Life In This House

Shock of my life!

2010-06-06T14:07:00.002-05:00

Yes, I can't believe it! We are going to have another baby. When I started this blog, I always said that one more might come along, but really in truly, I was happy and complete with our family. I guess God had different plans! This baby is truly a gift from God. After many years of trying and never getting pregnant, we had medical intervention to have Tatum. We considered her a blessing because she was so wanted and we worked, OK I worked and took shots for weeks to have her. The infertility doctor and my ob/gyn told us that we would never be able to have a baby without medical intervention and we were OK with that. Again, God shows that He is indeed in control and will baffle even the best of doctors!

I am still in shock over the news, but I am very excited. I can't believe that we are going to start over again. It is funny because I just sold my pregnancy clothes and shipped them the day I found out I was pregnant! God does have a sense of humor!

I will be using this as a way to update on my pregnancy and the birth of this new blessing!

Please pray for a healthy 9 months and baby!

2009 in Review

2010-01-01T17:52:00.001-06:00

Yeah, I know it has been awhile. What can I say except we have been busy. So here is a video to catch up guys up.

Happy 5th Birthday Tatum!

2009-10-14T10:36:00.005-05:00

I am going to shy away from my normal posting on Tatum's birthday which is her Brith story. It truly is remarkable, so if you want to read it search her past birthday.

I am feeling sentimental this birthday as Tatum turns 5. I can not believe that it has been 5 years, since she was born. 5 just sounds old. I mean, she is not a toddler any more, she is considered a child. At 5 Tatum can go to school, at 5 she no longer gets in free to places. However, we have been having to explain lately that she really is a four year old.

So today for Tatum's 5th Birthday, I am going to post pictures of her on her past 4 birthdays!

Here she is just moments after her birth in to this world.

This is her first birthday before the guest arrived

This is actually at Carter Arrington's first birthday, but it was on her actual birthday.

Ahhh... the memorable 3rd birthday where Brylee blew her candles out. This still is one of my all time favorite pictures! Funny story, we were sitting in the car yesterday waiting for Taylor to get out of school and we were talking about her up coming party and the first thing she said was, "I hope Brylee doesn't try and blow out my candles." It is so funny that she remembers that.

Her 4th birthday was low-key just family, but she infact was the princess of the day!

And here she is today, 5 years old! We often get comments on how she looks so much older than 5. We did her yearly weight and height check for our "Wall of Height" and Tatum weighted in at 70 pounds and was 47 and 1/2 inches tall. That's right she is a 1/2 an inch away from 4 feet! That is just 1 foot 4 inches away from me. In marking her height, she was right above where Taylor was in April of 2006! That's right, Tatum is taller than Taylor was when he was in the first grade, and 6 years old!!! She must get her height from her daddy!

Happy Birtday Sweet Baby Girl! We love you very much!

Freaking me out!

2009-09-19T22:53:00.005-05:00

The title of this post seems to be the theme for this week. However, it could also be titled "A Week of Firsts". We will start off with our first day of our last year in Pre-school. Tatum will be in Kindergarten next year and Monday was her first day of Pre-School. Doesn't she look cute?

Then on Tuesday, while I was at class Tatum lost her first tooth. She was laying in our room watching TV and she come in and Matt said she was white as a ghost. Matt asked her what was wrong and she told him that she just pulled her tooth, then she proceeded to walk over to the trash can and throw it away. She when into the bathroom saw the blood and freaked!!! By the time I got home from class, which was about an hour, She was still in hystrics! She even slept biting a cold wash rag! Here she is proudly showing her lost tooth.

The today, Tatum was watching TV in Bubbie's room and came to Matt saying she needed a bandaid. Well needless to say she needed much more than just a bandaid! We are still not sure what she cut her finger on, as she "does not remember", but it was a deep and nasty cut that required her getting 5 stitches and traumatizing every child in the ER waiting room with her ear piercing, blood draining, hair stand up on your back screams! I felt sorry for any parent trying to explain to their child that the Doctor's really are your friends!

After all was said and done, We all surrvived the experience. However, when Tatum talks about it says the whole experience was "Freaking me out!"

This picture just cracks me up, because it was taken today, when we got home, because of course I wanted to blog about her week of firsts and she was still very freaked out about the entire day. I thought her face captured that in this picture!

First Day of 7th grade

2009-08-24T12:27:00.003-05:00

Today was Taylor's first day of 7th grade. He is now closer to graduation that he was this time last year, sniff sniff. However if this morning was any indication how our year would go, I am going to need lots of prayers just to make it through. It was a rough morning around our house this morning and all beause of the cast that is on his arm. What started out as a potentially good morning quickly turned south. It all started with the morning shower, where I wrapped his arm with electrical tape instead of duck tape because we ran out... From there it just kept getting worse. His cast smelled, so he thought, I could not smell it... I tried to spray Holister on it to which he replied, "wouldn't work". So needless to say by the time these pictures were taken, we were both at our breaking point.

I had to bribe him for these pictures, I said if he took them well, I would only do two, so that is all we got.

By the time I dropped him off at school he was in a better mood and I did get an, "I love you" out of him as he was getting out of the car.

Ahhh the life and times of a pre-teen, one of us may not survive!

Taylor's First Broken Bone

2009-08-06T16:17:00.002-05:00

Taylor was in Colorado two weeks ago and did a back flip on the trampoline and bounce off. His Memaw, tood him to the ER where they said it was just severly sprained. Well last night the Radiologist for Colorado called me to tell me that he reviewed the x-ray, two weeks later mind you, and that Taylor did in fact break his wrist and it involved his growth plate, and that we needed to get him to see an ortho and soon. Great, you call me at 7 pm to tell me this. So this morning we had to sweet talk our way in to Children's Ortho. practice. Let's just say that if Obama's healthcare what ever you want to call it passes, we are in a world of trouble! that is another post for a later date. So The Dr. said that Taylor needed to be in a hard cast, he was just wearing a brace, and that we would re-evaluate his arm in 3 weeks. The growth plate is healing well and it should not be a problem with healing. He is out of sports for 8 weeks, which has him bummed.

A future maybe??

2009-07-30T21:49:00.003-05:00

Matt brought these little cardboard things home that are used to package things at his work, some are bent and some are flat. Tatum loves to play with blocks and build things so Matt brought these home from work for her to play with. They sit in the living room and she plays with them daily, building towers to house. she use to do this with the toilet paper rolls we bought from The Costco, but Matt thought these were less redneck...

Here is her latest masterpiece. Notice how the Littlest Pet Shop Pets are arranged on top of her structure like they are in Congressional session, or judging the poor little pets that are in the center. Wonder if she will be an Architect?

I ask you ladies and gentelmen, is this who you would like to judge you: A poodle, a boxer, a deer, an owl, a cat and a monkey? I am betting there are some of those in congress at the moment, the white house too for that matter.....

Overheard July 12th

2009-07-15T13:25:00.003-05:00

Taylor and I were watching Harry Potter getting ready for the new movie to come out. He was looking in my hair, which is in desperate need of a touch-up from Jamie. The conversation went something like this.

Taylor: Wow, mom you have lots of grey hair.
Me: yes, and they all have your name on them.
Tatum: (getting up on the couch and looking in my hair) but I don't see any T's in there mommy, they don't have bubbies name on them.

Insightful!

2009-06-21T22:20:00.001-05:00

Saw this on someone else's blog, and thought it was worth sharing.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Preschool Program

2009-05-19T00:10:00.002-05:00

Isn't she sweet?

Sponge rolling on a Saturday night!

2009-05-17T18:47:00.004-05:00

So last night Tatum asked me to sponge roll her hair. This is not the first time that she has asked, but it is the first time she has left them in all night.

I had flashback of Saturday nights watching the Muppet Show and having my mom sponge roll my hair. I hated having my hair sponge rolled and acredit my mom with my tough head to this day.

Tatum was a saint, watching iCarly while I rolled her hair. Tatum has very thin and fine hair and I was afraid that her hair would not hold curl.

This is what we woke up to this morning!

Smorgasbord

2009-05-12T18:11:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know, I have been lazy about blogging. There is really no other reason except that I am lazy. Well, that and the fact that both kids are playing soccer and I find my self running to practice and the last month of school I had at least 8 major projects to do and had finals on top of that. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it.

Lets see, what has happened since my last real blog post, well we have started soccer for both kids. I am not sure where or which computer/memory card Tatum's games are on, but I will find them and post them soon. For now, enjoy the ones of Taylor!

Then it was off to LTC (Leadership Training for Christ) where Taylor participated in song leading, Bible Bowl, puppets, and drama. Here is Taylor in his song leading. He did so well, he one a silver medal!

Drama, they one a silver as well!

Puppets also got a silver!

Ahhh.... here it is Easter and all I wanted was a good picture of the kids in their Easter outfits. first off Taylor didn't have an special Easter outfit, because he is impossible to buy for. Second, he was not into having his picture taken at all.

Taylor turned 12 in April and I am not exactly sure, but I all the sudden became the least coolest person in his life. He also knows more that Matt and I combined! Iuse to say that I like kids in there pre-teen year, but I am rethinking that statement. We are lucky if we get through a week where he is still living (kidding of course). He is very sassy and is turning into that pre-teen ugh, that I am just not looking forward to. He is a delight, really and can be a very good son when he wants to be, it just is few and far between!

We celebrated Taylor's birthday and Easter weekend all in the same day! Taylor is rocking to his new iPod touch he got as a gift!

Maggs is hunting Easter Eggs, and would not let go of her pappies!

Brady scanning the yard for more eggs!

Logan on a mission

Collin being cute!

I hope that this satisfies our fans for a little while. I promise I will try to do better. School is winding down and summer time is upon us. There will be lots of fun to be had then!

Los Angeles according to Tatum.

2009-05-05T18:24:00.009-05:00

I was going through our pictures today and I found these pictures that Tatum took while we were in Los Angeles. Some of them I recognize and some I have no clue about, but I thought you might like to see a four year old's take on L A.

This I thought was a good one of Logan. They rode next to each other in the car.

Driving some where??

This is standing in front of Pink's Hotdog Stand
Again in front of Pinks

????

Brady drinking

Collin's head

Dan

The Grove

Pepperdine Bookstore

Outside of Pepperdine

I am home!

2009-03-26T13:36:00.002-05:00

I made it home late last night. My flight was pretty smooth until we hit Austin and had a wicked thunderstorm. We fly over Austin for about 30 minutes and landed. Tatum and I had to run to catch our connecting flight as it was the last flight out of Austin and I was not spending another night away from home. We caught our flight with little to spare and sailed in to Dallas! I cannot tell you how good it is to be home! I missed my family so much!

Jay update: He had a doctor's appointment this morning and he has no hearing in his ear. The doctor said, that maybe in a few weeks, there might be some hearing, but possibly not. Please pray for Jay as this was not the news we were hoping to hear. He is discouraged and down as anyone would be! Please pray for a miracles in that God will restore his hearing!

Thank you so much for you continued prayers and support!

Hollywood or Hollyweed???

2009-03-24T23:43:00.002-05:00

This will be short tonight as I need to finish packing for my flight back home. Prayers are appreciated for our flight as I am not the best passenger. I tend to get airsick. Please pray I don't get sick because I have to be strong for Tatum.

Jay has been such a trooper today. He got out and ran errands and then we decided to go to the Hollywood walk of fame. Let me tell you that was an experience. It was so dirty and reeked of pee and weed. Seriously, I was worried the kids might get high just smelling it! Hope they don't have drug dogs at the airport tomorrow, that might sniff Tatum and I out! Jay over did it with the trip to Hollywood! It was too much for him. He was pretty worn out by the time we got back to the car! Laurie has given him strict orders of not leaving the hotel tomorrow! He said he is going to the airport though.

I am so glad to be heading home tomorrow. While I am so thankful that I could be out here for Laurie and Jay, I am glad to be going home to Matt and Taylor.

I didn't mention it on the blog because I didn't want if over shadowing Jay's surgery and recovery, but Matt lost his job last Thursday due to the economy. I was torn. I was so far away, I felt I need to be there, but I also needed to be here! I cried myself to sleep praying that God would take care of us and God did! Matt got called into an interview on Monday with a company in Waxahachie that has a site in Cleburn. He spent 4 hours interviewing with them on Monday and they told him they would get back to him on Wednesday. They called him this morning to come in for a second interview and hired him! We are beyond thrilled and praising God for all His glory in this. We truly know that God had His protective hand on us! I just cannot tell you how thankful I am to God for all the blessings He has bestowed upon my family these past two weeks. It has been amazing to see His work!

God is Good, All the time!
All the time, God is good!

Be blessed and keep looking to the Lord!

The Alley, Train Museum, Pepperdine, Malibu and traffic.....

2009-03-24T00:20:00.005-05:00

First things first, Jay is doing well today. He is a little more dizzy today than yesterday. He did get out today and go it at In-n-Out Burger with his parents. He is getting board just sitting in the hotel room. Poor guy. He still says he can't hear anything out of that ear. So please continue to pray for him and his hearing.

Also please pray for his parents, Dan and Sandra, as they head back to Texas Tuesday. Pray for a safe trip for them.

After we got Jay settled in the room we headed out for our day of fun. It started with a trip to the The Alley.
The Alley is blocks and block of store that sale thing like knock of purses and sunglass and has cute little shops that carry clothes and tons and tons of fabric. It is in the middle of the fashion district in L. A. It is here that I hear a familiar voice and turned around to see none other than Lisa Rinna! Not wanting to be an annoying fan, we just continued on our way like she was noone! So during our trip to the Alley we needed a pit stop for the kids, we found the only restroom within a mile and low and behold, you had to pay to use it!! I have never experience paying to go to the restroom, but if I do pay, I expect the restrooms to be sparlking! That was not the case!

The Wilshre Grand Hotel. This is also the location for some movie shoot that had traffic tied up F.O.R.E.V.E.R downtown!
Then is was off to the Train museum. We had been promising Brady this trip for a few days and decided today would be perfect. The boys got to climb on a steam engine and look at lots of neat trains. However, if you go to this Train museum's website, it promises you more things than they really have. Oh well, the kids had fun at least!

Not sure what this is all about, but it made Laurie and I laugh!

Logan playing on the steam engine! Is this not the cutest face? Don't let it fool you though, he has a mean streak. He and Tatum have a love/hate relationship. They fight like brother and sister. Anything Tatum does, Logan, does not want her to be doing and will scream and yell and her. This in turn, gets Tatum upset and the cycle keeps going! Whose ever idea it was to seat these two next to each other in the car needs to have their head examined!

Tatum in the steam engine!

Our next destination was to Malibu, to the wonderful Pepperdine University. I had to go check out Taylor's future college. Seriously, I don't know why Pepperdine was not one of my top choices! Well I can thin of at lease $40,000 excuses why. Seriously, $40,000 will give you one year at this prestige university, without housing! I seriously need to start contributing more to Taylor's college fund if we are going to send him here!

This is the view from the front of Pepperdine!

From the stairs of Pepperdine in front of the Bookstore!

The Chapel of Pepperdine. This is a floor to ceiling stainglass rose! It is beautiful in person!

View from the parking lot!

Then is was off to the beaches of Malibu! Let me tell you it is breath taking! I could not stop saying how beautful it was here! The beaches, the waves, the lush green mountians! It is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Here are Brady and Tatum, in 60 degree weather, playing in the ocean. Now before anyone thinks we are bad parents, these children endured the worst trip out to Malibu and all they wanted to do is play in the sand and get their feet wet! They had a blast and were only out there for about 10 minutes!

Waiting on another wave to crash.

She fell running backwards from a wave and was soaked. Then the boys got soaked and we decided it was time to leave!

I know that I have mentioned on here just how awful the traffic is here in L. A. I don't know how anyone gets any where on time! There is traffic all day long!!!! All day long! This is us stuck in traffic at 8:00 at night! We were 10 minutes from our hotel, but it took us about 35 minutes to get there with the traffic!

Tomorrow is my last full day here before I head back to Dallas! I am so excited to be going home. While I have had a good time here, I miss my family. I can't wait to get back to my time zone and my house and stop living out of a suit case! Tomorrow we are going to hang out and sleep late in the morning and then head out to Hollywood to see the walk of stars and the foot and hand prints.

Please pray for a safe flight for Tatum and I. Pray that I do not get sick as I am prone to do on flights. Pray for my mom as she flies out the same day to drive back with Laurie and Jay!

He is out!!

2009-03-22T23:09:00.005-05:00

We went to see Jay this morning and he was very agitated. He was so ready to get out of the hospital and was a little upset when they told him it would be Monday. The neuro came in and said he was doing better than most patients that have this type of surgery. He said he didn't see why he couldn't go to the hotel today. Then the nurse came in and said, nope, it would be Monday. Then the other surgeon came in and said, yes he could go. Jay's attitude changed 180 degrees when he found that out. He was chipper and excited. We decided to go eat some lunch while they got all the paperwork lined up. We headed to The Grove and ate lunch and then headed back to the hospital to get Jay. Once we got into the hotel room, Jay completely shaved his head. They had pretty much shaved the side of this head where they went in, but he had a crazy hair style. He decided that he would just shave it off. He asked Laurie and I if we would shave our hair off with him for sympathy!

Here he is with his newly shaven head!
His "wicked" scar. His words not mine.

The doctors told Jay that he still has a lot of swelling around the nerves and fluid in his hear. He is not able to hear anything yet, but they said that only a hearing test would be able to tell. They did not do a hearing test today before he left. They will do one at his follow-up appointment on Thursday. He said he hears crackling and stuff in that ear which is probably due to the fluid. The doctors are hopeful that once the swelling and the fluid leaves that he will be able to hear. Again, we will know more with the hearing test and once the swelling goes down. Please keep praying that his hearing returns to normal.

After we got Jay settled into the hotel room it was off to do something fun so that Jay could rest and the boys and Tatum could burn energy. Here you see the Hollywood Blvd. and Beverly Blvd. signs.

We were on Sunset Blvd.

Heading to the Griffith Observatory. This place is very cool. It rained this morning and it seemed to clear out the smog, so this was the first day that we actually saw blue skies and the snow capped mountians around us. The Griffith is located on top of the Hollywood Hills just below the Hollywood sign. You can see for miles and miles of Los Angeles.

Tatum poses with the Hollywood sign behind her.

The famous Hollywood sign.

The city of Los Angeles from the Observatory.

Laurie with the Hollywood sign behind her.

Tatum again with the Hollywood sign

Tomorrow we are headed to Hollywood to see the Stars and then on to Malibu to check out Taylor's future college, Pepperdine! I am going to convince that child yet that he would love that college!

I do have one thing to say about California. The traffic is AWFUL!! I mean seriously think rush hour traffict 24/7. Drivers here are not Texas friendly and use their horns more than New Yorkers. Also another thing that would probably make things less complicated is the use of Left turn arrows. I mean seriously, how can you be the second largest city in the U.S. and not have left turn arrows. We have made more right turns in this city, because trying to make a left turn without and arrow, is just asking to be hit!

We hope that your week is a good one. We are counting our blessings here!

Day 6 of our trip

2009-03-21T20:45:00.004-05:00

Jay is doing so good. He looks awesome. He is walking around the hospital floor with assistance and said he thought he could hear some noises out of his ear today. He still has the huge bandage on it and will still won't know about the hearing until the test, but he is doing amazing!

After we left the hospital we headed to Santa Monica to the famous Santa Monica Pier. The kids had a blast riding the rides on the pier.

We decided to eat some lunch and headed to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. It was so neat to see and eat there.

Tatum and I were the only ones that wanted to ride the ferris wheel on the pier.

This is the awesome cookie boquet that Jay received from my sister Lisa. She thought that the kids would enjoy eating the cookies as well!

Jay maybe able to get out of the hospital tomorrow, if not then for sure Monday. They said that he is doing very well for this type of surgery!

Please keep praying for Jay to have his hearing restored!

Update

2009-03-20T23:39:00.003-05:00

Jay is in his room and as you can see, he is doing well. He has a great sense of humor! He was glad to get in to a room and see his boys. They were really missing him! We still don't know about the hearing, they are going to do some tests and we should know within the next few days!

I asked Jay if I could take a picture of him for the blog to show everyone how he is doing and he was all for it. He had not seen his self so he wanted to know what he looked like.
Here he is asking me to speak up! Sill guy, it is good to know the doctor didn't take out his sense of humor while in his brain!
After we left the hospital we decided to head downtown to eat at the famous Pink's Hotdog. Let me tell you this place was insane. We stood in line for 45 minutes to eat a hotdog! Yeah, that is crazy!

Tomorrow we are going to go to the Santa Monica Pier after we go up to the hospital to visit with Jay!

Thank you all for the prayers on Jay's behalf! He has felt everyone and has been so overwhelmed with the love and support he has received!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Jay Update

2009-03-20T12:21:00.002-05:00

Jay is still in the ICU and will probably be moved to a regular room tonight. He is doing well, as well as can be expected after brain surgery. He is awake and talking and joking with Laurie and his parents. He misses the boys and they miss him. We are hoping that if he is in a room tonight that the boys can see him. They will get to see him tomorrow for sure!

Logan seems to be feeling better. He is not running fever this morning, but has an awful cough!

I have had people ask what hospital Jay was in. He is in St. Vincents Hospital on 3rd Street in LA.

I will update more as soon as we know more.

Have a great day!

Update 5

2009-03-19T22:31:00.003-05:00

They finally got back to see Jay and he is doing well. He has a pretty bad headache, but who wouldn't have that extensive surgery. They still dont' know about his hearing. They said that it would be about 2 or 3 days before we would know! Laurie said he looks good and was resting and making jokes!

This will be my last update tonight as Laurie is back at the hotel.

Logan started running a fever and we are hoping it is just an ear infection!

Thank you for all the prayers!

Update 4

2009-03-19T20:28:00.002-05:00

He is awake in the ICU, they have to wait 30 minutes before they can go back and see him.

Update 3

2009-03-19T19:39:00.001-05:00

I just talked to Laurie and they were sewing Jay up and said that everything looked good, his facial nerve was not damaged. The surgery went well and they will not know about his hearing until they wake him up. So please pray that his hearing is restored!

Thanks for all your prayers!

Update 2

2009-03-19T14:06:00.001-05:00

They have taken Jay back to surgery. He started pretty much on time. Please pray for the surgeons and nurses and staff that are taking care of him.

I will update along as soon as I get information.

Update 1

2009-03-19T13:29:00.001-05:00

We have been receiving some emails that some are not aware of the type of surgery Jay is having. First off, Jay is my brother-in-law married to my sister Laurie.

I just assumed that everyone knew what type of surgery Jay was having. Jay is having brain surgery as he has acoustic neuroma and the doctors in Dallas could not treat or do surgery where Jay’s hearing could be saved. They referred him out here to Los Angeles, California to a doctor that has success with these types of tumors and restoring Jay’s hearing. Jay’s tumors are benign but they are affecting his hearing. He will be in surgery for 5 hours today and will spend the first 24 hours after surgery in the ICU.

It is imperative that the doctors restore the hearing because of his job.

We are about 30 minutes away from the suggested surgery time, but you know how hospitals are. I will make a post when Laurie calls me to tell me that they have taken him to surgery.

Thanks for the prayers!

Jay's Surgery Day

2009-03-19T11:38:00.002-05:00

Jay and Laurie headed out this morning at 7 Cali. time to be at the hospital at 8. Jay was doing well this morning and I think was more stressed about leaving the boys. They are in good hands and we are having a blast playing with all the new toys they received from their wonderful church friends. What a blessing. They have Jay in Pre-Op at the moment and surgery is scheduled to begin at 12. I will continue to post updates as Laurie sends them to me!

Please continue to pray!

What day is it?

2009-03-19T00:07:00.002-05:00

This is going to be short because I am exhausted and I have to get up way early to take care of the kids.

Jay spent all day at the hospital doing his pre-op work. They did a hearing test and it came back worse than the test in Dallas. They did a balance test that was supposed to make him throw-up, but it didn't so he said that was a good thing. Then is was meetings and meetings of doctors in between. One cool thing that he got to see was CSI New York was filming at the hospital. He had to ask who Gary Sinise was! OH MY GOSH! We went down there to pick him up and they were still filming so we got to see them shoot a scene! It was kind of neat to be that close to Hollywood! That was the only exciting thing that happened today, unless you call Target exciting!

Here is a thought for you to ponder: Why on Earth do they have all underground parking in a state that is notorious for Earthquakes? I will NOT park in these things! I mean seriously, what kind of planning is that?

I will keep you posted all along tomorrow. They have to be at the hospital at 8:00, great time for traffic, which by the way, is worse than you have heard of down here!

Jay's parents made it safely here this afternoon, so it has been nice to visit with them.

Please keep everyone in your prayers tomorrow! Jay for the obvious, Brady, because he is having a hard time with Jay's surgery, Laurie for strength and patience, Me as I keep all 4 kids entertained, and Lisa, as she cannot be here with her twin sister and it is killing her!

Love to all and thanks for the prayers!

We are here!

2009-03-18T01:35:00.003-05:00

Today started out just like the past 2, in the freaking car! I mean seriously, I have a new found respect for truck drivers! We left beautiful San Deigo and headed up the Pacific Coast Highway on what we thought was going to be a scenic route to LA! Boy were we wrong!!! It was a beautiful trip that took us through nice beach towns like Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Hunnington Beach, but it was a long drive. We got into LA about 5 and let me just say, I was dissappointed! It is not this glitzy, glamor town that I thought it would be! I can't imagine why any celeb would call this place home. Maybe I am not in the right places, but in kind of reminds me of a larger Dallas!

Nothing really big happened today. We did go to the beach in San Diego and I found it very weird that I was on a beach in a hoodie and jeans and still freezing cold. Aren't beaches supposed to be warm?

Downtown San Diego. BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Part of the grandkids on Coronado beach, I think (the beach part that is, not the grandkids)! This is for you MIMI!

They just have to get in the sand!

Jay taking the kids to inspect the water, (and yes, they did end up wet!) did I mentioned that we found quiet a few Sand Dollars? This beach had them all over the place, We found a few that were still whole

Pacific ocean

Freezing on the beach!

Laguna Beach! (jealous Jamie)

Ten dollars to the person that can tell me what the bright purple flowers are that bloom all over the coast! There is a hot pink flower that when mixed in with these is absoultly breathtaking!

Downtown LA. YUCK!!!

I guess one thing that did happen today was that when we got to our hotel, we really didn't know which gang colors to sport as to not get shot. We walked in our room and it smelled like they just disinfected a murder scene. Needless to say, you really can't trust what the internet calls a good hotel. So we are in a new, nice, clean and safe hotel.

Jay has his pre-op tomorrow (Wednesday), all day long. He has doctor's appointments and tests that he has to go through. He was even more reserved today than yesterday. I can tell this is weighing on him. Brady is having a hard time with Jay going in the hospital as well. You might want to lift him up in prayer as well. Poor guy!

I will update the blog surgery day as things progress, so check back for details and updates. Remember that we are two hours behind Texas time and his surgery is scheduled for 12:30 LA time.

Also, Jay's parents are in the process of driving out here as well, so please pray for them to have safe travels as well!

Funnies for today: There really wasn't one thing that was funny today. We were all very tired from our travels! I think it is catching up with us all as we have been more snippy with each other!

Hope you have a great day!

California here we come....

2009-03-17T00:31:00.003-05:00

Where to start. Well, first off let me first apologize for my grammatical errors in my previous post. I typed it after 12+ hours of travel and not knowing what time zone I was in.

Today we woke up early again to head out to San Diego. After the melt downs of last night I was a little hesitant to get back in the car. I prayed that God would give us all patience and that we (the kids) would have a good trip, I mean we only had about 6 hours in the car today! So before we got in the car Laurie set her GPS to take us to the nearest Starbucks, we followed the voice as she led us, and when she led us to a school, I knew that this might be an omen! We set off, coffeeless mind you, to Tucson Arizona! We get to Tucson and stop at a McDonald's, yet again for breakfast! YUCK!!! We decided to get out and let the kids stretch their legs. Man was that a mistake, they ran wild and were not interested one bit in eating. After that stop Jay said that he would not need the sugery anymore as he was just going die of stroke instead.

Off we go again, seriously we were in the car for no more that 30 minutes when a child from the back needed a bathroom break! This went on for the next 4 hours stoping at least every 30 to 40 minutes! A trip that should have been an easy one took us F.O.R.E.V.E.R!!! Once we got out of Arizona it was a breeze. The kids did really well after that!

I am not sure what this is, Laurie was manning the camera here. I am sure this was in Arizona though.
These are the beautiful sand dunes in California. Laurie got the idea that she wanted to exit at this dunes recreational park because the might be sliding down the dunes. I asked her if she really wanted to have the kids all sandy and back in their car seats. Lucky for the kids they did not offer that!

Here you can see some tracks for the dunebuggies. This a a huge tall dune, the picture does not do it justice.

This is home a way from home for the moment. We are in San Diego for the night and decided to splurge for a nice hotel on the bayfront. It is beautiful here. The weather is perfect for me and the scenery is breathtaking!

Sunset on the Harbor.

Tatum watching the sunset in the harbor.

After a hard days of traveling, and lots and lots and lots and lots of whining and crying and whining and crying, how could you possibly be frustrated with them with pictures like this! :)
Funnies for today: In one stop we were an hour away from the nearest restroom and Brady really had to go, so we pulled over and let him tee-tee in a cup. Jay is in the backseat helping Brady, and Laurie and I are in the front waiting for Brady to finish up his business when we over hear

Jay: Brady, don't pull it, don't pull on it, let me get some scissors and I will just cut if off.

Laurie and I looked at each other and just died laughing.

Tomorrow we are going to tour a little more of San Diego and then drive up the Pacific Coast Highway and stop at the little beaches and bluffs before we get to LA. We are taking the kids to Seal Island and Laguna Beach.

Jay has his pre-op on Wednesday and will be in the hospital for most of the day doing bloodwork and the works. Thursday is the day of surgery. It is scheduled for 12:30 at the moment. Today is the first time I have heard Jay act little apprehensive about the surgery. He mentioned a few times today how he was not wanting to do it. I think that maybe nerves are setting in. So keep praying for him!

There will be more tomorrow, but for now we hope that you have a great day!

Las Angeles or Bust.... we might just bust!

2009-03-16T00:05:00.004-05:00

So we headed out at 6:00 this morning for our fun-filled trip to LA! We left at 6:15 and our first stop was Abilene, Texas for some heathy breakfast from McDonalds! If you will noticed we are stuffed in the van like you would not believe! There is stuff everywhere! Hey, you never know what you will need for a 2 week trip to LA!

Here Brady, Logan, Tatum and Jay enjoy their nutrious breakfast! Collin is behind Jay, but you can't see him for all the stuff

Here Laurie demonstrates her serious driving skills!

Then a cute pose

This is what we call Mountians in Texas!

Tatum is so excited to be going on a trip with her cousins!

Jay not wanting to be disturbed!

Can you believe that all the kids fell asleep about two hours outside of El Paso? Who knew we could be so lucky!

Yes folks we made it out of Texas! Taylor this is for you!

So now I am sitting in a hotel room in Arizona, Wilcox I think and I am trying to figure out what time it really is. You see Arizona, does not do daylights savings time, so are they on Mountian or Pacific? We finally got that figured out and now I am trying to hold off going to bed until 11:00 Arizona time.

Over all we have had a very successful trip and I can only think that it is because of all the prayers that we have going up in our behalf! I was so touched by Laurie and Jay's church family and what they have done for them. They are truely awesome! Everyone told us we would not make it out of Texas but the kids did so well, untill about Arizona, when I promised a Logan a popcicle and were we stopped, they had none! So started the meltdown that could not be avoided! So instead of making it to Tucson, we are in Wilcox, enjoying a quiet evening in a hotel room.

Jay is doing well and has a very positive outlook on his up and coming surgery. I am trying to take some of the load off by driving, so that he can relax and rest, but really, how much rest can you get with four kids under 5?!?

Tomorrow we are going to try and make it to San Diago and drive up the Pacific Coast Highway instead of fighting LA traffic head on!

Come back for more updates. I will try to do them nightly!

Funny Ha ha!

2009-03-02T19:52:00.003-06:00

I asked my kids these at different times. Matt felt left out and wanted to answer. Enjoy!

So here's the deal. Ask your kids these questions and see what answers you come up with. It's a very enlightening experience.
1. What is something I always say to you?
Taylor - Clean your room
Tatum – clean up your room
Matt – Not tonight

2. What makes me happy?
Taylor – sleeping
Tatum – kisses
Matt - sleep

3. What makes me sad?
Taylor - When I don’t do my homework
Tatum – I don’t know
Matt – lack of sleep

4. How do I make you laugh?
Taylor - When I make you make up goofy things
Tatum – Smile at me
Matt – (is it sad that he had to think about this?) singing rap songs to him.

5. What do you think I was like as a child?
Taylor -you were mean
Tatum – I don’t know
Matt - retarded

6. How old am I?
Taylor – 34
Tatum – 4
Matt – same as my IQ

7. How tall am I?
Taylor - 5’ 8”
Tatum- Holds her hand over her head
Matt – 5’5”

8. What is my favorite thing to do?
Taylor - Play wii with me
Tatum – Watch movies with me
Matt - sleep

9. What do I do when you're not around?
Taylor - Text me
Tatum – Take tests for school
Matt - sleep

10. If I become famous, what will it be for?
Taylor – Money
Tatum – going to church
Matt – medical experiments

11. What am I really good at?
Taylor - Yelling at me
Tatum – Watching me
Matt - sleeping

12. What am I not really good at?
Taylor – Soccer
Tatum – nothing
Matt – I succeed at all things

13. What is my job?
Taylor - Being a mother
Tatum – going to school
Matt – worshipping me

14. What is my favorite food?
Taylor – Pizza
Tatum – Soup
Matt – Hooters Hot wings

15. What makes you proud of me?
Taylor - going back to school
Tatum – playing with me
Matt – going back to school

16. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be?
Taylor - D. W (from Arthur)
Tatum – Patrick
Matt – Curella De’vil

17. What do you and I do together?
Taylor – Argue
Tatum – watch cartoons
Matt - argue

18. How are we the same?
Taylor - We both think Matt is silly
Tatum – our hair
Matt – we have the same last name

19. How are you and I different?
Taylor - You make better grades than I do
Tatum – I don’t know
Matt – in almost every other way

20. How do you know that I love you?
Taylor - You give me hugs
Tatum – Because I love you!
Matt – because you do my laundry

21. Where is my favorite place to go?
Taylor – Hooters
atum – Chick-Fil-A
Matt – nap land!

Basketball

2009-02-28T22:53:00.002-06:00

This has been Taylor's first year of playing basketball ever. When he told us that he wanted to sign up, I was shocked, because he has never shown an interest in playing. It has been a good seaon thus far, we have had a great coach and Taylor has enjoyed playing for the most part. We have been waiting for the game when Taylor made his first shot and it happened last night in a nail bitting game. You don't have to watch the entire video if you don't want, his shot happens at around 1:30 into the video. We were so excited that he made his first basket.

His team won their game tonight so they are still in the tournament. Tonights game was a real slug fest, and I mean that literally!

So as basketball is winding down, we are starting up with soccer. This season is going to be fun because Tatum is playing her first season as well. Matt and I will be busy this spring with soccer games. So stay tuned for soccer updates!

Tatum Did it!

2009-02-13T13:53:00.003-06:00

Last night when I was at school Tatum and Taylor stayed with my parents until Matt got off of work, and Tatum lost her pappies (pacifier) over there. Mimi and Matt could not find it when they were ready to leave so they just came home. I got home from school late and Tatum was doing well without it. When it was time to go to bed she asked for it and when I told her that she was a big girl and that if she gave it up she was going to get a puppy, she went to bed without it. She didn't ask for it all night. She did have a crying spell for it this morning hen she woke up, but I kept reminding her that she was a big girl and that she was so close to getting her puppy, she was fine! She has not asked for it since!

Yes, I know that 4 1/2 is to long for a child to have a pappies, but it was her security. I hope that tonight is just as easy as last night was, she will soon be the proud co-owner of a new puppy!

Oh and she is expecting presents from Mimi, Aunt Sherry and Grandma Rheta. She mentioned you guys by name that would be so happy she gave up her pappies!

Happy Day for you!

2009-02-10T21:31:00.000-06:00

Hope these brighten your day!

Pressnell Look-alike Meter

2009-02-03T20:45:00.001-06:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

Second funny of 2009 and remodeling!

2009-01-24T21:09:00.002-06:00

Today Tatum go her new bedding and she was excited about it. I was putting the dust ruffle on her bed and she asked what it was and I told her it was a dust ruffle. Her response...."where's the dust?" Ha!

I would show you pictures of her new bedding, but my house is in disrepair right now as I am redoing Taylor's room. Let me just say if you ever think about painting or staining the concrete in your house, DO NOT DO IT! It is such a huge mess and time consuming project! So once my house get put back together in about, oh another week, I will post pictures of her new bedding and Taylor's new room!

First Funny of 2009

2009-01-06T22:09:00.002-06:00

The other night I was transferring some pictures and videos from our old computer to our new one to back them up. I was watching a few videos from when Tatum was a baby. In one of the videos I am breastfeeding her and she saw that one and wanted to know what she was doing. I told her that it a mommy's way of feeding a baby and some babies are fed like that and some are fed with bottles. She looked up at me as said, "what, you could not afford bottles?"

Wii-astrophe 2008

2008-12-28T20:04:00.002-06:00

Loving Santa left the kids a Wii for Christmas this year and while we have been having a blast playing, I have been having to take Motrin for my shoulder after a few rounds of Tennis with Taylor. So today Taylor again wants me to play Wii tennis with him, I agree but with hesitation, because I knew I was going to be sore afterwards. He gets the game all set up and we start playing. Tatum, is playing around us with the cane that Matt's dad used. Taylor and I were in a heavy volley of back and forth when he swung a backhand and as he was doing that Tatum decided that she would swing the cane. Cane meet Taylor's hand in a full on tennis backhand. He dropped to the floor immediately screaming in pain. I took one look at his and thought it was broken. His finger was crooked and his knuckle was sunken in like it had been crushed. I just knew it was broken. After getting him settled down and looking at it further, it looked like his finger was just dislocated. I got him to try and squeeze his hand into a fist and that seemed to do the trick and pop his finger back in place. So after splinting it and keeping ice on it, I think he will make it.

I was trying to figure out how we were going to explain this to the ER doctors, if he was to go have it x-rayed!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T21:24:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas from us! We hope that you day was blessed and filled with Jesus, family, food and fun. I hope that Santa brought you exactly what you wanted!

The tree with all of Santa's presents

With the flash so you can see the presents

Tatum waiting patiently while, I untie all the freaking plastic ties that held in every Littlest Pet Shop she got!

Taylor with his new phone.

Tatum still waiting on me to untie the ties! grrr...

Christmas aftermath!

We sincerly hope that your families had a Merry Christmas!

Christmas with the family!

2008-12-21T21:29:00.003-06:00

Today was the day that we got together with my family to enjoy the Christmas time together. A great time was had by all.

Every year my mom does stocking for all of us and every year Laurie, Lisa and I get bras and underwear in our stockings. When we all got married and mom started doing stocking for Jay, Michael, and Matt she made a big deal out of not ever putting underwear in their stockings, because, well that was just to personal for her. So this year Laurie, Lisa and I schemed together to buy skimpy underwear for the guys and put them in their stockings without mom knowing. We wanted some really naughty ones, but did not want to spend that much money on a gag gift. So Micheal was the first guy to open his stocking from mom and when he pulled out the underwear my moms face was priceless. She had no clue how the underwear got in the stocking.

Then my lovely Brother-In-Law Jay, had to take it one step further and model thus said underwear that Mimi put in their stockings!

Merry Christmas from this crazy bunch!

The Great Cookie Cook Off of 2008

2008-12-20T19:58:00.000-06:00

I was inspiried to bake cookies this year for Christmas as Tatum wanted to decorate cookies for Santa. I was looking for the perfect Sugar Cookie receipe that held their form and I found one, little did I know that this receipe made over 60+ cookies so after 3 hours of baking, it was now time to sit down and decorate these bad boys. You would think I would have gone the easy route and just glazed them, but no, I had to do one better and make two batches of Wilson's Icing and ice and decorate 60+ cookies. Four hours and several blisters later all were done. However, there are no beautiful pictures of that because it was 2:00 in the morning by the time I finished them and I was freaking sick of looking at cookies and icing! So you will just have to enjoy my non-iced cookies. Oh, and if you want this receipe let me know, because these cookies rocked and held their form after being cooked!

Thanksgiving according to Tatum.

2008-11-27T20:00:00.000-06:00

Hi, my name is Tatum and while my mommy was busy cooking our Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to take the camera and give you my perspective on Thanksgiving and tell you what I am thankful for!

First I am thankful for my Littlest Pet Shop collection.

Next, I am thankful for Dr. Pepper

and pumpkin pie

for shelter

and pumpkin pie

for mamaw

good football games

and food on my plate.

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Helping Mommy cook!

2008-11-22T23:47:00.000-06:00

I had been wanting to try and my a chocolate meringue pie for a while now and relly wanted to make it for Thanksgiving, but since it was my first attempt, I thought I better practice.

I found these cute mommy and me aprons shopping one day and Tatum was so excited to wear them and help me make the pie. She love to help me cook, so I strapped on our aprons and set off for cooking.

Here Tatum is getting ready to bake!

Here she proudly shows off our pie crust!

Helping my stir constantly!

The finished project! She was so proud. I however was dissappointed in it. I think I could find a better receipe and make it better.

However, we did have a fun time in the kitchen together.

Thanksgiving Feast 2008

2008-11-20T19:43:00.000-06:00

Today was Tatum's school annual Thanksgiving Feast so Matt and I made our way up to the school to eat lunch with her. This year she was an Indian again. She said she liked being an indian the best.

Her is our little Indian!

Our indian with her indian friend Jacey.

After School I took Tatum home where we played and she enjoyed getting to come home early!

Overheard 11/08/08

2008-11-10T07:58:00.002-06:00

Tatum and I are laying in bed. I am reading a book, and I think that she has drifted off to sleep when I hear this.

Tatum: Mom?
Me: Yes, Tatum.
Tatum: I am sorry that I kicked you while I was in your tummy.
Me: I forgive you Tatum.

This was so random as we have not ever discussed her kicking me in my tummy while I was pregnant with her.

She totally cracks me up!

Halloween!

2008-10-31T23:11:00.000-05:00

My beautiful Tinkerbell!

My scary phantom

This was our second costume of the night. Tatum did not want to go trick-or-treating as she was tired and just wanted to hand out candy. Then Jacey showed up and wanted her to go TOT with her. Tatum did not want to put back on her Tinkerbell costume, so she settled for Sleeping Beauty. We only made if a few houses before Tatum had a complete meltdown and wanted to come home. There she happily ansewered the door to hand out candy. The kids loved it when she handed out candy, because instead of the 2 or 3 pieces Matt and I would give, Tatum gave them and entire handful.

This picture cracks me up. I was mid snap when the doorbell rang for trick or treaters. The girls were so excited to answer the door!

We hope you guys had a wonderful Halloween!

Enough Said!

2008-10-29T16:56:00.000-05:00

See latest stories on Yahoo! News

hee hee

2008-10-25T22:54:00.002-05:00

We went to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua this afternoon and this is how Tatum pronounces chihuahua.

Carving a pumpkin

2008-10-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

Today Taylor had the stomach virus that has plauged our house this week, so he did not get to participate in the Homecoming festivities. So I thought the perfect way to make him feel better and cheer him up was to do our annual pumpking carving.

So here is some video of the kids cleaning out the pumpkin. Tatum thought that this would be a lot of fun at first, but as soon as she stuck her hand inside the pumpkin she gagged. Then screamed when she did it again. She was not into the scrapping of the pumpkin.

Looking closely inside, but from a distance.

Bubbie helping her clean out the pumpkin

Here you can see her eyes and how she feels about the inside of the pumpkin.

It was Tatum's year to pick the design.

Consentrating hard

Everyone working together.

Helping daddy

Bubbie lighting the candle inside.

finished product!

cheesy smiles!

Happy Halloween!

My sweet boy

2008-10-23T20:58:00.003-05:00

I have to share something that I witnessed from my son yesterday.

Taylor was at soccer practice and the boys were having to run laps because they were not listening/minding. Everyone was finished running their laps except one boy who was way behind. Taylor finished his laps and then ran across the field to finish running with the other boy.

My son humbled me yesterday! He could have sat there and rested like the rest of the boys, but he saw that there was one left and went and crossed the line with him. It melted my heart!

Blame Tracie

2008-10-21T19:51:00.002-05:00

You have to love it when friends tag you. This is all Tracie's fault. She tagged me in this me me, and I feel obliged to play along. I'm supposed to name 6 quirks about myself. I had to look up what a quirk was to see if I really had any, Matt assured me that I did! heehee

1. I have to have a oscilating fan on no matter what. Even if it is 20 degrees outside, I have to have the fan on high. When it is turned off, I wake up immediately.
2. I can't stand it when someone reads the news paper before me and gets it all out of order.
3. I can't stand for my food to touch and I eat one thing at a time.
4. I text more often that I call people. I am really not a person that likes to talk on the phone.
5. I can't stand to touch raw meat.
6. I put on chapstick all day long!

My victims are as follows:
Laurie
Lisa
Stephanie
Kara
Heather
Melanie

Here are the rules: Link the person who tagged you Mention rules on your blog Tell about 6 quirks of yours Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same. Leave a comment to let them know.

Happy 4th Birthday Tatum!!

2008-10-14T11:40:00.001-05:00

Four years ago today we found out that were were going to have our baby. I had a regular doctor's appointment and Matt decided to go with me and then just go to work after that. We got to my appointment and he decided that he wanted to do a sono first. The tech came in and did my sono and said that she was not able to find a lot of fluid around the baby and that Dr. Dean was going to be concerned about that. She left to take him the pictures and the report. He walked in and said, have you had anything to eat this morning. I told him I had and he said, well don't eat or drink anything else today and be back at the hospital at 3![:o] I was floored, Tatum wasn't due for another 6 weeks, but she was measuring over 9lbs on the sono report so he felt she was safe to come out. I was so not prepared, there were tons of things that still needed to be done. We came home and packed our bags, got Taylor squared away at school and with my mom to pick him up and then we headed to Target to pick up things that I needed for the baby's arrival. We got to the hospital around 3 and things moved so fast when we got there. As we were getting ready, my mom, Taylor, my sisters, Matt's mom and sister and grandma and lots of friends started arriving awaiting the arrival of Tatum. The sad part about this delivery is that my own doctor did not get to do the delivery. I was his only appointment that day because he was leaving to catch a flight at noon for a medical conference in California. The doctor that was on call for him was a doctor that I had worked with in surgery before and I really could not stand her practice or bedside manner, so I begged him to call another doctor in for me. He did and he was great. Dr. Albi came in and talked to me about everything and told me that once the Anesthesiologist came in to start my Epidural I would be ready to go. Well after two tries by the anesthesiologist it was determined that I would not be having a epidural, that I would just have a spinal and that would have to be done in the OR. I walked into the OR and got up on the table. All the nurses and staff were in there talking with me and the anesthesiologist was in there to start my spinal. They had NICU nurses and a pedi in the OR because Tatum was going to be 6 weeks early and that wanted to make sure that she checked out. Dr. Albi walked in and said he was ready to start so they went and got Matt. I was freaking out because I still was not numb and I was afraid that the Spinal was not working. Matt got there and I keep telling him that I was not numb, not to let them start cutting because I was not numb. Matt informed me that they had already started cutting![L] Dr. Albi was so funny through out the surgery, he kept making references about not knowing what this organ was and telling Matt to look at things. He then stopped the surgery and told Matt and I to look at the suction cup where they collect the amino fluid. It was completely empty. He told me that there was only a minute amount of fluid in there and that if we would have waited till even the next day it might have been a very sad delivery. Then he started to pull Tatum and she immediately started screaming. I looked at the Pedi and said, "well, I think her lungs are just fine!" Dr. Albi again said, "I don't believe this. Someone up above is truly looking out for this baby." He lifted the cord up over the sheet to show me a true knot in the cord. I could not believe it. Had she been born any later it definitely would have been tragic!
Matt went over and said that she was beautiful. I asked if she had all of her parts and he said, "she was so beautiful I didn't even look!" They told us that she weight 7lbs 1 oz. and that she was completely healthy and that she would not need to go to the NICU at all! We were so please to hear that!
At 5:53 on October 14, 2004 Tatum Leigh entered the world. Weighing in at 7lbs. 1oz. and was 19 3/4 inches long!

2 funnies, one night

2008-10-09T23:14:00.002-05:00

Tonight, Taylor, Dustin and I are in the car on the way home from meeting the Dallas Stars. Taylor asks me what herpes feels like. I, who am fighting another fever blister, ask him what he means. He said, you know what does it feel like when you have herpes. I asked him which type of herpes he was talking about and he said, "you know the kind of herpes the doctor checks for during your athletic physical." Dustin and I just busted out laughing! I said, "Taylor I think you mean hernia, not herpes." His reply, "yeah that, what does a hernia down there feel like?" Couldn't tell you son, I don't have that problem.

Second funny of the night is when I got home from the Dallas Stars meet and greet Tatum was here to greet me. I picked her up and we were talking about what she had been doing since I had left and she said, "I went to church, and played with Brylee, she cried but I made her feel better." "Then, Rheta woke me up from my nap and she scared the crap out of me mom!" What do you say to that?

Here are some pictures of our meet and greet. These are the ones that I took, the Stars had people taking professional photograph, but the are not available to download until Monday. They are doing that for free, so that is cool.

This is Brandon Marrow, or so I am told.

The two goof balls! Dustin on the left, Taylor on the right. I think this is the only serious picture of them.

This is who they really couldn't wait to see, The Ice Girls!

Being goofy in line waiting to get their pictures taken.

Being silly, again

There were three player outside taking picture with other season ticket holders and when Taylor walked by he yelled at this guy and he turned around and talked to the boys!

In Victory Park, Downtown Dallas. Pretty cool if you have never been, go at night.

In front of the channel 8 news studio. I was hoping Pete Delkus would be in there!

Again with the goofyness!

Our Hooters waitress. What is better than meeting Stars players and then heading to Hooters to eat some hot wings?

Another waitress that the boys thought was HOT!!!

I had the best time with the boys. They made me laugh all night long, being silly and talking.

Soccer and updates on school.

2008-09-27T20:49:00.003-05:00

Taylor scored his first goal of the season this soccer game. Enjoy watching the video!

Nothing big happening in our house right now. Everyone is back in school and seems to be enjoying it.

Taylor is almost finished with his first six weeks of middle school. He really enjoys the social aspect of it (I wonder where he got that from) and is doing OK, with school work. We are working on that. It is a big adjustment going from elementary school to middle school, so we are getting used to that! He had his first dance last Friday and really enjoyed that. He even danced with his first girl :O I was ok with it because he went to church with her when he was young.

Tatum is doing well in preschool and really likes her teachers. It helps that she is a good friend of ours! She is pretty bossy and enjoys bossing around who ever she can, including Matt and I.

I am still working on my teaching certificate. I will be doing my student teaching in the spring of 2010. i am really enjoying my education classes. I am actually having to go to classes now and that has been an experience for me. Thankfully they are at night and Matt is able to be here with the kids.

First Day of School, Part 2

2008-09-08T11:06:00.002-05:00

Today was Tatum's first day of preschool. She was so excited to go this morning, she would barely let me get dressed. She was so excited to get to use her new "school prizes" that she wanted to sleep with them last night. I hope this enthusiasm continues through out the year. So to give you what you really came here to see here are pictures of her on the first day of school!

Gosh, we have beautiful kids!

First Day of School, Part one!

2008-08-25T10:27:00.003-05:00

How does it happen? I feel like I just gave birth to him and now, he is starting middle school. I am the mom of a middle schooler! How in the world does that happen? Blink, they are in kindergarten, blink, they are in middle school, blink, they are in high school, blink they are leaving to college. To quote Steve Martin in Cheaper by the Dozen, "no more blinking!"

He was excited to start this new adventure, I did well, I dropped him off and then watched him walk in to this huge school filled with 7th and 8th graders and realized, that he was going to continue to grow up and that soon he would be starting college. I couldn't help it, the tears started to fall and I was a wreck by the time I got home. What a huge mile stone in his life to be starting middle school.

So if the next time you see me and I have toothpicks in my eyes, it's because I am refusing to blink.

Orientation into the 6th grade!

2008-08-14T22:34:00.000-05:00

Tonight was Taylor orientation for middle school. I am not sure that I am ready for this adventure, but Taylor was pumped! He is so excited to start school now.

Here he is ready to go to orientation!

Summer fun and a case of herpes!

2008-08-13T22:42:00.007-05:00

There really has not been much going on this summer. We have been on vacation, been to camp, and have been to a few waterparks. It has been a hot, hot, hot summer. We have actually hit 107+ on a few days, so some laugh when we think that a cold front that cools us off to the lower 90's is a nice day!

The kids have been sleeping late like teenagers. I am talking 12 noon. They both stay up late and like to sleep late, just like their momma! We have enjoyed swimming, when it is not like taking a bath and just hanging out with friends.

Speaking of haning out with friends, I bet you are wondering what the case of herpes in my title is about. It is a comical story actually. I suffer from the great (ok, not so great) herpes virus simplex 1, for those not in the medical knowledge, they are commonly called fever blisters. If you have ever had them you know the pain, if you have not, consider yourself blessed. I can get them from either being sick or being in the sun too much. Well, on one of our recent ventures to Hawiian Falls waterpark, I forgot to put my lip stuff on that contains sunscreen. I had at least 8 fever blisters break out on my lips. It was a very painful time for me. So Taylor is going to go spend the night with one of his friends on Sunday night and while there his friend's mom asked how I was. Taylor told her, "she is pretty sick, she has herpes you know." She said that she did not know what to think. That her and her husband just looked at each other, like "holy crap, did he just say she had herpes?" So when she dropped the boys off over here to play and she took a look at my lip, she busted out laughing. I asked why she was laughing so hard and she proceeded to tell me what Taylor had said! I was mortified. I had to tell Taylor that yes, fever blisters were a type of herpes, but that if he was going to tell people that I was not feeling well because of them he needed to say, I had "fever blisters", because if he kept telling people that I had herpes, he might not have any friends left!

Tatum has been busy being a huge diva and growing like a weed! At the beginning of the summer, I bought her a ton of summer clothes that I thought would last us through the summer. Boy was I wrong. She has completely out grown everything I bought plus her shoes. So instead of wearing a size 5, which is twice her age, she is wearing 6! The girl is tall. She stands a head taller than all of her classmates. She is tall and lean, which brings me to our next adventure. As you know the world is glued to their TV's watching the summer Olympic games. Our house is no different and Tatum has taken to the gymnastics, as I am sure every little girl in that watches it. When the gymnastics are on, the living room furnature gets pushed back and her gym mat that her Aunt Sherry bought for her gets pulled out and every flip, twist, turn, roll is completly reenacted in our living room, complete with hands in the air and bottom out! So we made the trek to Travino's Gym in Red Oak and signed her up for gymnastics. Her classes start on Wednesday the 27 at 11. It should be fun! She is so excited! So for just one day I was a nice mommy. I am usually a mean mommy because I tell her no, a word she is not use to hearing very often.

That is about all that has been going on in our life since my last blog update. We are gearing up for school to start for both Taylor and I. I am actually having to go to school now, as I can't take anymore internet classes. I haven't been in the classroom as a student in over 10 years. This should be fun. Taylor is starting the big bad Middle School. He is very excited and nervous all at the same time. We have his orientation tomorrow to find out his schedule and let him walk his classes. I am excited to see this school, as I have yet to be fully in it. I have been to the gym and that was about it. We have a little over a week of summer left and it is going to be a busy one.

I will leave you with some pictures and video of the lovely cold front produces shower that we had the other evening. What's better than playing outside in the rain?

Here is the diva watching the Hannah Montana concert in 3-D.

The kids being silly!

Ok, after posting this, I realize that Tatum doesn't have any clothes on in any of the pictures/vidoes. I promise that the girls does have some clothes left that fit her, but she would rather run around in her undies. She take after T on that. He use to never wear clothes either. I just didn't want you all to think that we really did not have any clothes for her!

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-05T14:07:00.003-05:00

A day late. At any rate the cousins minus MagB gathered at Mimi and Papa's house for a cookout and fireworks. A great time was had by all! The cousins ran and played and swam and ran and played even more.

Here the cousins are all holding hands getting ready to run to the pool. Are they not the cutest?

This is Tatum's cheesy "cheese" smile. She is so cute and was so excited about fireworks!

Watching a firework

Holding her first sparkler!

Ok, these are priceless video clips of Logan chasing a dragonfly. You can barely see it on the video, but it is there and he chased this for a good 30 minutes before I grabbed my video camera! He is the cutest thing ever!

Ok, seriously sitting at my parents I bet we watched the price of a small country in fireworks go off around their house. Seriously, we needed a swivle chair to watch all the fireworks that were going up. I am not talking the little bottle rockets/roman candles that we use to think were the big fireworks, I am talking semi-professional type you would see in big cities. Those things aren't cheap and everythime I saw one go off all I kept thinking to my self is, "wow, there goes a take a gas up in flames" (literally) At an rate we hope that you family had a wonderful 4th with your loved ones!

From Sea World with love

2008-06-26T14:59:00.002-05:00

Monday morning we headed out to the wonderful town of San Antino, Texas. Our destination Sea World. We loaded up and left at 10:30. By 11:30 we were out of Midlothian and on our way. Y es, we spent and hour getting gas, getting food, taking movies back, stopping to shut the hood, but we were ready and on our way. Our DVD player started acting up in Hillsboro and Matt pulled the plug and found that it was melted from the port. What!!! We were actually going to have to travel like we did when we were kids, with out any entertainment!!!! Tatum was having none of that. From Hillsboro to Waco, she non stop talked about when were we getting to Sea World, how much further, how long, and what not. Matt spotted the first Wal-Mart in Waco and we stopped to replace the broken cord. Ahhh...all is well in our car now! We finally pull in to the city of San Antino and check in to our hotel. Let's just say, thank goodness that the looks of the outside of the Best Western on Loop 410 were not a reflection of the inside. I told Matt when we pulled up to be ready to find another hotel. However, the room was much nicer than the outside! Thank goodness! So we settled in and decided to find some food. After eating it was time to take a dip in the hotel pool. Tatum and Taylor had a blast swimming. We headed up to our room to get some much needed rest for our big day at Sea World.

Tuesday we woke up early to be at Sea World when it opened. We ate a big breakfast and then we were on our way. Tatum could hardly contain her excitement and when we pulled into Sea World, I thought she might go into arrest!

We lather everyone up with sunscreen and head for our adventure filled day!

First stop was dolphin cove where Matt was first in line to buy food for the dolphins!
Here are the kids watching the dolphins while Matt is buying food.

Tatum and Taylor feeding the dolphin.

Then it was off to see the big guy himself. See how Tatum can barely contain herself!

The big guy himself…Shamu!

Here Shamu pushes his trainer up out of the water!

With Dolly the Dolphin.

Feeding the sealions

Watching the birds!

Taylor wanted a serious picture with Tatum where they were both smiling. Tatum was having none of that!

Taylor rode both the major rollercoasters out there. This is a picture of the Steel Eel. Taylor also rode the Great White, which is one in which your feet dangle down. I am not a huge rollercoaster fan anymore, so I let Matt take T on these, but if Tatum would have been tall enough she would have been right behind them. She was so upset when we told her she was not tall enough to ride them!

However, this roller coaster Tatum coulrd ride. I was very impressed that she road this. It was very high and had a major drop. Every time we road it someone would comment on how brave she was and that they could not believe that she was riding it! This was her first rollercoaster ever. She rode everything that they would let her ride and never thought twice about it. People would comment on how brave she was. She was very brave and would laugh and squeal with excitement on each new rollercoaster!

Here we are going up the hill

On this part they turned the boat around and you went down this hill backwards.

This part they turned you back around so that you went down facing forwards. Look at that huge drop!

Taylor is in the first row the first one on the left and Tatum is in the 2nd row first on the right I am next to her.

This is the splash it made when you hit the water! Yeah, we were soaked!

Kiddie rides were nothign for Taylor and Tatum after tackling the huge rollercoasters, but Tatum wanted to ride on Shamu!

After a wonderful two days of Sea World, we headed home and that was an adventure in itself. We left San Antino at 4 and hit traffic there and in Austin. It took us about 3 hours to get through just that! Then we were on our way, with our next stop being in Temple for dinner and a stretch of legs. Really, I was getting sleepy and needed to get out and walk! We left there after everyone had pottied and eaten and headed for home. Not 15 minutes later Tatum announces that she needs to potty, I put her in a pull-up hoping she would be a sleep by the time we got home and encouraged her to just tee-tee in that. Alas, she didn't need to go tee-tee. So we again pull over for a pit stop and again point our car towards Midlothian to head home. We finally rolled in after 10 some time! We had a wonderful trip and the best part is we get to do it all over again Friday!

Our dear friend Dale is getting married in Georgetown so we will be heading back down South I35 for the secondtime in less than a week. Can you tell how excited I am??? We get back late Saturday night early Sunday morning and then T is off to Camp at 7:30 Sunday morning. Bless his heart he has not had a break from traveling. 14 hour drives from Colorado last week, San Antino/Austin this week, and he will head to Bandina next week for camp which is just on the other side of San Antino. I promised him we would not take any long vacations in July!

VBS...no thanks!

2008-06-16T09:25:00.001-05:00

This morning I had to wake up Tatum to get her ready for her first day of Vacation Bible School, I went in to get her up and our conversation went a little like this:
Mommy: Tatum, it is time to get up.
Tatum: (sitting up half awake), what do we have to do today?
Mommy: We have to get ready to go to VBS.
Tatum: VBS...No, thanks (falls back on her pillow to snooze a little more).

There ya go!

She did end up getting up and going to VBS and had a wonderful time!

Taylor is on his way to Colorado as we speak. He has called me no less that 10 times including a wake up call at 4:45 this morning to ask me where the cord for the DVD player was. He is so silly! At least it was me and not Mimi or Papa!

Tatum's First Haircut!

2008-06-10T16:03:00.003-05:00

Today I got my hair chopped off and Tatum wanted to go with me. Then she wanted to get her haircut. We called daddy to make sure that it was OK that we cut her hair and then it was off to see Jamie to get it cut. Now all we did was cut about an inch off and straightened up around her face. It looks so cute and she was so good getting it cut.

Here she is before (yes, she wore her Halloween flapper costume to get her haircut)

Getting her hair washed like a big girl. She was so excited to do this. That is my friend Jamie cutting her hair!

Here we go.....

She wanted it fixed....

The finished product...

Up next, Jr. High

2008-06-05T14:30:00.000-05:00

Today was Taylor's last day of elementary school. His last day at T. E. Baxter Elementary. It was a sad day for me. T has been at this school since kindergarten. I have been invoved in the parent/teacher program for 6 years. It was a bitter sweet day for me! T, well he thinks that he is ready for middle school I guess we will see.

Here he is getting his awards from Mrs. Vinton.

This is Mrs. Vinton's last year of teaching. We will miss her, she was a wonderful teacher and just what T needed!

This is T's favorite teacher, she was his dyslexia teacher for 3 years and Taylor loved her. She was so sweet and patient with Taylor. I will be forever grateful to her for the help she has given him.

I am going to miss the Baxter staff.

Ponderings

2008-05-29T15:39:00.004-05:00

I got this email in my inbox from a "friend" today and I had to chuckle. With the week I have had, I really didn't need this reminder, however, my first thought was of Jeremy Snow. Don't know why he popped in my head today but he did!

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to
do.

When someone is in your life for a REASON, It is usually to meet a need you
have expressed outwardly or inwardly. They have come to assist you
through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you
physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a
godsend, and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then,
without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will
say or do something to bring the relationship to an
end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk
away.. Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a
stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire
fulfilled; their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and it
is now time to move on.

When people come into your life for
a SEASON, It is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They
may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you
something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of
joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a
season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you
lifetime lessons; those things you must build upon in order to have a solid
emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the
person/people (any way); and put what you have learned to use in all other
relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but
friendship is clairvoyant.

Does it ever feel like you never ever have a lifetime friendship? It has been a bad week, a really bad week. I think it is getting close to the day that our family friend, Jeremy, killed himself 16 years ago. I still remember vividly. I remember what I was wear, what I was doing it was like that day is forever imprinted in my mind. I have always wondered throughout the years after Jeremy's death if he really felt that alone that he couldn't talk to anyone. I wonder if maybe he felt that he only has reasons and season in his life an not a lifetime. I am haunted to this day what sucide does to the people that love you. The unanswered questions, the fact that if maybe he would have slept on it, would he have still continued through with what he did.

No, mom, I am not even remotely thinking about sucide, other that I received this email from a "friend" and the first thing I thought of was Jeremy for some reason. Like I said, it is getting close to the anniversary of his death and it completely rocked my family. Without going into too much detail, my family was one of the first there after it happened.

So are their truely lifetime friends out there? Are they friends that call you all the time just to chat, or just to see what is up? Do they know that you are hurting before you even open your mouth? Or all they all just really Reason and seasons?

Just pondering!

Memorial weekend and Mimi and Papa's House

2008-05-24T22:38:00.003-05:00

Today all the family got together to celebrate Memorial Weekend. The cousins had a great time playing in the sprinkler that Mimi bought and everyone else had a fun visiting and catching up!

Sprinkler fun!

Maggie B

Tatum suckin' on Loggies pappies

Collin! What a cutie!

Tatum sprinkler!

We hope that you are having a wonderful Memorial weekend!

Field Day 2008

2008-05-22T21:47:00.000-05:00

It was a sweltering day as Field Day 2008 was upon us. 98 degrees is what they were predicting and Field Day is outside, hence the name Field Day. I was not looking forward to being out in that heat, but alas, it was T's last field day and I would not miss it for the world! I got a little teary eyed thinking about all the lasts I would be doing this year as next year he starts big bad middle school. So I sucked it up and headed out to field day! It was a lot of fun, except for the 5th grade girl that I had rounds with, seriously I think God was telling me that maybe I don't need to teach any grade higher than 4th! We had a blast!

I just love him! He seriously is the sweetest child ever! I can't wait for the summer!

Look out American Idol

2008-05-19T23:18:00.002-05:00

Tonight was Tatum's Preschool Program and she was great. She sang her songs and looked as cute as ever up on the stage. A natural I tell you. I am already looking for her next gig. Like the good stage mom I let her have all the attention. :0p

Here are some pictures and video of the event! Enjoy!

Isnt' she sweet!

They are sing the song that the sing before they eat lunch. It is a prayer.

Tatum and Ms. Paula her teacher!

It's Braces Day

2008-05-15T13:42:00.002-05:00

It's braces day, it's braces day!

It's braces day, it's braces day,

Today is the day we brace!

(this is taken from the Backyardigians Racing Day episode)

This morning was the big morning that T finally got his braces! He was so nervous and scared that it was going to hurt putting them on and even after Dr. Parker told him it would be no big deal.

Here is T this morning before his appointment. I forgot to take his picture before we left the house so I had to use my cell phone, that is why it is turned.

And here is the finished product! His bands are black and blue, He is feeling a little sore now!

And of course, Tatum wanted her picture taken, when we picked her up from school she asked me if I could take her to get her braces tomorrow!

They Can Be Sweet!

2008-05-14T18:21:00.002-05:00

See, they can get along! T carrried her on his back all the way up this ladder to slide down the big slide. My brother-in-law, Jay, took this picture. Aren't they cute?

Happy Birthday Brady

2008-05-10T21:29:00.000-05:00

Today we went to an extreme jump (bounce houses) place to celebrate Brady's 5th birthday! A great time was had by all big and little!

Logan enjoying a jump, notice he did not lose his pappies during the jumping fun!

Brady the birthday boy!

Taylor enjoyed playing with Maggie

Tatum climbing up the huge slide! She is a lot more brave than I!

Here she and Taylor slide down the monster slide!

Here Uncle Jay slides down the big slide!

A sweet picture with Taylor and Maggie

Happy Birthday Brady!

Spring has sprung, but it is starting to feel like summer

2008-05-01T21:50:00.003-05:00

Spring has sprung at our house. It has been beautiful here the past few days with tempatures in the 80's. I know my firends up north are still getting snow showers, so I am praying warm weather is coming your way! Here are some pictures of spring around our house!

I thought this picture was pretty awesome. I was going to trim this bush and when I got close to it a bird flew out if it. I thought that was weird, so I peeked inside and saw the nest and heard the babies. I went inside to grab the camera and this is what I caught. I love it. The momma bird in the background is so protective of her babies!!! Can you see all three baby birds?

Funny story about the birds nest, T was looking at the nest yesterday and the momma bird swooped down on him and tried to dive bomb him. It was funny. Then today I was walking next door to my neighbors and I walked by the bush and the momma bird dive bombed me. My neighbor about died laughing. It was a site believe me!

My silly kids, T would never make a good face, Tatum on the other hand loves to pose for the camera!

I have to be just like my big brother!

School is winding down and I have come to the conclusion that finals suck!! Really they do!

With spring being in the air, so is love...ahh to be 11 years old and know everything! So last night we had to have THE TALK with T! That was fun let me tell you, insert rolling eye smilie here!! We had to have it becuase one of his friends (that he is not allowed to hang out with anymore) has been calling girls at school sluts. I found out about through monitoring T's myspace. Yes, he has a myspace, it is private and I moniter it everyday! So last night at dinner we were talking about boyfirend/girlfriends in the 5th grade and I asked about a certain couple and T called the girl a slut. Inster shock and awe smilie, I said, "T, do you know what a slut is?" He said it is a girl that wants to have sex. So Matt and I sat down with him and talked and answered questions that he had and it went really well, well as good as THE TALK can go with a prepubsent 11 year old. No seriously, he was very mature about it and was asking all sorts of questions. He did already know some things, which didn't surprise me, but as a parent you always want to shelter your kids from finding things out. It starts so much sooner than when we were kids! We told him that if he was always honest with us that he would not get into trouble. That we might be dissappointed, or sad, but we would never stop loving him. He was sweet. Then after it was all said and done, he got up from the table and said, "I think I am going to let my wife handle this discussion with my kids." He is so silly!

Tatum is finishing up her year a Sonshine school and she is talking more and more each day. And when I say more and more, I don't mean that she is learning new words, she has mastered talking, I mean she is talking more and more that no one can get a word in edge wise. She is very prissy and moody. I wonder where she got that from :o). She is holding her own with fighting with T and doing her job as the annoying little sister. Sometimes they love each other, soemtimes they hate each other. It is more hate than anything right now.

So we are just busy with life. School is over for me this week, Thank you Lord! But T's school has me very busy, with field trips, field days, and TAKS parties, which by the way T passed both his reading AND his math!! Yay T!!!

Enough Said...

2008-04-30T23:13:00.001-05:00

This video says it all!!!!

Eleven?? How Can He be Eleven Years Old Today?

2008-04-15T10:51:00.002-05:00

I got to the hospital at about 5:45 and they got me settled in and my doctor came in at 7 and said he wanted to start pitocin to help me dilate. I immediately started having contraction every 2 minutes and hard. My mom was with me and my daddy was on his way. He was pouring concrete for a school he was supervising and had to go in early that morning to let the trucks in. He got there about 10:30 and he never left my side. My sisters were driving in from Temple and were so afraid that I was going to have my baby before they got there. I did not know what I was having and I was so scared and excited. At noon my doctor came in and said that I was dilated to a 1 still and he said that I was having productive contractions. Yeah, I could feel them. He said that when I reached a 4 I could have my epidural. So I was having serious contractions every 2 minutes and was in serious pain. I finally asked for some Demerol at about 1 because I seriously hurting. They gave me a shot of Demerol and it did nothing but piss me off! Seriously, it did not touch the pain of the contractions that I was having and put me is such a daze that I was not a very nice person! I banned any and everybody from my room that talked about or mentioned food. I made them turn off the TV because all the commercials were food related and I was starving. Ice chips were doing nothing for me!! My family were hungry so my sisters went out and got everyone in the waiting room hamburgers. You could smell the hamburgers back in L&D and I told the nurses to fell free to kick my entire family out of the hospital! Then a nurse burnt freaking popcorn and I was pissed. I know that I was not a nice patient from about 1 on, I was crabby, in pain and pissed because I kept seeing and hearing women who came in after me, have their babies! At about 3 my doctor came back and said I was still at a one almost a 2 and he would be back ofter he saw the patients in his office. I begged for the epidural. Hospital policy, not until you were at least a 4. Great, I had three more centimeter to go. At 4 the nurse check me, still no progress. At 6 I was in some serious pain and my contractions were every minute to a minute and a half and I was getting no rest or recovery from them. My doctor comes in at 8 and checks me. Still a one . He then gives me options a) we can turn everything off, let me rest and or progress through the night and try again in the morning, or b) have a baby tonight and have a c-section. I said, "cut me open!" So he said that I could finally have my epidural. PRAISE THE LORD!!!! He goes out to get the paper work started and comes in and to say that the anesthesiologist had left to go home already and had to be called back in. He would be in as soon as he could. He gets there at 9 pm and by 9:15 my epidural is in and working and I am a happy person talking and laughing (my sisters say it was like Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde) with the people that are waiting in the waiting room that had graciously been there all day. My sisters who thought they were not going to make it for the birth, were afraid that I would not have the baby that night and they would have to drive back to Temple that night. My doctor comes in at 9:30 and says that we are ready to go. All the people pile in to my room and our preacher leads a prayer. The cool thing about this was the doctor and anesthesiologist both stay in the room for it. Then they wheel me in to surgery. I get on the table and they start. My doctor was being funny and the anesthesiologist were goofing off talking about things that really were pertaining to me at all. We got on the subject of taxes, because it was tax day and my doctor and the anesthesiologist were talking about how much they were having to pay in for taxes. then at 9:53, Taylor was born, weight 7lbs 5 ounces and was 19 inches long. Taylor was perfect! Pink cute and had the darkest eyes and longest eyelashes I have every seen. They took him and cleaned him up and they finished sewing me up and off to recovery I went and I don't remember a thing as I was exhausted and crashed. I remember waking up when everyone was coming in to see him and hold him, but for the most part I was out. We got up to our room about midnight and T was awake and just taking it all in. My dad stayed with me the first night and I swear to you that T never slept. Seriously T did not sleep that entire day. The nurses kept commenting on how alert he was and how funny it was that he did not sleep. We had visitors all that day and everyone could not believe the eyelashes on him. He was a very sweet and good baby!

I can't believe that he is 11 now! It is just hard for me to comprehend that he is growing up so fast. I can remember his birth like it was yesterday! Before I know it he will be 16, graduating high school, then college, then married, then making me a grandma! OK, enough sappyness!

Here are the pictures that I love from T's birth!

One of my Favorite pictures of him!

He scores!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-05T22:12:00.002-05:00

Taylor had a soccer game during this beautiful day that we had today. Sadly they did not win, but T did score a goal today! Here is the pictures of his shot.

There is not a picture of the actual goal going in because as you can see in the last picture I was jumping up and go in to the last shot as he scored :( but he did score and it was great!

Of course Tatum got board of the game quickly and wanted to just run around so the camera man was busy chasing after here. Here are some cute random shots of her just being busy!

We hope that you were able to enjoy the wonderful weather here and if you are not having beautiful weather where you are here is some sunny pictures for you!

Overheard this week....

2008-04-04T21:53:00.001-05:00

The other night Jamie and Scott were coming over to eat dinner and watch a movie. Tatum has a little crush on Scott, you can see the pictures of the two of them in the spring break post. So this is the conversation between Tatum and I.

Me: Tatum, Jamie and Scott are going to come over tonight.
Tatum: Scott is coming over (sorry Jamie:))
Me: Yes, Jamie and Scott are coming over to eat and watch a movie.
Tatum: Can we watch Enchanted?
Me: Yes, I think we might watch Enchanted
Tatum: I want to watch Enchanted with Scott
Me: Ok, we will see if Scott wants to watch Enchanted.
Tatum: No mom, I wanted to watch Enchanted with Scott and you can go to bed in your room.
Me: I don't think that is going to happen EVER!

Yes, at the ripe old age of 3 she wanted me to leave her alone to watch a movie in the living room with a boy...oh the shock and horror Matt had on his face!

I was getting ready for bed and putting on my jammies, ok I was changing out of my old jammies and putting on fresh ones, when Tatum came and had this shocked look up on her face.

Tatum: Mommy, you don't wear pull-ups to bed?
Me: No
Tatum: you don't pee in the bed anymore?

It is just one comical thing after another with this child! Matt of course, thinks she gets it from him.

Easter Sunday!

2008-03-23T22:32:00.004-05:00

Happy Easter faithful blog readers. We hope that you enjoyed the time with your family as much as we did. Here are some pictures from our day with family and some video for fun too. I have tried and tired to post some video from here, but it will not let me so you will have to click on the links to see the video of Easter.

http://www.vimeo.com/818036

http://www.vimeo.com/821612

http://www.vimeo.com/821854

http://www.vimeo.com/821874

Tatum and Taylor in their Easter outfits

Let the hunting begin

Logan hunting for eggs

Tatum after more eggs

Tatum and Brady after the same egg

Collin wasn't in the mood to hunt eggs

Brady hunting eggs

If you are wondering why there are no pictures of Taylor, well, he feels that he is to old to hunt Easter eggs. There for there are no pictures of him hunting eggs!

We Hope that your Family had a happy Easter!

Spring Break in a flash!

2008-03-21T22:33:00.000-05:00

Spring Break was a huge blurr. Monday we went and saw Horton Hears A Who
and they kids loved it. TheTuesday Taylor got to go to the Mavrick game with Mimi. While Tatum and I got to hang out and have dinner with Jamie, Scott and Kolby. Here Tatum modles her Hannah Montana wig that she got.

Here she and Scottie are getting ready to watch a movie. Tatum has a huge crush on Scott so she jumped right next to him to watch the movie and promptly fell asleep on his chest. It was the most precious thing I have seen.

Tuesday was also down pour day. It literally rained all day long. We at our house got over 7 or 8 inches.

Wednesday was spent drying out and Taylor got to go to the Dallas Stars game with his PePaw. He then spent the night and all day Thursday at his cousin's house.

Friday he spent all day fishing with Mimi and alas Spring Break is over! We did manage to sleep late during the week, and boy is it ever going to be hard to get up for school on Monday!

Hunting Easter Eggs

2008-03-19T22:37:00.000-05:00

I know it is not Easter yet, but we always hunt Easter eggs at church the Wednesday before. Here is some video feed from the event, that lasted all of 5 minutes.

Green Poopy is my favorite

2008-03-17T22:03:00.001-05:00

Today I took the kids to see Horton Hears a Who and before we went in I took Tatum potty. Tatum is very private when she goes potty so she did not want me to see her. So I let her go in and do her business while I stood outside the stall. All of the sudden I hear her say very loudly, "Mommy, I made a green poopy!" She opens the door and says, very loudly again, "mommy, come and look and my green poopy, it is so pretty. I go in to do just that, and Tatum says again very loudly, "I like the green poopy the best mommy, there is green and brown and the green is my favorite. What color is your favorite?" I can hear the others in the stalls around snickering, and I tell Tatum that the green poopy is very colorful. Trying to get her off the color of her poopy. She was so excited about her green poopy, that when she went poopy again later on that day she informed me that there was no green poopy this time, just brown.

Now, don't you feel so much better knowing that story?

Side note: the reason for the green poop is because Collin's birthday party was Saturday and he has a completely BLUE iced Thomas the Train cake. Some day you need to ask my sisters about the the Holly Hobby cake incident.

Another side note: I find it rather amusing that she had green poop on St. Patrick's Day! heeheehee!

Vegas Baby! Eh

2008-03-12T17:38:00.003-05:00

Pics to follow, but I have to take T to soccer practice.
Let's see.....where to start!

We left Sunday and flew out to Phoenix. Let me preface this by saying that I have flown quite a bit and I have never ever had trouble, well other than my massive fear of flying, but this was one of the worst flights I have ever had, really, even Matt said it was one of the roughest flights he has flown. Which is strange because it was so clear. Maybe my air-traffic controller of a brother-in-law can explain that to me! There was so much turbulence that I felt I was on the Texas Giant.

Needless to say, I ended up throwing up much of the flight, much to the dismay of my fellow passengers. I even with me taking medication for motion sickness. Those who have had the unpleasant fortune of being around me when I am throwing up know that I do so in a violent way. So when we landed in Phoenix was was so not ready to get on another flight, but had to. So we boarded the flight to Vegas and I swear that the people that were on our flight to Phoenix were asking to be on the next flight. Walking on the plane I could hear the whispers from my fellow passengers saying "that is the one that was throwing up the entire flight." Again it was the most turbulent flight ever. So again, I threw up the entire flight poor passengers!

We landed in Vegas and took a taxi to our hotel. The taxi ride was just as bad as the flight. UGH, so the first night was spent with me trying to recover from flying. We managed to gamble a little and watched the Fremont Street Experience. We turned it in pretty early Sunday night because we were going to the Strip on Monday. We got up and ate the hotel's breakfast buffet and then played in a poker tournament. That was really fun. Then we took a double decker bus to the strip. We got off at the Mandalan Bay and worked our way up the strip. We went into the Mandalan Bay to look at the reef they have there and saw Pete Wentz.That was cool. I however am not one to bother a celebrity so I just acted cool. We went into the MGM and saw the lions and such and then we went up to New York, New York. That was so neat to see. Then we went into the Bellagio and saw the fountains. That by far was the neatest thing we saw while there. This is where we also ran into M Night Shyamalan. That was cool, but again, I hate to bother them. We finished walking the strip and by that time we were exhausted. It is only about 2 1/2 miles long but there is so much to see we spent about 5 hours walking the strip. By that time, we were both hungry and tired. We headed back to our hotel to clean up and eat. We played craps and blackjack a little more and then headed out to find gifts for the kiddos. We ended up going to bed to get up so we could go to the airport on time.

I was sooooo dreading the trip back home, but medicated myself and prayed that I would not puke the entire trip. It was a straight flight to DFW so I was hoping it would better. So of the passengers that were on our flight there were on our plane home and asked me if I was going to be OK on the flight home. It was soo much better, it was a smooth flight from the start and I even slept on the plane
.
I was so excited to get home and see the kids though. I enjoyed getting away with Matt and it was fun to hang with just he and I, but we both agreed that we missed the kids! You would not believe the amount of kids we saw in the casinos and such. It was insane. I know that people have to do it but I can't imagine bringing my kids there. On just about ever other foot of sidewalk someone was handing out flyer for strippers or there was naked girls on the side of buildings. It was crazy!

So I enjoyed Vegas, but don't think I will go back. I truly believe that it is a place that you need to see at least once in your life, and now that I have done just that, I don't think I will go back!
Today was spent recovering and playing with Tatum and doing laundry. T has soccer practice this afternoon. It is so warm here.
Tomorrow is a school day for Tatum and the she is out for spring break. T's is next week. I am so excited about that!
Matty goes back to work tomorrow, which I am not excited about.

We hope to get too visit with the cousins while on Spring Break!

Snow snow snow

2008-03-08T19:50:00.002-06:00

So this is the snow fall that produced snow every where but here!

This is what we woke up to this morning. Everyone around us got about 8 or 9 inches and all we got were abotu 4 inches of rain. So when I woke up to get T up for school I was surprised to find that we had snow on the groung. I checked to see if T had to be at school on time or not and he was delayed for 2 hours. I woke him up and told him to go look outside and his first question was whether or not he had school. I told him it was delayed 2 hours and he was ready to get dressed and go play. We went and woke up Tatum and she was so excited about the snow, I could barely get her dressed. She was so cute playing in it. It was cold and I only let her stay out for about 45 minutes and then she and I came in and enjoyed some hot chocolat while T and his friends played in the snow before school. I was glad I let them get out and play because it was gone by noon!

Enjoying hot chocolate after the snow.mmmmmmmmm

Funny for today!

2008-03-05T15:41:00.002-06:00

Tatum does this thing when she watches t.v that when ever a commercial comes on she says, I want that. Matt and I are use to this and usually just say OK Tatum or yeah sure. So today she was watching t.v. and a commercial came on and she again said, mommy I want that and with out looking up I said OK. I then looked up and saw that commercial was for tampons and there were these teeny looking girls dancing around and Tatum not knowing what they were wanted them. I could not help but laugh after that thinking how much she would in fact, not be wanting those later in life!

Hee hee hee

Overheard today.....

2008-02-26T15:31:00.001-06:00

Tatum: Mom, can I play with Playdoh?
Me: NoTatum: Why can't I play with Playdoh?
Me: Because, the last time you played with it you threw little pieces on the floor which go smooshed in the carpet, Do you remember that?
Tatum: Yes, I do, but you are supposed to forgive me.
Me: (trying not to laugh) I did forgive you when you did that, but you are still not playing with Playdoh.
Tatum: Well, doesn't that just suck!

The unfair life of a 3 year old!

Sunny day, chasing those clouds away....

2008-02-24T22:04:00.000-06:00

Today was a beautiful day and we thought we would get out and enjoy the weather, so we walked up to the school and played on the play ground for a few hours. Here are video clips of just some of the fun we had!

Tatum's first Tea Party

2008-02-16T21:57:00.003-06:00

Today Tatum was invited to her first Tea Party at her friend Livie's house. Her house was set up with litte tables set-up for the finest tea party. Livie's friends were supposed to dress in their fanciest clothes and bring their favorite doll. The sipped tea, ate crumpets, ok maybe not crumpets, but they had tea party foods. It was so cute and sweet. Mrs. Tammie, Livie's mom started off by reading them the story of a spider that wanted to invite her bug friends to a tea party but her friends were scared of her.
Here they are listening to the story

Sipping tea

Tatum had a blast at her first tea party. She is such a girlie girl and this was right up her ally. I guess I will have to enlist the help of Mimi to throw a tea party, as I could have cared less about them. Matter of fact, I remember quiet well my mom and Raylene taking Stephaine and I to a fancy hotel to have tea and we had to dress up in dresses and it was all I could do to make it through it. I couldn't wait to get out of there and eat some real food!

Anyway, Tatum had fun as was asking on the way home when her tea party would be.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T21:49:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day from someone who doesn't celebrate the Hallmark induced holiday. However, schools still celebrate it so it was one big party day for me. First was Tatum's party and then it was Taylor's.

Here is Tatum and T at his party

Tatum at her school party

Delievering her Valentine's to her friends!

PSA.... Buy child poof locks for all your doors!!

2008-02-05T17:06:00.000-06:00

I have been asking for this ever since Tatum started unlocking the doors.

I had a doctor's appointment today and Tatum was sleeping in my bed. I covered her up and then went in to my bathroom and closed the door, as I didn't want to wake her with the lights. I am straighting my hair not more that 5 feet from where she is sleeping and I hear a man's voice in my living room screaming, "HELLO? HELLO?" My first thought was knowing that I had locked the door after Matt had left this morning was, how the hell did some man get in my house. My second thought, was what was I going to do. I go running into the living room and scream, "What the hell are you doing?". The man goes, "um... I think your daughter just ran up the street!" What?? She was just sleeping in my bed. I run outside and don't see her on our street anywhere. I yell at the man, "Why didn't you try and stop her?" He told me she was running to fast. I asked him which why she went at the end of the street and he said that she turned left going towards the elementry school. This is the school that Taylor goes to. I came inside grabbed my keys, mind you I am in pajama shorts and a tank top, and book it down the road. I get to the end of the street and I don't see her. My heart just sinks and I start thinking the worst, that someone picked her up. I think to myself that I will drive down the main street to see if she went there. No luck. I was bawling by this point. I decided that I would drive in front of the school and see if she had gone around the block. As I am driving in front of the school I see her running, in just a pull-up, up to the front door of the school. I pulled into the circular drive, with parents there and jumped out of my car like a manic, crying and running up to Tatum, who immedately starts to cry. I grabbed her up and probably should have spanked her, but I was so relieved that nothing had happened to her that all I could tell her was she was not to leave the house with out mommy or daddy and how much she scared me to death. Her response, "I thought I lost you."

I called Matt on the way home and told him to go to Home Depot right now and get those locks. He is installing them as I type.

I can't tell you how God was watching out for Tatum today. First off was that the old man down the street was outside and saw her and alerted me that she had taken off. Second, anyone could have grabbed her, or she could have been hit by a car as she had to cross 2 streets and ran through a major parking lot to get to the school.

So, if your kids can open the door, these locks are a must. I am just so thankful it did not turn out worse!

And yes, we are doing something special for the man.

Seriously....

2008-02-04T22:29:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my world.

Harley Girl

2008-01-24T22:05:00.000-06:00

Today was a fridgid, windy and down right cold day and Tatum needed a jacket. I know, I know, my daughter doesn't have a heavy jacket, what kind of mother am I? I am a mother that lives in Texas, thats what. We have been able to get by with a hoodie or fleece, but today was down right cold! So... I broke out Taylor's old Harley Davidson jacket that was given to him when he was her age. She she sported her first leather jacket to MDO today!

Practicing her HarleyBabe stare. Notice clenched fists and everything!

Tonight we celebrated my Aunt Abby's birthday. Here are the kids waiting on cake and ice cream.

Brady excited about cake and ice cream

Collin waiting patiently

Taylor chillin'

Collin, is he not the cutest? I love those cheeks!

Logan's baby blues!

Awww......

Not a lot has been going on, hence the no pictures/lack of blogging. I haven't taken pictures since Christmas, but Matt reminded me that nothing has happened important since then! We are boring people right now.

I have started school again this semester plugging away. Taylor is back in school and lets just say he is not plugging away so far. Let's just say I got a few phone calls from teachers and we know have T back on track! We hope! Ahhh the joys of pre-teen!

Tatum is talking up a storm and getting so tall. She looks more like a 4 or 5 year old than she does 3! She is 1 inch shy of what Taylor was in Kindergarten! She is pretty bossy and motherly, telling T what to do and not do.

That is pretty much sums up our January!

Can we go to China?

2008-01-16T17:10:00.000-06:00

Tatum: (running up to me) Can we go to China?
Me: (looking up from reading my homework), What? Why do you want to go to China?
Tatum: To get me a sister!

There you have it!

Hmmmmmm..............

2008-01-12T15:53:00.000-06:00

A stranger stabs you in the front; a friend stabs you in the back; a
boyfriend stabs you in the heart, but best friends only poke each other with
straws
(corey)

"A true friend is someone who sees the pain in
your eyes while everyone else believes the smile on your face"
(jake)

"If you're alone, I'll be your shadow. If you want to cry,
I'll be your shoulder. If you want a hug, I'll be your pillow. If you need to be
happy, I'll be your smile... But anytime you need a friend, I'll just be
me."
A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it
back to you when you have forgotten the words.

Never explain
yourself. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe it. -
Belgicia Howell

Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to
leave, and impossible to forget. - G. Randolf

Friendship isn't
about whom you have known the longest... It's about who came, and never left
your side...

A good friend helps you up when you fall. A best
friend pees their pants laughing, trips you again, and calls you an
a**hole.

The best memories are the ones you can't explain and end
up saying, "You just had to be there."

It is one of the blessings
of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Random Christmas Fluff

2007-12-27T16:22:00.000-06:00

With Christmas over we are winding down to the New Year. We were very blessed this year with health and happiness. Our Christmas was excellent and we had a great time. The kids are both enjoying their time off from school, as am I. We have been sleeping late and staying in our jammies all day! It is wonderful!

Here is some random Christmas fluff for you enjoyment!

Tatum and Brady opening gifts.

Taylor and Papa

This is seriously one of Tatum's favorite gifts! She has carried this thing with her everywhere she goes. She tried taking it to church on Sunday, but we talked her into leaving it at home. Not so much for Sunday night church. I have literally untangled this thing 100 times a day! She can't wait to go fishing with her Papa!

This is a gift Taylor got from my sisters. I don't know if they are secretly trying to kill Taylor or what, but this thing is a death stick. I have seriously put band-aids on him daily because of crashes on this thing. We did finally acquired elbow, wrist and knee pad (Thanks Aunt Sherry) and a helmet and is not to ride again with out them!

Tatum received some lipgloss and nail polish for going poopie in the potty twice, since we have not been bugging her about pottying in the potty, she has decide on her own to start. Matt walked in our bathroom the other night to find her sitting on the potty pooping, by herself! I guess that was her Christmas present to us. She has since been going in the potty. She has aboutn one accident a day, but it is just tee-tee, so I can deal with that! Here she is modeling her new lipgloss.

Santa's visit.

Taylor's gift from Santa. This is truely the most fun game ever! I highly reccommend it. You can have up to 4 players in your "band". One sings, really they have some weird way of knowing if you are on key, one plays the guitar bass or regular, and the other drums. Taylor prefers the drums. Matt plays the guitar, therefore I am left singing. Yep, it is a sight.

This was the only thing that Tatum told Santa over and over she wanted. "A Barbie with wings with purple" to be exact. It is really the Island of Princess barbie that she is talking about. They have a dress that she can wear that looks exactly like her barbie. Here she is modeling it.

Taylor playing the drums. Look at that concentration!

We hope that your Christmas was as Merry as ours was! Wishing you lots of health and Happiness in New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T20:21:00.000-06:00

Look out blog readers! Not only will you countinue to see the lovely pictures of the kids, but you will now get to see video clips of them as well! Thanks to my new digital video recroder Matt surprised me with for Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Overheard

2007-12-22T23:09:00.000-06:00

Tonight we went to see Prairie Lights in Grand Prairie and Tatum was in her carseat and Taylor was sitting in the back with her. We were waiting in a long line of traffic and Tatum was being rowdy. As in my previous post you can recall her "Are you Happy" questioning.

Well last night she was bugging Taylor and she said "Bubba, are you happy?" Taylor said, "no". Tatum proceeded to tell him "Bubba you get happy or I'll kill you!" She is a mess! We enjoyed the entire hour that it took for us to look at the lights!

Are You Happy?

2007-12-21T00:28:00.000-06:00

This is Tatum's new catch phrase. Like Paris Hilton's "That's hot". Tatum's is "Are You Happy?" This is usually followed by me getting on to her. For instance, I say, "Tatum, don't dump those chips out of your bowl." Tatum, "Ok Momma, are you happy?"

I love her!

Christmas Pictures

2007-12-20T09:48:00.000-06:00

Our annual Christmas picture event is always a fun one. Really, by the time it is over I am sweating and the kids are a mess. But out of 185 pictures there were a few good ones.

What a handsome stud!

Cheese!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas parties, Friends and SANTA!!!

2007-12-19T21:53:00.000-06:00

Ok, this picture really has nothing to do with the title, but they are being so cute with each other. Usually when one wants to play the other doesn't But they were actually sitting like this watching a movie. AWWW!!

Wednesday night Church Pictures with Santa. Tatum, who had been talking about seeing Santa all day, was not so happy about seeing him in real life. She walked right up to him, with about 5 feet between them and told him she wanted a Barbie with Wings, and walked away. She would not sit on his lap or next to him no matter how hard we tried. Maybe next year. Taylor was happy to sit on Santa's lap!

Taylor's class Christmas Party was today and they enjoyed breakfast and making Gingerbread houses out of milk cartons and graham crackers. Here are Taylor and Tatum hard at work.

Then it was off to Brylee and Kaylee's house to exchange gifts. Really it was to get the girls together to play and Steph had bought them all these "build-a-bear" kits so that they could build them together.

Overheard 12/9/07

2007-12-11T07:29:00.000-06:00

Tatum has become such a demanding diva. The other night we were trying to get her to go to bed and she kept calling for her daddy to bring or things or do something for her. It went like this.

Tatum: DADDY(screaming from her room)
Daddy: Yes, Tatum?
Tatum: Get me milk. (no please or thank you)
(daddy takes her milk)
Tatum: (just as daddy sits back down) DADDY!!!!
Daddy: Yes, Tatum?
Tatum: Get my ponies (My Little Pony's she got from Mimi)
Daddy: Ok, there you go.
(daddy tries to sit down yet again)
Tatum: DADDY!!!!!
Daddy: (growing tired of this game) Yes, Tatum how may I serve you?
Tatum: I want to watch Barbies, not Caliou.
Daddy: (changes the movie and asks) Is there anything else I can get for you?
Tatum: hmmmm.... How bout some string cheese.
Daddy: alrighty then. (laughing out of the room)

Yes, we have created a monster! heehee

Overheard 11/28/07

2007-12-02T01:31:00.000-06:00

I was taking a test the other night and Tatum was playing Elf Bowl on the computer with Matt. They both started laughing, so I turned around to see what they were doing. When I turned around Tatum looked at me and said, "you just take your test!"

Yep, she the boss!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-21T20:43:00.000-06:00

From our Family to yours!

Be Thankful and Blessed!

Matt, Karrie, Taylor and Tatum