STORM

Mackenzi had her soccer party tonight - at Alley Cats in Arlington. She had the BEST time! This season has been so special because she has really bonded with the girls on her team. This was Mackenzi's 3rd season to play, but this season, she was put on a new team, with a new coach. (Her coach for the past seasons decided to take a break.) I thought Mackenzi would be upset when I found out Coach Eric wouldn't be coaching this season, but when we told her, she was the opposite - totally excited for a new coach and new teammates. And God definitely blessed us with a new coach, Sarah - who has really been special for Mackenzi and the other girls; and three new teammates. We started out with five on the team (usually you have six) but then one had to quit pretty early on in the season due to her asthma. So, that left the team with just four girls including Mackenzi. Despite a small team, the girls worked really hard all season and learned how to play together as a team. Here are pictures from tonight's party where the girls really had a great time.

STORM

Hayley, Chasey, Kenzi, & Emalee

The Dallas Memory Walk

This past weekend we experienced our fourth year to walk with the Dallas Memory Walk. It's a walk to raise money to help fund research for Alzheimer's Disease. Many of you who know me, know that my grandmother suffered from this disease. It's a terrible, terrible disease for the individual to suffer through, and also for the family involved. It was through our experience with her disease and the social worker involved in her case that encouraged me to consider the field of social work as my profession. Unfortunately the social worker who talked with my family was not very friendly. It was a difficult time for us as a family and for my grandmother who was trying very hard to "cover" up what was going on with her. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that the social worker wasn't doing the right thing for my grandmother, it was just the way she presented it to my family that just didn't seem right.

I walk in memory of Lorene Sewell who passed away Jan. 15, 2001 and in honor of all who battle this disease. I am overjoyed to be a part of such a wonderful cause with my work and also with my family. Last year we had just found out the week of the walk that we were pregnant, and this year, Levi brazed the cold weather! We had both Levi and Mackenzi bundled up - with several layers of clothing! Levi was so warm, he even fell asleep during the walk.

My BIG helper

Okay - so this morning I needed a little bit of help. Levi has slept really well the past two nights, and I'm oh so thankful for that! But, as a result, I had to pump this morning after waking up. And with that, I knew I wouldn't have time to get that done, and nurse him with all the other stuff that needs to get done in the mornings before we're off to school and to start the day. So, I woke up little Kenzi and asked her if she would help out this morning. She got dressed first, and then I gave her the bottle for Levi. She was more than willing to help out. . .I got them all set up and then went to the bathroom to finish getting myself ready. I came out of the bathroom to check on them. What I found was that the two of them were just very quietly watching the cartoon Einstein's on tv. It was definitely a "kodak" moment, only Levi heard my camera open up and he looked at me just as I snapped the first picture. You can see that Mackenzi was still mesmerized by the cartoon and didn't even notice I had walked in the room!

So, then I quietly went back to getting dressed, and left the camera open this time so I could hope to capture what I saw when I first checked on them. . .here's the two of them watching tv with the bottle in Levi's mouth. And by the second time, Mackenzi realized I was taking pictures of the two of them and posed some for this last one. . .she's such a big helper, and I don't know what I would do without her!

Levi's finally rolling

Levi is finally interested in rolling! He's been quite the roller this weekend having rolled for the first time Friday evening! Keep on 'a rollin' buddy!

Mackenzi's first sleepover

Mackenzi went to her first sleepover this past weekend. She was so excited! We agreed to let her go last week at her soccer practice. She was asked by Chasey, her soccer coach's step-daughter. We agreed. . .and then of course we nearly backed out! A sleepover! Kenzi has been asking for many months about having sleepovers - having kids come over and going over to other kids' houses. . .but, we hadn't really agreed for that to happen until this past week. She has spent the night at my sister's house, and at Nana and Memaw's house without us for up to a week at a time, but this was different. This was someone else's house that wasn't related to us. Chasey is a sweet little girl, and we've spent quite a bit of time on the soccer field with her parents as well as her step-mom and I emailing back and forth throughout the season. . .so, we felt plenty comfortable with her being there. . .just weren't sure if we felt comfortable with her not being here with us! Friday evening wasn't such a big deal, we took her over to their house, and stayed about an hour just visiting. When we got home, it would have been time for her to go to bed, so it wasn't too unusual yet. . .but then Saturday morning when we woke up - it was definitely different without her little smile in the morning. But, as you are probably well aware, we survived! I even had brunch plans with my DBU friends, and so I was out of the house early for that - and then we met at the soccer fields for her game at noon. Which, by the way, was an awesome game! Angela took pictures, and so when she sends them, I'll post a couple of them. Mackenzi, Chasey and Emalee played a wonderful game! They won by like 9 to 2! Mackenzi scored about half of the goals and Chasey scored the other half. When I was little, we weren't aloud to spend the night at friends' houses the night before soccer games. . .but, we may have to enforce that rule later on - like when she's trying to stay up half the night! But, for now, it was fun - she had a great time! Here are the girls playing the Wii. . .

And here they are playing dress up with makeup and playing with the Barbie dollhouse. . .

Our little 4 Month old. . .

Levi's 4 Months Old!

Wow - 4 months old! I can't believe that little Levi is already 4 months old! He's getting so big! We went to the doctor yesterday and he is 14 lbs and 9 ounces - 50% for weight; 25 1/2 inches long - 75 % for height! I checked out Mackenzi's size when she was 4 months. . .and, well, she was quite a bit smaller than he is - she was just 12 lbs 12 ounces and 23 1/2 inches long! What's funny is that when she was six months old - she was just 14 lbs 11 ounces and 25 inches long. . .so, Levi is about the size she was when she was 6 months old. . .only 1/2 an inch longer! Whew. . .so, needless to say, he's growing just fine! He's not interested in really rolling over - but is very interested in toys - or anything that's in front of him. He wants to reach out and grab it. . .and then put it straight into his mouth! We get so tickled at how loudly he can smack his fingers. His first finger and middle finger on his left hand go all the way into his mouth. . .and his right hand holds onto his left hand just to make sure it doesn't come out! It's really funny. It's very different than Mackenzi who never put anything in her mouth.

The doctor gave us the green light to start cereal - and so, hopefully this weekend we can make it to the grocery store and try that out. We'll see how that goes. I think he'll enjoy it. Mackenzi didn't want anything to do with rice cereal, or baby food for that matter. So, maybe Levi will be different than she was. We'll see. I'm sure we'll have fun pictures to show soon!

Something else that's so fun about Levi is that he is wanting to coo and talk all the time. I've started singing to him quite a bit -and when you sing "Old MacDonald" he just talks right along with you. . .I tried videoing it today, but wasn't too successful. He would start out singing with me, but then would get captivated by the camera and would stop talking. So, maybe we can capture that soon - it's precious to see!

Time is flying so quickly, and we're so blessed to have such a sweet little boy - and then of course we love his big sister too. She is such a big help. She is helping Levi stand up here for this picture -

Mansfield's Fall Festival

This is the second year in a row that we've participated in Mansfield's Fall Festival. Mackenzi really enjoys dressing up, and when we have a wonderful place for her to go, like the Rose Park, it really makes it a lot of fun. This year she decided she wanted to be a Tooth Fairy. How fun, right? She's five, and really anticipating losing her teeth. . .unfortunately she has no signs of losing any teeth, any time soon. . .but, nonetheless. . .she picked out a leotard with pink feathers, pink wings, a pink feathered crown, and a wand. Levi is a pea in a pod - it's a costume that a friend of mine let us use for Levi. He didn't stay in the costume too long - it was not as cold as we had thought it would be, and the costume was really warm.





We met up with Jeremiah and Natasha like we did last year, but we also met up with Kenzi's soccer coach, Sarah and her family - husband Mark, and kids Chasey and Colton. Jeremiah is dressed up as a policeman - like his Daddy and Chasey is dressed up as Belle. The kids got to ride the "train" again this year and our picture turned out cute - here's Jeremiah, Chasey and Kenzi.

Tony was a big help at the festival since Brian was at Billy Bob's at a Willie Nelson concert. Tony really liked the police horses. Here's a picture of him petting the horse with Mackenzi, Chasey, Mark and Colton.

Pumpkin Carving

My 13 year old nephew, Tony, came to stay with us this past weekend. We had a pumpkin that Mackenzi picked out from the pumpkin patch a week ago that she wanted to carve. We decided to carve it Saturday afternoon and Tony was a big help.

Brian had bought a stencil kit, and Tony had used this type of kit before. They did a wonderful job carving it! Mackenzi had a lot of fun, and amazingly, very little pumpkin guts were found on the floor. . . even with this craziness going on in the picture!

The Pumpkin Patch

Today is Brian's birthday! We wanted to spend the day together as a family and so we started it out with Kenzi's soccer game. She scored two goals! Way to go!

Then we went to the Texas Roadhouse. It was a wonderful lunch. As we walked in, we were being seated and Brian tapped me on the back of my shoulder. . ."honey. . .honey. . .do you see that?" and I looked in the corner of the restaurant and saw what looked like Willie Nelson! He was sitting in "Willie's Corner" and everything. What do you think?

After lunch, we went to the Japanese Gardens in Ft. Worth. It's a wonderful place to go - very relaxing, beautiful and a lot of fun. We took Mackenzi there when she was just a few months old. I've added a picture of her so you can compare how she and Levi look. . .although she's a month older here than he is.

We had a lot of fun walking around the gardens. Mackenzi kept wanting to go down this trail, and that trail. . .she had a wonderful time. Levi enjoyed being outside and smiled like never before! He just loves to be outside.

It's incredible how you can feed the fish here at this place. Brian and Mackenzi spent a great deal of time feeding them. Brian kept trying to get Mackenzi to touch the fish, but she was pretty reluctant for a while. . and then finally gave in and touched them. We liked to never pulled her away from wanting to feed and touch the koi fish. I don't know who's more proud in this video - Mackenzi or her daddy!!

It was a wonderful day - Happy Birthday BRIAN!!!

The Curb - 11 years

September 30th, 11 years ago. . .Brian and I sealed the beginning of our relationship with a kiss. . .on the campus of Dallas Baptist University. Okay, okay, I took the first step this particular day and decided to wait on Brian. You see, he was driving a red hot '95 Mustang Cobra, and well, he was a bit proud of it. . .so, he would always park it as far away from other cars are possible. On this day, he was in one of the smaller parking lots at the end, of course, and it happened to be near the grass. So, I had my backpack, loaded with a few things - mostly books. . .and, well, I sat there. Waiting. Trying to decide if I was doing the right thing by waiting or not. . .and continued to wait. Meanwhile I was pulling a book out of my backpack, not even reading it, just looking at it - trying to look inconspicuous. . .then putting the book back in my backpack, and pulling out another one. . .Then the time came, his class should be out - my mind raced back and forth - do I stay, do I go? what do I do? But, it was too late - Brian came walking down the sidewalk with someone from his class, and turned his head. It was in that second when he saw me, that I knew I had done the right thing by waiting. . .the smile on his face confirmed that he was as interested in me and I was in him. You see, we had already been talking quite a bit, sharing notes in Statistics quite a bit, but I wasn't sure if he was interested in me romantically until that second.

It's certainly a smile I've never forgotten. He sat down next to me on the curb and we just visited. . .for about three hours. Near the end of that three hours - we were talking about all kinds of things, and nervously picking at the rocks on the ground. . .The moments leading up to that first kiss escape me. . .but the comfort I felt in that kiss 11 years ago I still feel today. After that day on the curb, we would make a point to return to it and pray together, spend time together, just enjoying each others' company. And, until last year, we were able to physically revisit that curb every year, exactly where we sat. . .and we know it was the same place because Brian marked the curb with red touch up paint "9-30-97". Last year DBU decided to build some large chapel there. . .and this year they are still working on the building of that chapel. . .and so we had to venture elsewhere on campus.

DBU is such a beautiful place, and so finding somewhere to sit with our family and take a picture was not a difficult task. And as an added blessing this year, we were able to take our new precious one, Levi, with us.

This yearly tradition for us is a blessing as we always make a point to remember the memories we shared in the first couple years of our relationship.

Levi is Laughing!!

Mackenzi and I have been singing Patty Cake with Levi for several weeks now, but it wasn't until Daddy played it with him the other night that we heard him laughing! I managed to get my video camera out very quickly and Levi performed nicely for it! I had to stand off to the side because when he sees the camera, he will stop doing whatever we're attempting to video, of course!