O K L A H O M A!!

Fine, I'm here!!

I have such a hard time sitting down and doing this blog. Maybe because I feel like there isn't much that people think is worthy of hearing about. Several have sent emails asking if I was ever going to update so here it goes. This could get pretty long so hang out tight.

I left off in May and A LOT has happened since then. Starting at the beginning on June, we had gone to Oklahoma to visit Hubs, look at houses, and see friends when I got a call from our dear neighbors telling me that our beloved beagle Riley was not acting right. He wouldn't eat and was acting pretty lethargic. I told them to bring him inside because maybe the summer heat was getting to him. They did and by the next morning was doing worse. I quickly loaded up the girls and started the 3 hour trek back to Texas. Meantime, I called our vet to make an appointment to bring him in as soon as I got back. They told me to bring him in at 1:30. If you remember, we lost our basset Buford in November 2008 while we were out of town. They always get sick when we are no home. I made it home by 11:45 and I figured that once I got home and Riley saw me he'd perk up and be ok. That wasn't the case. You could tell that when he saw me he was trying his hardest to wag his tail, lift his head, anything to show me he was happy to see me but he just couldn't. He did not look good at all. I laid there by him with the girls telling him it was going to be ok, we were home and taking him to the dr. He then started to yelp loudly which scared the girls so I ran them next door to the neighbors. Kristie came over with me and helped me with Riley. By this point he was starting to have seizures. Not the kind where you shake but his body would get stiff and he'd roll a little on his back. He did this about every 5 minutes for the next 30-45 minutes. I knew what was happening. He was trying to die. I felt so helpless. I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to keep him comfortable till I could get him to the vet. At this point the seizing got worse and he was uncontrollably shaking every 30 - 1 minute. I just sat over him crying, begging him to just go. I told him over and over, it's ok to go. We finally loaded him in my car and drove him to the vets office to wait because they were due back from lunch at 1:00. Right as we pulled into the drive he finally gave up and passed away. It was so hard to say goodbye. Riley was mine and Hubs first pet together. We got married in August 1999 by October I told hubs that I had to have a dog. I had grown up with dogs ALL my life and it was weird not having one. We lived in an apt. at the time so I knew we needed a smaller dog. I found a breeder that breed beagles and we went and picked him up the next night. He was our first BABY. He was with us for almost 11 years. He would have been 11 on Oct. 8th. Our poor Cooper, basset we got after Buford died went into SERIOUS mourning. He cried and cried for weeks, he wasn't eating, and really missed Riley. He never knew any different. We still miss him daily and often wonder what he would have thought about being back in Oklahoma.

Sweet Riley:

Playing with Cooper.

We made it through that only to have another big event happen. The week after we said goodbye to Riley, Madeline broke her collar bone. Yes, remember that while all this is going on, Hubs is still living in Oklahoma. I was one stressed out momma. It was a complete freak accident. She was feeding Cooper and at the time we had a baby gate set up on the back door to keep him from scratching the paint on the door since we were trying to sell our house and when she leaned down to put the food down the gate fell causing her to fall and catch all her weight on her collar bone. Off to the ER we went. Although she was in A LOT of pain, she did great while at the hospital and even after. She spent the first two weeks in a sling and sleeping in the recliner. It did however, make for an interesting summer. She was allowed to get into a pool but NO swimming, jumping etc. She couldn't do anything for 6 weeks. She was devastated that she couldn't do ANY cheerleading. She survived and the break healed great. Thank God. While I'm on Madeline, we did see the neurologist in June for her headaches and she was diagnosed with having migraines. He gave us some meds that she is to put under her tongue when she feels the headache coming on and hopefully that will help before it gets to the point that she's throwing up. We've only had to use it once about 3 weeks ago. YAY!!

Madeline in her sling. This is a week after she broke it.

Moving right along, next was the house. We FINALLY, after weeks and LOTS of houses we found our home. We put an offer and they accepted right away. We just needed to sell ours in Texas. The weekend of July 4th, we had 2 offers come to us. We decided to go with the first couple's offer because it was a good offer and because the second couple we could tell were going to be HIGH MAINTENANCE. Let's just say, they came to look at the house 3 different times and the 3rd time the guy brought a level in with him. Its a 5 year old house I can only imagine the things he thought he's find. Everything was moving very smoothly with the sale of our house UNTIL the week before closing. The couple that was buying our home had to sell their home in order to purchase ours. They had a friend of theirs that was buying their house and paying cash for it, however, he was in the middle of a divorce. We were a little sketchy about accepting the offer because of this but we got a letter from his attorney stating he had funds to purchase the home and that the divorce would be final by the close date we had set. GREAT!! Not so fast, the day they were set to go to court (week before our closing) to finalize divorce the man was put in the hospital so they moved the court date to 3 days before our closing. OK, it can still happen, we're good...not so much. The next court date the ex wife decides she's not happy with the settlement and decides there needs to be some more negotiating. So the day before we are set to close, our buyers pull their contract and decide to wait till the divorce is final. So needless to say, we had to go ahead with our move to Oklahoma because Madeline was going to be starting school in 2 weeks and our house there was ready. We are now the proud (hear the sarcasm) owners of 2 homes and not one of them is a vacation home. We are trusting in God and know that he has a plan for us. We have seen him work in every other aspect of our move back here that he will see us through to the end. We found out last week that the buyers that wanted our home have since moved into a rental because their friend/buyer was just diagnosed with cancer and the divorce is still not final. Please be in prayer that we sell our home quickly. If you know of anyone looking for a home in the DFW area, we have a great home.

Our Texas house for sale.

We were so excited to move back to Oklahoma and be close to our family and old friends. Remember in my last post, I was SO upset about having to leave behind my best friend/neighbors? Well, God knew all along what the plan was. About 3 weeks after we found out that we were moving back to Oklahoma our neighbors found out that there was a job opening for her husband within in same company back in their hometown. Thank you GOD. Even though it was still going to be hard to leave and IT WAS, they were going to be back with their friends and family too. I love how God works. We still miss them dearly and count down till we get to see them again which so happens to be next weekend. We are making the 8 hour trek to visit for a long weekend. I can't wait. We are loving our new home and are pretty much all settled in. We still have a few pieces of furniture to buy and decorations to get but that will have to come once we aren't the proud owner of TWO homes. HA!

Take a look at our new home.

Our Oklahoma home.

The living room.

Back patio. Can't wait to use the outdoor fireplace this winter.

One side of the kitchen (my favorite room)

Other side of kitchen

Master bath

The weekend we moved in was a very exciting weekend for our family as I became an aunt for the 4th time. Jackson Timothy was born August 6. He is precious.

All the cousins (minus Sutton). Big brother Austen wasn't so sure about baby Jackson at first

Aunt D (that's me) is very excited because once his mommy goes back to work in mid October, I get to keep him a few days a week. We will get in lots of snuggle time and play time. I'm excited and so is Macy. Since she's home with me on M, W, and F she'll get to play too.

Madeline started school the 3rd week in August and LOVES her new teacher and is making friends. She really misses her Keller friends but is getting adjusted. She's had a pretty difficult time with adjusting to a new house, new school, no friends, no extra activities, etc. We've had a little bit of seperation anxiety issues but they are getting MUCH better and think they will continue to improve as times goes on. Madeline went to try out for a competitive cheer team here in Oklahoma and they were very excited to welcome Madeline to the team but I think Madeline was a little overwhelmed at the time and decided she didn't want to do it this year. She was just released to start tumbling again from her break, the team already knew some of their choreography, and a new environment that I think it was just too much at the same time. She is going to cheer for our cities optimist team (little league). She's real excited about that and just take a tumbling class. She's also decided that she wants to try her hand at softball in the spring. We'll see. Plans can change.

Macy started MDO in late August and LOVES it. She was so excited and ready to get back into school. She loves her teachers and they love her. They are constantly commenting on how smart she is, how well behaved she is, how helpful she is. Personally I think they got the wrong child/momma combination..HA!! She is a good girl. Macy is also wanting to try T-ball in the spring. We bought both the girls gloves and have played catch a few times. Let's just say they both have a ways to go..HA!

I think that pretty much gets you caught up on our move, summer, etc. I hope to update more frequent. Not promising but I'll try.

Till then.....