Binky Backup

Judging from these pictures I guess you could say that Abigail LOVES her binky's. She crawled room to room like this the other day. Aunt Erica thought it was too cute and snapped some shots. I guess she's afraid that Kaden may steal one and she'll need to have very quick access to another. Let me tell you, she's quick on the draw too. It takes about 1 second to get one of those in her mouth if you take one of them out. It took her quite awhile to even learn to take one, and now you can't hardly take it away. It was pretty cute though seeing her roaming around with 3 of them!

Very Sad News

My Aunt Sharon passed away today at about 1:00pm. This is a very tragic loss for the entire family. My cousins are especially having a difficult time. They lost a sister about 15 years ago at the age of 14, so to lose their mom at the age of 49 is beyond unbearable. Their hearts have suffered too much too soon. They are going to need more prayers then ever now. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers during this incredibly painful time in their lives.

Prayers Needed

My mom's only sister, my Aunt Sharon, has been in the hospital a little over a week now and is need of all your prayers. She has cancer and was very critical for several days to the point they weren't sure she was going to pull through it. She is doing better, but better is still not good at all. She is only 49 with a husband, children and grandchildren who have all been very brave and strong thus far. They are all in desperate need of your prayers. 49 is so terribly young, so if you're reading this, please take the time to say a prayer for her health as well as her family.

Terrible Blogger

I have been terrible about blogging lately. Not that I've ever done a very consistent job at it, but I've been even worse recently. I've been a little stressed and working on getting things prepared for the beginning of school. I never imagined there would be so much to do. I'm not even sure I'm getting close to getting everything finished. Guess I'll find out soon enough. School starts the 25th and I'm officially starting this week. I'm starting to get pretty nervous about it.

Abigail has been doing well. Getting very big. I can't believe how much she has grown. She'll be 1 year old in 1 month. I haven't even begun to think about her party. I should probably get that started! She's trying to walk. She still needs a lot of help, but she's getting much better. She might actually be walking by her birthday...maybe a little after. I was beginning to wonder though because her feet are so small, I wasn't sure she'd be able to balance. She still wears size 1's. And I even have a hard time keeping those on her. Anyway, I'll try to post some pictures very soon. I'll actually need to take some for that to happen, but I promise I'll work on it.

They grow up too fast....

I've always heard this, but never really quite understood it. Abigail has grown so much so fast. It seems like yesterday I was doing everything for her....and it really is like it was yesterday. Now she feeds herself a lot and plays by herself. When I took her for her 9 month check up our doctor said start putting her formula in a sippy cup to wean her off the bottle by the time she's a year old. Well I did that and she took to it so well that she is already completely off the bottle and drinks everything from a sippy cup. She'll only be 10 months old tomorrow. It makes me a little sad to see how fast she's changing. When her daddy was here he practiced walking with her and now she wants to do it all the time. He asked me today if I was practicing....and well, I have a little, but I don't want her to grow up too fast. I know it's just walking, but I want her to be a baby. :( But I guess I'll work on it for him. Oh, not only does she drink out of her sippy cup, but she does it sitting up. No more lying down to drink her milk.

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a relief!! I know some of you were probably thinking that I didn't because I haven't posted anything about it, but they just released the scores this morning. I was rather scared to check, but finally did and it was great news! I passed with flying colors so now it's time to start really planning for the school year. So much work to be done. Thanks for all your prayers. I worked really hard on it and it paid off. Everything is just falling into place now. I can't wait for these upcoming months. So much going on and it's all life changing. I'm so excited!!!!! YEAH!

Busy last 1 1/2 weeks!!

We have been on the go go go the last week and 1/2. Rigo was able to come home on leave for 2 weeks and flew into Austin last Saturday. We headed to San Antonio where his mom's met us there and we spent a great day and 1/2 there. He had never been so we did the river walk, alamo and some shopping. We headed back to Victoria for the rest of the time he was here where we spent time in the pool, lounged around, and stayed up way too late with family. One of my very best friends ever, Carmen, was in San Antonio for drill and drove up for 4th of July weekend. We spent that day out at the pasture playing around and cooking out. It was very relaxing and that night Rigo and Carmen put on a fireworks show. We bought this big package and we were all suprised at the quality of the fireworks. They were really big and it was more entertaining than going back into town. We just popped them off the pier over the pond. It was so nice. The next day was Kaden's birthday party so we had to rush around getting ready for that. It was a lot of fun and he got way too many presents. He is so spoiled. I think I may have been the worst spoiler of all. :) That night we went out to 'the' club in Victoria called Cactus Canyon. Oh, I forgot to say that Kaden's dad was in town for the 4th and his birthday, so Rigo, Carmen, Erica, James and I all went out that night. You should have seen the enthusiasm seeping from our pores. I think we could have all really just gone straight to bed, but times together with friends and family like that are few and far between so we went out. I think we had a good time sharing each other's company and that's what matters most. Carmen and I stayed up until 4:30am which I most definitely paid for the next day. It was so worth it though. I miss her so much! Everyone left sunday except for Rigo who I took back to the airport today. He has to go back to Baghdad tomorrow until October, so keep him in your prayers. Hopefully the time will go by quickly and most importantly safely. I started class back up yesterday too. Needless to say I'm exhausted, but it was a wonderful week and 1/2. There is nothing better than spending time with family and friends. I love you all!!!

Daddy and Abigail at the Alamo

At the River Walk

Riding and elephant in a store on the River Walk

Kaden's 1st Birthday Cake!

He shared his cake like such a good boy. Abigail jabbered something to us for about 30 straight minutes after this. I'm pretty sure she was way hopped up on sugar!
The fabulous ball pit. I love this thing because it can't deflate. Got it at walmart.

One of the truest friends I know and have. Love you Carmen!

Look out 8th graders! Here comes your new math teacher!!

That's right.....I had an interview this morning at a middle school here in Victoria and I got hired just 10 minutes after my interview!!! I'm going to teach 8th grade math. I'm so very super excited and nervous at the same time. I got all kinds of textbooks to go over what exactly I will be teaching so I will have lots of fun reading and planning to do. The stress isn't quite over yet though. I have to take my huge content exam a week from saturday on the 21st. In order for me to teach I have to pass this test. So if you are reading this please say a prayer for me. This is a huge deal and the beginning of a new career that I am so excited for. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and prayers. Yeah for me!! I'm so excited!

More vacation fun

For those of you who think I don't post enough (Rigo & Candice), I'm posting 2 days in a row so there! Like I said in my previous post, mom and the kids have been here all week on vacation. On Monday we went to the pasture and had all kinds of fun. There is a pond with a little motorized boat to ride on, a mule (which is like a golf cart), a four wheeler and you can swim in the pond. The kids had so much fun and my cousin Sam was there to play too and he's the same age as Luke so they had a great time. Later that day we headed to the lake to do some tubing, but didn't capture any pictures of that because we left the camera at the camper. That day was packed full of fun. The rest of the week we did some shopping, swam in the pool and watched some movies. We had a great time and I hope we get to do it again soon!

Beach Fun?......Not so much!!

So, my mom, Gabri and Luke have been here this week on vacation and we've been doing some pretty fun things together. Wednesday we headed to Port Aransas to take in some sun at the beach. The kids have never been so we thought this was going to be a pretty great experience for them. We bought sand pails, tents and umbrellas to keep us from frying, we took all kinds of junk food so we wouldn't starve while we were out there all day long. We even thought we might try and take in some parasailing or horseback riding on the beach. There are so many things to do there. And we were staying the night so we'd have 2 days to enjoy the beach. So....we packed up the cars and we were off. It was looking pretty windy on the way down there, but we thought it might die down a little bit. We take the fairy to the island, find the beach.....and we're thinking it looks ridiculously windy, not to mention there aren't many people there swimming. We found a place to set up and started getting out the play pin for the babies and the tent. We'd never set it up before, but it says on the box that it's very simple. Simple???? Did they factor in 100mph winds? (We later find out the beach was under a wind advisory) We wrestled with the tent for 45 minutes, the directions blew away, luckily Luke caught up with them, and then we decided to call it quits. As mad as we were, we were laughing pretty hard because we figured the locals were watching us thinking we were crazy tourist chicks that couldn't figure out a tent and then left 45 minutes later!! We were covered head to toe in dirt and never even got in the water.

Oh, but wait......the next day was even better. It looked even more windy, but we decided to brave it anyway because we drove all that way and wanted to get in the water. We wanted to go down the big pier first, but it was closed due to the wind. The waves were crazy, but we weren't going to mess with the tent or umbrellas, so we just got in the water. The babies hated every minute of it. It wasn't their clean bath tub with toys. Mom and luke braved the water first. Not after too long Luke started complaining about something biting him in an unpleasant area and mom was itching all over. I thought they were just being dramatic until I got in and realized I had tiny micro creatures in my pants and they were eating me alive!! We were all freaking out and jumped in the car, and to the beach showers we went. Some surfter dude was rinsing off and asked us if we got the sea lice too? What?? What is sea lice? Apparently they are tiny baby shrimp that were attacking everyone. They were literally the size of the lead on a pencil and almost clear looking, but you could see their little pinchers and they were having us for lunch! After that we packed up and headed home. A 3 hour road trip and less than 2 hours at the beach. It was pretty much miserable. Good thing the hotel had a pool. At least the kids and babies were able to swim in it! Terrible trip, but we can laugh about it because really....what are the odds of all that happening! I just wish I would have got pictures of us digging in our pants. Good times.

Here we go....

Gabri, are you wearing the tent?

Poor baby girl

At least there was a pool

Now they're happy!

Yucky beach water!

That pier in the background is what we wanted to walk on

If only we knew....don't do it, stay out of the water!!!

The whole week wasn't a disaster. I'll post more pictures of the fun we had later!