My Grandmama

Love you lots and lots Grandmama!

The whole trip was for her really....she was the reason we decided to jump in the car and go very last minute. Her funeral was Saturday and I think she would've been very happy with it all. She once said she wanted everyone to be balling at her funeral...not a dry eye in the house. While I was sitting there listening to the speakers, crying a few tears of my own, I couldn't help but laugh a little remembering she said that. It was said a million times, but she was so proud of all of her children and grandchildren. She had this wonderful ability to make you feel like a million bucks. I miss her so so much, but I know she is happy with our Father in Heaven and other loved ones who have passed as well. I wish you could've known her...

Prison Tree

This is how you have a Christmas tree with a mobile baby in the house who likes to destroy anything he can get his hands on ....





p.s. I will update on our trip soon. We just got home last night and I have spent all day trying to get things clean and back in order. Still not there yet...

Vidor

And this is how we do it in god ole' Vidor Texas....

Texas

Saturday afternoon Brett and I decided to drive down to Texas. My Grandmama has been very sick for a while and took a turn for the worse last week, so instead of my mother traveling away from her mother while all the stuff was going on, we came to her. We surprised mom and dad on Sunday (they were going to leave early am Monday) and completely caught them off guard. It was a fun surprise. LoL. It turned out to be a really great thing for quite a few reasons,,,I would even say it was inspired. My mother had horrible knees and she is swollen all over and can barely walk....and I live in a house with stairs. The main reason though is, I got to say goodbye to my Grandmama. She passed away early a.m. this morning. It was a very sweet and sad thing all at the same time. I am so grateful though that I know I will see her again and we are a forever family. She was the best Grandmama ever. Funny, sweet, caring, gracious, and helpful....just full of love for all her little grandbabies....all 60 of us. I love you so much Grandmama and I am so happy I know who I am and what I can be mostly because of you.

And thank you to my wonderful husband who packed up our car and left on the road with me to Texas an hour after I suggested we go. Love you honey

Da*lila

Brett found a new radio station for a button in our car. Guess who comes on after 7 pm?? DaLiLaaaaaa!!! Anyone know who I am talking about?? You know, the sappy love lady that takes peoples sob stories or love moments on the air and plays that song that just says it all?? Please someone tell me you know what I am talking about. She has been on for like 15 yrs at least I am sure....Tonight I made a trip to wal-mart to get some diapers so I won't have to go out in the cold with the kiddos tomorrow. Right when I turned on the car, I heard the familiar voice of lady Dalila. That's right, she is a nation wide idiot people. She was talking to a lady who was reminiscing about her children who are now grown and how wonderful the holidays used to be looking through the eyes of her little children. I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but I teared up a little at the thought of it all. Then I laughed hysterically at myself for being sucked into it. It reminded me of the time I pranked the Dalila show and it actually got put on the air.

When I was 14, my sisters and I used to listen to the radio while going to bed.....104.5 and at night it was the Dalila show. Sappy love songs all over the place. My sister Rebecca thought it would be funny to make up a story and call it in. I was the only one who could fake a good accent and keep a straight face so I was the caller. We didn't even think she would answer but you know what?? She Did!! Well first it was a guy who asked who I was and where I was from and why I was calling and THEN it was Dalila. My name was Trista and my husband Gordan had just left to do volunteer work in Africa for the tribe of the Wasantchee African people. I was also a Dr and would normally go with him, See, that's how we met in the first place (doing medical volunteer work all over the world). I didn't go with him this time though because I was taking care of our newly born twins, Keagen and Kirsten. Our twins, by the way were a medical miracle. After 15 yrs of trying to get pregnant. On our last volunteer mission together, a tribeswoman "blessed my womb" and 3 mths later, when we returned to the states we had found our we were pregnant. Now my husband Gordan was returning to the same people for 3 mths and I wanted her to play a song for him and our amazing love for each other. I even remember the song she played....that Tim Mcgraw and Faith Hill song, It's your love...it was way popular then. It had just come out I think. Haha.

True story people, true story. So if you were listening to the Dalila show late one night back in 98ish and it all sounds familiar...it was me. Sorry I leid to you Dalila but it was the funniest thing on Earth that you believed it and even funnier than that when you put it on the air for America to hear.

Time For Class!

Well Adalie had her first little installment of classes this week. Wednesday was Dance Mania and today she had cooking. Dance went pretty good. There was a little girl in there that was just running around and not listening to the teacher and Adalie kept trying to gt her to come back to the circle with the rest of the kids. It made Adalie look a little like a hellion herself but after a quick talk, she was back on track and let the teachers do the correcting. It is such a fun little class. Great to get the energy out. They do lots of stretches and exercise. Mostly it is a class about fitness and following instructions. Perfect for a 3 yr old. I am so mad at myself for not getting many pictures...my camera died. I will have to get some better ones next week.
Today was cooking. Since Thanksgiving is coming up, they just made little turkey's with oreos, candy corn, chocolate icing, and peanut butter cups. It was fun and messy. Right up Adalie's alley!!! Again, kind of mad at myself for not taking enough pictures...I had to go get Cason out of the Daycare because the class was right during his nap time and he was craaannnnkkyyyy!!! I felt lreally bad leaving a screaming baby with strangers.And here is the little stinker himself.....check out that drool filled shirt. Eww.

November

November seems to be a hit or miss months so far with weather. Some days it is gorgeous and sunny, some days the wind will blow my head off, and some days the rain literally makes me cry. It hasn't snowed JUST yet but is coming soon I think. Today it was gorgeous and what did I do all day?? The usual....laundry and a little cleaning and lots of lounging...in the house. Ugh a day with a little regret of not enjoying the sun while it was here. I hope it is pretty again tomorrow so we can make up for mommy's laziness today.

Oh and no funny colonoscopy story. It got rescheduled for December. They wanted to do more blood work and put me on an antibiotic for a bit. But, it is inevitable. The only real way to tell what the problem is, is to do the uncomfortable and embarrassing. I had myself convinced I was ready to do it and heard the evening before it had been canceled. Now I have to prep myself again and assure myself it will all be ok =) Woo Hoo!!

Kids Workshop

Adalie had tons of fun today at a little kid's building class they had a Lowe's. These things are so cool! My dad worked at Home Depot for a bit and would have a ton of these kid friendly projects from their store's workshops and bring them home to build with the grandkids. Adalie was always too young to really go to one, but she is in such a learning and "I can do it myself" stage right now...the class was perfect for her three yr old mind and hands. She got to build a periscope. She even got an awesome patch to put on her mini work apron later. They collect them for each class they go to...kind of like girl scout patches. Next week we get to build wooden snowmen. She is already buggin me to go back and use the little hammer again.And here is cute little picture of chubba wubba Cason thrown in for good measure. He found a paci under the couch....doesn't really ever suck on them, just chews them to death.

Mocking Bird

So I know kids suck up everything like a friggin sponge. I know people can give you tons of advice about raising your kids. I know other peoples advice does not always work. I know that the first kid is the "practice" Kid. At least that is what I think. haha

Here is a bad parenting moment from the practice kid......although there are many I just picked two for today.
Adalie: "Holy Crap! Come on!!" said in a her own frustration because she couldn't zip up her boots.
Adalie: "My teacher says to be nice! It's not enough to say sorry mom!" (i screamed at her and hurt her feeling) I say this to her in moments of high frustration when she ruins my stuff i.e spills yogurt on the couch, breaks something etc. And so does she.
Adalie: "Cason won't shut up mom! He is so annoying!" I said shut up to Cason one day when he kept wining at my feet every 2 seconds....and she heard me.

Oh Adalie, I am learning so much from you. Mostly what NOT to do with my children. LoL

Baby Monitor

What is under that piece of tin foil you ask?? That is our baby monitor. Who out there hasn't suffered the frustrations of static or humming with their baby monitor?? Really I would like to know... We have been through 4 monitors between our two children so far because i cannot stand the static bursts and weird ringing noises that come out of most of them. I have a love hate relationship with them for sure. Before Cason was born, i made Brett buy me the Sony one. Sony is a pretty well known and has a reliable electronic market right?? Loved it for about the first 3 months now it is crap. I swear companies make sure they work for about a minute so you can get comfortable enough to throw away the box and the receipt and then BAM!! Your monitor is out to get you and laughing to itself about how confidant it made you feel in the first place. So Brett found us a solution that I am surprised has worked rather well for almost a full week now. Tin Foil. It cuts down on the interference that is around and seems to reduce the static and annoying humming. My hubby is so smart...thank you for finding a temporary solution for the problem.I know I have been driving you nuts with my constant huffing and puffing at night trying in every way possible to make the static stop. If it does however, go out, be prepared to fork over a little doe for a pricey monitor. I promise i will keep the receipt and its original box forever so we can return it. =)

Pictures of the Kiddos

These two kids crack me up when they play together. Adalie is constantly trying to show Cason how to play with the toys the right way and gets extremely frustrated that he will not listen to her. Cason just wrestles with Adalie all the time pulling her hair and climbing all over her. Adalie will let it go on for a few minutes before I hear her scream for me to get Cason OFF of her which is quite the battle considering Cason is hanging on to Adalie's hair for dear life.

There are a few things I like about this picture...1. Brett and Cason just hanging out. Cason always just likes to sit with Brett. I can never get Cason to just sit and hang out with me like He can 2. Brett was laughing at something on a show we were watching and i love that it was caught on camera and 3. Cason has a little mermaid princess doll in his hand.

Look at that smile. Sheesh, he is going to be a lady killer. Or the class clown....haven't figured it out just yet. Seriously this kid can be the happiest kid on Earth sometimes. His laugh is too cute and always smiles when i get the camera on him and he notices. What a ham.

Grandpa-rado would be proud I think. =) He always says Milk is for cows or to put some coke in that bottle. Once upon a few weeks ago, Cason got a taste of a coke left out over night on the living room floor once and, now he wants first tastes of everyone's. Don't worry, it's not opened.
These two again....Adalie has been teaching Cason to dance

Monday, Monday....here is to a fabulous week! I am keeping my fingers crossed that something wonderful and exciting will happen.

As for news about the family. Everyone seems to be doing ok. A few of us still have a lingering cold and nasty cough (Cason and I), but it is only at night which means croop right? Well for Cason at least. We ordered Adalie some leotards for her dance class and now she wants an apron for her cooking class. I can't even tell you how excited she is about it all. She wakes up almost everyday asking if today is the day she gets to go to her classes....it is sad that I have to say no. Gets the tears going every time with her. On a good note, we have finally set up a great routine with her at night. Bath at 6:45, Cartoon at 7:00 Prayer, scriptures and story at 7:30, Sleep by 8. It has been working great except for the occasional melt down here and there. Cason seems to be on a good schedule too. Bath at 6:45 bottle at 7 sleep at 7:30. We Don't even have to rock him to sleep anymore. He is finally starting to get the hint that it is bedtime and we are serious. He has however, started his waking up during the night all over again which is waaaayyyy not fun again. I blame it on the sick. Sick kills bedtime routines. And I love routine at bedtime.

I am getting geared up for Thursday. I haven't thought about it much, but am now getting a little nervous. About what you ask?? My wonderful colonoscopy procedure. Gunna be toooonnnnzzzz of fun I am sure. Don't expect me to do much on Wednesday either as the toilet will be my best friend that day. I have to drink some nasty stuff that cleans out your system. Yuck. Only good thing I see coming of it is losing a little weight. haha Not exactly the way to do it but it just might get me out of this 5 lbs rut I am in. I understand I will probably gain it, plus some back the next day but let me live in the delusion of being 5 lbs slimmer for a while.

What the Heck?!!?

I probably saw the scariest thing ever today outside my window. A boy, no more than 12 or 13 carrying a huge hunting knife!!! A good 7 or 8 inch hunting knife!!! Can you believe that!?! I had to do quite the double take to make sure I saw what I was seeing....but ya a 12 yr old was outside my door swinging a REAL hunting knife around. He thought it was pretty cool too and I just stared out the window my mouth gaped wide open in disbelief. Really scary. You know what I did?? I ran over and locked my front door. LoL Hey, whatever the age, someone swinging a knife around outside my apt is scary and I want no part of it. Who gave him that?? Who said he could carry that thing around?!?! Where was he going with a friggin knife??? Ya, all unanswered scary questions. The only consolation I could offer myself was maybe it was a very convincing Halloween prop...very, very convincing.

Today

I cannot believe it is November. Even though it has been November pretty much all week, I just realized it. We have a lot happening this month and I am excited!! Mom and Dad are coming for Thanksgiving and Bertt is getting excited to attempt our first Thanksgiving dinner on our own. Adalie is signed up for a cooking class and a dance class at the YMCA and is so excited for them to start. The winter is coming. I can tell this because we are all sick. Always happens with the changes. Hopefully though things will pass sooner than later and I can stop wiping runny noses and picking up used tissues I find all over the house. Gross. My hands are already so dried out and cracked from the hand sanitizer that are also all around the house. This post is un exciting in almost every way, but I just wanted to let you know the basics of what is going on. School and sick.

My side and Your side

The other night I convinced Brett to switch me sides in our bed. After 5 years of sleeping on the same side from day ONE of our marriage. I even remember the conversation when we moved into our first house together B: "So, what side of the bed do you want?" L: "Um, I guess I will take the right and you the left?" I like to face the door that leads out into the hallway so I can see the kids coming down it just in case they might wake up or anything that shouldn't be there or out of the ordinary (paranoid me) , but I also like to sleep facing Brett. From my side though, I always have to choose one or the other which, as silly as it might sound, always requires a good ten minutes every every night to decide which I would rather do that particular time. It has become quite the cockamamie struggle. So, Brett humored me and switched sides. How did it go? Brett kept waking up every half hour-ish and I fell off the bed. Last night I had to go back to my side and was once again faced with the ever daunting decision of what I cared about more that night...the hallway or my husband =)

Biopsy News

Well I heard back from the Dr about the biopsy of my neck. Turns out they didn't get enough cell samples to actually figure if it was benign or malignant and will have to do it all over again. It looks like there is too much blood and fluids all around the actual cyst and she couldn't get enough of what she actually needed to get a result from the tests. Because of the healing time for your throat-ish areas though and the damage she did to it scraping around in the first place, I have to wait a few months before they are ready to do it again. They will have to use more needles next time and a pathologist will also be there taking lots of x rays to make sure they get exactly what they need before I leave again. So, now I have to prep myself all over again for the horrible experience. Thanks so much for the thoughts and prayers though y'all, it means a ton. I am sure everything is fine...I have a tendency to freak out a lot more than needed. LoL