13 Years

Today Milan and I celebrate our 13th Anniversary. It seems like the years just fly by and here we are 13 years and 3 kids later. So much has happened in the 13 years we have been married. We have laughed together and cried together, we have been through tough times and good times, we have lived in 3 different places, traveled to fun places, we have lost loved one and gained new family members, had friends come and go, but we have always had each other. We have learned so much from each other and gained so much from each other. No matter what, he is always there for me and I love him for it. This is us on our wedding day and the other picture is us now. My how we have changed in 13 years. I Love You Mi!

Mothers Day

I love Mothers Day, just for the fact that I get to celebrate being the mother of 3 wonderful children. Motherhood is one of the hardest and greatest jobs ever, but I couldn't imagine not being a mother. I am so blessed to be their mother.

I couldn't have been a good mother without the influence of my own Mom. She is the kind of mom that makes me try harder to be a better mother. I'm sure most of us can say that about our mothers and we all feel biased about our own mothers, but I have the BEST mother! My mom is amazing, she has always been there for me and seen me at my worst and at my best. She has shared in my accomplishments and been there to lift me when I failed. She has shared in my joys and also in my sorrows. My mom loves me no matter what, even when I was a rotten teenager, thats true unconditional love. She is the BEST. Mom I love you and hope your Mothers Day was as amazing as you!

My husband also has a wonderful mother, I am so grateful that she raised such a wonderful man. He is amazing. He grew up with a temper, but you would never know it because he is so patient and kind and I know that its because of his loving mother. She taught him how to be a better person and to be kind to others. Thanks Holly and happy Mothers Day!

To all you mothers who are reading this, you are amazing and your children are so lucky to have you as their mother. Thank you for also being examples to me. I know I have asked for advice over the years from many of you and that is what is so great about women. We are always helping each other become the women we are meant to be. I love you all. Happy Mothers Day!

Birthday surprises

This might be a lengthy post since I have been slacking on posting. First of all thank you for all of the great birthday wishes. Its always nice to be remembered on your birthday even when you are trying to forget about it. I went to pick up my boys from school and returned home to my neighbor friend decorating my house Barbie style.

And for my birthday, my wonderful husband surprised me with a trip home to see my parents. In return, I decided to surprise my mom and sisters and just showed up to a family get together. I wish I would have captured their faces on camera because it was so priceless. They all sat there and stared for a minute trying to let it sink in or maybe trying to figure out if I was actually standing there or if they were imagining it, but then they all jumped up at once. That was the best birthday gift ever, thank Mi. (Sorry to those of you I didn't get to see, I only had 2 days, but summer is coming)

On my actual birthday, he sent me a dozen chocolate dipped strawberries, which he know I love, I didn't even know you could do that, but they were soooo good.

Moving on, Ethan got an award at school. Every six weeks they pick a student who has shown kindness and fairness and Ethan got picked. He was so excited. Way to go little man!

Ethan tries so hard to be independant and I try really hard to let him. He wanted to make toast, which he has done many times before, but he will only eat it if the butter is completely melted. Well on this particular occassion, it wasn't so he wanted to melt it in the microwave, he asked, "How long do I cook it?" so I said 10 sesconds. Well 10 seconds wasn't long enough for him, "How long now?" so I told him 5. I assumed he knew I meant 5 seconds, but oh no, he put it on for 5 minutes. After about 3 of those minutes I started to smell smoke and saw a small fire in the microwave. Lets just say he found another snack.

Carson has been studying hard to prepare for the TAKS tests, which he is happy to have over with. He can't wait for summer to get here so he can go to Utah on vacation.

Payton is as busy as ever. Yesterday she learned how to climb out of her crib and the day before that she learned how to climb into her crib. We are in BIG trouble now.

One thing she does love and that is getting her hair done. She will stand by my vanity or now she climbs into my sink and waits for me to do her haif. If we could only do something about those teeth of hers:).

Paytons Results

Most of you know that Payton has a mass on her back. Its a hemangioma, which isn't harmful and will go away on its own by the times shes about 5. When they did the MRI to find out what the mass was they found something else on her spine, a Syrinx. To confirm, they did a second MRI. A syrinx is fluid in the spinal cord. They aren't sure what caused it or where the fluid came from, most likely a birth defect, but they will have to monitor her every year to see if it changes. For now we feel very blessed that they found it. It was by chance that they did and now we can make sure she doesn't have any long term affects from it. You would never know she had anything wrong with all the energy that she has.

Spring Break

This is going to be a lengthy post since we did so much over spring break.

Grandpa and Grandma came to visit for the week and every time they come we like to go somewhere we haven't been. We drove down to the new cowboys stadium to do the tour, but unfortunately for us a bunch of tour buses bought the last of the tickets. It was still cool to look at.

We drove back down to Grand Prairie to go to the Wax Museum and Ripleys Believe It or Not Museum. Here are a few fun pictures from our day at the museum.

These first ones are from the wax museum...

These are from the Ripleys Museum, Milan is standing next to the worlds tallest man. Milan is 6'2" and he looks little next to this guy. I don't remember how tall he was.

We let the boys pick the dinner spot and they chose the Magic Time Machine. Its a fun place to eat, but the food is just ok. Ethan had to track down Jack Sparrow and get his autograph and picture taken. We still haven't outgrown the pirate obsession. I'm still waiting for that one to happen.

The kids had so much fun with grandma and grandpa. Grandma taught carson to crochet and to sew. They made pajama shorts and carson made alot of crochet ropes. Grandma also worked on the piano with Carson. It was great to have the extra help and I even got some more painting done.

One thing I learned when I was growing up is if you are one of the men folk, never fall asleep because this is what happens...

Look closely at the fingernails!!! Grandpa was a good sport!

Payton Posing

Paytie is so funny! The other day Carson was leaning against the wall talking to me and Paytie stood next him trying to get our attention. He moved to the other wall and she followed him, whatever Carson did she was going to do too. We started laughing at her so she started doing funny poses. She's such a ham and she knows it. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Don't
you just love the mowhawk!

Canton Trip

If you live in Texas, you have to go to Canton. This is the coolest place. Its like an endless garage sale and boutiques galore to browse through. You can't see the whole thing in one day because there is just so much to see and the place is enormous I had so much fun with the ladies I went with, besides who wouldn't like a day out with friends, shopping, and no kids. Here are a few fun pictures from our girls day out.
This is my favorite tent to shop at. They have all kind of cool things, like old windows, shutters, doors, cupboard doors, and old metal hardware.

You can never have too many pairs of sunglasses right.

Lunch in Canton can take forever. Make sure to get in line before you are actually hungry or eat early.

This is our cart at the end of the day, packed as high as we could. That wasn't even all of our stuff, we carried some of it. Thanks ladies, it was so much fun!