The Eyes of Texas

Ft. Bend County Fair

2010-09-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took Hannah and Micah to the Ft. Bend County fair. Shawna (from the office) came with us, along with her two girls. We had a blast! We saw all the pigs and some of the cows and watched a bit of the auction. The kids went through the kidventure tent and saw baby chicks and hatching eggs, as well as goats, a lamb, and a butterfly exhibit. After all that, and a few corndogs, we hit the carnival. :) The kids had so much fun and Micah was so brave and fearless! He wanted to ride everything! His favorite ride was and "flying" ride. It's ride you lay in, on your belly, and "fly". :) He rode it several times. They also loved the super slide, "Funky town" and the "Cooky Haus". Shawna and I basically spent the whole day watching our kids have the time of their lives and roasting in the hot sun! I mean, come on already!!! Why is it still 90 freakin degrees?? LOL Then, today, we wake up to nice fall temps with highs in the 80's. LOL That's my luck! We did have fun, though, and drank gallons of lemonade!

School Days, School Days....

2010-08-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

The 2010-2011 school year is off to a great start. We just finished the kids' second week and they are loving their new teachers. Hannah was so fortunate to get Mrs. Dudley for 5th grade. She really loves her class and this year there are seven girls in her class! Five of them are returning students and two are brand new faces. Micah is in Ms. Armont's 1st grade class. He has a lot of new faces in his class. He has been adjusting to having a new teacher. After having Mrs. Slagle for two years, he finds Ms. Armont stricter than her and has been having to learn that not every teacher does things the same way and that that doesn't make them bad or mean, just different. :) We are working with him on that.

Hannah decided that she wanted to try out for the volleyball team this year and she made it! She is basically "second string" and will spend most of the game on the bench, but she is excited to be included in the practices, etc. Their very first game Hannah got some playing time- she was in the game for about 10 minutes and was ecstatic! She is only playing in home games, if you want to come see them play. :) Just let me know and I will go over the schedule with you!

Family Reunion 2010

2010-08-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the Johnson family reunion (my Mom's family). We get together every two years and have a fun filled weekend enjoying everyone! This year we went to the Crockett Family Resort on Houston County Lake. It's a small property with kitchenette rooms, pool/park, lake access, boats, putt-putt, etc. Of course it had to be the hottest weekend of the summer! Dad's thermostat in the van read 109...after it had been aired out for a while! It was H-O-T! The kids spent the entire weekend in the pool or the lake. They were also fascinated by the merry-go-round there. Seth and I were laughing about how they were reacting to it and we realized you don't see merry-go-rounds around here anymore. I guess they are too much of a liability? Anyway, they actually did spin themselves sick! LOL

Saturday evening we had a group dinner and everyone was actually in one room for a while. It was nice to see cousins I haven't seen in two years (since the last reunion) except for FB. There are lots and lots of little cousins running around now and two new babies this year (Tobin is one). Hannah tried so hard to remember everyone's names, but had to be helped a few times. She was really enamored of Veronica, my cousin Kerry's wife! She kept asking me what to call her. We finally settled on Cousin Veronica. :) Micah loved having boys to play with and spent a lot of time running crazy! After dinner Saturday, we were organized into groups and a group photo was taken. I'm surprised they can fit all of us into the frame! We are such a big family!

I found myself thinking a lot of my Nunna and Aunt Rosie this weekend. I wish they could have been with us still and seen this big, wild bunch all in one place! Aunt Rosie would have LOVED it! She always enjoyed our big family gatherings and all the girls! Nunna would have been sitting with her tea, watching everyone move around her and taking it all in, grabbing random kiddos for hugs and laughing over old stories. I miss them both! Nathan and I want to put together a photo slide show for the next one in 2012. We think it would be a nice way to honor the people we miss.

When we got home and I plugged in the SD card from the camera, I was disappointed. We didn't really take any pictures! Here are a couple of the few pics we got.

Summer

2010-07-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

The Eyes have had a busy summer, despite no official vacation this year! Sorry I haven't posted sooner, but we are short staffed at work and I am pretty much catatonic after dinner! LOL The kids went and stayed with my parents for 6 weeks the beginning of the year. Nathan and I took advantage of the time off and went for a weekend to visit Amy and Chris in San Antonio. We spent that Saturday down at the wax museum, the Ripley's museum, a haunted house, a 3-D ride, and the Guiness World Record museum. It was really fun to be goofy and act like kids! I think I might have actually turned the haunted house into a comedy, since I basically screamed from the moment the door closed until we walked out! Whether it was scary or not! LOL I don't take suspense very well, just ask Amy and Chris! LOL

Just a couple of weeks after that my nephew Tobin was born. I had the great joy of seeing him 3 weekends in a row! I love that sweet baby! He is such a doll!

All the Mapp kids got together the weekend of July 4th. Nathan and Crystal were in from Missouri, so we all invaded Mom and Dad's house and loafed around for a weekend. We were hoping to spend the weekend in the pool, but rain from Hurricane Alex drenched those plans! We finally were able to get the kids in for a bit Saturday, in the drizzle. We had fun playing poker and watching movies on the big screen provided by Nate and Chris. There are too many pics to choose from for that weekend! There are many more on Facebook.

Last weekend we went over to Pearland to help celebrate Kristy (Seth's wife) birthday. Seth and her friend, Dana, decided to throw a joint b-day party for Kristy and Eric, Dans's husband. They threw a kids-themed party with princesses and dinosaurs, complete with a giant, inflatable slip-n-slide. Boy was that fun!! We were acting like a bunch of kids on that thing! What was really pathetic was waking up sore the next day....FROM A SLIP-N-SLIDE!! LOL We ARE getting old!! LOL

All right peeps! Go check out my Facebook page for many more photos of family fun. We have another big event coming up at the end of the month- the Johnson family reunion!

2010-05-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been way too long since I posted here! I apologize! We have had a very busy last two months. Amy (my sis) got married April 24th, so we have been on the go a lot lately. This coming weekend is the first weekend we've had in a while with NO PLANS!!!! :) Well, except one. I plan on staying in my pj's all weekend! LOL

Hannah and Micah were both in Amy's wedding. Hannah was a junior bridesmaid and Micah was the ring bearer. My neices, Sophia and Olivia, were her flower girls. All the kids were very adorable and did their jobs beautifully! Micah did extremely well and stood with the groomsmen for most of the ceremony. Here 's a picture of the big day. We are waiting for Amy to post the rest!

A couple of weeks after the wedding, Hannah and I had a girl's night out and I surprised her with tickets to Little House on the Prairie, the musical! It was the first time I have been to the theater also, and we had so much fun. The package I won at auction included a gift certificate for a restaraunt in the lobby of the Hobby Center. When Hannah and I walked into the restaraunt, her jaw dropped! LOL It was a very upscale eatery and we were led a super cozy table for two. The waiter suggested a Shirley temple for Hannah, which she loved! She felt so grown up with her little "cocktail" and the fancy settings. The show was really wonderful and we enjoyed ourselves so much we are going to try to see Wicked when it comes back to Houston in October. We weren't allowed to take photos in the theater, so I don't have any pics to attach, but Hannah looked very grown up dressed for the theater!

Last weekend we drove to San Antonio to go to a second wedding reception for Amy and Chris. His parents hosted one for them so their San Antonio friends and family could attend, since some of them weren't able to attend the wedding. Amy and Chris have a sweet little apartment in north San Antonio. The reception that night was very nice and we were glad to get to spend some time with Chris and Amy.

Some fun pics:

Hannah and Micah are getting out of school soon. Micah has his big kindergarten graduation on the 25th! I can't believe my little baby is getting so big! As soon as I get his grad pics back I will scan it in and post it here!

Hannah

2010-02-05T19:02:00.000-08:00

After much waiting and patience, Hannah finally achieved it!! She got her ears pierced!! Yay Hannah! She is so grown up now, with her long, lovely hair, her Uggs and sassy dresses, and her beautiful pink crystal and gold earrings. Sometimes we look at her and wonder just what happened to our baby! She also participated in a cheerleading mini-camp at TCS. The varsity cheer squad entertained the girls and taught them three cheers. They performed for us at the varsity basketball game this past Tuesday. They had so much fun and Hannah did so well, using her personality to the fullest! Here are a few pics of Hannah, our growing up baby!

Things

2010-01-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

2010 has gotten off to a very interesting start this year! I'm looking forward to the weddings- both Amy and Katie have asked Hannah to be a junior bridesmaid and Micah to be the ring-bearer! Hannah is over the moon about being in two weddings in one year! :) She was a flower-girl twice when she was little, but a jr. bridesmaid is sooo much cooler! LOL She's at that age where little girls start dreaming of "when I grow up". She is starting to talk about "when I get married" and making my heart palpitate! :) Nathan was asked to be a groomsman in Matthew's wedding, too, so it will be a family affair.
Amy's wedding has been moved up to April 24th, so they are in high gear with the planning. She asked me to be coordinate the ceremony and processional. I guess she thinks I might be good at bossing people around or something! LOL :D Who'da thought?? :D I'm also going to help Sara with the bachelorette party/lingerie shower. We have some really great ideas! ;)
This past week at the office we have been training for our big EMR switch. I think we are ready to go green! It's taking us longer to room the patients, but it will get better with some experience. The software is really great, and once we get used to it, we will be able to send prescriptions directly to the pharmacy (no more written prescriptions for the patients to lose), fax consult notes to the PCPs, and print/fax all orders for labs, etc. We won't need a pen for anything! LOL If we don't go stark raving mad before that point! :) My boss is not the most technically savvy guy, so it was a rough week. I think he is seeing hope for himself, though! He even said it might not be a disaster after all! LOL
The bad part of the whole thing is that my blood pressure spiked again. It was high all week and on Friday, after a freak-out by the boss, it was 150/96. Not good. Going to have to go back on my diet again and drop a few pounds, since that always seems to reign it in. I did gain about 3 pounds over the holidays, which put me over the magic number my BP seems to like. As long as I don't go over that point, it will stay down; but BP has proved again that my body does not like to be any heavier. Great. I need to lose more this time so there is a bigger grace-period! LOL Nathan and I have been considering adopting a vegetarian diet during the week and having chicken or fish on the weekends. We aren't quite ready to go completely veg, but I think it wouldn't be too hard to be majority veg. Mom and Dad have been following the McDougal diet and she has several really good recipes for vegan meals. Nathan and I are both ready for a change. The things that worked for us before regarding our diet aren't working anymore and we are getting frustrated.
Ok! I guess this post is long enough and totally devoid of any really interesting topics! :) Just the ramblings of a woman up way past her bedtime! Night everyone!!

Pics from Christmas

2010-01-16T20:51:00.001-08:00

I realized I never posted any pics from Christmas! Here a few shots of our fun times:

If you want more, I'm gonna upload the full folder to FB. :) Hope everyone is having a happy start to 2010!!

Holiday Fun

2010-01-01T21:52:00.001-08:00

This year was our year for Christmas with my family. All seven of the Mapp kids came home with their spouses and kids, so it was a really busy week! The kids had so much fun with all their cousins. We got to spend a good chunk of time with Jude, who we hadn't seen since he was a couple of months old. He is the sweetest, cutest, squeezable-est baby! He likes me, too, which is a first! I am a huge baby person, but my little neices and nephews haven't really taken to me until they were older, so having Jude reach for me was awesome! Mom managed to pull off a spectacular lunch (our traditional lunch with turkey AND ham) and the even more beloved pie supper that night. I think I gained 5 lbs in one day! Mom made lemon merangue pie for me, so I had to eat it, you know?? It would have been rude for me not to eat almost a whole pie in 3 days...c'mom already! :)

Hannah and Micah got their much requested Nintendo DSIs and have spent countless hours trying to find their styluses and their game cartridges, but otherwise have had a lot of fun with them. These systems take pictures and voice recordings, too, so Micah has been having fun making his own soundtracks. They've also been taking pics and then using the edits to distort the photos, decorate the photos, and deface the photos. It's great fun for them!

Nathan and I spent New Year's Eve with Hope and Shannon, playing pool and goofing off. The kids stayed here and had an "awesome" night playing with poppers and silly string. They also couldn't believe I was letting them stay up till midnight! :) A little after midnight I got a phone call from my sis Amy- Chris asked her to marry him at the stroke of midnight!!! We are so excited for her! Chris is a great guy and the kids keep telling me they kept telling him to marry Amy so he would be their uncle.

Today we went to Nate's family for another "Christmas". While we were there, Matthew and Katie announced they are engaged, too! Matthew asked Katie yesterday also! :) I'm so excited!! I love weddings and there just aren't enough of them lately to satisfy my romantic side. :) The kids opened more presents and got so many cool things. Hannah got a bunch of clothes, which is great. I can't keep her in pants these days. I think her legs grown an inch a week!

So that capped our busy holiday season this year. We are all tired and hoping to spend the next couple of days recouperating. The kids have been so exhausted this week they are actually sleeping in!

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2010 here we come!!!!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T19:48:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Nate's family. The kids and I drove down there and stayed for the day, eating and playing! Nate was on duty, but got to drive over and have some Thanksgiving lunch with us. After that he started a monster week, working everyday that weekend and now everyday this week. The kids enjoyed spending some time with their dad, even if he was answering the "bat" phone every 5 minutes! Unfortunately people find ways to hurt themselves or get sick on holidays. :) The kids had a blast playing with Sarah, Meagan, and Morgan. We found out there are 1001 ways to destroy brand new playdough! Poor Carolyn, I think I owe her a new supply! LOL Carolyn was so great and allowed all of us to leave with leftover Thanksgiving turkey, so we had our cusromary turkey sandwiches this past weekend. For me, it wouldn't be the holidays without those!
The week before, Nate and I had gone to Dallas and attended the 2009 Texas State EMS Conference. We got tons of CE hours and Nate shmoozed and networked like crazy for Pioneer. The kids stayed with Mom and Dad for the first part of the week, before we headed home. When we stopped by last Wednesday to get the babies, we got to help celebrate my Dad's birthday (the 26th). Seth had the idea for us to buy Dad a new flat screen HDTV. He picked it up on the way there and we were all present to see the look on Dad's face when he saw it! It was awesome! :D After he opened it, Amy had to go buy him a new entertainment center! LOL The TV wouldn't fit in Mom's cabinet.
I apologize for the lack of pics. When we left Palestine on Wednesday, I accidently left my purse there. No one discovered it until we were halfway home, so I went the weekend without my stuff. When we went down to Carolyn's I remembered I had left the camera in my bag, so there were no pics that day. A couple of days later, when I finally got around to kinda unpacking (still not totally done, lazy me!) I found the camera in my satchel! Sometimes I impress myself with my blondeness! LOL Even though I am a definite red head right now! I'll post pics of my new hairdo soon!

Renaissance Weekend 2009

2009-11-11T18:50:00.001-08:00

This past weekend Amy, Sara, and Stacie came down to Houston for our annual Renaissance Festival trip! We go every year and have our favorite shows and attractions...yep! we admit we are a little nerdy! :) This year Amy's boyfriend Chris came along, also. Nathan, Hannah, and Micah dressed up in honor of the event, while myself, the girls, and Chris were sticks-in-the-mud and went in our regular attire. Hannah was a renaissance queen, Micah was a knight,and Nathan was a gladiator. They all looked great! :)
We were able to see our favorite band, Tartanic, again this year. We were very excited to see them there...there website said that the 2008 festival was their last, so we definitely weren't expecting to see them again! They are a Scottish band and have a ton of personality and energy to go with their kilts and Highland flings! LOL Last year Amy, Sara, Stacie, and their friend Abby took some great silly pics with the band after a walk-through performance. We also caught the joust (the kids love it!!) and a new act called Clan Tynker. Clan Tynker was a group of jugglers who performed some really awesome juggling tricks and sword swallowing and fire eating! Micah was mesmerized by the fire eating and terrified by the sword swallowing! LOL Hannah said they were her favorite act of the whole festival.
We did the dragon swings, the merry-go-round, the pony rides, and the fireworks show, as well as eating turkey legs, sausage-on-a-stick, chicken-on-a-stick, ice cream sandwiches, and candied roasted nuts! We spent the entire day at the festival and completely wore ourselves out. Nathan was sad though because his favorite store had changed. They no longer sold swords for 10 dollars! LOL I asked him how many swords he wanted...he has about 8! :) In fact, he wore one to the festival (legal as long as it's sheathed and "peace-tied") to complete his gladiator outfit.
Other than the festival, we partied this weekend with the Beatles, laughing ourselves silly at some of their lyrics! The girls, Chris, Nathan, and I played for a few hours Friday night, staying up way past out bedtimes and enjoying every minute of it. The whole weekend was really enjoyable and relaxing. Cutting lose and being silly is something we need to do more often! Here are a few pics of our weekend:

If you would like to see more of the 120 or so pics I took, check out my Facebook page! :)

Trick or Treat

2009-11-01T09:07:00.001-08:00

This year we took the kids down to Philip and Kimi's house for trick-or-treat. The kids had so much fun trick-or-treating with their cousins! Hannah dressed as Pocahontas, Micah was High King Peter (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), Sarah was a Masquerade Princess, Meagan was Belle, and Morgan was Ariel. The kids had quite a haul, too, which they were extremely excited about! Micah's bucket got so heavy he "couldn't" carry it! LOL Here are some pics of our fun evening:

Spirit Week

2009-10-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

This week was homecoming for TCS. In celebration, this whole week has been uniform-free and themed in fun and wacky ways. One day was "twin" day when you had to dress exactly like another student at the school. Hannah and Emily wore t-shirts decorated by Emily's mom (the girls were supposed to do it but ended up playing the whole time) and Micah was twin with his little friend Shane. Unfortunately the camera was completely dead, so I didn't get a pic of Hannah and Emily. I did get one of Micah and Shane with my phone. If you are interested in seeing the "twins" the pic is on Facebook under "mobile uploads". It's a cute photo!
Then they had "all navy day" and "sock it to 'em" day, etc. The end of the week was "spirit day". Today the kids got to wear tattoos, hair paint, face paint, etc, to advertise their school spirit. The homecoming game was today and the school hosted a hot-dog social, which we did not attend this year. I have some pictures below of the kids and their school spirit! When I picked the kids up from school today, their spirit had multiplied! Hannah had her whole face painted like a cat (their mascot is a tiger) and Micah had a kitty nose and whiskers. The whole week was fun, but I'm pretty sure the kids enjoyed today more than any other! :)

Family

2009-10-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

Got the news yesterday that I'm going to be an aunt again! We are so excited to welcome new members to our little world. My sister, Angela, is expecting her third child, due next summer. Micah has already decided it is a boy! LOL Of course that brought up the discussion of whether or not there will be any more "babies" for our family. I have to admit I'm not totally against the idea!
But anyway, congratulations Angela, Jason, Sophia, and Olivia! We hope its a boy! :)

The Mapp Grandchildren (Jan. 2009)

Micah's New Hairstyle

2009-10-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

Take a look at Micah's new 'do! He has decided he wants his hair spiked, like some of the other boys in his class. He definitely did not want me to cut his hair, LOL, so we went to Cool Cuts tonight and he put in his order. The finished results are cute! :)

Rock Stars

2009-10-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today Nathan and I splurged and bought the Rockband Beatles game for the Wii! We decided that the kids had played with the demo unit in Best Buy enough! LOL Micah and Hannah have been drumming, singing, and strumming all day...well kind of. Micah can't drum or strum, but he LOVES to sing into the microphone. Hannah wants to do everything, but takes it very personally when the game fails her! She's sure she's the best at everything. LOL Here are some pics from today:

We are thinking that the Rockband will have to travel with us when we go gome this Christmas! :) I know my Mom and Dad will get a kick out of this!

2009-09-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

Hannah, Micah, and I met up with Grandma and Grandpa Eye and family today and went to the zoo. Aunt Marilyn is here visiting from Kentucky and we wanted to actually see her before she left! LOL Philip, Kimi, and the girls came, too. After driving around for 45 minutes looking for parking (may be a slight exaggeration, but not much) we finally made it inside. After the prerequisite bathroom stops (kids pee A LOT), we started our tour. We made it through the first few exhibits pretty well, but then the kids were hungry, or hot, or itchy! LOL I think we managed to see four or five exhibits in 2 hours! LOL We spent most of the time in the chuildren's zoo, watching the kids run around and climb on the animal stautes and slide through the hollow "logs" and turtle shells. I took some really nice pictures, but they are on my phone, so I have to figure out how to upload them. Our camera is not working very well right now, so I have to learn a whole new set of technical skills! Overall, we had a great time. Hannah and Micah were troopers- this was our first walking activity without the wagon! Micah walked 99% of the time and never forgot to hold my hand... :) We looked at every snake, lizard, spider, bat, etc., etc., but managed to miss the monkeys, the tigers, the koalas, etc. LOL The priorities of a little boy are so boy-ish!! LOL I love it! Hannah didn't mind either. She was way into the frogs and the white alligator. By the way, that white alligator has been there forever!

I'm sorry I don't have pictures to put up, but I will post them when I learn how to work my phone! :D In the mean time, I will upload them to Facebook if you can't wait! Oh! and I apologize for all the exclamation points...I'm on a sugar high right now! LOL

2009-08-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

This past week we decided to take our lives in our own hands and go to one of those traveling carnivals that set up in parking lots. I have never gone to one; I've read too many articles about lack of inspections, safety concersn, etc, and let those articles scare me. Well, one of those outfits set up in the parking lot of the old HEB by our house. We drove by, and drove by, and drove by and it began to look like A LOT of fun. So, we set up a "date night" for our family.
We had so much fun!! It was a total blast. The kids rode so many things- Hannah is really quite fearless, the little minx! LOL She loved the Tilt-A-Whirl and the Ferris Wheel and the Silver Streak mini-coaster. Micah decided the Tilt-A-Whirl went "too fast" and the Ferris Wheel was "too scary" but the Merry-Go-Round rocked! LOL Then it was Sara's and my turn.
Nathan dared us to ride rides I would probably never look at twice, let alone ever trust to be safe! But as I stood there looking at them, I felt my wild and crazy side resurface! I haven't seen that girl since I was 18!! Sara and I rode every last dangerous and daring ride...and laughed our heads off! The last ride we decided to try was called "Spin Out". It takes you up in the air then spins you head-over-heels and end-over-end for what seems like forever! It was in the middle of this that I remembered my phone was in my pocket. OOPS!!! It fell....like 100 feet or more to the ground, crashing into the metal flooring of the ride. That was the end of my phone!
We were all laughing and shaking our heads about the phone, but we had so much fun with the kids and each other that it never even fazed us. It was a blast. I told Nathan we need to be wild and crazy more often, as much for the kids as for us. They enjoyed seeing us acting crazy and being kids. I think they need to see that. They see us dealing with life and stress everyday, but when do they see us absolutely throwing our cares to the wind and living life with joy? Not as often as they should, I think. Maybe that's why today's kids are stressed out? Maybe they need to see their parents have fun more often. I want to make this part of our schedule. I think I will start planning a totally irresponsible, money-wasting activity every month with our kids. They will remember and appreciate that more than they will remember how we juggled finances to pay for private school, or how we had to run 90 to nothing to keep up with everything going on in all of our lives. I want them to have memories of me with my head thrown back, laughing until my muscles hurt. I don't want them to remember the stressed-out, tired, harried woman I feel like I have become. Maybe I need to remember myself laughing, too, though. Maybe the problem is that I have lost touch with that wild and crazy kid. It sure was nice to see her again...I forgot she still existed!
We had taken so many pictures of the carnival and the kids...but they were on the phone. We weren't able to get the phone to power up after its plunge, so I wasn't able to retrieve anything off of it. I lost all my pictures and contacts, but it doesn't bother me. We had fun and that means more to me than anything else! :D

2009-08-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

I'm failing big time in the upkeep of this blog! LOL So sorry everyone! We had a fairly busy summer and now it has come to an end. We just finished up the first week of the new school year. Hannah started 4th grade and Micah is now in kindergarten. They were both ready to go back to school and see their friends and, I think, ready to get back into our "normal" routine.

This year Hannah has a Mr. for a teacher. Mr. Arthur is her homeroom and computer teacher. She still goes to Mrs. Hurst for science and bible, which I am not ecstatic about, as you can imagine. I am hoping things go well for Hannah in her room; I don't want things to carry over from last school year into this one. Micah has started full-day kindergarten, but he has the same teacher as last year! He was so excited to find out that Mrs. Slage transferred to K5. He has been very sad, though, that Raashad did not come back this year.

I am excited for them to be back in the regular schedule! It is comforting to me to have a routine. :) The only problem is that now I am having to keep up with everyone's schedules! Hannah has her own projects and papers to keep up with and Micah has show and tell and fun things to remember. I am living by the planner again! (Secretly I totally love it! Shhh! Don't tell anyone!)

Now we are anxiously waiting cooler weather and the Holidays! Here they come again! Yay!! This is my favorite time of year...now if only the Houston weather would cooperate and throw some faux-fall temps my way! LOL

p.s. Pictures of their first day are posted to facebook...wasn't able to import them from my phone to here.

Life In General

2009-07-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I find myself in a mood and feel the need to "take up my pen". It's been a rough couple of weeks, capped off by a rough evening. As any working mom knows, we are all exhausted from balancing work, home, kids, and hubby. This week it has taken a toll on me; more so than usual. By Friday I am generally emotionally and mentally spent from the constant juggling it takes to be success at work and home. This week it hit me on Monday.

My boss went out of town at the end of last week and we have had an easy few days at the office. We caught up on a few overdue projects and got ourselves more organized. We all love this time to regroup; but I was tired- and irritated. I wanted to be on vacation. I wanted to be spending time with my family. I found myself jealous- of being away from the office. Of all things I could envy- money, vacations, cars- I envied time with my kids. So I took off today (Fri) to spend with the kids and Nathan.

Two hours into the morning I wanted to be at work. My day did not go according to plan at all. Nathan decided he didn't want to do anything outside the house since he was tired and hadn't had a day off this week. He came home and went to sleep. Micah and Hannah waged a two person war on my sanity- and they won. The laundry overwhelmed me, the kitchen floor disgusted me, the carpet enraged me. Where is my nirvana?? Where is my haven?? I actually told Nathan I should have gone to the office; I would have done less work there. So now I find myself divided. The work at work is easier it seems than the work at home. But, when I am at work, the work at home is easier. How long does it take to find balance in the load? I am not unhappy with my life- it isn't what I planned but I've learned my plans count for little in this world- but I wish it were an easier walk. Maybe, eventually, I will figure it all out. I won't give up, though, in any way. I will continue to want to be home and want to be at work, juggle the kids and the files, serve my boss and my husband, and fight through this life until we find peace and balance. Or at least until I can find a way to keep the floor clean two days together, the laundry piles from growing into mini Everests, and a way to eat the leftovers BEFORE they mold.

This is my life, the cards I was dealt, and I am determined to take the house with this hand, even if I have to bluff my way to the end- and I've been told I'm good at bluffing! Night all! Keep spinning those plates and balancing on those balls. They tell me it's worth it in the end....let's just hope they aren't bluffing, too!

:) Bethany

P.S. Thanks for indulging my melancholy mood :)

July 4th

2009-07-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

Well I'm already tardy with my post! For fourth of July we went to a lakehouse owned by my sister-in-law's mom. The Mapps (both sets) and the Eyes got together for a relaxing weekend. It was a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed the lake. It was a change of scenery for all of us and the water felt wonderful. We managed to avoid sunburn (except for my shoulders) and no one drowned, so we called it a successful outing! :) Nathan and my brother and dad spent the weekend fishing. They caught quite a few catfish (thrown back for next time); Hannah even got a chance and landed the biggest catfish of them all! She had never fished before, so it was really exciting for her!

Micah was really strong in the water this time. His new floatie is great...it gives him more range of motion, so he is trying all kinds of new things. We were laughing at him, though, for wearing his goggles on his head- he never once put them over his eyes and threw a fit when I tried to show him how they work! LOL He is too funny! My sisters challenged me to swim races which proved how out of shape I am! I did beat Stacie! Sara out stroked me...but if her arms weren't longer than mine I would have won! :)

We shot off a few fireworks Saturday night, which everyone but Micah enjoyed. He insisted on being put to bed before the fireworks and borrowed Stacie's iPod to drown out the noise. We think that loud noises are associated in his mind with the seizures he used to have. They were sometimes triggered by startling him with touch or sound. I guess he will have to grow out of it. He is terrified of loud noises for now, though. We got up Sunday and leisurely packed up and headed back into the city....withering from the heat. This summer has been ridiculous! Even I am hot! If you know me, you know that is a rare state of being for me! My sweater or jacket is always handy.

All in all in was a fun weekend and was a relaxing way to spend the holiday. My sunburned shoulders have faded into a nice little tan and the kids are getting brown as little beans between Mom and Dad's pool, the lake, and the neighborhood pool. Maybe one day I'll be a brown as them!

Our First Attempt

2009-06-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at a family blog. I am hoping that this will serve our families by helping them feel connected and also allow us to follow our children's progress in life. I've never been good at scrapbooking (all my pics are on a harddrive somewhere) and photo albums don't seem to exist in my vernacular, but words have always been my friend. I like writing and detailing history and events, especially when it comes to my children! They are a never ending fountain of material! Funny and trite, spiritual and emotional, truth and jokes...it all seems to flow forth from their mouths. Didn't the Bible say "out of the mouths of babes"? It was definitely true!

Nathan and I are both "talkers"; just ask anyone in our families. There is a story, often told about me, in which I shocked and "out talked" my aunt who was the chatty Cathy in our family then...and I was 4. Nathan loves to communicate with words. He likes to find the perfect word to communicate his feelings, needs, desires. He revels in a well turned sentence. He will spend hours pouring over his business communications to ensure they are precise and professional, honing words and sharpening sentences here and there. It really is no wonder, then, that our children are professional talkers already! I have heard that men/boys use about 15,000 words per day and women/girls use 30,000 per day. At our house I think those totals have to be doubled!

So, needless to say, a blog is the best expression of our family in my opinion. If I get wordy at times, please excuse me...but I find so much pleasure in words that I will tend to get carried away! Feel free to skip ahead at times, if you must, but please enjoy our blog.