Happy Halloween

Most of you know, Halloween is a big thing in our neck of the woods. It really is Brian's favorite day of the year and he and the brothers-in-law always go out of their way to scare the neighborhood children. This year is going to be not only scary, but VERY loud! If any of you have ever fallen victim to Brian's trash can contraption, imagine 6 of them! I'm going to attempt to get video of their haunted doings and then I'll upload to the blog. Of course, I'll have lots of pictures to share!

We're also celebrating Brian's birthday tonight with RC's famous lasagna, I'm making the slata (lebanese salad), and naturally Ally gets away easy with garlic bread and green beans. It should be a good time. RC said the kids at school were already talking about it and looking forward to it.

Ashleigh got a color change yesterday...that's 2 so far this 6 weeks, 4 weeks in. So that means no citizenship award again this round. Oy...she said Connor was talking to her and saying funny things and she tried to ignore him. Whatever, apparently she didn't try hard enough! RC has said Conner is a little trouble maker and Ashleigh giggles at him all the time....GREAT! Grrrr!!

Mom is STILL in the hospital. She will hopefully come home today. They took the drainage tube out of her kidney this morning, but left the one in her stint/urethra. If the draining doesn't slow down she is heading for another surgery...which what does that mean? Yup, you guessed it...another hospital stay. Poor Mom, she can't get comfortable in that bed anymore. We really do appreciate all of your prayers for Mom, please keep them coming through this hurdle!

I'm a little frightened about the Cowboys this week...we play the Giants, and if I need to remind you, they are the defending Super Bowl Champs....and if I need to remind you....Romo is still out. This is not a good scenario. Plus my Man, Jason Witten is injured (ribs) and we don't know if he'll play, not to mention a whole host of other players that have been injured. It could be ugly, but I'm trying to be optimistic. My 'Boys could use a little prayer too, if you don't mind! :-)

Ashleigh's last tee-ball game of the season is tomorrow. It'll be nice to have a break from that. I am thinking of putting her in dance or something similar for a while to see if she likes it. Of course, Peyton's soccer game is at the same time again so we will miss it again. PeyPey's last game is next week, so we will definitely go to that one even though it is at 8:freakin30 in the morning. Oh well, I can't let my PeyPey's whole 1st season go by without going to see her. I'll be sure to take pictures too, because Ally's pictures of her playing (or sitting, LOL) really suck! It looks like she is taking them from the parking lot or something, they are so far away!

Okay, I must get back to work...I usually try to blog on Thursday night, but last night was too busy, hence the mid-day post!

I hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween.

Missed My Honey

Brian helped out the SHS Band this weekend by driving their trailer to San Antonio for their competition. It's been like 7 years since he's driven an 18-wheeler, but he said it's like riding a bike and I think he really enjoyed it. He left San Antonio bright and early this morning and made it back home by noon. Then he went to the shop to get some work done.

Yesterday, Ashleigh had a tee-ball game but we did team and individual pictures first. I think they turned out good for the most part, but 1 of the kids was a little toot and wasn't real cooperative. See below for Ash's individual and team photo. Then the kids played pretty well at their game. Aunt Joy came to watch her play...she just loves it when her "fans" come to watch her play...so thank you Joy! I can really see a lot of improvement from last season to this one in the way they play.

Then Ashleigh went with Jaydon to his school carnival and seemed to have a real good time. That was nice of the Rogers' to take her for a while so the kids could hang out. Those 2 really get along well. Then the Rogers' Clan came to my house so Jessica and I could go to Ally and Susan's purse party. Jeremy stayed with the kids (thanks Jeremy!) but we didn't buy anything, everything we liked was too expensive for our poor asses! LOL! But the refreshments were good! Then I watched the Rogers' boys so they could go car shopping and to dinner. They never get to go do anything alone, and I had nothing better to do with Brian being out of town, so I was happy to do it. Plus, they've done it for me. :)

Well, the Cowboys managed to pull out a win today. It should have been a sure win, but it was a little too close for comfort. Witten gave me a scare when he had to go to the locker room, but luckily he came back to the game. Even better, the Steelers lost so the Cowboys' flag goes back up at the Harris' house! Woo-Hoo! I actually was routing for the Steelers because they were playing the Giants, who happens to be in our division and we needed them to LOSE. Darnet!

My Mom is in the hospital getting her createn levels monitored and to have a few procedures regarding lack of blood flow to her kidney. Through the weekend, we have discovered she may need a stint in her urethra. If that's the worst she has to have done, then we're doing good this round.

Alrighty, here are some pics from the past few days, sleep tight:

Happy Birthday Honey!

Today is my lovely husband's 33rd birthday. We didn't have a big celebration today but I wanted his birthday day to be special for him. I took a long lunch today and me and Addy went shopping to get him a few gifts: Nike's, shorts, and 3 shirts. Then we went to the grocery store to buy some things for dinner and cupcakes. Brian didn't want anything in particular for dinner since he had a late estimate, so I took matters into my own hands and chose to make beef fajitas. I can't even remember if I've ever made fajitas, but if I have, it's been a looooonnnngggg time! Ashleigh helped me make the cupcakes and she was so excited to be the helper! Everything turned out pretty good and he seemed to enjoy it all. I invited the Harris' over for cupcakes since they live right down the street and I wanted more than just me and Ash singing "Happy Birthday" to him. It was nice!

I am taking off tomorrow for my Columbus Day holiday. Yes, I know Columbus Day has come and gone, but I had to work that day to get monthly reports out. Luckily, our company's policy is that you can take your holiday anytime in the month that it occurred. I would have rather waited until Halloween to take it, but naturally, monthly reports will be revving up again at that time. I'm going to try to go eat lunch with Ash if Addy's schedule works out for it. I would love to go get a mani/pedi, but I don't have anyone to watch Addy...hey Ally, whatcha doing tomorrow? LOL!

Lorena came today...ahhhh, a clean house! I tell Ashleigh that the house has to stay clean for at least 10 minutes after Lorena leaves...I think we actually made it to the 11 minute mark...Progress! :-)

It should be a pretty busy weekend ahead. Brian is going to drive the SHS Band's 18-wheeler to their competition in San Antonio. They're leaving Saturday morning and will be back on Sunday. We have to be at the tee-ball fields by 8:00 Saturday morning for team and individual pictures. Then a game at 9:00. Ally and Susan's purse party at 2:00. And I'm pretty sure we're going to dinner with Brian's Mom when he gets back into town on Sunday to celebrate his birthday with her and Katie.

Other than that, that's about it. Have a GREAT weekend. Sleep Tight!

Fair Fun

We had a good, but exhausting weekend. Ashleigh had a tee-ball game at 9:00 Saturday morning. Man, it is so hard to get everyone ready and out the door in time to get to the fields by 8:45 for warm-up. But we managed to make it on time. Then we went to the Texas State Fair right after. We ended up going with the Rogers because we both procrastinated and waited until the last possible weekend to go before it ended. We had a lot of fun, but we were all exhausted. We pretty much walked the whole thing and my feet were absolutely killing me. We ate a lot and had a good time. Brian has been bugging me to ride this sling shot thing...it's a round cage with 2 seats and they literally fling you into the air by a few cables, you bounce around a little, and then come back down. I haven't been wanting to do it, so he talked Jeremy (Jessica's husband) into doing it with him. That's another reason we ended up going to the Fair together. Anyway, we bought the little DVD they sell you when it's all over...they had a video camera strapped inside the cage somehow. Here it is, I think it's pretty funny!

They really seemed to enjoy themselves, though, Jeremy evidently was so tense that he injured his hips somehow. Too funny!

On Sunday we were watching the Cowboy game...enough said! My 'Boys truly disappointed and embarrassed me. At least the Longhorns are kicking ass! #1 Baby!

And this might be to much information, but I wanted to tell you how sweet my husband was on Sunday. Somehow we got on the subject of my bras...actually, that should be singular, because he is tired of seeing me in the same, frumpy one that doesn't fit properly. I do sometimes wear another one when it has to be white. The problem is, it's a nursing bra...and I'm not nursing anymore and it's WAY too big. Anyway, I had mentioned I saw an Oprah episode all about bras and they had said like 90% of women wear the wrong size bra. So, he started doing all of this internet research to figure out how to get the right size. As it turns out, I have been buying too small of "the number" and too big of a "cup". Who would have thought? Actually, I didn't quite believe that was my size (no, I'm not telling you what it is!) Anyway, so Brian says he's going to go ride his motorcycle but what he really did was go bra shopping...he was gone 2 1/2 hours! Apparently, he asked questions and looked at every single bra in the store to make sure he was getting the right ones for me. He ended up with 5 bras and they all ended up fitting just perfectly, I couldn't believe it! Oh, the part that was even sweeter was that he was saving his scrap (scrap metal we sell from our business) money to buy tires for his motorcycle, but used it for my bras. What a sacrifice he made. Thank You, Honey, for "supporting" me and my bra needs, LOL!!

Then we went to Party City to get Addy's Halloween costume. She's going to be a Lil' Lamb and it is just too precious! I think I already told you that Ash is going to be Super Girl. Oh, we also bought a fog machine for the haunted backyard. Then we went to Kroger on the way back home for some basic groceries and baby food. Fun times!

Last night I presented Brittany with the Photo Book I had made for her. It contains all of my favorite Senior Pictures I had made for her. I think she liked it and it will help them decide which ones they want to enlarge and frame. I don't think I picked her favorite picture for the cover of the book, but it is absolutely my favorite. Make sure you ask her to see it when you see her next :-)

Today was just a normal day of work. I did have to go to Target tonight to buy some black socks for Ash for a bat project they are doing tomorrow. Of course, I couldn't get out of there with $6 worth of socks....NO, I had to spend $89...a big girl Duckie bathtub for Addy (Ash had this same one and LOVED it), a duckie faucet cover, Sesame Street bath toys, hair accessories for both girls, ankle socks for Ash, Halloween outfits for both girls, 3 packages of scrapbooking ribbon from the $1 SPOT, and birthday cards for Brian (his birthday is the 23rd). At least it's under $100, that's a miracle!

Here are some pictures from the Fair, Sleep Tight!

Boring Week

Not much has been going on around here. You like my new Halloween background? Give me some credit, I'm trying to mix things up a bit to keep it interesting for you. I hope you like it!

I'm watching Grey's Anatomy and Dr. Bailey's expression when Dr., crap, what's her name, the female bone doctor, was telling her about her future date with Dr. Hahn and how she hasn't gone "south of the border or to the northern mountains" with another girl. Dr. Bailey cracks me up!

We went to Party City tonight to get Ashleigh's Halloween costume, she's going to be Super Girl. She looks so cute in it! I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to share after the big day.

We're going to the State Fair on Saturday.

Okay, that's about it from here. Here's some pictures:

These are form today in the front yard:

This is from the other day when it was raining, Addy was fascinated by it!

Sleep Tight!

Ohhh, My 'Boys

Oh, my Cowboys disappointed me today. One mistake after another. I thought we would be able to pull it out in the end, but their damned Special Teams got us again! grrrrr!! But on a happier note, The Longhorns beat OU...WOO-HOO!! And the Saginaw Rough Riders won too! Plus, Brittany's band got 2nd place in their competition this weekend. I was hoping for the weekend to end on a winning note, but I guess you can't win them all. At least the Redskins lost too.

Ashleigh had another rough afternoon on Saturday. She had a double header tee-ball game which she handled really well. They all started dropping their energy level by the end, but nothing that wasn't expected. Then we had to rush home and get her ready for the StarSteppers clinic that she wanted to attend. This is the Drill Team at SHS. So we make it there on time, I get her registered, pay my $30, pay an extra $2 for her to get a picture with a StarStepper, and she was happy and excited. Let me back up a little...she did say before we left that she was tired, but that she did want to still do it. So after we got her picture taken, we walk into the gym where the clinic is and everyone is gathering and Ash looked around and just started bawling and said she didn't want to do it. I was horrified on so many levels and everyone started staring at us. Thank GOD she didn't throw up. But these 3 really sweet girls came over and said "she can hang out with us" and Ash wouldn't even look at them. I wanted to start crying so badly for my daughter that she was that scared. I was really hoping there would be at least 1 familiar face there for her...Sydney had done the morning session. So then 2 Starsteppers came over and tried to talk to her...again, she wouldn't even look at them. So by now they are all sitting in a big circle to get started and I start walking to the circle and since Ash is buried in my side, she came with me, but WOULD NOT sit in the circle. The 2 Starsteppers asked her to sit down OUTSIDE the circle, so she did do that. Finally, I told the 2 girls that I was leaving because she would do better if I wasn't there, but I stayed where she couldn't see me to make sure she was okay. After about 1 minute, she joined the circle, so I left. Welllllll, about 30 minutes later I got a phone call....yup, it was the StarSteppers clinic people saying she didn't want to be there, wouldn't participate, and that I should come get her. Geesh! She has been doing soooo good lately with her lack of shyness, but I think her tiredness, coupled with not knowing a single soul there, just made her buckle. I was really sad for her and I think it will be difficult for her to watch the girls perform before the game on Friday, but you know, I guess it's all a lesson.

Today, my Mom wanted to take Sydney, Ashleigh, and Peyton to lunch and the movies. They went and saw that silly looking Beverly Hills Chihuahua. They enjoyed it...better them than me! ha!

I'm supposed to be off work tomorrow for Columbus Day, but I have so many monthly reports to do that they were calling me at the football game on Friday night asking where they are. Well, I can not review them until the Task Order Managers submit them to me. Since then, our Program Manager has been calling the Task Order Managers to get them submitted, so now I have 3 to review. It's okay, our policy is that we can take our Holiday on another day in that same month. No biggie...I didn't have anything going on anyway. I'll take my Holiday to either go to the State Fair during the week, or maybe on Halloween.

Alright, here are some pictures from the weekend. Sleep Tight!

Jessica and Jaydon:

Brian working 1st base with Ash ready to run:

Addyson cheering on her sis:

Oma and Addy:

Movin' and a Shakin'

Oh, my youngest child is wearing me out today. Well, she wears me out everyday, bu today she just seemed to have to be moving or doing something at all times. It is darn near impossible to just hold her. You have to hold her so tight because she pushes off with her legs to whatever leverage she can. And then...changing her diaper, my gosh, she immediately starts trying to roll over when she gets on the changing table, it's so challenging. And she's super fast, by the time I pick up a diaper, she's already on her belly. Oh, and the bath tonight...my lower back hurts from wrestling her to get her clean, not to mention how wet I am because she has learned to splash the water. I have always gotten the better end of the deal bathing Addy and Brian bathes Ash, but now I think I want to trade. I would rather listen to Ash whine about getting water in her ears. LOL!

Speaking of Ash, her eye looks so much worse with each passing day. Here's a couple of pictures from last night. It's just awful and it makes me so sad to look at her. She keeps saying, "Mommy, let's not go skating at my birthday party". Sounds like a GREAT idea to me!



Lorena, the cleaning lady, came today...ahhhhh, a clean house! Then Ally brought Peyton over for me to watch while she went to work at the A/C company and she thought it would be a great idea to cut up little tiny pieces of paper all over my clean living room...grrrr, I had to make Ash help her clean it up, because it was everywhere!

OMG, Brian is making me watch "World's Dumbest Criminals" and some idiot just tried to rob a convenience store with a palm tree leaf with his shirt pulled up over his head! WTF?!?! Seriously, is that a joke? LOL, one of the C-List celebrities said "what was he thinking, palm isn't even a poisonous plant!" LMAO!! Oh, that's funny! That brings me to my next point...Brian is making me watch this show...on a Thursday....during the 8:00 hour...hello...Grey's Anatomy is on! Yes, I DVR it, but I want to watch it NOW! He likes it too, but I guess he figures he can watch it later. Oh, and he's DVRing this Dumb Criminal show too, Oy!

This weekend should be pretty busy. Ash has a double header on Saturday morning. That should be fun trying to keep 5 year olds interested for 2 hours. Let's hope for the best! Then there is a StarStepper clinic (the drill team) for the kiddos all afternoon that Ash wants to go to. She's going to be dead tired by the end of the day! I wish we could find time to squeeze in Pey's soccer games, she has a double header too, but their games are at the same time. Maybe next weekend.

Oh GOD, now Brian is watching "Wrecked". It's a reality show about tow trucks. I'm doomed for the evening of Thursday night TV!!

Geesh, as you can see, I really don't have much to report. Just living life. I'm sorry this post was so boring...I talked about a bunch of stuff you really don't care about...but you yell at me if I go more than 4 days without a post. LOL! Sleep Tight!

My Poor Baby

Well, Ashleigh has had a rough time since Friday. Her school day ended Friday with a DOUBLE color change, yes, you heard right, a DOUBLE color change...from green to orange and then orange to yellow. That means she should lose some recess time. I'm not sure if she has or not. But on our end, it meant she wasn't allowed to go to the football game. Ash LOVES going to the football game, so this was a big punishment. Plus she had a LONG timeout, a spanking, and a stern talking to. This was all done by Brian because I went on to the football game. I was just so disappointed with her. Oh, her color changes were because of 1) talking when not supposed to 2) not completing her work after being told repeatedly to finish it.

Then on Saturday, she did good at her tee-ball game, so no problems there. But we went to Kaileyanna's (her cousin) birthday party at the roller skating rink and no sooner we got her skates on, she was on the floor, hitting the outside corner of her eye on the corner of the table on the way down. Before Brian could even peel her off the floor, she had a HUGE knot on her eye with a big ol' bruise on it. And the crying, my GOD, the crying! I didn't think she would ever stop. They gave us ice to put on it...huh, I didn't think the crying could get much worse. Boy, was I wrong! Ugh, it was just plain awful. The good news is that she didn't throw up...yes, you know Ash, so this was a bonus!!

Then today she had violin lessons (it was RC's turn to drive, thank goodness!!) and she apparently gave Ms. Lisa (her teacher) problems today. She kept telling her "No" and that she didn't want to play the music, she didn't even want to try. Grrr...I know she gets so frustrated, but Ms. Lisa was not at all amused or pleased with her attitude today. I just don't know, let's hope for a better day tomorrow.

Let's see, what else, got my hair done Saturday. Brian keeps asking me how come I didn't get it lighter. Geesh, it's already so light...I'm not a blond for goodness sakes! Maybe we'll add a little bit more highlights next time, we'll see.

The Cowboy game stressed me out a bit on Sunday. There was no excuse for the game to be that close against Cincinnati. So frustrating, but at least we pulled it out! But dammit, the Steelers won too, so the Steelers flag stays up at the Harris' house, ugh!

Hopefully we'll get to see Peyton play soccer the week after next. We won't be able to again this weekend because Ash has a double header. That should be interesting, it's hard to keep them focused for 1 game, much less 2, but we'll hope for the best!

We lost another patio furniture umbrella to the wind yesterday. We have lost so many umbrellas to the wind. This one completely sheered off at the table level. Damn, I really liked that umbrella!

Okay, I'm boring you. Here are some pictures:

Ash showing off her goody bag from the party, oh, and her black eye shortly after it happened!

Katie and the birthday girl!

Oma keeping Addy entertained while Momma got her groove on in the rink, ha! Yes, I'm sore!

Brian doing laundry, could that be right? WTF? But I'm not complaining, I had to do a double-take!

Pey and Ash after their bath (it was the only way to get Ash ready for bed last night since the York's were visiting)

This was today...think Addy is too big and strong for her chair? Luckily, those buckles are strong too! She wanted out so bad, but she thought it was funny!

Ash trying to keep Addy out of the coffee table drawers...time to do some MAJOR baby proofing!

A close up of Ash's eye today...it keeps getting darker and darker...it looks much worse in person.


You guys have a GREAT evening. Sleep Tight!

Photo Overload

Happy 7th Birthday, Kaileyanna! Kaileyanna is Katie's daughter (Katie is Brian's sister). We get to go to her birthday party on Saturday and Ashleigh is very excited!

Not much has been going on around here. We had t-ball practice tonight...it took us forever to get home because they were doing construction on Blue Mound Rd. starting at 7:00 pm, it was awful. I was going to go to the PTA meeting tonight and let Brian take Ash to t-ball, but I wasn't in the mood for the PTA meeting. Oh well. Quick bath for Ash and straight to bed! We're watching the Vice Presidential debate right now...both candidates seem to be doing a good job. Even Brian is interested and he typically isn't very political.

Oh, Addy started waving today, it is soooo adorable!! I'll have to get some video of that! Hopefully she'll do it on cue...she wouldn't show it off at t-ball, but I have witnesses...both Brian and Ashleigh saw it! She even clapped for the 1st time today, but I don't have witnesses and she wouldn't do it again. I just can't believe it has been almost 9 months already since she came into this world and how much these babies learn and develop in such a short amount of time. I am trying desperately to treasure every second since I know these moments are fleeting so quickly!

Okay, onto the pictures...this 1st one is Addy and her little boyfriend, Jacoby at Ash's t-ball game.


Ash being not exactly "baseball ready"...

Hmmm, did I leave her in her highchair too long?

Addy's talent of standing up in her play yard...

The Harper Family at Jack's Birthday party...

Deena with her son, Jack, at his birthday party...

Addy's VERY 1st time to swing, she LOVED it!! That's her friend, Austin (Meredith's son)...

The Canning Family at Jack's Birthday party...

Ashleigh with her friend, Noah (Alma's son)...

Ashleigh with her friend, Allie (Meredith's daughter)...

Ashleigh with her friend, Ian (Alma's son)...

The Henry Family...

Addy at Jack's birthday party...

More of Addy on the swing...

Can you tell she LOVES the swing?


It sure did take me a long time to upload all of these pictures, but I'm so glad Brian brought home a new wire so I could get them off the camera and onto the computer! I hope you enjoyed them! I hope you all have a GREAT weekend! Sleep Tight!