The Little Gym...

Although The Little Gym is the name of the gymnastics place that Trey and Macy go to, I sometimes feel like it's the name of our house as well. We are so lucky to have two sets of neighbors with children the same ages as our kids so they are always playing outside with each other and with each other's toys. This past weekend was the end of the semester at The Little Gym, so I had my camera. Here are some pictures...

Macy loves hanging...
She also loves laying on the balls....

But she REALLY loves hanging...

Trey likes hanging too...

and being on the bars!

This is Trey doing "TaDa" after he got his medal!

Christmas Review...

OK, so in two and a half weeks in Houston, you'd think we would have had a lazy relaxing time...not so much. Between three Christmas', two birthdays (I am now 29), 1 5-year anniversary (yay for Patrick and me!!) 1 welcome home party for my brother-in-law, David, a wedding and a couple of side trips, we are pretty exhausted! We arrived back home to San Antonio Monday afternoon. Our children are adjusting to life with their real parents who have REAL rules. (No chips for dinner, no playing with my cell phone, crying doesn't get you what you want, no...there are no more presents to unwrap, and my favorite line of all time is back in play..."do what I say, when I say it, with a respectful attitude."-courtesy Voddie Baucham.) You might ask where Dan and I were??? Well, we were there, it's just that our incredibly intelligent kids knew to go to one of the 4 gullible grandparents to get permission for their ridiculous requests:):) We really did have a great time and truly enjoyed spending time with David and Callie. (This was the first time we had seen him since he came home from Iraq.) Here are a myriad of pictures.

Teal, Macy, Trey and Dan on Christmas Eve

David, Callie, Teal, Macy, Dan, Lizette, Trey and Victor on Christmas Eve.

Granddad (Teal's dad) with all the grand kids. Luke, Andrew, Macy, Trey and Sam.

The grandsons showing off their Christmas presents. Trey has already broken his fishing pole in, although he would have nothing to do with the worm.

Granddad and Trey

The number 1 gift for Macy was her baby doll that Aunt Callie got her. It is so neat how innate being a mommy is...feeding her baby, putting her to sleep...

giving her a bottle..

Trey and Uncle David with the biggest fire truck ever. (Thanks, guys, now I have to find a place to store it:)

All the cousins with Mia (my mom)

Out of hibernation...

OK, so I know it's been forever since my last post, but we have had a lot going on. I can't go into tons of details, but God is so good and He continues to add glorious chapters to our testimony. Dan went through a procedure right before Thanksgiving and the doctors are astonished at the results. (It just makes me smile and shake my head wondering what God has in store) During this time, the kiddos spent time with Dan's aunt and uncle, Iris and David and then my dad and mom. They had a great time being spoiled and I actually got a lot done around the house. So now I am back to the blog...We will be in Houston for a couple weeks at Christmas, but I will try to keep up.

A few recent pictures...

OK, so here are some pictures of the kids in the last couple of weeks. I will journal under each picture...

OK, so after (gasp) 3 days without a bath, I gave the kids a bath yesterday morning before heading to the mall to see Santa. Here is my confession...Macy's hair was wet and we needed to get moving, so I took out my hair dryer and brush and had SO much fun playing with her hair. She actually just sat there and let me do it. One more confession on why she just sat there, I have been known to run the flat iron through her hair in the mornings after I do my own hair and the iron has cooled down a little. It just looks so cute. I need help...I can feel myself being pulled into the world of baby pageants and ridiculous amounts of makeup...someone stage an intervention. So this is the picture I took, I paid $22 for the REAL one, but at least there is a Christmas tree in that one. Macy would have none of it....but her hair does look cute, right??
Yesterday was a full day of excitement with Santa in the morning and Trey's kids choir performance in the evening. Dan and I were the annoying parents. We got there early to save good seats and he ran the video and I took pictures. This is one of those parenting milestones...kids singing about Jesus is cute, but when it's YOUR kid, it kind of makes you want to cry and I really know the meaning of "my heart just melted". (Seriously, look at that smile!)

On the way to church I advised Trey not to pick his nose or touch his crotch, and Hallelujah, the only movements with his hands were the motions to the songs!

Another couple of pictures of Macy at gymnastics. She just loves it!

I included this picture to show how big she is.

Loving the bubbles...

Dan and I took the kids to Build a Bear workshop about a week ago and the kids loved it. Trey actually found a medical kit and a wheelchair for his dinosaur. It's so neat to see normal through his eyes.

Macy stuffing her bear

Trey, Dan and Macy

pouty lips Macy

Home again...

Hey everyone,
Dan was discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon. He is doing fine but still has significant pain in his face from the dermabrasion. Please keep this in your prayers.
Teal

Halloween Fun!!!

We had a great time trick or treating this year!! One of the hardest parts of leaving military life will be not living on base. As you will see in the pictures, everyone in this neighborhood sat on their porches the whole night. I think Trey rang two doorbells!! I just love it!!! It's how I imagine "Pleasantville" to be! Anyhow, we all had a great time.

Dan is still in the hospital and will probably be discharged Monday. After trick or treating, we took the kids up to the hosptial to show off their costumes to Daddy!! Trey even shared his candy!!

Enjoy the pics!!

Trey and Macy....This is not our porch, it just looked nice!
Trey helping Macy

Trey was Dash from the Incredibles

Macy got that Marine tutu for her birthday and when I put it on her, in true girly fashion, she just kept petting it and then looking at me....like "aren't I pretty?"

Just a picture to show how people just set up outside. These are actually my babysitter's parents.

Another picture of the neighbors

No, this isn't our front porch either...maybe next year...

Implants out...

Hey everyone,
Well, Dan had surgery this morning, well, I should say this afternoon...
After last week's 4th issue with his left implant, we decided, through a lot of prayer, to have the tissue expanders removed. Dan also had deep dermabrasion to the scarring on his face and z-plasty done to the scar bands that are near the inside of his eye, by the bridge of his nose. Yesterday was a crazy day with this surgery being canceled, then re-scheduled for Friday, then back on for today with a different doctor. BUT...when we were at the hospital in the pre-op area, Dan's plastic surgeon, Dr. Thomas, showed up and ended up doing the surgery. (I know it sounds crazy, but new patients come in all the time, and these "elective surgeries", get bumped so they can do the life saving skin grafts for the newly injured guys.) Anyway, Dan face is pretty raw from the dermabrasion, so please pray for pain control, as always. He will be in the hospital for a couple of days, and then home recovering. We appreciate your prayers!
Teal