The Last Week

This was Makenna's last week of school, and it has worn us out. They have had a lot of fun doing some great activities...walk to the park for a picnic, have a water day, ice cream, jump houses, parties, hot dog cookout, awards assemblies...I could go on! Here are some pictures of the events. We still have not told her about next year and are still praying about what to do. I am so proud of my 2nd grader!

Makenna getting her awards from Chris O. She got Perfect Citizenship, Clean Character Card, All As All Year, AR, and Recycling Superstar awards. Yay!


Makenna and her certificates


Park Picnic


Hanging around after ice cream


Sweet Ms. Cole


One last hug

Something For All Your Kid Junk!

Mabel's Labels
I loooove these labels! I got Makenna and Tracen some of the Skinny-Minis when Tracen was born. We still have about 50 for Makenna and about 60 left for Tracen...and it has been 4 years! The labels can go on any sippy cup, backpack, lunch box, jacket, school supply or just about anything. They do not come off in the dishwasher or in the washer and dryer, but if you want them off they peel with no residue. The Skinny-Minis are the perfect size (and price!)to fit anything, but there is also an option of the regular-sized sticky labels in more colors, or a zillion other different kinds of labels. Each label is custom, and you can pick the color, exact name up to 20 characters, and a symbol beside the name. I have a coupon code if you would like to order them for 10% off. When you check out just type in the coupon code of "kidsco" for the discount. My total was $18.72 including shipping and everything for 80 Skinny-Minis for Mailey. Just thought I would share because they have been so great for my kids' things over the years. Did I mention that I love them?
Our Labels...


Tracen's hat



Cup bought at the beginning of Kindergarten(2007) and washed in dishwasher ever since

One Girl's Baby Shower...From Italy

Thursday night my wonderful friends...Leslie(yeah, no linky here Miss No Blog!), Beth D, Stephanie, Kim, Beth B, and Cathy(still no link, either!)...gave us such a gift! We had a shower for Mailey at One Guy From Italy. One Guy's is a Lubbock, Tech icon, and Scott works there, too! Many a Freshman 15 has been gained eating a calzone from One Guy's. It was so sweet and so thoughtful, and we are so grateful to all of you who came to celebrate this girlie with us! Thank goodness she was still in the womb instead of in a baby carrier at the party...whew! Love all of you so much...now, we wait for her arrival with some actual baby stuff! WooHoo!

Prayers

Will you please pray for us and for Makenna? Today I got a call from the admin at her school saying that they are having to "relocate" all in and out-of-district transfer students because her old AND current schools are too large in the lower grades. So she will not be able to go back to her old school, or stay here. None of this is good at all. I was basically sobbing like a basket case pregnant mom of an anxiety-ridden child on the phone. The only way for us to stay at either is for 17 children to leave either school in 2nd grade for next year. I cannot even tell her this news. Just typing it makes me bawl. I think I am so scared of her going back to living in fear...remember this?...and being controlled by it again. She has done so well and really had no major setbacks this school year. I just want it to stay that way. We do have the option of switching to yet another school in the district or moving. I am trying not to worry, but it is so hard! God has a plan for where she should be. I just don't know what to do at all. This has only happened at one school in one grade once in the last 12 years or something. Thanks for praying for this and all of its glorious complications!

*Baby Update*
I am almost 36 weeks.
I am still at 2 cm.
I am now over 75% effaced.
I am still at a very low station.

He says all this is fine now that I have made it into the 36 week area. My contractions have gone from 50-60 per day to usually in the 30s. This is obviously why I have not dialated any more than before. I could go today, or I could go after my due date...you never know. I am just happy to almost be out of the premature delivery time table! Now they would not stop labor from happening, so this is all much better than 2 weeks ago. Watch me go forever into June now...he does not think I will, but wouldn't that just be how it is??? :)

TEGA & Tracen

Today was Tracen's Pre-K party at TEGA. What the teachers assured us would be controlled rotation of centers turned into not enough workers, children falling down into cracks and pits, and constant counting and praying. It was completely insane!!! If you have not been there, each activity is connected to another by a narrow walkway or a mat covering a crack or bars in the way...just nuts. The kids had fun, so that was great. Just us parents/teachers were having the heart attacks!

Buddy Field Day

Makenna had her Buddy Day at school Friday. I was working...or really just sitting in a chair by an inflatable jump house thing...so I only got pics of her when she was at my station. She had a great time and thankfully it wasn't too hot. We still have not heard if she will be at this school or back at her old school for the upcoming year, so pray about that! She would really love to go back, but if we have to stay it is fine, too. We will wait and see!

Makenna, Maricella, Lynsey


Jump!


The trooper

The Lord's Prayer

This is one of the results of Tracen going to a Methodist Preschool. We have loved this year so much! Each week in chapel the kids recite The Lord's Prayer. He informed me that it was for the people who aren't in heaven. As in, " Our Father, who aren't in heaven..." Notice the pronunciation of "temptation" and the ending, where he reverts into the Pledge of Allegiance. Enjoy!

Mailey in May?

34 weeks
having contractions
baby at a very low station
dialated to 2cm
over 50% effaced
not allowed to do much for at least 10 days
too early
dr. says he is almost worried
am i ready
pray

oh, and here is a bump pic...i am so behind. i am around 33 weeks in this one. also so gross after garage selling all day long. you get what you get!

Much-Needed Definitions, In ABC Order

Bralapped-occurring to all areas around the brassiere, which can no longer contain what is necessary to be contained, though all letters up through the alphabet have been tried and have failed to assist the problem, thus causing the area to bralap in all directions.

Cankles-the area of the leg, right above the heels, that was at one time referred to as ankles, but from hence forth are unrecognizable due to massive amounts of water stored therein, causing overlappage onto heel and foot area.

Droppage-upon carrying a child, the stomach and its contents can, in fact, drop downward into the pelvic area, causing inability to lift the legs much higher than 6 inches off the floor as well as smashing the bladder as flat as an empty balloon, which is usually never empty at all.

Horse Pills-pills, which might be manufactured in dime sizes without pregnant women knowing in some country, that here are manufactured only in half-dollar sizes to be swallowed, 2 a night, to fight off iron deficiency and provide supplementation to the growing baby, while leaving the taste of certain death and rot in the esophagus of the partaker.

I.T.T.S-this condition, referred to as Inability To Tie Shoes, is also commonly known as BOTS, or Bows on the Side. No amount of maneuvering will help one's shoelaces return to the middle of one's shoes due to the inability to reach over and down a stomach of such large proportions.

Multiple C-the ability to grow, in layers, multiple chins which descend down into the neck area.

Sausage fingers-appendages connected to the hands, usually five on each hand, that enlarge and encompass any rings or jewelry until one cannot see the aforesaid jewelry without prying apart the skin around them.

Tracen Singing His Heart Out! (or just a little, which is a huge accomplishment)

Here is a video of Tracen actually singing at his Spring Program. We've come a long way, baby! Yes, I cannot seem to add a video correctly through youtube, picasa, regular old browse and click, or in any form. Thus, the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgsf-h0sEdU

OHHHHHklahoma...Where the 197th Tornado Almost Came

For starters, I really could be one of those people who blog every day. I think of so many things to talk about, probably because I'm a talker, and just never have the time/take the time to do it. I am also not sure I really want to be a daily blogger. Too much pressure, too much time, too much of me yakking about nothing. I also start to do what I just did, like think, "Does yakking really have 2 ks? One k would mean a long vowel sound, so 2 is phonetically correct, but is it really correct? Maybe I should open a new tab and look it up to make sure..." You get the picture. Thus daily blogging is not in my best interest for now.

Back to Ohhhhhhhhklahoma! (Are you singing yet?)

WE GOT TO GO SEE THE STRAPS IN EDMOND! After 4 years of many tries on each of our parts, we finally found a weekend and went. For those of you who don't know, John and Wanda Strappazon were our college ministers while we were at Tech and beyond. Did I mention we pretty much live here to minister to college students because they taught us to love God, love others, live biblically, and equip others? John has been a mentor to both of us, and Wanda discipled/still disciples me continually. We learn so much just from being with them, are challenged spiritually, and always come away completely encouraged. They are just sweet heart friends. John also married us on May 31, 1997...yes, that is a 7 at the end of that. Almost 12 years! Crazy! For the record books, especially all those Baptist record keepers, John danced at our wedding, too. Ha! I love how you can love Jesus and be a dancin' fool! Ok, I am completely getting off topic. We left the kiddos with Ashley, whom we could never live without so stop trying to move and just stay here or wherever we are forever, and they had a blast. Here are some pics and highlights of our trip, for all of you who really care and just want me to shut up and get to the picture section of the entry. (Tyson, sweetheart, I know you, buddy.)

Look at how cute Wanda is! This is what we walked into her house and saw:


Here is Sophie...looks like Toto, huh? Appropriately so since she lives in Tornado Alley...or maybe on Tornado Street.


"Jesus Wept" statue entering the Oklahoma City bombing memorial area. I am not sure about the fact that he is turning his back on it all. My Jesus did weep, but I have not known him to turn his back on anything. Another post?


Entrance to the memorial site. Another wall says 9:01, the pond is when it happened at 9:02, and the final wall says 9:03.


Each chair represents a person that was killed that day. See the smaller chair? Those are for the children that were killed. They each have their name on it and the glass box underneath lights up at night.


How amazing is our God! Right when we walked in we saw B.J. and Stephanie! We had not seen them in forever. They used to live in Lubbock, were in Challenge and Life Group with us, and then moved to Dallas. They were there for B.J. to run the Oklahoma City Marathon the next morning. That is definitely not on my goal list in life. We loved seeing you guys! Did you find a hotel? :)


John, Wanda, me, and Tyson under the Tree of Life...left standing after the bombing.


Eating at Pops! They have a million different kinds of soda to choose from.



We almost got the shot! Pregnant lady crouching down trying to take this pic would have been a better pic...just kidding.


We got to visit Auntie Wanda, who is basically my Nanny's sister who also lives in Edmond. As you can see, I continually am getting puffier and puffier this trip. Humidity and Melissa pregnant with girls does not mix. She is such a sweet lady, and we are so grateful we got to see her!


Last, but oh so not least, the famous Texas Tech helmet. Which by the way weighs like 50 pounds! Ladies, try on a football helmet one day and you will be blown away. No wonder those guys have ginormous necks! I could not even get up off the couch. I am wearing this so Strap can laugh at me, and also to honor the evening of tornado warnings and watches. It is serious in Oklahoma, people! You have to wear some type of helmet and have one of those weather radios to even live here. Wanda has sat in her hall bathroom or pantry many times wearing this extremely heavy helmet through a tornado. A few that have even destroyed houses just down the street. And yes, the weather radio man announced the 197th tornado watch/warning of the year in our honor.


We love you sweet friends! I would brave a tornado anytime just to see you guys!