Christmas 2008

Marc and I got a new digital camera for Christmas, unfortunately we didn't get it until the day after Christmas.  We don't have a ton of Christmas morning pictures but we have a ton of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning videos from our awesome video camera.  We'll post some videos soon.  These pictures are from Val.  Enjoy!!

Georgia, River and Cruz Christmas morning.

Grandpa and Nommie got Georgia and Cruz each a tricycle.  I honestly didn't think she would even pay attention to it but she loved it so much.  She's almost gotten the hang of pushing the pedals herself.  She mostly just sits on it kind of like Pheobe did when Ross gave her a bike.   Georgia loaded up this year.  She got a kitchen from Santa Clause (via the Foleys and Papa Tony), a baby doll and stroller, a grocery cart and then the tricycle.   Santa also brought a slide to her house in Grand Prairie.  I'll post pictures of that later.

This one is my favorite.  It's from one of the days before Christmas.  They both just look so natural.  I think Cruz got a little tired of Georgia being so dramatic.  I don't know where she gets dramatic from at all!!!!  

Nerd Alert

Georgia like Geegocks a.k.a Ewoks.

Georgia Lately

Georgia went to her friends birthday party. She's good buddies with brothers whose dad coaches with Marc. It was Braxton's 2nd birthday and Brock's 4th. She was the cutest girl there.

One of their cakes was a dinosaur so the cupcakes the kids got had green icing. Perfect for little boys!! Watching Georgia devour her icing you could tell she doesn't get sugar very often. She knew to take advantage of the situation.


So yummy!

I guess I did take one picture on Halloween. This is Georgia and her friend, Olive. Olive goes to our church and is one day older than Georgia. She and her family had an awesome Halloween party at their house. They had two bounce houses, sno-cones and a big screen tv in the back yard playing kid movies. Tons of fun!!

10 year class reunion

I didn't take these pictures, they've been sent to me from other people.

Marc and I spun danced to Coolio's Fantastic Voyage.

I'm on the left filming.

I got to be the MC. This is my impression of Earl Hickey reading off "The Most . . . " results.



Me checking people in and making sure they paid. Everyone did. I was happy.

It's been called "The Party of the Decade" and I'm not going to argue. I had pretty high expectations for the whole weekend and they were surpassed with each event. At Friday's tailgate party we had a pretty good turn out of about 40 people. The hamburgers were unreal they were so good!! A big group of us sat together at the game, I think again about 40 people. Most of us left at half time because it was so cold.

After the game we headed to the Party Barn where it got real fun. We ended up with about 120 people there just having a good time talking. The Senior Video was playing on a big screen and it was so much fun to get to watch people laugh and enjoy that. It made the work I did 10 years ago more than worth it.

Saturday we had a picnic at Rider in the cafeteria where everyone brought their kids and got to show them around the school. Everything except the classrooms was open. Rider has changed for the better. It's still one of the ugliest high schools but it looks better than it did!

Saturday night was the cherry on top. We had a little less than 100 there and it seemed like everyone was dancing. The DJ, Jahue Anderson, was the best ever. He played all songs from the 90's that we heard in Jr. High and High School. I believe I graduated with a unique group of girls who know how to have fun no matter where they are. I wanted to join in all the fun but having given birth to one kid and being pregnant with another prevented me from doing all the dancing I wanted to (Moms, you know what I'm talking about and I wasn't the only one doing some gentle dancing). The best compliment our reunion received was when friends of ours from our rival high school came over to ours after theirs was finished. When you have a good party you're going to draw a crowd. It was good to see them!

If you ask anyone what their favorite part of Saturday night was they will without a doubt say, "Watching Marc do the Superman Dance". Jahue played Soulja Boy just for Marc and he danced the entire song. I was proud that everyone got to see my man in action. When it got to the part where they say, "super soak that ho, super soak that ho", Marc acted like he was pumping up a super soaker and spraying people. Only me and the guys that were watching got it but it was hillarious!!!!!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend. The dork that I am I didn't take any myself so The Bindels aren't in a whole lot! I'll post more as I receive them from people - C

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window...

I was "watching" Georgia while she was playing in her room. Her floor-level window was open and she pushed on the screen. The screen gave out... Sorry, Mom.

River Berre and the Bindels

Marc and River Redding

Georgia, Aunt Carlye and River Redding

Georgia gave River tons of sweet kisses in between tortilla chips.



The Bindels love River Redding Berre. I wish our eyes weren't shut though!

Georgia lately

I got a wild hair / first phase of nesting push today. I started cleaning out the boxes in Georgia's "Big Girl Room" and came across this tutu of Kate's and my old lady hat from this summer. Georgia had a good time!

I also finally unpacked her Christmas (2007) present from Marc's mom, Granda. I can't believe I had this thing stored for so long. It's her new favorite toy. This was the best picture I could get because she would sit on the chair and say, "cheese" and be back by me to see the picture I was supposed to take before I could take it.

We took advantage of the nice weather last week and had lunch outside. We don't have any patio furniture besides chairs so we made due with them. Georgia constantly lines her 3 chairs up. She rarely sits in them, just moves them around the patio and puts them in straight lines. By the way, she learned her lesson about not leaning back in a chair too far soon after this picture was taken. No worries, no blood.

Marc's high school, Sam Houston, has Young Life!!!! Campaigners is held at our house every Wednesday night. Georgia does not know she's not in high school. The girl in the green is one of the leaders and they are dedicated to these kids. They go pick them up and take them home each week. That's a better leader than I was!!

River Redding Berre

River Redding Berre was born Saturday, October 11, 2008 at about 12:45 p.m. to George and Betsy Berre. His name was chosen several months ago and it's just a coincidence that he was born on Red River Rivalry day.

We had a little "Waiting for Baby Berre" party in the waiting room. Tons of fun!!

First trip to the State Fair 2008

Georgia and I met up with some of our friends from Dallas. This is Georgia and Gracie Isbell.

We got to see the Kiddie Rodeo and Georgia of course loved that as well. You have to be 3 to participate so maybe next year she'll get to show off her cowgirl skills.

She climbs everything. She's on her way down in this picture.

I thought I'd get a little belly shot while I was spotting my monkey of a daughter.

Fun with the Foley Girls!!

Georgia loved having her cousins Kate and Mary Clare visit. We live in a house big enough that they could actually spend the night with us. Georgia also loved loved loved giving Mary Clare kisses.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

Today was pumpkin patch day with our friends from Stroller Strides. We got a brown bow just especially for this day and this dress. The pumpkin patch was at a local church and they did a whole program for us. A lady dressed kind of like a scarecrow read the kids two stories and then they gave them a picture to color and they each got to pick out a little pumpkin. It was truly a cute idea and all the stories were centered around Christ. We only got to hear the first one because Georgia did not want to sit still.

This is our friend Carter. He's the cutest boy ever and Georgia felt like petting his head today.

These are two more of our Stroller Strides buddies, Samuel and Claire. Claire reminds me so much of Georgia at that age. She's very social and very vocal. I put this picture up because of the sign behind Georgia. I didn't read it while we were there and I only noticed it while looking back through the pictures. It reads, "May your heart for others be bigger than your pumpkin."

Dallas Buddies and Baby Bump

Georgia's friends from Dallas came to visit and brought her some fun toys. She got a pink popper to push around, a fun animal puzzle and a tiara. They came to visit on a Friday and I dress her in her "Georgia" cheerleading uniform on Fridays.

This is as close as I've come to a belly picture. it's still a little small but you can tell it's there, at least my butt is enlarging to balance out a belly.

Georgia and her popper.

Georgia's buddies John, Kate and Stella came to visit us last Friday. Their moms surprised me with baby gifts and chocolate chip cookies, too. We were only in Dallas for three months but made some life long friends.

I had a revelation this morning. It goes along with my David Bowie revelation and Micah's Matt Damon revelation. I like The Clash alot. Every time a song by The Clash comes on the radio I turn it up pretty loud. (I have my speakers in my car turned totally to the front so there's no super loud noise in the back with Georgia.) My David Bowie revelation came in 2003 when I was burning alot of mixed CD's. Almost every one of them had a David Bowie song on it. I finally realized, "I think I like David Bowie more than I thought before."

Small Victories

My camera is still not working so here's an old picture from 1986. People like blogs with pictures.

My old jeans from before Georgia fit. I had to quit wearing them at 11 weeks with Georgia and in a different way they haven't fit since January.

Georgia said, "Cool" today.

She also answered, "yes" with her normal nod. We started working on saying yes and no with our head shakes and nods.

My big toe is now leaking stuff but at least the pressure isn't as bad. (Long story)

I might be getting highlights in my hair. It's a return to the fall of 1998. - C

Andy, Oppie and Aint Bea

Since it's just me and Georgia in the mornings I've been turning on the TV to the Today Show for some background noise and maybe a little news here and there. When I turned on the TV this morning it was on some other channel and was in the middle of an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. Georgia was mesmerised. She stood there watching it so I just left it on and watched it with her. I don't know if it was entertaining to her because it was black and white or if she just liked watching Oppie because he was a kid or what. She was into it. Kind of funny - C

Hooray for Georgia Porgia!!

We've introduced going to the potty to Georgia but haven't started formally potty training. I've heard from several moms, including my own, to go ahead and have the potty out and let her start sitting on it so that when she is ready we're all set up. She's been sitting on her potty for about a month now and I've started letting her sit on it without her diaper. Either last week or the week before she accidentally tee tee'd on the potty. Last night and today she has tee tee'd twice and I'm so excited.

I bought some M & M's to keep in the bathroom to use as a reward and I was so thrilled to give her her first one last night. It was funny. She hadn't ever seen one before so when I gave it to her she didn't know what to do with it. She looked at her potty and then at the toilet like maybe she was supposed to put it in one of those. I got one for myself and showed it to her and then ate it. She was still a little hesitant. After she ate it she asked for more. Even after she went the second time I had to remind her to eat it. Kind of funny. I'm just so proud of her. The next big step is going #2! - C

P.S. Either my camera or memory card is not working. Not that you would want to see any pictures celebrating these moments!

Amarillo by Mornin

Luke and Ben have a Longhorn football helmet that Georgia enjoyed for a minute. She put it on and of course we could not grab the camera fast enough.

The Kemps keep their house at 67 degrees during the night so Georgia had to borrow some of Ben's sweat pants to sleep in because we only brought onezies for PJ's. We both loved the cold house!! This is Georgia, Ben and Luke all ready for bed the first night.

There was something about the Kemp's bathtub that Georgia liked more than her own. I think it was the two fun people in there with her. She splashed half the water out of the tub the first night. She is smiling just like Marc in this picture - real big and a little crooked.

Here's baby Kate in her new bathtub duck. Ben kind of thought it should be his duck, too. Somehow we didn't get any pictures of Georgia and Kate. Oh well, we'll just have to go back to Amarillo again!!

Georgia and I had so much fun on our weekend away. She did great on the flight there and passed out on the flight back before we were even in the air. Luke is 4 1/2 and makes things with Legos that I'm pretty sure are hard for a 12 year old to make. Ben is almost 3 and is Mr. Social Man. He loves to be doing whatever your doing and is a sweet heart. He and Georgia did pretty much everything together the whole time. When we went for walks, he rode with Georgia. When we were walking through the parking lot, he held Georgia's hand. Too cute!! Kate is just the second sweetest baby in the world, Georgia is still the first. She's just sweet all the time and watches her big brothers do everything. I really think she'll be walking in a few months because she wants to keep up so badly. Precious family.

Olympics

Please tell me you watched the men's 4 x 100 m freestyle relay Sunday night!! Marc and I aren't really into swimming but we are into the Olympics this year. As the race started we both tensed up a little bit. I don't know why I do this, but I kind of kick my legs a little bit thinking it will somehow make them swim faster. When Leezak (spelling?) made the turn and was on the French guys heels Marc and I both stopped breathing. If you haven't seen the replay in slow motion a million times then you're missing out. I still can't believe we won. It was crazy. I jumped up off the couch with a huge celebratory fist pump. Marc had the lap top in his lap so he stayed seated. It was a great time to be an American.

Please tell me you watched the opening ceremonies!! With every new thing the Chinese did it solidified my thought that we might not be able to pull something like that off. I can't believe the printing block things were people. The little boy that walked with Yao Ming was just adorable and kind of inspiring. I was going to say heartbreaking but it was his situation that was heartbreaking, not him. The final torch bearer was crazy!! I watched that part with George and Betsy. When he got to the top of the stadium and pulled one of the side cords off to give him the angle he needed I thought he was going to fall. It took a few minutes for our hearts to get back to a normal beat. And the fire works . . . WOW! I wish NBC hadn't cut to commercial. I would have loved to watch the whole thing. It was just over impressive.

Why are we into the Olympics this year as opposed to other years? The 2004 Olympics fell at the time of our wedding. Actually our wedding fell at the time of the Olympics. I can remember watching a few things on our honeymoon but lets be honest, we were on our honeymoon. We didn't watch the Olympics but we sure didn't miss Monday Night Football pre-season. During the 2000 Olympics I was working in Colorado and our TV didn't get any stations since we were living on a mountain. All we could do is watch movies which is why I know almost every word to 10 Things I Hate About You (RIP Heath). Marc didn't see the Olympics because he was too busy explaining to his parents why he had flunked out of UNT.

We're older now, we move a little slower in the evenings therefore we are watching the Olympics. I was debating last night whether I should go walk around the block a few times or not (walking at night helps me sleep, it's a pregnancy thing). When NBC showed a little clip of the 33 year old gymnast competing for Germany, I decided I could get my 28 year old butt of the couch and walk a little.

- Carlye Jo

Georgia and Cruz

Georgia loves loves loves to give people kisses, especially people her size. Cruzy was in town a few weekends ago and she got to see him at Duncle Dale's birthday party. We went out in the front yard and stripped the kids down to their diapers so they could play in the sprinkler. I can't count how many times Georgia tried to hug and kiss Cruz. Val snapped this cute picture of them. They aren't really "kissing cousins" but at this age it's cute!

8 weeks and counting

It's not so bad so far. I started getting tired about 6 1/2 weeks, which was alot sooner than I had hoped. Georgia and I go to Stroller Strides everyday and get some good exercise in. For real, it's alot harder than I would be working myself if I were alone but it's all safe for moms-to-be. Today we worked our booties. Georgia goes down for a nap at noon and usually sleeps until at least 3 p.m. giving me plenty of time to take a 2 hour nap. The only time I feel a little yucky is in the evening after dinner and after G goes to bed. Maybe I'm hungry again, I don't know. I think I probably feel the same as I did with Georgia but I'm able to take better care of myself since I'm home. All in all, it's better than I thought it would be. I've still got a few more weeks until I'm feeling good all the time so I guess it could get worse!

Dizzy Jimmy Buffet

Last night Georgia did her own Young Life skit. She held her head back while drinking her sippy cup and spun around about 5 times. She then dropped her cup and attempted to walk forwards. She slowly fell to the right and laid on the floor for a few seconds. Marc and I almost fell off the couch laughing at her.

I had to get a new battery in my car today which meant I had to reset the stations on my radio right away. I love the oldies station in Dallas, 98.7 KLUV. It's great. When I got it set today Margaritaville but Jimmy Buffet was on and Georgia IMMEDIATELY started dancing to it in her car seat. I listened to it and I guess it does kind of sound like a kids song. It has a xylophone and a kiddish beat to it. I thought it was funny. The next time you hear it you'll have to tell me what you think .

Big Sis

Georgia and her cousin, Caroline, got to share the good news with their families that they are both going to be Big Sisters!! Aunt Amanda made these cute shirts for them to wear after Mary Clare's baptism. We didn't say anything to anyone, we just let them read their shirts and figure it out. Of course Buffy (Aunt Stephanie) was the first to catch on. She walked in the door, looked at Georgia's shirt, and looked straight at me. My mom hugged Georgia, picked her up, let her sit in her lap while she ate some fruit and paid no attention to the shirt what so ever. Stephanie had to point it out to her. Here's a picture of my mom's shock.

Baby Bindel #2 is due March 9, 2009!