Banana Bread and Friendship

I am making banana bread today for the very first time.  I know it will turn out great because of the love that has been poured into it from two different friends.  First, my dear friend Susan, who shared the recipe with me and for my sweet friend and neighbor Kelli for sharing baking soda.  :-) Because of these two beautiful women I am able to make a wonderful tasting treat for my family. 

Sharing with friends and neighbors is such a blessing and I am so thankful that I have such wonderful friends in my life, who love and support me.  Without family and friends to share with, life just isn't much fun!  So thank you to all of my friends and family that love and support my family!  We are truly blessed!

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5:14

Prayer for Gage

If you do not pray for your children or your husbands on a consistent basis, I encourage you to do so.  Prayer is the most powerful thing we can do for our families and it is a MUST!  The prayer below is taken from a daily prayer that I get from Prayers.org.  I've adapted this to fit my sweet boy Gage. 

Father, I ask You to create in Gage the desire to attend to Your words. Give him a willing and obedient heart that he may consent and submit to Your sayings and walk in Your ways. Cause his eyes to look straight ahead with purpose for the future. May the tongue of Gage be as the pens of ready writers, writing mercy and kindness upon the tablet of his heart. May he speak the truth in love, and may his hands do the works of the Father. In the name of Jesus, we bind his feet to the pathways You have foreordained for him. 

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Ephesians 4:15

Proverbs 4:20; Proverbs 3:3; Ephesians 4:15 

Spent the night with GG and GP

Yes, I'm catching up on my posts...

Christmas Day night (does that make sense...LOL), Gage spent his very FIRST night away from home.  He spent the night with GG and GP.  It was an icy night as we had woken up to snow on Christmas morning!  It was a beautiful and glorious sight but because of the wet snow and the freezing temperatures, it was extremely icy.  As Joe, Gage and I were headed home from the Christmas festivities at GG's house, the idea arouse for Gage to spend the night.  I wasn't quite sure I wanted him to stay...after all I've not been away from my little man...EVER.  Well he stayed.  :-)  He did great and so did I!  This is just the beginning I know for many nights of staying with GG and GP and being loved on and spoiled!  Deep down I really love that he has fun at GG and GP's house and I think it's great he stayed and did so well.   

A Wonderful Christmas

We had the best Christmas this year!  It was Gage's 2nd Christmas but his first for actually opening presents and enjoying them.  He had a blast!  He was so excited to open presents that he'd open them even if they weren't his.  :-)

Every year we always go visit Joe's sister in Lubbock and it's always so much fun.  Gage LOVES to play with his cousins and they go non stop!  Three girls and Gage...running around the house, screaming and having a ball.  The girls set up a nail salon this year and so we all go to have our toenails and fingernails painted at "The Perfect Salon"  They were precious!  Gage and Presley tried to help paint nails too but that didn't work out so well.

On Christmas morning Santa came to visit Gage and he brought the neatest toys.  He brought Gage a Grow with Me Tool Bench complete with tools and all.  Gage hasn't stopped playing with it yet.  Santa also knows how much Gage loves to play with Dinosaurs so he brought Gage a BIG dinosaur.  That was the first thing Gage saw and he ran right over to it.  Santa did a great job on gifts this year!

Joe and I are just so blessed with a precious little boy and we love watching him play and learn.  It's so amazing what all he can do.  Just last year at this time, Gage was learning to sit up by himself.  What a difference a year makes!

Now the question is...where do I put all of this new stuff!  :-)  Time to clean out the old to make room for new!  Even though it's a few days after Christmas..."Merry Christmas Everyone!" 

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Psalm 127:3

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

What an amazing time of year this is!  For so many years Christmas has been about presents ,family and friends, parties and finally the big day...Christmas and Jesus' birthday.  This year has a different meaning for me...It is ALL about Jesus' birth and who He is and who I am IN Christ!  Then it is the family and friends, presents and parties.  What a difference my thinking is and how it has changed over the past few years.  Yes, this is Gage's first Christmas and we can hardly wait to have Santa come visit us but it is more than Santa and presents.  It is teaching Gage why we have Christmas and who Jesus is and what we have in HIM.  It is so easy to get away from the real meaning of Christmas and I don't think we do it intentionally, but we do.  We must always remember that Jesus, our Lord and Savior loves us and died for us so that we might LIVE.  Celebrate this time with your family, love on each other and share presents and parties with others.  But always remember that Jesus is the REAL reason for this season and we must never lose sight of that. 

Now, I'm off to spend some time with my family and to thank the Lord for the blessings they are in my life.  I LOVE my family and want to share with them the love of Jesus.  

Blessed!

Family is the most important thing to me.  I love mine so much!  What a blessing every member of my family is to me, starting with my the love of my life, Joe and our sweet baby Gage.  What a blessing these two are in my world!  I love spending time with them and watching them interact and play with each other.  Joe is such an amazing Daddy and wonderful husband. God has truly blessed me with an amazing family!

"You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth." Deuteronomy 7:14

Balloon Glowing

Tonight we went to a Balloon Glowing at the Discovery Center.  It was really neat except Gage wasn't into it so much.  He just wanted down and wanted to play and run everywhere.  Seeing that there were TONS of people there, we couldn't let him.  We stayed and watched three hot air balloons go up.  One was a HUGE lady bug and it was incredible to see.  So neat!  The part Gage liked the best was getting his own balloon.  :-) 

Pictures from Shutterfly

Below is my first attempt to post pictures from Shutterfly.  Sometimes it seems the link works and you can see all the pictures and other times it doesn't.  I'm not sure what the problem is but I hope you can view them all. 

Maxwell's Pumpkin Farm

Click here to view these pictures larger

Maxwell's Pumpkin Farm

We had a great time at Maxwell's Pumpkin Farm!  GG and GP took us last and it was a great way to start the month of October.  There is so much to do there that we will definitely have to go back so Gage can enjoy it all again.  I think Gage's favorite part was the Corn box and the slide.  The corn box is similar to a sand box however, it's just filled with corn.  He played in there for a long time, just digging away and trying to put corn in a bucket. He was so cute!!  

Gage rode in a cow train, he played in the Pumpkin Jumper, went down slide, visited the bunnies and the goats and even picked out a pumpkin, which is now sitting on our kitchen table for him to enjoy.  There was so much more to do but we ran out of daylight and energy.  We will definitely go back!  It's a great place to play with the whole family. 

WOO HOO!! This is FuN!



Here's my pumpkin GP



We even attempted some family pictures.  We have to go fast because Gage doesn't like to sit for long.  He's a busy boy!



 Time to go home!  We had a super time and can't wait to go back again! 

FUN was had by all!  We are TIRED!

Laugh and Learn

Friday June 24th, Gage and I went to the Northwest Branch Library and participated in the Laugh and Learn. At Laugh and Learn the library focuses on preliteracy and is for babies-4 year olds. It was a great time and a very relaxed atmosphere, which made it nice since Gage just wanted to walk around the whole time. :) They had a great big colorful carpet and books, rattles, bells, and scarves. The kids are allowed to play with whatever they want and Gage of course loved it. We sang songs, read books and interacted with the other kids there. There was a time Gage even wanted to get into this other little girl's stroller...she didn't have it. She even tried to hit him! It was a little funny because he just looked at her like "what did I do?"

When the teacher came out to start the lessons, she began by reading a book and Gage for just a few minutes stood in front of her and listened. He was so cute! Then we sang songs and danced. He did really good but then when he was ready to go, he was ready. He kept trying to walk right out the door. HA! We will go again this week and see how things go this next time. I'm glad they have things like this at the library...fun and FREE!

SWIM LESSONS!

Tonight was our first night of swim lessons and it was a lot of fun! We are taking swim lessons all week at Amarillo Town Club. It's inside and in the smaller pool so it's pretty easy and not deep. Tonight's lesson was all about getting them under water, floating on their tummies and moving arms like they would be swimming alone. Gage did SO good! He went under water real well and didn't come back up crying or anything. His eyes were pretty big when he came back up though. There were two other families there and they all said Gage had to go first under water because he was the oldest. :-) The swim lessons are for kids 6 months-36 months of age. So, under he went. He did really well! The other babies there were 6 months, so they were pretty little still, but they did just as good. Gage ended up laughing and making his usual motor sounds with his mouth....now only if we can take that to the water and make bubbles! He floated on his tummy really good (with us holding him of course) and Joe and I even practiced him swimming to the two of us. It was a lot of fun! Gage even held onto the side of the pool all by himself!! I coudn't believe it! He was so tired that on the way home from the Town Club he fell fast asleep. So sweet! What an incredible little boy we have! We are so BLESSED!

We will go the rest of the week and come out swimming pros I am sure. My friend Janice told me last year on the last day of swim lessons you get to go down the BIG slide outside. We shall see....stay tuned for more swim lesson stories and pics of hopefully the big slide at the end of this week.

Birthday Fun!

It's a MICKEY MOUSE PARTY!!! I cannot believe Gage is 1 year old! This year has just flown by! Every stage he is in I just love but wish that time would slow down just a little bit. We celebrated Gage's birthday with a cookout and family! We had a lot of fun!! Gage of course was the life of the party and loved having so many people to interact with. He got great presents and he plays with it all. He didn't really get into opening the presents like I thought he might...too much to look at and too many people. Next year I'm sure he'll be ripping it all open!

He had a Mickey Mouse Cake that was made by the BEST baker around...Mrs. Hale! She makes the best cakes. When it was time for Gage to eat his cake, we got him undressed and in his high chair and at first he tried throwing the plate of cake off of his table! Finally I got the plate back on and he stuck his finger in ever so slowly. He wasn't sure what to think. I pinched off a piece of the icing, gave it to him and after that he went to town. He LOVED the cake and ate it up. I was so worried that after he ate his cake some how or another I would see it again in some form or fashion. GLAD I NEVER DID!!!

We are thankful to everyone who was able to come to his party and missed those that couldn't be there. We are blessed to have such wonderful families!

Swimming!

Yesterday was a big day for Gage Bennett! First the zoo, then swimming at our friend Patti's house. It was a great way to introduce him to the water. He really enjoyed it. Patti had gotten him a floatie with shade. It was great for him! Joe and I were able to enjoy the water as well because Gage was sunscreened up and shaded. Next time though, I think we will late until later in the day when there is more shade. Yesterday it was 104 degrees! YUCK!

This summer we are taking him to Swim lessons at the Town Club for a week. I'm excited to see what we will learn. It's exciting watching Gage learn all that he is. He is growing so fast. This is a sad week for me...in exactly a week from today (June 6th) Gage will be ONE!! WHAT?! I will have a 1 year old...is this possible?? He is the best blessing ever and Joe and I love him so much!

I can't wait for more swim dates at Patti's house plus the Town Club. They have a great kiddie area that will be fun to take him to play in. I LOVE SUMMER! It's the best and most fun time of the year, plus the best part we'll get to spend a lot of time with Gage! MAKES ME HAPPY!

Trip to the Zoo!

We took a fun trip this morning to the Amarillo Zoo. Gage loved looking at the Lions and they were even roaring loudly! It was fun to hear them and see them. Gage kept making his roaring sound as well. He was so cute. He did so good being at the zoo and was wanting to walk everywhere. That little boy can move! I was hoping we would see an elephant but no such luck, no elephant at our zoo here. It's a nice little zoo and was pretty clean and well kept. Joe and I want to take Gage to a bigger zoo this fall....we are thinking in Oklahoma City. That will be fun and I think Gage will love it. We think he is going to be an animal lover (takes after his momma) because he is so interested in animals and loves to watch them. Who knows...with a one year old, his possiblities in life are endless and that is such an awesome feeling. It's fun to expose Gage to new things. I love watching him learn, he's a little sponge!

Daddy and Gage looking at the lion

Mommy and Gage looking at the Tiger

Walking everywhere!

Trip to McLean

We took our first trip with Gage last weekend, May 14th to McLean. We had a GREAT time and he loved every minute. We rode 4 wheelers, watched our dogs swim and Gage saw cows for the first time. He reacted differently than I thought he would. He just sat and stared at them not sure what to really think. He was so cute! We rode around for awhile and the movement of riding made Gage fall asleep. He loves to ride and just look around at everything. I'm thinking he is going to be just like his daddy...an outdoor boy! I see camping and hunting in his near future. :)

One of the neatest parts of the trip was taking Gage to meet his great grandparents, Grandmother and Grandaddy Brown. They have met him before but he was much smaller. It was fun to watch them interact with him and to see their eyes just light up. Grandmother Brown got out some of Joe's old toys he used to play with and Gage just had a great time. He loves playing with cars and trucks.

We can't wait to go back and play again in McLean. It's always so fun and nice to get away from the busyness of life.

Easter Pics

I said I would post Easter pics so here they are. :-)

Baby Dedication

May 7, 2011 was Baby Dedication at our church Hillside Christian Church. We were able to celebrate this special time with our families. It was a wonderful day and we are so blessed to have such loving families that want to be apart of Gage's life. We are so thankful for our parents and the love that they show us all.

Train a child in the way he should go and he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

Singing

This is one of my favorite videos of Gage. He is about 7 months old in this video. He loves to sing and so I was singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and he was starting to sing with me. The funny part is when I asked him if he wanted to sing with me he shook his head "no" He makes me laugh so much! LOVE HIM!!

Playing catch!

I'm trying to upload a video...hope you can see it.

Joe and Gage play catch! It is the cutest thing ever.

Happy Easter!

Today is going to be a GREAT day! It's EASTER! Jesus has RISEN and is ALIVE! Hallelujah! Joe's parents and Jed and Keri are coming over for lunch today and we are excited to see them all. Joe's dad is making ribs and brisket for lunch so it is going to be YUMMY! The one thing I do hope is that Gage Bennett will wake up from his nap feeling better. He got sick this morning and has been clingy and fussy, poor baby. :( So prayers for Gage to get feeling better! Everyone have a wonderful Easter and celebrate the risen LORD!

Easter weekend--going to church!

Well tonight was Gage Bennett's first time at church. I was nervous of course because I was unsure of how he would react, how the people voluteering there would treat him and would I even be able to concentrate during the service. Mixed feelings rush through me with all of these "new" experiences. The time came for us to go to church and of course we pick Easter weekend for it to be his first time. Church was PACKED! DUH!! GG and GP usually watch Gage so we can go to church but they are at the Broadmoor relaxing and having the time of their life! I am so happy for them but at the same time thinking "WHERE ARE YOU?? I need you to watch my sweet baby so he doesn't have to go to a new place and be scared!" I know, I'm crazy...suck it up McCall, I told myself. It will be ok. Joe and I got to church and went to check him in. Being the first time we had ever gone to the children's wing, it was crazy in there. Kids running everywhere, parents running everywhere and here we are standing in the middle of it all like what in the world are we doing. We filled out paperwork and the time came to pass him back. We didn't like it and I even asked if I could see the room he would be in. He was ok going back, didn't shed one tear. Was just looking at everything around him. Joe and I went to the service and listened as much as either of us could. I'm sure we were both wondering what our Punkie was doing. When we went to get him, he had been CRYING!! Oh my gosh, was he crying. I didn't like it and either did Joe. Joe held him all the way to the car and poor Gage was catching his breath. We will definitely have to try church again but I don't want him to cry. I hated that! So, how can I volunteer back in the nursery and attend the service at the same time?? Sheesh, I just need GG and GP to hurry back home. :-) JK! But I am so thankful that they watch him when they can. Everyone is happier that way. Stayed tuned for next time Gage goes to church. Hopefully he will come out happy and laughing. BTW, I'll have to post a pic later of Joe and Gage, and me and Gage. It's our Easter picture. We aren't all together but we got his first Easter and his first church visit all in one night.

Sleeping through the Night!

At last my little darlin' is sleeping through the night. I can't even begin to tell you the last time I slept all night long. It's amazing! :-) Thanks to the encouragement of some girlfriends of mine, Gage had to cry it out for a couple of nights so that we can all have complete bliss! At least at night anyway. It only took Gage a couple of nights crying and that was it. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Thank goodness! I'm a softy when it comes to him. Last night was the best...he was asleep by 9:00 and woke up this morning at 8:30!! I couldn't believe it!! I had to go check on him about 8:00 because that was just not like him to still be asleep. I hope he learns to like sleep as much as I do. LOL! Well I'm off to start a busy and fun filled day with my sweet boy! We'll pray tonight goes just as good!

Eating ladybugs

Last night Gage, Joe and I were outside in our backyard playing with our dogs when I saw several ladybugs. I got one on my hand and showed Gage. He promptly picked it up with his fingers, squished it and put the ladybug in his mouth! That should be no surprise because he puts everything in his mouth right now. As Joe was going to get the ladybug out of Gage's mouth, Gage starting spitting and it was almost as if he said "yuck" It was hilarious! At least ladybugs are better than the dog poop he put in his mouth last week. I know, nice right!!

Pancake Weekends

I love pancakes! I remember my dad making pancakes for us on the weekends and they were always so perfect. I now try to perfect pancakes just like my dad. For some reason they never quite turn out like his do. Maybe that is because they are special because he makes them. :-) I want to pass on the love of pancake eating to Gage. I've started making them on the weekends for him and he LOVES them. What's even better is when we go to GG's and GP's house and GP makes them. Then Gage and I both get to enjoy the perfect pancake.

A special pancake that my dad would make me growing up is the Mickey Mouse pancake. Now it's Gage's turn. He loves Mickey Mouse so it's perfect! This picture is when my dad made Gage's first Mickey Mouse pancake. You can sort of see the ear of Mickey Mouse. As you can tell Gage loves his pancakes too and that makes me happy!

Weldon Leo Snider

This week has been a hard week for my family. We lost someone very important to all of us and that is our Grandaddy. He was an amazing man who loved the Lord and loved his family. I am so blessed to have had him be apart of my life for so long. He was always there for me and loved me and my family. I am so happy that he was able to meet Gage Bennett and I wish he would have been able to make it to his one year birthday. Grandaddy loved Gage so much and was always thinking about him and talking about him. Gage is what made Grandaddy smile so much even while in the hospital. I love my Grandaddy so much and will miss him so much. He was such an important part of my life and I am forever grateful. He taught me a lot but most importantly he taught me that family is important and loving and trusting the Lord is a must. I am blessed beyond words to have had such an amazing Grandaddy. I love you and will miss you forever!

Our Family Blog

So tonight is the first post of what I hope to be many more to come. We have so many blessings in our life and with Gage Bennett growing so fast every day I'd love to record what he does to remember but also to share with you. So welcome to our family blog! We live a crazy and hectic life but one that we love so much. I am blessed with a loving husband and beautiful baby boy. I do not know what my life would be like without either one of them!! So here's to the new blog! I hope you all enjoy!