Prayer Request

***UPDATE***
My uncle woke up yesterday and started asking for water. They gave him real food today, and hopefully he will move to a regular room in the next few days. Thanks for your prayers!

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Please pray for my Uncle James. He is in critical condition in the ICU, and he is not doing very well. Please pray that he will be healed. If it is not God's will that he is healed, please pray for comfort and peace for my family.
I can't imagine what my mom and her siblings must be going through. The thought of losing one of siblings just... well I can't describe the pain I would feel.
Thanks for your prayers. I will update you as soon as I know something.

ONE OF THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF MY LIFE

Today? Definitely not! But three years ago today was pure bliss. Lexie and I flew out to California to see Monte, and we showed Lexie around San Francisco. We had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants on Pier 39. Then Monte took us to Stinson Beach to play around. Right before we left, Monte dropped to one knee. I thought, "Oh my gosh, he's going to ask, he's going to ask." Then I thought, "Don't get too excited maybe he dropped something." Well he did not drop anything, but he did pull the most beautiful ring out of his pocket. My feet did not hit the ground for a very long time.

Monte has blessed my life in so many ways. He is a wonderful husband and a terrific dad. He makes us feel safe and secure. Every vacation we have ever taken has been amazing because he researches and researches to make sure he makes it the best vacation possible. He knows how to be silly and serious. I have never doubted his love for me or worried about infidelity. I completely trust him no matter where he is. I am an emotional person (I am female after all), and handles my emotions so well.

Monte is also a very brave man. When he asked me to marry him, he was a 31 year old male that had never been married and had no sisters. Not only was he willing to bring me in to his life, but also a tween girl. Can you imagine the adjustment of going from single male to step dad of a tween? No warm up period, just all in all at once. He welcomed Lexie and loved Lexie at the beginning of the most difficult period of a girl's life. (I know I typed "loved", but he still loves her.)

I love Monte so much. It seems like we get so busy that I don't get to show him how much I love and appreciate him. We take a few date nights, but not as many as we should. (Carter has never spent the night with anyone. We are in need of a romantic getaway.)

I LOVE YOU MONTE!!!

DOUBLE WHAMMY

Carter acted like he was getting a cold over the weekend. Slight fever, runny nose, and CRANKY. I figured it was either his teeth or a virus. (We usually get the "it's a virus" diagnosis.) He started digging in one of his ears, so I took him to the doctor. The poor little guy has an ear infection in BOTH ears!! Luckily the doctor said it was just starting, so we caught it very early. This is actually his third ear infection since November. Lexie never had ear infections, so to me this seems like a lot. I looked online to try to find out what the "normal" amount is, and I couldn't find it. All of the websites listed increased risk factors: second hand smoke, daycare, bottle instead of breastfeeding, and food allergies--none of those apply to Carter. The silver lining in this cloud is that Carter is extra cuddly right now.

WALKING ON SUNSHINE

I LOVE, LOVE Daylight Saving Time. I wish we could have it all year. I am not a fan of losing that hour of sleep, but the end result is definitely worth it. The weather the past few days has been wonderful! I have enjoyed getting outside.

Yesterday we went outside and blew bubbles. Carter loves watching them and chasing them. It was really windy yesterday, so the bubbles didn't hang around long. The grass is starting to turn green, so hopefully Carter will venture off the patio soon. (I think it's just the weeds, but I'll take what I can get.) Carter wasn't feeling well, so I let him wear his jammies all day. I don't know if he's getting a cold or if it's his teeth. The poor guy has 4 coming in all at the same time.

We went for a ride around the neighborhood. We made several laps around the neighborhood before I made a huge mistake. Right after I took this picture, I made the mistake of saying,"Carter, are we going for a walk?" He started trying to unbuckle his strap (Unsuccessfully) and climb out of the stroller. A "ride" is when I push him in the stroller. A "walk" is when he gets to walk. He was screaming mad, so we had to go home.

"Look mom. I found a stick."

Pictures from our "walk" a few days ago.

Lexie had a busy weekend, so I didn't get many pictures of her. Her dad, aunt, and little sister had birthday parties over the weekend, so she was gone most of the weekend. Next weekend is her talent competition, so I am sure I'll have plenty of pictures of her to post. Lexie's basketball league had their end of the season awards ceremony on Saturday. Lexie's team got the best sportsmanship award. (I know what your thinking, and no her team did not have the worst record in the league. Close, but not the worst.) She had a great time playing basketball, so that's all that really matters to us. She doesn't want to be in the WNBA, so fun is what we push for.





FUNNY PICTURES


Carter (like every man in the world) is IN LOVE with Taylor Swift. He was playing in his kitchen, and when she came on the tv (singing Love Story) he ran in there and just stared in awe at the tv.




"It's not a purse, it's a murse."
Carter loves to carry around bags. (Monte's not a fan.) I went in my closet and found a blue one for him to carry around. It's a little more manly since it's blue. I did just buy him a Mickey Mouse backpack, so hopefully he'll carry it instead.



These are supposed to go on the front of Carter's kitchen, but he and Lexie prefer to sword fight with them.

Carter Update

Carter loves to "read" and be read to. He will sit by the window with his book basket and look at the books forever.

Carter is understanding a lot. I'll say "let's go bye-bye", and he will drop everything and go to the door to the garage. As you can tell by this picture, we are going to have to start locking the door all of the time. He might decide he wants to go bye-bye all by himself.

Last week I was in the bathroom getting ready, and Carter was in there playing. He looked up at me, waved, said "bye-bye", and left the room. He is finally starting to say real words. He still babbles a lot, but every once in a while he will throw in a word I understand. Right now he can say: cat, mama, dada, that, uh that (what's that), cracker (minus the r sounds), ball, all done (minus the l and n sounds), bye-bye, hi, uh buh (oh boy- from Mickey Mouse). That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure I'll add more to the list later.

Carter is OBSESSED with Mickey Mouse. When he hears the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song, he will drop everything and run into the living room. He dances along to the songs. I bought him a MM stuffed animal, and he carries it everywhere. We'll say, "Where's Mickey?" and he will go get him. I downloaded the MM Clubhouse soundtrack to my phone. I turned it on for him, and I didn't get my phone back for over an hour. Every time I would try to take it, he would put the death grip on it. There was no way I was getting it back without a fight. When I finally got it back, he had rated the theme song 5 stars and changed my screen saver to the soundtrack cover. He hated his new car seat. Lexie took him for a walk down the toy aisle at Wal-Mart. He picked up a Mickey Mouse book. Now he reads the MM book when he's in the car, and I don't hear a peep out of him. We are going to Disney World in a couple of weeks. I am sure when he actually sees Mickey, he will cry and hold tight to me. Isn't that the way it usually goes?

When we were at Gymboree last week I was watching Carter play, and I was remembering back to when we first started going (in Cali). He has gotten so big. He is not a baby anymore. He's a little boy. (And I mean ALL BOY--a very busy boy.) His favorite toys are balls, cars/trucks, and his kitchen. He has quite the arm when he throws the ball. When you hear him say "ball", you know there is one getting ready to fly by your head.

One of Carter's first trips to Gymboree. Don't you just love the mohawk?

Carter last week at Gymboree. (He got another haircut right after our playtime.)

THERE SHE IS, MISS AMERICA

Well not exactly Miss America, but I was just as proud as I would be if it had been. (I could not make that sentence sound right, but hopefully you get the idea.)





Lexie was in her first pageant as a non-toddler, and she won!! She has mentioned a few times over the past two years that she wants to do pageants, and I said "we'll see". The past couple of months she has really talked about pageants, so we decided to go for it. I found a pageant in Siloam Springs that she could fit into her busy schedule. Lexie is fortunate enough to have an aunt that is a former Miss Arkansas, so Lexie went over and had Melonie show her how to walk. Lexie had so much fun practicing her walk, and her confidence really showed when she was on stage.



I asked her if we could make signs and put a picture of her face on popsicle sticks, but she said 'no'. There was a huge cheering section for her though. We took up a whole row. (20 people) Lexie has a lot of fans.

I would have been proud of Lexie even if she hadn't won because getting up on stage in front of a bunch of people is very hard. Lex really had fun, so I am sure we'll be doing this again.


WAY TO GO LEXIE!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

Lexie and Brooklyn (her little sister)

Brooklyn was also in the pageant.

Cadence and Lexie strike a pose.

Beautiful sisters
Lexie won the 13-15 age category, and Brooklyn won the 0-11 months category.
(Lex looks so happy!!)

Lexie and her Poppy




Lexie and my parents
(Monte's parents were also there, but Monte took them home before I could get a picture.)




Melonie, Cadence, and Lexie

STILL NOT A FAN OF GRASS

When we went to the pumpkin patch in October, I couldn't get any of those cute, blissfully happy pictures of Carter with the pumpkins because he HATED the grass. Well, not much has changed in 4 months. Right before the ice storm we had a couple of really nice days. (Yeah, I know that was over a month ago.) Carter LOVES wagon rides, so I took him outside for a ride. (We do laps around the kitchen/dining room/living room when it's cold.) He had a blast until I took him out of the wagon to let him play in the yard. Hopefully when the grass turns green and soft he'll enjoy it more. He is definitely an outdoors boy though. It doesn't matter how bad of a mood he is in or how tired he is, if you take him outside he is a happy camper. On Valentine's Day we went for a walk to the end of our street. He loved it because I let him hold my hand and walk instead of putting him in the stroller. It took us a very long time- not because his legs are short, but because he wanted to pick up EVERY rock he saw. By the time we got back to our house, his hands were full of little rocks that I let him keep. I tried to show him how to put them in his pocket, but he wasn't going for that. He thought I was trying to take away his rocks.

"Yay, a wagon ride!"

"Wee, feel the wind blowing through my hair."

Carter loves it when the wind blows in his face.

The look of disgust returns.

He was trying to figure out how to stand back up without touching the grass. He would start to push himself up, but when his hands would almost touch the grass he would pull them back really fast. Then he would look up at me with a 'help me' expression on his face. I finally quit laughing and helped him up.

Shopping for Valentines

Yesterday when Carter and I were at Target, he got to pick out his Valentines. He got so excited when I took him out of the cart and let him down on the floor. Later my mom took him and Lydia on a walk through Target. It was sooo cute!! (Unfortunately I didn't get a picture. I do apologize for the picture quality of these pics. I used my phone. It does okay as long as the subject is still, but Carter is never still!)


"I get to pick out my own Valentines!"



"Hmmm. Let me take a closer look."



"I want Mickey Mouse."

You learn something new every day!

I learned something very sweet about my wonderful hubby.

One of Carter's friends had a birthday party Saturday. We were talking to a lady about her grandson that was just born a few weeks ago. The nurse at the hospital (not a local one) accidentally put the baby in the wrong bed, and brought the mom the wrong baby. The mom noticed, they checked the ID tags, and gave her the right one.

We were talking about how the only time Carter ever left our room was when they took him to be circumcised. They bathed him in our room and everything. Then Monte said he went with Carter to be circumcised. I thought he meant he went down to the room and stood outside the door, but No. He actually went in the room, and held Carter's little hand while he was having the procedure done!! He said he had to turn his head at one point, but never left him.

What a good daddy!

Girls Day Out

Lexie and I ended up having an unplanned girls' day on Sunday. We had so much fun and laughed so hard that I have permanent laugh lines now. It was so much fun to spend time with just her.
Every other Sunday, Lexie goes to church with her Aunt Angie (dad's sister). When she is there she helps with children's church by using a puppet. Her church had a special service on Sunday, so they needed Lexie to do her puppet. I have heard a lot about her act, but I had never seen it in person. I got to go and watch her perform. (Carter was not feeling well, so Monte stayed home with him.) All I can say is , "WOW!" Lexie is a very creative and talented girl. I thought she would do a good job, but I had no idea how good she actually is. I told her I think she's ready for Sesame Street :-)
I videoed it so Monte could see it, and hopefully I can upload it on here soon. Lexie is going to be in a talent competition through the church in Russelville in March. I can't wait!!


This is Starburst. She is a very hyper little thing. It is adorable when Lexie makes Starburst's head shake because those fuzzy little pigtails fly around.

Lexie and Starburst

After church, we went home to check on Carter and then Lexie and I went to the movies. Lexie has been begging me to hurry and finish Twilight so we could go see it. (She already saw it opening weekend, but she wanted to see it with me.) Let me back up a little bit... I got the book Twilight around Christmas. Lexie saw the movie and said it was good and she wanted the second book. I told her she should read the book because the book is always better than the movie. She was not a fan of that idea. A few weeks ago I asked her some questions about Twilight and she had no idea what I was talking about. (The movie leaves out A LOT!) The questions I asked got her interested in the book, so she decided to go ahead and read it. After she finished the book, she said, "Well, I liked the movie until I read the book." (She finished the entire series in 3 weeks!! For those of you that don't know, there are 4 really big books.) Well, I finished Twilight right before I saw the movie, so all the details were still fresh in my mind. (Literally right before, Lexie read the epilogue to me on the way to the theater.)

We had so much fun at the movie. We were the people that I hate in the theater. We could not stop laughing. No it's not supposed to be a funny movie, but the facial expressions they had Edward and Jasper making were completely ridiculous. We still imitate them, and it makes us laugh just as hard.

My opinion of the movie: a disappointment. I LOVED the book. I am not into vampires and werewolves or anything dark, but this book was great! It was basically a love story between a human and a vampire. Forbidden love! I liked the movie okay, but I don't think the director did a very good job. (Again, what was she thinking with the stupid expressions?) So much of the emotion and details were left out. I am hoping New Moon will be better since they are using a different director. But I can't criticize the movie too much because it did turn out to be very big bonding experience for Lexie and I.

Ice Storm 2009

We were very fortunate during the ice storm. The most we ever lost power was for a minute. The most we were inconvenienced was that our Tivo kept resetting every time the power flickered. (BooHoo- I know.) Luckily we do not have big trees close to our house, so we didn't have any damage. We were very blessed. There were so many people that lost their houses, cars, pets, and even a few lost their lives. I have heard several people talk about how they still don't have power. (My sister just got hers back Tuesday evening.)

Monte's parents stayed with us a few days while they were without power. I know it must have been hard for them being displaced without notice, but we enjoyed having them. I was sad when they had to go home. It was so nice getting to spend time with them, and they got to see Carter play in his element. (They also got to watch Lexie read. That was how she passed the time.)

Here are a few of our snow pictures. Like I said before we were lucky, so it actually was very beautiful here. It looked like what I imagine Narnia looks like.

Our one and only little tree

My second home :-) No, I didn't drive when the roads were icy. Monte went for me. He is such a wonderful man!!

Our house

Unfortunately we didn't get one when it was snow covered. This was taken after everything started to melt.