Memorial Day!

We had a grand time over at Travis and Julie's house today! Everyone came home tired and a little sunburned. I blame the sunburn on the fact that spray on sunscreen is not a good as the lotion kind. Last summer, I bought some and at the end of my swimming lessons I could see the ribbon of white skin in a sea of redness. That's the way we all look this afternoon because I chose to use someone 's sunscreen instead of bringing my own. Now, I'll know better.

This is going to be a busy week with field day two days this week and just all the other end of the year stuff. Eight more days of school for me!

Random Thoughts

*When you are running in hot weather, does it ever start feeling cooler?

*I met someone this afternoon that I generally did not like, that rarely happens to me.

*This afternoon I was able to walk around my gym for next year, it was SO big and it doesn't look like a dungeon!

*My swimming lessons are already full up. So if you see me the week of June 9th and I look like a prune, don't worry, I'll be OK.

*Jonathan went to the midnight showing of Indiana Jones last night and HATED it.

*I PLUCKED a hair off my CHIN tonight. Wait. What did I say? What I meant to say was, hmmmm...Son of a bitch?

* I love new tennis shoes, and, does it ever get easier to run in the heat?

* How do my kids keep getting cuter, will they blow up from cuteness?

*Every once in a while when I think about my new job, I panic and think "Am I doing the right thing?" but then I get better.

* T-minus not very long until: School is over, Jonathan's new job starts, gas prices make me ACTUALLY throw-up instead of just feeling like it.

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Proud as a Peacock!

On Saturday night our family attended a Luau for the Seniors at Jonathan's school. It was a beautiful home with a beautiful pool that I had to work very hard at keeping my youngest child out of. We ate some great food and I always enjoy people watching. Jonathan had told me that we were invited mainly because he was going to speak to the Seniors. I always take that kind of thing in stride because nothing Jonathan does surprises me. He had also spoken the night before at Senior chapel, which I didn't go to because I was busy plowing through a bottle of wine with a good friend from school.

All that to tell this. Late in the evening, after everyone had finished eating my husband's principal got up to get the evening started. He began talking about Jonathan with some of the kindest words I had ever heard spoken about Jonathan. He said he was what made SCS a Christian school, he said he would miss seeing him in the halls, he talked about the lives he has changed for the better. He said lots of things I can't remember now because all I could think was first how proud I felt and second panic because I was taking Jonathan away from something he was born to do. He doesn't know that is what I think and he won't unless he reads this because I know he feels strongly about his future job and our future a a family, and because later I asked him if all that made him reconsider what he was doing and he said it just confirmed that he had done a great job and now it was time to do a great job at something else. After he finished talking, which was great by the way, he spoke about self-esteem, and how Satan uses it to make us all stumble. He challenged parents that night by asking them to pray right them with their Senior, and revealed his own fight with anger and how Satan has such a grip on him for a while because of it.

After the talk was over and all during the night previously parents would come up and tell me what an impact Jonathan had on their child, they thanked me for sharing him with the school and their son or daughter, and they said they understood and encouraged his decision to do what was right for our family. It was a surreal thing, kind of like I was married to a celebrity that night and to his students that is kind of what he is.

Pictures, it's been a while

Happy Mother's Day to me!
Bunnies!

Picnic in the front yard, margaritas galore!
Laine and Reegan
The whole fam damily

Four Square Championship of the Universe!

A Very Happy Mother's Day!

We had a family get together in Abilene this weekend. Meredith and Ryan and Blake arrived just a little after us on Friday evening and after supper we went to see Iron Man while Mimi and Paco kept the kids. I really enjoyed the movie, it was a great start to the Mother's Day weekend. Saturday we made breakfast burritos and then shopped a little in the afternoon. The very best part of Saturday was the picnic we had in the front yard. We decided that a margarita and some chips and salsa sounded really good for a late afternoon snack. So, Mom went to get Margarita mix, I went to Rosa's to get chips and salsa, Dad went to Alfredo's to get some queso and Meredith got out a quilt to sit on. Pretty soon, the kids had swim suits on playing in the sprinkler, and the adults were sipping on margaritas and enjoying chips, salsa, queso and guac. The weather was nice in the shade and we were basking in the wonderfulness of our idea. Later we managed to eat steak and baked potatoes too. Then Sunday came and the San Angelo group came for Mother's Day. I started my day with a run to get ready for Luke's training that starts on Saturday. We fixed and ate lunch, opened presents, and then hung out for a while. I received a really cute zebra striped purse and a "Do Work, Son" Rob and Big t-shirt, awesome. I told Jonathan that I might have been the only mother to receive that present and really enjoy it! Then the real fun began, I got some sidewalk chalk and drew a 4-square on the neighbor's driveway and we (all the kids) played 4-square for a really long time. We are quite a competitive bunch so it was pretty heated, I have to say I was definitely the best player. We are now staying with the family we stayed with for a month this summer, we really enjoy hanging out with these kids! It's going to be a great week!

I haven't had a Diet Coke in 4 days!

I know, what am I thinking right? Well it's not for any reason but the fact that I HAVE A BLADDER INFECTION and was so sick I couldn't eat anything real until today. Aaack, a few years back I had a bout with recurrent bladder infections and ended up having to go to a urologist to have testing done, luckily everything was OK, I just had to take antibiotics for a long time. So, I'm really hoping this goes away and stays away. I still feel really tired and weak, but I did eat a burrito today, which is progress.

I got sick just in time for Bowen's birthday, it was later in the day so I had perked up a little by then. We had so much fun, the kids LOVED decorating the toolboxes my father-in-law Ray made for Bowen's Bob the Builder party. Let me just say that we are always so grateful to Ray for his creative mind, he is the original Bob the Builder. It was a beautiful day for an outside party and after the party we invited all the family over for brisket with all the trimmings, so yummy.

Operation Gate on the Bedroom Door got off to a rocky start, so rocky in fact Bowen threw-up the first night we put it up. Yes, he got out of bed for his usual midnight wanderings to find the gate there (we did tell him and show him all about it). I allowed him to fuss a little before I went in and then he wanted Daddy and then when Daddy came he was crying so hard he gagged and barfed. Ugh. Since then it's been getting better, but what would I know since I've been taking phenagren.

And here's a picture just for Linda:

Happy Birthday BOWEN!

Let's see, this time three years ago, I was getting ready to push Bowen Cole Williams into this great big world! So to commemorate his birth here is a list of things I love about Bowen:

1. his big brown eyes

2. the way he loves stuffed animals

3. he loves his big sister and wants to sleep in her bed every night

4. he's a mommy's boy

5. because he is such a boy

6. he can play for long amounts of time by himself

7. his cute little baby face

8. the way he has to have pants on all the time but he loves to run around naked after bath time.

9. he can find things ( I know this doesn't sound like a big deal but his sister can't find her heiney with two hands, so it's nice)

10. He has a sweet spirit and a caring heart.

11. he likes to draw on himself with markers.

12. the fact that he is no longer a newborn


We have the Bob the Builder party later today, I'm sure I'll have some great pictures later.

Aaack! What a DAY!

Ever since Bowen started having trouble with his tonsils, he has also had trouble sleeping. You saw the evidence in the pictures of him sleeping behind the chair in our room. The last three nights have been the same, except worse because it's been two times a night instead of one. Well, this morning Jonathan found Bowen standing in the hall about 5, we don't know if he had been up for 5 minutes or 3 hours because he sneaks now that he knows we want him to stay in his bed. Tonight we are experimenting with a gate at his bedroom door, I'll let you know how that whole thing works out.

Fast forward to 6:30, time to get up and get dressed. Jonathan dresses Bowen, he sleeps until it's time to go. I bring him into the living room he lays down on the ground and closes his eyes. He sleeps all the way to school, I put him down in his classroom and he just crumples on the ground. We get his cot out and he lays down. I tell his teachers to take his temperature and call me at school. I had to get to school to drop Laine off and today is TAKS so if I was going to leave I really needed to let someone know quickly. Bowen's school calls and says he is still just laying there, no temp, in fact it's low 96.2. I get Jonathan to go pick him up so I can test and I make a Doctor appointment for him. By the time I picked him up at Jonathan's school he's perked up a little. It was SO weird the way he was acting, we have no idea why except maybe he really had been awake for a long time. He does have a sinus infection, a yeasty diaper rash, the end of 5th's disease and allergies that are causing eczema. Wow.

On a happier note Laine is the Citizen of the Month! The character trait is Caring! It's very true she is an extremely caring little girl. You know, it's special for your child to have a good report card, to get good citizenship grades and to know they are smart. However, it makes me SO much more proud to know that I have a child that is a good citizen, a child that stands out as a caring individual. I just love that girl to pieces.

We are looking forward to a busy birthday weekend for Bowen, friends, family, good food, it will all be included!

High school, the cat is out of the bag, and bossing

Here is what I wore to church today:










You may be wondering why I had Jonathan take a random picture of me before church. But I have a very good reason. You see, I grew up in a town that has two high schools, not uncommon. There was and I'm sure still is a very bitter cross-town rivalry between the two schools. So bitter that when I looked in my closet today and wanted to wear the blue skirt and the red shirt, I realized I really DIDN'T want to because those are Cooper colors and why would I be caught dead wearing red and blue together. I then reminded myself that I did graduated 14 years ago, and put the two colors on my body. I felt like a traitor all during church. My blood still runs black and gold.

For those of you who don't know yet, JONATHAN HAS A NEW JOB! We are so very excited but have been keeping it on the DL until everything was settled and Jonathan was ready to tell his students. Well, someone posted his position on the school website so the news was going to leak quickly. Jonathan made the decision to break the news on Friday. He called me that afternoon to tell me what a rotten day he had. Just a little background Jonathan is a super star at his school, the students and parents both love him. He does a fabulous job bonding with and counseling his kids, he really cares about them alot. So as you can imagine the kids were heartbroken when Jonathan told them the news, that's understandable. I think what upset him and me is the reaction from the parents. They guilt-tripped him over and over about leaving their kids. That really burned me up, here he is doing something for the good of his family, something that will make a HUGE impact on our future and all these people can do is complain about him leaving their kid. I told him that if these parents really cared about him, they would be happy that he is movin' on up. And those families that we are close to DO realize what he is doing and are genuinely happy for us.

The other day Laine said in a dreamy voice "I can't wait to be a Mommy!" I'm thinking, how sweet, she's having little mommy instinct already! So I asked why she was looking forward to being a Mommy. Her reply: "So I can boss my kids around."

Dear Mini Boden,

Thank You for appearing in my mailbox today. As I turned your many pages I added up what clothing I would like to buy my kids and you know what? It turned out to be about a $1,000,000 because you make the perfect clothes, I want to buy it all! They are all so cute and comfy looking and like KID clothes. You see, some of your competitors make kids clothes that look like tiny adult clothes and I'm not raising tiny adults I'm raising kids. However, there is something impeding me racing to the computer and ordering your stuff, I don't have $1,000,000. I know, I know you're offering free shipping and 10% off right now, what is 10% of a million dollars again?

Lovingly Yours,
Heather

PS: Come to my mailbox again in a few months and I'll see what I can do!

I got a new job, I got a new job,

I got a new job, hey, hey, hey ,HEY!

Today I accepted the PE job at the Fine Arts Academy in my district. I was a little nervous about making the change at first but when I sat down and talked it over with Jonathan and prayed about it, it was clear what I should do. I am going to be working with some great people, I'm going to have a HUGE gym that doesn't make me feel like I'm in a cave and I think the students will have PE everyday. I have been at my school for SEVEN years, and I was ready for a change.

Reasons I'm ready for summer:

10. Watermelon- I bought one today at Wal-Mart, I cut it up for lunch and was immedietely transported forward two months. I was sitting on my deck and enjoying a ripe one for lunch with Laine and Bowen

9. Flip-flops- although I wear them year-round, I love getting up in the morning and slipping my feet into a really cute pair.

8. Tank tops- I'm so tired of school clothes and I don't even have to dress up!

7. Tan legs- done with pasty whiteness

6. Sleeping in- this time of year I want to throw my alarm clock when it goes off in the morning.

5. Wading Pools- My kids are almost too big for them but what's better than walking out your backyard to fun, safe, and cool playing. I know a real pool would be more fun, that's just not in the best interest of our budget or our small yard.

4. Highlights- summer hair is the BEST!

3. Projects- two of mine for the summer are painting my bathroom and the living room.

2. Choices- do I want to put on make-up today? Should we go to the park or the pool? Do I want to take a shower today? Should I eat the pink Popsicle or the green one?

1. No school- duh.

Cliff Notes

Here are some short tidbits of our life lately:

Today I had a 4th grade girl call a 4th grade boy a douche bag. I should have won an award for not laughing at something really funny. She stated when asked if she knew what a douche bag was that her friends told her it was a bag of poop. Another award for not laughing in the bag.

Friday I wore two different shoes to school. The funniest part is that I had made fun of my friend the computer teacher all day for mistakenly wearing her work out pants in place of her nice black slacks.

Bowen sleeps behind a chair in our room almost every night. I think it stems from us telling him he needs to stay in his room if he wakes up and not come to get in our bed. Here's the proof:

Jonathan has just a few weeks to lose 10 pounds or he has to go without a shirt at Bowen's birthday party. As a matter of fact Ryan is in the contest too. Come one come all to Bowen's party! Really, I think both of them can succeed!

Birthday Weekend in Review

I had a febulous birthday weekend! I tell everyone that asks my life has only gotten BETTER the older I get, it's great!

Mom came into town on Saturday evening and the crew minus Paco went to eat at Pappas Burgers, if you haven't tried it yet, run and have one of their yummy burgers and sinful shakes. Mom also brought a chocolate fudge cake from McKay's bakery in Abilene, I enjoyed every bite I ate, it was divine.

Sunday morning we all met at Ol'South for breakfast. Then Mimi and Laine went to Dallas to see High School Musical on Ice. Jonathan and I took Bowen to see Horton Hears a Who and then they took a nap while I shopped. I found a cute, summery tote and some new earrings. It was a nice afternoon.

As always, here are some pictures:

Time flies when you're having fun!

15 days ago we were just beginning the beast that is called "recovery". I didn't think we were going to survive those first 48 hours, but we did. Then I thought we wouldn't survive past 9 days (that's how long the doctor said recovery would be, he was perfectly correct), but we did. Today Bowen received his all clear from the ENT, the only lasting effect of the surgery is a voice that constantly sounds like Bowen has been sucking on a helium-filled balloon. It's pretty funny but I hope it gets better!

Bowen, meet your friends for life!

Tess Tickle

and

Ima Ball

Being the mother of a boy is quite the adventure. Last week I was changing Bowen's diaper and he was playing with himself just like he always does when a questioning look washed over his little face. And the conversation went a little like this:

Mommy, what's that? (poking at his scrotum)

Me: ----? (Ok brain, how do I answer this question? Do I go with the anatomically correct term? Hmmm.... DO I say balls? No, not balls that would be really confusing to a ball-loving two year old. Do I say nads, huevos, jewels, sac, scrot, WHAT?)

Bowen: Mommy, what's that? (still poking) Is it poop?

Me: No, it's not poop.

Bowen: Mommy, what's that?

Me: It's your testicles.

Bowen: Tecticle?

Me: Yes. Or you can call them balls.

So, what would you, or do you, call them in your family?

Easter

Look at the Ware family and how cute and put-together they look. Look at the Williams and see how dorky they look.
We're looking better here just really squinty, it was cloudy but still sunny.
What a cute Easter bunny!
I bought 2 dozen cascarones (confetti eggs) at the local Fiesta. The grimace on my face is there because Bowen couldn't make the eggs crack so he just pushed on my head REALLY hard to try to break it.

Laine was off having a grand Easter in East Texas, we missed her madly. This will always be remembered as the Easter (and Spring Break) of disbursement.

The big 3-5

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONATHAN~

Yes, today Jonathan turns thirty-five. The kids and I had a surprise party for him on Wednesday since Laine was going to be at Pop and Gran's house on the actual day. We got balloons, streamers, horns, made a cake and got him his present. He was so excited, he had never had a surprise party before.

Bowen managed to give Jonathan an early present yesterday. I was happily shopping for shoes in Nordstrom's yesterday and I called to check in and all Jonathan could say was: OH. MY. GOSH. You see, Bowen snuck into the kitchen while Jonathan was outside working and got the peanut butter jar. He opened it, stuck his hands in it, put it on his hair, his face, his clothes. Jonathan said it was EVERYWHERE. My sweet husband spent 35 minutes cleaning up peanut butter off the kitchen and off Bowen. All I could do was laugh really hard. Too bad he didn't get pictures.

As for Birthday festivities we are going to enjoy the great weather and go eat at Ocean Rock this evening. YUM!

Grease Monkey

Last night it seemed like Bowen's pain medicine had something special in it, something that caused him to not sleep. We started putting him to bed about 8:30 and he just kept getting up. Finally he was quiet and we all know that means trouble. Actually not totally quiet every once in a while I could hear him humming happily. About 10 minutes later he shyly walked into the living room and he was covered in something that looked like snot. It was in his hair, on his shirt and all over his hands and arms. Of course we just had to laugh and THEN figure out what it was because it wasn't snot. Do you guys know what Aquaphor is? Well, if you don't it's basically a really good emollient like vaseline. It seems like he got into the jar and had a hay day with it, then tried to clean it up with wipes. It was EVERYWHERE, I would have taken pictures but it was all over me too, the camera would have died. I washed his hair this morning and this is what it looks like now, BTW it is totally dry:

In health news, Bowen is still needing meds every three hours, but from what I understand after today he will only go uphill. Let's hope so.

A ray of sunshine...

in more ways than one!

Bowen's night last night and day today was really bad, I even called the doctor to see about increasing his pain medicine.

When Laine and I got home today we sent Jonathan out of the house and I put Bowen down for a nap. He slept about an hour, the most he'd slept all day. When he woke up he was like a whole new man! It was so nice to see him happy. He wanted a popsicle so we went outside and ate popsicles in the warm sun and played with the water hose. Here are some pictures:

And one of Blake because she's so cute!

Whew.

We are finally home. The surgery itself went really well, no complications. Jonathan took Bowen back where they give him "giggle juice" before taking him back to the OR. He got a few videos of him being all spaced out on the meds, I'll see if I can post them later. About 30 minutes after he went back, Dr. Burkett came out to talk to us. He told us situations in which we should call him or head to the ER. The most disturbing one was "if he has a fever of 106..." I'm standing there thinking, if he has a fever of 106, won't he just burst into flames? Wow, I'm pretty sure I'd call at 105, right when he's turning into molten lava.
Being in recovery was really hard mostly because all Bowen did was cry. He cried because of the tubes and wires that were taped to him, he cried to turn a movie on, he cried when I brought him the wrong book, he cried when I tried to get him to drink or lick his Popsicle, and finally he was crying when he told me to stop looking at him.
We were really glad to get him home so he could sleep. That is what he is doing right now, we are all relieved and happy to be home.

On your mark, get set, GO!

Bowen's surgery is tomorrow at 10:15, as you can see we have lots of drugs for him post surgery. We have Hydrocodone, an ear drop, an antibiotic and most importantly a anti-nausea suppository. Eeek. Will give a report after we get home.

What I've been doing while my family is gone:

Presenting Seniors of 1993 and 1998:

Hit me baby one more time

That was not what the lady was saying when I ran into her car with my big-ass truck.


If you know Jonathan's truck, you know I was the winner over the Honda Accord. I'm OK, the truck is OK, it just seems I knocked off her side mirror and marked the side of her car with my tire. Jeez. The police officer was nice and didn't give me a ticket even though it was totally my fault.

Snow!

My week in Review

After a wonderful trip to Abilene where we ate great food, bought an expensive new camera (a Canon Rebel xti if you're interested), and went to see two Academy Award nominated movies (Juno, No Country for Old Men), there was Monday: I went out to start the car and to my great surprise, Bowen's side of Myrtle had been open all night in the rain. Yes. Holy. Shit. When I say wet I mean when I took his seat out of the car, water POURED out of it. My seat was even wet, I had to sit on trash bags on the way to school. I quickly got some towels and newspaper, got his seat out of the truck, switched Laine's seat to the very back and I was only three minutes late to school. This was not before I called my husband a bad name and gave him the bird because he was being less than helpful. We apologized later. I cried my make-up off on the way to school. The rest of the day was a fiasco, especially the part where we had to load the crib, changing table and crib mattress up in the truck in the rain/sleet. I had a large glass of wine with some wine on the side when we got home.

Tuesday: Shopped Just Between Friends sale, got some cute stuff for the kids.

Wednesday: Worked JBF sale with Meredith, it was fun although Mere was a better cashier on her first time than I was on my third sale. It was fairly humorous.

Thursday: I was SUPPOSED to go get my hair did today but because of the weather had to cancel, that caused me to say bad words. Thankfully she rescheduled for Saturday. Gymnastics was cancelled and now we're just waiting to see if we'll have school tomorrow. The snow is pretty cool even though it's totally time for Spring.

Stupid Blogger won't let me upload pics, maybe later.

New Camera!

I LOVE today!

Because I get to vote, not only vote but vote for someone I'm really excited to vote for.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghSJsEVf0pU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY



LOVE!