The Dickens Family

5 years old today!!!!

2011-09-25T19:47:00.007-05:00

Well, I can't believe this day is here and almost past now.

My miracle babies are now 5 years old!

I will never forget the day they entered this world, although I didn't get to see them actually come out in the OR, but I will never forget the events that lead up to that moment before I had to be put to sleep! We have been so blessed over the last 5 years and are very thankful to have such healthy and beautiful 5 year olds!!!! We love you Kayla Nicole and Cooper Dean so much and can't wait to see what the next 5 years has in store for us all!!! Happy Birthday to our babies!!!!

This picture was taken at the fire station on there birthday. We went to visit daddy for a little bit since he had to work. I had to do another one of them on the fire truck since I had one done when they were 1 year olds! I love seeing them in the same type of setting just years later! They have grown so much!!!

2011 Family Pictures

2011-04-21T12:56:00.009-05:00

On April 10, 2011 we met a friend of mine from High School who I was in Choir with and she took some pictures of the kids and us! She started a photography business and I have really enjoyed seeing her pictures on facebook and then one day my mom said she was told about Mindy that I went to school with and that she does photography. Mom decided she wanted in some of the pictures and that she would pay for it all for us to have the pictures done. We mostly wanted the kids and just some of the shots of the family. I called Mindy at the last minute and we made the plans. We were originally going to be in Alvin on some property that has two barnes and some other things, but the people were not home to give us permission, so we decided to drive down the road to the Alvin train station/depot and see what we could get out there. Mindy wasn't sure if there would be enough to do out there until we saw the park, swings and a decked area and so we made it work! There is a first time for everything and this place was amazing for pictures!! I am so happy with the way they turned out and Mindy was so good with the kids and they loved her!!

Anyway, I thought I would just share these here, and some are on facebook as well! They really did turn out great!!!! Enjoy!

New year and not a new post for almost a year now!!

2011-02-28T12:10:00.004-06:00

Well 2011 has come and I realized that it has been almost a year since my last post! I am not a good writer/blogger as it is and I just let this get behind!!

We are just trying to keep the kids well and not sick! This February we have had the Flu in our house (daddy got it this year) and so we are praying that both the kids don't get sick either!! Cooper has started running a low grade fever this weekend, but it is not the flu so that is good, but I still don't like him even running fever!!!

I will start on an update with Cooper first.....

We signed him up for Tball this year and he is having so much fun already!! He loves his daddy teaching him the sport and does everything just the way daddy says!! Daddy was big in baseball and I think Cooper will follow in his foot steps and be just like daddy!! They have already had 3 little practice games this month and opening day is this coming Saturday and we will be apart of the parade in La Porte!! This should be fun!!!! We have a full season ahead of us for just starting out in Tball, but it will be fun!!! I have included some pictures of Cooper during the first practice game that we had!! One of the kids grandfather is a professional photographer and he got some great shots of all the kids!! I just love these of Cooper!!!

Kayla....

She is taking dance at the preschool that they attend and she loves every minute of it!! We watch her at home and she just has a passion for dancing! We love to watch her because even on TV shows she is trying to do dance moves like they do, so she really loves it and is not ashamed of it either!! She had a dance recital for Christmas time and they were so fun to watch! She will have another recital coming up in May for Spring time and they are going to be doing some tap dancing which I am excited to see!! I have included some pictures from her dance recital this past December! I love her face in these pictures!!

So other than raising 2 four year olds we are doing great!!! I love this age and all the fun things they are learning and getting to do like Dance and Tball!!! I will try to do a better job with keeping up with the blog too!! I keep up with Facebook much better and I have tons of pictures there!!

Have a wonderful May everyone!!!!

Home Renovations......

2010-05-28T12:18:00.007-05:00

Our home built in 1966 is now under construction as I call it. There are so many things that need to be done, so we got a loan to take care of it!! We have first started getting bids for labor only to do some of this work, but the only thing we decided to pay someone to do was the bathroom remodel for the kids bath and the master bath!! They started the work on Wednesday 5/26/10 and completed both bathrooms last night 5/27/2010 around 9pm. They installed a shower line in the kids bathroom and installed the bathtub and then put ceramic tile on the walls!! It looks so much better in there now as we have had a torn up bathroom for over 4 years now!! The kids had their first bath this morning in the new bathtub and they were so excited!!

Here are some before and after pictures of the kids bathroom. We lived with only a working toilet for over 4 years in just this one bathroom!

After the guys were done with the install. I took this picture before I put anything back in the bathroom, but there is a cute kids shower curtain that goes with it too!!

The master bathroom just needed some new ceramic tile on the bathtub walls and we decided to put the ceramic tile on the floor as well. The floor had some nasty vinyl tiles on it and it looks much better now with the ceramic tile. Now I just have to put the bathroom's back together and clean up my bedroom and we will have this one project done!!

Here is the before of our master bathroom. I am embarrassed to even show this picture, it was gross!!

The vinyl sticky tiles that were on the floor before.
Here is one view after the job was done. Notice the shelves in the corner. He did that with the tile!!

And the new floors!! Much better!!

And another view of the shower!! I love the way it looks!!!

The next project will hopefully be completed Sunday if everything goes well. This is the garage siding project. We recently found out from one of the contractor's that we had termite damage so we had that treated on 5/20/10 and now Larry is just trying to fix a few boards that got damage almost to the top of the roof. Luckily for us this is a detached garage made out of solid wood so that is why we had damage, but to our knowledge there was no sign of termites on the actual house itself. All I can say is "What a mess"!!! Termites are not my friend and they better stay away from now on!!!! My wonderful father-in-law will be over Sunday to help Larry take on this project and my father-in-law has volunteered my mother-in-law to help get a patching of our living room ceiling completed... I thought it was funny when my husband said they were volunteering each other to come work at our house with us!!! Of course the kids may not let the grandparents do much work since they want to spend time with them too and have there attention!! We shall see how this goes though!!!

Here is a before shot of what the garage looks like now. It is wood siding now and that is why the termites loved it so much!!

Here is what it looks like with no wood siding!

In the next few weeks we will also be putting a new roof on the house. My husband has decided that we are not going to pay the contractor's there ridiculous amount for labor and that he was just going to feed some of his fireman buddies for there help, but I am not sure if they know this yet!! One of his fireman buddies had a construction business on the side from his fire dept. job, so he said he would help Larry with the roof, but he will need more than just one person to help so that we can get it done within a day or two at max!! We will see how this project goes. We have purchased all of our roofing material from a guy that posted his business on Craigslist and have saved about half the cost of what a contractor would have charged us for the material!! We also have to re-do all the fascia work around the house that meets up to the roof so that is also something that Larry will be working on the next few weeks before he does the roof!!

We also learned this week from AT&T that only our kitchen had grounded outlets and the rest of the house when tested by Larry is not grounded so we have an electrician coming out Saturday to look at what he needs and then should be able to fix it on Tuesday next week. So this is another cost that we were not expecting, but in my eyes we need to do it #1 for our safety, but it needs to be done so if we sale the house there won't be any issue's at closing or for someone else that buys this house!! I don't plan on staying at this home forever so it needs to be fixed up for the future!! Maybe in a few years we will sell, but only God knows our future, so we will see what happens!!

We have a few more small things to get done inside the house still, but those shouldn't take very long to get done. We (I) have to paint Kayla's room and decorate for our little princess!! She can't continue on in a beige color room in my eyes, so we are going to give her a little girls room!! We have been taking different pictures of flowers, butteries, dragonflies and so on to frame for her room and we are so excited to start frame shopping for those pictures we have printed for her room!! It will look so good once it is finally done!!

We do also need new windows for the house, but I have to research for the best price since we will need so many windows. I am not sure what the plans are right now for that, but it will be in the near future!!

So things are finally coming together on our house and once we are done, I hope it will be a long time before we have to do anything else to this house. We have actually outgrown this house and we need more space for everyone, so I am praying and hoping that in the next few years we can sell this house and buy a bigger one. For now we will just be thankful for what we have and enjoy our family!!

I will post the after pictures of the garage when it is completed and then I will also be doing before and after pictures of the roof as well!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!!

Been a long time.....

2010-05-19T11:37:00.004-05:00

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since my last post. It seems like life has just past me by with everything that is going on.

Christmas was ok this last year, although the kids were both sick again! :( I hate that they get sick over the holiday's. Kayla was much worst Christmas day and it almost seemed like she had pneumonia again, like the year before when we spent Christmas week in the hospital. We did have a great new year and we ended up in January taking Kayla to a Pulmonary doctor and she was put on some new medication that she will take pretty much all year long to prevent her fragile lungs from getting so sick again. We have been back and forth between doctors with ear infections and her Asthma breathing issues since December and this last ear infection(ear drum rupture) I requested ear tubes so that surgery is scheduled for June 4th. She is doing great now that she is on all this medication and has only had a few mild colds, but no major asthma related breathing issues. She is loving her pre-school and can now spell her name when you ask her. She is still practicing her name writing when tracing, so hopefully she will be able to write her name on paper without tracing before too long!! She has grown up so fast this last year and I might add that she would make a great teacher as she loves to help the other kids with puzzles and other stuff at school, but she is also very bossy!! She is very independent like her mommy and likes to do things for herself which mommy has a very hard time with because we are so much alike and if it isn't done to my liking then I have to fix things and she doesn't like that and will let you know it too!! She is growing into a beautiful little girl, but loves to get dirty and play rough!! Not a very girly girl at all. Although she is starting to like to wear dresses more, but they come off to easy and that is creating a problem at school when she wants to take her dress off. She likes to do that at home and not wear any clothes(well only her panties). She takes after her father on that one, I must add!! Other than that she is doing great and just growing too fast.

Cooper is enjoying school as well and he is all boy as well!! He loves to rough house with daddy and Kayla. He is doing good in pre-school as well and can't quite spell his name out loud just yet. He has the COO part down, but that PER is not easy for him. We are practicing though. He does pretty good at tracing his name and has even wrote his name out without having to trace the letters so it won't be too long that he can do it all by himself. He loves to draw and color pictures and he gets into it as well. He doesn't want to be bothered when he is deep into his art!! He loves to play outside, but lately this weather has been getting to his allergies, so he was put on singulair as a preventative for him to not get so bad! Other than that he is doing really good health wise and doesn't seem to get as many ear infections as his sister. Being twins they usually get sick together, so even though it is tough to deal with 2 kids sick at the same time, it usually doesn't drag out over weeks with them getting sick one after another! Cooper talks about getting to go fishing with his daddy sometimes and he wants to catch a shark!! I think it is too cute that he gets as excited about fishing as his daddy does!! Now he wants to catch a redfish with daddy. One day they will have to go fishing and stay out until he catches that redfish!! He would be so excited!! He is more sensitive then Kayla and he gets his feelings hurt more when he gets disciplined more than her. It hurts me when I have to get on to him because he has always been such a sweet natured child and now with the terrible 3's (Yes, worse than 2's) he tries to push the limit on what he does and then the talking back stuff when he doesn't like us telling him not to do something. He is growing up so fast as well and it seems like he has gone through another growing spurt lately and shot up in height.

They both are still around 30 pounds each, but they are so active all day long that they just work off what they eat. They never sit still and it is hard to get them to sit still long enough to even watch any TV. They love Dora the Explorer and Mickey Mouse clubhouse, but still wont watch a full episode. I do love that my kids are so active and not couch potatoes!!

This past weekend we were out at Strawberry festival and the kids got to do Mutton Bustin. They were so excited to get to ride a sheep for the first time and they even got little trophies afterwards. Cooper was the first one to go and then Kayla went and she cried I think only because she got a mouth full of sand and it made her made. Daddy was down there with them and he said she held on tight and got dragged a little bit so that is why all the sand got in her mouth.

Larry and I are doing good. Larry has been doing cookoff's with some of his fireman buddies so that is keeping him busy on the weekends when they do that. He is still staying busy with his main job with Houston Fire Dept. and then he works at 2 college's as a side job with the Fire Academy class'. I am still working with my Allstate Agent trying to sale insurance. It is getting difficult now days to find insurance and it is more difficult for us agents to tell the customers that we can't provide them with insurance that they need to have or to provide them with high dollar premiums for these policies that we can offer. I still love my job though and wouldn't trade it for the world. My boss has been so wonderful to me and my family and I won't ever have to worry about a thing while he is my boss!!! I have also joined the YMCA and have been taking a Spin class 2 nights a week and boy is that a tough thing to do!! I feel for those biker's that do marathon's and stuff!! I don't know how they do it, but the class is getting better the more I go!! The other reason I joined the Y is because they offer swim lesson's to the kids during the summer, so my kids will both be in a class by July!! I will feel much better around water after they take the swim lessons!!

Right now we are dealing with our house repairs that need tending too and the #1 fix is our roof. We have purchased all the roofing material and we are just waiting on one more estimate from a roofer that is coming out tomorrow. We did learn that we have termites on the garage which luckily is detached from the house so we are not worried about damage to the main house, but we still have to have the problem taken care of so I got terminix out yesterday, wrote the check and they are treating the termites this afternoon which should take care of our problem for a while!! Now the fun of trying to fix the damage that they have caused to some of our wood on the garage!! We will also finally be able to complete the bathroom remodel that we started like 4 years ago on the guest/kids bathroom so I am excited to finally get that done. I will also be re doing the ceramic tile in our master bathroom and will put ceramic tile down on those floors, so once the 1st bathroom is complete, then we will do the master bath. That way we always have one working bathroom in the house while the other is being done!! I am so excited to get all these repairs done and behind us and not have to hopefully worry about anything for a while. Oh the joys of being a homeowner though!!

Anyway, I think that I should probably end this post now and I will try my best to keep up with things from now on!! I will also try to post some pictures later after I get home since all my recent pictures are on that computer and I am at work right now. As you can tell not working too hard though!! Sorry for such a long one, but it has been a while as you can tell!!!

The kids and Santa Claus!!

2009-12-10T10:00:00.002-06:00

We took the kids to meet Santa Claus last night and they were so excited about getting to meet him!! They wanted to tell santa what they wanted for Christmas and Kayla even gave him a BIG hug when it was their turn to see him. They did so great for the picture too. Last year they cried since they didn't know this stranger, but now they talk about him and they did wonderful!! We had to wait in the mall for 2 hours just to get the picture done, but it was so worth it to see the kids faces when they actually got close to him!!! Kayla was a little upset that she didn't get her Cinderella like she asked for, but she also doesn't understand the whole Santa Claus thing yet, so we had to explain that Santa will bring presents to our house on Christmas Eve for her to open on Christmas day!! Anyway I think it went well considering how long we had to wait with two 3 year olds! They did really good!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas this year!!!! It is only 2 weeks away!!!

Christmas tree decorating 2009

2009-11-30T19:24:00.000-06:00

Every year the day after Thanksgiving we always go and pick out our christmas tree and decorate it. This year was much more fun than the last since the kids are older and were excited about picking out our tree. They told us which one they liked at the store and then we got home and by looking at these pictures you can see they were excited about putting it up and hanging ornaments. Enjoy these pictures and memories we have made together as a family.

Here is Larry taking the net off that they wrapped the tree with at the store. The kids watching from below was too cute!!
Larry putting lights on the tree and the kids followed him around the tree! Cute!!

Helping mommy decorate the tree with all our ornaments. They were so excited to get to help.

Finished the tree and they were inspecting all the ornaments that we hung!

I couldn't get them to actually look at the camera, but maybe one of these days I can sneak a picture of them together in front of the tree!

Now we just can't wait to see what Santa will bring us this year!! Merry Christmas to everyone!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-26T19:07:00.000-06:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did and we have so much to be Thankful for in our lives! We had lots of yummy food and great fellowship together as a family. Larry had to work at the firestation, but we got to spend a couple of hours at the station with him, so that was good we got to see him. Here are a few pictures from our day. Enjoy

Dickens family group picture. We were missing some family that couldn't make it, but we wanted a group photo for memories.

Davis Family picture minus Larry since he had to work.

Daddy showing the kids the water hose on the fire truck. They loved that!

Daddy and his babies!!

Thanksgiving Feast at Pre-school 2009

2009-11-23T19:03:00.008-06:00

Thursday 11/19/2009 the kids had their Thanksgiving feast at school and parents were invited to come if they wanted so since daddy has to work on Thanksgiving this year we decided to go see them. Here are some pictures that I took of them during lunch.

They all had little leaves with their names and what they are thankful for.

Here is there teacher Ms. Lorrie. The kids really like her!

The tables were so cute and all decorated!

All the kids eating!

Here are a few pictures of their classroom.

11/23/2009 when I picked the kids up from school they had little turkeys that they made out of toilet paper rolls and they got to color on them. They were so cute!! Of course the kids did not want to look at the camera together so I could get a picture of them together.

The kids are really loving their school and have so many new friends!!

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We have so much to be thankful for in our lives!!

First day of school!!

2009-11-02T14:59:00.004-06:00

Today Kayla and Cooper started pre-school. They are going to a christian school that uses the "A Becka" curriculum. They will have bible time twice daily which I really like!!

I was most concern with how the kids would go in and how they would act when I left and surprisingly they both did great and didn't shed any tears, neither did mommy!! They walked in and said hi to their teacher Ms. Lori and both put their back packs down. Cooper went to sit at the table and a cute little blonde headed girl came up to him and said "do you want to play with me" and Cooper just said yes and stood up, but then he looked at me and came over and gave me a kiss and told me bye!! He was the one that I thought I would have a melt down with, but he did great! The little girl told him it was play time and they went to play with toys. Kayla just stood by me and after Cooper told me bye, she looks at me and says " don't leave mommy" with her little eyes. I just assured her it would be fun and ok for mommy to leave and told her to not cry because she said she wouldn't and that she would be a big girl!! She gave me a hug and kiss and went with Ms. Lori and I left. There were no tears which made me very happy!!

I know they will have a great time at this school and will enjoy getting to interact with all their new friends!! This is a big change for them as they have been either at the baby sitters house or at our house on mommy's day off, so now they will be in this school environment and will have activities and playground time and learning new things to help them develop and they will have structure which is what they need more of right now!!

I am so excited to go pick them up to hear about all they did today!!

As I am typing this, I just got a call from the school nurse and she told me that Kayla was playing on the play ground and got a bump on her head. She was not sure what she hit, but Kayla was not crying and they had some ice on it, so she just wanted to inform me of what happened. Kayla is my accident child, so I am sure that this will not be my only phone call from the school on her!!

Well that is it for now!! I will update to let everyone know how they are doing in school!!

Also, we want to say a big Happy Birthday to uncle Chris!!! He turned 24 today!!!! We love you Uncle Chris!! Hope you had a great day!!!!!

Kayla & Cooper's 3rd birthday party!!

2009-09-26T18:57:00.001-05:00

Today we had the kids birthday party at the Texas Avenue Park in Webster Texas. It was a beautiful day even though it was a little warm! We had a great time and the kids had a great birthday party with all our friends and family!! Here are some pictures from the party! Thanks Aunt Lexis for getting some pictures for me!!

Here is our Birthday girl!!!

Here is our Birthday boy!!!

Grandma and mommy worked very hard on the cakes!

Kayla wanted to eat the candy from the table! Yummy Pizza!! This is our little friend Zachary who we met at the NICU Reunion this year! Thanks for coming to celebrate with us Kim & Zachary!!! Here is our NICU buddy Rees who we met while in the hospital. Pops getting some kisses. Daddy was sticking his tongue out at Aunt Lexis! Our Princess!!! Pinata time!!!

Cake time!! Cooper was singing along with everyone!! Too cute

Cooper showing us he is "3" now.

Kayla was getting tired, but she wouldn't put the candy away!!!

Present time!!!

Our friend Rees got Kayla and Cooper these Masks and they are having fun with them already!! Thanks Rees for coming to celebrate our birthday with us!!

The kids had a great birthday and a great party and we are so happy and thankful for all that could come and celebrate with us!! We enjoyed the day and were so happy that we had nice weather!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Kayla & Cooper!!!

2009-09-25T10:50:00.004-05:00

Today Kayla & Cooper are 3 and this time 3 years ago my beautiful 2 pound babies were fighting for their lives!! Everything went so fast the morning that they were born as I was in full active labor! My doctor was in my room at 7am checking on me and I had been having contractions since Saturday, but that morning they were going strong and I knew it wasn't right! Dr. Plavidal told me very sweetly that I was dilated to a 7 and that he would meet me in the OR. I was so scared and Larry had gone home and I started calling him and couldn't get him so then I went into panic mode!! I was by myself and scared for my babies as they were being born too early!! By the time we were in the OR, my epidural wasn't working fast enough, so they had to end up putting me under so I did miss my babies being born, which I am still sad about!! They are my first babies and I wanted to see them before they had to put all the tubes and wires on then, but that didn't happen!! Kayla was born at 8:33am weighing 2pounds 3.6ozs and Cooper was born at 8:34am weighing 2pounds 4.6ozs.

Today they are thriving 3 year olds and are healthy and doing great and so smart!! I am so proud to be their mother and Larry is proud to be their father!! I couldn't have asked for more!!! I am so happy that God put these children into our lives and who knows if there are more children in our future, only God knows and if we are to have more than I will take what I am blessed with and if these are our only two, then I am more blessed than ever!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet miracle Angels!! We Love you so much and can't wait to share many more birthday's with you two!!!

Happy Birthday Dad/Pops

2009-09-16T12:14:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Dad/Pops. Another year has come to celebrate and we are so thankful that we can celebrate since we almost lost you in 2006! I personally wouldn't know what to do without you in our lives and we are so thankful everyday for you being here with us on this earth!

We hope you have a wonderful birthday and we hope and pray for many more to celebrate here in this life time!!

We Love you Dad/Pops!!!!

Uncle Jim/Pop Pop and Janice's Birthday Party

2009-09-07T14:16:00.004-05:00

This past Saturday we went to Trey and Megan's house to celebrate the birthdays for Uncle Jim/Pop Pop and cousin Janice. We let the kids swim and play while the adults talked and had fun! We had hamburgers and hot dogs and lots of birthday cake to eat!!! We had a great time. Thanks Trey and Megan for having us over for the party!! Happy Birthday Jim and Janice!!

Here are some pictures from that night!! My camera went dead so I didn't get some good shots. I will have to get some from Miriam who took some good ones of me and Kayla and Cooper! Enjoy!!

Colton and Cooper! I was waiting on Kayla to come get in the picture! This turned out good!

Kayla, Colton and Cooper!! Cousins!! Kayla finally decided to join the picture!!!

Kayla being silly with her daddy!

Aunt Freida and Kayla!! They both have twin brothers!!

Kids swimming and Janice was jumping!!

My twins!! So cute and so BIG!!!

Kayla had to be by her daddy most of the time!!

Janice, her daughter Natalie and Colton!

Happy Birthday Mom/Nana!!!

2009-08-12T09:08:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday to my mom and Kayla and Cooper's Nana!!! We hope you have a wonderful day today celebrating your many years here on earth!! I won't say how old you are today!

We love you and are thankful that you are apart of our lives! We hope you have many more birthdays to celebrate with us!! Thank you for all you have done for us kids and now for your grandkids!!

Here are some pictures taken the Sunday after Mom/Nana's birthday. We took her to Olive Garden to celebrate her birthday so I got a few picture's while we were there!

Happy 21st Birthday Landon!!

2009-08-10T09:01:00.001-05:00

Ok well, I didn't forget to wish Uncle Landon a Happy Birthday, but I did forget to get on my blog to wish him a Happy 21st Birthday, so Landon Happy Birthday!!!

I remember when you were born on July 29, 1988 and I was so happy to have a little baby around the family again!! You were so cute and had a full head of dark hair that I just loved!! You were such a good baby and little boy and you have grown up to be a good man!! We are all so proud of you and we wish you the best in all that you do in your life!!!! We are so glad that you are apart of this family!! It would be so different without you! I am glad that you had a great 21st birthday!! May you have many more to come!! We love you!!!

Pictures and updates from June and July!!

2009-08-08T10:22:00.014-05:00

It has been a while since I have done an update on the blog, so I thought I would post a lot of pictures to re-live the past 2 months! We have done a lot since the last time I posted, so I have included dates and the pictures of what has been going on! Sorry for all the pictures at once, but I figured I better do it no, so I don't waste anymore time!! Enjoy!!!!

June 12, 2009- Spent time at Nana and Pops' house and the kids got to love on Uncle Landon's cat Layla! She is a sweet cat and the kids love her!!!

June 18, 2009- We went to Trey & Megan's house to let the kid's play and swim! Making great memories with all the family!!

June 19, 2009- Get together with the HFD fire station 46C crew. The big kids had more fun than the little kids I think!

June 20, 2009- Father's day- These are some of the pictures I never put on from Fathers day! Pops and Aunt Lexis playing in the sprinkler with the kids!! Fun time!!!

July 4, 2009- We went to Nana and Pops' house for the 4th and went to the neighbor get together! It was very fun!!

July 8, 2009- This is the new slide/pool that I ordered on Walmart.com for $99. Yes the best $99 dollars we have ever spent!! The kids have a great time swimming!

July 17, 2009- We took the kids to the Circus and they had such a great time and really liked it all!!!

July 25, 2009- We took the kids to Helen's Garden in League City to take photo's! The kids had fun!!

We took the kids to the park after leaving Helen's garden and eating snow cones!

July 31, 2009- Garrett (7) & Colton(3) Smith's birthday party!

Larry and Freida showing the Dickens side of them!I never got a serious picture of these two together! Go figure!!! :) Gotta love those Dickens Men and Women!!!!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!

2009-06-21T21:19:00.005-05:00

We just want to wish all the father's a great father's day!!!

We had a wonderful day today with our fathers. We went to Pearland and had lunch with Larry's father (PawPaw to the twins) at Fuddruckers. We had a great time visiting and eating some good food. After lunch we went right next door and had some ice cream at Marble slab. It was all very yummy!!!

We then went over to my parents house and visited with my father (Pops to the twins). The kids did take a nap over there, so mommy and daddy took a trip over to Old Navy where they were having a sale on men's clothing! When the kids woke up from there nap, Pops took the kids out side to feed the fish and then he turned the sprinkler on for some water fun! Cooper had a blast, but Kayla didn't really want to go in the water today. Aunt Lexis and Pops joined in the fun and went through the sprinkler with the kids! I did get some pictures which I will post a little later when I get them downloaded on the computer! It was so cute and we laughed the whole time we were out there!

We are so blessed with the dads in our lives! We love you both very much and we thank you for raising us to be the man and woman we are today! We hope you had a wonderful father's day today!

Larry had a great Father's Day as well and just got to spend a beautiful day with his family! Thank you Larry for being such a wonderful father to our children! We all love you so much and are so glad you are on our lives!!! Happy Fathers Day!

Graduation Day!!

2009-06-06T11:10:00.003-05:00

My baby sister Graduated from High School on June 5, 2009 at 5pm. We are so very proud of her for her accomplishments and we are ready for the next journey in her life! She is the last in our family to graduate high school so my parents are glad that those days are over! Now comes the real world! Lots of changes!!

After graduation we went to Casa Ole in Pearland for the celebration dinner! We had all you can eat fajitas, cheese enchilada's, rice and beans and chips and salsa! It was very yummy!! We just had a great time visiting with everyone that came!

Lexis and I are 10 years apart in age and we graduated 10 years apart and I have to say that C/O 1999 is still the best! Sorry Lexis, but it is true!

This year Lexis graduated and I will be attending my 10 year class reunion! Wow 10 years! Time flies by when you are having fun I guess!

Well congratulations again Lexis!! Have fun in college!!

Lexis' boyfriend Gilbert brought her these beautiful flowers and balloon!

Lexis and her boyfriend Gilbert! So cute!!!

A Day at the Beach as a Family!!!

2009-06-01T11:25:00.005-05:00

We took the kids to the beach on May 31th to let them play and just have fun! They love getting to be outside and the last time we took them to the beach was over a year ago and they hated the water, but this year they loved it!!! They had so much fun running through the waves and jumping when the waves came in! They loved getting to play with the sand buckets and shovels that we took with us! It is so much fun to get to enjoy the beautiful weather and spend this time together as a family! We even took time and walked along the beach and looked for shells! I found 2 perfect shells that I plan on making a necklace out of. One is small and will be for Kayla and one is big and will be for me! Kayla was so excited to see all the shells we found!

The beach water was so clear that day you could see the sand under your feet when walking into the water! It was so amazing as all the years I have been to Galveston I have never seen it so clear up near the shore. We saw Jelly fish swimming which was good so we could get out of the way and not get stung, but we lifted the kids completely out of the water when we saw them. I wasn't taking any chances, but the kids got to see the jelly fish while we held them out of the water!

After a couple hours of playing and mom taking over 400 pictures (and I am not kidding) we went under our shade and sat in our chairs and had a picnic as a family. After the kids finished eating they were getting tired, but also they started getting cold from just sitting there and not running around, so we decided that we should just pack up and head home! They did take a nap and then were ready to play some more!

So over all we had a great day as a family and we plan to do that more often this summer! The next time though I plan on finding a beach site that number one is FREE (yes we had to paid to get on this public beach) and number two is clean and not full of beer cans and broken glass all over the place. I was not to happy to pay and then go find that they can't even keep the beach clean for us! Sorry I just needed to vent!

I won't post all the pictures, but here are a few for you to enjoy and see how much fun the kids had! By the way, I love my new camera and the pictures that we get from it! It is great!!!

Jumping the waves with daddy! They loved it and just smiled the whole time!!!

I Love this picture of them both running through the water!

Look at this face! Just so adorable!!!! I love this little man!!!!!

This is the most beautiful girl in the world!! I love her so much!!!!

Showing his shell that we picked up!

Kayla showing me all of her's that we all picked up! She wanted them all in her bucket.

Just some beautiful water! It was so clear!!!

Getting cold and ready to go home!!

Our family dog Samson

2009-06-01T11:21:00.000-05:00

Samson at 2 months old! Such a cutie!!!

On Memorial Day this year we had to put our family dog of 12 years to sleep. Samson turned 12 years old on March 25, 2009 and the life span for St. Bernards is only 11-12 years. I remember the day my dad brought him home. He surprised us when he came home from a revival he had preached at and this was a love offering from a family from a church he had visited in Atlanta, GA. He was only 5 weeks old when my dad got him and he had to fly him home and he could hear him crying under the plane where they keep the animals during the flight. Poor puppy was just taken from his mother and then that, but he came home to another loving family who he would love for many years and who would love him! Lexis had just turned 7 a few days before dad flew him home so it was a great birthday surprise for her!

We loved him very much during this time here on earth and He will be missed!

March 25, 1997- May 25, 2009

RIP Samson!!!

Samson at 3 months old! I had to give him a bath when he got dirty! I didn't want him dirty!!!

This picture was right after his 12th birthday! Who knew that we would be losing our Sammy Boy as I called him just a month later! We Love you Sammy Boy and we will miss you!!

Memorial Weekend 2009 in Oklahoma

2009-05-31T19:46:00.008-05:00

On Friday May 22nd, Kayla, Cooper, Nana Davis and I drove up to Ada Oklahoma to spend the weekend with our family. Nana's sister and her family were coming in on Saturday from Mississippi so we were all there except for my older brother Lincoln, my dad and Larry as he had to work over the weekend at the fire station. We had a great time of getting to visit and catch up and letting the Twins run all over the place and keeping everyone entertained!

Here is Kayla talking to her Great Grandma MaMa Joy. Cooper was headed over there too.
Cooper really liked little Daniel. Daniel found a turtle earlier that day so it was keeping them busy watching that turtle.

Here is Kayla and her favorite Uncle Landon! Landon just loves the Twins!!

Kayla giving kisses! She is so sweet when she wants to be! I love this picture!

We went to visit my grandfathers grave site on Saturday. I think this is the 2nd time I have ever been out to the grave site that I remember. Mama Joy took some beautiful flowers for the weekend.

I was a little over 2 years old when Papa Dean passed away, so I don't have any memories of him other than pictures and I really do miss not getting to know my Papa Dean! I know he was a great man and he was taken from this earth at an early age! He will always be missed! We love you Papa Dean!

Here is my mom, Mama Joy and the twins sitting at the grave. Mama Joy will be buried here at the same site, but her plans are to be cremated and they already have plans to open this grave site and will put her remains in the burial with the love of her life! I think that is just so special and I know he would be proud! I wanted Dean to be apart of our son's name, so that is why we named our son Cooper Dean!

They put these beautiful flags next to the graves of all the men and women who served our country! This was just a beautiful site to see!

My little monkey had to sit in the tree!

Of course Monkey see, Monkey do, so we had to put Cooper up to, but he wouldn't let Aunt Lexis let go of him. He is a little more cautious of things!

I really hope these people didn't mind my kids sitting on the tombstones! They just climbed on these and then someone showed them the flowers to blow to remove the petals!

Kayla and Cooper all weekend were asking where the kids were. I guess you never grow up even after you get married! This was my cousin Thomas Truhett and his wife Jenny from Mississippi. The little kids just love the big kids!

Such a little princess! She just loves to show off!

Aunt Lexis giving Cooper a piggy back ride! Can you tell he loved it!!!

What a little ham he is! He will pose for the camera if he thinks it is cute!

Kayla found a friend in her great Aunt Kathy! That is a family friend standing next to them.

Mommy and her sweet boy! It took about 10 pictures and lots of tickles to get this picture! I think her looks like me, but everyone sees Larry in him.

This is what we did two evening in a row. We watched Dealtime Auction on the local station and you can bid and buy things that they sale. Minimum bid is $5 and I actually bought a grab box Friday evening for $10 and I actually got my moneys worth with everything that was in the box. It is just a funny thing our family likes to do! I guess you would have to be there!

This is my cousin Rachel and the twins. Rachel and the kids share the same birthday, so that was pretty special for Rachel. If I remember correctly Rachel turned 20 on the day Kayla and Cooper were born!

Uncle Landon and his girlfriend Valerie just love the kids! I think the kids love them too! What do you think?

Me and my cousin Katie! We just got done singing to WII Rockband game! We did pretty good every time even for not knowing some of the songs! It was pretty fun!!!

Here are some of the cousins in front of Mama Joys house.Mama Joy with all her kids! We try and always get a picture like this every time they all get together! The last time was at our Family reunion in June of 2008. Left to Right there is Daniel Wellington, Joni Truhett, Mama Joy, Libby Davis and Rodd Wellington.

Of course we have to get updated pictures of Mama Joy with her grandkids! We were just missing Lincoln and Larry for this picture!

And then we threw the great grandkids in the picture and they weren't to happy. They just wanted to run! That is two year olds for you! Kayla and Cooper are the first and only great grandchildren right now for Mama Joy. We hope there will be more throughout the family. Parker and Thomas are the only other ones that are married now, so they will have to have some babies to add to our big family!

The whole family that shared the weekend together! This was a lot of people, but we are use to that anytime we get together!

We all love this house! I think everyone would love to buy it some day just to keep it in the family, but who knows what will happen! Mama Joy is still living in the house alone and climbs a flight of stairs everyday, which worries everyone. She actually has to go down the stairs to the basement to do laundry so sometimes it may 2 flights of stairs she has to go up and down. Luckily she has my Uncle Daniel and his family right next door if she needed them!

So overall we had a great weekend and really enjoyed our visit with all of our family! We wished we didn't live so far from everyone and that we could see the family more often! Thank you to everyone for all the great food and for the room for us to sleep in! We always are grateful for that!

Our Dog Daisy

2009-05-31T19:38:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to show a few pictures of our puppy Daisy May. I took these pictures right after I received my new camera in the mail and I just thought they all turned out so good!! She is a very sweet dog and the kids just love her! She is getting much better and staying a little calmer when they play with her. She was 7 months old in these pictures and June 8th she will be 8 months. She is growing bigger and bigger! Enjoy!!!

I love this last picture in the grass! I am going to have it printed and frame it!

More Pictures from this past weekend!!!

2009-05-19T21:25:00.008-05:00

On Sunday Larry took the camera and just started trying to find thing to take pictures of! I think every one of these pictures are perfect and have always loved pictures of flowers and nature! I did add in some pictures of the kids too, so it is not just all nature! I hope you enjoy and I have some more that I want to share, but can't get them added right now, so I will just have to create another post tomorrow! I also plan on taking some of the flower ones and putting them in frames for Kayla's bedroom, so I think they will look good!

Part 2 of our weekend (WARNING- PICTURE OVERLOAD)

2009-05-18T21:24:00.007-05:00

Saturday evening after we left the fire station we had a Pre-NICU reunion party at our buddy Rees Potts' house. Rees was born about a month after Cooper and Kayla and had a lot of struggles in the beginning, but now he is growing up and has accomplished more than the doctors said he probably would! We had lots of fun just catching up and letting the kids play!

Rees wanted to give Cooper a big hug and it was just so sweet! He found a buddy for life!!!

Rees having fun on the moonwalk!

I got Kayla mid air while she was jumping! So funny!!!

They liked helping put it down after the air was turned off!

After playing at Rees' house we drove over to the Children's Museum for the Annual NICU Reunion that Women's Hospital holds every year! This is our second year going to the reunion, but our first time to go to the Children's Museum! It was so much fun to go and see all the doctors and other kids that spent time in the NICU at the same time as us! It is great to see how much every child has accomplished!

Here Kayla and Cooper got to go grocery shopping. They had so much fun getting to put the food in the basket!

Cooper is showing us his Clam that he was putting in his basket!

They are ready to go check out and pay for the groceries!

And here is Kayla putting her groceries at the check out! So cute!!

Next we took the kids to the Vet clinic. They had so much fun just playing with the stuff animals and taking care of the sick animals! They got to see an X-Ray of a dog and they thought that was really neat!

This is Cooper with one of the Surgeons that we just love and he loves all the little babies and children that he works with! Dr. Bloss performed the first surgery on Cooper and Kayla and before he started the surgeries, he came and talked to Larry and I and I remember that I became very upset as my babies were going into surgery and he kissed me on the forehead and told me that he would take good care of my babies as if they were his own. Dr. Bloss also did Cooper's circumcision which was his last procedure to be done. He will always hold a special place in our hearts!

The second floor of the museum is just for the smaller kids! I know Kayla and Cooper had such a great time just getting to play and run all over this play area!

Mommy and her babies having a snack before we headed out to go home! This is the time to calm down!

I think it is so funny that Cooper makes this face when he is smiling and saying "Cheese"

Here we are with Rees and his parents Mark and Amy Potts! We are so glad to have made some friends for life!

After the reunion we went to Nana and Pops' house and got to see Aunt Lexis and her friend Corey. Aunt Lexis and Corey had the kids laughing so hard I was laughing hard!! Here are a few pictures of Aunt Lexis and Cooper. They just went back and forth!

And then he decided to be sweet and give her a kiss! Sweet boy!

And then Kayla laughing with Corey! She really opened up to him after about 2 minutes! Then it was all over! They just laughed and laughed!!!

So that is it for our Saturday! The kids finally went to bed around 10pm which is very late for them, but they had a great day and I will be planning a trip back to the Children's Museum for a play day!

Part 1 of our weekend

2009-05-18T20:45:00.002-05:00

This past Saturday May 16th we had a pretty busy day. We started off getting Cooper's haircut which didn't really go as planned. Our normal lady was busy so we drove down the street and the barber shop man said he doesn't do kids hair so I wasn't sure where else we could go and as I was driving down the street I saw another family hair shop and luckily they could take Cooper for his haircut!

Later that afternoon we went to visit daddy at the fire station to take some pictures with my new camera! I think I got some pretty good pictures of the kids too! Although they didn't want to take pictures with mommy and daddy, so I don't really have any with them both looking at the camera! They were just excited to be at the fire station seeing the fire trucks!

Here is Kayla sitting in daddy's seat of the fire truck! She is so beautiful!!!
Here is Cooper sitting in daddy's seat! He is loving this!

I just love this picture! My little fireman! He wants to be just like daddy!

Mommy is taking picture, so daddy pulled out the fire camera! Kayla really liked that!

Cooper driving the fire truck! So cute!!

Daddy turned on some stuff in the fire truck and Kayla got a little scared!!

They love to get to visit daddy at the fire station and I am glad that I get to share in their excitement! They are just so cute!

Pictures taken with my new Digital SLR camera!

2009-05-17T21:17:00.002-05:00

For mother's day I got a new digital camera that takes much better pictures and is much faster for having toddlers on the moves. Here are just a few of the photos that we have taken. I will be getting another post together to show some great photos that are not only of the kids, but lots of nature pictures that turned out very well! Enjoy!!! By the way this camera is a Nikon D40 SLR. It is a professional style camera for beginners.

This is the same picture as above, but you can turn the photo into a black and White photo. I love this option! I think some photos just look great without color!

Cooper was up in the tree and I just loved this picture when I zoomed in to trim it! Just so sweet!

I love my little man!! I actually had his whole body in this picture, but you can trim it while on the camera and so this is what it turned out as a cropped picture! Love that smile!!!

Same with this photo. I trimmed it to just see a closer view. This picture originally had Kayla and Cooper's whole bodies and I trimmed it to just see this beautiful smile!!!

So far I am enjoying my new camera! I will be posting lots more pictures so check back!

Just some Random photos!!!

2009-05-12T14:18:00.007-05:00

Just some Pictures that I finally got downloaded to the computer so I could put on a post for all to see. Hope you enjoy them!

Here is Cooper riding his wiggle racer and Daisy May is chasing him around the circle they ride in around our house! (Please excuse the black bags in the floor, They are going to goodwill!)

And again still riding and chasing! So funny to watch them!

Here is My baby sister Lexis, our mom and I taking a picture together at Lexis' 18th birthday party!
And here we are again, but added Kayla! All the girls in a picture!

Happy 18th Birthday to Lexis! We had her party on April 26th, but her actual birthday was the 27th! We celebrated 1 day early!

Uncle Landon decided to feed Kayla Pop Rocks and guess what? She loved them!!!

Lexis and her new boyfriend Gilbert! He is very sweet!

The kids just love seeing Motorcycles on the road! Well they got to sit on one for the very first time! Uncle Lincoln has a bike and road it over on Lexis' party day! So the kids loved seeing it! They will not be taking a real ride on one until maybe, NEVER!!!! Only if I have something to say about it and what Mommy says it always right! :)

Kayla decided she was just going to lay on it! Cooper was checking out every little thing on it!

Anyway, just some random photos from the past few weeks that I wanted to share!

3 Years ago Continued.....

2009-05-10T21:31:00.010-05:00

3 years ago today on May 11th 2006 we had our second ultrasound. I was 7 weeks pregnant and so excited to see our little peanut and to also get to hear the heart beating for the first time! I will never forget that day as our lives would change forever! A great change though! So we got in the ultrasound room and waited for Dr. Plavidal to come in to do our ultrasound. He always comes in the room singing or whistling! He was always in a great mood even if he had the worst day! I was so excited for the ultrasound to start! As he started he found the sack the baby was in and it had gotten a little bigger in the two weeks and then he kind of pauses and I as I was looking at the screen I saw what the doctor was seeing and I just smiled and looked at Larry. The doctor delivered the news as there were two sacks there! So not only did we get to hear a heart beat we got to hear two!! It was just so exciting to hear and to finally after so many years of struggles and prayers know that we were being blessed with TWINS!!!!

Here is our ultrasound from that day! Now that we knew we were expecting twins, we had a lot to plan for and knew we needed double of everything! Also when expecting multiples my doctor wanted to monitor me a little closer and more often than a single pregnancy, so I was super excited since I knew we would be getting more ultrasounds than normal.

The first trimester was the toughest for me as I was so sick! I was growing in the belly, but I was actually losing weight due to not being able to eat. The morning sickness as they call it was all day sickness for me! After the first trimester was over I just felt so much better and really started to enjoy my pregnancy!

On July 5th 2006 at my 16 week appointment Dr. Plavidal asked us if we wanted to find out the sex of the babies and of course we did!!! So as he started the ultrasound he took all the measurements to make sure the babies were growing the way they should. He started with baby B first since it was up high and much easier to see. As we are watching the screen we start to see what looked like a little boy part to us and then the doctor confirmed and said he was 100% sure that it was a BOY! He moved to Baby A and took all the measurements that were needed and then he moved to try and see what the sex of this baby is. Unfortunately Baby A was breech and there was just no way that day we could tell what the sex was. So we left the office that day only knowing we were for sure having a boy and would have to wait to find out what else we were having! Now in my mind I just felt that I was having a Boy and a Girl.

Now here is I think the only picture that I had taken of me pregnant other than at my baby showers, but I wasn't really trying to show off the belly during the showers! I was only 18 weeks pregnant and I looked HUGE!!! I actually miss being pregnant!

On August 1st 2006 at 20 weeks pregnant we had another ultrasound and the doctor started doing his thing and as he was in the middle I asked him if it was possible to try again to see if we could tell the sex of Baby A. He said he would try if the baby was in a better position. So he looked and was pretty sure that it was a girl, but things could look that way and be different, but we were all pretty sure it was a girl that day! I was so excited to know that I was getting my boy and girl at once!! What could be any better?

On September 12th 2006 Larry had to work at his side job and I already had my doctor's appt. scheduled that day, so I asked my mom if she would meet me at the doctor's office so I didn't have to go by myself. I knew that we were not going to have an ultrasound that day, so I felt comfortable telling Larry that it was ok that he miss our appointment since he had to work at the last minute! As we were in the room Dr. Plavidal came in and talked for a minute and brought the Doppler machine in to just monitor the heart beats. They were very strong and sounded great! At this point I was 25 weeks along and I did bring up some pressure that I had been feeling, so he stepped out of the room so I could undress as he wanted to check to make sure nothing was going on! Well much to our surprise as he was checking my cervix he said really sweet and calm to me that I was already dilated 2cm and that I would be going to the hospital right then and would have to remain in the hospital the remainder of the pregnancy. I just remember breaking down and crying as I had felt so good and could not believe that this was happening! I tried to compose myself enough to call Larry and as soon as he got on the phone I broke down again and told him they were putting me in the hospital for the rest of the pregnancy. The first two days of my stay in Labor and Delivery was kind of a blur from the high dose of Magnesium the doctor ordered to try and stop what was going on. They wanted to make sure that I didn't go into early labor. On the 3rd day in the hospital I begged Dr. Plavidal to take me off of the Magnesium! He did lower my dose, but would not take me off!

My stay at Women's Hospital was actually not as bad as I was thinking it would be other than not being able to get out of bed, but I did enjoy having my breakfast, lunch and dinner delivered to me each day! I didn't think the food was that bad either for being hospital food! I just laid in bed trying to grow these two babies and keep them in as long as I could!

I spent 2 weeks on bedrest and on September 23rd 2006 I started having some strong contractions and being the weekend my doctor was not on call, so the on call doctor at the hospital ordered for a shot to try and stop the contractions and also a steroid shot for the babies lungs to help them mature a little quicker just in case they were to deliver early. By Sunday the contractions had not been as bad so things looked to be getting better! Boy was I in for a surprise! Later that evening and into Monday morning the contractions started up again. I felt ok and I had sent Larry home to check on our dog knowing that Dr. Plavidal would take care of things and know just what to do. Well sure enough Dr. Plavidal came in around 7am to see me after hearing about my weekend and he said he was going to go ahead and check things and see what was going on. As he was checking the cervix he looks at me and sweetly says to me that I was already dilated to a 7 and that we were going to the OR immediately and having these babies today. Things started going really fast from there. I was on the phone trying to call Larry to tell him to get back to the hospital and of all days he was not answering his phone. I was panicking since I was all alone. I called my mom as I knew she was close and that she would answer her phone! I told her to call Larry's parents and to try Larry again! I finally got Larry on the phone right before they were going to be taking me from my room. Again everything just went so fast and they took me to get a new IV line for the drugs and then got me in the bright OR and started the epidural. I have heard horror stories about epidurals and to be honest I never felt a thing! I had a very sweet nurse that held me up in the position I need to sit in and just remember her talking to me and rubbing my shoulders and then they said all done and helped me lay back down. All I could think, was I need Larry here and would ask if my husband was here yet. He did finally get there and was dressed in his scrubs to come in and then the most horrible news I had received that morning. They said the epidural was not working quick enough for them and Dr. Plavidal wanted to get the babies out. They told me that I would have to be put under to have my C-Section and I just remember being silent and in shock. At that time I was not aware that Larry could not come in to see the birth and then I wasn't going to get to see the birth and I was just very upset to have missed my first babies being born.

So on September 25th 2006 we welcomed into this world Kayla Nicole(Baby A) at 8:32am weighing 2lbs 3.6oz and Cooper Dean(Baby B) at 8:33am weighing 2lbs 4.6oz.

That was the day our NICU journey started and we spent a little over 4 long months going back and forth to the hospital to visit our babies!

I look back and as I am writing this and seeing the ultrasounds and pictures of the twins the day they were born, I know God took care of all of us during everything that happened!

Now today I have two beautiful healthy 2 1/2 year olds and could not be happier! That is all in the past and I can't wait to see what our future holds!

So there you have it, My pregnancy journey! I am glad that I could share my journey with everyone!

I wanted to thank everyone that has been apart of our lives and that has been praying for our babies since the day they were conceived! They are so special to us and we are so proud to be the parents to Kayla and Cooper! We can't imagine our lives today without them!

I hope everyone has a great week and sorry that this was such a long post! These are my memories and I want to have them put here so one day we can come back and read them with the kids to let them see what they mean to all of us!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

2009-05-10T20:56:00.006-05:00

Today we celebrate Mother's Day! This is my 3rd mother's day as a mommy and each one gets better and better! Today the kids could actually tell me Happy Mother's Day and it was just so special to me! After they said it once they were saying it all day! They would be playing and then all of the sudden come up and say "Happy Mother's Day Mommy"! Just so so cute coming from my two precious Miracles that we prayed so hard for 4 years ago! I thank God every day for allowing me to be a mommy to Kayla and Cooper! I love them so much!!

I also want to say a special Thank you and Happy Mother's Day to our Mother's! We Love you both so much and we are so thankful that you are our Mother's. You raised us to be who we are today and we thank you for all you both have done! Now you get to enjoy being Grandma's and Loving on your two Grandbabies!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's today! You all deserve this special day!

My Music makers!!!

2009-05-06T16:41:00.005-05:00

If you ever come to our house and just sit and listen to the kids you will hear them playing and laughing one moment, to this the next.....

Yes, they are sitting together playing the piano and singing Jesus Loves Me! Even though they don't know all the words yet, it is still so cute to hear and watch! They are just precious!

Look closely at this picture and you can see Cooper as he is singing! He sings so loud!

They are going to be little Music Makers and are already so talented! They love to hear their daddy and PawPaw sing all the time and so they have to share their singing as well! Maybe someday I will be able to get it on video for everyone!

Just wanted to share a little bit about what else goes on in our home with the kids! Trying to make some memories to show the kids in the future! I know they will love to look back and see all they have done!

3 years ago today.......

2009-04-27T20:54:00.007-05:00

3 years ago today we had our very first ultrasound after we found out we were pregnant on April 13, 2006 after taking a home pregnancy test. We tried for about 4 years to conceive a child and our dreams were finally coming true. I never thought I would have trouble getting pregnant as my mom had 4 kids, her sister had 4 kids and her mother had 4 kids, so I was thinking this was going to be easy and we should get pregnant right away. There were many disappointments along our journey of infertility and the outcome was never the one I was hoping and praying for. In October of 2005 I was referred to an OBGYN that was a God send for us. I have done the fertility treatment stuff and going to the doctor twice a week to be monitored and all with no answers and still no pregnancy. This doctor had not even met me yet before he walked into the room, but reading the symptoms and talking to the nurse he finally gave me a diagnoses. I have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) , which seems to be very common and is why we had not gotten pregnant. Basically, it came down to having to take a drug called Clomid which is a medicine that helps with ovulation that women with PCOS do not have. I felt very confident in my doctor and knew this was the right place to be.

From October until early March of 2006 I first took some medicine that he prescribed that diabetic patients take, which is also know to help with PCOS, but in my case it started making me sick and I called my doctor on the phone one day and told him I could not take that anymore and since it hadn't really worked anyway I just thought it may be better to just go ahead and try the Clomid. I had taken clomid about a year before this time with another specialist and it didn't seem to work, but God has a plan for everyone and the first time was not God's plan for us. So of course my Doctor told me the chances of possibly a multiple pregnancy and I understood the chances, but I was just determined that this was it and I needed to try again. So, March of 2006 was when I was put on Clomid and by April 13, 2006 I took that dreaded test I had taken many times before and in my mind I was expecting to get the negative result like all the other times! Well, God had bigger plans here and when I saw the word "Pregnant" on this high tech pregnancy test they sell now, I was kind of in shock, but very excited! I could not believe it really said Pregnant! I was so excited that Larry was actually playing ball that night and wouldn't have gotten home until late and I knew I would be asleep, but I didn't want to wait until the morning to tell him, so Yes, I called him on the phone and told him we had some news to tell our parents that Easter weekend. He really didn't click to what I was saying and so I told him that I was finally pregnant. I could here the excitement in his voice, but do wish I could have seen his face too, but I was just still in shock that we got pregnant our first go with clomid this time!

This was just the beginning of our pregnancy journey.

Here is our first ultrasound taken on 4/27/06. This was our little peanut that we got to see for the very first time! I was only 5 weeks pregnant at this appointment, so there was not much that you could see.
This was just the beginning of our Journey. Stay tuned for the next post when I finish our story of our pregnancy!

Happy 18th Birthday Lexis!!!

2009-04-27T18:16:00.004-05:00

Today my baby sister is 18 years old! I can't believe that she is already 18. I remember the day she was born! I wanted a sister so bad and I even cried at the ultrasound when we found out she was a girl! The doctor asked my mom if I was ok! 18 years ago, I was at the hospital waiting on Lexis to be born and we didn't have to wait long! My mom got checked in to the hospital and 30 minutes later we had a baby girl! I was so excited and I told my mom that I didn't want to go to school the next day and I wanted to stay at the hospital with her and baby Lexis all night. So there I was 10 years old and I had my sister! She was 9lbs. 11oz. The biggest baby of all of us 4 kids. I was the smallest at 8lbs. 3 oz. What a big difference!

So today, I want to wish my beautiful little sister a wonderful 18th Birthday! We hope you enjoy your special day!!!

WE LOVE YOU LEXIS ARIEL!!!!!

I will be posting some pictures, but I am having some trouble getting them to download to the computer, so I will have those up soon!

Love- Larry, LeJoy, Cooper and Kayla

Our Saturday and Sundays Trip to the Houston Zoo

2009-04-20T18:36:00.001-05:00

On Saturday it rained all day long that the kids were stuck inside the house all day. We did have some nice company come over and visit. Grandma, PawPaw and Uncle Chris came to visit in the middle of the down pour and after they got over here the streets started flooding and our part of the street very rarely gets standing water, but that day it was up in our yard and to the sidewalk. I was not even thinking to grab my camera to take any pictures, but it got pretty high. Larry had to even go move his truck out of the street as it was almost to his door and he had to go in through the passenger side, just to not have water gush into his truck. We needed some rain, but that was just a lot!

Sunday turned out to be a very beautiful day and the kids and I woke up and played around the house while daddy got to sleep in for a few hours. We didn't have any plans for the day and after daddy woke up he decided it would be fun to take the kids to the Zoo. Well, that was a great idea since it was so nice outside and we figured the kids would really enjoy getting to see the animals now.

We got to the zoo around 11am and we spent almost 3 hours there! We just had a great day as a family and we loved getting to see the kids seeing all the animals! I think our favorite was the giraffe. There was one so close to us eating off a tree on our side of the fence and the kids would just talk to him and said hello!

Here are the kids looking at the Otters up on the log. These two otters were so fun to watch as they played and played and played! They would go in the water and then out on the logs and then chased each other in the water for a bit!

Here the otters were in the water swimming. Otters are so cute!

Here was a BIG Turtle! It even started moving and walking around. The kids really liked seeing it walk. They thought that was cool.

This was another favorite to see. We are big into salt water tanks and this was a huge tank that took up one whole wall. It was beautiful with all the rock and corals and the fish!

It was very interesting to watch these little guys. They got right up to the window to see all the people looking at them. We think they are neat and they look at us and probably think we are neat too.

And here is what we saw when we walked up to the giraffes. He was eating off the tree on the other side of the fence. It was cool to see one that close up.

And here he is up close right above were we were standing to get a closer look.

This giraffe was further away, but all by its self and it looked right at us when we walked by and said hi to it. These are beautiful animals!

Here is the big Elephant. Another Beautiful animal created by God!

The kids wouldn't stand by themselves for some reason! Hmmm, I wonder if it is because they are so attached to daddy?

I wish I could just lay around like this and take a nap!

When I took this picture, I thought the cow was going to give Kayla a kiss. They loved getting to touch the cow! As the kids would say..."What does a cow say? Moo" They are too cute!!

Petting the sweet, soft cow!

There was a table of people set up right in front of this orangutan and he never moved. He was so interested in seeing the people as we were in seeing him. Although we didn't get to get very close as we were so rudely cut off by a man that couldn't wait in line like the rest of us to get to see and he never moved so he was in the way the entire time we had been standing there. Poor Kayla wanted to see so badly Larry finally put her down on the ledge and she got a little closer, but we decided to just go since this man would not move. Poor Cooper couldn't see either. I had to get Kayla and she cried when I was carrying her away.

Just a monkey hanging around! He was a cute little monkey!

We had a great day at the zoo and I know the kids really had a great time! They were so tired that they both fell asleep not to long after we left. The rest of the day, we just hung out as a family and enjoyed our day!

I am so thankful for my beautiful family and so glad that we can spend days like Sunday with no worries and just have fun!

Easter Weekend Part 2

2009-04-12T22:21:00.009-05:00

I noticed on Part 1 that I left out what we did Saturday evening after we left Alvin. We took the kids to cousin Trey and Megan Smith's house to decorate Easter eggs! He had hamburgers and hot dogs and just had some family fun hanging out. We took easter eggs to color and dye, but Kayla and Cooper were not really into to that yet, so mommy had fun doing it! I love hard boiled eggs, so I didn't mind doing it by myself. I didn't get any pictures of any of that, but I did get some when we got home and gave the kids their Easter baskets from mommy and daddy. See pictures and Video below.

Easter Sunday morning Daddy had to go to work at the Fire Station so mommy and the kids met Nana Davis at Sagemont church. After church mommy drove to the fire station to let the kids see daddy for a little bit. They loved that of course! They get so excited when they see their daddy even if it was for just a little bit. After visiting daddy we drove over to Nana and Pops' house to have lunch and just hang out. The kids got a good nap in and then they played for a little longer! They colored and played with all the toys. They then got their Easter baskets from Nana & Pops. Kayla's had a bunch of coloring stuff and side walk chalk and Cooper's had army men, trucks and a plane!

They got so excited when they saw the orange and apple in the basket too. Funny kids!!

Kayla was saying "CHEESE" and she always puts her head back when saying it!
We wished daddy could have been in the picture with us this year! :(

Cooper's Easter basket had a hat as the bottom and Pops put it on for Cooper! HAHALook closely, this is what happens when you give a two year old a sheet of stickers! Silly Turkey!We took the kids down to the lake area so that they could feed the ducks! They love to see the ducks and they got to have a bag of food to feed the ducks. They get out there and call the ducks and say "Quack Quack". We also saw the turtles that came to eat as well. I counted at least 15 turtles and there may have been more! There were only two ducks this time and across the road in the other lake we did see a mommy duck with her ducklings walking right behind her. It was very cute to see that!Uncle Landon with Kayla!Landon's girlfriend Valerie with Cooper!Aunt Lexis with the kids!Kayla is one brave girl. She has no fear! She got right to the edge and didn't understand why we were all telling her to get back.

The kids had such a wonderful Easter. We were sad that daddy couldn't be with us on Easter Sunday, but we were glad that we at least got to go visit him at the fire station.

On a sad note, the Houston Fire Deptartment lost 2 fire fighters in the early morning hours on Easter Sunday morning during a house fire. As more information comes in we learned that the fire just got to strong and all the fire fighter were called out of the house, but sadly these two men did not make it out. The captain was with HFD for 29 years and was about to celebrate 30 years in the department. He was a husband, father and grandfather and was only 50 years old. The rookie had only been with HFD for a little over a month. This was his first fire since joining HFD and sadly it would be his last. He was 29 years old and Larry actually graduated from Alvin High School with him in 1998. He served his country in the military and came home to serve as a fireman. We pray for the families for these two men and pray for peace and comfort as the families are dealing with the loss of there loved one. We also pray for the fire fighters that these men worked with as they are there second family and I can't imagine how they are feeling knowing there men were in that house and they could not do anything about it at the time! It just became to dangerous for all.

Please pray for all of the Houston Fire Department as they deal with this tragedy!

Over all we had a very nice weekend for Easter and we were glad that the sun came out Sunday afternoon for the kids to get to go outside and feed the Ducks!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well and Hope your week is blessed!

Easter 2009 Weekend Part 1 of 2

2009-04-11T21:16:00.003-05:00

First Off I want to say I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! We had a very busy weekend and I have lots of photos to share so I will do it in 2 parts.

Saturday we took the kids to Alvin to visit Grandma and PawPaw Dickens and Uncle Chris. We met for lunch at Joe's BBQ and ate lots of good food! The kids wanted to be big and sit in a big chair and not a highchair. After lunch we went back to Grandma and PawPaw's house and the kids got to open there Easter baskets which contained lots of good things including big boy underwear for Cooper and Princess panties for Kayla. Now we just need to get the kids to learn to tell us they need to go potty instead of just going in the diaper and then telling us!

Here is Uncle Chris teasing the kids before they got their Easter baskets.Kayla got a pretty necklace that she just loves!Cooper got his favorite things that we see in the sky.... A Helicopter and an Airplane.Now after opening our Easter baskets, Daddy, Uncle Chris and PawPaw went outside to hide Easter Eggs and then the kids got to go hunting for them! They did really good! Kayla was pretty fast at it and just kept filling her basket! Cooper had to shake them at first and make sure they had something in them! They were so cute! I have a video at the end of them hunting eggs.After hunting eggs, we took the kids inside and Grandma got out the cookie stuff to bake cookies so the kids could decorate them. They got to help lay the dough out and press the cookie cutter down to make the different shapes for the cookies. They baked the cookies and then the decorating began. They had so much fun with this as well! They loved getting to put the icing and sprinkles on and then they got to eat them! YUM YUM! I also included a video of the cookie decorating.

I hope you have enjoyed this first part of our Easter weekend. I know there are a lot of pictures and I have plenty more for Part 2. Stay tuned as I am working on Part 2 and should have it posted within a day or two.

A side of our kids most don't see....

2009-04-08T21:09:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted any videos yet, so I hope this works!

I wanted to show everyone a side of my kids that I just love more and more that not a lot of people get to see or may have never seen! It just cracks me up listening to them sometimes. They just go back and forth about things and then out comes the laughter! It is just so so cute!!! These are the days that need to be recorded and if Larry wouldn't have told me to get the camera to video this I would have missed looking back at our two miracles and how much fun they were having! Even if they did not feel good and we were at the doctors office they still find the time to just laugh! I wish that we as adults could just laugh and have fun like nothing else is going on in the world! They are just innocent little souls right now and I wish that I could protect them from growing up in this world as it is right now!

Well, I will quit going on about things and let you see our laughing Twins! Enjoy! By the way they are giving daddy Foot Loops!

This was right before the doctor came in and we were just having way to much fun! Everything checked out ok with the kids, but we did leave with antibiotics that day and Cooper was coughing so bad that weekend we ended up putting him on some cold medicine, which then Kayla followed with the cold medicine as well. Kayla just had yet another ear infection. They are both much better today and still just laughing and carrying on together!

I will have to get a video of them on the Scooter's that they got during the Rodeo. We let them play inside with those and they are so funny on those! I will try soon to capture that moment and post that one as soon as I get it!

Happy Birthday to my oldest brother!

2009-03-24T21:16:00.004-05:00

Today my oldest brother Lincoln is celebrating his 30th birthday! I can't believe he is 30. It doesn't seem like we should be that age already! Time has just flown by so quickly! I want to thank my mother for all she went through with the birth of Lincoln 30 years ago today. She almost died after Lincoln was born and the doctors rushed her to the OR and saved her life. If it weren't for those doctors then I would not be here today as well as my little brother and sister and most of all my two babies.

We just wanted to wish Lincoln a Happy 30th Birthday! May you have many more special birthday's to celebrate in this lifetime! We Love you!

Love~ Larry, LeJoy, Cooper and Kayla!

Turkey

2009-03-20T10:11:00.003-05:00

I thought I would do a post on Turkey! Not only is it my favorite thing to eat at Thanksgiving, but I could eat Turkey every day, all year long! I LOVE TURKEY!!! Well, we got to see this huge beautiful Turkey at the livestock show. Now I would not eat this turkey since I have now seen it alive, but I still love to eat Turkey. This was actually a very pretty turkey and he started walking closer towards us so that we could see him better!

Kayla really liked to see the Turkey since that is what mommy calls the kiddos all the time when they are being silly! They are my little Turkeys! Kayla told me one day in the car "Mommy, me a Turkey" and if you have ever heard Kayla talk, she does not sound like a two year old. I would say more like a 16 year old teenager that talks back and throws fits! Just kidding, but she is a little turkey! Cooper tries to say Turkey, but we have to work on that with him, but it is still cute when he says it too. He copied what Kayla said that day in the car and said he was a turkey too! They are just so cute!!!!

Kayla had to stand up to see the turkey behind the fence and she just smiled and got excited to finally see a real turkey. Daddy picked Cooper up after I took the picture so that he could get a better view.

I really love both of my little Turkeys so much and I'm just so thankful for them! I am so glad that God gave me these two little Turkeys to love and raise until they are grow and can take care of themselves! Kayla likes to think that she is a big girl and can do things on her own, but she still needs mommy and daddy to help her, even though she doesn't like it all the time. Cooper is a little different in that area and he will usually ask for you to help him in doing things, so we just help and teach him that he is a big boy and that some things he can do without mommy and daddy's help.

Well, I guess that is it for my Turkey posting for now! I just thought it was cute to let the kids see a real turkey and was glad that they had one at the Livestock show!

Thank you to Nana Davis for letting us borrow your camera since mine was stolen from me! I have now purchased another camera, not by choice, but I need one to take pictures of my kids while they are growing and to also be able to share my kids with everyone that doesn't get to see them as much! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

2009 HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW & RODEO

2009-03-18T08:43:00.009-05:00

We took the kids to see the animals on Sunday March 15 at the Livestock show. They got to see all the cows and bunnies and pigs and everything else that comes to the Livestock show. They have a petting zoo for everyone to go see all the animals! We got some food to take in with us to let the kids feed the animals and we almost got attacked by all of the goats wanting the food. I even had a Lama right in my face when I turned around one time and it wanted to eat! Poor little Kayla almost got knocked to the ground since they were all trying to get to me. Kayla got to feed a few of the goats when they all calmed down. Cooper was with daddy and he got to feed a lot of the animals since they were all mostly after me and Kayla! It was actually very funny! When we got to where Cooper and daddy were Kayla got up in daddy's arms and that was it, she didn't get down until we were back to the stroller! Cooper had fun and he didn't want to leave all the animals, but we could not get him to pet the little rough haired PIG! It was so cute, just walking around and Cooper I guess thought it was ugly and didn't want to touch him.

Here are the kids when we first got inside checking things out.

We got to walk through a barn looking building and see the cows. The kids would say "MOO"Kayla loved the little baby Chicks! They were all so cute!!

Cooper petting the pretty soft white bunny!

Kayla got to pet the bunnies twice, since we didn't get a picture the first time!

Cooper & Kayla in the petting zoo! Daddy was giving them the food!

Cooper being sweet and petting the sheep! It just laid there for him!

Cooper didn't even have any food in his hands and he just let the donkey touch his hand.

Does Kayla look scared to you? This is the goat that was right there wanting our food. It even jumped up on me to get the food!

And this is what we came home with! Kayla did not want to leave when we were trying to get her off, so that is why we decided that we better go ahead and get one, I mean 2! HA HA! Could you see us just taking one home and having a screaming fight over who is going to ride?

These are called Wiggle Racers and you do just what the kids are doing and put your feet up and wiggle your hands. You can go pretty fast once you get going! Cooper has discovered that if you use your feet on the ground you can go a lot faster! Adults can even ride on these as they hold up to 220lbs! They are pretty fun as Larry and I did it after we got home! Kayla got a purple one just like in the picture, but Cooper picked a yellow one that he liked!

We had a great day with the kids and are glad they had so much fun! We really enjoy getting to take our kids out to enjoy fun things and be a family. There are so many families that have had preemie babies that are very fragile and just can't even leave the house during cold/flu/RSV season. We are very lucky to be able to take our kids out and about! It could be worse, but God watch over our two precious miracles and allowed them to be healthy normal 2 1/2 year olds today! We are so blessed! We thank God every day for our babies that we love so much!

Have a blessed day~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND

2009-03-11T11:40:00.008-05:00

Today Larry turns 29 years old!

We are so thankful that God put Larry on this earth 29 years ago today! He was born the day after his fathers birthday and what a special birthday present for any parent. He is so special to all of us! I don't know where I would be today if I hadn't met Larry. He is the love of my life and we have the Joy of spending the rest of our lives together and raising our two precious children together!

Unfortunately Larry is having to work at the Fire Station today, so we won't be able to see him until tomorrow when he gets home from work. We did however get to celebrate his birthday along with his father's birthday this past Sunday, so we did have a great day to celebrate!

Last night Larry and I went to a Houston Aero's Hockey game at Toyota Center and it was actually pretty fun! I have never been to a Hockey game and it was not crowded at all, so it must not be a very popular sport like most others! Anyway, we met some of the other firemen that Larry works with at the game and just had a great time.

Kayla and Cooper got to call their daddy this morning and they both told him Happy Birthday! Kayla will sing "Happy Birthday to you", but she wouldn't do it this morning for her daddy! They love their daddy so much!

Anyway, just wanted to wish Larry a Happy Birthday today and we are sorry that we couldn't spend the day with him on his birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WE LOVE YOU!!!

Love- LeJoy, Cooper and Kayla

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SEVERAL FAMILY MEMBERS TODAY!

2009-03-10T10:11:00.008-05:00

Today we have several Birthdays through out our Family so we wanted to wish a Happy Birthday to each one.

Happy Birthday to PawPaw Dickens! We Love you and hope you have a great day today!

Happy Birthday to Aunt Freida! We hope you have a great day filled with lots of Joy and Happiness! (By the way Aunt Freida is PawPaw's twin sister) We Love you!

Happy Birthday to my grandmother, Nanny! She is in Oklahoma so we won't be able to see her on this special day, but we wish her all the love and happiness on her Birthday today!

And finally a Happy Birthday to my cousin Jill who is in Mississippi! We hope you have a great day as well and We Love you!

Wow today was a very popular day to be born on! We hope that today is a special day for everyone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU ALL! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Love- Larry, LeJoy, Cooper and Kayla!!

Tomorrow we have another special Birthday so check back to see who we are celebrating with!

Daddy's little helper and Daddy's Princess

2009-03-09T20:06:00.003-05:00

Well, I thought with having Twins that I would have a momma's boy or girl, but Kayla and Cooper are big time daddy's kids! They have to have their daddy when he is home. Cooper I think is more attached to his daddy than Kayla right now. He wants his daddy to do everything for him and he gets upset if mommy does something and not his daddy. Kayla on the other hand is not like that and will still let mommy do things for her most of the time. They are just so cute and Cooper will come up and just grab onto your leg and give a big hug and then will kiss your leg and go right back to playing.

Here is Cooper helping daddy water the plants. He walked around the whole yard holding on to the water hose. It was so cute to watch and he was so proud to be daddy's little helper!

Here is Daddy and his little Princess!

Here are the kids playing games at Incredible Pizza with daddy!

The past few days the kids have not been feeling so well. They have been running low grade fevers and have runny noses and bad coughs. I'm not sure what is in the air, but it has hit them again. I don't like when my babies are not feeling well, but I sure do love the loving's that we get when they don't feel good. I just hope that they start feeling better really soon.

This week we will probably be taking the kids to the Livestock show at the rodeo if they are feeling better. I know last year at this time they weren't feeling good either and Cooper ended up getting sick on the way to the Livestock show, but we still got there and the kids have a great time seeing all the animals. This year will be so much fun since they are older and know what they are seeing now!

I will post on the Livestock show and Rodeo if we get to go later this week.

Happy Birthday to Grandma Dickens

2009-02-24T09:28:00.003-06:00

Today is Grandma Dickens Birthday so we wanted to wish her a very Happy Birthday! We hope your day is filled with lots of Joy and Happiness!

Happy Birthday!!!!! We Love you!!!!

Love,

Larry, LeJoy, Cooper and Kayla

8 Wonderful Years Together!

2009-02-24T09:07:00.008-06:00

Today Larry and I celebrate our 8th Wedding Anniversary! What a wonderful 8 years we have had together and we have many more to come!

This is from our wedding day 8 years ago!

We celebrated our Anniversary this past weekend by going and staying at the Houston Marriott near the Galleria and we just had a great weekend shopping and dining together! Friday night we had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and we had never been before so it was very nice and great food. Larry got the Anniversary Cheesecake and since I don't like Cheesecake I just got a huge slice of the chocolate fudge cake and I must say it was to die for! Saturday we just spent the day shopping and walking around the Galleria which we hadn't been to in a long time. Saturday night for dinner we went to the hotel restaurant as we paid for a Romance package for one of our night stays and it included a dinner and breakfast. The dinner was called the Surf and Turf which included 2 pieces of Steak and a Lobster, veggies and mashed potatoes. The steak was incredible! The most tender and delicious steak I have had in a very long time! I even tried the Lobster and it wasn't as bad as I thought since I am not a seafood person, but we did take both Lobsters to go so they didn't go to waste. Sunday we woke up and went back to the restaurant and had the buffet breakfast which was very good as well!

Here we are this weekend before going to dinner!

So overall we had a very nice weekend to celebrate over and Sunday we got to be back with our two precious babies who missed us very much! They were very spoiled with their grandparents this weekend too!

To my wonderful husband of 8 years, Thank you for being my prince charming and for being the Wonderful man you are! I look forward to many many more years together with you and can't wait to see what is in store for our lives together! I Love You with all my heart! Happy Anniversary!!

A Day with Mommy and Daddy!!

2009-02-19T18:05:00.013-06:00

Today mommy and daddy spent the day with Kayla and Cooper just having fun and not working. We started off by taking the kids on a bike ride for the first time since mommy bought a new bicycle trailer for the kids to ride in behind mommy's bike. They were so excited when we asked them if they wanted to go on the bicycle and Kayla started running around the house in circles screaming "Bicycle, bicycle" It was so funny!!! We rode the bikes to the little neighbor park that we have never been to here about 6 blocks down from our house. It even has a neighbor pool next to the park, which might be nice for this summer! The kids played at the park and had so much fun running around and sliding and the best of all Climbing and scaring mommy half to death! Kayla has no fear what so ever! She even took off down the slide head first and thank goodness daddy was getting to the end of the slide as he caught her before she hit the ground! The next time she went down the slide she almost fell over the side because she was being silly and she busted her lip, so she didn't try that again! Cooper on the other hand is just a little more cautious in what he does! He takes his time and goes slowly down the slides or ask for help on the climbing stuff! They are both so just cute and just are loving sweet kids! We are so bless to have these two special miracles and we just love them so much!

Now for what you really want to see are the pictures so enjoy!

After the park we took the kids to eat at Casa Ole and then made our normal trip to Walmart since Kayla had been asking to go since before the park. Can you all believe my kids love to go to Walmart! I have no idea why, or maybe it is because mommy loves Walmart so much and we are there so often! What can I say!!!

Anyway, we had a great day just hanging out as a family and enjoying such a beautiful day we had today!

Tomorrow night Kayla and Cooper will be spending the night with Pops and Nana Davis and then on Saturday the kids will spend the night with Grandma and PawPaw Dickens so mommy and daddy can go celebrate there 8th Wedding Anniversary. Our Anniversary is on the 24th, but this was the weekend we could get away to celebrate so we are staying at a nice hotel near the Galleria.

Have a great weekend!

Daddy took the kids to the park today!

2009-02-16T15:26:00.008-06:00

Today daddy came and picked the kids up early from the babysitters and took them to the park to spend time with them. Grandma and PawPaw Dickens also came out to see there grandbabies as well.

Here is Cooper playing! He looks so tired!

Here is PawPaw Dickens pushing the kids on the swings! This can make you very tired! They love to swing!!! Grandma was taking pictures too, so we didn't get her in a picture!

I know the kids are really enjoying being with their daddy this afternoon as they did not get to see him much this weekend! What a wonderful daddy they have!!!

Valentines Day 2009!

2009-02-15T10:39:00.009-06:00

Happy Valentines Day to my two sweet little Valentines! Mommy and Daddy arrived at Pops and Nana's house to pick Cooper and Kayla up from there two night stay while mommy recovered from her wisdom teeth surgery. Cooper saw us and ran up and gave our legs a big hug and pat! Kayla was happy to see us, but didn't want to share her hugs or kisses at the time.

They had a wonderful time with nana making heart shaped Valentines pancakes and loved decorating them before getting to eat them! Kayla helped Nana put the food coloring in the mix to make them pink and then Nana cooked them and let the kids go to town with the sprinkles.

Here is Kayla saying hi to mommy, but she didn't want to give hugs or kisses.

Here is Cooper giving daddy's leg a hug! He pats your leg at the same time too. So sweet!

Here are my two little Valentines before mommy and daddy came to pick them up.

The Heart shaped Valentines Pancakes that Nana made for Kayla and Cooper.

Kayla putting sprinkles on her pancake!

Cooper putting sprinkles on his pancake!

Here is the finished decorated pancake just before it got eaten! So fun!!

Pops and Nana had a fun weekend with Kayla and Cooper and we thank them for taking such good care of them for us!

Now if I can figure my camera out for the sound I will be posting a video of something else that Kayla and Cooper have learned recently, so keep checking back. It is very cute and you just have to see it for yourself!

Wisdom teeth

2009-02-13T20:01:00.002-06:00

Well this morning at 8:30am mommy had her wisdom teeth surgery to remove 3 wisdom teeth. We arrived at the office a little after 8:00am and surgery started at 8:30 and I was home by 9:15am. I was blessed to have a wonderful surgeon named Dr. Warner Heathman who is a good friend of my dad's perform my surgery and it all went very well! I was a nervous wreck when I went into the office that I forgot to give the nurse the card that says that I would like Dr. Heathman to pray with me before the surgery, which you don't get that very often and knowing that he is a christian man made me feel a whole lot better! I couldn't have asked for anything better in a surgeon! He even personally called me this evening at 7:15 to check on me so that made me feel even better!

I am doing pretty good for just having 3 teeth removed. I have stitches and my wonderful husband has been so sweet and loving today through everything! He has been bringing me water, remembering all my medicines that I have to take and just making sure I am doing OK! I could not have asked for a better husband either! Thank you Larry for all you do! I love you!!!

As for Cooper and Kayla they are hanging out at Pops and Nana Davis' house and they have been doing very well. They spent the night last night and will be there tonight and we will get them back tomorrow! What a wonderful Valentines day we will have with our two precious babies! We already miss them so much and can't wait to see them tomorrow!

Nana has been working with the kids today on the potty training thing and both kids have done pretty good she said, so we will continue working with them and maybe soon we will be diaper free! We did get them a video on potty training for Valentine's Day so we will see how they like that.

Anyway, check back later as I have another post that I will be working on tomorrow to show everyone what the kids have also learn!

Sorry I don't have any pictures for this post either!

Daddy's Fire Station

2009-02-09T20:24:00.015-06:00

Tonight for dinner we went to Daddy's fire station and the kids were so excited! All they talk about is the fire station with fire trucks! It is so cute! They see a fire station while we are driving down the road and start screaming and just get so excited! It is just so cute!!

We went because Larry is getting promoted and so he was doing his promotional dinner tonight as he is not sure if he will be moving to a different station after today's shift. Thursday he will do his drug test and a physical and then should find out where he will be going.

Tonight we had Steak and Jumbo Shrimp with bake potatoes and to end the dinner we had a nice chocolate cake! I didn't get any pictures of the food since I was chasing two kids around, but it was very good other than the Shrimp since I don't like that!!!

So now I will just go ahead and put some pictures up since that is the most important thing!

Here is Kayla in the fire truck!

Here is Daddy with Cooper and Kayla on the fire truck!

Here Kayla and Cooper wanted to sit on the truck together! They were so cute and saying "Cheese" over and over!!!

Cooper wanted to help wash the truck so Capt. Mo Davis let him. Kayla is waiting to help too!

Now Kayla got to help also and they loved it!

Cooper stated playing with the water hose and got soaking wet! Look at that face! He had so much fun!

Anyway, that was our evening at daddy's fire station and the kids loved every minute of it! If daddy does have to leave fire station 46 and go to a new station we will miss the guys at the station. The kids have gotten to know so many of them and they do have fun getting to play with all the firemen at station 46!

We are so proud of our fireman and we love him so much!!!

Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 1,2009)

2009-02-05T20:31:00.000-06:00

Well we really didn't plan a whole lot for the Super Bowl as the kids just really don't care to much about watching Tv right now, so we just went over to Pops and Nana Davis' house to hang out for the day! While the kids took their afternoon nap mommy, Nana and Aunt Lexis went to use our christmas gifts and get a pedicure together! We had lots of fun just relaxing and having our feet pampered. We did not think about even getting pictures on our outing! It was fun though so that is all that counts!

We got back to the house and Pops had both the kids up from nap time and they just had fun playing with toys and Pops did patty cake with them and Cooper just cracked up laughing! That was really cute to see! I love hearing these kids laugh!!!

So we just hung out and played and before it was time to leave mommy changed the kids into their PJ's since it was after 9pm and Pops and Nana took the kids into the kitchen for a new surprise.

Here they are waiting to see what is in the special draw!

Still waiting while Pops finds a special treat for them.

Cooper got some stickers and a car!!!

And Kayla got some stickers (Her favorite) and a pretty flower bow for her hair!

And here they are after telling Pops and Nana thank you for the surprises and this is something that the kids will get to do every time we go to Pops and Nana's house before we leave to go home! Let's just hope that they don't start going straight for the magic draw everytime we get to the house, now that they know where it is!

Anyway we had a great day on Super Bowl Sunday and we wished that the Arizona Cardinals could have won there first Super Bowl! I didn't really care who won, but that was the first time they made the Super Bowl, so we cheered them on!

Well, got to run and finish some laundry! Check back soon for some more to come!

Monster Trucks

2009-02-04T22:00:00.001-06:00

On Saturday 1/31/2009 we took the kids to the Monster Jam at Reliant stadium. We had been talking to the kids about going and we would ask them if they wanted to go see the Monster Trucks and they would get so excited and say "YES". Of course we bought the tickets about an hour and a half before the event so we were in the top section of the stadium, but they turned out to be good seats. You could see everything! This picture was when we first arrived and they were both shaking and holding on tight to mommy and daddy!

Look at Kayla holding on to mommies arm! Poor Cooper is like his Nana Davis and held his ears the whole time while the trucks were racing!

Here is Kayla and Mommy! See she likes it now!!! She had so much fun!

Now Cooper is getting into it, but soon after this his hands were back on his ears. He wouldn't take his hood off either! He is too funny!

They liked to see the trucks go up in the air too! It was so cool!

Here they are after we left our seats and they decided to sit on the ledge looking outside of reliant stadium!

We were leaving to go home, but we could leave without getting the kids something to remember their first Monster Jam, so we got them each a monster truck.

They had so much fun going to see the monster trucks and they still wake up each morning and get there trucks to play with!

Check back soon as I will be posting about our day on Super Bowl Sunday!

New blogger

2009-02-01T19:21:00.000-06:00

This is my first time here on blogger and so far it seems like it will be pretty easy to share our life here for everyone that is interested to follow. I have been following so many blogs of people that I have never met so I decided this is something I wanted to try so here I am trying it out!

This will be the place I come to post about our family life and special things that go on with our two year old twins!

We have been using Carepages.com after Cooper was transferred to Texas Children's back on 12/30/06 and I was wanting something a little easier and where we can keep a memory of our life events.