The Wall Family

Welcome Davis!!

2011-04-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

So, I'm just a couple of months behind on blogging!! Oops!

This little guy has kept me on my toes. He's sweet and soft and still has that new baby smell, which I can't seem to get enough of! Best of all, he's tough enough (or passive enough) to deal with his 2 big sisters as they borrow his paci, steel his blankets and "help" rock him to sleep in his swing. He's a trooper to say the least!! These are pictures from the week after we brought him home. I HAVE taken some pictures sense then, but it's sad to say, that by the 3rd kiddo, the camera just doesn't get used as much.

I'm a terrible mother! :)

Happy Birthday Addi!!

2011-01-12T06:00:00.001-08:00

I can't believe that Addison is already 3!! I've been calling her my "big girl" lately, which she loves, but it's the truth. She's just growing up SO FAST! For her birthday, she got to ride a real horse! His name is Hawk & we've been talking about him everyday since. I was worried a little at first, of what kind of experience this would be. But Addi was fearless and even shouted "YeeHa" a few times. Hawk was gentle and patient, even understanding when Addi dug her boots into his sides on her 3rd "YeeHa".

Here she is waving, like she's done this a hundred times before or something..

Sydney loved Hawk too, but she more or less just hung on for dear life.

We celebrated Addi's birthday at Clay & Stacy Riebe's house. They're a SWEET couple from our church who offered their barn to us for the cowboy-themed party. It was perfect!!

I created a Main Street out of moving boxes that the kids could run in and out of.

Of course, Addi was more infatuated with the balloons. The boxes were old news to her, since she's been playing with them for weeks now.

She LOVED the stick-horse races though!! Here's everyone lined up..

And there they go. The perfect ploy to run out all of their energy! That's Sydney in the middle, trying her best to keep up.

The kids took their turn at the Pinata.

And we all went on a hay ride before calling it a night.

Happy Birthday sweet Addison!

As you say all the time..."You make me happy!"

Christmas 2010

2011-01-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some snapshots of Christmas. We spent a few days with the Harris family the weekend before Christmas and then had Ben's family come visit us here for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. It was a great way to break it up. Plus, we got to celebrate twice, which the girls loved!

Here are the girls with their cousins Tristan, Kaylee & Kenlee.

Addi was already begging/pleading to open their presents.

Sydney LOVED this backpack & wore it the rest of the day.

Addi got a big-girl bike!

And I tried my best to cut myself OUT of this picture :)

Addi also got a dollhouse, which we tried to let her enjoy by herself for a few minutes. Our efforts were in vane, of course.

Ben's best attempt at distraction.

The last present under the tree (from Aunt Julie) became my prop for a cute sister's picture. This was our best one.

Or maybe this one...

And here are the girls (with goofy smiles) with Ben's parents and their cousin, sweet Emily.

Christmas Home Tour

2010-12-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

Okay. I'm not sure where November went??

Apparently, I'm behind on my posts!!

So we'll just jump right into Christmas! I've been listening to Christmas music and pulling decorations out of the tubs in my garage. I LOVE this time of year! The lights, the ornaments, the sweets!! Does it get any better??

There's more pictures and decor ideas at That Village House.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Trick or Treat!

2010-10-31T19:44:00.001-07:00

Halloween could not get here soon enough this year.

Addi has been talking about being a zebra for weeks now! So tonight was the big night. I made sure to get some pictures before we left, not knowing how long the costumes would actually stay on. We couldn't figure out what zebras do (??) so Addi roared like a lion most of the night "on Sydney's behalf". She also galloped (skipped) from point A to point B, which seemed to keep her occupied...

I love this one.

I'll pretend for a minute that they're always this sweet to each other. Ahh!

I feared Sydney would mess with her lion's mane all night, but she instead messed with Addi's. Lovely.

We headed off to the Fall Festival and spent half of our time at the petting zoo. Sydney loved the goats! She gave this one a hug...

and had a full conversation with this guy.

Addi loved the goats too.

and they loved her costume.

The rabbit was a safer bet.

We played games...

And then headed off to trick or treat.

Addi insisted on riding her bike. I thought the situation had disaster written all over it, but she actually did great.

At each house she would say "thank you Mister". Something she learned from our Trick or Treat book. I explained it at the first few houses, but then gave up.

Sydney played with the yard decor.

And we all did our best to avoid this guy! He's on one of those electric scooters & stands about 9 feet tall. Are you kidding me??

Can you see him in this picture? Luckily, Addi was so enthralled in her candy, that she missed him altogether. Thank you Lord!

It was a great sugar-filled night. Addi has already decided that she wants to be a giraffe next year. I guess I have that long to figure out what giraffes do :)

here's some of Addi's handywork...

2010-10-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

Sydney was actually awake when it happened. They were laughing and giggling in the race-car cart at Lowes. I took my eyes off of them for 2 seconds & this is what happens. Noooo!! Addiiiii! Where did the pen even come from?? There's no telling. I discovered more drawings down her neck and under her shirt during bath time tonight. What in the world? The guy at Lowes must think I'm crazy!!

Dewberry Farms

2010-10-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

We drove out to Dewberry Farms this week. A friend of mine got together 10 moms & all of their kids, so you can imagine, it was a CRAZY day!

We rode the wagon train.

And raced rubber duckies.

We took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch.

And attempted to take a group picture. This is about half of the kids.

But Addi's favorite part was the HUGE slide.

Too fun! The dust and hotdog line was totally worth it!

Tailgating at Cowboy's Stadium

2010-10-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

We relived the good ole days with some college buddies on Saturday.

The boys cooked us lunch on this tiny grill.

Sarah & I ruled the corn holes game. Mostly because off Sarah!

Cowboys Stadium was impressive.

Ben can no longer watch punt returns.

We won half time!

Luke & the girls wore themselves out at Nana & Gramps.

Ft. Worth Zoo

2010-10-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

Aren't you loving this weather!? We took full advantage of it this weekend & took the girls to the zoo. They loved it so much, that we (they) may just have to be zoo animals for halloween. I see a zebra costume in our near future!!

Back to School

2010-09-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Addi started school last week & is loving it. "School" is at our church and just on Monday & Wednesday, but she asks to go every morning. She wears her new light-up sparkle shoes & on good days, carries her own back pack, lunch box & nap mat.

I've since, made her this new nap mat, which gets her even more giddy about the thought of going to school.

This is her new classmate Lexi...

and her teacher, Mrs Cindy.

And again, on good days, she gives Sydney goodbye hugs. It makes my day :)

Snip it's

2010-09-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

For Addi's 1st official hair cut, I took her to this super cool place called Snip-it's. It a kid's wonderland, complete with fun chairs, cartoons & animal crackers. What kid wouldn't want to get their hair cut here??

Addi was less than impressed.

The 8 minute hair cut seemed like eternity to her.

The sucker helped...

And then she got to give Mr Snip-it's a high five & get a prize for being so good. I'll know next time to let her do this first.

Silly face...

Sweet face...

Mimi & Sydney came with us.

Looking at this picture, it might not be long before Sydney's 1st hair cut...

It's a BOY!!

2010-09-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

I'm SO thrilled to tell you that come January, we will be adding some BLUE to the Wall household! As much as we love princesses & tutus, it's exciting to think that baseball & matchbox cars lie in our future!

Gig 'em!

2010-09-06T11:11:00.003-07:00

This is my favorite time of the year to live in Aggieland!

Despite the traffic jams & 2 hour wait at Cheddars, it's just exciting to be here! Ben has been counting down the days (& hours) till football season. And it's finally here! We joined the other 80,000 overanxious Aggie fans on campus 4 hours before the game started. We had just enough time to stop by the Foundation's tailgate, see the Calvary's horses & find the perfect spot to watch the band march in.

Nana & Peeps joined us!

Addi was proud to show off her newly found "gig em"

This was her first view of a packed Kyle field.

She pretended to be shy...

Yeah, right!!

Loud & crazy is right up her alley.

Sydney had a great time too!

We spent half time on the grass behind the bleachers.

Addi LOVED the jumbotron!

We then practiced our "gig em" once more before getting a front-row seat to watch the guys run back on the field. I'm not sure who was more excited, Ben or Addi??

And here's one more of sweet Sydney, just because she's sweet.

Dog days of summer

2010-08-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

We took a day trip to the BlueBell Ice Cream factory this week!

As if we didn't get enough ice cream at Sydney's party (and every day since)! We've been trying to come up with a fun outing each week to keep us from going stir crazy until school starts. So we gathered up a few friends and trekked on down to Brenham. The tour guide must have thought we were on a class field trip. 4 moms, 10 kids.

This is Addi's new smile. Lovely.

Sydney played peek-a-boo with her BlueBell hat.

After the tour, we all got FREE icecream! Sydney & Jake are sitting a little too close don't ya think? :)

My attempt at a group photo.

We then had lunch at the Brenham airport. There's a little cafe where you can watch the planes take off & land. The kids loved it. Again, the manager looked at us like we were crazy when we asked for a table of 14.

more adventures to come next week...

Sydney is 1!

2010-08-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it?? This past year has flown by!

We had an ice cream party for her in the back yard.

the older kids swam...

played with bubbles...

and of course, ate ice cream!!

Addi LOVED the idea of eating ice cream and m&m's

at the same time!!

i told her to eat it before it melted.

we let Sydney dive into her cupcake.

and then let the older kids bust a pinata.

It was a great time for friends and family to love on Sydney!

Thank you all for coming!!

For more pictures of the party, check out that Village House.

music & dancing

2010-08-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

Ben recently surprised me with 2 tickets to the Michael Buble' concert! We had dinner at Mattito's in Dallas & stayed at the Stoneleigh downtown.

It was a great little date night!

Even the girls are Michael Buble' fans.

my new back porch!

2010-08-06T07:48:00.001-07:00

I've redone my porch & LOVE it!

I'm sitting here now...updating blogs, checking emails & loving it!

Check out how I did it!

Chalk Talk

2010-08-06T06:27:00.000-07:00

So...I haven't been super pumped about A&M football starting back up. With all of the hype about possibly going to the SEC & then absolutely nothing coming of it, except UT getting more money (sorry Linds :), I was already feeling a little defeated.

That was of course, until I went to Chalk Talk!! This is an AWESOME event that they put on once a year for us Aggie ladies. You have dinner in the Zone Club, mingle with some players, here Coach Sermon talk about the upcoming season, etc.

Most of these guys are red shirt Freshman.

ALL of them called me mam'! Ah~

Dat Nguyen, our new Linebackers Coach.

Ben got onto me for smiling.

Then you get to go to McFerrin practice field and run drills with the players and coaches! It is incredible. Even 16 weeks prego, I was out there workin' my tale off. I have more pictures of my mad skills that I could post for you, but I'll spare myself the embarrassment!

Next, it's off to the Bright Complex, where you meet more coaches, talk offense & defense & see the locker room. I snagged this picture with Coach Sherman before getting started.

The locker room, a work still in progress apparently.

Last, but not least, you get to go on Kyle field & watch football highlights on the jumbotron! Can you say AWESOME!?

The Yell Leaders led us in a few yells before calling it a night.

I can now honestly say, that I can't wait for football season!!

Only 29 days to go!!

Is anyone coming in town for games?? You've got a place to stay!!

Falling behind

2010-07-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

My blogging in July has been somewhat lacking. You see, my friend Lindsay twisted my arm & got me totally wrapped up into this new blog of hers that's super cute & super fun. We're only a few weeks into it, but already have posts about crafty projects and home decorating ideas. If you haven't wondered over to the green box that says "that Village House", go ahead and check it out!! And if you're feeling spunky and want to send love our way, become a follower!!

New bling

2010-07-14T21:06:00.001-07:00

Notice anything new??

Sydney got her ears pierced!

I love this picture with her disheveled hair. She's come to despise hair bows. Leave it to the earrings to keep her girlified.

Happy 4th!

2010-07-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

The rain let up just long enough for our little backyard bash this weekend. The guys grilled burgers & manned the backyard chaos of big kids while us ladies had the terrible task of eating chips and queso & lovin' on sweet babies in the a.c.. Our friends brought the coolest "slip & slide"ever for the kids to play on. Grandparents. Pay attention! This thing is awesome! Between it and our kiddie pool, these kids could have played for hours!

5 sweet little girls. All under 10 mths.

This took about 2 seconds to set up. Notice only 3 boys out of 15 kids!

The girl's picture took a little longer. Controlled chaos, I tell you.

Happy 4th!!

practice makes perfect

2010-06-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

To escape the heat and give us something to do, I enrolled Addi in gymnastics this summer. It's a class of 2, 3 & 4 year olds, of all different levels and attention spans. You can imagine that these teachers have their hands full! And my sweetness, of course, adds to the excitement. In the last few weeks they've conquered front rolls, the balance beam, and Addi's favorite, the trampoline. Our biggest hurdle however, has been sitting still (and not running to the double bars or ball pit) in between turns. Her teacher Mandy sought me out that first week and gave me a stern talking-to. I thought "she's 2?!". But visions of sitting in a principle's office 5 years from now flashed through my mind!! I quickly went to work. For the next week, Addi & I sat on our own "carpet squares", a collection of hand towels and dish rags, as we played games at home. Day in and day out, I was determined that this concept WOULD sink in by our next gymnastics meet! And yesterday it completely paid off!! Addi sat on her square, waited her turn & then killed every front roll, kick and trick in the book. And then WENT BACK TO HER CARPET SQUARE! I was SO proud of her!! We met Ben for lunch & I went on and on about how great she did. People around us probably thought the next May Lou Retton was in their presence! Forget the fact that she was just doing what she was supposed to do...something that every other kid had pretty much done from Day 1. My baby is an All-Star and I could not be more proud of her.

These pictures were taken on Day 1. Addi freaked out at the thought of running in a circle. Crazy girl. She has no problem doing it anywhere else. Her friends, Brooke & Hallie are in pink, right behind her.

Jumping & rolling are her strengths. No encouraging necessary.

She was unsure about the parashoot game & thought she would spice things up a bit.

Can you find the bump in pic 2??

lights out

2010-06-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

Sydney is a GREAT sleeper!! She can sleep anytime, anywhere, and apparently...in any position.

I recently removed her bumper pads to keep her from crawling out of her crib & this is now, how I find her. So graceful.

jump on in!

2010-06-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

We took full advantage of Nana & Peep's swimming pool last week!! Addi's a little more reserved about the water this summer than she was last, which is A-okay with me. The fewer episodes of jumping into the deep end, the better!

I asked Addi to hold hands so I could take their picture.

That lasted about 2 seconds.

I then asked her to share her watermelon.

That went over just as well.

Dad & Daughter Dance 2010

2010-05-10T05:48:00.000-07:00

Well. It's official! Addison has been to her first dance! I give her an A+ for cuteness!! Dance moves earned her a B- however (only because I know what she's capable of). She started off doing GREAT! She did everything we taught her. She shook her head. Turned in circles. Flapped her elbows. DWTS, watch out!!

But as more girls showed up and the dance floor got crowded, Addi completely froze up. What happened to my crazy girl who dances and sings at Freebirds?!! As long as Ben held her, she was fine, which of course he loved! Here they are with George, Brooke & Hallie.

Then she found the Candy Bar. All hope was lost.

Happy as can be with a mouth full of skittles!

Prepwork

2010-05-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the big Daddy Daughter Dance!! Get excited!! I'm on the committee this year, so I'm probably MORE pumped about it than Ben & Addi combined. I have to admit though, the thought of making one more paper flower may just do me in. This was my living room last night. And that's only 100 of the 200 flowers that I was in charge of. Ahh! I came up 20 short but who's counting, right?

And Addi has been working on her dance moves!! In her princess dress and high heels of course. I've always wondered where she learned those crazy moves! Ha!!

Country Fair

2010-05-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the annual Country Fair at our church!! We went last year, but because Addi was so little, we mostly just hung out around the petting zoo...for 2 hours!! There's only so many cute pictures you can take with a billy goat! Needless to say, I was more than thrilled that we were able to venture out to some of the big-kid activities. We ate snow cones, went down the big slide and jumped in the bounce house, all in effort to burn as much energy as possible. I'm afraid our efforts were waisted on Sydney though. Sweet thing slept through the whole thing.

Is it Thursday yet??

2010-04-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

Playdates are my saving grace!! Every Thursday morning we get together with 6 other moms and let our kiddos run wild! For an hour and half, I get to have adult conversation! It's fabulous!! It's a team effort, a zone defensive, to keep everyone safe and together. As long as no one falls off the monkey bars, throws sand, or steals sippie cups, we consider it a successful event!

Lindsay & Misty working the swing set.

Addi wanting to go higher!

Sydney just laughing.

That's all she does these days.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T16:41:00.000-07:00

The girls had a wonderful time at their Easter egg hunt! They actually started "the hunt" 10 minutes early so a ton of kids (us included) just about missed the entire thing. No big deal. We organized our own little hunt for them. Some bigger kids even shared their eggs with us! Here are the girls with Mimi and PaPa (formally Grammie & Grandpa, but Addi renamed them since she struggles with her "G"s).

We scattered the eggs out on the green and let Addi run wild.

We practiced hunting last week (because she crashed and burned last year), but she looked like a pro out there!

Sweet Sydney just sat and took it all in.

Addi shared some eggs with her, which made her day.

Trip: Part deux: France

2010-03-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

Bonjour! We made it to Paris! Home of not only toast, fries & poodles, but of our great friends, Chris & Rachel! We've been wanting to take advantage of their living situation ever since they moved there! (We've asked them to now relocate to London.) We flew in early Friday morning. Instead of renting a car & fighting traffic at a snail's pace, we decided to do the mass transportation thing. We hopped the ORLYbus to Denfert Rochereau. Then purchased metro tickets on Line 6. Headed West in the direction of Etoile. Exited Sevres Lecourbe. Walked half a mile up Avenue Breteuil, toward Les Invalides until we got to Rue Rosa Bonheur.

Much easier!

District 7 is BEAUTIFUL! A residential area, sprinkled with parks, cafes and flower shops, it's no wonder why the Paxton's landed here.

Their apartment comes equipped with quiet neighbors, fantastic views and a tiny little LIFT just big enough for two. (behind these double doors). A sweet little lady squeezed-in with Ben on the first day. Laughing and carrying on (all in French) up to the 4th floor. Ben just smiled and nodded.

Rachel, being 7 months pregnant (doesn't she look great?!), sent us out on our first day's excursions. We ate quiche, visited Napoleon's Tomb & hit the WWII museum before catching back up with them for dinner. Before calling it a night, we landed here, at The Moose. Funny how that worked out. It was probably the ONLY place in Paris that just happened to be showing the A&M vs. Utah State basketball game that night!

We truly do bleed maroon!

On Saturday, we set out towards Normandy, stopping along the way in Rouen for lunch. Rouen is known for a beautiful cathedral that Monet painted a ton of times (3o to be exact), at different times of the day, seasons, weather. You get the idea.

Monet's apartment sat on the opposite side of the plaza, making the cathedral a convenient subject. I claim he lived here. I love the big windows and the Renaissance architecture. Plus, there was a Monet banner out front.

We then headed West, to the beaches of Normandy. Our first stop (and Ben's favorite of the trip) was an area called Pointe du Hoc. It's a 30 acre stretch of land that juts out into the sea, separating the Utah and Omaha Beaches. German long-range artillery could easily fire on either beach from these cliffs, making this point a key German stronghold that the Allies had to take out. On D-Day 1944, 225 Rangers, led by Leut. Col. James E. Rudder (Aggie legend!) scaled the 100 ft cliffs and destroyed the gun batteries.

The bomb craters & German bunkers were incredible! And more so, it seemed as if nothing had changed. Barbed wire still stretched along the cliffs' edge and encircled some German barricades. It was cool to be there, but very surreal.

We then walked down along the coast of the Omaha Beach. Over 175,000 troops were deployed on these beaches, making it still the largest seaborne invasion of all time.

Perched on the bluffs, overlooking the beach, rests the American Cemetery. A wave of emotion sweeps over you as a sea of 10,000 gravestones stretch out before you. It was both beautiful and solemn.

We stayed the night in an adorable little town called Bayeux. (Rachel's reading this restaurant's menu for us.) Thank goodness she already speaks excellent French! Ben & I would give it our best shot and (for a moment) be so proud of ourselves for asking for something in French. That was until they would speak back to us in French.

"Uhhh??.. Rachel??"

The next morning, we saw the Bayeux Tapestry. It's 230 feet long, over 1000 years old and depicts the events leading up to the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Rachel (being a high school English teacher) explained to us that it's because of that invasion that our "English" today is a mix of Germanic and Romantic languages, rather than simply German. Mmm. Never knew that.

We visited 2 more towns before returning to Paris. This is Mont-Saint-Michel. Built in the 8th Century on a peninsula, it's surrounded by mud-lands and only accessible at low tide. During the Hundred Years War, the city had been attacked numerous times by the British, but because of it's impervious walls & ever-changing tides, it always persevered and thus became the symbol of France's national identity.

We made our way down (actually UP, way up) the skinny, twisty roads until we reached the church abbey. It was really nice being able to use Rachel (who's again, 7 mths prego) as an excuse to take it slow.

As grand and magnificent as the church was, I actually have more pictures of us goofing around in the abbey, than of the abbey itself. We're very mature. Here's Ben bathing in a water basin.

And me trying to pry open every door to find a secret passage way.

And unsettling proof that not everything is bigger in Texas.

Yes. We were those obnoxious American tourists.

Before further embarrassing ourselves, we headed further West and spent the night in Saint-Malo. It's an old pirate town with huge city walls that protect it at high-tide from the waves of the English Channel. About 60% of the city was destroyed in WWII but was rebuilt with its original rock & stone. It now thrives as a beach resort during the summer. At low tide, you can see miles down the beach and even walk down to an old ship port. We spent most of the day walking on the walls of the fortified city before enjoying some fresh seafood for dinner.

You don't have to speak French to know that these desserts look delicious. French crepes are FABULOUS! (Ben missed out by getting a brownie.) If you're feeling daring & want to try making your own crepes, check out Rachel's blog (The Paxton Family) to the right. Or if you just want better (more accurate) explanations of all of these French cities, she's probably your gal for that, too.

Back in Paris we strolled Rick Steve's "historical walk", taking in sites on Ile St. Louis like St. Severin, Place St. Michel & the Deportation Memorial. The most famous of the tour was of course the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Taking over 200 years to build, the real hunchbacks of Notre Dame were the peasants who did most of the labor themselves, for free. No, they did not live 200 years. It took 8 generations to complete.

The beautiful facade itself has an immense amount of historical importance, but by far my favorite, has to do with the line of guys cutting across the center of the cathedral. They are all Biblical kings. But during the French Revolution (when citizens were fed up with the royal arrogance of the Catholic hierarchy) these 27 statues were mistaken for hated French kings. People stormed the church, crying "Off with their heads!" and plop, all 27 guys were decapitated. Oops! It took decades to repair them. And as if that isn't bizarre enough, somebody collected all of the heads and buried them in their backyard, until 1977, when they were accidently unearthed. The original heads are now displayed at the Cluny Museum.

A lesser known cathedral, Sainte-Chapelle, sits right around the corner. What it lacks in fame or recognition, it makes up in awe-inspiring craftsmanship. It ranks up there with the Sistine Chapel for me. Over 1,100 Biblical scenes are represented in 6,500 sq. feet of stained glass. It's absolutely breathtaking! The pictures just don't do it justice. Louis IX commissioned the church in 1242 to house the supposed Crown of Thorns (which is now kept in the Notre Dame and only displayed a few times a year) that he had just purchased. The price of the crown greatly exceeded the cost of the Chapel, which tells me that he (at least) thought he had the real thing.

Our last day was spent on a day trip to Versailles. Again, Texas has nothing on this place. Just walking from one side of Louis XIV's "backyard" to the other, would take 40 minutes! We opted out and limited most of our time to the Chateau. Tired of living in the Louvre (the traditional royal palace in Paris), Louis XIV had this little getaway built around 1700. He hosted grand parties here, hob-knobbed with the who's who of the day & basically showed off his money and extravagant taste to the rest of Europe. The golden gates to our right lead to the main courtyard.

19 princes were born here (2 which would later become kings), all in the Queen's Bedchamber (below). Royal babies were delivered in public to prove their blue-bloodedness. You've got to be kidding me!!

The Treaty of Versailles was also signed right here in the Hall of Mirrors in 1919 by the Germans and Allies. It officially ended WWI, and some say started World War II.

The view of the gardens was stunning! The gardens, the Chateau and the town of Versailles itself is the first instance of urban planning (since the Roman Empire) and was a model for future capitals, such as Brasilia and Washington, D.C.

We wrapped up the trip with one more night with Chris & Rachel, strolling though the streets of Paris, stopping for dinner and catching one more sight of the Eiffel Tower. We had an AWESOME time!

Paxton's, we love you guys!!

Thanks for sharing your new home with us!!

Trip: Part 1: Germany

2010-03-26T11:51:00.001-07:00

Guten tag! We had a great time in Germany! We ate currywurst, rode the u-bahn and pretty much butchered the German language with every attempt. We spent most of our time in Berlin but were able to escape to the countryside via train one day. With Germany's dark past, this post may read more like a history lesson, than a vacation. Almost every landmark landed us in the middle of WWII or the Cold War. Sometimes both. There were plenty of "Wow. I can't believe I'm standing right here" moments. Sometimes cool. Sometimes creepy.

This is the Brandenburg Gate. Over 200 year's old, the gate was badly damaged during Napoleon's conquest & WWII. Hitler gave speeches here as well as Ronald Reagan. "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Tear down this wall!". The wall stood right in front of it at the time. Obama tried to give a speech here a couple of years ago. The Germans wouldn't let him. Ha!

I'm so proud. My husband dressed as a Soviet soldier. His leather gloves, peacoat and "man's-bag" (think Joey from Friends?) seems to complete the outfit.

Holding his Starbucks (an every-morning must), Ben is standing in Bebelplatz. This is where the Nazis' book burning took place in 1933. Kind of eerie. Behind him is Humbolt Universitat, home of Albert Einstein.

I'm walking through the Holocaust Memorial, a life-sized puzzle of concrete slabs, representing both Jewish & non-Jewish victims.

This is Reichstag, Germany's parliament. Bombed in 1945 and rebuilt with a supposedly-impressive dome. Worthy of a picture. Not of a 2 hour wait.

We made a pit stop at Curry 36, very popular among the locals. Don't let the smile fool you.

The longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall (about 1/2 a mile) is now an art gallery. Artists painted whatever they wanted to on their assigned section, most of which I didn't understand. We gravitated towards the one with an American flag.

This part of the wall hadn't been altered. About 10 feet passed the wall, they're excavating buildings that the Nazis used as their central headquarters. Talk about 2 worlds colliding.

Checkpoint Charlie. This is where American forces, after registering, could cross the wall. This guy spoke broken English and charged 2 euros for a picture. Sure, why not?.

We took a day trip to Wittenburg, about an hour South of Berlin. It was a nice break from the doom & gloom of Berlin's attractions. Wittenburg is where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door, officially starting the Protestant Revolution against the Catholic church. In addition to the All-Saints church (in the background), we also toured Luther's house and University.

A close-up of "the door" which of course is not the real door, but an expensive, bronze replica with Luther's Theses engraved in it. Still very cool.

Back in Berlin, we toured a few more churches and museums. This church has no significant historical background that I know of, but was instead the church that I wondered into (and was escorted out of) by a sweet little German man explaining (in all German) that I had interrupted a Bar Mitzvah. At least that's the conclusion we came to. Oops. In English, he said "thank you. bye bye".

We were also able to see the Pergamon Alter (referred to as "Satan's Throne" by John in the book of Rev.), which was dedicated to the Greek gods in 2nd Century BC. Hitler liked the alter so much, that he had his architect use it as the model for the stage on which Hitler gave his Nazi rallies. And some would argue that Obama's acceptance speech was given from a stage that looked VERY similar. I'm just saying... Check the links if you're interested.

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?noframes;read=151262

http://www.floridabruce.com/pergamon_altar.htm

Germany has plenty of beer gardens. It was odd to see entire families gathering at these watering holes. While parents & grandparents relaxed and caught up, toddlers ran amok. We seemed right at home! I even had a beer. Well, it was half beer, half Sprite, but I say it counts.

On our last night, while having a glass of wine in our hotel's lounge, we noticed an all-too familiar German board game, Settlers of Catan, that we just happen to LOVE! . We're nerds, I know. It just happened to be sitting there among some other games. How random! Or maybe not? Seemed fitting to play a game. As they say "when in Rome". I mean Berlin.

Snow day!

2010-03-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

It snowed in College Station! And you can only imagine how excited I was, since our recent ski trip was, well, somewhat lacking of snow! I bundled up the girls and we headed out into it. I thought for sure Addi would love it. I had visions of her rolling in it, eating it, making snow angels...I was mistaken! She was terrified of it! What 2 year old doesn't like snow? Through coaxing and bribing, I finally convinced her to take a step off of the concrete. I've never seen the girl so cautious!

Here's Addi moving at a snail's pace. With each step, the snow would crunch under her shoes and she'd say "oh-Oh". I'd have to clean the snow off of her shoes and begin again. Ahh. After what seemed like eternity, we had made it about 15 steps. Okay... Plan B.

The wagon! A much better option! Plus, Sydney could join us.

Doesn't she look so grown up here?

I can't believe she's already 6 months!

Where has the time gone?

Here's a good smile from Addi.

I wish I could say that she overcame her fears & ran like a wild child through the snow, but that never happened. She's only smiling because I would have to push the camera button timer & then run down the sidewalk with both of them in my arms, to what I thought was the center of the picture. Oh, the things a mom will do.

I left my appendix in Colorado

2010-02-24T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well, as many of you have learned, we had a very memorable vacation last week.

The trip got off to a great start. Keystone got 4 inches of snow the day we got there, our condo had a great view and was in walking distance of the gondola & we beat the Spring Break crowd. We were in the makings of an AWESOME ski trip!

Kate, Jan & Susan took lessons the first day, so I skied with the boys. Here's Todd, Ben, Jason & Jack. They did their best to keep up with me :). That night the guys went back out for night skiing while us girls cozied up to the fireplace and played dominoes. Picture perfect, right?

That was until Day 2. Ben started to not feel so hot around noon. We rode the gondola back down the mountain and he spent the rest of the day in bed, with what we thought was altitude sickness. The trip then gets a little blurry for me. I do know, that by midnight we were at the ER in a hospital in Frisco. Poor Ben had been diagnosed with an appendicitis, kidney stones, a GI infection...you name it. The truth was, they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. He spent the next 2 nights in the hospital on fluids and pain medicine. We would stare out of the hospital room window at the beautiful snow-covered mountains and joke (kind of) that at least it beat the view from a hospital room in College Station.

The group dinner outing that we had planned for Saturday night, ended up being take-out from A&W. We played dominoes, told stories, and were told only once by the nurses to keep it down. It was a close second to our cozy condo in the mountains.

They released Ben on Sunday morning with a prescription for a colin infection, which we soon found out was a waste of money. But for the meantime, we got to enjoy the mountain one last day.

Instead of skiing, we all went tubing! If you've never been tubing, I highly recommend it!

This is us girls, towards the end of a run. Fun times!

And this is Vince Vaughn, no joke.

Ben was able to ride the gondola up the mountain and take pictures for us. We were glad to have him back.

This picture, as goofy as it is, is the last one I have of trip. That night, we found ourselves again at the emergency room. This time in Denver. After 1 x-ray, they determined that Ben had an appendix that was about to burst and would need surgery. (That would have been nice to know on Friday!) Ben was completely calm about the whole thing, even anxious to get it on and over with. I, on the other hand, was a mess. My uncle David (who happens to live in Denver) made it to the hospital shortly after Ben went into surgery. He hung out with me most of the day (while Ben slept & recovered), helped me book new flights home and then drove us to the airport the next morning. What a God-send. Poor Ben, doped up on pain medication, had to be wheeled through the airport security and loaded onto the plane while half asleep. We got to ride on one of those go-carts at DFW airport (with all of the senior citizens) which I've always wanted to do. Ben probably doesn't even remember it. Fun times for me, not so much for him. Addi helped us unpack when we got home. I wish these gloves and goggles could have gotten more use.

Ben is feeling great and already looking forward to next year's trip.

That is, if they'll let us go :)

Sydney's dedication

2010-01-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

Our church had a baby dedication this morning. It was a special time to celebrate Sydney, to dedicate her to the Lord & to commit ourselves to raise her in the truth of Jesus Christ. She even received her 1st New Testament bible with her name inscribed in it.

III John 1:4 says "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the Truth". I have that verse by my bathroom sink & remind myself each morning that this is why I do this. What an honor & privilege that the Lord has blessed us with!

I love the mom to the left us, covering her little girls' eyes while we prayed.

Sweet smiles.

Girls, look at the camera.

so BLESSED & so PROUD!

Her very first cake, along with 18 others.

Prayer Pail

2010-01-22T13:59:00.000-08:00

Here's an idea for all of your old Christmas cards. Make a prayer pail. If you're like me, you don't want to throw them away, but aren't going to display them ALL on the fridge either. Even if I wanted to stick them all to the fridge, ours is fake stainless steel so magnets are useless. A friend of mine, Mariana, came up with this idea a few years ago. We let Addi pick 1 card each night & we pray for that family during our bedtime prayers. We love seeing everyone's pictures again & hopefully we're teaching Addi how to pray for others. Last night was our first go at it & we prayed for the Smallwoods. Love you guys!

"there's always next year"

2010-01-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

That's what Ben & I say every year about A&M football. It doesn't matter about the win/lose record we had or how much time, energy & money that we contributed to watching, cheering & crying over football. We always seem to find the silver lining of next year's football season. To wrap up the 2009 season we headed to Shreveport with some friends for the Independence Bowl. It was a great little get away without kids. Yes, it was a 5 hour car trip & yes, we froze our butts off & yes, we lost again on National tv. Did I mention that we were without kids? To save money, we all shared 1 bedroom at the hotel. It was quite the adventure. The next morning we all pointed fingers on who was snoring the loudest & still thought it beat having to wake up to watch another episode of Mickey Mouse.

before the game, with high expectations

the girls

the guys

Notice the matching toboggans that Lindsay & I got at Walmart.

we make these look good.

waiting on a table at Ralph & Kuccos.

goofing around until we realized this thing cost $110!

Birthday girl

2010-01-02T20:06:00.000-08:00

Addison's 2!

We let her open presents and eat pizza & cake in her new dress-up outfit. She was in heaven.

Notice the Mac truck on the table. (Thanks Nana).

Addi LOVES all things Cars. These days you rarely see her without one. We have lunch with the cars, she naps with her cars..

This was a tea set from Grandmother. We made the mistake of letting her fill a cup with real "tea" (water from the fridge). Now she asks for it at EVERY meal.

A new basketball goal from Grammy & Grandpa.

Don't let the frilly dress fool you. She's got game.

Baby sister, just chilling like usual.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! We spent a few days with Ben's family in Houston before heading to Fort Worth to spend a few days with mine. Luckily, both of the girls travel pretty well, so we can't complain. And if driving to grandparents' homes ensures us cakes, cookies and Christmas presents, than by all means, count us in!

Sydney kind of looks like a deer in headlights in this one, but that's nothing compared to Addison. Addi flipped out (hence, no photo).

From now on, instead of timeouts and spankings, I'll just tell her she'll have to sit with Santa.

Isn't this great! It's Ben's parents' neighbor.

I'm taking notes for next year.

Addi riping through presents at Grammy & Grandpa's.

It snowed on Christmas Eve. Hard.

Nana & Sydney, both without coats.

We were too excited.

Dressed up and ready to go to church.

The girls did great. Addi liked the singing.

Addi, Kenlee, Bubba & Kaylee opening 1 gift on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning.

Fort Worth hasn't had a white Christmas in over 80 years!

Over 3 inches! Addi was afraid to put her feet down.

Ben helped Sydney open her gifts. More pajamas. :)

Addi's favorite gifts:

baby & stroller from Nana

bowling set from Grammy (see below)

The Big 30!

2009-12-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

With the help of a few friends, we threw Ben a 30th surprise party a couple of weeks ago. He was completely shocked! We ordered pizza and let the kids run around until we were all exhausted. Even after a full night of fun, we were still home by 10pm. Ha. Are we getting old or what?!

Daddy's little girls

Man, that's a lot of candles

Addi & Elana helped

coming back for seconds

everyone + Mickey

Nightly routine

2009-12-08T16:59:00.000-08:00

We try to ware Addi down every night, getting out every last drop of energy. It usually involves jumping off of the bed or spinning in circles. This one was particularly entertaining...

Night in Bethlehem

2009-12-08T14:21:00.001-08:00

Our church held a wonderful event for toddlers last week that put the average nativity to shame. Not only did they have Mary & Joseph, but they had a petting zoo, ornament decorating station and real live angels! The pictures just don't do it justice.

Mary & Joseph (a.k.a. Jordan & Katie, who are due with their little girl Kendall in just a few weeks). I hadn't planned to be in the picture, but Addi wasn't sure about the whole thing.

Ben & George had everything under control while Lindsay and I took pictures.

This was at the pottery making station right before I asked Addi to take the play-doh out of her mouth.

We loved the angels. Addi wanted a picture with her.

cookie break

2009-12-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

We had a sugar cookie decorating party this morning. I wasn't sure how it would go, considering we had 9 two & three year olds, but it went great! I baked the cookies beforehand & had plenty of icing and sprinkles to go around. The moms monitored the icing usage, but we let them go wild with sprinkles. I'm now dealing with the sugar rush aftermath. Nap time can't come soon enough.

the whole gang

would you like some cookie with those sprinkles?

Jake & Levi lovin' the icing

sweet Hudson didn't even need parental guidance

Give Thanks!

2009-11-29T20:07:00.001-08:00

I have SO much to be THANKFUL for!

I'm thankful for my Lord and Savior who will never leave me nor forsake me.
I'm thankful for Ben, who stands by my side. My best friend for life.
I'm thankful for Addison, who makes me laugh every day.
I'm thankful for Sydney, who still likes to cuddle every night.
I'm thankful for friends, both old & new, who bring out the best in me.
I'm thankful for family, who know the best & worst of me and love me anyway.

and the little things that make a big difference...

I'm thankful for Target. What other place can you find toilet paper, pj's, and home decor?
I'm thankful for my washer & dryer. Laundry is almost fun. Almost.
I'm thankful for Bethany, our college roomie, who watches movies with Sydney, keeps Addi off of the kitchen table, helps with dishes...you get the point!
I'm thankful for those grocery carts that have the car attached to the front of them. Addi LOVES those.
I'm thankful for our pest control guy. I've only had to kill 1 scorpion since his last visit.
I'm thankful for the tabs on the aluminum foil box. Did you know that the ends fold in, to help keep the foil from falling out? A good tip to know for those holiday left overs.

Fall fun

2009-11-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

Don't you love this weather?! I've been finding every excuse I can, just to go outside. Yesterday, Addison & I decided that the yard needed some grooming. Well, I decided it. Addi kind of just went along with it. You can only do sidewalk chalk for so long, ya know.

My little helper

Already puckered out. My plan worked!

Corbin came to play today, so we ran through yesterday's piles.

This was much more fun than raking!

Future Aggie running back.

I don't know what they're looking for, but so cute.

So sweet!

2009-11-20T05:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some adorable newborn pictures of Sydney that I've been wanting to post. They were taken by my sweet friend (and awesome photographer), Kelly Hornberger. Kelly took Addi's newborn pictures a couple of years ago, so it was really special to have her capture Sydney's sweet little face too. I just love 'em. Kelly is SO talented. The last one with Addi is classic. THIS is the story of my life. Thanks so much Kel. Love ya, girl!

kellyhornberger.com

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween everybody. We had a great week, beginning with our church's Fall Festival. Addi enjoyed the petting zoo, the bowling game & the basketball toss. We practiced putting treats in our pumpkin throughout the week, hoping that by Saturday we'd have "trick or treating" down. Instead, Addi decided that everything needed to go into the pumpkin; Sydney's bottle, dirty diapers, Fruit Loops, etc. Fun times. Saturday night, we ate hotdogs and hung out with clowns. Literally :) Here's some pictures.

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Some friends: Ella, Emily, Millie & Skyler

What an athlete!

Nothin' but net.

You want me to wear what?

My little ladybug.

Addi was too excited to sit down.

She only interrupted the magic show twice.

Not a framer, but the best we could get.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin patch

2009-10-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

Ahh...October. The cool crisp air, the new fall outfits, the $15 pumpkins. $15 pumpkins!? You've got to be kidding. I should have gone into the pumpkin business. Instead, I made it my mission yesterday to find the smallest, cheapest pumpkins I could find. I jokingly told Addi that if she could carry it, I would buy it. As if she knew exactly what I said, she walked down the aisle & picked up a generously sized $3 pumpkin. I almost did a cheer there in the parking lot.

"addi, can you sit on the pumpkin?"

she sat just long enough to snap this picture.

my bargain shopper

this was the split second before she dropped it.

no damage done, thank goodness.

my littlest pumpkin. thanks for the outfit, aunt Tami!

let the chaos begin.

and there ya' go.

sweet sydney, just hangin' out. how i miss those days :)

tada!

i hadn't planned on spelling "bats" with our initials.

just kind of happened.

a little cheesy? yes. but why not? :)

All you Aggie fans!

2009-10-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

Alright girls. Did ya'll listen to the A&M/Tech game last night? Ben & I found ourselves huddled around a radio in the garage (we don't have one set up in the house yet), yelling & cheering with every turnover and touchdown. Literally yelling! The girls must be good sleepers. It just feels SO good to win in Lubbock! Well around 11:30 (as I was brushing my teeth), Ben walked in, dressed in Aggie gear, and told me he was going to go greet the football players at the airport. What? Seriously? Yep, he was dead serious. "I want to go", I told him. That wasn't going to happen. So instead, he picked up George and headed up to the clubhouse. And they weren't the only ones there. Ben said there were probably 300 people up there, all waiting to cheer for the Ags when they got home. He forgot to take his camera, but we downloaded all of these pictures off of the TexAgs forum. Somebody randomly took these and posted them. Ben feels famous.

These guys are Yell Leaders. Class of 69. They led the group in yell practice before the buses arrived.

Hump it Ags! Ben is left of the A&M flag, in a white shirt.

Ben & George congratulating one of A&M's defensive lineman.

Ben didn't make it in the picture, but got a chance to shake the star quarterback's hand.

What a game, what a night!

Halloween costume preview

2009-10-21T11:41:00.001-07:00

My sweet ladybug and flower. This was Sydney's first "captured" smile. Classic, right? Addi cried when I made her take her outfit off to have lunch. It's hanging in her closet and she reminds me every morning that it's still there, just waiting to be put back on. Thanks Amanda, for letting us borrow them!

stretching the $

2009-10-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

Trying to furnish a house isn't cheap. I've been accumulating furniture pieces over the last few months, trying to buy them when they're on sale, shopping at markets, begging for discounts, etc. I've learned that more places than you think, negotiate on prices. I bought a dresser last week that was already marked down 40% because it was a floor model. I pointed out some surface level scratches and they waved the tax for me. Not a bad deal. A little TLC and it was as good as new. I learned last year (when we were selling our house), that if you rub a walnut into wood scratches, whether floor or furniture, you can barely see them. Our 1950's wood floor looked great after a bag of walnuts. Who would have thought?
Okay, back to my post. So since the bills are piling up and I still have rooms to furnish, I'm looking for every opportunity to cut corners. Here are some projects that have kept me busy the last couple of weeks.

This was Ben's old lamp from college. A little hot glue and flowers and viola, it's now on Addi's dresser. I may paint the base dark pink or off-white..any ideas?

This idea, I stole from Whitney. I found this closet door in Round Top for $5. It was pretty nasty. Ben asked why I was buying other people's junk. I painted it, added a cute door knob from Hobby Lobby and it now shows off Addi's art work.

I found this on Craig's List a few months ago. Who needs PotteryBarn when 3 cans of spray paint will do the trick.
Next on the agenda, some wicker chairs that I bought from a garage sale last week...

Sweet Sydney

2009-10-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

A new friend of mine took some adorable newborn pictures of Sydney.

Thanks Maleigh!

Home sweet home

2009-09-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we've finally moved in. I still have boxes to unpack and closets to organize, but it's so nice to have a place of our own. It took an army of friends and family to get us in here. Ben's mom helped pack boxes for us and then babysat the girls while a group of guys from our Sunday school class, through sweat, tears and rain (I cried because of the rain), moved everything we own to our new house. In just 3 hours, we were done! Well, almost. My parents showed up the next day loaded down with more furniture that I had bought in Ft. Worth. It took another round of Sunday school guys to finish the job. Thank goodness for hard working boys and for Jennifer, who brought the pizza! The next weekend, our good friend Matt came into town to help Ben with the landscape. Actually, Ben helped him. Matt has an incredible eye for landscapes and with Ben's help, they planted 90 plants in one day. Whew! And it looks great! Thank you to all who helped out with this great process. This project has been my life for 6 months and although it's been fun, I'm more than thrilled that it's behind us.

Addi watched Mickey Mouse (her new favorite)

while we brought in boxes.

Sydney is pretty easy going these days.

New lights and sounds were enough entertainment.

Deer freely roam the neighborhood. Ben took this from our driveway.

Addi wanted to help with the landscape.

The dirtier, the better.

A view of the boys' hard work.

The front porch.

Here's the front living room. I still need to decorate.

Moving is hard work.

Here's the kitchen.

I love the stripes and chandelier in Addi's room. Very girlie.

She loves the new, clean carpet.

Aggie Football

2009-09-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

We've been so excited about the A&M football season starting back up. Every year, we have high hopes and high expectations of how we'll fare in the BIG 12. This year is no exception. It probably doesn't help that we're now inundated with Aggie spirit on a daily basis...(A&M flags everywhere, college kids living above us, etc.) Not to mention, that Ben can see the stadium from his office & watch the guys practicing throughout the week. You can imagine that by the time game day gets here, we're pretty excited. We took the girls up to campus to enjoy all of the pre-game festivities. We had a chance to watch the band march in before heading to the luncheon at Ben's office.

All decked-out in Aggie gear

The calvary guys let Addi pet their horses (and this mule). Random to have a mule, but she didn't care.

We forgot how loud the band is up close. Addi wasn't a fan.

Sydney, on the other hand, could not have cared less.

Addi was back to her old ways by the time we got to the luncheon. Here she is jumping on the stage of which Dr. Davis (Pres. of the Foundation) was about to speak. Oops.

This is the look I got when I told her we had to get off the stage.

Addi's 1st day of school

2009-09-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

I dropped Addison off this morning for her 1st day of school! She sported a new hair cut (from Mrs. Susan), her favorite leopard skirt (from Aunt Tami) and her very own backpack, of which she carried all by herself. I was so proud of her! My baby girl is growing up!

I probably took a million pictures before we even made it to the door.

Addi even remembered where her classroom was.

She practically knocked these boys over to get to this toy. She was still giggling when I snapped the photo. Hopefully "sharing" is on today's lesson plan.

We haven't mastered our fruit shapes yet, but she nailed the triangle.

deja vu

2009-08-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

Things are going great here at the Wall's. Sydney is falling into a good routine and Addison is starting to adjust to all of the changes. I've been trying to take as many pictures of Sydney as I did of Addi, but there's just not enough time in the day. The pictures that I have been able to snap remind me so much of those first few weeks with Addison. Can you tell who is who?

2009-08-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sydney Kate Wall

August 12, 2009

7lbs, 13 oz

19 inches

Our second baby girl has arrived and she's absolutely wonderful! She's soft and sweet and perfectly made. We made it to the hospital on Wednesday morning around 6:30am and Sydney arrived by 11:30am. She had a little bit of jaundice and a little bit of bruising, but other than that, she's doing great! Here are some pictures of our family's newest addition!

1st Family picture

Nana & Gramps

Grammy & Grandpa

Here's Sydney during her hearing test...

and here she is all bundled up, ready to go home.

Addi wasn't sure what to think once we got the car packed up.

...but I know what she's thinking here...

"How did this get here?"

a helping hand

2009-08-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some serious nesting the last few days. With only 1 week to go, I can't seem to get this place clean enough! Addison was helping me with laundry this afternoon. Hopefully she'll be this big of a help, once Sydney gets here!

house update

2009-07-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

The house is coming along. Here are some pictures if you're curious to see the progress...

The stucco and trim are about done. They need to add stone, shutters and finish the posts.

Here's some of the stone. It isn't quite as white as it looks here.

This is the front living room & dining room. The first coat of paint had just gone up.

Here's a view of the kitchen from the back patio door. The far right cabinet is actually a bookcase that will sit over a desk.

The kitchen overlooks the family room and breakfast nook. There's the desk that will sit under the bookcase.

This is Sydney's nursery. The paint looks green in this picture, but it's just a dark khaki. The bead board will be painted white.

They've given us our 60 day notice so I told our apartments we'll be out by Sept. 23rd. Hopefully all goes well!

the new blog picture

2009-07-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

okay. so i know the picture above is HUGE, but i can't seem to crop it any smaller, and since i love it so much, it will have to do for now. this was taken at the A&M Foundation about a month ago. the Foundation is publishing some new marketing material and asked to take pictures of a few of the employees' kiddos. Ben & I were so excited about it. we dolled Addi up in the cutest A&M outfit (matching bow, of course) and headed up there one afternoon. despite the smile in this picture, she was in a terrible mood. she wanted nothing to do with posing, as seen in the picture below (the photographer managed to snap the big picture above, while Ben was playing with her). they never perform when you want them to :)

the name

2009-07-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

We have a name for our next little girl.

Sydney Kate

Kate is after my great-grandmother & Sydney.. well, we just like.

Amanda made these adorable burp clothes especially for Sydney. They turned out SO cute.

Thanks again, Amanda!

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-07T20:49:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend in Colleyville, with the Harris family & beat the heat with snow-cones, watermelon and pool parties.

Addi and her friend Savannah. Notice how well she shares her chips...

Cousin Kenlee in her new goggles!

Cousin Tristan and his new friend.

We begged him not to put it in the pool.

Matching outfits :)

At 35 weeks, this is probably the last pic you'll see of me for a while...

Brent and Ben = 2 proud dads

diapers galore!

2009-06-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

Our Sunday school class threw us a diaper shower last night and it was awesome! There are so many sweet, sweet families here in College Station that have already blessed us and loved on us. We now have more diapers than we know what to do with. What a great problem! Thank you again P.O.P. Class.

A group shot. (you won't find Addi). We got a babysitter for the evening. She's still feeling great, but has been a little timid since the hospital.

the loot we came home with. yaozers!

Addi found the stash this morning and played "building blocks" with them. If she only knew how much her little world is about to change.

on the mend

2009-06-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been WONDERFUL! Addison is back to her old ways of giggling, dancing and getting into trouble. Here she is with my new sewing machine (thanks mom!). I've been working on some curtains for the new house while Addi has been under the weather, but she's had her eye on me, and the sewing machine, since we got home from the hospital. Her curiosity finally got the best of her yesterday, and I found her here, in my chair, turning all of the buttons and makings "sewing machine" noises. It was so good to see her laughing and pretending the way she usually does. Never again will I take for granted her zest for life. Wether it makes my life hectic and chaotic or not, I wouldn't have it any other way.

home sweet home

2009-06-20T05:38:00.001-07:00

We were able to come home Thursday afternoon, thank goodness. It feels good to sleep in our own beds and to not have nurses (as sweet as they are) checking up on us every 20 minutes. We've learned in the last few days, the details of what was really upsetting Addison's digestive system. It turned out that she struggled with something called gastroparesis. It's a disorder where your stomach muscles shut down and stop moving food down the digestive track, causing serious stomach issues. It's more commonly found in adults who have diabetes, but kids can develop it after a viral attack. Our pediatrician sees it about 4-5 times a year. So, Addi more than likely got over her virus last week and has been fighting this since. That would explain why she could eat a good meal and seem fine for a day, but then throw it all up the next morning. The healing process is a slow one, but it's now been 24 hours since her last attack. I was so relieved to go in her room this morning and find that she hadn't thrown up. I feel like we've finally turned a corner. Thank you again for all of your calls, texts and visits. Just knowing that Addi was being covered in prayer made this week easier. As much as we want to depend on doctors and medicine to "fix it", the LORD is ultimately in control. He hears our prayers as quickly as we can speak them. Isaiah 65. We love you guys!

Day 2

2009-06-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I started this blog about 30 minutes ago to post that Addi was doing a little better. That was until she threw up again. Now I feel like we're back at square one. She's fallen back asleep so we're praying that she makes it through the night with as little disruptions as possible. She showed signs of improvement today. She was going stir crazy in this little room so they let her walk up and down the hallway a few times. The nurses will monitor her over night and we will talk to the doctor again in the morning. If you're up and reading this, please pray that we get through the night with no more vomiting. Thank you again for your love and prayers!

This is Addi's new puppy dog (thanks Smallwoods!). It was the only stuffed animal that survived tonight's vomit attack so she's cuddling with him right now.

Addi was able to walk down the hall if Ben tagged along with her IV. She loved pointing out all of the older kids' artwork.

They even had a wagon that she could ride in. That was definitely the highlight of her day.

2009-06-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all of your prayers today. As most of you know we've had a heck of a week. After 8 days of vomiting, 3 doctors visits and 2 trips to the emergency room, Addison has been admitted to the hospital for a viral infection. It's a relief to be here, to be honest. The doctors and nursing staff have been amazing. Thank you Lord, for their wisdom and gentle touch. Our pediatric nurse even prayed over Addi this afternoon. What a blessing. I tried my best to hold back the tears. Thank you Lord, for your presence. Addi has been on an IV since noon and has made it almost 9 hours without throwing up. (FYI. if your kid ever needs an IV, go through the hand. If you do the arm, they can't bend their elbow, which is HORRIBLE for a thumb-sucker. and if they go through the foot, they can't walk around). We learned this the hard way.

Addi is asleep now and we're hoping to make it through the night with no episodes. They'll take her off medicine tomorrow to see if she can hold down food on her own. If not, we'll probably have to stay another night. So that's our prayer for now. Thank you for all of your phone calls, texts, and visits. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends lifting Addi up in prayer! We love you all!

Gattiland

2009-06-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

There's no better way to beat the heat, than a night at Gattiland. All you can eat pizza for $4.99...count me in! Not to mention the free ice cream. A pregnant woman's dream, right?!

Lovin' the carousel. She would bounce up and down & look at us when it stopped as if to say "that's it?" Ben had to go back to the counter for more tokens, twice.

The stomping/light-up game. Addi wasn't much competition, but she giggled and jumped every time they lit up. We were just as entertained as she was.

This last picture cracks me up. They're both so focused and determined. Hopefully she inherited his patience and well-tempered nature while driving :)

Church Fair

2009-06-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

I'm behind on posting pictures, but these are from the fair that our church had last month. Addison's favorite part, of course, was the petting zoo. She has developed quite an affection for animals. She points at the birds when we're at the park. "Bir" she says. As we're driving down the road, she points out all of the cows. Her absolute favorite is the puppy upstairs. We can hear him barking (through the walls) and Addi gets excited just thinking about him. Here she is will the billy goats, which she thought were puppies. We would say "goat" and Addi would respond with her typical puppy "arf" as she followed them around.

With little concern for personal space, Addi can't get close enough.

We patted the goats. Gave them kisses. They gave us kisses.

Then we sanitized!

Ben made friends too.

Notice Addi's shoes (and the concrete) are wet. That is because we had just crawled back out of the kiddi pool. She saw the rubber ducks and climbed right in to get them. Who cares about the game.

She just wanted to ducks.

The Holy City

2009-05-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ben had to go to Jerusalem last week for work. Lucky dog. I tried my best to tag along, but with flights starting at $5000 we thought it best to wait. He called me Monday to tell me that it he had probably just had the "coolest day of his life". Oh, I wish I could have been there with him. To experience it together. Mount Zion, the City on a Hill, the City of God. How amazing!

Ben's work group had a tour guide that directed them through the city, but his favorite moments were spent by himself, just taking in the sights at his own pace. Here are some of the pictures he came back with.

This is the Dome of the Rock (3rd holiest Muslim site). It sits on top of the Temple Mount, the exact location of 1st and 2nd Temples and the Holy of Holies of the time of King David and Solomon.

Here, Ben is on the Mount of Olives (where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, The Beatitudes) and is looking back at the Old City. At the bottom of the picture, is Kidron Valley, burial place of thousands of Jews. On the far right, you can see Eastern Gate, through which Christ will re-enter the city at the Second Coming.

At the bottom of The Mount, the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus and the disciples often prayed and where He was ultimately betrayed by Judas.
This is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to be the site of Golgotha, where Christ was crucified. In the church, is a blood-stained stone for which is claimed to be Christ's blood. Wether it's true or not, Ben said it was an incredible thought to stand there and think that it could be.

The lower stones of the Western Wall are from the time of King Herod. They made Ben wear a yamaka.

2009-05-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

well, the house is underway. they've cleared the lot, poured the slab and started the framework. we were out there everyday last week, making last minute window decisions and "okaying" the progress. it's exciting to see it take form. here are some pictures from the last few days...

preparing for the foundation

the framework gets started. these windows are in the

back of the house, off of the kitchen.

here's the living room fireplace and windows.

it looks more like a spider web to me.

here's ben and addi standing in the dining room. addi was already in her pjs. that hole is the front door.

the front porch. the 2 left windows are the dining room. the middle 2 windows will be the new nursery. and the window on the right is actually in our bedroom closet. blinds will be a must.

These are our new neighbors, Stoney and Roxanne.

They had great tips for us on keeping deer out of our flower beds and scorpions out of the garage. yikes!

2009-05-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

Happy mother's day to all of you mom's out there. Here's Addi with Nana & Grammy, the best grandmothers a girl could ask for!

is it summer yet?

2009-04-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

playing in the fountains with Nicole

completely drenched and loving it

We broke out the swimsuits this week. (Thanks Aunt Tami, for Addi's new polka-dot one. It fits her perfectly). Addison and I met Nicole in the Woodlands for a laid back afternoon of window-shopping. All of the kids were running through the water fountains and since I happen to have Addi's new swimsuit in the car, I thought "why not?". She was hesitant at first but once the kids cleared out a bit, she (and Nicole) jumped right in. It was great. Thanks Nicole, for being such a great sport! Addi loved it.

2009-04-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

The Cox Family came to visit us this weekend. Rusty and Whitney are great friends from college that we don't get to see near enough. They have 3 beautiful kids that are as sweet as can be; Paxton, Mackey, and their newest addition, Kirby. Needless to say, Addi had a blast with her new friends. We spent most of Friday on campus. Talk about nostalgia. I forgot how charming A&Ms campus is. There were students reading on benches, napping under trees, hurrying to class. There were even some corps of cadets preparing for an engagement ceremony by the Century Tree (for a non-Aggie that probably means nothing). Ben was able to join us for a picnic lunch by his office. The rest of the weekend was filled with craft shows, baseball games and good eatin'. A big thanks to Bethany for babysitting for us. What a trooper.

hanging out at Sul Ross Statue

enjoying a picnic at Spence park

addi & paxton watching the engagement ceremony

are addi & paxton holding hands in this picture?

our plan must be working :)

it's a girl!

2009-04-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

We found out today that Addi will have a baby sister come August!

Needless to say, we're really excited about it. The nurse was 99.9% positive that it's a little girl, so that's good enough for us. Addi went to the doctor's appointment with us. She pointed at the video screen the entire time and would say "ahhh" or "that" as if telling us what we we're looking at. We came home and made cupcakes to celebrate.

As always, the icing is our favorite part.

Addi caught herself laughing in the mirror.

Ben entertained Addi while I finished icing the cupcakes. And this was before we ate any sugar.

country wedding

2009-04-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time at Brittany and Jordan's wedding on Saturday. Brittany is Ben's 4th cousin...i think. I've never quite figured it out. The rain let up just long enough for a BEAUTIFUL evening. Everything was picture perfect, down to the chandeliers in the trees. Absolutely breathtaking. And Brittany, of course, was glowing. I was able to get sweet pictures of Ben & Addi before all of the guests arrived.

sweet kisses

2009-04-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

Addi loves to give kisses. Always open mouthed. Always wet. But sweet, none the less. We kiss our favorite toys. We kiss the baby doll. But my favorite are the kisses reserved for Ben. There are kiss marks on the window. I leave them there. We miss you babe!

a lesson from Addi

2009-04-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, Addi and I practiced hunting easter eggs in the park by our apartment. Addi LOVES being outside, so I figured this would be a great excuse to enjoy the nice weather. Things started off great! Addi was so excited when I spread the plastic eggs on the ground. She immediately ran to the closest one, picked it up, held it out to show me what she had found, and then ran to the next one. Pretty soon she had 3 or 4 in her hands and no where to put them. I followed her with the basket and tried to convince her to put the eggs in the basket so she could pick up more. That is when disaster struck! The last thing she wanted to do was to put the eggs in the basket. She immediately grasped at each one, trying to take them back out. "Addi, you can't hold all of them at once", I repeated. This went on for about 10 minutes until we finally just sat down on the ground and poured out all of the eggs around us. Only then was she happy. I sat there thinking about how I'm the exact same way with life's "plastic eggs". I hold on so tightly to what seems so important to me at the time. The Lord has so much more in store for us, if we would just lay down the little things in life.
Lord, help me loosen my grip. Addi found a lady bug

planting roots

2009-04-02T14:02:00.000-07:00

Yea! We've decided to build, rather than buy, a house in College Station. We signed the contract this morning! We're 5 months out from moving in, but at least we've got the ball rolling. That should put moving day exactly a month after Baby #2 gets here. Our builder joked this morning about having a pregnant woman on his case all summer. He has no idea! It's probably better that he's clueless of my perfectionism. He'll learn soon enough. Ben has opted to leave all of the nit-picky decisions up to me and I couldn't be more excited about it. I've been tearing out magazine pictures for weeks now. Front doors, faucets, chandeliers, etc. You'll have to remind me of this initial enthusiasm in a few months, when the excitement has worn off and I'm having to choose between white and off-white plumbing fixtures. As for now, I'm more than thrilled about the whole process! Here's Addi out at our new lot. Already digging in the dirt. She's definitely not a "miss priss".

More Cheerios please!

2009-03-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

I just walked into the living room to find this! Apparently a hand full of Cheerios is not sufficient. Addi managed to find the bag in the cabinet, dump them all over the floor and dig right in. She was even eating them out of my shoe! Disgusting, right? She just laughed & laughed. I asked Ben to help out while I got the trash can. This is what I came back to...gotta love 'em.

Weekend in Wimberley

2009-03-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Ben had a few days off for Spring Break so we spent a long weekend in the Hill Country. A little R&R is just what the doctor ordered. After dropping Addi off in Houston (thanks again, Grammy & Grandpa) we headed to Wimberley with the Paxtons. Rachel's grandmother owns a beautiful house on the Blanco River. We spent our afternoons relaxing by the water & playing Princess Uno (that's right, there's a Princess version). We wondered into town a few times to enjoy sno-cones (the coconut was to die for) and to poke through the local antique shops for what the guys referred to as "knick knacks". We squeezed in a trip to the Salt Lick to enjoy some finger-lickin' barbeque before calling it a weekend. Chris and Rachel promised to bring us back next year, sooner if we're lucky :)

The Salt Lick's patio has given me some GREAT ideas for our future backyard. We'll see how far the budget goes.

All things new

2009-03-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

With things getting back to normal in the Wall house, I thought I would get back to blogging about this blog's MVP: Addi. She is growing up SO fast! It hit me this morning at our weekly playdate. We met at the mall & let all of our kids run around the food court tree house. Addi is a little younger than the rest of them, so she usually just follows them around (thumb in mouth) and mimics what they do. Well this morning was no exception. The main tree house attraction is of course the tree house slide. It's a long & winding slide that can only be reached after climbing about 15 gigantic steps. It never crossed my mind that Addi would actually think the task feasible. It never even phased her. She steadily climbed every step all by herself & slid down (bottom first, thank goodness) all by herself. I had to call Ben at work & give him a play-by-play. I was so proud of her! I think she was even tickled with herself. A few of the older girls would "catch" her at the bottom and direct her back to the stairs so she could do it again. It was adorable. My baby girl is growing up. I wish I had my camera on me. Here's a few other things that are new with Addi.
* American Idol: She LOVES it & claps for EVERYONE, regardless of their talent
* Shoes: She knows that when we put our shoes on, we're going to go "bye-bye", so she now brings them to me
* George: Since we run everywhere we go, we bought George (a backpack/leash) a few weeks ago. (I'm now one of those moms). She loves George. She pets him, kisses him, drags him around by his leash, I mean tail. But she absolutely hates George when we put George on as a "backpack" (the whole purpose of George). Ahhh. We're learning. I'm learning. * The Aggie war hymn (Ben's favorite): One of the local tv stations plays the war hymn during it's "station identification" break. Addi claps and rocks back and forth. Is this brain washing?
* Elle the Elephant: Addi rocks as hard as possible, falls off, laughs, and then gets back on. Repeat. * The big-girl bed: Last week we tested out a twin mattress & she absolutely LOVES it. Every night around 7:30, she gathers up Lovie, Lucy & Puppy and swaggers to her bed room and tries to climb into bed. Our evening prayers have been shorted to "Thank you for mommy, daddy & Jesus. Amen." Then she literally leaps into bed. It's awesome! Why did we just now think of this?

Ben's home!

2009-03-06T15:28:00.000-08:00

Ben was released from the hospital today (a day early)! He'll have some follow up visits over the next few weeks, but he should be here to stay. Addi loves having him home. She sits in his lap and gives him hugs. It's so sweet to see them together again! Thanks again for all of your prayers and encouragement this week. We love you guys!

Family update

2009-03-04T10:35:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. Thank you for all of your phone calls, texts and prayers! The Lord has used you to speak peace and encouragement into our lives these last few days, and we're so grateful for you. I thought I would give you the latest update on our crazy week: Ben's blood work came back yesterday and it showed to have bacteria in his blood, something fairly common with pneumonia. They are now able to attack it with a specific antibiotic but he will not be released until Saturday. He's still on his IV and oxygen but can now eat solid food, so he's liking that of course. Addi's ear infection has cleared up on one side but she broke out from head to toe in red bumps last night, which about sent me over the edge. I mean, seriously?! After a doctor's appointment this morning, we've learned that she's allergic to the amoxicillin that we had been using to treat her ear infection. Although she looks horrible, she's not in any pain or discomfort, thank goodness. We've switched medications & the allergic reaction and rash should take care of itself over the next few days. As for me, I went to an ear specialist yesterday to learn more about my own ear infection. The antibiotics should clear it up by next week & hearing in my left ear will return soon after that. I still can't believe I'm having to write all of this. It's sounds ridiculous! I can't wait until this weekend, to have the two loves of my life happy & healthy. Then maybe I can return to blogging about the silly things that Addi has gotten herself into. Maybe even add some cute pictures!

prayers please?!

2009-03-02T08:05:00.000-08:00

hey prayer warriors. can you be lifting us up? we're having quite the morning. it began at 2am, when i checked myself into the ER here in College Station. i have fluid in my left middle ear & have been put on pain killers and ammoxicillian. i cried at walgreens as the sweet 24-hour pharmacist helped me put drops in my ear & cried on my way home, feeling sorry for myself that I had gone through the ordeal by myself (ben & addi have both been sick so i had left them at home). and cried myself to sleep in the guest room at 4am, praying that the pain would end. little did i know that at 6am, Ben got up & drove himself to the same ER, saw the same doctor and has now been admitted into the hospital for pneumonia! he'll be in the hospital for 4 or 5 nights until they can get it all under control. poor guy! we had already taken him to the ER friday morning & they had sent him home with a "viral infection". i hate that they missed it the first time. he's been so miserable. now his entire right lung is infected. even the doctors are a bit concerned. ben's mom is on her way here to watch addi so that i can go to the hospital and sit with ben. and my mom is planning on getting here wednesday to relieve debbie. even ben's grandmother has volunteered to come help out. i feel so blessed to have such sweet ladies just a phone call away! if you'll also keep addi in your prayers. she's still recovering from her ear infection from last week. thanks guys! love you!

home, sweet home

2009-02-26T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well, we said goodbye to our precious home this week. We packed up the remainder of our things on Tuesday. As the movers carried out the last of our furniture, I cried at the empty rooms left behind. Even writing this now, brings tears to my eyes. I can still remember the ice-cream party that we had the weekend we moved in. And I can picture little Samson trying his best to jump the ledge that led to our back porch. It seems like just yesterday, I found that perfect chandelier for Addi's new nursery. It was such a good house to us. I laugh when I think about all the complaining that I've done over the years. How I hated the fact that the washer and dryer were in the garage. And that the closets and bathrooms were WAY too small. Sharing our bathroom on Sunday morning always led to an interesting conversation on the way to church. Now I sit back and think about how much the Lord blessed us in that house. The precious memories we have of where our family first began. I'm so happy and so sad at the same time. Here are some snapshots from over the years...
July, 2004: Our "hired" help on moving day. The Brewer's and Cox's.
Spring of 2005: Our little buddy's routine bath. Man, I miss him!
Spring of 2006: The new landscape. The handy work of Mr. Danner.
Christmas 2007: Just 2 days before Addison's debut.
January 08: The week we brought Addi home. Ben was a natural.
Dec 08: Our snow day. Just 2 weeks before moving to College Station.

fun with the fridge

2009-02-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

Here's another typical night at the Wall's.
Who needs toys when you have an ice maker?

baseball buddies

2009-02-20T18:37:00.000-08:00

We went to the A&M baseball game tonight. It was their season opener and the Ags are ranked #1 in the Nation so it was pretty exciting.
The game was sold out, so we stood with the students in left field, which was fine with Addi. She had plenty of room to run around and be her independent self. She was a trooper, considering the cold wether. We made it through 5 innings before calling it a night.

hide & seek

2009-02-19T18:47:00.000-08:00

Addi loves it when Ben gets home from work. They go for walks, read books & play hide & seek. They were having fun tonight!

change is addicting

2009-02-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

So, I chopped my hair off!! I've been wanting to do it for years, but just now built up the courage. I guess with all of the changes we've been going through these last few months, it just felt like the right thing to do. I also had to get new glasses last week. Poor Ben came home from California to a new woman! He told me yesterday in church that the new look is growing on him. Thank you Lord! :)

house update

2009-01-30T06:19:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. I wanted to let you know that we have a contract on the house! All of the paperwork went through yesterday so today begins their 10 day option period. We're set to close on February 27th, so we're just praying that there are no hiccups with the inspection or with their financing. Thanks for your continued prayers!! The Lord is SO faithful!

This is "why babies need mommies". It is hilarious!

2009-01-30T06:14:00.000-08:00

how could I forget?

2009-01-27T11:53:00.000-08:00

In all of the chaos & confusion of the last couple of months, I just realized that I haven't even blogged about our "new" news. Come August, the Walls will be a family of 4! We're so excited about it. We were a little slower in letting the cat out of the bag this time around. We found out about Baby Wall #2 in December. Some of you already know, but I had been getting my blood tested on a weekly basis since October (which sucked), when I had had a miscarriage (which stunk as well). They were tracking my hormone levels to make sure that I would not need a DNC before trying to get pregnant again. Well, it turned out that my levels had shot through the roof. They called me in the next day for an ultrasound, and whoola, I was pregnant again. That's now the 2nd time that I've found out that I was pregnant at the doctor's office. The triage nurses, whom I've gotten to know real well over the last few months, cried with me in the patient room. It was such a surprise & such a blessing. It was the week before, that I had truly given over the miscarriage to the Lord. I knew that He had a perfect plan for me and that His plan is what I really wanted, not my own. Looking at our situation now, I rest assured that I'd rather Him be in control. A baby due in August (versus May) will give us plenty of time to sell the house, get out of this 6 month lease, and (God willing) be in a new house of our own. I can't imagine bringing home a new baby to this place. Not that it's THAT bad. But a guest room and a nursery, and hot water, would really come in handy once the little one gets here. Plus, come Fall, we're hoping for all of you to come visit us, regardless of how A&M's football team is doing. I'll need some good socializing time and Ben will need someone to vent to and cry with.

I took a picture of Addi in her Big Sister shirt. This is her new big-girl chair that she sits in when Ben & I sit in our recliner. The recliners are the only 2 pieces of furniture in the living room right now, so it's really cute. In the back bedroom, you can see our new king size mattress!

Addi's eating habits

2009-01-27T11:16:00.000-08:00

13 months is an interesting age when it comes to eating. I try to introduce new foods to Addi on a daily basis. I first show Addi how much I'm enjoying eating this fabulous new food item & then offer her some as if I'm sharing my most treasured possession. Although most of my efforts end up on the floor, we've found great success with bananas, mac & cheese and scrambled eggs. And of course her favorite snack is Cheerios. Well, I realized today, how much she is learning from us and mimicking what we do. When Ben came home today to join us for lunch, Addi not only offered him some Cheerios, but insisted on feeding them to him & then double checking to make sure he ate it. She was very thorough and patient. Just like mom.

home away from home

2009-01-22T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well, we're officially residing in College Station now. We packed up our clothes, pots & pans, etc. and headed this way last weekend. We're renting an apartment for 6 months until our house sells. Will you keep praying for that for us? We've had some really good showings & our neighbors' house just sold, so I feel like it could be just around the corner. I have to daily remind myself that the Lord has blessed Ben with this new job & that He will take care of the details for us. Until then, we're enjoying apartment living. With the exception of sleeping on an air mattress and taking cold showers, Addi & I love being here. We have breakfast as a family again & get to spend a lot more time with Ben. The best thing of all, Addi can drag out ALL of her toys & I don't have to worry about picking everything up before a house showing in 20 minutes. We're all less stressed & for that, I'm thankful. We tried out Central Baptist on Sunday. It's hard not to compare everything to 1st Baptist Houston. The music, the nursery, the lack of donuts. It's kind of hard being the newbies again. That being said, Ben & I met some of the nicest people in our Sunday school class. They truly went out of their way to make us feel welcome. We're thankful to be here, to be together as a family again & to be walking out the Lord's plan for us. We miss terribly, all of our friends and family in Houston. We think of you often and love you. Once we have more than an air mattress to offer, we'll be inviting you up for dinner. It's only an hour ya know.

addi's birthday party

2009-01-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Addi's birthday on Saturday. She had a blast. You wouldn't have even known that she's been teething and rather cranky these last few days. The whole party was mainly an excuse to see everyone again before we move to College Station. The cupcakes and presents were just a bonus. We kept it low key. Ben cooked burgers & Morna brought baked beans. It was a great little get-together. Beautiful weather and wonderful friends.

Ben held Addi (and a cupcake) while we all sang to her.

The icing (again) was her favorite part.

Jake wanted to help but got the stiff arm. That a girl :)

Here she is showing off her knee-walking technique.

This was our best attempt to get a picture of the kids.

Not one of Addi's best moments.

Birthday Princess

2008-12-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Addison Elizabeth!

I can't believe it's already been a year.

Addi was born on Dec 27, 2007 at 3:02pm,

weighed 6 lbs, 9 oz and was 18 inches long.

Addi had a yummy birthday.

Nana took us to Chick-Fil-A for lunch (Addi's favorite) before treating us to strawberry cake at Celebrity Bakery.

Addi thought this balloon was hilarious! She would laugh and giggle every time we touched it. Her belly laughs are contagious and pretty soon she had everyone around us laughing with her.

There was plenty to choose from at the bakery, but we stuck with strawberry cake. Pink just seemed right for the occasion.

Addi didn't hesitate to dig right in.

That icing was gone before we knew it.

Christmas has gone to the kids

2008-12-26T13:37:00.001-08:00

Christmas in the Harris family has become a BIG deal. With 10 people buying presents for 10 people, you can imagine the amount of presents, chaos & commotion that come with each holiday season. Counting Addi, we now have 4 grandkids running, crawling & climbing on basically everything. It's a blast. They get so excited about..well.. EVERYTHING (with the exception of new clothes).

Here were some highlights:

Tristan's transformer: Chris and Ben worked to "transform" it for nearly 30 minutes. These are for kids right?

Addi's Radio Flyer wagon: Ripping off the paper was half the fun.

KK's & Tristan's microphones: Should we really enable the noise factor?Dad's new TV: Chris and Ben are still drooling. :)

Addi's wasn't sure what to think about her 1st Christmas present.

So unwrapping the presents quickly became a group effort.

The box alone, provided plenty of entertainment.

Obviously, she had it down by this point.

She even got comfortable on Bubba's puppy.

Kenlee was better at sharing.

Addi followed here around all day. So cute.

And to top it off, there were plenty of hugs and kisses to go around. We're so blessed!

And Nana won the bet. To our dismay, Chris, Tami, Kaylee, Tristan & Kenlee all showed up at 9:53. 7 minutes early. Very impressive.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T06:47:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We're in Colleyville this week with the Harris Family. We went to candlelight service last night before coming home to open 1 Christmas present each (a Harris tradition). We're up early this morning, enjoying hot chocolate & eyeing the presents with our name on it. The festivities will begin once Chris, Tami, Kaylee, Tristan & Kenlee get here. We've taken wagers on what time they'll arrive. Here are the bets:

Mom: 10am

Dad: 10:11

Tiff: 10:45

Ben: 10:56

Winner will be waited on hand & foot for the rest of the day.

I'll let you know...

Washington D.C.

2008-12-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

Ben & I spent this past weekend in D.C. There's nothing like cold weather to get you into the Christmas spirit. On Thursday night, we headed to the White House lawn and listened to carolers around the National Christmas Tree (I didn't even know that we had a Natn'l. Christmas Tree) before meeting up with Niki, Brett & Dennis for dinner at Lauriol Plaza (Bill Clinton's favorite restaurant) for the best Mexican food in town. On Friday, Niki showed us around Old Town Alexandria. It is the cutest place I've ever seen! I now know why Niki loves living there so much. Mac & Julie took us to Mt. Vernon on Saturday. We toured "The General's" house, hung out with camels and payed our respects to George before calling it a day. Did I mention that we got in free? Julie is so sneaky :) We picked up cupcakes after dinner and met back up with Niki for a competitive night of CLUE (as in the board game). Niki and Julie had our number. The rest of us didn't stand a chance, even with our complicated strategies. We had a birthday brunch for Ben (Happy B-day Babe) on Sunday, before heading back home. It was a wonderful weekend. Thanks Niki, Mac & Julie for showing us a GREAT time! We love you guys.

The National Christmas Tree. It's surrounded by 56 others

(1 for each state & territory + the Dist. of Columbia)

Here's Niki and me in Old Town.

This place looks like it's out of the movies.

At Pasta Mia they make you wait outside (in the bitter cold) until they open at 6:30. The guys held our spot while we waited in Starbucks. Totally worth it.

Here's Ben trying to make his selection at Georgetown Cupcake.

He got 2.

It's SNOWING!

2008-12-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it! It snowed in Houston! My camera couldn't capture the flakes and obviously it didn't stick to the ground, but I promise, it snowed! Just like a kid, I ran outside, Addi in tow, both of us all bundled up. I tried my best to capture Addi's expressions. The flakes stuck to her hair and to her nose as she tried to grab them. My neighbor was driving by and jumped out to take a picture of us. Notice both of our snow boots. Obviously, more of a fashion statement down here than a necessity. Or are they?! I'll have to keep em' closer to the door (as opposed to buried in our snow gear), just in case another blizzard blows in!