The Lassley's

Visitors

2011-08-03T20:18:00.001-07:00

We have had quite a week here in Texas. My Aunt Susan and cousin Larissa came to visit us. I grew up very close their family, although we live many miles apart. I was thrilled that they were able to come and meet the newest addition to the family. Is it too hard to believe that they are in love?? And Gary has a new friend in Larissa. He was her shadow the whole time she was here. He got up this morning and I had to show him on the map where they live. Based on the scale of the map, he seems to think that it is not that far. :-) We cannot wait to have them again!

3 Months

2011-08-03T18:53:00.001-07:00

Gillian is 3 months old. I cannot believe how fast the time has flown!! Here are a few things from growing girl:

She decided to start rolling over. We knew that she was getting close, but one day she just did it. Totally surprised Ross and I!
Her hair is finally growing back in. By her first month she had lost most of the top. It is now starting to fill in.
She is really starting to like sitting up. She is using her Bumbo and her excersaucer a lot.
She is starting to make lots of spit bubbles. This is one of those things that as they get older it gets less cute, but right now it is adorable!
She is talking to us all the time. Ross and I think that she thinks she is telling us things, but it is in her own language.

Starting Monday, Gillian will be going to school with Gary. I know this is going to be a rough day for Mommy. :-(

Gary Update

2011-07-21T14:19:00.001-07:00

Talk about a proud big brother. Of course that is not all I have to brag about with Gary:
-We have realized that although he looks a lot like Ross, he is my son. He is a big talker. He will literally talk your ear off if you let him.
-Right now he is in OKC visiting with grandparents. This is the longest he will be there without us and it is taking its toll on me. (Of course, he is loving it!)
-He will be started a preschool program that is more like Kindergarten then daycare. We are all looking forward to this.
-He is already got about 50 sight words under his belt and can do simple addition problems in his head. (This is Ross's doing.)
-Cars are back to being the big things after seeing Cars 2. Thank goodness I kept all of them.
-He now has duties around the house. The big one is feeding and watering the dogs. He gets a kick out of doing this in front of other people because he know it is a big boy thing.

Gary is such a great kid, and I cannot believe he will be turning 5 in December!!

Gillian Update

2011-07-21T14:09:00.001-07:00

As you can see, Gillian is getting to be a very big girl. Here are somethings that are going on with her:

-We have had two nights in a row of over 8 hours of sleep. We are hoping this is a trend that continues... especially with school starting soon.

-She has become a very big talker. She loves to coo and try out new sounds.

- Her tongue has become her favorite toy. If you stick out your tongue, she will too! Then she giggles.

-She is now laughing, or at least giggling. Gary had a full belly laugh, but Gillian has a very girlish giggle. So cute!!!

- She can stand. She is very wobbly, but she loves to get up and try her legs out.

-We are starting to see signs she is about to roll over. She DOES NOT like to be on her belly so I see this happening in the very near future.

Miss Gilly will be 3 months old in a little over a week and we cannot believe she is already there!!

Two Months!

2011-07-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

It seems no matter what I try, this little girl does not slow down. She is growing at an alarming rate and we are enjoying it so much. She is becoming such a social girl. Her favorite thing to do "talk" with us. She is cooing but even more that that she is mimicking us.
Here are some other highlights:

She is weighing 12 lbs 2 oz, which puts her in the 75th percentile. She is 23 3/4 inches long, which puts her in the 90th percentile. I think we are going to have a tall one.
She is sleeping 6-7 hours at night which is really helping mom get some sleep.
She is starting to roll over from her back to her stomach...already. This is a big surprise to us since Gary did not do that until 3 months old.
She is loving her baths! If she is fussy at night, this is a sure fire way to calm her down.
She is talking all the time, as well as smiling.

Now Gary is having a great summer. He is missing school right now, but enjoying his time with mommy and daddy. Here are some highlights about him:

He is 45 inches tall. My four year old is almost four feet tall! This is crazy to me.
He is reading more and more. Ross and Gary work everyday on adding more sight words to his list.
Math is going to be one of Gary's favorite subjects. He loves to add and gets a kick out of asking Ross and I addition problems.
Gary and I went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago. This is such a fun age to take him to the zoo. He loves watching the animals. He got a kick out of the crocodiles.

Summer is Here!

2011-06-13T13:30:00.001-07:00

I cannot believe how hot it is here in central Texas. This type of weather is usually what we see in August, not June. Little scared about what August is going to feel like. ;-) Life here is just a step under crazy. With it being summer and having an infant and 4 year old, Ross and I are constantly on the move. Gary is getting a lot of water time, per the picture up above. His Nana and Papa got him a Slip 'n' Slide and he is getting good use out of it. Ross and Gary got to go to a Rangers game last week, and I think we have a fan. Of course, the Rangers had to lose, but Gary did not care about that. This weekend they are going to the air show here in Denton. They are going to love it.

Ms. Gillian is just getting bigger before our eyes. She is officially six weeks old and I cannot believe the way time is flying. She is smiling at us all the time now and she has the cutest smile. Having the quicker camera has really been fun because we get great pics. She loves her big brother and I think they are going to be fast friends in the future...that is until she can grab his toys!!

One Month

2011-06-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that one month has gone by since this beautiful baby girl came into the world. If these early months continue to go by this fast, I better quit blinking! She is now 10 lbs 2 oz, and 20 inches long. She has already started smiling at us, but it is not all the time yet. She recognizes our voices and loves to listen to her big brother.

Life in the Lassley household is final starting to settle down. Ross and Gary finished school today, and summer has officially started. This will be the first summer in awhile that I will not be doing school work, which is very exciting to me. We will be getting to know the DFW area with many field trips...and lots of swimming!!

Ms. Gillian Ann Lassley

2011-05-13T13:24:00.001-07:00

On Monday, May 2nd, our family of three became a family of four. Ms. Gillian came into this world at 9:45 AM, weighing 7 lbs, 5 oz. She is 20 inches in length. And she is perfect. After almost two weeks, she is eating 4 oz at each feeding. I feel like this is a lot, but my parents say that I was the same way.

Gary is in love with her. He loves to kiss her forehead and love on her. I know that there will be some jealously issues later on, but right now she is his favorite person.

We are so blessed!

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

Easter 2011 was amazing. To start off the weekend, Gary had a Blastball game. Nana, Granny, Oma, and Opa all came down to see it. Gary is loving it so much. He is going to be our baseball player for sure. Afterwards we were able to all hang out and watch movies. For dinner, Ross charcoaled burgers and hot dogs. Yummy! And just in time...we had a major storm move through about 7:30. But that did not stop us from dying Easter eggs. This is the first year that Gary was really able to get into it and he loved mixing the colors!

Then Sunday.... although we all really wanted to go to church, it is hard for me to sit in a church pew for any length of time, so we decided to not try. We did sit down and talk with Gary about why we celebrate Easter...and his response was, "because Jesus is alive again." It is amazing how much faith he has. I wish we all were able to keep our childlike faith. It is so pure! Anyway, Papa, Uncle Heath, and Aunt Brenden all made their way to our house for Easter lunch. We were also joined by some very dear friends, the Jacksons. We had an amazing dinner, cooked by many hands, and some very yummy deserts.

Of course, then came the Easter egg hunt. Mayson and Gary had a blast. I think my favorite part was them realized that the real eggs did not have anything in them. So every time they found the real egg, they would toss it to the side and try and find the plastic eggs. TOO FUNNY!

With storms last night, that pretty much capped off our last Easter as a family of three. I cannot believe that Gillian will be here in less than week. Words cannot tell you how excited we all are to see her. The whole family is coming in again on Sunday night to be here on Monday when she is born.

Let the countdown begin...

Picnics and Rockets, Oh My!

2011-04-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

What a weekend we have had....okay more like what a Saturday! First, we had all of our neighbors over for a BBQ. We have such great neighbors. There was lots of foods, laughs, and KIDS! We were so excited to have so many people in our huge backyard. Gary's play ground was over run with kids, which is exactly why we bought it.

Then Ross and Gary went and built a rocket and we all went and shot it off. I got some great pictures. I think Ross had as much fun as Gary. Their faces were priceless. I think we have ourselves a new obsession.

Even through more contractions, Ms. Gillian is staying in my belly so far. She seems to becoming more active the closer we get to her due date. 14 days and counting!!!!

Bluebonnets

2011-04-08T17:12:00.001-07:00

Wow! I have to admit that I am impressed with myself. I have gotten on here twice in two weeks. That is progress! :-)

We have had a busy week here in the Lassley household. Both Ross and I were very busy at work. Then yesterday we had a baby shower at our work. The people we work with are so amazing and Gillian is one lucky little girl. Gary was also presented with a remote control car given to us by my wonderful aide.

After work, we were driving home and I started feeling funny. My back started really bothering me, and by the time we got home I was having contractions. They lasted about an hour and really did not go anywhere. After laying down and drinking lots of water, everything settled down. BUT TALK ABOUT A SCARE! I am 36 weeks along tomorrow, so we are getting close to being in the clear, but Ross and I are not quite ready. :-)

Today I have been feeling much better. We were able to make it through the day with no contractions and we even made it to the bluebonnets! We have been saying we are going to do this for three years now and we FINALLY did it.

So glad this little family took time to smell the flowers! :-)

It has been awhile!!

2011-04-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

It has been almost two years since I have had a chance to write on here. Life changes in a blink of an eye, and it seems like we have been blinking a lot around here. Here are the new things going on with us:

-I am no longer a teacher. After a year and a half of going to school, I have my MLS degree. I was able to stay at my school and step into the shoes of the librarian. It has been such a blessing!

-Gary is growing like crazy. He is almost 4 1/2 and is such the little man. He is playing t-ball and LOVING it!

- And in less than a month, Miss Gillian Ann will be joining the craziness of our household.

One of my goals is to start getting on here at least once a week and

updating my vast audience. Okay, in all honesty, I just want to make sure that as our lives change, we have something written down to keep account of everything. :-)

Five Years

2009-08-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

What a busy summer this has been. Between summer school, vacation, and taking care of Gary, it has flown by. Can you believe that we are already going back to school? Okay, kids do not come for 3 weeks, but I need to get organized if I am going to teach school and work on my master's.

Ross and I had so much fun in DC and NYC. We saw so much, did so much, WALKED so much, and were just together. This was the first time that we had left Gary for longer than a night. I think it was harder on me than it was Gary. Every time I talked with Gary on the phone he said hi and bye and then continued playing. He had a blast with his Oma and Opa, and Nana and Papa.

So our trip consisted of:

DC- We went to all the monuments and some of the museums. We also took a tour of Arlington Cemetery which was very moving. Since we were staying with Ross's brother, Brandon, we took a night at a hotel in DC. We went to Morton's Steakhouse and filled ourselves with some of the best New York Strips ever!

Harper's Ferry- When Ross and I went on our honeymoon, we went whitewater rafting which was awesome. So we found a place in West Virginia that did rafting. Ross, Brandon, Colby, Colby's two roommates, and I went together. Although the rafting left much to be desired, it was a beautiful part of the country that Ross and I plan on visiting again.

NYC- Talk about a big city. This place took my breath away. When we got in, we went to Times Square and watched Transformers. What an experience! Then walking back to our hotel at 1:30 in the morning...hmm not so smart. The next day we just walked... a lot. We went to the Empire State Building, which was cool, then just walked around taking in the sights. Ross and I then took a walk to a place called Serendipity 3. It is this really cool hole in the wall restaurant that I had seen in a movie. Wonderful frozen hot chocolate. Then we took a carriage ride through Central Park. It was so romantic.

We then came back to OKC and spent the Fourth there. It was so much fun!!

Fun in the Sun

2009-06-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

So we are about 3 weeks into summer, and boy have we been busy. Scratch that....I have been busy. Between things at school (no, teachers do not actually get off for the whole summer), graduate school classes, and Gary, it has been busy. Ross and Gary have had a lot of male bonding time and it shows with Gary thinking that Mommy is also a wrestler.

One thing that has changed is that Gary is talking so much. He is becoming clearer and clearer. He has also become very polite. He says please and thank you for everything, which I know I better treasure while I can. :-)

Grad. school is very overwhelming. If it wasn't for Ross helping take care of Gary, I don't know what I would do. If you would like to see what I have been working on, try http://youngadultliterature101.blogspot.com. That is just one of the many projects I have up in the air.

Ross and I will leave on Wednesday for our five year anniversary trip. We are going to D.C. and NYC and are so looking forward to it. We will post picture when we get back!

Summer is Here!

2009-06-07T19:10:00.001-07:00

We are finally our for summer. It has been such a crazy two months. Between trying to get completely enrolled in college, finish up teaching for the year, and keeping up with Gary, Ross and I need a vacation. But we did survive, and we are looking forward to a "relaxing" summer. Between my graduate courses, Ross's coaching clinics, and Gary's playdates, we are in for one busy summer. Ross and I are also going to be celebrating our 5 year anniversary. We decided to do it up right and go to D.C. and then NYC. Gary will be staying with his Grandma and Grandpa and then his Nana and Pa while we are gone. I am sure they are going to spoil him just right. :-) I am hoping to get better about posting on here over the summer, but I cannot make any promises!

April 2009

2009-04-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

What a busy month it has been. Between schools, Easter, Thomas, and family visits, sitting down has not been an option. Starting with the first weekend, Gary and I and some friends went to see Thomas. It was freezing but we toughed it out. There was a huge model train, a blacksmith, and a ton of train tables. Then to top it all off we got to ride Thomas, which the boys got a kick out of.

Then this past weekend, my parents came down for Easter along with my grandma and brother. On Saturday, my mom and grandmother came down with kites in tow. Gary had a blast. He did not get the hang of it for awhile and his attention was short, but it was fun while it lasted.

Then on Sunday we woke up to rain pouring down. So a little of manipulating got the Easter Egg put indoors for the second year in a row. But with all of my family here we had a blast. Lots of food and watching Gary look for Easter Eggs made a perfect day.

Now if I can get my flowers planted tomorrow and brick off some of our backyard.

Spring Update

2009-03-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

As we move into Spring, a lot has been going on in the Lassley household. For starters, I applied to graduate school. Ross and I have been talking and after lots of thoughts and prayers on the topic we decided that it would be best for our family. I have been thinking about being a librarian for years now, but timing never seemed right. And with Ross's coaching taking up so much time, I knew that this was the way to go.

And then Ross and I decided to get a new car. The Element was getting to small and we got a good deal and we love it.

Spring Break was a lot of fun. Gary and I went to Houston for a wedding. We got to see a lot of family. Then we went to Oklahoma for the rest of the break. One of the great things we got to do was go to the zoo. I have posted some of the pics. Gary is so much fun with animal sounds. Enjoy the pics!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Christmas! Between all the family time in OKC, then coming back to Krum for our first Santa visit in our house, we were so blessed.

On Saturday, 21st, we started for Oklahoma not too full, but with a very cold wind. Brandon and Angela, Ross's brother and his wife, were coming in from D.C. and we were very excited to see them. We stayed with the Lassley's for Saturday and Sunday and had a lot of food and good family time. Ross 's grandmother and her husband came in from Askansas baring many yummy homemade goodies. And then the much anticipated Risk game was finally played. Ross, Brandon, Colby, Gary, Heath (my brother), and Cole (Colby's friend) all sat there for 3 hours trying to take over each other's territory. This is boy's game, through and through. At one point, the yelling got so loud that I had to go intervene.

On Sunday, we also went to my Ma's house and had Christmas with her and my aunt and uncle from here in Dallas. Ma always supplies the yummy food, and this was no exception. Then we played a few Christmas games supplied by my mom.... she needs to work on her French accent, and just visited.

Then on Monday we transported ourselves over to my parents house were Gary decided that the Christmas tree was his domain. He loved to mess with everything, then go chase the cats. It is good that we don't have any cats at our house because I am sure that they would be terrified of our so-exited-I-am-going-to-hop-around-and-scream child. We got to spend time with my parents and Heath and his girlfriend. Then we went over to my other grandmother's and got to see my dad's side of the family. This is were Gary got his stick horse to finish off his cowboy themed year.

Then on Tuesday, we had a chance to sit around before we went and took pictures with the Lassley's. This was what Ross's mom had wanted for awhile. Then we went back to my parents house for spagetti and meatballs and a game on Monopoly.

On Christmas Eve, we opened presents with both families before heading home to try and beat Santa Claus there. Gary was so excited to come down the stairs and see his new train table.

Gary was going a little stir crazy, but it was freezing in OKC.

My mom trying to keep him away from the tree!

Helping Papa pass out presents.

The Risk game!

A few early presents at the Lassleys

Helping Nana passout presents to Great-Granny.

Sitting with Grandma and Grandpa

Gary and his train table!

Christmas Cookies

2009-01-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

Every year in the Lassley household, there is a cookie frenzy going on. Passed down from generation to generation, there is a special sugar recipe that beats them all. The first time that I spent a Christmas with them, I was put to work making the dough, then sprinkling.

Well, for the first time Ross and I made our own cookies. This is such a progress that Ross had actually filmed it one year to make sure we did it right. Overall, I think Ross and I did pretty well. We ended up make 4 batches over the course of the holidays. We did pass the "Gary" test which made us very proud.

One of the many cookies we made!

Gary's Birthday

2009-01-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

Gary in his new wagon

Gary opening up his presents.

This year he knows how to blow out his candles.

The birthday table!

As much as Ross and I cannot believe it, our little boy is 2 years old. Gary has gotten so big. He is talking a lot more, and with that comes the arguing. My dad keeps telling me that I deserve all the arguing I get.

Some of his favorite things are trains, trains, Cars (Disney version), and playing outside. It has been nice enough recently to take him out in the wagon that his Grandma and Grandpa got for him.

Gary's birthday party was focused on Thomas the Tank Engine! We had family and some friends come over to help us celebrate.

Christmas Time

2008-12-08T18:16:00.001-08:00

I cannot believe how far we are into December already. What a year it has been! With Gary turning 2 in a couple of days... Christmas coming up... and I am going to be turning...(gulp)...28 soon, I am just wondering where time goes.

We got to put up our first Christmas tree in our house, and actually have stockings on the fireplace. My wonderful friend, Rebecca, got us new stockings knowing what we were planning on doing. They really complete the whole look.

Gary has been doing so well since he got out of the hospital. He loves the Christmas tree and cannot go and hide behind it so that he can look at it with out Mommy telling him to be careful. With him turning two, and in a big boy bed, I just keep thinking that if I blink he will be driving. He is so sweet and so much fun. He is constantly talking and loves to yell Mama and Dada to make sure we are still around.

We also made our first official batch of Lassley Christmas cookies. They turned out pretty good...but a few more years of practice should get them right.

Now if only Gary's party goes smoothly on Sunday!

New Camera

2008-11-26T13:27:00.000-08:00

So for Christmas, I was dying to get a new camera. I wanted a digital SLR that took studio quality pics. After Gary's stay in the hospital, I thought this dream was done...but then by wonderful husband told me just to get it. That I deserved it. Well, who is going to argue with that. So I got it in today, and have been playing with it all day. Here are just a few of the pictures that I have been taking. I love this camera!!!

I am thankful for.....

2008-11-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

Let's just start off by saying I am very thankful that November is almost over. After everything that happened in the past week, I am done with this month.

Okay, I got that off my chest. Let's start with last weekend, or 2 weekends ago. I was so excited to be finally painting our bedroom. I have despised white walls because of living in apartments for so long. Now that we are in our house, I have been dying to paint everything. So Ross and I finally decided on a color. It is called "Ship's Harbor". With having such a big bedroom, and I mean huge, I new that we could go with a pretty bright color and not be overwhelmed by it. With the ceilings staying the white color, it really works out well. We knew that the color of the paint in the can and the color of the paint when dried on the wall are different. Saying that we are very happy with the color. Our bedroom still has a ways to go, but I am happy with the results of the paint.

During that weekend, Gary had started having signs of having a cold. No fever, just runny nose and congested, maybe a little bit of coughing, but nothing bad. We took him to school on Monday, and by Monday afternoon, he was very sick. He could not breath through his nose, he had pink eye, and he had a fever. I got him right in to the doctor, and she said he had asthma, sinus infection, and pink eye. Now on the asthma side of things, I didn't and still don't agree. Asthma does not cause fevers or pink eye. It does cause wheezing, but so does a few other things. Gary has never had trouble breathing and therefore I was not agreeing with the doctor on this point. But, being an asthmatic myself, when she prescribing breathing treatments, I was okay with it because it opens up the airway.

So Tuesday, Ross stayed home with him and he seemed like he was getting better. Then the fever came back and with it the breathing problems. So I took him back to the doctor on Wednesday and she told me that he was not getting enough oxygen and he would need to be put in the hospital. Now for all the mothers out there, this is one of the worst possible moments in your life. When you are told that your child is sick enough to be put in the hospital. I completely lost it, as you can imagine. But I knew it was the right thing to do. He was a very sick kid. So we got him admitted. And let me tell you, Denton Presbiterian is a wonderful hospital. Once the front saw how sick he was, I was pushed through and within 5 minutes of arriving, he was in a room. When the took his oxygen level, it was at a 88%, which for those of you who don't know normal is a 95-96% when awake. When he would fall asleep, it would drop to like 83%, which is really bad.

I think the worst part for me was seeing him get his IV put in and then later on, taken out. Gary just kept on yelling my name and it was heartwrenching to see that look in his eyes. So after 4 days of antibiotics, steroids, breathing treatments, and CPT (pounding on the lung area to break up mucus) we were released. Gary is so happy to be home with his toys and in his own bed. Although did love to "ride" the hospital bed and play with the buttons. I think the nurses just started ignoring the call button because he called it so much. :-)

So I am thankful for.... my husband because even with him being sick (broncitus) he would never fail to bring up food and even though I know it killed him, for him going home so that Gary didn't pick up what he had...for my mom, for staying up at the hospital with me through everything... for the nurses at the hospital because I know I was an annoying mom, but they never made me feel that way and were always willing to talk with me about anything...for Gary because he has completely changed who I am and how I think, and even though he was in the hospital that smile just kept on coming... and I am thankful to the Lord because it was his stength that helped all of us get through this last week and it was him who got Gary back home.

Below are some of the pictures from the hospital. With all the toys we kept on buying him, and was funny to see all of them sleep in his bed with him. We hope that everyone has a wonderful

Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween and Open House!

2008-11-02T16:29:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a weekend! Between the trick or treaters and everyone coming for our open house, we had a busy couple of days.

Let's start with Halloween. My mom came down to help us get ready for the open house so she got to join in the festivities. Ross started carving the pumpkin and I got Gary "roaring" to go. He was a lion this year, and he was so cute. He can roar so he was doing that all night. We decided for our first Halloween in our house, that Gary would help us pass out candy. With it being such a pretty night, we just all sat outside to pass out candy. What a blast! Gary only got scared by one costume and the kid was nice enough to take off the mask. He was showing off for everyone by doing some somersaults. What a great night!
Then on Saturday we invited everyone over to our new house for a house warming party. I have been waiting to do this for a long time and I finally felt like the house was ready to invite a big group of people over. So many of our new friends from our school got to come. We had so much fun. My family was able to come down from Oklahoma and we even had some friends come in from Houston. There was lots of talking, food, and football. And Gary fell in love with the daughter of one of my coworkers. It was so cute watching him show off for her. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. I finally feel like I am apart of this area.

Then today my mom and I went to get Gary his first set of cowboy boots. There is this great store over by our house that is pure cowboy. It was so much fun buying Gary his first set of Justin boots and Wrangler jeans. We even found him a cowboy shirt. Below are the results of our little shopping spree. Gary will also wear this for his 2 year old pictures in a couple of weeks.

YeeHaw!!!

Improvements

2008-10-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

Even though we moved in to a brand new house, there are many improvements that I would like to do. And even though I wish I could do them all at once, there is something called money that stops me. So I have given myself an allotment each paycheck to improve upon the house. This weekend I am going to paint the coffee tables that were given to us by Ross's grandmother. Actually, she gave us a lot of furniture. I love the shape of these tables, but I am not crazy about the pine color. They really don't match anything.

Also on my list to do is painting Ross and I bedroom, getting more artwork, and decorating Ross and I's bedroom. That is stuff that I hope to do before the end of the year.

First Blog

2008-10-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

I tried to keep up Gary's website, but it just didn't work for me. As much as I love talking about Gary, I also would love to keep everyone up to date with everyone else in our family.

Gary is getting so big. He is 22 months old, going on 2. Ross and I have trouble keeping up with him sometimes. He is an outdoor boy, through and through. If you let him stay out all day, he would love you forever. He is talking up a storm. Some of it we understand and some of it we don't. He has also gotten very independent. No more carrying him places. He would rather walk, or more preferablly, run. He is loving the fact that he has his own backyard to run around in. We really don't know who loves it more, the dogs or Gary. :-)

Ross and I are so thankfully that we moved and built our house when we did. Who knows that would have happened if we had waited one more year. With the economy the way it is, a lot of things could have been different. We are so blessed to have the jobs we have and the house we have . Ross is loving coaching. Being in the same school has really been great. I love my coworkers and my students.