My Bouncing Monkey!

An Early Tribute to My Very Special Mother

Since we will not be seeing my Mom for Mother's Day, I wanted to let her know we love her and thank her for all that she does! See you soon!

And Grandma's Too

"While we honor all our mothers
with words of love and praise.
While we tell about their goodness
and their kind and loving ways.
We should also think of Grandma,
she's a mother too, you see....
For she mothered my dear mother
as my mother mothers me."
- Unknown

As I Look Back

As I look back on my life
I find myself wondering.....
Did I remember to thank you
for all that you have done for me?

For all of the times you were by my side
to help me celebrate my successes
and accept my defeats?

Or for teaching me the value of hard work,
good judgement, courage, and honesty?

I wonder if I've ever thanked you for the simple things...
The laughter, smiles, and quiet times we've shared?

If I have forgotten to express my gratitude
For any of these things,
I am thanking you now....
and I am hoping that you've known all along,
how very much you are loved and appreciated.

- Author Unknown.

I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day. Many of my friends are celebrating their first Mother's Day. I hope it is a great one!! We are off to the lake to see the Paddack's. I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend and of course Carter can't wait to catch a fish bigger than Daddy's!

Just Hanging Out!

Yesterday we went to visit sweet Emerson. We took the kids to the playroom. Carter had fun because he got to play dollhouse and kitchen...things he only gets to do when girls are around. Emerson looked good. You can tell that by the end of the visit, she was exhausted. They get to go home on Tuesday and will hopefully be able to do most or all of the treatment outpatient. They are treating the cancer mostly with steroids and a little chemo. The hope is that she is in remission within the next 30 days. However, she will still need chemo for another few years. Please continue to keep them in your prayers. Pray that she achieves remission quickly and that once she does, it stays away! It is so hard going to a children's hospital and realizing there are so many sick kids. It was tough before, but once you have kids of your own it is just devastating.

Here is a pic of the kids and Sunny. The other two girls were helping out in the playroom. They were doing it as community service for their church.
Last night, Carter had his last soccer game. Kirsten, Rodney and Grayson came out for it. Carter was excited!
Check out Grayson's adorable shorts and awesome crocs!
Afterwards we went to Babe's. There was an hour wait! It was fun!

Have a great week!

Favorite Foto (s) Friday

Carter so EXCITED. Wiggles concert here we come!


Landon thinking about wanting to eat...Carter wasting no time to eat...

Landon wearing shades....
Carter used to sport them too...

Two precious boys, who LOVE each other very much!

Mo Ranch

**Emerson update**
They comfirmed yesterday that she has ALL (as oppossed to AML). Although serious, it has a much higher cure rate. This is great news! Pray hard for Emerson and her family!

This past weekend, we met my family down in the hill country. There is a Presbyterian retreat there called Mo Ranch. I spent many days there at church camp growing up. It was fun! We fished, swam in the river, canoed, drove around and looked at the beautiful scenery and shopped in Fredericksburg.

On Thursday, we met my parents in Llano to eat at Coopers barbeque. You pick your meat off the smoker and then take it inside and they slice it for you!

Then someone suggested going to Enchanted Rock and for some reason I agreed. I had forgotten about this rock, but I quickly rembered how much I hate it after I saw it!!!! You climb this HUGE rock (takes about an hour) and there is no shade trees...it's a rock! Of course the entire way up my parents had to remind me about the kicking screaming fit I threw when I was about 12...the last time we went up. Thank goodness I have boys!

This is before we started the hike.

Landon all sunscreened up and ready to go! Man, doesn't he have it easy?
Carter about a 1/6th of the way up.


We made it to the top!
On the way down....
Landon pooped after the exhausting hike!
Landon taking a bath in the sink. At first we didn't have a towel in the bottom, so it was slippery.
Which resulted in a fall and then he made this face...
A scenic stop on our drive...
This is Carter with Gran and Papa at the beer gardens in Fredericksburg.
Here we are on the VERY tall cat walk that crosses part of Mo Ranch. Very scary and very old!
The scene from the cat walk.
Carter trying to decide if he was going to brave the rope swing. Nope, he never did!

This is a slide that my Dad went down when he was a kid! I don't know if I quite trust it. Rich went down it...I didn't (I have in the past, but this part of the river was too cold for me).
This is what you ride on going down...then when you hit the river, you jump across it like a skipping rock!
Brotherly love!
Here is the rapid part of the river near Mo Ranch. You have to canoe to it, but once you get there the water is as warm as a bath tub. We did a lot of swimming here. Here is Carter going down the rapid.

Prayers Needed for Emerson

Our friends daughter, Emerson, was diagnosed with leukemia yesterday. I should find out more details tonight, but wanted everyone to please keep Emerson and her family in your prayers. Sunny and Nick also have another daughter Landon's age.
Emerson was having unexplained fevers for about 5 days, so they did blood work. They immediately admitted her and was to start treatment today.

Enough ALREADY!

Last night, we took out Landon's Christmas toys. I had put them in his closet until he was old enough to play with them. He is starting to sit up , on his own (for short periods). So last night, after doing so well sitting up, I run to get my camera. I was able to get this shot first.And then this happened shortly after...
We called it quits and swooped him up and off to bed!