Our Last Day.....(at least for a little while)

....to play golf with Daddy at the putting green

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....to play at the park with our friends

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....to eat chocolate pudding in our brown chair

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....to open and close the refrigerator 1134 times

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....in our own bath tub

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....for sticky fingers on Mommy's white couch

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Bye bye

The Day After Tomorrow

is almost here......and I've been sitting at my computer for the last hour and a half......doing nothing. I still have boxes to pack and I still have laundry to fold....and I'm just sitting here.

Grayson is taking a nap. He didn't take one yesterday.....so, I'm just sitting here, enjoying the silence. I should be packing.

Instead, I'm looking at pictures and past blogs and....


I'm wondering what will happen next. To us. Will Grayson still sleep till 10 a.m. every morning once we move? Will he still want to cuddle with me each morning while drinking his milk and watching Gabba?? What if he stops taking naps???

We move in two days and I'm scared of not knowing. Not knowing is driving me crazy.

I need organization

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I really need to pack, before he wakes.

Apt. 917

This Friday will be the last night we spend as a family.....here in Apt. 917....we’re (finally) moving baby, woo-hoo!

No, we haven't quite found the home of our dreams (well....we have, but it's not technically ours.......yet), but our lease here is over, so we are moving in with the 'rents!!! Kevin's parents have graciously allowed us to move in with them (90 lb lab and an almost 2 year old to boot......what were they thinking???) for the next few weeks....er months. :)


As excited as I am to kiss this big, white box good-bye, I’m a bit sad about it, too.

We moved here a year ago, February, and have had so many wonderful memories .

We've celebrated anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, happy days, sad days, any days in Apt. 917. We've loved, cried and laughed with family and friends through divorce, moves across the country, heart attacks, heart breaks, major life changes, and minor life changes in Apt. 917. We've embraced new loved ones, said our final good-byes to others and rejoiced in the blessings each brought to our lives in Apt. 917.

But above all of the living, the laughing, the loving, there’s one thing that matters most.....

we became a family in Apt. 917.

On Aug 10, 2007, a tiny ball of squirming wonderfulness entered our lives and 6 months later we left our honeycomb-hideout and walked through the door of Apt. 917 as proud and petrified parents. It was the biggest apartment in the world (or at least that we had ever lived in).

After Ferberizing, Karping, and just letting him "cry it out"....we finally had our first "real" night's sleep in Apt. 917.

Nursing gave way to bottles, which gave way to baby food, sitting-rolling-crawling gave way to walking, which gave way to running and climbing, inconsolable gave way to temper tantrums and silence gave way to the most beautiful sounds ever heard......Grayson’s first laugh, his first word, his first raspberry on Mommy’s belly. It all happened in Apt 917.

Here’s to last days. And here’s to first ones.

Flashback Friday

April 17th, 2008.......weird, huh?

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Happy 1st Birthday, Brady!!!

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Whatcha got????

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Jesus, Bring the Rain

Between packing and trying to find a house (yes, we are still looking), I have very little time to sit down and blog.

So just to catch you all up on what we've been up to, I thought I would take a few minutes and post some pictures of our fabulous weekend.

My father in law, who is also an amazing photographer, packed up his camera, wife and tripod and met us at the Dallas Arboretum on Saturday. Kev's sister and her family met us there to get some shots of my nephew, Caleb, for his first bday. We decided since we were all there together we would also get a family shot. I don't have his pictures yet, but I did take a few with mine. Not too shabby!!

There he goes!

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This is one of my favorites!

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Our little spider monkey!

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Grayson was SO funny! He would run and run and run and then STOP really quick, fall down on his tummy and pose like this

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I'm not even kidding......where does he come up with this stuff? And how does he know to be funny??

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It went on for about 15 minutes. So silly!

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I have about 15 other shots that turned out SO cute!! I'll save 'em for a rainy day or a Wordless Wednesday, perhaps......

The weather was beautiful!! Afterwards, we went to Matt's Famous El Rancho...yumm-o!
And then home to take naps. The weather was supposed to get nasty later that evening, so we decided to pack up early and head East to Nana & Pawpaw's house.

Grayson colored eggs with his cousins,

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tested some cake batter, found the M&M stash,
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We woke to a very soggy Easter, ate some breakfast and went to church. When we got home, we were treated to a very special Easter lunch with all the fixins. Think Thanksgiving Meal......that's what we got!

It was delish!!! Thank you Nana!

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During lunch, the Easter Bunny came and left us a big basket of goodies!

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With our rain boots on, we were ready to hunt some eggs!! (Somebody was sad that he didn't get to wear boots)
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He forgot how upset he was when he spotted the first egg.....
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing"Oh looky, it's got candy in it"
Time for a break, already??
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No eggs in here!
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Somebody found the prize egg.....all by himself.....no help from Mommy......I swear!

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Beginner's luck......or something.
(please excuse my oversized feet in my nephew's Croc's.....I didn't want to mess up my ghetto flops)

Posing for a group shot with all their eggs

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That was fun, Mom.....now can I eat all my candy?

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Ahhhhhh.....relaxing on a Easter Sunday afternoon, watching the Masters......what could be better??

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I'll tell you what. Knowing that Jesus died on the cross for me. For me!! In the hype of all the bunnies and eggs and baskets, sometimes we forget why we celebrate Easter. We celebrate His life that He gave on the cross for us. He paid an amazing price so that all of our sins would be forgiven....forever.
Amazing!

Alot of us were bummed because of the rain on Easter Sunday, but you know what?

The rain was a beautiful reminder that God is STILL in control. He always has been and always will be.

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I'm sure alot of you have read Angela's blog, Bring the Rain.....If not, you can click on the "Bring the Rain" button on the right (where the little girl is splashing her boots in the rain). It is based on the loss of her newborn baby, Audrey Caroline. The baby was very sick, long before she was ever born. It is a hard blog to swollow, and even harder for some to understand. The song, Bring the Rain, simply says "How can you continue to praise God when you have gone through so much?"

I think a lot of non-christians ask that question. How can we keep having faith in God when cancer hits, when tragedy hits, and when our lives can often be filled with pain? And if you are not a christian, you probably don't understand. My question is much different. How can you NOT praise God? I have no idea how I would get through the day without God in my life, much less tragedy. But everyone looks at things differently.

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Many times we forget about God when life is good. When we are happy, when things are going our way, we often don't feel as much of a need to continue to Pray to God. However, when tragedy hits....what is the first thing that everyone does? Or most everyone. We pray. And so the song just says if "rain" (the analogy for pain in the song) is what it will take for us to praise God....then Jesus, bring the rain.

It is hard to ask for Jesus to bring the rain in my life. But as I saw it coming down on Easter Sunday, I was reminded that He is in control and all I should do is praise Him for everything in my life. Because if "rain" is what it takes for God to get my attention, then that is what it takes. I wish that I could say I praise Him the same every day. But I can't. I know I praise Him more when I am hurting, when my family is hurting, or when someone I love is hurting. But I am trying to praise Him when things are good, not just when the storms of life come my way.

The song is on my blog, listen to it if you haven't heard it. It's special.

The next time that the rain starts pouring down in your life, use that opportunity to look to God. Maybe He is trying to get your attention. Maybe He is trying to open your eyes. Or maybe He is trying to get you to stop thinking about yourself, and praise Him.

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Jesus, thank You for the rain.