TEAM BROCK AND BRODY

March of Dimes - Walk For Babies is over! We had so much fun. My legs are still "jelly" from walking 5 miles. There were so many other family groups there today at the U of H marching in honor of or in memory of a baby/babies that were loved by their families. Then there were the happy stories to tell of the premies who have grown and were actually walking or "strolling" with us today. My heart was bursting with pride at our group. All of our kids made it the entire route without any tears or "whining"! That was the adults doing the whining! Macy rode her scooter the entire way. It was her 6th BIRTHDAY and she selfishly gave up her day! We did enjoy lunch out at a nice Mexican Restaurant downtown complete with presents and cake! We didn't leave out our precious birthday girl. Our strong Reid walked with the big guys and the baby's all rode in strollers and enjoyed the scenery. JD and Jaxon were our missing partners. Jaxon got very sick when we got to Houston with an ear infection and some other "stuff" so we kept her home at Aunt Ashley's with her mommy. We missed them so much! We were also missing Reese or we would have had all of the families newest babies. We missed them SO much. Aunt Kathy drove the FW crew down and we were so glad to see her and walk and talk and laugh together. We missed Whitney and Kyle but they are WAY busy. Matt, Christine, Jack and Sam came along and marched not only for Brock and Brody but for their own J & S who were premies and for their sweet friends. Christine's mom, Mindy came too and we L.O.V.E.D. having her with us. We missed JoJo and Jenna but Reese was busy getting her daddy off on a trip to Guatamala. Next year we are making Jordan come too! Lauren and Mason stayed with their Daddy so Mommy Kedra could come and we are so grateful she did! Riley entertained us with her running skills like her JOJO. Jack and Sam were champs making such a long walk and their mommy . Enjoy the group photo just after we crossed the finish line 2 hours after we started. I don't know about you but count me in next year again. But we are going earlier and getting a better parking place.

Brock and Brody's beautiful mommy and little sister were our inspiration.

LOVE TO ALL THE TEAMS, but our especially.......

If you double click on the group picture you can see it much better and for some reason this layout almost cut out Riley in the picture. And we don't want that! When it's double clicked you can see me holding her with her ears covered. She did not like the loud band but she ran the fastest.

I knew she'd be back this year. But, I didn't know if she'd find her house. Then I didn't know if she would recognize it. Last year it was out back and this year it's on the front porch. Last year her house was blue this year it's red. Smart little mommy. See the four little eggs inside? It won't be long now. My front door is a busy place too and she is getting very content.

Last year I entertained this fellow and this spring he came back with a wife. He also lives at the front door. Who says backdoor friends are best?

I do not have a GREEN THUMB. But, these things are happy and thriving this spring. I have been "feeding" and paying special attention to them.

And this happy little fellow is just glad he came by. He guards things. Isn't he cute?

Everytime this week that I have started to whine or complain, I stop. I am blessed to wash these dishes. I am honored to clean this house. You know what I am trying to say, don't you? That just one day all these mundane tasks that we complain about will not get done. I have a dear friend that this very night her family surrounds her and they wait for her life to end. They don't want it too. She doesn't want to leave. She wants to get up and do the same old things she always did.......but that will be no more. Please remember them tonight and in the upcoming days. This will be the hardest thing that they have faced. Life without a mother, a wife, a sister, a friend. Yet, life will go on.

Late WORDY WEDNESDAY

I

meant

to

say

wordy

I admit it. When my kids were fairly young.....middle school maybe...........I handed them all a laundry basket and a box of Tide. I was tired of hunting socks, undies, and finding soggy towels under the curtains. We could go through 2 linen closets of towels in 1 day. Girls need more than one towel, you know. I could never catch up with the laundry. Now, I realize it's not possible. But, everyone was pretty much responsible for gathering up what they needed washed and if they needed it in 10 minutes they had to do it themselves. I was a MEAN OLD MOM. Hey, they all learned to sort colors and operate machinery at an early age. Now, I have a son who can wash and do laundry.

But, really. Don't you think my precious Tiny Princess is a little young to start hers? I loved this picture. She learned how to take the lid off her hamper. Her mommy said it looks like she is trying to say, "Hey, Mom you need to wash my onesies!"

Team Brock and Brody are gearing up and getting ready to walk. We are in the process of finalizing T-shirts now. Our team seems to be 20 + and strong at this point. By the time we reach Houston next weekend we should be ready to go. I am excited. I may be pushing a stroller but that's ok. We'll keep you posted how it goes. Captains / Organizers Ashley and BA, aka Mommy and Daddy, have worked hard getting this event organized for us. Uncle Mitch got Tshirts donated. Aunt Heather is organizing our elite line up. Reid and Macy are excited to participate. We are hoping that Macy can ride her scooter part of the way. It's a 5 mile walk starting from the U of H. We have aunts, cousins, and dear friends coming from all over to help us bringing the money they raised. Which will all be donated to the March of Dimes. Log on the their website and read all about it. This Neena will be there. Walking 5 miles just for her boys who are in Heaven waiting for us all to join them.

Our friends who were badly injured in the car accident on Friday night are doing much better. It is going to be a very, very long healing process. Therapies and surgeries to come. Continue to remember them in your prayers.

Mom is enjoying her aquatic therapy on her legs. Hopefully, she'll be running races soon.

Tawana is doing better everyday after her record breaking gallstone! She is glad that is over.

In other news.......Brad Pitt is still roaming the streets here. Angelina and the kids are enjoying country life. Sissy Spacek and her daughter were dining in our BBQ place last week. Filming is in full swing. Soon our little town will be back to normal. And we'll be waiting just like you to see the movie.

Just copy paste THIS and everything below up until my Five links:
I thought it would be cool to have a meme where we post links. We can post up to five. Then we tell five more people to share their links. If we all share who tagged us, our links are sure to be seen! They can be business links, favorite sites, affiliate links, whatever you want…


There are Five Rules:
1. MUST be clean. No R rated sites.
2. Only FIVE links.
3. MUST tell 5 people.
4. A link back to the person who tagged you

My Five Links:

1. ashleyallenphoto.net-This is my daughters's site. Her photos are awesome. You need to check it out. She has some really pretty models, too!! :) That are mostly my other children and my grandchildren.

2. American Heart Association - I like to get on and see new recipes that I won't cook and exercises that I will do next week if it doesn't rain or sleet. In other words N.E.V.E.R.

3. On line colleges. I like to look at how many ways there are to get into nursing school since I never will. I plug into those sights and look at the enrollment forms, the class loads, etc. and then realize that I will never get to be a nurse.

4. BLOGS, BLOGS and more BLOGS- I can't even tell you how many of those I look at a day. All strangers and share ideas, ask for prayers, shoot an occasional email and always say we are going to meet someday as a big group party. It would be so fun! Its so addicting. I have made so many friends through blogs.

5. yahoo mail.com-I have to check my mail...every hour. ha! You never know when you might really get an interesting message from someone who has been trying to locate you since 1982.

So, there you have it. A list of sites you might want to check out. Sorry they are not highlighted so you can click on them to get right to the site. Of all the things...I have no idea how to do that. HA! As much as I love my computer there are things that I just haven't learned yet. I'm a little slow....hee hee

I TAG FOR A MEME:
Terri
Donna
Aggiemama
Deena I (if she feels like it )
Ashley
JD
Heather

PLEASE LOCK ME AWAY IN ONE OF THESE JUMPING HOUSES. Okay. So, I didn't really jump...... let's just say that I did lots of bouncing. Riley and I had so much fun yesterday at Avery's birthday party. Party pictures of the princess coming up soon.

Does that suprise you?

The pictures are because it's my blog and I can. And because I never get tired of looking at these precious babies!

The birthday girl

The sports
fan











The ballerina














The all star of everything

For some reason I can't explain, I always feel like I have to have a photo or something to start my post. What is up with that? Today has been C.R.A.Z.Y. around here and it looks like the next few weeks are going to be the same. Here are a few highlights for the peeps in case I don't blog for awhile

• Mom's 84th birthday dinner went good. Thanks for all the well wishes. She is starting to feel better and get stronger too from her recent illness. In fact, sometime before Friday we are going shopping for her a swimsuit! She starts aquatic therapy on Friday. So, the old dreaded swimsuit shopping never ends, huh?


• I spent the day at the ER today with my BFF Tawana. She called early this morning on her way home from daughter's house in big A-town with SEVERE pain, sweating and nausea and wondered what she should do. If you know T, then you know she never complains, is never sick and works circles around me. She swore she was having a muscle spasm in her back which she has had before. She remembered last night twising funny and thinking..hmmmmmmm. AWWWWWWWKKKKKKK. Since you know I am a 2 time survivor of the old heart stopper, I suggested she STOP driving. We kept talking and she kept driving. She made it to my house and we tried about 20 minutes of hysteria before we decided to go to the ER. Long story short after hours of testing........ they said it's not cardiac. They didn't deny the back spasm but found a LARGE gallstone at the neck of her gallbladder. They admitted her so they could keep her pain under control and a surgeon comes by in the morning around 6AM to decide what to do next. The pain has been the problem all day trying to get it controlled. It's been so bad and I've felt so sorry for her. But, she is SO TOUGH. Praise God it wasn't something that can't be fixed. PRAY FOR HER PLEASE.


• Next week Avery goes to the doctor for a test on her little kidneys too. Please pray for her and her mommy and all of us! We don't like to think something might hurt her and we want the test to come back just like we all wasted our time.


• Then the next week after that is the March for Babies.


• My sweet ROOSTER made us all proud today. He shocked his mom when she picked him up from school today because he told her he got called to the principal. Then he laughed and told her it was because he scored the HIGHEST in his school on the READING portion of the TAKS and went for the news and congrats. Then he told her that the math part today was a "piece of cake". This boy obviously has his Daddy's genes.


• Macy has her 3rd dance recital coming up in May and we can't wait to see her perform again. It brings me to tears to see her in a tutu.


• Jaxon is still spending alot of time watching Mommy coach. She was practically born in the bleachers right before football 2 a days started and Daddy was on the field, then she moved to the indoor gym and watched Daddy coach basketball and now it's spring and Mommy is on the field. She is the best little fan in the world and loves it all!


• REMEMBER TO SAY YOUR PRAYERS. LOVE ONE ANOTHER. FORGIVE OTHERS. FIND SOMETHING BLESSED IN EVERY DAY. DO A GOOD DEED. DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF. BE GRATEFUL. EAT YOUR VEGETABLES.

When Jaxon was born in July, I spent 2 weeks with my precious JD. Helping her adjust to being a new mommy, licking her wounds, snuggling on the couch with her while she nursed the princess. Giving her pertinent baby information from the 1970's, designated pain meds, making sure she got plenty of juice, naps, and food. We had a wonderful time even if if she felt like she had just had a baby and even if I was bossy! Even if I am the M-I-L.....and I hate that term. I got to get lots of snuggling in with Jaxon too. That was when she introduced me to these gals:

We watched these ALL. DAY. LONG. She had seem them numerous times but not me. But she loves them so much she watched them again. She wouldn't even give me ONE hint what was going to happen next. Not even one. And I whined alot......."puhhhhhhhleeeeeze tell me what is going to happen." She owns Seasons 1 - 5 and we watched them all. Each disc has 6-8 hours on them. Figure that out! Well, a few weeks ago, one of her dear friends mailed her the last 2 seasons and after she watched them she brought them to me. I haven't done laundry, cooked, bathed, mowed, vacuumed, brushed my teeth, worn makeup, gotton dressed............since I first cracked open Season 6. ( not really, but....) I have barely breathed. Last night I sobbed through the entire Season 7. I didn't want them to end. All that to say this. I have been totally entertained these last few days! Than I took this quiz/trivia thing to see which one of the characters most resembled my own personality. I was shocked. I thought I would be Loralai or Sookie. Thanks JD for sharing. I just wish you and Jaxon could have been here all snuggled down with me so I could have been asking you a million questions and you could have kept saying, "I am NOT going to tell you......just wait."

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY PRECIOUS, SWEET, STRONG, HUMBLE, BEAUTIFUL, FRIENDLY, GOD - FEARING, COMPASSIONATE, LOVING, HONEST, EXAMPLE, BEST FRIEND, MOTHER OF MOTHERS..................MY MOTHER!

EWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEEWEEEEEEEE. I need a major attitude adjustment. Over the past few weeks I feel like I have been NEGATIVE about everything that has come out of my thoughts and my mouth. And who could teach me a lesson better than Charles Swindoll and a lot of prayers from you guys.

ATTITUDE by: Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes. And to that the people, including me, said AMEN.

ONE OF HER FIRST HOSPITAL PICS

HER FIRST VALENTINE'S PICTURE

And now a birthday for a princess. Whatever do you buy? I am going to have a busy next few months as 3 of my little princesses are having birthdays. Next weekend will be Avery's turn. Avery is our miracle. Babies are all miracles, I realize that. We prayed for all of our babies to be born healthy and happy. The Lord hears our prayers, this we know. But, we all prayed really hard for Avery's birth. We prayed long and hard for years. For all the years the doctors said there would be no babies for Avery's mom and dad it just made us pray harder. Then, well then you know what happened. And we prayed even harder! Everyone who knew Avery's mom and dad prayed hard too. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, strangers. Then it happened. Lots of reasons to be happy for her birth. And here she is. Next weekend we'll be having fajitas, birthday cake and lots of presents and watching our own present from HEAVEN.

We are now within one month of the
March for Babies
at the University of Houston
Sunday, April 27th
Starts at 9am

I am always proud to say I have 6 grandchildren. Four of them live on earth with their blessed parents but two of them live in Heaven with our Heavenly Father. It was a day that none of us want to relive in anyway. But, then again it was a beautiful day that we held their little peaceful bodies in our arms. They were beautiful little twin brothers who we still love and think about everyday. God has helped us in the last 4 years. He has taught us some valuable lessons. He has brought some of us closer to Him and others still deal with hurt, and rightfully so, and others of us to study more to find answers to "why us?". But, he is still guiding us, teaching us, and holding us in the palm of His hands.

We can't go back and magically change history on that day. I've wished a million times I could. But, we, as an entire family plan to do what we can to honor Brock and Brody Allen. They will not leave our hearts ever. It is because of this that we are raising money and planning to walk as a family in this year's MARCH OF DIMES...MARCH FOR BABIES. Just as I believe in the power of research in medicine for other diseases, I believe the power of research to help prevent premature births. Do your part. Find a local March of Dimes organization and see what you can do to help. Or log onto their website and donate what you can! Some precious family is counting on you. We have a precious family friend that was just admitted to the hospital today threatening to give birth to her twins at only 24 weeks. Same scenario as ours! Please pray for her and continue to pray for us and other families that live our lives forever changed by little missing smiles.

http://www.marchforbabies.org/#