Lydia Claire is FIVE!!

What?!?! Yes, my "baby" Lydia is five!! She is growing up TOO fast!!

She is in Pre-K at Peace Preschool in Ms. Teri's class. She was having some trouble with crying & not wanting to leave me lately. On her birthday, she brought snacks for the class. She walked in all by herself without a sniffle! She brought cupcakes & her class sang "happy Birthday" to her. (That was her favorite part of her day!) Ms. Teri said "Lydia, I'm so proud of you! You didn't cry today!" Lydia replied, "I know! I'm big! I'm five now!"

We celebrated by having a birthday party on Halloween with all her friends. It was a costume party! She had a pumpkin cupcake cake. She picked it out herself! (She wanted a pumpkin cake & wanted me to make it, but when she saw this cake at target, she decided on that one...THANK GOODNESS!)

Then on Sunday, we had a party with family at Nana's house. Nana made her a princess cake. Nana also got everyone wax lips!! Grandma & Grandpa were SO funny wearing their wax lips with zest!

That girl can swing by herself, go across the monkey bars on her own & likes to be places early.

She can act so grown up one minute & turn around a throw a fit the next! She likes to pick out her own clothes.

This year she got a "real" purple Bible for her birthday. She likes to read in Acts 16 about "Lydia".

At her birthday blessing at school, she stood up & said the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) in front of the WHOLE school! I was SO proud of her for doing that! She was pretty talkative up there & felt VERY special!

She is a sweet big sister to Caraline!

I can't wait to see what the next year brings for her!

I pray that God will open the eyes of her heart & she will accept Him. The Holy Spirit is working on her life & God has BIG plans for Lydia!

"It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us." 2 John 4

I love Halloween!!

I LOVE Halloween!! We celebrated ALL week!

One Monday, we went to Storybook Forest with the Cox's & Churchwell's. We got candy, played games, rode on the hay ride & made s'mores. It was SO fun! We met up with the Schmidt's at the campfire & ran into Jen, Abi & John.

Lydia was a princess (thank you Lana for letting us borrow 4 princess dresses!)

Caraline was Fern from "Charolette's Web", she wore overalls, carried a pig & had a spider on her shirt. She wore that one Monday to Storybook Forest, to Lydia's school Halloween program, but by Saturday at Lydia's birthday party (yes, it was on Halloween!) she was NOT wearing those overalls anymore!!

So by the time we went downtown Edmond to trick or treat, I had TWO Cinderellas!:)

We met up with mom, dad, Tori & "pumpkin" Sadie. It was super crowded downtown that we only stayed 30 minutes. But we got ENOUGH candy to last a while!

What a fun time of the year!

Photography Class

So these last 6 weeks, I've taken a photography class through Francis Tuttle. My friend, Sharon, suggested it & she had signed up to take it too. I had to buy a new camera, an SLR camera. Scott was going to get me one for Christmas, so he gave it to me early. I got a Canon XSi.

I think I learned a lot. I learned about compostion & shutter speed & ISO. We also did some cool things with light.

>My friend Monica asked me if I would like to take her family's picture for their Christmas cards. I jumped at the chance! We went to the OU campus one Saturday morning & I shot 500 pictures of them!! We had a great time! I think many of the pictures turned out so cute!

I had so much fun that I would LOVE to do it again!! I can't wait to take more pictures of friends & family!!

I'm really glad I took that class!!

I love to learn new things!

New cousin, Sadie!

Today the girls got to meet baby Sadie. We have been talking about her for months now!!

Lydia was ready to hold her! The second Russ bent down to show them, Lydia started reaching for her!

Caraline, on the other hand, was not so sure who this little baby was! She didn't really want to look at her at first. We asked her "Who is that?" Caraline really didn't know! She had never seen this baby before!

The girls sat with Nana on the couch & Nana helped the girls hold Sadie. They both gave her a kiss.

They loved it!! I can't wait to see how their relationship developes!

Happy birthday, Sadie Laine Furgason!

Today, I became an aunt! (again)

My sister, Tori, went in today to be induced at 7:30am. We thought things would be slow & mom planned on coming up in the afternoon, dad was working until 2 or 3 & Scott wasn't coming home to watch the girls until 1pm.

God & Sadie had other plans!!

Mom rushed up to my house early, about 11:30 & Russ called about 11:50 & said they were fully dialated & were going to push soon! I had to call Scott to tell him to come home early so mom & I could get to the hospital before it was too late!

As mom & I FINALLY found a parking place, Russ called again to ask where we were. I told him we were RUNNING in the building at that moment!

By the time we got to her room, mom walked in & they were puching. The nurses paiged the dr three times!! SHe finally rushed in (from lunch, I guess) at 1pm...& at 1:09pm, Sadie was crying!

Sadie wanted to nurse right away. So Tori nursed her at minutes old.

Sadie weighed 8lbs, 8oz, 20 1/4 inches long. She had some blood sugar issues because of her size. But the nurses weren't all that concerned, they could handle it. Sadie needed to nurse to keep her blood sugar up.

Tori was so giddy & happy!!
Lana was so excited she was beside herself!!

Lydia & Caraline are going to see baby Sadie tomorrow. They are ready to see her!! Caraline kept saying, "Baby Hadie out Toto's tummy!"

I will post pictures of the girls & Sadie & family with Sadie!

Our first family vacation: Red River, New Mexico

This year we decided it was time for our FIRST family vacation!! We decided to go to Red River, New Mexico with Scott's parents & his sister & her family. We rented a condo & Scott & I & the girls got a separate room, but spent most of our time with the whole family.

We had the most wonderful time!! Here is a breakdown of the week:

Sunday, July 19th:

drove to Woodward for the Loomis family reunion,

drove to Guymon late, to stay with Sherry, Scott's sister.

Monday, July 20th:

Left Guymon in the morning, arrived in Red River 3pm (mountain time)

checked out the hotel, unpacked, relaxed, fed the ducks at the hotel pond

Tuesday, July 21st:

Early in the AM, the kids, Sarah, John, Lydia & Caraline all fished in the

hotel pond. Lydia caught her first fish!! Caraline tried, but didn't have

the patience!

Then we all went to the Red River Community House & made & painted

boats & had boat races in the river. Caraline was so tired, she fell

asleep on my shoulder....her boat won third place & she never knew it!

Then we saw a trapped little black bear right before it started pouring

rain! It rained the rest of the late afternoon, evening.

That evening after dinner, we went back to the Community House &

line danced! Caraline LOVED it!

Wednesday, July 22nd:

The four of us did a little shopping, buying a few keychains &

a magnet that said "Red River"

Then that afternoon, we played at the school playground & made

walking sticks at the Community House

After dinner, we went out for ice cream.
We also wanted to roast marshmellow, but it was too wet, we

had to roast them on the gas grill outside!

Thursday, July 23rd:

The kids saw "Santa" fishing at the pond & he gave them toys!!

The girls & I went back to the Community House & did the Mommy &

Me gymnastics. Scott came to take pictures!

We visited the Little Red River School House Museum

Went to the shoot out at Frye's

When we came back to the condo, Sherry was running a fever, so

she needed to get home, so, the Lindley's left & we decided to

not do the fish fry.

Then Scott & I & the girls went back to the Community House & made

s'mores & listened to a story teller.

Friday: July 24:

We were on the road home by 7am sharp (Oklahoma time...6am mountain)

We stopped in Guymon for lunch & we took a break in Woodward at Mimi's

for a few hours. (Lydia threw up at Mimi's & I was worried, but she was fine.)

We were home by 9-ish & were glad to be home! But Caraline started

crying because she wanted to go back to Red River & not home!

The girls traveled so well, we were really lucky! The Red River Community House really made our first family vacation a wonderful one! We were so grateful for ALL the free activities they offered there.

We can't wait to go back!

Fourth of July 2009

Waiting for the fireworks
Caraline with her ears covered

The gang's all here!

Lana, Lydia & Caraline: cousins

The Furgason's

The girls with Nana & Papaw

The girls with Scott, Mimi & Papa

The fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays! It is a tradition for Scott & I to go to the Edmond Liberty Fest parade. Scott & I met on July 4th 1998 & were engaged July 4th 1999.

I love a parade & fireworks & sun & swimming & watergun fights!

This year Scott's parents came to the parade from Woodward, my parents came as always & Tori, Russ & Lana. Also keeping with tradition, we sat by the BSU & met Day, Jenifer, Abi & John Zimbelman. (Day was Scott's roommate that year we met)

This was the first year we decided to take the girls to see the fireworks. We went to the park that was across the street from our old duplex, the same park that Scott proposed to me. The girls were SO excited! They got to play on the swings while we waited for the fireworks to start. At first, the fireworks were small, to get everyone's attention, but then they got bigger & LOUDER!

Lydia thought that the fireworks were too close & decided to watch them from the car. (Another little girl I knew, a LONG time ago, decided that watching fireworks from the car was better since the sound wasn't so loud...I think her name was KATY!)

Caraline was ok with watching them outside, but preferred Scott to cover her ears with his hands!

Overall, the girls liked the fireworks and were asleep before we got home!:)

What a fun day!

"He sends peace across your nation & satisfies you with plenty of the finest wheat."

Psalm 147:14