Change is coming!

Well, it's official...we are moving in December!  Brett will be the new children's minister at a church in Longview.  How did all this happen?.... well that's an amazing story :).

Back in early June, we'd been talking with my parents and my brothers family about taking a mini-vacation together.  Because my brother has 3 kids and we have 4, we were looking for a hotel that had a 2 bedroom suite.  Dad checked prices, and found a Homewood suites in Longview that was a super price (Austin was double that price).  And, because Dad was paying, we said, "Longview sounds great!"  So we planned on going right after we finished VBS (to get a little rest!) 

We got to Longview on Thursday, and that evening, my brother called and said his family was sick, so they wouldn't be able to make it after all :(.  So, Friday morning comes, we have a late breakfast at the hotel, and then Dad suggested we go take a walk at the park down the street.  The park had a trail that lead to a playground (perfect! the boys can get a little exercise and playtime).  We get to the park, and Brett starts talking to a couple that was there with their grandson.  Out of the blue, the woman asks Brett if he's a children's minister.  He told her he was, and she and her husband both said their church was looking for one.  Wow!  When we got home from our trip, Brett emailed the church his resume, and they responded saying they were already talking seriously to someone.  We were a little disappointed, but Brett kept sending his resume out.

Fast forward two months....Brett gets an email asking if he's still interested- he said he was, and for the past two months, he's been talking back and forth with the committee, visiting Longview and the church, and last Sunday, they officially voted Brett in as children's minister.  We are absolutely amazed and humbled by how God brought all these things together, and are so excited about this new opportunity.

Some other crazy things:
-The couple we met in the park had never taken their grandson to that park before
-We had never been to Longview before
-Brett's has a coworker at Fidelity's whose wife is the committee chair's niece (did that make sense?)

our house updates!

Well, I've been waiting and waiting to post this blog-- before and after pics of our new house!!!!  It has definitely been a labor of love (and a little craziness!), but I am still amazed and so very thankful how the Lord has provided our family with this house.  This is just a few rooms-- the kitchen is still a work in progress :)


View from the dining room into the living room

after lots of paint, taking down paneling, reframing windows (they were rotten)

(still need to work on fireplace-- you can see I have a picture in front of it!)

Living Room pic 2- it's hard to see, but the top half of the windows are gold!

Living Room Before (you can't tell, but there is popcorn texture from the paneling all the way up to the beam on the ceiling-- ick!  and yes, the carpet is blue :) )

and after..... :)

 



boys room (you can't tell, but that window is yellow bubble glass!)

 



boys bathroom-- yes, it has carpet--ewww!

 

Caleb's room (and Nathan's too!)

 

more pics to come.....

 



"Family-Moon"

With the birth of each new child, we've taken a little "family-moon" right before baby arrives.  With Matthew, we went to frisco, had pizza, stayed in a hotel, and then took him to the arboretum the next day.  With Matthew and Joseph, we went to build a bear and then had pizza together.  This time around, we went and had pizza (of course!) on Friday night, stayed in a hotel (wonderful hotel points!), got back to the hotel and watched 101 Dalmations (or 101 Dominations, as Joseph calls it) with some delicious microwave popcorn and orange soda (the ultimate treat for M & J).  Saturday morning we had breakfast and then went to grapevine mills for a little shopping (for mommy :) ), and then went to the rainforest café for lunch.  It was so nice to get away even for a day (there's so much to do at home, this gives us a little break from having to get anything done.)

Here's a few pics from our weekend:

yummy breakfast at the hotel

love this pic! 

cool dudes!

getting to play a game at the mall (real treat!)

 

Caleb driving the "ice cream" truck

at the rainforest cafe

Caleb at the rainforest café (before he spilled water all over himself!)

our little family

Keep Thanksgiving Day a Family Day

I LOVE Thanksgiving.  I love all the cooking and hanging out together.  I love that my boys are excited about being together with family.  I love the traditions and special foods that we only eat once a year...pumpkin pie, jello salad (yes, really!), special stuffing, and oh the cranberry sauce!  And my college roommates could tell you I get very excited about decorating for Christmas....but everything in its own time. 

I have been super disheartened this year to hear more and more stores are open for Thanksgiving.  (some all day, some part of the day).

Why am I so troubled?
1.  Each of these stores have employees who also have families.

2.  Is our consumer-driven culture so money hungry that we can't close our stores for one day?  Is opening at midnight (or 4/5 am) friday morning not enough anymore?

3.  It seems like we're pushing out Thanksgiving altogether and going straight from Halloween to Christmas.  (and what a rich heritage we're missing teaching our children about the sacrifice of the pilgrims)

4.  I'm saddened for what used to be. Is shopping really that important? (and those of you who know me would be shocked I'm saying that!)

5.  Back in the day, if you forgot an ingredient in your massive thanksgiving feast, you just dealt with it (or called your neighbor to see if they had something...but wait, we don't know our neighbors anymore either, but that's for another blog :) ).

I know I will get some different opinions on this-- but I just had to say something.  (and I'm not talking about hospitals, hotels, etc.  I know some people have to work).  Here's a good article I found about it:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/10/stores-open-thanksgiving-day-2013-disguisting

What's your thoughts?

family reveal party

With baby #4, we knew we wanted to find a creative way to tell my family what we're having.  Since penguins have been the "theme" for this baby, the boys and I had a blast getting cupcakes ready for the big reveal....

we made these from nutter butters dipped in chocolate.  The tummies are marshmallows, and the beaks are corners of orange starbursts!  So fun!   and then stuck them on top of yummy cupcakes

 

the announcement was tied on to the
special penguin we bought for baby :)

Matthew learned how to read "boy" and "girl"
 this week-- this is his first reaction!

all the cousins (we'll get a good pic someday!)

It's a boy!!!

Well, I must say that we were quite surprised when we found out that baby #4 is a boy, but we are beyond excited!  Excited that....
-Caleb will have a little best friend (just like Matthew and Joseph have)
-we have plenty of blue :)
-Brett is excited he doesn't have to repaint C's room
-excited that we have the privilege to train and raise (with the Lord's help of course) godly young men who will be fabulous husbands and daddys
 -and yes, I'm already praying that we have wonderful daughter's in law :)
-our only issue is that we have a hard time deciding boy's names!  Very open for suggestions!

our first ER experience.....

We had a very interesting night last night.....the boys and I got back to Nana and Papa's late (Brett was still at the house wrapping things up), and as I was headed for the porch, I hear a blood curdling scream (literally).  Joseph had tripped and hit his head on the first set of brick steps leading up to the porch. I got the key in the door, dropped (gently) Caleb on the floor) and ran for a towel.  (at this point, I didn't know what happened).  Mom and Dad got up, trying to calm the other two down, and I was trying to stop the bleeding and calm Joseph down (which he finally did when I told him he could have some coca cola :).)  So Dad and I headed out to the ER at 11pm.  Long story short, Brett met us there, Dad headed home, and Joseph slept on and off.  The Doctor was amazing, and Joseph got three little stitches, and was promised a prize if he did good (he asked for an electric train (smart boy!), but will get to pick out a movie tomorrow).

One thing that I loved seeing though-- Matthew is a lot like his Daddy-- has the biggest heart in the world.  When Joseph was hurt, Matthew couldn't stand seeing him that way, and did all he could to help.  After we left, Nana found Matthew in the bathroom just crying for his brother.  (which Nana consoled him, and he got to sleep a little later, exhausted).  Love, love, love his big heart.  Can't wait to see how God uses him in the future.

Joseph came out a trooper, and keeps telling people that's it going to heal. :)  Here's a picture of our little man...

Prayer Answered: We have a house!

This year has been an absolute blur... we've been working on moving closer to our new church, Brett's school and work (and of course, Nana and Papa), and put our house on the market the first part of february.  Prayer Answered #1: we had a contract on it after only 4 days (it's really because the market is so good- but I'm going to tell myself that it was because it's so cute :)) (but really because the Lord took care of us not having to keep the house clean very long for showings!)  After haggling back and forth, we made the closing date March 12th.  One month to pack things up.  We can find a house in that amount of time...right?
This was my first experience buying a house, and I had no idea that this house buying thing could be so hard.  So after many tears of frustration, we loaded (with the wonderful help of our OVBC SS class) our pod and packed things into storage, and moved to my parents house.
When you're picky like I am, and don't have a ton of money to spend (note: Brett is still in seminary....), it was getting downright frustrating.  We probably looked at 50+ houses.  So many houses that the boys would groan if I drove through a neighborhood or told them we were going to look at homes...again.

Fast forward to the middle of april....mom and I saw a house in february (the first one I looked at, ironically), that was about to come back on the market again.  I called (and annoyed) the agent until she told me we could look at the house before it went on the market.  I liked it just fine, and thought we could do some stuff to it to make it a home.  I was headed out of town to spend the weekend with some wonderful friends from college, and asked Brett if he liked it to have our agent put an offer on it. 

So, we're on our way to san antonio, and I'm anxious to hear how Brett liked the house.  I called him, and he said he liked it okay, but that he and my dad saw a different one in the same area that was a good price, and had the layout that we'd been wanting.  So, I asked Brett if we could go ahead and put an offer on the house, and he asked me if I'd lost my mind.  I called the agent and she asked me if I was really sure, (I'm sure she thought I lost my mind as well!) 

So sight unseen (at least by me), we put an offer on this house, only to hear that the seller had received two other bids and was deciding the next day which offer to accept.  I was a basketcase to say the least. Sherri, Amanda, Kristin, and Lacy prayed over the situation with me, and anxiously awaited the news.  (love you girls!) 

Fast forward to saturday...we got the word that they accepted our offer (answered prayer #2!)!!!!  So excited!!!!  We had a great rest of the weekend, and got home on sunday.  Our agent told me the seller had said he would fax over the changes on sunday and the deal would be finalized.

Fast forward to monday....went with the boys to see the house for the first time, and our agent got out of her car, fuming.  The seller had just called to say he wasn't going to accept the offer after all (basically, he wanted it to go into a bidding war.)  Sad day in our house.  I went and looked at the house anyway (hoping that I'd hate it), but I loved it- loved the potential it had, and the layout was great.  So, our agent just said she'd let me know any updates.

I've never prayed harder in my life.  I don't know why, but I really felt that this was the house the Lord had for us.  So I prayed, Brett and I prayed, and we prayed with the boys.  And then....on tuesday morning, our agent called back and told us the seller changed his mind and was going to sell it to us (Answered prayer #3)!  I don't know why, but I firmly believe the Lord changed the seller's heart. After I got the call, I called the boys in there and we prayed together- thanking the Lord for our miracle.  It was really fun telling Papa and Nana our good news when they walked in the door!

Fast forward 2 weeks, and we have now signed on our house, and are making plans to refurbish and update our house-- a little overwhelmed, but so thankful how the Lord has provided!!!  Praise the Lord!

No really, I don't mind having 3 boys....

Today, M, J, C, and I headed to the doctor.  J and C have had colds for the past two weeks, and just aren't getting better.  (J's cough just sounds awful).  That's not the point of my story though..while we were in the elevator and leaving the drs., and two women stopped me and said "three boys!  oh, you need a girl!" and the second lady was almost offensive in the way she kept saying that I "need" a girl.

I'm not going to say that we wouldn't like a girl (we would), but if the Lord only blesses us with boys, I'm totally okay with that.  I'm just tired of people making comments to the effect that boys aren't enough (because they are if that's what God wants... and I couldn't imagine my life without them). 

So, I've decided that anytime someone says this to me in the future (which I'm sure they will), I'm just going to say our boys are a blessing, and God knows what our family needs.  (I will have a pink guestroom someday though!)

Welcome Baby Caleb!

I knew I hadn't been on our blog in a while....but I didn't realize it was 9 months ago I posted!  Well, since that time, our world has turned upside down (in a good way!) as we welcomed Mr. Caleb Russell Tooley to the world and our crazy family.  We're pretty smitten- he is a wonderful baby, and smiles all the time.  Oh-- and he was 20 and 3/4" and 10 pounds, 5 ounces when he was born.  

Here are a few pictures from his first few weeks home-- I will try and be better and post more frequently :)

the three brothers (see their shirts (big brother, little brother!)

Our first picture as a family of 5 (hopefully we'll get an AMAZING one this summer!)

it's a.....boy!

That's right! Team Tooley will be adding boy #3 this february. We're still working on names-- will probably announce in january =). To make finding out a little more fun, we had a baby gender party a few weeks ago. When we went in for the sonogram, the sonographer had us turn our heads, typed "boy", printed it out, and gave us the sonogram all folded up. Two days later, we had friends and family over to find out! Here are some pics from the night.....


invite =)



food (totally bummed I didn't take a picture sooner-- oh well!) the middle held the cupcakes, and we had lemonade, lemon bars, peanut butter cookies, and fruit-- yum!

one of the cupcakes-- the bee on top is made from a lemon drop and almonds as wings!

about to open the envelope!

Rashel, opening the envelope.....drum roll!

yea! a boy! (the hands in the air weren't planned, but funny!)


our first picture as a family of 5 (wow!)


friends =)

more friends-- thanks for celebrating with us!

Coming this february!

That's right--we are pregnant with baby #3-- and are so excited! The official due date is February 5, which I'm thinking will fly by with Christmas right before. Right now, we are looking at minivans (ahhh!) and enjoying Brett's month off of school. Here's a little card I designed to tell some family and friends =).

Team Tooley Vacation 2011

Well, I'm writing this a month late, but I definitely wanted to chronicle this year's vacation. We had a great time, but some mishaps along the way. I hope you enjoy reading this!

It's always good to be flexible-- I just didn't realize how flexible we would need to be! The past three months, we have been planning our vacation. We were going to head to springfield, mo, and spend a few days in branson as well. We had everything planned, hotels booked and were just waiting to go. About a week before, my parents mentioned that they saw Missouri was going to get a bunch of thunderstorms that next week. We checked the forecast, and saw that it was supposed to rain the ENTIRE time we were there. And with two small rambunctious little boys, that didn't sound like too much fun. Little did we know we were supposed to be going to missouri the same time the tornados hit joplin. So needless to say, we are very thankful for God's protection.

So, we chose San Antonio instead (mostly because their forecast was 95% sunny). Some of our good friends had gone down there the week before and stayed at an amazing resort with great pools (definitely a must for us!), for a great price, so I was inspired to dig around for some deals. We were able to get a room at this resort for 1/2 the price. The staff were so nice and welcoming, and we absolutely loved the pool, lazy river and playground.

Matthew had been around one of his little friends who got a stomach the weekend before we left, so I knew there was a VERY good chance Matthew would get sick at some point on our trip. So, on the ride to san antonio, I put covered the car seats with towels, hung a sheet on the back of the front seats, and put a trashcan in the middle (just in case). I also brought clorox spray and wipes, and laundry detergent-- can't hurt to be too prepared! We made our way to San Antonio, and stopped for lunch in Temple. Matthew had a slight fever and wasn't eating (and when he doesn't each chicken nuggets or fries, you know something is up). So we got back on the road, and got into SA about 3:30. We stopped at mcdonalds for ice cream (at the most scary mcdonalds in SA), and got to the hotel about 4:30. I ran in to check us in, and when I got back, Brett and I got the boys out of the car and had the bellhop start unloading the car. We're getting stuff out, when all of a sudden the man unloading the trunk says, "ma'am, you're son...." and I look over and Matthew had thrown up all over the pavement and my very full bag of coupons. Totally scarred from past throw up experiences, I told the bellhop to just throw away the whole bag-- I didn't really want to cut coupons anyway =). At this point Matthew is crying and upset and has to have mommy pick him up- so he and I go to our hotel room-- and I'm covered in Matthew's barf now too. I give Matthew a bath and start rinsing out his clothes and using my very handy clorox spray. In the meantime, Brett was so frazzled, he had the guys go ahead and valet the car and he and Joseph headed upstairs. Crazy enough, Matthew ate 2 pieces of pizza for dinner, so after he threw up, his appetite came back immediately. He did have a small fever still, so Tuesday morning (the next day), he and I had some snuggle time in the hotel room (which, if you know Matthew, he only snuggles when he's sick). During this same time, Joseph got a hold of Brett's credit cards, and put them in the return vent in the room-- so we had to call maintenance to come and rescue our cards. Also, I had one project I had to work on for CutieTooley, and had brought our laptop. What I didn't realize was that I had put the laptop cord in the coupon bag, which was in the dumpster at this point- so Brett and Joseph went and bought another new cord. We also stayed in Austin a few days, and accidentally left the boys sandals in one of the drawers. When we called to ask if someone had found them, they said the sandals weren't there (who would want 2 pairs of stinky boys' sandals? arghhhhh)

But aside all that, we had some great memories....
-Watching the boys in the kiddie pool have the best time splashing and playing
-Building a sandcastle with Matthew
-Going down the lazy river together
-Dinner out at a Mexican Food restaurant, ice cream afterwards, and seeing the fiesta texas fireworks show from the ice cream shop (the boys LOVE fireworks!)
-shopping in San Marcos (this may not be on the boys top 10 list =))
-getting to visit some of Brett's family- Uncle Roger, Aunt Martha, Ryan, Aunt Gracie and Uncle Jack
-riding the miniature choo-choo train in Austin
-going to the Oasis restaurant in Austin and seeing the sunset over the lake- just beautiful
-watching part of a movie together every day before nap time
-getting away from the metroplex- no cooking, and no dishes!
-saying, we'll laugh about all these mishaps someday!
-spending time together as a family

We really had a great time-- I'm just sad it's already over! Can't wait to make more crazy memories next year =). I will post pictures someday.....

Time Out

Yesterday, Matthew was playing our electric piano (who would have thought this would be a toy?) Joseph came up, and turned the piano off (a normal occurrence). Matthew decided enough was enough, and pulled a dining room chair out for Joseph to sit in and told him he was in time out! The crazy part? Joseph actually sat there on the chair in time out. I think Matthew would have had him sit there indefinitely (if Mommy hadn't intervened). =)

Old MacDonald- Matthew's version

Old MacDonald (Matthew’s version)

"Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O

And on that farm he had a “gingersnap”, EIEIO

With a “crunch crunch” here, and a crunch crunch there,

Here a crunch, there a crunch, everywhere a crunch crunch

Old MacDonald had a farm, EIEIO."

he really said this-- too funny!

the past few months

We've had a great time this fall doing lots of different things-- here are a few of them =)

Hanging out with Aunt Laura at the arboretum


Joseph, Matthew and cousin Abby at Thanksgiving
\
Erin and Matthew at the Holly Jolly Christmas in stephenville (our little mini-vacation)

Joseph and Brett

Six flags! Porky, Erin, Matthew, Sylvester, Brett and Joseph. We had so much fun riding rides like the mini-mine train, the big train, the carousel, and watching Matthew have the biggest smile driving a "car" for the first time =)

Joseph and Nana on the loony toon cave ride (Joseph was a little scared during that one!)

Our present cake-- we sang happy birthday to Jesus on Christmas Eve

Right before opening presents (doesn't Matthew look excited?!?)


At the boy scout museum

Matthew shooting a "gun" for the first time (at the boy scout museum)

it's official! (but not what you think) =)

I am so excited to announce that my etsy store is now open! For the past few years, I've wanted to do some design work on the side (mostly because I really miss doing creative stuff like this). I have created some really cute Christmas card designs, and you'll notice that most of them have scripture references/quotes on them-- to focus on the real meaning of the season.
Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CutieTooley?ref=top_trail

Here are a couple of examples of my cards-- I would love to design your family's card this year =)








(yes-- I did change their names for security!)