Big Sister finally gets a chance

We've had colds and sickness but Audra finally got a chance to hold her youngest brother. Feels like it was such a short time ago that I held Audra like this....now she's almost eight!

Christmas Eve...

He really is a love... thought I could show a picture with his eyes open!!!! We can't really tell if he looks like any of the other three?

Merry Christmas to all and to all...

and to all.... a good night's sleep!!!!!!!!!!

And his name shall be called...

DANE EMMANUEL CARLSON

Baby Boy Carlson...

For unto us a child is born...
December 18, 2008, 11:54pm, 8 lb, 6 oz, 20 inches...
Name decided by tomorrow (I PROMISE!!!)

A litte like Mary...

There have been a lot of references to me relating to Mary this last month. I have dismissed most of them for many reasons. For starters I thought this baby would have been home with us about two weeks ago. I hate to admit it but I really thought I would go two weeks early and so he wasn't going to be a "Christmas baby". I dismissed them because really....she road a donkey, at 13, with her unwed betrothed, for a census, and gave birth in a barn to the KING of KINGS!! I on the other hand; live in a subdivision, with my husband of 14 years and our three other children. I can turn the heat on and take a warm bath every night to ease my weary bones. But this last week I have wondered more and more how Mary must have felt. Today, I thought....I think it might be me and the cows who get to witness this birth.
IN a matter of two days this is what has happened:

My in-laws who are coming for Christmas and to help (whom I have been very excited for their arrival) are in West Texas in a hotel waiting on a part for their car to be delivered...instead of their planned arrival which was today.

My sister in law who both comes to the hospital and is back up for my children to go to...has a child with throw up, 101 fever and is sick w/ a cold herself

My other friend who has been back up in case the Carlsons aren't here yet has a child with a fever and ear infection

Amanda who is basically my doula, has been in every delivery room of mine, has a child with pink eye

Gunnar came home with a note from school today saying....please watch your children...we have had a case of lice and scabies in his classroom!!!! Scabies? ....WHAT ARE SCABIES????

As I sat dumbfounded this evening wondering what it would be like to give birth alone, I thought of Mary. Her cries of pain in the cold night air, her husband no doubt wondering how to help or comfort her, the animal smell, maybe even some Scabies themselves!!!!! She had no idea what it would be like to be a mother but like mothers before her and mothers to come, she succumbed to the pain, gave birth to her son and took it one moment at a time.

I guess that's what we'll do...take it one moment at a time.

Living near NASA

One of the fun things living near NASA is the extras that happen on an ordinary day. Today the Shuttle flew home from it's latest mission and here it is just above our neighborhood landing in a matter of minutes. I was in the car with Anders and said...."Look! It's the Shuttle coming home!!"

YOUR EYES ARE NOT DECEIVING YOU!!

YES!! It snowed in Houston last night. The day before it was 77 for a high and humid and the next morning we woke up to chilly temps and rain. It drizzled all day and by 6pm it turned into flurries!! It snowed until midnight and we sat by the fire and pretended to be having "winter!"
It's a Christmas miracle:) Now we're waiting for baby boy Carlson to come to complete the miracle!

A cold walk to school...

Yes....some days we actually have a cold morning here in Houston. Last week, one of those mornings it was in the 40's for our 7 minute walk to school. It's really a short walk but for these thin blooded kids who are used to 80's or higher they feel the colder temps down to their bones. I of course breathe deep on a morning like this and take in every second since by afternoon it's back up to 70 and in a day or two the high's are back in the 80's! But for this brief moment...we walked, silently to school, feeling the cold on our cheeks, pretending just for a moment in my mind that I lived in the North again....

Christmas Concerts...

I made it...no baby before the church Christmas concerts. Here are the "biggies" as we call them Katherine and Audra were angels this year (costumes came later) and also played hand bells in the big service this morning with the entire Bell Choir (maybe 40 people?) It was precious.

Oh the Games they'll play...

It's my kids ritual to come home from school, have a snack and go play outside. Lately they've been enjoying basketball together (making up all sorts of versions), then I've been trying to teach them the ins and outs of football. Anders says "hut hut hut" and runs the ball to the street himself. But on this particular day they made up their own game. I'm not sure what it was called but the intent was to get the tennis ball through Anders' legs w/out him taking it all the way to Gunnar. Literally hours of fun with a paddle and a ball!

Big Belly Mama....

My sister wanted to see a side view and this picture was just sent to me by my beloved Amanda. Is this a belly?? I'm not sure what else to say except......I'm CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!

HERE THEY ARE!!!

Here are our precious friends who both just celebrated birthdays in November. Happy Birthday and Happy Thanksgiving to our beloved friends... Here is their first born...Jadon who is an angel baby!! He is almost four months old and is a total delight!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and....

and yours!!
We are home this year in Houston for a warm and muggy Thanksgiving but we get to have our wonderful, dear friends/family the Hankins celebrating with us this year.
the grown ups got to eat in the dining room for the first time in our home and we had a great day of feasting, snow flake making contest, writing out what we're thankful for on Audra's homemade leaves and football!!
Only wish we were with all our family everywhere.....

Happy Birthday Mom!

the day after my dad celebrates....it's my MOM's birthday!! November 16th we celebrate my amazing mama!! Happy Happy Birthday MOM!! We love you

Happy Birthday Grandpa BOB!!!!!

Now this isn't to say from this picture that this is the best photo we have of my dad...but this picture is one that could be called an image of my father that will forever be frozen in my mind. From the time I was a little girl I could look outside and see him working under a piece of equipment.....and now 35 years later, my own children flock to be with their grandpa as he messes with metal and tools and some good words and comes out with a working piece of machinery. It's good memories..... and somehow this picture says "dad" to me.

Happy Birthday Dad!! Happy Birthday Grandpa..... We love you

Trick Or Treat?

We spent this weekend in Bryan at Lee's parents for our Fall weekend "away". The kids love to play on the farm and Chris and Lee went to see the Aggie's beat Colorado in football. But Friday night we did our "dress up" and here is what the cat dragged up!!!!!

BatMan, Snow Princess and I think....a King?

I'll give you three guesses!?

Yep...that's right...Curious George and the man with the Yellow Hat!
One of the advantages of Chris having more people in the office is extra support, but what comes with that is women wanting to have adult costume day on Halloween!! Chris was stumped....until alas....he thought brilliantly....I will use a prop!!! And ....they won!!! Three judges voted unanimously for them to win....and he was running against "Joe, the Plumber" among others.

Zoo Day....

Once again.....kindergartners go to the zoo. This is Gunnar's class and his teacher is Miss Phillips. IT was a cool day of 70's (maybe 80) as evidenced by their jackets!! aaaaahh
Gunnar is first row...last one on the right!!

The Annual Pumpkin Patch Excursion

Audra (not unlike her mother) has to bring a bag, really a purse wherever she goes. She often thinks which stuffed animal would go well with this situation and then has to go back upstairs and get the right purse and the right animal!!
This was Gunnar's smile when he spotted a little girl from his kindergarten class! Is that a smile?
Where is the combine? If there is hay here....why isn't there a tractor??
The five cousins at the Pumpkin Patch!

Third Birthday!

Tonight we had just a little family gathering (Chris is in Austin) So really just 1/2 a family gathering for Anders' third birthday. He, as you can see, is still KING at three.
The special...surprise guest was none other than "Miss Jenny!" Making a smashing hit as the "special guest" she wowed everyone with silly teeth and a birthday car for Anders. They LOVE Miss Jenny and Mr. Brandon and this was a treat to have her for dinner.
And yes....most likely.....all three will need braces.

Days of our Lives...

This little lovebug turns three tomorrow....
A mother hopes as two turns into three that the energy once reserved for mischief turns into energy for work and play. A mother hopes that as two turns into three pull ups will soon be behind us...a mother hopes as two turns into three that hitting and tantrums give way to words and monologues...a mother hopes...that as two gives way to three that the precious smile remains, the laughter, the silliness does not give way to care but the childlike wonder remains.

The New Adventures of....

Gunnar waits...waits...waits...and then kicks the ball all they way down the field in his first game! He is famous for tripping almost every time he "sees" the ball. He loves being on the ground?
Audra keeps after the ball with great tenacity!

Audra and Gunnar are on the same Y soccer team this year and Chris got voted coach by default. It's hysterical and precious all at the same time. Here they are in practice. THey've had one game and honestly it was so cute I could hardly stand it. The female coach on the other team was yelling at her kids while Chris and the other dad looked like a Disney movie. They (the Dragonflies) won 2-1 and their next practice a little girl from the other team had joined. Her mother said..."we left for ethical reasons!!!!" I said...."you won't have yelling here and just as I said that we looked to see all the kids in a huddle around Chris yelling with glee.....GGGoooooooo DRAGONFLIES!" Ahhh......childhood!!!

The Farm

My kids have actually never been to the farm in the Fall. They have spent time on the farm every year since they were born but either in summer or Christmas so for them to see the farm in Harvest season opened up a whole new world of questions and fascination with they're beloved farm. Why are the crops brown? Are they dead? Does the combine REALLY work? They shouted with glee the first day we arrived to find corn in it's "hard" state, fully ripened!! They also were amazed by the enormous combine, one for beans and one for corn!! Now this was an evacuation!

Remember the saying...

"don't upset the apple cart?" Is that how it goes? Well in this case you'd turn over 5 little apple picking cherubs. Over a week ago they announced that we would not have school again (for the second full week) to which I fell in a lump of exhaustion and my family and husband responded by taking the next "evacuation flight" out of here! The kids and I went to MN for a full week and had a spontaneous Fall trip to MN which I have not done in 11 years!!! The kids are all together picking apples in this pic.

More pics...

This is curbside in front of every single house....people have been working so hard to get yards cleaned up. Many many people are still not back to work, 1.5 million still w/out power, no real groceries, long lines for gas, school out possibly through next week? and our boil water notice just got lifted for us today. Still kind of "creepy" to use it so we'll drink bottled for awhile?

our friends yard...
Huge trees down every where you walk and every where you look!!!!
I've had the kids out riding bikes and they've had a quick lesson in mountain biking!
Peoples' backyards are all exposed...fences down every few houses.

Day Six: Monday...chris comes home

Our neighbor lost two enormous trees that shaded our backyard and made it very private. One of his trees fell into our fence and knocked a portion down. Chris tried to block it w/ the hammock because they have a pool and it was now "open access!!"
We lost this tree that provided a lot of shade for us...

This used to be standing with a canopy on it...It left it's mark!!

Day Five: Still waiting....

We went to church Sunday morning with Lee's parents and then back to the farm. Hot and humid. Still little phone coverage. Sunday night our friend Stuart drove back into Clear Lake and gave us report on all of our homes... No power, trees down, things down around our home but no damage to our home. Unbelievable. The reports are so many....so many people around us have lost their homes or had significant damage and loss.

Day Four: Rainy and windy...waiting out the storm

Saturday was a blur of rainy day activities....Lee hosted a "dance" for the kids!! Here they are country dancing!
While Nana dressed the kids for a fashion show. Here is Miss Brookwood Elementary!
Bahama Jack!
Mr and Mrs. University Baptist Church is what Nana called this fair bunch!!?
The winds whipped through the night and all I could think was what in the world it was during at our house...... little phone coverage, tired kids and my kids all developed a hearty cough that needed asthma medicine. Especially Anders!!! We were feeling "close"!!!!