The Roush Family Times

Happy 1st Birthday Liam!

2011-11-04T22:16:00.001-05:00

Hard to believe our sweet baby boy is one year old today! He is the sweetest, funniest, giggliest, happiest, most mischievous little brother and baby boy we could ask for! Love you, Chunky Monkey!

First day of school 2011!

2011-08-22T08:40:00.001-05:00

Sabrina is in kindergarten! My how the time flys!

Summer day dreams

2011-08-01T23:01:00.000-05:00

Liam watching Sabrina play in the sprinkler, day dreaming of the future summers when he will run through the sprinklers too.

Brave little man

2011-06-26T21:16:00.001-05:00

Aidan fell off the bed at grandmas while we were in Costa Rica. He fractured his clavicle :( Doctor says he'll be good as new in a few weeks. Till then, we need to try to get him to rest his arm with this sling. Yeah, he's a four year old boy, that sling will last like 2 minutes.

6 months old!

2011-05-05T10:27:00.001-05:00

I meant to post this yesterday. But I got sidetracked as usual. Liam is 6 months old! Where does the time go? He slept in his crib the last two nights. No more bassinet in mommy and daddy's room :( he can sit up if we place him that way, and he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks, but no crawling quite yet. He does roll wherever he wants go! he babbles more and more and says mama, dada, baba. Not sure if he actually knows what he's saying yet, but I am sure he will soon :) He is still taking 8oz at each bottle feeding and he now eats a jar of babyfood twice a day. He had liked all the ones he had tried so far, but his favs seem to be any fruit, carrots and sweet potatoes. Just like his brother and sister! He has his appointment in a few days, so we'll find out then his length and weight. We guess he's about 22 pounds since we last weighed him about 3 weeks ago and he was 21# 9oz. He's a BIG boy. He wears 12 month clothes currently but is quickly growing in to 18 month. I almost forgot! He has 3 teeth now, front two bottom and top, front left :)

A little leprechaun says.....

2011-03-17T11:17:00.000-05:00

Happy St. Patricks Day!

4 months old!

2011-03-04T17:40:00.000-06:00

Liam is 4 months old today! He laughs, babbles, can roll from his back to his tummy, likes to sit in his exersaucer, highchair, or anywhere he can see the action! He also loves to play with his feet and his hands are always in his mouth. He weighs 19lbs 1oz and wears a size 9-12 month clothes and size 3 shoe! He's s big boy!

Snow...again....

2011-02-04T15:35:00.000-06:00

I can grab things!

2011-01-28T13:19:00.000-06:00

12 weeks old with his little blue bird toy.

First Snow

2011-01-09T13:12:00.000-06:00

Ho, Ho, Ho!

2010-12-22T11:56:00.000-06:00

Visiting the big guy in the red suit!

6 weeks old today!

2010-12-16T21:44:00.000-06:00

Bright eyed and "talking" to mommy!

Four Weeks Today!

2010-12-02T15:44:00.001-06:00

Wow, the past four weeks has flown by! He now coos when he's content and smiles are cropping up. Not sure if they are "real" smiles yet, but the real one should happen any day now :)

Elf on a shelf

2010-12-01T15:21:00.000-06:00

Are you naughty or nice?

A cozy nap spot?

2010-11-30T17:37:00.000-06:00

This is where I found Aidan taking a nap today. In his stuffed animal bin. Looks cozy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T13:12:00.001-06:00

Our little turkey! Gobble, gobble!

Flowers from my husband

2010-11-21T16:43:00.000-06:00

Liam Charles Roush has Arrived!

2010-11-07T02:58:00.002-06:00

He was born November 4, 2010 at 9:38pm. He was 10 lbs even and 21.5 inches long. We are in love! I will post more later!

40 weeks! Come on out Liam!

2010-10-29T14:50:00.002-05:00

Our New Orleans/Tallahassee/Destin Trip

2010-08-20T13:53:00.003-05:00

So back in April (yes, have you not noticed, I am a bit of a procrastinator)we decided to go visit our good friends Laura and Patrick in Tallahassee, Florida. They had a baby girl last September and we wanted to go to meet her as well. So on April 21, we loaded up the kids and headed out. We decided to stay for two days in New Orleans, see the sights, take the kids to the aquarium and then go Tallahassee, spend the weekend, from Friday night to Monday morning there and then spend one day in Destin on the way back. So here are a few pics from the trip in a slideshow. We had a great time, Sabrina fell in love with beignets in New Orleans, Aidan went to the beach for his very first time and we got to see some dear friends we don't get to see but once a year or so. And of course we met baby Nadine (or baby Sardine, as Sabrina nicknamed her). Click pic below to see some of our pictures from the trip.

Family Vacation (NOLA & FL)

Yum!

2010-08-12T16:05:00.000-05:00

Guess who made cupcakes today!

2010-08-12T15:56:00.001-05:00

Staying cool in the backyard !

2010-08-11T19:18:00.001-05:00

Easter in August!

2010-08-05T12:48:00.002-05:00

What, you didn't know they changed the calendar? Okay, so I have have just put the blog on the back burner for oh, lets see, 6 months or so. Anyways, here are the Easter 2010 pics. Enjoy!

Kids painting eggs on Easter morning, painting them with watercolors is sooooo much easier than dying then when the kids are this age. Stamps and stickers work well too!

Some of the cousins, no jack is not flipping off the camera, he's making a fist! LOL!

Abby (11), Jack (5 1/2), Meagan (9) John (11), Aidan (3), Sabrina(4) and Evaline(2)

All the cousins, except Landon who did not want photographed right then

Abby (11), Sabrina(4) and Evaline (2), the girl cousins

Aidan with his cousin Jack

Sabrina and Aidan with Grammy (Kevins mom)

Sabrina and Aidan with Gramma (my Mom)

Our nephew Landon

Family pic, of course Sabrina was pictured out, can't ever have a pic with both kids happy and smiling now can we?

Sabrina with her egg carton for her school Easter party

Sabrinas class pic for Easter, she's on the far right.

Slacking.....

2010-07-21T16:27:00.001-05:00

So I have totally been slacking on posting blogs. I still need to put up Easter pics and pics from our Florida trip as well as many more little things (and not so little things) that have happened or have been happening. i swear I am going to get caught up soon, so keep checking in!

6 months pregnant!

2010-07-20T15:09:00.000-05:00

Breakfast in New Orleans

2010-04-22T11:35:00.000-05:00

Guess who?

2010-04-21T19:18:00.000-05:00

Procrasinating parent award goes to......

2010-04-07T18:33:00.000-05:00

Me! Yes, we are now into April. Yes, Aidans birthday was March 9th. No, I did not blog about. Yes, I am doing it now. Bad mommy! Very bad!

Okay here goes, Aidan had for several months wanted his party at McDonalds, so we set it up at the one right down the street from our house. Love having birthdays somewhere other than my house when it comes to having to wrangle 15 kids under the age of 5. No mess and less stress for me makes mommy a happy girl, and when mommy's a happy girl, well, you know.

Aidan was also adamant that it be a Cars themed party. Aidan is very much a boy. He loves his hotwheels and can spend hours playing with them, he even sleeps with them. He gets excited to see the garbage truck and school buses on the road. It's very intriguing to watch, since Sabrina had no interest in those things, and I also being a girl, could really care less as well. It is the evolution of a boy, and it is alien to me. I never had brothers that I grew up with to watch how early boy-ness starts. Case in point, the other evening as I was tucking Aidan into bed he was giggling and I asked him what he was laughing at. His reply " My hienis is sticking out of my pants!" me, "your what?!?!" him, "My Hienis, hahahaha!". At this point I realize he is trying to say penis and has somehow come up with a conglomeration of penis+hiney to describe his little boy parts.

I reach down, and find out sure enough the tip is sticking out of the top of his pants, I help him put it back in his pants so he doesn't wake up to pee in his face at 3am, and he giggles the whole time. Boys! Never had to do that with my daughter. And apparently penis, butt and fart humor starts at about 3 years old with men, no wonder we can't break them of their many years long habit when we date them later in life.

So back to the party, got off on a bit of a tangent about life with a boy. We had it at McDonalds, his little friends came, we had balloons and a Cars cake and party favors. He was happy. Enjoy the following pictures. The End.

No really, theres not a whole lot of excitement to a 3 year old birthday party....

The last 3 pics were taken on his actual b-day, when we went to Chuck E. Cheese and then for ice cream. My Sweet little man! 3 Years old!

Snow!

2010-02-15T11:08:00.001-06:00

On Feburary 11-12, north Texas recieved a record breaking snowfall, recorded at 12.5 inches! It was amazing! The kids, Kevin and I got bundled up multiple times over the course of the two days to go out and play. Here are some pics!

The kids with their first ever snowman, Cowboy Frosty! This is Texas after all ;)

I love how pick Aidans lips and cheeks got and how the flakes would stick to his long eyelashes.

Kevin and kids with the second snowman of the day

I even got a pic in, I am usually the one behind the camera!

Snow ball fight!

Even Aggie got in on the fun!

He can't be contained....

2010-01-28T15:30:00.000-06:00

So this week, Aidan has learned to climb out of his crib. Guess I can't say it wasn't coming, he is almost 3 years old. But I was so hoping he would be containable a little longer. Sabrina has stopped taking naps, for the most part, for about a year. Aidan still takes a nap every afternoon, or he did, until this week. In the afternoon, we would have naptime/quiet time. Aidan would lay down take a nap and Sabrina would stay in her room and either nap(rarely) or play quietly with puzzles, books etc. for an hour or so. This gives mommy some time to herself to breathe and accomplish things that are hard to do with two young children hovering around., you know, things like eating lunch without a little person begging for a bite of mine (even if we have the exact same thing, mine is always better apparently because it's not theirs) or going to the bathroom by myself. However today as I write this, Aidan is still awake and I have been up there 5 times to put him back into his crib. The boy not only knows how to climb out of his crib but he also can vault the baby gates we have in his and Sabrinas doorway like he was trianed by the Special Ops unit of the Marines. Seriously, last time I went up there he was in Sabrinas room and before I could even make it all the way up the stairs, the child vaulted the gate at Sabrinas door, ran down the hall, vaulted his gate and climbed back into his crib, and was laying there with his blanket pulled over him as though he was invisible and I hadn't just seen everything. Love that boy. But now I think my days of any peace and quiet, my small respite in the middle of the day, are gone. I will miss it. And more than anything I will miss my little baby boy, he's a big boy now and it's time we bought him a big boy bed. Where did the time go.....

Christmas 2009

2010-01-15T19:39:00.001-06:00

Okay, so here is Christmas finally! We spent Christmas Eve with my husbands family at his sisters house where I took this pics of Sabrina and her cousin Evvy....

They adore eachother. I then tried to take a picture of all the cousins together but one little guy, my nephew Landon, wanted no part in it as you can see below.

Abby was trying to hold him in the shot and........now he's gone

At least we got a pic of the rest of them, John, Meagan, Evaline and Abby, and in the front, Jack, Sabrina and Aidan.

The next day was spent at our house and the kids were of course excited to get downstairs, here they are running torward the tree.

with their new jeep...

opening presents and stockings and playing a game Santa brought with daddy..

Sabrina and her new fairy wings from my mom...

After a nice, small dinner with just our family and Kevin and mines mom we took the traditioanl pictures we do every year, and every year it;s fight to get the kids to cooperate. Here is the best of what we took....

My mom, Gramma, with the kids

Kevins mom, or grammy, with the kids

And of course us.

Next I tried to get a few of the kids in front of the tree and my flash acting up and the kids acting up this is what I got....

While taking these I got frustrated but now I laugh and will for many years to come I am sure. I'm not so sure the kids will be laughing though someday when I submit some of these pics to their highschool yearbooks and also play them at milestone birthdays in a slide show. Payback! ;)

Lets not forget that this year we actually had a WHITE Christmas! First time in 89 years Dallas has seen a white Christmas. House on Christmas with the snow..

This was later in the day after a bunch of it had melted, should have thought to get pics that morning.

I hope your family had as wonderful a Christmas, with many memories made, as we did!

Snow....Oops, I mean, SAND angels.

2009-12-03T11:41:00.008-06:00

We recently took our yearly trip to Arizona to visit my grandparents. We have always tried to stop and see things along the way to break up the trip and make it a little more fun for the kids. This year, we decided to stop and see the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. I hadn't been there since I was a kid and Kevin had never seen it so we decided to take the kids for their first time. I did have to convince Kevin it was worth seeing though, he thought we would just be staring at a bunch of white sand out in the desert, which wasn't much different than the brown sand we were already looking at as we drove. But he admitted once we got there that it was really a cool place to see. If it weren't for the fact the kids are dressed in t-shirts, this could easily be mistaken for a ski trip.

Kids at White Sands , November 12, 2009

Making "snow" angels in the sand, for kids from Texas this is pretty cool! You don't even need a coat!

The kids would slide down the dunes on their bellies! You can actually buy sleds at the park entrance but we didn't since we only had about an hour to spend there, next time though!

The dunes go for miles before ending at the foot of the far of mountains.

These dunes really are huge!

Sand and sky. The sky was overcast that day which gave it a pretty gray-blue color. I can't decide if the dunes look like snow or more like a distant undiscovered planet. Either way, if you're driving through New Mexico, make sure you swing by and see this, it really is amazing.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-01T11:09:00.003-06:00

Not much to write about, we had the normal dinner at our place and the family came over. Kevins birthday actually fell on Thanksgiving this year, so we had a chocolate cake along side the pumpkin and apple pies. Instead of writing out what we are thankful for this year, I will just leave you with these pictures, which I think illustrate perfectly what we are most thankful for....

Family Pictures

2009-11-03T12:38:00.003-06:00

We had some family pictures made a few weeks ago by our friend, the talented Erin Brown. Here is a sneak peek :)

Trying to get both kids to look at the camera and smile was quite a challege but in the end we captured some good moments. Can't wait to see the rest and order our Christmas cards!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T18:56:00.005-06:00

Sabrina and Aidan in their costumes. Sabrina chose Snow White and Aidan wanted to be Batman, not just any Batman mind you , but a BLUE batman. Had to scour the internet looking for this costume but I found it and he was THRILLED!

Look at my big muscles!

Sabrina likes to pose. She doesn't like to be the center of attention at ALL! lol!

The pumpkin we carved today!

2009-10-29T11:47:00.001-05:00

Long time since last post

2009-10-22T12:56:00.004-05:00

I swear I am going to update this post more often. Of course I have said that before...... there have been a few things that I meant to blog about, like Sabrinas first day at MDO and our trip to Cancun but just haven't had the time. So until then here are some new pics of the kids that we took at the pumpkin patch in the Arboretum this weekend. Enjoy!

Margarita! Happy birthday Christy!

2009-09-18T15:34:00.000-05:00

View from our room

2009-09-18T15:30:00.000-05:00

This is in our room!

2009-09-18T15:25:00.000-05:00

Greeted with a drink at check in :)

2009-09-18T15:23:00.000-05:00

First dentist visit!

2009-08-13T17:08:00.002-05:00

So I have been wanting to post this since last week but we have had some trouble with our computer lately and this delayed me getting the pictures up. So here it finally is...

On Aug. 6th the kids both had their first dentist visit. I know, I know, Sabrina probably should have gone before now since shes 3 1/3, but time seems to get away sometimes. We went to Dr. Pearson, a pediatric dentist here in town. His office was decorated so kid friendly, video games, toys, books, and they also had this cute sign welcoming all the new patients that day.

Both kids had their teeth cleaned by the hygienist and checked by the dentist and they LOVED the whole thing.

They both got a clean bill of tooth health from the doctor as well as lots of praise for being such good patients. Sabrina didn't want to get out of the chair and both of them hopped right up for their turns! There was a four year old girl there at the same time who was not as thrilled to be there but the staff was caring and warm and found a way to take care of her all the same. I have to say is that this doctor and his staff were all amazing and I look forward to them taking care of my kids chompers!

Super Girl on steroids

2009-07-22T14:13:00.001-05:00

Learning shapes and colors!

2009-07-21T19:38:00.000-05:00

Art is fun!

2009-07-21T19:37:00.001-05:00

Sea World!

2009-07-07T11:51:00.007-05:00

I have been meaning to post this for over a week now so here goes. Kevin and I decided to take advantage of his three day weekend and head to San Antonio over the 4th of July weekend. We left on Thursday about 3:00pm and after dropping the dog off at my moms house and stopping to eat dinner in Austin, we arrived at about 10:00pm at our hotel. We immediately got the kids ready for bed and tried to get them to sleep, but that was hard since they were so excited and in a new place. I think we all finally fell asleep around 1:00am. Blah! We got up around 8:00 the next morning and went to Sea World! The first thing we did was rent a cart for the kids and slather on the sunscreen. It was hot, I think it hit 104 that day. We stayed 12 hours at the park! Yes, we are crazy. Yes, there were tantrums and break-downs, even a few by the children. Overall it was fun and here are a few pics from the day.

The next day, July 4th, we went and ate in town and then decide to head to New Braunfels to go to Schlitterbahn. After 3:00pm it's half price admission and the kids were free anyway so we decided that even if the kids got cranky it was worth the try. The kids could ride all the tube rides, so that's what we did. Sabrina was not thrilled at first but ended up loving it, Aidan only cried once when he got separated from me for a few minutes. Even on the large rapids they had a good time. In between rides we let them play in several of the numerous kids areas and they had a blast.

That evening as everyone else was watching fireworks, we took the opportunity to eat at a local German restaurant. Nothing like celebrating our freedom than by eating the fare of another country, especially one we went to war with before. But it was good, and we were in New Braunfels. We came back home on Sunday and it took twice as long thanks to the holiday traffic. The kids were restless and antagonizing each other, just the first of many family vacations to come! All in all it was a great trip and I can't wait to do something like this again next summer!

Testing, testing.....

2009-07-02T12:53:00.000-05:00

Mr. Toad

2009-06-28T20:57:00.010-05:00

So this evening I was moving around some of my caladium bulbs when I went to move this pot in my garden.

and saw this....... keep looking, he's the fat lump in the middle of the picture.A toad had decided to make his home under the pot. I LOVE toads and frogs, but he did make me jump a bit as all I saw at first were some eyes and something move ever so slightly. I went and got the kids the so they could come see our new friend. They were a little skeptical at first but they both pet him and laughed when he jumped.

Our new backyard friend, Mr. Toad. He's quite handsome I think, even with his little turned down mouth.
I decided to make him a toad house or two so that maybe he will hang around and continue eating the bugs in our garden. I found an unused clay pot in the garage, took a hammer to it and selected two good sized chunks to make toad houses.One of the toad houses in the garden. Very simple.
I do hope he sticks around, and maybe even brings a friend to live in the other toad house.

Summer means.....

2009-06-26T22:25:00.004-05:00

Swimming and playing at the neighborhood park.........

Big Chill '09

2009-06-25T14:55:00.005-05:00

This past weekend we celebrated the 10th year of "The Big Chill". Can't believe we have been doing this for 10 years already! It all started in July of 1999 when some of our friends were starting to graduate college and move away. Our friend Casey decided that we should have a "reunion" of sorts every summer. His parents owned a lake house in Granbury and we started by having about 8 of us there for a weekend to hang out, relax and go boating. As the years passed and more of us graduated and moved to different cities, we all looked forward to seeing each other during the summer, sometimes it was the only time we were able to see some people. About 7 years ago we also started doing a float trip to the Guadalupe and Comal rivers in New Braunfels, we rented a few condos and hung out for a weekend. Well about 3 years ago, the group had gotten a little bigger, as we have made new friends through the years, we decided that we should combine the two things and move"The Big Chill" to the river. We rent a house every year for 4 days and float the river and hang out. Below are some pics from the trip.
This year also happened to be Tanyas 30th birthday on Saturday so we got her a cake, had a few rounds of Jager shots and hung by the pool listening to music and talking. Also, as every other year, Bill and Angela were gracious enough to have us over to their home (the live in NB) for a BBQ feast on Friday night. We have gotten to know Bill and Angela through Bill's sister, Laura, who is a dear friend and who is also married to Patrick, another of our close friends. Laura and Patrick couldn't be here this year because they are expecting their first little one, a girl, this September! Letting some little things like pregnancy and the fact that you live in Florida interfere with The Big Chill!?!?!?..... Lame!.... Just kidding, we love them and missed them this year and they plan on being there for Big Chill 2010. We look forward to it!

Laura and Patricks babyshower!

2009-06-02T12:35:00.002-05:00

Over memorial day weekend we went to Houston to surprise our friend Laura. Laura and Patrick live in Tallahassee and we haven't seen them in almost a year, so when Patrick got a chance through work to go home to Houston for a week, he called me and we planned to surprise Laura. She knew her family was going to be throwing her a small shower but had no idea Kevin and I were going to be able to make it as well as a few other friends. It was nice to surprise her and get to hang out over the weekend. Below are a few pictures. Patrick and Laura playing "who has the bigger belly" Laura has a little belly right now, but, mind you, she is only about 6 months along. Got a few more months of growing to do!

Here is me, Ronda, Laura and Desiree (whom I also haven't seen in a year) loving on the little baby girl in the belly!

Pretty diaper cake that grandma-to-be made

Laura opening gifts

Patricks attempt at diapering the baby, in his defense he did do it blindfolded. But he still missed a leg and the diaper fell off as soon as baby was picked up. He will get much better with practice I am sure.

This is Desiree and Russ' little girl, Eva. I couldn't resist talking a few shots of her as she played on these stairs out back of Patricks moms house. What a cutie!

It was a great weekend and we got to catch up with some of our fabulous friends that we unfortunately don't get to see that often. We wish Laura and Patrick the best of luck and much happiness with their little-girl-to-be!

Summer is here!

2009-05-26T17:12:00.001-05:00

The simple joys of playing in a pool in the backyard!

Mothers Day!

2009-05-10T22:13:00.003-05:00

We celebrated Mothers Day by going to lunch with my mother to Ali Baba for some really good Mediterranean. After that we came home and the kids took a nap while Kevin went to pick up his mom so she could visit for a while. We planted a tree in the yard, did a little gardening and that was about it. Just a simple day. We took the above pic of me and the kids right before they took a nap. I actually like it and the kids are both smiling! a Mothers Day miracle!!!! This one will definitely be going in the digital picture frame that Kevin got me today. Hope all my wonderful mommy friends had just as good a day!

A couple of firsts...

2009-04-30T16:41:00.007-05:00

I was going through pics today and realized I did not blog about a couple of firsts the kids had this month. One was their first trip to the Circus! We had gotten some free tickets so we loaded up the kids and both grandmas and went to see the show. Sabrina wanted to ride the elephant really badly but unfortunately once we got up there, I'm sure you can guess......yep, she started screaming and crying bloody murder. She also was holding on to Aidan for dear life. Aidan was however cool as a cucumber and seemed to enjoy the view. Notice said screaming toddler in pic below. Wish we could have gotten a close-up of that one.After riding the elephant, she actually told her daddy it was fun and she wanted to stand and watch the elephants go around and around. Toddlers!We made our way to our seats after doing our parental duty of scarring our child for life. This was the arena. The show was pretty good and Sabrina seemed to really like the gymnasts. Aidan liked it all, but then again as long as he was stuffing his face with popcorn he was happy.Now the next first was the first movie. On the 19th we took them to see Aliens vs. Monsters. Sabrina was so excited! Aidan had no clue but was happy to get some snacks and a sugary drink. Here they are checking out the candy display.....

Enjoying their snacks.......And after the movie with mommy, notice the crazed look in Sabrinas eyes, can we say too much sugar? and of course Aidan is still chowing down on a cookie, that boy loves to eat.

Bluebonnets 2009

2009-04-22T10:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we took the kids to take pictures in the bluebonnet patch up the road from us. I should have gone in the morning when the sun wasn't so bright, but I managed to get a few decent shots. I love this one of Aidan, he looks like he's plotting something.

Sabrina is just enjoying the pretty flowers and watching for butterflies.

Easter!

2009-04-15T14:33:00.005-05:00

The kids woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had brought them a basket full of surprises as well as a note telling them to check the front porch for another surprise! They went to the door where they found that EB had left them some baby chicks!

Sabrina proclaimed that the "chicks are very cute! I love them!" Aidan just stared and kept pointing and saying "baby chicken!"

After that excitement, we got dressed to have dinner with the family. We were supposed to go to Granmas house (my mom) but it rained a lot the night before and since granma lives on a dirt road we thought it best to meet up instead at the Wilson house. There we took some pics of the kids in there Easter finery. Getting 5 kids to all look at the camera at once and stay still is no small task, but still we managed a few good shots. The one below is one of the best, Sabrina and Aidan with their cousins Abby, Evaline and Jack Wilson.

After this pic the kids all changed into playclothes and we ate and hunted eggs. Very simple Easter with the family!

Aidan is 2 !!!!

2009-03-09T16:28:00.003-05:00

My little boy turned 2 years old today! Doesn't seem like it was 2 years ago we brought him home from the hospital but is is! We clebrated his birthday yesterday with a party at Pump It Up Junior with friends and family. He had a gret time as you can see from the big smile on his face above!

He did not however want to cooperate when daddy and I tried to get a pic with our big boy! Oh well. Tonight we will celebrate by having daddy bring home a meal of his choice, probably a happy meal with a cheeseburger, and an ice cream cake.

Just two years ago this was my baby.........

And now he's our little boy!

Mommy and Daddy and sister love you so much ! Happy Birthday!

Sabrina napping.....

2009-02-25T11:15:00.001-06:00

I caught this on camera yesterday while Sabrina ws napping. Hat, mittens, scarf and sunglasses. Silly girl!

Stephens Birthday

2009-02-24T11:09:00.004-06:00

My cousin, Stephen turned 21 on Feb. 15th. Well he's actually Kevins cousin, but I'll claim him. He had a small family gathering that Sunday but a group of us went down this last weekend to celebrate in College Station where he lives.

The birthday boy

Taking a shot at the Dry Bean...

Playing pool at the Chicken..Stephanie and I ready to go out to Harrys....

Stephen and his buddies Jess and Andrew......

Stephanie, Me and Stephen at Harrys....... We had a good time and it was interesting to see the places I went so many times while I was at school there. It's amazing how much has changed but how much hasn't. So happy Birthday Stephen! Hope you had a great time and we wish you many more!

Valentines Day!

2009-02-19T15:57:00.001-06:00

The kids and I stared Valentines day a little early. We baked a cookie cake for Kevin and they decorated it with sprinkles. We did this on friday so that we could suprise daddy when he got home that night.

The next evening on Valentines day we went to eat with Tim and Stephanie. We have been doing this for about 4 years now, so it's become a sort of tradition. we went and ate at Rafain and stuffed ourselves silly. We then went and hung out for a few hours at The Quarter, a bar near downtown. Kevin and I had a room at the Omni Mandalay Bay for the night. It was nice to get to sleep in while the kids were at grandmas and we had nowhere to be.

Futures so bright......

2009-01-19T16:32:00.000-06:00

They gotta wear shades......

Took these a couple of days ago as Sabrina and Aidan gave me a fashion show in our upstairs hall.
Oh poor Aidan! Can't wait to show these to a future girlfriend! LOL!

New Years Eve!

2009-01-14T15:19:00.005-06:00

Yes, I know this is a little late but I decided I wanted to post about it so here goes...

We had a very simple night in this New Years. Kevin and I didn't have a babysitter as my mom had to work so our friends, Casey, John, Ronda, Christy and Steve came over (Doug and Tracy were also supposed to come but they were sick) and while the kids slept upsatairs we played games and hung out downstairs. Actually not a bad evening all told. we played Rock Band, Scene It and Catch Phrase. And of course ate and drank all night. A few of the friends stayed the night and we went to lunch the next day. Never a bad way to ring in the new year with wonderful friends!

Christmas......finally

2009-01-06T15:07:00.003-06:00

Well we had a wonderful Christmas. We were so busy these past few weeks that I am just now getting to this post.
Sabrina got her first bike and Aidan got a tricycle from Santa.

After the unwrapping of presents, or as I call it the tornado, we had my mom and mother-in-law over for a simple turkey dinner. We then tried to get a family picture and this was the result.

Not too bad I guess, the one before this you can seem Aidans tonsils! Sabrina never looks at the camera and you can tell mom and dad are tired. Every time we have an event or holiday I always think "next time, we will take pics BEFORE the kids are tired and cranky at the end of the evening" and every time, we always forget.

Santa!.... and other Christmas goings on.

2008-12-15T17:03:00.005-06:00

Yesterday we took the kids to visit Santa. Sabrina was soooo excited! Aidan is still too little to really get the whole things but he liked seeing the reindeer and the giant Christmas tree that they had at Santa's village. Aidan was not to thrilled to sit on Santa's lap, but Sabrina hopped right up there and told Santa what she wants: a baby doll and a rocket ship for Aidan. I think it helped that Sabrina has been watching "The Polar Express" nearly once a day for the past 2 weeks. It's really fun this year since it's the first year that she really seems to get the whole Santa idea. She keep telling us that Santa is going to come and bring presents for all of us and that we are going to bake cookies for him because he gets hungry going to all those houses.

The season is definitely in full swing. earlier yesterday we went to have our Christmas play date with some of Sabrinas little girl friends. always so much fun!

Maggie, Hailey, Sarah, Brianna and Sabrina all had a good time and exchanged presents.

Tonight I am headed to a Christmas party for some of the provisionals of The Junior League, should be a great time! This week is also busy with things to get ready for Christmas and this weekend Sabrina, Aidan and I will be going to granmas house to bake cookies and make fudge for our family and friends! The home stretch to Christmas is officially here!

Busy few days!

2008-12-01T22:54:00.008-06:00

First off, we had Thanksgiving. I host and cook most of the food and have been doing this for the 6th year this year! Always so much fun to have the family and some good friends come over and stuff themselves silly and then wind down the evening with some games of some sort (this year it was Rock Band II) Here's the lovely 28 pound turkey.......

Yes, 28 pounds! It was larger than some of the children in attendance, and as you can see, was falling off the bone it was so tender. Love me some turkey! Here is the one somewhat decent family shot we got that day...

Next on the weekend agenda was Kevin's birthday. His actual birthday was the day before Thanksgiving so we decided to celebrate on Friday night since my mom took the kiddos to spend the night at her house. We ate at Fireside Pies, delicious! And then went to have a drink and play pool at a favorite local haunt.

Fun was had by all, a little too much fun was had a by a few, but hangovers go away and we have some great memories! Saturday night I went with Ronda to go see Aaron Watson play at Gilleys, forgot my camera :( Oh well, next time. And Sunday I shopped for things for the reception I am helping to host here at my house this Saturday. It's for my BIL and SIL, they got married on a cruise a few weeks ago so we are throwing them a little party. Sunday I also took some pics of the kids for our Christmas cards, which trying to wrangle two toddlers is near impossible! Out of nearly 250 shots taken, I only got one of them together that would work for anything! Whew! So that was my last four days in a nut shell. Looking forward to the hustle and bustle of the holidays!

Sabrina turns 3!!!

2008-11-18T10:25:00.007-06:00

My little girl turned 3 last Friday! Time sure does fly! Seems like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital! the day of her birthday daddy brought home pizza, per the birthday girls request, and we got a ice cream cake in the shape of Cinderella. She also insisted on opening the package of birthday hats for her party and wearing it that night and pretty much every night since!

We had her birthday party on Sunday and she had a blast! We had a bounce house, a pinata and bes of all, each kid got to decorate their own cupcakes! Here is Sabrina with her HUGE pinata!

All the kiddos decorating their cupcakes!

Sabrinas cupcake creation!
Bouncehouse fun!

The kids had a great time and Sabrina and Aidan were both worn out and ready for bed that night. Still can't believe my little girl is going full steam ahead into her fourth year of life! Happy Birthday baby girl! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you can know!

Santa Fe pics

2008-11-07T19:50:00.002-06:00

Yes I finally uploaded some of the pictures I took while in Santa Fe, NM. I have many more from the trip as a whole, a trip we took two months ago, and I will also try to post them soon.
Here is the slideshow.

View Album

Get your own

Flutterbaby!!!

2008-11-04T23:07:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I have a really talented friend who makes handmade baby gifts. I just decided I should put a link to her blog here so that everyone can see and buy her wonderful things. http://www.flutterbabygifts.blogspot.com/

So theres my shout out to flutterbaby! And if you are a friend of mine that is expecting don't be shocked to recieve something of hers from me :)

Halloween!

2008-11-03T18:08:00.000-06:00

The kids dressed up as Little Bo Peep and her sheep, that means Aidan got to be the sheep! Hope he doesn't need therapy for that someday as I am sure he will look at the pictures and say"why did you let me out of the house looking like that?" I think he was cute! Just not the most manly costume anyone has ever come up with!

They loved trick or treating! Grandma brought them some pumpkin flashlights to use and Aidan thought this was the coolest thing of all. He kept saying "fash-ight" all night and obsessing over it. Now what to do with all that candy..........

State Fair!

2008-10-22T16:42:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday we went to the State Fair. I just now uploaded all the pics and here are a few pof the highlights. Big Tex himself....

It wouldn't be the State Fair withoiut a Fletchers corndog..........

Or a visit to the petting zoo......

and a ride on the carousel....

We saw acrobats and dogs doing amazing things, butterflies and of course ate lots of fried food. So till next year, we will miss you, our dear friend, the State Fair of Texas.

The big 3-OH!

2008-10-05T20:34:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was my thirtieth birthday and I celebrated by going out to eat with a few close friends and then throwing myself a much larger party at Cape Buffalo. I love parties! I have many more pictures but until I an upload them all, and get the ones my photog friend took, here are these taken at dinner.

Kevin and I

Ronda and I

The group out to dinner at Momo: John, Tracy, Doug, Casey, Kevin, Me and Ronda.

I had a blast! Even with the photo slide show put together by my husband showing some rather embarrassing pics from my younger wilder days ( Well maybe not that wild) I go the i-phone I had been wanting and, more than that, I had a great time with wonderful friends.

Aidans second ER trip!

2008-10-03T22:19:00.000-05:00

I woke up today thinking that I would have a busy day running last minute errands to get ready for my birthday party tomorrow and this happens......

Aidan apparently decided to climb into our office chair and preceded to then fall off of it and hit his head on the corner of the desk. He cried, it bled, and we went to the ER. After three hours we finally left there and Aidan had two staples in his head.

Above, Aidan before the staples trying to sat "Cheese" for the camera. Below is a pic of Aidans new hardware...

As you can see it wasn't a very big gash but since it was on his head it kind of busted like a watermelon and bled and bled. the staples will stay in for five days, that is assuming Aidan doesn't rip them out first. So far he hasn't paid them any attention, so here's to keeping our fingers crossed he continues to do so. It's almost a shame these won't stay in till Halloween, I would have painted him green and made him into Franken-baby! And for those of you who don't know me, I am just joking.

Just look at that!

2008-09-29T23:55:00.000-05:00

So I stole this idea for a post from my friend Jenny. I was looking at her pictures of Maggie through the years at the pumpkin patch and decided to see what I could dig up since I have also taken Sabrina and Aidan every year since birth. The first pic above is Sabrina just a couple of weeks shy of her first birthday, next is a few weeks before her 2nd birthday. And of course below was the pic taken just yesterday! Time does fly!

Now Aidan has certainly changed! His first time he was 7 months old........

And now he's a big boy at 18 months!

Busy Weekend!

2008-09-21T22:51:00.004-05:00

Lets see, starting on Thursday evening I had an audition to see if I could become a Jazzercise instructor. I had been practicing for weeks to learn the 10 routines that were assigned. We took a test, basic anatomy, physiology, exercise science sort of stuff and then we had the actual audition. The trainer had us draw numbers, and of course I pulled number 1! I was so nervous I was nearly shaking but I got onstage and did the 2 routines that the trainer picked at random, using the other 3 hopefuls as my pseudo-class. I passed the audition and then had to attend the workshop portion of the certification process on Friday and Saturday. Friday we worked on learning the proper form of all the moves and the basics of cueing etc. All in all we were probably working out nearly 4 hours that day so needless to say Saturday I woke up pretty sore. Saturday was all about the business end of it and it passed pretty quickly. Saturday night we went to see Adrenaline, a friends band. They were great as usual! Today, Kev, the kids, our friend, Ronda and I went to Oktoberfest. Now all the walking, dancing, working out and lack of sleep (due to nerves and staying out late and getting up early) has caught up with me and I am going to bed. Whew!

Arizona!

2008-09-10T15:58:00.000-05:00

We just got back from Arizona on monday where we went to visit my grandparents. it was Nanas' 80th birthday. Nana and Papa have been married 62 years.

Sabrina with her great grandmother

Aidan and great-grandpa

We had a great time even though it was a long trip with the two little ones. I will post more about the things we did and saw along the way in a later post.

First Speeding Ticket

2008-08-31T22:42:00.002-05:00

I juat got my first speeding ticket yesterday. Just outside of Amarillo. Doing 79 in a 65. I will be 30 years old next month and just got my first ticket. Not that I never get stopped, I just always get off with a warning. I remember once going 65 in a 40 and STILL getting off with a warning. I knew the sheriff that pulled me over last night was NOT going to give me a warning, you could see it is his eyes, dollar signs for the teenie tiny town outside of Amarillo. I can't even remember the town name it was so small. I nearly made it 14 years of driving without ever getting a speeding ticket. Damn!

Aidans first Haircut!

2008-08-17T17:56:00.002-05:00

Aidan goit his first haircut today! He was great! He watched Thomas the train as the nice lady at Cool Cuts for Kids trimmed him up a bit. He kind of had a comb-over thing going on, the hair at the crown was longer than the hair at the front of his head so she evened it all up and then even spiked it a little in the front. My sweet boy!

Aidans first ER trip

2008-08-14T14:16:00.004-05:00

Well yesterday Aidan decided to give us a little scare. I went to get him out of his crib and he was just laying there, playing with his teddy bear. I thought that was strange since he usually jumps right up and starts saying "up, mama, up!" over and over again. I pick him up and lay him on his changing table and I notice he seems to have no energy and is kind of limp. I then also notice he feels warm so I take his temp. Nothing wrong there. I take him to my room and lay next to him on the bed to see if he just needs a little more time to wake up. He doesn't move at all, well, nothing except his head. I take his arm and lift it up and drop it. It falls as if he were asleep or unconscious. What is wrong with my BABY! I call Kevin and tell him whats going on and he heads home from work. I decide to see if he can stand. He can and he can walk but he drags his feet ans only goes a few steps before stopping. I take him and Sabrina downstairs because Sabrina wants breakfast and I decide to feed her while I wait for Kevin to get home. Aidan sees Sabrinas sippy cup and starts very pitifully asking for "wa wa". I set him in his highchair and give him a cup and a few little yogurt bites. He throws it up almost immediately.

Kevin gets home we go to the ER and the look him over. He still is asking for "wa wa" every time he sees someone with a cup or drink of any kind. Poor baby. They draw some blood, start fluids and I manage to get him to sleep. He didn't even cry when they stuck the IV in, he was just too weak! about 45 minutes pass and he wakes up. He wakes up MAD! Good sign. He has his energy back! he keeps crying and screaming for "wa wa" so the nurse lets us try some pedialyte and apple juice mixed together. He sucks down 2 large cupfuls! He keeps it down! Yay! The doctor comes in and tells us is blood work is fine except that he was just really dehydrated. They send us home and Aidan has been fine and back to himself.

We're still not sure how he could have gotten so dehydrated, he was fine the night before. The only thing that we can think is he had 3 runny diapers the previous afternoon. But he had been eating and drinking that evening just fine. He hadn't played outside that day either.
My guess is he was feeling a little bad the night before and he was just really good at hiding it till he woke up the next morning.

Thankfully everything is fine with him, just a little bruise from where they put in the IV. He's back to driving me nuts today, but i wouldn't have it any other way ;)

Camera fun with Aidan.....

2008-07-25T17:05:00.000-05:00

I came across these today as I ws going through some pics, I forgot I had taken them. Aidan LOVES the camera! He will stop and say cheese anytime he sees one. I thought this particular sequence was funny. I was actually trying to take a picture of someone else and he walks up to me and steals the scene.

Out of Sabrinas mouth...

2008-07-21T18:07:00.004-05:00

today at lunch as Kevin is getting her out of the car........
Sabrina "Daddy is messy!"
Kevin "I am?"
Sabrina " Daddy is messy cause daddy is a MAN!!"

A couple of weeks ago I was trying to find something in our office which is kind of a mess because my dear husband doesn't ever clean it up. I was frustrated and Sabrina was in there with me as I was talking to myself about men being messy and how daddy is messy because he's a man and some men can't pick up after themsleves. You know, usual wife rant. Well today she decided to pull that converstaion out of thin air, she said it yesterday too at a party we were at. I guess I am raising a next generation feminist! LOL!!

I have no wisdom....

2008-07-18T10:46:00.000-05:00

teeth that is. I had them pulled yesterday. Ouch!

Summer Days...

2008-07-09T21:18:00.001-05:00

The small pleasures of a summer day...... a popsicle stained smile from your kids!

July 4th

2008-07-07T10:20:00.002-05:00

We had a great 4th of July. Friends and family came over and we BBQ'd, drank margaritas and chatted all day. The kids ran around my backyard and splashed in the kiddie pool and ran through the sprinkler.

I love the fourth! It's my favorite summer holiday. I decorated our new patio with flag bunting and stars. We had enough food to feed and army, smoked chicken, Bratwurst, hot dogs and hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, chips and dip. Classic American cookout foods! And of course we had watermelon! It's not a summer party or picnic till the watermelon has been put on ice and cut up to share... We wound down the night with some fireworks at Breckenridge park. The kids were exhausted and fell asleep on the way home, they didn't even wake up when we got them out of the car and changed them into their pajamas. It was a long, fun, summer day and I can't wait till next year!

Long time, no post!

2008-07-01T22:18:00.002-05:00

Well, I just realized it's been a while since my last post. Things have been pretty busy around here. Seems like the summer is the time of year that everyone has something going on.
Let's see, what has happened in the last month that I need to write about...... not much really. We got our patio installed, sprinkler repaired and fence repaired. Done with home improvements for a while I hope. Sabrina is sleeping every night in her big girl bed and we have started potty training in earnest, only one accident today. Lets hope that goes smoothly and we can say goodbye to changing diapers on at least one of the kids!
I decided to sell Mary Kay not really as a career or anything but it seems like a good, no risk way to make a little extra spending money. So if you know anyone thats wants some Mary Kay products send them my way! I would also love to host a show, so any of my friends that would like to set one up let me know! I have also officially started the paperwork end of training to become a Jazzercise instructor (insert Jane Fonda joke here). I tried out at a movement screening last October and passed and I am scheduled to go to the workshop in September where they will work with me and then I have to audition. I am already a nervous wreck about the audition. Haven't auditioned for anything in a looooooong time. So now I am looking to get CPR certified and learn 16 routines before the workshop! ACKKKK!
Well thats about all I can think of right now. And yes for those who have asked me, I am going to finish writing about the Costa Rica trip soon. Well, maybe soon.

Our new patio!

2008-06-17T10:45:00.003-05:00

I am so excited, we finally got our new covered patio installed. Below are the before and after shots. They just need to stain it and hang the ceiling fan and we will be good to go! I can imagine all the cookouts this summer already!

Future Rockstar??

2008-05-26T22:44:00.002-05:00

I couldn't help but post these. I took them a couple of days ago. Sabrina, future rockstar? Maybe!

Costa Rica- Volume2

2008-05-20T11:26:00.010-05:00

Okay, so I left off with us going to Baldi hotsprings. Baldi is a hotel/resort built around a natural hotspring at the base of the volcano in La Fortuna. They have funneled the water of various temperatures (ranging from luke warm to peel-you-skin-off boiling!!) into something like 22 different pools and lagoons for guest to swim in. Some of the lagoons have swim up bars which is where we happened to spend quite a bit of time. After getting a little tipsey at Baldi, Kevin decided to call it a night and Ronda and I decided to hit the discotech. We were suprised to learn that in Costa Rica the discotech doesn't even really get started till midnight and there is no set closing time, they just close when the last person goes home. Anyways, we danced, had a few more drinks and finally made it back to our hut about 3:00am. The next morning Kevin took these lovely photos of Ronda and I....

Who knew dancing an drinking till the wee hours could leave someone so tired??After we finally got up and dressed we headed to town for lunch and then to go hike to the La Fortuna waterfall. before I tell you about the hike and the waterfall I must tell you about one of my new favorite meals. For lunch we hit a friend chicken stand, fried chicken is pretty popular there, you'll see stands and restaurants selling it everywhere. Well the way they serve it in Costa Rica is with a side of corn tortillas. They also set out a little condiment tray with salsa, hot sauce, ketchup and mayonnaise. this is not just regular mayonnaise though, it has lime in it! I know what you're thinking, lime in mayo? Eww! But let me tell you , squeeze a little on a piece of fried chicken just pulled from the bone and wrap it in that corn tortilla and you have a tasty little meal! It's the Costa Rican version of Chik-fil-a. I have even just found in the latino section of my local store, mayo with lime, and I intend to use it on my next chicken sandwich. Try it sometime! Okay enough about lunch, on to the waterfall hike. We drove out to the park entrance, paid out 5 or 6 bucks and then strted hiking down the gorge to the waterfall. Right before you start the hike down theres a platform where you get to see this view.

Thats what we were about to hike down to. Keep in mind that waterfall is about 90 yards tall and you have an idea about how far down we were about to hike. And I mean virtually straight down. So we stared the trek down the path where I took these shots of the terrain and of a massive tree tha Ronda decided to hug.

The water was a little cold and it was overcast but it didn't feel to bad once you got in. It was beautiful! the water was crystal clear. We swam in the pool under the waterfall for a bit then got out wlakaround to the otherside of the trail and got into the river which was nice and calm. We discovered some little friends and fed them some of our crackers, they would actually jump clear out of the water fighting for the crumbs.

I shot some underwater video of them as well. I will have to upload that sometime too. The biggest fish was probably about 12 inches long. Really neat!

So that ended our 2nd day in Costa Rica. We returned to town that evening, chilled in the pool at our cabina and then went out to eat. The next day would be our last day in La Fortuna and we planned to hike to watch the volcano, and that is where I will pick up next time.

Costa Rica-Volume 1

2008-05-12T11:18:00.012-05:00

Okay, so I finally have a spare minute to try to blog about our Costa Rica trip. We flew out of DFW on April 25th at 7:00am to catch our connecting flight in Houston which left at 9:30am. By noon were landing in Costa Rica, getting our rental car and heading for La Fortuna. we pulled into La Fortuna about 7:00pm and found a place to stay for the night. Below are pictures of our first nights accommodations...

Yes, the last picture is indeed a picture of our shower, live wires, switch and all! This is what many of the "cabinas" called a hot water heater. Not sure if it worked or not as we didn't use it.

We went out an got a bite to eat and a few drinks at a local restaurant, Jardins', it was really good. I decided to go with my first taste of a typical Costa Rican dish and ordered the Arroz con Pollo, or rice with chicken. It was very good and I plan to try to make it sometime. We of course were beat from having been up for nearly 48 hours straight and went back to our little room at Cabinas Hervi and tried to get some sleep because the next morning we had scheduled our trip to go zip-lining through the jungle. I say tried to get some sleep because our room had no air conditioning. This would probably not have been to bad except that it was REALLY humid and I had a bit of a head cold and cough. I woke up many times that night coughing up a lung and feeling like I was breathing through a straw the air was so heavy. I finally sedated myself with a few benadryl so that I could get at least a few hours in so that I wouldn't be totally dead the next day. We got up the next morning and had a typical breakfast, which consisted of eggs scrambled with ham, black beans and a small slice of fresh homemade cheese served with a couple of corn tortillas. we then got picked up about 10:00am to go do the zipline tour.

In the first pic you can actually see a couple of the ziplines behind us going over the waterfall. It was VERY high. We went swimming at the waterfall the next day and saw other people doing the ziplines and they looked like little dots in the sky. Crazy! The waterfall itself was probably at least 150 yards behind us if not 200, just to give you some comparison.

After the zipline part was over we got back down the mountain on horseback.

we then went and took a look at the butterfly and frog gardens they had where I took pictures of these guys....

We went back into town and found accommodations for the next night, had dinner and decided to go to Baldi Hotsprings to relax. I will post more about this in my next volume of of blogging about our trip.

I've been tagged!

2008-05-06T15:15:00.004-05:00

Crap! I have always hated in school when the teachers would ask you to write about yourself or when at a job interview they ask"what's your greatest strength? weakness?" So now I have to list 7 interesting things about me.... Hmmm....? I guess this is always a hard question for me because I have to then wonder, what is interesting?

1. Like Jenny, my friend who tagged me, I have a prized childhood possession. It's not a doll though, or a blankie, it's a pillow. Or maybe I should say it's what used to be a pillow, it's so old it's actually squished to a thickness which is less than that of a comforter. It was my dads before it was mine and it was already pretty flat when I got it. In fact, that's why my mom gave it to me, when I was nearly a year old she wanted to give me a pillow but she didn't want some huge fluffy death trap so she stole my dads pillow which was nearly flat already. That pillow has since been everywhere I have been, it has traveled to more destinations than any inanimate object should. Kevin says that my pillow will probably be the death of mankind, as he is sure that some horrible bacteria,yet unknown to man, is probably growing in it's bowels. Not true. That pillow has been washed many, many, many times which accounts for the fact that hardly any of it's original exterior fabric remains and I have to encase it in 2 zip-up pillow cases. I swear my pillow will probably be put in my casket someday.

2. I just got back form Costa Rica, I think that's interesting and I plan to blog about it soon.

3. I was once an honorary Filipino. In high school and part of college I was a dancer for a Filipino Association in Austin. Yes I even learned to sing the national anthem of the Phillipines in Tagalog. Can't do it anymore, so don't ask. Why?, you ask, didi i dance for this association as I am clearly not a Filipina? I had a good friend who was and they needed an extra dancer for one of their conventions. She knew I liked to dance and that lead to not just one convention but the Christmas party, New years, summer fiesta, and performing at various street festivals in and around Austin for the next 4-5 years. We did traditional Filipino dance as well as Tahitian and Hula. In fact, if I ever visit the Phillipines I plan on joining right in if they bring out the bamboo poles and start doing the Tinikling.

4. I used to have a HUGE collection of unicorns. Started collecting them before I can remember and kept it up till highschool. Have gotten rid of all but a few of them which are in boxes in the attic right now, save for one, which is a music box that is in Sabrinas room.

5. I have a weird curiosity about serial murderers. No, I am not crazy or morbid. I just like to read about them and try to wrap my brain around why they do what they do. It really dumbfounds me that the human mind can be such a dark strange place.

6. I love the water and love to scuba! I have always been like a fish. Sabrina and Aidan seem to have both gotten that gene as well. Sabrina has absolutely no fear of water whcih means we have to be even more careful with her when we are around it. She will just walk right in till shes completely submerged without an ounce of hesitation.

7. I am not a big sports fan. I really don't see the point of most of it. I actually do like to watch a good boxing match every now and then, but for the most part sports are just dull to me. It's not that I don't watch them or enjoy the games I do watch from time to time, it's just I can't stand it when people think that life just stops when a game is on. Really annoys me. Kevin is not like this, thank God! But I have known plenty of people, mostley men, who think that everything else should take a basckseat to watching the game, whatever game that might be. I just think there are more important things and thats why God created Tivo.

Okay, I managed 7 things. Not sure how, but I did. Thanks Jenny, now my brain hurts ;) lol!

Off to Costa Rica!

2008-04-25T03:35:00.002-05:00

Okay, I am up, packed, showerd and ready to go. Actually I never fell asleep. Kevin, Ronda and I figured that since we had to get up at about 2:30am to get ready and leave by 4:00am to get the the airport by 4:30-ish that we might as well just stay up. I am so excited I am not even tired right now. I know once I get in the air though I will probably sleep my way to Costa Rica. Not a bad way to wake up I guess, landing in a tropical paradise, I think I can handle that ;)
I plan to blog all about it as soon as we get back, I may even log in a little while I'm away of I can get to a computer somwhere between riding zip-lines through the jungle, hiking up a volcano, diving and just hanging out at the beach. So keep an eye out friends, I might just write something from Costa Rica!

Bluebonnets

2008-04-22T14:36:00.006-05:00

Well the bluebonnets are in bloom and in Texas that means spring is here and summer is right around the corner. On Sunday we took the kids to a spot near our house to shoot some pics of them in the bluebonnets. Of course at this af=ge they are so distraced by everything that getting them to look at the camera is nearly impossible, and BOTH of them looking at the same time, well, it would take a miracle. So her are a few of the shots I managed to get.

Aidan at one point tried to eat the bluebonnets, he found that they didin't taste very good though and he promptly spit it out. I love the last shot of Aidan, he was just sitting, hands folded, taking it all in. He just looks like such a little man.

Under Our Skin.... Under MY skin!

2008-04-14T00:01:00.003-05:00

I also wrote this on my Myspace page, just trying to get the word out.
http://www.openeyepictures.com/underourskin/index.html
This looks like it is going to be a great film. I hope it opens some eyes and gets people talking.
I hope that some people may also see this and seek testing to make sure that their diagnosis of other diseases such as MS, are correct ones. Lyme is great at mimickery, it can mimic symptoms of everything from fibromyalgia (which is what I am told I also have. Caused by Lyme? Maybe.) to MS to Lou Gherigs and many more. No, I am not a conspiracy theorist, thinking that the medical world is just trying to rake in money. I also do not believe that EVERYONE has a misdiagnosis and it's actually Lyme that is causing their problems. But if you could have a blood test done that may change your diagnosis, or not, so that you would be certain you were recieving proper care, wouldn't you want it done? Unfortunately most people don't know this is a possibility and insurance does not currently cover the testing at facilities such as Igenex, whose testing is much more sensitive than the standard tests that may be ordered by your doctor from any lab. I hope this documentary sheds some light. Sometimes all it takes is a little light in the darkness to see your way out.
take a few minutes to rollover the faces on the website and read what they have to say. Less than 2 years ago, anyone of them could have been quoting me.

Life is sweet and tasty!

2008-04-11T11:15:00.003-05:00

Sabrina was eating watermelon yesterday, one of her favorite things. She took a big bite and blurted out "it's sweet and tasty!" I am not sure where she gets these things. I am amazed everyday how my children, like all kids, get such unadulterated joy out of the simplest things. A walk down the street is a safari, the moon is magical, everyone is a friend and watermelon is the best part of the day. I guess that why it's called un"adult"erated, when you become and adult you don't look at things the same way, with the same joy or exuberance as a child. The world takes it's toll. I am cherishing these moments, they help me be a kid again myself and look at the world a little different everyday. I know it will happen much to fast, that the world will take it's toll on my kids and they will grow-up. All I can do is watch and try to keep them as innocent and "unadulterated" as possible, for as long as I can. Becasue right now, in this instant, life is sweet and tasty, and I want to taste it all!

Costa Rica here we come!

2008-04-09T23:21:00.002-05:00

So the biggest news here is that we are planning a trip to Costa Rica, in like 2 weeks! We are flying standby becasue we have a friend who got us buddy passes ( Thank you Ronda!!) but we plan to leave on the 25th and return a week later. I can't wait! It has been a while since we left the country to somewhere tropical, almost 4 years, and I can't wait to get my feet in the sand, a drink in my hand , a regulator in my mouth and an air tank strapped to my back! Not neccesarily in that order. I am thrilled! Need to go to the dive shop sometime soon and get a few things and maybe even try out a few items in their big pool. I am sooo excited! did I mention how much I was looking forward to this?!?!LOL!

God bless Butterflies

2008-04-08T21:35:00.003-05:00

Tonight as I put Sabrina to bed, we said our prayers as usual and this time Sabrina began to say her list of people she wants God to bless. She went through the usual, momma, dadda, Granma, buddy(Aidan), and then she paused for a minute and then said.... "and God bless butterflies!"
My sweet girl, she always comes up with something to make me smile.

My sweet, silly, little man

2008-04-08T17:23:00.000-05:00

Aidan has been quite a character lately. He can say Mama, Dada, Baba, buh-buh(which is bye-bye) he can even say No and his favorite is Uh-Oh! He likes Uh-oh becasue in our house it has become a game of sorts. He drops something, we say "uh-oh" and pick it back up and hand it to him. He then tosses it again, this time on purpose and says "uh-oh" as he looks at us with a "what? I didn't do that!" look and a sideways grin. He also likes to use his bowls as hats....

On top of these little games, the last 2-3 weeks, he has taken to pointing at EVRYTHING and giving a little "uuh?" so a lot of my day is now spent answering his little inquiries as to what different objects are. He also loves to sit in my lap and have my flip thorugh a book with him, He will point and help me turn the pages but other than that he sits perfectly still and listens intently. And we we finish he often gives me a hug and a sweet little kiss, which as any mom could tell you, is the BEST part of the day.

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail...

2008-03-25T19:52:00.000-05:00

The Cousins at Easter: Abby, Evaline, Jack, Sabrina and Aidan

Well another Easter has come and gone, Sabrina loved it, the candy, hunting for eggs etc.etc. Aidan found his eggs to be amusing, he even tried to eat one, shell and all. It's always nice to get the family together for a good meal and to just watch the kids do what kids do. Speaking of kids, i have to go give mine a bath now. I swear sometimes I don't have more than a minute to myself nowdays. Oh well, it's worth it to get to see my kids grow up and be in their lives everyday :)

New to blogging

2008-03-12T10:01:00.000-05:00

well not exactly new, I have done it before. I kept a pregnancy journal when I was pregnant with my daughter on one of those baby sites. I decided to start this so that I could write down and to remember, the things my kids do on a daily basis that make me laugh, amaze me and sometimes even frustrate me or make me mad. It's all about life and the ups and downs that come with it :)