Saturday, June 27, 2009

It's been one of those weeks ....

....where I'd like to crawl under the bed and stay there for awhile!

First - it's hot ... super hot. I can't imagine how Lester stands being in Africa for 30 days! Our plants are screaming, our grass is crunchy and Lily won't go outside for more than 30 seconds before begging to come inside (which isn't the best choice for a house training puppy!). Alvin and Bridget are the only crazies who want to be outside on the porch. They hang out there most of the day!

My allergies are acting up. How are molds high when we haven't had any rain? I think the weather people are crazy!

I'm tired. Lily wakes up at least once in the middle of the night ... then again around 4 or 5 ... then Elliot yells "Mommy" at 5 or 6.

Our Air Conditioner decided to make this horrible noise on Thursday. So horrible that our neighbor came over to tell me our AC was going out - HA! It's 15 years old, so it's probably time to replace it ... but don't have the $6,000+ to get a new unit! We could band-aid it with a new fan, but with all the rebates ($1,000 from PEC and $1,500 from the government) it's almost worth it.
The good thing is it's still cooling and it hasn't made that horrible noise since Thursday so we can give it some more thought. I am taking any and all suggestions!

We finished up the week with a leak-y fish tank. We love our fish tank, but can't replace the AC and fish tank at the same time. So, we had to take down the tank last night.

Top the week off with cranky hot kids and I think I might start looking for a "real" job soon!!

I'm praying for a better start to the new week.

Oh and I still haven't finished reading Frankenstein for Brit Lit - siiiigh!

On a positive note, I have some cute pictures to download and will get on that next week hopefully!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Lily is so very strange ...

good thing she's so cute! A little while ago she was on her dog bed chewing on her leg and barking at herself - HA! Now she's battling her pink dog toy.

Here are some recent pictures!









Friday, June 12, 2009

Lily and Elliot

Emily has been in Winnie, so Lily and Elliot have had to entertain each other :)

With Elliot on his way to San Antonio, Lily is going to be completely lost ... wondering where her little buddies have gone!

His bump is healing
showing me where Lily pooped
Lily following her little buddy

Elliot's 1st Super Waterbabies Class

Elliot has officially graduated to the Super Waterbabies Class at Emler. He LOVES the water (like his big sister) and will do just about anything for M&Ms and Skittles!

I was worried about his class because he has to sit on the side of the pool on a turtle until the teacher calls him into the water. I was SURE he would jump in when he wasn't supposed to ... HA!

So far so good ... he listened and smiled and had the BEST time! When he goes under water he swims with his eyes wide opened and a HUGE smile on his face ... I will have to find someone to take an underwater picture of him and post it!

Here are a few pictures ....







Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Rachel's staying at home update ....

Wow, what an adjustment this staying at home thing is! I need some tips from all the at home parents out there - how do you get it done?

This last week and a half I've felt out of touch and isolated at times. I need to get a routine down so I can get out of the house for something other than errands!!

I've learned that I really miss constant people contact! I was always talking to someone at work .... good thing since I was in phone sales - HA! I would IM everyone, catch up on the latest news between calls and gossip with my co-workers in the break room. It was my little get away. As much as I hated it when people would say "at least you get a break while you are at work" ... I see what they were saying now - HA!

On the flip side it's been great hanging out with the kiddos. Emily is in Winnie this weekend, so Elliot and I have had some fun alone time. He's such a funny little guy! He is heading to San Antonio on Friday and Wayne and I will have an adult only weekend - woo hoo! When he gets home we'll head to Winnie for a few days to pick up Emily and then back to San Antonio for Eddie's 65th birthday celebration! It's a busy busy month for sure!

In between trips I am scheduling doctors appointments so I can get to see everyone before my insurance runs out on June 30th! We'll have insurance again (don't worry!), but my current insurance covers dental cleanings and annual check ups at 100% ... so I might as well get it all done now!

In my first couple of weeks I gave Wayne lots of ammunition as to why I shouldn't be the at home parent. Emily's first swim lessons I forgot her towel. The second one I was 10 minutes late. Monday Elliot fell at Chris and Trina's and busted his forehead on their brick planter box. Siiiigh ...
On the flip side, the house is cleaner (sorry honey) and I've actually been cooking some ... I am no Betty Crocker, but I haven't burned anything to a crisp yet!

I haven't read my next assignment. Hopefully I can get that done this week before heading to Winnie so I can finish up the next paper!

I hope everyone is doing SUPER! I am sure Wayne will give us a "how it feels to go back to work full time" update soon. One of the best things is we are seeing each other more since he isn't running out the door as soon as I get home!

Lily is doing great. She's such a sweet puppy! I occassionally wish we wouldn't have added a puppy to the house at the same time I stopped working, but she is precious and so much fun!

By the way, if anyone has any great work from home ideas, let me know!

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Last Day of Kinder

Here are pictures from the first day and last day of school .... 





Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Kinder Program

It's hard to believe Emily's Kindergarten year is coming to an end!  Where did the year go?  Wowzers.  She's had a great year and told me she doesn't want school to be out for summer!  Mrs. Francis has really made this year special for her and we are super thankful for her!

At Cox they do not have Kindergarten Graduation ... but they did put on a sweet program on Tuesday.  

They sang The World is a Rainbow and each class had a color song.  Emily's class was Yellow.  They ended the program with A Whole New World (which I think is a hard song for little people ... HA) and showed a slide show of pictures from the year.  

Just when I thought I was going to hold it together for the entire program they showed the slide show with these songs in the back ground - In the Eyes of a Child  and Greatest Love of All - I remember leaning over to Wayne at one point saying “they really picked some tear jerkers huh?” sniff sniff

Nana and Grandfather were at the program and Emily loved showing them her room and her work for the year!

We will post the video here if we can ever find out how to download it to the computer - I think we need a new one - HA

Most of my pictures ended up blurry or dark or red eyed, but here are a few ... 








Friday, May 29, 2009

Lily

Lily is such a sweet sweet puppy so far!

It seems like most of the pictures I've taken are from her sleeping - HA!
She's like a baby - sleeping all the time, gearing up to chew on anything she can get her mouth on.  Housetraining - so far it's not horrible.  She only has accidents when Wayne and I aren't paying close enough attention.

Enjoy .... 


sleepy Lily
check out her ears!
Alvin and Bridget have been pretty sweet to her so far ... 
sneaking up for a closer look
bummer, my kitty friend left, but at least I have this pillow all to myself


Sunday, May 24, 2009

Sweet Lily!

Here are some pictures of our new Basset Puppy Lily! She was born on March 3rd and is a tan (lemon) and white Basset. She looks like she's going to be a biiiig girl! We adopted sweet Lily from The Helping Hands Basset Rescue Group

Here are some pictures from our first day home (the posted backward for some reason ... HA)























Saturday, May 23, 2009

Happy Long Weekend!

I hope you are having a super start to the loooong weekend!
Emma, Anna Marie and Samatha came over and played for a bit while Angala and Keith finished moving things out of storage.  Next Emily is heading to Abi's birthday party (she's turning 8!) .... after the party we need to do a walk through and make sure we are puppy proofed because our little Lily girl is coming home tomorrow!

Wayne and I were trying to remember the last time we had a puppy and we both decided it was when we lived with our parents and they took care of the puppy - HA!  It's going to be an adventure for sure!

She was born March 3rd .... awwwwww!

Wayne says we are getting her just in time for me to potty train a 2 year old stubborn boy and house break an 11 week old stubborn puppy ... what a fun start to the summer ... 

Be safe and have fun!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Snapfish updated Finally!

I haven't done a good job of downloading pictures lately ... obviously!
I added some to Snapfish tonight (FINALLY!)
To view all 2009 folders click here

Here's one of my favorites ...







Wednesday, May 13, 2009

New Summer Hair-Do

Emily was in dire need of a haircut and decided she needed to go short for the summer.  Here she is after her appointment!  So cute!



We are getting a puppy ....

Yes, we are crazy ... but we've been telling Emily we would get a "new" dog since Cammie died a year and a half ago.  We've used every excuse in the book:
 
1) let's wait until after vacation (last April)
2) let's wait until after school starts (August)
3) let's wait until after Christmas (December)
4) let's wait until Vivian goes to Heaven (February)

Trina told us about this sweet Basset Hound mommy at the Helping Hands Basset Rescue group who had 11 puppies in February.  Then she sent us pictures, then we went to meet the puppies and Emily picked out Lily a little lemon and white Basset.  She's going to be huge and she's a little wild, but we are looking forward to bringing her home!  She'll be 10 weeks next week and we should be able to pick her up then .... the pictures below are from Wayne's phone, so they aren't the best quality.  We'll post better ones eventually!







In other news Wayne is going to work at Emler full time and I am leaving Hoover's.  June 1st will be my last day.  It's strange to think about leaving because I've been here since November 2000 ... but it's a good move for the family.  We'll be broke broke, but for once I am not super stressed about it.  I'll be home with the kiddos for awhile, then look for a part time job at a MDO program so I can get used to the teaching thing.  I'm also hoping to take a few more classes since I won't be working full time.  Wayne said I can NOT sign up for ANY more until I finish this one ... man, he's a stickler for the rules!

Patrick is out of ICU (WOO HOO) and making progress.  He still has a long road, but the GREAT news is he'll be OK.  For the latest updates click here - Patrick 

I have tons of pictures to download and will do it soon, I promise!  

Before I go, I need to give a shoot-out to Angela ... she's graduating from the University of Houson on Saturday - whoop whoop!  Great job Angela!!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Welcome to the Twighlight Zone....

If anyone has a time machine they'd be willing to loan me please call. I believe this has to be one of the hardest weeks I have ever experienced.

It started with a spinal surgery for 11 year old Kaitlynn. It was a tense, stressful wait for the surgery to be over. She's recovering well and I was able to breathe easier for her by Wednesday.

Then I get a call from Trina on Wednesday saying Patrick (my younger cousin) was in ICU in Dallas. He had a 20 minute routine procedure that has turned into a nightmare. For updates go here tryfaith.org/patrick. I have been in complete shock and praying like crazy for him, his wonderful wife Emily, his sweet little bug-man Hank, his dad Phil, his brothers John and Chris ... just worrying and praying. His recovery is going to be a long hard road.

Then Friday I get one of the worst calls I have ever received. I was on the phone with a customer at work ... and saw on caller ID my mom, then my dad, then Austen. I finished the call and immediately thought something horrible had happened to Patrick. Imagine my surprise when I heard this from my Dad "Your mom just found Frances dead in the bathtub" ... I had to have him repeat himself 3 or 4 times because it just would NOT compute. It still hasn't. My initial reaction was "that isn't funny ... please don't ever joke like this again" ... then I actually heard my dad and heard my mother in the background and realized it wasn't. I drove home in shock. I am still in shock.

My friend Dee came over and took charge. She fed me, made sure the kids ate and got Emily ready for her Star Steppers Spring Show. I am so grateful for her. I would have never made it through the afternoon if she wouldn't have come by. We went to the show and I came home and packed .... then April, God Bless her, drove me all the way to Winnie in the rain. I can't begin to express my gratitude for her selfless act! She got a flat on the way home .. in the rain alone ... UGH ... she finally made it home at 7am ... Thank you GOD! She's still in trouble for attempting to drive home instead of stopping off at her parents, but I am thankful she made it home OK!

Here's what we know so far ... this completely SUCKS!

Franny died Thursday night in the bathtub. On her 38th wedding anniversary. It looks like she went peacefully but we don't know what happened. We assumed she had a heart attack, the preliminary reports say her heart looked good ... so we just don't know what happened.

Mom went to her house at about 3pm to finish painting a sign she had in their garage. She got to the gate and saw a FedEx truck. She didn't think much about it ... she thought Franny was outside or maybe in town. So, she let the FedEx truck in the gate and signed for the package. She saw Franny's car in the garage and a strange car at Chris and Sarah's so she called Sarah "Is Franny with you?" Sarah said "No, I am heading to a track meet" .... so she went inside to find her. Still thinking she was just busy and didn't hear the phone or the FedEx truck.

Mom found her in the bathtub. Her sister ... her best friend ... the person she did EVERYTHING with ... and all hell broke lose.

She called dad and 911 (well, they called her back because she wasn't dialing right) ... Dad called Chris and Trent and Terry and Eunice ... Trent called Amanda who has been through hell already it's just not RIGHT to lose two babies and your mom in less than 3 years ... Trent called Lester ... sweet Lester who was on his way back to Africa for work. He left Thursday. He finally gets home today and my heart is just breaking for him. Franny was his rock ... his EVERYTHING! Thankfully an Exxon co-worker is staying with him so he is not alone on this horribly LONG trip home.

This doesn't feel real at all ... nope, not at all. I keep wishing Ashton would jump out with his camera crew and tell us all we've been Punk'd ...

We haven't told Emily. I just don't even know where to start. Franny was one of her favorite people ... hell, she was one of my favorite people ... well, shit ... if you knew Franny she was probably one of YOUR favorite people too and you know how much this sucks .... it just completely sucks.

Please pray for us ... for Lester, for her kids (Chris, Amanda, Trent, Sarah, Mike and Angela), for my Grandma, for my mom and for Terry.

The funeral will most likely be Wednesday. Wayne and the kids will be here tomorrow and I'll need to find a way to tell Emily by then.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Updates I haven't done yet ...

Hi all!  I haven't been a very good blogger lately ... sorry!
I have tons of things to blog about, just NO time ...

1) Emily's spring break to San Antonio - she had a GREAT time!
2) Elliot and Caitlyn's dual two year old party - trains and whistles OH MY
3) Bluebonnet pictures
4) Wayne's back at Emler
5) Emily's field trip to Crowe's Nest Farm (mom and dad you should put something like this together at your place!)
6) I am a correspondence class slacker!  I finished my first assignment and have read all I need to read for assignment #2, just haven't written my paper yet!
7) Elliot's two year check-up:
His stats = 27.5lbs and 35 1/4 inches 
We thought he'd need speech therapy, but his doctor says he's doing fine
-funny thing ... I always think Elliot is so much bigger than Emily was, but I looked up her 2 year stats and saw she was 29lbs (1.5lbs heavier!) and 33.5 inches (almost 2 inches shorter) ... funny how kids grow!

OK, I'll come back and update soon!  Enjoy this GREAT spring weather ... we have been!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

What the Hail?

I have mixed feelings about this time of year ....
I love spring, but HATE storms.  HATE them!  We had an icky hail storm tonight.  Everything is A-OK but it sure sounded like our skylight was going to cave in at any moment!  I've heard stories of people stranded on the highway with broken windshields.  ACK!

Here are a couple pictures I took ..

Yes, I am my father's daughter ... I had the door open so I could see what was happening ....





Sunday, March 22, 2009

12 years ....

It's hard to believe Wayne and I have been married for 12 years! 
I just don't feel old enough to have been married for that long......

It's been a GREAT 12 years and I am looking forward to the next 12+12+12+12+12+12+12+12!!!


Friday, March 20, 2009

On any given Thursday ....

..... you'll can find us in the cul-de-sac.  

You should plan to join us one Thursday ... one thing to remember before you show up is I am not a cook and Wayne works most Thursdays, sooooo if you haven't eaten before you show up you will probably be offered a PB&J sammich!