Santa or no Santa??

Let me start by saying I BELIVE!!  :)  This week during lunch there was an ongoing debate about letting your children blieve, lying to them, never telling them about santa at all, tell them at what age, will they be betrayed, etc.....  We had a great service in church today and I guess it confirmed my positon all week.  As parents we can chose to raise our children as we want!  It's called freedom and I am thankful for that.  Weather or not your children believe in Santa or not, I believe as long as you teach your children to reflect God's love and giving spirit during this crazy Christmas season then you do what you do!!  So thanks to a great ongoing lunch debate/conversation all week, an awesome service at Grace Church today, and a great Veggietales movie about St. Nicholas last night with Julian, I am happy to say "As for me .......I BELEVE"  :)
I believe that God gave the biggest gift when baby Jesus was born.
I believe that God gave the biggest gift EVER when he GAVE his son to die on a cross for all of us to have salvation.
I believe that St. Nicholas was a more generous man than I could imagine and it is something that I admire.
I believe that any symbol that helps us to remember the importance or giving selflessly is ok in my book.
I believe that being excited about Christmas is ok as long as we remember the reason for the season. 

I pray I can help Julian grow up in a way to have the generosity of St. Nicholas..  I pray he will always allow Christmas to remind him of God's greatest gift.  I pray he is a reflection of God's love and goodness. 

Merry Christmas everyone!!  I hope you have been good this year so Santa can stop by your house.  Last year's picture:

Happy Birthday Julian!!

I can't believe our baby is 2!  Terrific 2's..  bring them on!  We had a great birthday weekend.  We celebrated his birthday on his PaPa's day (the 4th) and we made sure to kiss and send PaPa a birthday balloon.  I always wish my dad was here to meet Julian.  I know they would be a trip together. My dad would be so proud. It was all Backyardigans this year.  Julian loves loves loves him some Backyardigans.  Thanks to a Pablo pan sent from Lawrence and a lot of cake making advice from Kel, we actually ended up with a cake that actually resembled Pablo.  Of course Grandma was here to celebrate and a lot of great friends came over and joined in as well.  We had a bounce house from my school which was fabulous because we used it alllll weekend.  Julian had a great weekend.  It is just amazing that 2 years have gone by.  He is so big and becoming more and more independent everyday.  He had is 2yr check up on Tuesday the 7th and he was still well above average on all measurements.  37 inches tall, 32.7 pounds, and a big head.  Once again we were able to Praise the Lord when we were able to answer Yes with 100% certainty to all the "check-up questions.

Can he throw a ball?  We wish we could get him to stop throwing everything.  It hurts.  Especially when it's a hard sippy cup flying unexpectedly from the back seat. ha

Can he kick a ball?  uh...  check!!  too hard and again we wish he would stop kicking everything.  Especially Emmitt.  Poor Emmitt

Can he run?   uh..  faster than me..  which is very embarassing when you are at a park and you child is running away from you.  hopefully when I am fully recovered I'll be able to beat him again.

Can he jump?  haha..  yes!  off of the top of the couch..  off anything..  no fear

Does he have at least 50 words?  X1000

Does he use 2 word phrases?  Some examples:  "Come on Emmitt,"  "No one's home,"  "You push,"  "In Car,"  etc.....

We are slowly introducing small bits of milk, cheese, and egg.  Starting with things that just have a little in the ingredients.  So far we haven't seen any crazy reactions. Yay!!

Oh! We are beginning the stages of Potty Training.  Julian will tell us "Poop" or "Pee Pee."  They are used interchangably.  He will go anytime you put him on the potty.  He is obsessed wtih flushing so whatever he has to do to get to flush he'll do it. lol.  So I am thinking we are really going to try over Christmas break to get this Potty training thing happening. 

We are so Thankful for being blessed with such a healthy happy baby boy.  We are so proud to be his parents.  I tell him everyday that God made him to do great things..  God made him to change the world..  He can do anything..  I can't wait to see what God has in store for him. 

Happy Birthday My Love!! 

God is so cool!

This Thanksgiving God answered a big prayer!  Jerry got to hang out with his oldest son and Julian got to meet his big brother, Jerrious.  I have talked about Jerrious with Julian and shown him pictures since Julian was born.  So it was super cute when Julian repeated his name and it sounded a lot more like "juice" than Jerrious but it's so cute the way Julian says his name.  Jerrious was 11 when I first met Jerry and it has never been a question how much Jerry adores that child.  Circumstances were not like Jerry would have wanted at all but when Jerry even mentions his name you can see how proud he is to be his father.  So this has been a huge prayer of mine for 5 years now.  I always prayed that Jerrious was healthy, safe, happy and successful and that God would give him an open heart so someday he can reconnect and get to know and love this great man that I get to everyday.  Jerry has seen Jerrious a few time for a very short time in the past 5 years but a few weeks ago God really began answering prayers when Jerry received a call from Jerrious' dad.  Since then Jerry and Jerrious have been texting and talking and Jerrious wanted to come meet his other side of the family.  Jerrious came over Thanksgiving night with his mom and his dad.  It was super emotional for me.. I just kept saying to myself  "thank you Jesus!"   I definitely played it cool because how dorky would it have looked if I would have come out crying.  LOL. I could tell Jerry was so excited for the opportunity to hang out with him obviously.  The next day we even got to go over to their house and visit for a couple of hours.  The verse I quoted on the title of my blog, "God can do anything, far more than you could ever ask or imagine."  It is so true.  I mean my prayer has been that they could just get back in contact and communicate. But not only did that happen a few weeks ago but God made it possible for Jerry to get to spend several hours with Jerrious.  Julian and I even got to meet him.  So I would say that is far more than I asked for or even imagined.  I am so thankful we got to see that Jerrious is happy, safe, successful and all of the things we pray for daily.  I pray the same prayer still.  I pray God  continues to give Jerrious and his family a open heart and open mind and that Jerry and Jerrious can build a relationship.  I pray that Jerrious is happy, healthy, safe and super successful in everything he does.  Thank you Jesus for the opportunity to begin getting to know this wonderful 15 year old.   We are already looking forward to the next time.

Trip to Mandy's (a little late)

We had a great trip to Mandy's in October.  We went last October also so maybe we can make it an annual thing.  Julian did great on the trip. It was my first time meeting Miss Whitley and she's as precious as I imagined from pictures.  So cute!  Brett is such a big boy.  He definitely was Julian's boss for the weekend.  Mandy wasn't a fan, but I enjoyed the help. :) haha  I'm glad we got to enjoy some time with the Shows!! 

 matching PJ's  --  they can kill us when they get older :) 

 two little monkeys jumping on the bed

 with Mandy's mom (Nelda)

 Ready for the zoo!!

 Two little monkeys swinging from a rope

 I don't think Julian saw an animal while we were there..  He only saw the WATER!!!

Tired little boy

At the Pumpkin Patch in China Spring. 

Happy Halloween!

Julian and I had a great Halloween together. I have all these fun "family tradition" plans in my head which Union Pacific Railroad seems to try its best to destroy.  I will not let them beat me!!!  :)  So our jack-o-lantern was carved by me myself and I while Julian was sleeping and Jerry left for work. It worked out fine and I just pray better for better luck next year.  Julian was supposed to be Pablo from Backyardigans but he wouldn't keep his "head" on so he just looked pretty silly but still the cutest thing ever.  We were the first trick-or-treaters out so we just made the loop around the neighborhood and stoped at 4 or 5 houses that were pretty festive.  Julian is so painfully shy.  He doesn't do great being friendly "if you will."  :)  We had fun and got home in time to light our Jack-o-lantern, turn on the "spooky" espisode of backyardigans, and pass out candy.  Happy Halloween 2010. 



All about Emmitt (for Sal)

a Cock-a-Mo
Emmitt's dad:  black cocker spaniel
Emmitt's mom:  white miniture american eskimo
both parents 20-25lbs full grown so he should be somewhere around there
at first vet appointment we was 9 lbs
he eats puppy chow
his birthday is July 4th 2010 which makes him almost 4 months
he is NOT potty trained as of today..  we have had minimul accidents but enough not to trust him
poor guy is about 90lbs smaller than our other baby, Chaos
Chaos thinks he has a best friend to play with but Emmitt isn't that sure yet
actually not sure if Chaos thinks he's a new best friend or a new chew toy
when we let them out together, Emmitt just rolls over and plays dead and gets very very slobbery
one day he was scared of the stairs and the next day he was running up and down them
Emmitt and Julian are hillarious together
Julian doesn't want Emmitt taking his toys but Emmitt can't resist
Julian likes to be in Emmitt's kennell way more than Emmitt does

Well that's all I can think to share about Emmitt. :)


We LOVE Emmitt

pics

 New House

 Our newest addition:  Emmitt.  He is a "Cock-a-Mo"  (cocker spanier/ miniture american eskimo) 

 Emmitt

 My little Handsome!!

 At the park 10.10.10

 lol!!  Great picture

 Julian and I out with the Richard's at Texas Roadhouse... YUM

 so GQ!! 

Chaos:  getting bigger and bigger everyday!! 

"life's about changes nothin ever stays the same"

Wow!  I made it past a month without posting an update.  This update will be a novel i am sure so i'll break it into chapters.  Chapter 1:  Knee Update, Chapter 2:  New job,  Chapter 3:  NEW HOUSE,  Chapter 4:  Julian, Julian, Julian

Chapter 1:  Knee Update
So wheen I started PT July 29th (7 weeks out), I could bend my knee 23 degrees.  I am 3 months out of surgery now and I am at 114!!!  It has been a long hard battle and though the pain has been horrible, the pain of spending a day at work, then straight to PT, then to get Julian, then home to a new house with tons of work to do, has been CRAZY!!  But i'm at 114 so that's greatness.  Thank You Jesus!  I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel.  I know I have a long way to go till i'm 100% but I did ride a stationary bike and an eliptical for the first time this week..  Yippeeeee

Chapter 2:  New Job
Well LOW AND BEHOLD after my school district stripped me from my friends and family at Hinojosa and put me through some major horrible stress being cripple and having to start a new job in a new grade level at a new school, well 2 weeks in they look at "attendance numbers" and they HAD TO HIRE A NEW TEACHER AT MY OLD SCHOOL!!!!  What the!!  So needless to say I am still a little bitter.  So I guess that just means there is now one more person on hinojosa staff list who has to leave for me to get a job back there in the futre.  It's just crazy that I had always said, I would be crazy to ever leave my first job at Plummer because it was so great.  5 great years in Cedar Hill.  I would say the only reason I would ever leave is for a good paying job with Head Start.  Well after a year in Houston the perfect door opened at Hinojosa.  I had the best co teacher, Melissa.  I had the best administrators.  I had the best co workers and friends.  This chapter should be called my OLD job.  :)  Well I am at an elementry school now. I know it's a great school.  I know if I had to go anywhere, that it is was definitely the highest recommended place.  I am 6 weeks in and I'm still alive. It would be great to get my feet under me but with PT and a new house and pain 24/7...  it's hard being the "new girl" again for the third time in 4 years.  :)  Prayer, i need prayer!

Chapter 3:  NEW HOUSE
Jerry and I are officially in our new house.  We love LOVE it.  Pictures will be posted soon as soon as I get my house clean and remember to take pictures during the 2 mins that it remains clean.  We have 2 guest rooms so we are looking forward to visitors :)    So in the process we are becoming LandLords for the first time.  We have a couple who is committed and moving in to the old house next week.  Showing it to people, was hard.  I love that house (NOT AS MUCH AS OUR NEW ONE).  So we are praying all goes well renting out our house. 

Chapter 4:  Julian, Julian, Julian
Julian is still the cutest and most precious little boy alive.  His hair is getting bigger and bigger everyday.  Everyone says he looks like Korbin Bleu from high school musical.  haha not sure how i feel about that.  Not many people are on the fence about his hair.  People either tell me it HAS to be cut or "You better not cut it."  He is talking more and more.  He repeats most every word you say.  Except "Grandma"!  I think he knows how bad we were trying to get him to say it all summer while she was here and he refuses to say it.  I won the award for the Worst mommy in the world this week.  Evidentally his feet grew 2 sizes in the matter of a couple days.  One day his shoes fit and the next they didnt' come close to fitting.  Jerry and I took him after school yesterday and bought him one pair but he definitely needs more.  It's getting cooler and I'm thinking he shouldnt be wearing flip flops in the middle of winter. 

ok I stayed up 30 mins later than normal just for this blog.  I'll have to post pictures later.  Night Night

progress

Well I guess whether I like it or not, the first day of school has come again.  And like it or not, my mom had to leave and go back to her own life.  We loved every minute she was here.  Julian was her little shaddow all summer.  He wore her out I am sure but he definitely preferred her over anyone.  We are looking forward to when she is able to come back this way in a couple of weeks.  I will be starting my NINTH year of teaching.  Crazy it has been NINE years!!  Seems like just the other day I was 21, just graduting, bridesmaid in a million weddings, picking out an apartment, worrying about my first day of school, and buying my purple furniture.  Well nine years later and I am still worried about the first day of school.  Only now I know that the worrying is pointless.  Even though I must say I am less prepared this year than ever.  Being at a new school and not knowing what's happening and adding being cripple to that has slowed me down a lot but like it or not, Monday will be here and then Monday afternoon the kids will be gone. So much to do and too much pain to do it with.. Speaking of pain, my knee is still very achy but I guess PT is going well.  I started off at 23 degrees and it's been 3 weeks and today I made it to 80.  My doctor wanted me to at least 90 by Sept. 7th.  I'm confident I'll make it for sure.  Was hoping I wouldn't be limping much by the time I hit 30 in less than a month but I'm afraid that's not very realistic.  Limping or not I am very blessed to be 29, oved, healthy, happy, and employed of course. 

Oh, in other news!!!  We are moving next week to go along with long days at school and PT!  Even though I am not excited about the stress of moving, I am SUPER excited about our new house.  As soon as we get out of this one it is going up for rent.  I am so excited to set up our new house and all the extra room we will have to actually fit our things and ourselves.  Chaos, our dog, gets a little less room in the backyard and a little less shade but if we could figure out a way to get that guy to stink less, he could join us inside a little more.  Julian might have a place to put some of his toys besides just in the middle of the living room floor.  Yay we are moving.  Pray for Jerry and his recruits!  The knee, first week of school, and Julian are a little too much for me to handle and he has assured me that he will get it done.  Luckily the two houses are not far from each other so that will help a little. 

Julian started back with Ms. Sylvia on Wednesday.  Jerry dropped him off and I think it was a heart breaker for everyone involved but Julian survived and he is back to his normal self excited to see "Ta Ta" everyday.  He is such a drama king!  He likes everything just perfect even when you arn't sure exactly what "perfect" is.  Especially when he is throwing, bouncing, dribbling, shooting, or kicking a ball.  He might get a little of the competitiveness from either of us.. take your pick.  My competitiveness and his daddy's impatience :).  He is talking more and more.  We tried all summer to get him to say "Grandma" and of course he said everything under then sun but Grandma.  Of course when he came home on Wednesday and she wasn't here, he was asking for his "Grandma" just as clear as day.  Did I mention he is obessessed with her.  He can pretty much repeat anything you say.  For some reason he acts like he thinks he's cute.  I have no idea how he got that idea.  :)  He is so smart.  He knows exactly what you are saying and he is very clever about how he responds.  Sometimes he acts like he doesn't hear you and other times he does it just the say you say.  His fro is getting bigger and bigger and most everyone thinks it's time for a hair cut but neither daddy nor I are ready for that yet. He is still struggling with his sleeping really bad.  His time of perfect sleeping left and has not returned for us yet.  I'm hoping getting back into a routine, will help him and I tremendously. He still loves Barney but now he is watching a lot of The Backyardagins.  Mainly because it is the cutest cartoon every created.  Grandma, Jerry, and I all agree that it's hillarious.  With characters with names like "Uniquequa, Tyrone, Pablo, Austin, and Tasha"  how could you ask for anything better.  Their dance moves are the best.  The opening song is pretty slow and when Julian dances to it he almost tips over he's moving so slow.  It's funny. 

Well I am exhausted and my men are playing  a little soccer in front of me so I better go get in on the game.  Well... at least a little with my good leg. 

Pictures of the new house coming soon. 

trip to the beach

I've been saying I would like to take Julian to the beach sometime this summer but I am just now getting where I can half way endure the pain of sitting in the car for a long period of time.  So today we had nothing to do and we decided since I can not get into my classroom yet to move in, I guess today was the day for the beach.  Julian loved loved it!!  He would have stayed all day but Grandma and I decided it was time to go after about one hour.  He got the experience of running, splashing, chasing birds, etc...  but we would have fried if we would have stayed much longer.  It was a short trip but very very sweet.  I hear a lot of crap about how bad Galveston beach is but for just a little 1/2 day trip to splash around at the beach I think it's pretty great.  Next summer it will be ON and crackin.  Julian and I have some making up to do on all our beach, water park, museum, and every other kind of play place. 

Knee Recovery

It has been 41 days since surgery.  Thas is 6 weeks today I guess.  I had my first post surgery appointment 10 days after surgery and since then, I have worried, worried, worried, waited, wodered, etc...  I needed an apointment every week I think just for some confirmation that everything was on schedule and everything was ok.  It hasn't been the funnest summer for me or for my son or Jerry or my mom.  They have all given their whole lives pretty much to help me and to take care of me.  And for that I have no idea how to thank them for that gift.  They are the only reason I am not depressed and crying everyday.  (even though i do have my days)  It's a horrible feeling being so helpless.  This summer has definitely given me a different perpspective on thing.  Being so active, it is very difficult sitting back and letting others do everything for you.  So I finally had another doctors appointment Tuesday 7/27 and I was reassured that everything is normal and i'm not going to just have a stump leg for the rest of my life.  He is confident that with a lot of hard work, I should be back to normal.  I really just wanted to know that I would be able to drive in 2 weeks for our first day of school.  He couldn't guarantee that but I started PT yesterday the 28th and I understood quickly what he meant by HARD work.  At first my PT will be in the water and I guess I will work my way to land things like walking and the bike and things.  It's hard sitting there and watching the look on the PT's face when she sees my scar and sees how far i CAN'T bend my knee.  My doctors goal is for me to be able to bend my knee 90 degrees in 6 weeks.  Yesterday I could bend it 25 degrees with the PT pushing hard and me almost screaming.  So I have a lot of hard work for the next 6 weeks.  Prayers appreciated!!    "with God all things are possible"

Summer 2010 Trip to KC

We have had quite a summer!  One of the big things I considered before deciding on doing the surgery this summer was that "Julian is only 18 months"  he will enjoy doing more next summer.  Which I still believe to be true but also have a hard time with the fact that he has been stuck in the house with me and his grandma and daddy all summer.  They take him out as much as possible but the mosquitos here are NO joke.  There is no wind to blow them away or distract them.  They are miniture mosquitos that are on a mission for the blood of little innocent toddlers.  :(  As a result of my inablility to care for my child this summer,he has become incredibly attatched to his grandma.  It's going to be a sad day for the both of them when she has to return to her life and leave him in the care of his mommy and daddy.  This boy LOVES his grandma.  But really.. what's not to love.. She is a complete blessing for giving up her whole summer to care for him and I.  I knew she needed a break and needed to see her other amazing grandchildren so I sucked it up and decided to make the 7 hour trip home.  We had a great trip.  Maybe not the safest way of traveling because sitting in the very back has not seat belts and with the hard seat and NO shocks on my back tires my back and booty were about to die but we made it and had a great visit.  We stopped in Cedar Hill on the way there to visit with my Plummer Family and had a great time with friends.  Stayed with Deb for the night and then had brunch with the Henry's on Sunday morning before Tanya's baby shower.  Can't wait to see pictures of that sweet little girl.  And more importantly find out the name!!  While we were in Knox City, Julian got to spend a lot of time with his cousins, aunt, uncle and great grandma.  He immediately took to Riley Paige.  It took him a little longer with Carson but he finally opened up to him.  He went out to their house pretty much everyday and loved being outside playing the whole itme.  He loved the dogs but I think he loved the horses more.  He loved seeing the "Moooooooos" too.  Here are some pictures from our trip

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