But I love him today...

Oh the summer days! Some days are good, and some I just want to hide from the kiddos for about 30 minutes, and change my name from MOM.

Madison is getting to the age where she needs privacy, and she doesn't want to play with Evan because he is just a baby.

Evan is getting to the age where he loves bugging Madison no matter how, or when.

But today was a day that they actually interacted with each other in a POSITIVE way. Sissy gave Evan a piggy back ride, I asked why, she says because today I love him. Okay I thought sounds good to me.

Blue rubber bands, and tears...

Today was O-day at our house. (orthodontist) Madison woke up crying this morning because she was scared of getting her bands on. She was sick to her stomach all day, could not eat a single thing, watched movies, and I decided to paint her nails for her.

It was finally time to leave the house when she asks me if we can go to Starbucks so she can have a cookie??? Um, hello....YES! Now I have a reason to go.....thank you thank you thank you..... Madison took about 4 bites, and she was done which was a good thing because we were in the parking lot of the ortho.

You know how you go to the dentist and it takes forever for them to call you back so your 3:20 appt. becomes your 4:40 appt? Well Dr. Kay is way too organized, and by the time you sit down they are already calling your name. They have a wait no more than 10 minute policy, not bad for parents, but for scared kids putting off the inevitable not so good. Madison starts playing with the video games telling me they will take a while, when you can hear Madison Clem ringing through out the waiting area.

We start off in a room signing contracts, blah, blah, blah....A nice lady comes for Madison to start her x-rays. After 5 minutes I join her in the back as she completes her films. So far so good. The next step is digital pics. no problem..........

The lady picks up plier looking things with a little blue rubber band around the tip. Houston we have a problem! The lady would start to go towards her back teeth, and my baby would gently push her hand out of her mouth. Second try same thing. This lady was so very nice, so she told Madison she could put them on with dental floss. Madison agreed to that, and to me holding her hands down.

Everybody knows Madison is 7. Let me tell you if I had a lady shoving a rubber band between my molar, and my other tooth (at the age of "21") I would not have been as nice as Madison about it!! She did well, but it did hurt her. She did cry, her gums did bleed, but when she asked the lady if she was bleeding I quickly cut everyone off and said NO! I looked at the lady, and she knew to back me up, so she said oh honey no.


So now that the bands are in as snug as a bug in a rug no peanut butter for two weeks, or we will have to repeat this process. AND I can tell you that won't happen for both of our sakes.

You promise we are all done?

Do you want to see? No thanks!!!!

The ride home was very quiet. I don't think either of us knew what to say so we just enjoyed radio Disney, and left it at that. When we got home Madison got on the computer to play Webkinz, and I started making dinner (mashed potatoes for Madison). While in the kitchen I heard this little voice ever so sweetly ask for some cold ice cream because her teeth hurt really bad. I of course said YES!! I got her some vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, and she ate happily. I know she will milk that for a couple of days, and that is ok. Her cheeks did swell up a little bit, but Motrin did help her out.

Yes I had the camera with me at the ortho. today, and yes people looked at me like I was a total goof, but you know what I could care less. It helped me cope, and it did make Madison giggle that I was taking pics. of her in "the chair" and that is all that matters!

From back hand springs to braces...

As the "the Bug" passes I wanted to share some things with you that happened this week.

Madison had another private lesson with her coach. Madison is excited she is getting better, and loves doing cheer.

Ever since Madison was 3 the dentist said she would have braces. We all thought ok whatever, she is only 3 how can you tell. Well I guess they can after all. Madison had her 2nd orthodontist appt. on Thursday, and Dr. Kay told us we need to go ahead and get phase 1 braces on her now. Dr. Kay said her teeth are worse than other kids her age. After several appts. she will have her top braces put on 7/10. She will have her braces on for a year, then will get a retainer put on for 2 years. During this 2 years she will need gum surgery. Her teeth look like they are half way in, well we found out Thursday they aren't! They are all of the way in her gums are so thick, and cover half of her tooth, so we will have to fix them. After the 2 years are up, and her gums are fixed Madison will get her full set top and bottom braces to fix her bite.

I know this is probably nothing to most people, but I have never had a single thing wrong with my teeth, so this is crazy to me. I am sad for her, scared for her, etc... I don't want kids to make fun of her, or for her to dislike the way she looks. They told us for the next week that she needs to eat as much as she possibly can of things like popcorn, hard candies, gum, etc... So, this girl has been doing just that! Popcorn is the big problem!! She is very sad about that buttery, salty goodness. So now our new rules are popcorn has to be hidden in the house. Popcorn can only be eaten when she is at school, or in bed, and at the movies we have to change our snack.


I know we will get through this journey, I just wish it didn't have to be her!!

I hope to see most of you this week......

The TOCC Bug...

Okay, so the TOCC bug got us. Not so much me yet, but it is only a matter of days I'm sure. Today my Mom, and I loaded up the kids for a day of shopping. On our way to the mall as we approached exit 74 Evan says he has got to go potty, and can't hold it. I exited to the local Chevron to find Evan is not well, and needs to return home. The plan was to drop off Evan with daddy at home while us girls go to the mall. We hit Hwy 59, and Madison starts complaining of her stomach killing her, and moves to the back of the van to lay down.

By the time we got home Evan had it coming out of one end, and Madison out the other. Evan was having to go to the bathroom every 2 minutes or less for about 4-6 hours. Thank goodness there was a Hannah Montana marathon on for Madison as she laid by her "bucket". Thank you Disney channel!!

For obvious reasons there are NO pics. I hope everybody from church is either over it, or will not get it, and I hope everybody brings their Lysol cans to church on Sunday!!

Summer Project...

I have been out of pocket for a couple of days due to our summer project, and company visiting...Sorry! Travis, and I have been working on our project for 3 months now. We are so ready to be done. We started by extending the concrete slab, then getting the surface ready to tile...We made the cuts on all of the tiles, we laid them down to get the spacing right. We started on Monday actually laying the tile. WOW harder than I thought. We have tiled from 10am to 12:30am on Monday, and Tuesday only with water, and food breaks. We have 4 more rows to do then we have to fix about 7 tiles before we can even start to grout. Travis has been in bed all day today sick from being out in the sun. Will it ever end??? We know the end result will be great, but getting there not so great!!

Swimming lessons continued...

As you all read Monday's swimming lesson was less than desirable for us. The rest of the week has been really pretty good. We still have next week to go then we are done.




Not bad... This weekend will be busy. We started today going to the pool. We came home ate lunch, then went to the movies, and it's only Friday! Travis is home all week, so this will be a project/spend time with the family kind of week. :)

The swimming lesson from you know where!!!

Last year when Evan was 2 he was completely fearless when it came to the water. He would jump in off the side, put his face in, blow bubbles, hang on the tube and float around. So surely now that he is a whole year older there should be NO problem right? WRONG!!!!!

We have been swimming at the PAC, and he has screamed, and cried about being scared of the water. Travis took him on Sunday and did get him out and kicking without crying, so we figured this was great since his lesson started on Monday. Evan was excited about getting to Ms. Geta's pool, until it was time for him to get in and start his lesson!!! After you watch this video you will understand why Travis, and I were so embarrassed!!



This kind of crying went on for about 22 minutes. I hid behind Travis, not only so Evan would not see me, but because everyone except for Carrie was staring at us.

Ms. Geta told us to come to the baby class at 6 to get him comfortable in the water. So I made Travis put on his cute trunks, and take Evan to Mommy and Me, and yes he was the only man there! Evan did just fine, and loved it.

Keep in mind this was all yesterday. Today I took him to the PAC, and he did much better in the water with me. Ms. Geta told us to bring him back to his normal 4 o'clock lesson, so we did. Evan got in like a pro, and never cried, not one time. I will post proof tomorrow!!

Madison is a fish!!

Take me out to the ball game...

We went on our first family outing of the summer to see the New Orleans Zephyrs (minor league baseball). I love baseball, I used to play softball for several years way back when.


The last time I went to a game was to see the Texas Rangers play when Madison was about 7 months old. My Mom, Travis, Madison, and I went figuring we would have a good time when all of a sudden Madison was scared of the whole thing!!! That girl did not stop crying, especially when people clapped, or booed she would scream.

This time was different, Madison has learned what baseball is all about on the Wii, and she knew a lot more than I thought she did. We had GREAT seats. I love 3rd base line, we were about 4 rows up from the opponents dug out, we were on the end, it was PERFECT!!!



We played around, ate normal baseball food, complained about the calls the ump made that we just knew were oh so wrong. It was the typical American experience. The seats were cheap, it was easy to get to, and a cute little stadium. I urge everyone to go at least once while they are here.

We told Evan he could not swing his wooden bat around, or hit the seat in front of us, so this is what happens we he doesn't listen! You would think he gets it by now....

We HAD to take Madison's picture with the cheerleader walrus?!

Playing around...

Okay, let me tell you about Travis....he was ready to catch a ball! He sat with his glove on the whole time just waiting. There is no doubt in my mind he would be one of those guys who run women, and children over to get the ball! So in the 8th inning here comes a foul ball towards the crowd, it is not even in our section probably the one over, and Travis gets up runs up the stairs trying to figure out how he is going to get it. He did realize there was no chance, so he came back to his seat! Thank You Travis!!!!



These two awesome children of ours sat together through the entire game, and did not fight, did not touch each other, or breath on each other, or anything. Travis, and I did not know what on earth to do with ourselves!! It was so cool to be NORMAL people at a game, and not having to gripe at the kids over who is touching who... Thank You Madison, and Evan for a great evening...



Evan has always been scared of people dressing up in large puffy costumes. When we were buying food there was a huge smoothie king cup walking around. Evan does his typical scream, and cry act, while trying to climb our legs! Oh how annoying... It is just an over sized drink. So when the Zephyr mascot came to our row I just knew it was so on. To my surprise though the gave him a high five, and laughed at him. So note to self, scared of big drinks, but not huge animals with big buck teeth!

Who sports the DARKER tan???

Okay so Travis, and I are sitting around tonight discussing important church stuff like what are our strengths, what kind of church do we want to be, and what do we look for in a minister... and all of a sudden I pop off I am darker than you are. Travis pops back nuh uh, I am darker than you are. SO, I told him to get the camera, and we will let the public decide.

Here are our arms...mine is on top, and his is the one with way more hair!

Be sure to study the facts very closely, and only when you are certain you may vote at any time!

Here are our shoulders, mine is the one with the white strap

As I look around now at 11:03 pm knowing that I need to do some laundry, general clean up, and get to bed this all becomes very silly.......

But you know what??? I AM DARKER THAN HE IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And my SECRET SISTER is........

Rachel Wells?????

I was shocked, and Pleasantly surprised to find out my secret sister was somebody who I hold near, and dear to my heart!! It was hard getting to know Rachel at first, but now she is just one of the gang who makes us laugh.

Rachel is one of those women who you could only hope to be like someday. She is so laid back, nice, smart, and PATIENT! The list goes on, but I don't think I have enough time right now. Even on some of her hardest days when she has all three kids, two of them running around, Bret is at work, and she wants to RUN out the door.....she still has the sweetest voice, she does not appear to be stressed out in any way, and you wonder WOW how does she do it???

Rachel, this blogs for you! I am a better person for knowing you, and only hope that you keep in touch when you move on.

P.S. I decided not to use the pic. of you tonight, although I loved it, you may not have!!

SUNDAY!!!!!

Today was the day we said our final see ya to Whitney. No, I am not that mean, it is just how I handle the pain, oh the pain. Here are a few pics.

Carrie, Whitney, and me

Whitney, and David looking at their song book

We also had a picnic at FSP, and boy was it HOT!!! We had fun though, and even more memories to share...

Carrie, and Becky in the Pontchartrain

Michelle, Hayden, David, Emma, Cooper, and Allie

Lauren, and Ansleigh

Huh?? I'm sorry I am just an AGGIE!

I am a woman with few words tonight, I am exhausted, and figured you guys would like to see the pics. anyways....