Being thankful

Sometimes life gets busy and I have to remind myself to stop and be thankful. My children are such a blessing & I am so thankful to have them in my life. For those of you that wonder why I'm such a photo fanatic, here's why, how else will I remember moments like these when I'm old and senile.

(NO my 2 year old is not flipping you the bird!)

Since I have not had time to hook up the video camera and capture the video I thought you might like a little sneak peek of my newest "toddle"-er!

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Insert something witty here

HA! Now it's your job to come up with a good title for one of those blogs that is a potpourri of random thoughts, comments and pictures too.

Homeschooling is very time consuming. Not that I didn't know that or that I wasn't prepared for it, but it is an adjustment. K is doing well. We've had a few little bumps with what I like to refer to as the Saturday morning mentality, but we are working through those. B has been watching from the sidelines and is anxious to get started, he likes the hours! :) Even Jason's boss has asked if we are accepting applications (joking - of course!). As of now we have no more openings, we already have a waiting list with two perspective students waiting on the sidelines. hee hee

A's new fun thing to do is 'so big' and sticking out her tongue. She's taking a break from her walking adventures, she's cruising the couch but she's not really trying to walk on her own she prefers to drop and crawl.

Um - I found some cheerios under here.

Aunt Cheryl gave the kids some Mardi Gras beads - those are the new favorite toy in this house! We have to be very careful with them but they are SO fun!

Jason & BK went camping last weekend with my brother Mark & his boys (Shawn & Justin). I am looking forward to seeing the pictures from their weekend. While they were gone I kept myself busy with Z&A and a little painting.

This is how I got my painting done with a ten month old around! Hmm, smart thinking huh?

B has even gotten into the 'so big' game. :) Isn't he a cutie?!

Zism's
Z - Mommy can I have a band aid?
Mommy - Why do you need a band aid, are you bleeding?
Z - No, for my nose! (it was runny)

Mommy - Z I'm so proud of you for pottying on the big boy potty!
Z - Mommy, I'm proud of you too.
Mommy - Aww, thanks Z. What did I do?
Z - Nuf teen (that's 2 year old for nothing!)

Last but not least - here's a picture to help you have SWEET dreams!

Happy Birthday Jason (aka Dad or Daddy)

This was last weekend at Enchanted Rock -
thank you Mark & Cheryl! Great picture!

Today my sweet husband has caught up with me in the age game. Every year he gets to make fun of me for being older than him for 9 months - aww but for those who wait we get a sweet reward!
SO... Here's the Top Ten List of reason we know that Jason is becoming a stinky old man:

10. He's cranky.
9. He's blind as a bat ~ so what that he has been since 3rd grade.
8. He can't stay up until midnight and still function in the morning.
7. He's one year closer to farting and being able to act like he doesn't hear it.
6. He's starting to look like John McCain.
5. He's forgotten more now than he will ever learn.
4. He yells at kids to get off our grass.
3. He likes to pretend he's 25.
2. He's only 24 years away from being really old - 60!


And finally the number one reason we know that Jason is becoming a stinky old man.....







1. He can't go skiing without getting hurt.




But on a more serious side - you may not be a rich man (I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know) but you have untold wealth in love and affection! Love you! BKZA & their Mommy

Happy Birthday Grandpa Jess!

Today is the 88th birthday of the most influential man in my life, Grandpa Jess. I have been so blessed to have him in my life. Although I know he will never read this and if I read it to him he wouldn't be able to understand my high-pitched girlie voice I have to tell you what an incredible man he is. When I was a little girl he was a constant man in my life giving love, hugs, humor and discipline when needed. I have always loved him and although I've often thought he was a bear, I've always known he loved me. Happy Birthday Grandpa - you are thoroughly loved & appreciated!

Happy Easter!

With the exception of a slight bit of depression on my part we had a really good Easter Sunday.

Let me start with the positive. We are a part of a growing community called, Journey United Methodist Church and I speak for our whole family when I say that this is a good fit for us. Sadly we are such a new congregation that we only meet once a month right now, excluding Life Groups. Thankfully this Sunday was the monthly Sunday and the service was incredible! I know I won't do the service justice in writing so if you want to know more about it you'll have to call me so I can tell you about it! It was beautiful! :)

Here's the stinky part - K was running a fever again this morning so Jason stayed home with her and he went ahead and kept the sicko babies, Z&A too. So it was just B and I at church - this was good and bad. Good because I love B's company but bad because I missed the rest of the family. I had realized Friday that I didn't plan our Easter Sunday meal - I had been so busy thinking about getting food for the camping trip that Jason, B&K went on Friday that I totally forgot that I needed to get dinner food for Sunday! When I realized it, Z was in the worst of his cold and absolutely miserable and I didn't want to subject him or fellow grocery-goers to germs. I know that this is a tiny portion of the whole Easter celebration (and an unimportant one too) but I'm human and I was sad that I didn't plan better and I missed our St. Louie years with my in-laws so much today!

Finally, we explored our Hispanic roots today - strike that we have no Hispanic in us but we feel like we should now that we've been in Texas for 6 years. Also, my friend Christi is like family so we were celebrating her heritage - yea that's it! :) We had cascarones... that's Spanish for 'hey I love you now I'm going to smash an egg on your head in the name of good luck.'
I suppose it would go something like this....
Smash a confetti filled egg on someones head and say, "good luck... with your headache in the morning!" HA! No matter - it was fun to smash some confetti on my loved ones heads - A even got an egg smashing!

Montage to arrive soon! Enjoy & Happy Easter!

Leave this house!

Sickness!
KZA all have developed their daddy's cold! It's not pretty, they all have fever and a cough. They are just miserable and I wish there was something I could do. However, I am so thankful for their resilience - the ibuprofen or acetaminophen kicks in and they are up and about again.

Here's the pictures I promised.

the shelves

the paint colors, my disarray and sleeping K (the ibuprofen wore off!)

Z with his "eigo" puzzle (my white board in the background)

Last - A with a cheerio on her face. Love the expression.
This was before the cold kicked her tush!

Oh so busy

Jason has a cold! One of my friends sent me this link and I keep thinking about it when I talk about Jason having a cold... cracks me up! Now seriously, Jason has bronchitis and has spent the last week with a horrible cough that hurts his chest and has made him very miserable. Even with this horrible man cold, my poor little bunny has been working hard on our bedroom. Our bedroom is now painted (according to my friend Rae Ann gray and darker gray), the shelves are up, the baseboards have been primed (not yet installed) and Jason made a windowsill this evening - so our time schedule is a little off but it is coming along. I can't wait to share pictures with you all!

Today was K's first day of homeschooling. It was a busy day with other tasks but school went off without a hitch, she was done early and loved having her evening free for dance, girl scouts and no evening rush to complete homework! I asked her what she thought and she really enjoyed her first day - tomorrow should be even better... because it's library day! Yippee.

Now it is time for a confession. I have been worried about what my handsome, energetic two year old would think of this homeschooling and how he would occupy his time while I worked with K. Yesterday I found the answer - PUZZLES! 24 piece puzzles! I'm amazed at how happy he is to put one together, take it apart and put it together again. Yesterday he did the same puzzle 5 times! Today we bought him three more at Wal-Mart and he completed those several times! Wow!
I've felt for a while that this homeschooling thing was the right thing for us but when pieces of the puzzle (pardon my pun) come together so easily it just makes it that much better. I've been reading The Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise & Susan Wise Bauer - great book I highly recommend it if you have children - whether you want to home school or not, it provides suggestions on how to prepare your child for learning and how to supplement their education.

Last but not least A is taking tentative steps! Exciting! I am hoping to have a little video clip and some pictures for you soon.

Rodeo

We went to the rodeo or as Z says, "rode-ro" today!
Yee Ha! We saw cows, horses, bunnies, sheep, goats, deer, long horns, and tractors. That's just to name a few ... it was a hot (mid 80's) and busy day.
We went with my friend Rachael & her son, as well as some of Rachael's family - that made the day much more bearable in the crowds.
The kids were a dream, just like they were on Tuesday when we went to the zoo. I can't brag on them enough, B&K helped with the babies and stayed close to me. Wonderful!!! Thank you B&K!

First here's a couple of pictures that I took before our rodeo trip.

K showing A the finer points of horseback riding (or should I say lion riding?)

Z fell in the mud - I'm sure his daddy thinks I probably made a mud hole and pushed him in but honest, he fell in on his own, I wasn't even close to him!

Now here's the rode-ro montage for you. Enjoy!

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A loose tooth?

Today we went to get one of K's teeth extracted. My basic understanding is that this tooth needs to come out so that her permanent teeth will move over and sit in their correct places.

Jason met me up at the dental office and sat in the van with the other kids, since we do create quite a crowd when we go most places. K and I went in, met the doctor and he described to K what he'd be doing and commented on how brave our sweet K is. I noticed that when he was describing what he'd be doing he kept pointing to her right side. Due to this when the hygienist came in I confirmed that it was the left tooth that he'd be removing and he double checked the papers from the orthodontist and assured me that was correct. We switched rooms and I was standing behind the chair trying to watch but stay out of the way. As I was leaning over I noticed that the oral surgeon was numbing the right side of K's mouth. Every fiber in my body wanted to yell but I didn't want to scare K or be presumptuous, until I saw him start to loosen the right tooth! At that point I said, "I'm not trying to be rude but I thought that it was supposed to be her left tooth that was coming out." Thankfully the doctor was very kind, stopped and double checked. Sure enough it was supposed to be the left so he had to re-numb her on the left and extract that tooth - all the while grumbling that he didn't see why they wanted that tooth out. So we have had an experience where we should have marked K's tooth with an x so that we were sure to get the correct one! Eeks!
Here's a picture of our brave girl with her tooth! As you can see the expander is working, the gap between her front teeth has gotten much more pronounced and they'll be putting four little braces on those top teeth once the other two come in. Sweet K - she was so brave during the entire thing so she had an ice cream sundae for lunch!

Update

It's time for an update.

Tonight we painted two walls - Dolphin Fin (grey). Tomorrow night we will paint the other two walls - Stone Fence (darker grey-blue) and then this weekend we will attack the base boards, door frames, doors and windows with some Powdered Snow (fancy name for white). Until then here are some pictures to keep my favorite mother-in-law happy - and all the rest of you too.

No going back now - Jason pulls out the base boards with A supervising.

Might as well do the windows too, right?!

Jason builds a shelf -ready for the doors and then up on the wall when the painting is done.

K lifting some 'heavy' weights in front of our new living room decoration.

Jason & I put together the bunk beds for K&Z (eventually Z&A). Z loves his new big boy bed.



Here's the new computer that Jason is putting together for B&K.

Finally we've had some time for fun. Bath time, playing out in the yard and today I took the kids to the zoo. I decided that watching four children was sufficient without trying to get pictures so I don't have pictorial evidence of that adventure. Hope you've enjoyed this little update.

Time to write a story

Since it is spring break and we really don't have a lot to keep us busy, I mean really 4 kids is a cake walk! HA! I decided to write a story, it goes like this....

If you give a man a desk

He's going to want a shelf to go with it.

And if you give him the shelf he's going to want to paint the walls before he installs the shelf.

If you give him the paint then he's going to want some new baseboards too.

By the time it is all done you have a brand new room (pictures later) - wish us luck!


Many of you will wonder how this all went down. Here it is, we went to get a small desk for K, since she is going be home schooled starting next week. We decided that she could just use the desk/table that Jason's been using so we looked for a desk to replace Jason's. We went to IKEA - that's swedish for insane asylum! While there we found this really cool desk and shelves, perfect. Then we got to thinking that the bedroom was the first room that we want to "re-do" (as in paint and make our own) we might as well paint those walls before we hang the shelves, which then led us to think that if we were going to paint we wanted to do the base boards too... so as you can see we now have a weekend project that will take us at LEAST a week. As I said before wish us luck & we'll put up pictures when it is all done

I will

14 years ago today I said those two words and I've never regretted them since. During our wedding ceremony we were instructed to say, "I will" instead of "I do" (since the latter indicates that you are currently doing it, whatever it is). So with that said...

Jason - I do and I will! Love you, cherish you, honor and respect you forever. Thank you for being such a wonderful husband. Happy anniversary - I look forward to the next 14+ years of our lives together.

Ha, ha, hee, hee, ho, ho, ho!!

I haven't laughed so hard in a long time!!!

Weekend Update

This weekend we enjoyed watching B swim in his final swim meet of the season. He swam GREAT! When I say great I mean he didn't just shave seconds off of some of his times, he took a 9 second BLOCKS of time (sounds funny huh?) off of his 50 breast. So much fun!

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