Wal-Mart

Went to Wal-Mart at 9:15 this evening to get formula since we were critically low. As I was loading my car with $290 worth of groceries and supplies for the new shop, at 10:45, I realized I forgot the damn formula. Back into Wal-Mart I go...of course the formula is located all the way at the back of the store. It's 11:20, I'm beat! Sleep Tight!

Yup, Still Tired

Ohhh, my precious Baby Addy, you are one of the Loves of my life...but do you think you could let Mommy get some sleep!?!?!? So last night she wakes up at 12:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, went back to bed by about 5:30 and then my alarm goes off at 6:00...time to start a new day. I did allow myself to sleep until 6:30, hence the ponytail today. I don't know what her deal is, but when she gets wound up crying it is quite hard to calm her. Yup, still tired.

My Mom had yet another surgery today. This one was to "lift" her bladder. The kidney she received is extra large so it caused her bladder to be pushed down too far. Me, RC, and Ally went to visit her this evening. She is in pain and is gripping her morphine button really tight. Assuming her bladder "passes a test" tomorrow when her catheter comes out, then she should get to go home some time tomorrow. She had it at the new Andrews Women's Hospital at Baylor All Saints...VERY nice hospital! Please say a prayer that she passes her bladder test.

Ash said something funny today...Onkel Johann, Tante Dagmar, and Margarete stopped by this afternoon so J&D could say goodbye. They have been here a whole month and are leaving tomorrow. Well, Ash was just staring at them while they were talking to Margarete, apparently unaware that they have been speaking German since day one around her. She said, "Mommy, let me whisper in your ear...why do Opa and Omi say 'du-da'?" Then it occurs to me she doesn't realize they are speaking another language. Now, I've heard a lot of German talk, but I've never heard them say "du-da", but I guess that was her way of asking me what they are saying. It was too funny. I really need to carry around pen and paper because she probably said like 5 funny things today and now I can't remember.

Today was Ashleigh's last day of Speech Therapy until school starts back in the Fall. She loves Mrs. Adams and we pray she will be back at High Country next year. Mrs. Adams 1st name is Tierra...pretty unusual. But she is young, tall, thin, blonde, blue eyed...seriously could be a model, and she is such a sweet woman.

Tomorrow is an important part of our business moving from our home office to the new shop. The phone lines and phone system are being moved. It should be interesting to see if we can make it as seamless as possible. We have a total of 5 business lines, but I'd be willing to bet the phone company screws it up in some way to where we won't be able to answer calls for at least part of the day. Grrrr...Brian is on call this week and is on an emergency call right now...someones condensate lines aren't draining properly...I hope they're not getting flooded. Go Brian, Go Brian...!!!!

So tired, Sleep Tight!

Happy Anniversary My Dearest Brian

Okay, well our Anniversary was actually yesterday, but it wasn't a good day to post. Addy had me beyond frustrated. She woke up at 6:00 am screaming crying. She's been sleeping so good lately and waking up in such a good mood, I just knew something was wrong. She was cool as a cucumber so I immediately ruled out fever. She cried for a good 3 hours before she finally took a short nap. She woke up again screaming. She was eating some of her bottle, but not like usual, and she wouldn't eat her cereal. Tylenol didn't seem to help at all. I decided at 12:30 that I should take her to CareNow (this is an urgent care center for those of you who are unfamiliar) being that it was Memorial Day. I registered online and they said it would be at least 4 hours...4 hours??? I have to listen to her cry for 4 hours??? As it turns out, her 3rd dose of Tylenol seemed to have some affect, this was at about 2:15 and she finally went to sleep for about 2 hours. She didn't wake up crying so that was a plus. Let me back up...Addy has had a VERY runny nose with an occasional cough since last Thursday, so I figured her ears are infected or something. So at 4:00 we head up to CareNow since they close at 5:00 and we still haven't been called to come up. We finally got to see the doctor at 5:15. What do you think was wrong with her? NOTHING!!! Are you kidding me? Maybe you should check again. Nothing! I couldn't believe it. The only conclusion we could come to is maybe her tummy was upset from all of the drainage. Who knows?!?! Anyway, so we missed my Dad's little Memorial Day shin-dig for nothing. Ashleigh got to go, thanks to the Harris' coming to get her and taking her with them. Thank you Harris', Ash had a lot of fun!

The day did get better when I got home from the doctor and Brian brought me flowers. I don't get flowers very often, but when I do, I just get so happy. Thank you, Brian, thank you for 7 wonderful years of marriage and 12 wonderful years together. We plan on spending this Saturday night celebrating our anniversary. We have a free hotel room, so we plan on using that while Margarete spends the night at our house so she can babysit the girls.

Me and the girls went to PeyPey's End of Year Program at her Mother's Day Out school this evening. They sang some cute songs and did a great job. What amazed me was how much taller Peyton was than the other kids...like almost a whole head taller! I knew she was tall, but my goodness, she looked a good 2 years older than the other kids. Here are some photos from the program.

The rest of the holiday weekend was spent at Brian's Mom's house, spending time with his German family. They are leaving this Thursday already.

My goodness, seems like I had so much to say, but I'm drawing a blank. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days, but I've been so tired by the end of the day, and really, today is no different. So until next time...sleep tight!

Happy Birthday Mom

I want to wish my Wonderful Mother a VERY Happy Birthday today. She wanted to go to Danny D's BBQ (of all places) for her birthday because "they have incredible green beans". Interesting reason for picking a restaurant...even more interesting that she didn't even order green beans. Go Figure!! Then we went to Sonic for dessert...another interesting choice for dessert. As long as Mom was happy!!

Ashleigh got her ear's pierced today!! Aunt Ally and Uncle Steve took her to have it done. If you've been reading Ally's blog then you know PeyPey has been wanting to get hers done, so they decided today was the day. Well, Peyton refused, and Ashleigh, of all people, was the brave one! I was so proud of her for being so brave and they look soooo cute on her! Go to Ally's blog to see the pictures. She took some while it was getting done. I'll get some for you too, soon.

The official invite went out for the Lazy Race, if you didn't get an invite, and want to come, then let me know...I only sent it to those whose email address I have. We're all quite excited!

I hope you all have a GREAT and safe Memorial Day weekend! I know I need the 3 days off!! But it will be busy for us, plus Brian has to work tomorrow.

Sleep Tight!

Just Photos

I'm too tired to post, so here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure! This first one is Brian's sister Tracy, his sister Jessica, and his Dad.

This one is Addy's face after her first meal of carrots with a few bites of prunes mixed in.





Sleep Tight!!

This, That, and the Other

So we lost Game 2 of the baseball tournament yesterday to put an end to our season. It wasn't pretty, but at least we scored a few runs. It was a pretty long season and I think most of us were ready for it to end. We'll see about Ash playing again in the Fall, but not the summer, it is just too hot for those kids.


Brian left at 4:30 this morning to catch his flight to Kansas City so he could attend his sister's, Jessica, high school graduation. It's a whirlwind trip, as he will be leaving at 4:00 tomorrow morning for the airport, so hopefully he'll be home by 7:30 am. Yup, that man will be tired for a few days! It'll be worth it, his sister really wanted him there, he wanted to be there, and I'm glad she didn't have to be disappointed...all in 24 hours!


Mark, our Service Manager, called me at 4:30 this afternoon to inform he was just in an accident...and it was his fault. He was on Denton Highway and said everyone started slamming on their brakes, and he couldn't stop in time. He rear ended a fairly new Cadillac (figures) which then triggered the Cadillac to rear end a pick up truck. The Cadillac had 4 men in it, and the truck had 3 men in it. Everyone was okay (for the time being...really, what are the odds that out of 8 men one of them doesn't "develop" neck pain??). His Service Van didn't sustain much damage, but he said you wouldn't know it by looking at the other vehicles...apparently it was pretty bad and warranted the police to show up. Should be interesting to see how this turns out. I feel bad for Mark because he was pretty shaken up...he has never had an accident before while on the job. But as much as these guys are on the road traveling from house to house, odds are they will have an accident at some point, and that's why we have insurance. It sucks, but we just have to deal with it. I feel lucky that the van was spared...it could have been worse and we would be down a service van...no van=no service calls=no money=bad news!! I'll keep you posted on how this turns out!


Work has been busy, as usual.


I just got through pumping...a lousy 1.75 ounces. It's so depressing!! I have tried to stop pumping and just let myself dry up for good. But I just can't, I don't know what it is...is it because I know I will NEVER make milk again since we aren't having anymore kids? I'm having a hard time letting go, though, I'm not nursing anymore, just pumping. Addy doesn't have the patience for my piddly supply. And yes, my hair is still falling out in droves. It's so annoying!


David Cook won AI...I'm glad, I think he is better than David A. but he was good too.


I still haven't seen the finale of DH...it's on the TIVO...maybe I'll have time this weekend...ATTENTION BRIAN LINDER: DO NOT DELETE DH...I know you!! :) To know you is to love you, but do it and accept the consequences!!


So far Addy has liked all of her baby food, she has had peas, green beans, and we tried some prunes tonight (we think she's been a bit constipated).


Okay, I know this was boring, but hopefully Ash and Addy will enjoy reading about our daily lives in the years to come.


Here are a couple of pictures of the girls with some of their friends. Nicki is the girl in the chair on the left who had pneumonia and was in the hospital for 17 days. I'm happy to report she is doing VERY well. Gannon is her twin brother sitting with Ash. And of course, that's Jacoby next to Addy. Sleep Tight!

Back to Work

Monday already...seriously, how is it that the weekends go by so fast? It just amazes me!

Today was a busy day with work...deadlines and commitments (is that a song???) It did help save some time this morning not having to get the girls ready to take Ashleigh to school. They actually slept in until about 8:30 which was nice. It allowed me to get some things done this morning without interruption.

Jessica came in to work today and got a good, solid 4 hours in. Since school is out, both Jacoby and Jaydon came with her, so Ashleigh was thrilled when she realized she got to have a play date with Jaydon. They had a good time. And then Ally surprised us by stopping by (she had to get out of the house due to all of her hired help showing up at once, yes, Ally is rich, hehehe!!) So then Ash got to have a play date with Jaydon AND PeyPey. Both girls dressed up like Cinderella and Jaydon was their self proclaimed Prince. It was too cute. I wish we would have had a Prince outfit for him to wear. He was a smart boy and refused to put on a Princess dress.

Everyone left by 2:00 and then Ashleigh and Addyson both took a nice, long nap...like 3 hours. So I got quite a bit of work done then, it was so quiet.

We ate leftover pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and Brian added leftover sauerkraut and Kielbasa to his dinner...I warmed it up for him, and I have decided it really doesn't smell good, but it makes him happy so I'll deal with it. I wish Ashleigh had Brian's sense of food adventure, but I'm afraid she just doesn't. Unfortunately, she gets that from me. Maybe we'll get lucky with Addy, who knows!?!?!

Both girls got baths tonight and off to bed they went. Now it's my turn...I know this post was boring and completely unwitty, I'm sorry. Sleep Tight!!

Lazy Sunday

I don't have much to post about tonight, the day started out pretty lazy. I was just so tired this morning that I just hung out on the couch for a while. Addy woke up at 7:00 so Brian gave her a bottle and then she feel back asleep in our bed with us. I didn't sleep much after that because I was paranoid about her being in our bed...would we roll over her, or would she bury herself into a pillow and not be able to get herself out, would the covers end up over her head? Anyway, you get the picture, but she was fine and slept pretty good in our bed. Brian was sleeping good too by the sound of things, ha! Then Ash woke up about 8:30 or so and also got in bed with us, we definitely had a full house! It's a good thing we have a king sized bed!

Brian went to Home Depot to have some keys made for our new shop...yes, we decided to take the leap and move into the new shop. Should be interesting.

Then we spent the rest of the day in Arlington spending time with Brian's family. His Aunt and Uncle from Germany will already be leaving at the end of the month. We always feel bad when we can't get down there to see them during the week and their month here always goes by soo fast! So we try to spend as much time on the weekends as we can with them. We had pulled pork sandwiches, German potato salad, sauerkraut with kielbasa sausage (well, they all did, not me), and lemon poppy seed bread with double the glaze (per Brian's request). Great food, and we brought quite a bit home. We didn't get home until after 10:00, so of course, both girls fell asleep on the way home. Ash is now in bed, and Addy just had her last bottle and will be heading that way very soon!

In fact, I think we will both head that way. Sleep Tight!

They Actually Won!

Ashleigh's baseball team, the Rangers,actually won their 1st game of the tourney today, 12-2! They played sooo well, and Ashleigh even scored a run. I think we are all a little surprised that they won, but we knew we at least had a chance against this team. The next game...well, it might not be as pretty, but stranger things have happened. The next game is on Tuesday, so say a little prayer for them. Who knows, maybe the Baseball Fairy really did bring them good luck?!?! Oh, speaking of which, when Ash came in our room this morning with her baseball that the Fairy brought her, she was soooo excited!! I made Brian play the Fairy and he did a GREAT job! She never even budged, but you never realize how much the doors squeak until you are trying to play a Fairy!! Oh, at the game today, Ash got a hit and started to run to 1st base, but as she was running, the ball rolled in front of her and she decided to help the other team out by picking it up for them...Sorry Punkin', you're out. It was funny, but I felt bad for her because she didn't understand why she shouldn't do that. In all fairness, I guess we never went over the "don't help the other team" rule. Too funny.

Then we went to Fresca's for lunch because I really wanted a Caesar Salad, and theirs are so good. Let me back up...the other night when we went to Applebees I really wanted Fresca's and Brian wanted Applebees. So we did best of 3 Rock, Paper, Scissors...I won, but we still ended up at Applebees. How does that happen? I win the game and still lose. Anyway, Ashleigh spilled her tea as she was trying to sweeten it by herself. Bu we had a nice lunch. Then we came home and I left for the grocery store...oh, we all know how much I love the grocery store....NOT!! I had to buy some things for dinner tonight because Brian's Mom, Onkel Johann, and Tante Dagmar came over for dinner. I made a baked ham, potato casserole, Caesar salad, and garlic bread. It was all pretty yummy. It's funny how different things are in Germany. I always have to make them potato casserole because you can't buy those little hash browns in Germany. Isn't that funny? There's a lot of items that they can't get. But it goes both ways, when we went to Germany in 2002, we noticed the same thing.

After dinner, we played Yahtzee...2 games. I think I got 2nd out of 5 both games. We always have a lot of fun when we play. We let Ash play too, but she pretty much just rolled the dice and then counted the dots.

That's about it for today. If you could, please comment or send me an email letting me know if there are any weekends in June that you are not available to make it to the "Lazy Race". I want you ALL to come so I want to pick a weekend when most of you can...plus you won't want to miss it, it's going to be great fun, and you have a chance to win some summer money!! Sleep Tight!!

A Day of Awards

Today was ALL about Ashleigh Shea. This morning Ashleigh graduated from pre-K. Her last day of school was an emotional one for me. It's just amazing to me how my baby girl could be starting Kindergarten in a few short months. Ash understood that it was the last day of school, but I'm convinced she will ask about going to school on Monday. At times she was sad when we talked about missing friends and Mrs. McKeown, but at other times, she seemed excited about starting Kindergarten and going to "big Kid's school". We'll see what happens. But it was a nice ceremony...all of the kids got an award based on a type of candy. Ashleigh won the Gummy Worm Award...because she is the most "wiggly" is class and has a hard time sitting still. All of the awards were really cute. This is a picture of Ashleigh and her teacher, Mrs. McKeown.
Then this evening we went to the Baseball Awards Ceremony. This is where the kids received their trophies. Ashleigh was so excited about her 1st trophy! The weather was absolutely perfect, we couldn't have asked for better! These are the Texas nights that I absolutely love. After that received their trophy, Jessica told them a story to get them motivated for tomorrow's tournament, which is also their last day of game(s). She gave them each a coin and told them to place it under their pillow tonight and the Baseball Fairy would come and put a "good luck" baseball under their pillow while they are sleeping. Then they have to bring their coin and their baseball to the tourney tomorrow for good luck. It was a cute idea and the kids were really going for it. The trick? Oh yes, getting that baseball under the pillow of a VERY curious little girl. Before bed she was asking an array of interesting questions regarding the "Baseball Fairy"..."Will the Fairy come through the fireplace?" "Will the Fairy open the door to my room?" "Will the Fairy sleep in my bed next to me?" "Will the Fairy go in your room?" Will the Fairy go in Addy's room?" "Will the Fairy wake me up?" "Does the Fairy want me to sleep facing the closet or my desk?" "Can I still put my baby under my pillow?" "Will the Fairy talk to me or scare me?" And it goes on and on...since the Fairy is make believe, I got to answer the questions in any way I wanted, and it was so fun to talk about it with her. It was definitely a fun, childish moment. Now we'll just see if we can pull off "acting" out the Fairy...if she wakes up while we are putting the baseball under her pillow, I will DIE...I better have a backup plan :) But at least it's good practice for the Tooth Fairy, which is right around the corner, I'm sure.

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend! These pictures are from the Baseball Ceremony.

Sleep Tight!!

For Sale...

Two beautiful, spunky dogs. Sally is a Rat Terrier and Shasta is a Boxer/Bulldog Mix (supposedly). Oh, and a calico cat too, her name is Lizzy. Seriously, these pets are working our last nerve!! Two days in a row, poop all over the floor. This time it was BOTH dogs and the cat!! What the heck is going on around here? They don't want to feel left out so they ALL do it?!?! It's getting REALLY old!! We are quite certain we are taking a break from pets once these pass. Most of you know how much I love animals, especially my own, but I am tired. Tired of cleaning up poop, tired of the dog hair all over the house, tired of the litter box, just plain ol' tired. I still love them, but give me a break!!


It's a busy last week of pre-K. Yesterday we had their "End of Year Party". It was supposed to be at one of the parent's farm where they were going to ride horses. But it rained so it was changed to Chuck-e-FREAKIN-Cheese. Not too excited about that, but I figured, 10:00 on a Wednesday morning, it shouldn't be too bad. I was right for the most part, but those kids were running around like maniacs!! And then when it came time to cash in the tickets, Ash wanted something that was 300 tickets, but she only had 23...that's a whole nother story which involved lots of tears and her demanding (to no avail) that I pay for it with money. That little girl learned a lesson that day!!


Today was Field Day. It was actually chilly this morning, 59 degrees. Since I had Addy with me, I volunteered to man the Bounce House, since it was inside in the gym. There were several games for the kids and it ended with a massive balloon fight. It was fun watching without having to get wet. Luckily, it had warmed up a bit by the time the kids had to get wet. Thank you again to Jessica for filling my 50 water balloons...you saved me a lot of time!!


Tonight, we went to Applebees for dinner, I haven't been there in probably a couple of years. It was just okay, nothing spectacular. Then we went to Target to get Ashleigh's teacher a gift for the end of the year. We are going in on a gift with Jaydon, Nicki, and Gannon...we call them the 4 Musketeers. We got her a $100 gift card...she is trying to sell her house and is moving to a brand new one, so we figured she can either use it on herself, or use it to fix up her old house, or use it to decorate her new house. Plus a bouquet of flowers. I think she'll like it.


I've been coming up with some pretty cool tasks/clues for the 1st Annual Lazy Race. I'm having a lot of fun coming up with ideas. The hard part is going to be executing my ideas. Brian will have his work cut out for him. I know a lot of you are getting excited about it, and I am sooo glad!! I think it will be a lot of fun!! Have a GREAT day tomorrow, Sleep Tight!!

Are We Being tested?

I really believe God decided to test my and Brian's patience this morning. Here's how our day started...I get up at 6:00, take my shower, put on my robe, turn off the alarm to let the dogs out. As I'm walking down the hallway I'm thinking "my goodness, it smells like poo-poo". So now I had to turn on all the lights to make sure I didn't step in anything. Sure enough, their is a big ol' log of poo-poo...definitely the big dog, Shasta. But it was pretty solid, picked up nicely, no big deal. I was thinking "how nice today is trash day, I'll put this mess (in a Wal-Mart bag) on the front porch for Brian to take out with the trash. As I'm walking to the front door I'm thinking "why is the poo-poo smell getting stronger and stronger?" Just then I turn on the light to the dining room and what do I see? Oh yes, diarrhea everywhere, and I mean big ol' Shasta sized piles. And to make the situation even better it was on the tile floor in the entrance way, on the wood floor, but most of it was on the tiny waffle patterned rug. So Brian is just trying to wake up and he hears me say "OH MY GOD"!!! And he's like, "what now, did you drop the bag of poo-poo"? "Oh, no honey, this is much worse!!" So we clean up the tile and wood floor and decide we will NEVER get diarrhea out of the tiny little waffle patterns on that rug so let's just roll it up and throw it in the trash!! So Brian starts moving the chairs in order to roll the rug up. One of the chairs had some items on it and as he's moving it, the bag of brand new blocks falls off. And where do you think it landed? Yes, you guessed it, right on top of the biggest, nastiest pile of diarrhea in the room amongst all of the other piles. And what does it do? It splashes the diarrhea everywhere. I said, in a not so nice manner, "No you didn't!!!" And he says, "Why do you have this stuff in this chair?" So we immediately start blaming each other instead of the true guilty party...SHASTA!!! I suggested we both call in sick today and go back to bed, but we didn't. So we get past it and Brian starts taking out the rest of trash. You have got to be kidding with this, how on Earth could our day start any worse?!?! Oh but it can...He took out a trash bag that was in the garage that the cleaning lady put out there from last week. As he's walking across the driveway with it, the bottom decides to bust open. Confetti from the shredder goes EVERYWHERE!! All in the grass, in the street, the sidewalk....EVERYWHERE!!! Oy Vey!!! Another deep breath...clean up what we can and get another trash bag to dump the busted one into. As Brian is dumping the busted one into the new one, he didn't realize one corner was exposed and dumping onto the driveway and not into the new bag. What do you think was dumping all over the place? Litter Box contents...litter, litter coated poo-poo, and litter coated pee-pee...nasty cat pee-pee!!! This is a morning that definitely (and quite literally) turned to SHIT!!! I hope we passed God's little test, and for the record, the day did get better from there. Really, could it have gotten much worse :)

Today was Ashleigh's last day of classes for pre-K. The rest of the week will be filled with an end of year party, field day, and the Awards Ceremony. I simply can not believe my little girl is going to big kid's school in the fall. It boggles my mind and gives me such mixed emotions. I'm sure many of you can relate!

We went to look at a new shop this evening that Brian is interested in moving to. Our current shop is about 1600 square feet, I think, but it is such a dump, the parking lot is really more like a "dodge the pot-hole" game, and the neighbors collect junk cars like you wouldn't believe. This one is about 3200 square feet, has an office with potential, and is in a much better industrial complex with a nice, concrete parking lot. Of course, it costs more than twice as much, but we are really struggling having our office in our house. Customers sometimes want to come by to buy filters or parts and we are uncomfortable with them coming to our home. But on the other hand, our shop is such a dump, we don't want them to see that either. On top of that, our home office is sooo distracting to me and my real job. We REALLY need an Office Manager who can answer the phones, book appointments, data entry, etc. I CAN NOT do 2 full time jobs much longer, it usually ends up with me working 12 hours a day plus trying to raise 2 children. Not to mention, when Brian gets done running all of his calls, he comes home and starts doing more work...estimates, etc. It's just getting to be too much. Anyway, so we are definitely considering this new shop with a store front and office. We'll see what happens.

Yummy...went to Circle S Catfish for dinner with the Harris' and the York's. They have a delicious Fort Worth Philly that is our favorite thing to get there. And don't get me started on their desserts. The best ones are the Chocolate Cobbler and the Pecan Cobbler...tonight I opted for the Pecan Cobbler and Brian got Caramel Cheesecake.

I start the "Biggest Loser" at work on Thursday...I'm so not looking forward to it!!

Time for bed, Sleep tight!!

Happy 4 Months Addy

Addyson had her 4-month check up today, but she turned 4 months on the 10th. She received a clean bill of health and is reaching all of her milestones on time. We also got the go ahead to start her on cereal. So tonight she had her first taste of rice cereal...she was VERY uncertain at first and wasn't quite sure what to do with that "stuff" on her tongue. After a while, she caught on pretty well, but the mess was, well, a BIG mess!! But it was a lot of fun!! We'll try again tomorrow. Anyway, she weighed 16 lbs 14 ozs (97%), 27" tall (100%), and head circumference is 17.5" (99%). Ashleigh at 4 months was 17 lbs 6 ozs (off the chart), 27" tall (off the chart), and head was 16.75". Interesting, huh!?!?! I love comparing them, though, I know they are individuals and similarities will start getting fewer and fewer.

Addy's friend, Jacoby, came over today for a couple of hours while his Mom, Jessica, did some work for us doing data entry. They were talking to each other and it was cracking us up! Here is a photo from their play date:

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Ashleigh went over to Jessica's house after school to have a play date with Jaydon, her other son. She always has a blast over there and NEVER wants to come home. We have stopped asking her if she's ready to go home because the answer is always a very stern NO. Makes you feel good as a parent, ha!

I lost sleep last night thinking of some clues for "The Lazy Race" we will be hosting. I'm shooting for a mid to late June timeline, that will give us some time to get it all ready. We are sooo excited about this and I think it will be a lot of fun. I hope you all will plan on coming. To make it REAL interesting we are thinking of playing in teams and having an entrance fee of probably $20...please comment on if you think you would pay the $20 in order to play because this part is up in the air. I know there are many gamblers out there (cough, cough, Kevin, cough, cough, Steve, cough, cough) and would pay it in a second with the thought of winning the "big prize". Let us know your thoughts!! Feel free to comment anonymously.

OMG...the new Carrollton Mayor-Elect just said on the local news "we don't want no racial profiling". Nice grammar, Mayor. Geesh!!

That's about all I have tonight. This is a picture of Addy and her Aunt Tracy (Brian's older sister) from last Saturday. Sleep Tight!

Happy Mother's Day

I hope you ALL, Mom's and otherwise, had a GREAT day today. We had a busy, but good weekend. We had Ashleigh's baseball game on Saturday at noon (no longer tee-ball, but coach pitch...have I already told you this?) The kids played awesome, but Ashleigh was supposed to play catcher for the first time this season, and when all of the gear was on her she flat out refused to do it. I was very disappointed, but understood that all of that gear was a little overwhelming to her. Ashleigh needs time to adjust to "new" things and this just didn't work out for her. What can you do?!?!?! Brian's sisters, Tracy and Katie, plus their kids, Tanner, Kaileyanna, and Tekoa all came to the game, so it was nice.

Then a quick trip to Sam's Club for Mother's Day flowers, formula, kleenex, and a pie. Then back to our house. The rest of the clan from Brian's family arrived shortly after and we went to Texas Pit BBQ and got some "meat by the pound". Sliced beef, chopped beef, sausage, and ham. It was quite yummy!! And everyone else enjoyed it, so I'm glad.

I made a quick daunt over to the Harris' to see Brittany and LB (Little Brian[Brittany's boyfriend]) before they left for Prom...LB is a senior. Britti looked so very beautiful and LB looked very handsome. They really are a cute little couple. We call them the "Nerdy" couple...band geeks...of course, we say it with love!! hehehe!!! But seriously, I worry about Britti when LB leaves for college...they have been inseparable for a couple of years. It should be interesting to see if it works out for them.

Anyway, then Katie needed to leave for a hair appt., so we all headed to Arlington for the rest of the evening.

Today started with some lovely gifts from my family. They got me a "Mother and Child" necklace which has the girl's birthstones in it. I had hinted to Brian a couple of months ago that since our family is complete, I wanted one for Mother's Day. Of course, my lovely husband followed through, and I LOVE it!! I also got some homemade gifts from Ashleigh that her Oma (grandma in German and Brian's Mom) and Omi (I think this is just a made up name for Tante [Aunt in German] Dagmar because she is like a Mom to all of us) organized and helped her make. A decorated flower pot, homemade card, and a fridge magnet. The fridge magnet is too funny...they painted a wide popsicle stick and let her pick which embellishments she wanted to put on there for me. Of course, my daughter picks all of her favorite things...a donut, bag of chips, bowl of chips, ice cream sundae, and a cookie. I knew right away they let her pick them out herself. And it's a REALLY strong magnet, that thing will hold anything on the fridge.

Then we went to my Mom's house for some Mother's Day celebrating. She surprised us with a game she invented called "The Lazy Race"...this is similar to "The Amazing Race". It was a lot of fun. Only the Moms were allowed to play, so it was RC, me, Ally, and Joy. It started by my Mom giving us all a clue and then we had to complete tasks before we got the next clue. We all had the same clues, they were just in different orders. Let's see if I can remember the order I had them and see if you can figure out where you would have looked for the clue before I give you the answers below: 1) It tumbles 2) Go find Brittany and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to her 3) It's cold inside, in fact, it's freezing 4) Go find Steve and beat him at a hand of Poker 5) Brian installed it 6) find John and he'll tell you what to do 7) Go to CVS and buy something for .50 cents 8) Find Kevin and go fishing 9) It's open every day except Sunday...I think that is it...and then when you completed all of your tasks, you had to find Brian who was standing in front of a "doormat" telling you which place you came in. Of course, I heard, "I'm sorry, Andi, but you are the LAST team to arrive and you have been eliminated from the race". I was so sad and I blame Ally for my misfortune!! She is such a cheater!! Okay...when it came to the freezer, she pinned me in the corner, reached in, pushed me, and ran away...I was thinking "what a BEOTCH!!" And then I ran into her and Joy at CVS and she was driving like she was in a video game or something...I'm sure we were a sight to see and it was a lot of fun. RC won 1st place which was a $15 gift card to Jack in the Box, Ally the Cheater got 2nd place and won a Blockbuster gift card for like 2 movies, a bucket of popcorn, and 2 Cokes. Joy got 3rd and is just as much of a loser as me because we won nothing. boo-hoo :( But it was a lot of fun, thank you Mom and John for such a great idea and I think I'll have to come up with one of my own soon!! Oh, so the answers to the above: 1) the dryer (I had no idea and Brian had to help me, I was thinking of a tumbler cup 2) This is fairly obvious, however, Britti made us "do a jig" too before she would give us the clue, and I'll be damned if Kevin didn't get mine on video...that will come back to haunt me someday, I'm sure!!! 3) the freezer, obviously...I looked in both freezers and could not find the darned thing, I started opening containers, digging in the ice tray, then Mom said "there might be another freezer.."what??? there are 3 freezers in this house?" Sure enough, in the back corner of the garage in the "tool" room. Of course, this where Ally started her "cheating" rampage, ha! 4) it was Texas Hold 'Em and took me about 5 hands before I beat him 5) the air conditioner...I looked outside 1st, but it was in the indoor portion of unit 6) the was a putting game...get the golf ball in the can 7) I looked around that damn store for 10 minutes and couldn't find anything, it was all .79 cents, then Ally shows up, then Joy...Joy and I decided to go with cookies for .59 cents and Ally said that doesn't count, so we see Ally with sunflower seeds and decide "fine, we'll get the damn seeds!!!" Well, I chose honey roasted peanuts because I knew Brian would like them and they were also .50 cents. Ally about mowed me over in the parking lot in RC's car...man, like I said above...looked like a video game! 8) This was a magnet on a string and we had to "fish" a metal washer out of the pool 9) The mailbox....how well did you do? Leave a comment and let me know :)

We're home now and fixin' to head to bed. I hope you all had a GREAT weekend and a Happy Mother's Day!! Try to have a GREAT week! It will be a busy one for us, as it is Ashleigh's last week of pre-K...I'm already pretty sad about it.

Unfortunately, we forgot to take the camera into my Mom's house, but here are a couple of pictures from Brian's Mom's house. Sleep Tight!

Muffins With Mom

Oh, yes, this was a sweet, sweet event at Ashleigh's school. In celebration of Mother's Day, they have Muffins With Mom (A few weeks ago they had Donuts with Dad). The kids made some really sweet things for their Mom's. The sweetest being an adorable picture with their hand print with a poem that had all of us Mom's with tears in our eyes. We also received a flower that the kids planted for us in a pot they decorated themselves. Plus a cute little paper tea pot they assembled and has a tea bag on the inside. Mrs. McKeown read a sweet little book about the love between parent and child. All in all, it was a very memorable hour. Thank you, Ally, for staying with Addy so that Ash could have my undivided attention!!

Ashleigh got to play with Peyton today, which they both enjoyed. Ally wasn't feeling well so she went home to get some rest and then Steve came and picked PeyPey up after work. I was so heartbroken when Ally and PeyPey got to my house...Peyton had NO clothes on except for her undies. She was so uncomfortable and trying to cover herself that it just broke my heart how vulnerable she felt. Apparently, PeyPey didn't want to get dressed...just flat out refused, and she's been doing this a lot lately. So Ally followed through on her threat and made her leave the house naked. I think it worked because as soon as I grabbed her clothes she was ready to put them on!! I could see how frustrated and angry Ally was. Hopefully PeyPey learned a lesson. I think she did.

Sydney came over for a little while too, after school. They had Tea with Mom at her school. RC said of course, there's was a cry fest also. But then RC's school that she teaches at was having a happy hour at a nearby restaurant, so Syd hung out for a while. The they had to go to Syd's Talent Show at her school...I didn't go, but I'm sure Syd did GREAT!!!

Brian was REALLY exhausted when he finally got home from work tonight...he had to do a lot of unexpected work today. Plus he only got like 2 hours of sleep last night...he has a hard time letting his mind relax...it's constantly going 100 mph and it often results in lack of sleep, especially when he is stressing about this, that, and the other. He's already in bed as I'm typing up this blog.

Hopefully a mani/pedi in the morning so I can FINALLY wear flip flops...I haven't had one since right before Addy was born...needless to say, my feet are quite the scary sight!! Then a baseball game, Mother's Day shopping at some point, and probably spend the rest of the day in Arlington. Brian's older sister, Tracy, is in town from Kansas City with her two kids, Bria and Tanner. Ashleigh has been begging all day if we can go see them, she was a little disappointed when Daddy said it would have to wait until tomorrow. So she has that to look forward to tomorrow.

Enjoy the pics (thank you, Jessica, for remembering your camera, unlike dopey me!!)...Sleep Tight!!

A Little Nostalgia

I get in these moods every once in a while where I just have to look back at old videos and old photos, but I'm sure all parents do this. Sometimes it's hard to remember what Ashleigh looked like, the words she was saying, the way her personality was blossoming...it breaks my heart when I can't remember. I don't want to forget. As much as technology erks me sometimes, I am ever so grateful for camcorders and cameras. They allow me to go back to the day whenever I want...to help me remember and to never forget. My baby girl is growing up so fast, I try to slow down, but it just doesn't. Whether I like it or not, my baby girl is growing up. Before I know it she will be a grown woman looking back at old videos and photos of her own kids. I just don't know what else to do...to capture her life, to show her how much I really do lover her, to groom her to be a happy, successful woman. I can blog all I want for her to read, I can scrapbook in every moment of my spare time, I can tell her every chance I get how much I love her. And now there is Addy...another little life to love more than I can express into words. Any doubts I may have had in my ability to love and care for another baby have been laid to rest...I love both of them more than I can possibly ever express. I can only hope my scrapbooks, blogs, photo albums, etc. give them at least a glimpse of how I treasure them both. I don't care if I have 10 million pages of blog, a thousand scrapbooks, or a billion photo albums...I'll keep doing it...for them!! I love you more than life Ashleigh Shea and Addyson Shealeigh Linder!! And thank you, Brian, for giving me two of the most precious little girls in the world!!

On a funnier note, this is stolen from Jessica's blog, but she can tell the story much better than me:

I have to start my blog today with one of the funniest - like HYSTERICALLY funny - things that has happened here at the Rogers household in a very long time...The four of us are hanging out in the den sometime before 7:00 PM when the doorbell rings. Jeremy is at the door within seconds, and nobody is there. He opens the door and sees a plastic grocery bag with something in it sitting by the front door...but NOBODY is around. At this point, I'm also at the door and he's standing in our driveway looking around. He says, "Don't touch that bag! This isn't cool. You don't know what's in there!" So he gets the bag and throws it down our sidewalk closer to the grass and says, "I'm going in." (Like he's a dang surgeon, or a member of the bomb squad!) He cautiously - I mean EXTREMELY cautiously - starts tearing the bag open and there are small cartons in it. He opens one, and it's a brownie. So I say, "Man, is somebody trying to poison us? Do NOT eat that. Take it to the trash now." I look around at all of the neighbor's houses thinking I'll see a glimmer of a sign as to who did it. He continues to open the bag and there is another carton with a pecan pie, and 2 others with ice cream, and 2 other small ones with caramel sauce and chocolate sauce. Jeremy thinks that a delivery must have been made to the wrong house, and at this point I'm thinking...does that brownie have weed in it?? Who is trying to poison or drug us? (Okay, so maybe I watch too many movies!) We are standing there looking dumbfounded and awestruck determined to stick that delicious dessert in the trash when who should come rounding the corner? ANDREA & BRIAN LINDER...with kids in tow. Jeremy says, "I thought that was y'all I saw tearing off down the road a few minutes ago." OKAY JEREMY - you so did NOT think it was them when you were "oh so cautiously" opening the bag, you freaked out paranoid man - don't lie and act all cool because Brian is around! Andi and Brian are laughing hysterically and I finally realize that they are the culprits. Andi says that they wanted us to be surprised, but then Brian thought that they should come back because like he said to Andi, "Would YOU eat food that was just left mysteriously on your front porch?" We all get the laughing fits and you would have really thought that the brownie had something in it! (If you aren't laughing at this point, you just had to be there!) Let me explain something...Brian is 6'2'' tall, and not a small man...he took off like Jumpin' Jack Flash because we did NOT see him...and Andrea...she must have floored that Dodge Durango like there was no tomorrow because there were no signs of them anywhere! They were really sweet and decided to bring us dessert. We had gone to dinner with them a few weeks back and I mentioned that I liked barely cooked brownies with ice cream. She knew of a place that had just that for dessert, and brought it all the way to our house from Saginaw where they live. Sweet people that they are to bring us dessert and share the fatty love! BTW - it was SO good!Little do they know that the Rogers are tricky people too, and that whole "ding-dong ditching" (Yes, "ding-dong ditching" does have another name that is probably more familiar to most, but I'm not going to use that derogatory word on my family blog!) part won't go unnoticed. Payback is a "B" Linder Family...it's on like Donkey Kong! :)

Her version cracks me up...but from our perspective, we rounded the corner so fast and could not stop laughing. Brian ran to the car soo fast yelling "GO, GO, GO"...it looked like a movie, I was literally driving away as he was jumping in. And to see Jeremy "inspecting" the bag as we came back around, it was so funny!! Anyway, you probably had to be there.

Ash fell down on the tile this evening...teeth, gums, lips bled, usual tears, but vomit crisis was averted, I repeat...no vomit!!! Yippee!!

Oh, by the way, I have opened up my comments to anonymous users so you don't have to register...so leave a comment people!!

Boring day...sleep tight!

Pre-K Sweetness

There was a Spring Musical at Ashleigh's school this evening. Pre-K had their performance first. They were so precious and they all cooperated and did so well. We were so proud of Ashleigh. Here are a couple of pictures from the big event. Just too cute! But we are bad, bad people (but the Rogers' Family are too) because we left well before the program was over. I think they were only on 1st grade when we left and it was already 8:00...it would have been every bit of 9:00 before it ended and that is past Ash's bedtime. For the record, lots of families left once their children were done. It's actually pretty painful to sit through the whole thing. You know you agree!!

Ashleigh has really come a long way this year, it's hard to believe there are only a couple of weeks left in school. I still need to plan some activities for her over the summer so she's not bored out of her wits (and thus driving me bonkers!)

Man, I don't know what's going on with both girls this evening, they will not go to sleep. Ash just got up to go to the bathroom (again) and Addy cries every time we put her down. That is so out of character for her, she usually goes right to sleep when we lay her down. We've tried a bottle, Tylenol (we think she may be about to cut a tooth), we've tried Mylicon, I tried rocking her in the quiet of her room, we played her mobile (worked until the mobile stopped), we've tried everything! I guess we're at the point of letting her cry herself to sleep...which breaks my heart, but sometimes there is no other choice. And she doesn't give up as easily as Ash used to, so this could take a while. Poor baby.

My day started out VERY wet. As Ash and I are leaving to take her to school this morning, the clouds let loose...lightening, thunder, and sheets of rain. We were soaked before we even got in the car. Then, of course, just my luck that it is my day to get the teacher breakfast for "teacher appreciation week". So, the plan was to go to Starbucks to get her favorite coffee...White Chocolate Mocha and a muffin of some sort. So we get there (oh, I'm sorry, we hydroplaned the whole way there) and I decide it would be better to go in than to go through the drive through so that rain doesn't pour in the window while I am ordering, plus, the rain was so loud I thought it would be difficult to order. So of course we get soaked running into Starbucks, and soaked once again running out of Starbucks. Oh, and Ash has a difficult time buckling her own seat belt, so I have to stand in the pouring rain buckling her seat belt as she is in a mad dash to get her headphones on to resume watching "Mulan"...of course the headphones are tangled in the seat belt so I'm sure you get the mental picture of me getting soaked while she is desperate to get her headphones on as I am desperate to get her ^$#%%& seat belt on. Oy Vey!! Anyway, Mrs. McKeown got her breakfast and all was good.

Here is a little known, interesting fact about Ashleigh: when she sleeps with one of her "babies" at night, rather than snuggling with them, she puts them under her pillow, "so they don't get lost while I'm sleeping". It can be a baby doll, teddy bear, Dora, her stuffed green M&M, it doesn't matter, they all go under her pillow. That's my girl...we don't want to lose those babies!!

Oh goodness, we just tried a bottle again with Addy...it finally worked...so that means she has had 9 ounces (6 oz formula, 3 oz breast milk) before bed...she usually eats less than 6 before bed...definitely time to start that girl on cereal...we go to the doctor next Monday for her 4-month checkup, he'll give us the go-ahead then...thank goodness!!

I hired a new cleaning lady, she will be here on Thursday. I'm a week overdue and it's driving me CRAZY!!! We'll see how she does and then I'll make a decision whether to use her or bring the old crew back out. I'm still confused as to how they forgot about me last Thursday...I've been on this schedule for well over a year. The new lady is cheaper, so hopefully I'll like her better!

Have y'all gotten your Stimulus Rebate Checks yet? We should have ours by May 9th...yippee!! Oh, that's Friday, even better! Our creditors can expect to be "stimulated" then...ha!

Brian is watching "Inside American Jail" or something on tru tv...very interesting. Makes you feel pretty good about your own life, there are A LOT of wackos out there!! You just don't realize how many until you watch these kinds of shows. It's pretty scary, actually, to think these people are walking our streets. This is why I almost didn't have children.

I can't stop yawning...Sleep Tight!!

The Weekend is Over Already?

On Sunday night I always regret not getting enough rest over the weekend, but there is always so much to get done on the weekends. What's a girl to do!?! There will be plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead, right?

It was an uneventful day...just hung out at home this morning, straightened up a bit. Met Brian's family at Spaghetti Warehouse in Arlington for my birthday lunch. Spaghetti Warehouse has always been one of my favorite places to eat ever since I was a little girl and we used to go to the one in the Stockyards. I was pretty heartbroken when that one closed down. Brian and I even had our rehearsal dinner at the one in Bedford...yup, that one closed down too. Then we used to go to the one in Irving all the time when we lived in the apartments in Centreport. Yup, that one closed down too. Such a bummer. I think the only ones left around here is the one in Arlington and the one in the Westend in Dallas. Those 2 better stick around.

Then a trip to Home Depot to get parts to fix the broken pipe for the sprinkler system, then home. While Brian fixed the pipe, Ashleigh took a nap, and Addy and I went to the York's house to give PeyPey her well deserved Cinderella dress. She was so excited and it felt good to give her something she LOVED!! The Harris' (RC, Kev, & Syd, minus Britti) were there, so I got to visit with them too.

The rest of the day was just spent hanging with our little family...a little bit outside, a little bit inside, a little laundry thrown in...it was nice. Now I'm watching "Brothers and Sisters"...I can't believe Rebecca lied about being a "Walker"!! I think the truth will come out soon, I like Rebecca so hopefully she'll step up! I also watched Desperate Housewives...Bree cracks me up and that little punk, McKayla, better knock it off!!

Anyway, I hope you all have a GREAT week. Sleep Tight.

Busy Saturday

The day started out rush, rush, rush trying to get everyone ready and out the door for tee-ball practice and team pictures. We wanted to get their a little early to set up for the pictures...yes, it was decided that we would take the team picture and individual photos. Apparently, it would have cost like $40-$60 for a tiny package through the league photographer. The whole team decided we could do it a lot cheaper, have more time and patience to get a good photo, and do it on our own time. So below, you can get a sneak peak at the team photo...we have LOTS, but I just breezed through them and picked a good one with everyone actually looking at the camera. Brian was the photographer and we even bought a tripod, which we were wanting to do anyway, so it all worked out. What you can't tell in the picture is that it was sooo windy and it was a COLD wind. It's been in the 80s for a while now, so the low 50s this morning really caught us off guard. So much so that Coach cancelled the practice, the kids were just too cold. I was relieved, because I was freezing too and worried about Addy and Jacoby (Coach's son) being out there. Oh, I have to back up a little. Brian rode his motorcycle to tee-ball because he had a 4:00 pm "date" to meet up with some other riders. So, on the way to tee-ball Brian was following us on his bike. I got to see what REALLY happens when he's on that thing...as we are turning a corner, another motorcycle goes by that looks similar to Brian's (side note: Brian has a Kawasaki Ninja something a whether...yes...a crotch rocket). So Brian zooms by his family in the family Dodge Durango to catch up with this other bike, and once he did, Brian looked at him as if to say "Will you be my friend?" It was too funny, Brian is ALWAYS looking for "friends" to ride with so it was cute watching him find one. Anyway, he says that is what they do...catch up to each other and "size up" each other's bike. If you know Brian, you know he likes to have the best of whatever..so he likes this "sizing up" business.

So we leave tee-ball and go straight to Arlington for Tekoa's birthday party (our nephew and Katie's son, oh Katie is Brian's younger sister), stopping at the Grocery store on our way to get a few things for the party. As we're leaving the grocery store, I am following Brian and some jackass decides to NOT yield on his left turn on green when we are turning right on green...so I nearly ran my husband over on his bike...it was awful, my legs turned to jello and his life flashed before my eyes. I was just looking at my green light and didn't realize until the last millisecond that Brian had stopped because of the jackass cutting us off...OY, it scared me.

The party was good...good food, good company, and the kids had a blast in the bounce house...oh, the adults did too...an example of Brian having fun is in the attached picture. Also, a picture of Tekoa opening his main present from us...Katie said it's his favorite present...yea me for picking out the right gift! We love giving people gifts they REALLY love!!

Then Brian left for his "riding date" at 3:45 pm and me and the girls were the last ones to leave at 4:30. Brian JUST got home at 11:00...I guess he was having fun. I just hung out with the girls out back...Addy LOVES being outside, she was laughing so hard for no apparent reason other than being outside, I wish I would have had the camcorder rolling...maybe next time. Ash was having fun swinging and playing on her playground. Oh, and Shasta (our big dog) would not stop licking Addy's face...I don't know why, but she would not stop licking her...maybe because Addy's nose was running? I know that's gross, but I think that's why. ha! I've also got some laundry done...FUN Saturday night.

Oh, by the way, my cleaning ladies NEVER showed up on Thursday like they were supposed to. I was so mad...it takes me hours to de-clutter to prepare for their arrival and they didn't even bother to call. I just listened to some answering machine messages and they called me back (I had left them a not so pleasant voicemail) to apologize, blah, blah. I need to decide what to do because it has just gone down hill a bit since the company went under new management...many of my friends and family use them and they have all had problems with scheduling and quality of work too. We'll see...but my house is a mess and needs to be cleaned...floors and bathrooms especially!! You guys probably don't care about my "problem"...just venting! :)

Once again, it's almost midnight, I must bring a close to my big time exciting Saturday night/birthday weekend. Sleep Tight!

Happy Birthday To Me

Unfortunately, yesterday was mine and Ally's birthday...36th birthday to be exact. To put it in prospective, in the morbid way I always do, we could have graduated from high school ALL over again...OY VEY. I do feel pretty old these days, trying to keep up with a 4 1/2 year old and an almost 4 month old. Boy, they do wear a girl out, but it's all okay, I wouldn't have it any other way. At least I am still young at heart. To be honest, my birthday started out not so great. A few days ago, Ashleigh scraped her elbow at Playscape (a large, indoor playground) at school. Well, yesterday after school she fell down, hit that spot, and as soon as she saw the blood, she was hysterical crying! Most of you know what happens when Ash cries hysterically...yes, that's right ladies and gentleman, she throws up all over the place and can't stop herself. My notorious gagger is standing out in front of the school vomiting all over the place with blood pouring out of her elbow. It was awful, I could NOT get her to stop crying. And when she doesn't stop crying, she doesn't stop throwing up. Anyway, I'm sure you get the picture, literally. So 40 minutes later we leave and I let her pick lunch to make her feel better. Of course she picks McDonalds. As we are pulling into McDonalds, I find out she pushed a child on the playground...I know kids will be kids, but I got so upset about it. I have a paranoia about kids falling off of playgrounds, etc and getting seriously hurt. Anyway, the child was fine, but I immediately left McDonalds with no lunch...punishing Ashleigh from Mcdonalds is pretty severe in her eyes. Anyway, the day got better...tee-ball (the kids played so good!) and then an awesome dinner at Frescas followed by ice cream at Sheridan's.

I have to give a shout out to my precious little niece, Peyton (Ally's daughter). PeyPey (as I call her) has this disgusting infatuation with shoving this certain blanket in her mouth, especially when going to sleep. I don't think you understand...she SHOVES like 30% of this blanket into her mouth until she looks like a chipmunk. And she keeps it in there, even while she is sleeping. It is beyond words to see her do this. Ash has her thumb (Addy too by the way), some kids have pacifiers, Sydney had her little eyelash touching thing, but PeyPey shoves a blanket in her mouth. So Ally and Steve have been talking to her about stopping the habit but she won't even consider it. I had the idea to have a "talk" with her and said that Addyson is a baby, and she really needs her baby blankets and that it would mean so much to Addy to have her "special" sucky blankets (PeyPey's name for them, not mine). The look on her face was like, "are you out of your mind?" So I tell her what a Big Girl Princess she is, and I start getting her attention. then I throw in the deal maker..."PeyPey, I will buy you your very own Cinderella dress if you will give your blankets to Addy, and it would mean so much to her, and Big Girl Princesses don't suck on their blankets, that's gross". Well, she agreed (I secretly was shocked!) and she even followed through. she gave Addy her blankets and she has been fine without them. So Aunt Andi went to Wal-Mart this evening and bought her the Cinderella dress...I am sooo proud of her, I even bought the cool Cinderella shoes. Way to go PeyPey...you are awesome!!

Today was an okay day...Ash is still whiny about her elbow. Last night I insisted we put a band-aid on it so she doesn't get blood all over her sheets (oh, back up a little, Ash has a deathly fear about band-aids...OMG...you guys probably think Ash is so high maintenance, but I like to call it "Drama Queen" action). Okay back to the band-aid...you would have thought I was sawing off her arm the way she was reacting from me opening the band-aid package...I hadn't even stuck it on yet. Unbelievable. She finally said (in true "Drama Queen" fashion) "just do it Mommy, hurry up". It was just awful...even Addy thought it was ridiculous. Too funny!!

Tomorrow we have tee-ball practice and team pictures. Followed by Tekoa's birthday party (our nephew and Katie's son...oh, Katie is Brian's sister...I can't stop myself from reminding you who everyone is, ha!). And I will get to see Onkel Johann (Margarete's brother...Margarete is Brian's Mom) and Tante Dagmar (Margarete's sister-in-law...see previous to find out who Margarete is) for the first time since they have been here. I'm looking forward to it.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, Addy rolled over, from back to tummy, for the 1st time on Wednesday afternoon. She has done it about once a day since. Go Addy go!!! I am so proud of you!! Now you need to work on rolling from tummy to back...you can do it!!

OMG, it's almost midnight, gotta get to bed! Here are a few quick pictures. Sleep Tight!