RANT!

Today our neighborhood pool was closed AGAIN for FECAL CONTAMINATION!!! This is the 4th time this has happened since the pool opened less than a month ago! Get a freakin' swim diaper...double up on them if you need to!!! The pool has to close for the day every time this happens and it costs our HOA over $350 to clean it up! Ridiculous!!!

CELEBRATION!!!!

Last night we CELEBRATED big time with the Mida and Dunn families. We went to Fearing's restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas. We have always loved Dean Fearing's food and we were so excited to try out his new place! He actually came out and we got to meet him and chat with him for a few minutes...I think my chef-husband was in culinary heaven! The food was FABULOUS!!!

Anyways, here's a brief list of what we celebrated last night...

Father's Day for Erick, Harry & Ron
My parents' 40th anniversary (was April 27th)
Erick's parents' 35th anniversary (will be August 3rd)
Our 10th anniversary (was March 7th)
Janet's new job
Dad's successful surgery/recovery & being cancer-free

Those are just a few of the recent blessings we celebrated last night.

God is so very good!

Father, Dad, Dada, Daddy, Poppa, etc.

Happy Father's Day 2008
to the wonderful fathers in our lives!
We honor you today for all the ways you have blessed us!

Opening gifts this morning before church...

Erick, Will, Spencer and Natalie at lunch after church...here's to the BEST DAD ever!!!

Me and my Daddy!

Erick and his Dad, Harry

Erick's other Father's Day gift...he walked in to get Spencer from his nap this afternoon and this is what he found....Spencer sitting up all by himself!!
What a big boy! Time to lower the crib!

Tiffany's Wedding

One of my best friends, Tiffany, got married Memorial Day weekend at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas. I was a bridesmaid and Natalie was the flower girl. We had the weekend of a lifetime! It was so special to spend that time with Tiffany and the other bridesmaids celebrating Tiffany and Brandon. Below are just a few pictures...I think between the 5 bridesmaids, we took several thousand pictures!!!

Tiffany was one of the most beautiful brides ever! She looked like she should be modeling! What a joyous day...a day we have prayed about for quite a while! Brandon is an answered prayer!

Natalie was absolutely beaming all day long! She thought she was HOT STUFF!

The wedding party goofing off...what a fun group!

This is when the reception really got fun...first, the groom and groomsmen all jumped in the pool (in their tuxes) at the Four Seasons! At this point, the gals were just thinking we'd put our feet in and this would be a great photo-op...

...and then, we decided to jump on in too!! Great action shot (and it was captured on video)!! It was a fun ending to a wonderful day!

At the reception with my two sweeties.
We danced, ate cake and had a great time!

8 Months Old Today!!

My sweet baby boy, Spencer, is 8 months old today! He is looking like such a big boy. He has five teeth (and a 6th is about to poke through), he is getting some thick hair (light brown), he is trying to crawl (but he can quickly roll wherever he wants), he can sit up pretty well (with a little support), he LOVES every food he's been given (except peaches) and he is demanding table food when he sees older brother and sissy eating it (he had some lasagna noodles tonight).

This first year of his life is flying by....I can't believe we're four months away from his first birthday! He has a very pleasant demeanor (except when he's teething) and he sure loves his momma (he's started reaching for me and he cries when I walk out of the room)! He squeals all the time and enjoys baths and gnawing on anything and everything he can get into his mouth!

I took this picture after we ALL had a rest today (including momma)!

Doesn't he look so "big boy?!" He loves just lounging in his diaper.

Here are the five teeth I mentioned earlier (3 on the bottom and 2 on top)...he wasn't too keen on me pushing up his nose and upper lip to get a good shot! He has five teeth before his sister or brother ever got any (Nat didn't get any till she was almost a year and Will got his first at 8 months).

My handsome blue-eyed boy after his bath tonight...I could eat him up!!

PRAISES!

Just got to give a couple of "shout outs" for some awesome PRAISES this week!

• PRAISE for my friend Kate and her family...for knowing where God wants them to be!! And DOUBLE-PRAISE that God wants them to stay here right now!!

• PRAISE for my good friend Jessica in TN...she had her third baby girl on June 10th...welcome, Anna-Leigh! I'm sure she'll be posting pics on her blog soon...check it out...Jessica's Blog

Where does the time go?

I have been a bad, bad blogger lately. We have had quite a full plate with end-of-school activities, Tiffany's wedding, Dad's surgery/recovery and just normal everyday life with an active family of five! I am going to try and do a few posts tonight to catch up. This first one is just some random pics from the past few weeks. I promise to do better at being a more regular blogger this summer...pinky swear!!

Sweet brothers having fun!

Natalie getting an award at her school.
She received the award for OBEDIENCE in her class...I'm framing that sucker!!
It's funny how kiddos can be so different at school than they are at home!?!

Last day of school...June 6th.
Will and Mrs. D...we love her!
Will had a fabulous year in PK3!
On to PK4...

Nat's last day of kinder.
I CANNOT believe I have a FIRST GRADER!?!
Mrs. H was an absolute blessing for Nat this year...we love her so much!

Field day at school!
My friend captured this picture of Natalie...looks like she's getting ready to cheer!
She had a blast!

Mom Moment

Yesterday we were driving home (me and the three kiddos) from getting Natalie and Will's hair cut. I had turned on the radio to the local Christian station. A song from Kutless, came on. Natalie used to sing this song in her class at school last year and she even knows the sign language motions. So, her and I start singing it and then we here Will chime in. "We Fall Down,We cwy howy, howy, howy is da wamb." (that's we cry holy, holy, holy is the lamb for those of you who don't know the song). Will says, "I know this song! We sing it in class!" He was so excited! So there we were, the three of us (+ Spencer...can't quite sing yet) singing praise in the car. It was such a wonderful moment for me...I got all teary-eyed and just had to lift my hands up in praise! Thank you, God, for that precious moment of hearing Natalie and Will lift their sweet little voices to honor You. I was quickly snapped back to reality when Nat told me to get my hands back on the steering wheel! Oh well...it was great for a moment and something I'll always treasure and remember!

Mini Makeovers for the Mida Kids

The Mida kids got hair makeovers yesterday. Will's had been a little shaggy and I was just taking Natalie for a trim. Well, on the way there, Natalie said she wanted to get her hair cut "short" like a couple of her friends at school. I thought she was kidding...Natalie maybe gets her hair cut once or twice a year, and even then it's only like an inch off. We get there yesterday and the stylist cut pretty conservative...2 to 3 inches off. She asked Nat what she thought, and Nat said "SHORTER!" So, in the end, Natalie had 6-7 inches cut off...I was in shock! But, she is loving it! She said, "I'm going to get alot of attention at school tomorrow, aren't I?!" Here are the befores and afters...

Will before...

Natalie before...

Look at those piles of hair!!

...and Will after!

...and Natalie after!

Please stay tuned for more updates coming soon. I have several posts to do from April...Erick's birthday, going to the fair, Spence turning 6 months old and lots more!

Happy Birthday, Erick!

Happy 33rd birthday to the best thing in my life! You are a marvelous husband, father, son and friend! I adore and cherish you and I am so thankful to God for seeing fit to "pair us up" on this wonderful adventure. You are a blessing to me, Natalie, Will, Spencer and so many countless others. May you be richly blessed in the year ahead!

A few more pics for Will's bday...

First haircut...bye bye curls!

Handsome chub-master!

2nd Birthday...Trains...Blow 'em out!

Wish I could get this one to show up bigger...face of an angel!

I sure can have a temper sometimes (but not often)!

Happy 4th Birthday, Will!

Four years ago today, my precious Will was born at 12:38 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs, 3 oz. and was 19 3/4 inches long. I cannot believe how fast these 4 years have flown by.

Will is my loving, helpful & kind son. He is so sweet-natured and always has an "I love you" or "You're the best Momma" for me. He is athletic...running everywhere and throwing everything within reach....we even think he's gonna be a lefty! He is funny in his own little quirky way...dancing around all silly or he'll hum a tune as he runs about.

He worships his older sis (she insists upon that)...no, but he really does love her. I must say he hasn't been that interested in baby brother quite yet, but he is getting more used to it. He hasn't been mean to Spencer, but he's been disinterested. He has started giving Spencer little kisses all over when he's near...so sweet!

Will is a Momma's boy, but him and Daddy sure have fun wrestling, cooking pancakes and working in the yard.

He loves to watch movies...good luck getting his attention if he's into a movie. He LOVES the Star Wars movies (the first three) and will watch them over and over acting out the scenes. He has a penchant for memorizing lines from all the movies he watches. He'll say something so out of character or so funny and I'll immediately ask him what movie it came from!

I decided to do a little interview with Will the other day in honor of his big day. Here are my questions and his answers:

Favorite food- Bacon and donuts (he also loves BUTTER...he'd eat a stick of it if I'd let him)
Favorite thing to say- "Actually"
Favorite animal- Curious George
Favorite sport- Football
What do you want to be when you grow up? "Buzz Lightyear so I can fly"
What's the best part about turning 4? "I get to have a party"
Why do you like taking baths so much? "I get to splash"

Now, I'll share some pictures of Will. I may add some more to another post later...there are just too many cute ones of him!

This is him "just born"...of course. Sorry for the gore...but I feel like this picture is angelic in a way...like the light is shining down on him from Heaven. : )

Meeting Big Sis Natalie for the first time...

First Halloween...Little Froggy...Ribbit!

First Christmas...lounging at Grandaddy Lacy's house

Bath time! To this day, Will loves his bath. He begs to take one every night!

I got my first tooth!

YEA!! I got my first tooth yesterday (Mar. 31st)! I had been gnawing everything in sight trying to get that sucker to break through!

Can you see it? It's a little white dot in the lower left side of my mouth!
Solid foods here I come!!!

I Losth My Firsth Topth Toof

Natalie lost her first "top" tooth at school today...biting into a grape! They gave her a little treasure chest to bring it home in. It had been barely hanging on for a week or so now. She would flick it back and forth with her tongue (making her momma nauseous in the process). She has the cutest little lisp now (hence the way I spelled things in the title of the post). This is her third tooth overall. We're planning on a visit from the Tooth Fairy tonight!

Gorgeous!

Here is Natalie and Erick's official portrait from the Daddy/Daughter Dance in February! Natalie is beaming...you can tell she is so proud to be with her Daddy! (had to scan it in so it's a little "grainy")