Emery had a pageant on Saturday and totally rocked it! We had picked up her a little wiglet and she loved so stinking cute I could hardly stand it. Don't worry, we aren't going all Todd.lers and Tiar.as on anyone! ;o) There were two sets of judges and here's what she brought home:
1st set: Overall Natural Photogenic (this outranked a queen title and she couldn't be double crowned w/this so the next contestant down got the queen), Best Hair and Best Smile
2nd set: Overall Best Personality (this could be double crowned), Queen, and Best Hair.
All the supreme titles went to older girls, but we were so proud of her for bringing home not one, but two overall titles. This little girl LOVES to strut her stuff on state and wear her "princess" dressed! Here are a few pics, sorry for the quality, we forgot the camera!



***I am grateful for
1) less than 70 days of school left!
2) three weeks until Spring Break (14 school days to be exact)
3) fun weekends
4) cuddle time
5) rain, rain, and more rain to bring the lake up for the summer
Monday, February 20, 2012
Somebody rocked her pageant this weekend!
Posted by Kahla at 8:06 PM 1 comments
Monday, February 13, 2012
3 years ago today an amazing thing happened...
We were told that a little someone was on the way! Since we had so recently lost the twins and this was IVF #4 in our quest for #2, we were cautiously optimistic, thrilled, and terrified! We love you Emery Faith and this date will always hold a special place in our hearts because of you!!!
****I am grateful for
1) 3 wonderful years
2) that news that changes your life forever
3) little girls
4) pigtails
5) those dates that are forever etched in your heart
Posted by Kahla at 9:14 PM 2 comments
Labels: Emery, ivf Journey #5, life
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Rain, Rain, Go Away (a sneak peak)
A couple of months ago a friend gave us the name of her photographer that was doing a book on families that had struggled with infertility and overcame it. She was looking for 10 families in the area to do a photo shoot with and write their story. The book will be published and part of the proceeds will go to Resolve, the national infertility foundation. I had forgotten about it when I got a note from the photographer on my wall and decided to go ahead and submit our story. Turns out the photographer also did IVF (three rounds) and with the same awesome RE! Long story short, we were chosen and had our miracle session was yesterday. Of course, we're in the middle of a drought here in TX, but it rained yesterday. So we shot some pics, and ran for cover, shot some more pics, and ran for cover... you get the picture. My hair didn't really love the weather, but it turned out OK despite our fears of being rained out. What's a little mud and water to a group of tough Texans!?! ;o)
Below is a sneak peek of our session and if they are any indicator, I think I'm going to have a really hard time choosing which pictures to buy! Please note that while you may enjoy and share the pictures, you may not crop or edit them in any way (not only would that be wrong, but it's illegal)! I so can't wait to see the rest of them!!!

***I am grateful for
1) my little miracle family
2) an awesome RE that has helped so many
3) the rain, despite it hitting at the wrong time, we so needed it
4) awesome pictures
5) sneak peaks :o)
Photos were taken and copyrighted by Kara Powell Photography
Posted by Kahla at 12:04 AM 1 comments
Labels: Chase, Emery, life, the ugly world of infertility
Monday, January 30, 2012
Playing catch(up)
~ Chase rocked his rodeo art for the Houston Live.stock Show and Rodeo again this year and earned a 2nd place ribbon (I think he should have gotten first, but I know I'm biased). Here's his picture before it was matted... love it!!! Very proud of our little guy!
~ Jeff's grandpa is holding steady, not really better, maybe a little worse? He has moments where is is lucid and then moments where he is somewhere else, but his memories are good ones and for the most part he is content I think.
~ Work is still... well, work. Trying to make some decisions in regards to what direction I should take. Will think about it later, too stressful.
~ Emery had an accident at my grandma's last Wednesday. They were baking a cake and dinner was cooking on the stove. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Nana put the cake in the oven and as she reached for Emery, Emery reached for her by trying to push off the counter. As she did that, her itty, bitty hand went right on top of a burner that was on. :o( Fortunately my grandmother grabbed her quickly and it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Since we knew it was 2nd degree burns on her index finger and middle finger, we we ahead and took her to urgent care to be safe. They attempted to wrap it, which was not pretty, and in the end we just let her carry a bag of Son.ic ice around for the evening before rewrapping it (with Princess bandaids of course) right before bed. By morning, she was feeling much better and has actually done really well all things considering. Her index finger is by far the worse and both of those blisters have now popped and have good skin underneath. Hopefully scarring will be minimal and we've been stretching her fingers to make sure it doesn't heal too tight. I will say that her cry is one I've never heard from either of my children and it made me sick to my stomach. It was the worst cry I've ever heard and I wanted nothing more than to be the one suffering and not her. Ugh, don't ever want to go through that again, it just broke my heart for her!
~ We haven't done any pageants this year, but have a couple coming up. Actually, we did do an online one through one of the systems we've competed in a couple of times and Emery swept their winter one taking Overall Grand Supreme and then won the sweetheart one as well. I think we may have two in February and then a Crown for the Cure one in March. I'm excited about the one in March because it's Cancer Awareness and we will be fundraising. Want to donate? Send me a note, it can be done through paypal (wink wink)! Our goal is to raise $250, I think we can do it!
~ Chase lost another tooth on Monday, that makes tooth number 8! This boy is gonna make the Tooth Fairy go broke!!! ;o)
~ Chase got his 3rd report card and had all A's, except a 86 in English. We crack up that he has an A in Spanish and a B in English. What's wrong with that picture!?!?!
~ Friday we have a family photo shoot for a book that is being written on families that have taken on IF and kicked it's butt! We were one of the 10 families chosen to be featured! Very excited, but no clue what everyone is wearing yet. Guess I should get that figured out!!!
Guess that's about it. I really need to get to blogging more, but just haven't managed to get myself to do it. I'd say maybe things would slow down, but baseball season is about to hit and once that happens, life just goes into overdrive!
****I am grateful for
1) family photo shoots, hope we get some good ones!
2) great report cards (but really, a kid that works hard, regardless of the grades0
3) burns that are not as bad as they could have been and are healing well
4) another Monday over!
5) rainbows
Posted by Kahla at 7:49 PM 1 comments
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Having technical issues.
OK, maybe it's really more of a mental issues thing. Lots going on, not enough time, too much stress. You get the picture. Same old stuff, just a different day. This last week alone consisted of: hospice being called in for Jeff's grandfather, my student count going up to 25 (yes, you read that right), having to say good-bye to our 12 year old boxer, Cleo, and the all-too-real possibility that the company Jeff has worked for for NINETEEN years telling him that unless a miracle happens, they will be shutting down in Feb. As in next month. So basically, pray for a miracle. My goal is to be back soon. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this adorableness.
****I am grateful for
1) weekends
2) green grass
3) cool breezes
4) prayers
5) ceiling fans and dark rooms at night
Posted by Kahla at 5:05 PM 3 comments
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Wordless Wednesday - A Hot Mess, Texas Style
Duchess says this would make a good western wear outfit for next pageant. For some reason, I think we'll pass!
****I am grateful for
1) hump day (will always be grateful for that)
2) Soni.c ice
3) sweet tea
4) the smell of fresh cut grass
5) the school year is almost half way over!
Posted by Kahla at 5:26 PM 1 comments
Labels: Emery, wordless wednesday
Monday, January 9, 2012
Every Life Has a Story...
Sometimes we get so caught up in our daily hustle and bustle we forget that other people around us have things going on to. We focus on us and don't take the time to say hi to other, check on them, spend time with them, etc. I've thought about this a lot lately. And then today, we had a training and we watched this video and it's made me think about it even more. This was produced by Chick-Fil-A and they did an awesome job. *warning - you might need a Kleen.ex or two, or maybe it was just because some of these hit close to home here lately* **Don't forget to go to the bottom and pause the blog music so you can hear the music on the video.**
****I am grateful for
1) every single day, even the ones that don't go so well
2) time with family
3) Wednesday night dinners with Nana
4) all the rain we've had today!
5) the upcoming HLS&R show coming up Friday, post to come!
Posted by Kahla at 9:37 PM 0 comments
Labels: life

















