Friends

I have found that you have different kinds of friends in your lifetime. There are the friends that you have just because you are around each other every day. You might or might not have picked these people as friends under other circumstances. Then you have friends for a time. Maybe you have a good friend in college and then after college is over you really are not friends anymore. Sometimes you grieve the loss of certain friendships. Friendships that you thought were more than circumstantial friendships. But if friendships disappear, they were only true at the time. Then there are those friends who are lifetime friends. The friends that are there for you no matter what changes in your respective lives. The friends that you can call after not talking to them for a couple of months and it is like you talked to them yesterday. The friends that you call when you face great grief and sadness because you know that they care about you. The friends that you will still be friends with in 20 years. Alison is one of my lifetime friends. I have known her since we met at summer orientation before our Freshman year in college. Neither one of us had roommates and we decided to room together. What a blessing that has been for me. She is a friend who knows the embarrassing stories from my past. She would listen then and never say, "what are you thinking!" and she doesn't bring them up now. (I am referring to a certain guy that I dated my Freshman year, what was I thinking?!) She was always mindful of my feelings. She has always been a true friend and I am so thankful for her friendship. That is why I hurt so badly for her now. Yesterday, she had to bury her son. I went to the visitation. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the way that she and her husband are dealing with the present set of circumstances. They have suffered a tremendous loss and they are hurting. In the midst of their pain, they are giving glory to God. They are relying on God and trusting God. Mostly, they are displaying strength and faith to those around them. What a tremendous influence to those around them. I would be a basketcase! Please continue to pray for this family and for the 3 babies still trying to grow stronger. Pray especially for their 7 year old because she is so very sad that her baby brother died. Here is a poem that Alison's brother wrote about Hunter.

H is for al the HOPES and dreams,
Of watching you play with kids and on ball teams;

U for our lack of UNDERSTANDING of life and death, time and
place, but how we will always remember your baby face;

N for the NAIVETY of a child,
Of a young boy's simplicity of wanting to run wild;

T stands for TREMENDOUS blessing of mine,
To realize how love can exist in such a short time;

E is for the ENCOURAGEMENT of all,
To know that God will provide, especially after a fall;

R is for the REALITY of knowing that the quads now number
three, But there will always be an angel in heaven
nicknamed "BABY D"

Fright Fest

I thought that I had posted these last night, but for some reason I can no longer post 4 pictures at a time.

We took the boys to Fright Fest on Friday night. The weather was great, the lines were short, and the monsters were out! Perfect evening! Of course, Cade was scared of the monsters. I would warn him when they were coming and he would tightly hold on to me. Cade is getting a lot braver about rides now. I am so very glad! Chase is super brave now. He loves the Titan! I finally have my roller coaster buddy!

Fright Fest

 

Trunk of Treats

The whole gang

My little fish fishing

We went with our neighbors to Trunk of Treats at church on Saturday night. The boys had a great time! Notice Chase's and Dylan's costumes. Goodbye to cute costumes and hello to scary costumes. I wouldn't let them choose a costume with blood. It was an adventure to go the the costume store with Chase, Dylan, and Cade. Cade was petrified of the scary masks! His brothers had a lot of fun putting masks on and scaring him! Even when Cade knew that his brother was under the mask he was still scared! He was holding on so tight to my shirt that he was about to pull it off! I was worried that Nate would be scared of his brothers, but he found them to be hysterical. Nate likes his alligator costume, as long as we don't put the hood on him.

More Trunk of Treats

Tired, tired boy!

It's Nemo and Dory!

Cade won this cake when we first arrived at Trunk of Treats. We had to carry it around ALL NIGHT. Mark was busy passing out balloons so he was not there to help. Thank goodness my neighbors were with me! Carrying Nate and a cake would not have been fun! Cade ate his cake when he got home. It was good, good, good. 

Cade at Fright Fest

Cade is watching his brothers on a ride. He is so much braver about going on rides now! I am so glad. Chase has learned to love roller coasters. He loves to ride the Titan! I finally have my roller coaster buddy! 

My Sweet Little Fish

Cade LOVES costumes. He has many, many costumes. Buzz Lightyear, Batman, Darth Vader, Scooby-Doo, a dragon, a lion, etc. Cade's fall party at school was on Friday so he was able to wear a costume. Out of all of his costumes, which one does he pick? He picks Dory the fish only he just thinks that it is a fish costume! So yes, he wears a girl costume (don't tell him). He is so proud of this costume! So Cade is a fish for Halloween!

Hunter Andrew

"There is no foot too small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world."

My friend's baby, Hunter, went home to God yesterday afternoon. In his short little life he knew more love and caring than a lot of people know their entire lifetime. He was invited into this world. He was loved by those around him and by those who did not even know him. He was only in this world a few short weeks but he made an impression. His life was precious and God holds him now. Please pray for this family.

Nate Update

Once again, Nate has been sick! My super healthy boy is gone, replaced by a super sick cling monster. Truthfully, there is nothing sweeter than a sick boy who just wants his mommy. Of course, it is not so sweet when you have a serious deadline to meet and you can't get it done because the sweet monster won't allow you to put him down. My sweet husband came home from work early so that I could finish what had to be done. (He also fixed dinner tonight without me even asking - how is that for a great hubby!) Before you think that he is perfect, let me share with you that he is a bit crazy. He found a black widow spider and her egg sac on our grill. Since black widow spiders are dangerous, wouldn't it make sense to kill the spider and destroy, DESTROY, the egg sac. Not to my husband. Instead, we take the spider and egg sac and we put it in a cup with a magazine over the top. We proceed to let the baby spiders hatch. So now, there are thousands of baby, black widow spiders in a cup in my garage - CRAZY. He finally killed them but I have a fear that some got away and are growing in my house. I think it is time to have a pest control guy spray. Die spiders, DIE.

Our happy Nate finally returned today! We are so glad to see him. I really love the age he is right now. He is learning new things every day. When we take him to bed he now says "nigh-nigh". He can say "nana" for banana. The funniest one is when he says yuck, it truly sounds like he is trying to get something out of his throat.

Today, I was washing Nate's bears. He sleeps with his bears and he loves them. I was moving them from the washer to the dryer (a job he likes to help me with). Nate did not like his bears going into the dryer. I would put them in, he would take them out. I would put them in, he would take them out. I finally got them in and got the door shut without traumatizing Nate! Here is a quick video of him laughing. He was really laughing right before Chase started to video.

Story of the Head Tickler

Nate loved the head tickler. If he saw it, he wanted it. He would try to use it on his head. He loved, loved, loved for people to use it on his head over and over again.

He also was learned a bad thing while in Arizona. I blame Aunt Charlotte for this one! She let him play with her purse and her wallet. Nothing wrong with that, except now he wants to play with mine every time that he sees it. At home, I really would not mind. At stores, I do not want my credit cards to be flying all over the place. He gets mad, mad, mad when I don't let him have it. I was at the bank (they know me well there because of the amount of documents that they notarize for me) and he through a fit when I would not let him have my wallet. They were shocked! They commented on the fact that they have never seen him that way. He has been that way more often lately. Stinkpot!!

Nate and the Head Tickler

Prayers Needed

Please pray for Alison's and Andy's baby, Hunter. He is struggling for life and things do not look good right now. Pray for him, pray for the family, please pray.

Traveling with 4 Boys!

I was very worried about traveling so far with Nate. The other boys can entertain themselves with the DVD player and with the Game Boys, but Nate? He has shown very little interest in the television so I did not hold out hope that the DVD player would be helpful to him. This trip he discovered the Wiggles! The Wiggles were a lifesaver! Their music is now running constantly through my head, but at least Nate was kept happy!! Fruit salad - Yummy, yummy. 

Abilene

Nate with his Great-Aunt Doris
Grammy teaching Nate the joy of the sucker - Bad, bad Grammy!

After we left Carlsbad, we were able to drive through Lubbock. We had the pleasure of getting to spend time with Alison and Andy. We then went to Abilene. We got in very late Friday night and got up very early Saturday morning. We went to San Angelo on Saturday morning for Mark's uncle's funeral. After that, we spent the rest of the day with family. Sunday morning, we headed home. As soon as we got home, I had to leave for an appointment. We are still tired! But we had a great time! 

Few More Pictures from Carlsbad

Nate crashed
Dylan took this picture
Cade had to make sure that Snowy got to see the Caverns. 

Carlsbad Caverns

Daddy and his boys
I won't even tell you what I discovered I was sitting on - Gross

The next day we went to Carlsbad Caverns. We could not time the bat flight right, but Cade could not stop talking about the bats. We got him a stuffed bat there and he has had a million (and I do mean a million) questions about bats. Why do they have a tail? Why do they fly? Why do they have ears? And on and on and on! We need to go and get some bat books at the library.

Mark and I thought that we would spend about 2 hours there - 5 hours later we were loading back up into the car. We all enjoyed our time there. Nate did not enjoy his carrier at first and I ended up carrying him for a while. I did not mind because he was so sweet and cuddly. Before too long the snuggles will be gone. If Mark would get to close to him with the carrier then he would snuggle his head into my shoulder and pat my back. He has my number! He finally went back into the carrier after lunch and crashed for a long nap! I guess the atmosphere of the cave was just perfect for snoozing. He had slept on his first ever palette on the floor the night before at the hotel. Mark managed to get him to go to sleep and he stayed asleep all night. Nate really did well considering his routine was non-existent for this trip. 

Only Two More to Post

Impressions left by Nate
Sliding was the favorite activity 

More of Nate

 

Nate at White Sands

Sweet baby feet


Nate loved playing in the sand. He even tasted it, more than once!