The power of a Mac

I dropped DH (dear husband) off at the airport last night for his 15 + 2 hour LA trip to Sydney, Australia. He is working over in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne for two weeks and then he heads to Malaysia and Singapore.

The girls and I miss him already!! I have to say though, I absolutely love my MacBook! DH landed a few hours ago safely and we just got done chatting via video iChat! I was sitting in my kitchen in suburbia Texas and he was at an Italian Cafe having a cappuccino outside in the heart of Sydney, Australia.

Isn't that incredible?? It's Sunday morning there...

Also, hubby's cell phone died and he wasn't at the hotel room so we communicated via our MacBook's! As an added bonus, DH already took some great pictures of his view from the hotel room and already uploaded them to Flickr. Now when the girls wake up in the morning I can show them pictures of where daddy is at on the AppleTV. It just keeps getting better...

Thank you Apple!

Praying...

for Steven Curtis Chapman tonight. Apparently, his teenage son struck his five year old sister Maria in the driveway with the family's SUV. What a horrible accident. You can read the full story here.

Lifting him and his family up in prayer tonight!

*For those of you who do not know of him...he is one of contemporary Christian music’s most recognizable and most awarded names.

In the Midst of It

There are many things over the past ten years that I have been through, some of it good and some bad. One of the bigger ones thus far has occurred over the past four weeks. DH and I finally made the decision that we would finally schedule a long overdue surgery that would no longer allow us to have children. Even though most days we thought we were done, we both still had days where we caught ourselves saying, "if we got pregnant" or "if we had another baby".

Now the surgery is over, the pathology report is clear and we are blessed with our two daughters. It's been a long four weeks for hubby and the girls. We were so blessed to have MIL come and help us through this difficult time. Everyone has worked so hard to take care of me, the girls, the house, the dogs, etc. And I know a year from now we will look back and be thankful for how far we've come as a couple and a family.

So today more than ever I want to thank you hubby for being my rock. For helping me through the tough times. As I lay here in bed recovering from what is still a long road ahead, I want to say honey I love you! You've stuck by me through it all and it's been an amazing nine years. I can't wait to see what lies ahead.

Happy Anniversary!

Kids say the sweetest things, PART II

It's seems Sugar is on a roll this week with her blooming personality. One minute we are punishing her and then next we are cuddling. I guess this is what happens to preschoolers during the "testy three's"

But thankfully today there was more cuddling than punishing. As a result, here is one of the conversations that occurred between Grandma and Sugar this afternoon.

Grandma: "Sugar, are you going to share your Dora blankie with Grandma today?"

(Reminder: the Dora blankie is the biggest prize possession next to the binky and we did share it with Grandma yesterday). Yes we still use a binky, don't ask...

Sugar: Shakes her head no...

Grandma: "Awwww, you're gonna break my heart."

Sugar walks over to grandma, climbs up on the ottoman, drapes the blankie over her body and plops on her lap.

Sugar: "There grandma...I fixed your heart."

Lifesong message

It's only 5 minutes and 33 seconds and it could change your life...

Kids say the sweetest things

This isn't the first time I have had major surgery, been stuck up in bed for weeks and can't do a whole lot of anything. Sissy has been a complete sweetheart. She has made me lots of cards and asks everyday when she gets home from school, "Mama are you feeling better?", Can I get you anything?" She is the most empathetic five year old I know. But this is the first time Sugar has been old enough to try and understand what is going on with mama. She knows I have stitches and they are on my tummy, but she still doesn't understand that I can't pick her up, climb the stairs to her room or the playroom or fix her meals.

Each day she asks me to do something that is not under the doctors orders. Like the other day she was sitting on my bed and she wanted to put on her ballerina dress. The problem is that all her ballerina dresses are upstairs in her bedroom. Once again I kindly told her, "remember the doctor says I can't go up the stairs". In her sweet little voice she said, "mama I'll hold your hand". My heart was melting when I had to tell her, "thank you sweetie but I still can't go".

Then she replied, "can you crawl?" :-)

It's time for a new skin baby

Well it's that time to change the look of this ole' blog that for some reason is still hanging around. I guess will be around even longer since I have Susie over at Bluebird Blogs cooking me up a new look. I know it's going to blow y'all away because Susie is that good and it's going to be a completely new look!

Stay tuned for the soon-to-be Blog Makeover!

On the road to recovery

Thanks to everyone for all the prayers, calls, emails, flowers, etc! This time round God showed up in a big way and my surgery went flawless. No cancer, out in three days and home resting now. Even though recovery is going to be a slow process, I'm so glad to be in and out of the hospital so quickly. I have lots of help at home and the girls are being big helpers. Sissy is making me lots of pictures and getting me 'a drink of water'. Sugar is busy kissing my 'ditches' (stitches) to make them all better. :-) I've also got season one of 24 on DVD this time to help the time go by. Thanks to my dear friend Natalie. Finally, my wonderful hubby stepped in and bought his sick whiny wife a new 37" HD LCD screen to curl up in the bed with along with a DVD player. I just can't complain about anything. My family is fabulous!

For right now it's lots of pain meds and lots of sleeping. I hope to stay awake a little more by next week and use the DVD player a little more. :-)

Going under the knife...

again. It's 4:30am and I'm getting ready to head to the hospital for a long overdue surgery. I should be in the hospital for three days and then come home for a long recovery. Please pray that the doctors know what they are doing this time and I will get to come home when they say. Unlike last time...

Until next week...ciao!

Sassy Katz

My just turned three-year old was invited this past weekend to a chauffeured birthday party to get hair, makeup and nails done at a little girls spa and boutique called Sassy Katz. It was actually Sugar's friend and her older sister who was turning five celebrating their birthdays together.

I was very hesitant to let Sugar attend it all seemed a little over the top to me...but after much thought and a little rearranging of the plans I let Sugar attend.
Because really, what little girl doesn't love to dress up like a princess and wear makeup?

And, I'm not going to get jealous just because the first time I rode in a limo was on my 21st birthday and my first real spa experience was a few days before my wedding...I'm just saying, I'm not getting jealous. :)

So I called the mom to RSVP and kindly let her know that Sugar (my 3 year old!) would not be dropped off at her house, to ride in a limo, with a bunch of strangers, for 30 minutes to the boutique.

We agreed that I would drive Sugar to the boutique and participate in the girly things that were about to take place over the next two hours. Since we were the first ones to arrive at the party, Sugar got to see the limo pull up and all the girls come out.
The next two hours were a little girls heaven...Sugar kept saying, "Mama, I want mine painted pink!" So that is what she got...pink fingernails, a fancy hairdo (I'll still never know how they got it pulled up) and a fancy dress. There was lots of stage posing, dancing, and singing. Bottom line, the girls had a blast.

After they each made there own glitter soap it was time to leave. I decided since I got to know the parents, grandparents and other girls that Sugar could ride home in the limo if she wanted to. I didn't even get the question out before Sugar said, "Mama, come on it's time to go in the limo!"

With me in complete shock, Sugar loaded up in the limo without hesitation with the rest of the girls. So I jumped in my car and followed the limo all the way back to the party. Meanwhile thinking what have I started? I think I just lost my little girl. Second guessing myself that maybe it was the wrong decision...

After I met them back at the house, I grabbed my dolled up little girl and carried her back to the car to buckle her up in her car seat.

Then not a second later she said, "Mama, I want my binky, blankie and sippy".

YES I thought...I haven't lost her yet.

The big milestone

So not only did Sissy learn how to ride a four-wheeler over Spring Break (see previous post) she also learned how to ride her bike without training wheels! Wow - this was huge. We had practiced a few times before last summer, but after about two crash-n-burns she was done. So we gave it another try and now she can do it. I'm so proud of her. It only goes with her perfectionist personality though. I knew after a couple rotation of the pedals by herself she wasn't going to stop until she got it!

Then the cutest part of all happened after the first day of trying (the day before Easter) she came in the house and made a calendar of all the days she was going to practice. She had check marks and stars on each day. She told me that the check marks meant she had to practice and the stars meant she already practice.






That's my girl...you got to have this kind of stuff organized! LOL!













*I've been trying to upload two videos of Sissy riding her bike and it's failing. I give er' a try tomorrow...

The girls Easter present

As a kindergartener, part of a child's homework is to retell a story that was read to them earlier in the day at school to their parents. Each Wednesday, the teacher reads them a story and then the kids make characters and props about the story. The idea is that the props/characters will help trigger their memory when retelling the story at home. Then, the parents sign a piece of paper stating the child retold them the story. This homework is meant to help with listening skills, memory and comprehension. I believe it is Sissy's favorite homework assignment next to Guided Reading.

However, each Wednesday when it's time to retell the story Sissy tries to create some kind of stage to use with her handmade props. The week before Spring Break she tried to put a blanket over a staircase railing (mind you a circular one) and perform her story for Sugar there. After many falls of the blanket this ended up being quite a challenge and Sissy was a little frustrated.

After the tenth fall of the blanket I decided it was time to make the girls a puppet theater. I had actually planned on making them one, it was just on my looong list of things to make. So after the 'fake theater stage' attempt this project moved pretty quickly up on my to-do list.

So over Spring Break I got out my new favorite book titled Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Carol. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I usually copy or wing most of my projects so this book is right up my alley. The floral fabric is what originally was going to be the girls shower curtain...until they loudly and firmly told me they wanted a Pink Flamingo bathroom. The plain pink fabric I got on clearance for $3.88 a yard and the cute pink ball fringe I got for just over $5.00. Whoo-hoo, I love bargains!

Anyways, below is the end result. Since it was an Easter present I found some cute finger puppets at JoAnn's so they could use it over Spring Break. The best part is that it has a matching case to store it in when they are not using it. If you want to view a few more you can go here and here.

Who needs a beach for Spring Break?

Not us...the girls and I had the best time of our lives on our two day trip in Holliday, Texas! Oh yes, we headed to the true country with some friends and didn't want to leave. The girls played and played, had some good country food, seen more horses and cows than they could count and learned how to go four wheelin'!

Who says you need the beach to have fun? All we needed was our good friends, a few acres, a trailer, a four wheeler, a tree house and the best darn folks you ever met in your life.

Here are some pictures of the girls and I from the past two days...by the way, next year's spring break will be scheduled much sooner and for a lot longer time in the country. Get ready Gigi and Bopper! :-)





Thanks again for such a fabulous time!! Holliday rocks!

My latest sewing project

I must admit I get a little weird-eyed when people say, "oh you can sew" because really I have not taken any sewing classes, I don't use patterns and I literally make up everything I make or I copy it from something I see in a catalog.

This time I saw a valance I liked after searching through my Design Ideas for Windows I picked up at Half-Price Books store. So I bought some fabric and trim and started my little adventure. Now I wish I would have bought more fabric to make it a little more 'scrunched looking' but of course it is discontinued. I originally bought the fabric for my kitchen nook but realized it wasn't what I wanted so I used it for our master bathroom hence, the shortage in fabric. :-) See I told you I wing everything!

I made it while hubby was out of town last week and surprised him when he got home. He really liked it! There was no suggestions this time that came out of his mouth (like most other times) about changing it, yeah! So if any sewing project gets hubby's approval - it stays and mama's happy!

Here is how it turned out...

Wow, three posts in two days...I don't know about you but I'm impressed!! :-)

Wonderful Snow Days here in Texas

You read that right...this past week we had two days with snow! We got about an inch or so on Tuesday then Thursday a winter storm came through North Texas and we got a total of 5 inches! You know what that means?? Snowman time!! This is why I love Texas so much, Wednesday we were in the driveway doing finger paints and the next day we were building snowmen. It was a beautiful day!

Time for some major updates!

My little Sugar is now three years old. I can't believe it...my girls are growing so fast. She celebrated with a Hello Kitty party with friends from the neighborhood, her ballet class and her preschool. We played pin the bow on Hello Kitty and the kids decorated their own cupcakes. Check out some of the moments we captured from her party.

A trip to the doctor, the vet and the hospital

Tylenol...Motrin...Metcam...Tylenol...Motrin...Metcam...

These are the words I've been repeating over and over this past week. While the flu has seemed to take over the girls we are still not well after two weeks. After lots of hand sanitizing, Lysol spraying, and washing sheets and blankets I have managed not to get it yet. But, let's recheck the blog on Friday and see if this is still true! :-)

In addition to snotty noses, high fevers and coughs the dog has managed to get himself in the mix as well. Two weeks ago we found out Smokey ruptured his ACL - yes, I guess a dog can actually do that if they are getting old and overweight. Sigh.

So after the girls get their doses of fever reducers, Smoke dog gets hit dose of pain reliever/anti-inflammatory.

That about sums up our household right now...have y'all managed to escape the flu??

Ballet Pictures as promised...

Sugar is taking a combination class of Ballet and Gymnastics...she loves ballet so much I can't get her to wear any other clothes but a leotard with a tutu!

The parents watch the class through a two-way glass so some pictures came out a little blurry.

Here they are walking from the gymnastics room to the ballet room. The class is perfect because there are only three girls in her class on Fridays.

Last week was the first time they used the bar. It was sooooo precious.

Ms. Casey is there teacher and she couldn't be any sweeter. I'm sure there will be more pictures to come once they have their recital. LOL...I can't wait!

What's up?

Here I am.

I am a total slacker...I was debating about shutting down this ole' blog. But then I randomly will get some comments and I think, "oh I've got to go post an update".

So once again, here I am.

I really don't have anything exciting to blog about but I thought it was time to update my header of Deck the Halls Y'all.

I've been hanging around in my normal OCD world organizing like a banchee! The kids closets are cleaned, toys have been purged, clothes have been cycled, boxed and donated, kitchen drawers are finally lined, the garage is beautiful now with TWO cars actually parked in there, and best of all we have entertained family and friends like never before.

We have been enjoying attending our old church again and getting back into a new Home Team. We started a co-op babysitting with our HT and hubby and I volunteered to go first. We had a total of 14 kids at the house last Friday night. It was a wild night...we had kids upstairs in performing on the stage in the playroom, others in the loft playing the Wii, and the rest downstairs watching Hannah Montana and High School Musical. It was a great party for the kids and hubby and I survived it.

The best part is now we get a free date night once a month for the next 8 months because we have eight families participating! Woo-hoo I can't wait...

So what's new with me... I've been busy with some new sewing projects and started a new bible study on Wednesdays. It's called, 'Created to be His Help Meet' and so far it sounds like it's going to be a great one. Also, I have been working part time for one of my churches' websites. So, here's a quick plug. If you're church or pastor is looking for some new resources/material be sure to have them check out www.creativepastors.com.

Lastly, I'm still struggling with some undiagnosed health issues. I've been seeing a pulmonologist since November to get some answers but no luck yet. I'm pushing through though.

On the other hand, the girls have been doing super and growing fast! Sissy has learned so much since she started kindergarten it's scary. She now can read, write complete sentences, knows the days of the week, etc. She wants to go to school everyday and wakes up early every single day ready to go!

Sugar is busy with her pre-school and enjoys music time the most. She also started ballet and gymnastics last Friday and absolutely LOVES it. She was so excited when we went shopping for her ballet shoes. She wore them for a week straight, even to bed! I'll post pictures soon.
I can't believe she turns three next month. She has been asking for a Hello Kitty birthday party with Hello Kitty birthday hats since summer. And now it's almost here, I can't believe it.

Hubby is still doing awesome. He is overachieving as usual in the workforce and it's paying off for him. We might even be seeing some global opportunities here pretty soon.

That's all for now folks. I hope to be back sooner next time. Hopefully with something more exciting to post. Hee, hee!

Christmas Pictures for the family

Here is a quick load of some pictures from this morning...I believe the American Girl dolls were the biggest hit! Sissy really loved the Hannah Montana Dance Mat that came with a wig and headset! Sugar has enjoyed her My Little Pony Musical Tea Set along with all the Barbie gifts.