Amy's Mommy Blog

Zach's Wall Mural

2010-09-05T23:13:00.003-05:00

I finished Zach's wall mural Saturday. I started last weekend, but then got busy with just stuff. I was finally able to finish it up Saturday and it turned out great.

Brad spray painted Haley's old pink head board brown and we put it on Zach's bed. It looks great too and finished off the look of his bed.

Here's Zach's Camping wall mural that he LOVES. I'm so glad that he likes it.

Every child needs a room that is their own space. Somewhere where they can play and imagine and just be a child. Be creative and cut loose. I hope he can do that in this new room!
We will add some finishing touches in the next few days. I want to buy some oars and hang those on one wall and then buy a large bear head and hang. I saw them online and they look like a stuffed head, but it's a stuff animal. Which is very age appropriate for his room.

Hope you enjoy your room Zach!

Our baby is in Kindergarten................ OMG

2010-08-27T12:45:00.003-05:00

Well the day has finally arrived...... Haley has started Kindergarten. I can't believe that our little BG (baby girl) has hit this milestone. It's exciting in some ways, but sad as well.

She was so excited to start school. Get up and put on her new pink dress with a kitty on it. She wanted to wear it sooooo bad. She'd get up and ask "do I start school today?" and I'd tell her "No, not today." So the day arrived and she got up in a good mood, got dressed without a fuss. It was a family occasion to say the least. Mommy, daddy, Zach, and Maggie all went to drop her off on her first day. We walked her in, picked out a seat and got out her school supplies. She was happy and everything was good until she saw that Zach wasn't staying there. Then she teared up. I tried to not let her see me tear up because that wouldn't have helped her. So me and Brad just comforted her and told her that she was going to have an awesome day and have so much fun and that Zach would be fine at the other school. We hugged her several times and then walked out once we made sure she was ok.

My grandmother picked her up from school that day. School lets out at 3:15pm and she got there at 2:30 and sat there until they brought them out. :) Haley told her that she had a great day and had a lot of fun. They immediately called me when they got home and Haley told me about her day. I was thrilled to hear that she had fun and was excited to go back the next day!

She is really enjoying it so far and seems to really like her teacher. Haley has been asking for a pet mouse (hamster). So we told her that if she had a good first week, she could get one. She's been good so far, so looks like we're going hamster shopping tomorrow!!!!! haha

New Taxi

2010-08-27T12:39:00.002-05:00

My new taxi!!!

I love my new car. It's a Cadillac CTS. Black on black. Very nice. We traded in the mustang and got this. It's beautiful! I take Haley to school now and so I needed a 4 door. The mustang was ok when I just drove back and forth to Midland because Brad took the kids to daycare, but now I take Haley and Brad takes Zach. And the kids hated having to ride in the mustang. They were so cramped in the backseat. I only picked them up in it when I had too. So this allows me to take Haley in comfort. I love it!!! And I know I will keep it for a long time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess that's why a lot of older people drive these. They are soooo comfortable and quiet! lol

House pics

2010-08-27T12:28:00.005-05:00

So I've finally pulled pics from my phone and posted. Even now some of these pics have

been updated! :) We brought all of our other furniture and art from the other house and put in place in the new one, but we will slowly replace what we want to update with new pieces. Just to change things up and update a little bit. For now, for those wanting to see pics, here they are! And not in any order!

Master- separate potty area

Kitchen view of bar counter top
Stove Kitchen view
Refrigerator cabinet view
Hall bath

We chose as you can see a dark stain and for the granite we went with Venetian Gold. It's a neutral stone and color. We felt it would be safer in the long run.

We are really enjoying the house. I will post other pictures of the back yard, front of the house, our room and kids rooms, dining room when I can. I didn't have pictures of those on my phone!

But you can get an idea of what our house looks like.

New house

2010-08-27T12:14:00.004-05:00

SOLD!!!

We closed and moved on our house June 11, 2010. We are loving it!!!! These pics are a little old now, but better late then never. And these are for those friends/family that aren't here to see it in person! Thanks Aunt Betty for doing such a great job as our Realtor!

Master Bath- during construction

Kitchen cabinets- during construction

Breakfast area- Before pic- there is now a large art print hanging. I'll post that later. We are loving the house. These are a few of the pics I took during construction.

Rockstar/Guitar mural

2010-02-28T15:33:00.005-06:00

So Saturday I went to paint for a co-worker/client. They wanted to redo their son's room and give him a more "big boy" room so they opted for a Rockstar/Guitar themed room. The client's husband plays the electric guitar and is teaching their son so they thought the new theme would fit perfectly with the new hobby.

They painted the walls a light grey and then I came in and painted two tribal flame murals on the sides of the window so that they could hang a guitar in front of it on brackets. When the guitar is hanging in front of it, it looks awesome! Just look for yourself.........

View of flames when guitar is removed from wall

View when guitar is placed back on brackets

Pretty cool huh? One holds a black guitar on one side of the window and the other holds this turquoise one.

Then I painted the word "Rockstar" which will go over his headboard and then painted some bars and music notes around the room with random notes and stars too. The room turned out really cool and I've told her to take a finishing picture when they put the bed back in and get his new bedding in there and all of that.

I hope he enjoys his new amped up room! It turned out really cool.

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-20T15:17:00.000-06:00

Sunday morning we got up and went to church and then came home to give the kids their Valentine's baskets and all of that. I got them each a red heart basket and filled them with a few snacks and goodies that they like and then got them each a matching frog balloon.

Turned out pretty cute I guess.

The friday before Valentine's Haley had given me a necklace that she made me at school. It was so sweet and I have it hanging in our bedroom on the mirror by my bedside.

The poem is so sweet. The necklace part is made from penne pasta that she painted pink. AHHHHH!!! Just melted my heart! I'll keep it forever!

Poem reads-

Mom, I've got some friends

Of each and every kind,

But a better friend than my mother

I'll never, ever find!

I'm so happy you're my mom!

I love you,

Haley

I got Brad some adjustable weights. I know not a very romantic gift for him, but Valentine's seems to be for the ladies and he has been wanting some of these, so that's what he got. I got the sweetest card from the kids too and a sweet card and a giant Hershey's candy bar from Brad. Just what I need when I'm trying not to eat a lot of candy/sweets.

But I have to eat it now, or it'll hurt his feelings right? :)

Then Monday Brad had flowers delivered to me at work. I got to keep them at work all week and enjoy them, so that was nice!

Sandy came over after church and gave the kids their little baskets with goodies and then my parents stopped by and had these really large stuffed animals with balloons tied on them for the kids. Haley got a big pink bear and Zach got a big Monkey. They were too cute!!

The kids loved them and they go great in their rooms.

Then Tuesday GanGan picked the kids up from school early to spend the afternoon with them and gave them their Valentine's presents which were these musical puppy's that sang and danced. The kids loved those too! So it was a nice day for us all.

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day too!)

Happy 32nd!!!

2010-01-20T15:27:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday to me! We went out to celebrate my 32nd birthday with a group of friends and started out meeting at Carino's. It was delicious too! There were about 8 people that showed. A few couldn't make it and a few met up with us later in the evening, but for those that came, we had a great time and I thank those that came out to celebrate with me. It was fun!!!!

At Carino's Brad brought my gift in for me to open in front of everyone. The card was placed over the lettering on the box, so I couldn't tell where it was from, so I lifted the lid so that everyone else could see first, and all I heard was "ooooohh, ahhhhhhh, OMG" and knew that I would love whatever it was. So I opened my eyes and it was a COACH purse. I had looked at them before but couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money. But really wanted one because I LOVE purses. So Brad went and picked one out for me and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the style and color and all of that! It is wonderful! He did great!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the girls loved it too! :)

And then my friend Amy gave me a gift certificate to get my hair done, since she is my hairdresser, so that was awesome! Then when we went out my friend Lindsey bought me a drink! So it was a nice night!

I'm not exactly sure what the guys are doing here and why Abe is hiding behind the menu...

(Amy and Lindsey)

(Lindsey, Cindy and me)

So after dinner we went to Oasis and just hung out to celebrated and stuff until about 1am and then came home. Thanks Maggie for watching the kiddos for us while we went out to celebrate. Without a sitter, we couldn't have gone! haha

Saturday Brad's aunt and uncle were in town and came over to celebrate with us because his aunt and I share the same birthday, so Sandy bought a cake for us to share and so we just cooked out and had cake and ice cream and stuff and watched the football game. Then Sunday we went to my parents house to celebrate with my family and ordered pizza and all of that. I got a gift card from my brother and some money from my parents. It was a great evening and we enjoyed spending time with them. It was nice and I will use the money for clothes most likely. :) And Haley and Zach got me a really sweet card which I loved. So it was a very nice birthday and again I appreciate everyone who helped me celebrate it! I'm 32! I can't believe it!
At Oasis- Thanks girls- It was fun!

Lubbock Day trip

2010-01-03T16:01:00.000-06:00

We hadn't taken a little trip with the kids in a while, so we decided to get up and drive to Lubbock for the day. With us being off Friday it allowed us to get some stuff done and that freed up our Saturday so it worked out great. We left around 9:30 and went to the mall first. Their mall is so much better than ours. After a little shopping we went to eat at The 50th Street Caboose and then Haley and Zach played a few games and then we headed to their Kirkland's because it was calling my name. They are out in a little shopping center now and it's much larger and has a lot more stuff than the one in Midland. I could easily go on a shopping spree in there!!

So after Kirkland's we went to get our tickets at The Omnimax theatre to see some Underwater thing they had showing. It was pretty neat. It started playing and Haley said "Mama, are we moving?" I said, "No, the camera is moving so it looks like we are." So she thought that was pretty cool. Then Zach realized the same thing and looked at Brad and said "No, daddy, NO, I want out!" So I guess he thought it was a ride. lol. Poor baby.

Here's some pics of us waiting to go in.

We had a good time though and they kids were really good until we headed home and Zach was ready for a nap. He got a little fussy until he dozed off for a short time. But it was a nice little trip for us even though it was a tad on the chilly side!

*Notice mine and Haley's matching brown boots. ;)

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

2009-12-27T22:20:00.000-06:00

Christmas is finally here! We got up around 9am and actually went and woke the kids up. I went to wake Haley and patted her and said "Haley, guess what?" She started smiling and said "Oh, I bet Santa came!" She jumped up out of bed and started down the hallway. Brad woke Zach up and they both walked out of the room. We came into the living room and Haley immediatley saw a Barbie "Pet Vet" that Santa had left for her. Zach walked by the fireplace and heard something meow..... he looked towards the fireplace and saw a kitty sitting there. He said while pointing "Kitty?" And then Haley turned and just stared for awhile and then saw it.......... her Cuddling Kitty she had asked for. She ran to it and picked it up. Then sat it in the floor by her pet vet. She was SOOOOOO happy you could see the happiness on her face.

(Here's various pics of Haley)

Haley's Cuddling Kitty- LuLu

The Barbie Pet Vet and Haley's kitty by her feet

Zach got a Black and Decker workbench with all of the accessories. He LOVED the drill that it came with! Just check out how he started opening his gifts. How manly is that!

He got a bunch of trucks and some cars, some Mr. Potato head kits, his own laptop and some pj's of Disney's cars.

(Here's various pics of Zach)

Zach opening gifts with his new drill!

Reindeer food on Christmas Eve

2009-12-25T21:46:00.000-06:00

The kids went out with daddy in the front yard to sprinkle some reindeer food (Oatmeal). I guess Haley thought bribing the reindeer to our house would increase her odds of getting the "Cuddling Kitty" she's been asking for. Haley made sure to sprinkle it all over the yard.

At 6:30pm we all went to the church for the Christmas service. My aunt Barbara and cousin Lindsey met us there too! I'm so glad they came and enjoyed this time with us. It's so nice to spend the holidays with family. I hope they enjoyed the service.

We left the church and went to look at a few Christmas lights. I don't know if it was just me, but it appeared that everyone was lazy this year. Us included. We didn't put lights up this year. We were just really busy every weekend, with 2 birthday parties on different weekends and 3 Christmas parties, we just didn't have time to put them up, then when we did, it was 2 weeks before Christmas and who puts lights up that close to the holidays? Not us. Oh well, it was one less thing we had to take down this year.

So we looked at the lights that were up then came home and ate chili that Sandy had made. The kids then opened their presents from Maggie (Sandy) and here are the pics. The kids loved their toys from her. Haley got a medical play kit with a bed and accessories and a My little pony baby.

Zach got a "My 1st Scooter" which he loves!!!!!!!

Thanks Maggie for the delicious chili and for the great gifts. The kids loved them!

Hope everyone has a Blessed Christmas holiday!

Christmas at The Stallings

2009-12-24T22:10:00.000-06:00

We went to my grandparents house Wednesday evening to visit with family and open gifts. It was nice to see everyone and the kids enjoyed opening presents for the first time. This evening marked the first night of opening gifts!

My grandparents got the kids some really neat gifts. Haley got a Little Mommy doll that crawls and stuff, a princess dress up outfit and a set of bead bendable things. Zach got a tricycle. Memaw got Haley a little tiger that she can feed and Zach got a remote control hummer. Jane & Maddy got them each a view finder with different pictures to insert. The view finders today are a little different than the ones we all grew up with. These are pretty cool!

It's always nice to get together with family around the holidays and just visit. It was nice and we had a great evening. Thank you all for the gifts and Lindsey and Seth, sorry we missed you guys.

Me and my princess

2009-12-15T21:00:00.003-06:00

This was just a picture of me and Haley that I took while we were at her Dr's apt. I took her in because she had been throwing up with the really bad stomach bug. In the picture though, you can't tell that she had been sick for about two days. But we got her some phenegren cream to rub into her wrists in case she gets sick again. :)

Isn't she beautiful??

Christmas Party with friends

2009-12-13T20:48:00.005-06:00

Our friends Lindsey and Isaiah had a Christmas party at their house for all of their friends and family. It was a formal dress up party and turned out fantastic. It was open bar and was served by a guy from the Midland country club. We had a great time and the food and drinks were great too! I especially liked getting dressed up and seeing my handsome husband in a suit!

It was nice spending time with our friends. They have a beautiful home and the party turned out great! Here's just a few pics!Me and my handsome husband

Me and Amy Marquez

Me and Kayla

Dear Santa...... I've been good

2009-12-05T20:42:00.003-06:00

We took the kids to the Midland mall to see Santa. It wasn't all that crowded either which shocked us for being the weekend. Haley and Zach got right up in his lap and Haley told him that she wanted a Cuddling kitty for Christmas. It's a motion scensored kitty that moves and meows just like a real cat, but it's a lot less messy!

Here's the kids with Santa!

Haley's Christmas tree 2009

2009-11-28T20:37:00.000-06:00

Here's Haley's tree that we put up in her room. I went the day after Thanksgiving to Big Lots and bought this little 4ft PINK pre-lit tree that they had for $12. Then bought the glittered ornaments and ribbon from Dollar Tree. So for less than $20, she has her own very girly little tree in her room!

Makeover anyone??

2009-11-27T20:09:00.000-06:00

Haley came down with a bad stomach bug that lasted about 24 hours and she didn't feel very god for a few days. As a special treat I let her pick out a toy when we went to the store and she chose a play makeup set. So we got home later that day and I got busy doing something and she went into her room to play. She then came out and said "Mama, look I did my makeup!" So I turn around and this is what I saw.....................................So what makes her think that eye shadow looks like this?? I'm not sure. Hopefully she doesn't think my eyes look like this. haha

But I do have to hand it to her. At least her eyes match each other.

Also, notice her lips and all of the lip gloss she put on. She just cracks me up sometimes!!

So if anyone wants to schedule a makeup facial with Haley, just let me know!

MOJO

2009-11-22T17:52:00.004-06:00

Saturday we drove to Abilene for the Permian game against the Martin Warriors. It was a pretty good game even though Permian lost (25-15). We got up and headed out around 9:30am after picking up Sandy who was kind enough to buy our tickets.

It was a nice day for the game and we really enjoyed it. There were two bad calls and could have made a difference, but we'll never know the outcome now. Guess it wasn't meant to be. It just saved us from getting beat next weekend. I hear it would have been a really tough team.

We sat behind the band and it took us back to when we were in the band. We used to be right there sitting and playing after touchdowns and cheering the players on. It was funny thinking back all those years ago. Good times with friends and football. Its amazing at how young the kids look today though and how silly some act. I'm sure we acted just as silly though and drove our parents crazy. lol We wonder one day if we'll be watching Haley out there cheering or Zach out playing. That'll be awesome! I'll be one true devoted Football parent if so!!!!! Go Permian football!

But it was nice to get away and take a small road trip. My grandmother was kind enough to come to our house and watch the kids for us. The kids love spending time with her and I'm sure she enjoyed the time with them too. Since they've been in school, she hasn't seen them much, so I'm sure the day was enjoyed by all!

This morning though, Haley got me up around 6am throwing up, so that wasn't good. She threw up two more times, so we missed church. I gave her some phenegren that you rub on their wrist and it soaks in. That has seemed to help. It made her sleepy though and she took a nice long nap for several hours which I'm sure helped make her feel a little better too. She seems better now, so we shall see if she's any better in the morning. If not, then I guess we'll be staying home tomorrow! I just hope she gets well before the holidays.

Fiddlesticks Farms 2009

2009-11-16T21:12:00.007-06:00

Hi Ya'll

Sunday we decided to take the kids to Fiddlesticks Farms again this year. We thought the kids would enjoy it and with Zach running around now, we knew he'd have a good time.

Although it was a good idea, it wasn't the best day however. The wind was horrible, but the kids still had a great time and we're glad we went. It gave us something to do anyway and Sandy said that she wanted to go whenever we went, so she went with us this year.

Here's just a few pics from our family outing. We just all wish the wind wouldn't have been blowing so bad. At one point Haley put her arm over her eyes and said "I've had enough of this!" Oh boy, the attitude has already started. haha

Here Brad and Zach got on a jumper and Zach liked laying down better.

Here they are going down a really big slide. Zach's face was priceless.

Here they are shooting pumpkins from the pumpkin launcher

Then they moved to the corn shooter, which Zach really seemed to like!

Then the four of us took a ride on the cow train. Notice the lovely wind!

It ended up being a lot of fun. Haley went panning for gold and other gemstones and liked picking out the pink and purple stones. So that was pretty neat for her to do. Overall it was fun and even though it was a little pricey, we'll most likely go again next year.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Love, Haley & Zach

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T20:26:00.000-06:00

HALLOWEEN- 2009

So this year Haley went as a witch and Zach was a monkey. We made our usual stops to show off the kids' Halloween costumes and to wish Debbie a Happy Birthday and then headed to Crossroads for the Halloween carnival "Night of Light". This year there were over 7000 people that went through there. They had a train ride, jumpers, cake walk, tents with games and food and drinks too. You just purchased tickets for .25 each and each game was 2 tickets. So not bad at all for a night filled with fun. Zach ended up falling asleep after being there for about 15-20 mins so Sandy sat in a chair and held him. She said she didn't mind at all because she liked sitting and watching all the kids pass by in their costumes. So Brad, Haley and I went and played games and stuff. Haley had a great time playing the games and getting in the jumpers and stuff. We did the cake walk even though we didn't win a cake, and she did a fishing game where she did get some candy. It was a great carnival and we ran into so many people that we knew. We ended up leaving at 9pm when it was over and came home where the kids crashed as soon as they had their baths and their little heads hit the pillows.

It's nice that our church puts on an event like this. We really enjoy our church and were glad to be part of the "Night of Light."

Hope everyone had a great safe and Happy Halloween!

Our baby turns 2!

2009-10-26T19:58:00.001-05:00

They say they grow fast and it's true. I can't believe that Zach is now 2. It truly goes by fast. But we've enjoyed watching him grow into the little laid back man that he is. Every year his little personality just keeps coming out and melts my heart. He's my little man, that's for sure and looks just like his daddy too.

For his 2nd birthday we did a construction themed party. Complete with a construction cake and gray hard hats for all of the kids that did attend. We rented a jumper and the kids seemed to have a good time as usual. I wish I had invented those things!

Zach seemed to have a good time and got a lot of different toys. He got dump trucks, bull dozers, a train set, a guitar, play tools and blocks and various other toys that even big sister Haley is loving. So thanks everyone that came and helped celebrate his birthday party with us. We are so thankful to have each of you in our lives. It was a very nice party and it wouldn't have been a party without you all there.

We will soon be changing out his room too and we will be moving him into a big boy (twin) bed, but not exactly sure when we want to tackle that project. I want to do it soon, but when we do that, that means he'll be able to climb out of his crib, so we might wait another month or so. That'll give us time to buy his bed and stuff too. But I know the theme and my parents got a few items to place in his room. So that will go great! I have 2 clients that I have to paint for and then I will try to start on it. I might even wait until after the holidays to start on it. We'll see.

Here are just a few pics of the party. His cake and Zach eating his cake. He loves chocolate!!! Wonder where he gets that from???

Dallas Getaway

2009-10-06T18:53:00.003-05:00

This weekend we took a small road trip to Dallas for the Goodguys car show at Texas Motor Speedway and a little R&R. Actually Brad and Sandy went to the car show while the kids and I went to hang out with some friends of ours and their kids.

We got to Dallas around 2:30 on Friday and Brad dropped Sandy and I off at Sam Moon for my normal stop for shopping. I am a purse-a-holic and so I feel the need to buy one. So we shopped a little bit and Brad sat in the car while the kids napped a little bit. We then headed to the hotel to let the kids swim. They loved it. Just look!

Then Friday night we met Brad's brother Larry and his girlfriend Keisha at On the Border and the kids did really well. It was a nice dinner. Saturday morning we got up and Brad dropped me and Haley off at a soccer field to meet my friends Sheila & Ryan and their kids. Karly had a soccer game at 9am. It was cute to see her out there running with the other kids. About half way through she got tired and just stood on the field like "yeah, I'm done." It was so sweet.

So after the game we just went back to the Ayers house and visited while the kids played with one another. Haley had a great time playing dress up with Karly and jumping on the jumper with Megan and Logan. After we left Haley kept saying "I wanna go to Karly's house." Ah, if only we lived closer to them.

Saturday night we met Larry, Keisha and Abby (Larry's daughter) at Rain forest cafe in the Grapevine mills mall. Dinner was pretty good, you mainly pay for the atmosphere. Which the kids loved it. They didn't get scared one bit and really seemed to enjoy all of the animal sounds. I'm not sure it's a restaurant I'd choose very often, it's pretty expensive. We got out of there for $140, plus $14.99 for a white tiger stuff animal that Haley had to have. But she really likes it. She hasn't let it out of her sight since we returned.

L to R- Haley, Brad, Abby, Larry, Keisha, Sandy, Zach and myself

Close up of Haley. She liked the rain that was falling behind her head surrounding the bar area. The bar area is a huge mushroom which looks pretty cool.

Overall it was a nice evening for all of us and we enjoyed our trip!

My very own photo shoot!!

2009-09-27T19:07:00.002-05:00

Brad has been wanting to do a "photo shoot" with me to get some practice and add more photos to his portfolio. We went Saturday to a place on the South side of town to a building that has been marked with graffiti. The original purpose was so that Brad could take photos of a car and a model for a local calendar. So I went along and we took a few of me. This place was really neat and was a great spot for photos.

These are just a few that he took. We have plans on going to different locations around town and taking more. It will allow him to use me as his "model" and practice and get ideas before working with others. Lucky for me! It's like my own personal photographer and the best news, he's free!!!!!!!! HAHA

Parker is here!

2009-09-26T15:22:00.004-05:00

Welcome Parker!

My youngest brother Luke is now a daddy. Man, do I feel old. Parker Lee Ray Cavender joined the world September 23rd at around 1:31am. I don't remember the exact time, but it's somewhere around there. He was about a month early so very unexpected, but mom and baby are fine. Parker was 4 lbs 13 oz. He is perfectly fine and nothing is wrong. No need for the NICU which was good news. Being that early and that tiny, I worried if he'd have to stay there for a few days, but nope. So luckily he's doing great and I think he looks just like Luke did when he was born. And look at all that hair!!

These pics were taken from my iphone, so just a little blurry, but still for a phone pic it turned out really good. It felt like I wasn't even holding anything he was so light. I'm just glad that the baby is healthy and has everything he should. He's a cutie.

Monahans car show

2009-09-20T18:33:00.000-05:00

Me, Brad, Haley & Zach

This weekend we went to car show in Monahans. Just a quick little road trip. It was at a local park they have and it turned out to be a perfect day for an outside car show. It was nice and the kids enjoyed playing in the rocks they had. Here's a few random pics of us.

REO SPEEDWAGON

2009-09-20T17:04:00.005-05:00

"I'm gonna keep on loving you......!" Saturday night was so much fun. We (Sandy, Brad and I) went to the REO Speedwagon concert at the Horseshoe. It was really good! They put on an awesome concert! Just look at the pics. Just look at how close we were at times. It felt like we could almost touch them! It was awesome!!! Great music and great fun. We all had a great time and it was totally worth the money! And "We're gonna keep on loving you!" :)
Me up by the stage! Up close and personal! How close can you be?

Great time and so glad we went!

Permian Basin Fair

2009-09-16T16:53:00.000-05:00

So Tuesday night we went to the Permian Basin Fair. We usually try to go every year even though we spend way too much money for what we get and it's normally the same every year. This year both kids were big enough to ride the rides, so Zach got to join in the fun. Here's just a few pics, but as you can see Haley was enjoying the rides while Zach wasn't enjoying it too well.

He did like the train ride though and Haley liked the bumper boats. Zach tried the bumper boats, but once the boat started moving he started crying so we took him out.

Haley enjoyed all of the rides until we ran out of tickets. Probably would have been better to buy her an armband, but maybe next year. It was pretty fun and gave us some family time so it was worth it.

Dr. Apt

2009-09-13T16:30:00.002-05:00

Seems like forever since I've posted. With me working now outside of the home it seems like there's never enough time. It will slow down though. I've been busy this weekend working on getting my stuff ready for the JBF consignment sale. It's always so exciting because I enter clothes to sell and then buy clothes and it usually evens out, so it's like I just trade clothes for the ones that fit! :) So anyway, I've been tagging all of the clothes and items and had 103 items for sale. That's a lot of tags.

Well Friday I had my Dr's apt with my OB/GYN. This apt was to discuss my future surgery. I've been having problems to say the least and long story short, we discussed my options. Now I just have to decide which surgery I want. I can do a limited surgery where they will remove my right ovary and then burn the lining of my uterus to stop any future bleeding. As in permanently. YES!! YES!! YES!! This surgery will leave my left ovary and also my uterus. Hopefully the left ovary can still produce the right amount of hormones needed and hormone replacement won't be necessary. This surgery although it's quicker has no guarantee that my left ovary won't form cysts and cause me problems later on, resulting in another possible surgery down the road. This surgery is an outpatient (1 day) surgery done laproscopically and has a recovery time of 2 wks. Second option is a full hysterectomy. He will also try to go in laproscopically and remove everything. Once he gets in there, if he can't do it laproscopically because of scarring from my previous c-sections, he will then make an incision somewhere where my previous c-section incision is and take it all that way. This option, if it results in another full cut could result in a 3 days hospital stay, but that's if I'm a mess inside, as he put it. This surgery also has a 2 week recovery time, as in out of work, etc. I can't lift anything heavy at all for 6 weeks, but he said after the 2 weeks, I could go back to work. So either way, I'll be out 2 weeks and never have another cycle again! I'm so excited, but now just wondering which way to go. I'm leaning towards the full surgery because it's ONE surgery that will fix everything and wouldn't result in any future surgeries. Down side, Hormone replacements. With my age, it would send me into early menopause and that scares me, emotionally that is. I'm afraid that I'll do this and lose all of my friends and etc because I'm turned into a MONSTER! haha. I have been praying and just fear that if I do the limited surgery, that a year or so down the road I'll start to have trouble with my remaining ovary and etc. God knows I wouldn't want to do another surgery later on. That would stink!!

So I have to decide which route to take and call my Dr. back. This isn't something that needs to happen next week, but fairly soon because of the current cyst I have. It hasn't acted up in the past 2 weeks, so that's good. Hopefully it stays that way until I make a decision. I'm just excited to know that either way, I'm done with all of that monthly PMS stuff. YEAHHHHH!!!

I'll try to post more often as things slow down. I have that consignment sale this week and it should start to slow down a little bit. Check back for updates though!

Stomach bug............

2009-09-01T14:51:00.002-05:00

Bugs........ I hate bugs, any kind of bug usually. But the worst, the stomach bug. I woke up yesterday morning around 3:00am and felt the urge to throw up. I kept vomiting until around 7am. As in couldn't leave the bathroom because it just kept coming up. I'd lay on the bathroom floor and then wait to get that feeling, then do it again, I tried to go lay down in bed, but I think all the movement made it worse. As soon as I'd try to lay down, here it came. It was AWFUL!!!!! I haven't felt like that in a long time. Then around 7am, my stomach then got upset and I still had the vomiting. I was like "what on earth is wrong, is it the flu, a stomach bug or what?"

I had to do Haley's hair for school so I got her ready and Brad took them to school. I laid on the couch with a heating pad on my back to help ease my back pain. It did help some. Then around 3pm it all started back up again and I felt like I had been beaten with a bat. Just beaten and felt like a wet noodle. Aches, nausea, upset stomach, all of the above. Then I started getting the cramps like I get from my cyst when it acts up. So I called my grandmother to see if she could come get me and take me to the Dr. I had just taken a pain pill and we headed to the Dr. There was no way I could have driven myself and I'm glad she did take me because I got 2 shots. 1 was Demerol to knock me out and another was an antibiotic. He said I couldn't go to work or anything today and possibly tomorrow. So I didn't go today either, but if I keep feeling like I do now, still sore and achy, but not actually throwing up anymore, I'll go tomorrow. I'm on antibiotics, so hopefully no one will catch it from me.
I'm glad my grandmother drove me though because the shot kicked in and I was falling asleep in the car on the way home. I got home around 4:30ish, laid down and slept until 7am when Brad woke me up to fix Haley's hair. I got up and fixed her hair, went to get Zach dressed and he started throwing up. :( He stayed home with me and I took him (even though I'm not 100% better either) to the Dr. He got a shot and she said "this will make him sleep, but call me if he throws up 2-3 more times and watch his pee diapers, we don't want him getting dehydrated." So we got home around 11:45 and he's been asleep this whole time. I hope when he wakes, he's feeling a little better and doesn't throw up anymore. It's hard to see them throw up and there's not much you can do for them. He's been very clingy today and lovey. Ahhhhhh! My sweet baby. I hope we all get better and that Brad doesn't get it. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I'm back..........

2009-08-27T20:29:00.002-05:00

Sorry for not posting in awhile. I've been going to work and coming home, fixing dinner and trying to enjoy my evenings. Thursday of last week I had that really intense pain again while at work (my new job) and ended up in the floor under my desk. How embarrassing. A co-worker and I were on a conference call when the pain started and I immediately took a pain pill and waited for it to kick in. Nothing.......... This went on for about 20 mins and then I sent Brad and IM that said "I'm having that pain again, I think you need to come get me." And remember I work in Midland now. So he's like "really?" and I'm trying to lean up to my keyboard to type and replied with "YES" So my co-worker leaves my office and shuts my door. Thank God, had anyone seen me down on the floor in a fetal position, they would have thought "uh.... weirdo!" So Brad gets there about 20 mins later, pain pill hasn't kicked in yet and I've put a call in to the Dr's office which they said "come straight in."

We get there and by this time the pain pill has kicked in and all I can think about is wanting to go to sleep. We get back there and the Dr does an exam and says "if it were a cyst then she wouldn't have let me push around, she would have had pain. We just got her results for her urinalysis and there was blood in her urine. She could be trying to pass a kidney stone." So he says he'd like to schedule me for a CT of the abdomen to find out for sure. I went in Monday morning, of this week and then went back to work. They called Wednesday afternoon and told me that they found a 2cm cyst on my right ovary. Now, it's up to me. I will more than likely have surgery to remove the cyst, but I go Sept 11th for a consult with my Dr. I had some questions regarding the surgery and wondered if he took my ovaries out, if that would fix my problem. But, if he's going in to remove ovaries and the cyst, then part of me wants him to take it all while he's in there. The ONLY reason I'd opt to keep the stuff, is for hormone reasons. The nurse said "you're so young and it'd send you into early menopause." But I've known people that had hysterectomy's and took hormones and were fine. I'd prefer to have it all taken out now, but the timing just isn't good right now. New job, I'd have to be out for 4-6 wks, can't lift anything, i.e.- kids........... I think for now I will have surgery to remove the cyst that is still causing me pain daily. I get through the day with the help of pain meds. I just take half during the day so I won't be so groggy so that helps. And I don't know what it is but right around 2:30 is when the pain comes. It's weird.

So until Sept 11th when I have my consult, I'll just have to wait it out and deal with any pain. I just know that I want this pain gone and will take whatever steps necessary to make that happen. I do ask that you keep me in your prayers and whatever my Dr. recommends for me is what I'll do. It'll all work out in the end, it's just getting to the end that's hard.

I will try to update more often though. I miss blogging, but I really enjoy my job and the kids are enjoying "school." So we're all doing great here overall!

Pediatricians Mural project

2009-08-17T18:32:00.012-05:00

So I FINALLY finished the murals for a Pediatrician in Midland. The rooms turned out really cute and even though I enjoyed the job and will enjoy the money, I'm glad that it's finished. It has taken me about 2.5 weeks to finish this project. I went to paint after work and then on the weekends in order to finish it by the deadline of August 20th. Had the job come earlier I could have probably painted during the week, during the day, but since I had just accepted a full time job, I had to work at night and stuff. I say it's all complete, but there's 1 small area I couldn't paint yet because the painter's need to finish texturing the wall first. It's just a small frame though so I'll go after work tomorrow evening and finish it, then it will be completely finished and I can get my check.
During this job, Brad has had to stay home with the kids and tend to them. Which is fine and he didn't mind it, but I want to thank him for also keeping the house picked up. He hasn't had any time to himself, but this time allowed the 3 of them to have some quality time together even though he got bored a lot too. There were even a few days that he went to help me when Sandy or my grandmother had the kids, so that helped me. Then towards the end, I also got help from my grandmother and Sandy. I just needed someone to paint inside of what I had drawn on the wall and having their help saved me from having to do it and allowed me to get started on something else. Having this extra help was wonderful and had I not had their help, I'd still have another day or so of painting. So thank you guys for helping me! I really really appreciate it.

The Dr and staff came up with each theme and I went from there to design what to put in the room and where to put it. The waiting area is full of animals large and small. You can't see them from the pics, but I painted really small animals like ladybugs, ants, worms, butterflies and etc so the kids can play "I Spy." So it all came together nicely and turned out great and I hope the patients enjoy them! So here's pictures from each exam room and the waiting area.

Waiting area- View 1

Waiting area- View 2
Waiting area- View 3

Waiting area- View 4

Waiting area- View 5

Waiting area- View 6

Waiting area- View 7

Waiting area- View 8

Waiting area- View 9

Construction room-View 1

Construction room- View 2

Construction-View 3

Hallway vine and painted frame to place a tack board inside

Hallway tree and monkey scene- Vine goes all down the hall on both sides.

Music room- View 1

Music room- View 2

Music room- View 3 Children of the World room- View of 3 of the flags
Children of the World room

Giraffe growth chart in hall

School room- View 1

School room- View 2

School Room - View 3

Zoo room- View 1

Zoo- View 2

Zoo- View 3

Zoo- View 4

Zoo- View 5

Zoo- View 6

Two bathrooms were also done with vine in them. The bathroom in the waiting area also had a sign painted in it that reads "Wash your hands" and I'll post a picture of that tomorrow, I forgot to take a picture of it. :) Then I'll take a picture of the other frame that I'll paint tomorrow night.

But for now, this is what I've been working on for the past 2.5 weeks. It was fun and I enjoy doing it, just not all at once and while working a full time job too! LOL

The contractor hired for the remodeling asked for some of my business cards, so maybe more business will come from it. He said he is asked all the time if he knows anyone that does decorative painting and never knew anyone. Well now he does!!

Can't stop to breathe....

2009-08-09T18:21:00.002-05:00

I have been very very busy lately. I went from being a stay at home mother to now working full time and also painting in the evenings and weekends on a large painting job for a local Pediatrician. I try not to stay too late so I can spend time with the kids before they go to bed, but then I'm wanting to finish it so I can just be done with the project too. The past two weekends, I've gone to Midland to paint and I've painted about 80% of my weekend. Brad has been playing Mr. Mom and has been doing a great job. I came home one day and the house was cleaned entirely, then today he went to the grocery store and bought stuff for the week. He's been watching the kids and spending time with them for the past week. Which I'm sure the kids enjoy their time with daddy. I'll be done hopefully by this weekend and then can get back on track. It's looking good though. 4 exam rooms and a growth chart have been completed, plus vine and leaves all down the hallway are done. My grandmother has been going to help me with it too just to speed up the process and that has helped a lot!! Brad has even gone twice to help and did a great job! Thanks you guys for offering to help me out. Just wanted to post real quick to update everyone. I'll post pics as soon as this project is finished. So stay tuned!

Daycare and Work

2009-07-28T18:12:00.002-05:00

Well.............. we've all survived two days so far. The kids did really well yesterday. I dropped them off for their first day. They did good. I dropped them off and the director asked if they wanted pancakes. Of course the kids didn't, so that was normal for a first day. The kids already there were watching cartoons and some eating breakfast. Haley and Zach sat on a rug by each other and started watching. I took the kids stuff to their rooms and signed them in and then hugged and kissed them bye and Haley just said "Bye Mama, Love you!" So that was sweet. I was glad they did good, it would have been really hard to leave knowing they were crying.

The kids are getting used to it and it's helped our bedtime routine. They go to sleep much easier now and earlier too. Zach has always gone down really good, but Haley is our little night owl. She'll stay up until she just can't take another step or hold her eyelids open anymore. Last night, she took a short nap when they got home and then around 9:30 was already asleep again. So I'm glad that they'll get on a better schedule.

So far I really like my job. I've gotten in there and already started tackling some larger projects that they needed fixed. Trust me, they have a list of some stuff for me and I've made a list of stuff I need to do to get their HR department up to speed. Not all of the changes have been made though, so it'll all happen and I'll get new responsibilities as they come. But so far I like it and can't believe that tomorrow is already Wednesday. I even helped process their payroll this morning. I guess it's good that I've been a little busy. Makes it go fast.

So to everyone reading this, just continue to pray for us in our new adjustment period. It'll take some time for us all to get used to our new routines. Like me, I now get up at 5:30. I need an hour to get myself ready, then about 30 mins to get the kids ready and I have to be out the door by 7:30. Brad takes the kids now because he doesn't have to be at work until 8:30. So getting up at 5:30 is just what I have to do. It's so dark at that time too. Hard to get going when you can't even see outside. haha

Black light putt putt

2009-07-26T17:55:00.000-05:00

Sunday after church we went to Mackenzie's 5th birthday party and it was at the Indoor black light putt putt thing. Haley had a good time and loved the party. They got to play unlimited indoor putt putt and got their faces painted and their hair spray painted. All of this with glow in the dark paint. So Haley thought that was so neat. It was weird at first walking around in a pitch black room, well almost, there were the black lights of course and everyone in white stood out. Once our eyes got adjusted though it was pretty cool. These pics are only bright because of the flash, but Haley and I had a great time. Just mommy/daughter time.

Here we are in the arcade room. Haley was driving.

So we came home from the party around 3:30 and the kids went swimming with daddy while I went to the grocery store. Then around 6:30 we went to my parents house because they invited us over for dinner and to visit. We came home around 8pm to start getting ready for our big day. The kids starting daycare and Mommy starting a new job. The evening consisted of baths and trying to get clothes ready for the next day. I had to get the kids nap mats ready too. I was so proud of myself, I made Zach a pillow case to cover his little pillow. Haley already had a nap set because of Mother's Day Out, but Zach needed one. So I bought his mat, cover and a new blanket and a small travel size pillow then made him a blue pillow case. Regular body pillow cases will cover those kindergarten nap mats perfectly!!! It was all really cute. Now I just need to take the cover, blanket and pillow case to get his name monogrammed on them. That'll happen later though.

So wish us all luck tomorrow!

Josh's 30th

2009-07-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

We went out Friday night with some friends of ours to celebrate Josh's 30th. We all went to eat at Jorge's and then went to Oasis for a little bit. It was a lot of fun. We didn't stay out too late though because Brad was golfing early Saturday morning with some friends.

Brad and I

Here's us girls. The three Amigos. Amy, Amy and you guessed it, Amy!!Busted applying lipstick. This is cool though, it has a light in the end of the stick!
Anyway, just good times with good friends. Happy 30th Birthday Josh!!

Little Texans

2009-07-22T16:18:00.002-05:00

Well the kids and I went up to "Little Texans" this afternoon to look around and to let the kids see where they'd be going next week. Haley was excited and went right in. We went down to Zach's room and he just went right in too and started pointing and talking to the other kids. The teachers in there were impressed on how well he's talking. He's 21 months now and is really starting to talk very well. 21 months, I know? How'd he get so big? He stills jabbers sometimes and we aren't sure what he's trying to say, but I'll usually say something like "bring it to me" or "show me" and he does so then we know what he's saying, but other times we just say "Oh really?, wow!!!" and that seems to work.

I got the enrollment forms and gave them copies of the kids immunizations and then we started to leave. Haley didn't want to go though, she said "Mama, can I stay, I'll be good!!" I just told her "not today, we just came to look at it today, but starting next week you'll come every day." So we left and she was content with that answer. I guess that's a good sign!

We are looking at upgrading Brad's car a little. We're looking at a few and will see what works out for us. Either way, whatever we choose will be great. I feel that this is going to be a great opportunity for my family and can't wait to see how it all pans out and how the kids do at "school." I know that God will be with us through this transition and it will all

work out for the best. I start in 5 days! eeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Thank God for Dirty dishes!

2009-07-22T11:28:00.003-05:00

I got up this morning and was cleaning a little bit and doing dishes. I would have done them last night, but we ate dinner real quick then Sandy called and said we could drop the kids off so we dropped them off over there. Which worked out great because we wanted to go over to Midland to look at a car and test drive it and etc. This allowed us to ride together instead of going at separate times. We're thinking of selling Brad's car and upgrading just a little bit since I'll be driving it back and forth to Midland. Brad's car is paid for, so we can sell it and apply it towards something a little newer. There are two we're looking at and not sure which we'll decide on so we'll just see what happens. Anyway, we got back from Midland at around 9:45 and Brad dropped me off at my neighbors house, Amy, who is also my hair dresser. She trimmed my bangs for me then we got to talking and stuff. Brad went to pick the kids up and said he would most likely go ahead and lay down because he felt exhausted. So I ended up getting home at like 12:30am. I didn't realize what time it was. I said "I better go, it's 11:30" and she replied "no, it's 12:30, that clock is an hour behind." Uh oh!! So anyway, I got up this morning and started cleaning and laying stuff out for dinner tonight. Tonight we're trying an Italian Casserole. Can't wait to try it out. Got it from E-mealz!

Anyway, as I'm loading the dishwasher, I kept thinking, "Oh how I hate dirty dishes" I wish they'd just magically disappear. But I remember running across a poem about dirty dishes, so thought I'd post it. It just makes me stop and think how well we have it. We all take things for granted and don't really appreciate it or stop and reflect just how much we're blessed. There are those that do without and it's sad.

Thank God for Dirty Dishes

Author Unknown

Thank God for Dirty dishes,

They have a tale to tell.

While others may go hungry,

We're eating very well.

With home, health and happiness,

I shouldn't want to fuss,

By the slack of evidence,

God's been very good to us.

Dirty dishes.

Star Wars Mural

2009-07-19T09:46:00.001-05:00

My nephew Shawn turned 10 on Friday and has been wanting to re-do his room in a Star Wars theme. His mom got him a Star Wars comforter set and he mentioned a few months ago that he'd love to have a Star Wars mural painted on one of his walls. So I went over Thursday during the day to start on it. Then went back Saturday to finish it up. I finished it around 5pm and then we headed up to Sherwood Park for his birthday party that was up there at the pool.

Here's a finished picture of the mural. His room has become the spaceship and we are looking out of a window into the Galaxy. He was surprised and said that he loved it! It wasn't much of a gift for him to open and he can't really play with it, but he can sit and stare at it I guess. haha

And it goes really good in his room.

A new chapter

2009-07-16T01:35:00.000-05:00

So my previous post was about a call I got from a company that expressed interest in hiring me. I went out Wednesday afternoon to meet this lady. She said their CFO was always impressed with me, so she wanted to meet me and show me around. They've updated the place and made a lot of changes in the last 3 years. So I went and we visited. I was there maybe 45 mins and then drove back to pick the kids up at my grandparents house. It went good. At each point I kept saying little prayers like "if this is the wrong path, show me, guide me", if this is the wrong path, then when I call the daycare, let them be full and not have available slots." etc..........

At each step it just felt right. If there is such a thing as right/wrong in this situation. I believe this is a great opportunity for me and I'll always regret not going for it. I've always been goal-oriented and wanted a higher education. I chose to go to school and get a Masters degree in Human Resources and always felt that was my field to be in. Then kids came along. My hat then switched from a working woman to a stay at home mother and I have enjoyed this time with my children. I am very thankful and glad that I got the opportunity to stay home with both of my kids while they were young. Haley is 4 now and I've stayed home for 3 yrs of it, Zach is almost 2 and I've been home the entire time. Minus one week when I did some contract work. The lady said "we hope to have a decision made by Friday, I will call you either way." I said ok and left to pick the kids up. I got the kids and headed home, well apparently she called my cell phone which I left in the car and left a voicemail. It said "It was very nice meeting you, I was just as impressed as Craig was and we'd like to offer you the position so please give me a call." So I called her back that evening and just said "I need to visit with my husband first and he wants to go by and see the daycare first so I'll call you tomorrow." Well Brad and I went by the daycare to check it out. I had been already and felt like it was as good as any. Very structured and actually looks fun for the kids. I think I'd like it! It all went great and so now the decision is up to me on when I want to start. I can start whenever so I'm trying to decide. Not sure if I want to just jump in with both feet right now, or wait a few more days, maybe a week to "prepare" myself mentally.

I know that people may judge my decision, but people will always judge our moves if they don't agree with us. I just feel that this is a stage in my life that I have to seek out and find out for myself. The great advantage that I have is if I see that I am not enjoying it as much as I thought or the kids do not like the daycare or it's just too much right now, I can always give my two weeks and stay home again. At least then I'll know that I tried it and it didn't work out. The money is just icing on the cake. This will really benefit my family and it's almost too good to pass up. In this economy there are people looking for work, and there isn't much out there. I just truly feel that this is a door that has been opened for me numerous times and at those points I wasn't ready to go through it. I think now I am. Still not 100% sure, but I have faith.

What's scary is Brad said "after taxes and paying daycare, wanna know how fast we could pay off the house if we send your whole check?" I was like "how fast???" His reply...... "less than 3 years." Which would be just awesome. House paid for by age 34! Um, sign me up!

But I do realize that things will come up. We were very disciplined when I did work in order to pay off our student loans. I pulled money out for gas and a little bit for lunch and stuff, but then sent the rest of my check to our loans. I paid over $20K in student loans off. Making minimum payments on those would have taken like 5 years to pay off, I paid them all off in the 1 year that I worked. I was so proud!! It's nice to be on the track of being completely debt free. (Like house and everything) That's our goal!

College is very important to us and we want to have that money for our kids (unless they get scholarships). This EXTRA income will allow us to do a lot of stuff. If we could pay the house off early, then that would free up even more of Brad's income and would truly benefit our future.

Thank you for your prayers. Wish me luck in this new chapter of my life.

I may like the path and I may not! We shall see!

Outside decor

2009-07-14T09:32:00.000-05:00

I have recently updated a few pieces outside. I started re-painting the trim on our house because I got kind of tired of the dark green we had. The trim around the house was a dark green, so I am painting that trim part cream to match the rest of the house. Then I'm painting the shutters and front door black. We just needed an update. I painted the shutters black and will post a picture of the finished house when I get the trim finished. I hope to finish it up this week. We had a wood chair set with small table that Brad made years ago and I painted that black too. It made the chair set look completely different. Amazing what paint can do!

Our mailbox was green and the pole was cream, so I spray painted the mailbox black, then placed this mailbox cover over it. It updated our mailbox and looks really stunning to me. I love the scrollwork and our initial "S." I also painted the house numbers on the pole black.

Then we had some cream pillows sitting in the chairs so I painted some zebra stripes on those just to add a little extra to them. They turned out really neat! Check em out!

I'll post before/after pics of the whole house when the trim is finished and the front door is complete so check back for pics!

To work or not to work???

2009-07-13T20:34:00.002-05:00

Well, I got a call about an HR job and I'm throwing around the idea of going back to work. I haven't decided 100% either way, this is the beginning thought process. I got this call Friday and called about it today. This company has been calling me off and on for 3 years now. I worked for them as a contract employee for about a month and then left to stay home with Haley. At the time it was just a contract position. They needed help getting their AP and Payroll stuff lined out which is what I did. Then when the AP person was trained and hired, I left. So then stayed home for a while and they called me to see if I'd be interested in a job, I stated "not at this time" because I wanted to stay home with Haley. Then several months down the road, I went to work at NATCO for about a year to pay off some of our student loans Brad and I had. During this time I once again got pregnant with Zach. They called sometime when I was around 8 months pregnant and asked if I was interested. I again, told them that yes I was currently working, but that I would be leaving in a month or so for Maternity leave and wasn't sure if I'd continue working or stay home. We all know what I chose. Well with a little help of that company laying me off. Which I really didn't complain. So then chose to stay home this entire time with Zach. Well Zach will be 2 years old in 3 months. So Friday I get a message from this same company that went something like this, "This is ______ and I got your resume from______ that has apparently been holding onto your resume for 3 years now, we're not sure what your status is at this point, but if you're interested in a position with us, please call." So that's what I did today, just to see what it was they had to offer. I'm sure I'd have to go in and actually interview, but the lady that I spoke with said that their CFO has always been interested in hiring me to oversee their HR department. So when I heard this, it sounded to me like they were really interested in offering me the position. So after talking, it turns out to be pretty tempting. So now the decision lies within me. Do I place my kids in daycare and go back to work for at least a little while? I called a local daycare that is fairly new, just to see if spots were even available, and for my kids age, there were slots available in each of their age groups. Cost would be $800 a month. This job would pay around $3800 a month, so???? After taxes and daycare, I'd be left with around $2600. Again, this is all EXTRA money because right now we are very comfortable with Brad's income. So it's up to me to decide now. I'm just torn and have mixed feelings. I need to start a pro/con sheet and work from there.

I'm just going to have to pray really hard about it and hope that God speaks to me and guides me through this decision process. I sit there and think "is this a sign? the same company keeps calling me, is this God trying to open a door for me that I keep closing. Or is this just an opportunity for me that I can seek out if I choose too. I just don't know.

As a stay at home mother, I love it, I truly do, but there are days that seem so routine and I tend to get a little bored. My mind is going in 100 different directions, thoughts of new projects and etc, something else to stimulate my mind. If I went back to work, that would definitely stimulate my mind in a different way and give me a different responsibility. But at what cost? Is it worth placing my kids in daycare? I mean kids everywhere go to daycare every day. Yes, I'd miss out on a few things, but my kids are older now, not infants and so I think they would be fine. Haley needs that stimulation otherwise she gets bored and into things. Zach is now able to communicate a lot better and seems to like the interaction with other kids. (i.e. Sunday school- he loves it!) So I'm not worried about the daycare part, I think the structure and social interaction with other kids would benefit them, but then they'd have to wake up earlier each morning too to get ready to be dropped off.

So, just thought I'd post about it to get some opinions on the matter. I know in the end, it's up to me, but I ask that you pray for me as well to hear guidance in helping me make this decision. There are pros on both sides that would benefit our family. So we shall see where God leads me.

Honeymoon and Anniversary pics

2009-07-11T17:53:00.005-05:00

Brad and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary last night. Sandy came and stayed at our house with the kids while we went to eat dinner at Venezia's, then stayed at the Hilton in Midland. Brad wanted to surprise me with getting a room at the Hilton, but I asked him earlier last week if he'd be interested in getting a room or just staying home. He then told me about his "wanting to surprise" me. Ooooops! Sorry I messed that up for ya honey!

So we went ahead and got a room there. The jacuzzi suite. It was special because we stayed at this hotel our first night as Mr. & Mrs. After getting married we drove to Midland, checked in and went to go eat at Olive Garden. I remember that. Then we got up Sunday morning and went to the airport to fly to Dallas for two days to book a nonstop flight to Ixtapa, MX. That was nice too because we stayed in Dallas with some friends of ours and shopped. I remember I grew my hair out for the wedding so it'd be long. Then when we went shopping in Dallas I got it cut off at the mall. I didn't like it on day 1, but once we got to MX, I loved it!! It was nice and short and kept me cool!!! So we enjoyed a nice dinner at Venezia's, then went to the hotel. We went out on the 3rd floor where there's a bar area and just a nice patio setting. It was nice to sit out there and relax. It was just right, not hot at all!

After a few drinks we went back to our room to relax and that's exactly what we did.

Here's a picture of the jacuzzi tub in our room, which was really nice.

So we got up this morning around 9am. I know, here we could sleep in and we both got up at 9am. We got ready and went to eat breakfast at IHOP. We like doing that occasionally. We rarely get the chance to go eat breakfast anywhere so we usually take advantage of it when we can. All in all, it was a nice little getaway. Not a far getaway, but a nice one!!

So 8 yrs have come and gone, but it's all been wonderful and I couldn't ask for a better husband. I'm very lucky to have such a nice, thoughtful and handsome husband!

Then and now......... just look at us 8 years later.

2001-Ixtapa, MX- Honeymoon

2008- Hilton Patio bar

Melt my heart

2009-07-10T08:48:00.002-05:00

So last night we ate dinner and Brad mowed the yard. The kids played a while while I cleaned up the kitchen and stuff. Then Brad left to go hang some blinds for a client that just opened a new business. He's basically been paying Brad (very well) to do all the little odd jobs. Like putting desks together, a few chairs, setting up a few computers, some bookcases and hanging some blinds. Well Brad left last night to go hang some blinds because he didn't want to have to mess with it this weekend. While he was gone I gave the kids their baths and got them ready for bed. Zach went to bed around 9:15pm and I told Haley that I'd color with her. So we got down in the living room floor, I turned on NOGGIN and we watched "Yo Gabba Gabba" and colored. We were coloring for about 10 mins and then Haley just sat up and was staring out. I said "What's a matter honey?" She said "Oh, I'm just smiling"....... "because you're coloring with me."

OMG! Tug at those heartstrings little girl! I was so touched and then thought, "but I've colored with her many times before." So I don't know why it was so special to her last night, but I'm so glad that I was there to experience that with her. It makes you notice that it's the little things in the child's eyes that matter! So take time out and spend with your child. Even if it's 15 mins out of your day. Do something with your child one-on-one! They'll remember it!

And I did do a pretty good job at coloring Ms. Strawberry shortcake too!

I see a lot more play dates and coloring in our future!!!

Love never fails....

2009-07-08T08:22:00.003-05:00

Brad got home last night from work and changed clothes then we exchanged Anniversary gifts. He got me a Dozen beautiful red roses and a sweet card and then a very nice Fossil watch that has some dark wood pieces set inside the silver band. Hard to describe. I tried to take a picture of it, but it didn't turn out. The flash was too bright and without it you couldn't see the face of it. I'll have to try Brad's camera. But trust me, it was a very nice watch and I really like it!

I got him a card and a bottle of POLO Black cologne that he mentioned he liked a few weeks ago.

Sandy came over around 7pm to watch the kids while we went to dinner. She brought us an Anniversary card and a set of wall plaques that had a scripture that was read at our wedding. I have a few pieces throughout the house with this scripture on it, so these plaques will look great hanging. I'm thinking of hanging them in our bedroom. I just love the quote!

I'll try to hang them today!

So after opening our gift we went to eat at Carino's and just had a nice quiet dinner. Not much, but nice and quiet. So then we just came home, put Zach to bed and then relaxed. It was a nice evening. Thanks honey for my stuff, I love it!

So Happy 8th Anniversary to us!!

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!!!

2009-07-07T17:34:00.003-05:00

Today it has been 8 years since Brad and I exchanged wedding vows. It was a day that I'll always remember and treasure. I was marrying my best friend and soul mate. Not everyone can say that or feels that way, but I truly believe that God sent Brad to me. Who knew after meeting in band, marching next to each other that one day we'd march (walk) down the aisle together. It's been a blessing! 8 years later and two wonderful children! I truly believe that we're living the "happily ever after" life.

We're going to dinner tonight, but we'll celebrate on Friday night. We've got something special planned and I can't wait! This isn't much, but here's a poem I came across and wanted to post to my wonderful husband.

Thank you for 8 wonderful years! I love you!

How do I begin to tell you how lucky I am

to have you in my life?

I'll start by saying what an honor it is

for me to be your wife.

You're my best friend in the good times

and my rock in times of sorrow.

You're the reason for sweet yesterdays

and my promise for tomorrow.

I never thought I could feel this loved

until I became your wife.

You made this year and every year

the best one of my life.

Thank you Brad for being my husband, my friend and partner.

I've enjoyed these 8yrs of marriage more than you'll ever know!

Love you,

Boob

Looks like someone was hungry.....

2009-07-06T18:50:00.004-05:00

Zach went this afternoon and pointed to the kitchen cabinet and said "roll." This means he wants a cinnamon roll. We buy those individually wrapped rolls in a box like from Little Debbie that has like 8 rolls in the box. So I opened a brand new box of these cinnamon rolls and got two out. One for Haley and one for Zach. This is what I found when I went to

open one of the packages.........

So I'm assuming that one of the factory workers must have been hungry and couldn't wait until break time. It looked like a perfect bite had been taken out! So I threw that one away just in case! I thought it was kind of funny. It wasn't like it broke off and the other piece was in the package, it was completely gone! There's no telling what happened to this particular roll, hopefully they enjoyed their bite. LOL

Family, Friends & Independance!!!!

2009-07-06T10:52:00.008-05:00

Happy 4th of July!

We decided to get up and go to the parade downtown. We got there around 9:45 and met some friends of ours. We hadn't been to the parade in forever but with the kids old enough now to kind of enjoy it, we decided to go ahead and take them. It was ok, something to do anyway. Zach wasn't too impressed but Haley liked it. It was a treat too trying to tell Haley she could only wear RED, WHITE or BLUE! But she did it!

Zach in his Patriotic attire!

Me and Amy

So after the parade we came home and Haley and I made some sugar cookies. We cut them out using a Star cookie cutter. I baked them and let them cool while we went across the street and went swimming. Amy & Josh invited us over to their 4th of July pool party they were having for friends and family. So that was nice of them to include us in their little family get together. The kids enjoyed swimming and Brad even joined in the fun! Just look at him going down the slide!

Here's Haley hanging on to the side. She really enjoyed their pool!Zach and daddy playing aroundWe left Amy & Josh's house just in time, it started looking pretty cloudy and like it could rain any minute. But the kids had a blast! Thanks guys for inviting us over! We had a great time! You're lucky to have such a nice pool in your own backyard!

So we walked home and iced the cookies and put the sprinkles on then headed over to my grandparent's house for their 4th of July cookout. It was great! Lots of food and everyone loved our cookies we made, but they were REALLY sweet!! I could only eat one! It was nice seeing everyone and enjoying the great food! Sandy even went with us!

Here's Zach and I with my cousin Lindsey!

Lindsey and HaleyWe stayed until 9:30pm and then headed downtown to watch the fireworks. Barbara and Lindsey followed us to watch them and parked next to us. Haley always likes the fireworks and enjoys watching them. So we did that for about 30 mins and then headed home, the kids went to bed and then so did Brad and I.

So then Sunday we just went to church and they had all those that served in the armed forces stand to be recognized. They did a thing with H.O.T. (Honor Our Troops) where you could take items to be placed in care packages for the troops or donate $25 to pay for a care package to be sent. This was a really neat program and just shows the troops how we support them. After church we then went to eat at Rosa's as usual. Came home and we cleaned house and just relaxed. Brad went to the store for me because I wasn't feeling too well. I started getting the cramps again and pain like I had another cyst that was inflamed. It hit suddenly and was really painful. So I will have to call the Dr. today and let him know. Luckily I had my prescription filled in case I experienced that pain again. The pill seemed to really help though. Then my parents came over to see the kids for a little while, then headed home. So it was a nice overall weekend spent with family and friends. We had a great time. And we should all be thankful for our freedom that we have!! And whether you agree/disagree with the war, we should just support our troops for what they're doing for us!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!

Another busy Friday

2009-07-06T10:16:00.004-05:00

I got up at 7am and went for my 1 mile walk then came home and worked out for an hour to P90X doing "shoulders & arms" and was pumped and ready to go! Then since I was already sweaty I decided to hang some more grapevine around our front door. I've been wanting to hang some more up after the last bunch was torn up and stuff from several wind storms we had. So then the kids and I went to my grandmother's house and I hung some grapevine around her front window. Along with some new ribbon and stuff. It was so hot outside I was glad that I hadn't showered yet because I really needed one when I finished hanging the vine. So then I went and picked up the little girls helmet that I had painted before, they wanted to change it a little bit. So picked that up and came home and showered and got ready. I then began painting the helmet. This time just white with zebra and they wanted her name "Mycah" on the side. The picture doesn't show the name very well because with the flash, it was too bright, without it, it turned out kind of blurry, but you get the idea. Here it is.

While I was busy doing this stuff Brad was golfing. He took the day off and went to play golf with some friends. He hasn't done anything with these friends in a long time so I'm sure he enjoyed himself. He got home and I had finished up the helmet, so we waited for Sandy to come over for our usual "date night." Well Brad had wanted to kind of surprise me so all he said was "we're gonna do something different tonight." I had no idea. We dropped the helmet off at the clients house and then headed for our destination. We headed towards Andrews/Lubbock so I asked "are we driving far?" He said "kind of" I said "Lubbock?" He said "no." Then we turned in Seminole and started heading left........... I had no clue where we were going. Then I saw a sign and said "are we going to Carlsbad? He said "no, Hobbs." I said "what's in Hobbs?" So then he said "we're going to that casino there in Hobbs." I was like "Really?" So we got there and went to eat to Applebee's, then headed to Zia park. We each gambled $50. Brad's was gone within an hour or so and we walked around to see what other games there were. I had $20 left and I said "if you want to go we can, it's either I give them this $20 or I just keep it and leave with something." So that's what I chose. It was fun though and a nice surprise. We've never been there before and it was just something different to do. We try to keep our date nights and look forward to them. It's important to us to keep our marriage strong and spend time with one another. So Thanks to my wonderful husband for planning a fun night for us! I enjoyed it! Even though we didn't win any money! haha

Brad and I Outside of Zia Park entrance

Helmet decor

2009-07-06T10:16:00.001-05:00

July 4th Wreath

2009-07-01T10:08:00.004-05:00

Brad went to work at an office last night after dinner for a man that is paying him to put together some office furniture and set his computers up. He only likes a few hours then he'll be done. After dinner, I cleaned up the kitchen and started working on a wreath that I could hang for July 4th. I already had all of the stuff. I bought it last year after July 4th and got all of the pieces for around 75% off. I have stuff to make several more wreaths too with different themes, so I just make them as the holiday comes around. Once their made, I hang them in the back part of our shop where we store our Holiday decor. So this was the finished product.

I thought it turned out pretty good. I can use this wreath for a few weeks in July and can hang it again on September 11th. Just thought I'd post a quick picture.

Dave Ramsey's E-Mealz

2009-06-30T10:30:00.005-05:00

I just subscribed to this website this morning, www.e-mealz.com. I'm already excited about trying out the new menus. Some sound delicious and some not so much. If you've never heard about it, it's a site that for $5 a month, it provides you with menus and a grocery list for your dinners for each week. You pay for 3 months at a time and a new meal plan is posted once a week. I know a few people that have been doing this and they said it's the best thing ever. Especially for busy moms. You choose the type of menu you want, examples are Low-fat family any store menus, Vegetarian menus, Points systems menus, Specific store menus, a Vacation menu package and many more. I chose the Low-Fat family any store menu. You print out your menu sheet and it also provides you with your grocery list of items and tells you exactly what you'll need for each day. It's purpose is to save you time with shopping/cooking and also save you money! Dave Ramsey talks about it and says for those wanting to be debt-free and save money on your grocery shopping budget, it's a no-brainer! And if there's a menu that you don't like, just cross everything off of the grocery list that corresponds with that menu #.

It's so easy! The hard part has been done for you. No more guessing "what's for dinner?"

We've already bought groceries for this week, so we'll start it up next week. I'm excited. I'm a "lister" and this website makes it so easy for me. The list is already created, aisle for aisle what is needed. How easy is that!

I'm anxious to see how it affects our grocery budget as well. We spend on average about $100 a week for groceries. Give or take a few dollars. This sometimes includes other items like laundry detergent, soap, diapers and etc, but it's mostly food. I'll post back after a few weeks on the difference in our grocery shopping. Also for those interested in signing up, there's a code you can enter when subscribing and instead of paying $15 for 3 months subscription, you get it for $12.50. Hey, every bit helps! (If interested, ask me for the code) To me, I can spend this at one lunch outing! So I'm super excited in trying this out. I'm all about saving money and saving time where possible and paying off any debt that can be paid off. I do agree with a lot of Dave Ramsey's thinking, but sometimes its hard. Like the whole envelope thing and putting money in each envelope for each budget. Once the envelope is out, I'd just grab it from another one. Which defeats the whole point. So the envelope system wouldn't work for me. But we do try to follow some of this steps. Like having an emergency fund set aside from savings and paying off small debts using the snowball method. We did that and do not have ANY credit card debt. We haven't for awhile now. Now it's just our mortgage and 1 vehicle payment, plus the normal utilities, cable, electricity and etc. But even with the mortgage, we just recently re-financed our mortgage and changed it to a 15 yr note. For our age, that's pretty good and I feel very blessed that we are in a position where we can do this. We'll be so far ahead if and when we ever do sell our home. I also try not to be greedy and think "if I went to work, we would make even more money and be able to pay certain things off and sock a ton back in savings." I try to just enjoy my time here at home with the kids while I have it. Who knows what lies down the road and I can always go back to work at that time. Right now I'm just enjoying watching my kids grow and being here to clean up their messes they get in to!

That's a daily chore!!!!!!!! But it's a chore I've been blessed with and I try to remember that!

Thank God for washable markers!

2009-06-29T19:02:00.004-05:00

I jumped in the shower this afternoon and when I got out, this is what I found. Haley had climbed on the counter top and got a box of markers down that I had hidden in the cabinet above the stove. She was coloring just fine in a coloring book and not making a mess, which surprised me, but this is how Zach looked. Thank God for washable markers! I kept praying that it'd all come off. It did!! Guess I'll have to hide them somewhere else!

I post pictures like this because people don't believe me sometimes when I tell them what the kids have gotten in to. When we stayed with my friend Sheila I noticed that markers were left out in neat little pencil caddy's and placed on a desk like they're supposed to be and I remember saying "I can't have stuff like that out because my kids make a mess with stuff like that." She just laughed and said "yeah, I've never really had a problem with my kids getting in to stuff like that." Must be nice. But I guess it could be a lot worse, so I'm not complaining!!!

Headed to Abilene

2009-06-29T16:39:00.004-05:00

So Brad got home Wednesday around 5:15pm and I had everything packed in the suburban and ready to go. My parents went by and picked up Jennifer and Shawn and then stopped by here so we could follow them. We then headed to Midland to go pick up Kevin at his apt. Once everyone was loaded up we headed to Abilene. We wanted to get a head start on heading to our Family Reunion that was taking place at Lake Whitney. So we got to our hotel, checked in and went to find somewhere to eat. We chose Chili's because "Everybody likes Chili's" is what my dad would say. But we all went out as a family to eat dinner. We haven't all been out as a family since before Zach was born, I think anyway. This was their first time to see our kids in a restaurant environment and how easily they get bored. I think this was birth control for Kevin to say the least. lol

But here's a pic of me, Kevin and Jennifer at Chili's. Debbie wanted a picture of the three of us.

We ate, then headed to the hotel to try to go swimming for a little bit. We probably swam for about 20mins until the pool closed. But we all enjoyed it and got up the next morning and went downstairs for breakfast. This was Zach's first time to stay in a hotel. He did really well though and fell asleep pretty fast. I was happy!

Here are pics of the kids at breakfast. Zach loved the OJ! Haley loved the syrup!

Bivins Family Reunion 2009

2009-06-29T10:59:00.000-05:00

We woke up, checked out of the hotel and headed to Lake Whitney. The whole trip consisted of the kids watching their DVD's and Zach yelling "Mama" just to get me to turn around. I'd turn around and say "what?" and he'd then say whatever he was holding, like a book for example. Every page he'd turn he'd say "Mama" I'd say "what?" he'd say "Monkey" and point to it. I'd say "alright." This went on forever.......... Brad was driving with his headphones in and Haley was watching her movie. I ended up putting my head phones in and read a book. I'd look back ever so often to make sure they were OK, everything was fine. I just couldn't handle the constant calling of "mama." Is that horrible?

We stopped in Dublin at the Dr. Pepper bottling company. We went on a small tour of the place and bought some bottled Dr. Peppers. Haley now likes Dr. Pepper. haha

My parents wanted to find some Dr. Pepper decor for their game room so that's why we stopped. Here's a picture of Shawn and Haley standing by a juke box there in the Cafe'. She just had to get a picture of them together. She loves her cousin Shawn!

After driving another few hours we got to the Little Rocky Lodge where we were all staying at and unloaded our luggage. Haley wanted to go swimming as soon as we got there, so that's what we did. We all went swimming. As families arrived they ended up at the pool too. It was nice though because since we rented out the entire lodge that meant that we had the entire pool to ourselves. Our family that is. Everyone enjoyed the pool. It was really nice, wasn't cold at all. Every day was 100+ so the pool was naturally heated which was great. Haley is part fish now! She loved swimming. Thursday evening each family had to take their own hotdog/hamburger meat to the "grillers" (my dad and a few uncles) then could fix up their stuff with condiments and etc that were brought by other family members. I had made all of the kids over 1yr of age favor bags that had little thermos' in them and some bubbles and candy and stuff. They seemed to like them and it gave the kids something to do. What kid doesn't like bubbles? So After everyone stuffed themselves, we all went swimming again. Haley would get on the side of the pool in her floatie and jump into the deep end to do "cannon balls." It was cute to see her try to do what the bigger kids were doing. She wasn't scared after she saw them do it. Brad took Zach back and laid him down for bed while I stayed a little longer with Haley. Zach was out when we got back and so I laid down with Haley for about 5 mins until she dozed off. She was so worn out it didn't take her long to drift off. Then Brad and I laid down.

Friday morning there was a golf tournament for those that wanted to golf and some family members stayed back and went fishing. Most all of the ladies however chose to go to a nearby Outlet mall to do a little shopping. This was pretty fun until my kids started acting up. Haley got in trouble and even Mimi had to spank her. Zach was just tired of being in the stroller. We shopped, took a break and ate at nearby Pizza Hut, then half of us went back for a little more shopping while the other half headed back to the lodge. I found the kids some clothes at The Children's place, Osh Kosh and Carters. I got two tops for myself and Haley got some shoes.

We then headed back, and went swimming for awhile longer, then got ready for dinner which was catered. We had BBQ brisket, beans and potato salad. Awards were given out for the golf tournament and Brad won a key chain for longest drive. After eating everyone showed off their crazy hats. I wore a beach hat that I bought and taped different beach die cuts too. I cut out pictures of all of us and taped them to some swimsuit die cuts I had. It turned out pretty silly looking. When describing my hat, a cousins wife standing behind me said "oh, you have crabs" so then everyone started laughing. That was a joke for the rest of the reunion too.

Pics of Zach and Brad on my beach hat

Pics of me and Haley on my hat. Notice my "Sippy cup"? LOL

Everybody's hats were really clever and my aunt Sue won with her "Facebook" hat. She had put each family members "face" picture on her hat. Pretty original!!

Zach wore an elephant hat and Haley wore a pink pig hat. I found them at Michael's for like $3 each. Zach wore his for a little while, but then got bored with it and took it off. Here he is on his way to the family room where dinner was being held. And notice him wearing my sunglasses upside down. He loves wearing them that way. Not sure why, but it makes him happy! Oink! Oink!Saturday we got up and headed for the Dock to get on a Pontoon boat we had rented. My parents rented it for 2hrs for our family and our time slot was 9-11am. So this gave us time to relax and float slowly on the lake. We stopped for a little bit and fished from the boat. Kevin, Jennifer, Brad and I got in, then we tried putting Haley and Zach in, but they didn't like it. It was probably the life jackets that they didn't like. Zach's didn't hold him straight up so he went face down in the lake water a few times, then cried so we got him out. But it was fun just cruising the lake on the boat. Haley kept saying "when are we getting off this boat, I want to swim?" So you know what was on her mind. I'm telling you, she's part fish now.Zach in his life jacket and fisherman hat! Cute huh?

Zach and I- After he had had enough of the boat

Brad and Haley sitting at the end of the boat. She liked looking out from it.

Saturday we had a family fishing tournament, but we really didn't participate in this event. Haley did go fishing though for the first time and Brad took this picture of her. We bought her a pink princess fishing pole which she loved. We told her that the worms fell asleep once on the hook. No need to scare her to death. She seemed to enjoy it for awhile, but then liked just sitting at the bank and throwing rocks into the water. Zach joined in on that too.

Saturday night we had dinner catered again. This time Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and gravy. It was really good. We were sitting down after getting our plates and I heard Haley say "Mama, look at Zach." I looked at him and he was dumping pepper onto Brad's plate. After Brad cleaned up the pepper off his plate and sat down, our table started sneezing! It was pretty funny.

After dinner awards were given out for the fishing tournament. I also received a gift for winning the Ditloid puzzle game. A cousin handed it out Friday night and we were to give it back to her Saturday by 2pm. Well once I looked at it, I was hooked. Brad and I worked on it during Zach's naps and when we left to go to Sonic to get drinks. I won a plant stand. So after eating and awards Karaoke started. There were several family members that got up and sang. It was pretty funny to watch! Then some of us girls got up and sang the Pussycat dolls song "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me." Which was pretty hilarious. Then we all kind of said our goodbyes because some people were leaving pretty early Sunday morning. Including us. We were about 45 mins away from Ft. Worth so decided to go ahead and take the kids to the zoo. We've been wanting to take them and this saved us a trip so we went ahead and went. We're actually glad we did this because we walked it for about 3 hours and the kids were so ready to go. They were exhausted. It was so hot and we were all pouring sweat. But it was fun. We would have been upset though had we made a special trip just for the zoo. The kids ended up riding in the stroller most of the time and just staring out because they were so exhausted. Here's Brad and the kids in the stroller we rented.

Haley and I stopped to take our picture on our way out of the zoo.

Once we finished and got in the car, both kids were asleep within 15 mins. They were just give out. So that's another trip we knocked out of the way. We'd still like to go back to Sea World sometime this summer, so maybe we can plan that for July or August. We'll see.

We had a great time and it was nice to see everyone. Hope every one had a great time and made it home safely. God Bless you all!

4 yr check up

2009-06-22T16:28:00.001-05:00

Haley had her 4 yr check up today. I know I'm a few months behind, but it didn't dawn on me to call and make her an apt. I heard someone say that they took their child in for their 4 yr apt and I was like "Oh no, I haven't taken Haley." So I made her apt and we went. She did really well until she found out she'd be getting 3 shots. She didn't understand why she was getting shots if she wasn't sick. I just hate it when they get shots. Absolutely hate it!

She got her 3 shots and cried and cried. We left and went to get an ice cream cone to help, but she just kept saying "why did I get shots, I'm not sick." So then she played the sympathy card all evening. She would walk slow and say "I have to go slow because of my legs."

Poor baby! So dramatic!!!

Here she is in the Dr.s office. Once again, clean overall health. She passed her hearing and vision test with flying colors and the Dr. said that her motor skills are very good and her speech is excellent. So that was good news to hear!

Isn't she just beautiful?

Happy Father's Day!!!!!!!!

2009-06-22T05:11:00.006-05:00

First off, my dad received his very own popcorn machine to put in his newly updated game room. He's been wanting one forever. So Debbie bought him one for Father's Day.

Kevin bought some wall decor to hang by the popcorn machine, which looked really good and I hand painted a bowl for him that said "Papo's Popcorn" and filled it with 3 bags of kernels and a jug of Butter salt. I also got him a big jug of the popping and topping oil, but it wouldn't fit in the bowl so we just sat that in the floor beside the machine. Jennifer brought a big box of the popcorn sacks. These were all necessary gifts if we wanted to enjoy the machine right away!!!

Papo's Popcorn bowl hand-painted

Wall decor we hung up

Jennifer, Kevin and I went to my parents house Saturday afternoon after Debbie got him out of the house and started assembling the machine then hung the wall decor. Then I called to see if they could go back home because the kids and I were there. Cue that everything was set up!

So they came in and we waited to see his reaction. It took him a while to notice, but when he did, he was very shocked! He LOVED it and immediately a batch of popcorn was started. It's so convenient and tasted just like movie theatre popcorn!

So Happy Father's Day dad! I'll expect a fresh batch every time I go over! HAHA

Second, we got home from church Sunday and I had the kids give Brad their Father's Day cards. He got one from both of them. Then Haley handed him the gift from her and Zach and said "Here Daddy, it's a rug!" He goes "Oh well thanks!" When he opened it, he saw that it was a personalized rug for his shop. Check it out! P.S. Don't trust Haley with a secret! :)

Then I gave him my card and inside was a note stating "your gift is on the table" so I led him in the kitchen with his eyes closed and when he opened them, he saw his new BluRay DVD player. He was so shocked and excited! He mentioned a month or so back that he'd like one, well now he's got one! Needless to say he's already hooked it up and went last night after dinner to buy a BluRay movie so we could check it out. I cooked one of his favorite meals and bought him one of his favorite cakes. Lemon Crunch Cake. He said he had a great Father's Day!

I hope so. He's the best and deserves it!!!! Happy Father's Day honey!

Are u ready to rumble?

2009-06-21T04:59:00.004-05:00

Summer Mummers is here again. This years theme. Something to do with wrestling. We usually go every summer at least once! It's great, especially in a larger group. Popcorn, beer (optional) and a 3hr skit. It's hilarious!!

We were invited by our friends Abe & Cindy to go along with some other couples. The night was fun as usual and we took the usual pics, you know bags on our heads, and people throwing popcorn. Here are the guys (Brad, Abe & Edmundo)

It amazed me how people that had never been went in with sandals and little skimpy dresses. Obviously they had never been because everyone knows you wear closed toed shoes in there! The floors are super slippery because of the salt and butter. Popcorn is EVERYWHERE!!!!

Just take a look!

So don't wear any really expensive shoes in there! Trust me, you get home and undress and popcorn falls out from everywhere! haha

It was fun though. Even though I really didn't get the full topic of this years skit........... Guess I was having too much fun and trying not to get popcorn stuffed down my shirt. I ended up taking one of the empty bags we had and placed it in the front of my shirt as a barrier so that popcorn wouldn't fill my shirt up. It's amazing to see how clever people get with those empty popcorn bags! But we had a good time and might have to go back before it's over!

Cindy and I

Me and Brad

Happy Birthday Lindsey

2009-06-20T04:51:00.004-05:00

Friday Brad got home from work and needed to run in Home Depot to place an office order for someone that has hired him to set his office up. So he took Zach with him and Haley and I stayed home. Well I was busy trying to type something up real quick so I could print it out. I was sitting in the chair and Haley walked up. She grabbed my arm and said "Mama, I just love you." I said "I love you too honey." But felt something sticky all over her arms. I took her arms and said "what is on you?" She said "um........" I said "where is it?" She walked into her bedroom and pointed to the side of her dresser. There it was sitting in the floor. A tub of chocolate frosting. I don't know what it is with her and frosting, but when she sees me busy and no one is watching her, she'll get into whatever and seems to be a pattern with the frosting.

And yes, I do feed this child. :)

Right at that minute, I was a little upset, I grabbed the frosting and noticed something in the floor. This is what I found.

I looked at her and said "why did you do that?" So then I said "I am going to go get a rag and you will help me clean it up." I turned to leave her room and then this was the image I saw on her wall. Two perfectly shaped handprints.Guess she smeared the frosting on her hands, stamped the wall, then to get it off her hands, stamped the floor. Not sure what her thought process was here, that's for sure. Luckily it was fresh and came right off her walls and out of the carpet.

I was like "Haley??" She was like "I'm sorry Mama!" So I took her taggie away for the evening and she got it back at bedtime. I just couldn't believe she did this. People don't believe the stuff she gets in to so I've started taking pictures. I must say though that her handprints on the wall, were nicely done. Maybe she'll be a painter? LOL

So I cleaned up the mess and showed Brad the pictures when he got home. He had to walk into the kitchen so Haley couldn't see him laughing.

So we then left to meet some family at Johnny Carino's for my cousin Lindsey's 19th Birthday.

We had a nice dinner and enjoyed some really good cake from DJ's. We got her a purse which she really seemed to like. She's like me with my purses! Can't have enough!

It was nice to spend that time with them at dinner. Lindsey babysits for us occasionally when we need her. She's great with the kids and they like playing with her!

While trying to take a few pictures, Brad went to put his arm around me for our photo and elbowed me right in my left eye. My eye reddened up so they told me to hold my water glass on my eye to keep it from swelling. So of course a picture was taken.

I just knew I'd have a black eye! Not good with a family reunion coming up either! LOL But I didn't have any swelling or anything the next day so that was good.

Here's Lindsey and I. Hope your 19th birthday was great Lindsey!

So sore..........

2009-06-17T08:38:00.005-05:00

So Brad and I jumped back on the workout wagon Monday. This weekend we kind of fell off. So far we've done really well this week (I know it's only day 3) but we've been trying to make ourselves do the workouts and eat right. We work out for about an hour in the mornings, alternating our workouts thanks to P90X and I've been including an aerobics step routine also to get my cardio on various days. It also uses weights and works outs various areas. Then when Brad gets home from work he goes for his 1 mile walk, then I go when he gets back. He's been doing most of the cooking since it requires grilling. Last night we had grilled chicken salads. Which were sooooooo good!

This morning I woke up and decided to go ahead and go for my 1 mile walk first to get that over with. I try to jog for a little bit, but can only do it for about 5-10 mins. HAHA I'm not a runner at all. So that's good for me! I mostly do just a really brisk walk. Trust me, I work up a sweat though. The walk was really nice. There was a nice breeze and wasn't as hot as it usually is around 6:30pm. So I think I'm gonna start doing my walk in the morning so that I'm already warmed up and ready to do my workout. This will save some steps during my day. I can walk, workout and then shower and be ready to go. Yesterday I worked out, showered, then that evening walked and then showered again. It'll just be quicker this way and save me some time.

My ultimate goal is to lose another 20-30 lbs and tone up everywhere. We've been grilling as I mentioned and watching what we eat. Plus the exercising so hopefully a month or so down the road, we'll see some pretty good results. We've been trying to just motivate each other to keep us going. It's hard when the alarm goes off and you just want to lay there. With being a stay at home mom that isn't on a schedule of any sort and doesn't have any deadlines, it's hard to get up and get going. I want to just sleep, but once I've made myself get up and get going, I'm good. And I like getting up earlier because like now, I've already walked a mile, worked out for 45 mins, fed the dog and done two loads of laundry all before 8:30. Now I'm updating my blog and will finish cleaning the house. Then I'll go shower. Both kids are still asleep for now, so it's quiet. It gives me time to myself and time to get a few things done before breakfast starts and refilling the strawberry milk. I don't have any real plans today except for church tonight at 7pm so I'll use today to do my house cleaning. Bathrooms, floors and etc. Well that's all for now, I just heard the dryer stop so gotta go fold laundry! Whee!!!! lol

Which on a side note, people always talk about missing socks? I rarely have a missing sock. If it's missing, it's probably under a bed or stuffed in someones toy box so go check there.

Just a tip! haha

iphone, iphone who wants an iphone?

2009-06-16T21:45:00.001-05:00

Just had to post this because I was excited about it. Some of you may be thinking "and?"

So I've had a pink Motorola razor phone, which I heard described the other day on the radio as being "old school." Old school, really?? Wow. I consider the old bag phones as being old school. But anyway, I called to see when my contract was up to see about upgrading my phone. Turns out my contract was up May of last year! So this whole time I could have gone and upgraded, but just didn't know. Ooops!

I have been paying $40/mth for my plan, with $5 for some texting features ($45 total). Well I went over my texting and paid over $20 in additional fees this last month for texting, so I switched Monday to the $20 unlimited texting feature, which brought my bill up to $60/mth. I was looking into getting a blackberry because when texting, those with the razor, know how time consuming it is to text on it. So called a friend of mine that works for AT&T and asked her the specials and etc. I was going to have to add the internet/email feature, which is $30, even with a blackberry, which would have brought my monthly bill up to $90/mth so then asked how much the new blackberry was. She said with an instant rebate it'll be $150. She said "I recommend you get an iphone because the phone itself is cheaper ($99) and it'll cost the same per month as getting a blackberry." So you know what happened. I went in this afternoon and left with an iphone. At first I said "I just stay home, I don't need anything that fancy, I wouldn't use it to it's full potential." She said "if you have it, you will." So because I signed a new 2yr contract, I got it for $99, a savings of $400 as my receipt stated. Plus, she threw in a $30 case and some screen protectors ($10) for FREE!

So far she's right. It has all kinds of features. One of my favorite apps (don't laugh) is the notepad app where I can make TO-DO lists and grocery lists! It's great! And I can't wait to add music to it and have my own ipod and not have to borrow Brad's anymore. I can put my own music on there and listen to it when I do my 1 mile walks. I already see me using it more than I initially thought. It's so cool!

So anyway, just had to post because I was really excited.

Friday Fun

2009-06-15T14:48:00.005-05:00

Friday morning we got up and after we were all ready we went to my grandmother's that afternoon for lunch to meet a few other family members. We stayed for a little while and ate lunch then came back home. Zach laid down and took his nap. Haley played and I picked up the house, swiffered the living room floor and mopped. Then sat in the recliner with her and watched a cartoon. When Zach woke up we went outside to play in the backyard on the swing set. We kicked their "gigantic" ball around and I pushed them on the swing. Sweetie even joined in and would push the ball with her nose and kick it away from us. The kids played in their clubhouse and slid down the slide. Zach has learned that he can climb up into the clubhouse on his own and thinks that is just so much fun. He likes to slide down too, but would rather climb up the slide and slide down on his tummy. Funny how all kids do that. Here are the kids in the clubhouse.

Sweetie liked playing and running around with the kids. I took this picture of her relaxing after running around. She probably needs groomed. I need to see in getting that done. Overall the day was great. The kids had fun and later that night Brad and I went out to dinner. It was a nice dinner for us and we came home and enjoyed the rest of our evening.

Saturday we went to Stanton for the Stanton Trade days thing they have. We all got a little sunburned and the only good deals we got were some really cool sunglasses for me for $3 each. I got two pair. We ate lunch there and sweat our hearts out. It was miserable. We should have gone really early or later, but when we got there it was right in the middle part of the day, probably the hottest too! It was awful.

Haley rode a pony and had a good time with that. She loves the animals! I'll have to post a pic of her. It's on a different camera though.

Sunday we went to church and went to Rosa's. We then came home and hung out. The kids went over to Sandy's house later that afternoon to play and Brad worked on a few things at the house. I went to run a few errands and went to the grocery store. We do that every Sunday. Try to get stuff for the week. So got all of that done, then Brad cooked out. We're trying to watch what we eat and so that calls for more "grilling." Which the Grill is all Brad. I don't even know how to turn it on. We've really been trying to watch our food and work out. So far, since I've started my weight loss journey, I've lost 28lbs. My goal is to lose another 20 at least. 30 would be great and 40 would be even better! Not sure if it's possible though. We'll see.

So not a wild and crazy weekend, but a relaxing one. Just some family time and it was nice.

We're also counting down the days until we leave for our Family Reunion. That'll be fun. We leave a week from Wednesday and will return Sunday. We're all excited and can't wait. I'll definitely post pics when we return! Next week will be busy trying to make sure I've gotten everything we need on my list of stuff to pack!

Uh Oh Spaghetti O's

2009-06-15T06:11:00.000-05:00

Just had to post a few pics of Zach eating lunch. Right now he's kind of a picky eater so getting him to try new things is a challenge. I've given him these before and he didn't like them. I thought I'd try again today. Looks like he enjoyed it more this go around.

What do you think?

Mmmmmm. Yummy!! He makes it look so good!

Mud pies and a rupture

2009-06-11T16:37:00.004-05:00

First, let me start by saying that Tuesday afternoon the kids and I met some family at Rosa's for lunch. My grandmother was going to take the kids back home with her because I had an apt at the church at 3:30. Well I thought I'd kill a little time and run in Dollar Tree for some favors to include in some kids goody bags. Anyway, as I'm walking I suddenly got a sharp pain in my abdomen and could barely stand still. It was really sharp and painful. I started to sweat and thought "Oh, no, it must be food poisoning." So I went to check out, paid and left. I started driving out to the church and thought I'll get there early and just sit and relax. Hopefully it'll go away. That's what I thought anyway. It was hard to even drive because I wanted to bend over and apply pressure to my abdomen area. I finally got there, parked, started to walk in and had to stop on the sidewalk and bend over. I was in intense pain. I then thought, just get inside instead of looking like an idiot staring at the ground. So I walked in. Brad was already inside waiting on me. As I walked in he was like "what is wrong?" I told him and he asked if we needed to go to the ER. I said no. Then tried explaining what the pain was like. I couldn't sit or stand so I was just moving a lot. I got down in the floor on my knees and just kept pushing on my stomach to apply pressure. That helped ease the pain a little bit. Once the sweating was minimal and I could stand up, we went to the meeting where I then took 3 Pepto Bismol caplets and 2 Tylenol to help with any pain. The pastor walked by and was in shock because he didn't know what was wrong. At that point, I didn't either. I just knew I was in intense pain and really thought it was food poisoning or something. I could have cried, but was trying to stay somewhat calm and not scare everyone. I stated "it feels like contractions like in labor. It's making my back hurt so bad it feels like I need it popped." All through the meeting I just held a pillow on my stomach and applied pressure. Moving from laying on the couch to sitting up and bending over. It slowly eased up a little bit. We finished the meeting and we came straight home. I wasn't really hungry that night and just felt exhausted. I thought I'd just sleep on it and see how I felt the next day (Wednesday). So long story short, I called yesterday around 4:30 to make an apt with my gynecologist. I told the nurse what happened and explained that I have Poly cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and that I was afraid that it could have been an ovarian cyst that was inflamed or may have ruptured, but wasn't sure. Maybe a bladder infection, kidney infection? I had no idea. So she scheduled my apt for today at 1:45pm.

Last night I wasn't in that same pain, but was just sore and tender. I felt like my body just ached all over. We went to Church for the summer series service and as the pastor walked to shake hands with members, he walked up and just shook his head and said "are you ok?, we were all a little freaked out and worried about you." I said "I'm not exactly sure, but I have a Dr.'s apt tomorrow so we'll see." He then just told me to keep him updated.

So I go to my apt today and explain what happened and the pain. It brought back memories of how I had a cyst rupture back in High School while on a band trip. I remember we went to eat someplace that catered our meal. While walking out, I almost fell on the ground from the pain. We ended up going to a Lubbock hospital and it was a cyst on my ovaries that was inflamed. Once at the hospital and after X-rays and etc, I remember laying there and grabbing my abdomen and screaming. That was the point where the pain was so intense, the cyst ruptured and I was fine then. Well, apparently Tuesday, I had another cyst rupture. After my exam today the Dr. said "good news is that it ruptured on its own. Had it not, we would be at the hospital now in surgery and I'd have to rupture it myself. He said that's exactly what it was and all of the symptoms of sweating and back ache was from the pain of the cyst. I told him I first thought it was food poisoning, but there wasn't any nausea, so that ruled that out. He said this had nothing to do with what I had eaten and would have happened any way.

I'm just glad that I finally know what it was. Sunday and Monday I didn't feel too good and just felt run down, but not nauseous or anything. Just kind of ill. I'm not sure if that is when the cyst was becoming inflamed or not, but all I know is Tuesday was when it had had enough. He prescribed me some medication for if that pain arises again. If it does, I take the pill for the pain, and then I'm supposed to call him immediately. He jokingly said "let's try not to have another one, if you do, you'll be seeing me." So I hope that I only had just the one, but he did warn me that they tend to grow in clusters. That's why he gave me a prescription in case I need it.

God I hope not!

So I go to my grandmothers to pick up the kids and they were outside playing in the mud. They were apparently having a great time. Mud was everywhere. All kids love mud, not sure why, but every kid has played in the mud and even gotten their siblings to eat some too! Which Haley had tried to get Zach to eat it. So when playing in mud, she must be watched! Before cleaning them up, I had to take a picture. Just for memories. So here's Haley and Zach making mud pies!

18th Mth apt

2009-06-09T11:02:00.003-05:00

Zach waiting for Dr. to come in the exam room

I was dreading this morning. Zach's 18 month apt was scheduled so he could get his immunizations. I hate taking the kids knowing they will get shots. If I could, as I'm sure all of you other parents out there would, I'd take the shot myself instead of having them get it. I dropped Haley off at my grandmother's house and headed to the apt with Zach. Dr. Bello came in and of course they weigh them and measure their height. Zach is above average on weight and really above average on height. She said "he will be tall." Then she asked me questions about his motor skills and etc. Even while answering them, Zach would do what she said and she said "never mind he is showing me, he is very very smart." Today's visit couldn't have gone any better. She continued to tell me that I need to make it my priority to stay involved with him throughout childhood and be there. If not, he will get bored and get into trouble. I said "I feel that way with my daughter. She's very smart and I have to remind myself she's only 4." I continued to tell her how Haley gets into everything and I feel that it's because she's bored. She said "If you do not keep their interest, they will get in to stuff and later in their teenage years, that will not be good." She said word for word "the house doesn't have to be spotless, play and interact with your kids, keep their attention, these years go by really fast. You'll look back and wish you could be at this point again." I said "that's easy to say."

What she said was so true. I have felt that Haley gets in to stuff a lot because she's just bored and is looking for stuff to do. We'll do puzzles together occasionally, but she can do them by herself too. So she might do a puzzle for about 10 mins or so, but then she's wanting something else. And these aren't like 8-10 piece puzzles either. I've always known she is really smart (Not just bragging because she's my daughter either) but to hear that Zach is right along with her. The Dr. said "it will be hard and will take a lot of work on your part, you have two gifted children, be thankful." Thankful? I'm ecstatic. Today's visit was a parents dream come true. We all want to know our children are smart. She said "read to them and interact, imagine and pretend." I will admit that I do not do this every day. I get up and sometimes just put cartoons on to keep them occupied so that I can clean the house without being interrupted. But that is the wrong kind of mindset for me to have. I normally will be cleaning and if Haley says "Mama, want to play dress up?" I stop, or say "give me just a minute to finish this and I'll come in there." I want her to come to me and be close to me. I want to be her friend and playmate, but sometimes in everyday life with maintaining a clean house and trying to keep somewhat of a routine, it's hard. I know I can do better and my children are more important than having the floors spotless every day. Which from where I was when we first got married until now, I've relaxed a lot. You have too as a parent. With two small children you can't have a spotless perfect house all the time. It's impossible. Although Brad helps out a lot! I try to do more of it myself since I stay home, but there are days that I get more done than others. These days are the hard days. In the end though, I would rather my kids grow up and say "my mama was so much fun, she played with us all the time" instead of "she didn't play a whole lot with us, but our house sure was super clean."

When children come into our lives, we have to ask ourselves what is more important. A clean house or the attitudes and personalities and futures of our children. I vote for the later. Even though, I do still like the house to be picked up some. :)

Here's Zach pointing at some fish on the wall. The Dr. said "can he point to things and know what he's pointing at?" Right at that second, he turned, pointed and said "Fish." So that answered her question. haha

The visit was great. She said not even to think about potty training until he turns two. If he seems interested in it though, we can work with him. But overall, she said "he's doing wonderful." Music to my ears!!!!!!!!!!

I got Zach dressed and then we waited for the nurse to come with the dreaded shots. She came in and I laid him down. She said "he'll get one shot." I said "ONE?" Oh thank God. So I started singing Old McDonald to keep his attention on me and the nurse started singing too. He got the shot and that was it. Not ONE tear!!! I was in shock and so relieved that she didn't hurt my baby!! He did great. Then we got a sucker and left.

So from now on, I need to make a point to interact and keep teaching them stuff on a daily basis at least in some small way. Hopefully they'll be Dr's one day. You never know!!

Helmet Decor

2009-06-05T18:19:00.004-05:00

A client that I had painted her daughter's nursery for called to see if I could decorate her daughter's cranial helmet that she was recently placed in, as Zach was and she said she thought "I could get Amy to decorate it." She called and started to explain that her daughter was placed in this helmet to reshape her head. Little did she know that Zach wore one too and I knew exactly what she was talking about. I told her Zach wore one too for 10 wks. She was shocked. She said they were very hurt at first and couldn't believe it. I explained that I knew exactly what she was feeling because I felt that way too. I told her that I would send her Zach's before/after photo study pictures and when she saw them, she was really surprised at the difference. I also told her that she'll be glad they chose to use the helmet. And after she gets out of it, she'll sort of miss it. You get used to seeing your baby in it every day, every hour (except for 1) and so you kind of miss it when they get out of it. We are so glad we chose to put him in a helmet. He'll thank us later too! And she's right, no one would ever know now!

She brought the helmet over around 3:45pm and saw Zach and said "you can't even tell." I said "I know." So seeing him and knowing that we went through this process too I think helped encourage her. She spoke about the trips out of town. Her daughter is younger than Zach was when he wore his, so they have to go every single week. We were able to go every other week because of his age. So I feel for her. I remember those trips. But I also remember bonding with Zach and flying and spending the whole day with just him. Mommy and Son. It was nice. We don't have days like that anymore. So I cherish that time in his life with just him and I.

Anyway, she wanted her helmet painted pink with zebra and for it to say "Remodeling" So here are the before/after pictures. Brad and I have date night tonight and we're going to dinner, so I told her that I'd drop it off. I know how important it is that the child wear it as directed, so I tried to hurry and complete it so little Mycah can put it back on. She is a beautiful little baby and I'm sure she looks so adorable in her helmet! I'll have to get a picture of her in it to post. Only if Mommy & Daddy don't mind. :)

Cranial Helmet before

Cranial Helmet showing "Remodeling" phrase

Other side where Velcro strap isI think it turned out very cute and can't wait to see it on her! How girly!!

Family Reunion countdown

2009-06-05T14:35:00.004-05:00

So we have 19 days until we leave for our Family Reunion. Haley is so excited about it. She will get to fish for the first time and go on the lake and a "big boat" is what she calls it. Our Family Reunion will take place at Lake Whitney. We are going to leave Wednesday evening and stay the night in Abilene. We'll go with my parents, sister/nephew and brother and stay at a hotel. Let the kids swim and stuff. That'll also give us a head start on arriving Thursday earlier at Lake Whitney. We're all excited to go and relax and just have fun. I've started my lists and started buying stuff we'll need to pack. Luckily we have a suburban!

Haley doesn't understand when I say the reunion is 3 weeks away. She wakes up and says "Do we go today?" I then tell her "no, we have a few more days to wait." She just says "Ah, man."

We went today though to get her another swimsuit. Being gone for 5 days, I want her to have two different ones to swap out. We also bought a pink floatie and some pink goggles. We got back in the car and she had to try them on. She said "Look I'm a submarine diver". I don't know where she's heard that, but I found it funny. I didn't even know she knew what that was.

Here she is modeling her new pink goggles. I'm sure drivers that were next to us at the red lights laughed when they saw her.

Motivate Summer Series & Floats

2009-06-04T14:56:00.000-05:00

Our church Crossroads Fellowship, has started a summer bible series called Motivate. We will have a different guest speaker every Wednesday evening through the first of August. It's very encouraging and I plan on attending every Wednesday that I can. I've been inviting friends and family to share in this worship with us. It's truly encouraging and positive. For me, it makes me want to be a better Christian and live my life as God intended. I pray for those friends and family members that I have asked to go with us, that God touches their hearts and they join us for at least one of the services. I know God has heard my prayer and I just hope they feel encouraged and want to come check it out.

We left the service last night, which by the way was wonderful. I really enjoyed it! I went to get Haley from her class while Brad went to get Zach. I picked her up and said "we have a treat, we're gonna go get Root Beer Floats." (Sonic was giving them away for free from 8-12pm). So we thought since we were out we'd go. We pulled up and got floats for all of us, I turned to ask Haley if it was good and she replied "I just thought we were gonna swim." I thought for a minute and it hit me, she heard the word "float" and associated it with swimming. How precious. You never know what a child is thinking at times or what they will say!

Salon disaster

2009-06-03T13:00:00.004-05:00

Zach's been needing a haircut for a few weeks now. I wanted to take him last Tuesday before I went out of town, but just didn't have time with packing and etc. Brad said "it can wait, take him when you get back." So I took him today at 11:45 and it was a nightmare. Zach was wonderful. It was the haircut itself that was a nightmare.

He sat down, we unbuttoned his shirt and put the apron on. The lady gave Zach a sucker. Which was nice, but while buzzing his hair? The hair that fell just landed on the sucker which then went into his mouth and then his fingers were sticky with hair and sucker juice. Then hair got around his eyes and he'd try to wipe his eyes and then it had more sucker juice and hair on and in his eyes. Poor thing. The lady asked what number we use on the buzzer, which I said a "2." We've been to this lady twice before so we were not knew clients. Haley wanted a sucker so I got her sat down and went to the bowl to find a pink sucker, gave it to her, went to throw the trash away and turned to go back to Zach. I immediately turned, saw Zach's hair and sighed so loud she said "is it too short?" I said while in complete shock "we use a 2, but only on the back and sides" She said "oh, well then I guess I messed that up." Like no big deal to her. I said "we keep the top longer remember and cut that part with scissors to style it with our fingers for the messed up look." So all I could do then was watch her buzz my little man's hair off so that it'd match.

He has a cowlick in the front, so that was left of course and she said "we'll just do a small bumper up front." So that's what she did. But I wanted to cry. Hit her or mess her hair up, but also cry. She normally charges $10, so I got out my wallet really expecting her to say "There's no charge today because I messed it up" BUT NO, she let me pay her.

For this look, I could have given him this hair cut. We rushed getting ready and all loaded up in the car for this. I just want to cry. Luckily his hair grows pretty fast so I'm hoping it grows super fast like within the next few days because when I see it, I just want to cry. It doesn't bother Zach though, he might like it this short in the summer, but Mommy sure doesn't............... :(

June showers

2009-06-01T10:19:00.000-05:00

I made a wreath to hang for the month of June. It's just a simple wreath with some wood die cut pieces of an umbrella, flip flops, a sun and a fish. Along with a lime green bow and some green Gerbera daisies. It took me about 30 mins to make this wreath and I've already gotten several compliments on it. Store bought wreaths go for at least $50 and some of them look like a child made them. haha I'm not a wonderful wreath maker, but at least I can make them look presentable! Stay tuned for more wreaths that are made. I plan on making a different one for each month/holiday.

Trick my Truck

2009-05-31T14:17:00.007-05:00

We got up and went to church this morning. Our friends Amy, Josh and their son joined us. My cousin Lindsey also went and met a friend of hers there. Worship was great, we went and got the kids and then went to eat at Rosa's. After eating we were walking to the cars and saw an 18 wheeler turning in to the Rosa's parking lot. This particular truck will be featured on CMT's "Trick my truck" which will air on June 3rd at 1:00pm our time. It's Chris Andersen's "Survivor" episode. We talked to the owner for a while and his story is really touching. We've set our DVR to record the episode and it'll be neat because we've seen the truck in person! Here's the finished truck. The battery on my camera went dead of course, so I got this picture courtesy of CMT's Trick my Truck. (I copied it)

We walked up and talked to him and got to look inside. It was really cool. He honked the horn for us, which was custom of course, and REALLY loud. As usual Haley started crying. She has very sensitive ears and doesn't like anything loud. She once went to the movie theatre and when it started she asked for the remote to turn it down. Bless her heart!! Even at the Rodeo we put cotton in her ears. The jeep she got for Christmas sits in the shop because she doesn't like the sound of it when you push the gas pedal. Says it's too loud. So she just sits in it and turns the steering wheel. We're hoping that one day she'll want to drive it, for now it stays parked in the shop. Sad that it's not getting used, but as soon as Zach can drive it, I bet he does. I'll just have to paint it black or something and paint some flames.

So then we got home and Zach laid down. He always lays right down when we get home. Before changing our clothes, I wanted to get a picture of Haley and I dressed up. She isn't always in the mood to take a picture, so I have to do it when I can. She got several compliments on her dress and bow. I bought the dress at the children's consignment sale in April and paid like $3 for the dress. I had to have it! We already had the bow because I had previously made it to go with her pirate shirt for Zach's birthday party last year. It matched today's dress perfectly. As long as the dress has some pink in it, she'll wear it.

Me and my princess!

Date night, friends and wings!

2009-05-30T17:41:00.007-05:00

So even though I had been gone for 3 days and missed the kiddos, Brad and I continued with our traditional Friday night "date night." Haley always looks forward to Friday nights when Maggie comes over and stays at our house to play with them. Plus, 3 days away from my hubby. We both missed each other and wanted to spend a nice dinner together. We went to the Midland mall to walk around then left and went to eat at Wall Street Bar & Grill. We haven't eaten there in years!!! It was great! And you have to make time for each other!

We had a nice dinner, then some friends sent Brad a text and said they'd be at Buffalo Wild Wings if we wanted to go for a little bit. So we did. These are just some random pics we took.

Marissa and I

Brad and I

Me, Marissa and her cousins fiance' giving kisses!

I even ran into one of the "Outhouse" girls, Cindy, that my friend Amy and I met at the Jason Aldean concert. I wasn't sure she'd remember me, but she did so we had to get a pic!

Anyway, we finally came home and had a relaxing evening. Today, we've just been lounging around. Well Brad mowed today so he could totally relax tomorrow. I've been trying to get the laundry caught up and wanted to update my blog while I had time. I had a lot happen in the past 4 days! Brad and Zach then left to have "guy time" shopping at Academy and Best Buy. So that's all for now, but stay tuned. It's always an adventure.

Coming home to a Surprise!!!!

2009-05-30T15:45:00.008-05:00

Friday I got up at 6:30, took my shower and got ready and went downstairs at Sheila's. She went to shower and get ready while the kids were watching cartoons. I used this time to sit at her kitchen table and make a few hair bows while I had the time. I made three I believe. Her oldest was in school and her dad was coming to their house at 11am to watch the two younger kids while we went to eat lunch before heading to the airport. We ate at Olive Garden which we both love and enjoyed another lunch to ourselves and got to visit a little bit more before heading to the airport. It was a nice relaxing trip. Sheila and I have been friends since 8th grade and have remained in each others lives. It's nice to have a long friendship with someone like that. We may live far apart, but when we see each other and get together it's like no time has ever passed. It just all comes back.

Sheila had some things to do that afternoon and wanted to also beat the traffic so she dropped me off at the airport a little earlier. I didn't mind though at all. I had a book to keep me busy and then ended up running into Lawana, a friends mom at the airport so ended up visiting with her and then we sat next to each other on the plane so that made the flight pass by really fast.

Here's Sheila and I outside of Olive Garden. We haven't taken a picture with each other in years! So I said earlier in the day "we have to take our picture before I leave." So here it is!

Sheila and Ryan, thank you for letting me crash at your place and take me to/from my Dr.'s apt. I really really appreciate it. I had fun and I'm thankful we're still friends after about 18 years. OMG! Ok, that just made me feel really old...... :) And Sheila, don't spend that money all in one place. (Starbucks??) HAHA. Do whatever you want with it! I know your probably upset at me, but you'll get over it. LOL. It was just a small gesture to show you how much I appreciate our friendship! Thanks again!

I was greeted at the airport by Brad and the kids which was nice for a change. Usually it's us meeting him when he's been gone on a work trip. It was nice to hear "Mama!!!" I did miss them and missed Brad too. It makes you appreciate what you have and not take things for granted. We got home and Zach took a nap. Brad was trying to keep him up so he was a little fussy on the ride back home. We got home and I carried Haley in because she almost fell asleep. We walk in and I turned to look at our living room floor because I saw something brown. I then saw the hardwood floor we had been talking about installing. I was so shocked and surprised. I saw just a portion of it and said "you started on the floor?" He said "no...." So I step in the living room to see that he had finished the entire room. He had a few people help out though, but he said he stayed up very late trying to finish it up before I got home because he wanted to surprise me. Before leaving I debated on whether or not to change my flight and come back home Wednesday evening after my apt, but he kept insisting I stay through Friday and enjoy the time while I had it. So then he said "Now you know why I wanted you to stay gone for 3 days." I am still in shock and it looks beautiful! I LOVE it! Thanks to everyone that pitched in! It looks amazing! Check out the pictures!!!

Before picture with carpet. (Carpet looks cleaner in the picture!) haha

Carpet ripped out, protective/sound barrier down Brad said he took this picture to show he was up at 2am!! Poor baby!

This is the finished product. Looks amazing! We are going to get a new rug though. Haley has drawn a masterpiece on it with a dark pink sharpie, plus Brad is tired of the animal print. :(

Doesn't it look amazing?? I just love it! It will show dirt and stuff more than the carpet, but it'll be so much easier to clean. Grab my dust buster and Swiffer and go! No more scrubbing crushed Oreos and goldfish crackers from the carpet anymore! It was a nice surprise. I have such a wonderful husband that I love very very much and just happens to be handy!!

MDO graduation

2009-05-28T23:29:00.001-05:00

Thursday we went to Sam Moon to browse around a little bit. I got a new purse (I know, like I needed that) and a necklace set, a new wallet and some other little things. I just can't go in Sam Moon and not get a purse. It's like going to a movie and not getting popcorn. I just have too! Which will change after Monday.....

Thursday evening Logan and Karly graduated from their MDO programs so I went with Sheila and Ryan to the ceremony where we met her parents and brother. It was a sweet little ceremony. Here's a picture of Logan and one of Karly getting her certificate on stage. They are adorable little kids! Just like their big sister Megan!

6 wk post-op

2009-05-27T15:00:00.001-05:00

I flew to Dallas today for my 6 wk post-op apt. My friend Sheila picked me up from the airport and we drove to my Dr.'s apt. The apt went great and I got my release. He said "You can go water skiing if you want." So as the saying goes "starting Monday" I'll start working out and trying to watch what I eat. Ideally I'd love to lose another 30lbs. That's my goal and it'll be tough. Brad and I decided to help motivate each other we'd get up early and workout to the P90X DVDs. He gets up early anyway to go to work, but I'll get up early as well and workout with him. We both want to lose some weight and tone up. We're going to buy a punching bag too and do that for some cardio. Brad said he was going to get me some pink boxing gloves. His friend Matt boxes himself, but also coaches boxing and said he'd come show us how to get started. I'm excited! Tone up and learn a little self defense at the same time! I'm pumped!

I'd like to take before and after pics after the 90 days are up. I'm really hoping that my "after" photos really show a drastic change. I'm so motivated now and know that there will be a few hard days and it'll be hard to stay focused. You gotta splurge every once in a while! :)

So the only person that can stop me from achieving my goals, is myself! So wish me luck.

After my apt Sheila and I went to eat lunch before heading back to her house. We spent most of our conversations sharing stories about our kids. She laughs at some of the things I tell her that Haley does and what she gets in to. I can laugh afterwards, but it's hard not to stress out sometimes. Ryan offered to watch the kids while she and I went to dinner alone. We are both stay at home moms and enjoy adult conversations when we get them so we both enjoyed our dinner. It was nice to sit and visit with her and not feel rushed. The few trips before were quick and didn't allow much time to sit and chat. So it was nice and relaxing.

A Great Recipe for Life

2009-05-26T09:12:00.002-05:00

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Talk to God about what is going on in your life. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today. I am thankful for ______________'.

4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants. 5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control.

Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a College kid with a maxed out charge card.

9. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

12. You are not so important that you have to win every argument. agree to disagree.

13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

14. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

17. Forgive everyone for everything.

18. What other people think of you is none of your business.

19. GOD heals everything - but you have to ask Him.

20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch!!!

22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.

24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

25. When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings. you'll be smiling before you know it.

Many of us take everyday things for granted. It isn't until it's lost or almost lost that we realize it. As Humans we want it NOW and can't see the bigger picture that God has in store for us, but if you have faith and pray, it will all work out in the end. Don't let the little things in life affect the larger things that matter. I received this "recipe" in an email, but it's truly how we should think. Be thankful for what you have now because in reality, it might not be there tomorrow! I pray God blesses all of your lives and gives you the desires of your heart.

I fly to Dallas tomorrow for my 6 wk apt and pray for a safe flight. It will also give me some time to spend with my friend Sheila and her family. Brad is taking off work to spend time with the kids too, so they'll get some alone time with Daddy. Just them and daddy. That should be fun! I can't wait to hear what happens! I know Daddy's looking forward to it!

Haley's 1st time skating

2009-05-25T12:08:00.006-05:00

Haley and I went to Maddy's 7th birthday party which was held at the skating rink. Haley's never been skating before and I hadn't skated since probably 6th grade! I figured it'd be like riding a bike, once you learn, you'll pick it right back up, wrong!!!!!!!!!!!! I put my skates on and immediately almost lost my balance and fell just in the sitting area! Every single adult that tried to skate had fallen at least once and gave up. But once I got out there, it slowly came back to me. I even thought "I used to skate backwards and everything" So thought I'd try it fearing I'd fall flat on my backside, and it all came right back. Granted I was just slower this go around. Haley tried to skate with me holding her hand, but she didn't like that too much. Here we are posing in our skates.

It's amazing how much smaller the skating rink looked too. My brother and I used to go every single Friday night. It used to be family night and you could skate for like $1 until they closed.

Back then I could skate really well too! Brought back memories. You know "couples skate, reverse skate (where you skate in the opposite direction) and doing the hokey pokey.

Fun times, and then to be in the same skating rink with my daughter skating. It was special!

Haley had a better time on some little scooters they had! So mostly stayed on those the whole time. Check her out!

This was the funniest part! When doing the limbo, Haley rode the scooter under the limbo rope and when it got too low, she got off the scooter, walked up to the rope and just stepped over! HAHA. I said "Haley, that's called cheating" :) And I tried to participate until I fell. That's when I said "Ok, I'm done." So yes, I ended up falling along with all the other adults.

I ended up sending Brad a text to tell him that Haley was having a blast and he should come see her. He had gone in to work for a few hours to work on their server room since no one was there to distract him. So he came up there and ended up skating with us. It was a nice family memory!

Polka dot bow

2009-05-22T11:55:00.000-05:00

Today when I got a chance to sit and relax I made another hair bow for Haley. I have had ribbon to make several bows, but just had other things going on. So after picking up the house and stuff, I sat to make a bow. Sandy got off work early and came by to pick the kids up for a little bit to give me some alone time. I needed some time to do some soul searching and praying. Everyone always says "everything happens for a reason." So I was just trying to see that and have patience and faith. I've had a lot going on and she offered to get the kids for a little bit, but Zach stayed with me because he needed a nap. So she just took Haley. Anyway, this is the hair bow. For me crafts and painting is my stress reliever. I enjoy staying busy and also making craft stuff and bows for Haley. My goal and if I had more time, would be to make up several to sell at the children's consignment sale I normally enter in. Here's the bow.

Twinkies

2009-05-21T11:27:00.000-05:00

This morning I babysat little Jaxson for our friends. I dropped Haley off for her last day of Mother's Day Out and then drove by my neighbors house to tell her that I was home. She walked up holding Jaxson and I sort of laughed to myself and said "Look at Zach in the backseat" She looked and said "AH, they're wearing the same outfit, you'll have to take a picture." What are the odds of them wearing the same outfit on the same day? So anyway, here's the picture of the twinkies. Jaxson didn't look too thrilled to have his picture taken though. But I think his gums were bothering him because he cut his first tooth! Amy was so surprised! I always think of Zach as being "my baby" and tiny, but put him up against a younger child and he's a big boy! He's growing up sooooo fast!

Here Jaxson is happier now that he's out of the recliner. What a cute little face. And he has the same exersaucer that Zach used to have.

Tuesday projects

2009-05-19T18:46:00.003-05:00

Today I painted a few accessories for Haley's room while she was at MDO. I've had them, just hadn't painted them yet. I picked her up today and said "I have 3 surprises for you." Got home and made her close her eyes. She loved all three pieces.

The first accessory was a flower mirror I got at 50% off (Orig. $3.99) at Hobby Lobby so painted it to match her room decor. I thought it turned out pretty cute. And if she breaks it, I'm only out $2.00. :)

Second, I painted a jewelry box that I got for $4.50 (80% off) from Hobby Lobby which was red and cream, but after I got a hold of it, you can see that it matches her decor now. She saw it and immediately wanted to put her play jewelry and necklaces in it, so we took it to her room and filled it up. The top lifts up and has a mirror in it. And the bottom drawer opens up.

The last project was just a simple door hanger. It was originally $.47, but I always wait until the wood pieces are on sale for 50% off, so I bought several because they were so cheap. This also helps me with my profits because I'm not out a lot of money, clients mostly pay for labor.

So those having new babies might just end up with one of these, so if you do, act surprised. HAHA

Or those that want a custom one, let me know! I'll make it!

Thursday will be Haley's last day of MDO for the summer break. I'm happy that I don't have to get up so early on those days, but will only miss it because I use those days to do my painting projects. But it'll be nice to have her home. This next year the 4 yr old class goes Mon-Thurs. This year I got to choose whether she went 2 or 4 days. I chose 2. I didn't want her gone every day, just a few to give me days to run my errands, or go to my Dr. apts or hair apts and etc.

It'll be nice having her home, but Haley gets bored pretty easily so we're actually thinking of getting a swimming pool. Right now Haley uses our hot tub. We turn the temp way down where the water is like a heated pool. But we need something bigger so that Zach and I can also get in. The kids and I will be home all summer long and will need something to keep us busy. You can only go to Chick-fil-A or the park so many times! HAHA

So we're checking into different ones and then will decide. We don't want anything huge, just something big enough for us to keep cool!

Haley soaking up the rays!

2009-05-18T19:19:00.000-05:00

So this afternoon Haley went swimming while I sat out and tanned. Zach again was napping. We wait until I lay him down because I can't get in the water just yet. May 27th is my 6 wk apt and I'll then be released to exercise and swim or whatever. So Haley gets in and I sit and watch her. Great time for me to tan anyway. I try to tan outside when I can, but when I can't or when Brad gets home, I'll use my tanning bed in the evenings. The key, is to not burn! If you burn easily or burn every time you tan, you carry the risk of skin cancer later on. So just don't burn! Luckily for me, I rarely burn!

Anyway here's Haley soaking up the rays. I always put sunscreen on the kids though. If she chooses to tan later, that's her choice, for now, she gets sunscreen! LOL

Weekend events

2009-05-18T11:03:00.005-05:00

So Saturday during the day we all went to a car show at Hooters. There were a ton of cars and Zach was a hit. Everyone thought he was just so cute. Haley went to play with a cousin of hers so didn't go with us, she said "I don't like looking at cars!" So she went to play instead.

Brad has started a photography website and is wanting to get the business off the ground and took some cards to place in the drivers seats. He also had the announcer mention to the car owners that he was there and willing to take pics of their cars for free to get his portfolio going. His site can be found at http://www.bradstillwell.com/.

Then Brad stayed home because he needed to mow and stuff and Zach needed a nap. So this allowed me to go to Midland to run a few errands really quick. Then later that evening Brad's work had sponsored the yearly Boxing tournament along with other businesses including Brad's photograhy and my Artziecreations stuff. Matt, a guy that Brad works with coaches the boxing and his son boxes. We had reserved seating and sat with a bunch of Brad's co-workers and boss. It was fun. Here's a pic of John getting ready for his match boxing. These kids are great! Maybe one day Zach will be in the ring! You never know!! Or Haley!

Marissa and I then had to take a picture with each other. She is who referred me to Dr. Hughes for my surgery. Needless to say we are both very pleased with our results.

Then we met some friends at Buffalo Wild Wings to just cut loose and hang out. We had a lot of fun. We went to hear a guy we know that was in the band playing that night. It was a pretty late night and we all had a great time. Here's a group shot of the girls!

(Left to right- Cindy, Lindsey, Amy, Rose and Me)

I tried to get a pic of Josh and Brad, but leave it up to one of them to do something funny!

After hanging out for awhile at Buffalo, the group wanted to go to Oasis for a little more fun and dancing, but Brad and I came home. My grandmother had been here long enough and we felt bad for staying out later than was planned. We do thank her for watching the kids though and apologize for staying out late! Sorry GanGan!!

We got home around 1am and went to bed around 1:30am, my friend Amy said they ended up going to their house and watched some videos or something and they went to bed at 4am! Even though we were all tired, we still (including Amy & Josh) still made it to church. She said earlier in the night that they were gonna go, so I said "Pinkie swear?" so we did and Sunday morning I sent her a text and said "are yal still going to church?" Thinking she'd say "not today" but she replied "Yes, I pinkie swore." LOL

Church was great and our guest speaker Dr. Charles Lowry was awesome yet again. Can't wait for the summer series to start to hear him again. Then a friend of ours Derrick sang this song called "Love is not a fight" by Warren Barfield. It's the one I've just added to play on my blog. It brought tears to my eyes just listening to it. It was truly touching.

Jason Aldean 2009

2009-05-15T08:24:00.003-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Salon Wall art project

2009-05-14T10:27:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I painted a pair of scissors that are meant to hang on the wall as a Thank you gift. My friend Amy cuts hair and helped me a lot with Zach right after I had my surgery. She'd come and get him out of his crib or put him in there for me during her lunch hour. Her husband Josh also helped me, but I doubt he'd want a pair of scissors to hang in his office. lol If you do Josh, just tell me, I'll paint you a pair! :)

Before pic

After pic

She said she hung them in the salon and now all of the other hairdressers are jealous!

Huh? Maybe I can sell some? I need to find a comb or other salon art and see what I can paint.

I haven't seen any combs though. I'm sure they'll have some online.

But I thought it turned out pretty cute and if I had my own station someplace as a hairdresser, I'd paint a lot of stuff!!!

Park, heat and sweat.....

2009-05-12T16:54:00.005-05:00

After picking Haley up from Mother's Day Out we went to the park over at ORMC. It was pretty hot. I put a little sunscreen on both kids and some tanning lotion on myself. So we made our way to the toys and of course our first stop, the pink globe thingy. She had to go to that first she said. So we did that.

Then we went over to the swings. I pushed Zach for a little while until he wanted down to follow Haley over to a different set of toys. He didn't want to touch the sides though because it was hot. So he just held his hands up. Here he is in the swing.

Then we sat in a shaded area for all of about 3 mins. They were just having too much fun. I should have taken them though when it wasn't soooooo hot outside. And the weather channel said 85 today.................... It felt a lot hotter than that!
We ended up being there for almost an hour. Probably closer to 45 mins, who knows. I could tell the kids wanted to keep playing, but were too hot. So we left. Plus there were some other little kids that weren't playing very nicely at all. And where were their parents? Probably inside ORMC visiting someone! Wouldn't surprise me.
One boy who looked a couple of years older than Haley went up while she was on the see-saw, grabbed the other end, didn't sit down, but kept pushing it down really hard and fast. I guess he was trying to make her fly off. I just looked at him and said "want me to do that to you?" He ran off. Then we walked over to a swing set that had two of the red swings. I thought I could push both Haley and Zach over there. I said "Haley, let's go to those, because there's two." So that same little boy ran over there and got in one. Little twirp!
I don't like older kids picking on smaller kids, especially when those smaller kids are mine! :)
Anyway we had a great time and we'll have to do it again soon!

Cup of tea?

2009-05-12T16:36:00.006-05:00

I got this in an email, but Haley LOVES having tea parties and thought it was hilarious. There's no telling when she was 2 1/2 if she did this.............. I'd rather not think about it! LOL

Cup of Tea anyone??

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me.
I was maybe 2 1/2 years old. Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a gift and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home.
My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!' My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up.

Then she says, (as only a mother would know…)

“Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?”

HAHA. I can only imagine what we've actually drank over the years. I know she normally asks for real tea for her tea pot. But we use water because there ends up being a mess.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

2009-05-11T09:49:00.007-05:00

What a wonderful Mother's Day. We got up and went to church where we had a guest speaker, Dr. Charles Lowry who was great and really funny. Our friends Amy & Josh and their son Jaxson ended up coming and also bringing Amy's mother and step dad. It was great to have them there and I hope their guests enjoyed it. As we were walking out, each mother was handed a carnation. Very thoughtful. We picked the kids up from their classes and I got another card from Haley and one from Zach that had his handprint. Ahhhhh! Now I have one from each of my kids!

We left church and went to eat at Rosa's, which is like a tradition I guess. It's just the closest place that we can get in/out pretty quickly and seems like everyone else from the church has the same idea. You go in and most all of the kids in there are still wearing their stickers on their back. It's a security thing and is associated with the pager you get for your kids. So anyway we ate and headed home. Once here the kids gave me my Mother's day present which was a white gold diamond Mother's ring. Here's a view of the side of it, it spells MOM. With the O, being a heart. Ahhhhh!!!

Then we attempted to take a picture with me and the kids, but it's hard because when Zach smiles Haley doesn't, and when Haley does, Zach doesn't. But I wanted a picture of this day. I just wish Brad had told me that my hair was messed up. Oh well. Can't make everything perfect! So here's our picture. Haley didn't want to sit right by me, so at least she kind of smiled. Not at the camera of course, but I'll take what we get! Then I wanted one with each of them, but Haley didn't want any part of that. So I got one with just Zach and I.

Brad then gave me my Mother's Day present from him. I got a bottle of Ed Hardy perfume and an Ed Hardy Purse. Which some would say it's more of a tote, but I carry large purses, so It's perfect!! I love them and the perfume smells soooooo good! I was so surprised! I look a little out of it in this pic, but again, we'll take what we can get! I'm also trying to show the ring I am wearing, but in this pic you can't really see it. But it's beautiful! I love it all!

So then we let Zach take a nap while I got some Mother's day gifts ready. Zach woke up and we made our rounds. We went by my mom's house to give her a card and small gift. Then by my grandmother's house to give her her gift. Then to my parents house to give Debbie her Mother's Day card and gift and Jennifer a card. And Kevin even got me a Mother's day/birthday present he said . HAHA. It was the "Slap Chop" chopper, which is wonderful. He gave it to me and then said "I expect some salsa!" So guess I'll have to make a batch!

Then we finally came home. Brad offered to cook for me and his mom so he made Chicken fajitas for us and we ate and relaxed. We gave Sandy her gift and card and then she got me a card ($20 inside) and a really nice Cross garden pick. Not sure if I want to actually put it outside though, or inside in one of my planters. I'll have to decide!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day and I hope that all of my friends and family that are mother's had a wonderful day as well. We have all been blessed with this role and may we see that each and every day, even in the stressful times!

"Mother's Day Out" Gift to me

2009-05-07T22:24:00.004-05:00

I picked Haley up from Mother's Day Out and she came up to me and handed me a gift bag. On it was a "Happy Mother's Day" Card that she made in class. She glued the flower pieces on. Inside she scribbled everywhere and then it said "I love you, Haley" (written by her teacher). Here's the card.

Then I opened up the gift and there was a frame with a handprint of hers and a sweet little poem. Which I didn't want to be the only mother there that teared up, but it was the sweetest little poem. I will treasure this frame and put it on my side of the bed on my nightstand. These are the gifts you hold on to for years and years!!

It's a little hard to read from the picture, but the poem says:

Everyday I am exploring

Touching everything I've found

I leave behind my little marks

and handprints all around

You clean up those handprints

But someday when I'm grown

You'll wish you had just one

handprint to keep for your own

I made this handprint for you

So that one day when I am tall

You'll remember what my hand

looked like

Long ago when I was small

How sweet is that?? I love it. And of course the frame is pink! Needless to say I just loved the frame and card. It was very touching because it was made by her especially for me!

After picking Haley up I dropped her off at my grandmother's house to spend some time with them and met my friend Kory and her son Kyle at Chick fil A. It was nice to get to spend some time with her and visit. It's been a while since we've gotten a chance to just sit and visit. Although I think I did most of the "chatting." Being a stay at home mom, you crave some adult interaction at times and for me it was like a release and I hope I didn't bore her ear off. :)

So then my parents came over around 6:30pm and brought the kids some "Star" ice cream cones from Dairy Queen. The kids loved them and now I know why they brought the ice cream to our house for them to eat. The star shaped ice cream was Red, white and blue and the Red, well let's just say, it doesn't come out very well! But from the picture you can tell Zach really loved it! So did Haley, but she didn't get as messy! Next time, I think they should have to eat them at Mimi & Papo's house! LOL

We planned on going to Chuck E Cheese for what seems to be our traditional Thursday night family event. The kids had a great time, but the only difference this time, Zach was a little pink!

So we got to Chuck E Cheese and the lady there gave us some of the kids cups. We were just gonna buy one large drink and all of us share it, but she said "Do the kids want a sippy cup?" We were like "sure" and so she gave them each one. Which was cute because of the straw it had on it. Here's Haley taking a sip.

Anyway, we got home and the kids got baths and headed to bed. It was a very eventful day, but we all had a great time!

"Pink polka dot bikini.........."

2009-05-06T16:00:00.005-05:00

It's been a few days since I've posted, but I've been pretty busy the past 5 days and trying to ease into more physical activity. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I have just been laying around doing nothing with a bell at my side to ring when I need my nose blown. But I've been trying to take it easy. You know, Dr's orders. HAHA. The more movement that I do that day, I feel it in the evening. Just real tender and sore. We spent the weekend at home and this week I've been slowly getting back into the swing of housework. I was told no housework at all for 4 weeks. It specifically said "no housework, including vacuuming. Do not clean your attic!" HAHA Like I'd even think to clean the attic. But with two kids, we could seriously vacuum 10X a day and it'd still need it right before we all went to bed. The Dr's orders just said no physical activity like exercise or housework for 4 wks, but I stuck to it for 2 and I think that's pretty good. Which our house is far from being a pig sty, but it has to be picked up daily or we'd constantly trip over toys. Brad has helped a lot during my recovery period. He's been the cook and the maid for these past two weeks and although I've done a little bit, he's done the majority of it all. He'll come home after going to the grocery store and I'll say "What are we having tonight and I'll get it started?" His reply was "go lay down, I'll cook." So that's been nice. Too bad the Dr. didn't say no housework for like 6 months or something, that'd be nice. Nah, I couldn't make it that long. That's just how I am.

To have Brad step in and do my "chores" helped tremendously, but everything is still healing pretty smoothly. I changed my tape yesterday, or started too and in one area it appeared to be healing slower. I won't go into detail, but after taking all my tape off and grabbing some alcohol, I started cleaning my incisions, I couldn't stand the sight of it and stopped. Especially the areas that weren't healing as nicely because they've been trapped under the tape. Without air they can't scab up and heal so I grabbed the alcohol and took a swig, JK, I meant rubbing alcohol and tried to clean the incisions. I almost threw up at one point because some blood came out and I can't stand the sight of blood, so I called Brad to see where he was. He was almost here, so as soon as he got here, he cleaned my incisions and I went without the tape for the entire night to let it "air dry." After calling my Dr. at his "Ranch", he asked if I was running a temp and I said no, he then told us to do exactly what we thought. Clean it, and go without the tape for the evening. Maybe we should have been Dr's........ huh? That'd be nice. Anyway, today is MUCH better and it's already scabbed.

So this afternoon Zach laid down and took his nap and Haley and I both changed in our bathing suits and went outside. She went swimming. We turn our hot tub temp down so that it's like a heated pool and she can get in there alone and is fine. I sat beside it and just tanned while reading a book. It was actually quite nice to just relax and tan at the same time. Sunday I tanned in our shop with my tanning bed, but today I actually did it the old fashioned way by sitting out in a chair. HAHA. Brad is amazed at how fast I can tan. If I tanned every single day, I'd probably look Hispanic. And in high school, some people thought I was. LOL

Anyway it was nice to just relax and clear my head. I've had a lot on my mind lately and won't go into detail with that, but it was a nice day. I took a shower and the kids and I went for our daily "half price" drink specials from 2-4pm then came home. So I had a minute and thought I'd post while I could. Here's Haley in her new swim suit. Notice it matches her bedroom, how appropriate!!!!!!! She's just growing so fast. Not a baby girl anymore for sure.

Surgery wise, every day is better than the one before and I'm healing very nicely and actually ahead of most women. He said I'm doing wonderful. I go back May 27th for my 6 wk check up and to get the tape off for good. I can't wait. I have very sensitive skin and the tape makes me itch. So that'll be nice to get it off for good. People are amazed at how great I look and how I've recovered so quickly. I think it's a combination of my body healing nicely, but also having a great Dr. that knows what he's doing.

And all I ask for those reading this is for you to keep us in your prayers as God sees fit. You can never have too many people praying for you! Thanks and God Bless!!!

I got a little red, but mostly tanned! I enjoyed our girl time!

Zach visits Haley's barber shop

2009-05-01T10:20:00.005-05:00

So earlier in the week Haley got in trouble for taking a pink sharpie and marking on everything from her slippers, to her toys and even a pair of pants she was wearing. The pants had rhinestones on them around the ankle and she took the sharpie and traced around each rhinestone. So I tried to spray them and get them clean, but it wouldn't come out. That's why you buy cheap clothes!!! Anyway, so then this week I came from the kitchen and noticed Haley and Zach sitting under one of our end tables on the bottom platform. I saw Zach trying to climb out and she said "Zach stay put!" while pulling him back under the table. Then saw her pointing something pink towards his head. I immediately thought she had that same pink marker and was coloring on his forehead or something so I said "Haley, what are you doing?" She put her hand behind her back and said "Nothing" I said "Haley, don't lie." So I walk over there and took what was behind her back and it was a pair of scissors that we had put up in the top of one of our kitchen cabinets. So apparently she climbed up and got the scissors knowing she was gonna cut her brother's hair. I said "What did you cut Haley, tell me now!" She said "Nothing" and then Zach climbed out from under the end table and I saw him. She had cut his hair. In 4-5 sections. I took the scissors away and she got a spanking, and time out by the front door for 5 mins with the timer set. I told her that if she's ever caught with scissors again or cutting hair with them, she'd get a really bad spanking with a paddle. (We don't use a paddle, but we threaten with one) Anyway, it could have been a lot worse, the style he wears is the "messy look" anyway, so when fixed with gel and all of that, you can barely tell. Now had she cut her own hair, I would have cried and been furious. So luckily she didn't cut her hair. I said "Why on earth did you do that?" She said "He needed a haircut!" Sometimes it's hard not to laugh at her replies, but I was so mad. I tell you what, having kids 2.5 yrs apart, isn't always as easy as everyone makes it out to be. But oh well, we'll get through it.

Breast Aug Before/After pics

2009-05-01T08:59:00.004-05:00

So today marks 2 weeks that I've had my wonderful surgery. I've been slowly lifting things and trying to avoid really heavy stuff for now, but like yesterday, I lifted Zach more and more. Amy came over yesterday morning and got him out of the crib for me, but had to get to work real quick, so after getting Haley dressed and stuff for MDO, I had to help him climb into his car seat. Yesterday seemed to go just fine. Sandy even called during her lunch hour to see if I needed her. I told her that I'd have to start doing stuff myself eventually, but thanked her for offering. And that evening I didn't have any pain or anything. I know they said to wait 4 weeks on lifting anything over 7lbs, but with two kids under4, you can't completely stop lifting stuff. Not being a stay at home mom anyway. But it all went fine and I'm always careful.

Anyway, I thought I'd post some before and after pictures to mark my 2 wk milestone. I think all but 10% of my swelling has gone away, and probably the same in bruising. I had very minimal bruising too. Wednesday we took all of my tape off and Brad cleaned all the incisions with alcohol. Then he re-taped me. It actually felt good to get the tape off. It makes me itch. So I can't wait to get it off for good. They are healing so nicely and once the tape is off for good I'll start using the Scarguard I bought from them and he said the incisions will hardly be noticeable. He did a wonderful job with the sewing, which I knew he would. He's rated in the top 6% in TEXAS for his sewing. So here's the long awaited photos.

Before pics (Oranges)

HAHA, not this drastic, but they weren't even.

After pics. (Grapefruits)

HAHA. Well anyway you can pretty much get the idea from the above examples. I am 100% happy with my decision and already feel more confident. Especially in the new bathing suit I bought. It's nice to feel confident about yourself and I wouldn't have changed a thing. I'm just wondering what took me so long!

6 week apt is scheduled for May 27th. I'll be flying again and staying a few days with my friend Sheila. She'll take me to my apt and all of that and then we can just visit. So that'll be fun. Wish Brad or the kids were going, but they'll be going on my last follow up around July 17. We'll make a weekend trip and try to take our kids and Sheila and Ryan's kids to the zoo or something. We'll see.

"Swine Flu"- Possible Cause???

2009-04-30T20:52:00.003-05:00

So I think I found the reason for the spread of that "Swine flu."

What do yal think?? Maybe? Even though it's cute, kind of, as a mother, how disgusting is this? I would die if my kids did this. God only knows what that pigs mouth/nose has been in.

HAHA I got this in an email and just thought it was hilarious, but disgusting at the same time.

Just remember after kissing a pig, wash your mouth and hands!!!

More Crafts during MDO

2009-04-30T09:32:00.000-05:00

I had painted a door plaque for Megan, my friend Sheila's oldest daughter, but they had just re-painted her room with new decor. So when we stayed there, I noticed that her door plaque didn't match anymore, so I painted another one and will take it when I go for my next apt. I painted it yesterday while Haley was at school. I made a hair bow first, to go with an outfit I bought for a friends sister. I thought the outfit was really cute and wanted to make a matching bow to go along with it. So made the bow and then hot glued a watermelon button on it. The watermelon was red of course, so I painted the red part pink, then drew new black seeds on it. Then glued it on. It matched the little dress perfectly. Now I need to go today to ship it to her.

Here was the finished bow with the matching dress. I thought it turned out really cute. And it doesn't have a regular barrette clip, it has a clasp, just in case she doesn't have a lot of hair at the time when she can fit in the outfit. I thought it turned out really cute and was told yesterday that I really need to open my own Etsy shop. I'm really thinking about it. So stay tuned!!!

Anyway, so then I finished up this plaque, which I tried to make it match her lamp that was in her room. Hopefully she'll like it. The "M" on it will match her reversible comforter. I almost had a panic attack yesterday because I had just finished this plaque, all except for gluing the ribbon on it. I was at the kitchen table and by this time I had already picked Haley up and we heard a crunching sound. I said "what is that?" Haley said "Sweetie is chewing on the computer cord." So I got under the table to take the cord away and all of that, and while doing so, Haley got in my chair and grabbed a paintbrush and dipped it in the turquoise paint and proceeded to make her own dots on the plaque. I looked up and saw her and could have lost my mind right that second, I was so mad. But I didn't. I just simply looked at her and said "Get down now! (In my sternest voice). I sat there for a minute with my head buried in my hands and could have cried. I mean all she had was maybe 2 mins tops, and already got into something. What frustrates me is that I worked hard on it and took my time making it perfect, well perfect for my liking, then Haley "messed" it up. I say that because to me, it was messed up and I had to fix it. But she sees it as "Mommy painted on the plaque, so I want too." It's really hard for me to get on to her for stuff like this because she doesn't understand why I can paint on it, but she can't. Like painting murals. I paint on walls, then get on to her when she colors on her dresser with a black sharpie. So this shows why I always have to work on projects when she's not here. Guess I learned my lesson. Can't leave her for 1 min by herself with some paint. Anyway after cooling down and re-painting the circles to look half way decent, I glued the ribbon and it was done. Here is the finished plaque after being painted twice. lol You gotta laugh sometimes. I think she does it to see how I'll respond sometimes. And every time is different, so guess we'll see what happens next time.

Paris Pillow

2009-04-29T16:52:00.004-05:00

HOTEL

de Paris

So during Zach's nap and while Haley was busy playing with Sweetie I decided to work on a pillow for Haley's bed. I wanted to make it and have it ready in her room before her birthday party, but didn't have time to get it done along with everything else I had planned. I got the pillow yesterday at Hobby Lobby in their clearance craft item section for $6.59. Online the pillow they wanted that was similar was like $50 or something which is just ridiculous. So I opted to try to make one myself. This resembles that pillow a lot, but this one is hand crafted by her loving mother, so it should be worth more. HAHA

(This is a pic of the pillow after I had already glued the black ribbon on the edge). I glued it, then remembered to take a "before" pic). And because I already had all of the other pieces in my craft junk, it only cost me the $6.59. So not bad for less than $7.00. And it took about 45 mins.

I glued the black ribbon on the edge, then traced out a square with a ruler and a black sharpie, I know lazy. Then glued the larger black ribbon with white polka dots. Followed by me writing the Hotel de Paris in a black sharpie. Luckily I didn't mess up or misspell it! lol Then I glued the poodle on. It's really an iron-on, but it glued just fine I thought, plus have you ever tried to iron on a transfer on a pre-stuffed pillow. Let's just say this way is easier. So then I made the bow and glued it on and then used black and pink t-shirt paint to paint the various polka dots on the rest of the pillow to fill it in some. Overall I think it's fabulous and will look sooooo cute on her bed. Not bad for under $7.00. Man, I need my own shop!! I could make a lot of profit on stuff like this. After it dries fully, I'll have to post a pic of it on her bed.

Our 6 month routine cleaning

2009-04-29T13:01:00.007-05:00

Haley getting ready for her cleaning procedure. Notice taggie in her lap, it's also her security blanket! We never leave home without it!

Zach sat this visit out. My Aunt Jane came over to sit at the house with him while Haley and I had our 6 month check up at the Dentist. I couldn't have gone had I had to take him with us. Load him in the Suburban, get him out, lift out the stroller, then put him in it, and also didn't want him to have to sit in the stroller that long while both Haley and I had our cleanings, so he stayed home. As Haley told Shelly, me and her were having "Girl time." She also asked Shelly to count her teeth and said "I brush my teeth very well." Ahhhhh..

Most people hate going and will do anything to get out of it. It's not that I enjoy going, I mean yes, I'd rather be on vacation somewhere, but I truly don't mind going and actually love that "just cleaned" feeling. This was Haley's second visit and she does really well surprisingly for her age. She doesn't go to a pediatric dentist either, she goes to our dentist. If she made a huge fuss and fought them during the cleanings, then we'd have to go to an actual pediatric dentist, but because she does so good, our dentist lets us go there. So anyway, she had her apt at 10am and laid there and did just fine, then colored a little bit and stood and watched as my teeth were cleaned. They are always cleaned by the hygienist and then Dr. Crane comes in to check out our teeth to make sure there aren't any major issues. Both of us got A's today and Haley once again, doesn't have a single cavity!! YES!!! As a parent that's wonderful news. At her last visit she didn't either, so I just knew he'd tell me today that she had at least one. NOPE!!

Hopefully her dental hygiene will continue to be successful! I want her to know that regular visits to the dentist will keep her teeth and gums healthy. And I really don't want her being scared of going in the future either.

Here she is showing me her pretty white teeth! That's my girl.

So what was her reward for doing so well, an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen of course. I know, not a really healthy choice, but I promised her the ice cream, so had to get it for her and with no cavities, I'm not that worried! LOL

Cindy's 30th birthday- "All things 80's"

2009-04-27T15:00:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Bill Engvall Benefit golf tournament and Comedy Concert

2009-04-27T14:06:00.005-05:00

So after Liam's party we came home, Zach took a little nap and then Sandy came over to watch the kids for us while we went to the Bill Engvall Benefit for the Midland Rehab facility. We met a few of Brad's co-workers first at Cody and Crystal Kidds' house for a few cocktails, excluding me. I'm still on my pain meds, so opted for some tea. Then we all headed over to the Midland Rehab center for the meet and Greet and more cocktails. We got there and Crystal, whom is a Physical Therapist and works there) took us around and showed us the amazing rooms that this facility offers for kids that need this type of therapy. It was amazing to see what all is offered. There's a "Sensory" room that has murals painted on the walls, but like on the painted bunnies, there are little white cotton balls things glued on for the kids to actually get to feel the bunny's tail. Where there are trees, there is some outdoor grass, so they can touch that as well. And there are 3-D butterflies and flowers on the walls too. It's just a really neat room and I never knew that this place existed. This place is offered at no charge to the families that need it's services.

That's amazing!!!

And Crystal even said they're thinking of adding on to the facility with some new rooms and will need some murals painted, so if they ask me to do it, I'll gladly accept!

So we finished our tour, grabbed a little bit of the finger foods they had and then went to see and meet Bill Engvall. He is like your next door neighbor, a down to home kinda guy. Super nice and I really have a very different outlook on him now. Before I was like like "ah, he's funny", but now after meeting him and seeing how generous him and his wife are, I just think he's great and had never been to one of his comedy acts, and he's HILARIOUS! Brad also golfed that morning with him in the benefit golf tournament, so at this meet n greet you could tell who all had golfed, they were all the ones red. Here we are with Bill! This will be another pic we print and add to our collection we have hung in our garage!

After we left the "meet and greet" we headed for the Chap center. Luckily we had a little yellow VIP Valet ticket to show and when we got there, Brad and I actually got the very first parking spot, how lucky is that?? So then we go in and our tickets were first row, dead center. Amazing view and even though we were afraid he might "heckle" us, we took our chances and it was a great show. Hilarious! Even the two guys ahead of him were very funny! Brad and I had a great time and enjoyed some time to ourselves. It was a nice evening to spend with my handsome hubby! Look, Brad even wore his contacts, which I love.

Back off ladies! lol

Another close up of us front row!!!

This Benefit fundraiser also brought in a lot of money for the Midland rehab facility. Bill and his wife took their proceeds from the sale of the concert tickets and money from the golf tournament and gave it to the Midland rehab. I just think that's amazing. Most "celebrities" make their money and keep it all for themselves. It really shows the type of people they truly are to donate this kind of money to someone else. Here's a check showing how much was raised and given to the Midland rehab. You can't read it too well from this pic, but it was $228,000. As they showed a video of kids receiving their therapy, I even teared up. It touched me and made me so grateful that our kids are so healthy, but it's nice to know this facility is available for families in need.

So then after leaving the comedy act at around 10pm, we then headed over to Abe and Cindy's house for her 80's party. It was a late night for us, but we had a great time and don't get to "party" much anymore these days so we just enjoyed the time we had! Thanks Maggie for offering to watch the kids and spend time with them. I think it's great though that you enjoy spending so much time with them. They won't always remember it, because their young, but we will! Thanks again!

Liam's Birthday

2009-04-27T09:55:00.001-05:00

Saturday from 2-4pm we went to Liam's Birthday party. The kids had a great time. For his present he got his own jumper. Haley loved it! Zach got a little scared in it, but found a beach ball that he really liked and it kept him busy. Here's Haley and Liam on the jumper.

Then Zach being his cool laid back self. Isn't he handsome?

Had to get a picture of the cake before it was cut.

It was really cute and then a pic of lil Miss Haley having a piece. I think she wore most of it!

Anyway, thank you Rob & Dede for inviting us, the kids had a great time and hope he had a great birthday!

Liam's 3rd Birthday

2009-04-23T16:40:00.007-05:00

3 already? Doesn't seem possible, but according to the "Paw print" Clue, Liam's turning 3!Haley's best little friend Liam is turning 3. I can't believe it. Seems like just last month his mommy and daddy were picking him up from Russia! Time goes by soooooooooo fast.

Anyway, Saturday is his 3rd bday party at his house and we look forward to going and having some fun. Haley loves playing with him and I think this is his first actual birthday party were other kids were invited so we'll surely be there. She's so excited!

Here's his invite. Pretty dog-gone cute. Ok, that was lame. :)

Saturday Brad has a benefit fundraiser for Midland Children's Rehabilitation Center, where he's golfing with two other guys from work and Bill Engvall. Sounds fun huh? They golf that morning, so we're hoping he can join us to Liam's Birthday party, if not, It'll just be me, Maggie and the kids. Maggie has babysat Liam before when we've all gone out for like Halloween parties and stuff, and Liam does great with her, so Maggie is looking forward to it too. Then that night Brad and I are going to the "Bill's Comedy Concert VIP Party" for cocktails, h'dourves and to meet Bill. Then of course we also go tickets to the Comedy concert and we're up front on the second row. That will be exciting and fun to meet him too. I'm sure his stand-up act will be really funny. Can't wait. Then............... after that our friend Cindy is turning 30 and is having a 30th Birthday party at their new house, 80's style and you have to wear a costume. So we're excited about that. Let me re-phrase that. I AM excited about that. I love dressing up. But Brad? Not so much........... I just like it because we never get too. I have the perfect one. We keep all of our Halloween costumes, so I'll have to pull out my old Madonna "Rock star" costume, tease the hair and bring out the jellie bracelets! I need to go in smacking like a large wad of bubble gum and like twisting my hair and stuff. My costume has black gloves with the fingers cut out, so I need to paint my nails like hot pink and stuff.

HAHA, it's gonna be so much fun! All of us 30 year olds going back in time. How fun! I'll definitely post pictures.

It's gonna be "Like, so totally cool." HAHA

Stitches out and Hersheys, yummo!

2009-04-23T12:38:00.004-05:00

Today was the dreaded apt to have Haley's stitch taken out. I knew she'd be scared and cry, but she had to get it out. We also took Minnie with us that Mimi had sewn a stitch in to resemble Haley, but when we pulled up to the parking lot, Haley said "I took out Minnie's stitch, see?" So, so much for us taking her in to see if the Dr. would remove Minnie's stitch first, then move to Haley next. Here's Minnie with her stitch before Dr. Haley got a hold of her.

"Isn't that funny, when I saw that I just laughed. That was pretty clever."

So we started to walk in and Haley saw the door to the Dr.'s office, turned and grabbed my leg. Then the crying began. We went in and I signed her in. She sat by me and said "I don't want to get it out, I just wanna go home."
I tried to explain that the worse part was over and this wouldn't hurt at all, she would show them how brave she is. So we waited a little bit in the waiting area and started a game of "I spy with my little eye something.......... (name a color)." At least it distracted her until they called her name and we started going back to the room. Our first stop, to get her weight (37.2lbs) and she just had the saddest little tears in them. Then they took us to our room and Haley immediately started crying, hard........ Apparently this was the same room that she got the stitch in so it brought back scary memories. We waited another 5 mins or so and then I said "Let's take our picture, just us and then we'll finish our game of "I Spy." So here we are in the exam room.

Isn't she just beautiful?

The PA came in and told her that she was tough and brave the last time and this time it wouldn't hurt at all. And I guess at the last visit she got a Hershey's candy bar from him and he had promised her another one, so he said "remember that Chocolate I told you about?" Haley said "yeah, can I have some?" And he said "once we take the stitch out, yes you can." So it seemed to be going pretty well. He picked her up and laid her on the exam table. I moved over to hold her hand and watch. Then my cell phone rang. Haley said "mama, you're phone is ringing." I said "I know, but this is more important, I'll call them back."
She did really good. He was very gentle with her and kept saying how good she was doing. It was all over in about 5 mins and she said "Can I have my chocolate now?" He laughed and said "Sure thing, I'll go get it." Then I took this picture once the stitch was out. You can tell by her eyes she had been crying. But she was still brave and like showing off her lip without the stitch.

The Dr. brought her back a full sized Hershey's candy bar gave us her chart records, we walked out to the cashiers desk. While standing there Haley said "I don't want to come back here!" I said "Well, don't fall and bust your lip open and we won't have too." LOL

Then I heard the lady say "Oh, yal are finished." I didn't know what she meant. And heard a door open up behind us and Haley yelled out "Daddy!" So needless to say, it was him calling to see where we were and how it was going. He was headed to their Midland branch for work and wanted to see how her apt was going. So the cashier lady said it was no charge today and we left and went through the drive at Chick-fil-A to get Haley's ice cream cone I had promised her. Then just came home. I had my cousin Lindsey come to the house to sit with Zach while we went. If she couldn't have come to watch Zach, I guess I would have had to cancel Haley's apt. Not sure what I would have done, so luckily it all worked out great. She came before her college class. This whole lifting thing has been the only disadvantage. And in a life or death situation, I'd just lift them if I had too, but I'm trying to avoid it for these first initial weeks. I mean I'm only 6 days post-op, so still need to be careful.
Everyone has been a huge help. Brad has been cooking dinner and doing all of the "chores" that need done. I have been doing some laundry. I'll get it going, and carry 2-3 items at a time, or like with the towels, I laid one out, threw the rest on it and drug the one towel all the way to the washer. HAHA Hey, I might have looked stupid, but it worked.
This afternoon my friend Amy went home for lunch and so she called to see if I needed her. Actually I did. I had her come lay Zach in his crib for his nap, so we're good for now, until he wakes up. Hopefully he'll nap for a while. :) Then we'll either manage or he'll have a camp out in his crib. HAHA

FOLLOW UP APT #1

2009-04-22T22:15:00.000-05:00

I flew to Dallas yesterday morning for my 1 week follow-up. It all went very smoothly. Brad put Zach in his car seat for me, I loaded their bags with clothes for the day and snacks. Drove over to my grandparents house and they took the kids. George, BOSS- as Haley calls him, drove me out to the airport. It was the fastest check in you could do. No luggage, no carry ons or anything. Just me and my purse that I had to downsize a bit for weight purposes. The flight was great. Sheila picked me up and we headed to Cleburne for my apt. We got there 30 mins early and Kim, Dr. Hughes' wife and the office manager, said "you're a little early, he'll be here shortly." So we waited a little bit, maybe 5 mins, then she came back and said "Well, he just called and got a flat and is getting it fixed right now, he'll be here in about 45 mins, so if yal want to go to lunch first, then come back, that's fine." So Sheila and I looked at each other and were like "yeah, let's do lunch, we're hungry." So we went to a nearby Chili's that was within 10 mins from his office. We ate, and actually had something happen at lunch too, I ordered the Turkey Combo, which comes with half of a turkey sandwich and a side salad. So they brought out both and I saw Sheila reach over to my salad. I thought she just wanted some of my salad or something, then pulled this huge piece of plastic out of my bowl. We were grossed out and then laughed because we couldn't tell what kind of plastic it was. I thought at first it was part of a plastic glove, but then it had holes in it. ?? So our waiter came over and I was like "this was in my salad." So he tried to explain that they have plastic sleeves of some sort that separate their vegetables and they must have grabbed it by mistake. So anyway, I got a new salad and the rest of our lunch was fine.

We headed back to the Dr.s office and Kim took us right back. I put on the robe top and Kim came in and removed the tape and cleaned around the incisions with alcohol. I laid there for a little bit to "air-dry" and then she placed new incision tape. My stitches are dis solvable, but I have to stay taped up for 4 weeks. So she sent me home with more tape to change out. The Dr. finally came in and apologized for being late and explained about his tire and all of that, which is fine, things happen. He looked at my progress and said that I was doing very well. He said they're shaping up nicely and that there won't be a lot of sloughing around the incision areas. Which is good news. Also, my bruising is minimal, even with the lift. He said there are 18 stages of bruising and that I have passed many stages already, so that's good news. Now, I just keep doing what I'm doing and keeping the incisions as clean as possible and I go back for my 6wk check up between May 15th and June 1st. Then I will have 1 more apt, my 3 month check up around July 17th, so I'll have to see when my nephew's bday party will be planned and I'll schedule my apt around that. Don't want to miss his 10th bday!

So again, thank you George for being my taxi out to the airport. For GanGan for watching the kiddos while I went, to Sheila for being my taxi to and from my apt and to Boss again for picking me up. I appreciate it. Thanks to everyone that has called and checked on me, came by to see me and that has volunteered to help me out it shows me your true concern. And to Sandy for calling Monday night to offer to cook dinner and bring it over for us. Brad ended up cooking, but she still came to eat with us. I do pretty good during the day with pain and etc, but right around 4-5pm. It hits. I start feeling kind of sluggish and just want a nap. So Brad usually gets home, I take my pill and go take a nap for an hour or so, then he wakes me up when dinner is ready. How sweet is that? I feel like the queen, being waited on. I could get used to this. But seriously. It means a lot to me to have people that care about me the way all of you have shown. Especially during this time while I'm down and taking it easy, it shows you who your true friends are that's for sure. I owe you all!!!

So Thanks!