5 years ago . . .

*OK - so I wrote this 2 1/2 months ago, but I am just now posting it. Life throws me curve balls and I am just trying to keep up. And I'll warn you, these following 2 posts are slightly heavy. :)

5 years ago I was a mess.

My precious baby was born 8 weeks early. Taken straight from me to the NICU. Don't worry about me, I tell Matt - just go with him, stay with him. My newborn boy was in the NICU, BUT he was breathing on his own, healthy but skinny and had the most amazing downy, blonde hair. Matt told me - all the babies there have a name, he doesn't have one - because we were not ready for this, not at all. We had narrowed it down to two names, Matt really liked Kyle William and so it was. Kyle the angel baby. He couldn't come home with us until he learned to eat, keep his own temp regulated and quit having apneas and bradycardias and of course he was so tiny - 4 pounds 3 ounces.

So began the traveling between home and the hospital several times a day, killing me every time I left him there. He had great nurses, nurses who played music for him and wrapped him in warm blankies, lovingly brought by friends. Dressed him in tiny clothes bought by his Mimi and Big Daddy that had dinos and bugs on them. Took his first picture with Santa, because he was still to little to come home for his first Christmas. I tried to make everyone believe I was brave, I may have even fooled myself, but it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Finally . . . finally after 4 weeks, he came home to be with us. We had hoped for him to be home by his due date in February, then dared to dream by his daddy's birthday, but God gave Matt and I the greatest gift - we brought him home on January 4th, more than a week before Matt's birthday. A happy, healthy, nursing, growing, precious gift.

He was delayed as all premies are, but by his first birthday had caught up to his age group and, in fact, was verbally advanced for a boy born prematurely. He has continued along this path, my precious first born son. Happy, healthy, skinny :), very verbal, with beautiful blonde hair. And in December we celebrated his 5 th birthday - wow!

As a mom of three, it is sometimes hard to enjoy these times when the kids are small; to savor this time when they want to share everything with me. However, when I see how quickly Kyle is growing up, it causes me to stop and savor his childhood, and everything that goes with it, the good, and the not so good.

Thank you God for gifting me with beautiful, healthy children. May I be the mom you would have me to be so that they may grow into people that bring glory to you. ~Amen~

I Love You Kyle!

~ LKS

Halloween!

Thanks to my aunt and uncle for getting some really cute pictures of the kids. I got one group picture, but it was really bad - thank you lousy camera.

We had a Star Wars theme going on;

Kyle was OBWan Kenobi.

Drew was Darth Vader.

Paige was R2D2. I am sure that she will have words with me one day about dressing her up as the robot, but it was soooo cute. At least I didn't dress her as Yoda, right?

I thought that Matt and I were particularly funny. He dressed as a caddie and I dressed as a pro golfer. He had my name pinned to his jump suit and I had a Jameson label pinned as my sponsor. Made me laugh.

Happy Turkey Day ~

LKS

Not me Monday!

I follow a blog of this really charming girl who has had a really difficult pregnancy and is due to give birth to a baby boy this week. He is likely to be very sick with a heart condition, but just as likely to be born just fine. Anyway, she has a funny thing she shares every Monday and here is my list of "not me"s.

I "did not" goof off and spend too much time on the computer at all last week, or the week before, or the week before that!

I definitely "did not" nearly pull my girl child's hair out trying to put her hair in the cutest pig tails ever!!

She did brave her mother's efforts and now look how cute she is!

We did not let our young sons watch The Last Samurai and they definitely did not try to attack the TV with swords and guns while the soldiers and Samurai were battling.
(I also did not pull this from last month just 'cause it is funny and try to pass it off as having recently happened - not at all - seriously.)

I have not been gleefully anticipating our trip to Big Daddy and Mimi's house this weekend.

I have not anxiously awaited the day when I get to leave behind my job (ie - house)to be loved and pampered by my parents (read - spoiled.)

I hope everyone who reads this does not have a fun Halloween and I also hope your children don't get loads of the really good halloween candy so that you can relieve them of said candy so they don't have to suffer.

LKS

My baby boy is 3!

OK - so he turned three in August, so what?

I am now going to show you his awesome Star Wars themed birthday cake! Made by his very own mother -

Anikan and ObiWan fight it out while R2D2 watches

Since we are all about Star Wars at our house, it was a big hit. I learned that you have to be careful in telling your friends and family of your child's likes and dislikes because inevitably all the gifts point toward that interest. :) We now have Star Wars costumes, computer game, little people with little parts and pieces, and most importantly - mulitiple light sabers, but this is OK. We definitely need more than one for the epic battles that will be taking place in the backyard.

Battle #1 - Darth Vader & Clone Trooper

We will also need more than one anytime a certain uncle T is in town because I am sure that he will need to participate in said battles.

PJ also scored at her brother's birthday party since we were out of town for her birthday. She got the cutest little fall jogging outfit and a precious and soft baby doll. Her loving aunt then thought it would be really funny to put her in the birthday bag since she was trying to climb into it anyway - and it was funny.

As you can see above, PJ has an affinity for anything soft. Soft things elicit a sweet little, " OH -ho-ho -ohhhh." You can see this face below - my bff JR captured it perfectly!

She also had a mommy made birthday cake based on a much loved bunny she got from her Gram. I'm getting the hang of this cake thing. I probably couldn't sell them, but I don't think they're too bad!

Hopefully far down the road they won't feel slighted because they didn't have store bought cakes, well except for DT's birthday last year. I figured since I had recently given birth to PJ that I got a get-out-of-making-the-cake pass. All others have been made and lovingly decorated by mom. ;o)

LKS

Little Fish

Kyle took swimming lessons in July. He had a great teacher and is swimming really well. He still needs his lifejacket in deeper water, but is totally comfortable in water where he can stand. Here he is getting ready to jump off the diving board.





As you can see, he is much more interested in eating the popsicle than smiling at me for a picture. :)



On a totally unrelated note -

I think one of the worst jobs in the world has to be the porta-potty cleaner. There is currently a cleaning truck across the street form my house cleaning out the porta-potty at the house-that-will-never-be-done. When he finishes, there is a stench that lasts for quite a while.
BLEEEHHH! YUCK!



LKS

LAKE CITY!!

We took a great trip to Lake City, CO in the end of July with our best friends the Rogers'. We had a fabulous time as we always do. The weather was WONDERFUL, especially going from 100+ degree days to 70 degree days and 40 degree nights - GLORIOUS! We fished, we four-wheeled, we played dominoes (a lot) - it was a great vacation!

We celebrated Paige's first birthday at the top of Vickers Ranch. Everyone up there sang happy birthday with us. The top of that mountain has become a special place for our family, now we have one more reason to celebrate.

I have a ton of pictures, so I will put in a slideshow, enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Way back . . .

I have a lot to post from over the last month or so. I've decided to take it a little at a time, that way it will seem like I am actually blogging a lot more - ha!

We had a visit from my aunt Melissa in the first part of July. I almost never get to see her and it was so great to get to visit and catch up. The kids and I went with her to the Arboretum and we all had a great time.

This is a great picture except for the fact that Kyle felt his stuffed horse should be in front of his face. Oh well.

The next weekend we were in Austin to FINALLY see my precious nephew. Here he is with his biggest fan, who - by the way - is wondering when he'll be old enough to have some fun. :)

Until next time . . .

LKS

And so it goes . . .

It's the story of my life. As with anything else, I have good intentions and I am foiled again and again! I forgot my camera when Kyle was a ring bearer at our friends' wedding two weeks ago - ugh! Now our camera and video camera are in Nacogdoches along with 2 1/2 months of pictures and movies that have yet to be downloaded. So I can't post more recent pics or send pics to various grand and great grand parents as promised. I also couldn't take pictures of my kids with Carrie's kids who were here yesterday to play. Hopefully we'll have the cameras back after this weekend. This is what I get for procrastinating downloading everything

In the meantime, Paige is crawling all over the place and saying a few words - Mama, Dada, Ky (le) Bye Bye and signs "all done" and "more." It is true what they say about girls - she is all about talking. Her brothers adore her as long as she stays out of their block castles which she loves to knock down. Ha! Visions of things to come I'm sure.

Kyle and Drew have had fun at swimming lessons. While Kyle is swimming like a fish, Drew isn't so sure. He is content to stay on the steps or where he can stand with his head above water. When we were in Nac this weekend they got to ride on their uncle's 4 wheeler and mower. Drew helped pick/eat tomatoes from his garden and they shot fireworks. They were DIRTY when they returned from their country adventures. The shower was a river of mud.

We had a great time with Carrie, Jackson and Ella yesterday. Drew said he was going to miss Jackson who is really the first friend his age we have had over to play (they are 4 months apart.) We finally got to meet the beautiful Ella (who is 6 months younger than Paige.) And Carrie and I picked up like we always do, except that it had been way too long since we have seen each other. We can't believe we are moms. We are both so blessed with our families - wow.

I promise I'll post pictures as soon as I possibly can. There are sure to be good ones after this weekend - well . . . I guess I'll have to borrow a camera or rely on Julie - my picture taking friend extordinaire.
Until then . . .

L

Time flies when you're having fun!

We took a trip to Crystal Beach back at the end of April with our best friends and all the kids. We had such a good time despite Kyle and I being sick with a severe cold. Everything is better at the beach, even illness - hey, you gotta laugh right?

Paige had her first "fry-fry" as our friend Brayden would say. She is now happily addicted. :)

Brayden (2yrs) had the best line of the whole trip - his parents had been telling him all about the beach and he was in high anticipation as we finally got out of the car and walked into Whataburger for lunch just outside Houston. We walk in, he looks around realizing that this is a place to eat and he screams, "NOOOOOOO! BEACH! BEEEAAACH!

Kyle came in at a close second with the comment, "What did that sheep say?" when watching Star Wars for the first time in reference to Yoda. :o)

More recent pics too come soon.

Going to the zoo 3/29/08

I am so excited! I hope this works so you can see lots of our pictures to the zoo and not just a few.
Enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It is still March, . . . isn't it?

Here we have two monkeys playing in the snow in early March.

Yeah, snow, don't you see it?? Well, they had fun anyway stomping in puddles.

Don't ask me about this pose, they were on a hypothermia high. We went to the arboretum with Julie and Allison. Here are all the punks with some BEAUTIFUL tulips. It was so pretty.

Poor Drew, "Mommy, the sun is in my eyes!"

Hannah and Kyle hanging out in the playhouse.

Do you see this bow mom put on my head??

She's gone crazy with the bows and all the pink you know.

Don't look now mom, there are huge fish in that pond,

but don't look at them they'll want to eat all our lunch. . .He's posing - hurry take a picture!!

OK - the next picture wasn't posed,.

I actually caught it with my slow camera, which is a miracle.

It is his personality through and through.

Are you sure I can't eat these flowers mama?

They look like they'll taste good, are you sure?

We had a great time at the arboretum. I have more pictures of Easter and a trip to the zoo that I'll post later. Right now life is calling!

My kids are so wierd . . . ;o)

"Look mommy! THIS is what I was doing inside your belly for 3 months, aren't I amazing??" "I want my geen egg, mommy. I need my geen egg."This is an old pic, but my, how this boy likes to dress up.
Next time I post I will put some really funny video on here. It involves dancing boys and green hats - thank you Mimi.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

Matt's birthday this year was lots of fun! I planned a surprise party for him. Before we left for Matt's party, that he didn't know about, we took a picture of him and the kids.

I am such a lucky girl! Cute kids, cute hubby . . .
I surprised Matt for his birthday at one of our favorite restaraunts. I can't believe I had him fooled, but he was speechless when we walked in. It was a great time with good friends. Unfortunately, I cannot publish all the pictures because persons who think they are funny flashed MWWC gang signs in most of the pictures. :)



Phil didn't want to be in the picture and Julie wouldn't look.
Allison and Julie and I enjoyed our chocolate martinis VERY much!

Some other January highlights;

Paige got to start eating solids. Below is her first taste of oatmeal. LOL!

Just like a girl, she talked to me the whole time.

Here is a precious picture of our handsome boys before church one Sunday.

And last but not least, our sweet baby girl! She has grown so much, I can't believe 6 months have already passed!! She is the sweetest baby. Now if she'd just sleep through the night . . . ha!

Christmas has come and gone!

Wow how time flies! I was shooting for once a month to make entries, I have so much to put on here that I will have to take it in chunks. :)

Kyle turned 4 on the 15th with a fireman themed party. He got to go to the firestation for a personal tour with the firemen. He was pretty speechless the whole time we were there.

We got to go to Colorado for Christmas. We got lots of great pictures, but I'll only post a few. Once we got there the weather was beautiful and we did a lot of sledding and four wheeler riding.

It was a great trip. We were reminded how blessed we are with our families, on both sides. The whole trip was magical and specially blessed (since we almost didn't make it!) The boys loved the snow and all the special time with Mimi, Big Daddy, Uncle T and Aunt jamie.

What a Wonderful Christmas!