October???!!! It's been that long since I've posted? Wow, I must be turning into Keith. You'd think as a lady with no paying job I'd have a little more time to devote to this sort of thing.

Ok, so since October I guess we've been pretty busy? Getting things ready for the holidays becomes a full time job for me (obviously I end up making things way harder on myself than I should). LOL! Halloween was fun. In the past year all but 1 of the empty lots on our street have been filled and people have moved in so Halloween was a lot busier than previous years. Our friend Meredyth came up with Roman and Ferris and our new friend Penny brought her little boy Chandler. The kids all had a great time running around the hood going up to houses for treats. I don't know about my kids....they kept wanting to goin people houses and give them big hugs. Can you say "soon to be kidnapped children".

We stayed here for Thanksgiving and had some friends over so we would have an excuse to make a big meal. We were outnumbered by kids......6 adults, 7 kids (5 and under!) It was a wild time but fun! Keith fried 2 turkeys and did an outstanding job!

Gearing up now for Christmas. All the gifts have been bought, the boys have one more week of school left until winter break and we'll be expecting my mom and dad and sister to arrive a couple days before Christmas. More food, more fun (in that order).

I'm going to try and post some new pictures soon.

Oh, and I finally set up my facebook page. Ummmmm...can you say, ADDICTIVE!!!!!!!

Been away awhile....

from blogging that is. :) It's been busy, busy around here. I have managed to get quite a bit done in the past few weeks. I had a yard sale and made a few bucks, Keith took some vacation time, we visited the great State Fair of Texas and are enjoying the cool fall weather!

I bugged and bugged him and finally Keith took a week off work to see how the boys and I endure the long weeks without him here. ;) It had been nearly a year since he last took a vacation so I decided to take it easy on him and held off on the mile long "honey-do" list I had planned in my head. He had a wonderful time sharing in the kid toting to/from school, therapist appts. and my usual routine of errands I do each week. I think he was nice and ready to go back to work when he realized that sleeping till 10:30a.m. would not be an option for his "vacation".

We visited the Great State Fair of Texas as we do each year. We had a great time and the boys had a blast going around and seeing all the livestock. We even caught the "milking" demonstration which the boys found fascinating. They now each ask for their glass of "cow's milk" each morning. LOL! Unfortunately they are both tall enough to be able to ride many of the midway rides. They both love to ride said rides which cost from $4-$6 a pop. You can only imagine how much $$ we spent. I think from now on they are going to have their own money for this once a year trip or we'll be getting into their college fund to pay for our Fair trips. LOL!!!

The boys are both doing well in school, Keith is not too stressed at work and I pretty much just pick-up after kids and animals. The weather has been beautiful so we've finally been able to open some windows and enjoy some cool breezes throughout the house. (Plus, it saves from having to run the AC or heater. ;) )

Looking forward to a Halloween party tomorrow night and of course trick-or-treating on Halloween night. I know we'll have pictures to come from those 2 events!

5 5 5 5 5 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 years ago today we got to meet this tiny little guy that would change our lives forever. Whew! What a scary scary time for two people who were pretty apprehensive about becoming something as important as "parents". From Keith putting on his (Keith's and Parker's) first diaper to me a couple days after coming home looking at Keith with tears welling up in my eyes and saying "I just love him sooooooooo much!" I think we've done a pretty good job. We may have had a few ER visits but we have been able to keep him all in one piece (pretty much). ;)

So, to my 5 year old, Happy Birthday Baby!!!!

(Does this mean I'm 5 years older? ACCCKKKKK!!!!)

Time to get Ed-ju-ma-ca-ted!!!!!!

Yipee!!!! School is back in session and we're off to a great start! Parker started last week and has done really well. He's at a new elementary school this year with a new teacher so I had my doubts but he's handled things great. He describes most days as "Super!" He's riding the bus again and has some of the neatest and nicest people for drivers. He's also started outpatient Speech therapy once a week and we are waiting to hear if he'll start going to outpatient Occupational therapy too.

Alex didn't get to start until this week but is doing very well. Yesterday was his first day at preschool and I'm sure I ended up looking like the worst mom in the world when I dropped him off in the carpool line. ((Running and hiding right now)) I think I was the ONLY parent that did not walk their child in to their class on the first day of school. You should have seen some of the looks I got from the other parents when I pulled up and they came out to get Alex out of the truck. LOL!!! In my defense I did ask Alex if he wanted Mommy to walk him into his class or if he wanted Miss Shelly (the asst. director of the school) to come out and get him out of the truck. He said, "I want Miss Selly get me!" So it was really his idea.......right? ;)

Alex also started a speech class through the school district this morning. It lasts for about 2 hours 2 days a week and he'll get help with a lot of articulation issues, etc.

So far so good with the only issue being me constantly driving from here to there to drop off or pick up for all these things. Good thing I don't "work" or else these boys wouldn't have a chauffeur to tote them around. Right Keith?????? LOL!

Birthdays!!!!

Oh My!!! Birthday parties DONE!!! Whew! We had the boys party last Sunday and even though it started out with a few glitches I'm calling it a huge success. Our Dallas friends were nice enough to take the road trip up to Prosper (about a 45 minutes drive for them) and celebrate. We also has some of our new freinds from Alex's class join us for the fun. Lots of bouncing, dancing, arcade game playing, rock wall climbing and even a spirited game of laser tag for a handful of the dads.

We went with the spongebob cake from Wal-Mart because we couldn't agree on a theme that both boys would be happy with. LOL! Not the best decorating job but the cake was yummy and that's all that matters. ;)

We also went to the circus on Friday night. Definitely not as great as the last time we went but always entertaining none-the-less. We ate overpriced food and even bought the uber expensive toys so we did our part in that aspect. The only downfall was that Alex decided that the star of the show "Belo" the clown was the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen and repeatedly asked "Mama, we go home". When the clown made his way right in front of us for a skit Alex decided that was the last straw. Luckily, Keith's office was not far away so he took Alex to hang out there until the show was over. All was not lost and Alex ended up a very happy boy since they got to ride "the train" (DART rail) over to his building from the American Airlines Center. Parker had a great time and intently watched everything.

Diapers bite the dust!

Guess who's wearing big boy underwear?????? We worked very hard this past week on the huge task of potty training Alex. We figured since he's recently started expressing himself regularly (i.e. he never shuts up ;) ) he was ready to move on to "big boy" status.

Let me tell ya, this was no easy task. After how easy it was training Parker I went into this with a lot more confidence (only to be beat down and nearly defeated). He fought me for 2 days.....and would even sit on the potty and say "NO WAY MOM, No Potty!" I knew once he went on the potty once it would smooth sailing. When he finally did I made a big deal over it. I think whhat really sealed it was the fact that he got a lollipop and stickers when he went on the potty. I'm finding bribery works well on this child. ;)

So, he's doing great and we're really proud of him! Now, if anyone has any tips on how to get him to do #2 on the potty I'd be mighty greatful....... :P

My Baby is 3??!!!!!??!!

WHAAAAAAA!!!!! My baby isn't a baby anymore!! We celebrated Alex's birthday this past Sunday with a day full of friends and water. Always a good mix when the temperatures are high here in Texas. We started out with lunch at McDonald's thanks to Grandma Lewis and then met our friends at Hawaiian Falls (a waterpark). We ended the evening with some chocolate chip muffins complete with Diego decoration. No big gifts since his birthday party is on Aug. 10.

Happy Borthday Big Boy!!!!

Good Times...good times

I'm baaaaccckkkk!!! Whew, a whole week without my laptop was pretty rough. I'm having some"powering up" issues and apparently I'm not high priority on my techie husband's to-do list so I've been without my internet mobility. I forgot how much I hated sitting at a desk to surf the net. LOL!!!

Parker had art camp this past week and loved it. He brought home a myriad of masterpieces....from Picasso to Van Gogh all very Parker-esque of course. ;) While Parker was busy expressing his creative side Alex helped me with a bunch of errands and cleaning around the house. He stpped momentarily one day to take Sammy on a stroll through the house (see above photo) LOL!!!!

I know I don't mention Keith very much but he's doing fine. He's been very busy at work and we have to endure tons of middle-of-the-night phone calls. Luckily he's appreciated for the extra time he's put in and was recently nominated for a "Greyhound Great" award. A pretty big deal at Greyhound I guess. He attended a lunch with the COO of the company and recd. a few other gifts. Yea Keith!!!!!!!

Say Hello to SAMMY!!!!

Obviously I must have been delirious without knowing I was sick yet but Keith drug us out to the "good" pet store on Saturday and I saw this little lady and fell in love. Yes, I know I complain all the time about what a pain Panda is but something told me I needed to bring her home. I agve Keith the chance to veto and he wouldn't say anything either way so here we are with another dog.

Her name is Samantha (aka Sammy) and she's a Pembroke Corgi just like Panda. She'll be red and white (that would be a blondish brown red and white to most people). She's got a bit of dark coloring around her nose but as much as I hope it stays I'm sure it will go away. To anyone that has seen the movie "The Queen", Sammy will look like the Corgi's she has.

So far Panda is handling the new addition well. She has bowed to him so he has the upper hand (at least for now......she is a girl after all ;) ) and he's doing well putting up with her wanting to play all the time. Alex runs around screaming "SAAAMMMMEEEEEEEE!! SAAAAAMMMEEEEEE!!" and all animals and children under age 3 are getting lots of exercise chasing each other through the house. The cats simply looked up at Keith and I and I'm sure if they had fingers we would have seen them extend their middle one right up at us. LOL!

We're working on the housebreaking thing. Not easy right now with me being sick but she'll get it, she's a smart girl.

It's been awhile...

**Sigh**.....after seeing these pics you can understnd why things have been a little messed up around here. Seems we've ended up with a future tatoo art show participant as a son. Makes a mom proud......NOT! ;) At least with the first one he had an explanation....he was a zebra. LOL! The second was a lapse in judgement by leaving out a set of UN-washable markers!!!!! After 2 days his legs are STILL pink!

The weekend was nice and we had a lot of activities to keep us busy. Unfortunately, I ended up getting some kind of stomach virus that has kept me very clse to the bathroom for the last 3 days. Nothing like being sick in the middle of summer. I'm trying to stay far far away from the boys if at all possible. Passing this one through the family would just be really really bad. :(

The King IS alive!

We made it through another fun filled weekend. Sat. we went to a surprise party for one of my girlfriends. There were lots of kids, lots of food, lots of drinks and a ton of laughs. The highlight of the evening was an appearance by The King himself who serenaded the guest of honor with a slew of his hits. The kids loved Elvis and they were all up dancing with their moms. My kids had nothing to do with me as they already know they are show all on their own. LOL!

Sunday we headed to The Stockyards over in Ft. Worth. Alex's friend Roman wanted to ride a "choo-choo" for his birthday and requested that Alex be his riding buddy. When those 2 little boys saw that train coming into the depot you would have thought the best thing in the world was coming right for them. They loved the ride and talked/sang/commented the whole time. The adults didn't fare so well.....riding a train just isn't for everyone.

We've got a short week with the 4th coming up. Looking forward to having some good friends over on Friday for some swimming/food/drinks and fun.

Not the safest...but lots of FUN!

Keith had the bright idea of setting the bounce house up next to the pool. Although it may not have been the safest choice the kids loved it and luckily no one was hurt. We called up some friends and spent the evening sliding and enjoying the cool water. Days like these are when having a pool is so worth it!

Riders

For a weekend with no plans we sure ended up doing a lot. Saturday morning we loaded up the bikes, bike trailer and headed out to the park for some riding. We were pretty psyched about attempting a new trail until we made it just past the parking area and realized we would be riding on gravel! Not so bad for mom but poor dad had to pull the trailer with the boys. Yuck! Needless to say, Keith got quite a workout. We rode about 8....no, was it 7.....uhhh, maybe 6....oh heck, I think it was 5 miles. ;) I led most of the way and was so excited to see not one but TWO armadillos!!! (And they were alive!!!!)

Hurricane Alex

This is what happens when you try to take a 10 minute shower and leave Alex unattended.

How to make one little boys day!

Let him take a ride on the school bus!!!! After a whole school year of watching Parker get on and off the school bus each day Alex finally got his turn! Parker's a.m. bus driver Mr. Tom is the kindest and coolest guy on earth and told Alex that before the end of the school year he would take him for a ride on the bus. With tomorrow being our last day of school today was the day. Alex was so excited to be able to actually climb up those steps. They strapped him into a "star seat" (kind of a car seat/harness to keep them seat belted down) and the boys had to do the count down ritual to get the bus to GO. Alex followed right along even singing and swaying along when they started to sing "The Wheels on the Bus". He was a big smiley from ear to ear.

A fantastic treat for a 2 year old! Thanks to Mr. Tom!!!!

Look what I made!

And it's NOT for me. ;) LOL!!!

A good friend is having a baby this fall so I wanted take a stab at constructing a diaper cake. It has small gifts intermingled in the slew of diapers. I thought it turned out pretty cute so I thought I'd share.

Just sharing some recent pics...

First Slumber party!!

Good Morning and welcome to another new week! It's been an eventful weekend. Keith escaped to Canada last Thurs. (although he'll probably describe it as being led unwillingly to the plane - LOL!!) and spent a fun filled weekend working. Luckily he will be on a plane heading back to us today and although I missed him I'm much happier that he will be back to receive some of the boys attention. ;)

Keith missed a "first" this weekend. Alex's first slumber party! His best friend Roman came over on Sat. and spent the night. I offered to host this little soiree when I thought Keith would be here but as with work "things come up out of nowhere" and I knew this was one challenge I'd have to take on all by myself. How hard can it be to keep 2 - 2 year olds and a 4 year old entertained for a night and a day? HA HA!!!! It went great and although the noise level was something I coould have done without I was pleasantly surprised.

I also attended Alex's ARD mtg. on Friday. (For speech services he'll begin receiving through the school dist.) He will be going to speech class twice a week for about 2 hrs. a day. So, if we can get Parker's school schedule, Alex's preschool schedule and these speech classes all time coordinated we will be set for the coming school year. Whew! Only one more year of all this "coordinating", then Parker will be in Kindergarten all day and my life of timing things just right gets much easier. I may even be able to get a **gasp, gasp** job. :O

Memorial weekend

Well, we had a busy week and a fun filled weekend. We're starting the downward spiral into our last week and a half of school. Give me about 10 days and I'm sure you'll find me whining and crying because I won't have any time to myself with the boys being home 24/7. ;) Until then I'll relish the hours I have left.

We had a really exciting weekend. Grandpa Randy is in town and came over Saturday to hang out with us. He didn't come empty handed either. If traveling through Louisiana one MUST stop at Lea's for pies to share. It's a rule and Randy did not leave us empty handed. We plan on seeing him again tomorrow night for dinner. On Sunday we finally were able to get together with our friends the Alger's. (They were our neighbors in Dallas.) They came over for some swimming and lunch. A good time was had as always. We sure do miss having them right across the street. :(

Yesterday was boring, I guess we are allowed one "throw away" day on a holiday weekend. I did manage to make a darn fine lasagna so I guess the day wasn't a total waste. ;)

Many things on the schedule for this week.....more on those later.

Am I really "Middle-Aged" now?

Well, another year past and I can add one more notch on my pole of life. Whoopee. I remember getting so excited days before my birthday came around. Who would remember? Who would get me a surprise gift? Just 10 years ago I could always count on the 6:30a.m. phone call from my parents to sing Happy Birthday to me. Not that I wish they would keep that tradition going, but it was alwys something I looked forward to. Now-a-days it's not all about me. With a husband and kids it's hard to make a day be entirely about me anymore. Now I have explain to my kids that it's my birthday and listen to them go, "Where's my present?" Huh??? Don't you mean "Here's your present mom."????? And poor Keith, he always has the best intentions but I've found it best to just tell him exactly what to do for my birthday. (i.e. the beautiful and tasty arrangement pictured above that was delivered to my door)

It may not have been a spectacular day, but at least no one had to go to Urgent care, no one threw a tantrum in public and there have been minimal fights in the house today. That, my friends, is enough to make this a VERY good 35th birthday. ;)

Happy Mother's Day!

Whoa! What a Mother's Day. The one day of the year where I can look forward to lots of homemade pictures, hugs and most of all.....a day where I don't have to lift a finger to cook or clean (well, in theory).

It had been a long week of not-so-greatness around here. Last Sunday after running some errands we returned to water leaking from the ceiling in the living room. Ugh! (fish tank- but all is well and no major damage). Then on Monday Parker fell while running through the house and cut his head. Yes, yet one more visit to Urgent Care....when they start yelling "Hey, Mrs. T, who is it this time?" when I walk in the doors I'll officially be mortified. Thankfully we aren't there just yet. Parker required 3 stitches but was a trooper and didn't fight them at all. (Guess he's getting used to this by now.) A few other not worth mentioning blah things happened during the week so I was looking forward to my day of "me". ;)

I was up early to do my regular Sunday morning shopping and when I returned home I was not surprised to see that Parker and Alex were up and Keith was still in bed. What I was surprised to see was that my two boys were enjoying a roll of Sweetarts. Yikes! Sugar that early in the morning in two small children can only lead to good things, right? The boys (including Keith) made a great breakfast and we all got ready to head out for our excursion of the day....a trip to the Zoo!!!

We had a very nice time at the zoo....the boys got to ride on a pony, touch some stingrays and see their favorite animals. Alex fell asleep on the ride home so we decided to follow his lead and we all had naps that afternoon. When it was time to start thinking about dinner Keith got out of cooking by suggesting we head up to Chili's (a suggestion that will never be knocked down by me ;) ). We ended the evening by enjoying the Paradise Pie dessert we brought home from dinner. A decadent way to end a very nice day for mom!

Here we go!

Well, with a little prompting from a few ladies who have always had great ideas I'm going to give this blogging thing a try. Time has shown that Keith is not so great when it comes to keeping up with this stuff. I don't think our "family website" has been updated since X-mas 2006....pathetic. Hopefully all that will change and this will be easy enough for me to figure out on my own so I can keep everyone updated on what's going on with us!

so, I say to myself.....happy blogging.