The Texas Clinger Bunch

Cheerleader in the House!

2011-10-15T21:54:00.006-05:00

Well Texas High School football is in full swing! That means in the small town of Crosby we have Friday night lights. Last Friday Sophia got to cheer with the High School cheerleaders, she was over the top excited! For three days prior the cheerleaders came to Sophia's school at the end of the day and they had a mini cheer camp for then they got to cheer the first quarter of the game. She was soo cute, made me cry thinking that someday she could be one of the High School cheerleaders setting a good example for the little kids of our town! While this was going on Michaela is hanging with her friends (hence no pictures of her to be found :(( ) Matt is enjoying our season seats that we decided to purchase for our family activities on Friday Nights. We have seats on the 1st and 2nd row on the 50 yard line.. Yes, this makes my football lovin' husband ecstatic! Also with Sophia she is cheering for the Crosby Little League Football players and seeing all the girls on the field in their uniforms are adorable and they are having a blast!! GOOO BIG RED!!! This coming week we have Homecoming and ONLY Texas does it big! I am making the girls homecoming mums for school. Michaela is dancing in the parade with her dance team at school, afterwards we go to the game. I will post pictures afterwards! Til then thank you for reading up on our family!

KING COBRA

2011-08-24T09:19:00.003-05:00

Okay so not really right? HAHA.. It is a Garden Snake but still!!.. So yesterday as I was going to turn off the water in the front lawn (required by mandatory water restrictions) I open the front door and I see this 'friend' reared straight up on his end in the air.. I screamed and I swear they could hear me at the end of the street.. slammed the door and ran and grabbed my camera (cause Matt does not believe me when I tell him we have snakes in our jungle), by the time I open the door again it is gone. I tip toe out the door and go trak it down it went into my flower bed along the house. I was going to get a picture and as soon as I clicked the button my friend rears up again and took off (and they can move fast!) He slithered to my front door and I took the picture (yes please don't mention I need to bleach wash my front door cause I already know!) after I took the picture there is a space between my door frame and sidewalk cement and he snuck inside the hole so NOW it is in the frame of my HOUSE! HOLY COW.. Needless to say the moth balls came out and are scattered all over!

Here we go again!

2011-08-22T09:31:00.003-05:00

Oh my where do I start? LOL.. It was an extremely looonngg summer, but we finally made it through and we are off to a new and exciting start to school. I think we all woke up to a rough start this morning.. I am chalking it up to just plain ole' nerves. The girls were grouchy and crabby with one another, but once we got over the initial drama things calmed down quiet a bit. I think only the moms that have two girls close in age (like 2 years apart) can relate to my emotional turmoil and all the hormones floating about! Below are the only "decent" pictures I was able to capture this morning - which is really how we all felt at the time I took them. They are not soo comparable to the cute ones my friends have posted all over facebook, but hey I'll take what I can get!LOL.. This year Michaela made it to the GT/Challenge class for 6th grade her homeroom teacher is D. Williams, then for math she has Ms. Smith (who is also the dance teacher), Ms. Kettlecamp for reading. In the class she has about 5 of her bestie friends (yep I'm feeling for the teacher on this one!) Sophia made it to the GT class for the first time this year (I am SOO excited and I am one proud proud momma!) She is in Ms. Murrin's homeroom with Ms. Duda as her switch teacher! They seem both nice and after last years fiasco we need some nice teachers for Sophia!. In Sophia's class she is in there with one other girl she knows, Jazz. In the switch class is 2 of her good friends Halley and Nadya! So I think we are off to an awesome start!! I can't wait to see what the year holds for us!

Here we go again!

2011-08-22T09:28:00.001-05:00

A digital scrapbook by Smilebox

Eons Ago

2011-08-19T22:18:00.005-05:00

Okay folks! It has been awhile ago since I have blogged, but I am going to make a "back to school" resolution to get it back up and going!! I was gently encouraged to do so by family! (Thank you Nathaniel and Julie) I had NO idea I had followers!! Like groupies! I feel so famous! But on a serious note thank you! It made my day to know that I had people that cared about me and read what we have been up to! I has taken me literally over an hour just to remember how to change my templates and fonts with color! So while this particular post is without pictures I will be posting some pics in the days to come of some of our wonderful vacation! This blog is dedicated to my children and family so will ONLY contain the most cute and uplifting post! You can also follow me personally on facebook! So for now I am off to make magic happen with my pictures check back in a few days! Toodles!

2010-08-01T22:23:00.001-05:00

Personalize your own scrapbooking design

2010-01-12T12:39:00.001-06:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

2009-11-02T10:02:00.000-06:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Spooky Halloween Night

2009-11-02T09:17:00.003-06:00

Halloween is here in full blast! This year we started our day off with our neighbor friend's birthday. Shelby had her 8th birthday party on Halloween. The kids dressed up in costume and we had some party fun! THen as the night wore on we went on a hayride to trick or treat! Every year here in our neighborhood the tricker-treaters come out in full blown costumes! I wish I could have taken pictures of some of the people we ran into! Sometimes it was literally running into them! Some streets we went down were packed full of kids and adults hanging off of trailers being pulled by trucks with more people packed in on the bed of the trucks too! We had an awesome time! We went with some friends from church; The Coleman's, The Love's, and our neighobrs The Killough's. Matt pulled us around the neighborhood on a trailer with hay (our own hayride) Thank you to the Meinen's for loaning it to us! We had an absolute blast. The one house I thought was creative thinking was the one in the pictures of the "alien" hanging from the tree and the camo man sitting in the tree with a chain saw! Sophia and little Taylor LOVED IT! Here are some pics from our trick or treating!

School Daze!

2009-09-22T23:54:00.002-05:00

So it has been a crazy busy summer! We have enjoyed swim team, pool days, waterslides and a wonderful vacation! So much to do in a short summer! The girls are back in school, and doing great! Sophia came home SUPER excited because she made a 100 on her six weeks math test. Way to start second grade! And believe me she was super proud ~ as her mom was. She went on to tell me that she was the ONLY one in the class who made 100. I seriously could not stop her gloating because I was too.! Sorry guys yes I encouraged it in the car. I was extremely happy and a bit surprised! Sophia is doing good in the rest of the class. The way the district does it out here is that you can actually write a letter and some teachers name and they try to put you with that teacher. Well, we did that and so did our good friend and neighbor Brandi. SO needless to say Sophia and Shelby are in the same class this year. They have Mrs. Romero and she is the best! Michaela is doing great! I got a phone call about a week into school from the principal. They had a spot open in the GT class and wanted to put Michaela in it. So we did! Come to find out that she had great scores and was place #4 on the waiting list! MOST awesome! Her first progress report of the school year and she has high A's throughout! This week we are celebrating Matt's birthday. His birthday was Tuesday and turned 39! His favorite cake is German Chocolate I put 39 candals on the cake and it was flaming! So that is about all for us right now. Halloween craziness is starting up soon so I will post more soon! ~:-)

Our Fab Summer Vacation and happenings!

2009-08-09T21:55:00.006-05:00

Okay so it seems like ages since I have posted on the blog! Thanks to Crazy Cam she helped out with the posting while on vacation by dedicating a song to our family! That was very sweet and cute! (See below in the last posting for the song)! Well June and July was a rocking busy summer time for us! We have absolutely had a blast this summer! My brother came down to visit before he headed to South Korea for work( military assignment) and brought my two beautiful neices with him! We went to the Woodlands aquatic center and for $10 had a day full of watersliding and mini lazy river! We had a family BBQ and THEN was suprised because my cousin Karl came from South Korea (stationed with ARMY) and he actually got leave to come down to Texas so we had a grand time!

Then my family (minus Matt due to work) and my brother, nieces, mom and dad all headed for a day at the beach! LOVE THE BEACH! (see second slide show).

WE had about 2 weeks to recoup and then pack up to go on VACATION!! Every 2 years we head up to Utah/Wyoming to visit Matt's family during pioneer week. We first went to visit some long time friends (Sophia's second mama!!!) the Ericksons - they used to be in our Church ward before moving back to St. George, UTah (Totally under protest from me) We hung out with Amy and Renvic with their kids/Ryke,Rakelle,GJ,Ridge. We got to see a championship little league baseball game and they smoked their competition (BIG rivals with Cedar City) went swimming some more(that seems to be the theme with our family every summer!) Then we headed to Kaysville, UTah to stay with Matt's brother and our sister in law Nathan and LIz! The best ever! We had a house full of girls! They have 4 we have 2~ Then to Matt's parents in Freedom,Wyoming (Star Valley)I used to always tease Matt because accross the street is Idaho they live on State LIne Road! So I would always call him Wydaho! Every year Matt's family gets together during this time in Wyoming to go to the ball park in their ward and have a dutch oven cook/potluck dinner then they do a candy drop with a small airplane for the kids where they load it up and zoom by and drop candy out of the airplane the kids run around and grab it all up..Later that night they do fireworks. This is all done in celebration of the Mormon pioneers coming into the valley (Utah) and settling in and making it possible for us to be there~! Well everyyear some familys can not attend but this year we did however, we are missing Matt's younger brother and wife and 3 kids (his wife just had a baby!!), then Matt's sister Christine and her 4 kids where not able to be there. SOO lets count the numbers shall we!! In Matt's parents house (some of us in cabins up the road)Matt is the oldest of 8 children so in attendance that weekend (minus the ones above we had: 14 adults, 19 children running around at one time!! AND that is not all the family in attendance!! YIKES. What a legacy! That was going on Saturday 25th, On Monday me and Matt went on a white water rafting trip on Snake River! We had a blast! Of course that was AFTER I got slightly nervous and puked my guts up in the bathroom from sheer nerves! But we did have a blast after I saw that we were going to have another family athat had 7 and 9 year boys I knew I would be okay! After spending time in Star Valley we head back to Kaysville and by that time we had the original 6 girls plus Matt's sister kids 2 boys and 1 extra girl.. We had the GRAND opportuniity to take the girls to the temple!! They had an open house and the girls got to walk and tour the whole temple !! AWESOME experience for the children!! Need less to say we all had a great time and we hardly EVER saw our own 2 kids even though we were all in the same house! THANK GOODNESS FOR BASEMENTS!!! AWESOME! Thank YOU SOO much to Nathan and Liz and girls for housing us on our vacation and eating all your food! AND too all the other familys Ericksons and Reane and Melvin for letting us hang out and get to catch up on old times!

Tribute to the Texas Clingers

2009-07-29T15:41:00.002-05:00

Okay so this was done by my cutie pie niece Crazy Cam! I love ya girl and maybe someday we can make it happen! As some people know we are on a job hunt after our vacation and have until January to make it happen. This was Camberra's song dedicated to us to get us up to Utah! The state of happen dreams! Texas Clingers song to come to Utah Why HELLO HELLO I am now going to sing you the song I Camberra Clinger wrote to bring the Texas Clingers Home to Utah. " ECCCCK HMM" tap tap tap " Texas Clingers came to town riding in there ca-ar stuck some Bee Hives in there bags and called them Sego Lilly" "DUN D DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN!!!" (TUNE OF YANKEE DOODLE) Wasn't that great yes thank you so much!!! Crazy Cam (new 12 year old)

Splish Splash!

2009-06-20T00:14:00.007-05:00

Oh what fun we have been having this summer! Last week us and our neighbors decided to take a trip to conroe and visit the aquatic center. We had a great time. Anywhere were there is a pool and some waterslides = fun for all! This aquatic center is run by the city of Conroe it cost $5 to get in for the day. You can not take food in, but we had a hearty MCDonalds breakfast and spent half a day out. Here are some pics that I managed to nab while sliding down myself. This is the picture of the little toddler waterslides and spray area w/ a good size dump bucket! These are the other waterslides for bigger kids and the adults who want be kids! Sophia having a good time in the sun! Our little fish outa water! And in the water! ***A few reminders that if you venture out and visit the aquatic center and you have girls with long hair. They require you to tie your hair back while in the water. You can't have outside food brought in..(we put little snacks and some water in our swim bag and that was fine)..But we did have a great time and took us less than an hour to get there! Out next destination is the aqautic center in the Woodlands with a full on lazy river/waterslides! I will let ya know how that turns out next!

Cooking Party!

2009-06-10T23:31:00.004-05:00

Yes, I know it has been awhile since I last blogged! We have been really busy of late. Who isn't? About a month ago, a friend of the girls had a birthday party. It was at a cooking school! They had a blast making homemade pizza and cupcakes! Here are a few pics of the girls in action. Michaela having a blast in the kitchen. Sophia waiting for the other girls to dig in to the pizza she made!

Blowing Bubbles!

2009-04-30T09:30:00.010-05:00

This year, as we have done every year since we have been married; we went to my grandparents for Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny was very kind to the children; even to my non believer.(Michaela)..Everytime my girls are around my grandpa they are content to follow in his shadow! (Especially Michaela!) These are some to the good times we had on Easter Sunday Sophia and Michaela blowing bubbles! Michaela puffing out a bubble In this picture Papa is actually running around the yard with a bubble wand with bubbles floating in the air! We love Papa he will do anything to make his girls happy! Papa and Michaela getting a refill for more bubble action Sophia showing off with her bubbles! All in all we had a bubbly of a time with Nana and Papa - Easter 2009

Sparks went Flying

2009-03-30T23:47:00.002-05:00

Well, gee whiz what a interesting end to a nonproductive day we have had! Matt decided to finally take a vacation day. However, to anyone who has heard this STILL involves at least half a day of working on the computer. Michaela stayed home from school "not" feeling well! (yeah good one!). So I snuck out for a few hours with a neighbor to research out a science project that is not going to work after all. My other neighbor down the way was cutting some trees down and I decided that it was time to cut down one of ours from Hurricane Ike. It was a smaller hardwood, but turned out to be VERY hardy one. We had the chainsaw and a four wheeler that we hooked chains and rope to to help pull the tree in the RIGHT DIRECTION..(Notice that I said the RIGHT direction!) So after what seemed like almost 30 minutes of chain sawing it started to drop in the WRONG direction!..I thought at first that it was going to land on our neighbor but he jumped out of the way at the last moment. Then I thought it was going to land on the back fence. IT missed the fence and I breathed a sigh of relief a little TOO soon.! The tree fell to the ground but before that , it hit the POWER LINE! I said a few choice words as we heard the loud boom and saw sparks FLYING through the area and a power line snap and fling into the neighbors yard. OH CRAP is what I was thinking we are in serious trouble. Come to find out that about 70 homes were without power and we finally have power back on after about 5 hours. We had a cool time hanging out with our neighbors and socializing. They said it was like back in the Ike days! ( I wouldn't know about that as I was living the good life in Dallas! So NOW I have to call our home insurance to see if they cover these kinda things and call the electricity company claim line and see what they are going to bill us for the down power line. I have thought SEVERAL times that I never have anything to blog about. And while I think this is blog worthy, I surely wished it did not happen and I can report on another endless boring day! Not so! I will have to post pics of the down tree and new power line (wishing I had a camera or something on when this happened) Stay tuned to our continuation!

Spring Break 2009 Fun

2009-03-23T23:01:00.002-05:00

This spring break we were invited by our friends and neighbors to go to Lake Sam Rayburn. Me and the girls rented a condo and stayed a couple of days there. Our friends (The Laird's) have a boat so we did a few days on the lake (swimming and tubin). We had a blast (as the pictures show!) Unfortunately Matt was out of town and did not make it. For those that did not know Lake Sam Rayburn is up by Jasper, Texas. It is a huge resevoir. We did have a blast and hope that we can return, MAYBE with Matt in tow! Enjoy our slide show.

2009-03-17T19:27:00.001-05:00

Myspace 2.0 layouts

Our Mad Scientists

2009-03-09T12:17:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday, we celebrated Michaela and Sophia birthdays. We had a big group show up at the community center (friends and family). I had the company Mad Science come out a put on a super duper show. We experimented with acetone and styrofoam, with different metals to make a "sparkler show", and what dry ice does to soap and other liquids. How it makes metal really cold. 'Radical Ross' showed us how to put a quarter on dry ice and it actually flaps back and forth - like chattering teeth! The kids got to make slime cups and take home. After the show we ate pizza and had mini flower cakes to decorate, followed with lots of presents. Overall is was a blast..But I sure am glad I only have to go through that ONCE a year for 2 kids. NOW that is a bargain deal!!

YIKES!!!!

2009-03-08T22:08:00.002-05:00

OKAY UPDATE! I think I recovered my links - somewhat..If you don't see yours on here please let me know. Want all my friends to be listed. Thanks HELP ME I lost everything when I "cleverly" decided to change my backgrounds using PYZAM..Now I do not have my page links to my favorite peeps or anything..Total mind boggling. If you cherish me as a friend please send my your blog link at april_cling2u@yahoo.com! lol.. Thanks

I am going stir crazy!

2009-02-05T13:58:00.003-06:00

MySpace Graphics Yes, I am absolutely going insane! I had a few phone calls from friends asking if we are alright (thank you for caring!!). I am alive and well. Michaela is back at school this past Monday. (She was out for little over a week with pnuemonia). She was at home last week and not only that but for the whole week before that one she went 4 days with NO sleep. (does that sentence make sense?) I am not too sure I think I am delirious at this point. THis week after making my 2nd trip downtown to the doctor Sophia is running fever and only has a virus! I say only because in some deranged thinking I wish is was bacteria or flu so I could actually have medicine to give her to make her better faster! Unlike just letting a virus run its course! Well after fighting 103 fevers for the past 2 weeks I am READY for a break! Sophia is fever free today and I kept her home one more day to rest. She is on my LAST nerve and ready to go to school tomorrow! ( I am doing flips for that one). I am SOOO counting on my night out tomorrow night with girl friends and having fun at bunco. So sad that we have been couped up in the house on such a beautiful week. Bright blue sky with no clouds in sight. Please hold up for this weekend. I am carting around 5 girl scout girls (THANK YOU CHRIS (coleader) for the help and driving! So I am hoping all goes well and I can keep my strength up. It will be lots of fun they are doing a dance clinic with the green starlettes. I think the leaders get to kick their feet up and chill out! Can't wait. So thanks for being concerned about us but we are on a mend and hope to return to normal schedule Friday!

Slippery When Wet!

2009-01-19T13:37:00.005-06:00

Well, during our down time this past Christmas we went ice skating. Yes, very slippery when wet! Sad thing is after we got laced up and walked on CARPET I could not even do that! Now I have been ice skating before (as a teenager- not SOO long ago)and it was a piece of cake. Not so now. I think my foot must have been laced up a little of balance as that is the ONLY reason I can think of that it kept turning in when I was walking on carpet. So as I see my 6 year old Sophia hop up and take off at a fast walk I thought Oh how wonderful to be that care free.. Her thought is if she falls she will get up and try again. Well , for me I did fall (no there are no pictures of that thank goodness)! It took one time for me to bust my knee and I was off the ice for good! Here are the pictures of the girls. Michaela did okay hugging the wall all the way around. She did with the help of Crystal and a very helpful Clay get off the walk and skate around in the middle..But the picture is of Michaela huging the wall. Next is Sophia (I think she could be an ice skater in her next life!) We had a great time and sending out a thank you to our neighbor and friend for inviting us to hang out for the day!

There are snowmen in Southeast Texas!

2008-12-11T09:21:00.008-06:00

After taking the girls to school this morning, I drove around the neighborhood and found some friends! Of course these are the friends that you will not find me hugging or hanging out with! Too DAMN cold! The pictures just do not do it justice. In the sun the snow is as Sophia would love to say "sparkly". It is beautiful! . I know all my family in the far north are probably giggling at my excitement over "light ground cover" however, this is as good as we will ever get it!! So on to the pictures of my snowbound journey this morning! If Camberra , Triny and Addie are reading this know that my girls miss you bunches and wishing you were here to 4 wheel with us! (bringing the 4 wheelers of course). I am sure by the time the girls are out of school it will have all melted away the sun is out in full blast. Tonight we are going to look at Christmas lights in a seriously cool neighborhood were everyone competes for the best house and yard! I will post a slide show later~

Texas Snow

2008-12-10T22:32:00.005-06:00

DISCLAIMER: Texas definition of snow: Cold, wet, flurries, sleet, basically our rainy day at 31 degrees~! For my non Texas readers this is it in over 9 years!! The last time we saw any "snow flurries" was about 4 years ago and it did NOT stick to the ground! So as I am surely cursing the nasty weather all day long, I thought to myself heck if it gets any colder (at the time it was 38 degrees) it can possibly make sleet hince snow flurries. At about 6pm today it started to sleet and as we were ALL excited saying it's snowing outside! - then the sleet got thicker and bigger and big fat snow flakes started to fall. Our neighbors in the culdesac came out and the kids had fun tromping in the snow! Our pants and feet were all soaking wet. Of course the snow gear I had from 2 years would have worked (if I didn't just donate it 2 months ago!) Now it is late in the night and my girls are snuggled in bed, I am in front of a blazing fire enjoying the peace and quiet..Oh and our family might ask were is Matt in all this....THE NETHERLANDS - for work.. Lucky him! Enjoy the slide show

My Special Girl

2008-11-18T23:35:00.005-06:00

It has been awhile since I last posted and in the mean time has been a whirl wind here in our part of the world. We celebrated the baptism of Michaela on November 8, 2008. Matt's sister Kathryn and her huband Jim and family came down from Justin, Texas. (outside of Dallas area). We had a great turn out for this special day. My mom and dad, grandparents, aunts, an uncle, my friend Brandi and her kids, and some of our church family! I think we probably ended up with over 40? I lost count and did not have enough chairs! Well this blog is dedicated to Michaela Ann Clinger. The song I have playing is dedicated especially for her, it describes a little girl in a hurry to grow up and explore the world. And that is DEFINATELY Michaela! Always wanting to get ahead of her self without slowing down. We constantly tell her enjoy life now it is the best time of your life. For those friends that do not know her story of how she came to us let me explain.. Michaela had a stroke when she was born. She does suffer from slight cerebral palsy. She has limited use of her left hand and a slight limp on her left leg. This is think in the long run has made her stubborn and resistant to help on physical things (most time). My fingers can not count the number of testings this little girl has gone through before the age of 2. All in all she is doing great and is very special to us.. I love this little girl with all my heart. We go round and round on many occassions because she is stubborn and so am I. Emotionally she develops slightly slower than others again ONLY because I think she is soooo ready to just jump ahead of things with both feet and not think first (AGAIN another trait of mine) Hmmm..I guess she is also a momma's girl too..(shhh don't tell her that). I have to say I am so grateful and thankful to Matt's family for coming out to share and participate in our special day. I am proud of Michaela for choosing to be baptized and to take on the responsibilities Heavenly Father asked of us. It was very emotional for all of us. I had many people tell me that was one of the best baptism's they have been to.. As the songs says I feel my saviors love. Think we all truly did. We had my beautiful friends sing one of our favorite songs. Lovely Sister Bebee made the most delicious hummingbird cake along with my Aunt Jeanette making a superb chocolate cake. It went by so fast I wish I had a video taping to watch and cherish forever. Thanks to everyone that came and participated on Michaela's day! Below are pictures of that day along with other snap shots taken through out our days this past year.

Trick or Treating!

2008-11-02T21:46:00.007-06:00

We had a blast for Halloween this year. I have to say I think this is probably the best one yet.! The day started with Sophia's class party. She dressed as Dorothy this year with the red slippers and all. (TOO CUTE) For the party they decorated cookies with frosting and sprinkles. Then made handprints to go on a turkey the teacher is doing for the room. Pretty easy party (Thank goodness) Here are some pics.: After school we got ready for trick or treating with Michaela's Girl Scout troop. Before we left we did hot chocolate and cupcakes with a little candy in the mix! (sugar them up for the parents later)! I was a little disappointed with the houses that turned out..(NOT a lot of house to trick or treat at..I think due to it being on a Friday night and having parties, haunted houses, etc..) But we still had a bag full of candy! Whoohoo..! Oh and in case you did not notice Michaela went as Hannah Montana (which was a hit!) Sophia went as Dorothy and was carrying a basket with a PINK Toto! ( our pink poodle webkinz) Our neighbor Shelby came over to show her costume and she was Raggedy Anne too cute!(AND with red YARN hair)! So here are the rest of our photots~

Pumpkin Anyone?

2008-10-28T23:38:00.007-05:00

Well, finally thanks to my neighbor Brandi I got into the Halloween spirit. I usually just use traditional fall decorations, but now have added carved pumpkins! Last night my neighbor invited us to carve pumpkins with them. I got to use the carving tools (I never thought they really worked) and it came with a cool carving detail book. Sophia wanted me to carve her a "kitty kat" and Michaela is still not too sure what she wanted. So as I sat with all the kids and carved until my heart was content. It was soo much fun! Don't get me wrong I have carved plenty of pumpkins in my time, but not with a intricate pattern to use. So here is the picture of the cat one. Michaela really tried to carve her own this year and ended up asking me to finish it. I tried to finish that poor thing was so mangled on one side, I turned it around and carved out the other side with ghost! At about 1:30am, (I wanted to surprise her in the morning) and finished it out. Ah the dedication of mothers seeking their childrens happiness! So here is the completed ghost pumpkin. Of course it would not be our house with out a little mishap..As I was taking these pictures, Sophia's pumpkin BROKE! YIKESSSS..So it is 12:30 at night and I finished the 2ND KITTY pumpkin it actually turned out better than the first! Well, we will off to school parties and our Halloween hayride while we are trick or treating! Pictues coming soon

New Identity

2008-10-24T20:54:00.001-05:00

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results! You are observant, diplomatic and often aim to please. You are unaware of your attractiveness and despite being uncomfortable with any form of attention, people enjoy your company. You can be impatient, stubborn and headstrong, but you are true to your word and mature for your age, often taking care of your family and enjoying a good book over chatting with girlfriends on the phone.

Scars of Life

2008-10-21T10:04:00.003-05:00

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida , a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore. His father, working in the yard, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could. Hearing his voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father, but the father was much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard his screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator. Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his father's fingernails dug into his flesh in his effort to hang on to the son he loved. The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Dad wouldn't let go." You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you. The Scripture teaches that God loves you. You are a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins - and if you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He did not and will not ever let you go. Please pass this on to those you love. God has blessed you, so that you can be a blessing to others. You just never know where a person is in his/her life and what they are going through. Never judge another person's scars, because you don't know how they got them. Also, it is so important that we are not selfish, to receive the blessings of these messages, without forwarding them to someone else. Right now, someone needs to know that God loves them, and you love them, too - enough to not let them go. Always Tell Your Family And Friends How Much You Love Them!!!

My Two Divas

2008-10-20T17:48:00.011-05:00

Okay so I was not tagged but got a cute idea from a friends blog (Thanks Brianne). The idea is to go to your pictures file, look in the 6th folder and find the 6th picture saved and blog about it. (Boy that was a run on!) Well I found this picture of Michaela. Of course I had to also post Sophia on this "Diva" blog! So here she is: Our friend Olivia had her birthday party at a place called All About Fun. It is a version of Libby Lu..They have dress up clothes, do make up and hair - the whole nine yards. They now have a "Cat Walk" you get to "Strut" your fashion on. They did a craft and had pizza..OH I almost forgot the most awesome cupcakes ever from a bakery across the street. My two "Divas" are a hand full most times. But I would do anything for them as they are the center of my universe! So this was my post hope you enjoy the pictures!

Tired Old Bones

2008-10-13T16:32:00.002-05:00

Okay, so is my life so boring that I am now blogging about my tired old bones? For those that know I have recommitted myself back the gym to shed some "baby fat" and get healthier! This was my first day and my knees hurt like heck. But overall I feel alot better. I have my friend Brandi to thank for getting me back on track! You are great! So with the upcoming Halloween season coming upon us I hope to have some cute blogging to do soon..Stay tuned

Lights On Finally!

2008-09-23T21:58:00.002-05:00

Here we are day 12 from Hurricane Ike. Finally we have POWER! What a sweet feeling! I have come to realize the little easy things we take for granted! A hot shower. Our house is fully powered by electric and our hot water heater therfore did not work. Matt, finally decided that we could give it a try with our generator.(We had it connected straight into the circuit box. So we flipped everything off for about 30 minutes and voila' hot shower! I think I fell in love with my husband all over again!(haha) But about 4pm today we had power, and wouldn't you know I STILL cooked on the barbeque pit. I do NOT know how those brave, strong amazing pioneer women did it? Working all day and tending children and home with no air, and ready hot water. Me and the girls returned home this past Saturday afternoon. It looked like a bomb went off in our neighborhood. About every 3rd house had a tree that went through the roof. Power lines and fences down. I took a few pictures of this and of our time in Dallas I will post at a later time.

Ike's Wrath

2008-09-14T23:01:00.004-05:00

So this is the closest picture I can find on the internet right now..This is in the neighboring town where we live. This is I think minor compared to what is going on closer to the coast line.. For Crosby we are out of power and could be about 1-4 weeks before we have power back on. No school (so there goes part of the summer). We have sustained minor damage. We had a huge hard wood tree that snapped in half and landed on the "SAFE" part of the electrical pole in our backyard. Another tree snapped in half and landed on the "GREEN" electrical box in our backyard. Part of the fence in the front is blown of the hinges. THANKFULLY I have to say our house is intact and nothing landed or damaged it. Our windows where all boarded up (not as cute as Kareens are though). Me and the girls left town on Thursday late morning and headed to Dallas to see the family that was on their way from Utah to come and baptize Michaela. So we met up at Matt's sister house Kathryn's and her sweet family..We are entirely grateful that they support us this happened almost exactly 3 years ago with Katrina/Rita situation. Only this time it is for REALS.. We have had a nice time here in Justin, Texas. With 14 people in the house together! COZY We had until today 9 kids and 5 adults. Now are Utah family is headed home with no baptism under their belts. This has made Michaela sad and fears that the day will never come, but alas it will soooner or later when all this mess is cleaned up. Matt is finally on his way here with our cute but rambucous puppy. Just for a quick trip to buy a generator and window unit and head home to start clean up. I am not too sure if me and the girls are going to follow yet or stay here. We shall see. I will keep you posted. Hope all my friends and family are safe and we will keep you all in our prayers. P.S.>>> If you go to www.khou.com and click on the Ike slideshows it gives you some pictures of all the damage in our area.

The First Week Of School

2008-08-29T16:28:00.003-05:00

Whew, the first week of school is over! It has been a long one. I could not wait for summer to end and bring back the peace and quiet. What was I thinking! Our schedule is about to become chaotic! This year Sophia is attending 1st grade and had Mrs. Trahan. It loves her teacher (seriously). She came home the first day of school and was excited that she was the "nicest" teacher EVER! (For those of you that know what happened last year this is a relief to me and her.) I asked all week what she did as we are in the car line for Michaela and the response everytime is: Math and crafts! I guess we are off to a good start! Michaela is in a 3 way teacher combo for 3rd grade. Here in Crosby 3rd graders have a 2 teacher system and they rotate classes between them. Well, I requested that Michaela be place in the 3 teacher combo. Her homeroom teacher is Mrs. McKeon and she teaches Reading/Spelling, Mrs. Chapman teaches Language, Science, Social Studies. Mrs. Ellis teaches Math.. Michaela has come a long way in the attitude department since school has started so hopefully this will continue to be a good thing.! The only complaint so far from the girls is that the school cafeteria food SUCKS! Yes, that is a strong word and no that is not one that came from them. I just think they could have done a little better and appealed on a little kids taste buds than the District Boards! So all is good. Both girls are starting jazz and gymnastic classes , and girl scouts all next week on top of school so there goes my free time! Not to mention the fact that I have to chaperone them, volunteer at the school, be Michaela girl scout leader AND on the Service Unit Manager level..But hey! It is all good. I told Matt maybe ONE day I will be mentioned in our family prayers when they pray of what they are thankfull for! Until then I know that it is all for the good of our family.! In the next two weeks we are having an open house at both schools and I will take some pictures of the girls and their class space! Yes, I was not like the super COOL moms (like Kareena) that took great pictures on the first day of school .! Yikes! I need check of list like when we go on vacation! I can check off : lunches, backpacks, important notes signed, my sunglasses, my keys, my bra and shoes (oops thats a whole new story), oh and of course the GIRLS!

JellyStone Park Summer 2008

2008-08-28T00:56:00.002-05:00

Okay this was our last summer blast before school starts! We had a blast with our neighbors! We stayed for 2 nights (not NEARLY enough time). I have to admit I was a little sad when we were packing up because of the rain. However, we got to the other side of the beltway/249 and it was sunny skies there on out! The weekend ended up beautiful! THe kids had a blast on the waterslides. (not to mention the ADULTS!) Brandi made it a contest to see who could come off the end of the waterslide into a full stand. We saw some of the kids do it and thought we had enough youth to try also! Well, Brandi was able to do it and was popping up into a surf style! I fell flat on my hind end! I came away with so many bruises I tripped and fell, fell on the slide huge bruise on the back of my leg! This just goes to show adults NEVER grow up! Really we had a great time there . WE have decided next time we need 3 nights instead.! For those that live here and have never gone check it out on the website www.lonestarcamping.com they have putt putt golf, swimming pool, waterslides,pedal carts, petting zoo, outdoor theater, fishing pond ,, tent sites, RV sites, and cabins. You'll have a blast!

Where is Edouard?

2008-08-05T14:49:00.011-05:00

Well, Edouard landed! I think! It was not as bad as predicted (thank goodness). Edouard actually turned into a tropical storm and brought some rain and mild winds. We have couple of tree limbs that landed in our back yard. That is a relief considering yesterday I was glued to the tube watching the weatherman stating it would land at 70mph, and hurricane level 1. When Matt came home last night, I was demanding to have him tie down our swing set and trampoline to the trees. He thought I hit the hysterical state of mind. I forewarned the girls last night that our power could go out, she woke up this morning at 7:30am and was excited because she got to watch spongebob! (ha the mind of a child)! I wish I had my camera ready, the girls ran down the street about 10am this morning to go and play with friends, they were walking huddled under an big umbrella (too cute). We are all safe and dry. We were ready for anything to come our way thankfully due to food and emergency storage! I am thankful that we kept our power. I think the news said that about total of 70,000 people lost their power. Hope my out of state family enjoys the pictures posted! They know what blizzards and snow storms are not hurricanes and tropicals!

Beach Trip Summer 2008 Slide Show

2008-08-02T01:56:00.000-05:00

Slides and Waves

2008-08-02T00:16:00.008-05:00

We took a trip to the beach with our friends and neighbors. We first started off by going to the waterslide down on by Crystal Beach. The kids had a blast. We stayed for about 3 hours watersliding and going on the little lazy river, (and believe me it was lazy). My friend Brandi lived in Winnie, so she showed us this place and wanted to take us to Mama Theresa flying pizza, however they did not open in time for lunch. We went to their other favorite hangout called Stingree which is on the bayside! We watched some barges come through and ate awesome food! Next we took the ferry across to Galveston (I love riding the ferry!) and we saw some dolphins having fun in the water. We took a quick pitstop to the seawall so the kids could splash in the waves and collect some seashells. I wonder why kids pick up little broken pieces instead of the big ones? I have a bag full of little shells, and broken bits!Even though they had the warnings up about the high levels of bacteria I decided we were not there to drink the water it would be okay! (Geez imagine all the bacteria that could have been there when we were kids). The funny part is that Brandi's son Clay came up to us really worried because there was a spot "that was missing hair on his leg!" We joked that the 'redtide' ate it away! All in all we had a great day~I came back with my face looking like a lobster, which was understandable because I did not put sunscreen on it. But the weirdest thing is my legs came back a bit burnt. Which I did spray and they were in complete shade the whole day.! Well, below I posted just a few of our pictures from the day at the beach!

Day of Beautification

2008-07-20T20:50:00.009-05:00

Aw, my girls are growing up! We spent a day at Deerbrook Mall being pampered! I took the girls to Visible Changes to get a hairdo makeover. It was sadly needed. Sophia’s hair has a tendency to tangle up in the back (when she was little with just fuzz for hair it was easy to take the clippers and shave it) Well, I don’t think that would fly with her dad now! Michaela’s hair would just hang in her face and look unruly even though we brushed it a thousand times (well maybe not a thousand) but too many to count. So I decided to post the pictures (from my new digital camera) yes I finally got into the digital world. So hopefully my very spread out family can take a look at what cuties they are! If you could have seen them, they were flipping their hair from side to side and being the total fashion divas they are! (hehe!) Michaela has decided that with the new hairdo, she needs some highlights too (like mom), I had to laugh at that one and tell her she could have them when she gets a job and pays for them! After the haircuts we ate dippin dot ice cream at the food court (way cool ice cream). In the mall there is a play area designated for little kids (Michaela was barely over the height requirement - like by 2 inches), so I broke the rules and let her in (ssh! Don’t tell anyone). My poor child has no more patience for sharing her space (due to having a little sister close in age), so she did not take to well when a little boy tried to dominate her play area , I wish I had a camera on me to capture that break down moment! Sophia she is just a little monkey girl, climbing on everything in site. By the end of the day I just came home and crashed! And to think we haven’t even touched school clothes shopping yet! YIKES

Lazy Days and Milk

2008-07-16T17:07:00.004-05:00

My lazy day started with me waking up at 6am on the couch.I fell asleep last and woke with a kink in my neck! I crawled my aching body back into bed and woke up almost 5 hours later..This was suppose to be my day for cleaning and organizing my closet, NO such luck. The girls and I met up with our friends from church at the pool. I think I made a new friend today little 4 yr old Mya Love! She is sweet. I had a great time with everyone today. Thanks to Kareena for giving me a shout out! I picked up another book from Kareena the Host, so I can't wait to start reading it! That will probably be the way I'll end my lovely lazy day! Also I just want to say that Kareena you saved me a dreaded trip over to the store for the milk! Thank you so much! I am grateful that I have friends that help out and lift me up in my times of need. And believe me, letting me have the milk WAS lifting me up! Who wants to take wet, cranky kids to the store? So thanks again, my cup runneth over!

When You Wish

2008-07-16T01:03:00.004-05:00

Tonight we went to the Miller Outdoor Theatre and saw "Disney's When You Wish". It was a musical of some of Disneys fairytales and movies. It was really cute show! For some of my out of town families The Miller Outdoor Theatre is a amphitheater outside. Some of it is covered with huge overhead fans and has nice chairs (you need to get tickets) for these otherwise you sit on the hilltop and watch.. There are some really nices shows preformed! The Houston Symphony, Theater Under the Stars, Houston Ballet, etc. The best part of all IT IS FREE! WE took this trip with some Faith In God Girls, Leann, Lance, Ursula, Taylor from church(ages 8-12), and of course also Sophia. It was a little crazy getting started. With Leann having a flat tire, getting there late and finding our chairs, but as always the Lord pulled us through and we had a great time. They do shows all year round but a little disappointed that they are not more geared to the children (only in the summer)I think mine and Sophia favorite parts were the Ariel and Ursula from Little Mermaid, and the song from Aristocrats! Not to mention the acrobat women that was haning from the ceiling and danced her way down the curtain! LOVE IT!

Kit and the Hobo's

2008-07-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

Well guys, I took the girls to movies and saw the American Girl film, Kitt Kitteredge. It was a really great American Girl movie. It is set in the Depression Era; so my girls got a good education on what it means to be thankful for the things they have. The first question Sophia asked me was, "mom what is a hobo?" So I had to tell her it is were the kids either ended up homeless because parents died or had to go to work in a different city and leave their kids behind. MAN! That was a difficult thing to explain to a 6 year old. But it never fails that everyday they scream they want something or other. Or they don't appreciate what we -as parents do for them and I always call the ungrateful. In this movie it shows people having their houses forclosed, selling their furniture, Hobo's coming into neighborhoods to look for jobs.. The main girl in the movie (Kit), well her dad owned a automotive business and had money. She was interested in becomin a reporter (at only about 8 years old). Anyways her dad ended up losing his business and had to leave and work in Chicago. Her mom turned their huge house into a boarding home. Long story short she made friends with the hobos while everyone else was trying to run them out of town and wanted to write about them in the paper. She ended up do just that. Let me just say I love the American Girl movies and hope that they produce more for the movie theaters!

Our Summer Days

2008-07-10T22:06:00.001-05:00

Well, this is my first post so we will see how it goes! About our summer days! We have been pretty busy so far this summer with both girls on the Newport Swim Team. With practice everyday since April until end of June and meets every Saturday. It seems like summer should be OVER! Recently the girls got back last Saturday from their Nana's house. Michaela and Sophia stayed the whole week with my grandparents while I was recupping from having my tonsils taken out! (not too bad) They got spoiled and had a grand time. Isn't that how is it suppose to be? Now that they are back at home they are giving me a run for my money! UGH summer boredom, especially when mom is still not 100% recovered! This week we have been hanging out with our neighbors and going to the pool. I need to get better and take some pictures! I need to get one of those digital cameras (what are those?).. Tomorrow we are meeting some friends and heading to a day at the mall to catch a movie. We are going to see the American Girl Movie "Kit Kitteredge"(I think thats the name of it). In a week and half the girls are off to VBS! at the First Baptist Church here in Crosby! Can't wait..That gives me half a day to get my thoughts in order for the other half of the day! (DOES THAT make any sense?) For our vacation me and the girls went to San Antionio, Texas to see my cousin graduate Air Force Boot Camp! My sister in law and nieces came down from South Dakota also to be there and spent a little time with them. While we were there we went with my parents to SeaWorld and had a great time! Our next mini vacation is right before school starts we are going to Jellystone it is about 1 1/2 hours away it is a Yogi Bear campground and it is really awesome place. Check it out at www.lonestarcamping.com they have locations all around the United States. We might take a mini overnighter with some friends to the beach sometime before then also. We'll have to see. Well that is about all the excitement I can handle right now so I will try and get some pictures posted soon.!