Big...HUGE news!!!

We are moving! Not just across town... but across the state and back to baseball! We are moving to Corpus Christi! K-man is going to be the Director of Facilities and Stadium Operations for the Corpus Christi Hooks. They're the double A ball club for the Astros. It's an incredible oppurtunity for K and we're so excited we can hardly stand it! There is so much to do now though it's a little overwhelming. Getting ready to put the house on the market, finding a school for Pook and day care for Diesel, finding a house in Corpus, and doing most of this while being without K for a little while. He'll be down there by March and we'll stay behind until the end of the school year. Wow! It's all still a little surreal! I'll do my best to keep you posted on the developments as they happen.

The Diesel is now walking...everywhere! He's also got a total of 4 teeth now. Two on top and two on bottom. He looks like such a little boy now. He'll be 14 months old next week and time is just flying by. Oh, and have I mentioned that the boy eats like a horse. I shudder to think what our food bill is going to be like when he hits his teens.

The Pookster is still loving pre-k and has recently begun having sleepovers both here and at her friends' houses. It really is the cutest thing. She excited about moving to the beach. Although, to tell the truth, I don't think she's really grasped the concept of "moving." Pray that this transition will be smooth for her. I'm not the least bit worried about her making new friends there, but she's going to miss the ones here terribly much.

So that's our big news! WOW!

How 'bout those Bears?!?!?!?

If you haven't heard...
Baylor Bears and ESPN

Oh, and the boys returning to the Ferrell Center last night.

What an awesome game & win for our Bears! Sic 'Em, baby!

Few new/old LOs

I've posted some pages I've been working on. Mostly older pictures that needed to be scrapped. Link is on the right.

Guess who is walking?

Not hard to figure out since the Pook is 4, huh? Diesel started taking steps this week. He hasn't taken off across the room yet, but he's not afraid to let go and take 3 or 4 steps to get to something he wants. Most of the time that's me or K-man. It's so cute! We're going to be in a world of hurt when he really gets going though because I have the feeling he break out in a run and we won't be able to keep up with him!

Brrrr...
We've been hit by a cold spell. It's in the 20s right now and while that may not be cold to some people. It's dang cold to this Texas girl! It's usually about now that I start deluding myself that the summers here aren't all that bad. HA! Still I think I much prefer the sun and warmth to frigid temps any day.

fly by post...for Nonna

I have been so swamped at work that I don't know which end is up, but I had to take the time tonight to post this pic for my mom so she'll quit bugging me. ;-) So...here you go, Mom...a photo of all four of your grandkids together.

Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful, wonderful past two days it has been!

It's been so nice (and that's an understatement) to have K-man home, really at home for these past couple of days. We were actually able to get ourselves and both kids dressed and out the door for Christmas Eve service at church yesterday with minimal trouble. K joked that maybe church should start at 5:30 p.m. on Sundays, too. Seriously, sometimes it's nothing less than a sheer struggle to get us out the door on Sunday mornings. But I digress...the service was great. We have a tradition in our church that children participate in part of the service as angels complete with white smocks and tinsely garland halos. Pook was the most angelic angel of them all until they handed her a glow stick before the singing of Silent Night. That's when K spotted her have a sword fight with another little girl on stage. Ha! That's my girl!Diesel sat quietly (well, mostly) through it all. I think that the snacks of Goldfish, Cheerios and sweet corn puffs had something to do with that. However, he was a hungry and tired boy by the time we made it home and was not really interested in the fact that Santa's elves had been to the house and dropped off Christmas PJs for him and his sister. Crazy thing...neither was Pook. That little oddity can be attributed to the fact that our next door neighbors grandkids were coming to the door wanting her to come and play.

We have great neighbors and we always run over on Christmas Eve to socialize for a bit. Mimi and Papa Jack are so incredibly sweet and always include our kids in their gift-giving. Polly Pockets (oh joy!) for Pook and a cuddly snowman for the Diesel.

K-man and I even made it to bed before 1 a.m. this morning! Shock of shocks since I still had to wrap EVERY last present. We got such a late start on the gift buying that I just decided to knock it all out at once and save it for last night.

This morning, we awoke to the sounds of Diesel ready to be out of his crib and had a blessedly peaceful 30 minutes before the Pookster got up and the feast of presents began! After it was all said and done, we had a very excited 4 year old who loved all her new books, clothes, movies, toys and bike and a very tired 1 year old who was more interested in the tissue paper than the opening of gifts. It was on to Daddy's pancakes for breakfast and then the rest of the day has been spent lounging about. Grammie made it over just before the festivities began and we all enjoyed a low key Mexican Christmas dinner tonight. As per request, I made my sour cream chicken enchiladas and we busted out the Dean & Daluca green chile chicken tamales that Bill & Connie sent us for Christmas. Mucho gusto! And now finally, the kiddos are asleep and I'm able to steal some time to get pics uploaded to the computer and post about our day.

I'll leave you with a Pook funny. As you know, we live in Texas and hear Spanish spoken quite often. The Pookster's school is great about incorporating the language into the curriculum. Well, while on the phone with Aunt Sherrie tonight, Emma tells her "Felis Labidaub." Yep, that Feliz Navidad for all you non-speakers! I can't do it justice because you really need to hear her say it. That girl keeps us rolling!

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Our baby boy is 1!!!!

Yes, I know I'm a little late with that announcement, but I do have a treat to share to make up for it....


Is he not the cutest thing EVER?!?!? Yes, I know...I'm that Mom! Can't help it.

I'll be back to post more about his birthday in a bit. Off to lunch with Grammie and Janae.

We've got a toofer!

FINALLY!!!! Diesel finally cut a tooth. Woke up on Wednesday morning and I did my usual toofer check and squealed like a little girl! Ten days away from his first birthday and he gets his first tooth. Geez! I hope they all start coming in now. We've got to play catch up.

Not my week
At the ripe old age of 35, I got my first case of strep throat...ever! Let me just put it to you plainly...it blows! Spent most of Tuesday feeling like utter poop and then Wednesday morning woke up with a fever. Finally got in to see the doctor at 1:40 and a shot of pencillin later I was on the road to recovery. Felt like a new woman on Thursday, but somewhere in the early evening I started losing my voice. This may be good news for some people, but for me, not so much. I have to sing a special in church on Sunday. I'm praying I miraculously get my voice back by tomorrow. Guess I'm going to have to Google remedies and try them all.

Baby boy got a haircut

Isn't he just the cutest? We were trying to hold off until after his birthday for his first haircut, but it just got to be too much. My Diesel looks like such a little boy and not a baby with his haircut. I'm finding it really hard to believe that he'll be turning a year old in 11 days! Where did the time go?

Speaking of which...I am a terrible blogger! Thanksgiving came and I never even came close to attempting to post anything. Worse...I took 1 picture the entire holiday! What is wrong with me? I'm going to lose that mom of the year award yet. HA!

We had a bustling house full of people for Thanksgiving, including my 89-year-old grandmother. It was so good to have her here although I'm sure she was glad to be staying with my MIL so she could get away from the gaggle of kids that inhabited our house and actually get some rest.

Happy Anniversay to us!

K-man and I celebrated six years of wedded bliss on the 24th. Seems hard to believe, huh? Feels like just yesterday we were getting married. Still, here we are 2 beautiful kids and 6 years later. And...in case you didn't know, I married one magnificent man. I don't know how I would ever make it without him. I am thankful to God everyday for the gift He has given me in my partner in this crazy life. He often drives me nuts, but he more often keeps me sane and there hasn't been a day go by that he hasn't made me laugh. I pray that I'm as half as good to him as he is to me.

Knock, knock

Who's there?

Christmas!

Aaaahhhhhh! Heaven help me! When did it become December? I haven't done a lick of shopping. Not one gift. This is stressing me because I usually already have presents wrapped and under the tree by now. Oh well, I guess it'll get done. Sometime...

K-Man comes home today!!!

Can I just tell you how excited our household is that Daddy is coming home today? It's been a very, very long week without him. Don't think I've ever missed him this much when he's traveled during the season. He has missed the kids something fierce, too, so some quality Daddy/kid time is in order. Now, I just need to clean the house some before he gets home.

Good news...the Baylor Bears won the Paradise Jam tourney in St. Thomas (you know, where K-Man has been roughing it on his week away)! This may not mean much to many of you, but it's exciting stuff for us! Makes his job a lot more fun when we win.

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is Thursday. We'll be making our last run to good ol' HEB tonight for groceries. My sister, her two kids, and my grandmother will arrive tomorrow evening and then Nae has to run back up to Dallas on Thanksgiving Day to pick up Mike at the airport. Please pray for no delays and a smooth trip for him.

A couple of new LOs

I've posted a few new layouts (link is on the right). There's a page from Diesel's baptism and a couple from Halloween. I've been scrapping my booty off. Looks like I'll be getting more scrapping time in to starting next week. K-man leaves for the Virgin Islands on Wednesday. I know, I know...poor baby, right? However, it is work and he'll be gone a week and get home just in time to start getting Thanksgiving dinner ready.

Pook funny for the day

The Pookster has taken to saying "cool" and "totally awesome" as if we were still living in the 80s. And she says "totally awesome" like she stepped straight out of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It's a total trip! I asked her where she learned it (because we gave up saying that in the 80s) and she said she made it up! We may have to start calling her Al Gore. HA! Actually I think it comes from watching our copy of SchoolHouse Rock. She loves it! I'm posting her fave.

A little post-Halloween treat

It's midnight...

and I can't sleep. Must be that 2.5 hour nap I squeezed in today. More than likely it's the multitude of things rattling around in my head, none of which I can quite seem to place a finger on except for one. We baptize our sweet, sweet boy tomorrow and I find myself struggling with the fact that he's 10 months old and I have no idea where the time went. I feel relatively adjusted with the fact that the Pookster is four and that she's not a baby anymore, so why am I feeling this way?
Is it because he is our last baby? Is it because I feel so ultra-swamped with work and life that I feel like I'm missing out/have missed out on so much? I went back to work when Pook was 3 months old and I still feel like I had so much more time to give her. Maybe that's it...maybe it's having to split the time between my two precious kiddos that makes me feel like this. The classic working mother's guilt, huh? Maybe one day soon, my dream of being a WAHM will come true.

Gorgeous fall weather

It was an absolute jaw-dropping kind of gorgeous day! Sun shining. Light breeze with the perfect fall nip in the air. You know my mom and stepdad are in town and we had a glorious picnic at the RV park they are staying in. Pook had a blast playing at the playground and it was so incredibly peaceful that I had to drag myself and the kids away to head for the house to take naps.

Basketball widow

Have I mentioned that I'm basically husband-less until late March? Basketball season has started and that means long practices and away games. K-man does a fantastic job of really being here (you know...not just a body sitting in the chair kind of "here") when he is home. The kids squeal with delight when he comes through the door. Just tonight, Pook stood at the back door watching for his headlights in the driveway. I thank God everyday that our children love their daddy and that he is a daddy worthy of such love and adoration.

Off to bed for me. I think I've blogged myself to sleep. Until next time...

Random mommy thoughts

You know you're a mom when you bend down to tie you own tennis shoes and catch yourself as you double knot them to keep them from coming untied. I had to sit down and have this conversation with myself. Leslie, you're not tying Pook's shoes. These are yours and if they come untied, you know how to re-tie them.

Took the kiddos to Family Treat Night at Baylor last night. The dorms are decorated and the students hand out candy from their rooms. Really kind of cool and Pookster came home with a haul of good candy. She even gave me the Butterfingers because she knows they're my favorite. She is a ballerina this year and Diesel is a scarecrow. They're both adorable if I do say so myself. I'll make sure to post pics after Halloween trick or treating next week.

Startling realization

I'm settling in to 35 pretty well. Or at least I thought I was. I really was doing fine until DH & I were watching the Today Show about Hoda Kotb's breast cancer story and then it hit me...I'm only 5 years away from having my first mammogram! Five years! As I said as much to DH, he reminded me that he's only 5 years away from yearly prostate exams. He wins!

Family time

My mom and stepdad are visiting this week and as such, it's been a hectic week. I feel like...check that...I HAVE been meeting myself coming and going. I told Mom, "welcome to my life!" We are baptizing Diesel on Sunday and I'm so glad that they are going to be here for it. At least this time, we're getting it done before he's a year old. Pook was baptized on her 1st birthday so we're ahead of the curve on this one.

Oh and I've decided that once the blog counter hits 1000 I'm taking it off. Just thought you might want to know.

Some boys are cute

Two...almost three...weeks since my last post. Bad blogger, bad blogger! But, since I'm sitting here waiting for the plumber to arrive, I'll take the opportunity to update.

Pook story first. Her PreK class went on a field trip to the County Fair this week. In the course of talking about her experience my 4 yr old and I had the following exchange.

Pook - "Mommy, Tanner's mommy forgot his snack today so I shared mine with him."
Me - "Sweetie, I am so very proud of you for sharing. That was very sweet."
Pook - "I shared with with Tanner because he's cute."
Me - "Excuse me? He's what?"
Pook - "Yeah, Mommy, some boys are cute."

WHAT?!?!?! Are you kidding me? Not yet! Don't start this just yet.

The Diesel is still toothless, but he does love his table food. This kid is a chewing champ! Crawling everywhere on all fours these days and he's started pulling himself up, too. Hard to believe that he's 10 months old. Where has the time gone?

Plumber problems
I mentioned that plumber earlier. Yep, it's official. We have to get a new water heater. We discovered it was leaking earlier this week and as I type this he's taking out the old one. I swear when it rains it pours around here. Thank the good Lord above that it's just the water heater and not some in the wall plumbing issues.

Broke down
I did. I finally caved to the technologically hip and got a BlackBerry. While not as ultimately cool as the iPhone, it does serve it's purpose for me and I love it. And, of course, I went with the red one. What can I say? I am a sucker for color.

Had to share a couple of pics

Took these both this weekend and just wanted to show off our beautiful children.

Ever just have one of those weeks?

Our household was apparently bitten by the stomach bug over the past week and a half. It started last Thursday night with Diesel. Pook woke us up about 4:30 Monday morning with her turn. Her bout was accompanied by a 101.4 temp. That was fun! Normally, I'm usually inexplicably immune to the kids illnesses. Sooooo not the case this time. I spent most of Thursday in the bed, finally returning to the land of the living on Friday. So hopefully that explains the pitiful non-updated nature of the blog.

Tiny confession to make...part of the reason the blog wasn't updated this week is because it was premiere week for all the shows. Had to scope out which new ones are going to make the cut in this house. Jury is still out so I'll have to post more about it later.

A special screening of Happy Feet is beckoning. The Pookster wants me to come watch with her so duty calls.

Oh yeah...

New blog header! Do you like it?

R-E-D...that spells red!

Another bragging post on the ever so precious Pookster. I just can't get over how much she is learning. We played a quick round of Boggle Jr. (thanks for leaving it Nae) before her bath last night and I was amazed at what she was able to do. Then as we were reading her bedtime story last night, she stopped me when I read the word red and proceeded to tell me how to spell it! She also had to show her daddy the word in the book. I love how far her letter recognition has come.

Upchucking

The Diesel and I are at home today. He vomitted three times last night and then once again this morning so we are, of course, banned from daycare. He doesn't even remotely act like he feels bad and he's not running a fever so we're at a loss for what's wrong. He's been on amoxicillin for a week now and I'm wondering if it's some kind of reaction to that. I've got a call in to the doctor so we'll see what he says.

In the meantime, I'm going to try and clean some of the house, do a little scrappin' and catch a nap if I can.

New LOs

Posted a couple of new LOs for your perusal and enjoyment! :)