The Babb Family

A Fresh Word

2012-01-05T14:04:00.003-06:00

It is debatable...Can the Word of God be over quoted? If so, my guess would be that Jeremiah 29:11 would be a top candidate. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'" It sounds great! Great enough to be on a coffee mug in every christian bookstore across the country. So, why then do our lives not always reflect this?

Because there is more, if you keep reading verses 12-14. "'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.'

Here are a few key words: call, come, pray, seek, find, search with all your heart. God is overflowing with grace and mercy, but, in my opinion, this promise isn't a free hand out. It's a reward.

God thinks about us. He has great plans for us and He actually wants to clue us in on those plans! Here is the catch, you have to seek Him with all your heart and He will bless you with a fresh word.

How long has it been since you last heard from the Lord? Are you still hanging on to what you heard from Him last year or maybe even 10 years ago? True, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And yes, His promises will endure, but He wants to speak something new to you today. Will you listen?

This is an exciting time of the year. Will you choose to give God the first of your time? For a practical way to walk out drawing near to God and listening for His voice, consider a time of fasting and prayer.

If this is something new for you and you don't know where to start check out www.awake21.org for help and daily online devotions for 21 days, beginning January 15th.

May God bless you with a year overflowing with fresh words!

Josiah's spring guitar show

2011-05-14T23:20:00.001-05:00

Ashtyn's dance recital

2011-05-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

I wanted to put this video from May up to share with all our family, who couldn't come to Ashtyn' dance recital. This video is terrible quailty. It was take by my point and shoot in 59 second intervals, put together. I am so thankful that Brent gave me a new video camera for mother's day, so future videos will be much better! Ashtyn is the first to enter, in the second group of girls and at the end he is on the far right.

Valentine Fun

2011-02-13T00:08:00.000-06:00

Where does the time go? It is hard to believe that it is already Valentines! It has been a while since my last post, but no need to catch up, instead I will keep moving forward.

Tomorrow is our homeschool group's Valentines party, so tonight we had the fun task of getting ready. Every year, my crafty child, Ashtyn, insists on making her own handmade Valentine cards. I think it is awesome and although, I'm not crafty, it is fun to join in. This year I decided to make one for Brent.

The boys simply have the task of tearing theirs apart and writing their names on it. I gave them their simple instructions and left them at the kitchen table to go check on the girls in the school room. When I returned, I found that they had a great time ripping them up and Josiah had managed to write his name on the "to" side instead of the "from" side. Which is quite funny to me, because he did the same thing last year, which is why I made sure to include where to write their name in the instructions I gave them :)

Wordless Wednesday: Baby It's Cold Inside

2010-12-15T01:11:00.001-06:00

Josiah's 1st Guitar Show

2010-12-13T17:19:00.001-06:00

Warning: This video is 3-1/2 minutes long. It begins with Josiah's guitar teacher talking about the guitarist/composer Carruli and how his music was judged by the Parisians as too hard for the average player. He says that Josiah is about to prove them all wrong! Josiah was the youngest student in the show and the only student who had just began taking lessons this fall. As you can tell, I am very proud of him. Not only, for his guitar playing ability, but for him getting up on that stage all by himself and playing in front of all those people! When he first was given this waltz to learn, he would get frustrated just looking at the sheet music, but then he would pray and ask God to help him understand and learn it. This really helped him to keep a good attitude. At the end, his teacher compares his hands to those of Segovia, a famous classical guitarist, which is something to be highly desired!

Let me say, also, that all of the kids that performed did an AMAZING job! I wish I had the whole show on video. You would be blown away by some the kids who have only been taking lessons for 2-3 years. Our teacher, Dan Word, has done an incredible job in teaching his students!

Guitar Practice

2010-11-20T02:34:00.002-06:00

Old Testament Fun

2010-11-20T02:10:00.003-06:00

Thank You Grandad and Bebe

2010-09-23T02:06:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T23:28:00.001-05:00

Just Do the Next Thing.

2010-09-05T00:40:00.000-05:00

I have to admit that lately I have felt so overloaded! When I start to think about everything that I need to do, I get completely overwhelmed and find myself not able to get anything accomplished! Is anyone with me? Have you ever been here?

Then, I read a quote from a homeschooling, mother of 4, whose kids are about the same age as mine. She said "don't think about all you have to do, just do the next thing!"

It sounds so simple, it just might work.

Eisley's Own Bed

2010-08-30T02:39:00.004-05:00

Our poor sweet Eisley has not had a bed to call her own since we took down her baby bed. I thought it was a great idea to let Ashtyn share her full bed with Eisley. After all, I remember my Grandmother telling me stories of how she and her sisters had always shared a bed. What a great idea! It's cheaper and space saving!

Or maybe not...
Eisley has been going back and forth between sleeping with Ashtyn in "their" bed and sleeping on the the boy's trundle, under their bunk beds. She prefers to "sleep by Jo". However, at bedtime it is frequently discussed who "has to" sleep with Eisley. Poor Baby Girl! Then again, I guess she does tend to talk alot, get up and down frequently, take a long time to get still enough to fall asleep, and once she did give Ashtyn that black eye.

To add to the sad story, she randomly makes a pouty face and says "miss my baby bed." awwwww... I have never had a child miss their baby bed and tell people for no reason "my baby bed lost"

She really doesn't even think she has a room. She sleeps in the boys room and her stuff is in Ashy's room.

I have thought through all the possible options, and thanks to my sister's help on Saturday, I got EIsley her own toddler bed. And she loves it! As Brent was opening the box, to put it together, she said over and over again "dank you daddy. " She is a sweet girl and I love to see her so happy!

Thankfully I still had all her baby bedding!

Eisley's little bed matches Ashtyn's big bed

Time to Make the Bread

2010-08-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

After feeding your starter flour and water for a week, it is finally fermented and ready to make bread.

Because it is fermented it actually breaks down those difficult to digest phytates. Phytates basically bind up the minerals such as zinc, iron, magnesium, copper, and phosphorus and prevent your body from being able to absorb them. This is one of the healthiest bread you can make because you are actually able to absorb and use the nutrients that are released. But that is another story for another day.

To make the bread you need:
2 cups sourdough starter
1 tsp sea salt
3/4 cold filtered water
2-4 cups whole wheat flour

Step 1: take remaining starter and pour it into a clean jar, seal it with a lid and store it in the refridgerator until you are ready to use it again. *Remember to pull it out once a week, feed it, leave it out on the counter overnight, and then put it back in the fridge in order to maintain it.*

Step 2: mix the starter and the salt in a clean glass bowl.

Step 3: stir in water.

Step 4: mix in flour, 1-2 cups at a time (amount will vary depending on the consistency of your starter.

Step 5: knead your dough for 8-10 minutes (you can use a machine if you want to!)

put the dough back in your bowl

Step 6: Cover and let the natural yeast go to work to make the dough rise. In 3-4 hours my glass bowl was filled to the top. It could take much more. Remember this is the slow, old fashioned way. I had mentally prepared myself for it to take all day, so I was surprised at how fast it went.

Step 7: Knead the dough again for about 5 minutes.

Step 8: Cut your dough in half.

Step 9: Form to round balls and place in stone or glass pan.

Step 10: Allow the dough to rise in the pan on average 1-3 hours. (I had to leave my house in 2 hours, so I only let mine rise for 1 hour)

Step 11: Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Not very pretty for my first try, but it tasted great!

Be sure and let me know how yours turns out! And I'll start working on some more recipes for our sourdough starters!

Early to Bed

2010-08-20T08:48:00.000-05:00

Ben Franklin once said "Early to Bed, Early to Rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

Can I tell you that this quote has been stuck in my head the last 3 days (and nights!). I told Brent that I think the Lord is really trying to impress this principle on me. I am known to go to bed exceedingly late and still wake up fairly early.

This morning, I was reading today's homeschool devotional that is emailed to me and the following verse jumped out at me:

"It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even sleep"

Psalm 127:2

I always feel like there is so much that needs to be done, that I can't get done during the day.
So here is the question I had to ask myself "Am I trying to do more than God intended me to do?"

Day 7

2010-08-19T10:37:00.000-05:00

I didn't take any pics today b/c it is basically the same thing. Once again, the top looked frothy. I mixed in 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup flour. Mine is still very soupy even adding less water. So tomorrow is the big day! Just to give you a heads up you will need more water, flour and salt. I use Redmond's unrefined sea salt. Also, you will need glass or stone baking pans.

Day 6

2010-08-17T23:30:00.000-05:00

It overflowed! I knew I might have put too much in there. That just goes to show flow your instincts! No problem though. I'll simply take some out. I am choosing to discard it, however if you are totally against wasting it you could stick it in the fridge to use later.

I took the lid off and was surprised at how much the smell had changed from yesterday. The fermentation is working b/c it smelled very strongly like alcohol.

Today I am feeding it with less water. 1/4 c water and 1/2 c flour. Stir it well. Then put it in a clean jar. Tomorrow the exact same thing and then Friday...we get to make the bread!

Day 5

2010-08-16T23:50:00.001-05:00

Sorry, I'm slow to post Day 5 instructions, but I'm sure by now you know what to do!

Today mine had this frothy layer on the top and kind of a strange smell. It is hard to describe. Not necessarily a bad smell, but not that yummy yeasty smell either. Does that make sense? But we will get there! Keep going.

So this is mine after I finished with it today. It hasn't appeared to be rising very much so I went ahead and added todays mixture (1/2 c whole wheat flour and 1/2c filtered water) into my quart jar without removing any. Tomorrow I will have to take some out. I have heard that when you have to remove some it is okay to go ahead and use it in some recipes? I'll try to research this a little more before the next post!

*On a side note, the soupier your starter is, the more sour it will taste. My family likes our not quite so sour, so tomorrow I will begin to thicken it up a little by feeding it 1/2 c flour and only 1/4 c water.

Day 4

2010-08-15T19:51:00.002-05:00

This is what mine looked like this morning...

Feed your starter again and pour it into a clean jar. Be sure and mix it well. Mine is smelling sour. How about yours? Mine is also getting close to the top of my jar. If it gets too full, you can either move it to a larger glass container or bowl. Or you can simply take some of it out, like say 1/2 cup out and replace with your new mixture.

Day 3

2010-08-14T07:49:00.003-05:00

TIME TO FEED YOUR DOUGH!

This is what my starter looked like this morning. It had a little bit of yellowish liquid on top that is commonly called "hooch". You can choose whether to mix it back in or pour it off. I chose to pour most of it off the top. Did you smell it today? It is starting to smell a little sour! This is just the beginning.

Then, the same as yesterday, feed your starter by mixing 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water. Don't forget to pour it into a clean jar.
Cover and set aside. That is it! See how simple this is? We will be doing this for a total of 7 days. Then on the 8th day we will make our bread! I can't wait!

Sourdough: Day 2

2010-08-13T07:59:00.004-05:00

This is what my starter looked like this morning.

Today's task is easy...
mix 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 water together, then add it to the first jar. mix it to aerate it well. then pour it in a clean jar. That's it! Cover it back up with the cheesecloth and set it back on your counter until tomorrow. (If you look closely you can see that mine is starting to get bubbly. )

My Sourdough Journey: Day 1

2010-08-12T02:28:00.006-05:00

The next step on my journey of feeding my family whole/real foods is sourdough. Not only for bread loaves, but also for pizza dough, pancakes and whatever else I can discover along the way.

So why don't you join me in my first attempt (hopefully there won't be a need for a second) at making a homemade sourdough starter? I will be making it with simply flour and water and will be completely dependent on naturally occurring or "wild" yeast and bacteria.

Day 1 is quick and easy.

Here is what I am using...

*1 quart glass jar
*1 cup whole wheat, organic flour
*1 cup filtered water
*1 piece of cheesecloth (I bought mine at Williams Sonoma, but supposedly you can find it at Walmart and hardware stores in the paint department. Apparently, more people use it to strain their paint than to make cheese?)

Step 1

Pour flour in jar.

Step 2

Pour in filtered water.

Step 3

Mix with wooden spoon or whisk until free from clumps.

Step 4

Cover with cheesecloth and allow it to sit on your counter overnight or up to one day.

That is it for Day 1. Check back tomorrow for Day 2 instructions.

Blueberry Jam

2010-07-18T01:16:00.003-05:00

I am on a quest of cleaning out all food products with ingredient that aren't natural and that I can't pronounce. My goal is to post about some of the new recipes that I try that turn out good. So here is the first of hopefully many to come.

Blueberry Jam - very simple, but takes a while

First I washed the berries and crushed about 9 cups full.

Add 6 cups of sugar.

Slowly bring to a boil.

Cook rapidly to gelling point.

(I cooked it at least 45 minutes)

Using a ladle I filled the hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.

Place on hot lids.

Then screw on bands.

Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

With this recipe I made 6 half-pint jar and 1 pint size jar.

It was a hit, even my picky children loved it.

Bye Bye Baby

2010-07-18T01:00:00.002-05:00

Once again, it is time to say goodbye to the baby bed. It seems like we have been through this before. This time, it is just a little bit harder on mommy. There was still lots of baby things in the girls room. So this summer I am committing to cleaning it all out and (insert: sniff, sniff) getting rid of most of it. Of course, I have to save a few things. The problem is my "few things" has turned into a large pile! I'm working on it, it's definitely a process.

Gotta Love the Zoo

2010-07-18T00:42:00.003-05:00

I love going to the Fort Worth Zoo. Of course, it is even more fun because the kids know that daddy worked on design of the new MOLA, Museum of Living Art. So, if you haven't checked it out... you need to.

I do have to admit that it is not as good as going to the New Orleans Zoo and Aquarium, but it will have to do. Maybe next time we visit Grandad and Bebe we can go there.

Children are a blessing...really.

2010-04-09T03:41:00.003-05:00

Do you ever get comments when you walk in a store with your children?

Here are a few I have gotten:
"you sure do have your hands full"
"are all these yours?"
"you know what causes that don't you?"
I actually had one lady (that I didn't know) tell me "4 is enough, don't have anymore"

Well, if you have ever gotten any of these read this article http://hsbapost.com/2009/11/blessing-not-obligations/
(I got this off my friend Candi's blog, but I had to repost it.)

what Eisley has been up to

2010-04-09T02:34:00.005-05:00

Eisley is a very busy girl, which makes for a very busy mommy. that is just trying to keep her out of everything she shouldn't get into! She is certainly full of joy and energy. She can always bring a smile to my face and I love the way she talks!

Eisley after getting into mommy's eyeliner. She loves my makeup. At least she knew where to put it, unlike this week when she colored all over my bathroom floor with my lipstick and "painted" her toes with my eye shadow!

catching a ride to her room

Eisley found some winter things (that didn't belong to her, which are by far more fun than her own)

Sharing with "other bubba." She has started calling Josiah-Bubby and Isaiah-udda bubba. It is so funny!

Eisley's bad hair day :)

she wanted to help decorate the sugar cookies. while I was turned around she dumped the whole container of yellow sugar an one cookie! And she was so proud!

My Sweet Ashtyn

2010-04-09T02:15:00.003-05:00

GOT HER EARS PIERCED! She decided that she was really ready to get them pierced. So on the spur of the moment we went to Claire's and had them done. She is such a beautiful girl on the inside and out!

Ashtyn's Baptism!!! and Our Celebration Lunch: Sunday, February 14th, 2010

2010-04-09T01:53:00.003-05:00

Valentines Weekend

2010-04-09T01:35:00.004-05:00

The kids stayed up way late on thursday night getting their valentines ready for our Homeschool Valentine Party/Cici's Pizza Field Trip. Ashtyn is my crafty child who would much rather go to Michael's and buy craft supplies to make her own valentines. This is the second year she has hand made them. This year she cut out 4 hearts out of cardstock, punched holes in each one, glued them together to make a flower and then stuck a sucker through the middle. they really turned out cute!
but when we woke up friday morning this is what we found...
poor daddy still had to go to work :( we wanted him to stay home and play with us
we had so much fun playing in the snow again!
special snowy days call for special indoor picnics!

Isaiah's 5th

2010-04-09T01:09:00.003-05:00

Isaiah wanted a camo/nerf gun party for his 5th birthday. So Sunday, after church, we invited his boy cousins and a few of the boys at church (and their dads) to come over for an all out nerf war! Ashtyn thought the party would be no fun, since it was all boys, but as you can see she was right out there in the middle of it! They all had a great time, the dads might have had more fun then the kids? After a few minutes outside Isaiah was ready for cake and presents!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...again

2010-02-11T11:45:00.006-06:00

SNOW! Such a beautiful thing to wake up to. I woke up about 6:30 am and there was already at least 2 inches on the ground and covering Brent's car. Sorry Brent :( As always, I wished that the roads would be too bad, so that Brent would have to stay home with us. But that was not the case. Snow is just not much fun all by yourself. I couldn't wait for the kids to wake up so that I could see their excitement. One of the perks of homeschooling is that they were able to sleep in and then go out and play in the snow while all our neighbors still had to go to school. We had the best time ever playing in the snow. Usually, Isaiah and Eisley are not happy, but today we all enjoyed it (at least for a little while) and had fun building a snowman.

Decorating for Christmas

2010-01-09T01:48:00.007-06:00

It is always so much fun to pull out the Christmas decorations! It has to be my favorite time of the year. I love when the house is decorated for Christmas. It is so festive, yet warm and cozy. Does that make sense? I always get sad when it is time to pack them back up, for me it is a depressing day. This year the kids were excited about it too, and were very big helpers.

Josiah helping his daddy

Isaiah putting the tree together

the many faces of little miss attitude

Isaiah was really upset because he wanted to keep his ornaments to play with and not put them on the tree :(

Taking a break after all that hard work!

Christmas Traditions

2010-01-09T01:32:00.003-06:00

My family has a great tradition that we just started in 2008. We have a progressive dinner the first weekend of December. It really started out as a way to get our husbands to finish up the Christmas decorations early (don't tell them), but it also gives us a chance to go to each others homes and see each others decorations. This year everyone came to our soup for soup/appetizers, Chris & Gina's house for the main course and Rob & Brande's house for dessert. The kids of course had a blast! We ended it by singing Christmas carols. It is so nice to have so many musicians in the family. Brent, Chris and Dad on the guitars and Rob on the drums.

Our White Christmas

2010-01-09T01:12:00.004-06:00

Christmas Eve turned out a little differently than we had planed, but it was really nice.

It started snowing early in the morning and didn't stop all day. It was not just snowing, it was a snow storm! I have never seen it snow here, like it did that day. As you can see, there were areas of our backyard that were 16 inches and 2 1/2 inches deep with snow! We waited all day for it to slow down so that we could go out and play.

Our Christmas Eve Service at church was cancelled due to the weather, so we stayed in, had a fire and my plan was to snuggle up on the couch and watch Christmas movies. However, Ashtyn went to watch TV in my room while she wrapped Christmas presents for me. So that just left me, Eisley, Brent and the boys. As we were flipping through the channels looking for a good movie they discovered that Star Wars was on. So instead of getting to watch holiday movies, we ended up watching Star Wars all evening! Not my choice, but I was outnumbered! It made me realize what it must be like for all of you moms out there that only have boys!

10 Years Together

2009-11-28T22:54:00.009-06:00

Yesterday, Brent and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. I look back with awe at how quickly these years have gone and at how much God has blessed us! We would have never thought that 10 years later we would be where we are now with 4 precious children. I would have never even imagined that Brent would be an architect and that I would be homeschooling our children. I could have never imagined how much more in love with him I would be, 10 years later. These have truly been the greatest 10 years of my life and I am excited to see where God leads us over the next 10!

Brent's parents came in town for Thanksgiving and offered to keep the kids so that Brent and I could have a night out to celebrate. We decided to stay at this hotel and made reservations to eat at 560 at the top of Reunion Tower. However, on our drive over we decided to cancel our reservations for dinner and head out for some fun at Holiday in the Park! It was opening night and we had just enough time to get to ride all the things we wanted to ride. Our favorites were the Titan and the Superman Tower of Power. Even though we missed our "fancy" dinner, we did get to enjoy some excellent steak at Texas Land and Cattle after we left Six Flags.

Today, we slept in (so nice) and then went to the 6th Floor Museum. Afterwards we had excellent late lunch at a mexican restaurant in the West End and then headed back home to see our babies. It was wonderful to have an evening out, but I think we both agreed that we were ready to get home!

We ended the evening watching the Tigers beat Arkansas! Geaux Tigers! (I just had to throw that in!)

Harvest Festival

2009-11-02T00:52:00.002-06:00

Our church's Harvest festival

2009-11-02T00:24:00.002-06:00

On Friday night our church held a harvest festival. It has been several years since they had one and were expecting maybe 500 people in attendance. At last count we had over 1500 people! It was amazing! The kids all had a blast and we are looking forward to doing it again next year!

Ashtyn is 8!

2009-11-01T23:58:00.006-06:00

Ashtyn had her first slumber party with 8 little girls spending the night! I think they all had a good time. We had friends from church, some friends from our school last year and a neighbor. God was definitley present. All the girls got along so well with each other!

Here is Ashtyn trying out her new purple scooter.

Dinner with the family at the Purple Cow.

Part of the family

Ashtyn, Bryce and Eisley with the purple cows

eisley's new do

2009-11-01T23:54:00.003-06:00

school days: some things we've been up to

2009-10-13T23:19:00.000-05:00

we made sneaky snakes like the one that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden

the boys making craters in their salt models of mercury

before all this rain started, we had a few really nice fall-like days. we decided to enjoy one of them by having a nature walk. the kids had fun making a collage with their findings.

Josiah's

Ashtyn's

Isaiah's

"What are you doing?"

2009-10-12T01:15:00.004-05:00

There really is never a dull day at our house. There is always something going on and you never know what is going to happen. Although we can usually count on Eisley to make us all laugh. I am terrible at remembering to get the camera out but this day I used it twice (in the same day!) to document the funny things Eisley does. Here I found her licking her babydoll's mouth! Why on earth would she do this?

Because today I gave her gummy fruit snacks for the very first time and they are just the perfect size to cram in a babydoll's mouth. She really wanted it back!

I also caught her playing in the dogs' food. This is actually nothing new. Even though I repeatedly tell her "no, no" it really makes no difference!

Here she is posing for a picture, with no intention to stop anytime soon!

2009-08-28T00:53:00.004-05:00

i just wanted to share what a wonderful morning we had. I actually spent some time praying about our day and took extra time to make a schedule and plan out the day, and wow what a difference it made! imagine that! we actually finished ahead of schedule. this is what our early morning looked like...

ashtyn and josiah busy at work

isaiah, happily playing with hot wheels and waiting for his math lesson.

eisley slept a little bit later this morning!

the first week

2009-08-26T22:06:00.005-05:00

our first week of homeschooling is going pretty well. i have to admit, there is alot more to do than i had realized. also, i feel completely UNorganized! so i am going to spend some time this evening planning, now that i have a taste of reality. besides those things, i am confident that we are going to have a fun and exciting year. the kids are really enjoying astronomy. we have been able to go outside the last 2 nights and look up at the sky and see some of the things that we are learning about. it is an adjustment for all of us, especially eisley. but i know it won't take long for us to get into a routine. here is a picture of ashtyn doing her math and one of all the kids with the astronomy notebooks that they made.

Isaiah's new bike

2009-08-25T02:24:00.003-05:00

we have started taking almost nightly bike rides as a family. the kids love it and i love that we get some fresh air without having to bake in the hot sun during the day. isaiah was having trouble keeping up and we realized that he needed a bigger bike. thankfully, we found a great bike on craig's list for only $15. when we went to pick it up they still had the matching training wheels, helmet, elbow pads & knee pads. what a deal! here he is helping daddy put the training wheels on it.

fun summer mornings

2009-08-25T02:16:00.002-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-22T14:14:00.001-05:00

ashtyn's new look

2009-07-08T15:29:00.002-05:00

Check out Ashtyn's new look. I am so proud of her. She cut off 12 inches of her hair to donate to Locks of Love. If you are not familiar with Locks of Love it is a non-profit Organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

the new and the old

2009-07-08T14:19:00.005-05:00

I am so looking forward to our new school year. we will be homeschooling this year. i just about have everything that i need, or think i need. the kids are getting excited and are actually ready to start now! can you believe that? I have already started with the boys they are learning to read. They are doing super! Of course it is so easy for Josiah, I knew it would be since he has had 2 years of pre k, but i have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly Isaiah is picking it up. I have to admit, teaching the boys to read was the most intimidating part for me, when considering homeschooling. if it all goes this well then we are in for a great year! I'll keep you posted on my journey!

This is the book I am using to teach the boys. It makes it easy for them and for me!

Josiah and Mrs. Light

Ashtyn with her class and Mrs. Hedgpeth

here comes eisley

2009-06-23T11:59:00.008-05:00

watch out world here comes eisley! she is the girliest girl i know. at almost 15 months old. she loves to dress up. it would be normal to find her walking around with a tutu on and 20 strands of mardi gras beads (that she puts on all by herself). she also likes to take clothes out of the dirty cloths and put them over her head, and not just her clothes, ashtyn's, the boy's and mine! and let me tell you this girl can move! she dances all the time! even when she walks! we were eating dinner in memphis on our vacation and she had a table of 8-10 men, probably in their late 20's, entertained. they would dance a little and she would copy them! they thought she was the coolest baby in america! she is so funny, we really are enjoying her!

us, camping in a tent

2009-06-23T11:10:00.005-05:00

we went camping at the cedar hill state park with our life group at church. i have to admit i was a little worried about how eisley would handle it. she wasn't walking yet, so she pretty much needed to be held all the time. okay, so maybe i was worried how i would handle it :). we all had a great time. it was so nice to see the kids playing outside with bugs and sticks and all the nature things that we don't get on a daily basis (unless you can count the flys that keep getting into our house...yuck!) brent cooked his famous jambalaya for dinner saturday night, which i know that everyone enjoyed! you have to excuse that i don't know my tent terminology, but we decided not to put the tarp (top part) of the tent on since it was such a beautiful evening. there was a nice breeze and we could see the stars as we were laying there it was wonderful. after we had all fallen asleep suddenly I hear "Mande, get up" in a loud whisper. then i question myself "what? is someone really calling me?" then i start to feel the rain drops and then eisley starts waking. brent has jumped out of the tent and is trying to get the top on as quickly as he can. did i mention that this is a large tent (3 rooms and a screened in porch... thanks uncle david) thankfully, albert in the tent next to us heard brent and got out to help. you have to be thankful for good friends who are willing to get up in the middle of the night to come to your aide! the 2 of them got in on before we got too wet and ashtyn, josiah and isaiah never knew what happened! i learned that camping is alot of work. i also learned alot of things that i would do differently next time, that's right i said next time. i would do it all again. maybe in the fall, when it gets cooler.

school musicals

2009-06-19T07:32:00.005-05:00

One of the things that I loved about LCCS, was the school programs that they put on. God always receives the glory. I know that He is pleased by these children worshipping Him and truly singing His praises. I get so emotional when I see my children and their friends singing to the Lord. I don't think I made it through 1 program, the last 2 years, without shedding a few tears, sometimes a bucket full. The end of the year musicals were no different. Miss Asthyn had a couple of solos again this year. She continues to amaze me at how much she enjoys "performing" and what a great job she does at it! I do believe we will see her on stage much more in the next few years. And Josiah did great also. This is his first time to actually sing and participate! He always does at practice, but when you put him in front of an audience, it makes him nervous and he freezes up. He did awesome! What a great surprise!

hello again.

2009-06-19T07:27:00.002-05:00

where do i even begin? it has been 2 months, 2 crazy months, since my last post. i have been too busy to even hardly get on the computer, let only sit down and post anything on this blog. i know a lot of you can relate. i would like to post some pictures to show you all what our family has been up to, but still don't have the time to sit and write about each event. so the next few posts will be brief. hope you enjoy the pics!

Eisley's Party

2009-04-17T14:17:00.006-05:00

Thank so much all you friends and family who came out to help us celebrate Eisley's 1st year. We had a great time and it was actually the most relaxing birthday party that I have had at my house. I think it had a lot to do with Brent making the dinner (yummy jambalaya!) and my neighbor making the cake! Which freed me up to just visit with everyone! The plan was to have the party outside since we had been having such beautiful, high 70 degree weather. But when the freeze forecast came we had to change our plans.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2009-03-29T23:53:00.004-05:00

The big day finally came, not that I was in any hurry. It is simply unbelievable that my little baby girl is a 1 year old. I am finally starting to understand how my parents felt when they would tell me how that didn't want me to grow up and that I would always be the baby. It is so true. I think I will always see her as my baby. Can I tell you how much she has changed in this last day? She just acts older! She can now "ruff ruff" to answer the question "what does the dog say?" and she said her first official word tonight "ma ma" ! Can I tell you how excited I was? It took 4 children to get "ma ma" as their first word. Our other 3 children all said "da da" before "ma ma", so it was about time for this to happen. Also, I am quite certain that she must have put on another pound or so. Her precious cupcake dress, that Grana made for her, fit very nicely earlier this week, but was looking a little tight at her party. I guess it could have been all that jambalaya that she ate! Check back soon for the birthday party post with more pictures.

Month #11 and 1 days to go

2009-03-28T23:24:00.002-05:00

If you haven't guessed, Eisley loves to eat!

Month #10 and 2 days to go

2009-03-27T23:10:00.002-05:00

I am learning that trying to get a great picture of all 4 kids at the same time is close to impossible!

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Month #9 and 3 days to go

2009-03-26T12:17:00.002-05:00

Month #8 and 4 days to go

2009-03-25T12:13:00.000-05:00

Month #7 and 5 days to go

2009-03-24T23:42:00.002-05:00

Month #6 and 6 days to go

2009-03-23T22:04:00.002-05:00

Month #5 and 7 days to go

2009-03-22T23:00:00.000-05:00

Just hangin out with my buddies!

"Mommy read that if she put cooking oil on my head it would get rid of the cradle cap...it didn't work! But the stuff they sell at the store to get rid of it did."

Month #4 and 8 days to go

2009-03-22T15:55:00.003-05:00

This was Eisley's 1st time to go swimming. Surprisingly, she really likes the water!

Month #3 and 9 days to go

2009-03-20T15:43:00.002-05:00

This is my first picture of me and all the kids. It was taken after church on Mother's Day! It was my best Mother's Day yet!

My sweet family and friends gave me a "sip and see" baby shower. It was so wonderful to be able to show her off to all of them at the same day. Eisley and Ashtyn had matching dresses! This is all the girls before we left for the party.

Month #2 and 10 days to go

2009-03-19T23:31:00.003-05:00

These are a few pictures that Brent took of sweet baby Eisley. It looks like she was sleeping, but she was really very squirmy! There are lots of these photos, each one she has a little different expression on her face. And of course, you know me, I had to get some with a bow on her head!

Let the Countdown Begin! Month #1

2009-03-18T21:52:00.006-05:00

Only 11 days until Eisley's 1st Birthday! I am loving the stage she is in, but I am also sad that my baby won't be a baby much longer! She is busy, busy, busy. No time for snuggling and cuddling. She is always on the move and letting me know just what it is that she wants. She has 2 teeth on the bottom and her right top tooth is almost in, of course I have been saying that for 2 weeks now! She can stand, clap and today when we tell her no, she has started shaking her head no, it is really cute :) She also tries to climb up on everything, thankfully she is not able to get up on much...yet.

I thought this would be a great time to go through all the photos from the last 12 months and pick out a few to share. Each day I will post pictures from a different month. Here are a couple of pictures from our first month with Eisley. Come back tomorrow for month #2.

She doesn't get any attention

2009-03-16T01:27:00.003-05:00

Brent's 31st Birthday

2009-03-01T01:39:00.004-06:00

Brent's parents came in town for his birthday and as always we had lots of fun with them! Brent got a brand new grill for his birthday and cooked a wonderful dinner for us all on it! Is that sad that he had to cook his own birthday dinner?

Eisley 10 months!

2009-03-01T01:03:00.002-06:00

Eisley loves to get her hands on all her sister & brothers things! They are so much more fun than her own baby toys!

Growing up...

2009-03-01T00:49:00.004-06:00

It is hard to believe that Ashtyn is big enough to be doing this! We had some good, fun, girl time. We painted our own toe nails and then we took turns painting each others finger nails. She actually did a great job painting mine, I actually even left it on and wore it to church the next day! Her toe nails, on the other hand, were a different story.

Transportation Day

2009-03-01T00:30:00.004-06:00

The Pre-K had their annual transportation day parade, and boy was it fun! The whole school came out into the hallways to cheer on and support the pre-K students in their homemade box cars. If only you could have heard all the older kids yelling, hollering and chanting for the pre-Kers. It was just like Mardi Gras minus the beads...okay maybe not really, but it was still a great parade. Eisley, Isaiah and I decided to hang out with Ashtyn's 1st grade class and enjoy the parade. Josiah had tons of fun making his car with daddy, but when it came to the actual parade, he wasn't quite sure that he wanted to participate. But in the end, he had a great time with his friends, although he would have rather not walked over to the high school, he later told me.

Isaiah's 4!

2009-03-01T00:07:00.003-06:00

Isaiah had a wonderful birthday and he had so much fun celebrating with all his "best-est friends"! Thanks to all for coming and the wonderful gifts!

Look what Eisley is doing...

2009-01-04T23:37:00.004-06:00

Can you believe that Eisley is big enough to be drinking out of a sippy cup? i know that they recommend babies at 6 months to start using them, but realistically we all know that it doesn't usually work that way. My other kids were close to 1 yr old by the time they made the switch from bottle to cup. Even then it wasn't the smoothest transition. Well, not so for Eisley! She grabbed on to the cup and would not let it go, literally! She actually screamed each time that I tried to take it from her! I'm not sure that I am ready to let go of the bottles, yet :)

BIG TIME

2009-01-04T23:14:00.003-06:00

Ashtyn has made it big...1st we performed at a retirement home, 2nd at the Saginaw tree lighting ceremony, and NOW the mall!!!

1 reason that I love cold weather...

2009-01-04T23:10:00.001-06:00

MY BABIES LOOK SO CUTE IN THEIR WINTER HATS!

Grandparent's Day

2008-12-09T04:02:00.003-06:00

Have I told you how wonderful my kids school is, lately? I feel so blessed every time that I am up at the school. One of the things they do each year is to celebrate and honor the children's grandparents with a special program, class visits and refreshments, not to mention some special gifts. My kids were looking forward to this day for weeks and all 4 grandparents were able to come! We are so thankful that they took the time (Grandad and Poppy...off work) to be here. Here are a few pictures of Ashtyn and Josiah showing their grandparents their classrooms.

Grandparent's Day: Poppy and Grana

2008-12-09T04:00:00.002-06:00

Grandparent's Day: Grandad and Bebe

2008-12-09T03:58:00.001-06:00

Josiah's Thanksgiving Feast

2008-12-09T03:44:00.002-06:00

I had so much fun going to Josiah's Thanksgiving Feast at school! He is having such a great year! He loves school and all of his friends. The last couple of years I was worried at how dis-interested he was in school and any type of learning. People kept telling me that one day it would just click for him. This is his year! He is so pleasant on school mornings, even when I have to wake him up early. He really does like going to school! YAY! I hope that he keeps this attitude about school for many, many more years!

Ashtyn and her mini company

2008-12-09T00:51:00.005-06:00

Ashtyn's dance class has been keeping us busy. There seems to be something every week this month. I forgot to bring the camera Friday night when they performed at "Ring in the Holidays", so here are a couple of pics from her last 2 performances. I really need to video these and post them for you. These girls are way too cute!

Eisley 7 months!

2008-12-09T00:48:00.002-06:00

Ashtyn's 7th Birthday

2008-11-05T13:50:00.004-06:00

We celebrated Ashtyn's birthday by inviting all the girls in her class to come after school to a cooking party at Grana's house. The girls played outside, stamped chef hats, played games, made their own pizzas and decorated their very own little cake to take home. They had lots and lots of fun. Let me just say that I feel so blessed that Ashtyn is surrounded daily with such sweet, mannerly girl friends! But, by the time it was over, I remembered why I had her party last year at "Pump it Up"! Thanks Grana and Poppy for letting us come over and completely take over your home!

Girls designing their chef hat

How many 1st graders can fit in a hammock?

Making pizzas!

"CHEERS to Ashtyn!"

Ashtyn's 7th Birthday

2008-11-05T13:35:00.002-06:00

The chefs decorating thier on 4 1/2" cakes!

Ashtyn received her very 1st American Girl doll from Grandad and BeBe

They also brought Eisley something...isn't this cute!?!

when you know that they are too quiet...

2008-11-03T21:51:00.007-06:00

okay, this picture doesn't do it justice. i found the boys in their room playing very nicely during the afternoon, but as i turned to walk out of their room there it was...markers, in all colors, all over the wall! i immediately gave them each a rag to start cleaning it up. it all came off, except the yellow, which isn't too bad. i had to stop and remind myself, just laugh about it and get a picture to remember it by. i really wish i had a picture from the time they decided to dump out all of the fruity pebbles in the playroom window and tap dance to the crackling noise that it made! or there is the time that they colored on their bunk beds with permanent markers, or...well, i could go on! the point is you've gotta love boys! you never know what their little minds will think of next. (as you can tell from the picture, i think they must have enjoyed cleaning it up as much as the did making the mess!)

Anybody every wondered how much 1/4 of a cow is?

2008-11-03T21:37:00.004-06:00

Just in case you did, this is it. We split a cow with 3 other families (mom/dad, brande/rob and gina/chris) and this is how much we got. Thanks to our cousin Shane at Hamilton's meat market in Weatherford we got a great price on all "natural" meat. Brent and I have decided to become more watchful and aware of what the kids, and ourselves, are eating. It is amazing how unaware most people are of what is in their food. Well, I'm sure that is enough about that! But, I am excited to have all this beef in my freezer!

God is so faithful!

2008-10-14T21:09:00.002-05:00

"...pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." James 5:16

I have thanked God for each of you that have been praying for Josiah. We are blessed to have so many wonderful friends that have gone to the Lord on our behalf. Praise God that Josiah's tests today came back normal. The nurse's words were "keep doing what you are doing and we will see you next week". We will keep going back weekly, but I am confident that he has already been completely healed by the ultimate Healer!

pray with us

2008-10-10T21:34:00.004-05:00

finally it's the weekend. we made it through another week. 3 dr. visits last week, down to 2 this week and it looks like 2 more next week... and so it continues. all i can think is that God does not want me to have any opportunity to forget how much i need Him daily in my life of chaos. He has actually been teaching me about being silent and listening for Him, so for that i am extremely thankful and blessed. i have much more to learn, but it is always great to feel His presence.

at our last 2 visits, josiah has had some protein in his urine. 2 possibilities are that his kidneys are not completely doing their job (which can be an effect from the HSP) or that he is just really active and doesn't drink enough to stay hydrated. we found out that about 20 out of 100,000 kids get HSP and 50% have some form of kidney problems. also, that it reoccurs within the first 4 months for 25% of them. our dr. is allowing us a few more days to try to getting him to drink lots of water to see if that fixes the problem. if not he has to have more blood work done. i am praying that we will not have to take any more blood, because i don't want to put josiah through that if i don't have to. the anticipation of the needle is probably worse than the actual procedure, but neither one is fun for a 5 year old boy. i am also praying that when we go back on tuesday that the test will come back completely normal. i would be most thankful for your prayers for him. be expecting a praise report on tuesday!

Eisley is 6 months old!

2008-09-29T21:30:00.000-05:00

Eisley is such a happy girl and a wonderful addition to our family! Where have the last 6 months gone? These days she enjoys playing with her toys, putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, and eating oatmeal and squash! She is getting good at sitting up by herself and she also gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. I'm sure it won't be too much longer before she is crawling. It looks like she is going to beat Isaiah, he didn't crawl until he was 9 months old! Ay her Dr. appt. she weighed 14 lbs. 5 oz. (10-25 %); and was 25 1/4 inches (25-50 %).

Time for an Update

2008-09-24T21:37:00.008-05:00

I know it has been a long time, over a month, since my last post. Things in our house stay extremely busy, as I'm sure they do in yours too. This past month has been full of Dr. Appointments! We have taken Eisley, Josiah and Isaiah in for their well checks. We took Isaiah to a kids ENT, due to his large tonsils and sleep issues. By the way, they are recommending that we do a sleep study on him. The 3 big kids went to see Dr. Mac, our pediatric dentist. Boy have dentists changed. The kids can't wait to go back again, they had so much fun! Of course, thanks to the bill, I'm definitely in no hurry! Then yesterday we spent half the day at the Dr. office and the ER at Cook's Children's Hospital with Josiah.

Sunday night his left foot was hurting him and Brent noticed him limping and that his foot was swollen. The next day it was a looked a little better, but later that afternoon, he told Grana that his foot was hurting, but it was the other foot and it was swollen, too. No injuries, no bites, just swelling for no known reason. He got to the point that it hurt him to walk or even just to stand up on his feet. The poor baby was actually crawling around to get the things he wanted.

Turns out, after ruling out every other possibility, that he has HSP or Henoch-Schonlein Purpura. It is a disease caused by inflammation of the blood vessels. We are thankful that this is something that clears up on its own, although they said it could take 3-6 weeks. The Dr. said that it it is probably just how his body reacted to a viral infection. We will be going back to the Dr. weekly for the next month to keep a check on him. They need to watch his kidneys to make sure there are no complications.

Then next week Isaiah has an appt. with the pediatric dermatologist and Eisley has her 6 month well visit! And at the end of the week the big 3 are getting their flu mist. And Ashtyn has her opthamologist appt., hopefully that will be it for a while! I'm praying for good health!

On top of all this we have started cloth diapering Eisley. There are lots of great reasons to make the switch, but if it wasn't for her delicate skin and how it was reacting to the disposable diapers (I tried several different brands) I would not have even thought about it. I'll keep you posted how it goes, but so far I really like them and we haven't had any skin problems!

Isn't God good, it just so happened that Josiah's cousin Micah was at Cook's Children's Hospital that morning getting his cast off! They had fun playing games while we waited!
See what cute cloth diapers they make now! These are called Fuzzi-Bunz!
Eisley's first food...rice cereal!

Isaiah and Eisley's 1st day at "Grana's school"

2008-08-20T16:41:00.003-05:00

I am so thankful for my mom! She has been such a big help to me over the past 5 months. She has joyfully kept all the kids for me one day a week all summer, so that I could continue to work part time. And this week she started keeping Isaiah and Eisley 2 days a week while I work and while Ashtyn and Josiah are in school. She offers to help me all the time which is such a blessing, because I hate to ask. Isaiah has been looking forward to this week, for him and Eisley to go to Grana's, since before Eisley was born. He was so exciting Monday morning when I brought him to her house. She had out homemade playdough, with letter cookie cutters, all waiting for him. She also had out cars and trucks to play with, puzzles and even had a story picked out for the day. Being the 3rd of 4 kids, and rarely getting all the attention, I know that this time with Grana is very special to him. He and Eisley, both had a great day!

Ashtyn and Josiah's 1st day of school

2008-08-19T21:44:00.008-05:00

Ashtyn and Josiah both loved school! Ashtyn is in 1st grade. It will be different for her this year because we have heard that they have lots of homework and no rest time! Josiah is in Pre-K 3 days a week. When I picked them up I asked Josiah if he had fun and he said" Yes, I'm ready to go back NOW!" This is big for Josiah to want to go back! I'll keep you posted on how he does on his second day (Wednesday). Here are a few pictures that I got of them.

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We're all ready to go, with our reflective backpacks

Isaiah's ready to go to Grana's house!

Ashtyn at her BIG desk, full of books!

Josiah with "Dude", their pet turtle that he got to help feed.

This is a picture I got as I was peaking in through the window, before I left.

Sunday

2008-08-19T21:26:00.011-05:00

The girls in mommy and daddy's bed

Ashtyn almost ready for church, all dressed up. We are trying to fit in wearing those white shoes before summer is over and she outgrows them:)

Eisley in front of the TV, waiting for the rest of us to get ready

Josiah in his new classroom with Freddy the Frog

Ashtyn in her 1st grade classroom with Mrs. Hedgpeth

What a busy and exciting day we had...
1. Ashtyn's first night to ever sleep in sponge rollers (can you believe I waited 6yrs!?!)
2. Went to church and heard a great message from our awesome new pastor
3. Came home and had lunch
4. Went back to church aka the kids school for Open House and Meet the Teacher
5. Came home fixed dinner
6. Got ready for bed early...tomorrow is the 1st day of school!!!

Saturday

2008-08-18T00:29:00.004-05:00

the weather was wonderful this weekend. after staying inside these past hot days, we finally were able to enjoy playing outside. the kids had a blast playing soccer with their daddy in the back yard (that doesn't have green grass even after watering every day!) i used to love getting out of the house and going places together, but these days hangin out at home is my absolute favorite. while the boys got out to go get "back to school" haicuts, ashtyn and I had our first ever yahtzee marathon! Being at home with my sweet family, enjoying the cooler weather and watching the olympics made saturday a great day!

Hot Wheels

2008-08-18T00:13:00.004-05:00

The boys are so sweet to their baby sister. I love to listen and watch them interacting with her. They speak so softly to her and she loves for them to make their silly faces for her. Here they are teaching her about their favorite things in life!

4 months (at the end of July)

2008-08-17T23:58:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to share that our baby is 4 months old, well actually almost 5 months, now. At her 4 month check up she weighed 12 lbs. and 9 oz. which put her in the 25 % for weight; 24 1/2 inches long, which is 50% range for length. By the way, she loves her Bumbo! What a great invention!

Sweet baby

2008-07-31T14:08:00.002-05:00

Isn't this just the sweetest diaper cover ever? Thanks again to my friend Angie, who gave it to us!

Isaiah's swim lesson

2008-07-31T13:58:00.003-05:00

I thought you would all like to see Isaiah learning to swim. This is a child that the first day of class wouldn't even put his face in the water!

Josiah's swim lessons

2008-07-31T13:18:00.004-05:00

Ashtyn, Josiah and Isaiah took swim lessons for 2 weeks at Aqua Kids. They all had fun! And more importantly, they all learned how to swim! This is Josiah after 1 week of lessons...

Grandad and BeBe

2008-07-31T12:48:00.002-05:00

This past weekend Grandad and BeBe came to visit us. The kids love for them to come and really enjoy playing with them. This weekend besides getting to eat out alot (now mommy is spoiled and doesn't want to cook!) we had fun having "girl's time" and "boy's time". The boys all went to the movie to see Wall-E and us girls went to Dallas to the American Girl Store and then went school shoe shopping at the Galleria. We had so much fun and are looking forward to going back, maybe for Ashtyn's birthday! Ashtyn had so much fun making paper dolls from a kit that BeBe bought her at the American Girl store. We can't wait for them to come back again!

Swimming!

2008-07-31T12:36:00.003-05:00

To my kids, there is nothing better than going swimming and hangin' with your cousins! Eisley decided that she might like the swimming pool, too. Up until last week, Eisley didn't like to even put her feet in the pool, but she enjoyed being in the warm water at Aunt Brande's house last week.

aren't they cute!?!

2008-07-02T00:37:00.004-05:00

Aren't they cute? God has blessed me with the best husband. Wow and what an awesome daddy he is to our 4 kids! They just can't get enough of him and they do think that he is the funniest daddy in the whole world!

I think that Brent was supposed to be putting Eisley to sleep...not the other way around!