Once Upon a Dream

Big COWBOY Birthday!

2011-08-31T06:55:00.000-07:00

Chad's 2nd birthday party was a big success... minus the sweltering heat! It was 108 degrees on the day of the party and the location was the beautiful, yet not air conditioned, Express Clydesdales barn in Yukon. Even though the heat was horrible that day the kids still seemed to have a great time.

This was the massive Clydesdale barn

The yummy cake pops I made that melted in the heat. :(

Cupcakes, again by me.

Chad LOVED all 4 of his cupcakes! We gave in since it was HIS birthday and all.

Cutie BOOTie!

Love his boots... they are actuall Gibson's old boots but we plan to get both boys a new pair of boots for Christmas.

Miss Emma! This is Gibson's girlfriend, her Mommy is my best friend so they just HAVE to end up together one day!

Miss Paige... she has twin brothers who will be turning one in November. I dont know how her Mommy does it, but its amazing. Isn't Paige just too cute?

Chad enjoyed exploring the farm.

Gibson LOVED the horses!!

One of the many beautiful Clydesdales.

Someone needs a teeth cleaning!

The staff member that gave us the tour of the facility and showed us the clydesdale, BIG JACK I think was his name, showed us the difference between a normal horseshoe and a Clydesdale horseshoe.

Ms. Ashley (Gibson's teacher from last year) and Reis. I absolutely adore this picture for so many reasons.

Ericka and Rilee! Love these two girls!

Gerod and Chad touching the Clydesdale. It took Chad a little while to warm up to him, I mean he was HUGE, but once he did he loved it.

We had a great time celebrating Chad's 2nd birthday! I cant believe my baby boy is already 2... time sure is flying by for our little family of four!

The worst day of my life

2011-06-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

I have not blogged in a very long time. I have been overcome with grief, sadness and so many more emotions that I didn't even know existed. I hope to never go through the pain that my family and I have gone through these past couple of weeks ever again.

I'll start from the beginning...
Saturday May 21, 2011
This was the day that everything started.
The boys were already in bed when we got the phone call... Gerod's Granddaddy died in a motorcycle accident driving home from his lake house. Gerod was crushed. I have never seen him so broken. All I knew to do was to hold him, allow him to cry and comfort him to the best of my ability. It was a horrible night.

Monday May 23, 2011
We made the long drive to Gerod's hometown in TX for the funeral that was to be held on Wednesday.This was actually a really good day, the drive went well and we slept well after we arrived late that night.

Tuesday May 24, 2011
Another tough day as this was the day of the viewing. Gerod's Granddaddy looked really good and we were able to say our goodbyes. It was a very emotional time for all of us as Gerod and his Granddaddy were always very close. He was in perfect health so this was just the most unexpected tragedy that we could imagine. Little did we know things were about to get much worse.

Wednesday May 25, 2011
We woke up and got dressed for Gerod's Granddaddy's funeral service. We made the drive to town and met with the family at Gerod's Granddaddy's home. The service was so large they had to hold it at the civic center and it was beautiful. Afterward Gerod and I talked to some of our friends and I was able to speak with both of my grandparents and my parents who all came to the service. I hugged my grandparents and said goodbye because they were not going to attend the grave side part of the service.
The burial service was led by the Masons of the Masonic Lodge that Granddaddy had been a part of for most of his life and they did a beautiful job.

Little did I know that my whole life was changing during that service.

When the family arrived at the church for the meal that was to be provided to us there was quite a lot of talk going around. We found out that my grandmother had been in a serious accident and was in the hospital in the town. Panicking, Gerod and I rushed to the hospital. When we got inside I told them who I was looking for and they asked me to give them some of her information. At this point I wondered why my grandpa hadn't given them this information, where was he? Moments later a nurse came out of he ER and told me that I could see my grandma and that she was ok. I was confused, overwhelmed, scared and anxious all rolled into one. Once I got into the room and saw that my grandma was responsive and able to speak to me I immediately felt better. She was in serious condition but otherwise really didn't look all that bad. She asked where my grandpa was and I told her I would find out. I told her that everything would be ok.

At this point they told me they were going to medi-flight her to a bigger hospital about 30 min away and that I would need to sign some forms to release her. I asked a nurse where the other three people were that were in the car with my grandma and she didn't respond. It was like a movie, everyone was looking at me, hearing my words, but no one was saying anything. After asking multiple times a trooper finally walked over to me and said the words that will forever haunt me, "Ma'am, the two males are deceased"... what he said next I am not sure of, I completely lost it. The "two males" were both of my grandpas... my only two grandpas... they were two amazing men in my life, and they were gone.I had just seen them not even an hour earlier and they were gone! As I type this my heart breaks all over again. I kept thinking this all just had to be a dream, no, a nightmare. How could they be gone?

They took Gerod and I back to an empty part of the hospital where I cried hysterically. About that time my parents walked in. No one had told them yet.
I didn't realize until later that I am the one who told my mom; I am the one that told my Mom that her father and father-in-law had just died. I don't know if I will ever be okay with that.
Then it was time to make phone calls, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters, Brothers... we called them all.

I felt numb, as my parents, Gerod and I all drove to the hospital to check on my Grandma as well as my Grandpas girlfriend who was also in the accident.
When we arrived at the hospital we found that we would not be allowed to see my Grandma until after her surgery, but we were able to see my Grandpas girlfriend before they wheeled her to surgery. She seemed to be alright but was also in very serious condition.

In the waiting room, surrounded by family on both my Mom and Dad's sides I wondered how something like this could happen. I couldn't imagine that it was all real. It couldn't be real?!?

Around 9pm we were able to go in to the ICU unit to see my grandma and my grandpas girlfriend. My grandma was alert and asked the question we were all dreading hearing, "Where is Jim (my grandpa)"?
My Mom, her sister, and my grandmas sister had all decided to tell her the truth if she asked this question. I am sure that my grandmas heart broke in the instant that she heard the news. My grandparents had just recently celebrated their 55 year anniversary. Just heartbreaking.

That night Gerod and I drove back to his hometown with his parents to stay one more night. We left the boys with his parents and we stayed in a hotel. Even though the kids weren't with us I still struggled with sleep. I woke up frequently, crying and didn't get good rest at all.

Thursday May 26, 2011
The next morning we prepared to drive back to the hospital but then decided to go back to my hometown instead. We ended up traveling on the same road that the accident happened on. I thought I was prepared, I thought I would be fine, but that was anything but the case. As we turned onto the main road in town I felt my fingertips starting to tingle and then it crept into my hands and arms and then my whole body was numb. I couldn't breath, it was like the air had been sucked out of my body and I cried uncontrollably. My hands and arms went stiff and I had no clue what was happening to me. Gerod got me to my parents house as quickly as he could and once I got home my family got me calmed down, and they told me I had probably just experienced a panic attack. It was the craziest thing to ever happen to me, although I guess the entire situation is just the craziest thing to ever happen to me.

Continued later...

Evals... Oh how I am sick of evals!

2011-05-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

Gibson has an evaluation tomorrow with a doctor that can diagnose ADD/ADHD. Yet another evaluation for one of our little guys. As much as I dislike taking the boys to doctors for evaluations I am excited to find out if Gibson indeed has something else going on. We shall see how it all works out, I am just glad we are finally getting this checked out.

I will also be calling an ENT (Ear Nose & Throat doctor) tomorrow because Chad failed his second Tempanogram (?) test the other day during his evaluation with Sooner Start (which he qualifies for... more to come on that and what all services he will be receiving). I am hoping that because Chad flat lined on both the Tempanogram tests that tubes might possibly solve our problems and he may not have Autism after all. I am not going to get my hopes up but I am also going to try not to dwell on the fact that its still a definite possibility.

I am also calling up some doctors to see if I can get my shoulder situation figured out. I swear, after this is all said and done I don't want to see another doctor for a while. hahaha! Doesn't look like that will ever happen though.

I will update with our results from the doctors appt sometime tomorrow (or today since its 2am)!

Piece Walk - Oklahoma

2011-05-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

We participated in the Oklahoma Piece Walk today and it was a blast. We got to enjoy the beautiful weather and were able to see all of our friends. It was a great morning!

Gibson was so excited!

Mommy and Gibson (this was the best picture we got)

Waiting for the walk to start!

Not sure what this face is, but it sure is cute!

Love him!

Gibson LOVED playing the chimes at the music station they had setup. We may have to get him signed up for some kind of music therapy soon!

Our entire group, not bad since we were a little behind on signing up for the event! :)

We had so much fun but we wish that Daddy could have been off of work to join us. That would have made the morning even better.

Next year Gerod and I are thinking about taking on the 5K together as well as raising some money and getting a team together for the walk. I cant wait for next May! :)

Thank you!

2011-05-03T09:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your sweet comments and emails! :) God sure gave me great friends who stick by my side when I need them the most!

A bit of heartache

2011-04-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

I have been on the phone a lot today; scheduling appointments, calling the insurance company, and so on. I took Chad into the doctor last Thursday and he said what I have been thinking for a while now, "I am seeing some things that Gibson started doing at this age that concern me Callie". Oh goodness, and there go the waterworks. I have talked about this with Gerod, our small group and even on the blog but I guess I kept thinking and hoping that it was something else. Maybe there is a hearing issue? Maybe he is just mimicking behaviors that he sees in Gibson?

We obviously don't know for sure yet, but I kind of feel in my heart that something is off. I keep telling myself that I CANT do this! I CANT have 2 children with Autism, I just CANT. However in the same breath I hear God telling me that I CAN and that he chose me for a reason.

Chad will be evaluated in September to find out for sure if it is anything Autism related or just a speech delay or hearing problems. I don't know what the outcome will be, I am not a doctor, but I cant seem to shake that nagging feeling I have like I got with Gibson.

Something just isn't right here.

Some days I think about it and I cry, the tears flow and I just cant seem to shake them. There are other days when I can talk out loud about my thoughts and fears and not even shed one single tear.
All I know is that for some reason God knows I am strong enough to handle this. I don't know if I believe it, but God only gives us what we can handle. I know that there is some divine purpose to all of this and maybe one of these days I will find out the true plan.

Until that time I cherish everything that is going on with my children. Gerod and I couldn't be more pleased with the progress that Gibson is showing, and we are ready for Chad to get started on his journey of therapy as well. Our first meeting with Sooner Start in Tuesday, May 10th. We will get an evaluation from them on the kinds of services that Chad will receive (I know he will qualify) and then we can finally get the ball rolling.

I should be getting a call back from the doctor who will see Gibson soon to get him evaluated for ADHD. I have thought that ADHD might be another issue for Gibson but had been reluctant to ask our pediatrician if we could get him evaluated, but as soon as I brought it up he agreed that it would be good to get Gibson tested and gave me two doctors numbers on the spot. *I love our pediatrician by the way, he is AWESOME!*

So anyway, that is what is going on here! We have a lot on our plate right now and we are just trying to take it all in.
I know I have promised MANY times to keep this thing up to date, and I promise yet again that I will get better about it. I think sometimes I stretch myself a bit thin and I need to sit down and re-evaluate some things I have going and maybe give up one or two things to make my days a bit more stress free!

I will keep you all updated on what we find out.

Tomorrow we leave for Texas to visit family. It should be a nice break or us, and LOTS of Mexican food for this Texan born, Texan bred Momma!! I am ready!

Today

2011-04-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

There are sermons that hit you smack dab in the face and make you realize who is really in control.
I very much enjoyed the sermon at our church today in which the Pastor talked about having trust in God. It kind of hit me like a ton of bricks that God is in control, not that I didn't know that before, but sometimes I need to be reminded I guess.
In the sermon our Pastor talked about a book called Sabbatical Journey by Henri Nouwen. In the book the writer talks to trapeze artists and how the "flier" has to trust the "catcher" to catch her. In the same way our Pastor talked about how we must "let go and wait for God". We want to "reach out but we must wait in absolute trust that God will reach out and catch us".
God has his hand in everything! Sometimes I forget that he is right here when I need him. He is here beside me when I have a bad day and feel like I just cant take anymore. He is here with me when I rejoice and he is rejoicing with me. I only hope that I remember to seek God ALL the time, not just when I feel like I need him the most.
I appreciated today's sermon so much with everything we have gone through in the past year with Gibson. God has been right there ready to catch us when we need him the most, I just need to remember that.

P.S. I promise to update with new pictures really soon by the way!

Autism Screening

2011-04-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

We had Chad's Autism Screening on Tuesday afternoon. During the screening the screener had him play with toys and tried to get him to interact with her in certain ways and she would score him. After the screening was over we went over his score. She told me that for his age he should score less than a 2.75 and he scored a 2.75. Since he scored right on the cutoff and because Gibson has Autism she suggested we get an evaluation because she is not certified to give a diagnosis.
We have already contacted Sooner Start, the program that Gibson was in until he was 3, and they should be contacting us for his initial evaluation soon. On top of that we will be contacting a few of the doctors here in OKC and possibly the doctor we used in Lubbock to get Chad evaluated.
I feel like we are going through deja vu here in our house right now. Chad and Gibson couldn't be more different if in fact Chad is also on the spectrum, but at least we know more about Autism and have a few more resources this time around in case we get a positive diagnosis for Chad.
I will keep everyone informed of what we find out.

All about Gibson

2011-04-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

I am very sad. Gibson has an AMAZING teacher at his school that does so well with him and I found out recently that she will not be coming back next year. She would have been his teacher for another two years but since she is leaving he will have a new teacher. With our plans of selling the house (which isn't even in the beginning stages of getting an offer right now) we don't know if we should stay in the same school district that we are in or if we should move to a new area. It is so difficult to make decisions that can so greatly effect your child. Gibson truly needs a teacher who can understand his trials and can help him work through them.
I am amazed at the amount of compassion from the teacher he has now and I wonder if we will find such an amazing person again. Can we get that lucky twice? I sure hope so, but in the meantime if you all can be praying that we make the right decisions in Gibson's future schooling. It is something that since we found out that he was on the spectrum has been one of my biggest fears; not getting him in the right place where he can maximize all of the potential that I know is inside him. I think there is a lot of research in my future of other school possibilities.

I also want to say a big thank you to all of our friends and family who wore BLUE yesterday (April 2nd) in honor of National Autism Awareness Day. It is amazing to see everyone show their support of Gibson and our family. We love you all and are so thankful that we have your love and support for Gibson. I know that there are more struggles ahead, but that only means that there will be even more for us to celebrate when those struggles are overcome. We have already come so far in such a short period of time. Thank you all!
We have already started raising money for Autism Speaks and you can access our page here if you want to donate to help fund research for Autism in Gibson's name. This year our goal is to triple our fundraising last year which means I would like to raise $3000 or more! Please help us reach this goal. AND Mark your calendar to walk with us in October. I would love to have 25 or more people walking with us. You need to register if you plan on walking with us.

I am such a bad blogger...

2011-04-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't noticed, those of you that actually "follow" my blog, I have been a really bad blogger lately. We have been so busy sometimes I cant even see straight. Not only am I wife, mother of two, Photographer, and Jeweler for Premier Designs but I also just recently started selling Rodan & Fields skin care line. They are an amazing company that I will talk much more about later and if your interested in hearing about the products let me know, but again that's for another post.

Lately things have been going pretty good here. Gibson is doing really good and has only had a few recent tantrums that have been extreme. He is doing well in school and getting better in his new Mothers Day Out program at our church. One of the directors actually gave me the best book the other day called "Autism Alleluias" which is a devotional book written by the mother of an Autistic son. It is really a blessing to read some of these stories and I cant say enough thanks for the generosity of the director who thought enough of me to get me this book.

Chad is doing well too, although we are a bit concerned with his delayed speech and will be getting an evaluation on him on Tuesday. I can talk more about that after we have the evaluation. We also converted Chad's bed to a toddler bed the other day and he is actually doing very well with the change, it is amazing how quickly he adjusts to change.

Gerod and I are doing well too. Just enjoying life with two little men! Its definitely crazy around here but every day is a blessing and even though we don't see it as such sometimes we know how truly blessed we are.

Pictures to come later when it isn't so late and I am not so tired. I better head to bed now because I am taking the boys to the zoo tomorrow morning with some friends. I will be bringing the camera of course and should get lots of pictures of the kiddos!!

ABC's will never be the same...

2011-02-28T22:07:00.000-08:00

For 2 years Gibson barely said a word... he wouldn't sit still long enough to "read" a book or be read to... he was very behind in many areas but we were working with a therapist and knew that one day he would start to get better. I know there are many children out there on the spectrum who never speak. I have a few friends whose children are in those situations, so I knew it was a possibility that Gibson might never talk. Remembering those hard times make the little things, that many parents take for granted, so special to us.

Gibson has a bedtime routine that is pretty consistent every night. He goes into his room, chooses a book (usually his ABC book), reads it to us, turns off the light on his own, gets into bed, sings us "Jesus Loves Me" and then sings his "ABC's" then tells us "Goodnight" and proceeds to say "Shut the door" before we walk out into the hall. Sometimes he even says "I love you" before we kiss him goodnight. These are moments that I never was fully sure would happen for us. We cherish them every single night and I am so thankful that we were able to capture Gibson reading to us one night a few weeks ago. Its amazing the progress he has made in only a years time!

How cute is that little man? We are so proud of him and the progress he has made in such a short period of time. We had a Parent/Teacher conference with his teacher the other day and she feels that with the progress he has made already that by the time he enters kindergarten he should be able to be in a typical classroom. :) We are SO happy to hear this news!

Once I get around to it I will be posting pictures from Gibson's Valentines Day party at school.

BIG DEALS!

2011-01-22T20:53:00.000-08:00

I bought all of this for only $25!! It was originally $64!!

Some people aren't into clipping coupons. I used to be one of those people. I thought that the people that clipped coupons were weirdos that weren't really going to save that much money in the end. Then I went to a coupon class at my church. The lady that taught the class has a family of seven (2 adults and 5 kids), they used to spend over $1000 at the grocery store every month which is pretty close to what I spend for our family of 4. However this lady now spends less than $300 per month on EVERYTHING... produce, normal groceries, and toiletry items. I thought that this lady must be spending literally ALL of her time working on her coupons but I found out that you can do it all fairly easily. This was my first "real" coupon trip and I saved almost $40! That's insane. If I go to the store 3 more times this month that means I will save over $160 and spend about $100. I am sure there are a few little things that I need to purchase in the beginning that wont be on sale or have a coupon but in the end I will be able to save a lot of money. This is great for anyone in any situation... Married, Single, Kids, No Kids... Anyone likes to save a buck or two.
If you are at all interested in saving some money please check out the website www.couponcloset.net you will fall in love with coupons and how easy it is to save money.

Good luck in all of your future money saving adventures! :)

Spelling our name!

2011-01-21T10:51:00.000-08:00

Gibson has impressed us so much in the last year with everything he has learned and how far he has come since November of '09 when he wasnt hardly talking at all. Now he is spelling out his name and knows what he spelled. We are amazed!

Save a Penny...

2011-01-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

I went to the coupon class at my church tonight with lots of girls from out Sunday School class. I learned a lot more this time around than I did the first time and I am hoping to really dive into the world of couponing now! If you are interested in learning some of the things we learned in class go to www.couponcloset.net
The information is a little overwhelming at first but it is amazing what this lady saves every month and I hope that I can do the same. :) We are making some changes in our house over the next year or so and this will help us out a ton!!
More to come on our money saving ventures!! :)

You dont understand...

2011-01-13T20:15:00.000-08:00

Gerod and I decided to take the family to Jason's Deli after church on Sunday. On Sunday our Jason's Deli is extremely busy because of the church crowd. When we got to the restaurant there were quite a few people there but it wasn't packed until about 15 min later. We got the boys in high chairs and Gerod got into the long line to place our order. Sitting at the table trying to entertain a tired 1 year old and a 3 year old with a short attention span is, needless to say, VERY difficult!
As I was waiting for Gerod to finish up in the long line I noticed a family with a Mom and Dad around my parents age and their kids (I assume) that were probably close to my age. They sat down after us at a table right next to where we were sitting.
Gibson was getting restless and although he was making very little noise he was being somewhat irritating pushing his high chair backwards and then pulling himself back up to the table. I asked him to stop, quietly, a few times. The entire time he was doing this the Mom from the table next to us kept glaring at Gibson. Once he stopped doing messing with his chair he decided it would be fun to play with the pepper shaker. At one point it slid across the table and fell on the floor right next to the foot of the Mom at the next table. The son picked up the pepper shaker and handed it to me, to which I apologized for Gibson's accident. The Mom again glared at Gibson then turned to her family and said the following: "If you kids ever acted like that out in public I would have taken you outside. You guys never acted like that in public though. Its so irritating when parents don't make their children behave." It took all of my strength not to fly across the table and give that lady a piece of my mind. First of all, no child is a saint and I am quite sure that at some point her children were obnoxious in public. Secondly, Gibson was not being bad... yes he wasn't listening to me very well but I have had many worse situations with him and in my opinion he was being very good.
Situations like this infuriate me because the people that talk badly about my child for one have no right to talk bad about him like that and two they have no idea of the struggles that Gibson is faced with daily. I don't understand why other people out there think they are so much better than others especially when they have no clue of the situation that they are talking badly about.
With that being said I hope that I can ask everyone that reads this blog a big favor... If you see a Mom struggling with her child don't automatically come to a swift judgement about her and her parenting style. You never know what is REALLY going on there. I ask that you maybe give a helping hand or give her an encouraging word, not talk bad about her and her child right in front of her. You never know what something as small as asking if you can help her with something or telling her its okay might go. I know that there have been certain situations where people have done this for me and it has almost brought me to tears of thanks.
Acts of kindness can go a very long way!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. I head out to Texas first thing in the morning!

Do you really know?

2011-01-11T22:13:00.000-08:00

Because my Great Grandmother passed away today I have been thinking a lot about life. I spoke with my Dad on the phone tonight and he read me a story that my Great Grandmother wrote about her life; growing up, getting married, having children, owning successful businesses, and seeing the world change around her. There were so many things in the story that I just didn't know about my Grandmother. I guess I just never thought to ask her about her life. Oh there were the stories that I heard over and over again that I could tell lots of people about but truthfully I learned more about my Grandmother in the short time that I was on the phone tonight than I had learned in the 26+ years that I have been alive.
This makes me wonder how much people really know about their family; where family members are from, when they got married, what major world events did they witness that we only get to read about in the history books? I wonder how many people out there were stunned to find out something about a loved one only after they passed on. I know that for me it is a blessing that my Grandmother was asked to write these things down on paper. Now I can share things about her life with my children and in turn they can share them with their children.
I encourage you as I write this, to sit down with an elder in your family and ask them questions. Ask them about how different it was growing up then as opposed to now. I am sure there are many stories to be told and many stories that we will never hear but I know that we will never learn things about our family and its history unless we listen, truly listen to the people that have been through it all before. I hope that I will take this new found knowledge and speak to my living relatives about what things were like back when they were young. I might even take it upon myself to write some of their stories down so that future generations of my family will know about the history of our family.

One last mention about my Grandmother that I thought was too sweet for words:
My uncle sat down with my Grandmother the other day and prayed with her, they prayed that she would accept Christ as her Savior because she couldn't remember if she ever truly had done that. Then she followed by saying that she was 96 years old and she was entitled to forget things *still witty as ever*. She prayed with my uncle so that she would be assured a place in Heaven alongside her two husbands and two of her children (one of whom was my amazing Grandmother; Barbara Ann). I love the song "I Can Only Imagine" and every time I hear it I think of my late Grandmother Barbara and now I know that when I hear it I will think: I can only imagine what fun my family is having in Heaven and I know that I will rejoice when I can see them again!

Jennie Mae

Christmas 2009

God Bless you and your family... please hug and kiss your dear family members because you never really know when they wont be with you any longer.

Great Grandmother

2011-01-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

Today is a sad day, I got a phone call from my Dad earlier who let me know that my Great Grandmother passed away early this morning. It makes me very sad that she is no longer with us but she lived a great life. She died at the age of 96 and she was spunky up till the very end. Here I am with her on Christmas Day.

And here is my Dad with her. She was his only living Grandmother left.

I am so glad that we were able to see her one last time before she passed away. She insisted that we bring the boys over for her to see them. The smile on her face was priceless watching the boys play in her room. Gibson even gave her a kiss and told her bye bye.

I am thankful for her in so many more ways than I can write about. She was an amazing woman and I only hope that I can be like her. I am happy that she went peacefully and that she is doing much better now. She can be with her two late husbands and two of her children up in Heaven. I know that she is rejoicing to be with her family again!

Love you Great Grandma, you will truly be missed!

Clipping Coupons

2011-01-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

One of my goals for 2011 is saving money! One of the ways I plan on saving money is by doing something I made fun of my grandma for doing when I was younger. I always hated going to the grocery store and her pulling out her many coupons just to save some money. I had no clue just how smart she was!
I went to a coupon class back in November and I will be going to another of these classes on January 20th at my church. I cant wait to start working on my spending habits, especially in the grocery store because that is where I spend the most money. I have two boys so spending money on food is something that is NEVER going to go away, that is until they move out but that is far off in the future.
If your interested in attending the class it will be Jan 20th at BFC in Bethany, OK. I look forward to learning more about couponing! One of the girls that teaches the class went from spending over $1000 on groceries every month to spending less than $300!! That is some serious savings!! :)
The coupon website is here!

What's Going On?

2011-01-09T22:39:00.000-08:00

Lots of things going on in our household lately!

Gibson and Chad are no longer in Mothers Day Out. Gibson, unfortunately, has experienced his first sign of discrimination for being "different" from the other kids. Gibson was kicked out of Mothers Day Out because he was "too hard to handle" according to the teachers in his class. I don't feel like standing on a soap box right now but this really frustrates me. I know that sometimes Gibson can be difficult but I don't see how he is so bad that two teachers cant handle him on top of only 7 more students. I could understand if the class were much larger but it isn't. Needless to say Gerod and I decided to take Chad out of the program as well because we didn't think it was fair for Chad to be able to go while Gibson couldn't go.

Now that Gibson is not going to MDO he is in school Monday-Thursday from Noon to 3pm. He LOVES his class and his teacher. I cant say enough about how much I love his teacher and everything she does not only just for Gibson but for all of the other kids in his class. She has a heart of gold and she truly loves those kids! It makes me so happy that we were placed in a class with a teacher like her. Gibson is doing really well at school and I am getting better reports each and every day. I cant wait to see all the changes when May comes around.

Chad is teething like NO OTHER, he is constantly waking up in the middle of the night and it is about to drive Gerod and I crazy. However, we know that this too shall pass and we are looking forward to the time when we can put Chad to bed and he doesn't wake up until morning. Other than that Chad is doing wonderful! He loves his big brother and I am enjoying the fact that they are finally getting along and playing well together.

Gerod and I just celebrated our 6th anniversary and we couldn't be happier. I think we are happier now than we were on the day we got married. We are enjoying our lives together and we are enjoying our children more than we ever could have imagined.
We have some big changes ahead, so if you can please be praying that we make the right decisions. We are very excited about what is in store for our little family of four! More to come on all the changes that are in store for us will be coming soon!

Weight Loss Wednesday!

2011-01-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

I kind of regret saying that I would make Wednesday a post about my weight loss. Not because I am not actually working on it, but rather because I am not usually one to go on about talking about my weight (except to my husband who hears me talk about it all the time).
I started everything off by downloading the "lose it!" app on my phone. It is helping me a ton because I can track all of my calories during the day. I can enter in food that I prepare, or food that we get at a restaurant and I am staying more on track. I have realized though that some of the foods I have been eating in the past are completely horrible for me! You think that because there are veggies in something that it makes it good for you... but there are lots of calories in things I didn't even know about.
Anyway... I am down 3 lbs (who knows if this is real weight or just water weight) but I am down to a number that I have'nt been at in a LONG time and its all from just one week of eating healthier and starting a work out plan.
In the area of working out I found an AWESOME thing on Cox Cable. If you go to your On Demand Free Zone and go into the Health & Wellness section you will find Exercise TV. This thing is AMAZING. I can work out to a great fitness video (there are TONS to choose from) and I dont have to spend a penny. Usually I end up signing up at a gym and then losing interest because its just one more place that I have to be and with two kids its next to impossible to do that all week long. So this is not only free but unbelievably convenient.
So I am working out, eating healthy and hopefully by the end of March I will be looking better too!

I am going on a trip to Kansas City for my annual Premier Designs Regional Rally and I am leaving on Thursday. I am really excited because this is the first year that our region is moving our rally to KC and I have never been there before. I only hope that I can stay focused on my goal and eat right and possibly throw in some exercise while Im there. I know that convention food isnt the best to stay on your diet but believe me I will try!

Until next Wednesday!
Hopefully I will have dropped a bit more by then.

Emotional Rollercoaster

2011-01-03T22:44:00.000-08:00

As I have mentioned before, some days are harder than others. When you sign on to be a mother it is a job that doesn't come with a handbook. You don't have a schedule of set jobs to do. You don't have a road map of where you may be in the years to come. You just have to live life day by day and see where things take you.
My role as a mom started on September 26th 2007 when my sweetheart Gibson was born, actually before that if you count pregnancy. Although pregnancy is another thing with no set path it is not quite the same as when your child is actually born and you have that brand new baby in your arms. I never knew exactly what was in store for me and my family on that day over 3 years ago. I didn't know that we would have a child that has Autism. I. Had. No. Clue.
I didn't know much about Autism when I started researching it as a possibility for what I saw going on in my son. I have learned so much since I first got on the computer and typed in that word. I always thought that there was a clear definition for Autism and my son didn't fit the bill. Boy was I wrong! I had no idea just how broad the Autism spectrum is, nor did I know just how much is yet to be found out about Autism. We have no REAL clue as to what causes it... people have their speculations, but that is not what this post is about. We have no way of know how to cure Autism, or if there really is a cure. All we know is that there are therapies out there and they may or may not help our children.
Gibson started speech therapy back in November of 2009. After a year of therapy he is doing in many cases 100% better! He is actually talking which is, to say the least, one of our very biggest blessings. I know some families who have children who do not talk at all. We are blessed beyond measure that our only struggle with speech right now is that Gibson is still delayed but otherwise speaking about as well as a 2 year old would. Parents of (as we call them) "typical" kids really have no idea what it means to have your child tell you what happened at school that day, or follow simple directions. But these are things we deal with every single day. Gibson has made so many strides that it is hard for me to write about me having a bad day, but I am no different in that way than any other parent out there.
Today was a hard day. I am not sure what sent me over the edge emotionally but I just gave up at the end of the night. I was beyond ready physically, and emotionally for the kids to go to bed. I just needed to rest my mind. Spending an entire day with your kids is simply stated bitter sweet. You have those times where you just quite frankly want to pull your hair out and yet in the next second you want nothing more than to squeeze and cuddle and kiss on those sweet little faces of theirs.
I know that eventually things will get better, or I will get stronger. I know that God has his hands in this and he will guide me through and sometimes I think that days like today happen to me so that I can sit back and realize that I am not the one in control here. God is always in control. I need to let him lead me more than I do and I think that once I can let go things will fall into place better or at least I will be more at ease when things don't go the way I plan.
I am praying that tomorrow is a better brighter day and I know that the best way to start off on the right foot is to have a positive attitude. Tomorrow I will have a smile on my face knowing that in the end it is one more day that I have to spend with my kids... even if they do drive me a little crazy sometimes! ;)

Chocolate Pudding

2011-01-03T12:21:00.000-08:00

Gibson was a big boy all weekend so I decided to treat him with chocolate pudding for dessert. Gibson helped me make the instant pudding and loved licking the spoon! Go figure!
We had fun and I look forward to letting him help me cook things more often. He really seems to enjoy it.

6 years of wedded bliss!

2011-01-02T21:53:00.000-08:00

I met my wonderful husband Gerod at a basketball game at the junior college in my hometown on February 11, 2002. From that night I feel like we both had a small case of "love at first sight".
Our first date was on Valentines Day 3 days after our first meeting at a quaint little Italian restaurant in Midland. By candlelight we visited about anything and everything. He gave me a rose because he said he had to give me a rose on Valentines Day. What a Gentleman! Our courtship was a whirlwind after that night and we had our first kiss to end our 3rd date.
2 years after our first date to the day we got engaged. Valentines Day of 2004 was absolutely amazing. We went out for a picnic dinner that ended up being held at center court of the basketball arena where we first met. After our picnic dinner Gerod led me up the stairs to the upper level where I saw rose petals that spelled out "Marry Me" on the ground. Gerod got down on one knee and opened up the ring box and I of course said "YES". Nine short months later we were wed in a small church in my hometown.
6 years later I still feel like I am married to my best friend. Gerod and I laugh together, cry together and love each other more than most people can ever say. After having two beautiful children together it just makes our love even stronger. I don't know what I would do without this wonderful man in my life.
I absolutely LOVE him and I look forward to many many more years to come.

We actually got to sneak out for a date night and were able to leave the kids with a great babysitter for our Anniversary evening. We went to a great new place we have found called the Sushi Bar and it was awesome! We had some great food for dinner and then headed to the movie theater where we watched the newest Harry Potter movie. Gerod really loves me for going to that movie with me!

Check out the awesome sushi we had for dinner! It was delish.

(Gerod was embarrassed that I took this picture!)

I am glad we were able to get out for a great date night to celebrate 6 amazing years of marriage. I cant wait to see what 2011 has in store for our marriage and our family.

I am so glad that I have such an amazing man by my side that I can walk through this journey hand in hand with.

It's time for a resolution!

2010-12-31T11:21:00.000-08:00

Every year I always come up with some new resolution to lose weight and get in shape, but this year I am serious! I have put on a little extra weight since having my two precious boys and I am ready to get back in shape and lose those pounds!
But I don't have goals just for myself, I also have goals for my family!

Here are the goals for 2011!

Lose 10 lbs... I am starting today (one day early) and I hope to lose the weight by mid-March. I will keep up a weekly post about that goal and where I am at with it!. We'll call it Weight-Loss Wednesday!
Start a Gluten Free AND Casein Free Diet. We have heard that Gluten Free and Casein Free diets CAN help children with Autism, and although it MAY not work we are willing to give it a try. This is going to be very trying and difficult at times because Gluten and Casein are in LOTS of products but it will force me to cook at home a lot more and will make me more aware of what I am putting not only in my body but our children's bodies.
Keep my house CLEANer than I usually do
Get organized and try my very best to STAY organized!
Make a budget for the family and stick to it.... we WILL save money in 2011.

I think that about covers my goals for both myself and the rest of my family. Hoping that 2011 will be an even better year than 2010, even though 2010 was pretty great.

My most memorable things about 2010?

Celebrating my 5 year anniversary with my amazing hubby!
Celebrating Chad's first birthday and Gibson's 3rd birthday.
Learning that Gibson is one of many in the world of Autism.
Hearing Gibson say "I Love You Mommy"
Participating in the 2010 Autism Speaks Walk in downtown OKC.
7-Day Eastern Caribbean Cruise with my husband and parents.
Finding a passion for photography and creating a business out of it.
And last... just being able to have the opportunity to stay home with my two wonderful boys... it is VERY crazy at times but I love it and love them so much!

Tomorrow will signify the start to a brand new year as well as the 6th year of marriage for Gerod and I. We actually get to go on a date!! Hopefully I can get some pictures of us while we are out without kids!

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!!

My favorites!

2010-12-31T09:48:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing Christmas! We are so blessed with amazing family and friends. We had fun catching up with everyone, eating good food, and getting awesome presents. These are my favorite photos from our Holiday in Texas.

Chad looked adorable in this Santa had of Nazareth's. :) He had a great time climbing over the coffee table again and again.

Daddy and Chad playing... I love Chad's expression!

Granddaddy taught Gibson how to load up all of the crayons on the back of his dump truck. You would be amazed at how long this kept his interest.

Granddaddy and two of his Great Grandsons. This was too precious!

Chad decided it would be best to step on the present to get the wrapping paper off.

Gibson loved his "dinosaur" as he calls Rex, from the Toy Story movies.

Gibson loved his present from Santa... An entire collection of Toy Story action figures. He apparently wasnt in the mood to share with Chad though.

How adorable! Daddy playing with his two boys!! So cute!!!

Chad admiring his Santa gift!

Unwrapping presents, Chad got lost in all the paper.

Pawpaw unwrapping one of Gibson's presents.

Sitting in Grandma and Hoho's squeaky rocking chair. Chad loved the noise it made.

Making a tower with his new Duplo Blocks.

Me and my Great Grandmother, she is 96 years old and still going strong. I love her so much! I only hope that I can be like her!

Watching Horton Hears a Who marathon on Christmas day.

Fun winter hats!

Watching Dispicable Me mini movie called "Banana". All three boys were glued to the tv.

I think he kind of resembles Elton John in those glasses. Haha!

Sleepy guys!

I love this picture!

Learning a little GOLF from Daddy.

My big, little man!

Gibson insisted that he and Chad both put on their backpacks... not sure why, but he made sure that they were both wearing them.

The chase is on... I love that Gibson is LOVING this!

We had a very Merry Christmas! I truly cant believe that it has already come and gone, and we are now looking at a new year!
Hopefully 2011 will find us as happy and blessed as 2010 has been. We hope that you and your family had as nice of a Christmas holiday as we had, and we wish you all the best in 2011.

Here's to 2011 in the Black family!

Family photo

2010-12-31T09:13:00.000-08:00

I cant even begin to tell you how many pictures were taken to get this one! Here is The Black family. We decided to take a family photo for the first time in a LONG time.

(Top left: Rick, Casey, Cindy, Gerome, Me and Gerod)
(Bottom Left: Evan, Taylor, Gibson and Chad)

Climbing little monkey

2010-12-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

Chad is into everything these days and lately he has been getting out of everything too. He has recently learned the art of climbing out of his high chair and sliding down all by himself. We caught him doing this the other day and he just hung out munching on the rest of his lunch before climbing the rest of the way down. He is a little stinker! I love all of his expressions in these pictures!

Movie Night

2010-12-23T13:47:00.000-08:00

The boys stayed up late the other night watching Horton Hears a Who on tv. There faces say it all. They were glued to the movie so Gerod and I let them stay up till 9:00 to finish out the movie.

Sunday is the day for rest

2010-12-23T13:41:00.000-08:00

Before church the other day Chad decided to rest up a bit while watching the cartoons in Mommy and Daddy's room. He looked so precious I had to snap a few pictures.

It's a Pajama Bath party!

2010-12-23T13:37:00.000-08:00

Gerod made the mistake the other morning of starting the bath water before we had Chad undressed. Chad made his way to the bathtub while Gerod was getting his clothes ready and when we came into the bathroom Chad was already in the tub, pajamas and all!
He thought it was hilarious, and quite frankly Gerod and I couldn't stop laughing about it.
What made it worse was that once we got the jammies off him we took his diaper off and found a surprise! We then had to completely empty out the bath water and rinse out the tub, only to fill it back up again and put in boys with clean bottoms!
This one will go down in the books as most memorable bath... so far at least!

Christmas Party!

2010-12-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

Gibson had his very first Christmas party with his pre-school class. The kids got to watch a performance by a group of singers from the Special Education class from the high school. After the performance the group got to come back to class and have cookies, and little Christmas tree cakes.
Gibson had a blast and Gerod and I couldn't be more thrilled by attending his very first Christmas party. We cant believe our oldest little man is already in school. He is doing so well and we couldn't be more proud of him and his progress. His teacher is absolutely amazing and she loves Gibson and all the other kids in his class beyond words.
Many more school Christmas parties to come.

Hands & Hearts

2010-12-23T13:12:00.000-08:00

Gibson has two amazing teachers at his pre-school and I wanted to give them a great Christmas gift that wasn't the norm. So I took hand prints of each of the kids in his class and made these adorable over-sized canvas bags for both his teacher Miss. Ashley and the assistant teacher Miss. Nichole. I think they turned out rather well.

Backyard photo session

2010-12-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

We had a fun time playing in the backyard the other day. It was supposed to be a short photo session to make Christmas cards for our family, but I didn't get good shots of both boys so we decided to forgo Christmas cards this year.
Either way I thought I would share the photos that I did manage to take of the boys.

The fight for the fork!

2010-12-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

Chad is in a climbing phase and constantly climbs up onto Gibson's high chair to see what Gibson is eating in case its different from what we gave him. On this particular day, as most days go in our house these days, Gibson and Chad were fighting over the same fork. Chad stole it, Gibson stole it back, and Chad proceeded to cry. Fun morning but kind of funny to watch.

Milk... does a body good!

2010-12-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

Gibson touched the heating element on the stove the other night while I was cooking dinner. Luckily he didn't get a bad burn, but it sure did hurt. After some serious tears and Gerod and I wondering what to do we finally filled up a bowl with milk and had Gibson rest his hand in it for a while. I don't know where I thought this up, or heard this, but it seemed to help. Maybe it just distracted him long enough to forget about the sting, or maybe it actually worked but either way it was quite funny watching his face during the process.

Leaves

2010-12-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

Mommy was away so Gibson, Jaxon, Pawpaw and Gerod piled up the leaves and jumped in them. Gibson had a blast and now every time he sees leaves outside he just has to jump in them. Its nasty and dirty, but boy it sure is cute!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went down to Midland where we spent time with family and enjoyed the holiday. On Thanksgiving we went out to my Uncle Greg's house where we met up with my cousins and sister to take a picture of all of the little men in our lives. Four girl cousins have produced 7 little boys and no girls! Needless to say it was quite difficult to take this picture but we sure did have fun. This picture will be a Christmas gift for our Great Grandmother for Christmas!

Here are all four of us girls together. Windy, Brandy, Myself and Jennifer (my sister). We sure have grown up!

Me and my younger, not so little, brother. I love him!

Jenni and Steven. They constantly crack us all up!

Jenni and my Mom. They are both gorgeous ladies!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and we cant wait for Christmas! Since I am posting this so late we only have a few days till Christmas.
Cant wait for family, food, and watching the kids open up their presents!!

Halloween... over a month later!

2010-12-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy lately... and quite frankly I have been taking lots of pictures of other people and haven't brought the camera out to take snapshots of my own family much.

We have had so much going on since my last post including some awesome Halloween Parties. Here are a few pictures of our Halloween Fun.

Gerod went as Dog the Bounty Hunter

and I went as his lovely wife Beth... hahaha!

Our friends who went as Miss Piggy and Kermit (it was a famous couples themed party)

All the girls

And all the guys (please excuse the naked man in the middle)

Gibson LOVED this huge Air Slide at the church Harvest Celebration party

Gerod with Minnie Mouse (aka Emma G)... she was very confused that we kept telling her this was Gerod. I don't think she believed us at all.

Gibson and Avery kept getting into the dog cage... it was hilarious because they didn't want anyone else to get in there with them.

All of the kids, minus Gibson, he just couldn't sit still long enough for a picture. Imagine that!

Mommy with her little Buzz Lightyear (aka Chad)

Mommy and Woody himself... aka Gibson

Woody... doing a little Halloween Trick-or-Treating

Our small group Moms.... we had a blast!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-11-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

We had a great time at the Pumkin Patch back in October... again I am WAY behind on blog posts!

Chad and Gibson LOVED all the Pumpkins, and enjoyed hanging out with friends from our Sunday School class and their kids. It was a wonderful fall afternoon!

Mommy's little men! I love them!!

This face cracks me up!

Gibson with his buddy Ethan

He love the donkey!

He looks like a little cowboy!

Walk Now For Autism

2010-11-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

I cant believe it has been almost a month since I posted last.

The speech at the Autism walk went really well. I am not sure how many people were there, but I was very nervous to speak but I knew that I needed to do it and I am so thankful that I did it.

Not only did we have a great time at the event but I also met a wonderful woman named Tricia who was in charge of the event and she has become a fast friend of mine.Being the parent of a child with Autism is kind of lonely sometimes and I am glad I got to meet another mother that is in a similar situation as me.

We were SO thankful for all of the people who donated to help us reach our goal and thankful to the Herrens and my parents for walking with us on this special day! We appreciate your support!

We cant wait for next years walk where we hope to double, triple or possibly quadruple our donation amount and have 30 or more walkers with us!

Walk Now for Autism

2010-10-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

I am so excited because our walk is finally here! Tomorrow is our families first Walk Now for Autism which benefits the Autism Speaks foundation. We are so excited that we finally met our goal of $1000 donated through our team, Gibson's Goonies. I got to chat with the walk coordinator yesterday who let me know that we are members of the Grand Club because we raised over $1000! This means we will get recognized with other teams that have raised $1000 or more and get to join everyone on stage during the ceremony.
I was so excited to FINALLY get a chance to speak with another mom of a child with Autism. It is so refreshing to speak to someone who understands first hand the struggles as well as happy times that all come with having a child on the spectrum.
So last night I was going over my emails and found one from the walk coordinator that I had spoken to earlier. She asked me in the email if I would be willing to speak along with other parents about why I walk, and who I walk for. I am jumping at this chance to let my voice be heard, but I am very nervous. I don't really like public speaking all that much... I am fine in a small group but I am guessing there will be a TON of people there tomorrow, and I will have a mic and everything. Kind of scary and quite frankly as I am typing this my stomach is already doing flip flops. But all in all I don't know if I will have this chance again... so I am going to do it!
The following is the speech that I wrote last night at midnight that I will be reading for all to hear tomorrow during the walk ceremonies.

My name is Callie, and I walk for my son Gibson. At the age of 2 Gibson was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified). We finally had an answer to so many questions. Why was our son of 2 years not talking? Why did any little thing cause a huge meltdown? Why would he not respond when we said his name? And so many more.

Once we found out that Gibson was a part of the ever growing spectrum that is Autism we got to work getting him into therapy. Speech therapy once a week, and behavioral therapy once a month. Now almost a year later Gibson is talking… he has over 250 words in his vocabulary! He copies just about everything you say and has a memory like no one I have ever met before. Of all the words he knows and says “I love you” is the only phrase he doesn’t say. My husband and I know that one day he will say those three words that mean the world to a parent and we will probably both melt down and cry.

Gibson is a kind, loving, on-the-move, silly little boy that brightens my heart every single day. Don’t get me wrong we have hard days… days when I want to fall down and cry and wonder why? But those days are far out-weighed by the good days like when he finally understands something for the first time, that gleam in his eye when he finally figures something out completely brightens my day.

I never dreamed that I would have a child that has Autism, no parent ever really thinks that this will effect them, but it can and it does effect so many families. I hope that through amazing organizations like Autism Speaks that we can fight to make our voices heard. That we can make changes that will not only effect the lives of our children, but also the children of our future. I know that the road ahead is a long one, but through the help of friends and family and a community of other families like ours I know that we will forge ahead without ceasing and that one day things will change.

Mommy and Daddy love you Gibson, and even though you don’t say it we know that you love us too. You have a bright future ahead and even though we know there will be struggles we are right beside you and we will walk this road hand in hand.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us in any way through out this project. I only hope that next year can just be bigger and better for Gibson's Goonies (that's our team name). Think of us as we walk tomorrow in honor of Gibson and every other family, child and adult out there who suffers from Autism.

Gibson's First Day of School!!

2010-10-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

Gibson had his very first day of school today. He didn't cry or scream when I dropped him off which was amazing! Even more amazing is that his teacher said that he had a great first day! We are so excited that Gibson is in this class. He has an awesome teacher who is studying different ways to teach Autistic children so we couldn't be any luckier that Gibson is in her class, because the Special Education teachers are not required to take those classes.
I became "that mom" today... I took pictures by the car, all the way inside the school, walking down the hall, and even more in the classroom. I am sure people were thinking "That lady is crazy" but I didn't want to miss out on this BIG FIRST for Gibson. He has a long road ahead in his education, and we are so glad that he will be getting lots of help his first three years in school.

Here we are in front of the car

Ready to go inside Mom...

Pushing Chad in the stroller... this has become a great tool for me to get Gibson into school/MDO without a fight. He LOVES being Mommy's helper, and he enjoys pushing Chad around. Too sweet!!

Walking down the hall to class

Checking out the kitchen in his classroom

His chair... Yes I took a picture of it! (hahaha)

Chad was worn out... he fell asleep in the car on the way to the school, and stayed asleep through getting in the stroller, going into and out of the school, getting back into the car, driving home, and finally getting into bed. Poor baby was TIRED!!

Day one down... Many more to go! I cant wait till he can get in the car and tell me all about his day!

Have a wonderful rest of your week everyone!

Lots going on!

2010-10-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

There have been so many things going on lately. The biggest thing going on in our lives right now is Gibson getting ready to start school. I will finally be finished with his enrollment tomorrow morning, and then he starts pre-school on Wednesday! We couldn't be happier with his teachers, they are amazing and I can't wait to see their work in Gibson.
We are also working on getting Gibson into some outside therapy for both speech and behavior. The issue lies in the fact that Oklahoma doesn't recognize Autism as a "disability" so it could get pricey once we start outside therapy. At this point though we want to take full advantage of getting him as much therapy as possible before he enters kindergarten. We are very excited about all the changes we are working on and we cant wait to start seeing even more changes in Gibson. He has already made amazing strides in less than a year so we are anxious to see God continue to work and mold him into the person he is meant to be!
Chad is doing great! As always he is smiling 24/7 and laughing all the time. Lately we think he has been teething because he hasn't been sleeping as well as usual, but otherwise he is doing great.
I have been having some pretty bad back pain lately so I plan on checking our insurance coverage for chiropractor visits. I have done this once before and I didn't seem to be having as much pain as I am now. I am hoping that I can get this whole thing figured out because I am getting tired of hurting all the time.

I am really trying to keep the blog updated but it has been crazy lately with everything going on with Gibson, photography sessions and our recent travels. Hopefully things will slow down a little bit but I highly doubt it! I love keeping busy but sometimes I think it would be nice to have a bit of a break.

Testing... Testing...

2010-10-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! I am in love! I have been trying to figure out an easy way to get my pictures larger for the longest time! So glad I finally figured it out thanks to Rita over at the CoffeeShop blog!!

Gibson's a BIG BOY!!

2010-09-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

We converted Gibson's bed into a full size bed today. Gibson was outgrowing his toddler bed so we decided it was time to give him a real big boy bed. He seemed a little confused at first when he walked in his room tonight for bedtime but after a second he climbed in, pulled up the covers and asked for his goodnight kisses and hugs like normal. Here is his big boy bed!! :) He will be getting a new comforter set and possibly some new drapes that don't go all the way to the floor. I will post more pictures when the room is all done! Giving George hugs... he has had him since he was 1 and he sleeps with him every night.
Holding Woody and George.

I checked on him a few minutes ago and he was already sound asleep in the middle of the bed holding Woody and George just like in the picture. Precious!!

Meet the teacher... and the Principal... and...

2010-09-23T20:50:00.001-07:00

My little Gibson is getting close to being in Pre-K. As most of you know he is on the Autism spectrum, and with his delays (which are getting better every single day) he qualifies to be in the Pre-K program for children with delays. We met with his teacher, the principal, the school psychologist, and two of the therapists that will be working with him all yesterday afternoon. We got all the paperwork signed, and he had a mini-evaluation. Once we get our IEP (Individual Education Plan) in place sometime next week, he will be able to start Pre-K. I cant believe this day is already upon us. Its a year earlier than most kids so I feel like that's why it has snuck up on us so quickly. I am very excited to see him get into a class where he can learn many new things from an amazing teacher.

We also met with some good family friends who work with children that evaluated Gibson and gave us a long list of resources to contact to get Gibson into some more therapy. We cant wait to get him started in additional therapy, especially since he has made so much progress in just the last 10 months. He is talking so much now that sometimes I just want him to be quiet... actually I don't think I would ever want him to be quiet. He went TOO long without talking. I will keep everyone updated on our progress with school and therapy. Its going to be a long, busy and hopefully educational year for all of us!!

Cruisin' Baby!

2010-09-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

We just got back from an AMAZING cruise in the Eastern Carribbean! It was so much fun. My husband Gerod and I cruised for 7 days with my parents who are getting ready to celebrate 29 years of marriage in February.

We ate lunch on Friday at the airport BWW... MMM... Good! FREE drinks Happy Hour at our hotel was GREAT!
Dressed and ready to be picked up by the bus that took us to the port where the ship was located.

After an hour and a half long ride from the hotel to the ship, in a bus without AC *YUCK*, we finally were able to board the ship!

Yeah for ice cold drinks with my Mom!

Picture time with my adorable hubby!

Henna tattoos with my mom... they were supposed to last 2-3 weeks but instead barely lasted a day! I think we were ripped off!! But they were cute while they lasted.

Hanging out with Mom in Nassau!

My wonderful parents... 28 years of marriage! Amazing!

Gerod and I all dressed up for the first Elegant night in our dining room

Hanging out before the comedy hour in the Comedy Lounge aboard the ship

Eating... I think we did this 50% of the time!

Hanging with my Daddy!

Me and my Hubby! ;)

In front of the ship

Hanging out beach side in St. Maarten

Loving the beach with my man!

Ready for our snorkeling excursion in St. Thomas... *pictures of the excursion to be posted later*

In St. Thomas... it was GORGEOUS!!

All dressed up for our Steakhouse dinner aboard the ship.

Another formal night.... hanging out in the theater before the last show of the cruise

We clean up nice!

Going out to the comedy club and the casino for the night.

At the airport on our way home.

We had a blast on the cruise, but after about 5 days we were really missing the boys. We are so glad that we decided to go on this vacation though. We really needed some time alone together without the kids, even though we thought about them constantly and missed them terribly. It was nice to have a break for a short while, and the boys had a blast with their cousins Taylor and Evan and their Aunt Casey and Uncle Rick back in Texas. We wont be taking another long trip away for a while, but Gerod has already been checking out cruise info since we got home. We definitely will do this again before another 5 years passes, but we plan on sticking around home for a long time before we leave the boys for such a long time again. :)

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend while we were gone!

Bath Time Boys!!

2010-09-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

The boys LOVE bath time!! They hear the word bath and absolutely freak out and run to their bath room and wait at the door till we let them in. Both of them love to splash, and usually by the end of the bath the room is completely soaked, and so is whoever gives the bath that night. I love that the boys both love their bath time as much as they do.
The other morning I snapped a few pictures of my happy little guys during bath time! Their smiling faces tell just how much fun they are having!
Here is BUG!!! :) Getting bigger and bigger every single day!And Gibson... look at those eyes and big smile! :) Love it!

Lots to be done this week as we are leaving on Thursday to head down to Texas to drop off the boys at Granci and Papaws house and meet my parents to go on our cruise! Gerod and I are so excited to be going on a nice vacation for the first time since our honeymoon. Although we are sad to be leaving the boys for over 7 days we are excited to get some adult time for more than just an hour or two of a date night. :) Cant wait!!

Passion for Photography

2010-08-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

I have thoroughly enjoyed my latest photo sessions... one with two adorably cute little girls and the other a family of three (soon to be five) that we are good friends with.

I have finally found something that I absolutely LOVE doing. It is an amazing thing to find something you have a passion for that actually can help out your family financially. Its been an amazing journey so far and I know that there is so much more to come.

If you haven't already please check out my blog on my photography at www.capturedmomentsbycallie.blogspot.com
A website is soon to come, I am in the midst of working on one as we speak.

On another note there is so much going on with us right now its unbelievable.

Next week Gerod and I will be leaving the boys with Gerod's parents, otherwise known as Granci and Papaw, and Gerod's sister and brother in law (they are switching off). We are excited beyond belief for the cruise, but are sad to be leaving our babies for such a long time. This is our first major trip since our honeymoon five and a half years ago. My parents are going with us so it should be a blast!

After we get back I have another photo session and then that weekend we will be celebrating Gibson's 3rd birthday at Dynamo gymnastics play place with friends.

Once all that is done we have the Walk Now for Autism where we will be walking for Gibson and all other children and families who are affected by Autism. Our team name is Gibson's Goonies after one of Gerod's favorite movies... "Hey you guys".

In the middle of all that, somewhere, I will be working on some fundraising ideas to reach our $1000 goal to raise funds for the Autism Speaks organization. I have just over $600 left to reach the goal. If you are interested in making a donation please go to our donation page if you wish to make a donation!

Lastly I am working on growing my Jewelry business by helping out other women who need more income. If you are interested in hearing more about the exciting opportunity of Premier please let me know.

Just thinking about all of these things on my plate makes me anxious, but also excited. I am glad to finally have some things going on that are keeping me busy, although the boys do a pretty good job of that on their own.

Cowboy BOOTS!

2010-08-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

He was saying "BOOTS"... in case I didn't know what kind of shoes he was wearing. Needless to say Gibson LOVES his cowboy boots. He got them for Christmas last year from his Great Grandparents. They buy the boys new boots every year for Christmas. I had to snag some photos of him in his awesome cowboy boots while we were out at the park during a photo session the other day. Love this big smile and big green eyes!!

He thought it was pretty cool that I allowed him to stand up on the brick ledge.

Love this!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have lots of plans... Gerod is golfing tomorrow, we had a birthday party on Sunday, as well as a photo shoot and small groups from church. Should be a fun weekend, but as always it will probably go by too quickly!!

Spaghetti Night!

2010-08-22T23:08:00.000-07:00

At our house spaghetti is a HUGE favorite... maybe its because its a good hearty meal, or maybe its because its pasta (and I just LOVE pasta), but I think the biggest reason we all love spaghetti around here is because I have my Mom's spaghetti recipe that is Ah-Mazing!!
Chad had never experienced the amazing goodness of Gigi's Spaghetti until Friday night. We decided that since he is eating table food like a pro now that we would let him get messy and feed himself. This was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen.
Here is Chad at the beginning of the meal... you can tell because there isn't sauce all over his face
A little apprehensive about the whole thing but "trying" it

This face just makes me smile!

And this one... well... I think this is one of those pictures that you save for black mail. We aren't quite sure why he didn't pick the spaghetti up with his hands but he began to get very frustrated because he wasn't getting any using this method. Finally Gerod just had to feed him.

I am pretty sure he LOVED it! What do you think?!?

If you want my spaghetti recipe it is as follows:

1lb ground hamburger meat

1 tbsp minced/chopped garlic

1 can tomato sauce

1 can tomato soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1-2 tbsp Italian Seasoning

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Cook the hamburger meat with the garlic and drain once cooked through. Add tomato sauce, tomato soup, and cream of mushroom soup and mix until well blended on medium heat. Once everything is well blended add the Italian Seasoning and nutmeg and let the sauce simmer over low-med heat for about 10 min.

Serve over noodles! :) YUM-OH!

I love serving this with Mom's salad that we have named "Sabrina Salad"

Lettuce (I usually use Romain lettuce in the bag so I don't have to chop it... I'm lazy)

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup Parmesan cheese

Italian dressing

Cook almonds on low-med heat until they are a toffee color and then remove from heat. Once they start creating a nutty smell they are almost done and WILL burn quickly *I know this from experience!* ;)

Once the almonds are cooled down mix lettuce, almonds and Parmesan cheese in a bowl. Add the Italian dressing right before serving the salad.

Hope you enjoy the recipe! Tell me what you think about it if you try it out!

Captured Moments by Callie

2010-08-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

Since I got my new DSLR camera, nearly two years ago, I have fallen in love with life behind the lens. I am enjoying photography so much that I have decided recently to see if there is a career in it for me. I already have quite a lot of interest from friends and family so I decided, "Why not give it a chance?". Especially since I love it so much.
I have created a separate blog where I will be posting pictures from sessions I have done until I can work up a website for myself (this may be way later down the road).
I came up with the name Captured Moments by Callie because I feel that describes in full what I intend to do with my company. I want to capture the moments that you never want to forget.
If you have a moment please check out my new blog Captured Moments by Callie. I hope you enjoy! And thanks in advance for your support in my new endeavor.

Hard Night

2010-08-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have these hard nights... When I think about the future... And how Gibson's life will be as he grows up. I have a hard time wondering how he will fit in when he starts school, if kids will make fun of him and how much pain that might put him through. I wonder what might have happened if we had caught this earlier, would we be in a different place than we are now? Would Gibson be further along in his progress? I am usually really good about seeing all the positive things that have happened since we had him tested and got him started in therapy. I think of how much he has grown and how much he has learned. He went from having a vocabulary of about 5-10 words to 250+ now and learning more every single day. But my son doesn't know/understand the things that he should. Everything for him will be harder than it will be with most kids. He will have to learn things that come natural to most kids.

Its so hard knowing that your child is going to grow up with Autism, and not really knowing what all you can do to help him. I don't know what is going on in his head, I don't know what will cure him or if there is, or will ever be a cure, and I certainly don't know what the future holds and sometimes that just flat out scares me!

But then I look into these sweet blue-green eyes of his... and see that adorable smile and I know that God has given me the biggest blessing that anyone could ever ask for. He has given me a beautiful son who loves me and loves Gerod and everyone else he comes into contact with. He brings laughter and smiles to everyone he meets. He is a genuine, silly, crazy little boy that I love more than life itself. And I know that God can get me through times like tonight when I worry about the future. Because it is ALL in His hands!

I know there will be many more nights like tonight when I wonder what will be, but for now I am just going to stick with looking forward to tomorrow. Another day with two of the cutest little boys I have ever seen! I look forward to watching Gibson learn something new, try something different, or maybe... just maybe show that he truly understands something we have been working on.

I pray that I can show him every single day JUST how much I truly love him and that one day he will be able to tell me he loves me too. Until that day his smiles, sweet kisses and BIG hugs will give me all the assurance I need that he does understand some things even if he cant express them.

Thanks for letting me get my thoughts into words tonight.

Lake Weekend!

2010-08-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

We had a blast down at Lake Brownwood. We were there for Gerod's cousin Travis' wedding, but that doesnt mean we didnt catch some lake time!
The wedding was beautiful and we welcome Shannon, Naz and Belle all to the family! :)
Here are some pictures of the kiddos enjoying the lake on our first afternoon there.

Gibson had so much fun in his tube. He got to swim around all by himself! Daddy and Bug

Love this face on my sweet little man!

Look at those curls!

Gibson was ONE dare-devil. He jumped off of the diving board of the neighbors dock. He had a little help, but kept insisting on "jumping"!

1...

2...

3...

Daddy and Chad walking back up to the lake house.

Gibson loved Travis and Shannon's dog

Playing with Presley again!

Too precious!

And last but not least... Chad in his new birthday rocking chair from Granci and Papaw!

Matches his room perfectly.

We had a blast with the boys at the lake and we hope to make it back down there a lot more next summer. It is an awesome way to get in lots of fun and good family time! We will miss you Lake Brownwood... until next Summer!

Out on the boat

2010-08-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome time out on the boat with Granddaddy on our last day at the lake. Gibson hasnt been out on a boat since he was 9 months, and Chad has never been on one. They both were a little apprehensive at first but then they decided it was pretty fun. Here are some pictures of our time out on the boat.

Getting ready to leave Granddaddy's dock Chad was a bit unsure about the whole thing

When the motor went on Chad started crying, but then he decided it wasn't so bad after all

Once we were out of the no-wake zone and started going Gibson was a bit scared, but quickly calmed down again.

All three of my amazing boys! I love them so much!!

Daddy and Bug

Chad kept trying to get in the water. He loved being in the lake!

Bug and Mommy enjoying the ride!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!

Granddaddy letting Gibson sit in the captains seat with him.

This was absolutely precious!

Chad didn't know what to think about the wind

Bug is getting sleepy!

Photo Session with Mommy behind the lens!

2010-08-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

I took some pictures of Chad yesterday at one of our local parks. It was terribly hot outside but I think I got some really good pictures. Especially considering I am not a professional and quite frankly I don't know what I am doing! :)

Hope you enjoy my favorites of the over 200 pictures I took of little man. Gibson was in a sour mood so I didn't get ANY good pictures of him and this was kind of meant to be Chad's one year photo shoot too.

Hope you love them as much as I do!

A Dynamo Day!

2010-07-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

Monday morning the boys and I met Jessica & Emma, and Rachel and Avery at Dynamo Gymnastics. Gibson loves this place, its like a McDonalds playplace only bigger and better. I only got one photo of Gibson because he was gone playing in all the different areas of the playplace the whole time.

The boys were so worn out they both passed out as soon as we got done with lunch! :)

Gibson playing in the ball pit This blue eyed boy kept following me around the whole time
Get me out of this place!!!

Chad kept trying to make a run for it!

We had a blast at Dynamo and cant wait to get back there again. Tomorrow we are meeting the same girls and two more moms and their kiddos at the ZOO. I am sure we will have a blast then as well. I promise lots of pictures upon our return.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

2010-07-25T19:46:00.001-07:00

I love summer time... especially when we get to spend warm summer evenings with friends. Tonight we went over to our friends David and Megan's where we cooked out and let all the kiddos play in the Shamoo pool. The kids had a blast and played so hard the entire night! Us adults had a really great time visiting while the kids wore themselves out.

Here is Paige and Chad chillin in the pool Adorable Paige... she is too sweet!
Chad loves splashing

Gibson rocking away in the chair after dinner... He was cracking up at David

We had so much fun hanging out with the Griffith's tonight! It was a blast! Its so nice to spend summer evenings with good friends, eating good food, and watching our kids have a great time! Thanks for having us over!!

Bye Bye Birdie!

2010-07-25T10:32:00.001-07:00

Well we said "Bye Bye" to Chad's wings on Friday! Chad got his very first hair cut and looks a lot more put-together now!

Chad was not too thrilled with the prospect of getting his haircut... But then Daddy gave him a sucker and all the worries about the scissors were gone!
Enjoying his sucker... there was sticky slober EVERYWHERE!

I am not quite sure what this look is that he was giving me, but it cracks me up!

Baby Bug all done! He looks super adorable, not that he didnt before, it just doesn't look like he is going to fly away now!

My BIG One Year Old!!

2010-07-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

On July 17th at 9:14am Chad Austin was born. We were so happy to bring home a wonderful gift to our family, another baby boy and baby brother for Gibson. We cant believe how quickly the time has passed, but Chad is ofiicially a ONE year old now!

We had his birthday party this past Sunday at the house with a Mickey Mouse theme. Chad LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so we thought this was the perfect theme for his first birthday.

Here are the table decorations... I also had a video playing on the tv with snapshots of pictures from the time he was born till now and pictures on the table from birth till more recent. Love this picture of Chad in the pool on Memorial Day weekend.

A friend of ours did the birthday cake and we were amazed at how great it turned out. She really is very talented!! Thanks again Diana!!!

Of course Chad has his very own cake that was just for him to dig into.

"Happy Birthday to Chad"

I swear it was mere seconds before the boy was covered in blue icing.

Licking the icing off his hands... look at those eyes!

Look Mom, "I'm ONE!"

At this point Chad was DONE with the cake... so we left the party for a few minutes to take a quick bath!

After his bath Chad got to open up all his presents.

*Notice his adorbale vintage Mickey Mouse shirt to match the party theme*

Daddy and Chad reading the birthday cards

Chad loved the touch and feel book that he got. We are so lucky that both of our boys like to read!

Chad had a great first birthday with lots of our friends to celebrate with him. We cant believe that the past year has gone by so quickly but it has.

Chad is walking, saying things like "No", "Dadda", and "Momma" and other jibberish! He is sleeping through the night finally and drinking whole milk. He is right on track with everything he should be doing and we are so glad!
I will update with his one year stats after our his one year appt which isnt until next month due to the doctors office being overbooked. :(

Until then we are just watching Chad grow and change every day and with him being mobile there are new adventures ALL the time now!!

Premier Designs 25th Anniversary Rally

2010-07-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

We all had an amazing time at Premier's 25th Anniversary National Rally in Ft. Worth, TX.

The weekend started off pretty crazy when we got fresh oil/road tar on the car of the girl who drove to Rally. We spent the morning cleaning off her car with diesel fuel... at a car wash in Norman! It was not the start that we were expecting, but the four of us girls made the best of it and laughed the whole thing off.

Here is Sylvia, Me, Jennifer and Jodi on the first night of Rally right before Point of Grace performed. They were amazing! Point of Grace
Roomies. Jackie, Sylvia and I.

Jurhee and I

Jennifer and I.

Sylvia, Me and Jurhee.

The last day of Rally they do a Patriotic tribute, and it is always amazing. There are a lot of people in our "Premier Family" who are in some branch of the military and the entire morning was all for them. I am so proud to be an American, and I pray for all the families who have someone in the military who are fighting for our freedoms on a daily basis.

Fireworks at the end of the Patriotic Celebration!

Jurhee, Jennifer, Me, Sylvia and Jodi all dressed in our red, white and blue in honor of the Patriotic Day.

We had an amazing time over the 4 days at Rally. God is truly the biggest part of this company, and I feel blessed to be a part of such a wonderful organization. I cant wait for our Rally in January so that I can spend more time with the awesome friends I have made since I joined Premier Designs only a year and a half ago.

We have a walker!

2010-07-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

Chad has really started taking off in the last few days, and today he really started making a MOVE! He is walking! A little bit earlier than his older brother did, but only by days. He is taking lots of steps at this point and seems a lot more confident now. He has been taking steps here and there for about 2 or 3 weeks now (maybe more) but today made him officially mobile!
Here are a few shots I got of him walking this evening. Excuse the messy shirt, and crazy hair... it was right after dinner and before bath time.
Here I go...

I cant believe my baby is walking... he will be one year old on Saturday and I cant believe how quickly the time has passed. We are so proud of you BUG! :)

New addition...

2010-07-11T18:38:00.000-07:00

We got the boys a swing set back in May... however it has been sitting in two large boxes on the back porch since then. My husband is not what you would call a "Handy Manny" so we planned on having a company who puts swing sets together come over and set the thing up. After missed appt times, and not getting my calls returned I decided we needed to do this ourselves so we called our good friend Jonny to come over and help, and then we talked Blake into coming over as well.

So last week the boys went to work getting the swing set put together. They endured long hours, and lots of mosquito bites, but I did feed them well! ;)

Gibson really wanted to help, but he ended up just trying to use the screwdriver on his soccer ball than doing any manual labor!

After two days of back-breaking work... the guys were finished! The swing set looks awesome and Gibson LOVES being able to "Pay" (play) in the backyard now. He goes to the back door everyday to see if he can go outside.

Loving the "Slide"

He really loves to "Sving" as he calls it... this is the first thing he runs to when he gets outside. Definitely his favorite part of the swing set thus far.

*Look at that SMILE*

Testing New Signature

2010-07-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

Testing out my new signature! :)

4th of July Festivities!

2010-07-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

We had a WONDERFUL 4th of July weekend with some really great new friends who happen to be from Texas and just moved up here about a year ago. We started off by dinner out on Saturday night at a great steak place. It was kind of crazy with all the kids (7 kids and 6 adults), but it was really fun anyway.

Sunday morning the girls and the kids went to the zoo while the guys played golf. The boys had a TON of fun playing and checking out all the animals.They just recently opened up the Children's Zoo and Gibson had a blast in the play area going down the slide multiple times.

Then we checked out the monkeys where Gibson decided to go for a little swing.

After lunch the kids decided to ride on the carousel. Gibson obviously chose the elephant because as of right now that seems to be his favorite! He said "Effant" the entire ride.

We saw some adorable baby peacocks... including one of the rare white peacocks... they were TOO Cute!!

And of course the Momma Peacock

Then all of the sudden the heavens opened up and it was raining. We were trapped in the Lion area for quite a while were Gerod got Gibson into a laughing frenzy.

Once we left the zoo we went home and rested for just a little while and then went over to our friends house for dinner. Gibson found a little doll stroller and was pushing it around the whole evening so Gerod wondered if he would push Chad around in it, and of course he did. It was hilarious. He pushed him around for the longest time, and although Chad kind of had a frightened look on his face I think he had fun.

After dinner we all went up to UCO for a BIG fireworks display. I truly cant believe we caught a good picture of all the kids before the show started.

Chad had a good time hanging out before the show

The kids were getting a little restless... but luckily we had some Capri Sun drinks on hand

I love this picture of Mackenzie and Gibson

Mommy and Chad watching the fireworks display

Gibson looked awestruck the entire time. He kept telling me all the different colors of the fireworks.

The fireworks were amazing. They did the entire show to music, and the kids (and adults) absolutely LOVED it!

This face was just priceless!

Daddy and Bug... Chad fell asleep shortly after this picture, even though the fireworks were beyond loud.

All the Daddy's and the kiddos!

Needless to say it was a GREAT 4th of July weekend. We had a blast with our new found friends and cant wait to get together with them again sometime very soon.

Hopefully everyone else had an amazing 4th of July and a great weekend!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

Gibson's first movie

2010-06-28T16:57:00.001-07:00

Gibson went to his very first movie on Saturday afternoon. We got a baby sitter for Chad and left the house for the theater. We told Gibson where we were going but we knew he didn't fully understand. All he kept saying was "movie". We got the tickets, one big bucket of popcorn, and two drinks. We got into the theater where Toy Story 3 was playing and Gibson's eyes just stared at the huge screen. At first we thought the whole experience would be horrible because he didn't sit still at all during the previews, but once the lights went all the way down and the movie started he was completely fixed. He of course got out of his chair a few times, but for the most part he did amazing and watched the entire thing from the comfort of his big red movie theater seat. We are so glad we waited to take him at this age and didn't go earlier. He had a great time, and we will always have great memories of this first time experience. Here are a few pictures of our afternoon.

Getting the tickets... Gibson was a little impatient standing in line. Sucking down some Mr. Pibb... as if the kid needs more energy but hey, it made him happy and it was of course "HIS" afternoon.
Chasing Daddy up the hall to get back to the car

Just too cute... I love these two guys!

We had a blast little man... Cant wait to take you to another movie Gibson!

We love you!

-Mommy & Daddy

These boots were made for walkin'

2010-06-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

Gibson got some real cowboy boots last year for Christmas. We bought them a little bit big thinking his feet would grow super fast like they had been, and they are JUST NOW fitting right. He has been wearing them just about everywhere, and if he sees them he says "boots" and wants them on immediately. I sure think he is a cutie in them... even when he wears them with just his pajamas.

Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired

2010-06-25T08:44:00.001-07:00

This post is clearly just a venting session for me. I am sick of being sick. I started feeling bad Sunday when I woke up with body aches in Texas and they didn't go away at all till Monday. Monday was fine though, and so was Tuesday...but then Wednesday I woke up with allergies/sinuses... couldn't breathe, pressure in the ears... horrible!! So its now Friday and I still feel just as bad (if not worse) than I did on Wednesday! Irritating.
To top off my bad mood we bought the boys a new wooden swing set over 5 weeks ago and the guy who is supposed to put it together was supposed to come Wednesday to get it started and he still hasn't returned my calls or shown up at my house. I understand if things come up or your busy, but come on, at least call me! You are ruining the reputation of your business!
Anyway... I am done now... just needed to get out my frustrations somewhere!

Good news is tomorrow we are taking Gibson to his VERY FIRST movie theater movie... we will be seeing Toy Story 3! I cant wait! Gerod and I are so excited for this BIG first for him. We have a sitter that is going to watch Chad while we are gone so it will be an afternoon devoted to our sweet Gibson. I couldn't be happier about this! :)

Pool Time, Doggie Doors and Sweat Bands!

2010-06-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend in Texas. On Friday we went for a follow up appt with Gibson's doctor who said that he is doing great and progressing wonderfully because of his therapies. We were really excited that she is seeing that he is making great strides like we have seen.

After his appt we had lunch at weinerschnitzel... our favorite hot dog place... with Gerod's sister and brother-in-law and the kids. It was fun to catch up and we had a good lunch too. Then it was off to Midland for the remainder of the weekend. We had a blast playing in the pool and Gibson had so much fun sliding down the slide. This kid definitely has NO FEAR... he slide down the slide all by himself numerous times, and it is about a 6ft tall slide. We were all quite amazed. Sometimes he didn't feel like climbing all the way to the top and would just climb over the side and slide about a foot till he got in the water. He is definitely becoming a "water baby" just like I was when I was his age.
Showing off his cute trunks!

His faces when he would get in the water constantly cracked us all up. He made this same expression almost every time he dropped off the slide.

Here is Jaxon in his new goggles that Gigi got him... she got some for Gibson too, but he took them off after about a minute.

Gibson was getting kind of heavy so we put him in the duck inner tube and he held on and swam around the pool for a while all by himself. Again, this kid has no fear, I don't know many kids who would do this on their own.

Gibson and his cousin Jaxon had a ton of fun on this horse. One of Gibson's favorite animals right now is horses, and he played on this thing forever as well as played with some toy horses inside the house. I think these things could have kept him entertained for hours on end.

One of the funniest parts of the weekend was when Gibson discovered the doggie door... he went out of it to the backyard, would go back into the house and come back out the doggie door again and again. It was hilarious... I had to get pictures of the whole process.

A picture of the two Daddies (Gerod and my Dad) manning the grill on Saturday night for our BBQ and pool day. My Dad was hot so he put on this oh-so-manly pink sweat band. This is CLASSIC Garth right here! *Love you Daddy*

We cant wait to get back to Texas to see family again, and get back in that pool. Weekends like this make Gerod and I want a pool of our own. Maybe sometime soon we can get a bigger house that includes a pool so we can have the kind of family fun that we had this weekend!

Happy Fathers Day to my Daddy-O!

2010-06-21T09:08:00.001-07:00

My Dad is one AMAZING guy! He has always done everything in his power to make sure that all three of us kids grew up having happy times. I remember road trips to Dallas where we would go to the Water Park and Six Flags... Trips to Disney World where he would stand in line with us over and over again to ride the same ride. We always had amazing talks on the 20 minute drive to school my 6th grade year, and a few trips just he and I would take where Denny's was always on the menu for breakfast.

I don't think there has ever been a Saturday where my Dad hasn't gotten up early to make a big breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes *ALWAYS pancakes!*. He has always encouraged us in every sport or activity we have ever been a part of, and loves us unconditionally. Dad, Me, Jennifer & Steven

Steven, Me Dad & Jennifer

Not only is my Dad and amazing father to me and my siblings but he is also an awesome Pawpaw to Gibson and Chad. They love him so much!! Gibson lights up when he sees his Pawpaw and he has finally started saying his name. I am pretty sure it melts my Dad's heart.

Just wanted to let you know how much we love you Dad (and Pawpaw). Hope you had an amazing Fathers Day this year!

Happy Fathers Day! (one day late)

2010-06-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

What can I say about my husband, and the father of our two wonderful boys? Words cant express how much all three of us love and adore this man! He became a father on September 26, 2007 when Gibson was born. He always shows compassion and love to the kids and plays with them all the time. He is the only one who can make them laugh till they cant breath. He brings smiles to their faces when he walks in the door from work, and they run to him saying... "Daddy". I know things like this make his day.

On July 17th, 2009 Chad was born and Gerod couldn't have been happier to have a second little boy to mold into a man one day. He cant wait to be their coach for each and every sport the decide to join, and he cant wait to tell them about flirting with girls (even though I said they cant date till they're 30).

He always gets them to fall asleep on his chest and he cherishes every moment that they lay there with him.

The boys couldn't ask for a better father, Gerod is an absolute blessing to them and our family. We don't know what we would do with out you "Daddy".

This is what we made for Gerod for Fathers Day this year. It was so fun putting this project together even though it was 100 degrees outside the day we made it. I printed this off and framed it for him and he loved it.

Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful Husband and all the other fathers out there!!!

Fathers Day

2010-06-16T19:15:00.001-07:00

So Fathers Day is right around the corner, and in true "Callie" fashion I have made gifts for Gerod, Pawpaw, and Papaw! I should be able to finish them all up tomorrow while Gibson is at Mothers Day Out. I cant wait to see how they all turn out!! I will post pics after Fathers Day just in case one of the guys checks the blog before then ;)

I am so excited for Gibson's day at Mothers Day Out tomorrow... I really wish I could go and take pictures. They are having a water day and getting sno cones as well. They said "no swimsuits" which I am sure is because of the world we live in today, so Gibson will be wearing a "I don't care if it gets ruined" outfit. Luckily he gets to change back into something cute before I pick him up! Always thinking about fashion!

Tomorrow night we are leaving for Texas where we will see Gibson's doctor in Lubbock again for a follow up appt. I am anxious to see what she has to say about his speech improvement. We have seen some amazing changes since he started all his therapies.
On that note, I plan on getting on the ball in getting my goal of $1000 donated to Autism Speaks for the walk that I am going to be the Captain of. If any one wants to get involved by walking or helping us fund raise please let me know. I am currently working on a fundraising event that I will let everyone know of when I get all the details worked out.

One last thing... Bug will be 11 months old on Friday!! I cant believe how close he is to being ONE! It will be here before we know it.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend, and a blessed Fathers Day!

First day of school!

2010-06-10T09:30:00.001-07:00

I have been looking forward to Gibson finally starting Mothers Day Out, but I never thought I would react the way I did this morning. I woke up extra early, with a headache and a stomach ache... I was thinking about taking Gibson to his first day of "school", well MDO, and I was sad. I didn't think I would feel sad about taking him... I mean its only 5 hours and he will get to play and make friends, and heck I will get a bit of a break and actually be able to get some things done. But as I pulled into the church I started getting more and more upset, and it didn't help matters when I brought him to his class and he cried as I walked out the door. I got to my car and put Chad in his car seat and started the engine and then just sat there in the driver seat crying my eyes out, hoping that no one that was walking by might see me breaking down. It was a whole lot harder than I could have ever imagined.

I am sure once he starts pre-school this fall, and then kindergarten that it will be even worse.

On the other hand, it is a BIG day for my BIG boy! I am so excited to see him growing and developing, I didn't dream that he would grow up so quickly.

Here is Gibson right before we left for "school". Doesn't he look cute? Backpack (or as Gibson calls it... PaPack) on and ready to go Mom!
He was waiting by the door... apparently I wasn't going fast enough.

I took him to get a donut (his favorite breakfast), before I dropped him off for the day. I sure hope that he enjoys his day, and that I can get some things accomplished before we head to Dallas tomorrow to meet up with Gigi and Papaw!

I love you sweet boy! Mommy cant believe how grown up you are!

Our weekend in Tulsa

2010-06-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

We had a blast in Tulsa over the weekend hanging out with some great friends. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to, as always, but I was able to get a few cute shots.

Here is Gerod reading to Brynlee (on the left) and Atlee (on the right). He is so animated when he reads books... you should have seen the faces he was making in the other pictures. :) Bug... showing off his two top teeth. He now has 4 teeth with one more working its way in right now.
Gibson just hanging out... he is getting so big.

Gibson LOVED the Mariachi Band at the restaurant. He kept clapping, and even tipped them a dollar. The guy was so sweet letting Gibson touch the guitar and strum on the strings before they walked off.

Gibson also LOVED the motorcycles. He kept running over to them and walking down the long line of bikes that were parked next to each other and he would tell me what color each one was until we got to the end, and then we would go back through the line again with him telling the colors again.

Chad enjoyed hanging out in the grass while Daddy chased Gibson around and everyone listened to the band play.

Needless to say we cant wait to get back to Tulsa to hang out again. It had been almost a year since we had been up there to visit, and we promised it wouldn't be that long before the next time we come up.

Cloth Diapers... Giving it a Go!

2010-06-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

I just bought 6 cloth diapers this morning, and I am very anxious to get started with a cloth diaper system. Of course I bought two of the boy sets. They are adjustable from newborn to toddler so they should fit both boys, and will fit Chad for quite a while as well as any other kids we may have in the future.
This will definitely be a new adventure for me as I NEVER thought I would do something like this, but in today's economy I will do anything to save a penny.

I will let you know how it all works out!

Memorial Day Weekend FUN!

2010-06-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT Memorial Day Weekend! Saturday morning marked the beginning of our outdoor fun by heading over to the Route 66 Park in Bethany. Gibson had a blast running around being chased by daddy, and both the boys of course loved swinging. It was a beautiful morning and we had a great time as a family.
After the park we went home and got ready for the day. We met our good friends from Midland, the Burns family and their friends the Dyer's at Chick-fil-a for lunch and then headed over to the Dyer's house for some outdoor fun. I of course left my camera in the car, but the kids enjoyed the afternoon in the sun, sliding down the slip-n-slide hill that the guys created in the back yard. It was a HOT day, and the kids were worn out, but they had SO much fun!!

On Sunday we went to Jimmy's Egg for breakfast where Gibson devoured his kids sized pancake breakfast that would fill most adults. We were so proud that he ate so well. After breakfast we had to let Gibson check out the "Choo-Choo Train" over at the dentists office next door to the restaurant. Gibson LOVED it!!

Then we were off to meet our friends at the ZOO! Gibson had a blast looking at the animals. I think he likes it more now that he knows the names of some of the different animals, some of his favorites being the Zebra's and Giraffe's.

Taking some time to sit down and relax in the shade before heading out to look at more animals.

After we had lunch at the ZOO we went to the Fins and Feathers show. They showed different tricks that the sea lions and birds could do. Other than a mild breakdown from Gibson this was really fun.

That night we went back to Dyer's house for a cookout dinner. The kids had a blast playing in the backyard again, and after dinner we gave the boys a bath. That is Kolter in the tub with Gibson, he had a lot of fun pouring water on top of Gibson's head.

On Monday we went over to the Williams for another cookout and some pool time for the kiddos. They had a BLAST yet again!! These boys LOVE being outside that's for sure.

Emma, Gibson and Chad in the pool... I am sure Gibson was telling Chad no at this point... He says "Da No!"

I love this tongue thing... looks like he is really concentrating or something.

Chad has recently started doing this shy/embarrassed thing where he covers his face from whoever is looking at him. It is too funny to watch him do this.

We finally got them out of the pool!

Then it was time for POPSICLES!! Gibson LOVED his red, white and blue Popsicle.

After dinner the pools dried off and Chad fell asleep while Gibson showed off his skills to Daddy on the iPhone.

Needless to say it was a long, busy, fun-filled, HOT weekend... and we wouldn't have had it any other way. We cant wait for the Burns family to come up and visit again, and we have made new friends with the Dyer's family whom we hope to hang out with again very soon.

Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend, and also said a special thanks to all those who have fought, and are continuing to fight for our freedom. Thank you to all the veterans and soldiers out there... we are ever so grateful for all that you do!

"I wear my sunglasses at night..."

2010-05-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

I love how Chad removes his sunglasses...

Oh how I love my sweet little man... and the speed of my camera lens! :) Oh the things that make me happy!!

10 Months old... plus a few days!

2010-05-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

I cant believe my BUG is 10 months old... we are so close to the big ONE YEAR birthday! This picture by far has been the hardest to get of him. He actually looks kind of terrified here but it was the best picture out of the bunch. Some of his 10 month stats:
Pulling up and walking along furniture
Walking if you hold both of his hands
Attempting to stand on his own, but still pretty wobbly
Eating up to 21oz of formula and up to 6 jars of baby food per day
Eating some solid foods *bread, banana, puffs, cheerios, cheese*
Sleeping all night long

Chad has two teeth on the bottom, and two teeth on the top, and one more on the top trying to come through which has made sleeping a little rough.

It is amazing how different Chad and Gibson are, but also amazing how similar they are. I love that they both LOVE to laugh and giggle till their cheeks turn red and they almost cant breathe. They are truly happy boys and always smiling! We are so proud to be their parents.

Soon to come... birthday party planning!!! I am already thinking about things we can do for both of the boys and things we are planning on getting them. I cant wait! Birthday parties are so much fun!

Lately

2010-05-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

This is not SNOW... It is hail!! We had a really bad hail storm this past Sunday afternoon, and it looks like we will be needing a new roof. We just had the roof replaced last summer so we aren't looking forward to having to do it again. Luckily we didn't have near the damage that some people had, we don't have any broken windows, and since both of our cars were in the garage we don't have any hail damage to them.
This is Chad's 9 month picture with his bear... I am going to get the 10 month one posted very soon! I have just been so behind!! You can tell that the kid is seriously growing!! He is getting bigger every single day and is pulling up and walking along the furniture now! I know it wont be too long before he starts walking with the way he is moving right now.

In other news, Gibson is doing wonderful with his communication. He knows his alphabet, and can recognize not only numbers but letters as well... all of the letters! From what I understand at this age that's pretty remarkable! He is also beginning to use two-word phrases such as "Thank You", "shoes off", "good job" and "cheese balls"... lol. Most parents wouldn't think of these phrases as being important, but we think they are wonderful. He actually seems to be learning a new word every day, and attempting to say what he hears. Things seem to finally be clicking for him, and we couldn't be prouder as his parents!

Until I can get back to update again... I will leave you with a few recent pics of the boys! I cant believe just how big they are both getting!

Gibson sliding down the "big boy" slide at our favorite park

Saying his letters for me at the alphabet board at the park

He tried to help water the garden, but as you can see he mostly got himself... and the sidewalk... and the windows... but hey he had fun! Look at that tongue!

I love my BUG and his sweet smiles, and bright blue eyes

Autism Speaks Walk

2010-05-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

I am so excited because I have decided to be the Team Captain for the Autism Speaks Walk in OKC on October 16th of this year. I have been thinking about it for a while now and have finally decided its something I really need to do.
Gibson was diagnosed with PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder) which is on the Autism Spectrum. Basically Gibson has Autistic tendencies, but cant be given the diagnosis of Autism or Aspergers. The Autism spectrum is so much more than just those two diseases. There are so many levels of Autism that people just don't know about, and there are still a ton of things that I still don't know. Gibson is currently in speech therapy, and behavioral therapy that are both doing wonders to help him develop his vocabulary, communication, and social skills (which are all specific traits that Gibson has issues with).
I really believe that there is so much more to learn about this disease, and I truly believe that I can be a small part in helping that research happen. I would love to get the word out to as many people as possible about what Autism is really all about, and I think this will be a great way to do it.
If anyone has any suggestions on a team name please let me know. I am wanting to incorporate Gibson's name into it somehow and have gotten some good suggestions via FB already. Also, if you want to help out in any way with our walk let me know. Once I have a team name I will be applying to be a Captain and I will have a page on the Autism Speaks website for our team that will allow people to make donations.

I am excited about this journey in getting to know more about the disease that not only effects my Gibson, but so many other kids out there. I cant wait to see where this takes us!

Look who's pulling up???

2010-04-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

My little bug is pulling up and Saturday morning when Gerod went to get Chad out of bed we found him like this! He thinks he is pretty cool because he can stand up in his bed now!
Laughing at Daddy.

Guess we will be lowering the bed here pretty quick! I cant believe my baby is getting so big!

Emma Grace

2010-04-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we had an amazing golf tournament for our friends beautiful little girl Emma! "Tee It Up For Emma" was a benefit that Gerod and 3 other guys put on to benefit Emma and her medical costs. She was diagnosed with Leukemia back on April 5, 2009 and has been in remission for a while and in fact RANG THE BELL... as a sign of being finished with Chemo just last week! We are so happy that the hardest part of this journey is over and Emma is getting better day by day. Doesn't she look just adorable holding the bell? Here is Emma with her Dad and Mom at the Arts Festival with us the other night. We love this family, they are our very best friends! :) So glad Emma was able to get out with us that night!

Love you guys! I am so glad the tournament was such a success!!

Technology...

2010-04-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

Both of the boys LOVE our i-phones. You should see Gibson flipping through "HIS" apps, and playing all his games. He is actually learning things by playing! Amazing that a 2 year old can work an i-phone... I don't think we even started using computers till 3rd grade. I have a feeling making fun of my mom for her troubles with the Internet back when I was in Junior High is going to come back to haunt me one of these days!

Beautiful Spring Nights

2010-04-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

After Gerod got home from work the other night we took Gibson out front to play with the chalk that he got for Easter. He had a ton of fun! We scribbled and wrote numbers and his name. I cant wait for more beautiful nights so we can hang out as a family like this!

Arts Festival!

2010-04-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

It was a little cooler outside than we thought it would be but we still had a good time and the boys stayed warm with their jackets and blankets. Clapping to the music the live band was playing.
Having fun!

Eating some of Mommy's Strawberries Newport! He LOVED it!!

Running through all the fabric in the kids section of the Arts Festival

Look at that face.... such a STINKER!

Daddy and Bug!

Apparently he REALLY didn't want to leave!

Our trip to Tejas...

2010-04-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

We went down to Texas this past weekend because I have a brand new Jeweler in my Premier Designs family and I had to go do her training show. Not only was the show a success, but we also had the best excuse to visit family and friends while we were in town.
I definitely got my fix of "REAL" Mexican food this weekend, we went to Jorges (where I saw an old high school girlfriend and her daughter), Rosa's (one of my favorites) where we met up with another girlfriend I have known since probably kindergarten, and her husband and two kids, and then had Jumburrito for breakfast on Sunday morning!! :) I miss all my little spots in good ole' Midland!!
We stayed with my parents, and Gibson got to chase his cousin Jaxon around all weekend. He had an absolute BLAST and was exhausted on the ride home last night. We also had Gerod's parents over for a cookout at my parents house on Saturday night which was again a lot of fun, and really good food.
Its so nice to go home to see family, we miss them all so much!
We are glad to be back at home in our own beds, but man do I have laundry and cleaning to do now. I guess I better get on that ;)

By the way, although I took my camera with me, I took ABSOLUTELY NO PICTURES!! I know pretty crazy for me, but needless to say it was a busy weekend.

This weekend we have bachelor/bachelorette parties for some friends of ours, and we have a sitter!!! Praise the Lord! I am excited for a girls night out. Then next weekend we have their wedding! :) I still need to go buy a cute dress but I have plenty of time right?\

Next Monday the 26th is the "Tee it up for Emma" tournament that Gerod has been planning along with three other guys... this is to benefit our best friends daughter who was diagnosed with Leukemia back on April 5, 2009... she is now in remission, but doctor/medical bills are really expensive... if you want to help out in any way please let me know!!
We are SO excited for this event to finally be here!! I promise to take pictures and post them. If you want to hear more about Emma's story you can check out her BLOG that her mommy (and my bestie) writes for her.

I love this time of year!!

2010-04-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

Things I love about spring/summer time:

*Laying out!!
*Pink nail polish on my toes
*Flip Flops in every color of the rainbow
*Hanging out outside with my boys... all three of them!
*Swimming... and laying out
*Grilling out (ribs and stuffed jalapenos are my favs!!)
*Shopping for fun swimsuits!

I absolutely love this time of year... it is warm enough for shorts and time to pull out the sunglasses.

We are trying to find the perfect swing set to get for the boys so we can spend even more time outdoors because the boys love their playtime outside. I cant wait to get the swing set up so Gibson and Chad can play on it all summer long from now until they outgrow the thing! ;) Until then we will be taking the short drive over to the park so they can enjoy the weather as much as I can.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their spring!

Easter Weekend

2010-04-08T21:55:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter this year. It was Chad's first Easter and Gibson's 3rd! WOW how time has flown!! Gibson got to dye Easter eggs for the very first time this year it was so much fun seeing his face during the entire process... completely PRICELESS!!Look at the wonder...
Telling Daddy how to do it... or so we think...

He kept dropping the eggs in from so high... he cracked most of the ones he colored. Oh well!

Decorating the eggs

"GREEN!"

We went out to take some Easter pictures in a place with a ton of tulips... it was beautiful!

Gibson enjoyed being outside... he looked so cute in his purple and green, we had Chad in a coordinating purple and green outfit. We found out from Granci and Papaw that Gibson and his cousin Evan had the exact same Easter outfit (minus Gibson's tie)... too funny!

Daddy and Bug

Mommy and Bug

It was so funny when we asked Gibson to give Chad a kiss... he literally tackled him and tried to move his hands so he could give him a smooch. It was adorable. Thankfully Chad is a huge kid so it didn't bother him that his brother, almost 2 years his senior, was completely smothering him.

Brotherly Love

Our Crazy, Wonderful Family

Gibson got some awesome stuff in his Easter basket.

Chad CONKED out after church... we went to check on him and found him like this. :)

Hunting for Easter eggs with Daddy

Gibson loved hunting for eggs. We didn't know how he would do at first, but he had a ton of fun searching the park for the plastic, candy-filled eggs.

He even found the ones I hid up in the trees

After Gibson hunted down all the eggs we let the boys play at the playground. Chad loved the swing! It was the first time he had been on one outside. It was a gorgeous afternoon.

Gibson got to swing on the big kid swing... he did such a good job. Mommy and Daddy were both so proud! He only fell off one time, and he dusted himself off and got right back on. We definitely don't have a scared little boy on our hands... maybe that means trouble?!?

We had a wonderful weekend... Gerod's parents were in town and they put up with me having a garage sale on both Friday and Saturday. The boys loved getting to hang out with their Granci and Papaw and we loved having them! It is always nice to see family since we are so far from them, especially on holidays as special of Easter. Thanks again for coming and visiting us Granci and Papaw. We love you!!

Hope you all had a Happy Easter. We had a wonderful day celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior. We cant wait for all the memories to come on this wonderful holiday.

ShAdEs!

2010-03-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

I am so glad Julie sent me the link to Rita's Coffee Shop blog about all things photography! I have been tinkering with this picture of Gibson during the boys nap and love how it turned out. I cant wait to start trying out some of the other things that her website has to offer as far as tutorials. :) Thanks Julie!

I already want to upgrade my photoshop!

2010-03-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

I found out today that there are endless edits that you can do to a picture that I was completely unaware of. Mostly I found a new, more costly, program that can do tons of different kinds of edits on photos. I have officially fallen in love with this program, and am on a mission to buy it!! Hopefully the sooner the better. Another thing on my wish list is a couple more lenses... which are also by no means inexpensive!! Haha!! I better start booking some jewelry parties!!

On the other hand, I did figure out a few new tricks in my current editing program.
Here are a couple pictures of the boys that I took this weekend that I played around with today.

Busy Weekend!

2010-03-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

We had a VERY busy weekend. We woke up early Saturday morning to go to a birthday party for one of Gibson's friends. The party was at the Science Museum, and had a robot and dinosaur theme. We got to make our own robots out of marshmallows and pretzels. Mommy and Chad during the party!
Gibson had SO much fun!!

Otto the Robot that came to visit during the party

Look at those bright blue eyes!

For some reason all the kids ended up underneath the table playing with the leftover marshmallows.

Sleepy Bug!

Playing at the Science Museum... Gibson absolutely loved the water table. We were there for the longest time. He kept stacking all the boats up, unstacking them, and then re-stacking them... over... and over... again.

Driving the Tractor!

Apparently he was rockin' out to some kind of silent soundtrack!

Playing on the log See-Saw with Daddy

"Look Mom... No Hands!"

Gibson had so much fun playing in the gymnastics area. Daddy kept helping him roll down the mat. I cant wait till our "Mom & Tot" outing to the gymnastics building!!

1...

2...

3...!!

I forget what this thing is called, but Gibson thought it was just about the coolest thing ever! He got to ride around a track they had laid out two times. He thoroughly enjoyed it!On Sunday after church we decided to take the boys outside to play in the front yard because the weather was absolutely beautiful!! Gibson had a blast rolling down the driveway on his motorcycle.

Lookin' stylin' in his shades!

Chad didn't like his shades as much...

but he loved the beautiful weather!

We played in the grass...

And rolled over!

We all hope that the weather continues to cooperate for our trip to the zoo this Thursday! I cant wait to get the boys out in the fresh air again soon!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Palm Sunday! Next weekend is Easter and the celebration of the resurrection of our Savior! I hope everyone has a wonderful week leading up to a wonderful day of celebration!