Goodbye, Spring Break!

I can't believe how fast Spring Break went by, it was THE BEST Spring Break ever. Now I say that every year and hopefully it will be a pattern. It just seems even more fun as the kids get older. We didn't really do anything big this year because at Ella's age it is still hard...Target trips are hard..hehe....but we enjoyed little activities and lots of relaxing. I won't even lie...our sleep is so messed up with the time change and being on break. We have all been sleeping in until 9 or 10, including Grayson and Ella.

Monday, we hit up the Science Place and the kids had all kinds of fun. Everything is so hands on and it was Ella's first time to go there. The kids loved it and I must admit Joey and I had some fun, too! (You will be able to see Joey's fun from the pictures).

Grayson wanted to take a picture to show his friends a shark almost ate him!

Hearing loud noises and not knowing what to think!

Looking for shark teeth!

Joey telling the kids about chickens!

Too stinkin' cute!

Ella made her own little area...and wouldn't let anyone touch it!!

Then we enjoyed a nice picnic outside and the kids saved all of the crust from their pb&j's to feed the ginormous turtles and ducks. It's so neat to see the little things they enjoy!

Can you see all the bread they threw in?

The next day we went to the Harbor at got some fro-yo (thanks Lauren) with Nana. It was all tons of fun!

 Then we had a sweet visit from my friend Cece and her sweet baby Genevieve. Grayson did a puppet show for Baby G but Ella was not too happy when Mommy and Daddy held another baby. I told Joey she will have to get used to it with Baby Sawyer (my new little niece) coming! But we did make sure to give her lots of hugs!

Me and Cece...friends since MSU

Example: grouchy little Ella

Us with our girls!

The next day we had some fun watching the Lorax and enjoyed my cousin's daughter, Shelby (aka my little buddy since she was a baby) over and we made some good ol' homemade play dough and it was super fun and turned out great! ( I made them wear gloves in fear of little hands and food coloring)

Shelby...already in 6th grade!

Testing the playdough out

Here's a link to a site that has all types of playdough recipes: http://www.playdoughrecipe.com/
I think next we will try the Kool Aid kind next!

I am not sure if I posted this before but my LITTLE brother is getting married!! I can't believe it and am so excited. So yesterday Joey and Jordan (my lil bro) hung out with Grayson and Vann (my nephew) and Jessica (my soon to be sis in law), Ella, and I all went to run some wedding errands and do a little shopping. We had so much fun but I was a bit freaked out when Ella was eating a RED lollipop while Jessica tried on her wedding dress (by the way it is GORGEOUS)...but it all worked out!

And this morning it is St. Patrick's day and Joey and I made a little surprise breakfast which was Pinterest inspired for Grayson and Ella. They LOVED it.

So that was our spring break in a nutshell mixed with some relaxing, family, and friends. Please excuse my long blogs since I only blog about once a week I always try to cram as much as I can in a blog...so sorry for that! Well I am off to enjoy the rest of the weekend and I hope you all have a blessed one, as well!

Like Day and Night...and videos!!

The kids are not sick...woohoo! It seems like they keep getting sick and today they are both great (praying this continues)! This is my third week at my new job and I LOVE it! It has been so amazing and humbling. I have always said I wanted to go on a mission trip and this is almost like doing that every day. I am at a wonderful school that is in a very tough area. There are refugees from other countries and kids who have had a tough life. Being a counselor there is like a dream. The kiddos are too sweet but I won't lie I think of my past class often and miss them so much but this job keeps me so busy! My sweet sister Megan came and became a volunteer at my campus and helped me knock out this little project I wanted to do. At my last school in Forney the counselor and AP created hearts with staff members names and everyone wrote nice things about that person. I loved that idea and decided to implement it at my new campus....so I totally used Megan to help me with this since I have people in and out of my office all day! It turned out like this:

Oh and here is the entrance to my office

Then I made a pinterest inspired bulletin board to let the kiddos know who the counselor is and what I do

Oh and I forgot to post last time how my sister in law's baby shower went. It was wonderful and she got a lot of great gifts. I just can't wait to meet my new sweet niece in April. Here are some pics of the shower that her bf Brittney and I threw. The theme was "About to Pop!"

serious game players

And now to my most favorite part...yes....my sweet babies, Grayson and Ella and all of their adventures. Here is a hodge podge of pictures from the past couple of weeks and all of the fun we have had!

Monkey see, monkey do

The Troy Aikman area at Children's

Ella's new favorite face to make especially when I take pictures...lovely

too stinkin' sweet

My little Dr. Seuss

Her favorite place to be is outside

My new favorite picture

And now for my video proof of how crazy different my kiddos are but it makes me love them and realize how special each one is:

Click here for: Ella's Drama over Tangled

The deal was that Netflix just took Tangled off so we couldn't play it so I told her Tangled/Rapunzel went "night, night!"

Click here for Grayson calmly reading his first longer book: http://youtu.be/wWKsyoYXUbs

A Scary Hospital Stay and My First week....

Just a quick update because I know many of you wanted me to post a blog about my first week at my new job. So far...I love it! It is so kid involved and everyone is really nice. I am so excited to see how the rest of the year goes and all that I will learn. The kids are absolutely AMAZING and I have definitely kept busy...which I like.

On the other note, we just came home from Children's Medical Center in Dallas. Grayson had an oh-so-scary asthma incident Friday night/early Saturday morning. He had some breathing issues in our room about 12 a.m. and so I gave him his inhaler. He fell asleep and then woke back up so I gave him another treatment. He seemed okay and went back to sleep. Around 4 a.m. he was really having a tough time and his stomach/rib area was retracting so we knew we needed to head to the ER. I gave him one more treatment before we left. I was thinking that we would have to wait hours but they took his blood oxygen level and rushed us back ASAP. When they hooked Grayson up to a machine (at this point Joey had to go move the car) his machine started making noises and they called some code to chair D right away. I remember thinking, "Oh man, I feel bad for whoever is in Chair D, " and then I looked up and saw that we were in chair D. Joey came back to us with about 4 ER doctors and the supervising doctor around. Grayson's ox levels were so low and then they gave treatments and oxygen and after about 6 hours of that and a lot of throwing up....poor little guy....we were admitted. I will say that it took two FIRE/EMT guys, me, Joey, and 3 nurses to hold Grayson down for his IV...no joke!!  Grayson continued treatments and an IV. All I want to say is that Children's is WONDERFUL. They are so sweet, knowledgeable, and made Grayson's stay so fun. We stayed overnight and left today and he is doing great. Asthma is so scary but I learned it can be controlled. We have always been very preventative with his asthma but the Dr. said sometimes this can happen. I got to go to a class to learn more and Grayson got to play in their playroom. He also enjoyed tons of yummy food and snacks and we colored, watched movies, and played Candyland.

Ella got to hang out with Nana and Lala and enjoyed shopping and lunch. They even got her some too cute Hello Kitty boots. She now wants to wear them every.stinkin'. second. Nana realized how opinionated Ella can be.....I think Ella definitely has my mom's personality...haha.

I will leave you with a pic of Grayson at the hospital. His mouth and face are a bit red because his coughing spell was so bad it broke some capillaries. It should all be back to normal in days. Please keep his health in your prayers. I hope to have a normal next couple of months..maybe even years.  Hope you all have a blessed week!

Life has been crazy with a CAPITAL C!

Well my title explains exactly how things have been lately. I would say the past month has just been a wind of events, loss, life changes, and blessings. God never ceases to amaze me no matter what the circumstances are.

I guess I will start with the end of January. My grandpa had been in hospice care and the day I took off work to be with him, he passed away....it was a blessing to be with him there along with the rest of our family at that moment. He was in his nineties and had lived such a long life. It is always bittersweet to lose someone at that age. Part of you knows it will happen and you almost prepare yourself for that but I think losing someone is just hard...period. Grandpa and Grandma had lived with us growing up and almost all our memories include him. Yet I am so glad that he is free from his cancer (he had lung and prostate).  It was so touching to see Grandma and her devotion to Grandpa. I can't imagine how hard it is for her now. I love Joey so much and can't imagine life without him. We have only been married 5 and a half years and I can not even comprehend that magnified by almost 70 years. I am just praying for her and for comfort in the Lord. We will all miss Grandpa but are glad he is free from pain!

Grandpa and "German Boy" as he called Grayson due to his blonde hair and eyes

The day of the funeral, Ella's daycare called and said she had a high fever. We took her to the doctor after everyone left (we had the meal/gathering at our house) and found out she had RSV. Praise the Lord, it was not too bad because I know that is going around and am praying for the babies with it now. Ella was back to her normal self by the next day and was eagerly getting on tables and leaping around.

Went to grab her medicine from the other room and she was on the table!! Oh my...little stinker!

The next day I was eager to get back to normal with life...but I guess that is what is funny. We as humans think we have control but we don't...it's all God. I got called for an interview in Dallas ISD. At first, I was thinking "No way!" I absolutely love Forney, why would I go to a big city where I have to drive more than 10 minutes and don't know anyone but something inside me told me to just try. There were 70 candidates for the position and it went down to 10 then 5 and then ME! Honestly, I was shocked and didn't think they would even be interested in me but during my interview it call clicked. I got so passionate about what I was talking about and told them I want to make a difference.....I want to be hands on and visible in the school. They called hours later and offered the position. I almost fainted with shock, confusion, and happiness. After talking to Joey, I decided that I could not beat a better experience. The school is near Northpark but is a low socio-economic school. I get to work with kids and be a true counselor, it is so exciting! Joey said it may not be forever but either way I will learn so much. It is about 30 minutes without traffic so we will see what it will be like on a REAL morning and a REAL afternoon. We worked in my office this past weekend and here are a couple of pics of what we have done so far. The outside is really cute but I didn't get a picture. Oh and their mascot is the OWL...how perfect?

I still have some work to do but for the most part I think it will do. I start on Tuesday, the 21st! The hardest part of this transition will be leaving my class. They are the sweetest kids ever! They will be in great hands, though. Plus it will be hard leaving all I know in Forney, its the only place I have ever taught. I will miss riding to and from work with Joey but am excited to have some nice down time to listen to sermons and have time to wind down before getting home.

So, now to the things that make my heart HAPPY! My family. Joey has been busy at church with his sunday school class, band, and now he is helping coach Grayson's soccer team. Grayson and his team mates are too stinkin' cute. Their team is the Strikers and it is an instructional team. He had his first game last week and it was a great learning experience. We did have a talk about being a good sport and how not everything is about winning. He had scored a point for the other team (he got the goals mixed up) and was so upset the rest of the game. But he did great and thank the Lord, his asthma was not too bad! Here's a pic from his first game!

First Game!

Grayson and his friend Drew!

Good luck hug!

Joey and I enjoyed a date among all the craziness. We went to see the Vow. Joey really didn't want to see a chick flick but he is too sweet so we saw it anyway and we headed on over to the Studio Movie Grille which I had never been too. The movie was so sweet and the food was pretty good. Definitely something we will do again!

I am heading to bed since this will be a busy week. It will be my last in Forney :(  and will also be Valentine's, Grayson's game, and Lauren's baby shower! So exciting. After this novel of a blog post, I will leave you with pics that have kept my heart happy and have made me so thankful to God for these amazing babies!!

Our New Family Members...Spiderman, Elmo, and Herby!

Today was the nicest, longest day evvveeerrr! We started out at church, made a trip to Target and just had to get the popcorn, and then headed to PETCO to get the kids a new pet....some fish!! I know....not as exciting as you thought but Grayson and I are extremely allergic to basically any animal with hair which stinks because we love dogs. Joey let the kids pick out fish from some that he had narrowed down that he knew would live long. We already had a large aquarium that was ready with water and had been running in our formal living room so we were set! Grayson and Ella were so excited and they couldn't wait to name them. Grayson named his Spiderman, Ella named hers Elmo, and Joey and I named ours Herby. They are pretty neat to watch and very active fish. Joey said they will grow to be pretty big! So there you have it our new little pets. Haha....
This weekend, Grayson, Nana (Joey's mom), and I all went out to Granbury to see Lauren and Dusty. We helped them clear out their extra room that they are turning into sweet Sawyer's new nursery. It was a lot of fun and it turned out great. I can't wait to see it all put together and I am even more excited to hold my new niece!!
We all enjoyed a nice lunch and then a trip to the park where Grayson added "throwing up after going fast on a tire swing" to his Must Do Kids List...haha! I felt so bad for him but, hey, I did that too when I was little, and for some reason I look back thinking that tire swing ride was so worth it!
Oh and I must add an update to my clean and green way of eating. I did pretty good the past week and was symptom free except on Friday when I ate at McDonald's. I realized that next time I should just get a salad or grilled chicken sandwich, Other than that, I have continued to feel great and have awesome amounts of energy. I go to a specialist on Tuesday to see if I have any type of infectious disease that is causing the lymph nodes to swell in my body. If this trip is inconclusive then I will have the actual lymph node removed through a pretty quick surgery to have further testing. So I will keep you all posted!
I'm off to bed so I will leave you with a picture of our sweet babies who look so big before church this morning!

Health Update 1/3/12

(You may need to read the blog post before to know what I am talking about)

So its only been two days and I am not sure what it will be like as I progress but so far I feel GREAT! I don't want to get too excited because it has only been two days but how my stomach feels is a good sign. Usually, I will have some type of upset stomach symptom EVERY DAY (bloating, nausea, among other things). But I have not had one of those yet..praise the Lord and keeping my fingers crossed. I have eaten a lot of veggies and fruit (which I love anyway) and fish. I am going to eat out tomorrow night for a birthday but will probably have a salmon roll and squid salad. I am not going to miss out on eating special things or yummy treats but if you know me....you know how exciting being symptom free for a mere two days is!! I am praying this continues.....I am going to talk to my doctor about this because I know I am mostly eating (not all) gluten free foods so maybe that has something to with it. I will be visiting with the doc regarding the swollen lymph node I have had in my neck for the past year...I am doing a very.late.follow-up. I am supposed to be seeing a specialist and depending on what I find out there will either be treated for whatever or have the lymph node actually removed for further testing. I am praying its nothing big but whatever it is...it's all in the Lord's plans regardless. I know sometimes people just have lymph nodes that stay swollen! I hope to check in later this week!

Also, today we all went back to work/school and the kids did great. I was worried about Ella since she had a hard time at church on Sunday but her teacher said she was happy and did great. Grayson was happy to go back and his teacher said he was very helpful today. While tucking him in, he told me that he loves school and church. They just melt my heart.

Hope you all have a blessed week!