4th of July 2009

This year's 4th of July was spent on Grand Lake at the Hart's Lake House. It was awesome! We arrived with Joe, Yvette, Yvette's friend Leticia and the kiddos Thurs afternoon. We were joined by Joe's parents, Yvette's parents, Yvette's Uncle Dean, and Dana. It was a full house, but you'd never know because it is spaced out so well. We spend our mornings wake boarding and tubing, and the afternoons floating and swimming. It amazes me how Jamsion and Zander could get in the water and make it seem like it was their first time every time. They were so excited.

Friday night we boated to the Earnhart's family pre-fourth celebration where we were treated to a wonderful fireworks display, food and beverages. The family really knows how to entertain. I think we were spoiled.

The next day we got up and tried to get as much wake boarding in as we could before the rain came through. Once the rain came through we hung out watched tennis and played ping pong. When the rain left, we went out to float at Dripping Springs. Fortunately there was nothing scandalous to see. That night we went to Duck Creek to see some fireworks. It was awesome being on a boat for a fireworks show.

Our final day there we got up early the next morning for the final day of wake boarding.

After an incredible weekend it was time to head home. We were all sad to leave. I now want my own lake house, lol!

Dallas Weekend

We took Jamison to Six Flags and my parents took him to a Rangers baseball game.  We had so much fun.  The only downer was that Jaxson was not able to join us.  His loving Aunt Holly volunteered to keep him while we went out of town.  It turned out okay because it really was too hot and I don't think he would've have made it.  Jamison went to his first baseball game and had a blast!  He was treated to hot dogs, cotton candy, and a very big fireworks post-game show.  My parent's went up early and were able to take him to the game.  We arrived late Friday night.  Note to self: fly next time.  Saturday we were up early and off to Six Flags.  Jamison rode all the kiddie rides along with Tony Hawk roller coaster, The Scrambler, The Log Ride, etc... He wasn't afraid to ride anything he was tall enough for.  We had breakfast with Uncle Gabe and headed home after a brief stop at the Allen Outlet Mall on Sunday.  Good Times!

Juliet Birdie Fisher

We have a new addition to our family, a yellow lab named Juliet Birdie Fisher.  My husband loves labs.  We owned two black labs and they passed, but since then he has wanted another.  With all that was going on in our lives, we didn't make a move.  Last week my co-worker posted a picture of his daughter's new yellow lab puppy and that set into motion our lab story.  Thanks Edgar.

Our good friends, The Rackley's had adopted a their lab from Lab Rescue of Tulsa a couple of years back so I wanted to do my part and went on the website, labrescue.net.  They had about 10 dogs, and at the bottom of the page was Birdie.  So adorable!  I couldn't resist so I filled out an application on the spot.  I figured this could be an anniversary present for Fish.  We were approved and her foster parent called me Friday night to set up a meeting.  She told me that she had been turned into lab rescue at 6 weeks.  Normally they don't take them from their litter before 8 weeks.  She expressed concern that the dog might have behavioral problems.  She was an alpha type with lots of energy.  She was also a biter.  The foster mom had three labs of her own and was fostering another puppy in addition to Birdie.  So I got very nervous and started to have second thoughts.  I decided I still wanted to check her out.  I took Jamison and Jasper to meet her.  When we met, she didn't act anything like was described.  She got along well with both Jamison and Jasper.  We brought her home and have been impressed by her.  I think she is potty trained.  She goes by the door when she needs to go outside.  She hasn't had one accident in 2 days.  I haven't noticed any biting or nipping.  I think she's gonna be a once in the lifetime kind of dog.  We named her Juliet after a character on our favorite show Lost.  Happy Anniversary to us.  Can't believe it's been 8 years!

Veggie Garden

I think most everyone in my life knows about my new diet.  A brief recap, I have very high cholesterol.  Normal ranges are under 200 and mine is 266. To avoid taking medication for this, I have decided to change my diet completely.  The diet restricts dairy, except for butter, red meat, sugar, flour, basically anything tasty.  My typical day consists of fresh vegetable juice for breakfast, sweet potato and raw veggie for lunch, and a raw veggie and vegetarian dish for dinner.  I can have one meal a week of whatever I want.  So I'm a month into the diet and have lost 4 pounds.  I'm trying to keep a close eye on it since that is not the goal of this diet.  Anyway, Fish wanted to grow a garden to help me be more excited about this life change.  A month in and you would think I would have turned the page.  I'm at a point where the diet still isn't appetizing, but neither is anything I used to eat.  So hopefully I can find new and healthy things to cook in the coming months as taking medication is not an option for me at this point.  We planted tomatoes, carrots, squash, cucumbers, corn, and beets.  We'll see what we get in a couple of months. 

Caution: Braggy Mom Moment Below

A couple of weeks ago I was working in my office when I heard Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the piano.  My first thought was, "I didn't know my husband could play the piano."  Well I went to investigate and found only Jamison in the room.  He was trying to figure the song out on his own.  Normally I'm not one to think that my kids hung the moon because they can breathe air, but I have to say it was a very proud moment for me.  Not that I had anything to do with it, but it was a very cool feeling to see my kid express interest in something that I never have before, music.  He worked out the second verse the following week.  I looked into lessons and the teacher I found thought it would be best to wait until he could read.  We did some research and found a program called Piano Wizard.  We had bought a new mac and it was easy to find found a piano program.  It is an easy version of Rock Star on the computer.  We bought the keyboard and software for Jamison to see if he likes it.  So far so good.  In this version he is trying to work it out in the lower ranges.  

Jaxson Turns 1!

Although Jaxson's official birthday is April 6, we celebrated a day early on April 5.  We thought it would be easier to have a celebration on a Sunday as opposed to a Monday.  I also had to go to Houston on Monday, so it worked out.  Initially we were just going to have a family dinner, but I changed my mind a decided to have a party with family and friends.  We've had such a wonderful year with our little guy, I didn't want to short him.  So the evites went out and I was able to order all the paper goods from evite which was awesome.  Planned the whole thing in like 10 min.  We got the cake from Merritt's which was delicious.  They were able to decorate the cake to match everything.  We had our usual group of pals over.  We are so blessed to have these people in our lives to celebrate our happy time with.  

The highlights of our year with Jaxson include getting to see how much love he has brought to our home.  Of course we love him so much but it is also amazing to see how much Jamison loves him and how much he loves Jamison.  He isn't walking yet, but he's a pretty good crawler.  He is a garbage disposal and puts away everything we set in front of him.  He and Jasper fight over toys.  The only word he knows is "Da Da."  Can't wait to see what the next year will bring.   

Snowy March

Can't believe the snow fall that we're getting.  It's the end of March.  I've spent most of my life in OK and the last time it snowed in March it was at least early March.  I think the best weather we've had this year has been in February.  We had to stay in the entire weekend, it ended up not being so bad.  Fish had is wisdom pulled so we were going to be in anyway.  We're  definitely ready for spring, 4 males in one house going stir crazy is not fun.