Our new babies...

I had a hard time getting a picture of these little guys...but here are a few...sort of. We received our ladybug larvae yesterday. They had just hatched from their eggs. I had no idea what ladybug babies looked like. My first reaction was that we got the wrong thing...lol! I have probably squashed a few here and there over the years. They are black with a few yellow spots on their back. The example that the paper said was that they look like little alligators. That is their body shape. Weird huh?? We have had the butterflies a couple of times before and have watched them come out of their cocoons but never the ladybugs until now. Did you know that there are 600 different kinds of ladybugs?? I sure didn't! So, we are gonna have fun watching these little guys hatch out as beautiful ladybugs, or, Colleomegilla Maculata, which is their scientific name.

Okay here are a few more pics from this morning!

This morning we went to the Myriad Gardens annual "Bug Out". It was really fun. Each year they lets kids release 70,000 ladybugs into the crystal bridge. It is their way of controlling bugs that damage the plants without using pesticides. So, the girls got their little cups of ladybugs and we put them on the plants. We had lots of fun except for the fact that we got almost as wet inside the bridge as we did outside in the pouring rain. Can't you just see the joy beaming from dd9's face??? LOL

Sunday afternoon...

We took advantage of it not raining today and went downtown for a little while. I love the gardens and the kids did also. They have never been there before. I think they have planned that we will have a picnic lunch there next weekend if the weather is nice. We had a great time and it was fun for all of us to go.

cycling

Well, I was finally brave enough to go to my first cycling class. It was actually fun and the instructor was super nice. I can still walk for the moment but getting out of bed in the morning should be loads of fun! :)

Tracy Byrd

I got to meet Tracy Byrd a few months ago and just now got dh to email the pics to me. He was very cute and nice. It was fun to meet him!!

I am so glad Blake is still on AI. I thought his song Tues night was AWESOME!!! Bon Jovi was great of course and looking hot as always! :)

Well, dd4 and I locked ourselves out of the house this morning. Luckily my van was unlocked and I have an extra key in it and I had my cell phone in my pocket. DH was almost to Yukon and turned around and met us downtown with a key. So dd4 and I got to walk all around the canal and see the new land run statues. It is so pretty down there. We really love it! I'm gonna take both of the girls after school if it's not raining again.

So, finally planted seeds in the garden yesterday. I planted watermelon, cucumber, yellow squash and zucchini. I just hope some of them grow. I still need to plant my tomato plants. Wish me luck!

UCO

Today dd17, dd4 and I headed to the University for a campus tour. It was nice and very informative. Dd4 did pretty well considering we walked around for about 2 hours. I carried her a few times....when the heck did she get soooo heavy???? Oh well, a little added exercise is always good! I really like the campus and dd17 is pretty excited about it. I'm sure she would rather have one of the apartments on campus instead of a regular dorm room but she's being a good sport about it. The apartments are a few thousand dollars more each year and I think dorm life could be quite fun. I hope she gets a nice, sane roomate. I"m pretty sure that is her biggest worry at this point. We ate lunch in the cafeteria and it was good. Dd17 said that she now totally understood the freshman 15....lol! So, I am very happy that she is getting to have the whole experience of college life. I think she's going to do great and can't wait to see her blow everyone away in her first college theatre performance!!!

Baby

Well, the baby is finally here! I'm sure Julie is thrilled! All I know is that it's a boy....not sure of the size yet. I'm sure I'll talk to her or Corey tomorrow.

to sell or not to sell...

So, we have our house in Texas still. I am thinking hard about whether or not we should try to hang on to the house. My husband wants to more than I do. I'm pretty sure that we could make enough from selling it to pay off basically everything we owe except our current mortgage. This move has not been easy for us financially and we are struggling with debt and trying to keep up with monthly payments. So, I kind of feel crazy for not selling that house and getting ourselves essentially debt free. Gotta figure out how to talk my husband into selling....not sure why we are hanging onto it as it won't really produce free and clear income for another 15-20 years. Make sense???? No, didn't think so.

Bon Jovi

My sister works with a few people who saw Jon Bon Jovi at a restaurant while in Nashville. Let me just say that if I just happened to run into him...there would be no pictures because I would probably be on the floor hyperventilating while he ran out of there!! Anyway, so one girl got her picture taken with him. The other women said that they lost respect for him b/c he grabbed the girls butt as they were taking the picture! Ummmmmm hello?????? First of all, why only one picture? What is wrong with these people? So, I have to say that if I was taking my picture with him and he touched me anywhere, much less my butt, I would faint! I would have to stop and say "could we just take the pic from the back and just keep your hand there"!!!!!! I would have to bring home proof of that or no one would ever believe me.

class

I went to my first class at the Y this morning. It is called body blast and is from 5:40-6:40. So, just in case you wondered if I was gonna be sore.....as I was turning my steering wheel to leave the parking lot...I could already feel the muscles in my arms just from that! If that is any indication I am not looking forward to tomorrow!!!

I really hate feeling betrayed....especially by someone that I love so dearly. It is so hard to be a stepmom and know the right ways to feel. Why in the world does life have to be so complicated and hard???

weekend

Well, after lots of hard work and help from the girls our pool is FINALLY clean. So, there are a few small holes in the liner that I"m gonna try to patch up. I hope that works b/c I don't have the money for a new liner right now. Need to get that done before it rains today AGAIN!!!

Soccer

DD9 had an awesome day today!! Her team won their soccer game this morning.....she scored the first goal and she lost a tooth! She is just thrilled as money from the tooth fairy is her only source of income at this point. :)

Life goals....

So, I found out yesterday that my kids do have life goals! That's so good to know. DD9 wants to be a kindergarten teacher and DD4 wants to be a fashion Bratz. Wow....to be young again!

So, American Idol is still on our must watch list....barely! I was sweating it a little b/c Blake was in the bottom three...which I still can't believe. I had decided that I was totally on strike from the show if he went home...which thankfully he didn't b/c Bon Jovi is gonna be on there and I can't miss that!!!! :) Natalie doesn't like Blake and thinks he looks like Charlie Brown! Ummm yes I said Charlie Brown! Well, I love Charlie Brown too!

My two girls that I hang with all day.

ZZZZZ...

Oh my Gosh.....I am sooooo tired. How in the world do people get up this early every day? I will never understand morning people.

Early wake up call...

Well I did it!! I am so proud of myself! I actually got up at 5am when my alarm went off...got dressed....drove to Nat's house and walked. All of these normal things are quite amazing for me to do at 5am. I am soooo not a morning person but I'm gonna try to change that. Now I just have to change myself to NOT be a night owl. I don't see how I can make morning person and night owl go together. It's so nice to start the day being proud of myself!! :)

Bon Jovi

Ok, so I can finally have my Bon Jovi action figure! What took so long??

Easter

We had a fun Easter! I don't even know how many times I hid eggs for the kids. I think they had more fun hiding them for the adults to find. We had a good afternoon. They were all pleased with their stuff from the Easter bunny! :) I am just so lucky to have my kids...dont' know what I'd do without them.

American Idol

Okay, so does anyone else think American Idol is as messed up as I do? I LOVED Gina and voted for her every week. We will still have fun watching to see who wins. Dd9 was worried that we wouldn't be able to watch it after she saw my face when Gina got voted off! LOL It was pretty funny! So, now we are Team Blake all the way!!! :)

1. What time did you get up this morning?
Around 8am

2. Diamonds or pearls?
diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
The Hills Have Eyes 2

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Grey's Anatomy

5. What did you have for breakfast?
shredded wheat cereal

6. What is your middle name?
Lea

7. What is your favorite cuisine?
Olive Garden, Dad’s fish, veggie pizza

8. What foods do you dislike?
onions and celery

9. What are your favorite chips?
Cheesy Doritos

10. What is your favorite CD at the moment?
My mix with all my favorites on it..The Fray, Brad Paisley and lots of others

11. What kind of car do you drive?
Minivan

12. Favorite sandwich?
Grilled cheese with fresh tomatoes

13. What are characteristics you can’t stand?
Cruelty, rudeness, selfishness

14. What are your favorite clothes?
capri’s and t-shirt

15. If you could go anywhere on vacation where would you go?
All over Europe. London, Paris, Greece, Rome, Finland.

Where is sixteen? Would I want to be 16 again?
No way!!!

17. Where would you want to retire?
Hopefully close to my kids and grandkids.

18. Favorite time of day?
night

19. Where were you born?
DeQueen, Arkansas

20. What is your favorite sport to watch?
I don’t really watch any.

21. Coke or Pepsi?
Coke

22. Beavers or ducks?
ducks

23. Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Definitely a night owl.

24. Pedicure or manicure?
pedicure

25. What did you want to be when you were little?
Photographer, Hair stylist

26. What is your best childhood memory?
Playing in the woods with my sisters, spending time with my Meema and Grandad and Mom running under me when she pushed me on the swing.

27. Ever been to Africa?
No

28. Ever been toilet papering?
no

29. Been in a car accident?
Yes.

30. Favorite day of the week?
Saturday

31. Favorite restaurant?
Olive Garden

32. Favorite flower?
Tulip

33. Favorite ice-cream?
chocolate

34. Favorite fast food restaurant?
Sonic

35. How many times did you fail your driver’s test?
none

36. From whom did you get your last e-mail?
don’t remember…probably Leslie.

37. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
Hmmm that’s a tough one….either Dillards or Best Buy.

38. Last person you went to dinner with?
My family

39. What are you listening to right now?
DD3 singing in her bed.

40. What is your favorite color?
blue

41. How many tattoos do you have?
none

42. How many are you sending this Email to?
none

43. What time did you finish this blog entry?
9:31 pm

44. Favorite magazine:
O or People

45. Coffee or tea?
tea

46. Do you tan easily or burn easily?
I burn then tan.

47. Do you color your hair?
Haven’t in a long time.

48. What was the first car you ever purchased without the help of your parents?
minivan

49. What is your most dreaded household chore?
dishes

Mermaid cake

So, we are having DD3's birthday today even though her birthday isn't until tomorrow. Tomorrow night Mom is being honored at a banquet so I will be there. Anyway, we are having a hodge podge kind of birthday....mermaid cake and unicorn everything else. Here is a picture of the cake and I"ll put more after the party.

My birthday

I had a nice birthday last Wednesday. We all went to Mom and Dad's for dinner, cake and presents. I got several nice things from everyone. I was really surprised at all they did. It was really nice.

Madeline's 9th Bday

DD20 and DD3
DD9 and DD17 dancing during High School Musical Game.
Slumber party games.
I love trick candles!! :)
DD9 loves her new scooter.

weekend..

Well, we had a busy week. Ds16 got his drivers license last Wednesday so that was pretty exciting!! (for him..lol) Dd9 had her slumber party Friday night. It was a lot of fun and the girls were all pretty good. I think they fell asleep around 3 am. So, probably not too bad for a slumber party. :) Dd20 came up for the weekend. It was so great to see her. Haven't seen her since Christmas. She gave me a bike and child seat for the back for my early birthday present. I have had a lot of fun with it. Dd3 has ridden with me twice. She likes it once she's on and we are going. Dd20 is soooo sweet and thoughtful about things. She's the greatest and I miss her terribly!! :( I wish she didn't have to grow up and move away yet...Selfish I know. But overall it was a great weekend. My birthday is Wednesday and I AM NOT looking forward to it. I haven't done most of what I wanted to achieve by this time in my life. Guess I need to get busy huh?

Well, let's see what I've been up to. Ds16's birthday was last Thursday the 15th. He will be getting his driver's license this Wednesday and is VERY excited!! Dd8 is having a slumber party this coming Friday so we are getting geared up for that. Her 9th birthday is Sunday the 25th. Yesterday, Mom, Nat, dd17 and I went to see the musical Man of La Mancha. It was pretty good. I was kind of confused at first but then got it (I think..lol). The music was great. I love going to the theatre. And dd17 especially loves it since she's a theatre girl herself.

Home Beauty Tips and Product information: Hairstyle Tips

Home Beauty Tips and Product information: Hairstyle Tips

three year olds

I am totally overwhelmed with my three year olds attitude this week. I guess it actually started to get worse last week but it's horrible. Stomping feet, yelling, slamming doors. I am going crazy!! I try so hard to not yell but I am failing miserably.

On another note, our birthday rush is about to start. We have one on the 15th, 25th, 28th, 30th, and 2 on April 2nd. Whew!! I am worn out just thinking about it all. So, I have 3 parties to plan, the first one being next week and I have done nothing!!!!!! I'd better get busy.

I came across this picture today of me at 3 years old and my little sister as a newborn. This is one of my favorite pictures ever! The poor little thing was already having to play doll and a little later had to play the dog(b/c she could only lay on the floor..lol) when we played school.

Leo

Here are a couple of pictures that I found today of Leo. I'm sure I have one of each of the kids riding him at some point, I'll just have to dig. The field was so empty without him today. :(

soccer

Well, soccer season is in full swing! The kids have me busier than ever these days. This is my weekly schedule right now: Mondays-dd3 dance class, Tuesday-dd8 soccer practice and ds15 soccer game, Wednesday-church, Thursday-dd3 soccer, Friday-ds15 soccer game, Saturday-dd3 and dd8 soccer games. Man, I'm worn out just typing it all....lol. It is so much fun to see them play though so it's worth it!

Leo

This morning Dad's horse Leo died. It will never be the same without him. We've had him since I was 8 years old and I'm now almost 34. I guess it just seemed like he would always be there. But he was not feeling well for a long time so I guess it's better for him.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West   Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
The South
North Central
The Inland North
The Northeast
Philadelphia
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Lent...

No idea yet what I'll be giving up. I thought about two things: sugar and Mt. Dew. But I think I love my family too much to do that to them...lol!! Man, I think they hate me sometimes now...

The Raw Diet????

So, I watched part of The Wife Swap last night. One family lived by the "raw diet". I had never heard of this but was kind of fascinated so I looked it up b/c I missed about 3/4 of the show. The diet is exactly what it says....raw. They don't cook anything. Raw beef and chicken. I just don't understand this at all. Am I crazy for thinking that that kind of eating would make you sick??? I mean, I grew up on a farm too but we did cook our food. Totally don't understand this one but think I could really lose some weight on it!!! LOL

Last week was a rough week. I finally cratered to the flu on Tuesday afternoon and didn't really get out of bed much until Friday. Not the best way to spend Valentine's day but didn't really have plans anyway. My husband brought me roses on Monday and they were really pretty. I am feeling quite stressed with a lot on my mind. This may be a long week!!

Working out

I just got home from my first trip to YMCA since I signed up. I had an appointment with one of the trainers. Everyone who signs up gets one. It was really fun. I started a 12 week program with her. I work out on my own and see her 3 more times (every 3 weeks). So, for the first 3 weeks I'm supposed to do only cardio. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical machine. Not too bad for my first time back to the gym in 6 months! I thought the first 5 minutes would kill me. It wasn't too bad after that. DD3 went to the playroom and had a great time. She was mad when it was time to go home. That makes all the difference in the world. If I thought she was in there crying I don't think I"d be able to enjoy myself. I'm hoping to try some classes soon and can't wait!!

more snow...

Well, we have pretty snow this morning! I love this kind of snow. It's pretty but not icy so far. Everyone was driving pretty slow this morning but the roads weren't bad yet. Hopefully they won't get too icy.

Well, my weekend was eventful...Natalie and I drove to Seagoville, TX to pick up furniture from our Aunt's house. So, I was a nervous wreck about driving a uhaul truck. It was a 17' truck and actually wasn't too bad after I got used to it. So, we had a long afternoon and evening of loading it up and then driving back home. We got home around 12:45 am. Then the unloading started at about 8am Sunday morning and went pretty much all day. I was soooo tired and my arms were sore by Sunday night. I was glad to have the truck returned on Monday and be done with it all.

Thirteen things I need to take more time to enjoy...

1) Conversations with my three year old daughter.

2) Getting to play with barbies.

3) My beloved Keeshond who is 12 1/2 years old.

4) A bright, sunny afternoon.

5) An afternoon nap with my daughter.

6) A good book that I can't put down.

7) My son learning to drive.....that's a hard one...lol.

8) Working out by myself.

9) My 8 year old daughter wanting to help me cook.

10) A long game of Monopoly with my kids.

11) My kids still wanting to hug me :)

12) Getting to spend my days with my 3 year old before she starts school this Fall.

13) A morning playing at the park with the kids and dogs.

My week so far...

This has been a good week so far. We had a great MOPS meeting yesterday. We had a child counselor who spoke to us about sibling rivalry. I got some good pointers to try in the very near future I'm sure. Took Taryn to a new storytime today and it was better than the one we had been going to. We got Taryn signed up for her new dance class that starts Monday. She is excited about that. I have actually kept the house clean everyday which is a major accomplishment. I've had out my flylady control journal trying to follow my daily plans at least 1/2 way. Anyway, I"m glad for the kids to be back at school and for feeling like I am getting back on schedule. :)

Miss Mollie Mae Curran

We have a new baby in our house. Her name is Mollie Mae and she is 3 1/2 months old. She is a full blood pomeranian. It is funny how she is so different than Lillie was. Where Lillie was a prissy little princess who pranced through the house...Mollie is more like a tomboy who runs funny and falls over herself...lol! She is such a funny little thing! We love her and I love hearing laughter in my house again. It is so good to hear the kids playing with her! It makes standing in the ice covered yard waiting for Mollie to go to the bathroom worth it.

School's out!!

Well, even though we are now covered in slush....one more day out of school. It is supposed to start snowing again tomorrow and snow all weekend. The weather man is saying that we should expect to get 4-10 inches. We have NEVER had 10 inches of snow!! Can't wait to make a snowman out of that!! What fun! :)

ICE!!!

Well today was the kids 3rd day out of school because of the icy roads. They are even getting stir crazy! We've been sledding the last 3 days in a row. It has been really fun to play in. I think today was the slickest day so far. This weekend we are supposed to get 3-6 inches of actual snow. That will be more fun for them to play in. All we have now is solid ice. Looking forward to another day of no school tomorrow....I think...lol! :)

This is our Christmas picture. I still don't have the one of the entire extended family....hopefully I will soon. I pointed out to Matthew (again) that he once again wasn't smiling...he wasn't in our Christmas pic from last year either...and he again told me that he was smiling on the inside!! LOL

Christmas

We had a great Christmas! It sure was over fast though. The kids all seemed to really like their presents. I tried really hard to get them things that they would really use instead of focusing on how many gifts they each had. We helped buy presents for 2 kids and one older woman off of the Salvation Army angel tree from the mall. When we were talking about it...my 3 year old daughter ran back to her room and gathered up her Bratz dolls to give away. It was so sweet.

I enjoyed seeing my sister and her kids. We always have a good time together. We did manage to take a family picture. I"ll post it on here later....still waiting for Mom to email them to me.

Lillie

Well, our precious little pomeranian Lillie passed away on Monday, December 4th. It has really hit us hard. She got sick the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. She threw up that afternoon but then started running around playing. So, thinking that dogs just do that sometimes...I assumed that it wasn't a big deal. Well, later that night she threw up again so Wednesday morning we took her to the vet. He gave her two kinds of medicine. When she still wasn't feeling better by Thursday afternoon I called him back. He told me to give her 1/2 teaspoon of water every hour. I did that all night....most of it came back up. Friday we were at the vet's office twice for shots to help with the nausea. For some reason, nothing was helping. Saturday morning he kept her at the office to get her hooked up to iv's because she was getting dehydrated. Monday morning I was there first thing (8am) very excited about possibly bringing her home and she had died at 5:00 that morning. To say I was devastated doesn't even begin to cover it. I have and am still having a hard time with people acting like and saying things like "she was just a dog". I know she was a dog....but we loved her so much. She was very much a member of our family. The kids are doing better but still having crying spells sometimes. It took a week or so for us to even want to be home because she was such a part of our life here. I think I will always miss her kisses and knowing that she would be waiting at the door for me when I came home. We all miss her terribly still and I think we always will...

Thanksgiving

So, Thanksgiving was pretty good. We were all at Mom and Dad's house. We have quite a crew when we're all together. It makes it fun though. It was so nice to not have to travel 3 hours this year.

Long time no blog....

Gosh so much has been going on I don't even know where to start. We had a good Halloween. Taryn dressed up at Dorothy and Madeline was a witch. Lots of trick or treating and candy. That was fun!

Hello again...

So, yep....it's been a while. So much has happened since I've written. It may take me a couple of posts to get it all down. We finally moved to Oklahoma on July 28th. We had awesome movers and they were a lifesaver!!! Moving is just so hard. There was still so much to do and get organized. So, we were in our new house for a week when Sean and I left for our cruise. It was soooo much fun! We spent our 10th anniversary in Cozumel. Wish we could do that every year. I'll put a few pictures on here later. We just got home from trick or treating and I'm worn out....I"ll write more tomorrow.

Ok, it's been forever since I've written on here. A lot has happened in the last month. We have finally found a house after looking at too many to even count. Our closing date is July 28th. I am anxious to get moved and settled in. We are having movers so that will be different.

Oh...this is my first attempt at sewing something since 9th grade !! She likes the dress so I guess that's what matters! I was proud of myself for actually making it though! Go me!! :)

Well I went ahead and opted to try getting a couple of shots in my shoulder. Hopefully that will help a lot. I got my first one a week ago and it has helped quite a bit. The shot itself wasn't nearly as bad as the last time I had one...maybe because I knew what to expect this time!

Mother's Day was a great day. Matthew gave me some of his own money towards my 3 day walk and a dozen roses. He is sooooo sweet!! Megan gave me a beautiful bracelet with everyone's birthstones on it. I love it! Madeline made me some really cute things and Shannon took care of Taryn for me. Sean took care of lunch, dinner, dessert and anything else that I wanted. I actually got to sit on the couch and watch a movie (Breakfast at Tiffany's) by myself!! It was GREAT!!! :)

The house that we thought we wanted ended up not being such a good deal after all. It needed a lot of work....more than we were prepared to do. So, back to the house hunting adventure. It is so very interesting to see what ideas people have for their houses. We have looked at so many houses now that we've really seen some interesting and strange things.

Well, I'm off to fun day at my daughter's elementary school. They have bounce houses, music blaring, food and all of that stuff. That mixed with K-2nd graders should be a BLAST! Wish me luck...

shoulder update...

Got my MRI results today. Basically they said that I have tendonitis and/or a small tear. So, I got my first of 2 cortizone shots. I HATE THOSE!!!! Anyway, if the second one doesn't help in a few weeks I guess it'll be surgery of some kind? I hope not. :(

Update

Well, it's been forever since I've had time to write.
A couple of weekends ago I spent an amazing couple of days in Washington D.C. with my Mom. We had a GREAT time!! These are a couple of my favorite pictures. What an awesome city!!!
Only a week left of school so the kids are getting really excited. I think we finally found a house that we all love so that's very good news!!! Well, gotta run...I"ll write more later.

Weekend

Well, I have been so busy. We went to Oklahoma last Thursday evening and came home late Saturday night. We did Easter stuff there on Sunday and had my Mom's birthday dinner and stuff. Her birthday was Sunday. Easter was a lot of fun. The kids and I had water gun and water balloon fights! We were all soaked and had a blast!! Oh yeah...fun news! I am going to Washington D.C with Mom on the 28th through the the 1st. I can't wait! So far I have a pretty long list of everything that I want to do. I don't think we'll be sleeping much. I went there on a school trip when I was 11 or so but never as an adult. So, it will be so much fun to see everything and actually appreciate what I'm seeing. I hope we can get in to see the White House.

Ear update...

Sunday I checked the back of Madeline's ear to see how it looked. Well, to my surprise I saw metal in the hole!! So, after holding her down screaming and arguing with the doctor about whether or not it was in there...that earring back was still in her ear!! Needless to say I was pretty mad about it! We had an appointment to go back to the dr. yesterday because of her running a fever all weekend. Come to find out..that was because she has strep. The doctor (a different one) told us to just see if we can work the earring back out of her ear ourselves at home so we don't have to put Madeline through that again. She is busy pushing on her ear trying to get that back out of there! I agreed to give it a couple of days to see if that would work. I sure hope so! She gets to go back to school tomorrow. I just hope no one else around here gets sick with strep.

Taryn

I measured Taryn a couple of days ago and she has grown 1 1/4 inches since February 28th!! Man, no wonder she's eating so much lately!!!

Taryn and Momma

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things that are on my table (how in the world do we ever eat there???) 1 A hammer I used last night. 2 Paper easter eggs that my daughter and I decorated with glitter yesterday. 3 Other daughters spelling and vocabulary lists for school. 4 Apple scented candle 5 Vanilla scented candle 6 Easter egg candy dish 7 Princess cup with flowers in it that my 3 yr old picked outside this morning. 8 Plastic deer 9 Sunglasses 10 Little people farm toys 11 Digital camera 12 Cell phone 13 Newspaper I carried in this morning. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)


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3 yr olds

I have had quite a few interesting conversations today with my 3 year old. They have consisted of...why do we have a house?....why is Lillie a dog?....why do we have a head?...and so many more that I can't even think of them all right now. I love to see her mind working and thinking about everything so hard! She is such a great kid! I LOVE getting to spend my days with her and seeing her learn so many new things instead of a babysitter. I am so very blessed to have a husband who works so hard to make that possible. :)

Ears

Yesterday Madeline came home from school telling me that her ear was hurting. Well, I looked at it and thought it just looked like it had a small bite on the side of it and didn't think much else of it. Well, this morning as I was putting her hair up, I noticed a huge scab on the back of that earring and the entire side of her ear was swollen. After serious struggling, I got the scab off. I couldn't see the back of the earring. I thought it was inside of her ear. So, this afternoon we went to the doctor so she could check it out. She basically said that Madeline wasn't leaving there with the earring in her ear. As soon as Madeline heard this, the very LOUD crying started! After sitting for 30 minutes with numbing cream on the front and back of the ear, it took 4 of us to hold Madeline down for the doctor to take the earring out. She was screaming like I've only heard in a horror movie!! Who knew that an 8 yr old could be so strong! What a horrible experience for both of us (more for her obviously). That was right up there with watching her cry as they wheeled her down the hall to have surgery. What an awful feeling. So, after all of that Madeline now has no earring in and 2 weeks of antiobiotics to take. Yuck! Not a great afternoon to say the least!

Family update...

Just a quick update on the kids...Megan is still working at Tia's and really likes it. She is more than ready for the summer and no school! She is still my sweet little Megan (most of the time..lol). Oh yeah, she wants to start going by her middle name...Elizabeth. I just can't seem to make myself call her that. It feels completely unnatural.

Shannon was going to be in the one act play for UIL contest at school. We were excited about that and then.....report cards :0 She failed algebra. So, needless to say, she didn't get to be in the play. She was so upset. Her next play is Sleeping Beauty. Can't wait to see her in that. I am really proud of the young woman she has become. She is really good on stage. She has come a long way from being quiet, shy little Shannon.

Matthew just finished up his first high school soccer season. They lost their last game by one point. He was bummed about that. He played really well. Now they are running and "conditioning" in class. He is coming home very tired and sore.

Madeline is learning to play basketball with our new basketball goal. She really likes that so maybe that will be her sport.

Taryn is busy being a horse or dog most of the day. She just goes nonstop all day long. Some days it's hard to keep up. Thank goodness she still takes a nap! She is really into horses right now as you can tell from her bday party pics. It is so funny to see her imagination working like it does. My baby is really growing up so fast! There are some days that I miss her being small enough to sleep on my shoulder or on my chest. I miss that snuggling....and then I remember the yucky diapers and am grateful we are done with those!

Sean is still in Okla. during the week. I really miss him. It's strange to be here by myself with the kids all week. He gave me the new basketball goal for my birthday. I thought it was so sweet for him to think of it. I had been saying that I wanted one to play with the kids on for a while now. The last time I was in Okla. I played basketball with my nieces and nephews. Sean said that as soon as he saw how much fun I was having, he decided to get me one. I love thoughtful gifts like that!

Weigh In

Well, I was super nervous about my weigh in today. I have not done so well on the diet for the last couple of weeks. I was happily surprised that my weight had stayed exactly the same. At least I didn't gain any! :)

Taryn's birthday!

Taryn opening her presents (her horse ears had no hair) lol!!

Cake time!!

After bobbing for an apple, Taryn ate hers like a true horse!

This horse is winning the race!

Her horse cake.

Madeline's birthday!

Miss Hilary Duff in concert!

Madeline getting her Hilary tickets.

Her hot dog and french fries cake (her favorite foods).

Madeline is 8 years old!!!

Birthday parties

Taryn is turning 3 tomorrow. I can't believe it! I feel really old right now. She is having a horse party. I have made a horse cake and am working on headbands with horse ears and mane...and also tails for the kids to wear. We are bobbing for apples and playing a carrot drop game. I hope the kids have fun. I"ll put pics on here later tomorrow.