It's me again...

just to let you all know we are still alive...kind of. ;) No, Gertrude has not made her apperance yet and everything is fine with her. It's her Mom, Brother, and Mom's computer that have been sick. I know you don't really want to know the details, just that Jacob and I are on the mend. Wish we could get all 50,000 parts of this computer working agian...so frustrating!! I don't have access to ANY of my pictures or files as they're all on an external hard drive that my computer will NOT recognize at the moment. It feels like I don't have a right arm when I don't have access to my pictures or files! HOPEFULLY the problem will be resolved soon. I don't really have much to post about right now anyway...we went to my parents for the County Fair and Rodeo a few weekends ago which was fun. Jacob and David got to experience their first rodeo together. ;) The 4th was completely uneventful for us...David mowed the lawn while Jacob and I laid around as we were feeling quite rotten at that time. How's that for a celebration!! ;) Maybe next year we can make up for it. Since then it's been working on potty training with Mr. J and hoping the Braxton Hicks contractions don't get any stronger from Gertie. How's that for TMI?? ;) Here's hoping all of you in "Blogger Land" are doing fine. Even though I haven't posted on my blog in a while doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed looking at all of yours!

Trip to Minnesota

OK - so I'm fianlly getting pictures posted from our trip to MN. We had a wonderful time...you think we could get that MN weather down here??

(click on the images to see them larger)



Our first stop after we left the airport was the Mall of America. A few characters we encountered...Sharky, "Buddah Belly", and a WWII pilot. ;)


There was an amusement park in the middle of the mall with amazing rides. Shane and Shaelyn rode one of the roller-coasters.


Jacob and Shane enjoyed a ride on the "Biiiiig Kucks". Mr. Jacob though he was some kind of cool.


Lego Land was a huge hit also. Jacob was memorized with all the Legos.


More Lego Land


We made a special stop at Cabella's so Uncle Darwin could show Jacob the fish...he was quite impressed.


This hat was David's Grandfather's when he was in the Army-Air Force during WWII. Jacob had such a great time in it.


L to R
Aunt Darla, David, Jacob, Shane, Aunt Nita
Uncle Derald, Uncle Darwin, Uncle Dwayne (3 of the 4 boys)


We got to go out to lunch with G'pa and G'ma on Monday.
Aunt Karen, Shaelyn, G'pa, David, Jacob
G'ma, Uncle Dwayne
G'pa, Jacob, David



Shane, Shaelyn, and David enjoyed a few games of Ladder Golf. It was a gift to Darwin for Father's Day, but you can see who was playing. ;) Later Darwin, Shane, and David went to check for new calves while Shaelyn and Jacob kept an eye on the cows up front. Sahelyn quickly became Jacob's new best friend.



Saying our good-byes to Darwin & Karen and family. The picture on the BR is one of G'pas Army photos.


Hugs for G'pa and G'ma.


"The history of our grandparents is remembered not with rose petals but in the laughter and tears of their children and their children's children. It is into us that the lives of grandparents have gone. It is in us that their history becomes a future."

Justin & Jacob

Jacob's friend Justin came over to play yesterday evening...the boys always have such a great time together. And of course Beth and I have a great time yacking about "girl stuff". ;) I'll be getting pictures up from our trip to MN sometime, but in the mean time, thought I'd share this picture of the two boys.

We Are Alive!

I know, I know, I know...I haven't updated my blog lately...but we ARE still here and doing just fine. Thanks to those who have sent me e-mails wanting to know if everything is OK - it is, even though I haven't replied to your e-mails yet either. ;) We got in about midnight last night from a trip to MN so MAYBE tomorrow I'll have pictures from our trip up, but then again maybe not. I have that icky apt. with the doc. tomorrow for diabetes testing - drink this nasty orange juice stuff then have labs drawn and see the doc. for all of 5 seconds then write a million dollar check for him to tell me I'm just fine and baby girl is still growing. And is she ever growing!! She's a rather active little thing too! I never cease to be amazed at the movement I'm feeling - and how heavy she feels now, sometimes I feel like she's about to fall out and I've got 3 more moths to go!

Say what???

Background: I tend to say "what a mess" a lot to Jacob. There are always little messes throughout the house no matter how hard I try to keep things straightened up. David and I also talk about "Little Sister" a lot to try to help prepare him for Gertrude.

Conversation last night as Jacob lay on top of our bed with a blanket that originally had been neatly laid on top of him but in all of his wiggling wasn't laying just perfect.

Jacob (exasperated): "what a mess"
Kristen to David (sarcastic): "hummm...wonder who he's heard say that?"
Jacob (serious): "Little Sister"

I thought I was going to split a gut...I mean, she's not even here yet and he's already blaming her! Is this a sign of things to come?

ummm....you think??

I received this little clip in an e-mail the other day...the title is "You Can't Fix Stupid".
Maybe you've alraedy seen it, but I hadn't and it gave me a good chuckle...enjoy!

Weekend GTG

This past weekend we went to a get-together out in the boonies of E TX...Bugscuttle to be exact. Yes, that is the real name of the community. We had a great time...there was plenty of BBQ and fixins', and games of horseshoes, washers, dominoes, baseball, and volleyball. I spent my time trying to keep Jacob out of the middle of all the games as they all seemed like fun to him. Somehow, though, I don't think a horse shoe hitting him on the head would have been so fun! He just didn't understand. Daddy was playing so why couldn't he?

Photo of the Day

This picture makes my heart feel warm and fuzzy.

Simple Pleasures

Need I say more?

Name Help Needed!! (Comments wanted!)

Ok, here's the situation...my parents went off on a weeks’ vacation...(all of us who were kids of the 80's have that tune in our heads now don't we)! ;)

The real situation...we can't come up with a name for Gertrude that we both like that fits our criteria. (I know, you all thought I was being serious when I said her name would be Gertrude Agnes and I hate to break the news, but we're not REALLY going to use that name.) ;) We had a name all picked out long before she was ever thought of that our hearts (ok, ok, ok, MY heart) was set on but now I'm not feeling real good about it. It's a beautiful sounding name, but I just don't like the spelling. I've thought about different ways to spell it but can't come up with a solution that way either. Maybe I need to move on to a different name. This is where we need your help. Think about our last name: it's long, strong, and no one can spell it or say it correctly the first time. *Note to the rest of our family with the same name, I do NOT mean that in any negative way, it's just the facts. ;) These are the criteria the name must meet:

1. short'ish

2. easy to spell

3. if it's on the "Top 10" list we are NOT interested
(I'm still not liking the fact that Jacob is the #1 name for a boy for the 9th year in a row...I mean, didn't everyone else in the world get the message that that name should have been reserved for us!) ;)

4. if it's to "far out" we're not interested

5. cannot start with a "S"

6. must be a feminine name, not one that could go for either gender

7. she will get called by whatever her name is, no nick-names

Surely SOMEONE out there can give some suggestions! Feel free to leave as many suggestions as you’d like. If you don't know us from the man in the moon feel free to leave a suggestion, if you're some of our best friends leave a suggestion. If you're family...I guess you can suggest something. ;) That was just a JOKE!! We're wide open at the moment. We want to live with her name for a while before she's born to make sure we really like it.

Grand prize if we pick your suggestion: the satisfaction of knowing you helped out your fellow mankind when they were in dire straits.

Garden Helper

Jacob is quite the helper in our garden, i.e. "Papa's Garden". My Dad is the one that's actually done all the work getting it going, but we get to reap the fruits of his labor! When you look at the pictures you'll see the "bumper crop" of strawberries we got...all 4 of them. ;) But the onions have done VERY well!! We're still waiting on the rest of the vegetables. When you come to our house you may get served onion sandwiches, onion soup, onion bread, mushrooms and onions...you get the idea. Jacob loved digging in the dirt with Papa while everything was being planted. Now he's enjoying digging in the dirt while Momma pulls the onions and checks all the other vegetables. A boy LOVES dirt!!

Party at the Lake

We had our family birthday party for Jacob this past Saturday at the lake where my parents live. I didn't have a "friend b-day party" and a "family b-day party" on purpose; it's just how it happened to have worked out this year. The theme for this party was John Deere as Jacob LOVES tractors and, as everyone knows, "nothing runs like a Deere". ;) The party was a success...all the kids had a great time and that was the most important thing. Allie started calling Jacob "Jake" for some reason (her sisters call him "Gay-jub" so I'm not sure how she came up with it, but she is the ONLY person that can get away with this) and decided she was going to tell him what and how to eat. Pretty cute to watch. During the course of the day Jacob decided that Brittany was his best friend and partner so the two of them were together most of the time. If she decided she wanted to go play with the girls he set off to find her and bring her back to whatever he wanted to do. She was his #1 "slide helper". ;) That was sweet too as the two of them haven't seen each other since he was only a few months old. Jacob has some great cousins that I feel really good about him growing up with...I know more good times are ahead.

2nd Birthday Party with friends

We had a small party for Jacob at our house last night with a couple of other families in the area. Jacob had a blast with all his friends...he hardly knew what to do with all the commotion. After eating and playing outside he FINALLY got to get into his "fish cake" (cupcakes with tropical fish on them). Then he got to see what kind of new loot he received...about 25,000 cars, trucks, etc. ;) He thought it was great - nothing he likes more than anything with wheels! We all had a great time.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jacob!

My BABY!?! Where did he go?? He left and this cute little toddler took his place. I can hardly believe it's been 2 years since he was born. The memory of that day is as clear to me now as if it was yesterday. I had no clue then how much love my heart could hold for such a tiny little boy. He's had our hearts wrapped around his little finger...and always will.

(CLICK PHOTO BELOW TO SEE SLIDESHOW)

Jacob's 1st 2 years


(photo courtesy of Firefly Photography)



(photo courtesy of ME) ;)

My Favorite TX nephews

Just thought I should put up a few pictures of my favorite TX nephews. Jacob and I have lots 'o fun playing with them. For some reason when I was taking these pictures Trace was in rare form...he was being quite the comedian while Trevin was more serious than he usually is. When I get some more pictures from Lesha I'll post those also. Until then, enjoy these. ;)