Better Late Than Never

So Halloween was 2 weeks ago but here are some fun memories from our day. Malaya had a field trip and my mom came along. IT was a lot of fun! Here they are on the bus on the way out there.
So you will not get this if you have never seen the Hannah Montana show but Malaya's great friend, Ryleigh was Hannah Montana and Malaya was Hannah's sidekick, Lola. They were so cute and really played up their roles. We had trunk or treat at church and so fittingly, our truck had a Hannah theme. We had a hula dance off!

Here's me and Jessie. She was of course, Candi Cotton and I was Candi's friend, Brandi. We had so much fun!

The fam...

We had a great time with our church family and having fun with people from the community.

Great memories!!

My Fall Update

I think I am going to be a seasonal blogger :) so here are some fall updates from the Biz's.

Second grade is underway... Malaya's teacher had a baby but was back today. She took a very short maternity leave. Malaya is loving school. I can see more than ever before God's activity in her life. Her character is being developed and refined and I praise God that I get to witness his activity in her. I am realizing more than ever about my intentionality as a parent. Last night I was trying so hard to go to sleep and I just was so restless. I could feel the Spirit pulling me to get up and pray. I went into Malaya's room and just gave it to Him. I stared into her sleeping face and was once again reminded of how short my time is with her. I still remember so detailed the day she was born. It that was almost 8 years ago. I really wasn't going to get emotional. Onto something else... :)

A few months ago, God began really changing my life. Several habits have been broken. Several new habits have been put into place. Several habits He is still trying to break:) It's a work in progress, right?? I have never been more dedicated though, to my role as wife and mom. I am taking it so much more seriously than ever. I could never have imagined how busy I would be when I got serious about the role God has given me. I prayed and prayed for so many years for God to show me if I should get a job, go back to school, etc. etc. but when I finally submitted to His will and jumped in with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, I know it is right for me to be dedicated to my family for this season. A few weeks ago, in our Wednesday night parenting class we made a list of characteristics that we desire our children to have one day. And then we brainstormed and discussed what we are doing in our day to day, hohum life to put those characteristics in place for our children. I realized how passive I have been with so much instead of thinking intenionally about every action and word! That's a work in progress for the next 10 years!!

God is so GOOD! He has blessed our family of three beyond what I could have hoped. Though my human nature wants to everyday align myself with MY will, I know I have pledged my life to something different and that means MY will does not exist.

This blog has gotten way too serious so here are some FUN pictures!!

Malaya adores her Grammy. This was before breakfast with grandparents at school.

Malaya had a day out of school a few weeks ago and we were going to go to the fair but after sitting in traffic for over an hour we exited off, had some lunch at Landry's and then went to the Dallas Aquarium which is amazing!! We also celebrated my dad's b-day all day which was fun!

Okay, this picture is a big deal b/c I have always been REALLY afraid of sharks (even if they are in aquariums) I have always been fascinated by them. I LOVE shark week on Discovery and all but yet very afraid. So it was a HUGE deal for me to sit UP AGAINST THE GLASS with these monsters swimming inches behind me with just a think layer of glass between us. I couldn't stop thinking about Jaws 3 when the aquarium glass breaks and all the sharks go loose!!Still gives me the heeber-jeevers but I did it! My dad took this picture of me so I could show off that I did it! :)

The next week we took Malaya out of school early and we did go to the fair!! It was a great day! Some Bizaillion relatives (whom we have never met nor know) sent us Flat Stanley so here is a picture of Malaya holding up Flat Stan with Big Tex!

We went to pumpkin patch right here by our house. The girls had so much fun!

It is drug free week at school and they have been doing silly themed things each day. This was "keep your friends accountable day" so you had to be "twins" with some one. Malaya asked our neighbor to dress alike so here are the cuties!

Malaya was out of school last Friday so we went to our favorite place, Glen Rose!! We went to Fossil Rim. We had the greatest time!! At the very end of the day we came to the giraffes and this one stood in front of my car and stretched its neck over the top of my car and then came INTO my car through the sunroof!! It ate food right out of our hands!! It was the greatest! To be able to see such an amazing animal right in our face! I even touched her eyelashes! She was beautiful! And as you can see the sky was beautiful! It was so awesome to be surrounded by God's beautiful creation all day!

I hope your fall season is off to a fun kick! We will be trunk or treating tomorrow!

Maybe I will aim for 2 blogs in one season and post for Thanksgiving!! :)

Okay, okay...

Okay, so I will roll with this thing. :) We'll see what happens!!
Here are the rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (if you don’t have a blog, email me)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I have never gone one night in my life without a bath ( if I must, a shower) but I definitely prefer the bath. Baths are the closest thing to heaven on earth!

2. To go with #1, I always go through all 3 steps of my Beauti Control EVERY morning and night. My day does not begin until my teeth are brushed, my contacts are in and my face is clean.

3. (This habit has developed in the past 3 years.) I can not STAND for my finger nails to be long. I have to cut them at least once a week. I will say, I am not a nail biter, just a cutter.

4. I LOVE wheat thins. They are my new favorite snack. They must be the simple original kind.

5. I get pretty addicted to reality television (Bachelor, American Idol, The Hills, etc.)

6. I get car sick very easily. One jerky turn, one slam on the brakes and my equllibrium (sp??) is thrown. I have never actually vomited from it but I can get pretty sick. That is why you will see me driving most of the time instead of David!

7. I LOVE to work puzzles! In fact there is a 1,000 piece puzzle out on our card table in the living room now. Malaya has got on to my love!

8. I am a verge Obsessive compulsive as you can see by some of my list but I think this one tops the cake. I am quite sentimental...Let me see if I can articulate this...Each day I think, for example, "This is the only 10th of September of 2007 I will ever live." "This is the only 4th day of second grade Malaya will ever have." etc...I know, a little depressing.

So there are some of my surface interesting facts. :) If I go deeper you will think I am a nut case.

Now, i tag anyone who is reading this and hasn't made their list yet.

I SURVIVED!

I lived through the first day of 2nd grade. I cried off and on all day but I made it. We had prayed over this school year all summer and the anticipation was BIG! (OF course, not for Malaya but for me:) Her teacher is once again a Christian and another ACU grad. Malaya LOVES her. I trust God is going to do wonderful things in Malaya's life this year. I know God will use her at school to be a light to her school. Here is my little 2nd grader on the first day.

My Papa turned 80 last week! He is such an amazing man of faith! Some of my greatest childhood memories are with him. He is a firecracker and has the cutest wit!

Malaya enjoyed some time with Cousin Truitt.

At Papa's party Malaya stole my camera for a bit so I thought I would share some of the pics she got. Enjoy... (This might result in some major payback:)
Cousin Tabitha, who I must give a proud shout out b/c she is a freshman and she is paying Varsity volleyball!!
Brother Josh, need I say more...So, I'll throw myself under the bus too!

And Josh again...I love this kid :)

And I have been tagged several times so I will be sharing my interesting things about myself tomorrow. I need some time to think:)

Summer Vacation

Well, we are still recovering from our family vacation. Our family added 2 additions this past year so vacation was SOOO much more exciting. A stomach bug got passed around a bit especially for Josh and Kayci. I missed getting to hang out with them more. Here are quite a few pics of some of our favorite memories.

As soon as we got there we all jumped in the lake. It took us a while to get Malaya in. The idea of swimming with snakes and fish was not appealing to her. We got this picture and she did not stay in too much longer!

We had a huge deck. We had dinner each night on the deck. This was the sunset the first night! So beautiful and of course an even beautiful site is the little girl posing in front! God created the perfect backdrop!

Grampy and Grammy with their grandkiddos.

Two of my loves!

The one of 2 days I actually put make up on:)
The three Ross cousins!

One day David had the greatest idea to go to an Orchard to pick strawberries, blueberries, figs, etc. Well, the orchard was deserted. We were the only ones there. No workers, no other visitors, NOTHING, NOBODY!! BUT... we still had fun. We found a few berries that were alive and we got a few tomatoes. Malaya and Jed enjoyed just walking around. It was TOASTING hot so most of the fam spent time under the shade. On top of the heat, when it was time to leave I realized (out of my excitement to be there) that I had locked my keys in the truck. My "can do anything", sexy hubbie, was able to open the sliding door on the back of the truck and we got in!! I LOVE HIM!!

The Chillin Trio

Well, Malaya rode on the boat for about 2 minutes. She was the flag raiser for when someone fell off the inner tube. She did it a couple of times until she started claiming that she was "seasick". I had another picture that did show Malaya's face but it also showed a little more of David than the blog world needs to see;) So this will be my blog memory of Malaya on the boat.

Some inner tube fun! This was my favorite day!! I got thrown around like a ragdoll back there but it was so much fun! I have bruises and cuts to prove my determined self! Every muscle in my body hurt for a few days.

Jenn and I had a great time. (Kayci was sick this day. :(

Dad and Josh

The Ross children decided to take a ride together! I laughed so hard! They graciously gave me the middle. I can say I was the last one off. Ha!

Jed wasn't too sure about the ride. I think next year he will be a pro.

David got Jed and Truitt matching, reversible Astros hats. Mom also got them matching shirts. Aren't they handsome boys!

Josh teaching his son the important things of life early on...

On the last day, Malaya went fishing and as soon as she put the pole in she caught a catfish. That would be in the exact same spot that we had been swimming all week. No wonder she didn't want to swim:) We were very proud of her catch but after that one fish she was done :)

I love you, Kayci! Next year you will be back in the saddle to play again!!!;)

We had a great vacation. I loved getting to love on my nephews. They are both so precious!

We have some great memories and I look forward to next year's also.

I am sad summer is almost over:( Hopefully some great 2nd grade memories are coming!!

Summer Fun

Okay, so the gift of a new blog header has inspired me to update, if I even have any readers left. Don't you love the header???? If you are interested in knowing who took those great pictures, email me and I will brag on her gift! :)

This summer has been so wonderful!! Here are a few highlights.

Malaya and I have done tons of swimming and hence the picture that reflects most of our comings and goings this summer. When I just downloaded my pictures, this one came up along with a few others. Not quite sure who I am talking to, but I sure seem intense!

Malaya got to attend 3 VBS's this summer! She had so much fun at all of them!! Here is her and a friend at the LCC Marketplace.

David and I celebrated 9 years of marriage last month! He is such a hottie and gets more and more so each year! Malaya adores him! He has been working his tail off this summer but God has really blessed his business. It is growing!!!! YAY!!

Jen and Jed came and spent a few days up here and we spent a day at the zoo. Malaya loves Jed so much. He is such a fun kid!!

More highlights that lack pictures:

We got to go see John Mayer in concert. We had a great time with friends and the concert was amazing. John Mayer is such a fabulous musician. I now own each of his cd's. :)

I have gotten to lead a bible study on Wednesday mornings. I don't know all of the people very well but it has been such a gift to get to know these women in a spiritual sense b/c that is our genuine essence.

Malaya and I went and registered for second grade today. I can not believe I am a mother of a second grader!! She is so precious to me. I am really going to miss her when school starts:(

And now for the biggest highlight of this summer.......

THE PREMIERE OF HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited!! I think even more than Malaya!! And now I am going to close this blog to watch them on the View!!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!!

It's Been a Whirlwind!!

Well, we finished first grade and we have been off and running!! Here are some fun pics...Malaya at field day!

This past weekend we went down to Houston for Jed's 1st birthday party! We got to have fun time with Josh and Kayci and Truitt as well. We got there just in time on Friday to watch my brothers sky dive! I could NEVER do this but these 2 guys have always stretched themselves with danger:) My SIL, Kayci wants to go next time and David might go along too.

Malaya bought an MP3 player with her birthday money. I thought this picture was so cute. Jonathan and Jennifer each had an earpiece in their ear listening to a song that Malaya wanted them to listen to.

Mom and Dad enjoying their 3 grandkids at Jed's b-day party.
Truitt's first time to take a dive:) (No, we were not baptizing babies at the party:)
Enjoying his 1st birthday cake! Jen made the cakes from scratch and they were delicious!!


A few more updates:
The day we got out of school my SIL (David's sister), her 4 kids, and my MIL all stayed with us for 5 days!!! We had the best time. Have I mentioned before how much how love Dina! She is amazing!! I praise God for her friendship, her Godly wisdom/example and her conversation!
Malaya went home with them for 4 days. It was a little rough on me and Malaya but we made it through. I bawled for a few hours after she left but made it through with some entertainment from a friend. :) Malaya is going to 2 VBS's this week and is loving it, though she had to miss yesterday b/c I think her body just wore down!

We have a rally next Thursday at the Potter's House for anyone that is close that would like to come check out KidStand, Have some fun, and worship God with 1500 kids! Is there anything better??? If anything, please pray for the night!

We are looking forward to the rest of our summer. Hope you are having a great one!!

Blessings in Nephews

I am an aunt who is totally in love with her 2 nephews! The three of us made a trip down to H-town to see my newest nephew Truitt. He is PRECIOUS!! I also got to spend some fun playtime with Jed. He is one of the silliest kids!! He cracks me up! He and Truitt are going to have some good times ahead! Here are some fun pics from the weekend!

Isn't he beautifully handsome!!!

Such a weird ( in a good way:) stage of life to watch my brothers transition to being daddys! What a blessing it is to see them love their sons so passionately! Kayci and Jennifer are amazing moms! I can't wait to watch their families develop! I tell them both ALL the time (probably annoyingly too much:) that Malaya and I can not wait to babysit!!

Jed just keeps me in stitches (just like his dad). As you can see, his new game is peekaboo. He is one precious kiddo. I can not believe he is about to be the big ONE!!!

I LOVE being an auntie!! Next week 3 of my neices and one other nephew will be coming in town! Malaya is so excited to have her cousins come stay!! There will be lots of great memories to share!

We had a great Mother's Day! Good family time!Here is the precious miracle that gave me the title of mommy 8 years ago!! She makes my heart burst! Speaking of her...she is almost a stinkin' 2nd grader!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where does the time go???? I LOVE being her mom! I am excited about our summer together!

We passed through a major milestone tonight and I survived!! Every night since the day she was born (with the exception of a few nights when she was a new born and I was too tired:) I have read to her. As I was doing the dishes tonight I started thinking that one day she is not going to want me to read to her anymore, she will want to read by herself. It wasn't 10 minutes later and she came into the kitchen and said she would like to read on her own tonight!!! I think God put it on my heart to prepare me for the heart break. :(:(:(:( As we did bedtime I told her I would make a deal that she could start reading on her own but I still wanted one night a week! Is that selfish?? Don't tell me if you think it is:) Let me grovel in my own selfishness for as long as she will let me.

Pray for me....:)