Big Sister lovingly volunteered her many years of tooth pulling experience to help out the tooth situation. However..... even with her patient wrapped in a blanket, her delicate fingers just weren't strong enough to get the job done, so in the end Daddy had to do the "dirty" work.
OK every one can Ooo and Ahh over those gorgeous curls. let me answer a few questions that most of you are probably wanting to ask..... 1. Yes is is natural. 2. We think that Kent's granddad might have had curly hair, only he kept it so short and slick that no one knows for sure just HOW curly it really was. 3. Yes it is very easy to take care of: wet, comb, condition and we are done. 4. You might be able to touch it if you ask nicely AND Curly is in a good mood.
I say all that because I LOVE this picture of her hair, it shows off the curls well, AND those are the answers to the questions I get asked AT LEAST 4-5 times a day. Only, most people don't ask if they can feel her hair, they just do. I digress....... Here Curly is opening up her presents.
OK so now for my sob story...... S (or Curly's) big day fell on a Friday this year, that meant that H's (name to soon follow) fell on Sunday. SO we planned a big party for both of them for the Saturday in between, PERFECT, right?
Well it would have been if I hadn't gotten sick. I started feeling puny when I woke up that morning, but knowing that I had two girls eagerly awaiting their cakes, I put my illness aside and started decorating the cakeS. I started shortly after breakfast, and didn't get finished until 3:30. Sadly enough this wasn't because I was creating a birthday masterpiece, if was simply because every thing took SO much effort!
When I was finished I CRASHED, and I never go back up. Here is were I award Kent and his friends the Father of the Year award. You see of the two other families that were coming, one mom had just gotten out of the hospital, and the other mom decided not to come when she heard that I was sick. So Kent, and two daddies had a birthday party with 10 kids + a few other adult friends.
I have never had to miss one of my children's birthday parties before. (I came close when Curly was born, we just postponed the party a few weeks, but I didn't MISS it). It was heart wrenching!! I cried when I heard them start singing "Happy Birthday" to take the cakes out. The girls however were SO sweet and understanding. They are very precious.
Needless to say, I didn't get very many pics of the party, I didn't snap a picture of the cakes, and I never really took any pictures of H opening her presents the next day either. =( So sad!
It took him 41 min to complete the swimming portion of the race. The girls and I were there to cheer him out of the water, but I don't think he heard us. Once he was all the way out, we ran our own little race to see him off on his bike. 
While we waited for Daddy to get back, we all went down under the bridge and looked around. I took the opportunity to get in a few cool snapshots in front of the awesome brick wall!
Here he comes!! He was racing his good friend, and his friend had JUST passed him in the transition area when I snapped this picture. He was a good sport about it though.
There he is.... after his 6.4 mile run! The accomplished athlete, finishing his first Olympic distance triathlon. It took him 3 hours and 4 min. He missed his goal by 4 min, not BAD. 
Getting ready to cross a bridge.
In the bike shop, getting more tubes. Apparently they have had MULTIPLE flats each!
The first major injury on the trip. And from what I understand he wasn't 
Flat #2...... soon followed by flat #3 and #4
Cruzin' in the bike lane.
The Tammany Trail
Park rangers for the Tammany Trail.
Bachi Ball on the BEACH!
Well I don't know what they did yesterday (Thursday) but I know that today was an easy day (only 60+ miles) and tomorrow will be the same. Kent will be home, safe and sound, tomorrow - I mean, EARLY Sunday morning. His plane doesn't even get in until 10:30pm tomorrow. It will be after midnight before we get back to the house!
Today's trip was fun, but not as scary and eventful as the day before. They were on the bike for 5.5 hours, but the total time it took to get from point A to point B - 8+ hours.
They met a rice farmer (twice) and he showed them his farms. They also met a number of other interesting people. However since Tue ride is longer, I think they are going to try and limit the number and length of visits that Kent, I mean, they have.
I'm sure there are several of you that are wondering what in the world would possess three mature, adult men to try such a crazy stunt....... well I'm not sure, other then the bragging rights to say that they did.
The idea started last summer, after Kent and Coach, seen in these picture wearing the yellow, rode in the "Hotter than Hell" 100 mile race. Coach's wife's family was having their family reunion in Panama City, FL this year, so they decided that it would be fun to RIDE their bikes to FL the week before the reunion. AND so....... the BIG ride was born.
They have mapped and planned and thought through this trip for months. We weren't sure if Kent would be able to go, due to lack of funding.... but GOD who is ever faithful, once again provided for our family enough $ so that he could go.
Oh and BTW - no they are NOT riding back..... Kent flies home on Saturday night!
On Sunday we dropped Kent off in Fannett, TX where he met up with the rest of the crew. Sunday they drove 20 miles (simply because they didn't get started until 2pm) to Port Neches.
Saying farewell.........
THE SHIRT
THE CREW
LOADING UP
from Port Neches > Bridge City > Orange > Sulpher, LA > Lake Charles
While there we were able to go to the Houston Space Center...... I would totally recommend it, just not on a MAJOR holiday weekend and not during the STAR WARS special Jedi Training day!
My AWESOME little Bro. took us to his office building, so we had a bird's eye view of the fireworks display and we had the comfort of AC and cushy office chairs. We had LOADS of fun playing around with glow sticks as well.
Sunday was my Dad's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! - That morning the girls and I took Kent to the "drop off" point for his BIG 600 mile ride (More on that in the next few posts). That evening for Dad's gift, Mom and Bro took us to the nicest restaurant I have EVER been to, while sister-in-love stayed back with the girls.
To Finish off the weekend, we stopped at the BLUE BELL factory on the way home, took the tour and sampled the ice cream. (I can't wait to try the new flavor.... Nutty Chocolate YUMMY)
ALL in ALL it was a GREAT weekend!! Next post.... details on the "big ride"
As Kent and I are preparing for overseas missions, one of the most important things that we want is a prayer team. We are looking for 30 people to pray one day a month (for example every 5th: Jan 5th, Feb 5th, March 6th). And we want one person a day fasting as well. 
That being said..... I was finding it hard to keep track of who was on what day and all that, so I came up with this book idea. (I firmly believe it was from the Holy Spirit)
For everyday there are two 4x6 note cards. Each day has 5 prayer parts. 1 Prayer: the individual or family that is committed to praying for us that day. 2. Family: I are praying for everyone in our family one day a month. 3. Girls: Our church recently put out a list of things to pray over your children, I put one thing on each day. SOOOOOO helpful.
4. Fasting: The people who are fasting on our behalf. 5: Globe (Cause Missionary was too long ;) Where we have all of our friends that we went through training with listed. I put all these cards unto a photo album, and wall-ah a new prayer book!
I know that praying for someone one day month doesn't seem like much, but I can GUARANTEE that using our new book has helped me pray more consistently. I would much rather commit to once an month and mean it, than say I'll pray and it never happens!
If you are haven't chosen a day yet and would like to, email me and let me know. I would love to add you to my book! At the bottom of my blog is a calendar that shows the days that are open.
