Sunday, November 30, 2008

Whirly ball

Gary has been trying to convince me that whirly ball would be fun for about a year now. Tonight we went and played with other couples from our church small group...and that is the most fun I have had in a very, very long time. Let's just say it brought back memories from high school basketball, which I loved.

For those that don't know what whirly ball is, it's a cross between lacrosse and bumper cars. The hardest part was learning to drive the bumper cars. I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow and have a few more bruises to identify. We joked that in 7 years of marriage, this was the first time Gary has seen me do any kind of physical competition. I have watched him run a race, play softball, and basketball, but he hasn't seen me do anything.

I'm sure I will be having dreams about whirly ball for many nights to come...in high school I used to dream about basketball games all the time to the point where I would sit up in bed in the middle of the night to catch a pass. I loved playing basketball.

The funniest thing was one of our small group members was quite the trash talker during the game...he's one of the pastors at our church. It was hilarious.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Just for laughs

I was recently telling a friend that I didn't have anything new or interesting to blog about lately. So I decided to list a few random funny stories from when I was younger that stick out in my mind.

Some may know that my Dad is one of those men who knows a little about everything, can fix anything, and is quite physically intimidating (he's 6'4", 225+ lbs). Well, when I was probably in junior high my mom, dad, sister, 2 of my parents' friends and myself all piled into our truck to go to the local fair. We lived in the country growing up. When we got there it was dark. Dad asked for some chap stick right before we were getting out of the car. So my parents' friend Liz offered her chap stick. Only it wasn't chap stick. It was a tube of very bright red lipstick. It was dark so he couldn't tell, but all the rest of us saw that it was lipstick. Dad willingly accepted it and applied a very healthy amount to his lips. We were all chuckling and giggling on the inside. I think we all even got out of the truck and started heading towards the gate, but we couldn't hold it in any longer. We had to tell him. Luckily, he thought it was pretty funny. It was priceless.

I was a twirler in the high school band at a very small school. When I was a sophomore there were about 26 kids in the marching band. One Friday night we were at an away game and I was out on the field twirling to some "hip" song (or more like our band director thought it was hip) when I noticed that the band was getting softer and softer until they almost completely stopped playing. Apparently, I had a wardrobe malfunction that had caused the entire band to take notice and start laughing so hard they couldn't play their instruments. I, however, did not notice that it was drafty down my back and rear. When it was pointed out a fellow twirler was nice enough to run over during our routine and zip me up so we could continue our routine. I got some cat calls and offers of tips once we made it back into the stands. Not something a very shy teenager wants, but I survived.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

All the time again

So on a previous post I explained how Mason's new catch phrase was "all the time" added to the end of everything. So this was a conversation today (if you don't like booty humor, don't read any further).

Mason was standing at the sink with his hand down the back of his pants.

Me: Mason, get your hand out of your booty.
Mason: But I do it all the time.

I have always heard of the dreaded toddler "why?" phase where they ask why for everything you say. We have hit that phase, but with a twist...Mason says "why not?" to everything.

For example:
Me: Mason, go pick up your toys.
Mason: Why not?

Sometimes it's hilarious to listen to how funny it sounds just adding the not at the end.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

This weekend...

Was full of funny stories and amazing feats!

First of all, I flew with Mason & Reese all by myself to Corpus Christi on Friday to watch my twin sister run in her very first marathon. Wow! What a weekend. The kids did awesome on the flight even though they were both awake.

Ann had to coach a basketball game Saturday morning (which unfortunately they lost) and Mason and cousin Austin played so hard any chance they could on the court. During half-time, we went out to do some musical chairs with the cars, which were parked on a small street on the school campus. So I happen to look away for an instant while digging in the backseat of the car only to turn back around to find Mason standing in the middle of the street with his pants and undies down around his ankles peeing. What made it even funnier was the fact that a car coming towards him had to stop and wait for him to finish and a couple walking along the sidewalk just laughed and said "When you gotta go, you gotta go".

So then we packed a Tahoe with 8 people and drove the 2.5 hours to San Antonio. Sunday morning we were all up at 5:30 am to get Ann to the Rock-n-Roll marathon, her first one ever. She did amazing. Mile 6 looked like a walk in the park, or should I say a prance in the park when she saw us. Mile 12 looked like she was really enjoying herself. Mile 21.5 looked like she was re-thinking her decision to run a marathon. As she crossed the finish line she looked like she could have run a few more. She wasn't the least bit sore, hurting, or tired as she finished. A couple of hours later she was starting to get a little sore after sitting a while, but still nothing like she had anticipated. We were so proud of her as she finished. As soon as we met up with her she said she was definitely doing that again. It was inspiring, but not inspiring enough to make me want to take up running. Great job Ann! We only need one marathoner in the family.

I still can't get over how easy going Reese is compared to Mason as a baby. We were in and out of the car all day yesterday and today, changed up her bedtimes and made her nap everywhere, and I even forgot (acutally, didn't feel like) to feed her solids this weekend. She survived. And on a side note, everyone commented on how chunky and healthy she looked.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Working out with Daddy

Gary works out at home using a DVD system called P90X and loves it! With the thunder and lightening tonight, we knew there was no way Mason was going to bed anytime soon so Gary went ahead and worked out with Mason. Tonight they did the plyometrics DVD together. I only videotaped a short segment, but it was hilarious to watch Mason emulate everything Gary was doing. When Gary took his shirt off (which he would not let me get on videotape) Mason had to do the same. When he stopped for water, Mason had to get water. Hilarious! The entire time he kept saying "Let's do that again!"

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Our little artist

I don't know if there are many 3 year old boys that love to color as much as Mason does. For instance, today he worked on this piece of artwork on and off for probably about 2 hours. He has a method to his madness and you cannot offer any suggestions on colors or placement of the colors. This has been my favorite so far. Right before Reese was born, I sat him down with some crayons and paper and let him color. I told him it was a present for baby Reese. Then I took what he did and framed it to hang on her wall. He comments on it every once in a while. After he was finally done coloring today, he and Daddy played a hilarious game of catch that consisted of Mason throwing a ball really hard at Daddy and then Daddy trying to hit Mason in the head to make him laugh. It worked. We all laughed. Such a good Daddy!

Friday, November 7, 2008

My worst critic

is myself...disclaimer: for those who don't want to read about breastfeeding, stop here.

We have been monitoring Reese's weight gain for the last 4 months or so. She has continued to gain weight but at a much slower rate than they have wanted. So today I went to work with the kiddos and used their infant scale. She weighed 3 ounces less today than she did 10 days ago according to their scale. Yikes!

So here's where I have been beating myself up. I have not ignored, but dismissed any concerns with her weight since she is so happy, healthy looking, and slept way better than Mason ever did at this point. Last night she woke up a couple of times so I fed her once. Apparently, she must have been hungry based on her lack of weight gain today.

So now I feel awful. My stubborn self has insisted on BF her since I did with Mason for 14 months. I have nothing against formula, it's just my personal standard I have set for myself, the first year should be breastmilk. Apparently, it's a standard I have set too high.

So like I said, I am my own worst critic. Nobody has even hinted that I would have failed as a mother to not make it a year. In fact, it's the opposite. Everyone has commended my for making it this far with two kids and working part-time. But, that's where I come in and think to myself that I have failed Reese. When in fact, I probably failed her earlier by being so stubborn and not supplementing sooner. But, I know that I have not failed her at all. Again, my own worst critic.

She just woke from a nap, I nursed her a few minutes, then gave her a few ounces of formula. It is done. I have to get over it, but it is still hard on me. Knowing that she is my last makes it even harder.

On to more important things, please keep my friend Joy and her beautiful sweet little girl in your thoughts and prayers today as they endure some more medical testing. You can read back a couple of entries and read the concern they have, plus Joy is just an amazing woman and eloquent writer willing to share her many life events.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Fall

We had an impromptu photo shoot today at a park in our neighborhood. This is my favorite time of year with the leaves changing colors and falling. I think this year has been an impressive show of colors in this area. There were very few photos that didn't have Reese eating a leaf in it. Apparently, they looked tasty.


Sunday, November 2, 2008

Needless to say...

we were dancing and jumping around our living room like little kids last night when Texas Tech scored with 1 second remaining. We did manage to keep our excitement quiet as the little ones were fast asleep. Gary had a headache from the edge-of-your seat anticipation the last quarter. I remained calm until the very end knowing that we would win. Now if we can just get past OSU and OU then we will have it made. Did I mention that this is our favorite time of the year...college football season!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Halloween

We had a laid back, low-key kind of Halloween this year. Reese is in bed by 6:30 every night so we waited until she was done before we hit the streets with some friends in McKinney. Reese did have a costume this year, but she hated it...80 degree weather and a polyester bunny sleeper only go together for about 2 minutes...not even long enough for me to get the camera out. I did get in the Halloween spirit and dress up again, that's 2 years in a row for those who are counting. I was quite the hit with the little girls, being Snow White and all. Mason was so cute with his candy bucket. He made Gary shine the flashlight in his bucket every time he got back to the sidewalk and was so proud of each piece he received. I don't think he ever said a word to anyone at their doors, but he was quite the chatter box between each house. Needless to say, he was pooped after about an hour and actually asked for Gary to carry him and to go home. It was a good time had by all.