Author Archives: Julie

A few days of Thanks

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We were so blessed this year to spend Thanksgiving with the Whaley side. Terry reserved a cabin for us on Lake LBJ not far outside of Austin. The cabin slept 14 and we had plenty of room to play and eat and eat some more.






The kids enjoyed each other and we experienced the trails with a 5K Turkey Trot, swam in the heated pool, threw and painted some pottery (thanks to Aunt Ali), and took the canoes and paddle boats in the lake. There was plenty of downtime, plenty of Wii, plenty of eating and lots of fun. Thank you Oma for providing for us.


I found this idea on a blog and really wanted to do it with the family. We packed some food and snacks along with some essentials into Blessing Bags. The kids and adults wrote on the back of the note an encouraging word. Then we zipped them up and passed out to each family so they could find someone to bless. I am looking forward to finding that person and letting the kids experience the joy of helping others.

I’m Three

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Today, Audrey is 3. I hung her birthday banner up all week to get her excited, and it worked. She likes to look up at it and say “Happy Birthday Audrey.” One thing about not having many connections in town is that I don’t feel obligated to have a party. And I like parties, birthday parties anyway. I tend to start simple and get very detailed as the planning goes. Which is why after each party I say that I am not doing this again. I figure this is the last year that I can get away without a real party for Audrey. Then I began to think about her 2nd birthday and realized that I played the exact same card last year. Poor third child.

After a normal day of school, we went for a short walk to get the mail. Along the sidewalk, Audrey begins to throw-up. Megan and I are standing with our legs sprawled apart trying not to get the backsplash as she is hurling in front of the neighbor’s house. About an hour later, she learned the very important lesson of leaning over the toilet. I really think that this is the first time that she has ever thrown up. That was about 3:30pm, and Alyssa and I knew for sure that our Chuck E Cheese family party was canceled. I think I was just as disappointed as them. Not that I like that place, but I do love watching my kids enjoy themselves.


Despite the events of the day, and there were more, she remained in a good mood, bouncing back to her normal self after each “event”. She had some typical BRAT food for dinner but I was not going to let this ruin her birthday cake. She sat and smiled, we sang, she blew out the candle, but she declined on her own piece of cake. She was such a champ today. I hope she will feel better tomorrow and can enjoy a piece of that cake. For now, she is cozy in her bed and I am hoping she can stay there all night. Sweet dreams, big three year old. More


Halloween

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I am sure there will be a day when one of them doesn’t want to dress up, but they all love it. Each girl picked her own idea. Well, not Audrey, she had to be what fit at that age. Maybe next year… Alyssa choose a cowgirl and Megan is Toki Tori. As usual, Ethan came up with the ideas and I implemented. We were both thrilled with how her duck turned out, and she was a hit at many doors. It was not the Halloween that we had grown accustomed to in TN, but we had a good time. We walked around the neighborhood with our next door neighbors and their kids. They have been a great support to us and seem to match our personalities well. We had a bet going for the number of times Audrey would fall through the night. I think they know our kids better than us, because he won. 3 falls in one night – that’s Audrey. The night ended with a monsterous pile of candy that no one could possible eat, but I let them take a stab at it last night. More





Orphan Alyssa

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Alyssa had her 3rd grade musical tonight. I love to watch her on stage. Not because she is showy, but because she is just confident enough to be up there. One year, she may even ask for a speaking part. She had been singing the tunes to Annie for weeks and we had fun watching her preform. Even Megan was singing along.


Auuudrey!

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The single most popular word said around our house is Auuudrey! Any given day that word can come out of any of our mouths, and what it really means is things like this:

You just spilled milk all over the floor.
You knocked over Megan’s Lego tower.
You just colored all over Alyssa’s homework.
Get off the counter.
You do not need another pack of gummies.
Why are you wearing a completely new set of clothes?
Why did you take your shoes off?
Bubby does not go outside.

Ah, this age is a good one. She will be 3 in a short month and I am nervous if she is going to be better or worse as a three year old. She is defiant, independent. She gets into everything. Not in a destructive way but just an annoying way. She changes clothes every time she is locked in her room for time out – which is often. She is fully potty trained, but never flushes the toilet. She and Megan can fight like no ones business and neither of them will give in. She lays by her door every night whining. She kicks, she screams. She has 3 Bubbies, her favorite stuffed animal, which instead of replacing each other she just has to have all three. But at the end of it all, she has to read her books in bed, she must get back up to hug and kiss her sisters, and really just wants my attention. She is funny, sweet and completely lovable. And despite being my earliest riser, I love to see her happy face each morning and start the day with a new set of Auuudreys!

Soccer in Round Rock

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Both girls started back in soccer. Megan was a little questionable in practice, just not really interested. But when her first game came on Saturday she was all over the place. Just a fireball. I was cheering and laughing so hard. She is fast, of course they get that from me. And she was one of the few on her team paying attention. So she could chase that ball like no one else. I think she must have saved 5 or 6 goals from going in because she would chase the player down and kick the ball out. I was so proud of her, because that is not a skill that they work on, it was just instinct for her. She did lose a little momentum when she had to sit out, but it was the best soccer game I had watched for her. Next up Alyssa.


The Party

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Five years with this girl that continually makes me smile. She is sweet, like run up and hug your leg for no reason, sweet. She is full of life. She will get up from the table to dance if music is playing. She loves to build, ride her bike, run and just be silly.

We decided on an Angry Birds themed party. I look forward to the year when I can just have a normal party and not feel the need to make ridiculous things like Angry Bird balloons. I even told myself this year was just a swimming party and a cake. But all the fun ideas that came with an Angry Birds cake carried over into painted rocks, chocolate TNT bombs, and I even ended with a watermelon carved out and painted as a pig. But God continues to humble me by making it hot enough for my icing to melt and slide off the cake and another party booked at the same time (I didn’t know I was supposed to reserve the pool). The overall conditions not in my favor and the balloons and decorations didn’t even get put up. But as always, no one cared about those things. The kids had fun in the pool (our first September pool party) and we were able to spend her day with people we love. Thank you to our family and Kedra who traveled to celebrate with us.


Her favorite Lego castle. Thank you Daddy.


Aunt Ali and Audrey

Then like always I feel like I have to celebrate again on her “real” birthday. So another cake and we decided to put up the decorations for the house.



Another year of preschool

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My little girls started back to preschool yesterday. It is hard to get one kid in school and then wait 3 weeks before the others get to go. After waiting so long, they were both ready and excited. They are going 2x a week at a church minutes from the house. I picked solely based on location, but I think the school will be good as well.

Megan, of course, had to pick out a “beautiful” dress to wear to school. There is no convincing that girl of picking an outfit based on seasons, weather or an activity. She was also determined to play a little hopscotch before school. She got out her chalk and found her rock and had a few rounds before we got in the car.



Audrey was a little hesitant when I left. Probably because she has been glued to her “bubby” since she was born and I decided to break her of that habit on the first day of school. I have a feeling she convinced her teacher to get it out of the backpack just this once. She had a good day, did not nap, but who can blame her.

Megan did great. She walked right in, scoped things out and began playing. I can’t believe this is her last year of preschool. I have to intentionally remind myself this is our last year together. I am hoping it is a great year.

Beginning 3rd Grade

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I love to go back and look at school pictures. I take one on the first and last day of school every year and it is amazing to see the changes. Even though I see her everyday, I look at this picture and can’t believe how big she is. Today, we ventured out together to a new school with new traffic and learned how make our way through the school. She told me she was nervous all morning, but you would have never known by the way she walked into the classroom. We met up with some other 3rd graders and her teacher before the bell and walked together to the cabins. I think they are trying to make portables sound cool. I was trying to take pictures and she was giving me the “no more, mom” look. I ignored her and at least got one last sweet wave before she walked in. No matter how big she tries to be, she is still my sweet one who loves her mama.

We all did well today trying to get in the swing of the school routine. Megan and Audrey played well. The difference this year is her school doesn’t bus any kids. Which means for the first time, I have to do the car rider line. I don’t mind too much having to sit in the car, today was 30 min before I got out of traffic, but the problem is dismissal is 2:45. Right in the middle of Audrey’s nap. And it’s not just occasionally, this is everyday. As Alyssa adjusts back to school, Audrey and I will be adjusting this nap thing.


The girls and I waited in the car, watching the hustle of other parents wondering where and how Alyssa is going to make it to the car. As I am pulling up to the school, I see her walking down the sidewalk toward the car. It was such a good feeling to see her face. I didn’t realize how much I had missed her til I saw her. She had a good day and got along well with a couple friends which is what we continually prayed for. So we are back to schedules, said goodbye to summer and thankful that Alyssa’s first day was successful. And we celebrated like every first day – with cookies!