Four

And one more will make FOUR!! In four days we will be adding another precious baby to our kid picture!!!

I am looking forward to the challenge of getting four kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time. I am very thankful for digital photos because I can take as many pictures as it takes to get a decent picture of them. If it does not work out one day, you can erase them all and try again another time. I have to do this A LOT.

Five

Five teeth missing up on top, and five more days until baby comes!!!!

The tooth fairy is very poor around here. She may have to get a second job!!

Update: These pictures were taken on Sunday, and Luke has lost another tooth since then. He and Kate are now missing the same three teeth on top.

Rachel's Room

As part of Rachel's birthday present, we finally decorated her bedroom. She has been very patient waiting almost two years for anything to be hung on her walls. She chose a pink and green color scheme. Her Granny did all the decorating. Debra has such a talent of knowing exactly where things should go on the walls. These pictures really don't do the room justice. I just LOVE how the room turned out, and I smile every time I go in Rachel's room now(that is when it is actually clean)!!!

In the picture below there should be a cute little picture in the middle, but I have yet to find the perfect picture. I am sure one of these days I will find one I just have to have.

Rachel requested bulletin boards for her desk area. Now she has a place for her pictures and art work.
It required the twelve foot ladder to hang her name over the window, but her Granny did not bat an eye.
We found the perfect shelf for Rachel's Precious Moments collection. I am so glad to get them out of boxes after two years. My Aunt Lorita made the cross-stitched pictures.
Her new bedspread...

On a different note...In just ten short days we will have ten more little fingers and little toes around here!!! We are all getting pretty excited...I just can't believe how quickly the days are passing!!!

Kate's Party Pictures

We had Kate's birthday party in Snyder this year. We were going to have it at the playground at the elementary school, but we decided it was too hot and stayed at Memaw Linda and Grandad Bob's house. We did take the kids to play at the splash pad at the park. They had a blast as you can tell from the pictures a few posts back.

Kate requested a pony cake. It kind of surprised me she wanted a pony on her cake. She was thrilled to see the cake with all the purple and a pony!

She was excited for everybody to sing to her, but she was scared to blow out the candles.
She wanted to open her presents ALL BY HERSELF!!
Rachel looks like she can barely stand letting Kate do it herself.
Everything she opened was MINE!!
I did not get a picture of everybody at the party with the birthday girl, but here are the ones I did get....

Happy Birthday Baby Kate!!

Three years ago today our baby girl made a bold entrance into the world. She has great lungs!! The doctor said she was "kind of loud", the nursery nurse called it spunk! Her personality has not changed much. She is the sweetest little thing and can win you over with her smile, even though it is toothless!! We love you very much Baby Kate!!

Pure Joy!!

The kids went to the splash pad in Snyder this weekend. I think they had a good time!!

Happy Birthday Grandmom Wanda!!

Happy Birthday Grandmom Wanda!! We hope you have a GREAT day!!! We love you and will see you this evening!

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Just over a month ago Kate had to have her two front teeth pulled as a result of a fall. She had fallen and hit her two front teeth on our kitchen tile. She fractured the root of one of the teeth and had root resorption on both teeth. Needless to say I was sick about it. The dentist was very understanding and worked with us to get her some replacement teeth in time for her third birthday and the new baby.

This morning we went for a follow up exam after she received her new partial a little over three weeks ago. We all agreed there were a few things that could be done to improve the look of the teeth, but we were not going to pursue them at this time because we did not want to put Kate thru the process again. We would revisit the possibility of having a new partial made in a few years when she was older and more cooperative. Everybody was happy.

Well, this evening after dinner we all went to the pool to let the kids swim and we could sit and relax a bit. We had walked to the pool and the kids rode their scooters. We were at the pool about 15 minutes and Kate jumped into the pool as Rachel was getting out. Kate hit Rachel's head with her teeth and knocked the tooth just left of the new partial out root and all. Rachel's head also had a little gash in it from the tooth. Both girls were bleeding and crying! We headed straight home. We managed to get the scooters and crying girls home. I am just so glad Chris was with us! After we got home we noticed that the partial was broken too. We called the dentist and we will go see him in the morning. He will x-ray her, remove the rest of the partial, and we will start the whole process over. So much for a pretty white smile for Kate's third birthday!

My Motorcycle Riding Grandma

My Grandma has taken up a new hobby....motorcycle riding!! While she was on a trip to Carthage for a family reunion she grew a wild hair and decided to go on her first motorcycle ride. You are never too old to try something new, even at 92! It looks like she had fun! Keep surprising us Grandma!

Happy Birthday Daddy's Granny!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy's Granny!!! We love you!!

My Ever Growing Belly

I had my 35 week appointment this morning. The baby is growing good and everything is right on track. My c-section is scheduled for August 4th at noon. The count down is on now. I just hope everything goes as planned. This is my collection of belly shots over the last few months. Rachel was the photographer of some of them.

17 weeks

24 weeks

28 weeks

30 weeks

33 weeks

35 weeks

We are still not completely settled on a name. It will probably take until the baby is actually here to decide. We have a deal that if the baby has red hair we would name the baby Caleb Wade. If he does not have red hair his name will be Wade. I want to call the baby Wade and Chris wants to call the baby Caleb. We will see how things turn out.

Last night Kate said "I like your belly! It's a big one!!" I just laughed.

Stars and Stripes

We celebrated the Fourth of July in Snyder as we try to every year. We were all worried that our Fourth of July would be rained out this year, but the rain held off until after the festivities were over. The weather was wonderful! It was overcast and highs were in the high 70's.

We started the day with the annual parade in the park.

Here are the little stair steps waiting for more candy to be thrown at them.
Here comes our favorite entry in the parade...Granddad Bob's baby blue Studebaker.

There were a few Stansell's in the parade too.

Our attempt at a family picture.
After the parade we headed to the carnival. This was Kate's first year to ride the rides. She had no interest in the kiddie rides. She wanted to ride with the big kids. The kids favorite ride is the Dragon Roller Coaster. Kate was not scared in the least.

Her cousin Emilee did not enjoy the rides as much as Baby Kate did.

We tried to get a grandkid picture since this is the first time all the kids were together since Sydney and Mac were born. This was the best we could do.
We ended the day with the fireworks. It was a great show!