4th of July

We headed to Lake Ouachita for the 4th of July holiday. We had a great time! We were so excited that Uncle Scott, Aunt Courtney, and Macy (the dog) drove in from Houston. We got lots of good lake time. It is SOOO relaxing down there.

Hope everybody else had a great weekend!

Treyson looks everywhere BUT the camera!

Treyson with his PaPa

Watching Uncle Todd do fireworks!

Anniston and our cousin Michael in his spiderman goggles! too cute!

Watching the 4th of July parade go past MaMa and PaPa's house: Uncle Scott and Treyson playing

Will is here!

Baby Mark William, Jr. (Will) arrived on Friday, July 3 at 5:15 A.M. He was 4 pounds even and was 18 3/4 inches long. Tracey is now home and is feeling well. Will is in the NICU. We heard he'll be there for 6 weeks, but definitely praying he gets strong quickly and gets home even sooner! I haven't gotten any pics yet (well, any that I can copy and transfer), but will do so as soon as I can!

Thanks for all of your prayers!
Amy

Prayer Request

UPDATE: Still no baby. . . mom and baby are doing great, so they are just waiting until contractions start on their own. I will update if there are any changes.

Thank you for all of the prayers....they are definitely being answered!!

Please pray for our sister-in-law Tracey Bokermann (Mark's wife). She is 32 weeks pregnant and her water broke yesterday morning. They have held off labor with medication in hopes of getting steroids to the baby's lungs. They have gotten 2 doses in (of steroids), so they feel good about that. Please pray that the baby is developing well, and will continue to do well once born. And please pray for Mark and Tracey, that they can trust that God will look over them and their family during this very stressful time in their lives.

We don't know what Baby B is going to be, but we're so excited and he/she will be super loved.

Thank you,
Amy

SUPERMAN!

There are two little monkeys at Lake Ouachita every weekend.

You can find them on MaMa and PaPa's boat and Nanny and PawPaw R's boat. This is their routine once we find a spot on the lake:
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Piggies to the edge

Ready, set, go (followed by a big jump)

Lots of giggles

Swim around to the ladder and climb back up

Repeat

.

We watch them do this all day. Last year, they couldn't climb the ladder. Dadoo, Todd, and PaPa are sooooooo excited that they climb now.

What little monkeys. They call it "superman Jumps" and they talk about it all the way to wherever we park.

Happy Wedding

Colin and Marla got married in Texarkana last weekend. Dadoo was a groomsman, and looked so handsome in his tux. We all traveled there last Friday. Nanny and PawPaw were there to help babysit Anniston and Treyson during rehearsal dinner and then to help Mommy get them ready for the wedding since Dadoo had to be at the church early for pictures.

Here are some pics from rehearsal dinner and then hanging out by the pool Friday night (until the tune of 2:00 A.M. for us--that's right, I don't think that's happened in a LONG time, and won't again for a LONG time!!)

Me and my hot date!

John and SarahSam and StephanieAnd yes, Beardy, the guy in white is holding a fish bowl filled with liquor. I'd say his night was a success!! Here are some wedding pics (can you tell we sat next to the cake?)

The beautiful bride and groom:Anniston and Marla waiting for the "Jim Ranger Band Reunion"Anniston lovin' on PaPaTman playing with PawPaw's keys:

Colin and Marla, it was a beautiful wedding. Marla, you looked gorgeous. Colin, of course you were handsome. Congratulations to you both! We're so excited for you two. Thanks for including us in your wedding day!

9 months old

I can't believe I'm typing this post. So sad, once again. Another month....my baby is slipping away!

So in the past month Treyson started walking. It was a short lived event for us. He started to walk at his babysitter's house. . . 4-5 steps. He did it for me once that night. Jerry was out of town (poor Dadoo). I cried that night--literally. So at that point I decided we weren't going to work on it at our house. I wasn't ready for my almost 9 month old to walk. I needed more time. I don't know if we'll have any more kids. Treyson might be my last, and I'm trying to hang on to every little stage that I can. I'm such a selfish mother! Treyson will do a couple steps here and there, but I'm not going to encourage it on a daily basis by any means. He has a walker that he can push all over creation, but when it comes to letting go, he's somewhat hesitant.

So, here are our 9 month stats:

22 lb, 10 oz (75 percentile)

Happy Happy Happy boy

Has 4 teeth now (2 lower centrals, 2 upper centrals)

Wears size 3 Pampers Cruisers

Eats stage 3 foods (anything)

Loves crackers (ritz and saltines)

Likes small bites of banana and Gerber graduate (you're welcome Todd) ravioli

Eats 6 ounces of formula 5 times per day

Takes 1.5-2 hour nap in AM, and 1-1.5 hour nap in afternoon

Still sleeping soundly from 7 ish to 7 ish

Loves bathtime with sissy

Is a little stinker to get a diaper on. He rolls over before you can strap it on.

Loves to giggle. His sister is still the best at getting him to do this.

Loves the lake; doesn't love the lifejacket. Thank goodness the rule with pontoons is that the lifejacket can be removed if all doors are shut! We love that rule!! Thank you MaMa and PaPa for getting a pontoon!! This is a picture of him playing on the pontoon:

Here's Treyson swimming with Anniston and Cousin Michael:

Loves to walk around holding onto your hands. And will actually walk quite well just holding one hand.

Wears size 4 shoes

Has his Dadoo's skin. He's already getting so tan. Poor sissy...I think she's got my skin!

His hair is curling in the back. It's dark blonde, and there's no way I'm cutting it anytime soon if the curls continue!

Say's "bye,bye" as he waves with 2 hands

Gives "high fives"

Says "dada" all the time. . . "mama" is not very current in our vocabulary (how is that possible? trust me, I DO work with him on that one!)

Is in a big boy carseat (still backwards, but he got too long for the carrier--and too heavy!!). He (and Mommy) are so excited to turn 1 year old for the sole reason of facing forwards!!

Treyson,

We love you so much, and we just praise God that you are in our lives. You are so sweet and cuddly, giggly and funny, and just an all around joy to be around. You warm our lives in so many ways. You adore your big sister, and she loves you so much too. She loves it when you wake her up in the morning, and then she wants you to snuggle in bed with her (you don't really like that though...you'd rather stand up next to her bed--toddler bed). You giggle in the car with sissy, and she holds your hand and sings to you. Someday when you're a teenager, you'll never believe me. That's why I'm taking pictures of you two loving on eachother now!! We are so excited for summer time with you, and can't wait to swim some more and play outside with you.

We love you buddy!

Love,

Mommy and Dadoo

Wooo-Hoooo!

That's about all Anniston could say every non-rainy day last week after Dadoo de-winterized our trampoline. Anniston LOVES to jump. She asks to jump every.single.day. And I love having her out there. She's so cute to watch. Treyson loves to crawl around on the trampoline too. He will sit and watch Anniston and bounce a little from her jumping. It won't be long before he'll want to be up and jumping too!

Can you tell that we get static electricity from our trampoline? haha