Sundress with Dino Slippers, that's how we roll...

Oh the craziness that is our family. I am pretty sure that if ABC was to come in and watch us for a week they would be begging to do a sitcom based on our lives. It would have everything they needed for a hit, stressed and tired parents, check. Dramatic daughter, check, cute baby (every show needs a cute baby), check. Crazy sisters that live close by, check, production will begin immediately!
So the morning begins with a little boy full of farts that is way unhappy. Up at 4 am is one tired mom playing with his legs and tummy trying her best not to fall asleep right on top of him. He of course is wide awake and thinks most of this is pretty entertaining. At the same time all this is going on I also have a bitchy cat in the background screaming at me for no apparent reason at all, and two overly hyper dogs that think they need to comb the backyard for raccoons, skunks, or the neighbors cat, NOW! Am I the only one that knows what time it is? Yes, yes you are the only one that even cares what time it is, wahoo. Just when I think I have the tooter calmed down and ready for bed, I lay him down and he screams. I glance at the clock and can feel my nerves lighting up just knowing that climbing back into bed before my alarm goes off is just fluttering away minute by farting minute. Finally after an hour of bouncing and massaging he is out, and it is time for me to get going for the day. I turn around and longingly glance at the inviting pillow and pulled back covers in my bed and drag my tired ass to the bathroom instead. A hot shower brings me to life and I begin getting prepared for the day, not feeling to peppy though I decide today is a good day to wear scrubs. Who wouldn't wear basically pajamas to work if they were allowed, done. After I finish my morning routine I head upstairs to wake the drama queen. I am relieved when I open the door and notice she is awake and singing her dinosaur songs to the cast of characters that live in her room. These songs are great, each one is unique and I am determined to get them recorded by she won't perform when she knows there will be future evidence. I will have to hide a recorder (mental note, buy a recording device). She sees me and immediately smiles which of course makes my whole being smile. Her curly blond hair is in a mess all surrounding her little face and she looks up at me and says, I think I need to stay home today. This is daily argument and I can't say that I blame her, I want to stay home too. I explain once again mom has to go to work, but the weekend is here and it is three days this time! She squeals with delight and jumps off the bed still holding lavender lamb the standard choke hold. I ask her if she would like to wear a dress today and she says, "yeah, I think that would be nice." Her vocabulary cracks me up, she is growing up way too fast. We make it downstairs and I hand her the shoes I have picked to go with the dress and ask her to put them on while I get your brother ready. She snags the shoes and goes over to the couch, I scoop up the infant carrier and head to wake the beast. I come out and quickly grab my coffee off the counter and the three of us head out the door. As we walk down the stairs I look down to see two beady eyes staring up at me, frog in the garage again. This frog thinks he needs to take up residence in my garage and I am worried he is going to fry up and die, or that I may run him over one day. So I tell Havely go ahead and get in the car, and I set the carrier down and proceed to look like a fool chasing this frog around the garage floor. I finally catch him and take him over to the side of the house and gently place him on the lawn while I give him a lecture about how the garage is too hot for him and how dangerous it is. The frog just stares at me in awe, I am sure he is taking in every word I say. I quickly return to the garage, clutch the coffee mug in one hand and hoist the carrier up with an umph and head to the car. I get Grant in with all my might (kid is heavy) and I see the damn frog making a break for the entrance of the garage again. I quickly hop in the front seat and close the garage door and let out a sigh of relief, whew! Out of the neighborhood and onto daycare! We usually begin our day with Trains, Hey Soul Sister aka the school bus song and scout out the big yellow birds. This song makes me smile no matter what, and when I am with my kids I never get sick of hearing it. There is just something about that little voice coming out of my four year old singing this at the top of her lungs. We get to the stoplight at the top of the parkway and I turn back to sing along with her and look down and just crack up. She has decided to replace the shoes I gave her to wear with her dinosaur slippers. One hell of a fashion statement, but that is totally my daughter. Pretty sundress, beautiful blond curls, and some scary dinosaur slippers and all the wonderful war wounds on her legs. Total tom boy. I wouldn't have it any other way. It is Friday and I need my weekend, my three day weekend. I need to escape the chaos that work has been this week and I am so excited to enjoy my days off with my amazing family. It is loud, fun, crazy, tiring, fast paced, and completely unpredictable. I wouldn't give any of it up for anything, I love my life. 09.03.10

Summer 2009, no wait 2010

Things are changing fast, my kids are growing up and I can't slow it down, I can't slow life down although I would love to. It is nearing the end of the summer and I just can't seem to understand that it is even 2010. I have problems getting the year right almost weekly, and I feel like a dog chasing my tail! Grant has lost his gummy grin, he has three bottom teeth and is sitting up on his own. He is just about to crawl, gets up and wants to go just can't find the rhythm to get going. Havely just keeps growing taller and daily comes up with sayings that crack me up. We recently took our annual (and probably last) family trip to Wyoming. This trip excites me so much every year, it is a chance to escape the heat and hustle of San Antonio and we get to see family and catch up. We began this trip in Alpine as usual and this year we had a lunch party and played some family survivor. Our family is extremely competitive so any games and sporting always proves to be entertaining. That evening we just spent time with my grandparents and relaxed and enjoyed the mountain air. I love just taking it all in and allowing my roots to soak up what they need. The next day we headed into SLC to have a relaxing lunch party with the Walkenhorst clan. I miss being able to see everyone more and this time always goes by too quickly. We spent the remainder of the week in Green River and took time laying on the grass under a cloudless blue sky. Havely got to go riding a couple of times and has become quite the little cowgirl. This size of the horses doesn't threaten her at all and she takes the reins with forces and lets Clyde know who is the boss, all 34 pounds of her! Overall it was a great vacation and went by quickly, but was just about perfect. We headed home after 8 days and I don't think I have ever been so happy to get home. I love our life and our home here. Even Havely was excited to go to bed in her polka pot room. It is good to get a break from everyday life, but it is even better to have an everyday life that you love so much you are happy to come home. Life in Texas is good. 08.30.10

Children seldom misquote. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said.

What a day for the Thomas Troop!!! We started off the day with Havely and I enjoying our cheerios together while Grant was still sleeping. We watched phineas and ferb on the disney channel and discussed the things in life that are important to a four year old. She wanted to know why for her fifth birthday party we couldn't build a roller coaster in the backyard like they do on TV, my explanation clearly wasn't good enough because the, "but why's" kept coming. Jaaron got home from work and Grant woke up and Havely and I kicked into high gear to get ready for the birthday party we were attending the morning at a local farm. I kissed my boys goodbye and we headed out the door, ready for some play with some petting zoo type animals. The farm was only 15 minutes from the house and by time we arrived the thermometer on my navigation system reported that it was a lovely 94 degrees already, awesome. We got out of the car and approached the party (we were late so of course things were already in full swing), and we had a glass of lemonade from some mason jars before the announcement came that it was time to embark upon the animals. As we got closer to the managerie of smelly mammals, Havely clung tighter to my side. She had made up her mind all of a sudden that she was scared and spent most of the "animal time" playing with the farm yard yellow lab with a stick, because of course it isn't like we do this at home all the time with a different lab and a tennis ball. Finally I get her to approach a Llama and pet it, mind you there is only an inch of this sucker that isn't covered in burs, so we pick that spot and scratch. She decides hey maybe they aren't all that bad and lets down her guard and takes turns petting various animals. After all the excitement we eat, open presents, and then the grand finale is the giant bull that all the kids get to take their picture on. This thing is HUGE. Everyone is waiting in line and we are all sweating like crazy. One of the horses we parked right by the picnic table that some of the kids were waiting at and decided that he was going to relieve himself. So the waterfall comes down and is splashing all over the kids and I quickly grab my child and the little man closest to her and rush them out of the way, whew crisis averted. Just when I think we are in the clear, Havely's new pooch pal saunders over behind the horse and the horse gives him a quick gut check with his hind hoof. The dog yelps and Havely looks at me and I can tell she is upset by all this. Then I see the I am going to make a statement look on her face and she says to me very loudly, "Mom, that horse is an asshole, isn't he?!" I just said yes he is Have, and we don't say that word...
We came home and immediately hit the showers, crazy dirty from the farm and very sleepy from being out in the sun for two plus hours, we decided that a nap was in order. The boys apparently had the same idea, so Jaaron put Grant down, I climbed into my bed with Havely and Jaaron crashed on the couch, these are the best Saturday afternoons! 08.07.10

Despicable Me, Good day

Havely has been dying to see the movie Despicable Me. They began playing the previews for this movie back in January and the movie was just released in July so we have been hearing about it for months. We enlisted Wa Wa as the babysitter for Grant and took Havely on a date. We went to lunch first and then filled mom's purse with some candy to sneak into the theater. As we sat in the theater and waited for the movie to begin I listened to Havely tell me these elaborate stories about how bad she has wanted to see this movie and how much her life will be better after seeing it. Oh the drama, cracks me up. Jaaron sweeps in right as the previews are beginning with a bucket of popcorn and a vat of soda, enough to feed a family of 8 basically. Finally after about 6 previews the movie begins. From the beginning this movie was great. I enjoyed every minute of it, but the movie was not the only thing I enjoyed for those two hours. The theater was filled with people of all ages. There were several families and there was even a couple there in their late 70's. The movie had so many great moments, and I loved listening to Havely's reaction as well as all the people around me. In a world where so many things are turning sour and kids are in such a hurry to grow up; it was refreshing to sit in a crowd of people and be entertained and enjoy some good clean family fun. 07.31.10

Melt my heart moment

This weekend Jaaron was on shift and I was hanging with the two cutest kids in the world. We were having a lazy day and all three of us were in our pajamas, Grant was on the blanket on the floor and Havely was playing with him, while I enjoyed my coffee on the couch. Havely would get down on the ground and play with his legs and arms and tickle him and he would let out his laughs and baby squeals that I love so much. I listened with my heart full of smiles as the two of them interacted and giggled together. She would jump up and run around him and he would watch her every move, and then she would plop down beside him again and they would laugh together. It has been so exciting watching them develop their relationship and seeing it grow daily. He is in love with his sister and smiles whenever he sees her. She loves to play with him and gets as much joy from his reaction as I do. Anyway, after about 20 minutes of playing and interacting, Havely is back on the floor beside him again and gets above him and her face is right by his and she looks him in the eyes and says, "I love you so much." It was the best feeling I have ever had and one of the sweetest things I have heard. I am so excited to watch my kids grow together and develop a bond as siblings. These are the moments that make it all worth it, I love being a mom. 07.30.10

Just because you can't keep up, life doesn't stop...

What a month. We have had some serious tests of strength this month, from unexpected incidents with cars and water heaters, to sick kids and sick parents. Yesterday I was going through my schedule from last year, and noticed that every Friday in the month of June I had lunch with Ali, seems so weird that it was a year ago because I treasure it so much. This morning I woke up to the oohs and ahhs of a little boy playing with his toes and greeting the morning. Very sleepily I walked over and picked him up and put him in bed with us so that we could get to the point of alertness that he was at. He was all smiles and so were we, apparently even at 7 am happiness from a 5 month old is contagious. Five months-where did the time go? He looked so big lying there on my pillow. He is almost 16 pounds now, and there is no end in sight to this kids growth. He is almost sitting on his own, in fact he HATES to lay down. He is no longer an infant, crazy. Havely is also changing so quickly. She is so smart and so quick and one of the funniest people I know. Just the other night she got into it with Jaaron and when he had the last word, she turned to him and said, "you just broke my heart dad, you took my heart and you just broke it." Take that-how do you compete with that??? One of these days you will hear about Havely Mae the Oscar winner. I feel like I just turn my head quickly and when I turn back they have achieved a new milestone, I am not doing well with this whole getting older crap.

The Variety of my Vestibule

I love my entryway. When I walked into the door of this house for the first time, it just made me smile and I knew that this large entrance would welcome me for the rest of my life. I once heard a neighbor say that the size of my foyer was a waste of space. I must have misunderstood her, because this waste of space has become many things to the Thomas Troop.
It is a fantastic dance floor.
Many times we have turned the music up and danced wildly. Everyone joins in, Havely, Jaaron the dogs and my sisters have all done the cha cha slide, made up our own moves to it's oh so quiet, and just twirled up and down the floor to many other melodies. In fact today I danced alone with my son, the house was quiet and it was just the two of us. He is not feeling well today and the rythm of my footsteps across the cold tile floor, calmed him down enough to allow him to fall fast asleep on my shoulder...
It is a motor speedway.
We have raced all sorts of cars from end to end. Havely has raced around in her walker just getting her footing going, and now she gets in the pink jeep and has her Opa push her faster and faster while he makes engine noises for her. She throws her head back in laughter and commands him to do it again and again, and of course he complies with each request. Several Lightening McQueens have raced up and back (of course only Havely gets to be him, we all have to be the rest of the cast of cars). With a boy coming up in the ranks, I am sure there will be many more races that will commence here as well.
It is the home to Thomas field.
We have played several sports here. Soccer, football, catch with the dog (poor lamp took one for the team), and some track and field events even. I have watched a little girl go from carrying a pink soccer ball around on it, to kicking it from one end to the other and being able to run and chase it. I am sure that there will be tournaments and games played on this very court over the years and unfortunately I am sure that the lamp will not be the only casualty.
When I come home at the end of the day, I walk up my porch steps to a glass door that frames this entry way perfectly. This view is perfection. Sometimes I am greeted by a red and yellow dog, sometimes a little blond in pigtails, or a husband with a "I am glad you are home" look on his face. This entry is anything but a waste of space and I can't wait to see what else it will be transformed into over the years to come, and I will treasure each memory that comes along with it. 06.13.2010