Thanks Mandie!

Mandie watched my kids for me yesterday while I judged Middle School All-Region and earned a little Christmas money. Of course she took great pictures of my kids, so here they are! Mom was also there to help out with the babies while Mandie took the kids to the park. Thanks Mandie and Mom!

The Worst Doctor's Visit EVER

Today I took Eddie to his 2-month check-up. Not a big deal, right? Um, not so when you have Tommy with you! I picked him up from school and we went straight to the doctor's office. Tommy had a snack and milk on the way and was pretty good in the waiting room for the first 15 minutes, but then he turned into a total monster! He pulled all the toys in front of the glass doors and refused to let anyone in, he kicked the doors and rammed them with the ride-on toys, he screamed at the top of his lungs (apparently because he likes the sound of his own horendous screeches), and kept "falling" off everything, then immediately errupted into big, fake wails complete with crocodile tears! I kept apologizing to all the parents in the room, and I tried to keep Eddie ,and every other kid, safe from The Monster. We waited in that room for 45 minutes! Come on! Seriously!? By that time, I was completely frazzled and grateful that the nurse came. We then went to an even smaller room with only 2 toys and one rolling chair. Tommy escaped from the room about 10 times during Eddie's exam and twice it took me and another nurse to drag him (literally) kicking and screaming back to the room. He kept trying to play on the rolling chair, but that's a big no-no for kids, and he just didn't understand why. The nurse finally put it in the hall. Thank goodness! Tommy screamed and cried for much of the time, and threw the 2 toys that were available to throw. Finally, it was time to go and Tommy didn't want to leave the exam room! When he couldn't leave, he tried to, and when he couldn't stay, he wouldn't leave! We finally got in the car, and sanity returned. How was Eddie? He slept through most of it, and cried pitiously when he got 4 shots, 2 in each leg, but as soon as his clothes were on, he stopped crying and went back to sleep. Eddie is now 12 pounds and 23 3/4 inches long. Sigh, I have been blessed with such a sweet baby... for now! Tommy was just VERY tired and hungry. He went to bed late last night, woke up at 3:30 freezing because he took his clothes off (why do kids do that?), woke up pretty early this morning, and he's ALWAYS hungry. After some french fries and a quick nap in the car, he was fine. I have learned that it's hard to discipline a tired, hungry kid at the doctor's office, and I will find a baby-sitter for Tommy for Eddie's next appointment!

Okay, here's some of Eddie.

Okay, here's some pictures of Eddie. He's not very photogenic at this age because the flash startles him and he makes weird faces. As you can see in the second picture, he kept on wiggling, so we didn't get a good shot. He looks pretty funky. I also don't have a great camera, or camera skills, so it's harder to capture the right moment. I'll try some more, and hopefully I'll get some really good ones.

Happy Halloween!

As you can see, Anna dressed up like Cinderella last night. It's not really what she wanted to be, but it's what I bought her, so she had to deal with it. She ended up loving it, though.

Tommy was Spidey, of course. We saw about 100 of them last night! He hated the costume, and I had to force him in it last night, but he realized that, in order to get candy he had to wear it. So, he did. He completely refused the mask, but I didn't mind. Eddie didn't have a coustume, but we did put a cute jack-o-latern bib on him. All of his pictures were pretty funky, so I didn't post any. We went to our Trunk-or-Treat last night, where the kids got A TON of candy, but was that enough? Nope. We had to go Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood, too! At first, it was just going to be me and Anna because Tommy had shed his costume as soon as we got in the door, but the prospect of more candy enticed him to put it back on. We only did a small part of our street and the street behind us when the kids decided that they had enough candy and we went home. They ate a lot of candy last night, but they were both asleep before 9pm! They didn't even fight it!

Grrr...as a side note, my creepy next door neighbor was handing out candy with his wife and kids last night!! The nerve of that guy! So far, the charges against him are pending, and we're still waiting to see if he'll be prosecuted. Stupid, slow legal system!

I WON!!!

I hardly ever win anything, but last night, at the Fall Festival at Anna's school, I won 2 tickets to a Mav's game! I am SO excited to go! The last Mavs game we went to was at Reunion Arena, so Danny and I are both looking forward to seeing them play at the AAC! Finally, going to PTA meetings has paid off!

Bad Picture

Here's Tommy's school picture for his PPCD class. I scanned it from the black-and-white proof the school gave me, so that's why the quality is so bad. I completely forgot that it was picture day,and I let Tommy pick out his shirt. He chose a plain ash-colored shirt. I also didn't comb his hair that morning, either. We got to school and his teacher took one look at him and said "Um, did you remember it was school picture day?" Of course I would have, had I not stayed up almost the entire night before with Eddie, but I didn't. Pictures, for some insane reason, were to be taken AFTER snack time, and, of course, Tommy spilled water all down the front of his shirt durning snack time! He has a set of clean clothes in the classroom for accidents just like this, but did the teacher think about that? No. She decided to turn his shirt around backwards for his picture! His hair is also sticking up weird in the back so it looks like he has an awfully mis-shaped head! His face is cute, but everything else is all wrong! Sigh...I hate to say it, but he certainly LOOKS developmentally delayed in this picture!

Turn it up!

I do a lot of driving when I teach, so to make it more bearable, I love to listen to music. Who doesn't? Sometimes I turn it up really loud and sing along, depending on the song. I don't get a chance to do that at any other time because I have kids in the car. My most recent faves are: Matchbox 20 - "How Far We've Come", Avril Lavigne - "Girlfriend", Maroon 5 - "Makes me Wonder", Evanesence - "Wake me up Inside", Fall out Boy - "Thnks fr th Mmrs", Timbaland/One Republic - "Apologize" and, of course, anything Green Day. There are a ton others, but this gives you an idea. What are your favorites?

Left Behind

I got a frantic phone call from Tommy's PPCD teacher this morning telling me that she forgot to put him on the bus! There are 2 PPCD classes in a row, so when Tommy's class gets picked up, the next class gets dropped off. Tommy got put in the group of kids for the next class, and no one noticed until they got into the classroom! The teacher was so apologetic and frazzled, I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. I was peeved that this could happen, and grateful that nothing worse happened to Tommy!

10 Things

1. I love it when my kids are in bed and I can veg out on the couch with Danny.
2. Sleeping babies are so cute!
3. I love it when Eddie lets me know that he needs a diaper change. Tommy can go all day without telling me, and the only way I know is by the smell or the trail that he leaves behind. I know, yuck.
4. Finding the things you need at the store and they're on sale!
5. A clean house is a happy house. I have a hard time dealing with big messes. They drive me nuts!
6. Ahhh...cooler weather! Isn't it wonderful?
7. Anna got 20 out of 20 correct on her last math test!
8. Candy corn! Yum!
9. I love making home improvements! Even small stuff like putting up a motion-senor flood light in the back. It makes me feel safer.
10. Free baby-sitters!! They are the best!!

Ketchup Connoisseur

Yesterday, when I gave Tommy his hot dog, I put Hunts ketchup on his plate instead of Heinz. He took a bite, and refused to eat any more of the ketchup. He went straight to the fridge and got out the Heinz bottle and insisted that I put it on his plate. I thought that was strange, so I tried the Hunts again today, but this time I didn't let him see me put it on his plate. The results were the same! Who would have thought that a 3-year-old would have a ketchup preference?

Sleep

Sleep is a wonderful thing. It really is, and you don't truly appreciate it until you don't get enough of it. Eddie loves to sleep. He is a wonderful sleeper during the day, but at night, he just doesn't do it! We've tried to flip his schedule, but nothing has worked. Tommy has been sick with awful allergies and congestion and hasn't been sleeping well at night either. Last night, Danny got up with Eddie, while I was up with Tommy. We barely got any sleep at all! I miss sleeping....

My Craig's List Find

Danny and I wanted to get Tommy a scooter for Christmas, and we found this great Spiderman scooter at Toys R Us, but we didn't like the $40 price tag! So, we went looking on Craig's List for something similar. Well, we found someone selling the EXACT same scooter, new in the box, for only $20! The seller was pretty close, Sachse, and I was able to talk her down to $15! I love Craig's List!

My Two Boys

Aren't my two boys so cute? In the pictures below, Tommy is first and Eddie is second. They are definitely brothers!

2-Week Check-Up

Eddie had his 2-week chek-up on Thursday and he is now 8 lbs, 5 oz, and 21 1/2 inches long! He has gained 1/2 a pound and 1 1/4 inches in only a week! He's a good eater and sleeps really well during the day (we're still working on the sleeping at night stuff).

My doctor visit

I went to the doctor this morning for a blood pressure check, and everything looks great! My BP was 132/68 which is actually on the low side for someone on blood pressure medication. I now just have to make sure that my BP doesn't get too low, and if it does, they'll pull me off the meds. I have another check-up in 4 weeks, and if everything checks out okay, I'll be off the medication for good!

Eddie Update

As some of you know, Eddie left the hospital jaundiced, so we had to do a follow-up visit on Sunday afternoon to the Biliruben Clinic. His levels were still quite high (75%), so we had to go back yesterday. His levels were then only 35-40% (low-risk) but he still has to follow up with his pediatrician tomorrow. We have to keep him eating, but high levels of biliruben makes you sleepy, so it's been hard to get him fed every 3 hours. He has only lost 2 ounces of his birth weight, which is really good, and hopefully, he'll start to gain some weight and get all of the excess biliruben out of his system!

My baby?

Anna and Tommy were playing in my room one day, and Tommy decided to climb into the cradle and lay down. Anna thought this was hilarious, so she grabbed a pillow for his head and his blanket and proceeded to "tuck him in". But she didn't think that was enough, she felt that he needed some "milk" and found one of her play bottles to "feed" Tommy.

Before and After

I needed a new dresser for Tommy's room because he would be sharing with the baby, and his old one was super small. Mom found this "lovely" piece at a garage sale for only $10.

I sanded, painted, and replaced most of the drawer pulls, and this is the final result! What do you think?

First Day of School

Ahhh...it's that time again! The first day of school! This was much different than last year because I have 2 in school now! Tommy only goes from 8-10:30, but it's still school. He thinks his backpack is SO cool, as you can see in the picture below. He had a great day today in his PPCD class. I wish I could have come in, but to make the transition easy, his teacher met me at the curb and took him straight to class. She said that it took a little while for him to warm up to everyone, but as soon as he did, he performed wonderfully! When I picked him up, he ran to the car with a huge smile on his face and actually talked all the way home! I couldn't understand half of what he said, but it's a big step! I'm not sure if he knew exactly what was going to happen this morning, but he's a trooper and did great! Tommy's school is only about 8 minutes away, and is surrounded by $500,000+ homes on 2 sides, and on the third side are million dollar, absolutely amazing custom homes. It makes for a nice drive!


Anna is now in first grade and she gets her own locker! She's been SO excited about school starting! She's been counting down the weeks, then days until the first day of school. Both kids went to bed on time last night, so they woke up on their own, and fairly happy, and both actually ate breakfast. It wasn't until after we dropped off Tommy and were driving to Anna's school that she admitted that she was a little scared. There are no kids in her first grade class that were in her kindergarden class, so it's a little intimidating for her. I walked her in and helped her put away her stuff, and gave her lots of hugs and kisses! I know she'll do great today!

"Pool Party"

Tonight was a Primary Pool Party that Anna was super excited about, but it started pouring rain soon after we got in the car to go . Anna was really disappointed, but I promised her a "pool party" when we got home in my big bathtub. Tommy, of course, couldn't resist, and the kids had a great time! I love the picture of Tommy. If you look closely, you can see the bubbles in mid-splash!

Quick Baby Update

This is baby #3 for me, so this should all be routine, but I don't think it ever will be! Baby is looking healthy and strong, and is in the right position. He just refuses to drop. Ick. I am dialated to a one and 50% effaced. I only have 2 weeks to go!

WOW.

Yep. That just about sums it up. Wow. I found Nathan Fowkes' blog today and it is FILLED with his artwork, and it is AMAZING! You guys need to check it out! I am happy to say that I'm his cousin!
http://nathanfowkes.blogspot.com

Movie Review - "Shrek the Third"

Today Anna and I went to see Shrek the Third at the dollar movies. Anna had never been to the movies before, so it was an interesting adventure. This latest installment of Shrek is definitely not as good as the first two. In fact, Anna had a lot of trouble sitting still through some parts because they were a little slow and boring. It wasn't near as funny, and I found myself outright laughing only a couple of times. The plot is not that great, and some parts were stretched thin, and others not developed enough. For what it is, though, Anna and I gave it two thumbs up. It entertained us, made us laugh, and it had babies in it (we're all about babies at my house right now). This is definitely one to rent, but keep your expectations fairly low, and you'll probably enjoy it!

We're putting it to a vote...

Danny and I can't agree on a name for this baby, which will be born on August 31 (I go to the hospital on the 30th at 5pm to start some drugs, and the next morning I'll be started on pitocin), so we're putting it to a family vote. Now, just because the name wins, doesn't exactly mean that's what we'll name him, but we'd like to know what you think. Just let us know which one you like better, and why, in the comments section.

Name 1: Henry

Name 2: Eduard

Anna's trip to Six Flags

Here are some cute pictures of Anna that mom took at Six Flags. They both said that they had a fun time, and Anna loved the little roller coaster and Mexican Hat! Anna keeps on asking when she'll be big enough to ride the big roller coasters! Looks like Danny will have a roller coaster buddy!

Star Wars and Six Flags

Today Danny and I went to the Star Wars Exhibit with Tommy and dropped Anna off at Six Flags with mom. Anna got a free ticket when she completed a reading program at school, and was dying to use it, but she didn't really want to go see the Star Wars stuff with us, so this was a great arrangement. I'll post pictures of Anna's trip when mom sends me some, and tell you more about it then. Tommy broke our camera, so we didn't take pictures during the actual exhibit, which was really neat. Tommy and Danny watch or play Star Wars almost every day, so we thought Tommy would enjoy this. You should see Tommy "use the force" against Danny, it's hilarious! He LOVED the huge model of the Millenium Falcon, and the R2 robot, and really liked all the hands on exhibits, but we wanted to take some pictures. When we left the exhibit, there was a company that does these cool pictures, and we had Tommy's picture taken. He wouldn't really stand still, but these guys were great and were able to work with him pretty well. Due to his attitude at the time, they felt that this would be the best pose for him. Here's Sith Lord Tommy:

Am I weird?

Is it just me, or does anyone else get a high off of cleaning stuff out and throwing or giving it away? I don't know what it is, but when I'm cleaning out a closet, or pantry, or whatever, my heart starts pounding and I get excited. I LOVE cleaning out closets, pantries, bedrooms, you name it, I like to clean it out. What gets me most excited it throwing or giving stuff away. I just love to see it leave my house! The fuller my trash can is, the happier I am. It doesn't have to be just my stuff either. I get the same way when I help others clean out. I love hearing about it, too! Danny has been spending one day a week helping his mom clean out their apartment and storage unit, and I love hearing about the stuff they've thrown away, sold, or given to charity. I sometimes get jealous that Danny gets to go over there and help his mom clean out! I know, I'm crazy, but I can't stand clutter! It drives me nuts!! I have a hard time going into Anna's room because of the amount of clutter that she has in there. When I'm in there, I seriously obsess over what needs to be cleaned out and thrown away! I just finished cleaning out 2 bookcases (I threw away 4 bags of papers, I have a box to be shredded, and another bag to sell to Half Price Books!) and I'm still on a high! I love looking at my clean bookshelves, and now I'm looking for something else to organize! I can't wait!

Anna's 1st trip to the Dentist

There's been a lot going on, but I just haven't had time on the computer to blog about it. I also won't have pictures for a while because Tommy destroyed our digital camera last night. We're not quite sure what he did to it, or even how he managed to do it! Boys.

So, Anna had her first dentist appointment last Saturday. She was really nervous, so I bribed her with an early birthday present if she got through the visit without freaking out or crying. The staff was super nice and they gave Anna all sorts of free stuff like, a t-shirt, little flossers, Disney Princess toothbrush, tons of toothpaste, and coins that she can redeem for prizes on her next visit. I was worried about the condition of her teeth, but after looking at the initial x-rays, everything looked good. The dentist came in and took a look at her top two teeth (the chipped ones) and ordered a panoramic x-ray to see how far along her permanent teeth were, as well as her molars. They normally don't do this until after the child turns 6, but since Anna would be 6 in less than a month, they went ahead and did it. (I'm so glad they did, because we would have had to go back in a couple of months to do it, and it would have been expensive!) Her top 2 teeth should be the next to fall out, which I am SO happy about! Anna was a trooper and did REALLY well. She only freaked out once when the hygenist pulled out her tooth scraper thingy to do her cleaning. Way to go Anna! Oh, and Anna lost another tooth at the bottom on Thursday, so that makes 4 teeth lost in less than 10 months!

Lucky Anniversary

On Sunday, Danny and I will be celebrating our wedding anniversary. We didn't think anything of it until we heard all the hoopla about 7-7-07. Up until that point, we didn't realize that this will be our 7th anniversary on the 7th month of the 7th year! Isn't that neat?

I LOVE Chick-fil-A!

So, while Danny was gone to help his parents move, I had a horrifying experience at the McDonald's Play Place with Tommy. There were a bazillion kids there, and Tommy escaped without me seeing him. A parent came into the play area and was asking if anyone knew the child he was holding, which was Tommy. I freaked out and asked him where he found him. Apparently, the man's wife saw Tommy come INTO McDonald's, without a parent, run across the restaurant and out the other door, and into the parking lot. The man took off after him and got him as he was heading around the corner. It looked like he was doing laps around McDonalds! I thanked the couple profusely, gathered up my kids, and left, vowing to never go to a play place alone with my kids. Well, I tried again yesterday, but this time I went to Chick-fil-A. Let me tell you, I LOVE this place! Here are my reasons.

1. The restaurant was INCREDIBLY clean.
2. The kids play area is not too big, so you can easily keep track of your children. I had no problem keeping tabs on Tommy.
3. There is NO FOOD or DRINK allowed in the play place! There's not a million people in there eating so it's a lot easier to see what your kids are up to, and there's no messy spills!
4. The kids play area is SUPER clean! It doesn't smell like dirty feet, urine, vomit, or stale food. It actually smells clean!
5. They have hand sanitizer wipes EVERYWHERE!
6. The food is great!
7. The manager was amazing! He went around asking everyone how their meal was, and if there was anything he could do to make it better. He even had one of his employees go around and give every child a free Chick-fil-A cow beanbag toy! There was a woman who wasn't paying attention to what she was doing, and she ended up dropping her not-eaten sandwich on the floor. The manager quickly scooped it up and ordered her a new one for free!
8. The bathrooms had 2 diaper changing stations! It was super convenient because when I went in to change Tommy's diaper, another woman walked in right after me with an infant that needed a change as well. No one had to wait!
9. They have a basket of butter mints by the exit, so I didn't have to buy anything extra to bribe my kids out of the restaurant!
10. It's located right next to Super Target! Who wouldn't love that?

After my exerience at McDonald's I don't know if I'll be going back there anytime soon, but I will DEFINITELY be going back to Chick-fil-A! It's nice to know that there's a clean, safe place indoors that I can take my children to when it's raining outside!

Anna lost her third tooth!

Anna lost her third tooth last night! This one has been wiggly for a long time, and last night, while we were watching a movie, she announced that her tooth was gone! You can see the hole in the bottom left side of her mouth. We keep hoping that those poor front teeth will start to wiggle any day, but they're taking their time!

My big boy!

My favorite part of being a mom is that I get to see my children learn and grow each day. It's so much fun! Tommy had his 3 year check-up yesterday and he has shot up several inches. He used to be in the 45% for his height, and now he's in the 75%! He's now 34 pounds and 38 inches tall. Yeah!

This first picture is of Tommy attacking Anna's dinner. She asked for cheesy broccoli for her meal, but had to leave the table for a minute. Tommy took the opportunity to hop up on her chair and eat that broccoli like there was no tomorrow! I personally don't like the stuff, but I'm so glad that my kids like it so much that they fight over it! Ahhh....fighting over vegetables. I like the sound of that!

The second picture is of Tommy sleeping in his bed! Now, to some that may not seem like a big deal, but for us, it is! For the past year he's been sleeping on the couch, and every time we'd try to move him, he would wake up and start crying! He DID NOT want to sleep on his super comfy, big boy bed! We tried everything, but since he was so young, and we had school the next morning, we didn't do anything more about it. The week after his birthday, we bit the bullet, and took him screaming to his room. He cried really hard for about 20 minutes, but when he realized that I wasn't leaving him, he calmed down and soon fell asleep. I was able to leave him without him waking, but at 3am he came to my room wanting me to come back to his room with him. I stayed with him for about 10 minutes until he fell asleep, and left again. He didn't wake up until morning! The same thing happened the next night, but the night after that, he was fine. He would actually run to his room when it was bedtime! He now prefers to sleep in his bed, and I will find him crashed on his bed in the middle of the day! It's so nice to have him sleeping in his own bed and not the couch! Now, we just need to tackle potty training!

Ear Infection, Cold Water, and Toilet Paper

What do these three things have in common? This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning. Sometime during the night, Saturday, I woke up with a terrible ear ache. I'm used to this, and the fact that we'd been swimming the week before, I wasn't really suprised. But I didn't get much sleep that night. So, Sunday morning, I woke up early to take a shower because our sacrament meeting starts at 8:30am. I know, it's awful! I waited and waited for the water to warm up, but it never did! I sent Danny up to the attic to check the pilot light on the water heater while I continued my cold shower, so we could get to church on time. When Danny was done, he looked out the front window and discovered that we had been toilet-papered! It was awful! They got EVERY bush, and BOTH trees! They also stole two of our solar landscape lights, and took our neighbor's lights, broke them, and tossed them all over our yard! Fortunately, we got the the TP before it started raining, so we were able to clean it up quickly. It looks like they used the huge, industrial toilet paper from our community pool bathroom. I don't know why these dorks chose us, but they did. Apparently our house looked like it needed some more decorating. Despite all of these set-backs, Danny still had a good Father's Day, and we ended up getting a good seat at church!

Our trip to the aquarium and Science Place

We went to the Aquarium at Fair Park, and then on to the Science Place (which is now called something else, but I can't remember) yesterday. We only went to the lobby of the Science Place, but they have cool stuff there to do for free. We had a lot of fun, and the kids didn't want to go home! They actually wanted to spend more time outside playing on the many cool paths through the pond, than in the aquarium itself! We really should try to go there more than once a year!

Me, Anemic?

All my life I have had great iron levels despite my family history. I always attributed it to the many years eating dirt as a child. But, I've been feeling SUPER tired and the doctor promptly ordered an iron test. Well, it came in a couple of days ago and I am anemic. Can you believe it? I can't, but I'll start on some iron pills, and hopefully, I'll have a lot more energy to enjoy the summer with my family!

My New Favorite Store

I live only about 5 minutes north of the Allen Premium Outlet mall, but I haven't spent a lot of time there, until now. I went to this store called Burke's Outlet once with Missy and Mandie, and thought that it was interesting, but didn't go back. I decided to try it again, and I am SO glad I did! On their clearance, they mark the clothes with different colored dots ranging from 30-95% off. I found an outfit for Anna with a 90% off dot, so it was only 80 cents! It was a shirt AND a skort (sp?)! I actually found 2 of them! I also got her a t-shirt for 70 cents! Can you believe it? The kid's clearance is only one rack, so I think I've picked it clean for Anna, but the adult clearance is more than 3 racks! I've only spent about $12 at the store, but so far Anna has 4 shirts, 2 skorts, and a great pair of jeans for school next year! I will be visiting the store often for more cheap clothes!

Bittersweet Sunday

I know I should be prepared for change, living in a rapidly growing city, but it's still not easy. I love my calling. I was just getting the hang of it, and I love the people who come to choir practice each Sunday, so of course, it was time to make a new ward here in the McKinney Stake. They created the Melissa ward this past Sunday and the Stake Pres. said that we had enough people to make 3 new wards, but we don't have the building space! There's a building currently under construction only about 5 minutes away, and will done early next year, and another that will be started soon up in Melissa, but until then there's nothing! All buildings are full to capacity! The new Melissa ward will meet in the East Allen building, and a ward that used to meet there will have to meet in a Plano building! For those of you who don't know, Melissa is about 15 minutes NORTH of where I live! Yikes! Along with the new ward boundaries, they did some shifting in the 5 McKinney wards. Because of where I live, and the way my previous boundaries were drawn, I had a feeling that we would change, and we did. We are now part of McKinney 2nd Ward. I know many people in that ward, so it's not a big deal, and it's better for Anna because all of her school boundaries are now included in our new ward boundaries. I'm just sad to leave the wonderful McKinney 5th Ward. I found out about the change before church started, and I cried during most of choir practice. I also cried when I told mom about the change. It's not fair to do this to a pregnant woman! Life goes on, and I'm sure the 2nd Ward will be great, it will just take some getting used to. This is now the third ward that I've been in here in McKinney in only the past 2 1/2 years since we bought our house!

Early Spring

I decided to post come pictures of earlier this Spring when it was relatively sunny outside. The pool wasn't open yet, so the kids went into the backyard and played in the sandbox. They filled the lid with water and the sand was already wet and muddy from earlier rains. It was gross, but they had a blast! Tommy stripped down to his diaper and got so yucky that he had some trouble walking, as you can see below. When he finally got into the shower, it looked like he had taken half the sandbox with him in his diaper!

Anna got all ready to go to the pool one day, and we went, only to discover that they had chained it shut! She was really disappointed, but the kids went into the Master bath and "swam" in my big bathtub. They had a lot of fun, but unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that.

$10 Crib

I've been looking for a new crib for a while, but didn't really want to pay $100 or more for a new one, so I turned to Craig's List. I found this one Monday morning, and picked it up Monday afternoon. The woman selling it lived only about 2 miles away. It didn't have any hardware, but I was able to find some that worked just fine in my garage. The crib was REALLY dirty when I got it, but Tommy helped me clean it up and put it together, and I think it looks pretty good.

True Confessions

I am a good mom, at least I try my very best to be, but sometimes I make mistakes. Today, after I was done with all my chores, and Tommy was happy watching Thomas and Friends, I decided to lay down and rest. It was 3pm and I have to leave the house at 3:30 to pick Anna up from school. Well, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 3:45! I got a call from the school on my cell phone, on my way to pick her up, asking where I was! Yikes! Anna was one of only 3 kids left waiting in the office. She was fine, no tears or anything, but I felt REALLY guilty, so we went to the snow cone stand and got snow cones. I think she wants me to be late tomorrow so we can go get snow cones again!

New Look

Missy suggested that my blog needed to be updated with a new look, so here's one I'm considering. What do you think so far?

Maybe a little help...

Danny and I are having a lot of trouble coming up with names for this baby! I only have 3 months to go, and we would like to have some help with a name. The middle name is set in stone, so feel free to fill in the blank! _______ Manuel Najera. Any and all ideas are welcome!

Our Roof is Fixed!

After the first wind storm in Feb, we discovered that some of our shingles had blown loose. We took a look at our warranty and discovered that getting it fixed for free was going to be a huge hassel, and there was a possibility of it not being covered. So, we waited, and during the last big storm, our roof started leaking into our bedroom! We checked the next day, and all the loose shingles were gone. We found them all up and down our alley and in our neighbor's yard! It wasn't good. To get the warranty to cover repairs would take more than 3 weeks, just to get the claim processed, and more storms were coming, so we called a regular roofer. They came out and did an estimate and discovered that the shingles were installed incorrectly and thus voided the warranty. The repair was going to cost around $300, and they couldn't get to us right away. Well, on Monday, I got a letter from our home builder and they had negotiated repairs with the shingle company, and said that the shingle company would cover all repair costs. I called the number that Lennar gave me, and I was told that they would send a local company out as soon as they could, to make repairs. I expected it to take them a long time to get to me, but when I came home from teaching on Tues, the roof was already fixed! For free!

Let's save some energy!

Did you know, that by simply replacing a couple of light bulbs in your house, you could save more than $100 in energy costs a year? Lighting accounts for about 20% of a home's electric bill. By switching to a CFL bulb, you could reduce greenhouse gases and save energy and money! Mom is a great example. She has already replaced most of her light bulbs with compact flourescent bulbs. Danny and I are doing the same. I know, I sound like an advertisement, or a PSA announcement, but I feel that it's important. At Wal-Mart, you can buy a 6-pack of bulbs for only about $10. Those six bulbs could end up saving you around $200 in energy savings a year. I think that's a pretty good investment. With a baby on the way, Danny and I have been trying to find ways to save money, and this is one way that we're doing it. I challenge everyone in the family to replace AT LEAST one light bulb in your home. If you've already done it, good for you!

Confessions of an Accidental Killer

Mandie may have killed her camera, but I, Melinda Najera killed a squirrel. Yes, that mangled little body on Cross Bend Drive in Plano was indeed a squirrel. The street was wet and I just couldn't brake fast enough for the little booger. The sickening thump-thump under my tires will haunt me forever, well at least for a couple of days. So I admit it, it was me that killed that squirrel, and I hope to never hit one again!

Way To Go, Anna!

Anna got 50 out of 54 questions correct on her end-of-year math test!

Take Anna to Work Day?

Tuesday morning Anna told me that her throat was hurting, and she was pretty sure that it was Strep. I looked at it, and it didn't look too bad, so I sent her to school. I had to work that day, so I told her that we would go to the doctor as soon as I was done teaching. We went that afternoon, in between thunderstorms, and sure enough it was Strep! The doctor was clearly in her 70's and didn't want to believe that it was Strep, but Anna's had it enough now that she knows when she has it. Because she had Strep and was contagious for 24 hours, she couldn't go to school on Wednesday. Well, I work on Wednesdays as well, and I couldn't take off because it's the end of the school year, or change teaching days because I was busy the rest of the week. What was I going to do? Well, the only thing I could do! I took Anna to work with me! She packed a large purse full of fun stuff to do, and off we went to teach tuba lessons! I only had 7 students that day, and 6 of them were at Danny's school, so Danny was able to entertain Anna during 3 of those students. She got bored by the last 2, but she held in there and made it to the end without any major tantrums or problems! Even when she felt really yucky and just wanted to take a nap, she didn't really complain! Ahh...if only she were like that all the time!

My New Toy!

Danny sold mom's car on Easter and she gave him a nice commission for his work. There are a ton of things that we could have done with the money, but I saw this cute, little steamer at Wal-Mart, and looked it up online. It got great reviews, so Danny and I decided to splurge and buy it. It was only $70 and it's the best $70 we have spent! I love it! My carpet gets really dirty, and this gets it really clean! It's a little disturbing to see the dark brown water that I dump out of it, but that tells me that it's working! It doesn't clean large areas at a time, but that's perfect for us, because with 2 kids running around, we can't have large areas of damp carpets! It also fits nicely in our vacuum closet, and it's not super heavy. I am no longer ashamed to let people see my living room floor!

It's a boy!

For those of you who don't know, I am pregnant, and expecting the first week of September. I had a sonogram and all looks good with the baby, and it is indeed a healthy boy! Danny and I are super excited, and Anna is quite relieved that she doesn't have to share her room with a baby! We don't have any solid names, yet, but we'll keep you updated!

Take My Test!

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My first nasal obstruction extraction

Today, after Anna got home from school, I turned on cartoons, and gave the kids their snack of Yo-Gos. For those of you who don't know what Yo-Gos are they are small, round fruit snacks covered in a yogurt shell that my kids LOVE. I have never had any problems with my kids eating them until today. Tommy started crying and was pointing at his nose, so I assumed he needed it wiped. I got closer and saw that the nose was REALLY red and said jokingly to Tommy, "you didn't stick a Yo-Go in your nose, did you?" He looked at me and whimpered, "uh-huh." So, I proceeded to try to extract that yucky thing out of his nose. I am SO glad that it was food that comes apart easily, and not something like a rock or penny that he stuck up in there. He was not happy with the whole process, and hopefully we will never go through this again! Or, this could be a glimpse into the future, sigh....boys!

I am grateful for Warranties and HOAs!

As you know, we had some roof damage from the wind storm a while back. Noel gave us a number of a trusted roofer, but for some reason, we never got around to calling him! Noel even called us twice to see if we had followed through, but it just never happened. Well, one day, I was bored and got online and went to our HOA website. I rarely ever visit it, but I was glad I did! On the home page there was an announcement about the wind storm and the damage caused to our roofs, with a link to the warranty division of Lennar (our homebuilder) to get our roof fixed. Apparently, our roof has a 10-year Warranty and will be fixed for free! Danny and I had no clue. We thought that there were no more warranties on the house when we moved in. I am SO GLAD that we won't have to pay to fix our roof, and that we were lazy and never called Noel's roofing guy! I'm also glad that my HOA is good for something! The roofers were supposed to come this weekend, but that didn't happen, so we're just playing the waiting game. I'm not going to complain because it's free!

Not Again!!!

Last night, after her bath, Anna was complaining that she was cold, so she put on her footie pajamas. I thought she was crazy because it was quite comfortable, and almost too warm, but I made sure that I took off her blankets before I went to bed. Well, when I went to wake her up this morning, she had 2 blankets on top of her, and she was burning up! She took the blankets off, and went straight to the bathroom (nothing unusual). But, she didn't come out for about 5 minutes, and then I heard her calling. She was on the bathroom floor, clutching her stomach and saying that she had to throw up. I moved her to the toilet, and she did, indeed, throw up. She got all cleaned up, and went straight to the living room to lay down, with a thick blanket. I called my baby-sitter and Danny and told them that I would not be teaching today, and as soon as the Dr.'s office opened, I called them, too. Red flags were going up everywhere when Anna said her throat hurt, as well as her stomach. I wasn't going to miss another possible Strep episode this time, and the vomiting made sure of that! Well, the doctor confirmed that Anna has Strep, AGAIN. It's the second time this year! The doctor said that if she has it 1-2 more times this season, we will be referred to an ENT to take a look at her tonsils, and possibly have them removed. Yuck, but at this point, I'm tired to having to disinfect the house each time she has Strep, and deal with the 10 days of antibiotics. So, this is not the day I had planned, but at least Anna will be on the road to recovery quickly, and possibly go to school tomorrow.

Our Trip to the zoo

Today Tommy, Anna, and I went to the zoo with Grandma, Missy & Ben, Randi & Mary, Suzy, and Damaris. It was VERY busy today with Spring Break, but despite the crowds, we had a pretty good time. Suzy, mom, me, Damaris, and I think Missy all brought cameras so there should be tons of pictures. Here are a couple of cute ones of mine. Anna was the navigator today, so her and Suzy took the lead and lead us through the zoo. I don't know what I would have done if Suzy and Damaris weren't there to help me with my kids! Thanks! In the last picture (but actually the first animal we visited), the ape actually charged the window scaring everyone except Tommy. You should have seen Anna and grandma running for their lives! It was kind of funny, but Anna didn't think so. She didn't want to see any more primates and was ready for something a little more low key, like flamingos.

March Madness

Here's a picture of Tommy helping Danny remove the old baseboards and quarter rounds from our kitchen. As you can see, that linoleum isn't super ugly, but it's still not something I was willing to look at any longer! It was just too dirty, and very hard to keep clean, especially with Tommy around. If he would splatter any tomato-based sauce on the floor, it would stain it pink! Yuck. So, we decided to put in some laminate flooring. This week is Danny's Spring Break, so we thought it was the perfect time to get a big job like this done!



What do you think? We're still not completely finished with it, though. We lack some baseboards in the pantry, and a couple of quarter rounds, oh, and the final moulding piece that connects the laminate with the carpet. It has taken us 3 long days to do less than 150 square feet of floor, but just looking at it now, I think it was totally worth it! Danny and I are both super tired, and I know those Home Depot people are really enjoying our 1-2 trips out there a day!

Technically, the wind storm happened at the end of February, but it's close enough. This is some of the damage to our roof from that storm. We still haven't been able to get it fixed, though. All it requires is some tar to hold down those shingles, but we're not sure if anything else was damaged, so we're waiting for a pro to come out and take a look at it!