No stopping him now!

I am having some trouble getting my videos from youtube onto my blog... I don't know what is different from the last time I did a video.

Poor Benjamin- he has been walking for a couple of weeks but I never had the camera handy and he was eclipsed by his sister's hair fiasco. Here are two 12 second clips of Benjamin taking steps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNc8ETIIQTw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JatoJkXQMvE&feature=related

Oh it's bad

BEFORE:

AFTER:
Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. My daughter is sporting a mullet, a self-inflicted mullet in fact. Reactions have ranged from "Oh wow!" to "she looks like Joe Dirt" (quoting 2 family members). Ashlyn gets embarrassed about it every once and awhile. I am trying to keep things in perspective... and ultimately I have to remember that hair grows back.

Thursday morning is when the offense took place, I cried every time I looked at her for the rest of that day, couldn't help it. Friday we went shopping. Must be nice to do something wrong and be rewarded with a new wardrobe! I have to give a shout out to the nice lady working at the Gap at the Shops at La Cantera- she could not have been sweeter and more helpful to us. She brought out a HUGE box full of hats, headcovers, and headbands and we went through them all! Finally today (Saturday) my hairdresser did what she could and cut the back of the mullet into a cropped bob (Ashlyn likes that her hair is "Bob" now).

Not too sure how well you can see her hair and also I didn't get any good ones of her by herself. There is one that kinda/sorta shows the back of her hair. Her cousin Payton really enjoyed having his picture taken tonight.

For months I have been wanting to have her hair cut to a cute bob, but Ashlyn told me no, that she didn't want to get her hair cut... hmmm. Go figure!

And the -Oscopy goes to...

(Look at him in his cute tiny hospital gown!)

Benjamin had his "endoscopy/flex sigmoidoscopy" early this morning and he did great! As an obvious response to our anxious prayers, the anesthesiologist was a wonderful Dr that goes to our church and is a close family friend. Now I am feeling dumb that I didn't think before to ask for him specifically, but it all worked anyway. The gastroenterologist said that he didn't see anything to be concerned with by his visual inspection but that a few tissue samples were taken from different areas of his digestive tract for testing and they should have the results in the next 2 weeks. Ben only cried for a minute or two as he was coming out of anesthesia in recovery. Thank you God for assuring that today went so smoothly!

Thank you for your prayers about this- they are much appreciated! We'll keep you posted on the results.

Prayers for Benjamin

I was just thinking the other day that I don't blog anymore about one of the main things that consumes my life. I have mentioned it before, but not for awhile... it is Benjamin's eating & growing issues. Well, he still isn't growing on a normal curve according to the growth charts. After months and months of visting different specialists, his pediatrician and the gastroenterologist are in agreement that he needs to undergo a procedure. This coming Monday Benjamin is to have an endoscopy/sigmoidoscopy performed under anesthesia. I think we are most nervous about the anesthesia part. Tissue samples will be taken from different parts of his digestive tract and sent to the lab... looking for celiac disease. I think that there may be other things that he would be tested for- I don't want him to have some serious life long illness of course, but some answers would be nice. My fear is that we will STILL not have an answer after we put Ben through all this. Anyway, please pray that the procedure goes smoothly without complications.

On a lighter note-

Giving kisses. They are so sweet to each other... most of the time.

Third times a charm

This is literally the third time I have tried to post this week. I'd write something and then realize that it was not interesting or informative and then give up. I couldn't remember what all we have been doing to keep so busy... until today when I finally got around to downloading pictures from the past week.

For sure the highlight of the past week was last Friday. Paul took off work and we met up with some out-of-town friends at SeaWorld! Between the three families there totalled 9 kids all under the age of 5. A friend of Paul's works with the Killer Whales and so our little party got to pet baby Shamu. Actually her name is Haylen, but when I say baby Shamu you have a better idea of who I am talking about, right?

7 of the 9 kiddos

the other 2

Well, Paul had made the rookie mistake of telling Ashlyn the day before that we were going to be able to get close and touch Shamu... so for that stretch of time she was certain she wasn't going to touch something with that big of teeth. However, when the time came she gladly took her turn. Maybe because it was only the little tiny Shamu.

I think all the kids except the babies were brave enough to have their turn. I didn't think about it until later that I wanted to pet baby Shamu too. All of the adults were either holding a small child or taking pictures, so I guess we weren't really available to participate. We were like the paparazzi- all the pictures being taken with this crowd of children since something exciting was happening. Happens all the time... and it always makes me laugh.
Such a fun and memorable day!!

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! This was my favorite picture of the kids today... they looked so sweet in their matching outfits. Thank you Grandma & Papa!

Here are more pictures I took to chronicle our Easter Sunday:

He's not too happy, but Benjamin was showing off his 3 (almost 4) teethies! He was strong enough to knock Ashlyn over backward a couple of times before I gave up taking their picture.

The sweet girls in their matching dresses.All the cousins right before the Easter Egg hunt

Ashlyn's findings

this is what Benjamin did while the rest of the kids hunted eggs... and he slept on Noel at church this morning too. Aunt Noel is GOOD!!

I wanted to end with our family's scripture reading for the week leading up to Easter, that thanks to Ashlyn I have read more times than I can count... she likes to say "Jesus is risen- hallelujah!" afterwards. She would have me read it at least 5 or 6 times in a row. How could I say no?

"After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” --Matthew 28:1-7 NIV

So many of you have asked...

I am sorry for being so rude and not yet replying to any of you who have been so sweet to ask about the status of our move. We are still in San Antonio right now, waiting (impatiently on my part), hoping, and praying for Paul's company to give us a moving package. Since Jan 1st Paul's been working in his new territory which stretches from New Braunfels to Waco (Austin is located right in the middle and has the largest concentration of Drs). The commute is hard since there always seems to be traffic- and being the worrier that I am it makes me sick that he is on I-35 so much. To make things a little easier on all of us, we have accompanied him up to Austin for the week on a few occassions. It is much more productive for him to be there. However, I am so thankful that he is willing and somewhat able to come back home- the times that he has stayed overnight without us are really difficult days for me. It has been hard on Paul having to wake up super early (sometimes as early as 4:30) and having to be in the car for such a long time everyday. Anyway, Last news I have from Paul is that his company should tell us in the next month if they will be moving us or not. I am trying to be open to whatever God has planned for us...

A Do-It-Yourself-er

So this week I took both children to get their hair cut by someone other than me. I don't know why I feel I have to chronicle this momentous-only-to-me event, but here it is: The initial plan was to get Benjamin's hair cut, but take Ashlyn along so that MAYBE she might decide she would allow her's to be cut as well. It did turn out that after she saw that you get to sit in a car and when you are finished you are rewarded with a lollipop- she was willing! (Prior to the trim)Benjamin's hair has been described by his sister as "crazy hair" and I was in agreement. I found that I always had to have a comb on me, and that every hour or so I was needing to fix it again.It was NOT laying down the longer it got, it was always kinda messy.

So this lady proceeded to cut and clipper away without much input sought from me (that bothers me) and when she was finished she got it to stay by using a fair amount of gel. It looked okay... I thought I might have to take the scissors to it a little bit once we were home.

I was surprised that Ashlyn agreed to cut her hair... ever since she cut it herself she has been adamant about not having it cut at all. But she did amazing, she followed directions, stayed still better than I have ever seen her. After she had 4 inches cut and had the lollipop in hand, she was happy.

So after paying too much for these mediocre cuts we did our other errands. Benjamin's hair started to bother me more and more as the day progressed. I thought I'd see how it looked after I bathed him in the evening before I got involved. However, after his mid-afternoon nap I just couldn't take it any more. His hair has a way of always falling forward just minutes after you comb it to the side- well it was all foward and it looked like someone had weed-wacked his hair. It just looked so silly and as if he was bald on the sides and had long bangs in the front. So, YES, I did it, I got out the clippers and cut it myself! I tried using scissors but couldn't get him to stay still, so I used the clippers on the longest setting, and after the first pass I thought- "what did I just do!?" Once I did his whole head, I wasn't so upset with myself.

I find myself liking it more and more... it was the very best I could do after the haircut I paid for. I know at least my mother-in-law may be dissappointed because it is so short. It looks a lot blonder at this length (the last picture without the flash is to show this), and I don't even have to brush it- you have no idea how thrilled I am about that!! Anyway, what's done is done.

Ashlyn & Payton's Birthday Party

The birthday boy & the birthday girl!Just like we did last year, we did a shared party for Ashlyn and her cousin Payton since they were born a month apart. We had it at Pump It Up- a place with inflatable slides, bouncers, obstacle courses. It was made for kids to enjoy, but there were plenty of adults who participated as well!

listening attentively to the safety video

The pictures from the play areas with the actual inflatables turned out terrible- I think it was my camera or the lighting or both... so essentially the whole fun part of the party has not been included.

the girl cousins Hannah, Ashlyn, and Kaylee

cake time!By the way, having the party at a place like this was the way to go! The kids had fun, and I very much enjoyed not having to set-up, oversee the activities, and especially CLEAN UP! 2 hours and it was over and done- it was awesome!

Look how much they have grown up. This is from last year when they were turning 2... I think this picture was in my very first post.

...back before she had any say in what she woreI thought she was SO BIG then!!

at her first birthday covered in cakeon her actual BIRTH day... check out the black hair!
I still just can't believe that it has been 3 years!!

Funny Little Valentines

This is as cooperative as the kids would be for pictures on Valentine's Day



I took these next ones long before Valentine's Day in an attempt to send out some sort of Valentine's photo card to some family members. It didn't turn out as cute as I had envisioned it could... my friend Sarah has influenced me to prefer taking outdoor pictures and this was around the time that it was always nasty weather outside.

she learned that from Paul's sisters!

Oh, I have been so excited- I got a pink ipod nano for Valentine's Day! Thank you Paul, I love you!!

Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day!!