Break

These past few days have been amazing....seriously amazing. I know starting Monday morning [early] I will be flying out to west Texas for a week of work out there so I wanted to simply, relax. Thanksgiving Day was delicious. Tons of food and tons of leftovers. We even played a fun game using our iPhones. Have you downloaded the app "Charades!" yet? It's a must have for fun and laughter with a group of family and friends. I made probably the best dessert I've ever made-Banana Split Pie. OMG! As I was making it, I wasn't sure if I was doing it right or if it would even taste like I remember. It was and still is sooo good! If only there wasn't even leftover. I brought it home and I find myself dipping a fork and taking bites throughout the day. Um.....it's almost gone!! Geez

Yesterday was a girls day. My sister and I took our girls to the movies to see "Frozen." Brittyn is almost 2 and it was her first time. She did way better than Taydem would have at that age. It was a cute movie- especially for sisters!












This morning we decided to go ahead and put up the Christmas tree. We are trying not to decorate so much because our house is still up for sale. So we did the tree and our stockings. Taydem was a big help and was all into it this year. Thank goodness. It didn't take long for my back to start hurting.






Taydem wanted to take a pic of me and Tenlee Rose. Whoa....













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Mexia

We had a good time this past weekend visiting Mexia. Friday night that Carthage football game was C-O-L-D!! Wet and cold. Taydem and I lasted until halftime and then pretty much ran to the car and turned the heater up! Carthage killed Navasota! So they move on to the next round!

This pic is of us while in the car. We brought the hot chocolate and popcorn with us.

Taydem loves to take pics of herself on our phones. So as you can imagine she was a little bored in the car this weekend.

With all this rain, all the creeks, streams and rivers were running like crazy. So after we left his dad's house Saturday morning, Leven wanted to drive around and site see.

This is the dam at Ft Parker. It's on the way to his Mom's house. Love love all the fall leaves!

Just beautiful.

Saturday night we left Taydem with Grans and headed to our friend's 40th birthday party. Super nice party. We had a wonderful time. Danced a little, ate great, visited with new and old friends and got home late!! We didn't wake up until 11 am the next morning. Lev never sleeps that late. We were both very tired.

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SuperStar

Taydem was selected as Overall Star Student for Kindergarten for the 2nd six weeks.  Super proud of her! Way to go Tay!

 

Yesterday was the Thanksgiving lunch at Tatum Primary School.  So my mom, aka "Nana" headed up to the school to eat lunch with all 4 grandkids at that school.  This is why they love her!

 

 Tay and Tucker are in Kindergarten

 Truitt is in 3rd grade

 Ashby is in 2nd grade

 

This morning I had another sonogram.  My SIL, Chrissy, started working back at the hospital helping them out a couple days a week since two girls recently quit/fired, something.  So I was on her schedule this morning. Tenlee would not stay still for nothing (probably that Dr. Pepper I had at 5:30 this morning!), so pretty much all her pictures are a little blurry.  I'm 21 weeks and at this stage they are still pretty small with not much meat on their bones.  Everything looked great.  Her organs are good, she has all her limbs, her head looked good, etc.  She is weighing about 13 oz, which puts her right at average.

 

Profile

 Curled up

 Really curled up

 

This weekend we are headed to Mexia to visit friends and family.  Now that volleyball is over for a short while (club is about to start and I'm coaching again, this time as an assistant coach!) we have some free time.  Our sweet friend Kimberly is having a huge 40th birthday bash tomorrow night.  On our way tonight, we are going to Corsicana to watch the Carthage Bulldogs play against the defending state champs, Navasota.  Yes, it will be a great game.  But my gosh.  Being pregnant sitting at a cold AND wet football game doesn't sound to great to me right now.  Hopefully the wetness will go away and it will just be cold and windy.  That sounds a little better. But hey, this is what high school football is all about.  The Tatum Eagles are also playing close to Mexia tonight, actually 10 miles down the road.  But I have all the confidence in the world for those Eagles tonight and will watch their next game next week.  

 

Have a wonderful chilly weekend.  I will leave you with this verse.....

³¹ But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Obsession

So this Fall my new obsession: leggings/tights! I love them and have been perfect, so far, while being pregnant. Oversized sweaters, leggings and tall boots are pretty popular this season. My bosses ask me every day at work if I'm going to wear "spandex" my entire pregnancy. Why, yes I am! They are cheaper than jeans and way more comfortable. I had to break down and buy some maternity bootcut jeans the other day though. When I head out to west Texas, I don't think steal toed boots and leggings will be very appropriate :) !! I need to buy probably one more pair of jeans before the trip out there.


Leven says everyday when he picks Taydem up from school she passes out on the ride home. So....here's some proof:


Taydem also lost another tooth yesterday at school. She pulled this one herself, again! Thank goodness. I can not handle all that. The tooth fairy brought her two big ole dollars that she was very proud of!

Prayers:
Tomorrow we have someone coming to look at our house for the second or third time. Please say a prayer for us tonight!!

Also, keep Tyler Archibald and his family in your prayers tonight. He has been battling a horrible illness the last couple of years and he and his family are at a crossroads. Please give his wife, children, friends and family strength as they wait beside him for God to bring him home.

Pray for Jim Cocke, my parents life long neighbor. He fell and broke his hip this past weekend. He has also been sick these past few months and now he is bleeding internally and they can't operate. Pray for his sweet wife and children as they also stand beside him and wait for God to bring him home.






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Cravings

Being pregnant comes with cravings..weird, out of no where, type cravings.  [Just like today at lunch I had to run to Walmart to grab a few things and all I could think about was chocolate milk.  You know, the thick kind that Borden's makes? Well I didn't buy any...but still!]

Taydem and I went to the grocery store Saturday morning to pick up just a "few" items.  I looked down the baking aisle and thought, hmmm, cupcakes sure sound good.  And it will also be a good project for mommie and daughter time.  Well I couldn't decide whether to get buttercream icing or chocolate icing.  Too many decisions.  I knew I wanted yellow cake, so I just bought both icings! And for some reason I bought two boxes of yellow cake mix.  That afternoon Taydem and I got busy.  She loves to help me with whatever I'm doing.  Washing clothes, unloading the dishwasher, sweeping, cooking, etc.  This is why I know she's going to be the best helper with our new baby. 

Her favorite part is cracking the eggs!

Taydem is not a sweets person.  This picture is probably the only tasting or eating she did with the cupcakes.  Is this my child? Me on the other hand, could NOT stay out of the icing or the cupcakes! I also saved both the icings and put them in the fridge for later cravings! Geez louise!

I started warming the cupcakes up just enough for the icing to melt.  OMG! They were the best thing that had hit my mouth sine being preggo! Up until this weekend, I have actually done pretty good with my eating.  Well I blew it with those dang cupcakes!! If there are anymore left by tonight, they are going in the trash!

In a couple of weeks, I am heading out to west Texas with 3 guys I work with to do some field work.  I have never really been to west Texas.  I've only driven through there.  Two of the guys are working out there this week and one of them took this picture this morning and sent it to us.  Pretty cool!

I have another sonogram this Friday and I'm getting my hair did on Wednesday! Yippee....I'm thinking about cutting a few inches off.  The hair is getting way too long.

I almost forgot:

Another craving I've been having! Peanut butter and apples.

Halfway

Well, I'm 20 weeks today. So 20 more to go!! Whoa


Taydem has had such a fun two weeks getting to roller skate during PE at her school. Great idea for these kiddos!


She is growing up so fast. Look at her with her friends! So cute!










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Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day!!

 

This is a picture of my Mom's daddy, my grandfater (guy on left)!! He passed away when my Mom was only 9.  So I never got to meet him 

This is my Papaw! 

Ok, so this is my Papaw and my older brother Dustin.  Can you see the resemblance?  He's been told all his life that he favors his grandfather!

And while I'm at it....check out my Papaw's brother on the left and my cousin Colton on the right when they were both little boys.  I wish I had another picture of Colton where he was facing more to the front.  Everytime I look at my Great Uncle, I get the chills.  He and Colton look so much a like.  It even freaked Colton out when he saw the picture.  

The Anthony's obviously have some strong genes!

 

And speaking of the Anthony's....we celebrated my Meme's 90th birthday with a surprise party for her this past Saturday!! And boy was she surprised!! We had fried fish, hushpuppies, french fries and cake! The great grand kids each read her a poem and my Aunt Gwyn wrote a tribute poem to her.  Then we did some singing and did tons of visiting! It was so good seeing everyone! I love my family so much. Here are a few pictures:

 

All my cousins and their spouses..My brother Darin wasn't there. He was on a hunting trip that he had already planned for

 All the girl cousins, Peyton, Sterling, Danin, Me and Whitney

 All the boy cousins, Bryan, Austin, Dustin, and Colton

 All the great grandkids (Averie is missing)

 Right after she walked in the door!

 

Cooler days

I haven't had too many cravings since being pregnant.  My thing, I have trouble figuring out what I want to eat.  It takes me about 30 minutes each day around lunch to figure out what I am craving.  Sometimes I drive around Kilgore until I see a place that jumps out at me.  But yesterday I started thinking about chicken-n-dumpligs.  So I texted Leven to ask him if that sounded good to him.  I have no idea why I even run supper by him.  If I'm the one cooking it, his butt will just have to eat it! So....chicken-n-dumplings it was. I make it with biscuits (quick and easy way) and I swear each time I make it they taste better and better.  So we had some leftover....(since Trever has been out of the house, we actually have leftovers now...hehe) and I brought them for lunch today.  They are always better the next day!  And there's a cold front headed our way....so this is just perfect!

My hair grows fast. Always has.  But when you are preggo hair grows even faster.  Just look at my roots.  I just got my hair done like 4 weeks ago! That's the downfall with having your hair highlighted. 

So we are now almost certain that our baby girl's name will be Tenlee Rose Barker.  We really wanted to use Lee as a middle name.  My sister's middle name is Lea and Leven's brother that died after birth was named Lee.  So we decided to spell Tenlee with LEE at the end.  Perfect! I wanted an "R" for a middle name.  Not really sure why.  I'm guessing because her and Trever will now both have TRB as their initials. But I wanted that middle name to sound perfect with Tenlee and Barker.  So we decided on Rose.  Leven's great great grandmother was named Rose. My sister is naming her baby girl Baylee Monroe! So we will have a Tenlee and a Baylee.  

 

HAVE FAITH

BELIEVE IN HEALING

TRUST THE POSSIBILITIES

BE YOURSELF....ALWAYS

Bi-District Champs and Brad Neely!

Leven's girls played against Palestine last night and put a whoopin on them. We started off slow (I think just getting the jitters out) but game three's final score was 25-6!! What what! Palestine was actually pretty terrible but probaly better than any other team in Carthage's district. That just shows you how bad our district was.

Their next playoff game will be Thursday at 7:00 at Palestine High School against West. Now this game will be tougher. I hope our girls are mentally and physically ready. What I'm I saying....I KNOW they are mentally and physically ready. They have Leven as a coach :) Let's pack the bleachers with loud screaming fans and lots of RED!

These three right here have my HEART!

 

Let me introduce you to Bradley
(I believe I have written about him once before in a past post). 

Bradley is Leven's #1 fan! And I'm not kidding about this.  He has been following Leven since Leven's first year at Mexia.  That was a little over 16 years ago, I think! I believe Bradley is about my age.  His sweet mother takes him everywhere.  They are huge Baylor Bear fans and huge Leven Barker fans.  I don't think he missed too many games while Leven was at Mexia, bc Bradley lives close to Mexia.  But when we moved to Pine Tree, he still drove to several of his games up here in Longview and to PT's playoff games.  All of Leven's girls get to know him and love his sweet spirit.  He loves to cheer and knows how to get the fans yelling right along with him. 
So last night...guess who showed up in Whitehouse? Bradley!! I promise you, that made Leven's night.  Leven loves Bradley and they text or talk on the phone every week.  Of course, Leven loves getting him all fired up and picking on him, but Bradley adores the attention.  He's been apart of our lives for a long time now and we love him!