Well, this is just embarressing....

I decided to click on my own blog address just to see what was going on, and now, frankly, I'm quite embarressed! I can't believe I haven't posted anything in almost a year! So, I'm just going to sum it up and move on!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Ryan really got into saying, "ho-ho-ho! erry ismas!!" So cute! He is quite the little happy toddler, running around and laughing most of the time. He's had to learn not to bite, hit, say no, and throw fits all within a few months! He has also learned to say/sing his ABC's count a little and can pretty much identify most shapes and colors-when he wants to! He's a bit stubborn like his Pop! He's starting to look a lot more like Rick, except for the blonde hair and blue eyes! Ryan turned two on January 31st. We had a modest party at our house. Can't believe he hardly fits in my lap to rock at night. My baby's growing up.

Grace impresses me everyday! Before she was born, or even conceived, we prayed that God would use her to make a difference for Him. I can't tell you how many times God has already used her in the lives of others. So many people tell me about her love and kindness she shows to everyone. She is touching lives for Him! She says she wants to be a missionary when she grows up, and I certainly don't put it past her! She's amazingly beautiful and sees the world as her own little rescue mission. She is sooo ready for Kindergarten! I may try and teach her to read this summer. She's certainly ready. She turns 5 on March 25th. What a milestone!

Both kids got to experience their first real snowday!! We were all overly excited and took lots of pictures! Who would have ever thought when Grace prayed for snow, God would send 8 inches!

Rick's basketball season was, how should I put this, challenging?? This is a great school with great kiddos, but they haven't had a basketball coach stick around in quite a few years. Needless to say, Rick has his work cut out for him! We're here to stay, though, so hopefully in a couple of years we'll see a winning season!

My job in Mt. Pleasant as a Science teacher is going well. My team is great and the kids I have are good. I'm still praying for a position in Mt. Vernon to come open for next year. I really need to be at the school where the rest of my family goes! My heart is already here, now I just need to get my body here as well!

I'll be back on to post pictures soon!

Sorry it's been so long!!

I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything in such a long time. Shame on me! Needless to say, we have had a lot to happen in the last 3 months.

So here goes:

April- Easter was great! We spent the day at Nana and Pop's and got some wonderful pictures of the kiddos Easter Egg hunting. We also went to Nana and Pop's church and enjoyed a really good time visiting with all the members there. We had a delicious lunch and hunted over a couple of hundred eggs. Grace is still young enough to believe the "Easter Bunny" came to visit, so when we got home from Nana and Pop's, the "Easter Bunny" had left some Easter basket full of goodies on our front porch. It was so much fun watching her reaction! Ryan could have cared less, of course!

May-Well, we missed the Baby Reunion at Baylor Center for Reproductive Health this year. We had planned to go, but Rick had a coaching clinic that interfered, so we had to skip this year. Hopefully we will be able to attend next May. Mother's Day was uneventful. I got to sleep in and then we headed off to church. Grace made an adorable flower vase for my kitchen window. I absolutely love it. Perfect for little flowers she picks now and then. We attempted to eat out at the Jalopeno Tree, but Ryan was so tired we had to get everything to go and eat it at home. Still, a very nice day spent lovin' my kiddos. We also had Grace's Graduation from Nana's Playhouse and Learning Center at the end of May. When asked who her hero was, she proudly replied, "Jesus". We are so proud of her.

June-Wow! What an unexpected month June was! Rick got a call from Mt. Vernon ISD for an interview as Head Basketball Coach. He went to the interview and was offered the job that night. He accepted the offer and that pretty much threw us into panic mode! I also turned in my letter of resignation to Beckville, reluctantly, and began praying that God would provide me with a job. We also put our whole faith in God by making an offer on a beautiful house in Mt.Vernon. We haven't purchased a home in a while, so this is very exciting for us. We also went on a very short family vacation to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Tx.

It was just wonderful and we plan on going back very soon.

Here are a few pictures:

July-so that brings us to now.... I had an interview for a 5th grade Science teacher position in Mt. Pleasant last week and got the call on Tuesday that they wanted to hire me. Yay!! Thank you Jesus!! We were really getting nervous since Tuesday was also our last day to back out of the house contract. But everything is moving forward now! We should close on our house on July 24th and moving around the 27th. Sooo exciting! We also just signed Grace and Ryan up for the First Baptist Church's preschool for the fall. We had a grand tour of the school on Wednesday and Grace is ready to go!

Grace's 4th Birthday!

A Day at the Park

Ryan's 1st Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

What a great day we had last Saturday! The weather was absolutely gorgeous and everyone who was invited came to join in on the special day. The party started at 2:00 with horse rides. Our friends, the McRights, brought over a few horses and the kiddos had a blast! Ryan wasn't afraid at all and seemed to know exactly what those huge animals were! After the horse rides, Ryan opened gifts while "Taco the Clown" entertained the other little ones. Ryan didn't seem impressed with "Taco", but loved opening all his presents.

Next, we had a yummy cake! Ryan LOVED his cake, as you can tell from the pictures! Everyone stayed and visited for a while and enjoyed chili dogs and corn dip.

It was a very exciting day that went exactly as planned! What more could you ask for?

My daughter amazes me..

My daughter, Grace. What a special jewel she is. I thought I would share with you a few of her latest words of wisdom.

Here are the top 10 (and these are direct quotes):

10. "But mom, you're the one that wanted the slider phone.."

09. "But my tears won't leave my eyes alone!"

08. "Look mom, she has a brown baby!" (very loud in the pediatricians office).

07. "Mommy, I'm going to go sit on my bed and think about how bad daddy has been."

06. "You really shouldn't eat that mom. It's not good for you."

05. "If someone's mean to you, just walk away and find someone else to play with." (Amen!)

04. "Well, mom, a dollars not a lot of money, only 2 dollars is."

03. "Pop can be nice when he wants to." (yes, that IS a direct quote!)

02. "But those round green things on my plate are gross." :)

And the top words of wisdom from Grace Gates is:

01: "Daddy, I'm sorry you lost your game. Maybe you can win next time."

What a sweety.

Ryan, the trooper

Ryan was such a trooper today. We woke him at around 4:30 and put him immediately in the car to drive to the hospital. Checkin was at 5:30. I was sure he was going to scream the whole way since he's used to having his milk first thing, but he talked himself right back to sleep. When we arrived at the hospital we were immediately taken back to the "holding" room. Ryan was all smiles. He looked adorable in his hospital gown, and I think he knew it! He loved his new bed and explored every inch of it, including the little screws which he was amazed by for some reason. The nurse came around and attached his arm bracelet (but to his leg so he wouldn't notice it-yeah, right!) and then an orderly took us back to the surgery holding area. There' s probably a term for that, but I can't think of it right now! Ryan was beginning to get a bit fussy, well.. a lot fussy, and thankfully fussed himself back to sleep again for a while.

Just as I layed him in the crib to give my arms a break, the nurse came in with his "silly juice". They give this to all the little ones to help with the transition from mommy. We woke Ryan up and he gulped it down like it was chocolate! Within about 15 minutes the fun really began! Ryan was such a hoot! He was giving the wall "kisses" and laughing like there was no tomorrow! He'd smile real slow and fall to the side.. he was like a drunk little one year old! Too cute! Soon after that the nurse came and took him back to surgery.

Rick and I went to the waiting room and sat patiently for what seemed like an eternity. After about an hour, we finally got a call from the operating room telling us they had not started the surgery yet because they couldn't find a vein to start the IV in. I noticed after the surgery that he had over 20 different needle pricks all over him. Poor thing. They finally found a place right on the inside of his upper thigh. Thankfully he wasn't awake during any of this, so he doesn't remember a thing. Hopefully he's not too sore from it. The dr. came out into the waiting room around 9:15 and said that Ryan had done wonderfully, but that he did have to take out his adnoids as well. He was also already getting another ear infection, so he had to drain some extra fluid out of his right ear as well. Poor baby.

We then went back to the post-op to see him. He was just coming out of anestesia and boy was that heartbreaking. I just held and rocked him until he fell back asleep. We sat there for about 20 minutes and then went back to the recovery room for about an hour. He slept through that and all the way, and pretty much all the rest of the day until around 3:00. He started coming out of it by then and began to play. By 4:30 he was scooting around on his John Deer tractor and by supper he downed a whole hotdog! I guess you could say he was about 95% back to normal.

I'm so thankful that this is all over and everything went smoothly. Thank you for all the prayers and words of wisdom. It's all greatly appreciated and well used!

Christmas '08

We had a wonderful, magical Christmas this year! We started out a few days early at Nana's and Pop's house where the weather was frightfully cold..perfect! The smell of the woodstove burning and turkey cooking filled the air along with the children playing and men snoring! Good times! We opened gifts on Saturday evening and enjoyed a nice time at church the next morning. My mom sang a beautiful medly of Christmas songs and Grace sang with her, softly in the pew..priceless. We headed back home Monday morning to rest up for Ryan's ear appointment that was scheduled for the next day.

The appointment went as expected and his ear surgery is scheduled for Jan. 2nd. He'll have tubes put in and his adnoids checked. Hopefully he'll be a much happier little boy after that. Please say an extra little prayer for him that all will go smoothly.

Wednesday, Grace and I spent all day cooking and doing some last minute shopping. I served a "miniture Christmas Eve Supper" for just us. Right before we gathered around the table to eat, Ryan had a little fall in the kitchen and put a nice little scratch on his cheek, which required some major crying and a bandaid. He is constantly on the go and quite the little menice! After supper we got the kiddos ready for bed and read the Christmas story from the Bible. We then let them open one small gift from under the tree. Grace got the Cinderella barbie doll from Ryan, and Ryan opened one of the many "shake-n-go" cars that he LOVES! Then it was off to put food out for Santa's reindeer. Grace had made a special mixture of oatmeal and corn from school (which amazingly disappeared by morning!). Soon it was time to finish icing the cookies for Santa and place them by the fireplace just incase he was hungry from all that flying around! The "babies" were in bed by 7:00 and as soon as they were fast asleep the fun really began!

The next morning came early with screams from Grace that "Santa had come!" This was the first year that she had actually understood what was going on. Ryan, on the other hand, was happy with me holding him and drinking his morning cup of milk. He could have really cared less! After all the unwrapping and a quick breakfast, it was off to Nanny and Pawpaw's. We spent the afternoon with them eating yummy food and opening more gifts. Ryan went dressed as "John Deer" himself and loved showing off his little fourwheeler! He is such a little rascal!

This has been a wonderful Christmas that I know I'll always cherish. We have been blessed beyond our wildest dreams. Here is a slideshow of our Christmas tour! (click on "view all images")

A few dreams come true:

This has been an amazing year for Rick and I. Here are a few dreams I thought would never come true:

*I'd see two stockings hung from our chimney with care with names of our children stitched in white thread.

*We'd pretend there's a Santa and sneak 'round the house, hiding long wanted toys that piled up in mounds.

*I'd snuggle up tight on the couch with my son and my daughter, watching Charlie Brown's Christmas until the wee hours.

*I'd watch my own children sit on Santa's knee, making big promises of how good they would be.

*We'd make Christmas cookies and warm, gooey fudge, setting them carefully by the tree for our own special "Santa" to see.

*I'd dress my own little girl in ribbons and bows, and see my own son reach for lights all a glow.

*Sharing with my children the birth of our Saviour, now that's a dream come true that I always will savor.

Christmas time is a special time for everyone, but for this new family, it means so much more than you can imagine.

The perfect Christmas Card

I spent what seemed like hours the other night trying to get the perfect shot for our Christmas card this year. I think I took about 30 different pictures before I decided that I really couldn't sacrifice anymore nutcrackers or already wrapped presents. I quickly got the kids to bed and settled down at the computer to hopefully find several pictures to choose from. I loaded up the shots and started sifting through them. Of course, there were the ones that had Grace perfectly smiling and Ryan screaming, or Ryan grinning like a canary and Grace showing her "fake-celebrity smile", and the one's where one or the other's head is cut off. We finally got to about the 3rd one from the end and decided our little darlings looked perfectly wonderful no matter which one we chose! We hope everyone enjoys their card! Here is a few of the pictures we chose from:

Saturday was a perfect day to go Christmas tree hunting! We arrived at Merket Tree Farm around 9am with the authentic wet, dreary Christmas weather of Texas. Santa greeted us immediately and Grace wasted no time telling him what she wanted for Christmas. Ryan thought he was quite amusing himself! He was the perfect Santa with a real beard and jolly laugh! If I was impressed, you know he had to be a good one!

After a brief meeting with Santa, we decided to go tromping through the soggy forest of pine trees. You could tell we were the first to arrive by the lack of bare spots on each row. All the trees looked so perfect and seemed to beg, "pick me, pick me!" What a hard decision! We found a few perfect sized ones that we couldn't help but take snapshots of. Grace loved all the trees and was quite indecisive about which one would win the prize. (Not sure where she gets that from!)

We finally decided to take a look at some pre-cut trees in a large tent at the front of the farm. After debating back and forth, and finally convincing Grace that no matter where the tree came from, we wouldn't get to cut it down anyway, we decided on the lovely one shown here in the picture. I know, I know...we couldn't have just gone to Wal-Mart and saved a lot of time and effort! But walking around the farm and experiencing a dream come true with my "babies" is absolutely priceless.

The perfect size for Ryan!

Grace was not too impressed with this one! Mommy with her two blessings

Grace all dolled up this morning for church.

Ryan putting the star on the Christmas tree.


Grace putting the star on the Christmas tree.

It's been a while since I posted, but as you know, life is crazy hectic! November is finally coming to a close, and sadly, we still have not gone camping. Basketball season is off to a good, (not neccessarily great, start. Rick's Varsity team is 2-2, which isn't bad considering he's implementing an entirely new program. He has tournaments every weekend in December, so we'll be quite busy in addition to everything else Christmas brings to keep us moving.

This was Ryan's first Thanksgiving! We celebrated at my parent's house in Golden, TX and had a

blast! The weather was very "fall-like". He is trying so hard to walk and getting into everything! What fun!

Ryan loved the trukey and dressing, and, well, everything else! He definitely is not a pickey eater!

Grace loved playing with all her cousins! She adores anyone who will pay attention to her for longer than 5 seconds, even Pop!, and loves being in the spotlight-typical 3 years old!

In all, we had a wonderful time and ate entirely too much pecan pie!

October has been pretty uneventful around here. Football season is FINALLY over and basketball begins this next week. The fall weather around here is just absolutely breathtaking. A far cry from Sugar Land's!! I can't say enough how nice it is to be back in East Texas.

This house is about to get the best of me. I've been fighting off mice and roaches ever since we moved in. Don't get me wrong, this is a nice little house. It just hasn't been kept clean and well taken care of in the past, so we're having to play catch up. I think I've found the last of the mice in the house and sealed up any entrances they may have been using, but I sometimes think I can still hear them in the walls! Hopefully they will just quietly leave or die leaving us a nice smell for a few weeks. The roaches....ugghhh... disgusting is all I can say. We have bombed the house and they have mostly gone, but we will continue to do so once a month until I see them completely gone. I still see about 2 or 3 a day. Let's just say I can deal with mice better than roaches!

Well, enough about the gross stuff! Ryan has been sick again (double ear infection and severe sinus infection) but we switched doctors this Friday and I feel confident that he's going to be completely well again soon and hopefully will stay that way for a long time. Here are some 9 month snapshots of him. He has his appt. in a couple more weeks with his new dr., but I do know he's weighing in at 22lbs and he's around 28 inches tall. He is trying desprately to learn how to walk! I think he'll be cruising around by Christmas!

Here too are some snapshots of Grace in her cheerleading outfit. She is so proud of it and goes down and cheers with the cheerleaders for a little while every Friday night. She's actually pretty good, but unless she wins the lottery, I don't see cheer anywhere in her near future except for play!

I think if you click on the picture you can see it a bit better. Anyway, she is such a big help these days and has started doing "chores" around the house. Kid's gotta earn their keep around here!

That's all I can think of for now! We're excited about the holiday's coming up and seeing everyone! Ryan has already decided he loves pumpkin pie. Grace, on the other hand, says she'll just stick with icecream!