Holidays

Man, I am posting like crazy today! It must be because I have to go back to work tomorrow and I know it will be one busy week! Below are some pictures from Christmas, New Years, and one of Mason and me :)

Rachel and her "new do"

My family and Mike's sister Sherry and nieces Peyton and Miranda came over for NYE!

Nan and her grand dogs

Mike got Reece's and one of his mom's paintings framed in his stocking.

Me and the pups sniffing out their gifts from Santa Claus

Mason and Me: 28 weeks

Thanksgiving

I know I am working backwards on my posts, but I keep thinking of more things I need to catch you all up on. Thanksgiving was very different this year without Mike's mom, but I think we honored her very well. We drove down with my part of my fam-in-law (Chris, Sara, Julia, and Callie) to Mission where some of my other fam-in-law live (Sherry, Eric, Peyton, and Miranda). Mike's little brother Jon and his girlfriend Crystal drove down as well. I did make the trip longer than it would have been due to my frequent need to potty, but we made it there! We went on a walk, the kids played football with the guys and we went shopping. On Thanksgiving day we made lunch and Eric cooked the Turkey. Everything tasted so good. I know Judy was proud of all the cooking we did! We went to the ocean the day after Thanksgiving and spread Judy's ashes over the water. We got there just at sunset. It was so pretty and it was her favorite place and time of the day. Mike and I do miss her, but we try to remind each other when we get down that she is having a blast in heaven! Below are a couple of pictures from the trip.

Mike and I with niece Miranda. She looks like she belongs to us! No, Mike is not drugged.

Mike's brother Chris with nieces Julia, Callie, Peyton, and Miranda

Daddy's Retirement/Rachel's Graduation

My dad retired from 37 years of teaching/coaching/administration on November 30, 2009. We are all so proud of the things he has done for public education in the schools he has worked for and for education in Texas as well. We had a retirement reception for him at Prairiland and so many of his friends, family, and co-workers came. It was such a good turn out! We gave him a flat screen tv for his room as a retirement gift!

My sister graduated from Texas A&M University - Commerce on December 19, 2009. We are so proud of her as well. Her degree is in Management with a minor in Family and Consumer Science. I think she should make a business out of selling her crafts and cakes...maybe she will do that one day!

To celebrate both events we went on a trip to Colorado with our family and my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Below are some pictures of the retirement party and Rachel's graduation.

Mason James Horne

I know it has been forever since I have posted something, but I am going to try to start doing better. A whole bunch has happened since I last posted, but I will just do one thing at a time. Below are some pictures of me over the last few months and one of Mason that we got yesterday. He is up to 2.75 pounds. Enjoy!Mike and I the day we found out.4 weeks...ish

8 weeks12 weeks16 weeks20 weeks...i did not take a good picture this week!24 weeksMason: almost 28 weeks. We can't wait to hold him! He looks just like Mike!

Baby Bogur Boy and Judy

We went to the doctor last month and found out that we are having a little boy! We are so excited! It is funny though because anytime you tell someone you are having a boy they ask is you are ok with it or if you would have rather had a girl. I am just glad that they baby is healthy. I like girls and boys so why would I care? We are thinking about doing the room in airplanes, but are not sure yet. Also, we are having a hard time with the name game, but my school is closed for the rest of the week due to the flu so hopefully I will be able to come up with something that we both like. For now he is baby bogur boy because before we knew we just called the baby bogur (boy/girl) :) I am also going to try to figure out how to put the sonogram pictures on here today so bare with me.

Mike's mom past away two Saturdays ago. She had went into the hopspital at the end of August to find that she had kidney failure and possible cancer. She came to stay with us for a week, but had to be taken back to the hospital because her kidney's quit again. Once in the hospital for the second time she began receiving dialysis and they did some tests, but could not figure out where the cancer started. She was eventually released from the hospital and decided to go on hospice which was hard for me to swallow at first, but it was what she wanted. When she passed away Sherry (Mike's sister), Mike and I were there. I think everything happens for a reason because after dinner that night I said a prayer asking God to take her because she was not doing any good. It was not Judy laying there anymore and it was hurting her and us. About two hours after dinner she passed away. She did have stomach lining cancer and breast cancer. We all miss the Judy we know and loved...crazy and wild :) We will have a memorial service at the end of October and at Thanksgiving (her favorite holiday) we will spread her ashes over the ocean (her favorite place). Mike and I are sad that she will not get to meet our little bogur boy, but she did tell me she thought it was a boy and when we found out we immediately called her so that makes us feel better that at least she got to know what we were going to have.

For Jen :)

Jen,
This is for you since you are the only one who probably reads this :)

Yes, we are having a baby!!!! We found out on July 16th. I took a test the prior Thursday because by my calculation my great aunt should have visited by then, but the test said negative. I was a little bummed out, but how could I expect to be pregnant. It to my mom 13 years! The next Tuesday for some reason I just went and took another test. It was one of those digital ones that takes a lifetime to give you a reading so I went into the living room and tried on my two new pairs of awesome heals :) I should have known when I had to buy a whole size bigger that something was up, but again how could I ever get pregnant with my moms odds! I actually forgot that I had taken the test and about 15 minutes later I ran in the bathroom...I saw "Pregnant" and kept looking for the "Not" that was usually there above it!!! I immediately called Mike and right in the middle of his meeting I told him. He could not say much, but he sounded so excited and surprised. Since he could not talk I had no choice but to call Julie and cry and be nervous and crazy! The doctor sent me for a blood test the next day and on Thursday the 16th Mallory from the doctor's office called me to tell me the good news. We went for our first appointment on July 31st. We were both so nervous and anxious I thought we might just die right there, but we made it through. The doctor came in and asked us a few questions and then did the sonogram and we saw out little baby...AND THEN...we heard the heart beat at only 6 weeks. From what I understand this does not usually happen this early on. After the appointment and getting our first tiny pictures we finally believed it was true...kind of :):) I cannot believe how blessed we are to have a tiny tot on the way. We had actually talked a little about adoption after hearing a sermon at church on being fruitful and saw all the families at Lake Point that had adopted children. That might still be something for our future, but for now we will just work on this one. We told my parents the day the the doctor called me to confirm that I was pregnant and 4 weeks along. Mike brought home pink and blue balloons and a card for them with "Nan" and "Pop" on the envelope. It took them a while to get it because we said we were not even trying until the house was COMPLETELY done, but when they did realize it you would have thought mama won the prize puzzle on wheel...if you know my mother this is at the top of her list! Daddy sat there and tears rolled down his face so naturally I started bawling. Later that night we told Rachel and she was ready to hit Baby Gap. Our second appointment was on August 25th the second day of school. We got more pictures and he/she even looks like a smooshy baby now. We go back on September 22nd for the third appointment and he said we might be able to find out what we are having, but I'm not holding my breath. I have been sick, but and getting better with time and medicine from the doc. I am also eating us out of house and home and have gained around 3 pounds already. Clothes don't fit, but a family friend gave me all of hers to borrow so that is awesome. My students keep staring at my growing tummy. I think it is funny because I was the same way when I had a teacher that was pregnant. Isabella loves me so much now and she always lays her head on my stomach where the baby is. I'm glad she loves me and does not hate me! Gosh, that was a long post. Jen, I will keep it up, but hopefully they will get shorter and more frequent and not like a novel. Tootles!

House

I have not posted in a while and it is because I have been busy with a few things. I took a flex-entry class for my certification, took a certification exam, began a workout class, and have been working on the house alot. We finished the laundry room and are now onto the largest area...living, dining, and kitchen (all open). Mike started on it last Saturday afternoon. So far we have taken up the carpet, scraped the popcorn off the ceiling, steamed the wall paper off, primed the left over wallpaper, and have started getting the tile up. Mama and Daddy came over last night and mama cleaned our guest bathroom and put it back together after the floor staining. Daddy busted up a whole bunch of tile with Mike and moved the refrigerator. I am very thankful that I have parents who are happy to help us...all the time! Mama also brought over 3 casseroles in individual containers so we don't have to cook! How awesome is that!
P.S. When painting with oil based paint open the doors, turn on the fans, and turn off the air conditioner...yes, we worked inside with paint fumes in 100+ degree weather all afternoon and night.

I will post some recent pictures hopefully in the next couple of days and will include some from my fam-in-law visit and taking the nieces to the Jonas Brothers concert!