Baby Blessing Take Two

Hey All-

Randi here again.  I just wanted to let you know that we are going to do a dinner of turkey, ham, rolls, and salads at my parent's house on Sunday at 4:30.  We decided their house might be better because then people that are in that general area do not have to stick around for our whole block but could still come to dinner with us if they felt so inclined.  If you want to come, you are more welcome.  There is no obligation but we wanted to extend the offer.  If you are planning on coming over for dinner and could let me know by Saturday, that would be great.  But, if you do not let me know and still decide to come, that would be fine as well... my mom has a tendency to cook for the masses regardless of the original number that she thinks is coming.  :-) 

I guess that is all for now.  I know that we live on the outerskirts of nowhere... especially for those of you that are on the other side of nowhere.  If you are not able to make it to the blessing, we totally understand.  But, if you can come, we would love to see you and have you there. 

Have a great day!  Love ya!

~Randi

Baby Blessing

 am going to make this quick because Mary is starting to get a little fussy.  I just wanted to let everyone know that we are planning on blessing Mary on Sunday, June 4th.  Our ward meets at 1 pm.  I have attatched a map to the church.  If you have any questions, let us know.  Thanks!

~Randi

Map to baby blessing

Missy, John and Ben

Here are some pictures of Missy, John and Ben. They were feeding Ben so I didn't take closeups of him, and then I got a little distracted and forgot. Sorry! I know John has lots of them, so he'll post them soon, I'm sure. He's a cutie!

Missy Update

Okay, well, Missy, of course, had her baby Wednesday night between 9-10pm. Benjamin was 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and 19 1/2 inches long. He's super cute! Hopefully, we'll get some pictures soon!

It's Done but It's not Done

We wanted to tell everyone that we closed on our house yesterday so we are now proud home owners. We didn't get to close until late in the day because of some paperwork issues and we will get our keys when we get down there. We will be moving on Friday night and hopefully moving our stuff in on Saturday. We will keep you updated with everything. Thanks for all your help.

Kenny and Texas

My Prediction

I think Benjamin is going to weigh 6 lbs 8 oz and he'll have a mess of brown hair. Any other predictions? She could have him any minute! Agh!

GO MAVS!!!!!

That was an awesome game last night! I originally said I wasn't going to watch or listen to it, because it's just too much stress, but I couldn't help it! Now, they just need to beat the Suns!

FW: post on the blog

Hey everyone,
I'm sorry I haven't written in a while. I've been busy. I'm still busy, but today was test day so I now have two weeks 'till the next one, but I do have a campout and a youth dance this weekend so I don't know if I'll still get an email out next Monday because I'll be catching up with studies. So my wife has accused me of being a formula writer. She says that all my blogs are sarcastic and not serious. In order to maintain variety in my blogs I'm not only going to be serious, but I'm posting someone elses writting, just to ensure diversity and unexpectedness when you see that I've posted.

From Mom (Ginny)
I've forgotten how to post on the blog. Will you put the Memorial Day event on it? Feel free to bring any Vans you wish if you come.

While you're posting, will you also add that Sunday was the official day that Gideon beat Dad in height. In March Gideon was still 6' 1 1/2" and he is now 6' 2 1/4" (Dad is 6'2"). With the wild hair of course he looks taller!

Have you heard from E-bay yet?

PS: I have heard from Ebay. Someone did jack my account and bid on stuff. My account is now locked and they suggested that I change the password on all my online accounts (email, etc.) which will be a huge pain, but oh well. I guess I have to deal with it. Oh, and btw: an RMB (I bid 1 RMB for my win) is a Renminbi, Chineese paper currency.

PPS: I just want to appologize to G-man. I told Kevin in an email last Friday that he was now the tallest in the family, so it's obviously my fault that he's now taller than my dad. I know it's a burden for him, and I feel awful that I've thrust an extra 3/4 of an inch on him. I'll try to stop doing things like that. That's it for now. Everyone enjoy the day. And for the Mavs game tonight: Nicht nur siegen, ZERSIEGEN! We will see.
C.J.
-See Randi? A totally serious blog.

** Admin Update: For anyone who has "forgotten" how to blog, merely send an email to missyruth.fowkesfam@blogger.com and it will publish directly to the blog. When you send mass family emails, just add that email address to the list! It's so easy! That's how Randi and CJ do it! They even blog to the ours and the VanDrimmelen site SIMULTANEOUSLY! They're so techno-savvy. Sometimes I clean them up because I'm obsessive compulsive about posts being clean and orderly, so I hope no one gets offended. I can't help it! Oh, and I think CJ is funny. Okay, I'm finished...Oh wait, sorry Ginny we probably won't be at your house on Memorial day. Sorry. ;) NOW I'm finished, really! Missy **

Hospital Info

Everyone knows we'll be heading to the hospital on Wednesday morning to be induced. For those of you who are going to be able to visit us in the hospital I've got some information. Arlington Memorial has been under construction for over a year and it's not getting much better. I've attached the link for the hospital construction site and it also has parking instructions and a map. The hospital's not hard to find, it's right off Randol Mill (south side) and Cooper (west side). Going in the main entrance will be your best bet (Labor and Deliver is on the 2nd floor) and since January they've had free valet parking at the main entrance. Otherwise, you can park in the parking garage off of Waldrop (professional building parking, has been free for a couple of weeks) in the south parking garage off of Cooper, south of the main building, or in the public parking right off the main building next to Cooper (fills up fast). I've also included a link to the map. We're excited and neverous and looking forward to Wednesday! We can't wait to see our little Ben!

Parking/Construction Info
Hospital Map

One of the many reasons we love McKinney!

This is hot air balloon season! We see at least one balloon a week, and sometimes they fly right over our house! This picture was taken in our backyard, and there were 2 other balloons, but we couldn't get all of them in the same shot. Anna and Tommy go bonkers when they see them!

Re: house?

We signed a contract for our house yesterday. It was basically the same offer as we previously agreed to with the last buyer. Our new house should be finished at the end of the month. We are hoping to get our buyers to close sooner than June 17th (the date on the contract) so we can get moved in. I'll keep everyone posted! Suzy

Wednesday, May 24

Hi everyone. Just wanted to let you know that I found out my for SURE induce date is going to be next Wednesday the 24th. I KNOW! It's only a week away! John doesn't even know yet, he has no reception where he is so isn't he going to be surprised when he gets back from New Mexico tomorrow? We'll keep everyone posted throughout that day, but please! Don't come to the hospital till after Ben is born! (see my blog for more info on how we feel about that, you'll have to scroll down.)

Thanks everyone!

Thank you all for coming to the picnic. We had a great time and we thought it was a great way to celebrate our graduations. We hope that you all had a great time as well. We've posted a couple of pictures from Saturday and also my graduation on Sunday.

House update

I got an email from my realtor. She thinks we will get at least one offer tonight and maybe 2. Keep your fingers crossed and your prayers coming! Suzy

Party!

These are some random pictures I took at the party yesterday. I don't have a picture of Kenny and Texas, ironically. Oops! Share your pictures if you took any!

New President in the Family!

After a riveting campaign that included hand-painted t-shirts and a spell-binding speech promising fun activities like an Arts Night at the school and a trip to the DMA, Chrystal von Bose has been elected as President of the Summit High School Art Club by a landslide vote. Apparently the vote was so one-sided that Chrystal's friend, who was wearing a "Chrystal for Art Club President" shirt, voted for the other girl just so she wouldn't feel bad. Congratulations, Chrystal!

The D Magazine Baby Shower

I had my work baby shower about a week ago and it was so great. I recently got some pictures from the photograher who shot it for an upcoming company presentation. I'll give you a little piece of one, but head on over to the Saunders' blog for a few more larger shots. Hopefully she'll send some more good ones my way (if there are any!) I'm going to find out how much she'll charge to take pictures of us and Ben when he's born, she really does an amazing job!

Suzy and Paul's House

If anyone hasn't heard, the people who were going to buy Suzy and Paul's house aren't. You will have to have them tell you the story. Suzy called me yesterday (as I'm sure she did many other people in the family) and said a man had come to look at the house and was bringing his wife back today because he like it. Everyone say a prayer for them that this could be a possible buyer! No one wants to pay two mortgages! ;)

Check out the Saunders blog for an update on John's mom. We're really grateful for everyone's concerns!

You Can Pick Your Friends

But can you pick your friend's pictures? Okay, so I've been a little slow getting pictures of Mary online. Sorry. Geez. You'd think that a guy who just had a baby and a test and a cold would get a little slack from the relatives. Whatever. Just so you all know, I tried to send pictures from the hospital, I really did, but apparently they get kind of mad when you try to hack into their secure network to send pictures to friends. My question is why they put the extra CAT5 jack inside the latched metal case under the rolling cabinet next to the bed if you weren't supposed to use it? Anyway, I'll stop rambling. I know, I know. You just want to see the pictures. So without Further ado...

Oh no!

John just sent me a text message saying his dad was taking his mom to the hospital on doctor's orders because they don't know what's going on with her right now. She doesn't know how many kids she has and has been sleeping for 22 hours a day for the past couple of days. Hopefully it's not a stroke, but it sounds like maybe it could have been. For anyone that doesn't know, John's mom has has beaten Lukemia 3 times (she's been in remission for a little over 4 years) but hasn't been in the best of health since. We're praying everything is okay! Please keep John in your prayers! I'll post an update as soon as I hear anything from him.

Pictures...

Hey All-

As soon as I can remember to bring my memory card with me when I am going to be around a computer, I will post a few pictures.  In the meantime, here is the web address for the picture the hospital took... Mary was wearing the cute shirt that Grandma fowkes gave her!  :-)  Anywho, that is all for now!

 

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage_view.asp?URLID=2O0B7M0L5A

 

~Randi

Pictures of Mary Stolen From the VanDrimmelen's

It was the only way we could get some! So for anyone who hasn't gotten to see her yet, here she is. I thought she looked more like Randi in the hospital but in these photos she's undoubtedly CJ's baby!

We've Joined the Bandwagon!

I take lots of pictures and I didn't want to inundate this blog with all of them so we started our own. Come see our adventures!

http://brianmandieabby.blogspot.com/

Free stuff!

We have a picnic basket that we want to give away. It has plates, cups, and other things within it. Let us know if you want it.

Your invitation!

As you all know, Texas and I wanted to do something unique to celebrate our graduation and we have decided that we want to have an outdoor barbeque. We are going to to do it Saturday May 13th from 5 pm to 7 pm. It is going to be at Bicentennial Park in Crowley, Texas which is near my parent's house (it was free). You can click on this link for a map and directions: http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=12+Davis+Rd,+Crowley,+TX&ll=32.582439,-97.34509&spn=0.016598,0.042915&om=1

We will be grilling hamburgers and some other meats. Please bring something to share with everyone there. It is a nice park with plenty of room for different activities. If you have any other questions you can call us or my parents.

Abby Knows Sign Language

I
LOVE

YOU!

Just for update

Hello all!

I know that it is the day after my due date.  I am guessing that most of you have just decided to not get too excited about anything until Wednesday because you are tired of getting your hopes up.  Well, I am too!  I just wanted to let you know that nothing is going at this point and the Wednesday bet is probably a pretty safe one at this point.   But, we can at least know that she will come no later than Wednesday� thank you Dr. Gordon for having a Wednesday on call day.  So, that is all.  My Mom and I are going to get my toes done today.  I have read that there are pressure points on your foot that can help speed along labor.  It is probably a wives tale but if anyone would know if there is some truth to it, it will probably be the nice Asian people we are going to have the pedicure done.  Anywho, that is all.  Have a great day!

~Randi