First day of preschool 2010-2011

The girls started preschool just after Labor Day. (only took me a month to blog about it!)

Emma is a guppie this year! (Their school has an animal name for each class). This is Emma's first year to go 2 days a week. She loves it! A lot of the girls (there are 8 girls and no boys in her class!!) go to our church as well so she already has a lot of friends. I'm so happy that she loves her school. She is busy working on learning her colors and shapes and numbers.

Grace started her last year of pre-k in the caterpillar class. She is going 3 days a week and is still going to speech 2 mornings a week. I can hardly believe my baby girl will be headin' to Kindergarten next year. I'm already sad about it and its still 10 months away! Grace is busy working hard on learning her letters and sounds better and site words to learn to read. She eats it all up! She loves to learn and loves to be challenged... she even asks for homework. We'll see if she has the same attitude towards school next year.

The girls taking a stop for a picture! I wanted to take one outside but it was pouring down rain :) Hopefully to be a great year!!

Mexico 2010

Adam and I were invited to go on trip to Playa back in August. And since we were going to be celebrating 10 years since we starting dating in September we thought it might be fun to do a get-a-away! It was wonderful to get away on an adult only trip. It was the first time Adam and I had left both girls and gone for 5 whole days! (the girls did great too spending time with both sets of grandparents!)

Although I was about 8-9 weeks pregnant when we went (which wasn't quite planned) it really worked out okay. Besides the food, the trip was a blast. We relaxed by the pool and on the beach a lot... which was very much needed! One day we even went to this place that we went zip-lining. What a blast!
I wish I had a picture of the whole group. There were 10 of us total. But I'll just leave you with one of Adam and I! :)

#3

It always seems that when I have the most to write, I write the least. The last few months have been a bit of blur.

Christee was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer July 4th weekend (more on Christee later when I can write about that) and just days later our life changed even more... I was suddenly having these terrible food aversions and lots of trips to the bathroom.

Know what I'm talking about now?

Yup, you guessed right. :)

Adam and I are expecting baby #3.

A little brother or sister for Grace and Emma is due to arrive on March 15, 2011.

Surprised?

So were we!

We are both super excited and have learned in this short time that God sometimes gives you gifts you weren't even sure you wanted. So yes we have talked a lot about whether some day we might have another baby, but it was far off in the future... not now, not this year. But God reminded us that he is in control.

So we are over the moon excited to bring another baby (our last baby) into this family. Grace is super excited and has requested a "tiny baby brother, that is cute". Well we are just hoping for a healthy baby. Boy or girl we will be excited. Emma still isn't sure... she is already exhibiting signs of being of middle child. HA!

As far as the pregnancy to date... I'm 14 weeks. My 2nd trimester already. I can't believe it has taken me this long to write an official post but in true nature of a third baby - better late than never :)

I've felt okay. I feel a lot like the way I did when I was pregnant with Grace. Sick about every other day, nausea daily, tired, but overall just normal pregnancy symptoms. I always wished I was one of those that didn't have the sickness part in the beginning but I have with all 3. Maybe that means its another girl? I'm just thankful that I'm not as sick as I was with Emma. That girl made me so sick! I even lost 10 pounds the first 6 weeks. Thankfully this time I've only lost a few pounds, but hopefully the sickness this time will be ending soon.

We are feeling very blessed with this precious new Dugan baby growing inside me. Thank you for sharing in our newest joy!

Here is a picture from our last doctors appointment at 11 weeks. (legs on the left, head on the right) :)

Emma can petal!

Finally Emma learned to petal her bike! She is so proud!

We don't normally ride bikes inside the house but its 105 degrees outside so we are hybernating in the air conditioning!!! Looking forward to fall already!

the lake 2010

We were invited back to our friends lake house this summer. We had a blast last year but this year Emma joined us.

The girls and their daddy enjoyed some fishing! Got to get the girls their own poles - they loved it!!
Emma ready for a jet ski ride!

Mommy and her big girl!

Grace ready for some boat time! (My favorite picture... she is such a little model with that little smile!)

And all the girls!

Riley, Emma, Syndey and Grace

(I loved this picture b/c Grace is being such the oldest and telling Sydney what not to do!ha!)

Thanks for a great weekend!!

July

Would you believe that I haven't taken a single picture since the 4th of July? And even then I only took 1. Pathetic. I use to be the mom that took about 100 pictures a week and had to pick and choose what I was going to blog about because I certainly couldn't blog about every picture I took.

In the last month we have been busy. Too busy apparently to grab my camera. Maybe we haven't been that busy, but perhaps its just really that I've forgotten to grab it.

We haven't done anything terribly exciting. A couple BBQ's, a few days in Little Rock, a few days at the pool and time around house. And all the while we went, my camera stayed in its little spot untouched.

So for August I promise to be better and remember to pick up my camera on our way out the door.

going south...

We went south to visit family! Adam had to work in Austin for a week so the girls and I and my mom decided to join him for the week. We stayed with my brother and sister-in-law and their kiddos!

Here is all the cousins - Kaitlynn, Kameron, Kaleb and my girls

My mom towing all the little ones at the Blue Hole - such a fun natural spring!
Kaitlynn and Christee lounging...

Emma enjoyed her first movie - Toy Story 3! As long as their was a steady flow of popcorn she was happy.

Grace loved going on rides in the golf cart (no she never drove!)

And Emma rode on the 4-wheeler with Uncle Paul.

We even got to enjoy a little adult time with all the brothers and sister-in-laws at the Roger Creager concert at the Nutty Brown. What a fun place - just hidden in the hill country!

Unfortunately Christee isn't doing well. She was having migraines while we were there and days after we left she was admitted to the hospital. She has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer. Here is a link to her caring bridge site where Paul posted an update.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/Christee

Please pray for her and the family!!

VBC

What a week! Our church's VBC (Vacation Bible Camp) was a couple weeks ago and what fun. I was on this years planning team and on a team in charge of decorations! And we don't disappoint! During the week I did preschool crafts so I got to go to Grace's class and see her do crafts. Emma isn't old enough so she got to hang out in the nursery with her friends. She also got to come sing and dance in the santuary at the end. What a fun and exhausting week :)

Emma and her class! Emma is being held by the girl in the black shirt (those are youth volunteers that are awesome... and they were teamed up with some adults!)

Grace and her class! Her teachers wore yellow everyday - they were the Yellow Righteous Rats.

I caught Grace in the halls one day as the line leader. She LOVES being the line leader!!

The 3 Day

I don't think I've gotten the opportunity to tell everyone about something super exciting I'm doing this fall.

As most of you know, my sweet sister-in-law, Christee, was diagnosed with Stage 3C breast cancer last September. Since then I feel like the word "CANCER" has been way more apart of my life than I care to admit. It's everywhere. Maybe since its so close I notice things more or hear more stories. At any rate, its scary. Cancer that is. Super scary stuff.

So this year I knew I needed to do something about it. At my annual visit I had my OB teach me how to do a self-exam. Yes I've been taught before, but hey I just wanted to make sure I was doing everything right. So like clockwork I'm doing my own exams. In addition, I've also been running (as you all know). Since my last half marathon in April I wasn't sure what was next. I had been thinking about doing this walk called The 3 Day. One of my running partners also has a sister who is in remission and she was planning to do it this year. It just sounded so cool, so I was in.

I signed up on her team originally and then started telling friends and family what I had gotten myself into. 3 days of walking - 60 miles total. That's a lot of walking. And it was amazing how supportive and excited everyone was. I was floored. I had friends that wanted to join me in the walk. So after a lot of thought, I formed my own team. Somehow I went from being a bystander to being a team captain. How did that happen?

I couldn't be more thrilled.

One of the major components of signing up for this event is that you are required to raise $2300. Yes required. And yes each individual person has to raise the money - not each team. With 1 single email I have already raised more than that. I've raised $3,050! I was surprised at the giving hearts of so many people. It is amazing to see that there are other people that feel as passionate about this as I do. I couldn't feel more blessed to be surrounded by great friends and family who are beside me in this journey.

So in November, me and my 6 other team-mates will be walking 60 miles, camping out under the stars, and praying that we are one step closer to finding a cure for breast cancer.

************

If you want to help or join the team let me know! Since I've been so blessed to already reach my goal, I'm asking that if you want to donate that you please give to one of my team-mates. If you go to my website HERE you will see a link on the left side labeled "Cure 4 Cleavage" and that will bring you to my team. Just pick someone who hasn't yet reached $2300. Thank you so much for your generosity!!

an ouchie

Emma loves her some band aides. I was busy folding laundry and hadn't heard from her in a while so I went to find her with band aides up and down her legs. See for yourself!

piggies

You can't really tell from the pictures but Emma's hair is now long enough for some pig-tails. I love it!! Finally her hair is growing!!

Even though she is getting bigger she is till my sweet silly girl.

changes

The last couple weeks have been busy with changes.

Little Miss Emma is not so little anymore.

We took down her crib (very sad moment for me!) and put up her new big girl bed. What a non-event! Grace was much more of a transition, but Emma was a pro. She was so ready for a big girl bed. 1 week later its like she has always slept in a bed.

We have also been potty trained. I had planned on training her this summer but later this summer (when I was up for it)... well apparently Emma was ready for that change before I was too. She literally begged me to wear panties one morning and we were going to be home for a few hours so I said okay. And she stayed dried. I was floored. So we decided that day to do it! In the last couple weeks she has only had a few accidents. So proud of her! I can't believe she is only 2 years and 3 months. My girl big :)
And yes she is eating bread while sitting on the potty :)

outside the lines

Somehow Emma missed the paper all together. Amen for WASHABLE markers!

my little fish

Grace took swim lessons again this summer. She LOVES to swim. She has already improved so much since last year.

This is the best video to show her ability but I forgot my camera the whole second week. But you the idea... she's swimming. Maybe I'll get a video of her later this summer to compare. She is learning so quickly!!

Grace's last day

Grace's last day as a "monkey" was a fun one!

The kiddos had a fun "beach" party filled with water slides, Popsicles, bubbles, sidewalk chalk and who knows what else.

Then they dried off and got changed and headed inside for Chick-fil-a, make your own sundaes, and decorating a new summer visor.

Gracie and her teachers - Ms. Susan and Ms. LaLinda

I can't believe that my big girl only has one more year of preschool then she heads to Kindergarten. So sad ... and its still a year away!

our Ohio friends

When Adam and I lived in Oklahoma we really made some amazing friends.

Rob and Kelly were pretty much our friends to have up there. They had also just moved to OK (Adma and Rob worked together) and they had also gotten married just months before us. We have some really great memories with them.

Crazy that 7 years after we met them we now have little families and still keep in touch.

It's been 3 years since we have seen them. We went to visit them last and even sqeezed in a trip to Chicago. This time they made the DRIVE to visit us! We wished they could have stayed longer. My girls are still asking about Hannah and Conner. :)

Here are our 4 beauitful children.

Emma(2), Grace (4), Hannah (nearly 5) and Conner (3.5)

Kelly and I.

The boys

While they were here we enjoyed getting to enjoy the outdoors.

We went to a Rough Riders game,

visited the Fort Worth zoo,

played puzzles

and jumped on the trampoline and had a BBQ and just enjoyed eachothers company. I wished they lived closer. Thanks for a fun visit!!

Emma's first last day

Emma had her first last day of preschool.

To celebrate they had a precious little indoor picnic and she even got a certificate of completion and a sandbucket filled with summer fun. I don't know how I didn't get a picture of her with her teachers??

Adam and I were both able to go to the party which was a fun surprise.

Muffins with Mom

The girl's preschool does a fun little celebration for Mother's Day each year. We get to enjoy a little breakfast with kids while they shower us with precious gifts that they have made.

Grace's class made these adorable bags!

Her teachers also packed a "snack pack" with juice boxes and popcorn that we could use later for a little special mommy and me time.

Emma's was fun too. I guess she was feeling this picture...

And here is all her classmates. Such cuties! They also made these cute keepsake plates with their hand and footprints making the shape of an angel ... I'll have to take a picture!

I'm a very blessed mama to have 2 precious little girls to spoil me so much :)

Freebirds Friday

You're probably thinking, "what is Freebirds Friday"... well its just something my neighbors and I came up with. An Aggie knows how delicious Freebirds Burritos are... so as a fundraiser one of my neighbors thought it would be fun to go and get burritos for nearly the whole street. She just charged a small fee :)

Here are some of the pictures from the night. I know I've said it before but we really are blessed to live in such a great place. We enjoy all our neighbors company and are lucky to call them friends.

The girls - Riley, Ava and Emma

Little Cade and Emma

Leslie and Sydney

Messy Lila The girls again with their Popsicles!

And the newest generation on the block... all the babies... the 3 on the right were born within days of each other! How fun is that.

And the guys doing what they do best...

Thanks for a fun evening!