The Brims down south

Fishing on Labor Day weekend

2009-09-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

We didnt have anything truly exciting planned for the holiday weekend.
Joe and I are getting serious about this home remodel we have been talking about for the last 18 months (sigh). We looked at lots of paint this weekend and lots of carpet. We did manage to sneak away ALONE (- kids) for lunch at Chipotle, that is exciting, for us anyway.
Monday right after dinner we took the kids to the pond directly across the street from our very own development. Yes, I will be honest, we did not know it was there the whole five years we have lived here. Ha ha!
Joe casted Eden's line first and one minute did not even go by before she had her first fish.
Its funny because Eden loves to fish, she is pretty patient considering she is only five but she is scared of these fish. I mean she reels them in and once they hit land she takes off and runs the opposite direction. I have to coax her back for the pictures.
So Eden had her first fish in one minute and then by the time Annika had her line casted Eden had fish number two! By then Annika is recasting over by where Eden has been set up, lol. As Joe said, it really "steams her weanies" that Eden seems to catch all the fish. LOL!
Long story short Eden caught SIX fish tonight. Annika caught three, Clay caught two.
Annika caught the last fish of the night, it was about 8:15pm at this point and really pretty dark. Joe was taking the hook out of this 5 inch bass when all of a sudden this little Asian man walked up from his evening walk. He asked Joe in his very thick accent if he was throwing it back. Joe said he was (Joe cannot kill an animal), and the man said, "I take fish."
He took this fish right out of Joe's hand and walked off with it.
We stood there with our jaws flapping open and then we laughed. What else do you do?
Poor Annika did not recover very fast and I did not get a picture with the bass, the only bass of the night. The rest of the fish were sunfish.
It was a fun evening.

We also saw lots of turtles and even snakes out in the pond tonight. Good times.

Obama speaks to our children?

2009-09-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.
That is an example of a patriotic speech.

After this week, it really needs to be said that respect does not equal following ones leader blindly.
That is a very dangerous thought process, to respect just because.
Disrespect is to say Obama is stupid or unqualified and doesnt deserve my attention.

It is not disrespectful to say I opt out of listening to something Im unsure of because its unprecedented. Because I dont trust that it wont become partisan.

The land of the free and all that.
Its the very core of who we are as Americans. I am patriotic and a very proud American. That does not mean I cant question the agenda of our president.

This was not intended as a harmless story time or simply giving props to our teachers for the awesome responsibility they have in shaping young minds (pro education). I wish it was.
There seemed to be agenda. But we cant even be certain w/o a transcript which we werent offered initially. Once we got a look at the outline there were many questionable aspects. Lets write a letter explaining what we (the children) can do to help president Obama? Surely he meant how we can help our country??? Lets make sure we read and study up on Obama?
How about read and study up on the benefits if staying in school or higher education because afterall, this is going to be a pro education speech, correct?

For older children such as Clay (middle school and beyond) I feel its likely harmless and may even prompt fruitful discussions at home. Older children are more inclined to look past smooth talking and ask the hard questions. Looking at the facts.
For the younger set, like my two young girls, I will not be made to feel guilty or be told Im unpatriotic or disrespectful because I have concerns about the intent and outline.
If I wanted to watch a movie on tv BEFORE I allowed them to see it, or read a book to myself before reading it to them I would be considered to be a responsible parent. I dont see how this is any different?

Im not wrong, overreacting or *ridicules* for wanting to have a more clear understanding (transcript if you will) of what will be said since this was not routine (such as math,reading, ABCs) school curriculum we were talking about.

Blindly following your leader just because he is your leader is not respect. Its dangerous. No matter what your political affiliations are.

Reality Bites

2009-08-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

Back from vacation. Back to reality. Back to SCHOOL!!!
We got home from vacation on a Friday at midnight.
I had one weekend to finalize the back to school supply shopping and send those kids back where they belong. SCHOOL!!! Ha ha!
And we reached a big milestone. No more kids at home. Sniff sniff. Eden, the baby of the family turned 5 back in June and now she is a full time Kindergarten student who rides the bus! No way?!
I have from 8am- 3pm to myself. Whatever will I do with my time? ;)
I got pictures of everyone but Clay. Clay started middle school this year but Clay has been too cool for Mom's picture taking for some time now ;)

Rocky Mt High...........Colorado!

2009-08-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

So The Brim's took their first week long family vacation that did not include visiting relatives back home in The Pacific Northwest. Instead we packed up a rental van (brand new Town & Country) and drove to Colorado Springs. Im sure a lot of you are wondering how the drive went because it was indeed a loooong, brutal drive. That portion of Texas & Oklahoma as you head toward Colorado is known as the plains (or grasslands). Its more boring then you can even imagine with exception of the windmill farms and oil pump jacks :) Well, the kids did great. Seeing how they cant be in a room together for 30 minutes without having issues we thought for sure the drive would be a nightmare. It wasnt. The kids did not fight. Not one time. And they also did not start asking, "are we there yet?" until we were 60 miles away from being THERE! LOL!

The first two days we explored Boulder and Denver. We met up with my friend Kim who lives in Boulder and enjoyed a dinner with her. She is lovely. Then we fished. We fished a kids pond right next to Boulder creek. We fished some more at Cherry Creek Reservoir and at Rocky Mt Lake.
The girls caught fish (and crawdads), Clay only caught some crawdads :)

We also spent a day in Breckenridge resort. We went to Peak 8 where there is a family fun park. We did all the activities there and then explored the downtown area. The kids loved this. Breckenridge was super cold(39 degrees) and wasnt having the best weather the day we were there. That was the only thing I did not like.

The day after Breckenridge we went to Estes Park. Wow. Beautiful. Although the drive to the top of Rocky Mt National park left a lot to be desired in my opinion :) Scary much? We did some hiking, visited Bear Lake, visited the waterfalls before the drive up though & it was amazing stuff.

The highlight of the trip for me and the kids was on the 2nd to last day we were there. That day we were suppose to drive up Pikes Peak. We started the day at Academy Riding Stables. Our intention was to go on a *quick* horse ride for me and the older two kids with a pony ride tossed in for Eden. We ended up doing a tour on horse back through Garden Of The Gods. It took up most of the day but boy was it beautiful. It was an unforgettable experience. I was not thrilled to be on the horse initially. Its not that Im scared of them. Im not. Its just that they are huge and seem somewhat unpredictable. But after about 15 minutes I felt pretty certain the horse and I were going to get along and she wasnt going to hurt me. After that I relaxed and just took it all in. It was the hottest day of our trip and it was great. Being on that horse, in the sun, riding through all the rock formations was something I will not forget anytime soon.
We never did make it up Pikes Peak. We ran out of daylight. But something tells me we will be back to Colorado again. It was a fantastic trip :)

This is just a sampling of the 400+ pics I took that trip :)

So what do you do when its over 100 degrees out?

2009-06-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

You swim. You soak. You spend the entire day in the swimming pool your husband hates.
Its too hot to do anything else.

A conversation with Eden today

2009-06-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Eden: When are we getting ready & leaving?
Me: getting ready? For what? We arent going anywhere today.
Eden: stares at me blankly for a moment
Me: Sometimes its nice to just take the day off relax and not have plans.
Eden: Well ok but the house could be a little cleaner I think.
Me: you get on that then Eden.

My baby is a 5yr old now!

2009-06-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

Its official. We have no babies in our house now. It seemed like we were never gonna get there a lot of times. Now that we are its bittersweet. Eden turned 5 and this August she joins her sister at the local elementary school. Clay will start middle school.
We had a party for her at a place called Kids N Art. The revelers painted a canvas to take home.
They ate cake and drank juice ;) Thanks much to John, my friend Luisa's husband who showed up and photographed the event for me so I could relax and take in the party. Good friends are a treasure wouldnt you agree?

A nice way to kick off summer

2009-06-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

School has been out for summer break just a little over a week now. We all look fwd to grilling outside, lots of time in our pool, taking walks after dinner and stopping at the playground on the way home. We dont usually have to worry too much about severe weather unless your counting heat waves. However, on Wednesday evening I ran to the market to pick up coffee,milk, bread the stuff that we seem to need replenished every couple days during the summer. I wasnt even home 5 minutes and still unloading the stuff when out of the blue our tornado sirens went off. I ushered everyone into their hiding spot (our downstairs powder room) while I turned on the bedroom tv and turned up loud so I could listen from the bathroom (we need a weather radio). Yep, we had approx 12 minutes before a severe thunderstorm would be right on top of us. As I was watching the radar 11 rotations sprouted up across the radar so there was potential for serious tornadoes.
Our far North corner of Plano faired well this time. No roofs, no fences were lost. No stray trampolines in our yard (or trees!). West Plano seemed to get pummeled and many residents were without power for a couple days. In 100+ degree heat that is huge drag. The next night there was a repeat of storms on the West side Dallas which is pretty unusual for June. Expected in April but strange in mid June.
I stepped outside and snapped some pictures of the red sky as soon as the storm passed over us Wednesday night. The pics are fuzzy because it was still raining and I didnt take time to steady the camera. The pictures of the yellow sky were snapped by a friend of mine the next evening, she sent them to me so I could share them with you.
TTFN

Spring Break

2009-04-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

We just finished spring break about the 2nd week of March. I had a nice surprise in store for the kids. The grandparents! The grandparents had decided about January they were going to drive down to stay for the week. I had to keep it under wraps for 2.5 months, which was no easy task.
We couldnt have asked for better weather. It was in the mid to high 70's all week. The boys golfed, the girls did what girls do. We shopped, cooked and there was some craft making involved. We visited the Dallas Arboretum, sampled BBQ and tex-mex as well. It was a very pleasant week.
We were so glad they got to come.

casts & arm slings round 2

2009-03-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

On Monday afternoon I got a call from the school nurse. Clay took a fall playing basketball at recess. He fell backwards, smacked his head on the concrete ground and landed on his elbow.
The nurse at school felt he needed to be seen urgently. She felt he might have a concussion and she felt sure his elbow or wrist may have been fractured.
For those following along at home, Eden had a similar elbow injury exactly a week ago!
When I picked him up he was still so wobbly, white and nauseous the nurse used a wheel chair to get him to my car.
We went to urgent care where they were nice and anything but urgent :(
We got head xrays(head was fine), arm xrays and finally it was decided Clay had an occult fracture. He was splinted at urgent care. Today we followed up with the orthopedist and we have our official cast. Clay chose lime green.

And we're back!

2009-03-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

Im sorry its been awhile since I've updated the blog!
I needed a break from it and had not felt like writing.
A lot has happened since the first of the year.
One of our rats passed away (Shiver-the solid white one) again. So we have one left :(
We had an arm fracture and a birthday celebration!

Annika turned 9 yrs old last week! We celebrated by going out to Strikz and having a bowling party. The next day we hit the American Girl store and spend a gift card and some birthday cash ;)

The day before Annika's birthday we were all at her soccer game. Clay was entertaining Eden and they were doing some rough housing. I actually told them to settle down but then Joe told me to "relax" and let them have fun{rolling my eyes}. A few minutes into my relaxation Eden was crying in my arms about her arm hurting. At first she said she fell on it because Clay tripped her, on accident of course. Later Clay admitted he was swinging her around by her arms.
The next day we got some x-rays on that arm because she still wasnt using it 12 hours later. Turns out we had a nursemaids elbow & 2 tiny hair line fractures. Or growth plates. Thats right. Three different doctors had three different opinions about Eden's arm. The final verdict went to the orthopedist who said it really didnt matterif it was a growth plate or a fracture. All that mattered was that Eden wasnt in any pain and by the time we saw Dr Orthopedist, her pain had vanished. So luckily she avoided a cast this time.

Thoughts for the day.........

2009-01-21T06:25:00.001-08:00

On Being a Mom
by Anna Quindlen

If not for the photographs, I might have a hard time believing they ever
existed. The pensive infant with the swipe of dark bangs and the
blackbutton eyes of a Raggedy Andy doll. The placid baby with the yellow
ringlets and the high piping voice. The sturdy toddler with the lower lip
that curled into an apostrophe above her chin.

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I
take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two
taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books
I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their
opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I
choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and
privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who,
miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from
plate to mouth all by themselves.

Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its
center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except
through the unreliable haze of the past.

Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now.
Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling
rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all
grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are,
they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped
the pages dust would rise like memories.

What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the
playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me
was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.

Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then
becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is
an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to
positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and
a timeout.

One boy is toilet trained at 3, his brother at 2. When my first child
was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he
would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies
were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death
syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and
then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself.
Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over
one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he
describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I
was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month-old who did not walk.
Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something
wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed,
physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China. Next year
he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk,too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes
were made. They have all been enshrined in the
Remember-When-Mom-Did-Hall-of-Fame. The outbursts, the temper tantrums,
the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed.
The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover.
The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of
the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, "What did
you get wrong?" (She insisted I included that.) The time I ordered food at
the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking
it up from the window. (They all insisted I included that) I did not allow
them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while
doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly
clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is
one picture of the three of them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the
shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I
could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they
sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not
been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed.
I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a
little less. Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was
me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I
thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done.

Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they
demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be. The books
said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was
sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with
the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone
to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books never told me. I
was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a
while to figure out who the experts were.

Ft Worth Stockyards 2009

2009-01-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! Our new years gift came in the way of a visit from Joe's brother. Since we've lived out here (going on 5yrs!) we havent had nearly as many family members visit us as we'd hoped. I guess we are out of sight, out of mind ;)
Joe's older brother Dennis (aka Den) came to visit on New Years eve. It donned on me after he got here that Im not sure what to do with a man relative visiting Dallas? Dallas is the shopping/dining mecca of the USA. Bring a woman here and I can figure out an agenda that will leave your debit/credit card gasping for breath! Well Den is a manly man, good ol boy. His skirt isnt going to blow up over Galleria or Northpark! lol. So I rounded up some suggestions from neighbors and friends. First stop was the Ft Worth Stockyards which is about an hour away. Its a national historic district set up to appear like the old west. There are farm animals, cowboys, longhorns, bull riding and lots of cowboy type places to eat. Its also home to Championship rodeos. I really enjoyed watching the mechanical bull riding(next time I am riding the mechanical bull!) and longhorn parade. I dont know why but Im fascinated by longhorns. These animals are the epitomy of a gentle giant. They are HUGE! We had a beautiful 75* degree day today, perfect for being outside. After the stockyards we ventured over to the Bass Pro Shop. Now, I didnt take my camera inside the Pro Shop but I should have. It was pretty cool in there although it was a lot more up Den's alley then mine.
The pictures above are from the Ft Worth Stockyards.

My girly gets glasses!

2008-12-20T18:52:00.000-08:00

The journey to eye glasses for Annika began when one day just weeks after a stellar report card, Annika's teacher called me to brace me for some bad grades in her week end folder. Annika's teacher was puzzled because a lot of the bad grades were in reading, Annika's best subject. Annika is by nature sort of an artsy, quiet, book worm of a kid. She has a couple of book series she enjoys and its not unusual for her to read 3 of these books in one day. So naturally I discussed with Annika the reason behind the drop in her grades. I didnt get too far with her.
Kids are never excited to discuss bad grades, so I have discovered.

After a discussion about the grades with one of my Mommy friends she kind of made a comment (almost as an afterthought) about having her vision checked. I didnt think too much of it at the time. Annika hadnt been complaining about headaches or fuzzy vision. Isnt that what your suppose to look for? I do not need glasses. Joe didnt need vision correction until his late 20's. But, I figured I should cover all our bases and requested the school nurse do quick screening the following week. I figured I would try and bypass my co-pay with the pediatrician if possible, not to mention all the lovely viruses that can be found there this time of year ;)
Annika failed that eye exam. Three weeks later the nurse repeated the exam, Annika failed with the exact same score and a letter came home to me in her folder. Daddy took her to the eye doctor the following Friday to confirm the school nurses findings. That was about 10 days ago. Today the eye glasses were ready for pick up! You cant really tell in the pictures I took but Annika's frames are super cute purple on top and trimmed green along the bottom.
The first thing she said when she put them on was, "Oooh, look at the pattern on the cabinets!"
she was referring to the pattern of the wood grain. I guess she couldnt see that before. And she announced the time on the microwave, she couldnt see that before either. Wow, poor kid. Annika is pretty happy to be wearing glasses now. She was a little nervous before, but once she tried them on she said there was a big difference and she didnt know how much she was missing.

Gall bladder update

2008-12-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow will be one week since the ol gall bladder came out.
I had a Laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
I was wheeled into surgery at 7am, awake by 9am and Joe picked me up at 10am to take me back home. It was fast, like pulling a tooth! I slept for 48hrs straight basically once I got home. I think coming off anesthesia is hard on me because about 24hrs after surgery I started throwing up and couldnt stop. At first I thought it was the pain meds but now in hindsight Im thinking maybe it was just anesthesia withdrawal or something. My belly button was ugly for awhile, still is actually. It changes color daily, I can see two holes in it. The tiny holes in my torso from the procedure are starting to itch like crazy. I assume that means they are healing.
Post op pain has been very minimal. My belly button felt raw at times. My stomach often felt like I had just done too many sit ups. But on a scale of 1-10 I'd say I've been at about a 3-4 most of the time.
I am now adjusting to eating and digesting food without a gall bladder.
I feel nauseated a great deal of the time the last few days which is a bummer. Eating anything with a medium to high fat content means staying close to home if you know what I mean (wink wink). And its Christmas time mind you so high fat foods are in abundance round here!
I was warned the first several months without a gall bladder can be like that but of course I was hoping that wouldnt apply to me. But it did. It does.
Oh well. I guess its better for the waist line anyway and overall, better for my health.

The most wonderful time of the year

2008-12-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas y'all!
We (me, the girls & Annika's bff Mark) wore Joe down and he drug the tree and all our Christmas accessories down from the attic on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The boys left and went tv shopping while the girls(and Mark) decorated the house. I attempted to decorate outside but its been cold here. I got our reindeer staked into the ground when the wind started to kick up so I called it a day before they were even all hooked up or plugged in. See, when you live in Texas you know you have a 70* degree day coming around the corner so you can wait awhile to complete outside projects ;)
Then yesterday we (the girls) paid a visit to Santa! Clay came along for the ride. He gave Santa a friendly wave but he is a man now, he will not be sitting on Santa's lap. Oh well. I think I have a couple more years out of Annika and its going to take Eden lots of years to even finish reciting this years Christmas list ha ha!! Eden is so funny. On Eden's list this year was "magical flower powers" and "princess coffee cups for mommy". Isnt she sweet?

Twilight: the movie

2008-11-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

Ok friends. I know y'all are wondering how I felt about Twilight the movie since I adored the books (the first 3, ahem). I had several phone calls from disappointed girlfriends and read a few bad reviews before I went to the movie today.
Ok I really liked it.
I did!!
Of course it wasnt perfect. I never thought the movie would come alive with the same intensity as the book. How could it? Movies are never as good as the books right?
It was really obvious they were working with a low budget and that is the biggest issue.
The sparkle effect wasnt as good as it could of been, IMO, I mean they do a better job with Gatorade commercials ha ha. I thought the flying through the trees parts were weird, it just wasnt flowing. The make up on the vamps was too chalky in some scenes if your being knit picky but that is budget stuff, not acting stuff. The only thing I out and out did not like at all was Jasper. Ok he came across like Edward Scissorhands. Just dumb and weird. They gave no background on who Jasper is or why so he just looked constipated.

I felt the other actors did great. I did feel the chemistry between Edward & Bella. I liked the screenplay they used even though it was different then the book. It mostly stood alone. I like the added stuff not from the book. I wish more time could have been spent on the build up of their romance but I understand time constraints & not wanting to bore the audience because a lot of their romance was talking in the car in the rain (yawn). So much of Twilight (the first book) is just raw emotion so they had their work cut out for them when building this romance. At times it did move a little fast. But, that kiss scene(YOU know the one) was HAWT! Have mercy! I dont know how Kristen Stewart restrained herself. Ha ha!!! That may be the hottest kiss scene of all time.
I loved Charlie he aced his Dad role perfectly, I loved Victoria showing up at the very end (prom) even though that wasnt in the book(perfect set up for New Moon).
I was happy with the Forks students too, they did great, they were funny and likable.
I felt most of the pivotal scenes were there.
So yeah overall I liked it even though I can see its flaws clearly.
I think if had not read the book, I might see this movie and wonder what all the hub bub was about ya know? But I was entertained, I felt it was worth my money and time.
I do hope now that Summit has secured New Moon, they will get a bigger budget and things will improve. Overall I feel like the biggest problems with the movie were budget related but that the core story was there.

Its official, my gall bladder hates me.

2008-11-14T15:09:00.000-08:00

It all started this summer. Out of the blue I started noticing that food wasnt agreeing with me. Now I really like food & I love to cook as well so this was very frustrating for me. I would eat something and about an hour later my stomach would swell up, I'd start having bouts of reflux & heartburn then spend the rest of the day burping up my food. Sometimes there was chest pain, sweating and nausea. It could last for hours or even days. It didnt really matter what I ate. It could be simple like toast or complicated like pizza. There was no rhyme or reason to the pattern.
After school started and my kids were out of the way I saw my family doctor. She immediately thought ulcers because I had them before. I agreed. I started nexium and all was well for a couple of weeks.
Then one night I made a quiche. A few hours later I wondered if I might be having a heart attack? I mean I guess I knew I wasnt really having a heart attack but sheez, I was in awful pain. Like worse then labor.
My family Dr sent me for an ultrasound of my gall bladder to look for gall stones. It came back normal and I cried. I just had no explanation for this pain and it was relentless some days, and depressing. I dropped 2 sizes in my pants. I needed to lose the weight so it was good but not like this but I was scared to death to eat.
Then it was decided I should see a GI doctor for further investigation of my "issue". This new doctor still suspected my gall bladder had seen better days so he sent me off for a HIDA scan first thing.
Today was HIDA scan day. Today I found out my gall bladder is functioning at 19%. Today I found out my gall bladder and I will be parting ways. Today I felt an enourmous weight lifted off my shoulders. It feels so good to have a concrete answer, something tangible that can be fixed and is not in any way life threatening.
Today I dropped one more size in pants.
A lot of my friends keep telling me they are sorry. I am not sorry. I am so dang happy I cant even stand myself! I will be even happier once that gall bladder is OUT for good and I can eat something without bracing myself for the pain that follows and deciding if its worth it.
Weird how something so small can wreak so much havoc.

Halloween 2008

2008-10-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween. This year we had The Joker, a she devil and Cinderella.
Thank you Nan for throwing the annual Halloween party, its so nice of you and the kids love it.
Without further udo......

11 years ago I became a first time Mom

2008-10-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

So my firstborns 11th birthday is coming up in a few days.....
I cant believe I've been a Mom for 11 years. I havent worked outside the home in 11 years!
(I sometimes miss that!)
I cant believe in another 7 yrs he will be considered an adult. How is that possible? And why dont we have enough money saved for his college? lol
When you have your first baby everyone tells you "these years go by so fast".
When your rocking a fussy baby to sleep at 2am, cleaning puke up off the carpet (or worse!), holding their hand and walking them into preschool for the first time, time seems to be in slow motion. But then all of a sudden you have an 11yr old 5th grader who is only 2 inches shorter then you and if not for your child bearing hips you could wear his pants! This time does go by so fast in hindsight. I have enjoyed the ride. I love you Clay. You are da man!

Time to GUSH....

2008-10-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

This was a big week for the kiddos. It was parent teacher conferences for all three kids.
I always get a little nervous before hand. I dont know why exactly because my kids know our expectations and they meet or exceed them 90% of the time. I like to get a glimpse of what our children look like through the eyes of others.
Clay's conference was first. Clay is a super bright child. (Notice: I did not say gifted. I know all parents think their kid is gifted, lol.) He is not gifted, but he is bright. He learns enthusiastically, he catches on quickly and he's been pulling straight A's since he started school. School just comes so easily for him. I've been a little envious of this from time to time to be honest. School was a beating for me. There were some small changes this quarter. Clay's math grade was its lowest ever, it was still a B, but it was a low B. I reviewed the work and its pre- algebra. I distinctly recall learning this math in the 7th grade, not the 5th grade. So we have some work ahead of us to push that grade up. But Clay's teacher said he is sweet, kind, very well liked, and has old fashioned manners. Just a polite kid. Its really all I can do to not swell up with tears openly during the conference but my heart swells with pride inside. Trust me.
Annika's conference was next and Joe attended that one alone.
This was Annika's best conference ever. Annika struggles in school to maintain her B average.
This last progress report was all A's (first time ever! Yay!), even her math grade was high and Annika despises math. Annika's teacher said she is mature, artistic beyond her years and she said she wished she had 20 more Annika's. This was such a fantastic surprise! Annika has an artsy personality. She is a daydreamer who spends her free time reading and drawing. She is quiet most of the time. Staying focused on school work tasks isnt easy for her and Im so proud at how she has progressed over the years. I hope we can continue at this pace.
Eden's conference was today.
I about died when Eden's teacher described her as a "free spirit" because that is what we've been saying about Eden since she could walk. Eden is so different from the rest of us, its hard to put into words. Eden is the most positive, cheerful, outgoing person I have ever met in my entire life. And she is accepting of everyone. If you look different, talk different or act different its no problem for Eden. She will work around it and find a way to be your friend. She is my only child to actively seek out friendships at such a young age. Eden's teacher said her strong points are her imagination, her well rounded social skills, and her flare for dramatic play (make believe). This teacher is dead on. This describes Eden to a T. Eden plays for hours on end, make believe in her room. She will come out for lunch or to make small talk with me for awhile but then she's off again rounding up some action figures from her brothers room to socialize with her princesses and another hour of make believe.
I know time will go by and I will forget a lot of what they were like when they were little. The pictures help us remember what they looked like but for now there is no way to capture the essence of what makes them uniquely themselves. The mannerisms, the way they smell, the things that make them laugh, the things that make them sad...times like these remind me to be grateful I have been home to witness it all

The best soccer game EVER!

2008-10-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

Today(Saturday) bright and early we were on the soccer field (instead of sleeping in) getting ready for Annika's weekly soccer game. We got there right on time 8:45am, within 5 minutes the rest of the team was there. But we waited....and waited and waited some more. The other team was already 20 minutes late. Long story short they forfeited. Well our coaches decided to take advantage of the situation and we had a parent against the kids soccer game!!
And these parents who were mostly the Dad's (hey-I had heels on!) did not hold back on these 8-9yr old girls! It was hysterical!!! The girls held there own I assure you.
I dont think we kept a score so Im not sure who "won" but it will go down in history as the best game ever. What a treat! It almost made getting up early on a Saturday worth while ;-)
**the above photos are either Joe (white shirt) or Annika (in front of the Dads)**

RIP Cheeky, sweet girl

2008-09-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

A year ago October we bought a hamster intending for the hamster to be Clay's birthday present. The thing was mean, it bit us each several times and then died a week later of wet tail.
Never again.
So I did some research, found out rats are actually better pets for young children. For one they actually like to interact with humans. They do not run when you stick your hand in their cage. They do not bite. They can learn stuff. They are affectionate, love to be held, played with and supposedly are more hardy then hamsters or other small pets. I admit the tails did nothing for me and they sorta skeeved me a little bit. In fact like most people the idea of a rodent for a pet was about as appealing as a pet bat!! But I sucked it up, purchased three baby rats and a big ol Martins cage with tons of toys, a hammock, igloo etc. We brought our 3 girls home late October. Its been pretty fun ever since (almost a year ago).
Well Sunday night I noticed our oldest girl, Cheeky who was our first rattie purchase by a couple weeks seemed "off". She wasnt too steady on her feet, her sister rats had noticed & started picking on her. I took her out of the cage, she curled up on my chest and started to snooze. Very unlike female rats who are extremely active. I held her and hand fed her for an hour or so that night thinking she might pass by morning. The kids were aware she seemed sick when they went to bed. We were all very relieved when at morning time Cheeky seemed almost herself again. I started to wonder if the other rats were keeping food from her and she was merely hungry.
Today was a different story. I walked past their cage this morning and they saw me, started knocking each other down so that if I opened their cage I would grab the one up front first lol. Cheeky got knocked over and didnt get up =(
I picked her up and this time I was certain. She wasnt going to make it through the day.
I hand fed her some cheese, she ate at first but she fell asleep before she finished.
I held her on and off for 3-4 hrs and then I had to leave for preschool pick up. Cheeky passed away before I even got home. Im so sad for the kids and even just sad for myself. Rats are indeed fun little pets. RIP Cheeky. We loved you.

school days are here again

2008-09-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

All the kids are back in school now. (cheers!)
Annika and Clay started a couple weeks ago.
Eden started today.
This is Eden's last year of preschool.
Next fall she is a Kindergartener!
Can you believe it?

She CUT her hair.............

2008-09-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

My youngest daughter. The one with the shoulder length blond hair. Nevermind we spent 6+ months growing out her bangs last year. Nevermind that it is now a few inches past her shoulder.
I have never had a daughter with long hair before. Annika wears her hair in a stacked bob, always has and she would actually wear it much shorter if I would let her. Annika doesnt want to be bothered with her hair. Wash & go suits her just fine thank you very much.
Ok back to the subject at hand. I was sorting our DVD's into their proper cases the other morning and got a little ahead of myself. Eden was going back n forth between my room and the family room. Then all of a sudden I noticed it. Because Eden's hair is streaked from the sun & swimming.
There was suddenly a blunt drop off of one of the streaks.
"Eden! You cut your hair!" immediately she starts to cry & she runs off with me right behind her.
"Eden, show me the scissors you used."
Low & behold she pulls out my real hair scissors which I keep on the top shelf of my medicine cabinet on the top of the bathroom vanity table. So it was premeditated. She had to climb up the vanity, stand on the counter and then reach to that high shelf. Its not as if she stumbled across my sewing scissors which are left out at all times.
I was so surprised because we have talked many a time about how at home we only use scissors for cutting paper and how only Mommy's friend Miss Eunice is allowed to cut our hair blah blah blah. Not to mention, Eden is vain. Very vain. So Im surprised she would risk messing up to be honest, ha ha!
Well the good news is, its very easy to hide the damage. I just pinch back the side and put a barrette in it. Which I usually do anyway or it falls in her face.

Breaking Dawn

2008-08-03T16:00:00.001-07:00

If you havent finished reading Breaking Dawn, and you plan to, you may want to stop reading because Im going to discuss a little here. In fact you may want to stop reading here if your starting any of the books in the series because I dont want to spoil anything for you.
*****spoilers below*****
So at about 9am on Saturday morning I traipsed into the local Walmart and grabbed my copy of the long awaited Breaking Dawn. I was really looking forward to this book. I fell in love with the series at the start of summer and read all three books in just 5 days. I love searching for new trailers and interviews on Twilight Tuesdays!
I had a few things to do before I could sit down with my new book but about noon, I settled in on the couch with it. I was probably 7 chapters in when I closed the book and doubled check the dust cover to make certain I had the right book. This was utter nonsense. It was worse then that actually.
I quickly shot an email out to a friend of mine who probably likes the series more then I do and has actually been up close and personal with the Twilight cast (for the upcoming movie!).
I asked her for encouragement. She assured me it would work itself out and be beautiful. Alrighty then. I carried on. Of course since Im the Mother of three children I have other responsibilities through out the day. Those responsibilities occasionally ask for meals other then the pb&j or cereal they can make themselves ;-) And then there was the little detour we had to take to Petco because of the gecko we are babysitting and the broken sun-lamp. Story for another time.....
It was after dinner before I could get to the last half of Breaking Dawn (Im a fast reader).
Well, I finished the book right about 10pm that night. And I cant say my opinion of this particular book has improved. In fact it was a colossal blunder in my honest opinion. My most favorite thing about these stories has been the fact that even though they are fantasy fiction stories, the fantasy was easy to swallow. Or has been easy to swallow in the past. I can so dig beautiful, sparkling vampires who are old fashioned! I can relate to the depth of a first love, a first heartbreak and making hard choices about your future. Who cant? I cannot relate to what took place in this last monstrosity. The fantasy fiction became fantasy sci-fi. Gory sci-fi. Did you expect me to the swallow this nonsense the way Bella swallowed blood threw a straw?? And my main characters, what happened to their love story? The title of this book should have Renesmee. When I finished the book I felt like I had just drank a flat soda. What a complete and total buzz kill.

Keepin cool when its hot out..........

2008-07-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

I just love having a pool. Its our major form of entertainment in the summer. We swim at least every other day sometimes more.
This summer Annika (finally) learned to swim. In fact she learned in less then 2 weeks and now does backflips off the deep end!
Here is a tip for those of you following along at home with younger kids; you cannot teach a child to swim that has no interest in learning. Even if you send said child to the most expensive swim school in DFW and spend enough money to have paid for one years tuition in a ivy league university. Write that down and save yourself $1,300.
Eden is likely going to be swimming on her own by the end of summer. I bought her a little swim vest that has several thin layers of flotation in it. I've been slowly removing a couple layers over the weeks and so now she is doing most of the work herself. The cost of the Safe T Seal swimvest? $10 =) See....... we're are getting smarter as we go.

The Safe T Seal swimvest: http://www.swimways.com/teachmetoswim/step-3.asp

What is your read this summer?

2008-07-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

One day I called my best friend on her cell and asked her what she was doing. She said she was on her way to pick up a book for her oldest son, who is my son's age.
"What book?" I asked.
"Twilight." she said, "Its some kinda vampire book."
When she said it I immediately wondered if it was the same book my Dallas Mom's group had been discussing & praising a few days before? What kind of book appeals to the tween age and the middle aged (lol)? I googled it and saw it had spent 56 weeks on the New York times best seller.
I decided to pick up a copy next time I was Target or Walmart. So a few days later I was out running errands with my kids and sure enough, it was easy to find. I bought my copy of Twilight still pretty skeptical. Well I started reading it at 9pm on a Friday night and had finished it by noon the next day! And it was so good I reread many parts again just to absorb some more of it.
It was romantic, sweet & warm without being overtly sexual. It was about vampires but never got too gory (ala Anne Rice) dark or sinister. I really loved it.
The best part, I later found out, was that it was a series! I bought the next two books in the series and read both of those in 48hrs as well. So, if you havent started the Twilight series, you should. They are hard to describe. The 4th book in the series will be released next month, I can hardly wait.
Pick up a copy, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

The dog days of summer.......already?

2008-06-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

So, until today the lowest temp we've seen in about 10 days was 97*. Yesterday was 100* and so was the day before. And its only JUNE!! We love spending the day in the pool and its a good thing I guess. Especially since our upstairs a/c is on the blink and the hvac guy cant make it out til Wednesday.
In the evenings after dinner most nights we round up the spawn, kites, balls and head to the park behind our house. Last night it was just me, the girls and Tommy but I grabbed the camera and got some cute shots.

First day of summer break!

2008-06-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

The spawn are out for summer break. We decided to check out a local spray park that was just opened. When we first pulled up I was disappointed for the kids. It was so small. I mean there is a huge one just a few miles away from this one. But then I realized this would be a great spray park for those with two or more under the age of 5. Its a small park so you can see the whole thing at once. The kids had a lot of fun anyway.

Eden turns 4 years old!

2008-05-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

My baby was born 4yrs ago, hard to believe. We arrived in Texas when she was 10 weeks old.
We lived in a Residence Inn for 2 weeks, she slept in a drawer while we waited for our moving truck to get here with all our furniture and closed on our home.
Living in a hotel is fun. Maid service daily.
Back to the birthday girl.
Technically the birth day is June 1st.
We celebrated *today* with high tea and a ladies lunch at Into My Garden, downtown Plano.
Her big sister, her friends from ballet and some friends from preschool all joined her. No Daddies, no brothers. Ladies only ;-)
Happy Birthday my baby princess. I love you.

Eden...free spirit

2008-05-28T11:48:00.001-07:00

Saturday at White Rock Lake..........

2008-05-24T18:05:00.001-07:00

Beautiful scenery, beautiful kids.

Just because it makes me laugh.........

2008-05-23T18:46:00.001-07:00

My baby eating her toast under the watchful eye of our dog =)

A tow truck and a cough.

2008-05-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

So its been awhile.
Last week Joe was scheduled to leave for business in Indianapolis at 10:30 on Monday.
At approx noon on that very day Eden and I hopped in the Cadillac ( that I dont normally drive) to run some errands. Without thinking I stuck the key to my van in the Cadillac ignition. I didnt even get to turn the key because the car started beeping at me. I pulled the key out, switched keys and bummer. The ignition was locked. Now, I have had this type of thing happen to me in my van but usually you wait 3 minutes, twist the steering wheel while turning the key and presto! Not the case that day. I cant call Joe because he is in the air. I decide to call Cadillac and see if they can walk me though something. The service guy on the phone tells me to twist the steering wheel while turning the key. Yep tried that. Since we are just outside warrantly (by 7 miles.....) they want $100 to have a service person come out to the house. No thanks. I can think of lots of other ways I'd rather spend $100 (Gymboree anyone?). So I call Triple A. They tell me the same thing "twist the steering wheel while turning the key. Sigh. About 30 minutes later a Triple A guy is in my driveway showing me how he twists the steering wheel and...........
oops. The key does nothing. I told ya so.
So by now its 3pm and my older kids are coming home from school soon and the Dad's in the neighborhood will be getting home from work soon. I needed a man to tell me that "yes- you broke your husbands car." or "oh no, see you just do this and it fixes it!"
Except that, the Dad's in my neighborhood all seem to travel just like my husband. Long story short one of our friends from the hood works in wholesale automobiles. He fixed me up with his mechanic and his mechanic rebuilt the ignition cylinder for me for half of what Cadillac wanted to charge me. I was however, without any kind of vehicle til Friday at noon. That was made easier by our great friends giving rides to my kids and myself so that we could get to our extracurricular activities and the grocery store. But still, it sucks not having a car for an entire week.

The cough:
So Annika has had this cough now for about 5 days. Its not particularly gross or scary sounding but she does have a hard time catching her breathe during the coughing spells. On Sunday, on our weekly trip to Costco Annika had one of her coughing spells and threw up all over her brother's lap (lol). That was my first indication that perhaps we needed to see the Dr and have this cough evaluated. Monday I call and make the appointment for Tuesday. Meanwhile Monday evening we are eating dessert and Annika has another coughing spell, throws up her cake all over her lap. At this point Im thinking whooping cough?
Tuesday morning Annika and I head to the pediatrician, Eden in tow.
I really suspect I will get updated on the latest virus making the rounds, we will get told to push fluids and rest then be sent out the door. Instead the nurse hears Annika cough and grabs the finger oxygen meter, poor Annika scores a 95 and earns a breathing treatment. During her breathing treatment her ped tells us to head to hospital asap for a chest x-ray. Im beginning to wonder where my Mother of the year award is? Have I let this cough turn into something serious??? But her score isnt any better after breathing treatment number one so she gets breathing treatment number two before scoring a 97 then heading to the hospital. Long story short poor girl has pneumonia! I had no idea. She had no fever. She was a tiny bit more sleepy then usual and opted to stay inside rather then play outside over the weekend but still, nothing that sent alarm bells off. We brought home four prescriptions that day and a nifty nebulizer where my poor kid gets a breathing treatment every 4hrs. All night long.
The attatched pictures are of little miss pneumonia, receiving her treatments.

Ew YUCK!

2008-04-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

We got in the van late this afternoon to take Clay to scouts. I glanced back at Annika's seat, noticed what appeared to be a mountain of crumbs from some kind of food and said to her "clean those crumbs out of your seat young lady!" then like any good Mother I proceeded to lecture her about eating/making a mess in the van.
Then she said, "Uh...Mom. Thats the stuffing of the seat?"
Holy sheep. It took just a minute for it to sink in.
Something chewed up the leather and stuffing of her seat!? {chills}
By now we are driving and on the main road when Im realizing I left the back vent windows vented open all weekend. Even at night while my van was parked in the garage.
So something got in....hopefully it got out! But what if????????
I pull over in a parking lot of a church, get out and start frantically throwing stuff out of the van. RAT POOP!!!!!!!!!!!
There is rat poop in the van!!!!!!
Ok now we have pet rats but this is waaaaay different (to me!).
Luckily we found nothing living, just the poop and chewed up seat
Im assuming the *thing* crawled back out.
As soon as I got home(to switch out vehicles!) Joe detailed out the inside of the van and checked for lurkers in the engine. Nothing.
Tonight we have a trap set up in the garage (which is hard for me because we do have pet rats...and I dont want to kill anything).
Ugh ICK!!!

Spring Blue Bonnets

2008-04-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

My favorite thing about spring in Texas is the wildflowers. Bluebonnets need rain in the winter and then a warm spring to bloom to their full potential. We had lots of rain this winter but our temperatures stayed cooler then normal this spring, so we didnt get the full, lush blooms we have had in the past but they were still pretty. Bluebonnets tend to spring up in random places along the highways and such. The field we are in is along the industrial area of Richardson.

Tornados & storms hit the big D

2008-04-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

We are alive and well. Our hood only suffered moderate damage luckily..
At about 10:30 last night the news weather man declared us not even under tornado watch any longer and only going to get a weak thunderstorm so I went to bed.
At about 3:45 am Joe & I were sleeping with our bedroom window cracked just a bit when we were awoke by what really resembled a horrific hurricane. The rain/hail was so heavy I couldnt even see across the street. I could however see my neighbors trees nearly bent in half. I told Joe "this one is worse then last night....". He opened the window all the way and the blinds all the way and within seconds the tornado sirens went off. I ran upstairs to grab the girls (Clay was asleep on our fam room couch) while Joe turned on our tv as loud as it would go so we could listen from our shelter (bathroom in the hall). Sure enough they were counting us down which was nice.."Collin county you have 7 minutes...6 minutes...5 minutes....ok Collin county you are clear to come out of your shelter." Turns out we had 87 mph winds. There was definite rotation but if it touched down, it touched in the West side, we are the far North East corner. We have several fences down in our hood of 550 houses and moderate roof damage from what I can see. The West side has trees down, fences, chunks of roofing etc. So we (our home) escaped by the skin of our teeth it appears. Within an hour the whole atmosphere was serene like it never happened. We were all so full of adrenaline we couldnt fall back asleep for a looong time though.
This afternoon is so gorgeous, sunny and still you'd never guess what happened last night.
******************************************************************************
UPDATE:
I nearly had a religious experience
driving around our neighborhood today. Just 4-5 houses down our friends tree is down in their yard. Split down the middle no less!
I saw a full size trampoline in a tree at our local YMCA which is across the street from our hood, which means the trampoline traveled across the 6 lane street to get there! Nearly ever single house in the first row of our developement lost their shingles from their roofs. A couple homes had gaping holes in their roofs.
The McDonalds two blocks away had a street lamp fall over into the parking lot. Street signs are bent like pretzels! All the poplar trees in dividing the roads are fallen over. The church on the corner from our house lost the cross off the roof (its laying in the parking lot) along with its fence.
And our house was untouched Unbelievable. Praise God.

Bento, in 3 minutes!

2008-04-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

I love the cute presentation of bento lunches for kids. In my free time I love to tour the Flickr bento pages or tour the pictures on Laptop Lunchbox. It gives me ideas. Lunch can get mundane. Lunch can get ordinary. I used to dread slapping together the millionth pb&j sandwich, my kids dreaded eating the millionth pb&j sandwich.
A lot of my friends have expressed a time issue for bento lunches. Well it doesnt have to take a long time. Todays lunch(for Eden) of animal shaped cheese, salami, pretzels and apple slices took less then 3 minutes. Its not visually stunning but its not ordinary. You'd be surprised how much more your kid will eat if it looks interesting =) It also forces you as a parent to concentrate on a balanced diet. I know I need a fruit or vegetable in each meal, the compartments in bento containers hold me accountable for all the food groups over the course of a day.

A party fit for a princess.....

2008-04-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today Eden attended a birthday party. It wasnt just any ol cake and ice cream party either.
Oh no. This was a princess party. Cinderella was there. Cinderella brought her coach and horses too. And Cinderella took the girls around the hood in her coach. Oh yeah. It was da bomb! Im so glad Eden has almost two months for the memories from this party to fade before we have hers....I dont think we will be pulling off anything as spectacular!

Dirty fun

2008-04-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today was Annika's soccer practice. Last night we had storms all night. Guess what the fields were like today? Yep. Muddy. Now, Im pretty much an indoor girl. I dont camp. I dont garden. I dont even like to read a newspaper to get my hands inky. So mud isnt something I get excited about.
I was already thinking to myself to remind Annika to remove her soccer cleats before we all get in the van to go home. Well Eden's little friend Anton was there, he is the younger sibling of one of our teammates. Anton and Eden hit it off when they met for the first time at a game a few weeks back. So when Eden saw him she ran across the field to embrace him. Aw....young love. While the Mom's all talked we kept an eye on the two youngsters but before we could really stop them they had started jumping in mud puddles. Well that led to mud throwing. That led to mud caked hands. Clothes caked in about 2 inches of thick mud....then falling into the mud and mud in our mouths (eeeeewwww!).
And as much as I wanted to stop her she was having fun. I could hear the deep belly laughs across the field. I knew it wasnt really hurting anything. Now once the damage was done I had to strip her down to her underwear before she could get in the car, and by then she was in tears because of the mud in her mouth. I no longer keep wet wipes in my car but I tell ya I needed an entire box just to get her adequate enough for the car ride home.

pizza making 101

2008-03-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

Most of my close friends and family know Im crazy for waffles and casseroles. Waffles especially.
I recently purchased (just after Christmas) a spendy Belgian waffle maker. I make waffles for my husband and kids at least once a week, though usually twice. No box mix either. I dont even really like recipes that call for baking soda. I also try not to gasp when someone says they just use pancake batter in their waffle iron. A pancake is soft and round. A waffle is not even close to the same thing! Come on! I prefer yeast based waffle batter. Um yummy. Well I have always been curious about pizza making too. But I have been intimidated by the dough aspect. For one thing I have my Mom's 1970's mixer. It actually still works fabulously but it probably doesnt have much more tork then hand kneading the dough ;-) But a recent conversation sparked my interest again and my friend swore it was easy. So I used the recipe from American Pie by Peter Reinhart, my friend swears this is THE recipe for the perfect crust. She feels the same passion for pizza, I feel for my waffles. I trust her judgment. So Sunday morning I summoned Joe to the kitchen to begin preparing the dough while I went off to shower. I checked on him when I was done. Our pizza dough looked like uh, chowder. LOL! Fast fwd another 1 cup of flour and some hand kneading and we have dough! Off to purchase a pizza stone while the dough rises in preparation for the evenings dinner. Now I have read a lot about pizza making in the past. Most people use a peel to prepare their pizza with its toppings before moving it onto the hot pizza stone. We dont happen to have a peel. I havent a clue as to where to buy one either. Im certainly not going to rush out and buy one before at least giving it one or two tries. I mean, what if I hate homemade pizza? Well I will save you the details but moving the pizza off the cutting board and onto the ready waiting pizza stone was a joke and a half. I laughed. I cried. I got frustrated. One pizza went into the trash. But...three pizzas not only survived but they were excellent if I do say! They were small, like just a hair bigger then a personal pan size maybe but they were yummy. I think we are going to replace Sunday burger night for Sunday pizza night until we get good at this. Now, where to buy a peel? Anyone know?

Five Snoopy's and counting..........

2008-03-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

Eden first met a Snoopy about 1yr ago. She was at my neighbors house playing with their triplets. The triplets had one Snoopy each and Eden began to stockpile them, preparing to take them home with her. Separating from the other Snoopy's didnt go well and she talked about them for several days. So we went to Hallmark and bought our first Snoopy. I should mention we have a lot of the DVD's as well. Now we have five Snoopy's and counting...

Easter loot.......

2008-03-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

The baskets before the pillaging takes place ...

Clay's is the basketball, then Annika's featuring the Webkinz Tiger Snake, and the Eden's with another Snoopy.
Eden has a small Snoopy collection ;-)

Happy Easter everyone!

2008-03-22T16:03:00.001-07:00

Yes, we have a son too. He is waaay too cool for the Easter bunny though so you'll just have to enjoy the girls for the moment.

more weather madness.....

2008-03-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

So Wednesday was a nice balmy spring day. I believe our high was 68*. The weather people kept saying snow was on the way but I wasnt buying it. Thursday around noon the sleet started coming down at a pretty fast pace. It was collecting along the bushes, roof lines and trees.

My kids were all at school so I was peacefully watching the news. Then I heard DFW airport had shut down, Denton ISD had released its students....

I decided to venture out and see what all the fuss was about. I headed West toward Eden's preschool. I was amazed at the difference in just 7 miles. Big HUGE fluffy snowballs were falling from the sky. They already had a couple inches if snow on the ground whereas we only had sleet at home. I picked Eden up and headed to the elementary school to get the older two kids.

The elementary school is only two blocks from home and once again we mostly had sleet but it was ever so slowly turning to something resembling wet snow. Carpool was ridicules as it always is on bad weather days. I was nearly wiped out by a suburban and then cut off twice just trying to exit the parking lot. I should know by now everyone elses time is so much more valuable then mine (not).

An hour later we had about 4 inches of snow...maybe 5?

Only Annika is interested in snow. Everyone else has adjusted nicely to the warmer southern climate. So Annika and her group of friends played outside til dark.

The rest of stayed in, made cookies and kept warm.

The very next day all the snow was melted by noon. Its polite southern snow that minds its manners...just another thing to love about Texas.

See? We do get snow in Texas!

2008-03-04T06:33:00.001-08:00

In March no less! Yeah, so its barely a dusting. Not enough to even get the kids a day off school but its wintery precipitation nonetheless.

Another year gone by....Annika turns 8

2008-03-03T12:39:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was Annika's official birthday celebration with her friends even though her actual day of birth was Tuesday. We had it at The Zone. We did a bounce party. The Zone also houses an arcade, lazer tag, pizza and even an espresso cafe. We had a great turnout, we had about 10 kids. We bounced, ate pizza, opened gifts (Webkinz ruled this year) and then spent some money in the arcade. Fun was had by all (except maybe Eden who threw up and had to go home early with Dad). I think the bouncing and the rootbeer just didnt mix for Eden.

By the way...Is that turtle cake not the cutest cake ever? Thanks Connie! Annika said it was her yummiest cake so far too.

PS used a little point n shoot camera so excuse the photo quality...it was dark in The Zone and my little camera wasnt up to the task.

The worlds longest two weeks......

2008-02-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

So Im just rounding the corner on the two longest weeks of my life. It started one Wednesday morning as Joe was getting ready for a business trip. We said our goodbyes, he dropped the older two kids at school on his way to the airport. About an hour had gone by when Eden said she was really cold. I thought it was just me. I messed around with our thermostat for a few minutes but noticed the heat wasnt coming on and our room temp had dropped two degrees since I had been standing there. In a panic I call Joe on his cell who does not believe I have anything to be panicked about. He has a spare 30 minutes so he comes home to check out what the problem could be. He left 30 minutes later to fly out and he did not know anything more then he did when I called him. Long story short, our furnace motherboard blew. It was not a cheap fix. We had to go without heat for 24hrs but luckily it was on a pretty warm day.

A couple days later Eden calls me from my masterbathroom, she uh, needs assistance on the toilet. I notice that while she is using the toilet she has been munching on an apple simultanously.

Oh to be three years old......

We take care of business, stand up and situate her clothing then she leans over to flush the toilet dropping her now apple core into the toilet mid flush. Perfect!

The toilet flushes without incident the rest of the evening.

The next day Annika uses the same toilet, runs out screaming mid flush "MOM!!!!! Whats it doing?!!!!!!"

Water everywhere. The apple core.........oh no.

I turn the water off to that toilet, we have four more toilets, and wait for Joe to return home.

That night I pull my laptop in bed with me and decide to surf the net for gossip. I have favorite celebrity gossip sites I like to visit. I was one site in particular when I decide to click a link that I knew in the back of my head was just asking for trouble. Sure nough. Within 30 seconds my laptop is very obviously infected with some kind of trojan/virus thingy. I spend 3 hours running my Norton and every single thing I can think of. No dice. Curiousity killed the cat( or the Dell Latitude). The next morning I call a computer geek guy we've used before and write him a nice little check to help me be virus free again. Im not even going to mention I infected myself a second time just a day later and had to call him back...............from now one I will buy a People magazine and call it a day.

But its weekend time! Joe is home! Our heat is working, Joe fixed the toilet, my laptop is back and virus free so things should start looking up right? We even went out to dinner to celebrate Annika's upcoming birthday.

We went to the Purple Cow and drank purple milkshakes. Life is good.

Except that at 3:30am Eden's purple milkshake came back up and sprayed her bed. And that was just the beginning of 24 hours of nonstop puking.

But considering the flu and the strep throat going around here a 24hr stomach bug is really just an inconveniance and nothing more. It could have been worse.

Just as Eden started to turn the corner...my throat started to swell up and I could feel that familiar raw throat, achey, fever feeling that comes with strep throat. Good times y'all!

Tuesday was Annika's 8th birthday! Wow! Can you believe it?

That morning as I send her out the door to school I promise to bring her cupcakes to celebrate with her classroom at the end of the day and visit her for lunch to let her buy an ice cream. I get Eden all ready and we head out the door about 20 minutes before Annika's lunch time.

As I back out of my driveway I hear a horrid sound I cant place. Am I dragging something?

I jump out in the alley to have a look (Eden has her hands over her ears). OMGosh. I have a tire so flat its off the rim! How in the world?????????? Oh no!!!!!! How am I going to get the cupcakes to school now? Poor Annika!

Joe to the rescue and amazingly enough he is in town this time!

Well I did make it to school with cupcakes! So the day was not a total loss ;-)

The week is almost over....and Sunday is Annika's official birthday bash with her friends.

For now I will post Annika in her soccer uniform. The girl can bend it like Beckham, Im one proud Mama =)

Ballerina girl..........you are so lovely =)

2008-02-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

Eden started ballet at the first of the year. Boy is she ever cute! She loves it. She wishes she could go everyday. I love the ballet studio we found. Its only one block away and what a wonderful teacher she has. She has the patience of a saint let me tell you.

These little 3 & 4yr old girls will be having a recital come June and it should be a hoot!

Welcome 2008!

2008-01-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

So, did everyone have a Merry Christmas?
We got to go "home" and visit our families for a couple weeks. Arent we lucky?
I dont know that I will ever get used to traveling with 3 children as a family of 5.
We need so much stuff!! Although it is slightly less stuff as their getting older I guess.
My parents live in Eastern Washington which enjoys a dryer climate and snow! The
day after we arrived they got 4 inches of fresh snow which was pretty darn cool for the Texans.
Annika enjoyed the snow the most. She could have gone out everyday. Eden lasted 5 minutes and Clay fell somewhere in the middle.
We also spent some time with Daddy's family in the Eugene (OR) area. It was wet. Very cold and very wet. I honesty dont think there was a time that we went outside where it wasnt at least sprinkling. I had forgotten what that is like to be honest...maybe I blocked it out? lol
We got to see Aunt Cheryl's new house too which was so nice, very roomy and comfy. She got the priveledge of housing all of us while we were there =) Cheryl, if your reading this Thank You! It was so nice to see everyone and have the big Christmas feast at your house!
So...are we doing pizza next year? Just kidding!
But now we've been home for a week and Dallas is home for us now I think. It now feels comfy and familiar. The kids are back in school tomorrow (woot woot!) and things are pretty much going back to the normal routine.

Just photos...

2007-12-10T06:57:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas....

2007-12-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

I had the best of intentions when I started our blog. I had hoped to post once a month. I think it will be my New Years resolution to try and do a better job in keeping it up to date,lol. Well Sept 1st was my last update and a lot has taken place since then. Where to start?

We had Halloween. Clay was an accident victim, Annika was a witch and Eden was a mermaid.

We did our annual visit to the pumpkin patch. That is always fun.

What else?

Clay turned 10yrs old! Can you believe Clay is 10? It honestly seems like he was JUST BORN! He got a hamster for his birthday but sadly it was only with us for a week before it went to hamster heaven =( After much reading and research we decided to give rats a try. They seem to be the only rodent who actually enjoys contact with humans. So...I got past the icky tail and now Clay has 3 pet rats. And they are sweet and cuddly so it was a good decision. Their names are Cheeky,Cleo and Shiver.

And we had our first experience with a not so pleasent childhood milestone. LICE! Maybe I wont say who got the lice to protect the innocent. But I was casually combing the childs hair one Saturday morning on Thanksgiving break when I saw some tiny brown raindrops on childs hair shaft. I immediately began to itch. I called my neighbor who had just went thru the lice experience with her son to come and confirm what I thought I saw and sure enough. Ick ick nasty gross! I should mention for some reason our school district really struggled with these critters this fall so I sorta had a feeling we might become victims with 3 little kids in the house....

So we nit picked childs hair for 2 hours, did the chemical shampoo treatments, laundered the entire house and nit picked some more. Here we are 2 weeks later and I was able to find two dead nits in childs hair just a few days ago, urgh! I cant believe with all our technology we havent come up with a cure for nits/lice?!! Luckily no one else in the house became infected with the critters, thats all Im gonna say.

Thanksgiving day came and went. It was just the 5 of us and our bachelor friend Scott. We opt to not have turkey, no one really likes it, and we serve ham instead. =)

Now Christmas is upon us. The month is rapidly flying by! Our temps have been mostly in the 80's which makes it very hard to get into the Christmas spirit. However we will be going HOME for Christmas this year! We will be staying with Grandma and Grandpa in Eastern Washington so we are sure to see snow. Eden is so excited!

I would like to take a minute to thank my neighbor who has triplets and still offered to watch our house and feed the critters we have accumulated. Three rats, a turtle and a salt water aquarium. You have no idea how much we appreciate your doing this for us! We thank you and the critters thank you too.

So I leave y'all now with some pictures and a promise to do better on this blog.

Merry Christmas,God Bless and Happy New Year!!!!

A new season is upon us

2007-09-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

Its the most wonderful time of year! Back to school! Yes the two older kiddos started school on the August 27th. Eden will start preschool on the 4th of September. Everyone is pretty happy to be back in the swing of things and getting back to some kind of routine. The kids were lucky again and got two very sweet teachers that they really enjoy so far. Clay is in 4th grade and Annika is in 2nd grade.

The summer was nice. Texas had record amounts of rainfall which I didnt care for. We also had a humid summer because of the rain.
Joe and the two older kids went back to the Pacific Northwest for 2 weeks to visit family & friends we left behind. Eden and I stayed behind just because....... anyone with a toddler who has flown knows the additional supplies needed (carseat, stroller,diapers etc) for little people makes traveling a lot more work. But the entire family will be flying home for Christmas this year.

Eden did potty train this summer though (finally) and its a bittersweet thought to think I will never buy another pack of Pampers again. I do not feel old enough to think there will not be a baby in our house again til we become Grandparents...and thats at least 20 years away, I hope.

This summer I started some new hobbies myself. Sewing. And knitting. Ok well my first knitting class was just last week but I love it so far. However, I have sewn 3 tops, one pair of pj pants, and 2 dresses this summer. Im not sure I'd say it was fun. But I wanted to learn and I did. I think I will keep it up but on how regular a basis, Im not sure.

This is labor day weekend and there is much to reflect on and celebrate.

Its Joe's and mine 13yr wedding anniversery on the 3rd.

I can honestly say marriage is so completely different then I imagined. Sometimes thats a good thing, and sometimes its not. I am proud that we have taken the commitment seriously and that we have managed to work through all of lifes curveballs that have been tossed our way, so far. Having a partner, a witness to your life, is a blessing.

Tragic 4th of July

2007-07-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

So about 5 minutes before we were about to walk out the door to go to the fireworks show Annika let out this blood curdling scream. I knew she was playing with Snappy so I assumed snappy bit her finger or something. Joe took off across the room like a lightning bolt to where they were playing so I knew it was serious as Joe has zero sense of urgency;-)
I was completely unprepared for what I saw.
Snappy had a hold of Annika's tongue.
All these thoughts went whizzing through my head. Why is Annika licking her turtles face? How long will it take the ER to sew her tongue back on so we dont have to miss the firework show? Is it mean if I let Joe take her to the ER and I take the other kids to the fireworks show? When will Snappy let go of her tongue?
Turns out 15 minutes is how long Snappy had a hold of her tongue and there was not much we could do about it except keep them both calm. Keeping Snappy calm is important because when she is stressed she bites down even harder on Annika's tongue.
When Snappy finally let go we were absolutely amazed that Annika's tongue was whole and not bleeding, not even a drop of blood. I mean Snappy has a beak, she snaps super worms into pieces and eats them in seconds.
How lucky is Annika whom we have nicknamed "turtle snack" ?
(picture taken by Joe)

More swimming photos..

2007-06-27T20:55:00.001-07:00

Some more photos of the older kiddos =)

How long has it been?

2007-06-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, so its been awhile since I have updated huh? I keep thinking I will and then I put it off and the next thing I know a month has gone by. Time flys when your having fun!
Ok well the kids got out of school May 25th. Everyone had excellent grades, scored well on their tests (Clay=100% on his TAKS!!!!) and enjoyed the new school that was built for us. School is out in Texas til the end of August I believe. It used to be the beginning of August but Texas is now trying to be on a similar schedule as most of the states (I think). So regardless this is an extra long summer for the kiddos. I dont mind. I enjoy sleeping in and not having a real "schedule". This fall we will have a 4th grader and a 2nd grader. Oh and Eden will do another year of preschool, going three times a week instead of two.
Unfortunately our weather thus far really sucks. Its been raining so much Im having Seattle/Portland flashbacks and I get confused as to where I am. Its been so long since we have been in a rainy climate I now slow down, waaaaay down when Im driving in the rain. Thats just wrong. Although the Texas tropical storm rain is far different then the drizzly rain of Portland.
People are really funny in Texas when it rains too. They hole up inside. If they are inside a store or mall they will stand in the doorway and wait for the rain to pass. Imagine if we did this in the Pacific Northwest? A year could pass you by =)
On June 1st Eden celebrated her 3rd birthday. Is anyone else as shocked as I am that she is three already? It sounds so cheesy and everyone says it but, "where does the time go?". Im so sad that my baby is growing up 3x the speed of her older siblings. I remind Joe daily that having my tubes tied was my biggest mistake ;-) Eden had a nice little party at our neighborhood playground, her first real party with her preschool friends. Before this its always just been family, the 5 of us.
Im including a few snapshots of Eden's party, her recent portrait sitting and some of us swimming on one random nice day we had last week.

Long time; no updates...

2007-04-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Im so sorry everyone. Its not like things never happen here, they do. In fact we are quite busy with 3 young kids. Life moves at kid speed one of our friends once said, so true. But we are busy living life, doing routine things. Like going to gymnastics(Annika), basketball games (Clay) and preschool (Eden). There have been some exciting developements with the kiddos. Clay scored 100% (yes 100%) on his TAKS test and I was one proud Mama. The TAKS is the state standardized test for all 3rd graders, part of the 'no child left behind' act I believe. He obviously has his Dad's study skills,lol. He has become a fantastic basketball player, we are all impressed. I think hockey is a has been for the moment which is fine by me, basketball is a far cheaper(safer) sport;-) Annika has learned to do front flips in gymnastics. And Eden......well we let her live another week. Just kidding! Eden is crazy active and just trying to keep up with the big kids.
Texas has seen some C.R.A.Z.Y weather the last few weeks too. We had snow on Easter, how crazy is that? The Easter bunny was so shocked he forgot to hide eggs outside! Then 2 days later it was 80 degrees again and then last Friday 4 tornados blew through Dallas. Our neighborhood was untouched thank goodness!
Our kids only have til the end of May and school gets out.
We are pondering the trip back to Washington to see our families this summer but it is not easy with 3 and not cheap so nothing has been decided for sure.

We are wondering if our families miss us so much why noone has come out here yet? cough cough.....=)

One last thing, Joe is a graduate! He completed his masters last month and it was hard work! We are proud of him. Now Im hoping to convince him to let me be the student this fall. I would really love to begin my 'career' around the time Eden enters Kindergarten. Being home has been great and I loved (almost) every minute of it but it will ne nice to start a new phase with the kids getting older.

Im including some recent pics of the kids just because they are cute.

Happy spring everyone.

Annika is a 7yr old!

2007-02-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my girly!
So yesterday was Annika's official day of birth. We celebrated Saturday and took some of her friends for lunch at The Purple Cow, Annika's favorite diner.
Then the girls came back to the house, ate cake, opened presents and hung out with Snappy; Annika's new turtle. Snappy was a gift from us =)
I know everyone says this but if you have kids you know its true. Time goes by so fast....the more kids you have I think the faster it goes! How is it possible Annika is 7?
Annika is still sassy as ever ;-) Some of her favorite things right now include taking care of Snappy the turtle, taking care of our dogs, all her Build A Bear critters, tumbling class on Monday nights, riding her bike all around the neigborhood oh and her best friend Olivia.
Happy Birthday my pretty princess!

A new pet or a new pillow?

2007-01-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

Beppin our new doggie is like "Nana" from the Peter Pan movie. I think she wonders just what her role is in this family. Companion or .........pillow?

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!

2007-01-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

Im wondering what everyone did for New Years? We stayed home, which is typical I think for families with young children, lol. I dont really mind, I'd be nervous out driving around with the drunks ;-) We did stay up til midnight, everyone but Eden that is. I had an online chat with some of my girlfriends and that was pretty fun ;-) Just a couple more days of vacation and the kids are back to school, no more sleeping in til 9am. Well, Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!

It was a very Merry Christmas!

2006-12-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

I hope all our friends and family who read my blog had a fantastic holiday. We sure did. My parents came to have Christmas with us, driving from Washington state. We are so glad they came and we had the best time. The kids ended up with waaaaaaay too many presents even though every year I vow not to go overboard. How does that happen? I guess we pick up one thing here and another thing there and before ya know it Santa comes and its madness! The older kids got new bikes(new scooters too) and Eden got a new tricycle. Annika's favorite gift is either her Build A Bear Mumble or her Calico Critters set. Eden really likes her trike and Clay is loving all his new Xbox games and his basketball hoop set. We have moved on from hockey to basketball with Clay this year so that means we collect basketball cards, watch every single Mavericks game and go to the park to shoot hoops whenever possible.

While the Grandparents were in town we went to Shady Oak to let them experience some real southern bbq. We also went to La Hacienda Ranch and let them experience the Tex Mex we are famous for as well. We toured the Deerfields Christmas light show and the famous light show in Frisco that is set to music. Eden cannot get enough of the Christmas lights! Grandpa and Joe golfed every single day except Christmas day and Mom and I did a ton of shopping once they got home to take care of the kids! Ha! Overall our weather was pretty nice although we had some days in the 50's which is COLD for a Texan, especially once the wind kicks in ;-)

But all good things must come to an end and the Grandparents left shortly after breakfast today. The kids cried a little but they bounced back faster then last year. Eden keeps asking for Grandpa with her blocks in her hand.

The kids are home another week (-1 day) as is Joe, then it will be time to take down the tree and welcome in 2007. I am ready, are you?

We have a new family member!

2006-12-16T09:48:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday December 12th our family grew by four feet ;-) A new doggie by the name of Beppin (which means pretty girl in Japanese) was adopted by us. Beppin is an Akita. She is not yet 2yrs old. Beppin came from a nice family with two young boys who took very good care of her so she has no behavorial problems and she is as sweet as can be. They just felt like she wasnt getting enough time and attention. Well we have lots of that to offer her! Beppin and Tommy(our 4yr old Lhaso) had some tense moments (on Tom's part) the first couple of days but they really seem to be adjusting very well now. Tommy was thinking his life was just fine without a roomate thank you very much! But last night they must have played for about 2hrs and we just laugh watching them, they are a funny couple. Hopefully things will just keep improving between Beppin and Tom so we can be her forever home. Beppin seems to feel most comfortable around our children. She is Eden's shadow during the day and it feels to me like she is supervising her. If you know Eden at all you know she needs all the supervision she can get! Today I think we need to go toy shopping for Beppin. She can play a mean game of fetch but unfortunately her teeth have punctured all our balls!

Making a gingerbread house, our first time...

2006-11-25T18:31:00.000-08:00

Ok this was a laugh a minute. It was a huge mess and somewhat stressful because for some reason I couldnt get across to the little ones that they could not eat the house or the candy that decorated the house! LOL! There was also some bickering about who would put what where and who was getting to do the most decorating. Overall though it was a lot of laughs.Oh and Eden did get to help. She did the peppermints along the roof line and some gumdrops too.

Deck them halls y'all!

2006-11-25T11:19:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. But guess what?
Christmas is coming! Hooray! My most FAVORITE holiday =)
Check out our house(above), pretend there is a little snow on the ground, isnt it beautiful?
On Thanksgiving day Joe brought out the Christmas tree and all the trimmings. Our friend Scott who was helping us celebrate turkey day sat up the tree for us while Daddy worked on our Thanksgiving dinner. The kids and I decorated the tree and the house the next day. Tonight I think we will build our very first gingerbread house. Stay tuned for more pictures....

Eden's first haircut

2006-11-01T15:18:00.000-08:00

Eden is now 2 years and 5 months old; today in fact. Last week I took her for her very first haircut other then the bang and end trims I have done myself at home. I had her hair stacked in a little bob because I just really like that haircut on little girls. It also gets everything evened out so it can grow out one length from here. Eden who is a ball of motion and cant sit still (or stop talking) to save her life was perfectly still for her haircut. We went to Kool Cuts for kids where they have the little tvs and video games while they get their haircuts. The hair stylist put a Nemo DVD in for Eden and Eden was soooooo still. She was great.
That night when the big kids got home from school Clay told Eden he liked her hair better long (typical man) and Eden told him, "My hair is cute!" I guess she told him.

The prize winning costumes!

2006-10-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

Here are the kids in their costumes.
Annika was a scurvy pirate, Eden was a cowgirl and Clay was the bloody "scream" character (AGAIN). However Clay's costume will finally have to retire as it is leaking blood. Oh darn...

Fall is here!

2006-10-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

Its my most favorite time of year. Fall! Fall and Halloween that is. This weekend we took our annual visit to the pumpkin farm in Celina. I dont do those side of the road pumpkin stands, I need a REAL pumpkin farm with animals and hayrides. We found a great one out in Celina, about a 25 minute drive from the house. Then on Sunday our neighborhood had its annual fall festival or before we became all politically correct, Halloween party!! Im proud to say miss Annika took 2nd place for her costume and Eden took 3rd place. Yippee! Fun was had by all as they did a scavenger hunt and watched a magician make animal balloons. It was very cold for us Texans, a mere 61 degrees and windy even. Brrrr.

trying to add some photos for you

2006-09-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

The bunk beds!

Its the hap happiest season of all =)

2006-09-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

Hi y'all~
Well its that time of year. SCHOOL!! Whoop whoop! Texas schools have been in session now for about 4-5 weeks. This year we have a 3rd grader, Clay and a 1st grader Annika. Even Eden has preschool 2x a week which she loves. Our developement has so many kids and has become so large we got a new school built just for us. So the kids are in the new school this year as are the kids in our neighborhood; so they didnt lose their friends. The new school is definately different and we are all adjusting but I think we can be happy here after the kinks get worked out. The kids have done a fabulous job adjusting; I admit these things are hardest on the adults. Yesterday we got progress reports; Im so proud to say Clay had 3 A's and 2 B's, good job dudesky! Annika was sick yesterday and we havent seen her grades yet but Im sure they will be just as spectacular ;-)
We had some excitement last weekend as we bought all new bedroom furniture for Miss Annika. She now has a very cool bunk bed set, dresser and book shelf from Pier 1 Kids; its as cute as could be! Annika was so thrilled to have this new furniture she went to bed at 8:30 the first two nights she had it. Eden has already fallen off the top bunk and landed her cheek on the bottom bunk, she got a nice bruise but we havent had to tell her to get down again, so I think a lesson was learned, ha ha! Im sure someone will break an arm, its just a matter of time I guess.
Eden got Annika's old furniture too which now looks pretty cute, not to mention "grown up" in her room. Eden asked to sleep in her big girl bed right away. That lasted 10 minutes and then we heard her playing in Annika's room, so back in the crib she went! Maybe we'll try again in another couple weeks, lol. Im not in a hurry for my last baby to bale out of the crib.
Well the fall season is upon us (or thats what Im told but its still HOT in Texas) so that means school, sports, Halloween and Clay's 9th birthday!! Can you believe my first baby will be a 9yr old? He is still the same big sweetheart he has always been but he sure isnt shy anymore. Clay has already started scouting locations for his birthday party as well. In fact we have a laser tag spot to check out this weekend. Clay even has his gifts planned out for his birthday and Christmas as well. On this list is a cell phone and an ipod (not!). I guess he is getting a paper route to pay the monthly fees?? lol.....yeah uh huh. Kids these days!
Thats all for now.
Thanks for reading.

We're baaack! All about our trip!

2006-08-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

Home never felt so good! After 3 1/2 weeks in the Pacific Northwest we arrived home Wednesday. We touched down at 10:30 but by the time we got settled in our beds it was 3am. My own bed never felt so good, let me tell you! Our trip was fantastic though and it was sometimes nice being cooler then the 100 degree temps Dallas has been seeing. We spent time with Granny and Grandpa (my parents) at their rural home next to a farm. We were awoke many times by mooing cows ;-) They took us up in the mountains and we did some day camping by the river and enjoyed a picnic. Clay waded in the river and Eden collected rocks. Eden is fascinated by rocks. We drove through the mountains and saw Mt Rainier and Lake Tipsoe where is was 54 degrees! Beautiful country, I had forgotten. We visited the Great Grandparents and Uncle Dave too. The kids just think Uncle Dave is the best thing since sliced bread. We visited Decoursey Park in Puyallup and fed their ducks even though the sign said not to, lol! We headed to Eugene Oregon and saw all Joe's family. The highlight for the kids was the day spent fishing on Triangle Lake with Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Den. They must have caught a fish (blue gill/bass) every 5-10 minutes! Of course that was the day I forgot my camera =( We saw big the house Aunt Cheryl is building. We spent a lot of time with Grandma Jessie and Annika fell in love with her African Grey parrot, Gonzo. All the kids enjoyed hand feeding Gonzo and listening him talk which was pretty darn cool.We are now working on Daddy to see if a parrot might join our family some day ;-) Then as we wrapped up our trip we spent a day at the Oregon coast. We had beautiful weather and the kids played in the tide pool and watched all the creatures that grow there. We ate lunch at Mo's. Our last 2 days we spent next door to our old house with our good friends The Schoendorf's. Laura and I went (tax free) shopping one day(naturally) and the kids played with their good friends from the nieghborhood. It was good to see everyone! Tammy and Tom I hope one day you find yourself needing to pass through Dallas for one reason or another and the kids can hang out here with us and we can get some pool time in! It was a great trip and fun was had by all. I really think we will not be coming next summer, maybe Daddy can be talked into a Disneyworld trip but you never know. Thanks everyone for letting our family of five take over your house, we had a great time ;-)

The Oregon Coast photos

2006-08-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day we had in Newport..

Grandma Jessie in Eugene.........

2006-08-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of Gonzo Grandma Jessie's African Grey...

Granny and Grandpa

2006-08-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ganny and Grandpa. Eden in the dress Granny made her.......

Its been awhile..........

2006-07-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well this is the last month of summer vacation for the kids. Its time to go on our annual trip to visit the grandparents, friends and family we left behind and then its back to school. What have we been up to all summer? Well the kids play outside from dawn to dusk with friends from the neighborhood. We are lucky in that every other house has some kids in it and it seems like they always have someone to hang out with. Of course we go in the pool almost everyday :) Annika spent Tuesdays and Thursdays in a girls day camp doing crafts etc Eden? Well we just try and keep her out of trouble and alive! 4th of July Daddy made a big feast and then we went to a tailgate party and watched the fireworks with a bunch of strangers and their kids, not as good as our 4th parties in the old Camas neighborhood but it was fun anyway. Eden LOVED the fireworks! She got so excited. Here are some random snaps from the last few weeks. The kids, the friends etc....

Sad day for the kids.........

2006-06-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

In our front yard we have this big tree. Late this spring we discovered a birds nest with eggs and everything. There was a mama dove and she laid 2 eggs. My kids watched the eggs hatch and everyday they watched the babies get bigger. Well Annika was in tears on Thursday, she said she found the mama bird dead down the street. I walked down the street to examine the dead bird, but it wasnt even the same species so I assured Annika the mama bird would be back. We watched out the rest of Thursday & all day Friday; no mama bird. I noticed I could only see one of the babies left but the baby was very large now, same size as the mama almost. Anyway I hadnt given it much thought today but then after dinner Clay called me to "come out and see this, right NOW" !I went outside and Annika was holding the baby bird in her hands!She said she found him hobbling on the ground. He appeared to be ok and so Joe placed him back inside his nest and we tried to decide what to do next as mama bird had been missing for at least two days now. Joe went out and found some live worms and placed them inside the nest until we could find out what to do. Less then a minute later the baby bird jumped out of his nest, worm in mouth but he didnt make it Poor bird died right there in front of my kids and it was sorta a slow death Annika cried her heart out, and actually I did too. What a sight we must of been for the neighbors. Joe took the bird out to the trash and Eden picked up one its feathers and brought it to Annika (I swear!). So we found a special box for the feather and put it in Annika's drawer.Of course there wasnt a dry eye in the house by now. Poor Annika. Its going to be a long time before she gets over this. She is such a critter lover to begin with.

Our baby isnt really a baby anymore.......

2006-06-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

Its official. Eden can be called a toddler now. Gone is the squishy faced newborn and chubby infant. Eden walks and talks and has favorites and is able to say "I dont like it!". She turned 2 on June 1st and then celebrated today,June 3rd with a family party. I go through a lot of emotions when I think back on the last 2yrs. Our lives are almost unrecognizable. We started out in Camas, remodeling our "dream house" in a stunning lakeside neighborhood. We found out Eden was joining us and then Joe excepted a transfer to Dallas all within a few months of each other. Now here we are with our family of five living a sweet life in Dallas. I think having the 3rd child is the hardest decision for a lot of families, especially if you have one of each gender. But, let me tell you, it was the best thing we ever did. Eden gave me the chance to really savor infant hood and all that goes with it. She put sleepless nights in perspective. She brought out a side in Annika I had never seen. Annika shines as a big sister. Eden loves her siblings passionately. She completes us. She is like the icing on our cake, our birthday cake!Happy Birthday sweet girl.

San Antonio getaway!

2006-06-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

On Memorial weekend, the start of summer vacation for the kids, we decided to have a little vacation. We drove 5-6 hours to San Antonio to check out the sights. On the first day we went to SeaWorld and whats not to love about SW? After being to SeaWorld 3 times I finally got to touch a dolphin. My SIL said it best, "It feels like an inner tube". Very cool though. I was amazed by how well behaved Eden was. She sat like an angel and watched all the little shows, she never complained about being in her stroller all day and was a absolute angel on the drive there as well. Then the next day we checked out The Alamo and the famous Riverwalk all in downtown San Antonio. Did you know the Alamo is downtown San Antonio? Joe and I both invisioned it out in a dessert. Nope. Its across the street from a mall! Anyway, it was very interesting, well preserved and educational. Joe stood in line for 30 minutes, in 100 degree heat, to get tickets to ride a boat along the riverwalk only to be told the visa debit machine was broke and it was cash only. We never carry much cash so we were sol. Maybe next time.......
Then on our last day we stopped by the biggest outlet mall I have ever seen(the highlight of our trip for Joe!) in San Marcos. Over 125 stores and nice ones too. But we only spent an hour there because by then the kids were DONE. They just wanted to get home. I trying to decide if its worth the 3 hour drive to go back and do our back to school shopping.........
Anyway it as a nice little getaway.

Lake Lewisville

2006-05-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

Another Mother's Day weekend has wrapped up and it was a nice time. Our weather was hot & gorgeous as usual :-) Saturday we took the kids to Lake Lewisville which is about 30 miles NW of Plano. As with everything else in Texas, the lake is HUGE. The older kids swam while Eden and I sat on a towel and talked about current events ;-) Joe watched the fisherman and asked them 100 questions. The next time we go we'll bring some food to grill and some innertubes to float around in.

Hot child in the city!

2006-05-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

Summer is here! Time for lazy days in the pool.

Their baaaack!

2006-04-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

The ducks have been hanging around all week, mostly in our front yard. Everytime we see them someone runs into the house to get some bread to feed them. These ducks are now getting pretty tame and let my kids get pretty darn close to them. Well last night we had just got back from dinner when I walked past my window to see something lounging pool side and hop into our pool. The ducks! They are swimming in our pool.........right in front of our dog!

Celebration Water Park in Allen

2006-04-24T11:44:00.000-07:00

A week ago Monday I took the kids and their buddy Evan to a new water park/playground that opened up in Allen, about 10 minutes away. I cant believe the size of that thing! Holy moly. I would not go by myself again and try to keep an eye on four little kids, especially with Eden who is the work of two children, lol. Talk about a child predators paradise...man. Anyway, the kids had a great time running through the water and cooling off and I didnt lose anyone.

Happy Easter Sunday y'all!

2006-04-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

And another Easter comes to a close. We, ahem, I mean the Easter Bunny (wink,wink) got all the baskets delivered and the eggs hidden for when the kids awoke this morning. Annika woke up at 6:30 am! If you have known Joe or I for any length, you KNOW we love our sleep and our kids seem to have inhertited that passion luckily! So when she came into our room at 6:30 to tell us the Easter bunny had been by we were like, "how nice.....snore........". God bless her she just went right out and left us alone for another hour and then she came back in and said, "can we eat our candy now?" :-)
After the eggs had been hunted in the front yard we all showered, got ready and headed to the Dallas Aboretum. We havent exactly found a church but we still wanted to celebrate with our family and what a beautiful place to do just that.
Dallas had a pretty severe drought this fall/winter so unfortunately none of beautiful blue bonnets, Indian paint brush or sunflowers that you see all along the roads, fields etc have bloomed this spring. Thats really too bad because spring is really gorgeous in Texas when all the wild flowers are in bloom. Texas really shines in the spring. But never fear! The aboretum saves the day! Tons of stunning flowers and water features everywhere! It was HOT, as in 97 degrees, probably over 100 when there wasnt any shade but we enjoyed ourselves. After we explored the park we spead out a blanket in the shade, had some cheese -n- crackers (forgot the wine!) and listened to a local accordian player entertain us as we enjoyed the view of the lake. It was a super day to relax and celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

Ducks?

2006-04-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend is upon us. Its been so beautiful here. Its in the 80's and a little windy but even the wind is warm. The kids got out of school Thursday for a long 4 day weekend. They were outside playing as usual when all of a sudden Annika ran in screaming, "MOM! There are DUCKS in our yard!!!" This is bizarre because I couldnt even tell you where the nearest body of water is unless you count our pool! Seriously. There is a pond about 9 miles away? LOL! Anyhoo here they are.

Our first ever ER experience

2006-04-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

So all of a sudden yesterday Eden started puking. She puked all her food up first, puked up bile and then started puking the tiny amounts of pedialite I was trying to give her. From about 4pm-6pm she had puked about 20 times. At about 7:45 I brought in her my bedroom set up her tv shows and spread out a bunch of towels across my bed to let her watch tv and relax while I spoke with the on call nurse. The nice nurse said if she continues to puke the pedialite for 4 hrs to bring her to ER. Okie dokie.That seemed logical to me.
Meanwhile Eden is waaaaaaaaay lethargic, her eyes are all glossed over and she is OUT OF IT. All of a sudden she sits up like a horror movie and starts vomiting blood, like coffee grounds, 4x in a row. I burst into tears, picked her up naked (except for her diaper) and drove her to the ER 2 blocks away. Meanwhile she vomits blood about 5 more times and basically passes out. They stabilized her with an IV in the ER and did x-rays of herstomach. Then we waited......and waited............and waited. And we waited some more!
Eden was asleep so she had stopped puking. During the insertion of her IV she was crying but had no tears. Her mouth was completely dry & her lips chapped BUT she had a wet diaper and we could do the pinch test and her skin would bounce right back.
A randon ER Dr told us vomited blood happens when your stomach is completely empty (who knew???) and as scary as it is, it in itself isnt as dangerous as it looks. Its just the lining of your stomach/esophagus.
They moved us upstairs to a room and started Eden's 3rd bag of IV fluids.
At about midnight she woke up and seemed MUCH better. The nurse gave her a popsicle and some crushed ice that she devoured and kept down. She smiled and actually talked a little before she went back to sleep. Finally(!!!!!!!) at 11am today a Dr came and examined her. She said Eden just had a bad virus and we got to go home. She also told us that the x-rays came back fine, no obstructions which I assumed since that was the first Dr who had seen us since about 9pm the night BEFORE! Im sure hoping the staff would have acted with a little more urgency if she had had an obstruction! Anyway, believe it or not Eden seems 100% fine today. Kids sure do bounce back! We sure get our parenting money's worth out of Eden dont we?

Eden gives Mommy heart failure!

2006-04-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

So I took Eden to the indoor play place in the mall Monday because I had a couple items to return to Gymboree anyway. There were only like 5-6 toddlers there so it was a pretty calm morning. We were there playing a few minutes when my cell phone rang. I answered and in about 20 seconds I knew it was a wrong number becuz they werent speaking english! lol! As soon as I hung up I just had this bad feeling. I immediatley got up and started looking in all the tunnels and slides for Eden. She was NO WHERE. I was sorta in a state of disbelief because I had only looked away from her for 45 seconds so I kept looking around thinking surely she was there because she would of had to walk right past where I was sitting to get by, I was sitting at the one and only entrance. Nope. So I got up and ran into the nearest store(Gymboree) and said "Call security, my baby is missing". Like 4 women came out and started helping me look for her and some random guy (like 18yr old) started helping me too. After like 5 long minutes and about 8 stores away from the play place this Grandma lady came out holding Eden. I burst into tears. Mall security never even showed up! I tell you what, I have never lost a kid. Once Clay went to the bathroom in BRU without telling me but he was 7, I wasnt hysterical because Annika had seen him go in. Im totally freaked out though. She was only gone about 5 minutes but my mind starting thinking "ok what if she didnt wonder off, what if someone saw me get distracted and took her?". This is why I hate going anywhere with all 3 kids if Im the only adult but Eden was my only child today!!! BTW, Eden was fine. She had a ton of bracelets on and a handful of stickers she swiped from who knows where, but she didnt even flinch or seem concerned. Ugh...I feel like throwing up. Its going to be awhile before I can go back there and let her play, thats for sure.

HOT weekend!

2006-04-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

Well it was an uneventful weekend. Spring is here in full force as we enjoyed temps in the high 80's and low 90's this weekend.It will be nice for the next 2 months and the its going to get HOT. Clay and his buddy Adam saw Ice Age 2 on Friday night and we got to hear about that all weekend. Saturday Eden figured out a new skill that she is practicing all the time now. She can jump! She not only goes through the motions which she has been doing for months, but now her feet actually leave the ground. She is very proud and skips and jumps all around while saying "jump! jump!" The big kids played outside with their friends on our street all weekend and we grilled and ate outside too. It wont be long now and we should be able to swim! Sunday late afternoon I fooled around with my camera with Annika as my model. Trying to figure out how to focus my subject and blur my background. I got about three practice shots in and Annika announced she was "done", lol. Then after we finished dinner we took the kids on an evening walk and stopped at the playground behind our house. Eden found a tennis ball and she threw that for Tom and they both had a blast. I sat on a bench and watched Eden right behind Clay and Annika, doing everything they do and her little legs going as fast as they can keeping up. Eden goes on the biggest slides, she slides down the fireman pole, she does everything they do, but the monkey bars and she isnt even 2yrs old yet. She isnt going to be left out thats for sure!

A strange hobby?

2006-03-31T06:32:00.000-08:00

Im not sure when it really started but I have a stroller fetish. With each baby we have had I have gone thru at least 4-5 strollers a year looking for the perfect stroller. I came to the conclusion shortly after Eden was born that strollers are like shoes. They each serve a purpose and you really do NEED more then one. A nice lightweight stroller is a must for traveling, those quick errands in and out of the car, or shopping in those small boutiques with tight aisles. A full size stroller is nice for longer days spent shopping in the mall or maybe at Six Flags when you need to pack lots of stuff to accomidate an entire day out and about. I have also found its nice to have a pram for fun. Prams handle outdoor excursions well. They have a nice bouncy suspension going over the sidewalk cracks, curbs and they push right through grass. I have heard prams also are great for snow but I dont think as long as we are in Dallas I will be able to confirm that ;-) BTW, Eden loves her "walks" as she calls them, as much as I do. Her favorite thing to do is line them all up in front of the tv and climb in them, taking turns and watching her favorite shows. Stay tuned as more stroller pictures will be added as more come and go from our house ;-)
Here are some pictures of Eden in our various strollers:

The Dallas World Aquarium

2006-03-29T12:03:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we decided to check out our local aquarium downtown Dallas which is about a 30 minute drive for us. It was HUGE! Everything in Texas is truly bigger so I have learned, thats no myth ;-)
The aquarium is a 3 story rainforest basically with everything from fish to a lone jaguar. It was quite the experience. Eden had never seen anything like it and was most taken by the monkeys and the brown bunnies. Right in the middle of our tour there was an bar set up with pop & slurpies for the kids and hard alcohol for the adults. No Im not kidding. Get a shot of JD while checking out the fish, lol! Only in Texas....

The family

2006-03-29T11:36:00.000-08:00

Hi all or hi y'all as we say in Texas. Im going to try and keep this up on a weekly basis so y'all can see what the kids (and grown ups) have been up to this last few months.
Currently Joe is still working 7am-7pm and traveling at least 1x a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. He is also completing his masters, 1 yr to go!
Clay 8 1/2yrs , is doing boy scouts this year and after some time off starting hockey again at the first of April.
Annika 6yrs, has experimented with all forms of dance this year. Ballet,tap and gymnastics. Honestly, I think she likes wearing the tutu more then she likes any other aspect of dance ;-)
Eden is going on 2yrs, goes to preschool 2 days a week which she loves and takes a class with me on Friday at the Little Gym.
Me? Im taking care of little kids! I hope to start school part time this coming fall though and by the time Eden is in grade school become a working Mom after being home for 11-12 years!
We have been in Texas since August 2004 and we still really love it. The weather is just the best although it gets brutal hot in July & August. Thank goodness for our pool, which we are in 2x a day during those months. There is a lot to do in Dallas, especially for kids and families. We hope to settle here for a long,long time.