After 30 years.....

So for the last 30 years, my grandmother has been called 'Mawmaw' by ALL 7 of her grandchildren and her first great-granddaughter. She often found it funny when Perryn was first learning to talk to tell her what each our first names are, so that Perryn would turn around and use them. It worked, before we knew it Perryn would call us 'Gabe', 'Elizabeth', even 'Gene' (or Pawpaw). She would even put our first names into sentences. I think the best one ever is "Eat your breakfast, Gene" that she would hear repeated at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house when we would go for a visit. I taught her to say 'Barbara' so that the tables could be turned.

Well, here's what has happened after 30 years of being Mawmaw or Grandma, she is now "Rahrah". Being closer to family I now get to go help out my grandparents when I can, and yesterday I got to go bless them by cleaning their house. 'Rahrah' entertained Perryn and Teagan. I am not sure how all of it came about, but I do know that 'Rahrah' gets a bit jealous that ALL the small children in the family seem to migrate to Pawpaw. Yesterday was no exception for Teagan. As she was trying to get him to say Mawmaw or something because all he was saying is Pawpaw, out came 'Rahrah', she took it as him trying to say Barbara. Now to make this story and this name stick even MORE, Teagan saw their picture hanging in his room today and immediately pointed out Pawpaw. I asked him who else was in the picture and he stated, 'Rahrah'. So I officially think that Mawmaw's name has now been changed to 'Rahrah' for now and til the end of times. Who knew it would change after 30 years?

Here's to you Rahrah. We love you!!!

Rahrah and Teagan playing the piano.

Rahrah and Perryn playing Barbies.

Rahrah (Still Mawmaw at this point) in front of the quilt she made for Perryn.

Rahrah and Perryn hanging out at the breakfast table.

So who wouldn't want a blue mouth?

So we went to Celebrate Recovery last meeting last night only to find out this particular CR is so new and small they don't have childcare. So, we went for an adventure looking for ice cream. We found some at the mall, which isn't the best one that I have been to, but we did find some good old Blue Bell ice cream. Before you see the picture of Perryn eating her ice cream, I thought I would let you see Teagan first.

So in this picture we are trying to get a hair cut; however, he is not that big on scissors, clippers, and strangers messing with his head. If you remember, he really enjoyed Megg cutting his hair, and I think that is because she was also our babysitter. We gave him a blue lollipop to help him pass the time which he enjoyed immensely. He had blue running down his chin within minutes of starting to suck on that lollipop. By the end of the haircut, he had hair bits stuck to his chin like he was growing a beard at 20 months. hee..heeSo, back to the CR story. When we had to leave, Perryn was a bit upset because she was looking forward to meeting new friends and getting to play in 'class'. We decided we could set out for an adventure and go find an ice cream shop, McD's would not do. We ended up at the mall and the whole way there she was telling me she wanted to have strawberry ice cream. When we got to the ice cream counter, she found the Krazy Kolors ice cream and here is what she looked like at the end....

The architect, the artist, and the easy going

Perryn the architect.Perryn the artist. Can you figure out what she has made?

Teagan the 'easy going' with a stroller full of cars!!

Grandpa update

I just wanted to let you know that my Paw-paw came out of his surgery fine this morning. The plan is for him to go home from the hospital after lunch. Right now he is very grumpy and in a lot of pain. He will have to take it easy this weekend.

Please pray for his healing and his grumpiness. Also, please pray for my Maw-maw as she cares for him. Thanks.

Please pray for my Grandfather

I would like to ask you to pray for my grandfather. He is currently having some complications with scar tissue due to his radiation for his prostate cancer. He has been in and out of the emergency room since Saturday night. My dad just called to say that he had some problems again last night, so they just admitted him to the hospital. He will be having surgery tomorrow (Jan 24) at 7:30 am to remove the scar tissue. He doesn't like hospitals, doctors, or people fussing over him, so please pray for peace in this situation as well as for my grandmother who has been taking care of him, she is exhausted. Thanks.

Paw-paw and Maw-maw here for a visit when Perryn was born.

Teagan and Paw-paw.

Playing chase with Perryn and Teagan on Saturday the 19th.

AGGHH!!

For those of you who know me very well, you know that I was on the leadership team for Recovery at the Village. I haven't made it to a Celebrate Recovery here in Round Rock yet, but it's just a matter of getting over to the churches. Anyways, you know that one of my hangups is codependency. I find it flaring it's ugly head at me right now.

We are having some problems with our neighbors that live below us. They bang on our floor at least once to twice a night because the children are 'too noisy'. Sunday night the wife came over and asked us to be quieter. I was stunned and embarrassed, so I couldn't even defend us or let them know that we have two small children, I will try my best....whatever, I just apologized and shut the door. Well, the banging on the floor has started at 8:15 this MORNING! Last night when the banging started we just went upstairs watched a movie and went to bed. We can't do that during the day since Gabe is sleeping + that's not fair to banish us out of our living room, dining room, and kitchen to keep them from banging on the floor.

I find myself snapping at my children to not make ANY NOISE whatsoever. Why am I so afraid of these people? Yes, they know where we live, but they can't get through the door if it's locked or I don't open it. Why have I all of the sudden become so afraid that these people will be mad at us? I find my codependency even bigger because we have NEVER had anyone complain about us before in ANY apartment we have lived in.

Please pray for us. We may need to sublet this place and find a house sooner than our lease is over with next January. Please pray for my hang-ups that God will get them back under control. Please pray that we can co-exist with the people that live below us and that this conflict will be resolved soon. Please also send whatever advice you can as to how to deal with this. We want to be polite and not be overwhelmingly noisy, but with a toddler and a preschooler, there is only so much 'quiet' they can be in a day.

Family birthday picture

Here is our family picture we took at the end of my dad's birthday party. What you can't see is that Teagan had an accident during nap time, and he is wearing NO PANTS. I forgot to bring a spare. Bless his heart, he was a trooper since it was a chilly day and we had a stop to make on the way home!! Oh the stories and the adventures we go on. ;)

A Family Birthday

So, growing up, I always enjoyed family birthdays!! I don't really remember birthday parties with just friends, it was always with family. Anyways, Saturday was my dad's 54th birthday, so we loaded up and traveled an hour south to Giddings. And yes, I made the cake, but you have to wait to see it until the end. Here are some great family pictures of the day spent celebrating my dad's (aka: Big Daddy to Perryn and Teagan)birthday.

Big Daddy, Perryn, and Teagan wrestling.
A Hat show with Teagan...he went back and forth between this one(Big Daddy's) and Paw-paw's.

Nana, Maw-maw, and Perryn.

Paw-paw, Maw-maw, and Uncle Josh watching presents being opened.

Perryn and me

Paw-paw at the end of his game of chase with Perryn and Teagan who are still chasing each other.

Teagan in Paw-paw's hat.

Perryn helping Big Daddy open his present faster so that she can get cake sooner.

Uncle Josh, Perryn, and Izzy

Maw-maw and Perryn riding their stick horses, stop for a picture.And finally, last but not least the cake. Please go here to see the cake and the story behind it.

Missing Friends

So, we are finally getting into the swing of things here in Round Rock. I found out today that we do NOT live within the city limits, so I had to spend $25 on a library card and we can only check out the 5 items we got today until Feb 17th!! Hmmm....still thinking and pondering this.

Anyways, Perryn is missing all of her friends terribly and would like everyone of them to move to Round Rock with her. Right now she is really missing Audrey. We have sent her a letter with pictures that Perryn made and in fact, we have found a new set of pictures we need to send. I think Perryn would really like Audrey to be a pen-pal.

So, we had to run errands after story time, one included a trip to Whole Foods. We got a small bag of items which Perryn was such a great helper and carried to the car. When we got the car Perryn informed me that she had named the small paper bag carrying our goods, 'Audrey'. She began talking to 'Audrey' and in fact, was feeding her and having me talk back to her as well.

Now, I know that it is perfectly normal for small children to pretend, to have 'imaginary friends' and so on, but I am laughing a bit that she has named a paper bag. She wouldn't even 'transfer' 'Audrey' to one of the new toys (a teddy bear) that she got from McDonald's. She did however, in form me that the bear's name is 'Lauren' and she is 'Audrey's' mom. I am trying to not laugh too hard. I think the paper bag, 'Audrey', will be carrying the bear, 'Lauren' around.

I will keep you posted on how all of this turns out!!

Wordless Wednesday

Enjoying a snack and a little Rachael Ray!

Then again....

Pray for Perryn please. She woke up twice last night throwing up. We have cancelled our family lunch plans today and we have all been up for several hours. Perryn and Gabe were able to catch a few zzzzs, but Teagan on the other hand has not been able to go back to sleep, so he and I have been up since about 3ish. I will keep you posted.

We are WELL!!

Just an update that we are all feeling much better today. Teagan's little 'illness' was due to drainage and getting overly upset when he woke up (in my 'expert' opinion). I had to deal with some dehydration ramifications yesterday, but other than that we had a good day. Today, I feel even better. I am going to see if I can tackle hanging pictures and cake pans. We will see how it goes. Enjoy your day. I PROMISE to post pictures of the apartment soon.

good news/bad news

So, after a day of rest, I feel much better. What a blessing it is to be closer to family where they can come help when we are sick. Thanks to my sister for being here all day yesterday and taking care of Perryn and Teagan. To top off the good news, moving and getting sick this week I lost a whopping 6 POUNDS!! I can't even believe it. For all of you who have been keeping up with my weight loss, that means I have about 9 pounds left to reach my goal weight. woohoo.

Now for the bad news, Teagan did not sleep well at all last night. He kept crying and screaming every 10-15 min from 3-5am. I finally brought him downstairs to rock at 5:30, where he fell back asleep until about 7:30 where he started fussing again. I brought him to bed with me (Gabe had already left for work) where he slept again until about 8:30. I took my first shower within the last 48 hours and heard crying and gagging. I jumped out soak and wet to find him throwing up. So please pray for him. I really think I had food poisoning, but that can be deceptive. We don't have health insurance until Feb 8th, so we are trusting God to take care of us during this time.

I will keep you up to date on T and how he is doing. I am going to go rock him. He does at least have the 'snuggle bug' as Lauren Chandler liked to put it....

blessings

Please pray for me. I have contracted food poisoning...icky. I haven't been this sick since I was pregnant with Teagan. Anyways, the blessing in all of this is that we are closer to family and my sister is on her way to come help me with Perryn and Teagan today. Please pray for my healing, because I feel like _____!!

Will post again when I feel better. Apt is coming together well, I just have to take a break to get over this ick.

Settling In............

This is just let you know that Perryn and Teagan are now at home with us instead of my sister. We are settling in, and I am continually unpacking boxes. We are trying to get settled into a routine. Gabe is working days this week and maybe next week as he gets settled into his new job. He is really enjoying it. My dad may be stopping by tomorrow which is cool, that family can just "stop by". I will post some pictures later. Bye.

We have arrived!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that we made it to our new apartment in Round Rock, got the truck unloaded and sent everyone home by about 5:30 yesterday. The kitchen is coming together, and so is the children's bedroom. The living room is not far behind, but our bedroom is another story. It seems that I have lost a couple of boxes along the way with the VERY important things like the VCR (yes, we still watch videos - mainly Disney - their cheaper that way) and ALL the cords to the desktop computer. YIKES. I have to find the cords before the cable guy comes tomorrow to hook us up!!!!

Perryn and Teagan will be home in a few hours (around 4) YIPEE!! I will post again when I get a chance. I already miss you in Lewisville/Highland Village/Denton!!!

Good-bye Lewisville, Hello Round Rock

Our cable and internet will be turned off on Friday and hooked up again on Monday sometime, so I am posting the progress and good-bye now.....

Well, we go to pick up the moving truck tomorrow morning. I am trying not to panic too much since right now we really don't have any muscles other than Gabe's and his brother's to move the heavy furniture out on Saturday. It will work, we are going to get as many boxes into the truck tomorrow as possible and then we just have to load the big stuff on Saturday. My friends Kecia and Lea will be here Friday morning to help.

We are planning on heading out by noon on Saturday, to be in Round Rock by 3ish. We will unload the truck when we get there, and then crash from exhaustion. Perryn and Teagan have been with my sister since Sunday, so they will bring them Sunday after naptime. Woohoo...we miss them terribly!!!!

As soon as we get internet up on Monday, I will post so that you all know that we made it safely and what the apartment looks like (boxes and all), then I will post again when I have it livable.

To all of you that we have been able to give hugs to and say good-bye, yea...we will miss you terribly. To those who we haven't been able to hook up with, I'm sorry, but please know that we will miss you terribly and will keep the blog up to date.

Love to you all, you have truly been our extended family.
Love,
The Engelhardts

P.S. We are pulling out between 11 and 12 on Saturday. Please feel free to stop by, text, or call to say good-bye before we leave. Love you all!!

Happy New Year

Well, the count down is here. We are only days away from moving to Round Rock. Holy COW!!! Gabe had to work New Year's Eve, so I had the WHOLE apartment to myself. I watched movies, packed a box, shredded paper out of a box, and watched more movies. Not a bad way to spend New Year's Eve alone.

So, I also discovered in my alone time last night that I am a bit depressed about this move. Part of me is so excited to move closer to family and part of me is mourning the fact that I am leaving my friends and my life that has been established here in Lewisville.

I know that God has an adventure and a plan in place for us in Round Rock, and money will be tight for the first few months..it's only natural. I hope I will get to come back to visit everyone sooner rather than later. There is a wedding we need to attend in Feb, so we could maybe come back then. But only God knows what the plans are.

Please pray for us and the peace that we need to complete this move. Pray for Gabe to have the strength to get through everything. Pray for me, I am having some pain in my left foot and that is making it hurt to walk and get around. I will try to post again before we move, but no promises. We are heading to Temple tomorrow for Gabe's new employee meeting and to sign the lease to the new apartment. I will try to take some pictures if I can.