December Wrap Up!!!

On the 19th, we celebrated the 8th year anniversary of our Las Vegas Elopement!! We went out for a yummy El Salvadorian dinner! (child free- which is a rare treat!) Thanks to my mom who came over so we could go out and enjoy a quiet evening.

Santa came and must have had a little too much eggnog, because he brought way too much as usual... I know I have a dining room table somewhere....

One of the greatest gifts this season....With the 5 of us plus our furry friend....the ROOMBA is my new best friend. Way cool and it works pretty well. We are true sci-fi nerds now...we have our own robot.

And....alas....today is my birthday....New Year's Eve. My daughter sang me awake this morning and then asked me "how old are you?" To which, in all honesty, I replied "I don't know." My darling husband has since clarified my memory for me...thanks dear....I am a glorious 34 - without feeling a day over 29. Enjoy your last day of 2007 and don't party too hard this evening- those roads can be dangerous!! We will likely stay home, eat cake, drink champagne, and watch our new robot do our work for us. :)

Winter church

I love church in the winter. In the spring and summer sometimes I find it hard to want to go indoors on a sunny Sunday morning. A bike ride, hike, or lounging by a lake or a pool seems so much more appealing. In the fall, the hectic schedule and exhaustion seem to overshadow my energy to go with a happy heart. I just long to sleep in and stay in my pj's at least one morning. BUT...in the winter....Oh I love it!! There is something about going on a Sunday morning all bundled up into a warm building decorated with poinsettas and trees with lights that makes me hurry in the morning so we won't be late. The singing seems better, the messages touch my heart, and even the kids seem so happy to be there. I don't want to miss anything in the winter. It really puts me in the holiday spirit in the best way. Enjoy your Sunday and this busy fun month of December!

Watch out video stores...

Just to warn you all- there will be a huge rush now on Guitar Hero as I have managed to convert all my friends to addicts....

What a fun night! It's a very beautiful morning here and it's quiet with just me and my husband and the littlest one. My little guy has another ear infection...here we go again. His tubes they put in 6 months ago have already fallen out- no surprise for my wild man. So we are keeping him home and resting. No church for us today- sometimes it is so nice to have one of those cuddly mornings where we are enjoying each other! What a great weekend I am having and perfect for the season.

SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR!!!!

American mommy....

Two meanings...first the rich doll industry....
My daughter went to a birthday party at the new boutique and bistro for the doll snobs of america- also know as that famous company to which we have given our share of cash. Here are the outfits I spent my Sat. am making for them- as any good southern mommy would do....

And Second.....I am having a girls party this weekend for my closest girlfriends to play Guitar Hero III and Wii Boogie. I believe I am a rockstar at heart. So, 10 of my closest girlfriends from work are being subjected to my passion on Saturday night. A girls video gaming night. Nothing like some good mexican food, drinks, and pretend guitars to make the mommies feel young and free again. Oh, and my husband and I just finished beating a co-op mission on easy. Oh the satisfaction...

Other happenings...I wrapped up my fall coaching last weekend with my precious 4 year old team. They did okay but more importantly had a blast. I felt very sentimental at the end thinking how I have inspired these young girls to be strong independent women someday....Okay...so my head may have been a bit large at the end of the season. The girls parents surprised me with a hefty gift card to a restaurant resembling a pepper (don't want to get a million googlers finding me). Very nice of them. I will continue the fun in the spring.

And, it finally seems like fall with the leaves leaving our trees at last- although today's high was in the 80's. Here are the 2 youngest playing in the leaves....
Nothing like a good nose dive into the leaves (really he's practicing for the crowd surfing when his mommy is a rockstar on stage....)

Even the wild horses behind us couldn't drag out the oldest. A boy after his own daddy's electronically driven heart....

Later my rocking fans....

Happy Halloween!!

The witch, the clown and the Vaderman.

Lots of fun last night!

Fall is in the air

What a great fall weather week we are having- which for those who do not live in the hotter than heck state- is a nice treat. We may even need some long sleeves for trick-or-treating. My sweet baby is recovering well from his "incident". He is using and straightening his finger well and we only have to apply scar cream now. He continues to threaten us with continued ER visits with his wild man antics and we are certain his career will involve some level of risk one day. He is a thrill seeker for sure! On the funny side- he has needed socks this week for the cool weather and every time I say "Let's put your socks on" he holds out his injured hand. After keeping a sock over the bandage, etc. for a month he actually believes that socks go on your hands. Poor thing- we have warped him for sure! :)

My oldest has lost both teeth and we are LOVING the cute toothless grin. What a nice treat for a Halloween. Too fun. :)

And our darling middle daughter came home sick today. At least that explains some of the drama over the last 48 hours. I was starting to believe she might be demon possessed. Joking...

Halloween and pumpkin patch pics will be posted soon! I just felt like I needed to give a shout out to all my internet groopies that I was still alive. Now time to go survey the damage that has no doubt occurred while I have been out of sight for a few minutes! Cheers friends!

All is well

Surgery went fine this am. It turns out the wound was all the way down to the blood vessels. Just another reassurance that my little guy has nerves of steel. He was a total angel through all of this.

I just finished installing our new gate around our treadmill. Perhaps I will get over my new "gun-shy-ness" of it now. I have not been able to bring myself to get back on since the incident.

Well, when it rains, it pours, right? We had to put one of our sweet dogs down yesterday. He was diagnosed with cancer this summer and it was time to be merciful yesterday. Everyone seems to be taking it okay.

What a week. Ready for some fun fall activities and some pumpkin bread!

Dr. Troy and Dr. McNamara

Okay, I absolutely LOVE Nip/Tuck. It is a weird, pretty dark, trashy kind of show and I love it. I never thought I would be living it....

Okay, so not really with Dr. Troy or Dr. McNamara but with Dr. PlasticSurgeon. And no- it's not for me. (although....while I'm there....joking)

Friday night I am running on my treadmill with my ipod and watching tv with closed captions. About 1/2 way through my run I hear the blood curdling scream of my 18 month old behind me. After my heart jumps out of my chest and I get the treadmill stopped I turn around and scoop him up to see him holding out his left hand and SCREAMING at the top of his lungs. I am thinking "Where in the heck did you come from!??". When we both start to breath again I can see the giant gash on his left middle finger. So, I wash, put neosporin and attempt to put ice on his finger. I give him motrin and rock him for the next 2 hours. Saturday we wake up and he seems to be using it okay, but man does it look painful. He does not cry but occasionally holds it out and says "uh-oh". When I try to wash it again and apply more neosporin we find out that, in fact, his lungs are still working great and his finger still hurts.

Sunday I take him to church and the nursery attendant comes to get me saying his finger is bleeding. I look at it again and decide, that's it- we're going to a minor emergency place.

Dr. PediatricMinorEmergency is very nice. He reassures me (at the sight of my tears) that it was not my fault and that kids just do these crazy things sometimes. He applies more antibiotic, gives us an oral antibiotic, re-bandages it and then says "You definitely need to get him an appointment with a plastics dr. ASAP- no later than Wednesday." Slight panic in my heart, but okay. He says "Just to make sure as it heals there is not too much contraction." Okay, I relax a little. I have worked with many OTs in my career and know a slight bit about hands, so this makes sense.

Now at the Dr. PediatricMinorEmergency visit I had both of the other kids with me without my husband. My older son happily waited in the waiting room. My daughter insisted on going back with us, but begs to let her out when they start cleaning his wound. Not being an octopus, I have no free hands to take her out to the waiting room and tell her to sit on the chair in the corner we'll be done in a minute (as I continue to hold down my SCREAMING child with us both crying). As we get in the car to leave I am already feeling SO overwhelmed, my daughter vomits. I think she has inherited her mother's queasiness for hospitals.

Monday morning I call 4 plastic surgeon offices to be told that they are booked at least 1 month out. (Seriously, can we postpone a tummy tuck consult for my baby's open wound finger!!??) I keep thinking...where are Dr's Troy/McNamara- they would see me no matter what! The 5th phone call was a charm. I found a fantastic plastics Dr. who happens to also be a hand specialist. He was a former director of plastics at our major local trauma hospital for many years. He says no problem- they will work me in today.

I get to the office (alone with only the patient- no siblings this time) and sweet baby of mine sits in a fancy waiting room chair and I pull the few toys I brought with me - this obviously is not a child frequented Dr. office. He sits up in his chair so big. I chuckle filling out the forms ...patient name, etc....patient occupation....Toddler...Patient hobbies....getting out as many toys as possible, climbing on anything...eating cookies...drinking milk...Okay...back to serious.

Bottom line- my baby has a 3rd degree mechanical burn requiring a skin graft. They are going to take the tissue from his groin area and attach it to his finger. This will happen at crack of dawn Friday and until then his father and I get the pleasure of wound care (also known as you hold him while he screams bloody murder and I'll apply the direct torture). Ugh...I'm not sure who cries more when we do this- he or I?

I will either be gray haired by the weekend or in need of AA. I am already exhausted and can't believe it's only Monday. I am thankful it is only a finger and that this can be somewhat repaired. He is so brave too. As we left the torture visit today he waves bye-bye to all the nurses (who are just eating him up) even the ones who did his wound care. He is way too precious and I am so lucky he has such a happy disposition.

It's official

http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/2007/07/16/suburbs-growth-housing-forbeslife-cx_mw_0716realestate_2.html

I officially live in the 8th fastest growing suburb in the US. I guess we finally made the list since we also now have a Starbucks. I don't think you can really be considered for anything until you reach Starbucks status. HA! Have a great week everyone!

You know you are stressed when...

True stories from this week...

You drive home and your husband comes out to greet you. He continues past you and you say "Oh, I already got the mail". He replies "I was going to help get the kids out of the car." All of a sudden it dawns on you...the children!?? You say "OH! The kids!! I forgot to pick them up from the sitters....be back in a little bit!!"

We had a drawing at work to determine who will get to go on an out of town conference this year. My boss pulls out my name and stares and stares and finally says "I don't know who this is." I say, "hello?? Remember me??" She says "No. I don't know a Brenda Y" I wrote down my maiden name!!!!!!! 8 years and I guess my heart still feels like it was yesterday!!

Not to mention the new constant twitch above my right eye. I thought it started out as allergies, but 10 days later I am claiming stress. And, why do we bother to name our children different names? When it's a rough stressful day it always comes out "br-kat-ma-hey kids!!" I just can't keep them straight this week!

And a sweet story to end on....my sweet 6 year old son lost another tooth today. It's been loose for a while and today it fell out at school. At our school they put teeth in a little tooth necklace so the kids won't lose it and they can take it home. Unfortunately, the plastic tooth necklace did not do it's job today and he literally lost his tooth on the playground. Since I work at his school one of the first grade teachers comes to tell me what happened and that he was not upset. He just went up to her and asked her what was he supposed to do for the tooth fairy now? She told him to write her a letter explaining what happened and she was sure the tooth fairy would leave extra money for him for being so brave and not crying about losing his tooth. Here is what he wrote... "Drer toothfuere i lost my tooth undr the muncebrs. Can you giv me a estr $. Becus i wus so big ubout loosing it. I dinnot crie." Sometimes among the stress there is still nothing like being a mommy!!

Good times, busy, busy....

I am alive!! Back to school. Wow. I think they should call it "back to life on the roller coaster" or "welcome to the end of freedom for 9 months" instead! Things have been crazy busy around our house the last month.

Here was my oldest's 6th birthday party. I usually go all out and plan some elaborate out of control thing at our house. This year I took the easy way out. Pay the price, save the headache and let someone else do the cleaning up. We had a quiet little family party and a big putt-putt, laser tag, go kart extravaganza.

The quiet family...

Putt -Putt
First day of first grade.



Next, there was my cousin's wedding. What fun that was! It was a western theme wedding and it was so great to be with all of our family in such a picturesque setting. Good times. Lots of pics.

All my boys.My daughter dancing with my grandaddy (her great-granddad). Pretty cool and let me tell you...he can dance like there is no tomorrow. Very cool.

Then, the next weekend one my nearest and dearest friends in the world from college...a dear soul sister to me..flew into town for a baby shower. It was so great to see Laurie. She looks great and I know she will be a great mommy. So fun to see her- even for a short while. And for those of you out there wondering...yes I left with incredible baby fever. Luckily, before I could take action on that emotional surge another dear friend of a 4 week old called to ask "will he ever sleep through the night? I am SO exhausted." Baby fever gone. Like my sleep. Even gave my maternity clothes to a friend this month although she continues to threaten she will return them for number 4. Um...no thanks...all this exercise will not be wasted!!
She will kill me for the next one....

It's a boy!

In between those highlights...we have 2 kids back in fall soccer. I am also the coach of my daughter's team- the Wildflowers. For those who knew me when I was a soccer stud, well, I am reliving my life through my children. HA! Actually, I was invited to join an adult league this fall, but felt that might be overtending myself since it happen to occur on the ONLY free night we have. See, I can say "no" sometimes. (Okay...so I said "maybe I can squeeze it in in the spring.....") Between practice for the 2 of them and Sat. am games, we are quickly realizing what the next 18 years will be like with sports and activities....NUTS!!! Exciting and FUN, but NUTS. We also have tumbling in the mix for my daughter and my oldest son wanted to join cubscouts, but we had to miss that meeting - I was at another meeting. (Did I mention I am volunteering to help with Special Olympics?) We will probably still sign up. I think cubscouts could be a great father-son activity :)

Then there is work. My role has changed this year and it's taken some adjustment to only being at 2 schools instead of supervising at 5. It's a good change, but it's been a bit of an adjustment. It is so great to have all CCC'd people (mastered people in common language). It is so rewarding to be working directly with kids again, but a bit daunting to tackle all those things I didn't have to deal with for the past few years. I also received a new title this week. I am officially the "Lead Speech Language Pathologist" for our district. For those of you who know me well, I LOVE to overachieve so this is right up my ally. Unfortunately, the only benefits it includes is a new name badge with my new title on it and free cokes when I go to the district admin. building. Wow. I know you are all jealous of that one. I really am excited though. I have worked hard at my job for the last few years and it's nice to be aknowledged. A little power never hurts a girl, right? joking....joking...

And the last 2 are just because my little one continues to make me smile everyday. He is truly the HAPPIEST child alive. Even his babysitter agrees so it must be true!! He loves to give hugs now and pats my shoulder. He has learned "Let's go" means "sprint to our vehicle as quickly as possible" and it is adorable to watch him run. He still doesn't talk much- no need for that with all of us to cater to his "uhh's" pointing and grunting. I have taught him about 5 signs and he has maybe 10 words. NO worries though...his mom can fix him later....:) again....joking....And yes....I know you can't talk with a pacifier in your mouth 10 out of 12 hours a day.

Nothing like hiding in a box with your lambie to keep you company....move over baby...mommy needs a break too....

Moving, stargazing, ready for school?

We are finally moved. I will not say settled, but moved. As a kid I moved 3 times before I graduated high school. Each time was hard and I can remember many, many tears before, during, and long after each move. This move, although not tearful, has also been a roller coaster. We only moved about a mile away into a brand new house we built. It is amazing and we are so lucky to have such a nice place. At the same time, those old emotions of not knowing where anything is, not feeling like it's our cozy home, being overwhelmed by where to put everything, and a longing for the old one are still there. Don't get me wrong - I have no desire to move back to the old one, but miss the cozy organized comfort of it all. So, rather than spend all my time the last 2 weeks unpacking, I unpacked enough to feel somewhat settled and sat down and read HP6 and HP7. I finished HP7 at 1 this morning so now back to unpacking. Perhaps one day soon we will again see our new garage floors!
Here is the old one:
And here is the new one....
We have also been enjoying the coolest new geek toy in our house...a telescope. The kids and I purchased one for father's day and here are some pics that Scott took with it. It is way cool to look and actually see the surface of the moon, Jupiter's moons, and a little peek at Saturn. For what Texas lacks in trees it makes up for with stars (The stars at night....are big and bright....okay..enough state pride) ...
I have one week left of freedom for the summer and then it's back to school time. So, it is not real likely that those garage floors will be visible this week. I feel the need to cram in all those things we were "going to do this summer."

There really is still a sun...

Oh my goodness what a beautiful few days we have had! The sun does still exist and we are taking full advantage of it. It's not helping my motivation to pack for the move, but it sure is a great free mood elevator!!

The new house is looking better and better each day too. It is really beautiful and we are so excited. We went to look at it the other day and my littlest one ran around each room in circles squealing and laughing, kissing the windows, and then throwing himself tummy down in the middle of the floor saying "ahhhh". Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner. If only I was that excited about packing!

July!

Where is the summer going??!! I love how I have these great ideas at the beginning of summer of how our summer is going to go. Then reality steps in. Who knew it would rain non-stop for us this summer?? Last year we were in a drought and in mandatory city wide water conservation. This year lakes are closing because the boat ramps are under water. It is nutty and is making me a little nutty. Keeping 3 kids inside can be one quick ticket to insanity - Especially when you are selling your house and building a new one. Thank goodness by now I am used to the chaos.

Here are a recent pics of the kids for those of you who haven't seen them in a while:

The boys
Singin' in the rain (literally)
We did make it to the in-laws lake house a couple of times....

Grandpa loves a good boat ride....

His first boat ride!!!

Speaking of nutty...I better go keep them from killing each other. More later friends!