More V-day!!

Paper Eater! Valentine t-shirts. The boys don't really get into the whole red and PINK thing, so these were their new shirts. Very Festive!!

Baby Blues

Yeah, we look nothing alike! Gray gets those blue eyes straight from his Dad.

Boxers

Don't you just love the boxers with the pajama shirt? We are stylin around here!!

Interesting

I went to download my pictures on my computer and this picture was on my camera. Interesting! I didn't take this picture. Someone (Ty, Blake, or Sam-I am sure) took this picture of Gray. I have not a clue which one took the camera, turned it on, took the picture, turned it off, and put it back where I keep it. It is a mystery!! Gray obviously wanted a turn!!

We are finally here!!!

I can't believe it. We are finally in Austin. The city we have been wanting to be in for so long. The first week we were here Jeremy was in Dallas taking a winter class at DTS. Thank goodness my sister and brother-n-law were here. I enjoyed the company and the help.

We have met at least four of our neighbors. We are having a Super Bowl party and inviting our entire section of the neighborhood. I found the cutest invitations. Please pray that it goes well. It is sort of a pre-Super Bowl party in our cul-d-sac. Speaking of cul-d-sac, my boys love love love it. They ride their scooters, skateboards, and anything that has wheels really. No worries, Blake has already busted his head and scraped his elbow all up.

It takes forever to unpack with four kids under 7. It goes something like this....open box, pull up Sam's pants, unwrap China, Blake wants a snack, realize I need to wash the dishes before I put them in the cabinet, Gray's awake-nurse Gray, realize I should probably line the drawers and cabinets, go get Tyler from school, the one box is still not all the way unpacked. So frustrating!!

All in all, we feel so blessed to be here. We also feel blessed to have a home in a great neighborhood and people all around to share the love of Christ with. I will update with some pictures soon.

Also, a quick update on my Mom, she had her first round of Chemo last Tuesday. It went awful. She was sick until today really. Please pray that they can balance her meds so that she isn't sick. If you know my Mom, laying around on the couch for an entire week is the complete opposite of the professional organizer, tennis player, neat freak, can run circles around me Mom.

Christmas Morning

Random Christmas Pictures

Sam on Christmas Eve Blake holding Little Lawson. All the boys beg to hold him.
I feel like the boys look like 101 Dalmatians all piled on top of each other. You wouldn't believe all the things we were doing to keep the boys from not crying and looking at the camera. It was ridiculous.

Waiting to see Santa.
Baby it's Cold Outside!!

Christmas with the Cousins!!!

Gray is getting BIG!!

This sweet little guy is growing lightning fast. It makes me sad. He turns 7 months today (Dec. 31st). He stood by himself for about 5 seconds the other day. He is pulling up on everything. Crawling everywhere. He is such a GOOD baby!! He never fusses unless he is hungry or tired. The older boys keep him quite entertained and honest to goodness I think Gray is trying to catch up with them. He is such a blessing!!

Sweet Parker

Things we do at Papa and Mama Don's!!!

It is 8:30 in the morning and Mom and the boys are making chocolate cupcakes. Not just making, but licking and then I am sure eating right out of the oven!!

Top 5 things the boys LOVE doing here:

1. Going for ICEE's and donuts before 8 a.m.
2. Burn paper with Papa in the Chimminea (sp?) (This can not be safe.)
3. Play with their cousins!! (Pure chaos Day Care style)
4. Going to Papa's Park. (This is a huge community park down the street from Mom and Dad's. The boys really do think it is "Papa's" Park.
5. Riding in Wade's "Big Truck" and Derek's Montero which Blake named "Hannah Montero". (Why do kids love other people's vehicles?)

Hey Sucker!!!

Don't judge too soon! "A six month old with a sucker"!!! Yes and he loved every minute of it. This is one of my Mom's favorite things to introduce to "the boys" (meaning all 7 grandchildren).

2 Stellar Realtors worth Checking Out!!

Okay-we've sold and bought a house...with 2 incredibly helpful, professional realtors! We want to recommend them to anyone in the Dallas or Austin area...

If you're in Dallas (especially Rockwall area) you NEED to contact ROD HOLLAND!!

He's a real-pro with an incredible team! In a "soft" housing market, he's on your side and is always looking out for you. You can contact Rod at 972-772-7070 or email.

Now, our most recent EXPERT in Austin is NASON HENGST! Seriously, this guy is such a "go-getter." He was such a trooper going with us and our 4 little kiddos to look at about 30+ houses. Always looking for ways to serve us and helping us find the best deal...these were Nason's chief characteristics...He can be reached at 512-775-7900 or email.

Okay, now enough of that kind of promotion...these guys are just too good to not give them a plug!!!

Lawson is Here!!!

Sweet baby Lawson was born Dec. 12th at 10:57 a.m. weighing in at 6 lbs 14 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. What a great Christmas present!! Don't you love Jax's big brother shirt? I couldn't get a good picture, because Jax was 90 to nothing all day, but I had to post how cute this was in a world of let's say "not so cute" big bro and big sis apparel.

Cousins Cousins Everywhere

Mama Don and Aunt Ashley

Mama Don holding her 7th Grandson!!! I love being an Aunt!! I know some of you are wondering if this gives me the itch!!! ABSOLUTELY not!!! He is amazingly adorable, but I am so done!!!

Update

What a crazy month!!! We got a contract on our house and moved 9 days later. On the day we closed, we drove to Birmingham, dropped the kids off, went to Atlanta for a church planting assessment, back to Birmingham to pick up the kids, off to Dallas for two days. We are staying with a wonderful family from our church. Then to Austin to house hunt for 5 days with 4 kids. (we have an offer in on a house), then to Vidor (Jeremy's hometown) for Thanksgiving, back to Dallas, I flew to Birmingham for a few days and back to Dallas for 1 1/2 weeks until off to Birmingham for the holidays and then permanently in Austin after Christmas. Whew!!! For those of you who don't know my Mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer a few weeks ago. She had surgery on Monday and is now recovering at home. Thank God they are confident they got all the cancer. We are just waiting to hear about chemo. Jeremy's Papaw was also diagnosed with stage 3 cancer during this time. He has started chemo and is doing better already. Thank you so much to everyone who has prayed for us during this time. We will be forever grateful!!!

Just a Swingin

Gray and his cousin Parker decided to share a swing at the park! This picture doesn't really show it, but they really enjoyed it. Me helping Jax swing on the big boy swing. We switched him to the smaller swing and he just loved it.

Hanging Out in Austin

All my guys are just waiting to see the bats come out from under the bridge in downtown Austin. Unfortunately, the peak time is August and it was November. They didn't come. Yes, there were tears!!! Thank goodness we weren't the only ones waiting or we would have felt very silly.

May The Force Be With You

The boys had a blast on Halloween. The Texas weather was actually pretty good. It wasn't cool enough for Sam. His outfit was fleece and he was sweating like crazy. He refused to take any of it off or put his light saber down. Toward the end he kept saying "Mom, Hold my candy, it's heavy." It was. Getting candy by just walking up to someones house is Sam's kind of holiday. He walked up, received his candy, turned around, and would yell at the top of his lungs "THANK YOU". So Cute!!!

Obi Wan, Anakin, and Yoda

Hey Tiger

"The Billy"

Tyler is in the 1st grade this year. His class put on a play called "The Enchanted Pumpkin Patch". We love Tyler's teacher this year (we loved last years also). She is very dramatic and creative. When we had our teacher conference with her she told us she wanted Tyler to be the lead in the play. Tyler has been beside himself about this play. For a few weeks he kept telling us he was "the Billy", which was so funny. He was cast as Billy the real boy. Finally, he would just say Billy. The Principal, other teachers, and parents were all invited to come. They had this sign outside the door, programs they handed out, the play, and then a cast party. Tyler couldn't wait for the cast party. All of this in 1st grade. I had to put this on the blog. We were very proud of him and he did a wonderful job. This is the crew we brought plus myself. Sam was really into it, can't you tell?

Mrs. Stout and Tyler Tyler "the Billy" and Vivian "the Wicked Fairy"
The Enchanted Pumpkins

Longhorns Style

Yes, this is how my baby sucks his fingers. The boys love it, because it looks like Gray is doing "Hook em Horns" for the University of Texas Longhorns. Oh Yeah, and Sam wanted a picture with Gray. (Can you tell Sam is wearing a new shirt? Every picture I have put on this post is him wearing this shirt.)

Mama Don and Pajamas

My Mom loves to buy all her Grandsons pajamas. She had bought the youngest 4 pj's, but hadn't bought any for the older boys yet. Mom and Dad were here visiting this past weekend. (We had a great time by the way!) Mom found Ty and Blake twin pack Spiderman pj's. One pair is black Spidey and the other is red Spidey. I am not huge "character" clothing person for my boys. The rule is they can where character pj's and character undies. They, on the other hand, love it. It was just recently that they stopped asking/begging for "character" shoes as we passed them at Target. The boys love these pajamas. Here is the problem: THEY GO CRAZY when they wear them. They start shooting webs, running around the house, and wrestling each other to the floor. So what is more important? Their unadulterated happiness or my sanity?????