Fourth of July Celebration

We went to the City of Forney fireworks show and it was really cool.  I really enjoyed myself.  We had perfect seats parked in the orthodontist's parking lot and got out of there before the traffic started. 

We even got to take a little train ride!  Choo-choo!

New Puppy!

Today we got a new puppy! Our very first dog ever! We are so excited! He is a Morkie. A mix between a Maltese and a Yorkie. He is a teacup dog. He will only grow to be about 3 pounds! He is 9 weeks old! He is Ryleigh's puppy, but if it doesn't work out with the sharing, he will become the family dog. We are trying to decide on a name!

RSV!

I took Preston to the doctor's today and found out that he has RSV-Respiratory Syncytial Virus. She said it takes 21 days to get over. He is not supposed to go anywhere for 7 days. Poor little guy. He has to have breathing treatments. One good thing is that I did find out that he weighs 19.6 lbs. I am curious to weigh Jackson and see how many pounds before Preston surpasses him.

My new haircut

I got my haircut yesterday. I seem to go 9 months to a year between haircuts. Looks a lot healthier. :)

Cookie Time

Cassidy is a Girl Scout now and it is cookie time. She is super excited about selling girl scout cookies!

SIZE 3

It's offical! My 2 1/2 year old and my 6 month old wear the same size diapers now! They are both in size 3! J is small for his age and has no buns and P is big for his age and has juicy buns! I love them both.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!! 2012

Wow! Time truly flies! This year I want to do better and actually blog pieces of my life so that I can remember them. I am looking forward to this year. John graduates and we will begin a new chapter of our lives. R turns 16 and can date (not really looking forward to that, but she is). M turns 14 and can go to dances. C turns 11. S turns 7(one more year until he is baptized). JJ will turn 3 and P turns 1. Yea! I have many blessings and many things to be thankful for and many things to work on(this being one of them).

Here is Stephen all decked out in his warmest clothes. He was soaking wet by the end and miserable. Good thing we had some hot chocolate on hand.

This was our first snow day in Dallas! It kept coming down. The kids loved being out of school and enjoyed playing in the snow, but it was so cold! Even John got to stay home with us! We loved it!

Makenna's 12th Birthday Party

Makenna decided to have a "Splash Bash" for her 12th birthday Party since we finally have a neighborhood pool. It has been so HOT here in Texas, but of course the night before Makenna's party it started to rain. It rained and rained and rained the next morning. And with rain, usually comes cooler weather. So we had all her friends come to the house and we opened presents, had cake and ice cream and made some crafts. The rain had stopped so we made it over to the pool and the kids swam in the cold water. We gave everyone pails filled with fun stuff as their "goodie bags". Everyone had a fun time!

Just Hangin' Around

Today started out as any other day, running 4 different kids to 3 different places, shopping at Sam's Club and then picking Stephen up from "Joy School". I had just come in, unloaded kids and groceries, fed Jackson and Stephen lunch and was about to make myself something to eat, when there was a knock at the door. It was one of my neighbors from the back, whom I had never met. She introduced herself as Donna and asked if I could please come help her. There was a cat stuck in the fence hanging by his back leg and bleeding. I said, "Oh no, I hope it's not my cat!" She quickly described him and it sounded like Thumper. Jackson was in his exersaucer and Stephen was playing Wii. I explained to Stephen that there was a hurt cat outside and I needed to see if it was our cat, Thumper. I told Stephen to help Jackson stay happy. I went outside to where the cat was, in my next door neighbor's,the Hortonstines, backyard, but they were not home and their gate was locked. So, we had to try and climb over the fence. After several attempts, I went and grabbed a stool and Donna climbed over the fence and let me in. Sure enough it was Thumper! He was hanging by his back paw and trying to get loose. Blood was all over the fence. He had somehow fallen in the crack where all of our fences meet and wedged his paw down until he was hanging 3 feet above the ground. I lifted him up and tried to relieve the pressure on his leg. Donna in the meantime had jumped the fence to her yard and was inside her house. After a few long moments, not knowing if Donna was going to come back and thinking that I left my 4 year old and almost 8 month old in the house, I needed to do something quick! I had brought my phone outside, but my neighbor had set it just out of reach. I had to stretch my foot really far and after a couple of tries, I was finally able to scoot the phone over to me. I tried to call John and another friend, but neither one answered. I was kind of starting to panic thinking I would have to just let Thumper dangle there a little longer, when all of a sudden Donna came back with another neighbor. Mean while, Stephen had come out, with no shoes on, screaming and crying for me. So I asked the neighbor if she wouldn't mind holding Thumper up while I helped Stephen and checked on Jackson. She of course did. The other neighbor called Animal Control and we both got locked out of the gate again. We had to lift Stephen over the fence and try and talk him down off the fence so he could go unlock the gate. Another neighbor, Bubba, showed up to help us and we were able to get through the gate. I went over to relieve Donna, who was still holding Thumper up, but as I did, he bit her. Blood started squirting everywhere! He hit a vein. I felt horrible. She was on her lunch break and had to go back to work, as an orthodontic assistant. She asked me if he was up to date on his shots and of course, he was not. Donna left, the other neighbor went into my house to check on Jackson, which my house was a complete mess, with dishes everywhere and groceries still sitting out. Bubba and his son stayed and helped me and we were finally able to get Thumper free. I set him down and he was dragging his foot and it looked totally broken to me. I loaded him up in the cat carrier and off we went to the vet's. To my surprise his leg was not broken. The vet said it would heal on it's own. As soon as I got home and got all the kids picked up, the phone rang. It was one of Ryleigh's friends' mom asking about the cat. I was telling her the story, when she asked me if I reported the bite. No sooner had I said no, when there was a knock on the door. It was a man from Animal Control. He asked me if my cat had bit someone. I said yes. He said he was going to have to take Thumper and have him quarantined for 10 days to see if he had rabies. Two days later, they called to say he had to be taken to a vet's because they couldn't take care of him with his injured leg. Eight days later, he came home, still dragging his foot and his tail hairs missing, but alive and no broken bones. I wouldn't recommend getting to know your neighbors this way!

Lights at the Zoo

Tonight we went to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. I had never been to the zoo at night before this. It was a lot of fun! It was very cold. They had fake snow blowing in certain spots throughout the zoo and the kids loved it. We were able to see all the Christmas lights and it was beautiful! I think my favorite part was seeing the koala bears. They were actually awake and one of them had a baby. Jackson slept through the whole thing. It was a fun start to 2010, our New Year!