Lindsey

Please be lifting up the Pruett family right now. It has been a rough couple of weeks. On Monday, December 10 we found out that Zack's sister Lindsey had passed away in her sleep the night beforehand. Lindsey is Zack's youngest sister and was just 29 years old. We do not have any answers yet. Lindsey was sick for awhile in the fall and has also struggled with being sick on and off again for some time. She lived in her own apartment in Abilene where Zack's parents also live. She loved playing with her nieces and nephews. She loved to give manicures and pedicures to friends and family.  She had a huge collection of nail polishes and stickers that my girls just loved! One of my favorite memories of her is when she was painting either Kate's finger nails or toe nails and Mom Mom was doing the opposite hand. It was quite the sight! Another memory that I will forever treasure is when she and Kamara sang a duet in our wedding. She and Kamara sang beautifully and it was such a gift to Zack and me.  I loved to hear Lindsey laugh. It was a deep infectious laugh that would make you smile. Lindsey loved to help others out. When Zack's grandmother was recovering from surgery she really  relied on Lindsey for support. Lindsey acted like a nurse for her for awhile and even stayed with her during her recovery. Before Claire was born, she talked to me on the phone and gave me very sweet, encouraging words. She also would encourage me as a sister and as a friend. I am so glad that at Thanksgiving she was able to see Claire and hold her for awhile. That was the last time I saw her or talked to her. Lindsey also cared deeply for her boyfriend Josh who she has been with for many years now.  Lindsey baptized him last Easter, which was such a blessing. Josh is the one that found Lindsey on Monday morning. A couple of days after the funeral, he decided it would be best to move back to Michigan to be with his family. This whole situation has been heartbreaking for the family, especially for Zack's parents. Please be specifically lifting them up in prayer.  In this life we don't ever plan to lose a son or daughter because it's not in the right order. Lindsey will be missed by many. I rejoice in the fact that she is in a better place now.

I want to say a special thanks for to everyone for all the cards we have been receiving.  Thank you to everyone that actually drove down Abilene for the funeral or visitation. We have felt lots of love by our friends and church family.  There has been a huge out pouring of love.  Zack and I are blessed, very blessed.

2 months old

I was waiting to post Claire's two month post till we had our 2 month doctor's appointment. We just had it this morning and Claire is very healthy! She now weighs 12.85 pounds which puts her at 90 percent for her weight. She was in the 75th percentile for her length and 50th percentile for her head. That explains why she has now graduated to size 2 diapers and 3-6 month old clothes! This past month she has started cooing and trying to talk to us. She also smiles all of the time! She is just such a sweet baby. She is inconsistent on her sleeping schedule. Some nights she just wakes up for one feeding and other nights she can sleep through the night, which is rare.  She still sleeps a lot in the day as well as the night, which is nice since we stay pretty busy with our other two girls. I usually don't put her in her crib for naps. Her naps are in the swing or carseat. She is almost always awake for 1-2 hours between feedings before she goes back to sleep again. She does not cry very often unless she is hungry or tired. It just broke my heart today watching her get her three shots because she had such a high pitch cry. I had never heard that cry before and it came after the first shot and then they gave her two more! I was holding back tears myself as I always do when my kids get shots. She has lost more of her hair now and becoming a bald headed baby like our other two girls. Every bath she loses more hair. We just love her so much and feel so blessed to have her. I just look at her in awe all of the time. No matter how many kids you have you still feel in awe of your children knowing that you created them.
This Thanksgiving I feel just so thankful for her. Last year was such a difficult thanksgiving with Ryleigh being in the hospital and Kamara having just delivered Marabeth. I feel so much joy and thankfulness to Christ for giving me this healthy baby and soon Kamara will have her healthy baby girl, too. Thank you God. My cup runneth over with joy and love for my family. Here are her two month old pictures.

My favorite one!

I love her little expressions.

I just love these little slippers. We got these with Kate and I have loved seeing them on each child.

Priceless!

Love!

It just warms my heart when she looks up at me and smiles.

Such a sweet baby. We love you Claire!

October

October is always one of my favorite months! I love the start of the holiday months and the cooler weather that starts in October. I am especially thankful that this October is a happy month since a year ago in October is when we found out that Marabeth would most likely not survive. One of my favorite months became one of my hardest. That is not the case this year. It was a joyful month and I feel very blessed.

Mom Mom and Dad Dad visited us in October and we celebrated Dad Dad's birthday a couple of days late.  Our girls always love to have Mom Mom and Dad Dad time!

Our girls also always want Mom Mom to paint their nails. She was very sweet to listen to all the requests that  they had and to try to do what they were wanting.

Play Doh time!

Sweet Claire having her tummy time.

Kate and Carly love the tradition of making a jack o lantern in October. They enjoyed picking out what face they wanted their Daddy to make.

I love this picture!

Classic Kate trying to put the yucky seeds on her Daddy.

Claire took part in some time with us outside, too.

I captured some great shots of Claire relaxing on this beautiful Fall afternoon. 

These next pictures are hilarious to me. Look at those expressions! It just makes it more funny since she is naked and you see her big tummy sticking out. It is like she is saying, "I am so content with my big tummy and hanging out!"

My very favorite!

The finished jack o lanterns. The one of the right didn't turn out too  well.  It's the thought that counts.

Claire is just begging me "Mommy, please pick me up!"

Look at that sweet face!

I love Kate's big smile and laugh. Her two bottom adult teeth are starting to come up a little now.

The girls always love going up to Zack's school.  They had Art night at his school and the girls enjoyed participating.

I was impressed with this drawing of Kates on a dry eraser board. I was showing them on my own board how to do a self portrait and then Kate followed me by doing her own self portrait.

I started putting Carly's hair in pigtails just like Kate's hair and she loves it! It makes her look so big!

We went to the State Fair one afternoon in October. It was perfect weather.  We had a great time! The girls favorite part was the animals.

I don't know if you can tell or not but they are looking at bees in these two pictures.

This was kind of stressing me out a little bit but Zack does not worry about these kinds of things, so I let him be in charge of Carly. Plus, I was holding Claire since you could not bring strollers into the Petting Zoo.  So I didn't have free hands. Look at the sign. You cannot read it all but it basically says to keep the fingers away so the animals don't think they are food. This was not the case for all of the animals, but the ones that we needed to be cautious with. I was pretty uncomfortable with how close Zack was letting Carly get to the cage. Below she even had her hands on the cage!  Apparently, I was not alone because Zack heard a parent saying "I can't believe that Dad is letting that little girl get so close." I agree!

The girls did enjoy petting the more tame animals and feeding them.

Kate and Zack found this little lizard right before she went on a  ride. She caught it and loved holding it for quite awhile. Again, some parents watched in awe as Kate picked it up and was not bothered at all about holding it. Carly however, does not want to have anything to do with any kind of bug or crawly thing. She gets freaked out about some plastic bugs that we have at our house. She will cry at the sight of them. Poor girl, she has nightmares about ants, spiders and snakes. 

She was fine with it at a distance.

We let Kate choose one ride to ride at the Fair and this is what she chose. We felt bad for Carly because she was just not tall enough. However, she handled it all very well and didn't even fuss about it. 

One of the best things about the State Fair is the food! The girls enjoyed sharing some french fries in this picture. We also enjoyed some corn dogs, lemonade and Salt Water Taffy. My Dad always bought some of the Salt Water Taffy when we went to the Fair growing up. I am pretty sure he still gets some when they go to the Fair now, too. Great tradition!

Kamara and I took Ryleigh, Carly and Claire to Panchos on a Preschool Day. I know Panchos is not everybody's favorite, but I grew up going to Panchos since it is so cheap and we have a big family. I still enjoy eating there every once in awhile because it so cheap. Kids 3 and under can have the buffet for free, so you can't beat that! I know it is not as good as like Abuelos or Chuy's, but it is still Mexican food so I like it!

We had a play date with Miss Jamie, Caleb and Justine. Caleb is going to have another baby sister in December so it was sweet to see him holding baby Claire.

Kate with her class on Pumpkin Patch/Petting Zoo day. Here are also her sweet teachers Miss Robyn and Miss Dina.

A black hat was put on Kate's pumpkin on accident.  It did make it cuter, though. Kate wanted to paint her pumpkin a reddish pink, so that is what we did. The children were suppose to bring a decorated pumpkin to school that was not carved. Some of the parents went above and beyond on their pumpkins. It was amazing and impressive! I truly made it Kate's pumpkin and let her decide, so therefore it was not as fancy.

Carly enjoyed seeing all the pumpkins, too.

Kate's sweet friend Bethany.

Kate's other sweet friend Jolene.

Kate really enjoyed petting all the different animals.

Here she is with her sweet friend, Macy.

Another October tradition is for Zack to go pheasant hunting with the other brother in laws and my Dad. It is one of his favorite things to do in October. They always have a great time! In this picture is Zack, Brett, Michael and Rod.

They always do some laughing while they are there!

My Dad

Michael, Brett, Dad, Zack and Rod

Going into the field to hunt.

The next couple of pictures are where they stayed while they were there.

Halloween parade at Kate's school

They get candy on their parade through the school. Here Kate is receiving some candy. She was dressed as Rapunzel from Tangled.

Carly being silly with some modeling clay. She cracks me up!

Halloween party at Kate's school.

We are ready to go Trick or Treating! Claire is in the ladybug costume that all three  girls have worn. Kate and Carly both wanted to be princesses of course.

Look at this precious ladybug! This costume was enormous on her so we didn't wear it long.

Two princesses: Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel from Tangled.

We live in an older neighborhood where people don't really get into trick or treating, so we went to our friend's house, the Robinsons. Also there was the Coxs and Hughes. Here are some of the kiddos: Ryleigh, Kate, Carly, Aubrey,  Lydia and Harper. 

Here they are again with John David, too. So cute!

Here is Owen and Claire, precious babies in their Halloween clothes. Owen was born in August so they are really close in age. 

Ryleigh, Kate and Harper were the most comfortable with trick or treating. Kate cracked us up because she would engage in conversation with everybody that answered the door. After she got the candy she would ask them questions about their yard, their house or their decorations. 

We let them choose one piece of candy and Kate chose the bag of cheetos, so funny! A girl after my heart she loves her some chips!

Aubrey looked adorable in her fairy costume.

Kamara made the Tate Traditional Jack O Lantern Brownie. So yummy!  It was always one of my favorite traditions of Halloween.

Kamara and Claire

The girls playing "Ring around the Rosie" after Trick or Treating.

Uncle Rod and Claire

Ryleigh holding Claire

Aubrey and Claire

I love Ryleigh's face in this picture. She just is so excited about Claire. This is why I say that Claire is laid back. Look at the commotion around her as she just reacts calmly.

Enjoying playing with water on a hot Fall Day.

We had my niece, Isabelle's birthday at Chuck E Cheese. This is the second time that this has happened to Kate and me. Kate just walked up to a game and pushed a button and won the jackpot. I think we need to play the lotto because it happened to me with her this summer. What luck!

My Mom enjoying some time holding Claire at Chuck E. Cheese.

As her shirt says, "Nana Rocks!"

   
As you can see we had a fun and busy October! We hope you all are well and enjoy the time together as family.