Kayci and Chuck: A Love Story

Kayci's love of Chucks goes back to when she was a toddler.  Ronny bought her a pair of bright pink high top All Stars for an early Christmas gift.  She wore the HECK outta those shoes, and the identical pair that followed.  This year for Kindergarten, she decided she needed All Stars again, but she couldn't find any that she just LOVED.  We shopped and shopped, and ended up with a shiny pair of Chuck knock-offs from Old Navy.  A few weeks ago the subject of Chucks came up again--her shiny shoes have bitten the dust and she wanted a new pair of Converse.  So we shopped and shopped...you get the idea.  After much trying on, guess what we found?  Yup...but these are lowtops, white with pink & green polka dots.  Very Kayci.  I guess it's true what they say, a girl never gets over her first love.  P.S.  Nobley got some Chucks for $7--he'll have to grow into them, but blue & orange low-tops?  You know you can't wait to see them!  :)  

Noble's HUGE BIG DAY!

Today Noble walked!


Kristi came home from the library and said he took three steps, so then we stood him up and, sure enough, he took a couple of steps. Then I turned him around and he stared walking toward me. I backed up a little with each step he took.

He took 19 steps in a row across the living room floor! Kristi and our friend Sherri witnessed the whole thing, so they can vouch for the fact that I'm not lying.

Then Kayci made a little sticky note and put it on Noble's back that said "Noble tuc [took] 19 steps."

He wouldn't walk again when we got out the video camera, so video will have to come later...

Then when we went out to dinner with the Bogans, he let go of the chair he was holding on to and walked across the floor to another table.

Wow.

Even Superheroes...

...stop sometimes.  Bubby, well, he rarely stops, so this is even sweeter.  :)  

You Gotta Have Friends...

My friend Dee just left.  (I know, I know, I said I was taking a 2-minute blog break 30 minutes ago...looks like I'll be up late tonight to get in my 8 hours of work...oh, well!)  Anyway, she was dropping off some pants that she's gotten too skinny for and I hope to be skinny enough for soon...TMI, right?  Back to it...she also brought me a ball jar of sweet basil & lime laundry detergent that she made.  What a great girlfriend, right?  It just made me smile that she'd bring me something so...me.  :)  

She also brought a book that I'll pass along to Paula...I have to say, when we got home Friday evening we headed straight over to the Headley's to take Lydia her birthday gift.  Kayci was initially resistant to going in, but once the kids swarmed the car she was rarin' to go and we ended up playing for a good 45 minutes (well, the kids played, Paula and I caught up) until it was time to go home and see Daddy.  It felt very normal to be at Paula's house, and I had to smile when we left with our green bowl packed with brownies and yummy applesauce muffins she'd made for us.  (Have I told y'all about the friendship bowl?  A couple of years ago when I had surgery, our friend Katharine brought us dinner in this cool green bowl with a lid.  She wouldn't take it back, and let me tell you, that bowl has made the rounds since then.  We always somehow end up with it again, but Paula and I made a deal several months ago so now we pass the bowl back and forth, but we fill it up first.  It's silly, but it's always a fun surprise when the bowl appears...I guess it's just sweet to know a friend's thinking of you.)  Anyway, so that made us feel like we were HOME.  Today's library day, and I think taking the six (you heard me right) kids to the library will be another giant step toward normal.  :) 

And speaking of friends thinking of you...right before Easter, I got this awesome card in the mail from Sherri.  It's got seeds IN the card, so I'll plant it when the rain stops.  Can't wait to see the wild flowers!  Sweet, right?  She also sent a big bowl of chicken tortilla soup (and all the fixin's) home with James last week (which he ate, as we stayed in Houston longer than expected...sorry, Sherri).  And then when I got home on Friday, the first thing I saw was a really cute t-shirt that she saw and said it made her think of Noble, so she bought it...and a bookmark for me that she saw in DayStar.  For someone who's been where we are so recently, it just meant a lot that she's always there for us and thinking of us even when we're not together.  :)  

I could go on and on.  Being home this weekend was great therapy, made even better by an impromptu trip to Dairy Queen with the Trevinos after Joe Scruggs, and a last-minute dinner date with the Parkers at their house on Saturday night.  The bigger kids got to splash in the pool, and the grown ups got to catch up and enjoy some great quesadillas.  (Kudos, boys.)  

The cards and e-mails and phone calls we've received this past two weeks have made a huge impact, although I still have to apologize if I haven't replied.  Still busy playing catch up, as evidenced by this wreck of a house.  (See today's Mommygirl post about that one...I'm not grumpy about that anymore as much as I'm just grateful to be home.)  

So here's to all of our friends, here, there and everywhere...there are tons more of you I didn't name here, and I apologize...we appreciate all of you.  Thanks for making me feel at HOME again.  :)  

Fun for the whole family...

I apologize in advance to the best Daddy in the world if this at all affects the status of your man card...

...but I have to say it, folks.  We LOVE Hannah Montana.  Yup.  The whole family.  Love her.  Until James bought us the new Taylor Swift CD, we'd been listening to the HM movie soundtrack for a solid month.  We all packed up and headed into Houston on Good Friday to make it to the first showing of the HM movie, and we all loved it, even Noble.  James and Kayci even went to see it a second time with Penny and Emma last weekend.  I don't know why I'm blogging about this...probably because I sat down on the couch waiting for my yard-mowing headache to go away, and sitting down on the couch reminded me of sitting here last night laughing out loud together, watching Kayci's new HM DVD.  Kayci's just about got me talked into taking her one more time this week to use the free ticket that came with her DVD.  And yes, they say "butt" more than I care to hear in front of my 5 year old, and that Miley's a sassy gal...but all in all, I'm grateful that there are things we can enjoy together as a family.   

Sweet niblets, I've gotta get in the shower before James gets home for lunch...

Joe Scruggs!

We're going to see Joe Scruggs today...Ronny's kids introduced us to him years ago, and he was one of Kayci's most favorite things when she was little.  When we heard he was coming to Brenham, we got out her old Joe Scruggs DVD to see if Noble would respond to the music and sure enough, he's a fan, too.  Somebody posted an old Joe video on YouTube...he's been around way longer than 12 years.  And I suspect he's not quite as um, spry, as he is in the clips.  We'll let you know tomorrow...

Good China

The kids and I had breakfast on the patio this morning, and it was really nice (eating outside is one of our FAVORITE things to do at home).  Anyway...earlier this week, I bought the kids new child-sized cups to keep here.  Kayci was drinking milk out of hers, and for some reason she lifted it up to look at the bottom.  

Hey, this cup was made in China.  

You know, they put kids to work in China...

...whoever made this one did a GOOD job!

And the child laborers of China thank you, Bitty, for noticing.  :) 

P.S.--Noble is on a tear this morning.  I made the mistake of leaving my purse down low where he could pull stuff out of it.  I brought him back into the bedroom to use wipes to clean the grill/grease off of his hands (don't ask) and when I got out the laptop he got busy on my purse.  I figured I'd only be a second, so I let him empty the outside pocket...but I made a rookie mistake.  I forgot my new Clinique lipstick was in there, and you know how Nobley loves his lipstick (sadly, not kidding).  I heard him say, "Na, na!"  (no, no!) and looked up to see that he'd not only opened my lipstick, but bitten the top off of it.  I guess the "no, no!" was because it didn't taste as good as he hoped, because he didn't argue at all when I took it all away from him.  These kids...

Town Hall for Hope

Tonight I attended the Town Hall for Hope, a simulcast from Oklahoma City that over 1 million people watched at more than 6,000 locations - not including on radio stations or on the Fox Business Channel.

It focused on dispelling some of the myths behind the current recession and economy and was very informative and entertaining. It was presented by Dave Ramsey, whom Kristi and I have really come to like in the past several months after attending a Financial Peace University class at our church.

Kristi originally planned on attending with me, but couldn't because she's still in Houston with her mom. And we also have some friends who wanted to go, but couldn't. So I recorded the event on my iPhone and am presenting it here so Kristi, our friends who wanted to go but couldn't or anyone else who wants to hear it can listen.

It was a free event, open to anyone, so I feel pretty comfortable in posting it here. It also looks like they're going to post the event to watch at townhallforhope.com, so watch that space if you want more than just the audio.

Overall, it was a very good presentation that explained a lot about the economy, gave some good background information and most importantly, gave a little perspective. I highly recommend downloading the audio and listening. It's an hour and a half, so grab some popcorn and enjoy.

Find the audio here: http://www.jamespharaon.com/TownHallforHope.mp3

P.S.

I meant to post this last night...

...yesterday, we were at Hobby Lobby when we noticed that not only was there a BLACK bruise on Bubby's forehead (right on top of the yellow hook-shaped bruise from the weekend), it was raised.  As the day wore on, it got darker and bumpier.  Finally we realized it wasn't a delayed reaction from falling off the bed this weekend, it was a NEW mark from slamming the cabinet door into his head yesterday morning when he was playing with the gumbo pot.  Whoops.  So that ties up the mother of the year, I think...

A Big Ol' Pot O' Bubby...

Noble's always good for a bit of comic relief, and this morning was no exception. We had the gumbo pot out and he decided he would test it out. Exhibit A:

Wait, wait...I've been in here 10 seconds and I'm bored. I'll just help myself out...


...almost there...


...crap!...

What's even funnier (and I'm wrong for laughing, I know) is that he crawled right over to the entertainment center and pulled the cabinet door open...right into his own face. It was just the timing that was so perfect...cracked me up. Mother of the year, I know.