Sorry I have not updated in so long, but I do have an excuse!! You will find out in a bit.

January 17 - Allie was sick, so we spent most of the day lounging on the couch.

January 18 - Jeff finally got the fireplace all put together. We won't need it too much in Texas, but it is nice to have! Looks so pretty.

January 19 - When all the fun begins... I woke up around 7:30 not feeling great. By 10:30 I had called Jeff to come home and made a doctors appointment for that afternoon. Around 5:00, the doc sent me to get a CT of my belly, about 10 minutes after they finished, the doc called and ordered me to the ER to be admitted. Apparently my stomach ache was my appendix and it needed out. So, around 9:00 pm, I was in surgery having it removed. This was the first time we have had to deal with something like this without family here. My parents spent the day with us and actually left our house when I went to the doc. When I called them to tell them about the surgery, they had just gotten home. So, the packed up the dog and came back. (Aren't they great??!!) They got back around 11:30 and Dad and Jeff were with me at the hospital at midnight - when the pic was taken. You know you have a great hubbie when he brings the camera because he knows you don't have a picture of the day. LOL

January 20 - I got to come home around 10:00 and mom, dad, Jeff, Allie and I watched the Inauguration all day. This pic is obviously of the TV.

January 21 - Well, let's just say it is coming soon. I took the picture on mom's camera and don't have it yet!!

January 22 - PJ Day at school

January 23 - Jeff's parents (the best in-laws a girl could have) came down to take over for Mom and Dad on Wednesday. The kids LOVED having the grandparents around so much. They are a great blessing!

January 24 - Well, what else do you do when you are spending your days on the couch recuperating? Take a pic of your daughter and yourself!

Well, if you have read this far, you must be exhausted. I will get yesterday's and today's posted tomorrow hopefully. Both kids will be in school and I get to come home to an empty house for the whole time! Woo Hoo!!

January 16

Jeff took the day off, so we have been playing today. We went to the mall to try to find Lance some new jeans. Of course they didn't have his size. Twenty pairs of size seven, but no size six, except in the carpenter style which overpowers his skinny body. Ugg, so frustrating. Of course if we could find the two pairs that are missing, we wouldn't really need more! We stopped by PetSmart and came home with two new Fire Mouth Cichlids. Our fish have been slowly dying off for one reason or another (mainly one really mean fish), so we decided to go ahead and get Cichlids again. These apparently are pretty tame, so they will hopefully do well with the rest of the "community" fish we have. They are still in their bag, getting used to their home. I was afraid if I waited until we released them that I wouldn't be able to get a picture of them. So, please ignore the plastic bag!!

January 15

Allie had her second day of school today and much to my surprise, it is picture day! Well, actually re-take day, but since she just joined, they are going to take hers. She wasn't really dressed for it, but that is OK. At least this time she will be happy, unlike the last time we tried school and she had red eyes from crying.

After I dropped her off, I went to Lance's school to volunteer in the work room. I managed to switch days with one of the other ladies so I can go while Allie is in school now and can actually get some work done. I am afraid she will miss it though. I finished up just in time for Lance's lunchtime, so I sat with him. He is such a silly boy. He was so excited to see me, but hardly talked at all. I had to drag stuff out of him. He is having a good day. They are learning about rocks apparently and seeing what they do in water. Oh the fun of 1st Grade!!

January 14

Today was gymnastics. Since I got my new camera, I decided I would take it and try to get some pics. She is so busy, it is hard, but I did manage to get one of her on the rings. She loves the bars and the rings are even better because they swing. Think she is happy???

January 11, 12 and 13

Well, I did really well for a week and then things happened. I still too pictures though, so I am proud of that. Finding the time to post them has been hard though. But, here they are!

You know it is a nice day outside when the balloons are out. We had a visit from one on Saturday which is always fun. The boys even got on their bikes to see it closer. Too bad they are building a house across the street from us. I guess we won't get them in our front yard again. Down the street is still fun though!!

Allie eating popcorn.

First day of school! First day of school!! Do you remember that line from "Finding Nemo"? That has been in my head all day long. Allie had a great day. She had fitness class and they are putting an ABC book together and worked on the letter M today. Ms Kim said that they would catch her up on the book. I can't wait to see what it is! She ate some of her lunch (don't really know what that means) and actually fell asleep at naptime!! She is super excited to go back. Mom is happy...

January 10

My husband likes to tell me I am spoiled. Today, I actually admitted to it. Since committing myself to taking pictures 365 days this year, I have realized how many times throughout the day I wish I had my camera. But, the Pentax is too big to leave in my purse at all times and the older Canon is having some issues. So, we went to the store to look at pocket sized cameras to leave in my purse. I got the cutest little Canon and a hard case that will hold an extra memory card (for those times that I forget to put it back in after loading to the computer) and extra batteries (which I need on a regular basis). I love it!! I decided that the first picture should be of the family. We set up the tripod and turned on the timer. Not too bad for a little point and shoot. Oh, it is good to be spoiled - and to have a hubbie who spoils me!

January 9

I am posting this a day late, but the picture is actually from yesterday. I promise!! Allie and I bought a plant a couple of months ago that is actually still alive, much to everyone's amazement. I used to have a pretty yellow flower on the top, but it fell off yesterday. Well, much to my surprise, there was new growth that we hadn't noticed before.

Allie and I worked at school in the copy room until the Vice Principal came in to tell us they were getting ready to have a fire drill. We quickly put away our stuff and decided to call it a day. She has so much fun up there. She runs around playing with the toys they have and helps me make "coffies", as she puts it. She loves seeing all the kids who come in and the teachers who talk with her. After that, we made a quick Target run and then went to Chick-Fil-A for a meetup with the McKinney Mom's Group. Allie had a little trouble at first because the older kids were (in Allie's words) playing dinosaur and "rawring" at her. Overall she had fun and I had a great time meeting a bunch of new ladies and catching up with the few I had met already. Lance had early release day at school and Jeff brought him so he could play too.

January 8

Yesterday, I inquired about a preschool program for Allie. We have been talking about it for a while, but after last year's attempt (which wasn't pretty), it hasn't been a top priority. But, our new church has a program and she did so well in Sunday school, I thought it would be worth a shot. I got an e-mail this morning from the director and they have an opening in her class, so we met with her around noon today. Well, Allie left the school crying, but this time because she had to leave, not because she had to stay. She will have three teachers and they all seem to be fantastic, super sweet and one of them is an OSU fan! Allie walked into the classroom and introduced herself to one of the teachers and a few of the girls in the class came over and told her hi. She was shaking she was so excited. They lined up to get ready for lunch and she went fell in line with them, did the prayer and was looking for her lunch spot when we had to leave. She was so sad. I told her we would go look for a new nap mat and she perked up some for that. She loves to shop!

After that, we went to get logs for the gas fireplace. We don't really need them in Texas, but our living room has such high ceilings, that it doesn't hold heat well. We have a nice fireplace, so it made sense. We came home for a bit and I looked online for a local place that sells nap mats and found a place downtown. So, back in the car we went to this cute little shop Posy Lane. Turns out, the lady who works there went to school in Shawnee. It is so funny to meet so many people here who are from Oklahoma.

Speaking of Oklahoma...I am watching a kind of big ball game right now. Those of you who know me, know I am an OSU (Oklahoma State) fan, so you might not think I would care that much, but as I tell a lot of people, as long as OU and OSU aren't playing each other, I root for OU. So, in honor of their attempt at the Championship, I thought I would take a picture of the kids watching the start of the game - can you see the trophy behind them? Of course the lighting was terrible. I needed a flash, but it bounced off the TV. When I took it without a flash, the color was bad. So, Lightroom to the rescue! OK, I am going to grab a treat and hopefully watch OU become number one! Go Sooners.

Although in the words of my brilliant daughter, Go Pokes is better. : )

January 7

We had gymnastics today for the first time in two weeks. Allie was quite glad to be back. Our teacher is out of town for an unknown amount of time, so we had two new teachers. They were a little more into gymnastics and not just play, which was nice, but had different rules and that was a little rough. All in all, it was a fun time though. In a couple more months, I will switch her to the three year old class and she will go alone. Can't wait for that!!


Jeff has been wanting me to get a Toll Tag for quite some time now. Apparently there is some mountain bike trail in Dallas that you really need to take the turnpike to get to. I noticed that one of the places to get the Toll Tags was the library. I thought that would be perfect. Get a library card, let Allie play, check out some books and get a Toll Tag in one trip. Well, we drove by Jeff's office first to get his license plate number since I forgot to get it before he left for work and then off to the library we went. Allie worked all the puzzles they had and then found three books to check out. We signed up for a card and were sent upstairs for the Toll Tag. We got up there and I started filling out the form. Of course I had forgotten Jeff's plate number in my car and had completely forgotten to write mine down at all. So, off to the car we go. Well, but this time it is 12:30 or so and Allie is hungry. Hold on baby, we have to go back inside and then we will go eat. She is NONE too happy!! I finished filling out the form and give it to the worker. Apparently they don't do Toll Tags very often and this is her first. Unfortunately for everyone, upstairs is where the majority of the adults in the library go. So, here I am in the blazing hot - when it is 60 degrees outside, there is no reason for the heat to be up to 80 inside - with a hungry two year old. Plus, there was an elderly gentleman sitting at the table right in front of the desk I had to be at. Well, needless to say, Allie was less than quiet and the gentleman got quite perturbed with us. I tried my hardest to get her to draw, use her quiet voice, whisper, but come on, she is two!! About 20 minutes later, we finally had our Toll Tags and library books and were on our way to Which Wich. Next time we go to the library, we will stick to the children's area!

January 6

New Year's Eve, I took the kids to Borders for the craft and story time. They brought over these little cups of hot chocolate with lots of whip cream and tiny white chocolate chips. They were delicious! Well, foolishly, I talked Allie into trying one. She drank two. Now, every morning, she insists on having some of MY hot chocolate.

January 5 evening

I thought I would take a picture of the tree again, 10 or so hours later. Quite a bit of ice for my little tree. I think it is going to be in the 50s Tuesday and the 70s later in the week. Got to love North Texas weather!!

January 5

We woke up to freezing rain today. Not much fun, but it really is pretty. I am hopeful that since we moved three hours south, that we won't have to deal with the ice like we had last year in Oklahoma City. If I never have to help cut down a tree again, it will be too soon!!!

Today was also the first day back to school for Lance. He had a hard time getting out of bed and said he wasn't excited to go back, but look at his face. He loves school and I am sure is having a blast!

January 4

A couple of weeks ago I bought Allie a very cute, kind of expensive (but on big time sale) outfit from a little shop in town. We hadn't been anywhere to wear it, so I figured our first visit to a new church would be a good opportunity. I had wondered when I bought it why it was so expensive, but figured it was in a "boutique" and was a famous brand I was just unaware of (since Target is our usual supplier of clothes). Well, I pulled it out of the bag it was still wrapped up in and find this very lovely crocheted flower design on the back. Well, no wonder it was pricey!! I thought it was worthy of the pic of the day. I have also posted a pic Jeff took of Allie and me, just so you can see the whole outfit. She looked so cute all dressed up and the kids (as well as Jeff and I) had a great time at church. I am excited to go back next week.

January 3

OK, this isn't the technically best picture out there, but I thought it was funny. Allie has on her "horncorn" t-shirt, playing with her "horncorn" My Little Pony, while sitting on her rocking horse!

January 2

January 1

Well as usual, I am a day late and probably a dollar short, but here are the pics for January 1.