LSEC Family Night At NRH2O

Last night we went to NRH2O. It was my works employee club night. We love to go each year because it is after the park closes and we have the place to just the club members. No lines. This year we somehow ended up with an extra ticket and William wanted Blayne to go so Courtney was great with the last minute invite and let him come. They had so much fun. William was so happy to finally have someone his age to play with there. The two of them were crazy. Running around like Chickens with their heads cut off. It was a great night. I think that this is the first time William has had a friend go with us to do something without that child's parent being there. How exciting.
Take care,
Rachel

The Crew

Crazy Boys

Craziness on Facebook

Wow. What seems like all of a sudden I am coming across long lost friends on Facebook. What started as a way for Keeley and I to exchange pictures has grown. For the longest time Kelley and Cori were my only friends. No I have so many others from school. With things like Facebook and My Space people truly no longer have to wait until a reunion to find out what people are up to and look like now. Question is can that be a good thing? Not sure but here we go. If you are on Facebook or My Space look me up and become a friend.
TTYL,
Raye

First Day of School '08

Very uneventul drop off for the first day of school and lets hope the rest of the day is the same. When I woke him up to eat breakfast this morning I was pushing on his matress saying "First day of school first day of school". I thought the Nemo reference was funny but he could have cared less. He had his Speed Racer backpack and his Ben 10 lunch box and was happy as a clam. He thought it was pretty cool that he has an actual desk this year. In Kindergarten they just had tables. I was thinking as I left with Doug that Jake will be in this building in three years. Yikes. That seems like a long time but it is not.
Happy Monday,
Raye

Girls Night Out & School

Saturday night we went out for Lil Teri's birthday. We went to dinner at Gloria's and then to 8.O's. Yes more Mexican food after Joe T's. Is there really such thing as too much Mexican food? LOL... I actually stayed out until 1:45. That is when we left 8.O. I can't believe the four of us were able to hang. It was great to hang out again. I need to do more things outside the family. They are my main reason for being but we need a break sometimes. William starts school tomorrow so you know I will post about that. I think he is nervous about it. Tonight when he was brushing his teeth he just broke down and started crying. He told us it was because he missed Baby Ryan. He always pulls that out when he has a breakdown. Maybe in his little brain he thinks that is a good reason for him to be crying so he says that is the reason. Could be that is just how he manifests his fears and what not. We got him calmed down and to bed. He was tired. That totally contributed to the breakdown. Bless his heart. I will post about the first day tomorrow. I know I am stressed to some degree because I am still wide awake. That is unusual for me.
Take care,
Raye

Me and Teri with our yummy Blue Things

Joe T's

I can't believe it has been almost a week since I last posted. I am a slacker but my back feels much better. Go steroids. The family went to Joe T's on Saturday. Man it was hot and we were there at 11:30. It was good though. I hadn't been there since I was pregnant with Ryan. We sat next to one of the fountains and Jake was loving it. He was splashing and would have climbed in if we would let him. I took William to the back to stand in front of a fountain I took a picture of him the last time we were there. He was a big wimp as bees were around. Melissa and I tried to make him understand it was okay but he still freaked out. I did get the picture though. Yeah me.
Rachel

Jake at the fountain

Lissa and William

Herniated Disc

Can you believe it? I hurt my back at Kylee's birthday. I was trying to lift this little boy so he could see the Mockingbirds that had nested in Tyra's tree. Well he ended up not being very little. Leave it to me to do this. I give up. The one bright spot is that he suggested something I have wanted to do for awhile. We were talking about my incisional hernias. He said there was no bulging of the intestines which is a good thing. He thinks that the cumulative scar tissue from three c-sections is what is causing the discomfort and pulling that I feel. He suggested that abdominoplasty would help. Yep that is right. He suggested a tummy tuck. He thinks the surgeon could remove some of the old scar tissue, close up the hernias and get rid of the extra skin right there above my scars. Yeah.... I really want to do this and Dr Jutras gave me the name of the surgeon that he knows. He said getting that excess skin off will also help with the skin irritation I feel under the "pooch". I guess we will see what happens.

Have a great week,
Raye

Crazy Gymnasts

This was a busy party weekend. On Saturday we took the boys to Tyson's party and on Sunday I took Jake to a party. Tyson's party was at ASI Gymnastics. The boys loved it. Jake was jonesing to get on the swing. He didn't swing long just once out but he did it. All the kids just loved being in the foam pit. They could have left them there the entire time and they would have been happy. We think we might sign Jake up for lessons. He needs an outlet for his energy and that is the only thing that will take him at this age in gymnastics. Sounds like a good outlet to me.
Take care

William swinging like crazy

Fearless Jake

Father Chad

I was once again honored to attend an ordination for Chad. This time he actually became a priest on August 11th. Goodness. Had someone asked me 25 years ago if Chris Murrell would marry a priest I would have told them they were crazy. Chad was so wonderful to s when Ryan was in the hospital. His prayers and words were beautiful. He seemed to know what to say. I guess that is why he will make a great priest. Watching him be ordained was more moving than I would have guessed. I actually kept tearing up. It was amazing to feel what was in that room. Especially when they all laid their hands on him. It was awesome. After the service Chad being newly consecrated he basically went down a line and blessed anyone that wanted to be blessed. I took the boys and went up there. Chad was so sweet. William did great. Chad laid his hands on William's head and William did what I said and kissed Chad's hands. Jake took a little help but he kind of did it. It just hit me as I typed this that I said 25 years ago up in the first couple of sentences. Man we are getting old....
Have a blessed week,
Raye

New Member of the Club

Welcome to the Mom Club Shelli. Little Madison Kathryn finally came into the world yesterday. And I mean little. She was 6lb, 13oz and 18.5 in long. How cute is that?? You forget how little they actually are when they are born. They grow up way to fast. With Madison being so little makes me think how big Ryan and Jake would have been had they gone full term. Ryan was 5lbs 11oz at 34 weeks and Jake was 7lbs 10oz at 37 weeks. Can you imagine if Jake went to 40 weeks? He could easily have been a 9 lb baby. Man. William was little in comparison at 7lbs even at full term. Goodness. Take a look at little Miss Madison. How cute is she? I can't wait to meet her.

Have a great day!
Rachel

How cute is she?

Hair Today

We went and got the boys hair cut today. I broke down and cut William's hair. I could never get a good cut. I should have broke down and took him to Justin. At least he would have been able to William's hair started in a good direction. So I ended up just cutting it off. He was happy. I think the long hair was driving him crazy. We trimmed up Jake's as well. He still has his curls in the back. William really wanted to do a mohawk so we bought the strong stiff hair gel stuff. So when we got home I tried it. He hated it. He wanted it to be "flat" as he calls it. I did get Jake's in a mohawk but as soon as William said he wanted his to be flat Jake did the same thing. Those crazy boys. So it was outside with them to play in the water. I sprayed them with the water hose and actually shampooed their hair and washed their bodies with body wash right in the driveway. I know white trash. Oh well. They loved it and they got to play in the water in the 100 degree weather. Oh yeah. The skating party William went to on Saturday almost had bad results. He switched his skates and the new ones had wheels that spun much faster. He told us he fell and hit his eye. Right where his stitches are currently located. Good Lord.
Have a great week!
Raye

William Before

William After

Jill's Bachelorette

Jill had her bachelorette party last night. We started at her sister's house at 5 and then dinner and then Pete's Dueling Piano bar. Rebekah and I did poop out about 10:30. We had lots of fun. We were singing, well I was singing, and laughing. Jill finally loosened up after many tasty beverages. She and I started at her sisters house. There were two margaritas left so she and I had a contest to see who could drink the fastest. She didn't even try. The pictures below are "self" portraits. Each one was taken by one of us. We were laughing about something Jill said or did, but I can't remember. Oh well...
Rach

My Perspective

Rebekah's Perspective

Jill's Perspective

Jessie Goes Home

What a wonderful end to this story. Jessie Hall got to leave Cook's yesterday and go home. I can't tell you how great it feels to hear stories when kids get to go home. Makes you have hope. Anyway... If you like check out the story Channel 8 did yesterday.
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080807_mo_hall.249fabdf.html
I ordered about 15 of the pink Pray For Jessie bracelets. If you want one let me know.

Have a great Friday!
Raye

Eduard is El Flop

Teri Lyn and Tanner went to Galveston on Sunday for a weeks vacation. They decided to wait out the storm. The good news is Eduard stayed just to the east of Galveston. From what the weather said they should have just got wind and rain. Looks like that probably stopped today. I am glad they are safe. Cool story to put in Tanner's baby book. If I remeber correctly when they went last summer they either left right before a storm or got there just after. I can't remember for sure. Here's to a good last day at the beach.

TTYL,
Rach


Me and Big T

Another Set of Stitches

Leave it to William to injure himself again. This child. Just over a year since he cut open his eye while Doug and I were at Shane's wedding he does it again. On Saturday we put Jake down for a nap and headed to the Apple store to exchange my phone. That did not take long so we decided to go into Robb & Stucky just to drool over the furniture. As we are looking around Doug's phone rings. It's Ethan. He explains William is bleeding and Emily put a band aid on it. So off we go to the house. We get there and sure enough it looks like he might need stitches. William and I trek down to the Cook's Urgent Care. 1 1/2 hours later he has two stitches in the opposite eye from the year before. At least he will have a matching set. From what he said he was crouched down next to Emily's bed hiding from Jake. When he came up and tried to run he did not clear the end of her bed and smacked right into the end of the footboard. I think I need to ban him from her room. If you remember he was in her room when he broke his arm three years ago. What you can't see in the picture is the swelling. It was pretty bad. It has gone down. What can you do with boys.....

Take care,
Rachel

Vacation Bible School

The boys went last week to VBS at Heritage Church of Christ. They had so much fun. Jake was a little cranky when we would first leave him, but the couple that had his group said he did fine. Big T was in the preschool classes, but he was not in the same tribe as Jake. Blayne and William were in the same tribe. They had fun together. Grace came and visited a couple of days. William did not get to attend the final night though. We had some behavior issues that needed to be addressed so he got that privilege taken from him. Along with video games the whole weekend. I know. William with behavioral issues. But alas yes. He is not perfect all the time. Hopefully this will stick. Didn't see Big T the last night of the preschool run so he is not in the picture.
Rach


Jake, Blayne, William & Grace