Go Longhorns!!

We are cheering on the start of hopefully a great season of Longhorn Football!

Free Entertainment is the Best

I definitely enjoy taking my kids to special places or buying them special toys to entertain them, but with rising costs of living, those already limited luxuries are becoming even fewer and farther between. Therefore, I'm even more thrilled than ever when they are easily entertained by the free things in life. Here are a few recent free joys for the kids: dressing up in each other's shoes, playing in packing boxes (plenty of empty ones around our house right now), and playing in the rain in the backyard.

Sea World

Last year we took Aaris to Sea World for the first time and left Titus (then 8 months old) with my parents. She had a blast. This year we took both and they both had a great time. We got there about 9:45 a.m. and stayed until about 7:45 p.m.. Titus did even better than Aaris and didn't sleep a wink until he got in bed that night around 10:30 p.m.. Anything Aaris can do, he thinks he can do, so he stood his ground all day. He did get frightened by the first couple of shows, but by Shamu time he was standing on my lap and intrigued. It was very hot and around 102 degrees that day, but it really helped that there were clouds the first half of the day. We spent about 3-4 hours in the water park which helped a lot. We can't wait for next year. By that time Aaris should be tall enough to ride some of the bigger kid rides. Oh, one fun thing we did this time that we have never done was feed the dolphins. Aaris did great at being patient and waiting for them to come right up to her.

Everything confirmed

(profile of baby's face and chest)


I had another ultrasound yesterday of our third little baby. It was a great appointment. They checked three more times and verified that this is without a doubt a little girl growing inside of me. They checked her weight and she is in the 34%. A normal baby for me. They then spent a long time looking at her heart from all different angles to make sure everything checked out okay. They said it was a perfectly normal heart and looks really good. They then checked my placenta. It has been low in past ultrasounds, and if it didn't move up by delivery I would have to have a c-section. The first time they looked yesterday it was too low. But, then they looked two more times and it was perfectly fine and up out of the way of danger. They concluded that during the first look I must have been having a contraction and it was pushed down. So, all is good for a normal delivery. So, overall, everything was confirmed to be just right and perfectly on track. God is so good and continues to bless us abundantly.

God Must Have Different Plans

Well, just going to let you all know that our house plans just got suddenly changed. We were just informed that the guy buying our house terminated his contract on our house. Therefore, since no one is now buying our house our contract is not valid anymore on the house we were going to buy. For now it's all over. I'm in shock. I'm sad. I'm frustrated. But, at the same time I'm actually amazed at how calm and peaceful I feel. I have been in prayer throughout this process that God take care of us. So, I can only have faith that this is God taking care of us some how and for some reason. Please keep us in your prayers since we will be going through a lot of emotions and decision making about what we want to do next.

House situation Update

Back in June I posted that we were putting our house on the market. Just wanted to update everyone with what is going on. We accepted an offer to sell our house this past Monday. Our buyer needed a quick closing date of Aug. 27th. So, then our hunt was on. We of course went back and visited the house that started our motivation to take the plunge and see if we could sell our house. We also made sure that we looked at every other house possibility: style, location, price, etc.. After looking at all of our long time goals and dreams we decided that we still wanted the original house. You all may think we are crazy because it is an old 1972 fixer-upper. It will take many years of patience and wisdom to get the house to greatness, but we know it has that potential and we are ready for it. So, you all better get ready for some great before and afters. What you all will probably love is what we loved...the backyard. It's GREAT. The house sits on 1.61 acres. It has a pool with an amazing 3 layer deck. It has a run down tennis court and beach volleyball court. And, it has lots of shade from the tress. We look forward to sharing our space with all of you over the years!!!! The house is a little more north than we had originally wanted to move, but it's still closer to Aaron's work than we are now. The house is off of the old 183 north almost to FM 1431. We worked out negotiations on our offer for the house all weekend and signed the final papers yesterday. We will be closing on this house on Aug. 27th as well, but not moving in right away. We probably have about 2 weeks of work to do before we can live there. We wanted to make sure we said a huge "THANK YOU" to all of you that have been praying for our situation.


This is a view from our backdoor looking out at the pool and deck

This is a view from the driveway of the front of the house

This is a view from just right of the pool of the back of the house

First haircut...okay, trim, really

On Monday, July 28, I took Aaris to Great Clips to get her first haircut. One of the hairstylists there goes to my Mom and Dad's church. I told her that I like Aaris having long hair, but that I needed the damaged, uneven parts cut off. Aaris was VERY excited and had been talking about this for months. Yes, that's how long it took me because I just love her long hair. Not very much length came off, but it's healthier and even. Aaris then got her hair dried with a hairdryer for the first time. Her hair looked so pretty all blown out straight. So, it wasn't much of a cut, but it was the official first time.