The Graduate

This wonderfully smart and determined hubby graduated from the University of Texas-Southwestern with his Bachelor's degree in Prosthetics & Orthotics last week. His awesome family sent him some SUPER COOL gifts. Here they are:

A beautiful new grill from Great-Grandma Polly and Trish. It's a 60,000 BTU stainless-steel beauty! Very exciting as we've been grilling on a table top grill, (with no table to put it on!), for the last 6 years. Can I get a WOOT!?

Here are the beautiful grates and you can see the 4 stainless steel burners on the inside. Stainless is better for us down here because cast iron rusts out in our wet, humid climate. Yes, we live in Texas, but it's only hot and dry for 3 months of the year. Then it's wet and humid.

A burner! This was my requirement so I can make mac n cheese while we grill meat. Other stuff will be cooked there, as well, but I don't want to heat the kitchen at all if I don't have to.

Of course we also got a grill cover so it stays nice.

Allan's super awesome cousins, Lauren and John, sent him a huge package of Omaha Steaks to cook on the new grill. I can't wait to try them! I've been wanting to order from them forever now!


And then his mum sent money for us to buy some Pampered Chef grill accoutrement. This is what we picked out:

BBQ basting bottle. The BBQ sauce goes in the bottle and comes out the silicone basting brush! The silicone is heat safe to 650 degrees, so it won't melt when we put the sauce on and it won't fray like the usual BBQ brushes.

Jumbo turner, for turning great big old steaks!

BBQ grilling basket for slicing up squashes, mushrooms, etc and giving them that awesome grilled flavor, too.

Outdoor caddy for entertaining. I LOVE PC!!!

So CONGRATULATIONS, ALLAN!! You rock! And thank you to Allan's family for getting him such an AMAZING graduation gift! We will be using it LOTS!

Prayers, please, as we make this transition from students to working class. Allan starts his residency at the Dallas VA on June 22nd. Thankfully the house is done and we can relax during his time off. Anytime we've had time off until now has been spent frantically trying to finish some house project before he had to go back. We're planning to take a couple road trips, but we'll see how finances and time pan out. We love and miss you all!!

Fresh, New and Ours!

It's amazing what some trim and a coat of paint will do! Here is the hallway to the 1/4 bath and the side door with the trim up and the hall painted. That color will extend all the way upstairs via the stair well and also be the upstairs hall color. It ties the rooms together very nicely.

By the way...take a look at the finish on the trim as you go through the pictures. Allan absolutely hates the gloss. I think it looks AMAZING with the flat wall colors. Make sure you post your opinion. I'm hoping it will eventually grow on him.

Here's from the front door looking into the library and further back, the dining room. The library is going to be so fabulous to read books in!

Here's the window trim and the mantle in the library. The mantle will be switched to wood as soon as we save up the money to do so.

Here is the stairwell, updated from yesterday. Looks pretty awesome, doesn't it? Especially considering it used to be just a piece of plywood.

The top of the stairwell, looking down. We argued our case and won for a 36" rail. Apparently 42" is to code, but with me being only 5'5" it was about up to my chest. I don't think either of my kids can dive over a 36" rail right now, and by the time they are old enough to do that, they should know better or else they can call the ambulance themselves. HAHA.

Happy Mother's Day

Our new stairway

Trim in the kitchen, primed and painted.

GraceAnne's new earrings.

Well, today we celebrate mothers. ALL mothers, as my husband learned many years ago, not just your own! (Thanks Pat & Trish!)

SO HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

There are a lot of moms who have impacted my life, but none so much as my own mother, of course. My mom is my hero in a lot of ways because she showed us how to always make the best of what we had, even if that wasn't much. She taught us that no matter what, family is the most important possession we could have on this earth and to treat it as such. Of course sometimes those lessons were lost on we 3 girls at the time, but rest-assured, mom...I try to make the most of them now. My mom taught me that children are to be the priority, even if that means sometimes going without the newest electronics or the nicest clothes. My mom was strong when I know she could have been weak; she was brave when I know she was scared-as-heck, she was beautiful when the world was hideous to her. So many times in my life I've been angry with her for being less than perfect, but now that I'm a mother myself I truly appreciate that she was human herself. I love you for being you, mom--even if you are stubborn as a mule, impossibly bratty and moody as all get-out sometimes.

Enough of the sentiment...what did we do today? Well, we started the day off with a walk to church and the sermon was really very good. The pastor talked about Mother's Day at Jesus' house. It was a touching message and I can appreciate Mary all the more. Then we bid (and won!) in a silent auction on a flower pot that GraceAnne had decorated last week. It is beautiful, let me tell you what! After church we took GraceAnne to Claire's and got her ears pierced. She is a big girl now! There were 3 rows of earrings to choose from, but the moment I saw the pink flowers I knew that she'd pick them. That's my girly girl! After we got over the blubbering we went to the Darst's farm. I'm sure you've seen me blog about it before. We are in heaven out there. Everything is so laid back and beautiful. We went out to the garden to pick cabbages, lettuce and onions. The kids picked strawberries and ate them. The babies mewed at the new kittens and we enjoyed hamburgers and the company of great friends. As soon as we got home the kids were plopped in the bathtub and they are now in their respective rooms humming about their days. Allan gave me my present earlier this week. I get a 30-minute massage, a hair cut, eyebrow waxing and something else I can't remember, but who cares, cuz it's a spa day for mommy! WOOHOO! I'm so Blessed to have a man who loves me so much.

I hope you all had as wonderful a Mother's Day as I did, and if you didn't, remember that I wish you a Happy Happy Happy Mother's Day and God thinks you're a great mommy, too! He's wild about your kids and the way they're turning out and He's proud of you for doing so well with them, even if you feel like you're not. We LOVE and MISS you all!!

A Day in the Life of a Mischievious 1-Year-Old

Today our tiniest one turned a whole year old! And what a day it was. I thought I'd give you a glimpse into her life for a day and show you how wonderful/exhausting it can be. We started off the day with a nice breakfast. Until Violet pulled the box off the table and dumped all the Trix all over the floor. Naturally, she was overjoyed by this.

Then she was quiet for a few minutes after I sweeped up the Trix and changed her diaper. I should have assumed something was up, but sometimes, as a mom...you just have to enjoy a few seconds of quiet. Even if that means losing half a box of wipes.

While I cleaned that up, she ventured upstairs. Her new favorite place in the house is the bathroom. That's because all of mom's cool makeup is under the sink and it's great fun to throw it all everywhere and put it back in the bag and throw it everywhere again.

Then we got a nap in and escaped the noxious fumes from the trim being stained. We went to Chick-fil-A where we got an awesome lunch and my big girl ate TEN chicken nuggets by herself. Oh...and let's not forget the half container of fruit. I got some great pictures there, but they're on my phone and until we're officially moved back into the house, I have no cord to download those pictures with, so you'll just have to trust me when I say it was awesome. haha.

We dropped by HEB and picked up some cupcakes and a present for the birthday girl, (her gifts are all put away for the big party on the 16th, but she HAD to have something to open on her birthday!), then she napped in the car on the way home and waited for daddy to arrive.

Daddy came and we got to tear into the cupcakes. Violet LOVES chocolate cupcakes. She kept saying MMMMM and shoving it into her mouth. I think she ate it in record time. After I took the wrapper off for her it was all over.

Then we got to open our present...Shhhh...it's a Little People Airplane.

Then we got to play with our new airplane with big sister! She really likes rolling it back n forth on the linoleum. GraceAnne really likes trying to steal it from her. This would be GraceAnne's first birthday in the house that's not hers. She's trying to deal with it gracefully.

Then we got perdy and went to eat at our favorite pizza buffet. Yes...you counted right. This is her THIRD outfit of the day. That's pretty typical for her. She's the ultimate tomboy already. FILTHY to the max 5 minutes out of the crib in the morning. She's still cute, though ;)

Then we came home and got ready for bed. Violet says, "It's not fair! You guys get to stay up and watch a movie and I have to go to bed! It's MY BIRTHDAY!" It's really not fair, but mom's gotta rest sometime!

Besides, she didn't argue for long. Awwww, a sleeping baby. A sleeping *birthday* baby! Not much cuter!

It doesn't seem like a whole year has gone by. So much has changed this year. So many things that have been for so long are changing. Allan graduates in 3 days, our house will be a home in 2 weeks, we're preparing for yet another baby. It seems like just yesterday we welcomed this one into our home and now she's making us laugh (and cry) while she walks around talking to everyone. She is such a joyful girl and I am so grateful to have her in my life. I really am the most Blessed mommy!

Happy first birthday, my sweet, funny little Violet. May God Bless all your days and make his love and plan for you evident early in your life. I'm so glad I get to be your mum!

Quacks n Wood

Remember those cute, tiny ducks? Here they are...getting huge. They're only half feathered-out, so they're still in the gawky phase, but they're starting to get pretty. The two dark-billed are females and the light bill is (I *think*) a male. They are Speckles, Sprinkles and Whiskers. These are the 3 we'll definitely keep. If Whiskers turns out to be a female after all we'll pick one boy to keep in addition to these 3. They're starting to get their quacks now and almost surprise themselves when they belt out a mature "WACK!" instead of a wussy little "PEEP!" It's amusing.

Here is Speckles up close. She is a silver-phase and will have more "black" to her than the gold-phase, which will be more brown.

This is Spoon. He is obviously the alpha male, but he's pretty stupid. He couldn't figure out how to get into the pool, so for 2 weeks he'd roam around the side of the pool while his buddies were swimming and just peep at them. He sticks his head over the side to get a drink and just looks pathetic. He finally learned to get in the last 2 days. He picks on Whiskers, so he'll definitely go, but he's the only unblemished male, so it makes me sad that he'll be eaten.

This is Sprinkles. She is a gold-phase, so like I said above, she'll be more brown.

This is a close-up of Whiskers. We know who he is because he has a dark stripe down his bill. He's always been the calmest and sweetest, but the others seem to pick on him. My hope is that once the others are gone, the two females will realize he's their only hope for some play and warm up to him. He is by far the kids' favorite, so no way is he going anywhere.

Let no one ever say we're afraid of color. Here is the new trim in our kitchen. This will be painted an off-white color when they're done. Doesn't it look GORGEOUS? Ignore the taped up big-ugly. That will be going away soon.

Here's the dining room looking into the library. This trim will be stained. It's really starting to feel like a home, we are SOOO excited! Only a couple more weeks and we can move our stuff back in, (it'll be like Christmas x 10 since we haven't seen any of this stuff in over 5 months and lots of it in 3 years!), and live in our house. PRAISE GOD we don't have to leave and can enjoy this beautiful new home for a couple of years.

Here is a spiffy column where we cut out a wall and had raw wood showing. These guys doing the trim are ARTISTS. Allan was nervous because he hadn't met them at all, but I told him from the minute the guy walked in the door I trusted him. He's been a fabulous contractor and his workers are great. For anyone in the area, his name is Craig Garland and I got his name through Blazek. I HIGHLY recommend him! They are awesome.

Here is the other column on the other side and the bookshelf "honoring" the door that used to go from the stairwell to the diningroom.

The library window. In time that room will be full of custom shelving units and our countless books and we can light a real fire in the fireplace and read and relax and enjoy each other. We are so Blessed!

There it is...things are coming along swimmingly. I'm sick as a dog and realizing I was nuts to think I could get away with a pregnancy feeling good. We are looking into getting a van, (my dream is the VW Routan), and we're anxiously awaiting Allan graduating after only 5 more days of school! Hope all is as well with you and yours. We love and miss you all!

Some New Things

We celebrated Allan's 37th birthday on Saturday. He got a big cookie, a mug with writing on it from us and a new Wii game. He also got to go shooting with his teacher and classmate, I'm sure that was the highlight of his day. Then we all went for a miniature train ride in Ft. Worth.
While the guys were shooting, we went to the Stockyards and explored the shops. Here are my little cowgirls.
Here is a really bad picture of some of the ducks swimming in our currently flooded yard. They are in the "ugly teenager" phase and just starting to feather out. They'll be prettier in a couple weeks.
And here is our single, HEALTHY 6 week and 6 day old baby. He/she is due December 15th and has a heart rate of 140 bpm. It was very exciting to get to see the heart and to HEAR it beating. Man technology has come a long way, even just since having GraceAnne. That looks like an exceptionally large gestational sac to me, so I thought for sure there were two, but no such luck. Oh well...God has a plan for this family and farbeit for me to impose on the plan! He is a faithful God, so I will trust in Him to carry me the next 9 months while I carry this tiny vampire.

Are you CRAZY?!?

So since I'm terrible at keeping secrets and since this started off as a baby blog, we'll come full circle and announce to anyone who didn't already know--we're expecting. According to a chart, we're due in early December but we have a sonogram scheduled for Monday to find out for sure. We're praying that there are 2 boys in there and we've been praying for this pregnancy since we were about 7 months pregnant with Violet. We're all absolutely elated, (except Violet, who smiles blankly when we say "BABY" emphatically and point to my belly), and the timing is just perfect. Things will be chaos for a while, of course, but my house is chaos anyway, so no biggie.

I've discovered, however, that there are a great many people who are absolutely opposed to anyone having more than 2 children. I'm really sorry they feel that way. Truly I am, but if you do, please keep your comments to yourself. Some people really know how to attempt to rain on God's parade and well, it's just not gonna work around here. So I thought I'd answer a question I've gotten this last week as we've been sharing our good news.

"Why would you want more? Are you crazy?" Yes. I am crazy. Crazy about my kids! And anyone who sees me grumpy once in a while can kiss my butt because I challenge you to do my job 24/7 and not be grumpy sometimes. Yes, my kids get yelled at once in a while and they get on my nerves on occasion, but I love them more than words and they make my whole life worth while. I consider them God's gift to me and Allan and we take our job of raising them to be God-loving, caring, thoughtful, giving, sweet people seriously. I want 2 boys because this is our last pregnancy, (Allan says he'd like to enjoy his retirement), and I really want to raise some boys to be great dads/husbands like their daddy. Of course it'd be great to even out the hormones in this house, too. My last answer to this question are the pictures below. With kids this great, who wouldn't want more? They're so amazingly beautiful, sweet, kind and smart. I kinda see it as our job to put more GOOD people into this world of nastiness. We can and WILL make a difference in this world for Christ through our children.

a

Check us out...

Our friend, Jina Armstrong, is a professional photographer working on a portfolio, so she took our pix for us yesterday. Here are her faves.

http://jina6789.zenfolio.com/

Obviously, we're the Doyles.

Daddy-Daughter Camping

100% without a doubt, never any question in my mind...these 4 are the most precious people in my life. I have never in my life been happier than when I have them all together and even moreso when they are having fun together. Allan took the girls, (all 3 of them!) camping last weekend with his class. He took them BY HIMSELF. Right down to 11-month-old Violet. He's such a great Daddy and they really had a good time.

I got reports that Violet played great by herself and was incredibly content while they were there. 3 days without Momma did her good, too. She seems more calm and less clingy than she was. Allan said she slept pretty good, despite her double ear infection and yeast infection from hell.

I've never seen any child so excited about and by her Daddy before. Because of my own issue with my "2 dads" I find so much joy in this. Reminds me of Genesis 50:20-"Even though you planned evil against me, God planned good to come out of it." Had I not experienced the bad men in my life, I wouldn't be so appreciative of the good one He gave to me. He is so faithful!

Glorious child! GraceAnne has the joy of 10 children locked up inside of her and she LOVES to let it shine out. Some days that translates into the drama or the disobedience of 10 children, but most days it is pure joy to be around her. I've never met anyone so eager to share her love, joy and happiness with those around her. When she walked in the door from camping she literally jumped into my arms and yelled, "MOMMY!! I had the BEST Daddy-Daughter camping time EVER! And I missed you SO MUCH!"

These two are the best sister duo in the world. There was never a little sister loved so much or so well as GraceAnne by Rhiya until Violet was born. Now Vi gets both of these wonderful sisters to love on her. There was a time in my life I begged God or the universe or the spirits or whoever would listen to not give me little girls but obviously God knew better than I did and I can't imagine my life any other way. They are so beautiful and keep me so balanced.

Blurry, but AMAZING just the same. Rhiya is the best big sister in the world, I think! She plays non-stop with the girls and loves on them all the time. She's eager to please and such a joy to have here. I'm so sad that she leaves in less than 48 hours. The months stretch by way too slowly between her visits and the days pass by way too quickly when she's here. I'll post more pictures of her visit in a couple days, but for now I'm going to soak her up!

I hope you're all feeling as Blessed as I am! We love and miss you all.

Our newest additions

The much anticipated phone call came this morning that our special package had arrived at the post office. We were getting GraceAnne ready for school, so we hurried up and ran to the PO so she could see the babies before she had to be dropped off. They sent 12, but only 11 made it safely. I only ordered 10, so we're ahead of the game anyhow, but it's always sad to lose one!


Here they are in the shipping container from Metzer Farms.
Here is a closeup of one of the girls. We have named 4 of them that we intend to keep. They are sprinkles, speckles (Rhiya came up with both of those), Whiskers (GraceAnne) and Count Drake-ula (Allan's doing.) We will be raising 6, however, because Allan's veterans' representative wanted some to eat.
Vi and I really bonded with them while GraceAnne was in school today. They think we are their mommies now. Vi would become disinterested and crawl away and they would peep like crazy for her to come back. She loves the duckies, and kept saying DUH DUH DUH and peeping back at them.
They have a pretty sweet setup free of any way to make messes. The last time we had ducks I was a retarded duck mom and didn't really build them a suitable abode. This time I researched the heck out of it and this is the medium size baby pool from Wal-Mart with a duck feeder in a pie plate and a waterer made from a half gallon milk jug in a 13x9 dish. They can only get their heads in the holes, so they can't splash the water all over the pool, which really helps cut down the level of nast. Right now there are 8 babies sleeping downstairs under their brooder lamp. We sold 3 today and tomorrow 2 more go to our friends, the Darsts. That leaves me with the 6 and I know they're going to look so tiny in that pool all alone. Give em a week...then I'll be freakin' out that there isn't enough room!

Hope you enjoy the pix of the quackers. I'm sure there will be many more to come--GraceAnne, Rhiya and Allan have yet to be photographed with a peep and then there's always peeps in the grass, peeps in the Easter basket, peeps in the tub for a swim etc. etc. etc.