She's Here!

Our little angel Helen Simone Gardner made her very loud entrance into the world on Monday, May 17, 2010 at 1:20pm. She weighted 8 lbs 4 oz-MUCH less than predicted!-and was 20 inches long. She's adapting well to our house mostly because she's in charge. We have realized that every parenting cliche is true: She's only 11 days old but we don't remember life without her and we're completely in love with her. Here are a few pictures of her. As you can see, she's pretty darn cute, spoiled, and loved.

Happy Summer! Take a few minutes this weekend and show your gratitude to our service men and women, past, present and future.

Emily

Spring has sprung!

Hello again from the Gardners. We're trying to relax and enjoy spring before life changes when Squasher gets here in just 8 weeks-or less from what the doctors tell us. He/she continues to grow and is sitting in the wrong position. Kevin is working hard due to tax season and I have a feeling that will look easy compared to the honey-do list that's waiting for him. Yesterday I was lucky enough to have a shower thrown for our kiddo by some very close friends. They were all much too generous. I can't wait to introduce the kid to them. Here are a few pictures from the party.

Hope you're all enjoying spring and are doing well.

Emily

2010's off to a great start!

Hello again. What a fun few months it's been. Despite threats of global warming, Dallas has gotten more snow than ever before. Last Thursday (2.11.10) it snowed for 24 straight hours-a first. We got a record 12 inches of snow but I'm not sure our house got all of that; more like 8-10 inches. I've included a few pictures from that day. All is well with us too. Kevin is in the swing of tax season. It's always stressful but this year as soon as it's over, we'll be ready for our new little addition. He/she is coming 3 months from today and we've been warned by 2 doctors that it will be FAR from petite! Yikes. We're very excited and can't wait to meet the newest family member.

Hope all of you are doing well too!

Emily

PS-the first pic is of my tummy on Jan. 27, 2010. We were about 5 months pregnant then. I can't believe how much bigger I've gotten...and how much bigger I'll get!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Sorry it's taken so long to update. It's not because we've been sitting still or don't have news. Football season and Thanksgiving have been lots of fun. But the best news is that Kevin and I will welcome a little one into our family in May. We're thrilled! It's wonderful to experience what happens when old-fashioned prayer and new-fangled medicine combine forces. So far the pregnancy has been uneventful which is a good thing. At this moment, we're going to have a delivery surprise...even I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do! Thanks to all who have supported and prayed for us during our journey. It feels like the end of one chapter and the next one will be fantastic. Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving tailgate. Kevin made 2 delicious fried turkeys. We had more food than we knew what to do with! Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and are getting ready for a miraculous Christmas season.

Congratulations Graham and Jackie, aka Mr & Mrs Thurman!

We just got back from a trip to Breckenridge, CO to celebrate the wedding of Graham and Jackie. It was a fun wedding and great vacation for Kevin and me. We didn't know the wedding would coincide with Oktoberfest but Kevin was overjoyed to see all of the pork and sauerkraut. The city of Breckenridge should be applauded for their "green" efforts-there was forced recycling! Yeah! It's easy to see why they want to keep their area so perfect. Here are some of the pictures from our trip.

Other than that, we're in full-fall mode: back to teaching the 2nd and 3rd grade Sunday school class and Aggie football. Wish us luck in both pursuits!

Happy fall, y'all!

Happy Summer!

Dallas has gotten a bit of a weather break in the past few days-it hasn't hit 100 degrees for over a week! That's unheard of for mid-July. Kevin and I have enjoyed this by riding our bikes almost nightly. I wish I had pictures from White Rock Lake on Tuesday-yes, we made it but not all of the way around-it was so serene and gorgeous. We also blew up our kiddie pool and had a nice afternoon in the backyard to cool off. You can see from the pictures that it was fun. For better or worse, our neighbors thought it was great and said they'd join us next time. We had hoped to go camping but our plans fell through. No worries though. Kevin set up a tent in our living room. All 4 of us slept in a tent in our living room all night....okay, not a lot of sleeping since Dirk is a bedhog! It was too much fun.

Hope that your summer is going well also.

Happy (late) 4th of July!

Kevin and I had a very relaxing and fun 4th of July weekend. The best part is that we bought bikes for ourselves. This is almost monumental for me since I've not ridden a bike since 3rd grade! I have been terrified for years to get on one. It went very well; we rode for about 5 miles this afternoon. I'm looking forward to a trip around White Rock Lake soon....after a LOT more practice of course. I included pictures of us biking and one of little Olive who's not so little anymore! She continues to be a wonderful addition to our family. She and Dirk are getting much more used to each other.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. God bless you and God bless America!