Three Years Old!!!!

Hi everyone! We celebrated Caroline and Charlie's 3rd birthday with a little family party on Sunday afternoon. (Their birthday was January 12th) We had a great time. Caroline wanted a Cinderella castle cake and Charlie wanted a Spiderman cake. I made them myself and I think the kids were happy with them. They wore their costumes to the party and had the other children do so, too. They all looked really cute. It was a fun time and, by party's end, we were all on a sugar high. I do know that old saying about time going too fast is so true! My babies are 3! I can't believe it.

Time To Catch Everyone Up

Hello, friends! I have so much to tell everyone. First and foremost, let me say a HUGE "Thank you" to everyone for your thoughts and prayers regarding mom. She got out of the hospital on Christmas Eve. She is still very weak, but she is ALIVE!!! A huge improvement from where we were. All of you were so supportive and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

Next, I wanted to tell everyone that we went and had an ultrasound on December 22nd. The baby is growing so big and everything was as it should be. We also found out that it is a BOY!!!! We are very excited. Clay had already said that he didn't think that our house was big enough for more than one queen - and we've got her! We are going to name him after our dads. He will be Sam Allen Hannah. Of course, Charlie argues that his name is "Sam Poppy" - that's what they call my dad, but we've got a couple more months to change his mind.

We had a great Christmas, with much to be thankful for. My mom is on the mends, the baby is healthy, and the twins were COVERED UP with toys. The first few days after Christmas were really dangerous around our house. I told Clay that, if the house was to catch fire, we were all gonners because there was no way we would be able to get to the door. We have since cleaned out the old to make room for the new. We enjoyed getting to see many family members and we miss the ones that we did not get to see.

We are looking forward to this new year with much anticipation. There will be many changes in our life - a new baby, the twins will start pre-school. Life is changing. We hope that you all have a wonderful new year filled with many blessings and much happiness. Thank you all for being a part of our lives.

Prayer Request

I know that this blog is usually a place to update all of you on how the twins are doing. However, today I must blog about needing prayer - AND LOTS OF IT! My mom is very sick. She is in the hospital in Meridian, MS with pneumonia in both lungs. She is on the ventilator, which she did not want to do. The doctor told me that she was very near death before being put on the vent. I ask that all of you please pray for my mom. Most of you know that she has been in poor health for the last few years. This is the 3rd time she has been in the hospital with pneumonia, not to mention all of the other problems that she has had. Please just pray. Pray for a speedy recovery. Pray that she doesn't remember being on the ventilator. Pray for me to have the strength to balance being there for my mom with being Caroline and Charlie's mom. Pray. Pray. Pray. Thank you to everyone and I love you all. I will try to keep you all posted.

Happy Halloween!

Cinderella and Spiderman had a great time getting dressed up for Halloween. They really looked adorable, as I'm sure you all can see. The only disappointing thing is that we could not find anywhere to actually trick-or-treat. They had been practicing all week. Everybody's porch lights were off and nobody was answering their phones. What happened to trick-or-treating? Anyway, we did go to family's houses and then went to Mrs. Cyndi Merritt's (Sittee) house for a Halloween party. The children had a great time, ate way too much sugar, and then crashed when we got home. I would say that is a pretty successful Halloween.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

On Saturday, we took the children to the Lazy Acres Pumpkin Patch. It was a cool, crisp fall day. We had a great time. They enjoyed everything from the train ride to the pig races. The highlight, of course, was the hay ride in to the pumpkin patch to pick out our "punkins." They checked each one intently and made sure that they got the exact ones they wanted.
We also took part in another Halloween tradition last night. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" was on TV. Now, this is one of my favorites and I was as excited to watch it as the kids were. Charlie did not move the entire 30-minute show, except to let me know when the commercials were on and how he wanted "the punkin show back on!" Caroline liked it, too and thought it was funny that poor, old Charlie Brown would only get rocks during the trick-or-treating.

I will be sure to post some photos of the kids in their costumes after Friday. Caroline is going back and forth between wanting to be a ballerina or Cinderella and Charlie is torn between Spiderman and Superman. We will see how it all shakes out when it comes time to get dressed.

God's Great Sense of Humor

I have always considered myself a faithful person. I try not to question God or challenge Him on things. I pretty much take the position that what He wants will be. Well, apparently, He has decided to play a really hilarious (and, by the way, FABULOUS) joke on me. For those of you who do not recognize what the picture to the side is, that, my dear friends, is a baby. That's right! WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!! Now keep in mind that, in order to have the twins, we went through a lot - 5 years, 3 surgeries, 3 fertility treatments, and a number of miscarriages. Then let me tell all of you that Clay has been working nights for almost 2 months now so, "alone time" is not very abundant. Now, you tell me - who else, other than the Lord Almighty, could pull off such a huge "gotcha?" We are so surprised and thrilled to be expecting this little blessing. We went to the doctor today and everything looks great. According to Dr. Max, whom I love more than I could ever express, we will probably have a baby mid-May.
As an added little surprise, most of you know my best friend, Courtney. Well, guess who else is unplanned pregnant! That's right! She is expecting, too. And to make it to over-the-top hilarious, our due dates are 2 days apart! 2 DAYS!!! You can't tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor!!!

I will keep you all posted on how things are going. All of you please pray for a healthy, happy baby to join our family. I send my love to all of you and I can't wait to read the comments that this post is going to generate!

Country Living

Sometimes I am reminded of how lucky I am to be able to raise my children in the country. On Sunday, the twins and I went over to my dad's house. We took their riding toys (Barbie jeep and John Deere tractor) and let them go. As I followed them down the road toward the pond, I was struck at just how precious this moment is. Here are my children playing on the same land that I played on as a child. As we got closer to the pond, I had flashes of my childhood. I thought about how many times my grandfather and I had gone fishing or looked for deer and turkeys. I can't tell you how many times I "counted cows" with Papaw. I learned to drive in that very same field. I took so many walks collecting flowers, rocks, and anything else that I thought was neat at the time. So many precious memories! Now it is my children who are "growing up on the land." I am fully aware of just how lucky I am. So many memories to make - so little time. Country living may not be for everybody, but it is certainly for us.