My Madelyn

My Madelyn, one of the lights of my life, just kills me!! This morning she comes up and stares at my coffee cup, which means that she wants to take a drink, and since I still drink coffee the way Grandma used to make it for me when I was a kid, I asked her if she wanted a sip. She said, in her cute little way, "Yep!" As she picks the mug up by the handle, I say, "two hands, please," which she proceeds to put the tip of her index finger on the other side. Heaven forbid she actually put the other hand on the mug, oh hell no, we have to be difficult. She is so her mother's child!!

Parker has been attending Jedi camp at the Museum of Natural Science this past week. He graduates this afternoon so I'll be posting more this evening.

Love to all,
jill

Fourth of July

We have had a busy time since my last posting but it's late and we are going to be up early to head into Maine in the morning so I just wanted to drop a note to wish all of you a fabulous Fourth of July!! Hope all of you have a wonderful day with your loved ones and safe celebrations in your own special way. We are currently in Manchester, NH and their celebration is being cancelled due to rain so I am not sure where we'll end up but where ever we do it's going to be great!! Love to all and will update you soon on all the great things we have done over the last few days.

Love,
J

East Coast Vacation (days 1, 2, and 3)

The vacation has begun!!! Chris, Parker, Madelyn and I flew out of Houston International at 7:30 on Saturday morning. Daddy flew in from Nigeria on Friday night so we stayed at a hotel by the airport the night before our flight to maximize our time with him before we left. So here we are, the mommy, daddy, two kids, three suitcases, plus everyone's backpacks/carry-on's.....one would have thought that we were making a permanent move to the East Coast!!!! Thankfully we were checked in by a sky captain at the curb and we avoided some major lines checking in. The sky captain also directed us to an optional security area as we were cutting it pretty close to our flight time. Mind you this whole time Madelyn is not in the stroller so between her and Parker I felt like I was hearding cattle through the terminal. Got to security, fairly small line, and Madelyn has a major meltdown. She didn't want to stay in line, she didn't want to take off her backpack, she didn't want to take off her shoes, and she didn't want to walk through the metal detector. By this time I was sweating and really ticked off.....why couldn't we just get through this calmy?!? I must say that the guy checking our tickets actually smiled at us and went kind of fast in checking our tickets and the guy at the metal detector told me to go ahead and carry her through. Got through security.....shoes on and Maddie in stroller.....and headed to the gate (this is about 7:00, take-off is at 7:30). Get to the gate and it says that the next flight departing is to Mexico City.....pardon my language, but WTH? Mexico City is the last place I want to go!!! Check the departures only to discover that our gate had been changed from E to C. We all haul it over to the gate and get there as they were boarding our seats. Needless to say we got on, flight went well, kids did great, and we landed safely in Baltimore, Maryland.

Our first stop was to Williamsburg, VA to visit Nona Wilson, Chris' grandmother (Betsy's mother), whom we hadn't seen in a good while. We have missed her so much and we really wanted her to meet Madelyn so it wonderful that we could make this trip. She lives a Patriot's Colony, a retirement community for former military families. It is so beautiful!! We stayed in a guest apartment that was very nice....it had a very cozy feeling. On Saturday night we all went to dinner in the dining room. Dining in the dining room required a sports coat for men and dresses for women.....oy vey!!! Parker was already packing his sports coat because he wants to be ready to meet Barack Obama while we are in Washington (don't know if he's planning on wearing it the entire time, I'll get back to you on that). Everyone looked nice and acted great at dinner. Don't think that we embarassed Nona too bad. :) The next morning Uncle Steve and Aunt Linda came from Mathews, VA to join us all for bruch. We so enjoy spending time with them and were greatful to be able to see them. Chris later told me that Linda and Nona both told him that Parker and Madelyn were such well behaved children....I couldn't have been more proud!! After brunch we went to Colonial Williamsburg where we saw a reinactment of the British taking over something (can't remember what Chris told me they were taking over) and then drove over to Newport News, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach. We so enjoyed being able to spend time with Nona, this is time that can never go away and can never be taken back. We are fortunate!

Monday morning we picked mom and dad up in Baltimore, MD and drove to Easton, PA. It was great to reconnect with M & D, but we were all so tired that we had a pretty uneventful Monday night. Just to backtrack a bit..... We have a thing about visiting different states and taking our picture at the state line. Chris and I missed Virginia and Maryland......don't know where they were, but we got Pennsylvania, oh well, we'll keep trying! This morning, Tuesday, we went through the Crayola Factory where we learned how they make crayons and markers. It is a great place because there is every product available for the kids (and adults) to make all sorts of projects. Part of admission are free crayons, markers, and modeling clay....very cool!! We had a great time and left with a butt load of Crayola goodies! After leaving the Crayola Factory we headed to Princeton, NJ to see the Princeton campus. The drive to Princeton was absolutely beautiful, as was the campus. We had a picnic on the campus grounds and let the kids run off some energy. I sat there watching my kids run around the Princeton campus and couldn't help but think that maybe it wasn't me actually sitting there......it was a very surreal moment! After walking around the campus for a while we got back on the road towards our final destination of Milford, CT. We drove through New Jersey and New York to get to Connecticut and didn't get pics at any of the state lines......missed the darn signs AGAIN!!! Driving through New York City was so awesome that I just wanted to stay there, however, the traffic was horrible so I was pretty happy when we got through it all!! Parker kept trying to see if he could see the Statue of Liberty, but never saw her and it wasn't for a lack of trying!!

At the current moment we are in Milford, CT. In the morning we will visit the Yale campus, Plymouth Rock, eat lobster, go whale watching, and do whatever else we can squeeze in our day! :)

Parker's Yellow Belt

Hello to all, sorry it's been so long since my last post......our life has been CRAZY since summer began. Really, it's been a little crazy and the mommy has been a little lazy. :)

Parker tested for his yellow belt yesterday at Tae Kwon Do. I say he is a total natural and his instructors say that he has made such great improvement. In one of the pics posted Parker is posing with Instructor Cris (on the left) and Master Leider (on the right), Master Leider is Instructor Cris' dad.....it is a huge family affair. Parker started out as a white belt, progressed to an advanced white belt, and is now a yellow belt. The next belt he will test for will be a green belt. After getting his advanced white belt he started sparring....needless to say he (and all the other advanced white belts) get dressed up in their sparring gear and kick the crud out of one another. In tournaments only kicks count for points, slaps or punches do not get points, and the higher one kicks (specifically the head) the larget the point count. Full sparring gear includes a padded helmet, arm pads, chin pads, a padded vest, a mouth guard, and a cup (for the boys). Now imagine all these little boys, and two girls, full of energy, and in all this garb, trying to kick each other and not crack up laughing. There are some that have a conscience and will help their partner up when they fall down, but most of the time they just stand there bouncing around waiting for their partner to get up. Like I said earlier, the goal is to kick as high as you can to get the maximum amount of points. You can only imagine this mamma sitting watching Parker spar with another kid who is trying to kick the crap out of him and the instructor telling both kids to kick higher 'go for the head.' I have far too much Parker blood in me to stand behind the glass and watch my kid get kicked!! Parker is really good and is getting his fair share of kicks in, but I have to work really hard to not start yelling for Parker to 'kick higher, kick his head.' Sounds sick, doesn't it? It isn't bad at all because a) they have worked those kids so much before they start sparring and b) they are eight years old and under.....need I say more?

Again, sorry I haven't blogged in a while....Parker, Madelyn, and I have been in VBS all week and then packing for vacation on top of everything....time has been limited. I would really like to get a pic of all three of us in our VBS shirts, but just like getting a pic of Park at golf, it might not happen. :)

Chris, Parker, Madelyn, and I will be flying to Baltimore on Saturday morning and then driving down to Williamsburg, Virginia to spend a couple of nights with Nona (Chris' grandmother, Betsy's mom). We are looking forward to seeing her as she hasn't met Madelyn....hoping Mad makes a good impression first before she starts acting like her cute, two-year-old self!! Mom and dad will fly up and meet us on Monday and then we are off on a two week excursion. I will be blogging from the road so keep checking in with us.

Love to all,

J

Love is....

Love is going to bed with your husband....only two people in the bed......and waking up with two kids and a dog right in between the two of you. When I woke up to everyone in the bed I couldn't help but start singing (to myself, of course) 'there were four in the bed and the little one said, 'roll over, roll over,' so they all rolled over and one fell out, there were three in the bed..... etc, etc. Basically the little one is STILL in the bed and is fast asleep.

It is times like these that I sit back and reflect on my life and how lucky I have am to have such an awesome man as my husband and the father of my children, as well as, having two beautiful children. How could I ever lose sight of that? But sometimes I do.

Today is Park's last day of golf camp so I will try to snap some pics of my little Tiger.

Hope all of you have a great day!!!

Madelyn the Ballerina

My Madelyn is a ballerina! I am convinced that she will be the next principal dancer for the Houston Ballet.....or at least in my eyes she will. :) Every Sunday when we go to church (almost every Sunday :)) Chris gets Madelyn from the Nursery after communion to join the congregation. We think that by bringing her out at the end of mass she will learn how to act while in church....it's not really working out well for us, but that's another story on another day. Anyway, Chris brings her back to sit with us and she acts her goofy self making all the people around us smile, laugh, and frown until it's time for the closing hymn. At this point Chris is holding Madelyn and she is 'gracefully' moving her arms about as if she is performing a ballet dance. We could not stop laughing, she was too cute lifting those arms up and to the side, trying to form her little hands in a graceful state. Just too cute!! Madelyn was born December 18 and from the moment she was born I called her my little 'Sugar Plum Fairy' and she is really starting to show her ballet 'abilities.' She has a body like Shawn Johnson and does a mean forward roll so it will remain to be seen what her true calling is, but whatever it is she will be the best!!!

Search for Land

We (Mom, Chris, the kids, and I) have been on the search for some land outside of Houston for a weekend get-away for the last few months. I feel like we have looked all over the place and haven't found a thing. Sure we have found land tracts that we really like and they are either too much money or the shape of the land is weird, etc, etc. There are always pros and cons. Either way we have had an AWESOME time looking for land!! Our real estate agent, Beau, has been a God send. Not only has he spent way too many Saturdays with us but he is utterly patient with us and the kids. Parker and Madelyn think he is the coolest thing since sliced bread.....they act like they have lost their good sense when they are around Beau. Not only is he patient with them, he likes them. Heck, he even volunteered to watch Madelyn while we got out of the mule to check out a creek. He is the best!!! I will definitely keep all of you updated when we have found our Golden Pond!
Love to all!!!

This is day what of summer vacation????

This is technically my first day of summer vacation, although my boss asked me if I would test a little one on Friday......I still started summer TODAY!!!! With that being said, we got dressed this morning to take Parker to golf this morning, which was pretty uneventful, got him there just in time and Madelyn and I went shopping. This is where the fun started! We went shopping at Marshall's and for the first time ever I didn't strap her in stroller or a cart. I decided that she was big girl enough to listen to me and stay right with me. I know what your thinking and this all happened at 10:30 this morning.....too early for my good sense to kick in!!! She kept herself pretty content carrying around the most tacky, pink purse I have ever seen and a metal Curious George lunchbox full of golf balls (don't ask....I didn't). All in all, I only lost her one time that really scared me.....all the other times I found her pretty quickly. I am determined that she will be a shopper like her mama and that we WILL have fun when we shop!!

When I picked Parker up from golf I found him on the Back Deck chatting up some chics (two to be exact). I just had to watch this interaction because it was too cute!! When I first walked up Parker was talking to these girls in a very animated way.....I could only imagine what he was saying, because one of them shook her finger at him and they both walked away only to turn back, and in a very sassy way, say something back to him. I could NOT WAIT to get the scoop on their conversation. When we got in the car I asked him who is friends were and he abruptly told me that they were not his friends, in fact, one of the girls, Ashton, kept blocking his putts by either putting her club in the ball's path or kicking his ball before he putt. So I asked him what they were talking about and he said he was asking them if they wanted to play with him. I had to laugh.....two chicks who had given him such a hard time earlier and he wanted to play with them. A little bit later he told me that they were saying he didn't know his math skills (who really says that crap?) and that Ms. Frier (his teacher this past year) didn't know her math skills either......SERIOUSLY?!?! I just told him that he needed to stay away from them and focus on his golf. Aaaahhhhh, the drama of a seven-year-old. I told Park that those girls probably liked him and that's why they were being like that, but he strongly disagreed!!!

Braved taking the kids to Sam's by myself......sometimes I just don't know why I do the things I do! We did walk out with books instead of toys.....always a good thing. Parker chose a chapter book titled The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Apparently this is a series so I am sure we will be reading much more about the wimpy kid. Naturally, Mad chose a Dora book that translates words from English to Spanish....Chris and I will have a good time with this!

I am trying to remember that Madelyn is two-years-old and her age alone should explain why she does what she does, but OMG!!!! Within fifteen minutes of getting home from Sam's, she tried to stick the headphones jack into an electrical outlet, sprayed febreeze all over my floor and Bubba's shoes. She is very fast!! Is there anyone interested in having Maddy camp this summer? :) At the end of the day she is still the cutest thing, along with her brother, that I have ever seen and am so excited to spend each day with them.

Summa is here!!!!

Summer is here and I am soooo happy!! Summer means no work or school for two months. Summer means sunning and swimming. Summer means that I can be somewhat of a stay-at-home-mom/wife. Summer means that mommy and Madelyn are hauling Park from camp to camp and loving every minute of it. Summer means Vacation Bible School for Parker, Madelyn, and mommy. Summer means VACATION. But most of all, summer means that Papa comes home! Two more weeks and Papa will be home followed by our vacation. WOOOOO-HOOOOOO!!!!

Since I have last been on here, I finished work and golf camp has begun. Since this is the first camp of the summer, it starts out with the instructors giving the low down on golf etiquette and learning the golf course. In essence, learning all the important stuff meant Park wasn't hitting any golf balls......Heaven forbid!! He informed me that he already knew the stuff his intructor, Beau, was telling him and he didn't really need to hear it again (I think that's the Parker in him). When I picked him up the first day he was supposed to be waiting for me but when I finally found him he had talked someone into a bucket of balls and was out on the driving range. I walked up to where the kiddos are supposed to be picked up, couldn't find the man, and all of a sudden hear, "Hi Mommy!" And there he was, teeing up and knocking the crud out of the ball with his driver. He looked so cool and so natural!! I am so proud of him!

Sweet girl Madelyn, is just that, SWEET! She is battling a nasty ear infection right now and isn't quite herself so she is needing alot of mommy time.....who am I to complain about getting to rock and love on the Mad Cat!!! She went to day care once this week and all I can say is that is wasn't pretty. I am choosing to justify her bad day on her ear infection, but, as most of you know, she has some junk-yard-dog in her that typically comes out at day care. :)

Chris, Park, Mad, Rox and I went to Kingsville this past weekend for Chris' twenty year class reunion. We had an awesome time and got to see a lot of people that we hadn't seen in ages. I told Chris that I hoped I looked as good as alot of his classmates at my twenty year reunion......he thought that was pretty funny until it dawned on him that he was in that same pack. Probably a locational thing, but I thought it was flippin' hilarious!!!

Signing off for the moment, but will try to get some pics of lil Tiger at golf camp to post.

Love to all!!!

Parker....the Third Grader

Parker, my angel...my first born...my favorite son, is now a Third Grader. I spent our last day of school reflecting on Parker all day long and wondering what he was doing, how he was handling this final day of second grade. You see, this boy of mine LOVES school and has been somewhat sad these final days of school. He keeps telling me that he just loves school and doesn't want to be away from his school, teachers and friends.

At one point today Chris and I were talking about Park and his last day and Chris confessed that he got a little weepy when he dropped Park off this morning. I could only imagine dropping him off and having that feeling. After our phone conversation I couldn't help but think about how much I love Parker, the fact that he made me a mother, and how God picked Chris and I to take care of this angel. As much as I dread my man starting Third Grade next year, I can't possibly imagine living my life without him and all of his antics.

As I sit here writing about my favorite son, my favorite daughter is sitting on the back of my chair picking through my hair like a monkey. Again, God chose me and I couldn't ask for more!!!

Parker's Summer Fun

Parker makes me laugh!! You just never know what's going to come out of his mouth. With the end of the school year a mere three days away he is starting to talk about how much he is going to miss school and his friends and how he will be so bored this summer. So with that in mind, he was doing his homework last night and whining about not wanting to be away from school for the summer. I must interject that I never in a million years thought I would hear my favorite son say he would miss school!! At any rate, I proceeded to tell him that he was going to have an awesome summer and would be so busy that he would forget about missing school. I reminded him of everything he was going to be doing this summer like going to golf camp, Vacation Bible School, Dinosaur Camp, Jedi Camp., much less our two week summer vacation in New England. My oldest angel then told me that he would ACT like he was enjoying all of those things but that he wouldn't REALLY be having a good time because he wasn't in school. I had no words! What does one say? At least he said he was going to fake it!! I know that he is going to have a blast but the fact that he had to point out that information to me made me chuckle!!!

As far as Madelyn's summer......we are going to work on tinkling in the potty (plus the other thing) and being nice to our friends. Shockingly enough, Mad-cat struggles with biting and scratching her friends. I know...I can't imagine where she gets that from!! :)

This mamma has her work cut our for her this summer but I wouldn't change it for the world!!!

The Dance

I have been sitting here enjoying the tribute to George Strait reminiscing and thinking about the good ole times. Thinking about the Frio River, Garner dances, Country Breeze, Parker Barn Dances (do you see a trend with dances?) and all the things I have loved since I knew who George Strait was......and then Martina McBride sang.

Even though this is a tribute to George Strait, Martina McBride sang The Dance by Garth Brooks and for whatever reason it reminded me of Jennifer. I get that it's about being being able to love and lose, and feeling the pain of loss, than to never have loved, but in so many ways that is how, in this moment, I feel about Jenni. I am very lucky that I was able to dance with her for 24 years 'and now I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end, they way it all would go....I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance.' Fittingly, this song has now been added to the playlist.

I probably would have really been done in if someone would have started singing Steve Wariner!! Jenni and I used to dance to Some Fools Never Learn and The Weeken over and over again in our cabin at the Frio.....along with Mistye and Bubba. What a sight we were!! There's even pictures somewhere to prove that we all danced together. All I can say is that Bubba better be glad that we were all girls or he'd of never learned to dance. :) Aaaahhhhh, the good, simple times of life when all I had to worry about was who I was going to dance with next. Also added to the playlist is one of my favorite Stever Wariner songs, The Weekend.....as soon as I find the other I will be adding it as well.

George Strait Lovers!!

I don't think that I could be more proud than I am right now!! My children love George Strait!! Goofy, I know, but very important to this mama. Madelyn is so into George's music that she is doing summersaults in between dancing.

Off to finishing 2nd grade homework. I can't believe that Parker is still doing homework with 5 days of school left. Seriously?!?

Memorial Day weekend

Our family had an excellent Memorial Day weekend.....the only part missing was Papa. The angels spent Friday night and most of Saturday with mom while Chris and I got to spend a little time alone together. Chris and I have always been very fortunate that mom and dad love to have the kids over as it gives us a lot of date nights and luxuries that most parents don't have of being able to spend time together without the kiddos. There are no words to thank them for their gift of time!!! Back to the rundown of the weekend.....

We decided that we would celebrate Memorial Day on Sunday (not sure why, but we still had a good time). Started off by driving out to Anderson in Grimes County to check out some potential land.....it is so beautiful in that area!!!! Along with the beauty of the area is the location, it's not far from College Station, aka The Mother Land. Naturally we ended up in College Station and as soon as we hit the city limits Parker started asking to see Kyle Field. Chris couldn't have been more proud.....that is until we actually SAW Kyle Field. When Parker finally saw Kyle Field he started singing as if rays of sunshine were lighting up the field and the angels were singing of it's joy. I'm not sure, but I think that I saw a tear in Chris' eye. :) After College Station, we headed back to Mom's, in major rain, to grill fajitas and swim. Needless to say we had a great dinner and great company!

Today we spent the day doing different things....no certain plans, but through the day I couldn't help but reflect on our service men and women who have given up and are continuing to give up so much for my family's freedom. Parker is fascinated with the military and war so it was a great opportunuity for Chris and I to talk with him about this very special day.

Finally, I attached a picture of Parker and Madelyn asleep in our bed on Sunday. They were so cute because they fell asleep holding hands! Even though they fight, I know that they really do love one another.

Follow-up to the Haircut....

Ok, the pics I just posted are a before-during-after compilation of Parker's hair. The pic of him in his tie are from Christmas.....beautiful hair, untouched. The middle two pics are of his very own personalized haircut. Finally, the top pic is the professional, clean-up, cut. He took a pretty good divot out of the top of his hair so the stylist had to work around that part. Like I said earlier, since Parker really likes his hair spike, we usually get a summer cut and we had to get it a little bit early. All in the life of children!!

The Haircut

I know this is going to sound crazy, but I never really thought that I would hear the words "DID YOU CUT YOUR HAIR?!?!" But I did, and they came from Chris, who was talking to Parker. I think I am still in shock!!! Park has such beautiful straight, blonde hair......straight hair that I have worked so hard all of my life to achieve on my own hair, and now there is a huge chunk missing over his forehead. Yes, that's right, I said over his forehead. I guess it's a good thing we have already had school pictures!! :) I guess this also means that he gets his summer cut before summer. I'll try to post a picutre if I can get over being ticked off. Do you know what I just realized? His second grade program is Friday afternoon......I just don't have any more words!!!

Chris just went to assess the bathroom where the haircut took place and came back without words. He just took the vacuum cleaner in there.....Daddy's not happy, so I won't ask any questions.

We are so close to the end of school......I just keep telling myself that I will survive!!!

Our Playlist......

I have added a few things since my very first posting, specifically the kids birthdays and a playlist. The playlist is a compilation of songs that remind me of the kids, things that I wish for my kids, and songs that I hold close to my heart.

The song "Here's to the night" by Eve 6 was very popular when Parker was born. When I was put in the hospital Chris brought in a radio for us to listen to at night and Lord knows we were up all night with many scares. "Good Morning Beautiful" is a song that I started singing to Parker when he was born and sang to Madelyn as well. In Jewel's "Stronger Woman" and Mandy Moore's "Extraordinary", I hope that both of my children, specifically Madelyn as I think of her when I hear these songs, will grow up with grace and confidence. Finally, I included a song that has always reminded me of Jennifer, Jessica Andrew's "Who I Am."

I have been, and always will be, a person that finds meaning in songs so each time you visit our blog I hope you enjoy these songs as much as our family does.

My Very First Blog

I have made the executive decision that I need to start blogging. Nevermind that it's the end of the school year and I am up to my ears in work.....I guess this is as good a time as any!! As most of my loved ones know I am not very good with sending cards and making phone calls so hopefully this will be a way to keep everyone updated with our family.

A little about the name.....Florence Family Angels. I always refer to Parker and Madelyn as angels even though they generally have their halo hanging off a horn. :) They are my babies, the reason I live, love, and laugh......along with their dad, Chris.

I hope to keep this updated as much as possible. Hope this finds all of you well!!!

All my love,
Jill