Down in my Heart

Summer Happenings

2009-06-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

We started our summer off saying goodbye to some really good friends of ours. Suzanne and I have been friends since high school and she and her husband just moved to Phoenix. The week before they moved I watched her little girl Kairi one afternoon so she could run some errands. Kairi is 1 and just precious. I love this little girl so much. Tobey loves her too and he was so sweet with her all day. I think they had fun together! We miss our friends very much!

These are some really sweet pictures of Tobey and Kairi at the arboretum a few weeks before they moved.

This is mid-may. The pool was still on the cool side but Tobey had some water fun in the backyard anyway......

.....and chocolate soy ice cream afterwards!

Announcing Zoe Roxanna!

2009-06-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

Tobey's new baby cousin has arrived. She was born on May 27th and weighed 7 pounds and 7 ounces. She is beautiful and we are dying to meet her. I don't have any pictures but there are plenty on facebook for those of you who know Shan. Rodney's parents were with Shanna & Jeff for the delivery and the first week at home. We will not go up until the end of July to meet her. That seems so far away but I know it will go by fast. In April I got to go with Rodney's mom and sister Libby to Seattle for a little pre-baby fun. We went to one of Shan's showers, spent a day at the spa and then the day at a tulip festival. I snapped this great picture of Shanna standing in front of a field of daffodils. The picture is so Shanna or Shibbs as we call her or Neena as Tobey calls her although he is finally learning her real name. Congratulations Jeff & Shanna! We love Zoe so much already!

Bathroom update

2009-06-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

So many things to blog about it is hard to know where to begin. But I do want to share pictures of our updated master bathroom. It has been a work in progress for the last two years and it is near completion. The only thing left is to install the shower door. Rodney has done an amazing job and I am so proud of him. He wanted to do the work himself and for the most part he did. He did require some extra hands and we are so thankful for those who helped him out. I did do a little bit of grout work in the shower and I painted some trim one afternoon. But Rodney has spent countless afternoons and even vacation time to work on this bathroom. His handiwork never ceases to amaze me. This last weekend we bought some decorative items and I am so appreciative of my new bathroom. Thank you honey for all your hard work! Here are the pictures. Drum roll please.....

A Day Out With Thomas

2009-04-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago Rodney went on a canoe trip with his best buds. I planned some fun things with Tobey while he was gone. Friday night we met our friends Jimmy and Melissa at the movies and saw Monsters vs. Aliens. Tobey had been seeing the trailer play on TV for weeks and was calling it the monster movie. He loved it. I thought it was okay too. Saturday morning we got up and went to Chick-fil-a for breakfast. We love their chicken minis. Then we headed out to Grapevine to see Thomas the Train. Tobey had been waiting for this day for weeks. We parked a ways out and rode a shuttle to the Grapevine Vintage Railroad. He was excited to ride the shuttle and got ecstatic as we neared the station and could see Thomas outside the window. He had so much fun that day. The weather had turned cold the day before and we were bundled up in our jackets and hats but that didn't stop him. There were 4 Thomas stations set up and we visited them all. I spent a load of money in the souvenir store. And then it was our turn to ride the train. We stood in line waiting to board "Thomas". Tobey was so cute. He loved it all so much. The train ride lasted about 30 minutes. So we just sat back, ate our snacks, and looked out the window. Afterwards we got to take a professional picture with Thomas which I purchased and spent more money on. Then we walked around some more and Tobey rode another miniature train. Then he decided he wanted a snowcone even though it was probably only 45 degrees outside. I give him credit though because he ate half before he decided it was too cold to be eating ice. We were pretty much done after that and rode the shuttle back to our car. Of course he was out before we left the parking lot. We missed Daddy of course but it was a fun outing for just the two of us.

Backyardigans

2009-04-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

Spring is here and it is my favorite time of year. This is what has been going on in my backyard.....

Our palm tree is getting taller and taller. We may have to cut it down because it is too close to the pool and I am very bummed about it.

Our beautiful snapdragons that return every year with no help from me.

This is Scooter's favorite time of year too. He loves laying on the warm grass and rolling around in it.

Our birdhouse

Best buds

I always know Spring has arrived when the irises bloom on the side of our house. They only bloom for about a month but they are so beautiful.

Welcome Spring!

Plane throwing, bubble blowing, sand shoveling fun!

2009-03-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

Just a day at the park....

Budding Artist

2009-03-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

For Christmas Tobey got some new paints and paper. We have been doing alot of painting since then. Last week he got to go to his friend Ava's birthday party and it was at a Art House. All the kids got to paint a picture and keep it. It was very cute. Tobey had to put his painting up in his room so he could look at it.

He is an abstract artist

This is a face of sudden inspiration

I asked him to paint a tree

And he did!

Then he did another one

Or is it...

He ended up with this. Still quite lovely in his mother's eyes.

Tobey's First Camping Trip

2009-03-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

We left on a Friday afternoon. Our car was loaded to the brim. On the way we stopped by Walmart for food and a miniature fishing pole for the boy. Rodney had to unpack the back of the car to make room for the groceries. I have never seen our car so loaded down. It looked like we were leaving for a month. Rodney commented as we got on the highway and headed west about our city slicker ways. He was a little embarrassed I could tell. I tried to make him feel better by reminding him that Scooter's travel crate took up quite a bit of space. I silently prayed for safe travel. Tobey would have been buried by camping supplies in the back seat if we had a wreck. We drove on. Even though we had tried to leave early enough to avoid traffic we managed to get stuck right in the middle of it. The stop and go quickly turned my stomach upside down and I made Rodney pull over so I could drive. I wonder why drivers never get carsick. Rodney and I had a discussion on this subject and decided that it is a control thing. If you are driving you are in control and can anticipate the movement of the car. Plus you are distracted and focused on driving. I don't know but it works every time. Within 10 minutes the car sickness was gone. The trip to Walmart had set us back a bit on time and it was getting dark when we arrived at the campgrounds. The ranger's station was already closed for the day but they had posted our campsite location. We drove around and found that is was not the area we had expected. It was only about 30-40 feet from the lake and there was only one tree to shield us from the wind. This area looked like it was more suitable for RV campers. So we drove around and found the more primitive campgrounds (we still had water and electricity so it wasn't that primitive). The gate was locked into that area but the first campground was very accessible so we parked and set up camp there. There was no one else around. I wrote a note and left it at the rangers station hoping they wouldn't be upset that we had changed spots. This new spot was much better. We were totally enclosed by trees and the bathroom/shower facility was only 30 ft away. Rodney quickly got busy unloading the car and setting up our tents and lanterns. Of course Tobey had to help.

I let Scooter out and walked him around and then tied him to a tree. You could tell our poor dog had not been on a trip for a while. He was shaking and whining. I think he was terrified that we were just going to leave him there. The rope was long enough that he could reach almost anywhere on our site but he he just followed us around. He did not enjoy the trip one bit I think. Shortly after we got our tent up a couple showed up and stopped by our campsite. They had a group of college kids from their church following behind them but they hadn't made reservations so they were just going to walk in a little ways and find a campsite (since the gate was closed and locked). I was secretly overjoyed that 1.) We were not lone campers anymore and 2.) They were breaking the rules too so we wouldn't be the only ones kicked out of the state park the next morning.

For our first night we planned to have hot dogs, chips, baked beans, and of course smores. Rodney got a fire going in the fire pit and we roasted our hot dogs. I spent most of dinner time yelling at Tobey to stop running so close to the fire. I was a nervous wreck. I could just see him tripping and falling into the fire. Tobey's favorite part was roasting the marshmallows. He is a marshmallow freak and I do not use that term lightly. He wants them for breakfast, for snack, for lunch-it drives me crazy. By the end of the day he usually wears me down and I will give him one and say sternly "do not ask me for marshmallows the rest of the day". At my sister-in-law's shower that we had at our house a couple of weeks ago we had a chocolate fountain. We set out marshmallows among other things that could be dipped in the chocolate. The house was full of people and kids. I was very frazzled and every time I would see Tobey he had a handful of marshmallows in his hand taking them back to his room to share with his friends. I finally had to move that bowl to higher ground. Here is a picture of Tobey doing a little campfire jig inspired by his first marshmallow roasting experience.

By the time we finished dinner it was already 9pm. We took Scooter for a walk down to the lake and back. Then we headed to the bathrooms to get ready for holing up in the tent. We knew a cold front was blowing in that night and we weren't sure how bad it would be. The bathrooms were nice and warm though so we figured if it got too bad we would just camp out in there. I wasn't too worried because we had brought our space heater from home to place inside the tent with us. As we were walking back to our tent we looked up at the stars and were amazed. To me that is one of the best things about getting away from the city. You forget how numerous they are and how breathtaking the night sky can be. Tobey was amazed too. We have been discussing night and day with him lately. There was not a moon that night and he was very perplexed by that. He also wanted to know where the sun went. He is a very inquisitive little boy and I love it. Back at the campsite we all crawled into our tent. We each had our own sleeping bag even Scooter. We played a game of Go fish and then turned the lights out. Tobey was out within minutes. Before long Rodney was breathing heavy too. I was very restless and couldn't fall asleep. I was warm and cozy inside my bag but I just wasn't sleepy so I read for a little bit trying to make myself sleepy. I guess it was around midnight when the wind started blowing in and never stopped the rest of the night. It was loud and hit my side of the tent the hardest. The tent kept pushing down on my head and at times the whole tent would shake and quiver. And it got colder and colder. I think the temperature dropped about 25 degrees that night. I finally fell asleep around 2am but it was not a restful sleep at all. Tobey never stirred and barely moved. I was afraid he was cold so I kept waking up to touch his face but his skin was always warm. I stayed mostly warm although by morning my feet had gotten cold. I checked my phone which said that it was 29 degrees outside. Brrrrr.... It was torture getting out of that sleeping bag. We gathered our things and ran to the bathrooms to thaw out. The sun was out and it warmed up to the 40's rather quickly but the wind was so strong that it felt much colder. Back at the campsite I found a note on our car from one of the rangers. They weren't kicking us out but they needed us to come down and register our vehicle. So I I set Tobey up with his breakfast in the tent while Rodney cooked our breakfast and then I drove over to the ranger station. They were very nice about us switching spots. I found out that the area we were staying in was actually closed for the winter which is why the gates had been locked. That area opened up the following weekend. We decided to cut our trip short and not stay another night. It was just too cold. We hung around for a couple of hours. Tobey was not interested in leaving the tent. We brought his portable DVD player and he was content watching his cartoons in the warmth of the tent with Scooter. I took a walk by myself down by the lake. We had planned on renting a boat and taking Tobey fishing. Looking out at the choppy waters I knew I didn't want to be floating on that surface. The wind crashed against me and whipped my hair around and took my breath away. I did get a good look at some of the other camp sites and picked out the one I would like to come back too (when it is much warmer). It backs up to this beach...

By noon we had loaded everything back into the car and we were on our way. It was alot of work for such a short trip but I am glad we did it.

West Texas Cacti

Tobey climbed all over this rock while we loaded up the car

Recap

2009-03-13T14:17:00.001-07:00

So I have really fallen behind in blogging. Two months behind. It is shameful. And I do not even have a good excuse besides just life in general. We have all been sick in our household at some point the last two months. Tobey has been sick twice with high fevers lasting 4 or 5 days. He ended up with an ear infection one of those times. I have had several things to blog about but just haven't seemed able to get to it. We took Tobey on his first camping trip a couple of weeks ago. We drove out to Possum Kingdom which is west of Fort Worth. We were going to stay two nights but a cold front came in the first night. We stayed warm in our sleeping bags but woke up to some very frigid weather outside our tent. The wind was so strong that it was miserable hanging outside. Tobey ate his breakfast inside the tent. Rodney and I were brave and ate at the picnic table. We quickly decided to cut our trip short. We were packed and ready to leave by noon. It was still a fun trip and I can't wait to do it again when it is warmer. We really want to rent a boat and take Tobey out on the water and Rodney wants to take him fishing.

Rodney's sister and her husband flew in last weekend and we had a baby shower at our house for her. She looked so cute. Her little belly was round and perfect. We can't wait to meet our new niece. Tobey talks about his baby constantly. Lately he has been asking "is my baby out yet?". He is so much fun these days. His favorite things to do right now are painting, playing with play dough, blowing bubbles outside, and racing. So he is always asking us if we want to race or if we want to play with him. And he says some of the funniest things lately. And he says them deliberately to make you laugh. Sometimes this is not a good thing because he likes to try to make us laugh when we are disciplining him. He has also started justifying his wrong behavior. The other night he would not sit still and finish his dinner and when I got on to him he innocently responded, "Mooom, I'm just playing". Of course I responded back, "Well we do not play at the dinner table, we eat". It feels weird having these developed conversations with my baby. But then I remember that my baby is 3 and a half years old. His new obsession is his superman pajamas that Mimi bought for him. As soon as he got home from school today he had to put them on and race around the house with his red cape flying in the breeze. I have lots of pictures to post and more to say about our camping experience which I will try to get to this week but for now I will sign out with a picture of my little superboy.

Pajama Day!

2009-01-06T11:53:00.000-08:00

Tobey's first day back to school after the holidays was pajama day. It was the perfect opportunity to wear his new camo bathrobe from Aunt Neena and Uncle Jeff!

Christmas Whirlwind

2009-01-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year my friends! I am finally at a point where I can sit down and post about Christmas. I am going to try and get it all in one post. We were busy and on the go this year. I worked Christmas Eve night. I got home around 7:30am , showered, and woke my guys up. We did our thing and then headed over to Rod's parents for brunch. We left there early afternoon and drove to Oklahoma for my extended family Christmas which I was basically a zombie for. I was so tired. We slept at my mom's house and woke up and had Christmas with just my mom and her husband and my brother and his family. My mom and I got in the kitchen together and made soups for lunch. We had decided on something light for lunch a few weeks back because we figured we would all be stuffed with Christmas food. Plus we didn't want to spend all day in the kitchen. The soups were a great idea except that it ended up being very warm outside. The kids got to play outside though which was just as nice for us as it was for them. My brother and his family left mid afternoon and my mom and I propped our feet up and chatted. It was really nice.

We left that evening to drive back home and I had a really bad migraine in the car. My head hurt so bad I started crying and then got nauseous and Rodney had to pull the car over twice. I even put a blanket over my head to block out the lights from the cars on the highway. We finally made it to a gas station and I took some Excedrin. Then I passed out in the car for about 45 minutes. I felt much better when I woke up but completely drained. I think I was just worn out from working Christmas Eve and going all day on Christmas day. I am getting too old for that. I am 30 now. We got home Friday night and had to clean the house because we were having Christmas with Rod's extended family the next day at our house. Everyone came over for lunch and we just hung out all afternoon. After everyone left that evening I got a phone call around 7pm and it was my supervisor from work. I had totally forgotten that I signed up to work extra and she told me that they would need me to come in at 11pm. So I tried to lay down and sleep for a little bit before I went in. Once I got to work I never stopped. It was one of the busiest nights I had all year. I was exhausted Sunday morning and collapsed into bed. Rodney woke me up at 1pm because his dad & step mom were coming over for lunch. Thankfully we had leftovers from the party the day before and Rodney had already warmed everything up.

After they left we started packing and doing laundry for our trip to Seattle the next morning. I had wanted us all to be in bed by 9pm but of course that did not happen. It was like 10pm for Tobey and 11pm for us. We had to wake up at 5:30am to get ready, drive Scooter to his pet hotel, and make it to the airport for an 8:30am flight. Our flight ended up being delayed over an hour. Tobey fell back to sleep while we were waiting. Bless his little heart. He was such a trooper and so good on the plane. We spent the week in Seattle and had alot of fun. Tobey was so excited to see his Neena and Jeff. He did not forget about his baby in her tummy either. In fact he talked about "my baby" all week and it was the first thing he would say to Shan when she came out of her room every morning. That week was very event filled too.

Our first evening there we just ordered pizza and opened presents. The next day Rodney and I went skiing which was one of my Christmas surprises. We rented a minivan and all of us drove up into the mountains. We were dropped off at the ski lifts while everyone else (Shanna, Jeff, Pat, Phil, & Tobey) drove on to this cute little village town called Leavenworth to shop. I was excited about skiing but I was sad I didn't get to see the town too. I had fun skiing and hanging out with my husband but it was not my favorite skiing experience. For one thing my ski boots hurt like crazy. We had rented them in Seattle so I couldn't switch them out. My muscles were tired before we even got on the first lift and stayed that way all day. I think I was just exhausted from the prior week. We had fun though and I am glad we did it. Tobey got to go "snowing" in the little town. "Snowing" is his term for playing in the snow. Pat took some good pictures of him for me. That evening we stopped in Snoqualmie on the way down the mountain for dinner. It was a really cute town too.

The next day we hung out in Seattle and took the bus into downtown. We walked around Pioneer Square, did some light shopping, a few museums, and then the market. We went to Pike's Market last time we were in Seattle and it is a very busy place but lots of fun too. We purchased some salmon and halibut and fresh vegetables for our New Year's Eve dinner. Tobey was out by 9pm that night and we played games until midnight. Then we went up on the roof of Shan's building to watch fireworks at the Space Needle. My sweet Pat stayed with Tobey so I could go up. It was really cool and Shan sent a picture that one of her neighbors took with his fancy camera. New Year's day we took a bus to the mall in downtown, had chowder for lunch, shopped, and then took Tobey to see the Tale of Despereux. Then we went back to the apartment, had breakfast for dinner, and watched Sleepless in Seattle. Tobey was asleep about 15 minutes into the movie. After the movie Pat & Phil headed over to their Bed-n-Breakfast across the street and we stayed up and chatted with Jeff & Shanna before we hit the sack. The next day we flew home. Tobey got to try out a Seattle park before we left though. There were still some snow patches around and he jumped on and kicked at every single one.

Our flight was supposed to leave at 3:4opm and ended up being 30 minutes delayed. Then we got stuck in Albuquerque waiting on a connecting flight. It was after midnight before we arrived at our house and we all collapsed into bed. The next day we had a lazy Saturday and Tobey got to enjoy all his new toys finally. It did kind of feel like we had been in a Christmas whirlwind. We had finally landed home but we were a little disoriented. Rodney and I both fell asleep that afternoon while Tobey played in the living room. He was in the recliner and I was on the couch. Tobey was on the floor in between us playing and watching cartoons. Late that afternoon we got out and went to Best Buy because Rodney had some gift cards he wanted to use. Tobey was sitting in the back part of the buggy, put his head over on my purse, and fell asleep. So yes we were all a little disoriented but we are getting back in our groove now. And finally to the pictures!

Christmas morning!

Tobey loves to paint especially with water colors so he got stocked up in supplies.

This is a happy face!

Mimi & PawPaw got Tobey a firetruck. He even helped PawPaw & Daddy put it together.

He had fun testing it out for the first time.

This is in Seattle on the way to the mountains.

Standing in front of the lifts. It looks really cold but the sun came out soon after this picture and it was a pretty day on the slopes.

Everyone posed in front of the snow-PawPaw & Mimi

Shanna & Jeff

Snowball fight!

Tobey nailed Uncle Jeff in the chest

More "snowing"

Walking around in Pioneer Square

Seattle firefighter's museum

Strolling with Aunt Neena

Fireworks at the Space Needle

Tagged-8 things about me

2008-12-17T09:31:00.001-08:00

My sweet friend Becca tagged me so here goes:

8 TV SHOWS I WATCH:

1. Heroes

2. Mentalist

3. Life

4. Grey's Anatomy

5. The Office

6. David Letterman (sometimes)

7. Conan (sometimes)

8. Curious George=)

8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED ME TODAY: (How about yesterday-nothing much has happened so far today)

1. Woke up to a little voice in my ear "wake up Mommy"

2. Made cinnamon toast & a pumpkin spice latte.

3. Sat on the couch and read while Tobey watched cartoons

4. Built a fire

5. Was amazed when I looked outside and saw tiny snowflakes falling

6. Wrapped Christmas presents

7. Had dinner at Olive Garden with my husband and we saw Four Christmases afterwards

8. Finished up Christmas cards before bed

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO:

1. Christmas Day

2. New Years Eve in Seattle

3. a new nephew/niece due in May

4. taking Tobey to Disney world (hopefully soon)

5. my sister's high school graduation in May

6. the Revelations Bible Study at my church starting in January

7. the day Tobey realizes who Jesus really is and how much He loves us and he embraces that truth

8. a girl's night out with friends soon

8 THINGS I WISH FOR: (this one is hard)

1. a cute little house in the country

2. a cold cold winter with some snow on the ground

3. for all of Tobey's food allergies to just disappear

4. a new addition to our own family

5. For my master bathroom to be completed

6. For Tobey's new bedroom remodel to be started

7. a grand vacation anywhere

8. a completely potty trained little boy=)

8 PEOPLE I TAG:

1. Suzanne

2. Tricia

3. Melissa

4. Lori

5. Krystal

6. Shey

7. Jaclynn

8. Julie

Benihana Birthday

2008-12-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday I turned 30 and it was a good day. In light of recent events I feel very grateful to have reached the age of 30. I can remember back to my 25th birthday and being so sad. I think I cried three times that day. Partly because my mom forgot my birthday that year (she remembered this year and was the first person to call me). But mostly because I was afraid of getting old. We also had been trying to get pregnant without success. In my 25th year God taught me alot about His timing and showed me how to trust in him completely. It was a rough year to say the least but I can honestly say I had some of my sweetest moments with the Lord and alot of eye opening conversations with Him. He was my Comfort. At the end of that year God pleasantly surprised us and I found out I was pregnant. The last 4 years have been rough in a very different way. Motherhood has been so much more challenging than I ever expected but the delight I have in my son is indescribable. I feel blessed beyond measure. I am just grateful to be here in my life, a wife to my husband, and a mother to my son. I am grateful to be on this journey. I still felt the need to celebrate and I decided I wanted to go to Benihana's. It felt worthy of a 30th birthday. Rodney had to work on our plumbing all day on my birthday because we had a pipe break behind my washing machine. This happened on Monday and we had been without water since then. Rodney was out of town Tuesday and Wednesday so Thursday was the first day he had to work on it. My husband is quite the handy man and likes to do things himself. He does a good job so I don't complain even when we are without water for 4 days. We stole water from his mom and dad and did all of our showering and bathing at their house. One morning I ran out of water early on so I went next door and borrowed some from my neighbors water hose (they don't know that yet but I know they won't mind). I felt like I was in some third world country as I carried my jugs of water back to the house. I now know how much water it takes to flush the toilet and it is a lot. Tobey will blow his nose and put tissue in the toilet just so he can flush it. No more of that. It is so very wasteful and I am ashamed I have let him do it all. Anyway Rodney worked on the plumbing all day and Tobey and I hung out with Mimi. Then we all went to Benihana's for dinner and it was yummy. I loved watching Tobey's reactions to the food being cooked right in front of us. That was the best part of the night as well as the spa certificate Rodney presented to me. The food was so very yummy. I had forgotten how good it was. And the green tea ice cream...delicious. I felt so bad for Tobey. He wanted some of the "green" ice cream so bad. But he couldn't have any because of his milk allergy. This usually doesn't bother him because he is so used to it but he was upset that night. He folded his arms and cried. It broke my heart. I should have thought ahead and packed his favorite cookies. Lesson learned. He got a soy ice cream sandwich as soon as we got home and all was better. Here are a few pictures. Rodney snuck away and told our waitress it was my birthday. So at the end I got to stand up and "shake my bon bon" (in the words of our waitress) to their little birthday song and then blow out a buddha birthday candle. That is the picture of me standing up and I love how Rodney is so amused in that picture. Thanks honey! Our waitress even took a picture and placed it in a Benihana frame as a memento. It was kind of sweet. Then we went home and watched The Office and went to bed. Rodney and I have gotten hooked on The Office just this season. I know it is the 5th season but it just never clicked with us before. I think it is because we have a DVR now and we can record it and watch it after Tobey goes to bed without distractions. I love it! It is one of my favorite times of the week and it is the one show we always try to watch together. So it was a great birthday. We got our water turned back on, I had fabulous food, great gifts, and entertainment from The Office. The 30's are going to be good!

NEWS!!!

2008-12-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

Tobey is going to have a baby cousin. My sister-in-law and her husband were in town last weekend and gave us some very exciting news. They are expecting their first child and we are so excited. They came into town late afternoon last Sunday. We were already at Rodney's parents waiting for them to arrive. Shanna called Rodney's cell phone and asked if they could meet us at our house and to bring Tobey. Rod was a little confused and she just said it would all make sense later. So we met at our house and they pulled out this shirt that Shan made for Tobey. It says, "I know I look ecstatic. It's because I have a cousin on the way."

Then we headed back to Mimi & PawPaw's house and Tobey got to share the news about his baby cousin. It was so much fun watching them read the shirt and seeing the moment they realized what it meant. PawPaw threw his hand over his mouth and teared up. Mimi & Aunt Biz (Elizabeth) both stared at the shirt for what seemed like minutes and then gasped out loud. Mimi hugged Shan and then retreated to the kitchen for a few minutes. When she came back you could tell she had been crying. It was all so incredibly sweet and I have had such a grateful heart all week for this new child coming into our family and that I have the great privilege to be apart of Rodney's family and to share in their joy for each other. I love them all so much! Shan is still feeling nauseous but she has that mother's glow already. She has started showing and Tobey was a little fascinated by her belly especially after we told him his baby cousin was in there. He was a little confused because he asked if he had a baby in his tummy too. I love this picture of him pointing to Shan's tummy.

They left the following day and we really enjoyed their short little visit. Tobey rode with Mimi & PawPaw to take Shanna & Jeff to the airport and they said he cried so hard when both of them got out of the car. Thankfully we will see them in three weeks because we are going to Seattle for New Years Day! Yay!

I have so much more to blog about but I need to get ready for our Sunday School Christmas Party. So I will blog about my 30th birthday at a later date. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Thanksgiving at the Fire Station

2008-11-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

We got to spend a very blessed Thanksgiving Day at the Fire Station. My father-in-law had to work so we brought the food to him and celebrated with him at the station. I knew Tobey was going to have a blast. He got to sit in a fire truck and hold the fire hose and spray water. He also got to see his Paw Paw leave in the fire truck three different times while we were there. The last time we had Thanksgiving at the station Tobey had just turned one a couple of months before. He actually took his first solo steps at the fire station that year. It is amazing how much he has changed in just two short years. He is such a little man and he loves his family. He was so excited that we were all together yesterday. I worked the night of Thanksgiving Eve so I slept in on Thanksgiving day while Rodney made homemade macaroni-n-cheese and cookie dough brownies to take to the station. We headed over around lunchtime and feasted. The guys made it through lunch before they got a call for a dumpster fire. When they got back they parked the fire truck outside the station and let Tobey and another little girl who was there spray the hoses. Tobey was in awe. He is already mesmerized by his Paw Paw and now even more. Then we hung around outside and snapped lots of pictures. This is actually Phil's last Thanksgiving as a fireman as he will be retiring soon so I walked around and took pictures of him next to the firetruck. Then we headed inside and ate dessert and watched the game (of course). Tobey found a stash of suckers and handed them out to everyone. We stayed until almost 7pm and then came home and decorated our tree. I love this time of year and I am excited that we will be done decorating today. Rodney is about finished with the outside lights and we will have over a month to enjoy it all. I am off this friday night since I worked the Eve so we are taking Tobey to see the new movie Bolt this afternoon. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a very blessed time with family!

Sitting in the fire truck

Posing with Aunt Biz

Posing with Paw Paw

Posing with Daddy

After Paw Paw returned from putting out fires

Getting ready to spray the fire hose

family pics

Cuddling with Mimi

Stocking up on suckers (I especially enjoyed his little buddha belly in this picture)

The Tool Man

2008-11-28T10:46:00.000-08:00

The day before Thanksgiving Tobey and I went outside to help Rodney with the Christmas lights. I made a bargain with the hubs that I would help him outside if he would set the tree up inside. We have to do a fake tree because we are a house full of allergy and I hate setting that thing up. I love putting the ornaments on but I hate setting the tree up. So he set the tree up so it would be ready for decorating later and then we headed outside. We only got around to the ground stuff but Rodney was satisfied with getting half the work done. He is actually outside right now putting the rest of the lights up on the house. His cousin showed up to help and of course Tobey has to be outside with them so I am enjoying some alone time in the house and very happy about it. Anyway back to the day before Thanksgiving Tobey decided he needed his tools outside because he wanted to build something. He played for a good 45 minutes. I don't know what he had in mind to build but he was very intent on it and very cute.

Arrgh...Matey!

2008-11-03T21:44:00.001-08:00

Last month when my sister-in-law and her husband were in town for a conference Jeff played pirates with Tobey and taught him how to say Arrgh...Matey. He went around for days saying it and it was really cute. I had been leaning toward dressing Tobey up as Curious George for our Fallapalooza at church. I decided to give him a choice in the matter so I asked him if he wanted to be Curious George or a pirate. Well of course he said a pirate because a pirate is cool like Uncle Jeff.

He was a great looking pirate although he refused to wear the eye patch. He did let me take one picture with it on.

I didn't realize how menacing the skull on his hat looked when I bought it. I hope he didn't frighten anyone at Fallapalooza.

Tobey got to hang out with Aunt Biz. This was in line waiting for the costume contest and he is asking her to go on the stage with him.

And she did like the loving Aunt she is

Then she went through the obstacle course with him.

After Tobey played games at church we drove over to the Fire Station to see Paw Paw who was working. Tobey was so excited and he practiced saying trick or treat in the car. We walked up and rang the doorbell but no one answered. Then we walked around to the back and saw that the fire truck was gone. Tobey was so sad. He cried on the way back to the car.

Then we met some friends for ice cream and I let Tobey eat as much candy as he wanted. He was so candied out that the next day he didn't even ask for any. Now for some reminiscing.

2007-Cowboy

2006-Tigger

2005-Cute Baby

A Day at the Zoo with Tobey & George

2008-11-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, Tobey and I made a random trip to the Ft Worth zoo just to get out of the house. He was in need of a change of scenery and we hadn't been in a while (over a year i think). I found out that admission is half-off on Wednesdays so it was less than $10 for both of us to get in. I packed our lunches too so it was an overall cheap date. He was so much fun this time and so excited by all the animals. He was so cute be because he kept asking for animals specifically. "I want to see the little monkeys now" or "I want to see the giraffes" or elephants or tiger. His new obsessions are Curious George and Clifford. We brought George along with us and he would hold George up so he could see the animals too. I teased him all day and called him George and he would reply back every time so innocently "I not George mommy, I Tobey". Our favorite stops along the day were the monkeys, the white tiger, the penguins, and the lioness and her cubs. The spider monkeys were especially active when we arrived and Tobey laughed at how they swung around on their playhouse. The white tiger was on the prowl as it paced back and forth in front of the viewing window. Tobey was in awe. The penguins are a fairly new exhibit that we had not seen. I love the penguins at the Dallas zoo so I was excited to see that the Ft Worth zoo had them now too. We had alot of fun watching them splash around under the water. The best part though was watching the lioness and her cubs. We stayed quite awhile at this exhibit. The cubs were in a playful mood attacking their mom and each other. The poor lioness just wanted to lay down and rest. She would reach back and nudge them with her nose and then shake them off and move to a new location to lie down. She kept her eyes on them though. One of the cubs wandered off by himself and she watched him for a few minutes before going over to check out what he was doing. It was amazing to watch their interactions. And of course we rode the train. Tobey's favorite part. After the ride and the train stopped for us to get off he said "no mommy I want to ride more". It took a little convincing to get him off the train. It was a really fun day for us. The weather was beautiful and the zoo wasn't crowded at all. It was definitely worth my 10 bucks.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

Last week I met my cousin and her two children and we headed out to the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound. I took Tobey last year and got some really good pictures. This year was just as fun and he had a blast playing with his cousins. Maison is in kindergarten this year and Tobey's idol. Every blonde haired boy we see around 5 is a Maison to Tobey. It was so cute watching Tobey trying to keep up with Maison and his little friend who came along with us. Tobey so wanted to be a big boy with them. Mackenzie is 2.5 years old and a little sweetie. She's the perfect mix of cutie pie girl and rough-n-tumble tomboy. My cousin and her family just moved to the Coppell area from Ovilla. She is more like a sister than a cousin to me. I actually lived with her and her husband the year before Rodney and I got married. They were so gracious to open their home to a poor college girl. I have really enjoyed having her a little closer to us. Our visit with the pumpkins was more chaotic than anything - trying to keep up with four wild kids. But it was still fun. We even went on a hayride. Nikki and I enjoyed that part the most. We were able to relax for a few minutes before chasing the kids around again. We were going to eat a corny dog before we left but the corny dog stand closed by the time we got to it. So rude! All was good though because we just went to Sonic instead.

This is last year at the pumpkin patch. I can't believe how much my boy has changed!

The pumpkin house is my favorite part.

Maison

Mackenzie

Tobey

Trying to keep up with the big boys!

Hayride

I think you are supposed to stand or sit in the pot but Tobey seemed to think he should straddle it like a potty

Tobey and his cuz

Ileeta's funeral was yesterday and it truly was a celebration of her life. She had the opportunity to write out the order for the service before she passed away. That is so amazing to me. Ileeta had a beautiful voice and sang with our church choir for many years. They all came together to sing at her funeral in remembrance of her. Several of her close friends got up and spoke about her, recalling funny moments over the years and just confirming what a joyous and sweet and positive person she was. The whole service really focused on celebrating her life here on earth and her new life in heaven. I am touched and lifted up and inspired by her journey here on this earth and so happy imagining her walking with Jesus by the crystal lake! I surely will miss her and her contagious smile though!

We Believe

2008-10-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

My heart is heavy today even as I praise the Lord for a beautiful life. A close friend of our family passed away in the middle of the night last night. My heart is heavy as I think of the loved ones she left behind but I praise God because I know she is sitting in heaven right now with a peaceful smile on her beautiful face. Miss Ileeta how we love you and we will miss you! Thank you for the legacy you have left behind. A legacy of extreme faith even in the most extreme of situations. Thank you for glorifying God with your life! This follows the news of a former church family who is also going through some very tough times. My heart goes out to Chuck and Kristi Walker and their three boys. We believe in the healing power of God and we are praying for God to restore all health to Kristi and heal her body even in the light of a grim prognosis. You can read more about their story here. Please lift them up in your prayers!

Pep talk to Self

2008-10-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Rodney is in Atlanta again this week and I am trying to not be miserable about it. This is the last week he has to travel their for the whole week. Thank you Lord! I have never minded his one or two nights of travel during the week. Sure I missed him but it allowed me to catch up on my shows or read into the wee hours. But I have been a big baby about the last four weeks. Which is what spurred me to drive three hours to be with him In Oklahoma City last week. He is tired of it too and hoping his schedule will slow down as the holidays approach. I much as I miss my man's company, I miss his co-parenting abilities even more especially in the evenings. We did get to spend some time together Saturday afternoon. We got up and met Rodney's mom and sister at IHOP. Tobey went home with them and Rodney and I had the whole afternoon together. We ran some errands and saw a matinee showing of The Secret Life of Bees. I just want to say how much I love my husband for going with me. He would much rather have seen one of the action flicks out but I really wanted to see this movie so he indulged me. He was practically the only guy in a theater full of women who were sniffling and using all the extra napkins they could find. (He did his own share of sniffling too) It was a really good movie. I read the book several years ago and actually thought the movie was just as good or even better. I rarely think that about novels turned into movies. It is such a tender and touching story of a little girl who finds the love she so desperately craves. But even more than that it is a story about redemption and hope and new beginnings. So good! It was an amazing cast too. I think Dakota fanning is just an amazing little actress and so very talented. I don't think Rodney was disappointed by the movie at all so ladies drag your husbands to go see it. Back to my reason for this post. I will not wallow in my misery and think of Rod thousands of miles away. Tobey and I will be productive this week. These are the things I would like to accomplish. Bear with me, I am giving myself a pep talk.

1. Spend time with the Lord everyday
2. Finish up my Bible study and make it to class this week
3. Clean the house-particularly the bathroom=)
4. Get Tobey out of the house and into the fresh air everyday
5. Do some Fall decorating around the house
6. Go pick out some pumpkins
7. Grocery shopping (Ugh!)
8. Take the dog for grooming
9. Mail out Tobey's thank-you notes for his birthday presents-they are only two months late
10. Tobey would like to see Foxy Granny this week too and go to the park (those are his requests)

Lord, I love you and I pray safekeeping over my husband while he is away this week. I pray blessings over him this week and that he will find his confidence in you. Father, I pray for productivity in my household this week. May you enable me to accomplish all that needs to be done with a spirit of joy and not of misery. I ask for peacefulness and lots and lots of grace as we approach the evening hours this week. -Amen

"You turned my wailing into dancing;you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent."
-Deuteronomy 30:11-12

"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights."
-Habakkuk 3:18-19

Traveling Companions

2008-10-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

This week Tobey and I did some traveling with Rodney. He has been so busy with work lately that we have barely seen him. The last two weeks he was in Atlanta and this week he had to go to Oklahoma City for three days and then on to Tulsa from there. We talked about us going with him but it was last minute and we didn't know what to do with Scooter. Then my amazing mother-in-law said she would check on him for us. This all happened Sunday night while I was at work. So I came home Monday morning, slept for 4 hours, and then got up and frantically packed. We left Monday afternoon and stayed two nights in Oklahoma city with our favorite hubby and daddy. We got to our hotel outside the city around 6pm. Once we crossed over into Oklahoma it had started raining on us and when I stepped out of the car at the hotel I realized it was kind of chilly. Tobey was just wearing a pair of cotton shorts. In fact I had only packed shorts for him. I didn't expect such a drastic change in temperature only three hours from our home. There happened to be a Wal-Mart across the street and I looked really hard for a pair of pants that would fit my slender little guy and could find nothing. He has to have those pants with the adjustable waist bands. So then we drove around the city looking for a Target or Old Navy and a place to eat. I just want to say the highways and exits in Oklahoma City are frustrating and confusing. We finally found a Pei Wei and an Old Navy. So Tobey got set up with some Teriyaki and a pair of jeans and a jacket. We got back to the hotel and helped Rodney set up the conference room for his class. He was training/teaching some clients over the next two days. Tobey helped set all the parts out for the laptops and set them at each table. We then left Rod to boot up the laptops and went for a little swim. The swimming pool was inside but not heated. It was freezing so we didn't last long. The whirl pool was heated at a nice temperature so we spent most of our time in there. It was nice because we were the only ones in there. I was singing and being silly and Tobey kept telling me to stop. I guess I was embarrassing him. The next day we got up after Rodney had already left for his class. We made our way down the hall for breakfast and I thought Tobey was right behind me. But when I turned around I realized he had slipped into Rodney's classroom and I heard him yell out "Daddy". Thankfully the class had not started yet but I was quite embarrassed anyway. After we ate breakfast Tobey and I left to explore the Oklahoma Science Museum. I remember going on a field trip to this museum when I was in Elementary school growing up in Ardmore, OK. It was called the Omniplex then and I thought it was huge and fascinating. It is still fascinating but not as large as I remembered. It was a great place to let Tobey burn off some energy and he was definitely full of energy. By the time we left three hours later I was worn out. There was a zoo next door and it crossed my mind since we still had about three hours to burn before Rodney's class was over. I asked Tobey if he wanted to go to the zoo and he said "I wanna watch moo'ee". I was fine with that so we went back to the hotel so he could watch a movie and I could read. It was a fine arrangement if I do say so myself. When Rodney finished we drove downtown and ate dinner and then drove over to the Oklahoma National Memorial. Neither one of us had ever seen it. It was already dark outside and the museum part was closed but the outside memorial was still open. I didn't know what to expect. I immediately teared up when I saw the chain link fences. They are covered with pictures, flowers, teddy bears, and other trinkets in remembrance of those who did not survive the Federal Building bombing of 1995. It was terribly sad and moving. Then we walked up the ramp to enter the memorial and when we stepped through the archway my breath was taken away. It is such a beautiful scene. Stretched between two tall granite walls was the stillest body of water. At first we didn't know if it was water. It looked like a vast sheet of smooth black marble. To the right of us were small metal chairs lit up underneath with white light to mark the graves of the many that died that day. On the left were stone steps. You could hear the sound of water falling in the distance. It was all so beautiful and peaceful. If you ever drive through Oklahoma city you have to stop and see it. It is a scene that will always stay in my head. Then we had to drive out to the airport so Rodney could pick up a rental car since he was driving on to Tulsa the next day while Tobey and I drove back home. Tobey fell asleep on the way back to the hotel and slept until 9:30am the next morning. That is very late for him. He is usually up before 8am. I knew something was wrong when he didn't stir even when I got out of bed. He finally woke up when I started making some noise but he just laid there and watched me. He didn't even bother to get up. He had a slight dry cough the day before but now it was a congested barky cough. He was sick. I had thought about doing the zoo before we headed home just to let him burn some energy before riding in the car for three hours. That was out now because he was out of energy. He didn't have a fever but he definitely did not feel good. Rodney came to check on us during one his breaks and he was worried too. So we got our stuff together and headed home. Tobey was asleep within a hour even though he had only been awake for a couple of hours and he slept all the way to Denton. It made for a peaceful drive but I was very worried about him. However, when he woke up he was a different child. He had more energy when we got home and was playing and acting normal again. He still has a nasty cough but much better today. Weird. Maybe he was just worn out. I am glad he is better though. It was sad coming home. We so enjoyed being with Rodney and it was such a blessing that we were able to accompany him on one of his trips. I don't know if I could have survived another week without him.

At the museum Tobey got to play inside a real space shuttle!

Parties

2008-10-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the weekend of parties. Friday night we celebrated the birthday of Rodney's Memaw. We just had dinner over at his Aunt's house and hung around and chatted. Saturday morning was my friend Rebecca's baby shower. A wonderful group of ladies and myself have been planning this shower for over a month now. It turned out great I think. We had some really yummy foods. My favorites were the pistolettes and the mini tarts. Rebecca and her husband Greg were blessed with lots of love and some really awesome gifts. I didn't take any pictures but my awesome friend Julie did. I can't wait to see them and I can't wait to hold that sweet little baby boy! Sunday after church Tobey had a birthday party for one of his little friends from church. It was at Pump it Up and Tobey had a blast. Sadly we had to leave early because I needed a nap before I went into work and Rodney had a meeting at church. Tobey was not happy about it and I felt really bad for him. So we stopped at Sonic on the way home and got him his new favorite treat-a cherry sprite. Then on Monday night we went to a Bunco/birthday party at my friend Julie's house. Rodney has been out of town ALL week so Tobey came with me. Another little boy was their and they became fast friends. They were really cute together rough housing and chasing each other around. Tobey got his first black eye when he fell off the couch and hit the corner of the coffee table. Ouch! Today it has taken on a yellow green hue and looks pretty bad. Julie had homemade Chili ready for us to eat and Suzanne made a birthday cake for our friend Mindy that was delicious. It was a fun little party. I got three buncos in the first round of games which never happens. Suzanne caught up with me and I let her have the prize for most buncos since she made such a delicious cake. So we are partied out for a while but we had fun and enjoyed all the cake!

He went down the slide over and over and over

I love this picture!

Tobey and the birthday boy Colby! They are one month apart.

Tobey was so brave climbing up the steep walls.

Tobey and his new friend Marek

Mindy and the delicious cake. Happy Birthday friend!

Tobey and Marek trying their hands at Bunco

A Blast from the Past

2008-09-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago one of my very good friends from high school was in town from Alaska. We met at a park and hung out one day. I got to meet her precious little daughter for the first time. It was a short visit with each other but I was so encouraged by seeing her again. Lori has such an amazing spirit about her. I just love her!

A few days later I attended the reunion for my old youth group. It was amazing and overwhelming to see all those faces from the past. My old youth ministers Rick & Angela came in from Colorado too. We had a huge potluck buffet and a slideshow with some very old and humorous pictures. Then the old group gathered on the bleachers in our church's gym and listened to Rick once again. He said some really sweet things to us and most of the girls teared up I am sure. It was amazing seeing all these little kids running around too. We have been busy in the last 12 years. It was a great day though and I hope we do it again.

Those are the most exciting things happening for us lately although we did celebrate Foxy Granny's 79th birthday on Sunday. She had a really nasty chest cold but she was in good spirits anyway. I love that things are slowing down a bit for us. The summer was really busy. Tobey and I have been staying around the house mostly. We are making a second attempt at potty training this week. I think I gave up too easily last time. This time I am just trying to stay positive and focus on the successes and ignore the many accidents. He actually did #2 in the potty today. So I focused on praising him for that and gritted my teeth as I soaked up pee from the carpet for the fourth time in a two hour time frame. Bless his little heart. I am also doing a precept Bible study on Genesis. I did part 1 last fall and now we are doing part 2. I am loving it. This is only the third week and God has revealed so much and reminded and encouraged me of so much. I can't wait to see what He has in store for the next 7 weeks.

Birthday Boy!

2008-09-10T07:16:00.001-07:00

Tobey turned three last Saturday. Last year I was a little sad when he turned two but this year I have embraced his threeness. It might have something to do with the "terrible twos" and all that implies. Although I am not sure if three will be any better on that aspect. He seems to just get more stubborn with age. But really it is more about how much I adore this little person he is becoming. He is such a sweet and tender soul. He loves to make us laugh and lately I have found myself having deep belly laughs because of his silliness. Tonight while we were sitting together he loudly said "Mommy" and then proceeded to blow in my ear. He did this over and over while I giggled and giggled. I was telling Rodney about it and he said that is how they tell secrets to each other. I had no idea. Sometimes Tobey gets this playful gleam in his eyes and that means it is time for body tackle. So we will lay on the bed and guard our faces while Tobey relentlessly tackles us over and over. I love to ask him silly questions and hear his replies. When I ask him to pick up his toys his reply is "Oh, man mommy" followed by "will you help me" or if he is busy doing something else he will say "hode on". His sweetness often catches me off guard. He surprises us with kisses and I love you's all the time now. The other night at dinner we were about to pray and he asked if we could hold hands and then he put his head down and said "like this daddy". Afterwards he gave a hearty "amen!" He loves to cuddle and he gives the best little hugs. He is definitely a momma's boy right now. If anyone else tries to help him he will say "no mommy do it!". This can be quite frustrating at times but I know it is just a phase. These are a list of his favorite things:

- His morning shows-Curious George & Clifford. He cannot get enough Curious George. He just loves that little monkey so much and he will smile through the whole episode. And he loves "Ciffer" too.

-. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Mimi & PawPaw's house. He just about asks for either one of them everyday. One of the first things he will do when we go to their house is hit up the pantry for his snacks.

- Speaking of snacks Tobey has a little problem with his sweet tooth. He would eat sweets all day so I really have to limit what he gets. His favorite sweets are skittles, suckers, popsicles, fruit roll-ups, and soy ice cream sandwiches. Today is his first dentist appointment and I am a tad nervous. We are very diligent about brushing his teeth but I still worry about all those sweets he consumes.

- His favorite toys are his trains, cars, and tools. He likes to chase me or the dog with his electric drill and laugh hysterically. And he is often seen toting his books around the house.

- He loves to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and crawl or shall I say sneak into bed with us. He has gotten very good at it too. There are many mornings that I wake up with his little body snuggled against me with no recollection of him ever getting into our bed. As soon as I move in the morning he is sitting up and kissing me on the cheek saying "get up mommy". He did this the morning of his birthday and I rolled over and smiled and said good morning birthday boy. All morning he kept saying "I a birthday boy"!

- He loves the game Caribou. We just got it a month ago and he wants to play it everyday. It is geared toward preschoolers and features a treasure hunt. He loves it!

- He loves to help me. He pulls his little chair all around the house so he can stand at the sink and help me rinse dishes and put them in the dishwasher or stand at the washer and put clothes inside. He will say "I do it Mommy".

- His favorite food are waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, peaches, apples, corn on the cob, and barbecue chicken quesadillas. The doctor just told us at his well visit that we can start introducing cheese and see how he handles it. He seems to think that Tobey will do fine with it. I am more apprehensive especially after the milk incident last week but I would love for him to be able to have cheese. So mac-n-cheese is coming up.

His party went really well on Saturday. At the beginning of the summer I began to probe Tobey about his party. When I asked him what kind of party he wanted he said "uhmmm...choo choo party". I searched around and found this place inside one of the malls here called Choo Choo Station. They sell Thomas the Train merchandise but also have a play area with a choo choo train for the kiddos to ride and party rooms. He had so much fun playing with his friends. He especially enjoyed riding on the train and playing at the train tables with all his little friends. It was a little chaotic. I am not the best hostess but I think Tobey had fun and that is what matters. So here are some pics of the birthday boy!

My mother-in-law took care of the cake and had one of her friends make it. She is actually the same lady who made our wedding cake. Anyway the cake turned out awesome. It was more than I imagined and perfect for Tobey's party.

Tobey posed with PawPaw before guests started arriving.

All the guys took their turn on the train. Tobey and his daddy with Lee and Emma in the back.

Shawn and Kairi

Peter and Joshua

This one is a little blurry but it the only one I have of the whole train.

The kids loved playing at the train tables.

Time for cake! Tobey got kind of nervous when everyone started singing Happy Birthday to him. He even shouted NO and tried to hide his face. But he blew his candles out like a champ!

Sweet little Ava was so cute when she proclaimed "This cake is SO good". It really was.

Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with us and to the sweet words of those who could not make it. We are so blessed by our family and friends!

Official 1st Day of School

2008-09-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

Tobey's school actually started last week but he was sick and then we were out of town so today is actually his first day. He is so excited about going back to school. We have been praying together all week that he would feel better so he could go to school today. His appetite returned fully yesterday and he pigged out all day long. The only time he stopped eating was when he laid down for a nap. He greeted me at the door this morning when I arrived home from work and he was in the best mood. He even indulged me while I snapped some pictures of him waiting by the door for daddy. He looks so grown up. I can't believe I will have a three year old tomorrow. He kissed me at the door and as he was climbing into daddy's truck he said "I ove you mommy". He has been saying that for a while but it never ceases to amaze me!

Worst week ever & an amazing birthday celebration

2008-09-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

Last week was probably one of the worst weeks of my life. Tobey and I both came down with a really nasty stomach bug. I stayed near a bathroom for 4 days straight. Tobey had it worse than me though. While I had Imodium as a friend he had nothing. Plus he started out vomiting but by the third day he had it on the other end too. It was sooo miserable. On the 4th day which was Wednesday Tobey went all day without peeing. I was a nervous wreck. I called the doctor's office several times that day and they reassured me to keep pushing fluids and to bring him in if he didn't pee for 12 hours. He finally went that evening. I woke him up several times during the night and made him sip water or sprite (he refused the pedialyte) and he woke up with a wet diaper the next morning. We already had plans to drive to San Antonio on Thursday and go to Sea World on Friday. Then on Saturday we were meeting up with Rodney's whole family. It was a big surprise for Rodney's dad who is turning 60 today. I was apprehensive about leaving but I was encouraged by the fact that Tobey woke up with a wet diaper. I was much better by this point but just drained and weak and probably a little dehydrated myself. We decided to go ahead and leave that morning. Tobey did really well all day. He didn't get sick once and although he didn't have his appetite back he drank quite a bit. That night at the hotel he had a major explosion of nastiness. We ended up just throwing his clothes away. Which was quite liberating after the many loads of laundry I had washed all week. After that episode we went to dinner and he actually ate more than he had in 5 days. We didn't go to Sea World on Friday (boo!) because we didn't want to push him too much. Instead we took him to the San Antonio Childrens Museum and stayed for about an hour. Then we walked over to the River Center Mall and ate lunch and ordered a cookie cake for Rodney's dad. Tobey did well all day Friday and never got sick. However he threw up every other day of our trip. He would start out well in the morning eating and drinking and then late afternoon he would get fussy and throw everything up. Then he would feel better and continue eating and drinking the rest of the evening. It was so frustrating and I felt so sorry for my little man. If we hadn't been celebrating Phil's birthday then we would have stayed home. We made the best of the trip though and I am so glad we went. I wish I had a picture of the look on Phil's face when all his kids walked into the restaurant where he and Pat were eating breakfast at on Saturday morning. It was priceless. He was so surprised and Pat was thrilled because she had been planning this for months behind his back. It was just awesome. For three days we all just hung out. We went to the Alamo that first day because Phil LOVES the Alamo and we ate Tex-Mex for dinner in the hotel room after we enjoyed cookie cake and Phil opened presents. Sunday we got up and and had a late breakfast on the river walk and did some shopping in the La Lavita village. Then we went back to the hotel and swam and Tobey took a much needed nap. That night we all got spruced up and headed over to the Tower of the Americas for dinner. The food was amazingly delicious. Tobey got to run through the fountains after dinner and afterwards he just kept saying "I got wet, I got wet". On Monday Tobey woke Rodney and I up early and the three of us had an early morning stroll on the river and shared some pancakes while everyone else slept in. Once we checked out of the hotel we drove over to the Market and looked around and ate some wonderful and authentic Mexican food. I really enjoyed my food on Sunday and Monday! Then we headed out for home. Rodney's youngest sister Libby rode home with us while Pat and Phil stayed behind to get Jeff and Shanna to the airport. Praise the Lord Libby rode home with us because Tobey got sick in the car and I was sitting right beside him. If she hadn't rode with us I would have been in the front seat. I was able to grab a blanket and use it to catch everything. It was awful. I was so glad to finally get home. To top it all off I accidentally gave Tobey organic milk instead of Soy milk yesterday and he had a bad allergic reaction. Hives, more throwing up, and wheezing. I was devastated that I did that. In the two years since we found out he is allergic to milk I have never done that. I bawled when I realized what I had done. I gave him benadryl right away and made him an appointment with our pediatrician. Then he started wheezing and thankfully Pat was with me and was able to give him a breathing treatment in the car on the way to the doctor's office. By the time we got there the benadryl had kicked in too and he was much better. The doctor just jokingly said well now you know he is still allergic. He said to just keep giving benadryl for the hives and continue breathing treatments. We talked about why Tobey kept throwing up over the weekend and he just said his stomach was probably still sensitive from his stomach virus the week before and he should be better this week. He did not throw up at all today! Thank goodness. I think we are at the end. And that was probably the longest post ever but believe me my week was even longer. Here are a few pics from our trip.

This is outside the Children's Museum. This statue appropriately says "First Born". Tobey is sipping on his sprite.

Car Show outside the Alamo

Tobey and his PawPaw. We are eating at the top of the Tower of the Americas.

Phil with all his kids

Uncle Jeff led the way to the fountains.

Rodney even got a little wet too!

Jeff and Shanna not being serious

Silliness at El Mercado

Summer Highlights

2008-09-03T07:14:00.000-07:00

Waterpark buddies

VBS & PawPaw's firetruck

Swimming

Dry slides

Water slides

Friends

Popsicles

Floatie

Learning new phrases like "hold on" and "in a minute"

The Greatest Show on Earth

Road trips

Dallas World Aquarium

Going Bonkerz!

Cooling Off!

Bathroom Update

2008-08-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

The bathroom is coming along slowly. Rodney got quite a bit done this last weekend. I have tried to be really good but I may have given him subtle hints to get a move on. He has worked really hard and I appreciate him so so much. I tried to talk him into hiring someone to lay the tile at least. That would still leave him with plenty of work to finish up. But he declined because he wants to do it himself. I think he wants to be able to look at the finished product and say "hey I did all that myself". He will do a great job so I don't mind either way. Tobey has had great fun helping his Daddy out and banging on the walls with his hammer.

All the sheet rock is up except for the last piece to cover the window.

Window covered and tiling began.

New lights!

New paint!

While Rodney worked on the bathroom Tobey and I rearranged his room. We took apart his crib and stored it for later use=) Then we moved the guest bed that he has been sleeping in for weeks into his room. The last several months he has gotten really bad about waking in the middle of the night and climbing into our bed. One night a couple of weeks ago he would not settle down and go to bed. We kept taking him back to his room. He finally fell asleep and when I went to check on him I found him in the guest room curled up in the middle of the bed. This became a nightly routine until we caved in and started bypassing his toddler bed altogether. He is sleeping much better so I guess he just outgrew his toddler bed and needed some more room. So we moved the bed into his room. We had to do some rearranging to get it in there but he loves it now. I love that he loves to sleep in his big boy bed. He still shows up in our room some nights but it is much better than before. Besides I don't mind snuggling in the wee morning hours with my little man. There will come a day when he will no longer snuggle with me so I will take it while I can.

Drama at the Aquarium

2008-08-18T21:47:00.000-07:00

Last week was our final summer play date with my friend Mindy. She returns to school this week and will be busy during the week once again. Mindy is expecting baby #2 and has been a trooper this summer meeting us at the water park almost every week. We decided we were just about watered out (Mindy was done with the wave pool nausea). So we went to the aquarium instead. Tobey and I stopped by and picked up my friend Suzanne and her baby girl Kai and then we met Mindy and Emma at the aquarium downtown. We parked the car and then walked over to pay for parking. I kept an eye on Kairi who was in her stroller and Tobey (who was not) while Suzanne stood in line to pay for our parking. Well I did something totally out of character and quite humiliating. There were several kids standing around the stroller admiring Kai while I was trying to prevent Tobey from running into the street. Suzanne got close to paying and realized it was $5 for parking and she only had $2 in her hand. I grabbed the $1 I had from my wallet and she said she had more in her purse under the stroller. Well I turned to get to the stroller and there were like 6 or 7 kids surrounding baby Kai. I was a little frantic because 1)It's not my baby but these kids were a little too close for comfort and 2)Suzanne is next in line to pay and there are several people waiting to pay behind her so I needed access to the stroller. So I loudly said "Back off". I may have thrown a please in there but I am not sure. The kids moved and I made my way to the back of the stroller. While I was getting the money I heard a woman say "It's okay honey, some people are just like that". She was talking about me to her son who I had obviously offended. I felt horrible. Did I really say "Back Off"? Couldn't I have come up with something better than that? I apologized to the woman and explained that I had meant no harm but had just needed to get to the stroller. It was very awkward. Anyone who knows me would know that I am genuinely a nice person and don't usually go around telling other people to "Back Off" even if they are so close to my friend's baby that she could have reached out and touched them and vice versa. A few minutes later Suzanne came over and asked what that was all about and I told her what I said. She couldn't believe it but said I was probably just feeling her nervous energy. She said that she has thought about hanging a sign around Kai's stroller that says "Please wash your hands before touching" because strangers are always coming up to Kai. Anyway we finally made it into the aquarium and I managed to run into the offended family at least three times. I smiled pitifully each time. Despite the drama outside we still had a good time. The otters were in a very playful mood. They were swimming in circles in their tank and coming right up to the glass. That was Tobey's favorite part.

I think this picture of Emma and Tobey with their legs propped on the ledge is awesome!

Tobey watching over Kairi!

Wouldn't you feel the need to protect this sweet face?

"I'm done. Can we go eat now?"

FBCI-90's Style

2008-08-12T08:47:00.002-07:00

Some friends of mine are organizing a reunion for our old youth group. I was digging through old pictures and found this one taken at youth camp. We have just come back to our cabin from playing Wacky Olympics. Wacky Olympics consisted of the silliest and messiest games such as Fat Bat. All the girls hated Fat Bat because you were bound to fall and get wet no matter what you did. In Fat Bat all the bases were kiddie pools filled with water and you couldn't help but bust at least once around the field. We also played Tug of War over a muddy pool of water. Slip-n-slide into muddy water, sand volleyball, and more. So you can see why we are all a little grimy in the picture. There were usually about ten teams with 8 or so members. You got points by winning the games of course but you also got points for spirit which included Bible verse memory, singing, and overall enthusiasm and good sportsmanship. Those were some really fun times. I loved my youth group and am so excited about catching up with everyone. These are the people I spent most of my high school years with. I could care less about my high school reunions but I wouldn't miss this one for anything.

More Fun in the Sun

2008-08-12T08:47:00.001-07:00

Car trips, Concerts, and Circus Clowns

2008-08-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

Last week was hectic and fun. On Tuesday some old friends of mine that I used to work with came over for a playdate. They both have little boys who just turned one. I loved that age with Tobey and had fun watching them waddle around. At first Tobey was not too keen on our house guests but he warmed up by the end of their visit. At one point I was holding little Elliot so my friend Tricia could set up his pack-n-play for a nap. I looked over at Tobey and he was actually pouting. I called him over and asked him if he would like to have a little brother like Elliot and he said "No, Tobey". He is a mama's boy, what can I say. It was a fun day and we enjoyed catching up with each other and showing off our boys. On Wednesday we went to the waterpark again. This is probably our 10th trip this summer so we have definitely gotten our money's worth. On Thursday my cousin Nikki came to our house and picked Tobey and I up. We piled into her suburban with her two kids for a road trip to see Foxy Granny. It is always eventful when you get three small kids in the back seat. I so admire moms who handle that everyday. We got out to my Aunt's house around 3pm and stayed until 10pm. We bathed the kids before we left and Tobey fell asleep on the way home. I still felt bad that he didn't actually get into his bed until 11:30pm. He was supposed to go to KDO on Friday but we did not wake up until almost 9am which is what time his school starts. I could have rushed around and gotten him there just a few minutes late but he was so tired I let him lounge around and watch cartoons while he ate breakfast. Later we left the house and both of us got haircuts. Then we went to pick up the invitations for his choo choo party coming up next month. I cannot express how awesome it is to ask your child what he wants and actually get a valid response. Although I usually try to give him options such as milk or juice, apple or banana, blue shorts or gray shorts. I love how he will look up at me, and then look up at the ceiling and go uhmmm...this one! A couple of weeks ago I asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted and he said uhmmmm...choo choo party. After we picked up his invitations we met Rodney at On the Border for lunch. We shared the new grilled enchilada and a bowl of queso. It was perfect! Then came home and Tobey took a nap. Even more perfect! That evening Rodney's mom came over to babysit while we went to the John Mayer/Colbie Caillat concert with our friends Melissa and Jimmy. It was my first time to see John Mayer live and the concert was awesome. All I have to say is that boy can play the guitar. The concert started almost a hour late because the power went out so it wasn't over until almost midnight and then we got stuck in some awful traffic in some very shady parts of south Dallas. We should have left a little early but we waited for his encore performance of Gravity. If you've never heard the song go listen to it now. Melissa met us at our house and rode with us to the concert and then Jimmy came straight from work. After the concert Jimmy went on home and Melissa rode back with us so she could pick up her car. Jimmy went out a different way than us and somehow missed all the traffic. He was home before we even made it to the freeway. We were a little peeved. (Sorry Melissa!) We did all agree that JM's performance was worth waiting an hour in traffic. Seriously go listen to Gravity now!

We finally got in bed around 1:45am and then we got up the next morning and took Tobey to an 11:30am performance of The Greatest Show on Earth. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought these tickets so close to each other. Tobey was a little leery at first but warmed up to the show after he got a snow cone in a lighted plastic cup for $15. Honestly I was a little bored with the show. It was cool but just didn't hold the same appeal as the circus did when I was a kid. We will not be going back next year. Maybe when our next child is old enough we will make a second appearance. After the circus we went home and I crashed for three hours because I had to work that night and the next.

My plan is to keep it low key this week and get some things done around the house. We haven't left the house today and we are still in our pajamas. I think I will keep it that way, I see no need to get dressed now. Here is some randomness. Tobey has started calling me mom. Not all the time but sometimes when he wants something he yells through the house Mooommm! I don't like it. Is he really big enough to call me mom! I want to be mommy a little bit longer please.

New Project

2008-07-24T22:52:00.001-07:00

I guess it was about a year ago when I woke up one morning and stepped out of bed on my way to the bathroom. I went a few steps and felt wetness seep through the carpet between my toes. I knew something was not right. I made it to the bathroom but the tile was dry as a bone. So we were a little puzzled about where the water was coming from. We eventually found out that we had a leak under our bathtub and the only way to get to it was to to lift the bathtub up. We thought about it for a while and decided to take advantage of the situation and make a walk in shower in place of the tub. I would have loved to have put in a garden tub but we just don't have room for that. So we purchased the materials for the new shower. Thankfully we have two bathrooms because we are just now getting to it. Rodney finally got some vacation time to devote to the project. I kind of added some work for him because I said it would be nice to just go ahead and makeover the whole bathroom. It is a pretty hefty project and he only has one week off from work. So we are just trying to get as much accomplished as possible. He spent Saturday night, Monday, and Tuesday just gutting the room and gathering supplies. We had to pick out tile and a new vanity. I have spent so much time at Lowe's and Home Depot this week and have tried not to complain b/c I get really restless in these stores. I just want to get in there and get out but it never happens that way. Wednesday and today were devoted to plumbing because there were more issues then we originally thought. Rodney's dad Johnny is a licensed plumber so he came over and helped out. They also got the shower pan installed so we are making progress. Tomorrow Rodney is going to get the walls up and maybe start tiling. I can't wait to see the finished project. Here are a few before pictures. It looks pretty scary right now but I will keep ya'll updated on the progress. Rodney goes back to work on Monday and will have to try to get it finished in his spare time which is sparse in itself. My goal is to not pressure him even though I am itching for it to be done.

This is the original vanity. My new vanity is a smaller dark brown cabinet with a marble top and white sink. It is really pretty and elegant. The faucets will be a brushed nickel. No more gold please. We are slowly eliminating all the gold hardware in our house.

This is the old bathtub. My friend Melissa was over when Rodney and his dad rolled the tub out on a dolley. She asked me if I was sad to see it go and I said nope!

This is the old tile, The new tile is darker and has more color variation.

The gutted room. It is kind of creepy. This is our master bath by the way so it opens straight into our bedroom. I made Rodney hang a sheet over it so I could sleep.

I think he may have enjoyed that sledge hammer a little too much!

Hooray! It's a shower pan!

Silly Glasses

2008-07-18T05:48:00.001-07:00

Who knew so much fun could be derived from a cheap pair of plastic sunglasses that Tobey got out of a kid's meal. He played with them for several hours one afternoon. It started out as me trying to take a picture of him with the glasses on. He made a game of it by putting his glasses on and then running and plopping down on me. Each time his glasses would fall off and we would start all over again. He was cracking me up because he had to scrunch his face up to try to keep the glasses from falling down. Then I just started snapping pictures and I got some really funny mid-air, mid-jump snapshots. They really show his silly side. I did manage to get one sweet smiling shot before the silliness began. I have been such a slacker on blogging lately but we are just enjoying the summer and the days have been passing by so quickly. Tobey is all energy and is ready to go "bye-bye now" almost as soon as he wakes up. Naps are rare and short so by the time he goes to bed I am swamped and ready for bed myself. We have been going to the water park every week. Which has been great for building up his confidence in the water. But it takes me a full day to recover. Last week we went down all the slides in the kid's area multiple times and I was actually sore the next day. It is so much fun though. I love this age my child is in!! Anyway, here are some pics from our silly afternoon.

July 4th

2008-07-08T21:36:00.001-07:00

This year we went out to my Aunt's house in Waxahachie. Rodney was excited because we were able to do our own fireworks. I personally prefer watching them but it was fun to watch his excitement. Tobey played with his cousins. He played hard too. I don't think he stopped moving the whole time we were there.

After dinner we all jumped in the pool. The pool was small so for fun we all swam in one direction and made a whirlpool. I think this went on for an hour. At least we burned our dinner calories off. By the time we got out of the pool it was time for fireworks.

We ladies sat chairs up in my Aunt's driveway and watched the boys have their fun. My cousin Nikki had the great idea of buying those glow in the dark necklaces and sticks. Each person wore one so we could see where everybody was. Tobey refused to wear his so I looped it through his back belt loop when he wasn't looking. It came in handy when he wanted to walk down the driveway with Daddy to light some fireworks. I knew where he was by following the round circle about a foot off the ground. I was very nervous the whole time and much relieved when the fireworks were all over. The boys did put on a pretty good show though.

Tobey held his first sparkler and was not very impressed. He was more impressed with the gazillion bikes laying around my Aunt's driveway. I missed the second half of the "show" because Tobey had to test drive every bike he could get his hands on.

By the end of the night he was so tired he could barely stay on this bike. We had a wonderful celebration with family but the best part-Tobey slept until 10am the next morning. It was wonderful!

Playing Catch Up

2008-07-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in so long but it has been a busy summer. My sweet younger sister came for her annual summer visit. She is 17 now and we had a blast while she was here as usual. I had a really hard time when she left this year. I cried the night before she left, the day she left, the day after, and will probably cry writing this post. I am trying to convince her to come to college here in Texas but I don't see it happening. She is a Bama girl. I was amazed at her increased maturity level from last summer. But I remember my own junior year had many defining moments and I grew up alot in that year. She was still the same Tina but had a little more wisdom behind those eyes. She was here for 10 days and we played hard. I was exhausted by the time she left. One of my favorite things we did was go see the musical Hairspray. Neither one of us had ever been to a musical and thought it would be fun. And it was. We decided this might be our "new thing" that we do together when she comes.

We made several trips to visit family while she was here and Foxy granny spent a few nights with us of course. Some of my family came over one day to swim. Yes, our swimming pool is finally up and running after a month of greenness. We ended up having a tear in one of the filters that our pool guy some how missed when he cleaned it. After that was fixed the pool cleared up by the next day. Amazing, huh! So we finally got in it for our first swim on June 26th. Better late than never.

Tobey was so excited to have everyone over. He really grew some courage with the water after watching the bigger kids. He let me pull him around in a float and would even jump off the first step into my arms. Those are huge steps for him.

Tina and I did our usual things while she was here. We had scary movie night, played cards, played monopoly (she beat me both times), went shopping, ate and ate. Her last night here I took her to Texas Roadhouse because it is my favorite place to eat and it seemed an appropriate Texas send off. We both ordered my usual, the Dallas Filet and it was delicious. I ordered Tobey a sweet potato overflowing with marshmallows. We were all stuffed and happy after we left so we went to Target. I got some gifts for her to take back to my nephews in Alabama. I also bought the new John Mayer "Where the Light Is" DVD. It is amazing if you like John Mayer and I do. She bought a new car for Tobey and they had some final moments together on the kitchen floor.

Tobey fell asleep on the way to the airport which was probably good because he didn't see his mommy sobbing all the way home. When we got home he asked where Aunt Nina was. He didn't get to say goodbye even though she opened the back door and kissed him on the forehead. A couple of days later he was playing and he randomly looked up at me and said Nina...airport. I asked him if he wanted to pick Nina up at the airport and he said yes! I wonder how confused he is because my mom is Nana/Nina depending on how he chooses to say it. My sister-in-law Shanna is Neener and sometimes Nina. And now he has another Nina. So I am not quite certain which Nina he wanted to pick up from the airport. I am sure it was the latter one who is still fresh on our minds and hearts. I miss her so much already and she only left 5 days ago. Hopefully we will get out to see the Alabama crew this fall. If not then it will be May when my baby sister graduates! Crazy, considering I was 12 when she was born. I am so old!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

Recently our kitchen sink stopped up and when Rodney got ready to work on it Tobey brought over his tools to help. He stayed with his Daddy in the kitchen the whole time. I don't know how much he helped but his Daddy let him "think" he was helping and Tobey was content with that. I love you honey and I love watching you and Tobey together. He loves you so much and misses you when you are gone. When evening approaches he will often hear a car outside and think that it is you. And he is so excited when I tell him that you are home. You are a wonderful Dad and I appreciate all you do for both of us. Happy Father's Day!

The "Player"

2008-06-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

My son is becoming quite the player. I am sure he has always been a manipulator of my emotions but lately he goes to great length to win my affection and sympathy. Last week we were out eating lunch with Mimi and Aunt Lib. He was a little toot all through lunch. I was trying to clean him up as we were getting ready to leave and he kept fighting me and saying no. I got on to him in a very stern voice. He turned around and looked at me with the sweetest smile and then he leaned in and gave his mad mommy a kiss right on the lips. I was stunned into silence and when I looked up Mimi was trying to hold her laughter in. He then consented to my cleaning up efforts and we left the building. Some of you might think my stern voice just whipped him into shape and his kiss was a tender apology. But no I saw the look in his eyes-playful and cunning. He knew exactly what he was doing and that I would melt under such sweetness. And of course I did. I can't resist kisses from my Tobers.

Yesterday he had some lab work drawn for allergy testing. Last year when he had this done he whimpered for a minute and then forgot about the whole ordeal. This year he milked the sympathy all day. He was quite brave while the nurse performed an arterial stick on his arm. He sat in my lap and I held him close. As soon as the needle stuck his skin he started crying quietly but he sat very still while the nurse collected 2 vials of blood. I didn't realize I was crying too until we left the office and I felt tears on my cheeks. He cried all the way to the car while I repeatedly told him how brave he was. In the car I had to kiss his "boo-boo" several times. Throughout the day he would show his boo-boo to me and then give a little fake whimper. He heard me telling his Mimi about it on the phone and he held his arm up and whimpered for a second and then immediately went back to playing with his cars. He had to tell his Daddy about it when they talked on the phone before bedtime. He even held his arm up to the phone so that Daddy could see his boo-boo. He is very dramatic like that.

The player has a certain gleam to his eyes when he knows he is about to do or get into something that is off limits. He will even look at you and smile sweetly if you catch on to it. He has even gotten brave enough to go ahead and do the forbidden task. The player is also very sneaky and as quiet as a mouse. We always know when he is up to something because it gets so quiet. But I love my little player. He has his moments but mostly he his a good boy. Last week we had VBS and I decided to help with the older kids instead of working in his class. He had so much fun without me and I really enjoyed my 1st graders. Ironically we had 8 boys on the first day and only three girls. These boys were rowdy and rambunctious and I loved each one of them. I know God was giving me a picture of the years to come. Glorious days with my rowdy and rambunctious boy who knows how to pull his Momma's heartstrings. I can live with that.

Summer Fun!

2008-06-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have blogged but life has been a little busy lately. One thing I love about summer is that it is a time to reconnect with old friends especially those who are teachers and work hard during the school year. Almost all of my close friends are teachers and are busy during the week when I am not. And are free on the weekends when I am working. A couple of weekends ago I took Friday night off and we made a trip to Canton to visit the Johnson clan. The boys grilled steaks Friday night that were delicious. We ate and had good conversation while the kids ran around the house totally entertaining themselves. Before dinner I had some grown up conversation with Julianne. I remember playing with her when she was a baby. Rodney and I had just married and she is the reason I got baby fever so quick. Now she is in elementary school and so smart. Tobey had so much fun playing with the twins and their toys. He is finally catching up to them in size. On Saturday we woke up to a big breakfast that Jason cooked for us. We always eat well when we go to Canton. Then we played some Mexican Train (dominoes) and I was so proud of Rodney for actually playing. For the record I won. That afternoon we ventured out to First Monday because Rodney had never been. It was hot, very hot. We immediately purchased snow cones and found some shade. We had fun looking around. I saw lots of cute decorating stuff for the house but didn't buy a thing. I did buy Tobey some clogs. The rest of our money was spent on food which was probably the better choice. As we were leaving the boys were so sweet and held Tobey's hand in the parking lot. It was a great little visit!

I also purchased a season pass to Hawaiian Falls for the summer. My teacher friends Mindy and Suzanne also purchased one. All of our kids get in for free so it seemed like a good investment and a good way to get out of the house this summer. Mindy and I went last week and the kids had a blast. They lasted a whole four hours. Tobey loved the little water slide this year. Last year I had to go down with him. This year he was so brave and went down over and over and over. Emma and Tobey also walked around holding hands. It was really cute.

I have a really bad mommy blunder to share. Last week we drove to Oklahoma to spend the night with my mom. Tobey and I got a hotel room because my brother was occupying her guest room. Plus we had some points built up so the room was free. This hotel had a pool so we decided to take my niece and nephew with us to the pool. I was a little frazzled loading three kids into my car two of which are in carseats. I plopped Tobey in his seat and then moved around to get my nephew into his. My mom was recovering from minor surgery and couldn't do any lifting. Then we drove off. We were several blocks away and I glanced in the backseat and Tobey was not in his carseat. I just about had a heart attack. All kind of crazy thoughts ran through my head. I immediately pulled over and as I was looking in the rear view mirror my son's little face peeked up from behind the backseat. In all the chaos of trying to protect my brother's children I forgot to buckle my own son in he carseat. He took advantage of the situation and quietly crawled out of his seat and was having a good ole time in the back cargo area. He was not very happy when I returned him to his seat and buckled him in.

Now I am off to get a pedicure with friends. My first one for the summer. Yay me! Then we are meeting for my bestie Melissa's birthday celebration. Yum!

Sonic Ice

2008-05-30T12:32:00.001-07:00

I can't believe how hot it has gotten over the last week. The heat has been teasing us for several weeks now. We would have one really warm day followed by days of coolness. All the weather changes wreaked havoc on the many allergies in my household. Tobey's asthma has really hit him hard this last month. We have been doing breathing treatments everyday now for over a month. We tried stopping and he had another flare up in less than a week so we are back to everyday for a while. Our pedi said he would have trouble until the weather changed completely. I think the heat is here to stay so maybe we will see some improvements with the Tobester. While we old folks are groaning and complaining about the sweltering degrees Tobey does not seem to be bothered. He still wants to go outside and play, he still wants to take walks around the neighbor hood, he still wants to go to the park and all I want to do is stay near an air conditioner. His energy seems to have no end at times and if he is hot he just strips his clothes off which has become an evening ritual and munches on Sonic Ice.

"Singing"

2008-05-20T20:53:00.001-07:00

Tobey's KDO had an end of the year program and here he is "singing". His facial expressions were so cute. He had a mix of stage fright and amusement on his face. He found us out in the audience quickly and was shouting there's Mimi at the beginning of the program. Once the singing started he looked like he might start crying but he held it in. He is so brave. The rest of the time he just seemed amused by the whole thing. He never sang one word but at least he didn't run from the stage.

And here he is hanging out with some very cute little girls before the program started.

Just Because....

2008-05-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

I dug through our old pictures and found the one from our first date to the zoo along with some others. There is one from a homecoming. Can you believe that Mum? I remember it being kind of heavy. I love the last one. We are on a mission trip out in W. Texas I believe. Suzanne, do you remember these shirts and how much we all "loved" them? Especially the guys. But we wore them anyway... even if it was only the one time. Tonight we are celebrating our anniversary. Rodney has a had a really long week so I hope he is ready for a night out. And I hope his flight gets in on time this evening. The plan is to eat dinner at Celebration in Dallas. We have never been but have heard really good things about this place. Then we will probably head over to Northpark and see the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Tobey is spending the night with his Mimi and PawPaw and is very excited. I am so very excited about sleeping in tomorrow morning! Yay for sweet slumber!

Happy Anniversary to My Endless Love

2008-05-13T13:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my 7 year anniversary to my wonderful husband. I can't believe we have been married for 7 years. We dated for 7 years before that so in all we have been together for 14 YEARS! We started dating when I was 15. I had just moved to Texas so I was the new girl. I remember my girlfriend Lori came up to me in the hallway at school and told me this boy liked me. When she told me who I instantly knew his face. I had seen him my first day at school. When I moved to Texas the school year had already begun so I did not know anyone. That first day I remember sitting down in my new art class and when I looked up there was a boy staring at me from across the room. The desks were arranged so we kind of faced each other. I remember thinking he was cute and that he looked really nice. Then my schedule got switched around when I moved up to a honors English class. I saw him again a few weeks later though when my family attended First Baptist. My step mom knew his mom and they introduced us briefly and that was that. So it was months later when Lori came to me and I told her to tell him that I would go on a date but I didn't want anything serious. I never imagined that I would end up marrying that boy. We were both really shy and the first year or two we dated we did most of our talking via telephone or notes. We still have all the notes we wrote each other in a box in the top of our closet. They are really corny love sappy high school notes. But I cherish them. Most of our dates revolved around church gatherings or school functions. Our first date was a trip to the zoo with our youth group. I have a picture of us from that day that I wanted to post but I can't find it. We both look so young. My hair was so long and pretty and I was much thinner. Those were the days. So we survived high school and then college in separate towns. We married a year after Rodney graduated from college and I still had one more year of Nursing school to complete. I love having all that history with my husband. Youth camps, mission trips, proms, graduation, homecomings, etc... But I much prefer our married life. I have LOVED the last 7 years with Rodney. We got to grow up together, become best friends, marry, and start a family together. So when times get tough I don't have to look very far to see the blessings that God has poured over my life. When we started dating Mariah Carey was really popular. Rodney was already a big R&B fan so it's not surprising that "Endless Love" became our song and ended up in our wedding. To this day I can not listen to this song without tearing up and imagining our wedding day.

Rodney, I am so glad you are my love. There is no one else I would rather share my life and my heart with. Thank you for being a wonderful husband and father. Thank you for being patient with me the last several years as I have adapted to my new role as a mom. But most of all thank you for being my very best friend. For listening and dragging the words out of me when you know I need to talk but don't know where to begin. I love you!

A Conversation with Foxy Granny

2008-05-07T07:02:00.000-07:00

Foxy Granny is coming to our house tonight. Yay!!! I called her last night and this is how the conversation went:

Granny: Hello? (speaking over the answer machine)

Me: Hi Grandma. It is me ...Cassi

Granny: Well I was just thinking about ya'll today. I bet that is why you called.

Me: I bet so. (laughing) What are you doing?

Granny: Oh just watching some TV with your aunt and sewing some quilts for the auction at the family reunion. I am one of the elders so I need to contribute to these things. I was just thinking about you today.

Me: Well, are you up for a visit this week or next week.

Granny: Oh yes (and then quietly) but I don't think I can drive.

Me: (my heart breaks) I will come and get you of course. How about tomorrow morning?

Granny: Well okay then. I can't wait!

It's funny but when I talk about her she is Foxy Granny but when I speak to her she is Grandma. I guess because I grew up calling her Grandma. She did not inherit the Foxy Granny nickname until years later after my cousin's little boy Maison was born. Foxy Granny is an amazing woman although she would humbly deny it. Growing up she was the best Grandma. She would always get down in the floor with us to play. Even now she will sit and play with Tobey. As I got older she was always slipping money into my pockets or buying me books because I loved to read. I was such a bookworm. I always had my nose in a book. I probably have the complete collection of Nancy Drew in my attic. And I was addicted to grandma's homemade plum jelly. She hasn't made it in years and I refuse to buy it because nothing in the store can even compare to hers. Whenever I would visit her I can remember her cleaning and straightening the house everyday and she would hum or whistle under her breath. She still does the whistling thing. It is so soft, almost like a whisper. She will probably never read this so I feel comfortable in telling you that she is also the gassiest person I know. She can walk around and let out a toot with every step. We laugh alot about that. I guess as you get older it is harder to hold it in. She is simple and quiet and always tries to find the good in others. She had some rough years after my Dad passed away and then my grandpa only a few years later. She was bitter for a while. I still remember the day that she took my face in her hands and told me she was done with the bitterness and she let go of it and never went back. But what I admire her the most for is her love for my grandpa. When he got sick with Alzheimer's she took care of him completely even when he became bedridden. She tried a nursing home for about a month but ended up bringing him back home because she could not bear him being there. So she kept him at home and cared for him. She did have help. A nurse aide came out everyday for an hour or so. But my grandma did everything for him for almost two years before he passed away. That is one of the many reasons that she is an amazing woman to me. I could go on and on about her but I need to get ready so we can go and pick her up. Tobey is excited about seeing his Foxy Granny and I am too!

Visiting Nana

2008-05-05T17:46:00.001-07:00

Last week we took a little day trip to Oklahoma to see Nana. I had not seen my Mom in several months and she had the day off so at the spur of the moment we decided to drive up and spend the day with her. Tobey and I left as soon as we got up and ate doughnuts in the car. I love my boy. He loves getting out of the house and going. We arrived at Nana's around 11am and just had ourselves a good little visit. We went out for lunch and then drove to an area called Little Niagara in the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. It is a cold water spring and I had not been there since I was a kid. My mom humored me even though it was her day off and I am sure she would rather have relaxed at home. She was a really good sport and we made some nice memories that day.

This is the falls. It is rather pretty and the water was icy cold.

I just love this picture of my son. He looks so grown up and handsome.

My mom was so cute as she searched the water for arrowheads and then tried to skip rocks on the water. Neither one of us was very good at it. Of course Tobey just enjoyed throwing rocks in the water.

We walked for a while on this path and the lighting was so beautiful. I love how this picture turned out. It was such a gorgeous day.

I couldn't resist just hanging back and snapping some shots of Tobey and his Nana.

The Crazy Nights Continue....

2008-04-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

Especially since we have added steroids to the mix. He has stopped waking up in the middle of the night but bedtime has been challenging. Tobey won't stay in his bed so we have to keep taking him back and warning him to not get up and he eventually falls asleep. He has gotten very sneaky about getting out of bed. I have found him in our bed reading a book, sitting at the bar eating a cookie, and hanging out behind my chair while I was watching T.V. This last one scared the daylights out of me. I got up and went into the kitchen and when I came back to sit down Tobey popped his head out from behind the chair. I screamed so loud. It was actually very funny. Some nights it has been almost 11pm before he is down for the night and then he is up at 7am. A few mornings I convinced him to get back in bed with me and sleep for an hour or so. When I got home this morning from work I found him fast asleep on the rug at the foot of our bed. Rodney was snoring and had no idea our child was asleep on the floor of our bedroom. I scooped him up and put him in bed with us. Crazy, Crazy, Crazy I say! He was actually in bed and asleep at a normal hour tonight. Hallelujah!

A Date With Mommy

2008-04-26T20:05:00.001-07:00

About a week and a half ago, Tobey woke up with a worsening cough and slight wheezing. We gave him a respiratory treatment and within 2 hours he was breathing rapidly and still wheezing. I went to pick him up to give him a second treatment and his little heart was racing. The second treatment did not help him at all so we headed to the doctor's office. The doctor started him on some oral steroids and gave us instructions to continue treatments twice a day and to keep him in doors for the next week. So this past week was rough but we have seen much improvement with his asthma. It was hard keeping him from playing outside because he LOVES the outside but overall he was really good. On Thursday I decided to get out of the house with him to do something fun so we went to the Children's Museum downtown. We were sad that our play date friends couldn't make it. Even so I am glad it was just the two of us because we had so much fun. It was kind of like a date. He was really good and he played really hard. We spent over three hours there playing, walking around and eating lunch somewhere in between. At first I told myself I was not going to take any pictures and just enjoy our time together but I could not resist capturing Tobey's energy and playfulness.

Tobey hates posing for pictures but I convinced him to sit in this hand. Of course he's not smiling but I was just happy he looked at the camera and I was able to snap the shot before he wiggled out.

Playful eyes!

He had so much fun playing in the little house especially the kitchen. He was very good at using the microwave and he couldn't find plates so he just used cups to put his steak and broccoli in.

Tobey was all over the puzzles. I was very impressed.

His favorite area was the fire station. There were fire coats and hats and a real fire bell that rang. And of course a fire truck with a slide.

His second favorite area was the fossil dig. I had to go in after him when it was time to go. I might have bribed him with skittles.

The skittles kept him awake for the ride home and then we had a glorious nap! The perfect end to our museum date.

Crazy nights!

2008-04-16T20:32:00.001-07:00

Tobey is going through a new phase. It started a week or so ago when he was taking a prescription cough medicine along with his breathing treatments. The two did not mix well. On the second night of this regiman he really fought his bedtime and when I went into his room at midnight to check on him he was not in his bed. My heart literally stopped beating. I frantically searched his room and found him on the floor behind his train table and under the curtains snuggled up to the wall.

I don't know what he was thinking. Of course I called Rodney in and we both had a good laugh before we put him back in his own bed. That same night he woke up around 3:30am wired. It took a full hour to get him settled back down in his own bed. He was also acting strange and silly. He asked me several times while we were sitting in the dark "what's that". At one point when I was trying to encourage him to lay back down he tried to pick up something on his bed but there was nothing there. Once he laid down he held his hand in front of his face and just stared. It was weird and if it had been daytime I might have called the doctor. I think he was hallucinating or something. So we nixed the cough medicine and he slept through the next night. Now he has these random nights where he wakes up and comes strolling into our bedroom at odd hours of the morning. I am not liking this new phase. Because it requires one of us to get out of bed (usually me) to take him back to his room. It is just wrong to get out of bed at 3:30 in the morning. I don't know how I did it when he was a baby and I can't help but wonder how hard it is going to be when another addition comes along. Am I really ready? I don't know the answer to that. Needless to say I have been a sucker twice this week and may be starting a very bad trend. Tobey wondered into our room Monday night and in my half asleep slumber I allowed him to crawl in bed and cuddle up with me. I awoke an hour later very hot with my son's sweaty head pressed against my cheek and my arm pinned underneath him. This is why he does not sleep in our bed. It just is not comfortable. I nudged Rodney and he got up and took Tobey back to his bed. Of course he woke up and was back in our room in less than five minutes. So I had to get out of bed anyway and sit with him until he got sleepy and could fall asleep again. Then last night he showed up again around 1am. I was so so tired and Rodney was out of town so I just let him in the bed and he slept there the rest of the night. I don't really mind him sleeping in our bed occasionally but I don't want this to be a nightly thing. I am going to have to be consistent in taking him back to his own room which requires me to get out of bed. Maybe this is preparation for another child or potty training. That's another thing I am not looking forward too. Man I am just full of negativity tonight. Sorry! Anyway we have started "potty time" everyday. Tobey gets to wear his big boy underpants while I follow him around and ask him every five minutes if he needs to go potty. We usually do this for an hour or so and then I put his diaper back on which he hates. His underoos have Thomas the train on them so of course he is in love with them. I tell him that he has to go pee pee in the potty so he doesn't get Thomas wet. So far he hasn't gone in the potty and Thomas has gotten wet. This is the point where I usually put the diaper back on. But I am working on consistency here and if we do it everyday then I believe he will "get" it. Then maybe I will be brave enough to let him wear his Thomas undies more than an hour a day.

Tubes and T-ball

2008-04-11T15:10:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we had a fun and busy day. We met Janelle and Melissa at the Tubes for lunch and playtime. It was quite amusing how many times we had to chase our children down. They are much faster than they used to be. They had more fun spinning around the padded bars than they did climbing on the tubes. It was alot of fun. I got to hold and cuddle with sweet Gabe. He is such a good baby.

After the Tubes Tobey and I headed south to Ovilla to spend some time with Foxy Granny. She was at my cousin's house so Tobey got to play with his cousins Maison and Mckenzie too. Foxy Granny was so excited to see Tobey. And I promise she asked me five times if I needed a Dr. Pepper in the first five minutes I had arrived. She is a Dr. Pepper queen. She has one or several everyday and she is one of the healthiest ladies I know. I felt really bad because my granny had misunderstood me on the phone and thought she was coming home with me for a night. She even brought her clothes with her. But I have to work tonight so I promised her we would do it in the next couple of weeks. Tobey and I love for her to come and stay but I have to pick her up and take her back home which isn't a big deal except when I have to work. So I felt really bad about it because I feel this NEED to spend as much time with her as possible. And I'll have to stop there because my emotions can't handle more than that. That evening we went and saw Maison play T-ball. Tobey was mesmerized by all the little boys in their uniforms running around the field. He stood at the fence for almost 20 minutes and just watched and looked for Maison on the field. It was so stinking cute. I can't wait for him to play T-ball. Wait did I say that. Yes, I can wait. He is already growing up too fast. I need time to slow down a bit.

Baylor Blooms

2008-04-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

Made a trip to the Arboretum with my Baylor buddies and their babes. Tobey was the only boy but he had a blast chasing the girls. It was hot and humid so we cooled off by the fountains where some little boy got too close. And the tulips...simply breathtaking!

Victoria/Last day

2008-04-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

I have finally made it to the last day of our trip. I promise this will be quick although I do have alot of pictures from this day. We spent the majority of this day at Butchart gardens in Victoria. The gardens were beautiful even though most of the flowers were not in bloom yet. Our favorite was the Sunken Garden. It was absolutely gorgeous.

This waterfall was kind of the grand finale at the end of the Sunken Garden. This picture does not even come close to capturing how pretty it was.
We were able to get some fun family shots on this last day.
I LOVE this picture. It is a giant redwood tree and it was so beautiful. We decided that our next family trip would be the Sequoia National Park in California.
This is a ceramic bunny and they were hidden all over the gardens. Tobey received a map and each time he found a bunny we marked it on his map. At the end he turned it in and got a prize. This was really cool since he missed out on the traditional Easter egg hunt. He had so much fun searching for these bunnies and he was really good at it.

This is just a pretty view from the Japanese Gardens. Since there weren't many flowers blooming we got to focus on other beautiful parts of the garden like the fountains, and trees, and views. Although I am sad that we were too early for all the spring flowers. But it just gives us a reason to visit again someday. Plus there were a few other sites I wanted to visit in Victoria such as the lighthouse and this really old castle. Maybe next time...

We took advantage of the blooming daffodils!

This is a view from the ferry back to the mainland. The weather was much nicer so we ventured out to the deck this time. Our border experience was quite uneventful again and we arrived back at Shanna & Jeff's apartment in the early evening. We ordered take-out at a little place called Teriyaki Madness and ate on their living room floor. We all crashed in the apartment on this last night so there were bodies everywhere. Then we got up the next morning and flew back home. Tobey was asleep before the plane left the ground and he slept all the way to Kansas City where we had to change planes. The flight from Kansas City to Dallas was rough because we were all ready to just get home especially Tobey. But overall he did really well and was such a trooper the whole trip. We crammed alot of activity in just a few days but it was so much fun. I love vacation! I am ready for another one already.

Victoria Day 4

2008-04-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

There is not much to tell about the 4th day of our trip. Most of the day was spent riding in the car and on the ferry. This was Easter day in a very non-traditional way for us. We were supposed to attend a sunrise service but the weather was yucky so we decided to just hit the road for Canada and have our "own" little service on the way. It pretty much rained the whole way to Canada. It only took us about 2 and a half hours from Seattle and half of that was spent singing the Wheels on the Bus over and over. Tobey is obsessed with this song. The line was very short when we reached the border and our whole customs experience was very uneventful. Although Shanna did get singled out because she had not signed her passport. Oops!

Once we crossed the border we made our way to Vancouver and ate lunch at a little park by the water. It was freezing cold and wet and yucky. I didn't even get any pictures of Vancouver but the city is really pretty and interesting. It is very futuristic looking if that makes any sense at all. After lunch we headed to the ferry for our trek to Victoria on Vancouver island. It was too cold and windy to go out on the deck so we found some seats by the window and right next door to a play area. This play area was a life saver because Tobey had a lot of energy to release. He stayed in there for most of the ferry ride. He came out once to drink his chocolate soy milk that I found in the boat's cafeteria. While he played Jeff shared the Easter story with us. The whole boat ride took about an hour and a half. It was still raining when we unloaded in Victoria so we just made our way to the hotel. By the time we checked in the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to peek out but it was still really cold. We drove into downtown Victoria. We stopped by the water briefly to snap some pictures but it was just too cold to hang around.

We decided to get our souvenir shopping done before dinner so we walked around downtown and visited a few shops. We had all decided we were fished out from the last two nights and were ready for some different cuisine. We found an Italian place called the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was warm and hearty perfect for the blustery wetness outside. Tobey chowed down on his spaghetti. It was pretty yummy. They served complimentary ice cream afterwards that was delicious. Thankfully I had some jelly beans in my bag since Tobey is still allergic to milk. I feel so bad eating ice cream in front of him but he coveted his jelly beans and never once asked for a bite of ice cream. We then went back to the hotel and relaxed and got ready for bed. The next day is our big day in Victoria when we go to the Butchart gardens.

Seattle Day 3

2008-03-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, our third day in Seattle, we had another full day of activity planned. As soon as Jeff and Shanna realized it was a clear day they brought us up to the roof of their building. The view was awesome.

Afterwards we headed to a local park near Jeff and Shanna's apartment. The park was beautiful and very old. We went into a historical water tower and I snapped some really cool shots of the light coming through the windows. They just may be my favorite pictures of the whole trip.

Tobey loved getting on his Uncle Jeff's shoulders when he got tired of walking. Jeff and Shanna got new names while we stayed at their place. They are now Jess and Nanners or Neena. After the park we headed back to the Bed & Breakfast to pick up Mimi and PawPaw. We were supposed to go on a tour at a local chocolate store but when we got there they were booked up for the day. But we got to sample lots of chocolate anyway. Then we headed down to the harbor where we spent the rest of the day. I loved walking on the pier and looking out at the water.

We took a cruise around the harbor on a boat called the Spirit of Seattle. Tobey had a really good time on his first boat ride ever. The view was great and we got to listen to some fun Seattle history and trivia.

Then we headed over to the Seattle Aquarium. And we found Nemo and Dory. Tobey didn't want to leave them and he kept asking for Nemo. So we made several strolls past their aquarium.

The last stop for the day was the Farmer's Market again. This time we bought some salmon, halibut, and fresh vegetables. Then we went back to the apartment and Jeff cooked some really yummy fish for us along with fresh corn on the cob and sauteed mixed vegetables. It was better than our dinner the night before. Tobey ate two cobs all by himself. We just sat around and talked the rest of the evening. Tobey fell asleep in my arms in the midst of our conversations. This was my most favorite day of the whole trip.

Seattle Day 2

2008-03-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

Our 2nd day in Seattle was very touristy. We all loaded up in the minivan to make our way to the Space Needle. Our first stop was REI though. A certain someone (Pat) did not pack a jacket and she was freezing. We had alot of fun walking around this store. Jeff and Shanna are REI members so Pat was able to get a 30% discount. In the kids section they had an indoor play area and Tobey had his 1st traumatic playground experience. Some kid came up and grabbed his face and squeezed really hard. I was not there because I was over looking at the toddler hiking shoes but Rodney said he got on to the other kid and told him that wasn't nice. He said the kids parents didn't seem to be around or they didn't care or maybe they were embarrassed. Anyway I could hear my child screaming from the shoe section and I ran over. One side of his face was red and blotchy and it looked like a fingernail had scraped right under his eye. I am kind of rambling off here but we went to the park this past Wednesday and Tobey was terrified of the other children on the playground. I had to walk him up the stairs so he could go down the slide. One little girl got really close to him on the stairs and he looked at me frantically and said mommy, mommy. This is the same park we always go to. I couldn't believe how scared he was but once the other kids left the playground he was fine. So yes I am calling his playground experience at REI traumatic. Although Rodney and I have commented to each other that maybe it was a good but hard lesson for him because he has had some bullying tendencies lately.

Anyway back to Seattle and the Space Needle. The Space Needle was our first stop. We hung out in the gift shop while Phil and Jeff drove around looking for a parking place. The parking in Seattle is very scarce. Jeff and Shanna have one car but they usually just ride the bus everywhere or walk. Tobey picked out a stuffed toy shaped like the Space Needle. I didn't want to buy it for him but then Rodney asked him what it was and he said "space eedle". I was so impressed that I forked over the $10 bucks and then another $20 bucks for a hooded sweatshirt with the Space Needle on front. Tobey wore it the rest of the day. We finally went up in the Space Needle and it was very cool. It was kind of a cloudy day so we could not see Mt. Rainier. Jeff and Shanna found there apartment building through one of the telescopes and we all took turns looking at it.

After the Space Needle we ate lunch. Jeff had packed our lunches so that we could splurge on dinner later. We found a table in the food court and spread our stuff out. There was a children's museum underneath the food court. Tobey and I spent about an hour down there playing and exploring. He had so much fun. I loved this little museum and could not help thinking that it would be an awesome place for our play date friends. There was a toddler play area for children under age three only. A music section where the kids could play with different instruments. Tobey loved the drums. There was a section set up like a little town with a house and stores and the kids could play pretend. My favorite was the create your own artwork section. Tobey painted an awesome picture that I had to leave there because it was too wet to carry around with us. But at least I got a picture of it.

Next we strolled over to the singing fountain. It doesn't really sing but it is choreographed to music. There were a few crazy kids running through the water and it was freezing outside. I bet there parents were not happy with them. Here is a little video of the fountain. That is Jeff and Tobey and Rodney standing in front. Right after I stopped videoing 2 jets of water shot out of the top of the fountain. It was very cool.

Then we went to the Pacific Science museum and Tobey saw his first Imax movie and it was 3-D! He kept his glasses on maybe 10 minutes so I am glad I got this picture. He fell asleep about half way through the movie. He was really good on the trip. He just fell asleep whenever he got tired. He slept alot in the carseat.

We stayed at the museum until they closed at 5pm and then made our way to the market. Jeff was really excited about showing us the market. We sampled some smoked salmon at one of the fresh fish vendors. Since it was past 5pm all the vendors were closing up for the day. We did buy some fresh daffodils though. They were beautiful. We found a little restaurant overlooking the harbor and had some fish. It was so good. Then we walked down Pike Place a little ways and found the first Starbucks ever built. It was very crowded so we decided to not get coffee. I was pretty worn out at this point since I had been awake since 6:30am. We went back to the apartment after this and the Fann family were all in bed by 10pm. We were exhausted and felt much more rested on our 3rd day.

The beautiful daffodils!

Hanging out in Mimi's and PawPaw's room at the Bed & Breakfast.

Seattle Day 1

2008-03-27T21:05:00.001-07:00

We woke Tobey up early Thursday morning and he was so excited as we sat in the living room and waited for Mimi and PawPaw to come and pick us up. When we arrived at our gate he perched himself in front of this window so he could watch the airplanes. He was in awe. He was such a good boy on the plane although he did not care for his seat belt. That was a major struggle. About 30 minutes into the flight Tobey decided to fill his diaper with some not so good stuff. I had to change him while he stood on the toilet in the airplane lavatory. That was an experience. We arrived in Seattle around noon and then met up with Jeff and Shanna at Dick's Drive-In. If you ever make it to Seattle you must get a hamburger at Dick's. Very tasty! Then we headed to their apartment where Rodney, Tobey, and I stayed. They have a little studio apartment and we were all very cozy but comfortable. Pat and Phil stayed right across the street in a Bed & Breakfast. It worked out perfectly. That evening we all went and saw Shanna's play while Tobey hung out with Jeff back at the apartment. The play did not start until 8pm and was 3 hours long. Our bodies were still on central time so even though we were in bed by midnight it felt much later. Then Tobey decided to wake up at 6:30am the next morning. I convinced him to snuggle up with me for almost an hour but we never really went back to sleep. That was rough. Rodney and I both were very tired that day and we had a full day of activity which I will get to in my next post. I have so many pictures and stories to post that I decided to spread it out in 5 posts. One for each day of our trip. So I am signing out for tonight and will pick up with day 2 tomorrow.

Packed and ready to go!

2008-03-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

We are on our way to the Space Needle bright and early in the morning. We are traveling with Rodney's parents to see his sister Shanna and her husband Jeff who moved to Seattle this past summer. We are very excited about seeing them and visiting a new and beautiful place. Tobey got in bed early this evening. We have to wake him up at 6:30am in the morning. That is early for my boy. I am sure he will be a tad cranky. But he is excited about riding on an airplane with Mimi and PawPaw so I am sure he will perk up once we get to the airport. Here's a little run down on the agenda. We arrive in Seattle around noon and tomorrow evening we will go see Shanna in a play. It is the last night of the play so she will be free to hang out the rest of our trip. Friday and Saturday we will just hang out in Seattle and see as much as we can see. The Space Needle being the top priority for the hubs. Sunday morning we will attend a sunrise Easter service that takes place outside. It is very casual and Shan said we can dress as we like. I will be in jeans. Can I get an Amen. After the service we will drive to Vancouver and take a ferry to Victoria where we are spending the night. The next day we will hang out in Victoria particularly the Butchart gardens and then head back to Seattle. Then we head for home on Tuesday. It is a kind of a quick trip and we are going to try and cram as much fun and excitement as we can into those five days. I am sure I will take tons of pictures that I will share in a week or so. Hope you all have a blessed Easter weekend!

Some new pieces

2008-03-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

I still have not found a kiln so it may be a while before I can post a truly finished piece of pottery. But here are my newest pieces. A mug and a honey pot.

Mid week boredom resulting in random home videos

2008-03-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

I have just spent over an hour trying to figure out how to upload a video from my camera. I finally got it after several outbursts of frustration. Not much has been going on for us this week. We went to the park today just to get out of the house. Rodney was working tonight and we were bored so we made some home videos. The first one is Tobey helping me sing Little Red Caboose. He is chiming in with choo choo between the verses. It is one of his favorite songs right after The Wheels on the Bus and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I wish I had gotten a video of him doing his motions to both of those songs but I will save that for another time. We have started singing all three before he goes to bed or down for a nap or in the car when he is so very restless. The second video is Tobey making all of his animal sounds. I love how he got the parrot sound confused for a duck but then corrected himself without me saying a word. His parrot sound is my favorite animal sound. The last video is about his friend Boz that he denies being friends with in the video. I know the truth though. They are pretty good pals. Boz goes hand in hand with Tobey's blanket of the day. Where ever the blanket is that is where Boz will be. He is readily available for cuddling in bed with Mommy in the mornings or watching cartoons from the couch. And he is always there for bedtime. He's pretty reliable. I guess Tobey doesn't want to admit how much he needs Boz. I am glad that Mommy and Daddy are his friends. And Jesus too! He said Jesus for the first time the other night when we were singing Jesus loves me. He said it almost as if he were singing the word. It was very sweet. Take note at the end of the video when he kisses Boz good night and quickly wipes it away. He is such a boy!

Our Hobbies...

2008-02-27T20:14:00.000-08:00

We have been busy at the Fann house doing things we love. I found a picture of this wedging table on the Internet and my crafty wood working husband built it for me. A wedging table is used to prepare your clay for the wheel. Clay has to be worked up and kneaded just like dough to get all the bubbles out and to give it a consistent form. The top is covered with a piece of canvas which helps absorb some of the moisture from the clay so it is not so sticky. The wire on the side of the table is used to cut the clay so you can see if it has been wedged properly. The table is perfect. He did such a great job. He is even going to build me another work table to replace our old dining room table which at the moment Tobey is using for his own crafts. I went to Hobby Lobby today to buy the canvas for my wedging table and while I was there I picked up aprons for me and Tobey and some fun stuff for him to do when hanging out with mommy in her studio. So now he has his very own play-dough and water colors. This is a very good thing because the other night when I was trimming a bowl I had made he decided that the clay trimmings would be a tasty treat. This is after I specifically told him to not put the clay in his mouth. He also was taking the dried clay and crumbling it all over the floor. Very fun for him but not so fun to clean up. He liked the water colors the best. I taught him how to dip the paintbrush in the water and then the paint and then the paper. He caught on very quickly.

Eventually he gave up on the paintbrush and started using his fingers. I thought his first water color picture turned out nicely. It is very colorful. Between our wood working, and pottery making, and water coloring maybe we will have a family business one day. Right now we are just hobbyists and crafters using our hands to build items of function and beauty.

When I Grow Up

2008-02-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went to see Elmo in his very own production called When Elmo Grows Up. It was pretty great. I think I was more excited than Tobey. On the way there I kept singing "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys-R-Us kid". Rodney just rolled his eyes and snickered at me. But it's true. I really am a kid at heart. I love doing all this kid stuff with Tobey. I still get sucked into Finding Nemo (which by the way is Tobey's new fave) even though we have seen it over and over. I had to tell Tobey that Nemo was tired and taking a nap today so that he would watch something else. Amazingly it worked. I was so excited for Tobey's first time to see a live production especially Sesame Street. He was awe struck to say the least. In just about every picture I took his little mouth is hanging open. He got over this after intermission and was a little more lively. He also had cotton candy for the first time and I am not surprised that he LOVED it. I loved it too! It was fun to be a kid again with my precious little man.

We tried to get Tobey to pose with Elmo and this is the best we could get.

As the show begins...

Tobey is awestruck.

La La Lala, La La Lala, Elmo's World!

Elmo's World was Tobey's favorite part. He had to get out of his seat so he could see Elmo better.

It doesn't really show up well but Tobey had dried blue cotton candy all over his face.

As we were walking out of the theater after the show was over, Tobey kept saying more, more. It was very cute. He just couldn't get enough Elmo. And I just can't get enough of him. I just asked him what he wants to be when he grows up. He replied without any hesitation...Nemo. Well of course. Then I asked him again just to make sure he understood the question but this time I said WHO do you want to be when you grow up. Again he replied without any hesitation but this time he said PawPaw. How sweet is that!

Work In Progress

2008-02-22T22:07:00.001-08:00

I finally went and purchased some clay at American Ceramics this week. The last time I threw a pot was my freshman year of college which was 10 years ago. Yeah I am that old. It is definitely a work in progress but today I made a pot. A very small, petite vase. It was my first time to use my new pottery wheel that I got for my birthday. I have a little makeshift studio out in our sun room now. I bought some cheap painter's cloth from Walmart and spread that out in a corner. I am using our old dining room table as a work table even though it is a little wobbly. I have plans on recruiting my handy man to build me a sturdier table. I also have Rodney's discarded bookcase from when he redid his office. I am using that to store supplies and finished pieces. I have a few essential tools and that is all I need for now. So I sat down this afternoon with my freshly wedged clay and slapped it down on the wheel. It took me a good 30 minutes to get that hunk of clay centered on the wheel. My fingers kept getting stuck and pulling out chunks of clay. Tobey stood in front of me and kept asking what I was doing. I told him mommy was making a pot. Rodney came in and snapped some pictures of me in action. I finally got the clay centered and threw a small pot. I still have some trimming to do on it. And then it has to be fired before I can add color with glazes and then fired again at a very high temperature to set the glaze. I am still unsure about how I am going to get my pieces fired. I am working on that but for now I will keep practicing on my techniques and just have fun with it.

The Fog has settled..

2008-02-15T13:12:00.000-08:00

In my ear. I woke up yesterday on Valentine's Day to discover I had a hot coal burning in my right ear that got progressively worse throughout the morning. Rodney drove me to a minute clinic. These are new clinics that can be found inside certain CVS stores. They are awesome. I was the only one there and went right in to see a family nurse practitioner. He was so nice. Come to find out adults DO get ear infections and that is what I have. A stinking ear infection. So I got my drug of choice which is amoxicillin and some numbing ear drops. Bless that man's prescription writing abilities. He also recommended some Mucinex DM for my hacking cough. I wanted to hug him but that would have been awkward. We then came home and I sat on the couch and cried for almost a hour because the drops and extra strength tylenol were just not getting rid of the hot coal in my ear that was just getting worse. I really feel for all the children that get ear infections multiple times. It hurts. The pain intensified and I had a strange bussing in my ear and then finally the pain started to go away and I felt like a new person. But then the pressure went away which the FNP warned me about. He said if the pain gets really intense and then suddenly is gone then your ear drum has probably ruptured. Great! Honestly I was relieved to not have that pain anymore though. I was a little worried about the whole ruptured ear drum but I read on the internet that it is actually quite common with an ear infection and usually heals on its own. I took a nap later that afternoon and when I woke up my left ear was totally clogged up and hurting just a little bit. But definitely not as bad as the right one. It lasted all night and is a little better today. Although I still sound muffled to myself, I am only having twinges of pain in both my ears now. This is one Valentine's Day that I am glad is over! But if I had it to do all over again I would make a valentine for that FNP with hearts and glitter and present it to him the moment he handed me my prescription that I did not have to sit in a waiting room for 30 minutes and then the exam room for another 30 minutes to get.

Mr. Toad and His New Bed

2008-02-15T11:53:00.000-08:00

This is Mr. Toad and one night he decided that he was too big to still be sleeping in a crib and he decided to do something about it.

He pulled out his tools and went to work.

Before long he had figured out what needed to be done.

Mr. Toad was very determined and at last his work was accomplished. So he climbed into his new bed to contemplate.

He thought to himself, "my future's so bright I got to wear shades". (very corny I know but I couldn't resist)

He then closed his bedroom door and shut his mommy out. (true story)

That night Mr. Toad climbed into his bed and he was very proud and he felt very big.

Finally after being led back to his room only twice Mr. Toad drifted off to a peaceful sleep and had very sweet dreams in his new bed.

The next morning he awoke and smiled. It felt good to climb out of bed all by himself. He felt so big. Mr. Toad has adjusted quite well to his big boy bed and couldn't be happier.

The End.

Coming out of the fog

2008-02-12T15:25:00.001-08:00

The flu fog that is. No thanks to my wasted efforts of sleeping on the couch. I had a cough all week that I blamed on allergies and then I came down with a fever Friday night. Just two short days after my husband came home with a fever. Thankfully I was not at work because I was cancelled which is what happens when you are a nurse and the patient census is low. But I did go out with a friend to a movie and I probably exposed her as well as the theatre full of people. During the movie I started feeling bad. Chilled, extremely tired, a little nauseous. But I was drinking an Icee and it was late. By the time I got home I was shivering and my bones ached and my throat was sore. That is how quick this thing came on. This thing I am calling the flu. I can't even remember the last time I had the flu and by the way I had the flu shot. Obviously it did not work. I took some NyQuil and climbed into bed with my jacket on. I awoke the next morning and could barely lift my head off the bed. It was just awful-really awful. The last three days I have been in a complete mental fog. Today was the first day that I woke up headache free with some clarity about me. Now if I could just get my energy back and get rid of this nagging cough. Thankfully Tobey has not gotten it which is amazing. He does have a runny nose but that is not new for him so I am praying that he will be spared. And that my sweet friend Rebecca is spared. I will feel just awful if she comes down with the flu this week.

Well, I feel the need to disinfect my house during my moments of clarity so I am off to find the Lysol...

Foxy Granny's House

2008-02-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

I am sleeping on the couch for the second night in a row. Don't worry, our marriage is great and still intact. I am just trying to avoid the "crud" that is ailing my husband. He has had fever off and on and is just feeling horrible. He offered to sleep on the couch but I let him have the bed because I am such a sweet wife. I sure do miss my bed though. The only advantage to sleeping on the couch is that I can read as late as I want too and I am in the middle of a really good book which I can't wait to get back too.....

But I wanted to share about our little adventure this week. On Tuesday we drove out to my Aunt's house to pick my grandma (aka Foxy Granny) up. She has been living with my Aunt for about a year and a half now and recently mentioned that she would like to go and spend the night at her own house down by the lake. The plan is to eventually sell this house but it is still full of "stuff" that my Grandma needs to go through and figure out what to do with. It is a very overwhelming task for her so I was happy to go with her and help her out. I also wanted to go back to her house for one last visit. That house is in so many of my childhood memories and I am sad that she will be selling it soon.

So Tobey, Foxy Granny, and I loaded up in my car to make the hour and a half journey to Lake Tawakoni. As soon as we got into the car it started sprinkling. As we neared the highway it started downpouring and hailing. We stopped briefly under a bridge but I was determined to not turn around. I thought that it would surely get better the farther we got down the road. After about 40 minutes of driving in the downpour I pulled off the highway because the wind started blowing sideways and I could not see anything but water. So we stopped at a subway and ate lunch. By the time we had finished, the sun was shining. Marvelous! Then we saw the most beautiful rainbow. It stretched across the sky in all the right shades of color. Tobey saw it too. He has seen rainbows in books but this was his first time to see a real one and he kept saying rainbow over and over. So that was a fun thing to share with my grandma. We eventually arrived at her house. It looked very neglected to say the least. I was a little worried about what we would find inside and rightfully so. We could tell that a rodent of some sort had been in the house. There were droppings on the kitchen floor and cabinets and a hole had been scratched in the door leading out to her laundry room. In the bathroom there were more droppings and everything was askew. My grandma went upstairs while I got Tobey sat up with a movie in the living room. I was hoping that he would be so mesmerized with Nemo that he would leave the rest of the house alone until we had a chance to check everything out. I heard my grandma come down and go outside. I met her at the doorway and she had a grim look on her face. She said she had just found a dead squirrel. Apparently it had not been dead for too long or the house would have smelled horrible. I was actually relieved that it had not been a rat. We debated back and forth if we would still spend the night and finally decided that we would since we had driven all the way.

So we left and bought some groceries and then came back to the house and cleaned everything up. It did my grandma a world of good to get her little house back in order. We vaccuumed and swept and mopped the floors. She wiped all the counters down. We spent alot of time in her quilting room as she went through her many totes of fabric. I could tell that she missed her house. The house is special because my dad helped build it along with my uncles. This was the house that my grandparents retired in. After my grandpa died she lived alone in her house by the lake for about 4 years. And she got very lonely. She also started to get confused when she was driving and would easily become turned around and disoriented. So she made the decision to move in with my Aunt and she hasn't driven in over a year. It is a good thing because she is closer to all of us but she has lost so much of her independence and I can see how it has affected her deeply. I cannot even imagine what she is going through in this new phase of her life. While we were sorting through the different totes and boxes she kept telling me to take whatever I wanted. So I came away with some old pictures and some old quilt tops that my grandma had never finished which I am really excited about. My grandma is an excellant quilter. I think she could have really made some money with some of the quilts she has made. But she always said that taking money for a quilt would just take the fun out of quilting. There was really only one thing that I was interested in having but I could not find it. It being a children's book about a horse named Robert that was allergic to roses. I remember my grandma reading that book to me at her house and I loved it. I couldn't remember the name of the book but I did a little research tonight and found it at Barnes-n-Noble. The title is easy enough to remember. I will be purchasing the book soon for Tobey although the original from grandma's house would have meant alot.

We all slept in the living room that night. My grandma on the couch and Tobey and I on a mattress on the floor. Just like old times. I have spent many nights sleeping on the floor at my grandma's house. My whole extended family used to go to her house on the weekends and we would all spread out around the house. Some of us in beds but most of us on mattresses and pallets. It was so much fun and I really looked forward to weekends at grandma's house. So it was fun to do that with Tobey. He was such a good boy while we were there and he loved on my grandma alot. Almost as if he sensed that she needed some extra hugs and kisses. There is still much to do with the house but we were able to accomplish alot while we were there. At least we left it clean. The house has been on my mind all day and especially the memories that were made there. Little snippets of lazy afternoons and family gatherings and lots of love.

Here's a little list of my favorite memories many of which involve my cousins Duane and Eric:

-Sliding down the stairs and getting carpet burn

-Walking down to the lake to swim or fish. I tried to keep up with the boys but I really hated baiting my own hook and sometimes my cousin Duane would do it for me

-Catching fireflies in a jar

-Listening to my grandpa playing his guitar or his banjo

-Eating watermelon on the porch

-Walking in the vegetable garden with my grandma

-Building tents out of matresses and sheets with my cousins and playing Hi-Ho Cherrio or Uno for hours

-Waking up to the smell of bacon and sausage cooking

-Taking the canoe out and being terrified of flipping over because my cousins were crazy like that

-Going to the Flea Market

-4th of July-setting off fireworks by the lake

-And the smell. I can't even explain this one. But grandma's house had a certain smell and I could smell it in the sheets the other night. It is not a lovely scent but it is a comforting one and a calming one. It is a scent that already my heart is aching to have lost.

Picture Story

2008-02-01T07:54:00.001-08:00

Last weekend my little family of three had a dinner date at Rainforest Cafe. Tobey received a balloon monkey and was very fascinated by it. Mostly he was fascinated by trying to undo the monkey....

which he had accomplished by the time we made it back to the car. He was very proud of himself. I felt sorry for the monkey.

He then became just plain silly with the remaining balloon. Stretching it out and chewing on the ends. Well I gave him a warning about chewing on the balloon because I didn't want him to bite a piece off and choke on it.

He did not like my warning and he gave me the Look.

He then tried to be discreet about his balloon chewing but I knew what he was doing.

So the balloon got taken away by the big bad mommy and Tobey was heartbroken. Yes my son is quite dramatic.

Thankfully Boz came to the rescue.

Tobey immediately sobered up and reached for Boz.

He placed Boz on his head....

thought about it...

and then the smile was back!

This picture story is in honor of the many moods of a toddler.

I'm a Hound Dog!

2008-01-30T13:20:00.000-08:00

This is Tobey's new fascination. I promise we have watched this movie everyday for over a week. He always smiles when it gets to this part. The part where Todd and Copper first meet. I have even bought him some new movies but he always reaches for this one and he sits and watches the whole thing. It is too sweet!

Tagged!

2008-01-30T12:54:00.000-08:00

I got tagged by Charity so here is some very random information all about me!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE ?
My Aunt Rumiko (my middle name). It is Japanese.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
today

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
No

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Turkey

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
The Tobester

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I think so.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Actually yes ..I do.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
My first inclination is to say no but I do have an adventurous side so there is a possibility.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
I actually had to think about this because I do love me some cereal. It is a tie between Cinnamon grahams and Apple-cinnamon cheerios.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
No and it drives Rodney crazy!

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Physically-no not really. Emotionally-for sure!

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Mint Chocolate Chip

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Smile and eyes

15. RED OR PINK?
Red

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF?
I have a crooked smile, I bite my nails, I am lazy, I have a short temper(believe it or not), I am painfully shy, and the list goes on....

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My Daddy-everyday

18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Navy sweatpants and white socks

19. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Chicken salad sandwich, tortillas with roasted red pepper hummus, grapes, and a diet coke. Wow I sound really healthy. It just happens to be a good day!

20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
The fox and the hound playing in the background.

21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Dark blue

22. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Brown sugar and spice, lavender and vanilla, apple-cinnamon

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My sister-in-law Libby

24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Basketball. It is the only sport I will watch.

25. HAIR COLOR?
Lt. Brown w/ highlights

26. EYE COLOR?
Blue

27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No

28. FAVORITE FOOD?
Pizza and brownies.

29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy Endings!

30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
October Sky. I had forgotten how good it is.

31. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Hot pink

32. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Winter

33. HUGS OR KISSES?
both

34. FAVORITE DESSERT?
brownies

35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
I am in between books at the moment.

36. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
We don't have one

37. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?
House.

38. FAVORITE SOUNDS?
Tobey sleeping-just kidding!

39. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Switchfoot

40. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Alaska

41. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I like pottery but it is more of a hobby

42. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Dallas, Texas!

Geronimooo...!

2008-01-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to get to this post all week long and it just hasn't happened. We had such a great time on our ski trip. No I did not ski down the Geronimo because it is a black trail and I do not ski on black trails although I did have some geronimo experiences which I will elaborate on shortly. For you non skiers out there blacks are considered the most difficult, blues are intermediate, and greens are the easiest. I am a mostly green-occasional blue kind of girl. We left early on Friday morning and the drive was not too bad. My friend Mindy and her husband Lee went with us and we all rode on a van together. We played Spades for about 3 and a half hours straight. It was intense but it made the time fly by. As we neared Ruidoso and the mountains we all got very excited but a little concerned at the lack of snow in town. I was kind of hoping we would have snow around our lodge but the view of the mountains made up for it.

Our lodges were really nice. They were 4 stories and by the end of the week my thighs were burning. We stayed on the very bottom level with Mindy and Lee. The next level had a game room with a pool table that we had fun with especially the guys. I have to throw in that I did beat my husband once. I was quite proud. The next level had three more bedrooms. My friend Melissa and her husband and her family stayed on this level. Melissa's husband Jimmy hurt his back about three weeks before the ski trip. We were really sad that he was not able to ski. He was actually in alot of pain most of the trip but such a good sport about it. And then the top level had a living area and the kitchen. The whole lodge was very roomy and comfortable and the view was spectacular. We had 45 people on this ski trip ranging in age from less than 2 to greater than 70. We were spread out over 5 lodges. But we met for meals and bible studies at the biggest lodge. It was such a fun group of people to go with and get to know better.

We woke up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to dress in layers and prepare for a day of skiing. The drive up the mountain was very interesting. I tried to avoid the treacherous cliff side that lacked railing. There was rope at some points of the drive but I doubt it would have prevented us from flying over the edge. I tried not to think of these things on the 40 minute drive to the resort. We finally got there and unloaded our skis and boots that we had picked up the night before. There is no way to be graceful when you are dressed in bulky ski pants and snow boots trying to hold onto clunky ski boots and slippery awkward skis. It was actually colder than I expected and there was more snow than I expected. We got our skis on and made are way to the easiest green. It was actually called Easy Street. I was amazed at how fast it came back to me. It really is like riding a bicycle. We took it really easy that first day and stayed on greens mostly. Rodney and I split up after lunch so he could ski some more difficult stuff with the guys and then we met up later and skied a blue together. Amazingly I did not fall once that first day. Now the second day is a different story. This was my least favorite day. I was extremely tired and sore. My body was not used to the early hours and all the physical activity in addition to the altitude. That morning we skied more greens with some of the new skiers particularly Mindy and Lee, Melissa and her sisters Vonda and Mary. After lunch we all rode up in the gondola to the top of the mountain for some photo ops. I only took about 20 pictures of the whole trip which is totally unlike me. But I was too busy having fun! Everyone else rode the gondola back down the mountain but Rodney and I decided to ski all the way down. There were several blues to choose from and we decided on one called Ambush. I should have known better. This was one of my geronimo moments. I looked up the exact definition of ambush. One of the meanings is hidden peril or trap and I couldn't agree more. The first part of this trail was not that bad and then we turned a corner. Rodney was ahead of me and then he stopped and looked back at me and grimaced. My heart dropped to my knees as I stopped next to him and saw the steep hill up ahead. It was the only way down and I was literally terrified. He skied about half way down while I waited at the top for my courage to arrive. There was another girl up there in the same boat as me. Her man was at the bottom waiting for her. She started down the mountain and I recognized her slow unsteady winding down the mountain. So I went for it. I was about a third of the way down when I lost control and fell. The mountain was so steep that I immediately started sliding head first and couldn't stop. I frantically dug my fingers into the snow and tried to turn myself around. After about 10 seconds of sliding, although it felt much longer, I was able to get my skis underneath me and dig them into the snow. I finally stopped and to my amazement I was smiling. I couldn't help thinking to myself or I may have even said it aloud "Well, that was one way to get down the mountain". My skis never came off and I was able to get up easily and slowly made my way down. By the time we got to the foot of the mountain I was worn out but exhilarated. I was ready to hang out in the lodge and drink some hot chocolate. I reached into my pants pocket for my cell phone so I could call Mindy and Lee but it was not there. Then I realized that my pocket had been unzipped when I fell. I grudgingly told Rodney and he made the executive decision that we had to go back and look for it but I was not looking forward to it. We were very quiet as we rode the gondola back to the top of the mountain. I was trying really hard not to sulk but it wasn't working. I did send up some silent prayers that were less about my cell phone and more about me getting down the mountain in one piece this time. This time I took my skis off and hiked down that steep hill but we could not find my cell phone. I checked with lost-n-found several times. Rodney was very kind and said I could just get a new one. We were about to leave for the day and our fearless leader Wayne got a call from my mother-in-law saying that ski patrol had called her and said they found my phone. Whew! I was relieved although I was looking forward to a new phone.

The third day was my most favorite day. It was Monday and hardly anyone was on the slopes. There were no lines to get on the ski lifts. It was great. We skied several blues that morning including the Capitan. Mindy and Lee even braved this one and did really well. I ended up skiing the Capitan three times and never fell once. I took my time winding back and forth. I did have two big falls on this last day though. First, I fell off the ski lift because I waited to long to stand up and had to perform a small leap (another geronimo moment). I landed all wrong and ended up on my tush. It hurt but I was more embarrassed than anything. Then later I was on an easy green and my skis got to close to each other and I fell. One of my skis hit the inside of my thigh and I have a pretty nasty bruise that I just discovered today. I quit early on the last day because I was starting to get clumsy and didn't want to seriously hurt myself. I already had some pretty close calls. It felt so good to take off my ski boots. I met up with Mindy and Lee and we all got some hot chocolate and thawed out in the lodge. Rodney did a few more runs by himself which I encouraged because he had been so patient in waiting for me. He likes to go fast and I like to go slow. Which is strange because in real life he is much more cautious than me. By the time we got back to the lodge I was starting to miss my little man at home really bad. The drive home was not much fun. We were all worn out and miserable because we couldn't sleep on the church van. I was just ready to get home to see Tobey. He was so good while we were gone. I think it really helped that Rodney's parents stayed at our house. I am not even sure if he missed us at all. He and my mother-in-law were both sick all weekend while we were gone. So they just stayed in the house and played and watched movies. He was still awake when we got home and he ran into my arms. I think I cried I was so happy to see him. We were only gone five days but I am sure he grew an inch. We are so grateful to Mimi and PawPaw for allowing us to get away. I know y'all read my blog sometimes so thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

The Capitan!

First Baptist crew enjoying some grub.

Taken from the gondola.

Our first trip on the gondola. I was not smiling on the second trip.

On top of the mountain with Mindy and Lee.

Me and Rodney

Melissa, me, and Mindy

Mindy and Lee on our last day.

Finally got some hot chocolate. Farewell slopes!

See you on the Slopes!

2008-01-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

Probably not but if you look here you might see me on the slopes. We leave bright and early in the morning for Ruidoso, NM. I just checked the weather report and it did snow last night. Yay! I am a little sad right now. I just put Tobey to bed and I could not quit loving and kissing on him. We exchanged I don't know how many eskimo and butterfly kisses. Bedtime is about the only time that he will let me kiss on him. During the day he usually pushes me away and says "No Mommy". I am going to miss my little man. We took our luggage up to the church tonight and my friend Mindy was already teary eyed too. At least we can cry together over the next five days. But I know he is in good hands. He loves his Mimi and PawPaw. So I am signing out for a few days. I am sure I will return with some amusing stories involving bruises and a wet tush. It has been five years. Hopefully I will pick it up quickly again on the first day. Yikes!

Growing up with the Gang

2008-01-14T19:21:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday my friends and I hosted a baby shower for our friend Suzanne at my house. She is about six weeks from her due date and miserable but so beautiful. I was really tired because I had worked the night before but I had so much fun hanging out with my BFF's from high school. We have been friends through so much and we have fought like sisters but we always come back to each other. They are my gang and always will be no matter what. In a way they are like my sisters. We are all so different from each other and don't always see eye to eye but I love them fiercely and would do ANYTHING for them. That night after the shower I browsed through my old pictures and reminisced on all the good times we have had through the years. I thought I would share them. Suzanne, I know you will appreciate these.

We are posing at our church after youth camp. So many trips and activities we went on together. Youth camp, Acteens, mission trips, ski trips, winter retreats, disciple now, Sunday night fellowships. Those were the good ole' days!

The year is 1997 and we are high school graduates. (Kari, Mindy, Suzanne, me, and Melissa)

At my wedding shower!

My wedding rehearsal.

Mindy's rehearsal dinner.

Kari's wedding.

Melissa's wedding.

Suzanne's wedding.

And the latest, Suzanne's baby shower. I love this picture!

How far we have come from silly high school girls to wives and mothers!

"A friend loves at all times"
Proverbs 17:17

The Final Countdown

2008-01-08T20:38:00.000-08:00

We leave for our ski trip in 10 short days. I am very very excited. It is just about all I can think about. This will be our first vacation since Tobey was born. We went on a little weekend outing this past summer but this time we will not be bringing the Tobester along. I do have mixed feelings about leaving him behind but I have to admit I am kind of excited too. And I feel really guilty about it. Thankfully he has fallen head over heels for his Mimi and PawPaw in the last month. So the timing could not be more perfect. I doubt he will even notice we are gone. I will miss my little man but it is going to do this Mommy some good to get away. My plan was to get out of the house and do some shopping for ski clothes today among other things like getting soy milk for Tobey. Well this morning when Tobey and I got ready to leave I couldn't' t find my keys. We searched high and low. I even checked the front door because I have been known to leave my keys in the door over night. Finally I went out to the car and peeked in and there they were innocently displayed in my cup holder. Rodney had driven the night before and he used his set of keys to drive my car. I locked the front door as we were coming out of the house and I guess I just dropped them into the cup holder when I got into the car instead of placing them in my purse. I was a tad bit upset with myself. So we were stranded. Tobey was not very happy with me either because I had promised him doughnut holes that morning. So I went back in the house, put my pajamas back on and started making pancakes for Tobey which he grudgingly ate. It really was a blessing in disguise though because I had a ton of work to do around the house. I am hosting a baby shower at my house for my friend Suzanne on Saturday and my house is not up to par. It is mainly just cluttered with a certain little boy's toys. I went through all of Tobey's toys and packed away the ones that he is too big for now. His toys have a way of migrating to the living room so I transferred all of those wandering toys back to his bedroom. I left one small basket for all of his balls. I finally moved his train table to his bedroom. It has been in the living room floor since Christmas morning. That alone was a major improvement. I also had loads of laundry which I got started on. So I really had no business going shopping. But then my mother-in-law called during Tobey's nap and said she would come over and I could take her car. She is SO wonderful. I found all of my ski gear and everything was 50% off. I was very happy about that. So now I am set and patiently counting down the days. Since I am really hyped up about skiing in 10 days here is a list of my 10 favorite things about ski trips!

10. Believe it or not but I actually like the long drive it takes to get there. I like being on the road driving towards a new adventure. I love the anticipation that builds and builds as you get closer and closer to the mountains. We are going with a group from church and I will be bringing some cards along to play in the van. And I will catch up on some reading and dozing.

9. I won't have to fix my hair because I plan on wearing my black toboggan 24-7.

8. I will actually get to wear some of my winter clothes because winter is kind of scarce in these parts. We have seen a few chilly days but not many.

7. Mountains! I love being in the mountains. It always calms my spirit so. I get so excited when they first come into view and I watch and watch as they loom bigger and bigger in the horizon. It must have something to do with growing up in the flat plains of Texas.

6. We usually will ski in the morning and then take the chair lift to the very top of the mountain and eat lunch. Most resorts have a restaurant or snack bar at the top of the mountain and the view is spectacular. We have never been to this resort but hopefully that is the case. There is nothing like eating on top of a mountain peak. And then we ski the rest of the afternoon.

5. By the end of the day you are worn out but those sore muscles actually feel good to me. I really like the tired and sore feeling after working out and it is kind of the same thing. I know that's weird.

4. The cold mountain air. Who needs make-up when you have the rosy glow of wind chapped cheeks! Maybe just a little mascara and lip gloss and your good to go.

3. Mountain tubing. The last time we went skiing we also went night tubing and it was lots of fun. This resort has tubing also and I plan on doing it again.

2. Snow, Snow, Snow!

1. Being with my one and only doing something we both love and enjoy. Rodney is a much better skier than myself but he is always so patient with me. And he never pressures me to go down a trail I am not ready for. He is a great ski partner!

Progression

2008-01-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2004

I was pregnant in this picture and didn't even know it yet!

Christmas 2005

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2007