My weekend surprise

My hubby is not big on presents or surprised but this weekend he did both in a big way. For the past month I have been harassing him to get a pool.We don't make big purchases without consulting the other so I've been in harassing/whining mode for weeks now to get him to agree. The first answer I got was after vacation so after vacation I went into overdrive. Then all I heard was wait a little longer. That usually means no so I was pretty bummed. 

Got up Sunday morning and wanted to go fishing. Daniel said he didn't feel like it but boy when his friend called he was up and running. I asked why he was calling before 8am and Daniel tells me "Just to check in" I didn't believe it. So when a little while later when Daniel goes outside "for a few minutes" and then drives off I hit the roof! I told the boys to go ahead and get ready and we'd just go fishing anyway. We get loaded up and Daniel and his friend return and I give him a talking too. Took boys fishing return a few hours later and Daniel tells me to come outside to check something out. I think he's probablly showing off something in the mancave so imagine my shock to see this!!! 

Come to find out he bought this days before we went on vacation and had taken it to his friend's house to hide! His reasoning was if he'd brought it home I'd want it up and it would be green when we got home. Why he waited another week he didn't say. I think he might have enjoyed my harrassing/whinning while knowing he already had one stashed somewhere. 

The kids were as excited as I was. 

Billy couldn't even wait for it to fill up. 

When asked if it worth me gripping at me that morning Daniel says yes the shocked look on my face was worth it. I think I was shocked enough I stuttered for about an hour. For a change he was right and I was wrong. LOL

Trip the coast!

Last year we had our first family vacation and took the kids to Florida to visit Daniel's oldest son. We went during Spring break so the water was a little cold so this year I wanted to take the kiddos back to the coast when they could swim without their teeth chattering. When I was little we always went to Port Aransas so we decided to repeat history and take my kiddos there. We found a state park where you could camp on the beach or just over the sand dunes. We chose over the sand dunes with electric and water. It was great. The sites were nice and Daniel put up all sorts of shade and we were walking distance to the beach..

The kids could barely wait to get in the water. Daniel saw the waves and decided we needed a board to play with too. That was a big hit with the kiddos.

We spend half of one day just exploring the island. We found the ferry that I remember riding as a kid. They kids loved driving the car up onto the boat but thought the ride was way to short.

We also enjoyed the fishing. Daniel liked fishing off the jetty but I get caught on any rock around so I hated the jetty. We did find a nice little bay across the road and went fishing there. It felt just like being in lake. I told Daniel I need to catch something weird looking so I knew I was in saltwater. So what did I catch???? A saltwater catfish!! Ugh!

However I did also catch a huge blue crab.

After 4 nights of camping were all getting ready for the comfort of home but decided to drag the trip home out by stopping in San Antonio to visit the Alamo. The kids and Daniel loved it. It was a nice end to our week vacation.I've also decided it's time for a pop up camper. While I like camping in tents because it's "real" camping I've decided I want a real bed, A/C, sink, and fridge. I completely expect to have one by next summer.

Happy Birthday Jori and Eddie!

My little bitty twins who were not supposed to make through birth turned 15! How did they get so big? I all too well remember sitting by their hospital bed for 3 months and so thankful they are now big teenagers.

We kicked off the day by opening presents of course. 

Hard to believe at one time they were only 15 inches long and only weight 2'6 and 2'8. After presents we headed out to breakfast at Denny's. Unfortantly I had to work but before I left we put a good dent in the ice cream cake they both agreed they wanted more then regular cake. 

I had to work 2pm to 2am so we waited till Saturday for the real fun. I was woken up way to early for someone who didn't get home until after 2pm. Once all were up and dressed we headed out to the blueberry farm in Edom. It was packed but that did not phase the kids at all. They all grabbed baskets and headed out to the rows and rows of blueberries. 

I think they ate as much as they picked. 

We also found a nest in the blueberry bushes. 

We left with 1 1/2 gallon of blueberries, a jar of blackberry preserves, and a jar of salsa. 

So far we've made blueberries muffins and have plans for a cobbler and blueberry pancakes tomorrow. I was pretty worn out but we did manage to make the afternoon movie to see Madagascar 3. The kids loved it! All in all it was a great day with the kiddos.

Happy 15th Birthday Jori and Eddie!!!!!

My Pinterest Addiction

I'll admit it I'm addicted to Pinterest. I pin stuff from other sites but mainly I troll Pinterest for ideas. I love the clothes combos and find myself wanting to wear scarves so I can do some of the super cute clothes combos I see on there. Unfortunately I'm not great at coordinating clothes. I also have found tons of projects for Daniel to do. But so far all he has done was make some wine shelves I pinned. I have high hopes for a firepit I found. He seemed interested when I showed it to him. One thing I can pin and do easily is the crochet. The majority of my projects lately came from Pinterest. However I seem to lose them as soon as I can make them. Case in point this very cute shrug I made. See how much Julia likes it? I've been informed it's no longer mine. :(

Since I keep losing all my crochet projects I decided to make some recipes this weekend. First we started with cinnamon roll pancakes. While they were good it's way too much work for me that early in the morning.

Dinner was much better. 

 

We started with Spicy Chicken rolls (pictured in the middle). This recipe is actually how I found about Pinterest from my sister. She made these at a party and I was instantly addicted. When asked where she got the recipe she told me about the site. Next we (I say we because Julia and Jori helped) made homemade Chicken, Cheese, and Bacon taquitos. First time I have ever made taquitos that weren't frozen and we were not disappointed. Since Little Bill was not happy at the sound of anything we were making we threw in mini tacos. They were great! The shell is wanton and baked in muffin cups and cooked with taco meat and cheese. A very unhealthy dinner but the kids were very pleased and loved all of it. It's good to know my new addiction is productive! 

The Beginning of Summer!

Thursday was the last day of the school and it was only a half day. As I was getting ready for work I heard the bus roll up. You could tell from the noise level it was not just a regular day. Jade was the loudest of the bunch. LOL She burst into the house as happy as some who had just been let of jail.  Unfortunately I wasn't so free and had to go to work. Daniel had decided to take the day off too so he got the fun part of hyper kids and sending Jade off to her dad's house. Being the sweet husband he is he decided to bring dinner and the kids up to my work during my lunch so we had an impromptu picnic. 

Friday Daniel took the boys to work with him so it was just me and the girls. We decided to try our hand at making sushi. Didn't come out pretty but it sure tasted good. 

Saturday the boys and me decided to check out the local Farmer's Market. It was fun and we came back with homemade tamales and pineapple salsa. We think figured the best way to celebrate summer is with ice cream so we broke out the ice cream maker and made some homemade vanilla. To make it even yummier we threw some Resse's in at the last minute. Very good. 

All in all it was a good weekend. I also got a good start on my school work and some crocheting done. Here was my crochet project for the weekend (I added a black boarder on the bottom after I took the picture). Gonna give it to Daniel and mine's 2 1/2 year grandson. He loves Cars so he should love this.

Becoming handicap accessible... again

At one point everything about our life was handicap accessible. Well since that time Jori has learned to walk mainly by herself and see climbs stairs fine so after we moved we didn't bother to make changes. With age comes the need to be way more mobile. Instead of being in one building at school she is now on a campus with many buildings. A few months ago her physical therapist talked me into seeing if we could get a motorized chair for Jori. I was at first not happy. Too see her back in anything that is a wheelchair feels like a huge step backwards. Her therapist assured me it was for endurance not mobility. Amazingly quick she was approved and the chair was in. It's been sitting at the school for a couple month now and after much discussion we decided to go ahead and bring it home for the summer. This created a new problem. Our house isn't handicap accessible anymore! Thankfully my redneck husband was in charge of bring it home. He drove his van and trailer to the school and after making me drive it out of the school he made a makeshift ramp out of the plywood he had on his trailer. He decided it looked like fun so he drove it off the trailer once home. Unfortunately he decided it was alot of fun and started driving it around. LOL

Finally got him back into the yard after he tested speed and into the backyard. 

We decided that we didn't want it in the house. Way to tempting for the kids to play with it and I can just see the boys ramming stuff with it. So we decided to store it in the man cave. Unfortantly we don't have a ramp in sight. Not one for the house or man cave and this chair is heavy! Finally my sweet hubby says I'll just get the stuff and make a quick one. An hour and $30 later we have a portable ramp! 

Gotta say I have a talented husband. Now we're looking into making my minivan handicap accessible so we can transport the chair around. Hopefully we'll get this before we go to the zoo or Six Flags.

Our Weekend Review

Well the girls were in Florida and the rest of the kiddos went to grandma's so it was a quiet weekend. Daniel was originally supposed to leave Saturday morning for Fort Worth but that didn't work out so we ended up with a nice night alone. I got dressed up and convinced hubby to go check out the carnival in town.

Not the greatest picture but I'm very happy to finally fit into this shirt! I bought it at an online auction but it was too tight. Now that's I've lost some weight it fits and Daniel said I looked smokin. LOL 

It took all of 5 minutes to walk through the whole carnival. I have no intentions of riding anything that had recently been inspected and thrown together by those shady looking men so we just roamed around. Ran into all of Daniel's nieces and a few people from my work. It was fun. 

  

Sunday Daniel left for Fort Worth bright and early and so I spend the day relaxing till the younger kids came home. I did get tons of crochet done this weekend. 

Cute little headband

Baby flower hat

Owl hat which was quick and easy to make.

Hello Kitty hat which Jori already claimed even thought she was in another state and hasn't even seen it yet. LOL 

Still have a baby blanket I'm making for one of the nurses at work and a shrug I'm making for myself to finish up.

My girls are growing up and leaving me... Literally!!!

Every other year the high school band takes the kids on a trip. This year they are going to Florida so of course Julia and Jori wanted to go. Thankfully their father paid for one and I paid for the other so the sticker shock of sending two wasn't so bad. All I've heard about for weeks is Florida and finally the day arrived for them to leave. I went up to the school at 11 to see them off. Jori and Payton were already attached at the hip and all grins.

Matt of course found his way up to the school to see Julia off.

The school stuffed the kiddos with pizza before the ride since they won't be stopping to eat until 6pm.

The band is so big it took three very large charter buses to fit them all. Jori and Payton are on one and Julia a totally different one with her friends.

Finally after pizzas and a few moms (not me) crying and having to be pried off their children it was time to load up. The kiddos looked like pack mules. LOL They had carry on their pillows, snacks, and clothes for their outings tomorrow on the bus.

Took a little bit for them to get settled but Matt (Julia's boyfriend) and I waited until the last bus pulled off.

I have to admit that's when I got sad and wanted to cry. Then when I got home the panic of a mother of a handicap child set in with the realization that she will be gone for 5 whole days without me! I keep reassuring myself that both her sister and Payton are with her so she'll be fine.

Geting Ready for Summer Session

Spent the morning getting ready for my summer classes to start next week.
The campus was dead! Not another person in sight.

Only had to get two books since I bought the others online for much cheaper then the bookstore. Sill ended up paying $270 for only two books. Thankfully I had enough FASFA leftover to pay for them. I also got me new shirt.

After the bookstore I went up to the main building and registered to take the HESI next month. I'm very stressed about this test. I have to pass it before I can apply for nursing school. I'm allowed to take it twice in school year. Hopefully I'll only need once. Time crack open my study book for it.

 Still need to stop at the school sometime this week so I can get the summer sticker put on my ID. Once I get that done I can use it to get into the Cain Center for free. I plan on using my membership to start working out.