Hip Hip HOORAY!

Hunter's cast came off yesterday!!


We still have some healing to do but there is re-growth of the bones. He could not have gotten a better gift for his 5th birthday.

Since I live in near the Antique Capital of the World, I've taken on a re-covering project. I always see beautiful antique chairs and sofas I'd love to have but don't want to pay to have them re-upholstered. So, I'm practicing. So that one day that lovely antique wooden high back sofa will be mine.

From this:

To this:

(not finished yet)

oh deer.

3 strikes and I'm out.

last month when my uncle passed away, I was telling the kids we were having to go to Yoakum and we were going to church, that's why they had to dress nicely. that lovely question comes next, WHY?

Me: Uncle Fred was real sick and it was time for him to go to a better place.

Hunter: Did he die?

Me: Yes, Hunter. And everybody at church is going to be sad, but it's going to be okay. Uncle Fred is better now.

Hunter is in tears. I'm left trying to comfort him.

Strike one for mom.

A few days later we were driving by the cemetery and Kreg asks me a question about my grandparents being buried there. So, I decided to drive by their graves. We pull up next to them and I tell the boys that's where Popo's mom and dad were buried, my Granny and Grandpa. I turn around to look at the boys and Hunter is in hysterics, tears flowing and he's trying to shield his face so I can't see. I try to explain to him that it's okay. My granny and grandpa were sick and yes I miss them, but it's okay. I'm not sad anymore. The kid cries the whole way home.

Strike two for mom.

Last week after I spent the afternoon tilling up my front yard, I was explaining to Kreg how old that darn tiller was and that my dad got it back after my Meme had passed away. I turn around to see Hunter was listening to our conversation and is now crying at the mear mention of someone passing away. Through his tears he asked me who was going to get the tiller when Popo was gone? Did I think he could have it?

Strike three for mom.

Shouldn't I be out? Nah....Let's leave it to me to let the poor kid watch Bambi today. 'Nuff said.
And you guys wonder why I don't want a girl to raise.

it's hard to understand.

I know there is a reason that people's lives are taken so young, but this one is hard to understand.

Sherman passed away a little after 3:00 today. His tests showed little to no brain activity so once his family made it up to Austin, he was taken off of life support. For about 15 minutes he was able to breathe on his own but that was it.

This young man is going to be missed. I just can't stop thinking about his family, and girlfriend and unborn child. He had just started working on his grandfather's house to fix up for a family of his own. So much left undone.

the wating game.

thank you so much to everyone who has sent their kind words and wishes. the bee incident has left so many people flabbergasted. and for me, it tears me up inside to see my dad in such agony. he knows he did all that he could but wishes he could have done more.

we don't know much yet but my parents went to Austin last night to check up on Sherman. the 1st 24 hours were going to be crucial. right now they have him in a drug induced coma hoping that his body will be able to recover. they are keeping cold blankets & ice on him and giving him drugs/fluids via IV of course. his body is swollen and there's quite a bit of swelling on his brain. no one knows for sure what happened and where the swelling on the brain is coming from. my dad said when he arrived at the park, he could hear the mower still but didn't see Sherman. turns out, Sherman must have threw open the bars to the mower to stop it from moving and jumped off. the blades were still moving. it looks like he might have tried to head to the river, which would have been incredibly dangerous since the flood gates are open and the river is flowing like mad and he can't swim, and must have collapsed in the process. the swelling on the brain could be from bee stings or from hitting something upon falling. no one knows for sure.

right now, the park is closed. an animal control person drove down there in his truck, honked the horn, and bees immediately surrounded his truck. it's quite dangerous and no one knows what to do at this point.

not only my dad, but his whole crew are worried. of course, no one will ever mow by themselves ever again. as they were working at the library today, little grasshoppers would jump on them and the guys would jump. it's scary.

I will update as I know more. please just keep Sherman in your thoughts and/or prayers. we hope more than anything that he is able to make it through this.

finally.

on our way to Galveston I had time to play with my new cell and finally figured out how to email pictures. here's some from our trip to the ER for the broken bone.

Poor Hunter on both codeine & morphine.


and the 2 breaks. the bone on the right was bent and broke completely. the bone on the left was bent and started to crack.

a cause for concern.

so...I try my hardest to keep the blog upbeat and happy. I find no reason to bring everyone down. BUT today something has happened and I need to blog about it to get it out.

My dad works for the City of La Grange and is head of the Parks and Rec. Department. He and his team of workers are in charge of keeping the parks up. Today a young man, one of my dad's workers, was mowing Northside Park down by the river. My dad receives a phone call from him but is unable to hear anything. Moments later he receives a second phone call and all my dad can hear is, "Mike. Bees. Help." By time my dad and another helper get to the young man, he's striped his clothes off, on all fours trying to puff on his inhaler. Bees are attacking his body and there is nothing my dad can do but call 911. 911 arrives and it takes 4 men to get this gentleman up and on a stretcher. His heart isn't beating and his organs were starting to shut down. They immediately life-light him to Austin. Where we now know he is in a coma and the outlook isn't good.

Turns out that these 'killer bees' form beehives in the ground and any type of movement or vibration rattles them and causes them to attack.

That could have been my dad out there mowing. I'm shaken up over this and more so is my dad. This poor gentleman is 21 years old and has a child on the way. My dad could do nothing to help him when the bees were attacking. It's plain scary. My dad has already called the City Manager and stated that NO ONE is going to want to mow anymore. And I don't blame them.

I just pray that this young man lives. I pray that my dad can shake that image from his head. He's very shaken up right now. He just feels so bad for this young man. I hope that there is something that the city or someone out their can do to try and protect everyone who could possibly come across this.

So please keep Sherman, my dad, and the rest of the crew in your thoughts or prayers.

it's a wonderful day in the neighborhood.

my a$$.

let's see, while I spent the day tilling up my front yard with a tiller that's OLDER than I am and trying to pull up the rest of the vines, Kreg spent the day at Star Ranch playing in a Dell's sponsored golf tourney.

oh.....life as a stay at home mom....wife....gardner....personal shopper....cook....

why is it.....

.....dr.'s always seem to give you medicine to take that makse you so drowsy. and they want you to take it every 4 hours which means you need to be out the whole day but you have kids to take care of. but the pain makes it unbearble to take care of the kids anyway. it's a no win situation.

.....when I try to head to bed early by closing my door, turning out the lights and crawling under the cover's, it seems the kids have to bust in every 5 minutes to ask me questions. my gosh, where's their dad? usually just sittin' there. these muscle relaxers are kicking my butt and I can barely stay awake. yet, as soon as I fall asleep, I hear the door bust open and another kid yelling "mom, mom. mom wake up."

.....I can never remember to put my car windows up when it rains. and this morning was the worse. it smells like a car marked my car for death. febreeze isn't even working.

who knew all that pain was connected.

your on vacation and really don't want to spend the whole time complaining about pain. I always seemed to have had a headache and I kept getting a little dizzy. I blew it off as being in the sun and not drinking enough water. I'm usually guilty of that when being at the beach or pool. As the weekend wore on, my ear started bothering me and I had some pain in my neck and shoulders. I blew it off. Yesterday, I noticed the pain was getting more intense and as the day wore on whenever I would talk or chew I had some significant pain. But, I woke up this morning to Kreg's darn alarm with full fledged swelling and severe pain on the left side of my face, in my ear and all along my jaw bone. It was time to head to the doctor.

Of course, life couldn't' be that easy.

There is no dentist in La Grange that takes our stinkin Metlife Dental Insurance. So that meant back up to Cedar Park it was. The boys and I were only in Austin yesterday trying to get Hunter's b-day party squared away. I call right away at 8:00 and they want to see me at 9:00. Not gonna happen. I need at least an hour and a half. So I'm told to get there as soon as I can and they will see me. So, I'm thinking do I take the boys or not? Justin is in summer school and I'm sure someone in Austin would watch them for me. But, the dentist is a straight shot up 130 to 45. If I took them somewhere, that meant veering off and going less than 70. I'll just take them. How long could I be? I arrive at 10:00 and by 11:30 the boys have played with all the toys, fought over everything possible and were driving me batty. I promised them playtime at McDonald's with a friend for good behavior. That was slipping away fast. I finally turn on the TV in the waiting room and settle them down to finally get called back at 12:15. (yes, thats 2 hours and 15 minutes in a waiting room.) I'm in the room closest to the waiting room when I hear the door open and Hunter yelling "Mom, we've knocked the couch over." Oh my GOSH! At least the dentist's wife has 2 boys close to my boy's ages, and completely understood. They help take such good care of them while I'm being worked on.

By now, I'm in such pain I can barely open my mouth and of course, I have to open wide for the dentist to be able to look around and poke and prod. By time he's done, I'm in tears and I'm much worse off than before. I can taste all the blood in my mouth from the gums.

Turns out - my TMJ has done a number on me. I've haven't been sleeping and I'm not sure if it's because I'm clenching and grinding my teeth and gums so bad or I'm clenching and grinding because I'm not sleeping. But basically I've sent all the muscle's in my mouth and along my jaw into spasms. Severe spasms. And because of these spasms, there isn't much we can do at the moment. And these spasms have caused my gums to be increasingly sensitive. So now I'm on a muscle relaxer, basically all day, to help relax my jaw. Once that's done I'm headed to an oral surgeon for treatment. And all I know about treatment is that draining, splint, and implants was mentioned as options.

so all of this pain I've been in, the dizziness, headaches, ear tenderness and the swollen face are all due to TMJ. what else and how fun.

and just how am I suppose to function while taking muscle relaxers all day?

we missed seeing our friends and the boy's aren't letting me forget.

Oh the places you will go......

Galveston.
Moody Gardens.
Kemah.

The Aquarium.
The Rainforest.
Palm Beach.

Our trip to Galveston was amazing! You know it's good when you take about 327 pictures and your camera dies before the real fun. And I must say the 2 1/2 hour car trip, with 2 bathroom breaks, was so much better than the 5 we were used to.

We arrived at Moody Gardens on Thursday and spent all day exploring the Aquarium and the Rainforest. The kids just couldn't get enough of all the aquatic life. And Kreg and I enjoyed it too :) We explored various cold water habitats.







The Rainforest has 'wondering' animals you could pet!

The Macaws were beautiful!



The highlights of the day were the 3D and 4D movie. There was no one in line for the 4D Dinosaur movie so we walked right in. Of course, Hunter wanted to sit on his own. Well the movie started with water in your face and a dinosaur trying to eat you. Hunter was in hysterics, screaming, and of of course, 4 seats from me. I told him to rip his glasses off so the show wouldn't be scary. Thankfully the film only lasted 7 minutes.



Our 3D movie was a Deep Sea movie. And at the beginning a large wave looks like it's coming straight for you. Hunter is guarding himself with his arms and legs and screaming. He didn't want to get wet. He took his glasses off pretty shortly so he didn't have to keep protecting himself. Jayden spend the 1st half of the movie trying to catch the jellyfish or minoes, or whatever else was floating in front of him. Then he finally passed out exhausted.

We took a lovely ride along the Seawall to find our Hotel which turned out to be exquisite. We are so happy we were able to get a great rate. And we ended up with a room on the corner so it was rather large!



We hit the pool right away and relaxed at the swim up bar. Talk about a great ending to the day.



The boys made themselves right at home.



Friday we enjoyed a rather great but very expensive breakfast buffet. I just love how they don't give you menus or display the pricing ANYWHERE. The food was fantastic but not worth the $45 bill. We were charged $6.95 for the boys and Jayden ate a Yoplait yogurt and Hunter some fruit. Holy Moly! Jayden and I headed up to the room to grab our sand buckets and bread for the birds while Hunter and Kreg finished up at breakfast. We come to the 3rd floor and I get off thinking Jay is following. No, he is staying on the elevator pushing buttons and I'm unable to reach the door before it closes. I panic and start pushing the up and down buttons just trying to get a door to open. Finally Jayden's elevator comes back down and of course, he isn't on it and I have no idea which of the 7 floors he is on. So I go back to the 1st floor trying to find Kreg so we can search the floors. Don't see him so I start heading up the stairs checking the 2nd and 3rd floors and our room for Kreg. No luck. I'm back on the 3rd floor pushing both elevator buttons when one finally stops and I hear Jayden talking up a storm. Thankfully a very nice couple found him wondering around on the 5th floor and were taking him to the lobby. Jayden had no idea why I was hysterical he was just talking away to everyone in the elevator. I couldn't thank the couple enough.

So we get over that and head to the beach. We were already warned that the seaweed was horrible. But, Jayden was determined to feed the seagulls and Hunter wanted to collect some shells. Jayden hits the sand and 1 foot in the water before he starts itching up a storm. I always though salt water was good for eczema, but I guess not. The waves were hitting hard and the seaweed was so nasty, Hunter really wanted nothing to do with the water. After 5 minutes we figured why stay there when we had the lovely Palm Beach @ Moody waiting for us.




So we packed up and I wrapped Hunter's cast in saran wrap and packaging tape so he could enjoy the water. And that we all did! We only wished we lived closer to enjoy Palm Beach more often. It was so nice and relaxing. The boys played their little hearts out while Kreg and I either relaxed under our umbrellas in the sand with a beer, watched the fish jump in the boy or in the nice water. All day long it looked like it was going to storm but it never did.





Jayden and I loved all the flowers!

Friday night we headed over to the Kemah Boardwalk and we were all amazed. We couldn't believe we had never been there before. Paul and Wendy had heard about a place to feed the sting rays and we were all looking forward to it. Jayden was so tired and actually passed out on the way there so he missed the action. But I had a blast! Sting rays are actually kind of furry.





We decided to eat at The Aquarium to help keep the kids entertained during dinner. If you ever have the chance, EAT THERE! The food, service, atmosphere, everything was superb! The portions of food were huge. I tried Amberjack and it was delish. The boys took about 100 pictures of all the fish in the tanks. It was truly the highlight of our trip. And probably the best seafood I had ever eaten.

And at night, Kemah comes alive. We walked out to find a band playing, a little water play area, and just plain loads of entertainment. We stopped to watch a juggler perform tricks. I pulled a $1 out and told Hunter to put it in the mans hat. Hunter walked up and then backed off. I think he wanted to keep the dollar but the juggler picked up the hat and brought it to Hunter. Hunter looked at the man and said "Your show better be good for this dollar." Everyone was in hysterics laughing. Well, Hunter must have enjoyed the show because he then pulled out his very own dollar and put it in the hat.

We made our way to the tickets for the rides. The boys wanted to ride everything but I knew they were tired. We managed a train ride that if it had been 2 minutes longer the boys would have fallen asleep curled up on Wendy. Then they and I enjoyed a carousel ride. We finished the night with fireworks. We wish we would have had more time but we were all exhausted from being in the sun all day. But we are already planning a trip back! I just found a great rate for the Boardwalk Inn @ hotels.com. Now that we know just how much fun Kemah is and we aren't that far away, we're ready to go back!

Wendy and I headed to the Market in Galveston Saturday morning for some seafood. I wish I would have had a bigger cooler to buy more. How often do you get the chance to buy that fresh of fish? I ended up with Salmon, Tuna, Amberjack and shrimp. It looked amazing and I can't wait to try the Amberjack.

We made it the whole weekend without rain while we were in Galveston. On the way out crossing over the bridge, it started to rain and it rained the whole way back to La Grange. It was so bad in Houston we barely went over 30mph. It took us about 2 hours to get through Houston. But, we weren't in a rush and Jayden got his nap in.

The boys keep asking when we get to go back and see Paul and Wendy. They had such a great time!! And since they took so many pictures Saturday night, my camera died before I could get any pictures on the rides. Thank goodness Wendy did!

We spent Father's Day in Ammansville at the church picnic and catching up on much needed sleep.

Now back to the daily grind and my focus now is planning Hunter's 5th b-day party. This ought to be fun!!!

Summertime

Nothing says summer better than spending time picking fresh blackberries. Okay....maybe a watermelon, but we enjoyed one last night from Whole Foods.


Friday the kids and I headed over to Sweet Berry Farm in Lexington. The berries were huge and plenty!! If it wouldn't have been 110 degrees and 110% humidity, we might have picked more. Summer's in Texas are so much fun!

The darling little puppy below is a mix between a rat terrier and a chihuahua. I took it to the vet on Friday and it only weighs 1.9 pounds and it's 6 weeks old. It's so precious! Hunter has named it Skippy. My mom got it for Hunter but Jezabell has become very territorial and I was afraid she was going to harm it. So......It's living with my mom and dad. Justin is very excited!

Nothing gets being woken up at 7:45 by your landlord. Turns out our hot water heater started leaking this weekend. He just called to let me know they are having it replaced today. How nice. Really, it's so nice to be able to call someone else to fix these things and not have to worry about them.

Not only has Jezzie become very territorial but she's also become our guard dog. All day long she likes to sit on the over stuffed chair, looking out the window and BARKS at any and all movement outside. Rascal sits and eats all day long and she just has a fit.

I'm not really sure who is enjoying being in La Grange more. The boys because my mom and/or dad comes to see them everyday and will take them to the park or Sonic or the library. My mom loves taking them to a different park almost every day. I enjoy the alone time and that the kids come back tired and ready for bed. My dad enjoys all the baking I'm doing. He usually heads over after work to enjoy a snack with the boys. Justin loves to have some place to go before, during and after work. And the fact that we always have something to eat and drink around my house. Kreg and Justin go fishing at least 3 times a week and/or they are running around together planning or doing something. It's nice to have a break from the kids. It's nice to call Justin over if I want to run to the store and don't want to take the kiddos. Thus far it's been a win win situation for all.

We are packing up and heading down to Galveston this week. Our trip to Schlitterbahn has now turned into a trip to Moody Gardens due to Hunter's broken arm. We decided after all this moving we all needed a break and the kids were begging us to stay at a hotel again. Plus we have friends in Galveston we have been wanting to see :) So, for the 1st time ever, we used hotels.com and found a one-of-a-kind deal at a FAB hotel. Hotel Galvez. So we are excited, the kids are excited but Hunter has declared he would like to stay on dry land this weekend. Poor kiddo :( I told Kreg we really need to take him over to Port A to ride the ferry.

I'm really just left speechless.

That little creamery

The boys and I headed over to Blue Bell today. Something I always wanted to do with them. They had so much fun! From watching them make ice cream sandwiches, to filling up cartons and adding strawberries, the boy's were in awe. And I swear the free 'scoop' of ice cream you get at the end of the tour rivals what we pay $5 for at an ice cream parlor. It was more like 3 heaping scoops in a cup. It was so much the boys didn't even finish it. You couldn't take pictures on the tour, but the boys loved seeing the truck that was featured in the movie we watched about the history of Blue Bell.

And, I think Jayden sees a future with the company.


Of course, across from the factory is the Blue Bell Aquatic Center. I promised the boys we would go back next month when Hunter had his cast off.

The great thing about having DirectTV is that when it storms we lose our service. Sunday night in the middle of watching the news and weather, it starts storming and BAM!, service is gone. We walk outside to sit on the porch and watch the hail and listen to the thunder wondering just what the heck was going on. We were literally, in the dark. Power kept going off and on. Thankfully my sister-in-law called to let us know we were under a tornado warning. Nothing like not knowing. I swear this is worse than only having 5 channels growing up and when the president was on, our night was shot. I was one of those children. Could you imagine?

I don't believe we are in the city anymore.

Meet Rascal. He's our resident squirrel who's gonna be so fat before long! He sits and eats all day long. The boys love him.


Meet this lovely tarantula. Justin found him as he was mowing our grass last week under the kids playscape. The boys wanted to keep him as a pet, much to Kreg's dismay, so we put him in a jar with holes in the top but he just didn't make it to morning.


And Hunter. Our darling Hunter. Last week for a little tough. Though he was a champ. The kid gets his determination from me :) I was really worried how he was going to handle everything but he did better than me. But it was hard to watch my very independent child now need help getting dressed and taking a shower and all those things he's grown to do by himself. And he tried to do everything by himself still. You could tell he hated asking for help. We took him to the orthopedic on Friday and we ended up with a purple cast!

Turns out the second bone with the fracture also could have broke. It's suppose to be straighter than what it is. We were lucky. Of course, everyone we come into contact with Hunter asks to sign his cast. It's filling up very quickly. And a dream finally came true for him. We've seen the batmobile several times and this time we actually stopped and had our picture taken.

He was nothing but smiles.

In other news, Kenny and Marsais are officially engaged! They moved into a rent house this weekend in Kyle and guess who the lucky people were to help him move. Payback can be a b!tch.

If only we could get all of our boxes unpacked and things completely organized!