Meeting Blakely

We met Cricket and officially named her on January 25th at 12:50 PM.

Blakely Shayne was 6 pounds, 10 ounces, and 19 inches long.
Dark hair, big blue eyes, and a more olive complexion. She had the same due date AND exact same birth weight as her big sister Kenlee... to the ounce!

She has been an absolute joy! A pretty good nurser, a great sleeper, and her big brother and big sister have been phenomenal with her. I haven't posted in a while~ went through Full Throttle nesting, then I spent a couple of weeks staring at her and staying off of the ocmputer mostly, then we went to San Antonio for Kenlee's National Cheer Competition (more on that later), then my laptop with all of our birth pictures was stolen, then recovered, but we did not get back the cord to upload pics from the camera. Then I was busy celebrating our other little Valentine's 9th birthday and all of Kelton's Kindergarten Valentines activities and some Tae Kwon Do thrown in there~ a beautiful but glorious whirlwind.

Blakely's Birth Day

The nursery

Is December Over?

Hmmm... wonder when that happened? Days have been a giggly whirlwind lately.
Since November, we paticipated in the Christmas According to Luke musical at church where Kenlee played the role of Hannah, Justin was reprising his role as the "Man from Damascus", and since the Angel of the Lord was a little too pregnant for that role this year, I was townsperson ;-)
We also went to Fort Worth for another cheer competition where Kenlee and her squad earned 1st place again. Those girls work so hard, and they have developed really close bonds. I love that we have a local gym based on Christian principles where the coaches incorporate Christian virtues and lessons into the tumbling practices.
The next weekend Kenlee was a Tunnel Kid and an Elf in Once Upon A Christmas Eve, a dance musical that has become an annual tradition. My other favorite part of the weekend was having dinner and watching White Christmas at The Paramount with my grandmother Liz, aunt Cathy, friend Nancy, and my brother's girlfriend Ann-Maree.
The 3rd weekend of December we were honored with a baby shower at work Friday afternoon and a baby shower hosted by my friends Friday evening. The shower was so much fun; when we had baby showers with Kenlee & Kelton, we didn't know the gender, so it was fun to go all out girly this time to the theme Deck The Halls With Ribbons & Bows.

YAY for SNOW! We had so much fun celebrating a white Christmas!! Justin did some catapulting of kids into snow banks, and we tried really hard to pack the dry snow into snowballs. The last time we had real snow here was in 2001, I think.

CHRISTmas Time! Kelton performed in the Kindergarten Christmas Program and took his grand bows at the end. So funny- the kids were supposed to be "asleep, snuggled in their beds", and of course Kelton was peeking through one eye thinking he was being oh-so-inconspicuous. He wants everything on TV commercials, which is concerning, but we had a great Christmas traveling around to visit family and spending some snow days at home.

Lucky Me

Well, keeping with the tradition of the monthly blog post, here are the updates from 10/28:

For Halloween, Kenlee was a "Japanese Girl", and Kelton was Snake Eyes from GI Joe.
Justin & I wore camo since that's all we had that fit me.

November 7th we went to Austin for a cheer competition. Kenlee & her team worked so hard, and they earned Division Champs and Level 2 High Point. We had fun traveling as a family and spending time with our travel buddies (Miller family). It was 11 PM when I realized we had driven to Austin, and I had forgotten Kenlee's cheer uniform! My pregnancy brain! Luckily Scott & Nikki went to my house, got the uniform, delivered it to Abilene around 1 AM, and Tracy brought it to Austin with her the next morning. "I get by with a little help from my friends!"

So it seems appropriate to toast my friends now.

They make me appreciate every aspect of life more. They each serve a different role in my life, and it is so evident why God has put us together to navigate. It's within that circle that God shows His magnificence to each of us and uses earthly arms and mouths to reach and speak to us. I'm grateful to have a place where tears can be raw and laughter can give me an ab workout.
Stacey, Lisa, Erin, Tif, Kandi, Nikki, Holly & Dayna after Christmas Carousel


It was these lovely ladies (Dayna, Nikki, Kandi & Holly) who whisked me away for a Pre-Three-Oh weekend to celebrate turning 30. We missed Erin, but we had a great time on the road trip to Fredericksburg where we had great food, a fireside chat, and then shopped 'til we dropped onto the massage tables!
Seems like the whole last year has been Thanksgiving. Here's a fun picture of The Cousins... can you imagine Easter when we have two more babies to add to the picture??? Kenlee's lap isn't big enough for all of them! I LOVED the barrel races, trampoline games, and playing Ninja Turtles with my cousins. It's so much fun to see our kids play together, too.

Audrey (21 months), Kenlee (8), Kirsten (8 months), Corbin (14 months), Layton (20 months), and Kelton (6). Coming this February: Brenna and "Cricket"!
Here's a picture of me at 30 weeks and my cousin Amber at 29 weeks. We had a sonogram 11/21 in which they estimated Cricket to be about 16-17 inches long and 3 pounds! She was too smooshed for us to see her sweet face, so we will try again 12/1. Her feet were pushing against the uterine wall toward my ribs. She was sucking on her fingers. We have been busy working on home renovation, picking out nursery furniture & colors, and choosing a name. The next 10 weeks will likely fly by!

Corbin Sweetness!

When my nephew Corbin turned 1, the kids and I took him a cake to celebrate. I think he wants his Aunt Tif to come back with cake anytime!

Beamers Blue Squad

Cheer Power Competition

Level 2 Champions!

"Enjoy Life. There's plenty of time to be dead."

I'm really bad at the blog updates. I'm furiously trying to get scrapbooks caught up, so that's where all of my free time goes. Here are some pictures of what we have been doing this Fall.

Kelton's Gravity-Defying Birthday Party at The Jump Around

Soccer Time!

Somehow I was lucky enough for both kids to be in the 6-8 League this year.

They're having a great time with soccer, but it was 47 degrees at our first game!

Pictures of Kindergarten

Kelton is in the ABC Club, the 5-Mile Club (he proudly announces that he

is the 2nd fastest kid in Kindergarten), and the 100 Club.

He also had Perfect Attendance, and he brought home the ribbon and said, "Mom, I got this ribbon for going to school 6 years!" I think he meant 6 weeks! They don't do Honor Roll in Kindergarten, but he did very well on content mastery and TPRI exams.

Baby Cricket Update

Currently 25 1/2 weeks along (age of viability- YAY!)

Our 4-D sonogram is scheduled for 11/21

We also have pictures of my nephew Corbin's 1st Birthday and of Kenlee's Cheer Squad, but I am having posting difficulties, so I decided to post separately rather than starting over a 4th time! Kenlee is enjoying Musical Theater and cheerleading. Her squad got 1st place at their 1st competition this year (10/17 at the Fort Worth Convention Center). Next competition is 11/8 in Austin. She made A Honor Roll & Perfect Attendance, and she is excited about representing Anson for the UIL competition in the Spelling, Ready Writing, and Music Memory events.

The Boy Down the Street

Meet Cooper...

(Also pictured is friend Kylie)

He is the boy Justin fears. His house is positioned around the corner in such a way that his back yard is traversed to our yard by foot, a bike, a golf cart, or a 4-wheeler. Cooper is allowed to drive all of those. Cooper was born 1 week before Kenlee, so they've "grown up" together. When they were 4 years old, they had to be separated at VBS because they would not stop kissing. When they were 6, Cooper announces to me that he and Kenlee are playing "Married" in the playroom. My intention was to approach this the best way I could--- ensure that they grew up so close that Kenlee would never find him attractive because he would be seen as more of a brother and protector. Besides, my little Boy-Crazy Girl has always had a thing for older men... her "boyfriends" have all been in high school since she was 3 and decided she was smitten by them.
So the other day I answer a knock on the door, and Cooper asks, "Can Kenlee come ride around the block with me on the golf cart?" I think I just stared at him. 8 years old is not when I thought a boy would come to our house to pick Kenlee up and take her riding around! Later that week, I was making petit fours in the kitchen, and I hear the computer Jukebox playing Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman very loudly. I peek into the living room, and Cooper is teaching Kenlee to Two Step!! I almost started bawling! Partially because of the lyrics from that song of choice:
"She spins and she sways to whatever song plays, Without a care in the world.
And I'm sitting here wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It's been a long day and there's still work to do,
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited
and I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"
So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone.
She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, "Dad the prom is just one week away And I need to practice my dancin'
"Oh please, daddy , please!"
Chorus: So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone
Well she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
She says, "Dad the wedding's still six months away
but I need to practice my dancin'
"Oh please, daddy , please!"
So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone"
I wanted to call Justin and tell him to get home and dance with Kenlee because Cooper already was! So I practiced the art of distraction: "Kenlee! Coop! Want a popsicle?" So they stopped for a popsicle and then resumed the lesson on slow-dancing.
Last night at the football game a neighbor told me, "I think there's something serious going on in my neck of the neighborhood." I was trying to figure out if she was talking about the rash of babies being born on the street, and then she said, "I saw Kenlee riding her bike past my house again Wednesday, and I visited with her and asked what she had been up to. She said she was headed over to Cooper's to see if he wanted to ride bikes. I think it's getting pretty serious. They ride bikes several times a week, and Wednesday evening they came over together to visit me and Gracie (the dog)". At least the neighbors are keeping an eye out!
Well, the whole situation is good for a giggle. But in the back of my mind I am very aware of how quickly we are approaching that age where we have to tell her she's not old enough to date. For now we are sending chaperones on the play dates. Cooper has a little sister Claire who was born 2 weeks before Kelton, so a pesty little brother and little sister following them around will limit the kissing... then again, having Clarie and Kelton together could eventually become a problem as well!