Happy Thanksgiving!

Sea World (again)!

Sea World November

We're trying to make the most of our season passes, so we drug some friends with us this time. The weather was excellent! It rained most of the way down so we were nervous, but it was blue skies and great weather the whole day. It was not too hot, not too cold, there was hardly anyone there, no lines to ride anything, it was perfect! We fed the dolphins, the sea lions and the Lorikeets, who were MUCH more aggressive than the Lorikeets at the San Antonio Zoo. We walked in the aviary and were instantly covered in birds. When Regan ran out of nectar, they bit her arm, and one kept thinking my thumb was a nice juicy worm. The sea lions are awesome. Reminds me of when we went to San Francisco (B.K. - before kids) and saw all the sea lions (or seals) off Fisherman's Wharf. They are loud, smelly and adorable!! We saw the sea lion show, again, and of course Riley rode the Steel Eel a few thousand times, and argued with us most of the day that he really IS tall enough to ride the Great White (another inch or so to go in actuality). David and Craig did the brew tour and relaxed and had an assortment of beers and cheeses and fruits while Laura and I had kid duty (how did we let that happen?) The dad's and kids rode the water rides, with some panchos so they didn't get too wet (Regan called them "nachos") and we watched the Pirate 4-D movie which is always fun.

And of course, we stayed till the bitter end then hit our favorite place to eat in SA, Chacho's! Made it home just in time for bed time since the kids have 2 more days of school until Thanksgiving break. I can't wait for some time off to catch up on some sleep!

Family Volunteer Day

Volunteer Day

Today was Family Volunteer Day in Round Rock. We signed up with our Home Group to work on the Headstart Program's playground. It was a lot of fun, they had Beauty and the Beast there, Aladdin, Tinkerbell, Cinderella, and the Incredible Family. David and Riley helped build a sandbox, Regan and I cleaned some playground equipment, we painted tricycles, planted a garden, and just made the playground look a lot better. The kids had a good time, and I'm sure we'll sign up to help again next time!

Family Visit

My Nanny and my cousin Raelynn came in to visit Kenzie this weekend, with Raelynn's adorable new baby Karlee Elise. She is almost 2 months old and so cute. Almost makes me want to have another one...NOT!! But it's fun to hold them, cuddle them, then give them back when they make a poopie. So we went to visit Kenzie, she was so happy to see her Nanny!! And today we had lunch at Chuy's before they headed off to Aunt Kathy's for the night.

Riley's Video Game Sleepover Party

Riley's Sleepover

On Friday Night, our house was invaded!! We hooked up the Wii to a projector on the deck in the backyard and had it project on the side of the house where the kids could play games, although the adults probably played more than the kids. We had PlayStation 2 Guitar Hero going in the living room, rocking out all night. We had about 12 kids running in and out, playing video games and jumping on the trampoline, having a great time. Around 1 am, we turned the games off, and put on the Transformer's movie, and they were all fast asleep pretty quick. We ate pizza and cake, had muffins the next morning, the kids were worn out on Saturday!! It was a great time, Riley got some great presents, and I'm glad it's over for another year!

Snaggle Tooth

My baby girlie lost her first tooth! And the sad thing is, I wasn't here to see it. Daddy was doing mommy duty that day, and made Regan her favorite dinner, a bean and cheese burrito, and she told him after a few bites, "Dad, I feel a hole in my mouth" and he didn't know what she was talking about until finally he looked over and noticed her tooth was gone. We just found out it was loose on Saturday when she tried to bite off her Fall Fest wristband! So, apparently she swallowed it, since it was no where to be found. I told her maybe the Tooth Fairy would leave her money in her tummy right next to her tooth. She didn't think that was a good idea. And sure enough, the good old reliable Tooth Fairy left her a shiny golden dollar coin under her pillow, and Regan carried that thing around in her hand the entire day! Such a big girl now.

9 Years Ago...

I can't believe my baby boy is 9!! I just thought I would share "Riley's Story" today.

David and I had been married for a few years when we decided to have kids. Well, to be completely honest, I wanted to wait just long enough after we were married that people weren't counting back on their fingers and thinking we HAD to get married!! David wanted to wait until he was 35, so we compromised, and waited 5 years. After having a miscarriage early on, I was desperate to be pregnant and have kids. I was on fertility treatments and we tried just about everything for over a year. I remember my doctor telling me this would be the last month he would let me take the fertility pills, the next step would be much more complicated, involving, and expensive. So, for us, this was our last hope for a while.

Imagine my surprise when several weeks later, after having several negative pregnancy tests, the doctor decides to do some blood work, and I get a phone call on April 15th that the blood test showed I was, in fact, pregnant! I couldn't believe it. And by that point, I was about 10 weeks pregnant! So my first trimester was already almost over, and I hadn't had any morning sickness or any other symptoms.

I had a pretty easy pregnancy. I did have gestational diabetes towards the end and had to check my insulin levels 4 times a day (with the finger prick) and do 4 insulin shots a day in my legs, that was such a pain. I was due November 24th, which was Thanksgiving that year. I woke up at 6 am on the morning of November 5th to go to the bathroom and tell David goodbye as he left for work, and as I got out of bed, my water broke. My first thought was that I was so huge, I had lost all control of my bodily functions!! I called the doctor and of course, my doctor was off that day, so the on call doc says to come on in, it's time!

I hadn't packed my bag yet since I still had 3 weeks to go, and I wasn't having any contractions, so I called everyone and told them to meet us at the hospital, started some laundry, packed my bag, took a shower, totally frustrated David by not just jumping in the car to go! The contractions started in the car, around 8:30, and they were about 4-5 minutes apart, but not too strong. I got checked in to the room, and I was already at 4cm. Things were going along great until the evil doctor I had that day showed up. She just wasn't very nice, but I won't go into all of it. She kept insisting that I would end up with an epidural (I didn't). Things got really rough around noon, the contractions picked up, but when it came time to push, after about 4 or 5, there was Riley! He weighed in at a tiny 6 lbs, 13 oz. He was a little bird baby!!

Riley had jaundice pretty bad initially, we took him home and had to have a light suitcase, and a light paddle strapped to him, but after a few days of that he was fine. He was NOT a good sleeper though, and would wake up about every hour and a half. He was 9 months old before he ever slept through the night. He was a handful as a baby.

We named him Nathan, which means Gift from God, and we wanted that name first, to remind us always that we went through SO much to have him, and he truly was our Gift from God. And Riley, which means Courageous, and even to this day, we see his courage on almost a daily basis!

I am amazed at his willingness to try anything, whether it be food (like recently, the alligator he ate in LA) or a new sport, like motocross (when he was barely 5!) or any of the other sports he's played: soccer, baseball, basketball, football, karate, just to name a few. He has such a sweet spirit, and he's very sensitive to other people's needs. I will never forget one time when we were camping with our friends and Baby Abby was fussing about something, and Tammy had done as much as she could for her, but she was still crying, Riley couldn't take it. He had tears in his eyes when he asked me, "Mom, do they just not care?" He's an amazing young man, and I can't wait to see all the great things he's going to do in his life.

Happy Birthday Baby Bird!

Birthday Cupcakes

I took some chocolate cupcakes up to Riley's school to pass out to his classmates, and he enjoyed getting to be "student of the week" and be the center of attention, for a good reason this time! We're having a party at the house over the weekend for his school friends, so this was just a small part of the bigger birthday celebration week! David doesn't think people should have a birthday week, but a birthday is just too short!

Wii Would Like to Play

Riley got a Wii for his birthday, and boy, is it FUN!!! We had a Wii tournament Sunday night when Pam, Dave, Matt, Tiffany, Kenzie and the rest of us took turns playing the Wii!! We let Riley open his present early so he could enjoy it over the weekend, and had the family over for a small family party.

Skate Park

Riley has been bugging me FOREVER to take him to the skate park in Round Rock. I was waiting for cooler weather and a time when there wouldn't be a thousand skater punks there trying to run him over!! Well, today turned out to be a great day to go. He wore his roller blades, and the kids that were there were really nice and they gave him some pointers and he was actually doing a lot better when we left. I heard one kid tell his friend, "I told him what to do ONE time and he did it, why can't YOU do that?" He had a good time, and even though he had lots of falls, there were no injuries, and he can't wait to go back and bring David when he gets back into town.