Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

the last game introduction: Rachel Milligan!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was the last game for Rachel's Upward Cheerleading team. The season was only 8 weeks and 1 week was snowed out. The whole experience was so wonderful and positive for all of us! I can't wait for her to get to do it again next year! Today was the Awards Celebration at Clarke Central H.S. The Upward coordinators hired an Illusion Ministry (that's christian for magician :) ) to dazzle the kids. Their act was adorable, entertaining and funny. The point of the celebration was to get all the kids AND their parents together to minister to all the families. The illusionists had several parts to their act and one of them was sharing the message of eternal life through Jesus. It was really cool and effective how they did it...with colored handkerchiefs that would magically appear and disappear and be tied and untied to one another. There were hundreds of people there, so I'm thinking that it was a wonderfully used opportunity for ministry. Anyway, Rachel loved it all and the boys did great although it was a bit long and poor Trent was tired since he missed his nap. But, it was nice to be able to support and share the celebration with our sweet Rachel. After that, we treated ourselves (along with several hundred Athenians) to the Varsity...mmm, mmm, mmmm! Then, it was time for Nick to take Rachel to TeamKid at church. I took the boys home to play till bedtime. Phewww...so much for resting on Sunday! :)

33!

me and my precious kids

(and 2 delicious cakes!)

I've never thought my age sounded like it was getting older till I hit 33. I guess it sorta seems like it's getting closer to being "middle aged". But, I know it's still fairly young...and I still feel young. Truthfully, I still think of myself as a 20-something year old. I have to remind myself that I've had 3 kids and been married for almost 10 years, so there's got to be some time used somewhere in there. Seriously, though, I feel richly blessed. I get to stay home with my kids EVERY day. I live in a nice, warm, cozy home. I am married to an extremely kind, generous, loving and incredibly handsome husband. So, 33 is just my badge of wonderful things I've been fortunate enough to experience. Last week, Rach and Trent were sick, so Nick and I weren't able to go out for my birthday. This week, although I had the lovely stomach bug early in the week, we've all been feeling much better. So, Nick and I got to go to dinner last night, by ourselves (thanks J&D)! It was a spur of the moment thing, but so nice to get to look at each other and talk, or not. :) We enjoyed a great meal at Longhorn's and then went to Sam's Club. We were only gone a couple of hours, but it was nice being alone! Today, after Rachel's last Upward game, mom, dad, Joe and Deb went with us to a yummy mexican restaurant for dinner. Then, we had 2 delicious cakes to eat (thanks, mom!) when we got home. I had a great birthday this year and appreciate all the wonderful presents and sentiments!!! Love you all!!

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful parents!

2006
2008
(sorry I couldn't find any pics of just y'all...
with 8 grandkids, one of them is always hangin' around y'all!) :)

38 years! WOW! What an incredible testimony in honoring your marriage covenant! You "take the good, take the bad, take them all and there you have"... 38 years of marriage! In a world where so many people (50% of marriages today??) end their marriage in divorce, instead you have loved, supported and treasured each other through thick and thin. Y'all have set a fabulous legacy for your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren...etc...to follow. Thank you for being parents who have set an example of love, honor and respect.

I love you both so much!

Happy 38th Anniversary mom and dad!

Rachel's Room Pt. 2

Rachel's room is a work in progress. I have lots of furniture to paint, but not the best weather to do it in. Meanwhile, we finally decided to buy a canopy from Lowe's. I had looked at several online and in catalogues, but the Lowe's one was the best deal. Rachel loves it and thinks it's fit for a princess. I also took her lampshade and hot-glued some fake rose petals to it just to give it a new look. It was fun to do, and we had nothing to lose since we've had the lamp since Rach was born. Hopefully we'll finish her room completely once the weather warms up.

Gooooooooooo Upward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rachel running out during introductions before the game began

She is excited!!
Prayer time before the game starts

My sweet little cheerleader

"1, we are Upward

2, a little bit louder

3, I still can't hear you...

4 more, let's score...

1!"

Rachel is enjoying cheerleading for Upward so much!! The other day, I really couldn't stop laughing at how adorable and hilarious she was being as she cheered. She was so "into" it all! Her yells/cheers were loud, her movements were enthusiastic and deliberate and her energy was very high! She was just having such a good time! The funniest part was her showing "spirit" after her cheers (the girls can jump, shake their pom poms up in the air or do a split)...she thought it was cool to do a split every time. And, she wanted me or Gege to look at her every time she did one. It was quite funny. I love her enthusiasm for everything and if she wants to be a little cheerleader, that's fine with me! She'll be great at whatever she does!!!

Toddling Trenty

"WAAAAAAAAAHHH!! Mom said I could NOT have the camera!!!!!!!!"

(Not a very common sight, since Trent is so laidback!)
"I LOVE to look outside!!"

"Will someone please take me out there!!?"

"I still can't have your camera??!! Aww, shucks!"

"Let's see what I can get into in sissy's room..."

Our little baby stinker is almost 10 1/2 months old and IS walking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For the past couple of weeks, he has been letting go of various things he was holding onto and standing by himself. But, over the past couple of days, he has started to take some steps! And, we haven't even been pressuring him to do it...he would just let go of something he had pulled up to and then take a few steps. Tonight he took about 8 steps before he fell down! Of couse, we make a really big deal and clap and yell, and Trent gets a big grin and seems pretty proud of himself! So, where does he fit in compared to his sibs...Rach has the boys beat with walking (or trotting, since she wouldn't slow down) at 9 1/2 months!!! Bradley was walking pretty well at 10 1/2 months and since Trent is ALMOST (on the 14th) 10 1/2 months, he's neck and neck with his big bro! We're so excited to see him reach this precious milestone and are reminded again how thankful we are to have a healthy, normal developing baby!

Other things Trent is now interested in/getting into:

Peek-a-boo! He loves doing this with us...he likes to move his hand up to his forehead and then lower it, as in "where's Trenty?" (when his hand is on his forehead) and "there he is/peek-a-boo!" when he lowers his hand. Lots of fun and giggles with that. And, Rachel and Bradley love playing that game with him.

Making his brother and sister laugh...he discovered (in the car one day) that if he puts a toy on his head and his brother or sister notices, they will laugh and giggle uncontrollably, so he LOVES this game. He also loves to pull on his retractable window shade, which makes his sister and brother cry, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" in their loudest, silliest voices and they all giggle at this. (It makes for a fun, loud car ride.)

Outlets and cords...(sigh!) we enjoyed the many, many months where Trent didn't notice or touch the cords or outlets, but now he's fascinated by them. He has a one-track mind and will continuously crawl over to the ONE visible cord/outlet in the den and stand at it and touch it. He even smiles when he does it, as in "I know I'm not s'posed to, but I'm gonna anyway."

STAIRS!! He loves our stairs to the bonus room. He has discovered that they are fascinating how they raise him a little higher with each one and has climbed all of them (with me spotting him, of course) to get to the playroom. He's very proud of himself when I let him climb them too. Of course, there is a gate at the stairs at ALL times! :)

Oh, Trent is such a joy! The months are flying by and we'll be celebrating his 1st birthday in a couple of months!! We sure are crazy about our Trenty-poo!!!

Bubble bathing boys

2 cute bubble bathing babes
bubble-beard

relaxin' in the bubbles

eatin' and drinkin' some bubbles

aerial view

The boys took a bubble bath the other night...and thought it was so cool! Bradley made himself a bubble beard. Trent kept choking on the bubbles and his nose kept itching with the weird feeling of the bubbles against it. I thought they looked mighty cute in the tub (and was secretly jealous that I don't have much time these days for bubble baths!!). I'm sure they're going to love these one day!!