Okay...

So, I was criticized for not posting any updates on the surgery, the last days of school, etc.

I will get to all of them...I promise!

However, some quick updates...

Gigi's surgery went well. She is home and hopes to be boot-scootin' in the coming weeks.

The last days of school were bitter sweet, but I am looking forward to my new adventures! Who would have ever thought neither Eric nor myself would be in that building? He!

Why am I so short right now? Graduate school!

I have this silly qualitative class I am taking... Not a big deal, but I do have a 20 page paper, a proposal and some summaries to write before Friday. In the old days (back when all I did during the summer was go to school, layout and workout) this would have been nothing - a piece of cake; however, now things are somewhat different.

This upcoming week will be wild in our world...I have some curriculum writing all day every day this week. Eric is still working, but the kids do not have school (We are going to make plans about his little predicament tomorrow.) The little ones have swim lessons every day, and I have another class that I am starting on Tuesday. Then there is the daily stuff like laundry, dishes, the yard, baths, bills to pay, breakfast, lunch, errands...I have GOT to get the car washed! And, then time to just be a mommy, a wife, a sister, a daughter and a friend.... But, when all of this is done, I still have to write this silly paper and complete these assignments.

I am not complaining. I know I have made choices that have allowed me to be at this point in my life. When I started this PhD, I was not married, and thus, did not have children. Back then, I was focused on my research, driven, determined, and excited to pursue the opportunities the field of higher education had to offer me. Back in the day, work and school went hand-in-hand...they were my life, and the two of them brought me the greatest joy.

While I still find joy in my work and in research, it is not the same as it once was. I am "okay" once I "get there", but "getting there" is so very hard to do...Sometimes when I am "there" all I can think about is going home. Is this what 123 hours of gradate school does to you?

Anyway, perhaps I am venting, but right now all I want is to be DONE with his degree! I do not care what I research...I do not care what grades I make in my classes...I just want to finish! (Sometimes I do not even want to finish...I just want to quit!)

My other class is my dissertation proposal class! Yea! Maybe the end IS near.

Okay, my venting is over...I will return to my paper writing now...

More to come soon!

Brave Love

Love makes you brave.

Tomorrow my mom, GiGi, is having her hip replaced. Yep, she finds it painful...she finds it annoying...she wants better for herself. But, this is not all about her...If it was, she would have chickened out.

This is about her love for all of us. She wants to be able to give more...to do more...to love more.

We love you too Mom/Gigi...See you tomorrow!

However, I do not know if this is brave or crazy?

Memorial Day

I think often of the many men and women who have made incredible sacrifices for the people of this great nation. This Memorial Day we say a special prayer in their honor, and while my family's gratefulness cannot be captured and received by each deserving individual, I do hope it reaches just one...

We honor you.

How do you honor you ask...we play! Is there a better way?

Icy Smiles

We had our first adventures with Popsicles for the summer...

I really do not think Ballerina had ever had one! She thoroughly enjoyed every bit of hers...and then her brother's ...



We had icy smiles while Daddy and the neighbor men worked super hard cutting down a number of trees. Why should we help if we do not have to? Right?
But after it was all over...it was straight to the bath!

Soccer Party Round #1

Gunnar's end of the season soccer party...no other words needed...

Carpet bugs...GONE!

So, I hate carpet.

I think it is disgusting.

The fact that I cannot see what lives in the carpet creeps me out. I am convinced there is a miniature secret society of bugs that lives within the microfibers of the floor that are determined to dingy up every square inch of carpet...Yep, convinced. Disgusting!

3 dogs, a cat, 4 kids and a terribly messy husband do not make matters better...they only aid the carpet bugs in their destruction of our floor.

However, we have rid ourselves...NO MORE CARPET BUGS! Well, a lot less...Eric put wood in the living room and play room, so now the only carpet we have is in the bedrooms! :) Yea!
Maggie is posing on the new rug...She looks slightly like Yoda. It was hard to get a picture of the entire room, so this is 1/2...

G fell asleep on the way back from the grocery store. Yep, I could care less that he wears boots with shorts on a daily basis, and yep, he has probably peed on the sofa. Whatever...

I still like our new floors, and that is all that matters.

Flamin' Mad

Today I am flamin' mad.

Why you ask?

Because I am about darn tired of people and their assumptions.

I am tired of people assuming that they know me -- my intentions, my desires, my thoughts, my heart. I am tired of people assuming how I will react, what I will say or why I did a certain thing. I am tired of people thinking they know better, know more or know why. I am tired...

Who are they to assume? Who are they to judge? Who are they to proclaim?

The truth is, they have no clue. And, ultimately, it is none of their business. It is between The Maker and myself. He is the only one who knows me, and He knows me better than I.

Don't make assumptions. You do not know...

My reflections I shared with a friend this heart-felt Mother's Day... I thought I would share with all...

What is the perfect gift?

I have been giving a great deal of consideration lately to gifts. I agonize for weeks over what to get the mothers in my life. It just seems to me that my ideas are always so trivial, so trite, so…not adequate enough…so meaningless…so heartless. I could not help but to wonder how many picture frames and flower-pots can one mother could be happy to receive?

I simply seek to give the perfect gift.

Store after store I have wandered only to leave empty handed…and, ultimately, empty hearted. I felt so defeated.

Should gift giving be so complex?

Yesterday, Eric asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day. “Are you kidding me? I asked. “Nothing…help me find something decent for our moms…that is what I want…I just want the perfect gift!” But as our conversation heated and ensued, Grayson crawled into the room covered in a blanket I had told him at least 110 times NOT to take out of the playroom. “Why can’t he follow instructions?” I wanted to scream!

From under the blanket he pleads innocently, “Mommy, open your present!”

I sighed as I lifted the blanket from him and jumped as he yelled, “Surprise!” I only half-heartedly played along, and immediately began to tell him to go and put the blanket away. Interrupting me as I began my pleas, G asks, “Is my gift perfect?”

I was taken back, and, instantly I realized…

“You are the most perfect gift…absolutely. There is nothing more perfect than you…”

How could I have been so naïve? How could I have been so shallow? I feel so foolish…I had searched for so long, when the most perfect gifts had always been there…

I continue to give great thought to the most perfect gifts…I have taken into consideration all of the thought and effort that I give when I look for a gift. Wow, if I do all of this I thought to myself, oh, what the Lord must do…

Having the privilege to be chosen to be a mother has to be the greatest gift one could ever receive. The Lord gave such great thought when he chose each of us and the gifts with which we have been blessed…they are perfect…

May you cherish each of your perfect gifts...

Mother's Day Part II

This was a Mother's Day in the making...

Several weeks ago Cambrey and I began conspiring to surprise our mom and sister, Ragan, with Cambrey's visit to Texas. I feel it is important to know that I am HORRIBLE with surprises...I am a pathetic sneak and a dreadful "story" creator. Thus, this little secret that Cambrey and Adam were coming took everything out of me! Do you have any clue how many times I almost ruined it all! And, to make matters worse...Mom and Ragan ask entirely too many questions that they simply do not have any business knowing! :)

Nonetheless, the surprise went off without a hitch...

We began our Mother's Day celebration on Saturday with all 5 of us siblings and most of our significant others having a darn good lunch....and then we honored the soon-to-be arrivals.

Do you like Lauren's burp cloth...NO ONE can love that much! :)

Over lunch the cousins played...and G showed Adam the ropes by "making" him some shin-guards for the soccer game Adam could have cared less about playing.

Of course we all went to Final Review! My baby brother is now a junior! NOOOOOO!


These are my favorite days...

Mother's Day Part I

As we were parting today my mom tells G to remember his "special mommy" in his prayers tonight.

And, in his typical fashion he replies..."My mommy is not special...She is just a regular mommy!"

Happy Mother's Day to all of the other "regular" moms!

The children of teachers...in Texas!

DISCLAIMER: The children I am to write about are all 3 years old. NONE have entered the public school system in the state of Texas at this point in time.

On our way to school G was stoked when he "found" an unsharpened pencil. One would have thought that he has hit the jackpot!

"When we get into school Mommy, I need to sharpen this...I have some important work to do today."

In his classroom as I am putting his things away for the day...

"I have got to have my pencil real sharp today. It is super important..."

He finishes sharpening his pencil gathers some papers from a shelf and takes off into the other classroom. Once inside the other classroom two other teachers' children gather...

"Hey, who wants to play TAKS test?"

They all jump and cheer! (NO LIE) "Yea! TAKS test!...what test do you want to take? I will give the instructions..."

Yes...sad, but true.

The point I would like to ponder: Who does this incident say more about...the parents or the school system?

I guess this is just what has become of the standardized testing in Texas...3-year-olds even play it!

10 months!

Saturday Cinderella turned 10 months. Watching her play on the floor now...I find myself constantly wondering how and why time passes so quickly.

In the recent weeks, Ballerina has taken her first steps, started saying pronounced words (doll, mama, dada and dog), started throwing fits and has even gotten into squabbles with her brothers! She is quite a pistol!


Below Mommy is trying to talk the little pistol out of playing with the cat...a not-so-friendly playmate!

We have been quite under-the-weather in recent weeks...sinus infections, kidney infections, colds, and this weekend...the vomit bug! Uck!

I was the one so icky and paying a little less attention than I should... and with Daddy out of town what do the little ones do on their own? Have a "fun time with some bottles!"




And, when it was all over...We were all smiles!