Gracie is 5! Crazy!

Gracie and GG -5 years ago, I still can't believe it!

Gracie turned 5 on June 30th! I always like to put a baby picture up so I can see how much she's changed over the years. I really don't think she looks anything like her baby pictures. Gracie is so big now. She is so smart and can do so much on her own. She's such a good big sister, most of the time :) She's so loving and sweet with Brenna; she and Caden have more of a rival relationship but I know they will be good friends. She is REALLY looking forward to kindergarten in August. I, on the other hand, am not! She has grown too big too fast for my liking. :) But I am excited for her to start a new chapter in her life. I know it's a good thing; I'll come around eventually :)

Anyway, here are some pictures from her party! Her imagination is very busy and she requested a "flying unicorn princess castle" cake. I cheated a little with the toys on top, but she was happy and so am I!

Christy came up with the idea to make these unicorn cupcakes and I think they turned out pretty cute, too! ( I know, they kinda look like pigs, just use your imagination :)

Mimi and Brenna

Harrison made a good shot. Everyone had fun playing in the gym!

Caden was not into taking pictures... typical. :)

Great Grandma, Papa and Brenna

Gracie with her cake and cupcakes

Those are some cute girls!!

Me, mom and Christy

GG and the Birthday Girl

Great Grandma and Grandpa

Cuties!!

They are too cute!

Gracie's favorite present!

Great Grandma and Brenna had fun walking together!

Please Pray for Callie

Cute little Callie!

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Life with three kids is busy; good, but busy! And in the last few weeks our little world was shaken by cancer in our friend's family - the Cochrans. On Monday, June 20th, they found out that their little girl, Callie, who will be 2 in August, had a tumor in the back of her head. They went to Cooks Children's Hospital that night and the next day they did more tests to plan the next step. On Wednesday the 22nd, Callie underwent surgery to remove the fist sized tumor that was displacing and surrounding the back of her brain. The surgery went really well and they were able to remove all of the tumor. The tumor practically fell out because it was only attached to the brain stem in one small spot - a very good outcome for this type of cancer which usually has many attachment points. Callie's recovery from the surgery has been up and down. She could open her eyes and mover her body, but she was in a lot of pain and was uncomfortable. She also has had problems swallowing, and with excess fluid on her brain. She had lots of ups and downs over the next week -good days and bad, but is now doing well considering all that she has been through. Now she can talk, walk with help and play. She still has a feeding tube because of her problems swallowing, but they hope that she'll be able to swallow soon and have it removed. She still has a long road ahead of her, though. Her tumor was identified as a stage 3 anaplastic ependymoma, which is the more aggressive of that type. She will have to endure 6 weeks of radiation that will take place in Houston. She did have a Lumbar Puncture or LP and found that her spinal fluid was clear of cancer cells, a HUGE praise! As of right now she is still recovering at Cooks, but will travel to Houston in the coming weeks to have her radiation treatments. Please join me in prayer for this sweet little girl and her family. We've known the Cochrans for about 8 years and it's been so hard to see them have to go through this. They are a great Christian family and they have been a great testimony of how to rely on God even in the tough times. My prayer is that Callie will have complete healing and that God will be glorified by the miracle of her healing! And please pray for Callie's big brother, Carson. He's been here without his famliy for most of the time they've been at Cooks, and I know it's been hard on him and his mom and dad. Thank you for your prayer support!

The Cochrans: Carson (4), Courtney, Phil and Callie

If you would like to keep up with Callie and her journey you can go to:

www.caringbridge.org/visit/calliecochran . There is an online journal with all the details of her story so far. They ask for your email address so they can send you emails when the page is updated, which has been almost every day. There are also many specific prayer requests if you would like to continue to pray for her. :)

My Crazy Kids!

May 2011

I can't believe that May went by so quickly! This whole year has gone really fast so far. And I'm sure that it will just continue to get faster with Gracie starting school this fall. Where have the past 5 years gone?!??! Anyway, here are some pictures from our May adventures :)

My BFF that I've known since the church nursery got married on May 7th! Bree looked absolutely amazing and the wedding and reception were perfect!

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Shaw!

(I've said it before; they are gonna have some cute kids!)

Thanks to Facebook I have some pictures of the great day... I completely forgot my camera at home. Thanks to whoever took these great pictures!

The next weekend we got to go to Graham! We had a good time visiting with friends and family. I ran a 5K on Sat morning and then, after lunch, the kids and I went to ride horses with Grandpa (David) and some friends. We rode at the arena so we could have some shade, and I'm so glad we did. It was so much fun to ride Boss and Belle.

Caden is on Boss and Gracie is on Belle.

Gracie wanted to ride the girl horse :)

I got to ride, too!

Happy kids!

Well, Jason had to take his annual trip to Wyoming to check cattle. He was gone for about 4 days and got to see alot of pretty countryside. He spent over 40 hours driving and made it home safely. Here are a few of his pictures.

Gracie (almost 5), Brenna (1), Caden (3)

Brenna finally let me put her hair 'up'!

Typical Brenna - she has dirt all in her mouth. She eats ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!

Swim time! She just woke up and her hair looks it!

Gracie, my helper!

The water might be a little cold :)

Welp, that's about it for May! Maybe I'll blog a little more in June! :)

April Catch Up!

April was a BUSY month! We had my birthday, Brenna's First birthday, LOTS of pageant with practices and performances, Easter, hail and a wedding!

This is me and Stephi! I got to be one of the llama leaders in our Easter pageant this year! It was a lot of fun getting to know the llamas! I think I will have one whenever we have a place to keep it! They are so sweet! I took these pictures during out last performance which was the day before Easter.

This is Brenda May and Jo with Magi - the newest addition to the May Farm. Brenda owns the May Farm that's just outside of Hawley. She LOVES her animals and takes every opportunity to let others (especially kids) enjoy them as well.

After our last performance, we went to Abuelo's to eat with mom, dad, Jeremy, Ford and Donna. I love Abuelos! Then we came home to egg hunt and play! Mom got the kids some confetti eggs and they loved them! We celebrated Easter a day early since we were already all together :)

Jason let them have a few shots...

each....

then he got them back!

Brenna would rather swing!

I think she ate some confetti, too.

On Easter Sunday we got all dressed up and went to church. It was a really good service. Several people gave their testimony and a couple of people were baptised. We went home and ate and then that's when the weather started. We were watching the news when I heard a strange noise. I turned down the TV to hear the sound of the coming hail as it hit the houses and cars in our neighborhood. It was crazy!

The one on the left is the kids softball and the one on the right is a hail stone.

Most of it was ping pong ball size or smaller, but the big ones did alot of damage. We're getting a new roof!

We got to see most of my dad's side of the family when my cousin Carrie got married at the end of April. Unfortunatley, I forgot about my camera (really, I was just too busy trying to keep 3 kids contained and happy) so I didn't get any pictures of the wedding. I got some of the car ride to Waco though :) I know, the important stuff, right!

Stubborn little toot! She cried off and on for 45 min before she finally gave up and went to sleep!

Caden watched his movie and did great!

Jason was SUPER excited about a 4 hour car drive with 2 kids!!

Well, it's not their wedding picture, but it's a good one! Congrats to Carrie and Jason Sheppard!