Wednesday

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. On to the next one!
Above is a picture of my grandparents that were visiting all last week from Missouri. They held Gavin until he couldn't be held anymore. They are wonderful grandparents and even more wonderful as great grandparents to my boys and I know they will be to Gavin also. I am so thankful to have a relationship with them. I am also thankful that my boys have the joy of knowing all 8 of their grand"folks!" YEP ... I said 8!

Anywho! It's been a week at our house. Last Wednesday evening Aiden told daddy to come into the laundry room. He did so just to find a leak in our ceiling (ok, another leak in our ceiling). Aiden bluntly said, "Well Dad, tell people not to buy this house ... it drips!" Guess we shouldn't have him around when we put it on the market! So, tomorrow Marcus will have the joy of putting new shingles up. I know that is exactly how he wanted to spend one of the four days he has off. He did have a great day yesterday - he (we) bought a 2003 Chevy truck. For those of you who know us well, you know what a huge thing this is for him. He is on cloud nine! And nope ... I've yet to have permission to drive it. :0)

I'll close by asking you all to say a prayer for my Aunt Leslie and her family. They flew down to Houston, TX on Sunday (maybe Monday) for more testing and such. They also took the three boys and her parents. Please pray for the dr.'s that are treating her and pray God's blessing on her family as they spend time together as well as safe traveling home. I hear that the boys are getting to go see the ocean! How fun!?

Have a wonderful week,
Carrie

Sleepy Heads?

Thanksgiving 2007 has come and gone ... whew! I am not one that loves to go out the day after for the sales, so most of the day yesterday was spend sleeping in ... love that so much more than any sale! Last night my parents kept the boys so I ended up heading to Kohl's at 10 pm since they were open until midnight. It was nice to have some time to myself and getting a little bit of shopping done. Thanks mom and dad!!! :0)

Today both boys are really struggling with the cold/flu bug. We ate dinner with the family but then headed home for baths and what I thought would be an early bedtime for all ... WRONG! I even tried the "Sleepy Head" pj's along with the nighttime cold and flu meds ... no luck. Both boys are laying down but are trying to out do the other by singing. In one corner we have a very off tune, but cute, version of "You Are My Sunshine." In the other corner is Logan attempting to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Basically I hear, "Don't take my Star what you are away" over and over. It's cute now, but in about 15 minutes not so much.

I am so excited! Last night I got to spend three hours with Gavin. Just me and Gavin (ok, Nick and Jamie were there too, but let's just pretend it was just me and Gavin). Anyway, I got to hold him, kiss him, I even taught him the "Skidda-mer-inky-dinky-dink" song ... motions and all! He is just so sweet and I could have held him all night.

Hey ... if you haven't already - check out my slide show below. I cannot figure out how to put it on the side so that it is always present. If you know ... let me know please!

Have a great Tuesday.
Carrie

Friends

I know that this is the season for giving thanks. I know that I do not do this enough for all I have been given. I am so very thankful for my family and their support, but today I have been thinking a lot about my friends. It's probably because I am heading to Chuck E. Cheese tonight with some of my closest friends and their children. We have done this twice already (we use our kids to get in if you want the truth!) and it's been a blast each time. The pizza makes your stomach gurgle, but to see the children laugh and have fun with each other at the same time the adults are ... it's just priceless. So, as I am gearing up all day for the fun evening ahead, I am reminded of my closest friends. Although I don't see you all as much as I would like, please know that I love you all and pray for your families often!

So, as my heart was open to being thankful for friends, something else happened. An older couple that use to play in my parent's euchre club stopped in to my office. I know that sounds dull, but stick with me. Don and Jan have always loved on my boys as if they were their own. They are two of the cutest and funniest couples Marcus and I have ever met. We only would see them every six months or so, but they welcomed us with hugs and laughter every time. Five months ago Don experienced 2 heart attacks and 2 strokes along with something else that has made him lose his memory and speaking skills. The dr.s had once said that his brain was 'mush' and he would never walk or move his right arm again. Well ... I am happy to say that Don WALKED into my office using only a cane and even remembered my face. He wanted to see pictures of my boys and hugged me many times. Jan says that the dr's obviously didn't know "her Don" but more importantly, they didn't know "her God" because Don is a walking miracle.

I just want to thank God for my family, for my friends near and far, for Don and Jan and the miracles that they have experienced in the last few months. Maybe throw a prayer in there for my stomach at Chuck E. Cheese's tonight too! ARG!

Have a wonderful weekend all!

Carrie

Not so sure about this baby ...

Marcus and I took Aiden and Logan to meet Gavin yesterday afternoon. Logan was very interested and kept wanting the baby on his lap so that he could kiss him (he's my cuddly one). Aiden was not interested and we had to beg to have him sit by Gavin for a picture. Both boys were more interested in the interesting hospital food Aunt Jamie had in her lap. I think they ate her roll and most of her turkey! SOMEONE FEED THOSE KIDS! The top pictures are after all of the excitement ... the boys were tuckered out. Anyway, Jamie and Nick seem to be doing great. Jamie is even wearing Mary Kay make-up in this picture! (Jamie, you are welcome for the plug). They might get to come home this evening. I can't wait for the little guy to come over to my house for the first time so that I can put him in his Dale Earnhardt Jr. outfit!!!! Love you Jamie and Nick!

(Sorry about the way these pictures are on here. I cannot figure out how to move them once I have them on there ...anyone ... anyone?)

Have a happy Thursday all!

Carrie

Gavin Andrew is here!

Gavin Andrew Koontz has arrived. He was born November 13 at 6:03 pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19 1/2 inches 'tall' as someone said last night. To quote Nick, "Jamie pushed like a champ!" GO JAMIE GO! It was hard watching Jamie go through the pain, especially since she had an epidural and it wasn't working for the first two hours. Once they got it fixed all was well and she seemed calm. All aunts, uncles, grandparents plus one great aunt were present which was so fun. We are taking Aiden and Logan up to the hospital today to meet Gavin. Aiden informed me this morning that he is going to have to teach Gavin (aka Lightning McQueen) how to play basketball and probably baseball. But he thought that Papaw could help too. I will post more pictures tomorrow. Gotta get some work done so I can get outta here to have Aunt Carrie and Gavin time! HOORAY FOR BABIES!

The Missing Keys

Jamie, my sister that is expecting a son in the next 2 weeks, spent the night with me and the boys on Thursday evening. I had Stats class until 10 and she watched the boys. Both of our husbands were out of town, so we made a slumber party out of it. Although, not much slumber was had by anyone as Jamie's dog, Lucy Lui (a Chinese Crested Hairless that might weigh 10 pounds) thought that she could take on my 90 pound Chocolate Lab, Dakota. I think she was 'on guard' all night. Lucy also wakes at every sound toddlers make while sleeping or getting up to use the potty at 1 am. ANYWAY ... it was a long night and none of us knew how long of a morning Friday would turn out to be. Read on.

The boys and I head out the door about 8:15. Jamie knows how to lock up and such, so I figure she is fine. Well, I get a call from Jamie about 9 that she has been searching for her keys since 8:30 with no luck. I ask her if the boys had played with them and she said that she hadn't seen either one with them so she was pretty sure they hadn't. She has a spare set, but they were with Nick (her hubby) in St. Louis. AHHHH! I ran home about 10 because at this point Jamie was in a panic. She called our dad and he came over to help about 10:30. We moved every piece of furniture, we shuffled all the leaves, we checked inside shoes, the fridge, the trash ... you name it! We also called AAA to come unlock her car with the hopes that she had dropped them in the back seat. No luck. I finally called Valerie, our sitter, and asked her to bring Aiden to the house after she picked him up from school. I told her the situation and that we were pretty sure he didn't ever have them, but we had to try. Valerie brings Aiden to the house, he walks in without saying a word to us, goes into my bedroom to a chest in front of my bed that holds sweaters, lifts the lid and there were the keys. He places a key ring around his finger and dangles them in front of Jamie. As calmly as I could, I said, "Aiden - what do you need to say to Jamie?" With the most proud look on his face and in his best hero voice he says, "YOU'RE WELCOME!" It was as if he just felt that he had saved the day and we needed to be singing his praises! I was trying not to laugh while I explained to him that Jamie had been crying because she had some places she had to be and that he needed tell her that he was sorry. He got very serious and did apologize to Jamie and hugged her. He walked out the door without saying another word and Valerie said he was very quiet for the next hour.

I hope he learned his lesson ...