Daily Happenings

I figured I better get in another post before the end of July since I left you hanging for so long the last time. I can't believe we are already headed into August. How crazy?

We have gotten settled into the house for the most part. The carport still looks like a mess, but we are working on that. Daddy has needed some playtime with the kiddos, so we have slacked off the work a tad. We had to strip all the paint in the front bathroom. We did that I think 2 weekends ago, and it still looks the same. Lol! We are at a point of being overwhelmed and don't know where to go next, so we have stopped. Not good with a baby 9 weeks away. Oh well!

We've just been keeping up with the daily routines of life lately, trying to enjoy it. Nothing much going on. We did head over to Jackson this past Saturday to spend the day with the Rutledge's. We had lots of fun and were so glad to get to visit for a while. I of course left the camera behind...shame, shame! I told myself the night before to put it in the bag and somewhere along the lines actually thought I got it in the bag. Lordy, Lordy, bring back the sanity. Thanks Rusty and Elizabeth for inviting us over. We really had a great time and can't wait to catch up again.

As for John Reagan and Evie, they have been up to their usual. John Reagan is ready to start back to "school." He's been talking about it a great deal lately. Evie girl just likes to do her own thing. They had been spending their time fighting over a fold out chair John Reagan has, so I broke out the Lightning McQueen chair to ease the frustration. Instead of getting their own chairs, this is how I found them.

This is where I say, "Oh well, at least they aren't screaming at each other." John Reagan likes to get in Evie's face and get onto her. Being someone who likes my space, it frustrates me to no end, especially when screaming ensues from Evie. Needless to say, sister likes her space too and when brother doesn't back off the arms start flailing. Not good, not good! The joy of parenthood.

Thankfully bedtime brings out the sweetness in them. I am pretty sure they know their time of just 2 is short because they both have been wanting snuggle time with Mommy. We have had to work out the every other night routine and learn to share Mommy. I do get occasional freedom like this night.

They do love on each other at least as much as they fight if not more. Makes it all worth while when they are being sweet to each other. It looks like the sweet times are the only ones I capture on camera. I guess that is because all other times I am too busy playing referee...lol.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have been the favored lunch item lately. That can be good and bad. It was bad for Daddy this day because the peanut butter ended up on his pillow. We haven't figured it out yet, but Evie loves to drag Daddy's pillow around. It apparently works as a good lunch stop.

And for John Reagan's inventiveness...the speaker for the surround sound makes a good drink stop.

I tell you the things I find sometimes.
The grand news is we have settled on dates for a visit to Tennessee. Yay, can't tell you how excited I am. We will be in the weekend of August 14th-15th. Yes we will be there more than these 2 days. We just haven't said exactly what day we are headed up there and what day to head back. We will probably come in that Thursday and head out Tuesday or Wednesday...not 100 percent sure. So I can end with, we will see you soon! Yay!

I'M BAAACK!

I am finally back to blogging. Did you think I was never going to return? I can't believe it has been 2 months since I sat down to update the blog. My how time flies!

We have been super busy, mostly celebrating birthdays. Since the last post, John Reagan turned 4, I turned 30, and Evie girl turned 2. We like to pile them all on at once. Not only that, but as most of you know we have moved.

The house situation is only temporary, but what a relief to be settled somewhere and give my parents space. Of course the past 3 years have been temporary for us. Our rent house in TN was 2 years temporary and living with my parents was 9 months temporary. I think we probably need to redefine the word "temporary" in this household. Now that we all have a little bit of our own space, Mommy and Daddy really need to spend some extra time in our prayer closets. We have no clue what God wants from us past the point of baby #3 arriving. And the word we keep hearing is, "Wait patiently on the Lord!" Is that scary or what? I can give a million reasons why God needs to be on our time table, but I am pretty sure He will ignore me on those matters. So I guess you will find me here attempting to "wait patiently" to the best of my ability along with a little help from the Lord. I might should say "a LOT of help."

I will leave the waiting at that and move on to the celebrating. John Reagan got a bicycle for his birthday. My parents driveway is a slight hill, and Daddy must have not been thinking about buddy only having his bicycle for a day. Greg sent John Reagan down the hill while walking behind him. The problem...the bicycle picked up way more speed than Greg, and John Reagan FROZE! He wouldn't put on the brakes. Needless to say, John Reagan and the bicycle jumped the road at the end of the driveway and jumped the ditch then landed in the barbed wire fence across the road. A side note, it is a small country road...no cars around. Thankfully John Reagan missed the barbed wire, but he nailed the center of the fence post. This was the result...

The fence is there for the neighbor's horse. She heard John Reagan screaming and came running to check on him. She was a lot further away than Daddy, but she beat Daddy to John Reagan. Another blessing because John Reagan loved the idea of that and she helped calm him down. He did get on his bicycle and ride back to the house. It was a very traumatic experience for Daddy. He was freaked out and stressed out way more than John Reagan just from watching it. Of course I can get a laugh out of it because I didn't have to see it. I was tucked away inside the house. John Reagan recouped quickly though.

Memorial Day fell on John Reagan's birthday this year, so we were able to party on the exact day. We have very few pictures of the actual day because our camera battery went dead on us. I got fussed at about it of course, but the grand part about it was I was not the last one to use the camera, which means I got to turn the tables. Don't you just love when it works out that way?

We broke out the slip-n-slide and water balloons and let the kiddos go to town. These pictures were from the day before the party when the battery was being run down...lol!

I was smart enough to get a picture of the cake as soon as it was finished because by party time the next day, it had MANY fingerprints in it from John Reagan and Evie digging in the icing.

Jumping ahead 2 weeks, everyone in the family had lots of fun giving me a hard time about turning 30, as you can see by the cake. Sorry for you but no direct pictures of the pregnant lady. Greg was sure to have the battery fully charged at this point and was nice enough to get mostly side shots.

Evie had lots of fun at Mommy's birthday party. She loves to get her toenails and fingernails painted and the painting process is her and MaeMae's (Auntie Marla) bonding activity. It is Fifi and Evie's bonding activity too. Evie walked up to MaeMae and said "Paint." She even knows where the polish is at MaeMae's house. She went and got it and brought it to MaeMae.

A few weeks after this picture, MaeMae and I went to get a pedicure. We took Evie with us, and she was absolutely fascinated by the whole process. She sat perfectly still and watched every move the workers made. It was so cute! She might be quoting Abby in a few years, Kristin...not able to wear open toe sandals without her toenails being painted.

Our final birthday celebration was Sunday. Evie girl was not the least bit concerned with the activity in the house preparing for her party. We figured she would care less by the time the party arrived. She surprised us though. Sunday morning she said "Party!" Her excitement grew as everyone arrived, but when the cake got here, she was ready!

This is her while we were singing "Happy Birthday." She was cutting up big time. She has been watching and mocking brother way too much here lately.

We didn't think she would blow the candle out by herself or that she even knew how, but she didn't have a problem taking care of business.

Sporting her birthday hat and pajamas. So funny! A shout out to brother who took this picture of sister.

We do have a break from the festivities until Daddy's birthday in September. Of course sister girl #2 is due a week later, so Daddy might be celebrating in the hospital. Daddy has good birthdays. He spent his 27th birthday in Tahiti on his honeymoon. Now he might get to spend his 34th with a new baby girl.

At this point we are all anticipating little Averi Roxanne's arrival. Every time I go to the doctor, John Reagan asks, "Did sister come out?" How hilarious! He just doesn't understand the time frame of "around Daddy's birthday." I officially begin 2 week visits on July 26th, so the countdown has started now. The plan is to make a visit to TN before Labor Day, and hopefully we will be able to follow thru with this plan. Please be in prayer for our sakes that we do make it up for a visit before Averi decides to make her appearance. All 4 of us are in great need of some visiting time with all of you. We miss you bunches! I promise to do better with the blogging now that we are settled. Hallelujah!

It's Another...

I am officially halfway through this pregnancy, which means we found out Monday what we are having. The beauty of having a boy and a girl is that I can title this blog something like, "It's Another..." and still not give the secret away. Lol!

I promise I will not torture you any longer. We are having another girl! Yes, you read that right...a girl! Poor John Reagan!

During the ultrasound the doctor said, "Well I can tell you what I think it is!" Miss Priss was being less than cooperative on showing her little girl parts. My response was (somewhat hysterical from thinking of John Reagan), "It looks like a girl!" Of course he agreed, and Greg and I just looked at each other like, "Oh My God! What are we going to tell John Reagan?" I just kept waiting and thinking "please let the boy part show any minute, please!" Needless to say that did not happen.

Moving ahead a few hours...

As soon as we walked in the door John Reagan said, "Is it a brother? Is it a sister?" When I told him it is a sister, he started crying. He said through the tears, "I wanted a brother." He cried for about 5 minutes and somewhat came around to the idea of a sister.

Skipping ahead 2 days...

He has completely warmed up to the idea of another sister; however, he has not let go of the idea of a brother. We had to tell him that after sister gets here and things settle down he can pray for a brother just to get him to settle down. He is much better now.

On our way home from the doctor, I kept patting my tummy and saying to Miss Priss #2, "We do love you," because we were in total shock. John Reagan had convinced us he was having a brother. With everyday that passes we get more and more excited about a little girl. It always gets more personal once we know what we are having and give the baby a name. Now the fun really begins!

As usual, I will leave you with a few snapshots of what has been going on around here.

She is being silly by "acting" like she is laughing.

Sister snuggled up to brother to go to sleep, in Mommy and Daddy's bed of course!

No news on the house deal. We have put in several offers but for different reasons things have not panned out on any of them. Such a story that gets ridiculous at times. I told Greg tonight I am starting to wonder if we are supposed to have a house of our own. It's hard to keep it together when you don't have your own space. I know Greg would insert here that I haven't kept it together. What can I say at this point?

Swing Batter-Batter!

John Reagan had his very first t-ball game last Monday night, April 26th. What fun he had, and what fun we had watching him. He plays third base, and he is not very aggressive in his defense. He is far more interested in all his family there watching him. During the game the ball was hit in his direction once. He took off to the ball to stop it, then he realized I was trying to get a picture of him. So he stopped dead in his tracks, stood up, and smiled to ensure I got a good picture. So funny!

He is the youngest and smallest player on his team. For the Dixie League, the children are supposed to be 4 before April 30th. Lincoln Little League is a little more lenient on the age, so John Reagan was able to start this year. Down here they are more concerned with the children starting at an early age so they don't get behind.

For our first game, we were the home team. We took the field first, and like some innate, built-in sports knowledge John Reagan knew from the first day of practice the appropriate stance when on defense.

For batting whatever number is on your shirt is where you fall in the batting order. Of course John Reagan is #1, so our little buddy got to bat first. He didn't know to run to first base as soon as he hit the ball, so he just stood there. Poor buddy got out. He could have cared less.

Here is John Reagan with his coach getting ready for his first at-bat. FYI: the bat is the smallest we could find. They actually make a 10.5 oz bat, but we could only find the 11.5 oz. I told Greg it was so light I didn't think I could even do any damage with it. He got a good laugh out of that.

As you can see John Reagan is too busy looking at me taking pictures to be worried about what to do after he hits that ball.

Breyden and Kenden came to John Reagan's first game. Breyden actually had a game right after at another baseball complex, so they didn't get to stay too long. They had fun checking it out though, and they were big supporters for John Reagan. They knew how to cheer him on.

Evie on the other hand was too busy playing with Annie's toys. Annie is cousin on Daddy's side of the family.

It can be hard waiting for the ball to come your way. The coach pitches 3 balls to the players first, and if they don't hit one of those then the tee comes out. John Reagan prefers to wait for the tee. He did swing at the ball. He just swung WAY to early.

His first time on base. He even knows how to stand on base like a "real" baseball player.

Running to home plate!

Made it home! Back to the dugout now!

It is as much fun for us to watch the coach interact with John Reagan. He is so sweet and so gentle with John Reagan and pays him special attention because he is the littlest. A funny story about the coach...we noticed one night before practice that he has a UT sticker on the back of his vehicle. You know Greg can't stand to let that pass without saying something. We love everything Tennessee EXCEPT UT. Anyway, the coach is from Louisiana, but he did his graduate work at UT. So he is a big fan of them even though he teaches at Louisiana Tech. Unless you have followed ladies' college basketball for years, you don't know anything about the rivalry between the Lady Vols and the Lady Techsters. However, I come from a long line of La Tech Alumni, so I know all about it. There is not a bone in my body that can bring me to cheer for UT in any sport even when it is for the good of the SEC, as Greg says. I think I might have put this story about the coach in the last blog post. If I am repeating myself I am so sorry...just blame it on the pregnancy and house situation. We very much like the coach though and think he does a great job with the kids. So far our t-ball experience has been wonderful.

We have called and talked to a few of you Tennessean's since the weather has been so wild up there. We hope you aren't floating away and don't have any water damage to tackle. We have been keeping a close eye on what is going on up your way. Let us know how you are doing, please! We like to know how you all are doing.

By the way, can you tell we got our new camera lens in just in time for the game?