Merry Christmas

Wishing your family a very Merry Christmas. We have had a very busy year and an even busier few weeks. This was the first year I was done done done with shopping by the first week in December. I just picked up stocking stuffers this week and food for Christmas day. It felt good but I found myself wanting to buy more as it got closer to Christmas because the kids would mention something they forgot or Ashley would say something she needed. This Christmas (like last) we are staying home. I will cook a ham and a crazy amount of side dishes. My mom will be here and my brother and his family will come by. It'll be a very relaxing day. We travel for New Year's to LA to see Aaron's family and to eat some good cookin by his momma. On January 2nd Ashley moves to Austin to attend Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. She has orientation on January 4th and starts on January 7th. I believe she is ready, this is a very exciting and nervous time in her life. It'll be weird moving her into her own apt. I pray she has great room mates and they all get along.
Preston and Lily are well and so very excited for Christmas or Jesus birthday as it's often referred to. Carly is a mover and a shaker. She has learned to scoot and can zone in on the smallest object on the floor and go after it. Within minutes it will be a slobbery mess in her mouth. Christmas day will be fun with this happy girl. Aaron is doing great at work and hasn't traveled much the last quarter. That changes in January when he goes back to Rio (waaaahhhhh wahhhh) He is still on the worship team at church and is playing Sunday as well as Christmas eve.
We hope you all have a safe Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy and Healthy

Yesterday at MOPS a lady gave a devotion before our activities started. She spoke about JOY and how it can't be bought, or manufactured. She went on to tell a story about when her daughter was growing up their house was an "Aggie House" if your from the south you understand but if your not allow me to explain. Aggie's (and any other die hard college from the south) live, eat, sleep and breath all things AGGIE. The lady spoke of how amazing her daughter was and how she made honors and went to leadership programs during the summer at A & M. So imagine the disappointment of her parents when she didn't graduate the top 10% of her class and go on the be an "AGGIE" As the speaker said that "she didn't get accepted" she still had the look of disappointment on her face. I wonder as a mom if her daughter sees that same look when the topic comes up in their household. The daughter goes to Baylor, a great school as well, but it's not A & M. I thought about this story most of the day yesterday. I thought about going through life with the pressure of getting into a school that you personally may or may not want to go to. I thought about the disappointment that the parents must have felt when she didn't get in. And even more the disappointment the daughter must have felt when she let her parents down. Did she though? She graduated with honors, she attended leadership camp every summer, she goes to Baylor. Is she happy? I don't know. I came to the conclusion that I am so glad my parents didn't put pressures like that on me. Granted my childhood was not at all what this girls was. The only pressure my parents put on me growing up was to be HAPPY! Truly happy. My dad used to always ask me "are you happy" sometimes my answer was no. He would reply "then do something about it" and I always did. All I ever want for my kids is to be happy, truly happy. I don't want them to have the overwhelming pressure to go to a college they might not give a crap about. I don't want to live through my kids. I want them to live for themselves and to be HAPPY!

Le Cordon Bleu here she comes!

I could not be more proud of Ashley. She has spent the last 6 months researching and putting forth her best effort and made the decision to go to Le Cordon Bleu. She has been ACCEPTED! She starts in January. It seems so fast. I can't believe she will be 18 next week. I can't believe how fast life passes by. We are so blessed!

Organizing

I used to be soooo very organized and some say I still am. I used to be way more OCD organized before the chaos of kids took over. I have found lately though since the newness of Carly has worn off and life is returning to a routine that I need to get organized. I converted my pantry door into a family go to for sports schedules, appointments, school calendars. I like that it's centrally located, easily accessible and can be hidden. To create I used:

4 pack of cork panels Walmart $5.94
2- 3 pk picture hanging strips from 3m $3.27
1- 2pk spring clips from 3m $5.88
1 desk calendar $3.88
thumb tacks $had at home

I first measured my door. Since my tiles are 12x12 I had to trim an inch off of each tile using a rotary blade. You can use scissors if you don't have a rotary blade. I hung my calendar first since I knew the door know would be in the way. I used the spring clips for it so I could take it off to add dates. I then used 3 strips on each cork panel to hang. You will want to hang the cork panels high enough so the papers you put on it don't hang down where you can't see the calendar. I only used 2 panels from the 4 pack and put the others on the inside of a cabinet we store our medicine in to put emergency numbers and info for babysitters.

I also created an art wall for the kids to hang their pictures on. My Lily is an artist, very crafty and loves to draw. She often makes several pictures a day and wants to tape them all over the house.This art wall is perfect for her to display her art for everyone to see. It's upstairs in the playroom in the hall between Preston and Lily's room.We need some more art on it now. I also plan to get big letters from Hobby Lobby to spell CREATE.
This project was basically free. I raided my husbands tools. I found a picture hanging wire, nails and some Ikea hooks with clips I had leftover from another project. I hung 3 nails. Wrapped the wire around the first nail then the middle then the end. I tried to keep it straight without it being too tight. Hang the clips and add your art. You could easily use paper clips on string, cloths pins or binder clips for this as well. 

A day for remembering.....

With this day 15 mins from being over I decide to blog about this day in our families history. It was 5 years ago that I was 25 weeks pregnant and got the heartbreaking news that we lost baby , Mason, Preston's identical. I still don't understand why stuff like this happens. Not a day goes by that I don't think about that little boy. Read about it here: Triplets

Also on this day 3 years ago we lost our beloved Mama Jean (Aaron's grandmother) She was a fun free spirited lady. I know she would be so proud of her family. We miss her so much and can't believe it's been 3 years. I know she is up in heaven rockin her little Mason in her arms. Read about Mama Jean

Although it's difficult today to see beyond the sorrow,
May looking back in memory help comfort you tomorrow. ~Author Unknown

Anniversary

I could not ask for a better husband, father, and mentor to our family. For our 8th anniversary on July 10 Aaron was out of town in California. I know poor Aaron in Los Angeles for work! So when I realized he would be gone for our anniversary I simply said "bring me something pretty back" Boy did he. First of all when Aaron gives a gift he really thinks about it. He doesn't just go by a random something and put it in a box. He went to High Voltage tattoo studio in Hollywood and purchased an autographed biography from Kat on D. She is a world famous tattoo artist and the star of reality show LA Ink. He then booked 2 flights to LA for he and I to fly out over Labor Day and for me to get a tattoo at High Voltage by one of their amazingly talented artists. He even arranged for his parents to come in from Louisiana to watch the kids. How cool is that? I'm so lucky to have a man that knows exactly what kind of gift I would love.

Destin

Since the day Carly was born we have been over the moon. Obviously because she's the last AND she's the baby. But a few months ago she started having major crying fits at night. I mean wailing from 5-7 every. single. night! So not fun. With Ashley, Preston and Lily I changed their formula to lactose free before they were a month old. With Carly I guess I didn't think to change because her crying was only at night. With the other 3 they spit up alot which was a big red flag, Carly never spits up. Well low and behold last week I switched her formula to a sensitive formula. It has made a huge difference. She is happy! I can't believe it took 3 months to figure it out but hey every kid is different right?!?!?! I wish I would've changed her formula before our trip to Destin.

 

It's been a while

Wow it's been a while. Of course I've been busy. I started volunteering again for Cypress Calling and reopened my embroidery business, Lily Lou Designs. I am only taking a few orders so I don't get overwhelmed. The kids are good. Aaron travels alot. He left for West Africa when Carly was 2 weeks old. He was there for 19 days (I think) It seemed like forever. he was back home a week before he left for Scotland then Newfoundland. The twins have been in VBS for 3 weeks since school let out. Carly is the cutest baby ever. She is cooing and laughing more. So stinking cute. Ashley has a job and has been working alot of hours. Pair that with getting her license and she is busy busy. She still wants to go to college and study nutrition. I am trying to talk her into staying local and going to Lone Star comm. college (you know the cheaper option) but she wants to go around Austin to Blinn or SW. All I see is dollar signs when she says that. Who knows what that girl will do though. She is a free spirit who changes her mind daily. I'll leave you with a few pics. Oh and if you'd like to see my 15 mins of fame check this out. Oil Wives of Cy Fair 

Ashley Lily Carly. She really does look like both my girls!

My dad's side of the family at my brother's wedding.

Presenting baby Carly Jean....... yup it's a girl!!!

This beautiful baby was born on April 16, 2012 at 2:49 pm. Carly Jean weighs 7 lbs 10 oz and is 20 in long. It was so exciting to hear the Dr announce it's a girl. We are over the moon in love and can't wait to share our life with this precious girl.

Baby names

Forgot to share our names:

Carson John

Carly Jean

John was my dad's middle name and Carly Simon his favorite singer. Jean was Aaron's grandmother's name or at least that's what we called her Mama Jean.

32 weeks and nesting

Wow it has flown by so fast. With Ashley I have few belly pics. With the twins I was obsessed with taking a pic every week in front of our fireplace to see my expanding belly. Now I have I think 2 belly pics. I guess it's just different when your pregnant with #4. It's like been there done that ready for baby to be here. At least that's how I feel. We got the bassinet all set up this weekend. Yay baby has a place to sleep. I have a 3 drawer unit in my closet stocked full of new baby essentials: diapers, wipes, neutral color outfits. I did buy a boy footed pajamas and a girl footed pajamas. I'll bring both to the hospital and which ever one I don't use i'll donate to Cypress Calling. Next pack my bag. This should take all of 5 minutes.
Everyone at our house is doing good. Preston and Lily have started t ball. Preston played in the fall so he knows a little about the game. Lily is just happy to be out there with her pink bat and glove! Ashley has her permit and will be fully licensed in July. Wooot! I'm sure we will get her a little beater car so she can get a summer job. Her not working during the school year has worked out great because she has been on honor roll 2 times since school started. It's too hard to work and concentrate on school. She does babysit. She has 3 families that use her regularly. With rodeo she has 3 babysitting jobs this week. Helloooooo being gone for 6 hours and getting paid $10 an hour!!!
When the term nesting comes up wouldn't you think of cleaning out a cabinet or rearranging the fridge? Yea I did that the 2 previous pregnancies! This pregnancy we are doing some major renovations. A few weeks ago while Aaron was in Germany I had our painter come out and paint the 6 unpainted rooms in our house. Tomorrow I am having drapes installed. Aaron and I have gone back and forth for 2 years about the decor (or lack of) Neither of use has a decorating bone in our body. I mean even as far as hanging pictures where. It really is sad. Our houses sit looking unlived for years. Our last house we remodeled the bathroom and replaced floors only to move to Canada a short time later. So we had an interior designer come out and give us some advise. Her first piece of advise and probably the only thing we need to do is add drapes. I know it's so simple so why didn't we have her come out when we first moved in? Intimidation I guess. We were scared of the cost, the advise, the unknown. I wish we WOULD have had her come out the week we moved in but you live and learn. So we have drapes coming, matching pillows and seat covers. We are also finally approved by our homeowners association to add our patio and outdoor kitchen onto our house. Once again something we wanted to do but never did in our old house. We have been in this house 2 years and are glad we are finally doing it. The process has taken a long time to get started. We got the estimate back in August. Decided to go all in in January, submitted the paperwork to the HOA on January 23rd. SO seriously it seems like we have been working on it forever and for them to break ground this week or early next is going to be so awesome. I can't wait to sit on my patio with a fire and drink a glass of wine. So some major nesting going on and we are having a baby in the middle of all this chaos. It will be so worth it when it's all done.

Expert mom?

I surely think not. I often get asked questions about parenting a teen. I guess because my circle of friends all have school agers or preschoolers. The thought of having a teen absolutely scares the crap out of them. I am no expert but I have made my fair share of mistakes and definetly learned alot in the process. I received a piece of advice from my {wise} aunt Diana when Ashley was probably 15. It was right at the beginning of the troubles we HAD. (HAD, thank God) Aunt Diana said "pick your battles" At first I was like what the hell everything is a battle. That was her point. Everything shouldn't be a battle. What shoes to wear was not as big of a deal as homework. What color to dye your hair is not that big of a deal as coming home at curfew. I have used this piece of advice alot especially lately with the twins. If Preston says he's done at dinner that's fine but he is warned that there will be no more food until breakfast. He will not starve so cramming food down his throat is only going to lead to a huge battle and eventually end up with him either losing story time or gong straight to bed. Lily has started to want to pick out her own clothes and put on her own shoes, WITHOUT socks! This drives me crazy but really in the grand scheme of things who cares if she doesn't have on socks and her shoes are on the wrong feet. At least she put them on herself and is pretty proud that she accomplished that.
I am less controlling with the twins than I was with Ashley but there are still rules and consequences.

Happy New Year

Our 2012 started out with lots of excitement. We headed home from the annual beach house trip on Monday. As we got home I started to clear out the car from the cups and trash that usually collects on road trips. As Aaron was unpacking the car he sees me messing with the garbage disposal for some reason it stopped right after I turned it on. He opened the cabinet under the sink and starts messing with it. As he does that I stick my hand in and all I hear is the roar of the garbage disposal. He accidentlly hit the button not knowing I was still messing with it. Thankfully I hit the button very quickly and had my dish gloves on. My ocd side would never touch food inside a garbage disposal blah! At first I thought my finger was broke..... it seriously hurt so bad. I took the glove off to asses the damage. All I saw was blood and I got really dizzy. I laid down in the middle of the stairs and really felt like I was going to pass out. My finger swelled quickly so we decided to go to the emergency room. After a few hours, xrays and some pain reliever the Dr said it wasn't broken but bruised and that it would be in pain for a few weeks.
Today we just had a busy day making up for all the lazy days we've had the past few weeks. We have a long list of things that we need to get done this week since Aaron is off and the kids go back to school tomorrow. Today we started with getting my car worked on. We got the brakes changed, rear bearings replaced, all fluids flushed and a 100k mile tune up. We figure if we are going to keep it we might as well get these things done before it breaks. We also took Lily for her f/u to the allergy Dr. The Dr thinks she has eczema but started her on a new regimen of creams and we are to f/u in 2 weeks. If this new regimen doesn't work we will be referred to a dermatologist. Also today Ashley started drivers ed. In 4 short weeks she will have her driver's license. Look out Cypress there will be another teen driver on the road. Good thing she is nervous nelly when it comes to driving. Hopefully she will stay that way.
Tomorrow we are going home decor shopping. We have lived in our house for almost 2 years and we have yet to decorate. Aaron or I have no idea what to do when it comes to decorating. We have decided to enlarge a few family pictures onto canvas and get those framed. We got curtains for the kids rooms and a few wall hangings. We have also decided to add on to our back yard. We got a few estimates back in October and have finally (after lots of research) decided on a company and the design. I can not wait to enjoy our new porch and outdoor kitchen this spring. Stay tuned for lots of before and after pics.

This year is going to be about simplifying and taking it easy. I am researching preschools closer to home, minimizing my volunteer time, and only taking orders for a few weeks at a time. I will completely shut down Lily Lou Designs for 3-4 months once the new baby is born. I have really enjoyed the last few weeks with everyone home. We have spent lots of family time together. I hope this year is filled with simple pleasures.