Thursday, December 27, 2007

We wish you a merry Christmas!

We all had a great Christmas and we all loved our presents.

We had planned to take the kids to their Nana and Papa Conway but Lexi is running a fever and Nate is complaining his tummy is hurting so we are staying home for the weekend.

On a reverse note Chris is over at her mom's house helping her clean up some of the stuff that they have stored in the garage. So its the reverse of what we planned.

I uploaded the pics of our Xmas on our photo page - enjoy.

:)

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Jefferson Railway of Lights

We took the kids to see the Jefferson Railway of Lights. It was a four hour trip to Marshall where we had reserved a room at Quality Inn (a nice place to stay BTW). Overall the kids did very good - thank God for the DVD players in the van though.

MAN IT WAS COLD!!! Fortunately we paid the extra $2 per seat to get first class with a heated carriage but waiting outside for the train to arrive froze us to the bone. Nate liked the ride and Lexi did okay (the train was a little above the lights at time and Lexi did not want to get up in the chair to watch the lights at times).

Most embarrassing moment - we took a wrong turn getting to the depot (read the wrong paragraph of directions) and pulled up to what I thought was a B&B or a museum. I walked in and no one was there so I called out "Hello" and all of a sudden two guys and a child ran in and my first thought was I walked into someone's house - but they assured me that while it was a private residence it was a B&B and was nice enough to tell me where the depot was.

Most embarrassing (obvious) thing forgotten - the kids coats! Yes it was freezing and we forgot the kids coats. I made sure to go get gas and get Chris breakfast so the van would be warm inside so we did not have to bundle up the kids (Chris did that the last time I took the kids on a trip and I had to pull over on the side of the road after five minutes because both the kids were burning up). I though Chris had packed the coats and Chris thought I had put the coats in the car so we did not realize we did not have the coats until we got to Terrell (an hour away from the house). So the first two stops we bundled the kids in our coats to take them inside. On our second stop in Canton I stayed with the kids at Burger King while they played and Chris ran to Wal-Mart to pick them up some coats. So the coats in the pictures are new :)

An update on Thumbs. He does have hyperthyroidism and the doctors are afraid his kidneys might be failing so after the hyperthyroid medicine stabilizes him they are going to put him on a special cat food. Right now he is enjoying his medicine because we are wrapping it in turkey.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Took the kids to see Santa today

I posted that picture in the photo album.

poor kitty/lucky cat/damn cat

I was getting ready for work this morning and Thumbs came into the bathroom and threw up.

poor kitty....

Then I noticed that the vomit was mostly blood

ohmygodohmygodohmygod

Okay - I emailed work and told them I was taking the day off and took Thumbs up to the Vet. Three hundred dollars worth of test later told us that he was diabetic again but the doctor thought he may have hyperthyroidism but will know when the rest of the test results get back in tomorrow.

hyperthyroidism ?

Well before I discuss hyperthyroidism lets talk about the reverse - hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is where your thyroid doesn't produce enough hormones or shuts down completely. Your metabolism lowers and you don't digest food as well. Hyperthyroidism is the reverse - the thyroid goes into overdrive, ramping up the metabolism and causing you to lose weight no matter how much you eat.

whatwhatwhatwhatwhat!!!!!

Yes - there is a medical condition where you can eat all you want, digest food normally, and still lose weight.

lucky cat!

Yes that would be true if you can turn it on and off at will. But unfortunately unless its turned off the cat will starve to death. It's Thinner in real life.

But what if it could be controlled....

If it could be controlled I would give it to myself in a heartbeat. Then I would:

1. Take "all you can eat" as a personal challenge.
2. Make owners of buffets cringe at the site of me.
3. Have 1000+ calories of desert at every meal.
4. then the meal
5. then more desert.
6. You get the picture.

I know it cannot be controlled, I know it can be fatal, but I cannot help but to have a small amount of envy for Thumbs right now.

damn cat.

:)

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Thanksgiving down - Xmas to go

Well Chris' cough turned out to bronchitis so we canceled the large Thanksgiving and only had Carol and Christopher over. After Thanksgiving dinner Carol stayed with Chris and I took the kids over to see my parents and Bobby and Darlene.

Friday after Thanksgiving we tried to have a family photo at WalMart but that failed. Because they could not move their camera they have set templates on where people should be for a given number of people. For seven people they have all the tallest people stand while the shorter ones stand/sit in front. For us that did not work because Dad, the tallest at 6'4" had to sit and they were not able to make the picture work even though they tried for forty minutes! I have to say the children was awesome! They sit still through the whole forty minutes! I was very proud of them.

Well we came back Friday night because it was going to rain Saturday. Nate's fever came back and he had to miss school Monday-Wednesday so he could get enough rest. Lexi's sinus infection came back and we got some more antibiotics. At least these she is willing to tolerate.

On a positive note we just finished watching "Meet the Robinsons" and it was great! If you get a chance to watch it I would definitely recommend it.

I uploaded Lexi's fall school pictures on our photo album. Enjoy!

:)

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Getting ready for Thanksgiving while sick

For the last six weeks at least one of us have been sick. I thought we had all gotten over it but for the last two weeks Chris has been congested and had a headache. She really did not want to do anything about it before because she had a cold at the time and thought that was it. But Friday she told me she had called the doctor and has an appointment for Monday. She talked with a friend from where she used to work at and the friend told her that three people had the exact same symptoms and went to the doctor and were all diagnosed with pneumonia.

If it is pneumonia we are going to cancel Thanksgiving but for now we are still planning like we are having Thanksgiving - we just went to Sams and got all the plastic plates, plasticware and a 20 lb. turkey.

Friday was Nate's Thanksgiving party. I took off of work and joined him. They had a great time. I posted the pictures on our photo album.

I took Nate and Lexi to McDonald's today and they had a great time.

That's it for now.

:)

Monday, November 12, 2007

The kids had a blast last week

Well last week was Nate's last football game, Tuesday was the football party where he got a nice trophy and dog tag. Wednesday I took him to out to eat with Grandmoo and Grandma Katie and Uncle Christopher (Chris and Lexi were too sick to go). Friday and Saturday Nate had birthday parties to go to and Sunday Uncle Bobby and Aunt Darlene dropped by. Needless to say Nate was pretty bored today!

:)

Sunday, October 28, 2007

But it only took 30 minutes to cut them down....

Saturday I went out and trimmed the limbs on the trees in the front and back yard. It only took 30 minutes to cut down the limbs but to but up the limbs and bundle them up in the the city approved size bundles (no more than 40 lbs) took four hours! And even now my arms hurt! But at least next year when I mow I won't have to duck under alot of branches.

Today we went out and painted our pumpkins. I posted pictures of them on our photo album.

Nate and Lexi are doing better. We had to skip a football game yesterday because Nate was running a fever. I think both should be able to go to school next week. Tomorrow is Lexi's last day of antibiotics and we are all ready for it! Lexi cries when we get them out and we hate having to fight her to give it to her.

Monday, October 22, 2007

The joys of antibiotics

Nate and Lexi still had the wet cough a couple of weeks ago so we took them to the doctors and got them both some antibiotics (the doctor thinks its a sinus infection). Unfortunately neither the pharmacist or the instruction sheet told us the medicine had to be refrigerated after opening - it was on the bottle in the same font as everything else so we missed that one. So after four days of increasingly sour faces from the kids (Lexi hated the stuff from the get go and by the forth day it was just horrible the fits she was throwing) we rechecked the instruction sheet, then checked the bottle then threw them out. Nate was all better by that time and Lexi sounded a little better so we decided to see how they sounded after a week.

Well that weekend we got sick. Nate and I got sick Friday night, Nate could not keep anything down and I slept for about 30 hours between Friday night and Sunday morning. Sunday was Chris' turn and she spent most of the day in bed. Lexi did not catch anything but her cough got worse during the week. We were going to take her back to the doctors on Monday (today) but Saturday she was crying because her ears were hurting. I took her up to kids urgent care center that night and her right ear was infected. I got different antibiotic for her and confirmed it did NOT need to be refrigerated (but its in there anyway).

Thursday, October 04, 2007

September in Review

Well this has been a good month for Nate. He has really done good at school and flag football. We had his birthday party last weekend and then we went to his football game then as a special treat we took the Dart train.

Lexi is taking dance lessons and she is having fun with that. After the dance lessons Chris and Lexi will go to Po Melvins restaurant as a special treat.

I loaded all the pics on our photo album, enjoy.

:)

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Week in review

Nate had another fun week of football. They had their first real game this Saturday and the one time I did not take spare batteries to a game/practice is the one time I load the camera with dead batteries. Alot of my batteries are getting near the end of their recharging lives so sorry - no pics of the last game.

Lexi started dance class this week too. She had her first class Wednesday. I have not figured out yet if its once a week or Monday and Wednesday. When I find that out I will let y'all know.

Grandmoo was up this weekend so Chris and I went up to my office and packed up my cube. No I have not quit or gotten laid off (yet - on both counts). They are rearranging the cubes in the building and going to a flex-space configuration. Basically they are cutting the cube space in half and there are no longer assigned cubes (though there is a hope in our group that we will have assigned cubes on a project by project basis). Basically all our stuff has to fit in one wheeled file-cabinet/locker which we are supposed to take and find a unoccupied cube each morning and set up then at the end of the day we are supposed to pack our stuff back in the locker and wheel it to a common area so we can retrieve it the next day. I really wonder if companies actively try and find ways of lowering employee morale. If so I give flex-space a gold star!

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Nate's first Scrimmage

Nate had his second practice Friday then Saturday Bobby and Darlene came up (they are heading to Phoenix Monday for a couple of weeks) and we went to Nate's first scrimmage game.

On all the practice games parking was not a problem but on game day it was PACKED! We ending up parking in a back parking lot and walking around to the game. Then being the first game there was the team and individual photos and they were not organized at all! So our game that was supposed to start at 2:00 started at 2:35. To top it all off it was HOT! Fortunately we brought plenty of water to drink.

I posted some of the team pics I took in the photo album.

Enjoy

:)

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Nate's first football practice

Nate had his first flag football practice today. The team he is on is a Pre-K and Kindergarten team called the Bears. The exciting thing is the main coach for the team is a professional football player Devin Wyman. You can view his stats here.

Nate did really good on his first practice and afterwards we went to McDonalds for chicken nuggets.

His practices are on Tuesdays and Fridays and his first game will be this Saturday so be ready for lots of pictures!

Monday, September 03, 2007

Nate & Lexi's first week of school

Nate and Lexi had a good first week at school. Unfortunately Nate got sick Thursday but we were able to send him to school Friday. He is running a little warm still and stuffy but hopefully he will be able to go to school tomorrow.

We signed Nate up for flag football Saturday. We haven't heard anything yet about which team he is assigned but there are three teams that practice at L.D. Bell which is just a couple of blocks from the house. I asked Lexi if she wanted to take a cheer leading class or a dance class and she wanted to dance so Chris is looking for a dance/ballerina class for Lexi.

This weekend took down the old homemade shelves on the far wall of the garage and put in a couple of shelves in the workshop. Since Chris wasn't feeling well this weekend I could only put in about 4-5 hours each day but I can finish up in October after the birthdays.

I tried putting up a couple of hanging shelves but the drywall wouldn't support them. I was using 90 lbs anchors but even then if you have 30 year old drywall its only going to support so much. I went with Lexi to home depot and got a stud finder and got them put up. Now all I have to do in the garage is one more side wall and I am done with the garage improvements.

That's it for now.

:)

Monday, August 27, 2007

A week with Bobby and Darlene!

Nate and I picked up Bobby and Darlene at the airport Monday. Their plane arrived at 2:30 so I tried to time it so we got to the airport at 2:30. That part worked as planned but what I had not counted on was the fact that since it was an international flight they would be held up in customs for 30+ minutes. After they got out we picked up some Dublin Dr. Pepper (there were two things they did not have in Bulgaria - Dr. Pepper and Starbucks). And after that we went to Bobby Valentines and ate dinner with Aunt Cherie and Uncle Curtis.

Tuesday we went to Six Flags. The kids had a blast! Unfortunately there were only a handful of rides we could take Lexi on but we were able to go on the mini mine train with her. We actually got Nate to ride on the runaway mine train and he loved it! We stayed the whole time the park was open (11-7) and the kids still did not want to leave.

Wednesday was more of a rest day. We had a meet the teacher with Nate's Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Riggs. Bobby and Darlene took care of Lexi while we went.

Thursday I gave Chris her belated Mothers day present. She stayed at home while the rest of us went to Nana's and Papa's.

Friday was a busy day. First we all drove to Carthage and visited the kids great grandma Yount. Then we drove to Tyler and visited the Cadwell Zoo. The kids had a great time at the zoo. Especially the playground at the end.

Saturday we came home. There is no place like home.

Well today was Nate's first day at school. Chris just dropped him off. Tomorrow is Lexi's first day. Will let y'all know how it went.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Nate and Lexi - Superstars!

Nate and Lexi singing their favorite theme song.

Click here to watch

Enjoy :)

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Getting ready for Bobby and Darlene

Oh man its been busy :)

I had to work this weekend (boo) but I was still able to get the lawn mowed. The weedeater started to crap out on me at the end but I hope its because the oil/gas mixture is wrong. I am not having any luck with gas powered lawn equipment this year! I have replaced both my lawn mower and weedeater. If I have to replace the weedeater again I am going high end and getting a four-stroke so I won't have to mix the oil and gas again.

We were also able to get the house cleaned up Sunday. We did not get to bed until after 1 - which was bad because I have to get up at 5am to go to work (still have not recovered from that). But most of the prep work for Bobby and Darlene to come over is done.

Yesterday I did some chores outside and put on a "Balance buddy" for his bicycle to help him learn how to ride his bicycle without training wheels. For those who have never seen one all it is is a handle on the back of the bike that I can hold on to while Nate pedals the bike. Sorry since I was Nate's balance buddy there are no pics.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Very busy weekend

This weekend I demolished the shelves and counter top on the far wall of the garage (most of which were sitting on rotten wood) and replaced them all with metal shelves. I still have the other two walls to redo but just having usable space on that one wall has already allowed me to clear alot of the crap we were storing in my workshop.

The kids were feeling under the weather this weekend so that had to stay inside - which they really did not like.

The bricklayer came by Thursday and fixed the hole the plumbers knocked out when they fixed the plumbing. Now the only big project left to do is the driveway (YAY).

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Everything going quickly now that the plumbing is done

A couple of weeks ago it was finally dry enough for the plumbers to come out and lay down some new pipe from our laundry room and kitchen out to the sewer. Unfortunately they just showed up without calling (Chris is still upset about that).

Once that was done we finally had the landscapers out to fix up our sprinkler system and get a bid for laying sod over the area that the plumbers back hoed to lay the pipe (they will be back next week to sod the yard). We had 3 leaks (I knew of two of them) I thought we had three zones out but only one needed rewiring - the others were just the controller misbehaving. I am replacing the controller when the landscapers are out next too - I wanted a controller that could be controlled over the internet but I could not justify the extra $500.

A brick layer was out today to look at fixing up a hole in the kitchen wall the plumbers had to knock out to lay the new line and he will be out tomorrow to do the job.

During all the rains a large section of track for the Texas State Railroad was washed away - we had purchased tickets for late August and they called us and refunded the money. So Saturday we took Nate and Lexi on the Grapevine Railroad and ate at Risky's Steakhouse. I just posted the pics in our photogallery.

BTW - before I forget we switched over to AT&T U-verse as our internet provider and TV. A little bit faster for a little less money - I wished we had Verizon FIOS though. To keep from losing my webpage everytime we change internet providers I bought the conwayfamily.name domain and it is being hosted by a company called 1on1 for $5 a month. Our new website is www.conwayfamily.name and I can be reached at scott@conwayfamily.name

:)

Monday, July 09, 2007

Busy weekend

Friday I took a half day off so we could take the kids to get there passports (in case I ever do get sent overseas again Chris and the kids could go too). The weather Friday was good enough that I actually got to mow. Saturday I went and got a new grill and cooked up some ham, sausages and chicken on it - I burned some hotdogs but hopefully next time I will do better.

Sunday we went over to our neighbors house to swim. The kids really had a blast.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

1995 miles - four days - finally home

Last week Mom and Dad came over and took care of the kids while Chris and I drove the minivan up to Minnesota to pick up the desk that used to belong to her Dad. We did the whole trip up to Minnesota in one day - and it rained all the way to Kansas City.

I posted some pictures of the road trip on our photo page.

The thing that surprised me was that Minnesota was having a drought - three months of rain in Texas and its surprising to get to an area that has no rain. Still its very beautiful up there in the Summer.

On the way back we stopped at Oklahoma City to spend the night at the Wyndham Wingate. While it was rated at three stars it was one of the nicest I have stayed at for a long time - even Chris could not find anything wrong with the hotel.

We got in on the first of July and got the desk set up. On the fourth we took my old Desk to Chris' brother in laws and had lunch with the family.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Memorial day fun

Well we had a fun and productive memorial day. Saturday I got all my stuff unpacked on my desk (that freed up a couple of bins). Then we went to Jamie (my cousin) and Paul's (husband) for Paul's 45th Birthday! They live out in Greenville, which makes for a killer commute to Dallas but the view is awesome. Jamie and Paul have a pair of horses they have trained, and I mean trained - Jamie would point to a part of the exercise pen and the horses would go there. The kids loved the horse ride and they were so wired from it that they did not go to sleep until 11pm.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

May update

Well I took the kids to see my parents two weeks ago (first road trip in the minivan) and we got to Tyler when we got the call that Chris' aunt Gail passed away. I went ahead and spent a couple of days with my parent, and the kids got to see their great Grandmother and great, great Grandmother. Both the kids got sick afterwards so I stayed with them while Chris went to the funeral.

Nate had his pre-school graduation last week. All the age groups sang (Lexi was a laugh riot). I posted the videos on google and will try and get them linked with fotki today.

This week we had new floor reinstalled. I am still tired from being up until 2am unwiring all our computers. The good thing is that by starting over I was able to replace three power strips and two extension cords with three squids. The floor looks nice. The kids hated being cooped up for a couple of days and, of course, made us share their pain. but afterwards they liked running around on the new floor.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

April-May update

It's been a very month.

We put together a play set for the kids. It took the two of us about nine hours over two days to put it together. Two of that was just labeling all the wood and parts and putting them in separate piles - which really sped things up. Both of us got a real bad sunburn out of that but the kids really loved it.

Then I took the second row seats out of the minivan and got wood for a new gate (see below) then went to WalMart and picked up a new picnic table and umbrella for outside where the old play set was. The kids really love eating outside now.

We got the DVD player in the minivan and the kids do love it. The problem there is with the wireless headphones. Lexi has a tendency to pull them off and back on but when she does that she keeps hitting the on/off or the volume wheel. I am considering getting a normal set of headphones for her.

We took the Corolla over and signed it over to Carol so she as a newer car now :)

We bit off more than we could chew the last couple of weeks. I built and installed a new gate in the back yard to replace the ones that were rotting. And I cleared off the counter tops and sealed the granite. We just finished both of those today.

I am also trying to clean up my desk area and rewire it. We are having the floor replaced on the 21st and the 22nd and I we will be swapping desk so I want to get all the power strips, USB hubs and routers that are attached to my desk attach them to the wall so it will just be a matter of switching desk and plugging everything back in. Then when we get Chris' fathers old roll top desk (old as in the printer drawer has a slot to feed a dot matrix printer ) we will only have to move/remove one desk instead of two.

Right now I am typing this outside while the kids are playing in the sandbox. The weather is a little warm but there is plenty of shade and a small breeze makes it comfortable.

I will try and get some pictures of the kids on their swing set posted tonight. :)


Monday, April 16, 2007

Got a new minivan

Well Chris and I have talked about it off and on for over a year and with this years tax refund and stock I sold at work we put down a down payment on a 2007 Toyota Sienna LE (no pictures yet but I will take some as soon as possible). The kids love it! And they will love it more when we get the dvd player put in.

I am already planning my first road trip in it :)

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Got rid of the stump finally - no luck on the floor

I rented a large chainsaw from Home Depot this weekend and finally cut down the stump in our back yard. It was a five foot diameter seedless/fruitless mulberry (that's right - five feet) that was there when we bought the house but it had a split down the middle going all the way to the roots. After talking with several tree places we picked one to cut down the tree but left a waist high stump figuring we would make a picnic table out of it (that never happened). I was able to cut it down to just below ankle height.

Hopefully this year I will rent a stump grinder to get rid of the rest. If not I will try and make a large planter out of it (and watch the kids destroy it).

Chris found all the original paperwork for our floor last week and has called around to see if we can get a replacement. Unfortunately they don't make our brand/color/locking type anymore so she is trying to call the local floor/builder warehouses to see if they have any old stock. If not we have to get back with the insurance and replace our old floor. I hope we don't have to do that as its a pain to move all our stuff out of the den.

Monday, March 26, 2007

The "Joy" of an older house - day out with thomas

After the second flooding of our playroom we decided to have a camera run down our sewer line to see what was causing it to stop up so easily (we needed to have it roto rootered four times in the last three years). When we got the camera down we saw that the bottom of the 40 year old cast iron pipes were gone. Fortunately the sewer line comes out diagonally across our front yard so the plumbers think they can run the kitchen line outside the house and connecting it in the front yard (as opposed to jackhammering up the floor across the entire length of the house).

I took Nate to a day out with Thomas Friday and he loved it. I posted pictures in the photo gallery - enjoy.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Kids are doing Better

After I did my last post Lexi got sick with a stomach virus and could not keep anything down for a day. Once she started to feel better Nate got sick and could not keep anything down for two days. Lesson learned: when you child has not had anything for a day and a half no matter how bad the cough - cough syrup is a bad idea! Poor Nate went instantly drunk.

Fortunately I was able to work from home to help out with the kids.

This weekend my mom and dad came up and Me and Chris went and got her a new computer: A 15" MacBook Pro. I am currently working on getting all of Chris information off of her old computer and on to her mac.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

floor flooded again

The long story: about 18 months ago we put in laminate wood floor in the house then last year the air conditioner condensate line clogged up (our AC unit is in the middle of the house and drains into the sewer line) and then the water fell down into the air intake area and under the floor. We ended up replacing the floor in the play room.

Well last week the sewer clogged and while we were doing the laundry and the water came up the condensate line and flooded under the floor again. Well we got the condensate line fixed and the insurance adjuster came by and was very helpful. We got some tips on how to keep the air intake area from flooding under the floor again (spray insulation - I will try and do that today) and when to run the soaker hoses outside (twice a week for one hour).

Hopefully today I will get to work on cleaning the wood fence - we will see.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

It has not been a stellar week for the wife's side of the family

Last week both Chris' mom and step mother had falls that resulted in broken bones and if that was not bad enough her Aunt Gail (who is undergoing treatment for cancer) had to be rushed back to the hospital with double pneumonia.

Everyone keep them in your prayers.

On a happier note we finally gave Nate a guitar that Grandmoo got for him last year. We figured he was old enough to take care of it now. I posted some pictures of him with the guitar in our photo album.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Had a fun weekend

Carol came over for the weekend so Saturday I was able to take Chris to Cowtown Sushi for a belated Valentine's treat. Then Sunday Bobby and his friend Matt dropped by (I have not seen him in a looooong time) and the kids had a blast with him.

I have uploaded pics of the weekend and hopefully tomorrow I will have the video of Bobby chasing Nate while carrying Lexi. Matt had a an Olympus digital camera (I believe it was the Stylus 810) and the video quality was AWESOME! Matt boasted that he was able to go through the video frame by frame and see a plane's moving propeller without blur - after seeing some of the video he took in the car with Bobby driving to Dallas I believe him.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Nate better - Chris and Lexi not

Nate's still coughing but has not had a fever since Wednesday. We thought Lexi was getting better but Friday she started running a fever again. At least she is sleeping through the night. Last Tuesday night was horrid - Nate and Lexi woke up twice each and I had to get them each time because Chris wasn't feeling well (though she claimed Nate woke up a third time and she took care of that). Chris isn't running a fever but she is achy so this morning I am going to work from home and take Lexi to her three year appointment this afternoon.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Nate and Chris are sick - Lexi is okay thus far.

Last weeks ago there was a post at the school that two kids in a different class from Nate and Lexi was sent home with Chicken Pox. Thursday Nate could not get comfortable and woke up with a fever. Chris got a low grade fever and has been achy since Friday. Chris doesn't think its Chickenpox since Nate has not developed the blisters yet but I am taking a wait and see approach. Chris never had it as a child so I have already told her that if Nate does deliver blisters I want her to go the doctor that day.

If it wasn't for the fact that Chris never had chickenpox I would be hoping that it was chickenpox so Nate and Lexi would get an immunity to it (if you get it as an adult it could be much worse - even fatal).

Just in case I have been bringing home my work laptop in case I need to work from home.

Other than that we have been enjoying the cold. We got a little snow Thursday but it was too warm for it to stick.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Double the birthday - double the fun

This week we celebrated Lexi's and my birthday. I took Friday off and we cleaned up the house and Saturday we had everyone over. Lexi had more fun opening the presents than playing with them - as soon as she opened a present she put it aside and immediately grabbed another present to open.

Mom and Dad gave me the best present. They stayed home with the kids while Me, Chris, Perron and Malina went out to the Reata for dinner - its been over a year since we went out so we stayed out until midnight just talking.

Sunday we went to the Verizon store to get new phones. We have had our phones for almost four years and the batteries were starting to drain quickly (even after replacing them). Chris got an LG VX8300 and I ordered an LG enV (VX9900). I should get it in a couple of days - I can't wait!

I posted all the birthday pics to our photo album. Enjoy!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Got the drawer front on

We did not get too much done this weekend because we were all getting over the crud. But we did get the drawer fronts finally put in. It was a bad job to say the least but at least the drawers are functional now.

Chris took Lexi out today to pick out her cake and theme. Look at the fotki site next week to find out what she picked.

:)

Saturday, January 13, 2007

I got an email from Ed Bagley Jr.!!!!

There is a new show on HGTV called Living with Ed. Its a reality mini-series about Ed Bagley Jr. and his wife Rachelle. Ed is VERY environmentally conscious and despite being a movie star lives in a early 1900's house that he has made as energy efficient as you can without rebuilding the house. Complete with adding solar panels to the roof and adding a generator to his exercise bike so he can add power to his house system while exercising every morning. No wind power though - I guess there is not enough wind where in the neighborhood where he lives.

Anyway after watching the first two shows where Ed and Rachelle were arguing over new rain barrels that Ed got I had to write and suggest painting the barrels and asking if LCD lights were more available/cheaper in CA than they are here in TX.


Glad you are enjoying the show.


Rachelle and I are still in discussion about the rain barrels. Maybe the color change would make it possible to keep the barrels as a permanent fixture in the yard.

I don't use LED lights in my house because I find they are too expensive. When the cost comes down a bit, I may make the switch. For now, I plan on sticking to my fluorescent bulbs.

Thanks for the great suggestions,

Ed

Now granted I posted the question on the show's "ask Ed" page but its still nice to know he is taking the time to read the emails himself and answering them (and a more than a little honored at getting email from a movie star). The hilarious thing is though that after about 4-6 months they are still arguing over the rain barrels.

:)

Friday, January 12, 2007

Year in review

Its seems like every time I post here its with an apology for not blogging enough. Its not that there is nothing going on (with a two year old and a five year old there is alot going on) its just at the end of the day I am typically to tired to write it all down. I will try and do better - no new years resolutions though. If I can I will if not then tough.

The main reason I got back to writing this is that I was visiting my step mother-in-law in Minnesota in December (great trip by the way) and she got on to me about not keeping the blog up to date. This floored me in that I had no idea anyone was reading it. I mean its all published for public consumption but since there were never any comments and blogger doesn't show number of views on a blog I just thought no one was reading it.

At least I kept our photo gallery up to date so you can see all the pics.

Well for a quick review in April Lexi broke her arm and that put our kitchen remodel on hold. We did finally get around to cutting all the doors for the kitchen cabinets but we have never installed them (they are currently taking up a good chunk of my workshop). We have all the drawers finished but have not yet gotten around to installing them.



In June we went on the Texas State Railroad in Rusk, TX. If any of your children love trains I would highly recommend it. I would also recommend getting the climate controlled cars in the Summer as it is money VERY well spent.

Nate's Birthday was in October and Chris and Nate went with the Grandmothers on Nate's annual Train ride on Puffy Train.



November and December was of course Thanksgiving and Christmas respectivly but we also had a great trip to Minnesota. Unfortunately it was also the third warmest December on record with no snow whatsoever the entire time we were there.

Well there are a couple of more things I would like to post but I am stopping now as its late and its time for all good Dads to go to bed so they can alert in the morning when the kids wake up.