Two days in a row...WHAT?

Okay, so I felt the love! Thanks for sticking with me!

Today was the first day of Sonshine School up at the church so we were up and ready to go a little earlier than usual today. Really, it's not that early...school starts a 9am! Anyway, Olivia had a great time and only fussed for a couple of seconds when I dropped her off. She even gave her teacher a big hug when we were leaving to come home. She is becoming such a big girl. This is the best picture I could get of her this morning...

Tomorrow we are heading off to Abilene to visit our parents and to celebrate Olivia's 2nd b-day (and Koby's 33rd). It'll be pretty low key, but I know that Bueno, LaPopular, homemade red velvet cake and some R&R will be included!

Wordless Wednesday...kind of

If you still check in on this blog, please leave a comment. I'm just curious if there's anybody still "with me" on here.

Update on mom...kind of.

I drove into Abilene late last night and was able to help mom out through the night. She's doing much better today, not in a lot of pain, just tired and a little uncomfortable.
The doctor called this morning and confirmed that the tumors were cancerous, however, he could not be any more specific. He told my dad yesterday that they would send the tumors for testing and the results would be back in 2-3 days. So, when he called this morning I was really anxious to hear the results and a little impressed that the tests had come back so quickly. Instead, he said they needed to conduct further testing at their "other" lab in Dallas and that we wouldn't know those results until Monday or Tuesday of next week.
I'm trying to patient but it's really hard. I am not by nature a patient person. I'm trying to stay positive, but that's really hard too. Mom, on the other hand seems to be very peaceful and calm about everything. I know that is a huge blessing. Thanks for the prayers and words of encouragement and I'll update when I know more.

Prayers Please

Over a month ago, my mom noticed a mass under her arm that was bothering her. She ignored it at first but then realized she should make an appointment with the doctor. She was finally fit in about a week and a half ago and her regular doctor referred her to a specialist. She saw that specialist last Thursday and he scheduled her for surgery today. She will go in at about 3pm today and have the mass removed and then tested. The results should be in within the next couple of days.
Please pray for her strength and for her spirits to stay positive. I know this is a fairly routine procedure but I am still anxious...mainly for the results.

Some new pics

I'm starting to feel really guilty for not blogging more often. I know people catch up with us on here and so I should do a better job at keeping up with it...
We have been up to lots of things over the past several weeks since I've blogged.

We've been playing in the bed of the truck.

On February 26th we made a "card" and had a photo shoot for Tia's b-day.
We've been helping daddy with his projects in the yard.

We've been practicing our leprechaun pose.

We've been snuggling.

And we've been GROWING like a weed!!!

Olivia is now 18 months old and is making us proud on a daily basis. We might be just a bit biased but we think she's stinking cute and smart too. She recognizes mostly all of the letters of the alphabet and several numbers. Sometimes she'll even read me the letters and numbers of our license plates. She is talking up a storm and has starting using the potty almost every night before bed. It's really funny, actually. We sit her on the seat and immediately she starts yelling, "PUSH! PUSH!" and then as soon as she's finished she says, "wipes, wipes."

She knows tons of words and I won't list them all but she has also started to string more words together. We just love watching her grow and are amazed at how quickly she learns things and how independent she has become. She most definitely has her moments but she really is such a good girl!

Party time

Olivia's been doing great in Sonshine school. She now goes twice a week for 4.5 hours a day. I think its been good for her to interact with other kids and authority figures. She seems to like it and except for this morning, doesn't even fuss when I drop her off. It's been a great time for me to take care of things with work and around the house. I always feel like I need to be so quiet in the afternoons when she's asleep.

Today she had a little Valentine's day party at school. Basically, the kids got to indulge in LOTS of sugary treats. Even though she's not smiling, she really had a good time! Thanks to Ms. Stephanie and all the moms that actually brought the sweet treats!

I've been putting her hair in a little pony tail...I think its CuTe!!
Hope everybody has a happy Valentine's Day!!

First Day of School

We have enrolled Olivia in Sonshine School at our church this semester and today was her first day of school! The program is normally 2 days a week from 9am-1:30pm but for some reason they only had 1 day a week available. So, Livi will be going to "school" every Tuesday this spring. My job at the duplexes really picks up in the spring and I know that this time will soon be taken over with phone calls, rental verifications and showings but today was really a good day, relaxing, productive morning (sans strollers, snacks and sippy cups).


For those of you that don't know, I didn't always plan on being a stay at home mom so when I got pregnant I told my boss that I would be back 6-8 weeks after giving birth. As you can imagine my world was rocked when I met my baby girl and I started having some major second thoughts. We went ahead and found a day-care center for Olivia and I went back to work (2 1/2 months later) and sobbed every time I dropped her off until I finally quit my job and decided to be broke and stay at home.


Now fast-forward a little over a year later...I did not cry when I dropped Olivia off at school. In fact, it was Livi that brought on the water works and the, "How dare you leave me????" look as I walked away. She ended up doing just fine, of course, and I'm sure she will have fun again next week.


I tried, I really tried to get a cute first day of school picture but she wasn't having it so this is the best I could do.

And this one I just thought was too funny. Her cousin James makes almost the exact same face!

Home ALONE!

Tonight I am going to Bunko so Koby just took Olivia to eat dinner and go to Home Depot. I am home alone and it feels weird. I am very rarely home by myself these days. There is no Dora the Explorer or Baby Einstein playing in the background or no need to tiptoe around the house. I can yell or scream if I want to, play loud music at the computer if I want to or eat dinner on the couch while watching a tv show (uninterrupted I might add) if that is what my heart desires. Hmmm...that last one sounds tempting. Gotta go, the couch is calling! :)

( This is the picture I was trying to add for Wordless Wednesday)

Wordless Wednesday

For the record, I've tried twice today to upload a picture. Obviously, it hasn't worked so maybe tomorrow I'll try again!

Adios 2008!

Okay, so I'm not going to lie and say that I haven't had time to blog lately. I've actually had numerous opportunities but I just can't get motivated. So, today I was thinking about the new year coming and the old year ending and I thought that I really should make a better effort to blog. I'm not one to make many (if any) new year's resolutions but I think one that I'll make this year is to be a better blogger. I think a once-a-week goal is practical and achievable...right?

I'm sure many of you that have kids know that holidays such as New Year's Eve can be a little tricky. You want to have fun and possibly stay out late or meet up with some friends but that can be complicated when you have bedtimes to work around. Plus, finding a sitter on a holiday is no easy feat. So we decided that we still wanted to go and do something fun but still be home in time for Livi's bedtime.

We started our evening by going out to eat at Boston's. Both Koby and I felt like eating some good pizza. We couldn't get Livi to look at the camera so this is the best shot out of about 5 tries!

Then we decided to go bowling. Olivia has never been so we were a little unsure about how she would do. She was a little bit hesitant at first but then we let her roll the ball down the lane with bumpers and she had a great time!

I took a video but I'm not sure if it will post or not. If you listen you can hear her saying, "GO, GO, Go!" to the ball. Too cute!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!