Our "Newest" Pet...

Today I picked Katie up from school to take her to the dentist and she whips out this sealed baggie of Goldfish crackers and inside the baggie was a fuzzy green caterpillar. She told me it was poisonous. I don't know if this 'fuzzy' caterpillar is 'poisonous' or not, but I do know some species of 'fuzzy' caterpillars can sting pretty bad when touched, so we did not touch this one. She wanted to keep it. I agreed since we already have a 'Butterfly Hatching' netted container. However, we still had errands to run. This caterpillar is lucky to be alive for the following reasons:

1) It had been in Katie's 'sealed' Ziploc bag for an hour an a half...

2) While inside the dentist's office (for another hour), the caterpillar stayed in my car with the baggie open...

3) After the dentist appointment, Katie and I went to go eat at the mall and get a couple things at Target, and again the caterpillar was in my car inside the open baggie...

4) I'm not sure that Goldfish crackers are the best choice of diet for a caterpillar...

As soon as we got home, we set-up a 'real home' for our new pet. We gave it fresh oranges and apples, threw in a few twigs and leaves, some sugar water, and let it be.

Katie went to bed early, and what she doesn't know yet is that the caterpillar has already made its way to the top of the netted house; which is where her previous pet caterpillars went to cocoon themselves! Cross your fingers!

White Belt Black Stripe

Yeah! My little kicker has been promoted from White Belt to White Belt Black Stripe at his Karate Academy!

Nathan has done SO well in every class; he's a very quick learner! During the test, they had to pass certain techniques such as 'double strikes', 'double blocks', 'kicks', 'self-defense', and answer safety question along with questions about where Karate originated and the type of Karate they are learning. His results were all A's and A+'s!!

Congratulations Nathan! Keep on kickin'!

Katie's Cookie Character

This is "Sweetberry" in cookie-form!

There is one "Sweetberry" for everyone in Katie's class!

This is the actual "Sweetberry" doll


All the 3rd graders at Valley Oaks have a project that is due Thursday, October 29th. Each student was to choose a character from any book that they are to give an oral report on along with some kind of visual; but they are not allowed to bring anything pre-made. Katie chose a book called "The Missing Recipe" and the main character is a My Little Pony named "Sweetberry". Since the book was about a missing recipe, we thought it would be creative to present her visual in the form of decorated sugar cookies! Katie, me, and Chris have been working on these cookies for two days now, and up top are pictures of the finished cookies!

Can you see the resemblance from the actual My Little Pony picture above and the 'imitation'? Gee, I think they look identical! Hehehe!

They didn't turn out quite as I would have liked, but YUMMY.... they are delicious!

The Good Ole' West

Chico says "Let me in! Let me in!"

My custom-made doors!

For quite some time, we have been wanting to put some form of doors in the doorway that enters the kid's playroom, our dining room, and our work-out room. This weekend Chris made our wishes come true! I told him what I had in mind, and he made it happen. He made these custom-made Star Saloon Doors. Home Depot didn't have exactly what I was looking for, so we went the next cheapest way; we found plain wood closet doors, some double-swinging hinges, and some white spray paint.... and poof! I got my custom doors! The purpose of these doors is mainly to keep the dogs out of this large area of the house. (However, we still have another doorway we have to block somehow. In the meantime, that door is being blocked with Katie's gymnastics mat.)

Didn't Chris do an AWESOME job!?!

Watch out Chuck Norris!

Can you see the Chuck Norris resemblance? Hahaha!

Nathan began his 1st 'official' Karate class at The Houston Karate Academy! He is SOOOO excited! I have never seen him so into learning something new. The Instructor fitted Nathan for his Gee and showed Chris and I how to put it on him before class started. Nathan paid attention, yelled "Yes sir!" when he was supposed to, raised his hand to try and be picked for a demonstration; which he did get picked for TWICE, and he's a VERY quick learner!

Nathan went two days ago to participate in a class to see if he would like this or not, and that's all he's been talking about for two days! When we left class today, he asked if he was coming back tomorrow! Poor kid, he only gets to go to class twice a week! Mondays and Wednesdays...

Nathan is our little Chuck Norris in the making! Hehehe!

Back to School; Finally!

Whoo-hoo! Katie and Nathan went back to school today! Katie entered the 3rd grade, and Nathan entered Pre-K! This is Nathan's first year attending what he calls, "Katie's school"... HA!
Katie picked out her '1st-day-outfit', and Nathan just put on what I set out for him... I'm sure that will change in a couple years. I have signed up to be "Room-Mom" for Katie's class; I figured this would give me a little practice for my next career of trying to be a children's program/event coordinator some day! Hehehe!

This was taken just this morning! Almost all of his friends from daycare are all in the same Pre-K class this year, so making friends has already been established! Did I mention that Nathan woke up at 4:45 a.m. ready to go to school!! Yikes! I hope he doesn't make a habit of THAT! Hehehe!

Ironies of Motherhood

Top 10 "Ironies of Motherhood"

1.) That you could miss your little one SO much all day at work, but be unbelievably relieved when he falls asleep an hour after you get home.

2.) You ask your child to share toys and she won't, but if Dora the Explorer asked her to remove someone's pancreas, she'd grab a scalpel.

3.) How your son is his basketball team's MVP, but heaven forbid he could get a pair of socks in the hamper.

4.) It was inconceivable that you'd pay for sex. Now you shell out $15 an hour for a sitter so you can go to a motel with your husband.

5.) That you looked forward to girl's night out for weeks, then spent it debating if Hannah Montana is a good role model.

6.) You always dreamed of having a convertible. You never dreamed it would mean a co-sleeper that turns into a bassinet.

7.) Until he was 11, your son thought girls were yucky and nothing you said convinced him otherwise. Now you just wish he would find Alexa next door (and her belly shirts) less appealing.

8.) You spent years begging your child to eat veggies, then last night she called you a murderer for serving steak.

9.) How quickly giving your child an allowance for chores turned into her refusing to do anything unless she's paid.

10.) Tough as it was when your child clung to you at the entrance to her pre-K, it's worse when she hisses, "Don't kiss me!" as you drop her off in fourth grade.

(Source: July issue of Parenting magazine)

To space and back!

Sunday, July 26th, 2009, our family decided to enjoy some time together and went took a trip to the Johnson Space Center. For the most part, the kids really enjoyed themselves! (They only got bored when we 'thought' we were going to see a movie about the Johnson Space Center and it turned out to be a 'lecture' given by an individual; and on a couple parts of the tram-tour.)

It had been many years since I last visited the Johnson Space Center, and discovered MUCH has changed! There are so many interactive things for the kids to do; it was almost like the Children's Museum, but with space-stuff...

The kids played on a huge play land, got to feel like they were 'flying' by playing a virtual game, they got to race through an inflatable obstacle course, we got to shoot foam balls at multiple targets, we played around with many control, knobs, and gadgets in a mock-space shuttle, we attempted to maneuver through laser lights like in Mission Impossible, we sat through a lecture and learned interesting information about the Space Station, and took a tram tour to the training facility where the astronauts train for flights and to Rocket Park where all the rocket crafts are displayed.

We had a BLAST!!!

God bless Naw-Naw's

This little blog is to thank my mom, otherwise known as "Naw-Naw" to my children.

This past week I have been spending every last moment to complete a school paper, learn 19 different statistical math concepts, and take my final exam. My mom has always been there when I need help with the kiddos, and I want her to know how much I appreciate her efforts to help me in any way she can so I can finish the best I can. She took both Katie and Nathan last night and kept them ALL day today so I could sleep-in and take my final with plenty of rest and minimal distractions. Thank you Mom!

I took my final, and I completed my portion of the team paper. I could not have gotten this far without her help.

I love you mom!

Priceless...

This was Katie's expression when she first walked into her 'new' bedroom!

Katie had been begging me to re-arrange her bedroom for a month! I had lots of things going on and knew I wasn't going to have the time for quite sometime. Many of you know I went through surgery last week and I took a week off to recover. Coincidently, Katie went camping with a friend from Thursday to Sunday. Luckily, I felt good enough by Thursday to begin a 3-day task of re-arranging and re-organizing her bedroom!! We finished it Saturday night!

The look on her face was heart-warming and priceless; she LOVES it!!

Like father, like son...

This is a picture of the motorcycle Chris was hoping to win from a raffle at the Honda of Houston. Unfortunately, he didn't win, but our son Nathan has a blast! Chris took pictures of him on many different motorcycles and ATVs. Nathan really loves motorcycles; or anything that has a loud engine for that matter...

Maybe someday Chris will be able to get the bike of his dreams and take Nathan for a ride! Until then... pictures and dreams are what the men in my life cling to.

Doggie Fashion Show!

"Loud and Proud sweatshirt!

"Sweet"

"Dig It"

Many of you know Katie has her own puppy, Belle, the toy breed Long-haired Chihuahua.
Well, Bell has her own fashion wardrobe, and Katie wanted me to take pictures of belle in each outfit...
I hope you all enjoy this and are not laughing too hard right now.
Belle is NOT too fond of her fashion clothing either!

Blame the sister...

This is Nathan's 'pouty-face'!

So, early this afternoon I get a phone call from my kid's summer daycare.

Nathan has Pink-eye!

Geez-O-Peez... Katie had Pink-eye last week!!

Nathan says, "I blame Katie"!

I'm laughing! He's glad he gets to miss school! HA!

There's a Monster in My Wall!

So, I left work early because I have not been feeling well. I am sitting on the couch half listening to soap operas, and half paying attention to my schoolwork. My ears keep hearing the faint sound of scratching across the room. We have 3 dogs and a cat, so at first I thought nothing of it. But the scratching persisted, and all my animals were with me in the living room. I get up to investigate, and the scratching noise seems to be coming from inside a wall that backs up to the backyard. I walk outside, and hear it louder.

We have an outdoor fire pit, and an outdoor cooker that are both 'inside' an outer wall. The cooker part has two metal doors. I build up the courage to swing one of the doors open expecting to be attacked by a raccoon or opossum; or some vermin! Nothing, so I quickly swing the next door open, and there is this tiny bird trying to fly away, but is 'fluttering' around instead! Whew!

This is our second bird to 'rescue' in the last month. Luckily, Chris works near the Wildlife Rescue facility, and he will be dropping off the bird in the morning.

Does anybody know what kind of bird this is??

Parents vs. Reality Shows...

Here is another "Top Ten" list I found in the Parenting Magazine... this list expresses the ways the life of a parent is NOT similar to the multitude of Reality shows on television!

1. Your morning weigh-ins are mercifully private.

2. No hope of trading up to a multimillionaire, housecleaning husband who lives to give foot rubs in wacky wife-swap episode.

3. You drive a Ford, shop at Target, and drink Diet Coke all the live long day, but no one gives you a damn dime for product placement.

4. You endure hours of grueling photo shoots; but they are all at Sears and come out in wallet size with a faux-nature background.

5. The only Extreme Home Makeover you are getting is courtesy of a 5-year old with markers.

6. You would like to see "Top Chef" make the three different dishes (one kid food, one vegan for your tween, and one that actually tastes good for you) every single night.

7. You really did marry your big fat obnoxious fiance. (And what's worse, no one paid you!)

8. You never get voted off... even if you beg.

9. You are surrounded by "real" housewives; but like you, they have not shaved their legs in days.

10. You know what not to wear, but nothing else fits since you had kids.

HAHAHAHAHA! (Courtesy of Parenting.com May 2009)

Mommy's Top-Ten...

I have several different magazines that I subscribe to yet so little time to look through, so my stack was getting pretty tall... needless-to-say, I took them to work and looked through ALL of them today. I came across a funny "top-ten" list of, "Things mom's will probably never get caught saying out-loud", and I wanted to share because I know ALL moms out there can relate!!

1. "No more broccli! You'll get a bellyache!"

2. "Gosh, I wish I could keep pumping forever - it's such a gratifying experience and makes me feel like a real woman."

3. "After my second pregnancy, I just couldn't keep the weight on!"

4. "Honey, let's play Barbies again, and I'll be the bad sister. Again."

5. "You know, I'm actually sharper when I'm awakened every two hours!"

6. "All I want to do after a long day with the kids is have sex with my husband."

7. "Why don't you try on something pink? You don't have enough pink clothing."

8. "My new favorite song is 'Fruit Salad'. Totally downloading it!"

9. "I regret getting that epidural."

10. "Thank you so much for the advice about everything I'm doing wrong with my kid. I found it really helpful."

(Source: www.parenting.com March 2009)

All Grown up...

Katie is almost all grown up...

Every morning during the week I park near the school and walk Katie to her classroom, help her get organized, and give her hugs; it's been like a tradition since her first day of Kindergarten. Last night she asked to be dropped off in front of her school because she wanted to try walking to her class by herself. Well, since Chris has been taking her to school for the last couple days, he's the one that got to experience the overwhelming feelings. He said, and I quote, "Man, that was hard."

Our baby is getting more independent. Next my name will go from "Mommy" to plain ole' "Mom".

*sniff-sniff*

New addition to our family!

Let me begin by saying, "NO... I am NOT pregnant!!"

For the past year, Katie has been begging us to get her a dog she can call her own; and she specifically has been asking for a 'girl-doggie'. Chico tends to favor me, Rosco favors Chris and Nathan, and Katie claims her hamsters can't be held, petted, and definitely will not sleep in her bed with her. So, this past weekend we went ahead and got Katie a puppy.

Breed: Long Haired Chihuahua (Toy breed)
Name: Belle
Age: 8 weeks
Weight: Currently 1.6 pounds, will not exceed 4.5 pounds

Chris and I both dread the "potty-training" stage, but luckily the pee and poop are of teeny-weeny proportions! Hehehe! Katie has had Belle for 4 days now, and has done a terrific job of taking care of her. We have even woken Katie up earlier in the mornings so she can take Belle outside to go potty. Our other doggies (Rosco at 85 pounds, and Chico at 12 pounds) have taken a liking to her too. Believe it or not, Rosco (the 85-pound lab mix) is actually a little afraid of her, but Chico and her like to play. It's quite funny to watch their interactions!

This is Katie with Belle

Left-to-right: Rosco, Chico, and Belle

This is Belle sleeping in her bed, which is usually on Katie's bed

Bored Mommy...

This is what happens when mommy gets bored. I take pictures, and try to make them look funny. Actually, I really should have been doing laundry, homework, or even reconciling my checkbook; but nope, mommy got a new toy, and had to have some quality play-time!

My kiddos each have their own Nintendo DS's, so mommy went out and got herself that new Nintendo DSi... then I explained to both of them that this was mommy's toy, NOT theirs... we'll see how long that lasts! HA!

Katie's "Tea-Party" experience...

My little Katie-bug got to experience a little bit of Texas history! April 15th was "Tax-day", and all around the United States, various "Tea Parties" were attended by protesters against the government's spending habits that have increased the national deficit and now want to increase our taxes to pay for it. Although there were a couple "Tea Parties" here in Houston, Chris and Katie were presented the chance to attend the largest Tea Party in Texas: in San Antonio, smack in front of the Alamo!

So, we allowed Katie to miss a day of school and she got to 'tour' the Alamo while she was there, and also take a peek inside the Ripley's Believe it or Not. Mostly, she got to witness history in the making! She may not have known exactly what those 10,000+ people were doing there holding poster board signs and wearing t-shirts with clever slogans, but she was there!

Katie had a really good time! Maybe she will read about it in one of her textbooks by the time she graduates high school... HA!

Calling All Robins!

Every year, each grade level at Valley Oaks Elementary has to complete a major research project. In Kindergarten Katie had to build a model of a spider for the "Bug Fair", in 1st grade, she had to build a model of an Australian home for the "World Feast", and this year in 2nd grade, she has to make a bird for the "Bird Fair". She chose the Robin. The project is not due until next week, but we have a busy family schedule for the next 2 weeks, so we decided to finish early.

Katie's Robins are made of felt, which Katie cut-out (after I traced the patterns). I then sewed two halves together, and Katie stuffed them. (Chris sewed the last part together.) We both hot-glued the red chest on, the darker brown wings, and finally the 'googly-eyes'. Katie formed the nesting material. Lastly, we found a package of small wooden eggs at the craft store, so Katie painted them blue all by herself!

She's inherited her craft-skills from her mommy! Yay!

The Easter Bunny came and went...

This was the confetti eggs wars!

Eating snow-cones while in the hot-tub!

Whew! What a weekend! Thank goodness I was able to enjoy it since I took my math final early Saturday morning! Welp, Easter morning I awoke to the sound of Nathan dragging his Easter basket out of his bedroom and into the living room! (That was my cue to wake up and grab the camera!) Katie was already in the living room with all her Easter basket stuff thrown everywhere. It was a good morning! The kids were SO excited!

A little later in the morning, just as we expected, it rained cats and dogs! It didn't last too long, and the sun came out and it turned out to be a spectacular beautiful day! We headed to my mom's house around 2 p.m.

There, we all enjoyed social time with the rest of my family, snow cones, a couple eggs hunts, the hot-tub, and good ole' confetti egg wars!! I LOVE holidays!!

Chocolate Bunnies + Jelly Beans = Easter!!

This was a dessert I ate last weekend while in Austin... a HUGE diet no-no! (But it was oh-so-yummy!)

Easter is just around the corner, which means the temptation to devour those chocolate bunnies, the scheming of hiding all the pink jelly beans for ourselves, and the gobs of hard-boiled eggs our children will be decorating will be at our disposal! As of today, I have lost a total of 37 pounds on my diet, and I don't want some overgrown floppy two-eared hopping rodent to mess that up for me! SOOOO, below are some Easter food favorites minus the calorie overhaul! Enjoy!

HERB BAKED CHICKEN

6 oz. Chicken Breast 1 lemon, halved 1/8 tsp. dried crushed basil 1/8 tsp. dried crushed thyme Morton's Lite Salt and Pepper to taste In shallow baking pan squeeze 1/2 lemon over chicken. Sprinkle with 1/2 basil and thyme, seasoned with salt and pepper. In prepared 400 degree oven, bake uncovered for 40 minutes, basting occasionally. Turn. Squeeze the other 1/2 lemon and sprinkle with the rest of the spices. Add salt and pepper. Bake 30 minutes or more until tender.

DEVIL EGGS

2 oz. of 1% Cottage Cheese
1 Egg (Hard-boiled)

Combine egg yolk and cottage cheese. Season to taste.

CREAMSICLES

1 Pkg. Vanilla Supplement (A Quick Weight-Loss product)
12 oz. Orange Diet Soda

Whip in blender and freeze or chill in separate containers.

RASPBERRY LEMON PUDDING

1 Pkg. Lemon Chiffon Supplement (Another Quick Weight-Loss product)
1/4 cup of raspberries
4 oz. of water

Blend together and chill for 1 hour.

Spring Break is coming to an end!

SeaWorld March 19th, 2009

The Children's Museum March 21st, 2009

Well, Spring Break is coming to a close for our family. Chris and myself had to work for most of the week, but were lucky enough to both get Thursday off so we could take the kiddos to SeaWorld in San Antonio! That was a quick fun trip! (Of course, next time we will look further into the location of the motel we book!) It was me, Chris, Chris's mom Nikki, Katie, Nathan, and their cousins Sioux, Shelby, Cole, and Jack. We drove up there late Wednesday night, and got up early Thursday morning to eat breakfast with Shamu! We tried really hard to cram all we could into one day; needless to say, we did not get to do or see everything, but the kiddos still had a blast!

Today, my mom and me took Katie, Nathan, and Katie's friend Lucy to the Children's Museum. Like always, more fun was had! We were just there two weeks ago for the sneak-peek of their new exhibit, but even more new areas had opened since then! This place is REALLY neat-o! If you have kids, you must take them there... if you haven't already!

A visit from "Hale"

Today we had the biggest Hale-storm we have had in quite sometime! The hale was not even that large, but the quantity was outrageous! It started off sounding like a light rain, then the noise got louder and louder. Katie asked, "Is that Hale"? I had been sitting in front of my laptop ALL DAY doing math problems for my online class, and I jumped up to look... sure enough, it was hailing loudly! I scrambled to locate my camera, with no luck at first. Our housekeeper had placed my silver camera into a silver item, and by time I located it, the hale storm had passed, but the hale was still on the ground! It was 2-minutes of sheer 'hale'!

"Katieolas"

Chris and I have been creating a new look for our front yard by pulling weeds, tilling, and planting some simple, yet attractive landscaping. Since our house is red brick with white trim, we decided to stick with plants that bloom only white flowers. We planted 12 Indian Hawthorn bushes and outlined those with a light gray retaining wall; 3 white gardenia bushels in an existing red brick alcove; and 3 really neat-looking water conservative plants in another pre-existing alcove near our front door. The color pattern looks very nice.

However, Katie wanted to have a 'special' flowered plant inserted into our patterned color-scheme. The only problem is that Katie LOVES any and everything pink. Needless to say, we ended up getting her a very small pink flowered plant. We planted it in a small corner near the Indian Hawthorn bushels because the directions said to not allow direct sunlight to hit the flowers. The plant was not clearly labeled, so I asked Chris what the type of flower was, and he answered, "Katieolas". (Like Gladiolas...) He was joking, but Katie fell in love with it!

Katie is VERY proud of her 'special' flower named "Katieolas"!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Nathan-man!

Nathan puts up a front like he's a tough little guy, but mommy knows better...

Last year when he was three years old, he had to get his yearly shots. He was so cute when they gave him three shots, all he said was, "Ouch" in the calmest voice. He was done. Yesterday was his four-year old yearly shots; and he had to get five shots! We (mommy and daddy) explained to him that he was going to have to get five shots, and they may hurt a little, but we know he can be a brave little boy. He kept looking back and forth between myself and Chris and he said, "That's OK, I like shots". We just looked at each other. So, there he was, laying on his back on the examination table, Chris holding his arms, and the nurse holding his legs. After the third shot, the nurse told Nathan to not move his legs, and Nathan told her, "I'm not, I was just stretching them". He got all five shots without saying a word!

However, right after the nurse left the room and he was sucking on his lollipop, he looked at me with sad eyes and said, "It still hurts mommy". All I could do was give him a hug... then drive straight home and give him Tylenol! We took both kids to Target and let them pick-out a toy for good behavior, and we let Nathan pick-out an extra toy for being so brave!

No more shots until age eleven!! Yay!

A Bug Birthday

Today my Katie Bug has turned 8 years old! Thinking about how fast she has grown is something I'm sure every parent has experienced with their own children too. My mind has been reflecting back to the day she was born to her first steps to her first day at school to her roller-skating through the house! She is so vibrant and full of joy and has such a kind heart! Katie is growing into a young lady and being able to see her learn life's milestones has put a thousand smiles on my face. She makes me proud! I am wishing for her to have a super silly fantastic day today! I love you Katie Bug! Happy birthday!

From Mommy

A roller-skating motorcyclist...

If you are a parent, then you will get a kick out of this. Before graduating high school, our kiddos will tell us 20+ different things they want to be when they grow-up.

Katie: wants to be a professional roller-skater because she LOVES to roller skate! She has a pair of skates that she barely fits into, and she skates all over our hard-wood floors! I tried to explain to her that roller-skating is more of a hobby than it is a career choice, but she doesn't want to hear it... so all I could tell her was, "Skate-on"!

Nathan: wants to be a motorcycle rider! When I asked him 'why' he wanted to be a motorcycle rider, he answered, "Because I want to ride one of those little bikes like I see on TV". (He was referring to the motor cross races.)

So, I can see it now... my son decked out with a Mohawk, wearing black leather chaps, pulling my daughter while she's wearing pig-tails and pink sparkly roller-skates!

I love being a parent!