A Memorable Memorial Weekend

Our long weekend was so much fun! I first have to explain the pic of Troy and Duncan with a baby opossum!! Yes, there really was a baby opossum in our yard. I've been walking Savannah to school and on my way home I'm usually greeted by Duncan and Troy out front playing baseball before Troy goes to work. However this morning they were petting this nasty little thing! Do you think it's a sign that I need to get used to the country life? Is this getting me prepared? Anyway, Troy said, "Hey! Put it on the blog!" I guess he likes this bloggin business more than he lets on. Let's just say that I do like knowing that although I am totally CLUELESS about what his smartypants self does at work... I can use blogspot and work and IPOD! :)



"Salty Dog" aka.. Kristin, and her fabulous family came to visit on Saturday. It was so great to have the kiddos hang out together and play while we just hung out. For the family out there that reads this, yes...this is the Kristin from NSU.. my old roomdog. We lived together 5 years between NSU and making the move to Big D and when she left in that moving truck "goin back to Cali.. to Cali, to Cali...mmm, I don't think so" (sorry couldn't help myself there) it was like getting a divorce! Kristin knows more about me than most and still loves me! We were firing off old sayings that we used way back when and were talkin in code on occasion. But the funniest thing was just standing there watching our kids play and thinking... SERIOUSLY, do we really have kids this big? Her girls are so hilarious and adorable. It was a blast having them here. The kids all got along great and I think Duncan made a new BFF with Mr. Mike. He cried his eyes out when they left. It was the saddest thing. Love you Fabulous Fisers!


Last night was our annual neighborhood Crawfish boil. It is one of our most favorite things to go to each year. Our neighborhood is the very best EVER! I know God placed us here while we're away from family. Anyway, the kids were covered in sand from making "huts" for their crawfish and Duncan's won 2nd in the crawfish races. Here's a few pics from the night. Duncan was carrying around his crawfish by the pinchers and would just reach in the pot of the live ones and grab them out... everyone was amazed. He and Savannah were at the table at the end of the night eattin' the crawfish up too. Duncan downed a sausage that was stinkin' spicy hot, and didn't even say a word about it! It made me proud and it was fun to watch'em enjoy all that. The "Louisiana" in them was definitely coming out! We got home super late and the kids just crashed.

Today we just went down to the pool and the entire morning before we left Kendall kept asking, "Can we go to swimmy lessy Daddy?" She loved the pool. I think it may be easier to manage all three at the pool this year by myself. Savannah was swimming laps across the deep end and Duncan is just nearly there. It was a great relaxing day. Hope you all had a great Memorial Day. Thank you to all who make our country great and the sacrifices you've made! We love you Uncle Gordon! And Aunt Deanna, Nathan, and Christiana!

School's out in 7 days! I can't wait, Savannah can't wait, and I'll just say for the record I think it's rediculous to have to go to school after Memorial Day! I mean really, are they learning anything? The teachers are done, the kids are done and I as a parent.. I'M DONE! Let's get this summer started!!! 7 days and counting.....

alrighty then.. I'm Outy 5...

Wildflowers in bloom

Hey diddle diddle,
The cowboy and the fiddle,
The longhorn jump over the moon.
The prairie dogs laughed to see such sport,
and the blue bonnets were all in bloom!


That's what Duncan has been reciting all week, getting ready for his preschool program. I can't wait to see it. But here are some pictures we took after church on Sunday. The wildflowers in TX are beautiful and in full bloom! Poor Troy was so miserable when it was over. His allergies were the worst I've seen them in years! We got some good pictures though. Hope you enjoy them... it was a fun afternoon!

Mother's Day

Well, Mother's Day has come and gone. I had a great Mom's Day weekend. Saturday Troy went to get crawfish and we had such a ball eatin it up! We played our Doug Kershaw and Louisiana cajun music to go along with it too. Sunday we had donuts for breakfast and ended the day with ice cream from Braum's! I even snuck a nap in. Troy took the kids individually to the Dollar Tree and they got to pick something out just from them to me. It really works out great...they have an entire store to choose from and let me tell you it's a gift from the heart... with a low low price of one dollar. So what'd they pick you may ask? As reported from T-Roy himself, Duncan made two runs through the store and I ended up with some hand soap and a giant bottle of body wash. He was so proud to give those to me. Troy said everything he looked at (not counting the bag of rocks he thought long and hard on) was utilitarian. Everything Savannah looked at was a trinket, picture, or pretty to look at. Duncan also cleaned up the entire playroom by himself after church. AND the night before he gave me the biggest crawfish off his plate. OH how I love that little man! I really don't want him to grow up. Really.


Well, Miss Savannah's trip was so sweet too. She ended up getting me a wooden cross and painted it so beautifully! She worked so hard on it. I just love it. We had a special little time together when I realized my $10 coupon to JCPenny's was going to expire. Saturday afternoon I talked her into going with me and she walked around so big and picked out lots of tops for me to try. She had me crackin up! She wanted to buy something so we went to the $1 store (we like that place) to buy her a necklace. She was determined to get one and spend her money. Well, she found one...and the make up section. She got herself some eyeshadow and hot pink lipgloss. For her to spend her money is HUGE! She is just like her daddy and it makes him so proud. SO for her to spend $4 in one outting is a big deal. Fast forward to Mom's Day morning... she comes into my bathroom with her make up in hand ready to apply!!! She was so very upset that I wouldn't let her go to church with it all on like she wanted to put it on... full force! She said she wanted to look really pretty for me on Mother's Day. It was sweet. Check the picture out... she's sportin the necklace she bought and hot pink lips.. after lots of blotting! Her funny line of the day, and she always has one was, "This was such a fun day. I got to eat donuts for breakfast and had ice cream too....(long thoughtful pause)... BUT it's not about me." That girl brings so much to my life.I can't even tell you the lessons she's taught ME! I feel like she's growing too fast! Make it stop!! Seriously, my hearts achin'... just thinkin about it. So it was a few bucks spent, but to me the gifts were priceless! Troy did a great job "filling in" and made it a great day with his wonderful "selfless self" and gift giving. Yep, got a good man I do!

My sweet Kendall Brynn didn't make it to the DollarTree. Her singin was present enough. That girl loves her some singin! She sang "Happy Mother's Day to you..." and that was precious. She's my cherry on top kid. I didn't know it could get any better till I had that preciousness. MMMM....mmmm...mmmm.... love her too.

So even though my dear mother will not read this I will give her a shout out. She won't read it because she has a honkin' old computer and is still on dial up. Yes, her phone company is LITERALLY in a little house down the road a ways. Don't ask, I don't understand it either. And just forget her ever upgrading to cable internet... she only gets two channels as it is and there's no sign of her ever getting more. Yet she still says dad watches too much TV. She's right too. But here's a few reasons I think my mom's awesome.. it was hard to narrow down.

1. She's says things like "Oh Kellye! They won't remember that! I yelled at ya'll all the time and you don't remember it, do you?!" And for the record, I don't remember it! And when I say I want the kids to stay little forever she says, "Kellye!!! If they stayed little you'd be dead, cause they'd kill ya. Enjoy this stage and get ready for the next. It'll be great too!"

2. She's LOYAL. She told me the other day, "OH! I just want to shak'em till their teeth rattle!" when I was complainin about some insurance people. Yikes Mom! She's also been known to write letters to those who are mean to us.

3. She's not impressed. Very few things impress her. No car, no jewelery...nothing. Oh! Except if she gets it at 99% off at a thrift store.... or is that just excitement?


4. She can sing. I walk around daily trying to harmonize how my mom can. My favorite times at church were sitting with her so I could hear her harmony. Greatness.


5. She taught me, with out really saying it... how important family is. I guess by example. Her family, her sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews.... mean the world to her. And even though we lived 8 hours away from all our family, she made sure we really got it too....

Thanks MOM!


And thanks to Mrs. Conly too. I can't close without thanking you. You are the reason Troy is such a wonderful husband and father. Thanks for pouring yourself into him. Great Grandma Conly... you amaze me. It must be so rewarding to see all of your family! Hope you both had a great day!

Oh dear me.. I did it. I spilled it all out. If it's too much for ya... Thanks for comin'! Guess you don't have to come back then, ya hear!

One thankful mommy signing out...

Jumping Rope

Savannah has recently been really into "hand jives" and I actually learned one with her that we do together. I've even taught her a few chants from when I was a kid. I loved that stuff when I was little! Well this week, it's all about jumping rope to these little chants. She comes home everyday from school telling me about how much she jumped rope at recess. She's even recruited Duncan and Troy to turn the rope in the evening while she jumps. Her latest starts with, "Ice cream, soda pop, cherry on top. Who's your boyfriend? I forgot. Is it A? B? C? D? E?.." and so on. Last night we had our friends over and they were playing in the backyard doing these chants. Savannah stopped on letter E... well and let's just say it was funny. Don't forget to check out Duncan in his pirate costume. FYI he wears some part of that costume every single day. I swear I just might have it preserved like my wedding dress someday. I want to burn the image of him wearing it in my brain forever. Hopefully you can see it.

Fourty is Fabulous

Kim turned 40 and I can truely say she is 40 and fabulous! She's so happy. We had a fun time with her here this weekend. She brought her friend Donna and Mom and Dad came too. Kim, Donna, Mom, Genelle, and I started shopping and eating at IKEA Friday night, stayed in a hotel in Grapevine and shopped all day Saturday. We got home Saturday, ate and Troy, Kim, Donna and I went to a benefit concert to hear my friends' Rebecca and Kirk play in their bands. They are so amazing and this is the 2nd year they have had this concert to raise money for the cystic fibrosis foundation. Their daughter, Violet was diagnosed at 15 months. It was so much fun to get out and not have to worry about how long I was gone and how much do we owe the sitter?!

The folks are doing well and as usual we had a great time! They took lots of walks to the park with the kiddos and Dad was a trooper watching the kids with Troy. Mom hung in there during our shopping trip. I think she stayed up till 12:30 at the hotel! Troy is still workin like a dog. We have been enjoying the nice weather in the evenings when he gets home. Last night he was playing baseball with the kids and he enjoyed it. They did too of course, but I could tell he was really into it. I'm thinking maybe we'll try Duncan at TBall next, since it's Troy's favorite... maybe it won't be a dissaster like soccer was for Duncan.

With Mom and Dad here I was able to go with Duncan on his field trip to the zoo on Monday. He was so cute. Here's a pic of him and his BFF making Jedi faces. They always play Starwars. I was surprised at how quiet Duncan was during the trip. I usually have to tell him to lower his voice etc... but I guess he was just enjoying our time there. I know I was. Maybe it was because we were so thirsty. I froze our water bottles the night before thinking it would work out perfectly. It didn't. We were just so thankful for any drop we could squeeze out of it. Needless to say, we made a Sonic drink stop on the way home.

The kids are all growing so fast. Savannah especially seems to be shooting up lately. She is ready for school to be out and is planning for the summer. She still takes good care of Kendall and when she's home she wants her over anyone else. Kendall is talking up a storm! She can say anything and does! She told Duncan today, "NO eat my fruitbar Duncan.. OK!?" She has no problem standing her ground. She loves to sing and sings about everything... Barney, Jesus, you name it. Usually the Lord does come before Barney, thankfully :) We have a busy weekend ahead. I hope to update once a week. Well see...

Blog World

OK. I'm going to start this blog business. I'm not too sure about it. Mainly because I'm afraid I'll share TMI (too much information) rather it be some deep random thought that I should have kept to myself or just ramblings about silly things... see I'm already doing it. BUT I will try to keep you all updated on our "goings and doings." Hopefully you will enjoy watching our family grow and change. I'm just learning all this beeswax so bare with me please...