Bringing Up Beerleys

Christmas

2012-01-04T15:02:00.002-06:00

Here are a few pictures from Christmas! Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday celebrating our Savior's birth!

Attention Grandma! I'm FINALLY posting pictures! :)

2011-11-03T14:28:00.005-05:00

Ok, here are a few recent pictures. These kids keep me so busy that it's hard to keep up with everything. Ok, it's mainly Anna that keeps me so busy. :) You'll notice her face in the picture of her in the cowboy hat. She absolutely hated Halloween (except for they candy-she of course loved that) and refused to dress up. She wore this hat around the house but wouldn't wear anything when we went to the Fall Festival. Andrew's Batman costume terrified her as well. Andrew, however, loved everything except the candy! :)

Summer 11

2011-09-22T14:19:00.005-05:00

Ok, it's been FOREVER, I know. So sorry. Here a few pictures from the summer. We spent some time in Dallas with Nana and Mindi for a few days and then went to the Great Wolf Lodge. All in all it was a great summer and we are now back in the swing of things in school. Andrew's doing great (in first grade again) and Anna is just growing and becoming more and more of a little girl all the time.

He is Risen!!

2011-04-24T14:46:00.002-05:00

We serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today! Hallelujah! We had a wonderful time at church this morning celebrating His resurrection. The amazing pastor did such a wonderful job telling this story...I may be a little partial to him though. :) Here are a few pictures...Grandma, I got so many compliments on Anna's dress! I thought both of the kids looked super cute!

Anna Grace is 2!!!

2011-03-24T13:02:00.008-05:00

Who can believe it? Well, with the tantrums she's capable of throwing these day, I can. :) She is such a spirited little girl. She can be so sweet, when she wants to be. She is totally independent (or really, really wants to be) and loves coloring and playing pretend more and more everyday. Going outside is one of her very favorite things and she's really happy when her brother (her hero) goes with her. She speaks in 4 or 5 word sentences and just amazes us with her vocabulary. At her check up this past Monday she weighed in at 34.3 lbs!!! She LOVES to eat, obviously. She is just a joy and Jay and I are are so blessed by her.
Her cowgirl birthday party was a success! It was supposed to be outside (and was set up there) but after the wind knocked down our decorations 5 TIMES, I, quite reluctantly, decided to move it indoors. It was a great day!

I thought my first attempt at cake decorating went pretty well! And it was edible and everything! :)

We started the party off by decorating ranch scenes!

She was NOT a fan of having the birthday song sung to her! But thoroughly enjoyed the cake once we stopped singing. :)

The bubble blower that we got her was a huge hit!
It really was a great day. I feel myself trying to cherish every moment with our precious kiddos....time just seems to be flying by. For instance, Andrew's 7TH BIRTHDAY is coming up!! Is there a way to put time in a bottle?? I feel like someone else has asked that before. :)

We love Texas!

2011-03-05T12:36:00.006-06:00

Today we went down to the square to celebrate Texas's Independence, Haskell County Style. So much fun! I'm pretty sure it's probably the only place in the world you can play Cow Patty Bingo. What's the you ask? Well, just remember, you asked. You buy a cow patty for $10 and it will be placed in a pin where a cow will then (hopefully) poop on your patty thus making you the winner! Ha! We'll get back to you and let you know if our patty was the lucky one! :)

They actually shoot this cannon (sans the ball) every hour. It was extremely loud, but so neat. We had a great time. This is one of the things we love about small town life.

Life these days.

2011-02-22T16:49:00.003-06:00

Life is just go, go, go all the time, isn't it? It seems there is always something on the calendar to do, so at least we aren't bored! Jay is staying quite busy trying to settle in to the pastorate. He did another funeral last week and had several meetings and now he is currently in bed sick. He NEVER gets sick so I think his body is pretty tired. He loves it though. He's doing amazing and I can tell that this is what God made him to do. Andrew is doing much better in school. He recently was tested in reading and they want the 1st graders to score a 17 on this test by the end of 1st grade and he scored a 28! So apparently reading is his thing!
Anna just goes all the time. And I mean ALL THE TIME! She loves to play pretend with her dolls or in her kitchen, color and make messes. She is speaking in complete sentences, which blows my mind since Andrew was starting speech therapy around her age. She eats constantly and is really a sweet little girl....most of the time. She can throw a doozy of a tantrum when she doesn't get her way. I just can't hardly believe she'll be turning TWO in a few weeks!!! Here are some recent pictures.

Pictured with Andrew is one of his best friends, Carter, from our last church. His parents are great friends of ours and we miss them terribly. Moving is hard but I think we're settling in here in West Texas-the sunsets make it worth living where there are no trees. I'll have to try and capture one and post it on here....they're quite incredible.
Hopefully it won't be 3 months again before I blog! :)

Andrew's Christmas Program (video)

2010-12-19T17:13:00.002-06:00

Notice how Andrew is singing to us....he never really looks at anybody else. :)

Christmas Stuff

2010-12-19T16:34:00.004-06:00

I'm finally blogging, Grandma!! :) Sorry it's been awhile. We moved and life has been crazy since then but we're getting settled now so hopefully I'll find time to blog more often. I just thought I'd post some pictures of some of the Christmas festivities we've been doing. These first two pictures are at Andrew's class Christmas party. They decorated gingerbread houses and had so much fun doing it!

These next two are from Andrew's Christmas program and open house last Thursday. Andrew's class sang two songs...I'll try and post some video if I can figure out how. It was a fun night.

This next one is from the town Christmas parade. Jay and I were float judges and it was hard! There were so many good ones. We also have been to the community Christmas cantata, which was great.

This last one I took after church this morning.

We're leaving Wednesday to have Christmas with Jay's family so I'm sure I'll have more pictures to post later. Hope you all have a great time celebrating with your families. Among the crazy schedules may we not forget the greatest gift any of us could ever receive: Jesus Christ. This is a quote from a conversation between Lucy and Aslan (the character that represents Christ) in C.S. Lewis' "Narnia" that Jay shared in his sermon this morning that I really loved:

"Welcome, child," he said.
"Aslan," Lucy said. "You're bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."

I pray that we are constantly growing to know this huge, huge Savior of ours.

The Kids in a Nutshell

2010-09-08T12:36:00.005-05:00

I checked my blog today and found several new ones that my friends had written. I'm bewildered at why I seem to be the only person who can't seem to find the time to blog. We have several family members who live far away and check this blog regularly for updates about the kiddos and I'm doing a horrible job of keeping them informed. I think I'll blame said kiddos....well, not Andrew so much as the run-around-the-house-destroying-stuff toddler named Anna. Seriously, that girl can get into more things than I thought possible. We had it so easy during Andrew's toddler days. In a one hour span one night, she put her hand in the way while Andrew was pottying (I about had a heart-attack), which led to me bathing the kids and while Andrew was in the bathtub, Anna threw his PJs in with him. She then dumped the contents of my purse and her diaper bag (her favorite pastime) and then proceeded to put some of those contents in the trash. She makes me tired but I sure do love her.

She's about to be 18 months on the 14th....time is going by too quickly. Her vocabulary amazes me, but I know that's probably because Andrew was only saying 3 words at this stage. She does babble some still which is so cute but she has tons of words she says clearly. (Mama, Dada, Elmo, yamy (which is lamby, her lovey), night night, apple, open (which sounds somewhat like apple), eat, bye, side (which means outside), wee (swing), Andrew, Bubba (I'm trying to steer her away from this), go, corn, eat, juice, milk, cookie and the list really goes on and on but those are some of her favorites). Most recently she said "I love you"....she sort of breezes past the love part but that's definitely what she's saying. She likes to say it over and over to Andrew until he finally responds likewise. :) She is such a spirited little girl and I love that I get to be her mommy.

Andrew is growing up into a little man before my eyes. He started first grade this year and is doing pretty well. It's been an adjustment from kindergarten-toys and playtime replaced with desk time and homework. He's adjusting well and really seems to be learning tons. He does have a bad little habit that we're trying to kick. He's a doodler. All over his work pages, his homework and he even told me wrote in his book at school (he was quite remorseful for that one). His teacher assures me that she's testing him regularly and he's retaining all of the info he's supposed to be and that the doodling doesn't seem to be a problem yet. But I fear it could become one quickly. I asked him one day why he drew pictures all over his work and he said, "Drawing is so much more fun than working." :) I fear he may be a little bored, but I don't really know what to do about that. Right now math and reading seem to be what his teacher is focusing on and Andrew is anxious to learn science stuff. He tells us all the time that he's a science kid and it's so, so true. The kid knows more about dinosaurs and planets than I do. He told me one day that one of Saturn's moons was called Titan and I thought he heard that on a cartoon so I told him that I didn't think that was real. I was made to look a fool when he assured me it was and then proceeded to show me in this book we have on the planets. I won't question him again. :) He is such a sweet kid most of the time....I've never met a kid that loves people more than he does. He was right in this little neighborhood kids' face at church one day and when I asked him why, he said he was giving him a kiss. I told him that was nice but that we shouldn't touch people....especially on the face (I was immediately thinking of what illnesses he might have contracted). He responded, "But I love people, Mama." :) I just love that kid.

So there's a little look into the lives of Anna and Andrew these days. There are definitely trying times but more often than not I find myself thinking how truly blessed we are that God has entrusted us with them.

Family Vacation!

2010-08-23T09:19:00.003-05:00

Since I've been horrible about blogging, I figured I should go ahead and blog about our vacation a few weeks ago while I'm on here. We went to the Ft. Worth Science Museum, Hurricane Harbor and the Rainforest Cafe. We had a blast spending time together as a family!

First Grade!

2010-08-23T09:11:00.002-05:00

Andrew started first grade today, although it seems impossible. He was so excited and it seems we have gotten the very best teacher....everyone has said wonderful things about her. I think it's going to be a great year!

Visit to Nana's

2010-07-12T10:39:00.003-05:00

We went to visit Nana this past week when Daddy left for camp. We had so much fun! We went to the zoo where we burned up but had fun still. We also went swimming! We love going to Nana's!

Summer Fun

2010-07-12T10:34:00.005-05:00

There has been so much going on that it's so hard to find time to blog! We are having so much fun this summer....the kids seem to be growing leaps and bounds. Anna is in full-force toddler mode-into EVERYTHING! Andrew is just growing and losing teeth like crazy. Ok, he's lost two, but it seems he's growing up too fast. Here are some pics of some of our fun!

And She's Off!

2010-06-11T13:42:00.002-05:00

There is TONS I need to blog about but I had to share this video first. Anna took her first steps around her 1st birthday and then proceeded to give up on walking....until yesterday! She's loving her new found freedom. (Sorry for the shaky camera....I'm not great at walking backwards) :)

Andrew's Field Day and End of Year Party!

2010-05-11T13:46:00.004-05:00

We had a blast yesterday at Andrew's field day! I was really proud of him, he participated well in everything! The first picture is of him and Anna at his end of the year party yesterday afternoon. Andrew ate none of the yummy food they had while Anna enjoyed a cookie AND a brownie! Overall, it was a great but tiring day!

I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by. Andrew has done amazing in kindergarten this year! He scored 100% and 96% in his math and reading benchmark tests!

Dallas Zoo

2010-05-11T13:42:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday we meet up with some former youth and went to the Dallas Zoo! Ironically, I don't think we got a single picture of the animals...besides the monkeys I call my children. :)

Awana Awards Night

2010-05-11T13:32:00.004-05:00

We've had a great year in Awana....Andrew has learned soooo much scripture! Here a few pictures of the awards ceremony this past Wednesday night. (Notice the bow at the end of the video...he is such a ham!)

Easter

2010-04-04T23:05:00.003-05:00

Easter is such a special holiday for believers and our day started off with a great service at church celebrating our risen Savior. I thought I would get some pictures of the kids all dressed up, but Anna was having none of it. At least we got a decent family picture before she melted down.

We had an Easter egg hunt at church yesterday but I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures of that. However, we did get some pictures of Andrew's egg hunt at school on Thursday.

He got a lot of eggs in these two eggs hunts considering he doesn't even eat candy! I guess I'll have to take care of that part for him. :)

Spring

2010-04-04T22:57:00.003-05:00

We are so excited that it's Spring and we can spend time outside! Both Andrew and Anna LOVE being outside. Nana bought Anna a swing to go on the swing set for her birthday (Nana, you'll notice in the pictures it's not the one you bought. I couldn't get the straps of the one you got around her ample little belly so I had to go get another one!) She absolutely loves swinging! As does Andrew!

The Princess is 1!

2010-04-04T22:45:00.004-05:00

Well I can't believe it's taken me this long to blog about Anna's birthday party! She turned 1 on the 14th of March! Grandma, I really hope to be better about keeping up with the blog.
So here are pictures of her party-we had a blast! She absolutely LOVED the cake and hated the balloons! :)

Anna's Adventures!

2010-03-03T13:54:00.002-06:00

So she's been crawling since her 11 month birthday but I'm REALLY behind in my blogging! She absolutely LOVES being able to go where she wants, and especially being able to come find me if I'm out of the room. I now have a little girl at my feet all the time! :) She's also started doing a few other new things like touching her head when you ask where her head is. She says mama, dada, uh-oh and sometimes you can pick out other words she's trying to mimic. She got her first boo-boo by trying to pull herself up on the tv cabinet and she fell and hit her face on the knob. I feel like there will be tons more of these...she is quite active! She eats just about anything you put in her mouth...her favorite thing being mac&cheese at this point (definitely takes after mama!). She points to things she wants or where she wants to go, which most of the time is outside. The girls LOVES being outside! She has pretty good balance and can stand for a few seconds on her own. I just can't believe she's almost a year old (on the 14th)! Times just goes too quickly.
Anyway, here's a video of her crawling and babbling...just ignore me. I watch these videos and always think, "I really shouldn't talk so much!" Ha!

Anna's first snow!

2010-02-15T09:26:00.001-06:00

Snow! In Texas!!!

2010-02-12T10:34:00.004-06:00

We finally got snow! And enough to play in...I think the final count was somewhere around 6" and we have had a blast playing but mommy is snow ready for Spring!

Anna Grace

2010-02-11T13:53:00.003-06:00

There are about a thousand pictures I could put on here of our sweet Anna Grace....it seems she changes all the time now. She is quite active, not quite crawling but moving herself around to get whatever she wants. She does most of this on her tummy but she has done little crawls here and there. I really think she'll walk pretty quickly because she LOVES to be standing! She says uh-oh when she drops something and mama and dada. This last week she has been jabbering like crazy like she's telling you something. It's cute. I just can't believe she'll be 11 months on Sunday!

Sick Andrew

2010-02-11T13:43:00.003-06:00

I was just telling Jay the other day how thrilled I was that Andrew has been so healthy this winter (he usually has pnemonia) and I guess I spoke too soon. Last Saturday night he started running fever so I took him to the dr. the next day to find that he had RSV. While it's not a major deal for kids his age, it would have been awful if Anna has gotten it! So I quarantined him the next few days and (knock on wood) so far she's been fine. He started feeling better after about three days so he went back to school that Thursday. After school I gave him a breathing treatment and this is what I found after about a minute:

Poor guy was just so worn out from school that he couldn't last any longer. He slept for 2 1/2 hours that afternoon! He's pretty much all better now so I am thankful.
While he was sick that first day, I handed him his pop tart that morning and he said, "You're such a great mama." What a sweet boy! He also said during this sickness, "Mama, I need to eat...I want something square. I love square food!" Well if you don't know Andrew, he hardly eats anything except pop tarts and chips so I knew this was his way of trying to get pop tarts for dinner. It was so funny that I gave in...he was sick after all and not even eating chips!

New Year

2010-01-01T20:55:00.002-06:00

Who can believe it's 2010? We rang in the new year with the youth and college groups at our house. Our family spent the first day of the new year lounging around the house and just spending time together. The kids really love to wrestle with daddy!

I pray that this year our family's focus is all about bringing glory to Him!

Christmas Day

2009-12-25T22:32:00.003-06:00

We woke up this morning and Santa had visited our house! Andrew was so excited that Santa brought exactly what he asked for...and that he ate all of the cookies! Santa was really glad the cookies were there as he was putting together the 214 piece king's castle that Andrew asked for. Anna slept in until 9:45 so she enjoyed her present from Santa a little later. :)

We've had a really sweet day together. We played with the toys the kids got most of the morning and then we had roast for lunch. This evening we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. When we got home we watched the Polar Express. And then as we put Andrew to bed, Jay went over the Christmas story and made sure he understood what Christmas is really about. It's been a wonderful day.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-25T22:17:00.004-06:00

We spent Monday through Thursday at Nana's house and opened our gifts with her and Mimi but we forgot the camera so I don't have any pictures of our time with them. :( Of course Nana went crazy and both Andrew and Anna got more than they could play with. After we passed out presents and were waiting to open them Andrew said, "I'm the king of the whole world!" He's so funny.
We drove home yesterday, Christmas eve, and unpacked and cleaned up some in time for our Christmas eve service at church. It was a sweet time of fellowship with our church family. We came home and opened our presents. Here are some pics:

The kids really seemed to love all of the stuff they got....like they needed any more after our time with Nana. And Pop sent a huge box filled with toys that they loved as well!

Anna Grace is 9 Months Old!

2009-12-14T09:14:00.004-06:00

Today my baby is nine months old! I'm doing my best to hold on to these moments of infancy but I feel like they're just rushing right on by. Life is so busy and the days go so quickly. If only we could stop time for a bit so we could treasure this time a little more. Her first birthday is right around the corner!
She's doing a few new things, except crawling but she seems right on the brink of that. As she's sitting on the floor she moves her legs around to be able to get closer to whatever it is she wants. Usually things she's not supposed to have. :) It seems that she can get to just about whatever she wants. It's funny, she'll pretty much do the splits to reach something. She rolls like crazy, especially on the changing table which she rolled off of the other day! Thankfully Jay has quick reflexes and caught her before she hit the ground. She is definitely not the complacent baby that Andrew was. She always seems to be moving! She can't pull herself up to the standing position, but if I stand her up next to something she'll hold on and loves standing there for awhile.
She has her two bottom teeth that she got at six months and her two top teeth pushed through around eight months. She loves saying dada and still has yet to make the mama sound. I think this is a sign of stubbornness. :) She can also gives fives and wave bye bye. She seems to be coming out of her extreme clingy-ness to me. She reaches to people to hold her now, which a few weeks ago was absolutely unheard of. If I'm standing there, she immediately wants me back but it's progress. She does great in the nursery at church so that's good. She loves to eat as you can probably tell. I've tried some table food with her and she's not really that impressed. She did like the taste of chocolate pudding I gave her the other day though. :)
She is still an amazing sleeper, which I am so thankful for. I just lay her down while she's awake and she usually goes right to sleep and sleeps through the night. So that's our Anna Grace in a nutshell. She's an absolute doll and so much fun! I wish all of you could meet her.

Soccer is Over!

2009-12-14T08:56:00.002-06:00

Soccer has been over for awhile now but as is customary with me, I'm just now writing about it. Our last game was the middle of November and we did really well! As I've mentioned before, they don't keep score but if they did we would have won that one! Andrew kicked the ball a few times this season but never scored a goal. We'll leave it up to him if he wants to play next year. Jay did a great job with our team. Here are a few pictures of our last game and the party we had afterward.

Christmas Cuties

2009-12-01T19:05:00.003-06:00

I needed a picture of the kids for Christmas cards so I tried to get some tonight. I didn't get a perfect one, but I've discovered when photographing more than one child, that's just not possible. Some of these turned out pretty cute though!

Things have been pretty good around here. We got the house decorated for Christmas...Jay even put lights on the outside of the house for the first time ever. I'll try and get a picture up on here soon. Anna has an ear infection so she's been a little fussy lately. Today has been a turning point though-I took her back to the doctor this morning and he said her ear was still red so he put her on a different antibiotic. We got home and she's been pretty much back to her old self so I doubted whether I should change anything, but I'm going to follow the doctors orders. Andrew is still doing great in school. He really enjoyed "helping" Daddy put the lights up outside and then helping decorate the trees as well.

Andrew

2009-11-05T13:49:00.002-06:00

I'm ashamed to say that this is the only recent picture I have of Andrew, besides the Fall festival pictures. I'm not sure why this is, but I'll work on it.

Andrew is doing just amazing in kindergarten! Last month he got smiley faces every day so Jay bought him a movie as a reward for that. He really rarely gets into trouble and seems to be learning a lot. He also seems to be picking up some bad behaviors/attitudes at school. This morning as I was getting him ready for school, he got mad because I wouldn't let him play with some toy and he said "What's your problem?" I think my mouth fell open! He's never talked like that before. I mean, he's been sassy but never like that. Anyway, for the most part he's a normal five year old. He is still quite sweet most of the time. He seems to be enjoying soccer, which is thankfully almost over. Poor Jay has a hard time keeping six five-year-olds attention for any length of time. He has started bribing them during practice and this seems to be helping a little.

Andrew is also doing great in AWANA. He learns his verse every week-it just amazes me how easily kids can memorize scripture! He also is learning to play the chimes during music class on Sunday nights. I'm hoping they'll have some sort of presentation so I can see it for myself and maybe get some pictures to put on here.

Anna Grace

2009-11-05T13:38:00.003-06:00

I don't know how it happened, but Anna Grace is already 7 going on 8 months old! Time just seems to be flying by. Here are some recent pictures of her:

She is so much fun! She has her two bottom teeth and it seems that her top two may be coming in soon. She can now hold her bottle by herself, play peek-a-boo, sit very well on her own (she's been doing this for a couple of months now) and she's started to babble like crazy. She said dada the other day...I don't think it counts as her first word though since she's just babbling. Jay of course is counting it. :) Her favorite things to do are sit in the floor and play with toys, or an empty water bottle (I don't know why this intrigues her), play with her bubba (she just adores Andrew), eat, look at daddy and tear magazines apart. Andrew also loved doing this last one when he was a baby. Don't worry, I watch her closely to make sure none of it ends up in her mouth. This is quite a job because she puts just about everything in her mouth!

She is quite the mama's girl. She doesn't really like for anyone else to hold her, but once I leave the room she's fine with whoever has her. They told me Sunday in the nursery that another little baby boy tried to kiss her and she puckered up and started crying. Jay is teaching her well! :)

Fall Festival

2009-11-05T13:31:00.003-06:00

I've been getting quite a few hints that I need to blog again, so this is for you Grandma! :) It has been quite awhile. Life has been busy...I'll start with the fall festival. Andrew wanted to be a jedi and in searching for his costume, I found a baby Princess Leia costume that I knew I had to get for Anna. Here they are all dressed up:

I think I might stick with a theme every year...it was fun having them coordinate.

First soccer game!

2009-09-12T22:27:00.001-05:00

Well, welcome to the experiment that we like to call "Andrew in U6 division soccer being coached by Jay." His team is called the Cubs. There really isn't any other relevant information. There are 6 boys on his team and 3 play at a time.

Pre-game pep talk. Yeah right. And I need to lose some weight.

Trying to explain how the opening kick-off works. After two more weeks I'm not allowed on the field any more. Uh oh.

Andrew in action...

Andrew pretending to blow the whistle at his teammate.

Andrew probably wondering what happened? By the way, it's raining the whole time the game is going on. Great way to start.

Andrew telling a story that I'm sure was hilarious.

Andrew and "Coach Jay"

More pics of Anna and family time

2009-09-12T21:58:00.004-05:00

Here are a few random pics of the family, in various order, and without Christi! I really have to get behind the camera every now and then.

Perfect picture of story time: Andrew looking at mommy, Anna looking at Andrew and me looking at the story.
Note 1: Andrew is taking a breathing treatment due to struggling with a cold-like illness for about 2 weeks. And we're not to the "sick" season yet :(
Note 2: Anna LOVES Andrew. I can't emphasize it enough.

Look at these cuties. More from them later.

Also, I should mention she's really starting to sit well. Such a cutie!

Words don't do it justice.

Gotta love bed time activities

Look at the attitude! Gotta love it.

First day of Kindergarten

2009-09-12T21:51:00.005-05:00

Andrew officially started Kindergarten this year. Crazy! I know we're late, but thought I'd throw a few pictures of his first day at you.

He sure is proud of his backpack.

Sitting at his table! (with my phone)

Andrew and his friend Sara from his preschool class

Yay for our new video camera!

2009-08-19T23:02:00.003-05:00

New Pics of Anna

2009-08-14T22:15:00.005-05:00

April Graves took these pics of Anna the other day in our backyard. We weren't planning on doing it and Anna was fussy so I didn't expect anything to come of it, but she surprised us!

We're being published!!!

2009-08-07T22:48:00.000-05:00

Ok, big announcement...

Ok, not that big. But our crazy directory photo from a few years ago is going to be in the Awkward Family Photos book!!!! They didn't post it on the web site (which is hilarious, by the way: http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com )because they wanted to save a few for the book.

So, look for us probably some time next year! More info when it comes out.

Christi's birthday present

2009-08-06T23:37:00.002-05:00

It's still several days away (Aug. 12) but I got Christi a new toy for her birthday. It's amazingly convenient with kids. It's a small, portable video camera. No tapes. Straight up digital.

So, here's some of the first video taken with it.

Vacation 09 part 2- The Whole Family

2009-08-06T23:06:00.003-05:00

Sorry this took so long!

We got back to our kids as soon as possible on Wednesday. That night, we took Andrew to his very first Rangers game!

This is in the car in the parking lot. Andrew loves this pose. It kind of hurts.

This is us boys in with the new 'Boys stadium in the background. It's so massive.
And it only costs $1.5 billion.

The ballpark from our seats.

Mommy and Drew

On Thursday, we started off by going to the Dallas World Aquarium in downtown Dallas. Andrew loves that kind of thing.

Andrew in the front ready with a toy shark. He likes to play along.

Daddy and son and shark in Andrew's favorite part...a shark tunnel! We could have stayed there all day.

I can't emphasize enough how dialed in he was.

Anna patiently waiting.

After the aquarium, we headed over to Grapevine Mills to the Choo Choo Station which is a Thomas the Tank Engine themed store.

It had a train to ride!

Mommy was shopping. Andrew was playing. So, some daddy/daughter hanging out!

Vacation 09 part 1- Mommy and Daddy only

2009-07-21T22:35:00.004-05:00

Christi and I are celebrating 10 wonderful years of marriage this year. So, the first part of our family vacation was a couple of days in Dallas with the kids at my mom's. It's been wonderful to not have a schedule, worry about public environments not suitable for children, and the like.

We started our time with some Pei Wei in Arlington and a brief trip to the Park's Mall. Afterwards, we headed over to the hotel.

This is our hotel room. We stayed up by 635 and 35E at a Holiday Inn Select. It was pretty nice.

For our anniversary dinner we went to Ruth's Chris. It's truly amazing. I've never paid that much for a meal, but it was probably actually worth it! And they gave us free dessert for our anniversary, so that was really nice.

For our second day, we had our sights set on downtown with some time spent at the West End and then JFK museum. Unfortunately, the West End in Dallas is now closed! No more Market Place. So, we decided not to wait around for half price JFK tickets and just did the tour in the morning. But on our way...

We found this weird office complex. It wasn't labeled at all, we just knew that some place inside sold drinks. And then, once that place opened, it ended up being hilarious!

This was probably our favorite item in there. They also had a set of angry mob action figures, lunch lady action figure and crazy cat lady action figure, complete with some cats.

We hit the Sixth Floor Museum (we're both still conspiracy theorists), lunch at the Galleria mall at a place called Pot Belly's, and then back to the hotel for swimming and reading (Christi) and napping (Jay).

This is us entertaining ourselves in rush hour traffic on the way to dinner.

Since we were eating in Frisco, Christi decided to take the "opportunity" to visit the IKEA store. Let me just say this: it's big.

Afterwards, dinner at Fuddruckers and dessert from Cheesecake Factory to take back to hotel.

So, lots of fun and probably gained 10 pounds a piece. Happy Anniversary!!!!

Heads up, sharks squeak

2009-07-21T22:27:00.004-05:00

Here is Anna actually enjoying tummy time! She's usually not a fan. So this was a blessing.

Adelade got Andrew this shark on her vacation. Chad made good on his promise to get us the worst toy in Florida. This thing squeaks. Loud. Real loud.

July 4th festivities

2009-07-21T22:20:00.003-05:00

On July 3rd, we had the Edgingtons and the Bruces (families from our church) over for a cook-out and sparklers. On the 4th, I was out of town but Christi took the kids with the Edgingtons to the local fireworks display.

Tommy and Heather show us how it's done.

Everyone enjoying a little sanctioned pyromania.

Andrew and Chad with sparklers.

Here's a video of Andrew and Adelade with sparklers trying to burn our yard.

Adelade set a pretty good fire later.

Andrew and Adelade at sparks in the park.

Anna getting her firework on!

Our butterfly!

2009-07-21T21:45:00.003-05:00

Here's some pics of our sweet little girl!

Some time around the beginning of the summer.

First cereal feeding. She's actually mad because it's not coming fast enough.

Beautiful!!!

Our dynamic duo!

Nana and the kids!

Andrew in Spring

2009-07-21T21:09:00.004-05:00

Here are some pics and videos of Andrew this spring. He doesn't get as many photo ops any more so here goes.

Our guitar hero!

Andrew prepped for his first day riding his bike!

Day 1 wasn't a smashing success. It was way more work than Andrew wanted to put into it.

Andrew and Ms. Calvitt, his preschool teacher on the last day of school. He'll be in Kindergarten in a month!!!

Here are some videos from kids singing in church. The little girl next to Andrew is his best friend, Adelade, Chad and Melissa's daughter. Sorry about the video quality, but you can hear him just fine!!!

Long time, no posts

2009-07-21T21:07:00.001-05:00

Wow, sorry! We have some serious catching up to do. So, in several small posts following, I'll try to briefly explain stuff that's from the end of spring and this summer. Christi and I are currently celebrating our 10 year anniversary! More on that later...

Random Pictures of the Kiddos

2009-05-18T10:01:00.004-05:00

Sometimes it still seems strange that we have two kids....but boy is it a blessing! Jay and I keep talking about how crazy it was that we entertained the thought of not having anymore after Andrew. Just look at what we would be missing:

Life is good!

Andrew's Five...How did this happen

2009-05-17T16:10:00.003-05:00

My baby boy turned five on Tuesday and I just really can't believe it! He's such a big boy and such a big helper with Anna. His big birthday present was this swingset...he loves it!

We had his birthday party this Saturday and it was so much fun! It was a Scooby Doo birthday!

I accidentally bought trick candles...it was pretty funny.

This is a picture of all of the kids at his party.

Eagerly awaiting the opening of presents.

We also got him a spiderman bicycle...I hope we succeed in teaching him to ride it. It was a great day celebrating a great little boy!

More pics of Anna and Easter

2009-04-14T19:39:00.004-05:00

Andrew is absolutely loving his baby sister!

We think she's pretty great too. She's just fit right in like she's been with us forever. Our Easter was good, even though we woke up to skies as black as night and a tornado watch. We all made it to church so that was a success and then we had a great lunch with great friends. We hunted easter eggs in the sanctuary since the weather was so nasty. That's what you get to do when you're minister's kids. :) Overall it was a great day.

This is our first picture as a family of four:

It only took us four weeks to get one! We didn't get very many pictures that day, but here's one of Anna all dressed up:

And of course our handsome little man with his fake smile:

New Pictures

2009-04-01T14:24:00.004-05:00

Grandma, Jay finally downloaded the pictures from the camera! :) We've taken a ton, but here are some of our favorites.

Introducing Anna Grace

2009-03-16T10:52:00.003-05:00

After a VERY long day, Anna Grace made her arrival Saturday night, March 14th, at 11:26p.m. She weighed 7 lb.s 4 oz. and was 20 inches long. She looks just like Andrew when he was born, except girly. We appreciate all your prayers. We should get to go home today as soon as she is released.

Tomorrow!

2009-03-13T21:17:00.004-05:00

Well, since I'm quite the slacker in blogging these days (I'm sure this will only get worse), I should probably update this thing and let everyone know that I'm being induced tomorrow at 10a.m. We're quite excited and nervous at the same time. Well, Jay's not really nervous, but he has it pretty easy. :) We're very ready to meet Anna Grace! We'll try and post pictures as soon as we can.

And just for funsies (weird, I never use that word....the nervousness must be in high gear), here's a belly shot from about two days ago, so 39 weeks. Notice, it's just the belly....I'd rather not have proof that I was the spitting image of the stay-puffed marshmallow man during these last few weeks of pregnancy.

Anna's Room

2009-02-20T16:45:00.004-06:00

I think it's turned out sooo cute! Jay decided one day that he wanted to paint the walls pink & brown and I was really hesitant, but gave in and I'm so glad I did. There are still some things that aren't done, like the curtains (a friend is making them for me) and I still need to find some kind of pillow sham for that twin bed. I really had a hard time finding a blanket for that bed too, but I think I really like the pastel green. We are also going to get a small bookshelf for her books and little knick knack things. Anyway, we really love the way it's turned out.

Shower

2009-02-20T16:37:00.003-06:00

Our church gave us a shower a few weeks ago and they were sooo generous!!! We got tons of stuff. It's funny how many more clothes we got than we did at Andrew's shower....it's obviously more fun to shop for a girl. Here are a few pictures. Sorry there's no picture of the gifts once they were opened....I know someone took some but I don't have them yet.

Andrew had so much fun...at one point he was standing in front of everyone and realized they were looking at him so he started acting so silly. Then he got on the floor and started rolling around. He LOVES to be the center of attention!

50's Night and Gotcha Sucka!

2009-02-02T22:08:00.002-06:00

First of all, this is my (Jay) first time posting on the blog in quite some time. I used to be the only one to do this. But Christi has joined the modern times, so that's good.

Here's a picture of Andrew all ready for 50's night at AWANA:

He's such a tough guy! He really loves to ham it up nowadays, so that brings us great joy. I think he's greatly looking forward to being a big brother. Unfortunately, baby sister still might have to be the one to teach him to eat right!

Now, on to the conclusion (hopefully) of a tremendous battle that has been waged within the confines of the Beerley house. After several visits from Ken (the exterminator guy), we finally have victory over the beast that has tormented us with scratching noises for about 3 or 4 months now. Praise God we never caught sight of this thing within the house.

I found it dead right by the driveway while taking the trash down to the street this evening. I about dropped dead right beside him. His body is about 8 inches long, and let's not discuss the tail.

But, for those keeping score: Beerleys 1, Rats 0.

Anna Grace...

2009-01-17T20:16:00.003-06:00

That's the baby's name for those of you who don't already know that. Several people had asked and I hadn't realized that I haven't written about it yet. Anyway, we are still eagerly awaiting her arrival....only about 2 months to go. Everything seems fine with her. I go back to the dr. on Wednesday and then I think I'll be going every 2 weeks. She is one active little girl, that's for sure! It's quite crazy to think there's only two months left, because I don't feel prepared. I did order bedding off the internet and got it last week. However, I think I've decided to send it back. On the internet, the pink looked to be a whole lot lighter than it actually is. It's pretty hot pink, and that's not really what I wanted. This is a picture of it:

But don't be deceived, the pink it a whole lot brighter than it is in the picture! Anyway, Jay about killed me when I told him this, but I was looking at someone else's blog today who has a little girl and I absolutely LOVED the bedding in her room! I searched for it online and found it. It's considerably more than the stuff I have (shhhh, don't tell Jay) but I really do love it. This is what it looks like:

What do you think? Anyway, I'll try to post some pictures soon of Anna Grace's room. You know, once I actually make up my mind about bedding and paint color. :)

Christmas

2009-01-07T14:13:00.002-06:00

I know these pictures are long overdue, but I'm claiming pregnancy as the reason. I only have two more months to blame stuff on my being pregnant, so I plan on doing it whenever I can. :) So, with no further ado, Christmas pictures:

He got way more stuff than I could ever begin to remember so I won't try. I will say that as we were driving back home after two days of present opening, we asked him if he thought Santa had come to our house while we were gone. Of course he got excited and said yes and couldn't wait to see what Santa had brought. And of course Santa did stop by and leave the two things he had asked him for...pirates and a dragon. However, Andrew was so tired after all of the travelling, this was how excited he was:

I thought it was pretty funny. Anyway, hope all of you had a merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Party

2008-12-21T15:47:00.003-06:00

Andrew's class Christmas party was Friday so Jay and I went to celebrate with him. It was so neat to see him participate in classroom things and sit at his little table. Of course he didn't eat any of the wonderful, fat-filled treats that they gave him, so Jay and I got to partake. :) Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

This is Ms. Brown, Andrew's aide...he loves her!
And this last picture is of Andrew and I making cookies for his teachers. It was great fun...for the 10 minutes Andrew helped me. :)

Andrew announces big news!

2008-11-13T19:48:00.001-06:00

Per Your Request:

2008-11-05T10:34:00.000-06:00

For all of you sick people who have been asking to see a belly shot, here it is:

This really isn't the greatest picture for many reasons but mainly because I don't think it shows the size of that tummy very well, but it gives you an idea. I'm about 20 weeks but feel more like 35! Our sonogram to find out the sex is next week so I'll post something as soon as we know....assuming baby Beerley cooperates. :)

Grandma & Grandad Visit!

2008-11-05T10:23:00.000-06:00

Jay's grandparents from Pennsylvania came for a visit this past weekend and we had so much fun with them! We don't get to see them nearly enough. They got to be here for Jay's 31st birthday so that was neat to celebrate with them. Andrew absolutely loved having them here also. He would wake up and immediately go and find them. They left Monday morning after I dropped him off at school and when he got home he went looking for them and was quite upset to find they weren't here.

This would have been a great picture if Andrew had cooperated, but as you can tell he was having none of it! He was pretty bratty this day, so Grandma and Grandad got to see the many moods of Andrew. :)

The Sick Pirate

2008-11-05T10:06:00.005-06:00

Andrew's fall festival at his school was last Saturday and this little pirate had so much fun!

He did get scared by a little boy dressed up as a skeleton, who deliberately tried to scare him. Why do kids have to be so mean?? Anyway, he coughed a couple of times that day but nothing to make us worry. He coughed a little more on Sunday and then Sunday night/Monday morning he woke up with a fever of 103.5 so off to the emergency room we went. Andrew was such a trooper. When we got there his fever was 104.4, which is the highest it's ever been. They took x-rays and we were stunned to find out he had pneumonia. So they got us back to a room where they took some blood and put in an IV....Andrew was amazing during this, which is more than I can say for Jay who had to leave the room. :)
They didn't admit him thankfully, but the week was pretty rough. I'll spare you the details but I will say that for 3 days he literally layed on the couch and didn't move unless we made him. Thankfully he's all better and back to his old self!

Fall is in the Air

2008-10-01T08:53:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, it seems fall is starting to arrive. This morning when I took Andrew to school it was like 50 something degrees outside! I love it! Everything is going pretty well here. Andrew is getting better and better in school....or at least he's getting smiley faces on his report everyday. I'm going to think that it's because he's being good and not because the teacher doesn't want me to cry in front of her anymore. :)
We started Awana at our church a few weeks ago and he's doing absolutely great in that. He's already memorized 3 verses!!!
Baby Beerley #2 seems to be doing well also. I look like I'm about six months pregnant already and I'm not quite four months. It's crazy how quickly you start to show with the second one. Hopefully we'll get to find out what the sex is at the beginning of November. We haven't decided on a boy name yet, but our girl name is Anna Grace. At least today it is....there are so many names I like!
Oh and I also started playing in the community band! (So the flute is going to good use, Lyndel!) I really like it. The music is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but it makes me use my brain and that's something that doesn't happen too often these days. :)

Andrew's Prayer

2008-09-20T20:31:00.002-05:00

Every night before bedtime we pray with Andrew. He always prays for mama, daddy, nana and sometimes he throws some other things and people in there. He's been leaving some stuff out lately so I thought I'd remind him.

Mama: Andrew, don't forget to pray for all your stuff.
Andrew: Ok. Pray for stuff. We love you Jesus, Amen

Jay and I proceeded to laugh hysterically and then thanked God for the blessing our little boy is. Lately he is so much fun to talk to. The better his language gets, the more creative the conversations get. Tonight we were watching football on tv and there was some commercial that had fire in it. Andrew asked Jay where the fire came from and Jay then asked him in return where it came from. Andrew said it came from a dragon. You just have to love the imagination of a four year old.
Life has been crazy lately. We've had evacuees at our church for 10 days now. That means that we don't hardly get to see Jay, since he's been heading up all of that stuff. They get to go home tomorrow. It has been a blessing to be able to minister to them, and have them minister to us in return. These people are pretty poor and yet we had a lady give our church $350 to thank us for everything. I can imagine that's probably pretty much all she had. What a testament to what Jesus calls us to do.
School is getting better for Andrew. He struggled a lot a first but now has an aid specifically for him and he seems to be adjusting better. I took him to Children's in Dallas last week and had him tested for autism again. The tests came back that he's not autistic. They labelled him PDD-NOS which means he has some characteristics of autism but is not. The lady told me that she felt his characteristics stemmed solely from his speech delay and that the better his speech got the less we'd see the autistic tendancies. So we're trying to get him as much speech therapy as possible.
Me and baby are doing pretty well. I have another doctor's appt. next week, but it's just a routine check up. We won't find out the sex of the baby until the end of October.
(Ok LeAnn, now you're updated) :)

Baby Beerley

2008-08-29T09:04:00.002-05:00

Baby Beerley - due March 19th!

First Day of School

2008-08-25T20:11:00.002-05:00

Today was Andrew's first day of school and I promised Nana I would post some pictures. We didn't get but a couple because we were running kind of late.

We've been praying about this day for a long time now and Andrew did pretty well. His teacher said there were a few times he didn't want to do what she said, but as the day progressed he got better. I dropped him off in the cafeteria and watched him line up and put his hands behind his back like they were told to do. Then he marched off to his class like he had been doing it forever. I cried. But I'm pregnant so I'm using that as my excuse. It was a very long day and when I picked him up at 3 (after much waiting due to the craziness of elementary school traffic) he was worn out! But we had promised we would take him to Chuck E. Cheese's if he was good so that's exactly what we did. When we put him to bed at 8 I think he fell right to sleep. Poor guy....now he has to wake up and do it all over tomorrow.

30

2008-08-13T10:51:00.002-05:00

I've been dreading my birthday all year. Unfortunately it still happened and I turned 30 yesterday against my will. I've never felt different or older on any other birthday except this one. It might be that I'm pregnant and tired all the time anyway, but I feel different.
Oh and I feel huge. If I'm only about two months pregnant, I'm on the road to being 600 lbs. by the time this baby arrives. I really do think I'm further along than that, but I just don't remember my belly getting this big this quick with Andrew. People have mentioned twins more than once....LeAnn, you were the last one to mention it and I about had a heart attack because I had just learned that twins run in my distant family! I guess I'll find out on the 27th, but in the mean time I will be praying that there's only one baby in there.
Andrew starts school on the 25th. He'll be in a regular mainstream pre-k classroom all day!! I'm really anxious about this, but I think once he gets the routine down it will be really good for him. I'm anticipating several bad days though. Hopefully he'll prove me wrong.
Well, I suppose I should go be productive....not something I've been lately. :)

Another Update

2008-08-04T10:18:00.001-05:00

Well, I promised this picture of Andrew showing his muscles so here it is:
Isn't he adorable?! This summer has been a busy one, and this last week was no different. Kendall and Mallory came to visit us and we had a wonderful time with them....way too short though.

Then we went to a Ranger's game with our pastor and his wife and then came home for more visitors. Jay's uncle Jim and his family were travelling through town so they stopped and spent the night with us. We were thrilled to get to spend some time with them! They are missionaries in Monaco so we hardly ever get to see them. Their visit was also too short.

And now for the update of the century.....drumroll please.....we're pregnant!!!
This truly must have been God's will since Jay has been gone 4 weeks out of this summer! :) We are really excited though and Andrew is too. When I told him about the baby, he started talking to my tummy and said "baby...baby...baby, come out of there." Too cute! He's saying it's a baby sister so we're hoping he's right. I don't go to the dr. until August 27th so I won't know when I'm due until then. I hate that I have to wait so long but that was the first they could fit me in. I do have a sonogram on that day so I'll post the picture of the new little Beerley as soon as we have it.

Update just for you Cheryl

2008-07-25T20:24:00.002-05:00

Well I promised my friend Cheryl that I would blog soon so here I am. We just moved houses and the internet isn't working so I'm at McAllister's doing this so there won't be any pictures, sorry. We just moved around the corner from the church, but boy was it tiring!! The house is sooo much bigger and we love it! BUT it seems to have a problem with waterbugs. For those of you who don't know what those are, they're these huge flying cockroaches. Yes, I said flying. And I have a major phobia of them and Jay is currently in San Fransico so he's of no help! Last night I was spraying one with bug spray and it looked like it was about to fly at me so I took off running only for the rug to come out from underneath my feet and I landed flat on my bottom! It was quite hilarious, and I would have laughed except that I was still in the same room with the monster bug, so I was too busy being terrified! Thankfully the bug man came yesterday and sprayed so maybe they'll start dying.
Jay took the kids to San Fran on a mission trip and he says all is going well. They're coming home on Sunday and it can't come quick enough. This the fourth week this summer that he's been gone and I'm ready to have him home. Our 9th anniversary was Thursday and of course he was gone so it was quite the bummer. Hopefully he'll make up for it with some amazing surprise when he gets home.
Well, that's it for now. When the internet gets back up I'll post this cute picture of Andrew showing me his muscles...it's quite cute!

The Wedding

2008-06-23T08:59:00.003-05:00

Well, I didn't get very many pictures because my son decided to be AWFUL at the rehearsal and right before the wedding. But the good news is, he was pretty good during the actual service and for the pictures afterward. He walked down the isle wonderfully and then stood at the front for a few seconds before putting the pillow on the floor and standing on it. Then he started throwing the rose petals that were scattered on the floor up in the air, but it was that cute kind of misbehaving, so it was ok. I did have to get him down from the stage when he got right in front of the bride and groom and started throwing the rose petals at them, but he just came quietly with me and sat with me during the service. Overall he really did pretty well. Oh and Jay did too! :)

I guess tuxedos are out for the wedding party these days, but he was still cute!

My handsome boys! Andrew is saying "cheese"....too funny!

This is Kory, one of our youth who went to the wedding with us. Matt (the groom) was his disciple now leader this year.

Summer update

2008-06-14T19:59:00.002-05:00

Our summer is off and running. It's a crazy time of year for youth ministers. Jay will be gone a total of 4 weeks in two months! I think this picture summarizes how Jay will feel when it's all said and done.

This next week is VBS and then this coming weekend Jay is doing a wedding for one of our Eastland kids. Oh and Andrew will be the ringbearer in this wedding...hopefully cute cute pictures will be forthcoming. I say hopefully because there is always the chance that he'll turn into the devil and not cooperate. I plan on having some great new toy as an incentive to not do this....great parenting, I know.

Uncle Jerrys' Wedding

2008-06-14T19:53:00.003-05:00

My (Christi's) brother got married in May so Andrew and I headed to Carthage. (Jay had to go to a graduation). We got to see Andrew's favorite cousin, Alyson there.

They had cameras on the tables at the reception and Andrew thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures. It was sooo funny...Alyson would pose and Andrew would take her picture. Too cute!

Andrew's last day of school

2008-06-14T19:43:00.003-05:00

Andrew did so great in school this year! So great, in fact, that he will be going all day and be in a regular preschool classroom starting next year! I'm fairly anxious about this, but I really believe that he's ready for it. He's speaking so much clearer and has really never really struggled socially...as you can see in the picture below with his friend Jayton.

We will miss Ms. Becky though. She has been so wonderful! Even after being out of school for a few weeks now, he still asks about her several times a week.

Andrew's 4!!!

2008-05-20T22:57:00.003-05:00

He actually turned four on the 12th....I haven't posted until now because we didn't have our camera nor did we have a real party because we had just gotten back from SeaWorld. We got our camera back yesterday (Jay left it at a restaurant in Austin!!) so I thought I would post some pictures of our big boy. I took these today at the park.

Wrapping up vacation

2008-05-10T22:41:00.003-05:00

Well, we had quite the vacation. Lots of driving. Summer temperatures. Today was traveling and getting to see our good friend Anna as well as my sister, Mindi. So those were nice opportunities. Tomorrow we leave for Wake Village. I love our times of refreshing but it's always nice to get back to serving where God has placed us. He does know best. Blessings to you if you happen to read this. Thank you for probably loving our family at some point or another. May you seek first the Kingdom of God and let him take care of the rest.

Family Vacation- Sea World Day 2 (or autism awareness day)

2008-05-09T23:00:00.004-05:00

Ok, well, today we went back to Sea World, but not for too long before Andrew's autistic tendencies kicked in. He wanted to go swimming about 1 hr. 45 minutes in. And that's all she wrote. So, here are the pics and videos.

This was by far Andrew's favorite thing...

He didn't quite get the concept of what was proper behavior at the dolphin tank

So after we left (and went to the most horrible McDonalds parking lot visit ever) it was swimming time!

And we decided to end our day with something Andrew has been very much looking forward to since he found the toy in Wal-Mart...

Actually a pretty good movie. So far, that's 2 for 2 on summer movies (I enjoyed Iron Man also.)

Ok, phew, that's enough blogging for tonight. We leave San Antonio tomorrow for Dallas. We'll write later.

Family Vacation- Sea World Day 1

2008-05-09T22:25:00.007-05:00

Wow. While overall the park is not that big and the stupid waterpark part was not open AND we didn't get to ride any roller coasters...wow. All of the animal exhibits and shows were quite worshipful. God is amazing. I love seeing the works of his hands everywhere. And they were everywhere.
And maybe most evident was in the reaction of our wonderful little boy. I feel like his awe is what we are like when we encounter even the smallest amounts of our savior. And now, some pictures and videos for your enjoyment (or your time waste).

These last two are of Andrew after a long, hot day.

Family Vacation- Day 3

2008-05-08T09:23:00.004-05:00

Mostly traveling today. Some rain. One really cool thing was we got to eat lunch with a former youth. I told Christi to remind me to take a picture. We didn't take a picture. Oh well. We love you, Amy!

So, we got to the hotel. Some pictures follow.

Hotel TV's have improved, no?

Ok, we're finally off to Sea World! Hopefully great pics and videos to follow.

Family Vacation- Day 2

2008-05-07T00:12:00.007-05:00

Last day at Nana's for awhile. Tomorrow we leave for San Antonio and Sea World on Thursday. This evening we went to Chuck E. Cheese. I will say that it was probably the most pleasant experience we've had there maybe ever. Andrew enjoyed himself more than usual with the games. And for mommy and daddy they had a new Deal or No Deal game for tickets. Very addicting!!! I got the highest ticket amount for the day with 63 in one game! And to think that Christi is the one more addicted to the show.
Anyway, we forgot the camera for there, so we'll show you last night's fun times with cake and presents. Of course, Andrew didn't eat any cake. We'll get there soon, hopefully.

Mommy does a great job with the shark, no?

Family Vacation- Day 1

2008-05-05T22:21:00.002-05:00

Well, hopefully there will be some pictures to go with our journey tomorrow. I always enjoy keeping people up to date on our journeys. In reflection, it seems like a pretty narcissistic thing to do, but oh well.
We traveled safely today and had a mini birthday party for Andrew with his Nana. She'll be working the rest of the time. It was nice. I'll share some pics tomorrow. We have a day of relaxation tomorrow and then we head to San Antonio on Wednesday. Fun times!

Life

2008-04-26T22:39:00.003-05:00

So life around here has been fairly crazy lately. My dad (Christi) passed away last Tuesday and then his funeral was last Friday. It was fairly unexpected...he has had some heart problems, but was living on his own and seemingly doing fair. But he went to sleep one night in his chair and passed away in his sleep. My relationship with him was strained so I have all of these emotions that I didn't have with my mom's death. And most of them are fairly surprising to me given our relationship. I guess it's true what they say that death is never easy. It is quite strange to be only 29 and for both of my parents to be gone. But ultimately this world is not our home...our time here is short. So I have this new passion to make the most of the days I have. I am enjoying my family so much right now. Jay is such a wonderful support to me and Andrew becomes more of a blessing everyday. I guess essentially I'm just trying to love people more because you never know when your last encounter with them might be.
On a lighter note, Jay sold his XBox. For those of you who know him, you're probably going to have to re-read that last sentence. He just decided that it was taking up too much of his time, so he got rid of it. I never once asked him to, he just did it on his own. I am so proud of him...I know it was tough to actually go through with it. So with all of this free time now, he's decided to become mechanical and take on some projects with our brown car, that is on it's last leg. A few weeks ago he flushed and fixed a hole in the radiator and then today he replaced the spark plugs! What a great man I'm married to!

Pictures of our Monday

2008-03-31T21:35:00.005-05:00

Andrew was all about the picture taking tonight. Among the various poses, we took one of him on the potty, one of the bathtub, one of him in the bathtub, one of the fish tank...and on and on and on. Don't worry, I'm not posting them all. These are are few of the worthy ones though.

The top two are of Andrew's first time playing the X-Box. He got a surprise tonight for his wonderful pottying abilities and he chose Legos Star Wars. He didn't quite get the concept of watching and playing so he finally gave up and just watched Daddy play.

Easter

2008-03-23T15:14:00.003-05:00

Andrew's Nana bought him a suit to wear on Easter and I must say he's the most handsome little boy in the world in it!!!! But you can judge for yourself.

I was really worried that he wasn't going to keep the tie on, but this morning I put it on him and he said "Andrew's tie" and started walking around with this proud look on his face. He's really getting to be such a big boy!

We were taking these pictures and he made me take one of him and the duck...he loves for you to take pictures of his toys!

Potty Training Boot Camp

2008-03-23T15:05:00.002-05:00

Some of you may call it spring break, but it's been potty training boot camp for us. We started Monday and Andrew has done amazing!!! I even took him to Dallas and he did great there too. He and I (Christi) went to visit Jay's family and had a great time. I took him to get his hair trimmed while we were there. He's definitely improved when it comes to the haircuts, but he still hates when they use the trimmer above his ears and the back of his neck. Anyway, this is a picture of the beginning of the week...that chart you see is now covered in stars, which means we owe him a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.

Dinosaur song

2008-03-11T10:21:00.003-05:00

Andrew was sitting in the floor playing the other day and I heard him singing this song he made up. Thought you might enjoy it.

D-NOW

2008-03-10T22:20:00.002-05:00

Disciple Now was this weekend...very tiring, but great. Some of our former youth came to help out...it was really great seeing them and their significant others...one of them is married and the other is getting married this summer. Jay is actually doing their wedding and Andrew is the ring bearer...should be fun. :)

The boys playing XBOX

They love Andrew...and vice versa.

This was at the the putt-putt place...needless to say Andrew wasn't lacking in the attention arena this weekend.
After some very late nights and very long days (and then add the time change in there), we are all worn out.

FINALLY!!!!

2008-03-04T19:26:00.002-06:00

ANDREW FINALLY WENT POTTY TODAY!!!!! AFTER MONTHS OF JUST SITTING THERE, HE ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING!!!! MY ONLY COMPLAINT IS THAT THIS HAPPENED AT SCHOOL AND NOT AT HOME, BUT WE'LL TAKE IT!!!! YAY ANDREW!!!

Updates from the Patriarch

2008-02-26T16:22:00.002-06:00

Well, it's been a long time since I, Jay, have written on this thing. At one time it was my doing, but I turned Christi into blog junkie.
Anyway, quick Andrew allergy update...
The results from his blood test put him at HIGHLY allergic to cats, as well as a high result for peanuts. With the peanuts thing, we of course had to enter the world of the EpiPen. A magic marker looking syringe filled with adrenaline that kills allergic reactions to things. Very interesting. Hopefully, we'll never have to use it. But the school has one and we have to carry one and all that jazz. But Andrew doesn't really eat anything, so whatever.
Ministry is good. Family is good. God is great! We are amazed at how God has led us on our journey to where we are now.
Well, that's all for me. I'm tired of typing. Blessings to you who have touched our family in some way. May we continue to glorify our Father in heaven!

Yay for Allergists!!!

2008-02-16T14:21:00.003-06:00

Our appt. with the allergist went very well!!! Andrew was almost an angel...they had to draw blood so that was the only bad part, but lasted two seconds. The allergist took lots of time with us asking questions and letting us ask questions. Basically she ran two panels on him. One for regular food, mold, dust and pet allergies and the other is a very new panel that she can't even tell us is 100 percnt accurate, but it will let us know if milk or wheat is effecting his behavior any. I was so pleased that she brought up this test when we were talking about his autism. Most medical drs. won't even discuss these types of things with you. We will get the results of the panels on the 25th.
In discussing his allergies with us, she told us to up his dose of Zyrtec (because he weighs what a 6 year old does!) and she also sent us home with samples of a nose spray and an inhaler. We saw results immediately!! And he slept through the night Wednesday and Thursday!!! What a blessing.

The above picture is Andrew doing a breathing treatment. He's come a long way hasn't he Nana?? He used to kick and scream the whole time and it was torture. He's such a big boy now.
The below picture is Andrew and Jay kicking back and having some popcorn. Jay took the college students to Passion last night and will return home this evening. Andrew is really missing his Daddy. He woke up at 6 this morning screaming for him....he calls him Jay sometimes when he doesn't answer immediately, it's too cute.

Glimpses of Progress

2008-02-06T21:47:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure if any of you read the last post but Andrew has had a rough few weeks. Well, today God decided to show me that Andrew is very smart and indeed making great strides. Our son absolutely loves sea life....all kinds, but sharks and whales are the favored ones at the moment. Tonight as we were putting him down to bed, we were reading this informational book about sharks that we have read many times. Jay decided to ask Andrew if he knew what kind of shark was on the page and our brilliant child replied "That's a whale shark." AND IT WAS!! Not only was he right about the type, he also said a full sentence!! He then proceeded to tell us which one the hammerhead was just in case we thought he was guessing before. Jay and I were both overwhelmed with joy and pride. We have known Andrew is smart and capable of these types of things, but haven't seen much fruit of it. He's been talking so much more here lately and saying more and more sentences. They're usually two or three word sentences, but tonight shows that he's capable of more. God is good.
On a side note, Andrew's been sick the last few days with a horrible cough that is making is asthma flare up. I took him to the dr. yesterday and she said his ears were a little red and gave us an antibiotic. Between that and the breathing treatments every 4 hrs., he seems a little better tonight. Another thing we got while we were at the dr. was an appt. with the pediatric allergist on Monday! I'm very excited about this as Andrew's allergies just keep getting worse the older he gets....and we're pretty sure he has a peanut allergy so that will be good to know for sure. I hope the next post is telling about how my child was a perfect angel while they gave him these allergy tests! We'll see. :)

Thank God for Fish Faces

2008-01-30T20:47:00.000-06:00

Andrew has had a rough few weeks and today was the worst. I went to pick him up from school in hopes that the teachers would tell me he had a good day....those have been few and far between here lately. As I walked into the school I could hear screams coming from his classroom and I thought "Wow, who is that?!" Never in a million years would I thought it was Andrew. But indeed it was. He was in the middle of the most violent tantrum that I have ever seen him throw. The teacher was trying to get him to calmly sit in time out, so I didn't let him see me so she could follow through and make him obey. While I waited, I witnessed him slap her and kick her all the while screaming. She finally got him calmed down and then tried to calm me down. I expressed that I felt he was regressing and she promised me that he was still making strides, but was just testing his boundaries right now. Then she told me she was sorry I walked in while he was doing that....she said SHE was sorry!!! I'm telling you, she is one in a million. She didn't want me to think that he was like that all the time....she says that he is still doing his work great and following directions better. This all coming from the woman that was just abused by my son! It's hard to stay encouraged when I don't see progress and see these horrible fits coming back. He hasn't acted like this since before he started school. Please just pray that we would find answers to help him and that his behavior would improve. And that he would sleep better....that may be the cause of all of this, I don't know. Autistic children don't tend to sleep very well, and while Andrew hasn't really had too much trouble in this area before, he seems to now.

Thankfully he's not like this all the time, he still has moments of adorableness. In the picture above he is doing his fish face, which cracks me and Jay up. I wish you could see it in person...it's so funny.

Andrew's Eating!!!!

2008-01-07T09:41:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately it's not food he's eating. He's been having VERY fitfull sleep the last few days and Jay and I have been wondering what in the world is going on with him. Well, as Jay changed a poopy diaper last night, we found the answer. *WARNING The following may gross some of you out.* Jay called me into Andrew's room and said, "you have to look at his poop", so I looked and discovered an ear plug in his poop!!! There is no possible way this just fell in his diaper. No friends, he really put this in his mouth and then swallowed it. He still won't eat most real food, but apparently ear plugs are pretty tasty. (He also tried a leaf a couple of weeks ago, but spit it out...I guess they're not as good as ear plugs.) We are so thankful that ear plugs are mushy and it was able to pass through his little body. I'm still a little worried it might have done some damage, but I guess we would know if he was in pain. We are also thankful that we had a great night's sleep again last night. This let's me know that this was indeed the cause for his unrest. I think we're going to start laying real food miscellaneously around the house to see if it might try it.

Visitors

2008-01-01T22:31:00.001-06:00

As you might remember from a previous post, Alyson came and stayed with us for a few days a couple of weeks ago. Here a some pictures of her and Andrew:

The day after Christmas we got to have some more visitors! Perry & Kendall came all the way from Tennessee to go to a youth conference with us. It was great having them around and the conference was great also! (I took two pictures of the boys together and I thought this one captured their personalities better).

Christmas party at school

2008-01-01T22:24:00.001-06:00

The Wednesday before school let out for Christmas break, Andrew's class had a Christmas party. If you've never been to a party with 6 autistic children, well, let's just hope you never have to. There was too much sugar and too much stimulation, but overall Andrew did ok. Here he is on the swing they use for sensory therapy:

These next two are of him actually sitting down!! Let me just say, it was short lived.

And this is his teacher Ms. Becky. I wish I had a million dollars to give her....she deserves it.

Andrew goes back to school tomorrow and we're praying that he adjusts back ok. As you can imagine, we've been far from any kind of routine or structure so Ms. Becky may be in for it.

Christmas

2008-01-01T22:09:00.000-06:00

Since I have been such a slacker in blogging, these posts are kinda going to be lumped together. I'll start with Christmas.

Andrew & Alyson on Christmas day at Mamaw's.

Andrew and Mommy at Mamaw's.

This isn't actually on Christmas, but I thought it was cute.

This microphone was in Andrew's stocking from Santa. He also got a fish tank from Santa, but he wouldn't move his head when I was trying to take the picture, so I never got a good picture of it. But he loves it!! He really loves feeding them.

This is Andrew holding his transformer, which he opened first and really didn't care about anything else he got.

Christmas in Dallas

2007-12-18T14:13:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we went to Dallas and had Christmas with Jay's family. It started with the big family get together on Saturday. All of the kids get a present, and this is Andrew scoping out the other presents that he thought were way better than his:

Aunt Mindi is very happy!
Saturday night we had our gift exchange with Jay's immediate family. Andrew, of course, got tons of stuff!

He thoroughly enjoyed opening the presents this year. After he opened all of his, he then proceeded to open all of mine. He's such a great helper. Then Sunday morning while I was making breakfast, Andrew opened his Pop's present! I re-wrapped it and explained that it wasn't his...I'm not sure if he cared. We spent the rest of Sunday just lounging around and enjoying spending time with family.

Dylan Kane

2007-12-18T13:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday my little sister had her second baby, Dylan Kane. He weighs 6lbs. 7 1/2 oz. and he's 18 inches long. Isn't he adorable??

Since my sister had a c-section, I decided to take my neice, Alyson, off of her hands for her until Friday. Andrew and her are having so much fun together!