Happy Father's Day

I am married to the most wonderful man on earth. Seriously!
Yesterday was Father's Day. The boys and I had gotten a card for him and they signed their names. That morning, Mike made the boys watch him read it. He read the card out loud, kissed them all, and told us thanks. Then he looked at me and said the sweetest thing. He said, "I wouldn't be a dad without that momma right there. So we all need to be thanking her." And the boys just laughed and "thanked momma." Even on Father's Day, he's thinking about me. He's the most unselfish person I have ever met in my life. My kids are so blessed to have such a wonderful dad. And I am blessed to be married to my best friend who I love with all my heart.

A CONVERSATION WITH MASON

ME: MASON, TIME TO GET UP.

MASON: I DON'T WANT TO.

ME: GET UP, GET DRESSED, BRUSH YOUR TEETH.

MASON: BUT I DON'T WANT TO BRUSH MY TEETH. I'LL DO IT LATER.

ME: QUIT ARGUING, BRUSH YOUR TEETH. AND DON'T GET TOOTHEPASTE ALL OVER YOUR SHIRT.

MASON: (MOUTHING, WHINING, STOMPING OFF TO BATHROOM.)

AFTER TEN MINUTES MASON COMES BOUNCING INTO MY ROOM WHERE I'M IRONING.

ME: LET ME SEE YOUR SHIRT. WOW! GOOD JOB, YOU DIDN'T GET ANY TOOTHEPASTE ON YOUR SHIRT!

MASON SAYS NOTHING, JUST SMILES AT ME AND SITS DOWN TO WATCH CARTOONS.

ME: (THINKING NOW) WAIT A MINUTE. DID YOU EVEN BRUSH YOUR TEETH?

MASON: NOPE.

AND HERE WE GO AGAIN.

WHERE DO I START??

Okay, it's been a while since I've had a chance to post, so I've got lots to catch up on. Let's see, weekend before last was Memorial day weekend. My little sister Hannah turned 11 on the 23rd and my niece Katey had her first birthday on the 24th. Ira and family are living at PK now, so we loaded everything but the kitchen sink for a day at the lake with the Gilmore family. Molly and I got to take our boys out on a "fast boat!" with a friend of ours. Got to go to Hell's Gate and sit and relax in the water. I haven't done that in years! It was so relaxing. Molly and I are likely to start dropping in on Uncle Ira pretty often this summer!


On Wednesday, it was off to Cook's Hospital for Mason's procedures. During the cysto they cleaned out lots of calcium tissue, or "junk" as his dr. called it. Then he had the renal scan. The scan showed that his kidney is still looking great and functioning however he's not draining urine as well as he needs to. So, we stayed overnight and had an ultrasound done the next morning. The ultrasound looked good, so for now we're dealing with just calcium issues. Got to get that under control! But, Mason did great in the hospital. Little toot wouldn't sleep at all. I think he thought the whole thing was a big adventure. He didn't want to come home, wanted to spend one more night! After his ultrasound on Thursday, he got real whiny and started complaining of his hand hurting where his IV was. I checked it and couldn't see anything wrong with him, so I just assumed he was tired. He complained a few more times so finally I paged the nurse to get him some tylenol. When I looked down, his poor hand was so swollen it looked like it was about to pop! He had gotten his IV out of the vein and it was just flowing under his skin. It looked so bad! But he recovered pretty quickly. We were so proud of him, and so ready to get home!!
Friday was granite countertops day. I had been so excited. I called at 9 that morning to see when they would be coming. I was told between 3 and 4. Long story short, they got there at 7 and left at 11:15. Yes. We were frustrated and tired. But I've got granite countertops! Yip-eee!
Saturday we spent the day at home. Uncle Sandy and Dylan came by to see the counters and bring me some squash. (Thank you very much!) Mom and David came up and ended up cooking us dinner at our house. Fajitas. Yummy. And yesterday we didn't do anything. I even took a nap! Can't imagine why I would be tired, huh??

Quote Aunt Brenda sent me today...

"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..... Love the people who treat you right and pray for the ones who don't."

4 Month Checkup

We had Samuel's four month checkup this morning. (He's actually closer to 5 months now.) Anyway, I was curious how much my little chunky monkey weighs. Everyone in the family has been guessing and wondering, since he's so huge. And now it's offical...he's huge. My "baby" weighs 18lbs 5oz. So, he has gained 5 pounds since his 2 month checkup and also 2 1/2 inches! Big ol' boy! He is in the 75 percentile on his height and "off the charts" on his weight! Crazy, huh?
I'm also proud of my other little man. We went to Lake Amon G. Carter yesterday to spend the day on the lake with my mom and David. Mason has always liked water, but lakes have kind of freaked him out. But by the end of the day yesterday, he was swimming with his life jacket all over the place. At one point he climbed out of the lake and hollered, "daddy! look! i'm a fish now!" He starts his first swimming lessons tomorrow, so I think he's going to do just fine.

Happy Mother's Day

What a nice weekend we had. In lieu of things that had been going on, it was really nice to have no plans and to just "be". We kept Kasey and Koy on Saturday. You'd think having two extra boys at the house would be crazy on our part, lol, but they all do so good together. They played outside all day long in the mud and pool. The one thing all three of them can agree on is that they love trucks and trailors. And there are plenty to go around! The joy of letting them run crazy outside all day is that by 8:00 after food and baths, they are done! Put them to bed with a movie on, and they are gone. Easy! Who said boys were hard? LOL
Sunday was Mother's Day. Mike had already gotten me a camera, that I picked out, hehehe. So he let me sleep in as much as he could with all 4 boys hollering and running through the house. Then he cooked me breakfast. And I got a cute card from the boys. After that we loaded our two boys, Kase, Koy, and Deb the dog into Mike's truck and headed to Olney. (That was interesting!) We spent a couple of hours vising with Dale and Kathy. Was pleasantly surprised to see Ira and Katey there too. After that we headed out to my mom and David's. I had been wanting to shoot some clay pigeons. So we set up and I shot about 3 cases of shells. I was so sore the next day! And my ears were still ringing! (Note to self, need to put earplugs in my gun case.) Then David cooked us all a steak and we headed home. It was a nice relaxing Mother's Day. Can't ask for more!

Heartbroken

It's been a hard week for me. You see, yesterday my family buried my baby cousin Jeffrey. Words can't even begin to describe how this felt. I've never felt such a range of emotions at one time. Anger, love, sadness, guilt, humor, loneliness. I could go on and on. He was only 19 years old. Barely a year out of high school, had his whole life ahead of him. And he's gone. Just like that. I'm really bothered that I didn't get to tell him goodbye. I'm wondering if he knew how much he was loved and thought of. But then I realize that he did.
His funeral was tough, but it was amazing. I was awed by the people who turned out to say that he had touched their lives. He impacted so many people in such a short amount of time. His family knew how special he was. We knew what a good person, respectful, strong, funny, loving kid he was. But it was amazing to hear strangers say the same thing. It was comforting. Jeff survived a lot of tough times, but he never let it him get it down. I've always been so proud of him and his accomplishments.
And now I'm left with tons of good memories of that smiling big ol' bear. I'm remembering how he drove me crazy when he was little wanting to hear "Indian Outlaw" over and over, and my grandma played it cause that was what Jeff wanted. I'm remembering more recently him running and playing with my son Mason. And Mason shrieking "Jeff-eee" and laughing and hiding from him. I'm remembering my birthday party and laughing so hard at him telling us about his "out-of-body experience." I'm remembering fishing with him. I'm remembering loving him.
I'd give anything to have him here to make more memories with.
I wonder if anybody noticed the weather yesterday as we walked into the high school auditorium. All of the sudden the wind picked up and the clouds got dark. And everyone was kind of getting scared because there was talk of a tornado. But oddly enough I was comforted. I told my family it was just Jeff letting us know he was still here. And he is. He's still here in my heart and everyone else's. We were blessed to be touched by this young man for the short time he was here. And we will never forget him.
Rest in Peace, Jeffrey Morris Taylor. I love you.