How the Garden Grows

I was looking through old pictures the other day and found these taken of my garden three months ago. I can't believe how things have changed! I took some pictures of how things look now while Bryon was mowing on Saturday. Overall, I have been happy with the results, although I am already thinking of things I want to change for next year. It has been a challenging year with all of our rain. You can see several spots in the yard that are going to have to have better drainage next year. I can't complain too much, though, as our water bill is 1/3 what it was last summer!

End of March
 
 


 

 
 
 

 

 

Gearing up for a busy week!

 
Looks like this is going to be the busiest week of my summer! Swimming lessons, T-Ball, and VBS are going to take over my afternoons and evenings until Thursday.

Swimming lessons have been great. We are taking from a girl who we also used last year. When I was setting up the lessons, I asked whether they thought ME was too young. I didn't want to pay for her if she was going to sit at the side and refuse to do what the teachers said. We agreed to give her a day to see how she did before committing.

The first day, she ran up, put on her goggles, and sat in the pool with the bigger kids! She has loved everyday of lessons so far and raises her hand and says, "My turn!" quite a bit! The boys are doing great, too. I have also enjoyed hanging out with my friend, Carol, while our kids are occupied for an hour!

We are anxiously awaiting our T-Ball game tonight. Four of our last five games have been cancelled due to rain! Parts of our community look like what you see on the Today Show during floods. A popular golf course two miles from my home is half underwater. A playground and picnic area next to our lake shows only its roofs. Crazy! It looks like it will be a dry week. Ready for some T-Ball!

I am doing the Music and Games for preschoolers during VBS. Lauren is helping me this year which has been fun! Our theme is Avalanche Ranch, so I have been dancing with the kids wearing my boots. Maybe I am not as young as I used to be, but I am having trouble stretching to my toes today. I think I will ditch the boots for tennis shoes tonight!

In book news, I read Those Who Save Us last week. It is about a young German woman during World War 2 and how she survived with a young daughter. It is one of the best books that I have read in a LONG time. I read most of the nearly 500 pages in two days. I am still thinking about it. I couldn't recommend it more highly! I started The Covenant by Beverly Lewis this weekend.

Hope you have a great week!

One year house anniversary

 
 
I neglected to post this last week, but last week marked the one year anniversary of moving into our new home! These pictures were taken this weekend, and one year ago this weekend. I can't believe how much ME has changed!

San Antonio!

 
 
 
 
We had a wonderful weekend in San Antonio!

We left Friday afternoon in hopes of missing traffic so we could make it to San Antonio by dinner. Thousands of people in Austin threw a wrench in that plan as we sat in traffic in Austin for 1 1/2 hours! I was bummed about this but remembered that one of my favorite restaurants in Texas was 30 minutes north of S.A., so we ate at Huisache Grill in New Braunfels. Yummo!

We arrived at our hotel around 9 p.m. I tried a new thing this year and "named my price" on priceline.com. I ended up getting a 4 star hotel at a very reasonable price! After getting settled, we headed down to the Riverwalk and enjoyed a nice stroll and Starbucks.

Saturday morning, we headed to Sea World. Being in San Antonio in the middle of an amusement park in June, I remembered what summer felt like! Boy, was it hot! We rode roller coasters and watched shows. Riding a roller coaster with Matthew is an experience! He wanted to sit in the back, "Because that is where all the action is!" The boys sat on the front row of the shows to get splashed by the animals. Shamu soaked Thomas which was the highlight of his trip! I am continually amazed at my boys and how fearless they are. Neither of them showed any apprehension at riding the roller coasters. My favorite thing at Sea World was seeing the two baby Beluga whales that were born this week.

After a long day at Sea World, we headed back to the Riverwalk to eat at Boudro's and do a little more shopping. We had a wonderful meal then headed back to our hotel to swim. Yes, all three of my kids were still going strong at 11 p.m! I think they all feel like admitting they are tired is a sign of weakness! After winding down, they all three slept well last night!

This morning, we slept in until 9, then headed to the IMAX to watch the Battle of the Alamo. Mary Beth was on my lap and slowly fell asleep. You have to be REALLY tired to fall asleep in an IMAX movie where every canon blast was bone rattling!

After the movie, we headed to the Alamo. I think I have answered 1,000 questions about the Alamo since this afternoon. "Mommy, why did they burn the bodies?" "Do you think they all went to heaven?" "How many do you think went to hell?" "Who besides Travis, Bowie, Crockett, and Bonham were good fighters?" etc, etc, etc.

We drove home a different way today on my favorite highway in Texas. I stayed FAR away from Austin! On the way home we stopped at a really good bbq place. I love fancy food, but one of my favorite meals is eating at a bbq dive where you pick out your meat on the pit outside and eat on a piece of wax paper!

We had a great time. It was wonderful to get out of town with my little family. I hope to do it again soon!

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Stormy Weather

Druge Report headline this morning.

I just finished Stormy Weather. A great read, and I will be disappointed if there isn't a sequel. The story is set in the late 30s when Mineral Wells, TX didn't have rain for a solid year.

This Texas couldn't be more different from the Texas of 2007. As I sit here, a flash flood has ripped through our area and water is completely covering my feet in the back yard. We need to improve the drainage, but after every week long storm we have, I think "Surely this is it for the year!" But it just keeps happening. Last year, I lost plants because of a severe drought. This year, I am losing plants from root rot! I do love the stormy weather, though, and am soaking up the cool(er) overcast days.

This week

I am forcing myself to sit down and think of what I want to say to take that horrible picture of Bryon off the screen! He got his stitches out on Friday and I am amazed at how well it has healed. He still has the stitches on the inside of his mouth that haven't dissolved. I have called a strike on backyard baseball for a little while!

Here are a few things that have been going on:

*My inlaws came in this weekend to watch the kids while we went to a Gordon Lightfoot concert in Ft. Worth. When I was growing up, our family went on 5000-6000 mile vacations for three weeks each August. During these treks, we spent a majority of the time in the car listening to John Denver and Gordon Lightfoot. We knew these songs by heart! My brother's Christmas present to my Dad was tickets to see Gordon in June when he was in Ft. Worth. We all bought tickets and had a great time reminiscing about those wonderful trips. What a great time!

*Thomas got the dreaded fever virus that is spreading like wildfire around my friends' kids. Everytime the medicine wears off, his temp spikes to 103 or 104! We have made the best of it and I have enjoyed getting to baby him over the past two days.

*Matthew went to work with Bryon yesterday. Bryon does this with the kids when his schedule allows for it. Matthew read his book while Bryon met with clients. I am always amazed at how calm and sweet Matthew is after he spends a lot of quality time with his Daddy. Not that he isn't normally sweet, he just goes above and beyond after these outings. That boy definitely needs a huge male influence in his life!

*ME continues to make me laugh on a daily basis. The other day, I was rocking her and she saw a blemish on my face.

"Do you have a boo boo, Mommy?"
"Yes I do!"

I few minutes later, she looked at my face again and, showing much concern said, "Did God do this to you?"
I guess it will remain a mystery as to whether God takes out his wrath in the form of acne!

*Thomas's sick day yesterday allowed me the opportunity to read for several hours. What a luxury! I am almost finished with Stormy Weather. It takes place in the 1930s around the oil industry in Texas. It takes place in lots of little towns around here that I am very familiar with. If you are familiar with these towns as well, I would especially recommend the book. I have really enjoyed it!

I will try to post a little more often. I am having difficulty like everyone else finding the time!

Another Father's Day, another trip to the E.R.

 

Last year, I made a big meal for my family for Father's Day. I went home from church early and later heard that my grandmother had passed out and was taken to the emergency room. Little did I know that we would heading back one year later!

Mom and I made enough food for Saturday night and Sunday meals. (Lauren was OOT last night) After dinner, we headed outside for one of our family's favorite pastimes...backyard baseball. It was Matthew's turn to bat and Bryon was playing catcher. Matthew hit the ball and threw his bat back. The bat hit Bryon in the face and split his lip all the way through. It is just as deep inside his mouth as outside. Lots of blood was involved!

My parents took Bryon to the emergency room and I stayed behind to console a heartbroken Matthew and put the kids to bed. Matthew thought that Bryon wouldn't talk to him "for a hundred years"! He finally settled down and I headed to the E.R. while my brother and sister-in-law stayed home with the kids. The nurse walked in and said, "I have to ask all our patients this. Do you feel safe in your home environment?" We had a good laugh and said, "Not when Matthew is weilding a bat!" Bryon got 9 stitches and a tetanous shot. We headed home late last night.

The incident didn't slow us down too much and we had a great Father's Day lunch. Bryon will have scar, but it will always remind me how much he enjoys playing with the kids! We are definitely going to buy a catcher's mask and batting helmets. The boys are getting more dangerous with their swinging! I am also going to advocate for a change in our family's favorite pastime. Maybe backyard chess? Or backyard badmitton?

 

This week

*Definitely our busiest week so far this summer! Thomas is doing VBS with a neighbor and Matthew is involved in Sports Camp. ME was feeling a little left out so we are having "Mommy and Mary Beth camp" at home!

*Thomas is enjoying his tooth "space". Last night he told me that he loved having a space because he can drink from a straw and smile at the same time.

*ME is becoming more and more opposed to messes. She now doesn't like grilled meats and vegetables because they look dirty. She likes getting a new napkin after every face wipe during meals, and begs for a new utensil when one falls on the floor.

*Matthew has developed his first real crush. One of the teens working with Matthew in his activities is a cute 16 year old girl, and Matthew wants to be with her always. I have never seen him so attached to anyone other than Bryon and me! I am having her babysit tomorrow which makes everyone happy!

*I finished Water for Elephants today. I really loved it. It is about a travelling circus in the 1930s. A very easy read and I would recommend it. Now, onto Stormy Weather, by Paulette Jiles.

*ME woke up with a fever this morning. I was hoping it was just a fever virus, but when she complained that it hurt to go potty, I knew we were in trouble. I took her in and the doctor said that ME had blood in her urine, but the preliminary findings showed no bacteria. This is a little baffling! I called her urologist in Ft. Worth and they put her on antibiotics. We might have to make a trip to Ft. Worth for an additional test if there was anything else in her urine. The nurse was extremely helpful and explained that it might take ME's body a while to get used to a system that isn't inflammed. I was hoping that the surgery would cure her 100%, but it looks like this problem isn't quite worked out yet.

*Thomas continues to amaze us with his love of numbers. Last week, Thomas asked JoAnna when her birthday was. She said, "October 11th". Thomas immediately said, "Wow! That is 5 days before James's half birthday!" James is Thomas's cousin who was born on April 16.

*Thomas also continues to remain literal. When he heard that our church was going to have a garage sale, he couldn't understand how church could do this without a garage!

That's all I can think of now! The boys are at church and I stayed home with my little patient. Have a great rest of the week!

Thomas is minus one tooth

 

Thomas experienced a rite of passage this weekend. He lost his first tooth!

You might wonder why my father is doing the teeth pulling. Let me explain! I have given birth without the benefit of an epidural, I have killed snakes, and I have held my children while they had spinal taps and staples put in their head. I have handled all of these events with a reasonable amount of fortitude.

However....

Anything involving teeth completely grosses me out. I even told Bryon when we were very seriously dating that he would have to be the one to pull our kids' teeth. Bryon has proven to be quite a weeny when it comes to medical matters (he fainted flat on the floor when I got an epidural), so we have had to rely on my Dad for all teeth pulling! When Matthew was 4, he lost his first tooth and I had to leave the room because my knees buckled.

Thomas was much braver than me, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. He especially loved that the tooth fairy came the morning of his half birthday. What an exciting weekend!

 
 

Rangers Game!

 
The boys have been so much fun this summer. Bryon and I decided in the middle of the week to surprise them with a trip to Arlington to watch the Texas Rangers play! Bryon came home early on Friday, we informed the boys of what we were doing, dropped off ME with my family, and headed to the game. We met my brother at the stadium. Uncle Michael is like a rock star in my house, and the kids were thrilled to see him. It happened to be free hat night at the game which saved us a few bucks!

The weather was perfect, we had great seats, and the boys couldn't have been better. Matthew was very interested in each players' stats, and Thomas learned a lot of baseball lingo from Uncle Michael. Since the Rangers have THE WORST record in all of baseball, we weren't expecting much, especially given that they were playing the team with the best record in their division. Much to our surprise, the Rangers won! We got to see Sammy Sosa play which was a great memory. We drove home last night and the kids were thrilled to report that they stayed up past midnight. What an accomplishment!

The night was wonderful. I hope to do this more often!
 
 
 

Four Year Meme

I was tagged by Panda-Mom for this Meme. You are supposed to list 4 things that you have accomplished in the past four years and then list 4 things you hope to accomplish in the next 4 years.

1. Four years ago, I was deeply entrenched in the pre-school life. Now, I am making the transition into school aged life. Although I am living in both worlds still, I am changing less diapers, am less restricted by a nap schedule, and spending more time on the ball fields and doing homework. I love both "eras" as a mother, although balancing the two can be a challenge from time to time!

2. Around four years ago, we relandscaped our backyard and my love for gardening went into hyperdrive! Gardening is my favorite hobby. It is my time to think. I like gardening alone or getting help from my three kids. We go on drives and I look at the landscapes around houses rather than the houses themselves!

3. Last year, I went back to work part time. My old job became available and I agreed to take the job as long as I could do it during Mother's Day Out time. I schedule my patients during MDO and occasionally on the weekends when Bryon takes the kids out. I love my job and feel blessed that I have a profession that is so conducive to very part time work!

4. We bought our new house last year. I feel very settled and could live in this house forever.

THE NEXT FOUR YEARS

1. It has been my dream for a while to go through the Master Gardener Program. They offer this program every two years and so the first possible time for me to do it would be next summer. If I can, I will do it then. Otherwise, it will be three years from now.

2. Start really getting into travelling with the kids. We travelled extensively when we were kids, and I want the same for my own. I think that it will start being more practical in the next two years.

3. Doing more volunteer work. The more kids I have had, the more my life revolves around my house. I look forward to having more time for volunteer work for school, church, and charities.

4. I just want to continue my quest to live in the moment and enjoy each day as it comes. It doesn't seem that long ago that I had two adorable boys ages 2 and 4. Four years from now, I will have a child going into 6th grade! How can this be? I want to do my best to teach my sweet children the fruit of the spirit by how I live my life. This will only be accomplished by lots of prayers!

Summer reading list and what's going on...

Thank you to everyone for such helpful advise about Disney! I especially loved hearing from "new commenters". I will still check the post, so if anyone else has advise, please chime in!

We have really had a nice few weeks off from school. The kids have been getting along and we are all enjoying a change of pace. Matthew got stung above his eye by a yellowjacket yesterday marking the THIRD sting that he has received in his face in his 7 1/2 years on earth. Poor kid! He did manage to catch the yellowjacket while on his face. He bagged it and enjoyed a little frontier justice with the doomed insect! He looks a little like "Beast" from "Beauty and the Beast" today. I am ready for the swelling to go down!

Thomas started T-Ball last night, or "Major League T-Ball" as he calls it! Wow. All I can say is that it is going to be a really HOT 8 weeks! We are all enjoying letting Thomas stand in the spotlight by himself. Thomas is the most supportive brother I know to Matthew during all of Matthew's activities, so it is Thomas's turn to be fan worshipped!

The kids' "cousin-in-law" has been here for a few weeks. Lauren's sister-in-law and niece are visiting from Georgia. Hannah is 10 and my kids adore her! Hannah and Matthew have been working on a book called "Best Friends", a story about Matthew the monkey and Hannah, the bird!

Mary Beth is now potty trained! She has been sort of potty trained for a year now, and I have been too busy (lazy?) to want to mess with visiting the little girls room at every restaurant and sporting event that we frequent! We have gotten it done now, even though I still resort to pull ups when I don't want to risk it.

I would love to have new pictures to post but my camera broke! I guess three years and thousands of pictures have worn the little guy out. We are trying to decide whether to repair it or get a new one. Wonder which one I am leaning toward?

And now for my summer reading list:

As many of you know, I am an avid reader. I have really slacked off and haven't read a bood since April. ME's surgery, baseball, and season enders of my favorite TV shows have stood in the way. I have been working on my summer reading list and here it goes:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles
Lusitania, an Epic Tragedy by Diana Preston
The Boleyn Inheritance (I know this one has been on my side bar since April. I WILL finish it this summer!)
Bryon and I have also made a deal that we would read a book this summer that the other one chooses. He wants me to read a David Baldacci book, his favorite author.

Looks like I have a lot to read! I will give recommendations after I finish each. Reruns, and Bryon bringing his work home at night will be an enviroment conducive for reading.

Disney advise

We have had a great summer so far. I have loved having Matthew home with us! I have a lot to catch up on, but I want to dedicate this blog to Disney.

My inlaws are taking their entire clan for a 5 day trip to Disney next month. They are wanting us to start planning what we want to do.

I have been getting ideas from several friends who have gone this year, but want your input too. Our little family is caught between two worlds right now. The boys are adventurous, thrill seeking, dare devil roller coaster enthusiasts, and ME is a Disney princess in training! My mother in law is taking all of her granddaughters to eat lunch with Cinderella which will be a big hit with ME Lou Who. We are so excited to report that Thomas is now 4 feet tall and can ride all of the same rides as Matthew!

Has anyone been to Disney in the last few years? I went when I was 13 and I am sure things have changed quite a bit since 1988! What were your favorite parts of Disney? Any things you think are important must sees?