Mama's Little Timeout

19/365

2012-01-19T20:45:00.000-06:00

Today was just one of those beautiful days that you just want to soak in and enjoy every last second of it.

Every day should be like this!

We even let the kids hold of on homework tonight so that we could hang out outside and cook out.

Homework for 3 kids consumes our evenings and a lot of nights there is very little time to go do anything fun.

Tonight we just enjoyed it.

Today is also so special because it is my nephew Rhett's 5th birthday and also the 5th anniversary of my mom finding out she had breast cancer. I am so thankful that my mom is completely healthy! Those are 2 great reasons to celebrate today and enjoy such a wonderful evening.

Random fact...I love taking pictures of Winter tree branches. I think they are so interesting when taken just at the right time of the evening. I am so ready for Spring to get here, but tonight I am enjoying this wonderfully warm Winter's night.

18/365

2012-01-18T22:27:00.000-06:00

Today Jaci wasn't feeling well so she stayed home with me. I had a parent/teacher conference with her teacher so I was able to pick up her school work. By this afternoon she was feeling well enough to work on it and REALLY wanted to go outside and play with the boys.

They were so happy it was nice outside so that they could get out there an play. Jackson LOVES his basketball goal that he got from Santa!

Do you think I should tell Tyler that he is doing it all wrong???

By this evening when American Idol came on my little preformer was ready to go and had to sing a few songs for us. The boys wouldn't play along. They are no fun. :(

17/365

2012-01-18T22:20:00.000-06:00

Tuesday we had hours of homework...

A sick little girl...

And a snuggley little boy.

16/365

2012-01-18T22:17:00.000-06:00

Monday was just a Monday...that is just about all I have to say about that.

In fact I don't even care to relive it so you just get pictures. :)

15/365

2012-01-18T22:14:00.000-06:00

Saturday night Rhett started throwing up over at my mom's house. It kind of put a damper on the fun day. By Sunday at lunch mom and I were both feeling a bit off.

Thankfully I was able to make it home without anyone getting sick, but after supper the kids all started feeling a bit off as well. They all went to bed with buckets to be on the safe side.

Thankfully nobody got sick!

This is a picture of CLEAN!!! bath water in Robert Lee. Can you believe how bad the water looks? Please pray for the town of Robert Lee. They are basically out of water. Their source of water, Lake EV Spence, is dry and they are working on getting a pipeline in to bring water to the people of Robert Lee. I am amazed at how this little community has pulled together to get this pipeline going. It is all volunteers putting it in. Say a prayer for this little town. Pray that the rains will come and replenish the lake and pray that they are able to get this pipeline up and running before they actually run out of water.

(And no...You don't really feel clean after taking a bath in water like that. You itch and smell a bit and just feel dirty. Lotion after the bath is a must!)

This really makes me so thankful for what we have. Don't take good water for granted!

14/365

2012-01-18T22:02:00.000-06:00

Saturday we headed off to San Angelo for Rhett's birthday party.

The kids had so much fun partying at Gattieland!

After the party we went and did a little shopping which had the kids less than excited. After the fun of Gattieland shopping was such a let down. :)

On our way back into Robert Lee mom told me about an interesting tree at the Robert Lee courthouse.

Can you spot what is so special about this tree?

There is a prickly pair cactus growing in the tree!

How crazy is that? Proof that cactus can pretty much grow anywhere!

13/365

2012-01-18T21:51:00.000-06:00

Back to regularly scheduled blogging...

Last Friday Jackson had his Awards assembly at school. He was so excited about finally getting his UIL medal. He won first place in Music Memory with a Perfect Paper! I was so proud of him! He worked so hard at it and it paid off!

Some of the members of his team.

Jackson with his friends and medal.

After school and work we headed to Robert Lee for the weekend. The kids were so happy to get there and played so hard. Once they finally laid down they crashed hard! Mom and I cracked up at how Jaci was resting. She fell asleep on about 6 pillows. :)

Mom's bedroom is being remodeled right now so she is short on beds. The kids don't mind at all. In fact they fight over who gets to sleep on the couch. Jackson won out on Friday night. There was so much going on around him and he was passed out!

Tyler slept with me and he was wide awake until I made him lay still and shut everything off. He was so hyped up!

I'll be back...

2012-01-15T21:45:00.000-06:00

I haven't forgot my posting. I was out of town this weekend and now I am not feeling well tonight. I will catch up on posting in the next day or 2 once I am feeling better.

12/365

2012-01-12T21:10:00.000-06:00

Tonight we did homework...Cleaned out my car...

Packed to go to MeMe's house and watched wipeout...

The kids are totally loving that show.

Otherwise, they weren't too amused with our evening.

They are so excited about our weekend at MeMe's, Rhett's party and seeing their cats. It should be a fun weekend.

11/365

2012-01-11T22:28:00.001-06:00

This afternoon was completely crazy from the time I picked the kids up at school.

By the time I got them home from all of their activities it was time to get ready for bed.

Now that we are back in the swing of things I have a feeling it is going to be totally crazy like this until school is out.

(Jackson is cracking me up with his faces...He always has. For some reason from the time he was a baby he always had the most interesting expressions. Tonight's picture of him was him not wanting me to take a picture and mocking me. Funny thing is I have a lot of pictures of him as a baby giving me the same look.)

10/365

2012-01-11T22:13:00.000-06:00

Blogger wasn't cooperating last night and wouldn't let me upload a picture. I suppose it is a good thing because last night was totally crazy around here up until the kids went to bed and I didn't get a picture of the kids. I did snap a picture of our lovely fire last night as I kicked back with a glass of wine and finally relaxed.

I love having a fireplace.

9/365

2012-01-09T20:56:00.000-06:00

It is cold and raining. We've got an awesome fire going in the fireplace and we are all snuggled up in the living room watching the BCS Championship game.

I love this night...except for the football...but we are all snuggled in together warm and cozy.

Jaci feels the same way I do about the football. What is funny is that she did this all by herself. No prompting from mommy.

Instead of watching football she chooses to play on her iPod and listen to music.

She is a lot like her mommy.

8/365

2012-01-08T21:34:00.000-06:00

Today was a pretty low key day.

It was much needed. Amazing how you can be so tired after a 2 week vacation.

Some of us may have even stayed in our PJ's all day!

7/365

2012-01-07T22:08:00.000-06:00

Tonight we decided to treat ourselves and eat really good!

I decided we needed to have a grilled Caesar salad with our t-bone steak.

LOVE...LOVE...LOVE IT!

As you can see it was delicious!

After supper and bath time we decided to have a coke float as well!

It hit the spot.

The kids have already asked if we could eat the same thing again tomorrow. :)

6/365

2012-01-06T22:48:00.000-06:00

Today I had to head back to work. :( It wasn't too much fun. After work Jaci's friend came home with us to have a sleepover. It is Jaci's first time having a friend stay over. She was so excited.

We came home and had a tea party and then decided to go to a movie. It was a fun night and both girls were so tired and fast asleep by 9:30. I didn't argue with them when they said they were tired. Of course they will probably be up bright and early, but at least we weren't up all night!

Jackson headed out for a sleepover at one of his friends houses. It is his first time to sleep away from home other than when he has stayed with family. He was pretty excited.

Tyler stayed in with Jacob and wanted to cook out steak. This boy has the right idea! I wish I had stayed in and had steak with them. The weather was beautiful and perfect for cooking out.

We are looking forward to a low key weekend ahead. I need a day or two to recover from our busy vacation!

5/365

2012-01-05T21:02:00.000-06:00

Meet Tiana...She decided to pose for a picture today.

Jaci LOVES her fish. Any time I walk into her room I can usually find her standing on her stool checking out her fish. Have I mentioned that Tiana is a boy...Jaci decided that we could just change that, so in her mind Tiana is a girl! LOL!

Sadly the kids had to start back to school today. It was fun having them home the past 2 weeks. They weren't too happy about having to get out of bed this morning. I can't blame them. I am not too thrilled about having to go back to work tomorrow.

Jackson especially hated having to go back to school and the homework that came with it. Today they were running late getting to the bus and Jackson left one of his homework papers on his desk. He has cried on and off all night and is just worried sick that he is going to have to stay after school tomorrow. I feel bad for him. What a harsh way to have to start back to school. :(

4/365

2012-01-04T22:12:00.000-06:00

I'm happy to say we all survived the big sleepover last night. The little kids were up and ready to go around 7:30. The big kids didn't wake up until around 8:15. Needless to say Jackson was dragging a bit today. He had is 9 Year WCC today. He is 4'6" and 72 pounds. He is in the 80% in weight and 75% for height. He has been right around that mark since he was born so he is at least following his growth curve. The doctor did mention that he hasn't gained any weight over the past 1.5 years. In fact he has been losing it. Not a huge thing because he is a good size but it is a little odd that as he has grown he hasn't gained anything.

While I took Jackson to his appointment, the little ones stayed home with Jacob. They were excited for me to get home, but not excited when I started pulling out backpacks and getting them ready for school tomorrow.

I am not excited either. Certainly not ready for them to go back. This Christmas vacation has been so nice!

3/365

2012-01-04T00:45:00.000-06:00

Sleepover craziness...

It started with adding 5 boys to our bunch of kids.

Throw in some football...

Hot dogs and S'mores by the campfire...

Some basketball and a little more football...

Late night bike riding with headlights...

And we ended our night with some X Box football and kinect sports.

I would say the night was a great success.

2/365

2012-01-03T00:04:00.000-06:00

You might remember last year when we happened to have a string of fish deaths in our household. As in we had 5 fish die in about a week. The kids took it pretty hard but none more than Tyler. He has even gone as far as to say that he would like to die and go to heaven to see his fish Huggy Bear. (He is a bit extreme!) The fish wasn't that great.

After all of the fish died, Jacob and I decided that the fish didn't like the little house. (Who could blame them!) We told the kids that we weren't going to get them another fish while we still lived there and they eventually were OK with it. Once we moved here we haven't had a lot of fish talk until this Christmas when Tyler got a Go Kart from Santa that didn't really work well. He has been so bummed out over it so we decided to cheer him up and get him a fish. He loved the plan!

Of course the kid DRAMA that followed that decision was way over the top. After many tears we headed home with THREE new fish. Jackson has named his Aggie. Jaci has named hers Tiana (she has a frog decoration in her pink tank so it is like the Princess and the Frog). Tyler's fish is named Huggie Bear. Yep...He named it the same thing. Let's just hope we can keep these fish alive because if I have to hear about how bad life is because Huggie Bear has died I will probably lose my mind.

1/365

2012-01-01T22:58:00.001-06:00

Eeek...I got so busy today taking down all of our Christmas decorations that I almost forgot that I had big blogging plans this year. The little ones were already peacefully tucked into their beds and had been sound asleep for about 1.5 hours. Thankfully they stayed asleep when I snuck into their rooms to catch them snuggled in with their babies and stuffed animals.

There was a lot of drama in our house today as I cleared out Jaci's room this morning. I took 3 full trash bags out of there of things to donate/sell/throw away. She handled it pretty well but once the boys saw what was going on they panicked. Tyler assured me that ALL of his animals were well loved and he couldn't part with any of them. I suppose that is why flat frog (who was Jackson's absolute favorite as a baby) was snuggling up with him tonight.

Jackson was still up going back and forth between the Cowboys game and playing his xbox. He was very torn between the 2 tonight.

As I mentioned earlier, we took down all of our Christmas decorations today. I always hate when we go back to regular decorations. They are just so boring. Once Christmas is over and I have to take them down I am so ready for Spring to get here. I hate to wish the months away like that but January is always such a blah month. I did enjoy a last bit of Christmas cheer by having a cup of White Hot Chocolate tonight! It is fabulous! My mom stuffed them in our stockings this year and they are to die for! I do get to look forward to Gale coming up to see me this month and a trip to my mom's house for my nephew Rhett's birthday party. I think Jacob's parent's are even planning a trip in this month so we should stay busy.

Hope you all had a wonderful first day of 2012!

12.31.11 Reflections on 2011

2012-01-01T00:49:00.000-06:00

Clearly I have been a complete blog failure this past year. I really had the best of intentions, but I haven't made it a priority like I did the year I posted every day. I am sad that I don't have all of the little details posted on here. It is so much fun to look back on them. Like tonight for instance...we were talking about going and having another Kinect bowling challenge and Jaci blurted out, "You don't want to come and take a piece of this!" I do love all of their cute little sayings. I am going to attempt to do the 365 Photo challenge again in 2012. Maybe it will just be an every other year thing. :)

Looking back on our year I am just a little sad to see it coming to a close. This has been a pretty amazing year and as I sit here tonight I can't help but feel so blessed at how far we have come in a year. Last year I was just grasping for anything to get me through and this year has been less about survival and more about making a life here.

(Last day at the little house!)

I feel so blessed that we have a home here. OUR home. A place where we are making memories and working to make it the place we have dreamed of.

(Baking Christmas Cookies!)

(Our Christmas Tree 2011)

I feel so blessed that this year my children are thriving here. The love where we are at. They love their school. They love the friendships they are developing. They love having their own rooms. :)

(The boys at the Aggie game Sept. 2011)

(Kindergarten Scarecrows 2011)

I feel so blessed that Jacob and I have been able to relax and enjoy each other a little more this year. The stresses of the previous year took a toll on us, but this year we found happiness just sitting on our front porch in a rocking chair talking to eachother. (Usually while waiting to move the water on the grass.) It is exactly how I had invisioned us spending our time here.

I feel so blessed that our families are all doing well this year and that we have been able to spend time with them. We have loved having family and friends come and stay with us this year. I missed that last year. We simply didn't have room for anyone in the little house, but here we have plenty of room for everyone. It is wonderful. We also welcomed my sweet nephew to the family this year. It is so nice to have a baby around to snuggle again.

(My grandparents visiting from Nebraska.)

(Sweet baby Reed!)
I feel so blessed that my friends and I have managed to maintain our friendships dispite the distance between us. True friends are rare and I know how lucky I am to have the people I have in my life. I also feel so blessed to be creating new friendships here. It is so nice to feel like I am finally making some wonderful connections with wonderful people.

In 2011 I have been blessed beyond belief!

I look forward to seeing (and hopefully documenting) what 2012 has in store for us!

It's been awhile...

2011-10-18T10:52:00.000-05:00

Yes...I realize it has been quite awhile since my last blog post. I have had several people mention that they miss the updates so I figured I better catch everyone up.

I left off with Tyler being sick. Then I got really sick with double pneumonia which I just haven't been able to shake. My energy level is so low that by the time I get the kids to bed and pick up I am not thinking about blogging. I also started working 2 days a week and then the kids have SO MANY activities that we are just wiped out. I miss blogging. I am sad that I haven't been able to keep up the way I wanted to. I am really going to try to at least do a weekly recap because I love having it all down on here. And now for the mother of all blog posts. (And WAY more pictures...or me taking...than you probably care to see!)

We celebrated Jaci's 5th birthday by doing absolutely nothing. I feel so bad because I was planning on having her and Tyler a party together, but I was sick and just couldn't get it together.

I did make a very sad attempt at throwing her a cake together. (I am NOT a cake decorator!) I was just going off of stuff I had in my cabinet so it wasn't too fancy at all. You know what?...She LOVED it! It was pink with a cat on it and you can't go wrong with that combination of things with Jaci.

After Jaci's birthday we headed South to Lockhart. Jaci had an appointment with her urologist in Austin and I had won some tickets to Schlitterbahn, so we decided to make the most of her appointment and cram a lot of activities into 3 days. I also decided it would be the perfect time to go school clothes shopping at the outlet malls in San Marcos. Sadly the men in my life got sidetracked at Cabelas and my time at the outlet malls was limited to about an hour. We stayed with my dear friend Gale in their new guest cabin. It was perfect for us. The next day we headed out to Schlitterbahn. Gale and her daughter Alex came along to help us out which was a good thing because I was running a fever of 104 and thought I was going to die. They did the rides with Jacob and the kids while I stayed in the lazy river and tried to survive the day. By the way...Have I mentioned that I have the best friends in the world? We finished off the night cooking out with Jake and Bonnie and more swimming at Gale's house. I stayed put on the couch and while everyone around me enjoyed visiting. Jacob hadn't seen Bonnie's husband Jake since we moved so they had a great time together. The next day Jaci had her appointment in Austin. We were hoping that this would be Jaci's last appointment since she has been doing so well since her surgery, but her ultrasound showed that her one kidney that has always been smaller didn't grow at the same rate as the other. It has always been smaller, but has always grown at the same rate as the other and this time it didn't. As a result of that we are going to have to continue monitoring it.

After her appointment we took the kids to the Texas State History museum to see Tornado Alley at the Imax theater. When we left there we decided to take the kids to see the Capital. Jackson had always wanted to go and see it, but we never made it there while we lived in Lockhart.

They enjoyed it for about the first 5 minutes and then they were ready to go.

Shortly after returning home all 3 of my kids started school. :(

Jackson started the 3rd Grade.

Tyler started Kindergarten.

Jaci started Kindergarten.

We have enjoyed Friday night football games cheering on the Albany Lions.

Mid September we headed to College Station to meet up with Bonnie and Jake and take the kids to their very first Aggie football game!

We decided to get the full experience and take the kids to midnight yell as well. They didn't quite know what to think.

The next day we all loaded up and headed to the game.

(They weren't excited at all!)

We experienced the kids yell practice.

Met Dave the head yell leader.

High fived the Aggie football players as the came into Kyle Field.

(Jackson was on cloud 9!)

Sharing the experience with the kids was priceless. They truly didn't know what to think of it all. There is no place like Aggieland on a game day!

The kids waved their 12th man towels and were so into the game!

The loves of my life...

After the game and an Aggie win we headed down to the field to celebrate.

They thought it was so cool to be able to go onto the field.

Our group of future Aggies.

Skylar, Jaci, Tyler and Jackson

We took in the Homecoming parade in downtown Albany.

The boys participated in Punt Pass and Kick.

Tyler and Jaci took their first big field trip to the Abilene Zoo.

We just started Soccer. Tyler and Jaci are on the same team.

Tyler scored a goal in his first game!

I don't have any pictures from Jackson's first game. It was at the same time as Jaci and Tyler's game.

He did a great job though.

We survived our first major Kindergarten project which was to make scarecrows and dress like scarecrows. It was a little intimidating at first but they turned out so cute!

You can tell the boys are really working hard.

(And no...I didn't pose them like this. I walked out the front door to find them like this and had to run and get my camera.)

Oh...and during this time Jaci also got her ears pierced! She is growing up so fast.

Don't you just love her beautiful strawberry blond hair and freckles? She fixed her hair herself in these pictures.

And that catches you up with what's been going on!

I am happy to say we have survived one of the hottest Summers on record and I am now sitting here with my windows open and a wonderful Fall breeze blowing through our house. It is Heavenly!

Hope you all are doing well and having a wonderful Fall!

7.26.11

2011-07-26T23:01:00.000-05:00

Bad asthma attack =

Sleeping with mommy.

Tyler has been doing really good for the past year and we have managed to wean him off all of his steroids but this is the 3rd asthma attack in 5 days. That isn't a good sign.

Not sure what is going on with him, but he has his 6 year well child check tomorrow and I guess we will discuss it then.

(Yes, he is sunburned as well.)

7.25.11

2011-07-25T21:50:00.001-05:00

Every night in the peaceful quiet moments, after the kids have gone to bed, after everything is put up and cleaned up for the night and after everything is set out and ready to go for the next morning I sit down to this.

The soft glow of the lamp. Everybody loves Raymond. A glass of wine and blogger.

I am so glad I am back on track.

I have really missed this time that I take to reflect on our day. When I didn't make myself do it I never felt like I truly unwound from the day.

Now I sit and look back on the day and prepare for the next day.

It is good for my soul.

Even if it means nothing. Even if it is about nothing. Even if nobody is out there reading it.

It is my time that I make myself take for me.

Today I bought Texas A&M football tickets for us.

Jackson has been begging to go to a game for a couple of years now. We decided that we would go this year as an early birthday present.

He is so excited.

So are we!

7.24.11

2011-07-24T20:48:00.000-05:00

When I grow up...

I want to be...

Just like my dad.