The Reader

Landrie has expressed a lot of interest in reading lately, so Lolly found the same readers we used 20+ years ago on Amazon and ordered the first set for her. We're already on book 5, but she really likes to read book 1 to Karsyn since she knows it so well.

I love seeing her learn so much! She's just soaking up everything right now. Karsyn is learning in the process too and likes to pretend that she's reading.

Falling Behind...

I've fallen behind on the blog here. We haven't been extraordinarly busy or anything, but busy enough that several afternoons, I've found Landrie like this:






She doesn't take naps on a regular basis anymore, but every 2 or 3 days, she'll crash in the playroom. Karsyn won't let her sleep long, so it's usually the perfect cat nap to get her through till bed time.

Live your life...

Live your life so your children will know you stood for something wonderful.

A friend had this quote on her wall tonight and I immediately thought of Jimmy York. He and his wife Tricia are close friends of my parents. Jimmy died suddenly last night at 33 years young. Jimmy lived his life in a way that his 2 young sons will know what he stood for. He has left a legacy that we should all strive for. He will be greatly missed by his church, his friends and his family.

Please be in prayer for Tricia, Braxton, Auston and the rest of the York family.

Stop over to Pops' blog for a wonderful tribute to Jimmy's legacy.

Lots going on...

The girls have had a lot going on the last 2 weeks - PJ Day, a basketball game and their rodeo today. I'm finally getting around to editing the pics.



Last week everyone studied the letter P at school, so the girls got to have a PJ/Pizza Party. They looked so cute, I couldn't resist a picture taking opportunity.



We went to the Bell/Trinity Basketball game last week. Instead of paying attention to the game, the girls put Hannah Montana stickers all over themselves and everything around them. At least they had something to do for a while.

The FW Stock Show & Rodeo is going on right now, so the school held it's own rodeo today - complete with stick horse races and a square dance. Hayden, Tris, Landrie and Karsyn had so much fun! Landrie and Tris performed the Mexican Hat Dance! Too cute!

Picture Challenge

I stole this idea from Kara since we haven't had too much excitement lately.


Here are the rules:


1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder
3) Explain the picture

This is Landrie on her first Valentine's day (2004)! She was just 4 months old. We were at Pops and Lolly's house that night. Lolly and I used to always layout a blanket and then prop Landrie up so we could have the "perfect" picture. I can hardly believe that this chunky, bald baby is the tall, skinny blonde haired beauty that I have today.

Another funny fact about that Valentines Day is that it snowed in Weatherford. Before we headed to Pops and Lolly's we took some snow pictures outside:



I challenge YOU! See the rules above! You never know what you might find.

You know you live in TX when...

The temperature can swing 40 degrees in just a few days. Last week, we enjoyed a beautiful fall-like afternoon at Meme's house. The kids rode their bikes and played in the leaves. Today, just one week later, the temperature did not get out of the 30s today...only in Texas!

Six Flags

For our 7th Anniversary, we postponed our celebrating to make a trip to Six Flags. 3 other families were going and we were offered free tickets for Lamar and I--thanks Tina & Missy! I had not been since college and the girls had never been. I knew it wouldn't be like Disneyland, but we still had a blast! Waiting for the Spelunker Cave (not sure if that's the real name or not)

Joe, Emme, Karsyn & Landrie on the kid roller coaster. Landrie was nervous (no surprise), but ended up really enjoying it.

Campbell and Karsyn on the Spinning Cups. It is still one of Karsyn's favorites after Disneyland.

Missy and the girls on the trucks.

The girls also did the snow hill while Lamar and I went on the Superman Tower of Power. That was a crazy ride - freefalling over and over again. After a few more kiddie rides, I went on the Titan before we went home. That was definitely the best roller coaster I've ever ridden.

It was a great family fun day! We celebrated our anniversary the next 3 days while Gigi and Grandpa kept the girls! Thanks for giving us a break!!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was even more fun than last year! Santa left footprints with baking powder "magic snow" from the fireplace to the girls presents.

As we did last year, Lamar and I couldn't sleep, so we woke the girls up around 7-7:30. I walked in to their room to find them both passed out asleep. Karsyn looks like she's even faking she's laying so perfect. The second we mentioned Santa, she woke up immediately and ran down the hall. It was priceless! Unfortunately, it was too dark to catch her running to the living room.

Landrie was very impressed by how BIG Santa's boots were. She had to check them out in her new pink boots.

After we opened gifts at home, Landrie had a few minutes to check out her books from her stocking.

The girls gifts have already gotten great use over the last 3 weeks! The Leapster is probably the favored gift of '08, but the bean bag chairs and pink boots run a close 2nd and 3rd.

After our family Christmas, we headed to Pops and Lollys for even more fun. The girls' big present was a Barbie Jeep or "Beach" as Karsyn calls it. They were so excited to try it out! We took it outside and told them they could try it out after we opened their other presents.


Landrie was completely unimpressed with the clothes that she got, but we saved the present she had asked for most for very last...


The Puppy Grows and Knows Your Name! She had been begging for the dalmation since before Thanksgiving! No surprise, the girl was asking for another animal! :) You plug this puppy into the computer and program it to say your name and the dog's name. She named her puppy Lulu - which is also one of Landrie's many nicknames.



Karsyn got a Princess Bike for Christmas! She loved it and will hopefully encourage Landrie to ride her bike that's over a year old!

After breakfast and Christmas with Grandma, we came home for a long nap. We still had one more Christmas to go at Meme and Papa's with all of our cousins. Santa even came to visit!


The kids all had so much fun! It was a zoo as usual, but we tried to remember the real reason for Christmas by having a birthday cake for Jesus. All of the kids circled around to help blow out the candles.

We had a great Christmas season surrounded by all of our family and friends! 2008 was full of blessings and I can't wait to see what is in store for the rest of 2009!

Christmas Continued - Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve, we had a very relaxed dinner at our house and opened our presents from the siblings. Presents from Pops and Lolly had to wait until Christmas Day. After dinner and presents, we played some games - including Guitar Hero. We made Lolly try it, but she didn't think it was too much fun.

Lamar and Landrie decorated Christmas cookies for Santa.

Jordy and Landrie

Karsyn opening her present from Justin - a Barbie coloring game

The tree decorated WITH presents under it. That lasted all of 24 hours!

After everyone left, we took the girls outside so they could sprinkle the magic reindeer dust that Landrie got at school. It has oats and glitter in it so that the reindeer will smell the oats and see the shiny gold glitter and know to come to our house.

It definitely worked because the girls had quite the Christmas!!!

No surprise...

We failed at PT AGAIN! Karsyn is just not into it at all. I hate to keep writing about the details of her bathroom issues, but seriously I don't get it. She definitely has control issues...not sure where she gets that from at all! Haha!

Going back to school today wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I'm guessing day 2 will hit me harder than today.

Off to bed to tackle another day...

PT Update (Day 2 Update at bottom)

Day 1 ended without much success yesterday. We went through 3 pairs of Dora panties and 2 pairs of Princess panties without ever going on the potty. Ugh! I'm hoping that Day 2 will be more successful.

As I've often teased...It's a good thing she's cute!


Update: Day 2 wasn't any better - maybe even worse. Without going in to details, I'll just say it was a messy day especially for Daddy. He was on duty while I worked out and he got the brunt of the work. I'm not sure what to do next. She recognizes what she's done after the fact. Any suggestions? Bribery and big sisters encouragement have not been enough. I've used the timer method too.

The BIG P.T.

I am up WAY too early on my last weekday of vacation. Landrie had a bad dream and I couldn't fall asleep after getting her and Karsyn back to sleep.

The girls spent 3 days with Gigi & Grandpa this week and while I loved my freedom, I am thrilled to have them back at home with me. All is right in the world now.

Here's a couple of silly Karsyn pictures from last week. She loved playing in Sydney's dress up clothes and Stacy caught some great pics!

Today is a big day for Sweet Karsyn...No More Diapers! We're making a really big deal about it this time and she seems excited. We took her to buy the panties that she wanted last night. No surprise, she picked out Dora. As soon as she wakes up, the training will begin. I'm praying for my patience and her interest in the matter. It's beyond time! Not to mention, her daycare Lolly doesn't want her to come back unless she's wearing panties. Wish us luck!