My Dream Come True

A few Saturdays ago, the Pioneer Woman's (Ree) holiday special came on. I happened to be feeding little K at the same time. Since this is the only time I have to watch television, I immediately tuned in. Much to my surprise, so did my son! We watched the remaining of the show, live and together. Something that has never been done before!!

My son loving the Pioneer Woman's show is a big deal to me because:

A. I'm in love Ree

B. I read her blog every day

C. I own her books

D. She is my go-to woman for all of my recipes

E. I think of her as my best friend because I feel like I literally know everything about her

F. So much so that, when I went through my final Christmas card list making sure I didn't forget someone, I went, "Whoops I forgot The Drummond family." Yeah I'm a nerd.. That might of or might not of sent the card....

 

So Long

Wow I feel like I should re-introduce myself! Our names are Trevor and Tawny. We have 2 kids, a crazy life (especially during the holidays) and are in the process of adopting! ;-)

Last week we had a big snow storm/blizzard.

I made me a delicious, big cup of decaf coffee and sat down at the computer while kids were napping to write a blog post. The Internet was down. I called Internet company and they had a network outage due to the storm. They obviously had a hard time fixing it because they Internet has been down for 8 days now. When I checked it this morning, much to my surprise, it was working! Hallelujah!

I prayed for you during Christmas. I prayed that you experienced the Joy of the Lord in each of your households. I pray the time spent with family was a time filled with happiness and peace. I prayed that Jesus was celebrated because that's what the season is truly all about!

We had such a great time at each family's house! Thursday we took off and drove to my parent's in Lubbock. We ate at Outback. Which is a big deal. We talked while there about how it was a huge thing to go to Outback growing up, and even now! It was probably only my third or fourth time to go :-) Needless to say, we enjoyed every bit of our bloomin onion and steak! We then went and looked at Christmas lights and decorated cookies. Mom thought this would be a great tradition to start. As you can see in the picture she was no where to be found ;-)

 We did actually enjoy decorating and seeing every one's creative side!

The following are just some pictures of the day!

 My dad dancing with little K. Such a sweet time!

 Little Curly Sue!

Big brother was very anxious and so willing to help sister open her presents!

We left my parent's on Christmas Eve and ended up at Trevor's mom's house by that night. We love going up there because it's 30 miles from any civilization. It's always so relaxing and such a house filled with love! We opened presents Christmas morning and went sledding. This was Big K's first time and oh how much fun he had (we had a blast too)!

Kohen this is what you have to look forward to next Christmas. I know Big brother will be more than willing to show you how to do it!!

We finished up our Christmas last night at his dad's house in Boise City. Keldon got his John Deere bike and immediately took it for a test drive! Since the Allen cousin Christmas in Amarillo had to be cancelled, we had 100 lotto tickets to scratch (it's a tradition at that Christmas to get tickets from New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas)! About $40 was won!

Since we chose to not to do Christmas presents this year it was definitely less stressful and more relaxing!

Super exciting to know that by this time next year there will be one more in that picture with us!! Kohen baby, it's going to be a GREAT Christmas with you...

More Than Enough

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." Ephesians 3:20 

Last Monday morning I checked off the final step of our dossier to-do list: Contact Tonya before sending the dossier. Later that morning I received a reply back reminding me to put with our dossier, a $4500 check for the first part of our foreign fees. I read it in disbelief. I knew we had $11,000 in foreign fees coming up but I wasn't expecting it now or in such a large chunk. I called Trevor crying, wondering where in the world we were going to get that kind of money from. As of last Monday morning, we had only sold $110 worth of raffle tickets. I began to fill out paperwork to try and get the interest free adoption loan. A great friend of mine happened to call, not realizing she was going to have to do counseling and give a huge pep talk (if it wasn't for the fact that I knew, knew, knew in my knowings that we were called to adopt, I would have given up that day). She sweetly reminded me that the e-mail was no surprise to God. He's known all along. He's called us to adopt, He wasn't going to keep the tools away from us to accomplish His will. She began praising Him with me in advance for what He was going to do! My attitude changed. The kids and I put praise music on and we began thanking Him for the money.

I was very hesitant on doing the raffle fundraiser. I can't even ask my parents for $5.00, much less friends and family or better yet, strangers. But that was part of God's plan. That was a way He was going to get the funds to us that we needed to complete the next step of the adoption process. Starting Tuesday morning, raffle sales went crazy. It seemed as if anywhere I went I was getting money. I made three trips to the bank last week! As of Saturday afternoon, when the raffle came to an end, we were lacking $400 to send in our dossier. Sunday morning at church, we received a $500 check. God not only supplied the $4500 we needed, but He gave us an abundance.  I've gotten on my hands and knees and jumped around praising Him and thanking Him for accomplishing infinitely more than we could ask!

If you gave or prayed for this raffle, thank you for being a part of His plan. Long before this, He chose you to help bring our +1 home. We truly could not have done it without your obedience to His call! We appreciate and love you...

All glory and honor belong to Him!

Our Cup Runneth Over

The raffle fundraiser has come to an end. We are beyond amazed at the support we received. We had many people sell tickets and post on Facebook, many many people donate and buy tickets and many encouraging words spoken.

This morning I received my daily e-mail from a sweet lady in our church who sends out encouraging mass e-mails. God gave her the words this morning that summed up our raffle fundraiser.

2 CORINTHIANS 9:6-15

     "Remember this:  Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion,  for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: 'He has scattered abroad His gifts to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.' Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food  will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ,  and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift."

Thank you so much for your generosity that each of you gave. You supplied the needs of God's people. You supplied the needs for His orphans. You will reap generously and abound in every good work! Words cannot even describe how thankful we are for each of you!

To the exciting news!!

We sold

 TICKETS

TO

 PEOPLE

THAT LIVE IN

 DIFFERENT CITIES

AND RAISED AN ASTOUNDING

ARE YOU READY FOR THIS

DOLLARS!!!!

Because of your generosity, we doubled our goal. This brings us one huge step closer to bringing our +1 home to Texas!!!

Raffle Drawing Details:

1. I was sick to my stomach

2. My friend told me I needed Prozac because I was stressing out about this

3. I wanted everyone to win

4. I wanted everyone to win

5. A sweet lady who didn't know us, or purchased a ticket, named Sandy, drew all of the names

6. We used the adorable purse being auctioned to draw names out of for good luck

7. Speaking of good luck. You need to become friends with Heidi Kinnamon. We drew first for 3rd place. Heidi's name was drawn. We drew for 2nd place and Heidi's name was drawn. She only purchased 4 tickets! 2 out of the 169 tickets were drawn for Heidi! We put her 2nd name back in and drew another. Lupe Smithermann from Lubbock won so we gave her the cookies and Matilda Jane outfit since they were in Lubbock and gave Heidi the photo session since she lives in Dalhart! It worked out great!

8. The grand prize went to Deb Twyman from Boise City. It was really neat to see that there was a winner in every city that sold the most tickets!

9. Know I prayed and prayed over this raffle. I know it sounds silly but I prayed that God would have complete control over it. I know those who won, won for a reason!!

169 tickets in the beautiful bag!

Sweet Sandy drawing the first name!

I close this post out by once again saying how incredibly thankful we are for everyone doing their part in helping bring our +1 home. We know times are hard right now. We know Christmas is right around the corner. But most of all we know that this money is going to be used to accomplish something that will truly change a life forever. Thank you and May God bless you and your family!!



Fundraiser Update

We have less than a week until the big raffle drawing! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Whoever wins is going to get some great prizes!

We have sold about 20 tickets. Our goal is 50 tickets. I know we can sell 30 tickets this last week. We are very aware that money is tight for the Christmas season. We completely understand. We challenge you to give up your Starbucks drink this week, or lunch out and donate that money! Just send a check by Wednesday so we can get it by Saturday in time for the drawing or pay with PayPal!! You don't want to miss out...

A pampered chef stone to go with the PC items already here was donated by MaryAnn Sanderson. 3 Scentsy bars was donated by Mandy Rysavy and 2 dozen Christmas Cookies were donated by Bella Creations!!!

Will you be part of the 30?? Can you help bring our little baby home?? We appreciate and love each and every one of you!!! Thanks for being a part of our journey...

Party In The Front...

While checking out at our local grocery store yesterday, one of the, obviously not busy, checkers came over to play with Little K's hair. She talked about how much she just loved the curls and oh that beautiful smile. She sat there playing with her and all of a sudden said, "You know, her hair is like a reversed mullet. Party in the front, business in the back." She got a chuckle out of it. That's great...I've always wanted a daughter who looked like Billy Ray!

Fundraiser Bonus

WOW!! The response from the fundraiser has been great. We have yet to sell any tickets but the hits we've received on the blog have been over 100 in 18 hours! This is why Trevor and I created the blog. To bring awareness to adoption and be support for others going through it!! But other awesome news.. 3 amazing ladies who read the blog asked if they could donate something for the raffle. Instead of making the grand prize even bigger, I've decided to do a 2nd and 3rd place prize.

2nd Place Prize:

A One-Hour Photography session, CD and print rights from Kara Piehl Photography

Kara took our photos for the blog. She is also our great neighbor!! Since she just had a sweet baby, this will be for Dalhart residents only!

3rd Place Prize:

 Any Matilda Jane outfit up to $50!

My friend Nikki (also MJ consultant) has told me about Matilda Jane forever. Her daughter wears MJ in all of their family pictures and looks adorable. Well since I had little K, I finally had a reason and excuse to shop it and love it! Nikki was so kind to donate a cute outfit! Check out the Matilda Jane website!

Just imagine these are 2 dozen holiday cookies donated by amazing baker Bella Cake Creations.

These were her Halloween cookies she made. But since I had to hurry and post this I didn't give her time to send me her holiday cookies :-) Amberly heard our story and immediately contacted me about donating! I truly appreciate her kindness and thoughtfulness. These will be shipped to your home!!

The grand prize is worth over $300 and both the 2nd and 3rd place prizes are well over $100!! You don't want to miss out on your chance to win as well as help bring our baby home :-)

We truly appreciate you...

Our Only Fundraiser (Or So I Think...)

About a month ago, Jessica from Sew Silly and I had an amazing conversation. Amazing because she, without hesitation, donated one of their fabulous purses for me to raffle off to raise money for our adoption! I was in complete shock. You all know how much I LOVE my purse (and know how much you envy it ;-)) so the fact that I had a chance to raffle one off made me super excited! And I would like to say congratulations to them. A few stores around Lubbock and San Angelo have begun selling their items and they are now in talks with a manufacturing company that will produce the purses they design. God has truly blessed them and I am so excited for them!!

We really were not planning on doing fundraisers because we know how much each of you are pulled in so many directionsat is truly amazing is that every time we've had to pay for this fee or that fee, the exact money has been in our adoption account. God is providing and we are completely trusting in Him. But when the Three Mama Birds so generously gave us the bag, I definitely jumped on board to raise a few extra dollars to get our +1 home!

Wellll...to make the raffle even more rad, some other VERY generous people decided to donate more incredible products! In one day, we had four precious women, so willingly, donate to help us out! I love you all dearly and am so thankful for your kindness.

So without further adieu, here are ALL of the products you will receive if you win the raffle (to be held on December 10 at 5:00pm)

 3-in-1 Facial Cleanser

 Age Fighting Moisturizer

Absolute best Ultimate Mascara

Eye Makeup Remover to get mascara off (P.S. this stuff works on EVERYTHING...stains, spills,etc)

Thank you mommy for donating my favorite Mary Kay products. Please visit her facebook page to order your next Mary Kay products!

This gorgeous handmade wreath from Hannah McPhearson. As I pulled out my Christmas stuff this morning I realized my wreath is missing! This is definitely on my to-order list! So beautiful

Mid-Size Scentsy Warmer

Thank you Hannah for donating. I have never met Hannah but know her sister. She heard our story and immediately contacted me wanting to help in some way. Not only did she give 1 item but she donated 2! Thank you, thank you Hannah! 

Pampered Chef jumbo BBQ spatula, Raspberry Habanero sauce and 2 Season Best Cookbooks

There is no surprise that Pampered Chef products are my favorite. I'm so thankful God gave me a best friend as a PC consultant!!! Thank you Rebecca for not only donating but for your continued love and support!

And the grand-prize that we have all been waiting for and so desperately want...

Completely custom and unique Three Mama Birds Purse

Inside fabric

Isn't it gorgeous?!? I may rig the drawing so I can have it. Is that greedy?!?! No..it's just plain wrong :-) I love love love my purse my hubby surprised me with and I have received at least 100 compliments! Thank you Three Mama Birds for the wonderful donation!

Tickets are $10.00 each or 4 for $30.00

If you sell tickets from your blog or facebook page, I will enter your name twice into the drawing (just let me know by emailing me a link of your post or have them to tell me you sent them).

To order you can pay through paypal on the right hand side of our blog (make sure to include your address so I can send your portion of the raffle ticket) or contact me at 06tt08kk@gmail.com and I'll give you my address to send a check. As soon as I receive it I will mail you your portion of the ticket.

PLEASE OH PLEASE spread the word. Our goal is to sell 50 tickets. That $500 will be used to pay half our dossier fees!! Congo has to have these documents in order to match us up with our +1!

Thank you so very much for your support. You have no idea how much we appreciate it!

Now get busy selling and buying the tickets. This is something you do not want to miss out on! Drawing will be held Saturday, December 10 at 5:00p.m. and I will of course document the action!!

Giving Thanks

Image Source

I should be having a VERY exciting post coming today or tomorrow so I wanted to make sure to get this posted.

Trevor, Big K, Little K, Our +1 and I would like to say how thankful we are for each and every one of you. Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, prayers, prayers, and donations. Thank you for keeping up with our crazy life by reading our blog. Thank you for caring! I really didn't think I would get emotional right now writing this but the tears are flowing. We are just truly amazed by the support we have received. I can't tell you how much easier it makes this journey!

God, thank You for putting people in our life who are truly concerned about taking care of Your orphans. Thank You for the words You give them to encourage us. They always seem to be just the right words on just the right day. Thank You for our +1. Thank You for taking care of him by giving him the nourishment, love and energy he needs until we come and get him. Thank You for the MANY blessings You have given us.

Please know that this is truly our prayer for each and every one of you! We love you dearly...

^"3 Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. ⁴ Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, ⁵ for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. ⁶ And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

 ⁷ So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. ⁸ God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.
 ⁹ I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. ¹⁰ For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. ¹¹ May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ^[a]—for this will bring much glory and praise to God." Phil. 1:3-11



Why Wednesday #2

Whew, I was afraid I was going to miss my deadline for Why Wednesday. It almost became Why Friday or Saturday!! Luckily Little K is sleeping and Big K is watching Calliou so I have about 10 minutes, give or take, to try and write this before we head out to Mimi's house :-)

Why International Adoption?

Many people have asked us why we decided to adopt overseas rather than here in the United States. They bring up the fact that there are thousands of kids in the U.S. who need homes just as much as those elsewhere.

We have prayed very hard about where God wanted us to adopt from. He gave us a vision (coming in another post on Why Wednesday) so we knew our child was in another country. But after putting the natural (research on the Internet) with the supernatural (prayer and the way God lined things up) we had our pros and cons list:

Pros:
-Usually goes much faster due to the number of children available and being ready in orphanages
-Most of the time, costs less due to not having to take care of birth mother's medical and living expenses
-Can specify gender of child
-Giving a child opportunities that they may never have
-Since we have children of our own, getting a child under the age of 2 is almost impossible in the U.S.
-We don't have to wait to be selected by a birth mom
-There aren't any chances of a birth mom backing out or fighting for custody 3-6-9 months down the road
-Showing a child God's love and impacting him for eternity. Unfortunately most countries are not Christians and therefore he/she may never hear the gospel
-We are doing our small part in "going into all the nations and preaching the good news." (Mark 16:15)
-Some countries, the statistics for child and baby deaths are 3 or 4 out of every 5 due to malnourishment and living conditions
-We will not only gain a child but also an entire culture

Cons:
-Most infants are at least 9 months to 1 year of age. Almost impossible to get an infant baby
-Lots and lots of paperwork that has to be authenticated by your state and United States then the country you're adopting from
-Have to deal with the other countries laws and court system and sometimes corruption
-Travel (can go either way depending on where you're going. Since we're going to Congo, it's a very dangerous place to travel, so no sight-seeing or witnessing or mission work for us).
-Obtaining visas, immigration fingerprints, etc.

Overall, FOR US, we felt as if the children who are in the United States waiting to be adopted will have opportunities. Our little +1 is just trying to make it to it's only meal of the day or wondering when it might get it nexts' bath of cold, dirty water. Our little +1 is just trying to beat the statistics and live past it's 5th birthday. Please know that in no way are we putting down domestic adoptions. If the opportunity ever arose for us to adopt domestically we would do it in a heartbeat. But for our family circumstances and what God has called US to do, we have peace about "not leaving our orphan but going to him."

Planting Trees Is Hard Work

A couple of weeks ago Trevor and Big K worked all morning preparing the two holes we were going to need to plant our new trees. It was precious to me watching my boys work really hard together. I appreciate Trevor for letting his little three-year-old son who can either A. get in the way or B. ask a million questions, work with him as if he was his right-hand man!

When I look at this picture it makes me think of our adoption and little Kohen. We are working so diligently preparing our home for him. My hand is now stronger than it ever was filling out thousands of papers. We are spending countless hours reading blogs and textbooks and binders on issues regarding adoption, especially transracial adoptions. Trevor (and Big K) both came in utterly exhausted from digging out the dirt for 5 hours! At this point, I am spent. I'm tired of all of the paperwork, the reading, the thinking, the praying, the wondering, the crying. But just like Trevor knew that he had to do all of the prep work in order to allow the beautiful tree to survive, I too know that this must all be done for our little +1 to have a loving home filled with the love of Jesus and oh how worth it it will be!!

Why Wednesday

Since we began this journey called adoption, we have been asked so many Why?!?! questions. People are curious and I think that's great! I'm used to my three-year-old asking a million why questions. It's the way he learns! To help your curiosity, we are starting "Why Wednesdays". Each Wednesday we will answer a question that people have asked. If you have a question, please comment or email (06tt08kk@gmail.com) us and we'll answer (maybe...)!!

Why Did We Decide To Adopt?

In April 2005, I served Trevor hamburgers at the TTU Equestrian center during the Ranch Horse Competition. From that moment on I was immediately smitten with "the boy in the cowboy hat". God knew it wasn't the right time to bring us together so it was a simple hi! When school resumed in August 2005, we saw each other at the store my mom ran in the Animal Science building and he said, "Hey aren't you that girl from the equestrian center?" All I could get out was, "Yeah!" I ran down to my mom's office, with my heart pounding, and said, "He said hi!!" Mom replied, "And who was that?" "The boy in the cowboy hat!!" My friend Colton knew I had a "crush" on Trevor so when they were selling Ranch Horse t-shirts he made an excuse for me to stop by and buy one on my way to class. Trevor and I ended up being officially introduced and for the next 30 minutes his friend Matt talked to me, not Trevor! It was time to leave "the boy who didn't seem interested in me" and head to class. As I walked away he yelled, "Hey wait, I'll go to class with you!" What?!? I was a Human Development and Family Studies major..There were like 2 boys in our class and about 90 girls! He insisted, so we finally talked while walking to class. Can you guess what the class was about that day? Yep, Sexual Reproduction. How's that for your "first" date?!? We didn't pay much attention. Instead we played the dot game and tic-tac-toe! That night he picked me up for church and a scoop of ice cream. After an hour of talking on his tailgate he ended the night with a, "If you ever want someone to take you for a scoop of ice cream just give me a call." I bet you thought I was going to say a kiss. Nope, he ended it with a "the next time I'm going to see you is if you want ice cream?!?!?!?" I immediately ran in and called my mom and told her I met the man I'm going to marry (so I better build up an appetitie for ice cream if I was going to have the chance to see him again ;-))! On Trevor's way home he called his mom and told her to pray because he thinks he found the woman he's going to marry. By that Friday we were in "love" and 2 months later engaged! 

The day we got engaged at his momma's work

Doesn't he look like just a babe?? He was..we were only 20!!

At our "tool" shower



Believe it or not, we both have always wanted to get married barefoot on the beach. We found, the best and cheapest way was to take a cruise that docked on the beach, get married and sail back home. Bad thing was, the only available time to get all of our family together for four days was the first of March. We set sail, to get married, exactly 5 months after meeting. Why have a long engagement? Too many temptations :-)  We skipped school on a Thursday and came back the next Tuesday MARRIED!! We wouldn't do a thing differently! Our families really got to bond and we got to have 4 days of fun with 20 of our closest friends and family. The only downside, joining the family for breakfast the morning after the wedding...

We love and miss you Uncle Jimmy. Thanks for being a huge part of our special day!

What was this post suppose to be about?! Oh yeah, why we decided to adopt?? In the summer of 2001, Trevor was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. He received chemotherapy treatments for three years and entered remission in September 2004 (by the way, he isn't in remission, he was completely healed by our amazing Jehovah- Rapha.. Thank you Jesus!!)

After we got engaged, I visited the doctors who had worked with Trevor for so many years. I was given news that could have ruined me. The doctor asked, "Are yall wanting to have kids?" Of course we were. I was made to be a mom! And my mom says the only reason she had kids was to be a grandma!! The doctors just simply said, "Because of the chemo Trevor received, you will have a much harder time to conceive." On the drive back to Lubbock from Amarillo I asked Trevor what he thought of adopting. He replied without hesitation, "Of course. God adopted us, why wouldn't we do the same?"

A week after starting my first teaching job, I found out I was pregnant. On May 1, 2008 Keldon Charles, our amazing blessing from God was born. And not only did God bless us once, but on March 11, 2011 our princess, Karsyn Louise was born! What a joy they have been in our lives. We never fully understood the love God has for us, nor can look at it the same, until we had them both.

With the joy of having biological kids, the thought of adoption can fade.  After praying and seeking God, we realized our family was not complete yet because God still had another child for us... in Congo! He may not look like us, but love knows no boundaries. Yes it's a scary thought and the unknown drives us crazy, but we're completely trusting God. It's easy to say you trust God until you get in a situation that requires crazy faith! Through adoption, our +1 will have a loving home and family.  Most importantly, we will be able to raise him up to love God and change the world for Him!

Lubbock Trip

Raise your hand if you know when I went to Lubbock last. Ok, you that raised your hand. Let's keep it a secret when I went and let's pretend it was just yesterday! Sorry for just now getting the Lubbock trip posted. This last week was one of the busiest weeks I've had so therefore the fun, extra post just had to wait! And sorry for the poor picture quality. Trev keeps saying since I'm an official "blogger" now, I need to get an official camera that actually takes quality pictures ;-)

A couple of weeks ago the kids and I went to Lubbock for the week. I had a women's conference in Amarillo (which was outstanding) so my folks met me there to get my kids and watch them for the night. I then drove down there and stayed a few days since Trevor was on a business trip in Austin! We of course had a great time!

One of Trevor's very best friends opened a pumpkin patch right in the middle of town so went there to pick pumpkins. Little did we know he created an entire experience! 



 Cute little photo op with tractor and all!

I'm assuming farmers have a tough boy look on them because that's the face Big K chose to use for the picture!

 This my friend is called "Big Buddy". Since we are terrible parents and refuse our child the opportunity to grow up with a childhood pet, I'm assuming the pumpkin became his pet because that's how he treated it for the time being!

 On the hay ride! If you will notice in the bottom left of the picture my adorable purse. There is something VERY exciting coming up in the near future regarding this purse (or a purse very similar to it)..stay tuned :-)

The following sequence of pictures just cracks me up. Little K enjoyed the trailer full of pumpkins for about 2 seconds!

 You should be laughing hysterically about now!!!

 This is my little fireman at the Science Spectrum. That is such a cool place to visit in Lubbock!

 Hold on to your seats..I decided to get creative!! I'm guessing the lack of laundry to do, housework to accomplish and work items afforded me the opportunity to let the creative juices explode in my head. I was feeling so creative I even went to Wal-Mart and bought $100 worth of stuff to make these:

Unfortunately though, I got back to Dalhart and they are still sitting in the corner of my room! I really thought I could make some great money selling them because they are so darn cute!!

 We of course made our way to Cup of Yo. Our tradition...

 My lovely momma!! I bet you can't tell she's about to turn the big 5-0?!?!

 Don't be judging me right now. Beginning at the ripe age of 6 months old babies are allowed to have yogurt. It's great for their system (they didn't say what kind of yogurt and if it should have all of the extra added sugar or not)!!

Our last night there we ate at mine and Trevor's favorite place. I sent this picture to Trevor bragging about where I was eating. He replied back, "It's not as good as Pappadeaux."

I guess that's what I get for bragging. I love anything Pappas and was so jealous!!

I always love going to the big city because I feel like my kids get a taste of civilization but am always oh so happy to get back to our little town with some routine!!