Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween to all. Tonight we took Maddie Trick or Treating for Halloween. Lizzy and her friend Maegan dressed in their Cheerleader outfits and walked with Maddie, who was a Lady Bug, door to door. Maddie was so excited about all the candy she was receiving and happy to say thank you afterwards. We are having so much fun experiencing all of these fun Holidays again - through Maddie.

Maddie is 4!!!

Our Maddie girl is turning 4 years old. I can hardly believe that we have already reached this milestone in her life. Time has flown by and she has grown up so much! She has grown into such a beautiful, loving, vivacious and funny little girl. We all love her so much!!!

We celebrated her big day with a birthday party at the Children's Museum in Lake Charles. We had the place all to ourselves. Maddie and her friends ran and played and had a great time.

The big kids even got in on the action.

Her very own ipad!!!

My three babies!

Happy Birthday my sweet girl! I love you more than words can say!

Spring Hill College, here we come....

Earlier this year and throughout the summer, Christopher's main focus was deciding where he would go to college. We went to a large college fair, considered several schools and even did a site visit to one. A lot of thought and prayer went into his decision. He finally decided that Spring Hill College was his first and only choice of schools. This is a small Catholic College in Mobile, Alabama - undergraduate students total approximately 1500. Everything about this school was perfect for him and his personality. They also play Division III basketball which means he has a great chance at getting to play at the college level.

In August he applied and has been anxiously awaiting a decision from the school. It arrived today!!!

He was accepted!!! To top that news, he was also awarded an academic scholarship totaling $66,000!

He was so excited!!!! I was even more excited - lots of screams of joy and hugs and pure excitement!!!!! I can't even put into words how proud I am today.

We still have one more thing he hopes to accomplish and that is to play basketball for Spring Hill. We have spoken to the Coach and will send all of his stats and game videos at the end of this season. We hope Christopher has a great Senior Basketball Season and is able to secure a spot on the Badger Team...

I am a PROUD Mama!!!!!!!!

Homecoming - 1st & Last

This year is a year of first's for Lizzy and Last's for Christopher...

Christopher's Last Homecoming...

Christopher with his homecoming date.

The Senior Group

The basketball players - they have swagger... lol

Lizzy's 1st Homecoming...

Lizzy and her date

My pretty girl...

They both had a great time at the Homecoming Dance. Both looked amazing!

Start of a new School Year

Last week all the kids went back to school.

Christopher began his Senior Year and Lizzy began her Freshman Year. (How fast time flies)

This is Christopher on the first day of 2nd Grade and Lizzy on the first day of PK4, way back when. They were so cute!!!

Maddie started PK3 and has a wonderful teacher this year. She was very excited to get a new backpack, markers and color sheets. She loves to come home and do her homework.

I am praying for all three of my children as they each begin their journeys - all at different places in their lives.

- Christopher's last year in high school and on the brink of becoming an adult. I pray that he finds God's purpose and will in his life. And that he makes good choices, follows his passion and enjoys this last year with friends and teammates.

- Elizabeth's first year in high school and just beginning to find out who she is. I pray that she has discernment, wisdom and courage as she begins this journey. I'm excited for her to experience all the good things that come with High School.

- Maddie - as she is just beginning to learn and explore this wonderful world around her. I pray that she has a wonderful year, full of joy, laughter, learning and love. We are just beginning to witness how bright she is....

A long awaited post...

I have been holding off on this post for several weeks now until I knew I wouldn't jinx anything. I am so happy to report that after a few tears, much bribery and alot of patience, Maddie is sleeping in her own room in her big bed!!!!! Applause please.

This has been a long journey ... Many failed attempts..... and alot of determination by me!

We have a routine that we do not stray from - bedtime is around 9 pm, I read 2 stories to Maddie, say prayers, rub her back and hugs and kisses. She has been such a big girl about this transition. She is definitely proud of her accomplishment and is happy to announce it to everyone. I think the next move is to remove the toddler bed from my bedroom - Yeah!!!

She is growing up so fast....

Maddie recently had a visit with the Orthodontist at Texas Children's Hospital. We wanted to ensure the Orthodontist had an opportunity to evaluate Maddie's potential issues with future orthodontic care. This was one area that we anticipated Maddie having the biggest need for care. To our surprise, her future care in this area will be not complicated. The doctor reported that she has all of her bottom and top teeth that she should have. She does have a slight overbite that should be easily correctable. The few top teeth that are near her cleft have an angulation problem (they are angled incorrectly). The doctor suspects that her permanent teeth will come in relatively straight and without issue. All great news!!! The best news was that her palate is wide enough for her mouth and will not require any sort of device to stretch the palate!!!!

After our visit at Texas Children's we were off to our last Family Summer Vacation - maybe one of our last as a family of 5 or at least our last with Christopher for a few years.

We stayed at a Lake Resort in Lake Conroe and definitely had some great family time together. Some of the highlights from this trip were:

- playing pictionary with the kids (many good laughs came from playing this game)

- Tubing on Lake Conroe (Christopher coached me several times not to hold on to the tube - which subsequently resulted in me being thrown from the tube into the water)

- Water Sliding with Lizzy, Lilly and Maddie (We had lots of pool time and fun in the sun)

Christopher is leaving for Camp Champions for 3 weeks tomorrow morning and Lizzy is leaving with her friend to vacation at a dude ranch for 1 week. Maddie will certainly miss them when they are gone - I know I will.

Maddie has been working on sleeping in her own room and has made some progress. I hope to have her sleeping in her room full time before school starts in the fall. Please be praying for us as we make this big transition.