Pouting

I don't think anyone reads my blog. Then again, I check my spy tool and see that I've had over 200 visits in the last few weeks. I think my sister only comes to comment that she's "nominated" me for some crap award or survey that requires me to think. My parents read but don't comment. Ok, so I guess I'm not really pouting that nobody reads, it's that nobody leaves love. Oh, and that spy tool- I've got people all over the world reading my blog- Germany(I know who this is), England, Malaysia, Italy, France, Greece.... How stinkin cool is that! Ok, enough rambling. Please let me know you read so I can feel better.



I'll go have some cleaning therapy to feel better.

My sweet 1 year old

enjoying that birthday cake

My baby boy turned one. Wow. This last year has gone in an absolute flash. I'm sure the long-lived sleep deprivation helped that, as did having another kid to focus on. What started as a cranky, clingy baby is now a precious, charming boy. The last two months have been a blast. He's learned to walk, started saying words and really interacting with us when we play. Oh, and he started sleeping all night. Woohoo! I wouldn't trade him for the world, at least not today.

At his 1year old checkup, he weighed 21 pounds 8 ounces and measured 29 inches long. He was shy at first, but a couple minutes later, he was jabbering away for the doctor. She's very pleased with his growth and development. Me too.

1month old vs. 1 year old

Boy tricks

Jacob is total boy. Here's his latest trick, usually done when he's white-trashing it in a diaper.

Casey made me do it

Casey doesn't have enough friends, so she tagged me for this goofy thing. Of course, here I am doing it. Not that I have nothing better to do, my kids need breakfast, but hey, that can wait :)


1. Link to the person who tagged you



2. Post the rules to your blog



3. Write 6 random things about yourself



4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them



5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog.



6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.







Here are my random things...



1. I had epilepsy as a pre-teen. It started when puberty started and was gone a few years later. No, it wasn't the fall on the floor and shake kind, it was like I was ignoring you. Seizures would be triggered when I was over tired or really hot, like from exercise.



2. 97% of the meals I cook are chicken. Kevin teases me every time I try a new recipie "is it chicken?". Got any good recipies?



3. I'm very orgaized, almost anal retentive. Granted, having kids has loosened that up, some. I only use blue or white hangars on my side of the closet, similar types of clothes together (not color sorted anymore, no time for that). If you ask me where something is, I can tell you exactly, including what's around it.



4. I love spreadsheets. I spreadsheet everything that can be organized that way, everything. If I'm going to buy something expensive (camera, car, etc), I research it and sort all the info into a spreadsheet. Thanks, Dad.



5. After I had Beth, I followed Weight Watchers to lose weight. I lost 30 pounds. I need get back on the program. I have about 15 to lose. I don't want to though. I'd rather eat my candy corn.



6. I have a favorite candy for every holiday. Valentines- conversation hearts. Easter- mini robins eggs. Halloween- Brachs candy corn. Christmas- chocolate covered cherries, the cheap ones. As stores start putting out candy for each holiday, I get super excited. Pathetic, I know.






I hope you enjoyed that.
Now for the tags....


1. Kheli (my sis in law who needs to update her blog)


2. Lee (a friend from high school)


3. Kerri (a friend from high school)


4. Bryan/Kerri (cousin and his wife)


5. Pam (a dear WW friend)


6. Angie (a former Houston playgroup bud)

Time to treasure

Beth and Nanny got some great time together this past week. I loved coming upstairs to see Beth cuddled in Nanny's lap watching a movie. More than that, I love watching Nanny read to Beth or Beth read to Nanny. What precious memories Beth is building with Nanny.

Now, for those of you who don't know, Nanny is just shy of being 89. She was diagnosed with stomach cancer in the last year. This is the woman who has already beat breast cancer. The stomach cancer is in-operable. She's done rounds of chemo, which helped, though she hated the way she felt afterward. What bothered her most was not being able to see enough to read. She has lived a very full life and is coming to terms with what is left of her life. She choose a piece of her jewelry for each daughter, daughter in law, granddaughter and great-granddaughter (13, I think that's right). So, these opportunities we have to spend time with Nanny are all the more precious. Now, you see why I'm all kinds of sappy about seeing Beth and Nanny together?

Ok, back to the reading. Beth picked a Bible story book, and Nanny read the story (vs. 20-40) of building the altars to see if God or Baal would prevail. At the end of the story, Beth, in all seriousness, said "Well, that makes sense." Holy cow, what a thing to say! And she's so right, it does make sense. God can do anything, proving there is only one true God. Thank you, God, for being THAT God.

Nanny-isms

OMG, my grandmother is hilarious! She's always been a no-nonsense, tell it straight kinda person. Plus, she'll be 89 next month, and that earns her the right to say things the way she wants. I'm going to try to remember a few things she said that had me so tickled this week.

"I don't have nothing to show. One's cut off, one's hangin too low."
She was coming down in her jommies so we could wash her hair in the sink. Mind you, she's never washed her own hair as an adult. She goes to the beauty shop every week. That beauty shop is most likely gone thanks to Ike.

"One's too old, one's too black. I'll just vote democrat like I always do, I guess"
Ok, she seems to have views that are more in line with republicans, but she's voting democrat. Just a note, she doesn't like Obama, she's just settling. Why she can't look at the issues and vote McCain, I don't know. I tried to ask, but she doesn't talk politics other than that comment.

"She can't wait to get home to take her wig off, her false titty out and her false teeth out"
Referring to one of her senior center friends who's battled breast cancer

Gosh, I know there are a hundred more, but these are the most memorable from the week. I hope you're as tickled as I was.

These days

Hi friends and family-
I'm worn out, tired, my heart is heavy, you name it. I've had company, which most of the time I've enjoyed, for the last week. My (and the kids') routine is out of whack. My house is filthy by my/Kevin's normal standards. And yet, I want so much to be in Dickinson right now helping my parents and their neighbors clean houses and yards. But, it's not a place I need to take my children. They don't have electricity yet, and it may be a while as so many trees are on the power lines on their street. I want so much to see the town I grew up in, see how it fared, treasure those places with memories.

Please, if you are so inclined, pray for my family and those affected by Ike.

• Pray that they have strength, endurance and courage to deal with all they have to do.
• Pray that power is restored quickly.
• Pray that Nanny (my grandma) will have the strength and courage to do what she needs to do this time and to hold to it in the future. Long story here, but trust me, she needs the prayer.
• Pray that the country will step up to help the horribly ravaged areas like they did for Katrina. Galveston, Bolivar and San Leon were largely demolished, and similar to New Orleans, there are tons of government dependent people in those towns.

Oh, I just don't know what else to say. My heart hurts. When I get a chance and the pictures, I have a few posts in my head. You'll enjoy them.

Hunkered Down

My parents and 88 year old grandmother arrived LATE last night evacuating Hurrican Ike. The normally 4.5 hour trip took 8.5 hours including a couple potty breaks and dinner stop. Nothing compared to Hurricane Rita when it took 14 hours to go a normally 1.5 hour trip. Anyway, they were under mandatory evacuation as they live very close to Galveston Bay. I'm so glad they're here and safe. Now, we just pray that the houses stay secure. The hurricane is scary enough, but the storm surge is what causes the most problems. Weathermen are prediciting the surge to be worse than Katrina. Yikes. Meanwhile, here, it's beautiful, sunny, warm weather. We're supposed to get some winds and rain from the storm, but it'll be nothing like the coast. Enough of that worry.

I love having my Nanny here. I never thought it would be possible given the long trip, her age, and her health. She's such a trooper! Today, we have to go get her nail fixed since she didn't have time to get to the salon before things closed yesterday. And, she's already told me that she's missing her weekly hair appointment today too. You know that has to be tough, being used to something for at least 30 years, every week, then to not have that part of the routine.

Jacob and Beth were so excited to see Yaya and Popi this morning, too. Lots of playing, a little weather watching, and who knows what else is in store for the weekend.

It's that time again

Football season. Oh, I'm just filled to the brim with excitement. Can you tell? However, Kevin loves it, and Beth does too. No, she doesn't really get football, but Kevin's teaching her. This weekend was the first game of the season. My family was all geared up. Kevin and Beth went to Albertsons to get stuff for grilling. By the way, 10% off your purchase if you wear your jersey on game day. Kevin loved that! He said people were commenting on how cute Beth was dressed up and like Daddy with the jersey. Of course she's cute!

A couple weeks ago, we saw an ice cream cake with the Cowboy star on it, so Jacob and I were picking that up. Lots of food, especially just for our family, lots of football. I know they won, but I didn't really get to see the game as I was watching the kids. Shucks :)

What a big moment

We decided to start Beth with a "responsibility chart" for doing chores around the house. She has a few things she'll do every day and some just once in a while. She earns a smile every time she does one. Then, at the end of the week, she earns allowance based on how many smiles she has. The first week she got allowance, she desperately wanted Fancy Nancy's Posh Puppy, especially since we were buying one for our niece's birthday. We told her she didn't have enough money. She was sad, but moved on. She managed to buy a bag of M&Ms that day, with plenty of change to start saving. She worked hard for a month until she had enough to buy her puppy. Oh, that was a big day. We went to Target before we went to a friend's birthday party.

Here's how it went:





Where's that puppy? Is that really what I want?





This is it, the one I want


Paying all by myself

So proud of my receipt too!

I heart glue guns

So, one of my favorite blogs, The Nesting Place, had a "party" for window mistreatments. I'm a lot late to the party, but I made it. My window mistreatment has been done for a couple weeks, I just haven't had time to blog about it. Today, I'm making time.





I've been thinking about curtains and window treatments, not sure what to do, how to do it, how much I'm willing to spend, etc. When I saw the idea for "mistreatments", I knew I'd found the right thing. Boy, have I gotten some ideas, too! The entire downstairs in reds and browns color scheme. In the old house, I had a full bath down with a shower curtain I loved. I hated getting rid of it, but I didn't need it in the new house. So, I dug it out of the garage sale box, ironed it (oh my!), bought some fabulous fringe at Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon, and heated up my glue gun. Yep, that's right, no sewing at all (though I do have some skills), all hot glued. Woohoo! I hot glued the fringe on. I hot glued the sides to fit the space of the window (since cutting would require sewing, and I didn't want to do that). The only window it would really fit on was the one over the tub in the master. I think it's perfect, too, for the more contemporary design, that goes with our more contemporary bedding. Ok, so then I stuck it to the wall with upholstery tacks (I drew a line using a level, so I knew just where to put them). I pinned the fold, hot glued it there, pinned another fold, hot glued some more. I hot glued until I was happy with where everything was. I heart my glue gun! I still think it needs something at the top. So, if you have any suggestions, I'll take them. Ok, here it is.

What do ya think?

Hilarious!

If you've ever been to church camp, you need to watch this video! OMG, too funny!
http://thepoefam.blogspot.com/2008/09/recent-greatness.html
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for it! I'm too lazy to actually find the video link and post it here. Deal with it :P