Final NY post (part 6)

I'm sorry for the multiple posts, but blogger will only let me post a few pics at a time. If you scroll down to the beginning you will have more of a progression. These first two show my little cadets. They each got to keep a hat from the annual hat toss. All kids 6-10 years of age rush the field to grab one. Uncle Travis and Mim got one for our kids:)
The Christian commissioning and swearing in was really cool to watch. Travis and Jim chose to do this part together and asked one of their favorite officers to come do it.
Travis getting his lieutenant bars

Thanks for looking at all this. We are so glad we were able to be a part of this memorable experience. Travis and Kim have quite the road ahead of them. I pray God's protection over each of them as they begin their service to our country (Other officers said over and over again how Kim is a big part of this too). They have made a commitment to this life and will soon make an even bigger one to each other. Wedding Countdown: 5 days

NY pics part 5

A preview of the cuteness you'll see in the wedding...This is Kanyan, Jackson and Christian outside the chapel. They all played really well together. Can you believe that Christian is 2 years younger?!?! He's just as big as they are!!
Travis and two of his friends preformed at the Baccalaureate service. It was a great song that they had written together called "United" Josh is the other guitarist and Jim sung/played the piano. Jim will be singing in the wedding also.Just after dawn waiting to go into graduation. I must say I have some pretty cute kids

The hat toss at the end of graduation
Travis' sister made this great hat to wear

NY pics part 4

Our crew watching the parade
Drill team
all the cadets (I could fit in the pic anyway) during the parade
My little patriot singing the National Anthem

Some of the campus--the building on the hill is the Cadet Chapel. It was so beautiful

NY pics part 3

Waiting to get on the plane
She loves to have Lamby in her mouth!!
and Blankie/Puppy had to make the trip too--it has gone everywhere with us since he was 1
Christian took this pic--he did well, don't ya think?

The kids did great on the plane and walking around the city. They had been up for about 12 hours straight when they finally konked out in the car. 5am-5pm that is b/c our flight was the first one of the morning!! It was close quarters in the car too b/c Tex decided to rent a town car instead of the van/three row SUV I had suggested. I got stuck in the middle of the front seat for the majority of our drives and it was none too comfortable. We had to drive 2 hours to our hotel from the city and it was another 30 minutes to West Point everyday, but all in all we had a great time:)

NY pics part 2

My little poser--he totally did this on his own

We went to the big TOYS R US on Times Square. Christian loved it of course. We rode the big ferris wheel inside (we rode the fire truck car). Then we headed to M&M's world. Mim helped Christian make his own bag of the multicolored treats.

Congratulations 2nd Lieutenant Travis Clonch

Travis had several uniform changes over our trip Christian,Kanyan(Travis' nephew) and Travis in his Cadet uniform--won't wear that one again
at Baccalaureate in his India whites with the soon to be Mrs. Clonch
his parade uniform (he wore this at Graduation too) and yes he does have huge feathers coming out of his head! Looked a little funny, but they work hard to get those...the red sash also signifies that they have made it to Senior status
Christian in the hat and holding Travis' sword (Mim had to help b/c yes it is the real thing)
And finally here he is in his Lieutenant uniform--WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU TRAVIS

We have made it to and from West Point!! It was a crazy few days, but we are so glad we went. All the ceremony and tradition that goes along with a military graduation was pretty incredible.

A few highlights of the trip:

*We spent a couple hours in the city and visited the M & M world and the big TOYS R US on Times Square--probably Christian favorite part of the trip!!

*The campus of West point is very beautiful--LOTS of green space, on the Hudson River and all the buildings look like 'castles' (as Mim says)

*The 'parades' were nice--very formal with lots of tradition (no clowns or animals in these parades) At the end of one we saw some paratroopers come out of a helicopter WAY up in the sky. They free fell for about 10 thousand feet before opening their parachutes!!!

*We heard the Vice-President speak at Graduation--yes THE Vice-President

*Meeting Travis' good friends and their families was nice

*All the Officers we met had tons of nice things to say about Travis

*Spending time with both our own and Travis' family was a nice prelude to the wedding

Wedding Coutdown: 6 days left

I'll post some more pics later--we have tons of course

Christian is 4...almost

That's what it said on the hat Miss Dele made for Christian to wear today. I took cupcakes to school to celebrate his birthday/end of school. We are missing the big popsicle party on Thursday that marks the end of the year. He was the leader all day and got to say the prayer at lunch. He and his little friends were so cute. They went out to play on the upper 'big kids' playground afterwards. Apparently, playing fireman is a popular game--they did it for the about 20 minutes.

We had our last swimming lesson after school. He loves Miss Jamie and has learned a lot.

Blogger won't let me post pics tonight so you'll just have to wait until we get back:)

We're off...

Let the craziness begin!! We are off to New Yourk for the West Point graduation and then family begins to arrive for the wedding!! COUNTDOWN...11 DAYS

Then we have our trip to Vegas and then there is a certain little blue eyed boy turning 4!! I can't believe that I really have 4 year old...they grow up soooo fast.

Baylor slept through the night and seemed to be just fine. Pray for our flight and all the craziness to follow.

The Tubes

Before Surgery (watching TV)
After (with a thermometer on her head)

After waiting in the registration room forever we finally made it to see Dr. Cate at around 7am. They put Baylor in the smallest hospital gown I've ever seen and gave her a little medicine to make her loopy. Then about 10 minutes later they took her off to surgery. All the nurses were really nice and kept checking on us. They do it everyday, but they respected the fact that it was all new to us. We sat around for 20 minutes or so and then the doctor came back and said she was all done:) Another little girl next door had the same procedure and came back while Baylor was gone. We got a taste of what Baylor's mood would be and she was none too happy.

Anyway, they kept Baylor in recovery (where they said a nurse held her the whole time to comfort her) for another 15 minutes or so and then we heard her cries coming down the hall. You know your babies cry anywhere--so we knew she was coming back to us. She wasn't in her best mood ever and we listened to the cries for awhile and gave her juice. We had to stick around for another 1/2 hour or so--They checked her vitals, gave us instructions and off we went.

We were there from 6am -9am for a procedure that actually lasted all of 20min or less. We are just glad our girl should begin to feel better. The doctor told us that there was a lot of pus and goo stuck up in her ears (probably had been there all this time) and they got rid of all that before inserting the tubes. Since we were down there we ran into my OB/GYN's office for a surprise visit. They oohhed and aahhed over how pretty Baylor was and couldn't believe she was in a good mood after surgery (She had calmed by that point). It was nice to see them all again.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers, thoughts and phone calls. A bigger Thank You to Tex and KayKay for letting Christian spend the night...he had a blast of course!!

My baby's going under

Tomorrow morning is the day that is supposed to change my baby girl's life...it's tubes day. We have to be at the hospital by 6am!! Can you say early? but it's good in the fact that she can't have anything to eat or drink after midnight so we might as well get it over with.

I'm feeling good--right now. I'm sure I'll be a little shaken up when they take her from me and the anestisologist(sp?) says it will be the longest 30min of my life--but I'm confident that the Lord will protect her and help the doctors make her feel better:)

If you are reading this anytime before 6:30 Monday morning say a little prayer for my girl--Thanks

Mother's Day

Nana, Me, Baylor, Christian and Spider-man
Giving Nana her picture books
See my funny pig tales? Mommy has to try hard to get them in, but they are so cute!!
Our master cook didn't want his picture taken (this is my parents kitchen--isn't it beautiful?)Our girl has really taken off. She hardly crawls at all these days. Look out world here comes Baylor

My day didn't start off the best. The night before we went to dinner at Red Lobster and I got my very favorite...Crab legs!! They were so yummy--going down that is. Between the hours of 9:30pm and 1:30am they decided to come back up. I have not been that violently ill in a LOOONNNGG time and I hope to not be again anytime in the near future. Needless to say I spent the first half of my day in bed recovering. Christian and Baylor went on to church with Daddy. Nana, Papa, Uncle Jeremy and Mim were there too. (KayKay and Tex stayed home b/c she wasn't feeling all that great either) Jeff brought chicken home for everybody and we had a quite little Mother's Day lunch (I had soup). Jeff's parents got me a pretty trivet that had iris' on it and a pretty saying about daughter-in-laws...very sweet. Then it was back to bed for me. I felt even better after that nap and we went out to my mom's to celebrate. Jeff had a big brunch planned that he had to cook for dinner instead!! It was great: hashbrown casserole and stuffed french toast YUMMY! or should I say Yum-O like Rachel Ray which is where Jeff got his recipe.

I must admit I already knew what I was getting from Jeff and the kids...it's hard to keep a secret when a four year old is involved. Jeff (and others) may accuse me of trying to get it out of him, but I honestly wanted to be surprised. Anyway...They got me a beautiful plate that has their handprints on it. It's too precious and I will love it always. And Christian (with some help) also got me a replacement Willow Tree Angel that he had broken--Thank you sweet boy (and those that helped). At school they made cards for their mommy with a picture they drew and then the teachers wrote stuff they said about us--very funny. Inside the card was a picture that had been taken at the Spring Program--it had a poem beside it about growing up that made me cry, but was so sweet. I will trasure that picture for many years to come b/c he just looks so sweet in it!!

So even though it may not have started out in the best way I had a very restful Mother's day:) Thank you to my sweet husband who made that possible for me...You're the best!!!

Update

Her surgery went well...long, but well. They put a plate in her arm b/c they said that would give her the best range of motion later after it heals--whatever?!? She seems to be in pretty good spirits but tired of spending the whole week in/out of the doctor.

Christian satrted swimming lessons this week--without me!!! He is all by himself with Miss Jamie and loving every minute of it. I can watch from a place he can't see. Today he went under water two or three times and floated on his back--assisted of course. He is getting so BIG--I can hardly stand it.

Baylor is too. She takes more and more steps everyday and is taking to going across whole rooms unassisted. We are quite proud. My sister has been putting together old pics for a wedding slide show--Baylor is just about my sister made over. Just look at her younger pictures (if you're at the wedding that is) and you'll see Baylor in her big time!!

Wedding countdown: only 22 days to go!!

Broken...

bones that is. My sweet mother fell Monday evening and broke her arm in about 6 places above the wrist!! She wasn't in too much pain yesterday thanks to some major pain meds. They go back to the doctor today and will most likely schedule surgery on Thursday to try and piece her little arm back together. They said her bones were more brittle b/c of her diabetes. Say a little prayer for her that she will make it through this with as little pain as possible and in high spirits. We're all a little bummed that this had to happen just before the wedding...a cast and sling were not on her accessories list to go with her dress:)

My sister done did graduated

The honor graduate and her sister. When she walked across stage Travis shouted "I love you, Kim" and Christian shouted "Yeah, Mim!!" He could hardly be heard but the people around us smiled. He said it again as she returned to her seat so she heard it:)
Christian giving Mim flowers
Mam-ma came down for the festivities and Baylor joined us for the party afterwards. Nana and Papa were nice enough to watch her during the ceremony so we only had one child to fight with:)
My parents had a reception for Kim and two friends from Louisville. Daniel is in the orange shirt and Matt is in the blue. They all went through high school together in Youth Group at church. It was fun to celebrate with so many old friends. The lower picture is just some of the people that were at my parents house. It was the first party in the new house--it went well and everyone loved seeing the compleated project .
Congrats to my sister on a job well done--you worked hard and I'm pretty sure it all paid off getting to walk across the stage with your cords. I love you and can't wait to see what your future adventures hold...of course we've got to get through one small thing first...THE WEDDING

Favorite Fridays

I've missed a couple b/c we were either busy or the people I get my topics from didn't do it until later. Anyways...Favorite Place to Eat...mine would be Baja Burrito for casual and Mama Mias for a more intimate dinner. I don't get either one very often and they are a special treat when we do:)

Tubes update

We have scheduled our tubes for Monday, May 21st...keep us in your prayers over the coming weeks and that day especially.

Busy times around here. Mim graduates on Saturday afternoon and we have a reception that evening. School is drawing to a close for Master Christian, Baylor's, tubes, a trip to NY (for Travis' graduation) and then this litle thing called a wedding. All within a month!!! Not to mention a trip to Vegas and a four year old birthday after all the other fun!!

Can you say C-R-A-Z-Y?!?!?

More from our weekend

We also spent some time at the Aquarium in Chattanooga. Christian loved looking at all the fish

and this last picture is our up close encounter with a turtle. We were in the ocean portion during feeding time and got to watch the divers...one even did a headstand to amaze the kids. Christian loves anything that involves animals so maybe he'll do something with that intrest when he gets older:)