Vaughan's Blog

Christmas

2011-12-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

It is no surprise that I love Christmas time! This Christmas we are going skiing in Durango, Colorado as our main gift. We thought it would be a lot of fun to celebrate with a vacation and family time as opposed to gift giving. My love language is gift giving so it was hard for me not to buy things for everybody, but I managed. This year we spent less money, but put more thought into our gifts. Riley bought me a gift pretty early and was really excited about it. He said and I quote "I only spent $12 but I bought you the best gift. You will love it! I'm pretty sure you're gonna cry". Of course I was so excited to see what it was and he was right! He made me a coffee cup that says Merry Christmas Mom. I love you so much. Your the best mom I could ever ask for. Enjoy your coffee! Then he decorated it with christmas trees, snowmen and snow. I absolutely LOVE it!! Bailey did really good too. She was so sweet to remember that months ago I was looking for a flannel shirt to wear with my Uggs and take on our trip. I never found one and just stopped looking. I was so surprised that she remembered and I can't wait to wear it (picture to follow soon). Bailey is currently obsessed with Justin Bieber, so we had to get her his movie. She listens to his CD over and over again. It's really cute. Who knows maybe we can make it to a concert this year. They make a barbie size Justin Bieber doll that we almost got as a joke but thought $20 was too much to spend on something that's just supposed to be funny. Of course we all got our Christmas Eve pj's. That will never get old and I will never stop that tradition. Normally, I love surprises and get really upset if anyone finds out their gifts. I even prefer that no one know what we are getting for one another. I kinda' ruined that because all I asked for was the new iPhone and there was no way for Jeremy to get that without me knowing. So Jeremy decided that he should be able to pick out his gift too since I knew mine. I was reluctant, but eventually agreed. Even though we knew our gifts we wrapped them anyway. We've joked about it since they went under the tree and it was kinda' fun, but I won't let it happen again. Next year we're back to all surprises.

Bailey & Chelby

2011-12-24T13:21:00.000-08:00

Bailey and Chelby have been friends since Elementary School. We used to live near each other when we lived in Fort Worth and they moved to Keller the same year as we did. These girls are inseparable, so when they're not together they're usually on facetime. Chelby has become a part of the family :) They are super sweet and super silly. Of course, you should be able to see that from the photos. Right now they are in LOVE with Justin Bieber (which I think it's cute!), they love dogs, Vans, Uggs, Miss Me's, and Northface. I'm excited to be a part of the phases and fashions they go in and out of, the experiences of high school, boyfriends, sports, camps, and all the other fun things that come with being the mom of a daughter.

Billy Bob's

2011-12-23T09:07:00.001-08:00

While my family was in from North Carolina we all went to Billy Bob's to see Randy Rogers perform. Riley took his girlfriend, Jess, with us as a birthday present to her. He decided to borrow some boots, jeans, belt, and belt buckle to dress up as part of his present as well. I thought they looked really cute! Billy Bob's was packed and we couldn't hear any of the concert, so I still have no idea if I actually like Randy Rogers music. Jeremy doesn't like country music or dancing so if it wasn't for Riley I wouldn't have danced at all. Riley asked me to dance and what mama's heart wouldn't melt at that request. It was definitely my favorite part of the night.

Riley's 17th

2011-11-29T09:03:00.000-08:00

Riley wanted to stay in for his birthday this year, so we ordered Buffalo Wild Wings (one of his faves), had cake, and opened gifts at home. Note to self: do not wait to write blog posts months after an event has occurred because you do not remember all of things you wanted to say.

Nadirah's 18th

2011-11-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

Nadirah loves Chinese food so she wanted to go to P.F. Chang's for dinner to celebrate her 18th. We surprised her at work with the car. She learned to drive on the Camry and really wanted it but we didn't want her to know she was getting it, so we told her we sold it and then hid it at Jeremy's mom's house. I have loved this car and I'm really glad it's still in the family. I have no idea what Jeremy and Bailey are doing other than just being their normal silly selves.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

I think this year's pumpkins turned out really good. Riley decided to do a Jordan pumpkin, which he drew free-hand and did a great job. I love the picture of Rudy and Colleen. He was a little confused as to why his mom wanted to show him all the pumpkin guts :) I was forced to pose with my pumpkin and the template. I am not artistic and if I don't carve a pumpkin my family gets upset, so copying seemed like the best way to handle that!

How common is a name?

2011-09-12T09:02:00.001-07:00

Riley, Riley, Maggie and Riley

I love the picture of Riley, Riley, Maggie and Riley! Almost immediately after finding out I was pregnant Jeremy and I started to think of baby names. Of course I didn't realize until the process started how much pressure would come with it. I mean I didn't want to end up with a name that was too common or one that was too uncommon. I didn't want to use a family name because I have three brothers and two sisters and Jeremy has three brothers, so how do you pick one without someone getting their feelings hurt. I didn't want a name that could be shortened or made into a nickname (if I was spending all the time and effort to come up with the perfect name I wanted it used). Then of course you have the ones Jeremy chose that I banned and vice versa. All of that just for a name, well really two because we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl yet. Around three months pregnant Jeremy found the name Riley. I didn't immediately love it, but I definitely didn't want it excluded either. Honestly, I just wasn't sure and I felt like I would be sure when the right name came along. Anyway, at 20 weeks I was told I was having a girl so all of our efforts went to that. So November 29 when our son was born we didn't have a name for him. I was pretty drugged so I don't remember what or if we called him anything other than baby boy Vaughan the whole first day. Day 2 the nurse walks in and needs a name for the birth certificate. I didn't want my son going home baby boy Vaughan so Riley Cameron it was. Now for those of you who know me well that is a huge accomplishment, because I tend to be somewhat indecisive :) We haven't meet many other Riley's along the way. Only a few here and there at school and they were mostly girls who spelled it different. So I find it pretty ironic that Riley now knows three Riley's all with the same spelling (two from school and his friend Maggie's older brother). I'm so glad we chose it because I LOVE his name. Though when he was little he went through a phase where he wished his first name was Cameron.

The Woes and Excitement of Back to School

2011-08-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, I still make my almost 17 and 13 year-old pose for a first day of school picture. Riley is NEVER excited for the first day of school. This tradition started for him in first grade. Each year as I drove him to school with his new clothes, shoes, lunch box, etc...he'd beg me to home school him. Other than Kindergarten I never remember him actually being excited about school. So today was like so many other first days and other than the usual I hate school comments. I also got a "when is our first day off" which was his first comment of the day while still laying in bed. Then it was "if we do any work today I'm going to be so mad" and "if I call you don't answer because I'm at the nurse and if I'm really sick I'll call you 3 times." And then there's Bailey. She doesn't like the idea of school starting or having to get to bed at a decent time or the dreaded waking up at 7 am, but she is excited about today. Today is fun and new. She's excited to see the friends she hasn't seen all summer, she's looking forward to lunch, is ready to wear her new tennis shoes to athletics, eat out of her new Vera Bradley lunch box, and is even excited about the after school rush to Target to get the rest of her school supplies. All in all I think it was a good start to a new school year. Thinking of next year's first day already makes me cry...a senior and a freshman! I feel flashbacks of the Kindergarten depression may be rearing its ugly head again.

Weekend Getaway

2011-07-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

Both of the kids ended up on trips at the same time, so Jeremy and I thought it was a good idea to take advantage of that and get away. We were going to go to Mexico, but I was not okay with leaving the country with the kids in other states so we went to Fredericksburg and Austin. We love Austin and every time we go we find new, fun things to do. This trip we decided to go with a "best of Austin" theme. We took in best of restaurants, coffee shops, and boutiques. Totally recommend Shady Grove, Home Slice, Cedar Door and Jo's Coffee Shop! There are a couple of pictures of us at Hamilton Preserve, a historic natural swimming pool. It's about a mile hike to the pool but so worth it. It was beautiful! When we finished swimming we decided to hike the other trail which was fun until I saw a huge, black snake. That really freaked me out. I know snakes are out there and I'm okay with that I just don't ever want to see them. We also wanted to visit Fredericksburg because we hear so much about it but have never been. We spent the last day of our trip in Fredericksburg visiting wineries and walking around on main street. For whatever reason Fredericksburg equals heavy incense/candle burning. Seriously some of the stores were so bad I couldn't even walk in them! My favorite shop was a surf shop. In the picture I'm on some sort of balancing thing...so fun. Wish I could remember what it was because I want one. Finally, we decided to hike Enchanted Rock before heading home and loved it! Glad we decided to go.

Bailey's trip to Wilmington

2011-07-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

I have been super busy with summer school. I am cramming three years of school into two, so that required me to take five classes this summer. I didn't want the kids to be bored so we planned trips and camps to keep them entertained. Bailey got to spend a week with my brother, his wife and daughter in North Carolina. She loved Wrightsville Beach! Jordan was so sad when Bailey had to leave. She cried every time they mentioned it, the entire time at the airport and apparently really lost it when she saw the plane take off...so sweet. We are planning a family trip there next summer...can't wait!

Panama City

2011-07-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

Riley took a trip to Panama City with most of his best friends: Alec, Nick, Galen, Cole, Maggie, Taylor and Blaire. I would love for him to write about the trip, but that will never happen. I wouldn't even have pictures other than some of a crab he caught then ate and the Ripley's Believe It or Not upside down building if iI had to rely on him. Thank you Maggie and Taylor for taking and posting the pics! He did tell me that he and Cole spent one night digging a tunnel in the sand, he ate a raw fish, renting the scooter's was a lot of fun, and that he loved dancing at the teen club.

Bailey's 13th

2011-07-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

How do you plan the perfect surprise 13th birthday party? Well, you do not send a text with all of the party details including the location and gifts to your daughter instead of your wife...oops! I guess we'll try for a surprise another year :) Btw it is now official...I am the shortest member of my family! I knew it would happen sooner or later, but I did not expect Bailey to pass me by 13.

Jessica :)

2011-06-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

The first time I met Jessica my 6'4" husband was sitting in a toddler chair...and so our friendship began! We have shared a lot of laughs and a lot of tears! There was NRHBC young marrieds, Nathan reading the paper, the Burleson house, Jackson calling Jeremy "Jill", Bailey and Emma: two peas in a pod, Granbury, the Colonial, Hurricane Harbor, volleyball, Veteran's day and so much more! Even though she is all the way in North Carolina I still love her and miss her a lot!

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T05:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is almost August and I am posting from Mother's Day. I realize that I am probably the world's most unfaithful blogger, but that's okay. I blog so that when my kids are older they not only have pictures to look back through, but my thoughts about our memories. Of course, it's a nice bonus that my extended family and friends get to stay more connected by reading these posts and viewing our pictures. I would say that I will be more faithful, but I probably won't. The down side to procrastinating is that I don't always remember sayings, phrases or thoughts I wanted to include, but I'm gonna' try anyway. So, Mother's Day was fabulous as usual. Riley gave me the sweetest card! I literally cried reading it and will keep it forever. Bailey is very thoughtful and puts a lot of thought into gifts so she made sure to get me some of my favorite things: gift certificate for a mother/daughter pedicure, Starbuck's card, and Reese's peanut butter cups. Riley knows that what I love most is spending time with my family so he decided to get me a gift card so that we could shop together. My kids know me pretty well and are super thoughtful! For that I give credit to their dad. He is one of the most thoughtful people I know and loves to make me feel special.

Spring Break in Breckenridge

2011-04-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Until this year we'd never gone on a winter vacation. Jeremy and I love the beach so that is always our first choice. But this past summer Nadirah moved to Breckenridge so we wanted to visit and our kids really wanted to go skiing and snowboarding. We loved the town of Breck, it was so cute. Our first day there we just walked around, shopped, ate at Eric's and the Crepe stand (both so yummy) and took a hike which didn't last long without snowshoes. We woke up Tuesday morning to inches of snowfall. We were all so excited and amazed by the beauty of the falling snow against the mountains. We headed over to Keystone for our first day to ski and snowboard. Some of us had a little experience but most had none which led to a very interesting first day. Jeremy and Bailey both tried to snowboard, but were quite unsuccessful. I think they said it took them about an hour and a half to get less than half way down the mountain before they decided to call for a ride down. Apparently, that was super fun and the highlight of their day. Riley, Eric and I skied until sunset. It was amazing being on the mountain at night with the town lit up below. I had so much fun with Riley and he was pretty impressed that I could keep up with him. Although, he was not so comfortable watching me fall. He said it's weird to watch Bailey and I fall down...so sweet!! After skiing a day we headed to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. There's a natural hot spring so even though it was snowing and cold we could swim. We all skied again on Friday at Peak 8 in Breckenridge. Bailey, Jesse and Colleen finally got the hang of it and skied with us all day. Jeremy is an awful skier!! I have no idea how someone can be so athletic and so bad at skiing :) Honestly, he was our entertainment all day. He ran into trees, the kids ski school area and a group of resort employees. He decided to give snowboarding one more try and was finally able to get the down the mountain. Before we left we stopped by Denver to visit some friends and spent a little time in downtown Denver.

J&J in downtown Breckenridge

Jeremy's brother drove in from Denver

Nadirah, Russell, Jill, Jeremy, Bailey, Rebecca, Lilly and Riley

On the slopes in Breckenridge

Aunt Colleen

Jeremy standing :)

Riley on the Terrain Park jumps

The whole gang at the base of Peak 8

Bailey doing a lot better on ski's!

Denver

Bailey and I heading out to a Green

Eric, Jesse, Colleen & Rudy

Jeremy, Jill, Riley, Bailey & Nadirah

Jeremy being funny

Rudy

Glenwood Springs

Jeremy calling for his ride

Jesse & Jill

Jesse & Colleen

On the "emergency" sled

Keystone

The gondola

Back in Breck

My little brother

Waiting on crepes

Snow Days!!

2011-02-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

Temperature's started dropping Monday night and haven't stopped. We've all been home since Tuesday and nobody around here is complaining! Today we woke up to a few inches of snow, which was a nice change from the ice. We met Riley and his friends at the Keller Smithfield park to sled and snowboard.

Gingerbread House Decorating Party

2010-12-19T13:38:00.001-08:00

Last night we hosted our first Gingerbread House Decorating Party. We invited some family and friends, bought LOTS of candy and spent hours decorating. Rudy spent most of the night crawling under the table and going through Luciana's diaper bag playing with the granola bar he kept finding. Mariana decorated her house and then spent the rest of the night eating then sneaking candy. Not sure how easily she fell asleep :) Colleen and Jesse wanted to build their house from graham crackers and marshmallow creme which seemed like a good idea but the marshmallow creme wouldn't harden and hold the graham crackers in place so it did not stand long. We were able to get a quick pick before the wall fell off. We all had a lot of fun and will definitely do it again next year.

Finished

My awesome snowman!

Mariana

Bailey and Chelby working hard.

Me and Aunt Colleen

Jeremy stealing ideas ;)

Jesse and Colleen starting from scratch.

Two hours of hard work.

"Snow Drift"

Mariana liked eating hers best!

Riley's 16th

2010-11-29T08:58:00.000-08:00

You would think it would be pretty hard to "mess-up" a 16th birthday. Unfortunately, Riley's birthday take 1 did not go so well. We were told by the DPS that Riley had to have a Verification of Enrollment form to get his DL the Monday of Thanksgiving break. The schools were closed so we had no way to get the form. On Monday the 29th Jeremy took Riley to school and begged the receptionist to fill out the form. Her reply "it's not possible"! Seriously all we needed was her signature, but I guess if they start that everybody would come last minute. We finally got the form at 2:30 so I take Riley out of school and we head straight to the DPS. By the time we get there it was too late and we had to schedule a drive time for Tuesday. We hand over all of our "needed" paper work and as the DPS guy starts looking through it he hands back the VOE form because "we don't need it". I kind of freaked out and I quote "what did you say?" in a not so nice voice. We waited all day to get a form we didn't need which took so long that he missed getting his DL on his birthday. Little did we know that was only just the beginning with our birthday issues. Jeremy and I started looking for a car about a month early thinking that would be more than enough time. We looked at A LOT of cars all with no luck including one that smelled like cat pee. That was a treat! I almost threw-up before we could get it back to the dealer. As his birthday drew closer we were starting to lose hope on actually finding one, but the Friday before we found a Scion TC at the Ford dealership in Grapevine. It had just been traded in so it was dirty and in need of some detailing, a tune-up and paint touch-up. We both liked the car and knew he would love it so we bought it that night. We were promised that it would be ready Monday morning...and so the story begins. Of course it wasn't ready even though we were calling and driving up there almost hourly. It wasn't until Monday early evening that we finally got through to someone willing to really help. At this point we had a kid with no car and no driver's license on his birthday...awesome! Luckily I had figured out Riley thought we were getting him an iPhone so we told him that his gift would be delivered a day late. Birthday take 2...we let Riley stay home on Tuesday because we had to go take his driving test and as soon as we heard the car was ready we picked Bailey up so she would be there to see him open his gift. Jeremy told Riley that he picked the gift up from UPS so we wrapped the key in my old iPhone box letting him assume he was right until he actually opened it up. He was speechless!! It was so much fun for us to give him his first car!!! So we all drove to DPS so that he could take his car once he passed his test. It was all fun for me until he drove away. As we're walking out for him to drive away I asked if I could ride. Of course he said no, but Bailey could. I give a little speech on how other than his dad he now has the two things I love more than anything in this world in a car and drive safe and...."I know mom". As they drive off I cry and cry again every time he drives off for about a week. In Jeremy's words "a little piece of Jill's heart drives off every time he drives away".

NSM 3rd Annual Turkey Bowl Tournament

2010-11-27T21:19:00.000-08:00

Ryan, Alec, Galen, Auryan, Riley and Nick

Riley and his friends have played in the Turkey Bowl every year and every year they win :) Recently I decided to start taking pictures of Riley and his friends because I'm sure than none of these boys every take any and later they'll be glad someone did. Anyway, I asked Riley to stand off to the side with his friends but the rest of the team wouldn't walk away. As soon as they realized I was taking a picture they all huddled up. So I took a picture of everybody, which for any other person would have been sufficient. But I had my mind set on getting one of just "The Wolf Pack." Well it didn't come easy but finally I was able to get one of just the six.

Bailey still has friends who go to Northwood so she was invited toplay too. Her team doesn't have a lot of athletes but they were able to win a few and even made it to the junior high play offs. I have to brag because Bailey has an amazing arm!! Seriously, she's been able to throw a spiral since she was like 3 and I'm positive she can throw farther than I can. We have a video so I'll post that too.

As promised:

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T08:02:00.000-08:00

We've finally started establishing some traditions with our families so now every year we celebrate Thanksgiving at my brothers. This year we had 28 people!! Sharon, Colleen's mom, is an amazing cook and prepares most of the food. I always bring sweet potatoes and green bean casserole and Colleen makes her yummy spinach dip. This was Rudy's first Thanksgiving and as you can see he enjoyed his meal thanks to Grandpa Mike. Most of the day we just hung out, ate, and then ate some more. After dinner Jesse started the fire pit so we spent most of the night out there playing Catch Phrase. We were SO LOUD!! Jesse said he walked down the street and could easily hear us. I guess it's good that most of their neighbors are old because nobody complained :) The first couple of pictures were taken for my school. One of my professors favorite holidays is Thanksgiving so for extra credit we had to take a picture with our family, crazy hats, the family, pet, a mashed potato sculpture and me eating cranberry sauce. Don't you like the mashed potato turkey? We did such a good job with it that I got 12 out of 10 possible points! Of course I love the picture...who knows maybe we've started another tradition.

Eric's Company Picnic

2010-11-10T21:01:00.000-08:00

Eric is working for a company welding trains and they recently had an open house. His family was invited to come and check out the trains, see his job and have lunch. Of course we wanted a picture so I asked the security guard to take our photo. Colleen an Leiha came too but we didn't get a chance to take the picture before they had to go. Anyway, we were having a hard time getting Rudy to look at the right time so for some reason the security guard thought the balloons would help. After the picture we certainly didn't want to keep the balloons but Eric felt bad and didn't want to just let them go at work. He tried pawning them off before finally releasing them. Even though the day was kind of cold and windy it was sunny...doesn't Eric look nice in my shades.

Halloween

2010-10-31T20:44:00.000-07:00

Bumblebee Bailey

Riley a.k.a. John Mayer

For the past three years we've been getting together either at our house or Jesse and Colleen's to carve pumpkins. This year Colleen's family was over too so we had a lot of good carvings. Rudy wasn't a big fan of his pumpkin but loved the Cheerios :)

Chik-fil-A Premier Night

2010-10-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

One day while I was at work one of my coworkers mentioned that the new Chik-fil-A in Alliance Town Center was giving away a year's worth of free food to the person who writes the best 100- word essay about Chik-fil-A. I like chicken and I like free stuff so I said, "Sure I'll write an essay." A couple of weeks after submitting my essay I received an invitation to Chik-fil-A Premier Night for free food, prizes and activities. This was beyond exciting. I was also able to bring Jill and the kids along with me. We had chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, waffle fries, sodas, brownies and milkshakes. I also won a beach towel for answering a Chik-fil-A trivia question. I didn't end up winning the raffle for the 1 year worth of free food but it was a fun night. You can read my essay below, I did it without any help.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, it was the age of chicken it was the age of beef. EAT MOR CHIKIN."

Jeremy

2010 Family Pics

2010-10-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

Homecoming 2010

2010-10-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

For some crazy reason Keller HS scheduled homecoming for a Saturday game. Well this causes the girl's a lot of stress...do we wear the mum on Friday to school or just to the game Saturday? I'm thinking the mum's are super expensive so let's wear them every chance we get :) Anyway, Amanda decided not to wear her mum to school Friday morning because last year homecoming was on a Saturday too and she did wear but apparently felt like most didn't. We drop the mum off on Thursday night because they're so big you have to figure out a way to wear it and the safety pins sure aren't gonna' hold it. Friday morning rolls around and of course every body's got there mum except Amanda. I get a call from Riley around 9 asking if I'll go to Amanda's house to get it for her. Of course I didn't mind. Problem is she doesn't have a key and I'm gonna' have to jump the gate!! That is definitely NOT a good idea so Riley volunteers to go and jump it for me, get inside, get the mum and then get back to school. All the while I'm supposed to be at work by 9:30 so the timing's looking really iffy. So yes I picked my child up from school to take him to break into his girlfriends house to get the mum and finally every body's happy :)

Learning to Mow

2010-10-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason Bailey decided she wanted to learn to mow the lawn...crazy girl right! So here she is with Jeremy and doing a great job I might add.

Rain or Shine

2010-07-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

These pictures aren't as clear as the rest because on the second day of our trip it rained hard! No worries, this only made the trip better! The winds picked up and the waves grew stronger making for perfect boogie boarding conditions. We had so much fun playing in the rain! Later that day Riley, Bailey and I dug a tunnel through the sand under Jill's lounge chair. Just as Riley was about to pass through the tunnel for the first time it collapsed. :(

5th Avenue

2010-07-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

5th Avenue is the local hot spot in Playa del Carmen. There are plenty of restaurants, bars, shops and street performers. Riley is a very picky eater and was not real impressed with the food at the resort so he was quite excited to find a McDonald's. He ordered a McNifica which is the Mexican version of a double cheeseburger. Bailey found a neat bar that had swings in lieu of barstools. As displayed by Riley in the last photo we were all quite tired after playing in the sun all day and walking up and down 5th Avenue all night.

Snorkeling in Puerto Morelos

2010-07-15T10:59:00.001-07:00

We had a great time during our snorkel trip. We saw eel, starfish, baracuda, crabs and lots of colorful fish. We also saw a lion fish which we were told can cause illness if touched by humans. The guide removed it from the water so he could later kill it, apparently they're not real popular among the locals.

El Gran Gigante Blanco

2010-07-15T07:29:00.001-07:00

The following are the thoughts and opinions of Guest Blogger, Jeremy Vaughan, and in no way reflect those of my lovely wife, Jill.

These pictures were taken after we returned from our snorkeling trip. We were in a charming little fishing village called Puerto Morelos. We had a little time before our shuttle took us back to the hotel so we did some exploring. There were some locals struggling to push a fishing boat into the sea. Just when they were about to give up they looked and saw their salvation,"el gran gigante blanco" (the great white giant). They called me over and I helped them push the boat into the water. The men all cheered and lifted me to their shoulders, the villagers brought me small goats and chickens to show their apprecaition and children asked for my autograph. It was pretty spectacular.

Playa del Carmen :) :) :)

2010-07-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

This summer we took a trip to Playa del Carmen. We stayed at the Reef Playa Car which turned out to be a great choice. It was in sort of a jungle setting with great landscaping and waterfalls throughout. We saw some interesting wildlife on our resort, one of which was an agouti which ate a cookie right out of Riley's hands. We had a great time kayaking, snorkeling, riding wave runners, boogie boarding, playing volleyball, enjoying the sunshine, eating, drinking, laughing and hanging out together.

More of Our Visit with Justin, Lori and Jordan

2010-07-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

As promised I'm finally posting the rest of the pictures of our visit with Justin, Lori and Jordan. We kept pretty busy visiting the Stockyards, swimming and hanging out at Jesse's. Jordan is at a super fun age so it was awesome to get to spend a week with her. Bailey and I even got to babysit while Justin golfed with Jeremy and Lori got in some much needed study time. We went to the dog park, the playground, got ice cream, painted our toes and watched a little t.v. so Jordan could rest which she apparently needed because she passed out on the couch about five minutes after laying down. We also celebrated Jesse, Justin and Eric's birthday's. Colleen, Lori and I ran from store to store in the pouring down rain to get all the gifts but it was worth it and actually a lot of fun :) Can't wait to see them again...hoping to get to Myrtle Beach for a visit next summer.

2010-07-05T18:42:00.001-07:00

Justin, Lori and Jordan Visit from NC

2010-06-28T20:21:00.001-07:00

The Girls

Playing in the pool with Uncle Justin

Swinging

Jordan was so excited for this!

Jordan and Aunt Jill

***These are just some of the pics I have so I'll post more soon.

Southlake Fun

2010-06-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend it was just me, Jeremy and Bailey because Riley was going to Southlake to watch a movie with his friends. The three of us decided to get some Mexican food at MiCocina, which happens to be in Southlake too. While walking towards the restaurant we noticed Riley so of course decide to say hi. As he gets closer we wonder why on earth is he wearing a track suit in the middle of the summer in Texas!! Well, as you can clearly see the boys decided to dress-up, walk around the Towne Center and pretend to be serious about their evening fashion choices :)

Swimming with Rudy

2010-06-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

Rudy and Aunt Jill

Rudy loves to splash!

Rudy and Bailey

BCI Boat Races Take II

2010-05-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

Every year the 6th graders from Bear Creek Intermediate get to create and race duct tape boats and this year was Bailey's turn. She and her team created an octagon shaped boat, which turned out to be a not so great idea :) They could not get their boat to steer straight; it just kept spinning and spinning not making a lot of forward progress. Eventually the girls realized they weren't going to win their heat so they decided to have some fun instead and both jumped in pulling the the boat to the finish line. I have a video too but and I quote "please don't post that it's so embarrassing!"

Banquet Season

2010-04-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

Apparently prom is far from the only formal event my kids will attend during their high school years. Every sport has their own banquet following it's season. So here are Riley and Amanda dressed and ready for her soccer banquet and Nadirah for Indianettes.

Pedicure Pampering

2010-04-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

It's summer time in Texas and that means sandal season, so I decided to take Bailey in with me for her first pedicure. I introduced her to the joys of the pedicure including the massage chair, foot massage, and of course perfectly painted toes. My pedicure took a little longer so we got her a manicure too. By the end of the trip she was hooked! I guess I should've waited for her to get older because double monthly pedicures could get costly :) But it was so much fun and so worth the money for our mother/daughter date. I think I like having a daughter to enjoy the girly things in life.

Fort Worth Nature Center Hiking

2010-03-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday was such a beautiful Spring day that we decided to go for a hike. We read about the Fort Worth Nature Center and decided to go there since it was close by. We started with a picnic lunch by Lake Worth then headed out to the "most difficult" trail. The trail was 3 1/4 miles each way so while Jeremy was super exited to hike the full 6 Bailey started getting tired around 1 1/2. We stopped at 1 3/4 miles and decided that Jeremy and the girls would finish while Riley and I ran back to the car and would pick them up at the end of the trail. I loved running outside through the hilly trail especially with Riley. We kept a pretty good pace and finished about the same time as Jeremy, Bailey and Nadirah. Apparently the second half of the trail was full of surprises including an old rundown truck, a washer and dryer and an old bathroom building (Bailey and Nadirah are posing in it above). Really the only downside is you can hear the highway at some points along the trail. Jeremy had heard somewhere that Ginger Brown's Restaurant & Bakery are known world wide for their delicious cinnamon rolls. We stopped in to grab some on the way home which was quite a treat in and of itself. Riley's reaction "the clientele here makes me uncomfortable." The restaurant has a non-smoking section but unfortunately for us nothing separates it from the smoking and since we were the only non-smokers in the restaurant we decided to get them to go. Plus the waitress convinced us that it was a much better deal to get them to go anyway. Apparently you can get 18, yes I said 18, for the same price as 5 dine in. The only kicker is you can't eat them inside the restaurant. So while the restaurant was laking the cinnamon rolls were true to reputation and were amazing.

Jaggears Christmas Party

2009-12-18T15:48:00.001-08:00

Jeremy and Jill's Tacky Christmas Sweater's

Having Fun in the Photo Booth

Jeremy and Jake

Best Costume and White Elephant Gift Winners

Family Pics 2009

2009-12-16T05:02:00.001-08:00

Here are some of my faves from our family photo session. We wanted to shoot the session in downtown so that we had a lot of different background options. We were there for about two hours and it's funny because when you're walking around taking the photos it's hard to imagine how they're going to turn out. Obviously they turned out great and I love them! We will definitely be taking family pictures on a yearly basis from now on.

Learner's Permit

2009-12-14T18:51:00.001-08:00

How can I possibly have a child old enough to drive??? I'm so excited for Riley, but so sad for me. I can't believe how fast he's growing up and I am NOT looking forward to him leaving. Today while we were shopping he tells me that he hates school, can't wait to be done and that he just wants to own a house...I must have the only 15 year old boy who's dream is to drive a sedan and own a home :) So back to the driving! Well, there are some things along the way that I decided were dad's responsibility; not limited to but including tying shoes, swimming and driving. Of course as soon as he got his permit he wanted to drive! I was really nervous but I knew it was important to him so I didn't want to say no. Lucky for me he's a great driver. I should count to see how many times I tell him to slow down.

Pig Blanket???

2009-12-14T17:57:00.000-08:00

So here we are on family night playing Cranium. This video makes me laugh so I wanted to share it.

Turkey Bowl

2009-11-23T06:03:00.001-08:00

Northwood's 3rd Annual Turkey Bowl!

Riley's costume???

2009-10-31T11:39:00.000-07:00

Riley and his friend, Nick, decided to dress up for their Halloween party about five minutes before they left and this is what they came up with. He was going for an old school b-ball player and pulled it off pretty well. Now the big question is why would we already own those short shorts? Riley and his friends regularly make Goodwill stops and this was just one of many fabulous finds!?!? Some of the others include a pair of super short, silky, shiny red boxers (I had to ban those from being worn in public), a really huge old school scooter, a tricycle, a black leather mini skirt, etc.... Oh how these boys make me smile!

Halloween Pics

2009-10-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

I know I have been a terrible blogger lately but I wanted to make sure and post the Halloween pics before Thanksgiving :) So here they are....Bailey and her friends were The Three Blind Mice; Jesse and Colleen were a baker and an oven; Jeremy and I were Mr. Clean and a cleaning lady.

Bailey's 11th Birthday Luau

2009-09-04T15:38:00.001-07:00

Michelle, Caitlyn, Chandler, Bailey and Chelby

Bubble bath in the hot tub??

Jeremy accidentally blowing out Bailey's candles.

Let the games begin.

Apple bobbing champ!

Unfortunately for Bailey her birthday falls in July making it very difficult to plan a party post school and right in the middle of vacation plans. I try to plan her parties for May but this year just never managed to get it together and as usual all of her friends were gone so we waited until late August to have her birthday bash. The Luau theme was a hit and the girls loved the lays, grass skirts and party music. Our sweet friends, the Sage's, opened up their house so the girls could swim, play in the hot tub, eat and have plenty of room for party games. Peg thinks it's hilarious to add bubble bath to the hot tub though I'm sure there are some sort of rules against that, but the girls thought it was great!! After swimming, eating, presents, etc... the girls were all set for apple bobbing. Bailey is amazing and beat everybody before her neck got super sore...though nothing a little Motrin didn't fix. The girls were so sleepy from swimming so long that they came back to the house, laid down for a movie and went right to bed thus making it our easiest, most enjoyable sleepover yet :)

Nadirah's Driving

2009-08-19T07:42:00.001-07:00

Me making her pose at the DMV.

Jeremy instructing on how to reverse out of the driveway.

Getting the seat, mirrors, etc...ready.

Off we go.

This summer Nadirah finally started driver's ed. You take three classes, take a test and then get your permit so you can get some practice driving at home before you have to drive with the school. So here she is for her first time behind the wheel. Other than scaring me to death by driving way too close to the right hand side of the road and any vehicle that may or may not be parked there she does pretty good and every time she drives she gets better and better.

Family Vacation 2009

2009-08-04T11:32:00.001-07:00

This year for our family vacation we took a trip to Galveston over the fourth of July weekend. We stayed at the Treemont Hotel; which by the way is super nice and has huge rooms. We spent the entire weekend doing what we love best....playing on the beach enjoying the sunshine. The first night we went to a seafood restaurant that was right on the water overlooking the bay, walked The Strand and then hung out on the Hotel's rooftop terrace. Day 2 was spent all day at the beach and pool...the last picture is Riley and Bailey walking back after allowing the current to take them from one pier to the next. We had to go find them and they had NO idea how far they had traveled. Other than the fun in the sun we also went to a movie, ate lots of yummy food, played games in our hotel, went to Moody Gardens and the aquarium before heading home again. Though a short trip we had a lot of fun. Can't wait till next year when Jeremy has all of his vacation time built up again.

Galveston Pics

2009-08-01T07:10:00.001-07:00

Jeremy's statue pose.

Moody Gardens

The Aquarium

J&J on the beach.

Mom and Bailey by the Hotel Galvez pool.

Bailey's 11th B-day

2009-07-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Bailey with Robin Hood a.k.a the waiter.

Stealing Aunt Colleen's hat.

Cake and Presents

Trying out the new camera.

"Potion"

All of Bailey's friends were out of town so we took Bailey to The Magic Time Machine with the family. It was our five plus Papa, Bubby, Grandma Mamie, Aunt Colleen, Uncle Jesse and Amanda. The restaurant was a lot of fun, had good food and plenty of entertainment. At one point Jack Sparrow even stole Colleen's purse.

Family Reunion 2009

2009-06-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

This year's Family Reunion was in Oklahoma at the Rebel Hill Guest Ranch. The Ranch is a 3rd generation working horse ranch with over 100 horses, tons and tons of roaming cows, elk, ranch dogs, ducks, geese and llamas. There was so much to do on the lake with fishing, canoeing and paddle boating. Our cabin, which we shared with Robert and family, was on the other side of the lake so the kids used the paddle boats as transportation back and forth. The cows were everywhere and at night they would come right up to our cabin. The first night we had about 75 cows right outside the door; I was sure they were going to scratch my car. The cabins were really nice and had fully stocked kitchens to prepare all our meals. Riley was the only one less than thrilled with his sleeping arrangement...apparently the bed was scratchy, uncomfortable and had a bug or two. We all shared a good laugh watching him adjust to the bed...to which of course he laughingly replies "just wait until mom lays down!" There were so many good pics they just wouldn't fit in one blog so keep looking there's more.

Reunion Pics

2009-06-27T08:28:00.001-07:00

The lake.

A very unhappy Riley with his sleeping arrangement.

More fishing.

Mariana in the cabin.

Learning to fish.

Reunion Pics

2009-06-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Early morning fishing.

Dinner.

Mariana fishing...notice the pink fishing pole :)

Nadirah, Tyler and Sheldon canoeing.

Reunion Pics

2009-06-27T08:14:00.001-07:00

Filleting the fish...add a little salt and lime...so yummy!

Me fishing.

Save Now

Riley's catch of the day.

Feeding the Elk.

Family Reunion Pics

2009-06-27T08:07:00.000-07:00

Bailey, Erica, Grace and Wyatt feeding the horses.

Riley trying to get a close up pic.

Riley and Bailey posing with the cows.

Nadirah, Mariana and Uncle Robert paddle boating.

Mariana holding a worm.

Meridian State Park

2009-05-31T07:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday after church we were sitting at home deciding what to do for Memorial Day when someone suggested camping...so off we went. It only took us two hours to find a place, make a reservation, pack and get on the road for our first family camping trip in the 15 years Jeremy and I have been married. For those of you who know me well know that I am not exactly a "camper" so Riley's synopsis of how the trip was to unfold went something like this: "Mom will have fun today during the day but tonight she won't be able to sleep on the hard ground in a tent and tomorrow she'll be tired and miserable." I am happy to report that I was in fact able to sleep (with a little help from Benadryl), I peed in the woods (hopefully for the last time), cooked with camping gear, and was able to enjoy day 2. Now I will say that I would never be able to make it longer than overnight because I would NOT shower in a state park! Anyway, the kids enjoyed themselves and Nadirah proved to be quite the helper/camper. She helped Jeremy with all the set up and take down. Riley and Bailey made fishing pools from sticks which needless to say did not catch any fish. And no camping trip would be complete without Smores at dark. Day 2 was spent hiking around the state park and swimming before packing up to head back home.

Field Day

2009-05-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

Bailey's 5th grade field day at Bear Creek Intermediate ~ always a fun day for the kids.

NSM Lip Sync 2009

2009-04-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

Riley's team placed 3rd!

Kids Cafe

2009-04-20T09:59:00.001-07:00

Our church strives to help transform the world first through a personal relationship with Christ and through that a desire to help communities and the world. Each month on Thursday night our home team is able to volunteer in Haltom City at the Kids Cafe which feeds underpriviliged children a hot meal every evening. Our responsibility is to serve the food, refill drinks, pass out seconds as well as dessert, develop relationships with the kiddos and finally to clean-up once they leave. This week only the girls came, but Riley usually serves too. The little kids love getting to know the "big" kids!!

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

We decided to make the kids hunt for their candy again this year since last year was so much fun. This year they had an extra obstacle...Aunt Colleen. She was pretty intense running all through the house, knocking kids over, stealing candy...okay so not really but she was entertaining. It was really cold out so we had to hide all of the eggs inside making it much harder to find good hiding spots. Jesse played a part even though he was napping (notice the egg tucked nicely under his arm). Of course being inside Jeremy and I were careful to count all of the plastic eggs and eatin' eggs (what Riley called hard-boiled eggs when he was little) to ensure all were found. When all was hunted Riley ended up with the most eggs and Bailey with the least, but only temporarily. Apparently we miscounted and for the next three days Bailey contined to find more eggs all over the house :)

Laser Tag

2009-04-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and Riley play paintball a lot and always come home with huge whelps and bruises. The girls and I are uninterested in that so Jeremy found this outdoor laser tag place for all of us. It was a lot of fun! The girls loved playing and shooting guns that don't leave any unsightly marks. They were super heavy though. I was surprised Bailey was able to lug that huge thing around all afternoon. I'm pretty sure that our team won most of the games until I played. I am so bad!! I did not shoot anyone before being killed 9 times!! Of course that made it all the funnier for everyone....except me of course :)

The Victory Garden

2009-04-11T10:59:00.001-07:00

Jeremy and Bailey decided to plant a garden. They have done a lot of research, ordering of seeds, and composting since January. Finally, March (a.k.a. planting day) arrived. They are growing tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, onion, garlic, carrots, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, broccoli and spinach. It's all organic and I am so excited!! They check on it at least once every day...so cute. For some reason Jeremy started calling it the Victory Garden. Maybe he'll comment and let us know why.

Lunch with Mariana

2009-04-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

We live in the same city as my niece, Mariana, and every so often I pick her up from school, take her to McDonal's and spend the afternoon with her. This day my kids were all off school, so we got her at lunchtime and as usual headed to McDonald's for pollo and french fries. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to take her to the park too. She had a lot of fun playing with the kids. I'm sure she took a really great nap when she got home!

Christmas

2008-12-29T07:35:00.001-08:00

Now here we are with some of our goodies and pajamas. The girls love their new Guitar Hero. Riley got some work out stuff he was excited about plus some really cool shoes, watch and clothes. Jeremy and I bought each other the same gift: Nano, armband and iTunes card. Funny enough Colleen and I bought each other the same gift too: the glass tupperware we've been wanting.

Christmas Eve: Would You Rather?

2008-12-28T07:41:00.000-08:00

This Christmas our family all decided to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day together at Jesse's. Every year on Christmas Eve we exchange one gift and it's always pajamas; a tradition started by my dad and step mom. So this year was no different. We did add a little twist and give our kids a new game...Would You Rather? To win you have to be the first team to complete four challenge questions. So here are Bailey and Jesse successfully completing one of their tasks. They had to lap milk like a cat for 30 seconds. Enjoy!

The Nutcracker

2008-12-22T06:12:00.001-08:00

On Friday Jeremy, Bailey and I went to see The Nutcracker perfomed at Bass Hall. Of course it was amazing! As the Snow Queen and the Nutcracker dance in the Land of Snow as the first act comes to a conclusion it actually "snows" inside. It was super cool and I'm sure this was one of the favorite moments especially for the kids. The performance started at 8:00 so Bailey was really tired; on school days she wakes up at 6:30! She was a trooper though and managed to stay awake until about half way through Act II. It was funny because even though she was sleeping when the audience clapped for a performance she'd jump right in there and then go right back to sleep. Jeremy is not really into theater, so he managed pretty well too. I only noticed him checking the synopsis twice...trying to figure out how much longer he had to endure.

Graduation Cruise

2008-12-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

Jeremy finished his MBA so we celebrated with a cruise ~ yay. Even in Texas December is cold and we boarded our ship wearing jackets and jeans. It stayed pretty cold through the night, but by early morning we were in swimsuits laying out by the pool! Our first stop took us to Progresso; a quaint Mexican town that still hasn't been completely transformed for tourists. It was a lot of fun to walk around the downtown market, shop and of course haggle. Riley was quite impressed with his father's haggling skills and his nacho libre souvenir :) By the time we got to Cozumel the weather had taken a turn for the worse so unfortunately we weren't able to hang out at the beach. On board we passed the time playing basketball, eating, shuffle board, eating, swimming, eating, tea parties, Club O2, sushi bar, formal night, eating, cards and did I mention eating. This is where Jeremy will have to take over because on Thursday night I caught the stomach flu and finished my vacation knocked out on "nausea" medicine ~ gotta' love cruise ship doctors. The upside is we were among the first to disembark seeing as I was quarantined and all.

Camera Difficulties

2008-11-21T06:52:00.000-08:00

So I'm aware that I haven't posted since October but we are having issues. My camera has to be sent into Cannon for repairs and I don't know when I'm gonna' get it back. Sorry you'll just have to wait and keep checking.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday Bailey and I had the opportunity to visit a local pumpkin patch. We searched and searched to find the perfect pumpkin. I'm sure those watching thought we were crazy because we'd pick one up and load it in the wagon just to find a better one, unload it and continue searching. For awhile we went through this process and even had to do a little rearranging of their "display" pumpkins. Before leaving we spent about an hour running through the corn maze. At first we "raced" another family through the maze (they weren't aware we were competing), but that didn't last long so we decided to try and find our way back to the start. We walked around for awhile with no luck so we decided to head for a Sonic drink; because even though it's October it's still 90 degrees!

Homecoming Dance

2008-09-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

As promised here are the homecoming pictures. Jeremy took Nadirah and her friend, Kristi, on a date before the dance to teach them how a lady is to be treated.

KHS Homecoming '08

2008-09-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Well, I had some pictures but I accidentally deleted them from both my computer and my camera. Homecoming has been a crazy week! Nadirah got to decorate a trailer and be a part of the parade. All week at school they had themed dress days. On Friday we took 10 kids to the game (we're now 3-0)!! Bailey had a slumber party. Riley now has a girlfriend. And Nadirah's got the homecoming dance tonight. Welcome to my life ~ I love it! It's funny because so many parents fear the teenage years, but I've always been better with teens than toddlers so I'm having a blast. It's fun watching them grow up, learn some independence and yet all the while maintaing a close but changing relationship with mom and dad.

Fabian

2008-09-02T12:16:00.001-07:00

Fabian's been kinda' bored since all the other kids are in school, but Jeremy and I have been able to take him and do a few things alone with him. Here we are in the Water Gardens just before we were yelled at and told to get out of the water. Apparently, you can't get in anymore. We also decided to celebrate his birthday with him since he lives in New York and we don't usually get to spend that day with him. We had planned on going to Six Flags with the whole fam, but it was crazy busy. We stayed for about 45 minutes, didn't ride any rides and then left. Swimming at Jesse's was way more fun and way less crowded. Oh and Mike, Fabian's brother, got to come too.

First Day of School ~ 08/09

2008-09-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

So here are Nadirah and Bailey on the first day of school. I didn't get a picture of Riley because he was too sick to go. He had his wisdom teeth pulled on Friday and even though they promised he would be ready by Monday....he wasn't. At first Riley thought it would be great to miss the first day, but that changed quickly. Luckily he was back by Wednesday so he only missed two days. Notice Bailey on her bike. She gets to ride her bike now that she's at Bear Creek because it's so much closer. I won't let her ride alone so I ride with her and meet her in the afternoons. It's so much fun! Nadirah started high school...crazy. And she loves it...the school is huge and has tons of kids.

The Stockyards

2008-08-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Fabian goes home in two weeks and what's a trip to Texas without a visit to the Stockyards. We ate dinner at Risky's because it seemed like the thing to do and not because we like BBQ. It was a neat restaurant, but I'm sure that will be our one and only visit. After dinner we walked around, visited a few shops, and rode the mechanical bull. I wanted to buy Fabian a cowboy hat to take home with him, but the owner of the store was super rude. He told us they don't allow dress-up which kind of confused me. How else are you supposed to know which hat you want? Oh well.

Lady Royal Picture Day

2008-08-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

Friday was the first of many high school photo shoots for Nadirah. The Lady Royal's met at Feragne to take their first team photo. The girls were given the option to have individual photo's as well and of course what girl is gonna' turn that down. So I decided to take Nadirah and have her make up applied. She was really excited and as you can see she looked beautiful. My only requirement for the make-up artist was that she not look twenty!

Granbury

2008-08-13T07:43:00.001-07:00

Jeremy is off school this week so we decided to go to Granbury overnight for a little peace and quiet which is kinda' hard to come by with four kids. Well, normally I would not be okay with a Bed and Breakfast, but Jeremy found a super nice Inn that was run similar to a B&B but was built for guests and not lived in. So I was game and off we went. The Inn was amazing and the room was perfect. The backyard was the best part because it backed up to the lake, had a pool, hammock, and a swing where we enjoyed our morning coffee. It was really nice because we didn't have a schedule or anything to do except relax!! We spent time walking around, swimming, laying in the hammock and enjoyed meeting new people. So what is Jeremy doing? Okay the only part of our room that was not perfect was this rod iron decoration and it was driving me crazy. Yes, I'm (well we're) somewhat OCD and we just had to fix it. I laughed so hard when Jeremy took it down to "work" on it, but luckily I managed to gain enough composure to take some pictures.

Fun Friday

2008-07-27T19:09:00.001-07:00

On Friday night Jeremy got stuck in Dallas with homework. Oh how I can't wait for him to be done with school. Anyway the days tend to run long when he's gone all day and night, so the kids and I (minus Riley because of an injury to the hand) went roller skating. On Friday night at 9:00 they open the center of the rink for dancing too. Nadirah was so very excited! She loves anything to do with dancing and you can see her teaching Bailey and Fabian the Charlie Brown. The only way I could get her to leave was to bribe her with Sheridan's ice cream.

We Need the Tooth Fairy

2008-07-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

Bailey has lost 3 teeth in July and she has at least two more loose!! This is a huge accomplishment because all but two of her teeth up to this point have had to be pulled. She has a really small mouth and doesn't have enough room yet. When she was little she lost her first two like normal but after that the dentist kept having to pull one at a time hoping to make some room before she needed it. But this past January she got an expander, which is apparently working, and for the first time since she was two or three her teeth are falling out all on their own....yay! Oh and by the way Bailey does not believe in the tooth fairy but that hasn't stopped her from wanting some money anyway :)

American Girl Store

2008-07-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

The American Girl Store opened it's Dallas location at the end of 2007 and ever since I've planned to take Bailey. Well, yesterday all three of the other kids were busy with church stuff so it was the perfect opportunity to take her. We started off our girls day at Sam Moon, had lunch with Jeremy and then spent the rest of the afternoon at the Galleria. The store is huge!! You can browse through all the dolls, clothes, accessories, etc... There's a doll salon where you can have your doll pampered with a new hairstyle. Upstairs you can enjoy lunch and a snack at the Bistro. We easily spent a couple of hours enjoying the store. It was so much fun! When we set up Molly's hair appointment we were informed that Molly needed to go off to the hospital in order to spruce her up a bit (she's about five or six years old). So we changed her into a hospital gown, gave the doctor's their orders (change her head), sent her off and now we wait. Bailey was less than thrilled with leaving her. The last photo is Bailey with all of her loot. It's was hard to say no because I was having as much fun as she was.

My New Car

2008-07-22T15:45:00.000-07:00

Jeremy bought me a new car!! I think he was definitely tired of trying to cram all six of us in the Camry or take two cars everywhere we went. Either way I'm thrilled and I love it. Bailey is the most excited about the new car because it was always her having to squeeze in with someone, Nadirah thinks the coin slot thing is super cool, Fabian likes riding in the third row and Riley doesn't really care but is glad to have the extra room. I absolutely hate making large purchases so not having to be a part of any of that just makes it even better for me.

Bailey's 10th

2008-07-11T15:19:00.000-07:00

This year Bailey decided to have a slumber party for her 10th birthday (Bailey, Meagan, Caitlyn, Selena and Ashley). The girls had a lot of fun, stayed up way too late and definitely had way too much sugar! Sounds about right for a slumber party. She got tons of gifts but I think the funniest was clothes for Oliver. I'm not sure he thinks it's so great, but Bailey does. So Happy Birthday to Bailey again! I can't believe my youngest is now in double digits!!

NSM Youth Camp

2008-06-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

On Friday Nadirah, Riley and I got home from a week at youth camp. I was not originally planning to go, but on Thursday of last week one of the youth pastors asked me to fill in for some one who had to cancel last minute. I knew right away that I was supposed to go even though I had no idea why or what I was going to do with Bailey. But as always God provides for that which He asks of us and so on Monday all three of us headed off. I knew that God would show me why I was there so I kept myself ready to see all that He had planned for me. On Wednesday night I experienced one of the most intimate corporate worship experiences of my life. It was amazing!! We worshipped, prayed aloud, read scripture, took the Lord's supper by the lake and then worshipped and prayed some more. At the end of the evening Nadirah walked up to me in tears. As we embraced, cried, laughed and shared I knew that if for no other reason God had me there for that exact moment. The kids had an amazing week too!!! There was a ton of stuff to do. We didn't go to bed until crazy late each night, but it ended up working out really well. I've been to plenty of camps before and have never been able to sleep well at night, but since I wasn't going to bed until about 2:00 a.m. I was literally out the minute I hit my pillow and didn't budge. Riley was not so thrilled with the food. He walks up to me on Thursday and says "I'm beyond starving" so we headed off to the concession stand for some nachos and a coke. I don't think he would've survived the week if the snack stand had been closed. Nadirah made a lot of new friends and had a super fun time. Camp's great ~ can't wait till next year.

NSM Broomball

2008-06-09T06:21:00.000-07:00

Last night Riley and Nadirah got to experience the greatness that is broom ball! Broom ball is basically hockey with tennis shoes. You have a paddle instead of a stick (I'm sure they actually used to use brooms hence the name), a small round ball and way too many people. Everyone runs around trying to score on the opposite end. Well of course there's a lot of falling because you're running on ice! It is so much fun! It's kinda' hard to get a good picture out there but I did my best.

Ladie's Night

2008-06-09T06:15:00.000-07:00

At least once a month I get together with a group of my friends for dinner with no kids or husbands. We met through our boys who are good friends. They play sports together, go to church and school together, and pretty much spend most available nights and weekends together too. It's so great to know the other mom's. Not only are they some of my closest friends but it helps us all keep up with everything that's going on and there's usually a lot in the life of a teenager! From left to right: April, Christy, Sonia, Lori and me.

Colleen's Birthday

2008-05-31T15:10:00.001-07:00

Today is Colleen's birthday so the family got together at The Mellow Mushroom pizza place in Fort Worth. They have them in the dub so Eric felt right at home. Anyway it was all of our family, two of my brothers, Colleen, her brother, dad and uncle. It was so good and I just love that Eric is here!! Now all we need to convince of Texas greatness are mother hubbard, my brother and his family; then we'd have the whole clan in one state.

Fabulous Friday

2008-05-31T15:02:00.001-07:00

On Friday Bailey's got to participate in Fabulous Friday. Every nine weeks the kids who have good attendance, grades and citizenship are rewarded with a Friday filled with various fun activities. Well being the last nine weeks some of the kids also earned a trip to Johnson Rd. park to eat a picnic and play. Bailey insisted that I stop by and I love how much she still wants me to be around because you never know how long that's gonna' last.

Memorial Day at Jesse's

2008-05-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated Memorial Day/Eric's return to Texas with a pool party at Jesse's. The kids love swimming at my brother's plus Riley is allergic to chlorine pools, which Jesse's is not, so we were happy all around. Bailey was in the water all day long!! She only got out to eat and even tried to bribe my brother into taking her home so she could stay longer. Normally Jesse would've caved but he had to work super early today.

Hurricane Harbor with the KMS Choir

2008-05-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Guest Blogger: Jeremy

This month Nadirah's choir class got to go to Hurricane Harbor for an awards ceremony. Jill had originally signed up to be a chaperone but backed out when she decided that the water was going to be too cold for her liking. I told Jill I would go in her place and if the water was too cold for Nadirah and me, we could just play sand volleyball instead of swimming. Nadirah had a lot of fun hanging out with all of her friends from choir. The water was pretty cold but we were able to brave it anyway. We also got to play a couple of games of volleyball (if you can call it that) some of Nadirah's friends weren't too good at it. We had a great time but I have no idea what awards they won because that part of the day was LAME so we left early.

Camp Grady Spruce

2008-05-19T08:04:00.001-07:00

Last week Bailey and I took a four day trip to Camp Grady Spruce in Possum Kingdom. It's an outdoor education camp with lots of fun activities. Anytime I go out of town things get kinda' crazy and this week was no exception. I did my best to prepare Jeremy, Nadirah and Riley. I made all the arrangements for rides to school, drill team and soccer practices, plus the kids Wednesday night activities. I even made an organizational chart that I emailed to all who were helping and left individual notes and reminders for Jeremy, Nadirah and Riley. So at 8:30 on Tuesday morning I get a call wondering who was taking the kids to school...oops. I wasn't even out of the city of Keller and already the kids were late for school. Luckily that was our only chaotic moment and my friend was able to leave work, get the kids and take them to school. But onto our week ~ it was absolutely fabulous. Bailey and I hiked a mile and a half up to Johnson's Peak, learned about orienteering, shot a bow and arrow, rode horses, took a nature hike, climbed Devil's Island (we were like two feet from the edge of a cliff), ate S'mores, sang campfire songs and so much more!! One of the highlights for Bailey was seeing her teacher and principal get pushed into the lake. The camp tries to make the kids aware of how much food they're wasting while so many go without. At the end of every meal they weigh the amount of food waste and if the school as a whole can get less than 10oz. at two consecutive meals they get to push two teachers in the lake. Well, the school has been going on this trip every year for many years but no class has ever been able to make it until this year. The kids started off with over 7 pounds of waste but got it down to zero!! The kids and the camp counselors were super excited and unfortunately for the teachers the lake was super cold. One of my favorite nights was Thursday sitting by the camp fire singing songs with Bailey. It's moments like these that make me so thankful for the privilege of staying home and having the time to make these memories with my kids. The only down side to the trip was leaving my pillow at home which did not help make for a restful four nights sleep.

4th Grade Play Day

2008-05-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

On Monday Bailey was scheduled to have play day (which is basically field day but you compete against other schools not just your classmates), but when we woke up it was raining pretty hard so naturally we assumed it would be canceled. I took Bailey to school and decided to go in just to make sure the day had been called off. Clearly not the case ~ they decided to go ahead even in the rain. So even though it's already May it was really cold out there in the wind and rain. I had to go home and get warm clothes for me and Bailey (you can see all the kids were prepared for warm weather wearing shorts and t-shirts; I'm glad we live close to the school). Bailey competed in four different events; all running events so apparently she's pretty fast. She won first place in the 50 meter, 2nd place in the shuttle relay, 3rd place in the 90 meter and 4x100. I'm so glad I was able to go for the whole day! It was super fun for me to watch her compete and win!!

Lip Sync

2008-05-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

Still working on getting the video from You tube.

Riley and his friends all entered a Lip Sync contest at Northwood church. It was designed to raise money to buy shoes for kids who need them to go to church camp in Vietnam ~ they raised over $1300! Anyway all of the groups from 7th - 12th grade were invited to participate. There were quite a few acts but our boys definitely stole the show! It was hilarious! Seriously I laughed so hard. I was so surprised when Riley told me he was the star playing Miley Cyrus from Hannah Montana. The boys all dressed up as girls and lip synced It's A Girls Night. You have to see the video to get the whole effect so hopefully I'll have that posted soon or you can search You tube for Northwood lip sync 2008.

Ultimate Frisbee

2008-04-23T18:38:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the park on Saturday playing ultimate frisbee. We love taking advantage of living within a block of a fabulous park. Not to mention the warm weather and the sun ~ both of which make me oh so happy!!

Papered Again

2008-04-23T18:30:00.001-07:00

Apparently this is a scene we're going to have to get used to. We were driving home a few Saturday's ago (sorry I've been really busy lately and my blogs behind) and as we're turning the corner I think ~ no I actually said something like haha someone got papered. Of course this completely amused Jeremy as he wondered which of our 80 year old neighbors did I think was the victim:) Anyway we never actually found the culprit, so I assume it was a girl (the boy's always fess up sooner or later). They did however do a fabulous job adding not only paper but forks and tortillas on the roof.

Indianette Try-outs

2008-04-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

These last two weeks have been crazy busy!! Nadirah is trying out for the Keller High School Indianettes (our drill team) and for the past two weeks she's had prep-clinics, mandatory meetings, a workshop to learn two routine's (jazz and kick), mock tryouts, and then finally the much awaited official tryout. Obviously, tryouts are pretty intense and very intimidating. They had to perform each routine in front of a panel of five judges. So I picked up Nadirah from school on Friday and rushed over to my friend April's to fix her hair and makeup. We had about ten minutes to get her ready and get her to the high school on time. We dropped her off, brought her dinner and roses for encouragement. Gave hugs and kisses leaving nothing else to do but wait. It took all the way until 9:00 to finish tryouts and another hour before the results were posted, but it was well worth the wait. She made JV Indianettes and we are so proud of her! She's really excited for herself, but some of her friends didn't make the cut. She will start practicing in May and her first football game performance will be in September. Sorry I don't have any pictures to post but I forgot my camera.

Reading

2008-04-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

Last night I realized that Bailey had been M.I.A. for awhile, so naturally I went to look for her. Well, this is how I found her. She's been reading like crazy lately. It seems everytime we turn around she's back in her room with her dog and a book. She read the entire book in two days! I'm so glad my kids love to read because I didn't enjoy reading as a child though I love it now. I barely read the books I was assigned for class and don't ever remember reading for fun.

Cute Pic!

2008-04-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

There's not really a story behind this picture I just thought it was cute so I posted it.

Easter

2008-03-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

On Easter our kids don't get to wake up to a filled basket of candy. Instead they have to hunt for their goodies. Normally we do this on Sunday, of course, but this year the family convinced me to let them hunt early because Sunday was supposed to be cold and rainy while Saturday was beautiful and warm. So here are the kids hunting and sorting through their eggs. It was a lot of fun and they all got way too much candy! I've actually always wondered how a day set aside to celebrate Jesus death and resurrection now involves bunnies and eggs. Well this year I actually learned the reason ~ they represent hope and new life.

Spring Break

2008-03-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

Make a photobook - it's easy!

Because we've already planned our family vacation for December we decided to stay home this Spring Break, but we still wanted the kids to have fun and really enjoy their time off school. Enjoy!