Then & Now

Happy New Year's Eve!!!  We spent the evening with our great friends....just like last year.  It was a delightful evening - dinner, drinks, games :)  And, JUST LIKE LAST YEAR, I won the first game of the year!!  Jackpot :)

In true 2011 fashion, we also decided to do some "tebowing"

Here's to 2012!!!

Children's Museum

Our first official visit to the downtown children's museum.

Olivia went when she was 1 - and obviously didn't really participate.  The kids had a great time today, however I would say they are still a little young for it.  The Johnson girlies were there too - with their grandparents since J&T are in PARIS!!!!  The outside water area was probably the biggest hit, and ended with two children soaked!  Next time, bring spare clothes ;)

A Princess Bike & A Camera

For Christmas Olivia got a fancy princess bike.  We really wanted to get her just a bike - but she insisted it had to be a PRINCESS bike.

Also for Christmas Tim and I got a Go Pro video camera - basically you can attach it to objects and film (bikes, surf boards, cars, etc).  

Put the two together, and you've got THIS! 

32

really? 32?  it was the age my grandmother always told me she was - 32.  So I officially feel ooooold"er".

Here are 32 "tidbits" 

1  ~ I do not like to cook.  I prefer things that come in a box or can and can be eaten directly out of them

2  ~ I interrupt.  ALL THE TIME.

3  ~ Never had braces....and you should see what my teeth looked like in 3rd grade!

4  ~ Bad Habit - biting my nails :-/

5  ~ Noisy eaters = nails on chalk board.

6  ~ I can eat - A LOT.  Love starches - I could probably be a vegetarian.  Related to this, I will pass on eating birthday cake at a party - but then go home and eat a whole sleeve of cookies.

7  ~ As a good friend once pointed out - I'm a wanna-be extrinsic person....but truly intrinsic.  At first I disagreed, but now I see it.

8  ~ The most miles I've ever run.  I wouldn't call myself a runner - I more appreciate being fit and healthy.

9  ~ I have a blanket.  It's green.  Silky.  I sleep with it.  And I'm 32?!?!

10 ~ Not a writer.  During school teachers would cover my papers with red pen (when I was teaching I never used the red pen because of this). I love reading blogs/writings of other people who have such great voices in their writing.  I tell the facts and leave very few details out.  I've always liked collecting quotes, they give me the words that I don't have.  And I often ask other people what they would say in a certain situation.

11 ~ I was almost suspended in high school.  Why?  Graffiti.  I wrote my full name on the wall.  Dumb?!? Looking back, yes, but everyone wrote on the locker room wall - and this year I put my full name, was caught (duh), and had to spend a Saturday painting.

12 ~ This is my number.  3rd grade my teacher put my number (instead of names because that was too obvious) on the board for interrupting her.  It was the first time I really got in trouble in school.  Since then, I always choose the number 12.  Torture?

13 ~ Feel like this number pops up in my life a lot.  Day Tim and I starting dating, Erin's birthday, Olivia's birthday...

14 ~ I'm insecure, lack confidence, impressionable, always seeking approval and acceptance

15 ~ I say sorry - too  much.  I apologize for things that are out of my control.

16 ~ I do this because one of my biggest fears is disappointment.  I'm a people pleaser and I DISLIKE conflict.  I always have Tim reread my blogs in case I say something that might offend someone or hurt their feelings or wasn't nice enough.  Seriously!??!  Yes.  Really need to work on this.

17 ~ I'm a touchy person.  I'll sit close to you, hug you, etc

18 ~ A candle, glass of wine, some music, a good book, and a bath.  YES!

19 ~ I'm a Drama Queen and tend to overreact to situations (my daughter shows the toddler side of this).

20 ~ I'm Puerto Rican, Samoan, Hispanic, etc :)  Nope - just got nice skin coloring from my grandmother.  Also from my Grandmother?  Bunions.  Not nearly as cool as the skin color.

21 ~ In 4th grade kids called me donkey lips.  I came home crying about my lips to my mom....begging for a lip reduction.

22 ~ I'm independent.  Parents definitely helped encourage this in me and I really appreciate it.

23 ~ Wish I was a MUCH better singer and dancer.

24 ~ love board games (settlers, cities, dominion, trains, power grid, heck I'll even say clue, monopoly, life, etc) and card games and video games 

25 ~ I like rules.  I follow rules.  I don't like to be late and I watch with astonishment when I see someone overtly breaking a rule.

26 ~ I have overactive tear ducts.  That's not a medically diagnosed condition. But to say I'm emotional is an understatement.  Want someone to cry with you? Call me.

27 ~ I have a couple really close friends.  I know a bunch of people but prefer to keep my group small.  

28 ~ In second grade I decided I wanted to be a teacher.  Her name was Mrs. Riley - hope I inspired someone like she did me.  Related to teaching, I miss it....but don't know if I can work up the courage and motivation to ever do it again.

29 ~ I love to shop.  I love to shop a lot!! But then I have guilt for spending money - so I return.... A LOT.

30 ~ Believe I've got a bit of dsylexic (noticed how I spelled this wrong...left it incorrect for proof) in me.  Lefts and Rights were soooo hard for me until I've invested spending extra time teaching my daughter it.  I'm an awful speller (thank you spell check) and I often swap two numbers.

31 ~ In high school I was a junior and supposed to try out and play varsity soccer (I already spent two years playing JV).  However, I didn't.  My sister was a freshman and trying out and I didn't want to be compared to her when I knew she would kick butt.  And she did :)  A freshman starter.  But this is just one example of how much I compare myself to my sister.  She is always more stylish or more fit or traveled...etc.

32 ~ My husband is the smartest and funniest person I know.... even though he loses his wallet weekly ;)

Hungry!??!

Remember this picture we took when kiddos were sick and we knew Mason was starting to feel better because he went into the pantry to get food????

Look what happens now....ALL THE TIME.  Multiple times a day.

He has even managed to climb the stairs carrying the goldfish.

Family

{love}

Merry Merry!!!!

I love Christmas.  Maybe more now, than ever :)

Yes, I was awake at 4am.  

It was a wonderful day - exhausting - but perfect.  Everyone got exactly what they wanted, AND MORE! 

The last picture of the slideshow captures a sweet moment.  A great day, with family.  

Olivia's quote, "I love getting lots of presents!"

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!!

(Remember - you can see all the photos from today here)

Highlights from Today:

*Olivia made Santa his cookies

*Then she made cookies for Mommy and Daddy - some DELICIOUS ginger snaps!!!

*Took some family pictures (not everyone wanted to participate)

*devoured Hertel traditional lasagna dinner

*wrote Santa a letter

*laid out Santa's cookies and milk and Rudolph's carrots (jerry helped eat those)

*opened Christmas pjs

*watched Sound of Music

*read "The Night Before Christmas" and snuggled in bed to wait for Santa

Santa

okay - everyone knows how much I love pictures.  BUT today I'm going to give you all a break. I won't post all 600 pictures that I've taken this holiday weekend. 

here's the link to 171 of my favorites :)

Highlights from Today:

*Olivia woke up with crazy hair

*Took some photos of my cute kiddos

*Our visitors arrived

*We saw Santa 

(Mason, although very curious about him, did NOT want to sit on his lap.) 

(Olivia asked for a princess bike)

*Had a lovely mexican dinner out

*Olivia and Mason took a ride in a one horse open sleigh ;)

*Santa's elf helped assemble a particular princess bike

Tomorrow

Loving our beautiful home.

Tomorrow our guests arrive and will fill our home with even more Christmas spirit.

I love this Season!!

Pups

Did I tell you we are watching two other puppies this Christmas?!!?  

They are fun.  

Situations are FUNNY.

Check this out.

Anyways, they eventually made it off the driveway looking like this.

 And fifteen minutes later, I got a text that looked like this!!!!

That's impressive.  Seriously impressive.

(Jerry, Sierra, Cooper) 

Sierra is the Johnson dog - we've watched her many times before and love her dearly.  She's an older lady who is a bit set in her ways - but she lets you know what she wants and loooooves you when you sit on the floor and rub her tummy.  

Cooper is our neighbor's dog.  He's a pup.  A  young pup.  He has energy and excitement and curiosity and love.  He follows me around all day long.  If I walk into the bathroom to change the toilet paper, he is there. And then I go to the garage to get out a screwdriver, he's looking at me wondering if it's a philips or flat head?

And then there is Jerry and Cooper.  Together they are complete craziness!!  And I love it.  I lay on my bed at the end of the night and just watch them play and be silly dogs.  Sierra finds all the "horse-playing" silly and just watches - I think she's just laughing at them, like I am.  We actually have to tell Jerry and Cooper to go to bed - and then like kids, they push the limits...at some point they realize we are serious.  

But having three dogs is interesting.  You can't feed them at the same time in the same place because no one eats their own food.  So then you have to put them in different places - but none of the dogs will eat in the garage. Jerry already has his extreme quirks about eating... so feeding time is a bit complicated.  

I've taken a lot of photos of the pups - mostly when they are laying down because I'm shocked to see them not playing.  Jerry and Cooper also share beds.  Last night I woke up and found them in the other's bed.  The one photo is of the dogs in the garage.  They played outside this morning (after it rained all night) and they were FILTHY and wet.  So they were sequestered for a bit.  I was feeling guilty and set up the monitor to see what they were doing :o  (notice Sierra and Cooper bunkin'?)

Tonight we went on a walk to look at Christmas lights with them (and the kids).

Getting excited about Santa coming!!!!

Amazon

Thank you amazon (especially amazon prime) for your free shipping, tons of products, and convenience.

You have been instrumental in helping our family have a WONDERFUL holiday season!!!

Leaves

ooooo...lala.  All the leaves in the area that are not evergreens - are beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow.  We do get this lovely foliage - it's just not nearly as dense at the North East and happens months later.

In our new house we have multiple deciduous trees.  Look how beautiful this tree is by our pool. 

And the kids have thoroughly enjoyed playing in our front lawn where we have LOTS of leaves. 

  

Holiday Craftin

First we made some ornaments - we'll paint them in a couple of days :)  Olivia did an excellent job putting all the ingredients together, rolling out the dough, and using the cookie cutters.  

Then to keep the funness going - we got out the gingerbread house.  Olivia loooooved this and was really into adding the decorations everywhere. 

Mason, on the other hand, wanted to eat.  Olivia would put on a decoration and Mason took that as his cue to eat it.  He would grab it back off and put it into his mouth.  After the fifth candy - we called it quits for him.  He didn't take that news well.

And then I felt guilty for not allowing him to participate - so he ate more.

I think the house turned out PERFECT!

A Tower

WOW Mason!!!!  That's a very impressive tower that you built -- all by yourself!!!

Not trying to start any competitiveness  .... but you are only two blocks away from beating your sister's best!

Foto Friday

haha - CAUGHT!

Tim and I were sitting in the family room watching TV.  The kids were playing nicely.  Then it got quiet, Tim and I noted it...but decided to ignore the quietness and just enjoy the moment.  Buuuuut after three minutes of quiet, we investigated.

Thrilled they want to eat :)

And Today --

Double Ear Infection for Mason-Man

And I thought he was getting better, just fighting a lame-o cold.  But yesterday he grump-pants not fun and this morning he was inconsolable...wanting to be held, fussy, still not eating, not being nice to his sister, etc.  

So we ventured out - to the drs (whoop - we are going somewhere!) And I actually got the guilt trip question: "How long has he been this sick?  Both of his ears are really infected." At which point my eyes filled up with tears and told her about my past 7 days.  She started typing into the computer...probably something along the lines of  

"mom going cr-AY-zy".

Got him a prescription - and Olivia asked for some food!!!  

Both good things :)  

Day 6

Yes, that's 6 days of sick kids.  

6 days of me and kiddos not leaving the house. 

6 days of dealing with NASTY.

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiix days

Guess what?

o.v.e.r. i.t

Kids still aren't eating and are grumpy and sensitive and having bathroom issues.  Olivia seemed to be getting better on Monday and then Tuesday was back to puking again (good thing we celebrated her birthday on Saturday).  I felt so bad for her yesterday.  She was begging and crying for something to drink, but if she drank something - it came right back up :(  I called the dr who gave us a Rx for zofran....which has helped keep some of the drinks down.

Mason - somehow in our days remaining SECLUDED in our nasty house - got a cold?!?!  Green snot and cough - how does that happen?

Today I decided to take kids outside and expose them to fresh air - Olivia walked to the end of our driveway and then sat down and cried for me to come pick her up because her legs were too tired.  It's been since Saturday when she's had food - her body is so weak.  

Some iphone pictures from the past few days.  Olivia has resorted to laying with empty sippy cups since I wouldn't let her have anything to drink.  Mason (on Tuesday) showed some signs of improvement by going into the pantry and bringing Tim the container of goldfish (first time he's ever done something like that). 

The Third Year

This is our girl - we love every bit of her

Tidbits (from Mommy and Daddy)

*wears anywhere from 2T-4T
*shoe size 8 (although I bet we are getting closer to 9)

*loves nightgowns, dresses, skirts, sparkles
*loooooves princesses - and can't emphasize that enough

*puts on "lips" (lip gloss) the princess version every morning (it's the bribe to get our hair brushed)

*does a pretty good job brushing her teeth by herself

*sleeps at least 12 hours at night and takes one 2-3 hour nap

*really enjoys just laying in bed with her silky blankets and sucking her thumb (there are mornings we come up to get her out of bed and she chooses to stay there longer)

*still does not get out of her bed unless we come in to get her (we've even told her she can get out)
*rarely falls asleep anywhere but bed, with the only other place being the car

*rides a tricycle and knows how to ride a bike with training wheels

*likes to run with Daddy

*asks to, "stay up late and watch mommy's show"

*has a lot of drama queen in her - and she gets this very fine tuned skill from her momma (we are REALLY good at it)

*still sucks her thumb - although we are trying to work on stopping that

*wears diapers at nap and night.  nap time she is almost always dry, night - depends on how much Mommy watched liquid intake after dinner

*gives her smiles cautiously

*watches and observes situations before slowly approaching
*if nervous or anxious usually  hops like a frog and says "ribbit" 

*looooves tv/movies/computer/ipad

*has some rhythm- shakes her little self whenever she hears a good beat

*some words to describe her: strong willed, spirited, opinionated, independent, head-strong

*has excellent manners and really surprises us sometimes with them (love that!)

*knows ABCs, shapes, colors, numbers through 20, started to "read" books

*will write her name (although you can only recognize the O and L and there are 4 or more i's)

*likes crafts and coloring
*loves to go to school

*eager to help cook
*can be very helpful and loves a job 

*hair grows VERY slowly
*thrives on consistency and routines....she is the one that actually holds me accountable :)
*concerned about other peoples feelings "this will make daddy happy" "mommy is a little bit frustrated" "mason-man is sad" 

*likes to sing songs - but often gets stuck on favorite parts and repeats it over and over (broken record style)...we often have to intervene and move on to the next verse

According to Olivia

Favorite Color: Red

Favorite Person to Play with: Mason (melt my heart)

Best Place to Shop: Target

Good Place to Play: The Park

Favorite Animal: Horse

Favorite Dog: Jerry

Favorite Food: Mac and Cheese & Pirates Booty

Favorite Drink: Milk
All of the above were very consistent answers 


Favorite Movie: varied - anything with princesses or lion king
Favorite Princess: varied - Snow White, Ariel, Aurora, Rapunzel 

A good thing about having a sick sister: 

freedom to play with her princess :)

**Her surgery is rescheduled for January 12th**

sickness

Olivia woke up this morning and I thought to myself - phew, maybe she isn't going to catch Mason's ugly bug after all.  Two minutes later she was puking.  

And hasn't stopped :(

I called to cancel the surgery - there is no one who knows who I should call.  The one lady said, "I'll inform the office when they open on Monday."  I asked what time that was...she replied 9am.  "Her surgery is at 8:30am".  The receptionist actually says - "well, I guess they'll figure it out when she doesn't show up."

Seriously?

Another person I spoke to trying to cancel the surgery said, "Are you sure you want to cancel?"  I replied, "I thought it would be a good idea since she is so sick.  What do you think?"  This person actually said - "I don't know, it's just hard to schedule these surgeries".  

No freakin kidding!  This is why I'm frustrated about having to cancel, BUT I don't think the hospital system would want my germ infected family invading their environment that they try to keep as sterile as possible.  AND I don't think it would be recommended for a sick child to have a surgery....

Wow.  I'm very disappointed that all these plans we've made and phone calls and insurance stuff is all for nothing now.  YES - as one person stated - we will be able to reschedule, it's just annoying.  And maybe, I was just looking forward to having all of this behind us.

But enough about the lame surgery stuff - the kids are really sick.  Mason slept from 6pm-8am, 930am-11:00, 1200pm-130, 330pm-5.  And now back in bed at 7pm.  He doesn't want anything to eat or drink - love trying to force the liquids.  I've resigned to giving him some liquids in an eye dropper like it's meds.

Olivia (who is white as a ghost) has been sick since 830 this morning.  She begs for something to drink, she throws it up.  I read somewhere to give just spoonfuls of liquids - but she has thrown that up too. 

Tim and I are just watching the clock tick - wondering if it's going to take it's toll on all of us

on the bright side the texans won today - going to the playoffs :)
 love some football victories.  

Happy 3rd Birthday Olivia!!!

Oh, the best laid plans - last night as I finished the "foto friday" post - we discovered Mason, very sick in bed :( And he was sick the rest of the night :(  So our celebration had to be toned down some - and we let friends know that we would need to reschedule for another day.  BUT - we still had a wonderful day together.

A birthday girl picture.

Olivia with her VERY princess birthday cake.

Some family pictures

She blew out her candle all by herself :) 

Present time!  Thank you Grana and Grampa!!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!

Thank you Aunts/Uncles/Cousins and dear Friends

A birthday girl who is getting sleepy :)

Foto Friday

We are in full party mode!!! 

(due to lame parents who schedule a T&A the day before your birthday, 
we've decided to pretend the 10th is this year's 13th)

  Celebration begins tomorrow for a little girl who will NO LONGER be two!!!  All those toys that say for children 3+...that now includes my sweet girl :)

Sweet Dreams Olivia - it's your last hours being 2!!!

Good Shepherd

Already love this school and her teachers so much!  They knew she was going to miss next week and decided to celebrate her birthday early.  So today she wore her birthday shirt and brought in a snack for her classmates :)  When I picked her up, she rode home in the car singing "happy birthday olivia".

Later, I looked in her backpack and there was a decorated package.  

To Mommy and Daddy

From Olivia

It's already my favorite present this year.

 

WOW

Loooove all the Christmas decorations in The Woodlands.  There are neighborhood competitions and awards...therefore, some houses are uber motivated!  We've already spent many nights driving around looking at lights - saving some of the best neighborhoods for just before Christmas :)

Mason has recently learned the word "wow"...it's pretty cute, especially when we are driving around.

Her Breathing

When were asking Olivia what the dr is going to do on Monday - she replies, "He's going to take my throat out". Lol.

We talked about the details a little more, stating that it's not her "throat" but rather the biiiig tonsils inside of her throat.

Captured some video of her breathing - more for my sake, after the surgery, to remind myself that she now doesn't have to work so hard to breathe - or sound like darth vader.

T & A

Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy....for Olivia....one week from today :(

Ugh and my stomach turns just thinking about it.  I have reservations about it, but we've seen multiple doctors who all agree this is the route we need to go.  

She has been a mouth breather for as long as I can remember.  Some times it's worse than others.  She snores.  Some months it's better than others. She is up at night not sleeping, and the next day her behavior is WAY off because of the lack of sleep.  We addressed it with her pediatrician awhile ago who referred us to an ENT.  We been using naosnex nose spray for awhile (it can help shrink her adenoids) but doesn't help her tonsils (which have been ranked 3+).  We can't see her adenoids, but the snoring and the mouth breathing are indicators that they are large.  Her tonsils are ALWAYS big.  Sometimes they touch each other and sometimes just the uvula.  She has had periods of choking on her food and drink because they are so large :(   It is shocking to look in her mouth and see how big her tonsils are :(  

I uploaded a picture of her tonsils if you want to see them...warning, her tonsils are BIG...it's not a pretty picture.  

So surgery is scheduled for Monday, December 12th.  Her 3rd birthday is the next day on the 13th...not the best present.  We were told to expect two weeks for recovery (mmmrrrr), so hopefully she will be back in good shape by Christmas.  The surgery will be completed downtown at Texas Childrens.  Because of her age, she will be admitted overnight.  We will find out more of the details this Friday when they give us our time slot.  

I have mixed feelings.  There are days when I don't think her breathing is as bad, and I don't want to do the surgery...but then she chokes on her food or I see her awake in the middle of the night...and I know it's what we need to do.  And of course I don't want my child to have surgery and go through recovery...but then the sweet girl will open her mouth and I will see those bulging tonsils...and know that we need to do this.   

  

Oh Christmas Tree

This weekend we decorated our Christmas tree.  Decided to go for the VERY friendly, child-created tree.  Although I do love those really fancy pretty trees -- just don't think it's appropriate or very fun right now :)

So Olivia helped us decorate.  And for every ornament Olivia put on the tree, Mason took one off.  We lost a couple of ornaments in the process and ate a couple of the candy canes (yum)

If you look closely, you will see the section that Olivia dedicated herself to decorating.  It's a cluster...and every night when I look at it I smile  :)  

Annual Outten Christmas PAAAAAARTY!

Probably one of my favorite events of the holiday season...The Outten FANCY Holiday Party.  We get all dressed up, hang out with a bunch of lovely people, and have a wonderful evening.  Remember last year???

We started our night by going out to dinner with the Johnsons.  Somehow, we never go out to dinner and have decided to start making this a monthly habit :)

And then onto the REAL party :)  

Tim and I coordinated...I'm loving his bowtie :o

And FINALLY a decent group picture of our Texas Family.  

And because we didn't go to prom as a group, but would have wanted to...

we did the traditional prom pose.

Other Highlights - French Oaks Represent! 

And Tim...saying good-night

Thank you Outtens for hosting a VERY fun night!