Thanksgiving 2007

We had a full house on Thanksgiving. My Aunt, Cousin and Grandma came in town from Dallas, my dad and Les came in town from Colorado, Dan's parents came from Harrison, Dan's sister came from Fayetteville and my mom and Jim came from Bella Vista. We had a total of 14 including Caleb and Ariel! We had a great time and had tons of food to eat!

My Dad and I

Group Shot
Cousin Allison and Aunt Debbie
My mom and I

My Grandma and I

Dan's Dad and the kids eating a huge plate of dessert!

Allison and I

My Aunt Debbie, Grandma and Dad

My Dad and Les

Dan and his sister Amy

Dan and I (and Ariel too!)

My mom and Jim

Amy and I

Shopping Day in Branson

Last Monday my Aunt Debbie, Cousin Allison and my Grandma came in town from Dallas to stay the week for Thanksgiving. On Tuesday we took a trip to Branson to go shopping. It was a beautiful day to be on the Landing. Caleb was actually at his Granny's for a couple of days so we only had Ariel with us so it made our shopping more enjoyable to say the least. Caleb does enjoy shopping but it would have been more work for all of us. After we went shopping, we went to Harrison to pick Caleb up from Granny's and had dinner at her house. Then we ventured home that evening. Here are a few pics from the Landing.

I have been meaning to post some Thanksgiving pictures and such but just have not had the time. I came down with the stomach bug on Saturday and then Caleb got it on Tuesday and is still kinda sick. I have also been working on some decorations for the Christmas Dinner Theater for our church and just have been terribly busy. I will try to upload some pictures this afternoon.

Update on the Huggins

Blake had surgery this morning on his little heart, here is an update from Kyle:

Hello Everyone. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to inform all of you to our news, but it has been a very hard day. Blake was stable coming out of surgery, but the first 24 hours are always the toughest. Unfortunately, he has struggled since it was completed. He currently is producing too much acid in the blood, which is complicating matters. He also is having trouble stabilizing his blood pressure. Additionally, there is some internal bleeding that they have to correct. He is currently involved in a second procedure to amend some of these complications and he has been placed on a machine called ECMO, which performs the functions of his heart and lungs for him. To say the least, he is a critically sick young man.

Additionally, we have had some minor complications with Lauren as well. She is having an extremely difficult time regulating her own body heat. The amount of energy exerted trying to maintain her temp is leaving her void of the energy it takes to feed. She also has started to get jaundice, but that is typical for preemies. She has been placed under a billy-lamp to help assist with all of these problems. This has been very hard for Christie b/c Lauren was somewhat of her escape from Blake’s problems.

I would ask that you continue to pray for both Blake and Lauren, but please lift up a few extra prayers for Christie as well. She has had a very difficult time with all of this, not to mention her own physical problems of her major surgery (C-section) just two days ago. We are just leaning on the Lord and all of your prayers at this moment.
Again, thank you for all of your calls, emails, and texts. We love you all and ask that you please be patient with us during this time. We love you all and can’t thank you enough for your concern, but especially your prayers!!!

Kyle

Here is the website if you want to send them a message or see pictures of the twins: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/christiehuggins

The latest on Christie and Kyle Huggins

Our dear friends Kyle and Christie (whom I have mentioned before on here) have a great message that was posted on their Caring Bridge website yesterday, here is what it said (This was sent yesterday):

Good news... Blake and Lauren have arrived. That's right. Christie started having contractions last night but they subsided. However,they started again this morning on the way to Vandy for a checkup. The doctor's found that she was 2 cm dilated and moved her into labor and delivery. They scheduled the C-section for 2:30pm. At 3:09pm Blake arrived and Lauren followed shortly there after at 3:11pm. Lauren weighed 4 lbs 13 ozs and Blake was a little over 5 1/2 lbs. We haven't got a definitive weight yet b/c he was immediately transferred over to the Children's Hospital. We also haven't heard word on the lengths,but we will update them when we know and have access to a computer again. I am currently at Children's waiting on the doctors to update me on Blake's status. But as of now, things look as expected. He is breathing on his own in spite of his heart medicine, which is good news. So right now, it is a good prognosis. Lauren is doing wonderful. She doesn't have to go to the NICU and is in the well baby nursery. Christie is going GREAT! She is having a little nausea after the C-section, but so far, she has done better than expected. Thank you all for your prayers and your continued prayers. We will continue to update through the coming days. We love you all! Kyle

And I also received word last night that Blake is going in for heart surgery on Friday morning. I ask you all to pray for this family. And I will keep you updated!

Christmas Pictures 2007 (untouched)

These are not touched up or cropped but I thought I would share.

Anniversary Trip to Branson

Dan and I celebrated our 6 year Anniversary on the 28th of October and we took a trip to Branson this past weekend for one night. We had such a great time! We hadn't taken a trip by ourselves in over two years so it was much needed! We stayed right on the Landing at the Hilton Convention Center. We had a corner room that overlooked Downtown Branson, it was very nice! This is Dan and I standing in front of a huge Christmas Tree at the hotel before we went to dinner.

SHE DID IT!!

Ariel took her first steps last night! I don't think she actually realized what she was doing until Caleb and I started to clap for her and then she fell to the ground and then started clapping and then sqealed with delight! She took about 5 steps in a row and of course Dan wasn't home when she did it and she wouldn't do it for him when he got home! That little stinker! I will see about getting her on video soon. She still crawls most of the time, I guess it is still just easier for her.

Deer in our backyard

I looked out my back window the other day and there was a Doe and her babies standing grazing in the sun. So cool! This picture is bad but I had to be quick (I was doing three different things at the same time as I took the picture!)

We Give Thanks

This was today's craft project. I think he did a great job and it kept him busy for over an hour!

My Newest Paintings

Just thought I would share...if you are at all interested in my other work check out peek-a-boo images. (You may have to click on the image in order for you to see it well)

"The Holy Spirit Came as Jesus Promised"

This is what Caleb learned from church today. He REALLY enjoys going!

Halloween!

Caleb the Razorback Basketball Coach and Ariel the Razorback Cheerleader!

I stole this picture from Mandy...Ainsley looking at Ariel's shoes and Ariel looking at Ainsley's hat! I think these two girls reallly like each other!

Caleb calling the HOGS!!

TRICK-OR-TREAT!

We had a great Halloween this year. Caleb really looked forward to going trick-or-treating! We took the kids to Clint and Mandy Bean's house to meet up with Caleb's friends there. We were actually going to go to a Trunk-or-Treat carnival at a local church here but Caleb really wanted to see his friends instead of going with just Mommy, Daddy and Ariel to a place where he had never been before. We had a great time! We went to Sienna Estates in Centerton but we made a pit stop first to see some friends! The first house we went to was actually Seth and Kelsy Vannaman's house and when Caleb and Will said Trick-or-Treat, Seth just told them to come in. So, Caleb and Will both thought that when you say Trick-or-Treat that you were supposed to go into someone's house. It took a few houses to get the hang of it!

My kids!