Better day and not...

a better day. Weird day really. My in-laws are watching the kids this afternoon while I get my hair cut. B talked to them about it yesterday. He also asked them to watch them one evening for a date night. Love a free babysitter. Anyway, B's ruffled feathers yesterday smoothed over by yesterday evening. He decided to take some advice of mine to be a duck. Be a duck and let things roll off your back like beads of water over duck feathers. Today he is back at work and while I am out my in-laws are taking the kids to lunch. They keep asking me to go but as I am not sure what time I will be done I can't totally commit. I will call to catch up with them when I am done.

Aidan needed to return a book to the school library this morning and Grandpa offered to drive him over there. Aidan said to him, "Grandpa it is so close, we should just walk there." I am so proud of him! My Aidan asking his Grandpa to walk somewhere is a big deal. Grandpa is not one for exercise. He does not play golf even without a golf cart. He might be exhausted when he gets back though.

The not so better part of the day is the fact that I was having auras this morning. Bad sign of a migraine to come. Not an allergy or hormone related one either. Took some Excedrin and feel the twinge but I am hoping I caught it in time. I would hate to be so sick with the in-laws here.

Baby Stellan seems to be doing a bit better this morning. I have been keeping up with mckmama's twitter account. Keep praying for that sweet little one as he seems to be headed for surgery in Boston very soon. Later everyone!

Too many things...

on my mind today. The little boy Stellan that I pray for is not doing well. Please pray for him if it comes to mind today. My husband is upset with his Dad about a situation that occurred this morning. B goes back to work so tomorrow I am alone with the in-laws except for a rescheduled hair appointment. I hate asking them to sit for the kids because it always seems like such an imposition on them. Ah me, it is Monday what can I say. B, Aidan and the rents are out playing golf this afternoon so Ainsley is headed with me to work at the church this afternoon. B is not off until Friday so the rest of this week is going to be a long one. Well I am off, things to do and people to see.

Pray pray pray!

Good things going on. Good things. I need all my prayerful friends to be praying here. I can't be anymore specific than that as it is not my story to tell. Sorry to be vague, but I will share more when I can. Thanks bunches!

Argh!

MY IN-LAWS ARE GOING TO BE HERE THIS AFTERNOON NOT TOMORROW AFTERNOON! My house is not ready! I have one of my kiddos friends coming this afternoon because the weren't supposed to be here until Friday. They called last night to say they were settled in Illinois for the night. Who comes to visit someone a day earlier than expected? I have no food ready because I was headed to the store today and the thing needs 2 days to marinate. No roast for them! I will be flexible and I will get over this. Pray for me!

Getting ready for guests...

I am spending this week getting ready for my in-laws visit this Friday. I am assuming they are on their way, but we have not heard from them to know for sure. They take a much longer time to make the trip north than we do. My poor kids have had so many invitations for activities this weekend and I have said no to almost all of them. We will make some stops by by some birthday parties to drop off gifts and that is it. I am not even certain if they will make it for dinner, but I will have something on hand just in case. B will at least have a few days off to spend some time with them so hopefully it will be a bit better than their last visit spending most of their time with me while I shuffled Aidan to school.

Not much else going on otherwise. Aidan has tremendously improved on the bike riding. The training wheels are now off and he is struggling a bit with the new method of getting started since he is no longer balancing on 4 wheels. We upgraded Ainsley to a new bike as well, a big girl bike with training wheels. She is doing very well with hers too. Her only problem is getting herself to stop with the brake or the back pedal. It will come with time. I will have to get some pictures of my improving cyclists. It has been nice having the free time to let them loose in our alleyway.

Many things coming down the pipe in the next month. In-laws, vacation bible school, B is taking Aidan to Colorado for the in-laws fishing trip, and back to school shopping. I think clothing wise they are set for a while but we will need to get supplies and Aidan a new backpack. Ahh well, much to do and I am stalling avoiding work while Ainsley eats her breakfast. I had better get to it. Later taters!

New Bathroom

This was the color I chose called Glacier Mist. It was a little darker than I anticipated. This is one coat of paint. I am pleased with how it turned out...a nice blue grey color. Put together bathroom with lighting. You can see some of my products as the medicine cabinet doors are still not done. I need to get on the hubs about that.

Put together bath with natural lighting. I have the curtain drawn so it blocks the light from the window. Typically we have a bit more natural lighting in here. Yes, that means we have a window in our shower, but I will say it is frosted glass and I have a second frosted shower curtain to keep things dry. This is just one of the many oddball things in an old house that had a bath only.

What do you think?

Bathroom remodel...

I not sure if you would actually want to call this a remodel because to me a remodel is a full gut of the area in question. Not what we were prepared to do. This is the project that B decided to work on while we were away because of the mess and dust it created. He replaced the plaster ceiling and repaired cracks in the wall plaster. He originally wanted to replace all the dry wall, vanity, and mirror/medicine cabinet combo. I had my concerns because with an old house you never know what you will find when you start removing things. All I really wanted was the repair to the ceiling and to repaint. Once again we had this red in the bathroom. This is the same red that we painted over in the bedroom last summer. This being such a small bathroom the color was very oppressive. When B started removing said mirror and medicine cabinet. He discovered what it was covering. He then abandoned the idea of replacing anything and settled for painting to freshen up. This first hole looks like it was there when the tile was originally installed. This second hole seems like it was made at some point after the initial installation. If anyone has any suggestions as to what these holes might have been at some point I would like to hear them. They are not very big and don't seem to have any plumbing in them, but they are in the sink area.

The finished product pictures are still on my camera. Hopefully I will post them for you tomorrow. B had not finished the work when we got home, so I ended up helping with the painting as he left for a business trip the Monday after we returned. I had picked out the paint for him while I was in Houston which was kind of strange. I spent a ton of time second guessing myself. In the long run though I think it turned out pretty nice. Later!

Busy Recovery Week...

last week I spent most of my time trying to get caught up after our trip and entertaining the peanut gallery. Fortunately, they are happy with the small things in life like getting wet in the sprinkler, getting wet in our little pool and trips to the library and park. I also am still volunteering at church, and my children can entertain each other in one of the classrooms. I don't have to worry that Ainsley is driving everyone crazy and getting into mischief in the church office because Aidan entertains and watches over her. Love it.





I have some pictures of the bathroom redo B started while we were away. I am not sure how to get them out of my e-mail as they are not attachements, but I will hopefully figure it out and post those.





Aidan started his Get Ready for 2nd grade program this summer. He was the rock star on Monday as all the kids ran out of the class room to greet him. He seems to be a popular little man. He is improving in the bike riding department. He just had to get over his fear after his crash 2 summers ago! Once he is scared of something he is a difficult one to get to change his mind. I think he has noticed that all the other kids his age can ride and he can't. Yesterday, the bike came out without me even having to ask him. Now that is a big deal. I am thinking the training wheels can come off soon.





Ainsley will hopefully be able to get a larger bike this week. I am hoping if our babysitter situation works out for Friday that B and I can run to the store then and pick it up. Speaking of babysitters here is the story...I asked B to check with his co-worker if her daughter would mind babysitting on Saturday so we could get a dinner out. He does this and it is all arranged. He comes home from work on Monday and realizes that Saturday is the birthday party for one of his employees and he had already committed to go. He asks if he can switch the babysitter to Friday. It is fine with me, but she turns out to be unavailable. So, this morning he calls me and asks me to call sitter number 2 or he can ask number 1 to come on Saturday and he could just leave the party early to go out with me. So, I called sitter number 2 and am waiting to hear back from her. We will see what unfolds.

The Houston Leg of our trip...

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After stopping for lunch on the drive to Houston, my kids crashed in the car. Both slept for nearly 2 hours and essentially were asleep the rest of the way into Houston. My in-laws saved us some cash and allowed us to borrow their car...a very fancy Lexus. Too many bells am whistles me to learn to use so quickly. I had all kinds of trouble with the GPS that my FIL had programmed for me. I digress.


I was exhausted after our long drive so we took it easy upon arriving and my Aunt and Grandmother came to visit. My sister came over as well after work and we all headed out to dinner. Friday was scorching hot and humid again so my parents took us to see Night at the Museum 2. Amazingly my kids loved it! I got to tell Aidan a bit about some of the historical figures we saw which was really kind of fun. We then stopped for lunch at my favorite Chick-Fil-A and the kids had a chance to play in their play area...also air conditioned. We later made a stop at my Aunt and Uncle's house to visit with them and my Grandmother as well. Saturday was another hot one so my parents took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. That is my mother's "thing" with them. Whenever we visit she takes the kids there and they love it!

The beauty of it is that we went early. The kids had a blast and it was also Air Conditioned!

Sunday we visited my parent's church. It was weird to see my Dad at church worshipping. Still something I can't quite get my brain around, but I am happy he is there. After getting a chance to rest that afternoon we headed over to my Aunt and Uncle's house for home made Thai food. Crab Fried Rice and Pad Thai. For those of you that don't know, my Aunt's husband is from Thailand and a real favorite with my kids. He is a big kid himself and willingly gets down on the floor with them to play board games and other activities of their making.

This is the family. I cut off my Dad in this one, but I have another picture with him in it. My Mom and Aidan are on the couch with my sweet Abuela...the reason for this trip. My Aunt, my Mom's sister, is standing behind the couch.
And of course, this is the favorite Uncle T with Ainsley. Both my kiddos love him dearly.

Monday was a low key day because I had to run some errands, but my Mom set up the little pool she bought for the kids so they could get wet in the back yard. They had a blast and I have no pictures. Bad Mommy moment.

Tuesday we did a bit of shopping at Katy Mills and we were pleased to discover that they had put in a play area. The kids normally will get a carousel ride as a treat, but this time they also had the opportunity to run around a bit in the air conditioning. Do we see a recurring trend here?

After plenty of play time and a little shopping. We went to my sister's house to swim.

We met up with my brother in law later for more Mexican food. Needless to say, he ended up with a terrible case of heartburn after mistakenly getting a hold of a hot pepper.



Wednesday was also low key as I was doing some wash and packing up everything to head back to DFW on Thursday. On Thursday we drove through our old stomping gorounds to meet up with a friend of mine who was actually visiting my husband and her family in Wi when I was in DFW the week before. Poor planning on my part. Oh well.

We met her at McDonalds so the kids could play and eat. Our flight left super early the next morning. We were exhausted. It was a long time for the kids to be away from Dad. They were estatic to see him as was I. Home again home again and catching up ever since. That's it for our travels. Later tater tots!

The DFW leg of our trip...

We got off to a not so great start as far as our travelling was concerned. We had an evening flight as it was cheapest to make our airline miles go the furthest. Needless to say it was stormy in Chicago and Milwaukee so our flight was delayed about an hour and a pretty bumpy trip. It was after 10 when we arrived at the in-laws house so I put the kids straight to bed. The next morning we were fresh for visiting. The kids did a bunch of swimming that Saturday and it was a perfect chance for me to get settled and recover. Also, we had to chance to spend the day with B's Grandpa. The next day was Father's day and after making the rounds of phone calls the afternoon was spent visiting with B's Aunt and Uncle and Cousins and their children. It was a great opportunity for my kiddos to play with other kids...especially since these kids are the closest thing we have to cousins right now.

I have always been very attached to these girls as well as their Mama. She is B's cousins wife and I just love her dearly.

The next day we attempted a trip to the zoo. After getting a very late start on the day we finally arrived. The heat was terrible and I spent a ton of money on bottled water to keep my kiddos hydrated.

This photo was taken at the start of the adventure. Needless to say it is only 1 of 2 photos that I was able to take of the day. As we headed to the next enclosure, I had camera in hand ready to snap another picture when I bumped my arm on the wooden railing. I proceded to drop my camera about 20 feet onto a concrete surface inside the rhinocerous enclosure. Fortunately some kind zookeepers were able to rescue my camera after putting the animals in another pen. I hoped that I would at a minimum be able to rescue my memory card, but later in the day upon retrieving my camera from the Guest Relations office I realized the camera was completely intact and still worked!

This photo is from when we were leaving and my children are melting in the 102 degree heat. Nana said we were cancelling the trip to Six Flags due to the heat, but that was a trip I was not planning on going on in the first place.

That evening I finally had the opportunity to indulge in some Mexican Food. My kids just love the statues in at this restaurant and insisted on being photographed with them.

Abuelo's is one of my favorite Mexican chains. I enjoyed my favorite avocado enchiladas topped with scallops and shrimp! Yum!


The next afternoon I had the opportunity to see my dear Miss N and her boys. I was especially joyful to meet her new little one. Little Mr Z! I don't have a photo of him as when I had my camera out he had fallen asleep in his snugli and did want to wake him as it would have been time to eat. I have a cute pic of all the other kiddos though.

I know this picture is a bit fuzzy but it is the one I have where everyone is looking at the camera.

Our last day in town Aidan went to play golf with Grandpa. They only played a few holes because of the heat, but Aidan did enjoy a country club lunch of chicken strips, frech fries and chocolate mousse cake. Ainsley did not want to play golf and wanted to go shopping with the girls. She actually wanted to visit the plastic animals at the Rainforest Cafe, but when push came to shove she was scared of the snarling alligator.

This was the only picture I could get of her. She was not thrilled about it either. She looks happy but she was just making sure I would not make her take a picture with the alligator.

We left for Houston the next morning, and after a week of swimming and activities I already had 2 very worn out children. Not to mention worn out Mommy! More tomorrow tater tots!

Milestone!

After weeks of waiting it finally happened...Aidan lost his first tooth. Part of me is a little sad, but another part is happy that he is growing up so healthy and strong. The other tooth is partly in so we are on the early path to the world of braces. The dentist told us several years ago that Aidan would more than likely need braces due to the shape of his mouth and how much space he will have in the future. I had them as a teen so it is not the end of the world. Anyway, I will hopefully get to post about my trip soon. I have had several issues to deal with today and have errands to run tomorrow, but I did get my pictures downloaded so maybe in the next day or two you will get my first installment of our trip. Glad to be back and getting back into the swing of things.

We are back!

I am so exhausted and we had a super early flight. My FIL does not understand that I am a nervous air traveller and need plenty of time at the airport to get myself and 2 children through the check in process, security and navigating the endless hallways of the airport terminals. We are home now and all is well. I will try to get back to regular posting soon as I have plenty of work to catch up on. I will say I am feeling better this early evening than I was this afternoon, but I still believe it will be a very early night for 3/4ths of this family. More soon and it is so great to be home!