Catching up...Part III ~ A funeral, a wedding, fun w/ friends, birthdays and more

Well I am determined to finish up this "catching up" business with this post.

I do not want to get this far behind again.

It's definitely not worth having to overwork my scattered memory to rebuild the past.

As you recall, my last post included a birth in family.

Well, a few days later we received tragic news that one of my mom's oldest friends (since 2 yrs old!) passed away after a long illness.

To make the pain even worse was the fact that less than a week before his death, his mother, who practically helped raise my mom, suffered from an aneurysm and was on life support.

She never knew that her son had passed.

We attended his funeral on the 18th and a few days later his mother went to see Jesus as well.

The whole ordeal was extremely upsetting to my mom of course and therefore to me too.

It had also been just 6 months since she had lost her brother.

It's been a rough year for her, but we have consolation in the fact that none of them are suffering from their earthly pains any longer and are hopefully resting joyfully in the arms of the Savior in Heaven.

Now that I've shared the bad news in our lives, I'd like to move on to some good news.

The same day that we attended the funeral, I also got to attend a wedding.

My husband's good friend, Brian, was the groom and Terry was actually a groomsman in the ceremony.

Jude was very excited to see us getting all dressed up that he even wanted to participate in the occasion as you can see in this shot of him walking around in my shoes. =)

(can't wait to embarass him with this pic in a few years!)

The outdoor wedding and indoor reception were both beautiful.

It was a small gathering which made it really nice.

I felt like I knew everyone in the room.

And check out how well my skateboard tee and jeans hubby cleans up!

Here we are with the happily married couple, Brian and Shauna!

The following weekend was a bit less busy, but I was able to finally get two of my bestest buds together with me for dinner, Baskin-Robbins and great conversation.

Michael, on the left, I met in the spring of 1995 in a drawing class that we were taking in community college.

We quickly became great friends, as we shared very similar tastes in music.

He is an amazing artist and is currently in graphic design.

It's not often that a talent like that actually gets to be put to use in one's work, but I am so proud of what he is doing.

Scott, on the right, you have seen here before.

He is totally my BFF.

My crazy and spontaneous BFF.

We have been this way since we were freshmen in high school...21 years now.

Back in our early college years...I say early, because out of the 3 of us, only Scott has an actual degree, and it took a while for that to happen. Michael is almost there with his degree and me, well...one day...but back in the day, these two guys and my husband, Terry, were my closest friends in the world.

Each one played an integral role in the person I am today.

But only one would be my perfect match...my soulmate...and that is the one that I married.

I was and am blessed to have these three best friends.

Though all of our lives have taken different paths and time and responsibility has stolen away the opportunities to see each other as often as we'd like, this one night with two of my greatest friends was truly priceless.

In the meantime, I've noticed that my little 2 yr old is turning into a "big boy" more and more every day.

He is becoming more confident in his physical abilities... 

And quite the little artist as well!

Below you are viewing the piece entitled "Tree and Two Suns". =P

Well, that's what it is!

A tree (with a few leaves) on the right and two suns on the left.

Pretty good for a 27 month old!

And we can't forget his self-portrait entitled "Grumpy Jude". (haha!)

On the 28th, we celebrated Terry's 39th birthday.

Only one more year and I'll be married to a 40 year old! GASP!! =)

But he's not letting the numbers bring him down.

He celebrated the day the way HE wanted...at the skatepark.

Jude spent some time watching Daddy skate.

He became more comfortable in the bowl this time.

He had never had the opportunity in all his years of skating to be in a bowl before they built this skatepark nearby.

So he spent a great deal of time enjoying it.

I suggested that he try dropping in from the corner here so as to build up some speed to hopefully get some height on the other side.

Um, yeah...probably wasn't the greatest suggestion to a concrete bowl novice as he turned too fast and had quite the spill. I was really afraid that he had hurt his hand/arm, but he came out unscathed.

I was of course forthcoming with the apologies.

Oh, there was one injury...the faceplate of his kneepad was knocked off.

When Terry tossed it out of the bowl, Jude kept pushing it back in to him because he knew Terry was supposed to be wearing it.

That evening we ate Terry's request of Goode Co. Pecan Pie.

Yes, the pie costs almost $32...IF you're having it shipped.

If you live in the area though it's only $15.

Is it worth it?

Um, I hated pecan pie.

That is, until I tried this one.

It is amazing. Period.

Sooooo worth it.

And Terry even got a candle in his piece of pie.

Cecilia, on the other hand, doesn't like pecans in the least, so she had a piece of the tres leches I made from scratch (whipped cream and all) for my Bunco gathering the day before.

Well, she tried it at least. Then she discovered she doesn't like soggy cake.

But seriously...it's tres leches...it's supposed to be like that.

And personally, I thought it was excellent.

Four days later, on Oct. 2nd, it was mine and Terry's 6th wedding anniversary.

We enjoyed the rare treat of a night out alone.

My dear parents watched the kids while we dined at Buca di Beppo.

Great food...great atmosphere...noisy homecoming teenagers.

But we'll definitely be eating there again.

After dinner we walked along the Woodlands Waterway and to the market street area nearby.

We sat and ate ice cream and purused the bookstore...ALONE.

Let's just say, we enjoyed the quiet time.

And here we are....caught up again.

In three days, on the 10th, it will be my 35th birthday.

10-10-10

Very cool.

Thanks for taking the time and interest in this long post and catching up with my family.

Take care and God bless,

Catching up...Part II ~ New baby, rock concert, ghosts & a jackpot

Can I just say that "catching up" is really hard to do when you're still finding yourself in the middle of something constantly?

Oh, and a 2 yr old who refuses to nap most days slows the process down a bit too.

Some may have even noticed that my life was full enough this week to cause me to miss (and completely forget about for the entire day) my Music Monday post.

But I will forge ahead with the hopes of having caught up to myself by say...January?

So I left off last time about the end of August.
Summer was winding down, school starting.

Then the ball really started rolling.

On September 3rd, my good friend who also happens to be my sister-in-law, Leslie, blessed the family with a little girl.

I now have a niece!

Those that know me, are aware that she had a son (Ryan) a month before Jude was born and we were very excited to be having two boys almost the same age.

But Grandad (my father-in-law) was adamant that she make sure and also give him a granddaughter (and I also was eager to buy girlie things again!).

So Les and her husband Saleem did their best and granted our wish.

My precious niece, Camryn, who is almost a month old now!



And Camryn napping with her big bro Ryan...

Leslie and her family live in New Jersey, so unfortunately it will be a while before I get to see them.

But since I have no siblings to provide me with nieces or nephews,

I am so blessed to be able to have these two call me Auntie Andrea!

A few days after Camryn was born, Cecilia went to see Paramore in concert with Terry.

They are her absolute favorite band.

We bought the tickets last spring as her end of the year, straight a's gift.

We like to reward her after a good academic year.

Unfortunately I have no pics to share from the concert.

I asked Terry several times to attempt to get a pic of Cecilia in the concert environment, but all I got was a shot of her face. That wasn't quite what I had in mind.

A week or so later I was able to join my mom on one of her Travel'n Gals trips.

Basically it's an organized trip attended by a bunch of ladies (most from our church) to various spots around the state and bordering areas.

They typically shop, tour, socialize, eat, etc.

This is the first trip of this type that I have been able to attend and our destination was Natchitoches, Louisiana, the oldest town in the state.

Now if you aren't from around here, I must teach you how to pronounce that.

It's nothing like it looks.

It's pronounced NAK-A-DUSH.

Weird huh?

Yeah, but it is Louisiana...haha.

We shopped, of course, in Natchitoches.

Lots of little shops with lots of cute things.

Oh, and it's also the town in which "Steel Magnolias" was filmed.

So we took a horse buggy ride around the main part of town and saw some of the areas where they filmed.

I so need to watch that movie again.

Here are a few pics from around town:

A VERY old cash register in a VERY old general store.

Register still obviously in use.

They have to crank it and everything!

A spiral staircase from Bordeaux, France with it's very own ghost story.

"Meat Pies" sampled by my mom and I.

Very tasty by the way.

But in Texas we call them Empañadas.

My view from the front seat of the carriage ride

The best shot I could get of the "Steel Magnolias" house

After Natchitoches, we headed to Alexandria, LA, where we stayed the night.

The next day was full of plantation tours.

Very interesting and very beautiful.

And all included some extremely large trees.

A few plantation pics...

African house built by slaves

This is a window on the side of the African house that something wouldn't let me take a picture of.

I must have tried 20 times to take this pic, but my camera would malfunction every time.

I finally went inside and took the second picture and then was able to come back out and take this.

Weird. 

The Kent Plantation in Alexandria was built by hand, by slaves.

Slave fingerprints can still be found in the bricks.

Inside the Kent Plantation dining room.

The "tile" flooring was actually just painted canvas!

Slave quarters at the Magnolia Plantation.

(duplex style with two families living in each building)

The show "Ghost Adventures" investigated these buildings in one of their episodes.

But it wasn't until I walked into one of the buildings and recognized this sole chair in the corner that I realized that this was the same place.

After a tiring day of traversing large plantations, we enjoyed a leisurely dinner and then off to the casino!

Too bad casinos aren't legal in Texas.

I did pretty well actually.

And it was definitely needed.

So I am certainly grateful.

The next day we started heading back to the Houston area and on the way, stopped at another casino.

This one was way nicer, but wasn't as forthcoming with the jackpots.

So home I went with my pockets and memories much richer.

Well, it is time once again for me to break away from the catching up and get back to the doing.

I will be back sooner than later to finish up.

To be continued...and finished?...next time...

Catching up...Part I ~ No surgery, BFF, DUI victim & junior high

Life...

It hasn't been busy so much as it has been FULL.

There is a difference.

To me anyway.

To me, being "busy" implies that you have too much going on and not enough time to enjoy what it is you're doing.

We have had a lot going on, but not TOO much and I've definitely been enjoying every minute of it.

So what has been going on?

Well, my last update was at the beginning of August and now we're knocking on October's door...so there is much to talk about. Hence the "Part I".

Summer came and went without too much excitement.

There was the impending tube surgery for Jude's ears at the end of August, but our prayers were answered and his ears finally let go of the fluid they had been hanging onto for months and months. So the surgery was cancelled! We will now keep an eye on the situation during cold & flu season and just continue to pray that he grows out of this.

The summer consisted of a lot of hanging out and goofing around.

We also had a nice visit from Scott, my best friend since 9th grade AND the kids' Godfather.

He had just come back from a 2 week mission trip to Kenya and I was eager to hear all about it.

He was also eager to spend time with the kids.

He is loving the "boy" time he gets with Jude as well.

Well, I guess we had one little moment of excitement this summer when someone drove over our mailbox.

Terry happened to be running on the treadmill in the garage when it happened and saw the whole thing.

The worst part was that the driver never stopped...yet left ALL of his side mirror and some other debris on our driveway.

Since Terry saw the car, I made him hunt the guy down and when he did locate the car he attempted to talk to the guy about it.

Well, it wasn't even his car...he was just visiting a relative in the neighborhood and had borrowed it

AND he didn't even seem to realize he had hit anything.

I'm thinking that if I did this to a mailbox
and left parts of my car behind 
and had shattered part of my windshield
and likely banged the door up enough so that it couldn't be opened properly...
...I would probably know that I had hit something.

So yeah, we're pretty sure that he was under the influence of something.

Called the sheriff...nothing could be done since the guy wasn't on the road anymore.

So we still have a temporary mailbox up for now until Terry and his dad can rebuild the original.

The end of August also brought the beginning of school for Cecilia.

She is now a 6th grader.

She seems to be enjoying junior high.

It definitely has been an adjustment, but she is adapting well and loves the opportunity to make new friends.

The worst part of the year so far?

Having P.E. 1st period.

Yuck.

But her first progress report came home last week and she has A's in all her classes thus far...actually, four 100's, a 96 and a 97. Not too shabby!

She is now wishing that she had taken pre-AP (honors) for all of her core classes instead of just science and language arts. The regular math and social studies classes are really too slow for her, but she plans on loading them all on next year.

Glad she's up for the challenge!

Well, I think I'll stop here for today.

To be continued....

Music Monday #8 ~ Happy Birthday Dad!

Since my dad's birthday this year has fallen on "Music Monday", I thought it fitting to share some of the songs that I grew up listening to with my dad. 

I have many fond memories of sitting in front of the record player listening to music with him. 

I most definitely got my love and appreciation of music from my father.

I always thought it funny when he would hear a song on the radio and could tell me exactly what year it came out and what was going on in his life at the time.

But now I find myself doing the same thing.

Anyway, I picked out a few songs/artists that I particularly attach to my dad for various reasons.

The first is one of our all-time favorite musicians...Glenn Miller.

I was fortunate enough to be raised on Big Band music.

Though it was even before my dad's time, he too had an appreciation for the classics as do I now.

My exposure to Big Band also helped me relate more to my grandparents, as I usually knew and loved many of the songs that they had grown up with.

My dad and I both loved this particular song...especially the section featuring "The Ink Spots".

Another fond memory I have of time with my dad is the many hours he spent pushing me on the swing at my grandparent's house.

He would push me for what seemed like forever while I sang songs at the top of my lungs.

What songs?

Whatever came to mind usually, but I tended to pick the next two songs more often.

Both of my parents can be so silly at times and I inherited my share of that trait.

And they both loved silly songs.

One of the songs that my dad liked was "Tie Me Kangaroo Down".

We would listen to the 45 over and over again.

Well, just for him, since he also is a Beatles fan like me, I found this funny version of the song that Rolf Harris recorded with the Beatles. 

And if you are unfortunate enough to have never heard the original, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D-LmRNdQiQ&a=GxdCwVVULXdrY_4AZUUPwOdieE5ovhC6&playnext=1

One of the other songs that I would sing while on the swing was this one.
Such a fun song and not many lyrics to memorize.
This performance on The Ed Sullivan Show is great.
(apologies that the sound doesn't quite match the video...not my doing!)

Janis Joplin.
My dad loved her when he was growing up.
I inherited that love.
He likes to pretend that the late sixties/early seventies never happened to him, but I have evidence to the contrary...

I think this was an attempt at a band photo at some point.
My dad is the on the bottom right crouching down.
He was the bass player in a band for a few years.
He even played for a couple of years after I was born.
He gave it all up for me.
It was time for him to "grow up"...or at least that's what I was told.

Anyway, back to Janis...yeah, we are both fans.
I found this cool performance she did in Stockholm of one of my favorite songs.
She was genius.

So as you can see, my dad was a big part of developing my love and taste in music.
Mostly he helped me keep a musically open mind.
So his gift to me is now my gift to him.

Thank you dad for everything.
I hope I get to share many, many more birthdays with you!

Love,

Life update...

Life...it is what it is.

And right now, it's summer.

I am SO not a fan of summer.

Don't like heat, don't like mosquitos...and during this time of the year in Texas, there is plenty of both.

But we have gotten out and enjoyed the summer when we can.

Jude loves being outside and Cecilia...well, not so much, but she enjoys the time she gets to spend with us while she is outside. Honestly, she'd rather spend her time inside reading or drawing.

She has had a rather uneventful summer this year, but it has gone by quickly. She is also looking forward to her big step into 6th grade. We have already bought all of her school supplies, but now have the daunting and almost financially impossible task of buying her some new school clothes and shoes. Wish these kids didn't grow out of their clothing so fast!

She has also transitioned her future career dreams from being a rockstar into being an artist of some sort.

She definitely has the skills. Gets it from both sides. Her paternal great-grandfather was a commercial artist and her paw-paw is a draftsman. Her father also had amazing drawing skills.

She told me this morning that she is nervous mostly about P.E. in the 6th grade because they told them that they wouldn't be playing games so much like they did in elementary school, that they would instead be playing sports. She is not sporty. She knows very little about how to play most sports. Energy she has...sports saavy, not really.

But I assured her that she will pick it all up pretty quickly as she does everything else and not to worry.

Jude, well he's a typical little 2 year old. Learning new things every day, sentences ever-expanding and stubborn like nobody's business.

He loves to play with his Hotwheels (has 3 in hand at all times) and has enjoyed our many trips to the library this summer. He is amazingly good with books, even with the regular paper pages. I don't have to worry too much about him destroying the library books we check out. His favorite book this summer has been Pumpkin Town! Or, Nothing Is Better and Worse Than Pumpkins by Katie McKy. After the initial time we checked it out, we tried to get it again, but it has been out since June. I finally put in a request for it and now we plan on keeping it for at least a month by renewing it at return time.

His 2 year checkup in June went well except for the fact that he had fluid (not infected) in his left ear. He had also had fluid and an infection when we went to see the dr. in March.

Not knowing if the fluid had just stuck around all that time (this can cause hearing delays...and eventual infection), she told me this time to just watch for any ear-tugging or discomfort.

Well it finally came, just as I was reaching my breaking point on wondering if the fluid was still there...he got sick. The fever came and off to the dr. we went. He had ear infections. The dr. told me to go ahead and schedule him an appt. with an ENT to see what was going on. So that is the first thing on the agenda for tomorrow. We have to drive down to the medical center and see the ENT. They will do a hearing test and then he will see the dr. I do hope they tell me that he won't need tubes, but at least summer is almost over and we won't have the swimming/water in the ears problem to avoid so much.

As far as his growth, it is finally leveling out some, still a bit on the tall side, but weight is average...and as usual, a BIG head. More room for that big brain the dr. says. ;-)

Terry has been doing well. Been working hard to keep us out of the poor house. He and I have also been trying hard to watch our food portions. We're both doing pretty good with it, but he has been exercisely regularly and though the scale isn't showing a huge decrease, you can tell he has gained muscle mass and slimmed down considerably. I'm very proud of him. Just wish I had the energy to exercise as well.

Which brings us to what's up with me...I'm off to my first visit with my new primary care physician tomorrow afternoon. I'm having a complete physical done. Um, don't think I've had that done since I was in grade school. I'm also having her get me back on the thyroid medication that my gynocologist had prescribed back when I was having the menorrhagia problem. I do hope the medicine helps with many of the problems I've been having, including fatigue, concentration problems and hair loss. So Thursday will be our doctor day, for which Terry will be taking off to help me out. If you don't mind saying a little prayer that all comes out well in the end, I would appreciate it.

 So summer is coming to an end and we have all enjoyed the family time we have gotten to spend together.

Hope you all have had and continue to have a wonderful summer!