Kryssy got hitched!!!

All Sorts of new Pictures!

As you see i have updated the pictures on my blog. We took our yearly family pics!

what does it take to get your kid chocolate milk?

We need to go to the grocery store like you wouldn't believe! How is it that you can spend $300 at the store and two weeks later it's all gone? I have 2 boys that's how!
Anyway, we ran out of juice boxes to send with Andrew for his lunch. Well he says he can get chocky milk for a coint(a quarter) and he would rather have that instead. Cool I think to myself and realize we have tons of quarters laying around the house. I tell him to gather all of them he can find and he can use all of those to get his milk at lunch time. Score one for me! Gets some stuff picked up and gets him lunch milk... I rock!

Day 1
I send Andrew to school with a coint in his lunch box and tell him to give it to his teacher so he can get his milk. He comes home mad and sad because he gave the teacher his coint but she "forgot to remember" to get him milk. *sigh* We will try again tomorrow.

Day 2
I send another quarter with him and a note in his folder to the teacher telling her about getting him milk. He comes home again saying he didn't get any milk but his money was still in his bag.
Okay... tomorrow we will get this right, I promise!!!

Day 3
I tape the damn coin to the note to his teacher!! STILL NO MILK!! WTF??? ARE THEY IDIOTS! At this point we have drama and tears and nashing of teeth and whailing.... you get it

Day 4
I walk Andrew to class and talk to the teacher myself and talk to her about the milk delema. trying to be nice to this chick that's half my age and has no clue about how it is to be a mom. She tells me I need to take our milk money to the cafeteria and tell the lunch lady to put it on his account and have her put it on the order for K5 class. Fine.
I go to the lunch lady(cue Adam Sandler song) and she says I need to tell his teacher.
I JUST WANT TO GET MY KIDS SOME DAMN CHOCKY MILK AT LUNCH TIME PEOPLE!!

On my way out the door I see the principle, a very nice round man who also has a kid in Andrew's class and i was so frustrated I kinda let him have it. Well not him but I told him of my frustration and he promised me that my child would without a doubt get his milk at lunch time.

AND HE DID IN FACT GET HIS MILK!

All of this just for a tiny carton of milk... sigh

I'm pretty sure Mammaw makes my kids look cool.

Since my children were born, more over, since Andrew was born mu mother in law has bought tons of clothes for them. She somehow figures the math in her head as to what size they should be in almost a year ahead of time and buys stuff on sale in those sizes. It's actually really smart. Shoes she doesn't really get for them that far ahead but as far as clothes go when that season comes around she has a closet full of brand new clothes for them. Then when Austin was born she started buying them matching stuff. I am that terrible mother that I always said I would never become and I put the kids in matching outfits or shirts all the time. It actually makes it easier to spot them in places, you know, church classes or the playground. You just look for two boys wearing the same shirts.
Anyway, as mentioned before yesterday was western day at school and andrew went with quite the outfit on, not that cool of one now in retrospect. So today was wear red day, today I had to dress him so he didn't look like a complete dork. Today he wore a brand new outfit given to him Mammaw. He looked so cool today! He wore some black wind pants with a red Kung Fu Panda shirt and all his classmates said how cool he was. I was proud!

Austin lucks out with his close too. Andrew grows so fast he doesn't get the chance to wear out anything so Austin gets great hand me downs. He seems happy with it, or he just doesn't care.

Now if we can just get the chocky milk delema taken care of we are set!

Pictures! I hope this works

Miss Poppy May! What a cute smile huh?

Western day Tackiness! Gotta love it!

Halloween costumes

On the train

Austin so excited to ride Ponas!

So much stuff.. so little time to blog

So as my sister has pointed out to me that I need to either blog or not blog but quit stopping and starting. Well not exactly like that but I'm pretty sure she was going along those lines.

So, some catching up on life... Where to begin...



Birthdays! Melissa and I celebrated turning 28 without each other for the first time in our lives, well the 28 obviously, but we usually spend our birthday's together. We saw each other a few days later but it wasn't the same. Melissa wins the gift giving prize every time too. This year she got me a new Vera Bradley purse and I just love it! My co-workers are calling me spoiled, I"m okay with being spoiled. Actually, when we did see each other we were taking all of our kids to ride Thomas the Tank Engine. Even Poppy went too! It was cold and rainy and the shoes I wore gave me some ugly blisters but the kids had a great time. To see Austin's face when he saw Ponas(as he calls him) was priceless. He looked as though he just saw God for the first time. He sat so well on the train ride and didn't really want to do any of the games, he just wanted to sit and ride/ watch Ponas. He was so upset when we left and as soon as we got him in the car his meltdown ended and he crashed out, Ponas overload I guess.

Andrew thought it was cool but he acted as though he had been there and done that, he also got sick the next day and wasn't feeling great the day before.

Since we got back Austin is even more sucked into Ponas. We went through Austin(the city) on our way to ride the train and going through there made me miss living there so bad, I would move back in a heartbeat. I miss it there so much, and I guess I just have such good memories that I want to go back.

Continued on 10/28/09

Andrew has lost his first tooth! He was so proud! The toothfairy came too and he was so excited to spend his money on more junk to rot the rest of his teeth out of his head. He asked what the tooth fairy does with all the teeth she collects, hmmm.... good question. I decided that she takes all those teeth and they are used to make dentures for old people, sounds plosible I think.
He looks so cute with a little gap in his smile, he is waiting on one more to get loose enough to fall out so we can do this all over again.

This week at school was Red Ribbon Week and all the kids get to wear stuff other than their uniforms all week. Andrew was so glad to get a chance to wear something else this week. Monday was pajama day, which I made sure andrew went comfy in. Really, why can't I wear zip up one peices in fleece to work all day? I don't need them to have feet but it sure would be nice to wear that kind of stuff to work. At what age is it not appropriate?
Anyway, today was western day. Andrew went through a phase recently where he wore nothing but cowboy stuff, so grandma got him a hat and boots and some wonderfully tacky shirts. Today, that tacky shirt was perfect!

Austin has discovered that he likes playing Mario Kart on the game cube with his brother and every night they get to play together for a while and both boys really enjoy it. Anything to keep them from fighting sometimes is nice and playing games together has brought them closer.

Austin's newest thing is to call everything a SHARK! And there is nothing worse than the dreaded SHARK BEE! (an ant in his world) It's funny. And when he wants you to do something he will tell you, "Be, be, be funny". Austin is loving having his brother in school again this year and having either mom, dad or his grandparents all to himself for a while.

Life is good for now is "Casa de la sausage Perez"! (that means the Perez house full of boys)

We got over the flu and are looking forward to a fun Halloween! Should be fun! I told Paul I wanted to be a German Beer Maid, he asked"why german" and I said, "cuz over there they don't shave and I don't want to shave". He said I was gross but I thought is was funny.

I tried to upload pictures but blogger isn't having it today... Oh, well...

A question I haven't been asked in a long time

So my boss asked me today if I had an eating disorder. Really? Seriously?
While I admit that I am very skinny and I've lost just a few pounds, not much, 1 or 2 pounds maybe. I do NOT have any eating disorder! Not that I know of... A tapeworm maybe, but no disorder. Although my sister says a tapeworm has a few great functions, keeps you skinny and makes a great family pet. My kids might have the same thing too though.
I haven't been asked that question in a long time, I was kind of taken aback by it.

I kindly shared with her my 3.5 keys for weight happiness. I will kindly share them with you too! what does the .5 stand for you ask? We will get to that in a little bit. Per my sister I will now be know as a Skinny Little Budda. I should write a book I have so much knowledge to share, along with my great gift of Smartassness!

1. stop eating when you get full! your stomach is supposed to only be the size of your fist, unless you are a cow and have 4 stomachs. Serving your plate at the next meal should remind you to put less on your plate because the rest of it just goes to your ass and thighs.

2. PUT DOWN THE JUNK FOOD AND DESSERT! That stuff too has no nutritional value and only applies itself to your ass. Therefor your butt ends up twice the size as the rest of your body. And trust me that is not attractive.

3. Take yourself for a walk! Better yet, take a run, hit the gym, surf... something but just get yourself moving!

3.5 Have a glass of wine or beer once in a while! good for your heart, bladder and if you're married, the bedroom.

And there dear followers are your 3.5 tips for weight happiness.
Up next--- parenting! Beer and wine(in moderation and after kids bedtimes) are god for that too!

My "Baby Austin" is 3 and not such a "Baby"

All people with kids don't blink! If you blink all of the sudden your kids grow up!

When did I blink? Wasn't it yesterday Austin was born? When did I get old enough to have a 6 year old AND a 3 year old?

When birthdays come around for my kids it's always so hard to believe they are another year older, mine not so much. I remember the day they were born and then all of those little moments that were great after that. I remember that first year and how hard it felt and the before you know it they are a year old. Then things start to get really interesting when the start walking and talking. You are trying to teach them manners and hopping that one day it will stick. You are trying to teach them right from wrong and worried about what people are thinking about you when thay throw themselves and the Wal-Mart floor having a total melt down. (not that my kids EVER did that!) You try so hard to be that good parent that you look around at others thinking they must have it easier than you.

And then they turn 3. Manners are sticking, fits are less, sharing is better, eating habits are better. Now my "Baby" isn't a baby anymore and he is 3 years old.

I remember so well when we found out we were having another baby. I remember when he was born and then taking Austin home from the hospital. Then I was the mother of two little kids, two boy little kids. I was potty training one kid and nursing another, I thought I was gonna lose my mind. This was hard, really hard. I remember hearing Austin cry and laughing because it sounded like the weirdest cry on earth. Then the colic came! God, help me! He had colic for 5 months and I was a human pacifier, I didn't care as long as it kept him happy and quiet. The year came and went, colic ended and then we had to go through the crying it out phase. I was that mom that didn't let him cry at night the first year and would still get up in the middle of the night with him. Austin didn't sleep through the night until we made him cry it out.

Well now Austin is 3. He has become such a great little boy. His speech is improving so much, his manners are good. I love how he tells you "Thank you Momma" for every little thing. He gives great hugs and even better kisses. He shares and now if you give him something he has to take one to his brother too. He eats well and has good table manners. And most of all the boys sleeps!
I am so proud to be the mother of such a great little boy, two great little boys. The great thing about having boys is that for now, I am the only girl in their world. (well except for the beloved Sussa, she's a close second)
I thank God for picking out this little boy just for me. I hope I make him proud in the way I raise him. I will always try to remember to enjoy all the little moments.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Every year for Labor day my parents rent a cabin in Wimberly for a weekend. We usually go for a day to float the river and BBQ and some good fun with my family and some friends. The past few years I had worried so much about the kids and the water becuase in years past we had some rain and the water was high and the boys were smaller. This year with the kids bigger and far less water I wasn't too concerned. At least the drought was good for something huh? I had planned on taking floaties and a life jacket for the kids but we forgot those too...drats!
As it turned out there were lots of floating lounge chairs and stuff so the boys sat in one of those and ate snacks and had juice and we all had a great relaxing time on the river.
We had a great time seeing Sussa and Uncle Jon too. Austin is in love with "The Sussa"!
And Poppy just changes everyday, the girl get prettier every time I see her. Gotta love those gals!

We hadn't planned on staying the night and we did anyway. All in all it was a great relaxing labor day weekend. Well until we got home and saw that Lady ate a bird for dinner. We now call her Lady Bird...fitting

this and that

Well I forgot how busy life gets when the school year starts. I feel like wo don't stop!
Andrew is so far, as of week 2, doing great! He really likes his new teacher, and he's come out of his shell more than he did last year.
Austin is sad though that his brother isn't there all day to play with and when Andrew does get home he just wants him to play trains. Austin is another train loving boy! At least we are getting our money's worth on all those trains we bought for Andrew. But should anyone want to just send us lots of batteries we would be much obliged. AA and C please? Austin's birthday is coming up and we decided to do a "Thomas the Train" party for him and redo his room. I guess it's time to take the baby stuff off the wall being as he's gonna be 3. Holy crap where did the time go?

In other news.... (CNN theme song playing in my head... or is that the 60 Minutes song? Oh well)

I walked 7 miles the other day. Went with our dog Lady and my friend Morgan(who's moving away, Thanks for that one dear friend). Lady has put on a few pounds since we got her, must be the 3 year old feeding her. Maybe I should teach her to eat salad. But I stayed home that day taking care of a grumpy kid and when Morgan called I jumped at the chance to get out of the house. Well from my house to the trail, to the end of the trail and back to my house makes 7 miles, so I'm told. I felt great that night, and even the next day but two days later, I think I have shin splints. I think I might stick to bike riding.

Well, i guess that's about it. Spending time with all sorts of family this weekend. Have a great long weekend everyone!

Almost ready for a new school year... not really

So in less than a week Andrew starts kindergarden... Yes, he's repeating it.
Last year he had just turned 5 before the school year started and while he was technically old enough to go to school he just wasn't ready. So giving him a chance to grow(in more ways than one)we are ready to do this again. Well, kinda...

I'm the mom who doesn't want to send her kid to school. I couldn't home school him but i just like spending time with him and when he's in school i don't get to see him on my lunch hour.
I love the school he goes to but I get sad knowing that he's away from me all day.
I also can't believe that A. I'm old enough to have a kid in school and B. My kid is old enough to be in school...wasn't he born yesterday? Now he's about 45 inches tall and growing by the minute. We figured out his height right before we went to Sea world, checking to make sure he was tall enough for some of the rides. We're not those weird parents that count every inch he grows... that would just be too much huh?

We are getting the last of his school supplies this week and I think once we get his backpack and lunch stuff together it's all gonna sink in for the whole family. Even Austin gets sad when Bubba is at school. But here's to a great school year! May we not lose our marbles this year!

Now THAT was a vacation!

Wow Oh Wow! We have come back from the best, most relaxing vacation. It was great!



We were able to get tickets to Sea World for 2 days so we packed up the kids and the car and got a pet/ house sitter and we took off for a great adventure! We left on tuesday, later then we had hoped but when is my family ever on time. But we did leave a clean house to come home to so it wasn't so bad. We got to SA and headed for Sussa's house. After a nice dinner with the family we headed back to Sussa's house to get ready for a packed day at Sea World on wednesday. We had every intention on staying until the place closed and we got there right when it opened. My dad(Pawpaw) went with us for the day too. The kids loved having him there and he was so much help too. We saw all the shows, which Austin is still telling us about how the Sea Lion hit the man's hinney and he fell to the water and splash, but NO Hit! He loved it! The boys were the right size to take them too, Andrew was tall enough to do everything but the big roller coaters and Austin could do all the family rides. And we rode and did everything! By the end of day one we covered every corner of the park but the water park, that we left for day two.

I was so impressed with how well behaved the boys were though. There wasn't one fit or tear. Austin waited patiently in the lines for the rides, they listened and watched the shows. They ate all their lunch with good table manners. I was so proud of them, and so proud they were my boys. We saw kids left and right having some meltdown and my kids just looked at them like they had two heads. Austin even took a nap while Pawpaw, Andrew and Paul rode a ride he wasn't big enough for, and I was happy to sit and rest for a bit too. We even got PawPaw to get on a splash ride/ coaster with Andrew and I. Pawpaw isn't too fond of stuff like that but Andrew wanted him to go on it with us. He had a ton of fun too!

And just as always I tear up everytime I see the Shamu show. This time it was extra special because my kids were able to experience something that I love so much. I still haven't givin up yet on my dream of being a killer whale trainer just yet, maybe when I hit 40 if I haven't done it yet I might start to let the dream go but not yet. Well I looked over at PawPaw and he had a few tears too. He was thinking the same thing I was about seeing the boys experience my passion.

*side note- Grandma Crouch's birthday was monday and she had been gone for two years that day too. Making memories like this are hitting us a little harder this time of year.*



Well day one came to a succeful, tireing close and we headed back to Sussa's house for showers. She was so kind and had a great dinner ready for all of us when we got there. After dinner we crashed out early, the day so great and we were so tired. Had to get ready for day two!



For day two we mostly just hit up the waterpark. Again the kids were so well behaved and had a blast. Austin loved the wave pool, he swam like a champ! Andrew wanted to ride every slide he could, he was a little scared on the first one but he went down it and by the time he reached the bottom he was looking for his next ride. We played till we couldn't play anymore. We had a nsack and then got changed to go home. Poor Austin was so tired he fell asleep in the wagon sitting straight up. Andrew was so nice and got out to walk so we could lay Austin down. Poor kid, we wore him out. Taking our wagon was a great idea by the way. Far better than taking a stroller, both kids could ride in it and if one wanted to walk we put our bag in there. It was also so much easier to pull around instead of pushing even the strollers you could rent.



It was sad to say goodbye to Sussa and Uncle Jon(with no hair) and Baby Poppy. They let us come and invade their home for a few days and they were so nice and helpful. We have so much fun with them. Sussa and I are so glad that our hubby's get along, we figure that they get together to complain on how we gang up on the both of them. Remember if you make one twin mad you will have the other coming out to get you too. And our poor kids have two mothers to deal with. Ah, the joys of having a twin for your relative.

We didn't get home until late that night but we came home to a nice clean house and happy animals.

Thanks to Joni for taking such great care of all our pets. And to the in-laws who came over during their paper route to let the dogs out to pee.

And most of all, Thnaks to Sussa and Uncle Jon(with no hair) for letting us stay at ur place.

Now THAT was a vacation!

Persicution of the skinny people

For all my life I have been skinny, that's just the way I was built. I graduated high school weighing in at 75lbs and 5 feet 6 inches tall. Yes I know I was a stick, but I was an athletic stick. I played tennis since 8th grade, and while I wasn't the best at it and even hated it at times it kept me in shape and with a great tan I might add. I was made fun of without mercy by the girls that were the "normal size" and the boys that liked them. I always thought then that just wait until thay have had kids and are twice their size from high school. I looked forward to my high school reunion and always thought I would have a few kids by then and still be thin, and hopefully bigger boobs. (can't win them all though)

Well now andI am just about staring age 28 right smack in the face. I have two kids, and the reunion will be here in a year. But you know I must have been looking in the future for a while because... I'm still skinny!
I must admit that I still do a little working out, we ride bikes every night and it's great excercise for all of us. Except Austin, he just rides. It has become a nightly ritual to ride bikes, Andrew looks forward to it all day. We usually ride about 7:30 or 8pm because it's so dang hot during the day. We ride for a good hour too, that's how long Andrew likes to ride before he decides he's done. Now I look forward to it too.
I also don't eat alot of sweets, I just don't care for them. I like a meal, a big, well rounded meal.
I would rather take up the room in my tummy with good food than junk food. And remember your stomach is about the size of your fist.
Any way, I think that I just give a small attempt at staying healthy. I eat what I want and quit when I'm full, bike riding and running after two little boys and some good genes from my dad's side of the family and this is the size I am. I always thought though that once you got out of school people would stop making fun of me. I thought that people in the "real world" know that just like thin people can't make fun of heavy people that the heavier people wouldn't make fun of me. SO NOT THE CASE!
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about my size. I like the size I am. I'd like a new wordrobe to fit it but I like the size I am. And I'm just like everyone else in that when I do put on the extra few pounds I don't always like were it goes. If i get on my pasta kick I know for sure my pants are gonna be tight the next few weeks till my fad had ended.

But I would not make fun of over weight people! I might tell you to put the 3rd cookie you are about to eat down but I wouldn't call you fat or make fun of you for something that would be a sore spot. Why do people think it's okay to make fun of skinny people? Like we don't have image issues too? In the end I say it's just not okay to make fun of anyone! Fat or skinny, short or tall!
So don't make fun!

A few things going on

Well our life has been quite eventful lately! So much seems to be going on all thie time and school hasn't even started! We barely have time to swim in the pool we are so busy!

First our cat Bear was bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider. Poor cat came up to us last thursday panting like it couldn't breath. I looked at the poor cat's leg and the skin was already looking ever so gross and puss was oozing out of it... gag, gag, gag... eww enough details huh?
So I rush poor Bear to the vet and the put in an IV and got antibiotics started. Thankfully Bear would make a full recovery, Whew! What we did find out however was that we had Bear for 6 years now and thought the whole time Bear was a girl... Nope, Bear is a boy. An already fixed Boy! Well in my defense Bear is a very fluffy cat, lots of thick fur. And do you really wanna go fishin around down there to find out? Me either... But today we went to pick our our boy cat from getting stiches put in. He has to wear a collar to keep him from messing with the stiches so I took it off for a while, that and he had a look in his eye like he would mess me up in the night if I didn't. Bear the Boy cat is gonna be just fine!

Second, We are finally having the estate sale for the grandparents house and stuff in it. Seems kind of surreal really. Now we are really having to force ourselves to move on. It's stange to see things that we used everyday is now just stuff that we are trying to get rid of.
The hard part was looking at some of Grandpa's suits in the closet and remembering him in them and then i moved it and i could still smell his aftershave on it. I couldn't help myself and I took in as big a breath as I could and I hugged it like he was still there. Needless to say our family still is having a little bit of a time with the "moving on "part. But hopefully all goes well and I think in the end we all would love to see another family in there making some new memories in that house. That would make it all a happy ending, for every one...

a few things about Austin

Austin has grown up so quickly lately and sometimes I feel like I blinked and missed him turn from a two year old toddler to an almost three year old boy.



Here are just a few of the great things I love about my Monkey Boy!



He has good manners. I truly believe that if you start working on the simple manners right when they start learning to talk by the time they are a "full talker" it will just be second nature to them. His newest thing is to say, "Thank you Momma" for every little thing you do or give him.

When I get my cup of coffee in the mornings he tells me, "careful, Momma, Hot!"

I love when I come home at the end of the day he always has a smile and waves as he's running to give me kisses and says, "Hi Momma! Home! All done work today!"

I love to watch him TRY to take care of our animals. He thinks the dogs eat best when he hand feeds them, dog food or his food.

And even though it drives me nuts and is a pain to clean up, I can't help but laugh when he comes to me covered in baby power and says, "all done stinky" and i go to his room to see his floor covered in power too. Then he tells me, "no more powder!".

He tickles and steals kisses and gives big bear hugs... Gotta love that Monkey of mine!

The Perfect Excercise

Since Andrew got his new bike for his birthday we have been working with him on riding it. We got him the bigger bike so he could grow into it being that he's growing at an extremely rapid rate and he'll be bigger than me before I know it. So, needless to say it's been a little frustrating teaching how to ride this bigger bike. He can ride just fine but it's his stopping and starting that's still hard for him.
I got one of those little wagon type buggies for the back of my bike for Austin to ride in too. Well you add that to the back of your bike with a 25lbs kid back there and it's like strapping a 15lbs weight to each ankle. The first few nights went okay but last night I was hurting. I can't tell either kid "no" when it comes to bike riding at night because it's good excercise for everyone, except Austin. If my calculations are correct and we do this a few nights a week this alone should keep me in shape. As of today; my abbs hurt, my legs are killing me and even my butt is sore. Buff City Here I come!

My first born turns 6 years old today!

6 years ago today(well, he was born on a tuesday) at 8:58pm after a long labor and delivery we finally had our first baby boy! We wondered so much how he would look, this was the mixing of 2 sets of genes here and we actually worried he'd get the worst part of us. But there he was, so small and far cuter than i could have even imagined. He was absolutly perfect.

And then we took him home and the hospital forgot to send the instruction manuel with him!
We lived in Austin TX at the time and didn't have much family there to help. It was just us and him... and he cried, and spit up with distances so great he could hit the wall on the opposite side of the room, and did I mention he cried, a lot. He had colic and ear infections all the time and the only way to make him stop crying was to put him in the umbrella stroller and push him around the apartment complex or inside our apartment if it was raining. I walked off that baby weight quickly. I thought he would never crawl or walk. He made this squishy face when you would take a picture and we took a lot of pictures!

And then before I knew it the first year went by and then the second and i thought we were so lucky that we didn't go through "terrible twos" but then the year after that was the "testing threes". And by then he was really starting to get big. We worked so hard on manners, I was determined that he would have good manners but belch like a champ. If you say excuse me after an awsome belch it makes it okay, at least in my book.
When we had Austin, Andrew was so helpful. He really has turned out to be the best big brother we could have asked for. He even help teach him how to pee in the potty.
Through the last 6 years i have seen him grow into the nicest, most polite, well mannered kid.
He tells me I look nice even when in my opinion i look terrible. He is sweet to our animals and his brother and all he meets.
And now he has a new little cousin and so many people said he would be jelous but he has shown such care and love and concern for her. he loves her and thinks it's his job to help take care of her now too.
I am so thankful on this birthday that I was lucky enough to be chosen to be Andrew's mom.
My grandma once said that God chose just the right boy to send to me, she was right.
Tonight we are going to take Andrew to eat pizza and play games and get him a new bike.
Tonight is about celebrating the best 6 years of our lives, and kiss him tons!

A sibling? I think NOT!

I love to cook nice family dinners and have us all sit at the table and talk and eat and enjoy a great dinner with my boys. It's one of those simple things in life that I love. It's goes along with a full fridge and pantry and laundry being done and hanging in closets and put in drawers. Not that I'm good at doing all the above mentioned stuff but I like it when it gets done.

Last night I made a wonderful dinner! It was like it was thankgiving early! I made a whole chicken,(dang bird even came with the kneck) that I seasoned to perfection, and fresh corn on the cob and a green bean casarole with home grown green beans. Ahh, the perk of having farmers and ranchers bank with you and me being the nice gal I am they shared.

So last night as we are sitting around the table, after Andrew said the prayer and Austin repeating the last word of every sentence, enjoying the sound of the mmmm's and the ahhh's.
Andrew says out of no where, "I think you guys need to have another baby!" I swear I saw a green bean shoot out of Paul's nose when he said that, and I slightly choked a bit. I asked him, "and why do you think we need another baby?" He says, "I just want another brother to play with." "I don't think so buddy, momma and daddy like it just the way it is around here." To which my smart alike child says, "Okay, I'll take a sister then, I guess I could deal with a sister."

We didn't really know what to say after that. We just told to him eat his dinner and after that he could go out to ride his bike. Thankfully he hasn't brought it up again.

There's a new girl in my life.. Move over Sussa!

The great thinking Poppy!

Oh, My you people are sooo B-O-R-I-N-G!

Light of my life!

And here she is just a doll!

So this is the new girl in my life and she gets prettier everyday! These pictures are some that Sussa send my phone everyday... now she's forced to humor me and send me daily pictures of Poppy.

I love that gal! Sussa and Poppy and Uncle Jon (with no hair) are in Gorgia and I don't like them being that far away. Be careful guys!

Gonna make this weekend a fun one!

There are going to be so many good things done at our house this weekend!
We are taking the kids and Andrew's best friend Lizzie to Spalshway waterpark on saturday! Andrew has finally figured out how to ride his bike without training wheels so there will be bike riding and BBQing and as much fun as we can pack in!
Both Paul and i are off this weekend which is rare so we are gonna make a great time of it!
I'm so excited to spend this time with the kids and to see them having so much fun is gonna be awsome!

A very sad weekend...

As most people know our cat "Kitty" had 3 kittens.
Well this weekend 2 of them passed away and are now in "Kitty Heaven" with Jesus.
It was a terrible and sad weekend for us.

I will spare you guys the details but i tried my beast to save them, including giving a kitten mouth to mouth. Thankfully the boys didn't see the gore of part of what happend but we are all still so sad to have lost these two kittens. May they rest in peace...

Hopefully this last one will be okay and we can keep her.

Shenanagans part 2!

BABY POPPY IS HERE!!!

Finally after a long wait Baby Poppy is here! She was born May 22 at 2:19pm and is healthy and happy and soon to be spoiled rotten! Poor Sussa had a tough time getting out and they used the vacuum to get her out. Poor girl had a rough ride out to see this great big world and had some breathing problems but nothing that hanging out with her Momma and Annie can't fix.

I got the privaledge of staying with Melissa on friday night and we had way to much fun together for just having a baby. It was Poppy's first slumber party! we had tons of fun and shenanagans... hehe I know I spelled that wrong but it sounds funny...hehehehe

Here are a few good pictures of the hospital stay.

I finally have a working dryer!

After 2 months of not having a dryer we finally have a working dryer! Our dryer went out a few months ago and being that it was 8 years old and we put that poor thing through the hard work we did, we figured we just needed a new one. So we buy the new dryer and get it all hooked up and the thing still doesn't work. We replaced all but the wiring in the house try to get that stupid thing to work. Have you ever thought about how hard it is to go without your dryer? Have you ever realized how stiff a towel is when it's hung to dry? Or your underwear? IT SUCKS!!!
But after 3 grown men, an electrician and a 5 year old supervising we finally have a working dryer. It will be a fun laundry filled evening at my house tonight!

Also, we have been going bike riding with the kids in the evenings. They both love it! Austin rides in the seat behind Paul and andrew rides his own bike and I ride next to him. We are going to be getting Andrew a new bike for his birthday this summer because he has just about outgrown his, poor kid has to bend his legs 3 times to fit on it and he oly got it last year. Growth spurt... But I think we are going to try to make this a nightly thing or at least a few nights a week. On our off nights we take the dogs for a walk. Fun times!

And Last!!!! Only 10 more days untill we meet Miss Poppy May Hardee! We are all so excited!!!

All done plug

Well we fianlly did it! We packed up all of Austin's plugs(pacifiers) and this weekend when we saw Sussa(Melissa) we gave them to her baby before we left. I had been telling Austin for about 2 weeks now that we were going to give his plugs to Sussa for her baby. He is 2 1/2 and a big boy and I'm tired of him always having a plug in his mouth. We all relied on it way to much, it was just too easy to put a plug in his mouth if he got too loud or was crying. I didn't want him to be like Andrew was and not get rid of it until he was over 3 years old.
So monday before we left to come home we put all his plugs in a gift bag and gave to Baby Poppy. It was Austin's present to her, at least that's what we were telling him.
I literaly took the one out of his mouth and handed it over to her. He said goodbye to them and in return Sussa gave him a bag of his favorite treats, Reeses Peanutbutter cups.
So we drive off into the sunset and austin seemed just fine, not a tear.
Austin fell asleep in the car on the way home just fine without it too... and then we get to Victoria. He saw that we were near home and the water works began. The first night was ugly rough, the next morning wasn't much better. Yesterday was rougher and harder than we thought it would be. Last night was a little easier, but he was up and asking for his plug at 6 am this morning.
We will make through though...
Now I just have to make sure he doesn't steal Baby Poppy's plugs out of her mouth cuz he wants it back.

Everything rides on hope now...

I have fantastic news! I went to the doctor yesterday in San Antonio about the problems I am having with the arm I broke 3 times when I was little. I really didn't think anything could be done but I went to this doctor because my mother swore he could do something for it. Well as it turns out he can fix the nerve problems i have been having with surgery. I don't care about the bone itself but if I can have some relief from all the pain in it that will be a huge life changer!

I have been dealing with problems from breaking my arm for 20 years now and have had what seems like a dozen doctors tell me they wouldn't even come near it. If you've ever seen it you know how ugly it looks; I mean don't get me wrong, I love making grown men feel weak when they see it and it's a great halloween trick but not too good for anything else.
But in the past 6 months or so the pain in it has been more than I can take... so seeing this doctor couldn't hurt anything.

He said it was an entrapt ulnar nerve with muscle atrophy... basicaly i have a pinched nerve and because of it there isn't any muscle in that arm to help me do anything. Small things even...
So he is going to go in and fix the nerve and put it in a place that it can't get pinched again.
I was overwhelmed by the thought of relief from this and couldn't help but cry. 20 years of hearing NO and now a doc who says YES he can help. It was too much to take in. I scared the doc when I started to cry cuz he thought he said something wrong, but he said everything right!
I'm actually not too scared of the surgery because I have HOPE for a good outcome. SO EXCITING!!


and in other news: we have adopted a new dog.... we she adopted us really
on my way to SA I stopped in Lavernia cuz when a 5 year old says he has to pee, you stop!
We were on our way out of the store and this dog who looks about 6 months old runs right up to us and rolls over to show us her belly. Poor girl looked liked she'd missed a few meals, an old man said he was feeding her beef jerky but that she had been hanging around the store for 2 days. He also said that if i took her with me he would buy her dog food....hmmm...
So I open the door to get the kids in and she jumps in my car and plants herself in the passenger seat. then she looked at me with those puppy dog brown eyes and i just couldn't leave her behind. So we have 2 dogs and 3 cats and 2 kids = time for a maid
We named her Lady and she is a sweet addition to our family.
And I did stop back at that store on the way home just to see if anyone had asked about her and they said no, so home she went and there she stays.

Broken glasses and a broken heart

We had an accident this morning.... Andrew accidently stepped on his glasses as we were trying to get ready for school.
I feel really bad because I yelled at him and told him "I was very cross with him!".
In our house that is almost a kick in the teeth. Anyone who watches Thomas the Tank Engine knows that line.
So Andrew had to go to school without glasses and still somewhat upset from my comment. Poor kid couldn't see today at all.
Paul picked him up from school and took him to get an new eye exam and then to get glasses. I honestly thought it would go off without any problems, I mean how hard can it be... he's almost 6 and now he knows all of his alphabet. hehehe boy was I wrong!
First they had to wait for an hour before they even got back to an exam room and then the doctor decided to dialate his eyes. Well it took 4 people, including his dad to hold him down while the doctor put the drops in his eyes. And then they find out that his right eye went up a while notch in only 10 months!(from a +2.00 to a +3.00)
No wonder the boy couldn't see at school! his glasses werent strong enough!
We went and picked him out some very nice, non chicken-little looking glasses and today he can see much better and looks so nice!
And I appologised to him last night for saying what I did, he was fine....

SuperBoys!

some updates

Yesterday my friend Morgan got me out of a pickle! I didn't have a sitter yesterday and she lives in my neighborhood and offered to watch the boys for me. And to make my day even better she sent me these pictures of the boys playing. It made my day! Not only was it nice to know that they were well taken care of and Austin had a friend to play with but to be able to see them during the day was awsome.

I wish there was a better way to convey my appriciation to you Morgan. THANK YOU SOOO MUCH! (that's all I can come up with)

Also, my mom got me an apointment for april 27th to see a doctor up in SA to see what we can do about my elbow. I broke my left elbow 3 times when I was little and I'm having lots of problems with it now. Here's hoping something can be done about it.

Take that bad guys! You can't keep Jesus Down!!

Easter weekend has come and gone and it was so busy you almost forget the reason for it.

Both Paul and I had to work at some point during that weekend and then with church and all it just flew by. It was nice though, we spent as much time as a family that we could. And we enjoyed our usual after church mexican food lunch.
So we get to church sunday morning as close to "on time" as we could get, only missed the first song so I count that as on time. Usually when we get there we drop off both boys to their classes, Austin in the 2 year old class and Andrew now goes to Kids Life since he is in school and they have a service just for his age group. He loves it! Since it was the Easter pagent Andrew didn't have his class so he came in to sit with us.

Andrew tells us all the time that he has God in his heart and I truly believe he does but since he is only 5 he doesn't get how bad Jesus had it when he died for us. I was worried about how he would react when he saw the blood on Jesus and all that came with it.

Well the part comes where Jesus is being beaten and carying the cross on his back and I have Andrew sitting on my lap so he could see. I wrap my arms tight around his just in case he wants to jump and run. He turns to me and says, "why are they hitting him? We don't hit! Mamma tell them to stop hitting Jesus!" I tell him that Jesus let them hurt him so we don't ever have to be hurt like that. "Remember, the good guys always win", I remind him.
He turns his face and i can see right into his tear filled eyes and he says, "But Mamma we love him." "I know baby, but he loved us more and he died for us and we will never have to hurt like that. This is why we thank Jesus for all he gives to us, even himself." I tell him just to keep watching cuz the better part will come.
He sees them put Jesus on the cross and covers his ears during the hammering part and then he held me so tight when they made it thunder and lightning.
Then the parts comes when the angel rolls the stone away and a bright light comes from the tomb and out walks Jesus with a white robe. The whole crowd started clapping and out of the mouth of a innocent 5 year old boy you hear, "TAKE THAT BAD GUYS! YOU CAN'T KEEP JESUS DOWN!!" It was a good thing everyone was clapping so he wasn't heard so loud but still those of us around him laughed.
I know he doesn't understand all of it but i was glad that he was able to sit through that and see why we do tell Jesus thank you for all he's done for us.

HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter to all my loved ones, friends and family!

Don't get to hopped up on sugar!

Slow it Down People!!!

This morning while i was driving Andrew to school right in the middle of the road was a little dead kitty. I told Andrew to look the other direction so he wouldn't see this poor little black and white kitty dead in the middle of the road in our own neighborhood.

It makes me SO MAD to see stuff like this in the streets where it should be safe for pets and kids to play. I blame many of the teenagers that drive through there like bats out of you know where! So to those who read this.... SLOW DOWN!!!
It could be my pet or child next! It's a neighborhood for crying out loud!!!

Saturdays with Sussa

We have seen Sussa for the past 3 saturdays in a row now and i must say we quite enjoy it. Andrew talks about seeing her all week now and he thinks that come saturday we are just supposed to go hang out with her.
For some reason or another Melissa has come down here or as of this last saturday we snuck up to San Marcos and hung out and did a little shopping. I say snuck because Melissa is technically not supposed to do any traveling or driving long distances. We just couldn't help ourselves though so we met up there after I got off work. Actually I don't think she cared as much about seeing me as much as it was just to spend time with Andrew.
I took our wagon with us for the boys to ride in while we shopped and that was the smartest thing I could have done. They have one of those comfy wagons with seats and cup holders so they rode in comfort.
We didn't do too much shopping, with a pregnant girl and two kids you can't do a lot of shopping but we went where we wanted to go, got the boys stuff mostly and had a great dinner together before we went home. It was a great saturday with our Sussa!

And now I have two sick boys at home to take care of. We all have the crud. Cough, fever, runny noses.... *sigh* at least saturday was good

Baby Poppy's Room

So Melissa isn't the pink vomit all over the room kinda girl when it comes to this baby stuff. THANK GOD!!!

But if anyone knows Melissa you will know that she is artistic in the sense of what she wears and how her house is decorated. She is very stylish...

So when deciding how to decorate Baby Poppy's room is it any wonder that she recruted the help of my also artistic mother? (how did I get skipped in the creative catagory?)

So here are pictures of what her room will look like. I will post more when it's all done and decorated.

Report card

I was emailed Andrew's third report cart for the year yesterday. I think they have 4 semesters and I get all of the info pertaining to Andrew via email. Gotta love technology!





So they don't grade K5 kids like they used to do us where it was an A,B, or C. Now they have "mastered, almost always, sometimes or never" on the reports.





Andrew is by far the youngest in his class. Some of the kids are almost a full year older than he is. I think we may have jumped the gun on him going to school. he was too big for where he was at though and he needed a challenge. he turned 5 in july and started kindergarten in august. Because of his birthday he was old enough to start school, old enough but not mature enough. He has worked so hard this year, harder than I think most kids in the class. And he has struggled so much too, it breaks my heart. We do worksheets with him at night too to help him catch up to the other kids. Even with all the work we have done together he is still going to end up repeating kindergarten. But with his age he won't be any older than his classmates next year. Thankfully his best friend is going to a different school next year too ao he won't be behind him and in the same school. All of this stuff is a heart wrenching thought process. I have spent many hours thinking about this stuff. We want him to have a better foundation and if he's not where he needs to be for 1st grade than i would rather him repeat now and have an easy time is 1st grade.

Anyway... back to report cards

I got Andrew's and it showed he was greatly improved! He also came home with ribbons pinned to his shirt that said "most improved" AND "best conduct".
While I'm not too surprised with the best conduct it is still great to see. And i'm so glad that his teacher has noticed how hard HE has worked! I don't expect my kids to be the smartest in the school but we work hard on manners and being respectful and polite.
I am so proud of Andrew and all he has accomplished this year and i know next year will be even better!

Some more pics and ramblings

Here are some more pictures from the shower. Yes i know i have more than one chin so spare the jokes! And as you can see Andrew couldn't leave Sussa's side.

Oh, and you put Melissa and i together and we usually laugh that hard, always...like we are 12 years old again... go figure

Also, now i am stumpy. I barely have a voice wich isn't good when your job is talking to people all day. My head feels like that comercial where those people's head floats away like a baloon.

I think i just need some rest. I keep going and going and going and going... and I am not the engergiser bunny!

And taco night was soooo good. i wish i'd had some more for lunch today.

Taco night

Some days things just work out differently from what you plan.
Paul called me a few minutes ago and said his sister is having taco night at her house tonight. Score! This means I don't have to cook!
While I'm not to thrilled with not being able to go home right after work at least I don't have to cook. Tacos sound really good tonight too.
Now i know what you are thinking... "what's so great about tacos?"
Well for starters they don't use regular taco shells. They use corn tortillas cooked in crisco until they get crispy and then you put a slice of cheese on it for just a few seconds till it melts.
We also dice up sliced pickles and put those on tocos along with refried beans. And while I don't eat guacamole my kids love to eat it with their tacos too.

So I planned on going home but I'll make a pit stop for tacos first.

So much in such a short amount of time

So where to begin....

Friday night's Wild About Wine at the zoo went great. A cold front came in while we were there so it got a little chilly but it was so nice anyway. The food was great and the wine was good too. Then we got the boys and headed home for an early bedtime.

Saturday was a very busy day. Melissa's shower went FANTASTIC! These are only the pics I took with my phone. I completely forgot to take my camera but Melissa brought hers so she will email me those pictures when she can. In those you will see that Andrew is in every one of them. He thought she just couldn't open her gifts without his help. (austin didn't care about anything other than cake and his trains so he's not in many of them)

Andrew was so funny though, she would open a gift and you would hear him say things like, " that's so precious, or it's so beautiful!" And then he would try to remember the name of who gave the gift and say thank you to the group mostly, he didn't really know who that person actually was. It was funny.

As you can see the cake turned out well, not as block like as I wanted but it still came out and tasted great. Melissa had most of the bottom half to take home with her, she said she liked cake.

After the shower was over Mom, Melissa and I headed to my grandma's house to practice our song. Sunday i was so proud of all of us, I think we did great considering we hadn't sung together in 8 years. I actually saw many tears from some of the people in the aduience that have known us our whole lives and singing careers. They may have been crying because it was bad and they just lied to us and said it was good, who knows...

Today i barely have a voice left at all, we practiced a bunch on saturday.

That's all for the moment, I will post the other pictures when I get them.