Thanksgiving in Pictures (and a few words)

We had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving this year in Grapevine! With a house filled to the brim with people, Lynn and Barry were the perfect hosts. Here's a recap of some of the fun things the girls did:

made a gingerbread house ... and of course, sampled the mortar!

helped cook, clean, and prepare the table

shared pie ... yum!

roasted s'mores over the campfire

played outside and enjoyed the amazing weather



got dirty and then joined in a one-man naked marching band after bath



rode the "tractor"

had a fantastic time with family!

Halloween

Halloween was SO much fun this year! From the moment Avery woke up, she wanted to know how long it would be until she could take a nap. That's because we told her that after her nap, it would be time to put on her costume. In Ben's words: You could cut the excitement in our house like a knife.

Avery and Ella both loved their costumes. I was a bit worried that Ella might not want to wear her antennae, but I was so wrong. I should have known that if Avery was wearing one, Ella would want to wear one, too!

It was a great night, and we had so much fun experiencing it through the girls!

our two cute little bugs

getting some energy before trick-or-treating at the Franks' house

the group - it's our annual tradition

Avery saying, "Trick-or-treat, please!"

Ella really got into it once she realized people would give her candy for saying, "Ticky-tick." After they handed her a piece, she would stand there and want them to open it for her.

showing off her stash

one sucker just wasn't enough

Happy Halloween from the Conklins!

Recap of October

Wow! How in the world is time flying by so fast?? October was a whirlwind, so I thought I'd give a recap of some of the main things that happened with the girls.

Ella (18 months now) spent the month trying to keep up with everybody. Now that she is walking, she has this new little determined personality emerging. She knows what she wants, and gets frustrated when she doesn't get it. At the top of her "wants" list is: being anywhere mommy is, and playing with whatever Avery is playing with. Here she is dancing with Avery:


She is growing so fast, and my formerly tiny little girl is now in the 50-75th percentile for her age. One of my favorite things about this age is how even though she doesn't speak many words, she understands almost everything we say. When I tell her it's time to change her diaper, she heads straight to her room. If we ask her to do or get something, she does it. She speaks the basic beginner words and she also babbles and repeats our sounds constantly. She's a chatterbox! She also has decided to begin signing! She has wonderful manners, and is great at saying please and thank you in sign language. Here's something we see a lot at our house:

Sometimes we get a special little sneak peek at what the terrible twos may be like with Ella, but it doesn't happen often. When it does, well, we chuckle and know we can handle it. We survived Avery's at that age (and if you knew Avery then, you know what we mean!) This is Ella's "I dare you to catch me" look:
While Ella is no longer technically a baby anymore, she is our still sweet and cuddly angel.


Avery was super busy last month! She is loving school and has made some special friends. Every day she talks about Antonio. "Antonio is my best friend. Antonio stood beside me in line today. Antonio played with me at the playground." We were beginning to wonder who this Antonio is. When we went to school for Avery's Open House a couple weeks ago, the very first thing her teacher said to us was, "Avery has quite the crush." Come to find out, they call each other boyfriend and girlfriend, say they are going to get married, etc. Wow....we are in trouble aren't we?!? Well, I got to meet Antonio last week, and was able to snap a picture of the two lovebirds.


I entered Avery's picture (just for fun) into a contest for the cutest kid in Cy-Fair contest. Well, she made it to the top 15 out of hundreds, and was invited to a photo shoot for the cover of Cy-Fair magazine! This is what she wore to the shoot:


It was a lot of fun, and she felt very special. She is going to be in the Nov. issue somewhere, so everyone who lives in the Cypress area, look for a free copy of Cy-Fair magazine in a few weeks!!!

I admit that right now there is more fighting than peaceful moments between the girls, but I can already see what a sisterly bond they have. Ella looks up to Avery, and Avery can be very protective of Ella. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures of them together (my computer crashed and I lost all of my recent stuff), but here's a glimpse of what I do have. My two favorite girls....

Are You Listening?

I've been slacking on the blogging, but that's OK, because I don't think too many people read this anyway! ;)

Well, if you're looking for an update on the girls, this is not your post. This is not going to be about the millions of times a day I say, "Are you listening to me?!?" to Avery (or Ben!) that you parents, teachers (and wives) can relate to. This one is about something similar that was put on my heart to write about. Listening to God. (I wonder if he gets as exasperated with us as we do with our own children?)

No, no, I am absolutely not an expert on this listening to God subject, and I will never claim to be! But I've been learning a lot, and this morning I got the strong feeling that I needed to share. That's the difference between my past, and what I am now learning to do ... listen and obey. In the past, if I was experiencing something, and I got the "feeling" to share it, I would talk myself out of it, telling myself no one cares and it's really not that interesting. Here's the thing: It doesn't matter what I think; it matters what He thinks.

So for me, that's how I've been learning to listen to God. He's always spoken to me (and to you, too!) I just didn't realize that's what it was. It's those thoughts that pop into my mind that are loving, or humble, or tell me to do something nice, maybe even step out of my comfort zone. Yep, that's God! I thought it was my voice thinking these things ... you know, the good part of my conscience or whatever. So it was a lot easier for me to ignore them, or talk myself out of doing them, because who cares if I blow my own self off, right?

I'll never forget how one year (in junior high, I think) I saw a new girl sitting by herself in the cafeteria. Having been a new girl myself once upon a time, my heart went out to her, and I got this huge urge to go sit down next to her. I am so ashamed to say that I didn't do it. Maybe if I had realized it was God giving me instructions, I would have been more willing to follow through. Who wants to disobey God on purpose??

Anyway, through some amazing bible studies and discussions with equally amazing women, as well as sermons from our gifted pastors, I've learned that this is actually God's voice. He puts his will on your heart.The tricky part is recognizing it, listening, and doing what He wants you to do. Remember, I said I am not an expert! There are many, many times that I know I either don't hear Him, or don't obey. But that's OK, because He is a loving God and knows that I am not perfect.

So, if you're one of the 3 people that actually read this blog, you know my decision to quit teaching was one of the ways I listened to God. And because I knew it was coming from God, I had complete peace about it. I didn't have to stress and worry that I might be making the wrong decision. I didn't have to second-guess myself. It was what I wanted, but it was because God put it on my heart. Try making your next decision that way. Give yourself time to listen and He will speak to you. If you're not sure if it's Him speaking, or if it's your own wants and desires, then be patient, the time is not right. Keep listening, and He will reveal it to you.

If you're bored, quit reading. If you're not, then here's one more example: Yesterday I was supposed to meet a woman I didn't know to take some maternity pics for her. We planned to meet at a park about 40 minutes away from my house.

While I was waiting for her, I noticed a car pull up and park in a handicapped spot. I watched for a good fifteen minutes while a man about my age struggled to get himself out of his car, set up his wheelchair, adjust his cushions, lift himself onto it, wheel himself to his trunk, tie his legs together, put on his gloves, and probably do some more things I didn't even see because I didn't want to look like I was staring. He did all of this completely on his own. I would have had the urge to help him, but he had a friend there that had come in another car. This friend waited patiently without helping him, so I know he wanted to do it independently. (I'm convinced this was a God-thing, too, him having a friend there and letting me know he didn't want help, or else I probably would have embarrassed myself by going up to him.)

OK, so short story long, the girl I was supposed to take pictures of never showed up. And I wasn't upset at all. I just kept thinking about this guy. Then it popped into my head that I should leave him a note to let him know how much he inspired me. What? Only a total nerdy freak would do that! As I walked to my car, my mind kept repeating three lines that I would write in a note, if I was going to leave him one. Of course I wasn't, though, because that would just be weird....like I was stalking him or something.

Well, I got in my car, took a deep breath, and did it. I wrote the note ... but where would I put it? He couldn't reach his windshield wipers, so that would just be cruel if I put it there! Whew! I was off the hook! Nowhere to put it! But then I got the thought that I should try the license plate holder. Not only could he reach it, but I knew he would go there to put his equipment back in his trunk. Low and behold, after I stealthily crept as incognito as I could over there, the paper fit snugly and securely just under the plate.

OK, so the moral of this (probably lame) story is that it was God who put those ideas in my head! Only He knows what we need. Maybe that guy was having a bad day; Lord knows life must be incredibly difficult and isolating as a parapalegic. I don't know what his story was, and honestly it was none of my business. I will never know if the note I left him made an impact on his day, or if he immediately threw it away. It doesn't matter. I heard God's voice - I got the thought - and I didn't talk myself out of it.

How many times a day / a week do you have these "thoughts"? God speaks to all of us! Are you listening??

Ella walks .... Really! This time I mean it!

It was a whole month ago Ella took her first steps, and yet she has stubbornly been refusing to practice walking. She's just a super-efficient crawler, and I guess just hasn't felt the need to polish up on this new skill.

Anyway, in the last couple of days, she has been off and going, in that adorable new-walker style: Toddling unevenly with her arms held out to help her balance and a big 'ol smile on her face. She's got it now!

Avery's First Day of Preschool

Avery had her first day of school ... ever ... yesterday! Even though she's been in classroom settings with Sunday School, VBS, etc. this was her first all-day school experience. It made me a little nervous, as we prayed together that morning, when she interjected, "God, please don't let there be any green monsters there." Wow! What did she think school was going to be like, poor thing?

Well, as every mom knows and could have predicted, it was harder on me than it was on her. She had a great day and loved it! She talked all about it the whole way home ... what she ate for snack and lunch, who she played with, what her teacher said. Thankfully, she's looking forward to going back next week!

Why I'm Sitting at Home on the 1st Day of School

So, ever since I've become a mother, I've wanted to stay at home with my kids. In fact, when I was little, if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say, "A mom." It wasn't until I realized that I was expected to have a career, too, that I decided to be a teacher.

For the past three years, I've been so fortunate to have the "perfect" teaching job, yet still I felt the call to stay home full-time. Unfortunately, Ben and I just really thought it was impossible financially. His job had been super slow for the past year and a half. Every summer, we would crunch the numbers, and then come to the same conclusion: We needed my paycheck and benefits. Plain and simple.

This summer, thanks to an amazing bible study, I learned to put things into perspective, ask myself the tough questions, and listen to what God was telling me. My heart kept tugging at me and whining, "I want to be home with my girls!" But this time, something (or I should say someone) was tugging at me, too. Scriptures I would come across suddenly jumped out at me and screamed, "Do it! Everything will be OK." Discussions in my small group gave me examples of others who had listened and obeyed. I even got signals from situations at work that seemed to push me in that new direction.

As I continued to think and pray on it, I began to realize that it wasn't just me that was wanting this, it was God wanting this, too. So, feeling completely at peace with the decision (yet having no idea what would be in store for our future) I resigned from my job.

I wish I could say that Ben felt at peace about this decision, too, but he didn't. He was nervous and kept wanting us to make a "back-up plan, just in case." The amazing thing, though, is that even though he didn't feel the peace and comfort, he trusted mine. Because of his trust in my faith, he supported my decision completely. What a great hubby!

Anyway, here's the cool part: On the very day that I quit my job, Ben's boss told him, "We're going to make some changes that are going to benefit us both." We didn't know what that meant exactly, but we were optimistic. Then, the following week we found out ... Ben was going to be gaining another subdivision! Having two neighborhoods means more homes that he can build! His hard work and God's perfect timing - what a great combination.

Well, here's the even cooler part: After a few weeks of building in both neighborhoods, Ben mentioned to me, "You know, if I continue to average 4 houses a month, then I will make about '$XX,000' extra this year." Why is this cool? Because that is almost exactly what my salary was!!!!!

We had been waiting for almost two years for Ben to get a raise, get a better neighborhood, make more money, etc. and yet it didn't happen until we stepped out in faith. Then, almost immediately, God rewarded us.

Now for what I think is the coolest part of the whole story: A week or two ago, I overheard Ben telling someone about how his business had been picking up and things were going well. And he told that person, "Yeah, God is good." Ben may not have experienced the faith and peace as early as I did, but he sure does have it now!

Ella Walks!!

Finally, Ella took her first steps this evening!!!


She has been standing on her own for several days, with her feet planted firmly and stubbornly to the ground. She just didn't quite know how to move forward.

Today, for some reason, she decided to go for it!! (Hmmm, I wonder if it could have something to do with the fact that her big sister is out of town for the weekend? No one there to "help" ... I use that term very loosely ... her?)

Whatever the reason, she did it! I wish everyone who loves her could have been there to see it and cheer her on, because she was just so excited and proud of herself. Life will never be the same for her.

Rainy Day Fun

We had a wonderful summer rain the other day ... Hallelujah! It was so enticing that Avery decided we should go outside and play in it. (Please excuse the topless look. We could only find half of her bikini! When you have a 4 year old that helps put away her own clothes, sometimes you never know where things will end up!)

After all that jumping and playing, the girls were worn out. It's very rare to see them both this still and cuddly together!

Odds and Ends

Ella Fights Back
Ella got tired of Avery picking her up against her will ... See the bite marks?
(I have to admit, I was kind of proud of her.)

Pedro Comes to Visit

We had a surprise visitor show up on our doorstep the other day. The girls were fascinated. Heck, so was I!! How many times do you see a random turtle wandering the streets of Houston suburbia?

Ben decided to give it a name. Then he took it out back by the creek in hopes that our new little friend would find his way home. Hope to see you again sometime, Pedro!

Little Miss Thing

Our laid-back little Ella Bella is developing quite the personality. In addition to learning how to stick up for herself, she is also throwing mini-tantrums (but they are soooo tiny, they're funny.) Here she is being stubborn and not letting me change her diaper. She looked so cute I just had to snap a pic.



Showing Off

No story here. These are just two of my recent faves. Love my girls!!!

Two Updates

(1) Avery and I have been working on her letter sounds, and she knows about 75% of them now. It has been so much fun watching how quickly she learns. Yesterday, I decided to get out a book with very basic beginning words in it. I showed her how when you put together the sounds that letters make, you read words. Then she tried it herself, and she read her first word ... CAT !!! I am a very proud mommy!

(2) Ella had her 15 month checkup today. She is still not walking (which the doctor says may be attributed to the growing slump she had around 9 months), but is otherwise doing great. The BEST news is that, after being classified as "failure to thrive" six months ago, she is now officially out of the woods, perfectly growing, with absolutely no obvious detrimental effects. We are in the clear!! Praise God!

Precious Princess Dance Camp

Avery spent last week at the neatest dance camp. She learned about being beautiful inside and out, having a servant's heart, and knowing she is a loved daughter of the King. She learned a new scripture each day, and did a craft that went along with it. For example, one day she made a purse and decorated it on the inside as well as the outside. This reinforced, " Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

All of this was in addition to dancing every day, which Avery loved!

On Friday, the girls dressed as princesses and performed two dances for the parents, served us cookies and punch on a tray (complete with curtsy), and participated in a ceremony where they were honored with their Princess of God sash and apron.

performing one of the dances

giving me a "thumbs up" after the first dance

Princess of God

Mommy and her princess

Alone Time With Ella

Avery spent the week in LJ with Mom and Dennis, and it has been WONDERFUL! Not only did I need a break from my very active 4 year old, but Ella needed one, too.

We spent the first part of the week just hanging out together, bonding. She got to do everything alone: She didn't have to share bathtime, toys, Mommy and Daddy's attention, etc. Without having her bigger sister there to "help" (aka hinder) her, she began standing on her own less than a day after Avery left! She also started speaking more. She now says uh-oh (but it comes out, "Uh-ooh"), dada, and no no.

Avery had a great time getting some one-on-one attention from Mimi. She went to VBS every morning, and dance class in the afternoons. She also got to take a much-anticipated trip to the beach and had a blast.

It was a fabulous and restful week for me! I haven't had this much time to actually hear myself think in, well ... about 4 years! I am so thankful to Mom for giving me this mini-vacation.

Avery Turns 4!

We had the best two days ... celebrating Avery's birthday twice!

On Sunday, we went to Sunday School (which she loves) and then got to spend the day with Nemaw and Grandpa, who were in for the weekend. After naptime, Mimi and Pawpaw joined us so Avery could open her big present - a dollhouse.



Then it was time to get ready for her party. She had been saying for six months that she wanted a Cinderella party. However, she's really been into watching Snow White lately, so although she insisted she still wanted a Cinderella party, she wanted to dress up as Snow White. So she got a surprise early present - a Snow White dress to wear to her party.



Avery loves McDonald's, so that's where her party was. About 17 of her friends joined us, along with moms, dads, and siblings, so it was a busy and fun place! All of the children were invited to dress as their favorite princess or fairy tale character. I guess Snow White is not just Avery's favorite, because there were FIVE of them! They were pretty cute, all running around and playing with each other. Avery had a wonderful time.

some friends

"Happy Birthday to You!"

After the party, she opened presents at home, and had fun trying out some new things. The next day, which was her actual birthday, she got to go to her first day of VBS. She had an awesome time there. That evening she had yet another party to go to, this time at Chuck E. Cheese's to celebrate with her T-ball team. She had a blast with Daddy and the boys from the team, and it was the perfect end to a very special occasion.

opening presents with Ella's help

She is so proud to be 4! She's been saying things like, "4-year-olds don't go to time out. 4-year olds make good choices. 4-year-olds do what their mommies tell them to do. " Well, from this mommy's point of view: So far so good!! A mommy can hope!!

I can't believe my baby girl is now a such a big girl. I marvel at her intelligence, and her fiesty spirit, and her beauty, and just still can't believe that God would give us such an amazing gift. I am so blessed.