Cracker Quiet/Wedding Ring

On Sunday evening we went out to eat at Jason's Deli. The kids were being kind of noisy towards the end of our meal; especially Lauren. She started screaching real loud so Micau put a cracker in her mouth and she just sat there with the cracker hanging out of her mouth. There was a lady in a booth behind us and she saw it and she just started laughing; then her two daughters started laughing; I mean burst out laughing. She was like oops sorry that was just so funny. We didn't care; we just wanted her to stop screeching. Lauren proceeded to eat some of the cracker and spit the rest out. As we were leaving Lauren waved good bye to the couple and the woman said bye. She had teenagers so I guess its been awhile since she been around toddlers. At least She and the family have something funny to tell their friends.
Yesterday I was doing laundry and my ring fell off. I couldn't find it; I looked in wash and the dryer. I was so upset. We looked outside in case it might have fallen off when we were walking. No luck in finding it. Then this morning I put in another load of laundry in the wash and when I went to put it in the dryer I saw my ring at the bottom of the washer. I was so happy. I'm very glad that I didn't lose my ring.

Pictures

Here are the pics I was promising. The ones of Katie in her dress are of the Saturday her dad got married but that is also the dress she wore on Thanksgiving.

World of Warcraft

I love it. Micau downloaded the free trial for me becasue he thought I would like playing it. Well I do. I am a Level 6 priest. I chose to be a pries; Micau says that a wussy being but I really didn't care for any of the others. Anyone else play? I like the fact that the realm I chose I don't have to fight other players unless I want to. I just go on my quests. My second time playing I was having some trouble playing so another player actually joined me and helped me out; then last night I was doing a quest and kept dying; I had helped a player kill a beast earlier; turns out he is doing the same quest I am so we join forces and kill a ton of the webcrawlers to get the egg. I know it probably seems dumb or whatever but I do enjoy the hour to 1 1/2 hours I get to play every other night. I trade off with playing that and reading.

Thanksgiving Break

Two days before Thanksgiving was doing laundry and the carpet was cleaned. The day before Thanksgiving was spent cleaning with three very fussy children. Thursday morning was spent waiting for Micau's parents to arrive at our home (they were stuck in traffic as a result of an accident ((an rig caught fire after a car going the wrong way on the interstate hit him..and no one died)). It took them about 45 minutes to get here once they were in Austin. Yikes. Then we visited for about 20 minutes before heading over to the Main Street Grill. Hubby's Aunt and Grandma were already there; his son came in about 10 min. after we sat down. All in all it was really yummy. I had the prime rib meal. Micau had the pork loin meal. Everyone else ate the traditional turkey dinner. Oh, Katie had the hamburger with fries..of course. Then we came back here and played Dominoes. Yea. His parents left for Beeville at 5.00. It was a very nice meal and family time.
On Friday, we decided to go to Starbucks for 2 soy chai lattes and one regular chai latte. Yummy tea. (By the way it was 83 on Wednesday and then on TD it dropped to 50, friday was 45). On the way we asked Katie what she wanted for her birthday..her choice was a bike or MP3 player..she choose the MP3 player. We found a nice one for her at Target, along with new sippy cups for the kids. We didn't really want to spend alot of money so we didn't..we also got Scattergories because it was on sale. Other than that we spend the day playing games and watching tv and reading.
Saturday was Katie's birthday. She is officially 11 years old. Where does the time go? It seems just like yesterday she was just a baby (and believe me sometimes she still acts that way..LOL). It makes me sad to think she is growing up but happy at the same time because she still amazes me with things that she says or wants to talk about. We took her out for breakfast tacos, then I took her to go see Enchanted (really cute movie), then when we came home put the babies to sleep and we played Scattergories. Her dad picked her up at 3 to take her shopping. We ate dinner and played another round of S (her fav. game now). She had red velvet cake with vanilla frosting and then blue frosting saying Happy Birthday Katie. Okay I am no Martha Stewert but it having been the first time doing the lettering I have to say I did pretty good (will post pics later today..then you all can laugh at me). I think she had a really good birthday. Tuesday is her birthday party. It is Hello Kitty themed.
Sunday was mostly spent at church, reading, watching football and playing Uno Attack.
All in all it was a good turkey break.

Katherine

Went to her dad's wedding on Saturday. When you see the picture try to imagine a very pretty smile on her face. For some reason she refused to smile but this is the first time she got all dressed up with her hair done. Okay tried to download the picture but it came out sideways so now I have to figure out how to rotate it. Oh well.

On a positive note...we got our double stroller yesterday and I love it.

Vanilla Wafer Water

Yesterday after Lauren's nap (Kyle was still asleep) she and I had some snacks. We ate poptarts, popcorn, and vanilla wafers (I know not a good thing but it was yummy). I always put my cup of water on the ledge of the couch. Thought nothing of it. Hubby comes home at 3.30 and we leave to go look at double strollers.
SIDENOTES: DOUBLE STROLLERS
How is it that they cost the same as on craiglist and at consignment shops as they do new? I mean c'mon folks. We looked at several ads on craigslist and people were selling their Graco Duo Gliders for 150...brand new you can get one for $100-160. Yes there were some that were about 40 or 50 but I am being a snob. Our last one was only $50 and it was ugly, stained and weathered. I should mention here that our double stroller was free because a friend was nice enough to get it for us; I am not trying to be ungrateful as it was a most welcome gift. But it was pretty used. It broke after only having it for about a year. I wanted something gently used. We went to the Pumpkin Patch and Kid to Kid. Kid to Kid had a nice Graco for 80. My husband and I discussed getting another Graco but ultimaletly felt the time had come to get a side by side; Graco Duo Glide is for younger children. So we went to Pumpkin Patch and they had the Instep...179.99. Umm, I can pay $15 more and get a new one. So we came home and looked on Ebay and at Amazon. We finally decided to get one off Amazon. It is new and it set us back 189. We are getting the Instep Safari.
BACK TO STORY:
Okay so after putting the kids to bed and ordering our new stroller, we went into the living room to just hang out. I went to take a drink of water..I did about two gulps when I thought I saw something in the cup. There was a bunch of white stuff swimming around in my water. Micau looked at it and was like what is in there. "I don't know." Then he sees the vanilla wafer on the floor; he says, 'Lauren had some wafers." "Yes." Then that is what is in the cup. She put all her wafers in my water cup and I drank like two big gulps of vanilla wafer water. I don't recommend it. Now I have to remember to look into my water before drinking.

Squirrel Fun

I took the kids to the Wells Branch Park today. It was a nice morning with a nice breeze blowing. We fed the ducks old hamburger buns (although Lauren did more eating than feeding). Then we went for a walk. There are alot of trees and just moments after starting our walk Kyle stops and watches a squirrel. He keeps pointing at it. The squirrel scurries here and there and stops a few times and gets on its hind legs. Lauren sees it and starts chasing after it. The squirrel runs up the tree; after a few moments it comes down and starts scurrying in the grass again. Off the kids take after it..chasing it up another tree. Its so funny to watch. The squirrel doesn't come back down and Lauren starts wanting in the tree to go after it. Kyle is just wanting to hold it; I told him they bite but he didn't seem to understand that. It was really cute to see them laughing and chasing it. They didn't want to leave the tree but they got tired of waiting for it to come down. We continued our walk.

Some Pics To Share

Pecans/Anniversary

Saturday we went to visit Micau's grandmother, mother and aunt in Temple. His mom went to visit her sister and mother who live in Temple. Micau's grandma was put in a nursing home recently and his mother makes the trip one weekend a month to visit. Turns out his grandma has a pecan tree in the backyard and we found a ton of pecans. Now we have about half a garbage full of them to go through. So we have to buy a nutcracker, and then inspect the pecans to make sure there are no bad ones. It was alot of fun. Kyle and Lauren kept picking them up and throwing them. After that we went to McD's and the kids played on the playscape and we ate and chatted with everyone.
Yesterday was our one year anniversary. We went and had doughnuts in the morning then went for a short walk which made us late for church but that was okay. After that we just chilled at home until 5.00. Now you would think Austin would have some nice restraunts open on Sunday but the ones that we wanted to go to were all closed. We chose to go to the Cheesecake Factory. It was nice. I had two typhoon drinks. They were yummy. They were out of the Asian wraps so I got a BLT salad (no dressing of course). Our server was really good and we were sure to tell the manager that. It really was the best service we've had in a long time. After that we went to Barnes and Noble and Micau bought me a cook book (i know you are probably thinking..why?). I am a cookbook junkie what can I say. It was a nice evening. Too bad he had to go to work today.

Losing a Kid

I didn't actually lose her for good (gosh darn it) but for more like 5 min. Here is what happened. We had to go to her school to pick some items that we ordered from her fund drive like two months ago. I wasn't sure which door to go through so I just parked in the back. Well as we are walking in the hallway I tell her "Okay I'm going to go pick up the car while you play with the babies on the playground so you don't have to carry the heavy box all the way to the car." So we head out to the doors and I stop before we go out (next to the library) and I was about to say something to her when I didn't see her. So I walk back to the cafeteria (nope), gym (nope), office (nope), go down a couple of hallways when a teacher says hi to me (she goes to our church)..I ask her if saw Katie. Nope. So another teacher makes a call to the office to page her to come meet me at the library. She doesn't come. We walk outside to the playground. Nope. We go back in and there is Katie by the library. I was frantic. I yelled where were you (which don't do b/c it just makes her cry and Kyle cry). She said she heard me say to wait by the park which is next to the school. I don't know why she would think that since the park is further. I'm like why would I say park..I said playground. Her 10 yr old mind thought a different playground. I tell her I was worried about her and that I lover her and I'm not mad;next time just follow me instead of leaving to go on your own path. So after I calm down we go outside to the Playground. I let them play for about 10 minutes. I then tell Katie to wait there so I can bring the car around. I jog to the car. One problem. There is a fence and I didn't feel like walking all the way back around. So I climb the fence (try to picture my 5'4 160 lb frame climbing this fence the whole time thinking i'm going to rip my pants and show my ass to the grass). It wasn't very tall fence..about the height of Kyle. I made it over and bring the car around to the playground where I find my daughter going "wow I can't believe you climbed the fence. Aren't you kinda old?" Lovely. So now I'm an old hag who can't seem to remember where her kids are at all times.

Peeing in the Tub

Last night the kids were being very fussy so I decided to give them a bath at 5 instead of their normal 6.30 bath time. They have 3 boats to play with, one of them being a diego rescue boat. When dunked under water and the lifted back up, water leaks out of all the holes. No surprise. Well as my son did this, he said, "Boat goes pee pee in the tub."
Lauren laughed. I said, 'yes boat goes pee pee."
My son did this and repeated this phrase about three more times. My daughter kept laughing and then started touching her vagina (my son has learned the word vagina and penis) when he points out that baby is touching her vagina. He then lifts the boat up and says, "Baby vagina go pee pee." (It could have been just baby go pee pee and then he said vagina); Not quite sure but it was one of the two. It was so funny I nearly peed my pants.

Cooking 101

Lately I have been letting Kyle help me with the cooking..well him and Katie both. I was hoping by letting him help out that he would want to try the food; nope. He just like to help. Well last night we were making cornbread and I gave him the cup of milk to pour into the bowl and he just dumps the milk everywhere. Some got into the bowl but alot of it went all over the counter, the floor, and the cabinet doors. It was kinda funny but also frustrating. Didn't need to waste all that milk ah but my boy laughed so hard as did the other two kids. The cornbread finally did get made and it was yummy..all with the help of my boy.

Out of Debt

Yep...in about 2 years for us. I have been reading a few books but this was this one really good one that was practical for people like us. So I have started following some advice from it. I don't know if anyone knows this but I work in the nursery at my church on Sundays and one Wed. a month. Its not much but I decided to put that money into a savings account at a different bank than what we use for our normal checking and savings account. Also, I have been paying all our medical bills ($5 at a time) for the past 2 months. We have been skipping on one of the car payments and I'm not sure if at this point its better to just let go of it or try to keep it. I think we are going to try to keep it. We have a few credit card balances (which we are cutting up or putting away and not using until there is no balance on them) and a few payday loans. Yes I know they are bad but at the time they came in handy. Once we get all that stuff paid off then we will double up on our vehicle payments to get those paid off. In the meantime, we put money into savings and retirement. I am hoping that in 5 years we can have enough money to put a downpayment on a house.
The book I am reading is by Elizabeth warren and her daughter. You all should read it..it really helped hubby and I put things into perspective.

Strip Club

Strip Club
We got to go out Saturday night so we decided to go have a bite to eat for dinner. Then we didn't really know what we wanted to do so I suggested a strip club. I thought it would be fun. It wasn't too bad. We actually got there at 7.30 and stayed until 10.30. I really wanted to see my hubby get a lap dance; I thought it would be neat. Well we really didn't see anyone that struck a fancy with us that we would be willing to pay for a lap dance. At about 9.45 we saw a girl (T.). She sat down with us and all though she was a ding a ling...she had a nice body. So I got a lap dance (b/c hubby wouldn't do it unless I did one) and so did he. It was funny to me. May I say that I really love my man..I got to touch another woman's boobs and I know there is no way I will ever turn gay. Nope. Nada. Not me. It was a hoot seeing her with hubby. Damn, I wish I had the camera. All in all it was a fun time. Oh and I got to drink 5 schmernoff ice (okay i know that isn't how you spell it but who cares) we had fun.

The New Black Friday

Okay so does this bother anyone else like it does me? The fact that Christmas seems to be getting earlier and earlier? Last week, before Halloween mind you, I was walking at the mall and the Santa/North Pole area is already up and running. Now, today stores are treating this like the day after Thanksgiving. I hope this isn't a trend. I hear its because stores/markets are fearing a very slow year and that sales will be down. That may be so but when did Christmas become such a spending holiday? What happen to cheer and love and just being with family? I think the true meaning of Christmas has been lost and the new generation of children will be forever acting like a 2 yr old..whining and crying over toys they did not get instead of enjoying what was given to them...Jesus Christ and Salvation.
And yes, I will be out there shopping but not for gifts. Turns out we will be having a bunch of cold days next week and I still haven't bought the kids any winter clothes. So probably tomorrow I will be out getting clothes. I do hope the sales are still on.

Halloween

We started off the morning with Kyle eating 3 packets of instant oatmeal. Yummy. Old Settlers Park was doing a fall festival from 9-11.30 so we went there. Kyle and Lauren were a bit fussy at first. We waited in line to do a ring toss (first game) and neither one of them wanted to play. So we went to the next game. Nope. But finally on third one Kyle wanted to. Lauren just wanted to keep climbing in and out of the stroller. Sidenote: Kyle has offically moved to the back seat and Lauren moved into the first seat..I don't know why they chose to do this but each seem to be much happier that way so I just go with it. We made it through all but like 3 or 4 games; they were repeats. I am glad that most of the stations were giving out teddy grahams and animal crackers; those made great snacks for Lauren to eat (she ate 4 bags..she refused to eat breakfast). Kyle just had one. We didn't do the hayride and I tried to get them to go onto the fire engine but again neither one wanted to. They just wanted the candy.
After that, they were both ready for a nap so we came home and they slept for 4 hours. No kidding.
Katie got home from school and we went up to the Round Rock Outlet Mall to do some trick or treating before going to her best friends house. We do extra trick or treating because the dad always goes down the roads that don't seem to have alot of homes passing out candy; he does this to minimize the amount of candy in his home. But the kids don't have as much fun so I try to let Katie have more fun by doing some extra trick or treating. Anyways, I was surprised at how many stores were not giving out candy. We got there about 4.15 and did probably 1/4 of the stores in the mall before leaving at 5.20. We got alot of candy and one caramel apple. It was a bit disappointing since we had to actually go into the stores..last year they had people outside of each store passing out the candy to make it easier for the moms with strollers. Wouldn't you know it that Gymboree and another children's clothing store decided not to participate in giving out candy. Cheap. All the kids had fun.
We went to McD's to meet up with hubby (he had to go to Houston) and Kyle ate like 4 french fries. He was just too excited about everything I think (he had a ton of water and 3 sippie cups of milk but hadn't really eaten anything (no candy either)). We got to the house at about 6.30 and were the first in the neighborhood to be out getting candy. Y. was a renaissance vampire which kinda fit in with Katie's costume of being a renaissance queen..their dresses were almost exactly alike. I was surprised. S. was a pirate..her bandana kept falling over her eyes so Mr. Y had to keep fixing it. It was hard at times keeping everyone together. Lauren was so fussy and halfway through Kyle got tired and just stayed in the stroller. Katie was a good sister and continued to collect candy for them. I was going to take the babies back to the house but ended making a wrong turn and actually caught back up to them right before we got to the house. That was kinda funny. We got home at 8.45 only to realize that we were out of formula for Lauren. She had enough to put her to bed with. So after putting the kids into bed I ran to HEB to buy formula.
After sorting out the candy this is what we ended up with:
1 full bag of chocolate candy
1 pumpkin full of various candy
1/2 bag of tootsie rolls
1/2 bag of lollipops
Needless to say I will be trying to give out some of this candy. I hope everyone else had a wonderful Halloween.

Kyle's Birthday Party

Was really fun. Katie's best friend family came over. Mrs. Y was sick so she couldn't make it, but Mr. Y and the kids came. We ate burgers and chips, then did the cake (it is a Wiggles theme cake) and Kyle actually tried to blow out the candle. It was cute. He really loved the cake; he kept saying wiggles..wiggles. It had the big red car and he played with that for awhile. He didn't want to stop playing with it to open the other presents but he finally wanted after about 30 min. My friend S. and her son A. (from a mommy group I'm in) sent him a CARS racetrack that he really likes and a Wiggles video. Mr Y. and family got him two Wiggles video. My friend S. and her daughter C. got him a $15 gift card to Target. Mommy and Daddy bought Kyle the Little People Farmhouse and a Thomas the Tank train set. He loved everything. He wanted to watch the Wiggles movie while playing with the other toys but guess what. Yup. The DVD player is broken so we made a trip to Best Buy and bought a Samsung DVD. It actually plays better than the old one (we watched Ladder 49..good movie). So he will get to watch the Wiggles in the morning. All in all I'd say he had a good birthday party. Tommorrow I plan on taking him to the park and just making his day special. He wants to wear his Superman costume all day and I said that's fine. He is the birthday boy...although I'm not sure he fully understands what that means.
I can't post pics yet because we don't have a HUB and my husband says we can't download them until we get one. We will find one this weekend. The old HUB has disappeared into I don't know land.

This Weekend

YMCA Festival
I haven't uploaded the pics yet but the kids went in their halloween costumes. They all looked so cute. It wasn't as much fun this year as it was last year. There were only about 8 games that the kids could play and get candy from. We were good and only took one piece of candy. They had a tractor train ride which Kyle loved; Lauren wouldn't go on it. Katherine sat with Kyle and when they passed me and they waved hi. You could hear Kyle yelling hi. Katherine got to ride on a horse..not a pony but a big brown and white horse. She was so excited. Now she wants one and she insists we can keep it on the porch or in the garage; we've been through this and thought this was over with. This year they had a mini carnival; the rides were for the teens and adults. They also were selling food and water; last year they had water stations and you could just get water; this year you had to pay for it. We didn't do the haunted house as Katherine was too scared from last year...plus the line was too long. Katherine did do the rock wall and actually made it half way. Not too bad. By the time 8.00 (we got there at 6.15) rolled around the babies were really tired and ready for bed. They went to sleep right when we put them down.
Grace Presbyterian
celebrated its 8th birthday on Sunday. Yippee. We didn't do the fajita luncheon because Katie's dad picked her up at 1 for lunch. We did bid on some items-people donated home made items to auction off to help raise money for our annual trip to mexico. We placed a bid on a doll; not sure if we won yet.
Birthday Party
We went to a friend's daugther's birthday party. She is turning one on halloween and they decided to throw the party on Saturday. No one was there that we knew; well actually two people from church but I don't know them that well. My friend I didn't get to really talk to all that much. There was another couple with a 10 month old, a couple that 3 kids and one on the way, the grandparents and the two people from church. Anyways, my friend has a son also and what made me mention the party is that people got gifts not just for the baby but for the son also. I thought that was strange. Has anyone heard of this being done?
Well I hope to post pics soon.

Part Time Job/Acceptance

I have been doing a part time job now for about 2 weeks. It hasn't turned out as easy as I thought it would. Somehow I thought it would be easier; but its actually turning out to be quite difficult. I'm not sure how to go about it anymore. I know my hubby could probably do it twice as better as I do. He's real good at selling things. In fact that is what he does in life. Oh well. Maybe I can try something else. I think I will stick with it for another couple of weeks.
Why is it human have a hard time accepting people as they are; especially Christians? Didn't Jesus come down to earth and preach about Love, Faith, and Forgiveness? Why is it when someone is different or has different beliefs we forget those teachings? As a christian, it can be frustrating being around others who believe in God but yet have a hard time accepting another person because of their actions, beliefs, or how they live their life. I just don't understand it. I know for a parent its hard to accept a child who has decided to not live or believe the same as you do; that is a struggle. I'm not denying that it can be a heartbreak. But aren't we supposed to forgive and love and accept anyways? Maybe I will understand as my chidlren get older.

Psychic

I found this interesting. The woman whom I walk with at the mall informed me that she is psychic. She does Tarot cards, angel cards, unicorn cards, healing/medicine cards and generally had a very good sense/intuition about people. No she doesn't advertise and the only reason why I found out was because I asked her what online communities she is involved in. At this she smiled and told me about the group (psychic group) she was in.
Being a Christian you would think I would no longer walk with her. Ah, but I am an open minded person and I don't condemn people for their beliefs. I may not believe in it but I know there are people out there who do. No, I am not going to ask for a reading, although my husband seems very interested. He claims that people who are psychic don't get a good feel/reading from him. Apparently his ex-wife was into that kind of stuff. No, I don't think its devil work or evil. Just another belief system out there. She is a nice lady and I enjoy walking with her. I value our time/friendship that we seem to be developing. I just thought it interesting.

Cold Weather

We had our first official cold day yesterday. It was in the 60s and at night dropped into the 40s. The wind was blowing pretty strong. Today it is sunny and windy..but still pretty cool. Its in the 70s. I am going to take the kids to the park when they wake up from their nap. Do some jogging and then let them play on the slides and swings. Lauren loves to swing. Its her favorite thing to do at the park. That and the slide.
I don't actually have any warm clothes for them to wear...Kyle had some footsie pjs from last year that fit so he's been wearing that yesterday and today. I'm just going to put Lauren in his jacket. We'll probably go this weekend and get them some warm stuff.

Tantrum

No for once I am not talking about my little ones. This time it was by my 10 1/2 yr old. Yes you heard me. It started at about 7 am. She spilt her milk so she slowly takes her time getting a towel to clean the table with. Then she looks at her plate and their are little drops of milk on her pancakes. "I can't eat them with milk on them." I'm frustrated with her over taking her time with the cleanup so I let out a sigh and said fine; have my plate. She starts crying. I have no idea why. She thinks we are mad at her. I calmly tell we are not mad. She just starts throwing a fit. She doesn't want to eat her food and is just sitting there saying how unfair her life is. So I tell her that if she doesn't stop crying then she won't be able to go out to eat with her dad (he is supposed to pick her up at 10.30 for brunch and now that she is throwing this fit he will have to come over and just play with her in her room). She starts screaming at me. I tell her to go to bed. So she goes to her room and I call her father and leave a message with him. Mind you, he and I do not get along nor does he care for the way I am raising Katherine. After 30 min. I go in and talk to her. She throws the book at me..how I don't love her, life is unfair...etc. I am very proud of myself for not crying in front of her and for being calm, of course after I leave her room I am in tears. I know she is just trying to get to me; she knows that in the past she could guilt me into giving in to what she wanted. Now its different. I'm trying to teach her consequences to her actions..something she should have learned a while ago. Once she figured out I wasn't going to cave..she started calming down. I told her she is grounded for the day; she helped to clean her room and the kitchen. She did her reading and her math assignments I give her to do on the weekends. She did this without complaining so we said she could still go to her soccer game (she loves soccer). We had to cancel her spending the night at her b/f house; her dad wouldn't come over and see her. That's another story. (BTW her team won..4-3). She handled her grounding very well. She would ask to do something and we told her she couldn't and she would get sad but she didn't pout and she didn't whine. At the end of the day I told her how proud I was of her for being so good about being grounded. She told me she loves me..and I said i love you too. She said I know mama. Well worth it. I hope that she learns I am trying to be a better parent. Like my husband says..kids need to know they have boundaries. I guess so.

Guilt

I was at bible study this morning (we are doing a Beth Moore one) talking about being the light of the world and bearing fruit. This depresses me. Why? Well as a mother I have made many mistakes...especially with Katherine. Her young years (meaning birth until now) have been a roller coaster ride. I wasn't exactly perfect and I didn't know anything about raising a kid; especially at 19. I didn't have family around. I wasn't in the right emotional frame of mind. I didn't have a great upbringing. I have made huge, major mistakes. Although I have prayed and asked for forgiveness, I can't seem to get rid of the guilt I have nor forgive myself. How does one shed that cloak? Even with the birth of my two younger ones I have made some mistakes already. I'm a yeller; I yell alot. I am trying to break this habit. I really am. During discussion one of the ladies mentioned that sometimes sin is the easier path..we don't do what's right because that takes time and effort; its just easier to judge, lie, or be in whatever sin you are in instead of turning away from it. I think this is true with raising kids. Its easier to ignore them at times and let them run wild then to always correct them or even to play with them. Its easier to yell at them than to be calm and rational and patient and tell them and redirect them to good behavior. So as I continue to strive to not yell (which has good days and bad days) how am I affecting my older child? She is old enough to remember all the past and now and how will she raise her children. Will she yell? I hope not. I hope that I can stop that behavior and be more patient with her as I tend to yell at her more than anyone. Maybe its the age. But seriously, how does one shed that cloak of guilt, shame, and yelling? Prayer just doesn't seem to be working. I want to let go of this...I really do. I just don't know how..even after prayer. Maybe I'm praying the wrong thing. Anyone have any advice?

Staph/Homeschooling

Well as you all probably have heard there is a bad case of Staph infection going around infecting people. Being in Texas, I don't know why, but there are some people that are blaming it on the illegal immigrants. I think this is absurd. Why can't people just let go of that issue?
Anyways, with it starting to hit the schools (although i haven't heard of it being in any schools in the RRISD area) it made me think about home schooling. I know my daughter would be difficult to do..plus she really does like going to school and being apart of all the events they do. Plus I'm not real good with math so since she is starting middle school next year I don't think I would have the patience to deal with her. Although it would be nice having her home. I was thinking about my younger ones. They are so good with each other...most of the time. I would just have to really focus my days with them and I'm not sure about controlling Kyle when he gets older...plus I like the idea of having a break with them. They can be so hyper; rambunctious. This will take some praying I think..and discussion with hubby.
Its not just about the staph infections. It's also about people who don't vaccinate their children. Its the education system. I don't like the Texas public education...I don't think its really helped my child. Sometimes I wonder if we could do better here at home. Katie fights me alot when I tell her to do something but I think after a while she would be okay. I just don't know. I don't usually let things get to me but this time I feel like I need to protect my kids and I should just keep them at home. I know you all are probably saying, "She's totally freaking out over nothing." Maybe I am. This world can be so scary sometimes.

Garage

Well I finally cleaned our garage up. Since my brother in law/ex boyfriend moved in the garage was a mess. We put alot of his stuff out there and some of our stuff too. So I finally got it all arranged neatly...or as neatly as a garage can look anyway. I was getting a bit tired of the mess. Now to try to clean up my home after my two tornados have been through it this morning.

Halloween Costumes

I have been searching for a way to save money on halloween costumes this year and my husband found an ad on craigslist selling costumes for $5-10. So I gave him a call and guess what? He lives out in Lakeway (for those not familiar with Austin/Round Rock..all of Austin is broken into divisions...Lake Austin, Lakeway Austin, The Lakes, North Austin...etc..you get the idea). Anyway, I asked him if he had size 3T-4 and 12-18 months. He said yes. I told him I live in Round Rock (30 minute drive without traffic..emphasis on the without here). So you would think he would be absolutely sure. Nope. I drive out there after my olderst daughter gets home from school. Guess what....only one outfit to fit Lauren and nothing for Kyle. Plus all of his stuff is real thick/heavy and all are from Walmart. Hello..I could have just drove down the road to view Walmart's stuff instead of driving all the way out there; couldn't just tell me over the phone. Plus can't wear the heavy stuff here...the kids would get heat stroke. Maybe this year we might get in the low 80s or high 70s but most years its closer to the upper 80s and humid. Basically it was a waste of my time. We did buy the witch costume for Lauren..she looks really cute in it and it was only $6. Reality wise it cost me $20 for the gas it took to drive out there and back.
On the plus side, it was a beautiful drive. We got to see Mansfield Dam and parts of Lake Travis. The scenery was wonderful; the colors, just how everything looked was truly a wonder to see. We got to view it for a long time because it took me an hour to get home because of traffic. Thank goodness for the new toll road because after sitting on 620 for about 50 minutes I jumped on the toll road and it took 10 minutes to get home; if I hand't taken the toll it would have taken another hour and a half to get home. Ah well.
Speaking of Halloween, we helped our church unload pumpkins tonight. We are selling pumpkins to help with our next mission trip. Basically my oldest helped and I played with the little ones and got to hold a baby for awhile (kyle held him too...it was real cute seeing my 2 1/2 yr old holding a 1 yr old). It took about an hour and there were lots of people that came out to help. I will be helping to sell the pumpkins on Thursday evening and Monday afternoon. I love halloween. I hope you do to.

Stay At Home Mom

Okay being a stay at home mom is great. I love the fact that if I'm tired during the day I can nap when the kids are napping. I can run errands, go grocery shopping, check my email, clean (sometimes) and do whatever else throughout the day. I love the fact I can play with my kids and go for walks with them. On the other hand, when money is tight, I have a hard time with not working. I feel like I waste my days...that I'm not doing much to contribute to this family. My husband says otherwise. Alas, this week I have felt like a lazy bum. I know the stress my husband is under considering all the medical bills we have and rent and food and clothes. Its not easy being the breadwinner of the family. I can't help but feel like maybe I should be doing something to help out.
I'm not good at selling stuff and we don't have the equipment for alot of those work from home jobs (plus hubby goes out of town about 2 days a week or works late) so having an evening job is out. I could get a weekend job but then I would never see my husband. I don't know. Guess I just wanted to get that off my chest.

A little of Everything

Isn't there just something wonderful about morning sex? I woke up this morning next to my wonderful husband. And for the next 5 minutes enjoyed a good morning wake up (hey we do have little ones after all..gotta squeeze in what you can). It just puts a smile on our faces and helps us stay in a good mood ready to face the day.
Yesterday, I had a wonderful time walking around Lakeline Mall with a woman (B) I met on Sparkpeople.com. She has allergies like I do and can't walk outside, so now on Tuesdays and Wednesday we are meeting in the mornings (9 am) to walk around the mall. It takes about an hour and I believe we do 1.5 miles. She is a very nice lady.
Okay, now for something I don't like admitting to because it is a habit that I sometimes fall into when I'm nervous and talking to people in person. I am much better as a computer friend than in person because sometimes I just don't know how to be around people. Yesterday afternoon I went over to an online friend's house (A) and met with two other women from the online group we are in. We all had some very nice conversations. The problem is that I told a few little white lies...embellishments on some things we talked about. So if you were there and are reading this blog I apoloze whole heartedly for telling the little white lies. I know that in God's eyes a lie is a lie so saying a little white lie is the same thing as a big lie. Just wanted to say sorry. I don't really realize I am doing it until I am through the situation...I don't even think about it. I could come up with a 1000's of excuses as to why I do this..but the bottomline is I chose to do that, I did it and I am taking full responsibility for it.
Moving on. Last night was a new episode of Boston Legal. In case you didn't get to watch it or aren't a fan they had a very interesting case. A 15 yr old wanted to sue her school because they teach abstinence only and she contracted HIV because she didn't know about using a condom when she had sex. They won the case. But it made me think if that was an actual case. As most of you know..I believe in educating our children when it comes to sex. I believe they should know how to protect themselves, what toys and condems are, what STDs and AIDS is, know about birth control and the consequences of sex. I don't think it should be made to be bad or wrong but to be careful about it. So I am all for sex education and not the abstinence only program. I could give you a ton of reasons why...but I'll let my experience answer it. I grew up not knowing much about sex from my parents but alot from my friends. By the time I was in 4th grade I knew the terminology, I had seen a boy naked, and I knew about pregnancy and AIDS. In junior high..they passed out condoms because our school had a high teen pregnancy rate..(yes we had girls that were pregnant at 12 and 13). They taught us about sex, about condoms, about STDs and the such. If it wasn't for this education I wouldn't know how to protect myself when I started having sex at 15. No, I didn't have sex b/c of what I was being taught. I had my own demons (came from an abusive background..not to mention my parents didn't care for me). It took me a long time to realize why I was doing the things I was and I'm still not perfect. Being in high school, I only knew of 2 people who were virgins by the time we graduated. I'm sure there were more but the majority of the people I knew had had sex. Kids are having sex now at younger ages. They need to be aware of what is going on. You can get an STD from giving a blowjob, you can get pregnant from the first time, things like that. If we continue to keep our children in the dark about sex then we are not giving them a bright future. Wake up people. Your kids will be put in that position time and again when they are older..don't you want them to be informed so they can take proper safety measures if they decide to have sex? Okay I'm off my soapbox now.

Something Fun

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Not that I know of

2. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? yes...3

3. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Probably..although I would be telling myself everything I'm doing wrong

4. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Never..yep..seriously..never

5. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Ya know I don't know..I have no clue.

6. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Only if someone was threatening to kill me if I didn't.

7. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
I'd have to say Special K chocolate delight and Life cereal.

8. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
No I usually just kick them off and leave them anywhere like my 10 yr old does

9. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
I suppose so..i lift a 33 lb kid and a 23 lb kid all day..sometimes a kid who weighs 68 lbs.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Chocolate and Neopolitian

11. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
If they have anything strange or abnormal about them..tats or piercings or hair color or scars..things like that. Also the way they dress.

12. RED OR PINK?
Neither..I'm a blue girl

13. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
I miss my sanity

14. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
Nobody sent this to me...I copied it off somebody's blog and thought it'd be fun to do

15. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Blue pants (excercise) and no shoes...just socks

16. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE ?
PB&J sandwhich, Lays potato chips, nectarine, motts fruit pack and a glass of water

17. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
The quiet and stillness of my household as some sort of miracle occurred and both my children are now napping.

18. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Anything blue

19. FAVORITE SMELLS?
New Baby
The smell of a clean house (bleach and pine sol)
Roses/Flowers
Cakes/Breads Baking
Lavender

20. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My husband

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Football

22. HAIR COLOR?
Brown

23. EYE COLOR?
Blue

24. FAVORITE FOOD?
That's a tough one-chocolate, italian, mexican, ice cream, brownies, nectarines/plums, salads, strawberries, blueberry pancakes

25. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Scary Movie

26. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Night at the Museum...my daughter loved it..I thought it was cute for Ben stiller. Usually his movies really stink.

27. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
White

28. SUMMER OR WINTER?
I live in Texas..we have no winter. We have semi hot, hot, very hot, and hot and humid. Take your pick.

29. HUGS OR KISSES?
Both..I don't prefer one over the other

30. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Cheesecake (strawberry or white chocolate or chocolate)

31. WHAT BOOK( s) ARE YOU READING NOW?
A book about the Caravan Beastiliaty Book and After a Women's Heart by Beth Moore
and another book called Divergence (actually I just finished that one)

32. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
Its just purple...we are pretty plain people

33. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Pinky and the Brain, How I met your mother and The Big Bang Theory (funny show)

34. FAVORITE SOUND?
My kids laughing

35. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Neither...how about Plain White Tees or Snow Patrol or Red Jumpsuit Apprateus (yes my spelling is awful)

36. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Haven't been too far from home...I guess Beeville when we go see my inlaws and my family around the holidays

37. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

Yes. Watching, playing and teaching my kids while picking up after them, catering to their needs, doing laundry, cleaning house and kitchen, and managing to get dinner on the table while finding time to check email, read, and do this blog.

Lauren's Checkup/Spider Web

Today was Lauren's 15 month old checkup. She weighs 23.7 lbs and is 29 inches long. She is in the 20th percentile for heigth and 50th percentile for weight. At least this time when they gave her the shots she didn't pass out and the nurse wasn't required to do CPR. So that's a good thing. Kyle was a trooper. When she started crying from the shots he said,"Baby crying..Baby has owie..baby has owie." He even gave her a hug when we got home. She was screaming so loud that when we went up front to pay the person goes, "Why don't I just bill you." Nice. In other words, take that kid out so we don't have to listen to her. No, seriously...i know they were just being nice.

On another topic...

We went walking tonight and saw a huge spider web. It was very long..I'd never seen a spider web that big before. It was 6 feet long and about 5 feet wide. The brown spider was pregnant and she was pretty big for a spider. Hubby didn't know what type it was. She already had one egg sac in the web. My ten year old thought it was amazing. She was kinda scared of the spider though. I hope its there tomorrow night so we can see if she has another egg sac. I bet the lawn care people for our apartment complex will knock it down though. We will try to remember to bring the camera so I can post a pic of it.

Zombies

Okay I know werid topic but there it is. Why is I can barely remember any given number of books I've read over my lifetime but I can remember every zombie book and movie I've ever seen? Not that any of them were any good or anything..just something about zombies. Like how is it possible that although we are brain dead our body is able to continue moving? You need electricity in your body (basically the brain to function) in order for your body to move. Now this has been explained in various ways..mostly by a virus affecting mankind (and in some books the animal kingdom also). In other books I've read zombies begin to have intelligence. So does that mean that the soul of the person isn't dead..that they continue in the zombie body only not awake? Speaking of the soul..if the body is moving what happened to the soul? We die the soul leaves, but with a zombie is the soul trapped or is it released to meet judgement? In one book it was demons that took over the body...basically God got tired of mankind and let the demons have the earth. All souls went to hell. Guess that is one way to look at it. The only sad thing about this whole zombie business is that usually books/movies focus on the adults. Um hello there are children in this world. Sadly, a book I just read recently discussed about a mom eating her child, about children attacking people. What a sad, bleak outlook. Just a reminder, if the world is ending by zombies..i'll take a bullet to the brain first because in every book/movie out there that is the only way to kill a zombie. I prefer to die with some dignity and not turn into a zombie eating the flesh off of someone else. I think God would understand if I shot my family and then myself to prevent them from turning into something like that..don't ya think?

Voigts Fall Festival

That was tonight. It was from 6-8 pm. My daughter is in a Girl Scout Troop and they volunteered to do some of the games. Well we (hubby and the kids and) stayed until 7.30 before the babies started getting fussy. Kyle and Lauren had so much fun doing the ring toss and the football toss. They had a little baby pool with ducks in it...they just pick up a duck and on the bottom is a number. Based on the number is how good of a toy u get...they both got 2. We also bid on some baskets and won 2.. a puzzle basket and a music basket. The music has the little tykes kid guitar, tamborine, and small bongo drums. Its cute. We had to pay $1 for each pizza slice we had and $1 for drinks and $1 for the nachos (that was purely hubby not me). All in all it was a good night. After taking the babies home I came back to get Katie since she was still working..there weren't many games left open. She did the ring toss and then decided to go. She had fun. We had fun. Not too shabby. Now if only I can get my 2 year old to realize he is tired and go to bed.
And yes hubby and his 17 yr old son are in the living room playing Halo 3 and heaven forbid they are interrupted.

Gossip

Have you ever found yourself gossiping about someone to God or just your spouse? I realized this week that I have been doing that with my husband about someone. At first, we would/were just talking about the problems this person had and what should have been done. Now I realize that we keep doing this and all the mistakes this person continues to make and how that person should things and everything that we disagree with. We say things like..how dumb..what is that person thinking?..etc. Not very nice things. On the other hand, this person is very frustrating and I think this is a way of releasing our frustration. So when does casual conversation about someone turn into gossip? Or is there really a such thing as casual conversation? I don't know. Can it be gossip when you tell God?
My christian online group just did a conversation/disscussion on gossip. A lot of opinions and ideas were thrown out there. I think there is just some things that we just need to figure out on our own and what is in our hearts. Don't ya think?

TGI FRIDAYS

These are from July but I thought you all would like to see some recent pics of me and the family.

Wanting a house

Okay I really wanted this lovely house that we saw. It required no money down, we could afford it and it had 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. The problem. They wanted a check for $500 and I wanted some time to pray about it. The thing is I couldn't remember how long you are supposed to pray for before making a decision. We got approved for the paperwork on Sunday. I really wanted this house and so I kept praying about it. I let my mind be clouded with thoughts of the house. I started getting frustrated with my family; and with God. Later on Sunday my husband and I went for a walk. The thing was having that house would make money seriously tight. Plus, the neighborhood, although brand new, had questionable people living there. What I mean by questionable is that you could tell that it would soon turn into a low income neighborhood. There was loud music playing (yes you could hear some of it in the house) and people had like 5 cars in the driveways..old cars. It was the way they acted..the way you saw them walk around. This company, this neighborhood went after people like us, people who would barely be able to pay the monthly payments, get evicted, have the houses bought by other people to be used as rental homes. Plus, the school district was in Manor. Nothing against Manor but those schools are worse that AISD. We decided not to do it. Which was good because on Monday the realtor told us that each year the rent would actually go up and in year six is where it would stay at. Umm...no thanks. I'm glad that I didn't give in and was patient and didn't just jump in. I'm glad I prayed.. I do believe the Lord helped me in this manner even if on Sunday I wasn't really looking thru with clear eyes. I am thankful for the patience I have learned thru life and am continuing to learn.

None Really

So again its been awhile. It has stopped raining here in Austin/RoundRock. So we've finally been able to go on walks and swimming. Katherine is having a very hard emotionally (I guess I am too). She is still seeing a therapist; her frustration at everything seems to have been getting worse or maybe she is just venting it more..not sure on that one.
Kyle is doing great. He had is adnoids removed and ear tubes in. He seems to be doing alot better and is catching up very quickly. He can count to five (well he doesn't want to say two so he says one, three, three, four, five). He recognizes most letters but still doesn't know the order of them. He was sitting on the potty but now has decided he wants diapers. He goes thru phases so maybe after 3. Kyle doesn't like to take naps anymore but i still put him in his room for 2 hours just to have some downtime. Actually everyone goes to sleep or has downtime..has seemed to help katie too.
Lauren is growing so much. She recognizes some of the letters but she hasn't attempted to sound any of them..she says alot of B words..but hasn't tried to say much. She says baba, baby, blue, black, dada, bye bye, bam (still trying to figure what that one means), uhoh. That's pretty much it. She is still wearing 9-12 month clothes..but some of the 9 months don't fit. Kyle and Lauren love to tackle each other, they chase after one another. Its pretty funny. There are other times when they are really mean to each other though.
Swiming is something everyone loves. Kyle practically runs out to the pool himself. Lauren loves to be in her floatie but kyle refuses to go in his. Its good excercise to carry them around the pool a few times.
I am doing okay. I am having some really difficult times right now. My depression has been really severe, even with my workouts (which i don't due fully). I am losing some weight. I went on an eating binge for 2 1/2 weeks and gained 7 lbs. Now I'm trying to work that off. Just trying to enjoy the last few weeks katie is going to be home. Next week she is going to go stay with my parents in Beeville for one week. She really needs a break from the little ones. I sure am going to miss her.

My Sister

My sister called my brother and gave him her myspace page. He gave it to me. I looked her up and she seems to be doing well. She posted that she is a Christian now and is no longer drinking or doing drugs. I really hope so. Our relationship was rocky to say the least and right after Kyle was born I told her I didn't ever want to talk to her again. She wanted to live in the past and blame other people for her problems. I couldn't do that or be apart of that any more. I don't know how our relationship is going to be now. I sent her an email saying hi and that I am glad that she is doing well. I have thought of her often and I truly have missed her but I feel like she needed to grow up. I really want to have a relationship with her and hopefully we can, leaving the past in the past and all the hurt that has been done to both us there in the past.
PS.. I promise to update more..life just got hectic.

Safety Patrol

Katie is now a member of the safety patrol at school. She started today. She couldn't do it in the afternoon today because Kyle was napping so I called her teacher to tell her to ride the bus home. What sucks is that she has to be there right at 7.15 so I have to take her to school (which is fine because Lauren has been waking up at 6 am) and it ends at 3.00 so I have to pick her up at school, which may be difficult because sometimes Kyle is still napping. For those of you who don't know what safety patrol is, its the kids who help/open car doors for the car riders who get dropped off and picked up. They also help keep the line of traffic going. She is very happy that she gets to do it because only the good students get to do it. Also she is one of the few 4th graders who get to do it because its only supposed to be done by 5th graders but they fell short so they selected a few 4th graders and she was chosen. Very proud of her.

Being Kids

Puddle Fun

Monday it rained here. When I went to the gym yesterday there were rain puddles everywhere. As we were walking to the car, Kyle had to splash in every single one. It was so cute they way he kept laughting and saying rain. I think even Lauren had fun seeing him splashing and making a mess everywhere. Wish I had a video camera for that moment.

Hungry Girl

Lauren is eating cereal for breakfast, then about 4 oz of formula (7-8 am). Then for her second feeding I give her bananas (9-10 am) and about 4 oz. The around 12-1 she eats a 6 oz bottle to try to take a nap. Around 2-3 pm she eats carrots and another 4-6 oz. Around 6-7 pm I give her cereal and another 4-6 oz. Then around 8-9 she eats another 6 oz. She usually wakes up somewhere between 10-12 to eat another 6 oz, at 2-4 am to eat 6 oz, 5-6 am to eat another 6 oz. The it starts all over again. Should I give her water at night to keep her from eating so much formula or should I increase her solids?

BTW, she did the cutest thing today...She stood up on her own for 45 seconds and put her arms out for a hug from Kyle. He pushed her down; she cried. Sibling love...so sweet.

Wrestle Mania

Today my children made me laugh. Lauren was playing with the phone and Kyle saw her so he went to grab it from her. She then started to climb on him to get the phone back. He pushed her off him and she came right back and tried to sit on him. He leaned against her so she fell and laid on her so that his head was right underneath her chin. She managed to squirm away from him and then got ontop of him. I think she scratched him because he had a scratch mark on his face. This went on for another 10 minutes or so. Sometimes they were laughing and other times they were screaming at each other. It's funny because Kyle has taught Lauren how to scream exactly like he does and sometimes they get into screaming matches. They just made me laugh when I saw them wrestling like that. It really was like watching the WWF.

Sleeping

So Lauren hasn't been sleeping well and quite frankly Micau and I needed to find a solution. You know me...I always turn to books. Found this great one that we like. Turns out I believe Lauren is overtired. She isn't one for taking naps or when she does they aren't very long or sometimes it can be a 4 hour stretch. She doesn't really have a regular schedule. This book says that she needs two naps at about 1.5-2 hours each. So I've chosen between 9-10 am for her first nap and 1-2 pm for her second nap. The book also suggests setting up a nightime routine and letting her know when its bedtime. This we haven't done. And to start her off earlier because she has a tendency to stay up until 1-2 am. So we are going to try some of the strategies...the book says it may take up two months for them to get used to a schedule, to have patience and not give up. Hopefully we can do this. Its gotta be better than getting no sleep at all.

New Books

We had 3 giftcards to Barnes and Noble that we hadn't used yet so I decided this morning to go since we couldn't do much else today..it's raining. I took Kyle over to the kiddie section and let him play with the nice train set they have there. He is so possessive...he thinks everything is his. He kept hogging the trains and screaming when another kid got one. Lauren did well in the stroller. She actually stayed in it for about 10 minutes without crying. Gotta savor the accomplishments.
Anyways, I looked for the book I wanted to get and also saw some potty training books. I think I'll look for them at the library before actually buying them. I also got a baby/toddler play/activity book. I think it has some neat ideas. I am one of those moms without a creative bone in her body.
Kyle got a cute counting dinosaur book. Lauren liked it more than he did I think. I got Lauren a lift the flap book for animals. She was more interested in chewing on it than actually reading it. She does pay attention when you read to her though.
Katie of course got another fairy book. There is a collection of fairy books and she got the new one..they didn't have the newest one and I didn't realize we could order it; micau informed me later.
What's so funny is Micau checked his email after getting home from work and he had a 15% coupon for Barnes and Noble and 25% coupon for them. Kicking myself in the butt. Oh well.

Spring Break

Yesterday we went to the San Antonio zoo. Today we did absolutely nothing because Lauren didn't want to sleep last night. Katie had a birthday party to go to so she did that for 2 hours. I watched Van Wilder on comedy channel..I love that movie but boy does it suck on network TV. I think I'll put it on Netflix to watch the entire film unedited. I have no idea what to do for Spring Break. I was going to go to this park that has all kinds of stuff to do (hiking, rafting, canoeing, and playgrounds) but it is supposed to rain until Thursday. So that idea is shot. Guess we will have to think of something.
Micau's son GC had a rowing competition today. He placed first in three categories so he is going to nationals. Micau is very proud of him. He also has a girlfriend..well sort of. Her parents are real strict. She isn't allowed to go to the movies or even to a dance. Micau and his ex are hoping that he will just follow her around for the next 2 years and not be involved with anybody else since she is a very good girl. I personally think it kinda sucks to have your whole life planned out for you; to have such high expectations. I see this girl going totally wild in college or maybe not. Maybe she will do just what her parents want her to do. Of course, I'm no example so I guess I should keep my mouth shut. Anyways, we are going to have to save money since the nationals are in TN this year. I think is a 2 week event. Go GC.

The Babies

Okay so technically Kyle isn't a baby...he is a toddler but they are the babies of the family. Anywho...yesterday was Lauren's 9 month checkup. That's right folks she is 9 months now. She is 26 1/2 inches long and 18 lbs 14 oz. She only got one shot..the flu shot, which she had a very bad reaction to. She's been feverish and throwing up all night so all she's had to drink is pedilyte (only 2 oz at a time). She hadn't really kept any down so we are taking her back in this morning just to be sure everything is alright. Not to brag about my little one but she is already doing things that a 10-12 month old is doing. She waves bye bye and hello, crawls, cruising (getting ready to walk..we think in the next 2 months), trying to feed herself, can stack 2 blocks together and already knows some colors. She is one smart cookie.
While with the doctor I mentioned that we are planning on putting Kyle into a school when he turns 3. She advised against doing that since public schools are hard on austistic kids. Whoa. Wait a minute. The neurologist told us he isn't autistic. According to her records he is a bit on the lower spectrum of autism. In fact, because we live in Round Rock, the school system has a very good program starting at the age of 3. She wanted us to go ahead and get the ball rolling on that because its alot of paperwork. She doesn't think Kyle would do well in a regular daycare/school place and the program here in RRISD is designed for kids like him. So we have to start doing that. She seemed a little concerned about some of his obsessive compulsive needs (such as doors being closed). But it is a little early to set him up with a specialist..she is hoping he outgrows it. Since he is on the low spectrum he may grow out of it or it may get worse. She can't say as it is too early. But he hasn't advanced too much on his development..even talking he is still way behind other kids. She has grown concerned about that. Hopefully the program will help out. It is based on income so that is a good thing..we won't have to pay and arm and a leg for it. I hope it won't be too expensive.

Driving Crazy

Okay so I am not a multitasker when it comes to driving. I am one of those people whom you probably have cursed at because I can't drive while changing the radio station or eating an ice cream cone. Cases in Points: A couple of days ago we went to Sonic and I got an ice cream cone. Well I'm trying to drive around the curb turning the steering wheel with one hand. Almost hit another car. It is just so much more difficult driving the Armada than the Malibu. I'm not used to big cars...just small cars (no dirty thoughts please...lol).
#2..I forgot to brush my hair and didn't realize it until I was on my way to meet up with a friend. So I'm trying to brush my hair while driving. Again not a good idea for me. You'd think I'd learn my lesson. But no.
#3..Talking on my cell phone has also posed a problem with the Armada..wasn't too difficult in the Malibu but for some reason I just can't drive one handed in the Armada. I not only got distracted while talking on my phone..i changed lanes without realizing i did until another vehicle honked at me because I cut him/her off.
So I have learned that if I need to do something wait until I am stopped or at my destination and try not to call or answer my cell while driving. At least I realize I'm not a good eater/talker/makeup artist while driving. Think of all those crazies who still get on the road and think they can drive while getting dressed, putting make up on, talking on cell, eating, and etc.

Other People's Kids

Okay so I have befriended a 23 year old mom from church. She has a very active three year old and a 5 month old. Her three year old is very much a discipline problem. He has been kicked out of 3 preschools and acts up at the daycare during church. He bites, hits, talks back (mostly he says he's the boss when you tell him no), he doesn't listen, i mean there is just so much. This is what i observed when they came over yesterday. It was the first time I really gotten to talk to her and meet her kids. In my house, I tell my kids no three times and if they continue to do the same thing then I punish them. The mom kept telling him no and he wouldn't listen but she wouldn't punish him. She says they have tried time outs and spanking but it doesn't work and even tried taking toys/movies away. I just don't know what to tell her. But I feel like if I have them over again then I need to explain the rules and enforce them. Is that okay to punish someone else's kid when they are around and they don't do anything?
She just is very lonely because she doesn't have any friends and I have a feeling its becasue of her son. I honestly think if she was more consistent with punishment and not let him think he was the boss then maybe he would be better behaved. I would like to be her friend because she needs one but I also don't want his bad habits to rub off on Kyle. Any advice?

Getting Car Fixed

Today I had to take the Armada to get a few things fixed since we haven't had it for 30 days yet. The air pressure light keeps coming on, the back window won't open, and there is a plastic part for one of the seats that needs to be put on. I didn't think it would take that long. I dropped it of at 8.30 am and they said it would be about an hour before they even looked at it. Well there is a Walmart about 15 minutes down that we walked to. After we got done shopping I Katie was a little hungry (10 am) so we ate where I noticed that Kyle had taken one of his shoes off. I walked around the entire store to find it and asked the layaway dept., customer service and the ladies changing room area if they had it. Nope. So I left my name and number with the CS lady, thinking it wouldn't be found. Oh well, had to buy him sandals anyway.
We get back to Carmax at 11 am. They said the guys were working on the window still. So I tried to call Micau to meet for lunch at the Village Inn. Didn't get ahold of him. Around 12 we walked over to the Village Inn for lunch, and after already eating my chicken noodle soup he called and decided to come over. By the time we were done it was 1.30. Walmart called to say that they found Kyle's shoe. Yea. Micau gave us a ride over there and then back to Carmax. He went inside to see how much longer it would take. Turns out our low tire air pressure light was coming on because of the right rear tire was a spare full of patches. Have to order a new tire which won't get there until tomorrow. So he gave us a ride home. Now I won't have a vehicle until tomorrow afternoon. That's okay though. At least we are getting it fixed.

A Well Week

I really don't mean to complain but would it be possible to have just one week of kids that are well in this house? It just seems like for the past 3 months two have been sick at all times. Right now Lauren is getting over a cold and Kyle not only has an ear infection, bronchitis..he also now has that awful stomach bug. Well here is to go do more cleaning (I have been bleaching my house every week and the kids toys too..and using Lysol spray on the things that can't be bleached). I don't know what else to do. Anyone have any suggestions?

To Give A Life

I was totally going to write about my workout today but instead I'm going to write about life. While rocking the baby I watched Saving Private Ryan. At the end of the movie he asks his wife if he has lived a good life. This made me think. Do we live our lives as if someone has died for us? What I mean by this statement is that there are people out there who give their lives for us everyday and people who have given their lives. I'm not just talking about Jesus, but about our soldiers, our police (although we don't think of them that way), and firemen. These men and women have laid down their lives and put their lives at risk for you and me. Think about that for a moment.
Just because we did not witness the death of Jesus or all that he went through doesn't mean it has lost its importance. Just because we were not alive during all the battles this country has fought doesn't mean their lives have lost importance. There are battles being fought today for our country. We (well at least me) do not keep this in mind always. Do I live my life good enough for someone who has died for me? I don't think so. I have things that I worry about that I shouldn't, I tell little white lies and a few times a big lie and no matter what the justification is for lying..a lie is still a lie. I have hurt people..deeply. Although I have changed alot of things in my life, I still am not the best I could be. I don't think I truly appreciate what Jesus or anyone has done for me.
So here is a salute and very big heartfelt thanks to those of you who have done so. And a big taste of humility.

Stories/Tales

Micau's Dad

He is doing just fine. The doctors said it was a mix of his medicines. He was cleared to resume regular activities on Saturday. This was his third stroke and he hasn't had any side affects from it. He is really lucky. We didn't go see them this weekend becasue Kyle has a cold and an ear infection and both Lauren and I have a cold. We figured his dad needed to rest and not be around screaming children. Thanks for all the well wishes.

Table and Car

Last month we got a table from Ashley furniture. It is really nice. We got a good deal on it since it was discontinued. It is square and seats about 6-8 people but we only got 6 chairs. Dealing with Ashley was a pain in the butt; other than that we really like it. We got a tablecloth for it this weekend and now it just looks beautiful. The tablecloth looks great on it.

Well we finally joined the SUV club. Don't know if you all remember but in the beginning of January my niece and nephew came to stay with us for a few days. We rented an Armada. Well is just so happened that two weeks ago our local Carmax got one in inventory. I loved the color and the seats. So we thought about it and looked at Micau's car trade in value. We were disappointed with what they were going to give us for his car but we really liked the Armada. We got approved through a local federal credit union and we decided to go ahead and get it. So far I really like it. Why is it when you go do the paperwork it always takes forever? It literally took us about 4 hours to get the vehicle. A bit frustrating but I suppose worth it. Kyle was unsure of it; he really doesn't like change. Katie loves it because now she has some room. Even Micau's son GC likes it. So everyone is happy. I am queen of the roadway people..lookout.

Deodorant

So what if I don't spell it correctly..you all know what I'm talking about..the stuff that makes your armpits smell good. Okay so while I was pregnant with Lauren and before that I was using Sure. Ever since I had her it really wasn't working that well. When I go to work out it quits working after 10 minutes (I don't sweat I just get stinky). And even without working out, It would quit halfway through the day. Micau said that sometimes your hormones change after having kids and it was time to switch to something new. You understand why he would want me to..no one wants to be around a stinker. I decided to try Degree and so far it has worked very well. So now I have a new deodorant.

Mr. Door Opener

Kyle has learned how to open doors. Unfortunately, the door to our garage isn't a round handle so we can't put a child protector on it. This morning we are getting ready to go to the YMCA and Micau to work. Well we were in the bedroom and all of a sudden we hear Kyle open the door and go out. We walk to the door and open it and there is Kyle in the garage saying bye bye and Lauren crawling to him. He actually opened the door for her so she could get out and escape. It was so cute and funny. We really have to remember to lock it because he hasn't figured out how to unlock yet. Just so funny because he hadn't done that before.

Micau's Dad

Had a stroke yesterday. They think it was caused by all the meds he was on and the interacted with each other in a bad way. His parents live in Beeville and they had to travel to San Antonio to the military base since he is retired navy. They had to do an MRI and they are keeping him until tomorrow. He looked well but tired..said he hasn't gotten much sleep in the hospital. He enjoyed seeing the grandkids. This is the third time he has had a stroke. He has diabeties, heart problems, and high blood pressure. Anyway, he is okay but we just a little worried. We will go visit them over the weekend to help his mom out since she has a cold and sinus infection.

I was tagged by Sharyn so here we go:

1. YOUR REAL NAME: Natasha Casper Janet
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first three letters of your name, plus izzle): Natizzile
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: Ncha (huh?)..lol
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal): Blue Golden Retriever
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, Street you live on): Casper Janet Warner Ranch
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom’s maiden name): Chanavan (sounds pretty cool)
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (favorite color, favorite drink): Blue Chai Tea
8. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, any letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of your dad’s middle name, 1st letter of a sibling’s first name, last letter of your moms middle name): Aapuwxh (won't even try to pronounce that one.
9. YOUR STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/body spray: Don't wear it so don't have one..I do use soap so i'll use that one.....Spring Dove
10. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother & father’s middle name): Ruth Lawerence

Superbowl Weekend

What a busy weekend. Yesterday we went to Carmax to look at the Nissan Armada they just got in. I don't know if you all remember but we rented one when my niece and nephew came to stay with us for a few days. Fell in love with it. This one is really nice; it just has some scratches on the inside where the radio is. Its been used; you can tell. But the seats have no stains..its in really good shape. I even love the color. We are undecided if we are going to get it or not. We have to see what the trade in value of Micau's Eclipse is. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
After carmax, we had to meet Kyle's dad down south to pick him up (supposed to pick him today but he was feeling sick). After that it was off to GC's rowing competition. LS (his mom) said he had been feeling really bad and got a bad cold; he had to see the doctor because he was having a hard time breathing and gave him an inhaler to keep on him. Sounds like he may have what I have..cold weather exercise induced asthma. Advair doesn't work on him so he's just going to have to stick it out with the inhaler. He placed 6th in the competition. It was a rowing machine competition. He's hoping to get a college scholarship to do it; if he doesn't get one then that's okay becasue he will get an academic scholarship. He's really smart.
After that was Linner (lunch and dinner since it was over at 3 and we missed lunch). The place we went to eat at gave us some kind of crud because my stomach was upset 2 hours after eating there but I feel better today.
Today we went to Sunday school at 9.30, church at 10.30 and then we had a luncheon there at there church at 12. It was pretty good. I had a tuna wheat sandwhich, some grapes, 2 strawberries, 3 celery, a brownie, piece of bread and tea. Then Katherine's best friend's sister had a birthday party we went to. We got her a glowing bear. She is turning 9 but she is austistic and her mental age is about 3. I let katie stay at the house to play with her friend. We came home around 4 and just chilled out until the apartment's superbowl party. They were having chips and dips, little weinie dogs, four different types of wings and pizza. Kyle actually ate a cheese pizza slice. I had 3 slices of pepporini and 2 wings. I then worked out for 30 minutes. We decided to come back to the apartment to watch the game because there are only little tvs and it was hard to see the game. I went to pick Katie up from her friends at 7 and on the way back hit Sonic becasue Micau loves their chili cheese fries or so I thought. He actually like the chili cheese dogs. Oops. But he said they were good. Oh well. Then it was just watching the game and catching up on email. I'm tired now. Good night.
Oh and the Colts won. Yippppeeeeee.