Disney World 2010!!!!

In a word, Disney World was...magical. I didn't believe that when people would tell me how great it was, but now that we have gone...and seen the priceless looks of joy on our kiddos faces while we were there, I believe!

Here is a slideshow of some of the fun!

Mickey, see you in a few more years when poor Aaron can enjoy it all!

Blessing #4: Aaron

My Aaron, baby boy, little bubster, bubby boy, little brother. What a sweet and precious blessing he has been to all of our lives! He is a true mama's boy, and LOVES his sisters so much, and loves to watch his daddy all the time. Such a good baby, so very laid back and go with the flow, right from the beginning...which I hear is not a good sign for the future!

He loves to get into EVERYTHING. His favorite playtoy at the moment is not simply a car or truck, but the smelly garbage can in our kitchen. I have found everything from his sippy cup to my shoes in the trash on any given day. He loves opening and closing any doors, trash cans, lids on toys, the laundry machine, the dishwasher...I'm thinking we may have a mechanical engineer in our future.

He loves to read the book "Doggies", loves his little blue and soft "lovey" and sucks his thumb whenever lovey is in his hands. His favorite toys are a set of different size bouncy balls, and they keep him entertained for the longest time! He has quite the pitching arm and launches them across the room, fetches them himself, and launches them again! His bright and intensely blue eyes and beautiful smile melt my heart every time I look at him.

Now that he has started walking, things are becoming even more interesting. His world has just exploded and you can see how proud he is of himself! He is growing up so quickly, I want nothing more than to just stop time and keep him right where he is forever...

My prayer for Aaron is that he doesn't try to grow up so quickly just because he has two older sisters, and that his heart remains as sweet and tender as it is now! Stay my baby boy forever!!

Blessing #2: plastic combs

So a few days ago, this past Sunday to be exact, Emily had been in our bathroom for an unusual amount of time...which is a bad sign.

While we were making breakfast, she finally wanders out and asks Brian for some "help".

Now, normally, asking for help with something like, oh, buttoning up pants...or tying shoes...is not much of a problem. However, we discovered that the "help" Emily needed at this particular time was going to require a skill set that neither of us possessed.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it.

Emily had decided to "comb" her hair with one of my small plastic combs with the really tiny teeth, but instead of combing it, she had twirled it into a very impressive and massive rat's nest right on the top of her head...and the comb was literally... stuck to her head.

After getting over the initial shock, we sat Emily down at the kitchen table and we tried everything we could think of...slowly pulling tiny strands of thin blond hair out of the comb, rubbing conditioner all over the mass to loosen it. Anything to try and figure out the intricately tangled puzzle of hair that sat on top of Emily's head.

There was crying and screaming from the pain, we felt SO terrible! And across the table from Emily sat Addison, eyes wide, mouth open... quiet for the longest time that I've ever seen her be quiet.

After what seemed like forever, I was getting ready to tell Emily that we were going to have to cut it out of her hair, because this sucker was going nowhere. THEN...I had a moment of brilliance.

...it doesn't happen very often, so I have to brag about it now.

Cut one end of the comb off, close to the massive tangle, and then slowly push the ends of the hair off of the broken end. Makes sense, right? Brian said it would never work :)

Thank God for plastic combs, because it broke in half quite easily, and I was able to save (just about) every last hair without having to send her to school the next day looking a mini member of Flock of Seagulls.

Lesson here: rid your house of combs made of anything but PLASTIC!!

Blessing #3: Addison...I should add that these blessings are in no particular order!!!

Addison, my sweet baby girl, my absolute "girlie-girl", my cuddle bug, the Middle one. She loves anything frilly, glittery, fancy and pink. On a daily basis, she insists on wearing "fancy" dresses or skirts only...my little lady. She is fiercely loyal to Tiger, who she claims to be her "best friend".

She is strong and stubborn...yet can be so very sensitive and fragile at the same time. Sometimes she melts down like a pat of butter if I even look at her the wrong way. I love her sweet little heart, especially when she looks at me and for no particular reason says, "Mommy? I love you." She tells me her heart is made of "glittery sparkles"...I absolutely have to agree.

She is 3 years old, hoping to go on to 20 as quickly as possible, and just wants to be a big girl SO badly! She loves her preschool teachers and friends, and her precious little heart shines so brightly to everyone she meets. Her face is so expressive, it is hard for her to hide anything that she is feeling.

She loves playing with make-up, playing dress up, putting together puzzles (difficult ones, too!), reading books with mommy and daddy, cuddling, talking about "happy things" at bedtime, making up stories, listening to Mary Poppins, The Biscuit Brothers, and her VBS songs.

My prayer for her is that she remembers that God and mommy and daddy love her just the way she is, with or without the fancy dresses, because her heart is the fanciest and most wonderful part of her!

Blessings

Hello. My name is Anne...and I am a control freak.

...(I think this is where you all say: Hello, Anne)

Ok. There, I have said it. For those of you who know me...even if only for a short while, I'm sure this comes as a complete shock. If I could give you some insight into my crazy mental world for just a few minutes:

1. I spent several hours trying to decide whether or not to create my most recent blog background using my own digital scrapbooking software, or to scrap my pride and choose one from some of the very talented blog sites online. Obviously, the online people won...(but only because it was after midnight and I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to hit the Photoshop icon)...but I did do my own header :)

2. I get my panties in a bunch and fret like a mother hen over just about anything that requires me to give up control in a given situation...how do you like that mental image?

3. It has taken me almost 45 minutes just to START typing this blog entry because it HAS TO BE ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!!!! :)

4. Please, don't help me...I promise I can do it ALL myself.

...tell me, am I the only one who is like this?

But I am desperately trying to learn to let go...it's going VERY slow...I have been this way for an extremely long time, after all.

It's funny, because I pray for the ability to give up control to The One who controls it all, and have the faith to know that His plan is in place. Unfortunately what I've learned is that God does not send faith down from heaven in a lightning bolt to our brains...I know because I've prayed for this too.

Instead, He gives us "opportunities" to have faith..."opportunities" to throw our hands up in the air and say, Ok, Lord, this one is all yours! And recently, God has been giving me LOTS and LOTS of "opportunities". Or rather, beating me over the head in the hopes that I will take advantage of these "opportunities".

Clearly, it has taken me a while to figure this out....like I said, I'm learning!

I thank the Lord everyday for a husband who helps to keep me grounded in the reality that I cannot be in charge all the time, and that I was never REALLY the one in charge in the first place. I also have three sweet and precious little kiddos that remind me of the very same thing with their crazy antics, tantrums, silliness, and wonderment, EVERYDAY.

So, instead of worrying about all the things I could worry about, I am stealing an idea from a bloggy friend of mine (thank you K!), and will be listing all the amazing, wonderful blessings that God has given to me....one blog post at a time.

Blessing #1: Emily

Emily, my monkey moo, the big sister, lover of frogs, centipedes, roly-poly's, lizards, and just about anything else that crawls around in the grass. She loves singing, swimming, gymnastics, eating crab legs (yes, it's true), playing outside, and anything that might involve ice cream.

She is very independent and self-confident, which I LOVE about her, and is such a champion for God at the ripe old age of five it is awe-inspiring. She is absolutely not afraid to tell you exactly what she believes in. She is hilarious, cracks me up with the brutally honest things that tend to come out of her mouth. Her heart is so sweet and loving, she wants nothing more than for us to be proud of her...which we are more than she will ever know!

She has just embarked on that new and scary journey (for mom and dad as well!) called school, and is doing so great. Kindergarten has been a blast for her so far, and although she comes home everyday and claims to have had amnesia for the entire 7 hours she was there...I know better.

My prayer is that she always remembers who she is and what she believes in, and what a blessing she is in our lives. We love you so much, baby girl!!

Great Grandma!!!!

What an exciting week we had! Rock a bye Nana and Great Grandma both here at the same time! The girls were just bursting with anticipation before they got here, and we had such a great time getting to visit with them.

We had some great adventures while they were here...one of them being our doomed trip to the Hummingbird lavender farm outside of Fredericksburg. We left the house one cold, rainy morning and began our trek into the Hill Country to visit this lavender farm. I had Aaron in the van, and Rock-a-bye Nana and Great Grandma had the girls in their car. We rolled along through the hill country, through tiny towns, out in the middle of nowhere for what seemed like an eternity...or at least it feels like that when a 9 month old begins screaming in protest in the back seat :)

Finally, we learn that we are within a few miles, and begin looking to the right for the entrance to the lavender farm. At this point, I can't wait to remove myself from the vicinity of the screeching hyena in the back seat, and am also looking forward to stretching my legs, and perhaps having a nice lunch.

And suddenly, there it is!! We made it!!! The Hummingbird Lavender Farm!!! A shining beacon in the distance... our destination that we have driven so far to see!!!

....as we pass the entrance to the Hummingbird Lavender Farm...WHICH IS CLOSED...I couldn't help but think of Clark W. Griswold, and how he must have felt when he pulled into Wally World after his road trip fraught with disaster.

Unfortunately, there was no moose to punch in the nose at the Lavender farm.

Truly, it was more amusing than anything else, and we trudged along to Fredericksburg, where we had an awesome lunch and even more awesome ice cream for dessert!

The visit ended much too soon, but we were so thankful to get to spend time together! Thank you for coming Rock a bye Nana and Great Grandma!!! We love you!!!

All four generations together!!


Silly faces

Aaron's baptism

So, he may already be 8 months old...and we JUST got him baptized, but better late than never, right? We've had good intentions of doing this earlier...or at least, we talked about it frequently, just kept forgetting to schedule it! Truly, I feel like my mind is so fragmented and disjointed that I might put my head down somewhere and forget where I placed it.

Case in point: after a particularly dismal visit to the grocery store with all three kiddos (yes, I do this often, and no, I don't need medication...not yet, anyway)...and by dismal, I mean by the time we left, Aaron was crying because he needed a nap, Emily and Addison were fighting over whether or not Mr. Incredible can fly...which by the way, he cannot, he just jumps really high... and I was halfway through a very large bottle of red wine that I had just purchased in the store.

...just kidding about that last part, but I really wanted it to be true :)

ANYWAY, we get the three musketeers home, after enduring yet another fight over who's turn it was to pick out the music on the way home, (I'll give you one guess as to which two were doing the fighting), which then turned into Mommy's turn to pick music, which then erupted into a major meltdown in the backseat between the two females...that included real tears, high pitched wailing, kicking of little legs, and I can't be sure, but at one point I swear that the howling from the backseat resembled that of some sort of alien from another planet.

And when the meltdowns commenced, poor little Aaron was so terribly out-volumed (is that a word?) by the rantings of the girls, he stopped screaming and simply had a bewildered look on his face as he watched his big sisters rival the sound of a jet engine blasting down the runway.

SO, we get home and finally get everyone and everything in the house. Aaron went down for a nap, the girls collapsed on the floor, exhausted from all the screaming and crying, and I had a quiet minute to put all the groceries away. A few hours went by and I happened to go outside to get the mail.

...only then did I notice that I left ALL the doors on the van open, my purse sitting in the front seat, and the keys sitting on the floor...

So clearly, I cannot be counted on to remember scheduling a baptism.

But the day was wonderful, Aaron was adorable and so good, he didn't cry at all. The only bummer was that Emily had to miss the baptism because she was home with RSV. Oh yeah, did I mention that ALL THREE OF THEM HAD RSV AT THE SAME TIME??????

That was a treat, let me tell you. A story better saved for another time.

Here are some pics of the great event!


My cute little man!

WWAAAAYYY TOO LONG!

Quickly, I'll tell you why I have been out of commission since, um, August:

1. Had a third child
2. Already had two very busy girls
3. Had a third child
4. Went on vacation to Illinois
5. Traveled to Houston a few times
6. Sold our house and bought another one on the SAME day
7. Had...a...third...child.
8. Moved into a new house
9. Unpacked all of our boxes...oh, wait a minute, we're still doing that
10. Successfully crate trained (in about 4 weeks, thank you very much!) a deeply disturbed and anxiety-ridden dog after moving, who got thrown in the Boerne Animal Shelter for an evening after running away...but that's another story
11. HAD A THIRD CHILD
12. Threw a VERY belated birthday party for the girls at the YMCA
13. Celebrated Thanksgiving at our new house
14. Celebrated Christmas at our new house
15. Ate with Elmo and friends at SeaWorld
16. Took Emily to see the Lion King at the Majestic Theatre
17. DID I MENTION WE HAD A THIRD CHILD???


Ok, so maybe this doesn't excuse the disgraceful amount of time that I have been off of the "blogosphere", but does it at least give me a little bit of slack??

Perhaps the slide show of pics since August will make up for it :)