The Garden We Never Knew We Had

To our surprise, our previous owners had a garden in the backyard. We recently found this out when Jason was picking weeds out of the flower bed that Tigger has almost destroyed. (<-----I will get to that in a minute.) Jason found strawberries growing in the garden on Tuesday night. We've have these other things that have sprout up that look like corn, but we figured they would begin blooming flowers once they got a little bigger. Now, I really think it is corn. Today, Jason was working to move a bush from the backyard flower bed/garden to the front flower bed (to replace some HORRIBLE ivy) and he start digging with a shovel and heard a cracking noise. He put down the shovel to see what he had hit and it was onions! While, I would love to really have a nice garden in our backyard to grow some vegetables like this, our dog most likely will not allow this.

Tigger, loves to dig in the flower bed to lay in the cool dirt. Not only that, his pee is deadly! Seriously, he can pee on something one time and it turns brown. So, we are slowly trying to relocate some of the plants from the flower bed/garden to the front.

Missing...

the boys! They've been with their mom since Saturday and won't be back to us until Sunday evening. I miss them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They haven't been gone from us for this long in probably 2 1/2 years. The peace and quiet around the house is nice, but it is only nice for like a day or two (which is usually how long they are gone). 3 more days and they will be back!!!!!!!

1 year ago today.....

1 year ago today, we experienced the best day of our lives, thus far. We said our vows and commited our lives to each other. Never in my 26 years before that day - June 23, 2007 - did I imagine I would have such a beautiful and perfect day. The past year has been filled with ups and down, highs and lows, but it only makes our marriage stronger. We have the joy of parenting two amazing (not so little) boys. They bring us laughter, tears, joy and stress, but most of all they make our family complete. (One day we will add another little one. :) Looking back at our pictures makes reliving the day so surreal. We always joke around about doing it all over again, just so we can relive the day that went by so fast. The entire day flew by and before we knew it we were on our way to Mexico the next morning for our honeymoon.

We celebrated our 1st anniversary with a low-key trip to Frisco (15 minutes up the road from our house). We headed to Frisco Saturday afternoon for some shopping, and then I surprised Jason with an overnight stay in Frisco at the Sheraton Stonebriar Hotel. After winding down from shopping, we headed out to the pool and had a few drinks. When the sun started setting we headed in, got cleaned up and went to dinner. We were both exhausted and decided to call it a night. Jason then got to play a round of golf Sunday morning at Stonebriar Country Club. He truely was surprised that I did this for him. We had a great time, and it was nice and relaxing. When we returned home, he gave me my 'paper' present - it was a message in a bottle. It was a nice little note he had written, tied with a blue and green (our wedding colors) ribbon. I also made out with a new purse and clothes from our shopping trip. His 'paper' present - was his information for his round of golf at Stonebriar County Club. All in all it was a fabulous weekend and we can't wait to celebrate so many more. He said he was in charge of planning next year's anniversary. :) (I will post pics from this past weekend later tonight)

Jason's Father's Day.....

Jason got bored on Sunday after the boys went over to their mom's and after his family left. He decided he wanted to add something to the front yard. I wish I could've taken a before picture before he went to work. Before, there was nothing, just the tree and grass. Here is his masterpiece! He added the stones and everything inside it.
We planted Vinca, Silver Shower White Lilyturf, and African Iris.

Mason Hughes

For 10+ years, I volunteered in many aspects with the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). Starting in 1996, I started volunteering 1 week out of my summer to attend the West Texas MDA Summer Camp in Happy, TX. I continued volunteering every summer up until I graduated from college. I missed 2002, but returned in 2003-2006. Unfortunately, my busy schedule with my family and work hasn't allowed me attend the past 2 years.

For those who do not know what Muscular Dystrophy (MD) is, MD is a group of genetic, hereditary muscle diseases that cause progressive muscle weakness. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue. Nine diseases including Duchenne, Becker, limb girdle, congenital, facioscapulohumeral, myotonic, oculopharyngeal, distal, and Emery-Dreifuss are always classified as muscular dystrophy but there are more than 100 diseases in total with similarities to muscular dystrophy. Most types of MD are multi-system disorders with manifestations in body systems including the heart, gastrointestinal and nervous systems, endocrine glands, skin, eyes and other organs. (Taken from wikipedia)

I could probably right a book about how volunteering for MDA has changed my life. Most of the kids who attend camp, keep coming back every year (as long as their health allows them to). The camp is funded through donations, various fundraising events, and through Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon. The week at camp is one week out of the year where they feel 'normal' per se. They aren't looked at differently b/c the walk with braces or are confined to a wheelchair. They get to do all kinds of activities from going to the lake and riding in a boat to swimming to riding horses to participating in skits. The list of activities goes on and on. Throughout my years of volunteering, I started out as an Attendant (paired up w/one child w/MD) worked my way up to Unit Leader (oversees a cabin of Attendants and Campers) and then Senior Counselor (oversees the entire camp).

During my 10 years of volunteering and even thereafter, I've remained friends with several of the campers and keep in touch with them. You develop friendships that the 'outside world' really doesn't understand. Even though we usually only see each other once a year for a week span, you develop a bond that you can't explain. Throughout the years, we usually lose a camper at least once a year. The MD progressively gets works as they get older and grow.

Most recently, we lost Mason Hughes on Sunday. It is bittersweet though. Mason attended his last year of camp last week. (Campers are allowed to attend camp through the age of 21.) Camp ended on Friday and he passed away on Sunday. I've known Mason since he was about 8 years old. He was always the one cracking jokes and making everyone laugh. He always had a crush on someone and wasn't afraid to show it. Mason truely is an inspiration to all of us. Keeping fighting! I'm sure Mason hasn't skipped a beat and is now entertaining up in Heaven. We love you Mason!

Mason and I - Summer Camp '03

Mason and I - Summer Camp '04

Mason and I - Summer Camp '06

Poor Colby!

Poor Colby is all I can say! He has allergies and asthma and has the worst luck with injuries!

Thursday, I took him back to the doctor for a cough that hasn't gone away. It developed right before school got out and it had gotten better. It then progressively started getting bad again, so I decided to go ahead and get him back into the doctor. Knowing what we really need was just a prescription for a new breathing machine. (Colby has environmental asthma and rarely has flare ups.) Our old breathing machine broke and we really haven't needed one in the past 18 months or so. So, after spending an hour and 1/2 at the doctors office, we leave with 2 inhalers and a steroid medicine. He felt fine all day Thursday, he just had a cough. Friday, he laid around all day b/c they were home by themselves and could not got outside to play. He looked like death warmed over when we got home on Friday, but he said he felt fine. Friday evening we head out to go to dinner w/Jason's family for Father's Day. Colby slept on the way there, slept while we were waiting to be seated and then laid his head on the table while we were waiting on our food. I know he didn't have much to eat on Friday (during the day) b/c I had to call to make sure he was eating. He said he ate, but I doubt it was very much. Well, he runs to the bathroom and pukes. I think it was probably more of dry heaving that puke, but regardless, the kid was sick. (Most likely, due to taking several medicines and not eating properly!) Jason left with Colby and Tristen and I stayed through dinner. At this point, we had decided Colby wasn't going to play in his baseball tournament on Saturday. Well, Saturday morning, Colby wakes up and says he is fine. He looks like a NEW kid. His cough his stuffiness in his nose has diminished. We allow him to go out there to play, but he has to take it easy. He did great and played like a champ. He even got hit in the head (helmet) while batting, which ultimately CRACKED his helmet!

Fast forward through spending 8 hours out at the baseball tournament. We are heading home from the tournament and Colby starts complaining about itching everywhere. I told him just to hang tight and he can shower when we get home. As he is showering, I went to check on him and the poor kid has a heat rash all around his waist, legs and underarms! The kid is in pain and has a very low tolerance for pain. I'm rubbing Cortaid on him as fast as I can, while I'm giving him a breathing treatment. Mind you, this is at 10:15pm and we have to get up at 5:30am to be at his game on Sunday at 7am! Finally, we get him situated in bed w/a cool rag around his waist to help alleviate some of the pain. Lights out! We are all finally in bed. I last looked at the clock at 11pm. 11:15 Colby is standing in our room saying he can't fall asleep. I got up gave him some benadryl and he was out, finally.

Sunday morning, 5:40am I get up, shower, and then go to wake Colby up. His rash is better, and he says he can play. I get the car and ice chest loaded up. (Jason has softball on Sunday mornings, so I was headed to Colby's game w/just Colby and me.) I check Colby's rash out and it seemed to pretty much had gone away. Colby heads out to the car and manages to smash his middle finger on his catching hand (he's our starting catcher) in the door coming out of the laundry room into the garage. He is bleeding, his fingernails is purple instantly! He is screaming in pain. By this time it is already 6:30am and we should've been leaving 15 minutes ago! We make the determination that there is NO WAY he can play. He can clinch his fists to even just go out there and bat. I make the dreadful call to the coach and tell him Colby won't be there. (I HATE making those phone calls!!!!!!!!!!!)

So....Colby sits on the couch with an ice pack on his hand, crying and crying and crying. He was crying b/c he REALLY wanted to play baseball today. Finally, I said STOP. He cried for probably a good 30 minutes. Colby is SOOOOOOOOO passionate about baseball and would play everyday if we let him, rather if we had the time to let him play everyday. I finally got him to chill out and talked him into going back to bed at about 7:45am. After he woke back up, his rash has taken over almost his whole stomach and all up his thighs. He spent the morning laying in a cool bath. I then spent the rest of the day lathering him w/calamine lotion and give him doses of benadryl. (Luckily, benadryl does not make him sleepy.)

Colby's painful weekend started with his asthma/allergies, got hit on the head while batting, got a heat rash, and now has a bummed finger. Poor, poor, kid!

Tagged!

The rules are as follows:

1. Post the rules!
2. Answer the questions about yourself
3. At the end of the post, list 5-6 people you would like to tag and leave a comment on their blog letting them know
4. Let the person who tagged you know that you posted your answers.

So here goes....

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Enjoying my last summer in Wink, working at Winkler County Credit Union, getting ready to leave Wink to head to Texas Tech and go through sorority rush (now called recruitment).

2. What are 5 things on your to-do list today?
Go to the grocery store, clean up the kitchen from breakfast, finish some laundry, pack for Colby's baseball tournament, head to Celina for Colby's baseball tournament.

3. What are some snacks you enjoy?
Chips & Salsa, Stretch Island Fruit Co. Fruit Leather, 100 Calorie Packs of Oreos, Chips Ahoy and Ritz Mix.

4. What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Be debt free, buy a lake house, help family out, donate money to organizations near and dear to my heart (Muscular Dystrophy Association and Ronald McDonald House), sit back and enjoy life.

5. What are three of your bad habits?
I've recently developed some horrible OCD traits, twirling my hair, procrastinating at work.

6. 5 places you have lived?
Shreveport, Midlothian, Wink, Lubbock and Lewisville

7. What are 5 jobs you have had?
Teller, Front Desk Associate, Property Support Manager, Loan Officer, and Member Relations Manager

8. What is currently playing on your Ipod?
I don't have an iPod, but Jason does. I use it so, I guess it is partially mine. Freddy (guy from Kidd Kraddick), Pat Green, CCR, a bunch of old hip hop.

9. What are the last 5-6 books you have read?
I'm horrible, I don't read.

10. Who do you want to tag?
anyone who reads my blog and hasn't already done this - Sam & Annette, and whoever else.

First time.....

Today is the first day the boys have stayed home by themselves all day! We usually have a nanny that watches them from 10am-4pm. The boys have stayed home by themselves for up to about 2 hours. Our nanny had to go out of town today and so we thought we would test the waters to see how they did. Mind you, the boys are 10 1/2 (almost) and 11 1/2. We are hoping to allow them to walk home from school next school year, so we can FINALLY stop paying child care!

Both boys have cell phones and can reach Jason or I anytime throughout the day. My sister-in-law Haylee is off of work today, so I had her go by and check on them. She stopped by to check on them and they were doing fine. 1/2 through the day so far and they are doing great. They haven't called me with any problems, and I've probably called them 5 times just to check on them.

Baseball....

A little late....but here are the boys baseball pictures. I wasn't really pleased with the quality this year, but oh well! Tristen's look really dull and Colby's is tad bit too 'up close'. I wish they would've gotten a full body shot of him actually crouching like a catcher. Either way....they are my adorable kids.

Colby & Tristen

Colby has a baseball tournament this weekend in Celina. Luckily, his games on Saturday are afternoon games, which means we don't have to wake up crazy early to get there. Celina is about an hour away from our house. Hopefully, the team will do well and not get Seed 8 or 9 after pool play b/c Seed 8 and 9 play at 8am on Sunday, which means his coach would want the team there at 7am - YIKES - (which means we would have to leave our house at 6am)!! Ah...the life of a baseball mom! :) I do enjoy watching him play and excel in a sport that he loves!

My Boys....

Some know, some don't. The boys live with us because that is what they chose to do. They go to their mom's at most two days/week. Right now (during the summer), they go over to her house Sunday aftenroon/evening - Tuesday evening. The boys are the ones who decided on this schedule. We asked them what they wanted to do and this is what they chose.

As refreshing and peaceful as it may be when the boys go over to their mom's, it is always nice when they come back. Today, the boys came walking in the door and Colby comes up to me and gives me a big hug and kisses me on the cheek. Tristen, follows him through the door, and tells me to save him some hugs. Well, Tristen quickly forgot to come give me a hug and ran to go find dad. A few minutes later the boys and I were in the kitchen and Tristen says, 'I think I forgot to give you a hug!' and he came and squeezed me tightly. It was sweet. They aren't little boys anymore....so their sweetness is often a rare commodity.

Usually, when they return home from their mom's they are quick to jump on their skateboards or scramble to find their cell phones to see who text messaged them or called them while they were gone. This evening, they wanted to hear what activities we planned for them with our nanny for this week. Tomorrow, they are going to the waterpark and Thursday they are going to the $1 movie.

Although they biologically aren't mine, they are mine and love it when they show their sweet sides!

Lessons in Dog Sitting

We are dog sitting Jason's sister's dog, while they are in California. We have a black lab mix, Tigger. The dogs were doing great for the first two days that Kimchi, a 12 week old white Maltese, were here. Tigger and Kimchi seemed to be getting along great. Although Kimchi is quite annoying with his jumping and yapping, Tigger seemed to tolerate him. I really think Tigger enjoyed having a friend to play with in his new backyard. He seemed so happy!

Well, Friday, I get a frantic phone call from Colby, telling me that Kimchi is bleeding from his eye and that Tigger bit him. I figured Colby was exaggerating, as most 10 year olds do. So much for me assuming Colby was exaggerating. My nanny got on the phone and told me, 'Uh, no, he is bleeding bad and probably needs to go to the vet.' We use a'mobile vet' for Tigger, so I didn't really know where to take Kimchi. I frantically call around to a couple different Vet Hospitals that are close by. I finally found one that could get him in w/in 15 minutes of me calling. Let me just say that my nanny is awesome. She told me not to worry about things and that she would handle getting Kimchi to the vet. Mind you, it would've taken me 30 minutes to get from work in Richardson to home in Lewisville. I called the vet and handled everything over the phone so all she would have to do is take him and get him fixed up. My nanny handled everything so well, and the vet even complimented her on how sweet and caring she was. Well, $288 later, Kimchi has a cone around his head, antibiotics, pain pills and ointment for his eye. They only found one puncture wound right about his left eye. I'm not sure how he only got ONE puncture wound.

What actually happened? Well, I'm not 100% sure. Colby told me that he was putting out food for both dogs (in 2 separate bowls) and apparently Tigger thought both bowls were for him and told Kimchi to get the heck away! I'm not really sure what got into Tigger b/c they had been fed from 2 separate bowls at the same time the previous 2 days and Tigger did nothing. I really don't think Tigger was trying to harm Kimchi, and I think he is sad now that he no longer has a friend to play with. Much to our dismay, Kimchi has had to stay inside b/c of his open wound. Tigger isn't allowed inside, but we had no other choice.

Kimchi has made me realize I'm not ready for another kid yet b/c:

• He follows me non-stop.
• He yaps/cries when he wants something, or doesn't want to be in his crate.
• I'm saying NO every other word out of my mouth.
• I didn't get to sleep in today b/c after I took him outside and then put him back in his crate, he continued to yap and cry.
  
• I tried putting him in the bed with me so I could sleep and he just wanted to play.
  

Kimchi is fine now. He still has a cone around his head, but still just as annoying and cute.
He is such a cute and sweet puppy, I'm just not ready for another puppy!!! Don't get me wrong, I love the little white fur ball to pieces, but he isn't housebroken and so I really can't just let him roam the house. I either have to carry the 4 1/2 pound fur ball or I have to keep an eye on him constantly, which is hard to do since he scrambles away so fast.

Not sure how much more dog sitting we will do. I think we learned our lesson!!!

Kimchi Before:

(This is the picture I was sent on my cell phone.....I quickly realized he need to see a vet.)
Kimchi after:

Kimchi now:
will post picture sometime later...

Colby's Team Party

Colby's regular season baseball team had their end of season party at Sun Valley Water Park on Saturday. He received his trophy and game ball. His coach commended his excellent performance playing catcher and being at the top of his team in stealing bases, runs scored and his batting average.

Colby, Conner, Dylan, Matt & Tristen (at the bottom)

Colby & Coach Joe

Summer is finally here!!!!!!!!!!!!

Colby brought home his awards from 4th grade today. He received the A/B Honor Roll, Best Sense of Humor Award, QuickThinker Award, Excellent Attendance and a few others. He will be changing schools next year due to our move, so his last day of school was bittersweet. He has several friends that I'm sure he will keep in touch with and continue to hang out.

Although the school year is quite tough and at often times stressful, both boys did great this year and made the A/B Honor Roll. We are so proud of them. They celebrated the beginning of summer by going to the waterpark yesterday with their cousins.

Our summer weekends are already jam packed through the first part of July. This weekend Colby has his end of season baseball team party at the water park. Before he heads off to his team party, one of his good friends (who moved to a different school district) is having a birthday party and they are taking a ride in a Hummer limo. (I didn't tell Colby about that part, so he is going to be EXTREMELY excited.) Colby continues to play baseball although the season has ended. He is playing a tournament team and will be playing in 5 tournaments this summer. We've played in one already, and we have another one next weekend. We signed Tristen up for a day camp through LISD. It is an introduction to Middle School. It isn't until August, but it should be beneficial since it is right before school starts. I hope that he finds it fun and useful. He will also be starting band in the fall and will be playing the Trumpet. Should make for some interesting times around our house!

We hope to make a trip to San Antonio to take the boys to Sea World, but looks like that trip will have to be in the first part of August some time to accomdate our busy schedules and Colby's baseball tournaments.

We offically have a middle schooler!!

Tristen graduated from 5th grade today! Yikes! We now have a middle schooler on our hands. Tristen received several awards - A/B Honor Roll, Excellent Attendance, Safety Patrol, and a few other awards.

5 Things

I stole this from someone else's blog. I'm bored waiting on Jason to finish watering the yard so we can go to bed. Well, actually the Rangers game needs to end, too.

5 THINGS I WAS DOING 10 YEARS AGO:

1. I was working at WCCU.
2. I just graduated from WHS!
3. I was preparing to head off to Texas Tech!
4. I still didn't have my OWN car!
5. I was dying to get out of Wink.

5 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST:

1. Paint boys bathroom
2. Find me a summer hobby
3. Organize office desk
4. Go shopping
5. Plant some flowers

5 BAD HABITS:

1. Twirling my hair
2. Overreacting
3. OCD
4. Talking too fast
5. Bad posture

5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED:

1. Shreveport, LA
2. Midlothian, TX
3. Wink, TX
4. Lubbock, TX
5. Lewisville, TX

5 THINGS I'M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW:

1. Myself typing
2. Rangers game on tv
3. Wind blowing the trees
4. Washer in the spin cycle
5. Dishwasher running

5 JOBS I'VE HAD:

1. Lifeguard @ Wink pool
2. Teller @ WCCU
3. At Your Service Catering
4. Front Desk/Operations Manager w/Tharaldson Lodging
5. Member Relations Manager/Private Client Service Advocate @ TCU