Seven Month Milestones and a New Video

I AIN'T AFRAID OF NO SNAKE! or
DaDa, why don't you send a resume to
one of those snake handling churches!
"I Ain't Scared!"

I know it sounds like a broken record, but we just can't believe how fast our boys are growing up. Zachary is rapidly approaching 14, just 3 months away. Can we say "driver's permit!" SCARY! Samuel has already turned 7 months and his first Christmas is just around the corner.

Zachary is doing super. He is homeschooling this year and is excelling like you wouldn't believe. In less than 3 months he is nearly 2/3s of the way through a very hard and thorough Algebra 1 curriculum. He should finish two years of High school math this year, he is an eighth grader! He is excelling in all of his subject areas. He is a VERY mature young man, both physically and emotionally. The hard part is watching him get "checked out" by girls MUCH older than him. They have no idea he is only 13! We were in a restaurant the other day and a bus load of college girls was in there. You guessed it! AAGGHH! Of course, you know Zachary hated every minute of the attention. I know they didn't think he was college age, but I'll bet you they had no idea he was just 13! We won't be in trouble until Zachary realizes he is as good looking as he is! Then, look out!

Samuel turned seven months old on the 16th of November. He weighs about 25 + lbs. and is wearing 12 mo. to 18 mo. clothes! He is off the charts, both in weight and height. He is just a huge kid! Don't get me wrong, he is perfect, just big for his age being an understatement! For those of you who saw him back in either June or August, you will not believe him when you see him! We are going to be in Arkansas for a few days around Thanksgiving, and I know my family will flip out! He is going to be a giant, don't know where he would get that from? He still only has two teeth, on the bottom and in the front. I call him my little "backwards beaver". If you don't want to lose something, don't get it near his mouth! He is an accomplished public speaker, he often tries to drown out everyone with continuing, loud declarations of "Da Da Da, Da Da, aghhhh, Da Da Da Da" and so forth and so on. You know I hate that! :-)

**Don't miss the new video posted at the bottom of this post!!**

Can you see the resemblance? Yep, both our mouths are open ALL THE TIME! :-)

Them Mauldin boys are hard to beat!

My VERY handsome family if I do say so myself, and I do!
(A copy of a previous picture with a little more of the background left in it)

This bridge is a favorite place to take pictures around Denton,
about a mile from our house.


A few more family shots on our "Picture Day", taken in a gazebo at our church.

A few more snapshots:

Bubba, have I told you lately, "You da bomb!"

Yep, another picture of me sleeping, Da Da just can't resist!

I was saying.......

Not much more I love in this world than my Bubba!

OK Da Da, you are starting to bore me!

(Actually, it was after midnight, and "Stamina Boy" still hadn't given up the fight!)

This video was taken right before the picture above, can't believe he was still going strong. We had made a late evening trip to Wal-Mart, and after we got home, little britches got a BIG dose of his second wind. Cracked us up!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yep! I'm blessed with a pretty awesome family!

Recent family snapshot after church on the Old Alton bridge, about a mile from our house. Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Been really busy. I'm still doing quite well compared to before. I'll try and post a lengthy post soon. Lots of new pictures, more milestones, and some bits of news. Keep us in your prayers, love you all!

New Pictures and Health Update

MAN! I'm loving this park swing!!!!

Hello All,

We have finally gone over 1,000 visitors to this website. We actually probably did that a couple of months ago, because I haven't had the visitor counter (at the bottom) the whole time the site has been active. Kind of hard to believe if you think about it. I don't think we are giving Yahoo or Google anything to worry about, but 1,000 visits is quite a bit!

On that note, no doubt the many visitors have been responsible for the many prayers on our behalf. After more than five years of hell, and the last two years being far, far worse, I am finally experiencing some relief. Don't get me wrong, I still don't feel well, I'm very weak, still in pain, and just all around don't feel great, but the difference today and just weeks ago, is profound! I'm able to go and do like I haven't in years. I feel much, much better! I certainly thank all of you for your prayers, without them, I KNOW I wouldn't be where I am right now. Thank you and may God bless you!

Day to day life keeps moving along, Samuel is almost 7 months old now. Can you believe it? Zachary is closer to 14 than 13 and is getting so big and tall. He is becoming such a fine young man. We sure couldn't handle all we do without him. Maybe I should raise his allowance? Lets see, a 50 % increase of nothing is ?????? :-)

Here are some recent pictures of the crew:

What? Can a boy not play with his toys without an audience???

OK, this hat is becoming increasingly NO FUN! or
What? This is how all the cool kids where it!

Yeah I'm cute, but Dad you seriously need to think about a diet!! :-)

I'm even serious about my sleeping!!!

Yep! We make pretty babies!