Happy Halloween

This morning was Allyson's Fall Party at her school. All of the kids were dressed so cute. And some of the fruit treats one of the moms made were precious! Pinterest does it again! 

So there are only 3 boys out of 12 in Ally's class. It just so happened that she sat next to one when they came in the room and she was constantly talking to him the whole time. And as a matter of fact, she sat in between 2 of them! Ha! Look at these cute fruit treats one of the moms made!

Snacks, Finn and Friends!

And all my 3 kiddos this morning! Love them!

No fall festival at our church this year due to the weather, so we tried our hand at trick-or-treating. Jase and Allyson have been one other time a couple of years ago, but other than that it is foreign to them. Here are my trick-or-treaters: Cowboy Finn, Davy Crockett Jase and Sofia the First Allyson. When I look at this picture it is hard for me to believe that I have 3 kids! I mean, where has the last 6 1/2 years gone! Just crazy!

Jase and Allyson knew what they wanted to be a couple of months ago, so that was pretty easy. Jase dresses up at home all the time like Davy Crockett using his Jedi gear, so he was fine with using what he had to make a costume. Works for me. And our princess {that is showing a little shoulder!} will get plenty of use out of this dress. So fun! And Finn...Jase really wanted him to be an Indian, but I couldn't find anything on-line that I just loved in his size. I didn't even look into making him a costume...ain't nobody got time for that! I went to Old Navy last week when they had advertised $5 infant and toddler costumes and they were all sold out. Then I walked next store to Party City and saw a Cowboy costumer for $30 and decided to get it while I was out. I got home and took it out of the package and it was basically a thin jumpsuit and wasn't all that cute. I decided to take it back and piece together a costume for him. Everything he is wearing are all items that we had at home...bonus! And those are Jase's first boots!! While they are 2 sizes too big, he did great in them. And I should have gotten video of him walking around in them at home when we first put them on him...talk about big stuff!! His grin was so big on his face.

The kids had fun visiting and playing with their best friends tonight. And one of his best friends was an Indian and they "fought" one another. In the Davy Crockett movie, Davy wrestles with one of the Indians named "Red Stick" and they were re-enacting that scene. :-)

Kayak Party

Shawn has his kayaks out in the backyard since he just used them to go duck hunting on Saturday. Well, Miss Allyson took advantage of them and began setting up all of her knick-knacks in the kayak Monday afternoon.

Then she started talking about having a party and people coming over. Do you see the paper in the pink basket above? She told me those were her invitations! Not quite sure how people knew about the party, but she was dead set on having a party and named several people who were coming.

I thought it was cute, but didn't think much of it. Shawn picked up all of her things later that evening after the kids were in bed and that was that. At least that's what I thought.

She came home from school yesterday and I opened the back door to let the kids outside to play. I was in my room and she came in crying; I mean tears streaming down her face. She could barely catch her breath to tell me what was wrong. I thought she was telling me her body hurt, but no she was telling me that her stuff was gone for the kayak party! This was a big deal!! I told her that Daddy picked it all up last night and we could find it and put it all out. Sure enough, it was in the garage in a laundry basket {that belongs to the Pope's...we will get that back to y'all!}. 

I texted Shawn to let him know how upset she was and he told me to tell her that he didn't want all the Barbies to get scared and cold outside all night, so he put them in the garage with Hankie and Jet. Right when I told her that she looked at me and said "oh yeah!" Like that comment completely spoke to her and she was ok with everything being picked up.

She then asked me to help set up for the kayak party. I said sure, still not thinking much of it. While setting up things on the kayak she told me that she invited Caycin from school. Then she kept going on and on about who all was coming to the party and it was starting in "like 20 minutes." She was so cute! Here is a short clip of her getting ready for the party.

I started thinking that I better let some of these people know about this party or she will be crushed! So, I sent a text out to some close family members letting them about the party and to stop by if they could.

Then I started asking her what you do at a kayak party. She told me that you play in the kayak, sing songs and dance. I asked if you eat or have snacks at this party and she said yes, we will! I told her let's go in the kitchen and get some snacks then. And that's what we did! She loved helping me gather up snacks and setting the table.

I made an executive decision and decided to order pizza for all of our guests since it was basically dinner time when everyone would be showing up. 

At this point, we have pulled out snacks, the kayak was set-up and Ally is still talking about who all she has invited. Jase starts getting interested in what we are doing and kept asking how people know about the party and who all was coming over! He was very persistent and you can't just pull the wool over his eyes, so I quietly told him I texted a few people and invited them over.

Grandma and Grandpa were the first to arrive and she was excited!! "Thank you for coming to my kayak party!" I think this picture is the sweetest!

Next, PawPaw showed up in his life jacket!! How fitting!!

Then Nanny arrived!

Then Uncle David dropped off her cousin Austin, and Aunt Alisha and Uncle JoJo followed close behind. Allyson handed out stickers to everyone. Austin did not really want a princess sticker and told her "no I have stickers at home!" It was too funny! His dad politely told him to take a sticker! Haha!

People took turns in the kayak and looked at all of the princess items she had, but none of her items were for you to have or borrow or put on. {We are still in need of some sharing lessons!} While all of the elements of a party were present: decorations, invitations, food, activities, we just need to work on execution! :-) I guess I'll let it slide this time. Totally kidding. It was wonderful! She loved setting up all of her decorations on the kayak...that's my girl! I just love her imagination and vision!

Pizza arrived shortly and she came to the table and handed out plates, it was really cute! Then she thanked God for her kayak party! Alisha recorded her prayer and while she got a little side-tracked, it was sweet. :-)

And lastly, Daddy arrived! He had a long day at work, but the party must go on. :-) When he was walking up I told Ally "Daddy's here!" She said "Yes, I invited him!" Hahahaha! Too cute! 

A few last pics before we closed the party down!

So thankful to have helped my daughter pull off her impromptu midweek kayak party! She is very loved! And she even thanked God again tonight for her kayak party while laying her down. And when I did devotions with Jase tonight, he too thanked God for his sister's party and all who came. Just touched my heart that they are thankful and shared these special things with their heavenly father. He listens for sure.

Outdoor Sports

Saturday was the day! Opening day for youth only duck season. Before I get to the hunt, here is some video of Jase getting ready in the garage Thursday night.

Saturday morning came early, like 2:45 am early. I remember going to bed Friday night at midnight and setting my timer, not alarm! This was his first duck hunt to go on and he was super excited! John had a .410 shotgun for Benjamin, and Jase was going to us it as well. Shawn wasn't sure if Jase was even going to be interested in shooting since he did not want to shoot the shotgun when they went dove hunting last year or this year.

It was a French hunting affair on Saturday. Shawn and John brought their boys: Jase, Christopher, Alexander, and Benjamin. Jase did not do a bunch of hunting since Ben was primarily using the .410. But out of the 4-5 shots he fired off, he HIT one!!! Oh he was so excited, along with the rest of the guys! Watch this video to see his first kill. His shot winged the duck and then Alex finished it off. Team work!

For those of you interested, here is great shot by Alexander. And Shawn said both of John's boys were a really good shot.

Later that afternoon Jase finished up his fall baseball with his last game of the season. He enjoyed playing and it was beneficial for him to start seeing the ball pitched, instead of sitting still on a tee. Jase is excited about baseball in the spring!

A friend of ours was on the other team and it's always nice to see a familiar face at the ballpark. Well, his cousins were at the game too, and Ally and one of the boys, Sam, are good friends! At the end of the game you could not separate the two. We were calling their names to go and they were literally in their own little world, walking around the ballpark just a holding hands. Super cute!!

Later that evening we went to a pumpkin carving party and thought it was very fitting to see this pumpkin and had to vote for it!

Sunday after church, we headed for the country. Time for some clean air and no cell phones! It is always nice to get away and just relax. I wasn't worried about what time it was and had no idea what time it was until I asked Shawn and he said 5:00. Then he said "isn't that nice, not to worry about the time." I couldn't agree more. 

This little guy was so so tired. If we would have went straight home from church, he would have crashed for a couple of hours, but since we were in the car that didn't happen at all! And he actually fussed the whole way there, which is not like him at all.

He did not want to let go of this cup!!

We had a great time in Livingston and even caught some fish! Very thankful that my Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Jim are so gracious and open up with home to us.

Daily Life

Tuesday morning I walked up to Finn's room to wake him up {at nearly 9 am} because Allyson goes to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I found this. So sweet. I had my phone on me and had to capture this sweet angel sleeping. Just love him.

Look at this Big Shot standing up in a chair. That is one of my nicknames for Finn: Big Shot. Just too big for his britches! This was yesterday...he turned 15 months. Craziness I tell ya! He is now a regular at the homeschool table these days and I like it! :-) And this is a picture of Jase "helping" Ally with school. Oh, he is just like me...teacher at heart. He wants to help her so bad and will even get out books {like he did with this one}, open it up and try working with her. I just sit back, watch and listen to them. If she is not responding to him {which is usually the case} I will politely encourage her to look at what he is trying to tell her and then she will jump on board. He means well, but can be a little pushy at times. Hmmm...not sure where he gets that from!?!

I got up while Jase was working and when I came back I noticed he had added something to one of the sentences. He immediately told me he had to add an "a" because the sentence didn't really make sense without it! Ha! I think either way works, depending upon if you are talking about one or a group of clover, but I'm with him, I like the "a".

These past few days have been so so nice outside. We normally stay to our routine and have the majority of school in our school room, but our windows are always open. And our school room has a bay window, so I love the light it lets in. But today, after dropping Ally off at school I told him, let's do school outside. It was so nice. Finn just walked around and played and sat at the table with us of course! 

Jase also finished up The Beginner's Bible today. We started reading it 9 weeks ago when we started up 1st grade and have read a little each day. While there isn't a ton of text on each page, the book does have over 500 pages. I thought it was a great feat for him; he read all of it on his own. Super proud of this guy!

Oh, and I'm not sure if you could tell, but he was wearing the same outfit yesterday and today. Texas Longhorns...Hook 'Em! Funny story behind that. Yesterday he comes downstairs with this outfit and told me he found it on the right side of his closet and asked if he could take the tags off and wear it. I said sure, go ahead. He got dressed and wore it all day. Throughout the day I noticed that his shorts were pretty short, like mid-thigh! I thought "man, that outfit is a 7, how are they so short?" Even my sister commented on them yesterday afternoon on how short they were. I just chalked it up to "a growing boy!" Well...we were getting ready for church and I told him he needed to change clothes and I asked him for the shirt to take a look at the size. Yeah...SIZE 4!!! It was one I had bought for Finn to wear in a few years!! I bought the whole outfit for $1 on clearance last year. So today he brought down the size 7!! We took the tags off this morning and this one is much better! 

Too Big

They are just too big! 6 1/2 years, 4 years and 15 months already. These homeschool kiddos {and mom} slept in today. Since I had to have some blood work done today, I decided to take them out for breakfast {at 11:30} for some donuts. Not the healthiest choice for sure, but this was definitely a treat and is not the norm.

While our routine was not normal today, all of the kiddos responded great. They were very well-behaved at Shipley's and at my doctor's office. I was a little apprehensive about taking them to the medical center, but I am so thankful it went smooth. And to be honest that is part of the reason why I did not pop out of bed bright and early; I knew what lied ahead!

And look at this shot below!! Jase went to his basketball evaluation tonight. Shawn sent me this picture with the inscription "Made It"! Can I tell you that tears came to my eyes?!? I know, I am so sappy!! Here's to basketball season this winter!

Baby Shower Fun

We have been making some changes in our house lately with the products that we are using. I am trying to be health conscious, whether that is with cleaning products, toiletries, food, etc. Now, I am no where near all-natural by any means, but little by little I am trying to educate myself on what is best for my family. All that to say that I tried some new recipes this weekend!

First up was baby lotion bars. These were pretty straightforward to make and I even got hubby involved on this one! :-) He grated the beeswax for me! I needed a mold for the bars, but all I had on-hand were Christmas tree and Ice Age molds...not really ideal for a baby shower gift! Ha! Then Shawn had a great idea: use my mini muffin pan!! Perfect! 

Ingredients:

1 Cup Organic Coconut Oil

1 Cup Beeswax

1 tsp Vitamin E Oil

You simply melt the beeswax in a pot on the stove, then add in the coconut oil until all ingredients are in liquid form. Then, add in the vitamin E oil and stir together. Next, pour into your molds. I used a cup that I could easily bend because I do not have a funnel and it worked great. After they cool down, pop them out of the molds and that's it. I put mine in the freezer for 15 minutes or so to quick freeze them and this also helped pop them out of the tins.

Next up was some homemade diaper rash cream. This recipe called for 3/4 C of coconut oil and 3/4 C of corn starch; however, I could NOT get mine to thicken up enough on that small amount of corn starch. 

Now, this recipe only has 2 ingredients, but don't be fooled... For some reason the recipe has you beat the coconut oil 8 minutes...yes 8 minutes!! And we are still operating on a hand mixer in this house, so from 11:50-11:58 on Friday night, that's what I was doing!! Craziness! Besides smoothing and thinning out the coconut oil, I'm pretty sure I could have stopped at 4 minutes and it would have been fine, but since this was the first time I was making it, I was trying to follow the recipe as written.

After I wanted to chop my hands off, it was time to add in the corn starch. I added the 3/4 C and it was not pasty whatsoever. I did not measure how much I had to add, but I am thinking I must have tripled the amount of corn starch!! Maybe my hand mixer was too powerful and the coconut oil was too thin from all the beating! :-)) Just saying! It never ended up as thick as I had originally envisioned, but hey you have to draw the line some where and call it quits!! But I was happy with the end result.

I added some tags and twine and I thought they turned out pretty cute! And I even used a baby lotion bar on Finn and Ally this evening after their bath, and I liked it. Only thing is that since it is made with coconut oil, it does have an oily texture, so it's best to leave them in a plastic bag of some sort when you're not using them.

The first shower I went to had a Dr. Seuss theme, which was super cute!! I loved all the bold colors they used, so fun! And using books as decor...right up my alley! Below we are posing as The Lorax and Thing 1 and Thing 2!

The second shower had a rockin' roll monkey theme. Very cute as well! Look at that diaper cake...you know that took some time to put together!!

Best wishes to both mommies to be and God's blessing on a safe delivery and healthy baby boys. What an exciting and eventful time.

Brave

I've had some things laying heavy on my heart lately and have had "small talk" blogging on hold. I feel like I need to post this, so I can keep on keepin' on.

Shawn ordered this necklace for me a couple of weeks ago in celebration of me signing up for the half marathon. He was very excited and proud of me for doing this. Well, the order took a little longer to come in and it finally arrived last week. *brave*

From the time he placed the order to the actual delivery date, things have changed quite a bit around here. I'll just come out and say it...we found out that we were expecting. Completely caught off guard, but really excited. Needless to say the marathon went on the back burner. Now I know what you're thinking "pregnant people run marathons all the time." Well, I'm not one of those people! Haha! I was running before I got pregnant with Finn and was suggested by my doctor to take it easy the first trimester, so I was following the same orders with this one.

So, the brave necklace took on another meaning at this point. I was going to be brave with a new baby on the way. Immediately, we started thinking about a boy or girl and names. It was very surreal to me; to think I was going to be a mommy again. We were getting ready for a garage sale last week and I started going through Ally's old clothes {and I had already designated them to garage sale} and while lifting outfits out of the bag, I just could not let them go. They are not designer clothes by any means, but they have memories and to think that maybe a little sister might wear them warmed my heart. Anyway, it was starting to become real that I was making bones.

On Sunday things started to change a bit. I started to pass some blood, which scared me quite a bit. {Especially since my miscarriage before I had Ally started like this.} I called the on-call number for my doctor's office and was told to go to ER at Woman's Hospital of Texas. At this point, we really hadn't said much at all. I was still very early along. But, since we needed help with the kids and I was going to the hospital, it was probably time to mention something. Definitely not the way I had planned on letting the family and kids know.

{By the way, this could be a lengthy post!} We were there for nearly 3 hours and well taken care of. I had blood drawn, an exam and an ultrasound. The final result from the visit was that the baby was measuring pretty small and my hormone levels {hCG not progesterone} were lower than normal {555}. After the visit, I did not feel like things were very positive. We continued to pray and pray and ask that the Lord take care of me and ask that the Lord do what is best for the baby.

My doctor was given the report from the ER doctor and I saw my doctor on Monday afternoon. He confirmed via ultrasound that I was indeed pregnant. Now, he did confirm that the baby was measuring 4.3 weeks, while I was 6 weeks. He said this could be an issue or could be fine, depending upon how long it took the implantation process and this could be one of the reasons why due dates are off a week or so. I was taking this as good news. He could not tell where the bleeding was coming from, but was hoping it was below my cervix. The plan was to do blood work and monitor my hCG levels and follow up next week with another ultrasound. I was also to begin taking progesterone hormone and a baby aspirin a day. I have done a little research {google LOL} on the baby aspirin and a lot of pregnant women who have experienced miscarriages in the past and/or are bleeding are recommended to take this. Some of the comments I have read were very interesting and there were additional reasons my doctor said as to why they have prescribed this to people.

My blood work came back and my hCG level was 840, which was higher, but still low on average. I continued to bleed Tuesday through today. I started to hear stories of people who had their cycle while still being pregnant. At this point, I wasn't sure if that was happening to me or what was going on. I tried to remain positive and continue to pray for strength. The brave necklace has taken on a new meaning this week. At one point this week, Shawn and I hugged and he said "who would have thought this necklace would have been for this situation." The Lord knew for sure.

I went in yesterday morning for more blood work to monitor my hormone level. By this time, Dr. Anding was hoping it would have doubled in number. Waiting all day for these results seemed to take forever. I called twice and spoke to the nurse and she was polite, but basically told me "don't call us, we'll call you."  Haha! About 4:30 she called me with the news. My hCG levels have dropped to 623. That news, along with the bleeding and the small measurement ultrasound, meant that the baby was not thriving and not looking to survive. Tears were shed.

If I'm being completely honest, this week has been an emotional roller coaster. Things weren't looking so good, then a glimmer of hope, then down again. Deep down I know the Lord has a bigger plan than me. He knew that this baby was not developing to His perfection and I am trusting that He decided to take the baby now instead of later. One thing that makes me smile {and cry a little} is that this little one already has a brother/sister waiting on him/her as soon as they enter heaven. #blessing

We explained it to the kids today, and I think Jase understands, but Ally not so much. She told us that she wants a the little baby to come out and she wants it to be a sister! Sweet girl. So, I'm sure Ally will still be telling people that I have a baby in my tummy. Although I will say, I look like I probably now have a baby in my tummy...my eating habits these past two weeks have been pretty bad. Shawn and I said we are getting back on track next week! Ha! 

Here's to moving forward and being BRAVE. So thankful to have been this baby's mommy for 2 weeks. Can't wait to meet you in heaven one day.

These old verses now take on a new meaning and are dear to my heart.

You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:13-14

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Daily Happenings

Since returning home from my mini vaca with the girls, we are back in full swing over here. Usually while we are homeschooling, Finn is a wanderer! He roams around around around {anyone remember that song from Eddie Rabbit "The Wanderer?}. Anyhow, last week I sat him next to me and taped a piece of paper down and put some colors in his hand. This was really his first time to color. :-) He started getting the hang of it. He actually probably felt right at home since he ALWAYS has something in his hands at all times!

Here is some footage of his first coloring experience. Nothing out of norm, just our normal daily life in the homeschool room. 

And one more clip of him babbling away. I am just LOVING this right now. So much so that I don't want him to learn how to talk. So precious. 

We visited the library Friday afternoon and the kids always enjoy it. Right when we walked in, Ally saw this scarecrow and ran over to it and said "take my picture Mommy!" So, I did not turn down a photo opp! This was the first visit where Finn has completely ran away from me...let the games begin!! 

One word: Farkle! We are obsessed. And Jase really is for that matter. If we have some spare time, he always asks to play and we usually do. Last night the younger two were in bed and he was up still watching the Texans {get cremed} with me and he asked to play. I told him I didn't want the little ones waking up to the dice rolling, so we improvised and played on the quilt! He ended up winning 2 out of the 3 games...fair and square! I love his competitive spirit...hmm, I wonder where he gets that from!?! ;-) 

Texas Antiques Week

Sunday after church, I picked up some girlfriends and we headed west to Round Top for Texas Antiques Week. It is a bi-annual event in some neighboring small towns where tons and tons of vendors come and set-up to sell their "junk"! It is a Junker's Paradise!! LOL! 

After we previewed Round Top, we decided to head down the road to Warrenton and on our way we passed Junk Gypsy's NEW store, like only open for a few days!! They have hosted a few shows on HGTV and also recently decorated a Sweet Sixteen Party for Duck Dynasty's Sadie Roberson. Anyhow, I was told this was going to be a long experience, like 3-4 hours between parking, shopping and checking out. So, I originally thought we would have to pass on stopping by, BUT as we drove by it was not packed at all and I turned the vehicle around and HAD to stop! 

While pulling up to park I noticed Farmer Jason helping people park. I follow him and his wife on Instagram and they run a farm in Fayetteville and are a sweet family, who homeschool and love the Lord. It's like one of those friendships "if they only knew me, we'd be best of friends!" Haha!! Anyway, I was a little star struck when I saw him, but ended up talking to him for 5-7 minutes, which was super cool.

Like I said before there were so many vendors set-up selling new and used products. Most of the items were used, but that was right up my alley. I'll have to do a follow-up post on what all I bought and where I put it up in the house. :) 

Monday night we headed back to Round Top to eat at Royer's Round Top Cafe. You normally wouldn't think anything about eating at a little cafe in a town with a population 90, but you had to have reservations to eat there! They have been on several national TV shows for their food, especially their pies!! Beyond yummy! On their menu they recommend skipping the rolls to save room for the pie! Now the rolls were delish too!

The man below is the Pie King: Bud Royer. He is full of personality and it was a neat experience. Our family ate there over the summer and I'm glad Michelle and Rachel got to eat there this time around. So fun and yummy! 

I had a great time with the girls for a couple of days and bought some neat items! Can't wait to go back again, especially now that I have a trip under my belt!