January 2012? WHOA!! I think I blinked and missed 2011.

January 2012? WHOA!! I think I blinked and missed 2011.

December was a busy month for the Dailey’s. Jayden started basketball and Kiarra got more into volleyball, and Taryn had her 5th b-day party. I had been so busy that I didn’t start Christmas shopping until the week before leaving for Iowa. I don’t know what has got into me the last few years but I have put it off too long! It’s fortunate that I have every other Friday off because I was able to do most of it while the stores were not too crazy. Jeff went with me the next day and we finished it. We had decided early in the month to go to Iowa again for the holidays this year. Since it’s difficult to travel with kids and gifts, we celebrated Christmas a few days early at home and then took a couple “Santa” gifts with us for the kids to open Christmas morning. Since Jeff and I had to work the day we had our family Christmas, we decided we’d go out to eat instead of cooking/cleaning up. Taryn could hardly stand being at dinner she was so stinking excited to get home and open gifts. She’d been eyeing hers for a few days which was torture for her. Each of them had a gift that was either odd shaped or too big to wrap so we sent them upstairs when we got home so we could pull the last few things out of the closet. We made them close their eyes as we guided them to the tree. Kiarra’s response was the best. In front of her was a keyboard that she’s wanted for quite a while. She had tears she was so excited. Jayden couldn’t really see his exposed gift because the massive keyboard was in the way but when he finally did, he loved his CSI stuff. He’s been trying to get my DNA for a month now! Then there is Taryn… As I’ve mentioned before, she’s had an imaginary dog for several years now. We thought it would be fitting to buy her this cute white remote control dog she’d seen on TV. She had expressed that she wanted it but I had no idea how much she really did want it. I also didn’t know that it barked and moved its head (a little creepy). She set eyes on the puppy and fell in LOVE! She was so thankful and happy that she didn’t really care to open anything else. She had to immediately walk the dog through the house and show her where she’d be living and playing. It was adorable. They one by one opened all their gifts and stayed up late taking everything out of the packaging, putting in batteries, etc. The only bad thing about celebrating early to go out of town is that they have to leave all their brand new stuff behind. They were so excited to get to Iowa that Taryn was the only one that really cared about leaving her stuff, specifically her dog. We left on Friday, the 23rd and drove straight through. We made awesome time, 15 hours flat! Jeff and I crashed the minute we got there (6:30 am) so we could be ready for Christmas Eve at Aunt Loretta’s later that afternoon. The kids were highly disappointed that there wasn’t any snow. They’ve never been there for Christmas when there wasn’t snow so they didn’t know what to do with themselves. They just thought that it ALWAYS snows in Iowa at Christmas. We headed over to Russ and Loretta’s house and had a delicious meal and great time playing games and catching up with everyone. I really enjoyed my time with them. Getting to see Kellie 9 months preggers was the highlight. I can’t wait to meet this precious little one. Kellie is glowing and beautiful.

Christmas morning was quite boring actually. The kids didn’t even notice their “Santa” gifts so after being awake for a few hours I finally sent Taryn to Grandpa’s 1 ½ foot tree to see if there was anything there for her. I guess I love it that they don’t think Christmas is about gifts but I was still expecting them to be looking for them at the crack of dawn. They opened their gifts and we chilled and watched them play with their new games/stuff. I helped Mom get food together for later when her side of the family would be coming. It wasn’t long and there was a house full of people. Taryn had lots of cousins to play with and I got to catch up with my cousin’s wife who is expecting twins. It was so great to see her. She looks amazing, I can hardly believe she is carrying twins, and I can’t wait to see little Miss Kennedy as a big sister. Taryn loves Kennedy and wishes we lived closer so they could play every day.

Monday was another adventurous day. Tamia flew up from being with her Mom. We picked her up at the Omaha airport and went straight to Teige and Kathy’s house to celebrate Christmas with them, my nephews, Talan, my niece and the Gochenours. They always have a good feast for us so we enjoyed eating, drinking some delicious wine and chilling out. The best part of the night is when Makenzie opened her gift from Teige, Kathy, Logan and Morgan. It was a box, wrapped in a box, in another box, and another box… Each box was wrapped and then saran wrapped. It was so funny! Of course she didn’t think it was too funny but everyone else did. She had a great gift after all that work. Love you Kenz!!

Kiarra and Tamia ended up spending the night with a friend of theirs there in Logan. Taryn was sad she couldn’t stay with her “blonde friends” but was really happy to get to see them again. We saw them again the next night too. She loved seeing their house and their rooms. I think that she really thinks they are her best friends.

Tuesday I took Makenzie home and then went to see a friend from high school. Even though we only got to catch up for a few minutes, it was so great to see her again after all these years. We had talked here and there and I saw her when she was pregnant with her oldest but that was 10 years ago! I miss her and her awesome family. FB brought us back together and I hope to not lose touch again!

Wednesday we had our annual fun day planned with the Ulven/Hernandez families. Every time we go to Iowa we always spend a day in Blair at Ang and Chris’ house. Our kids all get along so well and play as if no time has passed since the last time we’d been there (1 year). I’d been waiting months to get my hands on sweet little Emma May and the time finally came! I had heard that she was going through a phase where she didn’t like anyone but her Mama but she liked me just fine…actually, I think she loved me. She cuddled right up to me and we coo’d and ooo’d and aaaa’d. Oh, I love her so much already! We learned a new card game while there so this is our new thing at home most nights.

Thursday we chilled, played games and packed. I made a visit to Bloomy’s Boutique in Soldier and bought a few shirts for the girls. Cute shop, if you are in the area, you should check it out. I even ran into more family while in there and got to see another little cutie patootie baby girl! Since this was our last evening, we had to go to AK in Ute. Teige and family, Talan, Loretta and family were all able to make it over for our last dinner. It was pretty good but not as good as normal. I was quite pissed, as were several others that they were out of prime rib!!! How does that happen!??!
We were on the road by 5 am Friday morning and got home safe, and quick. Saying good-bye is always tough but it was so good to be home.
January was here at a blink of an eye and here we are in the last full week of the month. The kids jumped right back into school and activities. Kiarra had her first official club volleyball tournament and it was awesome. They didn’t win every game but she hustled and played really well. Jayden had an unfortunate accident 2 days before his first official game. He was running through the house to jump on his Daddy’s back but hit his hand on the arm of couch. He broke his pinkie finger and within a few days had surgery where they put pins in place. He’s in a cast for 3 weeks so will miss several of his games. If all goes well, he will get to play in the last 2 – 3 games.
That’s what we’ve been up to the past month!

Family Update

Christmas is in 2 weeks and I have not bought 1 gift! It’s been a busy month since I last blogged and this is what’s been going on…
Kiarra had a great volleyball season with school. Her team was undefeated! She played with a good group of girls and had a great time. She is now in club volleyball and has her first tournament this weekend! I’ve already seen improvement and can’t wait to see her on the court tomorrow! She continues to get all A’s and B’s in school and is overall doing great.

Jayden has been a growing machine; I think he’s grown 2 inches since school started! He is playing basketball now and really likes it. He was crazy excited for his first practice, he couldn’t sleep the night before. According to his coach he is really good for his age considering he’s had no formal training or experience. I guess shooting hoops out front has paid off! Jayden is still on the straight A path so all is well in school. He is playing chess again this year too. Jayden has a lead part in the Christmas program at church and that is this weekend so we are really excited for him to be part of that. We love this church so much and are so thankful to be part of an amazing church family.

Taryn has been learning so much this year, she is practically reading. I am amazed at the level of education this “daycare” provides. She has by far exceeded our expectations and we are so proud of her. She had her winter dance recital last night and did a great job. She was so cute doing her little hip hop and ballet dances. After leaving the recital last night we were telling her how proud of her we are and how great of a job she did. I told her I recorded the dances and she immediately asked in a super excited voice “will you put them on you tube?” Kiarra and I cracked up! The things that come out of this girl’s mouth are hilarious.

Taryn also had a birthday in November. She is 5 now!!! F-I-V-E!!! What the heck, how did our sweet baby girl grow up so fast? We just had her birthday party this past weekend and she had a really great time. I was expecting 23 kids and ended up having 27 so she had plenty of friends to keep her busy. Jeff had a great time too – all of you who were there know what I’m talking about! He was a little sore on Sunday but said it was worth it!

We went out of town to Rockport, TX for Thanksgiving. We rented a house on the bay and it was a lot of fun. Jeff’s parents, Grandmother, brother and his wife, 2 cousins and the 6 of us were all in one house but there was plenty of room. We had a pool table and a ping pong table, a boat (that we didn’t use), fishing poles, and much more. The main attraction was the Just Dance 3 Wii game that everyone had a great time playing. Even Taryn got into the action with the older girls. Jayden spent a lot of time fishing and he caught his first fish (3 actually)! The sunsets were amazing and we got to capture a photo that I’ve wanted for years! Tamia was with us the entire week and it was great to have her with us again. We had a really nice Thanksgiving and are looking forward to destination Thanksgiving 2012.

Jeff is doing really well. He and his crew were number 1 again in his area and number 7 for the region which is really awesome. I’m really proud of him. His health is much better, thank God! Doctor said if his numbers continue to improve he’ll take him off some of the medications. Yay!
I’m doing well also. My new job is great and I’m so glad I took this opportunity. I’m working with some great people on a massive government mandated project so I will be keeping myself really busy while here at the office. I am working the 9/80 schedule again which is awesome. I need to get my Christmas shopping started (and finished) because we are COMING HOME for Christmas again! I’m so excited. The kids have been asking all year if we can go to Iowa for Christmas again but it’s so hard to travel this time of year because of Tamia but we’ve made arrangements and are super excited to have a white Christmas again (it better be white)! The kids cried when we told them. They really love to be there during the holidays. It’s going to be a short trip but as always it’ll be worth it.


We had new family pictures taken a few weeks back. They turned out pretty good. Christmas cards were mailed, all 245 of them. I swear I'm going to cut back or not send them next year, my hand about fell off from addressing all of them in one evening. I think I'll just put it on FB since the majority of people are on FB anyway. I'll post the new family pic in a few days.

Back to work...back to reality

Well peeps, my time as a stay at home wife/mom has come to an end. Monday was my first day back to work. It all happened so fast that I didn't get an opportunity to tell many people about this. I interviewed last week, received the offer last Wednesday and started this past Monday. It's been a great first week. I'm super excited to be working a 9/80 schedule again. For those who don't know what that is, you basically work 80 hours in 9 days instead of 10 and have every other Friday off. It's awesome!! I'm not sure if I'm more excited about that or the fact that I'm hiring Helga back to clean the house. It's great to be back at BP with a new group of professionals.
Let's back track a few weeks... Kiarra finished up her 7th grade volleyball season undefeated! She played with a great group of girls and I was happy for the drama free team she was on. She had a great coach and learned more about the sport. She starts club volleyball on Sunday and we are super excited about that. She is taking donations if anyone is interested :) Here are a few pics of her with a few volleyball friends. I took a few of her on the court with my camera but they didn't turn out too well. Taryn took all of these with my phone.

Jayden had tryouts for basketball last weekend. We'd already signed him up but he had to tryout to determine his level so the organization can place him in the right team. He is so ridiculously excited, he is driving me crazy. Practice doesn't start until after Thanksgiving and he is going crazy waiting! He's been practicing quite often and is improving daily.

Taryn is doing great in school and is learning so much. She comes home each day and teaches us new Spanish words she is learning and she is starting to read more and more! It is amazing to see her sound out the letters and read the words! She'll be 5 next week and I seriously can't believe it. It just doesn't seem possible that my baby girl will be 5 years old in a few days.

Trick-or-Treating was awesome this year. We didn't put any time or effort in costumes but we pulled it off...Jeff even got into the fun. We went to a friends house for the evening and the kids had so much fun. It was a great evening of fellowship, junk food and fun.

We are really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. Now that the temps have cooled off a little, we can get into the fall spirit!!!

Happy Friday y'all!!!

It's super dark in here!!

The kids don't have school tomorrow so Jeff is preparing the house for all of us to play hide and seek in the dark. This is one of our most favorite things to do. Jayden has a friend over and Tamia is still with us so there are plenty of us to hide and seek and have a great time. Jeff is putting huge blankets over the big windows in the front of the house to block out the potential of any light coming in. It is going to be freakishly dark in here!!

Taryn is shooting a video tomorrow for a friend of ours and she is super excited. She thinks she is going to be a movie star. We keep telling her it's just a video and she insists on thinking she is going to be in a commercial on TV. She is hilarious.

Jayden got his report card this past week. All A's - YAY!! Kiarra's should be coming in the mail any day. Tamia is on a different schedule now so she won't get hers for a few weeks.

Kiarra played really good in volleyball this past week. She is gaining more confidence and going after the ball more. She has a few girls on her team that have played club ball for a few years and they are really really good so I think she is a little nervous that she'll mess up or something. We know she can kill that ball and only hope she will before the season is over. She serves really great and has been passing good as well.

I'm freaking out that Taryn is going to be 5 in a month!!! What the heck people! How is my baby girl almost 5 years old??!! Guess it's time to plan a party! Also time to plan for family pictures.... wonder what color/theme we'll go for this year. Suggestion are welcome!

Well the house is ready and the kids are asking me to get off the computer so we can play. Let the fun begin!!

6 weeks down...many more to go!

I have to start by apologizing to my family. I'm so sorry I've slacked and have not kept you all up-to-date with our lives!

Let's back track to the end of August. The kids started back to school on August 22nd. They just finished their first 6 weeks. Tamia in 8th, Kiarra in 7th, Jayden in 4th and Taryn in Kindergarten Prep at her daycare. Tamia was really nervous to go back since her Mom moved her again. She had to meet new friends, get used to a new school that has different hours and is on a completely different schedule than she is used to. She is also having to wear a uniform now and she isn't too happy about that. Kiarra was super excited to start back this fall. Due to my crazy health stuff, she didn't have the summer we thought she would so she was eager to be around her friends on a daily basis again. Jayden was pretty excited to get back as well but no one was as excited as Taryn. All summer she talked about and asked about going to school. If she wasn't asking it if was time for school to start, she was asking if her birthday was getting closer. She's been planning her party since her party last year!
Tamia and Kiarra are both playing volleyball and they both made the A Team!! Of course they are playing for different schools and will not play each other but we are really proud of them for their hard work and dedication to the game. So far Kiarra has played really well at her games (they are undefeated) and unfortunately we only got to see Tamia play this weekend at a tournament. I have a new respect for parents whose kids live far away.
Jayden is signed up for basketball this winter and he is super excited. He can't stand it that practice doesn't start until after Thanksgiving but he is working on his skills here at the house so he should be good and warmed up by the time they start.
Taryn is still in dance and she loves it. She can't wait for Monday mornings to see her dance teacher and practice with all her friends.
Jeff started his new job September 1st. He is still with AT&T but he moved from being a manager in Installation and Repair to U-Verse. He basically has the same job, just working for a different part of the company and so far he really likes it. He is working for someone that he has worked for in the past and she is a pretty cool manager so I'm sure that helped make the transition a smooth one. He is also closer to the house so that is always good. He had a bowling team set up for this season but a few people fell through so he had to give up the team. He was really bummed about that but this will allow him to watch the girls play volleyball so all is well.
As for me, well I'm just enjoying life. I always thought stay at home Wife/Moms had it sooo easy but I don't think that anymore. I'm almost never home, I'm either running here or there, getting groceries, cooking, cleaning up the kitchen from cooking, picking up/dropping off a kid so my days are just running, running, running!! I feel like I'm never home to get anything done around here. Of course that has nothing to do with meeting friends for coffee or lunch (or both) most days. You'd think the house would be spotless, laundry would be done and beds would be made... HA!!! I think I'm excited to go back to work just to hire my cleaning lady again. I know, that sounds ridiculous but cleaning is not fun for me. The kids are great about keeping their stuff picked up, we have taught them the responsibility of all that, but the deep cleaning is something I don't expect or want them to do so as soon as I have a job offer, my maid service might be the first number I dial! Speaking of work, I am slowly starting to look for a job again. If you know of anything in the Learning and Development field let me know.
We finally got some rain in Katy last week, thank God. Of course it wasn't enough but we'll take all we can get. This has been the hottest, most brutal summer I've experienced in the 13 years I've lived here and I hope to never experience this again. From the heat, to the drought, to the wild fires, it's been the craziest & scariest year...and I'm only referring to TX. This weekend was beautiful with temps in the 80's. We were able to play outside and really enjoy it. We spent hours at Mary Jo Peckham park with our church family this afternoon/evening and it was gorgeous out.
Well family and friends, that's all for tonight. I'm really going to make an effort to update at least every 2 weeks. I think I say that every post but I really mean it this time!

Love to all!!!

Family Vacation 2011

Last summer we decided to take a vacation this summer with my Mom, my brothers and their families. We talked about several places and different things but settled on going to Florida. This was our first “real” vacation as we normally go to Iowa to see my family, to New Orleans or Atlanta to see Jeff’s family or just go to the beach for a few days to chill. I was pretty excited about this trip. Tamia was the only one of our kids that had been to Disney. My niece who is 15 went last year but my nephews had not been either. I looked at the millions of things to do in the Orlando area but we knew we wanted to experience Disney as a family so after talking to several people who had been recently our week was pretty much planned out. My brother Teige and his family vacation with another family (the Gochenours) each year so they joined us as well. I have to admit I was quite nervous about vacationing with 6 teenagers. Teige and his crew rented a 15 passenger van and drove down from Iowa...a 24 hour drive! That makes our 15 hour drive seem like nothing! We checked into the resort on Saturday, got settled quickly and headed to dinner..all 17 of us! I quickly realized that these teenage girls are sweet as can be and this is going to be an awesome week. Taryn instantly fell in love with Brittany and Kaitlyn and started to call them her blonde “friends”. Kiarra and Tamia had another girl their age to hang with too. Jayden really enjoyed Brenna being there too. The two of them had a great time teasing, tickling and poking each other. They used their time waiting in lines wisely and it helped the time pass by.
We kicked off the vacation with a day at the beach. We rented surf boards and everyone had a really good time. We went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that evening and it was such a disaster, I could write 4 pages on everything that went wrong…from having to ask for chips…to having to pay $2.50 for an additional basket of chips (they gave us 4 small baskets)…to the service being horrible and the food not all that great. We were glad to get out of there. The best thing was the mariachi band singing Lady Gaga songs and I don’t even like Lady Gaga!!
Monday we headed to Magic Kingdom. I couldn’t wait to see the look on Taryns face when she saw the castle for the first time. Her face lit up like fireworks in the sky. She wanted nothing to do with the tea cups but I did get her to ride the flying carpets with me. She did so great for only being 4 years old. I figured we’d need to carry her and have everyone take turns carrying her but she held up great…Mom and I on the other hand were not doing as well…I guess that is what we get for going against doctors orders and leaving town when they told us not too! We were going to take our kids back to the resort to chill each day for a few hours and head back for fireworks at night but my brother offered to keep the older ones there with them so we just took Taryn. Mom and I both needed to get off our feet and out of the heat for a while so it was a nice rest. We headed back to the park that evening to enjoy the electric parade and fireworks. The electric parade was awesome! We took a few family pictures in front of the castle and called it a night!
Tuesday, Teige and his crew headed to Bush Gardens while we stayed back to chill out, swim and shop. Makenzie hung with us all day which was great. Her Dad left that morning to go home so we took her in like our very own! I love that girl! It stormed off and on so I’m glad we didn’t go to one of the Disney parks this day. We found this awesome little pizzeria, Flippers, which we ended up going to again later in the week. We spend a few hours at the pool and as always the kids tried to wrestle Jeff down. At one time my Mom even got into it. It was hilarious…and for the record, they were not successful.
Wednesday we decided to go to Epcot. We got there an hour before the gates opened and had prime parking and didn’t have to wait in line for the first several things we did. Soarin was AWESOME!!! We did most of the attractions at Epcot, Test Track was a blast, Spaceship Earth was pretty cool, Tayn loved the Nemo and Friends one. Jeff had the older kids while Mom and I hung with Taryn to do the little kid things. We figured if it was ok for her to do, it was ok for us too. I was not a happy camper when I was told not to go on roller coasters or get in water but seeing her face light up with all the cool things in Disney made it all worth it! Epcot was where we got to see all the characters and take pictures with several of them. We didn’t do much of the World Showcase. I think Teige and his crew may have walked around that area but we opted to head out and go back to our place and cook up some good ol Macaroni and Cheese and hot dogs (thanks Makenzie for the great suggestion and saving us $100+).
Thursday was our longest day! We went to Hollywood Studios and were there from open to close! We got there and realized our dear friend Penny was there so we found her at the gates, got a big hug and had a quick chat. When the gates opened we bolted for Toy Story and I’m glad we did. The line was soon an 80-90 minute wait and the Fast Pass was backed up to late in the afternoon! From there we went to Narnia which was really cool at first and when we thought it was going to get better it was over. A little disappointed but we were not going to let that ruin our day. Jeff and I took our 3 older kids and Makenzie to Tower of Terror and Rocking Roller Coaster where we met up with Teige and his crew while Mom stayed with Taryn and took her to the Mermaid show and the Muppet show. I think we did everything there was to do at this place. We unintentionally met up with Penny and her family for the Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show and I’m so glad we did. It was great to see her again and have time to catch up while waiting for the show to start. I’m so glad we didn’t miss this show, it was awesome. I am amazed at how great all of our kids held up. Even Taryn was still trucking along at 10pm. She cried getting off Tower of Terror, not because she was scared, but because she wanted to do it again but couldn’t because it was closed! We loved Rockin Roller Coaster (I even rode it…twice!) Fantasmic was phenomenal and I highly recommend anyone going to Disney spend a day here at Hollywood Studios and enjoy this laser show. The best part about getting there an hour before the park opens is that you get to park really close. No waiting for a tram or busses, we just walked to the car and headed right back to our place.

Friday we chilled in the morning and went to Typhoon Lagoon in the afternoon. Teige and his peeps went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Not only would Taryn, Mom and I not be able to do much at either place, we were all pretty tired from the day before (or the whole week) and Jeff was exhausted. He’d picked up quite a load with me trying to take it easy and not overdo it just to be there…Not to mention all of our feet were killing us. Makenzie hung with us again and we all had a great time at the water park. They swam with the sharks, rode the big slides and had a blast in the huge wave pool. It was a great way to wind down the vacation. All 16 of us met back up and went to dinner at Flippers Pizzeria. It was hard to believe that the week we spent a year planning was over and we’d be checking out the next morning.
All in all we had a really great time. I loved spending time with my brother and his wife and my nephews and niece and my new extended family the Gochenours. We are already talking about a joint vacation again next year… We’ll see…I don’t know if I can hang with them in the mountains!!!

Quotes from my kids when I asked them about the week…
Tamia – “Soarin was the best ride in Epcot. I had a lot of fun watching the electric parade at Magic Kingdom and really liked the Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios”.
Kiarra – “My two favorite things in Disney were the Fantasmic light show at Hollywood Studios and Soarin at Epcot. I really loved the blue water beach and surfing was pretty cool too. Rockin Roller Coaster was a Rockin Roller Coaster”.
Jayden – “My two favorites were Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster. I also loved the light show the last night, it was so cool”.
Taryn - “Tower of Terror was my favorite thing, and watching movies and seeing the princesses and taking pictures with Minnie Mouse and swimming in the big pool”.
Trina – “Disney was amazing. Being there with my husband, children and family was truly a blessing”.
Jeff – “Enjoying Disney with my family was the best thing ever!!”

On a health note, I am recovering really well. My incision is almost entirely healed. My nurse said it will probably be completely closed in a few more days! YAY!!
Mom is headed back to work tomorrow. The majority of her vision is back (with her glasses of course) but the eye doctor yesterday said that something with her left eye is still not right and is not sure she will get complete vision back in that eye. Praying for complete healing is all we can do!

A little bit of this... a little bit of that.

So much has happened since my last post I don’t really know where to begin.
We obviously made it home from Alabama ok. We hated to leave Jeff but we had to get back for my stinking doctor’s appointment. We got home on a Tuesday and turned around and drove to New Orleans on Friday to spend the weekend with Jeff and his family for Father’s Day. My Mother-in-Law also had a surprise retirement party planned for my Father-in-Law that weekend so lots of family were there. We piddled around all day Saturday and plotted how the “girls” wanted to ride together (to get to the restaurant early) and the boys would ride together (and Jeff would stall them). It was a success!! Perry was so surprise he could hardly speak. We had a really nice dinner and his old friends, co-workers and sons shared some great stories. We wrapped up the night by going back to the house and hanging with the family. Sunday was Fathers Day but I had to have Tamia home by 6 pm so we had to get out of the house before noon. The kids gave Jeff the cards they made him and we took off. He soon headed back to Alabama with his best friend Brian.
Jayden’s b-day was just a few days after Fathers Day. With our crazy June schedule, we didn’t do anything big this year. He had a friend over and they played all day and we ate at his favorite places. I had surgery 2 days after his b-day so having a party the weekend after was out. My sweet little boy is now in double digits and I can’t remember when he grew as tall as my shoulders. He is such a great kid! This picture was taken at the hotel pool in Alabama. If you look close, it looks like he is sitting on the water. Perfect time for me to snap that shot!

Surgery was successful…or so I thought at the time (more about that later). I’ve spent 4 ½ years dealing with this band and I was SO glad to get it removed. I’m now able to eat without having to excuse myself from the table to vomit or resort to drinking liquids because food “gets stuck”. There were times I couldn’t eat normal food for days, sometimes weeks at a time. I’m so glad that journey is over. If anyone you know mentions getting the lap band, have them call me! I will be honest about when it was successful for me and when it was NOT! Just being able to eat before noon each day is a huge relief.
Jeff came home on July 1st – for good!! We were so excited for him to be home! July 1st is also the day we got Tamia for the month so it was a very exciting day for all of us. He was home and she got here just in time for us to pack up and head to Bastrop with our awesome friends where we spent the weekend remembering our dear friend John. June 30th marked the 6th month anniversary of him stepping into heaven. We laughed, we cried, we shared memories and we told stories but one of the best parts of the weekend was planting a tree in his memory. This was a weekend that I will never forget!
The 4th of July was just another day in our house this year. There was (and still is) a burn ban because we haven’t had rain in what seems like 6 months. My Sister-in-Law, Joy, called and asked if they could bring shrimp and grits over… YUMMO!!! The city of Katy did put on their fireworks show but we stayed and watched them from our front yard. The traffic was crazy!! All the stands were not selling fireworks and no one was popping them. It was the quietest 4th of July ever!!! It was kind of nice to sleep this year; typically people are up all night long popping them for a week before and after the 4th.
Kiarra came down with bronchitis so she was down for a few days. She is better now, Thank God. I don’t know what I would have done without her last week (more about that in a second)!
Jayden went to church camp last week, his first time at camp!! He was at the Cat Springs Retreat and had SO much fun. Actually, he had so much fun that he didn’t have a voice when he got home. He was there for 5 days and is already planning to go next year. The girls cared for Taryn all day while Jeff worked and while I was with Mom.
Mom came down with a crazy terrible migraine that ended up lasting 7 days. On day 2 of having it, she lost her vision and now everything is blurry and she see’s double. After an insane week of eye doctor visits, urgent care visit, ER visits, primary care doctor visit, back to ER (per doctors orders) and then being admitted to the hospital for 5 days, the Neurologist determined she had a stroke in the nerve in her eye. The migraine and loss of vision had nothing to do with each other. I spent the night with her in the hospital Monday and Tuesday but wasn’t feeling well Wednesday morning so I went home to rest. I thought I was just tired and needed some sleep because we all know that NO-ONE sleeps in the hospital. I tucked myself into my bed and within an hour was running a 103 temp. It got as high as 104.6 but didn’t go below 102 for the rest of the day. I called my surgeon because I knew something was wrong with one of my incisions and sure enough there was. I went to his office Thursday and he told me to head to the ER and he would meet me there to open me back up. Ridiculous! I thought that when I got the band removed I would NEVER have to see his face again. God had other plans for me. I quickly checked on Mom and made arrangements for the kids. Jeff left work early and took me to the ER (of course it’s not at the same hospital that Mom is in). It was a disaster from the minute we walked in the ER doors at 4:30 pm. After waiting in the waiting room for 3 hours we finally got called back. This hospital (that my doctor just happens to own) only has 1 room in their ER. To make a long….. frustrating….. story short, my doctor showed up after about another 2 hours (9:30 pm), opened me up (in that ER room) and removed over a cup of puss (sorry, gross – I know). He left the wound open, packed it and had me admitted to the hospital… This was after the brilliant ER doctor said to only give me an antibiotic and that they were not going to call Spiegel! I really had to insist they call him and had to convince them that he told me just a few hours before to go there. Spiegel had the nurse ask Jeff to leave during the procedure, probably because Jeff would have choked him for hurting me like he did. Talk about not having an area numb when they call “scalpel”… Which reminds me of another miss-hap. Spiegel is such an idiot that he cut his hand on the scalpel after he finished with me. Can you tell that I’m not a fan of this doctor…? They were pumping antibiotics in me and I started to have an allergic reaction to one of them and the nurse freaked out. After a large dose of Benadryl the symptoms stopped and they restarted the pump. I got to my room about 1:30 am and they pumped 8 different antibiotics into me until 2:30 pm when I was released. I guess staph infection is resistant to antibiotics so they give a variety of them to try and kill the infection… Thank God for Home Health Care and good insurance. Spiegel said I had a choice, I could stay in there for 2 weeks or I could go home and have a nurse come 3 times a day to change the packing… hmmm, that wasn’t a hard decision. My nurse is awesome! She convinced me not to cancel our Disney trip and told me as long as I don’t swim and/or ride roller coasters I’ll be fine! Wooo Hooo!
Mom was released from the hospital just a few hours after me so we were both home snuggled in our beds for the weekend!
Today was Tamia’s 13th birthday! She is such an amazing young lady. We celebrated last night since her Mom was coming to pick her up tonight to take her to dinner. We went to Olive Garden and then came home and she opened her presents. She is so thankful for everything. I am so blessed to have this beautiful (inside and out) daughter. She has a great heart and I hate it that she has to go home in 13 days.

Friday is the big day!!! We leave for Florida bright and early! My brothers and their families will be meeting us there and I can’t wait. Besides the 38 things on my to-do list, I'm ready to hit the road.