I promised to catch up..

I did promise to catch up but I think I said something about "soon" and that was in July lol.

Here goes.. 5 months of fun starting with May :)

End of May, my Dylan graduated from kindergarten and look how cute he was doing it! I'm proud! Other than that, I don't think anything too exciting happened. Check out my three cuties below.. Happy, Cowboy and Braelyn.. love 'em!! :)

In June, my two cuties enjoyed the beginning of summer with lots of swimming.. they are expert posers!!

And my niece, Alyssa, turned 8 years old!! When Jeff and I started dating she had just turned 3 years old a couple weeks before. The years have flown by!! She had a rock star party.. she is adorable!

 And just one of my favorites from June.. Braelyn Grace and Brylee Faith... :)

And in July, Lauryn Bailey turned 3 years old.. how cute is she? Love her to pieces!

My sweet newborn baby girl, Braelyn Grace, also turned 4 years old on the 27th. Seems like just yesterday she was born. She is the sweetest child and she loves everybody. The world is a better place because of her (and I tell her sister that, too). Jeff and I are so blessed!

 She wanted a pink pirate/skull party.. and it turned out cute. I ordered custom plates, banners and party boxes with her sweet little picture on them and we all met at the Eastland Water Park for a perfect summer day of swimming!

 And then my favorite holiday of the year.. 4th of July!!

 Nothing too exciting happened in August but we did go to Dallas for the weekend. Jeff and his parents and sister, her husband and kids all stayed at a hotel in Arlington for a night. The girls got to swim and watch a night movie by the pool and the next day we all went to Hurricane Harbor. It was really fun! I didn't take too many pictures since it all involved water but I did get these two at the hotel.. aren't they so sweet? I am loving their summer tans in those bright dresses!!

In September is one of the events I wait for every year.. The West Texas Fair and Rodeo.. so fun! It's a small town thing, I will admit that, but we love going! The girls think they have died and gone to heaven with all the rides and junk food!! :)

 Also in September I got a call that Braelyn got in to preschool!! It was a very bittersweet day for us. The same little baby that just turned 4 years old is now a school girl and she is loving every second of it! She is doing so well and is very advanced for her age.. I couldn't be more proud! She got to pick out her outfit for her first day of school and she was flawless. I am in love!

 Sweet Happy's room is now being turned back into a nursery so we did a room makeover on Braelyn's room so that they could move in together. They are looooving it and it turned out so cute!!

Things have been busy but busy is almost always good for us. I say it all the time but we are so blessed with great family, friends and children. My cup runeth over!!

Our colorful weekend

Friday, Jeff and I took the girls to our last 2009 trip to the fair. They had a blast again. Braelyn can do the rides but had to do most alone since Happy is not big enough :( She didn't seem to mind but I can't wait till next year when they can ride together :) Lots of fun with our kids and close friends. Can you see the pic of me and Happy on the giant slide? I had a minor panic attack during that one! They won't let you hold the babies in your laps anymore.. they have to ride in the lane next to you and you can hold their hand. Well it goes FAST and she started slipping back and I was literally reaching over the other side to hold her up so I didn't lose her! She was giggling the whole time :) Can't wait until the fair next year!!

Chris and Kristie got here Friday night, after we got home from the fair, and they stayed the weekend. On Saturday, Jeff, Chris and all their boys went to Lubbock for the day and Kristie and I could not decide what to do for the rest of the weekend. So we decided to remake Happy's room, which was never painted in the first place. I knew we were going to do the colors off the quilt Kristie made her but I was hesistant about putting so much color in one room. I didn't want the room to look small or suffocate you when you walked in. So Kristie and I headed out to pick paint and chose the perfect colors. We did two walls (green and blue) and then took a break to go to dinner and came back to do the other two walls (opposite walls, both pink). It turned out perfect! We kept joking about how the green wall was getting brighter but it is an awesome color and the room looks great. It is very colorful, probably not everyones taste, but it is perfect for Happy and our house! Thanks, Kristie, you are the best!! :)

Here is the collage of us and our work in progress:

And here is the finished product! Kristie also made the valances on the tops of the windows to match the quilt and then we bought black curtains to go under them. I love it that it makes the room so dark for sleeping time and bright with colors and light when you pull the curtains back! It's awesome!

And after all that, we spent most of the day Sunday EATING, my favorite hobby! Hope your weekend was great too! Let me know what you think about Happy's new room!!

Fair and major prayer request!!

Monday night we finally made it out to the West Texas Fair! It was a blast! The kids were loving their lives! I took so many pictures so I had to combine them into three collages of only the best ones :) Hope to go back soon before the fair ends on Saturday!
It was very cool to watch Braelyn at the fair this year. Although, last year she was tall enough to do all the rides and games, she was not mentally or physically prepared. And this year she could do it all alone and I was so proud of her. She is an amazing little being!

Happy, on the other hand, won't be tall enough until next year so she could only do a couple little rides with Mommy (Lauryn, still too short too!). She loved it though!

Do you see my kids on the left side of the collage hanging on the gate. They are twinkies... monkey see, monkey do! They have so much fun together. And of course, I made Lauryn take a picture with me and she didn't love it but I promise, she does love me :) Alyssa, our big girl, got to do the bungee rope jumping. it looked pretty fun and she had a blast!

PLEASE PRAY
If you keep up with me on Facebook you might have read about me asking for prayers on Tuesday. Braelyn had to go into her ENT because she had an ear infection, that was draining, from the ear that still has a tube in it (the other tube fell out in July). While we were there he discovered the other ear (one the tube has already fallen out of) was also infected. In case you are keeping up, she just got over the flu last week and now a double ear infection. Long story made short, Braelyn has already had surgery for tubes at 15 months old and then surgery for tubes and adenoids removal in January 09 and now that the one tube has fallen out it is looking like we are going to have to do it all over again. He put her on an antibiotic and is going to recheck her ears in 3 weeks but he said unless he saw a "drastic improvement" we will be sending her in for a third surgery soon. I am heartbroken that my baby has had to go through all this. Braelyn is often sick and has been through so many tests, sicknesses, breathing treatments, medicines, allergic reactions, procedures, hospital stays, ER visits, doctors visits and surgeries than any child should ever have to endure. Basically she was a perfect healthy, never sick once, baby and then at her one year check up had an ear infection and was diagnosed with asthma two weeks later. Since she turned one it has been non-stop. Words could not describe the stress, worry and more stress that Jeff and I have faced with Braelyn. If you feel inclined, I would really love some prayers. Our precious baby needs a break. I am praying for a healthy, healed, happy three year old that can get a cold without being sent to the hospital with asthma (which happens every time). Sadly this has become the "norm" for us but it shouldn't be that way.. I know Braelyn can be healed and I have 100% faith in that!
Okay, well, I actually set down at the computer to post and talk about the fair and someone it turned into that.. hmm. Thanks for reading all that and keeping up with my family. I appreciate all the prayers, really.

Happy, Flu and Fair

Kristie bought this outfit for Happy at Old Navy last weekend. If you know my baby.. it's funny :)

Precious Braelyn has been fighting the flu.. still.. all week! It has been a looong past few days! Lots of high fevers (think 104), lots of TamiFlu, Motrin and Tylenol, lots of Lysol and hand sanitizer and very little sleep!! So far, so good today.. I know she is past the bad part and she might even be healed.. time will tell.

No word on if we are going to make it to the first night of the Fair tonight. Just going to have to wait and see how Braelyn does all day and if it doesn't rain some more. It hasn't hardly rained all summer here and then the week of the fair we have chances of rain every day! Bummer.. we will make it though.. several times, I'm sure! :)

Something to look forward to..

How was your Labor Day weekend? Ours was half great and relaxing and half stressful and worrisome! Friday, Chris and Kristie got here and we enjoyed all weekend relaxing and eating and baking and shopping and watching kids! And then Monday morning came.. Braelyn woke up with 102 fever. I hadn't the slighest clue what was going on so I figured it was an ear infection. Of course, the pediatricians office was closed on Labor Day so I debated a trip to the emergency room until I found out the walk in clinic by ACU was open. We got ready and headed out the door just in time for Braelyn to projectile vomit all over the front porch.. lovely.  So I dropped off Brylee and got to the clinic early enough that the wait wasn't too long. Her ears were perfect so he did a strep test (throat gag) and flu test (booger scan). Strep was negative and flu.. positive! I was bummed.. my kids always get their flu shots but the flu has hit Abilene extra early this year and no one has the shot yet so here we are. He prescribed TamiFlu for all four of us, in hopes that no one else will catch it. So yesterday Jeff and I took care of one sick little girl, who actually slept about 18 out of the 24 hours, and tried to keep the girls apart.. mission almost impossible since they are obsessed with each other. Anyways, Braelyn is feeling slightly better today and so far, no one else is sick!

There is a light at the end of the flu tunnel on Thursday.. West Texas Fair and Rodeo! If you know me, I don't need to express my love for the Fair any longer. This is one of my favorite times of year! I love the rides, games, junk food, lights.. all of it! Last year I think we went 5 times in the 10 days it was open. It is an Abilene tradition and I am sure my kids will take these memories into adulthood. Saturday is the West Texas Parade and I cannot wait for that either!

Here is a collage of our Fair trips from last year.. Look how little Brylee was! 5 months old.. and Braelyn had just turned 2! :)