Prayers for my friend....

My dear friend and co-worker, Jill, was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. After receiving several different opinions from some of the best brain doctors around, she decided to have surgery to have the tumor removed. Her surgery is scheduled for Thursday.

Please remember Jill and her family in your prayers this week as she prepares for and undergoes the surgery and for her recovery in the weeks to come.

Happy Birthday, Matthew Duncan Hale

Matthew celebrated his 7th birthday yesterday.

Of course, we began the day with the Hale Birthday Breakfast.
Matt and I took lunch to him at school and a cookie cake to share with his friends.

Then, Mimi and Pop came over for his birthday dinner (hamburgers and tator tots were his pick this year) with birthday cake ice cream for dessert. (If you're counting, that's donuts, cookie cake, and ice cream all in one day...wow!)

It's hard to believe that he's already 7. We are so very proud of him. He's a great student, and his teacher tells me he's a friend to everyone and a leader in class. He's playing basketball again this year and doing well...especially on defense.

He's looking forward to next weekend when 9 of his friends join us for bowling and a sleepover. If I survive, I'll post pictures of those festivities.

Happy Birthday, Bubba! I love you bunches!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday surrounded by family, friends and everything that makes you happy. That pretty much sums up the last two weeks for us.

Santa was very good to the boys this year. Their big present was a Wii....I think Matt and I have played as much or more than Matthew has.

Pop & Matthew "boxing" Christmas morning...

Mimi and Pop gave the grandkids a new swing set (as if they need another reason to want to go to Mimi and Pop's.)

"How many Aggies does it take.....?"

Gotta have picture of Izzie with her big cousins...
Matt and I actually rang in the new year for the first time in years with a houseful of friends. We played Wii, Farkel and Spoons and had a great time....that is until Ryan woke me up at 5:15. I quickly remembered why I don't stay up late anymore. :)

New Year's Day we drove to Granbury to celebrate Christmas with Matt's family.

The best kind of CHAOS!!!

Cowboys jerseys from Grandma and Grandpa were a big hit! Colby has worn his every day since.

"They call me COLBY Romo!"

Matthew is going to work on some Marion Barber dreadlocks for next season.
And, of course, Ry spent the whole day clinging to Mommy. (remind me how much I'm going to miss this one day).

I enjoy everything about Christmas...the shopping, the baking, the hustle and bustle, but I must admit that I LOVE packing the decorations up and getting back to our normal life!

We wish you and yours a FABULOUS 2009!

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

Whew! The last several weeks have been a blur of too much food going in, too much money going out, and too much "stuff" on the calendar! But now....the decorations are all up, all the presents have been bought and (almost) all wrapped, the cookies are made, and here I sit.....

WITH A SICK BABY! ahhhh! Ryan can't keep anything down. We're in regular contact with the nurse at our pedi's office updating them on his pooping and puking. If he can't keep anything down this evening, we go in tomorrow at 9:00 to decide if he should be admitted to the hospital. Poor little guy is so hungry, but everything we try to feed him comes back up immediately. We're pushing Pedialyte, which goes instantly out the other way. He's sleeping now, and Mommy's praying that we'll see big improvement when he gets up.

The big boys have gone to Mimi's for a few days mainly because Matthew's out of school and I'm supposed to be working, but it's also most helpful to have a few days to make sure we have all the details worked out with Santa for the big night. I forget how easy life is with only one baby...even when that one is sick!

Anyway...

I just wanted to hop online and wish anyone who may have found a spare minute to check our little blog, a very Merry Christmas and a "fabulous" 2009.

I promise I'll update soon with lots of Christmas pictures!

Isabella Grace

Yes, I'm more than a week late with the official announcement, but here it is:

Isabella Grace
November 13, 2008
6:17 p.m.
8 lbs 5 oz
20 inches

...and absolutely PERFECT!!

Pictures from my 1st meeting with Isabella....

Can you say....SPOILED ROTTEN!

Izzie and Mommy getting ready to go home

...after a few pictures, of course.

The Duncan girls....Look out mall...here we come!

Amy, Trey and Isabella are on their own now after a week of being cared for by the world's best Mom (aka Mimi). I was beginning to worry that she wasn't coming back and I think Trey and Amy tried to bribe her to stay longer, but apparently she still has to work (especially now that she has a granddaughter to spoil!).

They seem to be doing well. Amy was excited yesterday when I talked to her because she got three straight hours of sleep...I do not miss those days! Several have asked me if this makes me want a girl and just to clear up any questions, the answer is officially, definitely, without a doubt...NO! I am perfectly content being the only princess in my house!

Isabella's first big car ride will be this weekend, when they come to Mom and Dad's. There are three little boys I know that are very excited to meet their cousin, and I'm doing everything I can to make sure our snotty noises are clear by then. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Did anyone see where October went?

Once again, it's been over a month since my last post. From time to time my sister-in-law does a "From my camera this week" post on her blog, so here's what's on my camera this month:


Ryan "slid" into October as a big boy instead of a baby.

4 Hale men in a tee pee:

Here's an attempt at a picture of my three little "angels". Ryan does NOT like to share his wagon!Fall Festival at Mimi's school. "Colby...I said GET OUT!"

Matthew and Colby-Colb on the train ride.

Pop doing what he does best.

It was bound to happen sooner or later.....Colby fell in the pond.

Trunk or Treat 2008 at church:

Captain Jack Sparrow with his buddy, Colton.

You will never believe who made a surprise stop on the campaign trail......

Pumpkin Patch Parade at the boys' preschool.

My brave little soldier had a major meltdown!

Pumpkin carving at the Hale's.

All I can say about this picture is..notice the TWO lovely new crowns!

Typical Matthew and Colby....seconds before this picture was snapped Colby was having a meltdown and refused to look at the camera. Matthew was hollering, "COLBY LOOK AT MOM!!!" Miraculously, the instant I took the picture, Colby flashed his angelic little smile.

Halloween 2008: Mommy's little goblins

November....here we come! Stay tuned for news of Isabella's arrival...it could be any day now.

Tomorrow is election day........VOTE!!!

Is Anybody Out There?

Several of my most loyal followers have asked where I've been and I'm sure several have given up on me, but I'm back in blogworld. It's been a month since my last post, so here's a few pics of what we've been up to.

Matthew is now a month into 1st grade. It's been an adjustment getting into the swing of homework every night, spelling tests every Friday and REAL grades, but his three week progress report was AWESOME, so I guess he's got it figured out. I'm praying that the rest of the year goes as well as this first few weeks have. He's not playing any sports right now, but he signed up to be a "Bleacher Creature", which means he has a "big brother" on the varsity football team and he gets to run out in front of the team at home games....very exciting.
Here are some pictures of a fishing trip we took a couple of weekends ago. Matthew caught three catfish (two were big ones!)...more than anyone else caught. He was very proud, and we're all looking forward to a big fish fry at Mimi and Pop's.

Colby wasn't so interested in fishing. He spent much of the evening throwing the bait into the tank. This picture cracks me up...typical Colby! His face is healing up well. The pathology results came back fine as was expected.

Ryan turned 1 on the 14th. We had a big football party planned for the 13th, but Hurricane Ike changed our plans. We were unsure of how bad the weather was going to be, so we ended up cancelling his big party. Since Uncle Trey and Aunt Amy were down anyway (for Amy's shower....wow! baby girl stuff is fun...but that's a whole other post!) and I had already bought cake, we didn't let Ry's big day go un-celebrated. HE LOVED CAKE!! I think he would have eaten the entire thing if I would have let him. He screamed and through a huge fit when we took it away.

So...what's our little 1 year old up to? He's very close to walking, but isn't quite brave enough to take a step. He is into everything...dog food, the toilet, any little crumb or dirt on the floor, every drawer or cabinet he can reach, etc. He says Bubba, Momma, Dadda (but Matt is usually Momma), and Pop (although I think Pop means "I want to go outside"...imagine that!). He says ball and loves to play catch with his brothers. He is very curious about everything they do...which is VERY DANGEROUS! :) He started out a terrible eater... but now...he loves to eat....he would eat until he got sick if I let him. He ends every meal crying because he wants more. All my kids have been good eaters, but he has both of his brothers beat. I think spaghetti is his favorite. He also really likes mashed potatoes. And.... he has a bad temper! He gets so mad when things don't go his way (definitely a "baby of the family" trait, right Matt, Pop and Amy?)

As I always say, I'll try to update more often, but who knows with this crazy, wonderful life!

Stay tuned!