Season's Greetings!

Haley has done it for us again!! She's just incredible & shows more and more talent with every shot...check her out at LauraHaleyPhotography

CHEERS!

It's AUGUST...what a relief!

What a PERFECT greeting to start this first Monday of August!  I, for one, am SOOOO relieved July is over.  But not for the typical reason of kids heading back to school, because I actually LOVE having all my babies home and our laid back schedule.  I have not missed attending PTA  meetings, squeezing in homework around all other extra activities,  getting up at the crack of dawn to make breakfasts and lunches...nope!  I just haven't missed all of that at all!  To tell you the truth, I feel like our summer just started!  I've been a TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE blogger and have steered clear of the computer as much as possible.  June was full of many special events, all of which, I do hope to have pictures posted soon, and lots and lots and LOTS of swim team!! So we were still "having" to be places at certain times & certain days.  It was a great and fun experience, but I was so happy when July 1st came.  It was my birthday, and our summer could officially begin!  Family activities were planned all involving relaxation, so it was all gonna be good!  My birthday was wonderful...4th of July was awesome...the 5th we headed out for a Holland family reunion of sorts, and then news from home about one of our Kindergarten teachers came...she had suffered a stroke at the very young age of 43.  She had not been our teacher, but I knew her from being our PTA teacher rep, hallway conversations, and the fact that our school is luckily still pretty small.  Lisa was also the mother of two boys, the youngest of which, was just going to be in 4th grade.  After the initial reports of things looking ok, 6 days later she was gone!  Her funeral was very beautiful & personal and our school came together like no other tying every tree and pole standing with a red ribbon...her favorite color.  It was a moving, awesome sight!  Our school had been marked by her heartprints forever!

Another part of why our June was so crazy was due to the fact that I was experiencing lots of first trimester yuckiness!  Yep...we were expecting baby #4 and man, was my body showing it!  I probably looked like I was already 4 -5 months along, just at 10 weeks!  The kids were so excited debating about whether it would be a boy or girl and all their various name suggestions.  By the second week of July, I was finally starting to get some energy back and feeling good, convincing myself I most definitely could handle being the mother of 4.  But, there were other plans in store for us and our baby.  Going in for my first "official" appointment and sharing the fact that I had been experiencing some spotting/bleeding the day or so before, we found out that I had miscarried.  The baby was only measuring 7 weeks when it should have been 12, and there was no heartbeat.  All my fears that had been swimming through my head the hours before had been confirmed.  I shared with friends, I feel blessed, if that is strange or weird to say, that this is the first time, after having 3 beautiful babies, that we have had to go through this.  I knew of many who had, and after sharing with my friends, learned of so, so, so many more who had also gone through this experience.  What I wasn't expecting that day at the doctor's office, was to find out that I would have to have a D&C that Friday.  Again, didn't know even what that was, where I would go, how long it took, but here we were.  Wes and I both were googling info about it online just to comfort ourselves.  I've never had to "be under" for any kind of procedure before, so I was very VERY nervous about all that.  But all went well, Wes was and has been there for me, and I think we have been there for each other, every step of the way.  We've been tested in lots and lots of ways the last couple of years, losing Wes' dad in 2007, work/job stresses, but they've been issues we had to deal with, for the most part, on our own.  This was something we were going through together, from the moment I had to make that painful phone call to tell him we'd lost the baby, and him dropping everything at work in order to come home to be with me.  This has made us even stronger and for that, if something good must come of it, we are grateful.

Then if July couldn't bring any more heartache, we learned of a family that we know in Cuero, who just lost their son in a 4 wheeler accident.  He would have been a senior at our old high school and was a returning player for the football team.  Some of our extended family on Wes' side, is related to them, and have had to deal with this all firsthand since Cole was with them when the accident occurred.  Local and nearby towns have come to cover the sadness shared by so many.  It certainly has put our sadness in a whole new perspective, while at the same time, given us the drive to go forward with our lives, enjoying our 3 incredible children, whom we love to the moon & back and get to enjoy here on this Earth.  

So, CHEERS to August!  And for the happy, joyous memories we hope for it to bring...especially starting tomorrow when we'll be enjoying some R & R at the local lazy river for a little hiatus!

I hope to catch up on all my blog buddies and see how you are doing these next few days, but for now, know that I consider myself a citizen of blogland once again!!  Thank you for not giving up on me!

IT'S A BRAND NEW DAY!!!

Needing a Lift??

Early Mother's Day Treats

I hope everyone had an awesome Mother's Day!  Ours was a very laid back kinda day...church, brunch, and swimming followed by delicious leftovers from my hubby's superb dinner the night before!  Can't beat that!  

Mother's Day actually started a couple days earlier around here...on Thursday, all 3 kiddos to The Holland Five, had special mother's day events planned at their schools so I was fed AND pampered like never before!  Very, very fun!

The morning started off with a Mother's Day Tea party in Sam's class...Sam sat with me for a couple minutes, then with goldfish crackers in hand, ran off to play with his friends.  

Sweet & yummy!

After lunch at the elementary school, Annie and the 2nd grade class, were able to decorate their very own mother's day cake to bring home for the small cost of $6 AND HEB donated $1 back per cake to the school.   They furnished the aprons, hats, cakes, frosting, decorations & supplies...and they cleaned up the mess!  

What a fun project!  

THE FINISHED PROJECT!!!  It was yummy too & gone very quickly!

My afternoon was topped off with a trip to the Kindergarten Day Spa...

The daddies provided the chilled bottled water, all we had to do was bring our makeup, nail polish, and hairbrush...our very own kindergarteners did the pampering!  To see Jack in this fashion was a HOOT!!!  He was sooooo sweet to me, offered me something to drink, led me by the hand to the massage chair, then made me OH SO BEAUTIFUL!!  Such a unique experience that will probably NEVER happen again with me & Jack, so I treasured every moment!!  

Really, really fun & sweet!  

Don't I look FAB-u-LOUS?!?  I didn't touch a thing as he did it all!  And even took pictures!

Then presented me with my very own paper flower!  I wish you could really see my really, really rosy cheeks, one eyelid with pink shadow, and pink lipstick ALL around the perimeter of my lips...with the low lighting & soft music, it just wasn't possible!!  I don't wear much makeup and what I do wear are soft colors, so I guess that made me pretty "safe"!  But the teachers thought of EVERYTHING and had comment cards for us to fill out about OUR stylist and a sticker to wear out the door that said "I Just Came From The Kindergarten Day Spa" as a disclaimer if we were to be going anywhere afterwards.  

So cute!  

On Sunday, I was given many special things, but what I look forward to the most, are the new children's books they pick out for me every year, with their handprint and a note written inside.  Wes started this when Annie was born, and I've told them all, if you can't do anything else for Mother's Day, they MUST continue with this tradition!  They love pulling out books from MY library to measure their handprint against their younger ones and reading what they told Daddy to write.  What's even better, is now they are getting to start writing their own messages...LOVE, LOVE those!  

Not sure why the pictures are sideways...just go with it!

Annie's handprint almost filling up the page now!  (sniff, sniff)

Sam's reference to me as "Mama Bear" which he calls me every night at bedtime...

And Jack's debut to writing his own for the first time...at least most of it.  I think he may have had some help with the spelling though...

each one, EACH YEAR, ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS!!

Hoping you're still beaming in the afterglow of love from your special "babies"!  

Any special, unique treasure that you'd like to share??

Life Has Been...

 a little crazy!!!

Life has been...

Easter egg hunts at two schools...

Easter parties...

out of town to celebrate Easter with our families...

a Kindergarten performance at the PTA meeting at which our own little Kindergartener's role was affectionately known as "FLOWER #7"

 chaperoning on a 2nd grade field trip to the Riverwalk...

chaperoning on a Kindergarten field trip to the zoo...

working on planning summer...

getting  signed up for swim team...

interviewing candidates for preschool teaching positions...

preschool board meetings...

PTA board meetings...

Jack's golf lessons on Mondays...

Annie's dance lessons on Thursdays...

Girl scouts every other Monday...

Sam's Little Gym on Fridays...

Annie's "try it" scout meeting where we took a field trip to our vet clinic then hosted the girls at our house afterwards...

a hat parade...

Sam's special day at school & buying the ingredients for his class to make his favorite recipe...

baking goodies for the school office for secretaries week...

FIESTA!!!...

Oyster Bake...

making two floats for school Fiesta parades...

attending two parades at two schools...

floating back & forth between two school Fiesta parties...

cheering for the Spurs...

watching the Spurs lose early...

getting ready for First Communion...

trying to find a date when the majority of our family can come...

completing her catechism homework so she can make First Communion...

ordering her dress...

turning paperwork in...

JUBILEE!!!...

working with my best friend on our second year as silent auction co-chairs...

living up at the preschool while we get all the auction stuff put together...

typing up over 100 display signs to be framed for the auction...

marking Jubilee off the list...

Life has been...

writing a letter to the principal sharing my thoughts on good matches for my kids' teachers next year...

Teacher Appreciation Week...

delivering lunch to Annie's teacher on Monday...

delivering lunch to Jack's teacher on Tuesday...

wrapping a dozen muffins for all the other teachers that they have throughout the week...

shopping for little tokens to fit in with each day's theme for the teachers...

dealing with a fevering Jack...

getting him to the doctor in between dropping Sam off at school & picking lunch up for the teachers...

feeling lucky it's only a sinus infection!  No swine flu here...thank goodness!...

All while still trying to make healthy breakfasts, lunches, dinners...

work on homework...

study for spelling tests...

and get them everywhere they need to be, hopefully ON TIME!

And NOW...Life is...

catching up on laundry laid out on the couch ready to be hung...

paying bills...

updating the family calendar so we can finally turn the page to May...

putting our house back together after a lot of neglect...

Wow!!  I always seem to forget how crazy Spring can be...I guess it's the golden light of summer shining at the end, that seems to get us through & keep us going...

I'm willing to bet your schedules sound very similar!!  So for all you awesome moms out there running around like a chicken with your head cut off,  

YOU ROCK!!!

We're not sure if our kids know if this is all for them, but I hope one day they will...

I've missed everyone so much & CAN'T WAIT to get back out into blogland to see what everyone has been up to!  And yes, Day 5 from New York is coming!!!  Even my mom was telling me that she was getting a little tired of seeing the Statue of Liberty...

HAVE A VERY, VERY HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!  

I hope you get to spend it doing everything you love with ALL those you love!

BTW...you're listening to my NEW favorite song...doesn't it make you just CRAVE SUMMER?!?

Enjoy!!

In Mourning...

WE LOVE YOU, SPURS!!!  

It just wasn't our year...but man, what a record to go this many seasons!!

Maybe some other teams can share what they do during the month of May...it's all new to us!

Day 4-Lady Liberty!!!

Day 4 of our trip to NYC and it was our day to go visit the Statue of Liberty.  I think all of us were really excited about this because she is such a recognized symbol EVERYWHERE, that it was going to be neat to actually see her in person.  We were on our own again, so you know what that means...there was adventure involved!!!  We took the tram from the station below Cathy & Walt's house to the bus station at Freedom Park where we hoped to hop a bus and take us right to the liberty ferry.  Well, once we got there, we discovered the bus only runs on Fridays in the summer and it would be a 20-30 minute walk.  Ok...not bad...but if you can't tell from the pictures, it was FREEEEEEZZZZZING!!!  It was our coldest day here, despite the sunny skies...it was 25 degrees and we were doing everything we could to stay warm & get where we needed to be.  After our late night adventure across New Jersey just a few hours earlier, this Friday the 13th was quite a day!

Here we are...on our "TRAIL OF TEARS" or so Wes named it...you do what you can to find the humor in it all!

Our first up close sight of "Lady Liberty"...we knew we were on the right track!

Gettin' closer...

We made it to the ferry boat...so happy to sit!

We arrived to the island...and were STARVING!!  Not much room inside to eat, so we sat outside, in the freezing cold, but look at our company above us!!  Can't get a much better lunch guest than that!

Back view...

The best close up view you can get...hard to get anyone in the picture w/her this close...The island was soooo crowded, such a special place for so many!

Leaving Ellis Island...

We just couldn't get enough of her...the kids were in awe!  Sam continues to say to this day that Statue of Liberty was his favorite part of the whole trip...pretty neat for a 3 1/2 year old!

Headin' back to the city...

Kindness of strangers...

GORGEOUS!!!

My picture could be used as a postcard...

Coming up...Day 5-our last day!  Wes and I hit the city on our own again(uh-oh) to visit Ground Zero, Soho, and just mess around the city before meeting the kids at Rockefeller for some ice skating, the 4 story American Girl store and the 4 story Toys R Us...you can guess that that was an exhausting day!!!  Sensory overload!!!  See you soon...

Day 3-A Day in the City, Central Park and Broadway Night

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS A LOT OF PICTURES!!!

Day 3...Our day to roam around NYC as Walt & Cathy gave us a driving/walking tour of the big city.  It was a GORGEOUS day, so we were very excited!!  Tonight was the night Wes and I had tickets for Jersey Boys and were going to go out for dinner, completely on our own, so it was going to be a chock full day too!

See...I was here!!  Ready to hit the town!  

We drove down many incredible, famous streets, but I was in the very back of the suburban, breaking up fights between our children(yes, even in NYC they fight) so I didn't get a chance to snap many pictures on the drive.  We finally made our first stop in Greenwich Village and Soho...probably one of my favorite areas.  So many cute shops, delis, bakeries, the buildings were just kept so neat.  

Had to get a shot of Murray's Cheese Shop...you know one of Bobby Flay's favs...I looked around for Rachael Ray everywhere, but didn't find her, so this was next best!  How cool to have an entire shop devoted just for cheese!  It smelled incredible!

Don't we look like we fit right in??

The kids, and ALL of us, were starving...Walt knew just the place to take us...Gray's Papaya...the home of awesome hot dogs & fruit drinks...sounds like a crazy combo, but it was delish!

We walked around just taking in all the sights & sounds, then got back in the car to hit Central Park.  This was probably the place I was looking forward to seeing the most, and it did NOT disappoint...BEAUTIFUL!!! 

This old-fashioned carousel was gorgeous with all its ornate beauty...so fun!

I have never seen a park kept so immaculately!  Incredible!

Giving change to a sidewalk musician...sweet!

Showing off their hairstyles for the day...I'm not a braider, but luckily Ninny is...Annie knew just who to ask!

Jack INSISTED on wearing a mohawk every day in New York...guess he wanted to blend right in with all the uniqueness!  He got so many comments from strangers on how cool his hair was...that made him grin!

Then we have our little Polite New Yorker, Sam...with the conditions so dry, his hair was ALL over the place.  

Gorgeous views everywhere you looked!  I couldn't stop taking pictures!!

Back in the car, we found Lady Liberty a day early, standing on a street corner...Sam said

 "That guy freaked me out!"

Took this picture for my brother...unfortunately, no love for the Spurs in the window here!

Then we arrived...3 stories of sugar highness...Dylan's Candy Bar!  The sweet smell hits ya right as you enter the door!

The kids wasted NO time filling up bags...in fact today, here at home, we still are enjoying the last pieces from our shopping spree there.

CHOCOLATE!!!

With our bags full, it was time to head back to the house, so Wes and I could get ready to come back for our night out!

Night time shots...

Broadway here we come!!

JERSEY BOYS was awesome!!  If you have a chance to see it anywhere...YOU MUST!!  Wes said it best...it was like a show and a concert all in one!  So cool to read the credits of the actors here...one of the guys is from All My Children, another from Law & Order.  

Then we decided our feet would much rather sit in a PediCab, then walk, so that was fun!

It truly never sleeps!  Lights and ads everywhere!!

Our bicyclist even offered to take a picture of us...very nice!

The famous Times Square New Year's Ball!!  How many years have we watched this incredible display on so many midnights??

We decided on Roxy's as our perfect after show place to have a little somethin' somethin'

Did I say LITTLE something???  Wes went a little bigger route...it was YUMMY!!!  And we ate on it for a couple days after...

My cheesecake and black/white cookie were nothing to shy from either...guess everything is bigger in Texas AND New York!  Yes, Monica, black/white cookies do seem to be everywhere, and I made it my mission to try almost every single one of 'em...they passed MY test for deliciousness!  

It was getting close to midnight, so we made our way to the bus station, then headed back to Cathy & Walt's...or so we thought!  Let's just say, we missed our connection one way or another, I've never been one to point fingers, so we'll just leave it at that, and ended up 45 minutes away from their house in another part of New Jersey.  It took a $45 taxi ride and nearly two hours, to get back home.  That was a ride we'll never forget!  Despite our tries to fit in like regular New Yorkers, guess we are just visiting Texans after all...

Those Jersey Boys, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons said it best...

"OH WHAT A NIGHT!"

Coming up...Day 4 Statue of Liberty!