A HUNTING WE WILL GO

Somewhere way back, I mentioned that I redid Colson's room, along with Calli's but I wasn't ready to put pictures up because I had one last thing to finish. Well, I finished-well there's one part I need to fix but you won't know and I won't tell. So I went in to take pictures yesterday and Colson followed behind, one of a very few steps he took all day. He curled up in his chair and posed for my picture.....

Poor pitiful baby! He's not in pain so we are SO thankful for that! He just feels like doing NOTHING!!! This morning he threw up. I called the Dr. so that she could validate my assumption that it was still from the anesthesia. He did get a lot of morphine coming out of surgery....which I'm not sure how I feel about that but oh well! In the moment, you just want him to be out of pain.

So, here are a few pictures of his camo room. Taking after his daddy, he loves to hunt so the deer heads had creeped in there when the room was Cowboy themed. It was only a natural progression to go camo. I painted the camo after a couple of complete foul ups. It wasn't hard once I was given a little direction :) My favorite part was this stick chair rail that I did. This wasn't my original plan but after Wes told me my original plan wouldn't work (take note: i'm a submissive wife because I think it could have worked), I went to plan B which I actually like better. I had him put just a plain wood chair rail up and then I hot glued real sticks from our yard. Cheap and very cute, or so I think.

GOD LISTENS

All is well. As I sit here blogging in, Colson lays beside me playing his DS with minimal pain. He did so well and I know it is God answering our prayers. No anxiety, no complications, no mishaps...it went as the Doc had planned and as we had hoped and prayed.

Before his loopy medicine
After his loopy medicine....he was out of it and it happened so quickly!

Colson started out the morning coherant and upbeat. This afternoon he was reciting everything that happened, what gifts he had gotten and the visitors he had until the point that he received the loopy medicine. He remembers how bad the medicine was and that's it!

We got home this morning and spent most of the afternoon sleeping with a little tv and a few glasses of ice chips. This evening is the first time he complained that his throat was hurting and so I gave him his pain medicine a little earlier than had planned. He's already asked when his first friend gets to come over so we'll see how tomorrow goes.

This is the sweet face I saw as I went back to recovery. Unfortunately it was quickly followed by tears and screams. I think they were more of confusion cries and they were managable. He spent about an hour laying on me with a few cries here and there. After he came too, he sucked down a popsicle VERY SLOWLY and we were good to go. Calli was the sweetest sister ever! Very concerned for Colson and encouraging him to drink. She made a great nurse!

AAAHHHH! Home sweet home! Tomorrow is another day :)

BYE BYE TONSILS!

Tomorrow morning before the sun rises, I'll grab my little man out of bed and take him for what he thinks will be an exciting day! Colson, at the big boy age of 5, will have his tonsils and adenoids removed. All of this came about over the last few months when I've slowly been piecing things together to come to the conclusion that maybe his tonsils are too big. So, we ventured to the Doctor a few weeks ago and sure enough they are! They rank them in size from a 1 to 4 and then kissing. His is between a 4 and kissing.

So we head in tomorrow to get them removed. I admit that I don't set very realistic expectations for my kids for these kind of things. So Colson thinks this will be like a trip to Disney or something. When we decided to do the surgery he called everyone to tell them and then said "are you gonna be there?" It's one big party for him. And he's excited for the sympathy presents that the grandma's have already promised him, the unlimited amount of ice cream and the friends I told him he could invite over. I did have to burst his bubble and let him know that they wouldn't be coming over all at once...he was disappointed for a minute.

The really sucky thing is that he's not supposed to run, jump, ride bikes or anything that gets his heart rate up for 14 DAYS!!! That will definately be a challenge. So, heres what we are praying for.
1. Obviously that the surgery will go smoothly and no complications.
2. That he will come out of anesthesia okay. I've heard some kids can come out of the surgery not wanting to breath because it hurts so bad. And then the nurses are throwing oxygen masks on them trying to make them breath....things I really would rather not experience.
3. That he will comply for the next 14 days as we hunker down and take it easy.

I tried multiple times to take pictures of his tonsils tonight and just couldn't get it. He finally said "no more pictures mom". I'll try to post how everything goes tomorrow!

BABY HLAVATY IS COMING SOON!

Last Sunday was a fun afternoon as we showered my friend Shellie with lots of baby goodies! I have known Shellie since the 6th grade and she's one of my friends that has been blessed with lots of patience and tolerance as she's put up with ME this long! I give her a hard time for a lot of things, all in fun of course, and she dishes it right back out! Only what she dishes out has alot more encouragment, kind words and selfless acts involved! She's one of those people that I can spend an hour on the phone with and hang up only to realize that we talked nothing about her. She calls wanting to know all about me, what I've been up to, offering to help when appropriate, offering advise and just laughing with me and at me. She's like that with everyone she meets....genuinely concerned for those around her!

So, she's expecting her first little boy sometime next month and we are all very anxious to meet this little one. What made Sunday fun besides seeing all of the cute things that she now possesses and then seeing lots of friends come out to shower their love on Shellie and her family but also the fact that we got to see our friends Catherine and Laura, fellow Aggies with us, whom I don't see very often. It was fun reuniting and picking up where we left off. It's hard to keep in touch with friends as our lives all go different ways and take us to different places but it's fun to know that when the time does come to reconnect, we still share the same love for each other and experience the fun all over again. I was just reminded why I became their friend 16 years ago (that can't be right can it?)

I DO NOT LIE

Mom, if you are reading this....beware! So I told you the other day that Calli can be very emotional. She becomes very attached to things. I was going through one of my storage closets the other day and stumbled across the two birthday hats that I made for both of my kids 1st birthdays. I pulled them out, threw Calli's in the trash and set Colson's on the counter prepared to ask my sister if she wanted it for Hudson's first birthday that will come around way too soon! Calli comes in the kitchen, opens the trash can to throw something away and GASPS! "Mom, you're throwing this away?" said like I was throwing away all of her baby pictures or something. "Yes Calli, I am throwing it away" I said very nonchalantly in hopes that my casualness would cause her to rethink how horrendous she thought this act was. (You know when they scream I'm bleeding and the way in which you respond can cause them either to go into panics that they are about to die or think so what, maybe I'll get a new pair of pants out of this.) My non hysterics response didn't faze the girl. "You can't throw it away it has memories" she says. I explained to her that yes it has memories and that all those memories were carefully documented in the scrapbook that I had spent hours preparing 7 years ago.

She ran into her room CRYING with the hat and Colson followed her, not helping in the least as he kept blurting out "Yep Calli, mama's throwing it away, right mama?" over and over and over and over! I run and get my camera and head to her room. I told her I'd take one more picture for the MEMORIES and then it was going away. We can't keep everything (right now my mom is saying YES YOU CAN!!!) She tried to compose herself and I snapped this picture. As you can probably guess, Calli still has the hat although she has hidden it in her room because Colson told her that I would come find it when she was sleeping and throw it away. Now would I do that? Man that kid knows his mama!

What makes it even funnier is that Colson then walks out to the kitchen after this whole ordeal and sees his hat sitting on the counter. He got very excited when he saw it and I told him that we were giving it to Hudson. He was okay with that but quickly said "Well if Hudson doesn't want it, I get to keep it right mama?" I bust out laughing as I tell him, no his would go into the trash too. "No he screams, you can't throw it away!" I guess it brings him great joy to throw Calli's away but how dare I think about throwing his away.

THERE SHE BLOWS

My Calli LOVES projects! Everytime she gets a project she comes home that day and wants to start right away. About 2 weeks ago, a volcano project assignment arrived in her Monday folder and the first thing Calli said was "I want Grandma to help me with this one". Okay I said, deeply disappointed (wink wink) that I wouldn't be able to experience this one. You see Grandma (Wes' mom) was a 2nd grade teacher for 24 years and has done many a science experiment including volcanos. After a quick phone call to Grandma's, a date was set and volcano preparations were being made. I gathered all of the things she requested and dropped Calli over at Grandma's on Saturday after our cheer competition. A few hours later my sculptor appeared with her pride and joy! She spent the week painting her creation so that it would pass the credientials set before her.

Today was eruption day! Four 3rd grade classes spent the morning outside watching volcano after volcano erupt red, blue, green, glittery white lava and spill over onto their masterpieces. Each class sat in a cirlce and one by one they poured vinegar into their concoctions and oohed and aahed after every one. It never got old to them....it was quite cute.

RA RA!

Calli and I spent the weekend down at Reliant in Houston along with 5,000 other crazy moms (and dads) cheering on their glitterized cheer girls! This was our third competition and I have to say, I don't care for the two day ones. It's a ploy to get more MONEY! If we're honest the whole concept of cheering at age 3 and up is a ploy for someone to make money, but I won't get into that. Calli LOVES it so I'm supportive :)

Coach Lindsay giving them the ole "Go Get Em" speech!

As I was saying, this was our third competition and we have two more (both out of town). Our first competition we placed 7th out of 9. Our second competition, we placed 4th out of 13th. This last one we placed 7th out of 11th. So, we aren't likely to be asked in the next Macy's Day Parade nor will we qualify for the national competition in Las Vegas or something but the girls had fun and the parents were worn out.

Who remembers when they could do things like this? Trust me, our bodies don't bend like this anymore.

Calli and her pal Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j__x3Vyqns&feature=channel

Here's the link to Sunday's performance, where they almost dropped a girl in a stunt...yikes! One of the moms took this video with her kodak camera and uploaded it to youtube. The last 30 seconds is cut off because she couldn't figure out how to upload more than 2 minutes. But for those of you who like to reminisce of your younger days....enjoy! You'll see what our girls will be working on the next couple of weeks...timing :)

Colson and Dad met us down there Saturday to watch at the time Calli was to perform. Then they headed down to Bass Pro Shop. Sunday after church, they spent the day on the lake fishing. Colson did great even though they only caught 3 fish. He never once asked to go or quit fishing. He's getting so big.....for his daddy. If I was in the boat he would have wanted something to snack on 5 times, whined that he was too cold, his ear hurt and gosh darnit why isn't he catching any fish. What makes kids act like that for their mom? It's one of those questions I'll ask Jesus one day.

CROCODILE TEARS

Around the Schubert household we have way too many tears that dispense from the eyes of the little people, at least in my opinion! You see, I don't cry easily so I think Calli is making up for my tearless years. I laugh it off now but in about 5 years, I really don't think it will be that funny....if I dread anything about the teenage years, it's the emotions of a girl! YIKES!

So, in the last 3 days we've cried about:
WEDNESDAY: Calli couldn't find her Reebok hi tops that she has to have for cheer...TEARS!
My reply: We do have other shoes Calli, it will be okay.

THURSDAY: She forgot to study for her 6's in multiplication facts.....TEARS!
My reply: It's okay, you can review them in the morning. So you don't think that I'm telling her not to excel in school, I should explain that they are tested every other day on whatever number they are on. If they make a 100, they move onto the next number. If they don't, they stay on that number until they do make a 100. Once they get through them all, they start over. This was Calli's 2nd time on 6's. I figured she could review them quickly because she had already memorized them once.

FRIDAY AM: She didn't think she knew her 6's good enough.....TEARS!
My reply: What would you like for breakfast?

FRIDAY DRIVING TO SCHOOL: When asked if she brushed her teeth.....TEARS! (she had forgotten)
My reply: I whip out a toothbrush and toothpaste that I keep in the car for Colson and hand it to her. She dries her tears up, fixes the toothbrush up, puts it in her mouth....TEARS! (the toothpaste was disgusting). At that exact moment, I turned up the radio, to drown out the tears with my singing, and guess what I was singing? There will be a day with no more tears....The Jeremy Camp Christian song. Of course that brought on more TEARS....MAD TEARS!

FRIDAY PM: Her booklight broke.....TEARS!
My reply: Go get the other one on the floor in your room.

And then Colson has at least one Oscar winning hysterics episode, like his dog got run over or something, AT LEAST once a day when he can't find me around the house. By the time he hollers my name for the third time, he is in sheer panic mode! All along I could be answering him, he just can't hear me! I don't know why the kid thinks I'm going to leave him.

We survived our first week back at school with no hiccups...YEA! I've been working alot this week making up for the time off at the holidays and staying up late to get things organized. Cheer competition this weekend so should be fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WES!

Today my amazing husband, Wes, turns 40! And as he would say...."That's your big boy!" But we won't dwell on that because after all age is all mental right? So in honor of his birthday, I am posting a Top Ten list of the things I love/admire/am thanful for about my husband. THEY ARE IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER. I'm not a sappy person so don't worry about being sickened by any of this.

1. He's smart and wise. He has amazing common sense and I feel confident that any decision he makes is the better for our family. He's very smart in the tax world (which is way over my head) and in so many other areas of life.

2. He's honest and has Biblical convictions. I love this in him! That he can't tell a lie and if he's done something wrong, he tattles on himself. Everyone loves honesty and God honors it!

3. He's an amazing dad to Calli and Colson. He's very tenderhearted towards them and when things are wrong, outside of the drama of having misplaced a stuffed animal or something, he snuggles up with them in his chair and talks with them. He loves taking Colson hunting and fishing with him and doesn't see it as a burden or babysitting. He loves telling Calli how she's the prettiest girl he knows!

4. He's very handy which is a huge bonus for me who breaks or creates things often. He can build things, repair things and modify things. And when he can't or doesn't have time to....he calls his dad which is who he learned most things from. I am sure someday he'll pass that on to Colson.

5. His affection towards me. Even though he doesn't think I appreciate his hugs, rubs, sweet words, leg pats and on and on, I do. It's an encouragment to me.

6. His love for God. He loves God and wants to do right in decisions he makes for him and our family! He struggles with those times he does wrong and seeks God out in times of trouble. He praises God for those joys he experiences and as his wife, I feel confident in his leadership of this family because of that.

7. He's always been real! I remember when we were dating he would go hunting and fishing often and he'd say, "This is who I am. You wouldn't want me to be someone different and do different things when we are dating and then when we get married go back to the things I really love would you?" Well of course not! That would have made things really bad! I knew going in that he'd spend a lot of time hunting and fishing and there was no real adjustment on that end when we got married. And if there are times when I really need him at home, he's sensitive to my needs and helps. His motto is 'All you have to do is ask'. He doesn't put on a facade for people. He is exactly who he is and he thinks you'll like that. If not, he's okay with that.

8. His charm is what I think drew me to him and what keeps me in love with him. I love his charm and his ability to interact with all kinds of people.

9. I feel like there are 0 expectations on me-this may sound funny but I mean this in a good way. I don't feel like there is any pressure to keep the house clean or have things just the right way. He's okay with those times I've had a crazy day, the house is a mess and the kids are going crazy....oh and there's no dinner on the table (not that it happens often-HA!). I think that goes back to his characteristic of just being real (and realistic).

10. He's the half that makes me whole! We definately balance each other out! I think back to all of the "boys" that came through my life that in a way could have been a potential mate and I praise God for selecting Wes as THE ONE!

Happy Birthday Wes!

THE CELEBRATION was VERY low key. He didn't want a party (which I tried to plan for him for the last 3 months). It wasn't until Friday that I finally got him to say he just wanted to eat Chinese food, which I usually don't like to do. So as a treat on his birthday tonight, we all (and I mean all-Schuberts, Spinellas, Murdocks) went to PF Chang's.

On Friday night, we ended up at Cafe Adobe eating after we had been bowling. We decided to tell the waiter then that it was Wes' birthday so he had a little surprise and sarenading then.

AND THERE GOES 2008!

As fast as my dog can chase the UPS truck, so goes the year 2008! I look back over the year and think surely there were some weeks that I slept through! Not so! We had a low key night, one of the most uneventful New Year's that I've had in a long time but it was good. After eating at Casa Ole we rang in the new year at 9:18 pm with some sparkling cider all snuggled up in the bed. And then it was off to bed for everyone but me who was still trying to finish up my 2007 scrapbook. So....HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! MAY 2009 BE A YEAR THAT YOU TRULY EXPERIENCE AND NOT JUST LET PASS BY. That is certainly one of my focuses as I start this new year!

NO BROKEN BONES....WHEW!

On New Year's Eve day, I took Calli, Colson and one friend each down to the temporary ice skating rink in The Woodlands. I had forgotten how much work putting on those ice skates was. By the time I put on 4 pair, I was worn out and we had wasted 20 minutes.
I wasn't worried about Calli and Ansley, I knew they would do great! By the end they were showing my how they could spin (well kinda). Colson and Jake had a little more difficulty and I think it just plane wore Jake out. When the boys first got on the ice, they looked like they were running in quick sand with walkers as their life support. They would move their feet as fast as they could going nowhere and would slowly be falling to the ground. Colson quickly begged me to get some skates and come out there...what I was really hoping to avoid. Not because I can't skate but because it truly is alot of hard work and hard on the ankles. I gave in and then had to wrestle through getting my own skates on. By the time I finished that, Colson was out there skating without the walker and needed me no more. So I just skated around them taking pictures. Every once and while Jake would stop skating and turn and sit on his walker. I told his mom, I think he had fun but I think he'll be tied over until next year so don't worry about him asking to go tomorrow.

BLINDED BY THE LIGHTS

On Tuesday evening the kids and I (along with Stina, Scott, Hudson and my mom) headed out towards College Station to Santa's Wonderland. It's a fun place that we try and get to every year and thankfully they are open through New Years Eve because it's hard to get to it before Christmas.

It's a drive through Christmas experience with millions of lights with different Christmas scenes. It's really hard to explain in writing and I am sure if you don't know what it is and need a first hand look at it, I can put together a slide show of all of the pictures Calli took with her new camera. She took about 5 pictures of every scene to capture every moment. I should actually do that and sell it to the place for marketing material.

We all piled in the back of Scott's truck (once we got there) and drove through. Hudson was more concerned about his bottle although I am sure he was stimulated in some way. After the drive through of lights all snuggled pretty uncomfortably under a blanket, we piled out and my mom and the kids and I went into Santa Town for some fun. They had a petting zoo, pony rides, big screen movie of The Christmas Story, mechanical bull riding (which my kids were both too scared to do) and some cute little shops. Out in the middle, they had a huge campfire with a live band playing. Every few minutes there would be snow (fake obviously) that blew out from overhead and if Colson saw it, he'd drop whatever he was doing and run to it. Hence the reason I couldn't get him in this supposed to be family picture. He liked to open his mouth and try to catch it.

Lots of fun!

A WHOLE LOT OF CHRISTMAS!

Christmas has come and gone and there were no major catastrophes, illnesses, arguments but just a whole lot of family time, joy and gift unwrapping! We are blessed in so many ways! Here are a few pictures from those couple of days of celebration.

We started out Christmas Eve day with the kids opening their yearly gift. Colson gets an animated Christmas "toy" and Calli gets a snowglobe to add to their collections.

After our church service on Christmas Eve night, we went to an Assisted Living that my mom does a lot with and Calli and Christina sang a couple of songs including Calli's solo of "Happy Birthday Jesus". We then went over to my mom's for dinner and gift opening.

Here's a picture of the three cousins in their matching pj's.

Hudson with his new rocking horse...he wasn't quite ready to go big time so Calli had to hold him.

My kids love their Uncle Scott....my camera was messing up on the focus but I wanted this picture.

This was the favorite gift of the night for Colson....spy glasses!

After Grammie's we went home to get thing ready for Santa and I guess the kids were good this year because Santa showed up!

Calli had gotten a camera from Grammie the night before and she was REALLY into self portraits. Here's a self portrait of her with her new Ipod that Santa gave her. Here's a self portrait of her when she saw that we had gotten her a trampoline. Here is her taking a picture of the trampoline as we unveiled it.
At lunch time we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Schubert's for Christmas lunch and gift opening with them. Wes' sister that lives in town, her husband and two of her girls came too.

And even long time Schubert friends, Dr. Ves & Mrs. Chadda came.

After lunch we went back home and then Grammie and Grandpa Murdock and Scott, Stina and Hudson came over to just relax......

.....or jump on the trampoline.

Silly Grandpa Murdock!Grammie chillin' on the swing with colson, Hudson and Lucy (don't look at Lucy, I think she's being torchered with love)

I mentioned earlier that Calli was really into taking self portraits. Here's one with her and Stina. But then the next day, I went to upload all of her pictures from her camera and these are the ones that I found. She had taken these as she was going to bed on Christmas night. There were about 10 of them, these were my favorite. But this was my absolute favorite...I hope she doesn't sleep with her mouth that open. I think the camera was a hit!