Childhood Dreams

In the car last week I heard this conversation....

Mason: Kendall, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Kendall: Ummm, I think I'll be a seller.
Mason: A seller of what?
Kendall: Ummm, I think babies.
Mason: Like on Annie?????
Kendall: Yeah! I'll wait till people don't have babies of their own and I'll sell them one of mine.

I told Ryan I didn't know if I was more concerned about her desire to help people illegally or be like Ms. Hannigan.

17 years is a long time...kind of...

In 1993 (I was a high school junior), the "city" sent my family a letter saying they would be buying our house and tearing it down to expand the highway. I was devasted. I was sure I would have to change schools for my senior year and not graduate with my friends. Little did I know that before the tearing down would happen I would not only graduate from high school, but I would also...

Go to 4 years of college

Graduate from college

Get married

Move to Pocatello, Idaho

Move to Grapevine, TX

Move to N. Richland Hills, TX

Teach for 5 years
Have a baby boy

Move to Idaho Falls, ID

Move to Meridian, ID

Have a baby girl

Move to Hurst, TX

Build countless memories of returning to that house during vacations and surprise visits home

Relish the joy of my kids "knowing" that house and loving it (and knowing exactly where all the candy is hidden.

Watch my children swing in the swings that I swang in, play basketball where my brothers played, and ride their bikes in the same place that I learned to ride a bike.

17 years is a long time when you look at the list of life changes that have taken place. It is not a long time to realize that they actually did what they said they would do. My childhood home went from this...

December 2007

To this...

July 2010

These pictures were taken with the thought that this may be our last Christmas all together (one family member was missing) in this house. Sadly, it was.

February 2010

Just after mom and dad moved out

July 4th, 2010

What was the front sidewalk...




Do you think as they tore everything down, they thought about

the year that Santa showed up on Christmas Day in person to deliver presents

the nights my best friend and I got in trouble for staying up talking and giggling WAY TOO LATE

the garage sales (and if you've ever been to one of my mom's garage sales you know it is definitely something to remember)

the times I came home from Harding unannounced to surprise my parents

the time Ryan and I drove all the way from Idaho to surprise them

the time we brought Kendall home from Idaho to meet her Texas family

the times we would drive by on the access road and honk and then call my parents to see if they heard us

how difficult the transition has been for parents to move to a new home after almost 50 years in one place

I know lots of you have moved from your childhood home and may be wondering what the big deal is. I guess the big deal for me is that it no longer exists. We didn't just move. We will never be able to drive by and show Baby #3 where I grew up.

But change is necessary. Cities grow and highways must be expanded.

Who knows in another 17 years maybe baby #3 will drive along what is now Hwy 183 and honk the horn on his/her car and say...this is where my mommy grew up.

Catchin' Up...

Well...its time to play catch up again...at least until I can get behind again...life has been crazy. No crazier than anyone else's I'm sure, so I'm not sure why I can't seem to make myself stay up to date on this....the easiest way I know to do this is to give you some highlights. But, first, I thought I would post a link to this video of Kendall and her dance to Justin Bieber's "Baby." She must get her moves from her Daddy...


January...We got another glimpse of Kendall's high level of pain tolerance. After Mason's 1st grade program, the kids were getting ready for bed with Ryan and I hear...
from Ryan: "OH KENDALL!"
from Kendall: gut wrenching scream
from Mason: Kendall is bleeding EVERYWHERE!!!!!

I grabbed a large towel and headed towards the chaos. When I got to her room, Ryan was holding her foot. There was so much blood I thought she'd cut off a toe. I quickly found out she had stepped on the metal frame of her trundle bed and sliced her foot open. We rushed her to the ER and let them put in 8 stitches. (The first two being between her toes.) OUCH! When we got the ER and they unwrapped her foot to weigh her, the blood started puddling on the floor which sent her into hysterics. Until this experience, I had never seen anyone in shock. I'm hoping that is what was wrong with her because she started pointing at me and screaming, "You did this! You did this!" My response, through tears, was "No, honey, NO! I wasn't even in the room! Your daddy was!!!!" I didn't intend to throw him under the bus...but I figured if we were going to have CPS take a child, it wasn't going to be my faulty. Besides, I took the heat for the broken arm incident.

Luckily, they let us all go home together.

Ready for the removal of the stitches...Good thing she can't see my face!

February...
Mason turned 7. And that's about all I can say about that. I can't believe it.

Oh yes...and record snowfall...

It was beautiful and most importantly it was gone in 2 days.

March...Kendall was sick with a very bad stomach bug. Which led us to discover that Mason will never be a doctor. While teaching Bible Class one morning my cell phone rang. Ryan answers and I hear..."Oh, no. Okay, I'm on my way up." He gets off the phone and informs me that his teachers said Mason is complaining of a stomach ache...and he is green...and he is clammy and sweaty. So Ryan rushes him home. I called to make sure they made it home before throwing up in my car and he did. When I got home, he looked pretty good and was begging to eat...anything and everything. I found this a little fishy and began to question him. He finally admitted that "something happened to make him sick." By "something" he explains, he was putting the lid on his marker and it pinched the skin between his thumb and index finger. He pulled it off and it apparently "cut" him. (I use the term "cut" loosely) And the pain/speck of blood made him sick. Yep. That's why he will never be a doctor. I took a picture although it is blurry. Thats what happens when you have to zoom in so close just to see the injury. Good grief!

April...Easter at Harding with "our girls." As always Harding was beautiful and Ryan left there with a mental list of all the pharmacies in town just in case I ever decide Harding is where I really want to live. So far, I'm not there yet...

If you are at all familiar with Harding...you know this is not a picture most moms want of their children. And definitely not something I had her pose for. Legend has it...if you stand under the Bell Tower, you will never marry. Not only did Kendall stand under it...she RAN inside...before I could stop her. Not. Good.

Spring Sing with Victoria, Jenna and Bethany!

This is Jarron. A friend from our home church. The kids (and me too) ADORE HIM!! I have begged him to wait for Kendall! But, I'm pretty sure he'll be taken before we let Kendall date.

This month we also learned that lots of

hanging out here

extra naps

equals

That's right! We are having a baby! Much to our surprise and excitement Mallory Baby #3 is due just in time for

Christmas!

(Dec. 12)

May...Much of May has been spent between the bed, the couch and the bathroom. I have tried numerous "treatments" to relieve my sickness...including drugs, IV dugs and fluid and my latest..."the magic watch." The watch sends out electric "shocks" through my wrist and hand. The idea is to "trick" my brain. I guess if my brain is thinking about my hand involuntarily cringing up, then it won't be thinking about needing to throw up. Sounds good to me...and so far (I've worn it about 24 hours) it has worked fairly well. I'm still taking my meds along with it so it may be the combination of the two...but frankly I don't care what does it as long as something works! So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed (and praying A LOT) that this watch truly is magical!!!

I was able to put on a smiley face for some Mother's Day pictures with my kiddos. I guess this is my last Mother's Day as the Mother of 2!!!!

So...consider yourself caught up...for now...

Time for a FIESTA!!!!

So tonight is the Fiesta Bowl in which Texas Christian University and Boise State University will battle for the title of Fiesta Bowl Champion of whatever division they are in. If you know me, and even if you don't based on the previous sentence, you know that I do not have a lot of football knowledge. Honestly, I NEVER watch football on tv...unless there is a reason to.

Tonight there is a reason.

Texas is playing Idaho. Some of you are surprised that Idaho even has a college, much less a football team. But they do and, I might add, it is a pretty good team. I know this because the last time I watched a football game, Boise State beat Oklahoma in 2007. They won it with what I have heard was a "trick play" (so TCU better be watching for those.)

For a while now, I've been faced with a dilemma...which team am I rooting for? I thought maybe the boys could go for BSU and the girls could go for TCU (we look better in purple anyway). But, something about that still didn't feel right. Thus I developed the following Pro/Con List...

BSU

Pros/Cons

*Lived in Boise for a while/But don't now

*Husband and In-laws LOVE BSU/NONE of them went to school there

*When BSU won in 2007 it was really fun to watch the entire city and surrounding area "live like they won the Superbowl"/Maybe Boise needs to find something else to do

*2 out of 4 family members in my house were born in Idaho/The other 2 were born in Texas

TCU

Pros/Cons

*Lived in Texas all my life except for the few years I lived in Boise/Refer to BSU Con #1

*Actually know a few friends that went to TCU/Can't think of any alum from BSU that I know personally whose feelings I would be hurting if I cheered for my own state's team instead of theirs

*May consider sending my children to TCU someday if I ever allow them actually leave home/Sending my children to BSU would mean moving BACK to Idaho and as much as I love and miss the in-laws...it is TOO COLD for my TEXAS blood

*Cheering for the Frogs insures a little friendly competition...which is about the only thing that

makes football exciting for me/I could quite possibly be sleeping alone tonight

*2 out of 4 family members in my house were born in Texas/The other 2 were born somewhere else

*So I decided to compromise and live in a divided household. I will let both kids (even the Texas one) cheer with their dad. But I have to be true to ME...once a Texan, always a Texan...so...

GO FROGS!!!!!

However, I would like 2 things stated for the record PRIOR to kickoff...

1. IF Boise wins...I WILL be happy for them and if they lose I will be SAD for them (which may mean I am secretly rooting for them). More for the entire state of Idaho than the school...I've lived there...it was fun to have something exciting to talk about for a few days. I kind of want that for them again.

2. There has been a lot of trash talk down here about TCU wanting to play a "real school" (which frankly just isn't nice). In the event that TCU loses to BSU I NEVER ONCE EVER said BSU was not a real school. I have always defended them and told those Frogs they better be careful or they are going to feel really stupid if they get beat by an "unreal" school.

So may the best team win!!!!

GO FROGS (and Broncos!)

The Spirit of Giving

Mason decided to take his own money to "give to God" on Sunday. Well, when push came to shove he changed his mind and decided to keep it for himself. In a last minute attempt to teach him the right thing I heard Ryan telling him that he really should give his money to God because that money goes to help others that don't have the things that we have, especially children that won't be having very nice Christmases. I leaned over, hoping to give him something specific to visualize, and said, "Like, the children that go to Fortress" (the inner city church where Kendall and I volunteered a few times during the school year last year). He thought for a minute and then his sweet eyes brightened up and he said, "Hey! Kendall, goes to Fortress!!!" When the plate came around he gladly dropped his money in the plate.

Now, I had several friends that "ahhhhed" when I told them that story thinking that Mason was being so sweet to want to "help out his sister" as one of the "children at Fortress." I was thinking he was thinking differently. I got several dirty looks that I would think that way about such a precious angel, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and ask him before posting this...so I said...

"Mason, when you decided to give your money to God so that it could help the kids at Fortress and you said that Kendall goes to Fortress what did you mean by that?"

"Well, Kendall goes to Fortress and my money goes to Fortress, so my money goes to Fortress and then it will come back to me. And I think that is weird and Awesome!!!"

And there you have it folks! Honesty at its finest! And the next time I say I know my kid...you should save your dirty look for someone else!!!


He's had one more little gift giving faux paux this week, which, in his defense is all Ryan's fault...

Ryan's "big gift" this year is a smoker/grill. Which we bought right after Thanksgiving and stored it at my brother's house (aka Uncle Gene's house...important detail). Now, usually I don't take my kids shopping with me, but I didn't have an option, and I thought this was far enough from Christmas that they wouldn't think anything of it. Apparantly I was right and wrong. We bought the gift at Academy. Which is also where we bought Mason's mouth guard for football. Because my husband is a sneaky snooper he asked Mason what else we bought at that store. Mason's response..."Oh, just a grill for Uncle Gene!"

Mary did you know?

After preschool (which is at our church) around Halloween one day, Kendall asked me if I knew the Halloween virgin? Well, being a good ole' Church of Christ girl, I was of course confused because I was always taught that Mary the mother of Jesus was the only "virgin" (that we talked about, you know). So very cautiously, I said, "Noooo, I don't." She said, you know it is like "Lord's Army, butscept (except) it goes "I may never march like a monster, screech like a black cat, climb like a spider, I may never fly like a scary bat, but I'm in the Lord's Army."

Imagine my relief when I realized the Halloween VIRGIN was really the Halloween VERSION.

Almost like a conversation with a teenager

Kendall and I recently had the following conversation while I was getting ready one morning:

While reading imagine Kendall's tone as a 13 year talking to her best friend about something "totally awesome" that she has done.

K: Mom, you have GOT to see my desk! (it is really a little vanity in her room...and I had already seen it and was FULLY aware of what she had done and when she had done it.)

Me: Oh, I think I have seen it. Is it all decorated?

K: YES!!!! Isn't it great????

Me: Well, yes it does look nice. But did you do that last night when you were supposed to be sleeping?

And here is where my sweet innocent 4 year old returned complete with her lip out, head down on my lap, and tears instantly rolling down that sweet face.

K: Yeeeeeesssssss! I'm sorry!!!!

This is her nightime handywork. I wonder what time she actually went to bed??? This took some time...she was quiet as a mouse!

If only this was the worst thing she would ever

do and if only she will continue to feel such remorse

so quickly...then the teenage years won't be so bad!