Halloween and more pix

These are Halloween pix for this year. Yes, Kamy in totally airborn in the slide picture.

I have to say, blogging has become a source of anxiety for me. I LOVE to reach out to people, I love to read others blogs but I swear I can not find the time in the day to write a blog. SO as a result, no one may ever see this.

Today Garrison broke his nose, we think. There;s really nothing to be done about it so we didn't bother with x-rays and a tramatizing ER trip for an already VERY upset little boy. I got a call about 9:45 this morning from the school nurse. That's always a great source of fear when you see the school number pop up on caller ID. It can never mean good news. That has been my experience thus far anyway. Ms. Annie informed me that Garrison had been involved in an accident in gym class; a collision, of sorts, with another student and that he was okay but very upset and bleeding quite a lot from the nose. He also had a decent sized goose egg (I'd later learn cause by his face hitting the floor too hard, post collision.) Of course I asked if she thought it was broken and she said that she was just trying to stop the bleeding and could not really tell.

If you don't already know this a face/head wound bleeds quite a lot as a general rule. I dropped everything I was doing and rushed to the school. Thank God for anti-anxiety pills because I was remarkably calm through-out the entire event. I HAD to be for him because he was not calm. As soon as he heard my voice he fell apart.

This is Garrison's second trip to the clinic this year and his second trip home. The first "incident" occured during a stomach virus and won't go into anymore detail. Someday he'll read this and I don't want him to be mortified.

I watched him at home for several hours and kept him awake, all the while looking for signs of a concussion. He seemed content to lay on the couch with an ice pack on his face. There is minor swelling even tonight (nothing compared to when I got to school. I confess I wanted to take a picture for posterity but felt it might be cruel.) He will have two very excellent shiners and he is already the talk of the kindergarten. Apparently there was quite a lot of blood on the gym floor so he's the "tough kid". Oh did I mention the child whit who he collided is a girl who only comes up to his shoulder? She head butted him while running with her partner. I'm still not totally sure how that happened. Never the less it was so different excitement in an otherwise normal week.

These are some of Garrison's drawing of Star Wars and his first elementary school picture. That is going in the scrapbook! Sorry these are sideways. I have a new MAC and I'm back to square one on the programs. I'll fix it later

Darth Vader and Princess Leia

Hoth the Ice planet and Luke "taking out" an At-At. His words.

Jedi Heros.

School Pic

At the Fall Fest at PC
Make it a good one friends!

It's been such a long time

It's been such a long time that I forgot my password. There has been so much going on that it would be impossible to recap so let me list and sum up.

Garrison School
Volunteering
ARBONNE
Tickelopes
Driving to Ft. Worth every week
Kam's new school starting
More Volunteering
PTA
Soccer
Basketball Camp
PTA Fundraising
Library Lady
Illness
Ladies Class
Dental Reconstruction
Just between Friends

These are just the notable items that have happened and are for the most part ongoing. 2006 will not go down as an easy (or boring) year.

On the bright side I have started a diet that is really working. When I started as an Arbonne Business Builder in August, I decided I'd start the weight loss program. So far I'm down 12 lbs (give a water pound or two) and the program is easy. that's the best part is I don't mind the plan and the weight is slowly coming off. I have so much more energy. I had a skirt on this week that I haven't worn since before Kamdyn was born and THAT FELT GREAT!!!!

Here are some recent pictures. Also if you want to buy Tickelopes you can now get them online at our web site. We are testing in Hobby Lobby and very soon in Kroger in Houston and hopefully in Tom Thumb! It's like a rocket on the launch pad just getting ready for blast off and it's fun to be a part of it.

Sitting in carpool line

First Day of school

Well I had this really funny blog written with terrific pictures and the system crashed and I lost it all so.... it took me nearly 1 1/2 hours to write so I will not be recreating it.

Here are the first day pics. Thank you to everyone who called to check on me. It was nearly impossible to leave him at the school but in his own words, "You can go now Mom. I'm really fine!" and "If you keep on hugging me I can't color!"

First words at the end of the day:" That was just the BEST DAY EVER!!! I want to go back tomorrow, okay? Then I can be in 1st grade!"

The new woman

We'll we've gone to meet the teacher. Garrison was not the least bit shy or nervous about it. I thought he'd be a little bit nervous but thanks to his terrific previous teachers he was very well prepared, knew what to expect and went right in and gave Ms. Smith a huge hug. He's even made a new friend, Wylie.

Thank you to these special teachers who have prepared us for today and tomorrow.

Ms. Amber, Ms. Kristen and Ms. Krista
Ms. Amy
Ms. Nicole
Ms. Leslie
Ms. Rutledge

Tomorrow morning we will be there at 7:40am ready to begin Garrison's school career. For the next 12 years and beyond this will be our schedule. My baby is not a baby any more...

...and it's just about to kill me.

The Dolphin Helper

More than anything in the world my Kamdyn wants to be a "dolphin helper". She eats, sleeps, dreams, thinks of little else. Currently she owns about 20 small plastic dolphins of various shapes, quality and sizes. There is no special favorite;all are equally important in her eyes. There are mommy and daddy dolphins and cousins, aunts, uncles, nannies, grandma's and grandpa dolphins. Sea World was just for her birthday because she desperately wants to communicate with a dolphin. I've really never seen anyone so fixated on one thing. Last night we watched and IMAX special on dolphins and one special dolphin named JoJo and his "keeper" Dean. They live in the Turks and Caicos Islands. http://www.oceania.org.au/soundnet/features/jojo.html
No joke, that show has been on all day! She know can tell the difference between dusky Argentina dolphins, pink fresh-water river dolphins, Atlantic Bottle nose and so on... If this were a passing fancy I probably wouldn't be telling you about it but this obsession started over a year ago when she was only 2!

I made this picture for her in Photoshop so that she could actually pretend she swims with Jojo herself. It is her most important treasure and has been printed over 20 times.

Maybe someday her dream will come true. Ithink they are neat too; not like she does but maybe I'll get to touch one too.

Sea World Fun 2006

We are back, tired and very happy. We went with My sister, her daughter and my mom. We all stayed in one room with our dog. It was 100 degrees and there were about 2 million people there. Yes, it was crazy but it was a blast!
Here are some photos:

Trying to touch a dolphin
The entire reason we went to Sea World was for Kamdyns birthday and to see,

"Dolphin, my friend!"

Kamdyn's first Roller Coaster with Aunt Mimi. She LOVED IT!!! Garrison was tall enough to ride the BIG roller Coaster, The Steel Eel. He has not stopped talking about it and describing how it felt.

Dinner Birthday!

Birthday Girl!

The Three Amigos

I think this picture best sums up how we all felt.

This is on Saturday night with everyone else awake all around her.

She is holding Sally Spinner Bunny and Sally Spinner Dolphin. Her names...

Summer Vacations 1.0

We are in San Antonio right now but I PROMISE I will blog with pictures from all our summer excursions as soon as we get home. I really need to get better about blogging more often (as I am often reminded.) We are heading back in a little bit and going shopping at the San Marcos Outlet.

Love to you all.

Rites of Passage

Garrison has become quite the photographer and I wanted to share some of his work with you all.
Summer if flying by so fast and I just want to hold on to every last minute before I turn Garrison loose on the world, or rather let this big-ole bad world influence him. Every day aging, growing into this little man right before our eyes. He is using words and phrases lat remind me that I'll be am embarrassment to him sooner than I'd like. He is taller and thinner and he looks like a young boy rather than my little angel that I held in my arms not so long ago. I savor every moment that he and I spend together. I'm literally counting the days and weeks until that fateful moment when he walks through those doors and becomes a student, still a child, but no longer a baby who trusts moms and dads every word. Now he will question things and learn worldly things at an alarming rate. Things that have never been a part of our world. Have we done enough to cement faith in his young soul? Has God been a part of out daily lives so much so that He is daily walking with Garrison through life? Will Garrison still believe all the innocent things we've taught him? When will he question Santa? The Easter bunny? Will he question God?
This morning Garrison lost his first tooth. It was a monumental occasion marked by fear (of the pain) and then the excitement and pure joy of cold, hard tooth-fairy cash! All day the question was, how much cash? Of course to Garrison a quarter is still all that is required to get that ever elusive gumball or tame a pony at Wal-Mart. So Dad and I will make sure he gets a lest enough for a couple of gumballs and a couple of rides. I've been waxing sentimental all day about the changes it's made in his appearance. Gone is the face of a baby and in it's place is a young boy ready to start the next great adventure. To quote him, "Hey! Loosing a tooth is no big deal, Mom." On to the next big thing....

Kamdyn is going through summer with the aplomb of a 2 year old. She seems to bounce from day to day, following "Buba" into trouble over and over again. This last Saturday she and Garre were playing upstairs and it's been a while since there has been any significant "trouble". (A welcome respite...) Garrison decided to (his words), "...rub his forehead on the carpet to see what would happen." See the pictures...
Kamdyn decides to go to the bathroom and rub "lotion" (Bath and Body Works Bath Gel) from her head to toe; Cucumber and Green Tea to be exact. It is nearly impossible to clean bath gel out of carpet so I sat her in the tub and also set the bath mats in the tub. I feared the mess if I put them in the washing machine. That much agitation and there could be a another significant mess in the laundry room. WHAT A HUGE MESS IT WAS!!!!!

Our house is also overloaded with many boxes of stuff from my childhood home. Things that I couldn't simply throw away and there was no room for at my mom's new place. We currently have three couches and an overstuffed chair in one room and you can not see the dining room table because of the china and crystal from my grandmothers home in Georgia. There are scores of children's books, puzzles, frames, glasses, knick-nacks and various other items strewn about the house. It's a colossal mess. I have every intention of having a garage sale but now it's so hot and nasty out that I just plain don't want to bother with it. As I've stated before I'm not a sterling house keeper and this has truly added to the chaos, and it's all of my own doing.

What else have we been up too??? Lone Star Park and horse racing, birthday parting, light traveling, working, emptying out mom's house, painting, tying bows, Garrison's learning annex classes each week, Swim class, VBS and a million other things too numerous and trivial to interest anyone.

I have been reading quite a bit; Wuthering Heights(Bronte), a favorite of mine, Pride and Predjudice (Austen), a new favorite, The Visitation by Frank Peretti, and scores of magazines while sitting in the car at swim class. I'm totally up to date on all the latest Hollywierd gossip and trash. I've also discovered that I really like talk radio. Particularly conservative day-time talk radio. Thank you, Dad. I also got a terrific new Bible called the archeological Bible. It got all the historical evidence to support the Bible along side the text! VERY COOL!

All is well on this front; We just desperately need some rain. It's bee a while since I've written in the blog. Just bear with me, I'm distracted as usual.

Light summer reading...

First off let me say my spell check is not working so forgive the type-o's

Since things are slowing down a bit and it's summer, I thought I try a bit of light reading. I selected a simple meaningless book called the Di Vinci Code. I'm serious when I say a meaningless book. I've been watching the history channel to see what all the fuss is about and really it is silly. I'm not here to be political about this book or even get up on a soap box. All I'm saying is this: if you know your Bible and it's validation throughout history how or better yet why does anyone but any stock in this fictional tale about "what-if"?
Yes the Knights Templar existed but all records disappeared over 700 years go.
No one doubts the writings of Aristotle, Plato or Nostradamus and yet there are vastly fewer actual documents validating their existence and writings; why doubt Christ and His divinity with all there is to back Him up both theologically and secular?
It's all very interesting because what it says to me is that there are so many people actually looking for something to believe when the truth is right in front of them. You can play what if over and over again but it doesn't make it real, it's still just "what-if"

That's my take on the whole thing. I am reading the book because I want to be equipped to refute or at the very least have an intelligent debate on the subject. I don't feel like boycotts work because they actually fuel the fire. What's more it makes the boycotting side look superior, not a good stance to open a topic. You also can not ignore it so educate yourself and go from there.

Random moment...
My STUPID dog(s) just ate an entire box of 96 crayons. What do you do with that?

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

It's been almost a month

It's hard to write about such a lengthy amount of time but "sufice to say", it's been intensly busy!

Let me sum up what I've been doing and the lesson's I've learned.

• Mom moved into her new place.
• We had an estate sale.
• We enrolled Garrison in school.
• We enrolled Kamy in a new school near the house.
• Garrison had a birthday.
• Darth Vader came to school for Garrisons birthday
• Doctors appointments
• Pre-school teaching
• Pre-school let out (very bitter sweet, for me! I'm really going to miss everyone.)
• We began to packup the remaining belongings in the house (ongoing)
• Garrison had a Star Wars birthday party.
• Arranging for summer swim lessons
• Daily packing up mom's house
• Lot's of tears for taimes gone by
• Missed my friends because I feel like we've all been sucked into a black hole for the last 11 weeks
• Learned that there are just some things in life that I can not worry about.
• I have had to learn to trust more.
• Learned to appreciate my mom a lot more
• Learned that every moment in life is good when you are with family
• Learned what it means to give more of myself than I ever thought I could
• Learned to ask for help
• Learned to lean on friends and reach out
• Learned whe "Let go and let God" truly means

There is fear in the unknown if your destination is uncertain. I've learned to have more confidence in the love and compassion of Christ and my brothers and sisters in Christ.

There will always be people, things and circumstances that I do not understand. But I have to accept that they are also on a walk toward heaven. Who am I to ask or say what should or should not happen? I am still growing in my relationship to everyone. I hope it never stops.

Enjoy the pictures.

Birthday and program pictures!

These are some pictures it took me a year to get developed. We did not get to take 2006 pictures. The bluebonnets were not abundant this spring. It was amazing in 2005 though

Pictures pictures pictures!!!

Yesterday was a landmark day in our family. Garre reached his 5th birthday (with no broken bones or stitches, yet) and to mark the occassion Darth Vader came to meet him. Garrison was so overwhealmed that he couldn't even talk. He actually hid in a corner trying to catch his breath. He kept saying, "I'm his biggest fan and I'm just too nervous to meet him!" At the very last moment he went up to him and we were able to get a picture. Here are several of the photos. The quality isn't the best because it was very dark and Sean was taking the pictures with my camera. I should have changed the settings but I forgot.

Here are some Easter memories



Pure joy at seeing her Easter basket for the first time!




Things continue to move at a insane rate. There are never enough hours in a day to accomplish anything. I'm reading a great book, "Mommy Guilt". It is all about how to find a good balance and how to prioritize you life in such a way that you really get to enjoy the important things and de-stress your life withtout feeling guilty. I struggle with that and with asking for help so those are two things I'm working on personally.

Mom is in her new place and trying to get used to all the "new" in her life. There is no order, no consistancy and no faimliarity to any of this for her and it's a tough transition. But praise God we are all growing closer as a family, lending each other a hand and sometimes fighting our way through the insanity. I've learned a new definition for togetherness; leaning on one another in rough times. I've come to rely on my brother and sister a lot.

Special thanks to my brother who has played many different roles in his life; the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and now the mighty Darth Vader. Mel and I already know when it's our turn and they need a princess phone call (sorry, but we can not make personal apprearences, unless they want a queen or stepmother. My days of playing the princess are long past, if I ever really had those days to begin with???) we'll be there!

Later on ya'll!

Yes it's really been almost a month

Kamy and Garre at the dallas Zoo


My new nephew!


Garre and his "puppy" that didn't stay small very long.


Bella the "6 month old monster.


At the zoo last week
Let me sum up
- Mom has moved in with us.
- Everyday we have been moving her out of the old house and into her new apartment.
- Refinishing (garage sale) furniture and an old bed
- Planning a garage/estate sale
- Working at school
- Working at Tickelopes
- Registering kids in school for the fall
- Planning birthday parties
- Attending showers and birthday parties
- Going to the zoo
- Preparing for Easter
- Attempting to keep things as normal for the kids as possible
- Hosting my in-laws for a week
- Holding my new nephew!

It's been almost too busy to write!