The Gammons

Surprise!!!

2011-11-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

i'm going to preface this post by saying, i have three best friends that i have known for fifteen plus years: jami, nicole and carrie. we all are married with three or more kids now and try to get together as much as possible. usually, our get-togethers are with the kids, so we never really get to sit and visit. however, every once in a blue moon, we have a girls night out with just us women folk. usually we use a birthday as an excuse for one of these shin digs, and the last one to happen was this summer for my birthday. with all that being said........

back in october, nicole suggested we get together in november for her birthday, since i would be having a baby during her birthday in december. i'm always good for one last hoorah before i have a baby, so i excitedly agreed! i didn't really hear much after that, so i tried to get ahold of everyone the only person to get back to me was jami and, through her, we planned on the upcoming thursday at joe t.'s at 8pm for nicole's birthday girls night out. grady is always so great and was going to stay with our girls, but this particular week, he went out of town. i asked my sister if she could come stay with the girls, but she could not do it. she had to go to institute because some guy named devin wanted her to be there that night, and who am i to get in the way of young love??

so, i called grady and told him i was just going to bow out of the night. he suggested i call his sister. his words were, "i really want you to go and have a good time"... i called anna, and you know what? she said yes and the night was back on!

that evening, we made our way up to fort worth and i took the girls to my in-laws. we hung out for a while. the girls had dinner and i put their pajamas on. i was getting ready to leave myself, and my mother in law came and hugged me goodbye, she had to run to the pharmacy and wasn't sure if she would be back before i left. twenty minutes later, i thanked anna for watching the girls and loved on my babies, then i was out the door.

i drove on over to joe t's and before i went inside, my mom sent me a text to see what i was doing. i told her i was going to dinner, and when i asked her what she was up to, she said she was sick in bed, poor momma! anyway, i didn't see anyone waiting out front, so i decided to go in and powder my nose really quick. as i headed toward the ladies room, i heard someone call my name. i turned to look and quickly saw jami, then nicole, then carrie....then my sister...and my mom...and theresa...then my SIL's danielle and adrianne!

thought process: what in the world???? what is everyone doing here...for nicole's birthday?...wait a minute....that is my family....what are all these pink balloons and bags for?....this is supposed to be nicole's birthday....everyone has been lying and avoiding me.....is this for me?

i don't know what my face looked like, but everyone else looked very entertained and pleased with themselves for shocking my socks off!!

so, if you are quicker than i am, you have figured out that nicole used her bday as an excuse to throw me a surprise baby shower. she emailed and facebooked everyone and got it all together.
i have never been so surprised and caught off guard in my whole life!

here i am with the three best friends that anyone could have!
jami, me, nicole and carrie

i brought nicole victoria secret smell-goods for her birthday, and since i already have two girls, nicole brought me the same! thank you again nikki, you are so thoughtful and sweet!

nicole and carrie
the carver sisters, they adopted me a long time ago :)

juli and mom

(come to find out, devin was not real, and mom was not sick after all!)

so glad you were there, love you both! thank you for my gifts! you always get me what i need :))

jamilee, aka: master of the baby bundt cake! aka: my best friend in the united states of the world!

jami brought desert and it was amazing! i'm not going to mention how many i ate, but i can guarantee they are magically delicious!

opening some goodies

carrie always gets me the cutest little outfits!

side note: i had a couple of pictures of theresa, danielle and adrianne, but for some reason, they didn't make it onto my computer?????

but i have to say

theresa, thank you for my gift card. you are generous mommy in law!

danielle, thank you for my ornament. once again, it could not have been more perfect! now i have one for each of my babies!

adrianne, thank you for the sweet sweet sweet baby blanket. i can not wait to cuddle my little girlie in it! and thank you for all you have shared and continue to share, it has made preparations for this third lil girl so much easier since she is going to be born in the winter like her cousin taeli (and unlike her sisters!)

the whole party

minus just a handful more people in my life, this is a pretty special group to me. i was so happy to spend an evening with them, i'm one lucky lady!

my baby shower loot

***a special shout out to ANNA CHRISTINE GAMMONS! she watched my girls so i could go to the shower. anna is, and always has been, one of the most selfless people i have ever known. no matter what the situation is, she ALWAYS helps without one grunt or groan, but infact does it with a happy smile! i love you anna!!! if i had any clue about the surprise, i would have gone out of my way to make sure you were there!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

we had a great halloween this year! the girls wanted to be jessie and pocahontas, which turned out super adorable because coincidentally, they were a cowgirl and indian. bailey sure does love her sister, but thoroughly enjoyed talking about how cowgirls shoot indians!out of sympathy for shadi's bruised heart, i filled her in on bows and arrows and let her know the killin' goes both ways! all in good jest!

i wanted to make the girls costumes, and after some inspiration, this is what i came up with:

here are three out of eleven grand kids. we missed everybody who wasn't there this year, but we still managed to choke down some sugar anyway!

shadi as pocahontas, taeli as a peecock, and bailey as jessie

and i have to say, these are the cutest little trick or treaters there ever were or will be!

first house of the year

taeli's first house ever!

"trick or treat?!"

the grady gammons family

i am hiding my big round belly behind grady!

the whole family hanging out, eating and still passing out candy at the end of the night, following our yearly tradition. it was a very nice night!

tuckered out little indian

this is from the saturday on halloween weekend. my sister julianna came over so i could help her get ready for her singles ward halloween party. she made a BEAUTIFUL greek goddess!

earlier in the day on saturday, there was a small halloween carnival up at the elementary. it was a great trial run for our costumes. the girls nanna and pappa came and bought several tickets so the girls could play games and get candy!

i hope everyone had a great halloween! i have personally been looking so forward to it this year. it has kicked off our holiday season which is a time when grady gets to be home a lot more, we get to enjoy old and make new traditions with the girls, and this year it is a countdown for our third little girl to finally join our family! four more weeks from today!

Package from Grandad in Ohio

2011-11-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

my dad wanted to send the girls a little something for halloween. he knows they love getting treats from him in the mail!

the girls love the beany baby pumpkins, and have been sleeping with them ever since. also, we had a fun time eating our jelly bellies and tasting all the different colors. just like me, the girls did not like the flavor licorice, yuck!

thanks dad!

can't wait to see you soon!!!!

Spirit Week

2011-11-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

two weeks ago was spirit week. bailey missed a couple of days thanks to pink eye. but we dressed up for the others!

wednesday was wear red/rangers day.
when we were shopping for her rangers shirt, bailey came across a koozie that looked like a ranger jersey and thought it was doll clothes. she wanted it so she and her giraffe could match. since it was only a couple of dollars, i went ahead and bought it. i thought that was pretty funny.
so here are bailey an her giraffe matching with their ranger jerseys and even red ribbons in their hair...ears.

another day was twin day.
i made these matching bandanna pillowcase dresses for halloween and this was the week of halloween. one teacher told me the girls were the hit of the school! it was a nice trade off, since i sliced my finger OPEN with a rotary cutter while making them :)

the other days were peace day, which we missed; alien day, she just wore antennas; and then friday was spirit day, she wore her cheerleader uniform.

Black Out Pep Rally

2011-11-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

a fun pep rally shadi and i couldn't miss out on. the school had a "black out" pep rally, so the night before, we went to the store and loaded up on glow sticks.

bailey and some friends getting the party started

this is almost the whole elementary, believe it or not

my little glowing shadi.

shadi will never dance or participate at the pep rallies. however!! when the lights were out at this one, this little momma was breaking it down to all the music and waiving those glow sticks around like she was hosting her own rave!!...true story.

cheerleaders and the back of shadi's head

Gymnastics and Driving

2011-11-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

shadi started back up in gymnastics a few weeks ago and is very happy to be back!

her first day, they were doing some testing to see where each kid was with skill levels. all the kids did just fine, but they said shadi was a "mess". they would ask her to do something, anything, and after she did it, she would say things like, "oh, wait, let me do that again" even though she did it perfectly. what a nut!
with her new class

about to do some jumping

this one is random, but i love this picture of grady letting bailey drive down our street after her one of her soccer games

Mother Goose Breakfast and Presentation

2011-11-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

for the first six weeks of school, the kindergarten classes worked on all thier nursery rhymes.
so at the end of the six weeks the classes held a breakfast to showcase all the work they had done and that evening they put on a production in the gym where they sang and performed several popular nursery rhymes. it was very cute and so much fun.

at the breakfast, the young'ns served their family orange juice and muffins, since we were guests in their classroom. then we watched a video of the kids interviewing eachother about their fave nursery rhymes. at the end they gave us a book they made. it was a collection of all the art and writings they had been doing in school over the nursery rhymes.
bailey and josie!

here are shadi and kacie in the gym

waiting for the show to start....

mrs. taylors class

bailey was one of little bo peep's sheep that got lost. they were in the field with little boy blue. he was asleep, of course, and didn't notice.

jocie with her momma, anne

(jocie was the mouse that ran up the clock. i made her ears, which were cheaper and cuter than the halloween ones that were available)

bailey and her momma

bailey and my momma, nanna! (thanks for coming, we love seeing you!)

bailey, jocie, shadi and kacie

Girls Night Out... and In

2011-11-08T13:03:00.000-08:00

a few weeks ago grady and the boys had work out of town, so we made a night out of doing things in fort worth with grandma and anna gammons.

first, we had lunch with grady before sending him off
does anyone else thing bailey and grady look alike

in the evening we went to see the lion king in 3D.

as a side note, it was really a neat experience at the theatre. when any of the songs came on, the adults and children were singing them out loud. i didn't personally sing along, but bailey and shadi sure did!

the little girls settling in for the evening....

here are the little girls getting unsettled.

anna turned out all the lights and they played "hide and seek in the dark".

actually, it was more like "hide and brace yourself in the dark because anna is coming after you"

shadi screamed when this flash went off.

very funny!

once order was restored, the girls colored a little before bed. shadi does like to color a lot, but if bailey is ever coloring, she gets entranced and loves watching her!

aaaaand finally, they sleep :)

i have some sweet girls: bailey, shadi, theresa and anna!

thanks for letting us come spend the day and night. we had a blast!

pottery barn disapointment

2011-09-26T17:32:00.000-07:00

okay people, before school started, my mom wanted to buy bailey a special back pack for starting kindergarten. we have been fans of pottery barn for a while (who isn't) and that is where she wanted to look. so, mom and bailey sat down to look at the pretty options and we decided on the navy blue butterfly pack with a lunch box to match. i'm sure, as many of you know, monogramming is a popular feature for many a thing you can order from pottery barn, so we selected to have bailey's name embroidered on the pack and the lunch box. there is even a special feature that allows you to type the name you want, select the color (green or blue) and the font (cursive or print), and it will allow you to preview the whole deal. we chose "Bailey" in green print (green stood out against all the blue and white butterflies, and print seemed very elementary). so just like that, we placed our order and her goodies were on their way!

well! the week before school starts, our package arrives. i opened it up and much to my panicky disappointment, i didn't see her name on either item. after my double take, matters only got worse! her name WAS there....in blue....and in cursive! it looked terrible, and i swear it was off center, what?! school was starting soon, and i needed to figure this out. i called mom, we agreed to take it to a monogramming company in town that i use, and see if they could help fix this disaster (fine, i know disaster is a bit strong...whatever).

Monkeys Monogramming was wonderful and after looking at the bag, they seemed confident that this was a fixable situation. by the way, the monogramming blended so much, i decided to leave the lunch box alone. so after the weekend, i got a call, and went to check out the work done on the bag. the font and color looked fab! they did an awesome job and didn't charge! probably the biggest reason they didn't charge, i have to admit, is because the fabric was snagged from where pottery barn had pooed all over it! i took it home and looked at it. i thought about it, and even gave it some time. it just felt wrong to send bailey to school, which had already started almost two weeks prior, with a back pack that looked like i had stolen it from another sweet child and ripped their poor name off and replaced it with our own! i couldn't do it!

i decided to call pottery barn. i mean, we paid for this bag, and paid for the job that was done, and that job was supposed to look good. they have a reputation! right? right! i called up customer service and spoke with a rudeish lady, who didn't seem to know much about anything. i explained the situation and then was put on hold so she could speak with her supervisor. when she came back, she said they got online (while i was on hold for ten minutes) and "green thread was not an option" and "since i ordered something that was personalized, they couldn't help me". um, sorry, i don't think so! i told her that first of all, the no green thread thing was incorrect. i'm not a liar, nor am i blind. i told her, i don't know what happened with their options since i placed my order, but that is how it was three weeks ago (yeah, time was passing)! i brought up some additional points that bugged me with this whole scenario, and then she asked me if i would like to speak with her supervisor myself. my answer was, "i would LOVE too!"

after about ten more minutes on hold, the same cust serv rep returned. finally, there was a solution we could all live with. "this is what we are going to do", they told me, if i packaged up the bag that had been altered along with its invoice, they would schedule a pick up the next day. then i could expect a new bag the following thursday. do i want it monogrammed? no, please don't touch it!!!

what a relief! i was so glad to have that figured out. now a beautiful, unadulterated bag was on its way and bailey could finally have her new school bag one month into the school year (end of the world? no, of course not).

sooooo, thursday came and went. i gave it two more days, and nothing. i placed another call. this time i spoke with a very helpful lady named janet. she looked into the order, and come to find out, they never sent another bag because they were out of stock (really?....sigh) they never notified us or anything. so, janet just kept typing away, checking her screen for a solution, and apologizing. just as i was strategizing a new game plan in my head, janet saved the day! she somehow found one last bag available! she kept me on the phone as she fixed the order. she even scheduled it to be delivered overnight. i felt so skeptical, even as she kept me on the phone to make sure everything went through, i was thinking, "i'll believe it when i see it"! finally, it was thank you and goodbye, and now we wait....

it was that thursday evening, and we had just gotten home from a family dinner. we were walking in and guess what we stumbled over on the way in the house! that's right! a box from pottery barn. grady and bailey took it to the kitchen and opened it together. thank heavens, it was just what we were expecting this time! bailey loved her bag and i was just so relieved that this whole fiasco was over. i think it was only so bothersome to me, because it seemed like such a ridiculous situation to have to deal with or worry about. i guess the moral of the story is, if you ever find yourself in this situation, make sure you have some zanax or tranquilizers on hand, but then again, that could just be the seven month pregnant lady inside of me talking! :)

here we are taking our new bags to school for the first time.

i don't know if i want to put her name on the bag anymore. i know it looked good when the local monogrammer did it, but i think i am petrified of messing this one up. your thoughts?

Bailey CAN play soccer!

2011-09-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

So, i only just started posting again, but this is bailey's second season on the tigers. she plays for a city league. she "played" one time before for the Y in fort worth (see post from 2009) but had no interest....what so ever! nooooow, it is a whole other story. the girl loves to play!
here are some pics from the first game, this season:

not five minutes into the first quarter, bailey scored her first goal of the season. here is her coach, shelby, bringing it in for a high five!

Guess who is on the team!!!....josie of course!

victory tunnel!

i like to get one of these shots every year.

i am very proud of my big girl bailey! she is very athletic and loves participating in sports.

Trip to Killeen

2011-09-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

We drove to killeen a couple of weekends ago for my nephews birthday. My brother rented a gymnasium for the party. the girls had a BLAST! grady and i were bummed because neither of us could really do anything cool. i'm prego and grady is healing from a broken leg :( but we still had a great time visiting family and watching the girls bounce, swing, hang and fly all over the place!

bailey trying to balance while grady teased....

grady throwing off bailey's balance!

my bro brannon and my nephew barrett

bailey and shadi trying to work their way through the foam pit, much trickier than it looks!

my bro joseph sending bailey for a ride on the rope swing while brannon and andrew look on

bailey can hang on forever! this girl has bruit strength!

grady is the only one shadi would let swing her

after the party we went and had some dinner at rosa's

getting a boost from uncle joe before we head back

jenna and abigail. this is one sweet little niece!!!

on my side of the fam there are three pregnant sisters. this is jennifer who is due in october, i am due in december, and i believe holly is due in march. holly was working, but the next time we see jen, she will have already dominoed, so here is our last pregnant picture together. i love you jen, you look FAB!

anywho, it was a great day. it is always good to see and spend time with family!

Our First Football Game

2011-08-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here we all are heading into the game with our friends.
the girls got to perform at the fb half-time in addition to the pep rally.

bailey and jocie doing their own stunts while practicing during the first half. these girls are TOO cute when they are together!

my little sweeties, checking out the action on the field!

all the girls!

Shadi, Kacie, Josie, Bailey

Kacie is so sweet to play with shadi all the time. shadi wanted to see over the fence, and kacie was happy to oblige.

here is my super cute friend Anne and her little boy Tyson. everyone was a trooper, it was SO HOT this night!

The girls taking their places on the field.

i recorded the show, so this is the next shot i got. it was cute seeing the girls perform and do their jumps and cart wheels running on and off the field.

had to get one of bailey's cheerleaders

it was so hot and so late, that we left almost immediately after half-time. bailey did SO good that i took her to the only place to go in our small town for a treat (day or night), the gas station! so after a gatorade and some laffy taffy, we headed home and went to bed! our first week of school definitely went well and friday night was an awesome way to end it! we love school, our town, our FAMILY and friends.

LIFE IS GOOD!

Spending the Day with Shadi

2011-08-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

So far, it has been so interesting to spend alone time with shadi. she feels so free! you can see the difference like night and day from when she is around bailey. She talks so much more and wants to do all the things bailey usually claims and takes over doing.

of course, when there is only one, you can monitor things a lot easier. i let her eat at a tray table for lunch this day while we watched cartoons. she felt so big and was extra careful to not make a mess.

bailey can unbuckle her own seat belt and loves to hop up in the front once we are on our street, and check the mail. shadi wanted to do it this time, so how could i say no? look at this pigtailed cutie! you can see in the mirror, she is all buisness, helping me out!

bailey wouldn't let shadi wear her sunglasses for the cheer dance. shadi caught bailey slippin'! bailey gave them to me to hold after the pep rally, so shadi got to wear them in the car without any argument or fighting.

the next few almost deserve their own post! i forgot how simple, fun, and easy it is to take just one to the library! we found books, picked out movies, played with puzzles, learned on the computers, and spent some good hang out time together.....and it didn't even feel like one side of my brain was here and the other side was over there, lol!

Juli was out of school this last week, so we were lucky enough to have her join us at the pep rally and the library :)

Shadi found a bear in a wheel chair. i thought it was funny and a little sweet that she took him for a ride ALL over the library!

playing and learning about insects....doesn't she look smarter already?

so anyway, we are having a good time together. i miss bailey during the day, but i know she is having a good time and has something new to tell me about everyday. so therefore shadi and i are soaking up our fun time together. the only pictures missing are the ones of us napping together. i never get to do that! i prob won't do it too much, but she will only be this size once and in a few more months, she won't be the only one during the day anymore. i love my shadi time!

First Pep Rally

2011-08-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

yay for the first pep rally! i knew bailey would be performing at the first pep rally the things from cheer camp, so we (I) were (was) looking forward to it.

i had to include this picture of the mural of our mascot on the gym wall. i love seeing it! Go Rattlers! kinda cool, right?

Shadi in her spirit shirt!

I videotaped the performance, so this is a picture right before. they did a couple of cheers, some jumps, and a dance. The little girl right next to bailey is her bestie, Josie.

after the pep rally, all the elementary kids, who were bussed over, start heading back

there is my big girl on the big bus!

i won't torture everyone with pics from each pep rally, but this one was special, so i had to do it. last year bailey would cheer from the stands and mimic every move the varsity cheerleaders would make. so this was a big deal for her to get out there and be apart of it. way to go Bailey!

First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-22T15:40:00.001-07:00

Today was Bailey's first day of Kindergarten. Everything went off without a hitch. We woke up early and excited for the day.

Here is Bailey by the same tree i took her picture in front of last year (i have it on a different computer, i will post also).

we got to school early and had time to settle in and take a few pictures again.

here she is at her desk, right before Mrs. Taylor brought the other kids in

After all the kiddos came in, Mrs. Taylor got started right away. I had been strong up to this point, but just watching her sit there paying close attention, it got me choked up a little bit. this pic is doubly special, because i have been telling bailey that her teacher will have so many things to teach her and she needs to listen and pay attention so she can hear it all and get really smart; So, after school she told me she was looking at her and listening doing just what I told her. In fact, her grandma asked her what she learned today, and her starter answer was, "Everything!"

After school Shadi and I were waiting in the pick up line forever! I let Shadi get out and hang in the front with me. We had a fun morning together. I look forward to the time we will get to spend together, she is such a character!

Bailey's report of the day is that she had a really good first day of school. She got to eat lunch in the cafeteria at little tables with blue chairs. She didn't get to play with josie at free time, because she had to make a new friend (Zaclyn). She liked coloring a picture of a cat. they read stories. there was no playground or nap time today (half day for everyone). and she learned everything!

Ah, the life of a five year old...Sounds good to me!

Cheer Camp

2011-08-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

This is out of date order, but i wanted to throw this in here too. Earlier in July, Bailey went to cheer camp at school. With Matt and Ashley in town, we were able to get Kynnlee in too! I'm so glad they got to do this together, especially not living near each other anymore, their activities are pretty much non-existent. they stuck together the whole time! it was really sweet and quite entertaining. We miss you Kynnlee!

Both girls received certificates and pictures.
Bailey did really good on her jumps and received a special ribbon for her improvement throughout the week.

If they handed out ribbons for favorite cuties, i KNOW Kynnlee would have been draped in them!

Last Day of Summer

2011-08-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

Today is Bailey's last day of summer before school starts next week. we spent it going to see the Smurfs this morning with, who other than my bestie Jami and her kiddos! Kayden is Jami's oldest and he is also starting Kindergaten monday. I can't believe they are so big! Anyway, then we went to McDonald's to let them play on thier inside playground for two hours! we had a great time! It has been a hot summer, but i am ready for school to start and for the fall to get here!

Meet The Teacher

2011-08-19T16:10:00.001-07:00

Bailey (and myself) couldn't be more thrilled. We got the teacher we wanted for Kindergarten, Mrs. Taylor. And for icing on the cake, bailey's good friend Josie is in her class!

Here she is checking out her new desk, and eating purple candy...

and here we are under her cubby and backpack hook in the hall.

school will start on monday, but i thought these could be some sneak peek pics.

Cuteness

2011-08-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

Had to snap a quick photo of my girls snacking on the couch with their saweet cousin Taeli! if you didn't already notice, shadi really adores her!!!

Trip to the Zoo with Momma

2011-08-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

I think this may have been the first time the girls and i have gone to the Zoo, just us! This is the last week before school starts and i wanted to end with a bang by doin some different activities this week! since it has been a billion degrees this summer in TEXAS, we have mostly stuck to swimming.
Anywho! we had a really good time together, just us girls!

First stop: the elephants....

waiving hi, I am my girls' personal paparazzi

right after this shot, we stuck a dollar in the mouth of the frog. so, if you are a local, you should know the sign is a lie....the frog is broken :(

it had a frog in his throat, hahaha....not funny?

the white tigers were what the girls wanted to see first, and clearly they were awe struck

we usually don't feed the birds, but i was a nice mom and bought the feeders this time.

well, wouldn't ya know it, the birds were literally running from all the children. was it the heat making them not hungry? did we get there after birdy lunchtime? i don't know, you tell me.

in the aquarium, probably looking at a "cute leettle beety turtle" (you have to imagine that being said in a quiet high pitched voice)

the girls getting educated on amphibious sounds and noises. bailey said this was a snake and thought i should take a listen.

the girls pointed out this pregnant iguana that looked "just like mommy".

yeehaw?

it looks sweet, but they MADE me stand between them for safety purposes. if you look closely, i picked these horses for the girls because there was a bench right behind them. i'm pretty sure the man ran the ride for maybe a whole hour!

my clone

Grady's clone

according to bailey, this flamingo was thinking on two feet, she said that

Finally, we ended the day by riding the Yellow Rose Express back to the front of the zoo, before heading on home.

I had a great day with my girls. I sure am glad we get to do such fun things together. yet another memory i will always keep!

Happy 20th to my favorite sister!

2011-08-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

My baby sister turned twenty this summer. It's hard to believe she is all grown up, but she is! She is in college now and only comes home on the weekends, the whole shebang! Anyway, we are both excited to spend one year in our twenties TOGETHER! For her birthday, the Fam went to Uno's downtown for some of the best pizza ever, am i right people??

this is supposed to be at the end of the blog. after dinner we went by billy and theresa's and said hello for a while. i snapped this cute picture of theresa making the girls feel safe from billy, who was playing with them. they love when he makes them squeal! when we go home at night, they say, "grandpa, come scare us". haha

here are two of the best artists that i know

Clay and Holly (my newest sister-in-law), cute couple!

another cute couple, the parental units :)

shadi sippin' on some apple juice, nector of the pre-schoolers!

Bailey taking some mental notes

the beautiful birthday girl and the birthday cookie

just a pic of me an' muh cutie!

i think we are blowing kisses because we tried on juli's new lip plumper (compliments of Holly). I'm sorry to report, Shadi's and my lips are still small :)

Happy Birthday Jubilubi! Here's to our year of being in our twenties together! CHEERS!

What's next you ask? Our thirties!!!!

Shadi's THREE!

2011-08-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

I just don't even know what to say. This is my baby. When did this happen?? THREE??? sighhh. I have more pics on my phone, but i did get a few on our regular camera.
We had one celebration at Grady's parents and then one at my family's house.

Here is Shadi with her birthday loot

A very cute party guest!

The cake was delicious. it was inspired by some cupcakes that ashley was not here this year to make (sad face). i think everyone liked it!

I will just say that Shadi has got to be the most tender sweetest little girl. she is always so thoughtful. She melts my heart with every look. i can never get enough of her little (big) personality. she is truly hilarious, the stuff she comes up with just kills me! she likes to do things with her hands on her hips. she can't pronounce her "r"s and loves to watch "Tom and Jeh-wee" in the morning. she always says thank you and i'm sorry (even if she is not the one in trouble). She SO looks up to her bigger sister, which has made her think she is a great artist, a fast runner and an excellent bike rider....and of course she is all that AND a bag of chips!

WE LOVE OUR SHADI LADY!!!!!!!!

trust me i could go on and on, but i will leave it at that :)

Happy Birthday Shadi! We cannot wait for all the years to come that we get to spend with you!

Gammons Family Photo Shoot

2011-08-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, bare with me. i don't have time this day to edit things. it is miraculous that i am even blogging!!!
So, Matt, Ashley and crew came down for a visit from washington in July. Of course, we had to get family photos! It was quite the scene! i Love this family so much, it was truly a blast and very entertaining!

The Whole group (this was the collective favorite, of course my sweet sweet Bailey had to be making a precious little face):

AWWWW, all the grandbabies...
McKay, Addee, Brigham, Bailey, Wyatt, Possee, Kynnlee, Shadi, Jessie, Taeli, William

The Original 8!
Top: Grady, Neil, Billy, Michael
Bottom: Matthew, Theresa, Anna, Brett

My Little, but growing, group (see my bump)...
interesting trivia: behind the photographer was the rest of the family acting up. Most of everyone's family photos are of them cracking up!

Just a fun one at the end

Afterwards, the boys and children bolted out the door for some lunch at kincaids, and the ladies were left to decide on the package and shots. I'm so glad we did this, i personally had a great time and am so happy to have a picture of everybody!

Summer Fun on Lake Travis

2011-08-17T15:06:00.001-07:00

Our very good friends Jeff and Jenina invited us to their lake house this summer for some boating, tubing, jet skiing, fishing, and just an awesome time! i don't know how to post a link, but if you check out their blog, they also posted pics from the lake.

so my pictures are not in the correct order, but here goes!...

Bailey and Shadi dancing while the sun goes down, on our last nigh there

all the little girls in the lake with the daddies, Grady and Jeff

My WILD Bailey loved bailing off the dock at full force and maximum speed!

My little girlies, not so little anymore: Shadi and Bailey

Jenina holding a sleepy Addie and Blake

After tubing for quite a while these girls both fell asleep on my lap! (Katelynn and Bailey)

Classsic! Jenina and Jeff showing off their tubing skills...love Jenina's face, cute!

all the big kids in front. i was sure they would bounce right out, but they did indeed make it home safely, phew!

Grady commandeering the boat

I get no love! ;)

Jenina and Addelynn. this baby is SUCH a sweetheart!... you are too Jenina!

This is right before we went out on the lake the first day

I'm getting used to blogging again, this is supposed to be Katelynn Jumping off the dock, hmph...

Grady Bailey Shadi, The girls Loved swimming with their daddy! i just can't even describe how much fun they had!

I don't know how i didn't get pictures of them on the jet skiis, i thought i did. oh, well! i think jenina posted some. However, we all had a blast. my girls were brave and tried everything. even though we capsized once on the tube and that ended with everyone in tears, it was back on the horse for everyone, so to speak. we all made a lot of memories and enjoyed seeing our beloved friends. Thanks again Jeff and Jenina! can't wait to hang out again!

Is Bailey a Future Center-Forward?

2009-10-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

we put bailey in soccer and she was very excited...at first. practice went well, i just wondered how she would do at a game since i knew they probably wouldn't let me on the field. if you could see her at home or at the park, she can dribble the ball, stop it and kick it correctly, and she enjoys kicking it into the goal.....
but here is how the first game went:

they put bailey in for the second quarter. see the kids running past bailey? do you wonder how she can see the ball with her hands over her eyes, facing the wrong direction?
so many loved ones came to see her: mommy daddy, shadi, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.....

everyone loves bailey so much, especially wyatt! when we all saw that she wasn't participating (?) he ran onto the field to apparently give her some pointers.....

she sat the next quarter out with her momma, where she was coached and bribed and photographed.....

the coach suggested trying goalie, and when i told her no one could see her through the net, she was back in the game!......

i was able to tell her to get ready to catch the ball when it came our way. she would crouch down and open her arms. i was so proud, and relieved. thank goodness no one had to buy tickets to the game, i would have been mobbed after her performance! no matter what, she was super cute in her uniform, she did a great job in the net, and hey!....read the jersey, she's still a three year old! if she doesn't get into it the rest of this season, there is always next year?

Dance Class

2009-10-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

bailey has been taking dance for a month now. what can i say? she loves it! i guess it is similiar to everywhere else, it is a one hour class divided into ballet, tap, and gymnastics. every night she asks, "are we going to dance tomorrow"? and every morning she wakes up to put dance clothes on, i guess in the hopes we might go to miss vicki's!

this was a pic from this week:

at the studio, bailey has her own cubby hole, she has to change her own shoes and keep up with them all by herself. the parents are encouraged to keep away from the entry way to the studio so i don't have many pictures yet, but i plan on sneaking some!

this is actually the first day here. look how excited!

Happy Birthday to Shadi

2009-08-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

guess who just turned one!!! MY BABY! i just don't know how this happened! one minute she is being swaddled, the next she is blowing out a candle!
well, this summer has been a busy one, so this really just snuck up on me. i planned out a few ideas in my head, but no big party ever materialized. oddly enough, we ended up celebrating three times...

our big girl, just one year ago!

just yesterday evening, matt and ashley (who are expecting their third baby on wednesday) more photos from that soon) were kind enough to host a little cake and ice cream get together at their house. shadi looked at her cake, fell in love with it, and then ate every last drop!

we also had dinner and cupcakes at my moms on saturday. as you can see, the cupcakes were hot pink! shadi had fun with this! then we immediately bathed her (and bailey) so she wouldn't be stained at church on sunday.
true story: the next morning, shadi had a pink and brown surprise waiting for me in her diaper!

on the actual day of shadi's birthday, we just had an easy day. we went swimming at my mom's house and then my mom took all her girls to dinner at chili's. the waitresses all came out and sang to shadi and brought her and bailey some ice cream.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHADI! WE LOVE YOU!

about shadi:

standing on her own

walks with walker

sleeps 8-8

talks a little

-mamma

-dada

-baybay (bailey)

-tank (thanks)

-byebye

-hieee

-dat (that)

acts bashful (flirt)

waves to everyone

likes to turn light switches off and on

eats everything...

only has two teeth!

seems to like sports television

LOVES her sister

very happy

very easygoing

We Need Down Time!

2009-07-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

after being out all day and running around the girls were exhausted and so were we!
bailey before she passed out in the car...

it never takes shadi long! she didn't even use her paci or blanket!

so we went and checked in early so we could swim in the pool and hot tub. then we could shower and get in bed early....well by comparison to the other nights!

shadi catching a ride on daddy's shoulders down to the pool....

bailey waiting at the elevator, but still ready to jump in!

the pool is what you would call...a joke! but we still stayed and played and had a great time. the girls absolutely LOVED playing with grady in the pool. i am apparently not fun enough. but hey, i tried!

More North Pole, Colorado

2009-07-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

of course all my pix are out of order, but i will explain my best.

anna, the girls great great grandmother (that's right) made plans for us to take the girls to the north pole on pikes peak. i think i was the most excited. i have always wanted to go, and we did! there were rides, animals, food, shopping, elves, santa clause. it was awesome!

grady and bailey getting off the worlds most dangerous ride for a three year old (that's my opinion). she loved it, of course!

pulling the whistle for the train.

anna and me on the train

bailey and anna shopping for goodys
this is what bailey picked out. if she keeps these standards, she should get at least ONE really nice one one day ;)

North Pole, Colorado

2009-07-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

waiting for the train at the north pole

going to see santa clause (no flash photography allowed inside)

anna and bailey going for a ride

shadi and mamma getting ready to take off! she is looking at that guy like, can i help you?

this ride was wild! i cannot believe bailey rode on here AND survived! but she loved i!

Fun At the Gas Station

2009-07-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

second morning in colorado! we just left the holiday inn and we had to stop for gas and make room to go pick up anna, the girls GREAT GREAT grandmother. let me tell ya, she will be 91 this month and she is going strong!!! grady, making the necessary adjustments to continue on our journey.

if we got out of the car, bailey wanted to get out of the car! so here are a few pix we took to entertain while we waited:

smiling

high five action shot

surprised!

"hmmmm, let me think..."

Alpine Slide in Breckenridge

2009-07-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

these pix are also posted in the wrong order. but anyway.... we went to breckenridge to go down the alpine slide. to our misfortune, when we arrived, they closed down the rides and a storm rolled in! since we did drive so far, we decided to wait it out, and guess what! it was worth it!
here is the storm passing, and the sun coming out! isn't that crazy!?

while we waited, the girls played on some small rides inside the ticket and concession area. i wish i could have gotten a better one of them on the horses together, they were hysterical!

here is grady patiently waiting for bailey to win some candy. see the sign? "play till you win"!

shadi is such a big girl now. she loved riding on the choo choo train. she is so easy going and all smiles all the time!

here is that crazy storm! it was heavy rain, strong wind, thunder and lightning!

First Day of Vacation

2009-07-06T14:06:00.000-07:00

first of all, let me say, i know i have not blogged in a million years! but i am blogging now, so let's get on with it!
Well, we finally did it, a vacation with just our little family. how exciting! grady and i have so many great memories of vacations with our own families and now we can start building new ones with our little girls!
we decided to skip town for the fourth of july this year. grady had work up near amarillo, so we headed that way and didn't stop 'till we hit trinidad, colorado! even though we missed our usual 4th celebration at our house with all our loved ones, we had such a blast!
these pix are posted backwards, but here goes....

this is at a pizza place in old colorado city (?) where we ate yucky pizza and looked up fun things to do in colorado.

me and shadi. i think i look swollen from eating all the snack food on the way up. lots of salt!...bad elizabeth!

we drove to seven falls. it was really pretty, but we video taped everything so this is the only pix of that event, just my big head! the scenery was gorgeous!

this is shadi on our first morning there. she enjoyed all the crawl time she could get!

this bailey getting her first look at the mountains!

Our Little Shadi Lady

2009-04-29T15:28:00.000-07:00

shadi will be turning 9months old next week! time has been FLYING by. she has been getting so big. due to how tall she is, we are going to get a front facing car seat this week, because she is too big for a baby carrier. she is just the sweetest and friendliest little girl ever! she is crawling all over town now, and she can also stand up on anything she can reach. next is walking! she also sais mama, dada, and baba (bailey). we all just love her so much!

here is shadi with her grandpa and daddy at matt's birthday back in february.

of course, what kind of mom would i be if i didn't take a picture almost everytime they fall asleep! that's when they look the most angelic, right?

this one was from last week. the weather was niiiice, so we were outside A LOT.

this was from before she could crawl, but i thought it was cute, and i needed to get caught up, so why not post it now?...oh yeah, this was also before she started taking her bows off all the time, stinker!

here we are watching bailey at gymnstics. see her leg? this was from the day she started scooting forward, wahoo.

Bailey Lately

2009-04-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

it's funny how your children never seem to grow, but in reality they are getting SO BIG right before your eyes! bailey will be three in less than two weeks, and i CAN NOT believe that. she is the same as the day she was born to me, but maybe that is just retrospect perspective. her and her sister could not be more different. bailey is so independent, strong, stubborn, and very much a daddy's girl. she is like a boy in a girls body. but she is still sensitive, and funny, and very loving...when she wants to be. the child cracks me up, and i can not imagine my life without her!

we watched gymnastics on tv and bailey made her own balance beam out of (2)blocks, so here she is doing cartwheels on her creation.
as a side note to other mothers of gymnast enthusiasts, she did end up rolling her ankle and couldn't walk for a day, so be careful!

i guess this is evidence that she isn't a baby anymore.... :(

bailey nursing her baby doll an what she calls: her "doobies".

playing outside last week in the wonderful TEXAS heat!

mowing with daddy on the tractor, a tradition since infancy.

Jamie's Shower

2009-04-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

so, grady's big brother mike got married last week and here is his new bride, jamie, at her shower.

the bride and her best friend colleen

erica, jamie's sister, competing with jamie in a tissue paper wedding dress competition

friends and family of the brides side

anna and lisa

family from our side

we all had a good time. there was fun, food and gifts that were much needed for their love nest!

Silly Sleepers

2009-04-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

shadi fell asleep sitting up
i think she didn't want to go to bed, so i bribed her by letting her dress like this, if she would lay down....hey! whatever works!

neil and bailey. i don't remember whats going on here, but its cute!

i can't believe that grady grabbed the camera for this. i fell asleep before it was time to put bailey in bed and, i guess she just climbed up next to me and fell asleep too. we look very attractive!

here is shadi sleeping on her tummy, which she does all the time now. she was not able to in the beggining of her life, due to her weak airways.

The Carnies!

2009-04-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

i think this was two or three months ago. our little family went to the carnival with neil and his ladyfriend, alyson.
here we are sharing some cotton candy! gotta have that!
bailey and me about to go on some awesome spinning bears.

neil and alyson hitting up the kamikaze

grady and bailey on the ferris wheel

hero of the night! grady won a stuffed animal on his first attempt at basketball. he let bailey pick out the prize, she wanted the "big lizard" (the dragon).

NEIL: i won't tell everyone how many times you played, and how much money you spent, and if you did or did not win anything! lol!

Bailey and Maddison

2009-04-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

bailey has made a new best friend from gymnastics, maddison. i made a friend too!...her mom, crystal. we all love to hang out and it is always so much fun. i took pix from one day when we went to the park.
here are the girls on the slide
taking time out for a hug is always nice

sharing a stroller on a walk, so cute!

shadi patiently waiting and enjoying some sun.

swinging up a storm!

Gymnastics

2009-04-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

bailey is still going stron in gymnastics, and loving every minute of it!

bailey is so strong! she can swing back and forth on the rope four to five times.

practicing her back role, nice form!

bailey pulls this move everywhere, the table, the trampoline, daddy's workout equipment....you name it.

the girl loves gymnastics. we are going everyweek and she practices everyday. if bailey does anything physical, she sais, she learned it in gymnstics.

Going Private

2009-02-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

we are going to go private. if you want to continue following our blog, but think we might not have your address, leave it in a comment and i will send you an invite. thanks so much!

Crawling?

2009-02-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

shadi is a pro at rolling all around the living room. when she is on her back she aarrcchheess her head back and kickes her feet, somehow moving around that way. and when she is on her tummy she is starting to get her knees up under her and pushes up onto her arms. but it is so funny, because she only ends up pushing herself backwards. in fact, the other day she crawled/pushed herself backwards almost all the way under the couch! bailey seemed to take her time and do everything right the first time, but shadi is enjoying exploring all her options on how to get things done!

A Few Fun Things From This Winter

2009-01-29T09:05:00.000-08:00

we have discovered shadi will lay there for hours, as long as she is in her sisters room. yea! that is also where she learned to roll over... and over again!

we had fires in our fire place, of course. look at these two! the only true difference is that

one is a girl and the other a boy(man). wyatt and bailey enjoyed spilling dog food all over their grandma's kitchen (and then playing in it). and ashley and i enjoyed cleaning it up!

and what kind of christmas is it, if you don't drive around looking at lights....with two toddlers and one baby illegally running around in the back of the vehicle?! that's just how we roll!

we also went to a bounce house for braden's (bailey's friend from church) birthday. funny story: throughout the day as we prepared to go to the bounce house, i was talking about going to the temple with my sister. bailey took all of it in and then confused it. so now when she is jumping and bouncing on things, she tells me she wants to go to the temple!

Christmas Cards MIA

2009-01-29T08:33:00.000-08:00

okay, maybe not MIA, more like AWOL! coupled with the fact that, if we weren't really busy, we were probably sick, we just couldn't get the picture we wanted to send out to everyone. for those of you who did not receive our yearly christmas card, you are about to see why. here are a few of the better selections:

this one is actually really cute, as you can see! however, her sister was in the swing next to her having an absolute coronary!

on our porch. shadi still can't sit up, so this was tricky. i may have had ahold of her leg... i dunno.

in front of grandparents christmas tree. ehhh.

yikes! dare i say we were alittle too excited?

the one out of probably fifty or more that they were both sitting up and looking in my general direction.

so, as you can see, it was not for my lack of trying, that no one got a card this year...definitely next year!

merry belated chistmas anyway!

Pix From Christmas

2009-01-29T07:56:00.000-08:00

for christmas grady video taped and i helped open presents, so we only have a few snapshots. anywho, the girls were blessed this year with several gifts from many of their loved ones. a lot of the gifts are great for keeping bailey busy and out of my hair when i need to get things done, and then they can be passed down or shared with shadi. shadi only really got one ticket item, since she was only four months old.

here is bailey opening an apron she got for wearing when she helps mein the kitchen, or for when she is cooking in her very own new kitchen. (ignore my lovely tree in the background. i was so excited for christmas, we got it the day after thanksgiving. needless to say it was seriously dying!)

here is shadi in her gift, an exersaucer. she loves it!

these are actually pix from the night before. it is always an exciting challenge to take pictures of a two year old and an infant!

those were the top three.

anyway, we had a great christmas and were able to spend lots of time with our families. it was great!

2008-12-25T17:21:00.001-08:00

yes, i am blogging for the first time in, what may seem like an eternity (for some of you, ha ha). what can i say? it has been the holidays, and we have been extremely busy! i have taken tons of pictures of all the things we have been doing, but just for now, i selected a few to share while i get started back up blogging again. i have been getting complaints about checking my blog and seeing the "tagged" post.

a couple of weeks ago, shadi turned four months old. she has been in our room, but the doctor said she is healthy enough to put in her room now, so here is shadi taking her first nap in her bed!

she is not yet 14 pounds. her head and weight are in the 50 percentile, HOWEVER her height is in the 97 percentile. she is one long little thang!

the week of thanksgiving was so much fun! we had jimmy, sherry and their kids come stay with us. everyone came to our house on thanksgiving day; grady's family and my family (even my brother who was home for a couple of weeks from iraq). there were so many people! we were all over the place! it was tons of fun. that was on a thursday, and on friday, granbury had a christmas parade and a "lighting of the square". we all went to this too. we had popcorn, pralines, and hot chocolate. it was SO cold, but the kids loved it!

here is grady with bailey and wyatt. we had the toddlers on leashes and the babies in strollers. there were a lot of us there, we took up two parking spaces and we were in two rows.

here is bailey with her candle. at one point my sister looked over and said wyatt almost lit baileys hair on fire. they were actually really good with their candles. i must admit, i was surprised!

this is bailey riding pumpjack with ruby (jimmy and sherry's little girl). i really like this picture. bailey had a lot of fun with ruby and her brother leroy. they all slept in baileys room. it was really cute to hear them wake up in the morning and run into the living room talking and playing. it made me look forward to when shadi is older.

another fun thing, shadi is eating cereal and fruit now. this is a pix of shadi and her first bowl of single grain. my skills made the perfect texture, and she lapped it all up! look how happy! i love this little chick! i though bailey was easy (she really was), but shadi is super duper easy!!!!

okay, stay tuned! more to come! i promise!

Tagged!

2008-11-03T17:33:00.000-08:00

i was tagged by my lovely friend carrie. she said she tagged me because she knew i would do it! i guess you were right, here i go!...

I am- sore from squats
I want- too many things, according to grady... one big thing is to take my girls to disneyworld one day.
I wish- money grew on trees! oh, the things i would do!
I dislike- when people judge you and they have NEVER been in your shoes, uggghhhh!
I fear- God
I hear- bailey making shadi laugh
I search- on craigslist daily for the play kitchen i want to get the girls for christmas
I wonder- what "heaven" will be like...
I always- try to find one good quality in every single person i meet!
I am not- perfect
I dance- in our barn. i dream having my own dance studio one day.
I sing- when i am driving, in the shower, to my girls and my man.
I never- cheat
I rarely- ride our horses :(
I cry- when i am pregnant. it's a rollercoaster of hormones!
I am not always-healthy
I lose- leg wars with ashley
I'm confused- (scoff) about a lot of things
I need- to finish my book, and clean the bathrooms
I should- do some geneology
I dream- of raising perfect children

I TAG: destiny, ashley, jamilee, and jenina, now it's your turn!

The Real Halloween

2008-11-02T19:48:00.000-08:00

we went to fort worth for halloween to trick or treat in grady's parents neighborhood. everyone was really excited to have so many kids to go around with this year. it was so fun for me to see bailey walking with all the big kids door to door. she would say "trick or treat!" and "thank you SO much!" i loved it!
here are bailey and wyatt trying to come inside that afternoon. i don't think we would let them because they smelt like daisey (the dog).
here is bailey heading down the street, trying to walk like a lady (see how she holds her dress?). speaking of which, this is costume number two, i didn't want to do the snow white ballerina again.

after we went up and down the whole street (!!!!!!!), we came back to the house and everyone who participated sat on the lawn to go through the candy, eat the candy, and just hang out! i like how shadi is laid out on top of grady, nice!

my sister julianna came with us. she almost left with my mom and dad earlier, but was very glad when she decided to stay longer. we just had so much fun! love you juli!!!

family photo! grady, snow white, elizabeth, and tinker bell!

special thanks to lisa who came out with all of us this night. we were all excited to have you hang out! i can't believe the toddlers didn't scare you away like they do to some people!

thank you to billy for carrying shadi the whole time, you are the best old man ever... i mean grandpa ;)

also to my parents, who couldn't be there the whole time, but made sure they were there to see the girls all dressed up, and of course spoil bailey with halloween goodies!

love y'all!

Trunk or Treat

2008-11-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

our ward had it's trunk or treat on wednesday. it was pretty fun. grady came at the beggining, but then had to go to loredo. matt, ashley, kynnlee, wyatt, theresa, anna, and mike also came with me. there were games, contests, and of course candy!

here is bailey getting ready for everyone to come over and put on costumes...

i made shadi a tinker bell costume to go along with bailey's snow white costume. my favorite part of shadi's costume were the pom pom bows i made for her feet, they even had jingle bells in the middle! so cute!
here are the girls before we got in the car to head up to church. i didn't put their tutu's on until we got to church. i like how they are both watching wyatt flex his muscles! ashley made her kids costumes too. as you can see wyatt is chuck ladell.

okay, so here is bailey in her full costume. she was the ballerina version of snow white. i was pleased with how it turned out, but i did not love love love it, like i love love loved her costume last year (we were both butterflies). i guess there is always next year!

here is shadi in her full costume. i really loved her costume. i turned out better than i imagined and was so much easier than bailey's. i was very pleased!

i was glad to get a pix of grady before he took off. wyatt and bailey were very excited he came, even if it was for a short time! (we tried to get bailey to simply look in the direction of the camera, but i am sure i have mentioned before, she is not big on having her pix taken)

ashley, wyatt, and kynnlee enjoying some hotdogs and chips before the night really got going, haha! ashley and kynnlee were ladybugs, isn't that cute?!

ashley, still eating...she is soooooooooo fat!!!!

guess what my costume is! i was a labor and delivery nurse! clever... i know!

family shot at the end of the evening. did i mention, shadi screamed the whole ride to church, so she was asleep for most of the evening. it was really nice because theresa was there to stroll her around, and i was able to run around with bailey. after we left church, we all went to babes, along with some friends from church, to eat. good times!

stay tuned, this was only the first of three halloweens we went to this year!!! ashley also has more pix. visit her blog here------> http://ashleygammons.blogspot.com/

Pumpkin Carving...With the Pros!

2008-11-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

on monday, we carved pumpkins for FHE.
here is bailey showing us her beautiful pumpkin before we started... here are the yummy guts....

look how awesome i am at scooping out the middle.....

finished product! why does bailey have a breathing strip on?... i don't know, you would have to ask her!

happy halloween!!!

Sunday Mornin'

2008-10-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

i had some time and i actually though of it, so i took some pix of the girls before church.

this is the first one i took, shadi was sleepy and wanted her pacifier...
this was the very next pix i took. it is funny to me, because you can read bailey's face like a book, "hurry before she starts crying! cheese?"

look at these, i should be a photographer!

i don't have any of just bailey, and it is not for lack of trying... oh, well!

Catching Up

2008-10-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

i have actually been taking lots of pictures lately, but there have been no major events in our lives to blog about, so here are a group of pix i have taken lately that i like and think turned out cute.

this is bailey and shadi holding hands asleep in the car on the way home from dinner one night.

wyatt came over and was wondering about bailey's outfit. i didn't want him to feel left out, so with the OK from mom, i put angel wings on him. they flew all over the place together! so cute!
(bailey has on remnants from the last two years of halloween costumes, combined)

i bundles her up to go outside. she looked so cute, i had to capture it!

this is of the toddlers modeling the halloween costumes ashley and i were working on. wyatts "skirt" was turned into shorts for his chuck ladell costume, and bailey has her sisters tinker bell tutu on.

i heard bailey calling me from the nursery, when i went in to see what she was doing, i found her hiding in her sisters dresser.

Our New Car

2008-10-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

i am out of wack, posting things in the wrong order! however, here is the yukon that grady's aunt debbie gave to us.
here are some of the boys before they ran out for some pizza the other night. here are a few shots of the yukon....

i love my new ride! thank you debbie!

Surprising Ashley!

2008-10-27T11:55:00.000-07:00

first off, grady's aunt debbie came into town and bought a new car, giving us her old one. since matt and ashley have been looking and talking aout new cars for a while now, we thought it would be awesome if we could give our explorer to ashley. as soon as grady had the car and title in hand, we got the explorer ready and planned it out. so, on friday, i went to ashleys so we could work on costumes and waited for matt and grady to get off work. we made plans to go to olive garden with most og the gammons family. for some reason matt wanted to take his car, so i told ashley i needed her to drive me to dinner so i could sit in the back seat with shadi (i said she didn't feel too good). all the while grady was calling me to "see where we were" but really he was coaching me on where to park and to get the camera ready, haha!

it was so fun! i highly reccomend giving your car to someone who needs it...considering you have another car to drive. ashley was grinning from ear to ear ALL NIGHT! when we were switching her carseats around, she commented, "i am so glad i curled my hair!"

these pix are backwards in time order! but you can see in this first one before she got in and drove home, ashley is still glowing and smiling just as big as she was in the first pix i took of her from before dinner!

here she is putting the kids in the car after dinner...

here is a shot before dinner. i said, ashley, you look so skinny in your big new car!", ashley replied, "i knew the neon made me look fat!!!!"

here is where i almost rolled down a hill into the highway to get a picture of ashley. we decided that it would have been worth it, because ashley could have come taken pictures of me in the hospital, and we could blog that too!

ashley really thought it was a joke when grady told her, because the explorer would not start the week prior to this. we never told her we fixed it (some computer chip thing), so she thought it was broken down. we suprised her really well!

Pumpkin Family

2008-10-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

today was a beautiful day to spend outside painting pumpkins, and that is just what we did! yesterday is when we went to hefflin's market and we picked out two jack-o-lanterns to carve and four little pumpkins to paint.
here is bailey lining them up. she is always trying to be helpful! bailey hard at work, creating her masterpiece! the girl doesn't play!!
shadi joined in the festivities too! she was watching us, cooing, and smiling! nothing gets bailey's attention like when her baby sister is smiling at her!
it actually got really messy, this is a pix after we got everything straightened up a little.
(you can see we also painted a laundry detergent box for bailey to put stuff in for fun. she used it tonight to put some baby dolls in, it works great!)

okay! this is the "back" of the pumpkins

(L to R) grady's is a basketball, mine is the one bailey painted, i think it actually looks like art!, i made bailey's look like snow white, and then shadi's is after tinkerbell since that is who they will be for halloween this year.
here is the front with our names/initials.

aren't these the coolest little pumpkins you have ever seen? i think everyone who reads this should leave a comment about my little pumpkin family!

Fall Festival

2008-10-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

on saturday, we went to the YMCA in fort worth where theresa and anna work for the fall festival. when we first got there bailey wouldn't get down, so i carried her through all the games and near the end she finally got down and had some fun of her own. it was all outside, which made me glad. if it were inside, i couldn't have gone and taken a chance on shadi getting sick. theresa carrying bailey around in the very beginning
ashley came with her kiddos
bailey and me breezing through an obstacle course! we beat wyatt and ashley by 10 seconds (haha). it was for kids, but ashley and i wanted t go back and do it on our own. by the time that was possible, they were already closing it down. (sad face)
shadi was not impressed with being stuck outside. but she looked really cute in her "boo" t-shirt that matched big sister!

bailey and wyatt fishing for candy filled pumpkins.

after it was over we headed to the little people park for some pizza and playground action. i relished the moments bailey and i had on the slide! i hadn't been able to go to the playground since right before shadi was born.

one more thing i wanted to share: after the park, ashley, mike, me and our kids went to kohl's to find shoes for mckay. besides the fact that it was CRAZY getting the 8 kids in and out of the store, when we were walking out, i noticed bailey's feet were lighting up (not normal)! bailey had just committed her first crime, she shoplifted a pair of dora the explorer tennis shoes!!! i hurried her back into the store, and she just gave them back and the lady helped us put the rightful shoes back on. i was so glad i caught the mishap BEFORE we loaded up and went home! phew!!!!

i actually laughed to myself later about it all. bailey is only two. it is cute that she is so innocent to think that those shoes were free and she could just simply take them for her own. i wondered about her thoughts in the whole process: "these shoes are pretty, i want to put them on," "that feels nice," "okay, lets go (with my pretty new shoes)!"

Pulmonary Clinic

2008-10-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

today we went to see dr hadeed for shadi's tracheomalacia. she is doing good for what he wants to see. we still will have to go back in four months and so on, until she is two. bailey looking for nemo
not the best shot of my big head, but a cute pix of a cute baby!
FUNNY STORY! bailey was so good for me when the doctor came in. as soon as he was done, i had to nurse shadi, so i asked the nurse if she had any candy for bailey as a reward (and a distraction). the nurse gave her a sucker and three princess stickers. while i was in the room nursing, the nurse came back in to give me a release to return shadi's heart and breathing monitor (she doesn't need it, yea!) bailey NEVER talks to strangers, in fact she stares them down with an evil glare. but in this case she went right up to the nurse, with a very audible voice, and asked, "can i have some more candy, doctor, please?" i was shocked! the nurse was impressed and brought her two more suckers and three more stickers. even now, i am speechless!
here is a happy shadi! this is right after i nursed her. she burped really loud and then spit up in my hair! no wonder she is laughing!

after the doctor, we hit up some garage sales where i got a jewelry box for bailey. then we headed to kincaids (of course). after that, ashley and i went to joanns for the rest of our costume materials and supplies. then we went to babies r us for one thing, then ended up getting another thing. on the way home the sun was setting right in our faces. bailey was asking for her sunglasses (poor baby) but somehow all three pair were at home. i told her to close her eyes, but she asked if she could wear "mommy's sunglasses". so, i threatened her not to break them and let her wear them. above: she is telling me "no, mommy, no." not a big fan of having her pix taken (ashley, remind me to tell you a funny story).

anyway, it was a busy day, but a fun one. and shadi is healthy (as can be for her).

Sleeping Beauty

2008-10-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

is that sleeping beauty?...NO, it's snow white! bailey is really into snow white right now because that is what she is going to be for halloween. even though i am making her costume, we found this one at wal-mart and went on ahead and bought it. i figured we might as well start her dress up collection. she has been wearing it everyday and won't take it off without a struggle to say the least. in this picture, she was wearing it since she woke up in the morning (notice the pajamas underneath). plus, she is going around telling everyone who she will be for halloween, so i guess it has kept her looking forward to that. another plus from her wanting to wear this all the time is she will behave to have it on, i remind her that princesses are sweet and kind and it works....for a little while. hey, she's two!

A Real Baby

2008-10-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

yesterday was shadi's blessing! she was blessed and given a name by her daddy, and it was very nice! even though it is october, she wore the same dress that bailey was blessed in in the springtime. still just as cute! besides, this is texas and it is still hot down here!
this is an unusually small group for a baby blessing in our family but this is everyone who could make it except billy (my father-in-law) he had to get back to fort worth, he is the bishop of the singles ward. when it was over, i mentioned, jokingly, to theresa that shadi was vaccinated and blessed all in one weak. theresa replied now she's a real baby!

Grady's Birthday

2008-10-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

Grady's birthday landed on friday this year and you know where the whole family usually is that day... kincaids, of course! Grady doesn't really like to be made a fuss over, so i just planned to surprise him with a whole bunch of cupcakes at kincaids. to me, it was basically lunch with desert, no party, no event, no scheming and planning. so thursday night, grady left to play basketball, and as soon as he left, bailey and i got to work! we made over 64 cupcakes, had the kitchen cleaned, and the evidence hidden away all before he got back. BUT, on friday, everyone was at kincaids waiting for grady to get there and he didn't show up! turns out, he had to go downtown for work and couldn't make it. isn't that the luck?! he still got his cupcakes, it was just later on at the house. no fun! here are shadi and kynnlee, sleeping like babies!
that is actually not a bad idea! we should cover wyatt in chocolate more often, then we can just follow his trail and see what he has been up to (check out the fingerprints all over bailey's head)!
you can tell by the smiles on our faces, we were going to spend the afternoon shopping!
wyatt got tired of waiting on grady, literally!
here are four out of the six pans i had to smuggle from our house to kincaids. so yummy!
happy TWENTY NINTH birthday wishes grady, from your young wife and two daughters!

Pix For Daddy

2008-10-09T21:53:00.001-07:00

i always have had bailey's pix taken for grady's birthday, and since his birthday is this friday, i had the girls pix taken yesterday. we always just go to portrait innovations. you can pick one pose for 9.99 and get tons of sheets with different sizes (NID). plus, you get your pix right there within 15 minutes and the deal renews itself every month. so, it's not a bad deal. shadi patiently waiting.
it is so much harder to have pix taken of two kids as oppose to one! i had to bribe bailey with fruit snacks between almost every pose. however, considering that bailey was half fed, only had a twenty minute nap and has the attention span of two year old, things weren't that bad. i don't think they took one pix where bailey was doing what they told her to (even in the pix we chose) she was all over the place!
i actually took some pictures of the girls getting their pix taken, but they said i am not supposed to do that. oops! i deleted them out of honesty. oh, well. this is the pose that i decided on. i wish shadi's bow was on top of her head, and there are supposed to be pumpkins in the picture but they were cut out for whatever reason.
since grady and i both can not handle surprises very well (on both ends of the deal) he has already seen the pix and loves it.

2 Months Well Visit

2008-10-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

on tuesday, we went to shadi's two month well visit. she is up to par on everything. of course next week we take her to see the pulmonolagist. besides that she is healthy. she was born with a few things going on with her heart that will eventually correct themselves, and the doctor said she couldn't hear her murmur this time (she will see a cardiologist once a year until they tell us otherwise). so anyway, here is the info that my family will want to know:

head: 15" / 35 percentile
height: 24" / 92 percentile
weight: 10lbs 11.5ounces / 45percentile

right now she seems long and skinny, but so was bailey and look at her now! she is 50 percentile all around pretty much.

i keep a blanket over the car seat when we go into the doctors office, so i think that is why her eyes are so wide in this pix. i had just raised up the blanket.
here is bailey, having a hard time staying in her seat. she likes to see "nemo" in the fish tank, and i like for her to sit by me and touch nothing, resulting in going out as healthy as we came in.
here is shadi enjoying the calm before the storm! since she is two months, they started her shots! ouch x4! crying wears her out REALLY fast, so she actually didn't cry long, and then went right to sleep.
after the docs, we went to grandma and grandpa's house. bailey was being just like grady and avoiding having her pix taken. but, i caught her and since she was laughing, it turned out pretty cute.
here is shadi, showing off her battle scars. poor thang! i had to give her a real good massage while she yelled at me, but after that, her legs felt better and we were friends again!

4-1

2008-10-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

i just wanted to point out that the cowboys won today!
and here are a couple of cute little fans:

New Treadmill

2008-10-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

when shadi was born, she was diagnosed with tracheomalacia. basically, her voice box, tracheal tubes and the tubes that lead to the left and right lung, are all very underdeveloped and flimsy. this causes her airways to collapse (periodic breathing) and she sounds wheezy (strider). this "birth defect" takes, usually, two years to grow out of.
because of her situation, she is more susceptible to getting sick, which could end her up in the ER. since we obviously don't want to take any chances with her, i am not renewing my membership at the gym. instead, grady bought us a treadmill this week. we have been looking around for a little while and just brought this one home a couple of days ago. so, here is my beautiful new treadmill:
we could probably live in our barn, with all the stuff we have out there. and we brought out a playpen and bouncer for shadi. bailey has toys galore to play with and a tv to watch movies on.
here is my view from the treadmill. behind me is a huge fan. we even have a weight machine that has all the different workouts (i only use the squat bar).

thanks to grady for being so awesome, i still get to go to the gym everyday and my girls won't get sick from other kids!

2 Months

2008-10-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

shadi just turned two months! she has changed so much. i pulled out her clothes that she has already grown out of and it was weird to see the preemie onsies she wore in the hospital! now she is in 0-3 of course, but she has gotten really long and is stretching them length-wise. when she was born, she took us by surprise in her coloring. bailey was so pink with black hair and dark eyes. but shadi still has blue eyes and her hair is very auburn, and she is not as fair as bailey was.
her two month doctor appt is next week, but i took her in last week to check one of her eyes(she is fine), and she weighs 10.5 pounds. you can still hear her make noises from having trechiamalasia, but that will take time to "grow out of". because of that, when she coos, it sounds like a little hungry animal.
she is so sweet and very laid back. she is just an easy keeper! she is also getting very alert and likes to be held and talked to (what baby doesn't?). she is smiling a lot more which is so nice. i hate that babies don't smile in response to you when they're born.
this first picture i got her to smile for the camera. it is just a grin, but i was excited to catch it. here she is looking around at probably bailey. anything that is going on, anything that is moving, shadi will follow it.
happy two month birthday, baby shadi!

Hats, Another Gift!

2008-09-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

my friend sherry made these hats for the girls while i was still pregnant. they are so cute, she did an awesome job. i tried knitting a scarf last year and only finished it 1/10 of the length. it is hard work! bailey has been wearing hers in the house through the summer, but now shadi is here and it is getting cooler outside so i am excited to shop for coats based on their hats.
bailey's hat has little rabbit ears on it, and the ribbons can be changed or left off. she likes to hop around when she wears it. this morning was kinda cool outside, which made our house cold inside, so this is shadi in her hat for the first time. adorable!
thank you sherry!
love,
elizabeth, bailey, and shadi

Ashley is 24!

2008-09-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

last night our family went to eat at salt grass in honor of ashley's 24th birthday earlier this week. the only people who couldn't make it were brett, and mike's kids. of course i took some pix. here are a few:

this is actually a pix of bailey giving wyatt a kiss goodnight. they both had on jeans with cowboy belts and boots on last night. it was so cute, but we didn't get a pix of it. next time we will.

okay lady's! here are pix of my two single brothers mike and neil..... any takers?

kim and stormy came too. their mom was watching their kiddos. lucky!
i had to add this pix, because right after i took it, matt said, "blog that!"
here are the babies, kynnlee and shadi (shady, for any of those who are confused).

matt and the birthday girl ashley, see how old she is starting to look?
this pix cracks me up. i was trying to get a nice shot of billy and theresa. the background wouldn't behave.
this is the only pix of my whole little family in existence... i think. (me, bailey, grady, shadi)
i think we had six tables all together, if not seven.
our grandparents were there too, and aunt lisa with her two boys adam and cale, and emily (adams lady friend).

Sneaky Devil

2008-09-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

tonight, i was on my own with the girls. when we started the baths, bailey was "helping" me with shadi, like usual... you know, using the scrubber to exfoliate shadi's shins, and stuff like that. after i got shadi out and dressed i noticed bailey had disappeared a while ago and it was uncommonly quiet. hmmm......SO, i looked around the usual places and didn't see her. but then, i heard some noises and that is when i found bailey between the couch and the kitchen counter. when grady left, he apparently left a big bag of hershey kisses on the counter within bailey's reach. i don't know how many she had, but i do know i have never seen a two year old work over a foil wrapper so quickly in my life! i don't know what inspired me to record this, but it turned out pretty funny. when i ask for the chocolate, watch her start to get an iron grip on the bag. she looks like an old woman defending her purse. and her face at the very end is a picture of pure terror.

i would love to say this is the only time she has ever flipped out like this.....but that would be a lie. maybe that is why grady and i could laugh at this video tonight.

what a sneaky little devil!

Gifts From Ohio

2008-09-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

look at this little face! isn't she so adorable? i love her!!!
anyway, we just recieved two boxes in the mail today. i was excited to open them and see what was in there, but i don't think i was excited as bailey. here is shadi wearing one of her new sleepers. it is my favorite. it is so sweet and soft, just like her, i love it!

this evening, grady took bailey to run some errands, so i took that opportunity to bath shadi and put her in her new sleeper. then i layed everything out soi could get a pix. my biological dad sent 2 sleepers, 3 outfits, slippers, and a card for shadi. he sent for bailey: two outfits, a christmas ornament, and a tiny keepsakes mirror (bailey walked around with it all morning looking at herself, then i slipped it out of her hand when she fell asleep for her nap). for grady and me, he bought us mugs from hallmark that had nice messages on them. and finally he bought for me a very nice diaperbag. as you can see it is purple (my fav color growing up) with butterflies on it (i love butterflies), and he must have gone out of his way to find it! i love it!

everything is very nice. thank you, for sending us the gifts!

Pretty Picture

2008-09-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

i took this picture of grady and bailey riding the horse on saturday. i just thought it turned out to be really pretty and i wanted to share.

Our Day, Nothing Big

2008-09-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

today our little family of four went to fort worth together. i actually had my 6 wks doctors appt, which went just fine and i am free to do normal things again, yay! the appt actually took forever because my doc had to go to the hospital and deliver a baby. i think i was there for four hours!
anyway, afterwards, we went back to grady's parents house and waited for plans for dinner to fall into place. bailey wanted to "go see daisey", so she went in the backyard for a while. one of the times i checked on her, she was sitting at the door of daisey's house just visiting and chatting away with her. it was really cute. i tried to sneak up with the camera but this is all i got. after a while everyone who was around and could go all met up at cousin's bbq. it was a small group compared to usual. but we had a good time. i actually don't like cousin's, but tonight was really fun. everyone was really funny! shadi was asleep on my shoulder for a while, and i was laughing so hard that i was surprised when i didn't wake her up!

here is theresa, anna, and our table of food....

here is grady, laughing at who knows what, and bailey. bailey tried some new things tonight and ate really well.... one less thing i had to worry about when we got home.....

here are neil and adrianne, coincidentally the two people in the family who ALWAYS make faces when you take pix of them....lovely.....

here is shadi, neil (that is his normal face, haha), and me. do you think i had enough blankets on shadi? the one on top of the car seat is actually my nursing cover (thank heavens for those babies!), i was just using it to block light from her eyes.

Attention Bogles

2008-09-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

today we got a package from my aunt laurie and uncle mark. they sent us a gift for shadi: a couple of cute tops with a pair of matching pants. they also sent a pair of pajamas for big sister too. bailey was very excited to help me open the gifts and immediately put on her new clothes. she has had them on all day! so, i wanted to say thank you for thinking of us and thank you for the gifts! we love y'all!

hospital visit #2

2008-09-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

okay, i felt so terrible last night! i mean worst mom of the year terrible! it was time for prayers, and i was carrying bailey to her room by her arm and leg. we were both laughing...at first! THEN, i felt a pop in bailey's wrist and immediately i looked down and her eyes grew to the size of grapefruits. i put her down and she started to scream. grady and i both sat there calming her down, just trying to get her to talk to us and tell us where exactly her "OWEEEE!!!!!!" was. eventually she confirmed it was her wrist and grady ended up taking her to the ER because she would freak out if we tried to move her in any way.

long story short, she fell asleep at the hospital while waiting to be seen. grady then moved her wrist all around and she didn't even wake up. s they came home and she was just fine this morning.

this was actually bailey's second visit to the hospital recently, because two weeks ago, she was jumping off the couch and we thought she snapped her ankle. she did get an x-ray for that, and it was just a sprane.

after both hospital visits, all bailey can talk about the next day is her new "bracelet". she better not start faking her injuries! also she will tell you she got an owee, and ask you to "kiss it please."

I'm a Cowboy

2008-09-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

i keep baileys shoes in the top drawer of her dresser, because she loves her shoes and always wants to wear different ones all the time. so i have to hide them so i can pick them out to match her outfit... without her opinion. yesterday, we went to dinner with brett and adrianne, and she wanted her boots, out of nowhere. i guess it is not really a surprise since her daddy wears boots everyday. she hasn't worn hers since the early spring. i thought, hey, why not? so i found the best thing i could come up with to wear with her boots in the summer time. right after she was dressed, she asked to go to the barn. she knew her daddy and grandpa were out there. she was very pleased to show off that she was wearing her boots! and she was frequently reminding me, "i'm a cowboy."

Little Momma

2008-09-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

my mom bought bailey a baby doll to carry around and play mommy with, so she could do things like me when shadi got here. good thinkin' mom! it worked! we have been taking tiny walks and bailey always sais, "let me get my stroller too!" and today when i looked down at shadi in her bouncer, i saw this. i tried to explain that the babies don't have to do everything together...i was ignored. when i clean bailey's room, sometimes i hide the babydoll under some stuffed animals.. it gives me a day or two without having twins.

the walks, by the way, have been really fun. we have stroller races, and it makes bailey laugh really hard. she has a great laugh! it is so hot outside, that i don't even cover up shadi, but you can see in the pix, bailey has her baby "swaddled". she WILL NOT let me help her, that is why it looks like she is taking her blanket on a walk.

we walked over to the neighbors, and bailey said, "wanna see my pree (pretty) baby?" she had to uncover and then cover up the doll, after our neighbors acted very interested.

bailey has been very good with "her" baby and "mine". i couldn't be happier with the way she has adjusted. she is a great helper! today she dropped some milk, and just as she was about to wipe it up, she noticed i had just changed shadi's diaper and ran over to take it to the trash, as she always does. anytime anything is going on with shadi, like she loses her paci, or cries, bailey runs right over and asks, "whats wrong with the baby?" then she says, "oh, my gundess (goodness)!"

she is such a cute little momma!

Labor Day

2008-09-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

for labor day, we had our family come over (after they went tubing without me) to have hamburgers on the grill. it was nice because we haven't really had anyone over since before shadi was born. the only things wrong were that ashley wasn't there, which also meant that bailey didn't have wyatt to play with. also, i couldn't hang out as late as i wanted at the barn because i had to take shadi in for a bath and bed. but for the most part i really enjoyed it.

these next two pix crack me up because they are almost the exact same photos, but with two diff people.

i only posted a few pix, but not seen above was: brett, ba, papa, daniel, and michael

Thank You Heather!!!

2008-09-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

when shadi was born, we spent the first two weeks in and out of the hospital. the first morning we were home, and officially done with the hospital (finally, we hope) a package came in the mail. it was from our friend Heather! i was immediately excited. heather is the craftiest person and has really cute taste. she sent us a package when bailey was born too. which was equally as adorable!

here is the gift and card. and here is shadi going to sleep for the day! (she was born on the worst sleeping schedule)
isn't this the sweetest little outfit? i can't wait for it to fit her! we love it! thank you heather!

The Big Day...Morning....

2008-09-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

here we are (i'm the enthusiast behind the camera) outside the hospital, getting ready to go check in.

Waiting to See Shadi

2008-09-01T11:14:00.000-07:00

as i think i mentioned previously, when shadi was born, she had an irregular heart beat and they couldn't get her to warm up. SO, they took her to the nursery while we all had to wait around, and stress out, until we could see her or even hold her for the first time.

this is actually when they finally brought her to me, which i vaguely remember. see the black cord running down by my elbow....a demerol button.....my best friend (for the first 24 hrs, then they took it away). look at bailey, she was checking on me.
grady and dad waiting in the hall. dad was just glowing with pride!
here is bailey at the nursery window, and that is shadi in the bassinet. we still hadn't held her yet.
we are kind of going backwards here. this is right after surgery. i am in recovery. i had my first born, but not my newborn!
me, bailey, anna, theresa, grady. my guess is that grady had taken a pix on his phone and is showing theresa. (looks like i had ahold of the demerol button)...yes, i was in pain)

Some Visitors...

2008-09-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

here is grady doing some daddy daughter bonding time. it's amazing how fast you can fall in love with someone who you have only known for just a moment.
here is "gwammaw" and bailey......hey bailey! nice hair! apparently fixing curly hair is an aquirred talent. the first day bailey came to visit, her hair was froed out with THREE adult claw clips in it. theresa said, that is what bailey wanted. she is lucky to have grandparents who give her what she wants. must be love! here are brett and adrianne, practicing for thier own.....whenever that may be! ya'll need to hurry! i got spinal headaches on my third day there. adrianne came and sat with me in my misery. you're a good sis-n-law, thank you!!!
here is shadi wrapped in the cutest little blanket that ashley and i made the friday before she arrived! (i pinned, ashley sewed. team work!)
here is ashley...where are your kids?
ashley brought here computer so we could blog, but we ended up playing, chasing, preventing bad things from happening, with wyatt.

Tag...you're it!

2008-08-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by Heather.
The Rules: Answer the questions using only ONE WORD. Then tag four others. I'm going to tag Jamilee, Destiny, Danielle, and Ashley.
1. Where is your cell phone? by the computer
2. Your significant other? Grady
3. Your hair? brown
4. Your mother? Jan
5. Your father? Jim
6. Your favorite thing? shopping
7. Your dream last night? that i was nursing my newborn every two hours.....nightmare?
8 Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? raise righteous, well behaved children.
10. The room you’re in? kitchen
11. Your hobby? making hairbows, and other crafts for my girls.
12. Your fear? vomiting
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? looking, feeling, and doing GREAT!...and in a new house.
14. What you’re not? perfect
15. Muffins? blueberry from starbucks!
16. One of your wish list items? furniture
17. Where you grew up? deep in the heart of Texas (tyler, arlington, burleson, azle)
18. The last thing you did? laundry
19. What are you wearing? sadly....pajamas
20. Favorite gadget? my phone
21. Your pets? dale (dog), beau and pumpjack (horses), three longhorns
22. Your computer? laptop
23.Your mood? happy
24. Missing someone? grady
25.Your car? explorer
26. Something you’re not wearing? jewelry
27. Favorite store? target
28. Like someone? my husband?
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? this morning, for just a second.

Shadi Tyler Gammons

2008-08-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

She is here! I love her so much, we all do! i haven't had the time to do the whole downloading picture thing, but here is a link to view her hospital pictures:
http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage.asp?UrlID=0423371922
PLUS, check out ashley's blog and carrie's blog for more photos!
she was born 8/5/08, weighed 7lbs 3 ounces, at 9:04.
it was a c-sect. "cut-time" (gross, i know!) was at 9:00, it took them four minutes to get through the scar tissue. i was crying the whole time. grady was right there with me. he is the only person on the planet, who just has a way of making anything and everything okay. after she was out, i got extremely sick and i started panicking. then, her heart had an irregular rhythm, and she was having a hard time warming up, so they took her upstairs to the nursery. for a little over an hour, i was alone. everyone was at the nursery window seeing shadi. i was crying, again! she was with me for nine months and now they took her away! i was also worried that she wouldn't bond with me or nurse. ..of course, everything was fine. i hated, hated, hated the surgery, however, the recovery was worlds better this time around! once night fell, and we were all alone (and i was coming off of demerol) i fell in love with shadi by the hour! she is just so sweet and pretty and new and perfect and wonderful and MINE!
i did end up getting spinal headaches, which i will spare you the details of going into. those are gone now, thank heavens!!!
we are at home, bailey is adjusting, the night and days get better one at a time. and we are now a family of four. it is exciting and i look forward to the future with my little girls!

I'm Ready!

2008-07-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

today was an exciting day! i went to fort worth for some final items on my list of things to buy before the baby is here! ashley came up with the kids too, and we all rode with theresa. when we were packed into theresa's truck, we realized this might be the last time we ALL fit into the truck together. she drives a dodge quad cab super duty. it was bailey, wyatt, and ashley in the back. up front was theresa, kynnlee, and me. i made an itenerary of where all we need to go, and what all i need to get, so off we went. i decided on target first, and boy were we glad! we found everything i needed, and the kids were so wild and crazy, the thought of taking them anywhere else was frightening! bailey and wyatt were taking things off the shelves and throwing them in the isles, just to sing thier little clean up song...cute once, but not five times! they did clean it up, just to take off running. i had bailey in her basket...THERESA!!!! ;-) but we were glad to be done and head home! we knocked babies r us off the list along with motherhood. sigh! okay, i can go into labor now!

Skillz!

2008-07-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

my MIL and FIL (mom and father in law) did not want this mirror anymore, and it has been sitting out in our barn. i have actually wanted to paint it for a while, but with my upcoming deadline of having baby #2, i finally got it done! as you can see it was originally gold, dusty and speckled with white paint.

grady was a hero, and went to home depot for me to pick up some goods. all it took was behr paint in black suede, a glass scraper blade thing, sand paper, and some tape. bailey was a huge help! she was very good at helping me tape up the mirror and she even tried sanding it with me. it doesn't take much, just a little roughing up.

when it came to painting, i avoided disaster, and taped some paper to the kitchen floor. a huge section for me to paint over, and a smaller section for bailey to color on. she was content, but still curious about the paint. i am just lucky she is a FREAK about getting messes on her, so when she touched it and black got on her hand, we had to wash it off immediately and she let it alone after that.

here it is drying. it only took two trips around the mirror with the paint, and it was completely covered.

grady has to still hang it and i have to windex it, but here is the almost finished product!

i was thinking of hanging candles made out of black iron fixtures on both sides, but grady thinks that would look "spooky". what do you think?

Dress Up?

2008-07-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

these are actually from yesterday morning. i was cleaning my room, and my dresser was open, so bailey started pulling out socks...not that i wear these things! she liked the butterflies and wanted them on immediately. as for the nakedness, the child never wears clothes unless we are going out or going to bed! i try to keep her dressed, but she insists on having everything off so she can use the potty....i don't get it, but whatever. oh, and there are fans all over our house right now because it is scorchingly hot! bailey gets super ticked when her hair blows in her face, so i just throw a clip or a headband in her hair until i actually fix it for the day. here, she is wearing one of mine from victoria's secret. on top of all of that she has this funny little tan line. she looks like she is about to go jazzersize! she's silly.

King of a Piece of Cardboard

2008-07-30T18:23:00.000-07:00

last sunday was yet another family game night. everyone was there, so it was lots of fun! we started out with a game of spades. harmless fun.....

here is sweet kynnlee! she is just like her mommy and loves to be where the games are going on!

here are bailey and wyatt in a rare moment of being content with two different toys (as oppose to ripping the same one from eachothers grasp)!

now here is where things start getting good...or bad, depending on who you are! who's up for an "innocent" game of risk?

oh, look! here is my very own husband building up his fortresses against me, promising he won't attack (my first time to play, and did i mention how excited i was?). he is black and i am red....

the picture you don't see here is me making pizza for grady. while away from the table making him a slice, sprinkled with love might i add, he decides to double cross me and attack! after several failed attempts to save myself, i was beat and had to surrender my cards to him!...not a nice boy!
it looks like bailey is consoling me in this next pic. if you look really good, you can see ashley, what is she laughing at?

i think she was heckeling neil! she was the next in line to loose, but she was not going down without a fight. it was quite entertaining! here is ashley skwashing neil like a bug. even if he did take her cards, she had him riled up!

in the end (two o'clock), grady won. just wait until next week!

on the way home, i recieved a text message. who would be texting me that early in the morning? it was grady! he sent it to the WHOLE family, it read, "i'm the kang of the world!"

he takes risk very seriously!

Toddler Nesting?

2008-07-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

yesterday, i was home all day cleaning. i guess i have really started "nesting" because i am cleaning to the point where i am LOOKING for MORE to clean! when i was pregnant with bailey i swept and vacuumed the fireplace!!! anyway, bailey's naptime ran a little short yesterday, and i was on a serious cleaning frenzy! i thought, okay, she can just watch a movie and i will just hustle. nope! "momma, i wanna hepp you!" i told her to get her broom, and she helped me sweep.... she helped wipe down the bathrooms, put toys away, dust, make beds (kinda), and we vacuumed together, we switched a few loads of laundry (she's really actually quite helpful there!-big belly in the way), she washed one big pan while i did the dishes, we even did a craft project that i will be blogging later! the day went by quick and bedtime was easy! as i sat around the house soaking up that clean feeling (thinking of what i need to do tomorrow), i remembered i had a load of laundry to fold. when i went into the laundry room bailey had put away her cleaning supplies where i keep my cleaning supplies. what a good girl. i so badly wanted to put them away, but i didn't want to go into her room and wake her up! so i just put them right outside her door...we put them away first thing this morning, haha.

Pioneer Day In Texas

2008-07-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

this morning, i was SUPPOSED to get up when grady did, so i could take bailey to the church for a pioneer pancake breakfast. apparently if you stay up until two watching movies with your husband, you are very tired the next day. all is well though, because when bailey and i did get up, we ran to tolar (our town) which is two minutes away, for some milk and gas. when we got back we made cinnamon rolls and had the BEST pioneer cinnamon roll breakfast ever! i'm not gonna lie, it was good! after breakfast, we loaded up and headed to mom's to meet up with ashley and family for a fun filled day of pioneer swimming! i believe it was 103 degrees today, and i promise you, it felt like it! the kiddos were so good today, and they had a really good time! after a well eaten lunch (moms, you know what i mean) we put everyone down for a pioneer nap, then headed outside for some competitive sunbathing (ashley and i are both burned)! by the time everyone was up, the guys started arriving which was perfect, now it was thier turn to entertain the little ones. near the end of swimming, my mom brought out the pioneer cupcakes. wyatt DEVOURED his, and bailey licked at hers with the very tip of her tongue....whatever. eventually, eight o'clock was approaching, and the kids were clearly on the path of destruction from being worn out, so we all headed home. i don't know about everyone else, but bailey talked about her day, the whole way home! i couldn't believe it! how did she not fall right to sleep? no matter, after getting cleaned up and settled down in the bed, she could barely say prayers. i don't know if she was even still awake by the time i shut her door! i think it is safe to say she had a action packed, fun filled, pioneer day in texas!

for more pix check out ashley's blog

Proof!

2008-07-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

as you can see from my recent, abundant amount of, posts: ashley and i were together all day yesterday. we both took lots of pictures. if you wanna see more of us check out her blog. the funny thing is, none of my pix show my belly and i am to afraid to post the for real body shots that my family has taken. however! ashley has a couple where you can actually see my big ol' belly! she was joking that she was gonna title her blog about me showing my 9 months worth of physicality! funny girlie! in fact i am waiting on her to come over to swim right now. she said that she will get lots of good pix today of the kids and my tummy....more proof!

Jommies like Daddy

2008-07-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

my husband actually checks in on our little blog, so this post is for you daddy! tonight after her bath, i was getting bailey ready for bed. she did not want to wear the cute pajamas that i have bought for her. she sais, "no momma." with bailey, sometimes you just have to take a moment to figure out what she wants. so, i ask her if she wants to pick her pajamas out. she sais, "ok!" we go to the dresser where she picks out a grey t-shirt and blue basketball shorts (they are actually the clothes i like to put her in when she feeds horses and plays in the barn). when she hands them to me, she sais, "jommies like daddy?" so what you see here folks, is a little feminine version of grady at night time. this girl LU-U-U-U-VES her daddy!

Mall Rats!

2008-07-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

after we eat at kincaids, ashley and i have begun taking the kids across the street to the mall. we may not get much, if anything, but we do get... out of the house! here you will see ashley's stroller became the "girl stroller" today, per bailey! so wyatt was excited when i asked him if he wanted me to push him in my big boy stroller!

after a trip to motherhood to get some things for me in 11 days!....we took the kids for some dipping dots. they really had no interest, so ashley and i had it all to ourselves, yum! then we let the kids play on some rides. here is bailey driving a bus, please don't mind her hair! ashley let her brush it, and a fro is what happens to curly hair when it is brushed!

bailey and wyatt love this one! they also have it at chuck e cheese. it's like a virtual roller coaster. lots of fun!

after the rides, we went to a little playground that is also in the mall. the kids went wild and had a good time. it was nice, because we sat by the only entrance and watched them as the time passed....talk about relaxing at this stage in life! ashley has two and i'm 9 months prego!

Where Friends Meet to Eat!

2008-07-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

today is friday, and if you know the gammons, you know we always go to kincaids for lunch. i have been having fun blogging, so i whipped out the camera for a few kodak moments... here are wyatt and bailey hugging. they always run right to eachother when they get here! and bailey always has to have her chair next to wyatt's, that way they can indulge in competitive eating contests. and when they aren't eating they enjoy making eachother scream and laugh as loud as possible!

here are matt and ashley....

myself and grady.....
(this picture is funny to me. ashley sais that, somehow, in all my pictures, i manage to not look pregnant.....i PROMISE i am! ashley took some pix today to prove it, you can probably check out her blog to see. she is so funny!)

neil and the ever so adorable kynnlee......

another of ashley, matt and daniel. see the sign on the ceiling? they should change it to, "where the gammons meet to eat!"

Texan Jumping Bean

2008-07-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

this is bailey with her gymnastics coach, courtney. the light hand print to the left of them is baile's hand print. for bailey's second birthday, her daddy got her gymnastics lessons. she has been loving it! she goes two days a week because one just wasn't enough! and EVERY night, i kid you not, she prays about: jumping, bear crawls, courtney, "g-nastiss", and if i don't get her back on track, the list goes on. oh, and she prays about ice pops too, because if she is a good girl, then they give her one at the end.

courtney is saying, "where's your hand bailey?"

bailey sais, "where's your hand bailey?"...."i dunno."

and here is a horrible shot of the girls on the one of the trampolines. i wish it captured how high bailey can jump on these things! it's hilarious! it reminds me of tigger jumping out of the page in a winnie the pooh cartoon. if bailey were to design heaven at this point in her life, i think it would look just like gymkats!

Boats and Cupcakes

2008-07-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

yesterday i woke up and decided it was time to go swimming. it is too hot outside! so we packed it up and headed to mom's. bailey loves to swim. she is like a little fish! i like to ride in the float....or as bailey likes to refer to it as, the boat. every once in a while she paddles by me and wants me to take her for a ride to "the deep". we had a good time and micah came by with libby to swim with us for about an hour.

lunch time was delicious. my mom got us schlotsky's deli. i was slothful and had my sandwich in the living room on the recliner. as i was finishing up i heard my mom singing "happy birthday to you..." even though my birthday was last week, it was clear the song was not meant for me. when i came into the kitchen i saw that bailey was enjoying a "beau-full" pink birthday cupcake! "mmmmmm, thank you nanna, thanks!"

we love you momma! thanks for letting us come swim and spend time with you!

Goodbye Matt-Dub!

2008-07-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

our dear friend mathew williams is leaving tomorrow for his mission. he was called to serve in california. matt, we will miss having you around! you are so funny...and filled with tons of pointless information that always has me cracking up! you have worked hard to make sure bailey remembers you everytime you see her, i will try to pick up the slack where you are leaving off! see ya in two years buddy! RWH!

Guess what!!....

2008-07-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

we just got home from our very last dr appt! when i say we, it is only because bailey, my little friend, has gone with me to every single visit, except for one earlier on in my pregnancy. everything is going as good as could be expected. my stomach grew two inches in the last week....36". if you want to know how much i weigh, well that's just gonna cost ya! next week dr. hees will be at a medical conference, and then i will see her in the morning on the following tuesday. after our visit, we walked across the way to the new labor and delivery unit for our tour. it was a lot of fun, and very nice. it is a brand new state of the art facility that is just beautiful! i am very excited, did i say that already? i'm excited! we even checked out the nursery where bailey, who is extremely shy in front of others, sang "rock a bye baby" to all the new borns. so sweet! my mother-in-law and sister-in-law came with us, and we had such a funny time, that our "tour guide" dacinda wrote down my name so she could come see us when we come back!

Family Night!

2008-07-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

lately on sundays, we have been going to matt and ashley's house. it has become something that we really look forward to every weekend. even bailey loves it! the whole way there in the car, she checks with us to see, "we go to wyatt's?", "we go to matt's?", "we go to ashwee's?", "we go to kynwee's?"

anyway, this week was really fun AND i got pictures! we were supposed to play risk (ashley got us hooked on board games) but that fell through, so the boys started a game of spades. the cousins drew on the chalk board in the nursery, and they were so cute!!!!! bailey and wyatt are best buds...as you can see! after the kids were in bed, we girls took over the cards and played spades too. it was a good time and i just wanted to share!