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And he finally met Mickey

2010-11-09T15:17:00.002-05:00

Off we went to Finally see Mickey. This year has been a MICKEY year for the little dude. He is totally obsessed. He loves anything Mickey Mouse. We stole a quick weekend and went with some dear friends to the Magic Kingdom and Sea World. What fun did we have. The kids loved every minute of our fast trip. It all started with a surprise for our girls. (See video)

SeaWorld was first...

Made good friends with Shamu right from the start of the day!

Missy T and her "bestest" friend

The Little Dude loving the Dolphin show!

We got to feed the Dolphins - so fun!

it was so freezing, but the girls wanted a boat ride - so off they went while the adults huddled together for warmth!

The little dude just couldn't make it...at least he was warm.

Missy T and her friend wanted to be in the "splash zone" Seriously psycho - it was FREEZING!

BEAUTIFUL Whales!

The whole gang - we had such a great day despite the cold!

Now off to Disney...

What a beautiful day

Dole Whip! Can I say more????

Little Dude just LOVED it all!

This is how he started his day...

It really is the happiest place on earth!

He just wanted to ride, ride, ride!

They started their day this happy and ended the day just as happy!

The End of a great trip!

Fall, Life, beauty and getting older

2010-10-31T09:50:00.005-04:00

It is fall! The beauty of the colors is an awesome site. I am so blessed to be in the south during the change of the seasons. What a sight! With fall comes two birthdays in our family, first is Papa bear and then baby bear (Papa and then little dude). This year we did a combo birthday party on haloween (right in between both special days. It is interesting to attempt a combo birthday party for a three year old and a 46 year old, let alone the decorating/ theme. I got really creative. Papa is... well obsessed with college football - Alabama to be precise (it is a southern thing!) and Little dude is ... well obsessed with Mickey Mouse. This presents itself as a decorating dilema except that they both use Red as their predominate color. So I went with it. We had mickey and crimson tide galore. Both boys loved it and felt equally special. We had food, fun and trick-or-treating for all. It was a fun evening with good friends.

I was "Shaggy" It was so fun!

Mama made me special cupcakes - Yummy

I loved my presents...

Dance Star Mickey was my Favorite!

Summer fun in Dallas and Savannah

2010-09-10T15:29:00.003-04:00

We were blessed to be able to travel to Dallas while papa had work there. We went to the zoo (on the hottest day of the year - crazy!) and the childrens museum - too fun. The kids had a great time in the hotel too - room service, swimming and being generally spoiled by the staff! My kids will never be the same.

We were then able to make a quick weekend trip to Savannah - LOVED IT! We drove out to Tybee Island for a quick ocean dip and had a blast. I am so glad that we were able to see this beautiful historic town while we live in the south. Enjoy some pictures of our summer of fun.

He just couldn't make it all day without a nap!

Brrrrrrr it is cold in September!

More Swimmin' Hole

2010-08-04T22:59:00.000-04:00

The little dude has the swimmin' fever! He has taught himself to dive this week. He just loves to jump just like Sissy - so hands over his head and off he went. He can jump and then swim across the pool taking breaths, he is a little fish I tell you! He loves to pose for the camera too! We counted - he held his breath for 24 seconds! What a little swimmer - Look out Phelps!

Swimmin' Hole

2010-07-29T10:20:00.001-04:00

Can I tell you how much my kids love to swim? I get so many comments about the little dude's ability and confidence in the water. He is a FISH!

He can swim the length of our pool and take breaths too.

He is only 2 1/2 years old people! I am so grateful that he is fast becoming water safe. The backyard oasis is our families favorite place.

We swim all day...which leads to good sleep by ALL!

God Bless Our Family Photographer!

2010-07-10T10:11:00.003-04:00

I wouldn't have many pictures of my kids if it were not for my sister in law/family photographer! She captures the kids essence so well. The little miss, just so wanting to be grown up, yet still our little girl. The little dud...well he is just so...well..himself. He is funny and serious and just so ... perfectly him. Here is a hint of the greatness of my kids!

The Little Dude

2010-01-10T22:15:00.007-05:00

Baby Boy is every bit TWO! He is funny, crazy and full of energy. He just loves to sing and dance. My favorite is when he sings to Veggie Tales, which he calls Cebu. Here is a bit of my favorite...

We took our first extended road trip with the little dude and ... WOW - he did great! Gotta love the mobile DVD player! Veggie tales, Baby Einstein, Baby signing times and Scooby Doo all did the trick! Here is a little Joy from our trip.

I know it has been a while, but . . .

2009-12-10T19:22:00.001-05:00

Wow is 2009 flying by or what? We had a very busy year. I will recap later, but suffice it to say, I am looking forward to a much calmer 2010! We ended this year with a huge change in our family. I, Mama, got pretty sick in august and just couldn't shake it. We thought I had a recurring Urinary Tract infection with a Kidney infection, but it kept coming back. Every three weeks or so. My temperature kept rising and I couldn't get out of bed for two to three weeks at a time. After several trips to the doctor, we finally had a abdominal cat scan to see what was going on. The diagnosis was Uterine fibroid's. The only way to get rid of them was a hysterectomy. We were not excited about it, but felt that it was the only way to get my health back. I went in for the surgery on October 13, 2009. The surgery went well, unfortunately they did not find any fibroid's, but they did find uterine and ovarian cancers. We caught them early, which is a huge blessing, however it was a huge blow to my family. I am doing really great now and I feel that I am on the road to a total healing. I have had so many people praying for god to heal me and I know God is faithful. I ask that you pray too for our family as we heal and live life to the fullest!

Olga in the Tournament Championship!! Stingers win 23-2

2009-10-29T22:24:00.003-04:00

Olga at the plate!!! Watch that eagle eye..

And they came two by two...

2009-09-22T20:45:00.014-04:00

24 inches of rain in 72 hours! Now this guy has the right idea!

We have been all but washed away. Our pool is flooded (sounds funny, but it so is not!), the gentle creek 10 feet away from our house is running like a raging river and 189 roads in our county are closed! They are calling it a 100 year flood - I have now lived through a 20 year flood in Colorado (scared me half to death) and now this. At least we are all safe and for the moment DRY! Another storm is headed our way tonight and is predicted to hang around until next Wednesday... another 7 days of this! Well enjoy some of the pics from our "flood"!

Now to escape into something more adorable! Our little man enjoying his watermelon and Dog. Don't ya just want to know what is on his mind??? Can you believe that he is almost two??? Where has the time gone?

We have a pool...mostly!

2009-07-08T11:03:00.008-04:00

We have a pool! What a beautiful place our yard will be...soon. They are working on the completion of the pool and landscaping this next week...and then...completion! I will bring you more pictures as they complete the work!

It's beginning to look like...well...sort of...

2009-06-21T14:54:00.011-04:00

This week we will see BIG changes, or so I am told. We still have a hole, we now have a patio cover as well. This week we should see the liner

go in and the rocks being added. We are very hopeful that the pool build will go fast now that the French Drain has been added to divert our natural spring. We might even see the waterfall start to take shape. Today - Fathers Day - we are going on a hunt...a driftwood hunt. We need some natural accents for our swimmin' hole and hopefully the lake will have just what we need.

As you spend today hopefully enjoying your father, remember it is our heavenly father that we need to be especially thankful for. I am so thankful that my earthly father helped introduce me to my heavenly father. I truly know what it means to have your fathers love...both of them. I want to say thanks dad, for giving me a glimpse of how God really loves me. You have made it so much easier to experience and believe that I am loved by the one and only living God. Happy Fathers Day, Dad!

We have a hole!

2009-06-08T10:42:00.003-04:00

We are making some progress! They dug the hole...finally! and hit an underground spring of water. Not a huge spring, just enough to have to dig a french drain to the creek (thankfully it is on our property too!) for drainage. Then we had to wait for the hole to dry out...whew 4 days with no rain did the trick! Today they are at it again. Digging, grading, filling in drainage with rocks. They are busy today! We can slowly start to see what it might look like! Keep posted to see what's new at the Tidwell Swimin' Hole!

Dear God, I know we are in a drought...

2009-05-20T15:52:00.004-04:00

We can envision our beautiful backyard oasis, I have even bought the signs for our new pool. We need 7 days with NO rain. Only seven days. Last year we went 38 days no rain, this year we are lucky to make 2 days. My backyard dreams might be for next year, as our landscaper jokes! He says I wasn't clear in my prayers, he thinks God understood me to say I wanted to swim in June 2010, not June 2009. So I am imploring you all to pray with us - - - 7 days people! Our lake is 4 feet above full pool - we have enough water for a while, and it is not like I am asking for eternity...7 DAYS sans rain! Once we get our 7 days, we can get the hole dug, liner in, rocks placed and concrete poured. Then we are two and a half weeks from ... ahhhh bliss! If you pray with us, You will get an invite!!! Pictures of the dig will be forthcoming, maybe tomorrow????

SEVEN DAYS! Please!

Piano, Guitar, and all that Jazz

2009-04-29T14:39:00.006-04:00

Our little Miss T. loves her some music. She loves to sing, dance, play and mostly perform. She would love to perform on a big stage someday...we will have to see about that, but for now she performs on a little stage. Her latest schievement was a music recital that her teacher puts on every spring. Miss T. got to go last because she plays two instruments. She was wonderful on both. Her Guitar music was "You are so good to me" sung by Third Day and her Piano piece was the hymn "For the beauty of the earth". It is fun to watch her progress. She just loves her some music.... that one!

...and it continues

2009-04-27T14:22:00.001-04:00

The backyard renovation continues on...

We now have a wall. The large privacy trees are ariving later this week. That will be a very exciting day for me! I can not wait until the day I do not have to look at the yellow house out my back door! Not that it is a bad house, it is actually kinda cute, and I really like our neighbor, but I want the feeling of being the only ones out there! Call me selfish, I just want us to feel like we are in our own little oasis!

So here it is....our own little oasis in the making.

Stay tuned.....

Happy Easter!!!

2009-04-12T12:12:00.013-04:00

What a beautiful day to remember what our amazing God did just for us! To take away our rightly justified punishment and pay it for us! Wow...what an amazing gift. All we need to do is accept him as the one and ONLY living God and we get his eternal gift. Someone said to me this week "what a beautiful baby boy, you must have done something very right to get such a gift." I wanted to scream out NO! That's just the point, I did nothing...yet I was given this gift that I did not deserve. Just as God gave us the gift of his son, he gave me the gift of mine. I am blessed beyond measure...as we all are, just ask - he will give you the same gift of his son. What a glorius day to rejoice!!

Our little ones just love the gifts that arrive sometime in the night...and the eggs aren't bad

either!

Look Out Tiger!!!!

Enjoy your day!

Eggstravaganza

2009-04-11T13:33:00.010-04:00

Our church hosts a huge event every year for the community. This year Jonah was big enough to participate. He just loved the animals. He kept calling the sheep "Dog" He hugged it, and tried to kiss it. He just wanted to hang out with the animals all day long...Until...

The Eggs!!!!!! Boy he picked it up right away! No trainging required.

Look he is sharing! I just Love that BOY!

And the backyard renovations begin....

2009-04-08T15:50:00.011-04:00

The backyard pool project has begun... first they have to clear out the trees and move the fence. It seems that we have a much larger yard than we knew. We are gaining 20 feet in the back and 6 feet along the side. We are so

excited to get so much more space. Here is what it looked like before the work began...

After most of the small trees were

removed we were able to see a small glimpse of what

was to come. Today however, as they took out the really big trees we were able to get excited.

(sorry, you have to look sideways!)

So here is the after shots - trees all gone!

Check back often to watch the renovations unfold into a beautiful oasis!!!! I hope!!!!!

Softball Season Begins in Georgia

2009-03-13T15:37:00.007-04:00

We (the whole family) have a new adventure....girls 10 and under slow pitch softball. We are so fully emersed. The Lady Tigers have Papa T as the coach, Mama T is the team mom, Missy T is the pitcher, Baby T is the mascott and JT is an fielding coach. The ladies have their first game this weekend and it should prove to be alot of fun (unless it rains). They start opening day with a parade with team banners, (a prize goes to the best one, our fingers are crossed). The girls (and I mean the big girl, Mama) worked so hard on their banner.

Double Digits

2009-02-16T12:59:00.005-05:00

It's Missy T's 10th B-day! She is officially a double digit! She decided that she would like to have a more grown up birthday this year, (like the adults)and go out to dinner with friends and then have only a small gift.

The big gift being the pool soon to be added to our yard (secretly I think she is hoping for a pool party as soon as it is in). So we complied and had a nice dinner with friends and a few small gifts.

I am not sure who enjoyed the cake more? Look at that excitement!

Is it spring yet?

2009-02-11T16:29:00.017-05:00

It is beginning to look a lot like spring, I mean summer, I mean winter...well I don't know what I mean. The weather has been so...weird. One day it is almost 80 degrees and the next it is 18 degrees. We are either freezing or sweating. Nothing in between - I can't wait for spring. Nice warm - not hot - weather with cool breezes. Ohhhh the lake is beckoning.

The kids are growing up fast and learning new things every day. Missy T. has taken up softball and papa is the coach! They are having a kick! She loves the new friends that she has made and papa, well he is just in heaven. Back in sports and loving it. He has definitely upped his workouts! He will be at his goal in NO time! Missy T. also has her double digit B-day coming up fast - where did the time go? The first picture I ever saw of her was when she was just 5, now she is double that.

Baby T. is up and outta here! He now runs everywhere he goes. He laughs all of the time and has learned how to make us laugh too. Once he finds a trick, he will keep it up until we just die with laughter. He is a hoot. His latest is spinning. We have a bath time routine. We eat dinner, take a bath - a long bath - we can't get him out of the tub, then we wrap him in a huge towel and take him to our bed for diapering and jammies. Before I get him in jammies, he crawls all over our bed smooshing his face into the very soft fleece blanket on top. He will continue this ritual for about 5 minutes - looking up, then flopping himself back into the blanket cooing ohhs and ahhs. All the while laughing. When this excitement wears off he moves to his newest trick - spinning. He will attempt to stand up on our bed and spin himself around flopping down in a heap of laughter. truly a spectacle. I love it when Baby T. is so full of himself and his accomplishments. He just glows with joy. It is a shame he is such a cranky little guy - haha!

Big T. is doing great this semester in college. He is very busy with activities. He is heavily involved in the church orchestra, college men's bible study, college group and the band at school. Some days we hardly see him. He is still working for us learning all that he can about the software that Gary works with and of course playing with the Baby T. That is probably one of his favorite things to do. The two guys are really into veggie tales. Baby T. loves them and the big T. plays the music for him on his Tuba. It is all very funny!

Papa is very busy working to hopefully get our pool in by May!! Mama is very busy too, with teaching, and cleaning, working out and massage - can't forget the massage! All in all we are moving right along and ready for SPRING! If there is one great thing about living here in Georgia, it is the beautiful spring and fall - we don't have them in Colorado - just winter and summer. I will enjoy my springtime every minute that God has us here!

Magnolia

2009-01-12T08:46:00.009-05:00

Well did we have a blast in Colorado!!!! But it is good to be home too. After all the unpacking and setteling in, we were able to pick up our newest member of the family. She had been in training over the holidays, so she hasn't joined us until now. She is a beautiful Great Pyreneese that we rescued. She was a stray and is about a year old. Her beautiful name is Magnolia! We call her Maggie. She is such a gentle giant. All of the kids ador her and she the same. Jonah loves to snuggle with her just about as much as she with him. The are cute together. We have done alot of research about these beautiful dogs and have learned that they are guardian dogs - meaning that they need a job, a job. maggie has decided that her job is to guard me and make sure Jonah is safe. She follows me around, sits at my feet, and sleeps right by my side of the bed. She even gets up with me when I need to....well ummmm...use the restroom or see to Jonah in the middle of the night. She gets up, follows me, lays down to wait for my return, gets back up and follows me back to my side of the bed. The first night was probably the most funny. I put Jonah to be and then got ready for bed myself - everything as usual, Papa was working with Olga to get her ready for bed and Maggie was doing what Maggie does...guarding me. I got into bed to take a few moments to read a new parenting magazine and ........whomp....up jumps Maggie...onto our bed...Now what makes this really funny is that I have a strick rule - NO DOGS in the beds! and our bed is really high. She jumped right up and layed down on Gary's side - with her head on his pillow! Papa, Josh and Olga all came in to say goodnight and there she was.... plopped down in our bed - and I couldn't get her off. I pushed her, pulled her, called her...nothing! For a moment Olga thought that Papa would have to sleep on the floor. When we got Maggie down, Papa made sure she knew her place was on HER pillow - NOT his! I of course think this is really funny because we have had several dogs and NONE of them were MY dog - they all tollerate me, but Maggie, now she loves me! Ahhh it is the simple things! The Love of a big white fluffball can make your day end great!

Christmas

2008-12-15T11:15:00.004-05:00

Our family celebrated Christmas this past weekend - we are flying to Colorado to do the BIG family Christmas, so this was just our intimate little clan. We loved being able to watch each other open gifts we had thought about for months. The kids really stepped up this year and gave generously from their heart - some gifts were homemade and some were store bought, but each were special. We have a tradition in our home, each kid gets three presents, just like the wise men gave Jesus. The kids just loved their special gifts, but mostly loved spending the day together as a family. Come to think of it, that is our favorite thing to do! Just spending time together doing not much of anything at all. Jonah was all about ripping open all of the gifts - especially everyone else's. He had such a fun morning!!! Okay so now we pack it all away and get ready for the trip home. They Joy of new gifts was short lived! Mom is such a bummer!!! I just had to remind them that there will be more Christmas in Colorado and SNOW! Okay we are back on track now - everyone is happy!

Thankfulness

2008-12-10T09:51:00.004-05:00

I am so thankful for so many things this year, but right now family is at the TOP! We had such a wonderful time visiting family this Thanksgiving in Colorado - we just couldn't leave. No really, we couldn't leave. We were scheduled to come home on Tuesday, but Jonah got the flu Monday night. I have yet to have experienced our little guy sick - and it was not fun. He looked so sad and pathetic. The little guy just clung to me for almost 7 days. He could not be consoled by anyone else. Finally he is keeping down solid food - after almost a week! He lost so much weight and is still so pale. Anyway...we cancelled our flight and waited to see how the little guy would do. Well on Wednesday evening he seemed better, so we thought let's book it and go home. Mom and Dad were working feverishly to get their beautiful home ready for a big Christmas party to take place on Saturday - they really did not need a sick family camping out in their basement, but there we were. We got the flight booked for Friday am and wham! I got it - full blown sick - poor mama. Now I felt awful, Jonah wasn't eating food or taking his formula, Gary is trying to work and Olga just wanted to play and mom and dad were decorating, shopping and working around us. Can you visualize it???? Not a fun way to end a trip. God bless parents who have been where you are right now and have all of the patience and understanding of this same situation. So after a long trip full of fun and an extended week of ... well... not so much fun, we were off to the airport. Everyone was in good spirits and feeling better. We returned the rental car at 730am on a very freezing morning, Jonah was all cozy snuggled up next to me in his Ergo carrier and just as we were to board the shuttle to the airport - BAMMMMM... Jonah got it again! All over me, him and the carrier. Gary grabbed our luggage to get me a complete change of clothes for both of us and off we were to the bathroom. The poor little guy - the rental car bathroom is really not the place to attempt a bath/shower for mom and baby! AND I had a 2 1/2 flight ahead of me!!!! Well we made it home without further incident and everyone is on the mend! THANK GOD for this!!!! So we arrived home to unpack, shop, have our own family Christmas this weekend, repack and fly off again back to Colorado for our big family Christmas! We are talking a 13 day turnaround! And pulling off shopping, school, work, Christmas parties all to boot! So what am I thankful for???
FAMILY! Thank you for putting up with us, loving us, nurturing us, playing with us, and just hanging in there. Family is made up of all the people that would do anything for us when we are at our worst and loving us. This year I am reminded that as much as our earthly families love us - can you just imagine how much our heavenly father loves us? Just as my parents showed us this week, God is not inconvenienced by our demands, fits, temper tantrums, begging, sicknesses etc... he loves and nurtures us back to health, both physically and spiritually. We were reminded of this in a big way over this holiday. The pastors daughter at my brothers church was rushed into surgery over the Holiday due to what they later found was a cancerous mass at her brain stem. Such a big deal for a small church, small family and small 10 year old girl, but our GOD is not small. He brought her through surgery, allowed the cancer to be the best kind to get (if you have cancer at all) very treatable. Our God is awesome. We were able to watch as the whole church body went to the hospital to pray for this little girl, we watched God's miraculous healing bring a group of people together in such an amazing way. I know he watches us, I always have known it - but to feel it, see it and experience it...is nothing less than a miracle.
This holiday season is my favorite time of the year - this year it is awesome to experience God's gift of his son and be so thankful for the gift he gave. As parents we can not imagine giving that kind of a gift - our child and I am grateful that is not being asked of me and so thankful for the three children God has placed with us. I am thankful for family - my husband and 3 great kids, My parents, my brothers and their wives and all of their beautiful kids, and for my heavenly father - I can not even express the gratitude that I have for his gift to us all. My dad said something this last week to us that fits what I feel - a gift is not a gift if you ask for it, that is a loan, a gift is an unexpected surprise. That it just what God did - gave us an unexpected surprise - Eternal Life with him - if we believe... I for one BELIEVE!

By the way my parents had a wonderful party in spite of us!!!!

See you in a few days!!!!!

Life...

2008-11-11T13:26:00.009-05:00

I love our life. It is simple, and basically boring, but it is ours. We love to hang at home and have tons of family time. This being the case, we have tons of funny moments to laugh about with each other. This week Jonah is learning to walk and talk. He isn't afraid to walk, he just knows that it is NOT the most efficient way for him to get where he wants to go. He has been able to stand up without help for a while now, but the first steps have been elusive. Until now....

He still needs some prompting and a cheering audience is helpful. He also started waving and saying bye bye, mama, papa and doggie. Okay that is our interpretation - he could be saying you all are a bunch of weirdos, but I will stick with my first guess.

Olga is working very hard to be self disciplined (one of her vocabulary words last month). She is learning what it takes to take care of herself, room and school work all by herself. It is harder than she thought. She has to remember all the little details that make her life work. Like, she can't brush her teeth very well if she doesn't use toothpaste or that it might be tough to learn the states and their capitals without a list or map. She is working very hard on the little things that make her life easier. I have to say....she is doing a pretty good job! Learning self discipline is one of the toughest lessons in life, so I figure she will be way ahead of the game once she gets this lesson down! One way she is handling her business is by learning about fashion, what goes with what and when. Like it may NOT be the best plan to wear a tank top and skort in November even with a light jacket over it. It does get very cold here at night! Her most recent and least favorite lesson is regarding her pierced ears. She has definitely learned that if you do NOT focus on the care of your ears they might get infected - and if you then forget to put earrings back into your ears, they might close up and you might need to re-pierce them...and that might hurt! I think she will be much more careful now.

Josh is feverishly working to wind up his first semester in college. He has several papers to write, a music audition and has finals the week after Thanksgiving. I think he has had a small wake up call... college is a little harder than high school. He registered for next semester and has worked his schedule out to make the best use of his time. I think he will be more successful than he thinks he will be - well at least today.

Gary and I are working hard to make our schedules work as we have a one year old who needs constant attention, home school our 9 year old and encourage our 18 year old. Thank goodness Josh works for our company - he is a tremendous help!!!

Thank goodness our lives are boring - could you just imagine what I might say if we were busy????

He is 1 year old!

2008-11-04T12:45:00.007-05:00

Jonah is ONE! He had so much fun at his birthday bash!

We had a F.R.O.G. party - Fully Rely On God! It was cute. We had frog cupcakes...

and frog beach balls...

and all kinds of frog toys. Jonah even had his very own frog cake all to himself!

That child would have kept eating too, if mama didn't stop him.

Jonah really loved the whole gift thing. He has it down pat! Tear open paper, climb on box, get something fun (after someone takes it away to cut it out of the box).

Jonah Loved his Elmo Live -

And his new phone from G'ma and G'pa...

Mama and G'ma and sister loved the getting ready part!

Enjoy the videos of the crazy boy!!!!

After cake...we had shower!

Clothes and all!!!!

Jonah passed out later that night from sugar overload! He sure did have fun! Thanks for the 1st year! Can't wait for many more!!!!!!

Haloween fun

2008-10-31T12:29:00.002-04:00

I am NOT a fan of Halloween. It is creepy, scary and celebrates something I don't choose to celebrate. However... I have kids, and kids love any reason to dress up and beg for candy. I have allowed this to happen as long as the rules are followed - DO NOT scare mama! Everyone pretty much followed the rules this year. Jonah...not too scary in his adorable skunk costume.

Olga was too cute in her Penelope the cat costume. She loves the candy part!!

and then there is Josh... he thought he and his friend Malcolm would dress up to take the kids out. This is the part where mama got scared.... this is the second time Josh has dressed as a woman, and I am getting frightened!!!!

Josh had to help Malcolm get his shoes on. They were a hilarious pair. People stopped to get pictures with them. Our neighborhood is still talking about the two big fat guys that waddled the streets.

Our friend Carys brought her dog martini over in his costume - he was a lobster, although my dad thought he looked more like a cockroach!

Everyone had fun and collected a ton of candy - most of which I have secretly thrown out....shhhh don't tell!

Fall is upon us!

2008-10-27T12:31:00.006-04:00

Today we went on a pumpkin hunt! We had to find the perfect pumpkins for each of our three Halloween pookies. Olga went for the big tall one to make her perfect princess jack-o-lantern. Jonah, well he didn't care yet, so mama picked a perfectly round cute pumpkin for his jack. And then there is Josh, his is the best!!! It is a crazy colorful bumpy pumpkin - perfect for a pirate! I love this time of the year! The weather is cool and the leaves are falling - yes we have lot's of big leaves here in the south! The kids get excited for the holiday's - this seems to be the beginnig of the "Season" for us. We have birthday's and holidays non stop until spring. Oh the Joy!!! here are a few pics from our pumpkin makin'

Melts a Mama's Heart - Just had to share!!!

2008-10-13T17:54:00.010-04:00

Today we got the two little kids pictures taken - I haven't had any professional shots done since we were in Colorado - Mandie totally spoils us!!! SO..... We had Olga and Jonah dress up in their Halloween costumes - They are dressed as Penelope and Pepe Le Pew - Enjoy!!!

Jonah in all his glory!

2008-10-12T11:07:00.004-04:00

Jonah is such a big help around the house. He really likes helping Mama clean and organize the kitchen cabinets. Jonah can't decide what he wants for dinner, stir fry or maybe a beer butt chicken? Or maybe Jonah A la Tidwell.

Our Little man has tasted his very first bite of Mashed potatoes and he LOVED them - Obviously!! I just can't wait for the Birthday cake!!!! Thank goodness we have a shower just off the kitchen!

God's Wisdom

2008-10-09T09:50:00.003-04:00

Wow have we been busy.... Since the housing bust, we are unable to sell our home and move into the much bigger house that would allow us to spread out a bit. At first I was totally bummed out and looked under every rock for a way to make it happen, then I decided to just stop and let God do his thing. It is funny how when we get out of the way God makes his way clear. I am not sure if God's answer for a bigger better house is "NO" or just "NOT NOW", but either way God has allowed me to be Good with his plan. For those of you who know me, know that that is pretty huge, cause I like my new shinny toys!!!! And a new bigger better house would be like Christmas presents when I was ten. So I have allowed God's lessons of wait spill out to the kids. They too were all looking forward to the new house with all the new space and pool etc.... I think it has been really great for them to watch us be bummed that the answer we wanted was not God's plan right now, but they too have watched us thanking God daily for the many blessing that we have. With so many people out of work, waiting in long lines to get gas - yes here in Georgia many waited hours in long lines just to get a little in their tanks, and that is only after driving around looking for a station that actually had gas. I heard on the news that is was every 1 in 40 stations had limited gas shipments arriving once a week. It was really bad here. Gas seems to have made a comeback, but the economy here is the nations worst - worst unemployment and the highest stress levels have been seen here in Atlanta. We are so blessed. We have solid steady employment, all of us are in good health and we are a solid family. I am thankful that God has allowed us to focus on what is true and good and be thankful for his daily blessings. So sometimes it is good to get a "not now" answer - it gives me permission to pause and look at all of things that God has done is will do for me.

So with all of the bummer news comes so fun news. We have been sprucing up the inside and outside of our home. We were able to change out all of the hinges, door knobs and light fixtures from the builders brass to a gorgeous oil rubbed bronze. Wow does it look like a new home!!! We also replaced our main level flooring from off white (with Georgia red clay????) carpet, to beautiful walnut wood floors! What a transformation!!! We have reworked our layout and got rid of our designated guest room and added a sofa sleeper (the highest quality for you out of town visitors) and turned it into a great playroom! We just love it! Jonah has a safe place to play his little self silly!

God has truly provided his plan that is the best for us in this time - I just need to trust that he really does know what he is doing better than I do!!!

Jonah our Joy!

2008-09-20T13:22:00.006-04:00

Papa's hat is the best! Jonah is totally into funny lately. He loves to make others laugh and it is really easy to make him laugh too. Just start laughing and he will crack up into giggles which quickly become and all out laugh fest. He keeps us rolling!

Jonah got two new toys this week that had him in stitches. He got a toy car/walker. He can ride it or walk behind it. He totally loves it! The other is a new music set. Included was a drum, tambourine, cymbals and a xylophone. Okay we totally have another musician on our hands. He hasn't put it down. Just look at the pure joy on his face. So what if it is loud, how can you say no to this?

It is so much more than just a box!

2008-09-05T13:10:00.001-04:00

Our little man has grown up so fast, it is getting harder to lift him in and out of my big car in his car seat. Soooo, we got him a new big boy seat. He will be able to be in this seat until he doesn't need a seat any more. We un pack it and get it all set up and latched in and we are ready to give him a try and where is he? He, our little darling is in the only place one would expect to find our little maniac----he is in the BOX. He loves the box, the box is his new best friend. He plays hide and seek, peek a boo, and where is Jonah. He has now been amused by the box for almost two weeks. He will be so sad when we throw out the box. For now, I am keeping the box until it falls apart...after all, it makes him so happy.

Last Minute Fun for the End of Summer!

2008-08-17T07:14:00.002-04:00

This past weekend we were able to run away from home and give Olga, Josh and Jonah - well sort of - a special treat... We ran away for a quick trip to Disney World. Olga's foster family from Kyrgyzstan had brought 16 kids from Bishkek to Disney and they really wanted to see Olga, so we made a quick weekend out of it. Boy did we have fun! Even Jonah was having a goodtime. Josh brought a friend so the big guys were on their own and had a great time. We played hard at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood studios. Olga got to go on stage with Highschool Musical 2 and perform - she thought she was in HEAVEN! I think we may have a little performer on our hands - she really was in her element. By the end of the day she was so exhausted she actually wanted to go back to the house and relax. In my book that is a good day! Jonah actually took his best nap in the middle of the Indiana Jones action show - if you haven't ever been there, it is a very loud action backlot with guns, fire and all kinds of explosions. We have no Idea how he slept through it all. He was such a trooper, we can't wait to take him back when he is old enough to have some fun. So our last bit of vacation for the summer was quick but full. We get to get into school mode now! Wow this summer was fun!

"Not for Jonah"

2008-07-31T11:40:00.000-04:00

It has been a quiet week in our home - yeah right! Gary has been traveling and Josh is visiting his mom, so it is just Mama, Olga and Jonah. It is really funny to watch Jonah begin to learn his boundaries. We have been working on "Not for Jonah" instead of "NO". I figured he would learn the word no fast enough without me saying it over and over and over again. We have "Not for Jonah" zones - the dogs food and water - "NFJ", the toys - Jonah's, The actual dogs in their bed - "NFJ", the stairs - "NFJ" etc... Whew... I am tired. Jonah thinks this is a fun game and bursts into laughter when ever I say "Not for Jonah", and I am using, my big stern voice. No luck! He just giggles. Either I need less stuff - ha ha or I need a much bigger house with say a ....playroom??? Mandie - you did it right, the play room has a door right????

Friends, Playdates, Piano, Guitar, Olga and Jonah...

2008-07-29T16:02:00.000-04:00

I Love that my kids are addicted to each other. They play. laugh, and totally help each other. Just checkout the big sis with her little man. Ahhh... it makes my mama's heart melt.
If you look close you can see Jonah showing off his two new teeth. He is seriously the happiest baby! He loves to laugh and giggle. It totally cracks us up.

We were blessed this week to have my good friend Emma from Colorado visit us. She has three little ones with another on the way - Yes I think she is totally nuts, but wow does she handle them all great! It was really funny to see Jonah play with other babies! He was in heaven and then he slept for four hours after they left! He was pooped out! Here they all are - Skylar - 3 years old is holding Jonah, Olga is holding Nathaniel who is 2 weeks older than Jonah. Malachai who is 2 years old did not want to be in the picture - but we snuck one of him anyway!

We then got to enjoy another playdate with a good friend who has a little guy Joshua who is 2 months older than Jonah. We went swimming - totally our thing!

Lastly, Olga performed in her first music recital. She played two instruments, Piano and Guitar - she did GREAT! We a musical, dancing, performing girl on our hands! She just loves it - she asked me this week if she could try out for the new High School Musical reality show - watch out Hollywood, Olga wants to be there!

I Just can't stop talking about Cancun!!!

2008-07-19T15:24:00.000-04:00

So I am finally getting more of the pictures from everyone from Cancun - Our little man is just too cute in the pool and with his favorite Carys ( a friend who travelled with us ). Jonah is trying out his two new teeth. Olga got to do some indoor Euro Bungee Jumping - she was hilarious!!! She was loving the hot weather and modeling for photos. Mostly the scenery was just so amazing.....

Here are a couple of shots of our snorkeling trip - Grandpa got some great scenery in the underwater garden of coral. I was able to hold a spider starfish - it was really soft.

Lastly, we were able to watch a mother turtle laying her eggs and burying them in the sand - in about 6 weeks the babies will be making their way back into the ocean - This was really cool to watch!!! The turtle was on our beach - they come up at night and when they are laying their eggs they are in a sort of coma - they are very into their job. The turtles lay eggs in June-September and the babies hatch August through late October. Maybe we will try to get back for the hatching???? Okay, okay... wishfull thinking.

Wow what a vacation!

2008-07-09T21:08:00.000-04:00

Cancun was unforgettable as usual! For those of you who know me best..I just LOVE Cancun! If I am ever blessed enough to have a vacation home, it will be close to Cancun! Well our family spent two and a half weeks basking in the glorious sun and sand in the Mexican Riviera and it was awesome. Josh's Mom and Step dad came and brought Josh's best friend from Colorado with them. They all had a great time hitting all the hot spots. Ask Josh about his Senor Frogs experience. Grandma and Grandpa came down for a week too! We had so much fun with them. I am putting this 2 week vacation thing on my annual to do list! We were able to relax and get renewed. There is just something about sun and water that makes me relax - - - I know it is an actual miracle that I can relax, but it is true I did! Gary was able to take sometime off of his insane work schedule and relax a little too. So what happened while we were gone?????

Jonah cut two teeth...they are really cute little bottom teeth. He was a gem, not real side effects - he threw up each night when the teeth broke through and that was it. Not cranky or sick...nothing! I have the BEST baby!!! He also learned to crawl (on hard Mexican tile to boot) and sit up on his own. It was quite the trip for the little guy.

Olga swam, read, swam, journaled, swam, played and swam. She had the best time. She got her hair braided and gave snorkeling a try---not her favorite, she got too tired. SHe also got a fake tatoo and did indoor bungee jumping. She was busy!

Josh too had a great time snorkeling and swimming and sleeping! I think he got a two or more hour nap almost everyday! BUM!!! Okay it was his graduation trip.

Gary and I relaxed a bit and really just loved spending time with our family.

I already can't wait to plan the next vacation!

Here is one of our uninvited guests!

We Just Love the water!!!!

2008-06-15T12:21:00.000-04:00

The water is our favorite place to relax and play, even Jonah is a little water freak!!
Isn't he just the cutest in his life vest?

If we aren't at the lake we are most likely playing at the pool. Our little man is so at home in the water. He laughs and splashes and plays and overall has a great time. We are working on blowing bubbles instead of drinking the water. Goofy guy. I just love the laughter that comes from the kids enjoying their playtime in the water.
Even the chuckles from the big guy are wonderful to enjoy.

Look Ma - I am walking on water - Okay... Josh is really just attempting to balance on a log - it got really funny a few minutes after this picture was taken!! Bummer we missed it on camera!

I can't say enough about how much we enjoy being with our kids. This is going to be a great summer!

Graduating with a 4.0

2008-05-23T19:50:00.000-04:00

He did it! Josh is graduating with a 4.0 this semester! All he had to say for himself was "It really wasn't that hard, I didn't even have to study that much. I just did my work in class and was done with it." Duh is of course what we said, but at last he learned that it IS actually easier to get good grades than it is to get bad ones and work to get them up. Well he is all set for his big day - his mom, stepdad, and both grandparents flew in for the occasion. Grandpa was a big surprise for Josh - we all kept it a secret for months - even Olga kept the secret! We are all excited to watch him graduate tomorrow. Even Jonah is excited for Brother Josh! I have to say Jonah and Josh have a something special. They crack eachother up. It is really fun to watch Josh with the little guy. As you can see Josh makes Jonah laugh.
Both of our boys are so happy. I wish I would have had the opportunity to know Josh when he was this age, but I am grateful for the time I have had with him and it is great to see the path that God is leading him on. Kids are such a joy to watch as they fulfil their dreams and create new ones, even though the dreams may change every few minutes. I can not wait to see Josh fulfil the dream of completion of highschool and beginning of college. As one little guy is just starting his learning the other one is …well…just starting his learning.

Solid in and out, well…..

2008-04-26T12:21:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we started Jonah on cereal. All the books said that it could be quite awhile for the baby to get used to food, so they may spit it out and cry. Try feeding half of a bottle and then try the cereal. Make sure it is really watery. Okay what a crock! My son wanted nothing to do with watery – I swear he is ready for a steak! Okay maybe not a steak, he has no teeth afterall, but he was ready to dig in. Our little guy went to town. Opening his mouth and helping shove the spoon in. He loves food! We have a winner!

Okay I need to back track a little. I wasn’t really excited about starting him out on food. The bottle thing has been going so well – no allergies, no fuss. So about a week or so ago Jonah decided to wake up in the middle of the night – 1:05am to be exact. Unusual…yes, alarming…no, so I changed him, fed him and put him back to bed. The next night he woke up at 3:22am…same gig...change, feed, bed, but this time he didn’t want bed, he wanted to play. For the next two hours Jonah laughed, played and squeeled…loudly!! This has continued until last night!!! After the first day of food…ahhhhh we were back on track to 11 hours of sleep (for Jonah that is).

My Baby!

2008-04-25T21:11:00.001-04:00

Jonah is a big boy!!
I can not believe how big my baby is getting!!! He is almost six months old and is so beautiful and funny! He had is first experience in our hot tub this last week. Is he too cute or what? Look mama, I’m getting ready for our big trip to Mexico!!

This little man is quite the ham too. He giggles and screams for joy. He makes us all laugh so much. My favorite time with him is bedtime. As I get him ready we sing silly songs (okay I sing, he laughs) and change into PJ's and the have a tickle fest (totally hillarious laughter). Jonah is a giggler. He cracks us and bursts into laughing fits. I swear he weras himself out by just laughing. Then it is time for bottle and sleep. We are so blessed to have him sleep 10-12 hours every night! The real joy comes in to morning. We awake everyday - and I mean everyday - to hysterical squeels of laughter and delight. I walk over to his crib - YES he still sleeps in our room - and I oull back the big blanket over the top of the crib and look into the biggest blue eyes just looking up at me smiling. Oh what a joy! I am so glad I did not know that babies could do this earlier or I would have found me a baby when I was 20! This little guy starts my day off great - no waking up in a bad mood for me. Now with an alarm clock like that how could you stick him way down the hall in another room?

Okay - this is all about my beautiful boy and his spit up. This child cannot go a minute without spitup. Okay sometimes it isn't exactly spitup as much as a great big puke! Mandie, here is your warning - you might want to close your eyes. This picture was captured and it totally cracked us all up. Mom was here and Carys got it on film - we all laughed till we cried. Here is my boy loving to make us laugh....

Right in the middle of a puke! And then he laughed!!!

That is my boy!!!!

Enough Love to go around!

2008-04-24T20:38:00.000-04:00

Well she did it! Olga donated her beautiful hair to Locks of Love. After growing her hair for the last four years, Olga decided to cut her hair and donate it to kids in need of wigs. This was her choice and she came up with it on her own. She looks so cute! She loves that it is much easier to take care of short. We love the curls. Olga is growing up so fast – she will be a little lady soon enough!

... and then there was SOUND!

2008-04-19T16:48:00.000-04:00

Jonah has found his voice and he is letting us know it! It actually cracks me up. What a squeeler!!

He laughs, giggles, babbles and just down right screams at the top of his lungs - in joy mind you!

We have the happiest baby around and he wants everyone to know it!

Today, It's all about me!

2008-03-15T13:52:00.000-04:00

I had my 12 week fitness assesment with my trainer this past Friday. This means that I have been working out with Leigh for 12 straight weeks, we took measurements and did field tests. I have not lost too much actual weight, 10lbs but what I did do amazed me. I am sharing the results with you because you all have supported me so much in this process and honestly, I am just totally proud of myself! Here are the results and comments from Leigh...

Results
Arm (L/R) -2 1/2-2 1/2
Thigh (L/R) -1 1/2-1 1/4
Chest -2
Waist -1 1/2
Hip -1 3/4
Calf (L/R) +3/4-----

TOTAL LOSS: 12 1/4 inches

Field Tests - all of these were ZERO the first day
Ball Wall Squats(1 min) 16
Push-ups(modified) 6
Crunches(1 min) 52
Flexibility(cm) 0 (@ toes) - this means that I touched my toes
Balance(L/R) 1 min1 min
Cardiovascular(12 min) miles - we will do this Monday (hopefully it won't rain)

Loralie, overall, I am extremely pleased with your results (and you should be too!!). What an accomplishment! Congrats!!!

I want to point out a few details about your fat loss:
Please remember that fat weighs less on the scale than muscle! You have been losing lots of fat and the circumference measurements do not lie! I know that you have lost more than 10 pounds, really, but have gained tremendous amounts of muscle to compensate for the fat loss on the scale. Pay no attention to that number on the scale!
I also want to add that these circumferences also include muscle gain! I am particularly impressed with your arms, which you have well-worked on the heavy bag. You are much stronger and mobile than you were before and that in and of itself is a great accomplishment!
You may notice that your measurement for the calf increased on one leg and remained stagnant on the other. Not to fret! Again, you have gained muscle mass and probably have some swelling in the calves as well which may contribute to this.
If you look at your field test measurements, you will be well-pleased! Look at how far you have come in such a short amount of time! When I first met you, you could not do much. However, not the case now! I am particularly impressed with the amount of crunches that you were able to do with proper form. You thought you did not have abs...well, the numbers say that you do and you have made them pretty strong. Your core is getting there!
Push-ups!!! What can I say?!? It really wasn't that long ago that we added those to your routine! This is just proof that you are much stronger throughout your upper body (and more so than MANY people that I have worked with!!!). Awesome!

Starting Monday, we will move into the next phase of your training program. You have come a LONG way! Now that you have successfully increased your strength, endurance, and aerobic capacity, we will work on the fine-tuning! Expect for your intensity to increase a bit more each session, expect more anaerobic drills, and expect more challenges!! We have a good bit of work to do over the next 3 months, but I have every bit of confidence that you will achieve your goals and will see more dramatic results at your 24 week assessment!!

Think about 2 fitness goals that you absolutely want to accomplish by your 24 week assessment. I will add one to the mix as well. Also, we did not check your blood pressure. I would like to do that on Monday.

CONGRATS! I am very proud of you!

Yeah for me!!! I will update family happenings later today!!!!

It's the little things...

2008-02-29T21:28:00.000-05:00

My darling little man is sleeping through the night!!! The first night he slept 9 hours!!! So after I freaked out at 5am when I hadn't been awoken by a crying hungry 4 month old, I then threw a little happy dance party right in front of his crib! Then he slept 8 ½ the next night, I was beginning to like this trend. Then last night he set the record, 10 full uninterrupted hours! This is more than a fluke, this is awesome! So you may be asking yourself what made Jonah take on this new sleeping pattern? Well food is the answer! I have been feeding our little guy 4 ounces at every feeding since he was 3 weeks old, he is gaining weight right on schedule. He actually falls asleep during feedings and I have to wake him to finish. On Tuesday Olga made him his last bottle of the night (we just brand new larger size bottles) and instead of making 4oz she filled it up to the top – a full 8oz. Well he ate it all! Wow my little guy just gobbled it up and slept forever! We have now increased our nighttime feedings and he is loving it – me too! Jonah has now settle into a real routine of naps and playtime, it really makes school with Olga a lot easier. It is funny how the small things like 4 more ounces can make such a profound difference – we went from 4-5 hours sleep to 8-10 hours – I am like a new woman!

I did not put his hands around Cookie Monster - he did - he loves his vibrating laughing Cookie! It is too cute!!!

It's Official!!! Team Tidwell is now complete!

2008-02-08T15:53:00.000-05:00

It’s official! Jonah Micah Tidwell is officially the son of Gary and Loralie Tidwell!!! Jonah's adoption was finalized and we couldn't be happier! We have a complete family. This adoption was significantly easier and faster than Olga's and she was sure to let us know it! She was so funny - "Mama is that it? Doesn't he need his passport?” For those of you that don't know - we waited for two months to get hers before we could come home from Kyrgyzstan. “Wow...that was too easy!" Out of the mouths of babes. Although Jonah's adoption wasn't finalized until last week, he has been our son since the moment God directed Melody to chose us, so the finalization was truly just a formality. Granted it was a formality that I am very glad to have completed. We can now go get him his passport for our big trip this summer!! The whole family is so excited to run away to the beach for a couple of weeks.

This was a big week for Olga too. She turned 9 and became a homeschooler all in the same day. It was a choice that we felt truly convicted to make for some time. We were loosing our fun loving little girl for a stressed out nervous child. It is good to have her back. We are doing the same academic work at a slower more fun pace. We have incorporated a lot of games and activities to enhance her learning. In just a few days we have seen such an improvement in her behavior, attitude and learning. We are working very closely with her tutor to ensure she stays on track. She and I are much happier.

Josh is in the big push to get everything done and stay on top of his grades for graduation. He is dating now so that tends to leave him a little distracted at times. I guess I can’t blame him, but we are working with him to ensure his readiness for college. He is anxiously waiting to hear from is top choices in schools to find out his acceptance. I think this makes him a little nervous. He really wants to go to his top pick, but is a little fearful that he won’t be accepted. Keep him in your prayers for peace in Gods will for him.

Gary is travelling again this week, but should be home for quite awhile after that. It is good to have home working from home. We love having him around, and he loves to be so close to the kids.

I am kick boxing like a maniac and really starting to enjoy it. I haven’t seen any results yet, but I am getting stronger and my balance has really improved. I can’t wait to see a little more inch loss in the near future.
We will keep you updated!

Have a blessed day!

In the early morning hours...

2008-01-23T08:12:00.000-05:00

So I am sitting here in the still dark morning feeding Jonah - Yes it is still dark at 7am here! Gary just took Olga to school and Josh had an early morning Jazz band meeting - So the house is quiet and Jonah is content. I thought I would check my emails and get caught up on some paperwork. One of the emails led me to check out my Sister in Laws blog - she is by far the most amazing writer. She captures the funniest moments verbatim. I laugh so hard when I am able to feel like I am there and not missing all of the moments of the family in Colorado. I miss being so close. SO anyway, I won't even try to compete with my sister in laws writing, but I thought I would use this blog to track some of the more monumental moments in my families lives. Just yesterday Josh told me I should write a book about Olga's adoption experience. Well I don't know about a book, but I am starting to write my memories and experiences down. I really don't want to miss a thing in my kids lives and this year is just so huge.

Josh is about to graduate high school and head off for college. He has filled out four college applications and written countless essays for each. His top 2 choices are UGA in Athens Georgia and CSU in Fort Collins Colorado, then his two other choices are JSU in Jacksonville Alabama and KSU in Kennesaw Georgia. I think he is nervous about declaring his top choice for fear he may not get accepted - this is his fear, NOT ours. We know that he is capable of getting into all of his choices. Josh has a pretty tough load for his last semester of high school - 2 band classes, world history and anatomy. I was kidding about the tough load - 2 hard classes and 2...well I won't say blow off, but significantly easier out of class work loads. Josh has been working out with Gary since returning from Christmas break - they are off to the YMCA Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 530am! I am so proud of them! Josh inspired c couple of his friends to go workout with them. I am praying that Josh will choose this new lifestyle instead of doing it for us. He has cut his eating in half and saw great results last week! He lost 8 pounds! Again, could not be happier for him. I know that he loves to see the results and that is helping him stay inspired to keep it up. The last new thing in his life is...a new girl. He had his first date with her on Sunday and they really had a good time. She of course is in band, so they travel in similar circles. She, I won't reveal her name as of yet, is really into ASL - American Sign Language, and often is called upon as an interpreter. It is fun to watch him treat a girl with so much class - just like his dad!

Now for our darling Olga - what to say about our little Russian princess who is about to turn 9m in three weeks! Our little girl just cannot decide what kind of a birthday she wants. She would really love to have a pool party like at one of the pools in Colorado, but they do not have any indoor water parks here - go figure! Her next idea was Olga's Outrageous Birthday, everyone comes dressed in their most outrageous costumes and they play crazy games and dance. Where does she come up with this stuff? Olga is doing really well in school, she loves science lately. They are studying heat - she came home the other day informing me that something I was doing was using Thermal energy and she was right! I had to ask Gary to confirm if she was right, and she was! She is getting ready to donate her hair to locks of love and is really excited! She finds more reasons everyday to have shorter hair - mostly because she doesn't like brushing it, her arm gets tired! I will send pictures when she gets it cut. We are getting closer to her two year gotcha ya day. She wants a big party for that too! Boy that girl loves to party!

Now our Mr. Blue eyes (Thanks Mandie)- his adoption will be final on February 6th! Yeah!!! We get to call into the judges chambers in Florida to make it official - we are glad we do not have to make the trip in the middle of the week! You can be praying that everything goes smoothly. This little man is so darn cute! He is so big too! Over 12 pounds and 25 inches long - he is tight in his footed 3 months clothes. Jonah is almost sleeping through the night - well "they" consider 5 hours through the night, but I do not! He goes to bed at 7-8:30pm and gets up between 1:30-2:00am and then again at 5:00am. I would like to move it around to 10pm and 6:00am, but he is his own person and decides on his own. I am going to weigh the little monster tonight - he is just getting so big and heavy...wait maybe my arms are just so tired from... Wait for it... Kick Boxing!!!

That's right, I am Cardio Kick Boxing now and it is kicking my butt! Hopefully my butt will be a little harder to find. This is tough stuff - but I slowly beginning to like it - shh don't tell my trainer it might go to her head. I have a rule that Leigh (trainer woman) must follow - "Don't make me drop my baby!" So far so good, no drops, just really sore muscles. I swear - all of you parents out there - make your kids love to workout and exercise from the very beginning - it is so much easier than trying to like it later. This is the time of my life that I have claimed to be the best! I am even eating more than once a day! Boy is it hard, but I know it will pay off! Another hats off to Mandie - man she has obviously made an impact on me lately!!! - She offered some VERY encouraging words to me over the holidays, Praise God the whole time you workout - no requests, just praises. For everything, the strength to move, the energy to take care of my kids, the blessings of having a body to serve and love God etc... WOW has that really helped not only my workouts, but my spirit as well. I hadn't realized how much I was begging God for solutions for my health. Wow who would have thought to just praise God for who I am and how he made me. What am attitude shift! Thanks Mandie!

Gary is working out hard too! He has even gotten up twice this week to workout at 530am when he had really late nights working and Josh chose not to go with him, so he went alone!! Kudos to Gary - that had to be hard! I know I would have not wanted to go alone so early! Gary has a quick business trip next week, so please pray for us to have smooth flowing mornings with Jonah and Olga needing me at the same time!! Yikes!

Please pray for continued inspiration to keep this working out thing going strong for our family! Especially for Josh, he seems to be not so motivated to make a life change.

Check out a sneak a peek that Aunt Mandie did for us over Christmas!!

http://beenblessedmaternity.blogspot.com/ move down to Mr. Blue Eyes!

Blessings to you this week!

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”- Philippians 4:8

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

2008-01-06T14:50:00.000-05:00

Okay, Okay, I am a little late!

We travelled to Colorado to spend the holidays with the Wright's and had a great time! Very relaxed and enjoyable! We were able to squeeze in a couple of trips to the springs to visit friends too. This trip really showed us how much we miss it in Colorado. All of our friends and family and cousins to play with. We are praying for Gods guidance as to what our next move is. Is God going to bring us back home to Colorado or are we to stay a while longer in Georgia? Please pray with us for Gods guidance not our own - it would be too easy for us to choose.

Josh's mom Chrissie, made us a beautiful keepsake - Jonah's foot prints glazed on tiles. It was fun to watch her make these beautiful tiles. Grandma and Grandpa loved paying with the kids almost as uch as the kids loved playing with them.

Well the kids are getting ready to head back off to school for the last half of the year. Josh has a full schedule - training, music lessons, Jazz band, oh yeah and school.

Olga is a busy girl too - ballet, swimming, Piano and in late February soccer!

Jonah is growing so fast!! He is now 12 pounds and 23 inches long! He has almost doubled his birth weight! He is eating healthy and growing strong. He now smile quite regularly and has the greatest grin - a full face grin. I just have to get it on camera!

Our family is in a very good place - just where God wants us for now.

Ta Ta for now! We wish you the best in 2008!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

2007-12-12T12:59:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Christmas with Carys before she went home to New Jersey for her Christmas break. What a lovely night.

We had chili and very yummy pumpkin cheesecake.

Carys was quite choked up when we gave her a stocking on our mantle.

Jonah of course slept through it all!

We had a fun time at our chiropractors holiday bash! The kids got their first picture together with the great St. Nick!

We are all excited to go to Colorado for Christmas!! I think Grandma is pretty excited to see the grandkids!

Well here are some of the latest Jonah pictures. He is getting so big!

This one is my favorite - It's our gangster baby - too cute in his little Old Navy hat.

We will update more later this week!

Merry Christmas!

Grandma went home - Bummer!

2007-11-29T18:20:00.000-05:00

Well Grandma went home on Wednesday and we are all sad! Olga thought it would be totally fine if Grandma would just moved in. Grandma was such a huge help - not just because we were all sick - not once, but twice! Jonah had his first sleepover - he stayed the night in Grandma's room and let mama and papa get 12 hours of much needed rest. We are all feeling much better now.

Our boys are so cute sleeping! Josh has fllen in love with his little bro! He doesn't do all the yucky baby stuff like diapers and such - but he is great for sleeping on and feeding! Jonah loves his warm body!

Jonah is definately all boy! He has footballs, baseballs, soccer balls and basketballs - come on dad where are his golf balls? Papa is so determined to have a little athlete.

Speaking of athletes, Josh's high school marching band has come to an end, and with it the end of year banquet. Because of timing, grandma got to be here for it. Josh had fun with his Tuba buddies.

Jomah had his first big boy bath with Papa - too cute - he loved to float - he was so content to just be in the warm water...what a cute baby boy we have. We will keep you posted on the happenings in our family. have a great week!!!

Okay okay okay...I know it has been a while, but...

2007-11-21T21:26:00.000-05:00

We have been busy!!!! Jonah has adjusted quite well to the home front. We have had our first play date with Lindsey and Joshua - Joshua is 10 weeks old.

Jonah has had three follow up doctor appointments to make sure his biliruben has gone back to normal and that he is gaining weight. We ll the good news is.. biliruben is normal, and his weight is...well... Friday November 9th Jonah weighed 6lbs 8oz - Monday November 12th he was 6lbs 12oz and then Monday November 19th he weighed 7lbs 10oz - 1lb over his birth weight. The doc is totally impressed - he said whatever you are doing...keep it up!

We have had alot of big events happen this month - Olga had her first American court appearance. We domesticated her adoption, that really means that she gets a US birth certificate. She was totally nervous. The judge was great! He let her have the pen he signed the order with and took her to his bench for a quick picture.

We had our first bath time at home - Pretty funny - Jonah loves the water - not the cold air! He screamed before I got him into the tub. He was NOT happy! Once he was in the water - calm peaceful baby!

Our family is really excited this year for Thanksgiving! We have so very much to be thankful for - I am thrilled that my parents are here to share this day with us. I will update more after the holiday! Enjoy your Thankful day!

We are HOME!!!

2007-11-09T08:44:00.000-05:00

Yeah - we are home! We got clearance and arrived home late Thursday night! Jonah spent his first restful night in his new bed, we all got much needed rest!

Jonah has been doing so great! He pretty much eats, sleeps, Poops and sleeps. He is a very calm baby. He does NOT like being cold - so diaper changes, clothes changes and the frosty weather are NOT his friend. He has some great pipes - Josh is pulling for a Tuba player.

Jonah still has some jaundice, we are not concerned, but we are watching him. His peditrician will check him out again on Monday to make sure his levels are going down. He is almost back to his birth weight - 2 oz. to go. It is really fun to watch him, He is learning to stay awake for a little longer - he is a cutie pie. His big brother and sister are just smitten with him. Everyone steps up to help out. Grandma has been a huge help. We are so thankful she was able to be here for the kids. Now we get to play with her - I am so excited to be able to spend time with my mom. I am blessed to have her here.

This week we get to go to court on Monday to domesticate Olga's adoption - that means that we will be able to get her a US birth certificate. This will make her life easier in the future.

Then we get to go shopping with mom. We are doing a scaled down thanksgiving - focusing on spending time together instead of the food. Don't worry dad, I will get a pumpkin pie!

I will add pictures later this week. Thanks to everyone for your prayer - we are all doing great!

Lot's of hugs and kisses

Team Tidwell!

Day two and all is good!

2007-11-07T22:21:00.000-05:00

Well it is day 2 home from the hospital and all is Good! We had our first field trip today. We drove 1 1/2 hours to Orlando for Jonah's first chiropractic adjustment. He did GREAT!! Even after having been born with the use of suction, he was in really good shape. We are hopeful that this adjustment will help allow his liver to kick into high gear and get rid of the biliruben. His count is 16.5 today - not horrible, but it would be better if it would start going down. He was able to suntan today and we will do more of the same tomorrow. He is eating really good and pooping good too - all good signs.

We are still waiting to hear from the ICIP to be allowed to come back home to Georgia - again we are hopeful that it will be by Friday.

We are so blessed to have such a good baby! Jonah sleeps, eats, and poops - all in a good mood - the only thing he doesn't like is being cold. Diaper changes are his worst nightmare - they make him cold. It is weird to hear him cry - he just whimpers when he wants something. He is a great baby.

Josh and Olga are back at home with Grandma - they are loving it! Olga is getting totally spoiled and Josh loves his freedom and added responsibilities - he is really showing his maturity! It is a great relief to us to know that the kids are in such great hands!

More pictures to come! Have a blessed day - we sure are!

Gary and Loralie

We are out of the hospital!!!!

2007-11-05T21:59:00.000-05:00

We were released from the hospital tonight!! I will send details in the morning! Thanks for the prayers!!!

Hospitals! Yuck!

2007-11-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

If I haven't mentioned it yet....I am NOT fond of hospitals. Jonah's Biliruben is a little high, so they insist on keeping him in the hospital to monitor him. They will NOT release him to us because they don't want the liability of making sure we keep him under the lights - silly people. Anyway here we are waiting another day to see if we can bring him home - they say it may not even be tomorrow.

Gary will put the kids on a flight tomorrow afternoon to meet Grandma and I will resume my post at the hospital - maybe they will get sick of me hanging around so they will just send us home with the lights so we can get him adjusted and get him on his way to good health!

Even with the hospital yuck, he is still so darn cute.

Melody signed all of her paperwork today...so Jonah is in our care now. The final adoption hearing isn't for a few months, but that is just formality in Florida. After the paperwork was signed we took Melody and David to dinner and I was back to the hospital for Jonah's dinner. Everyone is doing really good - Melody is healing - slowly, but is still healing. Please pray for her heart to heal, as this was a very difficult day for her. She feels good about her decision, but it was still difficult.

I will post another update as soon as we know more.

Things you can Pray for....

1. Quick liver function to eat up the Billi!

2. Melody's heart to heal quickly!

3. Safe travels for Mom and the kids!

Thank you in advance of your prayers!!!!

Team Tidwell

Welcome baby Jonah Micah

2007-11-03T22:23:00.001-04:00

So we have news!

We have baby!!! Jonah was born Friday November 2nd at 9:21pm weighing in at 6lbs 10oz and measuring 21 inches. He has a full head of blond hair and so darn cute. Melody was AWESOME!! She was induced at 9am and delivered 12 hours later after 2 1/2 hours of pushing. She is my hero! What an awesome gift she has entrusted us with. The hospital has been great by allowing me total privileges. I have been nursing him and we are both learning fast. He is a big eater. The only issue is that the doctor used a device called a Kiwi - suction - so Jonah has a small bruise, on his head that they say may lead to a more likely case of jaundice. If that is the case they will keep him until it clears up. We are hopeful that we will be able to bring him to the hotel on Sunday. All looks good to be home by Friday. The kids are so in love with him!

So here is how it all played out... On Thursday we got a call from our social worker, she told us that Melody called from the doctors appointment and said they were going to induce first thing in the morning. As it happened, the kids didn't have school on Monday or Tuesday - so we decided to keep them out of school Friday and bring them with us. We packed everything possible and loaded the car and off we went.

I spent all day Friday with Melody and then...He was born! Gary and I got to be there when Jonah got his first bath and I got to give him his first bottle.

Gary kept David and the kids busy by assisting David with updating their computers. They were busy for days. I am now spending every minute at the hospital learning about this beautiful little boy that is to be my son.

The social worker will be here tomorrow to have all of the paperwork signed. At that point Jonah is officially in our custody until the final hearing in a few months at which the adoption will be finalized.

The most amazing parts have been watching Jonah enter this world, cutting the cord that bound him to Melody and introducing him to my family - Gary, Joshua and Olga were all teary eyed with joy. I of course bawled so much that I forgot to take pictures until one of the nurses reminded me to get my camera.

We are so excited to bring him home from the hospital and then back to our home and truly welcome him into our family. We are grateful for my mom who is flying in to take care of the kids until we get back and the kids are sad to have to fly home, but they are both excited to see grandma.

We will keep posting pictures over the next few days.

Thank you to everyone who jumped in to help us make this happen! Your prayers are felt here! Keep them coming. Please feel free to call us - I love bragging about our beautiful boy!

Much love to you all!

Team Tidwell

the official roster is now at 5!

We are 34 Weeks & I finally finished the nursery!

2007-10-08T17:43:00.001-04:00

Baby blog… We are 6-8 weeks away!!! Wow – in only a month or so we will have a baby!!!! I am bouncing out of my skin with excitement. The nursery is stocked with cute little boy clothes, diapers and homemade wipes – all organic of course. All we need to do is add baby. The diaper bag is packed and the car seat is ready for our trip to Florida. Our birth mom, Melody is doing great. She is such a trooper – pregnant in the heat of summer in FLORIDA! Yikes – yet she never complains. If only I would be so gracious. Melody’s doctor appointments are getting closer together as her due date draws near. All is looking good. We are making plans to travel to Florida for the birth. We are due Thanksgiving week – should be nice to celebrate Turkey day in Florida.
The big happenings this week is… I finished the nursery! Yippee! Gary is glad I finally packed away the paint brushes (he hates it messy!) and paint. Carys, a good friend, helped me add the finishing touches. Lots of bugs and critters – all too cute for words…but very boyish! We have named them. The ants that creep around and pop up every once in a while are the “Sneaky Ants”, compliments of Olga. The snail is “Speedy” and the Centipede is “Slinky” all named by Gary. I love the “Red Ladies” (the lady bugs) as if you couldn’t guess, and the Turtle named????? Haven’t named him yet. Oh and the dragonflies are nameless too – any suggestions???

Other than that, we are in full band swing. Off to Tampa this weekend for a competition and then football games and one final competition here in Atlanta the last weekend of October. After band is over we to tour colleges, pick a college and oh yeah ---have baby and turkey day, wonder which will come first? The baby or the Turkey?
This week I am making my lists and checking them a hundred times to make sure I have everything ready. So much to do!!! From making sure I have someone to watch the dogs, pick up Olga get her to lessons & Chiropractor and make sure Josh is where he needs to be and ... all at the drop of… the Baby! I was going to say hat, but I thought baby was more fitting! So much to do… and I love it all!

Check back soon to catch up on all the happenings with Team Tidwell!

Bye for now!

Gary, Loralie, Josh & Olga

The countdown...Week 31

2007-09-16T21:37:00.000-04:00

We are entering week 31 - only 9 more weeks!!! Wow it is happening fast. We are so excited - duh! This week I am beginning to prepare extra meals to freeze for when baby Jonah gets here - less cooking is definitely on the menu as a mama to a new baby. I am painting the accents on the nursery walls this week - bumblebees, dragonflies and other bugs - I have been told I have to “boy” it up a bit. So I am hanging up an animal net to keep the captured wild animals away from baby (really it is to keep them off of the floor and out of the crib). I will add pictures when the embellishment painting is done.

Gary is registering for his lst 2 pre-req classes right now as I write - He will be back on track for starting back to school right after Christmas. His work has slowed a bit – which is a good thing. He was pulling 100+ hours a week there for a while. God new exactly how much $$$$ we needed to complete the adoption and he totally provided it at the exact time. Hopefully Gary can keep this pace until baby gets here and then take a little break.

Josh is in full band mode. Football games every Friday, band camps every other Saturday, a full day competition and a trip to Tampa – all in October! Josh has a busy month ahead.

Olga - what to say about that bundle of cuteness. Olga is taking a ballet class in addition to her piano lessons. Dance is great for her. She is learning balance, grace, and fluidity of movement. She is making up for lost time on her motor skills. Olga is doing really great in school – she is a mainstream third grader. A little slow on her reading and writing, but still at a third grade level. Her classroom has two teachers to ensure that all the ESL (English as a second language) kids are above grade level by the end of the year. She sure is on target for that! She loves learning and being part of her class – she is the line leader this year (a very big job) and loves it!!

I will add more next week – keep praying for Melody’s health to continue to be great! Baby boy needs to cook a while longer!

Happy day to y’all!!!

Welcome!

2007-09-13T09:38:00.000-04:00

We are so glad that you have stopped by to take a peek. We invite you to check in every once in a while to see what's new with the Tidwell's.

To catch you up - here what has happened so far...

The Tidwell's became a family on May 19, 2001 - it was a beautiful day that our heroine thought would NEVER happen! On that beautiful day Gary promised to love her, adore her, cuddle her and never move her away from Colorado and her family. Loralie promised to respect him, cherish him and laugh with him, so Gary, Loralie and Josh became a forever family. The Tidwell’s spent three happy years living in Colorado Springs before “IT” happened. The call came on a cloudy Friday morning in Philadelphia. Gary and Loralie were attending a Chiropractic conference for Loralie’s work. Gary had a restless spirit, so he spent the morning in prayer while Loralie attended a seminar. Upon her return Gary said “I have something I need to tell you” ominous words from the man she loved. What could it be she thought? Did Gary lose his job? Maybe something happened to Josh? Loralie sat down and braced herself for the news. Okay, I am ready, what is it? “I think that God wants me to go into a different direction”, Gary begins. “I think I am being lead to become a Chiropractor”, Gary braced himself for the angry response he was sure was coming from Loralie. It never came. Instead, her response was “which school are we moving to?
Fast forward a year and we were off to Atlanta, Georgia! Wow was our life about to change. Gary started school. He had about a year of undergrad to complete before beginning the doctorate program. Life University was an exciting experience for Gary. Josh was getting ready to explore his new high school and his new marching band. His new school was three times the size and his band was ranked 2nd in the nation, needless to say Josh was jazzed! Loralie was embarking on her own new adventure, one of motherhood to a new daughter! Olga joined our family on April 2, 2006. Olga was born in Kyrgyzstan and at 7 years old was a welcomed addition to our family.
Fast forward to the present, we are currently awaiting the arrival of our new son, due in November. Our whole family is so excited to welcome our new baby to our home. We will continue to keep everyone posted with the happenings in the Tidwell home.

Thanks for checking in, we welcome your visits!