Positive Things that happened in the past week

Well after my last two posts hosting a bit of the negative side, I decided to focus on the positive for my Thursday Thirteen:


1. This is a picture taken from our Girls Night Out last Friday evening. Top row, Calli, Me. Bottom row, Jen, Sara, and Suzanne. We met at LaDiosa-such a neat place. Great food and atmosphere, I think we have decided that its going to be "our" place. We are going to have monthly meetings and I can't wait for October 20th!!! These pics can also be seen on Sara and Jen's blogs.

2. One day earlier, I was able to attend for the first time, my class's evening women's study that is every other Thursday. We are studying God's purpose for our lives. There were so many people there and many of whom I have not been able to spend a lot of time with so I was thrilled to have the opportunity and hear God speaking through their words.

3. Saturday morning Ty, Olivia, and I joined Meme to watch our neice Hannah play in a volleyball tournament that was not real far from where we live. I saw some people from our church there and had a nice visit and we also went to one of my favorite burger joints for lunch afterward with several other family members along with some people from their town. It was a beautiful fall day and we had a great time.

4. Church Sunday- Trent and I taught last quarter which was neat in a lot of ways, but we really missed our class. We were able to go together Sunday, which we don't get to do a whole lot now b/c he is gone for tournaments so much- in fact he will be this week.

5. Finally got my little girl's room organized and re-arranged with her "new" dresser in place. It looks so cute, I will have to post pics if I ever get around to taking any.

6. Tuesday night Trent and I took on the task and put Ty's new train table together! Well, we have not put together all the buildings and bridge yet, but the table is there and he is THOROUGHLY enjoying it! Thanks Pop and Cita :)

7. Got my freezer, again- new to us, cleaned out and put almost all of our things in. I just have to go pick up things I am storing at my sister-in-law's and Sara's house and then we are good to go!

8. The kids both got flu shots Tuesday, probably not a "positive" thing to them, but hopefully it will be in the long run and neither of them will end up contracting the flu. On a side note, Olivia still has an ear infection in her left ear, getting better but still there. This is why she cried so much Sunday and Monday :( But the positive spin- she is on a baby version of the "Z" pak and already doing better!

9. I slept GREAT the past two nights and its looking like I just had a quick bout with allergies instead of a sinus infection!

10. Got my car washed Tuesday while kids were sleeping after their doctor's appt. I just love a CLEAN CAR!

11. Today is my friend Courtney's birthday but we celebrated at school yesterday with coffee and doughnuts at our early morning staff meeting, well all day we ate really! Mmmmmm.....

12. My sweet mother-in-law met me at school yesterday with my favorite drink in hand as we were making our way out to the car. Such a nice surprise at the end of the day. Have I mentioned that I have the best mother-in-law in the whole entire world???? She is also having us out to her house for dinner tonight which she has started doing on a weekly basis. Its so nice getting together with Trent's side of the family and Ty LOVES playing with his cousins!!!

13. My friend Suzanne was a real blessing to me this week. She is pictured above. I will not go all into why except that she is just a wonderful friend. I met Suzanne the week after Trent and I started dating. She was a good friend of his from college and still is. We hit it off instantly and she has been my friend too ever since. Another one of the many blesesings of having Trent. She is a great listener but will tell you how it is and I appreciate these things about her so much. Plus she is a ton of fun to be with. Whenever we would come back here to visit, before we lived here and she did, we would meet up with all of Trent's friends he grew up with and most of the time Suzanne and I were the only two girls, except for when Sara could make it, also pictured above. Sara is married to our friend Brad and Jen (also pictured above) is married to our friend Jon, two of the boys Trent grew up with. The other girl, Cali, I have had the blessing of getting to know through Sara. They went to pharmacy school together and we are all great friends now.

I really could go way beyond thirteen in counting my blessings this week but I will stop there. Its really neat to go back and do that, especially after you think you have had a hard day! Hope everyone has a great end to the week!

13.

I made it, Thanks God

Well, it was poker night last night so my wish did not come true. However Olivia finally fell asleep and Ty and I took a bath and he slept in my bed with me so it got a little better. Leave it to my sweet little man to put a smile on my face. He is SO precious! God worked in his sweet little words and laugh to remind me that its not all about me. I feel so selfish sometimes and I hate that I do. Of course with one down and one left up it made it a ton easier. Thank you God for giving Olivia a peace to finally rest, she never napped yesterday. She slept until 7 this morning and apprears to be much better. Well I am off to refuel with some caramel truffle coffee, with my fun pumpkin creamer and Tylenol daytime sinus. Thanks for your encouragement and prayers girls............you really have no idea how much that means to me. Also, I would LOVE to see the video Jen. I will be calling you at some point.

It is SO Monday!

Nothing horrible, just one of those days. The dust blew in last week and I am reaping its "benefits" today. I guess I am a little late considering most people were sick last week and over the weekend. That's just a little harder than usual b/c of course all you moms out there know that does not effect whether or not you go to work or how you do your work does it?! I was up almost the entire night with Olivia last night, still not sure why. She was diagnosed with an ear infection in her left ear a week and a half ago but has been on antibiotics since. She was not hot, pulling on her ears or anything. She did have a dirty diaper but all she wants to do is nurse, and I am wanting to WEAN HER!!!! We have an appt. at 1:45 tomorrow, not a fun time with two little kids but that was the best they could do with notice at 3 this afternoon. Also had school today, which went great, but I am all the more tired this evening none the less.

I am really wanting to wean Olivia for a few reasons, the biggest being I have to have not been nursing for a month for lasic eye surgery, which I am hoping to do at the end of November. Its funny how the less you make the more your insurance costs and the more it does not include!!! Another perk of working for a small Christian school as a coach! We will not have vision or dental come January so we are getting everything done while we can and already had our last cleaning last week. Not that its the last forever but probably longer than every 6 months. I know I am a freak, but I love going to the dentist! Well back to lasic, I also have a major dry eye problem which can be a real bad thing if it still exists the time of surgery. I will get my new glasses Wednesday, and be saying goodbye to my contacts forever. This will help in the two rinses I have to do a day, as well as drops five times a day and fish oil (eeewhhh!!) caplets twice a day. I am already having a hard time finding time to drink enough water and eat with keeping house and tending to my ten month old and little boy who takes like 30 trips to the potty a day!!

Olivia has cried almost non stop since we have been home and Ty has been playing with all of his fun battery operated toys that make noise and I have a major headache. I received my new Southern Living a few days ago and put Olivia in the swing with some cheri-o's to get a quick look at it. I am SO wishing that the gumbo with cream and shrimp along with the toasted coconut pecan chocolate chunk pie would appear on my doorstep for dinner tonight. As I type there is a sippy cup in my face with a loud voice saying, "MORE JUICE PLEASE??" This is also as Olivia is pawing at my side STILL crying. If your reading this remotely close to the time I am typing, please say a prayer for my sanity. Trent is at the course with the kids and should be home by 7:30, will I make it until then? How tired will he be since he has been gone since 6 A.M.??? I can't wait for the time change!!!!!!!!!!!

Pop & Cita Visit

My parents came for a visit Sunday through Tuesday, the days Trent was gone for a tournament for the girls in OK. City. As you can see we enjoyed our time together doing fun things like going to the park to feed the ducks and out to Legacy Park for a picnic and playtime. That place is amazing! I need to post pics of just it! Ty also made out with a new train table from Pop, Cita, and great Aunt Mimi! We went to look at a used one today but the lady wanted as much as a new one that was on sale at Toys R Us, so we opted for the new. Poor Trent will be putting that together this week!

The weather has been so nice here so we did some fun fall like things like a trip out to Idalou for the Apple Orchard yesterday. We ate lunch there and looked at the trees. A fun novelty in a smaller town. I think Cita enjoyed it the most! She brought both kids some fun Halloween surprises, little books and a ghost treat bag for Ty. They will be coming back for treat night at our church at the end of next month.

I was so excited to finally have someone along to get some errands done, like Target for some baskets I had wanted since early August, only to find they are no longer there. My other venture was some good looking fake gourds, also not found at Hobby Lobby, my other place I wanted to go. Isn't that always the way, you finally get the time and money and it just doesn't work out! I had all these plans to get things done while they were here to watch the kids and none of them happened. No painted kitchen chairs, no hutch picked up to go on top of Liv's, new to us, dresser, no armoire taken back to the friend who loaned it to us, no box returned to Oriental Trading, for major false advertising on the size of the wreath I ordered, no house work got done either. But a fun time was had by all and I was given the gift of being able to return to bed for an hour and a half this morning after feeding Liv. Man did I need that! There is just never enough time. No Floydada pumpkin patch, the fair is next week but they can't come for that, but mom did make a late night trip to Wal-mart with me and we are stocked up on groceries for the rest of the month, and I was able to finish making some baby gifts for friends. I miss them already and its always a tearful goodbye. Trent is now home and Ty was showing off all his goods from his grandparents and already asking when they are coming back. A fun time was had by all. We missed school monday in order to enjoy them to the fullest and I am so glad we did. Now its back to routine tomorrow. I have two prayer requests for any of you reading. My friend Courtney, whom I teach with. Her dad was in a motorcycle accident last week and broke his neck, shin bone, and wrist. He had surgery this past weekend and is recovering here in town. They are from a smaller town in the area and her mother is staying with her until he is able to return home which should be in a few weeks. His name is James and I am sure he would appreciate your prayers. Also, for Holly who is almost 12 weeks pregnant and due in April!!!! I was more than thrilled to get the news! She had a Dr.'s appt. today and heard the heartbeat! Please pray for a healthy pregnancy and smooth delivery of a healthy baby! That is all for now, hope everyone is having a great week :)

Olivia Lane Is Ten Months Today :)

Well here is something nice about September 11th, Olivia turned ten months today! I can't believe it, two more months and the big ONE! Just crazy how time is flying. Here is a typical moment of her holding on to the coffee table but I don't know how to post movies of her walking around it while holding on. She is now 2'10-3/4 inches tall. She waves bye bye a lot and says "b" as she is doing it. I don't know if its specific or not but she also makes a "m" sound when she is crying and I go in to get her. She loves playing "peek-a-boo" with her brother and laughs out loud at him often. His face makes her smile. She holds a grudge when Daddy gets on to her, and even gives him the pouty lip after smiling at others when he tries to make nice! She throws her head down on the ground and lets out a noise when she is in trouble for things like getting in the dog's water and food, which she LOVES to do! It seems she might be our dramatic one! She is in constant motion except when nursing or sleeping. She prefers to stand than sit and has the sweetest old lady gummy smile when she scrunches up that little face as she makes snorty noises! She cracks us up!

Time Marches On

Well we had our first day of school yesterday. I took pictures with my old fashioned camera. It seems like those are the only ones that ever actually get developed! It could not have gone better. I was up late the night before getting our lunches and bags ready and was giddy with excitement. Ty had a ball in his class! His teachers are WONDERFUL. They are both new this year. His teacher goes to another church in town and has two teenage children. She is SO enthusiastic and her incredible faith is just obvious. I am thrilled to have her. We have been SO incredibly blessed all three years Ty has been in school to not just have nice and good teachers, but very passionate and dedicated ones! I am also so glad that Olivia is in my good friend Sandy's class that loves her like she is hers! My little class is just precious and they all were good and using their manners on the first day!!!! They are only three!!!!! I will have to take pictures next week.

Trent was able to come get Ty for a little while today and took him up to work. He got to meet basketball players and play a little ball! He was telling me all about the big tall guys, one apparently named Josh. He had a ball. While he was off with Dad, Liv took her nap and I was all over the house like flight of the bumble bee! I broke a sweat and had to turn the air up! Its amazing how much you can get done in an hour and a half if you are not interuppted! I got to mop my kitchen floor. I never thought I would phrase it like that before, I do not enjoy house work but I sure enjoy the satisfaction when its done! Do you ever notice when you get down to the gritty like that you see more than you do in your every day living and wonder how could you live in such filfth!?! I got a lot of laundry done and dusted as well. A rather productive day after being gone everyday this week. My house is by no means clean but I am off to a good start and there is stil tommorrow!

My little Livvy is just a growing! She is almost ten months, on the 11th. She is now holding on to objects and walking, like around the coffee table, couch, etc. My coffee table by the way has now become a train table. I am not down with that but there is just no other place at the moment. I need to go garage-saling and find an old gently used table for my train loving boy. He freaks out when she starts coming already telling her, "No ma'am!" After a few thumps on the hand she has learned to look and not touch. She sure loves to look though! She is eating some table food now, although still no teeth. She can do diced ham, black-eyed peas, peas, cheese bites, french fries, crackers, and still eats a lot of mushy things like oatmeal, mac n'cheese, and all the veggies I make her mixed with rice cereal. Not sure what she weighs now but if its not much its not due to her diet! She eats four gerber bowls a day with either fruit or veggies and still nurses 4-6 times a day! She is finally in her age of clothes although pants are still big on the waist.

Well the rest of my day is going to be spent on organization! I can't wait to get hers and my closet done! She will be down for her afternoon nap soon and Ty will be up any minute so its on to the next thing!