Vacation!!

Life around here has been as hectic as always. I originally had the summer off but something came up so I am now working most weeks. Not what I planned on but it will work out. 

For vacation this year we went to the Cowboy Capital of the world, Bandera, Texas. We stayed at the most amazing ranch, The Flying L Ranch. There were tons of activities for the boys and lots of R&R for us grown-ups. I read 5 books while we were there and even knit a fair bit. 

The pictures are all out of order but hopefully you can make sense of them. I did not get photos of the horseback riding (we went on three trail rides) or the water park on this camera. We spent many hours in the water park located right there on site. The food was good, we had nightly entertainment and the kids had a blast. We didn't even manage to get to the tennis courts or the ghost town. Next time….

Hitting balls at the driving range. Levi has outgrown his clubs but still managed to hit his driver 200 yards. 

Me and my Sweetie relaxing on the front porch of our cabin (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright)

 Lots of time spent at the pool and the water park on the grounds. We were able to walk to everything.

Nachos!

Climbing Enchanted Rock. 

More nachos and swimming.

Archery during the morning Kids Club activities. Yep, three hours each morning they entertained our kids for us. I told you it was awesome!

The view from our cabin.

 Just being goofy. There was quite a bit of goofiness.

Big swing!

 Photobomb!

Spelling Bee Finalist……Ahren!

  Earlier this year Levi made it into the 3rd-5th grade spelling bee finals. He ended up in fourth place, which was fine by him. He did NOT want to have to participate at the county and state levels. I have a sneaking suspicion he threw the competition in order to avoid those.
  The second grade does their own spelling bee. Second graders are not included at the higher competition levels, but the school holds their own competition to introduce the concept. Jon is a fantastic speller and I was hopeful he might make it into the finals. Nope, in usual Jon fashion, he did not listen as they gave him his first word and he spelled something completely different. We were not surprised. Ahren is a good reader but spelling didn't seem to be his thing. He didn't care whether he ever spelled anything correctly. He is just so laid back! This time he really surprised us! he took the whole spelling bee business very seriously. He knew that Levi won the bee two years ago when he was in second grade. He had a fire in his belly and a determination we had never seen before. He studied, he talked about it, and he made it to the finals!!!
  The finals were yesterday afternoon and Chris and I both went. There were fifteen finalists, three from each class. There are a total of about 120 second graders in all, so being a finalist was a big honor! We were so proud of him. He stood up tall, spoke clearly and loudly, asked for the word in a sentence politely and was amazing. Unfortunately he didn't win. He took 8th place. The word that tripped him up was 'different'. He missed the middle e. He had already spelled some really tough words and made it through many rounds. In fact, he lasted almost an hour. Wow!!!
  So proud of this boy. And to think english is not even his first language!!!!

Magna Cum Laude

This morning my first child, Kaytee, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas A&M University with a B.S. in Psychology. I didn't cry. I did mist up a little but you will see why in a moment. I have come to terms with losing my baby and gaining an adult daughter. 

Here she is 2 hours into the ceremony. Believe me honey when I say we know how you felt! There were 1300 graduates in the college of liberal arts and they called every single name and listed their honors. Every. Single. One.

 Here is most of the gang sitting in the audience to support her. From left to right, Chris my husband, me, Kaytee, Chris her dad, Ashley and Uncle Greg her dad's brother. Taking the photo was Matt, Kaytee's awesome boyfriend.

 Here is Matt and Kaytee. Kaytee is tall and wearing heels and still Matt is quite a bit taller. They are quite the photogenic couple!

Here is me and Chris with our special girl. I am  not short! She is just tall!!! LOL!!!

 They have many, many traditions at A&M. One is that they can get special sashes for graduation that they then give to people who were the most instrumental in supporting them through their college career. Kaytee got two, one for her Dad and  one for my Chris, her step-Dad. That is when I got very teary. Having a good relationship between them has been a huge blessing. Having her acknowledge her step-dad was amazing. I think Chris got a little misty-eyed, too.

 Here are the two Dads with their special sashes. What an amazing sight! What an amazing girl.

 These three girls have known each other since second grade. All three graduated today. One day they were skinny little pigtailed squirts and the next grown women. Unbelievable!

 Just as crazy as ever!

 Uncle Greg giving Kaytee a gift. He may be my ex-brother-in-law but I will always love him. He is one of the best, kindest, most thoughtful men I have ever known. He is the one thing I lost in the divorce that I truly regret!!!

A view of Reed Arena with all the graduates and attendees. It is the same arena Kaytee had her high school graduation in but this was much more impressive.

 The celebrity couple giving the thumbs up sign and showing off their Aggie rings. (Matt graduated in December)

And to update everyone on Ashley, she did NOT have meningitis but most likely a viral encephalitis. That is just a virus that causes inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord. She has bounced back very quickly like only the young can do.

Hospitals

  This has been a rough week for my "A" kiddos. Ahren got sick last Sunday and by Tuesday was struggling to breathe. Took him to the doctor and got new meds. He stayed home Wednesday but by Thursday was sounding really good so off he went. Then Friday he woke up coughing a little. By 11 am the nurse had called me twice and reported he was rapidly getting worse and two breathing treatments had not helped. So off we went back to the doctors office. His blood oxygen level was 92 and close to the level where he would have been admitted to the hospital. Another treatment and he came up to 96%. Better, but not normal. We decided to have him get a bonus of steroids and see if that helped. If not then he would be headed to the hospital for admission. Luckily the big shot in his derrière helped and he began to breathe easier within the hour. Now he is on oral steroids for 9 days. It really helps him breathe but it turns him into a mood-swinging monster.
  Today Ashley is in the hospital. She had been sick last week with a cold/infected throat but had been feeling better. Then today she woke up really feeling lousy with a massive headache and a really stiff neck. Off to the doc-in-a-box  to see what was up. They sent her straight to the medical center to have tests to check for meningitis, among other things. She has had all the usual blood and urine tests, plus a CT scan of head and neck. They attempted a spinal tap but couldn't get the needle in so right now they have her in radiology using x-Ray to guide the needle. I am sitting here staring at her blood on the sheets and my heart aches. The doctor thinks she may have viral meningitis, not bacterial, which is good. Much less dangerous. There is not treatment, just time to recover. It means several weeks of headaches, possibly, but not life threatening apparently. I am very impressed with this hospital and how fast they are moving. They took her back immediately when she arrived and within an hour had most of the tests complete. I barely got here (I am 70 min away) before they had whisked her to radiology. I will update later when we have all the results.
What a week........

Our College Graduate

  On May 9th, Kaytee is graduating with honors from Texas A&M University. I am so proud I am about to burst! And yet I am so sad. It feels like I am losing her. I didn't feel sad when she left for college. Only now, and it is really hard.

  Why now, I wonder? Well, for one thing she got a job in Dallas which puts her 4 1/2 hours away from me. At school she is just over an hour away. We could drive over and spend the day together easily. Not anymore. She also has a serious boyfriend and they are planning on saving money for a while and then moving in together. I asked her about the future plans and she told me if they get married it will be in Dallas, not here at our family church. I won't be able to be involved much and that hurts, too. And then there is the fact that her Dad is in Dallas and she will be living with him and spending a lot of time with him. Him, not me. He is a good Dad, and he hasn't been able to spend that much time with her over the years, so that is good. But it's not me. 

  I am losing my baby. She is officially flying from the nest and it hurts. I am so proud….

Pictures

Every year during the Houston Livestock and Rodeo (a ginormous event here in southern Texas) the schools all have a Go Texas Day. It is a very big event. All the kids and staff dress in cowboy wear and they bring in ropers, horses, snake handlers, saddle makers, horse trainers, farriers (horse shoers). The entire day is spent playing cowboy and celebrating Texas. Here are my boys in their cowboy finest. Ahren and Jon decided they needed mustaches to be 'real' cowboys. LOL!

 He may have a future in modeling.  He struck this pose all by by himself.

Levi decided to channel Johnny Cash and dress all in black. He had a black hat, too, but was not cooperating very well with my picture taking. I got one shot and he was done.

I need to start posting to our cooking blog. The boys, especially Levi and Jon, still love to cook with me. They are getting to the point that they are actually really helpful. Someday they will make their wives very happy.

 One of the pitfalls of living in southern Texas is the nasty critters that live here. I found this little guy in the dryer when I removed a load. That means that he was IN the dirty clothes when I scooped them off the floor and started the wash. It was only luck that kept me from getting stung. I always turn on the lights at night when I get up to use the bathroom. Otherwise I might step on one of these lovelies….

Levi is growing his hair out. He has my thick, semi-curly hair and here is what it looks  like in the mornings.

Levi designed his own shoes on the Nike website. The good news is we now have no problem finding them each morning!

Hey, what are you doing up there? (He is standing on the counter) His answer? Exploring. My response: GET DOWN!

Levi made dinner. Chicken enchiladas. Yum! I directed him but he did all the work. They were super yummy!

 Notice the safe technique. No fingers were hurt in this demonstration!

 Derp! Why can't they just smile for the picture?????

 One day after grocery shopping I discovered the cat had helped herself to the family sized pack of tuna. What the heck? She must have been able to smell it through the package. It's cans-only from now on.

Spring in Texas. The skies are so blue and the clouds white and puffy. The grass is emerald green.

We have baby turtles in the pond. Here is one, about the size of a half-dollar. These are Sliders, a semi-aquatic species indigenous to our area. We have worked really hard to make our pond a very healthy eco-system.

The garden is growing! Here is the very first baby tomato. We have eggplant, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, peppers of all kinds, herbs, and pumpkins. A lot of things do not grow well here so we are a bit limited.

Levi, my helper. He loves to come help with whatever I am doing outside.

Sweet Basil. I can't wait to cook with this!

My other 'boy', Rio. He is just the sweetest. He nickers at me when he sees me, follows me around like a dog with his head over my shoulder trying to see what I am doing, and just loves me to pieces. He has gained almost 100 pounds since I got him, weight the vet told me was good for him. He is now perfect weight. His hooves are 100 times more healthy, too. He is still losing his winter coat so he is looking a bit rough, but still shiny and healthy.