Our SeaWorld Spring Break:)

FINALLY got all the pictures downloaded from the trip. Of course, my camera battery ran out just before we left on the second day...SO, I missed pics of the sea lion show, our hotel, AND our trip to the Alamo on the last day:( Here is what I did manage to get...we had SO much fun, even with the crowd. We can't wait to go again now that we have the season passes!

Dangerous Invasion....

The other morning as we stepped outside to take the boys to school, we found this cute baby bunny on the back patio, shaking and looking so lost:( Noah picked it up and we took it over to the side of the fence to set it free. A few days before, a friend of mine one street over from our house had a strikingly different encounter on her back patio. She came in from work in the evening to find a snake slithering around on a pile of rocks they had on their patio. Upon further inspection, she recognized its diamond shaped pattern and saw a small set of rattles on its tail. Her hubby came to the rescue and the snake is toast, but in our neighborhood newsletter it warns that rattlesnakes have been spotted on her street, my street, and two streets on either side of us.....SCARY!! My other friend found a rat snake in her yard last week too, although those I wasn't too worried about, but RATTLESNAKES????!!!!! I mean, I know they exist around us...but this seems crazy that they seem to be overtaking our corner of the subdivision...I'm scared to let the girls play outside in the grass, in our own backyard! Randy says its because of the construction going on nearby our side of the neighborhood, and it's spring, so they are all out and about looking for food. SO, it make me think of the bunny in our backyard and how this part of the neighborhood is overrun by bunnies too. You can't even drive down our back alley at night or early morning without seeing bunnies scatter everywhere. Sometimes even during broad daylight, they just hop right out in the yard or hop right down the street! I've never seen so many bunnies....then it hit me....all the bunnies having babies equals a feast for the large reptiles in close proximity to the boom....aaaagggghhhhh. Got. To. Keep. Bunnies. Away. That poor baby bunny you see in the pic probably ended up as dinner:( And anyone who knows my husband is aware of his one fear and giant phobia........SNAKES!! ANY snake, but he about lost all color when he found out venomous snakes were seen all around us. Now he won't walk out of the house without first kicking, banging, rattling, and yelling at the door in hopes of "scaring" the snake waiting patiently just outside the door ready to strike him down. Before he goes to the bathroom, I've seen him carefully inspect the toilet bowl as if a serpent could be waiting for him there ready to swim up and bite him? He even keeps going in to work late in the morning, with the excuse that he is staying to help get the kids off to school, but I'm secretly wondering if it's just because he doesn't want to leave when it's still dark...hmmmmm. It's a sight to behold, that's for sure...the man is deathly afraid of snakes and over the years it seems to have created this "snake karma" that follows him wherever he goes. He has had more personal encounters with snakes, just by happenstance, than anyone I know! He's even stepped right on top of a snake.....TWICE! I could tell you so many good stories, and probably have if you know me well...hehehe:) The poor guy...just hope either the bunnies move on and the snakes follow them...or the snakes eat them all up and go back to where they came from, because I know...heaven forbid we find a snake in the house....we will be moving! Broken lease and all he would NOT come back....so pray that doesn't happen!!! :)

Cookie Friday with Reese and the Girls...

After school on Fridays, Jonah and his best friend Luke take turns going over to each other's houses to play. They look forward to it all week because they just love hanging out together. Yesterday was Friday and it was Luke's turn to come to our house, but when it's our turn to host I just can't resist having his little sister, Reese over too:) It's become kind of a monthly tradition to have Reese over to bake cookies with the girls on those special Fridays. She is one of the girls' best friends, they just love her and so do I:) She calls me 'SuperV' and I think that is just too cute, since she can't pronounce our last name. Anyway, yesterday I had to make a dessert to take to the RS Birthday dinner at church, so since Reese was coming over, we just made cookies. They usually like chocolate chip, but I was out so we made peanut butter cookies that I let the girls roll into balls then roll in a bowl of sugar. They all wore their little aprons and just had a blast rolling the dough into balls and playing in the sugar (it took me an hour to rid the kitchen of the scattered sugar). They turned out great and Reese took some home to share:) We just love having our little ReeseyBoo over on these special Fridays, and as soon as she is gone, the girls start asking about when she's coming over for the next time:) It makes me so grateful that we are able to raise our kids in a great community and neighborhood, with truly awesome friends! We love you Reesey!!

Western Day...A Comparison....

So, after we start getting ready for school this morning, Jonah informs us that for Kindergarten it is Western day. That means they get to dress up in western clothes for the day, even though there isn't any note anywhere that I can find informing parents of this. I'm a little skeptical, but Noah then says he overheard another child telling her mom the same thing yesterday, so I figure it's legit;) Now, I'm trying to figure out how to throw a cowboy/western outfit together in five minutes, but Jonah says, "don't worry mom, I'm going to wear my vest!". This is the leather vest my Aunt Ginger made that Jonah wore for Halloween when he was three:) He was ready to go!! I had to snap this pic before he left, he was so proud:) I had to think, though, that it's too bad that this is all we can come up with for western wear in the boys' closet....and we are in Texas....we don't even own one pair of cowboy boots, how sad!! Although, not sad enough for me to go shopping for western clothes.....I mean, didn't I get enough of that when I was little?? If it was up to my mother, I would have worn clothes like this every day...and I did for the first few years of elementary!! This is my first grade picture (and I assure you it wasn't supposed to have a "western" theme). I am Jonah's age in the pic...it even looks like the same vest! Now do you see why I'm scarred for life when it comes to dressing my kids?? Someone should have pulled my mother aside and gently explained to her that I AM A GIIIIRRRRLLLLLL!!!!! Seriously.

Give Me....

a cheesy grin any day, and I will take it!! Especially from a sweet three year old:)

First T-Ball Game of the Season...

Time-Out!

This past weekend a few friends and I had the pleasure of attending a Time-Out for Women's conference in Houston. This is like the only picture I got of us, because I didn't feel like taking my giant camera out of my bag and lugging it around. It was super cold and wet!! Besides the weather, it was a great trip. I was able to see some friends that I haven't seen in a long time and some of my family too. It was good to see everyone, listen to some awesome speakers, and hear some uplifting music that I have never heard before:) We all had a great time, even if I did gain five pounds from all the eating out;) Oh, and a bit of good news when we got home too! See my friend Elizabeth in the picture? She's the one wearing the white shirt...she found out at her ultrasound on Monday that she is having twin BOYS!!!!!!! We were so excited all weekend for her appointment on Monday when she would find out what they were:) Congrats girl, and I'm so glad you went with us, cause it will probably be the last one for a while...hehe:)

Dental Drah-Ma and an EXTRA dose of Drah-Ma...

So on Saturday night, we awoke to the screams and whines of our youngest daughter, Emberlyn. After many attempts at deciphering what was bothering her, she finally revealed her tooth was hurting:( She has a cavity on the bottom left in one of her molars that we've known about since her last dentist appointment, but since she was only two and a half, they wanted to put her under general anesthesia to fill the tooth. I wasn't comfortable with that and asked if we could wait six months or so and try again, thinking maybe she would mature just enough to sit through the procedure. The dentist agreed and said we were taking a chance, that hopefully it didn't become infected or painful before her next visit. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, but we didn't make it....or so I thought. Let me also preface this by saying that this is her only cavity and all my other children have really healthy teeth, with maybe a tiny cavity here or there over the past twelve and a half years. Never had a kid with this large of a cavity before, it makes us feel terrible as parents that we didn't prevent it and keep it from getting bigger:( Anyway, I called Monday morning and made an emergency appointment with our pediatric dentist. We took her in (Randy met me there) and could not believe the difference a few months makes!!! She was a little apprehensive at first, but nothing a little bribery couldn't fix;) She let them clean her teeth, examine them, and even let them take x-ray pics!! We are so proud of her, I can't even begin to tell you the ordeal we had last time we took her in. The difference was like night and day! (they prescribed her antibiotics and we have to take her back to be sedated for the root canal/crown or extraction, whichever they end up doing)

Now for the DRAH-MA! Ok, so after the appointment it's like 1:30 and Randy met me there with his truck. He's like, you take her straight home and I will take the prescription to Wal-Mart to have it filled. Oh, and since we are both starving, you should call us in some grilled chicken sandwhiches at Chili's (which is right by our Wal-Mart) and I will pick them up after I get her script. Sounds great!! This day is actually turning out not to be so bad. So I'm following him along the highway and just after I turn on Brodie and he kept going straight, I hear the dreaded stomach-lurching-upheaval sound coming from behind me. I pull over on the side of the road and get her out of the car seat, all the while she is continually wretching and gagging. I manage to pull my cell phone out and call Randy who turns around and arrives as I'm trying to wipe her up. We had to take her dress off...note, the pretty dress she is wearing in her pics...totally ruined, even if I could get the stains out, the bad karma associated with the "puke dress" is enough to keep me from ever dressing her in it again. Her car seat is unsavable. Which is actually a good thing, since I've been wanted to buy a new one anyway, so Randy pulls it out of the car and throws it into the back of his truck to dump later. We switch her over to Avelyn's car seat (Avelyn is at my friend Jessica's house), and say our goodbyes again. I call Jess and tell her to have Avelyn waiting at the curb, cause I'm in the puke car and my daughter is naked...no time to stop! Pick up Avelyn, finally get home and Emmy is hungry so I make her a light snack (she hasn't eaten since breakfast and of course her tummy is growling having emptied itself of all its contents earlier). At this point, I'm getting ready to shower both me and Emmy, slightly wondering where my husband is, as he should be getting home soon with our lunch and Emmy's medicine. Just then, my phone rings with an unfamiliar number showing on the call display. I say hello, and it's my lovely husband telling me that he made it to Wal-Mart, but that there is a slight problem. When he parked and went to get out of the truck, a gust of wind came along and blew the papers he had in his hands all over the parking lot. We're talking the dental papers and Emmy's prescription...it was very windy on Monday. So, off he goes...running here and there trying to trap down all the papers, looking like a crazy nut....finally gets them all gathered, walks back to his truck, only to realize that the wind blew his door shut...with his cell phone, wallet, and keys locked inside......HELLO.......Seriously?????!!!!! He had to walk inside, ask where the pay phone was, it was ripped out of the wall, so he had to walk over to the HEB and use the pay phone to call yours truly. He told me he called our insurance company and they were sending out Pop-A-Lock, but that it would take an hour and that our Chili's food needed to be picked up, as it had been an hour since we called. Unbelievable!! I had to dress the girls, two of us still unbathed, and pile them back into the reeking puke car to go pick up our now soggy chicken sandwhiches at Chili's. We got home just in time for the boys to walk through the door from school. Randy finally came home around 4pm, right in time to grab Noah for baseball practice. All this, and I didn't even have Americal Idol to look forward to Monday night!! That is why, yesterday, I swore I wasn't leaving my house and I was going to have a drama-free day, but that was not to be either. I'll spare you the details, but it involves a friends' sad news, a dog fight, the neighbors, swearing in front of children, flying remote controls, and formal statements to the Kyle Animal Control officer. Today is a new day, so........BRING IT ON!!!!!!

Reconnecting with Friends:)

This past weekend was nice, seeing friends we haven't been able to hang out with in a while:) I'm so thankful for all our friends that we have made here in the years we have lived in Kyle (even if some of my BEST ones move AWAY!!!!).

Fire, Wind, and Miracles...Bastrop, TX Wildfire

This past weekend my Granny and Uncle Paul, who live off of Hwy 71 in Bastrop, had a deputy knock on their door telling them to evacuate immediately. There wasn't even time to grab any belongings other than to snag some pictures off the wall on the way out. A few minutes before, they say they heard sirens and could see smoke over the trees, but never thought anything about it being an out of control wildfire heading straight for their house! By the time they were following the patrol car out of their driveway, the black smoke was so thick they could barely see the road and the flea market across the highway was completely engulfed in flames.

They drove to the top of the hill and pulled over to the side of the road and watched the billowing black smoke for hours...along with other residents that also had to make a run for it. My uncle called me and I was trying to give them updates from the web and tv, because no one was talking to them or giving them any information. They left their house at around 2:30pm and finally about 8:30pm or so, Uncle Paul found a deputy that could identify their house and told them that, yes it was still standing....but that the highway was closed down and no one would be allowed to go back that night. They were on their way out of town anyway, so they just trusted everything was fine and left on their trip to SE Texas, where we have family.

I couldn't sleep knowing that they didn't actually see visual confirmation of their house and found out the next morning that Hwy 71 had been reopened, so we packed up the kiddos and headed out on Sunday morning to inspect the damage. What we saw was incredibly amazing...all around their house was black, the house behind them (though vacant, their neighbor lived in it until a few months ago when she passed away) was completely burned to the ground, the flea market was gone and the only damage to their property was part of their fence was charred and the new riding lawn mower was partially melted. The crazy thing is, that the fence was burned so bad, but then it looks like it just stopped. The deputy told Uncle Paul the night before that his Jeep looked ok in the yard, and my uncle was like "I don't own a Jeep", so all we can figure is that some good samaritan was driving out and stopped, unrolled the waterhoses that were in the yard and fought the fire back from their house. Their waterhoses were stretched out all across the yard.

When we arrived Sunday morning, there was still emergency personnel everywhere, even in their yard...firefighters were walking around spraying the hot spots...there was still some smoking coming from my Granny's fence!! We were scared to leave it unattended since the fireman told us to keep the house wet, the situation was still precarious enough that if the wind shifted it could give some of those hot spots the strength they would need to rage again. Needless to say, my family had to come home from their trip to watch over their house and property.

It was a very scary experience for them and it made me really think about 72 hour kits and their importance. You really never know how much time you will have when you are told to evacuate..it literally could be less than two minutes and what would you do? I just knew that all of those irreplaceable photographs of my grandpa, mother, and uncle who have all past on, were lost forever:( I'm so grateful for those who prayed for them and sent a miracle our way...thank you so much. Ironically, my granny was on her way to put flowers on my grandpa's grave, because that weekend was exactly seven years ago that he left his love and this world.......thank you grandpa for watching over your sweetheart and her home...we know that he was there:)

On the way out the we watched the Blackhawk helicopter refilling his big water balloon tank thingy..whatever you call it. The kids thought is was pretty cool and so did we.

WHAT a weekend!!!! I'm just glad it's all over, that everyone is alright and that the house is still standing. The experience has given me a lot to think about regarding preparedness and getting our family ready for whatever should cross our path, be it a wildfire, storm, chemical spill...whatever it may be, you just never know...nothing can be worse than the vulnerable helplessness you feel when you are completely caught off guard and not prepared. There's no way you can possibly prepare for everything, I know that...but if we make a true effort, I feel that Heavenly Father will help pick up our slack. That happened this weekend, and for that I am forever grateful!! Love you Granny and Uncle Paul...more than you'll ever know!!!:)