This lady ROCKS!

On my way home from our playgroups Valentine Party today, I noticed this van speed past me with something written across the side window. After reading only the first line, (she was SO FAST!) I knew I had to catch this van and read the rest of the message. I put the pedal to the metal, my spedometer reaching almost 90 mph, with Alex in the back seat chanting "FASTER MOMMA, FASTER!" So FINALLY, I catch this speed demon so I can finally finish reading what I started....Thankfully, we were on our way from the party so I happend to have my camera in the seat next to me.












Holy Guacamole, is it just me, or is that lady holding up a gas station bottle of wine!!????

Frabinaster!

I was supposed to have my Mark back after midnight sometime tonight. Looks like no hubby for me until at least Friday. :(

Mister JetBlue says:

**Due to a winter weather system in the Northeast, some JetBlue flights to and from New York City (JFK, LaGuardia, Stewart and Newark, NJ), Boston, Washington D.C. and Upstate New York (Rochester and Buffalo) may be delayed or cancelled. Please check the status of your flight online.**

Jamie says: FRABINASTER!

Wordless Wednesday # 5

See Valentine post below.

Happy Valentines Day My Love!

His other siblings...

Feeding the dog is Alex's job. I didn't realize that we were almost out of dog food this evening, so as I'm cooking dinner I hear little guy yell "There's not enough dog food!" I yell back "Ok, ok, don't worry about it, I'll divy it up in a minute!" I hear a faint 5 year old mumble in the distance, some kibbles fall and turn my attention back to the little guy talking to the 105 pound Dudley, "Ok, Dudley, now don't forget to share."

February 13, 2007

A few things for the memory bank that I saw today:

Alex icing heart shaped cookies, and then pouring (not to be confused with sprinkling) sprinkles on top.
Ashley's heartshaped tin full of colorful cupcakes to be delivered to her class...and then the afterthought that items with no nutritional value are not allowed at school. OOPS. I secretly hope they make it back home. At least a few. ;)
Alex filling his Valentine goodie bags for all of his friends.
Alex's filling out his very first Valentine cards.
Two sweet kiddos playing together like best friends. The excitement of Valentines Day can do wonders!
My pajamas...that I stayed in ALLLL day long. I knew there had to be SOMETHING positive about Mark being in New York.
Mark's Valentine. I've probably watched it 20 times by now. It just makes me so warm inside when I see my strong, sturdy husband in such vulnerable, precious ways. He IS so amazing, and I finally found a way to convey that to him. Finally. I love him so.


Posted by Jamie Says at 11:11 PM

Taking The Long Way - WoooHooo!

Dixie Chicks went five for five lastnight at the Grammy Awards winning Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year, as well as Best Country Album and Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group.

Yahooo!!! They did it!!

February 20th Shut Up and Sing comes out on DVD.

Here's the trailer:

WeekEND

It's only Sunday morning, but my weekend just officially ended. Markypoo just left for New York. I'm sad. I miss him already. Three days was just not enough.

Lastnight we went on our Valentines Date to see Making Love in Public at the Dougherty Arts Center I have mixed reviews on the performance. If you can get past the stinch of body odor from half of the two man show, it was mildly entertaining. This romantic comedy portrays 5 couples thoughts and experiences at a relationship retreat. It was sweet, it was funny, it was a reminder of how normal our reltionships really are. The two cast members did an incredible job playing all 10 roles, but the message was not profound. Good, but not profound. Ultimately, we didn't go to watch some smashing performance, we went to be together, to sit in the same room, interlock arms and just enjoy a little adult entertainment. That alone was worth far more than the twenty bucks we spent on tickets.

I miss you Mark.

Photo Hunters #4 "Broken"

These were taken this summer on the side of I-35 somewhere between here and Plano. Mark was laying under the truck about 3 feet away from the passing cars in the DARK.

Wordless Wednesday #4

Yay Ashley!

Go here:
Pickett PTA and then click in the upper left where it says "What's happening now". Notice any familiar names?

Old Friends

Saturday night, all the forces of the universe aligned and Skye, Dana and I were once again in the same room. As kids, this was no rare occurrence, and in fact, for us to NOT be in the same room was more of a rarity than anything. We were, as my parents always said "attached at the hip". I still have some first memories of meeting the both of them... 2ND grade lunch.... Skye and her incredible talent for making kids laugh so hard their milk came out of their nose (true story). Those days when the net heads served mashed potatoes were highly anticipated by most. I still can't eat mashed potatoes and not picture 8 year old Skye with an open mouth full of squishy mashed taters and a table full of giggling girls. It's memories like these that make me see how much I miss being a kid. When I'm going through my memory file, the first thing I see is our table laughing hysterically, and then I see the reason for our laughter and realize how happy we must have been to laugh that hard, for that long, at something as simple and ridiculous as a mouth full of mashed potatoes. What I would do to find something so simple, so hysterical again. And on those very special days, there was Dana, laughing so hard she pee her pants (more than once, that was a true story). The three of us have somehow managed to always come back to each other. Growing up, we made new friends, sharing most, keeping some for our own, but all the while keeping our friendship on a very short leash. To this day, if someone from school sees me, their pleasantries are almost always followed by asking how Skye and Dana are. And for 21 years now, I have ALWAYS been able to answer.

Saturday, we celebrated Skye's 30Th birthday. The party was also for David and Mazi, who were also celebrating their 30Th, so it was a pretty big party. At some point, the three of us ended up escaping to a back room, alone, where we entered a time machine that took us back some 21 years. Suddenly, we were once again finishing each others sentences, and I was discovering that after all these years, those memories that I (and I'm sure each of them) thought that only I held on to, belonged to two other people as well. Without hesitation, we reverted back to those 10 year olds giggling and snorting and half peeing in our pants as the world around us somehow just disappeared. Along with the manners and niceties, the stress and worry of the "real stuff" was left at the door of our rusty time machine. For a moment in time Dana's worries about filing for divorce disappeared. Skye's heartache over loosing her dad, and her grandma, and her fear of being single and kidless at 30 disappeared too. What we were left with was the core of who we are, or maybe it was just a piece of who we are without the fog of all the years getting in the way of what we once were. Whatever it was, it was perfect. It was our moment.

As much as we wanted to stay back in that time machine and just go on forever reminiscing and catching up, we knew we had people to mingle with, obligations to fulfill, and new friends to think about, but before we parted we made a pact. With tears in our eyes, we vowed to pick up the phone more often, and never let go of what we have. I know that our lives will go on just as they always have, each on our separate paths, with our separate friends and the occasional phone call. We won't do Sunday lunch, and we won't call each other when someone cuts us off, or when one of our kids is driving us nuts, or at any other time when normal life happens. We'll probably call one of our new friends, maybe our new best friend. But what's so amazing about a friendship like ours is that's ok. That's us, and like always, that leash will always be short, and I will ALWAYS know how they're doing. And I will always see mashed potatoes in a way that only the three of us will ever understand.

Happy Birthday my friend.

Photo Hunters #3 "Gross"

My lil puddin' pie

One for the Money

Last night I finished my first Janet Evanovich novel, One for the Money. This is the first book of many in her Stephanie Plum series. A friend of mine recommended the series, I was very skeptical due to the fact that I've never even picked up a crime fiction novel. This just further proves to me that I need to step outside of myself and try new things. I would have never imagined that I'd be hooked on a crime fiction novel! I can't WAIT to go get my hands on the next book in the series "Two for the Dough".

I've worked over 9 hours today (can you say child neglect) and I have a 5 year old litterally pulling me out of my chair screaming "PLAY-WITH-MEEEEE!" Gotta run.

It's their day!

Today is the 2nd anniversary of Mark and Ashley's special day. The day Ashley was officially adopted by Mark and she became an "official" Urben. Ashley has been talking about today for weeks and anticipating their special time together. Last year she got to stay home from school and the two of them spent the day together. This year, Mark didn't say a word to her about it, he had plans up his sleeve. Last night before bed when Mark was tucking her in she said "Daddy, you know tomorrow is February 1st?" Mark had his plan and didn't want to spoil it, so he says "Yeah, January sure did go by fast!" Poor girl, she must have been so sad. She told us weeks ago that we should maybe celebrate on the weekend since she's missed so much school this year. This morning she went off to school without a spoken word. I later found out that the plan worked, she thought we all forgot. Mark showed up to pick her up from school around 10 this morning. She had no idea. Mark took her for donuts and then they met us at the library, checked out some books, then they went ice skating, had lunch and went to Build-A-Bear to make a special bear. They made him together, he has two hearts, one from Mark and one from Ash. They made him together and picked out his little skater clothes together too. They went to a few other places and just had some wonderful time together. It's so hard to believe that it's only been 2 years. He's been daddy since before she could even remember, so 2 years is nothing but a formality, but still a very special day to celebrate two of my most favorite people in this whole world.

This evening Alex informed me that he really, really, really wanted to be adopted too. <> What ever are we going to do with this boy.

Wordless Wednesday #3

January 30, 2007

Daddy, Alex, Grams, Pops and I sat in the Performing Arts Center at the High School and watched Miss Ashley receive her award for advancing to Area in the Visual Arts category for the Reflections contest. She got the biggest ribbon she's ever received, and I'm sure there's a special place on her wall reserved for it. This years theme was "My favorite place". Ashley drew a picture of her view from horseback.

Ash and I went to our first girls High School Basketball game together tonight. Just the two of us. We watched Varsity go in to overtime and win by 1 whopping point. We were on the edge of our seats and that last few minutes we could't even sit, it was an incredibly exciting game. I thought it was pretty special that Ash opted to sit with me instead of all of her friends. I didn't mind if she had decided to sit with them, in fact, I fully expected it, but I thought it was pretty special when she came back over, sat in front of me and leaned back, wrapped her arms around my legs and watched the game with me. I wonder how much longer I have to enjoy this. :)

That I Would Be Good

This song has always been such a positive force for me. When I'm down, listening to this really helps me dig my way out.

Alanis morissette - that i would be good (unplugged)





that I would be good even if I did nothing
that I would be good even if I got the thumbs down
that I would be good if I got and stayed sick
that I would be good even if I gained ten pounds

that I would be fine even if I went bankrupt
that I would be good if I lost my hair and my youth
that I would be great if I was no longer queen
that I would be grand if I was not all knowing

that I would be loved even when I numb myself
that I would be good even when I am overwhelmed
that I would be loved even when I was fuming
that I would be good even if I was clingy

that I would be good even if I lost sanity
that I would be good
whether with or without you

She's back!!

Our favorite Golden is back for a visit this week!!! Joe is having some work done on the house and will have workers in and out all week. We are so happy to have our step-dog Ally back...even if it just for a short time.

I wonder if we should get our joint custody documented? ;)

CHM Carnival Topic: What parts of yourself do you hope that your child gets?

Another good topic to ponder.

There are so many things I want for my children, but in reality I haven't ever really imagined these things as pieces of myself...but I suppose they are.

Here goes...

• I hope that they both have a very strong sense of family.

• I hope they will have self confidence...it has taken me a looong time to learn this, but hopefully I can show them what I have learned and they can pass me up with an even stronger sense of self confidence.

• I so, so, hope they both continue to have a sense of humor, because no matter what happens in life, a sense of humor will ALWAYS help you get through those bumps in the road.

• I hope Ashley learns how a husband should treat his wife. I hope that I set a good example of balance in a relationship.

• I hope they both learn that kindness and empathy are essential in all relationsips and that both of these will make their lives fruitful.

• I hope they both turn out to be free thinking individuals that don't follow the paths of others without reason.

• And lastly, I hope they learn from their mistakes, and mistakes, there will be a-plenty.

Cranium Family Fun

A few days ago I mentioned my Latest treasure, a game by Cranium called Family Fun. We played it for the first time tonight, and I have to say, this is our new favorite game. The box says ages 8 and up, but Alex is 5 and did fine with me as a partner. Some of it was a little advanced, but nothing we couldn't work around. Basically, there are four different categories and within each category are several different challenges to be completed as a team. You're either drawing, writing, molding, thinking or acting....possibly more. This game is fun for the whole family. We love Cranium games, but this was the best yet.

Crazy old lady from Austin on Ellen...too funny!

This was just too funny not to share.

Photo Hunters #2 "Silver"

Another treasure!

Ok, so my second favorite thrift store EVER, is The Caring Place. Love, love, love to rumage through this store.

Yesterday I found another treasure:

Cranium Family Fun Game
Brand Spankin New, still wrapped in original plastic
Amazon - $19.99
TCP - $3.50

Wordless Wednesday #2

Who's your favorite Role Model and Why?

Yes, I'm posting this early...free time, I take it whenever I can get it.
Crazy Hip Blog Mama's Carnival Topic of the week:
Who's your favorite Role Model and Why

Ok, I'm starting this off, without even knowing who this is. I have ALWAYS struggled with this, so when I read that this would be my first Carnival topic EVER, I rolled my eyes and thought AS IF!? This is all about growth though right? Practice writing, practice connection, it's all part of the "plan". So here goes.

Role Model - a person whose behavior in a particular role is imitated by others.
**Cringe*** Ok, my favorite role model in life, not as a mom, not as wife, but as a whole person would have to be my stepmom. My stepmom has played a very active loving role in my life since I was 4 years old. I was your typical kid, and found every opportunity to criticize that role as stepmother and taunted her with the typical mouthy remarks like "you're not my mother!", "but my mom lets me!" etc. The list of lines I wish I could take back is long. I guess it was around the time I had a daughter of my own that I realized how invested this woman was in me, not as the daughter of my father, but as a person. She treated me as her own, and despite my awful behavior at times, stood her ground, and vowed to be a positive role model in my life, even if meant loosing out on a mother-ish daughter relationship. She didn't kiss my ass to make right by my father. She loved me to make right by my father, and with that came rules (plenty of them) and expectations. I look back now and realize that there was never a time in my life when her best interests came before mine. She taught me that honesty is always the answer, and that everyone has their own story. She has always played devils advocate, or so it seemed to the inexperienced kid that I was. If someone screwed up, she always talked me through what they might be going through, or the reason why they might have treated me they way they did (much to my dismay at times). She taught me to give people the benefit of the doubt, and that sometimes you have just have to walk a mile in someones shoes, and sometimes that's just not possible, and you just have to accept it and move on. She's taught me how to give unconditionally, accept gracefully, and how doing both as often as possible will make your life so much richer.

Gosh, I could really go on and on about all that I have learned from her, and why she's such a positive role model in my life, there's just so much she's done to help mold me in to the person I have and will become. She's taught me so much, and continues to do so. I figure if I'm going to be half the person she is, I have a LONG way to go, and she has a LOT more teaching to do.
:)

South Padre...red faced Nana with her margarita! Nana always gets a little silly after just a few sips. The best entertainment around.



Nana and sweet baby Keller


Nana with Kel at Ashley's 10 Birthday party

Caution: bragging mom ahead, PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Ok, so Alex and I do a lot of fun learning activities together, and with that has come math. I've always noticed that he's had a knack for math, he's always just "got it". The concept seems to come very natural. So yesterday during our busy errands, we're driving down the road, he's in his carseat and out of the blue he says "momma, I know what 20 minus 10 is."
me: "Oh really!"
A: "yeah, it's 10!"
me: "Wow, Alex, that's excellent. So who taught you that?" (cause it wasn't me)
A: "Oh no one."
me: "Wow, you are just sooo smart!" I say, while in my head I just KNOW there's no way he's figured this out on his own... we do math, but haven't even touched on subtraction. Sure it has come up, but only in a very practical sense.
A: "I know 10 plus 10 is twenty, so that means 20 minus 10 is 10."
me: <<>> "WHAT!?"
A: "Yeah, and 10 minus 5 is 5 because 5 plus 5 is 10."
me: <<>>
A: "And 2 minus 1 is 1 because 1 plus 1 is 2."
me: "Holy cow Alex, that is excellent!"
A: "Am I right?"

The kid goes on and on to tell me more and more subtraction and with every answer, explaining how he came up with the answer.

Looks like we're going to have to start searching for his real parents too.

January 22, 2007

Watched as my sons momma-botched haircut was finally laid to rest. I took Alex to Mark's new favorite barber shop. Yes, it's a BARBER SHOP. So Quaint. I went on a weekday in the morning, because everyone knows that most hair places are dead at that time. I walked in at about 10:30 in the morning and every single seat was taken, but one, including the waiting area. Every elderly man within a 5 mile radius was sitting in that room waiting for a hair cut, and every one of those heads turned and watched as this young woman and her 5 year old walked in. This was quite an experience. Just imagine a large hallway, with 4 barber chairs making up the entire length of the shop, and across from these chairs, just an arms reach away are about 10 "waiting chairs". This little place was just adorable! I felt like I walked in to a time machine. I saw old bottles of talc, straight razors and the neatest little old fashioned shaving cream dispensers ever. At one point it occoured to me that there was no chance this place had a credit card machine...thankfully I brought my check book. I went ahead and asked to be sure they accepted checks. The man says "yeah, we had a fancy dressed lady walk in one day and asked if we took Visa, I laughed and said, lady, have you looked around? We just discovered cash, up until now we used the barter system." This was pure entertainment. I listened to good ol boys talk about the weather, one man talking about what I can only guess must have been some sort of tractor award. I'm still confused about that one. Even Alex was entertained. I had to hush him once when an old man a few chairs down began to snore. What a trip. I was a little sad to leave only to discover I really did drive a minivan there, and the streets were, in fact, paved. I guess this wasn't a time machine afterall. Bummer.

Taekwando hurt today. Ashley is sure enjoyin this stuff though. She's very serious about it and most times, she's the only little voice you hear yell out "YES SIR!" She's got her Taekwando grunt/noise down too. Yaaaa!

The New 9+ million dollar Georgetown library is complete. It's gorgeous. The childrens area is about 4 times bigger than Leander's old library.

A must read

I was up way too late lastnight finishing
Conversations with the Fat Girl Full on chic-lit, but well worth the read. It's very rare that I can come up with enough time to actually finish a book these days, sleep is precious you know, but with this one I had no choice. It called out to me. I couldn't wait to lay in bed and soak up Liza's painfully witty account of life as the "Fat Girl". Of course, we never even find out how fat she really is...for all we know she could have an awful self image and be a size 8. That makes it all the more interesting.

January 21, 2007

It's Sunday, family dinner night. We had lettuce wraps with rice, spring rolls, egg rolls and of course fried rice noodles. One of the kids favorites. We always look forward to Sunday dinners with Grams and Pops...and it's extra special now that Jason is here too.

The smell of pine needles is now gone. Just shy of one month later and our tree is finally out the door!

We're really enjoying the new lighting in the kitchen. It's amazing what $30 can do to a kitchen. Lighting can really make such a huge difference in the feel of a room. We did rope lighting on top and some under the counter lights. It's an amazing difference, a much more peaceful feel.

Photo Hunters #1 "Wild"

Photo Hunters theme this week is "Wild".

Hiiii Yaaahhh!

As in chop suey, white cotton scrubby outfits, and rainbow belts.

Ash and I started Taekwando together today. Well actually the first 8 weeks are more of a self defense class, but after that if she's still interested I'll keep her in it and I'll take the kickboxing class they offer at the same time. It was a really fun class, even though I managed to screw up once again and got us there 15 minutes late. Who starts a class at 6:15 anyway??? 6:30 was much more logical in my mind, so my mind chose to remember the wrong time. Yes, I have a planner. No, I didn't right it down. Shame on me! Maybe if I put the start time in my BLOG I'll actually remember it, since I do look at my blog a heck of a lot more than my planner. I'm hopeless.

So our instructor gave us an assignment due next week.
Our assignment: Make a list of all we hope to accomplish in this lifetime. Wow! That's big. Maybe I'll blog it. Maybe if I'm allowed, I'll blog Ashley's too.

January 18, 2007

It was a Carnation Canned breakfast and lunch kinda day.

Things I saw today:

Those beautiful sparkly icecycles hanging from all things horizontal began to fall today. Good bye Texas Blizzard. :(

Taekwando instructor, very nice sight, very young man. Very sick me. ;)

My little girl breaking a board in Taekwando. ME breaking a board in Taekwando.

And a whoooole lot of nothing else considering my part time work from home job turned in to a full time, neglect the sweet little person you decided to stay home for job. Tomorrow son, tomorrow we will play. (Cats in the Cradle theme music? ...nah, just a bad day for sweet little person)

January 17, 2007

I fixed my darling daughters hair today. She has her very first "salon do" with highlights taboot. I tried to teach her how to fix it herself, but secretly I want to be her stylist forever. I know this won't last long, adolesence is creeping up on us and the day will come when touching her hair is forbidden. Adolesence: I can see it in the shadows, but I refuse to awknoledge it's presence.

Alex and I did some science experiements today. We got to handle our poly-something-or-another crystals, which are no longer crystals, but instead squishy substances. Very interesting. Alex is very passionate about science these days, so passionate that we were up until 10:30 lastnight doing experiments. Fun stuff.

I took some shots of our "blizzard" and the remnants of the ice storm. Surprisingly, we didn't loose any large limbs. I'm very thankful for that.

I was somehow talked in to watching American Idol this evening. What a complete waste of an evening. It amazes me what passes for entertainment...and even more so what entertains my daughter.

Every day when Mark comes home from work, it is routine for me to greet him and snuggle him for a minute or two. It always amazes me how he can spend an entire day at work and come home with that knock your socks off scent, still smelling as fresh as he did that morning. I always hug him just long enough to close my eyes and while forgetting the day, take a deep breath, and inhale what I missed while he was away.

Wordless Wenesday #1

REAL white stuff!

It snowed! It really, really snowed! Big white fluffy flakes fell for hours today and I have proof.

SNOW! January 16, 2007

All iced in again

From KVUE: A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect for Central Texas through Wednesday afternoon. Sleet and freezing rain have been falling this morning across much of our area. With temperatures already below freezing, much of this is sticking to roads. Trucks continue to sand bridges and overpasses as wet, freezing weather holds the area in its grasp.

Unfortunately, when you work from home, ice days don't give you a day off. Bummer. That is, UNLESS you can finagle a way to put off today what you're sure can be done tomorrow.

On the agenda for today:
1. Bake cookies with the kids.
2. Eat cookies with the kids.
3. Make hot cocoa with the kids.
4. Drink hot cocoa with the kids.
5. Slide down the icy street a few times and hope to stay in one piece with the kids.
6. Read my book by the fire, alone.

What I really should be doing today:
1. Writing four easements that are due by Thursday.
2. Mopping and vacuuming the trapped-indoors-due-to-bad-weather furry floors the dogs have created the past few days.
3. Cleaning up the trapped-indoors-due-to-bad-weather mess the kids have created the past few days.

White stuff

Couldn't sleep this morning, I suppose it had something to do with the change in weather. Ok, I guess I don't just "suppose"...I'll confess, I'm a child at heart, the thought that snow might blow through while I lay sleeping weighed heavily on my mind. That along with pitter patter of sleet on the deck out back. I tried so hard to go back to sleep, but my mind continued to throw visions of snow covered trees my way. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer, I had to go see. I peeled the warm covers back and stepped in to the bitter air as I tiptoe-ran to the window to see what mother nature had in store. Yes, there is white stuff! Snow, I don't know, and I guess it doesn't matter. White stuff is all I hoped to see and white stuff there was a-plenty. I ran back to bed, after murmering something to sleeping Mark, in hopes that maybe I could share this with someone. :) I guess I woke him, and if it wasn't for my chattiness, I'm sure he would have dozed off immediately, but nevertheless, I am a native Austinite, and by golly if it's white out there, this girls-a-chattin. Sweet Mark, never misses a beat, he did what he had to do, listened to me yammer about whatever there is to yammer about in the wee hours of a white morning and eventually I fell back asleep.

Today was a lazy white day. It turns out the white stuff was, in fact sleet, not snow, but it'll do. We still have a 40% chance all day today and tomorrow, so there's a little hope left. School is cancelled for tomorrow, and Ashley's plan for Kelly to get iced in at our house panned out just like she hoped. Gotta love the bad weather days. It wasn't that long ago that I remember planning my own little "get iced in" scheme with Dana and Skye. Brings back some great memories.

Dear Fox: Please don't cancel this show!

My new Favorite TV show: Til Death

Mark and I finally sat down to watch for the first time last night and we laughed our butts off. Or at least we should have. It took a while before we allowed ourselves to laugh out loud. Secrets were revealed, so some laughter had to be contained in order to protect the innocent. This is an amazingly witty and frighteningly truthful depiction of the comparison between newlyweds and not so newlyweds. Ladies and Gents, the truth is out. PLEASE WATCH, this show CANNOT GET CANCELLED!!



From Fox.com:
Why do they say all that stuff at weddings about “sickness and health, richer or poorer, ‘til death do you part?” They say it because at some point, you’ll both get sick, you very well might be poor, and you’ll never sleep with anyone else ever again … because you’re going to be with each other until you die.

Doesn’t marriage sound fun?

‘TIL DEATH is a comedy about long-married couple EDDIE (Brad Garrett) and JOY STARK (Joely Fisher), who are closing in on day 9,000 of their marriage and have the battle scars to prove it. Their new next-door neighbors are young newlyweds STEPH (Kat Foster) and JEFF WOODCOCK (Eddie Kaye Thomas) – idealistic, passionate, adorable and married for a matter of days. It’s a show about new marriage versus old marriage, about keeping the romance alive – or at least staying together so you have someone to drive you to the hospital for your operations.

Eddie is a cynical realist who considers himself an expert on most topics. A high school history teacher, he’s learned well the lessons of history and applies the basic principles to his marriage: all fights are about power, land and resources. A veteran of the marriage wars, Eddie freely gives his advice to the younger, idealistic Jeff, who’s the new vice principal at Eddie’s school. Of course, Eddie’s little secret all along is that he loves Joy more than anything. And however brash and sardonic Joy herself appears, she loves Eddie right back.

From Sony Pictures Television, ‘TIL DEATH was written by real-life husband and wife Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa (“The King of Queens,” “What Women Want,” “13 Going On 30”), who also serve as executive producers. They look forward to being together ‘TIL DEATH.

Report Cards

After Ashley's first basketball game yesterday we took her for a celebratory lunch at the location of her choice. Her choice? Luby's. Straight A's once again. Not a simple feat, even for a 5th grader. This was a tough 8 weeks for her, she had 10 absences, more than she's ever had in an entire school year, possibly 2 years combined. Yet she was responsible enough to ask for her makeup work and get it done. She's turning in to such a responsible, intelligent kid.

We're still trying to find her real parents. ;)

Bittersweet Goodbyes

Today Joe came to take sweet Ally back. I already miss sweet Ally Baby Girl so much, it's just not the same without her.

Basketball

Ash had her first practice lastnight. She did so well. A little nervous at first, but that's to be expected. By the end of the night she had relaxed and was having a good time. She's one of only three 5th graders on the team, all of the other girls are in the 6th grade, very experienced and all knew one another, so her antimidation was only natural. She really is such a good sport, she goes out there and just keeps on truckin despite being inexperienced and knowing no one. I was so proud of her! Her first game is Saturday, and she's so excited that she wore her uniform to school today.

She has informed me that after basketball season she really, really wants to play football. Yes, football. She's been asking to play football for over a year now, and I think I'm gonna have to give in before too long.

Ashley's new line on the wall

Less than six months ago the line was two inches lower.
My baby girl is now 5'1".

Ode to bacon grease

Oh how I love thee!

You give us a delightful flavor the morning of your birth, a flavor that if captured continues to be savored for meals to come. I once considered you bad and unhealthy and fattening and artery clogging and despicable, but your flavor has cast a spell on me. I will cook with you, seek out recipes for you and feed you to your biggest fan of us all, my bacon savoring husband, whom your spell was cast upon many moons ago. I won't fret about how unsightly you are when you are resting in the bottom of the old sauce jar, I will scoop you and close my eyes until you awake, and then I cook with you, and eat you. I will do more crunches, more walking and eat an extra helping of veggies just to have you. You are the almighty and shall have a shelf of your own in the Urben kitchen.

Just a Mom

I have read this numerous times over the years, and each time I read it I smile, I spose that makes it blog worthy....


A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk's office
was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation.

She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.


"What I mean is," explained the recorder,
"do you have a job or are you just a......?"
"Of course I have a job," snapped the woman.


"I'm a Mom."
"We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it,"
said the recorder emphatically.


I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the
same situation, this time at our own Town Hall.

The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised,
efficient and possessed of a high sounding title like,
"Official Interrogator" or "Town Registrar."


"What is your occupation?" she probed.

What made me say it?
I do not know.
The words simply popped out.
"I'm a Research Associate in the field of
Child Development and Human Relations."

The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and
looked up as though she had not heard right.


I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most signific a nt words.
Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written,
in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.

"Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest,
"just what you do in your field?"

Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice,
I heard myself reply,
"I have a continuing program of research,
[what mother doesn't)
in the laboratory and in the field,
(normally I would have said indoors and out).
I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family)
and already have four credits (all daughters).
Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the hu manities,
(any mother care to disagree?)
and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it).
But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and
the rewards are
more of a satisfaction rather than just money."

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she
completed the form, stood up and personally ushered me to the door.

As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career,
I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3.
Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model,
(a 6 month old baby) in the child development program,
testing out a new vocal pattern.
I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy!
And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished
and indispensable to mankind than
"just another Mom." Motherhood!


What a glorious career!
Especially when there's a title on the door.

Does this make grandmothers
"Senior Research associates in the field of
Child Development and Human Relations"
and great grandmothers
"Executive Senior Research Associates"?
I think so!!!
I also think it makes Aunts
"Associate Research Assistants".

Catch of the day # 1,453,201

I had to make a trip to the office yesterday for a meeting. So yeah, I had to stop in at one of my favorite Goodwill's that happens to be right across the street from the office.

My catch of the day:



Pocket V.Smile (with 1 game)
Portable educational game system for on the go, or can be hooked up to the TV.
Jamie's price: $9.99
Target's price: $69.99

Practice and Learn 6th Grade
6th grade workbook that includes Grammar, Reading and Lit., Spelling, Scicence, Social Studies, and Math
Jamie's price: $.99
Teachers Paradise: $18.99

And one other thing...I found a box of solid wood flooring that just happens to be exactly the flooring in the background of the above picture, same brand and color. We intended to buy a box of this to have on hand incase we needed to make repairs in the future, but we found out Home Depot no longer carries it. Soooo, I walk in to my favorite store and wowzas, there it is, an entire box.

Wood Flooring
Jamie's price: $12.99
Price tag on the box: $55.00

At Goodwill they have a date code at the top of each price tag, I thought it was interesting that I probably bought one of the newest items on the shelf and one of the oldest items as well. The V.Smile was priced yesterday (the day of my purchase) and the wood flooring was priced 6 years ago! HA! It was waiting for me! I cannot walk through the doors of a goodwill and come out without a story, it never fails.

Normalcy

The holidays are officially over. This is not such a bad thing. I'm always so anxious for the holidays to get here so I can decorate, bake, spend more time with the fam, celebrate with traditions, etc., but by the time it's all over, and things begin to get back to normal, normalcy is quite a welcome change. Gone are the days of staying up til midnight and waking up at 10. (although Alex is still adjusting, he slept until 10 yesterday morning)
Yesterday, I was up before 7, and quite honestly, I was glad to have my morning back. On a typical weekday morning I wake up around 7ish, see Ash off to school at 7:30 and then I'm all alone until the boy wakes up. This is when I get a big chunck of work out of the way. I typically get in about an hour and a half of work before Alex gets up. My reward is my nice warm cup of joe, which happens to be keeping me company as I type this entry. If I miss this morning routine, like I have for the last two weeks, my schedule gets totally thrown off. So if a dog barks, whines, wags it's tail to hard, or does anything more than lie quietly still on the floor while I'm engrossed in this routine, I'm like a mother of a newborn shushing any possibilty of a waking boy.

Good bye Ho, ho, ho, hello hi, ho, hi, ho. (Gosh I make me laugh)

So here I am once again, wrapped cozily in my routines with a pile of work in front of me waiting to be done.

On the agenda for today:

1. My hair appt.! Yay! I'm way overdue for a cut and highlights.
2. Ashley's dentist appt.
3. Meeting dad to drop the boy off for a few days.
4. A short meeting up at work.

Random thoughts with Alex

At lunch yesterday with Belinda and Ciara, Alex interjects with a random thought...

"Momma, wouldn't it be sooo cool if Granny Franny moved to Georgetown!?"

I had to post that one for you Fran. Just too sweet to forget. :)

Cameron Park Zoo

My ever so thoughtful husband checked the weather early this week and decided to take the day off today and take us to the Zoo in Waco. WHAT A PERFECT DAY. He could not have picked a better day in JANUARY(!). The temperature was in the 70's, there wasn't a cloud to be seen, and the kids were in the BEST moods. It was a perfect day in every way. The kids had no idea where we were going until we pulled in to the parking lot and I made Alex read the sign. As soon as he read the word "ZOO", his adrenaline started in, and didn't quit until we packed it up to leave hours later. They were both so, so excited, they are such animal finatics, they could probably go to the zoo everyday and still be just as excited one day, as they were the next. For starters, let me just say, this zoo, was incredible...I can't tell you how many times Mark and I ooo-ed and ahhh-ed about how well this place was laid out. Every detail was taken in to account. The animals had amazing habitats, yet, the visitors could be right up front. On top of all this, the park was sooo quiet. I guess everyone is still recovering from the holidays, and probably assuming that January is not a good month to even attempt a trip to the zoo. (Kinda like me!) This made for a very laid back momma and daddy.

So...the animals...our first close up encounter was with the bear. The bears had an amazing set up, lots of space out in the open, grass, trees, hills etc. and then a enclosed cavelike area with a pool. We walked down a small hill where we found a clear wall that revealed the interior of the cave, including an underwater view. The bear just happend to be in the most playful of moods as we walked up. He was swimming back and forth from the window to land, he would come right up to us and his nose would smash on the glass in a playful way, he'd look right at us as if he were a playful dog, and then he'd swim back to land, stand up shake of and get back in the water and cruise back to us again. He did this over and over. The kids got to be face to face with this swimming bear. It was an amazing experience.

Our next encounter was with the tiger. Once again, the kids were face to face with the tiger. He walked in front of the glass back and forth the entire time we were there. We were the only family there, so we had full view and the kids could sit right up next to the glass and watch. It was absolutely incredible!

Then we headed to the lion enclosure. What a gorgeous habitat. Plenty of hills and rocks, a very natural environment. When we first walked up the lion was all the way at the other side, in full view, but very far away. Within minutes he had walked over and was eye to eye with us in front of the glass. And after pacing in front of us for a minute or so, he actually started ROARING some 6 inches in front of our faces. Full on roars, just like you'd imagine a lion would roar. It was incredible. At some point during all the roaring I looked over at my 30 something husband and saw a little boys face, a completely frozen expression...jaw completey dropped open, eyes bugged out, with the most childlike look of amazement on his face. I so wish I could have taken a picture of that face. It was priceless.

Our entire visit was just amazing. All of the animals were in the best mood, we had full view of every one. The giraffes were RIGHT in front of us, the monkeys, the Galapogos Turtles, the lemurs, the Alligators, Mir Cats, etc. The list goes on. It was just an amazing day for us. I can't even begin to tell you how many "Thank You's" we got from the moment we walked in the zoo. Even the trip home was filled with sweet appreciation.

Cameron Park Zoo Jan. 5, 2007

The Cleaning Fairy Came!

Let me preface this by saying that this was Ashley's idea. We are not slave drivers and do not break child labor laws. (only on weekends)
Now this is OCD at it's finest. If you could have seen this room before Ashley got ahold of it...it was awful, the messiest Alex's room has ever been in all 5 of his years. Every surface dusted not once, but TWICE, floor vacuumed not once, but TWICE, and all toys and clothes neatly organized. She did a lot of practical rearranging too...but wait, look at that closet again, this is the scary part (no not the overflowing laundry basket that I couldn't manage to crop)...all of the shirts are arranged by color. Long sleeves on the left, short on the right, perfectly color coordinated. Should we start therapy now, or wait until puberty?

Ally walks the mortal

Who's walking who here?

Just fed my addiction

Goodwill. Seriously, this place is like a drug to me, if I'm within a 5 mile radius of one (and I DO know every location), I absolutely without a doubt, even if we're cutting in to nap time, dinnertime, rush hour time, have to stop in. Unfortunately, for my kids a "stop" in is never less than an hour. I have to make sure and check my regular spots (this is a MUST)...furniture, housewares, toys, and on days when I have MORE than an hour, the books. The books get me every time. This place is a mecca for books. I will never, ever buy another full price book from that horribly overpriced store that I will not mention ever again. People, GO TO GOODWILL!!! I can buy my kids any book they want guilt free. There is something very powerful about allowing your children to have any book they want and watching them devour the enitre book section in search of the perfect books. 9 times out of 10, they end up picking something educational.

My last trip to Goodwill, I found an entire Hooked on Phonics Set, Brand New, up to date, everything still sealed in plastic, PLUS the additional companion set for ahem $8.99. The same set sells for $200.

My catch of the day:



Crainium, Baloon Lagoon game
Excellent educational game for kids 5 and up, New, all pieces accounted for and in perfect condition.
Paid: $5.99
Amazon: $16.99 (on sale)

Endangered wildlife book, hardback
Paid: $9.99 (this is pricey for Goodwill, but awesome book that Ash picked out)
FireFly Books: $35.00

My Math Manipulatives
Major score! Several wipe off workboards that can be used with a BUNCH of really good manipulatives. Includes manipulatives for fractions of a circle, inches, shapes, beans, numberlines, a clock (including digital manipulatives) and much more.
As an added bonus, it turned me on to Harcourt products, which have excellent educational supplies.
Paid: $1.99
Harcourt: $10.99

Ahhhh, my addiction has been fed. Now really, can ya blame me?

Happy Two Double-Oh Seven!

It's been so long since I updated, I figure today would be a great day for a fresh start.

Things I neglected to Blog about over the past 3 (holy COW THREE!!??) months...(this is my attempt at blogger time travel)

1. Alex's 5th Birthday at Texas Jumping Beans.

Alex's 5th Birthday

2. Halloween

Halloween 2006

3. Ashley's Braces

Ashley's Braces 10-06

4. Ashley in the choir- Well, Mark and I have sadly discovered that Ashley is in no way, shape or form our child. First off, the girl can sing, a talent that Mark and I certainly don't possess. Secondly, she tried out for and was chosen for a solo in the school choir. Who is this kid??

5. A fabulous first Thanksgiving with family at our home.

Thanksgiving 2006

6. My new working from home opportunity - My old boss called me up and asked if I'd be interested in a part time contract position working from home. I'm working 3-4 hours a day now and so, so thankful for this wonderful opportunity. I'm hoping this opens up a new option for me once Alex goes to Kindergarten next year. I have already decided I WILL be home when my kiddos get home from school, and it looks like this could possibly be just what I need to work my way in to.

7. Christmas

Christmas 2006

8. New Years

New Years Eve Party 2006

The past year has brought so many wonderful new opportunities...not too many struggles to handle, but like I always say, just enough to make us appreciate what we have in this beautiful life. David added a new precious member to our family. Sweet Keller has no idea how lucky he is to be born in to such an amazing family and to have two AWESOME parents. His life will be an amazing adventure with those two!

All in all, life is going oh so well for our little family. Not a day goes by that Mark and I don't stop and smile at how incredibly fortunate we are. We have so many wonderful people in our lives and we continue to grow and learn from each of them. Sometimes I feel as if I'm watching someone else's life unfold, because it's so hard to believe that I could possibly have this much joy.

In 2006 we were fortunate enough to become close friends with many new people. Although we've moved away from Leander, we have become closer to the Ford's than we ever were when they were just a few blocks away. Brian and Paula have to be two of the most selfless people I've ever met. They continue to amaze me with their love and generousity towards our entire family. I hope we can find a way to touch their lives like they have ours.

Two double-oh seven has a lot to live up to. I can't imagine how we could top double-oh six! Onward!

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Rewind-Backup-Overdue-Oopsie

I typed this up 2 months ago, saved it and neglected to complete the entry. Here it is anywho.

(Ok, my pics are not uploading, I'm tired, going to bed, will deal with this in the morning)
Rewind-School of Alex stuff

It’s been too long, I know, I am bad, I am not worthy of keeping a Blog. Tis life, and this life is mine. Better late than never, right? If I ever get a tattoo, that is what it will read. Since my last entry we have been super busy. Mark (I mean WE) got a new truck. A super sweet truck. Black F150 Lariat Supercrew 4 door. Very clean, leather interior super horrible gas mileage. Who could ask for more. Lets see...I've dug up a gazillion bush roots and planted new bushies, some of which are transplanted nandinas from mom's yard that Ashley planted as a bitty girl. Aw, so sweet. I planted two Chinese Pistache trees, and transplanted one mountain laurel from our old house...shhh, that's our secret. There is so much more to do outside. It will all come together. We're also in the process of painting the kitchen. We have three different colors up right now, but I think we've narrowed it down, and will hopefully get started this weekend. Tonight Mark and I went to the tile place and ordered our tile!!!!!!!!!!! Our kitchen floors will look like dook no longer! I can't wait to mop my floors and watch them come clean! Imagine that! The master bath will follow soon behind. Oh, oh, oh, other news, I can't believe I'm saving this for last, oh wait, I'm going to save that for another entry. Hehe! I'm just mean. (edited Jan. 1st to add...Braces, she got braces!)

Ok, so rewind a bit to the adventures of staying home with Alex. Our playgroup is very active, we do lots of fun stuff, but most of all we’re socializing our kiddos along with ourselves. We have at least two get togethers a week. (Throw in Gymnasics on Wednesdays and Storytime on Thursdays and now it's quite obvious why I have ZERO time to Blog) Anywho, here are some pics I took at the Austin Science and Nature Center in the Dino Pit. Our little scientist had the opportunity to dig up dino bones while playing in the sand. What fun!


Ok, phew, I'm caught up for now...

Alex and momma

Alex has been home with me full time for a few weeks now. He was attending preschool everyday from 8-12, but I began to realize how unnecessary it was and decided to pull him out. On more than one occassion I was told that Alex was very advanced and was getting bored quickly. His teacher told me he should be in Kindergarten. I agreed. Sooo, I decided that I could give him much more than the school could. We can learn at his pace, and I can be here to stimulate his learning desires much more than a preschool teacher can. So far that has been the best choice I could have made. We do learning time everyday for short periods of time, and spend most days learning through play. My friend Mollie started a playgroup where we get together with other kids and have planned playdates where the kids can play and learn together. We do themes and try to come up with ideas for crafts and learning opportunities pertaining to the theme of the week. Last week we went to the Austin Science and Nature Center, the week before that it was the Austin Childrens Museum and each week, we have new places to go. Lots of home playdates with planned craft activities too. Today we're going to my friend Jen's house and we'll learn about bats and do bat crafts together. Alex and I are getting so much out of our time together. This is such a wonderful opportunity and I am so thankful that Mark works so hard for us.

Improvements

The house is coming together more and more all the time, some days not as fast as we'd like, but it's a work in progress and we're learning to accept that. Mark made a lot of headway on powerwashing the deck, it's looking so nice. I hope to finish the deck today and then begin working on the outside. It looks awful. I have GOT to remember to take before and after pictures!!! Yesterday mark leveled the floor in the kids bathroom in preparation for laying the flooring and then we can finally have a -*GASP*- toilet in the BATHROOM! Haha! I'm so anxious to check that bathroom off of our list.
I started working on the trim, baseboards and window sills yesterday. I scrubbed em down and started staining. This is my first time to stain wood and I have to say, it's my new favorite home improvement project yet. It's so rewarding! I'm all about the instant gratification, and with this house we don't get too much of that.
I found a nasty water ring on the window sill in the kitchen and found a very easy way to get rid of it. I took a thick rag, layed it over the ring and held the hot iron on it for at least a minute and VOILA! I really didn't think this would work, but I read it on the internet and figured it couldn't hurt to try. I'm just so wowed that it's actually gone. Once again, a perfect opportunity for before and after photos, but I can't ever seem to remember!
Other house stuff....we finally got the driveway cleared out, and cleaned off, it's beautiful underneath the brush and leaves. lol The grass is finally starting to fill in and perk up. It's looking so nice! I sure missed St. Augustine, that Bermuda grass is such a pain and never looked as good as good ol St. Augustine.
I finished pulling up the bushes in front of the house. I still don't know if they were just at the end of their lifetime, or if they were diseased, but they're gone! Now we need to dig up the roots and pick out some new bushes. It's almost time to start planting. The weather is cooling off little by little as fall creeps in.
I still haven't figured out how to get rid of the mothball smell in the theater, but from what I've read I might have to repaint and pull up the carpet. I also read that if the smell is still present then the air is still toxic. Joy. We'll get it figured out in due time.

Ashley's Birthday part TWO

Holy guacamole I’m going to barf. Night before last I typed up a super long entry about Ash’s birthday bash, with tons of pictures ta boot. Guess where it is now, dunno you say, it’s in nasty ol cyber heaven. Just as I was finishing up adding the last few photos (which by the way, takes an ETERNITY) my most prized possession, my laptop, went kaput. Just beeped at me and went black. Buh bye, no warning at all. Soooo, now I need to see if I can do a little deja vouis (or however that’s spelled) and rewrite history…yet again.

Friday after school I walked Ash and 6 of her brand spankin new Geortownian friends home from school. I met them in the back of the school and I have to say, as they walked towards me, with each step, I felt older and older…these girls are NOT little girls. They’re the kind with bras and shaved legs. What the heck happened??? Do they serve up hormones in Georgetown or WHAT!? Despite their size, they were very sweet, mostly innocent girls that I am soooo glad that Ashley has befriended. I’m especially excited about them because most of their parents are overprotective and told me this was their first sleepover. Holy crapolie! Now we’re talking! I actually got the third degree from one mom. I think she actually had a list of questions in front of her when she called. Good… Crazy, but good. Do we have guns, do we have siblings, how old are they, do we have dogs, what kind etc. Great questions, logical questions, but a first for me. Anywho, back to after school. So I walked them to our house they explored our house, walked around in our garden tub, jumped on my bed a bit and then went to the basement to sing a little Karaoke. At some point we did a craft…I took a picture of each of them with Ashley and they glued it to a foam frame like backing and decorated it with all kinds of cutesy little stuff. It was definitely a hit. At some point Nana and Grams showed up.  It was soooo nice to have them here! After we all ate pizza, we did cake and presents. The karaoke machine was handy when it came time to sing Happy Birthday. Pretty sure the neighbors heard that one. Presents were awesome, of course. Lots of littlest pets. That’s Ashley’s latest craze, they’re pretty cute I must admit. The girls played “telephone” and did some more silly girl stuff until it was dark. Then we broke out the glow sticks and these silly little mouthpiece glow thingees. We went out in the front yard, and those girls had so much fun! They wore themselves out pretty good. By the time they were done with that, they were in desperate need of another sugar rush, so we did do-it-yourself sundaes. Complete with nuts, cherries, chocolate sauce, caramel, and whipped cream. That went over well.
By then I didn’t have much left in me, so I grabbed the boy (who was 100% a part of all the festivities up until bedtime…sweet sissy!), told the girls to go to bed and Mark, Alex and I crawled in to bed. By this time it’s about 12:30. We didn’t last 15 minutes and we were out.

The next morning sweet daddy cooked eggs, bacon and sausage for breakfast tacos and Nana made pancakes. 11:00 rolled around pretty quick and before we new it the house was empty. Messy, but empty. All in all, the party could not have gone better. Ashley has really made some great friends in the short time that she’s been here. Several have already offered for her to come spend the night. She’s overwhelmed with the number of people who are anxious to have her over. This is good. Her birthday was good. Our girl is now 10 years old and starting a whole new chapter of her life. I’m anxious to see the next 10 years unfold. 

Pictures will come as soon as I get my laptop problems figured out...errrr, as soon as Mark does. :)

5 years later

Five years later, life has gone on, but it will never, ever be quite the same. So many lives lost, so many dreams shattered, so many freedoms lost.

Today my heart goes out to all those affected by the tragedy of the September 11th, 2001 attacks. I know their pain is fresh today, and their wounds have been opened once again. I hope that the media is gentle today, and those who are hurting, can do so in peace.

Who gave these stooges GUNS???

Trip to the ER

Saturday night Ash was bit by something shortly before bed time, I shrugged it off, put some caladryl on it and sent her to bed. Sunday, she limped around on it and complained that it was really bothering her quite a bit. It looked like a spider bite to us, with a little puss pocket on top, but nothing horrible, so we told her to stop thinking about and move her leg as much as she could. By evening time, she was lethargic, and came down with a fever. She complained of muscle cramps and a headache. I jumped online and found information that pointed towards a poisonus spider bite. We ended up taking her to the ER here in Seguin where they took blood, and did a culture of the puss pocket. We're still not 100% sure what bit her, but whatever it was the blood test showed a bacterial infection of some sort. We're still waiting on the results, which will take 3-4 days, but they did end up giving her a shot of antibiotic and a prescrption that will cover all of our bases in case she has a staph infection. This morning she is a new person, she feels 100% better. We'll make her an appointment tomorrow and have her doc. call in for the test results asap to find out what we need to do next, but for now, we're just so glad the shot has made such a huge difference.

Sargent Rock

In the midst of the moving chaos, the Urben's have lost their mind. We have adopted another sweet doggie. We've had him for a week now and are just absolutely so in love with him. He's a 9-12 month old chihuahua mix, a dog I would have NEVER imagined myself having. His personality is just so sweet. He will sit in your lap whenever you want, and for as long as you want, but then he'll get up and play when you want too. He has slept with us the past few nights at dads house and has just been the sweetest little cuddle bud! He loves to stay snuggled up next to you to keep warm. He gets along so well with Big Dud and Sadie Sue. Dud tolerates him, but is getting more and more tolerant everyday. Sadie really likes the little guy and will play with him whenever he wants. Sarge has really proven to be a perfect match for our family. We took a ride on the boat yesterday and he didn't flinch! He just relaxed in my lap, and took in all the new scents. Not the skittish little chihuahua one would expect.

Happy Ash, House stuff and a break

Ashley is feeling much better. I think she was just having a few off days. She has come home from school happy and excited to talk about what she did all day and all the friends that she's made. We made birthday invitations on Thursday evening and I was just thrilled to hear her beg me to allow her to invite more friends. I let her invite 8 from her new school and she has 3 from her old school that HAVE to be there. 8 wasn't enough, she wanted more! That made me feel so much better about how she's adjusting. Yesterday, a girl from school called her and invited Ash to come swim at her house, they had just got a new slide for their pool. We were actually on the road to Nana and Big Daddy's, so we had to pass this time. I'm sure there will be plenty more opportunities.

We're getting more and more settled in to our new home everyday, but that doesn't go without ups and downs. The wall paper in the kids bathroom is down, I've textured the wall with a sort of venitian plaster look, and Thursday I primed it. Now all that's left is paint and a wipe of tinted glaze. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't forget the toilet and flooring. lol We're getting there!

Yesterday, I decided to tackle the master shower. The tile looked awful, the caulking and some of the grout needed to be redone so I thought it would be a good idea to get started on it before our trip to Seguin to allow for drying time. Boy did I bite off more than I could chew. I was able to scrape most of the caulking off and then started in on the yucky grout. The dremel worked pretty well, but the more grout I got off, the more trouble I revealed. There is mold and standing water underneath the tile. I ended up getting after it with a hammer. Fun stuff! I knocked out the lower three tiles all the way around and revealed rotting wood, gooey mold and standing water. What a MESS. When I get it all cleaned up, we'll have to call out some professionals, there is no way I can do all this on my own. Our bathroom is a disater area right now. Actually all 4 of the bathrooms are disaster areas. Ugh. I keep reminding myself how fortunate we are to have this place and it makes it all seem so worth while. I really need to keep it all in perspective.

We're spending the weekend at the lake for a MUCH needed break from all the work. When we get home Monday we'll start back in. We'll remove the range top and counter to prepare for the new silestone counter and rangetop that will be installed Tuesday. If we have time (and energy), we'll go ahead and take out the oven/micro. wall unit and install the new one. So many things to do, but for now, I will kick back and enjoy the down time with the fam.

We're finally moved in!!

So much has happened since my last update! We're all moved in to the new house, and trying to get settled. Today I finished cleaning up the old house, thank GOODNESS! I'm so glad to be done with that, now I can focus on our new home and getting it organized. We have so much to do! The cooktop and counter are going in next Tuesday, and hopefully within the next few weeks we'll get the kitchen floors in, the oven/micro unit in, and the stairs for the deck built. Those are the items at the top of our to do list...and that list is growing everyday!

Alex started school last Monday, he's adjusting fine. He has 6 kids in his class 2 boys and 4 girls. :( Today when I picked him up his teacher told me that he is very advanced and way ahead of the other kids. She says he finishes his work VERY quickly and gets bored easily. She says he should be in Kindergarten. While I'm so proud to hear this, I'm also a little concerned. The whole reason for him being at preschool half days is to be stimulated. It sounds like I might be able to do a better job of stimulating him. I have plenty of learning materials, and social opportunities for him...so why is he at school? I think I've answered my own questions. I think either he needs to be at home, or I need to see about bumping him to private Kinder at the same school (if they will even allow that). Poor guy, so many changes in such a short period of time, I hope I don't screw him up too bad.

Ashley started her 3rd week of school this week and is doing very well. Her GT records were finally transfered over from her old school, which means now they will need to put her in the GT class. Unfortunately, that means she'll have to have another big change. She'll have to leave her new friens in her current class and start all over in a brand new class with a new teacher. I just feel so bad for her. Part of me wants to just forget about the GT class and let her stay put, but on the other hand I know that she will adjust and that this is for the best. She seems a little down lately, which is understandable, but I'm worried about her. She has always been such a people pleaser that I'm afraid she's dealing with too much on her own. She doesn't talk about it, probably because she doesn't want Mark and I to feel bad for the choices we've made for her regarding school. That's my girl, always thinking of everyone but herself. Tomorrow I'm going to speak with the school counselor and see if she can talk to Ash. Maybe it will be easier for her to talk to another adult about what she's feeling, an adult that's a neutral party. I'm going try to get her to talk to me some this afternoon. I just hate that I don't know what my own daughter is feeling.