We're Still Here!!!

I know it's been forever since there has been an update, but they're not nearly as much fun when it's just "Everybody is busy doing their own thing." But, we have managed to do a few things in the OVER A YEAR since I last updated. It really is all on me. I've had a lot of people try to get me off of lazy and update here. Sooooo, here goes:

Wyatt is still busy with school. He's finishing up his junior year right now.

Abigail is still working as a flight attendant and enjoying it.

Kirsten has come to work with Dax and I. We'll make an accountant of her yet. Her resistance is futile!

Addison is still working in a preschool and enjoying the kids.

Wyatt drug invited us to a symphony performance on campus.

 

I think Dax and I get invited so that we'll pay for the tickets. I don't have any solid proof, but I'm pretty sure I'm onto something here.

Addison bought her first car last summer. After much looking around and test driving, she settled on a Volkswagen Tiguan. She's happy with her choice.

After all of the excitement (read: stress) of car shopping, Dax and I got away for a long weekend in New Orleans. We visited some neat places in the Quarter and found some great places to eat. But, really, how can you not in New Orleans.

Dax found this pearl in some oysters he was eating. Should have made him keep eating until I had enough for a bracelet. Ha!

We had our annual trip to the Texas Renaissance Festival. It's always a good time and makes for some great people watching.

 

Then, just like that and with no warning at all, the kids turned 21 in November. TWENTY ONE!! 

We took them out to dinner on their actual birthday. 

Those 'first' drinks at 21 probably cost more than the meal. LOL It was all good and we had a great evening together. It gets more and more difficult to get everyone together as they get older and have their own things going on.

But, dinner out for their birthday wasn't enough celebrating of 21. So when Dax and I were out in Las Vegas for our annual conference, we had the kids come out over the weekend to celebrate. I think a good time was had by all.

 

A good time and food. Lots and lots of food. These are from my favorite place while we're out there. Hash House A Go Go. Do yourself a favor and eat there if you are near one. You can thank me later.

 

 Oh, and you'll probably want to share. The servings are huge. Just the pancakes are 14 inches.

 

We felt like we barely got back home, before Christmas was already upon us. We had a good time with everyone and had our annual gingerbread house decorating contest.

 I have to say, we're getting better at it.

We didn't even have time to recover from Thanksgiving, birthdays in Vegas, and right into Christmas before we headed up to Dallas to the hockey Winter Classic.

It was crowded and cold, but it was fun. And the Dallas Stars won, which made it even better.

So now Dax and I are back into tax season and it may actually feel like rest after the busy holiday season.

So that's pretty much the fun stuff we've been up to. We've had all of the not fun stuff to deal with, too. One of our dogs has signs of dimentia and has lost his hearing. We hate to touch him when he's sleeping because it scares him, but that's the only way to get his attention.

In October, another one of our dogs had a stroke. She's been slow to recover, but still gets better every day. She started out not being able to do anything but blink her eyes, but she's recovered all the way back to her back legs. She still can't stand up, but is trying and continues to get more movement in her legs. We've gotten her a doggie wheel chair, but that takes a whole lot of work on its own.

.........and on it goes.

I know I say it every time, but I'll try not to go quite so long without at least some kind of update.

A long overdue update

It has gotten to be the new routine around here that I post, apologize for having been so long in between posts, think I'm going to be better, and then don't post in forever.

So here goes................

Sorry it's been so long.

I'll try to do better.

Wyatt has finished his first semester in college. He did quite well, As and Bs. And because of that he received a substantial amount of funds from the Texas State Guard. That makes all of us quite happy. being a part of the State Guard has been a really great thing all the way around. It's been a terrific confidence builder as he learns leadership, a time for Dax and Wyatt to do things together, and has now helped fund his education.

At the end of his first semester, he decided that sports medicine was not going to be the right choice for him. He's now switched his major to History with thoughts of law school later. Truthfully, I think after growing up with three sisters and finding himself outnumbered in most disagreements, he's looking to use all those pent up arguments. What better way to do that than as an attorney? At least that's my theory.

Abigail got her braces removed at the end of November. She's the last one so we are DONE! Now that's cause for celebrating!

At the beginning of December she headed off to spend the holidays in Canada. At the same time Dax and I headed off for our annual continuing education classes in Las Vegas.

Turtles Are So Ungrateful

We were on the way to an orthodontist appointment early one morning last week. We got down the road from the house and there was a turtle part way in the road. Abigail made us stop so that she could go get the turtle off the road to safety.

She ran back and moved the turtle into the grass in the ditch. But she was very unhappy when she got back to the car.

Perhaps the turtle just wanted to be in the road. Perhaps the turtle didn't want to go in the ditch that she was carrying him to. Perhaps it was just a mean spirited turtle. Whatever it was, the turtle was not happy with her.

When she reached to pick it up it hissed at her. Then when she started carrying it to the ditch, it peed on her......a lot!

We had to turn around and go back home so she could change pants and then head back to the orthodontist. We were late and I told them why. Once they stopped laughing, they did say that it was a reason for being late that they'd never heard.

So now, Abigail doesn't like turtles.

Art Project

Kirsten and Abigail have decided to take on an art project.


They're using chalk to zentangle my driveway.

 

 

Of course, we're not allowed to park in the driveway now. The project has been put on hold because of the tests they had in school this week.

And, it rained today and there may still be more on the way so we'll have to see what's left after.

OK, that's better....

This week, although crazy busy at the office, was better.

It will be nice for tax day to come and go so that Dax can come home every night. I think he only slept at home three nights this past week! We've been that busy.

The kids are, as always, busy with school and all that goes with it.

Kirsten and Abigail are still working with the kindergarten kids two mornings a week to help them learn to read. It's nice to see them involved and helping, and the fact that they enjoy it is just icing on the cake.

Wyatt started golf practice last week. I haven't seen the schedule yet so don't know when his first tournament will be. Sometime soon he and Dax are going to go shop for clubs for him. Right now he's using the clubs that Dax used in high school! (And we're not even going to get into how old that makes those clubs -- let me just say that technology has changed a little since then.)

Kirsten and Abigail are both playing tennis and have practice several afternoons a week. They have their first tournament coming up on Saturday. I won't get to see it (but Dax will be there) because Addison has a pageant in Austin. She had mercy on me and held off on entering any during tax season.

I took Abigail and Kirsten to the tennis courts to practice one weekend not too long ago so I'll leave you with this quick video of Abigail.

She's a juggling genius!!! You're going to be blown away!

A less than spectacular week....

As I said before, we had a good Easter spent with family. However, it was marred a little for the children when they received a somewhat snarky email. It's hard to explain to them how someone can tell them that they love them and then do or say hurtful things at the same time. Just another one of life's tough lessons. We've tried to teach them that you can't just rely on what people say, but also to pay attention to how they treat you because it will show you how they really feel. Ugh!

And, Dax has been so busy at work (we're grateful for the business and the faith our clients have in us) that
he's spent more nights sleeping at the office than at home. He's exhausted to say the least.

On Monday, Abigail got hit in the eye with a ball at tennis practice. It swelled up quite a bit and was awfully bloodshot. The swelling went down after a couple of days, but it took all week for the redness to go away. Thank goodness she didn't get a black eye though.

They all had the state standardized tests on Tuesday and Wednesday which they were nervous wrecks about. I think they'll all do fine on them, but there's so much emphasis on these tests that you can't help but freak out a little at the pressure of passing.

Then, yesterday Abigail's dog was not feeling well in the morning. He got worse during the day and while I was dropping Wyatt off at the house (intending to head back into the office) the dog had a seizure. I was on the phone with the vet when it happened so they told us to head right over. Rocky had three more seizures on the way to the office and yet another while they were wheeling him into a room. It was terrible! After many tests, they found that he had gotten into anti-freeze and it was a lethal dose. In order to save him a painful death Abigail and I decided to have him put to sleep. She is heartbroken to say the least. It is so hard as parents for us to see one of our children hurting and knowing there isn't anything we can do to make it better. We're all just trying to love her through it. I know she'll be fine, but she loved that crazy dog so much.

So, we are all hoping and praying for a better week ahead of us.

Work of Art

Abigail finished this painting of Rocky last night.

And no, he didn't lay still for her to paint him.

I think she did a great job......but, of course, I might be a little biased.

The Results Are In!

On Saturday they had the UIL competitions for our district.

Addison and Abigail were the only two of my children competing.

Addison was competing in Modern Oratory. She texted me before she was headed into the competition to tell me that she was nervous. I assured her that I had no doubt that a competition that involved talking was certainly the right one for her.

After she was done, she texted me again telling me that she had bombed and forgot her talking points and was all over the place with her speech. She was pretty disappointed about it. However, once she found out that she got fourth place she decided she deserved for me to make cupcakes for her.....which of course, I did.

Abigail competed in the art competition. Her work was sent in prior to the competition so she didn't have to be there on Saturday. But that also meant that she didn't find out the results until Monday. She won 5th place! She's proud of that placement, but we both know that she probably would have placed even higher if one of her more recent watercolor paintings had been used. I think she's got a talent for art over all, but watercolors seem to come quite naturally to her. I'll take some pictures of her recent work and get them posted soon.

Anyway, we're very proud of them for competing and for doing so well. Good job girls!!!

Wordless Wenesday

Should I be concerned?

We have a gate at our drive and it's operated by a battery that is recharged with a solar panel.

As of late it's been getting slower and slower when it opens and closes. Dax wanted to take the battery and have it checked to see if it was time to get a new one. The only problem was that the battery is housed in a metal box that's locked. It's been about five or six years since the last time we replaced it, so finding the key proved to be a bit of an issue.

While I was looking for the key, Abigail grabbed a paper clip and went to see if she could pick the lock.

I'm thinking that I should be a little scared that she's even willing to work so hard at picking locks.

Fortunately I found the key and the battery needed to be recharged but not replaced....yet!

A good time was had by all

The kids had a great time celebrating their birthday (I'm still not over the fact that they're fourteen already!!)

I bought Krispy Kreme doughnuts for them for breakfast (mostly because Addison is obsessed with them) and put a candle in the middle and sang happy birthday to each as they got out of bed.

 The girls were the only ones that had doughnuts.

We gave them each a cell phone for their birthday and did that the night before so they could have plenty of time to get over it before we went shopping on their birthday. But before we left the house, they opened gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. They got lots of good stuff, but I think Wyatt's favorite was this Texas Longhorns watch.

Their class at school went to visit the UT campus (the PTO does it to start getting the kids thinking about college) and all four of them are smitten with the school now.

Then we headed up to Austin for a long day of shopping and dinner out.

It was a good day and I know they enjoyed it.....they keep texting me to let me know.

Saying Goodbye

We had to say goodbye to Oatis, Abigail's hamster.

He passed away on Friday. Not really sure why. He had been sick but we had nursed him back to health. I think maybe he was just too old.


It's always sad and hurts to see our children hurt.

Good eatin'

Earlier in the summer, the kids were at their grandparents' house. They were at my parents' house but were heading over to spend a couple days with Dax's parents. When Poppey got there to pick them up they hadn't had dinner yet and he told them not too worry because there were ribs cooking for dinner. There was some brief discussion as to whether the ribs were beef or pork.

Fast forward a couple of days.

The kids were back at my parents' house and the conversation got back to the ribs. When my mom asked what kind they were, Abigail said that she thought they were chicken.

As you can probably guess by now, we've had some laughs over that.

Well, when I was at the store they other day I bought some chicken breasts that were still on the bone. 'With ribs' it said on the package.

So a brilliant idea struck me.

On Abigail's plate I cut the breast meat off of the ribs so that she could have chicken ribs.

She didn't eat them!! Although I'm sure she appreciates my humor.

Another busy week

Time flies when you're having fun, right?

Or maybe time just flies.

Abigail gave us a little scare because she started seeing 'floaters' last week which is a warning sign that there might be problems associated with the ROP surgery she had when they were just a few weeks old. Even though we had just seen the eye doctor for their regular check ups in May, we went back on Wednesday for a closer look. He didn't see anything that was immediately alarming but sent her to the retinal specialist just to make sure. She saw him on Friday, and after a VERY long three hour appointment he said that everything looks good and for us not to worry.

Big sigh of relief!!

Addison competed in another pageant on Saturday. I wasn't thrilled with the pageant coordinators and some of their rules (there was a dress code for the audience for crying out loud) but she enjoyed herself and got 2nd place in her division.

 Sorry, I don't have any good pictures.

The theme was denim and diamonds and I can't begin to tell you how many glue sticks I went through getting those 'diamonds' on her boots and belt.

I'm really impressed with how much personality she puts out there when she gets in front of the judges. Even though she's nervous, she plays it up and isn't shy at all.

We're looking forward to the parade tomorrow and some time with the grandparents. Then on the kiddos will be heading off to Camp Grandparents again.

Wordless Wednesday

Wowza!

Not quite done with the school year yet. Last week we attended an art show put on by this year's art students. Addison and Kirsten both had several items in the show. It was nice to go up to the school and for the kids to have a chance to show off some of their hard work.

We also attened the spring band concert to hear Wyatt and Abigail play. Both bands did a really good job. This was the last one we'll be attending (at least for the next school year) because they both decided not to continue with band. Oh well.

My wonderful parents spent the weekend at our house with the kids so that Dax and I could get away. We headed to San Antonio again and had a great time. It was very relaxing, but went by all too quickly.

On the way home we stopped to eat at Lulu's Cafe' and decided to bring a little sweet treat home for the kids. We went with a cinnamon roll (which Lulu's is famous for.)

 How's that for a little breakfast? The cinnamon rolls from Lulu's Cafe' weigh 3 pounds each!! Oh, and you can order them online.

Your welcome. lol

Mother's Day and so forth.....

I hope all the mothers out there had an enjoyable Mother's Day.

We went to dinner the night before to help avoid some of the crowds. It was a lot of fun and the food was good. It's always good when someone else cleans up after me.

On Mother's Day we took Addison to watch some of her friends play for the state championship in soccer. (They came in 2nd place.) Then we went and had doughnuts. Later in the day they also bought me an ice cream cake. Add that to the cupcakes that I had for breakfast and it was a pretty 'sweet' day.

As far as gifts go, Wyatt gave me some scents for my Scentsy. Addison made a pillow for me to use when I read at night. Kirsten made me a necklace and a bracelet. She did a great job on both. And Abigail made a jar with slips of paper in it for reasons that she loves me. I put it on the counter in the bathroom so that I can read one each morning. What a great way to start the day, right?

On Saturday I took Kirsten and Abigail up to the tennis courts to practice. Dax showed up a little later to play a little tennis with them.

Dax was trying to help them learn to return his power serve.

As you can see, Abigail isn't very impressed with his skills.

All in all it was a great weekend. I even got to take a nap on Mother's Day. That's almost a miracle...and I LOVED every minute of it!

Wordless Wednesday (Bed Hog)

Coffee anyone?

My children seem to have found a new obsession. I hope they move through this one quickly.


It all started because my coffee pot died. Well, it wasn't officially dead, but taking at least an hour and a half to make a pot of coffee gets it close enough to death for me to pronounce it dead.


So, when my Mom asked what 'we' would like for our anniversary I told her that I would love a Keurig coffee maker but that I didn't know what the other half of 'we' wanted. And, since he didn't contribute to the conversation (although he wasn't even a part of it) then I won by default. Hahaha!

Anyway, my parents gave us the Keurig along with about 100 coffee packs for it. When I finally got around to setting the whole thing up this past weekend, the kids went nuts over it.

That's Abigail and Wyatt sitting on the porch on Sunday morning. Apparently they are avid coffee fans.

Who knew?

I can't believe they were even able to sleep at all this weekend. I think that on Sunday alone they each had about four cups of coffee and maybe a couple of hot chocolates thrown in for good measure.


I have to get up before they do so I can even have a cup of coffee myself. And I think every coffee cup in my house is dirty at the moment, because apparently you can't drink two cups of coffee from the same cup.

Homecoming Week

One of the theme days this week was 'Crazy Hat Day'. Wyatt just wore one of his Dad's University of Michigan hats because he thought that was about as silly as he could get. Anything to give his Dad a hard time.

Here's what Abigail wore...

 Don't you just love it?

I also made mums for all three of the girls to wear. Here's Kirsten proudly sporting hers.

We were teasing her because hers has a peace sign hanging from it, some ribbon with hearts, and a silver football hanging. Does that mean that her mum has a theme of peace, love, and football?


She doesn't think we're funny.


Go figure!

Today was twin day. Addison and Abigail did dress alike today. I wish I had the time to get their picture this morning because it was pretty funny. I found a pair of Kirsten's old glasses and took the lenses out of them last night so that Abigail had glasses on today too. They even did their hair alike. Maybe they'll still be dressed up when I pick them up this afternoon and I can get a picture.

Wyatt starts physical therapy today and he's pretty nervous about it. I hope it all goes well and he can relax a little. He's really handled this whole thing like a champ. He said the other day that when he gets his brace off he's going to start living his life to the fullest again. Silly kid!