taking precautions

Look what's been installed at all the entrance/exit doors and distributed around the office.

Lauren's 2nd Birthday

I guess I can't call her Baby Lauren anymore since she's now a toddler. Lauren celebrated her 2nd birthday on Sunday.

Strawberry Festival 2009

A Giveaway!

I'm posting this in case any of y'all are interested in this deal. Laura posted this on her blog. For all the Dickinson groupies, you'll remember Laura when you see her pictures on her blog. She still looks the same, cute and skinny! ;-)

"If you live in the Houston area or would willingly make a trip to the Houston area, have I got a deal for you! I got a great gift certificate in the mail that I thought I could pass on. It's a free session and free 8x10 photo with a fantastic photographer, Christie. This gift is valued at $85! To see Christie's work, go to http://www.christiemcgrathphotography.com/ She has so many great ideas, tons of great props and even fancy tutus!"

To try and when this $85 gift certificate, go to http://lifesgreatestadventures.blogspot.com/2009/04/surprise-give-away.html and read the instructions.

Melody and Kurt

Ahhh, look at the cute couple that tied the knot on Friday! What's hysterical is nobody at work knows anything about Melody's private life and a few people from work look at this blog. Now they are going to see it and think WHAT??? Melody's married??? I didn't even know she had a boyfriend!!! LOL

A Little Girl Time

Today was our girl day with our friends Courtney and Skylar. We've had this planned for almost 2 months. First we went for pedicures where the girls got purple sparkle toes.

Then we went to the Hannah Montana movie. I will admit, I cried. Twice. It really was a sweet movie. I am so glad we did not go opening weekend since today there were maybe 10 other people in the theater so the girls got up and did the hoe down throw down.

Then we went out to lunch at Chili's. It was a fabulous girl day! We will most definitely be doing this sort of thing again.

Hannah Montana: The Movie Official Trailer (HQ)

Tomorrow after Shelby's soccer game, Shelby and I are meeting up with Courtney and her daughter Skylar for pedicures, lunch and the new Hannah Montana movie. I will admit that I do crack up laughing at the Hannah Montana shows and I do love Miley Cyrus' music. I prefer Shelby listen to the Hannah Montana songs and not Miley's songs, but Shelby loves all sorts of music, including her daddy's off the wall punk music! Anyway, it should be a fun girls day out so I'll try and get some photos to share.

Archie

Does this look like a million dollar dog to you? Well, he should. Lonnie had to bail out Archie from puppy prison yesterday morning because the yard guys left the gate open and Archie got out. Then he had to get shots and get neutered, which was part of the plea agreement. All that on top of his current prostate infection meds. Next on the agenda....heart worm treatment. Good Lord this dog is going to make us go broke!

Disney Countdown!

One month from today we leave for Disney World!!!

Woooooo-hooooooooo!!!!

Crying Wolf? Apparently not!

I feel TERRIBLE. Shelby constantly complains about a stomach ache. CONSTANTLY. I sometimes take her serious, but most of the time think she's just crying wolf to get out of doing things she doesn't like or eating vegetables. I've already taken her to the doctor before about it. She's been on zantac, tums, gasX, pepto, and nothing has changed.

Today I decided to call and get her an appointment with a GI doctor. While on hold with insurance, I started googling her symptoms. And there it is, clear as day. Lactose Intolerant. Why did I never think of this? I guess I've just been in some sort of denial. Shelby goes through a gallon of milk a week. She eats yogurt and cheese daily. And ice cream pretty often. The girl is a dairy addict. So I hung up with insurance and decided not to go the GI route just yet. I called the pediatrician's office and spoke to them about the issue at hand. She has every single symptom except diarrhea. So now I'm to take her off of ALL dairy for 2 weeks and she will start a probiotic today. If she's better in 2 weeks, then the mystery is history. If not, then she will be seeing a GI doctor.

First swim of the season!

Can you believe it's already warm enough to swim and it's not even May yet???? Mom shot this video of Shelby and sent it to me today. Listen to Tucker. He sounds so sweet and cute talking about his sister. Ms. April, Shelby's swim instructor, and now Tucker's too, will start up in June. Shelby can swim without her floaties but likes to use them as a crutch. Ms. April will probably toss them in the garbage if she sees them. LOL

Lonnie in the news

Lonnie's in the news these days. If you'd like the see the video with his very southern accent, check it out here: http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090420_tnt_insurance-fraud.f41c912c.html

Here's the artice:

With economy tanking, some say insurance fraud is on the rise
11:33 PM CDT on Monday, April 20, 2009
By Ron Trevino / 11 News

HOUSTON – By some estimates, insurance fraud costs $85 billion a year nationwide.
But with the economy tanking, that kind of fraud may be on the rise.

Investigators at the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office handle hundreds of arson car fires every year. “They see it as a quick and easy solution to getting out of this vehicle note or this problem,” Capt. Lonnie Blevins said. But these days, the motives may be changing.
“To where an individual may have burned his car in the past because he wanted a new one, an individual may burn it now because they can no longer afford it,” Blevins said.
The Houston area hasn’t seen it yet, but suspicious car fires are on the rise in other cities.

In Dallas, suspected auto insurance fraud is up by around 12 percent this year.
But it’s not just cars that are going up in smoke. Insurance companies are bracing for more suspicious house fires from those who can no longer afford their mortgage payments.
Companies that insure businesses are also seeing more claims with “suspicious injuries.”
“It’s not unusual when the economy is down, claims go up. I found a piece of glass in my drink. I slipped in your restroom,” Nationwide Insurance agent Jim Murray said.

That forces insurance companies to hire guys like Steve Bain of Sugar Land.
Bain is an attorney who specializes in insurance fraud. “The bad economy has actually been really good for my practice,” Bain said. His job is to get to the bottom of the suspicious claims. He says the recession is causing people who are normally law-abiding to commit crimes.
“They’re sorry for it and remorseful, and they’re crying to you. It’s kinda hard not to feel sympathetic, but at the same time, it’s criminal. Or it can be,” Bain said.
And there’s another problem, too. Every day on Houston’s roadways, people fake injuries.
Say you’re in an accident, but you’re not hurt. But then an unscrupulous lawyer or doctor shows up. “They come onto a scene and will solicit someone and say, ‘Listen, now that you’ve been involved in an accident, I can help get you some money.’ I think there’s a lot of good Houstonians who would say no to that, but again, when the economy is bad …” Bain said.
And with the effect that has on insurance premiums, we all get burned in the end.

Tucker's new haircut

After dropping Shelby off at school on Friday I took Tucker to get his hair cut. My mom has taken him the past 2 times. We all know he's a nightmare during haircuts. I decided Friday that my mom cannot take him anymore. He's just too strong and upset, my mom does not need to deal with that. I literally had him pinned down for them to cut his hair. I felt terrible. I don't know why he hates it so much, but every kid in there had the same reaction so I didn't feel so bad. We were at cool cuts where they let kids pick a movie and sit in a car during the cut. Tucker wasn't having any of that. The hairdresser was quick and managed to do a good job.

Rainy Saturday

Today we did nothing. It's been pouring down rain since last night. I woke last night to find our 100 lb lab laying in our bed all pushed up next to me shivering and panting totally scared. He never gets in our bed! Well, at least that we know of. LOL He's such a baby when it comes to rain. He's been hiding under the desk most of the day. We had so much rain today that our streets actually flooded for the first time ever. We were, and still are, under flood and tornado warnings. Shelby's friend Emily was over for a few hours today so once the rain let up a little I was the cool mom and let them play in the rain. :-)

new blog layout

Please excuse the current mess of the layout. I am currently trying to change it up a bit for the season but I've been staring at the monitor for so long my eyes are going cross eyed so I'm going to take a break for now and hopefully pick back up with it sometime this weekend.

Morning Surprise

This morning I went into the kitchen to pour the kids some juice and discovered this tree frog on the cabinet. Scared the crap out of me!

Madeleine's Baptism

Saturday night we went to Madeleine's Baptism in downtown Houston. It was such a beautiful service. I had to laugh at the fact that their choir had more members than our own small church in Dickinson it seemed like! LOL Madeleine was a champ during the entire service. She didn't fuss at all when the minister poured the water on her head. I'm officially a God Parent!

Easter 2009 part 2

We went to Lee's house for Easter lunch. This was our last big family event for a while before they leave for Singapore in 2 weeks. They will be gone for several months. I was so glad I was able to see Madeleine walk a few steps this weekend. I'm sure when they return she will be running everywhere!

Ahhh, look how cute they are playing together.

Uncle Lee, Aunt Theresa, and Baby Madeleine gave Shelby and Tucker some super cool Easter gifts.
It was raining outside so the Easter bunny hid eggs upstairs for the kiddos.

Time to smash confetti eggs outside.

Tucker was climbing up inside Uncle Lee's porshe that was all covered up. So he came outside and took the cover off for the kids to see his project for the past several years. You all know how much Tucker loves cars!

Easter 2009 part 1

Here are some photos of the kids going through their Easter baskets Sunday morning. Shelby got a Hannah Montana shaped guitar basket and Tucker got a Cars McQueen basket. We went to church Sunday morning which was awesome because for the first time ever it wasn't MY kid (Tucker) being the loud, obnoxious, run up to the alter child. LOL We sat next to the Robinson family. Tucker kept pointing to Kate Robinson saying "Hantanna." I had to translate to her and let her know that Tucker thought she was Hannah Montana. Hopefully she took that as a compliment.

(He's roaring like a dinosaur above.)