Summer at Grammy's House

A Post in Pictures:

Playing in the yard.

 Konner's 4th Birthday Party.

 Working on Mop Tops by Brenda.

 Aubrie looking like such a big girl.

 Dayton drinking miracle whip (just joking!).

 Reading books with Grammy and Dayton.

 Story Time at the library.

Then & Now

It's interesting to me to sit back and think about where we were even a year ago. One year ago, we were dealing with the worries of Chris' job being cut, and him becoming the Head Band Director at Dueitt MS. One year ago, my daughter wasn't walking yet, and I was still nursing her. One year ago, Evan had just turned three and he was getting ready to take his first (only) airplane ride to Utah. And by around August of last year, Evan was completely potty trained.

This year, I've got a few short weeks before I go back to work. With me going back to work, we'll all have to make the transition to not having Kaytlynn and Delaney around every week for homeschool. Evan & Aubrie will be in daycare next year 5 days a week, and Evan will be in Pre-K (aagghh!). We are in the process of putting our home on the market, and we are trying to move into the home of our dreams (haven't found it yet, but still looking). Chris started the year off working by himself, at Christmas-time the school district hired Assistant Band Directors for all of the middle schools, and next year Chris will have enough students to hire a third director. 

Life is full of twists and turns, and I'm so glad that I don't know what's coming in our future. Sure, I think I'd like to know, but what would be the fun in that. :) Then I'd miss out on all that God has planned for me to learn along the way. Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you have given us, and let us always remember them, even (especially) in the midst of change and uncertainty. :)

Evan Turns 4!!!

Aaaggghh! My baby boy is now 4, can you believe it?! I know I can't. 

This year we decided to throw Evan an Angry Birds party, which was so much fun! We had a "live" Angry Birds game for the kids to play, Angry Birds photo props, "Bye bye ham sandwiches," sour gummy worms, and Angry Birds poop to name a few things from the party. I tried to make "pulverized pigs" pudding for the kids, but it didn't quite set up with the almond milk that I used for Aubrie. Oh well, I tried.

Evan is really into Spiderman and Superman now. He got a really cool Spiderman car/airplane at his party, and he plays with it ALL the time! I love his imagination and the things he comes up with when he's playing! He's still into trains and cars and dinosaurs, but Spiderman is at the top right now.

Another thing that has really surprised me, but makes me soooo happy, is how close he and Aubrie have become over the last few months. Aubrie loves to climb all over Evan when they play, and they both love to pretend to be a baby and take care of the other. They now cry for the other whenever it's time to sleep. Aubrie just cries, "Evan wit me. Evan shleep wit me!!!" We actually tried to let Aubrie sleep in Evan's room the other night, in her pack'n'play. I had to go in there at 12:45am to take Aubrie back to her bed, though, because they were just playing so much that they wouldn't sleep! We'll try again soon; it is summertime, after-all!

Evan also LOVES riding his bike. We don't have any sidewalks in our neighborhood, so we only let him go out when Chris or I can push Aubrie in the stroller next to him on the street, but he loves it all the same. He's so cute, though, because he gets tired after like 10 minutes of riding! Now that I'm not watching the girls during the week and MDO is finished, I've been taking the kids out in the bike trailer, and they love it!!! I have to say, it's good for me, too!!

Lately when I look at Evan, I can see the outlines of him as a young man. He's definitely losing his "baby" quality, and turning into a "kid." His face is longer, and his features are losing their "baby roundness." I still can't believe that he'll be old enough for pre-k next year, but I have to say that he definitely looks the part. He has promised me, though, that he'll always let me hug him like I did when he was "little!" I've got his word, and I'm going to hold him to it! Hehe, even though he is starting to look older, then he'll do something so cute like say, "I hurt my fumb (thumb), Mommy. Can you kiss it?" I never get tired of that!

(pictures to come when I get them from Nick & Alia's camera; ours is kaput)

Tender Heart

This past weekend, we made a trip to the Valley for Chris' Aunt Martha's funeral. She passed away last week after 4 years of cancer. She was definitely someone who kept our lives very interesting, and we are so glad to have known her. One memory that will always stay with me, is that of Grandma Anita being the last to leave the funeral home at the side of her daughter's casket. Chris said, "It's one thing to lose your husband, but something else altogether to lose your child."

We made lots of memories on this trip, too. The kids loved the hotel, and they all loved jumping on the beds and playing together the whole weekend. We (I) also locked the keys in the van before the funeral, and we had to wait forever for the Progressive guy to come and unlock it; but it was free! One thing that I will never forget, though, is something that happened with my son while we were waiting for the key-guy to get there.

I had given the kids a snack to help keep them in one place while we waited for the van to get fixed. I told Evan to eat only one snack at a time, and he insisted on eating 3. Without a fuss, I simply took the snacks away and said, "Ok, just go have a seat over there while we wait on the van. Since you didn't listen well, we'll just stop having snacks right now." He immediately starts crying as he sits down. A few minutes before the snack, he had seen some ants (1) on the ground and had stood up to eat his snacks. When I asked him to sit down, he immediately said, "Do you want the ants to bite me?," as he's got this terrible look on his face and is crying. Talk about feeling like a terrible mother. To see the way a child looks at the world is very eye-opening sometimes. I felt so sad that he really thought that his punishment would be to sit there and let the ants bite him; and he is so sweet that he was going to let it happen. That boy really does love us and does such a good job trying to please us, and I hope that I am living up to his expectations. 

Is My Daughter Bipolar????!!!!

Aubrie, if you read this one day, just know that I love you now and forever. Just remember that.

Life is so much harder with a 2 year old little girl, than it was with a 2 year old little boy. I could tell that Evan had turned 2, but wasn't really all that bad compared to some other kids I'd seen. My little girl, on the other hand, although still not terrible compared to others, is definitely giving me a run for my money!

Lately we just can't seem to figure out what she wants all the time. One minute she wants juice, and when I give her juice she cries and says, "No, water!" There's no pleasing her most of the time. Oh, and don't get me started about how "strangers" make her act. That could be a good thing, but when it's her Grandpa or friends at school, it's not such a good thing. She cried as if being brutally hurt 

However, she is still my little sweetheart. When she is in a good mood, she is all smiles, hugs, and kisses. She gets really silly around bedtime and loves to cuddle. She loves to play with her brother and give him a hard time. You just have to catch her in a good mood!

Like I said, remember that I love you when you read this, Aubrie!!!! 

Pneumonia and Hives

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately; with my lawn-mower fun, and deciding to sell the house. Add to the mix that Evan had pneumonia, and Aubrie had a virus that cause major hives, and you've got a crazy couple of weeks!

About a month or so ago, Evan had a small cough in the mornings and evenings. I was pretty sure that it was from allergies and post-nasal drip in the beginning. After about 2 weeks, it started to sound like it was coming from his chest, so I took him to see Dr. O'Neil. (I feel really bad, because I honestly really took him to get the rash on his legs checked out. I didn't think his cough was that bad.). His rash turned out to be excema (we think), and we got a steroidal cream to use on it. As she listened to his chest, though, she didn't make a face until she heard the bottom of his left lung, when she said, "I think there's a little bit of pneumonia in there!" I was totally blown away by this! He never even had a fever or anything, so I was shocked.

After 5 days of antibiotics, he was fine once again! I'm glad that I took him when I did so that it didn't get any worse!
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Now on to Aubrie's hives. I had agreed to watch K and D last Tuesday, and we had just gotten back from the grocery store when I heard a message from Aubrie's MDO teacher saying that she'd had some kind of reaction to the bubbles in their class. When I got there, she had hives all over her body; on her face, ears, neck, stomach, back, and legs. Her poor little ears were so swollen, and her face was really puffy. I took her home and gave her benadryl, which seemed to help. Later that night, her fever was up to about 100, so we gave her tylenol, too. On Wednesday, she was the same, so I just kept giving her benadryl. She actually looked to be getting better, so I didn't call the doctor. Of course, after her nap (after doctor hours) she seemed to wake up and be the same or worse. So I called the after-hours nurse, who told me to call 911 after I answered some questions.

Chris and I quickly decided that I'd just take her to the Pediatric ER at St. Lukes instead of calling 911. Although, looking back on it, I might call next time. She ended up being fine, but it might have been worth the peace of mind than sitting and waiting in the ER waiting room to get checked in. Hopefully we won't have to decide again any time soon.

The ER doctor looked her over, and said that she seemed to just have a virus. I had been doing the right thing by giving benadryl and tylenol and was to continue. If some of the purple hives (which were really scratches, I think) were to spread all over, then I should take her back. The doc actually laughed when I mentioned that I was told to call 911. He said, "Thank you for using common sense." Let me tell you, it's hard to think using common sense when your baby girl might be very sick.

The very next morning she almost completely back to normal. She's been fine ever since, too! Between the two of us being in the ER over 1 week's time, we're hoping to stay clear of the place for a while!

To Sell or Not to Sell?

Those of you who know me, know that I've wanted to sell our home for the past 4 years. The time just hasn't been right, and we're getting tired of waiting for that time, because it seems like it will never happen. However, Chris and I have "made the decision" for me to go back to work and to sell our home. We know that this is not a smart financial move, but we're just ready to move for several reasons.

I know that it's the right time for me to go back to work. I'm not particularly happy about it; I mean, who would be happy about leaving their kids behind after being with them for almost every moment of the day for 3 years... But, I know that it's the best thing to do for my family. I hope that my kids will read this one day and know that I loved them so very much that I did what needed to be done for them to be happy. I don't think that Aubrie will do well with daycare, at least not at the beginning. It's going to be rough on all of us.

I am, however, now having second thoughts about selling our home this year. Our new possible plan is for me to go to work, and for us to pay down the mortgage every month until we can sell the home for a better price. This will keep us from having to get a loan somehow to cover any loss, so we're really looking into it. But you know us, we can't make a decision to save our life!

Basically, we are just in need of prayer right now. Prayer and guidance from above.

War Wounds

Almost 2 weeks ago, I went to war with our lawn-mower, and lost.

I usually LOVE mowing the yard. Ok, not the actual getting hot and sweaty part, but the physical activity, smell of cut grass, and making the yard look nice and neat again are a plus for me. It's always been my "chore" since getting married. Growing up, Chris was made to mow the yard even though there was poison ivy and he is highly allergic. So he would mow with a long-sleeve jacket, pants, and ziplock baggies duct-taped around his hands so that he wouldn't get poison ivy. Since I love it and he has issues with it, I just mow.

On Tuesday, April 10th, I started to mow, just like any other time I'd done it. I started a little later than I planned because I had to refill the gas can. So it was a little closer to dark than I'd have liked, but since it only takes a few minutes to mow our yard, I didn't think anything of it. I started in the back yard, right next to our deck and a bush, and before I'd made 2 movements back and forth with the mower, something hit my left calf with the force of a 5 pound rock. It didn't hurt at first, but within just a few seconds my calf muscle was tensing up very badly. When I looked down, there was a thin stream of blood (gross, I know) already down to my shoes, which surprised me a lot. I hobbled inside and sat down on the couch. After the kids looked it over and Chris took them to bed, he came down to examine me.

We eventually came to the conclusion that I'd been bitten by a snake. After calling poison control, we were told to go to the ER to have it checked out. Our good friend from church, Lizette, came over to stay at our house with the kids while we went to St. Lukes in the Woodlands. When we got there, a very snappy nurse talked to us. I'm just going to give her the benefit of the doubt and imagine that she'd worked 10 days in a row, or something. Anyway, after seeing the doctor, we learned that it wasn't a poisonous snakebite (hallelujah!). In fact, after an x-ray just to double check, we found that it wasn't a snakebite at all. A small piece of metal was lodged inside my leg. That's right. A tiny piece of metal (which I later found out was from the inside of a small fake flower that had fallen on the ground and blended in with the grass) was inside my leg, basically right in the middle of it.

So now 2 weeks later, I still need to call the Orthopedic doctor to have it checked out to see if I need to have it taken out. I've been so busy that it has honestly been the last thing on my mind. Now that I can walk on it again (I could barely walk on it), I'm busy with trying to get our house on the market (which is an entirely different post topic).

Moral of the story, wear pants when mowing your yard!

Tower Family Reunion 2012

This past weekend was spent at our first ever Tower Family Reunion! It was really neat to meet family members that I didn't even know I had, as well as hear stories about family members that I know. My kids got a glimpse of some of my fondest memories from childhood, too.

Our family is known for playing dominoes, therefore domino brownies were a must.




Probably the first time she'd slept in 16 hours...

We decided to have the reunion over Easter weekend so that everyone could travel on Friday, since it was a good 7 hour drive for us! We drove up on Friday, picked up Clarie from the airport in Dallas, and did the same thing on the way home on Sunday. It was soooo good to see my sister, even though it's only been 2 months since she moved to Arizona. We are super excited to make a trip up to see her this summer!

Evan and Grandma Clarice hunting Easter eggs

Evan enjoying his egg bounty

One of the cutest kids I've ever seen! Other than mine, of course. :)

The kids were pretty good during the whole trip, even through all of the driving. Aubrie had the hardest time, as she didn't sleep at all from 8am-midnight on Friday! She slept a little bit on my lap on Saturday at the reunion, and an hour on the way home on Sunday... and that was it! It's been tough getting back on a normal schedule since getting home, but I think we're getting there. I think the trip this past weekend, plus maybe some growing pains, have kept Aubrie in a pretty bad mood since yesterday. She was not very good/happy at MDO today, either. I'm hoping that she starts acting better, QUICKLY! Tylenol worked yesterday...

I have so many good memories of these people and this place.

Finally, Evan had us cracking up all weekend with funny things that he would say! Enjoy:

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Evan: I'm still hungry. Can I have another hot dog?

Me: You can have Aubrie's since she's not eating.

Clarie: That one has your name all over it!

Evan: (stares at the hot dog for about two minutes, turning it around and studying it...)

"I don't see my name..."

Me: I think Aunt Clarie was pulling your leg.

Evan: (stares down at his leg and looks at me like I'm crazy)

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(While hunting Easter eggs with the cousins)

Evan: What's that?

Man: a crawded hole

Evan: no, that's an ant pile.

Man: no, that's a crawded hole.

Evan: NO. That's an ant pile.

Chris: Man, he's persistent like his Mama!

Evan: My Mommy's not crazy...

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(before bedtime)

Me: Evan, I want you to go potty before bedtime so that we don't wake Aubrie up when we all go to sleep, please.

Evan: But I don't have to go potty.

Me: Just go sit on the potty. I promise that something will happen.

(after going potty)

Evan: Mommy, you were right and I was wrong.

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(while watching his Daddy go potty...)

Evan: Daddy, when will my weewee be as big as yours?

Enough said...

Defeated

Defeated. That is the word that is on my mind right now. That, and overwhelmed. I feel defeated by this house. I feel overwhelmed at the clutter that my house creates and the way I feel when I look around me.

I'm also feeling very nostalgic. I look at my kids and see how much they have changed since they were babies. I look at their bedrooms and see all that they have, and all of the blessings that God has given us for them.

I'm always comparing myself to my Mother, and the way that I grew up. I had a really great childhood, and I'm always striving to be like my Mother. I was looking at some pictures of my family when I was growing up, and I realized that our house wasn't always clean. In fact, most of the time there was a ton of stuff in our bedroom pictures! But I have such great memories of growing up. So I guess what I need to take away from that, is that even though I feel overwhelmed at the very sight of any room in my house, my kids are still growing up and making their own memories. I also need to remember that one day my house will be clean. My Mom's house now is what I keep thinking that I need to have, and that's not true. What will my kids remember? A mom who is constantly cleaning and not playing with them? I hope they remember a Mom who loves them unconditionally, and who plays with them... but someone who can also keep a house clean!

Even after all of that, I just can't shake the tiredness. How do I balance keeping everything clean (when I'm basically the only one cleaning - no offense to anyone else in the house, I'm just the one here during the day to do it), and being a good Mom? I just feel like my whole life is tilting out of control, and I'm barely hanging on and keeping it together.

I think I'm in much need of a productive Spring Break to feel back on track... Oh, and more bible study time with the girls (that REALLY helps!). :)