Date Night

All dressed up!

Last night was date night for Mommy and Jessilyn. We started this last year, and decided it had to be a yearly tradition! We went to dinner (Jessilyn's choice), then to the Nutcracker. We went to eat at Olive Garden. Fettucine al-fer-a-do is Jessilyn's favorite. We had a great time. I don't know how many times she said "love you, Mommy" just over dinner. She was absolutely giddy, and I loved every minute of it!

Funny faces at dinner
Is there anything better than this face?!?

We then went to the Nutcracker. Watching through her eyes was purely magical. She was glued to the dancers the entire time. She didn't miss a minute, and was asking questions about the story line throughout. She is infatuated with Clara. In the second half when the Sugar Plum Fairy was dancing, Jessilyn was more concerned with seeing Clara (who was just sitting on the throne watching, nothing else). Too funny! They served Christmas cookies during intermission. Yummy! After the Nutcracker was over, we went to Starbucks for coffee and hot chocolate. Jessilyn went and sat with a group of teenagers while we were waiting on our order. She, not for one minute, ever even considered the thought she wasn't as old as them! I think next year Reese will be old enough to get in on the action. We're still debating if Dad has to go, or if it will just be a girl thing. What's your vote? She had a great night, and I had an even better night...watching memories being made through her eyes. Nothing better!



Love you, Jess!!

Here's some more Jessilyn silliness, just for fun!!

Random Pics

Here are some random pics from the last month or so that I haven't yet posted

Jessilyn and Reese both got new haircuts. Jessilyn likes to tell everyone she got a "bob," and Reese "kinda got a bob, but really just a trim, because you can't tell she got her hair cut." I found a cute place for them to go. They get to sit in a firetruck or police car and watch a movie.

Jessilyn's hair

Jessilyn sitting so still

Jess in her first Christmas program at church
(my camera sucks...listening Santa?!?)

Jessilyn singing

Reese fixing MiMi's hair

Dress up fun!

We call this our version of a "knocked up 80's prom queen"

Let me explain: The girls went to a mermaid birthday party. The little girl's mom sewed mermaid tails for each of the girls. This is Reese's tail, but she likes to pull it up like a tube dress! It looks just like an 80's prom dress to me, and her cute little belly makes her look...well, knocked up! I can't explain where she learned this pose...I won't even try.

Reese getting her first hair cut (and apparently really enjoying it)

Lollipops are always a good distraction
Cute little Reese!

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a great Thanksgiving in Amarillo this year. The day we got into Amarillo was absolutely beautiful, so we took Jessilyn, Reese, and Marlie to the park. Marlie had a blast! Pops and MiMi came along. My mom swears she told us she wasn't going to cook this year (in the small rental house), but none of us weem to remember that conversation. Anyway, we did end up cooking...it was wild, crazy, cramped, and FUN! Everyone was home, there were pack-n-plays in every room, and we had a blast! Dinner was wonderful! We spent Friday with Randon's family. Randy cooked a great meal, and we had lots of fun rocking out on the Wii. Saturday we attempted to get pictures of the four grandkids in their Christmas outfits and pajamas for Christmas cards. BTW, whose idea was that?!!? We took something like 650 pictures, and got maybe 10 good ones (no good ones of all four together). I didn't even get a great one of my girls together. (You'll never guess which one wasn't cooperating!?!? If you can't, you'll know when you get your card!) Saturday night we went to church, then had a Wii party with my family. We were NO good, but it was amusing to listen to Cynthia sing and watch Jessica and Rob tag team on the drums. Sunday was some laid back, card playing fun with my family. Then we headed out to Stacy and Misti's for a great dinner, then got on the road back to Midland. All in all, a great weekend and way too much great food!

Jessilyn and the big man Hutton

Aunt Jaclyn and Reese

Daddy and Jessilyn doing "The Spider"
(takes you back to elementary days, huh)

Marlie swinging



Reese swingingJohnson Family

Jessilyn in her element!

Daddy's girl!

My Big Eight!

I was tagged by Jody and Jennifer, so here goes:

8 TV Shows I Love To Watch:
1. ER
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Brothers & Sisters
4. The Hills (don't judge me)
5. John & Kate plus eight
6. Dancing with the Stars
7. Oprah
8. The 700 Club (I sound like my mom!)

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Kabuki (Amarillo)
2. Abuelo's
3. Chili's
4. PF Chang's
5. The Cheesecake Factory
6. Posada's (I miss this place, Jessica!)
7. Ruth's Chris
8. Wall Street Grill (Midland)

8 Things That Happened Today:
1. Paid bills (yuck!)
2. Put up fall decorations
3. Got down Christmas decorations
4. Put up all Christmas decorations except tree (ran out of time)
5. Argued with Randon about getting tree out, then about our messy garage
6. Untangled Christmas lights for Randon (trying to kiss up)
7. Went to buy milk for cereal (for dinner!)
8. Packed for Thanksgiving

8 Things I am looking Forward To:
1. Going to Amarillo
2. Cooking for Thanksgiving
3. Seeing MaMa
4. Going to church at Messiah's House (with Randon, for once)
5. Getting pics of girls for Christmas cards
6. Finishing Christmas shopping
7. Randon's Christmas break
8. Ski trip (first time for Jessilyn-more posts to follow I'm sure!)

8 Things On My Wish List:
1. Sleep
2. Energy
3. DSLR camera
4. DVD video camera
5. Lose weight!
6. Finish last details of house
7. Trip for 10th anniversary next summer
8. Get out of debt!

8 People I Tag:
1. Cynthia
2. Meghan
3. Stacy
4. Jill
5. Sarah
6. Emily S.
7. Erin
8. CeCe

I usually never do these when I'm tagged, and now I've done two in a row! Imressive...

I Was Tagged

I was tagged (like a month ago) by my friend Erin. Here is the 4th photo in my 4th file, then the 6th photo in my 6th file. I do not have my picture files organized well at all, so it is pretty random!!

This is a picture of my girls at Maw's house last year. Every year the girls on my mom's side of the family have a brunch the weekend before Christmas. Last year it was at Maw's house. There were lots of little ones around. The girls and their 2nd cousin(?) Kenzie were feeding the chickens. Maw's house holds some of my favorite memories from when I was a little girl. I have always loved those chickens running around in the back yard!!

This is a picture from when I was painting Jessilyn's room. It was the first room to work on after our move to Midland. She was helping me paint in her bikini!! She was so little :(

So there you have it, Erin!

Killing Giants

Today at MOPS, the girls learned about David and Goliath. In the car, Jessilyn was looking at her papers and pretending to be the teacher. What she said was too funny...

Jessilyn: "OK class, let's tell the story of David and Goliath one more time to help us remember. It is very important to remember not to throw rocks at anyone except giants and mean people."

Do you think she got the point of the lesson?

P.S.-I was so excited yesterday about potty training. The part I forgot: last night Reese got out of bed at least five times. Everytime I would raise my voice and threaten her with a spanking if she got up again, she would get her classic little Reese smile (those of you who know her know just the smile I'm talking about), and say in a sheepinsh little voice, "Reese potty." They learn so quickly how to manipulate, don't they?

Snack Time Fun!

Jessilyn decided she wanted to make her own snack today. She wanted to "mix something with m&m's. So I let her get creative, and what she came up with was pretty good! She mixed Cheerios, peanuts, broken up pieces of chocolate drizzled rice cakes, dried cranberries, m&m's, and mini Nilla wafers. Her and Reese loved shaking it up, and they especially loved eating it! (This was a vast improvement from last week. On two different days she asked if she could get herself a snack. The first day, she was eating caramel apple dip straight from the bowl by the spoonful, and the next she was snacking on a bag of bacon bits!! Healthy, right?!?)

On another note, Reese wore panties in public for the first time with no accidents-to Jessilyn's gymnastics practice! YEAH!!

What's Your Take?

So I need some input from all of my wise, godly Momma friends...

Yesterday Jessilyn got in trouble for aggravating Reese and then lying to me about what I clearly saw her blatantly do. She got two spankings-one for the big sis bullying and another for the lying. I explained to her what she did wrong, why she was being punished, then made her think about her actions. After her "thinking time," I went in, talked to her, loved on her, then prayed with her. I explained to her that when we mess up and do something wrong, we should pray about it. Pray for forgiveness, thank God for loving us unconditionally, thank God for the lesson, and ask for His strength not to repeat the offense. Here is my dilemma, my thought I have been pondering ever since. Should I be teaching her to pray for forgiveness every time she messes up, to confess each sin?

I believe we are all already forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ. Salvation is our acceptance of that forgiveness. I understand Jessilyn hasn't yet accepted that gift. But I do not want to plant the seeds of condemnation and guilt that can come with the teaching that we must "confess every sin." I know as a young child, I really struggled with this point. I remember worrying about every single thing I had done wrong that day and trying so hard to remember every little detail. (I realize I tend to have a little of a compulsive personality, but so does my sweet Jess.)

So, my question is...How do you balance teaching a soft heart, one that is easily convicted of wrongdoing without (possibly) opening the door for guilt, self-condemnation, etc.? What's your take?

SluMBeR ParTy!!!

Jessilyn went to her first slumber party this weekend. She had the best time! Her friend Amaris lives down the street from us, plays on our soccer team, and goest to our church. Amaris had a girl party-she invited three little girls and their moms. We had dinner (mini corn dogs and friendship salad), made crafts, and had desert. Then the moms went home and the girls spent the night. Cece (Amaris's mom) brought all the girls to church the next morning. Jessilyn painted a letter "J" and made a tie-dyed pumpkin shirt. The girls were adorable and the mommys had a great time, too.

They sent the cutest invitations I've ever seen. Cece let Amaris plan the whole party, so the invitation was in Amaris's own words (in italics), with her mom's translations (in bold). Portions of it went like this: The girls have to be here in like 11 minutes, around noon. Around 6:00. The entire invite went on like this, telling what time, plans, what to bring, etc. Very creative!

I must mention that Cece was exactly 39 weeks the night of the party. How brave/crazy is she?!?! Thanks Cece and Amaris for a great night!!!

The girls eating dinner (Notice the bowl in the middle-fresh whipped cream. The girls ate the entire bowl...mostly with their hands!)

Desert time!

My cutie pie!

Amaris, Jessilyn, Ava (fellow Sparkle), and Ella

Jessilyn's Artwork

Jessilyn's T-Shirt

Weekend in Amarillo

The girls and I went up to Amarillo a few weekends ago to meet Hutton and for Marlie's first birthday party. I can't believe she is already one! It is crazy to line up Reese, one year later Marlie, and one year later Hutton. The Meeks kids better slow it down!! We had a jam-packed weekend of fun! We also snuck in a trip to the fair-thanks Pops for the fun night!

The birthday cutie pie

Dig in!!

She wasn't crazy about the toys!

All the kids (minus Randon-darn football!)

Reese loves her Uncle Rob!!

I'm not sure how this happened, but I didn't get one picture of Hutton on my camera! We were constantly taking pics with him, I guess my camera just never got into the pile. URRGH! He's perfect, though-take my word for it!

GOOOOO Sparkles!!!

Jessilyn started her first year of soccer. She is doing really great. She scored the first goal of the first game. (She likes to tell everyone she scored the first goal of the season). She scored two of the team's six goals at the first game, and assisted on another. The next two games haven't gone quite so well. I think at the third game we literally got beat about 40-0. (Since it is non-competitive there is no official score. Everyone wins! ha,ha I don't remember sports being like that when I played!) The other teams just seem to have a much better grasp of the game than we do, but we're slowly catching on. Jessilyn does really well, and is having a lot of fun!! She has a little friend from church on her team, and one of the other coach's daughter is also playing with us. If nothing else, it makes for some great entertainment on Saturday afternoons! On a side note...it has worked out where Randon is getting to make it to quite a few of her games. I was very nervous about how that might go, but God really blessed us with a great schedule!

Sparkles Soccer Diva!

Bend it like Beckham, baby

All the girls

She worked up a sweat!!

We love you, Jessilyn!!

Reese is 2! (1 1/2 months ago)

The birthday girl in her cool shades (upside down)...that's how she rolls!

So we all know I am not the greatest at this blogging thing, but oh well. Reese's b-day was Aug. 15. We had to do something in Midland so that Randon could be there because football had already started. So my parents, Randon's parents, and Randon's brother and his family all came down to Midland for the weekend. We had a lot of fun! It was very low-key. We didn't invite any friends, just family. On Sunday afternoon the girls and their cousins went swimming at Randon's parent's hotel. They had so much fun. Then we came back to the house for presents and cake. Sometimes I am jealous of the cute ideas other moms come up with for their kids' parties, but for me the big parties are way too stressful. I like the simple, relaxed parties. And to be honest, I think simple is good for our kids every once in a while. They don't get that much anymore! Thanks to all the fam for coming down-we had a great time!!

Sister baking, err, eating birthday brownies

The birthday girl and her daddy

Reese and Aunt Misti splashing

Opening presents

So Tired...

What a long day! I worked today-off at 5:00. Sped to Fazoli's, shoved spaghetti down the girls' throats as fast as I could so that we could be to Jessilyn's soccer game at 6:00. Watched her game (which, by the way, was HILARIOUS!), then sped to church for a bible study that started at 7:00 (got there about 7:20). The bible study is a Kay Arthur precept study on John, which in and of itself is exhausting. She crams a lot of info. into two hours! Then home for baths and bed....

Which brings me to my question...how do you moms of multiple older children do it?!?!? I don't know if I am cut out for the sports, music, church, youth group, etc., etc., etc. lifestyle!

And for a second question:
Has anyone else done any of the Kay Arthur precept studies? This is my first one? What did you think?

Hopefully, I'll make it to blogging about Jessilyn's soccer later this week-really amusing. And I still have to catch up on Reese's b-day, my new newphew (http://www.meeksfamilyblog.blogspot.com), Marlie's b-day, etc....but for now I have to go to bed!!

The Great Flood of 08

So, here is the update on the house. We had a pipe bust in our kitchen ceiling. Yes...I said ceiling!!! Our ceiling caved in, and water seeped to every room in our house except for the master bath. We had to replace all the flooring and a few walls. It was a crazy summer, working nonstop...but I can honestly say it has turned out to be such a blessing! God is so creative! We needed (and I really wanted) new floors, and now we have them!

We have worked on every house we've lived in, but this is now my favorite. It is definitely still a work in progress, but I'm the most proud of this house.
Reason #1-I really hated this house when we first moved in. I really struggled with contentment when we first moved to Midland. I hated our house, and felt really trapped because I knew no one and stayed in my house all the time...lots of time to ponder all the things I wanted to do (but couldn't). I have worked hard to find cheap and creative ways to improve, and have learned some new things along the way. I even made my own Roman shades! Now I am really happy with where we are, and have learned to be content with what we have/haven't gotten finished.
Reason #2-This is our first home away from Amarillo and parents....hence, the first home we have really done on our own. I am so grateful for the past two homes, and for all the help we had with them. But this home holds a special place because we've done it all on our own. I feel like a grownup!!

And I must give kudos to my awesome hubby! He worked his cute little booty off this summer, and went right into football season with no rest! He has done some amazing work and been very patient with me in the process (despite a very difficult tile choice on my part!) He has done it all-ripped up old (possibly Asbestos-infested) floors, painted, laid laminate floors, installed an R.O. system, laid tile floors, installed baseboards, installed new toilets...the list goes on and on. I love Randon's work ethic, and how hard he works to take care of his girls! I love that he is a "man's man." He's not afraid to take on a new project, and he really likes to do things on his own. It makes me one proud Momma! I love you Babe!!

Here are some "before" pics:

Kitchen ceiling

Don't you just love the old (tile?) floors?!?!

Our family room (full of fans)

Here are some "during" pics:

I'll have to take some pics of things put back together...maybe later:)