"The Girl"

The girl in our home is gaining personality fast. She is beautiful and I just can't get enough of her smiles. She chuckled for the first time yesterday - and that was after her first round of immunizations. So her stats at her two month check-up are as follows: 11.5 lbs (50%) and 24" tall (90%). Did you catch that - my daughter is in the 90% for height!!! She's gaining on me fast :)

Kale is usually at Brynlee's side within a minute of her starting to cry. Here he is trying to kiss her sadness away. I think he is doing an incredible job in his new big brother role.
I also wanted to post some of my favorite captured moments from this past week. First off is the boys playing on the trampoline first thing in the morning before I even get them dressed.
Next is Keith reading to the boys before bedtime. I just happened to catch Kale joining in on the reading. Usually, he only lasts about two minutes before he leaves to find me and have some alone time with his mama. I love it.
And last, I had to capture Kade with two of his most recent favorite wardrobe items - his Sketchers and his Hot Wheels sunglasses. I can't believe that Kade is about to be 5 years old. He has grown up so much but I love the fact that he still loves to cuddle with his mama and ride bikes with his daddy.

Recent Events in the Ferguson Household

On August 11th, Kale turned TWO! I already see that God has given him the gift of joy. It is easier for him to laugh than to cry. His greatest fulfillment comes from making those around him laugh. He is our performer, as you will see in one of the pics below. He's never far from his guitar. He loves to sing - some of his favorites are "Mighty to Save," "The B-I-B-L-E," "Zaccheus," and "ABC's." He has been talking in complete sentences since he was 19 mo's. Here are just some of the things he says on a daily basis:

1. Give me that car back, RIGHT NOW!
2. I just farted - out of my bottom! (followed by a lot of laughter)
3. Get me some apple juice, please mom.
4. Turn the air off mom.
5. Let's go to the baseball game in two minutes, mom.
6. Stop it right now, Kade (or Kamden.)
7. I want to hold Brynlee on the couch.
8. Where'd Buzz go, mom?
9. Daddy go to work, mom?
10. See you later lalligator.
11. Did you take da boys (Kade and Kamden) to school, mom?

He does not take too well to being pushed around or bullied by his older brothers. Let's just say that he usually comes out the winner :) He loves to jump on the trampoline and he is way into the Wiggles right now. He could eat sausage and cheese for every meal. Can you tell that I love this kid? He is so special and a joy to parent. But I do see the two year old tantrums coming quickly...I'm sure I'll be blogging about those shortly.


Kamden started his first year at Mother's Day Out and Kade started his last year at Mother's Day Out. Here they are all ready to head to school on the first day.

I could hardly get Kade to stop for me to take a picture at the door because he was so eager to go in. I love that he is always confident wherever he is. He just went in his classroom and acted as if he had known everyone for years. And Keith and I just laughed when we got his daily report sheet and it said that he had been the line leader for the first day - that's so his personality, to lead and be first.

Big brother reassuring little brother with a big hug that they'll have fun at their school - no need to be scared. And Kamden did awesome. He had a glowing report on his little take home sheet and had a huge smile on his face when I picked him up. It has made him feel so grown up to get to go to school. He's getting ready on his own in the mornings and even trying to make his bed like Kade does. He's become very helpful with Kale too since he started school. It's funny, but Kamden is moving on past the whiny stage as Kale is entering into the whiny stage.

Did anyone see the Saturday Night Live opening skit this past weekend? If not, check it out on their site... http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/ - it is hilarious! Tina Fey did an amazing job impersonating Sarah Palin.

Also, Keith and I have been taking a parenting class at church. It has been such a good reminder of the awesome responsibility we have with shepherding our children well for the short amount of time we have them. I have heard our Family Pastor say this many times, but it challenges me every time..."We teach what we know, but we reproduce who we are." That's my little parenting thought for the day.

Blessings!

Cooking with Kade

Kade usually stays up with me now while his brothers and sister take naps. So, we try to use that time to spend special time together. On one of these occasions recently, we decided to cook a fruit pizza for dinner dessert. He told me that he needed to wear the chef hat in order to cook. I thought that made very good sense :) Kade has been well prepared for this chef role - the two of us used to watch Paula Deen (a.k.a. "the cooking lady") on the Food Network during nap time. That's the only way I could get him to fall asleep when he was transitioning to not taking naps. So...here's some pics of my sweet little chef-in-the-making.

My main help was placing the flour on his cheek to make him look like a real chef. And didn't the pizza turn out good? I do have to admit that I struggle with constantly wanting to take over whatever step he's working on, but I love seeing his pride when I let him do it himself.

We're all in love...

Well, it's official - we are completely smitten with the newest addition to our family, Brynlee Sage. I admit, it took me a little longer to get to that point than with the boys because she screamed a lot more than the boys. But last week, she began to do this:

And she begin to coo at us and our hearts completely melted. Even the boys are in love. All three of them dote on her every minute she's awake. She is already completely spoiled to getting tons of attention. Here are a couple of cute pics of the boys "taking care of her."

First off, Kamden and Kale thought that Brynlee needed a couple of books to read while she was chillin' on the couch. So they emptied the bookshelf because they thought she would like all of them :)

And look at this next pic - do you know why she is smiling? Because Kamden was sitting in front of her with his microphone singing lullibies to her while I was cooking.


And here's Kade offering her his favorite transformer to play with. You can tell that she is just as taken with her brothers as they are with her. Let's just say that Keith and I make the comment at least once a day that we are so blessed by God to have such incredibly precious children and such a sweet marriage.

I don't think I have posted this pic yet...it is the most recent professional pic of the boys, now ages 2, 3, and 4. Don't they just all have that mischievous look about them?
Have a wonderful Saturday with your fam! One more piece of big news: We celebrate our one year anniversary of our church tomorrow! We have had such an amazing past year and so look forward to what God has in store for the future! Check out Keith's blog for some fun life-change stories from the past year. I promise, they will encourage you.

pics...

Great Adventure

All of the Hill Country Bible churches put on this awesome summer event for kids in our community every year called Great Adventure. It starts out with all of the teens going away for one week to prepare to lead these kids clubs and be able to clearly share the gospel with kids. Then, they come back and do a fantastic job in putting on the clubs all over the Austin area, which took place July 7 - 10th. Our RLG hosted one in our neighborhood at the big park. Here are a couple of pics from the week.



We had over 300 kids attend the 12 clubs that our church hosted in the Round Rock area. What is awesome is that all of those kids heard the gospel! Then, to wrap up the week, every church puts on a version of Summerfest - a huge carnival for the community. We held ours in the parking lot of one of our high schools - here are two pics I managed to get from the evening. We had close to 1,000 people attend and it was tons of fun for all of the families who came out. The biggest hit was the skateboarding group that came out to perform. I just hope my boys don't decide to try any of their tricks any time soon!


Now, to wrap up the Great Adventure, our youth and many of our adults are leaving tomorrow for a mission trip to Mexico. Please pray for God's favor on them as they minister at an orphanage by loving on babies and tackling a couple of construction projects. Pray also for safe travel and unity among the group (and good weather would be an added bonus :)

Some of you may notice that I am posting this blog at 4:30 in the morning. It is amazing how your sleep schedule is radically affected by a newborn :)

Missing my boys!

So, you would think that I would love having a couple of days with just two kids vs. four to get used to life with a newborn. But, I have felt a little lost this week honestly. Kade and Kamden have been having a great time with their E. and Papa this week, but their mama has struggled. Those two add so much life to our home. It's funny, Kale usually entertains himself when his two older brothers are home, but while they have been gone, he has acted like he doesn't know how to play by himself. Keith and I have become his playmates and he has a meltdown if we leave him at all. So I think I have discovered that it is harder to just have the two younger ones than when I have all four of them, even with all the demands.

We have had some awesome time to just love on Kale and get to know Brynlee though. Kale continues to amaze us with his love for music. He can sing more songs at 23 months old than I could sing at ten years old, I think. His favorite is "Savior, He Can Move the Mountains." He sings the chorus to that song at least 10 times a day. He also loves "My God is An Awesome God," "Zaccheus Was A Wee Little Man," "Old MacDonald," "Praise Ye The Lord," "Praise Him, Praise Him, All Ye Little Children," "Jesus Loves the Little Children," and "Jesus Loves Me." He can sing all of these with clarity. And he is always so joyful. I just love how he gets excited about everything.

Brynlee is beautiful and an easy baby. She is sleeping well for the most part and hardly ever cries. Kale has stepped up to his big brother role this week and really taken good care of her. He will not let any other children get near her - he'll get by her and yell "My baby!" And we catch him kissing her a lot.

I'll stop rambling now and post some pics which are what you really want anyways. The journaling is more for me to remember what to scrapbook about, so forgive the long blog.

The Past 30 hours

Induced yesterday morning at 7:00 a.m. It was a wonderful day full of excitement that we would get to meet our precious baby daughter soon...
Pics from her birth and special visitors at the hospital...

I think this picture of the boys coming to see their baby sister represents their personalities so well. Kale with his always joyous smile, Kamden with his Batman cape on and Kade focused on Brynlee. I am overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord when I look at this picture.

First picture of our family of six...
Brynlee Sage Ferguson...

Signs that she is on her way

Well, I haven't blogged in over two months and the more time that goes by, the more overwhelming the task of catching everyone up on the Ferguson's. So, I procrastinate...and procrastinate. But I've decided that it is easier just to start from this moment - which is a moment that I definitely want to capture. We are at the hospital, eagerly awaiting the induction process to start so that we can finally meet our daughter. Here are a couple of pics from today that highlight getting ready for Brynlee.

bags packed and ready to go...

4th of July outfit washed and ready to be worn...
my last full body pregnancy shot...we're on our way to eat at Chuy's with the boys and our parents...I can't believe that the next shot taken at our front door will be with me actually holding Brynlee!

The boys wanted to take me to my room so they could see where we would be staying...they are so eager to meet their new baby sister.

It is weird to think that we won't be the "family with all boys" anymore. Here is a last family shot of what our family unit has looked like the past two years. I would have loved to have had three older brothers to look out for me as a little girl - I hope Brynlee feels the same way :)
And now we are just waiting. I am all strapped up to the monitors, listening to the beautiful sound of her heartbeat while lounging in the ever popular hospital gown that doesn't cover nearly enough. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, we'll have pics up of the newest addition to the Ferguson family.

So much to write about

I hate that I have not blogged this past month because so much has happened. Here's a quick recap and maybe I'll get a chance to follow up with some pictures soon:

1) March 19, 2008 - Kamden turned 3!! We celebrated by taking him, along with about twenty friends, to the local fire station, where our good friend, Mike K., organized a fire truck and ambulance tour for all of us. The kids had a blast and then we came back to our house for hotdogs and popsicles (instead of cake - Kam's request). We are so blessed to get to share life with so many precious friends. As to Kamden at 3, he has the kindest heart of any 3 year old I know. Now, don't get me wrong, he can be a real toot sometimes, but overall, we are amazed at how considerate he is of his brothers and friends most of the time. I just took him on a mommy/son date a couple of days ago, and he didn't want to leave the toy store until we had something for Kade also. He loves to help and gets the most joy out of life when he makes someone smile.

2) March 20, 2008 - I became a Southern Living at Home consultant. Now, if you had told me even a day before that I would being doing this, I would have laughed. But, I am having more fun and have enjoyed earning a little extra income and getting to meet so many women. Keith asked me if I really felt that I needed one more avenue to be social :) Seriously, I think it has got to be the most fun side business out there for women. And it has helped my sanity to get out and have adult woman conversation one night a week. But this is largely the reason I haven't had a chance to blog lately. Hopefully, I'll get in a better blogging routine soon.

3) March 23, 2008 - Easter!! We had over 450 adults worship with us at church between three services and over 600 with our kids too. It has been so overwhelming to us to see how God keeps bringing people to the church and to hear stories of true life-change as people are beginning to center their lives around Jesus. If only you could see the YMCA, where we meet, you would just be amazed that people even are able to find us at all. The hardest part is trusting God that all of these people are connecting and that life-on-life discipleship is happening with as many people as possible.

4) March 28, 2008 - My mom retired!! After 26 years of service at the Department of Public Safety, she finally was able to retire so that she can move to Round Rock to be closer to us. For those of you who know my mom's and my story with my dad, you'll understand the incredible irony of the fact that mom was able to retire largely because she can draw my dad's social security. How awesome is that!!!

5) April 4th - 15th - Keith traveled to Kazakhstan with one of our elders and another pastor to teach at a church plant training center and to do some training at a local church. The first five days were extremely hard on the home front because all three boys had a diarrhea virus and Kale wasn't sleeping at all. I really thought my mom might go ask for her old job back. But life got easier (thank you Lord!) and we survived but were very glad to have Keith back.

We are just two months away from welcoming our baby daughter, Brynlee Sage, into our testosterone-heavy family :) We are starting to get the nursery ready, which is really getting us excited at the thought of meeting her. I can't believe that I am already going to the doctor every two weeks. This pregnancy has gone by super fast and I have been so thankful for how easy it has been so far. So far, I have not had to slow down at all, which is good considering I couldn't slow down even if I wanted to. I even had a couple of comments lately about how I didn't look like I was just two months away. Now for those of you who have seen me in my past three pregnancies, you know what a big deal that is for me. Usually, I look like I'm about to pop by now and get tons of "Are you sure you're not having twins?" comments.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying to the fullest the life God has given us. Every moment is truly so precious and such a gift from God. I so desire to live a life of thankfulness and full of peace knowing that God is truly in control of all things. I pray that for all of you too.