Mother's Day Goodness

I hope all the Moms out there had a good Mother's Day.


I enjoyed mine.


Dax took me to the local coffee house where we had our coffee while we sat outside and watched all the people from out of town waiting for seats at one of the few restaurants in our small town, and chatted with one of the local people that we see most every Friday when we have breakfast. It was nice and relaxing, and I'm certainly not one to complain about anything that I find relaxing.

Once we finished our coffee and were all chatted out, we did a little shopping at some of the shops around the square. It was nice to go into them because they're usually closed when I go by in the mornings on my way to the office and closed again when I go by in the evenings on my way home.

Wyatt had spent the night with a friend and texted me that he was ready for me to come pick him up not long after we got home. When I opened the front door, I notice a snake that was about 3 feet long resting on the sidewalk, right up against the house. Gaaahhhh!!! I don't like snakes. Not even a little bit. I went and got Dax and he killed it and disposed of it for me. Always my hero! (And, yes, I know that there are 'good' snakes. And you should know that we have a fair amount of land and our neighbors have even more. We don't go out looking for snakes to kill. If they stay out away from the house they can live out their little lives any way they want. However, if they come up to the house, it's the end for them.) Even though Dax killed it, I still had the heebie-jeebies all night.

Once I got back with Wyatt, they gave me my Mother's Day gift. I asked for only one thing and I thought it was a simple request at that. All I wanted was a new colander. The plastic one I've had for 20 years is starting to fall apart. Why don't they make things to last anymore? Ha! I wanted an enameled one this time. You know, so it could last longer. Anyway, never send Dax to buy anything that should be simple. I did get a colander. It's like the Rolls Royce of colanders!! It's large, has metal legs that are coated with rubber so it won't slide around, and has sides that pull out so that it can fit across the sink. I had no idea they even made colanders like that......but I've got one!


I was going to cook dinner and was just getting things out to start it when Kirsten needed me to run to the store to make some copies for her, so I let Pizza Hut cook it. It all worked out great.


Dax didn't feel like I had been revered enough when the day came to a close and I think he was a little disappointed. But I try to tell him (although I don't think he believes me) that what matters most to me are the little things that happen all year. I don't want them to ever be stressed out about getting me a gift. It's not worth anybody feeling bad about. And there is not gift that could replace when they walk up to me and hug me for no reason, that they still want to sit in my bed and talk and watch movies, when I come home and somebody has done the dishes without even being asked, or that my 15-year-old son will still tell me that he loves me even when his friends are around. I'll take that any day!!!


But, now the relaxing is over. Since we're nearing the end of school, things always get crazier. This week is no exception. Tuesday morning the orthodontist, Wednesday the eye doctor, Thursday the Show Choir Banquet, Friday my niece Kate graduates from UT, and Saturday and Sunday a soccer tournament. Then we're back to Monday to start it all over again. I haven't even looked at much of what's going on next week because I'm afraid to know.

It's a Tea Party

My oldest niece is getting married in June and the girls and I recently attended a wedding shower for her.

It was a tea party theme so we all had to don tea hats. Luckily I just happened to have a suitcase full of old hats sitting around.

Abigail, me and, Kirsten

 

 Sophie, Addison, Lexi (who just did Brave the Shave where she had her head shaved in order to raise money for childhood cancer research), Kirsten, Kate (the Bride), and Abigail

It was a good nice time and good for everybody to get together. We all seem to be busier as the kids have gotten older so don't see each other as often.

If you're interested.....

I received a request to share the following information:

If you are interested in being a part of this or know someone that is, they ask that you please contact them. I have not checked them out myself, so before you share too much information, please ask lots of questions and check them out for yourself. Just want to make sure that everyone is safe!

When the cat's away.....

Tax season is over, but we're so busy that there's little time to relax. But, I knew I HAD to post something new when even my own children started telling me it had been too long since I had updated the blog.

Between late nights at the office and soccer practice which runs until late in the evenings, the 'cats' have been away quite a lot lately, which leaves the mice plenty of time to play.

This is what they were doing when I got home the other night.....

I just never know what I'll find when I get home. That's why we're so thankful that they're good kids!!

Just stopping and taking a deep breath

It's been a busy last couple of weeks. The past week has been crazy busy and emotionally draining. Some days it seems like I need to be in fifteen different places all at the same time. But, I guess that's the life of parent, right?

Addison was in another pageant at the end of February. She was supposed to play in a soccer game in a town several hours away, but that got cancelled. She would have hated to just stay home and let us take it easy for a change, so she went ahead and registered for a pageant.

I guess that was a good thing since she won!

With this win, she will once again be doing a year of service and volunteering. Can't complain about that.

Kirsten is in show choir and was busy with that during the week too. They will be participating in a festival the first weekend in April so she had practice during the week. The group also did a two-day 'camp' for elementary age school children where they taught them a few numbers which they later performed in a show for their parents. She loved it! She enjoys the choir and she really likes working with the younger children.

When I was dropping her off for the camp, Wyatt and Addison were doing this:

(lunch money shake down.....or two smart alecs)

 

They're such rule breakers!

 

In other news, my Dad had surgery last week to remove a cancerous prostate. We had planned to be there for the operation, but the weather caused the highway that we would be traveling one to be closed. However, there were some complications and he had to go back into the hospital (where he still is) so three of the kids and I went late Saturday and came back home late last night.

 

Dax's Mom has a surgery scheduled for later this week, so he'll be heading to Houston to be there with her.

 

The concern for those we love coupled with the busy-ness of daily life is enough to be exhausting. But then add to that some emotional hurts inflicted by family members that are selfish and uncaring, and it just made for an overwhelming week. I guess the time has come to put some people behind us and move forward. There can only be better things in our future when we let go of those that hold us back and drag us down.

 

 

 

 

Busy, busy, busy

It's just crazy that it seems like we're always so busy, but I doubt we're busy doing anything that people are interested in reading about here.

The kids are so busy with high school. They've spent the last couple of weeks in small groups writing plays for their English classes and there are plenty of other projects being worked on (all the time) it seems.

Addison was in another pageant last weekend. She won the title of Queen for her age division. But, I think she was most excited for winning the photo contest for 'Daddy & Me'.  She got a cute crown for that too.

Here's her entry.

(They don't look much alike, do they? Ha!)

 

Props to Abigail for her mad photography skills. She went to the pageant with us and was also thrilled that the picture she took was the winner.

 

Soccer practice continues. The first game is next weekend. Kind of looking forward to watching Addison out there playing again.

 

Kirsten has been busy painting a pair of sneakers. It's hard to see, but she zentangled them with a white paint pen. They turned out really cute and she spent hours doing it.

 

 

Besides her award winning photography, Abigail has also spent some time in the kitchen. She made some trail mix to take to school with her the other day.

 

 

 

I don't know what trail she's going to use that on. Did you notice that there isn't a single thing in there that's healthy? She didn't even bother to throw in one lonely peanut!

 

Wyatt has been busy mastering his gaming skills in his free time. Go figure! A teenage boy that likes to play video games. Who would have guessed that?

 

It's tax time so things have picked up at the office and that keeps Dax and I VERY busy.

Been awhile......

It's been awhile since I've sat through a soccer practice for Addison.

Her knee wasn't well enough in time for her to make the soccer team at school so she's decided to play on a select team for the spring. I think she really enjoyed being out there playing again. I guess we'll see where the season takes us.

Out and about

We started the Christmas Break from school with kids taking turns being sick. So, by the time they were all feeling better and Christmas Day with all of its chaos had passed, they were all suffering from cabin fever and ready to get out of the house for a bit.

We went to the mall so that they could spend some of the Christmas money that they received. While we were at the mall we saw a new film star and Abigail was lucky enough to take her picture with him!

Okay, okay.....yes, it's actually just a big stuffed Olaf from Disney's Frozen.

A day at the mall wore us all out, but the next night we went out for pizza. We decided on a BIG pizza.

The size of that pizza is not some trick of photography. That sucker is a 42 inch pizza!!

Here's Dax taking a bite out of a slice.

We went to a place in San Antonio called Big Lou's Pizza. We had a lot of fun and it's good pizza to boot!

Now that the break is over, it's good to get back into our routine. Don't get me wrong, I love having the time with the kids at home and the days away from the office, but it gets hard to remember what day it is and what needs to be done.

Christmas Flashback

We were looking at old pictures and video over the Christmas season and happened across this video. We had forgotten about it, but it's one of our favorites.

These kids are so funny......then and now!

A Very Merry Christmas!

I hope that you all had a great Christmas season! We've been crazy busy, but it's all been a good kind of busy.

We started off our Christmas time off with Addison volunteering again at the Ronald McDonald house in Austin. This time we were making stew for lunch. This is part of the charity work that comes with one of the pageant organizations that she participates in. I think it's a great thing that they require something so good from these girls. Unfortunately, it's usually the same handful of girls that show up for the charity work.

I did lots of cookie baking for the boxes of cookies that we deliver to our monthly clients. As usual, we ended up with a lot of leftover cookies so we've all gained weight and are also sick of cookies, but I'm sure we'll get over that!

We had a wonderful Christmas spent with family with lots of thoughtful gifts, food, and laughter.

I hope your Christmas was merry as well.