To my Valentine....

So I know it is almost March and I have glazed over Valentine's Day. With Kenna's birthday being on Valentine's Day it has a tendency to get overshadowed by the birthday. But I wanted to add that Jeremy was very sweet to surprize me all month long with little things to brighten my day. He knows that one of my very favorite candies are the conversation hearts so he put them on my pillow spelling out I heart U ! Then he got me yellow carnations when I told him I never got carnations in school when we were talking about getting carnations for the girls this year. He wrote me a sweet poem to go along with the little chocolate he got me as well since he knows I am trying to get back in shape. He also knew that it would be a crazy weekend so he took me out to dinner on Friday night to celebrate Valentine's day our 15th together. So even though 3 years ago he told me I would have to wait 18 years to celebrate another Valentine's day-he really spoiled me this year. I am grateful for all of his romantic surprises this month and I appreciate all of them. He has even gone out of his way to fill of my gas tank for me! (see previous post) So thanks my handsome doc ;)! I love ya and I am so glad that you are mine!

My tribute to Trudy and Andi

These two women at Dr. Shaw's front office are awesome!!! (Don't worry everyone else I will be in soon with a camera for the rest of you!!) They are always so sweet and cheery to everyone even the people who are grouchy and mean. But they are especially sweet and kind and caring to all of my kids. Keira and Kenna talk about them on a regular basis and they always brighten our day. They show interest in my kids and listen when Kyle wants to talk about baseball or Kelsey wants to talk about her current topic of interest or Keira wants to talk about make up or Kenna just wants to cuddle. Thanks ladies for being awesome!!!

Here is Mixer the Hedgehog

Here is Kels's birthday present, Mixer the hedgehog. We have fallen in love with this little guy. He is a lot of fun, not smelly and loves his mealworms and crickets. He visited Mrs. Guzzo's classroom and was a champ with 21 kindergarteners then visited Mr. Cannon's classroom with 27 fifth graders. I was really impressed by how well he did. I thank Animal Ark for this pet reccomend!! We have loved him!!

the baby"s third bday

well it is official, my baby is 3 and my oldest is on his way in a few months to being 13.....where does the time go???? I have to add the build a bear accessory trip for Becky Bear, but she was a sport putting up with a soccer tournament. Kelsey won first place so it was a good day, but she loved her bday and her little party at chuckie cheese with a few friends. Kelsey is now 11 as well and her party is this weekend so more pictures to come....

This Stuff is Amazing not just Advantage....

I just have to post this on my blog! When we moved to College Station in 2001 a young inner city kid stopped by the house with this product and said I can clean anything with this. I told her yeah right. My bath tub is so old and nasty I have tried everything! (We were students and in a rental in the historic part of CS) I told her if you clean my entire bathtub and make it white again I will buy the bottle. She cleaned my bathtub and it was white and spotless!!! Well, that concentrated bottle lasted me for 4 years because I didn't know where to reorder it and treated it like gold. It got out everything!!! I loved it! Well, I was gone about a month ago and Jeremy was outside and a kid stopped by and showed Jeremy how it would take the mold off of the driveway. He was shocked. So he bought a bottle after the kid was able to get sharpie off of a towel in front of Jeremy. So I use it all of the time now, but as I was mopping yesterday and catching up from being sick and being gone I thought I have tried everything to clean my grout and nothing works so I wonder.... Well I took my mop edge and just rubbed and do you know what? My grout looks like new!!!! So I won't have to pay someone a ton of money to have my grout cleaned before I need to reseal it! I love this product even more!!!

This past weekend I remembered my camera!!!

So we were back in Sugarland, but this time it was not wet and cold and muddy!!! But we were playing in the National Fusion Soccer CLub Tournament which is on the 59 and Grand Parkway side instead of the Eclipse side of Sugarland which is more in Missouri City. These fields were rock hard and parking was a NIGHTMARE!!!!

Keira got to the the bat girl for the Warriors this weekend so she LOVED being with her dad and big brother and a dugout full of boys and everyone telling her how cute she looked in her pink helmet. We had our adopted "nephew" since Kyle won't let me adopt him as a brother, Drew for the weekend (Kyle's best friend and one of Keira's many crushes). So it was fun for her to be with them.

It was fun for me to just have two girls as well. Kenna and I got to sit on the sidelines and then we hung out after the first game. We watched a movie in the car to relax and keep out of the wind but mostly just be together. Kelsey played great on the field and even scored a goal!! The disappointing news was two of our best girls were out this weekend due to injuries so we had to play girls in new places and new chemistries but I thought they did a great job and we made it to the finals playing against her old team twice. We lost in the finals 2-1 and got second place, but the girls played great and I am proud of all of them. It is sad that she can't play until May 24, 2010, but Coach Kim said she gets to be an assistant coach at the games and Kelsey was really excited about that. She even made sure she was going to the game this Saturday. What a miraculous turn around from where she was a few months ago. I really struggled with this move but always felt like it was the right decision. Every time I talked to Coach Kim I always felt like she understood the girls. When she held a parent meeting on Sunday before the first game she went over the schedule for the Spring and league games starting this Saturday, mentioned that Kelsey wasn't allowed to play, to remember to just cheer your daughter on, and then she said your daughters at this age are already competitive enough by themselves. They are unsure of themselves at this age and they are unsure of their skills. They need you and me as a coach to encourage them and give them confidence that they know their stuff so they will succeed when they are in those pressure situations and in games. So be there for your girls and encourage them and build them up. Even Kenna runs up to her and lets her pick her up and hold her and play with her. She is an amazing woman who cares about these girls as individuals. It goes back to what I have always said. As a parent you want the person you turn your child over to-to love them like you do-With Coach Kim you feel like she does. And this group of parents-they are all just as kind and compassionate. I maybe the only one on the team with little ones, but I don't feel left out or out of place-they are incredible and I know Kelsey is on the right team. It is not about winning or losing. She is developing a talent that may open some awesome doors for her in the future......and I look forward to next year when we start homeschooling and we get to spend even more time together as well. It is nice to be in a good place....

I don't have pictures, but Kyle and the Warriors had a great weekend as well in their first tournament of the Spring. They made it to the semi-finals. Kyle's pitching was off the charts this weekend!!!He was throwing something fierce and nasty and they could not touch him!! And his batting was just as wicked!!! Sometimes I wish I could be in two places at once!! Way to go Kyle!!!

Good, Better. Best. But What do you do when you find Amazing?

So I am having one of those moments again....the ones where you have that inner battle....I want to give my kids the best of everything and I want to stay balanced and focused on the important things but I still want their one activity to be a good one. If they have a rare talent in that activity how far is too far to let them take it?

I have two with this ability....I struggle with this decision probably weekly, but more so in the spring and the fall. I know the good, better, and best talk. I know that even though I am teaching my kids to follow the Lord that I could do a better job and teach them to take the best road, but I am not. It is not the worldly awards that I want for them as a mom-it has for me been amazing to watch them grow into their talent over the years. As others played on Sunday we did not-We held back. When others went to select-we waited until there were no longer options and level playing fields. But still with amazing are there still limits and if there are how will the doors open for progression in that field?

I know with Kyle it is his dream that he plays for the New York Yankees when he grows up. I know that he trains hard and he works hard and he eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball. He has a wicked fastball and a killer curve ball. He is a great baseball player. But he is also a worthy priesthood holder and he does his very best to be there every Sunday he can. He does his best to get to all the church activities that he can. He like his friends at church. But he isn't there every Sunday during baseball season when he is at a tournament. He isn't there every Wednesday when there is practice. He is an honor student that still has homework to get done as well. And he has all A's but keeps fighting that one B in 6th grade-not bad for ALL honors classes. He is such a responsible kid who loves his sisters and helps out at home and has such a sweet heart. He is funny and witty and handsome. It makes me sad to think I only have 6 1/2 more years with him. It will go by WAY too fast!!!

Then there is Kelsey. She has this amazing talent as a goalkeeper in soccer. As I have mentioned we made the decision to switch clubs and she has made some new friends and the trainers are incredible and the change has helped that talent shine so much that her new team has walked away with a 1st and 2nd place trophy both tournaments they played. She smiles when she goes to soccer. She dives and jumps and pounds and bounds and punts.....She only had 2 goals scored on her all weekend this past weekend and one was a fluke that bounced off the girls knee. I am amazed when I watch her. She makes it look so easy. Just like her brother in baseball. They are pressure positions and they just let it fly.....But as I watched yesterday and I thought about it being Sunday I couldn't help but wonder I hope that even if these are good decisions as a parent I am still doing the right thing. Being a parent is sooo hard sometimes.....I just want these beautiful kids of mine to turn out happy and well rounded and grounded with a strong relationship to Heavenly Father and their Savior, Jesus Christ. Yet the doors that could be opened with these talents are some amazing doors as well....

Maybe one day I will have the answers.....there was a high councilman who got up with this talk I refer to and said in the end now that his daughter had played sports on a college scholarship at BYU and met her husband and gotten married it was not worth it and if he could do it over again he would not play sports on Sunday. I guess ask me in 10 years when they are all grown up and in college and I will be able to answer that question.....Until then I can only ask for advice from my wiser friends who might know better than I.....

My Tribute to Kelsey Call Photography!!!

http://www.kelseycallphotography.com/

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Kenna from last year! I can't wait for this year's pictures that will include all of the kids, but I love the mischief that she caught in Kenna's eyes that is sooo Kenna! She is a soo full of life when not in public and Kelsey caught that! I could post a whole bunch but this one just shows that Kelsey can get even the kid that won't talk to anyone out of her shell!!! She rocks!!!

I am not a big Chocolate person, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE THESE!!!

So I am on the boxtops email list and got on a survery group that randomly gets things to try out before the public. Well, I got the new box of Chocolate cheerios this week and let me tell you that these cheerios are soooo good! There are other flavored cheerios that I do not care for, but these rock!! I think I could eat the whole box!!! I do not like chocolate cereal, but these are really good! Plus there is only 100 calories per serving, 2 grams of fiber, 9 grams of whole grains, and they taste good-plus they are good for your cholestorel too! So I am loving these things!!!

Question to the Blog world

So I see that a lot of you are or have gone private....

So I am taking a poll-send me a comment on why you did and what your thoughts are on that... I am debating on if I should or not... So to the cyberworld if anyone cares out there-send me your thoughts.....

Kelsey's Birthday!!!

So my first baby girl is 11 today! She was born at 6:30 pm after an induction that was 10 days early. the doctor believed that since Kyle was big and late-he figured she was getting big so he'd go ahead and induce. Well, I wasn't progressing very well, but did not feel any contractions at all. When I got to a four, Jeremy insisted that b/c we were private pay he was ordering the epidural so that if I changed my mind later it he would still get his money's worth. :) Which in the long run was a good thing-b/c her shoulders got stuck and several boosters later and several locals later and an exceptional doctor trying to avoid a c-section with Kelsey practically delivered-he got her out. I did not realize how scary the situation was until afterwards and we saw how bruised and red she was-but she stole our hearts right away. I thought I wanted all boys, but she changed not only my mind, but Jeremy's as well! She came in at a whooping 9 pounds 8 ounces and 21 inches long. They had to go to another floor to find diapers that would fit her! She was such an angel through it all. It was my first private room. I loved the whole experience!!
I can't believe it has been three years since she was baptized! I can't believe in one year she will be 12 and entering the young women's program at church. I can't believe she is now legal to babysit!!!
So to all my friends here in Humble who love Kelsey-she is now legal for you to call! She will be taking the babysitting course that includes first aid and CPR soon. She just had soccer the weekends that Eagle Springs is doing it. (Kyle is available to babysit as well. He is great with the boys) She can't play on the weekends thanks to EDDOA after the 27th of Feb through the end of May-so other than Monday, Wednesday, and Thursdays-she is free to babysit-unless of course we get to her first!! :)
But most of all, it is so amazing to have watched this little baby grow up so fast before my eyes. I know I griped yesterday about how crummy I have felt and how I can't stand how messy the house is right now-but I know that I will eventually catch up-Dr. Shaw took Xrays and I do have a sinus infection so he gave me some serious antibiotics and steriods so I better be feeling better SOON! But I am so thankful for this amazing girl the Lord sent to me. She is a gift that even in her blonde moments teach me so much about love, charity, kindness, smartness, dilligence, and joy. Each of my children have given me so much-Kelsey has shown me that I can raise daughters.....when I didn't think I could....not because I am a good parent, but because the Lord sent me good kids and He knows them!!!

I think I am turning into a wimp....

So I see that a whole week has gone by....I have not posted pictures like I had planned-I ended up with a cold that seems to have turned into a sinus infection and I have been totally useless here at home and well with everything!! I was soo glad it that b/c of the tournament soccer was cancelled on Monday and it rained on Thursday so I only had to drive to the Woodlands once last week. Kelsey was upset-but I wasn't. I just wanted to spend the entire week in bed with some chicken soup and a few good movies....Does any other mom ever get a cold and feel that way? Or am I just getting old and turning into a wimp about the little stuff? I am behind on folding all of the landry and doing some of it as well. I need to mop and scrub and clean the upstairs. I have given it time to go away on its own, but to no avail-so I am going to the dr tomorrow to beg for something to make it go away so I can reclaim my house and my life.

She's Smiling!

So we played in our first tournament with the Rush soccer club this weekend! It was a cold cold weekend, but it was a great weekend!!

kelsey played on the field and in the goal in the five games that we played this weekend. As you can see she is happy and smiling! She was so excited and is loving this new team! I just wish that she could play league games with them in the Spring. I really don't like EDDOA and think they are a bunch a crusty old men! But what do I know, right? If you had seen Kels on the field before these pictures and now-you could see the night and day change! Kim and Juli are amazing women and coaches! I can't thank them enough for bringing the fun back into soccer for her! She played her heart out and in the hard games the parents still applauded her and knew she did her best. This was the right move and I am glad that we did it. So she wore three pairs of leggings, two pairs of shorts (one I had to rinse out before the final game), three pairs of socks, two jerseys, and three keeper jerseys!!!! Aas well as both pairs of keeper gloves that I had to wash out before the final game so she could wear them again they were soooo muddy!!!!!!!

So we ended the weekend with a second place trophy on PKs! Kelsey beat the other keeper who was bigger than she was! The girls just missed a few shots on goal and their girls got it past Kelsey. So the team knew it wasn't her fault alone. It was such a different experience than in the past. I really like these group of parents and despite the cold and the wet and the little girls being stuck in the car and how much gas we wasted letting them watch movies to stay warm-it was a great weekend!

She only gets to play in two more tournaments this month and then no more games until the summer, but we get to train with the team. And I know without a doubt that we made the right decision!

Just look at that smile!!