What Do You Think?

I read an article this morning regarding some of the things Obama will do with his executive power without "waiting for Congressional action." Some of the issues he is going to change immediately with his executive powers are removing any restrictions on stem cell research and closing off 360,000 acres of public land in Utah to prevent drilling. Regardless of how I feel about these issues, what was more disturbing to me were the comments left by 654 people below this particular story. The comments were varied, but seemed to be split 50/50 - almost ALL were attacking the other side in some major way. Not intelligent debate, just attack after attack from all sides. I realize after every election, there is this type of discussion all over the media and internet. This is especially the case when people are so divided.

So, here is my controversial question for the quarter...

Do you believe our new President-elect will unite or divide our country?

Don't worry about leaving your comments - you can always leave them anonymously. I know many people who read my blog voted different ways. I want to hear what you really think. Don't hold back and don't just write the PC answer. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Halloween

Before I discuss our awesome Halloween, I have a very important announcement....




For the very first time ever, someone came to the door to come out and ask if Callie could play! There are a TON of kids in our neighborhood, but since I was so sick during the pregnancy, we really didn't spend a whole lot of time out front with her. Last night, she played a lot with a little girl next door named Jasmine and Jasmine knocked on our door tonight to ask if Callie could play! It was sweet and made us feel good that she had so much fun with Callie, even though she is five and Callie is two. Anywho - it was heartwarming.


On to Halloween...


As you know, Thomas LOVES Halloween. Let me tell make it clear - he doesn't like cutsy Halloween. He likes scary Halloween. The scarier the better, BUT we had Trunk of Treats at church and I reminded him it was not appropriate to be scary. So, alas, we went as the Swedish Chef and Miss Piggy from The Muppets. He was HILARIOUS and my costume was perfect, in light of the number of pounds I packed on when I stopped being pregnant (because it was then that I was finally able to eat). So, the first set of pictures is from Trunk of Treats - Callie was a spider and Lyla was a ladybug! Also, note the awesome carving of pumpkins. I only did one - Thomas gets credit for the rest...





For our home celebration of Halloween, of course our house was all decorated, as usual. This year, Thomas built a graveyard and we went with a spider theme. As you can see from the house pictures, our spiders had captured a human in their web this year. It was pretty awesome! We played a track through our window that everyone thought was real. The BEST PART was Thomas as the undertaker. He wandered around the graveyard looking frightening. He was in charge of scaring the kids and I was in charge of softening the blow with giving them big handfuls of candy (with the girls) on the porch. We had a great time, but there was one problem - we have determined that due to Friday night football, we had about 75-100 less trick or treaters this year. We only had about 115 and that was pretty sad. We will still continue to do cool stuff though and hopefully, have more kids next year!

Thomas had an awesome idea to carve the inside of a pumpkin and let the candles show the design. He was going to do "redrum" and then determined the letters had too many curves for the short time frame he had to get it done. Can you read this one? I told you he likes scary Halloween....

So, believe it or not, now I have started planning Christmas! Plus, I have Bunco at my house this year, so the pressure is on. :-)

Lyla wears A LOT of hand-me-downs. Callie had some adorable clothes and we have again put many of them to good use with our newest little girl. Yesterday, after we arrived back home from a full day at work and my parents' house, I put Lyla in a yellow ducky sleeper. I remembered taking a picture of Callie wearing this right after she was born in 2006, so I took a picture of Lyla in it as well. The pictures are kind of grainy because I took them all with my phone. Callie was only 6 days old when we took hers, Lyla is now two months. What do you think? Do they look alike to you? Do you know which one is which?

Bad Things Happen In Threes

Isn't that the saying? Well, we have experienced that at GST over the last few weeks. A few weeks ago, we had an employee pass away very unexpectedly at his home. It was a very sad situation and I am sad that we didn't know him better than we did.

The second happened this morning. We had an employee suffer a heart attack after arriving to work. The paramedics were called and he was transported to the hospital immediately. At around 2:00, we found out he had passed away. He has been having heart problems for quite some time, but, as Thomas puts it, he was "just talking to him this morning." This employee was one of the nicest guys you could meet and it breaks my heart to hear of his passing.

The final issue was also this morning. Some of you may have heard about the shooting in Haltom City that happened early today. It happened in front of our new facility and my Dad and a few other people were there as it was taking place. They had to watch a man die in front of them and they were helpless. There was no way to save him and they have not caught the guy who committed the crime. These are images that will forever stay in the minds of those that were there. UPDATE: They did find the guy they think did the shooting and he is in jail in Haltom City.

All of the above remind me of how precious life is and how I need to remember to take advantage of every minute. Please keep the families of these individuals in your prayers.

Despair

Here is another print I love from http://www.despair.com/...

Cupcakes

So, obviously, I have a sweet tooth. Thomas and I have recently discovered a place in Fort Worth that I am hesitant to even mention to you. I want to keep it to myself, but I just can't. So, whenever you are downtown, hop over on Camp Bowie and go here... The Cupcake Cottage.

On another note, we have a new bakery opening up next door to our office. Yes, I said NEXT DOOR. How can life be so cruel? They will specialize in cupcakes, cookies and cheesecakes. They aren't open yet, but are called J. Rae's. They are hiring and I am seriously tempted to apply. :-) Since Tonya and I are starting a new weight bet on Friday, I am really wishing these bakeries were close to our Janada facility, since Tonya is there everyday. Oh well. Pray for will power!!

California, Callie's Birthday and Baby Shower

Okay - so it has been a really busy four weeks for me. As you know, four weeks ago this coming Tuesday, Lyla Megann was born and things have been crazy ever since! Just a side note - when my mom was here helping with Callie, look at what Callie got for breakfast one day...

The last weekend of August, I flew out to California to sing at the wedding of a childhood friend. It was fantastic to be at home, but the trip was too short and I wanted my family with me. Fortunately, Thomas is awesome and really wanted me out of the house - so he agreed I could go and he would watch the kids, with the help of his parents. Here are just a couple of pictures from my trip...the first is from that Friday afternoon when all the girls went to go get pedicures and manicures - this is Stacey, the bride. The second is a picture of Kristen, Steve and Christy. Steve is Christy's husband and the two girls are friends from highschool. They were bridesmaids at the wedding. The third picture is of Keith and Stacey - the bride and groom! The last is of Stacey and me - do I look tired or what? I was and it was only 9:00 pm...

Yesterday, the 6th, Callie turned TWO. Yes, TWO. Scares me to no end. I have several pictures from the family party we had last night. We had 19 people at our house for the celebration and it was fantastic. Callie was blessed to get a ton of great gifts and she had a blast with her cousins. The first picture is of the cake that Thomas and I made. It turned out pretty good, I think. It matched her invitations, party decor and dress...

Callie received a stage from my parents for her room! It is shown here and fantastic! We are doing her new room in movies and music and she is such a ham. She loves to sing to us and couldn't have been more thrilled with this gift. Callie's older cousins helped her open the huge pile of gifts. Callie learned how to hold up two fingers, but she still has to concentrate pretty hard to keep them in the right place. Obviously, Tatum does a little better with a plate and fork, judging by the fact that Callie is stripped down and wearing a bib. Tatum will be three in October and is Tye and Jere's youngest.This is Callie on the stage after she put on her new princess costume from Papa and Grandma Sharri. Papa George helping her with her new toys. WHAT AN AWESOME BIRTHDAY!!
Last, but certainly not least, we had Lyla's Baby Blessing and Baby Shower at church today. I don't have the pictures from the blessing yet, but here are just a couple from the shower. Thanks to Pam, Jeana, Tonya and Mistee for an awesome shower! I am so blessed to have friends like you guys...the shower was awesome and you did way too much!!

It has been a great four weeks. Did I mention that I am going to work tomorrow? UGH.