new do...

all i'm going to say is....andy made me.

he looks so young now!! i loved his hair long, but andy wanted to buzz all the boys (though i said no way to tysen's) ... ian loves it...but he has the greatest hair...it was like just shredding up silk...even though its easier...i was not very happy about it...

date night

we have a great tradition with our old friends, the souders, to rotate going on a date and babysitting the kids...it works out perfectly as each of our kids are about 5-6 months apart...and they all play so well together! we recently have added the latest babies, so that makes 6 kids total!! here they all are in order of age...:)

logan, macy, ian, shep, tysen, ethan....

tysen LOVES babies!! we are working on the word 'gentle', as all he knows is what his brothers teach him, and that's not even close to gentle...but he just loves to sit with the babies and he wants to play soooo bad!! :)

tysen and daddy...

family night at chickfila

we went to family night at chickfila the other night, and they had facepainting. i was thinking a little smiley face or a star or something on the cheek...and much to my surprise, it was much more!! he loved it and was so proud of his spiderman face...it did confuse tysen quite a bit, but logan had a blast!! :)

settling in to the new apartment...we have a little breakfast bar, that is great for the boys! logan says its his favorite place to eat now!!

and here's tysen enjoying his new breakfast of a cereal bar and a banana!

funny things they say...

i seriously wish i had a video camera running on the boys all the time...

we were going to eat at some friends house and they have a big dog, which we all know is not logan's favorite thing. he was already stressed as we got out of the car cuz the dog was in the window watching us arrive...he started asking if he could just stay on andy's shoulders...poor guy, he is honestly just scared of dogs. then we hear ian trying to comfort him as he got out..."its ok, logan. its just a dog. its just a dog, logan...not a lion dog. just a regular dog!" :)

the other night andy and the boys dropped me off at my girls bible study. as i was getting out of the car, ian asked what i was doing, and i said i'm going to bible study with my girls. ian said, "so are you going on a girls date?"...i laughed and said, "yes, kinda like that"....
the next morning we all got up, and logan plopped down on the couch, leaned on the arm, and sighed...then looked up and said "so, mom, how was your girls night?"....just so grown up!!! :)

tysen just jabbers "dadadada" alot...but he is at the sweetest stage where he looks right at you when babbling...so it kinda feels like he's trying to tell me something...:)

ugh...

Last night i woke to the sound of ian kinda crying...kinda whining. i groggily pulled myself out of bed, thinking he had a bad dream or something, and when i opened the door, my mind was instantly alert as i heard the oh-so familiar bark (cough) followed by a very apparent gasp for air. if you have a kid with asthma, you know...and if you don't, be grateful. it is scary to hear your kid trying to breath in, and its like there's the tiniest tube he's trying to suck air out of and he can't get it. thankfully, andy had gotten up to check on us, so we both instinctly moved quick. he grabbed the nebulizer while i situated ian on the couch and turned on a movie trying to calm ian down. we got his breathing machine on him, and he slowly started taking deeper breaths....and once the treatment was done, he was laughing at the movie...all good signs. :) there's only been a couple of times that i can remember him in 'respiratory distress' like that, and having to purposefully keep my cool, so ian didn't get more upset, when in my head i was a little panicked. i really thought we'd be taking him to the hospital. once he was out of distress, i asked him about it, and he said "it was just so hard to breathe"...and my heart just jolted...

well, he's ok...the dr. said that while she thinks its related to asthma and his previous tracheomalacia (just like tysen has)...but the symptoms are also croup-like...i hate that...when the symptoms are so similar, you don't know until 3-5 days later, and well, no one else got sick, so it was an asthma attack....or, well tysen is sick, so i guess it was croup. :) anyway....i'm just grateful that we had all the medicine on hand that we needed to open his airways.... Thank you, Jesus for modern day medicine.

News and Updates...

First and foremost, in case you haven't heard, we have had a huge answer to prayer...as you all know, Andy is a full-time student in seminary right now...working part time (feels full time) as the Junior High director for Denton Bible Church. We have been raising support through this season of life and have been amazed and humbled at how the Lord has been so gracious every step of the way! Recently, we started praying for a more affordable place to live, and we are now about to move to a new apartment complex...where, we will plan their monthly events for the community...in exchange for FREE RENT!! It happened so fast, we really didn't know what to think....and now we are moving about 4 weeks. YIKES!!! It is truly amazing to see how the Lord has always - always - always taken care of our needs!!!!!! :):)

On to other late breaking news....Andy has taught the boys how to sock wrestle. Thanks, babe!! :)

Tysen can now pull up on things...it was a discovery in the middle of the night as he must have been bored in bed...and pulled up...the worst part, is that he can stand up...then gets stuck and doesn't know how to get down. I remember this well with the other boys...and its not a fun stage.

Realizing that he can't sit back down...he just starts to scream whereever he is until i come get him. (we're working on the screaming thing. that's got to go!!)

"hey- american idol? i love this show!"

"o wait--i'm not done with my temper tantrum just yet.....mother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

and of course the three that will always be my babies.....

and their papaw....we had lunch with him Sunday...and the boys favorite pictures are silly faces. :)

dedications...

Yestarday was a special day as we were able to dedicate Tysen and his cousin, Max, in the same service. The pastor was one of Andy's college roommates, which made it even more special! It's always a cool thing to go before the church and publicly committ to raising a child in the way of the Lord...what a reminder of the amazing gift and responsiblity that the Lord has given us.