Family Portrait

This morning when we got up, Rachel wanted to draw on her easel. She would draw someone, and then call me to see. Then she called me to show me that she had drawn all 3 of us. It was beautiful. She did 2 different elements; chalk, and marker. We try to keep her well rounded in the art aspect of her life! LOL It was wonderful. Just thought I would share the talents of our daughter!!!

My little artist at work

HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY LANCE!!!!!

I know this is a bit late, but February 21st was Lance's birthday, and we went to Texas de Brazil with some of his family. It was really nice and tasted so good. I recommend that place to EVERYONE!!!

Cupcakes from Cold Stone Creamery YUMMY

RANDOM THOUGHTS

I know things around here are busy, but nothing is blog worthy. I MISS BLOGGING!!!! I need some great stuff to say.

Well, people are popping up pregnant all around me, and this is cause to make me have baby fever pretty bad.

Lance's garden I was following has gone died. So for his birthday he got some more tomato plants, and some blueberry bushes. Both of these are guaranteed for 1 year not to die. So that was good since he has never bought blueberries before. I will let you know how that is going.

For Lance's 31st birthday (on the 21st)we went with his family to Texas de Brazil. It was AWESOME!!! I will post later with pics.

Kim (my MIL) had her 50th birthday last week too, so we had a weekend of scrapbooking for the girls. It was fun. I got quite a bit accomplished. It was nice to have time to just work on my scrapbooks. I worked on Lance and I BR (Before Rachel). I must say I fell in love all over again. It was so nice to get to look back at all we have done together. With our 7 year anniversary coming up, it was fun to remember. It is funny how you really don't think about all you have done until you look at pictures. I have not ventured the wedding and the honeymoon yet. That seems really daunting to me at this point seeing as I am almost 2 years behind on Rachel.

Track has officially started. WOO HOO!!! The last season of the year.

Ok, well I had more that I thought to write about. I will post the birthday pics this weekend. Thanks for hanging with me!

A Day Out With Rachel

Rachel had an appointment with the dermatologist on Wed. about her "spots" that have been hanging around since before Christmas. He basically told us that it was an allergy that flares up in the fall/winter. So that was GREAT news.

Lance went with us, so we made a day of it. We gave her the choice of the Zoo or the Children's Museum. She chose the museum. They are remodeling the old one, and have moved it to a part of the Cowgirl Hall of Fame museum. She loved it! The children's part was small, but she loved what they did have.

She loved the grocery shopping

She built the walls of a houseShe did some constructionShe loved watching these little cup airplanes fly

Then we took her up to the Cowgirl Museum and she had a lot of fun there too. She got to ride a bucking bronco and watch herself on TV.

She also got to sit in a saddle and watch a movie on Jessie from Toy Story 2. It was fun spending the day together. Thought I would share some pics!!!

Our little cowgirl

She loved serving the food out of this kettle on the fire!

Jump For Joy

Last night, Rachel's friend had a birthday party at a bounce place in Wichita falls. It was a blast. Even though I have a hurt ankle due to a race through the course, which I WON. After, I found out Lance lost his shorts going through the first obstacle. I will just post pics and let you see how much fun we had!!!

This is the part where Lance lost his shorts!!! HAHAHA!!!This is the part where I came down and hurt my ankle!Rachel and Lynsey

Sliding down with the girls!

After it was over, we took a poll, and there were 4 injured adults, and no kids hurt, so I am wondering if that tells us anything!!! HAHAHAHA!!!

Happy Valentime's Day

February 14th marks an important day in Lance and I's relationship. It was our first date 9 years ago. Wow, how time flies. I remember that day like it was yesterday. The gum, clothes, food, everything. We were not planning the encounter, but it was meant to be. I know every event that happened from our first meeting on the second day I moved into my ASU dorm room, Aug. 1997, until Feb. 14th 2000 was written in Heaven. Nobody can deny we were meant to be together. The story is incredible. It is really amazing that we ever really dated, but that makes it all the better and more meaningful that we are married and will be forever. Someday with Lance's permission I may post the story that he wrote for me when he proposed. It is a story of our journey to engagement written in a children's book. It is amazing. With that, I will say I hope everyone had an wonderful Valentines Day.

Gardening Update

Well, I know I have not updated about Lance and Rachel's garden in a while because Lance asked if I had blogged about them. Here it is: We did have a little plant tragedy. They were under the wine rack, and as they were looking Rachel leaned on a bottle of wine (there only for looks, I don't drink wine :-( and it fell on some. It was a sad occasion. So, here are the after pics of what is left. They are growing so fast. I think Lance is going to take them outside today!!!

Warning--Bathroom Story

Last night, Rachel was in the bathroom when I went in to check on her. She was off the potty getting toilet paper to wipe with. I saw that she had pooped, so I wanted to help her. I was picking her up to put her back on the potty (to teach her not to drip when she got off), she was fighting me telling me "NO Momma, it says to get off." She kept repeating it as I was trying to explain why you stay on. So I let her go and she grabbed the Kandoo wipes and showed me that it has a picture of the frog OFF the potty wiping his bottom. I really would like to let Kandoo know that children BELIEVE this frog and he really should stay on the potty. HAHAHA!!! So, just in case anyone has any question as to whether you are supposed to stay on and wipe, or get off and wipe, refer to this picture!!!

How a Blog Can Change A Life

I have been randomly reading blogs, and right now, babies seem to interest me the most. Particularly it started with NICU stories. I found Kayleigh, WOW, what a family. Glorifying God with every success and setback in her days in the NICU! She has been there over 7 months, they are troopers.

I am not sure where I found The story of Audrey, but I have started from her first post, Angie is amazing. I have found that she speaks to my heart more than you can imagine. This woman has AMAZING faith! She also writes a wonderful story every time, you will not be disappointed. I have not caught completely up with every entry, but I am working on it and it is WONDERFUL!! I am wanting to comment on every entry, but I think I will send an e-mail when I get caught up.

If you have a chance, you should dive in. They are both great reads and really down to earth!!! Beware, you are in for a lot of emotion and you will want to read every entry.

My new Tattoo!!!

Well, after 11 years, I FINALLY got a new one. They say that 90% of people that have one tattoo, will get another one. I have always wanted an ant on my toe, but this is WONDERFUL!!! Devra and Lauren inspired me when they wanted me to get a matching one. I love it more today than I did last night when I got it!!! Thanks girls!!! Every time I see it I will think of you!!! Oh, and by the way, they guy that did it gave Vanilla Ice his on the show "Celebrity Bull Riding"!! EVEN BETTER!!!

My new TAT

Bonded Forever
The poster in the shop of Vanilla Ice getting his Ty Murry Tattoo

A Proud Member of the Kirby Family

It all started with a ring of my doorbell. Some guy was passing out raffle tickets for FREE, I know that NOTHING is free, so I was suspicious. All he needed to enter me in the raffle, was my name and phone number, so I gave him my classroom number and figured if they called me there, I could easily get off the calling list. As I was telling Lance about who was at the door, I was looking at the ticket and on the back it said that if you give them your number, you are consenting to have a Kirby salesman call you. Well, then I got excited, because we have a stain on the carpet that we had wanted to get out! I figured in my "2 rooms cleaned free" they could get that stain out. Boy, after that I was stoked. So when the lady from Kirby called, I was GLAD to tell her I wanted them to get a stain out and to bring the goods to do it. I had a great plan, I was go to get him going to make him think I was totally impressed, and keep him going until the very end. Then, I was going to thank him for cleaning my carpet and send him on his merry way.

So there I was, picking everything--"toys" up off the floor. When my doorbell rang again. In comes Larry with a box of goodies to clean my carpet and get that pesky stain out! Well, Larry goes into his speech, and he is cleaning away, and boy I was acting it up about how impressed I was. Secretly, I was shocked at how much dirt was in my couch cushions. EWWWWWWW!!! I mentioned that I can't believe that there was not any cat hair in the couch, and he asked if we had cats. I told him no, but we did have a Boxer. He said that he vacuums his dog quite often. WHAT? VACUUMING A DOG??? I could not believe it. So, I thought for fun I would let him try. Now, I am sure I have told you all how CRAZY our dog is, so this would be quite humorous. She was a little out of control for at first, but once he got her to sit long enough to vacuum her, she LOVED it!!! I could not believe it! Just in case you were wondering, she was very dirty. Her pin is mostly dirt so I knew she would be.

He then cleaned the ceiling fan, and that was also impressively easy. Then, he went on to tell me that I would never need a step ladder to get to the fan or even change light bulbs. WHAT? CHANGING A LIGHT BULB? I didn't believe that, so I wanted him to show me. Amazingly enough, you can change light bulb with that vacuum. Crazy I know, but true. Then he was showing me how to blow up a balloon, and Rachel did love that. Next, he asked me if he could do a corner of our mattress. I let him do Lance's side, and it was HORRIBLE. Don't let them do that because you will want one of these vacuum cleaners. It is better not to know. That was the kicker for me. I really had to have one. It was THAT bad. I just can't believe that is what we slept on. I have really always wanted one, and now I have one, and as I sit here, I can't wait to go home and vacuum. That sounds insane, but true!

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

Lance was out this evening raking the the leaves. Man, there are a TON!!! Rachel wanted to jump in them. Boy, she had a great time. If you know me at all, I am not big on her getting dirty, so I am really glad that she was already in them when I got out there. Then it was already done and I could just enjoy taking the pics. So, here they are.I LOVE THIS ONE Where's Rachel?
This is my sencond FAVORITE!!

The planting of the garden

Last year, Lance and Rachel had an awesome garden. It was huge, yet didn't produce a whole lot. So, Lance has done research and figured he started too late. With that said, He has already begun preparations for this year. He and Rachel have started the seeds in a little indoor greenhouse. I now remember his obsession with it when he came home today with more bulbs and seeds. He will never have enough!!! HAHA!!!

Adding the water to the little dirt pods

Planting the seeds

Happy Birthday Daisy

Mixing the cakeIcing it (yes, it comes with icing) Decorating it

So proud of her cake

Daisy waiting while we sang to herShe LOVED it I think it had a little bit of sugar, she was CRAZY after eating the whole thing!
Daisy turned 2 yesterday, and we made her a canine cake, did you know they had those?, and Rachel loved it. We decorated it and sang to her. Now we are hoping she will grow out of her puppy ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.