Leaving the hospital...

On and off for the last 4 and 1/2 years, I have been working for Medical City Children's Hospital with the Pediatric Oncology kids. It has been one of the most rewarding and heart breaking things I have ever had the privilage of doing. I have cried many tears of sadness and joy over the years. 

It was an incredibly tough decision to leave. As of January, I had commuted from College Station to Dallas once a month for 4 days to work and had done that for a year. The time has come to be a full-time stay-at-home mom again and for that I am ecstatic. I leave for the most positive of reasons. Still, leaving breaks my heart. I love the people I work with. I love the patients I serve. I love all of it.

How grateful I am for the friends I have made and the things I have learned.

How grateful I am for a place that is so hard to say goodbye to.

Christmas!

Christmas was AMAZING this year. Rorey is at the age where she shows so much excitement when opening gifts. She tears through the paper and screams with joy at her treasure! This year she got a skateboard to match her daddy's and a bicycle!

Rorey sporting her new helmet! Safety first!

John and Rorey showing off their horses so they can ride off into the sunset together....well, bounce off into the sunset. 

Rorey and Andrew showing off their skateboards!! Andrew is so excited to have someone to ride around with.

Leigh riding Rorey's bike and sporting her favorite Christmas present...her Wonder Woman cape!

Thing 1...Thing 2...Thing 3?

I mentioned this on Facebook and then realized that not everyone I know is actually on Facebook....so here was our big news from the end of November. 

"Whelp, the call has been made and the ball is rolling. The adoption agency will be sending our starter packet within the next day or so. Let the games begin...again..."

Andrew and I decided that because we have no idea how long the adoption process will take, we would rather start sooner than later. John turned one November 16th. We contacted our adoption agency a week later and began the process. We have no idea what the future holds for us but we do know that our family needs another misfit to add to the mix.  

Family Pictures!

Ok, ok...am I the best blogger in the world? Not a chance. I have a million pictures and a million stories I want to write about, blog about, post about but....with two toddlers running around, the chances of that happening are slim to none. I will put it on my to-do list and pray that I get back around to chronicling our lives for the public to see.

In the meantime, we were able to have professional family pictures taken over the summer. (I realize it's January, but better late than never right?)

Here are a couple of our favorites!

The funny thing about this shot is that Andrew totally got the easy way out. Rorey weighs in at 22.8 lbs where as John has already passed her and is a dense bowling ball!

Our photographer did an amazing job keeping all of us entertained and smiling. I now understand why people end up spending so much money getting their pictures taken regularly because by the time we got the prints for these, the kids had grown so much. (Well, John had. Rorey doesn't want to grow to save her life)