So, in our family we used to joke (or I did) about the old saying "Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"...that should be changed.
Haley is a BEAR when she is sick. Even a minor illness and she is impossible to deal with. She screams constantly and has to be held the whole time. At the end of the day my (and the kids') nerves are just frazzles. I'm sure the kids sometimes wonder what they were thinking when they decided to pray for a baby. I just hope they see that the blessings outweigh the hardships. I know I sometimes have a hard time seeing that when our smallest member of the family throws her tantrums.
Tonight I had some enjoyable time with my big kids. We left Haley with daddy and went for a run/bike ride. Just the 3 of us. They needed to get out as much as I did so I broke the rule of "running is sacred 'me time'". I think (hope) they really appreciated it! I really need to spend more one on one with those two kids. They're really great kids (and Haley is too--don't get me wrong, she's just all consuming in our life right now) and they're growing up too fast. I need to cherish this time while they still want to be with me. I know it's coming all too soon when they won't want me. **sniff sniff** But for now THEY DO!!!
So, the saying in our home has been changed: Haley ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
How I Spent My Weekend
Ok, so after the cake(s) I did this weekend I am not sure if I'm cut out for cake decorating as a new job. Everyone said the cake was beautiful and I love the accolades but I didn't necessarily feel that they were deserved. I'll let you be the judge!
This was (obviously) the main cake. I also did an extra sheet cake with just some edging and sprinkles in case they needed it-they didn't end up needing it.
Here is the "smash cake" that the baby dug into-his mom added a fire truck and some little candles that matched her stuff--made it much cuter but I didn't take my camera to the party. :)
This was (obviously) the main cake. I also did an extra sheet cake with just some edging and sprinkles in case they needed it-they didn't end up needing it.
Here is the "smash cake" that the baby dug into-his mom added a fire truck and some little candles that matched her stuff--made it much cuter but I didn't take my camera to the party. :)
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Deep thoughts by Cara Robertson
So, today when I had a few minutes alone (which is apparently dangerous for the likes of me) I was thinking about my upcoming trip to Syracuse, NY to meet my friend that I've "known" for 7 years as an email pal. We've been very close at times and not as close at others (hey, we have 7 kids between us we can't always keep up with our email!) but have always wanted to meet. We had done some preliminary planning a few times but it just never worked out (money, time, etc) and then she moved to Singapore! :( I figured (honestly) it'd never happen at that point. Every time she mentioned their stay getting longer--extending their time overseas--I would think, "Well, it's just that much longer til we can meet"...
So, this summer as she was planning her trip "home" (to the US) for a month and a half like they do every year she asked if we could meet. She even offered to pay for half of my ticket if I could come there. We started scheming, errr, I mean planning. It seemed to be falling into place. I was searching for affordable flights and such and found some. Then, overnight they skyrocketed (doubled). I had to email her and tell her I just couldn't do it--even at half price. :( :( :( she emailed me back and said to not give up...long story short they generously offered to buy my ticket using their sky miles (points system). I am so grateful and so excited to be able to do this finally. The only negative has been that I can't take Jared and Lindsay. It's just too expensive. I know I will be so sad to leave them for 4 1/2 days. I know I will cry and so will they...but that's not the deep thoughts. I got a little carried away there.
My thoughts are this: when you've looked forward to and wanted something for a very long time (and 7 years qualifies) as the time draws near it seems to speed up. Then I was thinking, before I know it the trip will be here and then it'll be over...then what? I'll have nothing to look forward to on this. How sad is that? In case today didn't have enough trouble, I had to borrow some from tomorrow. I just think that it's going to be over too quickly and we won't talk about everything that we want to...there just won't be enough hours in the day!
See where time alone gets me? It's obviously not healthy for me. I need chaos and distraction. :)
So, this summer as she was planning her trip "home" (to the US) for a month and a half like they do every year she asked if we could meet. She even offered to pay for half of my ticket if I could come there. We started scheming, errr, I mean planning. It seemed to be falling into place. I was searching for affordable flights and such and found some. Then, overnight they skyrocketed (doubled). I had to email her and tell her I just couldn't do it--even at half price. :( :( :( she emailed me back and said to not give up...long story short they generously offered to buy my ticket using their sky miles (points system). I am so grateful and so excited to be able to do this finally. The only negative has been that I can't take Jared and Lindsay. It's just too expensive. I know I will be so sad to leave them for 4 1/2 days. I know I will cry and so will they...but that's not the deep thoughts. I got a little carried away there.
My thoughts are this: when you've looked forward to and wanted something for a very long time (and 7 years qualifies) as the time draws near it seems to speed up. Then I was thinking, before I know it the trip will be here and then it'll be over...then what? I'll have nothing to look forward to on this. How sad is that? In case today didn't have enough trouble, I had to borrow some from tomorrow. I just think that it's going to be over too quickly and we won't talk about everything that we want to...there just won't be enough hours in the day!
See where time alone gets me? It's obviously not healthy for me. I need chaos and distraction. :)
Thursday, June 19, 2008
One Year Today
One year ago today our family lost someone. The story was in the local news but that someone was not a 19 year old man. He was a son, a brother, a nephew, a cousin a friend, a grandson....He was Eric Levi Montgomery. He was 19 but that doesn't sum anything about his life up. It's so incomplete. He was funny, helpful, hard-working, accepting and those are just a few of the adjectives that describe that "19 year old man". Eric was larger than life. He had a serious need for speed-like most 19 year old boys. He was so excited when he found an old truck that he could fix up and play with--I'm only sorry he didn't get a chance to finish that.
It all changed one day with the simplest thing that so many have done before. It was a hot June day-much like today prob'ly and he and a friend decided a swim would be a good idea...if only. If only so many things. If only they had gone to the pool instead of the lake, if only he hadn't gotten tired, if only he'd been scheduled to work that day...Only God knows why this was in the plans. We'll just have to wait and trust. And rest in the peace that Eric is in a better place today than he was 1 year ago today when he was here on this earth.
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; love leaves a memory no one an steal. (Anon) In loving memory
Eric Levi Montgomery June 6, 1988-June 19, 2007
It all changed one day with the simplest thing that so many have done before. It was a hot June day-much like today prob'ly and he and a friend decided a swim would be a good idea...if only. If only so many things. If only they had gone to the pool instead of the lake, if only he hadn't gotten tired, if only he'd been scheduled to work that day...Only God knows why this was in the plans. We'll just have to wait and trust. And rest in the peace that Eric is in a better place today than he was 1 year ago today when he was here on this earth.
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; love leaves a memory no one an steal. (Anon) In loving memory
Eric Levi Montgomery June 6, 1988-June 19, 2007
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Hobby or "job"?
I'm so excited because I have the opportunity to do another cake! I am not yet earning anything from these cakes but I'm getting the chance to practice until I feel confident enough to charge for them! At this point I'm only asking that the person buy the stuff to do it. I did my kids' cakes in April
And then in May I made a cake for TJ--my friend's little one-for his 1st birthday
she said she really liked it--and other people did too. I'm excited about this little venture. Whether it'll turn into a "business" or not is yet to be seen, and truthfully it doesn't really matter to me. I enjoy making it and I enjoy when people compliment my cakes! :) so, for now we'll call it a hobby and let it go at that. As long as I don't spend too much on it...I'm good with that classification. Even if I only make cakes for my own family in the long run it's a savings, right?
And then in May I made a cake for TJ--my friend's little one-for his 1st birthday
she said she really liked it--and other people did too. I'm excited about this little venture. Whether it'll turn into a "business" or not is yet to be seen, and truthfully it doesn't really matter to me. I enjoy making it and I enjoy when people compliment my cakes! :) so, for now we'll call it a hobby and let it go at that. As long as I don't spend too much on it...I'm good with that classification. Even if I only make cakes for my own family in the long run it's a savings, right?
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Automated Systems
I think I know why more and more people suffer from anger issues, hypertension, obesity and anxiety. I think it stems from the computerized systems that now "answer" the phone when you call a place of business. The anger is obvious, the hypertension is obvious...the obesity? Because you then must eat everything in sight to ease your anxiety and anger.
Tonight I call United Airlines to make sure I am exempt from their new policy of paying for every piece of baggage (since my ticket was purchased before that policy took effect) and the automated voice tells me that my call may be recorded for training purposes (what? they have to train computers?) yada yada yada...Then it asks me a series of a few "yes" or "no" questions which I answer carefully but then one of my children comes in yelling for me and there goes the computer. It cannot understand the response. Duh! Neither can I! So, we start over. **eyes rolling** then it wants to know my miles number. What is that? So, I say I don't know...the response? "Ok, you don't know. That's okay we can look up your reservation another way" They then ask for my reservation number and tell me to say it slowly using common names to distinguish between letters (such as "m" and "n"). So, I very carefully read my number (note: this is not my real reservation number) ZV9T8R4. I say "Z as in zooloo, V as in Violet, the number 9, T as in Tequila, the number 8, R as in Romeo and the number 4." The machine says H7TI4MN...huh??? Yeah, that's what I said... No. So, when it asks me if that's correct I say (very nicely) "NO". It says "Ok, my mistake"--really? You don't say. Now, it asks me to repeat it...I say it again and the same thing (only it comes up with an entirely different conglomeration of numbers this time)...One more try...now I Need the TEQUILA for letter T. It's a very good thing that you cannot see these people face to face by the time you get a live person because you would very likely strangle them.
By the way, in very broken English...the person I finally reached did tell me that I'm exempt from that new policy since my ticket was purchased before May 20th--phew! I can take my suitcase (1--no more than 50 lbs and 61 linear inches) and my carseat is a freebee too. Anyone else wish that it was like the old days when some gum smacking receptionist answered the phone in a nasal voice and you could ask for the department or information you needed?
Tonight I call United Airlines to make sure I am exempt from their new policy of paying for every piece of baggage (since my ticket was purchased before that policy took effect) and the automated voice tells me that my call may be recorded for training purposes (what? they have to train computers?) yada yada yada...Then it asks me a series of a few "yes" or "no" questions which I answer carefully but then one of my children comes in yelling for me and there goes the computer. It cannot understand the response. Duh! Neither can I! So, we start over. **eyes rolling** then it wants to know my miles number. What is that? So, I say I don't know...the response? "Ok, you don't know. That's okay we can look up your reservation another way" They then ask for my reservation number and tell me to say it slowly using common names to distinguish between letters (such as "m" and "n"). So, I very carefully read my number (note: this is not my real reservation number) ZV9T8R4. I say "Z as in zooloo, V as in Violet, the number 9, T as in Tequila, the number 8, R as in Romeo and the number 4." The machine says H7TI4MN...huh??? Yeah, that's what I said... No. So, when it asks me if that's correct I say (very nicely) "NO". It says "Ok, my mistake"--really? You don't say. Now, it asks me to repeat it...I say it again and the same thing (only it comes up with an entirely different conglomeration of numbers this time)...One more try...now I Need the TEQUILA for letter T. It's a very good thing that you cannot see these people face to face by the time you get a live person because you would very likely strangle them.
By the way, in very broken English...the person I finally reached did tell me that I'm exempt from that new policy since my ticket was purchased before May 20th--phew! I can take my suitcase (1--no more than 50 lbs and 61 linear inches) and my carseat is a freebee too. Anyone else wish that it was like the old days when some gum smacking receptionist answered the phone in a nasal voice and you could ask for the department or information you needed?
Friday, June 6, 2008
Busy days, busy nights!
Well, from my lack of blogging it's probably apparent that we've been especially busy lately. We've had some fun and had some rough times (with kids--nothing major). I will focus mainly on the fun! :)
A few weekends ago (May 17th I believe) we were able to go camping at Lake Texana (our favorite place to go when the weather isn't hot enough to need to swim as there are alligators in that lake. Apparently, some people swim in it anyways, but I've seen alligators lunge at chicken meat...and let me tell you, my legs are pretty much the same color! So, while we were at this State Park we saw lots of interesting things. We saw armadillo (yep, live ones), raccoons (they will eat everything in your campsite if you let them!), deer (that will come up and eat out of your hand if you feed them--but you're not supposed to), alligators and birds, frogs and turtles! This is why this is one of our favorite places to camp. It was quite the adventure too because we drove like 2 or 2 1/2 hours to get there and by the time we get to our campsite it's getting dark. The kids and I went to get some firewood from the park host. When we got back where Harold was supposed to be setting up our camper he tells me that he FORGOT the keys to the camper! Unh, unh! But yep! He wasn't joking. At this point I'm trying to keep him from getting too frustrated and I told someone who came to see how we were doing (another camper). Long story short they were very nice and tried to help and finally someone loaned us a crank to get the pop-up action started. We never did get that little door open! Luckily I came up with the idea of climbing in and out over that little door! It worked! Ya know? We taught the kids how to make the best of a situation (hopefully). Ok, so we had to set up at a campsite that wasn't our favorite one the first night for a long fang-dangled reason that I won't bore you with and move to our favorite one the next morning. We decided to move the camper while it was OPENED UP!! We must've been quite the sight, but it worked! :) The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful-except for Haley's teething all weekend (but that's a whole other blog). The kids had a great time-especially Lindsay who made a friend that was the sweetest little girl you could meet. She played at our campsite the whole day on Saturday.
Ok, I will stop with the rambling for now and show some pics!
Jared and Haley playing in the dirt-the best place in the world!
Lindsay playing with her friend-hand clapping games and rhymes, the universal language of little girls!
Haley's mood for most of the weekend.
An armadillo the guys (Harold and Jared) saw on their hike.
A rabbit-also seen on the hike the guys took.
A flower in some marshy plants that just stood out so prettily!
This was the coolest thing we saw. We figure the baby was only a couple hours old at the most! The mama was still licking him clean and they were both very wobbly!
I went to great lengths to get this picture. Hanging off of a dock on my stomach under the railings...
I guess that's all for that camping trip. We had a great time-despite the rough start with no keys! :)
A few weekends ago (May 17th I believe) we were able to go camping at Lake Texana (our favorite place to go when the weather isn't hot enough to need to swim as there are alligators in that lake. Apparently, some people swim in it anyways, but I've seen alligators lunge at chicken meat...and let me tell you, my legs are pretty much the same color! So, while we were at this State Park we saw lots of interesting things. We saw armadillo (yep, live ones), raccoons (they will eat everything in your campsite if you let them!), deer (that will come up and eat out of your hand if you feed them--but you're not supposed to), alligators and birds, frogs and turtles! This is why this is one of our favorite places to camp. It was quite the adventure too because we drove like 2 or 2 1/2 hours to get there and by the time we get to our campsite it's getting dark. The kids and I went to get some firewood from the park host. When we got back where Harold was supposed to be setting up our camper he tells me that he FORGOT the keys to the camper! Unh, unh! But yep! He wasn't joking. At this point I'm trying to keep him from getting too frustrated and I told someone who came to see how we were doing (another camper). Long story short they were very nice and tried to help and finally someone loaned us a crank to get the pop-up action started. We never did get that little door open! Luckily I came up with the idea of climbing in and out over that little door! It worked! Ya know? We taught the kids how to make the best of a situation (hopefully). Ok, so we had to set up at a campsite that wasn't our favorite one the first night for a long fang-dangled reason that I won't bore you with and move to our favorite one the next morning. We decided to move the camper while it was OPENED UP!! We must've been quite the sight, but it worked! :) The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful-except for Haley's teething all weekend (but that's a whole other blog). The kids had a great time-especially Lindsay who made a friend that was the sweetest little girl you could meet. She played at our campsite the whole day on Saturday.
Ok, I will stop with the rambling for now and show some pics!
Jared and Haley playing in the dirt-the best place in the world!
Lindsay playing with her friend-hand clapping games and rhymes, the universal language of little girls!
Haley's mood for most of the weekend.
An armadillo the guys (Harold and Jared) saw on their hike.
A rabbit-also seen on the hike the guys took.
A flower in some marshy plants that just stood out so prettily!
This was the coolest thing we saw. We figure the baby was only a couple hours old at the most! The mama was still licking him clean and they were both very wobbly!
I went to great lengths to get this picture. Hanging off of a dock on my stomach under the railings...
I guess that's all for that camping trip. We had a great time-despite the rough start with no keys! :)
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