10 things to smile about in May

I totally stole this title from another blog, but I love the idea so here goes...(you have seen some of these and they are all out of order - but that's how I roll).

1. My beautiful ladybug turned SEVEN!!!!!!! I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday! I can' believe we are celebrating her 7th birthday.

2. We had the chance to go hang out with some of our BFF's at a picnic and music in the park. And we spent part of the next day with them too!! Love these girls!

Best friends at the picnic in the park!

At a Lowe's workshop!







3. May 10th was World Lupus Day - the color for Lupus awareness is purple. A lot of my friends wore purple that day to support me! 

4. Mother's day...I love being a mom and being a mom to this cutie patootie doesn't hurt. Friday we got to go to Muffins with Mom at daycare and Sunday we had dinner with most of our family.





my baby and I on mother's day!

my mothers day present!



5. Being an aunt. It is a great job! This boy has my heart and has since the day I laid eyes on him. He is my baby. His brothers and cousins are all awesome too, but I was finally old enough to be a real aunt to this one. He is graduating this year. That breaks my heart. He is sweet and funny and a smart aleck just like his Auntie Leah. Here is a pic of us at his grad party.





My handsome nephew and I at his graduation party!
I remember the day he was born too!






6. Earlier in the month theses girls (The Fast & Furious) played in the Houston Metro Recreational tournament and received the 1st place title!! The girls ROCK! I was a proud coach and a VERY proud Momma!!

7. The laughs that this girl creates. She is so funny and sweet and does the weirdest things. I mean who watches TV like this?? My weird child LOL.

8. So so proud of my number 1!!! Her team got 1st place in inter league play as well. Here we are with her 1st place trophy!!!



9. Ladybugs...they make me happy. I love them. I have called my daughter ladybug since she was in my belly. I have a tattoo of one and they seem to land on me all the time. Here is one that landed on me the day my girl and her team won the city championship. There was another one on me this past weekend. I don't feel lucky all the time so I guess these are my little reminders!

10. My oldest nephew. Curtis. Today is his birthday. He is 29 years old. We are only 7 years apart and honestly he is more like my baby brother than anything. Today 29 years ago I fell out of a tree house. It was a very interesting day. I don't remember much about that day except they snuck me in to see my sister and the whole tree house debacle. I don't have a picture of him handy, but here is a picture of me and his two boys. They are the cutest boys. I don't see them as much as I want to, but I love them so much! And boy do they love their Kendall. The redhead is Max and the blond is Declan. They are 5 and (almost) 3. Curtis is a great dad and a good husband. He has made so much of himself and is also a veteran. I am very proud to be his Aunt! He too is a smart aleck lime me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADYBUG!!

I am more than a few posts behind, but those will have to wait...today is my baby girl's birthday! Seven years ago I was blessed with an AMAZING little thing that was SO small. I remember being elated when they put that girl in my arms. I had wanted to be a mommy for sooooo long and they day was FINALLY HERE!!!

We went in at 6am for me to be induced. It was a long day with lots of family and friends. I got iv drugs early int he day because my contractions were STRONG but not close enough to push. They broke my water and a little while later they gave me the epidural. In the morning I had an evil nurse but at 3pm they had shift change. I got an AMAZING nurse named Katie. She was exactly what I needed.I was finally ready to start pushing right at about 5pm. I pushed and pushed and pushed. Her head would come down then go back up. They couldn't figure out why she wouldn't stay down. Also, my contractions were not matching the monitor so the nurses had me pushing with the monitor and my body was making me push when I was actually having a contraction...it was relentless...I ended up having an asthma attack. We took a break and pushed some more. They even tied a towel in a knot and had me hold the knot and someone pull the end of the towel to see if that would help...NOPE!

Finally the Dr. came in and helped some and around 6:20 or so told the nurses to get Dr. whoever ready...to me this meant that he was about to send me in for a c-section...oh no, not me, not after all this work! He looked at me straight in the face and told me that this was my LAST push. He put his forearm on my belly and basically pushed her out. The problem had been that she had her arm over her head. So she had come out fist first. Causing trouble from day one :). What is even more funny is that earlier in the day I had said that she probably had her hands over her head saying "I'm not ready, it's cozy in here." I guess she is just like me haha. No doubt about that.

At 6:26 my sweet baby came barreling into the world. She was 7lbs 13oz and 20 1/2" long. She had a head full of DARK hair and beautiful and alert big blue eyes. I was overjoyed. She was everything I ever dreamed about.

Today, 7 FAST years later, she still is. She is smart, funny, beautiful, compassionate, brave, and the list goes on. She makes every day brighter. She is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me. I question sometimes why my life went the way it did and I know, God sent me down that path to bless me with this angel. I can't believe we are one week away from finishing the first grade. It is unbelievable that the time went by so fast. I am so proud to be this girl's mom.

World Lupus Day - 05/10/12

I found out in the fall of last year that I suffer from Lupus. It isn't too bad so far, and I am taking meds to regulate it. I still have things that affect me here and there, but for the most part I am doing great with it. Thursday, May 10, 2012, was world Lupus Day. The color for Lupus awareness is purple. Tons of friends joined in and supported me that day by wearing purple. It was a great fereling to know that so many people care :) I did have an appointment alst week and my dr. told me he is happy with how the meds are working, but wanted to add another because I am still having a few problems. So, I have added and additional med. I don't know that I like it. So far I have had a headache every day even though he said it is supposed to make them go away. BUT, I have slept through the night almost every night since I started it and he said that it would do that so I guess I just need to give it more time to work on the headaches....

Here are a couple pics from the day!

CITY CHAMPS 2012!!

The first weekend in May, KJ's team, the Fast and Furious, was asked to play in the Metro Rec tournament for the city. We started playing games at 9pm on Friday night 05/04 and played our last game on Sunday at about 2pm. We lost our first two games, but they were just pool games and they are drop dead so we didn't get our last at bat either time. Technically, we would have probably won.

We started bracket games at about 11am on Saturday. We won EVERY game we played in and were crowned 6U CITY CHAMPS! They all played so well. In the last game, a ball went straight to KJ in right field and she scooped it up and tossed it to 1st for the 1st out of the last inning. She made some great hits as well. The girls were SO EXCITED! So were the coaches and parents!

Here are a few pics from the weekend...

Kickapoo 2012

The last weekend of April KJ and I went to one of our favorite places! Kickapoo Kamp. It is a girl's summer camp in Kerrville, TX. A friend introduced us to it a few years ago. Every spring they have mother/daughter weekends to get the girls ready for the summer. This is our third year to go. The first year we went, we went on what they call "Kamp for Life". One of the original campers and friends of the owner died from ovarian cancer several years ago and every year they celebrate her life and the current owner (granddaughter of the original owner) donates all the proceeds from the weekend to M.D. Anderson. Since cancer is so close to me, I make sure we try and go that weekend every year.

It is Friday afternoon - through Sunday afternoon. I pick KJ up from school just before lunch, grab a small bite to eat and head out. The first year we went we rode with someone so we didn't get to do whatever we wanted and had a flat tire and got to camp late. The last 2 years we drove ourselves. We stop at Buccees (one of our most fav places lol) and then we stop at Dairy Queen in Kerrville before we head into camp.

Once at camp, we check in and head to our cabin. We were in OH GIRLS again this year and took the same bunk we had. We got all settled in and then played a bit and walked while we waited for other friends to arrive. There were 3 other groups in our cabin. Two moms with one daughter each and a mom with four girls who had brought her friend along. It was a great time. Kendall wasn't the youngest this year so that was a nice change.

Friday night we ate the traditional spaghetti dinner and played bingo. Our cabin didn't win but it sure was fun. Sat morning was our hike to the top of the camp mountain. It is a good hike and we got to ring the bell (that is placed at the top in honor of Linda K. Manning who had ovarian cancer). We all got to ring the bell and take some great pics. On the way down they have what is called the tubs. It is a little spring fed shallow section where you take you shoes off and walk int he ice cold water. We have never done it before so decided to go on ahead and do it. It was really cool. We went back and took a small rest and then got ready for swimming! We went swimming and played on the water weenie. That is KJ's fav part of camp. After water time we had another break and then went to crafts. Then it was dinner time and then time for mother/daughter relays. We only played in one race, the potato picker. Essentially you have to sit on a potato and pick it up with your legs and no hands and walk a few yards and drop it in a bucket. I am TERRIBLE at this race so my loving daughter decides to sign us up for it ever year HAHA.Sunday morning was archery, canoeing, shooting, and horseback riding. We didn't stay for lunch. She was ready to get back home.

We had an amazing time and I love that we share these weekends together. I will be so sad when she doesn't want to go anymore. Hopefully she will always want to. She did say she wants to go to camp next year for a week all alone...still having a hard time with that one! Below are a few pics from the weekend that I had on my phone!

a few fun pics

I got to go with my daddy to see Carol Burnett at the 1894 Grand in Galveston. It was awesome spending the day with him and to see carol Burnett! She is AMAZING!

 This pic just completely sums up my daughter. She is goofy and I love her. This was one day that I went to lunch with her and i told her i wanted to take her pic. This is what I got. And you know what, it is one of my FAVORITE pics!!!!

 Here is the one she actually posed for HAHA!! Love my baby angel!

Here is another example of her silliness. I mean who watches TV like this.....

LOTS of things have been going on, I have been CRAZY busy and have not written, I feel so ashamed for it. Expect about three more posts in the next few days to catch up then I will be back on my game!!



My best days are ahead of me!!!!!