My Aunt sent this to me in an email and I thought about forwarding it to all my family, since this goes around with my friends often. So, instead I decided to blog it. Have fun. Hoepfully I'll see this on my sister's blogs soon.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:40 am

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds, but not too many

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Horton Hears a Who

4. What is your favorite TV show? Lost

5. What do you usually have for Breakfast? Raisin Bran cereal

6. What color are your eyes? Blue

7. What is your middle name? Eleanor

8. What food do you dislike the most? Indian

9. Favorite CD at the moment? John Harrigan's MP3

10. What kind of car do you drive? right now the 1997 Saturn, Expedition is still being worked on!!!

11. Favorite sandwich? Chicken Salad

12. What characteristic do you despise? Conceit

13. Favorite item of clothing? Shoes

14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Some beach in the South Pacific, Tahiti?

15. What color is your bathroom? Neutral tan

16. Favorite brand of clothing? Ann Taylor, Banana Republic

17. Where would you retire to? Tough call, unsure where we are even gonna be next year!

18. What was your most recent memorable birthday? 30th when Stephen threw a surprise party

19. Favorite sport to watch? baseball

20. Farthest place you are sending this to? The furthest corner of the internet world

21. Who do you least expect to blog this back? Candace

22. Person you expect to send it back first? Karen

23. Favorite saying? Oh man. Shoot. Fiddlesticks! (a grampaw-ism)

24. When is your birthday? September 11

25. Are you a morning person or a night person? Depends on the kids

27. Pets? Verdi and Puccini- dogs

28. What would you like to share with us? Read my blog and you'll see.

29. What did you want to be when you were little? a teacher

30. How are you today? Thankful

31. What is your favorite candy? Chocolate

32. What is your favorite flower? Hydrangea

33. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? End of July-Taking Cavett to Disneyworld

34. What is your full name? Jennifer Eleanor Dent Hill

35. What are you listening to right now? The dryer

36. What was the last thing you ate? York Peppermint Ice Cream

37. Do you wish on stars? Sometimes

38. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Blue

39. What is the weather right now? Wet and cloudy

40. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Nana

41. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Definitely

42. Favorite soft drink? Diet Coke

43. Favorite restaurant? Perry's Steakhouse

44. Hair color? Strawberry blonde

45. Siblings? 2 sisters, 1brother

46. Favorite day of the year? Christmas

48. Summer or winter? Summer

47. What was your favorite toy as a child? Fisher Price Little People

49. Hugs or kisses? Kisses

50. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

51. Do you want your friends to email you back? Yes

52. When was the last time you cried? March 30 reading Candace's blog

53. What is under your bed? Nothing

54. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Carol Beth Land Ivory, since I was 5. Now we are in the same Sunday School Class!

55. What did you do last night? Out to eat with Nana

56 Favorite smell? Easter Lilies

57. What are you afraid of? Drowning

58. Plain, buttered, or salted Popcorn? Butter and salt

59. How many keys on your key ring? too many

60. How many years at your current job? 2.5 years

61. Favorite day of the week? Any day Stephen is not working

62. How many towns have you lived in? 3- Shreveport, Houston, Sugar Land

A Quick Nana Visit

For the past 2 nights we have had the pleasure of having Nana for dinner. She is in town (literally staying in Houston, near the Galleria) for a conference. So, last night we met her in town for a Mexican dinner and tonight she came to our house for some pasta and "the going place." Of course, if we say that after dinner, it usually means an ice cream parlor. This time it was Baskin Robbins, because we desparately needed new pink spoons. (They are the best for cereal with milk for little ones. Just the right size and deep enough to keep things in place!)

After dinner and putting kiddos to bed, I spent my favorite quality time with Nana--figuring out sewing projects. She is so good at just looking at something and then making up a pattern for it. This time it was a case for the kids new portable DVD player. We are so lucky to have such a talented Mom.

We love you, Nana!

New Friends

We have been going to our Sunday School class, the Lamplighters, since August. But last night was the first time that we have really hung out with several of them at the same time socially. Carol Beth had us all over for Gumbo and Strawberry Cake. A good time was had by all, especially the new babies. Kendrick got a kick out of chewing on Mary Katherine's feet. We are so blessed to have found this wonderful, supportive, and caring class and look forward to the many years of growth of new friendships and in Christ ahead of us.

FYI- Please say a prayer for Ella, Carol Beth's daughter. Monday morning she will have surgery to remove a bronchial remnent in her chest. Nothing major, day surgery, but she will be put under complete anesthesia.

Addendum: Unfortunately, there was no memory card in my camera and no one else got a pic. Oh, well, until next time. Ella is out of surgery and doing very well.

A Little Lecture

Last night I was reminded of one of the reasons I fell in love with Stephen.

This week the UTMB Dental School called and asked him to come do a lecture today for one of their elective classes on Neuromuscular Dentistry. It was a lot of work to prepare a lecture with a power point on such short notice, but I told him he should do it anyway. Thursday night he worked diligently on it and a bit more at work on Friday. Last night I got to hear the presentation.

It brought back memories from our time in dental school. Nights when I would quiz him on different parts of the skull, or when he taught me the numbers of the teeth or the names of the surfaces. I felt like I was in school along with him. Since we had no kids we really got to talk about what he was doing at school.

As most of you know for the past 3 years Stephen has been going to Las Vegas to LVI, a dental institute for Neuromuscular Dentistry. Since I wasn't watching him study and we didn't really talk about what kinds of things he was leartning out there, I didn't realize how much he had learned.

His presentation was excellent and I even learned a few things. He is well spoken, and just funny enough to keep it interesting. He makes a fantastic teacher. He is so smart not only in the actual field of dentistry but in the other areas it takes to run a business and deal with people. Obviously the folks at the dental school agree with me or else they wouldn't have asked him. I am so proud of him. Maybe this is God's plan for Stephen.

The pictures are actual before and afters of one of Stephen's patients. This man had severe pain associated with his TMJ. After correcting his bite, pain was gone.

No nap

Cavett didn't take a nap today which is really strange because last night he was up until about 10:30 since we had church choir. So this after laying in his bed for an hour and a half, I told him he could get up and play or read quietly until Kendrick woke up.

I sewed on a baby blanket as I listened to John Harrigan's (a missionary for IHOP, International House of Prayer) MP3 of the Western Worldview. (Mind blowing stuff!) Cavett read several books in a laundry basket. It brought back so many memories of childhood afternoons. Mom was quite the seamstress. If she wasn't cooking, cleaning, doing laundry or refereeing fights, she was sewing. I can remember sitting at her feet playing with my Fisher Price Little People. Just being in the same room was comforting. Good times. I hope that Cavett will look back on these times when Mommy is "busy" and think the same.

Second Day

Wednesday is the day that Kendrick and I get to spend together, the majority of it without big brother. It's Cavett's long day at school- we drop him off at 9:30 and pick up at 2:00. He doesn't take a nap at school, so most of the time he crashes at home for 2 1/2 hours before we rush to church.

So, today Kendrick and I ran a couple of errands and then headed home for his nap. He slept about an hour while I made his baby food. We ate lunch together and laughed. He got a book read to just him and we even had our first game of catch. He's a sweet one.

P.S.- For the record for those of you who haven't seen him lately, 2 top teeth have come in. However, they aren't the front 2. He has fangs! Dentist Dad was a bit nervous, but Nana said it's ok. Aunt KK's came in that way.

Crawling Transmission

Today we caught Kendrick really crawling. He started thinking about it this weekend and I think he has about mastered it. This morning while I was ironing his outfit, he was eyeing the cord and immediately I thought, "I am in trouble! Here it comes." His poor little knees are so red.

On another subject, we are thanking God we got home safely yesterday. When we pulled in our driveway, the Expedition didn't sound very good. Stephen drove around the neighborhood a bit more and decided it was the transmission. So, we dropped it off at the shop last night. This morning they called and confirmed. I guess we are due. We are at 100,000 miles and it's a 2003. There goes the dividend.

Happy Resurrection Day!

Spring Has Sprung

There is nothing better than the change of seasons for me and I must say that Spring is my favorite. Had you asked me several years ago I might have said autumn, but it is now bittersweet and the feeling of wearing "fall appropriate" clothes while sweating is no fun. Winter is dull and blah with weather that can't make up it's mind whether it should be cold and rainy or warmish and humid. Summer is just plain hot.

But, Spring....there is a promise of newness. There are new leaves on trees, beautiful flowers budding, tiny baby ducklings swimming through the pond. The sun is just warm enough that you can wear "spring clothes," but don't feel bad if you have to throw on a light jacket or sweater. Not to metion the gorgeous dogwood trees reminding us of Jesus' sacrifice. It's all a reminder that God renew our earth one day and all will be perfect.

The best part of all is that I am in Shreveport with my entire family. I spent this afternoon during naptime rocking Kendrick in the swing on the screened in back porch. Nothing says Southern happiness more than a porch swing in the warm sun. We are so blessed to have this time together.

On another note, we went to a different park today--A. C. Steere Park. They had the most fabulous Musical Playground. I am thinking "how can I get one of these in Houston?" They are fantastic! The kids loved them and so did we. I told Cavett he could do one more thing before we left the park and he chose to play the instruments. Check out http://www.freenotes.net/.

FYI- Gran and Grampaw seem to be doing better and there is even talk of Grampaw moving back home from the long term care facility. Thank you for all your prayers.

Postive Charges

We are in Shreveport this week visiting family and seeing my grandparents. So, today while Nana was at work for her last day at school before her Spring Break, we had a cousin event.

We went to see Gran at her house this morning and hooked up with my cousins, Elena-13 and Caleb-10 Hibbs. It's a little rough being that age and cooped up in a house for days on end. So, we took them with us for the afternoon. We grabbed some chicken fingers from Cane's and headed to Betty Virginia Park to meet up with Cavett's cousins, Anna Grace and Zeke. We had a great picnic in the warm sun and Cavett made a new best friend--Caleb. They all played on the playground and the olders seem to really have fun engaging the youngers.

On the way home from the playground, I didn't catch the entire conversation. But Caleb was trying to explain positive and negative charges to Cavett. I think it had to do with the static in his hair from the slide. Cavett was very attentive and looked up to Caleb in awe.

We are so glad that the Hibbs have moved South from the frozen tundra of New Jersey. We look forward to seeing them more often now.

Retrograde Blogging

Last Friday was gorgeous. Stephen is off work for an entire week starting that Friday, so after lunch we put the kiddos down for nap and headed outside for some yoga. We were heating the pool for our Spring Break Bash and it felt wonderful after working out.

It was Kendrick's first pool encounter and he enjoyed it. Cavett hasn't forgotten how to swim and should be fairly good without a life jacket by the end of the summer.

P.S.- I have updated pictures on our website.

Rodeo Pictures

Round 'em up

Yesterday we headed to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Unfortunately, Joe and Kelli had to go home early. Kelli had a fever and didn't feel good. But, we still had a great time and we packed it all in.



Cavett got to watch a pig show, pet bunnies, watch a cow being milked, ride a pony and see a day old baby calf. All the while Mom was sneezing, wheezing and itching. But, I don't care. I'll sacrifice to see the excitement on his face.



After eating chicken strips and a turkey leg we headed to the Kiddie Carnival. Last year we were able to avoid this area. But, since we are taking him to DisneyWorld this summer, we thought we might need to test it out. Just to be on the safe side. (However, I really had no doubts.) The first ride was the Flying Pink Elephants (Think Dumbo at DW). Next he waited in line forever for the ferris wheel but it was so windy that they had to shut it down. So, he rode the Dizzy Dragons (aka Mad Tea Cups at DW), the Pirate Ships (Peter Pan) and the Bouncing Dune Buggies. We were able to pull him away by offering a funnel cake and we watched a brass ensemble play swing music as we ate.



He had a great time and when he realized that we were going to ride the train next meant we were going home, the tears ensued. Both kids were worn out and slept most of the way home. A good time was had by all.

Horton Hears a Who and a drunk girl too

Yesterday we went with our friends Kelli and Joe to see Horton Hears a Who. It was a really cute movie and I think everyone enjoyed it, minus the weird Japanese animation scene. Afterwards we went to one of our favorite Mexican joints, Berry Hill, for dinner. The table we ended up sitting at was on the path to the restroom. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. But, tonight we obviously chose the wrong one.

As most of you know, Cavett is a wiggle worm when it comes to sitting in a chair. He takes a long time to eat, but at least he can hover around his chair for an extended period of time without too much of a struggle. As he was half on/half off of his chair, a lady was on her way to the restroom and stopped to "talk" to him. She said that she was a pediatric nurse and that he needed to sit in his chair. She didn't want him to fall. Stephen said "Thank you" several times and eventually she made her way to the bathroom. On the way back, she made a few more comments about not wanting him to be in danger before going back to her table. Mind you, he had one foot on the ground and this wasn't a tall chair.

Not 15 minutes later and a few more drinks, she headed to the bathroom again. Once again, she stopped to tell us what we were doing wrong as parents. After shooing her away again, Stephen had a discussion with the manager. He mentioned that he had several complaints from a few other parents and said he would cut her off.

This time she was in the bathroom for quite some time--maybe 15 minutes. When she came out, her fly was down and she had more to say trying to get Cavett to sit down in his chair. When she put her hands on Cavett, I had enough. Stephen stood up and forcefully told her to leave. She proceeded to tell us that she should call CPS for such bad parenting. Stephen said that after she finished the 12th step, then she could tell us how to parent. We had a good laugh as our child-less friends watched us with this ordeal.

Funny thing was, a couple of minutes later, Cavett did fall down. He was just fine and brushed it off. Then we even let him stand up in his chair and do a little dance. I guess we are bad parents.....

We have the joy

Below are 2 videos we recorded yesterday after church. The first one is Cavett singing one of his favorite church songs. Usually the "where" is really prolonged in a very high pitched voice. The second was during lunch. How fun it is to see the two boys making each other laugh. Cavett says he was "scaring" Kendrick by saying "Radadoo" in a "scary" voice. Hopefully, meals will continue in this happy way for many more years to come.

Texas Children's Hospital with Isabela

Texas Children's Hospital

Today we met Isabela and her parents for a visit to Texas Children's Hospital. Isabela had an appointment at the Cardiac Clinic and we went with her to donate the books Cavett received for his birthday. We wanted to donated them to the Cardiac Clinic so that the patients there have something to read while they wait for the doctor instead of the grimy toys.

Cavett was very interested in watching Isabela get her stats taken and Heather, the cardiologist even listened to Cavett's heart too. At times he was helpful like in helping Isabela put on her clothes, other times I was about ready to pull my hair out with him standing on the examination table pulling on the cords to the blinds. They had great fun taking pictures of each other and the view out the window. Overall, I hope that he somewhat understood why we were there, if not, I hope at least we gave Isabela a diversion.

The best news of all was that her heart is doing well right now and the surgery they had scheduled for this summer is going to be put off for a year! She will have time to grow a bit more giving her better odds with the surgery. We thankGod for you and your progress, Isabela! We love you.

New Blogs and a Prayer Request

I'm a little late on this, but 2 new blogs were created this week by two of my favorite people.

My brother, Jonny's is hilarious! I actually laughed out loud several times. It will be so good to keep up with him now and see "inside his head." He and I are a bit like Dadoo in that you have to ask us the right question to get any kind of response.

The second is my college/Houston friend, Anna. She and Mark are expecting their first child (Walker Russell) in June. We are really looking forward to watching Walker and Kendrick grow up together.

Also, a quick prayer request. My Mom's grandparents aren't doing very well. My grandfather is in the hospital with pnemonia and my grandmother's cancer is back. Please keep them in your prayers during this difficult time.

Super Tuesday Two

As I was icing my "Texas" cookies, I decided I should weigh in on the presidential election.

I was really pretty excited about it as it is actually the first primary I have ever voted in. I was so excited that last Tuesday with both kids in tow, I went to my polling place only to realize it was the next Tuesday. So, today we finally got it right and that was the first thing we did this morning. I remember going with Mom to vote as a kid and wondering "what could be behind that curtain! It certainly is a big machine!" Times have changed and Cavett helped my press the buttons to cast my digital vote. He even got a sticker at the end that said, "I voted today." He like saying the word vote and found that it has many rhyming words.

Now, as I contemplated writing about politics, I thought of all my friends (minus the neighbors). You see, for the most part I am friends with people very unlike me in terms of political views. In fact, I can remember one night at a friends house we got started talking about social security and TRS (TX teachers retirement). I got so incredibly frustrated that I had to physically leave the house and take a walk. Most of my friends are musicians and teachers. They tend to vote democrat. I guess it is the fact that they are employed by public schools/churches that on one hand, they don't make enough money for what they do and on the other they believe that people "deserve" things like health care, for instance.

Please don't get me wrong, I hate health insurance and I cringe ever time I have to pay that bill. I would much rather buy a new flat screen TV or a new car, but we have priorities. I guess some people don't see it that way. The US Constitution tells us we "deserve" life, liberty and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS. It's a journey, something we will always strive for and no matter how much the government pays for stuff (which we are actually paying for, unfairly I might add) there will still be the "un-happiness." They will want more. Why should I work hard every day, if other people are just going to sit there and ask for a hand out? I feel as if I am re-living Robin Hood and he is NOT the hero. Please, let me give away my money to causes I believe in and people who I think "deserve" it. Frustrating.

So, I voted for Huckabee. I figure I might as well vote for someone I really believe in at this point, because there will not be that opportunity in November. I am all about his "fair tax" idea.

One of my democrat friends is going to my concert tonight and afterwards we will probably go out. I'm sure the subject will come up since returns will be plastered all over the TV screens. I will do my best to listen to her and understand where she is coming from. The older I get, the more willing I am to actually voice my opinion instead of just letting it go. I know I will never convince her to change her vote, but giving someone another way to look at things always helps everyone. Ultimately, God has the plan and I pray that he will guide whoever our next president into making wise decisions.

How much fun can you have with a turkey baster?!?!?

Ok, continuing with the theme.....

As we were waiting for our cookies to bake, Cavett got out the turkey baster and began throwing it against the refrigerator and the windows. So much fun to watch how it bounces. It's going on about 20 minutes worth now.

And, yes I am a true Texan now. I am baking Texas shaped cookies, boots and hats for Rodeo week at Cavett's school.

Sticker Shock

Kendrick has a pretty bad diaper rash. It's so bad that it has covered his whole rear and up his back. We had been trying Lotrimin, but it just wasn't helping. When we went to the doctor she gave us a prescription for some cream that might help. So, I took it to CVS to get it filled. As the pharmacist rang me up he said, "That will be $207." WHAT!?!? I said, "It must be a mistake! Do you have our insurance information?" He double checked and it was $250 without insurance! It's diaper rash for goodness sakes! They must be proud of that stuff! This is where health insurance has taken.

The pharmacist takes another look and tells me that I can make my own concoction of the same ingredients over the counter. It was just Miconozole and high percentage zinc oxide. So, $20 later Kendrick's back side is starting to look a little better. Unbelievable!!!