Our Crazy Life

Summer 09'

2009-08-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

I LOVE my friends! I have been in North Texas for oh..........15 years now, yikes! Seems like just yesterday. I never thought I'd stay here this long but I'm so glad I did. I met my wonderful husband and have made life long friends that I'm not sure what I would do without them. We had our annual "Back to School" cookout Saturday and it was so nice to just sit and talk with everyone. Here a few pics from the night!

Ryder, RyLeigh and Luke enjoy the air conditioning after a long night of jump housing!

Rocket meets everyone, ahwww the love!!!

Ella loves her some Matt!

Cody and Allie discussing Matt's ribs

Ryder comes by his love of Sonic honestly, thanks to his Momma:

We of course had to have a bouncy house, although Elmo is "not cool" it had to do because Mom didn't get Sponge Bob in time!

Luke and Cameryn "girl", poor thing she is labeled for life..., this is before "the incident". Short version, Luke has a bruise on his forehead and Cameryn now has a loose front tooth:)

Lisa and her "good side".

Bhealor enjoying some down time and ribs.

If you like Pina Coladas..... and thanks to Doug we ALL enjoyed LOTS of them:)

Sweet, sweet Allie Grace........

Ben and Miss Dana, we love her so.........

Sam and "mixmaster" Doug;)

Tracie (who also love drinking Pina Coladas) and Robbie

Leslie and Randall, that's their "Thank God we have dogs and not children look"!

How do you tell this face no, this answer is ....... You don't! What Ryder wants from Miss Tammy Ryder gets from Miss Tammy. Love this kid!

Camp Thurman Week

My nephews came up again this year for Camp Thurman and had a blast. This was the first morning before we left.

Okay well maybe this was the first day, well one was the first and one was last day. They had a blast and were SO TIRED every night. Have I mentioned how much three boys eat? I was shocked and thankful I have ONE full time. My poor sister must spend a lot of time at the store:)

Speaking of friends........

This is my BFF since grade school Kathy and her son Benjamin. No, I don't wear this shirt at every function, just a fluke! Anyway.... we were both maids of honor in each other's weddings (well my first one anyway) and have been through everything with each other. Marriage, pregnancy, divorce, more preganancy ect.... Well we haven't been in contact in few years and we were able to get together while I was in Houston this summer. It was so good to see her. You forget how important old friends are, they know all the "good" stories about you and always support you. She has another son Bradley that I can't believe will be a SENIOR in high school this year. So glad I got to see her!

This is how I feel after typing this post.......... exhausted!! I'm sure if you have read it all you are too! Luke loves his "brother" Rocket and he has fit right into our family. We sure miss our Bo Man though:(

More summer to come...............

Eggs, Baskets and Easter Sunday!

2009-04-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

These are the eggs the kids decorated Saturday night. Beautiful aren't they? They had a great time making them. The lighting makes them look a bit yellow.

This is how they started out. We had speckled stuff, camo stuff and regular egg dye. It is amazing what all they have out there now to decorate eggs. I stayed away from the glitter, although I'm sure my mom would have loved that.

Maddie was very careful and wanted hers to be perfect.

Luke was a little less careful, he was all about how fast he could go to beat his sister:)

This was taken shortly after the Easter Bunny visited last night, or actually very early this morning. I'm glad that they both know why we truly celebrate Easter, the resurrection of our Savior, but........ they still expect the CANDY!!!!

This is right after church as we dodged the showers. The kids did great in "Big" church. Luke had his word find so that helped a lot. All this humidity and my hair didn't know what to do!

We had lunch at El Arroyo after church and then Matt and Maddie headed out to meet her mom in Buffalo. Hope everyone has a blessed Easter!

Catching Up......

2009-04-04T21:13:00.001-07:00

This is what you get when you give Luke a camera. He went to Llano with Matt and his parents over Spring Break and apparently got a hold of the camera and took a few pics. The next few are from the Luke Sebesta Gallery of Art:)

He has been talked to about taking pics of my butt, Matt didn't have that talk with him, obviously.

Neither did Memaw!

He was also allowed to shoot a 22. Now let me preface this by again stating he was with Dad and I was not there. This is what I get for staying home. I will try and upload the video too. I guess he's a good shot yada yada yada. Have I mentioned before that I was sure he was a girl and I'd be doing mani/pedi's with him(her) by now. But NOOOOOOOOO.... my child shoots guns and takes pictures of cows and butts instead.

Luke made it to the district speech meet back in February. We were very proud of him. Here he is receiving his ribbon. He didn't place in the top but he did really well. There were like 400 students from several schools there that day.

We spent most of Spring Break in Houston at my sister's house. We had a good time and I got to see my boys! I can't believe how old Travis looks now. Here they all are on St. Patrick's Day. We went to the mall that day (see I do get my girl stuff in by throwing in a visit to Game Stop)!

We went to Space Center Houston and here are the boys getting off the simulator ride. They said it was fun. I couldn't ride because I had just bought a Starbucks Latte and lets see..... ride the nauseating simulator and pay $4 or pay $4 for a coffee and take pics. Easy choice.

Last weekend Luke played in a tournament with his summer coach. Two of his friends from school also played. This is Luke, Nick, and Parker.

Today we went to the Easter egg hunt at church. Luke has gone every year since he could walk. We took Camryn(girl) with us. They had a blast.

Pure Joy! That is what a tire swing is to little kids. To adults it's a matter of time before someone pukes. You just pray it isn't your kid. Even with candy and twirling around A LOT, we had no puking! Just the Pure Joy!

Luke spent his birthday at Great Wolf Lodge this year with a couple of friends. That's a whole other blog but here is a pic of him and Parker at lunch at Rainforest Cafe the next day. Do they look tired? We all were:)

I'm only putting this video clip on here because Matt insists that I do. He is so proud. Next time I update I'm putting a video clip of Luke spelling lots of words correctly and then reading a book and folding underwear and putting them up himself:) We'll take a vote on what's more impressive after that!

Been Awhile!

2009-02-08T21:10:00.001-08:00

We started our new year off with a trip to Wolf Creek Ski Resort in Colorado. We had a blast and Luke loved skiing and playing in the snow.

Luke did wolf pup school for three days and I did lessons for two days. Matt did a half day and decided watching Luke was more fun than falling on his butt in the snow 20 million times. I guess sometimes he knows what he's doing!

I know you are all waiting for the pictures of me coming down the slopes. Well I was SO FAST Matt couldn't catch me in time:) Okay the thing that I was the best at was popping off my skis with my pole and getting my butt out of the way of the other skiers!

I have more pics of the trip that I will post later, but I'm tired and going to bed. Isn't Luke cute without his front teeth? :)

Little Moments

2008-11-23T16:42:00.000-08:00

This is a former student of mine Jonathan after Bowie won the district championship game. He invited me to come and watch him play and so Luke and I went to the last game. It was such a good game and Jonathan made an awesome catch that involved 25 yards and jumping over people:) He is Luke's new hero! Such a smart kid and he was so good to Luke. Took him down on the field after the game for the school song and pics. I can only hope Luke turns out to be as good a kid as Jonathan. He reminds me a lot of him, except when he leaves class to eat candy out of his backpack and tells people I'm the devil:)

Another former student Greg Pickney, he was also a favorite kid! I felt REALLY old at this game!
Luke on the field singing the Bowie song, we won't tell PCA!

Here is Luke's class on their field trip to Old City Park in Dallas. This picture cracks me up, half of them are looking away, making a funny face or covering up their face, that's first grade for you.

This is the old school building. They had a "teacher" who told the kids all about school in the good ol' days. Luke was being bitten all over by ants he had rolled in right before we came in this building. I kept shhhing him everytime he raised his hand to get my attention. I was busy snapping pics! I felt REALLY bad when I found out why he needed me and how many bites he had:(

Luke and Heather at Alley Cats during Farrell's PTA party. Can you tell Heather is in fourth grade, she may catch up to Luke one day... A girl can hope!

Luke's school did a musical called King of the Jungle. Grades 1-3 participated.

Here is Luke and best bud Parker. I guess that Parker is a vegetarian tiger or he just doesn't care for giraffe meat.

Luke received his orange belt in karate last week. He loves doing karate and seems to do really well. I mean I can still kick his butt but he tries a little harder to resist the force that is strong within me:)

You don't want to run into these three in a dark alley! Seth, Nick and Luke are all in class together and play football together. I'm sure they pay attention in class though, Mr. Stallard doesn't play!!

Very impressive isn't it............

Well football is finally over and we had the end of season party today at River Legacy Park. It was fun, Matt grilled the hot dogs and the moms played the boys in a powder puff game. Well of course we won and rub their little faces in it!

Parker's mom Jamie and I are discussing our game plan... well okay we are talking about the other moms and how we are going to have to pick up the slack! Jamie came through with a touch down and I pulled some kid's flag after he tripped over my foot and fell down in front of me:)

Here is our favorite time of day......... night! Good night to all may you sleep as well as a tired 6yr old!

The Three C's (camping, candy and Carrie Underwood)

2008-11-05T17:15:00.000-08:00

Carrie is the last thing I'll blog about but she is so cute I thought I'd put her pic up for you to enjoy first!

Uncle Buddy joined us for a night when we went on the annual camping trip! We went to Fairfield Lake State Park this year and it was a BEAUTIFUL weekend.

Uncle Don is feeling better after his back surgery. He was back to his playful self on the trip.

I think Luke and Cameron go camping just to play in the fire!

The boys are going on their "walk", where I'm sure Granpa lets them do all the things that Sally and I say no to~

This is last year's walk, my how they grow~

I'm pretty sure this is the last year Luke will pose as a scarecrow, Matt hasn't seen this yet:)

Luke was a Storm Trooper this year, this is his cool pose. We went to trunk or treat at church and then went to a friends neighborhood to trick or treat.

Luke always looks for Miss Lynn, she gives him extra candy.

Bhealor and Ella joined us at church, everyone raked in the candy.

Here is my team on Storybook Character Day, we were Snowmen at Night!

Well my mom flew me home last weekend and took me, Sally, Cameron and a few of her friends to see the Carrie Underwood concert. Now I have to tell you she is a little obsessed with Carrie and is a fanclub member, which led to us having really great seats:) Little Big Town opened for her and they were so good! This was Cameron's first concert and he got to touch Carrie's hand three times. He'll be disappointed at every concert he attends after this!

We had a great time and I had the best weekend of sleep in recent memory:)

These are a few of my favorite things......

2008-10-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

I have so much to update I'm doing something a little different. Pictures that tell a few of my favorite things that have happened lately. I have to start with my boy Bo, he went to dog heaven in July. He is DEFINITELY one of my favorite things ever! We miss you Bo man!

Kids making funny faces......

Blowing out birthday candles! .......

summer baseball......

Hannah Montana in 3D (okay not MY favorite thing, but the kid's:) .....

Smores!.....

Backyard kick ball......

playing in the water hose.....

Camp Thurman......

brothers......

cousins......

quiet moments......

popcicles......

friends.......

grown-ups in jump houses....

the first day of school......

Papaws and the deer lease........

Luke in Luckenbach.........

flag football (kickin butt and takin names)......

my kiddos......

football players.....

AND.......

toothless wonders!!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed a few of my favorite things....

Party in the Pool!

2008-07-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

We have spent a lot of time in the pool this summer. We have gone to quite a few swim parties and to some friend's houses during this long, hot summer!

Sam had some friends over to partake in her new pool a few weeks ago. Tracie giving luke bunny ears, or are those devil horns:) Allie, Sam and Kristen are in the background.

Becca and Ella were chillin' with Ella's little float. She is the best baby. She reminds me of a girl Luke, well even Luke wasn't as calm and happy as much as Ella!

Andrew or "Drew" as he is called, is so cute! He was so content to float in his little boat and throw his hat into the water and chomp on it! He is a little Cody mini me! Those Hogan kids are lookers!

Tracie had a ball playing with Darby, she kept Trac on her toes!

This is Darby's little brother Shepard and his mom Angela. He was so funny, he did not want to get into a float or be put down. That's Leslie in the background thinking,"Thank God I have dogs!":)

Kristen got her excercise motoring Andrew around the pool!

We aren't sure if Luke will be the next speed swimmer in the Olympics or on the water ballet team!

Houston Vaca!

2008-07-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

We had such a good time in Houston for our mini vacation! It has been really hard for Luke to not have instant access to the grandparents, cousins, aunt and uncle! We are looking forward to the cousins coming for a week in August for Camp Thurman!

We had a little party to celebrate Cameron's 7th birthday and my 27th! Just ask Luke he is all to aware of my real age and loves to tell anyone who will listen!

Memaw and Papa came down from Tomball to see their boy.

Everyone had a great time eating,drinking and splashing in the pool. The gift giving wasn't bad either!

A great time was had by all. Especially Cam who made out like a bandit. He sure is a cute 7 year old.

No my mom and Luke didn't get thrown in the slammer for jumping the gate at Moody Gardens, they were just playing in the shark cage! We had a great day at the aquarium in Galveston. This is my favorite aquarium to go to, it has everything......... sharks, penguins, things to pet and Luke's favorite........ things for his Nonna to BUY. Oh yeah, he scored a white seal pup before we left.

The big sting ray wanted to get his picture in the blog:)

Glad something in Houston was cool.

We stopped by Nan's on our way home for some coffee and conversation. Luke just loves all the attention he gets there. We stayed at Nan's for about 4 days and I'm sure she was exhausted by the time we left but it was fun.

We ended our visit at my sister's for Cameron's "real" birthday. My sister made him a cake and he decorated it. There is nothing better than warm cake, well maybe icy cold beer on hot day....... but that is debatable.

Cameron got a four wheeler (which he still calls a four liter) but this is a real one. Gas powered and everything, much to my mother's dismay. He loved it though and even let Luke take a spin!

Our last day in Houston my brother in law Don hurt his back and ended up in the hospital. He is still having lots of pain but is seeing a specialist and we are hoping for him to get some relief soon. I ended up with the boys that day and Travis and I stopped at the donut shop on the way home from the hospital so I love this picture of the boys in their underwear eating donuts. I like to think of it as boys in their natural habitat.

I have a lot more to write about but my son is waiting for me to come outside and play ball with him so I have to go!

Shout out to Uncle Don, we love you and hope you get better soon!

Life's a Beach!

2008-06-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

Luke has had a great summer so far! He was invited to go to Schlitterbaun with Sarah and Susan on Wednesday and then got to spend the night with them in Galveston at the beach house they rented for the week! I have been staying with my Nan in LaMarque which is only a few minutes from Galveston so it worked out well. I went to pick him up Thursday and took a few pics!

Sarah and Luke carried their boogie boards down to the beach to show me their "moves"!

Waiting on the perfect wave!

I made them pose for this, but it sure is cute! They had such a great time together!

Poor Miss Susan was left to be the pack mule for the kids snacks and drinks! She is a trooper!

This was the biggest wave I saw, but they thought it was great!

Luke had so much fun with Maggie, she was Sarah's grandmother's dog.

This is the best part of the beach... gettin' dirty!

Sarah at her finest. Maybe she will be an executive chef some day..........

We headed back to Nan's when the storms started to roll in. Thanks Birdwells for the great little Galveston vacation!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband and all the dads we know and love!

The Tooth Fairy cometh tonight!

2008-06-12T11:26:00.001-07:00

Luke finally lost his first tooth! I have to tell you it was quite the ordeal. I swore he was going to graduate college with that thing dangling from his mouth! He refused to let me near it, so I had planned to pull it during his nap. My mom told me how cruel I was and then I made him show her his tooth as it swayed with every breath he took. She agreed and after lunch we cornered him in his room and shut the door. He was very preoccupied with his DS and didn't pay us any attention. I put on a rubber glove (for traction) and then said, "Luke you know Mommy loves you right?" He replied, "yeah......", that would be when he noticed Nonna was also in the room. He threw down the DS in horror and started screaming. I felt a twinge of guilt but when I saw the swaying tooth it was gone. My mom told him he was going to swallow it if he didn't let me pull it. He finally relented and opened his mouth. All I had to do was pluck it out. I showed it to him and he was so excited. The blood freaked him out a little but it was nothing a Dreamcicle couldn't fix. That's my new mantra, Dreamcicles fix everything messy and unpleasant! We are having a ball in Houston and Lynn Stokes is coming to dinner tonight, I'll be glad to see my friend!

Summertime!!!

2008-06-09T16:00:00.001-07:00

Look at these sweet boys......... We are at my mom's for the month of June and loving it! Cam is sick so he is staying with us for a couple of days. I took Luke for a haircut today and this is what we came home with.................

Not so sweet anymore huh? Well Luke has been asking for a mohawk for a year so we told him he could have one this summer. I decided to do it while his hair was still pretty short. He also got some blue put in it just for today. I swear he was just in the little car crying for his mom to hold him while he had his hair trimmed. Today he told the lady, " Buzz it off!". Here are some other "views".

He has such a cute profile, thank goodness he got the Sebesta nose!

Here's the back, I little hard to spike because it is too short. I can't wait to buzz it all off!

Here is Nanno with Lady, had to put this cute one in. That is the most spoiled cat I have ever seen! She loves her Franco!

Class of 08!

2008-06-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

It finally happened.......... Luke graduated from Kindergarten!! Here is the proud graduate with his Principal Mrs. Smith receiving his "diploma". That is his teacher Mrs. Jenkins in the background. It seems like just yesterday he was learning how to talk and now he is going to first grade:( It really does go by so fast all my friends with little ones!

The kids sang songs, here is Luke with Danielle they don't look happy but they were in a "serious" pose. They all did so well and I didn't see any child get stage fright.

This video clip is Luke saying his bible verse. There are a few kids who do their's before him. He did so well. He practiced and practiced his verse so that he would say it clear, loud and proud! We love that he is able to learn about Christ along with his basics. He really shows an understanding of why Jesus died on the cross for him and how to be a humble servant. I love my job, but there is a problem in the public school system....... that's a whole other blog.

Here are some pics of Luke and his family and friends. A great day was had by all!

Here is Luke with his best friend Parker. They are in class, karate and baseball together. Luke really had a great class of kids this year, he loves them all.

This is Isabel with Luke. She is the tiniest little thing:) They are good buddies too!

Here is Luke with his Memaw and Papaw. They came all the way from Tomball just to see him graduate.

Nonno and Nonna came up from Pearland to see their Lukey Boo graduate. My mom is not allowed to call him that anymore per Luke's order but..... he doesn't read the blog much:)

This is Danielle. Luke and Danielle have been inseparable since Pre-k. They are JUST FRIENDS according to both, but they do make a cute little couple!

Here are all the grandparents(except my dad and Judy who were just up) Nonni, Nonno, Nonna, Memaw and Papaw. I know there is a pic with Mom but I think Nonni took it. Daddy had to go back to work after the ceremony and we didn't get a picture. It was a stressful morning what can I say? Luke is now Houston for a week while I finish up school blahhhhh! Hope everyone has a wonderful summer and keep looking for more updates!

Disney with the Family!

2008-05-17T17:22:00.001-07:00

Well I think I'm up to trying to blog Disney, maybe:) My sister, Trav, Cam, my mom, Matt, myself and Luke went to Disney in mid January. Sally and I have waited for 6 years (until Cam and Luke were old enough) to take our kids to Disney together. My mom went to help out! We had such a great time. This picture is from the first night we arrived and went to downtown Disney. It was the only night it was COLD, the rest of the trip was wonderful. We flew down which worked out well with Disney, they checked our luggage all the way through to the hotel. Except for Sally's tolietries bag, they all made it fine.

Here are Luke and Cam with Flat Stanley waiting for our plane. Sarah Birdwell , Luke's friend had a Flat Stanley project at school and we were happy to take him on our trip!

Here is the whole group(sans me) waiting for our resort bus at the airport.

We stayed at the Port Orleans French Quarter resort on the Disney property. It was really great. These are Sal's boys in front of the pool. Luke had had enough excitement for one day and wanted a nap (Mommy too!).

Here are my mom and I with the little boys waiting for the bus to Downtown Disney that first night.

The big hit at DT Disney was Legoland! Here are the three boys posing with Lego people. I think Travis did the most monetary damage here!

Pinochio was the first character that we saw at Magic Kingdom. I have to say when we walked through the gates and the boys all saw Cinderella's castle and did a collective sigh of AHHHH! I was a little teary eyed. I had been waiting for that moment for six years. It was Matt's first time at Disney too and he was also blown away. I had told him it was like a different world but until you experience it you can't imagine.

Pluto was the big winner with Luke andCam, they loved him. Goofy was Trav's fave. Now I'll just post some pics to enjoy.

The boys hangin with Bruce.

Mom's feet were in need, need of a rest!

We had a great breakfast with Mickey and friends at the Animal Kingdom.

This beautiful painting lasted all of 45minutes! He would not swallow or lick his lips so he was spitty and miserable until I washed it off with a wipey.

This is a video clip of Luke and Cameron in the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom. They were chosen to shake and dance:) It was a great trip, memories our children will have all their lives...............and we can't wait to go back!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T10:01:00.001-07:00

This is from Mother's Day Tea at Luke's school, and each child picked a bible verse that best described their mom. Luke said he picked this verse because I get him things and make things for him with my hands:) Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers I know and love!

Midnight Mass IS NOT fun and games!

2008-01-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

I'll explain about the title later......... but here is a picture of our happy family on Christmas eve at my mom's house! We had a great holiday in Houston and it has really been hard to get back into the swing of things at school. We started our celebration out at Matt's parents house in Tomball.

Krystal, Maddie, and Luke they are getting so big! They all really enjoy being together.

Luke scored the biggest gift, a four liter(wheeler), he calls it a four liter because his cousin Cameron used to call his that. Let the illiteracy continue. If you can't read the shirt it says, "I saw it! I wanted it! Told Papa and I got it!" How true that is. The girls didn't do bad either! Below is a little video of the first time Luke rode his four wheeler, thanks to Papa who drove it up to Arlington for us!

After visiting with Uncle Joe and Aunt Barbara we headed to my mom's to get ready for our celebration with her and Nanno and my sister and her family. We had a great time Christmas Eve day opening presents and eating a great meal.

The boys always have fun when they're together, now the rest of us end up exhausted chasing after them!

Here is Uncle Don "helping" Luke open his truck. Don doesn't let his boys open up cars or trucks that could be collectibles, but Luke gets to open all his. Don knows this and offered to get Luke's truck out for him and help him play with it:)

This is Cam and Luke partaking in some under age gambling activity, Luke scored a dollar

Travis is demolishing the gingerbread house, he managed to devour most of it with a little help from Luke!

Sally and Don are giddy after the huge feast we had!

Matt looks so happy because he's scared not to be, really scared! He also LOVES his mother in law and sister in law so much, ahwwwwwww! My mom really wanted a family portrait that day and it took more than one pose in the not so warm weather but we finally got it!

Isn't this a sweet picture that Matt took of Sally and Cameron? She saying," If you don't get in that car right now I'm going to give you something to cry about Mister!" Not really, don't know what they were whispering about but it sure is cute!

Now we come to the part of the story that will explain the title of this blog. Christmas Eve night we planned to go to Midnight Mass with my mom and Franco at their church in Houston. They attend an Episcopal church which is very different from our relaxed Methodist church that Luke is used to. We told him we were going to Midnight Mass and it would be really late and he had to nap and he was so excited. He kept telling my mom thank you for inviting us, now he goes to a private christian school and we attend church prettttttttttty regularly but I thought it was odd he was SO excited to attend a church service. We arrived at the church which is very old and beautiful. The walkways were lit with candles and it smelled of incense. The choir sang for 30 minutes and then the processional started. There was swinging of the incense, chanting of prayers ect. Luke was sitting between my mom and Franco and seemed very interested. About half way through he made his way to me and whispered,"When do the fun and games start?" I told him this was it, there was no fun or games and then I reminded him that we told him this would be a church service. He then said,"Well Midnight Mass sounded like fun and games to me!" and then huffed back over to my mom. He was even more disappointed at the end when we had to break it to him that there no there were no juice or cookies either. I don't think he will ever forget it!

He looks so happy here right before we left, visions of fun and games dancing in his head.

Christmas morning Santa brought one gift to Luke at Nonna's house and the rest up here to Arlington. Here is some video of him opening his gift from Santa!

Next it was down to my Nan's house for my Dad's side of the family. We had a great time visiting and eating my Nanny's stuffing:)

Here is Granpa watching the boys open their presents.

That's Uncle Buddy with his head down.
Here are Granpa, Buddy, Aunt Mary, Uncle Ron, Eric and Travis.

Uncle Bill had a great time too!

Here is my sweet Nan, I look forward to spending my Christmas at her house each year. We had a great time!

I will do Arlington Christmas in a few days, hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, have a great week!

Enough!

2007-12-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, enough excuses why I haven't updated in awhile I'm just lazy or tired or both! My husband told me tonight for the umteenth(really a word?) time that I need to update the blog. Apparently what I need to do is show him in all his infinite wisdom and extra time how to update the blog:) Well I'll start with the annual camping trip that my sister's family and Luke and I take each fall with my dad and Judy. We missed last year because they were in the process of purchasing a new camper. So we went to Huntsville State Park and had a great time! It was really cold at night that weekend so that made it even better. Luke and I stayed with my dad in his trailer(which is like a little miny hotel). My sister and her family have the camper that we used growing up. They have refirbished it and adapted it to their needs and it never looked better.

Here is a not so great pic of it as well as Uncle Don and his brother and some child I can't quite identify.

The boys played in the dirt, rode bikes, played in the dirt, ate, slept, played in the fire and then played in the dirt again!

The boys made a huge dirt pile and then plowed through it with their monster trucks of course!

The kids played at the park that we played at as kids. It so surreal to see my child and nephews do the things that I loved doing during my childhood.

Here are Luke and Cam at the park that my sister and brother and I spent many an hour playing at.

My dad took all the kids out on my Uncle Bill's john boat. As Sally and I pushed Grampa, Luke and Cam out into the lake we both realized that this was the first time our boys have ever been on a boat! I guess a boat safety talk should have happened first. It turned out well, my dad said they kept hanging out trying to touch the lily pads, but no one fell out!

Here they go, they look so excited to be out on the water!

Well I'll wrap this trip up with some pics of the big kids(Trav and Maddie) and some pics from the park and then move right into Halloween, oh yes I said Halloween.

Look a boat full of happy campers(had to use that)!

The boys at the pavillion.

Sissy and Cam.

Trav, getting so big!

Cam was almost to fast for me!

The boys riding off into the sunset! It was a great weekend!

I'll do Halloween tomorrow, if I'm not too tired, lazy, busy or choice D (all of the above)!

A lot! State Fair, Birthday and Aunt Becca's House!

2007-10-14T20:17:00.001-07:00

MOOOO! That's what we all felt like after the State Fair! We had a great time on Saturday at the State Fair! Maddie was here for her 11th birthday, I can't believe it! I was just telling Matt that she was 3! when I started dating him, now our girl is 11! The kids had a great time. We arrived in the afternoon and enjoyed a corny dog for dinner of course!

Maddie is showing off her great job on eating the ENTIRE corny dog! Luke was still car sick(we know who he gets that from:) thanks to the traffic on I30 and wasn't up to a corny dog, poor kid! He made up for it later in funnel cake!

We walked around and looked at all the wonderful things that the fair has to offer, mostly a bunch of crap but some cool stuff too!

Big Tex (not crap) the one thing that Luke kept talking about non stop. They made him at school and he couldn't wait to see his boots! He got a big kick out of him talking.

Obviously I was not car sick and was able to polish off my Fletcher's jalapeno cheese corny dog with no side affects, but I was mad Matt caught me in the act:)

We rode the sky rail across the fair which was a neat way to see everything quickly. We rode it again at night and that was really cool!

I told you that Luke redeemed himself later with a funnel cake and here is the proof. We all shared this deep fried, covered in sugar and hot fudge treat, but as Luke would say we all "wolfed" it down pretty quick! In fact it was painful to pull myself away long enough to snap this pic, I was loosing ground against the kids!

We went to see the Backyard Circus and Luke was able to participate as a lion! He was so thrilled to get picked, it was so cute to see him so excited!

He kept looking at us with this goofy grin and giving the thumbs up sign. I have a little video of his Oscar winning performance. Now after the dancing and this I'm sure Hollywood will be knocking on our door!

He was being "tamed" and rolling over, we were afraid he was going to roll right off the stage!

This was the death defying "Ring of Fire", sit back and be amazed! (no children were hurt during the making of this video!)
We ended the night at the Billy Ray Cyrus concert, oh yeah you read me right, Billy Ray! It was the closest thing we could get Maddie to Hannah Montana! He was actually pretty good! I felt kinda of bad for him when the girls(and there were many) were all chanting, "HANNAH, HANNAH, HANNAH", but he handled it well and I think Luke picked up a few moves for his next performance:)

The kids had a great night and so did Matt and I after we got home and took some Advil:)

Luke and I spent last weekend at Aunt Becca's house! Luke had fun making waffles with his Aunt Becca for breakfast on Sunday. She made me promise to cut her face off while snapping pics, but she didn't say anything about a belly shot ban:)

Here he is showing off his hard work, we had fun eating the "hearts" of waffle, well I had a good time:) He is such a naturalist that he fed the left overs to the squirrels in the backyard. We kept looking for them to come back but I'm afraid all the noise he made throwing it out there scared them off.

Luke is not one to be put off by a squirrel, so he decided to swing in protest. Yes, he is in his underwear, if you have ever been to our house you know that is him at his happiest, undressed:) He is just a man in training, I pray for his future wife each night, she has her work cut out for her.

We ended our weekend with RyLeigh Rose's(or RyLeigh Nosy as Luke calls her) birthday party! It was great fun. The kids came in costume and played candy corn relay, wrap your Mum like a mummy and race around the yard like a banshee(okay that was just what Luke and Hunter did)! Lisa did a great job with activities and dinner, yeah Lisa!

Even little Addie got in on the candy corn action,most of it went to her mouth! That's my kind of girl:)

The birthday girl did a great job blowing out her BOO cupcake cake and opening all her presents. Luke came home took a bath and fell fast asleep, which I'm about to do as well. Sorry this was a long one but I had too much to get in! I can't blog during the week it is too stressful. I love reading your comments so keep them coming! Have a great week!

Hunter and Luke, there are two very lucky girls growing up that have THIS to look forward too:)

The big 40, H lunch and a new fence!

2007-09-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to catch everyone up on tonight! It's been two weeks since my last blog(sounds like a confession) but that clip of Luke dancing is too cute to bump! Well my wonderful husband hit the big 40 a couple of weeks ago and has lived to tell about it! It kind of freaks me out to know that in ten years my husband will be 50! I know I'm getting ahead of myself but GEEZ! where does the time go!? Matt really wanted to spend the day with his kids so he took Maddie and Luke out of school(I'm a bad parent/teacher:) and took them to see the drag races in Ennis! They had a great time. Maddie got John Force's autograph before his wreck and Luke had a great time just watching all the cars! They were all exhausted that night, but not too tired for cake!

Of course it was an ice cream cake from Bruesters and it was delicious! We didn't put candles on it because we didn't want it to melt under so many flames!

Last Wednesday Luke's kindergarten class had "H" lunch which is a lunch with only H foods! I was able to sneak out for a few minutes and go up and surprise him at school. That is the one downfall of being a teacher, you don't get to do all the fun days with your child, so I try my best to go when I can. Here are a few pics from his class. The first one was while they were still doing class work and he hadn't seen me yet, if only my kids would sit and work like these little guys!

They were finishing up practicing the number 3. They had to draw three trees and it was quite the contest to see who's trees didn't look funny:)

They enjoyed tasty foods such as hashbrowns, hushpuppies, hamburgers, hard boiled eggs(not a favorite), ham sandwiches, Hi C punch, heart shaped cookies and Hersheys candy bars(BIG FAVORITE)! They were pretty good about at least trying everything except maybe the eggs!

Mommy was so glad to get to visit during this special lunch! One of us was very sad to say good bye, but I was a big girl and went back to work anyway!

This weekend we(and I mean Matt here) put up a fence! My dad must have gotten wind of our plans early because he was sure to be out of the state this time! We had some great laborers show up though and pick up his slack! The fence was torn down on Friday, Matt worked by himself Saturday putting in the posts and today we had Cody, Robbie and Jason come over to finish the job!

This is what it looked like Sunday morning!

Here go the boards! Luke was counting them and then reporting to Tracie and me on their progress!

Matt has Luke building his own play set, we are big into making our child accountable for his own happiness!

Yeah the finished product! We no longer have to hold our breath when the wind blows and hope it won't fall down! A HUGE thanks to all our friends who gave up their Sunday to help out! We are so lucky to have such great friends in our lives. I wasn't feeling my whole self this weekend but by the end of the night I was just happy to have spent time with my friends. It is so easy to get caught up in life's little hiccups, and you forget how lucky you are that God has blessed you with so many wonderful people in your life! Here are two pretty cute blessings!

Allie Grace who thinks Luke hung the moon and he is happy to oblige her every desire!

Andrew Shea who is a Cody mini me!
Thanks to my wonderful husband who with putting up with me, and putting up a fence managed to smoke some awesome ribs for the workers too! I love ya Babe!

The Wedding

2007-09-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

My cousin Clint and his wife Amanda got married this weekend in Kerrville. Aren't that such a cute couple(well you can't see her but she's a cutie!) We had a great trip to Kerrville Sat. morning, it is such a beautiful drive to the hill country. I've decided that when I win the lottery I'll be getting Matt and I a ranch home in Marble Falls or Fredricksburg:) The church was beautiful and the reception was at the Shriner's College in Kerrville which I didn't even know existed, but it was so nice!

This isn't the best picture but the whole sanctuary was made out of that white rock that is so prevalent in the area. It was the Methodist church in Kerrville. It is always so much fun to see family that you don't get to see except at holidays.

Here is my Aunt Jan, Aunt Nancy(Clint's mom) and my mom. They all look so beautiful!

This is my cousin Misty (Camden's mom) and my mom!

This is my cousin Bethany(Clint's sister) and Luke. Bethany just started at A&M, she has a full scholarship.....Go for as long as the money will Beth!

Here are mommy and Luke, my little guy is getting so big! He would shake people's hands and say hello, before I know it he'll be walking me down and seating me for his wedding........ I'll scream and tell him she's not good enough for him........an ugly seen will then follow, but we'll always have these great memories right?!!

Here is Luke with his Nonno and Nonna, they spoil him rotten and he loves it! We spent some time shopping in Fredricksburg today on the way back and I have to say that Franco was so good following us women around while we stopped at every store! Luke moaned and groaned about his feet and needing a break until he saw the toy store, then he was FINE.

The biggest hit of the night was the dancing, well for Luke anyway. He was HILARIOUS dancing with his cousin Camden. I have a little video for everyone to check out. Now don't flood the phone lines to Dancing with the Stars just yet, he needs a little more practice.

All in all it was a great weekend, we enjoyed the whole thing. I'm so not ready for this week but someone has a BIG birthday on Friday. I keep telling Luke his daddy is A LOT older than mommy and that 40 is really getting up there. Matt is taking Luke and Maddie to the races on Friday (don't tell their teachers) and then we are going to have a nice weekend at home! Hope everyone enjoys their week too!

Birthday Weekend!

2007-09-08T16:16:00.000-07:00

Well Matt says A LOT of people were busy in Januaries past, because we have A LOT of birthdays in September:) So far we have celebrated Nonna, Granma, Aunt Becca, Danielle and Parker (tomorrow) and we still have Matt's big 40 to celebrate on the 21st! We had Becca's party last night in Ft. Worth at Freebirds.

Here is Becca's cake it was DELICIOUS!

Today Luke had Danielle's party here in Arlington. This is Luke and Jordan, Jordan goes to a different school this year so Luke was SO EXCITED to see him at the party!

Tomorrow evening he has Parker's party at Alley Cats(bowling) so we will be partied out by Monday!

Luke had enough Polly Pockets, makeup and Barbies! ARGHHHHHHHH!

Have a great weekend!

Labor Day Fun!

2007-09-03T08:12:00.001-07:00

We have really enjoyed our Labor Day weekend! I haven't accomplished much, but that's the point of a holiday isn't it? We went out to visit Paula and John on Saturday and the kids enjoyed jumping on the trampoline and watching Sponge Bob in bed. I'm sure in 10 years we won't be letting them go into the bedroom and shut the door as the climb into bed together,but for now it was a nice break for all of us! We had such a good time cooking out and seeing our friends that we don't get to see see nearly enough these days! Here are a few pics of the kids jumping!

Luke started out very cautious but Rileigh helped him by putting the throw down on him and then it was on!

They were so tired by the end of the night that it was straight to bed when we got home. Hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday, enjoy your week!

First Day of Kindergarten

2007-09-01T08:24:00.001-07:00

Here he is on his first day of kindergarten! Daddy took the day off and dropped Luke off at school. Unfortunately it was my first day of school as well and I couldn't be there! That is one of the downfalls of being a teacher, but two months off helps offset that a bit:) His teacher is Mrs. Jenkins and seems very nice. Cheryl (Nonni) was there to take some pics too, I am going to have to get those loaded on here so everyone can see them! Luke came home the first day and told us that the Gingerbread Man had visited their school! He said that they looked all over that school for him and could never find him! Lots of teachers saw him and he left crumbs on the floor but they never saw him. He also said that the G.B.M left them a snack. He was quite put out that he never saw him but his Aunt Becca and I told him that he probably went to visit another school and that soothed him a little bit. My step mother( a retired teacher) thought that doing that activity the first day of school was very ambitious:) Needless to say with only a thirty minute rest period during the day he is EXHAUSTED and in bed each night by 8:15! We have all made it through the first week and are ready for a three day weekend!

Basketti Boy

2007-08-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

I was going through some stuff on my computer at work today and I came across this picture of Luke. It is one of my all time favorites! He was about 11months old and was at First Baptist Early Childhood Center. He had just eaten some spaghetti for lunch and his teacher took this pic before cleaning him up. To this day "basketti" is his favorite food, his daddy's is the best he says! We are missing him so much and I thought I'd just put this up to show how fast time goes, he starts kindergarten next Monday. Have a great week!

Schlitterbaun and YES... Houston again!

2007-08-17T21:03:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULA!

Paula and Rileigh were gracious enough to invite Luke and me on a short little vacation to New Braunsfels last weekend! We left on Sat. afternoon and arrived in San Marcus by late afternoon. We talked the kids into a little shopping at the outlets and did a little swimming at the hotel that night! On Sunday we headed out to Schlitterbaun! It was as great as I remembered it was WAY BACK when I was in high school! The kids had a lot of fun and Paula and I were reminded we aren't 18 anymore. I won't go into detail to save our pride but, we did get on one ride known as the Rapid Chute or something stupid like that. Paula and I thought it was the lazy river well......... I have renamed it the T's and A ride, ask me to tell you about it later. Needless to say we were a lot more careful from that ride on about our choices! All in all we had a great time and the kids had a ball!

Here they are after Shlitterbaun and extra swimming that night at the hotel pool! They had some popcorn and watched Air Buddies! We had left the water park and ate at Rudy's for dinner. If you have never been their GO! They have great Barbecue and VERY cold beer:) After the T and A ride we needed it! We had an eight hour trip back on Monday thanks to I35 being shut down due to a fire, but everyone handled it pretty well and we arrived home about 6:30pm. Just enough time for me to unpack and pack again because Luke and I flew out on Tuesday at 11 am for Houston! Needless to say it was a busy couple of days!

Here is Luke ready to take off on the airplane, he LOVES to fly! I don't share that love especially after the hellacious ride Matt and I had to LasVegas back in May! I was sure we were going to die! Anyway Luke likes when the plane goes bump, I smiled at him and wondered if 11am is too soon to ask for alcohol. We made it fine and have been enjoying a much needed vacation of lounging by the pool and visiting our favorite people!

My dad and sister Sally. FYI, my dad won the Star award from his company and was sent to Florida to see the Shuttle launch last week! My sister has been offered a promotion and it is well deserved. She works WAY too hard. With all this good fortune I just know that us teachers must be in for some BIG MONEY this year.........hahahahahha! I'm very proud of both of them, yeah!

Here are the "boys" following Granpa's command to fall backwards into the pool. They had a great time swimming at Nonna's!

We had dinner tonight with Granma and Granpa at Crackerbarrel. Luke loves to eat there with his Granpa, it is their special place. We went to visit Nan later that night. We got to spend the whole day with her yesterday because of some bad weather here. I missed having lunch with my good friend Carol, but we will get together soon I'm sure!

I'll be flying home on Sunday to start work on Monday! Luke is staying behind until Thursday because he and his cousin Cameron won awards from sister's company for a safety contest. More on that later.........

One last note, as Hurricane Dean closes in on the Gulf please keep my family in your prayers. We don't know were it will go but there is always a chance it could hit here. Luke will still be down so I'm sure I'll be a basket case! Thanks for taking time to catch up with "Our Crazy Life"!

Build a Bear and Uncle Julio's

2007-08-08T20:02:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Rileigh! Today was Rileigh Grimes'6th birthday and party at Build A Bear at Grapevine Mills Mall, or as my friend Paula calls it "Bilk Another Buck"! It is expensive to go in there with your child, I'm glad Luke is happy with "naked" animals. As you an see from the photo all the girls had sparkly shirts, beds and leashes for their pets. Luke is holding his naked penguin and he was happy to get it! They had a great time and it was a lot of fun.

The kids had fun "waking up" their pet before stuffing it full of "cotton". They did really well waiting their turn to push the foot pedal and bring their pet to life.

Here is Luke bringing Cody to life, his heart felt out onto the floor but Luke just picked it up and stuffed it back in:) Lucky us it already had a sound chip in the foot so we got to hear Cody talk all the way home, it was a 45 minute drive YEAH!

We ended with a cookie and present opening and fun was had by all. Luke and I stopped and watched the big boys ride skateboards at the indoor park before we left. He can't wait to be old enough to do those moves. I can wait, boy can I wait!

Luke was in awe of how fast those big boys went and how hard they fell. I told him he needed to practice at home before he comes to skate here. He told me his Daddy was right that they did not have couches to hold onto at the skate park like he has at home:) You'll have to take my word how great he is on carpet and holding onto the couch working his "moves".

Tonight I went to Uncle Julio's in Ft. Worth with some of my girlfriends from school. Becca and Sam are moving on and so we all go together for dinner. The nice man who took the photo was kind of far away and it is hard to see us!

Here are Lisa, Sam, and Becca. You can't even tell Becca feels like yakking up her dinner can you? She has evening sickness, she always has to be different!

Here are Leslie, Stacy and yes that's Lisa again, she can't stay out of the lime light she likes to show off her cleavage. Now Stacy had her first beer in 10 months(just had a sweet little girl) we were pulling her off the rafters by the time we left!

Here is Tracie who after 12 years of teaching first grade has finally been promoted to second grade! We are so happy to have her, not as happy as when my second drink came but pretty happy! We had a great time and hope to make this a monthly occurrence. I'm not breaking that to Matt just yet! Have a great Friday and look for updates next week!

Good Bye Travis!

2007-08-05T15:00:00.001-07:00

There is my "first" baby leaving on his first plane ride by himself. I had no idea that I would feel so helpless when they came and took him away. I could feel myself about to cry so I just kept saying,"I love you Trav", until he was gone. There is something about giving up control of your children to strangers that grabs you by the heart and squeezes. I've noticed this same feeling at the doctor,hospital and school. It is a feeling no one but a parent could truly understand, and it is scary. He did great and walked off to get on the plane smiling and waving. I waited until the plane took off, said a prayer and walked my lonely self out to the car and drove straight to Starbucks to fill that void inside with a shaken black ice tea:) We had a great time this week, a lot of it sans camera though! Friday we went to see Underdog it was great. Then we went to the waterpark that evening where the boys went on the "big" slide for the first time. I was so upset I didn't have my camera! Saturday Matt took the boys to the bowling alley and we just hung out last night so I could catch up on wash! This morning Trav and I left in what I thought would be PLENTY of time to get to the gate because we already had his boarding pass. FYI when flying an unaccompanied minor you have to wait in the BIG line to get a boarding pass for yourself. Needless to say I'm not so patient when I'm going to have to explain to my perfect sister why her baby is not on the plane! I was a little frantic when we reached the counter at 12pm for a 12:30 flight! Then the desk attendant didn't like how I had put Travis in one line and stood in the other, for heaven's sake I could see him the whole time I told her. Anyway, she finally gave me the pass and we RAN to the security check where FYI again, just because you are not flying doesn't mean you can bring your BRAND NEW Bath and Body Works lip gloss with you to the gate! Oh Yeah! they took my new lip gloss and my Berry Wonderful hand sanitizer! Had I not already been in a fit I would have let her have it with my very glossy lips, but lucky for her we were at the last gate possible so.............. we ran! Made it just in time to take a pic and have them rip my nephew from my panting arms and put him on that big plane! I had a great two weeks and now Luke, Matt and I will try to adjust to our very quiet house!

Retreat and a treat!

2007-08-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know why it looks so yellow but here is my team this year! Well, Gary is not in the picture but this is most of my team. We had our retreat which was only a day this year at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine. It was very nice and I really enjoyed getting to see my friends again. My team is SO different this year. Becca and Sam are gone and my friend Tracie is moving up from first grade. Stacy is coming back and has had a baby girl and Lisa is back and I'm so glad for that. It will be different but change is good right? I'm not good with change but we will see! So..... Becca stayed with Travis and Luke for the day and they went swimming at a friend's house. They were good for her and I was glad for that! She has updated her blog with her first ultrasound so check it out if you get a chance.

Luke talked his Aunt Becca into reading the Sponge Bob book that makes sounds, Mommy always says no, so that was a treat! FYI, Half Price Books pays some good money for those books that make noise:) Travis was addicted to his Webkinz site and only got up to get a fudge round to eat. Found out later that Aunt Becca okayed an Oatmeal Creme Pie for breakfast Wed. she claims it does have oatmeal and counts as a breakfast food!

Here he is feeding his addiction, I feel guilty letting him play so much but he sure is quiet:) He did get off to watch TV and go to sleep!

He opted to sleep in Sponge Bob when Becca spent the night. The boys were so tired they went right to sleep.

Today we had lunch with Becca and went to the mall, so those were our treats. The boys had a good time at the mall, they take after me. Trav got some scull and cross bones for his crocs and we bought Rileigh Grimes a Webkin for her birthday next week, I want to pass that wonderful gift on to as many parents as I can. We ended the night at El Arroyo, that was my pick and a trip to Bruster's ice cream. It is the best! Thursday is bring your own banana and get a banana spit half off! No... I did not bring my own banana but......... I did get a banana split! We are going to see Under Dog in the morning so say a prayer for me. Have a great Friday!

Welcome Travis!

2007-07-31T14:47:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a couple days, my mom let me know I was dropping the ball! Well on Sunday we made the switch, Travis for Cameron in Centerville, Tx! It was crazy how crowded the roads were and the little Subway/Texas Burger we met at. I've lived in north Texas for over 10 years now and I have never seen traffic like that on the road before! Anyway, we had a great lunch and visited for awhile and then unloaded trunks and headed to our respective houses.

We made it home just before the big storm hit and I was glad we weren't driving in it! Monday was just a stay at home day, I cleaned and the boys just played all day. Travis started book one of Harry Potter, he is a voracious reader and I think he will really enjoy it! Today the boys suffered through my two hour hair appointment and watched in absolute horror as I had my eye brows waxed! They didn't understand why anyone would pay to have that done. I could have gone into the Luke birth story and what pain really is, but I don't think they are quite ready for that:) So after that it was lunch time and we headed to Chicken Reds(another favorite of Luke's). Now, Travis tried to play cool like he was much to old at the ripe age of 9 to enjoy an outside play park. After ten minutes outside he ran up and said,"E, I have to admit I'm having fun!" and so I was glad that they were able to enjoy themselves.

The boys had a good time running around hiding from each other. At one point I was looking away and I heard this horrific scream and I look up and it was Travis and he was all red faced, apparently his little cousin scared the what for out of him. It was really funny! After that we headed to Luke's swim lesson at Emler and Travis had a good time watching Luke swim.

Luke has been taking lessons since January and Matt and I are really impressed with the school. Luke has come a long way!

That's Luke plopping out of the slide at the end of his lesson. Travis told him how well he did, and that's a big compliment coming from Trav. We headed out to Hallmark to get Travis a Webkinz. He has watched Luke play his on the computer and was torn between the fact that he may be too old for one(his thought) and the fact that everyone he knows that has one is a girl! He went ahead and got one and is in love with Rex his bulldog. He dressed it like a gangster on the computer but I just told him yes it is cool! He is having a great time on Uncle Matt's laptop. He also got some Crocs that Granpa bought for him. Now we all have Crocs and Travis made fun of how ugly they were and he would never get any, but I knew he would come around. Sure enough he told me he wanted a pair and so he picked out chocolate brown, I told him I wouldn't spend Granpa's money on lime green ones! Well I have to get off before Luke kills me, Travis is on the laptop and Luke has given up all the Webkinz world time he can handle so I could update.....................Bye!

Our last Hoorah!

2007-07-28T17:32:00.001-07:00

Well I'm a few days behind, but we have had an exciting couple of days! On Friday we woke up early and went "garage saling" the boys had a blast! They scored some bubble wrap(a family favorite), books, videos(like I need more of either of those) and some sodas to go! We ended up at a house of a retired teacher from Pantego, Luke recognized a Kinder teacher at the sale. So after some schmoozing we walked away with a lot of loot for $5!! A fun time was had by all. After that we were hungry, okay I was hungry and we headed off to Krispy Kreme for a little sugar buzz. The boys had fun watching the donuts go through the glaze, it is my dream to lay on that conveyor belt, mouth open and go under the sheet of glaze four or five times, I don't think my thighs would allow it though! Anyway it was a great morning!

Next we headed to McDonald's for lunch with Miss Dana, Camryn(girl) and Staysha. Then the boys got to go to Miss Dana's for an afternoon of fun!

Cameron was so excited to play on the car mat! They all became great buds and it is funny to watch the Cam's try to decipher which one is being called,corrected etc. Now Miss Dana is much braver than me, she actually tells the children she has PLAYDOH! I always use the old," Oh that playdoh was old and I had to throw it out!" So here is a look at Playdoh heaven!

We headed home for a late nap and hung out at home last night. This morning Matt had to work:( so the boys and I got up and headed to the theatre to see Transformers! It was a little more violent than I had anticipated but apparently I was the only one in our party scared! The boys LOVED it and had a great time eating popcorn at 10am. I had heartburn, I'm sure because I'm now 35 and rotting from the inside out! We had an afternoon of fun with Camryn(girl), her mom and sister tried to go see Harry Potter but the IMAX movie was messed up so they came back! The boys and I went to Putt Putt Golf to ride go carts this evening but they don't have go carts at the one by our house(of course they don't),so the boys played putt putt instead.

Here is Luke taking his mini golf so seriously. He really does want to take lessons, maybe next year.

Cameron has the amazing talent of NEVER picking up his club, he just kind of drags it along until the ball goes in. He had no interest in having his E help him with his technique either! I know everyone will be shocked but the boys TIED, so everyone was a winner.
We ended our visit with a trip to the game room where the boys racked up over 400 tickets, yeah for me! We picked out some stuff that I will throwing away tomorrow and left happy campers! It has been a great week and we have really enjoyed having Cam. Keeping up with this blog daily has been fun too! Stay tuned for week two of Camp Sebesta(Sally's label) where Travis will be our star! Here is a parting shot of the boys racing each other on motorcycles, hope that is not a omen of what is to come!

Splashin fun and Baseball fever

2007-07-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

We had a full day yesterday packed with fun! We went to the water park by our house in the afternoon and then we finally made it to the Ft. Worth Cats game last night. Cameron thought the water was too cold so the boys played in the sprinkler park for a good part of our visit.

They did finally get in the pool and play too. It's not as fun as Nonna's pool where they can jump in and splash whenever they want, but they suffered through!

After the water park we headed to ballpark to watch our Cats get beat by the Aviators. We had a good time anyway, can't go wrong with nachos and snow cones!

The boys had a ball singing and dancing to all the music at the game and it was a beautiful, cool night we couldn't have asked for better weather. We ended the night with a run around the bases, Luke's favorite thing and now apparently a big favorite with his cousin! Don't worry Sal he didn't get to winded, wild horses could not have held him back from going anyway! They got to high five all the players as they left the field and they told them what a good job they did. All in all it was a great day and we were happy to crawl in bed last night!

Surprise Visitor

2007-07-25T06:06:00.000-07:00

We had a surprise visit from NONNA yesterday! She was up in Dallas for business and stopped by for coffee and visit with her boys. Luke seemed a little more excited than Cam, but of course Cameron can see his Nonna anytime he wants. They had a great day yesterday we went to Luke's swim lesson, Cam was hoping they would let him slide at the end but it was not to be:( Then we went to McDonald's for a nutritious lunch and some playtime. We headed home for our special visitor and had some quiet time, my favorite time of the day. Matt was so good he took the boys grocery shopping last night so I could go see one of my good friends Samantha announced at the FWISD board meeting as the new Assistant Principal of Westcreek Elementary Yeah!!!! Congrats to her she so deserves it! So when I got home the boys were watching TV and fell asleep shortly after. We are headed out to the Cats game again tonight for try 2 so wish us luck and check back for the updates!

Luke is now insisting on goofy pics EVERY TIME I take a picture,I think it really brings out their true personalities don't you?

Homer, Homer, Homer!

2007-07-23T18:48:00.001-07:00

Well we are back in Arlington! Cameron came back with us for a week of vacation, so stay tuned for daily updates! We were all so excited because we were going to go to a Ft. Worth Cats game tonight, the boys were so excited took naps and everything. The weather at 5pm said we were good to go, no rain in the metroplex, well wouldn't you know.......... We left the house at 6:30 and the lightning was putting on the only show we would see tonight. We turned away from Ft. Worth and told the boys we were moving to Plan B, that brought on quite the discussion:) Cameron wanted to know what Plan B was and Luke told him that is was ice skating(don't know where he got that), that led into a heated debate as to who was the best skater(neither one ice skate). Matt explained that Plan B was going home and going straight to bed, the booing in the car was deafening! We finally decided to go to Buck-n-Loons for dinner,it is just a little family restaurant that has a game room and it's Luke's favorite restaurant because they serve Kraft Mac n Cheese. I love paying $5 for that:) Anyway I digress....... so we had a great dinner and then Matt took the boys to the game room. They played air hockey, cars etc. Matt was the top score on Galactica(he was very proud). So we were headed home and Matt took the boys for a quick bathroom break so I was waiting by the front door for them. There it was....... The Claw machine and it was calling my name and my dollar. Now I have to tell you that I tell Luke and any child who will listen what a money stealer The Claw is. I don't let Luke put his money in it. Just the other day I warned Cameron at the store and he lost his money against my warning. So I had to dig out my dollar and shove it in fast before anyone saw me. It was full of The Simpsons characters who I also despise but my little nephew is obsessed with Homer Simpson. I move the claw over Homer and drop it down and...... I can't believe it I hooked Homer!! I'm holding my breath as it lifts him up and carries him the door and then it happens he slips from the claw's grasp and is teetering on the edge of falling in ARGHHHHHHHHHH! Just then the boys come running up I'm protecting the machine from any little kids with quarters and I'm shouting at Matt, "I need fifty cents, give me fifty cents hurry ,hurry!!!" You see I'd given all my money to those damn kids for air hockey!!! He smiles and pulls out a dollar, YES, YES I shout, and shove it in as fast as I can! I maneuver the claw and we all hold our breath as it falls down(except Matt who is laughing hard all the way to the car) it grasps Homer's body and plops him into the hole. Victory is mine!!!!!!! Cam grabs him out and hugs him tight. "Thank you E I love him, I can't believe you did it." I'm flush with pride, so proud of myself and then I hear Luke,"Mom, hey Mom there's a Sponge Bob in the corner can you get it for me?" Oh well he needs to learn about disappointment sometime.

Cameron comes home!

2007-07-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

Cameron Comes Home!

Well Cameron finally came home today! For all of you who don't know, Luke's cousin Cam went into Texas Children's last Thursday July 12th for pneumonia. He was there six days and was a very brave boy. Luke and I came to Houston on Monday to help take care of him.

As you can see Luke was happy to share in the amenities Cameron was enjoying in his "suite". I think they drove the nurses nuts pressing the call button to ask for Popsicles, ice water etc. We spent Monday and Tuesday with him and I have to say Texas Children's is an awesome facility. My sister told me how wonderful the staff was and I was able to find out myself when I had to valet park today on the other side of the hospital. Everyone I asked help from (and there were quite a few) was so accommodating and pleasant.

Here are some of the wonderful staff that Cameron came to know and love. Chris was his head charge nurse and he was great with Cameron. They compared Crocs and he always made Cameron laugh. The lady and I can't remember her name, was his respiratory therapist and she was impressed with how Cameron could tell her all about healthy foods. Of course all Cameron eats are chicken nuggets and rice, but he does know about healthy foods:)

We went on a little "field trip" before he was released today down to the food court to have some Chickfila nuggets! The boys loved being pulled around, and Aunt Sally treated them to a little shopping spree in the hospital gift shop.

When we got back to the room Cam got his IV out and was such a brave boy! We loaded everything up and headed out! The boys stopped by the train center for one more look before we left and we all headed home!

I was talking to my friend Susan today and I told her that the one thing I have taken from all of this is how precious a healthy child is. Walking around that hospital and seeing how many chronically and serious ill children there are, made me realize how lucky I am. I complain about how much school uniforms cost or having to get up early for a Saturday t-ball game, but I am so grateful for my healthy child. I have seen some close friends lose their children to illness and accident and I am remind how precious life is. So hug your children, love your children and say a prayer for those who aren't as lucky as we are.

Our "Journey" to Holly Lake Ranch

2007-07-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well this is how our "journey" as Luke likes to call it began. We arrived at Holly Lake Ranch which is right outside of Tyler on Sunday around 4pm. As Matt and I sat outside on the deck enjoying a frosty cold beverage, this little guy hopped up the steps and stared hungrily at us. I asked Matt if he thought the squirrel had ever seen humans before:) We got the kids from inside(jumping on their bed) and had them bring that poor little guy some treats.

They were more than happy to help the starving animal, and even named him Chubby. That wasn't the end of our animal adventures though..... we drove through the resort and there were deer EVERYWHERE. Obviously they don't hunt in this part of the country. They were even on the golf course. We caught these guys in someones front yard.We had a great time swimming, fishing, and playing putt putt on the grounds. It was so peaceful and quiet, the kids really had fun in the big outdoors.

Now I can understand Maddie not wanting to touch a gross worm or unhook her fish, but my boy.............. I told Matt Luke must get that from him because I come from a long line of worm baiters and fishermen! No Foster every shied away from a nightcrawler or Perch.

On Tuesday we went to the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler. It is such a great zoo. Not too crowded, very shaded and the animal variety was wonderful.

We had fun feeding the birds, Luke is a pro thanks to Miss Dana. It was Gus the giraffe's first birthday so we got in on that celebration as well. He's a cute little guy isn't he? By the end Daddy was pretty camera happy and we decided to revolt.

We finished up at the zoo and headed to Discovery Place, a hands on science museum for kids. If you are ever in Tyler you have to take your kids, it was well worth the $5 dollar entrance fee. The kids spent a good three hours just playing in here.

Luke was telling Madison,"Hurry up Lady I'm ready to check out your groceries." I think their favorite part was the ambulance. As you an tell below Luke has a broken leg, he was sure to tell his Dad that Nonna would be upset so we better tell her it's a joke. Sissy checks out the very grouchy patient:)

We had a great vacation, oh I mean "journey" and everyone hated to come home. So from our newsroom to yours, Good Night and Sleep Tight....

Annual Fourth Parade

2007-07-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

We started our fourth of July at Arlington's annual parade. Matt says it is one of the biggest 4th parades in the U.S. You might not think so if you sat through it but we love it none the less. Nonni saved our places as usual, getting there about 5am. The kids loved the Elvis' on tiny motor bikes and the floats. I really like to watch the high school bands. By the time we got home we were hungry and tired so we ate lunch and napped. We had our own little fireworks show later that night right here in the neighborhood. I don't think it was legal but we were able to watch out the windows. By the end of the night the kids were exhausted as was I. We are really looking forward to our vacation to Tyler next week. I really enjoy reading your comments so keep them coming.

From Houston to Arlington

2007-07-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

Well Luke and I headed down to Houston last Wednesday to get away from the rain HAAA I think we brought more back with us. We also went to celebrate Cam's birthday as well as mine. A good time was had by all and we were so happy to visit with everyone. We spent some time at Nan's house and helped load up one of her critters:) she captured, we stayed at Don and Sally's and added to the mahem there and even went to Luby's and Kemah's boardwalk with Dad and Judy so they could spend some time with Luke and Maddie. We finished up with a great pool party at Mom's and headed home on Tuesday. Luke and Maddie were troopers through the rain on the way back home, and with a little patience and coffee(and big cookies for the monsters) from Collin Street Bakery we made it back safely.

Welcome to our page

2007-07-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me will laugh when they find out I have started a blog. I have grand notions of doing scrap booking, running etc. yet I never seem to get it all done:) I am really going to try and keep this updated though. Please let me know when you visit so I can keep in touch. Check up on us, we have lots of things planned this summer~

I also have to congratulate my best friend on her impending doom... oh I mean her precious gift from God. That is exactly what it is( the precious gift part) and I'm so thrilled that she will join the motherhood club very soon. Becca and Jason, we are so happy for you guys................ YEAH