Afternoons at Our House

After William gets home from school, everyone has a favorite spot to be. Here's William's spot...

He usually just plays wii, but lately he has gotten back into Tiger Woods '09 on x-box. So now, it's golf on x-box first, then golf, bowling, frisbee, and everything else he can fit into an hour or so on wii.Here's where Jonathan usually ends up after a long morning & afternoon at work. And here's our newest little tech junkie! Since William has moved onto bigger and better things, she's taken over the leap pad.
And while she's often found lounging on the bed, she can also be found like this...

And when it looks like this in their room, that's usually where I will be found too, (coordinating the clean up) although I wouldn't consider that my favorite place to be!

Hello, goodbye!

We are so thankful to have received a great tax refund this year, which allowed us to get a much-needed, new bed.  When we got married, we slept on the double bed that had been Jonathan's.  Shortly before Abbey was born though, we switched that with an old California King my parents had, which was wonderful, because we had SO much space!!  And space comes in handy when you have a little one sharing your bed most nights!  The thing about that bed though, is that it was probably as old as me, if not older!  And I'll be 30 in 3 months, so it's old...well, at least for a bed! 

Anyhow, we were so excited to get a new bed, but I have to say, it was a little sad to see this one go.  I can't remember all of the times I slept in there when my parents had it.  Many times my dad would be out of town and we would all climb in with mom.  Of course, there were many times when dad was home and I never wanted to sleep in my own bed, so I crawled in there with them too! 

But then, the biggest thing for this bed was that Abbey was born on it!  If you were a blog reader almost 3 years ago, then you'll recall this picture - taken probably about an hour or so after Abbey arrived. 

So, lots of good memories, but it's time to move on! 

So, one last look and then out it goes!  The kids had fun with it! 

And here's our new bed set - from Ikea, of course! We love it!!

Where's Abbey???

Oh, there she is!!!

Have I mentioned that she loves to be in my bed with my pajamas draped around her head?  I'm pretty sure I have!  What a goof! :) 

Catching up

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks, around the house and when we went to see my brother.  This first picture William asked me to take.  Lately, he will do something and then call me over and tell me to take a picture!  The funniest part of this new thing of his, is that one day, he told me to take a pic, but I told him I didn't have a camera with me.  Then he picked up my phone and said, "take picture!"  Smart kid!

 

This is Abbey on Thanksgiving Day.  She slipped into her room quietly and fell asleep on the chair covered up like this.

 

This is Abbey at Dave's house, wearing Joey's Mickey ears.

Joey!  

I can't tell you how excited William was to go to his house.  He talked about "Joey's house" the whole way there!

Me and Saydie, outside the restaurant.  It was raining and we were standing under an overhang, hence the big wet splotch on my shirt.

And these pictures are just of Saydie being cute.

 

 

Labor Day, Polk County Style!

Jonathan was working on Labor Day, so I took the kids outside early that morning for a wagon ride. We saw the neighbors' horses and some cows. After that, it was back to the house to run around and play in the yard. I had filled up the pool for the kids and once again, Abbey decided to get in before I anticipated, so off came the clothes! I let the kids run around in their swim diapers and they loved it! This picture is pretty special since it was the first time that Abbey "cheesed" for the camera! I love it!! :)

One Week Later

Well, it was about this time one week ago that we arrived in town. We've come a long way these past 7 days. By last Friday, we had our rooms set up and the storage unit loaded. Sunday was a great day at our old church and we had lunch with a friend who has had 2 liver transplants. He has been a great encouragement and help to Jonathan through his whole kidney ordeal. Today, we got word on what school William will attend, and Jonathan got his first unemployment check. Jonathan will be starting back with Publix next week, which is a great blessing. It will only be part time, but it's a start and a way to work his way back up in the company.

The kids are loving their "new house." They have adjusted well so far and we're thankful for that. I was able to visit my friends at LCS yesterday and that was a great encouragement to me. There are so many good people here that care about us and it reaffirms that we are where we need to be, even under difficult circumstances. Our 'challenge' remaining for the week is to find enough Cellcept for Jonathan to last until the end of the month. Our insurance ran out last Friday and he only has enough medicine to last until this Friday - as in 2 days from now! So, it's a little scary, because his body will start to reject his kidneys without this drug, but we are trusting the Lord to provide exactly what we need. Even if it comes at the last minute, the Lord has proven Himself so faithful that we are not worrying, just trusting!

So thank you everyone for your continued prayers, offers of help, and well wishes. We are so grateful to all of you and especially to our amazing God, who never lets us down!

Not much to say, so here are some recent pictures

The kids love to ride around the house on Daddy's back.

When we're not at appointments and therapies, this is where you'll find us!

Notice Abbey is wearing her headband - that was all her!

My sister and I found some awesome deals at Lands End while I was up there and here a few of them - Abbey's new swimsuit. She was mad here, because I made her stop for a picture before she could go outside.

And here's William's new backpack, which he's very proud of, because it has his name on it. Abbey got a really cute one too, but I didn't get a picture of it. Hers is blue with butterflies and her name on it. You might notice William's face. 2 weeks in a row, he took a faceplant in the nursery. He had a fat lap, a bloody nose and scabs on his face for over 2 weeks. He looked awful and we know it hurt him. He would tell us "no touch" if we came anywhere near his face. Thankfully, he's all healed now and I have removed the infamous 'blue car' from the nursery!

And here's our little multi-tasker. This guy will play golf while doing anything he can - eating (if we let him), sitting on the potty, talking on the phone to his grandparents...which he was doing here. Maybe we should get him a bluetooth!? ;-)

A Few Parting Pictures and Stuff

I'm leaving early tomorrow morning to spend some time with my sister in Michigan. Since I will be away from the blog for a while, I thought I'd post a few odds and ends that have been sitting in my camera. This first picture was taken 2 nights ago when Abbey wouldn't stay in her bed and fell asleep in the hallway. I took a picture of her on my phone too and sent it to my family, who I know would appreciate it the most. See, when I was younger, I never wanted to sleep in my own bed...ever. I didn't mean to be such a twerp about it, but I know I was. Back when I was - well, I won't share how old I was - but older than Abbey...and I got out of bed one night, only to come down the hall and find that mom & dad's bedroom door was closed. So, instead of going back to my own room - which I shared with my sister - I had my pillow and blankie and laid right there in front of their door. I don't remember sleeping there all night, but I do remember dad coming out in the morning and saying how badly he felt for me! So, although there are many "Laura not sleeping in her own bed" stories, that's by far, the most memorable, which is why I had to capture this memory too! And I did move her just as soon as the picture taking was!

And Rock Band has made a come back in our house. I appreciated the quiet while everyone lost interest for a while, but it's nice that William is interested in playing another part besides the drums this time. Here he is singing the Who...very well I might add!

And here's our baby girl playing "tar!"

We're making progress!

Abbey has been climbing EVERYWHERE lately, so she's been able to reach things that are on top of her dresser - which is like 4 1/2 feet tall. Anyway, she got her hair stuff down yesterday and was trying to wear her yellow headband. She wore it most of the morning, which I was very thankful for. It's not exactly right, but it's sure cute! :)

My funny guy

This is where I found William the other night - supposedly lying down, watching a show before bed. He was quite proud of himself up there, can you tell? :)

This is what you call cheap entertainment! :)

Jonathan took this video specifically to put on the blog, so here you go!

Recent Stuff

Here are a few pictures of what's happened around the house lately.
William helped me make chocolate chip cookies. It's a new recipe and they turned out really well. I think the kids both agree they're keepers too! :)

And here are the kids in their cute aprons Aunt Pam made them. They love to play "cooking" all the time! William now puts his on any time he gets into the play food! He tells us "I cook!"

A few weeks ago, I made those coloring wallets for the kids. Well, William was using his at lunch, after church, and a friend, who we were eating with, started looking it over. She then asked if I could make one for her. It was funny because first she asked for one, then it ended up being 5 - one for each of her grand kids! I've got a lot of leftover fabric and stuff, so I'm going to make them up and sell them on etsy and anywhere else I can, for that matter! :)

So Abbey's been doing really well sleeping in her bed, once she falls asleep. Up until that magic minute is another story. This is how I found the kids the other night after I had said good night. Our little monkey had made her way up onto William's bed and pulled out the hats! I grabbed the camera and took some pictures quickly, then reprimanded her for climbing up there in the first place! (Jonathan was out of town this night.) 5 minutes later, she got back up there and put a hat on William even though he was asleep - it was so funny! After that time, I moved the hats and hopefully the temptation to climb up there! She's such a little stinker!

And this is how I found her after she had taken a crayon to her room! She looked like a clown with huge purple lips! She was pretty upset when I took her crayon away - hence the tears in the last picture!

Well, that catches everyone up a little bit. I'll have some more adventures to post here soon. We just returned last night from a weekend in Pensacola, which was great!! We had a nice time relaxing and enjoying the sun, which wasn't here in town at all last week! I don't know if we caught a bug while we were there though or what the cause is, but the kids both came home sick. I spent a good majority of last night and today doing clean up/stain removal and laundry while minding both kids since William was home from school today. Abbey's fever is down today, but she just still looks peaked. And thankfully, William has stopped throwing up, so that's a blessing. If we can just get everything from coming out his other end, then he could go back to school! I guess we'll see how the night goes.