I am going to totally copy Jen today.  This is her post:

Camping at home because we are living out of an icechest!  The refrigerator died sometime this weekend, silently defrosting slowly only to be discovered at about 10:00 Sunday night.  We are so thankful this did not happen while we were out of town, or we might have had water damage.  The water only got a few feet across the floor, a little bit into the pantry, and nothing behind the fridge.  It was 10 years old.  We were hoping it would live til 15, but I guess they don't make them like they used to.

And we are also thankful for the internet, which allowed us to start shopping for a replacement fridge immediately.  I took the kids to Lowe's at 9 this morning to scout some more, then we went to Home Depot tonight after dinner (at Chipotle) and ended up buying it there.  It's a tricked-out LG, stainless steel, french doors on top, ice and water in the door, two freezer drawers on the bottom.  Better last at least another 10 years!

I think by Thursday we will be completely sick of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and juice boxes.  We are definitely spoiled.

So Brandy tagged her blogging friends thusly:

Go to your picture file on your PC.
Go to your 4th folder.
Pull up the 4th picture.

(I obeyed the "tag" rules to find the picture, but it is linked via Flickr so I didn't have to resize it.)

Ok, here it is:  July 2005, Katelyn age 7 months, with Paul in some random park in the south Houston area.  We were on our previous trip to Florida, which I find ironic since we just got back from there.  We had stopped to play at this park and take a break from the car.

Wow, she's so little!

I will blog soon about our more recent trip to Florida and Halloween.  Flickr and I are working hard today getting all of the pix uploaded.  I don't like the new flickr uploader at all, it never seems to get all of my pictures in one go.  Plus I have to do it when Paul is not on the computer or else I'm hogging bandwidth. 

After a really long night, Dawson Andrew Shipps has finally entered the world!  We are so excited about this new addition to the family.  For those who don't know, this is my (Amy's) brother David Shipps, sister-in-law Elizabeth "Libba", and my nephew Drew (2 1/2).  Thanks to the Lord for a safe delivery by unplanned C-section.  Big-headed babies run in the family, I guess!

I miss them so much I can hardly stand it.  It hurts to think that it will be Christmas before I can see this little guy in person. 

Welcome to the family, sweet boy!

Mommy, singing along while practicing scales on the guitar:  G A B C D E F# G.

Katelyn, a little shocked:  Mommy, I can't believe you don't know the alphabet.  Here, let me teach it to you.  A B C D...

It's been several weeks since we finished it, but here is a picture of the Babette Blanket for Brandy's Baby!  (aka 4B)  Huge photo so you can really see it.  I loved the "crazy quilt" look of this pattern, and the finished product looks like a Klimt painting.   (google it)  It is super soft, and ended up being about 5 feet square.

Pattern:  Babette Blanket by Kathy Merrick.

Yarn:  16 different colors of Berroco Comfort.

Crocheted with mucho love by Jen, Shannon, and moi, over the course of 4 weeks.  Still can't believe we pulled it off.  :)

Stay at home mom.  HA!!!

Monday - Go to Target to buy shoes for Kate (on sale for $7), then to playgroup, after lunch a few chores, during naptime/roomtime write devotional while getting up every 5 minutes to re-settle napping baby or assist preschooler with potty, focused time with kids, dinner (leftovers), bath, bedtime for kids, collapse.

Tuesday - Take kids to school, HEB, Walgreens, clean entire house including mopping which I hate, pick up kids from school, naptime/roomtime, finish devotional, focused time with kids, dinner, Realife group, bedtime, collapse (unless I have energy left, in which case it will be knit night at Barnes and Noble, collapse).

Wednesday - Take Kate to school, play with Audrey until she is totally sick of me, pick Kate up from school, naptime/roomtime, laundry, focused time with kids, dinner, hand off kids to Paul, choir, collapse.

Thursday - Take kids to school, run miscellaneous errands while trying not to spend money (this never seems to work), lunch, pick kids up from school, naptime/roomtime, practice music and fold all of the laundry that probably will still be laying around, focused time with kids, dinner, bath, bedtime, go rehearse with outreach band until probably midnight, collapse.

Friday - Lounge in pajamas, shower at some random time when everyone seems happy, play incessant board games/blocks/tickle wars, lunch, actually watch Super Why with the kids, naptime/roomtime, clean up all of the destruction, focused time with kids, dinner, RUN AWAY TO CRYSTAL'S HOUSE FOR SERIOUS CRAFTING THERAPY.  COLLAPSE, PERHAPS EVEN AT CRYSTAL'S.

Saturday - If at home, fix breakfast for family.  Go to meeting at church until noon, then BACK TO CRYSTAL'S! 

Sunday - Fix breakfast for family.  Take Kate with me to church, rehearse with band for first time, sing for second service only downstairs in the Cafe for our new "casual service" setup.  Lunch.  COLLAPSE!  Or go to Crystal's again!  Dinner- takeout!  Collapse!

I just realized when uploading some pix that I never blogged about the first day of school. The kids have really been loving school.  Katelyn is in the "Marvelous Monkeys" class for 3's turning 4.  I can barely get her to say goodbye to me when we get to her classroom.  There is so much ART to do!  That child could do art projects all day long (and often does).  She loves her music class, too.  Audrey is in the "Beautiful Butterflies" class for 16-24 month olds.  She cries for about 30 seconds when I hand her over, but not every day.  Her teacher told me that she is the class clown (does that surprise anyone?)  Audrey has started singing some songs she learned in music class.  She has also picked up a lot of new words and has started expressing herself more with words than signs (probably because her teachers do not know all of the signs that we use). Both girls are really changing!

This picture cracks me up; I don't know what this pose is...

Kate is going to school Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; Audrey just goes Tuesday and Thursday.  So on Wednesdays Audrey and I get to be together.  Last year we were together all the time, because Kate was in school, but Audrey was very much still an infant then.  She was still nursing and taking morning naps.  Now we really have all day to be together, and she has changed so much, I am having to figure out how to relate to her.  She really misses Kate and doesn't seem to know how to play alone or just with me.  I do play with just Audrey sometimes when Kate is here, but you know how it is...Kate is always coming up to see what we are doing  ("Hey girls!  What are you up to?  Can I play too?")  Audrey and I read books a lot, but only for about 10 minutes at a time, which is normal attention span for a toddler.  She really likes errands, so she can smile at strangers, so we do that a little bit too.  Katelyn and I get plenty of alone time in the afternoons after school when Audrey is napping.  We're adjusting to our new schedule and I really enjoy having time to myself when they are both in school.  I can get some things done, work or errands or cleaning, so when they are here I am a lot less distracted and enjoy them more.  Hooray for preschool!

Kate and I filled out her "getting to know you" questionnaire in preparation for the first day of school tomorrow.  These were her answers:

Name:  Katelyn Elizabeth Hooper

My favorite toy is:  Stuffed animals, especially nice bears like Greenbear

I like to eat:  Pancakes, bananas, peaches, Sprite, fish sticks, breakfast tacos

The book I like the most is: Little Quack

My favorite color is: Purple

If I could pretend to be anything, I would be:  A clown and a dog

Hi there.  This is Audrey.  I need to fill you in on an alarming situation going on at my house.  Perhaps I should start at the beginning.

Last Christmas, Santa (not that I know who that is, I never met him) gave me a “TMX Elmo.”   It looked harmless enough in the box, even though it kept staring at me.  My sister seemed really excited about it, and she said Lauren has one, and I think Lauren is cool, so I was willing to give it a shot.    I wasn’t sure what to do with it at first (do you cuddle it?  Does it read stories?)  Mommy said that you were supposed to tickle it, which sounded kind of fun, I like tickling.  So I reached out and tickled it, just a little bit.  And it started laughing, but not just any laugh, a cackle that would haunt my dreams.   And it WOULD NOT STOP.  And the Monster (for by now I knew for sure it was a monster) began to flail and roll about.  Of course I climbed up onto Mommy for her to protect me, but all of a sudden I realized that she was laughing.  And Sister was laughing.  And everybody was laughing at the Monster and watching it roll on the floor like it was entertainment.  This shocked me!  How could they not see?  Did they not understand that it was merely warming up before it went on a rampage to destroy us all?  Did they not see the mortal danger we were all in?

And then my parents put it in the trunk and TOOK IT HOME WITH US.  Had they lost their minds?  I sat still as a statue the entire way home, so not to alert it to my presence.  My rational mind told me that it could not get to me, but I just could not forget THOSE EYES.  Lidless, glaring, they haunted me.  I knew the Monster was simply biding its time.

So when we got home—you won’t believe this—Mommy put it on the shelf in the game room.  I would cautiously play under its relentless gaze, always aware of the impending doom.  I would try to alert Mommy from time to time, but she did not seem to understand me.  Occasionally she would bring the Monster into our midst, and it would dutifully perform its little ruse, but I was onto its scheme.  I would warn Mommy with my most blood-curdling shrieks of fear, but she would simply put the Monster back onto the shelf, where it would continue to plot against us.  A few times I even tried to telephone the authorities, but this only seemed to make Mommy upset with me.  Daddy would tell me, “Yes, honey, it scares me too,” but he would never do anything about it. (Perhaps they are double agents.  I am still researching this theory, as I am very fond of them and reluctant to believe they could betray me.) 

This has gone on for nine agonizing months.  But then, the other day it seemed that I finally got through to Mommy.  I gathered together all of the Monster propaganda in this house, in the form of books and toys, because they are a pack of lies and must be destroyed.  I presented this evidence to her, pointed at the Monster, and in my most emphatic voice declared an ultimatum:  IT'S EITHER THE MONSTER OR ME, MAKE YOUR FINAL CHOICE.  By some miracle she seemed to understand me at last, and she removed the Monster from the shelf.  It glared at me as they passed by (I kept a safe distance though--better her than me) and she took it out of sight.  I never actually heard her take it outside to the trash can, though…

There’s a little door in my room.  I’ve never been through it, and my parents call it “The Attic.”  I never knew what that meant, exactly, but now I suspect it means “Monster Hiding Place.”  So now I guess it is up to me to stand in the gap between my ignorant family and the Apocalypse.  I sleep the fitful sleep of the Protector, with one eye always on that doorknob.