Pray for Walker Rainey

Walker Rainey is a precious baby boy fighting cancer. Here is a link to Walker's Caring Bridge website http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/walkerrainey

Please keep this sweet little guy and his family in your prayers!

A Morning at Brakebill Veterinary Hospital

Dad in Surgery



Jami & Loren



Elliette's First Surgery w/ Dad and Carolyn



Cadence was excited to get to play with Clyde!

Elliette's First Job

Mom & Anita.... So Happy!

Elliette locked Jami in the cage!

Elliette fell in love with Loren's cat, Gavin!

The Famous Frannie Jo

A Day with Cousins

Today Sarah drove to Sherman with Emery and Sydney, and the girls had a day filled with playing! We went to a new Sherman park, had lunch at Panda Express, and then spent the afternoon playing at our house.

It was a very special day!

Cadence was so excited to get to meet her cousins!



Park Fun!



Bug!



Hiking with Nanny

Cadence Loves the Park!

Sticks = Protection from Bears!

Painting at Pops & Nanny's House

Future Partners in Crime!

Beautiful Emery!

Sydney LOVED Cadence!

Texas Fun!

Today was our first full-day in Texas. We spent the day relaxing, visiting, and enjoying the family, and we spent the evening at the cabin. Elliette got to take pictures, practice driving, and make cookies with Pops. It was a great day!

Greetings from Texas!

The Long Journey Begins...

Eric was supposed to attend training from November 2nd until November 16th. When we found out that he was going to be gone for two weeks, Erica and I decided to surprise our family by coming to Texas unannounced. We also let Barbara in on the secret because she needed to plan to come up to Sherman. I told Lane (who told Cathy) that we were coming to organize a trip to their lake house, and then I also told Lee and Renee so they could arrange their schedules, too. That was it; we weren’t going to tell anyone else, and we were so excited! Erica bought a plane ticket, and the plan was for her to fly to Birmingham, and we’d pick her up and drive the rest of the way together.

Well, while my parents were visiting us for Elliette’s birthday, my Mom’s dog Frannie Jo escaped. My parents found out about her escape the morning that they were going home, and they decided to book an earlier flight to get home faster. My Mom was really upset about Frannie Jo, but she felt bad leaving the girls (and Eric and me) early at the same time. To calm her down a bit and help her get on the plane with some happy thoughts, I went ahead and let her in on the surprise. It was disappointing, but if anyone had seen Danny at that moment, they would have done the same thing! Mom didn’t tell Dad, but we ended up telling a few more people so they could plan to see us while we were visiting.

Mom was working, so the plan was to tell Dad (Tuesdays are his days off) that there was an emergency at the clinic, and when he arrived to take care of it, we’d be there to surprise him. I called Mom when we were about 30 minutes away, and when we arrived, it was a big surprise to the clinic family! It was so fun to walk in with the girls unexpectedly! Of course, Dad wasn’t there yet. In fact, he wasn’t coming to the clinic! He was out on the boat at Lake Texoma, and when he got the call about the “busted pipe with water flowing everywhere,” his response was that he wasn’t coming, and to just call a damn plumber!

I finally called him from the clinic, and he was really excited. It was so good to see everyone and so good to be home. Earlier this evening we called Wally (Ann already knew, but Wally didn’t!) to come by… it was so fun to surprise him, too!

Here are a bunch of pictures from our LONG drive to Texas. We left at about 6:45 am on Monday, stayed one night in a hotel (Cadence’s first night in a hotel!), and arrived at Brakebill Veterinary Hospital around 4:00 pm on Tuesday. It has been a long couple of days, but the girls were fantastic in the car. I can’t say enough wonderful things about how they did! Cadence slept a lot, and Elliette watched her DVD’s. Thanks again, Erica, for helping us out. I wouldn’t have wanted to do it alone!

Rest Stop Fun!

Erica found a cache in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana!

Cadence's first hotel

Elliette threw about four fits throughout the trip... not bad!

Chick-Fil-A... our favorite place to stop!

Fun at the playground

Vince Vance, watch out!

Clinic Surprise and Brakebill's House

Yeah!! The drive is finished!



Loves the kitten! Playing on the floor with Sarah.



Cadence - happy as ever



Loren is so sweet!



Jami is crazy! :)

Elliette's first job... Brakebill Veterinary Hospital!

The Surprise Ruiner - Frannie Jo

Happy to see Pops... finally!

Happy Halloween!!!

We had a busy Halloween weekend. On Saturday morning we went to the 297th MI Battalion’s Halloween party. It was really fun. A few of the Companies had decorated with smoke machines, so the smoke alarms went off, and the fire department made a visit (well, they were coming anyways; they just came a little early!). Elliette followed Kaitlyn around just about the entire time, and Cadence was happy to sleep in an office with baby Philip! The FRG and Soldiers put a lot of work into the event, and I think the kids (and parents!) had a lot of fun!

After resting, we headed to the Halloween festivities at First Baptist Church in Augusta (also known as Elliette’s school!). Elliette had fun trunk or treating and participating in the activities. The church provided a great event for the community!

On Sunday we filled a box for Operation Christmas Child (http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/) and headed to a great service at church. Eric took us out to lunch afterwards, and we spend the rest of the day relaxing! It was a fantastic weekend!

HalloWonka at EdVenture

Eddie, the World's Largest Child!



Decorating a Kit-Kat



Sweetest Girl in the World!



Body Works - Dentists

Operation

Grocery Shopping!

Farm Area - Eric milked a cow.

Ashley rode a tractor.

Elliette had her face painted for the first time!

Elliette LOVES to drive!

Fire Truck!

Daddy teaching E how to write Arabic letters

Oh I hope she decides to pursue a woodwind instead!

Showing off the mask that she made!

I think this was the birthday kid chair, but it looked like fun!

Today we took the girls to EdVenture for their Halloween event, HalloWonka. I have wanted to check out this museum since we moved to Georgia, but it’s in Columbia which is a little over an hour away. Eric had the day off, so we were excited to go. It was so cool! In addition to the amazing museum, they had a bunch of little stations set up to celebrate Halloween. I think Elliette’s favorite parts were the little grocery store and the Journey through Africa. In the grocery store, she got to push her little cart around the store and pick out items. It was so cute to see the items she picked out: onions, red peppers, avocados, frozen waffles, Jello, cereal, instant pudding, and a deli hot dog! In the West Africa area, Elliette got to join some other kids in practicing playing the drums. She just LOVES the drums! Eric liked showing Elliette the Arabic writing area. I loved Eddie, the world’s largest kid, and the Body Works area. Cadence was such a trooper. She slept the entire time. We cannot wait to go back again. If you’re in the Columbia area, we highly recommend stopping by EdVenture for some learning fun! http://www.edventure.org/