Avon Walk 2009!!

I have a few questions for you, my faithful readers. :)

1) Would you want to be joined by 14 of your friends and family for a FREE night in a SUITE at the Rangers Ballpark....all by donating $10 to a good cause?

2) Would you want to buy adorable, quality boutique items offered at low prices...all auctioned for a good cause?

3) Lastly, do you ever feel frazzled and need dinner in a hurry for your busy family? Would you be interested in ordering dinner "in the freezer"....all for a good cause?

If any of these options sound interesting to you, please keep reading!!!

In just 39 days...I will be about to begin a 39 mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer with all three of my sisters and my mom. (Yes, with baby on board....but my doctor says I'll be just fine!)

We're all very excited about our upcoming trip to Chicago for this event, and are even more excited to be raising money for such an important cause. Each of us has set a fundraising goal of $2000, and many of you have probably received an email from me asking you to join me in this effort. In fact, many of my sweet friends who are blog-readers have already given to our team, and we are SO very grateful!!

If you have not given, and would like to be a part of this, we still need even more funds to complete our goals, and we would appreciate any amount you would be able to share! This cause is so close to our hearts, because of the many women we've known who have been affected by breast cancer, including our own aunt, Pam Bader, who died at the age of 36 from this awful disease.

We are proud to walk in her honor. We are proud to raise money to help prevent this disease from spreading to even more of our friends and family members. And, we are proud to have such generous friends and family who are joining us in these efforts.

But, WAIT!! Don't stop reading yet!!! We are offering some REALLY FUN ways to be a part of our fundraising!!

1) First, for every $10 you donate, you will be entered into a raffle for a FREE NIGHT---IN A SUITE---AT THE RANGERS BALLPARK!!

2) We are also auctioning off some AMAZING items generously donated by talented women who sell their things on Etsy. You won't want to miss these fun things, ranging from birthday treats to beautiful aprons and bags. (Perfect for upcoming Mother's Day gifts!!)

3) The last way we're raising money is by making yummy dinner options for you! These are frozen and ready for you to serve to your family on a busy night, or when you are gone to book club and "Daddy's in charge"! (these are obviously for local Dallas/Fort Worth friends only. :)

For all of the details on these different events, please visit my sister's blog at http://achenley.blogspot.com. She has all the details listed and there is much more to come!!!

And, finally, thank you so much for supporting us, either through donations, or through your encouragement, thoughts, and prayers, as we prepare for our Avon Walk 2009!! and, if you'd like to see my personal Avon Walk page, or read more about our efforts, go here: http://info.avonfoundation.org/goto/Chelsea.

A Mommy's Morning

It's been "one of those mornings", although my payment has been rich in hugs and cuddles. It is 11:49 a.m. and it is the first time I have not had Abby Kate in my arms since around 5 this morning. After the second doctor visit in two days, we found out this morning that not only has she been recovering from a stomach virus and sinus infection, along with two NASTY ear infections, she also has strep throat. She has had a HIGH fever today and was so listless that I was worried. She has just been miserable, but finally just let me lay her down for the first time five minutes ago. Whew!



We're hoping that the combination of a double shot of antibiotics in her bottom, plus oral antibiotics, plus antibiotic drops in her ears will get this girl on the road to healing. All she keeps saying is "ouchies on my bottom", "my eyes hurt", "ouchies in my ers (ears) and my head". Poor thing.



Meanwhile, my house literally looks like a tornado has hit it, my to-do list does not even have one check mark on it, and our kitchen counter looks like a pharmacy.



But, those days happen, right?! :) I'm trying to keep my perspective and not get too grumpy about it...

In other "mommy" news, I did have my checkup for our itty bitty baby, and all is well!! I got to hear that sweet, familiar, steady heartbeat and it is such a reassuring and peaceful sound to hear! It's hard to believe we are moving right along in this pregnancy thing! Here's a glimpse of what bitty baby #4 looks like these days...amazing to me!


Now, if the nausea would go away, I would be an even happier mommy. :)

Well, I hear crying in the other room, so back to holding, loving, and cuddling I must go!

Easter 2009

We had a happy Easter full of family, as usual. And, that is truly a blessing in our book! Easter--along with every other holiday--lasts for weeks! And, we get loved on by every cousin and grandparent at some point along the way.

Our first Easter celebration was with Grandad and Grankay! It was a great way to kick off the holiday, with a delicious lunch, a fantastic egg hunt, and even MORE Easter treats after that!!

Here are the cousins before the word "GO!"

Carlie in action...

Abby Kate (and her new awkward smile) poses with her stash!

The sisters (notice Abby Kate's "smile" again) show their full baskets!

The next Easter event was Grandma's new idea for an Easter tradition. She wanted to take the girls to American Girl for brunch and what a fun time it was!!

Look at my big, beautiful girls ready for their fun!

Carlie, Sophie, and Kendyll with Kit, Elizabeth, and Nellie :)Getting all settled in at the table to eat, with each doll in their own little chair...

Each girl got one egg at the end of our brunch, and when they opened it, they found money to buy one American Girl outfit. Oh, the fun of shopping for that special outfit! Kendyll enjoyed browsing the store...However, Carlie just got stressed out by the pressure of this decision. :) She eventually made a choice, but man it was tough!

Here is Grandma with her girls (or at least most of them!)

It was a great treat for all of us, and will be a fun new Easter tradition, I'm sure.The Saturday night before Easter, we spent as a family. We read through all of our Easter story books, many of which talk about the meaning behind the holiday we celebrate. We also did our Resurrection Eggs, which are wonderful at telling the story of Jesus' sacrifice, and we read passages from the Bible that went along with the eggs. The sweetest part was watching them "play" with the eggs, telling the story of Jesus death & resurrection to their sisters. (except for Judas' name...Carlie can't remember that for the life of her. :) Precious times.

I guess it's age, or maybe having my own children now....but I can hardly get through the story of Jesus' gift to us on the cross, without losing my voice from tears. Even though I'll never fully comprehend the precious gift He gave, I feel like it becomes more and more amazing to me as I "grow up". I hope and pray my children truly come to understand, over time, the awesome sacrifice and tremendous love given to us through the cross .

Easter morning was busy, but fun, as the girls discovered their Easter surprises, and we got ready for a morning with friends and family at church.

The stash waiting for them downstairs.

And, the sleepy-eyed children following the "marshmallow bunny trail" to find their baskets.Abby Kate found the marshmallow trail, and would have been happy if there had been nothing else! A breakfast of champions... But she was also amazed to see her new Miss Pattycake movie and her very first chocolate bunny. (which should explain her nakedness!) Both the movie and the bunny have been well loved.

These huge stuffed animals were a bigger hit than even the Easter bunny expected!!

I love Carlie's sleepy-eyed bedhead face in the mornings. :)

And, after all of the chocolate, marshmallows, and Starbursts...it was time to clean up and get pretty!

Abby Kate was so excited about her dress, and I still don't know exactly why. Maybe it's the spring colors that made her giddy. Or, new white shoes? Whatever it was, she kept spinning and saying "Ahhhhh" after she got dressed. She kept saying "Ah Me!" (which means "look at me"!) and she asked all of us "See? See?" I think we have yet another princess in the making. :)
One of my favorite pictures of the whole day...
After church, we headed to see Pops and Grandma for a Hawaiian Easter lunch!! More cousin pictures were waiting for this bunch!

Sophie decided this was a good time to show her cousin-love for Carlie.

And, Abby Kate thought maybe some cousin-love would help Ty enjoy picture-taking a little more. Not so much.

Here are Pops and Grandma with all their grandkids. I love that they all coordinate and no one planned it!

After lunch was another great egg hunt...indoors this time, because of the not-so-beautiful Easter weather. Of course, Mom forgot the baskets and eggs for our girls. So, Abby Kate got to have a basket as big as her body instead. She seemed okay with that idea.

The cousins check out yet another great stash of candy. We will be eating it until next Easter I'm afraid!
And, of course, what would be Easter without a couple of family pictures that didn't turn out? (Actually, they're fine....I just look a bit old...and that's depressing. :)

Although we didn't get to see Gammy and Papa Ron for an actual Easter celebration, this last weekend, we spent some time at the ranch with them. And, we're counting it as an Easter celebration, since we did it in April, and we DID have an Easter pinata!! Saturday was my Mom's birthday, and we had a wonderful time relaxing, having a girly lunch with my sisters, mom, and grandmother, and a delicious dinner with the family. We also had some time to play in the rain, and do a few "ranchy" things too. OF COURSE...I have no pictures to show for it. My camera was dead when I arrived, and I never did charge it. So, I'm lacking a few of our celebratory pictures for this post...

But, I think Mom's gift this year, is one of my favorite gifts I've ever given. Ducks and a floating duck house. Have you ever given that to your mom before? Although the ducks are not there yet, they are coming soon! And, my girls are SO excited to have them join the ranch.

In honor of the birthday ducks, here is a picture of our little visitors this morning! We woke up to find three little ducks in our front yard, and they decided to stay a while. This was a VERY exciting event to our little family. :)

Happy (late) Easter, everyone. And, happy happy birthday, Gammy!

Sharing the News

First, thank you for all your sweet messages of congratulations to us! We are excited about our newest littlest blessing, and we look very forward to seeing what God has in store for us with this little one!

Many of you read my sisters blogs, but if you haven't already seen Cassie's, here is a funny picture she put on her blog to announce our news. I love our little photo-shop baby. Little did I know that I was posing perfectly for holding a fourth when we took this Christmas card picture in December!

Also, this next picture is one of a few on my screen saver at home. It's from mid-2007 after Abby Kate was born. It caught my eye the other day and I just started laughing as I looked at how "foreshadowing" it was. Notice the tiny bitty baby doll peeking its head out from behind Kendyll? It was pretty funny when I saw it.

Okay, on to the point of this blog!

Last weekend, we had the absolute pleasure of telling our girls the big news. This was a big deal to me and I wanted to make it a memorable occasion for them. I still remember every detail of when my parents told me that baby Cailee was on her way....and it was neat to realize that the two older ones will remember so much of this baby's birth and my pregnancy.

So, it was fun to plan an exciting way to tell the girls! After we had the sonogram and knew that this baby was healthy and happy so far, I started preparing the baskets....Big Sister Baby Kits for each girl.

In the baskets were baby diapers, wipes, baby bath, and many other "baby care" items. I also added a "big sister brag book" with a sonogram picture inside, and a new "Big Sister" tshirt (thanks to my talented shirt-designer, Cassie!).

We told the girls we had fun new shirts for them to wear out to dinner, and Kendyll guessed right away that they were "Daddy's Girls" shirts. Which I thought was a pretty good guess! So, they got dressed in white t-shirts to wait for their new shirt...even this simple idea made them VERY excited!

They had to hide their eyes while the surprise was prepared...

It was such a LOOOONG time to have to wait!!

The big reveal...but no one "got it" quite yet (which I expected). They thought they were for their baby dolls. Abby Kate dumped hers quickly, saying "babies, babies!!" She was excited to have her own diapers. :)

Kendyll still shows her excitement over her shirt that said "I'm the Big Sister!". However, since she's already a big sister, she didn't think much of it and definitely didn't clue in that this was a new thing for her.

So, then, I had her read Abby Kate's shirt. Now, that really confused them. "BIG sister?" they asked.

Next I had them look in their brag books at the sonogram picture. DING! The lightbulb went on for Kendyll and pure excitement followed.

Carlie looks around wondering what is happening. Kendyll explains the news and this is the first face we got from her...as she said "You've got to be kidding me!" It was pretty funny.

But, it didn't take long for her to get excited too, as she already started telling me all the ways she would help with the new baby.They both just kept yelling things like " I can't BELIEVE it!" "We're having a baby!" "Mommy has a baby in her TUMMY!!" and Kendyll even said "Mom, I'm so ASTONISHED!" It was so sweet to watch their joy grow as they continued to process this news. We saw faces like this all night long...

Next, was congratulations time for Daddy.

Here are three giddy girls and one very giddy Daddy. :)

This is when it really hit me (yet again!)...Abby Kate had a BIG sister shirt on. What?!

My favorite picture of the night. The re-enactment of their surprise faces. So cute!!

And, last, a "Big sister" group picture with Mommy and her tiny baby before we left for a celebration dinner at Outback (where Kendyll proceeded to tell practically the whole restaurant about our news. :)

This tiny baby has had thousands of kisses already....many, many sweet prayers from his/her sisters....and countless conversations about who he/she will be, what he/she will look like, and what his/her name should be.

This night was one of those "mommy memories" I want to hold onto forever. It has been so much fun to share this with them, and we continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby to join our family in November. :) Thank you all for your prayers as well!