather: Claire now has a new nickname, as of tonight--Snaggle Tooth. At our youth devotional tonight after church, she fell on some brick steps (in the backyard of the house at which we were having the devo) and chipped not one, but two of her teeth! It was quite frightening as there was blood coming from her mouth and with her screaming like she was. The chips aren't bad; we're going to consult with a dentist who goes to church with us and see if he thinks anything needs to be done.

Cross-pollinated pumpkins: Yesterday, we needed to make a quick trip to Abilene to pick up a book that Scott needed for his class that was unavailable til this week. He needed to read part of it by Tuesday, so he needed it right away. We used the opportunity to visit our friends, Ty and Beth, who live there and see their new baby boy again. They have several varieties of pumpkins planted in their backyard. They didn't realize until after they had planted them, however, that some of the varieties need to be several acres apart in order to grow properly! So some of the pumpkins have cross-pollinated. We went out to show Will the patch and found a rather interesting looking pumpkin. They let us take it home (I thought it looked pretty cool!).


Treasure Maps: I FINALLY finished a gift for some friends at church I was working on for like 6 months! Their son's nursery is done in a pirate theme and I wanted to make a pirate's treasure map for them. So I started it back in March and just finished last week. Here's the final product...I'm pretty proud of it!!


Well, that's about all I can think of to share right now. I hope that everyone who might have read this and hasn't completely given up hope on me is doing well and loving life. We are, even if it is a bit hectic!

The Smile Award

Carrie, one of my best friends from college and former roommate, has given me the Smile Award. I am a little shocked--I have never recieved a blogging award before! Thank you so much, Carrie, for giving me this unexpected and undeserved award :) I want to tell you a little about my friend. This has been an emotion-filled year for her family. After fighting the good fight against cancer, her dear mother-in-law Pam went home to the Lord in February. Just a little over a month and a half later, a little angel came from heaven to live with them--a new daughter, Ella Jean. Admist the roller-coaster of emotions and life-changing events of the past few months, I know Carrie has been a rock for her family and can always put a smile on everyones' faces!

Now, I must return the favor and grant the award to five more deserving bloggers!

These are the rules:
1. The recipient must link back to the awards creator the babblings of mere.
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.
3. You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself.
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award, as posted by Mere.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.

Characteristics for the Smile Award:
1. Must display a cheerful attitude (not necessarily at all time--we are all human)
2. Must love one another
3. Must make mistakes
4. Must learn from others
5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world
6. Must love life
7. Must love kids

And now...the five winners are...

1. Tracey is my mom's best friend who went to live in Thailand last year because her husband's work took them there. Her only daughter just became a new mom and Tracey keeps smiling despite the fact that she can't be with Vanessa and little Riley all the time. Tracey also has a real heart for teaching children (she was a teacher in the States for many years) and has used that skill even despite a language barrier in Thailand. You can read all about Tracey's Thailand adventures (and she visits neighboring countries, too!) on her blog.

2. Amy is a friend from college whom I've reconnected with through blogging. She is a Christian mom who is as witty as she is compassionate for the neighborhood kids to whom she ministers. Amy has kept smiling (and making others smile) through many hardships, specifically her baby brother's untimely death and her own constant battle with MS. Check out Amy's antics and her heartfelt ministry.

3. Chelsey is another dear friend from college. We actually met the first day of orientation (we were in the same group) and became fast friends. Our lives went in different directions for a while, but we became close again when we ended up in the same literature class our first senior year (ha!). We have kept up ever since and I am so glad we did. Chelsey is a fighter and keeps on smiling when life throws her those curve balls. Like Carrie (above), Chelsey lost her mother earlier this year. Though Mary Sue had been sick for as long as I've known Chelsey, this blow still hurt just as much. Chels has kept up her smiling attitude, even through her pain.

4. Terri, my mom, is always someone who makes me laugh and smile. Her stories, like her current one about croaking toads, are just "smile-worthy!" And of course I know she loves kids, because she loves mine! One of the best things about my mom, though, is that she loves and supports her friends family. No matter what anyone is going through, you can always count on my mom to be there for you. And most likely, she will put a smile on your face while she's at it!

5. Finally, (man, I wish I could give out more than five!), Harmony, is one of my best friends. We knew each other in college, but didn't really become friends until we both ended up in Big Spring. She and her precious family moved last summer, but thankfully, we have been able to remain in touch (in fact, we just returned from her house on Sunday!). I playfully call Harmony "Super-Mom," because she works two jobs, keeps her house in order and clean, and cares for her three children and husband and makes it all look very easy. I know it's not and she knows it's not, but she does it all with a smile on her face and that's why she's Super-Mom to me. Go see pictures and read fun stories about Ry, Ray, and Reese on Harmony's blog.

Thanks again to Carrie for my first blogging award. You make ME smile too!!!!

Friends and Fun

We were so excited to be able to visit our dear friends the Malletts this past weekend. We arrived late Friday night and stayed up much too late talking. On Saturday, Harmony, Scott, the kids, and I trekked out to the Fort Worth Zoo (Leland had a UIL meet). It was awesome! That is a really great zoo. It was a great time to go because most of the animals were out and about and not just snoozing in the shadiest spot they could find like they were in San Antonio when Will and I went this summer. We got to see lots of primates, big cats, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, kangroos, birds, fish, and snakes. A fun time was had by all! I made the comment that it will be nice when our kids are older and we can actually stop and read all about the animals. Right now they just have such short attention spans and get tired so quickly. There was a whole section of the zoo that we didn't get to see because we needed to get the kids home to nap.

Sunday was a big "extra events" day at the Malletts' church. So, Harmony and I went to a "Ladies' Tea" that afternoon. It was really fun and gave me some good ideas for women's ministry that I'd like to share with my sisters here. Sunday about wore us out, so we had pizza for dinner and conked out early. On Monday, Scott went on to Abilene for school and my kids and I stayed with Harmony and her girls. We got out early and went shopping. Harmony's having Christmas/Thanksgiving all at the same time with her family next week, so she got several gifts and I also picked up a couple for my kids. It was a good day. Later, after naps, we loaded up and headed down I-20 to meet Scott and go home. Thanks, Malletts for having us...we can't wait to see you again!!

On the way into the zoo
The huge silverback gorilla...king of the mountain!
Giraffes
Elephant
Smiley Will at the zoo
Claire, Will, Raylee and Reese in their Mickey & Minnie matching outfits!
Will turned two in May and Raylee will be two on Friday!
Reese was born on May 30 & Claire on July 8.
The four of them :)

Halloween Fun

Tonight we attended a birthday party for a friend who was turning 50. For the big Five-Oh, they had a costume/Halloween themed party. Fun times!

The Prather Family (snap, snap!)
Princess, Pea, Astronaut, & Fireman
The Princess & the Pea
Fun with the smoke machine Birthday Boy Steve (aka--Herman Munster)
The Cake

Russell (Uncle Fester) & Debbie (Grandmama)

After the party, Will came in and got on the computer :) (Please ignore the mess!)

News and Such

Yea, the gas meter debacle is over! It only took a week for our neighbor to get his hot water back. It ended up being quite an ordeal with all the plumbing...I won't go into the details, but let me just say I am SOOO glad we have auto insurance.

Scott has been sick now for about a week. As long as he's taking Tylenol, he feels okay, but when he doesn't he's running about a 100 degree fever. We were suspicious of mono for a while, but he was tested on Friday and it came back negative. Hopefully he's just got an ultra-tough virus who will be moving on soon (hopefully not to me or my kids!).

In spite of sickness, we travelled to Lubbock on Friday night for a wedding in which Scott officiated. It was his first and he did great! The bride was in our youth group when we first moved to Big Spring for all of about four months (she was a senior that year), and the groom was a freshman at LCU when we were seniors. So, we actually knew some of the wedding party and guests as we went to school with them. We stayed with Scott's best friend, Jake, and his wife Cheri and two girls. I had not seen them in two years, though Scott had. It was fun catching up and seeing how their girls had grown. Unfortunately, because of the wedding schedule and children being children, we couldn't see any of our other Lubbock friends. But we thought of you and love you all!

Our kids are doing well...Will is just so cute. He says the most wonderful things like, "I love you so much, Mommy," and "I love Claire so much!" He also likes to ask us "How's it going?" He's at a fun age.

Claire is just growing and growing. She thinks she is so big and wants to sit up already. She tries, but she's just not quite capable yet! She also loves to smile and chatter and the other night, Daddy made her have her first belly laugh. It was great!

For those who have asked how to make your own playlist...just click on mine where it says "Create a playlist" and it should take you to that website (which is, I think, www.playlist.com?) and it will be pretty self-explanatory. When you're done making the list, it should give you an option to embed the html into your myspace, blog, etc. Copy the html and go to your layout page for blogger and choose where you want to embed the html. If you have any questions, you can always ask!

Happy fall...yea, a cold front is coming tomorrow and it's supposed to be in the 60's!!

Chorus Reunion

We had such a great time this past weekend at the LCU chorus reunion. Friday night was a little nutty because we had our kids with us, but it was still good. Scott and I had to tag-team parent during the dinner, so I missed some speeches and he missed some presentations. Oh well. My mom arrived during the first rehersal session to take the kids and after we got them squared away, things went much more smoothly! Thanks, Mom, for taking care of our kiddos!

We enjoyed getting to see lots of old friends and singing with a choir again. Dr. Hinds directed us in six pieces, Dr. Camp directed two, Eddie Cox (Brother Cox's son) directed two, and Dr. Rogers directed one. So, we sang a lot of music! I think we did pretty well for only rehearsing a total of six hours. We recorded a CD on Saturday afternoon and then held a performance on Sunday morning after worship. I was bad, as always, and didn't think about taking pictures until it was pretty much too late. Here are a couple that we did get:

Mom took this one of the whole chorus

Me, Jen, April, and Marla after the performance on Sunday morning

Special Visit

Reese and Claire--Reese is only 5 weeks older than Claire!

Reese, Claire, Raylee, Will, and Ryland--this is the only decent picture I got out of about six!

Today we were blessed to see the Malletts again; they had to come to town to tie up a few loose ends. Leland and the three older kids hung out at our house while Harmony, Reese, Claire and I went to play bunko with friends from church. We had fun and were able to get a few pictures of all our kids together. It was good to see them again!

Life

It is now just the four of us; all the family has gone and we are trying to get used to our new life as a family of four. Claire is doing great. Thankfully she finally got the hang of nursing, so that is going a lot smoother. She still just sleeps most of the time, which is kind of nice. It's kind of easing us into this new sense of normalcy. Will is interested in his new sister, but not overly so. He likes to touch her on the head and kiss her every once in a while. He's always interested as to where she is. I am doing pretty good; still tired, of course, but catching sleep whenever I can. Scott, if you will remember, the best dad ever, so he is of course doing everything he can to help out.

Last week was quite an emotional week for me, what with just giving birth, having to stay in the hospital an extra day and seeing my two day old with an IV in her arm. On top of all that our best friends moved away. Harmony and Leland and their three precious kiddos moved out of Big Spring on Wednesday (a little over a week ago now) and we were fortunate enough to be able to share one last meal with them before they left. I had told myself, "don't cry, you've done enough of that in the last two days," but when we parted ways in the parking lot, I couldn't help it. The Malletts have been very special to us over the last several years. They had always been here and it seemed like we'd always have each other.

But it was inevitable that with Leland being a teacher and Scott a youth minister that one of our families would eventually move on, and it so happened that it was their time to do so. It hasn't hit me quite yet because of the fact that I've been occupied with Claire and visiting relatives, but soon I'll expect to see them at church or to get a call from Harmony asking me if I want to go eat lunch or head to Midland with her. And that isn't going to happen. I miss them incredibly already and it's going to be difficult getting used to life without them here. I'm so glad that we were able to become such good friends with them and I know that we will remain friends; we'll just have to visit the Metroplex a lot more often! (Harmony, get ready, because we're coming as soon as we can!).

***Of course, my computer still won't let me upload photos...I've tried three times already. As soon as I can, I'll get pics up. Don't give up on me yet!***

Overdue Update

Thank you to everyone for their sweet comments concerning my birthday and anniversary! Even though we were apart for the actual day, we still had a good anniversary and birthday. Scott and Will went to the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area for Scott's family reunion and I travelled as far as Amarillo with him and stayed a few days with my wonderful friends Chelsey (at her home) and Jen. I hadn't seen Chelsey since September, so it was really nice to get to spend some time with her. I was glad to get to see my friends one more time before Claire is born. We had lots of fun cooking, watching movies, catching up, and we even got to relax by the pool. It was an excellent way to spend my birthday :)

Scott and Will came back through to pick up Jen and I on Tuesday morning and we all headed home. Wednesday was an exciting day because some of our very best friends had their third baby! I spent most of the morning at the hospital waiting but I had to go to work at 1:00 pm. Sure enough, as soon as I got to work, the baby was born. So I played flower-delivery-girl and took some flowers up to the hospital and just stayed a little longer than normal :) Congratulations to Leland and Harmony on the birth of Reese Ann! Go look at her adorable pictures here.

Scott and I had our anniversary date on Thursday night. We had a great time enjoying a meal with just the two of us and ate waaayyy too much. We walked it off by going shopping afterward :) Friday was spent preparing for our yard sale on Saturday...finally!! It seemed like everytime I would try to do this thing, it would rain or some other circumstance would pop up. We finished pricing things and prepared ourselves to wake up at 5:30 on Saturday morning to get set up and get the signs out. Yuck. We ended up doing pretty well, though, and it wasn't unbearably hot, so that was all good! The rest of the stuff was donated to charity, so hopefully someone will get some good use out of it.

This week, we will be preparing in a couple of different ways. Scott is headed to Laramie, Wyoming, for a mission trip on Sunday. He just found out last week that a couple that was going to go was going to have to stay home (for good reasons), so he has to take over their class. So, he'll be busy not only getting prepared to lead the trip, but also putting together a VBS class for 4th through 6th graders. My dad is coming on Friday to pick up Will and I for a trip to San Antonio. My cousin is getting married on Saturday and then I am going to stay there with my grandma for about week until my mom comes through to take us back home. My baby shower is on Saturday, the 16th, so she was going to be coming back our way anyway. So I figured it would be easier for me to stay with my grandma than be without Scott for another week at home.

After all that, I think we'll slow down a little (with the exception of local VBS) and will be getting ready for and anticipating the birth of baby Claire. I can't believe that I am 33 weeks along...that means only 7 to go! Hopefully we'll find a moment to take some pictures of my growing belly sometime soon. She is really quite the gymnast/kick-boxer. Sometimes I wonder if she will actually break through my skin, she pushes so hard! Seeing Reese got me really excited to get my little one here (although I don't really want her to come quite this early!) and see what she looks like and hold her. Babies are so precious! Soon enough...

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

More of Will's Birthday

Singing "Happy Birthday"

He just blew out the candles
Mmm...good cupcakes!

Mom passing out cupcakes to everyone Chocolate-y goodness


Malaki eating his cupcake
Ryland and Harmony (and Harmony's belly :) )
The Mallett clan playing games


Lauren talking to the Rodgers clan

Raylee and Leland

Chuck E.'s drawing of Will, Papa (Harvey) and Grammy (LaDon)
Chuck E.'s drawing of Grandma Connie and Will