A yummy treat

So Greg felt as if the doggy's needed to go for a ride as they have been locked up all weekend long. We headed to PetSmart in Watauga to get some dog food, but we were too late. They were closed. Then, it just happened to be right next to the Frozen Custard place so we stopped. There is a huge parking lot right next to the yummy store, so we put the leashes on Daisy and Duke and put the end with a loop on the pole. Greg, Jeremy and Brandy all came back with a handful of ice cream for everyone. Even the puppies received a puppy cone :)

We were just sitting here watching Daisy and Duke and found that Daisy isn't exactly all that bright of a pup. She kept going in circles around the pole, which made her leash shorter and shorter and shorter. She just didn't get it.

A yummy treat!

Sunday Afternoon Activities

So we headed to church and then had to kill some time before the parent meeting for Brandy's camp week. Since our church is on the outskirt of downtown Fort Worth, we decided to stop at the botanical gardens. Of course, still being on one crutch makes it a little more difficult to walk long distances. So, we just meandered through the rose garden, snapped a few pictures and then left to grab a bite to eat.




Then, driving through downtown Fort Worth, Greg passed by a couple buildings where the outside windows reflected like mirror's all that passed by. So, he rolled the windows down and took a picture, as you can see the flash! Ha!

Then he dropped Jeremy and I off at the corner of Chili's restaurant and went to find a parking spot. Who knew downtown was busy on a Sunday! The restaurant was so packed, there was at least a 45 minute wait, and we didn't have that much time before we had to be back at church. So, when Greg and Brandy walked over to where we were sitting we decided to walk a bit further down and go to Razoo's. Along the way, the kids found it quite interesting a longhorn bull covered in leaves.

Then, I think Brandy was up to something by the look in her eye...
I did learn that traffic lights which have the pedestrian crossing lights do not last long enough for one who is on a crutch to cross in time!
At Razoo's!

After the parent meeting, Greg took us on a long excursion in places we have never been. We actually "accidentally" found a women's prison, drove in the wrong direction and had to turn around at an air force base, but did see beautiful homes around the lake area. We enjoy long drives to explore! :)

Sunday Morning...

So Greg, as mentioned before wakes up pretty early without an alarm clock, so since the mornings are great to work outside, we were out in the garage working on getting the Typhoon wheels done to put back on the truck before Greg sells it. First he needs some music to get his grove started -haha.

He is using aircraft remover spray to take off the clear coat on the wheels and covers.
Then drying them off after scraping the clear coat off and rinsing.
Then he is using scotch bright to "sand" the wheels with the grain.
Then he taped them off and spray painted the inside and the GMC letters. It looks very nice.
While helping him with this -not so fun- task (haha), we were entertained by nature! You can see two bunnies and a bird! (Click on picture to make it larger)

Here is a view of the flowers my Mom planted while she was here. The front row of flowers were from last year, the 2nd row looks as if it is over taking the first row!
Here is the front landscaping. Looking lushy green!
Of course the dogs were feeling lonely as the kids are still sleeping. So They came out into the garage to say hi. Duke didn't exactly like the cup I was resting on his head, but his look was cute so Greg snapped a picture.

Now the fun is over, it's beginning to get hotter outside, (and muggy feeling because of the rain), and we have church in an hour. Off to get the day started!

Jeremy at Camp!

Jeremy at Camp!! We are totally excited about what God is doing in the little lives of our children! Our church just built a 30 million dollar camp East of Dallas in Hawkins, Texas. It is so AWESOME! As soon as sign up time was here, I enrolled both Brandy and Jeremy! Besides the parent meeting at the church, everything was completed online. Jeremy's grade was up for the first weeks stay. We received a packet in the mail containing all the camp information including the bag tags, team color, name of which village their stay would be etc... Unfortunately, since the previous weeks before this we had to drive a loaner car from the dealership awaiting the delivery on our HHR we purchased, I left the packet in the car when I returned it to the dealership!!!!! *DOH* --By the time (Saturday night) I realized it was in the car we returned, it was too late to contact them as they are closed on Sunday. Luckily enough, Jeremy's youth pastor was able to print out some information at church that morning for us. There was not a single glitch with my mistake when we arrived at the camp site, all went smooth with checking him in! We drove 2 1/2 hours due east from our home. We arrived on time, and the camp had an awesome structure getting the parents in and the youth situated! We got to ride on a hay ride from the parking area after dropping off his duffle bag to where we went through getting Jeremy hooked up with his group. Some people were on horses to help guide the traffic through. Jeremy was a bit unsure about this large muscled animal!

After going through getting his medication situated at the medication station, we found his group and they posed for us before we left.

Can you guess which one is Jeremy? LOL --Yes, the one upside down!

Lazy river!
Zip lines!

WOOT! It was a very hot day!

Chillin!
The RED team!
HAHA! Beach ball hugger!
More lazy river!

He said it was so fun and can't wait to go back! I am going to try to get some of his disposable camera photo's scanned and uploaded soon.
The website to our church is http://www.fellowshipchurch.com/
If interested, you can click on that and go to the Youth/Camp section and see some video of the progression of the camp. Or, you can go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVgtFgGwEHY

They had things ranging from lazy river to zip lines, to spreading peanut butter or eggs on one's self, to bible lessons and just plain fun learning to be a child of God and walking closer in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
I think next year my hip will be good enough to participate in the volunteering!!!

Video of the Horse!

Here is the video of the kids feeding the horse. Note that a much larger horse walks over to this one and bites him on the backside to get him to go away. I don't believe it was because he wanted the attention, because he then walked back to his original spot! When the kids later went over to pet him, he was not exactly thrilled about it, and walked away.

Horses!

Greg woke me up from my nap and said it was time to go, and surprised us with a new place to eat burgers. After we ate, Greg drove us around to sight see and play the alphabet game, which is a normal part of a longer drive. As we were driving through some industrial area's, there was a small trailer park we drove past and noticed 5 cop cars stopped at one house and was talking with a man outside. We didn't stay for long fortunately.

Anyway, through an industrial area, there were a lot of horses. We have driven through that area before, but never noticed the horses or the horse feeders hanging on the fences. As we passed by, we saw a family parked on the side of the road and were up feeding the horses. So, on our way back we decided to stop too. (will try to upload the video we took later, we are having storms and it tells me I have an error after it tries to download)

Saturday Morning

Greg has today off from work YAY! He did manage to sleep in a little, but like clockwork, he's up by 5:45 AM every morning.
We went in to wake the kids up, and Jeremy apparently had already heard us coming because he took his socks and put them on his hands and made them stick out from under the blankets so we would think they were his feet. He was trying to trick us! HA!
Brandy on the other hand is such a hard sleeper, it is difficult to get her up in the mornings. Greg made the dogs go silly and bark loudly by her bed, but no budging. I laid her cell phone on her shoulder while Greg called from his cell phone to see if she might THEN wake up. Here’s the video of the 2nd attempt with her phone.

We all got up and ate blueberry muffins together (I planned this and made them last night while making dinner). Then we all went outside and did the yard work as it is much cooler in the mornings! After that we showered and then ran to WalMart to pick up laundry soap. I was already exhausted so while the kids relaxed from their hard work, I took a nap!!!!!!!!! :)

Kien, our new nephew!

On Thursday, June 19th we officially met our new nephew!! Karin and Steve have been long awaiting the processes of their adoption in Vietnam to finally go through. Unfortunately, they could only bring Kien home, but will await approval for their daughter Aria in a few weeks.

We had gotten up around 4:45 AM to prepare to head to the airport as Karin, Steve, Kevin, Kien and Nina had a 2 hour layover in Dallas. Around 5:10 we headed out. I thought I heard thunder while getting prepared to leave, so I checked the radar and it didn't look like anything was in our area to threaten our drive. When we left the house, we had a lightening show all the way to the airport!! No rain though thank God!
We arrived and waited in the baggage area for a short time. While we were there, Brandy and Jeremy were being silly and I snapped a shot of it.
Note, Brandy was still in her PJ's!! (HA!)


Here they come!!!! We were very excited to see Karin, Nina, Kevin and Kien!! Of course, Kevin is always ALL SMILES for the camera!!

Here is a group shot of myself and all the kids!! Kien was SO small! I had forgotten what it was like to hold a baby! He seemed to like me because He came right to me! Then he got a little squirmy and wanted his momma!
Of course I had to get a picture with Kevin and let him know that he was sitting on the very leg I had surgery on! He had been praying for me fervently since the surgery, and I wanted to let him know God was answering his prayers! :)


We all walked up to the security line as there were a lot of people arriving at the airport for their flights. We stood in line for a good 10 minutes or so. After watching everyone head through security we then left to head home.
The lightening still was flashing and found out that many of flights were delayed because of the storm.
I stopped at Starbucks and while in the drive through waiting, I listened to the AM radio weather station that said there was a severe thunderstorm warning with winds reaching 70 miles an hour and pea to nickel sized hail. They gave an estimated time of arrival to our place of residence which gave me 15 minutes to try to beat the storm home. Of course, good sense kicked in and the kids and I found the nearest IHop to eat breakfast and wait out the storm.

Pretty Bushes...

This the final placement of the bushes!!
Rose of Sharon
(across by the fence the two bushes are jasmine bushes planted 1 year ago)

Here is the final picture after all our physical and mental work! Read the story below!
So Greg and I started a project a couple years ago building a 24'x12' shed in the backyard to help accomodate our costs of storage, and planned on just working from home on the eBay business. Well, for us, we have millions of projects that rarely are completed in a timely fashion. (HAHA- ok a little over exaggeration). So, the story goes that Greg rented a tiller to till up the mounds of dirt from the trench he dug 2 years ago. The grass had already grown on these mounds, and the fire ants were beginning to take residence making the mounds even higher!

While Greg was tilling the backyard, I figured he could also till up the area on the side of this said storage building so I could plant some bushes I had awaiting placement.

After Greg tilled up the area, we cleaned out all the grass we could and began to dig a small footings around the area I wanted the bushes. We then placed the brick previously used in our garden that actually sat exactly where we built this building. (The garden will take up new residence on the north side of the house next spring!)

Here are the fruits of our labor!

Once we completed this job, we took a day's break.

The next evening, while it was cooler outside, we worked on placement of the bushes and began digging holes. Of course Brandy had to take a small jumping break :).

This is the first plan... I didn't realize the two flowering bushes would get to be 6-8 foot tall, therefore wouldn't like nice at all with the honeysuckle bushes eventually suffocating them.

Here is what the area was GOING to look like, however, as a female has the right to do, I changed my mind! HAHA.

I did plant the 4 boxwood bushes I had on each end (2 bushes next to eachother). I also left the trelluses with the honeysuckles bushes to grow there.

The other two flowering plants were planted elsewhere in the yard.

You have already seen the final pictures that I posted first :)

Next I would like to put some rose bushes in the yard as well. Another Spring awaits this task!

Macco's 1st Annual Car Show

Here are some pictures from the 1st annual car show that Greg and Mark put together. Nice little turn out.

4 Typhoons next to each other.. what a rare occasion!

There were all types of vehicles that came that had many different custom things done to them.





































Here are the trophy's awarded for:


1st place winner was 84 Chevy...
















2nd place winner 06 Chevy HHR


















3rd place was 01 S-10

















Other prizes that were attributed were free Sonic coupons, one free paint job, one free exhaust and one free oil change.
It was a good little turn out for the first one. I recommended them hosting it elsewhere as I am sure they will not have room in the future! :)

Updates...

Yesterday was the official day we were able to FINALLY pick up our HHR. It is going on 3 weeks since we traded in the Silverado. We all absolutely LOVE it! Greg and I both feel that it was a wise decsion and perfect timing. Greg drove it home yesterday from work, and I drove it again today. We are very blessed! We are still trying to get the dealership to produce a spare key and a car manual that didn't come with the car.

That last Saturday I posted, instead of cleaning out the loaner car, which was already clean anyway, we decided to clean house at the shop. We ended up staying longer than the store hours because Greg was working on his truck. So Brandy, Jeremy and I decided to make ourselves useful and clean. This was surely a task for me, so the kids helping me was such a blessing.
We started in the front room and dusted everything and vaccumed. We then cleaned the front show room restroom. It wasn't that much of a chore, so it was somewhat quick. I then decided that we should mop the floor in the long hallway that leads to the paint area. Of course, when you get started on one little project, it tends to turn into a whole days work! And that's exactly what happened. We then cleaned the break room, and then the other restroom. I don't think I have ever experienced something so horrific!! We even used painter's gloves because it was SO GROSS!!! Never-the-less, we completed it... 5 hours later!! It made alot of people happy :).

I mentioned in a previous blog that Brandy went to her band try-out for high school. She thought she bombed it, and was very nervous about the results. Ok, not so much nervous as terrified she would be placed in a lower band. Come to find out, she made the first seat in the second band!!! She was definately relieved!

Jeremy went back to the doctor and he suggested increasing his medication to 2 pills equaling 20mg. That only lasted a day as he said he didn't like how he felt. We went back again to the doctor and he said to back off to 10 1/2 mg. So far the results are good. Please continue to pray over the medication and the doctor, and that all the "learned behaviors" are easy to break. He seems to be doing much better at home. Speaking of the little man, he just turned 11!!! He had a great birthday and was very excited that this was his FIRST year to have a birthday on a school day! All his other birthday's either were spent already being out of school to the day landing on a weekend.
I did learn that schools now do not allow kids to have cakes, cupcakes or candy as part of a birthday celebration due to the problem in our country of too much sugar and kids being overweight. So we couldn't plan a class party. We did let him open up some presents and then took him to dinner of his choice. He is growing up so fast!

Camp for the kids is a done deal! They are very excited to go, as this will be our church's first year hosting camp at thier own camp grounds!! Jeremy is set up to go this coming Sunday and Brandy will attend the first of July. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive to camp on the east side of Dallas. I feel as if this year is going to be a life changing experience for both of them!! The camp is a week long. I wont be able to volunteer this year due to my recovery, but hopefully I will have an opportunity to next year.

Today was my first day of physical therapy that was intense. I was able to use some of the equipment and let me tell you... I am sooooo sore. My reps have gone from 20 to two sets of 20. The young lady that works with me said she was happy to have achieved what we accomplished today. Of course, I am very sore. I was going to work on putting in my bushes tonight, but instead of trying to squeeze that inbetween taking Brandy to church and picking her up, I think I will wait. One more day isn't going to hurt the bushes.

Well off to get Jeremy from school. :)

Stories...

So I warned you all that I am not good at these blogs. I normally don't have time to just sit and write stories, or by the time I can I have either forgotten them temporarily, or I am too tired. HA!

A lot has gone on in the past couple weeks. Physical therapy has not been fun, and it wont get any easier. I go to the doctor next week, and I have a feeling I will not be allowed to walk without the crutches. I still cannot go with out at least one. Once I am off the crutches though, physical therapy will get more intense.

We have big news on the truck. We no longer own a Chevy silverado. Yes, I know it's a very sad sad day for us! Especially since we use a truck on a regular basis. Because my eyes nearly bugged out of my head at the $86.00 to fill it, we knew it was time. So, after days of research and 3 1/2 hours at the dealership where Greg first purchased the silverado, we finally made our choice. Hopefully when I get home later today I can post pictures. It's an HHR. We are sticking with chevy for sure. It will cost only half in gas, and it fits all of us! (including the doggies!!)
Greg has already done some shopping to personalize the HHR including seat covers (black), putting a different steering wheel on for controls, will be painting the grill to match the color of the vehicle, tires, etc... you get the point. We are excited about this purchase.

Brandy had her band (French Horn) try-out at the high school. Brandy has been playing the french horn since 6th grade. She described the try-out as being a room where the judge(s) had their backs turned to the students just to listen to them play their piece. She said that she didn't think she did so well. Of course, we tell her we think she did just fine and that we are our worst critics. It wasn't until a couple hours later that she really showed her emotion. She looked sad, so I asked her what was wrong. She then lost it. She said that she feels very strongly that she bombed the try-out. Then, I had to go into "super mommy mode" and encourage her because she really does have some talent. Brandy also has been in private lessons for a couple months now, and it will all pay off for her. I also told her that it was a nice learning experience because she will encounter many situations just as this in her lifetime. I also explained to her, which I am sure she already knew, that when she is placed in the lower band classes, that when she begins to perform her true self without all the pressure, she will be moved to the appropriate level of band.

Jeremy had his third appointment and all looks well. He was very excited to be out of school on Thursday because this means he will have a 5 day weekend! HA! We are very pleased at this point with the doctor. Now we are awaiting for his test results. I will have more on that next week.

Yesterday was fun. Brandy had a friend come over for a couple hours. Merry Maids finally made it toward 4-5 pm. When they left, I had a special surprise for the kids. I secretively snuck into their rooms and snagged their swimsuits from the drawers. Then, I put them in a bag with 3 towels (accommodating for Brandy's guest) and strategically weaseled my way out to the truck of the car so they would have no idea what was going on. At that point, I told them to get ready to go for a ride.
My friend Cheryl and her family are out of town for the holiday and they asked if we could make sure their dog has food, and water her plants. So, since I had already gone over there to play with the dog and water her plants, I told them we should drive by to make sure Thor hadn't gotten loose. So we did. Then, I told them we should site see around the neighborhood. Once we were at the park and pool, I suggested that we should go look at the work they did before the pool opened. We got up to the door and went inside. Brandy and Jeremy both stated that they wished they could go swimming. So, as we were inside the pool area, I told them that I didn't know what they were going to do but I was going to sit at the poolside. Brandy was confused and Jeremy was already playing on the park swings. I opened the trunk and Brandy grabbed the bag packed with their swimming attire. Once Jeremy found out, I don't think I have ever seen him run so fast! We stayed for about an hour and 15 minutes. It was nice to be there because there were only 4 or 5 other people in the pool. We left at the right time because then people were pouring in so quickly. I was able to read my book and actually get through a couple chapters.

I suppose that is all for now. We are with Greg at work today to keep him company till the shop closes. It will give me an opportunity to clean the loaner car inside and out!

The Clarinet

Ok, so most of you know that Brandy has been playing the french horn since 6th grade. She plans to continue through high school. Jeremy on the other hand really has not shown any interest what so ever musically. Until recently.
Last night were the 6th grade try outs. We started with the percussion, which I never did find out for sure what his score was. I figured he would have LOVED playing drums, xylophone something of that nature. Instead, he wanted to try the flute.
First of all, they had a few stations set up for each instrument the school provides classes for. Each station has a teacher who shows you how to sit, hold and use each instrument. Then they grade you on a scale of 0 - 5 (5 being the best).
After the percussion test, we had to go to the cafeteria where the rest of the instruments were. He started with the flute, he received a 5. Then he went to clarinet and received a 5+! French horn was a 4. He really didn't show any interest in any of the other instruments such as the trombone, basson/saxophone, oboe or trumpet. He was set for SURE on the clarinet.
So there you have it. I signed him up, paid for the rental instrument.

This was a very good experience. It's about time he shows interest in something musical!!!! :):)

PT IS NO FUN!

Physical Therapy is absolutely NO fun! First they started with a heat pack, then excersizes and then an ice pack... *sigh*
This is going to be long...

Long awaited...

POST!! Wow, I can't believe how busy it has been. Let's catch up!

Greg has been busy with work and chroming his newly purchase motorcycle. (hehe) He took the kids for thier very first ride this weekend! Brandy, being the freespirited one, LOVED the ride and requested that Greg bring her to or pick her up from school on the motorcycle sometime. Jeremy on the other hand held on for dear life. Needlesstosay, the ride was a bit shorter with Jeremy. Hopefully he will grow to like the ride. Greg recently found a fellow GMC Typhoon owner who happends to know how to work on them. Saturday we took the Typhoon and dropped it off to find out what the source of the oil leak is. He speaks of selling it once it is fixed, but I am encouraging him to keep it. It is a rare truck, he's always wanted one, and I kinda like it as well. Ok, maybe I just like the fact that it's easy to get into and looks and will run awesome. It is ultimately his decision, I support it either way.

Jeremy is excited about camp. This year they will experience more than the previous camps they have been to. Horseback riding, paintball, zip lines, lazy river, praise and worship, arts and crafts, waterpark, mountain bike riding... etc..
I was impressed with his report card, he got 3 of his grades up to B's. MUCH IMPROVEMENT! So far one TAKS test has a commended grade (above average), and the second test was in the average range. We are currently seeing a doctor who specializes in ADD/ADHD in Dallas. The doctor states that Jeremy is extremely intelligent person and has a great personality. Over the next 6 weeks we are going to be putting into place a few things to help Jeremy be able to focus better with school orgaization, completing tasks completely and building him up to feel better about these accomplishments.

Brandy has been doing VERY well with school! She has worked hard to bring up and maintain all A's and B's with her grades! Which means she got her cell phone privilages back and internet time. She actually has a band performance tonight which she is very excited about. Greg will be attending with her as I will be attending Jeremy's DARE performance tonight. I am dissapointed that the schools scheduled these two events at the same time, but what can you do?
We took Brandy to the podiatrist 2 weeks ago. She was given some orthotics to wear to see if they could help with her ankles back in February. The doctor said that since the pain is now gone, we are not going to consider surgery at this time. I am SO relieved!! We are going to take her back in a year to have more x-rays done to see if the orthotics actually correct the problem.

I am doing better for the most part. I am still in pain and the physical therapy isn't helping with the pain. It's managable though, today is the first day I took some tylenol and motrin to take the edge off the pain. I now have started weekly going to physical therapy. The therapist said that because I am not on full weight bearing they cannot start a more aggressive therapy, and have me doing some excersizes to build up some muscle strength.
I went to work for the first time for an hour for training, and then again Monday for a half day. I enjoyed being back with the girls, and just out of the house, but they didn't have enough work for me to do to stay a full day. So I came home and took a nap! LOL

Ok, I have a few things I need to complete today, as we have a busy schedule tonight! PLUS, we are again having some storms roll through soon too. I love the spring, but being on crutches, I could do without the rain!! haha