Why I love being a mom.....

Reason # 1 is COLE.....Even though he is now 15 and very much a teenager, and usually thinks Im kind of dorky, and parents arent really that cool to him these days, there are still those moments when I can tell he loves me and he appreciates me. Yesterday he walked to the park with Sam, Ava, and I. He pushed their stroller the entire trip and I could tell that he really wanted to be there with us. It was nice. I know these moments wont happen very often while his age still ends in "teen"...but I will take what I can get for now! And I appreciate the way Cole still loves his Granny. Quite often he will post his FB status as "going to granny's..yeah!". I love that! I also love the way he loves his siblings. Now his love for Camryn, even tho I know its there, is hidden most of the time these days. But he is very affectionate with Sam and Ava & I think it is so sweet

Reason # 2 is CAMRYN...Since she is now 10 the "tween" attitude will occassionally try to rear its ugly head. But for the most part Camryn is great and its still important to her that she pleases me and makes me happy! She is my little helper...probably more that she would like to be sometimes. But still she is a big help and I cant imagine how much more hectic things would be with out her to pick up some of my slack!? Something else about Camryn that makes me very happy is her desire to attend church. On days we might miss for what ever reason she is extrememly disappointed! I see a lot of myself in Camryn thru her love for friends and socializing and just her desire to enjoy life! She has an ambitious attitude that Im very proud of.

Reason # 3 is SAM...Sam brings me so much joy. He is hilarious and makes the entire family laugh constantly. I am loving being the mother of him at this age. I have learned to appreciate the fact that he is a 2 yr old and laugh at the daily mishaps instead of stressing about them like I did with Cole. I am so thankful I have been blessed with that ability...finally! Sam loves to tell me he loves me by saying " I love you too momma" and it melts my heart. He is a lover of his friends, and people, and life, and everything around him!

Reason # 4 is AVA...I love this baby girl! When she sees me she smiles as big as she can and I LOVE it! She is such a good baby and Im very thankful for that. She is pretty content just hanging out. I was excited when we found out baby # 4 was another girl. I love all things "girly"! And maybe I'm partial...but she is pretty darn cute!!!

I also have a reason # 5... JON. Jon became a parent for the first time with the birth of Sam and I have loved watching the joy of being a first time parent thru his eyes. I think it has made things even more special! He is proud of his son and adores his baby girl!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY 2010!!!

A Boy and his Trains

Sam LOVES his trains. They are his BFFs! We bought him a small wooden train set last year for his 1st bday. But his true love affair with Thomas and all the other trains from the Island of Sodor began at his sitter's house. The boys there play trains every day. Sam can now name every train and tell me what color they are.

When Cole was Sam's age he also loved his wooden train set, and was always enthralled by the large train table they had at Books A -Million in Longview. I always wanted to buy one of those for him but never did. So when another son came along who also loves trains...I decided it was a must. Sam asked Santa to bring him a train table this past Christmas. He can spend forever playing on it. I do believe it is one of the best investments Santa has ever made! Sam recently scored 3 new trains for getting potty trained. Another good investment! :)

See that smile on his face? Love it!

104 Years Young!

Today Jon's grandmother, Edna Bailey, is 104 years old... I think that is utterly amazing! She was 100 years old when Jon and I met and I remember thinking then "WOW!" She is such a sweet lady! And very witty! The pictures below were taken a few years ago on a visit to her home in Oklahoma. When she saw the one of the 3 of us she said "Looks like ol' biggie is taking up all the room"! How cute! We played a game of dominoes while there and she was still very "quick"....whenever it was my turn and I was adding up the dots to figure out if I could play anything, she could tell me exactly which dominoes I needed in order to play! Edna became a member of the LDS church in her 80's...after which she served as the Relief Society President and even went on a full time mission! She accomplishes things at her age that I even now would feel very overwhelmed by! I am very grateful that I have had the privilege of knowing her and seeing her awesome example of a faithful daughter of our Heavenly Father.

Jon has very fond memories of his grandmother playing basketball with he and his brothers well into her 80's!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMOTHER BAILEY....AND MANY MORE!

Snow in Texas

I love snow!! I always have....especially as a kid! I LOVED hearing my mom early in the morning telling my sisters and I to go look outside. I always knew that meant no school that day because of snow! Wahoo! Too bad those days are very rare these days. So when it does happen, it seems cameras everywhere come out and the pictures start snapping. Here are a few of ours...

The snow was beautiful and we all had a blast in it. In fact, we hate to see it melt. Hopefully it won't be years before we see it in Texas again!

sam's 1st haircut

Sam was pretty bald as a baby and his hair grew very slowly. Here he is at a year old..still pretty hairless!

So until recently he had never had his hair cut. He had the cutest little curls along his back hairline. They were especially cute when they would dry after a hair washing. But after a while they started looking a little crazy...after a nap they were out of control...long wispy hairs that stuck out from around his head. Plus the front of Sam's hair is still pretty short...so his hairdo could have been referred to as a mullet! :(

I finally got to the point where I felt like his hair wasn't presentable unless he was straight from the tub. And after his sitter's comment that Sam's hair reminded her of some of the men she would see walking to the synagogue on her street in New York ( which cracked us up!!), I finally decided it was time to let go of that little piece of the the baby he still is in my eyes. So, Jon and I took Sam to a place thats specifically for children's haircuts. Sam was immediately excited by the cool "chairs" and chose the airplane to sit in. To make it even more exciting the television at his station was showing his B.F.F., Thomas! Sam climbed right up and did GREAT during the cut. We were very proud of him and he loves his haircut, which he still talks about over a month later! "You like my haircut?"

This last one is my favorite! Look at his proud smile..what a big boy!

Welcome to the World!

Baby #4 joined our family on December 4th, 2009....Ava Annslee Bailey weighing 6lbs & 6oz.
I love the name Ava and it was actually fairly easy for Jon and I to agree upon (good thing we didnt have to come up with another boys name...they would prob. still be nameless!).Her middle name is actually a combo of her grandmother's middle names....Ruth Ann Childress and Gaye Lee Bailey... with an 'S' thrown in to tie them together. Our family loves her and after only 6 weeks it feels like she has been here all along! Sam especially loves "baby sister" as he calls her, but he is quick to inform others her name is Ava. He is CONSTANTLY giving her kisses, and not just one at a time...usually 3 or 4! Her are some pics of her many fans...

The new big brother!

Ava's #1 fans Camryn was so happy when she found out she was getting a sister!

Ok....I know this pic of Cole and Ava is tiny. If I was computer savy I could fix it. But Im not so it is what it is! :)

Do I really have a 14 yr old???

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE!!!!!!

At the beginning of this month my son, Cole, turned 14 years old. I so remember those days for me....they were filled with socializing, boys, my girlfriends, stake dances, EFY, and all the other fun times that go with what I think is one of the best ages!!! I can not believe I now have a child in that stage.

For his birthday he and a couple of friends came to Rockwall for the night. His one request was to eat at SNUFFERS..he LOVES the cheese fries! As a gift we got him the microphone and drumset for Guitar Hero World Tour. And they rocked out ALL NIGHT LONG!?!?

COLE WAS AN INSTANT DRUMMER!!!


SAM WANTED HIS TURN OF COURSE!

CONCENTRATING REALLY HARD! :)

AND THE ROCKING CONTINUED THE NEXT MORNING!

Time Out for Women 2009

<----A couple of my Besties!

A group of friends and I recently attended a Women's conference..TIME OUT FOR WOMEN..in Houston. It was such a fun weekend! First of all I was very excited to be getting away by myself. I was going to be only LUANNE for an entire 48 hours!!!! I was also looking forward to spending that time with some girls who really make me laugh! There's a good chance of pants-wetting whenever Im around them cause they are that funny...ther are always witty comments flying here and there and I can't get enough! Another cause of excitement during this weekend was getting to hear Kenneth Cope sing. He is AWESOME. The first time I heard himwas as a 14yr old at EFY and I have loved him since. So getting to hear him made me feel young again! The car ride there and back was filled with tons of laughter. The conference was awesome and just the spiritual boost Ive been needing, and the time spent with my girlfriends was priceless. I came back feeling relaxed and ready to be a better mom and wife. I can not wait til next year!

My new "do"!

Today I went in for a haircut. I am such a low maintenance girl..probably to a fault, cause the thought of paying $80 + on my hair makes me cringe. So..I decide that I am only going to get my haircut. This has been a long time coming cause I have been feeling frumpy for far too long. So last night I say i cant stand it one more day and I make an appointment at a salon here for today. While getting my hair washed and chit chatting with my stylist i realize she has only been out of cosmetology school for ONE MONTH!!! That didn't really set off any alarms cause my dear Jordan is still kind of fresh out and she does an excellent job. Besides, how bad can she screw up a haircut...and it will always grow back (the fact that I even have that kind of thought tells you just how laid back about this I am). So..I tell her I want it at about shoulder level with some longer layers. Well...she did cut it and she did give me some layers...2 to be exact. My hair in the back looked like 2 separate layers..not cute even to someone like myself who has little fashion sense. When i got home I had to do a few snips here and there on pieces that just had no reason to them. And after mulling over the choppiness of it..I had to do something I don't normally do. I called the salon manager. I told her I didn't want to make the girl feel bad or get her in trouble..but something had to be done about my hair. So I went back to the salon..making sure the original stylist was no longer there so she wouldn't be embarrassed. The manager took one look at my hair and agreed something needed to be done. So she pulls out her scissors, and I end up with shorter than normal hair. My husband thinks its way to short. i think I might look a little hip for once.

Happy Birthday Camryn!!

My daughter, Camryn, turned 9 this year! It really feels like just yesterday she was a baby. But here I am..on the cusp of her being "double-digits" in age. Her birthday was January 13th. Usually we plan a party...some of her themes in the past have been "American Idol", a "DIVA" party, and one year we did a "Make-over" party. Well, this year Camryn had other plans. She wanted to go shopping!!! At first she requested to go to the Galleria Mall where there is a COACH store. ???? Next, she thought maybe we should go to NorthPark, where the JUICY COUTURE store is located. ???? See where this is headed...I am raising a Fashionista! After informing her that any shopping trips for the purpose of those stores would result in her getting maybe ONE item from the clearance racks..and showing her online how much that stuff costs...(besides the lecture of who does she think we are?!?!?)..she realized that just any old mall would do. SO, we invited her cousins Mylah and Zoe along and we were ready for a day of shopping. They got their nails done, did a round of ice-skating, and we ate at The Cheesecake Factory. Camryn had about $250 to spend and she was actually very frugal with it. With each dollar she would consider spending she wanted to know how much money that would leave her with. And then she would decide how badly she really wanted it. Abercrombie and Justice for Girls were the 2 stores she really wanted to shop in. When all was said and done and her money was all spent she ended up with 6 outfits, a shirt, 3 pairs of shoes, a necklace and several barrettes and earrings from Claire's, plus 2 new Webkinz. I was pretty impressed with her bargains! And I had a fabulous day of shopping with my daughter. She is already thinking about next year's shopping trip! I think I am justas excited about it as her!

Ready or not...

Ok..so I aspire to be a blogger. I am inspired by those of you who blog on a daily basis. I dont know that I have that much to say. But..since I finally figured how to load pictures to my computer I am gonna give it a try. So, ready or not..here we come!!!