A Very Merry Christmas

So, what do you do when your child has his finger up his nose in what would otherwise be the best photo for your Christmas cards?

Send 'em like that anyway!

Yep, some of you might recognize this mad moment from the Horner house, but I had to post it for the ones who missed it. I had some Christmas card/birth announcement combo difficulties this year:

A. My desired list was quite a bit longer than the number of cards I could afford forcing me to prioritize family and out of town friends.

B. The post office lost at least one since my own mother did not get one and I'm positive I sent it to her. Who knows how many others got lost?

C. My own forgetfulness. Yesterday I found the envelope for one of my college friends that was partially addressed. Unfortunately, I've run out of cards and can't send one to her now!

So if you didn't get a card from me, I either wanted to, meant to, or did send you one, but problems were many this year. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

And now for random pictures:

This child cracks me up continually

My four favorite people!

In Christmas outfits from Grandma

Swinging on the new swing set.

(Don't forget it was like 80 degrees today; I promise they're not cold!)

I'll post again sometime next year. Happy New Year!

Why I Never Post Anymore

'Nuff said.

More About Maylee

Just wanted to post a few more pictures of our little sweetie, and share a few facts about her name per several people's request...

First of all, it's pronounced "MAY lee" (rhymes with Haley, Bailey, etc.) Several people have wondered if it's "MAY LEE," but no.

And is there a story behind the name? Actually, yes. While Cade and Ryland were baby book names, I stole this one from a family I met while in grad school. I had just moved to Dallas to get a degree in Early Childhood Disorders, and I had to take a two semester class on developmental assessment tests. We were told that we needed to find a typically developing child under age three to practice and be graded on our administration of these tests. I was stressed about this since I didn't know ANYONE in Dallas yet, much less parents to a toddler. That weekend Chris and I visited a church and were talking to the assistant pastor when an adorable little girl came bounding up to him. I hoped he wouldn't think I was weird, and asked permission to work with his daughter. As you might have guessed by now, her name was Maylee (actually spelled Malee) and the incredibly sweet family let me spend a year testing their precious daughter for practice. Maylee's not really named for her exactly; I just kept the name in mind and it has a great association with it. And her middle name, Michelle, is my middle name.

Here's Maylee with the precious blanket given by our new friend, Tiffany. She has a friend who makes them in all kinds of colors, so if you're interested...

And here's the picture of Cade and Maylee that I meant to put in the last post. I LOVE how thrilled he looks! He really loves his baby sister!

Welcome, little one!

Maylee Michelle Horner

November 6,2008

9:25pm

We are proud to welcome little Maylee to our family! Thank you everyone who has been praying for us! Maylee weighed 7lb. 1 oz., and was 19 inches long. I promise to get more pictures up as I get good ones. Most of the ones involving myself were immediately nixed! Here are a couple of Maylee with her excited brothers!

I can't wait for everyone to meet her!!!

The End is in Sight!

For anyone who doesn't know already, I'm being induced on Thursday! YEAH!!! I'm so ready to be finished with this pregnancy. I've had everything ready for several weeks (not like me at all!) and I can't wait to have another GIRL in the family!

There's so much I should write about that I don't even know where to start, but I'll just write a little about some of the things that have really blessed my life lately. First of all, I was not expecting a baby shower for a third baby, but sweet friends of mine insisted that I needed special new things for a girl since everything we own is blue and baseball themed. I had a beautiful shower attended by such sweet friends, and I realize how blessed I am to have all of them. Second, Chris just spent two weeks in Australia, which I had been dreading for having to take care of two kids while being so pregnant. Instead of it being difficult, though, I had a great two weeks! I missed Chris, of course, but I had so many visitors and offers of help. I only spent two evenings alone the entire two weeks, and my sweet mother in law absolutely SPOILED me during the second week. It was a chance to realize and appreciate again just how much wonderful support I have in my life. And third, I'm being induced on Thursday!!!! Did I mention that?

I'll try to get something on my blog as soon as possible after baby girl arrives! Since our laptop is finicky I can't take it to the hospital, but most of you who read this should get an email letting you know how things went, and of course, her name. Only three more days!

Redeeming Himself

So after the lameness that was our last two Netflix movies, Chris decided to try a little harder. Our next two included an old western I had heard of (though I still didn't care about it,) and the comedy classic, So I Married An Axe Murderer. Chris had managed so far to miss out on that one, even though people (myself included) kept telling him it was great. And he liked it! Maybe now he'll start listening to me.

Nah, probably not.

On a sidenote, I miss my college friends SO MUCH when I watch So I Married An Axe Murderer! I'm not sure how many times we watched that together and were entertained by Cory's impressions of the dad in the film. Priceless!

The Man Needs Help

Yes, folks, this is serious. Chris needs help--MAJOR help--with his queue.

That's right. I'm talking Netflix.

Honestly, one of the things I love about Chris is that he's not into much media, as far as TV shows, music, etc. Most of that stuff is not so great for your Christian walk, and I've found that I've pulled back from watching most of it, too. We do watch some movies, of course, and we've been enjoying the Netflix subscription that my parents gave Chris for his birthday a few months ago...or at least I enjoyed it at first.

The beginning was great. We don't get to the movies too often anymore, so there were several recent ones we hadn't seen yet. I made a few requests, but mostly it was interesting to check the mail to see what Chris had ordered. Until he ran out of things he knew he wanted to see and began...branching out. Old westerns you've never heard of, boring documentaries about idiots trying to do crazy things like sail around the world in a homemade boat, sometimes even weird B sci-fi.

Umm, yeah.

So last week when Chris was out of town, I checked the mail and was slightly hopeful when two movies were in there. After all, sometimes Chris tries to line up stuff for me for when he's going to be out of town.

I opened the envelopes to find The Last Legion (some kind of Troy-inspired knockoff) and a movie about dinosaurs from space or something called Son of Turak. Not kidding.

Is there some kind of intervention program for this?

So you'll know what they look like...

Here are just a few of the cute pictures we took over the summer. As exhaustion hits (seriously exacerbated by staying up too late for things like watching the Olympics and various projects) I can't seem to gather my thoughts for a really great post, so why try? I'll let cuteness speak for itself.

The boys with some of their favorite toys. Who says boys don't accessorize?

On a "mammoth hunt" with Daddy. It's rare to get them smiling together.
Digging for dinosaurs at the museum.
Cade after a much needed haircut. I wish he would let me fix his hair on a regular basis...
What happens when you combine a little peanut butter from lunch with a good nap.
I promise we didn't set this up. He put on his own hat, and just found the cans in the garage.

More to come! (Eventually!)

Hello again!

So since mid-June, I've apparently done nothing. Not really, I just don't get to blogging much. And if you know Chris, you know he has a bit of disdain for the whole thing, so I try not to spend our "quality time" (the 15 minutes between finally getting the boys down to sleep and actually going to bed ourselves) on the computer. I'm starting to feel guilty, though, so here are some updates.

1. Viva Las Vegas!
The day after my last post, Chris and I left for our first vacation without the boys since before Cade was born. What better place to cut loose than SIN CITY! I've since joked that very little sinning went on as far as we were concerned. We're not big gamblers, so we explored the hotels (which is very cool) went to a Cirque Du Soleil show, and relaxed mostly. And I scored a very cute purple purse, which for me makes any trip complete.

2. Still a girl!
We had our 20 week sonogram and found that we have a very healthy baby! And almost as important, it still looked like a girl!

3. It's a poopy day!
Cade finally decided to try using the potty for his #2 needs (after being otherwise potty trained for amost 10 months) and learned that it was not the worst thing in the world after all! In fact, it became so much fun, he usually goes between 3 and 5 times per day. This from the kid who can hold it for a week when he's feeling scared of going. Not kidding about that. Anyway, I'm so relieved to finally have a kid who's totally potty trained. Now all of a sudden, Ryland has gotten interested, and has even pooped in the potty four times this week! I've put him in underwear, but not yet gotten him to pee in the potty. We're gonna try, though. Should be easier now than when I have a baby to attend to...if he's really ready. And now that I've given you way too much info on that...

4. Still a girl (take two!)
My doctor sent me for a Level II sono since I measured a little small last visit. I have no idea how I'm measuring small when I'm way bigger than I was with either boy at this stage, and had gained 5 pounds in a month, but it's always fun to get a sonogram (since I wasn't worried!) Sure enough, baby's great and now we have a Level II view of the fact that she's a GIRL! I just have to keep mentioning that because Chris spent a week teasing me that the technician had "only" been 95% sure it was girl. Now that he's seen about 15 more views of the area, he's begun referring to her by the girl name we've chosen. Which leads to...

5. Yes, we have a name!
That was easy since we'd had two previous times to think about it. And no, we're not telling. And you can try, but you can't be sneaky and ask Cade as a few people have. We never say it in front of him. Mama didn't raise no fool!

6. Sunny San Diego
My second trip of the summer! (I'm telling you, I'm a traveling fool.) My dad sent my mom and me on a getaway for her birthday present this year. She chose San Diego, and we had a great time! The weather was nice, we got to relax, and I scored a cute black purse! Trip complete!

7. And the boys?
So what have the boys been up to? Lots of playing and boy stuff. I'll do a post of pics soon since we have lots of funny summer photos. They love going to the park to swing, pushing trucks around the house, going to the creek to find unbusted paintballs (Cade's obsessed with this; he brings them home and puts them in containers to look at them,) pretending to go "night night" in Cade's bed together, making messes, being loud, and generally being boys. They love anything to do with hot air balloons, airplanes, and the solar system. I had been surprised when Cade could name all the planets by sight at a little after two, but Ryland can do it at 21 months! He also knows nine colors and seems like such a little smarty pants. Cade is really excited about the "baby sister in momma's tummy." He likes to try to feel her kick and says he's going to hold her after she's born. Interestingly, he said from the beginning that the baby was going to be a girl. Anybody need a prediction?

So that's enough for now. I'll post some pictures sooner or later...probably later knowing me!

Surprise News

Everyone please pray for Chris. He got some pretty unexpected news today...


He's going to have a DAUGHTER!

We weren't expecting to have a sonogram today, but the Dallas Pregnancy Resource Center called and had a last minute opening for a 3D sonogram, which I had signed up for about a month ago. So we got to find out a week early! I'm pumped! It's time for some girl stuff around here.

I've got Chris laying down with his feet up since he seems to be in shock. Every so often I stop my victory dance to check on him, and I don't know...

This could take a while to sink in.

Good Advice

Yesterday after I put Ryland down for a nap, I told Cade he had five minutes to play before his nap.

"Come play blocks with me, Mommy!"

I told him I'd be right there after I went to the bathroom. As I walked down the hall, I heard,

"Try not to get too messy, Mommy!"

Thanks, Cade. I'll try my best.

A Survey of Fours

I was tagged by Marie as someone most likely to respond to this tag, which surprises me a little, given my record of blogging once every month or two. However, I'm so flattered, I just have to do this one!

Four Places I Go All the Time:
1. Kroger
2. The Heights
3. Chick Fil A (I shouldn't admit that)
4. Any park with baby swings

Four People Who Email Me Regularly:
1. The Journey ABF
2. Babycenter
3. Hmmm....regularly? Most people I know just email me here and there when they need to...
4. Except Citicards. They're always happy to let me know when I have a bill due. Very regular.

Four of My Favorite Places to Eat:
1. Chocolate Angel
2. On the Border
3. Olive Garden
4. Dos Charros

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
1. Asleep (It's 1:20am and I am NEVER up at this hour, but I absolutely cannot sleep, so I finally just got up.)
2. Hawaii
3. Touring anywhere in Western Europe
4. Getting a pedicure

Four TV Shows I Watch Over and Over:
1. Superwhy
2. Barney
3. Curious George
4. Teletubbies
-Yes, all things I shouldn't admit. But, I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was mostly done with TV for myself. And we don't watch all of these every day. And none of this really makes up for the fact that I listed Teletubbies, though, does it? It's now 1:29am...

Four People I Think Will Respond to This:(or Who Hasn't Already Done This?)
1. Alison
2. Katty (I just think her answers will be interesting)
3. Mandy
4. Jaime (I just want to see if I can get her to blog again:) )

1:38am...hope I can sleep soon!

Debut of the Slip'n Slide

With the warm weather this week, we decided it was high time to break out the Slip'n Slide we had given Cade for his birthday. The boys had a blast, and Cade has asked for it every day since! Here are some fun pictures of the boys playing this week.

Cade getting the hang of things

Remember the previously mentioned buzz cut? Poor kid just wants to grow it out.

That smile makes my heart melt

Although this is what happens when you actually ask him to smile

Fun with the hose

Oh, you're thirsty, Cade?

Here, have a drink!!!

I guess I need a drink, too!

New Family Pics

Okay, so "new" is a little bit of an exaggeration. We took family pictures back in January, and I got the CD so I could do neat things like upload them to my blog. It was a slight complication when I couldn't get our computer to open the CD! And then it took me almost five months to remember to send it to work with Chris so he could email me the photos I wanted. Better late than never, though, right?

The best picture of the family...kids sure are squirmy!

Aww...couple pictures are scarce since the kiddos came.

Does he look grown up or what? Too bad we've buzzed his hair since then.

This makes it look like Ryland cooperated. Don't be fooled.

And...

Surprise! The newest member of the family!

As you might guess, the last picture was not taken last January! I am 13 weeks along with Baby #3, and we are totally excited and a little scared, too! We're due in mid-November. We have been so blessed with our growing family, and we do not take it for granted! For all my friends who are struggling right now with infertility/pregnancy loss, know that I pray for you almost daily.

Tagged!

Alison tagged me, and I like how short this one is!

What three skills or hobbies would you learn if you had unlimited time, money, and tools?

1. Become a really good cook. The kind that can whip up anything from scratch without a recipe, and it always tastes awesome! I love cooking, but I need way more time and lots of classes to get good at it.

2. Learn to play the violin. I really plan to do this one someday. When Chris found out his grandfather had a vintage violin, he asked for it and had it refurbished for me for Christmas. It's beautiful, and I signed up for lessons, but found it a little difficult to practice since Cade was all of nine months old at the time. Of course, I found out Ryland was coming only a couple of months later. Right now if I took it out while the kids were awake, they would scream at me to play with it. If I tried to play while they're asleep, well, what do you think would happen?!! Maybe someday when all my kids are in school I can try again!

3. Become fluent in Spanish. And French and German as long as we're dreaming here. I have a good ear and good memorization skills, but again, the time involved in learning other languages is a little heavy for me right now!


So what would you do? I'm tagging Maddy, Elisa, and Jaime!

Zoo Trip

In an effort to use our zoo passes as much as possible before they expire (tomorrow,) we've taken a few recent trips to see the animals. We've gotten some good pictures and since I've been really lax in getting new pictures of my boys up, I'll post them for your viewing pleasure now!

Ryland enjoyed a ride to see the giraffes...

but he loved getting to splash in the kids area.

The stingrays are a fun new exhibit

Can you see Chris petting it?

Cade was into looking, but not touching

Cade loves pulling this wagon

The giraffes are his favorite!

Ryland's favorite spot again

Cade's favorite spot! A man after his father's heart.

He's a Big Boy!

What better time than a good week after the fact to post about Cade's birthday? (March 14)

I treated Cade to a day of his favorite things, so we ate cereal on the couch and watched PBS, then took a trip to the mall to ride the train and eat lunch. Cade got a fun surprise in the morning, when Chris' parents sent him a balloon bouquet!

He's saying, "I'm three!" in this picture. He's a little slow on fixing his fingers...

We let Cade open a few presents before his party, since we didn't plan to do that with everyone there.

Big, cheesy grin for the camera. We may never capture a natural smile again.

We had a very small party for Cade, following the old "as many guests as their age" rule. Cade seems to enjoy small groups anyway, so a few of the boys he plays with the most were invited for pizza, cake, and backyard fun. I didn't ask anyone's permission to post pics of their kids, so I'll forego that, but Cade really enjoyed having his friends there!

Grandma Cheryl (my mom) made Cade a cool hot air balloon cake since Cade LOVES hot air balloons. He got so excited about this cake!

Blowing out the candles. He was too quick for the photographer!

Mmm, yummy. Cade loves cake and grandma's a good cook!

I can't believe I have a three year old. Who told him it was okay to grow up? Oh well. Happy birthday, Cade!

A Little About Me

Well it's your lucky day. RAINA HAS POSTED!

Sarcasm aside, here's what I've been up to:

I started a Bible Study at church a few weeks ago. It's a Beth Moore, which I haven't done before. Sadly, it's been a long while since I've done any real Bible study, and I've been tired of feeling like I'm not growing and wondering whether I'm really pleasing God or just hanging around. I've started things before that were neat, but not necessarily hugely inspiring, but for once this is different. I think it really has reached me at a point where I've been disatisfied with a lot of things. Disatisfied with myself and with what I see in the world in particular. When I began this study, I was a week behind because my kiddos were sick during the first session. I had two weeks of home work to cram in a week in addition to my normal family committments. I found that I didn't have time to do much else, so I stopped watching TV entirely, stopped reading anything on the internet besides my email and occasionally a blog or two, and just took care of my family, studied, and prayed.

And it was great.

At first I didn't even realize that I hadn't watched TV in three weeks. I think is because for once, I was somewhat satisfied. I had things to do and didn't feel a need to sit and watch whatever was on. I wasn't a TV addict to begin with, but this was still an interesting feeling. On quiet evenings when Chris had gone to work out, I used to try to find something to watch, and then often feel guilty because very little of it is very clean, especially at night. But I needed something to fill the quiet of everyone in bed or gone from the house. I look back and think, how long has God been knocking at my door? Giving me the feeling I needed something in that solitude, but wanting me to need Him instead of TV? I think I'm going to give up TV indefinitely. I'm not going to promise never watching it again, but for now, I have no need to have it on. For me. And if you're wondering, the SuperReaders that I watched with Cade this morning doesn't count.

So that's me lately. I was going to post pics of the boys, but I think I'll start a new post for that.

Do you feel lucky...punk?

I don't typically consider myself a lucky person. Blessed, absolutely. The main things in my life are all blessings from a very gracious Father. But lucky? Not so much. I'm not the one to win door prizes or drawings, find money on the ground, or any of the things that are usually left to chance. In fact, I can be quite unlucky...if you consider 30 hours of labor, or having the wrong leg operated on unlucky, that is. I do. (Again, distinguishing bad luck from the really hard things which are better termed "trials" or "sufferings" or something serious.)



Anyhoo, this past weekend was one I had been looking forward to for awhile. For Christmas, my parents gave me and Chris a voucher for a night's stay in a hotel with a fancy Sunday brunch while they kept the kids. We haven't left the kids overnight since Ryland was born, and they've been getting up a little early lately, so it was a good time for a break. I had scheduled the weekend once, and had to reschedule because my grandmother came in town, so we were chomping at the bit by the time Saturday came. We gave instructions to my parents, kissed the kids goodbye, and drove to the hotel. But as we started checking in, the guy behind the counter pauses suddenly and says, "Okay. I need to let you know about the situation with your room..."



At this point I'm thinking, "I have a reservation. There cannot be a situation with our room!!!"



"...you see, we sold completely out for tonight..."



"RESERVATION.!!! I. HAVE. A . RESERVATION!!!"



"...So we had to upgrade your room to the luxury suite for the same rate. I just didn't want you to go in there and be worried that you were going to have to pay extra."



The luxury suite? SCORE!!! So I'm excited to find out what that means. I guess it's got a little nicer amenities, and I'm sure it's a little bigger, right?



Chris and I got in the elevator and went to the top floor (clue #1.) Our suite was right there when we got off (clue #2.) We opened the door and gasped.



It was bigger than our house. And had more bathrooms. And more TV's. With cable! (Okay, that's not a luxury, exactly, but we don't have cable, so it's cool to us.)



WHOOHOO!!!



There was an upstairs and downstairs, a sauna, and the softest bed I've ever been on. It was so much fun! The only bad thing was having only one night to stay there!



Now if we'd gone our original weekend, we probably wouldn't have gotten this deal. And we're not sure why we were chosen for the upgrade anyway. So maybe I can have a little good luck now and then. Or maybe it was Chris' luck. We all know he's the luckiest man around. After all he's got me! Oh wait, that's a blessing.

Christmas Pictures

How's this for Christmas excitement?

Ryland is easily amused
Cade was lovin' the presents!
Grandma gave us cowboy hats!
Cade's got the posing thing figured out.