gratitude!

it's a huge word, used rarely, holding tons of emotion...

it is something that i'm feeling alot of today. and it is heavy on my heart to share just a few of the many things that i'm grateful for!

1. my supportive husband who makes me laugh, keeps me grounded, and is a vessel of God's love on a daily basis.

2. allie who has such a passion for life. she is full of energy from the bottom of her toes to the tip of her head and if you're not smiling... she will figure out a way to make it happen.

3. caleb who loves to entertain... from jumping, to dancing, to running full force to give you the largest hug. i'm amazed at what God has done and have no words to express how thankful i am to have watched him grow.

4. our home (which is a complete disaster at the time) is a roof over our heads, a refuge for our family, and a place of ministry for each other and friends.

5. science / technology which because of Lord's guidance has changed soo many lives that are precious to me... caleb, tommy, jackie, and nate.

6. my relationship with christ which He has allowed to blossom into something that i can't be without. i'm hungry to hear from Him. i crave His word. my faith has not always been so personal and intimate, but He is teaching me daily to press close to Him.

thanks for letting me share... now, go on, BE THANKFUL!

welcome the newest sisco....

this is cooper... or coop! we didn't wake up this morning with any intention of adding to our family, but here we are. cooper is very gentle and super layed back... something the siscos kids could stand to learn something about! on the drive home, we prayed over him and thanked the Lord for His providing us with the opportunity to love him! and oh... how allie already loves him...
she's hugged him....

she's run with him....

she's put him in her wagon....

and then, when both were so worn out... they rested together!

finally... the zoo

i kicked caleb out of his "nap room" so that i could finally get these pictures up as promised. sorry it has taken so long.... you don't even want to know what our schedule has looked like the last 10 days. however, despite it all.... here are the zoo pics. as a refresher - we went to the zoo on easter weekend with lance's parents and the kids. the following pics are just a few highlights of a really great afternoon!

this was probably our favorite moment... caleb recognized the rhinos (he sleeps with a stuffed rhino named crash and it is his world). he was soo excited to see this rhino and kept waving, smiling, and repeating Ra Ra Ra for the word rhino. So cute!!

this was his first time to the zoo and he just soaked in every animal and every sounds... he loved it. i think this picture was when he was watching the monkeys... but really he had this face all day so it doesn't matter!

here is the girls taking a break... you can see that karen and i are grateful and allie is irritated that we stopped.

another cute moment was when this precious giraffe kept peaking at us over the fence. caleb really wanted to touch him!

we put a quarter in the machines so that we could buy some fish food. allie loved watching the fish eat, but caleb was not happy that we kept throwing it in the water.... he thought it was a snack!

this is allie watching the fish... we laughed at her because she would run by animals that she hasn't seen much without so much as a nod, but the fish captured her attention for a while! silly girl!

thanks for a fun time at the zoo grammie and poppy! we love you!

***blog to look forward to: backyard overhaul!***

baby hudson!

i had a fast trip to austin on sunday. my friend, ashley, and i met up in corsicana and then drove on to see ashley (yes, they are both ashleys... it's fun) the purpose for the trip was the cutest bundle of joy named hudson. we were able to visit and meet him for the first time! here is a picture of their adorable family and of the four of us. it is hard to imagine that just ten years ago we were just college students working together at pine cove and now we are all happily married and have four great kids between us... WOW! God has been good... really good!

** those zoo pics will come soon, i promise... we just have to stop doing fun things until i can get to it!

ncaa, family, and fun!!

we headed to simonton for a visit with the folks before camp begins (it is fast approaching!) and it didn't hurt that my dad had tickets to the ncaa finals in houston. lance really enjoyed going to the games!

we were also able to take advantage of the amazing pool and outdoor kitchen that my parents have just completed. we spent the afternoon swimming and then ate dinner outside. upon putting allie to bed, she said, "mommy, i've fun at pool and at da picnic" while grinning really big. this was the first time we've ever seen her reflect on something at the end of a day... pretty cool!

sidenote: sadly, you won't see any pics with my parents in them... i don't know what happend. i will say that we've had some really bad luck with sickness... as my dad was sick all weekend and didn't get much time with the kids... that is twice now on the grandparent front!

the kids also enjoyed dancing on the trailor and swinging on the swing in the back yard. and, just like every other grandchild in the family, we could not keep caleb off the tractor. he, however, was a very serious tractor driver!

we were also able to swing by lance's aunt and uncle's house for a quick visit with them and lance's grandmother (affectionately refered to as gigi... for great grandma). they have a lovely home and the kids enjoyed sticking their feet in the pool and playing with the dog!

here are a few pics of gigi! isn't she stunning! she is a great example of living to the fullest well into life! we love her LOTS!

warning: long blog!!!!

we had an amazing time this easter weekend. fun, fun, fun! it began with grammie and poppy comin' in for a visit! with the exception of grammie being sick friday, they both enjoyed playing with the kiddos all weekend long!! allie began the easter festivities by decorating eggs for the first time. she loved dropping them in the dye... i think only one of them did not crack... HA!

just after lunch the kids went hunting eggs in the front yard. lance, his parents, and i were cracking up at the kids.... they didn't want to put eggs in their baskets... they would just grab an egg, open it, eat everything in it, and then go to the next one. and i can't even tell you how disappointing the hard boiled ones were!

later on saturday we went to the zoo... (check back later for a zoo blog)!
Sunday morning we all went to church together and of course there had to be a photo moment. we were just grateful that it wasn't 40 degrees like they projected.

we did all the typical traditions... egg decorating, egg hunting, easter baskets, new sunday attire... but none of those things come close to the true purpose of this holiday. we hope that even in all the easter fluff you were able to reflect on Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. without that... we would have no hope!

moment to brag

if you'll all just spare me one minute... i need to brag on my amazing husband. he truly pulled all the stops for my thirtieth and made me feel soo special.

he started with watching the kids all weekend so that i could hang out with my girlfriends. then, on monday morning, he had flowers on the breakfast table and a full blown breakfast. we're talking bacon, eggs, hash browns, and biscuits! that night he came home with a date night bucket filled with candy, popcorn, cokes, and a movie. so after the kids went to bed, we snuggled on the couch and enjoyed a good movie. that was followed by a massage. the next night we went to the taste of tyler and enjoyed a sampling of foods from several restaurants in tyler. it was fun to break away from the typical date night and do something different. after leaving there, he gave me some cash and said he'd like to go shopping with me! WOW! i had fun looking for good deals to make my money go far and he kept me laughing the whole night.

it really was a special birthday and he truly is the BEST man ever! i'm just so proud to be his wife and needed to share that this morning....

thanks for letting me brag!