Sweet girls - Emma and Giada

My sweet friend Yvonne came over with her kiddos so we could take some pics of our pretty girls. 

Easter 2014

Easter is bittersweet this year.  I lost my grandmother but my mother is able to be with us for Easter.  She drove back from Port Arthur shortly after my grandmother passed.  She had already been there for 2 weeks so having her back for Easter is a blessing...and I think my Missy planned it this way.  She was special like that. 

After the kids went to bed I got their Easter baskets, or in this case buckets, together and put them out.  We put carrots and water out for the Easter bunny to.  Just as my mom did I made teeth marks in the carrots and paw prints on the napkins (screw driver and dirt/3 fingers).  I always believed he had really been to my house because of that.

Cash woke up fairly early this morning to see what the Easter Bunny brought him.  He was super excited!

This is Emma's first Easter of course and though she really had no idea what was going on she was very curious, as she always is, about what was in her Easter basket.

We went to the La Cantera resort for Easter brunch.  It was in one of their ball rooms and the food was excellent.

Some other pics from our day:

My Missy

The very sad time has come and I am losing my last living grandparent, my mother's mom....my grandmother...my Missy.  That is what I call her, what all of the grandchildren and great grandchildren call her.  There are 7 grandchildren and approximately 11 great grandchildren.

This has really all happened so fast.  Almost to the point I am in shock.  Emma was 2 months old when I took her and Cash to see Missy and she was still very vibrant.   She is 90 years old and has had a full life.  A truly blessed life.  She and my grandfather had 5 children.....but only gave birth 4 times.  That's right...twins!  My mom is a twin with my Aunt Jane.  Then my Aunt Jane had identical twin girls.

I guess I have lived my entire life not thinking about the day that I wouldn't have my Missy.  I know that death is eminent but for some reason she was never a part of those thoughts.  

My Missy....

I am not sure you know the true impact you have had on my life.  That every time I was in your arms I was in, at times, the safest place in the world.   Every time we turned down 32nd St or Nugent a smile appeared on my face that couldn't be removed..until we left.  I loved that you let me count money with you when you would do the books for the stores.  You made me appreciate the finer things.  I tried caviar the first time at a Christmas party at one of yours and Grandpa's friend's home.  I didn't like it but you made me want to try anything and not be afraid.  How many mornings and some evenings did we spend with you "putting my face on" and making me look like a "ratoon" as grandpa would say.  Your blue eye shadow....I can see it now on both our eyelids.  And rouge!!  Oh the rouge...it wasn't blush...it was rouge!  It was like lip stick for your cheeks.  The colors are so vivid in my mind.  I don't know what birthday it was but all I remember is that I spent it at your house.  You had a swimming party for me and all my cousins were there.  My parents were in Hawaii and even though I was so sad and missed them so much you and grandpa made that day very special.  You made me eat beets for the first time.  I was sitting at a chair in your living room on 32nd St and had a tv tray in front of me....staring at those beets.   I loved running errands and going to your stores with you.  I would sit in the front seat and after going to the bank we would go to the stores.  Your purse and the money bag would be between us.  I can see your hands reaching for both before we got out of the car.  Those hands that scratched my back for hours upon hours.  You would let me go in your stores and I could pick out candy, eat anything from the "fried" case and stand behind the counter.  I felt so special...you made me feel that way all the time.  I played office for hours....in your house, in your room and all I needed was a pen, a pad and phone.  Going to the Pompano and the Port Arthur Club was so exciting.  I can remember feeling, even then... at that young age, so honored.  The fact that you would take me there and trust that I would make you proud...that you were that proud of me made me so grateful.  I can count on one hand and maybe only twice that you had to get on me...and I am not proud to say it was for being a smart mouth to my mom.  I didn't realize at the time that I was not only disrespecting her but you as well because that is your daughter.  In the last year you have mentioned several times to me about the time we were in New Orleans and I ran in your arms, scared, when we saw a man dressed as a clown.  I don't remember that like you do but that memory means so much to me.  I guess because its such a vivid memory for you.  The last time I saw you..the last time I will ever see you I was so praying you would tell me that story...and you did.  Missy you have loved me unconditionally, made me feel safe my whole life, and in this past week have made me realize that in so many ways I am the woman I am today because of you.  There are so many memories and right now I want to remember every single one of them.  You are grace, courage, wisdom, beauty, a lady...you are my Missy.  I love you. 

The time came and we lost you April 19, 2014.  I am sad, and relieved all at the same time.  I am sad that I will never hear your voice again, that I can't pick up the phone and call you any time I want, that I won't see your name on my caller id anymore, that I won't get to hear you tell me how special I am to you, that I won't get to tell you how special you are to me and the fact I won't get to stare into those gorgeous blue eyes of yours anymore.  I am relieved as I know you are no longer suffering and that you are in a much better place.  Its the day before Easter and I can only think you had a plan.  You gave me back my mother and my children's Nana for Easter.  My mother had a smile on her face of which she desperately needed.  She will miss you terribly as will I.....my only hope is that I see you again some day.  Much love to you Missy!

Emma - 9 months

Emma had her 9 month well baby visit today as she was 9 months on the 29th of March.  She was 19.5lbs and 27.5in long.  Her overall health is excellent!  Dr. McCray said her eyes will stay blue as the color blue they are is so vibrant they won't change.  Her daddy was thrilled to hear that as that is just another piece of him in her.

Cash got his first tooth at 9mths and Dr. McCray said Emma doesn't have a tooth in sight.  Its strange how different your children can be but then again....not so different as Cash got teeth sort of late and Emma is just later.

She received no shots at this visit which I was so happy about!  I did notice while we were waiting to see Dr. McCray that Emma is in to EVERYTHING!  I say that about her at home but I think being confined in a smaller space I really got to see just how "in to everything" she truly is.  She was standing up on the bench in the waiting room pulling on the office blinds, pulling stuff out of my purse and throwing a tantrum when I would take something away from her...yikes!

Emma and I will be walking around the house (her on my hip) and we will look at each other and just smile.  She smiles so big as if she knows exactly what I am thinking...and to think I always thought it was the other way around.  The one thing that is always constant about our sweet Emma is that she is always smiling!

LASIK - the day I could see

We decided it was time to move forward, yet again, with me getting LASIK.  Emma was just shy of 9 months old and my hormones were getting themselves somewhat in check.  So I made an appointment with Dr. Edward Rashid, who I had actually seen before when finding out I was pregnant with Cash.  I trust him immensely as he is very conservative and won't do the surgery unless he feels you are truly a candidate with the potential of nothing short that excellent results.

Well....I wasn't such a great candidate this time!  UGH!  I was so upset!!  I felt sort of cheated...by time.  That didn't stop me..or him.  He said I had the vision of a 22 year old vs a 37 year old.  Well why that would be such a compliment in any other circumstances...it really didn't help me get closer to seeing without contacts/glasses.

We needed to do at least one refraction meaning get me to where my true prescription was in order to know what the correction needed to be.  This would take time....about 6 weeks total.  Not very long but when you have been in glasses/contacts since 2nd grade that is a long time to get see without them again.  That said...one could say....I had been in them that long...what's 6 more weeks.  It was the possibility that I wasn't going to end up a candidate after all that made it so long.

The verdict was in...I was a candidate!!!!  I was so excited I could barely contain myself!  Surgery date was set and I was ready to see!

Unfortunately Ben had to be out of town so my mom was going to have to take me to the surgery.
Wouldn't you know it.....that I would get sick and thought for sure if I had strep or something contagious there was no way they would do surgery.  So off I go to the urgent care to find out what I had.  It wasn't strep thank goodness...some virus I guess but not sure what.  1pm rolled around and my mom and I were headed to the surgery center while my dad stayed with the kids.

My appointment was at 2pm and the surgery would only take about 10 min each eye!  YES!  10 MINUTES!  That was just crazy to me.  I think I was there about an hour and half total.  I was given volume beforehand and for good reason...I was SUPER nervous!  The obviously numb your eyes so you feel nothing but just the thought of something coming that close to your eye or anything in your is just unnerving.

The surgery was complete and Dr. Rashid sat me up....I looked over at my mom....AND....I could see her!!!!!!!!  I was just over the moon.  Very emotional!  It seemed like fate that Ben had to be out of town and my mom had to take me.  I could have rescheduled so he could but of course I didn't want to wait as it seemed like I had waited a long time already....but I think it was more than that...more than I realized.  My mom was there the day I got glasses, in 2nd grade, and she was there the day I could see again.  It was perfect!  One of the best days of my life.....and so far there are only a handful of those!:)

Spring Break 2014

We took our first trip in the RV during Spring Break.  Cash was super excited...possibly not more excited than Ben was though.  We decided to go to the Great Wolf Lodge.  That isn't mine and Ben's favorite place in the world obviously but Cash loves it!  That was his 3rd time to go and Emma's 1st. 

We headed out on a Thursday and though it took at least 6 hours to get to Dallas it was pretty fun.  Emma slept for 3 hours....I think from the motion of the RV.  We stayed for two nights and then headed back on Saturday.  We stopped in Temple to stay on Jason Leavelle's parents place.  That was our first night in the RV.  We actually all slept really well!!  Sunday morning I thought we would head out...back to San Antonio...I thought wrong.  There were really strong winds which prevented us from leaving.  To say the least I was not happy!  I don't like feeling stuck anywhere but Ben and Cash were as happy as could be.  Cash was loving it out there..he was fishing and exploring...having a great time!

Emma's first time to eat icecream.

Cash was two years old when he sat on this bear the for the first time.

Each evening at 8pm the Great Wolf Lodge has story time.  He loved it at age 2, age 4 and now age 7.

Putting in hardwood floors

We decided to move forward with putting in hardwood floors in all rooms that had carpet except the stairs and the game room.  I think that could be something we do there later but I could even see myself slipping up those stairs, which confirms my thoughts about the kids, so I decided against.

I got so many different proposals....from vendors that only install and then getting a wood quote to a vendor that does it all to even an interior decorator that would manage the entire project. We ended up going with a vendor that does it all, River City Flooring.  Matt and his entire crew were great!  They started the Monday of spring break and finished by Wednesday.  The floors look beautiful!  River City Flooring only accepts payment after the work is finished so we really liked their confidence as well as the fact they didn't have to use our money to start the job.  It was truly a situation of trust and after reading almost all of their reviews it was a no brainer.

The only complaint I have is how much dirt they show but then I have stop and think how all of that dirt was in the carpet.  Gross!!