Catching up

Time to catch up on kid activities...

Natalie
She did great on her most recent report card. She'd had a few "uh-oh" grades last 6-weeks and ended up with her first "C" on a report card. She worked really hard and got "A's & B's" this 6 weeks. VERY PROUD of her. She's just delighted to get her cell phone back :) She's still in art and is currently working on an under water scene. I have not seen it yet, but I'm sure it's just as fantastic as all the others. She started piano lessons a few weeks ago and loves it! She's really picking up fast too. Softball drafts were last night and all of Nat's team (minus one) are back on the team. Plus a few that were on our team year before last and a few new players. Practices should start next week...I think.

Matthew
Basketball season is now over. He did a great job and was really coming around. We need just a few more games for him to get to show his stuff. But they only get 6 games for a season ans this season was only 5 games due to icy weather that 1st week. He still plays most everyday after school. Jim has mentioned that they will be looking to get Matt back into some 4-wheeler racing again. He warned me that Matt could get hurt. But you know...that potential is there even when he's just sitting on the bar stool at breakfast...so...... He did really well on his report card also. 1 - B and the rest A's! He's also very relieved to have the Taks test over with. I know he did great, but Man was he stressed.

Brayden
FINALLY over the walking pneumonia!! He's got some sinus stuff right now from this nutzo wind...but I hope it just passes by :) He started Mother's Day Out last Thurs. And...he loved it! I was so relieved. I felt so guilty, sad, and lonely all day. The ONE day I'm not busy at ALL for work or contract!! GEEZE...it was a rough day for Momma. But when I heard what a good day he had...I knew we'd made the right choice. He will go again tomorrow and I hope that once again he has a great day. I asked him if he wants to go see friends at school and he said "uh huh :)"

I have to cut it short for now. But I will be back tomorrow to tell you all about our weekend in Midland. I also posted the weighs...so just scroll down to the next blog to read those results.

Week 9 Weigh In

Week 9

name....weight...lbs lost...week %...lbs lost...total %

Jim.........no info provided :)
Beth.......186........0...........0.00............5..........2.62
Angie.....168........2............1.18.............7..........4.00
Reagan...134.......0............0.00...........3..........2.19
Barbara..177.......0.............0.00.........-3.......-1.72
Billy........240.....-2...........-0.84..........14.........5.51
Tina........161......-1...........-0.63..........10.........5.85
Bill...........201......3............1.47............2..........0.99
Karry......156.....-2..........-1.30..........-3.......-1.96

And this weeks Biggest Loser is: BILL!! And the over all Biggest Loser is: TINA. Way to go everyone! There were no major gains and every one's maintaing well. That's one of the hardest parts of the journey. Hang in there!

Weigh In Week 8

Week 8

name....weight...lbs lost...week %...lbs lost...total %

Jim.........229.......0............0.00............8..........3.38
Beth.......186........0...........0.00............5..........2.62
Angie.....170.......-3...........-1.80...........5..........2.86
Reagan...134.......0............0.00............3..........2.19
Barbara..177......-2...........-1.14...........-3........-1.72
Billy........238.......0............0.00............16........6.30
Tina........160.......3............1.84.............11........6.43
Bill...........204....-2............-0.99...........-1.......-0.49
Karry......154.....-1...........-0.65............-1.......-0.65

Congrats to Tina for being this weeks (and overall) Biggest Loser!! A BIG WOO HOO for Tina :) Major accomplishment since it was V-day and we ALL were probably tempted with that chocolate. And I know I (for one) celebrated V-day on Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, AND Sun!!!!

Good luck to everyone this week! Hope you all get a chance to get outside and enjoy this wonderful weather!!

...Not Again....

So we had a great day of work and play outside today. We head into town (Decatur) to have dinner. After dinner Jim needs to run into Lowes for something (that now neither of us can remember..irrelevant). I sit in the truck with the kids and thought I'd check my phone to make sure I didn't miss any calls. I have a voice mail....it's from Brinks...home security.............. With my heart in my throat I call Jim in the store and tell him about the call and we are 90 to nothing in truck to the house. Jim calls our next door neighbor...no answer. He then calls the neighbors right behind us and he tells Jim he sees a car and flickering lights either in or around the house. I'm shaking, adrenaline's pumping...I can barely dial 911 on my cell. I tell 911 what's happened and they tell me that they don't show an alarm to have sounded. I say Brinks called me and my neighbor (Todd) sees a car and it's now leaving my property and his in "pursuit". They keep asking us to ask Todd what color the car is. I try to tell them ...duh, it's a dirt road...all he can see is white dirt!!! Jim also calls our other neighbor (Paul) and he goes to see if he can see any damage at the house ...and Todd's still in pursuit. On our road (4010) you have two exit routes....either stay on the whole 8.5 miles of 4010 till you come into town, or turn onto 4213 which tees into FM 2264. We are currently blazing down 2264 in hope to catch the SOB that has once again violated our home. Hell no we ain't going down without a fight this time!!!!!!! The 911 guys keeps asking me where they are on 4010...and we tell them we don't know (cell service sucks on that road). Finally we get word from Todd that the car has turned on 4213. We can just now see where 4213 comes onto the road we are on (2264). We see headlights, but it's a truck with trailer...so we KNOW that we WILL cut them off before they hit 2264. We turn onto 4213 and we see headlights coming our way. Jim turns the truck sideways in the road. The 911 guys telling us to stay in the car and don't block their way and let the sheriff's office handle it...I say "where the hell are they...we need them NOW!!!" He tells me they should be there shortly. I say "hell NO...HELL NO..this has already happened to us once and we aren't gonna let it happen again..." As I say this the car sees us and you can tell they are slowing way down and starting to come to a stop. Jim hops out and I'm trying like hell to open the truck door...damn safety locks!!! So as I'm frantically trying to get the damn door open and go "help" Jim... and the guys hollering at me on the phone to stay put.... I get my first glimpse of the car in question. It's white with familiar brown stripes down the side and what appears to be a light bar on top.....it's the Sheriff's office!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jim still flaming mad and the deputy shines the light in his face then turns it off as Jim says (something along these lines) "why the HELL where you at my house when your dept says that no ones be called out yet??" ...as we told Matthew, cops can steal too! But then I watch as Jim's head drops and that goofy "you got me" smile creeps up on his face. They talk a few mins more and then the 911 guy says "Ma'am I'm gonna hang up with you now". Jim comes back to the car and say that our alarm went off a long time ago and he was there to check it all out and he said everything appeared fine. We just sat in the car and looked at each other and just laughed. Adrenaline is still racing thru us...as Jim said "enough to fuel an elephant for a while..." So the car Todd bravely chased was Wise County's finest and those were the flickering lights he saw. Paul called and said that everything looked fine also and would be at the house when we got there. We drive up feeling like fools. But what else were we to think?? Brinks had told us it was alarm #5 which I thought was the new sun room. Which that alarm meant a window was broken. But that wasn't it. It was the motion detector. I was still a little...ok a lot...on edge and NEEDED to know what tripped it. We looked high and low to see what fell or shifted that set it off. Jim was ready to give up but I needed to know. Then the light bulb went off when my ity bity baby say "beyoon" in a questioning voice. Beyoon = balloon. Nat had a Mylar balloon with her flower arrangement that got untied and had been bouncing around on the living room ceiling since Jan. 30th....and it was gone...no where to be found. Matt gets out of the shower, heads into his room and says "hey, the balloons in my room??!!!" And there it was, the beyoon had finally lost enough air to drop enough to go in front of the motion detector and then have the vents blow it into Matt's room.

Soo...no...not again.... we are now most likely on the Sheriff's wall as the family that cries Wolf. But we have damn good neighbors!

Week 7 Weigh in...FINALLY!

So sorry for the delay everyone. And thank you so much to all of you who commented on the last post...that was so sweet of you :) It's just been nutzo here...but I think we are now on the slow down trend!! I promise to have this posted no later than Tues next week.

Week 7

name....weight...lbs lost...week %...lbs lost...total %

Jim.........229.......0............0.00............8..........3.38
Beth.......186........3............1.59.............5..........2.62
Angie......167.......0............0.00............8..........4.57
Reagan...134.......1............0.74.............3..........2.19
Barbara..175.......1............0.57...........-1.........-0.57
Billy........238.......4............1.65............16........6.30
Tina........163.......0............0.00............8.........4.68
Bill...........202......3............1.46.............1.........0.49
Karry......153......0............0.00............0.........0.00

And the biggest loser this week and over all is.....(drumroll)....BILLY BRZEZINSKI!!!!! (balloons and confetti in air.....well, that's how it feels...doesn't it :) )

Way to go EVERYONE for another week of NO GAIN! For those of you (like me) who lost 0..hey, don't be bummed! It's NOT A GAIN!! That's a positive. We'll just shoot for a loss this week. Good luck everyone! And I hope everyone has sunny and healthy week this week.

Nat's 12th...YES 12th!!! Birthday :)

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up. Besides Brayden having walking pneumonia and going on 3 weeks of being sick, work's been nuts, and I didn't get quite the responses that I'd hoped for on my blog...ahem...hint-hint siblings and parents :) And again, thanks to all of you who faithfully comment, it really helps keep me motivated!

Nat's 12th b-day was Jan. 30. So, yes...I know I'm behind... She was a good girl that morning and resisted in beggin us to open her presents that morning. I told her that just as soon as Daddy got home we would open presents. Since she was so patient, I made sure a special delivery was sent to her at school...

Thankfully Daddy was able to get off work earlier than usual that day and she got to tear into her presents.

Her presents were mostly clothes. Her 2nd most exciting gift was piano lessons (which she started this past Wed.). Her MOST exciting gift was ..... A CELL PHONE!! Yowza! That child was beside herself...and still is! She's being a very good girl with it and hardly ever makes calls on it, but LOVES to play the games :)

After opening presents we told her to decide where she wanted to have supper...Olive Garden. Yikes, put us in the corner please...the noodle wielding midgets returning.... She loved having the people sing her the Italian Happy B-day song, but was let down when she didn't get the cake that they used to give out...I was bummed too! She got a little piddly scoop of ice cream in a little plastic butter cup. But she was soon to be excited again...we were off to the Mall to get her ears pierced.

A few tears were shed, but by the next morning it wasn't nothing but a thing! All in all i think her b-day was a hit! She made me a deal that she'd be losing the attitude and be real happy in the morning...to show me how thankful she was :) That was last week............

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

Week 6 Weigh In

Just as I predicted...everyone had a good week! Congrats to everyone...NO ONE gained :)

Week 6

name....weight...lbs lost...week %...lbs lost...total %

Jim.........229.......3............1.29............8...........3.38
***Welcome to the 220's***
Beth.......189........0............0.00...........2..........1.05
Angie......167........3............1.76............8..........4.57
Reagan...135........3............2.17............2..........1.46
***Happy Anniversary***
Barbara..176........1............0.56...........-2.......-1.15
Billy........242........3............1.22............12........4.72
Tina........163........3............1.81.............8.........4.68
Bill...........203.......8............3.76...........-2........-0.99
Karry......153 **Start weight**
***Welcome to the game***


So this weeks BIGGEST LOSER is my Dad! With Reagan in 2nd! Billy's still winning the overall with his wife close on his heels :)

Hope everyone has another killer week. I also hope that you all are having the wonderful weather that we are having!!

**Haven't posted about Nat's b-day yet. I'm getting there...just not motivated when I don't get a lot of comments :) Hint-hint ;) And THANK YOU to those of you who are always so sweet to comment!!

The Birthday Party

First off, thank you for all those who came to the party: Grandma & Pop-pop, Grandma & Poppa Roaine, Billy, Tina, Taylor, Tyler, and Nat's friend Shelby. We loved having everyone of ya'll and dearly missed those who couldn't come :)

The few days leading up to the party were making we wonder if this thing would even get to happen. Brayden started having the crud the Monday before the party and it progressively got worse thru the week. We had to start him back on his breathing treatment since we started having occasional respiratory distress. I took him to the dr. on his b-day (Thursday) and told her about the swimming party. She actually thought that all that humidity in the indoor pool would help open him up. So that was encouraging. Then I get a call from the Natarorium telling me that someone have double booked the 1 party room they have and could we reschedule our party to another time. I was like "are you nuts?? With one day notice and I have family coming in from out of town??" She told me that the other party had purchased the more expensive package so they got priority. I told her I was budging and to make something work. She told me that she could set us up in the spectator area and take $75 off my party price...heck ya!

So after watching Matt's game (which ya'll GOT to start bugging Jim to get him to give ya'll the play by plays)...we all headed home for min or two and then were headed off to Denton. We get there and yup, we were in spectator area all right...not a frill in sight :) But it was fine...we were there to eat some cake and go play! We had one cake (with all the goods) for Nat and another on that I made and Mom and Tina helped me decorate. I must say that I'm very impressed with how this cake turned out!

Brayden had decided that he didn't want to have cake at the table and he wanted to go to the very far end of the stands (the seating in the spectator area) and eat his cake there. He had crawled up onto the seat and when he went to turn around and sit on his bottom his shoe got caught on his pants and he went face forward (no stopping with the hands) into the stands in front of him and his front 2 teeth went thru his bottom lip. LOT OF BLOOD! And it bled for a long time after also. which this didn't help with the coughing fits at all! Once we got him semi calm we had Nat open her presents so the big kids could go play. Brayden was up for anything but clinging on to me...for good reason. I headed down with him to the pools so that maybe he'd want to go in if he saw the other kids playing. I finally got him interested to go in and the lifeguard says "everyone out of the pool". So little kid had puked in the dadgum pool!!!!!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE! There is an Olympic sized pool, but it is chilly..we got in anyway cause Brayden was ready to play. We were feeling like Popsicles! And my Mom captured the look on my face that says it ALL!

The lifeguards told us that the warmer pool (the one with the slide and the b-ball goals) was closed for the rest of the day. Uh..NO! I asked who was in charge cause this was bs! Finally found "the man" and he said that the pool had to be shocked and we might get about 30 mins before the actual closing time of 6pm. And that's exactly what we got! Here's some more shots from the party...

If you haven't had a chance to see it, please check out the blog before this one about Brayden's b-day. I must say that is is very nice to know when someone reads my blog...especially when they take me as long as they do to post :) Hope you all have a great weekend and I'll have a post soon about Nat's birthday.