Daddy Daughter Dance

These are pictures of our princess from the Daddy/Daughter Dance at the country club last month. She has not stopped talking about it! She not a baby anymore. Daddy got her a corsage and they went just the two of them with several other dads from the neighborhood. All the girls wound up dancing on the dance lfoor while the dads talked football and basketball. So everyone had a great time!

Im FREEEEEEE

After less than three months I am no longer working at the spa. It was a mutual decision because it really wasn't working like we had thought it would in the beginning. No hard feelings I'm just free again to pursue what I really want to do and that is art and my card business.

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

What would you do with this purse?

I will start with this tiny nugget from my life. It happened yesterday.

After work, I had a million errands to run. We started off at Dr. Kirkham's and wound up at Central market. It was getting late and we had one more critical stop to make at Wal Mart. After only 15 minutes or so of shopping Kamdyn announces that she has to go to the bathroom. This is a very common occurrence at Wal Mart. So we trek to the lay-away department bathroom in the back of the store.

We all proceed into the family bathroom where the obvious takes place. As Garrison starts to take his turn, Kamdyn squeals behind him about a bug on the floor. Garrison turns slightly to the left, (body and all if you catch my drift...) and somehow manages to pee into my open purse just by the toilet. Now he is watching Kamdyn and I'm washing my hands only to turn around and see this happening. I screamed so loudly that I made him jump and pee went literally EVERYWHERE!!! He never stopped peeing during the entire course of these events. It was in every nook and crannie in my purse. I just stood there staring in shock and disbelief not quite sure what to do. Kamdyn says," You are in real trouble now, Garrison." as we all just stand there staring at my sopping wet purse. After a moment or two as I collected my thoughts, a had Garrison dump out my purse and separate all the things that were wet from those hopefully not wet. He was sobbing by this time apologizing over and over and over again. I was so mad I couldn't even find the humor in the situation. I was exhausted and hungry and grumpy and the kids had been making me crazy arguing so this only increased my anxiety and turmoil.

We were in the bathroom (cleaning the contents of my purse) for so long that the manager came and checked on us. I asked for a plastic Wal Mart bag to put my stuff in. I borrowed the Lysol in the layaway department, thoroughly washed out the purse and all it's pockets ( I just got the thing in the Summer!)sprayed it down with Lysol, stuffed it with tissue and shoved the plastic bag into the opening. Garrison is still saying over and over, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry."

I knew he didn't mean to do it but I was furious because we talk about staying focused and concentrating when you are doing something really important. It took me a good 20 minutes to calm down during which time the children were instructed not to even talk to each other but sit still and stare straight ahead. Not one of my finer mommy moments.

As I tucked him into bed last night I told him that everyone makes mistakes and that no matter what I loved him. He was a little better but still sad.

This morning as he was getting ready to walk out the door to school with Dad. He put his arms around me and whispered the following in my ear:

" Mommy, I love you forever I love you always. Forever and ever my mommy you'll be. I'm sorry about all the mistakes I have made and all the things I do wrong."

To which I replied:
"I love you forever and I love you for always and forever and always my Garrison you'll be and I am also sorry for all the mistakes I make and I promise I will try to do better."

We hugged for a long time forgiving one another. He put his not so little hands on my face and kissed me on the nose and told me to have a good day.

These little phrases are Garrison's rendition of a children's book we have read about a million times but he gets it: Unconditional love and he taught me a little more how it's done right. Nobody is perfect certainly not mommies but he loves me anyway. And I know he knows I love him unconditionally.

Sort of reminds me of the man upstairs....

I will survive!!!

I am alive but I'm working all the time!!!

Two short weeks after I started working at the spa, the manager was let go. I do love the spa and the staff is awesome but I am tired. The owner and I have become friends and that is a blessing.

I miss my kids andmy husband. I have one day a week to clean and organize my home and that is real pain. I'm really poor at organizing my home but I'm a pro at work. Why doesn't that translate to the house. I never have been able to figure it out.

When I have time, I'll post about:
The explosion at Hobby Lobby and the Haz-Mat team, bomb squad, police and firetrucks.
My weight loss program (25 lbs so far and still falling. I have 25 more to go!)
VBS memories
Kamdyns very fancy princess party and Cinderella
Book club picks
Harry Potter Mania in my house
and a zillion other things that I am desperate to record for posterity.

I got a present the day of Kamdy's party too: a brand new fancy cannon rebal digital camers!!!!!! Thank you DADDY!!!!
The pictures below are from Kamdyn's party

It's been a long time

I'm had so much going on that it will take me several posts to catch up. The biggest news is that I am going back to work starting tomorrow!

I will be working at the Always at Peace Day Spa in Plano. I begin my training tomorrow at 9:00 am and will continue for two weeks. After the training/trial period, I will be working Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Here's the link
http://www.alwaysatpeace.com

What happened is Sean got me a Mothers Day Spa 1/2 day and I fell in love with the place. As I was leaving I said to the owner, it must be heaven to work here! She asked, "Are you interested?"

I already knew that I was going to be working in some capacity and Sean and I were researching opening our own business in the Firewheel area. I had gone so far into the process that I had met with commercial real estate leasing agents and had a site in mind. I had already applied for federal grants and was tentatively approved.

I had also secured my own website for my artwork and was restarting a card business. The big problem is this: I needed an income immediately not in 8 to 12 weeks. So when this opportunity presented itself, through much prayer and petition to the good Lord, Sean and I felt this was the right move. The kids will be with my mom a lot this summer and then Kamdyn starts at a new school three days a week. She has the opportunity to attend five days a week but I'm going to see how the summer goes. There are still spots and the director knows our situation. So I am a working mother and I have to trust that this is the direction the Lord wants for us.

I'm excited and apprehensive at the same time. I'm going to miss the kids so much because hey are so terrific and Garrison has really just started his ADD meds. It's going pretty well. He will go back in August to see the doctor before school for any adjustments. I'm building a website for his therapist (www.graceevaluation.com)so if anyone needs these services I highly recommend them.

Kamdyn's birthday is this weekend. Cinderella is coming to our princess tea party and she has never been so excited about anything in her life. 15 little girls squealing and prancing around for two hours. I'll have more later.

The Dance Recital

Sunday was a monumental day in Kamdyn's life. The first of many to be sure as she is a truly dramatic child.

I wonder where she gets that from?

The day began as any Sunday does with Church at PC and the mad dash to make it to first service and class. It was promotion Sunday and Garrison was moving to the 1st grade class. (I'll blog later about his end of year party with photos)
This, in-and-of-itself was HUGE because he's in class with all his buddies for the first time. Church completed, donughts consumed and then it was off to the car to zoom home and get Kamdyn dressed for the recital at 12:30.

The recital was to be in a nearby city at the downtown theater and was the first annual dance recital for this new dance studio. This sounds more glamorous than it really was but to the kids I'm sure it was overwhlming. Kamdyn was in her element but more on that later.

There was a list or rules two pages front and back of Do's and Dont's for the recital. The right tights, the correct hair, make-up instructions, behavior instructions, shoes, bags toys for entertaining backstage and the one I flatly refused to adhere to: No CAMERAS!!!! Before and after the performance yes but not during. WHATEVER!

After 30 minutes of hair and makeup heres what out little doll looked like. The music and dance was originally Swan Lake but it was scrapped to go with a fairy tale theme. Kamdyn and her group danced to Anastasia "Once Upon a December".





It was madness at the theater. The director told me last week they had averaged 3 adults for each child per performance. There were two recitals that day 100 kids per performance so approximatly 300 adults per show. At the time I remember thinking she had underestimated but when I got to the theater and there were at least twice the number estimated.... well you can imagine the chaos. The director was frazzled but it actually went pretty smoothly getting the girls onstage and in their groups - Sort of find the group with your costume and there you go.

Kamdyns group was the 6th or 7th set of dancers. The youngest group was the 2-3 age ballet. It was exactly what you are picturing in your head. Lots of really darling little girls in poufy dresses, a few crying hysterically and a few others really trying to dance their hearts out. It was precious. Then came our turn to see Kamdyn. From the moment they came on stage they all tried to really do the dance and all the steps. It was a 3 1/2 minute dance which is a really long time for 4 and 5 year olds. Kamdyn is only 3 and the youngest in the class but she was moved up becasue she is so much taller and bigger than the other 3 year olds. They were all so cute but I have to sa mine was (of course) the cutest. I'm sure every mother there could echo that sentiment about her own child. As soon as the lights came up I notice that they had applied additional lipstick to Kamdyns lips. I assumed because she is a fair child and the pink might not have been enough. Her lips looked a bit like Angelina Jolie after additional collegen. My sister was there and she asked me, " What's up with Kamdyn's mouth?" But the dance went on and they were lovely. Kamdyn twirled and spun as hard as she could until her ballet slipper started to come off.

It was at this time she turned around faced the back wall and bent over, mooning the audience with a butt full of white ruffles. Picture this, for a good 5 or 7 seconds of the dance everone else is dancing and spinning and Kamdyns rear end is right there in the middle of the stage blocking the progress of the dance. The other dancers didn't seem to be bothered by it at all.

The audience was really tickled and you can hear it on the video tape. I was taping the dance and trying not to laugh and wiggle the camera. She stood back up with a twirl and went right back to the dance.

They finished their piece and there were a few more after hers. At the end of the performance the house lights came up and one person was to go get their dancer. Naturally Garrison had to go with Dadddy. He was really proud of her and actually got upset when people started laughing during the performance. My mom had to calm him down and reassure him they were not laughing at Kamdyn per say just the circumtances were so cute. He was still not satisified. He had flowers for her and her wanted to go with Sean to make sure she was "good" (his word.)

Remember how I sent her in to the performance? Here is how she emerged form backstage:




You see, I had placed a small make-up bag in her dance bag in case I needed to re apply at the theater. But in the chaos I completly forgot to take it out. Kamdyn found it backstage and took it upon herself to add a little more lipstick AND mascara before the performance. So the Angelina Jolie lips??? They were all her own doing. Several of the other parents snickered at her apperance and said she was really cute. I agreed but also commented that she can be quite a handfull.

We took lots of pictures and celebrated like crazy. She was terribly proud of herself and her makeup job until she saw the pictures later that day. She agreed that from now on she would let mommy do it.

She's already been in my makeup again.

A whole bunch of rambling

Have you ever taken a break from all the things you might normally sign up for or take on and actually do what everyone says you out to do, like say "no" to everything?

This is a confession along with a vow not to let this happen again.

In January when Tickelopes was "downsizing" I was put on retainer as an artist only but no longer an employee of the company, per say. At the behest of many who love me I actually started to say no to things I was asked to do. I did write three children's books as I said I wanted to do. I did draw and paint a bit (mostly wall art for the kids rooms; still unframed and unhung.) But I otherwise slowed my normal frenetic pace to that of a sloth or a turtle (which ever one is slower.) I rested caught up on a lot of TV ate even more than I should on any given day, gained 10 pounds and actually got quite depressed. I started questioning, blaming, getting irritated with everyone around me about the dumbest things. (If you've been one of my victims them I am truly sorry.) I stopped using the phone and slowly began to turn into the frumpy housewife who only wears one or two outfits a week, no makeup, and sleeps as much as possible.

My husband suffered as well as the kids and the housework. I doubted myself my personality, my very person. I didn't like myself so I couldn't imagine how others could like me. During this time Garriosn began having anxiety problem at school and I was in a mess about that too. Worry can kick your butt.

At my low point (which I didn't even know was my low point; I was too close to realize I was in a funk) our book club started reading "Eat Pray Love" and it was only when I began the book and understood this woman's plight of just going through the motions I realized I was miserable too. That is when I began to try and make myself happy again. I was looking to everyone else to make me happy and ignoring what my own inclinations toward that very pursuit were calling me to do.

I have an incredibly supportive husband that took the brunt of this rollercoster. Rollercoster is not the right word because those are fun most of the time this was more like the "Fun House" where you never know what's around the corner and what's waiting is meant to make you scream and be terrified. At the end you laugh but not while you are in the middle of it.

Sean encourages me to try anything I want to try. He supports all of my momentary whims as well as my serious endeavors and all with his same steady love and devotion. He tells me all the time I can do anything I want to do if I just try. Much like a consist ant parent to a whimsical child. If I had a word (if you've read the book you'll understand this part) Mine might be just that, WHIMSICAL. There is good and bad in that word. I've been non-comm ital about just about everything in my life but I've decided to stop looking outward and start searching inward.

I could go on but this is not a novel. Suffice to say I've managed to re busy myself plan several community events, a shower and several school parties with our home room mom. I've restarted an eating an ex cerise program and I'm thinking of restarting my card business. I've been asked ao many time if that is going to happen and I think this is the right time to draw new art and create new designs and start a web page. This is not a whim but something that has been on my heart for a while I just didn't know I was floundering internally. I think I hid it from everyone including myself.

So thank you for loving me in spite of my sometimes neurotic behavior my excessive talkativeness, my crazy ideas and crazy enthusiasm/optimism. I've missed that me because she wasn't reachable for a while but I'm going to be henceforth my old self.
__________________________________________________________________________________

What else

We are the proud owners of about 40 new baby fish (See photo)


The yellow fish called Rose and her companion called Jack (Titanic) will not stop dropping babies. We've had two bunches and there are apparently more to come. The kids love it but I'm not sure what we will do with all the fish. If anyone has need of a guppy or two I think I can be of service.

School if out this Thursday and I've started my Adventure Kids Blog with tons of Dallas stuff to do. But otherwise it's been pretty mellow but not for long. VBS is coming and I'm helping in Arts and Crafts. Sean and I are on the Dave Ramsey financial plan and hopefully will be in the summer class so we can really get on track for a credit card free life. I've had it up to my eyebrows with debt and credit cards. So that will be ending in the next week. I'm re-opening my Arbonne business so if you want any arbonne products I'm your girl!

I love Arbonne and I'm really excited about this. I made a great new friend and reconnected with an old one in Arbonne last fall. I also lost 17 pounds and I'm looking forward to re-loosing the 10 I gained back.

I have to go check on my kids now. They've been watching Lilo and Stich while I typw and I now hear someone on the piano and that means it's over.

These are some of the recent pictures I finally got off my phone.

Zoo trip with Garrison's class / This is his best school girl, Preslee. Her dad is the actor friend I've emailed about recently.

Garre's class / It rained and we were all drenched to the bone but it was fun.

My monkey

A surprized art award winner

I believe

My mom sends me emails all the time that are silly and pointless.

Sometimes she sends me one that is really neat. This is one I want to remember.
________________________________________________________________________________
I believe in the power of prayer because I've seen it work.

I believe in honesty tempered with kindness, but honesty nevertheless.

I believe that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.

I believe that we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I believe that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I believe that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I believe that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life

I believe that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I believe that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I believe that you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I believe that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I believe that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I believe that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences

I believe that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I believe that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time

I believe that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.

I believe that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I believe that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I believe that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I believe that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief

I believe that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become

I believe that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever. Be the last one to know. There is joy in ignorance.

I believe two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I believe that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.

I believe that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

I believe that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I believe that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

Deal or No Deal

For some time now I considered sending in my application for the game show Deal or No Deal. I decided that I would be a funny candidate since I don't mind acting silly in fornt of a whole bunch of people and because I might actually be quirky enough to be selected for the show. So I did fill out and application and sent it in along with all the required self portraits and photographs.

A week later while pouring over our financials with Sean I said, "I wish Deal or no Deal would just come to Dallas and I'd try out."

The next day (no lie) my mom calls to tell me I should try out for DOND and the cattle call on Saturday April 14th in Grand Prairie. Talk about karma..... And I don't even believe in karma!

The following is the story of the days events as I stood in line for 5 hours, freezing my butt off with a cast of crazies, for a 30 second shot at my 15 minutes of possible fame and $1,000,000 dollars.

5:30 am - The alarm goes off and I actually got out of bed rather quickly. The previous night was full of thunderstorms (remember the tornado's in Ft. Worth) which proceeded a cold front. I had though of everything. I had my application and more pictures and a yahoo map. My clothes were laid out, my purse was packed, my phone was charged, and I had a book to read. I made a cup of coffee and took two hoodia (so I wouldn't be hungry. This actually works if you haven't tried the stuff.) I then set off for Grand Prairie Dodge at I20 and 360 about an hour away.

7:10 - I arrive at Grand Prairie Dodge (heretofore know as GPD) only to be told that parking was already full and I should park at the 24 hour fitness about 1/2 mile away. Not a good start to my morning. There were people everywhere! Hundreds wee parking and streaming across an open filed in ankle-deep mud back to GPD. I gathered my things locked the car and started my trek to DOND at GPD.

7:25 - About 1/2 way across the field, I notice that I left my application and pictures in the car. I was also soooo cold that I seriously considered ending it right there. I turned back against the throngs of contestant hopefuls and waded back to the car. I turned on the heater in the car and sat there for a few minutes watching the people walking. I remembered that I had a thin jacket and a soccer quilt in the trunk. THANK YOU LORD!!!
I noticed another couple walking back to their car arguing. Typical of me, I made a comment about the insanity and the lady informed me, "If my stupid husband had gotten up when I asked him to we'd be in line already!"
He was shaking his head and she was griping at him.

"At least you didn't get half the way there and realize you had forgotten your completed app and a coat!"

They laughed and replied, "Would you like for us to take you back to GPD? We are going right down the access road as we can drop you off."

"Normally I wouldn't get into a car with complete strangers but what the heck, yes! and thank you!" They were as good as their word and dropped me off but made me promise to give a shout out to Rick if I made the show. I heartily agreed thanked them and started across the parking lot at GPF.

7:45 - The line that awaited me was at least 1000 strong. The doors weren't opening until 10:00 and I thought I had been so smart to get up that early. Evidently others were just as smart as I was. I finally found the end of the line (somewhere near the Dodge Caravans and started my never ending wait. I was grateful to Rick and Amy when I noticed the feet of those standing around me. Many were caked in wet mud. It was so cold I wanted to run to the car but the only thing stopping me was the hike back.

8:30 - Port-o potty. For some reason I chose to drink coffee prior to this excursion. I have never been one to use this facility but when in dire straits and no other option (save the hike to the car) I relented, asked my neighbor to save my place and began to make my way through the crowd to the POP. I looked back and the line behind me had doubled from the line in front of me. I felt somewhat relieved.
I met a lady in the POP line who was attempting to "sike" herself up for this disgusting but necessary evil. She was gagging before she even went in. I offered her a scented moist handi-wipe. She thanked me and said,"I'm so in love with you right now." We both ventured into our respective stalls and both came out gagging. I was truly nasty. There is more on the POP late in the story.

8:35 until 10:00 - Talking and freezing with tons of other crazy people. I took a good look around and wondered why some of the people who were there actually believed that NBC might dare to put them on national television. I saw every manner of human being: several Elvis impersonators, the Cat in the hat, a chipmunk costume, a Greek god and goddess, a group dressed like the cast of The Matrix, tattoos, piercings, lesbians, gays (openly kissing I might add) tall people, short people, thin people, fat people, people with Mohawk's, children selling hot chocolate and donuts, a man charging $5 for a Polaroid picture to take in with your application, every race and ethnic background I knew and a few I wasn't aware of, people wearing crazy hats, the red hat ladies (out in force), Old people, young people and still they came to the line.

By 10:00 am there were at least 7500 people in line maybe more.

10:00 - the helicopters and NBC cameras arrived. People went totally nuts. A producer opened the front door and announced something unintelligible and then the most horrible moment of the day arrived.

They came to clean the port-o-potties.

If you have never experienced this count yourself lucky. I had not until this moment and shall never forget it the longest day of my life. The truck arrived and a worker opened the top of the POP. With a huge vacuum like tube the process of "cleaning" begins. There was, however, a slight problem in that he didn't have the tube properly placed and it literal threw the contents against the POP door forcing it open for all to see. First there was a wave of odor and it got stronger and stronger. We were (in the little group I had befriended) downwind and let me tell you... no you can only imagine! There are no words to describe the scene. The woman in front of me threw-up in the bushes. And she wasn't the only one. Luckily, I had my soccer quilt from my car and wrapped my face inside it and pinched my nose. I might be dead now from the gaseous fumes had it not been for the quilt.
Enough said.

10:00 until 12:10 - Inching forward toward my date with destiny. (Yes they got the POP cleaned up) we all talked about what we'd do with a Million dollars, what our strategy's were, how we'd impress the producer in just 30 seconds and then before you knew it it was my turn to go in an wait for the group to be called.

12:10 - The coordinators called in two groups of 60 and put us in 6 rows of 10. As one table finished a line of 10 went to the one producer sitting there. Each person was given 30 seconds to talk about themselves only. Our girl used a timer and she'd stop you in mid-sentence. She took the apps and started to my left. I was number 4 in my group. I was proceeded be two boring girls laying out he woes of their sad lives then alady who didn;t know what to say. I was then my turn and I was excited and bubbly and smiled a lot and was very enthusiastic. At the end of the 10th person (there was an Elvis impersonator from Murphy in my group. It was just sad.) She excused everyone but me and and really good-looking black guy named Michael. She dumped the other apps in a deep box and asked the other producer standing near-by to come over to the table. They both questioned up for another 5 minutes. She wanted to know what I did for a living, where I was from, what would I do with the money, how would I act on the show, who would I bring and several more specific questions. Here is where I could have done better but I was nervous! I should have been more over the top. I got a blue star on my app and the other producer took it away to a tent in the back. The said thank you, I said thank you and the I appreciated all her hard work because it can't be an easy job. She said I was the 1st person that day to tell her thank you.

She said I'd hear something in as little as a week to a YEAR!!!!!!!!

I watched two more groups go though and they only took about 5 apps away to the tent. Some tables didn't produce any applications for the tent. I felt hopeful until I realized that with over 7000 there they may have taken as many as 500 applications with blue stars. BUMMER!!!

Well, all in all it was worth it. I made my way back across the muddy field and went to Johnny Carinos for lunch. I drank hot coffee and warmed up. I'd have to say that being on the show would be amazing. It was always a zillion to one chance but I'm glad I went because if I hadn't gone I'd always wonder what if.

Plus I met Elvis about 5 times

When it rains... it pours Easter eggs

Okay. So in the course of a couple of days our TV goes out, the digital camera goes nuts and the dryer basically quits. Hows that for karma?

On the brighter side, Kamdyn has started talking in a southern accent. Where did she hear this? Good question. She says her phrases like, "I want to plaaey outsiiiide, mommmiiee." And today it was, "I wont to huunt Eastah aggs." I think she thinks it cute. My grandmthe ris here grom Georgia and she does has a distinct southern accent. I guess this is where she heard it. It's very funny.

Today, as we do every year we spent Easter at my sister's house. The grown-ups hide the eggs, the kids scrambled all over the back yard to find them and stuff candy in their mouths and we all ate so much food it was silly. It's always a great time.

I'll post pictures later.

Pictures Pictures Pictures

I've been avoiding doing a post because I needed to put so many pictures together. We have been doing so much and I've had the camera everywhere. My digital is on the fritz so I've been doing this old world style. This is a combo post with tons of pictures. I have posted all sorts of various outings and drawings.

Garrison has been having some problems with anxiety so I've been trying to spend as much time as possible with him (doctors orders). I've taken him out to school a couple of time to just spend the day together. He seems to have a lot of worries for a 6 year old (April 24 he'll be 6). We think that is where this obsession with the Titanic has come from. And yes it is an obsession. We have Lego Titanic Play dough Titanic (as you'll see below) drawings, music, original songs, plays.... The list goes on an on, kind of like Celine Dion's heart in that song from the movie. He is in play therapy to work out some of this stress with a great Christian child therapist, Dr. Dean Beckloff. I didn't want to blog about this because We were so unsure of what we were dealing with. It basically started with tremendous anxiety about the weather. It escalated to acting out in school and then one week he was sent to the school counsellor for behavior issues. This is all very unlike Garrison and was alarming to say the least. He said and did some strange things. He is an intellectual child and internalizes things so the doctor is working with him to help learn how to express himself and not bottle it up.





Garrison won 2nd place in the district art competition for Wylie IDS. His art teacher entered the drawing so it was a real suprize for everyone. He was thrilled. I took a picture of him on my phone but I can't figure out how to get it out of the phone. We were really proud of him and more importantly he was proud of himself.

This is a self portrait by Kamdyn. She looks happy to me.


This is my soccer man. He's a lot more aggressive than I thought he'd be and he really like it. Team sports are good for building confidence in yourself and learning to rely on others, so says the doctor.


Also, we went to the Arboretum. Garrison is getting, "too old for flower pictures, Mom!" His words. I am guessing he will give me more and more trouble as the years roll on but I'm determined to keep it up. Once he was there he was awesome. Kamdyn of course loved every minute of it including finding a dead snake. Below are the pictures. We missed to tulips but the azaleas were spectacular.I've entered the shadowy picture of Kamdyn in a local photo contest and the behest of the Wolf camera guy. We'll see....










Kamdyn and I spent the day hunting for ladybugs. Instead of cleaning my house and getting laundry I was climbing all over a large hill with a 3 year od hunting for ladybugs. It was one of the best days I can remember. The laundry was still there and the dishes were still dirty but in my daughters eyes I was the bestest mommy ever! How do I know this because she told me so.

Boys will be boys

My mom sent me this in a email and it so funny I had to share it. Happily, none of these are my children. But it makes me feel better about my son.

Wait Garrison has actually peed in a plant during swim class a couple of years ago.























You find out interesting things when you have sons, like...

1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.

2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with
roller blades, they can ignite.

3.) A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and
a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.

5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

7) When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late.

8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9.) A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old Man says they can only do it in the movies.

10.) Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.
11) Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.

12.) Super glue is forever.

13.) No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

14.) Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15) VCR's do not eject "PB & J" sandwiches even though TV
commercials show they do.

16.) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17.) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18.) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.

19.) Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.

20.) The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5-minute response time.

21.) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.

22.) It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23.) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24.) 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.

25.) 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

Princesses on a Train

We had a terrific time at the Disney Princess on Ice this year. I tink it was the best one we've been to and the girls were so happy. We rode the train down to the American Airlines Center downtown and this is a video from that train ride.

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