My Merilee is 5!

Today is Merilee's 5th birthday. She has been learning SO much at school and is picking up on all this knowledge very quickly. She is super excited to have a baby brother. She is an overly helpful little "mommy" with Cara lately. She carries her around, blows her nose, helps her on the potty, washes her hands, helps her take bites of food, brings her toys, etc. Most of the time this is okay with Cara, but only to a certain extent. Merilee is still very social and very "girly". She is really good at cleaning and imagining. We love you, Merilee!!!

Something old, Something new, Something, borrowed, Something blue

Something old is my old engagement ring. It was Justin's granny's wedding ring at one time. I am not sure how old it really is, but older than a new one. A few months back, I discovered my wedding ring (no pic.) had broken. The center "diamond" had completely come off and is missing forever. All that was left was the spiral around the middle with little, tiny, diamond specks. So, I was wearing this engagement ring in its place. Until we went on vacation to Branson, MO and a sign in a jewelry shop caught my eye: Ultra Diamonds 75% off clearance!!!!!

This leads me to the something new...my new wedding ring with "real" diamonds. It is just what I wanted. It is just a 14k gold band with 5 diamonds across the top. It is smooth, so it won't scratch my babies, and it is sparkly. It has a beautiful profile that makes the diamonds look like they are just floating, but my camera is obviously not good enough to capture that kind of a detailed picture, sorry. I can actually see the diamonds rather than specks painted in silver to make them look bigger. Needless to say, I am very pleased with my new ring which will hopefully be my last....wedding ring that is;)

Something borrowed has to do with Justin's new job. He was transferred to a new CCA facility (prison) out in Sayre, OK. The prison here had to cutback several of their employees and we are so thankful that he was able to transfer in-state and also receive a nice pay raise. He is staying with some good friends while he adjusts to his new position. We are going to take things very slowly and make sure we make the best decision concerning our current house, Merilee in school, wintertime, etc., before we move our family out to Western Oklahoma. We are grateful again that our friends have been so willing to let him borrow some space in their house and take care of him for me.
Something blue has to do with a pretty big secret we have been keeping for almost 5 months. You guessed it....we're having a boy!!! He is known as Huey or Dragon for now. He has a real name that will be kept a secret until he is born around Spring Break (March 25). It will be a repeat C-section, so I am hoping I will have some say as to the exact day he arrives (it only seems fair since I am the one being cut open!) I am 19 weeks today and will add a cute counter to the blog so you can count down the days with me. And I guess, for those of you who have been told to keep your mouth shut (or else!!) can now tell whomever you wish;) We are totally excited!!!

Old Time Photos

We took these "old time photos" in Branson, MO as our family picture for the year. It was really fun to do, but it took FOREVER. This place had a really good deal. We were able to purchase the rights to the pictures and get the disc with all the pictures so we can print our own. The little girls were VERY tired and did not want to cooperate all at the same time. All of these clothes tied on, so it didn't matter that we were all different sizes. These are just some of the best (in my opinion).

Kristi, Leighanne, Jakob, Morgan (in age order!)

The Luckinbill Family

My sister, Kristi, and her daughter, Maren.

Merilee, Cara, and Maren

The Whole "Brox" Clan

STATS

Cara had her 2 year well child check a couple days ago and here's how she measures up:

Height 34 1/2 inches--upper 50%
Weight 25 lbs. 13.8 oz.--upper 25%
Head 18 1/2 inches--upper 25%

She had 3 shots, a lead and iron test, and blood drawn for her food allergy test. She was a trooper with all the needles. Merilee was really worried for her and looked away and plugged her ears so that Cara's crying wouldn't give her bad dreams. We praised Cara for being so brave and it paid off because I just got off the phone with Cara's doctor. She said Cara's allergy test came back NEGATIVE for any food allergies. I am SO EXCITED. It has been a pain in the hiney this past year with packing her food around and making separate meals or only meals that Cara could eat. We have so many more options now. We can go on vacation and eat anywhere we want. My world is back to normal for the time being!!! YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's Autumn-time!!

I just wanted to post how happy I am that it is Autumn. I have seen several people express their love of the season and I want to add mine to it. Autumn begins the holiday season where family, friends, and Christ are focused on more than any other time of the year. I love the weather, smell, colors, food, and festivities. My birthday is this month, Merilee's birthday is in November, my sister's is on Christmas Eve, so along with the holidays, we get birthday cake!! I have pumpkins, pine cones, leaves, scarecrows, and fall flowers and wreaths in my home to spice things up a bit. I made banana bread today, so it smells wonderful right now! So, I need to get outside for a walk and enjoy the world around me, but first I need to fill the family's bellies.

Cara's 2nd Birthday!

Okay, this post won't let me change the order of the pictures, so we will go from the end of the party to the beginning. Better this way than wait longer, right?!

This is Cara with the residue of cupcake and eating her Tofutti Cutie. We treated her to her first ice cream experience (dairy free) and she loved it. I tasted the ice cream bar and it was pretty good. Hopefully this will be one of the last get-togethers where I have to pack an ice chest with food for Cara. She will have her allergy testing done at her 2 year check-up at the end of the month.

Cara posing with all of her gifts. I'd say she got everything she wanted!!

The beloved, life-like, baby doll that Cara adores. She loves all baby dolls!! Merilee got a doll like this last Christmas and the girls would fight over it. I even had to sew her poor arms back on because of all the "love". Now Cara tries to get Merilee to play with "Emma" while Cara plays with "Hannah". Lately, Merilee insists on doing her "homework" instead of playing with dolls.

Here's the birthday girl and my foot. She kept getting closer and I was holding her back to take the picture. Grandpa, Aunt Kristi, and Uncle Jakob in the background.

Merilee chose a flower birthday theme for Cara, so I made invitations that looked a lot like this cake. I wanted to do a different type of flower cake and not the easy, round cake with cupcakes all around it. (I did that for Merilee's first birthday, so there's nothing wrong with it!;) It took tons of frosting and got a little jostled on the ride over to my sister's house, but it still turned out pretty cute. And there you have it!! Cara's a typical two-year-old. She's stubborn, ornery, curious, and impatient. However, she is cuddly, nurturing, a good eater, smart, helpful, and fun loving. She is a good little sister and we are so thankful she is in our family!!

While You Were Sleeping

Merilee took forever to go to sleep last night. When I checked on her before I went to bed, she looked like this. I am glad I checked because the hat was tangled under her chin pretty good and I had a hard time getting them undone. She just rolled over and went back to sleep.