"Issues"

Putting Reese to bed tonight and he says this to me:

Reese- "Mommy when babies have "issues" (I am guessing he was meaning when they get sick) all you have to do is go to the store and get them "issue" medicine and they will be all better!"

~oh to be 4 again when life seemed so simple;)

Isn't it February?????

Today it is 86 degrees-it's actually almost hot--unbelievable huh?
Well after school we went to the park and the kids were so hot they wanted to come home and play in the hose!
It's days like these that I think Texas is the best place in the world....then I come to my senses and remember Hawaii is not to shabby either!:)
Gotta love when winter's on it way out....hooray for Spring!
...now if only the weather here in Texas would hangout in the 70's for while....now that would be a miracle!

Reese in the Dryer??????

OK so Reese and I were playing hide and seek today and I couldn't find him anywhere! I kept hearing a knocking sound that sounded like metal or something....crazy kid he was in the DRYER! ~thank goodness he couldn't close the door!
I thought it was pretty hilarious but don't worry I have discouraged him from EVER using the dryer as a hiding place again!!!!
When asked why he was in the dryer he says, "I was hiding!" ...he had no worries at all! It is so sweet to watch our kids be so fearless in exploring the world-- BUT thank goodness God gave kids parents because they sure need a lot of guidance along the way:)
~So the next time you can't find your kid check the dryer you be surprised they actually fit in there quite nicely!
Enjoy the video!

Poppa Doll

you can't see it but Abby taped a sling onto her Poppa doll that goes in her dollhouse so they match! --so cute!

Last Monday Poppa had surgery on his shoulder. He has been recovering really well but the kids have been very worried about him! The day after the surgery we went over to check on him and he was very drugged up:) -the kids were happy to see that he was alive and was in good spirits though.
We went over a few days later and Abby brought along her Poppa doll from her dollhouse. She had taken construction paper and made a sling, water cooler (cooing pad for the swelling and pain) and a black squishy ball that she placed in his other hand which he used to build up strength in his bad arm. These were all the things he was using from the surgery and she was very excited to bring the doll over to show him!
He thought it was very cute and thoughtful--he even took a picture with the doll! ~this made Abby very happy.
It has been a week and 2 days since the surgery and he is still recovery nicely-he even went to church Sunday--crazy I know!

We're a resilient bunch we Stamps!!:) ...crazy but resilient!

What in the World?

Reese on our mailbox.

Abby joining in on the fun! (click on this picture and look at their faces..it's hilarious!)

Great picture of the two of them!

Just the other day Greg asked Reese if he wanted to go check the mail for him. Reese loves to check the mail so he was very excited and he wanted to do it ALL BY HIMSELF (meaning he didn't want me standing by the door watching him) So I went into the house and starting doing something else and then I hear Greg say-"Bec, come check this out." I walked to the front door and we see Reese standing on the top of the mail box. He was just standing there looking proud of his climb but unsure of his descent! It was so funny! Greg watched the whole thing and said Reese reached up and grabbed the top and pulled himself up. I ran to get the camera and before I made it out the front door he had already jumped off ---which he was also very proud of! I told him to show me how he got up there and then Abby thought she would also try the climb.
Anyways they just looked so cute I had to get some pictures--where will I find him next? ...probably the roof!:) (I'm preparing myself now!)

Abby's 1st Birthday!

This is Abby last year right after she asked Jesus to be her Savior -- Feb. 18th 2008!

Happy Birthday Abby!

One year ago today Abby asked Jesus to come into heart and she was born again! Hooray!

This morning we woke Abby up to a room full of balloons and a birthday cake and she was VERY confused:)
It was funny to see her try and make sense of the moment as she looked around the room and at the one candle on her cake. We let her be confused for a bit and then reminded her that a year ago today was the biggest day of her life--she became a Christian!
Jesus Christ became the Lord of her life and through forgiveness of her sins and turning her life over to Him she was saved from Hell and will NEVER be the same again-praise Jesus for His forgiveness and willingness to give everyone a second chance!
Anyways after we explained everything a huge smile came across her face and she blew the candle out with great pride!
I am filled with joy today as I think about all the Lord has done in our family. What a blessing to get to be a part of His plan in raising her and showing her the Truth of Jesus Christ. Greg and I count it a great honor and privilege to be given such a gift and do not take it lightly!
I have seen the Lord work in Abby's heart over this past year and it has been remarkable to see the Holy Spirit working in her life! Just last night we were able to witness the Holy Spirit convicting her of a sin and she was brought to tears over what she had done. She has such a teachable spirit and tender heart and has great sensitivity to the Lord. I am humbled as I watch the Lord work in her life. Having children has been the greatest spiritual journey and has brought me to my knees. I have realized that only He can give us the strength and wisdom we need to parent this precious child of God. All glory to Him.
I am so excited for the days ahead as we get to watch her grow in wisdom and become the woman that God created her to be!

I hope each of you reading this have experienced this salvation through Jesus Christ and if you haven't, don't delay one more moment! He is real and He loves each of us and desires a personal relationship with you!
~If you have not experienced what I am talking about please don't hesitate to call me or get in contact with someone that can help you answer questions and show you the Truth.
It will change your life forever and you won't regret it!




Last night Greg and I put balloons all over her room and when she woke-up she was very surprised! ~mission accomplished! We wanted to catch her off guard so this event would be more memorable--we even woke Reese so he could see how special it is when you become a child of God! I think they got the message:)

Abby right after she woke-up...she is trying to make sense of a birthday cake and balloons in February! She figured it out and loved it!:)

"Just my Crew!"

Here's something funny Abby just said-

Abby-Hey Mommy today I was digging a huge hole at school and I got to be the boss.
Mommy-The boss?
Abby-Yeah- I was in charge.
Mommy- Who were you digging with?
Abby-Just my crew.
Mommy- "your crew??"
Abby- Yes-Mommy I have a crew...you know-me, Paige and Gabbie--we're a crew!

Too funny! Does it really start this early???....oh man we are in for it! I remember having 2 best friends in school and you never knew from day to day which one was not gonna like you for the day! Ekkk!
Pray for us!:)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Greg and I were able to go out for Valentine's Day last night! Our church has a once a month childcare from 6:30-9:30 so parents get a night out together--it's the greatest! This one happened to land on the perfect weekend and Maw Maw and Poppa were kind enough to pick the kids up and let them spend the night so Greg and I could stay out all night! :) HeHe--ok not really but we did get to catch dinner, a movie and cheesecake;) We had a wonderful time eating at Brio out on the terrace (I figure it's about the closest thing to Italy that North Texas has to offer:) We then went to see Taken--it was super intense and kept us on the edge of our seats! I won't ruin it for you if you want to watch it but I will say this: The Dad in the movie made Greg want to go out and get some special training to defend Abigail:) Too cute!

Valentine's Day Party!

Today we were invited over to Maw Maw and Poppa's house for a Valentine's Day bash! Maw Maw planned a TON of games and made cupcakes and big chocolate chip cookies for everyone-it was awesome!
I honestly feel a bit overwhelmed in how to blog this--Maw Maw planned so much it was amazing--she's very creative and always picks the most perfect things that the kids love.
Here's what we played:
-Cake Walk-- except instead of cakes the kids got prizes:)
-Marshmallow game (hilarious) ~I will post a lot of these pictures!
-heart candy stacking game
-M&M pudding game
-Rubber band nose game-we all looked ridiculous!
-Guess who Loves you game-so sweet
-Memory game
~~and then we all got a ton of icing to decorate our cookies and cupcakes!!
Crazy huh?
We all had a wonderful time together!
-Now I'll post some funny pictures and hopefully be able to capture all the LOVE;)
Hope you had a great Valentine's Day too!!



Abby getting her kisses from Charlie and Reese!
She had leaned over to Charlie and said, "You know on Valentine's Day you can kiss anyone!" So Charlie said, "Would it be ok if I kiss you?" (what a gentleman;) Abby of course said yes and Reese then got in on the action! Too cute!
~by the way I did tell Abby that she can't kiss "anyone" on Valentine's Day....just to clear that up!

The kids wearing their new funny teeth they had gotten for a prize!

This is the I love you game--you try to guess who says it--the kids were very good at this one!

Marshmallow game-marshmallow on a string dipped in chocolate....need I say more?:)
Abby caught it right away and didn't even get messy~amazing!

Reese was hilarious--he didn't want everyone laughing at him but he looked too funny not to laugh;) ~Kinda like a girl! Sorry Reese!

Debbie after she caught her marshmallow!

Greg got to feed me--he was not too nice---he covered the marshmallow with chocolate and let it slowly drip onto my face! Mean!

Reese and Abby got to feed Greg his marshmallow--he looks like he is gonna die--I love it! (he hates getting messy so this was very funny for everyone to watch!

Doug (Greg's brother) got attacked with the chocolate--he and Jerry were covered! He was a great sport about it!

Trying to stack heart candy's--also very challenging...we only got 7 high before it came tumbling down!

She doesn't look too happy about being so messy does she? She got the M&M though...:)

The object of the rubber band game was to put it over your nose and whoever could get it off first-with no hands- wins! It was tougher than it looks!

Going to town with the icing!

One of the prizes were these teeth--doesn't she look like a donkey! ~I never thought I would say that about my daughter;)

Lemonade Stand

Frank-our neighbor--he bought 2 glasses for a dollar-he overpaid for sure! (our only non-relative customer)

Abby making sure Reese gets it right!:)

The kids have been wanting to do a lemonade stand forever but the weather hasn't been...well "lemonade" weather--if you get my drift;)
Well the other day it was hot enough to set up shop so the kids got everything ready. They had 3 customers--me, Greg and our neighbor Frank....we're hoping to do better next time:) I told the kids that with a small business you need to build your clientele base---they seemed hopeful and are eager to get back to work! ....now we just need a 80's something day-maybe late March?

Post, Texas

Peep and the kids eating.

Peep working the hula hoop--amazing! He cracks me up!

The kids loved sitting in Peeps truck--they just hungout and ate tic-tacs! Good times!
(also in the car is their cousin Addison)



Abby and Lynde Jo (cousin) digging in the dirt--they had a blast!

This past weekend we went to visit Greg's grandparents in Post, Texas. We left Saturday after Abby's basketball game-we drove 5 hours and got there about 4:15.
When we got there Peep (Greg's Grandpa) was sitting on the porch waiting for us. The kids warmed up very fast to him and Mema -they thought they were so much fun and kept telling Peep, "oh so that's where Poppa got so crazy!" (meaning Poppa takes after his Dad in his craziness!) We had a wonderful weekend--we played outside alot! Mema and Peep have a very big yard with a garden so Abby and Reese were thrilled to get to dig in the dirt all day long! They were such a mess--they looked very much like dirty country kids;) They loved it!
We got to see lots of family that live in West Texas, eat West Texas chili and watch a lot of Tech basketball--Greg was in heaven:)
I got to talk alot with Peep and learn more about him--he is still very active and very kind and has such a servant's heart. He was so great to the kids and sure did his share of sugaring them up! Right when we walked in the door Reese says, "I'm hungry!" (surprise surprise:) and Peep jumped right up and got them whatever they wanted--the kids were thrilled!
We also talked with Mema alot and I had alot of fun looking at her old photo albums of her State Championship basketball team in 1951,53 and 54! WOW!--it was so fun to learn more about her too! She is so very proud of her family and has wonderful stories to tell--she told Abby about how girls used to play basketball in the 50's and Abby sure liked the idea of not having to run so much playing 6 on 6!
We sadly were only able to stay 1 day and when we were driving away the kids both asked when we are coming back! We definitely are gonna make it out there again and are sad it took us so long to get out there in the first place!
And for the grand finale, here's a video of Peep hulahooping with his homemade hula hoop:

Rodeo Time Again!

Us with Maw Maw and Poppa before the Rodeo

Reese and Poppa watching the Rodeo together!

Abby and Maw Maw looking at the baby chicks

An adorable picture of Reese watching the bull riding

Every year Jerry and Debbie invite us to go to the rodeo. This year was no exception and the kids couldn't wait to go!
Last night we left right after the guys off work and thought we would start the night off with a bang so we ate at Joe T Garcia's (only the BEST Mexican food ever:)
We then when straight to the Stock Yards and walked around and looked at all the (very clean) animals-people sure put ALOT of work into cleaning up those wild/dirty animals--they were cleaner than my kids!
When we asked the kids what they liked best about the night Abby said she loved the baby chicks, the rodeo clowns and the cotton candy. Reese said his favorite was the bull riding, rodeo clowns and (of course) the cotton candy! Can't have a night at the Rodeo with out that right?:)
What was so funny was watching them both "experience" the smell of the rodeo. They have gone 4 years now I think and never have they been so sensitive to the smells--I was cracking up! And what really made me laugh is that for the first time the smell of the animals didn't bother me--honestly the worst smell was in the bathroom---go figure! ~people smelling worse than the animals:)
Anyways we had a great time spending time together and as always the kids loved being with their grandparents! It is so great to go share this experience with Maw Maw and Poppa. It is very important to them to expose the kiddos to "country living" and it has been fun to watch the kids over the years fall in love with the cowboys ways! ~and believe it or not this "city" girl loves the experience more and more each year! Thanks guys!

We've been Hit!

This is where you can find Abby this week--sleeping! Sweet girl has the Flu!

Saturday Abby came down with the flu and it hit her like a ton of bricks! Now Greg and I didn't even think of it being the flu because she wasn't throwing up or anything! Honestly she seems like she has a bad cold--she has had a temperature and been very sleepy for about 4 days.
So anyways here's what happened on Saturday. She had a basketball game early morning and was not interested in playing and seemed like she was on fire (high temp). We left the game and decided to try the Minute Clinic at CVS because we heard they were fast and easy. Well sadly neither was true for us! They weren't sure what Abby had and so since she had had strep throat twice in the past 2 months they decided to check her for that. Well that didn't go well. Abby refused to open her mouth long enough for the nurse to gag her:) I really don't blame her--I hate getting that test too but seriously after 1 1/2 hours of trying (the nurse kept sending us out into the waiting room so Abby could get calmed down-or maybe she was trying to get me and Greg to clam down? ;) Can you believe it took two visits to the clinic for us to finally get the sample? And you wanna know how we got it? The nurse FINALLY let me try! Let's just say I got it done--with as little force as possible! She was happy after it was done- thank goodness--I was worried she might hate me! Anyways after all of that she didn't have strep! I was not happy! Not that I wanted her to have it but after that I wanted something to come from it!
Well the nurse was no help at all---we were back to square one--taking Tylenol!
We kept her home from church on Sunday and she slept most of the day--I kept checking her to see if she was dead or something (honestly I kept thinking "maybe I overdosed her and she's in a coma!" -I'm not kidding sadly!) ---it was very out of character for her. We still couldn't get the fever down so Monday morning I took her into our regular doctor and we found out (very easily I might add) that she had the Flu! Poor girl! That explains a lot but confused Greg and I because we weren't expecting it to be cold symptoms! The kids had also gotten the flu shot early September so it wasn't even on our radar! Surprise- Surprise this flu strand isn't covered by the shot!

Anyways she couldn't take Tami flu because she was already 48 hours into it so now we are just riding it out. We are not sure when she can go back to school but hopefully she will be all better by Thursday or so. While we were at the doctor I saw about 6 Porter Elementary kids there---her school got hit bad! Her teacher told me that in some classes there were 7 kids out with the flu! Crazy! Greg says I'm being paranoid but I really would rather keep her out all week and let the school air out a bit ya know?
Today she seems a bit better mostly a little grumpy, congested, and very tired. I have been trying to keep her at the house as much as possible and she has been loving that--our little homebody!
~She might not ever want to get better at this rate! ...neither would I!

Blue Goo

OK thanks to my friend DeAnn I found a new recipe for the super goop! Thanks DeAnn--I am not sure why I thought it was starch??
Go here and try it for yourself---it's really fun! Tomorrow the kids and I will try it again---wish me luck:)

Super Goop!

Getting ready to pour the glue.

Very excited to get it made...

"Mommy, this doesn't feel right!"

"I don't care what it feels like--I love to make a mess!"

Nasty! We had some major clean up after this experiment---and one of the greatest things about this goop is that it's not too much clean-up.... oops! We'll try again kids--I promise:)


The other day at Abby's school I learned how to make Super Goop (our name for it...not sure what you call it) So I came home determined to make it with them so Reese could also enjoy it. Well I am not sure if you read about my science experiments in the past but they always end up a flop! This time I thought there was NO way I could mess it up though--it's only 2 parts glue to 1 part starch--how can I mess that up???
Well apparently I can because it didn't work! What in the world? I have NO idea what happened but thankfully the kids were very understanding and just played with the liquid goop anyways!
We plan on trying again tomorrow--I think it was the starch---stay tuned because I am gonna make it work even if it takes me 50 tries! ~luckily glue is only .19 cents:)
I will let you know soon what the exact recipe is because you have got to make it with your kids---they will love it!