We got back Saturday and were so drained we spent the weekend resting and sleeping. I still have things to unpack etc.... but we had a very safe, fun and relaxing time! God is so good, we couldn't help but to worship Him while visiting his beautiful creation and thanking him for allowing us to share in his beauty! I did notice something sad while there.....so many people worship the creation instead of our creator.

Anyway, we took over 1000 pictures and no, I am not kidding! I have to sort, and finish sizing before I can share most of them with you. In the mean time please be patient with me, I am tired and I have a lot on my plate right now. Also, I wanna mention that Michael took 2 steps the day of our leaving for the trip and he took 3 steps all by himself again on Sunday. He also, broke his 2 top teeth in.....thank the Lord because he had not been feeling well.

He is also starting to sleep well through the night. I tried something different that I never did with the girls and mainly I had to get creative because Jason could not help with him like he did with Alyssa because of his schedule. He was only waking to nurse out of habit instead of hunger so I let him cry, and of course all babies do when you change a routine they aren't used to. What I chose to do was to lift him up without taking him out of his crib, then I kiss him tell him I love him and lay him back down. The first couple nights it took around 20 to 30 times doing it over and over again, he is a strong willed child! So the next night came and I did it again and it got much shorter to the point were we are at now which is I nurse him before bed at around 8pm then he wakes at 11pm for one last nursing and then nurses at 6am. It took a couple of nights to wean to the 6 oclock hour, I would go in while he would be standing in the crib crying, I would pick him up kiss him and lay him back down, he'd get up again, and I would lift him up again and kiss him and lay him down again until 4:30am arrived and I nursed him then the next night when it was 5am then the next night 5:30 am until now at 6am. While doing the kiss and lay down method (I just labeled myself lol) I didn't walk out of the room, I stayed until he laid down and no longer got up and then I left the room.

I am really proud of myself, it was very tiring but I knew my consistency would eventually pay off and it only too a few nights. kissing him and laying him down has worked beautifully, and I figured out a solution to my sleep deprivation! Yay me!

Here is the picture I told you about in the previous post about Michael trying to help with packing. Also, his big sister Alyssa got tired of him getting in the way while they were cleaning so she trapped him in the laundry basket. He didn't make a peep until he saw me while I was sweeping the kitchen floor and looked down the hall way only to find what I thought was funny! I did have a talk with Alyssa about not trapping her brother inside of things and thanked her for picking one with holes for him to breath ;) She found a solution to her problem......Smart little girl lol

Now this is much better than Hurricane Amber and Alyssa lol . I took the opportunity to show them how to pack better and more organized especially since the are so eager. It was a really good teaching moment. Last night we were testing out the rack Jason borrowed and hooked up to the back of the van to store some of the luggage. He came inside and while I was working on some laundry he said "Hey, you wanna get hitched again?" I turned around with a confused smile on my face and he was holding the "hitch" thingy in his hand LOL.......then later he was watching me pack/reorganize a couple of things and he said "Okay, you are not taking that Dan", then a couple seconds later he tried to take something else away and I said "No", and his response was "Oaky, Dan".........hmm LOL (Dan is Jason's father's name) I guess I am resembling his dad so I looked at Jason and said "Thanks! I take that as a compliment" and he laughed ;p


You all Really didn't think I was going to go camping and have no way of drinking coffee did you??! LOL I bought instant coffee! I even bought a little Tea Kettle to boil the water on the camp stove that we are borrowing!
Ah.....the tote of yummy goodness of food lol
Our supplies which we ended up taking out of the tote and putting in an old tent duffel bag since we bought a new tent.
This is better than what the living room was....that's for sure! The Red Baby carrier comes from our next door neighbor so we can go hiking when we get there! How sweet! I was looking for one but they are expensive.......so the Lord blessed us with borrowing one!
Now......See the RED COOLER to the Right?? Well.....I got a picture of Michael taking Movies out of the the movie case and putting them in the Red Cooler. He was helping us pack LOL the cooler was opened from when I put drinks in it......I can't upload the picture just yet because apparently my camera cord can be used in for ipods as well..........Jason STOLE my camera cord! I knew about it this morning once I saw it was gone, however, I looked EVERYWHERE yesterday for my camera cord in confusion because I knew for a fact I had put it in the camera bag. I was looking ALL DAY lol I asked the kids if they had seen it and they had no idea so finally I asked Jason once he woke from his nap if he had seen it and sure enough the boy took my cord ;p

We have our food and supplies for our camping trip. The girls turned the living room upside down trying to help organize and put everything together......woha! We also tested our new tent out back. Yeah, the nieghbors thought it was funny, and Jason's boss came by and teased him saying "Too cheap to take them to the lake hu?" lol .....We can't wait to leave Sunday and we still have a lot of work to do. Jason has told me stories about his dad getting the family ready when he was a kid and everything he would take.......I think I am reminding him of his dad LOL

So Michael is on a track of either distruction or a love of reading lol......what's funny is we were so tired from our day we just sat there and watched him do it. The girls were sweet to put everything back on the sleves.

I was shocked yesterday and blessed! I got a knock at the door yesterday and when I opened it, Cameron's hubby and a mutual friend Greg was standing outside our door. I said "Hey!" and asked Greg how the baby is doing and then Aaron said "My wifes says you need a new table and chairs"........I about fell over with happiness because they brought us a table and chairs! They brought them in and Amber and I carried out the old stuff to the trash. Jason woke up from his nap and was so happy he called him mom right away to tell her the good news!

I made Hot Browns for dinner last night and we thanked God and for the blessing we had just received and to bless our friends who filled our need. We were like kids at Christmas sitting at dinner. We love our friends and are so blessed to have them in our lives. We thank God for you all!

Here are the pix.....please excuse the mess ;p

For sometime now we have been needing a new dining set. The one we bought 3 yrs ago when we moved here is was cheap to begin with but we thought it would be good enough to get us trough seminary........wrong! We have gotten along since Michael came along, we bought him a space saver high chair and we just love it! I wish they had these when my other two were babies, it really does create more space! The chairs have been slowly falling apart, I have to tighten the screws often or they get very rickety. Well, last night at dinner I was sitting in the worst chair and I shifted my self just a little and crashed through to the floor! It really hurt and I couldn't get up for a couple of min. Jason had just left on a call, and the the girls were scared at first, then they found humor because I couldn't seem to get up so I just stayed on the floor. It really hurt, after that I was in pain several areas and I need to see my Chiropractor. Jason cracked me a little and as much as he could but I can feel were I am out. I would not recognize my body being out of alignment if we had not been going to a Chiropractor or a few yrs now so I have gotten to know my body pretty well.

I wish I had pix to show because it was crazy, we had to throw the chair out, it was bent bad and the screws cam flinging out......luckily no one got hit with those! I just know our table is going to crash to the floor someday as well. It's used most of it's life as well. so now we are down one chair. We use the computer chair for the 5th chair we need since our computer is in the kitchen, but now it should be interesting how we are going to be able to have dinner at the table together ;)

So now I am thinking....what do I do? I am checking craigs list but the only money I truly have is vacation money and we have waited almost 8 yrs now to have our first family vacation. I talk to Jason about working more over time while it's available but the poor guy is tired. A week or two ago he worked 19 days straight so we can afford go on vacation. He needs this getaway more than all of us, he works so hard, in fact he hasn't stopped working hard since we moved her. Not many people could handle the load he has had to carry. Up until last semester he was working basically three jobs....teacher ( I helped him with grading and entering grades into the system so he would not feel so overwhelmed), full time student, and security. He is one of the hardest working men I know and never complains about it. He will make comments at times that he doesn't feel like going in to work because he's tired, but he does it anyway and I work hard to make sure his time at home with us is peaceful and relaxing. I know we'll get by one way or another, but it would be nice to not have one of the kids sitting on the floor lol.

Yall really should have seen that chair! I was in too much pain to take a picture .... :)

We went into Granbury a week or so ago. It's a really cute but small town to stroll along with your family and walk in different shops. There is a tall tower clock in the center of the square.......actually, Shannon......it looks EXACTLY like the little square we went to to see the Christmas parade when we visited you!! I don't have any pix judt one of the girls in a specialty shop goofing off and one of Michael at Babes bbq ...I think it was called. Other than that I took a couple of pix out the window while driving of these tree braches living in the lake water.........I was intrigued, never seen leafless trees living in water in the middle of a big ole lake! We had a really good time and it was so nice to walk into all the stores just to look around. The change of scenery was really nice too.

Now........anyone curious as to why I have no more pix? I'll tell you anyway, my hubby-boo wouldn't let me...grant it, I was a bit shy to take pix with people all around too, however-I hardly think I looked like a TOURIST......right LOL?? Jason said I looked like a tourist lol and he is more introverted than I am so I gave into him by not take any more pix. He's the one who couldn't wait to take us because it looked just like the square in Hamilton, TX.......But I did get pix of the girls and Michael.......darn, I spent a while doing my hair too so he could take a few pix of me and the girls :0