‘Family Ties’

A interesting combination of families have begun to fill our lives.  This past weekend, for example, we were visited by several families —  both ours and others.

Lori’s dad dropped her mom off on Friday so she could spend another weekend with her new grandbaby while he attended a conference at A&M.

On Saturday, we met our friend Jason’s family. Jason and Brandon have been best friends since they were kids, which makes Jason’s family sort of like Brandon’s second family, which I suppose ties them to us in some way now, too! Here’s a photo of Jason & Rachael, with Jason’s parents and sister. (Jason & Rachael are the parents of Sam, our favorite over-sized doggie.)

David came to spend the night on Saturday, which is always a treat. Sunday night, he went to his Gramma and Grampa’s, his favorite place to take a bath, as you can see!

Sunday night, Brandon’s mom arrived with her parents, so Caden could meet his ‘great’ grandparents for the first time.

We’ve come to consider Brandon & Lori part of our family, and it’s been really sweet to get to know their families, as they get to know ours.  Fortunately, there’s usually a vacancy at the Matthew B&B, so any and all are welcome! Just be sure to book your reservation in advance.

‘Life Goes On’

Well, we officially closed out the summer with a big Labor Day bash on Monday. (Just kidding, I think summer lasts a couple more months here.)  Anyway, it was a great party — good food, good friends, and good entertainment!

I’ve just been thinking about how much has changed in our lives since our summer opening party on Memorial Day.  David was born (two days later, in fact!), we adopted Tiki, Bella was successfully treated for heartworms, Brandon and Lori moved in,  Caden was born, and all the while we’ve grown closer to all our wonderful new friends we absolutely adore.

Also, I’ve gained 10 pounds. Thought that was important to mention.

We’ve also gotten more and more involved in our church, which we really enjoy. We’ve even gotten to play with the band a couple of times. We’ve just now been asked to join a new band who plays for a youth group at a large church in town. Our two first official “gigs” were last week, and we’re really excited to get to play every week from now on (it forces us to actually practice!)

The summer has been really fun, and fortunately, we’ve stayed very busy at work. We’re extremely thankful for that, and for all of our blessings. Life goes on (oh blah dee, oh blah dah) and we just hang on for the ride.

‘Happy Days’

Well, in case you haven’t heard by now, Caden Cole Phifer has officially joined our family! Caden was born (to our housemates) on August 22. He’s just a precious little boy and we are really having fun having him here.

I had the honor of being with Lori in the delivery room until she was finally wisked away for an emergency c-section. Turns out, little Caden had his cord wrapped around his foot, and the poor guy just wasn’t going anywhere. But he arrived healthy and happy, and came home a few days later.

We’ve had a lot of guests since Caden’s arrival! Lori’s mom came to stay for the first week, and her dad and brother joined us for a night as well.

Brandon’s mom took over after that, and we all appreciated all the extra help the mamas gave!

We’ve all settled into the new routine – well, it’s easy for us since we can’t hear a peep from the baby when they’re upstairs! But we love having Caden here. David gets to use the downstairs nursery for now since Caden is sleeping upstairs for awhile. We’re like one big happy family, and having a blast! (Between naps, that is.)

‘Full House’

When you attempt to keep a blog, sometimes you feel like your life is so boring you really don’t have anything to blog about. At times, this is true for me. But currently, we have so much going on I can’t even keep up with it in my mind much less take the time to blog about it!

I guess the biggest news is the unique way our family is expanding. Our newest nephew, David, is 6 weeks old already!

I think that’s pretty much the cutest belly button ever! We’ve loved every second we’ve spent with him and look forward to more and more. He’s just precious! Until I get around to posting new pics, you can check him out at PaulJess.com.

So, now we’ve got our own new baby, whom we’ve named Tiki.  We’re not sure how old she is, we think between 6 mo-1 year.

Our friends, Brandon & Lori, found her roaming the streets near their home in Bastrop. She was wearing a collar but no tags. They posted flyers and we called the shelter regularly. No one claimed her, so, poor us, we had to adopt her! She’s been a wonderful addition to the family and we LOVE having her here! Bella is glad to have a new friend.

With our brood now expanding, we’ve decided to add a few more. Brandon & Lori, who found Tiki, have just moved in with us for a few months to save money while they prepare for the arrival of their first baby boy (Caden) in August.  Brandon is the Associate / Youth Pastor at our church, River Valley Bastrop.  They’ll probably be with us for about 8 months to a year. We turned the upstairs music room into sort of a studio apartment for them and it’s working out great so far.

They have a furry son, Cooper, who has happily joined our pack as well. He and Tiki are quickly becoming best buddies.

We just LOVE having everyone around. Nothing like a house full of love. We can’t wait ’til the baby arrives. We have all this extra space until we can start our own family, so we’re thrilled to use it and to get to share this experience with our new friends. We’ll be babysitting David a lot here soon so we’ll be fully equipped on the baby front.

Jess and Paul came and stayed with us last week and brought David and their doggy Chester. Talk about a FULL HOUSE! Somehow, we make it all work and it’s just really fun. Never a dull moment around here any more. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Ayden vs. Santa

Round 1 goes to Ayden.