toothbrush?

hmm... a toothbrush?
yes folks! Sally Jane's two bottom teefers are now visible when she smiles
and check out this athlete! already wearing adidas! =) (thanks Mrs. Vickers)
well, I trust everyone is having a great Thanksgiving weekend.

i had a great time catching up with my friend, Linds (from my church/former work), yesterday morning. we sipped on peppermint hot chocolate (my FAVE), watched sj play and just enjoyed time connecting.

gow had all afternoon and evening off yesterday so we went to test drive a honda pilot and crv.
it was fun and Sally was given a huge pink balloon from the nice car salesman. =)

then we went to outback for steak! what a TREAT! that has been our fave date place since we have both lived in the states - Sally downed her baby food (she LOVES carrots and sweet potatos) and probably a 1/4 of the yummy homemade bread loaf. =)

then we topped off an already great day with buying a set of tupperware that has interlocking lids! for me, an organizer, it was like an early Christmas gift! =)

gow's back to work this morning- will probably have a crazy couple of days- so it was great to have some family time and time to just live life together.

we have been watching "24" season 5 lately- last night I had dreams that Nashville was under terrorist attack and gow couldn't fall asleep cuz his brain was so into it. =)

today Sally Jane and I are headed to the library to get "The Sound of Music" and to sign her up for Dolly Parton's Imagination Station (Dolly will send Sally a free book every month that we live here).

enjoy the rest of the weekend ya'll!

Happy Thanksgiving!

safe travels to ya'll

Sally Jane is playing with her Raggedy Anne and Andy that her Great Grandma and Granpa Hillis made for her. She loves the bright red hair and Andy's buttons on his britches. =)

I am feeling a bit of nostalgia today as many of my friends are traveling to be with family or have family arriving today.

Gow and I decided to stay in Nashy for Thanksgiving because of all the traveling we have done since Sally Jane has been born. We are thankful to celebrate this day of thanks with Jess, Cali, Dave and his family- but will miss our families dearly.

so if you are out there- and are going to be with family today- enjoy it thoroughly. =)

now, i need to see where i can find a copy of Sound of Music. i LOVE that movie and remember watching it on TV during Thanksgiving break growing up!

happy trails to ya'll!

still a bit snotty

hello all,

well sally jane is still a bit snotty these days, which makes for eating an interesting experience.
check out her excitement about this rice cake.....


sally jane and i just took daddy a brownie at the studio. he has been putting in a lot of extra hours and we wanted to support him with some chocolate and some snotty -lovin'. =)

so the random news of the day -
if any of you still associate me as an athlete, i think you can throw that idea out the window as it appears i have a typing injury. yes folks, you heard me correctly, a typing injury. i am a complete dork. thru all of the data entry i have been doing- i some how injured something under my left shoulder blade.

i have typed in 2000+ names, addresses and emails.
that equates to having pushed the "tab" key 12,500+ times and the caps lock 15,000+ times.

so there you have it- i am officially a light weight in the world of typing.

a rainy monday morn

Good Morning from Nashy!

It is a pleasant rainy day which provides Sally Jane with endless entertainment of watching the rain drops on our deck and the trees blowin' and a-swayin'.

SJ is in the process of mastering falling asleep unassisted and eliminating an afternoon nap.
Oh and she turned 7 months old yesterday!
She has grown an average of one inch each month since birth- at this rate, she will be able to slam dunk a bball by age 8. =)

Gow worked a TON this weekend which is hard on all of us, but we are super thankful for the extra $$ and thankful for a job as times are a bit tougher economically right now in general.

We had a great time with Alaina (and her friends) this weekend- it is great to SHARE life with friends. I totally forgot to snap even one pix! whoops!

This week is Thanksgiving! YAHOO! I was trying to imagine the first ever celebration- how totally cool it must have been... freedom, feasts and such adventure of a new land, new culture and new friends.

Gow will have Thursday off- but as they are working on a big deadline for this Saturday-it is probably that that will be his only day off. We will see.

Now to do more data entry!

a moment of recognition

sally jane cracks me up in this clip as she is busy playing- then realizes that i have the camera out.

yesterday was a fun day of coffee with Auntie Linda in the morning and playing and dinner with Jess and Cali in the afternoon. we are blessed with great friends!

gow was able to come home at a regular hour last night and is at the studio again now. he will work this morning, take some time off to go to see DOWNHERE play with sally jane and I this afternoon and then will head back to the studio later today.
we are thankful for some extra hours for him as that translates to some extra $$.

we are hoping to connect with Devin Long (Quito) and his wife sometime this weekend as they are in town for a confr. and also with Alaina Baire (Quito) who is in town for a wedding.
yeah for everyone coming to Nashville!

our big discussion these days are how much we want to spent on purchasing a new (not brand new-but new to us) car. pray for wisdom for us as it seems econmics are out of wack in general these days....

enjoy the day!

eating happily

how in the world could you have soo much slime on your face and still be this happy?
ewwww....

well, gow is working 10 hour days this week and will probably work this weekend too as they have a deadline on Monday. we'll see.

Auntie Linda is coming for coffee this morning! Sally Jane and I are both excited! =)

sally has been sleeping thru the night the past few nights - hopefully we are back to "normal".

that's about it from our end... nothing news worthy or new.

have a great weekend everybody!

almost 7 months old!

well today has been fun!
sally road in a grocery cart- making shopping MUCH easier for me.
also, sally jane put herself to sleep for her naps today! woot woot! i just laid her in her crib, she played for a bit and then closed her pretty little eyes!


ha- check out the drip-o-drool on this one! her nose is not the face faucet anymore.. it's droolin' time!

hope ya'll enjoy our new background- thanks to Joanna's brillancy!

have a great evenin' ya'll.

halelujah!

Praise the Lord Sally is much better today!
I put her down at 7pm, she woke up at 9pm and I gave her 3 teething tablets, sucked her nose clean and gave her a shot of tylnol. She went back to bed with the sweet hum of her brand spanking new coolmist humidifier and slept until 6:3o this morning.
Not sure what the night would hold, I fell asleep at 10pm.... so we BOTH got some much needed sleep and we both woke up cheery!check out this huge pink pup! it was a gift from her great grandparents and right now, each time she sees it, she lets out a giggle.
also- this is my new favorite sweater for Sally. it was handmade by one of the gals at my former work and sooo soft and warm.
it has been cold lately and even with the heater going, the lowest 2 feet of the house, which is Sally's stomping grounds, are FREEZING.
so thank you Kathy for making this sweet sweater of love for Sally Jane!

other great news... gow just sold the last and final part of the camera!
WOOT WOOT! and we got a little bit more money than we were expecting!

now for fixing the passat... we are down to the final count... maybe only a week or two more before we can list it to sell. anyone interested in buying a passat?

in other not so exciting news, gow just told me that this week and weekend is crunch time for a deadline so he will be working LONG hours. yee-haw. =(
ho hum. so it goes in the production business.

k. gonna work on some more data entry...

snotty senorita

bless our lil baby's heart.
sally woke up last night about every 1 & 1/2 hours cuz she couldn't breathe.
her cute little nose is like a faucet and she can't figure out how to suck on her plug and breathe thru her mouth at the same time.
i finally ended up on the recliner with her.

yes, she looks slippery south of her little nose... not her best pix, but sharin' a bit of Sally Jane's sad reality today. =)

this morning i went out to buy a coolmist humidifier (thanks Dr. Aimbo) however, i just filled it and plugged it in and it sounds like a helicopter. what the heck?
she's sleepin' right now, with two rolled up towels under the headside of her mattress.
pray with me for good rest today... for sally, myself and daddy-o!

found out last night that she likes sweet potatoes!

also, the check has cleared- gow is handing the camera over today! WOOT WOOT!
now to finish fixing up the passat to sell....

lately i have been plowing away at the data entry that i am doing for extra $$ for Big Idea each time that sj naps. the $$ will pay for our tulsa, denver and Christmas trips- praise the Lord for the chance to make a few extra buckaroos!

another thought on buckaroonies...
we have been buy sam's club pampers at 28 cents for each pamper.
in denver i learned that donna uses Walmart brand and saves money, i decided to give it a go...
"Nanna's Choice", the Aldis brand, is 16 cents per diaper. that is almost HALF the price!
and so far, they have worked wonderfully.

ok- am pretty sure there are not many of you who are entertained by the cost of diapers- but hey, this is currenlty my world. =)

have a peachy one!

monday mornin'

Good Mornin'

Welp, Sally has been sleeping BETTER at night (thanks Kelli for recommending to put SJ down 1/2 hour earlier- I think you were totally right). She is not waking up all the way... but crying a bit and needing/wanting to be soothed by her plug in the early morning. Yet, without a doubt... she is working on more teeth.
Just now, in a matter of 2 minutes she was pulling on her ears, chompin on her hands and had a bit of clear runny nose... surely she's cutting some more teethers. will keep ya'll posted.



the GREAT news of the hour..... drum roll please.....

the HONDA is fixed! and running better than it ever has before... even easy to start!
Praise the Lord!
So SJ and I are no longer homebound! WOOT WOOT!

So Gow deposited a check last week for the movie camera- we are waiting for it to clear this week before hands off the camera.. Praise the Lord again!

the next step is to finishing the fixups on the passat (to fix the gas gauge and something about the tire) and THEN we will begin the CRV search. Praise the Lord for the third time! =)

So, if any of you know of any sweet old peeps who have a carpeted garage and have driven their honda crv only to the grocery store and church for the past few year and are looking to sell...
PLEASE let us know. =)



btw- sally jane is bundled up in prep to go out.. our heater is working wonderfully and she doesn't normally need a beenie in the house. =)

we had a great weekend- good family time and we feel caught up on house stuff again. feels great.
gow worked on the honda with his boss, we went to church, i grabbed lunch with Linds from church and we took in a bunch of Jack Bauer on 24 season 5. =)

am hoping to head to the pool today as it is COLD and am not really in the mood to bundle us up for a stroll.

toodles!

what is normal?

so for the past two evenings, we have put Sally down at 8pm and within an hour she is awake and crying/screaming.
is it her teeth?
gas from the new foods we are giving her?
is she learning to cry and then we will come to comfort her?
last night she cried like she was being tortured.
we sang, rocked, bounced, orajelled, took her out on the balcony...
this morning i was thinking, " when will life get back to normal?"
then i realized that this is probably normal.
life with a child is NEVER the same nor consistant.
so i guess this IS normal.

and i just need to adjust.
i have always loved adventure, the unknown challenges.... looks like mommyhood is just that!

k.

here is a fun clip of Sally with Jenn and Kaylee- friends from Big Idea (Gow's previous boss' wife and daughter) - Sally loving Kaylee's dancin'




have a lovely Saturday.

randomness

mornin' all.
this is a fun and funky pix that Kat took in August at the Grand Ol Opry Hotel.

well we have officially jumped back into "Jack-Landia". If you have not seen the TV show "24" - we HIGHLY recommend it. I have no clue when it airs- but we get the DVDs and watch a season at a time. In the past, we would watch the whole season in a weekend, taking breaks only to run to Taco Bell (or in Quito- to run to the kitchen). =)
Gow found season 6 on Craigslist for $10- so he bought it. However, we hadn't seen season 5 yet. While visiting Donnie, I discovered that they have ALL 1-6 seasons! So she loaned us season 5. ahhh... let the good times roll. =)

so we popped in the first disc last night after Sally went to bed. (Her bedtime is 8pm.) At 9pm, she woke up crying. this is the second night in a row of randomness - it could be her teeth, the green beans in her belly that she is eating for dinner? so we lined up the baby gas-x, the baby oragel, teething tablets and baby tylonl to be prepared for whatever the night held.....
she did wake up some in the night but we didn't have to go in to check on her... she would squak a bit and go back to sleep. RANDOM.

another random bit- we have a beaver in our pond in the back yard. Gow is always on the look out for it. i think we should name it! =) any suggestions?

more random sharing here... (I learned this from Donnie)
2 nights ago i soaked 1/2 a bag of pinto beans in water in the crock pot. then in the morning- i threw in a piece of bacon and slow cooked the beans all day. last night I smooshed em up and made 10 bean and cheese burritos. Gow took 2 to work today and I froze the other 8 for when we need a quick meal. 10 burritos and I spent about $4 on all of the ingrediants!

okay- i realize that i am flirting with danger here. it is possible that 2 random rambling posts in a row may cause me to lose some of my faithful blog readers. =)
I better it call it quits for today.

enjoy your friday and weekend ya'll!

sup

hello folks.
yes- this is a historical moment.
i am posting... withOUT a pix!

i don't have any new ones to post and i am not feeling creative, nor motivated to go and take some.
so... here you have it... today... you just get words. =)

sally had her 6 month appointment yesterday and has grown an inch, gained a pound and her little noggin' is still growing. =) she is now 17.10 pounds- although I would have guessed that she is 22 pounds cuz she is feeling like a rock these days! and she is now 27 inches long.

she also had another round of shots and the 1st of her flu shot.
which- i am not sure exactly what was IN those shots... but for the remainder of the day and evening... she GIGGLED. and GIGGLED. and then GIGGLED more. it was hysterical.
every time she would look up from playing to make eye contact with me... she just giggled. oh man- i sooooo wish ya'll could have shared in that. it was so super fun and a great gift from God!

another strange thing happened, not sure if it was a result from the shots or from all of the random times we have woken Sally up to go to the airport or travel... but last night at 12:30 midnight, she woke up. i mean wide awake. it was strange and hasn't happened since before she was 5 weeks old. i have no clue.

i have had a pretty deep week of thoughts... seems like there are BIG things happening in the lives of my friends and family. Some AMAZING things- and other heart wrenching, horrible things. it is hard to process, i wonder, i ask God what He is doing/allowing and why? then i think of where we are in regards to work and family etc....
i wonder what it would be like to sit beside God for a day and see/understand like He does.
do you think we will be able to do that one day in Heaven?

our church is reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. here are two things that i am mulling over this week...

"Throughout time, somewhere between 45 billion and 125,000,000,000 people have lived on this earth. In 50 years (give or take a few decades) no will remember you. Everyone you know will be dead. Certainly no one will care what job you had, what car you drove, what school you attended or what clothes you wore. This can be terrifying or reassuring or a mix of both."


then a few pages later in the book, he shares this little essay written by a 14 year old girl....

"Since I have my life before me"

I'll live my life to the fullest. I'll be happy. I'll brighten up. I will be more joyful, than I have ever been. I will be kind to others. I will loosen up. I will tell others about Christ. I will go on adventures and change the world. I will be bold and not change who I really am. I will have no troubles but instead help others with their troubles.

You see, I'll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age. Oh, I'll have mements, good and bad, but I will wipe away the bad and only remember the good. In fact that's all I remember, just good mements, nothing between, just living my life to the fullest. I'll be one of those people who go somewhere with a mission, an awesome plan, a world-changeing plan, and nothing will old me back. I'll set an example for others, I will pray for direction.

I have my life before me. I will give others the joy I have and God will give me more joy. I will do everything God tells me to do. I will follow the footsteps of God. I will do my best!!!"

pretty optemistic eh?
i read that and get thrilled. then i remember some of the heart ache that my loved ones are feeling or remember the scars in my own life.

i want to live like that 14 year old girl wrote... regardless. yet life happens and with it comes hurts and wounds and incredibly hard times.

i have no conclusion. this is just a peek into what i am processing this week.
i am so very content in my life. my amazing family, all the incredible friends we have, our home, gow's work etc.... and so i continue to mull over these things.....

a few more from CO with Donnie

These were a few pix that I just got from Donnie that I just had to share!

We have dreamed for 17 years about being mommies! and we couldn't have had these two any closer together... only 3 weeks apart.
The ducky bath is TOO cute! And the fun thing is that David listens to Veggie Tales each night at bath time! =)
I have adapted that tradition and each evening between 4-5pm (when Sally is sort of tired out of our toys and house) I put on a fun Veggie Tales CD and it TOTALLY impacts her mood! Those fun lil voices and songs are the pick me up we BOTH need until daddy walks in the door. =)
this is SUCH a Pepsi ad!

this was that first afternoon.... they are saying hello, getting to know each other.

at the mall

David modeling his new kicks. These are GREAT - they don't kick off and actually keeps their socks on.
Sally, happy as a lark in the mall. =)


this morning gow headed out the door at 5:45am for his men's study at church.

then came to pick sally and i up at 8:30 so we could drop him off at work so i could have the car.
this morning Aunt Linda is coming to play with Sally while I run to visit Karissa (a friend from church) who has a 9 day old little one! She is at home alone while daddy works long days... so am hoping to lend a hand I remember very vividly how HARD HARD HARD those first 3-4 weeks are.

then Sally has a 1pm dr. appt.
i need to go buy some more diapers
and then we have community group this evening.

hopefully Gow's boss will have a chance to look at the honda today... so we can be back to having 2 vehicles.. will see.

this week is slam packed... we are so looking forward to the weekend to take a breather and sort of get a handle on things again.

love to ya'll

good times in tulsa

we had a great time in Tulsa- just being with everyone, celebrating marriage and sharing Sally Jane with everyone.


Here are some pix at the reception.Kora and Mark Taube, Mrs. Pike, Andy
Mr. Pike, Silvy (James had to work) and Jenn
Darrin Darron and Jess

Jess and Toddly with their cake

us



and this is hanging out at Todd and Jess' house... Todd flipped this house. It was hideous and ugly and look at how great it is now!

they have been married for three weeks-- and welcomed us ALL to crash at their house for the weekend... they even cooked us amazing breakfasts! such the happy homemakers!
Korita loving on Sally!

Marquitos and Gow at their finest! loving the mornings! =)

Silvy loving on Sally

Toddly being scary in his boots and with his gun. They were shooting at turtles in the pond in the back yard.

Jess sharing the bows from their wedding gifts. =)
Toddly loving that his new wife loves to share the bows from their gifts. =)

korita, me and jenn

our last night there, we had a big bonfire in the backyard by the pond. Roasted dogs and smores and had a grand ol time.

super fun to get together with every one and share life even though it is soo different now from the JBU days- with marriage, jobs and babies on the way (James and Silvy are expecting in April)!

on the home front..

Gow went to the dr. for his back last week. He is taking muscle relaxers and advil daily and doing some stretches- then will go back in a few weeks to the dr.

looks like we might be selling the video camera this week! hot diggity! will keep ya'll posted.

Sally's two lil front teeth are SHARP. you can't see them yet when she talks or smiles.. but they are there and making their way up and out!

She also had green beans this week-- and was hysterical while eating them. She did NOT like them.. and actually gagged 3 or 4 times while eating them. so this morning i mixed them with her cereal... and it seemed a bit better. gave her cut up beans last night.... ate some, but was still not a huge fan. =)

k. should keep working around the house.
love to ya'll on this cold, overcast mornin'!

two teeth in tulsa!

hi all.
we are home.
had a great time celebrating Toddly and Jess' wedding and hanging out with the gang.





it was also a blast to see mulks, kotter and chadly (briefly) yesterday afternoon.
and sally got two bottom teeth over the weekend!

will post more soon.
unpacking, laundry, looking for food to eat (desperately need to shop) gonna visit my friend Karissa who had a baby while we were in CO last week, gow's at work, we only have one car for now (honda not starting- we think it's the choke) and helping sally rest and deal with her teefers. =)

ps- we got our noses pierced in tulsa.


riiiiight. we totally did NOT.

some more CO buddies!

Carissa Cole- a dear friend from Quito and JBU- (teaching in Denver) had us all over for a yummy meal one evening. It was SO fun to see her, catch up and let her love on SJ! Riss is quite the natural with the little ones and is really loving living in Denver.

Thanks Riss- however, our short time together made me miss you even more!

We also were able to pop in to meet the newest Knott addition! Jay and Min are JBU buddies that are also living in Denver... Ethan is 4 weeks old!

We played pass the baby! =) and all got a turn at holding each other's lil one.

Jay was commenting on how fun it is going to be in the future to get all of the Smarmy (our JBU group o pals) together to see our little ones all over the house playing together.


Ethan is a doll!

Min with David.
Me taking a turn with Ethan... wow. amazing the difference between he and Sally. Seriously...
only 5 months apart in age.. but SOO different in size.

We are truly blessed with amazing friends. And I am so thankful for all of you that make the effort to keep in touch and visit!


FYI-- we left our home this morning at 4:30 to get to the airport to fly to Tulsa for Todd (Gow's JBU roomie and our adopted Ecua) and Jess Eubanks' wedding reception. We are PUMPED to hang out with the gang this weekend and celebrate Todd and Jess. Mulks and Kotter are going to drive over on Sunday for lunch! WOOT WOOT!

hangin' out with donnie, david and bill

here is Sally Jane on the plane trip to CO. She was super happy... must love adventure like me!
Sally and David saying hello and getting to know one another. They were super cute in their car seats... they could peak over their seat at each other.


Donnie lives right by this beautiful lake that has a walking path that lead straight to Starbucks! OH YEAH! We walked it a few times and I loved the beauty of it.. the BIG HUGE sky and the beautiful changing leaves. Walking that path with Donnie was definitely one of my highlights of the trip.carmel frap.. need i say more?
our lil Cheerio girl! she hasn't learned how to feed herself yet...
this is fun... a series of the two "playing" together.
Sally loved David's fuzzy head...
and his eyes =)
she was constantly talking and he was watching and thinking.
here Sally is having fun watching Donnie play with Lil Man. sometimes Sally would just watch and smile and giggle when David was getting some love.
David's grandma shared some of her grandma-love with Sally too!
this pix cracks me up! David sticks his lower lip out often before he cries... so Bill joined him in the sad gesture!
playing together with David's control station
David is starting cereal... not so happy here. but still a complete cutey pie!
Sally's first wheat thin.

Halloween with our lil strawberry and tigger.

David always woke up super chipper and happy. I love this pix! And Donna is such a great mama- you can see the joy in her face.


ha- this is our lil -lounger...and this is our sweet lil hyper-hypo. she gets soo excited- i love it!


and the last pix... Sally is drinking up and playing with a Caribou Coffee cup from the airport on the way home. This is my all time favorite coffee place... and looks like Sally just may like it too. =) She was cracking me up... looking at me through the cup!


ok folks- i am signing off and heading to bed.
the plan is to leave home 5:30am tomorrow flying to Tulsa (lay over in Dallas) for Todd and Jess Eubanks wedding reception. we are pumped about weekend of celebration with our JBU/Quito friends. again, please pray for smooth travelin' with our sweet Sally Jane. I am soo happy that Gow will be flying WITH us this time. =)

Have a lovely weekend!