Busy Weekend...

It was a busy weekend in our house this past weekend. Last week, Madeline took part in a cheer clinic put on by our local high school cheer and pom squads. She had a great time. During the week they learned a cheer and dance. They then got to present what they had learned during the week at halftime of the football game Friday night. She was super excited that LOTS of people would be watching her. I tried to video her but there were so many girls out on the field and with all the turns, leaps, kicks, jumps, etc it was impossible to record her so instead here are a few still shots of my beautiful girl.

The dance they learned was to Justin Bieber's "Baby, Baby" song. Hence why her shirt says "Bieber fever" on it.

Here you can see Madeline (back of her) talking to one of the pom girls.

Saturday was GAME DAY!! OSU (Oklahoma State vs. Texas Tech). Lucky for us it was televised. We had my in laws over to watch the game and we grilled some hot dogs. I made a 7 layer dip , deviled eggs, and rice crispy treats (girls request) for dessert. My mother in law brought over a yummy chocolate chip cheesecake. Im not a big cheesecake fan (it's a texture thing) but it was pretty good I have to say.

This picture isn't from this weekend's game but I had to show you how cute our OSU family is. This is from a home game we went to early in the season. GO POKES!! We are 6-0, 2-0 in conference play. Next week is Homecoming week at Oklahoma State which is a VERY big deal. OSU is known for their homecoming festivities.

Sunday, we celebrated my birthday. Let's just say, for some reason this year was a hard one for me. I only turned 35 but I think it's because I'm on that back hill slide towards 40. UGH!! My sweet family let me sleep in (we missed church), brought me a donut in bed and let me be lazy all morning. In the afternoon we went to have a late lunch with my parents at their house.

We then took the girls to the Pumpkin Patch. They were so excited. It was a really neat place. They had lots for the kids to do. There was a petting zoo where you could pet and feed the animals, we got to watch a pig race, took lots of pictures, went through the corn field maze, the hay bale maze, went on a hayride, and lastly, we picked out our perfect pumpkins which our now decorating our front porch and flower beds. Needless to say, we were very dirty and went straight to the shower when we got home. Enjoy our trip to the pumpkin patch,

Our family before going into the pumpkin patch!!

The girls riding the "tire horses".

Silly Macy. I don't know why but she thinks she has to "pose" for EVERY picture.

My sweet Madeline. Isn't she beautiful?

The girls at the beginning. Again, Macy is posing!

Madeline feeding the baby goat.

I think this was Macy's favorite part. However, she was a little stingy with her food. The goat would put its nose in her cup to get food and if it got ONE piece, it was done. HA!!

Petting the soft bunnies.

This must have been the "pose" for the day.

Madeline is my TALL child.

The girls found their way through the hay maze. They were SO excited. I think they thought we might be stuck in there forever.

Hubs and the girls going through the corn maze.

The girls were trying to decide which way to go.

The corn maze. We were "lost" in the there for about 30 minutes.

Waiting on the hay ride (dust ride) to begin.

Posing with the Peanut characters.

We had a BLAST!! Love this time of year. Happy Fall Y'all

Show Us Your life-Office

This week it was Show Us Your Life-Office at Kelly's Korner. When we bought our house it didn't have an office in it but it did have a formal dining which we NEVER use. We had one at our house in Texas and never used it so we talked with the builder about how we could transform that room into a study because we DO use it. He said it would be a very easy fix. Looking at the room now you can not tell it was ever different.

You can see in the picture above the BEFORE picture. Just to the left of the front door (where the column is) is what was the formal dining.

Here's another look. Our one concern about closing it in and converting it into an office was that we'd lose some of the sunlight in the room and the entry way would not be large enough.

The construction had began. It was looking good.

The entry way was still big enough and open. We are about ready to move in.

Of course, we've since moved in (2 months ago) and we love our office. The AFTER:

The entry way (side view)

Looking into one side of the office.

Looking into the office from the living room.

Remember this was just a big open space? They added two walls, two french doors, and a transom window. I love it!!

So there you have it our office. Can't wait to see all the others.

Show Us Your life-Kitchen

It's Friday which means its Show Us Your Life-Kitchen edition from Kelly's Korner. I LOVE my kitchen in our new house. It's one of the deciding factors for me. It's big, has TONS of storage, and is easy to cook in..

I still have some decorating to do in here but it will come. Hope you enjoy.

The Dining area that opens to the living room.

Looking in from the hall way

Looking from the hallway to the left side of the kitchen. The cutout looks into the living room.

View if standing in the dinette area.

Another view standing the dinette area.

So there you have it, our lovely kitchen. Can't wait to see all the others.

JASPER!!

Enough said....

Ha. I love this small town in south east Texas. It is beautiful driving into town as you make your way through the Angelina National Forest. I didn't get a picture because I was driving and Hubs was too tired to get the camera out. Trust me, it's beautiful.

We took off on Thursday morning earlier than we intended. I think we were all so stinking excited to see our dear friends, that none of us could sleep. We were on our way with smiles, snacks, and drinks to get us through the LONG 8 hours ahead of us. It all went downhill FAST!! We got about 1 hour from our house when going down the highway at 75 mph our front passenger side tire BLEW!!! Talk about scary, I was horrified. Now if you know myself or Hubs then you know that neither of us know NOTHING about cars. Hubs has changed a flat before, in our garage with the help of our neighbor (who we were on our way to see). Now here we are on the side of the highway, loaded down with luggage and our two precious girls. We are about 1.5 feet off the highway. Not much room which made Hubs even all the more nervous. You see and hear about people running into the back of cars on the highway so our adrenaline was running high while we read in the auto manual how to change a flat tire. Oh and I forgot to mention that my lovely oldest child who has tons of FEARS and HIG ANXIETY is FREAKING out inside the car. (not helping us). My youngest child thinks this is all pretty cool. We finally get the jack out from under the seat, get the spare tire down, and start loosening the lug nuts. Let me remind you that this whole process has taken us about 25 minutes. Finally, by God's doing a trucker stops on the OPPOSITE side of the highway, crosses over to see if we needed help. Thankfully he did because we couldn't get the tire off. He had to run back across the highway to grab a hammer out of his truck. Im praying that this man doesn't get hit running across all 4 lanes of this popular traveled highway. We finally get the tire off, spare on, and put all the "tools" away. We're finally back on the road.

We had planned on stopping by and checking on our house in Keller but then decided it would be more important to stop and get a new tire just in case we should blow another we would have our spare. We spent another hour waiting for TWO new tires to be put on. We are running WAY behind schedule and I don't like it at all.

Thankfully the rest of our drive (last 5 hours) was uneventful and smooth. We finally made it to our friends house and everyone was beyond excited.

Madeline and Rachel seeing each other for the first time. In the background is Hubs and Mark.

We unloaded the car and decided to go eat. Well, all the girls did. The boys stayed and watched the OSU vs. A&M game. It was SO good to see Kristie and catch up. I really miss her.

We stuck around the house for the rest of the night. Friday, we got up and went shopping, had lunch, and took the kids out to swim and ride the golf cart while the men went to play golf. It was a beautiful day. Friday night was football night. Colby (their son) plays for the varsity team.

Girls ready to cheer on the Bulldogs!!

Our Best Friends!!

Our Family!! Go Bulldogs!!

Scoreboard before the game. We wont show the end result!!

Go #20!!

Saturday we got up and went to the Fall Festival in town. Mind you this is a very small town and it took us longer to drive to the festival than it did to walk around it. There were booths of people selling crafts, companies advertising, food, and a few games for the kids. The girls loved the DARE car.

Posing with the DARE car.

That afternoon we went to watch Rachel cheer on her football team. They were so cute and she did a great job.

Go Bulldogs, GO!!

Rachel after the game!

Once the game was over we convinced the guys that since we had the kids the past 2 days that it was their turn to keep them and we (Kristie, her oldest Kaleigh, and her sister Kim) were going to Lufkin (closest town with a mall) to shop. We had a great time. We laughed a lot and got lots of good buys. It was nice to just get to hang out. However, I knew that Sunday was just a few short hours away and it was going to be time to say our goodbyes. I had been looking forward to going to Jasper for a month and at the same time dreaded having to say those goodbyes again. The first time was hard enough.

Sunday came and we packed and loaded the car. It was time!!! We put it off for as long as we could but then with LOTS of tears, long hugs, and lots of I LOVE YOU'S we said goodbye and vouched that we'd see each other in December or January. I don't know if I can make it that long. I told Hubs on the way down there that I really didn't like there being EIGHT hours between us and his reply was me either but it makes it harder for us to just get in and drive here. I would trade the hurt of saying goodbye 100 times for the fabulous time we had together.

So that was our trip to South East Texas. Till next time.

Roadtrip....

Tomorrow morning we will wake up. load the car, and begin our EIGHT hour road trip. We are all SUPER excited about this trip which is going to make the eight hours in the car even that much longer. Where are we going?

Jasper. Jasper, Texas that is? Heard of it? It's a VERY small town in south east Texas. Our former neighbors/best friends moved there in July. It's home for them. About 3 weeks after we found out we were moving back to Oklahoma they were offered the opportunity to move back to their home town.

We haven't seen each other in over 2.5 months. To many of you that doesn't seem like a very long time to be apart but trust me IT IS!!! We lived next door to each other for 4.5 years and we saw each other EVERY day (unless we were out of town). I miss that, I miss her, I miss her kids, I miss our sits on the porch watching the kids play, I miss our LONG talks, I miss praying together, I miss working together in our church nursery. I JUST MISS THEM!!!

I'm excited and yet dreading this trip all together. I can't wait to get there and hug her and spend a weekend laughing, crying, having the best time. However, I know Sunday will eventually come and I will have to once again say my "See ya laters". I hate that part. I just have to tell myself it will be for only a few months until I see them again. We are trying to plan to get together over the Christmas break.

I'll take lots of pictures and can't wait to share our trip with you. Pray for safe travels and that the girls survive (and Hubs and I) being in the car for so long.

Show us your life-Master Bedrooms

I thought in order to have something to blog about I'll join in on Kelly's Korner home tour. She does it every Friday and this week it's Master Bedrooms.

We just moved into our new house a little over a month ago and I'm so excited about having a new bedroom to decorate. In our last 3 homes that we've owned since getting married we have NEVER had a master bedroom that was decorated. It was always the last room to get attention and well it never got the attention it needed. I vowed that this room was going to get the love it deserved.

It's still a work in process.

Looking in from the hallway into the Master. I love the wood on the ceiling.

We are in the process of having gorgeous curtains made.

I'm still looking for something to go above the bed. I just haven't seen anything that I just love yet. It will come.

It looks pretty plain right now but will look great when we get the curtains and wall decor up.

So there you have it...Our Master Bedroom.

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.....