The story of Adam and Eve told by Lori.

I think one of my favorite things about being a mom is seeing the world through fresh and pure eyes. In the 3 plus years I've been learned so much about God, and how he must view us. My faith has grown as well. When you have to simplify the Bible enough to explain it to a inquisitive three year old, you realize just how simple God has made it for us, and how COMPLICATED we as humans choose to make it.
I am blessed to have two kids that LOVE going to church and learning about Jesus. This morning while I was reading my Bible, Lori asked me to read her a Bible story. So I told her to go get her Bible and then SHE read to ME. I asked her to do it again so that Jorge could see it, but figured it was just too precious to keep to ourselves.

Number 3 Belly watch...

I HAVE been taking belly pictures but I haven't posting them quite yet. Things have been crazy. This pregnancy has been much more difficult than the other two. Lori was a BREEZE, David was significantly more nauseous, more pain etc. THIS one on the other hand, not exactly a walk in the park. Since getting pregnant for this 3rd time, I have had some sort of 24 hour bug, a WHOLE lot off feeling icky, WAY more tired than I remember being with the others, and then a sinus infection. Its been brutal. I love being pregnant. I love this baby, but MAN, I'm looking forward to feeling better eventually.
So with out much further ado, here are the belly pictures from the last several weeks.

12 weeks
3 months


13 weeks
3.25 months


14 weeks
3.5 months


15 weeks
3.75 months


16 weeks
4 months


17 weeks
4.25 months


18 weeks
4.5 months


19 weeks
4.75 months

My husband cracks me up!

We are watching Dr. Phil where he's talking about a new TV movie 'Have a little faith' with Martin Landau in it, and when Dr. Phil introduces Martin Landau, describing all his hugely famous friends and all the people he's acted with, I said something like "How is he not dead yet?" to which Jorge says, in all seriousness mind you, "He is." (We watch Martin Landau walk out on to stage) and our conversation goes as fallows.
Me: Uh, no he's not.
Jorge: No really. I thought he died. (checks to see if this is an old episode of Dr. Phil. Its not)
Me: He's not dead.
Jorge: (Genuinely concerned) Well then WHO DIED!?
I checked wikipedia to make sure cause now he has me thinkin'/remembering something about Martin Landau dying.
Jorge becomes very upset by the idea that Martin Landau is still alive cause he remembers being sad that he died. ("Cause he's the guy from the X-files movie")
I was cracking up so bad that Lori came out of her room to ask "who's laughing?"

I know this is a beyond random post, it was actually supposed to be a Facebook status update that turned out to be too long... so I figured I'd blog it, I just had to share how funny I think Jorge is! I haven't laughed that hard in a long long time! I imagine we'll be watching the X-files movie in the near future.

Sweet Lori

Today Lori sang me "Happy Birthday", followed by "cause your Birthday's comin' up." I told her, that my birthday had already happened and that it was in July. She responded with "But that's coming up, right?" I said "No, but you know who's Birthday IS coming up? Jesus."
Her answer to my saying that was classic,
"JESUS?! Can we go to Heaven and help Him decorate? Cause He can't decorate His party all by Himself!!"

I LOVE my children. They bring me joy everyday. I hope and pray that God will continue to grant me these types of moments, so that in those crazy days where I'm pulling my hair out, I can be reminded of what a blessing and gift from God they truly are!

Kinda excited... just a bit...

and so that's our news. I hope that someday, when Lori is about 12 and her new little brother or sister is buggin' her, she'll be able to remember that at least at one point, she was VERY excited to have them in her life.

my girl

This is my girl.

She is beautiful and funny and I love her.

She is growing up too fast.

From the moment she was born, Lori has owned her daddy’s heart. Everyone talks about men wanting sons and how great that is, but there is something about the relationship between a father and daughter that is unlike anything else. (for the record, I love my daddy too, although I don’t call him that anymore)
Today, something happened that I hope I will never forget. My mom told me to write it down so I wouldn’t and since blogging is where I do that, I figure I’d just blog it.

This afternoon, Lori went to her dress up box and got a princess dress and dress up shoes on. She went up to Jorge and asked “Daddy? Can I go to the ball?” slightly confused by her request, seeing as Lori’s imagination is just now coming to life, Jorge said yes.

“But I don’t have a Prince.” She paused. “Davey…” after a slight struggle Jorge stepped in, telling Lori that he didn’t think David wanted to be her prince. Lori looked at Jorge and said “with YOU be my Prince daddy?” Then she proceeded to lead him by the hand to her room, where she did her very best to dance with him. (He’s not a big dancer that husband of mine)

It was without a doubt one of the most touching, and heart-melting moments I’ve seen them have yet. I want to stop the clock and make her stay just the way she is, but I am also finding such joy in watching her grow into this little lady.

Davey Bieber

This is what he gets for having an older sister... poor kid.



For those of you who aren't familiar with the anomaly that is Justin Bieber... He is a 17/18 year old "man" who looks like a 12 boy and sings like a girl. And he's AMAZING! As much as I'd like to blame this behavior on the high schoolers that come in and out of our house daily, I am as much at fault as they. (However I still take no responsibility for Lori knowing Lady Gaga...) But what can I say... its a catchy tune.

ROADTRIP!

My dad has always been one of my heroes. I didn't have any brothers and when my dad wanted to teach someone how to use a power tool, or tell them some nifty tidbit about a movie or music group, I was more than happy to be that person. So, when I needed to get from Houston to Chicago (actually Racine Wisconsin) I called my dad to see if he wanted to be the one to drive with me. :) It turned out to be a GREAT idea.

They did VERY well in the car. Here is a video of the kids just laughing and playing.



It was also very exhausting as you can see from this video... (hee hee)

I was very nervous about how my kids would behave, both in the car, and while my dad and I were doing all the things I had planned, particularly during our stop in Memphis. A Memphis stop over was kinda my ploy to getting my dad to agree to this crazy adventure. My dad is a HUGE music buff. Growing up he taught me how to identify each one of the Beatles by the sound of their voice and WHY. (I'm still pretty proud of that. :) ) A friend of mine who was raised in Memphis gave me some tips on places to eat and things to see and do while there. Being a musician himself, he strongly suggested that we take some time over at Soulsville USA, and the former Staxx records recording studio... the birthplace of Soul!! I didn't know just how much I loved Soul music until then. But I'm a fan! He also asked his good friend Kirk Whalum to come down and say hi. It was really neat to meet him. As my dad would say Kirk is "at the very top of a very short list of really good saxophone players" It was an honor to get to meet him and a real treat to get to see the Soulsville Charter school as well, a school that specializes in music.

Me, my dad, the kids and KIRK WHALUM!

We also got to sample some REAL Memphis BBQ at a place called the Rendezvous (which is mentioned in one of my dad's "Memphis Songs" so he got a real kick out of that.) Davey enjoyed the ribs so much that there were legitimate tears when I had to take it from him when we had to leave.

very excited to try my huge plate of food. (I shared with the kids... I swear)

Close up of the boy and his rib... tears followed shortly after.

One of the sweetest things we did in Memphis was get to go as see the ducks at the Peabody Hotel. Basically for the last 70 years they have had ducks living in their lobby's fountain. Every day at 11 o'clock the duck master rolls out the red carpet and then brings the trained ducks down from their penthouse on the roof to spend their day in the fountain, and then everyday at 5, they do the same thing in reverse. Its super cute, and Lori LOVED it.

Peabody Penthouse


I swear the mallard duck stopped and posed for this picture.

Watchin' the ducks swim in the fountain


The kids and the Duck Master!

The view from our hotel room. Pretty sweet huh?

The very cool trolley system of downtown.


Happy girl on a trolley car!

The following are just some of my favorite pictures of my dad and my kids.

I feel so blessed to have had this time with my dad. It is truly a memory that I will cherish for ever. Memphis is one of my new favorite cities and I will definitely be going back, and hopefully I'll be able to convince my dad to come with me. :)

We left Memphis and headed to St. Louis, which was gonna be our second stop. It was pretty much uneventful, accept for the tornado warnings and CRAZY wind! We were able to make it all the way to Chicago and we only ended up using the DVD player ONCE, during a horrendous rain storm that we drove through to get to St. Louis.

We got to Chicago and picked up Jorge from the airport. After that we went to Navy Pier for a few hours and got some GARRETT'S POPCORN. Something I had my first trip to Chicago almost 10 years ago, and had been dreaming about since, but wasn't able to get until then. It lived up to the memory it had burned on my brain. Then we dropped my dad off at an L station so he could take it to the airport and we headed up to Racine WI for the wedding festivities! I was really sad to see my dad go. I had really loved spending some one on one (plus two) time with him. I will treasure it in my heart forever.

Happy Easter/Birthday!

Today is Easter, it is also Lori's 3rd Birthday. I didn't want to make a HUGE deal over the fact that it was her birthday cause I kinda wanted her focus to be on, well you know, the whole Jesus raising from the dead part. Seems a LITTLE bit more important, however, we wanted her to feel a little special.
Basically, we did the usual Easter stuff. I sang this morning in our worship choir and then we had an AMAZING breakfast provided by the church. (I swear, I know Jesus rose from the dead to conquer our sins and allow us to have eternal life with him in Heaven, but I also think that these biscuits could have had something to do with it.) On a more serious note, I was kinda finding it hard to get through the worship songs today. I was really hurting over the loss of our loved ones this past year. I kept thinking about how it is BECAUSE Jesus died, that they are not really gone. I think I usually think of death as being the end. Being the final chapter. But in all actuality all that we are living is just the prolog, isn't it. I had a whole new prespective on Easter this year. I know I should have probably came to this conclusion long ago, but I don't know, it just hit me. I realized that if Jesus hadn't died for our sins, and raised from the dead, conquering death, then my loved ones, Brian, Kimberly and Mike, would cease to exist. The would be dead. But now, because of what Jesus did, and their willingness to accept that gift, they will live forever in Heaven. And I will see them again.

Kisses for my Birthday Girl!


Kids runnin amuck. Glad they feel so at home at church!

Family shot in front of the flower cross.

More of the crazies...

After church we went home to rest for a bit, and then off to our friends' house for a get together, potluck lunch/dinner thing. We started doing this 5 years ago and there were only 4 kids. Today there was 14. All under 7. It was intense. FUN, but intense During our time at home Lori opened some gifts from her Grammy and Papa (my parents) and we called them and they said "Happy Birthday!" to which she said "and Happy Easter!" That made me happy. (She also said "Thank you" when people would said "Happy Birthday" which also made me proud)

.
EGG HUNT!

Then is was time to celebrate Lori. She walked in to the kitchen of our host and politely said, "Its my Birthday time now." She got a piece of Cherry Cordial cake (made by our friend Sara Kinsey) and we sang her Happy Birthday. As you can see by the look on her face, it was quite a magical moment.

And now some pictures of David...

Happy as can be! Apparently when you are 15 months old everything is funny. He was cracking up while crawling up the stairs.

And finally, one last family shot. :) All in all it was a great day! I can't wait to celebrate Lori again at her party in a few weeks. She really is a joy and we love her to pieces!

Happy Birthday David Issac!! (Better late han never!)

It has been a LONG time since I posted anything, and a lot has happened. We had another death in the family, and I think after that I got tired of posting things about the loss we'd been experiancing, (3 deaths in 2010) and so I just took a break. Sadly, that meant that Davey's Birthday post was delayed... but better late than never I suppose. In the midst of all the sadness, I need to remember all the "Joy and Laughter" that God has placed in our lives. (Lori's middle name is Joy and David's in Isaac, which means Laughter) I LOVE my kids. I love my Davey man. (aren't the nicknames that end up sticking so silly) David is one of the happiest and most wonderful boys I've ever met! He makes me smile DAILY! Thank you David (and Lori too) for giving your Daddy and I something to get out of bed for, even if it's way earlier than we'd like on a daily basis. Thank you for reminding us that life is to be lived, to the fullest, everyday! We love you!

January 13, 2010


February 14, 2010
1 month old


March 13, 2010
2 months old


April 24, 2010
a little over 3 months old


May 10, 2010
4 months old


June 6, 2010
almost 5 months


July 13, 2010
6 months old


August 15, 2010
7 months old


September 6, 2010
Almost 8 months old


October 24, 2010
about 9 months old


November 5, 2010
Almost 10 months old


December 17, 2010
11 months old


January 22, 2011
Davey's first Birthday party.
Happy Birthday to my big man!