So very thankful...

For a truly awesome God, wonderful family and friends, the freedom that is constantly granted to us by those fighting for us in all parts of the country, our Life Group, and all of the blessings that are showered upon me DAILY!

Sorry this is long overdue once again, but here are some picture updates! Give Thanks-today and every day! Pictures done by the very talented Emily Bryant.

First Haircut and Easter Fun!

Caleb had a whirlwind of an Easter this year! I think by the end of Easter Sunday, he had hunted eggs at five different places! He was exhausted! First, we went to our Thursday storytime at the DP Library and they had a fun hunt in the middle of all of the books in the library. It was really cute. They gave each child a bunny basket that they made and all of the eggs had stickers in them. When they were done, you could take the stickers out and give them back the empty eggs in exchange for eggs with candy! What a smart idea.
Rocky and Nena brought him a basket full of goodies on Thursday night, including some cool bubbles that he and his buddy Nathan enjoyed so much!
Then Friday night-he spent the night with GJ and Uncle Jimmy where he got a giant bucket with wheels to use for his egg gathering. I heard he spent the entire evening filling and dumping out that bucket with eggs, toys, whatever he could find. Aunt Donna and Val were there and Gma and Gpa Dot and Tommy. He also got a bunch of eggs from Mrs. Alvarez with $25 in them! Woohoo!

Saturday we had a Spring Fling at our church. Caleb seemed to be more interested in the playground on the other side of the field than more eggs, but he did get a few in the basket. Every once in a while he would get one in each hand and then say, "throw" and let them fly-he would call the egg "ball" so why not chunk 'em across the grass?

He also got to take a picture with the Easter Bunny-he just kept looking at it and then looking at us like, "ummmm-what is going on with this giant bunny?" It was lots of fun!Sunday morning when he woke up, he had more eggs in our living room, so he spent lots of time finding those and opening every single one and wanted to eat the candy...Here is Mr. CrankyPants when we made him stop after about a million pieces of chocolate! After church, we went over to the Prothro's house for some yummy lunch and another egg hunt of course! Here are a couple of pictures of our church clothes!By this hunt, Caleb was getting the hang of it...it was only number five! He would actually carry his basket to the egg, put it in the basket, and go on for more...Until he realized he had a bunch and decided to dump them out to make room for more. He showed off his trampoline skills for GJ, Grandpa Jim, and Unca Jimmy later that evening and then he was down for the count that night. We had so much fun with family and friends-it was so great to watch Caleb in all of his excitement.

He also finally got his hair cut for the first time. No more curls! Seriously though it was starting to look like a sweet mullet. My sweet friend Catherine cut it for him and he did a great job-now he really looks like a big boy!

Best part was the sucker she gave him afterwards-he loved it!

Hello, my name is Jamie, and I am a bad blogger!

I know, I know...you don't have to say it. But here we go-lots of pics and some updates. Caleb and I have been having lots of fun with this great weather outside. We spend lots of time playing in the backyard and going for walks-it's soooo much better than the dreary days of winter. Caleb will bring me his shoes multiple times a day when we are at home so we can go out and play! We went to the zoo last week with his buddy Nathan and his mom Amy and they had a great time. They were both exhausted on the way home and fought sleep (I think Caleb was just intrigued by the fact that his friend was in the car right beside him! That was something new!)
Here they are checking out the zookeeper talk about the sea lions. Way cool. Look how much taller NateDawg is-and he's only two months older!

Checking out a sleeping cheetah!

Crazy monkey looking at some crazy monkeys! Those giraffes are tall!

And during Spring Break we went up to the Livestock Show for a few hours to see our friends the Kiefers, who were there with their school/students to show animals. We miss them a ton and it's good to see them (even if it's once a year). Caleb was sporting his sweet pearl snap and wranglers thanks to Uncle Blake and Aunt Kimberly!

Courtney and Brandon with Caleb-they have grown up so much! What sweet, sweet kids!

Me and my little rodeo cowboy!

A busy start to the year!

Normally, after football/hunting season is over, things slow down a little for our household. That is definitely NOT the case so far this year! Doug and I have decided to set some goals for ourselves and boy are they big ones!!! We are trying to do lots of things to better our lives, basically for the sheer fact that we can't serve others if our lives aren't where they need to be (at least that's how I feel). We have dedicated ourselves this past month to be more visible, more vocal, more alive with our church family. And I for one have never felt better-we are surrounded by a great group of people and I am enjoying finally getting to know them better.

Here is Caleb with Jenna-she says they have an extra special bond with their red hair-and Caleb just loves her! She is one of the sweet teens at our church and I swear she is a baby whisperer! Another thing we have done is join a gym. We have not been members since I quit working at the Y and we are super gung ho about it! We didn't start at the very beginning of January, so we aren't like all of the others who jumped on the bandwagon of "resolutions". We started late and slow, and we plan on sticking to it. So far, so good! I definitely notice a difference just in the way I feel. And we have been eating better too-go team!

Here is Caleb with some crazy hair after his bath. I have lots of funny naked pics of him running around the living room-and some video too. But Doug says that if Caleb wants to run for office one day I have to keep those under wraps! He is funny!

I hope you will continue to pray for my sweet friends, The Knights. They are still struggling with issues from Samuel's illness and now have learned that their daughter suffers from the same mitochondrial illness, although so far she has been less symptomatic. Please lift this family up in prayer so that God may take away some of their burdens. And take some time to bless someone in your life this week! Let your lights shine!

Bring it on...

I'm talking about the year people! It's a whole new year, in case you haven't noticed, and I have been thinking long and hard the past few weeks about a lot of things. I have decided that I'm not going to make any resolutions in 2010 just for the sheer truth that I know I won't keep them and don't want to disappoint myself :) But what I have decided to do instead is to change my way of thinking. It all started right before Christmas when I had a small emotional breakdown/through about the craziness that has become our holidays. I was stressing out way too much about getting everything together-gifts, food, something to wear, etc.-and I had one of those "AHA" moments that made me think. When I got home, I had the newsletter from our church and it had one of the best messages in it-it was just what I needed. It talked about how much life would change if we gave each other different gifts (other than the material ones we are used to). Gifts such as: Forgiveness, Respect, Admiration, Friendship, Encouragement, Humor, Kindness, Love, Gratitude, Recognition, Compassion & Understanding. WOW! These things don't cost a penny, yet we neglect giving these things to the people we hold most dear (and some we don't). So this year, I am going to try my hardest to give these gifts to those around me. I am truly blessed beyond belief-I have more than I ever deserve-but know so many who need these gifts and don't have anyone in their lives to receive them from. I don't personally know everyone's story or what is going on in their lives or what they believe in. You may not believe in God, or even the same God I believe in, but as a Christian I am charged with sharing what I know about Him with others and giving the gifts I mentioned before would be the best way I know how. I am by no means perfect, and I know at times in the past I have failed at LOTS of these, but this year I have decided to focus on giving to others what I have been so richly blessed with. And as for the age-old resolutions: eat better, exercise, get out more--I will work on that as soon as it warms up outside!!!

And here is an obligatory Caleb pic-since that is of course why you are here!

Chillin in his recliner (courtesy of Aunt Donna). Yes he is double fisting with the beverages and yes, he is not wearing any pants, and yes, that is his duck call sitting with him. What a boy!

Have a great week!

Better late than never

I put a Christmas post and a Snow Day post on here (finally) and I promise to update this blog better in 2010! I will put some New Years Day pics on here later this week. I hope everyone has a terrific new year!

Christmas Time

We had another busy, yet oh so blessed Christmas this year. Caleb went to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops in Pearland and he was very intrigued by the bearded man. They gave us three pictures b/c he was smiling at us in the first one and then Santa told the photographer to take one with him looking up at him. It was too cute. They have an amazing set-up in the store, complete with giant reindeer and activities for kids! We will definitely go back next year!We went to Cracker Barrell for the annual Christmas Eve morning breakfast (which turned out to be sort of a disaster, but I complained online and got a free meal for two so yippee!). Then it was back home for gift exchange/lunch with Mom, Dad, Uncles Jimmy and Jason. More eating-which I of course did-and it was delish! GJ went all out with some really cute stuff for Caleb and he had a blast opening and then walking around the room to show everyone his gifts. He loves books and anything he can throw! He took breaks to snuggle every once in a while too.After a quick nap, off to Bo and Shirley's for family/cousins gathering and gift exchange. Oh, and more food of course. And yes, we ate AGAIN! Couldn't pass it up-good stuff again. Caleb changed into his jammies and had to take a water break after opening up some awesome stuff from Rocky and Nena, and Uncle Blake and Aunt Kim! What a great day!Christmas morning! Santa brought Caleb a four-wheeler, some blocks, and a few other fun things. He was pretty funny on the four-wheeler!Saturday after Christmas-showing off his ride to Rocky and Nena in the back yard.

Where did he go? (This is his number one favorite thing to do when someone leaves the room-it is hilarious!)

He was a little hesitant on the gas, but he is getting the hang of it!