14 Years

Trevor and I celebrated another year together this weekend. He started out with a card and some chocolate. Friday when he got home, he fired up the grill and cooked steaks, asparagus, and beans. As an appetizer, he had sushi. Below is my California roll. The wasabi was HOT! I got some on the roof of my mouth and it made my nose burn and my eyes water. Definitely some good cooking. Saturday, after a long day of mowing, we went to Red Lobster, for the sea food lover in us. We started off with cheese bread, lobster and crab stuffed mushrooms (mm mm good) and salad. He had stuffed tilapia and I had the Grilled Maine Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp. Sorry, but after eating at this parents a few times in Lake Jackson, this was not jumbo shrimp. Though, it was good. Thanks to my wonderful friend, Kasey, we had a child free evening. She and Bri fed and bathed the kids. Even with the rain, it was a nice evening out, just the two of us. We don't get to go out much with out the kids.

Ally and Rance.

15 Months Old

Wow, how the past 15 months have gone by. It honestly makes me sad that it was so fast.(sniff, sniff) It seems like Rance's first year was the shortest of the three kids. Maybe it has something to do with my age, previous experience, who knows. I am sure I took 100 times more pics this time around plus some videos. I didn't do as much before. Sorry Bri and Colton. The advice I give most to new moms is take as many pictures as possible and more b/c it will never be enough.

Rance and Bri about a year ago.

Played hard

I couldn't pass up this shot of Rance asleep on the floor. He played for a long time the other morning. Looks rather uncomfortable.

Run Around

The 7th grade girls placed 3rd out of 6, at the MMS Meet. They all did great.

The weather was OK. The wind was brisk even though the temp was 64.
Briana is getting ready for the 400
In the 1600m relay, they placed 5th. By this time, the temp was at 54.

Brrrrr, it was cold!

Mr. Starter

and Mr. Starter eating pizza.

We took the boys for the annual Easter Bunny photo and the pic turned out great. Bri wasn't in it this year, for the first time ever. She almost didn't do it last year but changed her mind at the last minute. I think b/c last year was Rance's first Easter.

For Easter, we put together some candy filled eggs for the boys to find waiting for them when they got up. Colton saw his basket on the counter and then ran to look out the window in the yard to see if there were any eggs to be hunted. He then decided that Mom went out and picked them all up for him.


Rance got a few jelly beans but no chocolate, since it isn't recommended for babies, and an egg with money in it. He ate his first jelly bean which he chewed on for about 15 minutes.










Here he is chewing on the first bean. The picture doesn't show it to well, but he was drulling like crazy.



We had huge turn out for church. Chairs from the fellowship hall had to be carried up the stairs to the balcony to help seat everyone plus the ones down stairs. I don't think that has ever happend before. I believe the count was over 500. It was a great sermon.



I fixed one of my best meals for lunch, thanks to the newly opened Athens Cafe. We saw a few others from church eating there also. I went to pick Bri up from staying at my parents in Waco later. My Mom took her to get her nails done. French tips.

Spring Break @ Last

This year we decided to rent a beach house in Surfside, Tx. This is the second time to do so and Rance and Sadie's first. We loaded Big Red to the roof and headed out as soon as Sadie finished cheer tryouts. We got there about 9:30 Friday night. Everyone had a blast playing in the water except Rance and myself. The water rolled up to ankle deep and was so cold my legs hurt.

The Sea Princess

The people behind us partied Friday night till 1:30 AM and till 3:30 AM Saturday night, or should I say Sunday morning.

Trevor frying some fresh, gulf shrimp

Me eating my first raw oyster. It wasn't too bad, mainly just the thought of it.

Trevor surfing and the girls trying to boogie board with a tanker coming into port. Sadie says she saw something dark swimming by them and then got bumped on her leg by something hard and smooth. There's all kinds of fish out there you just can't see them. If you ask her, she says it was a shark, possibly a nurse shark.

Colton next to a pic of Trevor

The kids posing with Gordon the grouper at the Sea Center

Rance and Colton with the sharks

The boys in front of a painting of George H. Bush fishing

Hot Dog Man at the mall

Famous Lake Jackson landmark, note the street names

The trip ended with Rance getting whatever made Colton sick last week. High fever and no other symptoms. But, we all had a great time.

Sick kid and fire.

Colton didn't go to school tday or yesterday. He has a fever but no other symptoms (102 was the highest). His teacher said there have been alot of kids out this week with fever. They are making chili today but I hope he doesn't remember. He was looking forward to it. In other happenings, I was awakened at 2:30 Thursday morning to sirens and a horn. Since it peaked my interest I got up to investigate. With all of the older people that live in Star Harbor, there have been several occassions of an ambulance being called out. I worry about my neighbors. While standing on the sidewalk in our yard, I could see some orange light in the distance, looking b/t houses and through trees. I immediately prayed for eveyones safety. What do you do in a situation like this? I couldn't just go back to sleep, but I am not a firefighter either. I went back in to tell Trevor. I think he thought I was sleep walking again. Later I called Tim to see what happened. A house on Crescent caught fire, they think around the furnace, and went up into the attic. He said soon after they got the call and arrived, the house was engulfed. The people had to climb out of a window to escape. We drove by to see the damage. Wow, how terrible for the homeowners. Thankfully, they all got out. I don't know who they are, but it looks like they lost pretty much everything.

Here we go!

Colton received his first love letter today. I knew there were girls at school that think he is cute but it was only a matter of time. The girl, who will remain nameless, wrote, "Dear Colton, do you love me? Love you." And then she drew a picture, I guess, of herself. I asked him what he thought. He said that he did not love her. I told him that was fine, he didn't have to. The boy is only 7. But this is only the beginning.

Too Cold For A Track Meet

I believe the temp tonight was 53 and with the humidity so high, it was cold!!! Bri did a great job. Not sure what she ranked but she ran her little heart out as did all of the other kids. I think the meets should be held in warmer months. Too many injuries occur in cold weather. In her last race, the cold and being tired was taking it's toll. Her knee was starting to hurt and so that slowed her down. She did really good though and Trevor and I were glad we got to see her run. Hopefully the MMS meet will be warmer.

Here is Bri running the 800.
Rance watching Sissy run hard.

She loves her baby brother.

Colton keeping busy.

Where's the snow?

There were two very disappointed kids at our house this morning. Wow, it really came down! Too bad it didn't stick. I laid in bed for as long as I could, switching back and forth from the radio channel and the news channel "hoping" to hear no school or at least a delay. No such luck. I think I was more disappointed than the kids. There were very few snow days when I was in school so I guess even now it's still a treat to miss. Trevor got up at his usual 4 AM, checked the news and called his ride share, and they headed on into Dallas. He said they got there just fine, thankfully.

The picture doesn't show the snow coming down hardly at all. I clipped it from my video. So, here is a pic from last Easter on our way to Waco. I couldn't help but take a picture of this rare moment of Spring time Bluebonnets in the snow.

Newest Family Member

Spike, as Colton has been calling him, joined us Saturday evening. He is 6 weeks old, not potty trained, and weighs 2 pounds and half an ounce. Rance thinks Spike is a kitty. Since we have 4 of them, I guess he might get a little confused. We are working on the different animal names though. He's like having another baby, getting up in the middle of the night and stuff. Trevor said now that we have a dog, we will have to find some land around here and build. I commented with, "if we have land, we will just get more dogs!" He didn't respond.

Bust out the Lysol!

Trevor called this morning on his way back to work from the doctor's office. He has the flu! So, I called the kid's doctor and my doctor and asked if they would call in a prescription for Tamiflu just in case. Trevor got his flu shot back in October and Rance had to get 2 rounds for his. Well, the rest of us never made it to get ours. Some one was sick, or the doctor wasn't there that day, or no time. Something or someone kept us from getting them. I drove to Wal Mart to do my weekly shopping and to pick up everybody's prescription. Ouch! Bri, Colton, and mine was like $30 and Rance's was $16. Trevor paid the same for his at CVS. On top of that, the boy's have a liquid. I tested Colton's and it is nasty!!!! I told him he needed to take his medicine before he showered. As some of you know, Colton doesn't do medicine. I got a cup and put just a tiny bit in it and then sucked up about a teaspoon. I told him to open his mouth and suck on the dropper. He complained about being full and that his stomach hurt but he tried it. The dropper wasn't even in his mouth yet and he was gagging. I squeezed the dropper and he turned to the sink like he was going to spit up and then paused. He said, "wait, that tasted like apple juice." It was apple juice. I wanted him to see how much of it is in his head. Rance on the other hand likes taking medicine. At least he likes Tylenol and Motrin. Bri helped me with him. He got excited when he saw the dropper and took it quite well until the after taste hit. He got rather choked up but finished the whole dose. Now, if only I can do this for 9 more days.

That's gotta be hard to do.

Tag, I'm it!

Thanks Flo! I have now been tagged. I thought all day what were 7 random things about me. This is what I came up with:

1. I like to go on vacation, but don't like the time spent it takes to get there. Even driving to Waco for an hour and a half is too long. I try to schedule all of my trips to Athens in one day.
2. I don't like coming home to a messy house after being gone on vacation. It's too depressing.
3. I hate to iron and dust. I don't like ironing I guess b/c I am the only one who does it. And I don't like dusting b/c my nose doesn't like it. It doesn't matter if I wear a mask, or use spray, or a swiffer duster, I get stopped up! But as stated before, I am the only one who does it.
4. I am a tomboy. I had my own collection of Hot Wheels and Star Wars and GI Joe "action" figures, and still do.
5. Ever listen to 100.3 Jack FM? I do, a lot. Now I can listen to some cheesy songs from way back when and not feel embarrassed about it. Except when Bri is with me. I hear sometimes, "what a weird song."
6. Back in the nineties, while in college, I worked at TCBY (The Country's Best Yogurt) for a couple of years. I can still to this day make a perfect peak on my ice cream cone at the self serve restaurants! I also worked at Pep Boys (Manny, Moe, & Jack). My experience their helped me learn to change the oil in my '81 Mustang all by myself! Ever use a 12 inch spike through an oil filter to unscrew it? I wouldn't recommend it. Anyway, that's where Trevor and I met. He had a Mustang too.
7. While attending MCC, I received my degree in Fine Art. I had a lot of people ask me what could I do with that? My plan was to continue on at the Art Institute of Dallas and do computer animation/multimedia. Well, as stated in #6, I met Trevor. We got married in March of '94. Later in May, I received some info from Baylor about a scholarship in art. Trevor was finishing up school also and was asked to work in Dallas. After finding out I was pregnant, school was put on hold and we moved to Dallas. If it weren't for all of that, I most likely would not be living where I am today, having such great friends who I know will always be there, and a mom to 3 of the most wonderful kids in the world!

Sorry Andi, Jenna has already been tagged, and you are the only other person I know who blogs. You're next!

I want one!

Yorkie pups! Soo, soo cute!

OUCH! That looks like it hurts!

Before I logged on today, I was thinking of what to blog about. Rance gave me an idea. Unfortunately for him! He was playing in his room this morning, as he does every morning after Bri and Colton go to school. He was going around the room, from toy to toy, while I was about 10 feet away on the computer. Next thing I hear is a big thud and crying. Real crying, loud crying, heart piercing crying. I quickly turned and jumped over the baby gate to scoop him up. At first I couldn't get a good look at the damage for he was laying his little head on my shoulder. I held him close and loved on him then sat him up to check things out. WOW! What a knot! Right between the eyes. He fell on the corner of the toy box. I sat him in my lap and tried to put some ice on it to keep the swelling down but all he wanted to do was suck on the ice cube. He didn't cry long and was ready to get down and continue to play. The pic doesn't show anything near what the real bruise looks like. If he doesn't have a black eye, or eyes for that matter, I will be surprised.

Coupon Codes!

I came across this site http://www.retailmenot.com/ searching for good deals online. You can enter a search on their site for some big name companies like Banana Republic or Old Navy and find mostly coupon codes to use when making purchases online. Some have printable coupons. You can get savings for 10% to 50% off, free shipping, and free samples, just to name a few. I also get printable coupons from Coupons.com. What can I say, I like bargains. And with 3 kids, every little bit helps. If anyone else has a good site such as these, let me know!