It's time I suppose...

I guess it's time for an update. Between feeling nauseous ALL DAY LONG and one round of tonsillitis (or something of that nature) I haven't felt like doing much at all.
We did manage to make it to our ward Fall Carnival/Trunk or Treat. It really was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed it but were mostly excited for the Trunk or treat part of the night.
There were snacks and a couple carnival games set up in the gym, a maze, a beauty boutique and and obstacle course.

Sam and Chad doing the cupcake walk.

Carly playing the Mummy Game

Cupcake Walk again.

Carly got a unicorn painted on her face. She was so excited when she saw this picture.

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Earlier in the month we went to the Catfish Festival. Yes, I said Catfish Festival.

Carly's dance class was performing. I laugh when I look at these pictures for a couple reasons:

*Carly is the only one in Jean shorts

*Carly is the only one with no make-up, no glitter

*Carly is the only one with a Mom who had no idea what these things were like.

She still had fun though but I don't see many more of these in our future.

Sadly we didn't even get a video of the cute little dance, we had the video camera, it just didn't want to record. :(

Big news......

Rain!

It rained for most the day on last Sunday. Chad got creative and attatched our big umberella to the kids "4 wheeler." The kids had so much fun driving around in the rain but not getting wet.

My Offspring

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Can you believe it?! I sure can't! Two years of trying and waiting it finally happened. Our third little McLane is finally on his/her way! I'm not sure if I can say it was planned or unexpected. It was a little bit of both.

*I was anxious to visit the doctor. After two years of trying I was convinced something was wrong (I think every pregnant woman has those feelings though)

*As of today I am 9 weeks along. Baby looked great and the heartbeat sounded awesome. I've seen the little "gummy Bear" but it still doesn't feel real. Although, the sickness is making it feel all too real.

*I am so excited. (a little in shock)
*Coming May 14th (roughly) Which puts it right smack in the middle of our other two May babies.

*Next step, adding onto our house.....

Cow Branding

These were just part of the kids that were there. Playing with cousins always equals FUN!

before the branding started Mimi took the kids for a ride on her horse. They LOVED it as always!

With the help from chad's mom we had a brand made to brand our cows with. It kind of turned into a big deal when everyone kept saying they wanted to come. It was so much fun! They started by rounding the cows up (actually trying to) Cows are pretty stubborn animals and I think they knew what was coming. It was a lot harder to get them gathered in the corral. We ended up only getting three cows done before we were all starving. So, we took a break for some yummy food that everyone brought. It was great to have everyone there, the kids loved it and the adults loved it too! I think the cows were the only one's that didn't enjoy the day!

(p.s. Some of these pictures were taken by my sis. Sharise)

October really?

It's really October? When did that happen, does that mean I have to start thinking about Halloween costumes and Thanksgiving and Christmas!? I was really enjoying my lazy days of summer :( I guess we can't stop time so we must move forward.
I can't believe I only posted twice in September. I guess that just goes to show how really of a boring month it was for us. Here are some random pictures from the end of the month that I thought I could share.

Dolly and Nanny found a nice spot for a nap in front of our storage shed.

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Thanks to an early Christmas present (a brand new septic system) we now have a front yard that is mostly dirt. It didn't help that it was already mostly dirt from the lack of rain, but now it's a sand pile! At least the kids found joy in it. They had fun one afternoon playing in the dirt (and making mud) I admit, they got really dirty but it was nice to have them occupied for quite a while.

Carly was proud of how dirty she got. Sam, on the other hand, can't stand to be dirty. Something is not right here ;)

Fishing

Chad loves to fish and has been dying to catch a fish in the river (stream, pond whatever you want to call it) behind our house. He found a spot that was loaded with carp and was determined to catch one. He brought this up to the house the other night and we had a little fun with it. I don't think he (or she) thought it was fun though.

Sam wasn't too fond of it, this is as close as he would get to it.

Not sure what Carly was thinking of in this picture.

It took some coaxing (and maybe a little bribery) to get her to do this!

Thanking our lucky stars!

I never thought I'd have to worry about wildfires living in southeast Texas. This fire started yesterday (labor day) afternoon. We had family over and some of them noticed a huge pillar of smoke, and it just kept getting bigger and darker. I have to say, I was pretty worried. I think the fire started only 3 miles away from us. Luckily (for us) the wind was blowing it away from us, but a lot of people have been affected by it and I am so sad! It could have easily been us that had to evacuate and I am so thankful that our house was protected. I know it sounds silly but even this little close call puts things in perspective. If I had less than 30 min. to evacuate what would I grab? How would I react? I hope I'm never faced with the reality of having to do something like that and I pray for those who were affected by this!

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Below are some recent pictures that Carly has drawn. She is quite the artist with quite the imagination.

This one is a picture of one of our cats "Smudge"

This is a drawing of Dolly our dog, complete with a cut that she had on her head.

This one is my personal favorite. This is Nanny our goat.

Kindergarten!

August 22, 2011

Carly went to kindergarten for the first time! She was so excited. She has been asking about school since she was....well.....at least since she turned 3. She has been so ready for so long that it was no problem. She woke up excited, got dressed, ate breakfast and we were off. She sang and talked the whole way to school. She could not contain the excitement she was feeling. We had gone to "Meet the teacher" night the previous week so she knew right where her seat was. She sat down and got right to work coloring her picture. She only mentioned once that she didn't want me to go but then quickly got engrossed in coloring her picture again and said nothing more.

When I picked her up that afternoon she was so happy! She had so much to tell me. I am so happy that she had a great first day. Today is her third day and she is still just as excited. She still has a hard time saying her teachers name. Mrs. Bon Jorno.

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One funny thing, at the end of the day I have to wait in a car rider line to pick her up. The first day was pretty packed so she had to wait for quite a while (30 min. to her, that is an eternity!) Yesterday, she was so worried because she said she "got so bored waiting for me" She kept talking about it, so I let her take a book in her backpack so she wouldn't get bored. I swear, this girl gets bored if she's not doing something for 3 minutes.
I still can't believe it. My days are pretty quiet. Sam actually entertains himself (where Carly did not) So, it's still sinking in on how much free time I have during the day.

Carly and Nanny

changes.....

Some changes are coming our way, well...one change really. This little girl is starting kindergarten on Monday! People keep asking me if I'm sad and my answer is no. Does that make me a bad mom? I don't feel like it does. Carly is SO ready for school. She was ready 6 months ago! At this point she gets so bored at home. I am constantly needing to entertain or find things to entertain her (which isn't always bad, but can be very overwhelming!) She has such a different personality than me that we also tend to clash very easily.
I think Kindergarten is just what we need at this point in time. Don't get me wrong, I am sad that my baby girl is growing up (way to fast!) I'm sure I will miss her, I know I will miss her. But, I am excited for her, she is going to love school! She has been walking around our house copying words she sees in her little notebook.

I still panic sometimes when I think that this is the beginning of a new stage in life. I worry about what she come home saying and the questions she might have. I'm not sure how many members of the church are in her school so I worry if we've prepared her enough to face the world. But, then I breath and realize it's just kindergarten. We had a nice rain storm pass through Sunday so we let the kids go at it! They were so excited to play in the rain and mud (the mud that used to be grass until our grass dies because of the lack of rain!)

With Carly starting school it will be just me and this little man at home. Life has a funny way of throwing you for a loop. I didn't think I'd be down to one child at home so quickly. I thought I'd have another baby by the time Carly started school, but....obviously there are different plans for us right now. In a way I'm excited. Sam and I can have the one on one time that Carly and I had before Sam. It will be weird for sure, but I'm looking forward to it! (let's just hope and pray that there is another child here by the time Sam starts school. I'm not prepared to have all my kids in school before I'm 30!)

I had to throw in another picture of Nanny. She found a new place to hang out, mostly because I think she likes to get away from Dolly (our dog). We also got another baby calf yesterday! Adorable!!

just more pictures of animals....and kids.....

So, we now have to baby calves. This is the older of the two. He's getting pretty spunky.

The other day Carly and Sam decided to take Nanny for a ride in their little car, it was pretty hilarious!

stuff

Carly's World part 3

We let Carly use our old camera. She loves it! She also learned how to delete pictures so I didn't have much to choose from. Chad had no idea she took this picture below.

We got a new pygmy goat. She is adorable. She was smaller than we thought, but she has been so fun. She is pretty much like a dog. She will follow you when you are outside and she'll cry for a bit when we go in the house. She has tried to get in the house a few times but sad for her, she will never be an indoor pet. We named her Nanny, but everyone keep calling her Nana.

This is our newest little animal. We were surprised to find out one of the cows was giving birth this morning. It's a little guy so he won't be staying at our farm for too long. We don't want any bulls around here. He sure is cute though!