June

So, I know I'm a little behind again. I just don't ever think to blog when I've got time to myself! I started reading again. I picked up a Karen Kingsbury book that I started before I went back to work LAST August (of 2009!!). I got halfway through it and stopped reading it when life became chaotic. SO, I'm re-reading it to try and catch myself back up! I forgot how much I loved her books!

Anyway, June was a fun month! Jack got into the pool for the first time this summer! He loves the water!! He doesn't enjoy getting dunked in, but he tolerates it the first few times. Here he is at the Franklin's house. They have this super huge slide in their backyard that spits you out into the pool. They think one day Jack will be ready to go down it. I think I won't ever be ready to go down that - EVER.

That green thing in the back right is part of the slide that Mike built. Yes, there is water coming down it. The start of the slide is above the clouds - it's HUGE. (Okay, maybe not above the clouds, but still....)

I had to throw in this picture, too. This is our super hero, Jack Jack, the drool machine. He managed to twirl his bib around like a cape. :) That's it.

May... Jack Turns O-N-E

Our little boy turned ONE this last May. I can't believe it. I was laid off at the right time because initially, I wasn't going to throw a party. No cake, no decorations, no friends. Maybe some family, but that was it. There just wasn't any time to think about it. So, when I lost my job, I kept busy with his birthday party. It was so much fun to plan it! I didn't know where to start and had my friend Pam help guide me. I borrowed SEVERAL of her ideas, so don't think I'm creative and came up with these on my own!

I decided early on that I wanted to make Jack a matching birthday bib and hat. I made the applique (the "1" and the "jack") and got the white fabric at JoAnn's. I wanted the bib and hat to last, so my awesome friend Lisa (who also makes cute handmade children's clothing and accessories - check out her BLOG) embroidered around the appliques and ended up making the hat, too! Isn't she awesome! For the bib, I traced one we already had as a pattern and went to town!

My friend Pam did a door hanging for her son's party that I LOVED, so I made one, too. It's supposed to match the appliques above, but the green is a different color. Oh well. Jack didn't care.I went a little banner crazy for the party. We had banners galore.

Banners in the entry... In the kitchen...On his high chair...At the mantle...There was another over our living room windows, but I didn't think they were blog worthy.

I painted these block letters that I got at Hobby Lobby on CLEARANCE. Yipee! And the daylilies were from the front yard.

I personalized the party favors for the kids. We had a range of ages, so I wanted to be sure each kid got something appropriate for their age. AND I made balloon animals for each of the kids to take home.

We copied Pam's son's cake and got the same design for Jack. I just LOVED how the cake turned out! Here's his smash cake.And the main birthday cake.

The menu consisted of Crock-Pot BBQ, Potato Salad, Pasta Salad, Rolls, and Chicken Nuggets for the kiddos. I'm weird and like to wrap all my plasticware with fun napkins and tie them with ribbon. Josh thinks I'm crazy for putting in the effort.

So, on to the party.... Here's Jack before cake. He hardly wore his birthday hat. I was so sad!Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...Yummy...

After cleaning Jack up, we opened his gifts. He's trying to decide which gift to open first.Showing Bella his new truck.See and Say. Remember this when it had the pull string?Cason helping Jack get the train out of the box.This Alphabet Train is the best toy ever. He loved it instantly and was pushing it around the house during the party.This piece connects to the train and you can push your kid around while he's sitting on it. We did that for a while and got tired so disconnected the two pieces. He's wondering who's going to push him around in this picture.Our little family...Jack and the grandparents. Notice Jack is STILL on his train. This was after just about everyone had already left.

And here's a picture of a worn out momma and child. What a party! My sweet baby boy is all grown up...

April Playdates...

In April, Jack got to hang out with his buddy Cason, who is 2 months older than him. They play really well together! He's excited about seeing more of Cason now that we have more time to do that. Cason got this really cool water park for his backyard, so Jack is just WAITING for him to invite us over (hint, hint...).Jack also got to play with his friend Clay. Clay is about 2 months younger than Jack. Clay's mom and I grew up together in Amarillo and have been great friends for a long time! Unfortunately, Clay and his family are moving back to Amarillo in mid-July. Jack's really sad to see his friend go. :(

Speaking of moving... our good friends, the Nelly's abandoned us. Chris got a nice gig in Spring, Texas so the whole family packed up and left town. I hope they are enjoying Houston's AMAZING weather. I don't know why Chris just doesn't travel back and forth. He used to work in Rockwall. Isn't Spring just as far? (Just kidding Laura) We had one final get together a while back. In our younger years, we would hang out almost every weekend and stay out 'til wee hours of the night. All four of us have kids now, so that doesn't happen anymore. Maybe one of these days, we'll rent a 15 passenger van again and take a road trip to Colorado!! Anyway, we miss you guys, and I'm really sorry I haven't called you back, Laura! I'm still trying to get over you guys leaving. I'll call you when I've forgiven you. Haha!

April

Well, the reason April's posting has been a little delayed is because I wasn't really sure how and WHERE to start. I've actually had 3 different drafts of this post and finally decided that I just needed to settle on one! SO, I hope this posting doesn't overwhelm you - it's a LONG one!

When I started back to work last August, life was GREAT!! Don't get me wrong - it was hard dropping Jack off at daycare every morning, but I knew he was in good hands. His "teachers" at the daycare got Jack on a schedule for me, which I thought was wonderful! They loved and spoiled him like no other (I could tell he was the class favorite!!). Jack started sleeping through the night as soon as I started back at work, so I was getting plenty of rest. I missed working SOO much that I was EAGER to jump back in! My boss was great - he slowly eased me back into my "normal" workload, so I would have a few months to adjust to this new life. As easy as things were at that moment, I never thought that I would ever struggle. Life was great! As the economy worsened and after 2 rounds of lay-offs, I started to put pressure on myself to step it up at work. It was hard to watch some of my closest friends leave. I wanted the company to thrive. I cared about my co-workers and their families and felt responsible for getting the company work. And THAT is when I started to struggle.I struggled with my priorities. It seemed like work had become my number one priority. I made less time for God, for Josh, and for Jack. Somedays, Josh and I would have "discussions" as to who would need to leave work on time to pick up Jack before the daycare closed. Often, we would only get to see Jack for an hour before he had to get to bed (we'd put him down at 7:30 since we needed to be out the door so early). When I worked late, I would only see him for the 10 to 15 minutes I had him in the car. When he was sick (and fortunately he wasn't sick often!), we'd have to figure out who was going to have to stay home from work. It was tough.

For months, Josh and I started to pray for direction as to what needed to change. We weren't sure if I needed to find a different job, quit and stay home, or find a part-time job. We met with some close, WISE friends that had been praying for us as well, and they brought to light a lot of things. That weekend, I drafted an email to send to my boss to see if we could meet to discuss me reducing my hours. Well, that next work week, I didn't send the email because it was a busy week and I didn't want to spring it on him. Then, then next week, Jack got sick and I missed most of the week. When I got back to work, I deleted the email because I started to feel bad. And quite frankly, I was having a hard time letting go. Well, not but a week later, I was laid off of work. It was clear that the Lord was saying, "You know, if you don't do it, I'll do it for you." Wow. I can't tell you the joy and relief I was feeling of being free from the burden that I was carrying. It was a bittersweet departure.

We've kept in touch with my Key family and I've even taken Jack by to visit - WORK HARD, PLAY HARD. Maybe he'll want to be an Estimator one day... I wouldn't wish it on him!!

Life is GREAT again. And you know, our marriage is even better. We didn't even know how great our marriage could be until now. In the meantime, I AM looking for something part-time, so if you know of anything, call me!

March.... or Lack Thereof...

Can you believe I have no pictures OR memories of what happened in March? Not even ONE picture of Jack. This is probably when Josh and I were about to reach the end of our rope - life was getting to be too much to handle. If you remember what I did in March, please let me know. Thanks.

February

In February, my best friend and childhood pen pal came to visit us. Emily and I started writing to each other when we were about 10. We were paired up through a pen pal program set up by Focus on the Family's Clubhouse magazine. At that time she was living in North Carolina (she and her husband now live in Georgia). When we were kids, we wrote and sent pictures often, which is probably why we have continued to be friends! We would take turns calling each other - neither of us had cell phones back then, so we made long distance calls. I remember my mom would only let me talk to her for 15 minutes at a time, but we talked often... about BOYS, horses, school, and more BOYS!! We met for the first time on our 21st birthday (her birthday is a day before mine). Emily came to visit me while I was at A&M. She was in my wedding in 2004, and a few years later, Josh and I went to North Carolina for me to be in her wedding. Emily has been such a blessing to me - and so has her family. I'm so BLESSED to have her in my life.

Here are a couple of pics from her last trip. We didn't get to do much because DFW had record snowfall that weekend. Her plane barely landed - so glad she took a super early flight because it only got worse further into the day!
On Valentine's Day, Josh and I attended the All-Star Basketball game at Texas Stadium. I'm not really into basketball, but Josh is, and I was glad to get to spend Valentine's Day out with him.This is Usher. I don't listen to his music, but some of you might. Shakira and Alicia Keys were also there for the half time show. We went to the Pro Shop and were fortunate to miss Shakira's cage dance performance to that Wolf song. We did catch some of Alicia Keys on the way back to our seats. I like her.