It's not a tic...

In response to Jim's blog... ( I was gonna leave this as a comment, bu tit got too long)

It was NOT a nervous tic! He leaves out the part where I'm trying to look at my menu (with Brayden to my left, Matt across from me, and Mason at the end of the table) and trying to fight the baby off. He loves any form of a book and goes bananas when I try to read even the newpaper. So in the midst of fighting him I accidentally know over the water. THIS is when the funny crayon story happens...

We are all so busy cleaning up the mess that none of us BUT GOOD OLE MASON (Jim's 3 year old cousin) notices that Brayden has taken this opportunity to snatch Matt's crayon and starts snacking on it! We are all just hearing "baby eat it, baby eat it" No one is listening to the poor guy, we're trying to help keep Jim's undies from getting anymore wet. About his 3rd time of saying "baby eat it" the light went off in my head and I thought "why's he saying 'baby eat it'"? Ahh...cause BABY EAT IT = "DUH people, your kid is chowing down on a crayon! Remove head from sphinkter (sp?)"

It might not come off as funny to you, but it was freaking hilarious!

Little Monkey

If I hadn't seen it with me own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it! We've been watching Brayden cut his 2 upper teeth. His right top tooth cam in last week and there was drooling and a little fusiness, but not hardly anything to mention. Friday he was pretty fussy and I noticed that the left top tooth has come in. This tooth was causing the nasty diapers and the whole miseralbe 9 yards. But it came in and I figured that we'd had the worst day.

Well today he wsas being pretty fussy and nasty butt was back. And he was drooling more than I'd ever seen. I just figured that the top 2 teeth were still the culprit, so I popped some teething tablets in to try and calm him down. As I put them in his mouth I see this tiny little bottom tooth! I was shocked! I'd spent all this time worring about the top teeth it never dawned on me that he'd be cutting another bottom tooth at the same time! 3 teeth at once, poor guy!

As far as his other developments, he's now starting to rock back and forth in the crawl position. He's getting close! Nat and Matt are just REALLY enjoying all these new things he's doing. He makes Matt laugh cause he's such a nut...just like him. Nat loves how Brayden loves to crawl to her, just makes her day!

They are both doing really well with school. Matt's staying consistant with his green days and he's reading so good. He has to read everyday for 20 mins and he really likes this current book were reading so much that when I told him that his 20 mins was up he said, can we keep reading please!!?? WOW! What a wonderful thing! He also starting to learn some spanish today, hopefully he won't be like me and be more proficient (sp?) in the "four" letter words than the proper.

Nat's learing (what I consider) some really advanced stuff. Today they touched on algebra, longitude and latitude, and something else that I remember never studying till high school. She's been adapting so well. She's just so pumped about school. And even though she had a litle break thru episode last week, she's just hadles it so well. She said "I will always have this and I'll just have to deal with it." She's one tough cookie. She's gonna be a leader and people are gonna know her name in the future! :)

Jim made some major accoplishments this weekend on the well house/shed. He is doing an awesome job for never doing this before. It's a real treat for him (and me) to stand back and be proud of something you did. And he had it framed up in like 3 hours.

We had a really nice weekend with Jim's cousin Beth and her husband Scott and son Mason. The kids all got along GREAT and of couse the adults did too. Dream come true after that whole blog nightmare from a few weeks back. We went to Ikea. This was a 1st for me and won't be the last. So many cool things and ideas and awesome prices!! There were GOBS of people even though this was there 3 week to be open. but it was really neat and I hopefully can go back went it'll be less packed. I aslo went to Sam Moom for the 1st time. I'm not much of a purse person, but it was kinda cool. Nat had a BALL...especially trying on hair and poncho/shawls. She was as upset about leaving as Matt was having to leave Dave and Busters. We didn't get to eat of play there cause Dave and Buster was packed also. Hopefully we can go to one soon...maybe when our good friend Gary and Kim come this weekend.

I could go on all night, but I'll save stuff for tomorrow. Besides someone's getting mighty cranky and Dad's needing a break...even though he's bing VERY patient with my teething baby.

Hope you all have a great week and I'd sure like to read some blogs from some of you who've not been blogging :) Love - Angie

Pick your favorite

As I mentioned (in the 2 prior blogs) I need help deciding which of these should go on the wall. Please pick the one you think's the best...it's too hard for me!


Choice #1


Choice #2


Choice #3

Now, on to school news. Matt said that 2nd grade was cool and that he had a bunch of the same kids in his class from last year. He also said he had a green day. As far as his story goes there is no blue (which used to be the best you could get in 1st grade). He said that Green was the best, then Yellow, Orange, red...and he started to mention colors like black and brown which from the way he tells it it's close to serving jail time. Other than that, he liked the teacher and the food was good.

Nat hops in the truck and is just BEAMING & says "5th grade is awesome"! She loves her science teacher. Supposedly he's a real riot. She said the Math teacher was really fun too. Homeroom teacher was nice. She loves having a locker and getting to just come right out to the car without waiting by a teacher...big kid stuff! She said they had quesadillas and those are just about her favorite.

So good day all around. I worked and Brayden blew toots and kept army crawling to his sisters puzzle that's on the floor. He really wanted a taste but I kept foiling his plans. Poor guy!

Love you all - Angie

Botanical Gardens #2

Here are the pictures that wouldn't post in yesterday's blog...


Does this picture even need a caption!


They're on a mission! Do you see the squirrel?...


Dad and kids feeding the coy. They were opening up their mouths so big, they were able to drop the food right into their mouths!


Matt loves the turtles.


Monkey Matt!!

I guess I'll have to do another post in order to show you the pictures I want to put on the wall. Stay tuned...

Botanical Gardens

I wanted to post some pictures I took today on our trip to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens - Japanese Garden. The kids had a great time, despite the fact that it felt like a zillion degrees. Even Brayden was melting. Quickly after taking these pictures, we stipped him down to his diaper and we all wished we could've done the same!


Here the kids are walking out over the coy pond. Nat is VERY leary about the coy fish coming up and nibbling on her toes.


This is one hot baby!! Poor guy.


This is one heck of a view huh?

I've tried to post more pictures with this, but bloggers being contrary right now. I'll post more tommorrow. I'll also need your help because I got an abundance of PERFECT pictures of the kids that I want to use as our new family picture. Yes!! That's right...I got the PERFECT picture. I just need help narrowing them down. See ya tommorrow...I'm gonna go smell the rain. This day couldn't get any more perfect!

Nevermind

Ok, nevermind. I'm truely sorry that I said anything the other day. I guess I went somewhere that I shouldn't have. And Jim was just trying to back me up. He may say it a little harsher, but really he just wanted to help accomplish what I was. NO, he didn't mean the sutff about kicking butt and bring it on. It's just how he words stuff. You guys KNOW that. He's a GOOD person. Dadgumit, you know if you need him he's there.

Honestly all I was hoping for was a happy couple of holiday gatherings this year. One where no one was having to bite their tounges and everyone was truely happy. Kinda corny and I feel like I shoud be "claymation" saying this. But it was all I was hoping to accomplish. But in turn, I've made people mad...Jim's made people mad. Someone who I love dearly told me not to mess with this kind of family stuff and to just let it be. She was right. I should have just let it be. I am sorry. I had no ill will with that blog. Really I didn't. I stupidly thought I could help. Jim sweetly and stupidly backed me up. He might have done it in a "bulldog" manner, but he just wants what I do.

Things have gone south due to my previous ramblings. Some have thought that it was JUST about them. And it wasn't. I'm not just back-peddleing(sp?) to cover my butt either. It was not just about 1 person/issue/family. It REALLY wasn't.

I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Now with our comments and comments that have ben returned to us (and I'm sorry...any comments that were directed to Jim...were directed to me cause he's mine.) we may have totaly shot this whole happy holidays in the foot. What are ya gonna do? I can't it back. It's already posted and out there. My intent got all twisted and bent and come across NOT at all as I wanted.

I do love you all. My comments my be unforgiveable and the comments that were recieved might be the same. But I do love you ALL! I was just trying to help. So was Jim. That's all. Any posts from here on out will just be about my sweet babies. It will be a "peaches-and-cream" kinda blog. I'll not post anything like this again. I'm sorry.

But I gotta just say ONE last thing. Jim's a good guy. He's a GREAT Dad. You can't just take isolated incidents lump them together and think you know what he's all about. He blows A LOT of steam and talks big. But it's just words, words that he uses to help vent. Not actions...just words. His actions...they're all about caring and love. I'm not just saying this crap. I'm not a little woosy, submissive wife. If I say these things about him..they are true. And because I just said this I think I am now becoming "claymation".

Again...sorry...I love you...Merry Christmas!

No more round bottom

He can sit up now! Here's some cute shots I took.



He loves bathtime. Those little hand go nuts splashing in the water!!





He's such a nut. Always trying to make us laugh. JUST like brother!!



He was "supposed" to be taking a nap. But you will notice that the bumper and blankets give away the truth!!

Family Feuds

I know that at least once in each of our lives we've had family feuds. Sometimes they are over "real" issues, sometimes they are a bunch of crap. I want to address the on-going CRAP issues that my families are feuding (silently) over.

I'm not looking to point anyone out here. I'm just wanting to address a true fact...this crap needs to freakin end! I'm (again) not addressing one person or group of people. I'm not trying to address just my family or Jim's. You know who you are and you know...surely you know buy now... that this is crap. I love you all so much and I'm telling you that this crap (I will use the term "crap" a lot and it is to replace a more harsh word) is just tearing the families apart piece by piece. Some of you are foolishly standing back and actually acting happy that you are pushing the other away. Some of you are foolishly thinking that the one person doesn't know how you are "slamming" their name. Some of you are just plain and simple playing the "lazy" card and putting no effort into acting like a family. Some of you are getting so damn selfish and money oritented that you're not paying attention to the fact that your turning your loves ones bitter (against you).

Guys, it's not hard to be a family & to be descent(sp?). It's not! We are so freaking blessed to have each other. We are so freaking blessed that we haven't had to endure the tragedy that other familys have...that we hear about on the news. But dammit that doesn't mean that it can't happen. The phrase has been said so often that it's not even thought twice about...but what if there were no tomorrow? What if?? Is this honestly how you guys want to leave this?? Really? Do you really not give a crap?

Now I've bitched quite extensively on this topic. No, nothing happened JUST today. These are just things that I've known about for a while now. I had wanted to address each one of you seperately, but I was honestly afraid that I'd be thrown into the "I hate you I'm not gonna talk to you" pit. I love you guys. Now I'm asking for the sake of everyone effected (or not), young or old, alive or not...I'm asking that you just PLEASE put this crap aside. It's not like most of us see each other everyday. Come on, the reality is that we have only a few select holidays or occasions together each year. Please try. Please try for what ever reason works for you. I've seen what happens to families that get torn apart by this crap. And you know what??? The people that get hurt are the ones that SOOO don't deserve it. Yeah, you may actually hurt the person you intended to hurt...but no where near like you hurt that person you didn't intend to hurt.

Does ANY of this rambling make any sense?

Not sure if anyone other than Jim will read this. Not sure anyone will care to respond to such a topic. Not sure if I haven't already been "banished to the other side of the island". But someone HAD to say it. And I just felt it was time cause we aren't getting any younger and these situations aren't getting any better on their own.

I love you all!! So much!! Angie

Dumbfounded

We've all had moments in our life where we've been just dumbfounded. You may stumble, studder, maybe even faint. These situations make you have a loss of words...like I am now. I "thought" I was dumbfounded yesterday when the man I had come out to mow my pasture #1) called 4x for me to give him the SAME directions, #2) mowed over and broke one of the 2 sprinkler heads that I showed him in my field...and said "please don't mow here", and #3) argued with me that 8 acres x $20 = $160 NOT $180....I almost sent Nat to get a damn calculater! ANYway...

Nope, that was not dumbfounded. This is dumbfounded....

We recieved a letter from the D.A. of Wise county stating that they need the info from the insurance company of what the total loss was and the total amount (including deductible) that insurance wouldn't and would be paying. The letter said that the defendant Gregory Gilbert Glover would owe us restitution. So I call to tell them that my insurance company will be forwaring that info to her (the DA is a "her"...to speak lightly). She says "Ok, but I must tell you that this case has been dissovled". This is where the dumbfoundedness kicks in.. I say...studderingly..."Wha-wha-wha what do you mean by dissovled". She tells me flatly that he has recieved 5 years probation. I say "F-f-f-f 5 years probation? That's it...that's all...? I thought he was going to jail." She doesn't give in, in the least. She comes back with "He will serve 5 years probation and if he violates that he'll serve 5 years in jail. And he will have to pay you restitution as part of his probation. Thank you, goodbye"...and click. ...BITCH!!!! I'm the f-ing victim here...why did I get treated as if I can't know anything about MY case!!

THIS....THIS is dumbfounded.

I call Jim to fill him in...same feeling overcomes him also. He is now dumbfounded, which turned to anger quickly (as you will read this evening in his blog). And since he will blog tonight...I'll let him take the story from here, which will (I'm sure) include the conversation with our investigator.

Justice at it's finest guys! But she is in an elected position and I'll do my damnedest to try and end that!

Albums

My last blog wouldn't let me post this..

Accomplishments

Not everyone would see what I am about to mention as a major accomplishment...but to me it was!

About 4 years ago when we were unpacking into our new home in Justin I realized that Nat and Matt's baby books (that my Mom made and I filled in) were missing. Trust me when I say I went nuts trying to find these books, but we never have found them. I was and still am bummed out over this. These were the pictures of their first year. All that I can assume that happened was that they were left in a box (possibly covered in newspaper) and got thrown out :( I told my Mom about losing them and she said that between everyone that I'd given pictures to, we could recreate the books. I was just bummed still cause I loved the book that mom made and I wanted those pictures back.

Did I ever ask anyone for extra pictures??...nope...just kept putting it off.

Well as we were packing up to move to the house we are in now I came across a blue Walmart bag that was in a jammed drawer in the China cabinet/dresser (that was my Grandmothers). This drawer had been jammed and not opened since we lived in Abilene. Low and behold tha bag contained the copies of most of the pictures that were in Matt's old baby book. And there were several of Nat also. One a side note...I was upset about losing Nat's book, but since she was the 1st...I kinda took way more pictures of her and I have 2-3 other albums of her. SO...needless to say finding this Walmart bag (some of you who know my feelings about Walmart will see the irony in this) made me elated!

So...did I get right on to recreating those baby books....NOPE! I got distracted my...you name it... Well I finally decided that I was gonna wait no longer. I went and found two very cute baby books and while NAa was at Mom and Dad's... I got them done! They aren't scrapbooked, but they are "albumed" and this was a major accomplishment for me...MAJOR! I like these books cause they have places to write in them and that will be my next feat...get the dates all written in, and this could be quite challanging, but it'll get done...someday ;)

Big Ole Baby

Yep...it's confirmed...he's a BIG ole baby! He might have started off smaller than Matt (if you hadn't already hear it a zillion times..Matt wat 10lbs 2.5oz. & Brayden was 9lbs. 13oz.). But he's been determined to out grow him since!! He had his 6mo. check up yesterday and he's again 100%+ on height and 80% in wieght (50% is average). He is 29" tall and 18lbs 14oz. In comparison, Nat was 15lbs. 3oz. & 26.5" @ 6mos. and Matt was 17lbs. 3oz. & 27.5".

As for what this big ole baby is doing... He's much better at sitting up. If he falls forward he can catch himself. When he falls backward he just laughs at himself. And this baby can scream!! Not in anger (cause he was already a pro at that) but to just screamin delight! It's so funny. I can hear him outside. Sitll not crawling, but it's gonna be soon. And he's a grabber. If there's anything within a 3' radius of him that you don't want him to have...clear it out!! When he sit with us at the computer, it's a favorite pastime to eat my work papers and attack the keyboard...and possibly get a little drool in it :)

Matt's been pretty subdued this week since Nat's staying with Grandma & Grandpa Racecar. He did get to shot his bow & arrow (or as he says bone & arrow). Jim said he was actually pretty good. Sniper in the making...??? Nah, he's just too sweet. He does have his moments but all in all he's a pretty caring and compasionate kid. Especially when it comes to the ladies (not always including his sister).

As I said, Nat's been living it up at Grandma & Grandpa's. Her and Grandma went shopping yesterday. Had a great time I'm sure. Not sure what all her adventures have been, but she comes home tommorrow so I'll be filled in then. Matt will got to their house after (or before) the Junction trip in August.

Oh, and we are getting neighbors. Acutal next door neighbors! They came by like 3x last week asking various questions. They are a couple about our age with a little boy...maybe 3 yrs old and one on the way. They seemed really nice and I sure hope they are. It be nice to make friends with our neighbors. We haven'te really done that since Abilene.

Well that's all...gotta go. Brayden's make me a present.

Love - Angie

Getting the "perfect" picture

I realize now how come professional photographers get paid so much! Especially when dealing with multiples in a photo shoot. I foolishly thought that when Kay (my mother-in-law) asked me to get a picure of the kids (before we left the reunion)...no problem. HA! To get them all to smile, a real smile, not a pained or forced smile..HECK for Brayden to even feel like looking at the camera. That was pure insanity. I clicked like crazy and took like 15 pictures in 5 mins and this was the best I got. They are incredibly beautiful kids and I love each of their little faces...don't get me wrong. I was just trying to get the "perfect" picture. Looks like Sears is gonna get my $$ after all!

Hope you are all having a GREAT Monday! Love - Angie

Kiddos

As most of you know...Jim pretty much cover all the details of our daily life. I'm just gonna fill in the holes :)

Thanks to my good friend Kim, I'm able to blog again. The first one was pretty much a rant...this one will be much nicer.

We are all really enjoying the pool, even Brayden. He's learned that it's pretty fun to splash his little fat hand in the water. It starts off pretty slow and then he just wigs out and both hands are just going 90 mph! Then he starts to spit and sputter since he's now drank 1/2 the pool. It's really funny. Nat and Matt love the slide. They resemble a pelican diving into the water. If you've even seen this, you know that is is far from a graceful thing. They are just so funny.

We got the sand box area all weeded and cleaned up so the kids routine is to swim first and then go play in the sand box. They love it also. They'll play until sunset. I thought it was all sweet how they were playing together last night in the sand box. I was in the house occasionally looking out to just make sure things were ok. Well I'm not sure at what point all the sweetness melted away and turned to crap... I look out again at my darling little angels to see Nat sitting on top of Matt (Matt being face down in the sand). Nat is taking a bucket and trying to cram it on Matt's head...and YES it was full of sand. Matt is flailling(sp?) his arms and legs in the air. Which this lead me to believe that it was not his choice to be pinned like this. She continues to pour sand on his head and begins to bouce up and down on his back. I ask Jim if he could go assess the situation. Things went real bad after that and it became bed time. It was not funny at the time...but it's hilarious now...I kinda feel like white trash thinking this is funny..oh well.

Besides the every day attempts on each other lives...the kids do have other hobbies...

Nat is taking art classes. She's so artistic and creative, so we wanted to find something that would encourage this. She just got finished making a fish out of clay. I'm very anxious to see it. I've seen what the other kids have done and these aren't pre-k modleing clay fishes...these are teh "real deal". She'll work with white charcoal and black paper scketches (sp?) next. She's also our little mommy to Brayden. And she really does enjoy it...Brayden does too. There was a rolling off the bed incedent (sp?)...but stuff happens and they're best buds again. We are both gonna miss her when school starts (me and Brayden that is).

Matt's anticipating his b-day (Sept. 3rd). Each day he discusses his b-day and what he'd like to have. Matt actually has several topics each day that he discusses with me as I type away at work. One such topic was, when he grows up he wants to be either a policeman or a billionaire. I told him that he could be a cop, but he'd have to promise not to get hurt and not to chase bad guys. He basically told me not to sweat it...but to make me happy he'd just go ahead and be a billionaire. I said that, that was alway the safe choice. He said he'd build a mansion in London and he'd live there with his wife and kids and that Mom, Dad, Nat and Brayden could come live with him. Now that's love! The child has more stories than I can tell at this time...but there will be other blogs :)

Brayden's becoming more and more like Matt. He's such a comedian. He love to make you laugh and to have you do something to make him laugh...or to just laugh at himself! He's getting a lot more blonde hair and the eyes still appear to be hazel. He'll give kisses (an open mouthed lean)...when he feels like it. He can sit up and support himself a bit...before falling over. He says "ba-ba-ma" which we're pretty sure is: ba-ba = bottle, ma = Momma...which all equals to "Mom I want the dang bottle". He's been feeling really good and been sleeping really good so everyone's happy with that!

I'll stop now cause I'm really rambling. I'll be shorter..I hope tommorrow.
Angie

testing

Kim fixed my website and did this test for me. She was seeing if I could post pictures...and now I can...yeah!

Walmart sucks!

As sad as this may sound, I'm starting my own blog just to bitch. Sorry if I offend anyone with foul language....but I'm in a foul state of mind. Anyone who know's Jim or I knows that back in April we were robbed. If that weren't bad enough, we had all of our checks (from 3 accounts) stolen. They also got a hold of my D.L.#...so this became full flegded ID theft! Id theft sucks. You can hear about it on the news, see the sillycommercials on tv, even hear that "so & so" had that happen to them, but until it happens to you...you just have NO idea just how bad this sucks. I'm honestly suprosed that I haven't been instutionalized from all this crap. What sucks the most is constatnly having to prove that YOU were the one who wrote the check. When you first call the mechants (or see them in person) they all get huffy and just think you're dirt and making this crap up. Oh, but when you go and provide them with police reports and notorized affidavits of forgery....then they'll treat you liek you're human. Some will acutally sympathize. It's a very painstaking experiance providing all the required information to all the check verification services (mainly Telecheck), contacting all the credit reporting agencies, and contacting all the merchants. It's just so degrating! But then...1-2 months later you're pretty sure that since you've gotten the "ok" from all the 3 before mentioned agencies/merchants...you think Yea! I can write a check...I can write a check without being utterly humiliated in the checkout line. My check WILL go thru. Guess I should've been more pessimistic.

I went to Walmart (after Jim said we were going to Boycott...you'd have to read one of his earlier blogs) on 6/10...right before Mother's Day...2+ months since the robbery... Wrote out my check, even foolishly offered up my D.L....BAM! No go!! LONG line of people just staring at me, like I was filth and pissed off that I was holding up the line. I brought this up (after I paid with plastic!) to the CSM on duty. Told her of the whole ordeal. How I'd gotten the OK from Telecheck. And that I'd been declined at Walmart more times than I cared to mention. She said that I needed to take it up with Telecheck. I call Telecheck and they say I'm cleared in there system and that they already told me that on 5/11/05. I'm like "DUH!" So I go under the ASS-umption that it was matter of Telecheck just not having enough time to contact Walmart...sooo stupid!

So I waited until yesterday to do any kind of transaction that would require my DL. I took a return in w/out a reciept. I gave her my DL and UN-freakin-believable, she VERY tackily said "I can't give you a refund, you have HOT checks out". I say right back in my bithciest of tones "I have STOLEN checks out...not HOT!" She says "Well, whatever" (can you believe her?) "I can't do anything until you get this cleared up w/ Telecheck". I tell her very, very calmly that I've already been cleared by Telecheck. She says "no you haven't!" I man....I wanted to be white trash so bad and jump the counter and kick her ass! BIG TIME! And she was a big girl so there would've been a whole lot of ass to kick!

So I offically delcared BOYCOTT on Walmart. But I ain't going out quitely. I call Telecheck ONE last time. I want them to provide me with some form of written something that says I'm clear...so I can go throw it in Walmart's face. She wouldn't do that, but she did get on the phone (while on the phone with me) and talk to Walmart corp. office. She then tells me that Walmart said I need to address this directly with them. So I call and found out that Telecheck did have all the info that they needed to clear me, but Walmart needs that info also. I ask how come NO ONE from Walmart has ever contacted me asking for this info. She says" they didn't"...I say "NO" She says "someone from your local store was to contact oyu about this." I told her that all anyone from my local store had done was direct me to Telecheck. ANYway, she says to fax the info to her and she'll get i straghten out in about 15 days. WOO HOO! How freakin wonderful!

Then I decide not to leave it there. I call the Manager @ this Walmart. Tell him the whole story and ask why the HELL I was never contacted. I told him that his incompetent employees #1) have keep me from getting my named cleared and #2) by accepting my stole checks from the thieves, cause this whole mess to happen in the first place. Well he's unaware of any of this. Says a quick "I'm sorry" tell me to bring the info into the store and he'll get it taken care of. I say "Really??!!" so I commically ask "once I bring this into you and you see all the documentation that proves that this was theft...can I get a refund on my stinking shirt??" He says, "uh, well, after it's cleared in the system...in about 15 days"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm really a rather pleasant person, but Walmart is the devil and they turned me into a pissed off bitch! :)