A large chunk of the past few months has been consumed with the Singing Christmas Tree at Bellevue.  I had a very minor part in the production, but had plenty of practices nonetheless.  And I’m not complaining about the practice.  Bellevue’s productions are second to none…so I knew going in that there would be a lot of work.  We put on 7 shows over 5 days with between 4,000 and 4,500 in attendance at every show.  Not too shabby of a turnout.  I definitely enjoyed it, but am glad it is over too.

The kiddos are wrapping up their school year.  They had their productions a week or so ago.  At the end of the song they sing, each child says their name into the microphone.  Haley’s class went something like this:  Jimmy, Susan, Jessie, Megan, Haley Michelle Pirate Simons (followed by laughter).  Sweet Haley girl really is a pirate at heart.  Trey did a great job.  It was cute to watch him get into doing the hand motions to the “Reindeer Hokey Pokey”.  I think his favorite part was “Put your backside in, put your backside out, put your backside in and you shake it all about.”  Videos of the kids songs are below.  They’re only about a minute each.  (which as a parent, I can appreciate very quick programs…nothing worse than having to wait through two hours of kids you don’t know singing songs).

This past weekend we went down to Brandon to have Christmas with my parents, grandmother and Laura/Ryan/Seth/Caleb.  It was a special time since it was our first chance to meet Caleb!  I had a fantastic time doing some hunting with dad and we really had a special time hanging out with family and catching up.  While we were there, we managed to have a quick photo shoot for Caleb.  I’ve still got to finish editing the pictures (my Sister’s going to kill me if it isn’t done soon).  But there were a few that stuck out.  One is below.

A little background on the “I Surrender All” picture.  About this time last year, Laura and Ryan were pregnant with their 2nd child.  Kate was going to be her name.  Laura went on bed rest about half way through her pregnancy.  They were in the process of building a new house and life was centered around this gift that was about to arrive.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.  She went in for a checkup and the tech couldn’t find a heartbeat.  Laura had to deliver Kate, stillborn.  Of course Laura and Ryan took it hard.   Laura and I took it hard.  My parents took it hard.  But amazingly, after briefly grieving, Ryan and Laura showed strength, faith and perseverance like I’ve never seen before.  The truth of the matter was, they didn’t lose a child.  They’d already given her to God…it was never theirs to begin with.  The little hand that you see in the picture below is Caleb’s.  He was born two days before Kate’s birthday- they brought Caleb home from the hospital on Kate’s birthday.  That significance was not lost on any of us- God is so good, has perfect timing, and children are a reward from Him.  And they’ve surrendered Caleb to God as well.  Their work, their money, their marriage and themselves…they surrender.  I couldn’t think of a more fitting way to pull this together into a photo.

I was even more proud because I got to show her off in St. Louis this past weekend.  My Grandpa Platten had his 90th birthday on Sunday and we had a fantastic time visiting with family.  Of course, we missed Hayden because he was in Honduras, but Julie was a huge help in juggling the kids.  We stayed at John and Margie’s and were treated with John’s famous french toast!  I finally got to go to Fast Eddie’s in Alton, IL, as a kick off to the weekend.  The ride over catching up with Grandma Platten was a highlight for me.  The band was good and the food was great (and cheap!).  Saturday was the big party at Lou’s blast-from-the-past-pad.  No words can describe the decor…I felt like I was on a movie set for an 80′s themed movie.  Not only was it fun to spend the evening catching up and re-living memories, but the Cardinals won their game!  Imo’s topped off the weekend with lunch on Sunday before driving back.  Everyone did a great job honoring my Grandpa.  We are all so blessed to have such a wonderful man in our lives.

Fall is here!  We are loving the fall weather and have started our daily search of pumpkins.  The kids love driving around neighborhoods looking for "spooky" decorations and spotting pumpkins.  There was a small festival at the Agricenter two weeks ago and we enjoyed the hay ride, pumpkin painting, and cotton candy!  I’ve got several more fun fall recipes and crafts lined up for the kids too. Haley is a great leaf collector- she picks up flowers, leaves, rocks, and any other "treasure" she can find…for me to hold.    Of course, Trey is right there with her marveling at the things she finds.  He’s more likely to go for the rocks and sticks.  They are too cute when they are getting along- which is most of the time.  But, don’t let me fool you.  They are definitely brother and sister and need space from each other.  Haley cracks me up, "Tell Trey to stop looking at me!"  "Tell Trey to stop talking to me!"  He intentionally aggravates her by repeating "huh?" or "Haley?"  It amazes me how young it starts.

Not only am I proud of the pictures here, but also proud of myself for being on my own with the three kids!  We even left the house a few times!  I had great help from KJ and Jason while they were visiting.  They were proud Aunt and Uncle taking the big kids swimming so I could go to the grocery store and holding Avery, after meeting her for the first time.  I think their first fight as a married couple was about who’s turn it was to hold the baby!

Nesting has been in FULL effect at the Simons house.  Each pregnancy I am more amazed at the things I (we) can get done before a baby comes…especially with the extra weight/baby bump.  Haley and Trey are spending a few days with Hayden’s parents and I am taking full advantage of relaxing, visiting with friends and family, dating my husband, and getting things done. 

Kathleen’s wedding is 9 days away and I could not be more excited for her or proud of her and Jason.  She is going to be the most beautiful bride and wonderful wife.  We are so excited to spend next weekend with family and friends as we celebrate the union we’ve been anticipating for years!  Pray for the both of them as they take their vows and begin their life as One.

A CT scan revealed that things weren’t as they should have been in my head.  Apparently my brain is crammed so full of intelligence and humor, that it pressed into my sinuses and caused some trouble there.

I had the surgery on Friday of last week and was a complete dope-head for about 3-4 days.  Bless Laura for taking such good care of me and for putting up with my ignorance.  I’d think the dumbest things were hilarious.  Laura took it all in stride.  Luckily, my parents were up to help for the first few days of it.

It should be another month or so before I really start seeing the benefits, but so far so good.  I can tell I’m breathing a little better now…and for only a week after surgery, that’s a good thing.

The kids have been loving life.  They would stay outside forever if given a chance and our fantastic weather and longer days are making that a viable option.  Haley’s getting bigger and bigger.  She surprises me with just how educated her conversations can be.  I’m not sure how we did it, but Haley has a huge love for pirates.  In fact, if you ask her what her name is, she responds “Haley Michelle Pirate Simons” without batting an eye.  Sweet thing really thinks her middle name is Pirate.  Who are we to tell her otherwise?

She’s constantly playing pirate games and watching pirate shows.  She loves “Jake and the Neverland Pirates”.  She names our family after the characters.  I’m Scully, Trey is Jake, Laura is Cubby and Haley is Izzy.  She doesn’t even call Trey by his real name anymore.  Luckily, she loves “Jake” to death and is a fantastic big sister.  She’s very patient with him and here lately, is having a minimal number of meltdowns.

Trey is getting in to everything.  I now understand what my mom meant when she said I always left a “trail”.  Trey will pick something up, carry it 4 steps, put it on the ground, pick something up, carry it 4 steps, put it on the ground.  He’ll repeat this for hours.  I told Laura we should stop picking up after him.  That eventually, after he makes enough rounds, everything will be back in place again.  She doesn’t think it will work.

Trey’s surprising us with his vocabulary growing.  I didn’t think he’d ever speak.  Turns out, he likes to learn on his own terms.  He’s picking up a couple new words a week.  And none of them are the words we’re trying to teach him.  We’ve tried to teach him the color “yellow” for a month now.  He still doesn’t get it.  One word he knows VERY well is “candy”.  The only word he knows better than that one is “No”.

Laura’s been busy making us a new baby.  Not sure if I’ve said it here yet, but we’ve decided on Avery Grace Simons.  Or, Avery Pirate Simons as Haley likes to say.  Laura’s been a rock star with taking care of me, the kids and the house all while lugging around an extra 4 pounds.  Did I mention she looks amazing?  Hard to believe we’ve got less than 3 months until baby number 3 is here!

Here’s a couple of pictures of Haley pushing Trey in his favorite car and of the kiddo’s at the Tulip Exhibit at the Dixon.

Haley was one of the youngest there.  I’d say most of the girls were between 6 and 8 years old.  They had light snacks and a chocolate fountain.  Of course, Haley ONLY wanted to eat from the chocolate fountain.  chocolate chip cookies dipped in chocolate seemed to be the favorite.  Haley wasn’t much into dancing, but we did enjoy playing some hide and seek.  It was a lot of fun to watch her interact with the other girls there.  She wasn’t scared to just walk right up to them and start talking. 

She got a special treat when she realized that here to favorite princesses were there.  Two teenage girls had dressed up as Belle and Snow White and were giving out hand stamps and perfume sprays.  Haley was in heaven.

The end of the night was topped off with a “candy bar” which was essentially a buffet of candy fit for a princess.  They handed out little baggies and Haley got to pick whatever she wanted off of the buffet.  She loved it!

So went my first of many (but not enough) Daddy-Daughter dances.  No doubt that I had the best date there!

We got to Starkville in the afternoon and was able to enjoy our day in the Junction tailgating.  Haley got her face painted, some pom poms, and we enjoyed great barbeque in the alumni tent with Jason and KJ.  It was fun showing Haley how bulldogs like to celebrate game day. 

Sunday was spent bragging to all our friends (a.k.a. SEC enemies!) about our VICTORY over Memphis.  We were quick to comment that we have to celebrate all we can, just in case the season doesn’t turn out as great as we hope!

So, back to the day of rest, Sunday.  While lying on the couch and enjoying the afternoon, I watched at least one episode of Cupcake Wars.  Hayden and I have seen this show before and often pretend to "taste the essence of lavender" in our food.  Well, we were joking around at dinner about the different cupcakes they had made and we got inspired…or should I say challenged.  Next thing I know, Hayden is setting up lights and I’m google-ing cupcake recipes.  Of course a quick trip to Kroger was needed but then we were set.  Lights, Camera, Action.  Haley, Hayden and I got some great pictures making what we thought were going to be the best cupcakes on the planet…Unfortunately, they were very dry and salty…don’t know why they didn’t have sugar listed on the recipe (just called for one cup of brown sugar…which wasn’t nearly enough)!  But the Chocolate Whipped Cream icing was to die for.  So, we tried again today with a little more success.  I think we’ll continue on the cupcake challenge journey until we get it right.  Mostly because it will give me an excuse to keep eating the icing, which is basically Chocolate Mousse.  YUM!  Look out America, we may have our own cupcake show soon!

• Trey was born
• Haley turned two
• Haley wears big girl panties and was potty trained
• Haley moved upstairs to her big girl room
• We crossed the one year mark of living in Lakeland
• Laura started teaching Sunday School
• I’ve started teaching Sunday School again
• We “officially” joined Bellevue
• I’ve performed in the Passion Play and a couple of Soul Mate Live’s at church
• I’ve joined a discipleship group
• I’ve started a discipleship group
• Laura and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary
• I completed a triathlon
• We built a deck and shed in the back yard
• I’ve managed to keep my weight the same as it was a year ago (which still isn’t ideal)
• We joined a gym that we periodically visit
• We’ve watched MSU football get exciting again
• I’ve had the same job role for a year (which hasn’t happened in a while)
• We’ve made a lot of fantastic friends
• We’ve fell out of touch with a lot of dear friends
• I’ve gotten closer to being the father that I want to be
• I’ve gotten closer to being the husband that I want to be

See you all next year!  Until then, have a cup of kindness for auld lang syne.

Thanks to the weather changing so quickly during the day, we were able to let her wear both her Tinkerbelle outfit and Minnie mouse.  I guess she was really Mickey Mouse since we forgot the “bow” headband.

We also made a run at doing family pictures this weekend.  I got a new gizmo that lets you set up the camera to take photos at any interval you want.  I set up the scene and set the remote so that it would take pictures every three seconds.  It worked out okay.  Still, difficult to get everyone even looking in the same direction at one time.  All smiling at the same time???  Not going to happen.