April trip to Iowa – Andrea and Lucas Wedding

My cousin Andrea got married this past weekend and as always, we decided to drive to Iowa – in the new car. Kiarra and Jayden have always traveled well, even when (8+ years ago) we didn’t have a TV in the vehicle. They would color, Jayden would play with cars and Kiarra would play with babies. They would take a ton of books and sit and listen so patiently to each other read them (this was before they could read but had the books memorized) or Jeff, Mom or I would read to them. Well all those wonderful years of spending 18 hours in the car (one way) to and from Iowa have come to an end…at least for a while anyway. Taryn doesn’t do so well in the car – she hates it actually. We were not even out of Moms sub-division and she was asking if we were going to Grandpa’s house. She must have asked 300 times…before getting to Dallas!!! “Mommyyyyy, are we going to Grandpa’s house?” She didn’t understand why we had to stop for gas and why it was taking so long to get there. In her sassy high pitched but questioning voice she would ask/say “Mommy…. ughhh – what is taking so LONG?” Needless to say, the trip seems to get longer and longer. In the 40+ trips we’ve made to/from Iowa, we had never gotten a speeding ticket – until this trip. I wasn’t speeding by much; actually I wouldn’t and still don’t consider it speeding but he wrote me a ticket anyway – Jerk!
We arrived on Thursday around 3:30 pm and were quite exhausted. After getting settled; Jeff sat outside in the peace and quiet, listening to the birds while the kids played with their cousins and I ironed our clothes that got wet from the rain we endured on the way - ugh! Jeff wanted a good steak (corn fed beef) so we went up the street for dinner. Grandpa, Marcia, Kay, Teige, Kathy, Logan, Morgan, Talan and Molly joined us. It was YUMMY. We went back to Grandpa’s and crashed for the evening.
Friday morning I helped Andrea decorate for the reception. You should have seen us ladies trying to arrange tables for all their guests. Talk about funny! We thought we had it figured out several times to find out we were 40 chairs short or more! We had rehearsal that evening and Taryn decided she wanted to be shy…so shy that she wouldn’t walk down the isle when it was time to practice. I knew we had some major convincing to do to get her down the isle during the wedding ceremony. We had a great dinner that evening in Decatur and got to catch up with the family. I can’t believe how grown up my nephews and niece are getting!
The big day arrived. I could tell Taryn was scared of walking down the isle. We talked about it a lot, trying to get her to loosen up and get excited but she was super shy with everyone and was not having anything to do with being the flower girl. The time for pictures came and she was scared, I mean really scared. I’ve never seen her like that. She normally loves the camera and poses and says “take my picture mommy”. There was NONE of that, she cried and cried. She sobbed on Andrea’s shoulder saying “I want my Daddy.” Of course I called immediately and told him and Mom to hurry and come because she was acting a hot mess. The photographer is going to have to crop me out of half the pictures because I’m in them trying to get Taryn to chill out. It took another hour but she finally loosened up and stood pretty for a few pictures. All the guests arrived and time was ticking. Jayden handed out programs and Kiarra lit the candles with Morgan. They did so awesome! The music started and all 8 bridesmaids/groomsmen walked down the isle…this meant it was time for Taryn to make her grand entrance along with the other flower girl, Kailee and the ring bearer, Max. After finding and chasing down Max I said, “ok guys, it’s your turn – go ahead.” And they all looked at the hundreds of people staring at them in the church and looked up at me like I was crazy. I said again, “go ahead.” Nothing…none of them moved…you could have heard a pin drop. I’m looking around for Logan because the back up plan was for him (since he was an usher) to escort them down the isle if they wouldn’t go on their own. All of a sudden Max sees Lucas, the groom, and off he goes. I nudge the girls, “go ahead girls – walk down the isle – follow Max” I said. Again, nothing… I turn to Andrea with a questioning look asking if it’s ok for Jayden to walk them down. She agrees so I have Taryn take Jayden’s hand and said “go ahead – walk with Jayden”… They were having nothing to do with that. Taryn was saying “no mommy, I don’t want to.” I kept saying, “Walk to Daddy Taryn.” I look back at Andrea again and next thing I know, Kailee is gone. I don’t know where she is but she is gone. Come to find out, she RAN down the isle to her Grandma when I turned to Andrea. Andrea said to me “you take her down”… “Me,” I said, “yeah, you walk her down” Andrea said again. So with a deep breath, off we went down the isle. Thank God it was a short isle, I was crazy embarrassed and not at all prepared for that. All that happened in like 30 seconds! Taryn was so scared to walk down that isle by herself but after getting to the front she stood there with her new friend, Gretchen, the Maid of Honor. She was so good during the ceremony. I was very proud of her.

Andrea was stunning beautiful, the wedding was beautiful, from the gorgeous bride, bridesmaids, the flowers, music and guests. Everything was beautiful.
We had a great time at the reception. Food was awesome, cake and mints even better and the dance was a great time too. I’m so glad we got to be part of Andrea and Lucas’ special day.

We got up Sunday morning, packed and loaded up the car and headed to Logan to have breakfast with Teige and Talan (and their families). We didn’t get on the road until 1:30 pm so by the time we got home, at 5:30 am Monday, there was no way Jeff or I were going to work and I couldn’t make the kids go to school. We all slept a few hours and enjoyed the beautiful day at the park, washing the car and unpacking.

We’ll make this trip again in June so stay tuned to see if Taryn rides any better this next time around.
Congratulations Andrea and Lucas!

EASTER

Spring is my favorite time of year. We have amazing weather, flowers are blooming everywhere, the kids are almost finished with school (which means no more homework for a few months), but most importantly we celebrate Easter. We all love Easter. We’ve gone out of town the last few years on Easter but this year we stayed home and celebrated in our new church home with my Mom and our long time friends. We had a little egg hunt in the front yard and the kids had a blast…the adults did too, confetti eggs – need I say more? Taryn was so excited this year; it was so cute to see her spend hours playing with empty eggs. She would separate them by color, mix them back up, and divide them up into baskets. We even colored eggs this year, which is something we have not done in a while due to going out of town. When I was a kid, we had 5 colors to color our eggs. Blue, red, green, yellow and we would mix the red and yellow to make orange. Now, they have all these colors plus more, fancy glitter eggs, camouflage eggs, and there are fancy ways to color the eggs. We all had a great time putting our own spin on the eggs.

Jeff is a few weeks into his new job and he no longer thinks its going to be easy. He’s been learning how to run his crew, learning all the programs they use and is starting to get used to sitting in an office. He’s been a traveling man the past 1o years driving job to job so having an office and using 2 monitors is new to him. He is like a kid in a candy store; he is so excited to go to work every day and talks about all the new things going on non-stop. It is great to see him happy again.

I’m not sure when my new job will officially go into effect. I guess it already has but I haven’t transitioned my old duties just yet so I’m still wearing 3 hats. I’m enjoying traveling to campus’ again this spring for our annual recruiting events.
I’ve been to Texas A&M and will go University of Texas this week, Oklahoma University next week and then Texas Southern University sometime after that. This is for sure the most fun I have in my job and I get to keep this responsibility in my new role so I’m happy about that. I’ll hit up another 3-4 schools in the fall. I still love my new car and can’t wait to take it on the first road trip in a few weeks. I’m even more excited about seeing all the family at my baby cousins wedding!

Jeff’s Grandmother is out of the hospital and will be moving to an assisted living facility in New Orleans this month. She wasn’t very happy about leaving Columbus Georgia, where she has lived her whole life, but I think she is starting to warm up it. Please keep her in your prayers. Jeff’s mother Shirley has been there with Benny, taking good care of her and is getting her prepared to move.

Taryn started dance last week and she is too cute. She told me “Mommy, you forgot to buy me dance clothes”… oopsie, I guess I need to do that. She is going to have a recital later on. I can’t wait. They are so cute at this age. She’s already learned a lot and she can even stand on her toes. Amazing!

Kiarra and Jayden brought home their progress report for these 6 weeks and they are both getting A’s and B’s. Kiarra is really excited for Jr. High; I’m not so sure I’m excited for that yet. Kiarra on the bus with 8th grade boys…… hmmm, NO. Definitely not ready for that yet. I just realized that Kiarra will be finished with Jr. High before Jayden gets there. He’ll be in 5th grade when Taryn goes to Kindergarten and a freshman with Kiarra is a senior. I’m torturing myself thinking of all this. Why can’t they just stay in elementary?

New Beginnings Part II

GOD is GOOD! He continues to bless us and I don’t for a second want to take it for granted. I was offered a promotion at work last week and gratefully accepted. I am now the Program & eLearning Advisor. We are hiring several people and will finally have the help we’ve needed for years. I don’t know if I’m more excited about the promotion or the additional team members. Ok ok, I’ll admit it – I’m more excited about my new job.

Jeff started his new job yesterday. He said it was a little overwhelming but exciting. He thinks the job is going to be easier than he originally thought. He won’t be able to totally get into the swing of things until later in the week when he gets his laptop and phone. He is training with this old fart for a few weeks, then they will cut him loose to manage his 17 person crew. We are all so proud of him.

Bennie, Jeff’s Grandma is in the hospital. She’s been fainting quite a bit. She is feeling good but each time she tries to stand, her blood pressure goes out of whack and she gets dizzy. Please keep her in your prayers.

After 7 years and 170,000 miles it was time to say good-bye to the big red hoe (Tahoe). We traded in that bad boy for a new Chevy Traverse and so far, we love it! The true test will be in April when we make our first trip to Iowa in it. I finally have A/C again! Praise GOD!

Jeff's parents are coming here over Easter and Shirley is going to teach the girls how to use their sewing machines. The kids have no idea they are coming and will be so excited.

Tamia had surgery on her eyes last week. She had 2 bumps removed from her inner eyelids, I’ll spare the details. She has been with us since Friday and we’ll have her through Sunday. Her Mom had “somewhere to go” and needed us to keep her this week. We were good with that. We’ve never had Tamia during spring break and we’ll take every extra chance we can get with her. They are all on spring break this week.

Kiarra and Jayden had field day at school last week. Jeff and I volunteered and it was actually a lot of fun. Kiarra is enjoying her final months of elementary school and Jayden is looking forward to being the only one in elementary.
I had Kiarra at the doctor 2 weeks ago and she was diagnosed with a UTI…again! Let me be the first to tell you that I am so upset about this. She has struggled all these years with bladder problems and all this time she may have had a UTI… the WHOLE time! There are other health problems she’s had because of her bladder problems and now that the UTI is gone, the other problems are gone too! I can not believe that all this time, it could have just been that… of course I do not know this for sure, but it totally makes sense. Grrr… so irritated with all those doctors right now...

Jayden hasn’t had a headache in 2 weeks. I don’t know what changed but he has not had a single one. Thank you GOD! He has been sleeping better, eating better and doing better in school. I don’t know if it is the change in weather or what but I’m not going to complain.

Taryn is going to start dance classes and is super excited. She now has 2 dogs and no kitties. I won’t tell you what happened to the kitten because it wasn’t very nice. I don’t know where she comes up with things she tells us. You’d think she watches horror movies or something. She is quite the little mommy these days. She wants to take her babies and all their “stuff” with us everywhere we go. It is so cute to see her with their diaper bag, her purse, 3-5 babies and her cute little “mom shoes” (high heels), walking all over the house and being a Mom to them. I’m now the “grandma”…. YIKES!!!

I’m very proud of all 4 of them. They love to help around the house, they beg us to go to church and church activities and are just really good well rounded kids. I wouldn’t trade them for anything!

New Beginnings

Jeff received great news yesterday. The promotion he’s been working on the past few months came through and they offered him the job “Manager of Network Services” starting on March 16th. I’m so proud of him for going after this; he deserves it and will be great! The other good news is that he will be moved back to the west side of Houston which is closer to home and he will have normal hours again. Praise GOD!
I’ve taken on additional responsibilities at work as the most difficult person I’ve ever worked with is finally gone. This may sound mean but working with this woman has truly been a test of my patience. I’m glad to have that behind me and move on to better things. I’m still on my weight loss journey. I’ve struggled with this for years; from the nasty thyroid disease, to taking steroids for asthma, having hormones out of whack, loosing a parent and having 3 kids in the middle of all that, it’s been a roller coaster of weight gain and loss. I’m in the final stretch and can’t wait to finally be proud of this accomplishment.

I’ve spent a lot of time in prayer lately, thanking God for everything and counting my blessings. As my heart continues to break for the Marsh family (http://www.laylagrace.org/) and everything they are going through, it makes me realize my problems are minimal. I mean the 6 of us are healthy and besides the random viral infection, ear infection, or weight gain/loss we are good. They are loosing their child to the horrendous disease of cancer! Shanna’s faith is like no other I’ve ever known; she’s been so strong through this. She knows exactly where her baby girl is going and although this doesn’t make it easier for her knowing she is in her final days with Layla Grace, she has an amazing amount of faith. She has inspired me to spend more time with my kids, my family and friends. No more excuses. No more “not now Taryn, I’m busy” or “lets do a puzzle tomorrow because I’m tired” or “I’m working guys please be quiet.” I want to hear them sing, laugh, play and be kids. Jeff and I were chosen to be their parents and I want to do the job God intended for us to do. We don’t know how long we have with these precious ones and tomorrow is not guaranteed.

On a lighter note – Taryn continues to amaze me with her cuteness and kindness. She is so precious and such a funny crazy kid. I was “getting on her nerves” the other day and all I was doing was cooking dinner. She repeats what she hears and I’ll be the first to admit that those words come out of my mouth on a regular basis. All I could do was laugh and hide my face in my shirt so she wouldn’t see me. She is starting to be picky about her clothes and since the others were never like that, I don’t know what to do. She wants to wear short and t-shirts everyday and it’s been cold! As for her kindness, she apologizes for everything. If she steps on my toes she immediately says sorry and if I accidentally scratch her or something she says “it’s ok – it’s an acccccident.” She is just too cute!
Jayden has been having more and more headaches. They come on so sudden and are very painful for him. Looks like another trip to the doctor for more tests. He is still so skinny but growing taller and taller. His pants are all too short now as if he is waiting for flood. Good thing warm weather is right around the corner. He can’t wait for spring, to play outside and ride bikes and throw the football! He is such a gentleman also. With all these girls surrounding him he is going to know how to treat a lady.
Kiarra is gearing up for Jr. High. She applied for VIP (Very Important Privileges) at school for these final week in elementary and was accepted into the program for her good behavior and grades. She gets “Jr High” seating at lunch which means she gets to sit anywhere she wants. She was really excited about that. She is starting to take more and more time getting ready each morning making sure her hair is in place and outfit is coordinated with jewelry of some sort. She is growing up before my eyes and is more beautiful each day. I’m so proud of her for the decisions she has made.
Tamia is about an inch from being taller than me! I’m not ok with this. I want them all to stop growing. It sounds like she will be having another eye surgery for her eye that turns out. She’s had this done twice already and the second time it looks as if they over corrected it and now it turns out. She’s been getting teased and it breaks my heart knowing how mean girls are. She is the sweetest girl and always jumps to help out anytime with anything. She’s recently told me that she doesn’t want kids! I was a little upset about this but she explained to me that she has so many brothers and sisters that she just doesn’t want any. I thought this was hilarious, sad…but funny at the same time. Besides our kids, she has 2 other brothers and a sister. She is aspiring to be a pediatrician so she will be able to change the lives of children forever.

February 15, 2010

I will start with saying Happy 11th Birthday to my beautiful daughter Kiarra and Happy Birthday (tomorrow) to my beautiful Mother. I can’t imagine life without either of these ladies.

I came down with pneumonia and bronchitis 2 weeks ago. It was not fun. I managed to get well enough to hold our super bowl party and what a party it was! We had a great time and are so proud to call ourselves Saints fans. I only wish we were in New Orleans now celebrating Mardi Gras. I thank GOD for Jeff and all he did for me while I was ill. The kids were good troopers too.

Taryn had her 3 year checkup last week and came out with a good bill of health. She is finally growing, now in the 30th percentile in height and 17% in weight. Last year she was under 15% in both. We were driving to Olive Garden for lunch yesterday and she said to us “I need to look at my FACEBOOK!” Jeff, Mom, Kiarra, Jayden and I all laughed so hard. She is too grown and acts like she knows what she is talking about. She’ll be the first to give you an update on her puppy, or kitty, yes – she has a kitty now too (again – imaginary). She has quite the imagination with her animals.

I took Jayden to the doctor at the same time I had Taryn in for her check up. He’s been having severe headaches for a few months now and has been diagnosed with migraines. They took a whole lot of blood from him to run several tests. Those results are still pending and I’m pulling my hair out waiting to hear. Jayden still has a love for Lego’s and builds the most amazing jets and helicopters. He will spend hours and hours building. He got his hair cut again and although I miss his big curls and long hair, I do love it short. He looks like a handsome young man again.

We spent time this weekend looking over Jr High classes as Kiarra has to turn in her selections tomorrow. She is growing up before my very eyes and it warms my heart that she has her head on straight and is making good choices, not only with school but with her friends, peer pressure and everything that goes along with it. She is an amazing young lady with a big heart and big tears that flow when that heart is broken. She is still a little more sensitive than I’d like, but that is what makes her so special. She is the clumsiest child I’ve ever been around and has constant bruises on her legs from running into things or falling (up the stairs).
I don’t know how she has managed to get through 11 years without breaking a bone (knock on wood).

I thought this blog thing was going to be so easy and it wouldn’t be a problem for me to find time and things to post but this is hard (“that’s what she said” wink-wink CR).

Going back to work after the holidays was brutal. I really did enjoy my time off and had myself second guessing if I wanted to continue working. Hmmm, what to do – what to do? Well it didn't take me long to realize I needed to jump right back into the swing of things. I made a personal goal to myself and my kids that I will not work over 60 hours a week and will do my best to keep it under 50. I’m focused on getting myself and my family healthy. Yikes, I wonder how healthy this bottle of wine is… JUST KIDDING!

Jeff is still driving across the country to work each day, ok ok – only across Houston but it seems like it’s across the country when traffic is as bad as it is sometimes. There are days it takes him 2 hours to get home. God is good, he put a co-worker in Jeff’s crew that also lives in so they’ve been car pooling the last few weeks. This is great as they get to take the HOV lane and bypass all that traffic and we get to save money on gas too. He is ecstatic the Saints are going to the Super bowl!!! GEAUX SAINTS! With Jeff growing up in New Orleans, he’s been a fan since he was a kid. We hope this brings great things to the city of New Orleans. It breaks my heart to go there and see the city in the shape it’s still in since hurricane Katrina.

The kids were very excited to go back to school. They received their report cards last week and I’m happy to announce that Kiarra had 7 A’s and 1 B (missed an A by 1 stinking point) and Jayden had all A’s. We are so proud of them. We’re not sure about Tamia’s grades as she is not allowed to share that information with us (baby mama drama – call me sometime and I can give you a good laugh).

Taryn had a rough couple of weeks back at daycare after being home with me those 18 days. 10 of her friends transitioned to a new room and she got 6 new friends in her classroom. She started acting out in ways she’s never done and having weird potty accidents. I’m not even sure we should call them accidents. This child has the craziest imagination and does the funniest things. Of course it’s funny to me now but at the time, I was not too happy with her. One evening she took all the clothes off her baby doll, sat on her baby and pee’d on it!!! I asked “Taryn, what are you doing?” She responded “Mommy, my baby had to go pee pee so she did – see!” Seriously, all I could do was laugh. She tells us the funniest stories about her dog (imaginary) and her pig that lives in her room, again imaginary but really funny. I try to get the stories on video but they are not as funny as when we are driving down the freeway and she is telling me the stories for the first time. I know I sound like a broken record but I would do anything to freeze time so all my kids would stay the exact ages they are right now.

Tamia and Kiarra are both turning into young women (yes, I said it - women – read between the lines). They are maturing in ways I’m not ready for and in ways that honestly scare me. Boys look at them when we are out and it’s just not right. In my first posting, I wrote about Kiarra’s teacher and how awesome she is. Well, I have some bad news – she retired! Kiarra came home crying one day because it was her teachers last week due to her retiring early to care for her husband who is very ill. It was a very tough week for Kiarra and for all of us. Mrs. Chevalier may forever be Kiarra’s favorite teacher. She was a true blessing to all of us.

Jayden decided he wanted to have a food fight at school this week. For those of you, who know us well, know we do not tolerate this behavior (even though I did it and it was a blast), we expect our kids to behave proper in every situation or at least make good choices. We’ve been working with him on that and coaching him to not follow other kid’s when they choose bad behavior but to think about his actions and the consequences prior to making decisions. As you know Jayden is very emotional, I can look at him with my “you’re in trouble face” and he immediately starts to cry but he took his punishment for this behavioral very well. He didn’t cry, he used good manners and he chose his punishment which was very appropriate for what he did. He’s growing into a mature young man himself and we are very proud of him for recognizing his bad behavior and wanting to do something to change it. Oh yea, and after 6 months of Jayden growing his hair out, he finally wanted to cut it. He's back to looking like a boy again.

On the same note, Jayden and Kiarra decided to lie about something (that was actually really funny if they would have told the truth) the other day and I made them write “I will not lie again” 50 times. They also had to write 5 sentences on why they think they shouldn’t lie. They each wrote a few that brought tears to my eyes. I won’t name names here but the sentences they came up really touched my heart and made me realize that now and then we are doing the right thing as parents by disciplining the way we do.

• I will not lie again because I get in trouble.
• I will not lie again because it hurts God.
• I will not lie again because I love God.
• I will not lie to my parents or my friends or their parents.
• I will not lie again because I might not have a good life.

How powerful is that??!! And again, I’ve learned a lesson from my 8 and 10 year old kids!

Well, that’s all for now peeps.

2010

Am I the only person asking, “Is it seriously, 2010?”

As each year flies by and we don’t get to see our family as often as we’d like, I thought this would be a perfect time to start a blog for all our family and friends to "Keep up with the Dailey's." Although I’ve kept a journal for 17 years, I’m not much of a writer so please forgive my grammar.

I’m so excited, 2010 is off to a great start and can’t wait to see what God has in store for us this year. We’ve been so blessed over the years and are so grateful for our friends and family.

We are still living in Katy Texas and hope to buy another house this year.
Jeff is still working for AT&T. He was recently forced to change his hours and work on the other side of town. He now works 9am – 6pm which has been quite a change and challenge for our family. With the other changes happening in the company, we hope he will be back on the west side of town soon. Jeff’s been with AT&T for 9 years.
I’m still at BP, and have to say I’ve really enjoyed the past 2 weeks (18 days total) I took off work to be with the kids over the holidays. Prior to this time off I worked 6 80-100 hour weeks, it was brutal and exhausting but the big project is over. I’ll be glad to get back to my normal 50 hour work weeks. I’ve been with BP for 4 years now and although it’s a bit crazy and often long hours, I’m very grateful for my job and can’t imagine working anywhere else.

It’s hard to believe this school year is ½ over.
Tamia is 11 and in the 6th grade and is getting all A’s and B’s. Her favorite subject is Math. She and Kiarra enjoy drawing and designing clothes. They both received sewing machines for Christmas and can’t wait to set them up and start sowing.


Kiarra is 10 ½ and in the5th grade. She is also getting all A’s and B’s. Her favorite subject changes from week to week but she is currently really enjoying History. She has the best teacher this year. This lady has been teaching for 30 years but is still cool; she isn’t an old hag like the teachers I remember. Kiarra still struggles with her health problems, she has her good and bad days, but we all hope one day she will wake up and be cured.


Jayden is 8 and in the 2nd grade. He is getting all A’s and his favorite subject is Math. Jayden still loves to dance, sing and flip around, he is really good. He’s been throwing the football with Jeff a lot too; I think we have a natural athlete on our hands. Good thing he got that gene since the girls are all clumsy like me.


Taryn is 3 and cute as can be. She is so much fun; I really wish she would stay this age forever. She loves to dance, put puzzles together, play school or doctor, but most of all she loves to help me in the kitchen. She is a great helper and has the best manners.



We have a busy 2010 and I look forward to sharing it with you.

Love,
The Dailey’s