Beach, Beach and B-Day

Last Sunday, Jeff was working so Mom, the 4 kids and I headed to Stewart Beach in Galveston to soak up a little sun. We had a great time building sand castles, playing in the water, watching the jet skiers and of course eating our yummy watermelon and strawberries. Ok, let me set something straight…the KIDS and Mom had a great time building sand castles and playing in the water…I can’t stand to touch the sand or get in the water. Nasty! I like the beach for one thing - the sun! Today, we planned to go to the beach again however Kiarra had other plans. She came down with strep throat (Taryn was diagnosed with it last week). Now, I’m not 100% positive Kiarra has strep but I’m 99.95% sure, especially since they have the exact symptoms. After she woke up with a fever, body aches and major head ache, I realized our Memorial Day/my b-day beach trip was in jeopardy and that we would stay home – watching movies and well, do NOTHING. I was more than ok with this idea, but Taryn on the other hand was so upset. She’d been looking forward to this trip since we were on our way home from Galveston a week ago. Well, the best husband in the world came to our rescue and volunteered to stay home with Kiarra so Mom, Jayden, Taryn and I could go. Jeff doesn’t really like the beach anyway, well not as much as Mom and I, so after they argued about who would stay home with her, we went ahead and took off (Jeff won the argument and stayed home). We left an hour later than planned and WOW – never again will I leave on a holiday weekend after 9 am. We got to the beach around 11:30 and it was packed, we had to drive over a mile on the slippery sand to find a spot we could set up shop. Last weekend we rented an umbrella and chairs but this weekend we decided to buy a canopy and chairs to take it with us. We thought this would be great because we can use it over and over and not have to waste our money on the teeny, tiny umbrella….but, not so great when we didn’t have Jeff there to help us put it up. You should have seen us!! I’m getting a good laugh just thinking about it. The family beside us must have felt bad for us; they ended up helping after we tried for 30 minutes, looking like fools. Thank GOD for nice people!! Other than the difficulty with the canopy and the dried seaweed, the beach was great this weekend as well. Taryn looked so adorable in her new bathing suite. At one point, she realized she had sand in her water shoe (because we weren’t at the beach or anything) and was freaking out. These are pictures of Jayden helping her rinse her shoe in the sandy water and get it back on.












Every 6 years, my birthday falls on Memorial Day and this year is the lucky year we get to celebrate it along with our fallen soldiers and loved ones who have made their way to sit at the right foot of Jesus. Memorial Day means more to me now than ever. I’m looking forward to my b-day pedicure at a local spa in the morning, and then spending the day with my family and friends remembering loved ones while enjoying nothing other than CRAWFISH! YUMMY. Let’s hope Kiarra doesn’t find an ant pile this year. Last year she got over 200 bites after falling out of a kiddy pool onto a tiny pile of fire ants.

We snapped a few cute pictures at Rainforest Café Friday night during dinner. Taryn is still scared of that place as you can see from her facial expression.

The kids only have 3 days of school left. I can’t believe these are Kiarra’s final days of elementary! It seems like yesterday we were walking her into her first day of Kindergarten. She is growing up to a beautiful young lady.

Mothers Day

I love Mothers Day. I totally get spoiled by my husband and kids. Since I can’t eat early in the morning, the “breakfast in bed” on Mother’s Day stopped a few years back. After church, we took Mom to Olive Garden for lunch. Kiarra has been excited about this lunch for weeks. You'd think this was the only Italian food in TX. Don't get me wrong, I like Olive Garden, but geez - it's not that great. I thought she was having an attack of some sort on the way there - she was so excited!! After lunch we headed to the premium outlets to do a little shopping (Coach was having a HUGE sale).

Every year, Jeff and the kids make me cards and this year was no different. My card from Jeff was full of sweet words and lady bugs that he hand cut and glued on (I love lady bugs). Kiarra wrote me the most amazing poem and made several flowers out of coffee filters. Jayden’s card was very sweet and creative and my sweet little Taryn made me an awesome card at daycare using her finger prints as flowers. I loved everything - the gifts, candy and especially the hand made cards they all spent so much time working on.

To my Mother – You are the most amazing, most supportive Mother anyone could ask for. I appreciate everything you do for me (and all 6 of us) and can’t wait to spend many more Mother’s Days together. As I grow older I have more and more respect for you. I realize the crap I put you through as a teen (I’m sorry) and thank you so much for never giving up on me. Happy Mothers Day!

To my Mother-in-Law – You are the best Mother-in-Law a girl could ask for. You welcomed me to the family and treated me like your own. You are a beautiful woman, inside and out. Thank you for always being so kind and warm hearted. Happy Mothers Day!

To all my “Mom” friends and relatives – You inspire me is so many ways. Keep up the hard work ladies. Motherhood is not always easy but it’s totally worth it. Happy Mothers Day!

To all my friends that one day will be Moms – Enjoy your life now, once you have kids – it’s over…just kidding! When you do have children, enjoy every minute of their lives because they grow up too fast. I can’t believe I celebrated my 11th Mother’s Day today.

To my husband and children - Thank you for supporting me through these years. It hasn't always been easy but you've been there by my side through the good times and the bad. I will forever be grateful to you for loving me the way you do. Thank you for the great gifts and letting me pick out my purse, perfume and shoes, the beautiful cards, flowers, chocolates and most of all love. You made my day very special and I love and appreciate each one of you for it. You are the best!

And it wouldn't be a day in the Dailey home without a little music...

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).