Stomach Bug

I don't know if there is something going around, but between David and I, the last few days have been miserable!! David has had some sort of stomach bug the last few days, and I guess he passed it on to me. It's NOT fun here. David missed work Monday and Tuesday because of it. Last night, after Daisy Scouts, I came home and just had the worst pain ever. You can't sleep because of the pain, which is bad cause it just makes you so weak and tired. I tossed and turned on the couch most of the night, trying to get comfortable, and wasn't real happy when David woke me up this morning freaking out about his tongue. He stuck it out and it was black. So I stuck mine out and wouldn't you know, solid black. Disgusting. Then the panic sets in, is there some kind of poison in our house, do we have some rare spreading disease, do we need to go to the hospital? Kind of a mini-freak out. Then I googled it. Then I feel like and idiot. We had been taking Pepto chewables, and for whatever reason, it turns your tongue black. So, that mystery solved. Still don't know what the stomach bug is, but at least for now the pain is gone. I haven't left the couch all day, and the kids have been angels today, I SO owe them for this one!

Pink for October

Remind your friends and family that October 12-19 is National Feel Your Boobies Week
Pink for October

Manic Monday Meme

Which month of the year do you think best describes your personality?
Probably June or July, the summer months. I'm pretty laid back, easy going, just want to have fun, and what better time to do that than summer?!

If you could have had the starring role in an existing movie, which movie would you pick?
The Philadelphia Story. To be a young, regal Katherine Hepburn and get to make out with Cary Grant AND Jimmy Stewart? Wow.

Are you attracted to people whose personalities are very similar to your personality or very different?
Well, since my husband is so different from me, I would say different. We compliment each other perfectly!

Ohio Day Seven - Nine - Amish Country

On Friday we didn't do a whole lot, I had an upset stomach and didn't feel like doing much, which was fine with the kids, they had the neighbors over and rode four wheelers all day. Linda let the kids make their own breakfast each day, and Riley ate about 4 eggs every day, with toast and homemade apple butter!! Being out in the country really works up an appetite I guess!

Amish

On Saturday, while the kids rode four wheelers, yet again, Linda and I took a drive out to Amish Country. It wasn't far, about a 15 minute drive from their house. We weren't sure where to go, but all of a sudden we saw a horse and buggy cross the highway, so we turned off to follow it. Then we found a fool proof way to find them, follow the horsey poop! It worked, we soon found ourselves in the heart of Amish country, and it was amazing! I felt like I was in a movie set. They don't like having their picture taken so I tried to respect their privacy and not get too close. It was just too surreal to see them riding down the street in their horse and buggies. We even stopped at an Amish store and went in and shopped. I was surprised though, the inside of the store looked more like a Dollar Tree! They had all kinds of trinkets and kids toys things I would not expect to find there. I had my heart set on getting something genuinely "Amish" so Linda bought me a small handwoven basket and a hand printed magnet for my magnet collection, and a book of Amish remedies (which is VERY interesting!) and an Amish family cookbook. There were some girls running the store, probably around 8 and 13, and they had on the long dresses, the bonnets, bare feet, had the Dutch-type accent, they were adorable! We saw an Amish school house, complete with handmade swings and see saws, saw some very huge houses with the little buggies parked out front. It was so neat! I was like a goofy kid seeing it all.

Mt Vernon Playground

Then Linda wanted to wear the kids out so they would sleep good on the trip, so we went to Mt. Vernon which is the nearest town to them, about 15 miles away. They have an awesome playground there, the kids were completely sweaty when we left, they played so hard! I couldn't get over the beautiful country, I just always imagined Ohio to be flat and full of corn or something, but the trees were changing colors, from green to red to yellow and every color in between, rolling hills, green grass, beautiful old red barns, cows and horses everywhere, just a part of the country I had never seen before and never thought would be so beautiful (I just can't think of another word to describe it!)

So we left around 8:30 Saturday night, Linda was sad to say goodbye to her boy again! The kids were asleep before we left Columbus! Pete drove us to Memphis where we had breakfast and I drove us on home. Nearly 3,000 miles on my Expedition, the kids were awesome in the car, we made it home by 5:00 Sunday, David had grilled steaks waiting for us, he missed us bad!!

Ohio Day Six - Hocking Hills State Park

Hocking Hills State Park

Today we traveled about 90 miles Southeast of Columbus to Hocking Hills State Park for some hiking. It was absolutely breathtaking! We started out going to Old Man's Cave, which wasn't quite a cave, just a large opening where I guess an old man had lived at one point. We walked down about a million steps to see what would have been a waterfall if there was enough water. There were rock bridges and trails over tree roots and giant rocks, it was some beautiful scenery. I was surprised at the kids, they never ran out of energy at all. Riley wanted so bad to go off the trails, and if he went out of my sight for a minute, I would turn a corner and find him trying to scale smooth rocks. Linda and I walked a little slower than the guys, we wanted to stop and take pictures of everything!! We were going to hike to Cedar Falls, but passed some other people that said there were no "falls" right now, so we decided it wasn't worth another 1.5 miles, when the last mile took us so long!

Then we hiked to a place called the "Rock House" which was really neat. It was some giant rocks that were kind of triangle shaped, to form sort of an A frame house. It was just incredible. And all the trees, there were so many different colored leaves, and it was nice and cool, just a beautiful place. Took lots of pictures, but they just can't convey how amazing it is.

Drove back to town and ate some bar-b-que at Smokey Bones, then went home and passed out! After two days of non stop walking, my legs were sore. Even the kids slept good that night!

Ohio Day Five - Columbus Zoo!

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

Today was the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. It is one of the nicer zoos I have been too. It's also superman HUGE. We walked for miles it seems!! Even the kids were exhausted when we left. They had manatees, komodo dragons, gorillas, elephants, rhino's, just all kinds of things. It was the perfect day also, probably about 80 degrees. I DO NOT miss the texas heat right now!!

We came home and got Grandpa and headed to Mount Vernon, which is the nearest town to where they live. It's a small country town, but at least they have a Walmart and McDonalds! We ate dinner at Fiesta Mexicana, a little Mexican place, that really was some of the best Mexican food I've had (outside of Chuy's). It was yum! Riley was upset that he didn't get to ride the 4 wheelers today, but at least he's not nearly as lonesome for his daddy. That is one daddy's boy there. I need to go soak my feet cause tomorrow we're going hiking!! I hope I can keep up!!

Ohio Day Four - Four Wheelin'

Four Wheelers

We slept in again, it's SO nice being out in the country, the cool weather, the open windows, the breeze, the country sights and smells and sounds. It's so relaxing. The neighbor kids, Kayla who is 14 and Brodie who is 11, came over during a home school break on their 4 wheelers and took the kids for rides. They had a BLAST. The rode them most of the afternoon, then we had to run in to town to go to the mall, Polaris Mall, or something like that. It was super nice, they had a Children's Place (my favorite store) that had a bunch of long sleeve stuff, which was hard to come by in our neck of the woods, and CHEAP!! Regan found all kinds of dress up goodies she wanted, and managed to get Grandma to buy her a new Ariel nightgown, that is "superman beautiful".

We ate dinner at Red Robin and then came home to start a campfire in the backyard, and the neighbors came over for S'mores and more 4 wheeler rides. We all stayed up way too late, and had a great time.

Ohio Road Trip - Days One-Three

OhioPictures

The Adventure begins before we even leave home! David changed the oil in my truck, checked the battery, did all the typical husband/dad things before your family goes on a long road trip. And wouldn't you know, as I go to run some errands before the trip, my truck won't start!! We had to buy a new battery, but I was just glad that we found that out before the trip!!

So, as soon as the battery was put in, we hit the road. We left home around 8 PM on Saturday. We had a drive thru dinner in Waco, gas/bathroom stop in Dallas, gas stop in Little Rock Arkansas, and then we stopped for breakfast just this side of Nashville at Loretta Lynn's. That was a trip. I couldn't figure out why the ham I was eating from the breakfast buffet tasted so odd, until Pete tells me he overheard someone say that was the best fried bologna they ever had!! Yuck! I ate friend bologna. We got some pictures of the kids in front of a giant buffalo (don't know the relevance of giant buffalo in front of Loretta Lynn's, but oh well). Back on the road. We drove through to Bowling Green Kentucky (Regan renamed it Green Ball Kentucky) then on through Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, and just north of Columbus about 30 miles to Marengo, Ohio. We got in about 6 PM Sunday, their time, just in time for a dinner of green chili and burritos, YUM!!!

We raided Grandma's garden and the kids picked their own watermelon for dessert. We picked peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupe, all kinds of home grown goodies. The kids LOVED it!!

The next day we spent around the house, kind of resting up from the trip, Pete and Riley worked on Pete's 4 wheeler. Never did get it going though. Regan helped Grandma peel apples for Apple Butter and we just had a good time walking around the country, and enjoying being out in the middle of nowhere!!

Riley has been terribly dad-sick, calling him about every hour, and already wanting to go home. Could be a long week!! Regan on the other hand, wants me to leave her here when we go back.

Fall Break, Week 1

We've had a pretty uneventful Fall Break so far, knock on wood! There was a birthday party on Saturday, we slept in on Sunday and went to the late service, and wow, that was different. We usually go to the early service, so it just seemed like the day was gone before we even got to lunch! On Monday I took the kids to Gattiland for Mom's Eat Free day.

Tuesday was a lazy day. We stayed in our pj's most of the day, I did some laundry, and started watching Heroes, Season 1 on DVD so I can jump right in to season two. I got a new Roomba that I can't wait to try out, but my kids didn't believe me when I said it's a robot that will permanently destroy and dispose of any toys that are left laying around. They just said "COOL!" and tried to turn it on so they could watch the carnage.

Yesterday we went to Ready, Set, Play, an indoor jumpy-thing place. I brought my computer and Heroes, and watched while the kids played. The good thing about Fall Break, since public school is still in, most of these places are pretty empty. So I got to enjoy some uninterrupted TV watching while the kids got to enjoy some uninterrupted playing! (You know, "stop playing that game and come pick up these toys!") David's uncle is in from Brazil, so we went to dinner with the in-laws to Threadgill's, which we normally enjoy, but this time was not great. Bad service, bad food. Very odd.

Today was the Cans Food Festival, where local theaters take cans of food for the local food bank in exchange for a free movie pass and a free popcorn. So we went to see Underdog, which was great, one of those movies the kids and mom equally enjoyed! Hit some sales at The Children's Place, and home in time for Riley to go to practice and me and Regan to have a fashion show. She's just getting to that age where she is really into what she wants to wear.

Tomorrow I will spend doing laundry and packing for our road trip, we leave on Saturday. I need to freeze some food for David, or he will either starve while I'm gone, or spend tons of money eating out. I also need to leave him a map to our mailbox, or he won't ever check it while I'm gone. And maybe a map of the kitchen too, so he will know where to find a plate or cup. Is it weird that I worry more about leaving him home alone, than I did about sending my son to sleep away camp??

Manic Monday Meme

You’ve won $100,000 – but have to give it all away. To which charity or institution would you donate it?
Well, I would give most of it to our awesome church, Celebration Church. And I would give a big chunk to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, for breast cancer research.

What do you think is the most soothing sound?
The ocean, which is why we have several sound machines on at night, all tuned in to the ocean! It's so relaxing and makes me remember all our fun trips to the beach.

Does time heal all wounds?
No, I wouldn't say heal, I would say lessen the pain, but not completely heal. My mom died on Thanksgiving of 1999, almost 8 years ago, and not a day goes by that I don't miss her terribly. It's not as painful as the day she died, but it will never completely heal.

Speedy and Mr. Yum Yums

We have house-guests!! Riley has been doing really good in school lately, and his reward (if you can call it that) was to get to bring the hamsters home for fall break. David fails to see how this qualifies as a reward. Riley has wanted hamsters for a long time now, and I had a hamster when I was about his age, so I'm game (of course) and you KNOW Regan's on board, but Dad is the lone hold out. Of course, I can't say as I blame him, they are rodents, they do smell like pee, and I would be the one taking care of them after the first week or two. The things we would do for our kids though, right?

So, we have Speedy and Mr. Yum Yums for the next 3.5 weeks for fall break. One of those weeks we will be in Ohio, so I had to find another foster home for that week. But tonight was quite the adventure. First of all, I should state that we are also dog sitting for my in-laws who (and I'm so superman jealous) are in San Francisco right now. Their dog, Sasha is old and frail and persnickety. She has special medication that must be rolled in peanut butter and licked off one's finger. She needs mineral oil mixed with chicken broth to get the bowels moving, and a special kidney diet of soft food mixed with crunchy kibble to keep the kidney's from working overtime, if you know what I'm saying...

Now, add in two neurotic hamsters and a cat that thinks we just got him the tastiest snack in the world, all he has to do is figure out how to get said snack. It's a conundrum, an enigma wrapped in a mystery, that he is bound and determined to figure out before they go back to school. So tonight, after all their begging and pleading and whining and crying, I decide to let the kids put a hamster in one of those plastic exercise balls so he can run around and heck, tease the cat a little. I thought the cat would get a big kick out of getting his lunch "to go"! We grab a random hamster (turns out it was Speedy) and put him in the ball. Hilarity ensues. Cat is mesmerized, doesn't even try to swat him around too much, old dog is shaking like an F5 tornado is bearing down on us at any minute, our dog Bailey is kinda checking things out, what the heck is all the ruckus about, you know. So after about 10 minutes in the ball it's time for Speedy to go home.

Well, me being the grown up, and with faster reflexes, my vast experience with the rodent family, I open the ball, dump little Speedy into my hands, and then learn how he got the name Speedy. That little thing flew out of my hand, hit the dining room chair, and took off like a rocket! And my first instinct is to grab the cat and get him out of the way before Speedy is Meow Mix. But before I can do that, Bailey, good ole trusty Border Collie Bailey, steps in and grabs Speedy with his mouth. All you could see was two back feet sticking out of Bailey's lips, running in place like a Scooby Doo cartoon. Riley has an INSTANT meltdown, crying and fearing for Speedy's life. I just yell at the top of my lungs, BAILEY DROP HIM! And David is yelling at us, I TOLD YOU TO PUT THEM IN THE BATHROOM (as he's on his computer playing armchair quarterback to my little dilemma) and thankfully Bailey spit him right out. After a tense few minutes of racing around the dining room and nearly knocking myself out on the table legs a few times, Riley managed to scoop him up, I took him to examine him for teeth marks, and other than being a little more moist than he was originally, he was still in tact. And oddly enough, Ricky just sat there and enjoyed the show.

So, who said my life isn't a zoo??

14 Years Ago...

Well, I guess if I was starting from the beginning, I would start a lot farther back than 14 years ago. David and I met through our parents, while we were still in high school. My parents pastored a church, his parents ran the sound room. He told me once that he saw me walk up to the front row and sit with my mom and said to himself, "That's the girl I'm gonna marry!" (Isn't that SWEET!)

Anyway, we were friends then, he took me out on a real "date" and it was a very interesting evening. We lived WAY out in Hutto and since he knew I didn't like the car he drove at the time, he borrowed his parents Mercedes, which was diesel. But he didn't realize just how far out we lived, so we ended up running out of diesel shortly after he picked me up, just as we were coasting into a gas station. But, for the rest of the night, air would get into the line (I don't know enough about cars to even pretend to know what I'm talking about) all I know is that the car would just die. In the middle of nowhere. And I thought it was just David trying to get me alone in the country so he could put his moves on me...

We went to the Hyatt downtown for fajitas, drove go-carts at Malibu, played putt-putt, and he gave me a red rose. He was very thoughtful and a perfect gentleman. We stayed friends while I finished high school, he went off to Marine boot camp, I graduated and moved to Hong Kong, he got injured at boot camp and moved back home, I came home from Hong Kong and moved to Tampa, etc.

One weekend, when I was visiting from Tampa, we went out again as friends, and when I went back to Tampa, something was different. This time, it just seemed more than buddies hanging out watching movies. I didn't know what to think, and tried not to think about it too much until I moved back from Tampa. The weekend I moved back, we went out again, to the Arboretum to see Fire in the Sky a movie about alien abductions (how romantic!) and we walked around the Arboretum, by the cows, over the bridge, we sat and looked over the fountain and we talked about the movie. I should say, David talked, I sat there wondering if I should make my move...you know how scary it can be to cross that "friend" line. Well, I worked up my courage and just about shocked his socks off when I leaned over and kissed him.

That was the beginning of March, we were pretty inseparable for a while there, and on Mother's Day weekend, May 9th, as we sat overlooking the city lights of Austin, he proposed. It seemed like a whirlwind then, we set the date for September 18, 1993. I compare it to the movie When Harry Met Sally when they ask how long they dated and they said, "Only 6 months! Well, 6 years and 6 months."

I wanted a fun wedding, not anything stuffy. So our colors were black and white polka dots. The guys had polka dot vests and the girls had awesome black velvet and white satin dresses (it was early 90's cut me a break). The cake looked like wrapped presents stacked on top of each other, it was a mid-afternoon wedding and it was FUN! We went to the Driskell Hotel and then headed off to Galveston and Houston for our honeymoon (and the Space Center, again, how romantic!)

So here we are 14 years later. I can hardly believe it. Time flies. I can't believe how young we both were, and I feel blessed that we did find each other at such an early age and are able to spend the best years of our lives together. We had 5 years together before kids came along and we were able to travel together and get to know each other more. We now have two beautiful kids that round out our family and I could not have asked for a more perfect life!

Wascally Wabbit!

While David was mowing the backyard tonight, I heard the mower cut off and some banging on the door. I figured we were about to get a lecture about leaving some random toy in the yard or something, but when I opened the door, much to my surprise, David was holding a tiny baby bunny!! It was so cute. We've had so many rabbit problems with me trying to grow a garden, I had gotten to the point where I was sick and tired of rabbits, but this one was cute! So David took it to the side of our house, where there is an empty field, and they set it free. Riley was sad to see it go, but we explained that it needed to be with it's family. So, about 10 minutes later, when there was only about a 6 inch square patch of grass left to cut, out hops another baby bunny!! I grabbed my camera this time and got some pics of it, and of my little brother Pete's girlfriend's little girl, and the bunny. And Riley, setting it free again. I told the kids we would put out some veggies for them since my garden is no longer in existence (thanks to these rabbits).

Happy Birthday to Me!

David surprised me for my birthday, he took me to III Forks, a steakhouse I've heard a lot about and been wanting to go to for a while. He had arranged for his parents to watch the kids overnight, and we headed downtown. We never go downtown anymore, so it was just nice to go somewhere different. The food was awesome, they had the best mashed potatoes I've had in a LONG time! They had sugar snap peas that were wonderful, and these big tomatoes, yum! Everything was delicious.

We were both so tired, David had to go to work Thursday night at 8 PM and he worked all night and didn't get home until 1 in the afternoon. So, after dinner we went home to bed. We got up early this morning and went to Magnolia Cafe for breakfast, then hit some shops, REI, Whole Foods, In Step, Crate and Barrel, it was a great time looking around without worrying about the kids! The kids ended up having an awesome time too, they went to Austin's Park and Pizza, and Arby's (Riley's favorite) and made pancakes for breakfast.

Thanks to everyone for all the calls, emails and cards! It's been a nice, relaxing birthday

Jacksonville Texas

Jacksonville

Lake Jacksonville

We headed out for Jacksonville on Friday as soon as David got home from work, which was around 5, much later than we had wanted to leave. We got to Rockdale and the sky opened!! It was raining sideways, so we stopped and had some Mexican food and to kill some time. It turned out to be a great idea, it had pretty much stopped raining by the time we left and we made it the rest of the way in no time, getting in around 10. We visited some, then hit the sack to rest up for the next day at the lake.

Saturday we got up, went to Aunt Kathy's, had lunch while we waited for Chris to get off work, then headed for the lake. Chris had so much patience and taught Riley how to wake board. Riley did pretty good, he probably could have done it no problem with a smaller kid-size wake board, but he managed to get up and go several times. Regan and Kayla rode in the tube, Riley had a turn in the tube, David did the knee board, then Riley got up on that no problem and immediately wanted to start doing tricks on it! He looked so cute out there, the looks on his face when he would get up and when he would fall, were priceless!! The kids were exhausted after the busy day, Regan fell asleep in the boat on the way home.

On Sunday, we were getting ready to leave for home when we found out my brother Donnie was gonna come in after all! So we stayed around and got to visit with him and his girlfriend Gail and see my nephew, Little Donnie, whom I haven't seen since he was 4 days old!! He was so cute, and the cousins all had a great time playing together. It's a great place for kids, out in the country, all the animals, tractors, dirt, the wagon, they just had a blast, and did NOT want to leave!! We finally did leave around 5 and made it home around 8:30. Regan slept all the way home, I think this weekend just wiped her out!