The Landenberger Four

Quick Update

2011-09-13T12:59:00.004-05:00

Aaron started feeling side effects over the weekend (GI issues, severe abdominal pain). I felt really bad for him. He basically stayed on the couch all weekend. He felt better yesterday, but not 100% so he stayed home from work. He went in today and so far has felt okay. Still not 100%, but MUCH better than Saturday. Our street had a block party Saturday evening out in our cul-de-sac and he didn't get to go out and enjoy it. The boys and I had a wonderful time--kids were FILTHY! I'm surprised the bath water didn't turn black the night! Great time was had by all. Really enjoyed meeting all the neighbors. It really created a great vibe along the whole street. Hope we do it again soon so Aaron can go. It would have been a lot more fun if I had gotten to share it with him.

Right now, we are waiting to hear from Lackland AFB (San Antonio) about orders to move us back to Texas. There is a "patient squadron" there that he will be assigned to, but obviously we need to be in Houston, so we are working on getting that squared away with tremendous efforts from his old boss in Houston. (Thanks, Mr. Hess!) :) Will keep ya'll posted on that as I get more information. I don't have any idea when this might happen, but we both have VERY mixed feelings about it. If you had asked me a year ago if I would ever choose anywhere else on Earth to live besides Texas (if I were given the choice), I would have laughed in your face. But now that we have been in California for 6 months...I LOVE it here. Our neighbors are the BEST, hands down. The weather is incredible--our kids can be outside playing almost every day of the year. There is so much to do here--and a lot we haven't gotten to do that I really wanted to do in our 4 years here. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to live here forever. But we at least wanted 4 years. That being said, with regard to Aaron's health, I feel we will be in much better hands at MD Anderson. Honestly, UCLA has not instilled much confidence in us that they are doing the very best to treat Aaron's illness. I know at this point MD Anderson will do the same treatment (Yervoy) that UCLA is doing, but it's the patient "care" at UCLA that makes us question their ability to do the very best. MD Anderson is the #1 cancer treatment facility; UCLA falls in at #10. We have seen the difference between #1 and #10. And this just isn't cutting it. We are understandably scared, and we need the best right now. Okay, I'll get off my soap box. :) Like I said, I will keep you all informed on what I find out regarding Aaron's medical reassignment. (This turned out a lot longer than I intended!) Have a blessed day!

The News We Were Expecting...

2011-08-27T20:32:00.005-05:00

I'm just going to blurt it out...it's Melanoma. Aaron had the biopsy on Wednesday, and he had an appointment to start immunotherapy infusions on Friday. We're still not sure why they made the appointment when they didn't know whether the pathology report would be back yet. We are pretty frustrated with the lack of communication that goes on at UCLA. Someone in the office where the infusions take place called on Thursday to confirm the appointment, and when Aaron asked if the biopsy results were in--because why would we start the treatment if the biopsy came back negative for melanoma--the lady "looked it up" and said, yes, the results are back. We were quite surprised by this because this was only about 24 hours after the biopsy took place. So...she obviously couldn't tell us what the results were--that has to be done by a doctor, so we asked if she could have the doctor call us. We never heard anything. We went in Friday morning for the scheduled (but unneeded) infusion appointment, and since we didn't have biopsy results yet, we spoke to the doctor first (Dr. Chmielowski--pronounced Him-a-lou-ski). He told us Aaron would not be starting the Yervoy infusion (which is immunotherapy, not chemotherapy as some genius at UCLA misinformed us) because the biopsy results were not back yet and probably would not be until Monday. We were obviously very anxious before we spoke with the doctor and I am almost glad we didn't have any news at that point because it gave us the clarity to ask Dr. C all the questions we needed to ask. We also had time to relax and just put this out of our minds until Monday. Let's just enjoy our weekend, is what we decided.

Then we got the call that confirmed our suspicions. Dr. Chmielowski called around 4:30 on Friday afternoon and said that yes, the cells they took in the biopsy tested positive for melanoma. However, they were not able to perform the genetic mutation analysis that they needed to do in order to determine if Aaron could get the latest drug that was just approved by the FDA last week (Zelboraf) because the cells they took out were dead cells. Which, in my understanding, means that Aaron's body is already fighting this nasty disease and is killing them off. Even without the immunotherapy. As I said, that is what I took away from that--I am not a doctor, so I could be totally wrong. But we are ready to fight whatever remains in his body with healthy diet and the Yervoy treatments.

Aaron will begin the Yervoy immunotherapy infusions on Monday at 2pm. It takes 90 minutes to receive a full dose, and he will receive the doses every 3 weeks for 4 total doses. (So a total of 12 weeks.) The side effects of the therapy are very minimal especially when compared with traditional chemotherapies. There won't be any hair loss, nausea, lethargy or other completely debilitating side effects. The most severe could be some gastro-intestinal issues and potentially a skin rash. This will be quite appreciated as the Interferon treatments he received last October were very rough, with respect to side effects. At the end of the doses, they will perform another CT scan to see if anything remains. It WILL be gone! God WILL see us through this!

I am completely humbled and overwhelmed at the amount of prayers being lifted up on our behalf. We want you all to know that we love and appreciate every single one of you, and your prayers are not going unheard! We feel God's presence every minute of every day! I will never be able to express how thankful I am that you all care so much about my husband and our family. Thank you thank you thank you! Praise be to God, our Great Physician!

What we're facing...

2011-08-23T11:57:00.013-05:00

I have been dreading writing this post for a couple of weeks now, but I want all of you to know what is going on right now and I thought this would be the best way to make sure everyone knows all the information I have about this ugly monster that is rearing its head in our lives again.

Just to recap: As most of you know, about a year ago (almost exactly), Aaron was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma. He had surgery to remove a cancerous mole from his back as well as 2 lymph nodes to determine whether it had spread to those lymph nodes. One of the lymph nodes came back with less than 10 cells testing positive for melanoma. So the good people at MD Anderson performed a 2nd surgery on him to remove all of the lymph nodes from his left side. They all cam back free and clear of cancer. He also underwent 4 weeks of immunotherapy infusions to further combat any rogue cells that may have been lurking in his body. We got through that and put all of this behind us. He goes to the dermatologist every 3 months to get checked for moles, and he also has to have regular CT scans to look for any masses in his body. Which brings us to the last 4 months...

Back in April just after we moved to California, he had a CT scan at UCLA Medical Center, which is where his doctor at MD Anderson referred him to. They found a couple of spots on his lungs that had not been there before (both were 4mm in size), so they said it could just be an infection, so we'll do another scan in 3 months to see if they are still there and whether there has been any change. Which brings us to the last 2 weeks...

On August 9 (Tuesday) he went in for his CT scan. On August 10, he went in to go over the results with his doctor. The spots in his lungs have grown, one is now 7mm and the other is 12mm. Panic immediately set in (for us anyway, not for the seemingly incompetent staff at UCLA Medical Center--don't even get me started on them), and my mom flew out on Thursday and Aaron's mom got here on Friday. My mom stayed that weekend, and Aaron's mom is still here to help with the boys and whatnot while we go to appointments and make decisions. Aaron had a brain MRI last week that came back normal, which means nothing has spread there, thank God. But the big indicator of what our next move is will be the biopsy he is having tomorrow morning. The biopsy is on the actual spots on his lungs and will determine whether it is an infection or we are dealing with cancer. We are obviously praying for the former, but with his history, it's most likely the latter. He already has an appointment scheduled to begin chemo infusions on Friday. I'm not sure why they are beginning the infusions when we may not even have the results of the biopsy by then, but maybe they just want to be ready for it. We're not sure when we'll have the results of the biopsy. I assume they'll tell us tomorrow when we go for the biopsy. The chemo they will be doing is Yervoy, and there is also a new drug that was just approved by the FDA (you've probably seen it on the news in the past week or so) to treat melanoma. It's called Zelboraf, and they are talking about doing that too. You can click on both of those links to learn more about the treatments.

Another possibility is that if the biopsy comes back saying it is cancer, we do have the option of returning to MD Anderson in Houston. We have already been consulting with his doctors there and we want to be treated by the best. I think what will happen is that if they have a different plan of attack than UCLA does, we will go with theirs. We're not sure of the logistics of getting back to Houston right now, we are just trying to make one decision at a time.

Please pray that we will be strong but at peace during this time. The scary part of the biopsy is that the outcome is already decided. It's not like a test you can study for and either ace it or fail it. God already knows whether there is cancer in my husband's body, we just have to wait and find out ourselves, and then be ready for battle if needed. We are ready to fight and we will win. I will accept no less than a win. Thank you all for your support and constant prayer. I know God is hearing those prayers and He will take care of us in our time of need. We love you all, and we could not do this without you.

I will try to keep this updated frequently so that you all know what is happening. I will post on Facebook any time I do an update on here so if you are on Facebook, you will see there when there is something else to read.

Oh my, it's been a while...

2011-03-22T15:50:00.002-05:00

Oops! I have obviously let this blog go to the wayside a bit. Oh well, better late than never. Not making any promises, but I am going to try to revive this thing. Starting with...

I am now a California girl! And no, I do not wear Daisy Dukes with a bikini on top. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit! We have made it to our next adventure in our Air Force life. Aaron is now stationed at Los Angeles AFB in El Segundo. I am quickly falling in love with this place. It is absolutely gorgeous here! We can see the water and Catalina Island out our back door--amazing! This was a hard move to make considering we are Texans and always will be, and we made such a great life in League City. But I have felt God's presence comforting me throughout the whole process of getting here. Before we moved here, I had never even visited California, so this was quite a scary jump. And I'm still scared, but it has been such a great experience thus far. We have absolutely wonderful neighbors! We live in a cul-de-sac, and literally within 30 seconds of us driving up to our house when we rolled into town, our kids were playing with the neighbor kids. They've been having a blast.

Our trip out here couldn't have gone any better. The kids did great on the road--such little troopers! And Boone did great too! We left our house in League City on March 11 (after a good cry) in 2 separate cars and drove to my mom's in Celina. Trent rode with me, and Drew rode with Aaron. We spent the night there and the next morning, a lot of our family members came over for breakfast/brunch and to say our goodbyes before we went further on our journey. A great time was had by all, and the only time I cried was when my sister and my new brother-in-law had to leave to go meet with their realtor. They just got married on February 25 after being together for 5 (or 6?) years, and I am so saddened that I can't be right there close to them to share in this special time in their new life together. They are currently searching for a house to buy, so keep them in your prayers. We do get to Skype with them frequently so that helps!

We took off from my mom's some time Saturday afternoon (this time, both boys rode with Aaron so I could get some quiet time!) and headed for Lubbock to stay with our best friends, Laura and Kyle (and Garrett and Carson). We stayed there a couple of nights because we wanted to take our boys to the Tech campus and take pictures. I really envy Laura and Kyle being in Lubbock and getting to take their boys to games. All 8 of us went to eat lunch at Spanky's on Sunday and then we went over to the campus and walked around to all the different landmarks that Trent has read about in his "Hello, Masked Rider" book. He knew what all of them were. The weather was perfect! We took tons of pictures, and it was one of the best days I have had in a while. To be able to walk around my alma mater with my best friend and watch our kids play together...wow. That's a memory I will always cherish. We went to Red Raider Outfitter to see if there was anything we just couldn't live without (Trent got a really cool hat), and then we went to The Arrogant Texan (quite appropriate--love it!), which is a candy store right across from campus. They have Amy's Ice Cream, which is made in Austin, and they have so many awesome flavors--even Shiner Bock and Guinness! Aaron got the Shiner ice cream and I tried it--I am not a beer drinker, but if Shiner tasted like that ice cream, I would drink the heck out of it!

Monday morning, we got up and headed for Albuquerque. Both boys rode with me that day. As soon as we got there, we headed for Aaron's sister Jenn's new kid's play club, Red Light Green Light, so our boys could play with their cousins. The place has really turned out great, and I am so proud of Jenn for having this vision and making it happen! Trent, Drew, Kody, and Jaxson had a great time together. We had good old Dion's pizza (Aaron's absolute fave) for dinner, and Jenn made us "Bull's Eyes" for breakfast Tuesday morning--yum! We weren't there very long, but we packed a lot of fun and catching up into that very short time.

After breakfast, we got in the car to head for Florence, AZ (Drew with me, Trent with Aaron), where Aaron's mom just built a house. Literally--they just moved in March 1st, so we were their first guests. The house looks amazing, and they have a great playground in their neighborhood that we took the boys to Tuesday evening. Again, we weren't there very long, but we had a great time, and we are glad we are a bit closer to Sally and Dennis so we can visit a little more often!

Wednesday morning was our last and longest day of driving--450 miles from Florence to San Pedro. Whew! I sure was glad to be out of that car!

So, 1800 miles later, we are now living in California. I never imagined I would live in California, but I am so glad to be here! Come to think of it, I also never imagined I would be glad to be here! Aaron and I have talked about how much League City meant to us. So much about who we are was formed in League City. We bought our first house there, had our 2nd (and probably last) child there, we found and fell in love with our church and both grew in our relationship with Christ, Aaron was diagnosed with and overcame Stage III melanoma...the list goes on and on. Yet here we are on the next leg of our journey, and we're so happy to be here, and I am so glad I have him to do this with! More soon...

Video: Happy Trails

2010-06-03T14:00:00.002-05:00

Am I on top of stuff or what?! This stuff just happened TODAY and I'm already done blogging about it! There are several posts below.

Video: Goodbye Kindergarten (to the tune of "The Mickey Mouse Club" theme song)

2010-06-03T13:56:00.002-05:00

Video: I Just Can't Wait For 1st Grade (to the tune of "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from The Lion King)

2010-06-03T13:48:00.002-05:00

Video: The Kindergarten Class (to the tune of "The Addams Family")

2010-06-03T13:44:00.002-05:00

Video: Nursery Rhyme Rap

2010-06-03T13:40:00.002-05:00

Kindergarten Graduation/End of the Year Hawaiian Luau

2010-06-03T12:56:00.003-05:00

Today was an emotional day for me. I watched my first-born complete the milestone of getting through his kindergarten year. I cannot express how proud I am of him. I am also very freaked out by how quickly this school year passed by! It makes me scared that the next 12 years are going to go by as quickly as this one did, and before I know it, he will be heading off to college and becoming a man. I'm not ready for that! But people, it's coming!

This year has been such a wonderful opportunity for my Trent. He got to go to a brand spankin' new school and if we were staying here indefinitely, he would be a part of the first class to go all the way from Kindergarten through 12th grade in the Education Village. What an honor to be part of that! I wish we could stay here forever. But the Air Force obviously has different plans for us.

Trent also had the privilege of having who I think is one of the best teachers I have ever met, for his introduction into his school years. Mrs. Nicole Duckett is simply the BEST there is! I can't say enough good things about her. She has truly been my dream-come-true teacher for Trent.

Trent has become an awesome reader, writer, story-teller, scientist, and just an overall great person. I'm so excited for what the future has in store for this boy. Now let's get to the pictures from this momentous occasion!

They had a presentation first, where the kids sang songs that they have been practicing, and then everyone headed back to their respective classrooms to celebrate with diplomas, awards, and food!

Class of 2022 Kindergarten graduation--the first at Mossman Elementary

I told Drew to say "cheese" and this is what I got! LOL

4 of the 6 Kindergarten teachers (Mrs. Duckett is the 2nd from the right)

Principal Stephanie McBride

He caught sight of his Bubba, and his face just lit up! :)

The whole Kinder class

My sweet boy!

Back in the classroom

Trent got the "Awesome Achiever" award! So proud of him!

Kindergarten diploma and Awesome Achiever award

Chowing down

Trent and Mrs. Duckett :)

Trent and Jackie, sittin' in a tree! :) I was remarking on how cute they are, and Jackie's dad said, "Yeah, it's cute now, but in a few years, watch out!" LOL!

Me and my big baby and my little baby!

Soccer party Spring 2010

2010-06-03T12:46:00.002-05:00

The FC Rockets had an end of season party and trophy presentation last Thursday (May 27th) at Mr. Gatti's. Here are a few pictures from the evening...

Trent with Coach Rick and Coach Sean

Coach Rick, our "team Mom" Rachel (she rocks!), and Coach Sean

The boys dancing

Drew dancing

Trent, Jayden, and Drew

3 visits from the Tooth Fairy

2010-06-03T12:34:00.002-05:00

Trent has now had 3 visits from the tooth fairy!

The top 2 adult teeth are coming in!

Urgh! This is a long post!

2010-06-01T13:28:00.011-05:00

I am so not doing well keeping up with this blog. We have been sooooo busy lately! I swear, once your kids are in school, May is just another Christmas-time-in-hiding...except you don't get any presents! Ha ha. We've been having lots of fun, and I absolutely CANNOT believe that Trent's kindergarten year is almost over! How did this happen?!

I totally missed posting about our trip to Florida for the shuttle launch. Back in April, we flew out to FL to meet Aaron (who had been there for a few weeks preparing his payload to go on the shuttle). My mom drove down to Houston to fly with the boys and me, thank goodness. I would not have made it without her! Aaron's mom and sister and our nephew flew out there too. We had such a great time. We stayed in a condo right on the beach and woke up every day to some of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever witnessed. And of course, the shuttle launch was pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen!

This is a crappy picture because we have a crappy camera, but let's face it...no picture will ever do justice to seeing it in person!

I want to go back and see another launch! As soon as it was over (which was very quickly), I immediately wanted more. Too bad the shuttle is being retired. :( We are going to try to go to maybe the last launch, just Aaron and I. And he won't be working for that one, so I may actually get to see him while we're in Florida! :) I didn't see him much while we were there, other than the day of the launch. We woke up at 1am that day to go get on the shuttle bus over to the VIP viewing area (pretty much the closest you can be to the launch pad without having your eyebrows singed off!) so we spent the rest of that day just recovering from being up so early. Poor Trent didn't take a nap all day, so during dinner he fell asleep at the restaurant in his chair, in the middle of eating a roll! It was quite funny! Moving on because I have a lot to cover...

Trent's class field day was May 7. Fun, fun, fun, and the weather was pretty perfect. Aaron got to go with us too, which was an awesome bonus. Now that his shuttle payload is done, he has lots more time to be with us for fun stuff like that.

Potato sack race!

Trent's class won the Spirit Award! Out of 6 kindergarten classes! I was so proud!

On May 14, my sister graduated from the Collin College Dental Hygiene program! Since it was a Friday and Trent had school, Drew and I drove up to Dallas that Thursday evening and got to attend the pinning ceremony. She has waited for and worked toward this day for a long time, and I could not be more proud of her! She ROCKS! Today is her birthday, and she is also starting her 1st day as a dental hygienist. I can't even begin to describe what this huge step means for her. Did I mention I am super proud of her?! :)

My beautiful sister Traci with her 1st place Table Clinic award and also the Golden Scaler Award! (Google it--it's a BIG deal in the hygiene world!)

Granny, Mom, Traci, and me

On May 20, Trent's class went on a field trip to Space Center Houston. I volunteered to be a chaperone and was in charge of these 3 sweet boys...

Aidan, Trent, and Bodin

Seriously, when I saw the list of what kids went with which chaperone, I said, "Yes! I got the quiet ones!" :) We had lots of fun, and they were all so well-behaved. Trent got to volunteer to see what it's like living in space! Here he is, "sleeping" in space...

The very next day (the 21st), we headed back up to Dallas to go to the Jimmy Buffett concert on May 22. We went with my sister, her boyfriend John, and my aunt and uncle, Donna and Kenneth. We tailgated before the concert and had so much fun, drinking margaritas, eating chips for dinner--LOL--and talking. The concert was awesome...it was my first time seeing Jimmy, as well as Aaron's, Traci's, and John's. Donna and Kenneth are big parrotheads so they have seen him several times. Here's a few pics from tailgating. I didn't get good pictures during the concert because we were kind of far from the stage...we didn't care though! :)

Me and my hubby

Me, Donna, and Traci

Traci and Aaron

Donna and Kenneth

John eating something, I think!

And one more quick photo...On May 26, Trent's soccer team--the FC Rockets--along with their siblings and some friends, got the opportunity to play soccer with 3 of the players from the MLS team, the Houston Dynamo. How cool! The 3 players were #16 Craig Waibel, #2 Eddie Robinson, and #5 Danny Cruz. They were really good with the kids. They ran some drills with the kiddos, and then the 3 of them took on about 20 kids in a game. It was hysterical--they had the adults cracking up, and the kids had SO much fun! Anyway, here's a picture of the guys with Trent's soccer team (plus a few extra kids).

And that's all I will write for now...More to come...I hope! :)

Running

2010-03-12T12:17:00.002-06:00

I obviously have not kept up with my blog for anything, and that includes the progress I have made in running. I have actually worked my way up to running for 30 minutes without stopping. The other day I ran outside for the first time (I usually run on the treadmill), and it went great. On the treadmill, I usually only get about 2.5 miles in 30 minutes. So I was quite nervous about ever running a 5K because I didn't want to embarrass myself. But I knew that running outside was completely different. I wanted to get a baseline for running a 5K, so I mapped out a 3 mile route on Map My Run. I was finished in 32 minutes! I was so proud of myself. I guess I have been holding myself back on the treadmill. It really is a mental thing. But when you don't know how fast you're going when you're outside, you can surprise yourself. And I totally did! I was shocked when I looked at my watch when I was done, especially because I felt like I was crawling at some points when I was running into the wind.

So...my next step will be to run a 5K. I haven't decided when I will do that, but as soon as I find one and sign up for it, I will be sure to write about it here!

Shuttle launch

2010-03-11T17:06:00.003-06:00

This has been in the works for quite some time, but I have not had time to blog about it. But I am so excited--we are going to Florida from April 1-6 to see the STS-131 launch of space shuttle Discovery!

Aaron's payload that he has been working on for it seems like forever is going up on this shuttle. I can't even tell you how many hours he has spent on this--being out of town almost every other week, "getting off work" only to come home and work for the rest of the evening and weekends via computer and phone...he has sacrificed a lot to get this done. Don't ask me what it is though, because I have no idea! :) Most of what my husband does is way over my head! All I know is that it is a DOD-approved science experiment. That is the extent of my knowledge. Hee hee!

Anyway, so he has to go to KSC (Kennedy Space Center) on March 22, and we will be joining him April 1. My mom is coming down here to Houston to fly with the boys and me (thank goodness--I was not looking forward to flying alone with 2 children), and we will be meeting Aaron's mom and sister Jenn and our nephew Kody there. We have a few days to do some fun stuff with the kids, and then the launch is on April 5 at 6:30am. I am PRAYING that it doesn't slip because planning this trip has taken a lot of effort and time. If we get there and don't get to see the launch before we have to come home on the 6th, I am going to be so upset! This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for us, and I am so excited that it is something Trent will actually remember. How cool is it that he will be able to say he saw one of the last shuttle launches ever! And we are so excited to get to share this with our families. We haven't seen Jenn and her family in a few years, so they have never met Drew in person. It's going to be such a fun trip! Can't wait!

Losing teeth

2010-02-26T16:38:00.006-06:00

Trent has now lost 2 teeth! He lost the first one on December 30.

He really started to talk with a lisp after he lost the first one. It was so cute!! He may still do it, but it may not be as noticeable to me anymore.

The second one he lost was at the Houston Marathon that Aaron ran on January 17. This is him when we first got there, waiting for Daddy to cross the finish line...

You have to look really close, but you can see that there's still only one tooth missing. After Aaron was done with the marathon, we were all hanging out celebrating, and I gave Trent a crunchy granola bar. That must have been when the tooth came out. We had some friends there that we hadn't seen in a while and we told Trent to show them his missing tooth. So he did, and I did a double take and said, "Where is your other tooth?!" Apparently it's somewhere in downtown Houston...or he swallowed it. Only God knows! So this is him after we realized the tooth was gone.

So...what do you do about leaving your tooth under your pillow for the tooth fairy when you have no tooth? This is what parenting is all about...improvisation! We had Trent write a letter to the tooth fairy explaining the situation. Here's what it said:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I lost a tooth. No really, I lost my tooth. I cannot find my tooth.

Love,

Trent

HYSTERICAL!!! I love that son of mine!

Kindergarten Drama

2010-02-23T16:08:00.003-06:00

I know I haven't blogged in FOREVER, but I just had to write this story down so I could have a record of it.

I went to Trent's school today to volunteer and to take some boxes of Kleenex to his teacher. As I was walking to the classroom, they were on their way out to go to recess. I stopped to say hi to Trent and I could tell something was wrong, so I asked him what was wrong. He didn't really respond. About that time, Mrs. Duckett was passing by me and said, "Lover's quarrel." (Trent has a girlfriend in his class named Jackie. They've been an "item" for quite some time.) I just said, "Uh-oh" and went on to the classroom to drop off the Kleenex's. Mrs. Duckett came back in real quick while I was in there, so I asked her what happened. She said she wasn't really sure but apparently they were yelling at each other at lunch. So I went on about my volunteering and she came and found me a little while later and said, "Ok, I got the scoop at recess!" :) Trent had to sit out for a few minutes (because he was talking--surprise), so while he was sitting there, she said he looked so sad so she asked him what happened with Jackie. He started crying! He said that Jackie said Ethan was her boyfriend and not Trent anymore. Mrs. Duckett told him that she loves him and his mommy loves him, and it's going to be okay. I went to the classroom later to talk to her about something else, and the kids were in there so I got to see Trent and give him a hug, and he actually seemed fine at that point.

Fast forward to a few minutes ago when Trent got home. He told me that he had a little trouble today, but that it was all worked out now.

Me: "Oh? What happened?"
Trent: "Jackie changed her boyfriend to Ethan, but then Ethan changed it back."
Me: "How did she change her boyfriend?"
Trent: "She did Eeny Meeny Miney Moe, and it was Ethan." (I about fell out of my chair at this point laughing!)
Me: "So how did it end up?"
Trent: "Ethan told Jackie, 'I'm not yours', so it changed back to me."

Sounds like Ethan is a pretty good friend! :)

All because of an ill-fated game of Eeny Meeny Miney Moe!

I promise I will catch up with my blogging soon!

Week 1--Done!

2009-12-20T14:22:00.002-06:00

1 week down, 7 to go in my beginner's running program.

I already posted Days 1 and 2, so I'll start with Day 3...

Day 3--12/15 Tuesday
Run 1 min, Walk 2 min, repeat 10x=total 30 minutes
On the treadmill--I went 2.27 miles and burned 227 calories.

Day 4--12/16 Wednesday
Walk 30 minutes
On the treadmill--1.92 miles, burned 173 calories.

Day 5--12/17 Thursday
Run 1 min, Walk 2 min, repeat 10x=total 30 minutes
On the treadmill--2.32 miles, burned 235 calories

Day 6--12/18 Friday
Run 1 min, Walk 2 min, repeat 10x=total 30 minutes
On the treadmill--2.37 miles, burned 246 calories

Day 7--12/19 Saturday
Rest

Weight loss: -2 or 3 lbs. (I fluctuate about this much anyway, so I'm not sure if it's actually weight that I've lost, or just fluctuation.)

I feel pretty good so far. I increased my speed just a tad on my "run" days. I feel like I could push myself a little more when I'm running, but I'm taking it easy so I don't overdo it.

The quote for the week in the article is this...

"Sit as little as possible. Give no credence to any thought that was not born outdoors while moving about freely." --Friedrich Nietzsche

I don't know about the outdoors part because it's been a little chilly lately, :) but I'm trying to follow the "sit as little as possible" part. I tend to get in ruts where I feel like all I do is sit...in front of the TV, in front of the computer (which is what I'm doing now!). And then nothing gets done around the house--the laundry and dishes pile up, the house is a mess...and then I get so overwhelmed that I don't know where to start to get any of it done. It's a vicious cycle. So I'm trying to keep moving. I may be exhausted at the end of the day, and I may not get it all done, but if I just keep moving, something is bound to get done! :) Okay, enough deep thought...time to get moving!

Halfway to 1st Grade

2009-12-18T14:55:00.003-06:00

I didn't really think of this as a milestone. But when Trent came home from school today, it hit me...he's halfway through his kindergarten year. How can that be possible? It seriously seems like maybe a month ago that I was fighting back tears as I dropped him off for his first day. I know I'll be saying that again at the end of the year, and again at the end of every school year after that. He brought home a bag full of things that he's worked on this first semester, and it makes me so proud. There were a couple of gifts in there that he made in class (with a little help from his teacher--you can tell she put a lot of time into them). There were 2 ornaments that are so perfect and so touching. It's reasons like this that I adore his teacher. Mrs. Duckett has been wonderful to him and to me. I try to help her out as much as I can because I truly appreciate everything she does for her students. She is an incredible teacher with such a passion for what she does. It seems to come so naturally to her. I appreciate her more than she'll ever know. And Trent adores her too.

I'm so proud of my kindergartener! He's so smart and creative and funny and sweet!!

New Year's Resolution

2009-12-14T10:34:00.003-06:00

I'm starting my resolutions early. I have 2...1.) To become a runner, and 2.) To start sewing.

I am getting a sewing machine for Christmas, so as soon as I get to open it, I'll be on my way to that. It actually arrived last week, but Aaron is old-fashioned and wants me to open it on Christmas morning, so he is going to wrap it and make me wait till then. The box is sitting in our bedroom, and I'm just itching to open it up! I don't plan on doing anything fancy to start out. I have taken the beginner's class at JoAnn's, and you make a pillow case in that class, so the first thing I'd like to make is another pillow case for Aaron. I'd also like to take some more classes at JoAnn's. They always have cute home decor projects to do.

As for the running, my goal for 2010 is to be able to run a 5K without stopping in under 30 minutes. I have no idea what most people run a 5K in, but I thought 30 minutes was a nice round number to start with. I have never been much of a runner...honestly, I hate running. But I'm going to try to start liking it. Aaron is running his 2nd marathon in a little over a month (the Houston Marathon), and he inspires me. Not that I want to be running any marathons any time soon because he runs a 5K in like 22, maybe 23 minutes, and thinks nothing of it. And I'm nowhere near that. Maybe someday. But I'm starting small and I'll set new goals as soon as I'm comfortable. So I have started the Runner's World Beginning Runner's Training Program. The article sets a small goal of running 2 miles in 30 minutes...but I can walk more than that in 30 minutes, so I'm not going to worry about distance yet. I am, however, going to record what distance I go every day. (I love my Samsung Blackjack--I typed in all the workouts into it so I don't have to look at the article every day, and I am typing in my "stats" every day too.) I will also do weekly weigh-ins on Sundays, since that is part of why I want to do this too. I am not going to tell you how much I weigh now, but I will post any weight loss that occurs. :) I don't really have a specific weight loss goal, but anywhere around 15 pounds would be freakin' fantastic!

Day 1--12/13 Sun.
Weight loss: 0
Run 1 min, Walk 2 min, Repeat 10x = total 30 minutes
I went 2.28 mi, treadmill said I burned 231 calories

Day 2--12/14 Mon.
Walk 30 min
Took Drew out in the stroller. Ended up being about 35 minutes by the time we got back to the house. Tracked my route on Map My Run--1.95 mi

From now on, I'll try and post my "results" on Sundays, so I can look at it week by week.

Now it's Drew's teeth

2009-12-04T13:58:00.002-06:00

Drew has 3 more teeth, for a grand total of 8! He finally got the other lateral incisor on the top so he's not lobsided anymore. He now has all 4 incisors on the top, as well as his 2 first-year molars on the top, which are just barely poked through. On the bottom, he still just has his 2 central incisors. Slowly, but surely...

Teeth

2009-11-23T07:50:00.003-06:00

You may think I am going to talk about Drew's teeth in this post, but you would be wrong! Trent is sooooo close to losing his 2 front teeth! They have been loose since at least April when my sister noticed it when she was cleaning his teeth (she went back to school to be a dental hygienist). Actually his 2 top and 2 bottom ones are loose, but the top ones are much looser than the bottom ones. I noticed yesterday that there was a huge gap between his 2 top front teeth, so I looked in there and started wiggling them, and they are so loose that there is a gap between them. Crazy! My baby is growing up!

I snapped this this morning just to record how big the gap is. He wasn't really cooperating well because I was interrupting him watching Sid the Science Kid on PBS kids, but you can see the gap.

And in case you are wondering about Drew's teeth, he still just has 5 of them! The 6th one is coming through. I can see it under the gums, but it just hasn't poked through. Trent had way more teeth by this point (almost 16 months), so I don't know what is going on with Drew's teeth, but the doctor said not to worry. I have a feeling that one of these days, all of his teeth are going to come in at the same time, and it is going to be quite stressful around here!

MOMS Club Pumpkin Party 2009

2009-11-01T20:09:00.004-06:00

Today was our MOMS Club Halloween party and we had such a great time! Some pictures from the day...

The kids had a great time doing self-face-painting! (It gets worse!)

Drew was so good pretty much the whole time. I am on the party committee so I had to help out some, which is hard when you have an active toddler. But as another mom and I both agreed...to keep them happy, just keep food in front of them! :) (At least for her and my chubby babies!)

You didn't know zebras liked to eat goldfish, did you? :) (Please excuse the massive amounts of mosquito bites on his sweet little face. I didn't realize we needed bug spray until we were around the block from our house last night! Just hand me my Mom of the Year Award!) :)

Yeah, so I'm minding my own business at the party, just chatting away with other moms, Trent seems awfully quiet over at the face painting table, but whatever, he's happy...then I hear him say, "Hey, Mommy!" I turn around to find everyone around me looking at me, ready to see my reaction, and I find this standing in front of me. *sigh*

Tank (Batman) and Trent (Ironman) joining forces to fight against evil...with extremely painted faces

We decided to attempt taking a picture of the members of our 1 yr. old's playgroup that were able to make it to the party. Hilarity ensues...

Marisa, Drew, Caroline, Kyle (in the back being chased by Marisa's mom Chris), and Chloe

Herding cats

Notice 2 of the 3 girls have not moved the whole time, bless their little hearts. Caroline (in the white) looks she could just chill there all day.

So as we were leaving, I spoke to the mom who brought the face paint to the party (Susan), and she said that baby wipes should take off the face paint. She had let her daughter Anna paint her face and the baby wipe took it right off. But Anna did not do this to her face! Anna is the sweetest, cutest, most well-behaved little girl I have ever met. So I knew we were going to need something heavy duty. And I had a feeling my old friend Mary Kay would come to the rescue with their Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover.

This is before...

And this is after I used the eye makeup remover...I love Mary Kay!!

What a great Halloween we had! We missed Aaron, but we took lots of pictures for him to see when he gets back on Tuesday. Can't wait to see him!

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T20:59:00.004-05:00

We had a successful outing this evening. Aaron is out of town, so I was a little worried about how I would manage both boys out and about. But Drew was happy as can be in the stroller the whole time, and of course Trent ran from house to house getting as much candy as possible. This year, Trent was Ironman and Drew was a zebra. We had a great time! Here are a few pics from our trick-or-treating adventure...

Drew is not the best at posing for pictures :)

Cute little zebra!

My tough guy

Here comes the candy!

After we got back

His cute little tail!

Updates

2009-10-29T13:52:00.002-05:00

Drew has been doing so many new things lately, and I don't even remember what the last update on him was, so I'll just say what's on my mind. He just turned 15 months and I read somewhere that doctors say 15 months is a big "milestone month". And from all the new things he's picked up in just the last few days, I believe it! He hasn't been saying much, but he is slowly starting to say more and more. Let me see if I can think of all the things he is saying...
--"Dada" (he says this a lot!)
--"Mama" (rarely!)
--"Hi"/"hello"
--"More" (he also does the sign for this, which he must have learned at MDO b/c we didn't teach it to him!)
--"Boone" (our dog)
--I think he's saying "Trent" and/or "Bubba" (my nickname for Trent)
--His MDO teachers told me yesterday that he said "outside" and "trick or treat"! They went trick or treating at MDO yesterday. I haven't heard him say "outside", but I did get him to say "trick or treat", which sounds like "dit tee". LOL

I'm sure there's more that I'm not remembering right now, but hey, that's what you get with the 2nd kid! :)

Drew currently only has 5 teeth! He got the 1st one at 9 months, the 2nd at 10 months, the 3rd and 4th at 11 months, and the 5th just after he turned 13 months. I can see at least one more below the gumline that will probably come in soon, but I guess he is just going to take his time getting teeth! Meanwhile, Trent has 4 loose teeth, so I'm sure the tooth fairy will be visiting our house in the next few months.

Drew has also recently started giving kisses, which thrills me to no end! He started out giving full-on, open-mouth kisses, but he has toned it down a bit. :) I love sweet baby kisses!!

This boy also L.O.V.E.S. to dance! Any time he hears music, he stops what he's doing and starts bobbing his head or bouncing up and down and waving his arms around. I have yet to capture it on video, but if and when I do, I will be sure and post it.

Trent, my big boy who is growing up way too fast, is doing really well in school. Academically, he is excelling at everything. He loves to draw and he loves science, so first he told me he is going to be a scientist when he grows up. Then he asked, "Do you know what kind of scientist?" I said no. Then he said, "A paleontologist." :) Then the other day, he said he is going to be a scientist AND an artist because he's "really good at drawing". (And very modest, I might add!) He actually is a pretty good artist for a 5 year old!

We did have some issues with his behavior at the beginning of the school year (mostly, he just can't keep his mouth from running), but I think that's a normal part of starting school. The kids don't know what is expected of them in the beginning so they like to test the waters to see what they can get away with. But now, he has gotten it under control, and he is doing very well. I love his teacher, and she and I have worked together to make him the best student he can be.

I have been trying to volunteer at his school at least once a week while Drew is at MDO. I think he really likes seeing Mommy during the day. He always tells all his friends, "That's my mom!" I love getting to see him too! And I like getting to be in a school environment. I also have gotten to see my friend SuAnn (Raymond, for all you KD's that are reading this) almost every time I'm there since she teaches 1st grade at Mossman. We rarely get to see each other especially during the school year, even though we only live about 2 minutes from each other! So it's nice to get to chat with her for a second. :)

Well, that's all I can think of for now. I will try to be better at posting more often. Things just get crazy around here! I'll try to post pictures soon too.

Everyone have a happy Halloween!

Trent's First Day of Kindergarten

2009-08-25T10:08:00.008-05:00

On the way to school

In front of the school

Today was a big day. My baby boy went to kindergarten. I have thought about this day since the day he was born, and I cannot believe it's here. I'm not sad and I'm not scared...I'm just a little emotional because of this huge milestone--the beginning of his formal education. I'm so excited for him. I pray that he enjoys going to school as much as I did and appreciates what his teachers do for him.

Every morning, the students will meet in the gym before they are dismissed to go to their classrooms. So this morning, we walked down to the gym...

Trent and his buddy, Dominic

...and when they dismissed the kids, we walked with him down to his classroom where we said goodbye to him, wished him luck, and walked away.

It was a little hard, and I shed a few tears, but luckily Aaron was with me to give me hugs, and there are a few kids from Trent's preschool going to Mossman, and their moms are such a good support system to have. I don't know what I'd do without my Mommy friends!

In a couple of weeks, he'll be doing all that on his own--what a big boy! :)

After we dropped Trent off in his class, we went to the Boo Hoo Breakfast sponsored by the PTA. They had coffee, juice, donuts, etc. for all the kindergarten parents. They also had a ton of door prizes and while I would have preferred to win one of the mani/pedi gift certificates, or the $50 haircut gift certificate, I won 3 free tans at Sunkissed Tan (which I will probably never use, but that's okay!) At the breakfast, they had these little poems attached to a package of tissues. I thought the poem was really cute...

First Day of Kindergarten

Every one has a "first day"

when they feel sad and all alone.

It can be so scary

when you're out on your own.

And I know that a "first day"

can be full of doubts and fears,

But they're full of new beginnings.

Take my hankie, dry your tears.

You'll find lots of things to do

and you'll probably make new friends.

I promise we'll be together

when the school day ends.

Here comes the teacher

Blow your nose and be brave.

Come on now and wipe your eyes,

this is no way to behave.

Well, good morning teacher.

We really must beg your pardon.

No, MOMMY doesn't always act this way,

But it's my first day of....KINDERGARTEN!

I didn't read it until we were in the car on the way home. I got a kick out of that one, and then I read this one, which was given to me by one of Trent's friend's mom, who got it from her son's teacher. This one made me cry...

The First Day of Kindergarten

I gave you a little wink and smile

As you came in my room this day

For I know it's hard to leave

And know your child must stay

You've been with him for five years now

And have been a loving guide

But now, alas, the time has come

To leave him at my side

Just know that as you drive away

And tears down your cheeks may flow

I'll love him as I do my own

And help him learn and grow

So please put your mind at ease

And cry those tears no more

For I will love him and take him in

When you leave him at my door.

A video from Drew's 1st birthday party

2009-08-21T15:31:00.003-05:00

Here is a video of Drew eating his cake, ever so slowly, at his 1st birthday party. And in case you missed it, the pictures from his party are below in the previous post.

Drew's 1st birthday party

2009-08-21T13:45:00.010-05:00

We had Drew's 1st birthday party on August 1...I know, I'm a bit behind! But I am going to try to catch up soon because Trent is about to start KINDERGARTEN and I'm sure I'll have a lot to blog about! More on that later...

Here are some pics from Drew's 1st birthday party. We kept it very small. My mom and sister came down for it. Also in attendance were our friends Robert, Katie, Kennedy, and Riley Plunkett, and also our friends Mark Koeppen, Martha Duenas, and Dylan Koeppen.

The decorations and presents

Walking toward me

Sweet Riley

Boone is ready to party

Trent and Dylan watching something on Mark's ipod--they are obviously too cool for all this baby stuff! :)

Drew's smash cake

Gimme gimme gimme!

Ooo, fun!

Sweet baby boy!

We finally had to cut off a piece because he really didn't know what to do with that big ol' cake!

He loved squishing it in his hands!

Boone was dying to get some of that cake!

This is about the time he started rubbing it into his belly. We tried to tell him that the cake was not going to get in his tummy through his belly button!

I don't know what he was doing here, but I just thought this was hilarious!

There's his belly

Nice highlights

This one cracks me up too. Boone is waiting so patiently for something to drop on the floor...you can almost read his mind!

The cake for everyone else--it matched the invitations!

Ooo--presents!

Big brother testing the new toys

Hammering away!

This is what Aaron and I got him

Pictures from our trip to Pentwater

2009-08-14T11:55:00.002-05:00

I am trying to do this quickly because we are heading out of town AGAIN today to go to Port Aransas, TX for the weekend. But I wanted to FINALLY share our pictures from our wonderful trip to Pentwater, MI to visit Aaron's side of the family. We flew into Detroit and spent the 1st weekend at his Aunt Michele's house to celebrate cousin Evan's graduation from high school. Had a big party and lots of fun! Somehow, I didn't end up with very many pictures from Aunt Michele's house. Don't know how, but there are a few!

On Monday, we headed up to Pentwater for the rest of the week and had some more fun, as you can see from the pictures. We went down to the beach (although it was a little chilly). We went to a farm where we got to pet and feed all kinds of animals. Trent really loved that. Trent got to fish a little bit off the channel, we went on Sally and Dennis's boat, and Aaron and I got to go sailing. (Although I didn't do ANY of the work! I just sat there!) Anyway, I need to go pack the boys up for this weekend, so enjoy the pictures, and I will try to post pictures from Drew's birthday party (which was a couple of weeks ago--I'm so behind!) when we get back. And of course, I will post the pictures from this weekend! Can't wait to take my boys to one of my favorite places! :)

Birthday #1

2009-07-28T15:52:00.003-05:00

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, DREW-BUG!! I LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!

Went to get Drew's 1 year pictures done today at Portrait Innovations. Didn't spend as much money as I did last time, but still more than I planned. Why do my kids have to be so cute?! :) I just can't resist that face. Here's some of my favorites that I pulled off the CD.

Pictures from our trip to Michigan are coming soon...I promise! We've been soooo busy! Haven't had time!

4th of July fun and lots of "firsts"

2009-07-07T09:56:00.022-05:00

This could end up being a long post! We had a WONDERFUL weekend! We didn't really have anything solid planned to do for the 4th until my aunt Dottie popped up on Facebook chat around Tuesday and said, "Why don't ya'll come up to our house for the 4th?" That set everything in motion. She and my uncle Gary live in Ravenna, TX, which is maybe 5 miles from the Oklahoma border, if that much. They have an awesome place out there--it's so peaceful, and they have lots of land with 3 little ponds to fish in and a "saloon" where they have a pool table and other fun stuff to do. For a few years now, they have done a big fireworks show at their place. We've never been able to go and have always been disappointed at that. So when Dottie asked us to come, we didn't hesitate! We had the best time this weekend. I wasn't ready for it to end. Drew had a lot of firsts...first haircut, first real steps, and first 4th of July, of course!

Playing in the water with Grams--you can see how long his hair is. Over his ears!

First haircut--he did great!

He sticks his tongue out all the time now

Let go of my head!

All done!

Blow dry

Trent riding his bike where Mommy used to ride her bike for hours--up and down the driveway

Out at Dottie and Gary's

Elena (my cousin Vicki's daughter) and Trent playing in the pool

There's a shark in the pool!

Asa (Vicki's son) riding his bike

Grams and Drew

I could seriously just eat her up. She is SO cute! Elena with their pug puppy, Gizmo.

Aaron and Mom playing horseshoes

Me and my baby

Traci and John

My family

Drew has taken one step before he grabs onto me, but on Saturday, he took 5 whole steps at once! It was so exciting!

I love his face in this one!

Gotcha, Mom!

Traci and the boys

Trent and my cousin Rhett--Trent is Rhett's shadow! Follows him everywhere!

My beautiful cousin, Vicki

Drew and John

I don't know what's going on here! I just think this picture is funny!

Drew was drinking a bottle right before the fireworks started, and he put his bottle down when they started and was mesmerized! If you know my son, you know he doesn't put down a bottle till he has sucked it dry. So he must have been amazed!

I took 4 different videos of the fireworks show that Gary put on. They have 3 ponds on their land that are all in a row, and he lines up the fireworks along the back of the ponds and runs around lighting each one. These videos are pretty much back to back, I just didn't want them to take all day to upload to my blog, so I broke it up a little. Each video is about 2 minutes long. Drew was pretty much silent during the first video because he just couldn't believe his eyes, but you'll hear him mostly in the 2nd and 3rd ones just yelling at the top of his lungs because he was so excited at what he was seeing. Priceless! Gary did a great job on the fireworks, and I'm so glad we got to go! We always have the best time out at their place.

VBS and Aunt T & John's visit

2009-06-30T10:33:00.005-05:00

Trent has now completed 2 Vacation Bible Schools in back to back weeks. The first one was at First Baptist Church in Seabrook. On Friday evening of that week, they had a family night where the kids performed songs they had learned that week, and they got their certificates of completion. Traci and John came to visit us that weekend, so they got to go with us. I don't have any pictures of his 2nd week of VBS, but it was at Bay Harbour UMC (where his preschool was). He had a great time both weeks and learned a lot!

John, Traci, and Trent at family night--FBC Seabrook

Singing his little heart out

Concentrating really hard on Guitar Hero

Random pictures

2009-06-30T10:08:00.011-05:00

Don't ask me how he got a piece of cheese on his head! Maybe he's a Packers fan? I guess I'll have to teach him that we are Cowboys fans, and nothing else! :)

Trent's swim lessons--most of the pictures I took were of him putting his face in the water because I couldn't believe he was actually putting his face in the water! I'll spare you the repeats and just post one.

Too funny!

TWO teeth! (He now has 4, by the way, but he is so hard to get still enough for a picture these days!)

I don't want to sound conceited, but my kids are heartstoppingly adorable! :)

I'm gonna get you, big brother!

Wow

Aww!

Another anniversary and Pictures from the lake

2009-06-30T08:59:00.006-05:00

Yay! I found (well, actually Aaron did) our memory stick adapter! One quick side note--Sunday, as you know if you read my blog, was Aaron's and my 6 year anniversary. Well, I am celebrating another "anniversary" today--I have been a stay-at-home mom for a year now. This day last year was my last day of work--getting paid for it, at least! I love staying home with my boys and getting to see everything they're doing. So fun! Anyway, here come the pictures...

We went to Horseshoe Bay with our friends Conly, Amanda, and Ryder Gevecker and Wes, Rebecca, and Jacob Bowen the last weekend in May.

Drew stuffed into his life jacket

Trent and Conly driving the boat

Drew's hair is out of control!

My life!

Ryder with the wind in his hair

The boys in the water with Daddy

Drew LOVES the water! He's ready to swim!

Drew and Ryder at an AMAZING BBQ restaurant--George Bush goes there!

Drew, Ryder, and Jacob--I LOVE this picture and I LOVE these boys!

Daddy and Trent going tubin'

6 years!

2009-06-27T21:41:00.003-05:00

I know I say this every year, but I can't believe how much time has gone by. Our 6th anniversary is tomorrow (6/28). Hard to believe. I'm so glad the Lord chose Aaron for me. He truly amazes me every day with how incredible he is at being a husband and father. I am one lucky, lucky girl!

We don't have anything overly special planned--just spending time together is enough for us. We'll probably go to dinner or something. We'll see.

We had an exhausting but fun day with our friends Mark, Martha, and Mark's son Dylan at their pool. They live in some really nice apartments in Houston, and Dylan was visiting Mark this weekend (Dylan lives with his mom in Missouri--boo). Trent and Dylan (who will be 4 in August) had such a great time together today, and I would post pictures, but I can't find our memory stick adapter to upload the pictures onto our computer. It's always something! Anyway, Trent and Drew were completely exhausted. When we left, I don't think Drew made it down the street before he was out like a light. And I just carried him inside when we got home and plopped him down in bed and he never moved a muscle. We had such a great time--we don't see Mark and Martha often enough. I just adore them.

I'm going to go spend some time with my husband of 6 years now since our kids are tucked in bed. It's so quiet after they go to bed--I love it!

Trent's Preschool Graduation and Last Day of School Picnic

2009-06-12T15:09:00.006-05:00

Here's a slide show and a video from Trent's preschool graduation from Happy Harbour Early Childhood Program. He had a great year at Happy Harbour. There are also some pictures on the slide show from the family picnic on the last day of school. We had perfect weather that day. It was warm, but we had a nice breeze blowing through. I wish I had gotten video of Trent getting his "diploma" because he cracked the whole room up. I wish I could describe it, but you would just have to see it. He basically did a really dorky run across the stage to his teachers. Everybody that I talked to said that it was "so Trent"! He is definitely a class clown! I couldn't even get a good picture of him getting his diploma--couldn't find the right setting on our camera. The video I have on here is all the graduating kids singing. I couldn't tell you what they are saying, but I like to watch Trent's antics and all the kids' reactions to the song. So cute!

Kindergarten--here he comes!

Drew's 1st tooth

2009-06-12T14:59:00.004-05:00

Drew's first tooth finally came through his gums around the end of April when he turned 9 months old. Here it is all the way in...just the one tooth! He now has 2 teeth--he got the second one the beginning of June, just after he turned 10 months old. The 2nd is still growing in, but it has almost even with the 1st. He had a rough time cutting the 2nd one. I felt so bad for him--he had a low grade fever constantly (Motrin and Tylenol didn't help much), and he just wanted to be held all the time, which I was more than happy to do! :) Even when I was holding him, he was just sort of whimpering and whining the whole time...heartbreaking! Anyway, here's a pic of the 1st tooth.

Just a funny video

2009-06-12T14:53:00.003-05:00

A few weeks back, Drew would just all of a sudden start yelling at nothing, and it was just gibberish, but it sounded like he knew what he was talking about. We thought maybe it's the German in him, and heck, maybe he's speaking German. Kinda sounds like a German movie. I have no idea what he's yelling at either because he's not looking at anybody, but he does yell at the same spot the whole time. Anyway, I think this video is adorable.

Mother's Day

2009-06-12T14:31:00.004-05:00

Trent's preschool class put on a special Mother's Day tea party for all their mommies on the Friday before Mother's Day. It was so sweet! I love my baby boy!

Trent and Mommy

The class singing a song to their moms

Bringing me some muffins

When you're 5, you have to make 2 trips if there's a plate and cup involved

My sweet boy and me

The whole class with their wonderful teachers, Ms. Susan and Ms. Kathy

This was one of my gifts--a basil plant that Trent planted. I've managed to keep it alive too!

This was on actual Mother's Day at my Granny's house--me and my other sweet boy! He was so tired at this point.

Kenny Chesney 2009

2009-06-12T14:25:00.003-05:00

I haven't been very good at catching up on my blogging, so I have decided to just hit the highlights in hopes of catching up to present day.

We went to see Kenny Chesney in The Woodlands (north of Houston) on May 3. It was my 5th time to see Kenny, and it is always so--much--fun! We went with my Kappa Delta big sis, SuAnn, her boyfriend JB, and some of her teacher friends. Here's a slideshow of the evening.

Soccer fun

2009-05-27T08:41:00.004-05:00

Trent played soccer this year for the first time. He played on a team with 3-5 year olds and we had so much fun! We had a couple of games get rained out, and they don't make up games at this age, but it was still fun. He made a few goals throughout the season. He actually made one during his very first game, but I was out of town so I missed it! The first time I got to see him make a goal was so awesome! I was so proud!! Anyway, here's a slide show of Trent's first year of soccer.

To tide you over while I get organized...

2009-05-22T16:01:00.003-05:00

Since our computer went down a couple of months ago, I will be attempting to post pictures from way back in March until this point in time. This may take a while, but to tide you over for a bit, here is a video from March. I truly believe this is the greatest sound in the world, especially when it's between two brothers. Drew laughs at everything Trent does, and it is just the best thing ever. Enjoy!

I'm back!

2009-05-21T07:46:00.003-05:00

Okay, we finally got our computer fixed! So as soon as I get time, expect a barrage of pictures and updates. I've gotten so used to not having the option to blog that I will truly have to find time to do it! Soon, readers, soon!

Slackin' (this is a looooong post!)

2009-04-01T14:16:00.003-05:00

OMG--it has been forever and a day since I posted anything! We have been busy busy busy, and our computer is on the fritz so I have been using Aaron's work laptop to keep caught up on stuff. That also means that I am not able to upload pictures to our computer, so while I have taken tons of pictures, I can't show any of them to you! Sorry! Anyway, lots has been going on so I'll try to get ya'll caught up on what's been happening in our little world.

Since my last post, Drew has flown past his 7-month "birthday" and just a few days ago, his 8-month "birthday". I absolutely cannot believe time is flying by so quickly. I thought once I was staying home with the boys and getting to see them grow up every day, all day that things would slow down...not so! Currently, Drew is quite a crawler, but has not mastered getting up on all fours--he still does the army crawl. But he's VERY fast! Every once in a while, he will do a perfect plank pose when he's crawling along. He loves to stand up and can do that while holding on with only one hand--he's wobbly, but he stands. A lot of times when I try to sit him down on the floor, he just straightens his legs so he can stand up and I have to sort of force him to bend in the middle. He is FINALLY about to get his first tooth. It is just right there at the gum line, about to break through.

A couple of little things I have noticed in the last week are, 1.) He is starting to realize that there are strangers. He used to smile and get so excited at anyone and everyone if they gave him the time of day. Now, he'll still smile at people, but sometimes it takes him a second--like he's sizing them up, figuring out if they're okay or not. Then comes the smile. And 2.) When I'm getting him out of his carseat, he kind of knows what to do with his arms to get them out of the straps; then when they are both out of the straps, he leans his body forward so I can pick him up. I know it's such a small thing, but it's just something I've noticed. He also ADORES his big brother!!!

Speaking of his big brother, Trent has been having a great time playing soccer the last month or so. He's already had 2 games and scored a goal in his very first game! The games are really cute to watch--it's 3-5 year olds. He is also really enjoying his preschool, and I am so excited about him starting kindergarten next year in a brand new school. It is called Mossman Elementary, and it's not quite finished being built yet, but I can't wait to see it because it is going to be really nice! There's really not much else going on with Trent. He makes me laugh every day and is so sweet, especially to his brother.

Aaron has been working really hard lately. I won't bore you with the space geek details, but he really does have a cool job, and most days, he agrees with that. There are some days I think he wants to tell some people to shove it, but that's true for every red-blooded American. Not sure if I've blogged about this yet, but we are possibly pushing for Eglin AFB for his next assignment (that's in Florida). So we'll still be in hurricane central--hooray. But hey, I can't complain--the base is here! But that's still about 2 years away. I don't want to leave Texas for anything in the world, but there's really no way that the AF will let us stay in Texas and still have a good career.

As for me, a couple of weeks ago I went to San Antonio to meet up with Laura Freeman, Amanda Gevecker, and Rebecca Bowen for a girls' getaway weekend on the Riverwalk. Four moms on the Riverwalk with no husbands or kids--yeah, we had a blast. We have 6 sons among the 4 of us, so we were in desperate need of girl time! And if that were not enough girl time, I just joined a women's group at the church where Trent's preschool is. The group is called "Girlfriends" and we meet on Thursday mornings at 10am. There are several small groups that break off from our large group, and I am so excited about the one I am in. It's called Really Bad Girls of the Bible: More Lessons from Less-Than-Perfect Women. I just got the book for it today and tomorrow we are discussing Chapter 1, which is called Dead Man Talking--Medium of En Dor: Bad Moon Rising. The author has written several books about women from the Bible and relates them to fictional stories written about women and situations today. You can read more about the series here.

Hopefully, we'll have our computer up and running again soon so I can keep caught up on my blogging!

Beautiful weather

2009-02-13T11:20:00.004-06:00

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here this week, so we have been spending a lot of time outside. I took some pics of me and the boys on Wednesday afternoon in our backyard. Unfortunately, there's not much to do in our backyard because we don't have a swing set yet, BUT have no fear! We just got our tax refund, we are planning on stimulating the economy with it, and that is one thing we are going to buy. Anyway, Trent played a little soccer and ran around while Drew played under his tent. By the way, Drew has been sitting up for long periods of time for about a week or 2 now, and he is getting close to crawling. He scoots around on his belly a lot and manages to get where he wants to go. Guess I need to get on that babyproofing! It's been so long since we've had to worry about that! On to the pictures...

Trent took the next 2

Drew 6 months

2009-01-29T16:01:00.005-06:00

Drew turned 6 months yesterday. We had his doctor's appointment yesterday also, and here are his stats...

Weight: 19 lbs. --75th percentile
Length: 26 inches--50th percentile
Head: 41cm--50th percentile

Here is the 6 month chair pic...

Today, I took him to Portrait Innovations to have his first professional pictures done (I know, I am a little behind! I did have his and Trent's picture taken together with Santa, but this was his first time solo!) He did sooooooo good. He smiled literally the entire time. He was fascinated with all the lights and photography equipment. I only planned to get the $9.95 package that gives you more pictures than you could ever possibly want...but I went a little crazy and ended up spending a little more than that, and now I may have to start passing out pictures to strangers on the street because I have about 85 million pictures! Oops! :) What I love about Portrait Innovations is that you get to take your pictures with you the day you have them done. I got a CD with my order, and I chose just one of each pose and made a slide show. There were about 3 times this many that I had to choose from! Anyway, here they are!

Does he not have red hair?! I'm so excited--I just hope it stays that way!

Drew

2009-01-18T15:01:00.005-06:00

Okay, I've been so bad about posting monthly pictures of Drew. I've taken the pictures, I just haven't had time to blog lately! Here is Drew at 4 months (in November)...

And here he is at 5 months...

Baby boy can kind of sit up unassisted. He'll sit up for about 30 seconds to a minute by himself. But if he's excited about something, forget it because this boy kicks his legs like crazy when he's excited, and he'll fall right over! He is eating rice cereal every day and loves it. Pretty soon, we'll start him on fruits and veggies. He's ready for it.

He's pretty much on a good schedule with his naps, and he still sleeps through the night. There have been a few times he has woken up in the middle of the night and he'll fuss for a bit, but I can tell it's not because he's hungry, so if I just leave him alone, he goes back to sleep on his own. He's such a good baby. I have been trying to hit the gym really hard lately, so he goes to the Kid's Klub while I'm working out and they just LOVE him there because he never cries, and of course he's a chubby, happy baby...who doesn't love a chubby, happy baby?

Coming (very) soon...6 month pictures!! Can't believe it's already been 6 months!

Trent's birthday...finally

2009-01-18T14:45:00.002-06:00

We had Trent's birthday party at Jump N Jungle on January 3. Jump N Jungle is one of those places that has big inflatable jumpers and slides and all kinds of fun things to climb and jump on. Trent loves to go so we decided to have his party there this year. It's a lot of money to shell out for one day, but it's totally worth it. It's so much fun, and they do everything for you. I basically had to show up with a cake and ice cream, and they did the rest. I was able to enjoy my son's birthday party with no worries! Anyway, here's a slideshow of Trent's 5th birthday.

Christmas pictures...finally

2009-01-18T14:31:00.002-06:00

E-Mealz

2009-01-04T10:30:00.001-06:00

I know I have a ton of stuff to blog about right now, but honestly, I'm just feeling too lazy to even upload pics from the camera--and there's a lot! So I'm going to blog about something that doesn't require pictures. I recently found out about this site from my childhood friend Jeremy's wife's blog. It's called E-Mealz, and basically you pay $5 a month and you sign up for whichever meal plan you want (there's a lot to choose from, and they even have plans for specific stores, like Kroger or Wal-Mart). Every week they post a meal plan for you, complete with a shopping list of things you need to buy for each meal. For example, since the plan I chose was the 7-day family meal plan (serves 4-6) for Kroger, every week I can download my meal plan and shopping list for Kroger. So far, it seems like most of the meals are stuff that we will actually eat. And if there's something that we're not interested in, the meals are made to feed 4-6 people, so we should have leftovers for a night when we don't like whatever meal is on the plan. The recipes they give you don't require a whole lot of "weird" stuff either. It's stuff that you may already have in your kitchen.

Now, if your family is anything like ours, you don't plan ahead for dinners. So when we realize we don't have anything to eat or just can't think of anything to make, we just order out, or get fast food, which I HATE doing. And it ends up costing a lot more. I just signed up for this the other day, so I'm still learning about it and figuring out if it's going to work for us. I wanted to wait until after the holidays--which by the way, for weeks that include a holiday like Christmas or Thanksgiving, they give you shortened meal plans (like for 4 days instead of 7) since you're usually eating with extended family and also have leftovers from that. Anyway, I'll stop my little commercial and let you decide for yourself if it would be worth $5 a month (they bill you $15 every 3 months). I think it's going to save us a lot of money! And since we are now living on one income, I am always looking for ways to save money! Anyway, if you're interested, click on the banner below. I also put a link to it on the margin of my blog so that after I catch up with my blogging about the holidays and this post is long gone from the top of my blog, you can still find the link!

Happy Birthday Trent!

2009-01-01T17:06:00.002-06:00

Today is Trent's 5th birthday! I cannot believe that my baby boy is 5 years old! He will be starting kindergarten this year! My, how time flies. I will have pictures to post, but have not uploaded them yet. Just wanted to capture this moment for blogging purposes!

Trent is a big boy at about 45 pounds or so and about 3 1/2 feet tall. He is so smart, I can't even begin to list all of the things he knows. He may be too smart for my and Aaron's own good! The logic of a 5-year-old is sometimes astounding! Yet he is still quite irrational at some times. It's hard to balance the fact that he is a big brother and will have the responsibility of someone looking up to him and doing everything he does very soon, while still remembering that he is a little boy. He is a sweet, talkative, yet shy in certain situations, infuriating (yes, I said it!), hilariously funny, handsome, brilliant boy! The last 5 years since I became a mother have been the most rewarding years of my life, and it has been the most fun I have ever had! I love my Trent!

A Farewell to a Legend

2008-12-22T18:20:00.003-06:00

We are at my mom's house in Celina now. We got here Saturday morning. At about 2:00 that day, Laura, Kyle, Conly, Amanda, and Ryder showed up at my mom's house. We left all the kids (Trent, Drew, and Ryder--the Freemans had left their kids with Laura's mom in Round Rock) with my mom and sister, and we took off for Irving to go to the last Cowboys game in Texas Stadium. We went to Humperdink's first to eat and have a couple of drinks. Then we went to the stadium to tailgate a little bit in the freezing cold. We had a parking pass for Blue parking, which is the best parking lot at the stadium, so luckily we didn't have to walk very far to get to the game (thanks, Amanda!). It was SOOO cold! We tailgated for about an hour and then headed on in. Surprisingly enough, this was my first Cowboys game to go to. I don't know how that's possible, having grown up in this area, but somehow I have never been to a Cowboys game. So I'm really glad I got to see them in their last one at Texas Stadium, even if we did suffer a humiliating loss. It was very cool just to be there for the farewell. We had really good seats (thanks again, Amanda!) There were lots of former players there, which was really cool--would have been a lot cooler if Troy Aikman had been there, but he had to work (ever heard of a red eye? Come on, Troy!) We wanted to stay for all of the post game stuff, but it was just too cold. We stayed long enough for them to bring out all the former players who were there (so awesome to see Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith walking down the field together--again, Troy should have been there!), and then we booked it for the car. I would have pictures to post, but a.) I'm on my mom's computer and I have no idea how to upload anything to a Mac, and b.) our camera died after I took about 4 pictures, all before the game--idiot! Note to self: always have your camera battery charged before the last game at Texas Stadium! So I have to wait for the Freemans and Geveckers to send me their pictures.

In the meantime, here's a slideshow of pictures from my Mom's Club Christmas party. We had a Santa Claus from the fire department come hand out presents to all the kids. We had to buy a present beforehand for our own child so we could give it to the Santa to hand out. I actually got what Trent had already asked Santa for. It was a $6 monster truck from Walgreens! Easy enough. So Trent was a happy guy. I had a bag full of stuff that I was going to set out for him (from Santa) on Christmas day, but I went off and left it at our house! Dang it! So I had to improvise with some replacement shopping today. I'll give the other stuff to him for his birthday. Anyway, here's the slideshow...

Trent's Christmas program

2008-12-19T10:24:00.006-06:00

Yesterday was Trent's Christmas program at school. It was so adorable. His class, the Pelicans, sang 4 songs with another class, the Dolphins. Here's some pictures and a few videos. I cannot say how cute it was. It means so much to me that Trent is in a Christian environment where it's okay to sing "Great Joy for the Babe in the Manger" and "Happy Birthday Jesus" (the 2 videos).

I love the choreography!

The high note in this one is priceless! "...and it's all about yooooouuuuuuuu!" And check out the choreography on the part that says, "...make the holiday swell". So freakin' cute!

Dallas White Rock Marathon

2008-12-19T07:31:00.006-06:00

HE DID IT!!!! I'm so proud of Aaron. He ran the Dallas marathon last Sunday, December 14 with his best friend Matt. I was surprised at how emotional the whole thing was. Trent, Drew, and I got there a little earlier than I expected so we actually were right up at the finish line. I think we got there right after the first place finisher crossed the finish line, so we knew we had a while to go before Aaron came across. My sister and her boyfriend joined us a while later and got to see Aaron finish also. Like I said, it was pretty emotional to watch even complete strangers finish this huge accomplishment. At one point before my sister got there, there was a guy who fell right in front of us, maybe 10 yards from the finish line. You could just see that it was a huge struggle for him to get back on his feet. He just couldn't get his legs to work. The crowd was going wild cheering for him to get up and finish. It looked like it was the hardest thing he had ever done, and he finally made it to his feet and crossed the finish line with the whole crowd cheering. It brought tears to many eyes, mine included. I saw other people who were just struggling to put one foot in front of the other, and I'm thinking, Lord, please don't let Aaron come up here like that. I don't think I could take it. But he and Matt were smiling as they crossed the finish line. I was so glad when I finally saw him. We started yelling and waving to him as soon as we saw him, and I was so glad he actually saw us because there were so many people next to us that would be yelling at whoever they were there to support and the runner would just be so focused on the finish line that they couldn't even hear their loved ones. But Aaron saw us right away...

Here they are at the moment they crossed the finish line.

He finished in 4h:23m:46s. There's a pretty cool results page here where you can see all sorts of stats on how he did. Also, they televised the race on Channel 8 that day and the boys and I were still in our hotel room when it started so we watched it for a few minutes. I told Trent to look for Daddy because he's somewhere in that crowd (of 17,000 people!), all the while thinking there's no possible way we will spot him. Well, all of a sudden I did spot him right before he disappeared off the bottom of the screen. I yelled, "There he is, Trent! Look!" Of course, it happened so quick that by the time I even started speaking, he was already gone. But it was pretty neat to see him right as he was starting. I am so, so proud of him, I can't even begin to express how much! He's been pretty sore this week, but of course it gets better every day. He's my Superman! :)

Here they are after we found them in the huge crowd...still standing, still smiling!

Space Shuttle Endeavour Fly-over

2008-12-17T12:43:00.004-06:00

Wow. This was last Thursday at Johnson Space Center. Aaron called that morning to see if I could bring the boys up to JSC to see Endeavour flying over on its way back to Florida. They had taken off from Edwards AFB in California on Wednesday to fly back, but they had to land at Carswell AFB in Ft. Worth because weather in Florida was too bad to bring the shuttle in. The way they transport it back to KSC (Kennedy Space Center) is by attaching it to the top of a 747 modified passenger jet. Anyway, they decided to do a fly-by over JSC. Here is just one of the pictures we got. Very cool!

Aaron was actually in this very shuttle last November....see?

Ain't he cute?

Coming soon...results and pictures from the Dallas White Rock Marathon!!

Random pictures and SNOW in Houston! What?!

2008-12-11T08:37:00.006-06:00

Here's a slideshow of some random pictures as well as pictures of Holiday in the Park in League City last Saturday night. There was a parade too, but it wasn't too exciting so we didn't take any pictures. We kind of lost interest in it because we were watching it near the end of the parade route, so by the time it got to us, it was pretty spread out. There were lots of lulls where there was nothing to watch because the walking people got behind. So basically Trent and Preston ran around together and we watched them. Which is better than any parade, in my opinion!

And...Oh my word, could it be? Even though Trent is getting a little bit sick with a cough and runny nose, we had to go out this morning and throw some snowballs. It's been a while since we've been able to do that, and I'm not even sure if he remembers Colorado at all!

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

2008-12-10T15:48:00.007-06:00

As of yesterday (December 9), Drew has officially reached the milestone of rolling over. Now that he's got it down, that's almost the first thing he does when I lay him down on his back. This morning, Aaron got up at 5:30 to feed him, and he was on his tummy. Drew always goes back to sleep after his first bottle, so Aaron put him down on his back. When I went in the room to get him up at about 9:00, he was again on his tummy sleeping like, well, a baby.

I'm so proud that he has reached this milestone! This is the first step toward mobilization, which is good and bad! Before I know it, he'll be walking around getting into stuff. That will be quite an adjustment for us. I remember when Trent started getting into stuff, and we couldn't have any "pretty things" on any bottom shelves anywhere in the house. Trent has understood for quite some time what he can and can't touch, so we now have lots of "pretties" at low levels. I don't know what we're going to do when Drew starts getting into these things! Although I can almost guarantee that Trent will be good at policing the things that Drew shouldn't touch. He's so bossy! :) Anyway, I am very proud of my Baby Drew, and I'm sure I have nothing to worry about because he will just be an absolute angel! Right?

Also we have sort of started Drew on cereal. We're not really strict about when we give it to him or even about giving it to him every day (although I think since we started, he has had at least a little bit once a day). So far, he is so-so with it. He seems interested, but he gets tired of it pretty quickly, so he never gets very much. I'm attaching some pictures of his first attempt at cereal and some other stuff as well.

Our Christmas tree

Nativity scene

We're pretty proud of how this turned out.

Tummy time

This is how I found him one morning last week.

Fell asleep wearing his Texas Tech hat

Happy boy

First attempt at cereal

And...we're done

Fun!

2008-12-05T12:30:00.004-06:00

Got this from my friend Melanie's blog. It's pretty neat. Basically, you download a picture of yourself and your husband (or whoever) and it will show you what your kids will look like based on features it picks up from the pictures. The boy one I did looks nothing like my current kiddos, but here it is anyway. (He's still cute--but not as cute as my babies!)

http://makemebabies.com/viewbaby.php?bid=9454642

And the girl, I must say, is adorable! Her forehead is a little large (probably from the picture of me), but other than that, how cute is she?!

http://makemebabies.com/viewbaby.php?bid=9454450

P.S. I got a memory stick adapter today, so expect pictures soon!

They're growing up so fast!

2008-12-04T16:16:00.002-06:00

I took Drew to his doctor on Tuesday for his 4 month well baby visit. Here's the stats:

Weight: 16 lbs. 13 ozs. (90th percentile)
Height: 25 inches (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 42 cm (50th percentile)

Whew! He's not quite as chubby as Trent was, but he's still gearing up to be a chunky little booger! Everything else checked out just fine. He had his 4 month immunizations, and of course he cried when he got them, but he was fine about a minute later.

In Trent news, I scheduled his 5th (yes, FIVE!!) birthday party at Jump N Jungle on January 3. I can't believe I have a 5 year old. Crazy.

I still don't have a memory stick adapter. I have checked at 3 different places, and none of them sells just the adapter. They all sell the adapter WITH the memory stick. I already have a memory stick...I need an adapter. I think Fry's Electronics has just an adapter, so I'll go there as soon as I get a chance. And then I can share some pictures of my growing boys!

New camera!

2008-11-30T18:23:00.002-06:00

We just bought this camera! We went to Circuit City since they're closing, and we got a pretty good deal on a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W170 in black. Here's the stats on it: 10.1 megapixel, 2.7" Clear Photo LCD display, Carl Zeiss wide 5x (28mm) Optical Zoom lens, Smile Shutter technology, Face Detection, Intelligent Scene Recognition, Super SteadyShot, HD output and HD slideshow

Pretty fancy. The Smile Shutter is supposed to find smiles when you're taking pictures--and you can set it to find any smile or to focus on a child's smile or an adult's smile. I'm not quite sure if that technology will come in handy for us, but I just thought that was pretty cool! The only downside is that we weren't sure if the memory stick we had to buy (we had an SD card in our old camera) had a corresponding slot on our computer. Sure enough, it doesn't, but I think we can get an adapter for it. Anyway, I have felt lost the past 72 hours without our camera so I am so excited to have one again! Our memories are saved!

What a difference a year makes

2008-11-27T12:30:00.009-06:00

A year ago around this time, we found out we were adding another member to our family. I say "around this time" because it took about 3 days for us to see undoubtedly that it was indeed the infamous pink line showing up. It was actually a "+" sign, but it was pink nonetheless. The first day it was so faint that I wasn't sure, the second day it was a teensy bit darker but I still wasn't sure if I was just wanting it to be there. But the third day, we saw this:

Still faint, but definitely there.

And now instead of a pregnancy test, I am staring at this beautiful face.

The second picture was last weekend in Dallas before the a$$-kicking we suffered by the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners. (You know why Texas doesn't fall off in the Gulf of Mexico? Cuz Oklahoma SUCKS!) But I'm not bitter. Ok, yes, I am. I'm more heartbroken than anything. It literally hurts. I was so certain that this was our year to take it all. But it's okay. We'll live.

We've had a lot going on--again--the last week or so, which is why I haven't posted anything lately. Obviously, there's a shuttle in space right now so Aaron has had to work weird hours lately because they have to have someone from their office on console at all times. Luckily, this time he only had to work one overnight shift. Trent's class had their Thanksgiving feast last Friday before the Thanksgiving break. I got to help out with it since I am one of the "class moms". The kids were so excited and surprisingly, most of them filled themselves up on all the healthy stuff they had for lunch, so they didn't have much room for dessert! Here's a few pics from that day...

Trent and I made this t-shirt--it's not the prettiest thing in the world, but we had fun!

Dominic, Trent, and Jayden at the Pelican's Thanksgiving feast

Eating lunch

Last weekend, we trekked up to the Dallas area for one of Aaron best friend's (Nate) wedding reception. Nate and Angel got married in October in Curacao, so obviously not everyone could make it. So Nate's parents, who live in Coppell, had a reception for them at their house. Since many of the people in attendance are Texas Tech alumni, it mostly turned into a game watching party--which ended up putting a damper on the happiness we were supposed to be feeling for Nate and Angel, but we all ended up inebriated enough that we didn't care about the game anymore.

Here's a slideshow of our weekend...

And here are a couple from Thanksgiving day.

Why only 2 pictures on Thanksgiving, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. After these pictures were taken, Aaron placed the camera on the back bumper of his truck....and forgot about it....and we went to Kroger a little while after these pictures were taken. Need I say more? Well, I'm going to. We got home from the grocery store, and maybe 10 or 15 minutes later, Drew and Trent were doing something picture-worthy, so I asked Aaron to get the camera which is when it dawned on him that he never got the camera off the bumper of his truck. He took off on his bike to look for the camera and found it mangled on the side of the road on the way to Kroger. So I won't be posting any pictures until we can get a new camera, which hopefully will be very soon. Aaron's mom will be sending me all the pictures we took on Thanksgiving so I will post those as soon as I can. They are leaving for Mexico tomorrow though, so I don't expect to get the pictures until they get back. They flew out this morning for Albuquerque and will fly out again tomorrow, so I'm sure they are busy making sure they have everything they need for the trip.

Anyway, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate way too much and have a lot of leftovers. I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!

Splash the Pelican (and now I'm caught up!)

2008-11-12T13:55:00.005-06:00

This past weekend, we had a special guest in our home. Trent's class at Happy Harbour Preschool is known as the Pelicans. Each class has a mascot that is harbour/sea-related, such as the Pelicans, Starfish, etc. The Pelican's class "pet" gets sent home with a different child every weekend. Their pet's name is Splash, who is, duh, a pelican. He gets sent home in his own bag with a notebook, and the idea is that each child draws a picture or writes a story (with Mom or Dad's help) in the notebook of his or her adventures with Splash. Trent has been looking forward to this for weeks! Here are some pictures from our weekend with Splash.

Splash and Trent doing a puzzle together

Trent teaching Splash how to get his guns up!

Splash got to meet Drew too!

Splash (cut off because I took this picture of us), Trent, and me

Going to bed

We took Splash to see Madagascar 2 on Saturday.

Halloween pics--almost caught up with my blog posts!

2008-11-12T13:52:00.001-06:00

I love this 3 month old boy!

2008-11-08T07:29:00.005-06:00

On October 28, Drew turned 3 months old. He's getting so big and strong, and he's developing his little personality. He's so stinkin' cute! Here's a slide show of him the last couple of weeks.

And a video of some sweet little sounds! He kind of spaces out at the end. I guess something caught his attention.

Here's a very sweet video of Trent reading "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too" to Drew. He's not really reading the words, but he's heard the story so many times, he pretty much knows it by heart. There's a better one, but it was kind of long, so it would take forever to upload.

Part 4: Mom's Club party

2008-11-08T07:05:00.004-06:00

The Mom's Club that I am a member of had our Halloween party the same day that Aaron ran his half marathon--October 26. We had some great food, fun things for the kids to do, and great conversation! I really love the Mom's Club. We always have something fun planned, and it gives me a chance to get out of the house with the kids and have some grown-up time too! I always thought that a Mom's Club would have a lot of cliques and be drama-filled. But I'm so glad I joined because it is not like that at all. There are no cliques--everyone has a good time with everyone else. You always feel welcome, no matter how many events you attend every month. Anyway, here are a few pictures from the party. It was held at Challenger 7 Memorial Park.

Drew had a really great time.

So did the other babies--you can't really see them, but there's a 10 day old baby boy on the left (James Maximilian O'Neal--I love that name!) and Chloe Smeader, who was born about a week after Drew, on the right. Drew has already had a play date with Chloe--meaning they both slept most of the time, and Chloe's mom Cathi and I just gabbed for a few hours!

Trent having a good time

T with the pumpkin he decorated

Trick-or-treating

Part 3: Houston Half Marathon

2008-11-06T15:31:00.004-06:00

No, I didn't run it, but my awesome, athletic husband did! I'm so proud of him! This was October 26. He finished 38th out of 80-something participants in his age group. He ran it in about an hour and 50 minutes. He's running the Dallas Marathon December 14. If anyone in the area wants to come out to cheer him on at the finish line with me, let me know and we'll make plans! That's a Sunday, by the way.

Anyway, here's some pics from the Houston Half.

Better him than me!

Yea!

After the race

Glad to be sitting down

Still smiling

Catching up - Part 2: Party in the Patch

2008-11-06T15:15:00.004-06:00

Same day - October 25

We went to the Party in the Patch at Bay Harbour United Methodist Church (the church where Trent's preschool is).

Spiderman in the Patch

Drew grinning

This was hysterical! Trent had a blast!

Catching up - Part 1: Houston Air Show

2008-11-06T14:45:00.009-06:00

Okay, so I'm waaaaaay behind on posting stuff. I'm going to try to catch up to present day very soon--a little at a time. This first post is from October 25 at the Houston Air Show. It was absolutely breathtaking, and we had a great time!

Here is a slide show and some short videos. The pictures do not do it justice, and the videos are just a taste of what all we saw. If you ever get a chance to go to an air show (especially one that features the Air Force Thunderbirds) go, don't hesitate, GO!

4 of the Birds right over our heads!

That is really high, really fast!

All 6 of them in all their glory--beautiful!

YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-03T07:44:00.003-06:00

I have a lot of pictures and stuff I want to post from the last week, but it's getting to be so much that it seems like such a daunting task.

But I just wanted to say, while we're still in the moment......

I LOVE MY RED RAIDERS!!!!!!! GO TECH!!!!!!!!!

We beat the #1 team in the country, which is something we have never done. We are now 9-0 on the season, which is the first time we have done that since 1938 (only 15 years after the university was founded). We were #7 last week, which was the highest we have ever been ranked....we are now #2 in the BCS standings!!! Which means that if the national championship game was being played tomorrow, we would be in it! (And we'd be playing the same team we played and lost to in the Cotton Bowl in 2005--revenge is sweet!) It's within our grasp! Right now, we just have to get past OK State this Saturday, which will be no easy task, but it can be done.

I'm so proud to be a Red Raider!

Fall Festival

2008-10-25T09:01:00.006-05:00

I don't want to get behind on posting pictures because after this weekend, we will probably have a lot. We are going non stop this weekend. So here are some videos and pictures of my 2 boys and pictures of Trent at his school's Fall Festival (or Fall Vestibal, as Trent says).

So freakin' cute!

D can sit up inside the Boppy pillow for about 3 seconds before he either falls forward or backward.

Falling forward...

Falling backward...

Trying so hard to get back up!

Trent's class at the Fall Festival on Thursday

I caught a fish!

Pumpkin Bowling

Strike!

Trent with one of his best buddies, Jayden

Bean Bag Toss

Face painting

Dinosaur Tattoos

And another video--Drew is starting to learn he can do a lot with his mouth. (Pardon the sneezes at the beginning.) He does a lot more than what is in this video, but I swear, the second he sees the camera, he freezes. Little turkey.

Gotta go get the boys and me ready for the Houston Air Show! We've got that today, then the Party in the Patch tonight at the Methodist church (where T's preschool is). Tomorrow Aaron is running the Houston half marathon early in the morning (not sure if the boys and I will make it). Then tomorrow evening is my Mom's Club Halloween party. I'll post pics sometime next week...and then we've got Halloween...and then it's November! Crazy--in a little over 2 months, I will have a 5-year-old son. Does not seem possible. Oh--before I forget--I am so proud of myself, I have almost all of my Christmas shopping DONE! I just have one more thing to get for Aaron (possibly 2). We have to get something for my sister's boyfriend, and I'm pretty sure I know what I want to get him. And we have to get something for our nephews, Kody and Jaxson. Not sure what to get them because I am getting my kids Discovery Toys (because I sell them), but K and J's mommy (my sister-in-law) also sells them, so they probably already have a whole lot of them. So I'll have to think of something else--plus their birthdays are coming up too so I have to think of double the presents. Think I'll email Jenn and ask her for ideas. Okay, now I'm just rambling--I was waiting for that last video to finish uploading, but it's been done for a while now--so I'm really gonna go this time and get ready.

Big boys

2008-10-17T14:19:00.007-05:00

Drew is still sleeping through the night--last night he had a bottle at 8, had a bath, was in bed around 8:30 or 8:45 and was asleep before 9:00. And he didn't wake up until 5 this morning. Hallelujah! Trent was another story last night though. For some reason, he thought 3 in the morning meant it was time for breakfast because he was asking us for cereal...at THREE IN THE MORNING! I thought I might have one less child by daybreak. After that, I couldn't get back to sleep until about 4:30 and then Drew woke up at 5. Aaron got up to feed him though so I was able to get a little more sleep. I got up around 7:30 or so and Trent was sleeping away in our bed. I was able to get up, get showered and dressed (Trent woke up around the time I was getting dressed), and get Trent his cereal 5 hours after he originally asked for it, before I went into Drew's room and he was smiling away in his crib. So I scooped him up and gave him a bottle. He is such a good baby!

After I dropped Trent off at preschool, Drew and I went for a nice long walk. It was cloudy and a little cooler today, but it was still pretty humid so once I got really moving, I was sweating. I walked about 1.75 miles. If you ever want to map out an exact distance for a walk or run around your neighborhood, go to Map My Run. You can also search for runs that other people have mapped out in your area. It's pretty cool.

Here are a few pictures from the last week or so.

Holding that head up! He is wearing his Texas Tech red and black, watching us almost get beaten by Nebraska.

So cute! Trent was never really able to wear overalls because he was so chubby, it just looked like it was cutting his circulation off--I'm serious, I have pictures!

Trent is so funny. His class got a visit from a police officer the other day and he got a badge sticker so I wanted to take his picture with it on. He was eating carrots and ranch (one of his newfound favorite snacks) and in the first picture I told him to say "Cheese" so he did that, but then he said, "I want to say 'carrots and ranch'." So the 2nd picture is of him saying "Carrots and ranch". I think I got him on the "ch" part.

Drew loves to look at himself in the mirror. I can't say I blame him, he is pretty darn cute! Here he is, hamming it up in front of our bathroom mirror.

This is Trent this morning before school. We bought him 2 new outfits the other day because he's outgrowing all his shorts right now and it's not quite cool enough for pants yet. We found the outfits in the boys' section! I can't believe my son wears clothes from the boys' section and is outgrowing the toddler section. He can still wear 5T clothes from the toddler section, but I don't think he will for long. Gosh, he's growing up so fast.

Drew is starting to show interest in his hands. He was staring at them earlier today, trying to figure out what he could do with them.

What are these?

Put 'em up, put 'em up!

We have a busy week ahead. Tomorrow we're helping our friends the Plunketts move to their new house. Next Thursday and Friday is the Fall Festival at Trent's school. Next Saturday we're going to Wings over Houston, which is the annual air show featuring the USAF Thunderbirds. That same evening we're going to try to go to the "Party in the Pumpkin Patch" at the church that Trent's preschool is in. They have lots of stuff for kids--a puppet show, trunk-or-treating (you go trick or treating to all the different cars in the parking lot and people decorate their trunk for Halloween). The next day, Sunday, Aaron is supposed to be running a half marathon (I think he's still doing it, anyway). And that same day is my Mom's Club's Halloween party at Challenger 7 Memorial Park. Whew! Busy, busy!

Yea for sleeping!

2008-10-15T11:37:00.002-05:00

Baby Drew has been pretty much sleeping through the night for the past 3 nights. Hooray! To me, anything past 5am is "sleeping through the night". The first night, he went down at about 9:30 and woke up at about 5. The next night, he went down about 9:45 or 10 and slept until 5:30!! That was awesome! Last night he had been asleep from about 7:30 until 9 at which time I woke him up to feed him. I was worried that he would just be wide awake after that, but he was done with his bottle and back asleep by 9:20. He woke up around 4:30 which was a little earlier than I would have liked. I went into his room (I moved him into his room a couple of weeks ago, and he acted like he had been sleeping there the whole time--no transition time!) at about 4:45 with a bottle and he immediately started smiling at me when he saw me. What a great way to start the day at 4:30. When he does wake up in the morning, he will have his bottle and go right back to sleep in his crib, usually until about 7:30 or 8. What a good baby! Trent didn't sleep through the night until he was about 4 or 5 months old, so this is quite a treat. I'm not so naive as to think that he will always sleep through the night from here on out, but it's been wonderful getting at least 6 uninterrupted hours of sleep the past few nights. When he goes back down after he eats, I start coffee for Aaron and then go back to bed for maybe another hour or so, and then get up and have whatever coffee is left. Awesome!

I am trying to get myself in a routine so that I can work in a time to start working out again. I lost some of the baby weight right away after I had Drew, but I am at a standstill now. I have about 20 or 25 pounds to go to get to where I will be happy with my body. I am struggling to find the time and motivation to work out, but I hope to get ahold of my schedule very soon and start a workout schedule. We just reactivated my gym membership, so I guess now that we're paying for it, that should motivate me. It just seems like the housework is never done, so that becomes a higher priority. I'll get into a rhythm soon--I can feel it.

Go Tech! Beat A&M!

2 months old

2008-09-30T12:26:00.003-05:00

Today was Drew's 2 month well baby appointment with Dr. Reynolds. We had to go to their temporary location because their office was, in their words, "devastated" by Hurricane Ike. Such a harsh word. I haven't driven by their regular office, but I asked the nurse what happened and she said they had roof damage and the office was flooded. So now they are remodeling. Anyway, here are the stats on my little Drewski!

Weight: 12 lbs., 2 ozs. - 50th percentile
Height: 23 inches - 50th percentile
Head circumference: 40 cm - you guessed it, 50th percentile

He's just an average guy! I thought he would at least be 13 lbs. because he has been feeling a lot heavier lately. Trent was a whopping 14 lbs. at 2 months, so we're doing better this time at maintaining a healthy weight for our baby boy. He got 4 immunizations today. One was an oral vaccine that was sugary tasting--he LOVED that! The other 3 were shots. :( He didn't like those so much, but he didn't cry very long. It actually worked out perfectly because they gave him the shots right before he was due to eat, so I was able to soothe him with a bottle right after the shots were over.

Today is Trent's first day back at school and he was so excited! He was ready to go, shoes on and everything, an hour before it was time to go! Usually I have to tell him a few times to go get his shoes on, but that boy was ready to go. He's so sweet.

Here are some pics of Drew.

Sleepy

That smile just melts me!

The chair pic

We're back

2008-09-29T15:06:00.029-05:00

Trent, Drew, and I finally made it back home last Tuesday. Things have been crazy with trying to get back into a routine. Trent's school didn't start back until today, and since he only goes Tuesday-Friday, he doesn't start back until tomorrow. We've been playing as much as possible to make sure he's not bored. (Play dates are a wonderful thing!) Luckily, he plays really well by himself, so when Drew needs my full attention, Trent is usually resourceful enough to entertain himself for a while. I took TONS of pictures while we were at my mom's. We had a nice little "hurrication", especially once we knew our house was okay. I'll get right to the pictures because there are lots!

These are from before we left...Drew was just starting to really smile at that point, so of course I was trying to get a good shot of him smiling. No picture does that sweet smile justice though! Here's a couple of attempts at capturing it.

He LOVES the monkey on his bouncer. He just stares at it and is starting to "talk" to it. You can see the monkey on the front side of the bouncer and there's one directly on the other side that he's looking at.

Now here's the pics from when we were up at my mom's.

My Granny holding Drew

Aaron cuddling with Romeo--aww!

Aunt Traci's first time to hold her new nephew

Trent wrestling with Rhett

Watching the Tech game 9/13--Get your guns up!

Me and Drew watching the game

Grams playing with both of her grandsons

Trent and Drew taking a nap together

My 2 best buds (Jennifer and Becky) with Drew

Last Saturday 9/20, my mom, Trent, Drew, and I drove to my mom's best friend Jo Alice's house in East Texas for a visit. Jo Alice has a friend (Teresa) that has a dairy barn nearby, so we went there and Trent got to do some really cool stuff that I know he will never forget!

Trent with Jo Alice's cat Babalu--the cat weighs 22 pounds!

Jo Alice holding Drew

Chasing chickens!

He got to gather the eggs that the chickens had laid. The little girl is Emily, who is Teresa's granddaughter.

He also got to hold a chicken! How cool!

And there it went

Let's go chase it!

Teresa got it back for him.

Watching the cows get milked

Feeding the calves--have you ever seen a happier kid?

Helping Grams cook Sunday lunch

Trent and Bocephus, the deer that thinks it's a dog--at Keith and my aunt Mary's house

The rest of these are pictures I snapped on the drive back home on Tuesday. I'm really glad I already knew that my house was okay because if I had been driving through Houston seeing this stuff not knowing how my house was, I would have been freaking out. I apologize for the quality of some of these pics--I was driving so I would see something and just aim the camera at it and hope I got it in the shot.

I didn't see a single McDonald's sign that was still intact--and I probably passed by at least 15 of them from north Houston to my house. Guess they didn't plan on a Cat 2 hurricane.

Ouch

That's supposed to say "Exclusive Furniture"...it doesn't.

This is at the exit to go to my house. When I left, I could have sworn there was a traffic light hanging from that cable--not anymore.

Drew turned 2 months old yesterday! His 2 month doctor's appointment is tomorrow so I will post stats and pics then.

More Ike

2008-09-18T16:19:00.002-05:00

Aaron and my uncle Kenneth drove down to our house today in Kenneth's truck (still waiting on Aaron's to be fixed). In the last couple of days, we have heard from 2 of our neighbors who noticed we weren't home yet and had gone over to look at our house. They both called to tell us that we were missing shingles from our roof. We had 2 of our friends go over and go in through a window that was unlocked just to make sure the roof hadn't leaked, and it hasn't! We had actually given a key to our house to one of them, but he couldn't find it right away, so we just had them go in through the window. So anyway, Aaron and Kenneth decided to go down there today and try to fix anything that needs fixing. Aaron called when they got there and said that the trees are still in the ground, they are just leaning a bunch. They tried to push one of them back up, but it won't budge. Not sure what we're going to do about that, but at least it's still there. I wasn't even expecting that! They were about to take the hurricane shutters down and that was the last I have heard. He will call later with updates.

I just feel so blessed that we have such great neighbors that care enough to check on our house for us, not to mention wonderful friends that will get into our house through an unlocked window. All joking aside though, we feel very lucky and blessed that we are surrounded by people who love and care about us. This whole experience has been very sobering and eye-opening. Being evacuated from your home, one of the only places in the world that you feel truly safe, is pretty frightening. Thank God we have family to go to in a time like that. And thank God our home and our neighborhood survived what was supposed to be much worse than it was. Keep all the people of Galveston in your prayers. I hope Aaron and I can help them in some way.

Aaron's truck should be ready no later than Monday, so the boys and I will head down then. I can't wait to get back home!

Ike Update

2008-09-16T09:59:00.002-05:00

I'll try to make this quick because it's almost time for Drew to eat and I know he'll be getting cranked up soon. We are still at my mom's. I didn't mention the other day that Aaron had a fender bender in his truck on Sunday so it is now getting fixed. As if we didn't have enough to deal with, right? Not much damage but enough to where the tailgate won't open without creating more damage. If it wasn't getting fixed, Aaron would be heading back today with my uncle to assess the damage to our house. However, a friend of ours got back to his apartment that is about 5 minutes away from our house yesterday, and Aaron had him go over to our house to at least check on the outside of it. He said that the only thing wrong was that one of our 3 trees is down. The DirecTV satellite is still on the roof! He did say there were some shingles in our back yard, but those could have come from anywhere. It was too dark outside at that point to see if they were from our roof. He also said it seemed like everyone else on the street has power, so we should too.

We are still planning on having Aaron go down first just to make sure everything's okay. Plus, the grocery stores are a madhouse from what I hear. There are limited stores open, they are not fully stocked, everyone is trying to shop at the same time, and many stores are only letting a few people in at a time. But who knows--by the time we get Aaron's truck back, everything may be getting back to normal in our area. We just feel so incredibly lucky and blessed that our house didn't get flooded and there is no major damage to the exterior. God is good!

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-14T18:38:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to post a quick blog and let everyone know that we are safe from Ike. We came up to my Mom's house in Dallas EARLY Thursday morning before any of the traffic hit Houston. We were pretty proud of ourselves, like we had won a race or something. We actually got here faster than we ever have before on a normal trip!

Here's what we know so far: they are not letting anyone back into League City until tomorrow (Monday) and when they do, they are advising everyone to bring enough food and water to last for 2 weeks. We are fairly confident that our house has not suffered flood damage--no guarantees though. We don't know if power has been restored to our house yet. There are some areas of LC that have power, some don't. No way to know if ours has power until we get there. We are expecting our yard to be treeless (we have 3 young trees in our front yard that I'm pretty sure are not strong enough to sustain 100+ mph winds). We would also not be surprised to find our fence down and our DirecTV satellite ripped off of the roof (maybe with some of the roof taken with it). We have heard from some people that stayed in the area and they have said that our area fared pretty well. So all we can do is wait until we get down there to find out what has happened to our home. That being said, we really don't want to take our 2 small children home to a place that has no power (if that's the case), so we are talking about having Aaron go down first and assess the damage and then my mom would bring me and the boys down as soon as we get the all clear.

I will try to post updates as often as possible!

So much going on!

2008-09-05T16:31:00.013-05:00

I have been bad the last week or so trying to keep up with my blogging! We've had a very busy week--lots of pictures to share! Drew turned a month old on August 28th, and I absolutely cannot believe a month has gone by! I know it's so cliche, but it's true how fast time flies. I'm so glad I'm not going back to work because there is no way I would be ready at this point. He'll be 6 weeks old on Monday, and that's another thing I can't believe. I can't imagine going back to working 44 hours a week, nights and weekends included. No, thanks!

Here's a picture of him at one month old--konked out in the recliner!

We went to Lake LBJ (west of Austin) for Labor Day weekend. Conly's mom has a lake house up there, so we met up with Conly, Amanda, and Ryder for a fun-filled weekend. Laura, Kyle, and their boys were supposed to be there too, but Garrett was sick so just Laura, Kyle, and Carson came on Saturday. We ate way too much all weekend and had such a good time. The guys went out on the boat and went tubing on Saturday while the girls stayed at the house with the kids and gabbed and gossiped all day. It rained for a little while, but not too long. Drew was awake during the day a lot, which was nice. He is such a good baby. Here's a bunch of pictures from the weekend.

Amanda holding Drew

Grilling some pork chops

We call this "Redneck Sack Race"--yes, that's a Miller Lite box

This is what I like to see--the men taking care of the kids!

Drew and Trent chillin' on the floor

Amanda and Ryder

Me enjoying a delicious margarita

Trent holding Ryder

Scary coffee Laura

Conly getting ready to go tubing

Kyle and Laura enjoying the view from the balcony

Conly and Ryder

Trent playing with Carson

Carson was a riot at dinner--he just smiles all the time and we were having so much fun making him laugh that night. Never thought the 6 of us would be sitting around hysterically laughing at a 6 month old!

Drew, Ryder, and Conly--I just love this picture!

Trent and Daddy on the boat

Aaron, Trent, and Conly going swimming

Drew in his swimming duds--he didn't get in the water, but he just looked so cute!

Conly and Trent in the water

The boys in the water

Conly with my 2 boys

Trent had his first day at his new preschool on Tuesday. He really likes it there. Sadly, he only got to go 2 days this week because he has pink eye--fun times. He has been home with me today and yesterday. He goes to school Tuesday through Friday, so only 3 more days of hearing him complain about not getting to go to school!

Here he is on his first day:

It was so nice outside this morning so Trent, Drew, and I sat out on the back patio for a while.

I told Trent to say "Cheese" like he always does, and he said it as a question..."Cheese?" and the picture came out like this:

So cute!

These are from this afternoon....

Baby Drew on the quilt that my sister made for Trent when he was a baby

I got out Trent's old pop-up baby gym for Drew today and Trent helped me set it up...

Wait--I thought this was for Drew!

4 weeks

2008-08-27T12:36:00.006-05:00

Drew at 4 weeks

Not happy!

Pick me up, Mommy!

As you can see, Drew was not in the mood for the paparazzi on Monday when I was taking his 4 week pictures. His hair looks really red to me in those pictures. It's been looking more and more red lately. Trent's hair was red when he was a baby though, so who knows--it may just be a fluke and it will turn blonde later.

Drew has been much more alert lately during the day, which makes me so happy because I can interact with him a lot more and feel like we're carrying on a conversation...a one-sided one, but a conversation nonetheless! I cannot believe he is 4 weeks old already. He will be a whole month old tomorrow! How is that possible?!

Here he is the other day supporting our team!

Laying in the floor with Trent

And this is a great story. The other day when Aaron got home from work, Drew was fussy so Aaron was walking around the house with him. He couldn't get him to really stop crying, and Trent was begging to run races with his Daddy. They basically race each other from one end of the house to the other--this is a common occurrence in our house. So Aaron faced Drew to the front and (gently) started racing Trent. Obviously T was winning because he wasn't carrying a baby, so Aaron made him carry his stuffed animal Simba to make it a little more fair. Throughout all of this racing around the house, Drew was silent and wide awake--he loved it! They did this for several laps back and forth and Drew completely calmed down. So here's a picture and a video of the action.

On Monday, we took Trent for his 4 year checkup. I know, a little late, but he just had a checkup last September, so it's been about a year. He weighs 46 lbs, which is in the 90-95th percentile (he's been off the charts for about 2 or 3 years now), and he is 41 inches tall, which is th 25-50th percentile. He had to get 4 shots too, which of course he didn't like, but he took it like a champ. He cried a little, but I don't think he's scarred for life. I, on the other hand, got a little teary-eyed during the traumatic experience. It's different when they're babies because they cry for 2 seconds and then all is forgotten. But when they know what's going on and can say the words, "Ow!" and "It hurts, Mommy!", it's heartbreaking! I was glad Aaron was there to hold him down while the nurse gave him the shots. I just sat in the corner holding Drew and cried. After it was over, I pulled myself together and handed Drew off to Aaron so I could hold my other baby. Thank God he is done with shots until he's 12!

I think Drew and I are going to get ready and go do some shopping. After the racing around the house the other day, we realized we need to get one of those infant carriers that holds the baby where he can face forward and see the world since he loved it so much when Aaron was carrying him that way. So I think I'll go look for one!

3 weeks

2008-08-19T10:17:00.004-05:00

Trent has been wanting to hold Drew all the time lately, so we've been getting a lot of pictures of that because it's just so darn cute!

Aww!

All smiles

Watching some TV

And this is just hilarious. He has one of Aaron's t-shirts around his neck for a cape and he has Aaron's boots on. Thought of the whole ensemble all by himself.

And Baby Drew turned 3 weeks old yesterday!

Here he is in the recliner.

And this just shows how tiny he is in relation to the chair.

He's so handsome in red!

Sweet boy!

And the 3 weeks postpartum shot--yay!

Drew has been sleeping pretty well. Some nights it's hard to get him to go to sleep before 11 or 12, but once we get him down, he usually sleeps for about 4 hours before waking up to eat. Last night, he ate at about 9:30, went to sleep at about 11 and woke up at 1:30 to eat. Then he went back down and woke up at about 4:45 to eat, and then he was awake and fussy (or "fuzzy", as Trent says) for a little while so I nursed him for maybe 10 minutes and he was out so I got to sleep for a little while longer. He almost always falls asleep while breastfeeding.

He also seems to really like bathtime. He just lays there looking all relaxed in the warm water, then he usually pees in the warm water (a sure sign of relaxation!) so we have to drain it and fill it back up. I love cuddling with him after his bath because he's really alert and he's all warm and snuggly!

Trent starts his new preschool in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure if I've mentioned anything on here about it, but we got him signed up for a preschool at a Methodist church that is about a 2 minute drive from our house. Primrose is close too, but this is closer, and MUCH cheaper. We are sad to leave Primrose because Trent is learning so much there, but I am really excited about this preschool. I have heard wonderful things about it, and the director used to teach at an elementary school near us, so she knows what they need to know to be ready for kindergarten. Trent will be going Tuesday-Friday from 9:30-1:30, which I'm also excited about because at Primrose, they either have full day pre-k 5 days a week, or 1/2-day pre-k 5 days a week. And their 1/2 day ends at 11:30, and it's only $20 cheaper per week than the full day program. Not really worth it! We tried doing half days for a week, and Trent hated it because he wasn't there very long before I had to pick him up. So we went back to full days--but we can't afford full days on one salary, so we had to pursue other options. He starts on September 2. I will be sure and post pictures of his first day!

2 weeks

2008-08-13T10:29:00.004-05:00

I know I'm a couple of days late with this post, but I did take pictures on Monday when Drew was officially 2 weeks old. We went to the doctor yesterday for his 2 week well baby appointment. We had one last bilirubin test to make sure the jaundice is going away, and it is. He now weighs 8 lbs 11 ozs--not quite back up to his birth weight, which they like to see at the 2 week point, but the doctor wasn't too concerned about it and neither am I. He is eating well and has gained some weight, so he is just fine.

We made an appointment for his 2 month checkup, as well as an appointment for Trent's 4 year checkup and shots (ok, so I'm a little late with that one!) It really hit me when I was making these appointments that, wow, I am a mother of two children! I am making doctor's appointments for two kids. It still sounds weird to me!

Anyway, here are the pics of Drew at 2 weeks old. I thought I'd join the bandwagon and start doing the "chair picture". The first pic is of him lying on his changing table, the second is the chair pic of him in the recliner that we moved to his room, and the 3rd is the side view of me, 2 weeks postpartum. I have now lost 34 of the 42 lbs that I gained, but I would ideally like to lose about 8-10 more lbs on top of the 42, so by my count, I have about 16-18 more to go. But we'll see. Mainly, I just want to be healthy, but I definitely don't want to stay at my current weight.

And last but not least, it dawned on me that I could upload this video of Trent and Drew's first meeting. It's a pretty big file so I hope it works, and I hope I did it right!

10 days and counting

2008-08-07T10:43:00.007-05:00

Here we are, 10 days after the birth of our precious baby boy Drew. It has been a rollercoaster ride to say the least. I promised details of his birth day, so here goes, if you're interested. Just a warning, some of this may be too much information!

I woke up Monday, July 28 at about 5am, and lo and behold, I was having contractions--not huge ones that sent me into screaming fits; they were more uncomfortable than anything. I started thinking, well, maybe that Oscar performance won't be needed after all. I got up, took a shower, and we packed all the last minute stuff into the car. On the way to the hospital, we started timing my contractions (which were still not that intense)--they were about 2-3 minutes apart the whole way there! We walked into L&D at about 6:30, and the nurse at the desk took us to a birthing room where they checked how much I was dilated and such. I was only 1.5cm and about 50% effaced--no change since my OB appointment the Wednesday before. BUT since my contractions were steady and so close together, I was told, "We're not going to send you home." Music to my ears! They called Dr. Taylor, who got there about 7 or 7:30, checked me again and told me I was about 2cm dilated. A little while later, she went ahead and broke my water, which hurt like hell for a second, and then it was just really gross. With Trent, I already had my epidural before they broke my water, so I didn't feel a thing...this was quite different. I won't go into any further detail on that.

Probably about an hour later (I wasn't paying too close attention to the time), the anesthesiologist came to give me the epidural. That was the worst pain I have probably ever experienced. I was a bit shocked at this, as I didn't feel a thing when I got my epidural with Trent. Ouch, is all I have to say. But once it was over, it was smooth sailing. They gave me pitocin to make my contractions stronger, and I steadily dilated to about 5cm by 12:25pm. At this point, my nurse talked to Dr. Taylor on the phone. Dr. Taylor told her she expected to have this baby by 2:00. I thought, "You've got to be kidding me--I'm only 5cm, and that is in an hour and a half! There's no way!" Little do I know...

The nurse gave me another dose of pitocin, and wow. I went from 5 to 8cm by about 12:50. Two contractions later, I was 10cm (about 12:55 or 1:00--I don't know all these times for sure because I was a little busy at that point). All I know is that all of a sudden...something felt really different. I've always heard that women in labor feel the need to push at a certain point, but I never really felt that with Trent, but boy, did I feel it this time. It didn't necessarily hurt, it just felt like he was coming, and he was coming NOW! I started pushing a few minutes later, and 10 minutes after that, he was here, all 9 lbs. 2 ozs. of him. The rest is a bit of a blur, but my heart felt so full, I thought it might burst. I truly didn't know I could love another human being as much as I love Trent, but God truly does provide enough love in a mother's heart for as many kids as He sends your way.

One of the biggest struggles early on was with breastfeeding. I really wanted to breastfeed more than anything. I can't pinpoint the exact reason why, it's just something that I wanted to make work this time. Well, Drew had other plans. He just was not latching on in those first few days, and I'm pretty sure it was because I wasn't producing milk yet, and he is apparently one of those kids on whom the concept of delayed gratification is lost. He wanted it NOW, dammit! So after a couple of days of frustrating feedings at home, we decided to supplement with formula and I would use the breast pump. At least that way, we could give him whatever I had to give and fill in the blanks with formula. Things got much more relaxed around here after that. I did start making more milk and it got to the point that we did not have to even use formula. Every bottle he got was breast milk. Yay! And now that I am producing milk, he has even nursed a few times.

Another issue we have been dealing with is jaundice. Trent had jaundice too, but I don't remember it being as big a deal as it has been this time. We have had to go to the doctor every day since last Thursday (aside from Saturday and Sunday) to have his bilirubin level checked, and to do that, they have to prick his heel, which is getting quite old. His bilirubin level has slowly been coming down every day, and we actually got to skip going in today and we'll go back tomorrow. Hopefully that will be the last time. We have to keep him in a biliblanket, which is basically a blue light that we have to wrap around his midsection and keep on him as much as possible. It's a pain in the butt because I want to hold my baby, not a glowing little wiggly thing. I did not give birth to a Glo-Worm! Like I said, hopefully tomorrow will be the last time we have to go for that reason. We have to go on Tuesday for his 2 week well baby appointment. Oh--one other thing--he totally peed all over the doctor and the exam room yesterday! I've never seen so much pee in my entire life. Why the doctor didn't cover him with his diaper, I do not know, but there was a fountain of pee flying across the room, splattering on the floor! It was hilarious!

Other than that, he has been sleeping pretty well at night, or maybe I just knew what to expect this time and I'm not so surprised that he is awake at night. Last night, for example, I got to sleep from about midnight-3:30 (he was asleep from about 11-3, but I had to pump), and again from 4-7, and I woke him up at 7. Pretty good for a 10 day old baby!

Here are a few pics from the last week and a half:

Trent and Drew watching TV together--that glowing thing on Drew is the biliblanket.

First bath at home - 8/2/2008

This is cold!

Aaaahhh--that's better!

All warm and cozy

1 week postpartum

1 week old

Holding that head up--he's so strong!

He rolled over to his side by himself this morning!

Drew Thomas Landenberger

2008-08-01T09:11:00.008-05:00

He's here! Drew was born Monday, July 28 at 1:22pm. He tipped the scale at 9 lbs. 2 oz., and measured 21 inches long. He is an absolute angel, and we are so happy to have him here. He has a ton of hair and he came out already needing his fingernails cut--all a result of those prenatal vitamins, I'm sure! I will post more about the big event later when I get a chance. I just wanted to go ahead and post pictures of our new baby boy! (By the way, I didn't think so at first, but now every day he looks more like Trent! Also, now every time I hug Trent or hold him, he seems really big in comparison to his little brother!)

Waiting for the arrival of the newest Landenberger

The obligatory post-epidural picture

Here he is! That's Nurse Heather holding our bundle of joy!

Whew!

Minutes old

Drew, meet your Mommy.

First glimpse

First meeting of Trent and Drew

Just the four of us

Grams holding her newest grandson

This is my favorite picture EVER!

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man! He does this a lot.

My three favorite guys in the world

Look at all that hair! He's got a fro!

This was Day 2, and Trent is excited because he was about to get to hold his brother. So sweet!

My two sons

Am I the ultimate multitasking mommy or what?

New in town

Mommy and Drew

In the car seat, ready to leave the hospital and go HOME!

In the car

I'm a happy girl!

We're home! (Doesn't the sky look gorgeous behind us?)

Snug as a bug!

I'll post more later!

A little update...

2008-07-23T23:28:00.002-05:00

Well, I heard from the doctor's office this afternoon, and the nurse told me that the hospital is all booked up for the Sunday to Monday inductions. But Dr. Taylor got on the phone with me and told me a few things to do Sunday night and Monday morning that may help start contractions, and then she said to come in to the hospital Monday morning and complain of cramps (she said to give an Oscar award-winning performance and don't tell them that she told me what to do or they'll just send me home--I love my doctor!) She'll be at the hospital anyway that morning so she'll just take over from there and we'll hopefully have a baby. If it doesn't work, then we still are scheduled for induction Wednesday morning.

I've been having some pretty sharp pains through my abdomen though, so you never know--he could come before then on his own!

38 weeks---Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkk!

2008-07-23T12:25:00.005-05:00

Okay, so I just got home from the dr's office after having to wait for 2 hours for her. (She had to do an emergency procedure at the hospital.) I have been really miserable the last couple of days and getting kind of depressed, so having to wait for a long time to see the doctor was starting to take its toll on me. The nurse did the whole weight (I'm now up 42 lbs.!), blood pressure (108/74), and baby's heart rate (in the 140's) thing, and everything obviously looks fine and dandy. My feet and hands have been swelling a lot in the past week or so, but especially my left foot. I think it's because the baby is sitting on something that is causing it to do this, but my left calf has been sore like I pulled a muscle and my left foot swells more than my right. My feet swell a lot when I am sitting upright in a chair with my feet on the floor. That causes me to need to stand up, which is also painful because now I'm standing on swollen feet. So pretty much the only comfortable way to sit is in the recliner with my feet up. And I have way too much to do to be sitting in the recliner all day!

Anyway, Dr. Taylor finally got back and it was a whirlwind from there! She told me I am about 1.5cm dilated and 50% effaced. And then she asked me if I wanted to be induced at a certain point. I said, without hesitation, yes! And so, after a few mind-racing moments (my mind was racing anyway), it was decided that we will go in on Sunday night and I will be induced Monday morning, unless we get bumped, and I'm praying we don't get bumped! So unless he decides to come before then, we will have Drew on Monday! Yea! I am so excited, I can't see straight!

I haven't posted any pictures in a while, so I thought I would do that now. Here they are:

Aaron and I at Trent's preschool's 4th of July parade

Trent waving to Mommy and Daddy--his class made "Uncle Sam" masks--too cute!

Aaron getting ready for his 5k race--Lunar Rendezvous Run at Space Center--7/19/08

Mommy and Trent waiting for Daddy at the finish line

Giving Daddy a thumbs up

Waiting for Daddy, staying hydrated!

Aaron coming in at the finish line--23:14

The family after the race

This is me today--38 weeks!

37 weeks

2008-07-16T11:05:00.002-05:00

We had another ultrasound this morning. We didn't get any good pictures because the little turkey is facing my back, so he was not about to show us his face. I saw Dr. Taylor after the ultrasound, and she checked me and I am about 1 cm dilated and 40% effaced. Yea! We're on our way. Aaron is thinking July 25, and my mom thinks the same thing, so we shall see! I can handle that. Now I just need to pack a bag! And do about a million other things too, but it will get done.

Last night I went to my first Mom's Club event. It was our Mom's Night Out, and I had so much fun. We just had desserts at one of the mom's house. There were 6 of us, and I really hit it off with all of them. We all talked the night away, and before we knew it, it was 12:30am! Haven't stayed up that late in quite a while. There were 2 other women there that are also pregnant. One is due right about the same time I am. It was so nice to just sit and talk with all of them. And the desserts were delicious! I can't wait for future events and to take Trent and Drew with me to some of them. The Mom's Club has something on the calendar pretty much every day M-F, so we have our pick of fun stuff to do.

Trent has started going half days at Primrose, and so far it's going pretty well. He has mentioned a couple of times that he would rather stay at school with his friends, but I think it's just because it's something different. It is just a transition that he has to make, and usually transitions like these are a piece of cake for him. So I can't help but feel a little twinge of guilt when he says that he wants to be at school. I know it can't be the funnest thing in the world to spend his afternoons with his hugely pregnant mommy, but I've been thinking up fun things we can do that don't take too much energy on my part. Because that's what I'm lacking at this point--energy! Today we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and he played on their playground for a little while. He fell asleep on the way home and I had to wake him up to get him inside (there's NO way I could have carried him). So now he's laying down and I would really like him to get a good nap in, but so far he is just laying there singing and talking to himself. So we'll see if that happens. At least he's resting!

36 Weeks

2008-07-09T11:44:00.002-05:00

I had my weekly doctor's appointment today. Nothing to report really. I'm up 34 pounds overall, BP is good, baby's HR is 147, which it has been for weeks now. I have been having some more intense Braxton-Hicks contractions lately, but my doctor seemed happy about that. I'm guessing it's because that just means my body is practicing for the big day. I am not dilated at all yet. Dr. Taylor thinks that Drew is about 6.5 lbs. right now. And we are getting another ultrasound next week to determine if she's right or not! Yea! I love ultrasounds! Anyway, not much else to report--at this point, my appointments are really quick unless I have any questions or concerns.

We went last night and bought most of the rest of the stuff on our registry, so we are now pretty much ready for this baby to come. I just need to wash everything--sheets, clothes--and I need to go through Trent's old stuff to see what we can use for Drew. Drew is coming at the complete opposite season as Trent (winter in Colorado vs. summer in Houston--yeah, can't get much more different!), so I'm not sure some of Trent's stuff is going to fly with this baby. But we also have gotten lots of new stuff for Drew from family and friends. I've also GOT to clean out Drew's closet--such a mess!

Last weekend we went to Dallas for the 4th, and that is definitely our last trip before the baby comes. By the end of the drive back, I was so uncomfortable that I literally felt like jumping out of the car while it was moving. It almost felt like restless leg syndrome. I couldn't stop moving to try and get in a more comfortable position, but there was nowhere to go so I was pretty much just wiggling around in my seat. Weird. Anyway, we had a great time up there. We were going pretty much nonstop the whole time, which was tiring for all of us, but lots of fun. Last road trip just the 3 of us. Wow.

The first day of the rest of my life

2008-07-01T09:04:00.002-05:00

Today starts a new chapter in my life. I am now a stay at home mom. Trent is still going to preschool, but we are going to pull him down to half days starting probably next week. We are hoping to get him into the preschool at our church in September because they have a part time program where he will go Tuesday-Thursday for half days.

So anyway, yesterday was my last day at work. I sure was glad to leave, especially since I got to leave early! I worked with some really great people that I hope to keep in touch with. But for now, I'm okay living without them! :) I am so excited to be starting this new chapter in my life. I already have a list a mile long of things I want/need to do--and that's just today!

Also, we got some incredible news this past week that makes up our minds as to whether we will make the military a career or not. And it means that we will most definitely be a military family until Aaron retires after 20 years in. They have changed the GI Bill to where Aaron can transfer the benefits to our children and it will more than cover tuition, fees, housing, books, everything for both of them. Considering we have not saved a dime for our kids' college, that kind of made the career decision for us. You have to be in the military for 10 years before you can transfer the GI Bill to your kids, and the way we look at it, if we're already in 10 years, why not go another 10 and get the retirement benefits too? The only catch was, when we heard about them changing the Bill, it still had not been signed by President Bush, and they weren't sure whether he was going to sign it. But then I got this in my email this morning: http://www.military.com/news/article/bush-to-sign-new-gi-bill-today.html. He signed it yesterday! Can this day get any better, seriously?

Other exciting news: Laura, Kyle, Garrett, and Carson are coming to visit the weekend after the 4th. I still have not seen Carson in person, so I am way excited. We are also going to make plans to hang out with Scott (Kyle's brother) and his wife Darla. We haven't seen them in quite a while either--since before they got married, which was in December! Way too long! So it should be a fun weekend.

Okay, I am off to get started on this list of things to do!

5 Years

2008-06-28T16:30:00.004-05:00

Today is Aaron's and my 5th anniversary. Wow. 5 years sounds like a long time, but it has gone by so quickly. Yet SO much has happened in the last 5 years. I love my husband more every day. He is such an incredible husband and father. I'm so lucky to get to spend this life with my very best friend in the world.

Tonight we are just keeping it simple. Some friends of ours are watching Trent while we go to dinner at Perry's Steakhouse and Grille, which is a Houston-based restaurant. Then depending on what kind of desserts they have, we'll either get dessert there or we're going to Cold Stone Creamery! :) We have been dying to have Cold Stone for the longest time now, but we have just not made it there. So we may very well be leaving the snooty steakhouse to go to Cold Stone!

Here is a picture of us 5 years ago today:

Last warehouse day

2008-06-26T18:17:00.002-05:00

Yes, today was my last "truck day" ever! Not gonna miss that one bit! I have tomorrow and Saturday off, and then I'm working for probably a half day on Sunday, and then a full day on Monday, and then I'm DONE! What a relief!

I contacted a Mom's Club here in League City and asked about joining. I got a voicemail from their membership VP yesterday, so I am going to call her back tomorrow and get some more info. I think it will be awesome to meet other stay at home moms in my area. I think I would go nuts if I tried to go at this completely alone and shut off from the world!

That's all I got for now!

Baby boy in 3D and baby shower pics too

2008-06-24T10:53:00.012-05:00

I'll get right to it! Here's Baby Drew in 3D!

With his hand in front of his mouth

CHUBBY CHEEKS!

Sleepy guy

He is measuring (overall) at 34w 4d, but his head is 35w 5d! Yikes! Please pray for me!

Some other news--in the last couple of days, we have found that he really responds to Trent's voice and laughter. It's the coolest thing! These boys are gonna love each other so much! I can't wait.

Here are some pics from my baby shower that was on June 7 (I know it's like 2 weeks later, but I've been way busy!)

Me

Me and Traci

Mom, me, and Traci

Me and my Granny

Me and 2 of my aunts (on Mom's side): Donna and Mary

Me and 2 of my aunts (on Daddy's side): Robin and Anita

My cousin Kristy, me, and Traci

The blanket my mother-in-law made

The quilt my Granny made

ME!

In other happy news, I now have 6 more days until I stop working. And I am only working 4 of those days (including today). Tonight is my last night to close (I will NOT miss that one bit!)

Yay! Can't wait!

New adventures

2008-05-28T14:02:00.004-05:00

I have started a new venture that I am hoping will allow me to stay at home for some time and will allow Trent to stay in preschool also. I would hate to completely pull him out of school and send him off to kindergarten in a year, totally shell-shocked! He's a bit shy as it is, so I want him to keep being around other children and to keep learning all that he is learning.

Anyway, so this new venture is Discovery Toys. I signed up to do it about a month ago, and because I am still working full time, I have not really made time for it until now. I am having my grand opening for my new business today as well as yesterday. I did not have a very good turnout yesterday, so I am hoping that more people will show up today. I do have my first recruit underneath me--my sister-in-law Jenn has joined and is already kicking butt at it, which I knew she would. I am already earning rewards because of her awesomeness! That feels so good, and it's so inspiring. It makes me want to quit my job early so I can focus on this. It's a business that you truly can do part-time and earn so much in return. But I am going to stick it out with my job (only 34 more days until my last day!). I have a lot of ideas running around my head about Discovery Toys and I can't wait to see what the future holds for me in this business. For those that have never heard of Discovery Toys, it is a wonderful company that offers award-winning educational toys. There are great rewards for hosting parties, so if anyone wants to earn free toys for their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or any other children in your life, please let me know and we can schedule a demo so I can share Discovery Toys with you and your family and friends. Or if you'd like to know more about the business opportunity and what rewards you can earn through it, again, let me know and I will be glad to share it with you.

Here is the Discovery Toys mission statement, which I truly believe in:

We believe that play is a child's work...children play to learn, to grow, and to experience the world around them.

I am so excited about this opportunity. It's something fun I can do with my kids and I can make a little extra money at the same time! How perfect for this point in my life!

Play with your children...it's the best investment you'll ever make!