Lord? Why me?

This blog is going to be a little random I am afraid so bare with me...ok...thanks!!
I should have known today was going to be "ONE OF THOSE DAYS" when my neighbors son calls me at 7:20 this morning to tell me that Riley, my almost 9 year old beagle is running down the alley. Just so you can see who I'm talking about, here he is....


(Not the best picture, but you have a clue now)

Anyways, the more they yell for him the faster he runs. WHY ME? This dog decides after 6 months of spending EVERY DAY, ALL DAY outside in the backyard that he is going to dig and run away. He does this once every 6 months or so. The problem is that Riley doesn't dig the hole big enough to fit his FAT FRIEND, Buford (seen here)



and so Buford sits and barks at the hole as if he is saying, "Hey Buddy, I can't get through." "You never make it big enough for me." "You're going to be lonely out there all by yourself." "Come back, help!" However, this morning it doesn't bark like normal. Maybe he was glad to see him go, I don't know. So I climb out of bed and go outside to find Riley in the front yard covered in dirt. UGH!! I get him back in the back yard, fill in the hole, and try to clean him off some.

Next, the girls are up and ready to start the day. I'm already exhausted and ready to go back to bed. I get them breakfast, start a load of laundry, and pick up around the house. It's time for showers/baths and to get ready for school. Madeline is dressed and ready, Macy is dressed, ready, and bouncing all over the place (should have been a clue then). We take Madeline to school. She does awesome once again. I then go Aqua Kids to look into swim lessons for Macy. She is such a fish and I'd love for her to really learn what she is doing while in the water. I sign her up, pay the fees, and take a screaming 2 year old that "Want to put on simming suit now and get in da water like those girls." out the door. All the while she is yelling, "I go poo-poo, change me." UGH!!(again) We get to the car, I get a new diaper ready, lay down the third row and start changing Macy and explaining to her that we will come back in 4 days and start swimming.

She agrees, she's clean, and now we head toward the tag agency to renew my tags. All the way there, I pray that there is not a long line. I don't know how much longer Macy is going to last. We get to the place, I put her in her stroller and happily we go into the place. Macy is being an angel. Thank you Lord for answered prayers. She did so well that I think to myself, "sure I can go into Gap kids and look for a few things for Madeline, Macy did so good in here." WRONG!!! I should have known better. I knew it was too good to be true. Are any of you mothers out there feeling my pain yet? Tell me you have experienced it yourselves? So I find a few things I was looking for and by this time Macy is yelling (once again), "I go poo-poo, change me, change me." I would darling, but your wonderful mother left the diaper bag IN THE CAR. UGH!!!(again) I go to check out and decide I will come back another time WITHOUT KIDS **Remember, Macy is still yelling that she has pooped. I apologize to the kind ladies in the Gap and make my exit...QUICKLY!! Make it to the car and reach in the diaper bag for another diaper and SURPRISE I have NO MORE DIAPERS!!! UGH!!!(again) I think, what now? Oh yes, I think there are some extra diapers in the console....go look....TA DA!! There is ONE and it's a size WHAT? THREE!! Macy wears almost a FIVE. Ok, we can make it work. Thank God she is still a petite little thing. It worked and we are on the road to HOME!! She cries half the way home. N-A-P , here we come. We made it home and I put her straight in her bed for a nap. We have to leave in just a bit to go pick up Madeline and then today is gymnastics. Please say a prayer that my day will go much better. Personally, I am really tired. Thanks for listening to me vent. If any of you mothers have experienced anything close to my day, let me know...

Good bye!

Hump Day and we're still excited.

Day three went GREAT. We had no trouble getting out of the car today. She said goodbye and jumped right out and ran in. Madeline is becoming quite the little pro at Kindergarten. Seeing her so excited makes it MUCH EASIER on mom too. Each day when I pick her up she begins telling me all about her day, what they did, her favorite part, and how she can't wait to go back tomorrow. I can only hope and pray that all her schooling experience is like this...HA!! I know I'm jumping the gun a little, it is only the THIRD day of school. Without fail, we took day three pictures too.



Madeline looking too cute in her pigtails.



She picked out what she wore today. I think she looks pretty cute.




I'm super excited that this weekend while I am in Oklahoma I will get to see this little "big" man..........





Baby Tyler....Isn't he the most precious thing EVER?

The last time I saw him he looked like this...........







He was only 9 days old and he is now a little over a month old and almost SIX POUNDS heavier. He's a little chunk I hear and I can't wait to get my hands on him and kiss those chubby little cheeks. I will for sure have an update with pictures when I return.

Day two and Chicken What?

Yesterday was day two of Kindergarten for Madeline. On the way to school I told her that today was the day that I would just pull up in the drop off line and let her out to walk in by herself. As we arrive at the school I see the line of cars in the drop off line and parents WALKING their children into the building...not supposed to be doing that. So I pull up and notice that the line isn't moving. That could be due to the fact the RULE BREAKING parents who were walking their kids in were PARKED in the DRIVE THRU lane...UGH!!
So now Madeline is questioning me, "Why can't you walk me in?" I explained that we were told at "Meet the teacher" that the second day the teachers wanted the kids to walk in without parents and I didn't want to break any rules (good answer huh?) just like I teach her not to break the rules. She stands up to climb out and with her hand on the door looks at me and says, "I don't think I can do this?" I tell her sure you can and we say a real quick prayer asking God to give her courage and make her brave. She jumps out and runs in. Don't you love the power of prayer even in a 5 year old?
I pick her up from school to get the report that she has had a WONDERFUL second day and can't wait to go back tomorrow. Her teacher even said to me today (as she brought Madeline to the car) "She is the most precious child. She is a perfect child." So far, I was thinking. It warms your heart to hear people talk about your children in such a way. Madeline wanted me to take pictures of her again yesterday, so here are her second day of school pictures.










Sweet Macy. She keeps telling me she wants to go to school and play with her friends. I want her to go to school and play with her friends too....HA!! Only 2 and a half more weeks.


Now for the chicken part. I got a call from my neighbor yesterday morning letting me know that Rachel (Madeline's best friend) has the CHICKEN POX.
Yes, that's right. Of course by now, my children have already been exposed. Thankfully they both have been immunized for the chicken pox. Rachel was too, but due to the fact that she is currently on a steroid for her nephrotic syndrome, the steroid lowers her immune system, thus causing her to catch infections more easily. The doctor said if she hadn't been on the steroid she probably would not have caught it. She has a pretty mild case, however, she is having to miss the entire first week of school. Please keep Rachel in your prayers because with the nephrotic syndrome and the weak immune system she is more likely to develop a bad infection at one of the pox sites. The kidney doctor told Kristie to keep neosporin on each site and watch her closely for infection. Thankfully she is a nurse and knows what to look for.

So that's the excitement for Day two. Let's see what Day three brings. I plan on coming home laying Macy down for a nap, starting some laundry, and start cleaning the house. We are heading to Oklahoma this weekend for a family reunion on my mom's side of the family.

Have a great day!!!

First Day of Kindergarten....

We made it through dinner, our baths, two stories, our prayers, and to sleep by 8:30 last night....AMAZING!!!
I have to share with you first just how precious Madeline is before I tell you about her day. Last night as we were saying our prayers before bed this is the prayer she prayed.


Dear God,
Thank you for this day. Thank you for all the wonderful things you give us. I am a little nervous about kindergarten tomorrow but I am a big girl now and I know I have to do it. Please help me to be brave and not scared. I know I will have a good day tomorrow in my new kindergarten class. Be with mommy so she won't be sad to leave me tomorrow. Ok, thank you God. It's in your name I pray...AMEN!


Doesn't that just melt your heart? Now about her day....


She woke up in a great mood and asked if she needed to go get dressed. "Not yet, we still have 3 hours until Kindergarten starts." She ate breakfast, tried on the backpack, made sure she had everything ready to go, and sat Macy down to explain that "Sissy, will be going to school in a little bit but I will be back later today." "Be good for mommy while I'm gone." Thanks for telling her that Madeline. The morning flew and before I knew it, it was time to eat lunch and get dressed for SCHOOL. Wish me luck!! We got Madeline all beautiful and went out front to take the "First day of school" pictures....



Doesn't she look so old today?



Good Luck hugs from Macy.



The sun was in her eyes...


So we load up and head towards the school. The entire way Madeline is practicing her phone number, address, how to spell her first and last name, and all her colors. Just in case Mrs. Logsdon asks her ALL these things on the FIRST day of school. She always wants to be prepared. She put on her brave face and walked proud.



The big walk up to the school...Someone was a little nervous.



Madeline and her friend Paige.








Waiting nervously for the teacher to come get them to take them to their class.


All the kids get dropped off and then they are supposed to walk into the school and go into the gym and wait in their line for their teacher. The teacher comes and gets them and takes them to the classroom. They did a "practice run" today so the kids would know what to do tomorrow.




Here is Mrs. Logsdon giving all the kids a high five and welcoming them their first day.



Heading towards the classroom.



Madeline helping Paige find her cubby...



Sitting at her desk getting ready to start doing her first day "work."




Mrs. Logsdon and Madeline.


Finally here is me with my "big girl".....


When I went to pick her up she said she had a great time and even did three papers today. She is already in love with Mrs. Logsdon and can't wait to go back tomorrow. She said today they learned the rules and the funniest rule was, No jumping off your chair to say I'm Done!! HA!! Too funny. I think this is going to be a great year.

Now many of your are wondering did I cry? No, not in front of Madeline. I got a little teary eyed at one point but I didn't want to upset her. She was so brave.
I'm so proud of her. After the kids got settled they had a room set up for all the parents that had refreshments, KLEENEX, and this little poem that they handed out. I didn't cry until I read it when I got home. It says:

We gave you a little wink and smile
As you entered our school today.
For we know how hard it is to leave
And know your child must stay.
You've been with her for five years now
And have been a loving guide,
But alas, the time has come
To leave her at the teacher;s side.
Just know that as you drive away
And tears down your cheeks may flow
We'll love her as we would our own
And help her learn and grow.


So that is the story for Madeline's first day at Kindergarten. I had a little surprise for her in her seat when I picked her up. (high school musical shirt and little guitar) I think that made her day even that much better. Let's pray that tomorrow goes just the same.

I SURVIVED!!!!

The Eve to one of the biggest days of her life.....

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!! That's right, Madeline will start the beginning of her 13 PLUS (catch that?) years of schooling tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm. I still can't believe that this day has finally arrived. Her first day of Kindergarten. I always wondered how I would feel on this day. Would I be sad and cry, would I be happy and jumping (not literally) for joy, would I have mixed emotions? I can honestly say I CAN"T WAIT!! I'm excited to see her walk in there and be brave and show excitement that she is ready to learn. I can't wait for her to come home in the afternoons and tell me at least one thing that she learned that day. I can't wait to sit with her in bed at night and have her read to me. I can't wait to see the excitement on her face when she has learned something and can "teach" it to us.
We had "Meet the teacher" last week and Madeline was a little overwhelmed by the class and all that it had to offer. She is excited and very nervous at the same time. Her teacher is going to be wonderful. She is a Godly women and even attends the same church as us. When Mrs. Logsdon asked Madeline what she was looking forward to the most in Kindergarten she said, "Learning!" That's my girl! We are excited too because Madeline's friend Paige is in her class. That should make it a little easier for her. I will definetly be posting tomorrow with the first day pictures and details on how the day went. We are allowed to drop the kids off in the classroom tomorrow and then they are having a "Boo Hoo, Woo Hoo" gathering in the gym for all the moms to "Cry together" and get to know each other. Isn't that funny!

Until tomorrow....

Weekend of fun!!

We had a great weekend last weekend. It began EARLY (9:30) on Friday when Uncle Aaron arrived at our house...The girls actually warmed up to him rather quickly. We went and had lunch at Cheddars and then came home and Aaron read books to the girls and played with them for a bit. Macy kept rubbing the book across his goatee and laughing at the sound it made...See what I mean....









Can you see her laughing? Aaron was a good sport. We then went to my cousins Karen and swam with them for the afternoon. The girls had a great time with Uncle Aaron and I believe he had a great time with them as well. It was good to spend some time with him since we don't get to see him that often. Thanks for coming to see us, Aaron.

Friday evening Brad's brother, sister in law, and our nephew arrived. Austen is walking and was all over the place exploring the environment. He followed Madeline all over the place. He was her shadow the entire weekend. We had a great visit with them. Jon Eric woke up very sick Sat. morning so he was out of it for most of the day. We went over to some friends of all of ours, The Murray's and swam and ate hamburgers. The kids all had a great time swimming and playing together. It was nice to have JE, Katie, and Austen. Thanks guys for coming to see us. Sorry you felt so bad, JE...KINDA!! (see the Vegas vacation for the reason for the Kinda.)

Brad's mom arrived Sat. night in preparation for us to leave on our vacation the next day. The kids always love having company and were in the happy place with all the attention.

We had a great time and thanks again for coming to visit.....

Can it really be THIS DIFFICULT??????

So Madeline decides that she now can no longer use her backpack from last year and that she needs a new one. After gymnastics yesterday the family heads to JC Penny's because they had all their backpacks on sale last week. We get there and they only have a few choices left, none which Madeline liked.
We leave and take Brad and Macy home and decide that Madeline and I will go to Walmart to look. We had looked at Target the night before. The two of us head into Walmart, go straight to the backpack aisle and look at all the backpacks. They only had really big ones, the sling type, or some really cheap ones that wouldn't last two weeks. So we head on. We make a trek across town to Ross (no luck), Sports Authority (too expensive), Famous Footwear (somebody didn't like any of them), Payless (non), Marshall's (didn't like any), and FINALLY to KOHL's. Have you kept count yet? Yes, that is NINE stores we have been to. I never knew that finding THE PERFECT backpack would be so hard and that someone (MADELINE) would have such an opinion on her backpack. UGH!! We get here and this is where we should have started the trek because they had EVERYONE of the backpacks we had seen at all the other stores plus some other ones and they were all on sale.
However, I knew we were in trouble when I see this....




Yes, that is only ONE wall of backpacks...they had two of these.
How will she ever decide? I wanted to throw myself on the ground and throw a fit myself. My toe was beginning to throb, my back was hurting, and I wanted to be done with backpack shopping. So the quest begins and it goes something like this.

She starts rummaging through all the bags, collecting the ones she likes, kinda likes, or thinks she likes....are you still with me? Then she has to line them all up side by side and take a look at them. She studies them and studies them and still more studying. Finally, she decides she doesn't like ONE of the SIX she has. Oh, this is going to be a long process. Where are the beds in this place? This process continues for a bit longer and she gets it down to two "POTENTIAL" ones. She has to physically try them on, walk with them, see how easy they are to get into, etc. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? If she is like this for everything her daddy will be taking her shopping. Don't get me wrong, I am a lady that LOVES to shop, but HOLY COW, this is RIDICULOUS!!

Here she is with the final two.....




This one? OR



This one?

Personally I liked this one.............





But she FINALLY chose (angels singing, HALLELUJAH!!!) this one........







Thankfully this wasn't one that we had seen at the previous EIGHT stores we had been to or I would have SCREAMED and probably gotten thrown out of KOHL'S. After who knows how long we were finally leaving....PRAISE THE GOOD LORD!!! (until next year...UGH!!!)Oh, Brad it's time to take Madeline to get a backpack...HAHAHAHAH!!!

I never knew that a five year old had such an opinion..who knew...Another one of those things they don't tell you before children are born...

What a VACATION!!

We're back from our Vegas vacation and let me tell you....Let's see where should I begin...
Oh here probably....


Saturday night about 5:30 pm Brad and I were in the office looking at the flights trying to decide which one looked the best for us to fly on. With him working for the airlines we can look at the flights and see how many seats are taken and how many are left so we can plan which flight looks the best for us to get on. We decide we will take the 7:10 am flight on Sunday morning....Walking out of the office together I happen to catch my pinkie toe (bare foot) on the sole of Brad's shoe and SNAP goes the toe. Yes, that's right, I BROKE my toe. After a few small tears roll down my cheeks because of the intense pain and a few choice word rolling around INSIDE my mouth (they never made their way out) I make my way into the living room to sit in the chair and assess the situation. The situation was that my toe was killing me, I could not walk on it, and it looked a little deformed. Great, how am I supposed to go to VEGAS of all places on a foot that I can't even walk on? I put it up and got ice on it, took some ibuprofen, and chilled for a bit. I still had to pack and get things ready to leave EARLY the next morning. I was finally able to put a little weight on the inside of my foot. I taped the toe to the next one and became a trooper.
We arrived in Vegas at 8:00 am Sunday morning, headed straight to the hotel and was fortunately able to check in and get our room right away. We went in and immediately took a nap. It felt so good since we had gotten up at 4:00 that morning. We then headed to the pool for a couple of hours...Here we are at the pool relaxing.


Brad by the pool with his book...


Me by the pool....


This guy was pretty funny...a little annoying. (Sorry if anyone recognizes him as a relative) He was very drunk and very talkative to EVERYONE at the pool. He kept offering Brad money to buy his hat. I told Brad offer him to buy it for $200.00 he doesn't know any better and would probably do it. That's not very nice of me was it. Of course, we didn't.

We stayed at The Signature at MGM Grand. It was so nice. For those of you that have been to Vegas they are the 3 towers that sit behind MGM Grand. They are a little off the strip but only a 5 minute walk (with people movers) to the MGM Grand. They are non-smoking which was super nice so at least you have somewhere you can go to get away from the smoke. It's quiet and the pools were NEVER crowded. It was very relaxing. All the rooms are suites with microwaves, a small cook top, fridge, toaster, blender, and dishes. It was very nice...Why do I rave about it so...well that brings me to "tragedy number 2". Thanks to my WONDERFUL brother in law, Jon Eric, I came down with a stomach bug that kept me hauled up in the room for the ENTIRE second day we were there. I spent the day in bed. Brad continued with his vacation which was great because I had the room all to myself. I even rented two movies off the TV. Who does that in Vegas? Here's a picture of me on my death bed...****WARNING**** This could be VERY SCARY to the eyes....But this is how bad I felt...



Pretty bad huh?


Here's are some pictures of the hotel...


The outside....


Inside the suite....



The pool area....

So my sickness lasted about 24 hours. I still felt a little weak and achy the next day but it was the last day we were to be there and I had to do something while I was in Vegas and besides we had tickets to see....


I loved it....Brad enjoyed it. I think it's more for girls unless you are a male that likes musicals. Don't get me wrong he said he was glad he went. So if you are going to be in Vegas (GIRLS) go see it. It's only at Mandalay Bay until January 2009.

That was the conclusion of our Vegas vacation. We flew back at 8:10 on Wed. It was so good to see the girls again. Macy just sat there and kept "petting" me saying, "You coming with us now". We had a great time, even though I was sick and had a gimp toe. Brad's mom did a FANTASTIC job with the girls. I walked in and the house was spotless, she had cleaned it and had all the laundry done..THAT WAS THE BEST PART. Thank you again, Diane.

Why am I so tired?

It could be due to the fact that I STAY UP TOO LATE WATCHING THE SILLY OLYMPICS!! I have not gone to bed before midnight all week and tonight will be another one of those nights. I could DVR them and watch them the next day but I don't want to risk the fact that I may read about who won/lost on the Internet or see it on the TV. Also, like I have time to sit in front of the TV for hours on end during the day to watch the Olympics. So I stay up. Tonight is the women's gymnastics all around finals. Who do you think will win? How about all the controversy do to with the Chinese women's team? Do you think they are underage? They sure look young but they did get passports saying they were 16 years old. Who knows!!
So I spent the ENTIRE day today mowing, cleaning, and doing all the laundry. My older brother is in town this weekend visiting friends, family, and his wonderful sister. He's planning on coming over tomorrow and spending the day with me and the girls. Then tomorrow night my brother in law, sister in law, and precious nephew (who is now walking...YEAH!!!) Austen are coming to spend the weekend with us. I think they are planning on taking in a Rangers game while they are here. Saturday afternoon my mother in law arrives. She will be staying with the girls while Brad and I go to Vegas. We are leaving on Sunday morning and coming back Wednesday afternoon. Madeline has "Meet the teacher" that evening. We will have a busy weekend but I'm looking forward to having some family here to visit. Heck, we've only lived in Texas for a little over 3 years and this is the FIRST TIME my older brother has been to my house.
I have a prayer request for my prayer warriors. If you look on the side of my page you will see two precious pictures of my girls. These were taken by Jake Jaggears (Erica Joyce Photography). He is awesome. We were introduced to them through some friends of ours (who happen to live across the street from Jake and Erica) from college. Anywho, Jake and Erica have been trying for some time to have a baby. They were told that the only way for them to have a chance at having a child would be through IVF. They did this and transferred two embryos. They waited and then discovered that they were FINALLY pregnant....with twins. Yesterday, Erica woke up not feeling well and called her doctor. They had her come in and have an ultrasound done to check on the babies. During this ultrasound they discovered that everything was just fine with the babies....however.....they did discover something. Two babies had turned into THREE. Yes, TRIPLETS. They have a set of identical twins and one fraternal twin. Exciting but VERY SCARY for them. This will put Erica in a high risk pregnancy. She will likely be on bed rest for more than half her pregnancy. They have a lot to sort through so please keep them and their THREE blessings in your prayers. (Jake has two sons from a previous marriage). You can read about their journey on their blog (Erica Joyce Photography on the side of my page). Also, if you ever need an INCREDIBLE photographer and you live in this area give them a shout, preferably before things get CRAZY!!

Have a great weekend. I'll update when we get back and I'm sure I'll have a picture or two or three... Keep my mother in law in your prayers too as she will have the girls all by herself...She'll be just fine I know.

If this doesn't make you smile....

Did you all happen to see the Men's 4x100 freestyle Relay last night....OH MY!! It was a thriller. The French were heavily favored to win but the Americans had another idea. The French even made the comment that they "were going to SMASH the Americans." Well not so fast....In case you haven't seen it or would like to watch it again. Here it is... I still get chills EVERY TIME I see it. Excuse the quality. I had to record my TV to get the video. I couldn't find one with OUR commentators and that's the best part, listening to the excitement and thrill in their voices...Don't you just love the excitement and screaming. That was the best moment thus far in the Olympic games. It will go down in history for a long time. I was right there screaming with them and pumping my fist in the effort to make the guy swim faster...It worked..HA! This is the very end of the race because for some reason it won't load my video of the entire race. This is the part that matters anyways....




Pretty awesome huh? Here's a little of the interview with the team afterwards...



I love the way Michael Phelps is urging his teammate on with all his might.


Men's gymnastics finals is on tonight. Madeline is super excited. Each time we watch the gymnastics her and Macy both put on their gymnastics leotards and do gymnastics. Madeline wants to go to the Olympics one day...We could only wish huh?

Enjoy the rest of the Olympics....

Quality time

Sorry I haven't updated this week but I have enjoyed spending time with the girls. We have been having a lot of quality "mommy and girls" time. It took me a couple of days to get the house and laundry back in order from being gone for 5 days. Brad did a great job with the girls while I was gone but the house didn't get much attention paid to it.
We have been running lots of errands this week trying to get things done before school starts. Brad and I are taking a late anniversary vacation (our actual anniversary is Aug. 7th) to Vegas in a couple of weeks. Nine long years. HA! I wouldn't trade them for anything. We are both looking forward to getting out of town for a few days and spending some alone time together. We had to rearrange our vacation time some because we found out that Madeline has "Meet the teacher" for Kindergarten. Can you believe it? I can't. Of course, she is SUPER excited about starting "BIG SCHOOL". I went last week to verify residency so that she can be placed on a teacher role. They start school here on the 25th.
Well I had mentioned in my last post that we had some exciting news coming in the Mueller family...Sorry to those of you who jumped to the conclusion that Baby #3 was on it's way. NO, SORRY!! No babies here. Brad got a new job. Yes, that's right he is leaving American Airlines (goodbye flight benefits, we will all miss you). Hence, another reason we are going to Vegas. He will be starting with Kimberly Clark after the first of September. His office is on the 16th hole of the Four Seasons hotel in Los Colinas. I think it's where they play the Byron Nelson each year. He is ready for the new challenge. Say a prayer that it is a smooth transition for him. We did lots of praying about the change and couldn't refuse the offer they made him. I'm very proud of him. He is a wonderful father, great husband, and provider for our family. I am blessed that I am able to continue to stay home with the girls.
Have a great rest of the weekend....

Meeting Baby Tyler...

I FINALLY got to see Baby Tyler Nickell in person and he is even cuter than he is in the pictures. He is the best baby. I love him. I got to spend over 3 hours with him last Wed. I got into town and picked up lunch and took it over to Mike and Kristie. Of course, I had to hold him right away. However, when I arrived he had just "christened" his daddy with poop. Yes, that's right, he had his first BIG EXPLOSION all over the front of Mike's shirt and pants. Mike was a trooper though. He took Tyler in and got him all cleaned up and then cleaned himself up. I was so amazed at how hands on Mike is. He is wonderful with Tyler. Kristie has nothing to worry about when she goes back to work. I was even able to get Kristie out of the house for a bit. We hit Sonic for happy hour. Mike and Tyler both survived just fine. I can't wait to get back and see that precious little boy. God is good. Here are a few pics of him....


Mike changing Tyler...








Doesn't Kristie look AMAZING for having just had a baby 9 days before.

Road Trip....

First I want to say a special THANK YOU to my mom and my Aunt Mary. We had the best time on our Girls Weekend getaway to Kansas City. I haven't gotten to spend time like that with my mom ALONE in a long time. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family. The three of us laughed so much it was great. We started the trip Thursday morning at 9:00 am. We made our trek towards Kansas. Wow!! What flat land there is there? I thought Oklahoma was bad. Our first stop was to eat some lunch at DOUBLE D's. Yes, laugh!! That's what my aunt and I did the entire time we were there. We even laughed so hard when we first got there that we were both crying. We were in a very small town El Dorado, Kansas. This was a small Ma and Pa home cooking type restaurant. It was connected to a hotel. All the seats were taken in the restaurant so we sat out in the "courtyard" by the pool. Want to see the view we had....


This makes it look a lot better than it was. See the pool in the background...


The menu...


We finally arrived in Kansas City and headed straight to the casino. We all started off winning. The rest of the trip, well not so good. but we had a BLAST. We ate lots of good food and stayed in a beautiful hotel, The Argosy. If you are ever in Kansas City look it up.


My mom and I at the casino.


Saturday morning we headed to Topeka, Kansas to visit my cousin, her husband, and their three kids. The two girls Lindsay and Taylor were the flower girls in my wedding 9 years ago. The whole reason for this "Girl weekend" was to watch two of my VERY TALENTED cousins star in the play High School Musical at the Topeka Civic Theatre. I had NO IDEA that they were both so TALENTED. Nick, is the middle child and graduated from high school this year. He played the lead role, Troy in the play. He was AMAZING!! Taylor, is the youngest and will be a junior next year. She played the role of Cathy (cheerleader) in the play and was AMAZING as well. She has the best stage presence. She knows how to "play" the crowd. I had the best time watching them in this play. I took a few short videos of them. You will have to excuse the poor quality as it was taken by my small digital camera. There were no cameras allowed but I HAD to sneak a short video. Check them out.....
*Note* You will need to stop the music on the side before playing the videos. Enjoy!!


Pretty amazing huh? I think he has a fabulous voice.


Taylor dancing. She's the one in the front row. She does the splits at the end. I didn't get any video of her singing...She's awesome too though.


Just a glimpse of another song....

After the play all the young girls were waiting for the STARS to come out to get autographs. They swarmed Nick like he was the real Zack Efron. It was so cute. I told Nick I felt like I was the paparazzi taking his picture....HA! Here he is with the girls signing autographs....




The two stars after the show....


I'm very proud of them and can't wait to go again the next time they are STARS. GREAT JOB you two. I love you all....