The Great Exchange-Part II

If you missed part one, go check out my sister's blog. But long story short, she kept mine and now I'm keeping hers.

Part II began yesterday with a quite complicated list of transportation arrangements. Luckily the weather cooperated and both Candace and I made our flights and Candice, the babysitter filled in the interum to shuttle to and from the airport and watch the kids for an hour or two.

Yesterday evening went well--they got thier "surprises" from my trip to San Francisco with Stephen, dinner, bath and bed. Easy. Done by 7:45. All slept through the night execpt for me. I was still on Pacific time and I was too worried about who might wake up and where they might end up if I don't wake up. Z did wake up at 5:30, but hee went straight back to bed.

Today began at 6:30 with cuddles with K in bed. I missed this boy!!! Z joined at 7 with C and AG not far behind and we began breakfast of blueberry muffins. Sesame Street ensued and the cabinets spwed toys while I got dressed and things ready for the day. We headed to Boomerang's at 9:30 for some energy emmision. But it seemed the arcade games seem to take most of the draw no matter that there were no coins to put in them.

We had packed a picnic lunch since it was only to get to 90 today and we headed to a park just off Alma next to the fire station. We ate, we played, we swang and it felt hotter than 90 so we headed home for naps. My fav--cuddling with C and AG on the sofa while watching a movie.

After naps, we snacked and headed back out again, this time to a spray park in McKinney. Now at this point, I'm sure Candace is reading this thinking, "Uh, oh. She's Onion Creeking." But, all was well and we had a great time. I think the best part was when they discovered horse apples. QUite a discovery and so many uses--racing them, trying to crack them, dropping them off high bridges, using them as bowling balls. Luckily, there were 4.

Since we became quite dirty we headed straight for the shower, then dinner and a tribute to Dadoo. Just as we were headed to the bedroom, I came around the corner and found K and Z at the piano. So, "three fingers" showed up to play a few ditties for dancing and singing. It was the highlight of the day. If only it could have been Dadoo playing instead of me. Hopefully, I can post video soon.

I feel like I am doing a pretty good job at this. Now don't get me wrong, it's hard, way hard, but I'm hanging tough. Check me on Monday though.

P.S.--I know you are wondering about our trip and maybe I'll get around to it, but suffice it to say, we ate and drank well and it was much needed after the past 7 months.

Digging

I didn't think I'd get to post again, but lucky me!

It seems to be a theme with my family. Maybe it is because we have so many boys now. We rushed home from the wedding this weekend to build a fence. Why you ask? Well, pool building begins Aug. 6th and we need a kennel for the dogs during that process and for after. This house has no backyard connection to the garage. And, since we are headed out of town for a week, we needed to get it done pronto!

The boys had great fun playing in the dirt and digging the holes with Dad. Cavett even helped rachet in a few screws. I was most impressed with Stephen's design and think it will look very professional, especially for being on a slope. I mentioned this on Facebook and I was reminded of the yearly fence his faternity built out of bamboo. So, either it comes naturally from being raised on a bunch of land or college frat parties. Either way, I'm impressed.

At one point Cavett decided he was just going to go ahead and start digging the pool. Kind of get a head start. Yeah, good luck with that son! So, Zeke get your shovel ready and come dig with my boys!

July

Is it really almost August? How can it be? I have enjoyed being off of our regular routine in Sugar Land, but I am ready for a steady constant schedule. How many more days till school starts? Oh well, here is what has been occupying our minds and time....

The first full week of July was full of guests. My former co-worker, Wendy came to visit for a few days and we had some great "girly" time. It was good to visit with her to catch up on her life. Greg Warren, one of Stephen's groomsmen and our college friend, showed up in town and we caught dinner with him on Wednesday night as well.

Thursday after swim lessons we headed to McDonald's. It was Kendrick's first visit and Cavett's second, though he can't remember the first. They loved it! The one in Allen has a fantastic playground. The whole reason we went was a "blind date." It was a playdate to meet a friend of a friend from Sugar Land. We hit it off and we are looking forward to another playdate come August.

Thursday evening Brenda and Isabela arrived and Sammy followed bringing Stephen back with him. (Hopefully that was Stephen's last trip back to work in Houston.) We had a very memorable weekend full of laughs and tears, and of course the typical dress up times for the kids. We also got in a little shopping time too. We miss them terribly!

Highlights: Chick-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day and Cavett's major fit in the restaurant

Lauren Davis' 1 year old Birthday Party

Brenda left on Tuesday morning and my crazy cousin, Sarah stopped by for the afternoon. Never a dull moment with that girl! She constantly has me in stitches, but yet can talk about real things too.

Highlight: Cavett is now asking to do the dishes!

Wednesday I spent cleaning and cooking. All of Stephen's siblings and parents were coming over for dinner and all but one spent the night. It was really fun to have them all over and pull out all my good china and crystal, but the events surrounding were not as joyous. Richard has cancer--an 11 cm inoperable mass on his liver and after further scans many small lesions all over his body. Chemo will start soon. For the past 3 weeks when Stephen hasn't been working, he has been with his Dad and family at the hospital. Again, I go back to so many scriptures I clung to in the mourning of my own father and my heart aches for what Stephen feels.

On a brighter note, Thursday we left for Shreveport via Tyler (to pick up Memaw) for my little brother's wedding. It was a perfect wedding and it was all just beautiful, not a single flaw! Congrats to Jonny and Amber. I told Mom at one point this weekend that it feels like I have known Amber all my life and that it was like she was born into our family. She is that wonderful! On the other hand, want to know who stole the show? Yep! That would be the "ring master and the ring leader"! They were perfect and stood so perfectly still through the entire ceremony. Only glitch was that they couldn't remember whether or not to take the bells with them on the recession. They also stole the dance floor as well. Cavett got to go to the toy store yesterday to pick out a special toy as a reward--this never happens, so this is BIG! He chose a gun, of course.

Highlights: Cavett's prayer after the wedding "God bless the beauitful bride, Amber who got married today."

Watching the kids dance.

Playing "Prince of Wales" with the Dent family after the reception.

When Cavett was asked his favorite part of the weekend, it was "dancing with Amber."

For more pics of the wedding head to my Facebook page.

We have 3 days at home and then we are back to Shreveport to drop off the kids and a car with my sister and Mom who will keep them while we are celebrating our 10 year anniversary with a trip to Napa, Sonoma and San Francisco. Stephen has a convention there next week and I will leave him on Thursday to fly back and take care of the kids plus my sister's two kids while they go to Portland, OR for a parents only weekend.

So, really.....after this next week, I will be ready for some monotony, a schedule, school to start. It's been a fun summer, but I need some structure. See you in August.........

Oh wait, I just remembered another issue...we are building a pool, so we have had pool guys out, bank guys calling, tile and travertine to decide on and I have been trying to keep Stephen grounded in his dreams. It will be nice and big, but may not be finished by the end of the summer. We will start digging Aug. 6 and may be done sometime in October. More fun times to come....

Swim Lessons

Today was Cavett's first official group swim lesson. He had private lessons in our pool last year, but since we have not a pool so far this summer, we decided to seek out the Allen Parks services.

He is in a class of about 15 3-5 year olds, with 3 teachers. Today they evaluated the kids and grouped them. At the end, his teacher, Carol Ann, told me he was top in his class and would even be taking him into the big lap pool and working on some diving as well! Way to go Cavett! So proud of my little fish!

I'm also proud of Kendrick, as he had to sit and watch with me without getting in the water for 30 minutes! He did so well! Let's hope that trend continues!

The Fourth and Fiftieth with the Hills

This past weekend was all about family, the in-laws to be exact. We packed up on Thursday morning and headed to Grand Saline where we met all 2 aunts, 3 uncles, 5 cousins, a great-grandmother, a few distant cousins and Grandmama and Grandaddy. All except the distant cousins, we were all lodged in the house or in the camper out back. Quite a feat!

Not only was it the holdiday weekend, but Stephen's parents were celebrating 50 years of marriage--an awesome and inspirational accomplishment! We had a wonderful time celebrating and remembering. It was also Grandmama and Uldene's (great-grandmother) birthdays. Can you say CAKE? There was much to go around!

We passed the time with a trip to the library, the city pool, the Dollar Store, picking blueberries, playing in the baby pool, making a Slip and Slide (and being pulled down it with a rope--Uncle Skip's bright idea so that you stayed on the plastic better), playing a round of Golf Tennis, frisbee and badmittin, climbing trees and shooting fireworks. Cavett was so distraught that he couldn't go with the big cousins to actually shoot the fireworks off. Only 8 more years, son. It was just too hot to fish this go around. Let's just say that my kids were so worn out that they slept an extra hour this morning.

So congratulations Grandmama and Grandaddy! May you have many more years to celebrate. And Happy Birthday Grandmama and Uldene, (94 years!!!!) We love you!

Tuesday/Wednesday

I know...no nice title. Oh, well....

Yesterday was a transformation day. We had our shutters hung and we hung the draperies the night before. It is amazing the difference. The unfortunate part was that in my haste to have the curtains made before we moved, I made them about 4 inches too long. I thought maybe that I might have made them long, but I thought there was more wiggle room. I also thought it was better long than too short and that is definitely true.

So, the solution was that I turned the top down 4". I may eventually take the bottom section off and shorten the burlap or just tack the overlap down and iron, but for now I am done. They are still stunning, I think.

The past two days were also very educational for Cavett thanks to Uncle John. He flew in from China on Monday and stayed with us for the night. He brought Cavett a set of "knock off" Legos that could be a battleship, helicopter and a life boat. During Kendrick's naptimes we put them together. Even though it would have been a complete challenge for him to do it alone, it was great fun to do it together and it was a great multiplication lesson. I told him we needed a certain piece, I would give it to him and tell him to count to check to see if it was what we needed. For example, we needed a 6X8. He would count it and then we would put it on and we would discuss how many dots were on the entire piece. We finished it this afternoon and I don't think BOTH of us could have been any prouder!