Tell Me About it Thursday

Sandy over at One Day at a Time hosts Tell Me About it Thursday. Today's topic is about a moment or event that changed your life forever. Jump on over and check out her blog. It is wonderful. Please, participate too..I love reading the stories.

For me, you might think this was my wedding, or the birth of Lena Kate. While those are both amazing events that DID change my life forever, today's tale is about something that took the veil off my fairy tale life and made me appreciate it that much more. I believe it was September in the year 2006. Lane and I had been married only a few months and were getting along wonderfully in our new home. We were in "de-wedding" mode. One evening I got a call from Mom that from that moment on my life was changed. The conversation went something like this, "I have some bad news and some good news." That is never good. She went on to say, "The bad news is your father has cancer. The good news is going to be okay." It was a short conversation. I got the details and was in a bit of a fog...colon cancer, tumor, chemo and radiation, surgery Dec 26th. Mom and I were both struggling to keep the tears away so we didn't keep on the line long. I wondered into the living room and told Lane, "Dad has cancer." I NEVER wanted to say those words...and NEVER want to say them again. From that point on I knew life was fragile. He had his first grandchild on the way and so much life ahead of him. I couldn't imagine life without Dad in it. He has a huge heart and is a wonderful man. I love him with ALL my heart and am so thankful that his treatment was a success. He is doing well today. I try to enjoy every moment with him because you never know what tomorrow's phone call might bring. It was a very hard year for our family, but with God's hand cradling us we made it through with a greater appreciation for Dad and our family. It makes me sad when I think back to being embarrassed when he showed up at my basketball game in high school with his pant leg tucked in his boot-shame on me! Did I mention he was at EVERY game?-volleyball, basketball, tennis match. I strongly believe that a daughter can be very positively influenced by her father.

Thank you Father for my father and getting us through that year. I pray that Dad stays healthy and is with us for many more years to come. I would be a very broken little girl if we were to lose him.

Here is that handsome man himself. Love ya Dad!

Nice Weekend

We had another weekend at home and it was nice. Saturday morning we stayed inside while Lane worked in the yard. Then my fabulous friend Fieby met me at Hobby Lobby for some picture frame shopping. I got Lena Kate's pictures back and had no frames to put them in. Fieby and I could've spend many more hours looking around but Lane was anxiously awaiting our return with his Freebird's burrito. He just couldn't understand what took so long at Hobby Lobby since that place is "soo boring". We finally made it back burritos in hand with Lane meeting us in the garage asking what took us so long, along with a side of "where's my burrito!" My other friend Teri and her two kiddos also met us at our house. We had a great visit and I enjoyed getting to see all of them. The kids had a good time and Missy found a new friend in Teri's daughter Taylor. I think Taylor would've taken her home in a heartbeat.

Lena Kate is such a climber now and want to stand up all the time. Anything she can use to climb up to and standing position, she will. She gets more steady each day. I'm afraid I might have an early walker on my hands. I also stopped by the resale store and got her a walk behind/ride-on toy. She is learning how to use it and will be a champ in a few weeks. You would've thought it was a life changing decision by the amount of time I took deciding which one to get! I think the store owner must've thought I was crazy. I had her testing out 3 different ones..over and over. We settled on the lion and I am glad we did. It is cute and functional. Here is our weekend in picture.
Getting her grubby little fingers on her picture.

Playing with Daddy

Taylor giving Missy kisses...or the other way around!

Lena Kate checking for dirt under the rug

A mother daugther converstation...Missy was listening intently to her new friend

Lena Kate loved watching and playing with Trevor as he was cooking some fish.

The kiddos getting holding time.

Even Paula Deen's cookbook is good enough to eat :)

Check out my new ride

Check me out!

Pushing the nose which starts the music and flashing.

A little easier on my knees for now

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. I'm happy to report I've been lathering Lena Kate up with Aquaphor and it really seems to have helped the eczema. The redness is gone and now we just have to get the little bumps to go away. LK's new trick is growling. She growls when she is eating and also she was doing it last night after I put her down in her bed. She wasn't quite asleep and decided that growling was necessary. It is kind of funny. She also kicks one of her legs so loud we can hear it in our room downstairs.

Innocent

This is how the cardiologist described Lena Kate's heart murmur after an EKG and ultrasound. Hip-hip-hooray! I was at peace and not near as nervous as I thought I would be for her appointment which just goes to show that the Great Physician has us wrapped safely in His care. I pray for those parents of heart babies and the sweet little ones themselves. God has a markedly different plan for them but thankfully is always there in the storm. I'm just very thankful that we got a clean bill of health this morning and we won't even have to go back for a follow-up visit. Now the only problem we have is eczema, but we've got a battle plan for that including, but not limited to, Aquaphor, Aveeno Hydracortizone (sp?) and several other tips if these don't work. We are also going to stay in out of this EXCESSIVE Texas summer heat since it really seems to exacerbate the problem.

We went to Tetco to visit my old work friends for a potluck lunch. It was nice to see everyone and Lena Kate got lots of grief today for wearing her Texas A&M outfit. She sure did look cute though.! Here is a pic in her outfit from a few weeks ago.

How can you not think this little darling is cute?!


I'll take some new pics this weekend :)

Tell Me About it Thursday

So one of my new blog friends Sandy over at One Day at a Time has started

She is going to share a story and then other bloggers can too. This week it was a story about our childhood that we were supposed to share. After reading her story about playing with her best friend and neighbor and plotting to spend the night at her house, it reminded me of all the time that Alison and I would secretly plot to spend the afternoon at each other's house after church prior to asking our moms. We would stash a bag of play clothes in our mothers' cars in preparation for the impromptu asking after church. Mom GOT SO UPSET when I would ask with Alison standing right there since she didn't think she could say no in front of her. I don't recall doing it on purpose, but maybe my subconscious did. I EVENTUALLY learned the lesson, disappointed and all...but fortunately our moms let us go most of the time and we had lots of Sunday afternoon fun!

Now on to my other story. I will always remember summers growing up in South Texas and harvest time for Uncle Ray. First we would harvest sweet corn and put it up in the freezer each year. There was lots of picking, shucking, silking, blanching, icing, cutting, bagging..you get the idea. We would always gather as a family at Granny's house for the big event. We would spend the whole day and in a good year have PLENTY of sweet corn for the year. I will never forget those days. I still LOVE Uncle Ray's sweet corn-as does 1/2 the county. He gives his friends permission to raid the field after we are done. Unfortunately this year there were no crops to harvest. It was a sad year for the farmers with NO rain to be had. The few fields that came up didn't produce. Insurance agencies are so mean that they won't even let you feed the stalks to the hungry cattle in order to get your insurance payout for no harvest. So the stalks have to be destroyed while you have to spend more money to keep cattle fed with hay. IT MAKES NO SENSE. Why can't you feed the scraps to the cattle?...it isn't like you are making money off of a crop. All it would do was alleviate a little EXTRA cost in what is already a bad year. Ok, sorry, I digressed and I will get back to the happy memories! During the summers I also loved to go help my Aunt Lorain take food to the field. We'd make sandwiches usually and go feed the hungry farmers and whoever was helping them in the fields that year. Getting to go to the grain elevator was also a big treat-it was a big summer job for the high schoolers around-and I thought it was fun to see them working. There was always a festive feeling in the air for me during harvest. I might not have been directly involved, but I loved watching Uncle Ray and his crew and helping feed them. It made me feel like I was part of it all!

Now it is your turn to share!

My baby is growing UP

Lena Kate can now pull herself up to a standing position and loves it. She is less and less wobbly by the day. I think it is time to go buy a walk-behind toy. She's now 7 months old and I'm going to make a prediction that she is walking in a few months...well before 1. I don't think that is such a good thing!

She is really fast with the crawling now although she still drags her belly on the ground. Her little outfits are always so dirty after being home. I promise I clean the floors, but it makes me think they are always filthy!

We haven't had much going on this week which translates into baking and cooking for me...and of course, cleaning-my least favorite thing. I made MckMama's coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate yesterday and they are so tasty and easy to make...yes, I posted the recipe..with a link giving her credit for the sweetness! I also roasted a pork loin last night and made homemade mac n cheese...wish it was healthier, but it sure tasted good.

Lena Kate's appointment with the cardiologist is Friday morning for her heart murmur. Please keep us in your prayers that it is just a "normal" murmur and NOTHING to worry about.
Oh, and I thought I'd mention she's been sleeping better too...she wakes up around 11 and again around 4-5 and goes back to sleep after a snack both times. It isn't ALL night, but better than the two weeks prior when she was waking every hour or so on several nights! Thanks for the prayers on that front too :)

Lena Kate's Leelee (my MIL) had surgery on her shoulder on Tuesday and we are thankful that it all went well and the good doctor was able to fix it using the lesser of 2 plans. She should have a quicker recovery time and be able to hold Miss Priss sooner. Yea for the Great Physician watching over her and more answered prayers.

Here is my little stinker in action.
I put two legs on this table so she has an easier time climbing up without falling down.

Climbing away on a pile of laundry

Happy to help with laundry

Bouncing

Drumming on her trashcan after her bath. I think she got this trick from her Daddy who loves to drum.

Happy Wednesday everybody!

C- Ranch Weekend

This past weekend we were able to escape to the C- Ranch in Eldorado, Tx for a weekend of fun with family/best friends. The ranch is Lane's Uncle's and Lane grew up working out there all the time. It taught him valuable lessons in life as well as shaped him into the wonderful man he is. Lena Kate's Uncle Trent and Aunt Nancy (Lane's brother and his wife) and Uncle Chili and Aunt Carla (Lane's best friend as well as cousin and his wife). It was a wonderful weekend with many new memories made. I could write a very long narrative or just let the pictures speak for themselves..I think I'll opt for the last. In short, I love all of these people so much and it was such a blessing to spend a weekend just relaxing at the ranch with good friends, food, and fun. One of my favorite memories was the blessing that Chili said before a fabulous steak dinner. We were all truly thankful to God for the opportunity to get together and spend some quality time with each other. Stargazing while listening to a little George Straight was also on the agenda. I also can't fail to mention the Boston Cream Pie I made....YUMMY! I should also mention that Lena Kate's Leelee and Grandpa drove out to see that baby girl for awhile on Saturday. It was great to see them as always!

Lena Kate did great and was a real trooper in such heat. She didn't like going down for bed, but ended up sleeping very well for a weekend with no AC! Box fans are a must out there.

Prepare yourself for a bunch of pictures of cowboys in shorts, no shirts, and boots. It was a theme for the weekend...maybe not the spiffiest of attire, but it was HOT and they were comfortable-that is what it is all about, and it was a pretty funny sight. I can attest to the fact that they clean up well, but this was NOT the weekend for that, nor should it have been :)

Uncle Chili can't pass up cute gifts for Lena Kate...thanks Chili and Carla-she (we) love the cow boots and although she'll have to grow into them, it won't be too long!

Stella thinks she's a 50 lb lap dog and Carla LOVES her horse Vegas

Lena Kate's 2nd horseback experience was with Daddy! She's a natural already!

The gang went for an evening ride while I went for a run and Uncle Chili babysit and got dinner ready.

LK's first mohawk, Daddy sporting the shirtless look, and thirsty dog Missy

The ranch just happens to share a fenceline with the FLDS Yearning for Zion ranch that was raided last year and in the news often. The temple is HUGE which they claim to not use anymore because it has been desecrated. It is pretty much a town with many LARGE buildings. They also have towers with cameras to watch you. I've read the book "Stolen Innocence" about the girl that testfied against Warren Jeffs and it is a rather dark depiction of the religion and I honestly think it is wrong! Just thought I'd share a pic or two of this.

Riding in the truck sans carseat..she loved it! Don't worry we were going VERY slow and didn't dare leave the ranch!

Missy was so HAPPY to be in the AC...spoiled dog! Lena Kate's new standing trick was also proudly displayed in Daddy's truck.

These really should be a post all by themselves! There is a story behind the van and "Billy" is involved obviously, but we'll just leave you with these silly pics! We also checked the cows...they said they were hot too!hehe.

Mommy and LK, they guys swimming in the water tank Friday night, LK playing in Uncle Chili's hat, and Uncle Trent time too!

Her FIRST horsie ride with Aunt Carla, cruisin, and TIRED baby

Country dog in training, the orginal Cowboy toy, and a nice rain shower to cool us off!

Hope you enjoyed our weekend as much as we did and that yours was as blessed as ours.