Pictures!

Look how grown-up she looks! :) :( (Mixed emotions on that one!)


Haley at the pool in her little floatie!! She LOVED it!


Haley "sitting pretty" in her new dress from Nana!!


Jared helping build shelves in the girls' closet-what a man!! :)

Rain Rain Go Away

Come again some other day. Do you know how difficult it is to entertain 4 kids (used to be 5) and a baby when it rains all day?? LOL This is a problem I never thought I'd have living in South Texas. Usually we're in a drought-as in "don't wash your car, water your lawn or fill a kiddie pool unless it's your day"!! Now, it just won't quit. I do have to say though that our temperatures have been much more tolerable than our normal July ones! :) We've been mostly in the upper 80s, rather than mid to upper 90s!! So, be grateful for the small stuff, huh?

Well, my baby is now sitting up and putting herself on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. She's very intent on her "practice" too! The rocking is serious business-not just leisure activity! ;) She still has bouts of RBS (ok, honestly she exhibits definite symptoms most of the time) but is also soo sweet. Her hugs and kisses can feel quite rough, but she gives them freely :) Or is it that she's trying to tackle me and eat me?? I'm not sure...lol Another batch of babystuff ready for garage sale (when we have a break in the weather! and can have one) which is sad but happy-as we have very little space to put all of this paraphenalia.

Jared and Lindsay are doing good. I hope they're getting ready and excited about our new school year!! :) They don't seem as excited as me about the new curriculum books sitting in the living room...hmmm, go figure. They are getting so grown up in so many ways that it amazes me. It seems like yesterday that they were Haley's age...
:( What happens to the years??

Ok, that completes my rambling for today-stay tuned for more, if you can stand it! :)

PICTURES SOON!!!

This summer

This summer has drug on and on and yet it seems to be flying by too...We have one month left before our camping trip. (That is taking forever to get here) but Haley is getting sooo big, so it must be flying by, right? Haley-girl is now 5 1/2 mos old and is so fun (except the teething part). She is such a character and loves to watch her brother and sister-especially if they're being wild and crazy and on the verge of breaking something! She rolls everywhere, can sit up when she wants to and scooch-crawls (in other words it's crawling that involves rugburns on the forehead!) You almost can't hold her and do anything because she loves to grab everything! Plate of spaghetti?? Hope you have stain-remover! Sneak a bite of ice-cream out of the container? She's covered in ice-cream! Hmmm, how come all my things involve food?? Anyways, she's very grabby and curious. She wants to lick everything that she can reach with her little tongue! So cute-but so scary since we have so many little toys (legos, marbles, etc) all over our house these days!!
The kids are doing well. Our house has been in a state of upheaval this summer since I'm babysitting 3 kids (starting next week it's "just" 2 though) but they've handled it pretty well considering they're used to having mom all to themselves. Lindsay has lost her first top tooth (the bottom ones aren't so noticeable) so she's a little "snaggle-tooth" and Jared is getting so big and he has 2 loose teeth-but he could care less really! Isn't it funny how different kids are?? Linds can't stand the whole waiting game and Jared can't even remember which teeth to wiggle! :)
Our camping trip is planned for Aug 15th-19th but I made the mistake of googling "Water Moccasains"!!! :( They are apparently the only agressive water snake...so that's comforting. You'll know it's a water moccassain--as it's coming after you.!!! AAAAAHHHHH! I called the state park we're going to (Inks Lake-supposed to be gorgeous) and the girl that answered the phone said that in the 4 summers she's worked there although they do have them, there's never been an attack...yikes! What to do? I think I need to stay away from "google" as he is not my friend! Everytime I google anything I end up paranoid about something! I just keep telling myself that it willll be ok...really our odds are prob'ly pretty good...she said they don't usually hang around the swimming areas because of all the people-is that comforting? LOL Ok, I'm done babbling...here are some pictures I took of the kiddos on Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church :)
Lindsay was very proud of her new red dress...and Haley was wearing a "new" outfit. It's an adorable outfit that she's had since she was born (from Shelly) and hadn't gotten to wear yet!! The third picture is from sometime last week and true to form my son is picking at his nose (actually-he was scratching it but it sure looks like the typical picture where at least one kid is picking his nose, huh?)

Why?

I just wonder why children don't appreciate moms!? I wonder if God has some kind of plan in that...maybe we (as moms) are supposed to learn something from that. I know a lot of the things moms do are not "for" the children but for us (like mopping the floor-they could care less if their bare little feet stick in last week's kool-aid, right?) but they could at least see that we're doing it and CARE, right?

Yesterday Lindsay and I had a big to-do over homeschooling. They need to finish up a few little things (easy, fun workbooks I bought at Wal-Mart) to be ready for next year's curriculum...Well, she fought me every step of the way!? What in the world is the deal with that? I'd have loved those workbooks when I was a kid-I'd have finished the entire thing in a day or two! :p But I guess I'm a nerd. LOL Anyways, she fought me and fought me. I "threatened" to send her to public school **gasp** and she cried and cried ("You don't love me, you're screaming at me [I wasn't by the way] and you want to send me away to school"-Like I was sending her to a boarding school or something! LOL The drama in the life of a mama!) So, when Harold got home we talked about it with him and she finally came to realize (I think) that I'm doing this for her-not to her. I could easily and "cheaplier" send her to school. We told her of all the things I could be doing during the day when I'm choosing to try to give her the best I could (like relaxing, playing w/ Haley, going shopping, etc) and she seemed to get that... The funny thing is, she didn't want to watch tv or something, she wanted to read a library book. That's fine and good, but you have to know math too!! She already has a VERY HIGH reading level (I was reading over her shoulder one day and she was finishing pages before me!!) so I think her practice needs to be in other areas occasionally!!

Ok, I think I'm done with that rant! :) Here's a new picture of Haley-girl that I took yesterday!

Our **almost** all fun day!

Yesterday (July 8) we went to Fiesta Texas (a Six Flags theme park) with some friends-the people I babysit for. During this trip we found out that
A. Haley does not like long car rides
2. Jared does not like spinny, twisty roller coasters

We started our trip out at about 8:15 am (actually the time we'd planned on leaving! Woo hoo!)getting on the road with little trouble or fanfare. We stopped for breakfast at a fly-ridden McDonalds-which is why we ate very quickly (pretending it was a picnic-hey, those have flies, right??) and ran out of there-ewww...We'd wanted a real breakfast anyways, but there's not much between Corpus and San Antonio, so McDonalds it was. Then, Haley begins screaming as soon as we get back in the van. :( I finally nursed her while we were driving-a feat which my entire family thinks is hilarious as I have figured out how to hang my boob over the carseat-MOOOOOO! ;) During all this Jared and Lindsay were very happy watching their new Tom & Jerry DVD (except when they took a break every two minutes to ask why we were not there yet and were we aware that the day was half gone!?-ok, they get that from me as I don't like to "waste" time) We finally used the old stand-by "Don't make me turn this car around..." line that we were sure we'd never use when we were parents. So, because the ride was so enjoyble and gas is so cheap we took the long way **eyes rolling**. We finally get to the park and get parked (we've taken the opportunity of our long scenic drive to go ahead and eat our sandwiches so we don't have to get a $26 hamburger in the park) and go in. Now, at this point we have joined up with the other family and we now have 5 kids, a baby and 4 adults. (Our friends were so sweet to get us in free-with their season passes-and then insisted on paying for our drinks in the park! very nice of them!!!!) Cindy and I take the kids (all of them) to the kid area of the park and we let the men go to ride the big coasters (which I used to luuuuuuv but now have no burning desire to ride-ever. Another side effect of motherhood??) The kids were loving riding the smaller rides and on the rare occasion when Jared was too short to ride I told him since he had such a good attitude I'd give him a quarter for every ride he was not allowed to ride, I know silly, but he was so sweet about it... Then we meet back up with the men and decide that all of us except the other dad and Haley of course were going to ride the "Tony Hawk Big Spin"...this is touted as a family coaster (and each car even had 4 seats) so we took Jared and Linds and strapped ourselves in...for one lonnnnng ride (I'm sure in actuality it was only a minute to a minute and a half-but when you're watching your baby look very terrified and green it seems much longer) Poor Jared was absolutely terrified-and once it started there was NOTHING I could do. I don't even remember the ride really except that my baby boy needed me to get him off and I couldn't. :( :( :( I'm so surprised he did not throw-up or pass out. Poor baby thought they were going to make him ride it a second time because before they unload you they move your car all the way to the front of the line...He couldn't have taken it-I'm sure of this(and the pictures/video they take durning the entire ride confirmed I was not exaggerating how he looked during the ride) I guess I should say it was a full-fledged roller coaster with all the dips, hills, drops only the car also spins while you are going. The momentum of the ride makes it spin-uncontrollably. Phew...that was over and we headed for the water park (which by this time we needed) where we spent the rest of the day. Cindy and I took Haley and the men took the kids this time. :) All in all it was a very fun day. Haley was incredibly, unbelievably good during all this (except the driving part) and Linds had fun (although she didn't enjoy the Tony Hawk thing either-my impression of her experience is not as dramatic b/c I couldn't see her face) Harold definitely had fun...and we got home at 12:30 am-after eating at Taco Cabana on the way yome-yum!!!

Haley has acute RBS

Well, our baby, our sweet, sweet baby has been unofficially diagnosed with acute RBS. :( While some of you might not be familiar with the name of this disorder, it is prob'ly not uncommon...it is also known as ROTTEN BABY SYNDROME! ;)
In the past few days she has decided the only time she should smile or stop yelling is if she is riding around on mommy's hip facing out...the problem with this is that "mommy" has other jobs and a back that gets rather TIRED!! Actually she seems to be teething :( I think she might be cranky due to the teething and is distracted when she is carried where she can see what is going on.
Today we went to the mall and had Haley's ears pierced (and she only cried for a few minutes in case you're wondering),
Ogled the clothes at Gymboree and Dillards (well, Lindsay and I did, Jared and Harold went into the gun/knife store that is in our mall) that we can't have and then went to see the new movie Ratatouille (sp??). It was really good, and luckily Haley was good. So, the kids got to do something they really wanted to do and overall we had a nice family day!!
We also passed yet another "baby milestone" this week. Haley slept in her crib at night. Up until now I've been really holding onto the cradle in our room, but the time has come...she is sleeping through the night and there is no excuse anymore...
:(
We made it though the week with no head injuries or major catastrophies!! Woo hoo!! The babysitting I'm doing has gone to full time, but I'm looking at it as a blessing for the income-and I'm also very blessed that the mom that I babysit for is very grateful and makes me feel appreciated! She pays on time, picks them up on time and is sweet about the whole thing...I know that sometimes babysitters get taken totally advantage of, and that is not the case here!! All the stuff we did today? Would not have happened if it hadn't been for my job!
We're also looking at our new homeschool materials for next year-which I will have much more choice in what I buy now!!

I promise more pics later...

A Sad Time-In Memory of Eric 6/6/88 to 6/19/07

Well, the other day we had the unimaginable happen in our family. It was one of those things that only happens to "other" people...
Eric, my cousin, died while swimming in a lake. What a fun, harmless,all American thing to do on a hot summer day, right? But because of this fun, harmless, all American thing he is no longer with us and the family must learn how to go on with a piece of our heart missing...life will never be the same again for so many in our family. I guess you don't realize how much a part of your life someone is til they're not there. Sad but true that you don't know what you've got til it's gone... You know to take the time to appreciate the people who are older or more frail, but Eric was 19, healthy and young and larger than life (at 6'5" he was definitely larger than life!) He was a son, a brother, a nephew, a grandson, a best friend, a cousin...so much wrapped up in one person...How does everyone go on?? I guess the answer is with a hole in their heart that is Eric sized...
I guess if there's a lesson we can learn here it is that we have to live life to the fullest and that you should love God with all your heart. Always be ready to "meet your Maker" as the saying goes. I read on Eric's myspace this morning that he didn't regret the things he'd done, but what he hadn't done. How much more meaningful that is now.
I know that I am so far removed from the whole situation that to me it's almost not real, but to so many he was such a part of their every day life and will be missed every minute of every hour of every day. I pray for God's peace (the peace that passeth all understanding) to fill the hearts of those who can't imagine life without him. And may Eric rest in the arms of God...I'm ending now with a picture taken in September of 2005 right before his brother's wedding. Eric is the big tall guy next to Jared!! and in the second picture he is sitting down watching Lindsay play golf...