Avery & Kenadee's 3rd Birthday Party!

I'm playing catch up, but Avery & Kenadee celebrated their third birthday by having a Mickey & Minnie Mouse birthday party! We had the party at our church, and we invited lots of family and some of our closest friends who live near enough to come. They had a great party and everyone had so much fun! I can't believe they're three years old. Time goes by WAY too fast. My babies are growing up. :(

A little of this, a little of that...

I'm not even going to start by apologizing for not updating in...well...forever...I've given up on the idea of keeping this blog updated. My life is just too busy, and I never have time! I do take pictures often, but getting them uploaded and keeping this thing updated is time consuming so...I've come to terms with the fact that it'll just have to get updated when I get a chance to update it, haha. Sadly, I have not updated since April of last year...ugh...so, I'm just going to briefly catch everyone up on our lives...

We are all doing really well, we've all stayed very healthy (Praise the Lord!), and we are in utter disbelief that Avery & Kenadee are about to turn THREE next month. Where oh where has the time gone? Time passes so quickly, and my babies are simply not babies anymore. They are two precious, smart, sweet "big girls". They talk way more than we do, they play better together than ever before, and they have totally different personalities, but are equally sweet, friendly, and loving.

We have had a new babysitter this year (Megan), and I can't even begin to tell you how much we adore her. The girls have had an absolute blast with her and her fiance Allan this year. They truly love our babies, and would do anything in the world for them. That is such a wonderful feeling to know that the people who are taking care of your children love them as much as anyone else ever could...we are very thankful to have found them, and we count them as "family" around here. Our school year has been great, and is going by quickly. Which brings me to the next topic...

After much much MUCH prayer, I have decided to leave my teaching career permanently. I have needed a change for quite some time, and have put it off for a long time. I have turned in my resignation, and have decided to be a stay-at-home mom for the next two years until Avery & Kenadee start Kindergarten. Staying home with my girls is something I've wanted to do, prayed about, and cried over, numerous times since their birth, but it was just never an option for me until now. I will be staying home with my girls, and in the meantime, I will be working toward earning my Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) online. I would ultimately like to be a NICU nurse in a large hospital. If you'd asked me five years ago what my dream job was, I would probably have never said (or even considered) nursing. However, from the time the girls were born, as you know, we've spent lots and lots of hours, days, weeks, etc in medical facilities. I don't think there was a single hospital stay at Cook Children's that I didn't tell Jason on the drive home that I had chosen the wrong career, and that if I could go back and change it, I would become a nurse. Nearly three years later, I still have the desire to be a nurse, particularly in the capacity that we have witnessed over and over...NICU/PICU/Pediatrics. After all we've been through, I have far more than admiration and respect for nurses, especially at Cook Children's. I want to do my part to be able to give back to families in the ways they have given to me and my family. I think I will be good at it because I have been on the other side...I've been the mother watching her baby nearly die, and I know the profound impact they have on the families as they are going through the hardships of stress, worry, fatigue, and the like. I'm really excited for the opportunity to begin a career in a field that, because of my own experiences with my own children, I have a genuine, sincere love and appreciation for. I will begin my coursework this summer, and I should be either finished or almost finished in two years when my girls start school.

I'm sure there are many more changes to come for my family. I am absolutely overjoyed to have the privilege of getting to stay home with my girls for the last two years before they begin school. And, Jason and I are both thrilled with my decision to go into nursing. We are excited and anxious to see what all the Lord has in store for us! Here's a "highlight" of the last 10 months...I'll be sure to update again next month after we have our THIRD birthday party! *tear* Okay, I think that's it! Enjoy! :)

Two Years Old! :) :)

Kenadee, Avery

Kenadee, Avery


Avery, Kenadee

Avery, Kenadee

Avery

Kenadee

Avery

Kenadee

Avery
Kenadee



Kenadee, Avery - Birthday Princesses

Madilynn, Kelly

Pictures were "TuTu" much for Kenadee (ha)

Sweet Rylee (She traveled a long way to visit us for Spring Break and come to our party!)

Avery

Kenadee

Avery

Kenadee, Avery

Avery and cousin Ava Claire

Kenadee, Daddy, Momma, Avery

Looking at the princess cake

Three TuTu Cute Girls

Ryan, Kelly

Ryan, Maddie, Kelly

Kelly, Madilynn

Madilynn, Kelly

Kenadee

Avery

Avery, Maddie, Kenadee

Kelly, Ryan

Avery, Kenadee

Avery (Top), Kenadee (Bottom)

Avery, Kenadee

Avery, our little ball player

D.J. Kenadee, our little dancer

Kenadee, Avery & their friend Lizzie the Lizard (who might also be a gecko)

Kenadee, Lizzie, Avery

Kenadee, Lizzie, Avery

Ryan & Jenn

Family - Easter Sunday

Avery, Kenadee

Kenadee

Avery

Kenadee

Uncle RyRy and Avery

Jenn and Jason

Kenadee, Avery

Ryan, Jenn, Jason

Gran and PawPaw

3 Sets of Twins!

L to R: Janna, Carra, Kynle, Kasey, Kenadee, Avery

Tessa, Avery

Sweet Miss Rhyse

Tracy & Rhyse

Avery Kissing Rhyse

Kenadee Kissing Rhyse

Avery Hugging Rhett-Rhett

Well, once again, I've taken a million years to update our blog. Life is moving too fast right now for me to have adequate time to get this thing updated. So, sorry! We've been busy, but we are all doing well.

Avery & Kenadee turned two on March 19, 2010! "It's TuTu much! They're TuTu old! Avery and Kenadee are now 'Tu'!" So to celebrate, we had a TuTu party! They actually had two parties in one day. Their morning party was a tutu party with friends, and their evening party was a big family party. It was a very fun day and the girls had a blast! It's so hard to believe that they are two. My babies aren't babies anymore! :( They had their "2 Year" appointment with the pediatrician a few weeks ago and everything was great. They got an excellent report. Kenadee is now weighing 31 lbs, and Avery is weighing 28 lbs. I can't remember their exact heights right now, but Kenadee is still towering over Avery by about 2.5 or 3 inches. :)

Avery & Kenadee are at a really fun stage right now. They're busy, busy, busy -- very energetic and into everything. We have so much fun. The weather has been beautiful lately, so we've been able to spend a lot of time playing outside. We got a privacy fence put up, which has been wonderful. The girls have free reign in our back yard to run and play. They love playing in their new cars that Mammaw and Paw got them for their birthdays, drawing with chalk on the back porch, blowing bubbles, and playing chase. We are all ready for summer where we can play together and enjoy ourselves all day long!

We've been staying busy during the week, and have been able to spend some of our weekends with friends and family. We went to Gran & PawPaw's house in Gilmer for Easter, and had an awesome time. The girls really enjoyed getting to hunt Easter eggs and looked so pretty in their dresses. Then the following weekend we went to Eastland to see Mammaw and Paw, and lots of our very good friends that we rarely get to see. The weekend was a blast, but it went by way too fast! We are looking forward to going back soon!

This weekend we are heading to Gilmer / Longview again to go to Madilynn's birthday party. That is something I haven't mentioned, but Ry-Ry has a new girlfriend named Kelly (there are pictures attached of them). Madilynn is Kelly's beautiful 3 year old daughter. All three girls play really well together, we love spending time with them, and we are excited that we get to see all of them again this weekend.

Hope all of you are doing well. I'm not going to make any promises to keep this thing updated any better because I think I've said that the last several times and so far I'm making zero progress in that area. All I can say is I'll try! It's hard without home internet. I should be able to update more frequently once we get home internet...which should be fairly soon since I'll be starting back to school in June. I'm beginning my Master's Degree in Library Science through UNT. I'll be doing my coursework and earning my degree all online. I'm hoping to become a school librarian in a few years.

One final thing...we no longer have a home phone number, so if you need to reach us, please call us on our cell phones. We would love to hear from each of you, and would love for those of you who live far off to come see us!! We miss you guys! :) Ok, that's it for now...later alligators! :)