I feel the need....the need for SPEED!!!

Watch out Maverick, there's a new fly boy in town.

I FEEL THE NEED....THE NEED FOR SPEED!!!

I go to the Rock...

We were delightfully treated to a concert by Jeoffrey Benward this morning at church. He's a professional singer/songwriter and one half of the father/son band Aaron Jeoffrey.

If you've not heard him you have to get his self titled CD--"Jeoffrey Benward". God has blessed him with a beautiful tenor voice and a HUGE octave range. (almost reminiscent of the old Michael English songs) He also has written songs that have come to be top sellers for himself and other artist such as Phillips, Craig & Dean's huge hit "Concert of the Age".

Our pastor has been friends with Jeoffrey for years and found out he was passing through the area and invited him to sing this morning. Pastor Randy decided to forego his message and just let Jeoffrey perform his concert. It was electrifying. Many of his songs brought chills and tears. He's written a beautiful musical tribute to his father,a WWII veteran..It also salutes the brave military men and women who/who've serve(d) in the armed forces to protect our freedom titled: "For The Brave". A stirring tale of freedom, love, and loss. He will probably be back in concert some time in Feb/Mar. to perform at our church again Lord willing. Hopefully you'll be here if he does.

On to other news...my niece Emery is doing well she's almost 3 lbs. Can you believe she's almost doubled her birthweight. What a little cutie pie. Sis is doing well and is getting the nursery ready for Em's arrival.

That's about it for today...I tried to get a cute pic of Luke wearing Mommy's sunglasses but he kept taking them off when I grabbed the camera. Oh well....If I had the GOOD camera I would have been able to get the shot and probably 14 others in a split second....Santa if you're reading this blog...Mommy would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE a Canon Rebel XT SLR camera for christmas with an 18-55mm lense.

Emery Prayers....Dickey Mouse...Watch Football

First and foremost for today's blog if you are reading this you know my niece Emery is a month old now. However, she's still a preemie. Gestationally she's only 33 wks. She's been doing great so far and continues to grow, already gaining one lb. since birth. She's 2 lbs. 9 oz. now (big girl). The Dr's. continuously test for infections, etc. Yest. they swabbed her nose and the results came back as staph. Not sure if that means staph infection is present. We do know it is NOT in her blood. If you could please pray that the Lord would heal her from all infection if it is present. They will be re-swabbing tomorrow I believe Brooke said. I'm standing in faith that the Lord is going to heal sweet Emery. Thank you for praying with me.

In other news....Luke awoke me this morning by standing on the side of my bed staring at me in silence until I said, "Morning Winky". His response: "Wanna watch Dickey Mouse". I said, "I don't know if Mickey Mouse is on THIS EARLY". It was and he was happy, mommy invited him up in bed and we watched it together (from the bed mind you). You people that get up at 7am (and earlier)--I gotta hand it to ya. Too early! I've gotten spoiled into Luke sleeping until 9am. Ok, I'll shut up.

Another cute thing Luke-ism today...Let me set the stage. Jason had to work late so Luke was overly ready to see him when he got home at 7:30pm, as was mommy. Jason sat down on the couch and was watching Dancing with the Stars with me. Luke crawled up in Jason's lap and said, "Dei, wanna watch football". As plain as day. It was so funny. Jason said, "Lukey football isn't on t.v. on Wed. nights". Luke's reply "football". So, I fear we've created a football watching maniac. Thanks Uncle Jeff (wink)

Today Luke also had a couple friends visit. Jonah came over while mommy ran an errand. They ate grilled cheese's together, and then in the afternoon Matthew came by while mommy went to a Dr's. appt. Luke had fun playing with them both. It's rainy so it was nice to have the boys get together and play, they were all getting cabin fever.

Then last night Luke had a little archaeological rock expedition in my bathtub at bath time. It was cute.

Also, congrats are in order to my dear friend Tammy who has been offered a new job and has gladly accepted. I know you'll do great at your new job and will be an asset to this company. Having a few more bucks won't be too bad either!

That's about it. Hopefuly Thurs. we'll get to see our buddies Hud and Shep. We sure miss playing with them.

Monkey see...monkey do

I just love this little photo of the Lukester. It totally epitomizes the things he does. Forget hayrides, petting zoo, gobs of pumpkins to pose with....
He'd rather stick a cup on his head.

He's always up to some new antic. Ya gotta love him though. Yest. I caught him standing on his drum so he could reach the fish food to feed Swishy. Thank goodness he didn't open the cap and dump the whole container of food in. He's learning he can stand on stuff to reach higher....Oh the joys of toddler-dom. Either way, we'll keep him at least for another week or so!

Who need's mastercard...

16.5 hours in a car with a 2 year old and a 1 year old=$100
2 "almost collisions" with slow Amish buggies in the backwoods of KY=$75
25 stops along the way to change diapers and feed hungry mouths=$50
34 license plates seen from other states along the way=$25
65 viewings of Wiggles, Bob The Builder, Elmo, Mickey Mouse, Jay Jay videos=$10
Having a blowout on I-30 going 75 miles an hour with a car packed from floor to ceiling with luggage=PRICELESS!

For everything else there's Mastercard.

Yes, we're home and I've officially vowed never to take another roadtrip with my son for the next few years. So unless we have the fundage to fly, it's a no go for us. There were times that I wanted to pull over leave him on the highway and keep driving. He slept for 1 hour on the trip up there which was 16.5 hours and he slept none on the 19 hour drive home. To say that I was losing my patience was an understatement.

On a good note, the drive to KY was beautiful. The trees thru Arkansas, Tennessee and KY were absolutely gorgeous. I have no pictures to share because I left my camera here thinking my friend Janna was bringing hers. She thought the same thing and left her's at home. Oh well, maybe Aunt Brooke will send us the one's she took.

My little niece Emery Kate is so beautiful. I got to see her twice while there (only through the glass) but that was good enough for me. She's the cutest little thing in the world. Everyone in KY was doing great. Sis is getting along fabulous. You'd never guess she just had a baby a month ago. Emery is now up to 2 lbs. 5 oz. and is drinking from a bottle. Love that girl.

That's about it for now..we're glad to be home and see Daddy again. We missed him so much.

Take a bath....it's a splash!!!

Can you tell we're having fun. Tonite I got to visit with my buddies Jaxon and Jalen. We all took a bath and had fun squirting each other with water.

Today we went to Lexington to see my cousin Emery. She is so small and so cute.

We saw some Amish buggies and some pretty trees turning their fall colors.

Uncle Mike cooked us burgers and chicken, mommy made some mac-n-cheese.
I'm having a fun time with my Aunt and Uncle.
Well, I didn't have a nap today so it's off to night night land....zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Mommy said she hopes that tonite I don't wake up at 2am wanting a pumpkin.

Night night....

Greetings from KY

Well we made it....Yes, our 14 hour trip ONLY TOOK 16.5 hours. We made great time as you can see (sarcasm in voice).

There are MANY factors that contributed to our 2.5 hr. "detour" mainly the darn Mapquest map was wrong and sent us on many wrong routes.

Either way we're here and I got to see my sweet niece for the first time. I started bawling because she's so cute. She winked at me. She's so animated it's adorable. She's so tiny. Like a little baby doll.

In other news, a light bulb has switched to on with Luke. By that I mean he's talking in full sentences that you can actually understand. He told Uncle Mike yest. "Bye Uncle Mike". It's so cute to hear him. He pronounces names and words you say and sentences. The other night I was changing his diaper and he wanted to touch his man parts. I said, "We don't to touch our penis". He said, "Penis". It was hilarious. Brooke and I looked at each other and we were like Oh, no it's on. He's now officially a parrot, repeating EVERYTHING you say. Now we really have to spell things out if we don't want him to figure out the words.

We're having a good time here, the trees are all changing to their fall colors. It's absolutely gorgeous. I don't have any pic's yet because it's been raining since we got here. We need the sunshine fairy to pay us a visit soon.

We were able to visit the Amish stores yest. and got a few little treats there. Luke and Robert got a pumpkin, compliments of Aunt Brooke. Luke has also discovered the joy of stickers. So many stickers, so little time to stick them all over everything. I even caught him trying to stick one on his peanut butter sandwich yest. Thanks Aunt Brooke for the Wiggles stickers. I hope you don't mind finding them on your furniture, etc....

Well...that's all for now. We miss daddy so much. We love you daddy and can't wait to see you soon.

Heather

On the road again....

On the road again, like a band of gypsies we go down the highway...to see my cuzzin Emery and Aunt Brooke and Uncle Michael...Can't wait to see ya. Hope by now, you've gotten the gist of the "car" theme I was going for.

Picture blast from the past....so cute!

A blast from the past. I was looking at some old pic's of Luke. I cannot believe we have a 27 month old already. He's getting to be such a big boy. Growing like a weed. Every where we go people ask me if he's 3 because he's so tall. Just like Papa Stredwick was. We love our sweet boy. His vocabulary is really getting good. He now says 3/4 word sentences. Today he said, "Momma, watch Mm Mouse in car". He wanted to watch his Mickey Mouse video which was in the car. Smart boy, he lead me by the hand into the garage and waited while I got it for him. He also was looking at some new books I got him where you match up shapes, colors and animals. He kept saying, "No, that not go there". It was so cute. He loves rapes (grapes) and cha milk (chocolate milk) and still his favorite is boppum jewz (apple juice). Love that boy.

Emery is doing great she's up to 1 lb. 15 oz. I'm sure she'll break 2 lbs. by this weekend. Speaking of this weekend I'm leaving to see my sweet little niece on Sat. Can't wait to see her and mommy and daddy.

It's really cool here today, a cold front has come through and it's really nice outside. Sweatshirt weather.

That's it for tonight.

Heather

Sweet Emery is doing fabulous....

Check out my sweet little niece, Emery. She's doing fabulous by the way. She's quite the heavyweight these days--up to 1 lb. 14 oz. She should hit the 2 lb. mark any day now.


Make sure you look closely at the pictures. You'll notice her bangle bracelet AND leg bracelet...aka...Daddy's wedding ring. That'll put it in perspective how tiny she is. What a little cutie patootie. She had her first bath in a tub yest. All her previous baths have been of the sponge variety. I cannot wait to see her this weekend. Luke and I are going to KY along with Janna and Robert. Can't wait to see the sweet peanut. (Only through the glass, I know NICU Nazi's)

Oh, I'm also so excited because Miss Em has MY pinky finger-- the way it kind of curves.

I love you Miss Emery and I'll see you soon!

That's it for tonight, it's finally getting chilly here. Yeah, bring out the sweatshirts.

Love, Aunt Heather

Pumpkins Galore..Hayride...Petting Zoo