Super Heroes and Frogs

I know that title doesn't mean much to you, but it totally cracked me up when Ashleigh said it last night. We were playing poker with the sisters and husbands and Ashleigh came running in the room with a blanket tied around her neck like a cape and Peyton came running in with one of Ash's hooded towels that looks like a frog. So it was appropriate! Anyway, not relevant to the blog, it has just stuck with me. And I guess you had to be there!

Not much been going on. I did take Jilian's (Jessica's baby girl) newborn pictures yesterday. I was nervous because I'm always scared of screwing up! I always give the disclosure that "if you don't like them, you won't hurt my feelings if you go to Target after you see them". Anyway, it went pretty well. Unfortunately, Jilian wasn't used to being "uncovered" so she was rather unhappy a majority of the time. We assume it was because she wasn't her usual snug as a bug, but we tried feeding her, holding her, etc, but she finally fell asleep during the last 30 minutes of a 2 hour session. But we got some good ones nonetheless. I am still editing like crazy (background issues mostly) and will let Jessica show them off for the most part, but I will just give you (and her) a tiny sneak peak:





Before I did Jilian's pictures, I did some head shots for Jeremy's (Jessica's husband) Aunt. She is an Interior Designer and needed some new business cards. We got some good ones of her as well. I hope she will agree!

Today we went to Shady Oak Barbeque with the Rogers'. They insisted we go so they could "pay" me for all of the pictures I've done. We hesitantly agreed because I don't feel it is at all necessary. But it was quite yummy and we enjoyed the outing immensely. Thanks again to the Rogers!

The rest of the day was spent playing outside for a bit, laundry, grocery shopping, editing, baths, and well, that's all I can think of. I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already, UGH! But I do get to look forward to next weekend, because I am scrapbooking with some of my friends again. I must get organized this week so I am more prepared than I usually am! I am excited to use my new Xyron tool...it puts adhesive on anything to make it a sticker. I only bought the small one, but am thinking it will be most beneficial for ribbon. Interesting stuff, huh? LOL!

Oh, Brian's sister, Katie, called tonight and asked if I would be interested in taking pictures at her 10-year class reunion. I agreed, but am nervous about that because it will involve posed pictures for all at the beginning and then photographing during the event. Yikes...it's in August so we'll see what happens! I think she said it's at the Dallas World Aquarium. It might be free services with a minimum number of picture sales...we'll see...I need to figure out what materials I will need.

Brittany had her first college audition this weekend. I am so very proud of her. I am dreading her leaving for college and will miss her so much! I can't believe she will be 18 in just a couple of weeks. Unbelievable how quickly her youth has fleeted! You can read about their trip to the audition here. RC did conveniently leave out that she got yet another leg cramp in the car! She is ridiculous with those cramps!

Ashleigh came home with a level 5 book from school to read. On the 1st try she got EVERY word right! I was so very proud of her! We've kept each level book for about a week but this one we will only keep over this weekend and will be returning it tomorrow for the next level. I can really see her improving on her reading! Her spelling is a bit frustrating...we will practice her "words of the week" and she will have them mastered (there are 5 every week) but when we get her test back (not graded, just a preparedness for 1st grade) she always makes silly mistakes. I think she has only perfected 1 test so far (they started these in January). On last week's test, "five" was one of her words which she had no problem with, but she didn't even attempt it on the test at all. UGH!

Anyway, it's after 10:00 and I still need to put some laundry away so it doesn't wrinkle. Then off to bed! I hope you all have a GREAT week! Sleep Tight! Here are some photos from the past couple of days:



Oh goodness, Ash came in and said, "Don't I look pretty, Mommy?" Hmmm..how do you answer that?

We Have Progress

I just wanted to pass along a quick update...I received a call from Ashleigh's Speech Therapist today, Mrs. Adams, and she is recommending that we start testing Ashleigh out of Speech. That would mean she would officially be "dismissed" from Speech during her ARD (admission, review, dismissal for those of you who don't habla) meeting. I'm not sure yet if her sessions would stop at that point or if she would go until the end of the school year. But anyway, we are thrilled that she has caught up with her peers and will no longer have to endure weekly speech therapy. YEA Ashleigh!! However, Mrs. Adams expressed her sadness at not having Ash any longer. When I spoke to Ash about it this afternoon she, too, was sad. Even though Ash is only in Kindergarten, Mrs. Adams has been her Therapist since the day she turned 3. I explained to her that she will still see Mrs. Adams around the school (I hope I wasn't lying, sometimes they move the Speech therapists around to different schools within the district **yikes**)!!!

Also, we all know by now the concerns with Addy's speech development...she should be saying at least 3 words by now but is only saying "MaMa". We decided after her speech evaluation a few weeks ago that we would wait about a month (and after her appointment with the ENT on March 3rd) before we jump into speech therapy for her. Of course her reason for speech is much different than Ashleigh's. Anyway, starting yesterday we have gotten her to say "uh-oh" pretty well. And though it appears she is trying to say "DaDa", it's just not coming out. But I do feel she is trying. She has also been trying to say "yum-yum". I try to get her to say "more" but she doesn't even really try. Probably because it involved "more" food and she gets mad when I don't give it to her, LOL! So even though her progress is quite slow, I do feel I am seeing progress nonetheless.

Another cute thing Addy has been doing is every time you sing to her, she claps for you when you're done. Everyone is a S-T-A-R in her eyes! Too funny! Oh Addy, we call her our "spirited" child. which is a nice way to say STUBBORN!! Geesh, this girl puts up a fight with going to sleep! It's practically pointless to put socks on her unless you put shoes on too because she just pulls them off. And boy, does she like the mouse on the computer! Relentless, that one! I could go on and on, but you get the point. Yup, spirited! ;-)

Just a quickie update, I hope you're all having a GREAT week! I'm going to finish watching LOST now!

Happy Valentine's Weekend

Howdy, howdy! Another week has come and gone since my last update. Geesh, the time clock is just ticking along so fast! It was a rather uneventful week. Steve (Ally's husband) had his lap band surgery on Monday. He came out of it just fine, though, they did have to repair a hernia that they saw while they were in there. Steve was the 1st surgery of the day but the last to leave. Surprise, surprise! Steve "hard way" York!! He was required to pee 100 cc's before he could leave and apparently had a hard time with that. He's finally allowed some solid foods this week as long as it is mushy so he requested my famous mashed potatoes. As the good sister-in-law I am, I obliged. I just got back a little while ago from delivering them to his house. He's already lost like 34 pounds between the 2 week liquid diet and the surgery.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Brittany is needing to raise some money to pay for her various Prom needs (hair and nails, specifically) so I lined her up to babysit for us so we could actually celebrate the "day of love". We seriously couldn't remember the last time we actually went out for V-Day. Every restaurant is always packed so we usually steer clear. But we decided to venture out this year. I was trying to think of a place that wouldn't be so jammed pack that it wouldn't be enjoyable so I chose Circle S. You don't think Circle S when you think of a romantic dinner but we had a coupon and we figured wouldn't be jammed pack. Luckily we did decide to call ahead to see if we could make reservations...it's a good thing we did because it was a requirement for V-Day! So we go and they were quite busy, but with our handy-dandy reservation, we were seated right away. People were showing up without reservations and they were trying to accommodate everyone. I think they did a good job. They even had a V-Day meal with steak and shrimp but Brian and I had our heart (no pun intended) set on the Fort Worth Philly! Yum-Yum!! After dinner we had some time to kill before our movie so we went to Wal-Mart (I know, it's so romantic!) We got to looking at the bikes for Ashleigh. The family has been giving us a hard time that Ashleigh doesn't ride a bike yet. Maybe we have been holding her back, but we don't need anymore stamps on Ashleigh's ER Frequent Visitor card. And she enjoys her scooter and her tricycle. Anyway, we settled on an 18" bike with training wheels and decided to get it for her. Damm thing was $60. But we figured Wal-Mart had the best deals. So after that Brian and I are still so stuffed form dinner that we don't want to sit through a movie. Plus we didn't want to spend the money since we just spent $60 on a bike. So we discuss going home when I remember RC telling me that her and Kevin were going to have some "alone" time after the Father/Daughter dance (more on the dance later) and were going to drop Sydney off at my house to be under the watchful eye of Brittany while she was babysitting my kids. So I call RC and Kevin had just dropped Syd off and yes, us coming home now would indeed ruin their "alone" time. Well, shoot. After some back and forth we decide they had until 10:00 (it was now 9:00)...I know, we're such Party Animals! So after getting a fountain drink at Quik Trip we head to the York's to visit for a bit. We debated going to the Roger's but with Baby Jilian, we were worried of interrupting some much needed sleep for them (I know Jessica will comment that we should have come over because she never sleeps!) So on the way to the York's we decide to call RC to tell them they would have a little extra time. However, it appears I must have interrupted something because it rang and rang and then appeared to have been picked up and left off the hook. I later found out that Ally was calling them giving them a hard time prior to that. hehehe!!! So we visited with the York's for a while and head home around 10:30. Addy had long been in bed, Ash was already in bed, Syd was asleep on the couch, and Brittany was on the computer. Fun Times Saturday night! But we enjoyed our time out just the 2 of us.

Before our little date, Brian and Ashleigh went to the City's Father/Daughter dance. This was their 3rd year to go. Sydney graduated to the older group this year which was from 7:00-9:00. Ash's age group was from 5:00-6:30. Steve and Peyton went too and they all had a good time. Ash was disappointed that she didn't win a door prize this year but she's over it now. Peyton won 1 month of free ballet lessons at the local dance school, a $95 value.

Here are some pictures from the week:

Brian must have taken this one, I thought it was pretty cool. I love that Texas sky!



Addy's sleepy position:



Brian and Ash before the Father/Daughter Dance:

These next few are funny; Ash had brought her pillow into the living room to lay down and Addy was trying to take it over.

Ash trying to get her pillow back:

Ashleigh trying to share and give her Sissie some love:

That's good sharing:

Um, I think Addy won:

Still "Sissie's" through the ordeal:

Strike a pose in your PJs, Ash:

Ash on her new bike:

Watching Sissie ride her new bike:

Ahhhh, how cute:

Ash disappointed that she failed at climbing up the slide. Not to worry, she made it on the next attempt:



Well, I think that's all I have for now. Oh, the memo boards are done, but they've been sitting on the end table all week waiting for Brian to hang them. If they don't get hung soon, I'll take a picture of them anyway for you to see. I even finally finished the last wall in Ashleigh's room. I have been needing to touch up along the stripes for the past year on the last wall, and I did it today since that's the wall where I want Brian to hang the boards. Oh well, maybe it will get done some day. You guys have a GREAT week! Sleep Tight!

Another Fast Weekend

Sunday night is already here again. In fact, it's already was past my bedtime but we're watching the Grammy's and then we'll head to bed. This weekend was pretty busy but it was good and we got quite a bit accomplished. The sisters got our hair done on Saturday morning. I had to be there at 9:00 to get started on my highlights. I decided to go back darker closer to my natural hair color and then get more of a contrast with highlights. My hair was getting too light and in the sun it looked pretty red. Anyway it turned out real good and I love it. The sisters were scaring me when Tina was taking the foil out because they said it was white. But all was good in the end. I like to keep my length even though they are always telling me to cut it short. I don't know why. Isn't long hair pretty? I did get more of a style I guess and got more layers around my face, but still kept it long. I do trim it so it stays healthy. Anyway, enough about my hair. Maybe I'll take a picture of it for you.

Then I had to rush back home to pick up the family to head to Jacoby's 1st birthday party. This was a good time. Of course, Addy cried when we started singing "Happy Birthday". She is scared of the loudness. She was tired so it took a while to calm her down. Jacoby got lots of good stuff and really dove in to his birthday cake. Maybe if Jessica blogs she will post some pictures. When we needed to leave to get Addy a nap Jessica asked if Ashleigh could stay to play so we agreed. Brian and I did some laundry and straightened up while Addy was napping. Then Brian went to ride his motorcycle because the wind had finally died down and it was SO nice outside. While he was gone, me and Addy went to Home Depot to buy some staples for my French Memo Boards (more on this later). Then we went to pick up Ashleigh. She had a great time playing with Jaydon.

After the Girls went to bed I started making my 3 French Memo Boards that I had planned for my home office. Brian had already cut the wood so I was good to go. Home Depot didn't have the staples Brian said I needed so I left there with a longer staple. Sure enough, they were too long and went right through the wood to the other side. Dammit! So just then Brian called and said he was on his way home and I tell him about the staples and he said Home Depot would be open another 20 minutes so he will go by there to see if there is another alternative. My wonderful husband came home with a new electric staple gun so it would be easier to pull the trigger (the manual one gives me bruises on my hand!) Wonderful, so I start the Boards. I get to the last step of hot gluing the buttons on and I realize I had only bought 6 buttons but needed 15. I don't know how I made that mistake! Brian and I decided the ones I picked out were too small anyway. I like having immediate satisfaction when I construct anything, so I was disappointed to have to go to bed with them unfinished.

So I woke up this morning wanting to head to Joann Fabrics to get new buttons and to also get the materials to make some for Ashleigh's room. I also had a spare piece of wood and volunteered to make one for Ally's office. So I made Ally go with me. Got all that done, come home and start constructing boards again, starting with Ally's. Get to the ribbon stage and we didn't buy enough. Dammit! Again, no immediate satisfaction. So I glue the buttons on my 3 office boards....finally a completed set of boards. So then I start Ashleigh's boards. Get to the step of stapling on the ribbon and I run out of freakin' staples! I literally need 6 more staples. The box Brian had bought with the electric stapler had 1250 staples in it. LOL! I went through that many staples and only need 6 freakin' more! UGH!! Again, no immediate satisfaction! Now I have to make another trip back to Home Depot...actually, I'll make Brian go. :-) Actually, I'll probably go if I want these done anytime soon! LOL! I'll take pictures of them all when I'm done.

I want to wish my most faithful reader/comment leaver a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Aunt Sharon is my Dad's brother's wife and we all love her so much! She cracks me up so much! Happy Birthday Aunt Sharon, I hope it's GREAT!

Here are some pictures I took of Addy this past Friday:

I hope you all have a GREAT week! Sleep Tight!

Super Bowl Sunday

It was looking like the Steelers had this game wrapped up a few minutes ago, but the Cardinals are 1 score away from taking the lead. They could have had the lead a long time ago but they have had some stupid mistakes and some stupid penalties. I mean, come on, 3 personal fouls on 1 defensive drive?!?! That's ridiculous! Geesh, but they just might have a chance to pull this out. I'll certainly be avoiding the Harris household for the next week if the Steelers lose, that's for sure! I'll probably avoid the York household too...if the Steeler's lose plus Steve's 2nd week on the Optifast diet stuff. Fun times! Anyway, me and the sisters went to Dad's for a while, Kevin and Steve went to Buffalo Wild Wings, and Brian ended up going to work to get caught up on some things.

This morning, I went to Jessica's house so we could finally make her french memo boards for the nursery. She needed something over the dresser and we decided to make 4 - 13" x 13" memo boards. A couple of weeks ago we went and picked out the fabric, ribbon, and buttons. I usually make these ***OMG - The Cardinals just took the lead with a little over 2 minutes remaining*** with cork board, and we bought some at Wal-Mart that were going to work out great. Well, Brian took one look at them after I had taken he frame off of one, and said they were not going to work because they were made out of paper on the back rather than wood or a dense cork. He was right. So I head to Office Depot...there cork boards were much better, but $17 a piece, which were pricey considering Jessica wanted 4 of them. So I bought this dense foam stuff hoping it would work. Nope, it didn't work either. My lovely husband then went to Home Depot, bought some wood, and cut them to size. Thanks dear, they were perfect! Anyway, the final result was very nice and Jessica promised to take some pictures once they were on the wall. My hand is sore this evening from all of the stapling, LOL. ***Oh geesh, the Steelers are just a few yards away from winning with 49 seconds left.***

Oh crap, Pittsburgh just won. Oh well.

I took my MLK, Jr. Holiday on Friday since I had to work on the actual day and they let us take it anytime within the month it occurs. It wasn't much of a Holiday though because I had to go to A Advanced and get all of the 1099's and W-2's done and in the mail. But then had a nice lunch with Mom, Ally, Addy, and Peyton at the Black Eyed Pea. Thanks for lunch, Mom!

I joined Facebook. I found out during my Scrapping day last weekend that all 3 of my friends were on and they didn't tell me about it! I was upset with them but I'm on now and it's all good. It worked out because Brian's family and some of mine are on too so I guess it's a decent way to keep in touch. If you're not on, join and we can keep in touch!

Last night, Brittany babysat so we could go on a much needed date. We ended up inviting both the Harris' and the York's and we had a good time. We went to Kincaid's Hamburgers for dinner. Brian had never been and it's Kevin's favorite burger place. Brian ended up getting a bacon double cheeseburger and that sucker had 1 whole pound of beef PLUS bacon! It was huge! And it was $14!!! But he ate every bite. Then we went to the Melting Pot for dessert. It was quite yummy! I had never been but have been wanting to go. Now I want to go back for dinner. My company gave me a $50 gift card a couple of Christmas's ago when they had there company party there in San Antonio and it's been floating around my purse ever since. I was worried it wouldn't work, but it did. Anyway, it was a nice night out.

NOTE: Ashleigh just got out of bed coughing and said she needed to blow her nose and then started gagging - most of you know what gagging and Ashleigh in the same sentence means. Yup, she started throwing up. I have to give her props though, only a little got on the floor before she did the rest in the potty. That's a HUGE improvement for her considering she is usually running in place refusing to do it in the potty. Now I just have to figure out if she's sick or if her drainage is making her gag. I think it's the latter because she doesn't feel warm, I know she's had drainage, and she always gags when she has drainage. I guess I'll assess in the morning. OY!

Okay, I hope you all have a GREAT week! Sleep Tight!