Prom

Kaylyn's prom was last night. She told me this morning she had a really good time. Her date was a friend in her class. She said she liked going with a friend and someone from her school because she didn't have to worry about if he knew anybody or if he was having fun. I checked her out of school at 12:30 when I picked Landon up and took her to have her hair done. I wish we could have gotten a later appointment because that was a lot of time for her hair to have to last. But, they sprayed it a LOT! It didn't help that it was a rainy day but we were happy that the heaviest rain held off until after they were in the dance.

They had to be at the Country Club at 6:00 to serve at the banquet. Then Kaylyn came home and got her dress on and I took her to her best friend's house where their dates were picking them up.

I think she was so beautiful!! I also think she looked a lot older than what she is, which her Daddy didn't like too much.

I took Kinley with me when we took Kaylyn and she spent the night with Kaylyn's best friend's little sister, along with another friend. So, Jose' and I were down to one child.

Look how much taller Kinley is! I don't know if she's going to be very tall or if the other two just haven't had the growth spurts she has. I look at this picture and I know in the blink of an eye they will look like Kaylyn and her friend in the other pictures...it happens so fast!!

At Aunt Ashley's house

Today Landon went home with Ashley, my sister in law. We saw her at the beauty shop and he asked if she could go home with us. She told him she couldn't but he could go home with her and play with their dogs. He looked at me and asked if he could go home with Aunt Ashley...and he did! What a big step for him :-). He doesn't know Ashley all that well because my brother, Kevin, works on the pipeline and they are gone a lot. We only see them a few times a year. I still can't believe he went and am so proud of him. He stayed about three hours and then told Ashley he thought he should go home because his Mama would be worried about him. She called and I went and got him. While he was there she took some pictures of him with her little dog, Tucker.

As Promised...

Here are the pictures I took of Landon the day after he learned to ride his bike without training wheels. They are still on there but raised up very high and we can tell when he isn't using them because you can't hear them.

When I had him get on his smaller yellow bike with no training wheels just to see if he could do it knowing they weren't there at all. He did great :-).

That's "white dog" in the picture with him. We've recently learned her name is Hunny but Landon still calls her white dog. She only has three legs and Landon sometimes says there's that dog that lost one of her legs. It's hard to tell by looking that we have no outdoor pets. If Landon is outside there is usually at least one dog or cat out there.

I guess I'll share these of Sister while I'm sharing :-). I don't think she got up there by herself. I'm sure Landon put her there and she just decided to stay LOL.

Eight more weeks...

Today makes me so ready for summer to be here. According to my computer it's 71 out there but I really think it's warmer. After Church I put my bike riding clothes on and went for my first bike ride in over five months. When I started riding it was like I had never stopped...except I was more out of breath than usual. It felt so good to be riding again because I've really been feeling out of shape lately. After I was done I stopped at the house and got Landon, Kinley didn't want to go. He only had one training wheel and was having trouble so we came back and Jose' put another one on for him. The training wheels are too small and don't even touch the ground so he was trying to lean too far either way. I got off my bike and pushed him off and he started riding w/out the training wheels :-). I am so proud of him!! I don't think we'll take the wheels off yet because they make him feel more secure.

I think it gets warmer earlier every year. I remember when Stephen and Kaylyn were little and we had a pool I wouldn't even start cleaning it and getting it ready until May. Then I remember with our last pool I would get it ready and they would start swimming in April. Now here it is March and I think if we had a pool they would already be in it. We had decided not to get a pool this summer because we have two pools we are allowed to use here and one anytime we want to but I think we've changed our minds. I want one we can use in the evenings and on weekends and I want one so when I sit on my patio swing and read the kids have something to do out there. The one we are looking at getting is a LOT bigger than the ones we've had in the past. The biggest one we've had was 15 across and the one we are looking at is 24 and four feet deep. I'm sure Landon would be afraid of it at first but he'd get use to it fast. I'm hoping he'll learn to swim really well this summer. Also, this one is not the one with a blow up top but the hard sided ones that will last longer.

Back to school tomorrow. Landon said yesterday he's ready to go back because he misses his friends. I hope he still feels that way tomorrow morning. I feel like school just started and now we are down to our last 8 weeks.

Oh, Kaylyn is now driving Stephen's old car...the green Dodge Spirit. At first she wasn't happy about having to drive it and thought we'd be able to get her something else. But, she's resigned herself to driving it now and even seems happy to have it. We put insurance back on it and tags and Jose' fixed her air conditioner and did some other work on it. It's so weird to see her in it instead of Stephen.

I guess that's enough rambling...

Spring Break

Spring Break is going by too fast! I can't believe it's already Thursday :-(. The first part of the week was rainy so we didn't do anything, but yesterday and today are beautiful! Yesterday we spent the whole day out. We went to Walmart first because Kinley has outgrown almost all her summer clothes from last year and badly needed some shorts. They had some Sofie looking shorts for only $3.00 so I got her six of them. I wanted to get her some shirts too but they didn't have anything, which doesn't surprise me. After we left there we went to eat lunch at Fox's Pizza. I love that pizza!! We had planned on getting chicken or Sonic and taking it to the park to eat but we all wanted pizza instead. After we ate we went to the park for a while. It doesn't take much to make Kinley and Landon happy and I love that about their age. I want to keep them the ages they are and not let them turn into teenagers. I love that they still enjoy being with me so much and that I can make them happy just by playing with them. I had planned on reading while they played but ended up playing with them instead.

I had a few more park pictures I wanted to put on here but it won't let me. I hate it when it does that. I'll have to try again later.

Before we came home we went to the library to take back some books and get more. The kids played on the computers there for a while and even though I didn't need another book I found one. It's no fun to go to the library and not check out a book. When we got home I sit outside on my patio swing and read while the kids played. Kinley found a block of wood and got out the paint and painted a picture on it. I think it turned out really cute!

Today we are staying home because my mother in law called this morning to see if Christopher, my nephew, could stay with us for a while because she had something to do with work. I knew the kids would love having him here so told her it was fine. They have been outside some but have mostly been playing on the Wii. Christopher also gave Landon a boxing lesson, which he loved!

After I'm done here I think I'll go sit outside and read. I'm sure when I do the kids will come out there with me. For some reason they enjoy being outside more when I am out there with them :-).

Update

Stephen's surgery went fine and he's recovering so much better than I thought he would. I expected him to be in a lot of pain yesterday right after the surgery and he just wasn't. He was talking and drinking plenty. He was still a little loopy from the drugs, though, so probably wasn't feeling much. He did get very sick the first couple of times he tried to get up but that's normal. We got home last night around 6:30. On the way home we stopped and I went in Walmart to get him the new PS3 baseball game so that's been keeping him very occupied. This morning he ate scrambled eggs and had pancakes for lunch. I don't think he'll be losing any weight.

As for his grades, he heard from one of his teachers yesterday and his very high C is now a B thanks to some extra credit Stephen did that the teacher had not given him credit for. So, now he has a 3.3 grade point average :-)...even better!!

I have another sore throat, mostly just burning every time I swallow. I felt bad yesterday while at the hospital with Stephen so I called my doctor and his nurse told him and he called me in an antibiotic. I started taking that last night so maybe I'll be feeling better soon. I can't be sick while trying to take care of everybody else. Kinley is also coughing and throat scratchy. I'm just ready for the weekend so we can all hopefully do nothing and get well.

My Son

I just wanted to take a minute to say how proud I am of Stephen. He just finished his first semester of college and came away with a 3.0 grade point average :-). He was SO close to having a 3.3 but fell short by 2/10 of a point. But I am very proud of him because he worked HARD for what he got and he did well enough for TOPS and to keep his truck insurance low. I knew he would put everything he has

into college because that's how he is with everything he does.

Another reason I'm proud of him is because he had to pay for his next semester and he wrote a check and paid it. I told him I felt bad and that I wanted to pay some of it and he said no because that's why he worked all summer...so he could pay it. He has no idea what it means to us that he does that. He said paying his own way makes him want to try harder so all that work he did on the pipeline won't be for nothing.

Tomorrow he's having surgery to have his tonsils taken out. He's needed this done for a long time, for most of his life. It was postponed over and over for one reason or another, usually because of baseball or football and then again last summer because he was ready to go off to work. But, it's gotten so bad that it just can't be put off anymore. He's got the worse tonsils I've ever seen and has even had a doctor and several nurses say the same. So, we have to be at the hospital at 8:30 in the morning and his surgery is 10:00 or so. My sister, Lori, is going with us. We thought Jose' wasn't going to be able to go but he is but she still wants to go. Lori sees everything as an outing LOL. I'm happy she's going with us :-).

When I look at Stephen I know I am a good Mother because if I weren't how could I have a son who is so mature and so responsible for his age. He will go far and he will be successful, there is no doubt about that!