Gather at the River

Neglect

2009-11-18T15:11:00.003-06:00

I have seriously neglected this blog. Sometimes life just gets a little too busy. Well, the last few days I have really been trying to catch up on my blog reading. I will try to post some more blog posts soon!

Things to look forward to:
Life as an Allergy Mom
-and-
My New Cooking Adventure

See you soon!

Hiking and Geocaching

2009-01-24T11:15:00.014-06:00

On Monday, we had the day off. So, we decided to go hiking and geocaching. If you don't know what geocaching is, it is what I like to call "hide and seek for big kids." You have to have a GPS unit to do it. You go online, find coordinates for different "caches" to find, and then use your GPS unit to find them. Sometimes they are hidden around cities in very obvious places, but you wouldn't know they were there unless you were looking for them. They often are like little treasure boxes with prizes for the kids to trade out in them. You take something to leave in the box, and then you get to pick something out of it and sign the log book in the cache that you found it. Kaylee is really good at finding the caches. It is fun and we have done it all around the country. We did several caches on our trip last summer. Anyway, Nathan had heard of a cache that was not too far from us on a trail owned by the Army Corp of Engineers. It is called Sam Bass lookout. It is up high on a hill where the bank robber Sam Bass used to hide out because you could see so much of the area. It was about a 3 mile hike round trip, but the kids enjoyed seeing all of the fun things. It is also a free family outing! We packed a picnic and ate our lunch at the top of the hiking trail before heading back down. It was a nice little workout and a fun family outing!!

Nathan and Kaylee at the beginning of the hike.

Here we go! Nolan alternated between walking and being held. He kept getting distracted and wanted to play with the sticks and dirt (such a boy!), so we would have to pick him up and carry him for awhile. I really want to invest in a backpack carrier for these little outings. I think he would like that. He is only 23 pounds and most of them work for children up to 50 pounds. I think we could still get a lot of use out of a used one!

Nolan stopped to throw some dirt. Kaylee had to check out something, too!

Big sister was good at dragging him along at times.

Family picnic at the top of the hill.

Yummy! Almond butter sandwiches, carrots, grape tomatoes, trail mix, and water! And, Nolan had his trail mix, carrots, and allergen free granola bar.

We found it!
After eating, Kaylee and Daddy searched for the cache. We were actually sitting about 10 feet from it! It was hidden under a big rock ledge. Of course, Daddy had to poke around it with a stick first before sticking his under there to make sure there were no snakes or creepy crawlies!

Kaylee took a little yellow plastic dolphin and Nolan took a Hot Wheels car (go figure)! What a fun day!!

American Girl Boutique and Bistro

2009-01-19T10:42:00.011-06:00

I was waiting for my mom to make her blog post first, but, since I have today off, I decided I better do this post while I have time. Make sure to check out her blog soon. She might have some different pics!

Nikki's hair was such a mess. I was really afraid that they would not be able to fix it.

Kaylee was watching the hairdresser's every move.

I couldn't believe how good Nikki's hair was looking!

Then, it was off to lunch at the Bistro! Kaylee was so excited that Nikki had her own menu and that we got to keep the star cookie cutter napkin rings!

Kaylee in front of the Bistro

My lunch. Yummy. A salad and a grilled veggie panini.

Kaylee and I at lunch.

Kaylee doing some "shopping" after lunch. Granna told her she could pick out one outfit and that is a hard choice!

More shopping and admiring.

So, Kaylee picked a little out of season outfit for Nikki. She picked Julie's swimsuit, sunglasses, towel, and athletic outfit. It is cute, though!

p.s. Please ignore the random underlining to make a link on some of the words above. Sometimes blogger and I just do not see eye to eye!!

Tagged: 8 Things

2009-01-12T18:55:00.004-06:00

My friend Jennifer tagged my before Christmas and I am finally getting around to posting!

8 things I did today:

1. Cleaned the ink off of Nikki, Kaylee's American Girl doll's face. Nolan gave her a few "tatttoos," and after trying alcohol, hairspray, baking soda and water, nail polish remover, and Magic Eraser, I was about to give up. I surfed the web and found a solution. Clearasil! You put Clearasil on the ink, put it in sunlight for a day, wipe-off the dried Clearasil, and then it has vanished!!

2. Had 6 cups of coffee (It was a Monday, after all!)

3. Read a cool article about the Vlingo app for Blackberry.

4. Ate my oatmeal for breakfast and took my Vemma!

5. Listened to Steve Novielo on Mix 102.9 on the way to work talk about organizing your finances.

6. Yelled at my class.

7. Checked my email/Facebook

8. Worked on this post!!

8 favorite restaurants:

1. Olive Garden

2. Cristina's

3. Pappas Bros. Steakhouse

4. Taco Bueno (Nathan won't eat it. It is my guilty pleasure!)

5. Perini's Steakhouse

6. La Madeline

7. Vince's

8. Chick-fil-A

8 shows I watch:

1. Greys Anatomy

2. Desperate Housewives

3. Days of our Lives

4. Oprah

5. CSI (all 3)

6. The Biggest Loser

7. Big Brother (when it is on)

8. The Hills

8 Things I wish for:

1. Nolan to gain weight

2. Nolan to outgrow his food allergies

3. Healthy kids

4. My children to grow up successful and marry Christians

5. To get an AP job next year

6. Enough $ to pay off student loans and debt

7. Run a 5K without walking

8. To someday earn a doctorate degree (I know, I know . . . I think I could be a lifelong student.)

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Christmas this year in Alaska

2. Summer break!!

3. Alone time

4. Not having to buy Alimentum for Nolan anymore

5. Working out

6. Church Ladies' Retreat

7. Lake Nacimiento this summer

8. Kaylee's dance recital

I tag anyone who is reading this and has not done this post yet! And, I know who my four readers are! Haha!

We've been busy . . . but it is slowing down now!

2008-12-22T21:02:00.007-06:00

Things have been very busy around here. We are now on a 2 week break from school and I can feel much of the stress being lifted off of my shoulders. Here is a little bit of what we have been up to. In no particular order . . .

In November, Nathan's parents came for Thanksgiving. It was interesting considering my oven had gone out and we had no oven for Thanksgiving. I managed to make a ham in a roaster oven, dressing in the crockpot (thanks to the crockpot lady!), buy some pies, and everything else was done on the stovetop. We did get a new oven the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, though.

Here is a picture of Kaylee and her Nana baking Nana's famous chocolate chip cookies. They are huge!

The first weekend in December, Santa made is annual visit on the fire truck. Nolan was more excited that there was a fire truck in front of our house than the fact that Santa was here. Santa brought him a candy cane, and here is the aftermath . . .

(Yuck . . . I can't stand being sticky. Just looking at the pictures makes my skin crawl.)

Santa and the kids

Santa talking to Nolan

Kaylee likes to "read" before bed after we read to her. I went downstairs to finish up the laundry and when I came back upstairs, this is how she was sleeping. She fell asleep while reading the book. She was out. We were able to safely remove the book without her waking up.

And finally, December 12 I finished my graduate degree and received my M.Ed. in Leadership of Learning. After two and a half years, and and a really patient husband, I am thrilled to be done.

Here is a picture of the majority of the Leadership of Learning students. There were 36 of the 39 of us at graduation. Nathan was trying to take a picture over the crowd. I feel like I know these people all very well, even though we live in all different parts of the state. One of our graduates actually finished her degree in Germany.

And, the big moment . . .

(Mom has some better pictures of me getting hooded. Nathan was trying to wrangle kids at the time. I will have to share those later.)

Thanks for stopping by to share some of our memories!

It's the Most Magical Time of the Year

2008-11-30T18:11:00.005-06:00

It is that time of year again. One of my favorite things about this time of year is getting out my Christmas Village. My mom gets me a piece from the Dept. 56 Snow Village every year. This year, I had so many things that I had to get Nathan cut me out a large piece of wood to put it all on. Nolan is obsessed with it. He wants us to hold him up all the time so that he can look at it. He really likes the carousel and watching the horses go around. It also plays Christmas music.

Village with the lights on

Close up of some of the village

The village with the living room lights off

We went with Nathan's parents to the Ice exhibit at a local upscale hotel. It is really fascinating. Everything is made out of ice and they keep it at 9 degrees. Some of the ice is colored. They give everyone a blue parka as you go through the winter wonderland.

The family. We really wanted the picture-taking to go fast because it was so cold.

We were looking through the windows of a gingerbread house made of ice.

At the entrance.

7 Random Things About Me

2008-10-31T19:57:00.000-06:00

My friend, Laura, tagged me and I am just now getting around to doing this. So, here I go . . .

1. I am TERRIFIED of snakes. This is not just a little fear, but a debilitating fear. My husband thinks I need counseling for this. I cannot even watch snakes on TV. The thought of a snake makes my heart race. I do not go into the reptile house at zoos. At the San Diego Zoo, I waited patiently outside in the heat as Nathan and Kaylee strolled through the air conditioned reptile house. We have found snakes in our pool, so I make Nathan do a complete walk around of the pool and clean out the skimmers before I will get in.

2. I secretly want to be a great runner. I guess that is not so much a secret now! I am not an athletic person. I never have been. However, in May 2007, I was introduced to coolrunning.com and their Couch to 5K running program. This program is designed to take even a couch potato and teach them to run a 5K in 9 weeks. Now, I am still not running the full 5K. I have to walk some. But, I am doing much better than I ever thought I could. I need some assistance, though. There is beginning runners class starting again in January and I think I will ask for that for Christmas. It is only $90 and you do group runs, they teach you the basics, and you train for a 5K. Then, when you finish that class, you can move onto training for longer distances.

3. In December, I will complete one of my life goals. I will be graduating with my Master’s Degree in Administration with a 4.0. I am really excited about the possibility of becoming an assistant principal. However, I know I must be patient because there are limited job opportunities for these positions.

4. I can hear tones that most human beings cannot hear. I can hear dog whistles. Seriously. I used to think everyone could. I can also hear the little machines people plug in to keep mice and rodents away that emit the high-pitched sound. And, the mosquito cell phone ring that people over 30 are not supposed to hear. Yep, my students can’t pull that one on me. It drives me crazy. I caught someone with it this week. The great thing is, it makes my students think that I am under 30. They can think that all they want.

5. I played the flute in middle school and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t want to be a “band nerd” in high school, so I gave it up. I REALLY wish I had a flute and could still play. It is relaxing to me.

6. I really want a third child, but fear I will have twins. Twins run in both of our families. My friend, Pam, had twins the third time around. I am not sure I could handle four kiddos!

7. I am also scared of birds. I have been “deposited” on several times by birds. Even at the San Diego Zoo. I have also been attacked by a few birds. Too many stories, but they tend to go crazy around me.

I tag Mom, Kellie, and Mandy.

It's been awhile . . .

2008-10-05T16:16:00.005-06:00

There has been so much going on with the start of school, Kaylee's birthday, and many other activities. Here are a few things we have been up to . . .

(in no particular order!)

Mommy and Kaylee before the LCS ice cream social

This is what happens when you have a big sister . . .

Do you see the scowl on his face? This is his new favorite look. Take something away from him, and you get this look. Say "No!," and you get this look. Put him in a dress, and you get this look!

"I may be humiliated, but I can still ham it up for the camera!" We took him to get his haircut yesterday in Abilene. I told her just to trim it up a bit. And, she kept cutting, and kept cutting. I kept saying, "I think that is enough." And she kept going! It is really short, but I think it makes him look older!

Kaylee had been begging Nathan for a swing for a long time. He finally got around to building the kids ones. We still have to buy a couple more swings for it, but here they are checking it out the first night.

Don't mess with a man and his remote!

Just hanging out. Trying to act like Daddy!

Kaylee's first day of school.

Kaylee's fifth birthday. Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!

We love you!

Dancin' Queen

2008-08-19T20:19:00.004-06:00

Kaylee started dance class today. She is doing a combination tap and ballet class. I have a feeling this is totally going to be her thing. She loves to dance. Nathan's hopes of her being the next Mia Hamm dwindled when she started dancing on the soccer field last year. However, during dance class, she glowed. I hope she continues to enjoy it. Now, if we can just work on her listening skills!!

Fun with Friends

2008-08-15T10:09:00.003-06:00

I had a great time last night with my friends from college. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then went bowling. It had been like 10 years since I went bowling (other than playing on the Wii). It was not a pretty sight. The gutter is my friend. Please check out my friend Jennifer's blog for some great pictures of last night and college. I love these girls and had so much fun!!

Allergy Update

2008-08-05T20:10:00.003-06:00

Nolan tested negative for Celiac disease. Yea!! However, the doctor referred us to an allergist today at Dallas Medical City. We were lucky enough to get in today. Quick synopsis: We spent about 3 hours at Dr. W's office. It was very educational. They first did a complete history and interview. Then, the doctor examined him and looked over his latex reaction. After examining him, he said, "I am going to have one of my team members take the kids into another room to play because we have a lot to talk about." My heart sank. I began the worrying process. He started by educating us on all allergies. Then, he discussed what his concerns were for Nolan. We were told what to avoid and that we would become very acquainted with Whole Foods. He had one of his educators come in and teach us several things such as: asthma signs to look for, allergy signs to look for, how to use the EpiPen we were given along with a DVD to take home, and 5 yellow credit cards that list all the ingredients he cannot have. There is a card for milk, wheat, soy, peanut, and egg. Each card has about 20-30 items to avoid on it. We were also given instructions on how to bathe him and treat his eczema. We were given three prescriptions and told to avoid all of these foods for a month. Then, we will go back and meet with him. We may be able to begin re-introducing some of the foods (wheat, egg). However, milk will not be re-introduced until he is at least 4 and that will be a Food Challenge in the office. He will be closely monitored by medical professionals as spends several hours taking sips of milk every few hours. Anyway, there is a TON more information, but my brain is overloaded right now. I promised an update, so I just wanted to give everyone a quick rundown. I tried to go to Sprouts tonight and had a bit of a mini-meltdown as I picked up every label to read. Almost everything I picked up had something on one of the yellow cards. We may live on fruits and veggies around here for awhile. Thank goodness Nolan loves fruit and he is getting most of his nutrients from Alimentum right now. Thank you for all of your support during this new era in our lives!!

Allergies are no fun!

2008-08-04T08:27:00.003-06:00

Please say a little prayer for Nolan. We are waiting on some test results for him. We went to the doctor last week and she sent us to get bloodwork done to determine what all he is allergic to. Well, to start off with, we know he is allergic to latex now. He had a reaction to the latex gloves they used when drawing the blood. He has all of these sores all over his arms. You can see where the nurse's fingertips were touching him. They look like little burns on his arm. Then, he had scraped his knee last week and I put a band-aid on him. What started out as a sore the size of a pencil eraser turned into a sore bigger than a quarter and you could see where the band-aid was stuck to him. The band-aid had latex in it. So, now we have to find latex-free band-aids. We got some results on Friday. Nolan is mildly allergic to egg whites, he is never to let a peanut touch him, and allergic to wheat, corn, and soy. Those last three things are in every label you pick up!! I am having a hard time finding snacks for this boy! We should get the rest of the results today or tomorrow and then discuss more of this with the doctor. They are testing him for Celiac Disease. I can live with food allergies, but if it is Celiac disease, which is basically a gluten allergy, that is something he can never outgrow. And, the whole family will have to change our diet to avoid cross-contamination. At least he is a very happy little boy! So, please say a little prayer for us. I will keep everyone updated when we find out.

I like . . .

2008-07-30T06:25:00.003-06:00

Dr. Pepper not Pepsi

Fox News not CNN

the Angels not the Yankees

Mac not PC

Dogs not cats

Letterman not Leno (Nathan likes Leno. This means there is a lot of channeling flipping around 10:35!)

Sean Hannity more than Rush Limbaugh

Hot dogs not hamburgers (unless it is In N Out burgers)

CSI not Law and Order

Baseball not basketball

Nike not Addidas

Lounging by the pool not swimming

Grey's Anatomy not ER

Facebook more than myspace

Taco Bueno not Taco Bell

Hannah Montana not Sponge Bob

Chicken not fish

Wii Fit not PS2

Running on the treadmill not outside

Saturdays not Mondays

Target not Wal-Mart

RV camping not tent camping

I like Mom's chocolate pie, the beach, family dinners, Nathan's work ethic, Nolan's laugh, Kaylee's smile, finishing homework, watching a child finally "get it," Days of Our Lives, American Girl, finding a good deal, wine, Costco, Gymboree, Ann Taylor Loft, Sprouts, teaching, coffee, warm brownies, bare minerals makeup, traveling, time with girl friends, and cooking.

Fun at the Beach

2008-07-11T21:37:00.011-06:00

We have been enjoying time in the central California beach town of Cayucos. Nathan's aunt lives there and it has been a family tradition for their family to attend the 4th of July parade and festivities. Nathan's parents rent a beach house and we gladly join them for many fun family activitites. Here are just a few pictures from the week. I will try to post more later!!

Daddy's little surfer girl

Nathan and I at the parade

Kaylee posing in her wetsuit

Can you tell she really loved the wetsuit?

Nolan is thinking, "Sister, get off the Boogie board."

Future Lil' Surfer Man

Kaylee, Me, and Nathan geocaching on the beach

Nolan running to the water to see what Daddy is doing

Daddy and Kaylee going out to Boogie board

Kaylee and Tia Marlene checking out the seals from the pier

Wedding #2

2008-06-29T18:54:00.004-06:00

Kaylee was the flower girl for her Uncle Dustin's wedding. Here are some pictures from the beautiful wedding. It was an outside wedding and was just gorgeous. Then, there was dinner and dancing in the ballroom. Enjoy!

Kaylee

The back of Kaylee's dress

The "boys"

Kaylee and Ely

Kaylee and Nolan walking after the wedding

Dustin and his niece and nephews

Nolan dancing with Kelly during the dollar dance

Kaylee and Nana dancing

"Mom, my feet hurt! I'm taking off my shoes!"

Nathan dancing with his Mom. This is a rare occurrence to see Nathan dancing, so I had to get a picture!

The grandkids

2008-06-29T18:51:00.003-06:00

For my mother-in-law's birthday, Mandy and I took all of the kids to get the pictures made together. We thought it was going to be a fiasco to get all four kids to smile and participate, but they did amazingly well. Here are the four grandkids . . .

Wedding #1

2008-06-23T17:45:00.010-06:00

Kaylee was the flower girl for Nathan's cousin's wedding. I don't have time to write much now, but here are a few pictures. I will write more later!

Kaylee's hair for the wedding

Can you tell how proud she is of her dress?

Daddy and a tired Kaylee. She danced until about 10:00p.m.

Isn't she beautiful?

Kaylee and her cousin, Ely. She is the flowergirl for her Uncle Dustin this weekend and Ely is the ringbearer. Kaylee keeps telling everyone that she is the flowergirl and Ely is going to be the "dingleberry." I have no idea where she picked that up!

Smurf Girl and Daredevil Boy

2008-05-31T19:28:00.005-06:00

Kaylee and Nathan had a Daddy and Daughter day on her last day of preschool. As they were driving home, he thought she seemed really quiet. He looked back to see her coloring herself with a blue marker. It was everywhere! He was less than thrilled to take her home and try to get all of the marker off!

Nolan is my climber. I know he is trying to scare me to death. Today, I was able to catch some shots of him climbing to his favorite climbing place in the playroom. Seriously. I know my hair is getting more grey everyday!

These are a little out of order and some of them are not too clear because I was trying to hurry and take the pics to catch Nolan in action.

Here he is after climbing over the couch.

Kaylee needed to get in on the picture action.

Smurf girl

Here is the first picture I caught of him climbing up the couch. He is on the arm of it here.

And, on the back of the couch. "Oh man, she sees me. She is going to make me get down!"

"I'll just hurry and take a little peak to see if I can see Daddy mowing out there."

"Hmm . . . maybe I should just balance and walk all the way across the back of the couch."

On a different note, I am so ready for school to be out!!

We do not get out until June 5 this year and the students are

beginning to lose their minds.

And so are the teachers!! ;-)

My Little Man

2008-04-26T19:27:00.003-06:00

Nolan is now 13 months old and he is a handful! He is a little climber who is sure to give me a heart attack. I find him standing on top of chairs and the back of the couch leaning against the window! And he is so proud of himself. He jabbers all the time, I just don't know much of what he is saying. Right now, he says, "Taint ew," for "Thank you." "Daddy, Momma, Kay-ee, Ball, and I uv ew," are his favorite things to say. He is a charmer!!

Home Away from Home

2008-04-14T09:02:00.003-06:00

In January, we bought a new travel trailer. We are very excited to start using it. We have only been on one trip so far. We met my parents and Papaw in Fredericksburg one weekend. That was so much fun. The kids loved it. We plan on using it quite a bit this summer with a trip to Idaho and California planned. The best part is that we can save money by stopping at roadside parks and getting in the trailer to make a sandwich or go to the restroom. The worst part, however, will be the gas prices! It cost a whole lot just to go to Fredericksburg. It will not be in our possession for about the next 3 to 4 weeks because it will be getting fixed due to the lovely hail storm that came through here. So, after only one trip, it has to go visit the doctor!

The full 26 foot trailer

The kitchen area

Couch, dining table. You can see our "bedroom" behind the couch.

Refrigerator, door to bathroom

The kid's bunkbeds. Kaylee is really excited about these.

Nana

2008-03-26T19:42:00.003-06:00

My Nana passed away last Friday, March 14, 2008. She was truly an amazing woman. I shared a lot of special memories with her. She and I were even in the same social club at ACU. I just pledged 48 years after she did! Below are some pictures of her and the speech I delivered at her funeral.

Nana and Papaw's wedding picture

Nana and Papaw this past June after Papaw's chemo

Nana and Nolan

My words cannot do justice to what a truly amazing woman my Nana, Lorah Dean Richey was. We are all grieving the loss of a remarkable Christian lady. She was a grandmother, mother, wife, sister, and friend to all of us. I am sure each of you here today could share a special way she touched your life. When I was considering what to say today, one theme stayed constant. She was the most selfless, generous woman I have ever known. She always put everyone else first. Today, I’d like to share some examples.
First of all, Nana was a great cook. I don’t mean just a good cook. It was fantastic. I remember many holidays awaiting the beautifully presented dinner. Her carrots were the best. No offense, Mom, but you still haven’t perfected them. Even though she says she has given us the recipe, no one else can get quite the same taste. It must have been her special love for her family that she poured into that recipe. Throughout all of the holiday meals, there was always one assurance. Nana would always be the last one still eating! We were always waiting for Nana to finish eating. But, I know why she was always last. She loved to listen to everyone’s stories. And she was the best listener. She would put her fork down and for that moment, all of her attention was on you, while she slowly sipped her coffee, of course. Nana loved her coffee. I am not sure I ever saw her eat a meal without drinking coffee. When everyone started to leave the table, she would finish her meal and then start the hard work of cleaning.
As Nana would finish cleaning the dishes after a meal, we would all start setting up a game at the dining room table, usually Boggle. To this day, I am not sure I have EVER beat Nana or Papaw at Boggle. With their 2 large, well-worn dictionaries setting on the table, they were ready to protest any word they had never heard of. Papaw would try to sneak a few “new” words in there and I can hear Nana saying, “Oh, Doyle. That is not a word. Look it up!” She loved games. She was so patient with her grandchildren when teaching us new games. She and Papaw would do the Daily Jumble in the newspaper everyday. There was always friendly, loving competition going on with them. And, oh, how she adored Papaw! What a fabulous example of true love. I use to love to watch them on the couch. Papaw laying one direction and Nana’s head on the other end of the couch as they rubbed each other’s feet. (And if you ever saw Nana’s feet, Papaw must have really loved her!) Or watching her rub Papaw’s head. Mom even saw her do this just last week. And Nana gave the best backrubs. It is truly a miracle that her hand did not fall off with how many backrubs she gave Kelly and I. And they were long! She would lay between us and rub my back and tickle Kelly’s back (we were picky grandchildren, but she never complained.) Just when she thought we were asleep, she would try to sneak out of the bed and we’d say in whiny little voices, “Nana, I’m not asleep yet!” And she’d come back and rub our backs for probably another 30 minutes. What an incredible grandmother!
Another example of her unselfish spirit was that she would take her grandkids to swim at the country club all afternoon. She would sit in the hot sun for hours as we would request, “just 30 more minutes!” You see, Nana didn’t swim. Not because she was afraid of messing up her hair -- she couldn’t swim.
But, she could paint. She was an amazing artist. Although her paintings were never finished in her eyes. And she could always see something else that needed to be done. Kelly and Sara, you did get this talent from her. But there are a lot of other, not so wonderful traits we would tease her for giving us. Every ailment we have in the family seems to come from Nana. David’s diabetes, my broken tailbone, Mom’s low blood pressure, ALL our bad feet. She was good natured with all our ribbing. Sometimes she would even join in, saying, “Well, they didn’t get that one from me!”
And I wish I had Nana’s singing talent. I loved to sit next to her at church and listen to her sing as she praised the Lord. She used her voice to glorify Him. She was an example to all of us. She showed us what a Christian wife and mother looked like. She led by example, and she was a wonderful teacher.
She taught in Comanche for 21 years. And she taught her children and grandchildren daily. She would read to us every night when we stayed with them. She even encouraged a reluctant Brandon to read. There were always people coming up to her in the store saying, “Hi, Mrs. Richey.” When we asked her who they were, she’d say, “Oh, I taught them many years ago.” And she probably attended their sporting events. Nana loved to watch sports. Any sport. Figure skating. Baseball. Golf. She spent a lot of time in the stands cheering on James and David. I believe the Texas Rangers and Dallas Mavericks may have just lost their biggest fan. Nana would stay up to watch the last innings of the Rangers games.
She didn’t just watch sports, she attempted to play golf. She wanted to spend time with Papaw and have a little friendly competition, so she took up golf. She just couldn’t keep up with Papaw. You see, Papaw’s a little impatient. She got used to just hurrying up to keep up with him. Once, when she was trying to teach Kelly and I how to play, she was so used to just jumping in the cart and taking off, that she took off while I was attempting to put my golf club back in the bag. With my club half way in, I chased after the cart while Kelly just turned around and laughed at me. She finally told Nana to stop. Even with her being 70 years old, I could not keep up with her on the golf course.
Whether she was sending someone a birthday card, cooking for a family at church, rubbing someone’s back, or just giving you that reassuring smile, you knew she was doing it with love in her heart.
We will most miss her generous spirit. Her smile. Her calm voice. Her soft hands. And her huge heart. We love you, Nana.

Snow!

2008-03-07T18:15:00.003-06:00

We had some beautiful snow, but no time off school! Kaylee and Nathan managed to play in it last night, though. Nathan stuck a ruler in and we had 7 inches!

Nolan's Birthday

2008-03-06T20:45:00.004-06:00

It is so hard for me to believe that my baby turned 1 last weekend! He is my sweet little snuggle bug. I love that he will snuggle up next to me and burrow in. My older child just was not a snuggly baby. Nolan is such a good boy! Here are a few pics from his birthday.

Ohh, a cake!

Maybe just a little taste.

That was pretty yummy! Here's my "Train Conductor" Fun to be One hat!

"Mom, are you sure I can have this? It tastes too good to be some of my food!"

"Mom, look at my hand. It has some of this great, sweet stuff on it!"

Kaylee's airport

2008-02-16T13:47:00.004-06:00

Kaylee's class has been studying building and transportation. I guess Kaylee has been to a few airports. She decided to build an airport and her teacher labeled what Kaylee told her everything is. I am glad that Kaylee has a teacher that lets her express her creative side.

Kaylee and her creation

Notice the Starbucks lid: Kaylee informed me that this where you go to get coffee. How sad is it that my child recognizes the Starbucks logo!

The red cup is the control tower.

I knew I had to take pictures because the creation won't last for long! Some of the pieces have already disappeared. Hmmm . . .

Ladies Retreat

2008-02-03T21:42:00.000-06:00

My church ladies retreat was this weekend at Sky Ranch. We stayed up way too late each night, but we had a blast. I conquered a fear of heights and did the zip line this year. We decided not to go to shopping this year, but to stay and do activities at the camp. My group of gals did the zip lines and went on a cattle drive. Stepping off the platform was extremely hard for me. I was shaking and REALLY wanted to back out. I was having a very hard time breathing and began to get light headed. But, I decided it would be much harder to turn around than just continue, so I did it! You will see the fear in my face!

Yes, blogger is still giving me fits when I try to rotate pictures the right way. So, once again, turn your head to the left as you view the non-rotated pics! Once I get pics of the cattle drive, I will post those and share my thoughts from it!

The tower was really shaking, which made it even harder to stand up there in anticipation!

I am second from the left. That is Rachel on the far left, then me, Laurie, and Shannon.

I'm in the far left in this pic right after we stepped off.

Yep, that is an embarrassing pic. I feel like Gayle from the Oprah show where they did a similar thing. Oprah loves to make fun of her for that.

Here we are hanging and waiting for them to help us down. I was still shaking. I could barely walk afterwards because I was shaking so much!

It was a great trip of renewal. I loved hanging with my girls and giggling until after 2:00 each morning. What a wonderful way to spend a weekend!! Love you girls!!

WARNING! Extreme Makeover: Kaylee Edition

2008-01-21T20:42:00.000-06:00

So, when your 4 year-old daughter comes to you while you are busy taking down Christmas decorations and says, "Mommy, Daddy wants to know where the scissors are." DO NOT trust her! Come to your senses! Know that Daddy knows where the scissors are. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT reply, "Tell him they are on the top shelf in the kitchen cabinet," and then go back to wrapping ornaments.

Here is some of the damage.

Yep, that is a Target bag full of hair. Good thing she has a lot of hair and it is curly. They were able to fix it by only cutting off about 6 inches. And the parts that were shorter really blended in the curly hair.

I will post pics of her new haircut soon. I am having a hard time figuring out how to rotate the pics on blogger with my new camera. I never had a problem with the old camera, but I can't seem to rotate anymore. So, I will work on that and post more pics later.

Christmas in Cali

2008-01-03T16:04:00.000-06:00

My little man

The fam

Temper tantrum in response to, "K, it's time to go."

Nolan and Grandpa

Kaylee picking an avocado with Grandpa

My sweet boy

Isn't he precious?

"OH, Mom, I am so tired of pictures!"

Little elf

Christmas cuties

K and I have matching p.j.'s (Uncle B and aunt Kellie got K hers for Christmas and I went and bought the Mommy version!)

Checking out what Santa brought

K loves her Nikki American Girl doll!

More pics to come! You can tell I was having fun learning to use my new camera!

Merry Christmas and Monster Cookies

2007-12-23T16:02:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas to your family!!

Thursday night Nathan and I got to go to our faculty Christmas party. It was nice to have a babysitter and a night out.

Blogger really dislikes me right now. I have been trying for quite some time to rotate the above picture. It just doesn't want to rotate. Even though it is showing up on my photo software vertically. So, just turn your head to the left and pretend this photo is showing up in a vertical way!!

Kaylee and I baking some delicious Paula Deen Monster Christmas cookies!

Putting the Monster Cookies in the oven.

Cookies galore! The recipe says that it makes about 6 dozen, but they would have to be huge cookies to make that many. It made more like 10 dozen. We had cookies coming out of our ears, but they were really yummy!!

Paula Deen Monster Cookies

6 eggs
One 1 pound package light brown sugar (2 1/2 cups, packed)
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
One 24-ounce jar of creamy peanut butter
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
8 ounces of M&M's (we like the red and green Christmas ones for this time of year!)
8 ounces chocolate chips
4 teaspoons baking soda
9 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a very large mixing bowl (I had to half the recipe and do it in two bowls!), combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the M&M's, chocolate chips, baking soda, and oatmeal.
3. Drop by tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.

ENJOY!!

12 Christmas Things

2007-12-20T15:47:00.000-06:00

Okay, I am finally getting around to doing this!

Stacey has tagged me for this fun idea wherein I have to share 12 random things about myself that are Christmas related. Here are the rules:

1. List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas
2. Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word
3. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere.
4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible.

12 Random Christmas Things About Jennifer:

1. I went through a phase in high school and college where I just despised Christmas. I was quite the Scrooge. The music and hustle and bustle just annoyed me. But, that's changed now!

2. I pretended to believe in S a lot longer than I really did. I knew the truth (because I was smart that way ;-) ), but I didn't want to disappoint my Mom. She lives for Christmas. Sorry, Mom!

3. I used to love to help my Grandma make Christmas cookies. They were always the same sugar cookies with icing and multi-colored balls on them. I try to keep up the tradition whenever I can.

4. Stockings are my favorite part of Christmas! We always had the best stockings!

5. I would spend a lot more money on people for Christmas if I could. I love to buy gifts for people. I would probably spend the most on Mom. I always find lots of things she would like, so I really have to limit myself with her gifts.

6. I loved leaving cookies out for Santa and wearing Christmas pajamas. We have lots of pics with my brother and I in front of the tree in cute pjs.

7. I used to love to look at Christmas lights. Every year we would get bundled up and drive around town looking at lights. I think my Mom loved it and my Dad just drove. I am sure he would have much rather been at home!

8. I think my favorite gift was when I was 15 and I got contacts for Christmas. I was excited because I knew I was about to get my license and I did not want to wear glasses to drive. My mom took a piece of posterboard and drew a face on it. Then she took two clear bowls and glued them over the eyeballs. It was so funny!

9. We alternate every Christmas between my family and Nathan's. We already did Christmas with my family last weekend. I got some great gifts last weekend. New digital camera, Seiko clock that plays music every hour (Christmas music during season!), Electric pressure-cooker, stockpot (from B and Kellie), money . . .

10. I will really miss my Mom's Christmas dinner this year. I am so glad I got to have her dressing at Thanksgiving. And I got to share some Borden's eggnog out of a can with Dad this weekend (it's the only good eggnog!)

11. Nathan's family has done a Turducken for Christmas dinner the last few years. Hmmm . . . that's a whole different story!

12. Nathan's grandpa owned a Christmas tree farm that Nathan worked at for years, so he has a love/hate relationship with real trees. He is really sad we don't have a real tree, but he sometimes cringes when he sees them because he remembers all of the hardwork!

I tag Mom, Laura, Kellie, and Mandy!

Christmas Card pics

2007-12-20T09:48:00.001-06:00

Just in case anybody missed Mom's blog. Here is one of the pics we used on our Christmas card. Mom took pics for us over the Thanksgiving holidays. She did a great job!! Thanks, Mom!!

What we've been up to . . .

2007-12-09T20:23:00.001-06:00

Here are some things that have been going on in our life!

Nolan is now standing, and he does not want to sit down . . . at all!

He is into everything.

Who me?

N loves eating Zweiback toast.

The co-op kids eating pizza.

Yummy!

Popcorn and a movie.

Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus . . .

Every year our little volunteer fire department drives Santa around the neighborhood so the kids can come out and talk to him. He brings candy canes for the kids and we get to take pictures. Kaylee has started looking forward to Santa's visit to our street every year.

The kids telling Santa what they want for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!

Just for fun!

2007-12-06T10:01:00.000-06:00

We are currently doing a "cutest baby" contest among the teachers at school. So, I had Mom email me some pics of me as a baby. Please ignore all ugly shoes! Mom assures me that they were told during this time period that these shoes were so important in the development of feet, but now I wonder if these ugly shoes are the reason for my bad feet! I was inspired to post these after my friend, Stacey, posted pics of her hubby as a little boy. Enjoy! And notice how much my 9 month picture looks like Nolan, who turned 9 months on Sunday!

18 months

1 year

9 months

6 months

AND . . .HE'S OFF!

2007-11-18T17:48:00.000-06:00

Nolan is now crawling and he is into everything. I have discovered that we have way too many entrances into our family room. I feel like everytime I turn around I am dragging him back into the room. But, he is so much fun. He has quite the charming personality!

Here is Kaylee in the cheerleading uniform I had made for her for the football and baseball games. She wore it to the playoff game Thursday night so that she could look like the big cheerleaders. She can't wait to rub it in to her Granna that she got to stand on the big blue star in the middle of "Texas Stan-dee-um." In fact, she is sitting on the floor with her Daddy right now, eating popcorn and just saw the "big blue star" and said, "I stood on that!"

A rare picture of Kaylee being sweet to her brother. Aren't they sweet?

What I love right now . . .

2007-11-08T15:38:00.000-06:00

I decided I should share some of my favorite things right now . . .

Fuze

I drink one of these everyday. My favorite flavor is Cran Raspberry. And they only have 10-20 calories! Check out this website for more info.

Curly Girl

This is a great book if you have naturally curly hair. I learned about it if from another blog and ordered it. I have had so much fun learning to love my curly hair and learning to fix Kaylee's hair.

Lavender Oil

I found this wonderful lavendar company at Christmas Carousel when I was in Abilene. It is located near Abilene. I needed some lavender after reading the Curly Girl book and I have learned so many great things to do with lavender. It is now our "Night Night" juice and we put some on Kaylee's wrist each night to calm her down. It is one of the only essential oils you can apply directly to the skin. And it supposedly takes the sting out of mosquito bites with one drop on the bite!

Organic Disney Winnie the Pooh Animal Crackers

These are found at Costco in a huge container. We really love them. I first had them this summer when we were in Alaska at Mandy and Darren's house. Kaylee loves them. I couldn't find a pic of them, though.

These are a few of my favorite things . . .
(Make sure you sing the song when you read the above line!)
What do you love right now?

More pumpkin patch

2007-10-29T19:36:00.000-06:00

Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-29T18:58:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures from the Pumpkin Patch and a few other pictures. Blogger is not letting me post all that I want, so I will try to post those in another post.

This is how I found Nathan and the kids the other day. They were crashed.

Nolan as a penguin, More pics of this after Halloween!

New Pictures

2007-10-20T10:29:00.001-06:00

Okay, most of these pictures are not "new." They have been "stuck" in my camera for awhile now! And they are not in the order that I intended, but I don't have time to try and rearrange them. So, enjoy!

Bike from Granna and Grandpa for K's birthdady

Barbie from Uncle B and Aunt Kellie

Kaylee with gift from Luke and Anysa

Kaylee and her birthday cake

Kaylee thought Nolan needed a band-aid. Doesn't he seem excited?

Cupcakes that Kaylee took to school for her birthday. I am sure her teacher loved me after cleaning up all of that hot pink icing!

Nolan sitting up

Nolan sittting up, "I'm a big boy!"

Kaylee feeding Nolan

Nolan: "I'm ready to GO!!"

I've been tagged by Laura . . . My Man!

2007-10-17T19:59:00.000-06:00

My Hot Man!

1. Who is your man? Nathan

2. How long have you been married? 7 years

3. How long did you date? 2 years and 7 months

4. How old is your man? 33

5. Who eats more? Nathan, by far! He has an appetite that you would not believe. And he still stays slim. Grrrr!!!

6. Who said "I love you" first? I honestly don't remember.

7. Who is taller? Nathan

8. Who sings better? Not me! I'm really not sure either of us are great singers.

9. Who is smarter? I think Nathan would agree that I am. That makes me feel rather conceited, though.

10. Whose temper is worse? I think Nathan might win this won, but I am close behind.

11. Who does the laundry? We both do.

12. Who takes out the trash? Nathan

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Nathan.

14. Who pays the bills? I do. Nathan doesn't touch them. And that is a good thing!

15. Who is better on the computer? Nathan.

16. Who mows the lawn? Nathan

17. Who cooks dinner? I do, but Nathan will on rare occassions.

18. Who drives when you are together? Nathan does.

19. Who pays when you go out? Him

20. Who is more stubborn? It's a tie.

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I do.

22. Whose families do you see most? That's hard. I would say his even though mine is closer. We usually see his for long periods of time and mine for a day.

23. Who kissed who first? Nathan kissed me at my house on Bruce Way. Even asked me if he could kiss me first. What a gentleman! Although, I did give him a hard time for asking me!

24. Who asked who out first? I think he just asked me if I wanted to go to a party with him.

25. Who proposed? Nathan did.

26. Who is more sensitive? I am.

27. Who has more friends? I do, and Nathan would agree. He is not very good about keeping up with his friends.

28. Who has more siblings? He does. He has two brothers and I have one.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? Nathan, but we share most of the responsibilities.

30. Who is the biggest pushover with the kids? Hmm. That's hard. I would say Nathan.

I love you, Nathan! I am so blessed to have someone who is so helpful and keeps me balanced! He is a very hands-on Daddy!!

I tag . . . Stacey and Mandy!

I'm still here!

2007-10-04T12:52:00.000-06:00

Well, it appears that for the first time in 3 weeks I have a few moments to sit down and write a blog post. Unfortunately, since I have been so encompassed in school and work, I really do not have anything interesting to report. As busy as I am, I am loving most of my internship duties (not lunch duty or bus duty!). I cannot wait to become an Assistant Principal. In fact, now that I have had a touch of what is to come, it is very hard to continue teaching. I love my students, but I am really looking forward to a different position. I must be patient, though. I cannot begin applying until I graduate in December of 2008.

Nolan is now 7 months. He is loving sweet potatoes, bananas, applesauce, pears, and peaches. Luckily, the only problems he has had were with the squash (see cute pictures below) and carrots. He showed an allergy to the squash (supposed to be least allergenic!) and he just did not like the taste of the carrots. I think he will be crawling very soon. He is trying to take off, but he is going backwards right now.

Kaylee is still loving school and her teacher. She gets so excited to go to school. She cracks me up! She tends to get things confused a lot. She keeps telling everyone that she is going the be the flower girl in her Uncle Dustin's wedding and that Ely is going to be the "dinglebear." She means "ringbearer." The other day she came home from school to report to me that "Garrett got his brains out today, so he wasn't at school." To which I replied, "WHAT!?!" She replied, "You know, Mom, he had to have his brains taken out." "Brains?" I asked. "Yep, you know, like when I had mine out," and she points to her open mouth. Hmmmmm . . . "Do you mean your adenoids?" "YES!!, that's what they are called!", she replies. I am very glad to report that no one in her class has had their brains out.

I hope to get to post again soon! I will try to check some blogs real quick!

Apology

2007-09-13T17:02:00.000-06:00

I just want to say, "I'm sorry," to all of my dear friends and family who read this blog. It may be awhile until I make posts, make comments on your blog, return phone calls . . . I am just swamped. And oh-so-tired. Between work, kids, grad school, internship, and the numerous other things I have volunteered myself for, I barely have time to sit and relax once I get home. I have not had a conference period in three days at work. I have not eaten lunch the last three days at work. I am actually feeling guilty right now that I am taking the time to make this post. My sweet daughter is turning 4 this weekend and I didn't even plan her a party. (Not that she knows the difference! She is just happy she got to take cupcakes to school today!)

I know this will all pass. I know that when I graduate in December 2008 I will be so happy. I will not know what to do with the time I will gain. But for now, I miss my family and friends . . . Thanks for letting me vent, and explain why I am not making comments or posts.

Starting Veggies!

2007-09-07T17:44:00.001-06:00

Nolan got to start veggies this week. We are starting with the least allergenic (squash) and working our way through the list towards the most allergenic. Let's hope there are no more food allergies! Here is his first experience with squash.

First bite of squash . . .

Well, maybe I will try more . . .

Mom, just let me have the spoon!

I wonder if my finger tastes as good . . .

I think I like it, but I am not sure . . .

I'm a messy eater just like my sister!

Maybe I should add the foot . . .

Yes!!! Feet + squash = great fun and a bath for me!!

First Day of School

2007-09-04T20:49:00.000-06:00

Kaylee started Preschool today. She was so excited. I am a little sad to say that she did not mind me leaving her. She was ready to go. And she was so proud of her new Princess lunchbox. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Kaylee

Kaylee and her teacher, Mrs. Hamilton

Kaylee at the kitchen area

Who needs a thumb when you have toes?

Nolan loves to suck his toes. He does it all the time. Here are some examples:

This morning on the way to Kaylee's first day of school, she said, "Mom, Nolan is sucking his toes back here. Please don't let him do that in my class. I would be so embarassed!" She is such a teenager!

Nolan thinking, "I want the camera!"

More Alaska pictures

2007-08-18T14:23:00.003-06:00

These are all pictures that Dustin took. They turned out great, so I just had to share. I got them pretty out of order, though.

Kaylee coloring

Nolan

Worthington Glacier

Kaylee

The family at the famous Double Musky Inn

Nathan and Dustin fishing

One of the fishing spots

Fish in Valdez

Nathan fishing

Kelly's fish

Nolan

Dustin and Nolan

Yes, that is a bear. That is how close it was to Nathan, Dustin, and Kelly fishing!

It's HOW hot in Texas?? Alaska trip 2007.

2007-08-16T18:37:00.000-06:00

We just returned from 2 weeks in Alaska. It was so nice and cool there. We could feel the heat as we exited the plane to Texas! I see many summers in Alaska in our future!!
Quick synopsis of our trip:
We started off the trip with Mandy and Ely picking us up at the airport. It was so good to see them. Ely has grown so much since last year. Later that evening we got to meet Kelly, Dustin's finace. She is wonderful. We are so excited for them. Dustin, Kelly, and Nathan left the next morning for a fishing trip. The next day Dustin, Kelly, Nathan, me and the kids went on a little trip to Valdez. It was a beautiful drive. It was much cooler there and we enjoyed some fun places. The boys and Kelly did some great fishing there. Sunday night we went to the famous Double Musky Inn for dinner for Nathan and Ely's birthdays. It was fabulous. The next day, I spent a day with the kids while Nathan and Darren went on a mega-hike. Nathan returned home with his sweatpants tied around a bloody hand. Lovely. After a $500.00 trip to a clinic he received 3 stitches. He would like to tell you that he was attacked by a bear, but he really just fell on a sharp rock. We had lots of fun during the week with hikes, shopping, and fishing. One day Nathan and I even hiked 5 miles round trip with all three kiddos to the resort. What were we thinking!?! Then we took a weekend trip to Mandy's parents house in Kenai. It was so fun and relaxing. Mandy was awesome and volunteered to watch all three kids so I could go out on the river fishing. It was so relaxing and great, even if we didn't catch anything. It was so fun to spend time with the family, We are so looking forward to Dustin and Kelly's wedding in June. Kaylee is going to be the flower girl and Ely the ringbearer. How exciting!

Kaylee and Me under part of the Alaska pipeline

Nathan fishing

Family at the bottom of Horsetail Falls

Kelly, Kaylee, and Nathan hiking up next to the falls

Nice.

And this is where they had the best fishing!

This is Worthington Glacier that we hiked to. It was really cold and hard with the kids, but so worth it! How many people can say they touched a glacier?

Nathan fishing

Mandy, Kaylee, and Ely on a hike

Kaylee and a bear

Ely and a bear

Nathan's hand after fall but before stitches. Lovely!!

Nathan with an Alaskan size dragonfly on his back

Dustin fishing (It is 11:00 at night in this picture! And yes, the sun is just starting to go down.)

Captain Darren driving the boat, and Kelly

Kaylee at the beach in ALASKA (it was so cold!)

Great trip!! I could give so many more details, but I am still too tired!!

Family Pics and Back from Alaska

2007-08-15T17:40:00.001-06:00

I will share pics and stories from Alaska later when my mind is working. We were flying all night last night. Even though the kids slept the whole time, I am exhausted. I just wanted to share some family pictures we took before leaving for Alaska. Enjoy!

Just wanted a new post!

2007-07-25T04:45:00.000-06:00

I am too tired to put much thought into this. I just really was sick of clicking on my blog and seeing the same post. So, as many of you know I am getting my Conflict Resolution Certification this week. I have been waking up at 4ish everyday this week and driving down south of DFW airport to sit in class from 8-5 each day. Then, I leave there and hope to make it home by 6:30. I am so thankful I don't have to drive far to work each day. I really don't know how people do it. I feel like it is so much time wasted. And yesterday I got the bright idea to wake up at 4 a.m. and go workout out at the gym and shower and get ready there before driving down. I thought this would give me more energy. No. I was zapped by 3:00. But, I will be doing this again tomorrow because I am just too tired to workout after I get home. But, on a brighter note, most of the things we are doing are interactive and I will be a credentialed mediator by Friday. So, anyone know anybody who needs some mediation? I found out yesterday this can be quite profitable. I am thinking of making extra money in the summers doing mediation. Nathan has had a fun time with the kids each day. (That statement was somewhat sarcastic!) He has done a good job, but Tornado Kaylee has hit the house and I am too tired to pick up in the evening. So, it will stay looking like this until Saturday! Oh well!!

Spit Happens

2007-07-14T10:14:00.000-06:00

The cutesy little "Spit Happens" bibs and shirts annoy me. But now, I have a whole new appreciation for them. I wish everyone could experience an acid reflux baby. Nolan is the sweetest baby, He even has a smile when he is yakking all over us! However, Nathan and I are starting to lose our patience with changing our clothes at least 3 times a day and Nolan's many, many times a day. I wash laundry constantly, epecially burp cloths. We have tried a multitude of formulas and the latest is the wonderfully expensive Alimentum. It smells disgusting and you too can own it for just $25 for a small can. Nolan is getting better at taking the bottle after refusing it at first. But the formula mixed in with his cereal really gags him. The newest round of formula started because he couldn't digest the Enfamil AR which had added rice ceareal. Picture your baby foaming at the mouth with cottage cheese consistency coming out and that it what he was doing. Gross! Then he had blood in his dirty diapers. That would freak any Mom out. So, now we are checking out this new formula. He still spits up, just not quite as much. The doctor switched him from Zantac to Prevacid dissolvable tablets (also fun with a baby). On Monday we go back to the doctor to see if he has a milk allergy. We will be toting along with us a dirty diaper for the doc to inspect. Lovely.

Please pray we will find a solution soon!

Family Fun

2007-07-09T13:41:00.000-06:00

We went to Abilene this past weekend and had a great time visiting with my parents and grandparents. Saturday night we went to my Uncle Pete and Aunt Beverly's annual July 4th celebration. They have barbeque and homemade cobblers and ice cream for everyone. This year they had a band and bounce houses and waterslides for the kiddos. Kaylee had a blast. At dark they had fireworks. It was really a great night to catch up with extended family. I think there were about 150 people there.

Grandma Fischer and Nolan

Grandma Fischer and Kaylee

Grandma and Nolan and Kaylee

Nathan and Nolan napping Saturday afternoon

Kaylee on one of the bounce slip and slides Saturday night

Kaylee on the tall slide

Kaylee and Nathan eating BBQ

My Great Aunt Dixie feeding Nolan (She is the best with kids!)

1912 ice cream maker (wonderful homemade ice cream!)

All the fun stuff for the kiddos!

There are more really great pics on my Mom's blog. Check out the link over there on the right.

Happy 4th of July!

2007-07-04T15:51:00.000-06:00

Here is how we spent our 4th of July:

Kaylee and Nathan at the Double Oak parade

Kaylee saying the fire engine sirens are too loud

Kaylee eating nachos at the Double Oak picnic

Kaylee and Nolan - he is totally snoozing and missing all the fun

Kaylee going down the large water slide

Amazing Women

2007-06-29T16:50:00.000-06:00

I have been so blessed by this group of girls. We started out doing a bible study together and some joined later. I really hope they don't mind me sharing this picture and a little about each one. They are great friends and so much fun. These girls host baby showers for you, pray for you, cry with you, laugh with you, and most of all, just let you vent. We try to get together once a month without husbands and children to share what is going on in our lives. Last night we were able to share Shannon's birthday with her. And Laurie and Heather also had birthdays this week! I'll start in the back and go left to right and then go to the front row left to right.

Pam

Pam is who you go to when you need advice. She is SuperMom! She has 2 daughters and a set of boy twins. She knows it all when it comes to parenting. And she is hilarious! She can answer just about any question you have.

Rachel

Okay, Rachel is just so fun. She is our trendy, in-the-know gal. She is mommy to two beautiful girls and a handsome little boy. She does it all and keeps it all together. I really don't think she sleeps.

Shannon

Shannon is mommy to a sweet boy. She is so real and down-to-earth. We can share teaching stories because we both teach high school. She is an inspiration because she is doing the Couch Potato to 5K program with Stacey and I and she is kicking rear! Way to go on the 25 minute run today! She also just started a blog, so check it out!

Stacey

Stacey is our resident organizer and party planner. She organizes everything for us, especially our get togethers. And she throws the best darn parties you have ever been to! Her kids parties are great and it is always a treat when she has us over. She is also so giving. She always has fun little gifts for all of us. (Thanks for the awesome cross shirts last night!) She has two precious children, a girl and a boy. And she gives great hand-me-down clothes. (Check out the dress Kaylee is wearing in the botanical garden pics.) Check out her blog over there on the right!

Laurie

Laurie is great. She keeps us all in the know with the church happenings. She has two beautiful little girls. She is so sincere and you genuinely feel that she cares about what you are saying.

Me

Just read my blog! ;-)

Heather

Heather is another do-it-all mom. She is mommy to two cute boys (14 months apart, I believe!). She and I are co-coordinators for cradle roll, but she really does all the work. Thanks!!

I hope that you are all blessed to have a support group like this in your life. They are so fun and wonderful Christian examples. Love you girls!!!

Botanical Gardens

2007-06-24T14:29:00.001-06:00

Wow, 2 posts today!!

Our Life Group from church went to the Grapevine Botanical Gardens today. Very pretty. And free, too! The kids really enjoyed it!

One of our few family pictures

Aidan, Kaylee, and Austin checking out the fountain

Kaylee, Andrea, and Aidan

Kaylee and her good friend Andrea

Nolan, who was not too excited about the sun!

Daddy's Surfer Girl

2007-06-24T14:12:00.001-06:00

Kaylee used to love swimming. We think we messed up by not keeping her in lessons year round. She was a fish last summer. She would swim across the pool and retrieve rings 6 feet underwater. She has now developed a fear. Swim lessons this last week have not been fun. There have been major issues such as screaming and crying. It is slowly getting better. Mommy made the mistake of telling Kaylee that if she could swim by the end of next week she could have a Little Mermaid under the sea party for her birthday. She has been asking for a "blue" birthday party for awhile now . . . whatever that means. So, since she is fascinated with The Little Mermaid, I thought, "Why not use an Under the Sea party as bribery?" Then it hit me . . . most of Kaylee's friends cannot swim, thus ensuring their parents would have to get in the pool with them. I don't know how many moms would be oh-so-excited to get in the pool. Because I know I am NOT getting in my swimsuit in front of everyone!! So, I may have to run some interference on this one . . . Hmm. . . . we'll just have to see.

This is one of Kaylee's many swimsuits. When she puts it on she says she is Daddy's little surfer girl.

I heart Kenny!

2007-06-17T13:21:00.000-06:00

Okay, I've had a major crush on Kenny Chesney for awhile. My dear, sweet husband was nice enough to watch the kiddos so that I could go out with the girls to the Kenny Chesney concert last night. It was so much fun, even if took forever to get there in a downpour and hiking a mile in the mud and rain to get there! I really hope Stacey will blog about our experience because she is much funnier than I am! Make sure to check her blog, "Stacey", over there on the right. Kenny looked great and played for quite awhile. And the people-watching we got to do was FANTASTIC!

Stacey and Golda as we waited FOREVER in traffic

Stacey and Me

Me, Stacey, and Golda

Swimming

2007-06-12T14:02:00.000-06:00

Nathan is finally done with baseball camp, so we have gone out to our pool the last 2 days. I didn't feel like venturing to the backyard with both kiddos without him. This was Nolan's first dip in the pool and he was less than excited. The water is still pretty cool. We weren't out that long, but we all managed to get a little sunburned. I promise I kept Nolan in the shade, but he still managed to get a little pink from the reflection of the water. Oops! Bad Mommy award!

Feel free to comment on Nathan's "Farmer" tan! Get it? He coaches the Farmers and has a Farmer tan for being out at baseball too long! HaHa! I was going to put a picture of me and the kids, and then I thought better of it. My skin is about as white as Nolan's!

Nolan chillin'

Nolan's first dip in the water

Kaylee riding her alligator

Nolan sleeping in his bouncer (IN THE SHADE!)

Prayers for "Popeye"

2007-06-08T11:38:00.000-06:00

Earlier today I was working on the computer when Kaylee came up to me and said, "Mom, we need to pray for Popeye." I thought this was a strange thing to pray for, but I did see her watching Popeye this morning on TV. So, I said, "What's wrong with him?" And she said, "You know, he was in the hospital." That's when I realized she was talking about my Papaw. So, we bowed our heads and she said a little prayer for "Popeye" to feel better.

Thank you so much for your prayers for my Papaw. My mom is putting updates on her blog of my Papaw's progress. Click on "Mom" on the right. I don't know how to make the little link here, or I would do it!

Nolan Montage

2007-06-03T20:14:00.000-06:00

Here is a montage of Nolan's first 3 months. Enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Squeaky

2007-06-02T10:21:00.001-06:00

Nolan makes a lot of noises that sound like little squeaks, so he has earned the nickname, "Squeaky." He was getting tired of the swing, bouncer, and play gym rotation, so we had to bring out a new contraption. Nana and Grandpa got him this Baby Einstein play jumper/saucer thingamabob. Uncle B and Aunt Kellie were here last night and they say that it looks like a giant spider. He loves it. I wish you could have heard him squealing with delight while looking at the sunflower. He thought it was so funny.

Sister had to get in on the action

Kaylee is sneaky!

2007-05-30T11:17:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I leave the room for 2 seconds and look what Kaylee did. I walked back in and saw her with a pen and her brother's feet! Yes, she was once again decorating her brother! He was laughing, though! He thought it was hilarious!

McDisapointment!

2007-05-17T22:19:00.000-06:00

Do not read this post if you have Tivo'ed Gray's Anatomy and have not watched it yet!

Okay, I just need to vent! First of all, let me just say that the highlight of my week is watching Gray's. So, I am expecting the season finale to be the highlight of the season. No. It was just depressing. Nothing turned out the way it should. Christina and Burke didn't get married. Meredith and McDreamy are ending. George failed his test. Bailey didn't get Chief Resident. Addison is leaving. Alex didn't get Ava (not too upset about that one, though. She needs to be with her hubby.) In my opinion, Izzy never should have professed her love for George. Grrr. And no previews for next season? Come on. Leave me hanging. Leave me wanting more!

Okay, now Lexie, the new resident at the end, is that Meredith's sister? And is that the girl Derek met in the bar last week? If so, that could be interesting. And was Christina happy or sad when she was ripping the wedding dress off? What will George do? Please tell me he is not leaving the show.

Even though I am not happy with the finale, I will still be watching the next season!

What are your thoughts on the season finale?

Is she a ham?

2007-05-17T11:02:00.000-06:00

Kaylee loves to hold her baby brother!

Happy Mother's Day

2007-05-14T13:35:00.000-06:00

We went out to eat at Saltgrass and went to the Angels (they were playing the Rangers) game for Mother's Day. Here are a few pictures. Hopefully my Mom will post more on her blog, so check her link, "Mom," over on the right!

Oh, and congratulations to my Sister-in-law for graduating from ACU on Saturday with her Master's Degree in Speech Pathology! Way to go, Kellie!

Granna and Kaylee at Saltgrass

Nolan's first Angel's game

Granna and Kaylee at the game

Mom! Uh-oh, I've been caught!

2007-05-09T09:52:00.000-06:00

Kaylee is a very sneaky child. Nathan was supposed to be watching her while Nolan and I were out for some errands. I returned home and took Kaylee by surprise. I was much more surprised than her, though. I heard water and when I walked into the bathroom, it was overflowing from the sink onto the floor! Kaylee said she was giving her Barbie's and Polly Pocket's a "B*th." It was SOO much fun to clean up. Especially the little bits of toilet paper she was using i the water as "wash cloths."

Does she look guilty or what?

We love co-op. We watch kids once a month and then get to go out on two dates a month for 5 HOURS!! This was from the last time we hosted the kids. It is very rare for all five of them to sit on the couch and be still. They were really into Peter Pan. It only lasted about 30 minutes, though. 30 glorious minutes!

I've been promising some new pics of Nolan. Here he is yesterday hanging out in his play gym. He loves looking at everything.

My Wonderful Husband

2007-05-08T10:26:00.000-06:00

Nathan surprised me last night! He had my friend Stacey call and ask me to go to dinner. I didn't know that he had hired a babysitter and he was actually taking me to dinner. He recruited Stacey so that I would get ready in time because I told him yesterday that I just wanted to veg out and not even put on any makeup. (I was looking forward to dinner with you though, Stacey!) I was gone for my birthday, so he decided to take me out last night. He took me to PF Chang's. It was great. Then he gave me this wonderful necklace. This was really special because it is the first piece of jewelry that he has bought me other than my engagment ring! So, I was shocked. It has a sapphire at the top for Kaylee's birthstone, a diamond, and then an aquamarine stone for Nolan's birthstone. It is beautiful! (The picture did not turn out that great, it doesn't really do it justice!)

On Turning 30 . . .

2007-05-07T15:15:00.000-06:00

Birthday gift from Townie

Eating at Chilli's for birthday

I had a wonderful 30th birthday weekend with my college roommates. We went to my friend Jennifer's lakehouse to scrapbook and catch up! Spending time with these girls really helped me get over how depressed I was over turning 30. It was great to relive all the college memories and help me feel young again! I will post some pics that Jennifer took and you check out "Jennifer O.'s" blog(link on the right) for more pics.

What I've accomplished in my 20's . . . (I am stealing this idea from my friend, Lynley)

I started out my 20's living with my awesome roommates in Abilene at ACU. Not too long after turning 20 I started dating Nathan. Little did I know he would be my future husband! I turned 21 (spent it with the same girls I spent my 30th with!). I graduated with a degree in Human Communication. I went back for my teaching certificate. I student taught in ABilene. I got married in June 2000. We wemt to Cancun on our honeymoon. I started my teaching career. We became members of our church, where I have met some awesome friends. I went on a 3 week camping trip with Nathan around the Western United States. We went on a cruise to the Bahamas and Virgin Islands. We went to Alaska. We made many trips to California. We bought our first house in 2002. Helped my parents move out of my childhood home. I had my first child, Kaylee, at the age of 26. I broke my foot and had surgery. We moved to our current house. I lost my first grandparent, Grandpa. I started graduate school at ACU. I had my second child, Nolan at the age of 29. I'm sure there are many more things I can come back to add. . . Overall, I have nothing to complain about. My 20's were wonderful. I feel like I accomplished some of the most important tasks of my life during my 20s. What a wonderful life . . .

My Sweet Boy

2007-04-17T14:32:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures we had taken at 6 weeks. I don't think I can make them any larger, though!

Nolan likes to eat!

2007-04-11T11:32:00.000-06:00

Nolan is really filling out. Look at these pictures in comparison to the March 20 bouncer shots. These were taken yesterday, exactly 3 weeks later.

The Easter Bunny came to visit!

2007-04-09T10:59:00.000-06:00

It was a cold Easter! But, Kaylee had a lot of fun! We woke up and Kaylee saw her Easter basket. When we were in Abilene for our Target adventure, (see earlier post), all Kaylee wanted was a Sleeping Beauty doll. However, that is the one princess doll they were out of. She was crushed! Thank goodness the Easter Bunny found the last Sleeping Beauty doll the Flower Mound Target had! Then, we got ready and went to church. In the evening, we had the Young Family Class from church over for an Easter Egg Hunt! Everyone had to bundle up! I will post pictures of the hunt later.

Easter Basket with Kaylee holding candy necklace and Sleeping Beauty

Hunting eggs inside - way too cold outside!

Kaylee and Nolan - What is she thinking?

Kaylee and Nolan - Nolan is wearing the outfit Uncle B and Aunt Kellie got him!

Fort Worth Zoo

2007-04-09T10:43:00.000-06:00

So, the house was being cleaned on Friday and I needed to find somewhere to go so that the kids would be out of the house. Kaylee had never been to the Fort Worth Zoo, so we decided to go. It was Good Friday, so it was crowded and very, very cold. We all bundled up, but we had a great time. Here are a few pics.

Kaylee and a lion

Nana and Kaylee

Kaylee riding the carousel horse

Need a vacuum?

2007-03-30T20:11:00.000-06:00

My friend Stacey sent me this link for this contest. It is a $499.99 Dyson Slim Vacuum. It is awesome. Go to this website and sign up and check out the Dyson at www.dyson.com!

www.5minutesformom.com

Good luck!

Fun at Granna and Grandpa's house

2007-03-28T21:17:00.000-06:00

Kaylee, Nolan, and I had a great visit at my parent's house in Abilene. Mom helped me a lot with Nolan. I was really able to catch up on some much-needed rest. Brandon and Kellie and my grandparents were able to meet Nolan. Overall, it was great!

Top 10 highlights of the trip to Abilene: (in no particular order!)

10. Seeing Kaylee play dress-up in my old clothes. (Think 80's and early 90's) The dress she is wearing in the pictures is from a formal I went to in 9th grade. I promise it was in style at that time!!

9. Seeing my parents and grandparents. And eating some great meals with them! Mom made wonderful home-cooking while I was there!

8. Watching the excitement on Kaylee's face when she got to take a bath in Granna's big bathtub.

7. Sleep!

6. Seeing Kaylee climb into my Dad's lap to watch a movie like I used to do (even if it was for just a split-second! After all, Snickers needed that lap!)

5. Catching Kaylee talking to herself in my Mom's full-length mirror while playing dress-up and her getting so embarassed!

4. Me pulling a loose hair off of Kaylee's back and showing her while saying, "Wow. Look at your hair." Kaylee replies in a very whiny voice, "Hey! I really liked that hair!" She acted as though that were her favorite hair on her head of many, many curls!

3. Four generations of women trying to make it through a shopping trip at Target. Nana, Mom, me, Kaylee, and Nolan went to Target. I will not try that again! Kaylee had $10 to spend from her Grandma Fischer, and I had visions of my little brother with a hole burning in his pocket to spend the money! Kaylee acted just like Brandon and could not decide what to buy. She hated everything we suggested to her. She finally decided on a Princess Sticker book (see #1 on the list!) and a Princess story book.

2. Did I mention sleep? Mom slept with me each night and helped me by bringing Nolan to me when he was ready to eat and changing his diaper and burping him. Amazing what a difference that can make in your sleep!

1. Trying to make it back home fast because I knew Nolan would need to feed again. I was so impressed with how quiet Kaylee was and how good she was behaving. Then, I heard Nolan screaming. My first thought . . . "Great, now I am going to have to pull off somewhere and nurse him in the car." Then, I looked in my rear-view mirror to the handy-dandy mirror that helps me see Nolan since he is in the center and is rear-facing in his car-seat. To my surprise, my 3 week-old baby is covered in Princess stickers! My sweet 3 year-old daughter decided to decorate her baby brother and he was not happy, and neither was I! I am beginning to rethink this whole "the center is the safest seat in the car" idea for the newborn. I think further away from Big Sister's car-seat may be safer!

Wow, 2 posts today!

2007-03-20T18:55:00.000-06:00

First Bath!

Kaylee helped give her brother a bath!

Nolan does not like being naked! So, he wasn't too fond of bathtime. Hopefully this will change soon!

Okay, okay . . .Here are some new pics from today . . .

2007-03-20T13:01:00.000-06:00

Just checking out my Big Sister! Kaylee has been so helpful lately. She is getting used to being a Big Sister!

Yes, he is gaining weight. He loves to eat!!

Just look at those long, skinny legs. Where did he get those? ;-)

Just a swingin' & Hangin' with Daddy

2007-03-15T10:14:00.000-06:00

Nolan was not real sure what he thought of the swing at first. But now, he is really enjoying it. And Mommy is too! It gives Mommy some free time for a few minutes!

I caught Nathan and Nolan catching a snooze!

Carseat

2007-03-13T16:19:00.000-06:00

Nolan looks so tiny in his car seat. He is gaining weight, though!

Here is a funny:

The other night, I was changing Nolan's diaper and Kaylee peaked over the edge of the Pack N Play where I was changing him. She pointed to his "boy part" and said, "Mom, you forgot to clean his tail." I laughed so hard I could barely finish changing his diaper. I decided I would explain that to her later.

Big Sister

2007-03-10T18:33:00.000-06:00

Kaylee is learning to be a big sister. It is hardwork!! The main issue is that she wants Mommy when Nolan needs Mommy. She tends to "need" me when I am feeding Nolan. I think this week will be challenging, but if we can make it through this week, then I think it will be okay. Mom has been here all week to distract her in the evenings, but now I will have to get real creative in the evenings.

Here is a picture of the dress Mom got Kaylee that matches her doll. She is very excited to wear it to church tomorrow.

Baby Nolan is here!

2007-03-05T16:43:00.000-06:00

Nolan was born Friday, March, 2 at 11:15 a.m. He was 7 pounds, 1 ounce and 20 3/4 inches long. He is a great baby and Mommy is very happy that this was an easier delivery! Only 35 minutes of pushing before he arrived! Much better than the 3 hours with Kaylee!

Tomorrow, three become four!

2007-03-01T18:51:00.000-06:00

I am being induced tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. I am so excited to meet this sweet little boy who has been kicking me in the ribs for quite some time now. However, I am also very nervous about how Kaylee will react to having a new baby brother. For 3 and a half years, it has been all about her. Now, she will have to share Mommy and Daddy with someone new. This makes me sad for her. I know it is a good thing and she will be a better person for having a brother, but it also breaks a little part of my heart. I pray that we will still show her just as much love. I know she will be a great big sister. She is also so excited that baby brother is arriving tomorrow! And Mommy is just a little sick of answering the question, "When will Baby Nolan be here?" So now she has an answer!

Mom and Dad are coming in tonight to help take care of Kaylee. Dad will probably go back Sunday and Mom will stay until next Thursday or Friday. I know she will be a huge help. I have three more hours to eat, so I better eat my ice cream soon! I need my rest for tomorrow!

Sugar, anyone?

2007-02-28T11:44:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I just ran to Target to get some Claritin and a new hair dryer because mine quit. Claritin, because I would like to be able to breathe before the baby arrives, and hair dryer to make sure I look better in the hospital than I did when Kaylee was born. Yes, I know I am supposed to be on bedrest, but Target is so close and it was just a few items! Anyway, I have been obssessed with how I am going to lose all this baby weight after the baby comes. I even watched the Nutrisystem thing on QVC for an hour this morning. While in Target, it hit me that I should eat all the sugar I can before I try to lose weight. Probably not the best thing for baby, but I am still pregnant and entitled to cravings. Somehow, when I got home, there must have been several things that had "jumped" into my cart! I ended up with 3 large bags of M&M's (not the single serve, the huge bags), Snickers miniatures, Nestle eggs, Butterfinger Easter candy, Toasted marshmallows, Little Debbie Donut Sticks, Powdered Sugar Donuts, Swiss Rolls, and Cosmic Brownies. Oh my goodness! No, I will not eat all of this before Friday. I promise!

Well, my goal is to finish all of my ACU grad work today for my current class so that I do not have to worry about it after Friday. But, of course, I am a procrastinator and blogging just seems like more fun right now. So. maybe I will just check out a few more blogs and then get to work!

It's only been a year!

2007-02-27T18:42:00.000-06:00

Well, after a year, I guess it is time to start blogging again. Yes, that last post is from February 2006. It took me awhile to get on here because I couldn't even remember how to log on! So much has happened in the last year. In July we took a month long trip to California. While there we found out I was expecting again, so that was exciting. My due date is March 11, but the doctor is going to induce me on this Friday, March 2. This has been a much harder pregnancy than with Kaylee, so I am happy. I had to stop working yesterday because I was having really bad pains, huge swollen ankles and calves, and my blood pressure had gone up to 140/93. That is really high for me.

We have been trying to have a lot of Kaylee time lately since her world is about to be rocked upside down! She is very excited to meet Baby Nolan, but I think that may change a little next week when he comes home!

I am going to try my hardes to keep this updated while on maternity leave and add some pics when the baby comes!

Enjoy!

Four Things . . .

2006-02-07T08:56:00.000-06:00

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Teacher
2. Supervisor for the ACU calling center
3. Diet tech for Hendrick Hospital
4. Envelope stuffer, licker for my parents!
Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Say Anything
2. Top Gun
3. Pretty Woman
4. Steel Magnolias
Four books I could read over & over:
1. The Davinci Code
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
4. Into the Wild by John Krakauer
Four places you have lived:
1. Abilene, TX
2. Nugent. TX
3. Lewisville, TX
4. Double Oak, TX . . . and that's all!
Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. CSI (all of them)
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Oprah
4. The O.C. . . . can I list more here? Days of Our Lives, The Amazing Race. Grey's Anatomy . . .
Four places you have been on vacation:
1. DisneyWorld
2. Cancun
3. Kenai, Girdwood, and Anchorage, Alaska
4. Cruise to St. Thomas, St. Marten, and the Bahamas
Four web sites I visit daily:
1. reporternew.com
2. mikecope.blogspot.com
3. cnn.com
4. foxnews.com
Four of my favorite foods:
1. Mom's roast and potatoes
2. creme brulee
3. Simply Fondue
4. Olive Garden salad, breadsticks, and pasta
Four places I would rather be right now:
1. home on the couch
2. Cayucos, CA
3. Target or Kohl's
4. Abilene
Four friends I am tagging:
1. anyone who reads this!!
2.
3.
4.

Great weekend

2006-02-07T08:39:00.000-06:00

I am not doing a very good job of keeping this blog updated! I had a great weekend at my church Ladies' retreat. It's always refreshing and a renewing experience. It helps me remember just how much I value my friends. I think my Bible Study gals and I might start another Beth Moore study and I am so excited. I also really enjoyed hearing stories and learning from the "older" ladies at church. It is so nice to know that they have experiences that we can relate to and learn from.

It will be a busy few weeks at school until TAKS is done with and I am done rating the students I have to rate. So, I might not be writing much again for awhile. But, I will try!!

Kaylee was sick last week with a little bug. She seems to be feeling better now. She had to miss gymnastics last week and was so sad. So, tomorrow night we will return to gymnastics!

Whew! Time to relax after the holidays!

2006-01-09T15:09:00.000-06:00

I am finally having a chance to sit and write after the busy holiday season. We enjoyed our trip to California with the highlight being the trip to Disneyland. Kaylee really had fun. Although, Nathan would say the highlight was getting to eat at Vince's Spaghetti. We seemed to be busy the whole time we were there. Lots of card playing, shopping, went to see Narnia (Kaylee, too!), Christmas, visits with family, the annual New Year's Eve dinner at Cask and Cleaver. . .

Kaylee started Gymnastics on Wednesday. Or I guess I should say "Kaylee and I" started gymnastics on Wednesday. Mommy has to participate until Kaylee is 3. Mommy was much more tired than Kaylee by the end of class! She was ready for more. I felt like I had just been hit by a truck! I have so much work to do . . . so more to come later!

Christmas Tag

2005-12-20T13:21:00.000-06:00

I just thought this would be fun!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? BOTH!! But only Borden's egg nog in a can
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Sets under the tree (actually there has been a debate on this in our house!)
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, too many allergies.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Right after Thanksgiving
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? my mom's dressing
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? making cookies for Santa
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Sometimes
10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Sugar with icing and multi-color balls
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? love it when there's no ice
12. Can you ice skate? NO!! I have tried, but I am just not balanced
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Contacts from my Mom and Dad. They had a piece of posterboard with a face drawn on it and two big clear bowls over the eyeballs! It took me a bit to get it!
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Spending time with family.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? My mom's chocolate pie.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Opening our stockings.
17. What tops your tree? A silver irridescent (sp) star
18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? giving, especially when I feel like I have found the perfect gift!
19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? Silent Night
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Hmmm . . . in moderation.
Tag... everyone.

It's the BUSY season!

2005-12-20T13:04:00.000-06:00

Things have been so crazy. Friday night we had some other young families from church over to play games. It was a lot of fun. The kiddos all played in one room and the parents played games in the other. It's a great way to have fun and save money! Everyone brought finger foods. On Saturday I spent most of the day cleaning and wrapping presents. It's amazing how time can go by so fast. Then at 4:00 the Anysa and Luke, and Aidan and Austin came over so their parents could go out on a date. Co-op has been awesome for us. We keep all the kids one night a month from 4-9, and then we get to go out on 2 date nights a month for 5 hours! It's great! Sunday, we woke up for church. Kaylee is loving bible class. She gets so excited when we drive up to the building. She starts saying, "Church, church!" I'm glad she is so excited to learn about God. Sunday afternoon I tried to finish some Christmas shopping. That was crazy. I was willing to walk far at Grapevine Mills, but I couldn't even find a spot to park! I drove around for like 15 minutes stalking people walking out to cars. We had planned to go to the candlelight service at church that night, but I didn't get back in time. So, we rented the Fantastic 4, and Kaylee actually watched it with us. Monday was group party planning day in my class. Sheesh!! Talk about crazy. You would think High School students would be mature enough, but I was just worn out. And Kaylee had Santa come visit her at the babysitter yesterday. Kerrie (the babysitter) said Kaylee was a little unsure at first, but once she realized Santa was giving out candy canes, she jumped right up on his lap! When Mommy doesn't give you sugar, I guess you have to hunt for it! But, the best part of Monday was getting together with my college roomies for our annual child-free Christmas Dinner. It is so fun to catch up with them. I feel so blessed that we have remained so close. It was a nice, relaxing dinner. I ate WAY too much. But it was worth it!!

2005-12-16T13:16:00.000-06:00

Here is one of our Christmas pictures. Kaylee does great when we are with her, but she freaked out when she had to do pictures by herself!

Don't know what else to write, so . . . .

2005-12-15T15:04:00.001-06:00

First Memory: I really don't know the answer to this one. I barely remember last week!!

First Kiss: First real one was....... hmmm . . . I don't know if I should share this. 7th grade, Sean Thomsen.

First Concert: Kenny Rogers and Crystal Gale

First Love: hmmm . . . I think the first time I felt like I was in love was John David Patton, but that wasn't love, hardest guy to get over was Chris Harris, and I REALLY don't know why

First thing I think in the Morning: just one more hit of the snooze button

First Book I remember loving: Green Eggs and Ham

First Pet: Pepper, although I don't remember her

First Question when I get to Heaven: Why can't I ever get organized? Although I don't think it will matter then!

First word I think of for Vacation: Relaxation!!

First Best Friend: Kim Besson

Last Time I dressed up: Church on Sunday (We got to wear jeans all this week at school!! We each paid $5 to help with the Angel tree and we got to wear jeans all week!!)

Last thing I ate: a catered lunch from PTSA. It was yummy! Chicken spaghetti!

Last CD I bought: I can't tell! It's a Christmas present for someome.

Last time I cried: today I teared up when I heard a sad story

Last time I told someone I loved them: this morning I told Kaylee I loved her before she went to the babysitter

Last really fun thing I did: went to the Mavs game and Dicks Last Resort with Nathan and my best friend from high school, Chris and his girlfriend

Last thing I watched on TV: Without a Trace that was Tivo'd

Last Halloween Costume: I can't even remember the last time I dressed up for Halloween

Last Concert- I think it was Pat Green at Billy Bob's
Okay... I tag (Just copy and paste)

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2005-12-15T15:04:00.000-06:00

Spending time with "the girls"

2005-12-13T12:29:00.000-06:00

Last night I had the privilege of getting together with my girls from my regular bible study. We usually meet once a week for prayer requests, study, fellowship, and coffee. But recently, we have been so busy with young children and busy, involved lives, we haven't had the opportunity to meet as often. Now we only meet once a month. I really cherish these times. It's nice to get out of the house and spend time with other mommies who are going through many of the same things and can offer encouragment, advice, and just an open ear. I have learned so much from these girls. I am really thankful to have them in my life.

I still have so much Christmas shopping to take care of. I really need to get Mandy, Darren, and Ely's presents in the mail to Alaska. I really AM in the Christmas mood this year, I just don't seem to have time to get everything done. I also have a lot of planning and cleaning to do before my mom and dad and grandma get here next week. And, I'd like to have all of my packing for California done before they get there. I really think Kaylee will have fun in Cali this year.

As the saying goes . . .So much to do, so little time.

I feel like a bad Mommy

2005-12-12T12:00:00.000-06:00

I had a speech tournament this weekend. It is amazing how much they can wear you out. I really love competitive speech. I love seeing kids win. I just miss my family so much when I am doing it. I saw Kaylee for about 5 minutes Friday morning before she left to go to the babysitter's house. She was asleep by the time I got home late Friday night. I was gone by 6:30 Saturday morning, so she was still asleep. And of course, she was asleep by the time I got home late Saturday night. So, even though I am coming home to sleep in my own bed at night, I feel so guilty that I am missing out on that time with my daughter. She is growing and maturing at such a fast rate, I really feel like I miss out. However, we need the money that I receive from the stipend, which is the real reason I do this. No matter how much I love competitive speech, I love my daughter and husband much more. It is a constant internal struggle. I would love to have my master's degree in Administration, I just don't want to miss out on anything at my family's expense. So, I choose my family. I would love to be the best speech coach, but I choose my family. In the priorities of life, family is so much more than prestige, money, and learning. I love my family.

2005-12-09T12:07:00.000-06:00

Since I have been an avid Blog reader for almost a year now, I have decided it is time for me to start my own. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading others blogs and find it quite therapeutic. So, why not write my own thoughts down? That has to be therapeutic, right? I've always heard that keeping a journal is wonderful way to gather and control your thoughts. I've never been successful with keeping a journal. I always start and fail after a few days. So, I am hoping I will keep this up. I am an email and internet junkie, so this should be easier. As for the title, well, my Bible Study girls will understand it. I am wife to Nathan, Mom to Kaylee, and teacher to many.