Fun with the Maddux kids

Last weekend we let our dear friends Scott and Leah Maddux go on a much needed date while we watched their 3 kids, Hunter, Taylor, and Kennedy. We all had so much fun! I got some much needed snuggle time with baby Kennedy. Zachary was being such a big help with Kennedy and even gave her his special "baby" (blanket) to her when she started crying. The crazy thing is that she immediately stopped crying. It is so wonderful to be able to give your friends a night out without kids. Scott and Leah deserved it, we all need that special date with our spouse often!

My sweet Zachary loving on Kennedy and keeping her happy!

Taylor LOVES this shopping cart! She would pile everything in it and walk around the whole house with that big cute smile on her face. I love her personality!

The boys had some awesome team work going! Before this they were both wanting the same toy, but once we got that resolved they worked together and made this puzzle! I love seeing kids at that age working together, they were so proud of themselves.

Relaxing while watching a movie!

Getting my girly girl snuggle time. :)

Zachary turns 3!!

Seriously where has time gone? Zachary turned 3 this month on February 6. We had planned for a birthday party that weekend but our family was trying to recover from the flu so we decided to postpone his party for two weeks. Unfortunately some of his friends were unable to join us on his make up birthday party because they were recovering from the flu this time or were trying to recover from a fever virus. So it ended up being family and our dear friends the Maddux family. It was so much fun and I am seriously thinking about having this small of a party every time! :)

Zachary had a Toy Story Buzz Lightyear theme and of course Nana made the cake!

Hunter, Kaiden, Zachary, Taylor, Maggie, Cameron

Happy Valentine's Day

This year we celebrated Valentine's Day with the 4 of us! Can I tell you that being the only girl in the family is such a blessing on this day because I feel so loved and adored by an amazing husband and 2 wonderful boys. What more could a woman ask for?

We jsut enjoyed being together and ended the night with special Sundaes!! :)

We

Date Night

Back in January I went on a very special date with the most handsome 5 year old around! He was a true gentleman and opened doors for me, held out my chair, and even told me he loved me! We went to pizza hut and then to the movies and saw Tangled. It was a wonderful time and I know that one day he is going to make some woman very happy as his wife. I am proud to have Kaiden sterling Davaul as my son!

A Boy's Best Friend

Zachary has a love for animals, especially our dog Maddie! He will sit and love on her all day and then there are the other times where he chases her around the house and tries to pin her down. He thinks he has all authority over her and will constantly try to tell her what to do. Maddie is a great dog because she takes all of this special attention very well and is always kind with Zachary even though he may be a little rough sometimes. :)

The flu bug that never ends!

So our house has been infected with the FLU for almost 2 1/2 weeks now. On Jan. 14 we took Kaiden to the doctor because he was running a 104 fever and felt horrible. He ended up with the flu and was put on tamiflu for 5 days. Luckily he recovered fine and is feeling great. We thought we made it through without anyone else in the family getting sick.

THEN, Zachary develops a fever on Jan. 24th, a whole week after Kaiden got the flu. We took him into the doctor and was was positive for the flu! I went through the process of giving their toys a bleach bath and cleaning the whole house with lysol and praying that this was the end of the flu bug.

THEN, on Jan. 27th I start with aches, chills, and fever. The flu bug moved onto me!!! By Friday I was miserable and could not even get out of bed. Luckily my cousin Angie is a doctor and she prescribed me tamiflu. I am slowly recovering from the sickness but I am finally starting to feel better as long as this sinus pressure and congestion will go away. How do kids bounce back faster than adults?

Praying that Nick does not get sick! Make sure you wash your hands often!!! Once again I am behind on the blogging, UGH!

A picture of all the toys after their bleach bath.

Letters to Santa

Over Christmas we let the boys go through the toy catalog and cut out pictures of the things they wanted. Then we had them write a letter to Santa. Well I guess Kaiden only did that cause I obviously wrote Zachary's for him. :) They had so much fun going to the Letters to Santa mailbox to send them off.

Night on the town

Nick's company had a fancy Christmas party this year and we totally took advantage of a kid free night. We was fun getting dressed up and spending time with each other while eating good food and listening to a live band.

Look at that handsome man!!

I borrowed my dress from my friend Leah, thanks Leah!!

Gotta love those self portraits! :)

Look alike

Hmmmm, do you think they look like their daddy???

Zoo adventure!

We went to the Houston Zoo in December with our friends the Maddux family to check out the new African safari area that they built. It was so neat to finally see Chimpanzees and Rhinos at our zoo. The Chimps were my favorite part.

Hunter, Kaiden, Taylor, Zachary

Armed and Dangerous!

Nick has started a new hobby with his friend Steve; going to the gun range! It has grown into more than just a hobby, it has now become a learning process for protection. Nick got a gun awhile back to use for home defense and he will soon get his CHL license.

One of our date nights we decided that I needed to learn how to use a gun since we will now have one in our house, so off to the gun range we go. It was so much fun and I just have to say that I did really well for my first time ever! I walked out of there thinking, wow guns can be really scary if you have no idea what you are doing. I have a lot more learning to do and will one day hopefully go through an actual training course. I find it so important that we know how to protect ourselves if ever needed (which hopefully will never happen).

We borrowed these AWESOME headphones from our friend Steve. They block out the noise but they have microphones on them so you can actually talk to each other. So cool!

Loading the gun is a pain because I was worried about getting my finger caught and it was actually really hard.

Where I am pointing is actually where I shot it. I do believe that is a bullseye!!! I was pretty excited!

WATCH OUT SHE IS ARMED AND DANGEROUS!!!!

Nick trying to look BAD!!! I dont think it is working, do you? HAHA

Shark tooth!

At the Houston Zoo they have a cool place now called the "swap shop" where kids can bring items that you have found in nature and trade them in for points that you can use to collect other items from nature in their collection. So Kaiden has been bringing in pine cones, leaves, rocks, sticks, anything we can find. He has been collecting points for a very special shark tooth. Check out his cool shark tooth that he worked so hard to get.

This was back in November.

WAY BEHIND!!

Ok so I know I am really WAY Behind on the blogging thing so in the next couple of weeks I am going to try and play catch up. You just do not realize how much stuff happens in only a couple of months. YIKES!

Prayers for our family

We had a very eventful Thanksgiving weekend and it really put into perspective how truly thankful I am for my family and all the things that God has blessed me with.

As of Tuesday, Nov. 23rd I was about 7 weeks pregnant and I had gone to the doctor that day for my first OB appointment. When I went everything was fine, I was able to see the baby on the sonogram and hear the heartbeat. On Thursday I began to have some mild cramping and spotting but did not think much of it. Then on Friday I began bleeding and by that afternoon I went to the ER and confirmed that we had lost the baby. We are sad by the news but we know that we will one day be blessed with another precious baby. Please pray for healing of me and peace for our family. God has already blessed us with two amazing boys and I am so Thankful for them.

Kaiden was taking it kind of hard at first. Nick explained it to him that the baby was really sick and that God took the baby to heal it and that one day He would give us another baby, but it may be a little longer. Kaiden then told me that he had prayed for God to put the baby back and said that morning He did not do it yet. I had to explain to him that it would be a little while until that happens. Please pray for understanding for him.

I went back to the doctor Monday to make sure everything was ok. The doctor was shocked when he found out that I had a miscarriage because I was very healthy and the baby looked fine just a few days prior. He said that the likely cause was a chromosomal abnormality and my body rejected it. I think that is God's way of protecting me and my family from further complications. The doctor told me that everything was looking good and that I only had a little bit of tissue remaining but would heal up quickly with some medicine that he gave me. He also informed that my uterus looks healthy and that when I am ready we can start trying again. Please continue to pray for healing for my body and that God would bless us with another baby in His time.

I was given this bible verse by a good friend o mine who has also gone through miscarriages and it really has helped me cope knowing that I can rely on God for peace and comfort and that He will protect me and my family.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit.” Romans 15:13

Plus my favorite song: "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin. It is amazing!!

BABY # 3

We are excited to announce that we are expecting BABY # 3!!! We are about 5 weeks along and the technical due date is July 13. Our family is ready to welcome another baby and maybe this time it could possibly be a girl. I guess after having 2 kids already my body knows what to do because I am already showing at 6 weeks!! I go to the doctor the week of Thanksgiving so I will make sure to update the blog with how we are doing, oh and I will add some preggo pics too! I enjoy being pregnant and I can not wait for the day that I can feel this precious baby began to move in my belly. We are looking forward to this next chapter in our lives and excited to see our family grow.

Trick or Treat

This Halloween we went over to our friends the Maddux family's house for trick or treating. They have a hay ride and we drove through our neighborhood and let the kids trick or treat without having to do so much walking. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved it! Mr. Scott even explained the Pumpkin Carving Prayer to all the children. Which I thought was sweet since I introduced them to that poem last year when I had their son Hunter in my 3 year old class.

I borrowed a Geisha outfit from a friend of mine and Nick was able to wear his Samari outfit from when he use to take a specific form of martial arts and Zachary was our ninja. Kaiden did not fit into our costume theme, but he was a really cool bumblebee! :)

Bumblee and Ninja!

Mr. Scott explaining the pumpkin prayer

The boys on their hayride.

These bubbles were so cool! It was a bubble machine and a fog machine all in one so the bubbles were actually like a white color. So cool!

My boys were not too scared of some of the scary houses which was surprising. But I guess they will do anything for their candy. LOL