Troha Family

Kendall's Princess Party

2011-03-27T20:40:00.009-05:00

So Kendall turned 3 in January and she had a Princess party. Everyone came dressed in their princess clothes and were SO cute! Boas and tiaras were everywhere! We decorated crowns with rhinestones and made some whoopie pies. Right as we were about to open presents, we were graced with the presence of King Paps. Jeff's dad came dressed in a king costume and was so sweet. We were all surprised. So glad that everyone could make it. Such a fun day that I will always remember. Thank you Lori for all of your help. ;)

Table in the entry way.

A den fit for princesses.

Daddy bringing his princess her balloon. Yes, his motto is go big or go home!

Kendall and her best friend Kori Jade

Decorating their crowns

Jamie holding Princess Lola, Kori's little sister

Lisa and Toni

Kori loving her some whoopie pie

Kendall eating some too

Sweet Sawyer making her whoopie pie

The King has arrived

The King presenting Kendall with her gift

King Paps, Kendall, Kori and Izzy

Singing happy birthday

Me and my princess

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...even a princess!

Mimere and her princess

Welcome, Baby Jace!

2011-03-24T12:19:00.015-05:00

So, as you probably know by now that our Little Handsome (as I affectionately call him daily) is here. And what an entrance he made! This is going to be my birthing story. I'm going to have to post my other two later on since I wasn't blogging with their births. I won't get gruesome...but just a warning.

His due date that I was given by the midwife was October 9 but I made it October 14. The reason I did this is because BOTH girls came at 40 weeks and 5 days (technically Kendall came on the 6th day but at 1 AM). So anything before the 14th to me is early! I had my baby shower on Saturday, September 25. It was so very nice. But little did I know that it was only 1 week before I had my precious handsome. During the next week, I would get contractions almost every time I would walk around. However, they would stop after I sat down. I didn't mind, because I know that means it's less I have to do at game time. ; )

So on the morning of October 2 I had quite the surprise. I had bloody show. Now this was shocking. See, I NEVER had my water break before labor. My only indicator is bloody show that morning. Not very much, just a tiny bit. I told Jeff, but I was only 39 weeks that day so I wasn't thinking anything. That night, it had already been planned for the girls to spend the night with Grammy, Jeff's mom. So we were having a date night. Jeff suggested that we go to Southlake Town Center to walk around to see if we could get any contractions going. I said sure but I was thinking he was going to be disappointed. So I certainly didn't have any intentions of getting contractions going for labor by any means. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We got out there around 5:00 and started walking around. There was a great breeze that had just started to come through. And sure enough, I started walking so the contractions began coming off and on. Then at around 9:00 they were getting more intense and closer together. I was in shock that things were actually going to happen. We stopped at my Mom's house on the way to our house. At this point, Jeff was starting to get worried because he wasn't able to get in touch with our midwife which had never happened with the other two births. We actually got her mom on the phone and she told us that Amy was at a play. So her sweet mother went to the play to find her. By the time we got to our house, it was 10:00ish, I think. Jeff was starting to freak out, my poor baby, wondering if Amy was going to make it. I knew my births so I calmly told him to calm down and that this baby wasn't on the verge of coming out yet.

Our friends, Nate & Lori, got to our house not long after we did. Mother and Leah weren't far behind them. Then Amy got there a little after them ~ bless her heart for having to miss her play. After a little while we decided to start walking the street. I got cold so we went back inside. We did that a few more times. I just remember it being such a beautiful night. Every time a contraction would come on, I would just fold into Jeffrey's arms and put my face in his chest while he held me through it. It felt so good to have him hold me like that.

Amy decided to check me after a couple of hours of walking. I was 4 cm dilated but his head was cocked to the side. She told me to help him out that I was going to have to change positions after 2 contractions. So I went from all 4's to lying on my left side to lying on my right side. It felt like I did that for an eternity!!! It took him a while to descend so I was doing that for a couple of hours. The whole time I just stayed calm and prayed for this to go as quickly and as safe as possible. Jeff was so amazing. He never left my side one time. Eventually I started falling asleep in between contractions while lying down. Finally I was sick of labor and ready to get things going. Amy asked if I wanted to sit on the ball and I immediately said YES!!! It's funny to me how birthing naturally is so primal. All you can do is focus on the process ~ I always forget things that are so basic and I already know.

At 3:15ish I sat on the ball and almost immediately felt the need to push. I asked Amy to check me to see if I was ready. She said I was at an 8. I told her that I really needed to push even though I wasn't at 10. She said, "Eva, if you feel the need to push, I'm not going to stop you." Honey, that's all I needed to hear. I started pushing and WHOA did something start to hurt. Now I know that it's usually supposed to hurt when you begin pushing, but this was different. I thought it was Amy hurting me with the warm compresses but she assured me that wasn't it. She said that I had an anterior lip, which Jeff informed me later that even the women he gives epidurals too complain about the pain with anterior lips!! Amy said that the lip would move with each contraction as I pushed. I SO didn't want to have to push with that much pain, but of course My Father gave me all that I needed. All of a sudden I felt and heard this pop ~ kind of like a tendon/ligament going over a bone ~ and immediately Amy told me that was it and everything was ready. Jace's head was out on the next push. It was so funny that he immediately began crying with just his head out and the rest of him still in. The rest of his body came out on the next push at 3:27 am. He weighed 7 pounds even and was 22 inches long.

I absolutely love birthing at home and feel so blessed that I have been able to for all 3 children now. It really is amazing how God designed our bodies to handle it. Trust me, if I can handle that with the low pain tolerance that I have, then anyone can do it. It's the most non-allergenic environment for the baby to come into since it's been exposed to everything in the house all through the pregnancy. The list goes on and on for my reasons. Again, I am just so blessed. I love that the baby comes to me immediately and doesn't leave me for at least 20-30 minutes. We are doing nothing but looking at each other and bonding that entire time. Praise the Lord I wasn't hooked up to a lot of monitors or I wouldn't have been able to change positions like I did and most likely would have ended up with a C-section had I been in the hospital.

It didn't take long at all for him to settle. He had no desire to nurse whatsoever. I don't think he latched on until an hour or so later...not sure because there is NO concept of time during and after birth. Lori is a Le Leche League leader and she said he had a great latch. I was just in so much shock that he was really there.

Having a contraction on the ball

Just getting started ~ about 10:30

Yep, I'm about to pop!!

Having a contraction while lying on my left side

Pretty sure we're sleeping here in between contractions

I loved this one...pretty sure I'm asleep though

Here's that anterior lip

And here he is

Whew! I'm glad that's over!!

Daddy cutting the cord

First time he looked around

Love at first sight!

We're all smiling

I wish I could remember what he was saying LOL

Proud big sisters!!

Think he's loved??

One very happy and blessed family

Proud grandmothers

I love my family!!

So precious!!!

Daddy putting on his first diaper

So sweet!!

Proud Aunt Leah

Nate & Jace

Kissing my baby good night

I'm Back....Again!!

2011-03-22T11:21:00.003-05:00

I have been trying to get back to blogging for months now, but I just kept getting so overwhelmed. What should I begin with? If I pick up where I left off, I'll be here for HOURS blogging. Oy!! So I'm just doing this....blogging that I'm blogging again. ; ) Not sure where I'm going to begin so, we'll see...

Gone Baby Gone!

2010-08-22T15:32:00.003-05:00

So here we were at 1 week before Avery started 1st grade. She still had yet to have a loose tooth let alone pull one! (She didn't get her first tooth until 8 months, so I tried to keep that in mind to justify her taking so long.)

Well it all started when she bit into a bar that had nuts in it, and her tooth got loose. She worked on it for a couple of hours (seriously, her hand was in her mouth for that long) and got it very loose. Jeff was working, so I told her to hold off so he could see it. After all, this is our oldest baby with her first loose tooth ~ big stuff!!

We went to eat at his parents house that night. When the girls and I walked in, Phil, my father-in-law, already had a string ready. I had to tell him no and remind him that Jeff wanted to see it and be there when she pulled it. So when Jeff got home, he took his turn at it. He put a string around the tooth, but it wasn't quite ready. She got a little emotional thinking that it was going to hurt. So we finally convinced her that it wouldn't hurt that bad, if it hurt at all. Before we left, the girls had it set to stay there with their grandparents. I told my father-in-law and Avery that there was to be no tooth pulling while we were gone. I know my FIL and how he was just itching to get his turn at the tooth.

So wouldn't you know that at 6 the next morning we had a text saying that the tooth had come out the night before. Somehow a string got wrapped around the tooth and was pulled out by Paps. Needless to say, Jeff and I were pretty bummed not to have been there. Not that this is a huge milestone, just something that we felt important. The good thing is she has a mouthful of teeth needing to be pulled that we'll get to see. I also learned a very good lesson ~ NEVER leave my children with Paps if I want to pull the tooth instead of him. ;)

Jeff asked Avery if he could keep her first tooth instead of giving it to the tooth fairy that night. He said that it was so special to him that he really wanted to keep that one ~ but we would give the tooth fairy all the rest. Of course, he would give her a gift so she wouldn't be missing out. She was so sweet she complied with him. The tooth fairy was so touched by her generosity that she came and left a note with money anyways. So here is my baby girl with her missing tooth....

Avery's Kindergarten Graduation

2010-08-11T06:22:00.011-05:00

How could I almost forget to put this one in?!? Avery had her Kindergarten Graduation in May. They sang 3 songs and did their presentation of awards at the end. We were so excited. Avery had her own cheering section of course, you know the Troha's motto ~ Go big or GO HOME! ;) Kendall was so cute during the songs. She was singing every one of them with the kids. We were all so proud. She got several awards...can't remember them now with my pregnant brain. ;)

Very proud Daddy with his daughter

Proud Momma too

Jeff's Dad (Paps), Mom (Grammy) & sister Tracie (C)

Kendall & Jeb (our nephew)

My Mother (Mimere) and her new hubby, Terry (Poppy)

Kendall loves her Poppy

Molly (niece), Kendall & Jeb

Grammy, Jeb & Mimere

Kendall with her Paps (2 peas in a pod which is very scary!!)

Avery in her place (above the two girls' hats)

There's our superstar!!

Avery about to receive her awards

Avery with her God-send of a teacher, Mrs. Wright

Aunt Debra

Poppy, Mimere and the girls

Grammy, Paps and their girl

Gabe (Jeff's cousin/BFF), Renee & Isabelle

Our special girl

Can't believe we got a family shot in there!!!

July 2010

2010-08-10T13:02:00.010-05:00

So not so much happened during the month of July. We laid low for the month. As the temperature rises, we become hermits. But there was one big deal of the month and that was Avery's first haircut and style at the salon. She's had her hair cut since she was tiny by our Aunt Debra, which is wonderful. But I thought for the big chop, I'd take her with me. The decision To cut it all off was made by me one morning out of frustration. She was crying yet again from brushing, which I do SO much more gently than my mom did. I told her since she never lets me do anything with it (ponytail, bows, headbands, etc) and cries at brushing, it was all coming off! That was it. So I asked my stylist if he would do it for us and he said of course. He is nothing short of wonderful (so is his wife that is one of my dearest friends).

So we just fit her in during my cut and color that day. She was so excited she could hardly stand it. My mom came up to watch so she could take the girls with her while he finished my cut and style. She didn't cry while he brushed and styled her hair. She sat there with a big smile on her face ~ most of the time (funny the faces we make during the blow dry). So without any further ado, I present to you Avery and her new hair style.

Here she is right before getting in the chair

She's in the chair and he's getting the cape ready

Here we go...

Making the first big chop

And it's off! That's Mom over her shoulder playing with Kendall

Now for the layers

Now for the fun part

Look at that face....I hope I don't do that during my cut.

She's toughing it out!

Look at all of that hair. We probably should have donated it!

You know Ms. Sassy Pants has to get a shot posing too!!

My baby looks all grown up now!! The cut was obviously a success in her eyes.

June 2010

2010-08-10T08:36:00.012-05:00

I can't believe summer has already come and gone. I feel like I have just gotten bigger by the second...as well as the girls!! As I write this, I am almost 32 weeks pregnant now and goodness it seems to be flying by. I've been getting asked if I'm counting down the days quite often now that I'm in the 30+ weeks. It made me realize that no, I'm really not. I'm not counting down the days to get this baby out. I am counting down the days in excitement of getting to hold this precious baby in my hands and see what my Father created for and gave to us. Maybe it's because this is most likely my last one or that I realized how truly blessed I am with all my pregnancies being so very easy. Enough about me, let's get to the fun stuff.

Well, our summer got off to a start with Avery's last day of kindergarten. I could not believe that it was already over. She was so excited....mainly because she knew we were taking our first vacation the next week. ;) Nonetheless, we had to take pictures to commemorate the day. I promise that even though it doesn't look it, we brushed her hair that morning!!

All dressed and ready to go in her favorite uniform...the jumper

Can't leave without a big hug from lil' sis!! Obviously I wasn't the only proud one.

The next week we took off for our first family vacation ever (with Kendall ~ we did go to the beach with Avery when she was 18 months old). We went to San Antonio this year and had such a great time!!! We stayed at the most amazing resort. I promise, I would look around and be in disbelief that we were in Texas. The heat wasn't even that bad. We stayed at the La Canterra Westin Resort and were amazed. We left two days and that's all. The first time we left was to visit Fiesta Texas. Oh my how it was hot!!! Jeff and I were so bummed that we didn't get to ride the big coasters. I told him to ride without me buy my prince charming wouldn't hear of it. He took the girls on the log ride that they loved. The heat certainly got to us pretty quickly though, so we headed home for lunch (it was less than a mile away). When we got there, Jeff noticed that Kendall had fallen asleep while trying to climb up in the chair. The picture follows this. It was SO funny. Then she wouldn't wake up for anything!! The other day we went shopping for the first time at the outlet malls in San Marcus!! We never went to Sea World because the girls were having so much fun at our resort. I don't know why. Maybe it was the 5 different pools or the tennis court filled with bouncy house slides that also had cotton candy made on demand. I was SO glad that we were able to take that trip. We made so many memories. I can't wait to make more with another addition to our family.

Yes, she is passed out!!

Getting ready for the animal show in the lobby.

The girls petting the hedgehog. He was SO cute!!

Daddy chillaxin in the pool. Isn't he a hottie??

Avery coming down the slide

Striking a pose at the end

Kendall getting a little carried away by the slide. She always made the funniest faces of fear coming down, but would end up with a smile!!

We made S'mores by the pools every night. The girls especially enjoyed this part!

Avery roasting her marshmallows with one of the workers

Kendall showing off her finished product

A proud Daddy with his girls

Avery & Kendall in the pool cheesing it up after S'mores

Making crafts in the craft room. I'm telling you, this place is AMAZING!

A view of the entire room. Notice Daddy watching a movie in the background.

Yes, Kendall Did it AGAIN!!!

2010-04-13T20:15:00.007-05:00

So my baby girl, has done it AGAIN. This poor baby got yet another fractured arm. So for those of you keeping count, that makes it 3 broken arms ~ 2 on one side and 1 on the other. She was sitting at the kitchen table which is one of those higher tables (that she has been sitting at for over a year now). She was on her knees facing the opposite direction asking me if I (who was in the kitchen) wanted the crust to her sandwich. As she was turning back around she somehow lost her balance (didn't see that part) and fell off the chair (saw that part). By the time I got to her (about 5 steps away) her head was down and her feet were up in the air. I thought she had landed on her head and was checking her pupils immediately. But then she screamed, "My arm!" I knew right then that she had fractured it. She was such a trooper. Unfortunately I had a new, pregnant patient driving over to me from Dallas and had already left. I didn't have the heart to tell her to turn around. So I just brought the girls with me, Avery was home on Spring Break, to the office. Kendall slept the entire time on the couch with an ice pack on her arm.

The ER was quite a different experience this time. We went to Mansfield Methodist, which is where we went for the previous 2 fractures in 2008. The longest we had been there waws 2.5 hours and it was on a busy night. That day didn't seem that busy at all when we got there at 4:30. Thank goodness Gabe, Renee and Izzy came to visit us while we were in the waiting area. That made that 1.5 hours go by much quicker. Let me just say that I was NOT a happy camper when we finally left at 8:30!!! Yes, 4 hours later!!! I was starving, the girls were starving and exhausted. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well I was so strong that night I was about to kill somebody myself!!! When the nurse was going through our discharge papers and realized that we didn't have copies of the x-rays, she told me she'd get them to copy them quickly and it wouldn't be long. I replied, "Wait a minute. When you say it won't be long, are you referring to your ER world time or real-world time?" I was not laughing when she laughed in reply. That is SO not like me. Amazing what some hormones in a pregnant woman and fatigue and hunger will do to me!!

It turned out to be a tiny hairline fracture of the radial bone. She had a bright pink cast on for 2 1/2 weeks (yes, during Easter). No, the doctor isn't worried about her health at all since she's done this before. She's just one of those kids that falls just the wrong way on the right bone and it gives. She was amazing and didn't even bat an eye when they were sawing it off. She is SO strong.

All smiles that morning before the splint

My gorgeous girls, growing so fast!!

Ah, the moments when they actually show their love! ;)

Daddy and Kendall waiting for the cast

Got the sock on (that's what I call it)

Cast is on

Avery's First Daddy-Daughter Dance

2010-04-13T19:57:00.003-05:00

Oh my goodness, Avery's first dance finally arrived. Jeff had been waiting for this night for YEARS - 6 to be exact. It almost didn't happen though. She got so upset about going that afternoon and started crying saying that she didn't want to go. I think she was nervous about dancing in front of a lot of people. This is my shy child that really doesn't like all of the attention (crazy considering she is a Troha!!). We told her that she was going to go and give it a try - we are trying to teach her that through these moments. She calmed down and she agreed. Whew!

When it came time to leave, Jeff went all out. It's very important to Jeff that he teaches and models to our girls how a husband should treat his wife and boyfriend should treat his girlfriend. As usual, he comes to the door and rings the bell with flowers in hand (honestly, he did the same for me for our entire first year). He also had a corsage with him for the dance. We took pictures and then they were off. He called me about 20 minutes telling me that she pretty much ditched him as soon as they got there to dance with her friends. He interrupted her for one slow song. Jeff was finally doing what he had been anticipating for so long only to cut off. She told him she needed to find her friends before the song was even over. He was just heart-broken. Poor baby. They did have a good time though and enjoyed some ice cream when it was over.

Kendall's Third Birthday

2010-04-13T14:46:00.010-05:00

So our baby girl turned 3!! She did it with such style too. Ha ha We had family and friends over for much the same thing we did for Avery’s. We blew up the bounce house and let the kids run and jump and play. The fellowship with the adults was so nice. Apparently, Kendall loves baseball hats…probably because her Daddy does too. Paps (Jeff’s Dad) got her a hat with Ariel on it and we couldn’t get her to take it off!! Little did we know, but I was carrying a baby that day. ;) One memory that sticks out is what she did during the gift unwrapping. She would unwrap and gift and run to hug and kiss the person that gave it to her. I’m including some of those. It was just so precious….she wasn’t picky on who received adult/child, boy/girl! The pictures begin on her actual birthday. We let the birthday girl/boy pick what they want for breakfast and donuts wins every time! The party pics follow.

Her birthday donut

Digging in

All dressed and ready for the party

Kendall with Paps

So cute!!

Kendall and her best friend, Kori Jade (she's one month older than Kori)

Kendall hugging Brenden for his gift

Isabelle isn't feeling the love as much. LOL

All the kids

Blowing out her candles

I'm still in shock we got a family picture!! I am SO blessed!!!

Back in the Saddle Again

2010-04-09T09:24:00.002-05:00

This is going to just be my getting back into the swing of things blog. I let so much time elapse that I just started feeling guilty and overwhelmed with each week that went by without a blog. To be honest, it started because we were having technical difficulties with our camera. Then the time just got away from me. :( So, I'm getting back in the swing of things and going to catch up. :)

Warrior Women

2009-10-14T12:33:00.003-05:00

I was so blessed this week by attending our monthly Flavour at church. Flavour is a gathering for the women of our church and Lisa Young, our pastor's wife, is the speaker. The praise and worship is all women as well. It is such an amazing night for me. I get so upset when I haven't been able to make it. It's so great to get to fellowship and meet women while there. I always feel so much better after I leave...and blessed!

This Fall the topic is Warrior Women. It has been such a great subject to talk about. I realized that I haven't been clothing myself in the FULL armor of Christ. What a blessing it is to have a heavenly Father that loves us so much He gave us a full set of armor to clothe ourselves with on a daily basis. It's just our jobs to put it on everyday. I haven't been doing such a great job of that. I'm so grateful that Lisa has reminded me and encouraged me to do it.

There is also a Flavour Magazine. I'm including the link on this so that you can check it out as well. It's a great magazine with articles that are super quick-reads. If any of you ever want to go to a Flavour, just let me know. They are on the first Monday of the month in Fort Worth. The full schedule is on the web....Lisa is quite the travelin' woman. Let me add how blessed I am to be surrounded by so many godly, warrior women. (you know who you all are!!) :-)

Here is the link for the magazine: http://fellowshipchurch.com/flavourmagazine

You Might Be a Redneck If....

2009-10-09T09:11:00.009-05:00

Well last weekend (the first weekend of October) we went back to Many, LA. Jeff and (his) Dad left Friday morning with the moving truck. His parents wanted to move the rest of their furniture down to the house in Many. So us girls stayed behind until Avery got done with school at 1:00. I LOVE how she is done early on Fridays!! We got on the road at 3:30....Mom (Jeff's), me, Avery, Kendall & Jake. We made one stop along the way to eat....Johnny's Pizza of course. So yummy but yet so easy for the everyone to eat in the car. We made it to Many in 4 1/2 hours!!! That's great time with the kids AND the dog! While we were there we had a great time and I thought we would share. Let me clarify one thing. I am using the word redneck in a joking manner. I'm not saying this to poke fun at anyone. I just thought that was fitting for the activities described below. Besides, I can say that since I have some in my family...takes one to know one I guess. LOL

So to answer the title above....

1. You shoot your own gun for fun.

Jeff brought our 9 mm down for me to do some target practice with. I haven't shot the gun in months so it was definitely time. We always bring Jake out with us so that it won't spook him if he ever has to hear it in the house. Of course, it is our prayer that he never will. For the first time, he wasn't scared of the cows and started chasing a few of them. It's amazing to see how much bigger he's gotten since the last time we went to Many in June!! Back to the shooting ~ I must say that I am quite the shot. I definitely can hit the target. I can also cock it (if that's what you call it on a handgun) or is it load it?? Whatever you call it when you slide the chamber back to load in the bullet from the cassette. That takes quite a bit of strength as I'm learning. But yes, between Jeff and I, we shot 100 bullets in less than 15 minutes. So fun though!

2. You race your suped-up lawn mower

So, Jeff's wonderful & precious cousin Brandy, along with her husband Rodney, told us that Robilene (a small town close to Many) was having a parade on Saturday and asked us to come with the girls. Her sister-in-law has a house right there on the parade route. Small-town festival parade? Absolutely!! The weather was so perfect. It was sunny with a breeze. Thank goodness Brandy & Rodney's family had extra plastic bags for candy for our girls! Then Brandy told us how they were going to have lawn mower races later, and that some of them even supe (however you spell that!!) theirs up so much so that one man can pop a wheelie in his!! This was the first time that I had heard of this sport. How funny is that?!? Yes, I did get a picture of the man popping his wheelie (he looked like Santa Claus)!! HI-larious! It was so much fun, and the girls filled up their bags with candy and beads. So now we don't have to buy candy to hand out for Halloween! We didn't stick around for the actual races though I'm sure they were a treat to watch.

3. You eat what was killed earlier that day.

Ok, so I am definitely a meat-eater. However, I don't partake in killing the meat that I eat. While we were out on Saturday, my nephew Jeb called us and invited us out. See this was the opening weekend of squirrel-hunting season. So they were all getting together and eating Squirrel Gumbo and wanted to invite us out. Yes, that's right, squirrel gumbo. Yes it's a rodent, but at least it's a rodent that eats nuts and not trash! Yes, I was born and raised in Louisiana but I don't think that I have ever had squirrel before. I'm pretty sure that I remember my mom making some turtle soup when I was young but I don't know if it had real turtle meat in it or not. We had company over that night and she didn't tell them what was in it until they had eaten it. I only remember this after one of their sons found me on facebook and reminded me. LOL So back to the gumbo. They were going to have a bonfire and a hayride for the kids also so we decided we would go out there for the girls. I did have a bite of the gumbo but with a bite of chicken and not squirrel...at least I don't think so. It was some good, spicy gumbo. We did the hayride and the girls loved it. Then they called all the kids inside for some fried snowflakes. I thought it might have been coconut or something since I had never heard of these before. No, they were folding up flour tortillas and cutting them like you do snowflakes. There was the biggest iron skillet with grease on the stove that I had ever seen. Seriously, the diameter had to have been 2 ft! They were frying them and then covering them in powedered sugar and cinnamon. Cute idea until one lady asked the man what they had fried in that grease earlier and he replied, "Do you really want to know??" as he was laughing hysterically. No one else was really paying attention to the conversation, because they were making snowflakes of the tortillas. What they failed to hear him say was rattlesnake. So they not only shot, killed and ate squirrel but also RATTLESNAKE?!? Needless to say, no my girls didn't have any of those. But it did make me laugh that's for sure.

We made the drive back home with Dad in a torrential down pour for almost the entire drive. We didn't stop once and got home in about 4 hours. Dad drove while I read one of the best mysteries I've read in a long time: Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer. I highly recommend it to anyone!!

We had a great time in Many though. It was nice to spend the weekend with Jeff since he will be working nights the entire month of October. He's doing his rotation of trauma. He will be done though in less than 2 months now! His official last day of class is December 4 and his graduation date is December 11. To say that we are excited is quite and understatement. Even better is that he was offered a job at the hospital he has been working at. That was what he wanted. So we are just praying that this is what the Lord wants for us. We also are praying that we follow Him in case He wants us somewhere else. So we'll just have to see.

Avery and Kami (Brandy's little girl) at 10 1/2 months

Ariel (Brandy's niece) & Avery at the parade

Kendall with some of her beads...scoping out the next car with candy

A guy in the parade

The racing lawn mower crew

Santa popping a wheelie on his!!

I'm thinking this one has hydraulics!

Brandy showing her LSU spirit in her clothes and beer can

Kendall petting the pony...she's almost as tall as the pony!!

Proud Daddy with his girls on the pony...they each got to ride it.

She's in Kindergarten!

2009-08-19T09:35:00.004-05:00

Avery, our oldest baby, is officially in kindergarten as of Wednesday, August 19, 2009!! OH MY GOODNESS!! How the heck did this day get here so fast?!? Everyone says that they grow so fast, but fast doesn't quite describe how it flies by.

I wanted to call and check on her all day long like I normally do when she's gone from me this long. I wish that there was a video camera in there so that I could watch her from afar. Mrs. Wright was so great that morning and had them out something to color on right when they got in so they would be busy. You can definitely tell this ain't her first rodeo!

That morning we all hit the ground running. It started at 6:20 when Mother called and woke us up ~ thank goodness! I got dressed, we got the girls out of bed, put the muffins in the oven, bathed the girls, dried Avery's hair, got them dressed, fixed her lunch, ate the muffins and we were out the door. Whew! I'm tired just putting all that down. She had a bit of a melt down while we were putting on the socks. Who knew they would be a size too big and come up over her knee caps? I only got the size that fit her according to her shoe size!! Thankfully I found another pair of socks that would work. She got it together and we were gone. The day was made even more special because all of her grandparents were here to surround her and encourage her with their love. Yes, we are all so very blessed.

Due to the traffic and limited parking, we decided to park a block away. Jeff and I held her hand on each side with her in the middle. She was so very excited and not nervous in the least. As we started walking down her hall my tears started forming. Mrs. Wright had the crayons out and the papers on their desks. So right away, they all got to business. Come to find out, the little girl that sits next to her lives right around the corner from us on our street! Avery barely even noticed that we were there at all. They stood up during the announcements to do the pledge of allegiance and she did so great. *Sigh* I was so very proud of her. Then it was time to leave for the boo hoo breakfast. I can't believe I only had a few tears well up. The breakfast was great because we were able to meet some more parents.

The day did not end there. That night I invited the family over to celebrate the day with us. Avery got to pick the meal. We had Sloppy Joes, sweet potato fries and lemon squares for dessert. We had Jeff's parents, Mother, Tracie, Barney, Jeb, Molly, Gabe, Renee, Izzy and Aunt Debra all over for dinner. Avery was so excited to tell everyone how much fun she had and how much she loved her school. Did I mention that we are blessed??

Needless to say, the day was a success. I just can't believe that this day is already here. I'm so shocked that it got here so quickly. That about wraps up our first day. Jeff and I are so excited to watch her learn and grow throughout this year. That's what helped us from getting so emotional on this day. Just the excitement that we have for her in all this year holds for her.

Us outside the school

Family pic taken by Mother

Avery and her Paps

Grammy and her girls

Mimere and her big girl

Gabe, Renee and a tired Izzy

Proud Mom & Dad

Molly, Tracie, Barney & Jeb

Aves & Aunt Deb

Cute Kendall

Kindergarten Eve

2009-08-18T23:34:00.004-05:00

Where to begin this one.....

Where have the years gone?? Avery, my oldest baby, starts kindergarten tomorrow. She is embarking on a new journey in her life. I'm so very excited for her but oh how this hurts my heart. It hurts because time has gone by so quickly. It has been such a blessing to raise her the past 5 1/2 years. She has already taught me so much. She has such a sweet, sweet spirit. She is so very generous. She is so joyous and encouraging. I could go on and on all night. I'm apparently trying to stall this as much as I can. If you notice the time of the post, it's almost midnight. Normally on a week night, I'm in bed by 10:00! I'm not even the least bit sleepy. I've made the muffin mix and put them in the fridge to put in the tins tomorrow morning, I've ironed her jumper, I'm washing a load of whites with her blouses and I made the tuna fish for her sandwich tomorrow. **sigh** The one thing that I can't prepare tonight is how her first day will go. I'm so excited for her. God has given me so many things to show me that this is where He wants her...and I'm so thankful for that. Jeff and I are so excited for her to get home and tell us all about her day. You know us, we're having everyone over tomorrow night for dinner. Avery picked out Sloppy Joes and Lemon Squares for her dinner and dessert. So, I guess there is nothing else left for me to do tonight.....

December 2008, 5 years old

December 2009

What a Rockstar, January 2009

My gorgeous baby, August 2009, 5 1/2

Reunion Weekend

2009-08-18T12:59:00.004-05:00

On July 18th, Mom and I left early that morning to drive to Shreveport. I had a couple of reunions to attend, and she had a baby shower to host. First thing on my agenda was to drive by mine and Jeff's first house. We got a house in Broadmoor and absolutely loved it. It was built in 1960. There are several things still there that we changed....the red door, the green (although much lighter) shutters and the trees on the side of the house that are much larger. My goodness how that took me back. That was before we even had kids!! Isn't it funny that after I left I just dropped in a furniture store and ran into my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Byers?! It was such a cute house that we worked so much one. Sigh

135 Bruce Ave., Shreveport, LA

Now onto my first reunion. Both of my reunions this weekend were because of facebook. My first cousin, Tiffany, is a year older than me. We had lost touch over the years...my phone that had her number in it years ago got dropped in water and I couldn't remember her married name. So it had been 9 years since we had seen each other last. We started corresponding on fb and texts a few times. Her oldest daughter, Meghan, was our flower girl when she was like 3 or so. Now she is about to be a FRESHMAN!!! Oh how old I feel. So anyways, we met at a great little sandwich place and had the best time. I don't think we stopped hugging each other in the parking lot for at least a minute...in the July heat!! We seriously talked for over 2 1/2 hours! LOL It was so great seeing her and being with her again. Just like true friends/family, we just picked right up where we left off last time. That meeting was such an answer to prayer for me. :)

Macy, me and Meghan

My gorgeous cousin, Tiffany

Then for the last reunion of the night. I got together with my Phi Mu sorority sisters from Northeast. About 70 of us or so have found each other on fb. Instead of saying over and over, "we need to get together," I decided to pick a weekend. I picked a weekend back in May to make it easier for us to plan around it. There were about 30 of us there! And about 5 of us were from DFW....sad that it took us going to Shreveport to get together. LOL Oh my goodness I had such a great time. It was amazing how fantastic everyone looked. Talk about picking up where we left off. But my goodness most of us were so different...moms, married, etc. It was so much fun seeing everyone. There were more of us from my pledge class than any other. This will definitely be an annual thing that we do for sure. There were so many from Monroe that didn't get to make it because of vacations. But I am so glad that we were able to do it.

This weekend I experienced one of my firsts. I actually lost my voice from talking so much! LOL Seriously, I did! I talked with mom the entire trip over to Shreveport that morning. Then the 2-3 hours with Tiffany. Then there was the 5-6 hours that night with my sisters. Then I had the ride back home with Mom. I couldn't talk the next 3 days!!! I guess there is a first for everything.

Sandy, my pledge mom, and Ashley

Raygan, my last college roommate

Kristin, Sarah & Jennifer Kinnard

Jennifer Roach, my first college roommate

Cammie

Our Hot July 4th

2009-08-18T12:24:00.004-05:00

OK, yes I do know that it's been almost 2 months since July 4th, but at least it's better than never!! LOL So on July 4th Jeff's parents asked us to join them for their anniversary night at the last minute. They were celebrating their 40th anniversary at a nice, new hotel in downtown Dallas. Once we secured babysitters with Mom and Leah, we were off. We stayed at The Joule which is one of the few luxury hotels in the world with Starwood hotels. There were good things and bad things about the hotel. The worst thing was the pool. We were all ready to go and relax by the pool first thing ~ which is pretty much the norm for anyone at a hotel in the summer. However, their pool isn't your typical pool. It's on the roof and surrounded by these big futon-type beds ~ which was great. In fact, I felt like I was walking into a pool in Miami...loud music, beds, scantily clad women, etc. But the pool there isn't for the guests at the hotel. It's actually owned by another company and you have to reserve the beds/sitting there. It's a $350 tab minimum to have a bed! Even if we had wanted to do that it wasn't an option since they were all taken. Needless to say we were all pretty disappointed to realize that we weren't getting to relax by the pool. Dad was pretty upset to say the least.

For dinner, we went to Ol' Warsaw. It's a very nice restaurant that we haven't been to in years. In fact, it's the place that Jeff took us for his Sr. Prom. LOL They have a crab-stuffed filet mignon that is absolutely delicious. Let me tell you that I ate every last bite of that steak!!! Oh yes I did and yes it was fantastic!!!

Now I'm saving the best for last. ;) Mom & Dad got a suite and we got a standard room. We all went to our rooms when we first got there. After we got settled, Jeff and I went down the hall to their room. They offered to change rooms with us for that night so that we could have the bigger one if we wanted (since they were planning to stay the entire weekend). I told them absolutely not. We LOVED our room ~ or should I say I? When I walked in the room, my mouth dropped to the floor. I will have a round bed one day. Not only was there a round bed, but the carpet was zebra print and the bed had red leather bed skirt!!! Yes, I did say red leather!! The wall across from our bed was full mirror with a flat screen TV ~ who the heck would want to watch TV?!? ;) It was a very small room...felt like we were in Europe, but very modern. So we had a fabulous time to say the least.

The view from the door of our bed

The wall directly across from the bed

The bathroom vanity...yes, that is a red counter and a red light in the sink!!

The shower...if you couldn't tell

Our robes that matched the carpet and room

Good-Bye Mammaw and Pappaw

2009-08-17T14:11:00.005-05:00

Jeff's grandmother on his mom's side, Mammaw Small, has been in the nursing home for a few years now. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1981. The last year has been rough for her in that she could barely even get out of bed and talk above a whisper. It was very hard to watch her go through that. She buried her husband back in the summer of 1993. So I know that she was so ready to go and meet him again in heaven but her little body just wouldn't quit. She finally went to be home with the Lord on July 24 at the age of 80. So we packed up and drove down to Many, La on the 26th and got there just in time for the end of the viewing. It was so great to see all of the family. It's so sad that it is so hard for all of us to get together at the same time! Her service was on Monday morning. Jeff was a pall-bearer and the girls did really well.

Then 2 1/2 weeks later we get the call that Pappaw Troha died on the morning of August 9. He was so ready to go...we know because he told us several times. He buried Mammaw in March of 1995 ~ less than two years after Pappaw Small. So back we went to Many for the second funeral. Jeff had worked Saturday night and had to work again Sunday night. I didn't want to wake him up just to tell him, so I waited until he woke up. We left on Monday after I was done at the hospital. Again, it was so great that everyone of us was all there together....Dad even flew Rob in from San Francisco. Pappaw started living with Mom and Dad while I was pregnant with Kendall. He so enjoyed the girls coming over so much. He would just laugh and laugh at them. It was fun tryig to figure out who was having more fun ~ Pappaw or the girls. I am so grateful that we were able to spend so much time with him during his last 3 years. That definitely made saying good-bye so much easier. I was curious how the girls would take his passing since they had spent so much time with him. I didn't keep them out of the viewing ~ I felt like they could decide what they wanted to do. Kendall just wanted to hug and kiss him over and over. She asked if he was sleeping or "night-night" so I told her yes he was. She leaned over and said, "Sweet dreams." It was all I could do to keep it together (and still is as I'm typing this now). I'm not one that has ever wanted to look at anyone in a casket. I don't know if it's because I don't want my last visual memory to be of them dead in a casket or what, but I think that Avery is the same way.

I will say that this was a huge learning experience for me that I didn't expect to get. There are 2 things that I learned from this. First, I learned that I need to let someone go if they are ready to go. By that I mean no feeding tubes or whatever I can do to sustain their lives anymore than what they want. I have never thought about this before really. This isn't easy to do but I think it's what is right. In other words, if Mom just starts deteriorating later in life, I'm not going to do everything I can to keep her alive just so she won't die. If her body starts shutting down, I'm going to let it do that if that's what she wants (but I will do what I can to keep her comfortable and out of pain). If she wants to live on machines then I'll let her do that ~ either way it's her choice to make. I pray that I don't have to make that decision, but I'm much more prepared to do that now if it does come to that.

The second thing that I learned is that I am by no means ready in any shape or form to lose my Mom. I can't even think about it yet. I'm praying that she takes after her Aunt Doris and is able to fix her roof in her 80s. Well, I know that she wouldn't just because she has a bad knee, but that she could if it weren't for that. I can't imagine what I would do without my in-laws either. That might sound funny, but since I've known them since I was 16 they feel more like parents to me than in-laws. I'm so very blessed by that. But I realize now that it's my parents' turn next since all of their parents are gone now. I pray that they live long, high-quality lives.

Thank you, Father, for giving me 2 sets of parents and for me never wondering if I was loved or not. I know that I have been blessed beyond measure with the family and friends that You have surrounded me with and I thank You for that.

Mom, Mammaw Small, Kendall, Jeff & Avery

August 2007

Uncle Joes, Pappaw, Aunt Debra, Uncle Gary & Dad

Pappaw and all of his grandkids (except Jeff since he was working of course)

Taken on his 89th birthday in May 2009

Avery's Big Day

2009-08-06T06:55:00.002-05:00

Some of you know this but most of you probably don't. We have been interested in a charter school that is 5 minutes away from our house for the past 2 years. Jeff found out about this school while looking at schools on the internet before he was in CRNA school!! (to us that seems like an eternity ago if it's before he began school) It had these great ratings on the website he was looking at, but so did the neighborhood school that we are zoned for. Then wouldn't you know that a patient of mine had her children there and they loved it. They had previously had their girls in the private, catholic school system and enjoyed it but didn't enjoy the check they paid for it so much.

So, you are probably like Jeff and I were when we first started looking into this. What the heck is a charter school? I remembered Laura Bush bringing them about....at least that's who I think it was. Basically they are public, private schools. Meaning you don't have to pay for the education there and they get more freedom to choose their curriculum. In other words, they don't center their curriculum around the TAKS test!!! Our school is called Arlington Classics Academy. Their vision and mission statement is on their website.

Once you are interested in going to one of these you have to fill out an application. The way that they determine the students that get in is by a lottery. So they had over 200 applicants just for kindergarten alone. See, once you're in you are always in and siblings get in also. So out of the 80 possible seats for kindergarten only 21 of them were available after the siblings got counted in. Yeah, you can see that the odds were stacked against us. But I just kept saying, "Someone has to fill those seats. Why not Avery?" So they did the lottery back in April and we found out that we were #18 on the list. WOO HOO!!! I was ecstatic with that. It's amazing how many people change their minds about this too...not that I'm complaining about it or anything. ;) But they do testing before the child starts to give the parents a good idea what the child is struggling with before they start. They are only on kindergarten-level material for the first 6 weeks and then move onto first grade for the rest of the year. So, you can see that it isn't for everybody. They don't fail the test, like at magnet schools where you take a test and have to make a certain grade to get into the school. They do the testing during the summer so I decided to call and check in every now and then to see if we had moved up the list. In the beginning of July I called and found out that we had moved to 11. They were beginning to test later that week so she told me to call back at the end of the month to see if we moved up more. So last week I called on Thursday and found out that we were #5! Yes, I was jumping up and down and screamed in the lady's ear. Then on Monday I found out we were #2. When I called yesterday morning I found out we moved to #1 and then an hour later they were calling me to let me know that we were in!!!! GOD IS SO GOOD!! The next thing we had to do is get her tested. We asked for anytime yesterday since we were both at home.

Let me preface this with ~ Avery has been so excited to start kindergarten. She has been counting the months down since May. She's been telling everybody how long she has. It's been so great to watch her fervor. So I'm quite elated when I tell her that she has to go to her new school to meet a teacher and have a test. She begins laughing with excitement and then I see her eyes start to change then her demeanor. I physically saw her get overwhelmed and feel anxiety. She started bawling in less than 2 minutes. She was saying that she was shy and scared to meet the teacher, she didn't want us to drop her off and leave her there. Jeff and I were picking our jaws up off the floor. Is this the same child that I was just describing to you?? Again, God is good. Praise the Lord that we got in just in the nick of time so we could do the testing. Otherwise, I think we would have dealt with this and had more trauma the first day of school. So of course we resorted to bribery...a sucker to start off with and frozen yogurt from Pure Bliss at the end if she got it together. Guys, that didn't even stop her crying ~ which is shocking since that is a HUGE treat for us since we rarely eat that. My poor baby.

We asked the teacher if we could just walk back with her. We got a first grade teacher since none of the K teachers were there that day. She showed Avery a K room then her room and was just wonderful. Avery finally settled down and went in the room with the teacher by herself. Jeff and I entertained Kendall who kept going down the hall asking, "This my room?" She has never gone to a different "school" than Avery. After they were done, she asked us to leave the girls in the office while she went over the results with us. Apparently the principal usually does this, but he had a meeting. She said that Avery did great and had no problems. They did numbers, shapes, reading sight words, reading comprehension, letters, counting and a few things more. There wasn't a single concept that didn't have a check beside it to show that she got it. We were so excited with that news...and a little proud too. As we were leaving she told us that she didn't want to go and wanted to start kindergarten then. WOO HOO. We had our daughter back.

So now we're on to buying the uniforms. We start school on the 19th. So it's going to be here quicker than I'm ready for. I know the first day is going to be bad when I started crying in the parking lot of Target as we left from buying her school supplies! Yes, I did. That morning of the first day they have a Boo Hoo/Woo Hoo breakfast for all the new parents at the school where they provide the food ~ and Kleenex for those who need it.

I'm Back!!

2009-07-17T06:12:00.002-05:00

My goodeness...has it seriously been over a month since I last blogged?!? I have missed this so much...funny that I miss it when I feel like I'm not that good at it. Apparently it's more therapeutic for me than I knew. ;) But since it's been over a month, I have quite a few things to blog about to catch up on...so bare with me. (That word "bare" is bothering me but "bear" doesn't look that great either!...is it bothering you too??) And some of the reason why I haven't blogged in so long is because someone moved our USB that I need to download pictures. Forget that, I'm just going to come back and fill them in later!! Don't know why I didn't think of that before! ;)
Praise God, we all made it through the month of June!! I pray that we never have to be separated like that again!! I know, there are couples that have to spend time apart all of the time for whatever reason. But Jeff and I aren't good at that.
Jeff returned on Friday, June 26, and had the next week off completely. That was SO nice. Especially since we swapped houses with his parents that week....in the 100 degree weather!! Poor Jeff. Yes, you read correctly...we SWAPPED houses with my in-laws. For those of you that don't know already, they decided to move to Many, La, which is pretty much where they are from. But to keep from paying the state income tax in Louisiana, he has to have a house here that he pays property taxes on. Initially, they planned on getting an apartment. However, when they started looking they realized 2 things: #1 They are wasting their money with paying rent #2 Our mortgage was the same, if not less, than most of the apartments they were looking at. They needed us to stay in their house after they moved for a little while anyways to see if the market got better in a few months so they wouldn't lose money with the sale. So we got to double in size while they halved in size over here. The house in Many is quite large. We still aren't at 100% but we're at 90%. It's been nice. Pretty confusing for my Kendall but she's got it now. :) The houses are only 0.4 miles apart so that helped. But moving into a house that is not empty is quite the challenge....one room at a time.
While we were moving I had an exchange with Kendall that I wanted to blog about so bad. I'm so thankful that the Lord let me remember it! ;) So the girls and I were driving over to our old house for something. I turned on the street to enter the neighborhood and yelled, "HOLY COW!!"
K: What hattened Mommy?
Me: Oh nothing honey, that truck just scared me...a truck gunned behind me after I turned and it was really loud and about gave me a heart attack
K: Oh! No, no cow!!
Oh, I just love kids and what they say. I cracked up! I just said, that's right and kept going. I mean really, was there any reason to argue with her that there wasn't a cow??
It was so great to get to go back to our church finally. I can't remember the last time I missed going to church for an entire month!! I don't think I ever have since I was in the hospital with cancer as a child....so i can't say I haven't ever missed that much before. Don't get me wrong, we went to mass with his family while in Many. But you know that it's not the same when you go to another church than yours...especially one that worships quite different. So we were so glad to be back. Fortunately, I'm friends with many of the people that we see up there and got to fill them in on why we weren't there at all.
Here's Avery's little tidbit. Here was a conversation we had on the phone yesterday.
A: Mommy, can I give my horse to Melanie?
M: The stuffed one? (that she actually likes...she isn't a big stuffed animal person even though she has so many of them)
A: Yes ma'am
M: Well of course, you can. It's yours to either give away or keep. That's so very sweet of you to give it to Melanie.
A: Thank you, Mommy!!
My sweet, Avery. She is SO giving!! I will say that she's gotten that honestly from both sides. For those of you that don't know them well, my in-laws are the most giving people that I know. They give almost to a fault! I have learned so much from them. Then there's my sister who is the same way. I don't care how little or how much she has, she will give it to anyone in a heartbeat. She has always been that way....even when we were kids. It just tugged at my heart to have that conversation with her. That isn't the first thing she's given away, but that exchange was so precious to me.
Avery has a big shiner on her right cheek now. Last weekend Leah and Brenden took her to Hawaiian Falls in The Colony. That's a water park that is pretty big and is owned by Christians. This was her first experience at a water park. So she was pumped. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that she started swimming in 2 hours. She went from not knowing how (she knew the basics from lessons last year but had never swam outside of them) to swimming, jumping in and going down a big slide in about 2 hours time!!! Leah was meeting my brother, Robby, and his family over there and begged to take her too. We let her know that she would be in so much trouble if she didn't stay right by everyone in the pools over there. There have been so many drownings in DFW already. She did great. But you guys know my children. We have dramas occur to us quite often. So when Leah called on the way home saying that she bumped her cheek I was thrilled that was all. Jeff was a little upset like he always is when anything happens to one of his girls...whether he's there or not. But I reminded him that her coming home with a shiner was much better than a broken bone or going unconscious from partly drowning. ;) I'll post the pic later.
This is going to be a big weekend for me though. I'm leaving, and brining my mom, for Shreveport tonight. I've had a reunion with my sorority sisters from Louisiana planned for Saturday for a few months now. I'm SO excited!! There's going to be over 30 of us there...if everyone that said they were coming shows up. You know how that goes. ;) But facebook has connected me with so many people that I haven't seen in years. This is one of the products because of that. We're all meeting at Superior...which is like Joe T Garcia's over here in FW. I'm going to see my cousin that I haven't seen in over 9 years too. I will post the pics when I get back. I'm going to bite the bullet and buy another cable...no telling how long it will take for me to find!
So this weekend is going to be a big weekend.

Kendall's Shiner

2009-06-10T09:58:00.002-05:00

Seriously, I must give Kendall credit where credit is due. If she is trying her hardest to get a visit from CPS (Child Protective Services, for those of you that are fortunate enough not to know), then I have to give it to her. Poor baby!! Yesterday she tripped on her own feet and landed on the brick outside. So here is the result of that fall. As my Dad would say, the brick won that one. Bless her poor little heart. But at least I got a great picture of her...looking at the camera and all! :)

My sweet, black-eyed baby

17 Years Now!!

2009-06-04T11:15:00.003-05:00

So, today marks the day 17 years ago that Jeff asked me to go out with him! I cannot believe that it's been that long!! We actually met on May 30 at Six Flags...and got married on that day 6 years later. 17 years ago he drove to Shreveport to see me. I made a picnic for us with KFC chicken and homemade brownies. (note to self, always ask someone if they like a food that you are going to make/bring for them before you do) Isn't it in a southerner's DNA to love all things fried?!? LOL He never even told me he didn't like it, but his friend did. Jeff ate it with a smile being the gentleman that is always is. But he really loved the brownies. I guess they were so good he thought I was a keeper. He asked me to go to his car real quick after we finished eating. So here we are sitting there in his car with navy, leather interior with no air on and sweating like pigs as he asks me to go out with him. He gave me a necklace to wear that had a gold baseball glove. Isn't he so sweet?!? Even though we were so young, I knew that I wanted to marry him from that first summer. He truly swept me off of my feet the day we met and they still have yet to touch the ground.

We were in Many on our wedding anniversary last weekend. I just started thinking of how 17 yeras ago on that day I had no idea how God was going to change my life so much. I have been so blessed to have him at such a young age. I've had less break-ups, less bad dates, etc. I told him that day at Six Flags that it felt like I'd known him for years instead of hours. We just hit it off so great from the beginning.

Jeff, thank you for loving me and asking me to marry you. You have given me such joy and 2 amazing children in the 17 years that I have loved you. Thank you for always seeing the best in me and trying to make me see it too...that is such a hard job, I know! Thank you for making sure that I never doubt your love and devotion to me. Thank you for your patience, support and for making me a better me. I am so honored to be your wife. I can't wait to see what the next 50 years bring us. I love you

Jeff & I at our anniversary dinner at The Mariner in Natchitoches, LA on Sibley Lake

At his parents' anniversary July 2008

Happy 89th Birthday, Pappaw!!

2009-06-03T11:40:00.006-05:00

I can't believe that I forgot to put this in here last week!! Well, I guess I know where my mind was...my hubby leaving me the next week. But while we were down in Many for Memorial Day Weekend, we threw Pappaw his birthday party on Sunday, one day early. He's lived with Jeff's parents for the last 3 years until the last month or two. He took a turn for the worse pretty quickly when he got pneumonia and hasn't been the same since. He's now in a nursing home in Many (his home-town for over 20 years). Almost everyone in the family was there...all but Jeff. It was so great to have so many generations of Trohas there together. Pappaw had 5 pieces of cake and 3 scoops of ice cream! Guess he was hungry. I'm so blessed to have known Pappaw for 17 years now. I always loved it when he would call me his doll...quite the charmer ~ when he wants to be. :) We miss you Dottie!

What a sharp-looking Pappaw!

Me and the girls with Pappaw

Tracie & Aunt Debra

Aunt Deb, Uncle Gary, Dad, Colin & Pappaw

Izzy & Kendall

What a great family pic of Renee, Gabe & Izzy (on the 3rd try LOL)

Uncle Joe & Jason

Megan, Uncle Joe & Aunt Carole

Pappaw with all the kids

Pappaw with all the grandkids...except Jeff

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

2009-06-01T14:03:00.007-05:00

So that we could spend more time together on Sunday, we decided to go to Many for the weekend. Otherwise, Jeff would have to leave at the crack of dawn from Arlington to get to Alec when he needed to. So when Jeff got home from the hospital Friday morning after working Thursday night we took off.

Dad got a riding lawn mower down there and wanted to see if the girls wanted to help. Kendall had no part in it as soon as he turned it on. It's funny but she has a thing with loud sounds. Once he came around to the front of the house, Avery couldn't get on it quick enough. She had so much fun driving that lawn mower. Once Kendall saw her, then she decided she would love to do that too but with Daddy (way to get brownie points, K).

Paps & Avery

Daddy with his girls on the lawn mower

Avery especially loves going to Many now. Daddy has started letting her drive when we are there. Yes, I mean holding the steering wheel. Being that we're out in the country on a dirt/gravel road, there are actually some perks to it...especially if you're Avery. Kendall cracked me up while down there. She and Avery have started this silly dialogue where they'll call each other pussy cat. Kendall started passing that on to all of us and now says "bye bye pussy cat" and pretends to go bye-bye. Yes, so cute but I bet you can guess where this is going. Kendall put a little spin on it this weekend. Mom and I were sitting there and Kendall looked at Mom and said, "bye-bye poosy." I about fell off the couch and tried not to laugh to hard. Then you're in the mind battle, do I say something or ignore it?? I went down the middle of the road and told her that it's pussy CAT...don't forget the CAT. LOL

Saturday I had my emotional breakdown. It really hit me that he was leaving on the next day. I was just so scared that not having him at home during the week would make me such a mean/fussy mom. I was so worried about taking it out on the girls. Of course, he knew exactly how to calm me down. But I can't remember the last time I cried so much that I had a headache and had to throw away my contacts!! Needless to say, I only had a few tears left on Sunday...seriously just a few. But we'll be seeing each other on Friday. The drive home went really well with me, the girls and Jake. So my weeks will begin the same this month...counting the days down until Friday.

Avery taking a picture of Grammy & Kendall

Avery getting a GREAT picture of Kendall!!

Hard Night

2009-05-28T23:29:00.003-05:00

Normally I've been in bed LONG before now...it's 11:30 PM! I just finished packing up Jeff's suitcase that he's taking to Alexandria, LA, to live for the month of June. I know that this isn't the end of the world, I know that it could be SO much worse (he could've been assigned this site for the entire clinicals for a year and a half, going to Iraq for a year, etc) but I'm still dreading Sunday. I've never been that good at saying good-bye to Jeff since I had to do it so many times while we dated long-distance for 4 1/2 years. My goodness I remember them like it was yesterday. Can I say thank goodness technology has come such a long way since then?!? We have the internet, cell phones with FREE MINUTES and texting and webcams. That will help this month go by quickly.

He is just such a vital part to our family. I hope the girls do okay without him during the week, I hope that I don't bite their heads off ~ I've never done it this long without him for this long. I mean, he's Daddy!!! I am seriously the most blessed woman on the face of this earth to be his wife. There is not hardly a person (well, really woman...not many men care to listen LOL) that he's worked with that doesn't know all about his girls, how precious they are to him, how cute they are to him and how important they are to them. See, I told you he's the best!!

But here's another way that I'm blessed. I've been blessed with an amazing Father that loves me even more than my phenomenal husband. He loves me so much that He sent His Son to die for my sins so that I can spend eternity with Him one day. He is also my Comforter, my Healer, my Rock and my strength. He told me to cast all of my burdens upon Him and that is what I'm going to do. I know that there is NO WAY I can make it through this month without Him. So forgive me my pity party, I should be done now. Feel free to send your prayers our way. :)

I love you honey and couldn't be more proud of you!! Hurry home, Daddy. And happy 11th anniversary on Saturday. :)

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

2009-05-28T09:08:00.015-05:00

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend. It's such an understatement when I say how greatful I am for all of the men and women that gave their lives fighting for this country and our freedom. I'm so glad that we set aside a day to remember them. The girls and I ended up going to Many, without Jeff. Jeff had to work the entire weekend and nights at that. I didn't want to go since he leaves for Louisiana the next weekend...I'm coveting every moment I have with him. However, since he's working nights we wouldn't see each other at all. Plus, the girls would have much more fun in Many. Aunt Deb and Molly rode down with Jake and me. He did SO great. Don't think he'll make another trip on the floor in the backseat of our Accord...he's getting so big the poor thing could barely fit in that space!!

On Saturday Avery got to go to Lauren Lake in Many. It's a private lake so Barney's family were the only ones out there which made it nice. We celebrated Molly's 11th birthday that night with a yummy homemade cake (thanks to Ruthie, Tracie's MIL) and ice cream. Molly's cousin, Carley, is only 1 year older than Avery and those girls had the BEST time. It was too chilly for me to get in my bathing suit, cloudy and breezy, but not too much for the girls. Avery had so much fun that she stayed the night with Carley at Barney's mom's house. Instead of coming home with me and Kendall on Sunday she stayed through to Monday and came home with Tracie. She had such a great time. She is so much like me. I LOVED going places. Mother told me that everyday when I woke up I would ask her 2 questions: 1. Do I have to take a nap? and 2. Where are we going today? If I could estimate how many times asks me on a daily basis "Where are we going next?" I would have to say a minimum of 10 times!!! Avery loves going places and to other people's houses....she is my social butterfly. Kendall is just like her daddy and likes her house. We all had a great time but I certainly missed Jeff. My fun times aren't near as fun when he isn't there to share in them and make them better. ;)

How great is our God to create rainbows for us to enjoy?!?

Molly with her cake

Tracie feeding Kendall ice cream. Funny thing is, I can't tell who is enjoying it more!

Avery, Molly & Carley

Crazy girls

My cutie-patootie

Jeb, with a funky-positioned life jacket, & Kendall

Molly showing us her Staxx ring ~ so cute...you should check them out!!

Molly with her momma, Tracie

Rob/Brandon is Back in Town

2009-05-28T08:47:00.013-05:00

So Rob, or Brandon to a few people in the family, has come to town. He serves our country in the Coast Guard and is currently stationed in California ~ close to the Bay Area I think. But he made a visit to come and see all of us. Rob is Gabe's younger brother, or Jeff's Dad's brother's son. Instead of us getting together at a house and cooking (and worse ~ cleaning) we decided to all meet up at Gloria's. It's a Salvadorian restaurant that has a great patio. We all had a GREAT time, which is nothing new when the Troha's get together. The evening was absolutely gorgeous!Of course I brought my camera to get a few family pics. Now that I look through them I realize that I didn't get any of Tracie, Dad or Uncle Scott!! I'm so sorry you guys!! :(

Me & my gorgeous Aunt Deb

Renee & me

Me, Rob & Avery

Me & Rob since you couldn't see his face in the last one

Rob & Jeff

Isabelle, Kendall & Avery (I couldn't get K to stand still, she kept wanting to come see the picture!!)

Mom & Jeb

Molly, Barney & Avery

Aunt Deb & Jeff

Kendall licking the last bit of beans out of her bowl!

Renee, Izzy & Gabe

I Assure You, It's Not From Me!!

2009-05-18T09:53:00.002-05:00

Do you ever watch your children do things and SWEAR (not that I'm a swearing woman) that they didn't get that from you?!? Kendall started doing this the other day and I can assure you that she didn't get it from me. On Jeff's behalf, she didn't get it from him either. I do remember a time though when Leah was honestly and literally attached to our cordless phone ~ nowhere was off limits. So maybe she got this from her. But she found this old princess cell phone of Avery's and decided to start using it to call everyone she knew....no matter where she was!! So cute!! LOL

Yep, talking on the phone while on the potty!

Breakfast for Supper

2009-05-18T09:41:00.005-05:00

Does anyone else besides me LOVE having breakfast for supper?? OMG, I used to get so excited when Mom would make this for dinner. I think it might be because we never really ate big breakfasts, and I still don't, but that doesn't mean I didn't miss getting to eat the big breakfasts. So it was fun to eat the breakfast foods later in the day when I had more of an appetite for it. So I decided last Wednesday night that we were having homemade pancakes with homemade blueberry syrup. Can I say Scrumdiddliumptious (know the movie that word is from?)?!? I love pancakes and I like trying new recipes for them so I found one and tried it out. It was pretty good, but I don't think it would have mattered. I could have served this syrup with a piece of cardboard (or a turd as Jeff would say) and it still would have been delicious. It was pretty easy too. ;) Needless to say, it was a hit with the girls. PTL (praise the Lord) I thought ahead and had Kendall take her shirt off before partaking in the syrup. You will see why I was so happy with myself for that. ;)

Can you say Dig In?!?

My neat, little first-born

Mothers Day 2009

2009-05-15T16:06:00.023-05:00

So I'm FINALLY getting to blog this week! We had quite the busy weekend...I think I say that every weekend. ;) Jeff's sister, brother-in-law and his parents all went to Napa Valley for her birthday Spa weekend. So we had our niece and nephew with us...Jeb, who will be 15 in August, and Molly who will be 11 in 2 weeks. I dropped all of them off at the airport on Friday morning. The plan was for Jeb to ride the bus home since he was taking a test during swimming. Let's just say that he thinks he's as smooth as my FIL and husband, but they have quite the years and experience on him in the suave department. Of course, he let me know that I could come get him at 12:15 if I wanted. I told him as soon as I talked with his mom that I could...to which I got a quick reply via text...no problem, I'll take the bus home. I informed him that I've been in this family for 17 years and it takes much better skills than that to get me. ;)

We had a great time going to the dog park with the kids...Jake had fun too. We all pulled out Rock Band and played a little as well. We took them to the people park, LOL...I kill me sometimes, and had a great time there. The girls were all on the tire swing having Jeff swing them around when little boy...no older than 6...came up and looked at Jeff saying, "Get off." (If you're like me you're thinking, what the heck??? right about now and also about the fact that had it been your child they wouldn't have any teeth left after talking to an adult like that) Jeff was a little surprised at the gall and replied, "No bud, I think they just got on and are going to be on this for a few more minutes." To which the sassy little boy said, "No, get off." Jeff was just in shock at the audacity of this child and replied, "Excuse me?? No, they just got on and are going to play on it for a few more minutes. When they're done, then you can get on." The boy got was frustrated at this response and huffed and walked away. I tell you what, the kids these days....goodness I sound like my grandmother!! LOL

We got a few cute pictures of the kids together though. It was a good glimpse of what having 4 children is like. We had a great time. I am sure that I want at least one more child, but feel free to join me on praying for joyful, healthy twin baby boys. ;)

Me and Jake at the people park

Jeb, Avery, Molly & Kendall

My big girl climbing her way up all by herself!

Molly & Kendal posing

Jeb & Avery posing

My big girl doing the monkey bars for the first time!!

Molly's way of the mokey bars...while touching the ground

Jeb's monkey bar action...likes the surfing technique

Avery, Kendall & Molly on the tire swing

Jeb busting a move

Mollly & Avery busting a move

Kendall playing "horsie" on Avery...their new favorite game (I know, I say piggy-back, they say horsie)

Tasty, Singing Avery

2009-05-07T08:56:00.010-05:00

I can't believe I've gone all week without writing anything. I have felt so weird from it. We had a pretty busy weekend for not doing too much. Jeff was at a board review class all weekend...so most of the time it was me, the girls and Jake. We took Jake to see Dr. Monica for his rabies shot. She gave us a bill of good health and the shot. He's also almost 40 pounds now at 18 weeks old!!! I still can't believe how quickly he's growing. But goodness he's pretty. We got to take him to the dog park in Arlington on Tuesday. It's his first time to get to socialize with a pack of dogs and he did good. We start his obedience training tonight. It's a 7 week long course so we'll have him trained by the time Jeff leaves. Whew!

Jeff with Jake at 18 weeks old

So Friday afternoon, we're sitting around the table (me and the girls) like we usually are since my chidren NEVER stop eating! And Avery says, "Momma, bugs keep eating me cuz I taste so good!" I nearly fell on the floor laughing. I said, "Yes, you do honey." That must be my problem too since they eat me up. I love kids and what they say and think. So adorable. That night we went out to eat for Jeff's birthday. We had Gabe, Renee, Izzy, Leah, Brenden, Tracie, Barney, Jeb and Molly join us at BJ's. I can't believe I forgot my camera...so there's no picture of that. It was a nice evening to talk with everyone. We had a great time.

Saturday night we had Kelly, Allison & Reilly Teeples over for dinner and fun. Allison and Jeff were study-budies the first year of anaesthesia school. Since they started clinicals in August we never see Allison or the boys anymore. Well, I do see them in the office but that's not the same. So we had them over since they were doing the review and not clinicals for the weekend. I made chicken enchiladas, mexican rice and brownies for dinner. Then we pulled out the Rock Band to play. We all had such a good time. Let me tell you how floored Jeff and I were when we gave the microphone to Avery to sing "Spiderwebs" by No Doubt. She was great...even though she can't read. Jeff and I kept looking at each other saying, "Can you believe that?!? Listen to her!!" She was on tune most of the time and everything!! So cute.

Avery rockin' to Spiderwebs

Allison on the guitar

Reilly and I on the drums

Avery playing Operation for the first time! How awesome is that?!? I used to LOVE that game.

Nurse Kelly showing Avery how a pro gets it done.

Now for Kendall's new tidbit. She is such a tough little girl. Maybe it's because she's my second and I don't freak out as much as I did with Avery, or maybe she's just a tough, little bird. But she's always been good about not being so dramatic with any fall (not that I can say the same for her sister). Lately, she's doing something new now. When she falls, she'll just lift her head up to reassure us and say, "It ok. I ok!" I just LOL everytime. Of course, I never have the camera in hand when she does it. Speaking of camera in hand, I have got to get my video camera out to record her singing. We've got her singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star now. Her version is a little different though. She comes in on "Stah", "Ah", "Hiee", "Kiee", "Stah", "Ah". So she comes in at the end of every phrase. She's not like Avery was at this age. Avery was all about reading the books. Kendall is all about "Ting Mommy". So we are quite the singing family...just like I love. At least we know she got that honestly.

Jeff's Birthday Morning

2009-04-30T09:47:00.009-05:00

We were so excited that Jeff was off this morning. This way we could actually "sleep in" to at least 6 am. What the heck were we thinking?!? In order to sleep in that late Jeff kind of needs to turn off his 5:15 am alarm on his phone, doesn't he?!? So that goes off, I was a good little girl and remembered to change mine. ;-) Then, of course, we're wide awake. Every other morning this week, we pass out as soon as we hit snooze. But NO, not this morning. Then a few minutes later the girls come out and we just pile them in the bed with us only to delay the inevitable. It was fun though...having all of us in the bed together. We all sang happy birthday to him and made him so happy. Then we did our birthday breakfast. I must confess that one of my favorite foods is the absolute worst food on the planet to eat - donuts!! But on our birthday mornings, we get to eat whatever we want so donuts it is. Kendall wouldn't let me leave without her so off we went. Just hearing her say the word cracked me up. We did make the girls eat a bowl of cereal to fill them up some before hand. We made our order and went back home. Avery loves her chocolate sprinkles donut, Jeff had a bavarian creme-filled chocolate eclair and I had just a plain glazed and chocolate. Can I say yummy?? I know, they are so bad!! I'll have to do extra crunches tonight for it!!
Then I decided to get a family pic of us. We have hardly any of all of us. So onto the fireplace we go and Jeff stretches out his arm to take it. When you look at these, maybe you'll see why we don't have mnay. Only because Jeff is the birthday boy and told me I had to, while hysterically laughing, did I show the first one. Of course the turd takes the picture while I'm taking the shoulder strap out of Jake's mouth..he SO knew I wasn't ready. Then as you go down, you can see that Kendall looks as though she's getting strangled.
After the picture fiasco, the girls wanted to put their boots on to go and play in the rain. So off they went. The pictures follow.

Take 1:

Me reaching for the strap and telling Jake, "NO"...but Jeff and Avery are ready like pros!

Family picture take 2. Barely got Kendall's head in there....

Take 3. Now I'm literally ROFL looking at Kendall! Oh well, at least I tried.

Stomping in the puddle

Pulling out the umbrella

Kendall trying her best to hold the umbrella...yes, Jake is huge now!

Treasuring Today

2009-04-29T08:44:00.004-05:00

So this morning was our usual Wednesday morning. The girls go to daycare on Wednesdays. We did our normal routine when dropping them off. I start off with Kendall and finish with Avery. So I go to Avery's room to tell her good-bye and give her a hug & kiss like she always wants. As I'm walking away, I feel the need to tell her that I love her again...while my back is to her. I turn around to see her after I say it to see her giving me the sweetest smile while waving the I love you sign ~ Hook 'em horns with the thumb up too. Uh!! Can I say that it hit me right to my heart. The tears just started welling up immediately. How precious of her to be so bold in showing her love for me. I just adore her sweet, loving heart. Then I realized that it won't always be this way. I know that there will come a day, quicker than I want, that she won't be so bold. I'm not so naive that I've never thought about it...Jeff and I have had several conversations on the subject but this really hit my heart today. So I will treasure these days from now on...no more taking these sweet gestures for granted for me. Thank you, Jesus, for giving me my precious, loving little girls and reminding me how great it feels to feel their love.

This is her shooting me the sign a couple of months ago

How can I NOT adore this little girl?!?

Jeff's Birthday Weekend

2009-04-28T16:09:00.009-05:00

We had quite the busy weekend (this theme seems to be getting redundant)! I decided to finally give Jeff is Christmas present on Friday. Let me restate that ~ I was finally able to put together Jeff's present. For Christmas he wanted me to come up with a big date night. That's quite the fete to pull off with him in school, our busy weekends, and a sitter for 2 children, etc!! Nonetheless, I finally did it Friday night. I asked Tracie, his sister, to take the girls for the night. I then had Renee, his cousin's wife, take me to the hotel. She is SO wonderful for doing that for me. That made it so we didn't have both cars there. I got a FANTASTIC deal on priceline for a room at the Dallas Hyatt Regency. I had Jeff meet me there, after I got ready, for us to have a night on the town. Our dear friend, Kimmy, invited us to join her at the Ghost Bar at the W in downtown Dallas. It's pretty new and nice...cover is $20!! Luckily we got on the guest list and didn't have to cover that one. It was on the 33rd floor and such a nice night to be there. It's so great and modern. Oh, and because it's in Dallas ~ SMOKE FREE!! We danced the night away and then finished at the hotel that was just up the street pretty much. Unfortunately I hadn't covered all of the bases. We had to leave by 8 am to go home and let Jake out of his crate. DOH!!! I was not so happy about that. But I will say that I had the greatest time...and I'll leave it at that since I'm good at giving way TMI. ;)

Jeff, me & Kimmy on the balcony of the Ghost Bar

Me & my honey...such a hottie!!

Had to include the pic of the girls with their adorable pig tails!! LOL

Kendall loves doing this with her shirts as she's taking them off...yes she's on the pot

Sunday afternoon Jeff mowed our grass that was about way too long! I was so glad he did it. It was the perfect weather for it...cloudy, breezy and low 70s. After he was done, we got out the bouncy house for the girls. They had a great time. Avery is so proud of her new head- stand...she does it inside too. It was a fun Sunday afternoon.

Our Fun Wednesday Night

2009-04-23T14:48:00.010-05:00

We had a fun night last night. My great friend Jamie asked if we could keep Austin and Kori while she got to be a model for her husband. Her husband is my hair dresser and is fabulous!! He was doing a training on up-do's and wanted to use her as the model. I was so excited. Kendall is one month, almost to the day, older than Kori and they have such a good time playing. Her son, Austin, is 10 and SO great with kids ~ so Avery was excited about getting to play with him. I got to see how Avery would be with a big brother ~ in no time she was in the trees just like him. He is so sweet and patient with all the girls. We all had a great time. I told Jamie today that I got a glimpse of what twins would be like with Kendall and Kori...although it was only for a few hours. And yes, I'm still praying for some!

Austin and Avery in the tree

Sweet Kori smiling at the camera unlike my child! LOL

Avery workin' the mic on Rock Band

Austin workin the guitar

I guess my child can look at the camera while smiling!

How Could I Forget Daddy-Daughter Date Night?!?

2009-04-21T08:10:00.005-05:00

I told you I was tired yesterday! How the heck could I have forgotten to include Jeff's date night with Avery?!? So Thursday night he decided to take Avery out on a date. After all, she'd only been asking to go on another one for the past 3-4 months. I went and got her and brought her home to get all cutesied up. Yes, that is a word!! He was getting all cute himself and getting her treats. He says that if he doesn't teach her how a man is supposed to treat her on dates then how else will she know not to settle for less than what she deserves?? My goodness, have I mentioned how much I love this man??

So he comes up and rings the doorbell and greets her with the cutest flower! She was so excited that it was tangible. They went to the Movie Tavern to watch Monsters vs. Aliens. They ate pizza and nachos (huge treat for her). She was still on cloud 9 when they got home...so was her daddy. I am so happy that her father cares for her so much and he tries everyday to communicate that to her in more ways than one. I pray daily that she never settles for anything less than what God wants for her. Thank goodness Jeff is doing what he can to model that for her.

Whirlwind Weekend

2009-04-20T15:23:00.009-05:00

This was one of the weekends that just went so fast that we were still exhausted on Monday morning! It wasn't like we haven't had busier weekends for sure. But we just could never stay ahead for some reason. Friday night was late...which plays a huge part in our exhaustion. How the heck was I able to stay up until 2 am so easily in college but not now?? I'm telling you, come 10 pm (and that's really pushing it) I'm as good as asleep!! I kill me sometimes! So for me to be awake for the night, I have to partake in some caffiene.

Saturday was a great day. We were supposed to have the Carter family in town but due to the weather, my plans for Friday and Jeff working all day Friday we all decided to take a rain check on it. That night we had Carolyn (my MIL), Dr. Micah Carter (our dear chiropractor friend that lives in Edmond, OK, Gabe, Renee and Izzy over for dinner. Lt me tell you I didn't realize that I had some Mexican in me. I joke that I'm like most Americans...a mutt...as far as my heritage goes. So apparently there is some Mexican in me. We made salsa, guacamole, mexican rice and chicken quesadillas. It was all so delicious!!! It was a great time having everyone over for sure.

It was just another weekend for my Savior to show me again how blessed I am with the friends and family that I have.

Getting some loving from Kendall because she wouldn't look at the camera and smile!!

Of course she looks at the camera with Daddy!!

Avery took her picture and I told her she needed to open her eyes since they were almost shut.

Can't say she doesn't know how to follow directions, can we?

This is what happens when I leave Kendall close to nail polish. She somehow opens it and floods her nailbeds with polish. Praise the Lord none got on the carpet!!

I Got All My Sistas With Me

2009-04-20T15:05:00.008-05:00

So Friday night, I scheduled a little reunion with my Phi Mu sisters from undergrad. We all went to school at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (formerly known as Northeast Louisiana University) and now all live in DFW. There were several more that live here but couldn't make it. Facebook has just been so amazing. That's what made this happen. I would have had NO clue that so many of us live here had I not found so many on facebook. We met up at the Texan Station at the Gaylord for drinks and food. We then went to The Glass Cactus for some dancing. The band was an 80s cover band that was so great. Wouldn't you know that one of my sisters ran into a girl that she grew up with from Monroe?! What a small world!! The Glass Cactus was great ~ especially since no one was smoking!! Woo Hoo!! Other than some drunk running into Dawn causing her red wine to go up in the air and land all over me and in my eyes, it was a great time! LOL I'm so glad that we did it and can't wait for the next one!!

Me in the lap of my hot chaufeur for the evening.

Us at the Texan Station

Jamie, Me Mareatha & Dawn...yes all of them are younger than me!

Me, Monica (our favorite vet) & Dawn

Me and Kristie Holt (aka "Bolt" in college...don't remember why)

All of us at the Glass Cactus

More Easter Pics

2009-04-15T16:14:00.011-05:00

I apologize for the Easter blog's clutter! I will just post the other pics on this one. ;)

Avery & Paps (Jeff's dad) on the 4-wheeler

Kendall, Avery & Jeff

Me & Kendall

The bunny bread Kendall loved

Avery and her little stuffed chiuahua and purse

Avery, Jeb, Kendall (yes, eating her bread) & Molly

Easter

2009-04-15T15:11:00.019-05:00

I was so looking forward to Easter this year. I knew that Kendall would enjoy it so much more. Plus, Avery is getting at the age where she can begin to understand why we truly celebrate Easter. I love talking to her about our Savior and what He did for us out of His HUGE amount of love and grace for us. I really enjoyed telling Avery the story about it.

This year we went to Many for the first time for Easter. We left Thursday night...me, Jeff, Avery, Kendall, Jake, Carolyn & Phil (in-laws)...all in the mini-van. The trip down went pretty good. I was pretty bummed about not being able to stop at Johnny's Pizza on the way down like we did last time. We passed through Shreveport pretty late this time. :( I can't remember what time it was when we got in...around 11:00 or so.

Kendall, Tracie, Avery & Molly

Avery in Daddy's hat

Avery showing off her new-found hula hooping skills

I will start this part off by saying that I feel like such a horrible mother/wife on the last 2 trips we have taken down there. I have an iPhone (that I LOVE) and am constantly checking the weather...just a little OCD with it I will admit. So I should be completely prepared for the weather when we go to Many, right? Well let me say that I'm not ever prepared. I keep forgetting how chilly it is when the low is in the 50s even though the high is in the low-mid 70s. So I have yet to pack a jacket for any of us!! Thank the Lord that my girls take after their father and aren't cold-natured like me. But my goodness we end up freezing our tushes off thanks to my lack of planning!! I will say this to redeem myself. I did get the girls little sweaters to wear with their dresses. So Sunday morning, they were covered ~ literally.

Friday we decided to have a crawfish boil. So we asked Mom's brother, Uncle Pat, to do us the honors...he's known for his crawfish boils. Avery was so enthralled with the crawfish. Dad just took one out and ripped off his claws...poor thing, probably put it into shock!!...so that she could hold it without being pinched. I guess ripping his claws out was the least of his worries that day. We got to see Shane, Kasey, Tristan and Trayton that afternoon. They stopped by on their way in to Many. It is always so great to see them...we don't get to see them near enough. Shane is Jeff's first cousin (his mom's brother's son) and they're about a year apart. That night we put the girls down and then went over to Aunt Carole & Uncle Joe's to see Colin, Jason, Megan and Katie (Jason's girlfriend we had yet to meet). We had such a great time hanging out and laughing with them!

Tristen & Kasey

Avery and Uncle Pat sitting in the tractor

Avery holding her crawfish

My girls sleeping...Kendall started on the matress

I love this snapshot of Jeff and Kendall playing

My family in bed (I apologize for the nostrils)

Saturday is when we went to dye the Easter eggs. We went over to Barney's cousin's house to do them. There were so many kids there. My girls were the youngest there. They had the best time with it. My favorite was the pink/green one that Avery did...my 2 favorite colors! Jake had a good time out there since there was a 7 yr old female German shepherd that he was pretty intimidated by. We rode the 4-wheelers while we were out there too. Kendall rode in front of me and had so much fun with it. We also shot guns again. It was my first time with our 9 mm Glock. Let me say that I wasn't ready for the kick...the only other pistol I had shot before was the 22 and it didn't have one at all. Jeff forgot to prepare me for that. ;-) It was fun though. Avery even shot it a couple of times..with Daddy's help, of course.

Avery, Kendall & Molly dying eggs

Daddy with his girls and their baskets while on the Easter egg hunt

Easter morning was fun. Kendall was so excited to see the Bunny Bread (from Whole Foods) that the Easter bunny brought her. She could care less about anything else. She was just ready to eat...what can I say?? Avery adored her little chiuahua in the purse. Avery was pumped about the candy that she got. She got to pick 5 eggs to eat the candy from and she could hardly stand it. We all packed into the church in Many. I was so proud of my girls for being so good during a mass that lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes ~ huge success for Kendall!!

It was a pretty chaotic weekend but still so nice to be surrounded by such an amazing family. I have been so blessed to become a Troha. I can't tell you how blessed and loved I am by this family. I love my mother and father-in-law as well as my sister and brother-in-law and their children. I am blessed with the biological family the Lord gave me but now even more with my married family. :)

Seriously?!?

2009-04-09T09:13:00.011-05:00

Jeff and I are definitely early-risers and morning people. He has to get up by 5:30 and out the door by 5:45. I decided to start joining him so we can spend those few minutes together. It's great to get our day started off together and alone. At least, that's what we thought. Our daughters are waking up with us now!!! This morning we got up a little earlier. Jeff's dad called him to talk about Pappaw and ask questions at 5 am. I woke up thinking, "Yay! Jeff and I can have some time together." Low and behold, a few seconds later (no, I'm not exaggerating) I hear their doorknob turning and then the pitter patter of their feet!! It is nice though that we get to spend that time together. Jeff gets to see all of his girls a little more that way. But my goodness!! Seriously?!?

Chillin' in our bed after waking up at 5 am. So cute she does this with her legs just like her daddy!

Then I come home on Tuesday to see Avery practicing on her skates. I kid you not, she was doing it alone after a couple of times around the street!! Mind you, her skirt that was hot pink was black on the bottom from falling on it so much. But she just got up and did it some more. I'm so proud of her!! I was just watching her thinking...seriously?!?

Here she is skatin' (instead of struttin') her stuff.

Kendall watching Avery. Yes, I had to stand in front of her to block the sun.

We're all excited about leaving for Many this weekend. The kids are all into it to. I'm asking them, "Where are we going today??" Kendall replies, "Muny!!" So stinking adorable!!

I thought that I would finally include some pictures of the other boy in the house that evens the numbers to 3:3. His name is Prada and is my baby!! Jeff got him for me a few months before I had Kendall. Yes, it's a fru-fru name for a fru-fru cat ~ he's a Persian. He just tolerates Jake.

This means Jake is in his crate. He never lounges out like this anymore if Jake is out. ha ha

Sitting on my night stand. This posture means Jake is out with us and he's staring him down.

Isn't he so pretty??

Kendall's Crazy Hair

2009-04-07T09:03:00.005-05:00

So I thought I would just include a few things that makes my Kendall special. One thing is her "crazy hair" she gets sometimes. I must say she can't help it though....she got it from her Grammy. ;) Avery had the same thing when she was young and with short hair too. You never know what you're going to get with Kendall when she wakes up...no matter what you do the night before. So this is what greeted us this morning when she got up. We just laugh and have to show her in the mirror so she can laugh too.

She even said cheese! See, no shame in her game!

Another sweet thing (because I prefer to look at it that way!!) she does to show she loves us is by leaving some of her with us. What I mean is, she loves to wipe her runny nose off on any part of our clothing that is a nose reach away. We're only talking about clear fluid, thank the Lord. But if it be our shoulder, a pants leg, our sternum....anywhere she can reach. Isn't that just so sweet of her to want to show "Kendall was here" on us to remember her with the rest of the day?? I thought so too. Again, everything is about perspective, right?? Please, pray that I keep that perspective on the mornings she does this as I'm walking out the door (as I haven't always done in the past)!! :)

Avery with Daddy as he's about to leave in the morning. She gets dressed first thing now that she can wear short-sleeves again. Oh what a blessing for her that we live in the South! ha ha

Avery's Super Surprise

2009-04-07T08:15:00.005-05:00

So we had quite a busy weekend. Jeff was off on Friday...we so LOVE those days now. That meant that I got to go and get my derierre kicked at the gym at 5:30 am (since it had been almost 2 weeks since I worked out last). It was so great to get my weekend started off right. Jeff and Phil went to shoot their guns at the range and went shopping while out. Jeff called me to ask Avery's shoe size but wouldn't tell me why...very odd for him to go shoe shopping. When Avery woke up from her nap, I found out why he was asking. They got her some skates! They were SO cute. She could hardly stand waiting to get outside and put them on. So of course, she had to put her helmet and knee pads on. We now need to invest in some elbow pads too. ;) She did so great though! The second time around the street she was holding herself up instead of letting them get ahead of her!! Needless to say, she LOVED it!! The part that made it even better was that Brenden came over and brought his skates too (we didn't even tell him to)!! So they had so much fun riding the skates around the street. Praise the Lord for Phil and Carolyn's gated street....we don't have to worry about cars at all!!

Avery taking a break and cooling off with some water.

Later that night we all ate some Jabalaya. It was my first attempt ever at making it and I must say it turned out pretty dang good! Leah, Brenden, Carolyn, Phil, Gabe, Renee, Izzy and us all ate together. It was such a loud, chaotic and great evening! There was a lot a food and a lot more love in the house that night. The kids are so fun to watch now. Jake was there too and was so great! Leah had been in there about 5 minutes and screamed to me, "Eva!! Jake is here?? I can't belive it. I've been her 5 minutes and never knew he was here because he didn't come running at me or jumping up on me!" Jeff was so proud to hear the compliment bestowed on his boy.

Time is Flying Fast

2009-04-02T08:45:00.010-05:00

I wanted to do another post to show you guys how quick this puppy is growing!! We haven't weighed him since we first got him 4 weeks ago. Then he was 12 lbs 7 oz. You can see now that he clearly isn't 12 lbs anymore!! He's so smart though. He is completely potty-trained, sleeping through the nights, sits, stays. We are having so much fun with him. But oh, the work and energy it requires!! There is no question who he adores most in the family....Jeff. He is Jeff's shadow when Jeff is home. I'm very glad that we got him and now have him in our family. :)

This is how big he is after 4 weeks with us.

Jake sitting tall and proud!

It's supposed to rain today and how could I not get the girls to wear their rainboots?!? I wish I had some too. I'm still in shock that Kendall actually looked at the camera and smiled at the same time!! Woo hoo!!!

Oh how I love my girls. Thank you, Jesus, for entrusting them to Jeff and I!! And look, this makes 2 for Kendall looking and smiling at the camera!! :-)

One Reason I Love Technology

2009-04-01T11:56:00.000-05:00

I tell you what, I'm so greatful for technology right now. I know that there are many bad things about the internet, but there are so many good things. Like what I'm about to post on here. I saw this link on facebook a while back but never got to listen to its entirety...only the first minute or so. Can I tell you how thankful I am that God gave me another chance to listen to it. My precious, wonderful friend Melisa sent it to me today. It's almost 9 minutes long. Can I tell you that it grabbed me to my core and the tears just flowed. This is an AMAZING clip and I promise you that it's well worth your time. Our God is just so good! I know that we are all going through our own trials and I don't know what yours could be. But isn't it wonderful to know that as a child of God He is carrying us the whole way through??? We aren't alone!! With my education on the human body, I have always been amazed at our Creator. This just blew me away though! I pray that it will do the same for you. Praise the Lord for technology so I was able, as well as millions of others, to listen to this!!

OK, it won't let me post the link. I'm not sure why...is this from blogspot?? Anyways, go to youtube and search Louie Giglio - Laminin and watch the 8:44 version.

In His Love,
Eva

Mall Parks

2009-03-31T08:43:00.001-05:00

Renee (Jeff's cousin's, Gabe, wife) and I are getting in this habit, and my great friend Jamie too, of going to the parks inside the malls on Fridays. Saturday we decided to try one that neither Renee nor I had been to in a different mall that's a little further away. Jamie, of course had been already, gave us directions on where to find it. First off, can I say how ROBBED I feel that we didn't have these as kids!!! I remember how we would come to Dallas, when I was still in elementary school, and Mom and Dad would take us to Prestonwood mall to shop. Does anyone remember this mall?? It's a true Texas mall...fitting the bill that everything here is BIGGER and better. It was 3 stories tall!! If we were lucky, we would get to ice skate and go to a toy store (and rarely leave with anything from there). We were there ALL DAY LONG!! I'm really not exaggerating. And shopping for clothes gets really old in just 1 store let alone 50 of them!! We're talking 8 hours...at a minimum! Oh how our lives would have been so much easier if we had one of these parks there. Dad could have parked it on one of the soft, cushiony benches in the play area and let us play for hours!! Well, maybe it wouldn't have been such a great idea...I'm sure he would have fallen asleep and we could have all wandered off. That happened on one of these shopping excursions. He was in front of a TV on the outside of a store watching a show. Mom gets done in her store and comes back to join us only to find Leah isn't there. She walked off while he was watching TV. Can't remember how long it took, but they found her in a store close by. I think she was about 3 or 4. But we would have had less fights, gotten beaten less from less fights and we would have had some fun ourselves! Oh how times have changed! Don't even get me started on PRAISE THE LORD for changing stations, hooter hiders (if you aren't sure what they are, google it), maternity clothing, travel systems.....the list continues, but I'll stop there. ;-)

Oh yeah, so back to this weekend. ha ha So we went to this new park and it was GREAT. The girls had so much fun there. It's so precious to watch all 3 of them together. Izzy is 1 year younger than Kendall and almost as tall as she is! They even had the cutest, tiny carousel that Aunt Nay Nay (what they call Renee) put them on twice!! So we'll definitely be going back to that one. Here are some cute pics of them.

Kendall saying "Cheese!"

Izzy & Kendall

Paps Warbucks

2009-03-31T08:27:00.001-05:00

So this is what we got over the weekend. Paps, Jeff's dad, had this playhouse designed in China and wanted a prototype. So of course, he thinks he should make it for the girls. So he tells us about it and how it's going to go in their playroom ~ and he even personalized it for them. It was so funny listening to him laugh and the excitement in his voice just telling us about it. Then the box comes in and it doesn't take long for us to see why he sounded like that.

It says: Avery Troha's House Kendall

See, it looks like something Daddy Warbucks would have bought Annie!!

We know that there's NO WAY it will fit in the girls' playroom...it's not that big of a room to begin with and filled up as it is! In true Paps fashion, he won't take no for an answer and brings it by Friday night. Gabe and Renee were over with Izzy and helped build/put it together. Turns out it did fit as long as we put the kitchenette inside it! The girls were THRILLED to say the least. Kendall was so excited!! Izzy even loved it and couldn't wait to crawl in it. Now when Avery and Kendall go in to play, they are excited but screams soon follow with the fighting! LOL And I want more??

I know that I'm not tall, but it's still taller than me!!

Do you think this made Paps' heart melt or what??

Family Trip to Many

2009-03-30T15:29:00.001-05:00

I am so horrible for just now getting to this! I had to write about our trip last weekend to Many, La. For those of you that are unaware, this is the small town (hour south of Shreveport) that Jeff grew up in. And I guess saying that we were in Many is a bit of a stretch. We were actually in Shuteye....the country area of Many. Jeff and I have been visiting there since we met, but I must say that I had one of the best times ever last weekend!

We left on Thursday night...easier for the kids to sleep. It was Jeff, Carolyn (his mom), Avery, Kendall, me and Jake (Dad, Phil, had to work in Chicago). We weren't sure how Jake would do on his first road trip. We were in Carolyn's mini-van so the girls could watch movies and Jake would have room. Needless to say, all handled the trip great! We made a stop in Shreveport on the way down to my favorite pizza place EVER ~ Johnny's Pizza!!! Oh, how I miss that. While I was there, and about to leave, I ran into a mother of a friend from elementary school ~ Tiffany Loden. We went to Calvary Baptist Academy together from K4-3rd grade. It was so great seeing her and showing off my amazing family to her. We made it to Many in less than 5 hours which is GREAT time!! Less than 10 minutes after being there, I started getting a headache. That is so rare for me now that I have been getting adjusted for so long. I knew that it was probably the pollen that was everywhere!

Molly, Kendall & Avery on the front porch swing.

Me & Tracie (with the ear plugs in our ears) out shooting

Friday morning we were up and at 'em pretty early. First thing on the agenda was going fishing. Wouldn't you know, Avery caught the first fish in less than 5 minutes...at the time she was the only one fishing! I wonder if she's getting the good luck the Trohas seem to have? ;) This was her first time and she was so excited. It reminded me of when I used to fish at my grandparents' in Waskom, TX. Only I fished with a cane pole instead of a rod and reel. We all ended up catching something...Jeff and Barney had the biggest ones.

Avery bringing in her first fish!!

Avery and Uncle Barney taking their picture with her first fish...a catfish!

A pro (Aunt Tracie) teaching a novice (Kendall) how it's done outside! ;)

Later in the day, as my headache kept getting stronger, we went playing in a creek that was up the road. Then we went to the pasture right by it and started playing a game of baseball. Tracie had bought a plastic bat and ball at Walmart. The ball was small like a baseball and the bat was really wide at the end. Avery had never played anything like this before. Let me tell you, she knocked that ball FAR!! We were so proud. You forget that baseball has rules until you have to teach your child how to play. Apparently, running the bases isn't something that we're all born knowing. While we were out there Kendall had to potty several times and LOVED getting to potty outside.

That night Megan, Brandy, Rodney and baby Kami came by. Megan and Brandy are Jeff's cousins. We all started visiting but I could barely focus because my head was still killing me. I knew that if I went to bed it would go away, but I didn't want to miss seeing everyone!! Jeff ended up carrying me to bed since I wouldn't do it myself! Have I mentioned that I LOVE my husband?!?

Saturday I woke up feeling SO much better. After we ate lunch, we put the girls down for a nap and left them with Carolyn. The rest of us "went into town" to Many to play. We went to a house that belongs to one of Barney's cousins. We went riding the 4-wheeler and the dirt bikes. I have never driven a motorcycle before. I drove a dirtbike that belongs to Molly, my 10 year old niece, but used to be Jeb's (14 year old nephew). It was fun, but a little scary I will say. Then came the real fun. We went to the back of the property that was all woods with a creek in it. We were about 10-12 feet above the creek...more like a tiny ravine. We threw empty aluminum cans in the creek and used them as targets. I fired my first pistol ever....and I hit the target!!! I shot a .22 pistol, 20-guage and 12-guage shot gun!!! I hit the target with every gun!! It was so much fun. I was so excited that I actually hit the cans!! After that, we went a little further down the road to another cousin's house where they were skeet shooting. That's where the girls and Carolyn joined us. Let's just say that Kendall wasn't a big fans of the guns. The sound really freaked her out. She was also mortified of the 4-wheeler too..probably because of the sound too. Tracie, mom and I left to go get dinner and up drive Avery, Kendall and Jeff on the 4-wheeler!! I was so proud of Kendall doing that!

Me and the tiny dirt-bike...when I was riding I had a helmet on. ;)

My sexy man shooting a gun. Look at those guns in his arms!! :)

Avery, Daddy & Kendall on the 4-wheeler (look at the joy on Kendall's face)

It was such a great weekend for all of us. We didn't watch the TV once and hardly spoke on our phones at all. Jeff so needed to get away and it did him so good to be with all of us! We're planning on going back to Many ~ Shuteye, really ~ for Easter now. Woo hoo!! We were out playing with Jake in the front yard not long after we got home. I was playing with Jake when Kendall started saying "Tee tee! Tee tee!" I went to go get her to bring inside to see her with her pants and panties down at the ankles and squatting in my front yard!! I cracked up! We've been trying to re-training her to indoor pottying! I must say that I could never imagine how blessed I would be from being in the Troha family! God is SO good!! :)

Learning to forgive and forget...from my daughters

2009-03-11T09:31:00.002-05:00

Whew! I'm so glad that we made it through the weekend. It started off so great since Jeff was off on Friday and home with us. That meant that I got to work-out at my 5:30 am class with Jamie that I love and miss going to so much! :) The weather was so gorgeous over the weekend. Saturday proved to be fun...I'm determined to look at it positively.

We had 2 birthday parties to go to...9 am for Jack's 3rd (Cory's little boy) and 4:00 for Brenden's 5th (Leah's little boy). Jeff went to work for half the day on Saturday which meant I had to wash my hair, get the girls fed and ready for the party (heck no I didn't have time to eat myself!!) and take care of Jake before 8. Then I realized that I didn't have Jack's present, like I thought, so I was pretty upset and a little...make that a lot...hormonal!!! Let's just say that heads were rolling because I was a little short-tempered and bit them off.

So on the way to Target to get the gift, the Holy Spirit nudged me to make amends with the girls who were sitting all content in the back seat. "I'm so sorry girls that I didn't talk so nice at home and got mad at you guys. I just want you to know that I love you." "Luh you too, Mommy," says Kendall and "Love you to, Mommy" says Avery. So yes, the tears start coming after hearing that. They are so forgiving...I have so much to learn from them, because they also forget! I thank Jesus everyday for allowing me to raise them and love them.

Kendall had so much fun at Jack's party. They had the best little bouncy house for the little ones...I had never seen one like it. It was nice the party was so early...we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. Avery and Brenden were practically attached at the hip and had so much fun.

Brenden's party was great...how can it not be at Chuck E. Cheese?!? It was quite chaotic though. I have never been there when it's full to capacity before. Let me just say that I don't plan on being there during that time again. ;) There was a 20 minute wait to get in!!! We found out that Kendall isn't Chucky's biggest fan who had to come by our table to get to the stage. I had just left to go and get our pizza when he walked by Kendall. Honey, she got on the table and crawled across to get to Grammy's safe arms! LOL Cracked me up! So on the way home we ask the girls if they had fun. Of course Avery said a resounding yes. Then Kendall said "No, Cayuhed." Translation: No, scared! It was so funny. We had her saying that all night long.

Kendall in the bounce house with the "fountain" in her hair, as Katy called it.

Aunt Paula's Mickey Mouse Cake

This is what happens after eating black icing. She loved it of course!

My favorite pic of the weekend...you can feel the love. Kendall getting loved by Mother and Aunt Paula.

Avery showing she isn't scared of Chuck E.

It's a Boy!!

2009-03-05T08:15:00.001-06:00

So we added a new addition to our family yesterday. His name is Jake Von Troha (Von to represent his German background). This is Jeff's birthday present from his wonderful father. We had been talking about getting a dog for quite sometime now and researching which breed would be best for our family. Jeff has been worried about leaving us for his rotation in Alexandria, La for a month. He wanted to have a large dog that would protect us. So we got it early for his present so that we could start the obedience training before he left. I told Jeff that he could pick the name since I chose for the cat that was my present. My personal favorites were Armani (goes well with Prada) and Baron. Jeff's favorite won out though...not that he did bad. ;-)

Saying that Avery is thrilled about this addition is quite the understatement. She cried when she had to go to sleep, because she wanted to sleep with him. She cried when we left him this morning because she didn't want to leave him. She scarcely ate a bite last night or this morning because she didn't want to leave him ~ and trust me, this child NEVER misses an opportunity to eat. Now Kendall, she's excited and all but nothing will come between her and her food. So she's ok to step away for a while and eat. She is quite the bossy one though screaming, "No!! Uh uh!!" I just laugh. We're letting her squeeze, lay and rough house with him some to teach him to take it....so the next little ones can do that too.

Prada hasn't quite rolled out the welcome mat. He's not angry with me but he's not befriending Jake yet. I'm hoping that they will be friends soon though. I know that he misses having another pet to play with. He's pretty much stayed in my room since he laid eyes on Jake. He's getting his water from the toilet (after it's been flushed of course) and not eaten yet. I doubt he'll keep that up for long.

Jeff playing with Jake this morning before leaving for work.

Very tricky trying to get a puppy, 2 year old and 5 year old in a picture all at once!

I'm So Ashamed!

2009-03-03T12:50:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I started looking through my pictures on the computer to find the most recent family picture that I could so that I could post it. I am SO ashamed to say that I had to go all the way back to Halloween!! However, in my defense there is one more on my camera from January that I haven't been able to download on the computer because I cannot find my USB anywhere. ;) But this has spoken volumes to me. I know that it's because either Jeff or me are always taking the pictures. Now that I'm aware, I will make an effort to always ask someone to snap a picture of us while I've got the camera out. So, here is the most recent picture that I have of all of us. (this was the night that Avery was attacked by my sister-in-law's dog)

Here is her ear after the attack...for those of you that like that kind of stuff. ;-)

Poor baby. It was so swollen for weeks after that! She took it all in stride though. I was so very proud of her!

My First Blog

2009-03-02T17:14:00.000-06:00

Wow! I am finally a part of the blogging family. I was highly encouraged by my wonderful friend, Jamie to join in. I don't have much time to write today. I'll do that later and add pics of the family. ;)