Corn Maze Fun

At the Corn Maze they have one of those little things that you put your face in and take pictures. Well, we got all the kids in this one. Cooper, Taylor, Kenndall, Clayton, and Ryan. It was funny.
The kids liked to stick their heads all the way through.
Kenndall and Taylor
Cooper and Kenndall
Kenndall
The kids
Kenndall playing in the leaves outside our house.
Clayton playing in the leaves

November is flying by. We went to Memphis Saturday to celebrate Caleb's 9th birthday and Tracy's birthday. The kids had so much fun. Cooper wanted to stay with Aunt Tracy, he and Kent had a great time playing together. Kenndall wanted to go home with Aunt Wendy. Anyway, it was a good little mini-vacation for me. Coby and Garret are so helpful with the kids, sometimes I wish I could take them home with me!
Sunday we went to the Corn Maze with Dad, Janet, Ally, Dustin and thier kids. It was fun. We did 1/2 of the corn maze. We were all sweating and most of us were carrying or pushing a kid. Yes, sweating in November. It has been unseasonably warm here. Anyway. Dad bought us a couple of buckets of KFC. So we had yummy food, and fun walking around. I had never been out to the corn maze, so I was pretty impressed. It is a neat place.
This week we don't have a whole lot planned, but next week is busy, busy and then the next week is Thanksgiving. Wow!
Yesterday at church we talking about service in class and small group. The lesson was about Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. Jesus created an example for us in this story. He saw an opportunity and took it. God creates opportunities like this for us, will we be ready and waiting for His leading, or will we be embarassed or scared of rejection. Everyone can serve. There are few people that cannot serve someone else in some way. God gives each of us a gift that we are called to share with others. We can all write a card to someone, call someone on the phone, send an email. Don't just encourage that person, find a way to serve that person. Offer to come help them with their children, offer to cook them a meal, offer to help them clean, offer to take them to dinner, etc., be creative. Each of us knows what our friends have to do on a daily basis, how wonderful would it be to be able to serve our friends like Jesus served His own friends.

2 years.....

No it is not anyone's birthday. But, I just wanted to look at this photo and remember someone's birthday. My mom's birthday was in June, on June 5th. We always had a nice summery party for her, usually a cookout, some type of outdoor activity, and a homemade cake. We would wrap her presents in the Sunday comics, and she would always be so appreciate of the smallest gifts. Even if it was junk, she would never throw it away, but always keep it and look at it and remember happy birthday memories.
2 years ago, yesterday, my mom died from cancer. It was one of the worst days of my life. November 5th forever shall be jaded in my memory. When I think of it, I think of grey. A grey room, grey cloudy light filtering in a grey shade through a grey window, the smell of grey medicine, and grey skin. I am sorry if that is too much for some of you, I know usually I am more cheery. But, I am giving myself a day to grieve, a day to hurt, a day to remember the pain. That was yesterday. November 5th will NOT be the day that I remember the good things, because there was little good that day. I remember good things about my mom everyday of the year, but not November 5th.
I encourage any of you who have lost loved ones, especially parents, brothers, sisters, and children, give yourself a day of grief. Yes, death for a Christian is only a temporary goodbye, but there is no harm in tears, in pain, in remembering the hurt for a day. There is something cathartic about hurting over the loss of someone you love. One day a year, let it out, give your hurt to God. Let the healer take your hurt and pain as your head hits the pillow. Wake up refreshed, relieved, and strong in the knowledge of a new day, a day of happy memories, a day of thankfulness for those He has given you.

Clayton's 1st Birthday!!

Opening the singing purse from Aunt Kim.
We got her a chair like the other two kids have.
Clayton checking out her Pooh bear.
Clayton and her favorite present, a pushing/riding princess car from Papa and Janet.
Opening her talking book from Aunt Wendy.
The icing was all over her

She did NOT like her cake, or the feel of the icing on her fingers.
Clayton and her butterfly cake.
Clayton wondering why everyone is singing to her!

Clayton is 1 year old today! Wow! My precious little box of sunshine. I love this baby! One year ago I was sitting in church 9 and a half months pregnant wondering when my little girl would make her arrival. About 2 o'clock I started having pretty regular contractions and about 4 I realized this was the real deal. So we took Kenndall and Cooper to Wendy's house and after 9 hours of labor, at 11:14 pm, Clayton Kass made her appearance. This baby has smiled more in her first year of life than some people do in their whole lifetime. I can always count on her to cheer me up, no matter what. She has been the easiest baby and I thank God for her every day!
So, what is Clayton doing at one year. She can say Mama, Dada, "Guck" for duck, book, "uce" for juice, "na-na" which is no (maybe), Bubba for Cooper, and various other words. She tends to say the word once and then not say it anymore. However she loves to say duck and every animal is a duck. She of course is walking everywhere, and not just walking, more like speed walking. She doesn't go anywhere slowly, she walks as fast as she can. She is always interested in whatever Cooper and Kenndall are doing and tries to be a part of it.
I took her to the dr. this morning and the weighed in at 17 and 1/2 lbs, 5% for weight. Her height was 29", which is 55%. So she is about average height and she will be a skinny minny like her sister. The dr. said she looks good. And I am about to start weening her off the bottle, yuck. I am not looking forward to it because she doesn't like milk, so what to do, what to do. The dr. gave me a couple of suggestions. I am just excited that I don't have to buy formula any more! Praise the Lord!
Clayton had a great birthday party, our house was full. She had a purple butterfly cake. Her favorite present was from Papa which was a riding/pushing Princess car. She has played with it a lot. I cannot wait to see what the next year holds for my sweet baby girl.

Halloween

Halloween Pictures! Cooper was Luke Skywalker, Kenndall was a duck, Clayton was a butterfly. They all looked precious! We started Halloween festivites at Superkids, the kids dressed up and they had a little carnival for them. Cooper and Kenndall got tons of candy! Then that evening we went with Brian's work to the Villa ( an assisted living facility in Wolfforth) to give candy to the residents, it was a reverse trick or treat. The kids were so sweet going in to the residents rooms and saying, "Happy Halloween". Then Friday night we carved pumpkins. Saturday we went to Trunk or Treat at South Plains. It was so fun to see all of their little friends dressed up. Cooper really got the hang of trick or treating this year. At the end, he was pretty much telling the people what he liked and didn't like (it was kind of embarassing). At one point a nice gentleman was trying to put some carmel popcorn in his bag and Cooper took it out and gave it back to him and said, "I don't like popcorn". Yikes. So a lesson in gratefulness is in order. The kids had a great time. This mama is glad we have a year until next Halloween. This weekend wore me out!

Pictures of the Girls

I love these pictures!!! Allison took them at various locations around Lamesa and she did an excellent job!!

Busyness and Blessings

It is hard to see, but this is how Clayton's hair is when I don't put it in a ponytail. Wild.
Clayton used Cooper's chair to climb on the couch. :(
Clayton likes spaghetti!
Messy!
The cousins!
Clayton has pigtails!!
Mya had a water bottle that Clayton wanted.
The tug of war.
Mya and Clayton playing.
I told Cooper to eat two crackers before he went outside to play. He was too tired.
I pulled Cooper's trundle out and Clayton used it to climb on the bed.
The girls in their Halloween shirts.
It looks like this child ate a marker. She did.
Kenndall loves to blow raspberries on Clayton's tummy and Clayton loves it. It is so funny.
Silly sisters!

Wow, it seems as if life is just moving faster and faster! We seem to be caught up in a tornado of school, work, church, dinners, birthdays, relatives, babies (none of them mine), and just life. It has been crazy, but full of blessings. So, I will start with the latest, Brian's sister Becky was in town for a weekend. It was so great to see her and Mya. The kids had fun playing and it was good to see her. 2 or 3 times a year is just not enough. The weekend was a whirlwind of activities but it was fun. What made the weekend even more special was that Brian's other sister Tracy came in from Memphis with her kids. It was great, it was the first time all of the cousins had been together, so of course we took a few pictures. I am so glad that my kids have such great cousins!
My schoolwork is going ok. Ugh. It has not been great actually, I struggle with motivation. It seems when I have a chance to sit down and do some work, I just want to sit and zone out for awhile. So, that is often what happens. For the next 8 weeks I will be doing a "real" class and an online class. I am not looking forward to the next 8 weeks, but it is a means to an end, so it will pass. I have also started tutoring at Cavazos again. It is not great, but it is a job and hopefully I can help out a few kiddos that need it. I am feeling kind of blah as I write this, can you tell!
Blessings. Ahhhh, such a refreshing change of pace. I have been so blessed lately. God is working in my life and in Brian's life. The marriage retreat has helped us be able to build on our relationship with each other and with God, it has been such an amazing occurrence. I am continually amazed at how God is so close to us and our needs and when we let Him work, He can do things we never imagined possible.
I had the opportunity to give a lesson for ladies bible class at church. I was so blessed by that lesson. God chose that lesson for me, it was what I needed to experience. It was about God being our deliverer and how we must depend on him. The past 4 years have been challenging in many ways, and God has delivered me. Real life happened to me, I experienced real pain, but from that real pain a real faith was born and through that real faith I was blessed with a real deliverance. I thank God for His grace and mercy everyday and I pray that He allows me to give it as freely as He gave it to me.
Well, I am off my soapbox. And my bones are tired. It is not even 10 and I am ready for bed. Night Night!

11 months, Marriage Retreat, and the Fair

Clayton in the stroller at the fair.

Sweet baby Ryan

We were trying to have a peaceful lunch on some benches when suddenly there was a very very LOUD playing of music. Needless to say, we couldn't hear each other talk and Taylor did NOT like it. :)

Okay, this picture is kind of far away. But Allison has Cooper on her shoulders and she is pushing the double stroller with Taylor and Ryan in it. What a woman!

Me showing the baby chicks to the kiddos at the petting zoo.

Clayton's new trick is to climb on the fireplace, needless to say, I am not too happy about it, but I still will take pictures.

Yeah, I'm cool now.

Those little spikes are pigtails, not horns, BTW.

I like to stick out my bottom lip.

A closer look at the lip face.

Okay, so I don't know what order my pictures will be, but here is a short summary of what has been going on around here lately.

First, Clayton is 11 months old! NO WAY! And oh, what a handful. Now that she walks everywhere, she pretty much follows either me or the other two kiddos around. She is still just as good natured as ever. Always a smile, easy to make laugh and always interested in everything going on around her. What a precious girl! Clayton loves her daddy, and he makes sure that she gets plenty of attention when he is around. Although it would be impossible to ignore her because she is into everything. Her favorite things to do, roll the toilet paper off the roll, dig in the trash, and eating things she is not supposed to eat. Just today, while we were at the playground, she tried to eat a rock. She has her two bottom teeth and one top tooth, the other one is trying to come through, but right now her snaggle-toothed smile is just precious. I cannot believe that she will be 1 year old in less than a month!

Second, Marriage Retreat. Brian and I went to a marriage retreat that is organized by our church. It was incredible. We hadn't been away together since Cooper was born, so wow, it was nice. Not only was our marriage strengthened and refocused on Christ, both of us experienced a wonderful spiritual renewal. I strongly encourage anyone that is married to go. It doesn't matter how long or how short you have been married. It is wonderful, think about it. Who couldn't use a weekend away from "real" life to build your relationship with each other and with God.

Third, the Fair. Yes, the fair. Two adults, two double strollers, 5 children, ages: 3,2,2,10 months, and 2 months. Crazy! Allison and I met up at the fair and had a great time. The kids liked the petting zoo, the sharks, and the balloons. I know I was worn out by the time we got ready to leave. But we had a great time!

Okay, that is all for now. Fall is a busy time of year for us, birthdays, holidays, school, work, etc. Slowly I am learning to take one day at a time, to rejoice in all circumstances, and to keep my eyes and mind on my blessings. God is so good!

Late Labor Day

Dad, Janet, Cooper, Clayton, Kenndall, Colby, and Abriella

Kenndall and Abriella loved Papa!

A cousin picture before church.

Fun in the bathtub!

Clayton and Colby were almost the same size!

The Splash Pad- Clayton loved the water!

Kenndall and Abriella playing in the water fountian

Clayton loved aunt Brittany showing her around the splash pad

Cooper had the best time and made lots of friends. :) My favorite line of the afternoon, "Kids, wait for me, wait for me, kids!"

Kenndall cheesing.

Okay, so much has been going on that I haven't been able to put any pictures up of our trip to Belton over Labor Day weekend. We had a great time with Stephen, Jennifer, Abriella and Colby. Oh yeah, and Dad, Janet, Nat, Matt and Brittany. There was a houseful! It was really nice, we hadn't all been together since last Thanksgiving so it was great just to get to see everyone. It was also my first time to see baby Colby. He is such a chunk, and has a great smile! The kids had fun playing at the park and at the splash pad.