Luxuries of Life

2008-06-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

sometimes i forget how to post. that's pretty sad. but i thought this was worth it. IAN LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH!!!!!! i can't believe it. and to think it happened while he was with a babysitter. what are the odds?!? i'm pretty mad about that part of it, but i'm so happy it happened! my boy is growing up! wow. i don't feel old enough for that. crazy stuff being a mom. well, i think the picture says it all. have a great one.

i still love ian...

2008-05-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

but i didn't get any pics of him this time. he knows i love him. i was telling sarah about how cute abby was, and she said, "well then, just put pictures online if she's that cute!" i guess she doesn't believe me, so here goes. doubt me now, sarah? didn't think so.

Ian's tooth is loose!!!!

2008-05-03T13:21:00.001-07:00

well, i just thought i'd start right in like i haven't been missing for about 2 months. but i was really wanting the last thing sarah said to me to be "good bye. i love you." it sounds so much nicer than the usual "bye. blog." click. so here you go, sarah. thanks for telling some people that i posted. always enjoy to internet traffic. i just get really bored writing the same thing over and over. ian had a soccer game today (he won and played great), sarah is all girl and dressed up as a cheerleader for the game (thanks for the outfit, christy), and abby is right in the middle of the two personalities. i feel like she's going to be a tricky one when she gets older. she was too easy of a baby.

okay, in order of birth, not importance. dean is getting all healthy and in shape. i'm so proud of him. he runs and does yoga and pilates with me. his job is going fine. i'll let you know if there is an update on our location probably by monday. we might be moving closer to the family soon. he's happy either way. he's also very excited about our little business venture. it's way too tricky to get into, but it's taking up most of our free time and he loves it. it's made him less stressed out at work, so i already think we've won. someday i'll be explaining more about it.

now me. uhm, i've been a little stressed out lately b/c i don't know if we'll be moving soon and if so, i'll probably have to stay here for a little bit with the kids while ian finishes school. that will be an adventure. i will be a little sad to leave this place b/c it's my favorite place i've ever lived, and that's saying a lot. but of course being closer to family is way better. i've gotten really into yoga. i can officially do a real, elbows in push-up. i'm not sure i've ever been able to. my arms are actually getting a little definition. yay. the kids took some pictures of me doing a few poses this morning. feel free to try them. it's pretty fun. and a great workout.

ian's tooth is loose!!!! did i mention that? i'm not old enough to have an awkward, toothless kid. i'm happy and ridiculously astonished about the whole thing. ian played a great game of soccer and scored a few goals. he told me after a game of two of the season that he didn't really like soccer and that he was more of a gymnast. he was welcome to tell me that before we signed him up, but he's sticking out the rest of the season, with only one game left.

(dean just called and we have a meeting tonight i have to get ready for so this will get really brief.)

sarah and abby are great. cute as ever. abby's toenails just got painted for the first time and they are adorable. she's so confused by it but loves it. sarah starts school in a couple of months. yikes. i won't know what to do with just abby at home. i'll let the pictures do most of the updating. sarah and ian and abby all love to do yoga at home with me. it's great. bye now.

Oh my.

2008-03-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

we'll just say that i'm exhausted. physically, mentally, semi-emotionally. and blogging hasn't been at the top of my to-do list. sorry, you three precious ladies. any more is nothing but a bonus. i am so ready for bed that i'm just going to make this a picture post. this weekend seems like such a better time for updating. and i might even title it "update." b/c sarah loves when i do that. so here are some pics from the last couple of months. i just got my hair colored and cut today and thought i'd show you a few of those pics too. it's hard to get a good pic of it, but dean and i tried. love y'all.

Happy birthday, Sarah D.

2008-01-26T14:39:00.000-08:00

well, for post number 103, i'd thought i'd dedicate this to sarah. maybe by the time she reads this, she will be feeding her little boy. i can't wait to meet little joseph daniel!! and mike and his family are on their way to texas!! so many exciting things to look forward to. It's going to be a good month of february.

so i just put some random pictures on here. ian had to create a shirt for school with 100 things on it to celebrate, what else, their 100th day of school. everything in school is a celebration. what happened to senior graduation being the first really exciting thing? those days are over. also, there are some pics of us at The Zone for a birthday party. Mckinney is full of bounce house places. And isn't Dean looking extra handsome these days? I'm pretty sure it's not just me. That boy is so full of neatness. I do love him. Okay, that's it. Love everyone.

All Growed Up:(

2008-01-16T06:26:00.000-08:00

Well, our little tumbler has become studious. He got his glasses in yesterday, and the good news is that he loves them!! He's the only kid I've ever heard of that wants to wear them. Which is great for us b/c that is such a pain to always tell them to put them on. His eyesight isn't that bad, but he has astigmatism, so everything is much sharper with the glasses. And the good news is, he told me last night, "Mommy, you look even more beautiful with my glasses on!" He sure knows how to talk to a lady. Ian took some pictures of himself with the camera on the computer so I thought I'd put them on here. Sorry the table is a mess behind him, but our camera is on the fritz and this is the best we've got. I think he looks incredibly handsome in them. And they are flexible so maybe they will last a while. But probably not. Have a great day!

yucky dinner day!!!

2008-01-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

well, i thought i'd make a quick little split pea soup for dinner, which i'm sure i'm the only one who will actually eat. for some reason, the family is not all for that stuff. i put a few pieces of bacon so i could tell them not to worry. it's unhealthy so maybe they'll like it. grrr... as sarah once said.

well, misty. i was a little taken aback when you said i needed to post. i post so infrequently that i forget about it. and the sad thing is, i still check mine and get mad that nothing is new. i've got a lot of kids. you can't blame me. i'm not sure how misty does such a good job with blogging with her three kids. of course, i did hear mike say that he didn't know when he ever worked b/c he worked so rarely... i don't have one of those husbands. when in doubt, dean knows he working. blech. i like it so much better when he's off.

well, i few pictures to make it look cuter. i'm not biased, but i think abby is about the cutest little thing ever!!! that doesn't take anything away from my other two, or you guys' kids, but seriously, look at her working out. or pretending to. there's nothing cuter than someone dressed to work out that you know isn't going to. i love it. have a wonderful rest of the week, sweet people.

one last thing. a few of the pics are when the kids were sick. they were cute and tired and it was sad but nice. i'm a mean mom. i like when my kids are wiped out. they got up for the morning, got some cereal while dean and i slept in, and made their own pallets and went back to sleep. how great!! i mean...how sad!! or something like that. okay, i'm done.

Post #100!!!!!

2007-12-24T12:49:00.000-08:00

just a quick thought during this holiday season of gaining weight. when eating out, a good rule of thumb is to stand around for a few minutes and observe the customers. now, if the majority of those people embody what you want your body to look like, then go for it. eat away (in moderation). on the other hand, if 95% of those people are overweight, unhealthy, and unkept, then i'd try to avoid that particular place. just a random thought. merry christmas (december 25th to some of you:)!!

who says abby doesn't still need 2 naps a day?

2007-12-14T09:51:00.000-08:00

well, she does. and this is what happens when she doesn't get it. isn't she the cutest little baby??? i love her so much.

i also thought i'd put in a picture of what happens when you go to pick up your kid from school and it's pouring rain and you didn't bring a coat or umbrella. we were soaked.

this is my favorite haircut i've ever had, i believe. and my tiny ponytail makes me happy. dean took a picture of it for you guys.

so now for something a little crazy. i have a friend that i've known for about 2 months now, and we just recently started working out together at her house. well, she casually mentioned to me that she had a bed that sarah could have if we wanted it b/c her daughter got a new one. well, when someone gives you a bed, you aren't expecting this! how kind is that?? it's a really good, sturdy bed that is worth way more than you are supposed to give to someone. but we're so thankful for it and sarah is really happy about it. we're hopping that sarah and abby will soon be sharing a room and we'll have one for just a playroom for the kids. that would be fun. i think i'm going to wait for a little while until abby is down to one nap, and won't end up like the above picture. that's it for now. bye now.

A New Haircut!!!

2007-12-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

Dean was so kind to get me a haircut, I thought I'd post it here for you. Enjoy, sweet Sarah. And those of you who are not fairweather friends.

Star Student

2007-12-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

Well, this next week is Ian's week for star student. all that means is mom has to do a lot more work. tomorrow, ian has to bring a poster telling about himself for the class. there's not much to say about him that they don't already know. so ian did pretty much all of the mastery himself. i've found it's a lot less stress to give him a marker and let him wing it. dear sarah wanted a picture of the poster, so here it is, sweet sister.

also, these are pictures of sarah going on a play date to go see enchanted with some of her friends. they decided to dress up like princesses since it was about princesses. how cliche. even though we were the only people to do it. but the girls had so much fun with it. and sarah ate an entire small popcorn all by herself. she probably had a stomach ache afterwards. oh well. it was worth it.

even though it's been a month since i've blogged, this is it. honestly nothing happens around here. and the kids are not on their A game, so my brain has been fried for about 3 weeks now. not fun. enjoy, sarah. love you.

a busted toe and soccer

2007-11-10T21:25:00.000-08:00

well, those two things have nothing in common. the busted toe belongs to sarah and ian's last game of soccer was today. but first... we've been dehydrating like crazy!!! dean and i want to be a little healthier and we thought that dehydrating fruits and veggies (and jerky) would be the best way to go about that for us. so far, we've only done apples, bananas and jalapenos. and a wierd banana/peanut butter mixture. the first three turned out splendidly. but it seems like all that work doesn't look like much. they shrivel up so tiny, like you didn't fill the trays. but i did. anyhow, we're really excited about it.

well, today was ian's last soccer match. and as much as i would like to say it was the culmination of excellence, it was really a tired, boring match. but to give the boys credit, it was their third game in less than 24 hours. last night, they got to play at 7:15 under the lights. it was pretty neat. but everyone was so tired after school, it was a pretty slow match. this morning, after a good night sleep, they played at 9:15. ian did AWESOME. he scored 4 goals and his kicks were on and strong and he played really good defense. the last game was at 2:30. and everyone on the dragon team looked like they were asleep. they would kick the ball when it came to them and just stand there. so not like 5 year old boys. i think we found their breaking point. but it's been a fun season and i think ian really enjoyed it and made some friends along the way.

well, tonight was going smashingly after dean left for work, and then, whamo. the shriek that woke the world. poor sarah was trying to get some water with a ridiculously heavy glass cup (one of those shrek ones from mcdonalds) and it slipped out of her hand and fell on her big toe. wow. it's like it squeezed the blood right out the tip. her toenail is all bruised (now we have matching toes) and bleeding. she was not happy about it. and now, she feels like abby is her arch enemy. anytime she comes within 3 feet, sarah starts screaming that she's going to touch her toe!!! help!!! oh, the drama. everything is so much nicer when dean's on days. grrrr.

well, the pictures aren't in any particular order. i haven't figured out how to do it on this computer. but i'm sure sarah and my mom will understand. thanks, ladies. i'm not even going to say sorry that i never post any more. with dean on nights, if i have any time for posting, i'm taking a nap with him. it's almost midnight and i should probably put ian and sarah down for bed. good night.

pumpkins on the prairie

2007-10-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

just thought i'd post a couple of pictures of the kids at ian's "pumpkins on the prairie" field trip. the girls and i went with him and although it was pretty hard to do it with abby, it was really fun. ian was so happy to have us there and we got to eat lunch with him and meet some of his friends. all in all, a very neat day.

dean starts vacation tomorrow!!! i'm so happy about it. i'm really ready to have my husband back. he's been so tired and stressed out at work that it will be nice to have him back to functioning. the kids are going to love spending time with him again. yeah for vacations!!! we're used to being able to go anywhere for dean's vacation b/c i don't have a job, but now with ian in school, we can't go anywhere. it's kind of sad, but at the same time, it will be nice to be forced to stay home and rest. i'm really looking forward to it. if anyone wants to come visit us, feel free. we'll be here.

ian's soccer team is doing great. they have yet to loose a game. they did tie their last one, but other than that, they've beat every team. i'm so proud of them. sarah's still sarah. we went to target today and got her and abby a few winter clothes. that's always fun. it's amazing how fast that adds up. yikes. but it was very needed as it's getting pretty cold in the mornings when we bring ian to school. abby is doing great as always. she's snuggly and kissy and i love wrestling with her. i don't know what i'm going to do when she grows up. i won't know what to do with myself. but for now, i just enjoy the three of them.

well, that it. have a fun weekend, all.

no more babies:(

2007-10-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

well, abby is officially in a big girl chair:( now, that's not to say that she's old enough to be so my next post will probably be about abby falling backwards in her new big girl chair but i thought i'd give it a shot. she did a really good job with the beans tonight. no (major) spills, falls, or tears. in fact, she loved sitting at the table with ian and sarah. so cute. anyhow, sarah wanted to see a picture of the new chair, so as boring as this seems, it just shows my love for sarah. this one's for you, pregnant mama.

also, the little chair was only 3.99 so you really can't beat that. and it's so nice that all the chairs don't match. thanks, dean. and ian's team is undefeated in soccer. go, dragons!!

pics

2007-10-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

hey there, guys. just a quick picture update. the kids are growing up so fast. it's crazy. we're all doing well. dean's working a lot of hours for inventory. i don't get as much sleep as i like b/c i have to get up with dean and stay up for school. and wake the girls up every morning. ian loves school. he said he wants to go for the rest of his life. i said go for it as long as he's willing to pay for it. sarah's all girl. emotional and bossy. we're working on both. abby is walking around like a champ. she loves to squeal and i don't like it at all. but she's still one of the cutest kids i've ever seen. she makes me so happy when she gives millions of kisses and hugs. oh, boy. i do love you. thanks for being curious about the family.

bye now.

YIKES!!!

2007-09-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

okay. this may seem terrible to everyone out there. i'm not sure what to do about it but i thought i'd let you guys know the big news. IAN ASKED A GIRL TO BE HIS GIRLFRIEND and she gave him two hugs today. uhhhhm.... yeah. i'm not sure i'm old enough for my son to have a girlfriend. he said he really likes talking to her. in a way, i think it's super cute. in a way, i think it's super crazy. just wanted to let you guys know about the adventures of a school-aged boy.

and quickly. for those of you without kids, i wanted to give you a warning. YOU CHANGE WHEN YOU HAVE KIDS. i'm not sure how many of you knew me before i had kids but i'm guessing most of you did. i'm not a screamer, or a cheerer, or a wave my hands in the air kind of person. uhm. yeah. so that changed. my arms were up in the air the whole time for a super tiny roller coaster ride when we went to six flags. i scream at my son's soccer games, i cheer really loudly for him and i'm not sure where this whole thing came from. and the worst part about it is, i'm not even embarrased. how terrible. so the warning is this: no matter what your background is, YOU WILL BECOME A SOCCER MOM. be ware.

okay. that's it for now. the new fall season is about to start and i'm half excited, half bummed. i kinda wish i didn't look forward to our shows so much. how nice to feel free during the night, not get all behind on shows and stressed out about them. but at the same time, they are so crazy addicting. i'd sure hate for all of the tvs in my house to break. or at least i'd hate to be caught with the bat in my hand. we'll see how it goes.

bye now.

ABBY'S WALKING!!!!!!!!

2007-09-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

can you believe it? finally. i'm so happy and so is she. she looks absolutely cute walking around. i'm so proud of her. she waited until she knew she could do it without falling a lot. she's smarter than most kids, i guess. or lazier.

also, ian is doing pretty good with soccer. he has a game today at 2. they won their first game last saturday. he scored the first goal of the season. that was neat. it's so hot sitting out there watching and abby's sad/mad and sarah's whiny. it's not quite the fun times i was expecting, but i think that once the weather cools off a little, it will be more fun to watch. we'll see. i'm proud of my little dragon.

the rest of us have no updates. same ol', same ol'. until next time...

ian's school

2007-09-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

well, the following are a few pictures of ian's first couple of days of school, his teacher, ms. miller, and his school. this is the second week for him, and i think he loves it. it's really hard to get any details out of him b/c he's kinda wound up after school and doesn't like when i poke and prod him to get all the juicy details. but so far, 1. he loves it. 2. he has three friends that he talks about. 3. there isn't much of any kind of burning calories in school anymore. besides of course simon says. wow. it's so cute. apparently, saying 1...2...3... is cool at school b/c that's what ian says all the time now.

anyhow, i can say that you guys know almost as much about ian's school as i do. as for my family, you've probably gotten more out of talking to ian on the phone than i do at home. but it's been really nice with just the girls at home. abby's been a little cranky b/c her back teeth are coming in. ouch. and sarah will go play with her (innumerous amount, thanks to sherry) of toys for hours. it's nice. hopefully, abby will start walking soon so sarah will feel like she's big enough that she can play with her. that will be a very nice time.

well, sorry it took me so long to get the pictures on. finally figured things out. have a wonderful rest of the week. bye now.

2007-09-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

For Tara

2007-08-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

It makes me sad b/c the last time i got a pedicure, it was with my dear friend tara. and we took cute little toes pictures afterwards. so tara, i wish the other foot in the picture was yours. love you. let us know if you hear anything about precious little naomi, whose birthday is thursday. she is so special. and super cute.

earnest luke, welcome to the world. can't wait to meet you. ian sure is going to have fun wrestling with you. better start lifting weights now so you can keep up with him. love you.

ian starts school TOMORROW!!!!! yikes. frisco does it where kindergarteners only go for an hour the first day (9-10) and the parents stay up there with the kids. then, tuesday, they go from 8-3, the normal school hours. that's a long day. ian's going to have a rude awakening going to school for that long. no more sleeping in. it's up with the sun. you too, grace. and sarah. and abby. yikes. scary thoughts. we met his teacher friday. now i didn't put an "!" point on that sentence as much as i thought i would. she's nice enough. she's about 8 months pregnant and she already seemed really tired after 1 hour. so ian will soon have a long term substitute and when the teacher finally does come back, it seems like she'll be tired and cranky from waking up in the middle of the night. i'm sure it will work out. ian and julie are in the same class, so they can stand up for each other. they'll do fine. i'm sure ian is going to love it and make lots of friends. if nothing else, he can run fast.

well, that's it for now. time to go make dinner. i'll keep everyone posted about how ian's handling school. as well as all the rest of us. bye now.

forgot to say that the massage, manicure, and pedicure was WONDERFUL. it was the perfect combination of relaxation (the massage) and girly gossip (the mani/pedi). it was so nice. and i got away for about 3 1/2 hours. that's pretty good for a mom. thank you, dear lovebug. it was super great. wish i had more time to give details. maybe on the next post.

IT'S BIRTHDAY TIME!!!!!!

2007-08-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

well, this weekend was a big one for the ledbetter house. friday was little sarah's fourth birthday and today, as my sister also pointed, is my 25th birthday. it's been great so far. friday, we took sarah and the kids to gatti land. they LOVED it. instead of buying a big cake or cupcakes, dean brought home a little critter the kids named kelsey. cute as can be. and they had no qualms about eating it, even though they really didn't eat it b/c it wasn't the best tasting thing ever. you buy it for the looks. and it looked good.

dean took me out to a Japanese steak house and it was really good. and then we went to walmart and bought some movie candy for 88 cents instead of 3.50. we're cheap. and we went and saw Becoming Jane. it was obviously my choice and i must say, it was slow and boring. but that's part of what i liked about it. no crazy flashing lights, no huge chase/fighting scenes. just slow, boring dialog. a girls dream. and dean surprised me with a gift certificate to get a 50 minute massage and a manicure and pedicure. wow. i can't wait til friday. it will be the nicest, most relaxing couple of hours ever. dean's the best.

well, tomorrow is hurricane harbor day with the in-laws. i'm really looking forward to it. first was six flags. then hurricane harbor. our kids are spoiled. thank you, sherry and bryan. we are loving the time with you guys. and debi is watching abby for my birthday. she's great. a true friend. well, i'm off to watch Premonition. hope it's good. good night, everyone.

BABY ABBY!!!!!!!

2007-07-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

OKAY. IS IT JUST ME OR IS ABBY THE CUTEST LITTLE BABY EVER?? I LOVE HER SO MUCH. I WISH I WAS IN THE MOOD TO TELL ALL ABOUT HER PARTY AND HER PRESENTS, BUT I'VE GOT A BAD CASE OF MENTAL FATIGUE FROM THOSE THREE WONDERFUL KIDDOS. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO LOVE SOMEONE SO MUCH AND YET TREASURE THOSE ALONE MOMENTS SO MUCH? I GUESS IT'S ALL PART OF PARENTHOOD. IF YOU GUYS WANT TO SEE A VIDEO OF ABBY'S HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONG, HERE IS THE LINK. HOPE IT WORKS. SHE'S SUPER CUTE. THANK YOU SO MUCH CHRISTY FOR DOING THIS FOR US.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZhoLdmP2FM

BABY ABBY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!

2007-07-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

TODAY WAS SWEET ABBY'S BIRTHDAY!!!! IT WAS THE CUTEST THING EVER. SHE HAD A HELLO KITTY BIRTHDAY THEME AND I'M CERTAIN THAT SHE THOUGHT IT WAS HER BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY TO DATE. I'M VERY MAD RIGHT NOW B/C I CAN'T FIND MY CAMERA SO MOM, CHRISTY, SARAH... IF YOU GUYS KNOW WHERE IT IS, I'D BE VERY HAPPY. EVERYONE WAS SO NICE TO HER. ONCE I GET THE PICTURES UP, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE WHAT A BIG GIRL SHE WAS EATING HER CAKE AND ALL. AND HOPEFULLY, I'LL GET DEAN TO EXPLAIN TO CHRISTY HOW TO PUT HER HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIDEO ON YOU TUBE. HOW CUTE WOULD THAT BE? WELL, UNTIL I FIND THAT CAMERA, I JUST WANTED TO SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY AND I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW TIME FLIES. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR BEING SO KIND TO MY KIDS FOR THE PAST YEAR. LOVE Y'ALL.

a little surprise

2007-07-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

because dean gave me a little surprise. i thought i'd put a few pictures on here tonight. dean bought me a big bouquet of flowers today for no special occassion and he cooked dinner tonight. it was sooo good. and i promise he didn't do anything wrong, if you were about to ask. anyhow, i love this picture of the flowers dean took of me and sarah took this picture of herself a few weeks ago. i think she did a superb job. have a wonderful weekend.

2007-07-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

i really don't even have a title for this one. it's so random that nothing would come close to descriptive. and i really don't even have pictures. it's pretty sad. but obviously "update" would have been the best bet. however, i'm an original (kidding) and i think i've used that one a few too many times. well, the kids (minus abby) are sleeping and i'm pretty sure it won't be for long. but i relish the moments while they last. hmmm... i'd better go check on abby b/c she's quiet. and for those of you with babies, we know that quiet means trouble.

well, i shouldn't have gone. i knew i'd regret it. dirty diaper, ian woke up. so much for peace and quiet. oh well. so i'll go kid by kid and do a little update.

abby. she's CRAZY. and CUTE. and HEAVY to carry around. but most of all, she's cute. and she's about to be 1. ack! i don't know what to do. my tiny little baby isn't an infant any more. i'm getting so old. now i know how my mom feels. but on a smaller scale. so abby's bday party is the 21st and i'm really looking forward to it. the theme is cheerios, fruity cheerios, any kind of cheerios. b/c that's what abby likes. she actually may be a little cherrioed out but that's okay. i think it will be cute. she is pulling up onto furniture and people and whatever else is fairly stable and walks around the coffee table and things like that but still no walking. i'm so looking forward to her walking. but i'll be sad at the same time. she says mama, dada, tries to say bite. i'm not sure what else she's trying to say besides a horribly shrilly screech. she's cute though.

little sarah just woke up. she's the best in the morning. so calm and quiet. she's fixing to turn 4 next month. crazy. i'm not sure what we're doing for her birthday. she loves all things girly. but she does have a boy punch. nothing girly about her fighting skills. she learned it from ian. good for when she starts dating when she's 41.

ian. i feel like that's enough said. he's a fireball and crazy. i don't know what to say about him. he loves to swim. he's very kind and loving. he's always hungry. he starts school in 49 days. yikes. school supplies, homework, waking up every morning at about 7 o'clock. this will be crazy different than our days now. and socks and real athletic shoes? really? moms put on shoes shoes every day? time to teach ian how to tie is shoes. what ever happened to sandals? 1 second max to put those on. oh well.

well, i'm off to go make breakfast for the "starving" kids. they don't look starved. oh well. i'm sure they don't exaggerate so i'd best be to it. congratulations, sarah and jody. i love your little sour patch kid.

2007-06-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

i'm just tired of seeing the same old post. not much has been happening, but i'm sure an update would still do a little good. tomorrow is father's day. so to all of those fathers out there, particularly my own and my husband, happy fathers day and i love you guys. thanks for all the love that has gone into raising your children.

well, it's a nice overcast day. not so good for swimming, but really good for relaxing at home. i was hoping to go to the farmer's market here in mckinney, but i figured it wouldn't be the best morning to go with all the rain. maybe next time.

ian is swimming fantastically. he can touch the bottom of the pool, he does flips under water, he swims under water. just about anything that other little fish do. except, on his cannonballs, he prefers to spring his legs out at the last second in order to not go under. still a pretty good splash, but could be better. abby loves to go under water. she used to be a breeze to take to the pool. just stick her in the little baby float thing. now, she actually crawls out of it so you can't take your eyes or your hands off her for a second. and sarah sqeals the entire time she's floating on her noodle or float ring. and i'm supposed to watch every new trick ian does. so while i only have two eyes, i have to keep an eye on three kids at all times. i wasn't thinking this summer was only going to get harder. oh well. at least i have a tan.

dean's work is going well. it's nice when he's not too stressed out. it makes his time off so much more enjoyable. we always have such a good time together. i can't believe that i love him more after 6 years of marriage. i didn't think that was possible.

well, the big news is that So You Think You Can Dance is back on!!!! my dream is to be a dancer. i know it would never happen, namely because i have no rhythm and if dean won't do it with me, i can't dance with anyone else. but wouldn't it be awesome to feel like gavity has no control over you. those people are insane. it's like they weigh the equivelant of a feather. i know that gravity knows who and where i am at all times. just thought i'd throw my dream out there. and i wouldn't mind having a dancer's body either. that would be a secondary perk.

well, this was a short post with no pictures but that's better than nothing, right. love you guys.

Adventures in Motherhood

2007-05-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

i'll just say that having kids is always an adventure. i'll jump in with the story of sarah's new look. during her "nap", she kept asking to "wake up". well, i told her no b/c she needed to go to sleep. so when i finally went in there to check on her, i found not only was her nap nonexistent and she was wearing a whole other outfit, she had a new hairdo to match the new outfit. wow. that's the first time this kind of thing has happened to me. i know it's kinda a cliche, children cutting their own hair, but i really thought my kids knew better. apparently not. oh well. after a good spanking a "the talk", i combed her hair and found i really like her with the wispy bangs. so that's what's new with sarah and the straw that broke my back about blogging.

my life right now is crazy. i'm not doing the things i want to be doing. that's not to say that i don't love my life. i love it. i wouldn't trade what i do for anything. but personally, i'm not accomplishing the "me" things. for instance, i have stopped exercising, blogging, writing dean love notes, taking pictures of the kids. i don't know what the deal is. it's like i have a huge mental block. and i don't like it. maybe it has something to do with the fact that i'm 24/7 pulling little "things" out of abby's mouth. wow. that's crazy that a ten month old is better at spring cleaning that a 24 year old. so that's what i do all day. and to think i vacuum more than my sister. wow. i'm not sure what else to do. it's pretty draining.

we go to the pool almost every day. what fun. i didn't know how it would go with three kids by myself but it's going great. i love it. abby LOVES the water. she goes under the water and doesn't even cry or choke or anything. how great to have one baby that actually doesn't mind getting water in their eyes. i'm so thrilled. last saturday, we had a swim and a movie at the community pool. how cool. they played CARS on a big projector screen and it didn't start until almost 9 so it was kind of a special late night. it was so fun. ian made a friend and i got the mom's phone number so ian can actually have a boy to play with. he was excited. as was i.

abby's getting a new top tooth and i'm a little worried b/c it seems a little off centered. i sure hope she doesn't have "grace" teeth. braces, here we come. what's the earliest age you can put those babies on? 1 year, right? she's still not pulling up or anything but she is loving exploring the house. me, not so much. how do you keep every tiny item off of the floor of a big house with 5 people in it. i'd say impossible. it's fun to try though.

back to the pool. ian is starting to go under water. not quite swimming, but it's a start. we love it. and with a pair of floaties and a noodle, he's on his own in the water. sans many piggy back rides back and forth. so about the not exercising, i meant, not running. i still get a little exercise in.

okay. until i get out of my "me stuff" funk, i'll see you later. love you guys. also, a quick birthday shout out to dan-today, and jody-tomorrow. love you guys. and happy anniversary to tara and wayne friday. and dean and i have been married six years last saturday. fun times. love y'all.

The Talk (and other such nonsense)

2007-05-02T04:41:00.000-07:00

wow, i'm starting to get nervous about posting since it seems to be so long in between. i'm afraid i have a bad habit of expecting a really long, time consuming post when i just need to quickly comment on the daily happenings here at the ledbetter house. here are a few days all jammed into one post.

the talk. let's just say that ian, now 5 years old, pulled me into his room the other day. "mommy, i really need to talk to you." he closes both doors to his room. wow, i actually got a little nervous about it. i think i'm the adult here, right? "mommy, i feel like you don't spend enough time with me and don't play with me enough." wow. what do you say to a 5 year old boy with energy like nobody has ever seen who wants you to spend your entire day watching him build legos (which by the way i've never seen anyone as good as he is at it), bounce on the exercise ball (also never seen anyone his age that good), and color (fairly good). uhm, i understand that there are times when i sit down and watch tv, but i need that time for my sanity. and it's not like i just sit there in peace and quiet. i'm breaking up fights, comforting abby, cleaning the living room, and carrying on conversations with ian and sarah. so my brain can't handle sitting for hours and watching legos be built. i like to see the finished product and then rave about how excellent it is. and as far as not spending enough time... uhm, i stay at home with him all day, every day. i'm never away from him unless we're out of formula. so i'm not sure he's got the roughest life, but i guess he thinks he does. one day, he goes "back to the old ways" for real and then let's see if he's got the guts for The Talk. also, a quick little insert. ian made some playdough fish with four fish eggs the other day and he named the babies, super fish, super fantastic, super quick, and super fish, because the first and last were twins. i'm in love with that boy.

well, yesterday was the big day. that's right. the nine month countdown has come to a close. no, not the birth of brandon (CONGRATULATIONS, REBEKAH!!!!!). the pool opened up!!! and wouldn't you know it... we're expecting rain all week long. drat. it's unbelievable how much i love going to the pool. of course i've never taken 3 kids by myself before but i bet i can manage. i'm pretty low key, so i'll probably only be super stressed, as opposed to so stressed i'd never do that again. i'll let you know how it goes. plus the fact that none of them swim will only make things more fun.

sarah and abby are doing well. sarah's new thing is she ends every sentence with a small, breathey giggle. i'm not sure where she got it from but i think she thinks it's girly and it's very comical. no matter what she's talking about, it ends in ....hehheh. she is so funny. and abby is very hungry. i say that because she feels the need to eat every tiny speck of anything on the floor. wow. i'm not sure that anyone could clean a house so that a 9 month old would have nothing to put in the mouth. especially with a 3 and 5 year old there. i think the stage should only last for another 6 months, so that's not bad.

well, for some reason, abby is awake. that is very unusual. so i'd better go get that girl. love you guys.

just a little project

2007-04-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

for those of you who know me, you know that i'm not a crafty person. and although this took only an online order of pictures and a purchase of three frames, it's still a big deal for me. and i love how it turned out. this is mainly for my mom and sister, who are probably the only ones interested in this, but i thought i'd share it with the rest of you. i hate to brag but i've got some beautiful babies. and i love them. by the way, abby is starting to crawl and it's so cute. bout time, right.

Edgefest 16 and other fun stuff

2007-04-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

well, we just had a very action packed, fun-filled week. it all started saturday, with the arrival of sherry, bryan, and bryce. we got to spend some time with them before it was bed time, so that was very nice. the next morning was a first for me. let me start by saying that I LOVE MUSIC. a lot. and i've never been to a concert. so when we heard that 27 bands were going to be performing in frisco, i jumped at the chance. and about 10 of those bands were among our top picks. so the concert went from 9:30 am to about 10:30 pm. it was so much fun and the weather could not have been more perfect. and not having kids with you for about 14 hours was half the excitement. i had never been away from abby for so long. our favorite bands were the killers, papa roach, afi, my chemical romance, and blue october. so much fun.

monday morning, the family headed home as different family headed this way. jody and my dad very graciously gave up their better halves to the ledbetters. how exciting. and they stayed from monday until thursday. that's a really long time. and we made the most of it. we went shopping, we went to the park, the gym, krispy kreme (oops), and renewed my driver's license. what fun. hopefully, it won't be too long between visits.

just wanted to give a quick update. sorry i never post. love y'all.

2007-04-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

i used to be so up to date on this blogging thing, and now it's so hard to sit down and do it. but here goes. since my last post, mikayla has turned 1 year old. she's such a big girl, walking around and all. can't wait for her to come visit me one of these days. she can even play with sarah's toys, as long as "barfie" has her clothes on. abby will share too. we love you, mikayla.

if you don't have kids who are between the ages of 2 and 10, then you wouldn't really understand. but you know the ol' saying, "kids say the cutest things." (a little cleaned up.) well, they really do. just wanted to let everyone know that my kids are very funny. every day, they say things that i just love. and they're so innocent about it. it's not funny when they are trying to be funny. only when they are trying to learn about things and haven't mastered them. that's a recipe for comedy. for example, the other day on the way to brownwood, ian was learning about toll roads and i was trying to explain about the toll pass and now we don't have to throw money in b/c it's like a credit card. well, we were going over a very tall overpass and ian says, "wow, mommy. you're right. this sure is a tall road." so three trips of explaining toll roads to him, and that's what he's gotten out of it. what a good teacher i am. sarah says funny things all the time too, i just can't think of anything right now. (sarah just reminded me... she was getting her coloring book out to color with ian, and she said "make room for the bad colorer." i wonder why she thinks she a bad artist. hmmm.) abby's not a bit witty though. she hasn't said one funny thing her whole life. i'll try to teach her, though. maybe all she needs is a little time.

abby got a new little eating toy. it's like a pacifier, but the mouth part is a mesh bag and you put a banana or something in there and they chew on it and don't get any big pieces. it's like a strainer for babies. good idea, eh? well, you try cleaning that thing. wow. it's about a 10 minute job, and you still might not have it clean. i tried giving frozen strawberries, but as you can see from the picture, it was a huge mess. oh well. abby has a lot of fun with that thing. so who doesn't have 10 extra minutes on their hands. not to mention, she has to go right in the bath afterwards.

the rest of my post just got lost so i'm not going to redo it. you'll just have to tune in next time.

2007-03-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

okay okay okay. man. these blogger people sure are strict. they sent me an email (via sarah's email address, ironically enough) that said in 48 hours, if no post has been submitted, then luxuries of life would be deleted. ouch. so that really motivated me to post something. anything. and since it's been FOREVER since i've posted about anything relevant (and by that i mean trivial, unrelevant subjects), you'd think that great thoughts would spring forth from within my brain. well, the joke's on you, then. because, as it turns out, my brain is not in the same shape that it used to be pre-abby. and it's strange b/c she's a really good baby nowadays and i'm still unrecovered (i know, not a word) from her. back in the day, i would constantly be "blogging" mentally, and when i got to the computer, i'd let that which was dammed up in my head flow freely. hence, great blogging. sadly, thus is not the case. it's like an empty sphere, all day. no funny blogging going on up there. not much of anything, really. so i'll attempt to grow a great garden of wit as i type. oh the pain.

today was a very nice day. dean once again entered the workforce after 9 days of vacation. and he didn't have to go in until 11 am so it wasn't a very rude awakening. sleeping in is the best. so after a nice, restful morning, WHIRLWIND. boy, talk about lots of work to be done in very little time. i'm not sure how many people out there are married with 3 preschoolers, but when your husband's home, not much housework gets done. so after 9 days, we'll just say that a good 2-3 days worth of cleaning was needed. nope. i had 1 hour to finish the house. (except of course my room. i just told debi not to go in there.) i very foolishly invited my friend debi and her two kids over for luch at noon. so that gave me one hour to clean house. wow. it's a good thing she was about 5 minutes late or it would have been a complete disaster. as it turned out, i was able to whip up a clean house and had time to make some tea. it was my great pleasure to make her some seaweed, sushi, whatever you want to call them, wraps. and boy were they yummy. (the kids of course had pb&j. did you even have to ask?) then, we had the pleasure of going over to debi's house where the kids got to play with water guns in the back yard, even though it was fairly chilly to me without the water. those poor kids were freezing. but super cute. we had a wonderful time playing and cleaning and changing diapers and..............

that leads me to the BIG news!!! i ALMOST saw abby's two bottom teeth today!!! they are right there, just beneath the surface. i tried vigorously to mush on the gums to break them through, but was very greatly encouraged by dean and debi alike to STOP THAT!!! oops. how was i to know that my idea was dreadful. just trying to help poor little abby out. i didn't want her to have to do all the work. but i guess i've learned that sometimes, trying to help in not the right thing to do. let nature take it's course, as someone once said. i'll let you know when they finally burst through. i wonder what they would say if i did the same thing for abby's hair. help out the growing process by ever-so-gently pulling on it. hey, it might work. i'll try it after her nap. i'll let you know about that as well.

i was thinking. dean and i get along SO well. however, there are those few days when the moon shines just right and we both happen to be a little snappy at the same time. just wanted to share with the world the course that the ledbetter couple must take in order to regain order.

1. dean is in a bad mood.
2. puts grace in a bad mood.
3. dean gets mad b/c grace being in a bad mood doesn't help him to get out of his bad mood.
4. grace gets mad that dean can be in a bad mood and she can't.
5. both are in bad moods.
6. grace gets out of her bad mood and tries to make up.
7. it's too late. dean's already in a separate bad mood that grace was in a bad mood.
8. grace gets mad all over again.
9. we get tired of spending quality time not snuggling.
10. we both hug.
11. bad moods over.

now this process is easily reversed. just switch names while reading and it's still the same course. it's wonderful. marriage is highly underrated.

well, the rain outside is beautiful. just wanted to say that very quickly.

before i started this post, i spent a good 3 minutes going through my camera and deleting my dear little sarah's crazy pictures. she gets so excited with the camera and uses up so much memory. and she loves to take pictures of ridiculous things. for example... her mouth, her underarm, whatever cartoon she is watching, her my little pony dvd, her toothbrush/toothpaste, the ceiling, AWFUL pictures of me, the shoes she happens to be wearing, anything that people would hate to see on a camera. so this post would have come sooner, but i was busy deleting. sorry.

well, blogger, delete my website now.... that's what i thought.

actual pictures

2007-03-10T08:59:00.000-08:00

well, it is 11:00 on a beautiful saturday (happy birthday, clint). just thought it was time for a post with pictures since my mother is giving me a hard time about coming to visit. this will have to work, mother. man, it's been a really long time since i've posted and my typing skillz have gone way down hill. i've already had to delete about 10 times. maybe more. this is pathetic. i'd better get to the pictures before my poor right pinky gets too much of a workout and becomes sore in the morning. ouch. already getting there.

A New Beginning

2007-02-26T04:59:00.000-08:00

don't worry. if that is redundant, my mom will let me know. she is, after all, the grammar police.

well, this morning has been refreshing already. it is just now 7 o'clock and i feel as though i have accomplished much. yesterday morning, dean was such a huge help to me. he let me sleep in as late as i wanted (besides of course getting up with abby at 6 am. somebody didn't sleep very good. bad abby.) and my sweet dean got up with the kids. now that's not the only thing he did. he left all of the tvs off, and i heard them quietly chattering away about what room to clean next and where to put what. what a nice feeling to wake up to somebody cleaning your house. a little humbling, no doubt, but nice none the less. i tried to stay asleep for as long as possible, and that included a good 2 hours of fake sleep (you can't blame me) where ian and sarah would tip-toe in the room and very softly whisper, "mommy, are you almost going to wake up?" now usually, i'm not a very good actress. but on such extreme situations as this, just call me an opossum (sp?). i played dead like never before. then dean would yell at them quietly for trying to wake me up. it was so sweet.

so i "woke" up to such a nice house. kitchen, living room, kids' rooms, and our room looked terrific. now, i know many of you may be thinking it's bad that i needed dean's help in the first place. first off, i'm not the best housekeeper in the world. thanks to sarah's expertise in the field, i was never in trouble for a messy room or not doing my chores. sarah was on top of things. cut to marriage. i didn't have very much time to learn about domestics before having kids and i feel like you really need to have a bit of practice before you have somebody who comes behind you to mess it all up. it's just too discouraging. and now, i have three. and this last month has been pretty hard for abby. she's been really needy and not liking her naps so the housework has gotten behind. to put it nicely. i was sort of overwhelmed. but not anymore.

this morning, so far, i've ironed dean's pants, put in some laundry, put away some laundry (does anybody have room in their drawers for tshirts? it seems like i keep throwing them away, and still, you can barely close it. just push down and in really fast and watch your fingers and push. it takes some cordination to close those drawers.), and i've blogged. how great is that.

today will be my first day to do a class at the gym. it is a core strengthening class and it's only 45 minutes. i thought that would be a good one to start with. i'm a little nervous about the unknown. i really need to grow up. everybody had a first class at some point right?

just a few thoughts to those of you out there who wear their emotions on their sleeves. i don't. so just to let you know, i can think something is funny without laughing. i can think music is great without dancing. i can be happy to see somebody without screaming. i can be truely upset and still smile. so if you think you know me by my self-expression, you might want to read a little deeper.

just heard ian STRETCH..... he's the loudest i've ever heard. that means it's time to put him to work. no tv until the house looks up to par. the good news, it won't take long at all.

i'm so happy to be back to blogging. i'm still not back to my old self as far as wit goes, but i feel my brain thinking things that are familiar again. so maybe it won't be too long. good bye for now, non-fair-weather friends.

A Real (Unwitty) Blog

2007-02-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

yet another unwitty, unmotivated post. there for a while, my brain was working and i was able to get a compound, complex sentence out. now, however, a fog has set in. and that fog is named Fog Abby. wow. it's a hard age for that little girl. but even harder for me. i can't set her down without her welling up with big tears. if i leave the room, tears. so the only free time i have is when she is napping, which seems to be getting shorter and shorter, and fewer and fewer. so it's for a mere (approx.) 4-5 hours a day that i'm not holding a baby. and that is rough. but don't feel sorry for me because of that. feel sorry for me b/c during those few precious hours in which my brain should be recovering, i still have energetic ian and teary-eyed sarah. so it's always a fun time. but i just thought i owed an explanation as to why i haven't said one witty, smart, or clever thing in about 2 months. blame it on abby.

my mom and dad came for a visit this weekend. what a joy to have them here. it's always such a short visit, but every minute is filled with excitement. going to the gym, buying shoes, making dinner... it never ends. except when they leave of course. mom, dad, we need to do it again soon.

i received a very fun phone call from tara today. she always makes me so happy. my cheeks hurt without fail every time i'm on the phone with her. i'm always smiling or laughing. i miss you, tennessee friends.

ian starts school in six months:( :) i have mix emotions. he's going to love making friends and he's getting really good at his numbers and letters. he's practicing like crazy these days. he's really hard on himself though. he always thinks his teacher is going to get mad at him if he can't remember how to write a 5. he actually cries about that. poor guy. he's so precious. i can't wait until i get to walk into his classroom in a frumpy little outfit and say, "ian, sweetheart. where are you? you forgot your bag lunch!" you always see that in movies. and the boy sinks really low in his desk with embarrassment. oh, it will be so fun to pull those pranks on him. maybe i'll even go and give him a kiss and lick my hand and smooth his hair down. how fun is this going to be.

well, i'm off to bed. thanks for still checking on my blog. sorry it's be SO boring lately. until next time...

2007-02-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

i realize that to most of you, this post means nothing. to my mom and sister, it's an accomplishment worthy of stamps. so here's to the stamps, mom. love you.

sorry it's been so long

2007-02-01T08:08:00.000-08:00

it's sure been a long time since i've blogged. the visit to brownwood sure did put a damper on my posting abilities. i was way too wrapped up in beating my dad in the fartlek. sorry i couldn't chicken out on you dad. it's not in my nature to let you win just b/c you're older than me with asthma and sleep apnea (sp?) and whatever other excuse you can make. thanks for the fun times and a great workout.

we were also able to go see my friend kelli and her son riley. it was so good to see them. what a cutie. sorry about the picture kelli. my mom put it on here and i'm sure it won't be your favorite but maybe she can email you some more.

i hope you guys love my "queen mommy" hair. ian and sarah love to make me queen mommy and dress me up to make me look pretty. the only downfall: they don't unsnap the clips before pulling them out. ouch. but i must say that it looks beautiful and i'm always honored to be queen mommy.

well, tonight i was astonished at my daughter. i don't think this is a good story but like my sister always says, you can never say that your child will never do something: you can say that they won't do it and get away with it. so sarah wanted her gummy bears and i told her she had to eat her dinner first. she didn't want to so she said, "mommy, you look fat." ouch. it took me a second to determine if i got so upset b/c that is an insecure aspect of my life, but i quickly came to the decision that nope. that was just plain aweful and dean very firmly took care of the situation. dear sarah came back to me with lots of tears in her eyes and gave me a big hug and said that she was sorry. boy, having kids is always an adventure.

yesterday, dean and i went to ikea and purchased an armoire (rural juror armoire- i think that would be an awesome name for a movie. for those of you who watch 30 rock, you'd know that the blonde lady was in a movie named The Rural Juror and for a year or so, nobody knew the name of the movie. just try saying it out loud. those three words are some of the hardest english words to say.), a dresser for ian and sarah and abby, and a bedside table for dean and i, who are currently using a fold-up barstool. boy does that ikea stuff take a long time to put it together. the (rural juror) armoire took us no less than 3 1/2 hours and the two dressers took me all morning. wow. but i'm super excited about it all. organization is priceless.

well, i'm really happy to be done with the "sarah sent me a virus thing." dean is ready for bed so i'll go for now. the next post will not be as spaced out as the last few. before i go, i'd like to say that the cold weather did the blog world a world of good. you guys were awesome with your blogging and i enjoyed the many updates immensely. it snowed for about four or five hours here so i guess snow really brings out the bloggers. fun stuff. good bye now.

Sarah sent me a virus

2007-01-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

and that's all i'm going to say about that. i'm not even going to capitalize this time. that's what you get for cheating, sarah. once more with gusto. like i was saying before sarah sent me a nasty virus that deleted my almost finished crazy long post, i'd like to thank several people for such pleasant comments about my last blog. first, i'd like to thank my children, who, without them, i wouldn't have such material for my comedic geniuse. dean, where are you dean? there he is (at least a picture of him). my dear husband, who silences those voices in his head telling him to ask why his wife is able to blog for an hour and yet the dishes need to be done, the laundry washed and put away, the house vacuummed, the kids bathed, the wife bathed, the family dressed, lunch ready, dinner ready, etc, etc, etc. so to my dearest dean, i thank you for your patience and your most-serious-time-of-your-life-face-while-reading-my-posts. (seriously, you'd think he was reading the stock market page in the newspaper but didn't know the first thing about stocks. his face is frozen. not even one smile cracked. and at the end, he says "that was good babe." just like that. i love you dean. and last but most certainly not least, to my faithful (fair-weather) fans who, unless the post is really bad, leave the most encouraging comments ever. thanks again.

well, today was not a total loss. in fact, i consider it very successful as i was able to do about 15 minutes worth of airplane with the kids. boy were my hammies (in shape people speak for hamstrings) burning. poor sarah. except for being super pretty, she's just not good at much. ("she's the worst artist ever." {inside joke.}) ian weighs in at almost 50 lbs and we simply wanted sarah to take a quick picture of the airplane but being the normal slow sarah, she couldn't figure out what button to push, what little window she was supposed to be able to see us in, was she supposed to zoom in or out, oh no, the screen went black, okay, now what, okay, now i think i understand, etc. boy, this whole time, ian is up in the air, back curved not like a cat but like a cobra, swaying from side to side, and trying to watch spongebob and yell at sarah, all while i'm trying to balance him in fear that by the time sarah figures out the picture thing, ian and i will have both finished taking our naps, going to the grocery store, and almost ready for bed. but, as you can see below, she eventually did a superb job.

this is more of an encouraging paragraph. encouraging in that i really hope that sarah doesn't beat me in the comments area so please, i don't mind if you don't leave me a comment, but i'd like a vow that if you aren't going to leave me one, you in no way can leave her one. no seriously, please stop right now and think long and hard about this. who is here for you day and night, rain or shine, sickness and in health, tanned or untanned? why this blog, of course. so, in order to, shall we say, keep in good standings with it, just accomplish the aforementioned. that's all i ask.

well, i'd better jet. sarah's probably hard at work trying to figure out how to send me another virus to delete this before it gets into the hands of the enemy. until next time or until sarah gets more comments than me. and if you don't want to do it for me, do it for them. also, sarah and my mom should know what that weird little yellow drawing thing is. it may be an ugly picture to some of you, but if you only knew the story behind it...

Broken Pledges*

2007-01-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

i've always been jealous of all these people who have perfect posts. my brain has yet to figure out how to make all of the pictures in line and appropriate for what you're talking about. so one of these days, i will reach my goal of becoming "the perfect blogger." i'm kidding of course. i'd have lots of work ahead of me and i can't handle that right now.

well, today was bath day for all of the kids. i know, most moms are saying, "yeah, every day is bath day, right?" well, i guess my dirty little secret is that my kids aren't the most bathed kids in the world. i think this stems from when i was a little girl and hated taking baths. i would lie to my mom and dad and tell them that i had taken a bath and brushed my teeth when in fact, i had merely played with my brothers and sis and had gotten sweaty. yuck. my dad always made me prove it by expert dentistly (i know, that's not a word but it fits my story.) searching my mouth in the grocery store for plaque. he always figured it out. anyhow, back to my original story. today was bath day. i would like to say on my behalf that my kids nails are usually trimmed and sarah's are usually painted and for three kids, that's a time consuming task. especially since they hate it so much. also, my kids don't stink b/c we use really good laundry detergent and bounce sheets and if they're ever in need of an early bath (ie. ian gets really sweaty when the childcare workers play soccer with him. they always say "wow, could he be any sweatier?" and to that i reply "you have no idea." so the pictures are of the dear little ledbetters all scrubbed up and shiny.

well, i tried my hardest to get the kids down here where they should be. no luck. it's turning out to be a nice evening however. i'm here with ian and sarah who are both sleeping:) that oughta put a smile on anyone's face. abby went with dean to the gym. a nice break since this is not her happy time. i'm hoping to go when dean gets back. sarah is running a bit of a fever so i didn't want to bring her to the gym. once they wake up, it's dinner time. i'm having a salad hopefully with some shrimp on top (please, lovebug. dean makes the best shrimp ever.) that'll do it for that paragraph.

this post has been quite the crazy rambling. my brain is like a fried egg. they always showed you what your brain was like on drugs, but they never showed you what it was like with three kids at home all day. i guess they figured that was way too good for birth control. i'm kidding. but not about the fried egg thing.

i'm sure hoping you guys were still wondering what the title was all about and if you haven't guessed yet, you're *insert euphamism for loser*. for those of you who still can't figure it out, you must never watch Lifetime---Television For Women because that's what's on right now. or maybe it's Abducted--The Mary Latham Story. or maybe A Mother's Plea. one of those i'm sure. no really, Broken Pledges really is what's on. i just love the predictability of that.

i'm off to search for my sanity. have a wonderful day and to all of you in brownwood and the surrounding areas, see you this weekend. to the rest of you, better luck next time. ouch, that came out mean. love you is what i meant to say. mwah.

*hey, i figured out the picture thing at the last second. now say my posts aren't organized. i dare you.*

2007-01-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sure do hope everyone is having a wonderful new year. We are doing well here. Not much going on. Dean's store is opening in 17 more days so we're looking forward to that. His hours are better than expected, but that still doesn't mean that I don't think he works too much. oh well. it's nice when he does have time off. The gym is going well. I was able to run for 20 minutes yesterday. That may not seem like much but believe me, when you're out of shape, it's pretty good. I couldn't do it without my trusty ipod. However, since I have very wierd ears, those little earphones keep falling out of my ears. Maybe that's why time goes by so fast. I'm constantly pushing those little buds back into the earhole. Very annoying.

Ian, Sarah, and Abby are doing well. Abby had me in tears yesterday because I was so frustrated. I finally had the energy and the mental capability to get the house good and clean and she didn't want a clean house. She just kept crying and crying. So it was fun with all of those tears yesterday. Today has been a much better day. Maybe she just had a little gas. Sarah has infested our house with stickers. It's insane. No matter where you step, you are going to get a sock full of stickers. Better Lisa Frank stickers than pointy grass stickers. So I don't complain too much. I just throw them away. You know she has a lot of stickers when she doesn't even care when you throw them away. There are over 5000 stickers and I'd say we're about halfway through them. We can do it. Ian is also pretty cute. He is the best big brother in the world. He almost 100% changed Abby's diaper yesterday. He's so sweet to her and sometimes, he's the only one who can get her to stop crying. What a boy. He's always wanting to help me clean and he loves to draw and cut paper. I don't think I could handle staying home with the kids if they weren't such neat kids. They have such unique personalities and it's so nice to watch them grow. Ian- very energetic morning person. Sarah- very girly/whiny/dramatic. Abby- well, duh. very, very serious. Life must be really hard for her. She's always got a little furrowed brow. So cute. Also, because the three of them are tv junkies, my favorite time of day (besides nap time, obviously) is when the all lay down together and watch tv together. Nobody fights, and everyone is at peace with Spongebob. Abby especially.

Well, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say anything about the Misty thing, but I wanted to let them know that I'm so happy for them and I sure do love you guys. Hope we can come visit soon. Congratulations!

bundles of joy... and other bad ideas

2006-12-24T08:06:00.000-08:00

well, yesterday, i was really in the christmas spirit and what better way to celebrate than to go ice skating!!! well, i'm here to tell you that there ARE better ways to celebrate. just a word of advice. don't go ice skating with one other adult who also isn't the best ice skater with three kids who don't know how to ice skate. talk about bad ideas... i was on the ice for about 30 or 45 minutes and i didn't actually make one full circle. i got on the ice at point A and got off at about point E. the second dean and i put on the skates, our feet were on fire. and it wouldn't have been so bad but when you're not actually moving, it's really hard to balance on those blades. sarah thought she was really good but that's only because dean and i were holding up 99.5% of her body weight. and ian didn't do well at all. he just wanted to get off the ice and play air hockey. and i've never agreed with him so whole-heartedly. ouch. but all that really matters is that i ended up getting some good pictures. so it was worth it in the end.

on sadder notes, tara and wayne and family are moving in two days:( no more memories, no more fun. it was only a year ago tomorrow that tara was falling on her knee, merely trying to walk around her house. i'll never forget the expression on her face. i'm not sure if the embarrasment was greater than the pain, but if only a camcorder had been rolling. oh, how sad to leave behind such fun memories. merry christmas to you too, friedmans. we love you.

merry christmas to all of you and have a wonderful new year. love you guys.

2006-12-19T08:15:00.000-08:00

hello everyone. sorry for the hiatus. i forgot my login name and password. just a quick little blog this will be. let's see. all is well here. i was wondering if i was the only person who, when getting dressed, holds up the pants and silently giggles that boy are those huge. i feel really bad for whoever wears those. and then, i put them on and oops.
they are actually a little tight on me. but to be fair, pants do appear much bigger when holding them up. i hope.

well, this morning has been a wonderful morning. i've started the morning with whispers instead of screaming and it is going phenominally. sarah is a loud little girl even when she whispers so we're working on her. and abby is so cute. she can stand up when leaning on something and she looks so old when she does it. she's a super stiff baby. i think a little yoga would do her a world of good. but at least she has good posture.

well, it's 10:22 and i still haven't fed the kids breakfast and they haven't even asked yet. somebody take their temperature. oh wait, we already know it's high. love you guys. oops, i forgot to make the pictures small. sorry.

oh boy

2006-12-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

i'm actually a little nervous about writing since it's been so long. this is going to be a wierd one because there will be no flow to it and it may confuse some that do not know me very good. i'm just going to write about the things that i think are puzzling, interesting, or boring. i'm positive you will find this at least one of the above.

first off, i'd like to say what my family is doing right now. ian, sarah, and abby are all "sleeping." and by sleeping, i mean i put them in their beds. it's really fun to be awake during this time b/c every 10 to 15 minutes for about 3 hours, they (not abby) ask if they can "wake up." kinda strange how they don't understand in order to wake up, you must be asleep. in no circumstance does the question "can we wake up?" make sense. meanwhile, dean is at work, in his new uniform of navy blue shirt and khaki pants. very easy to get him ready in the morning. that is, until this morning when i was ironing his shirt and some yucky stuff came out of the iron. it was some sort of calcium buildup for the iron. and as you can imagine, smeared calcium and navy blue don't mix. so, dean can explain the wrinkled new shirt to his boss. i tried my hardest. and what, you ask, am i doing? well, i'm blogging, thinking (which some of you may find comes naturally unless you have three little ones at all times asking for something, of which all three feel that crying is the best way to get my attention. so this is actually a lot of work.), and sitting in a pretty comfy little computer chair. also, i'm curious if you out there would rather get an extra hour of sleep or take a shower and blow dry hair and all that girly stuff. because i hate to admit it but i'd chose the sleep. poor dean. i need to get dressed more often. pajamas just don't raise the self esteem.

okay, on to even more interesting thoughts. i've been listening to us wives make menues for the week, and am often puzzled by the thought process we americans have about meals. i think this is a major reason for our overeating and major weight problems. and believe me, i speak not as a critic from the outside but as a participant from the inside of this mess. on a previous episode of oprah, dr. oz suggested eating the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. very good point. why do americans feel that we need a different nationality of food for every meal? how many times have we said, "didn't we have italian food two nights ago?" "or mexican food last night?" "or japanese (i wished) once already this week?" have you ever seen an italian say, "didn't we have italian last night?" of couse not. they are not as spoiled as we are and they are thinner for it. because we've trained our taste buds to hunger for every kind of food, we feel the need to eat a bunch of it because we didn't have this last night or the night before. imagine how much less we would eat if we had the same thing over and over. we would eat only because we were truely hungry, not because we hadn't tasted a steak in a long time or a pasta dish or a burrito. and think of the money we would save when going shopping. i imagine in mexico, they buy beans, flour, cheese, jalapenos, groud beef sometimes and some vegetables. how cheap. italians, same thing. pasta, tomatoes, (i'm not sure about italian food except for the olive garden so that will be the end of that list.) i'm just saying, we need to concentrate less on food and more on the important things in your life, whatever that is for each person (unless it's food.) finished ranting about food.

what else. i think that babies grow up way too fast. how come the best part of life, the 0-3 months, is the shortest time of life? except of course the 0-2 months. that's a little shorter. but you know what i mean. ian and sarah are so old, and abby already started rolling over. well, once. but i count it. ian will be going to school in about 8 months (dry the eyes) and i'm not looking forward to it. i hope he makes friends with the nice kids. i can't think about it anymore. i can only imagine how frustrated the teachers are going to be with his level of energy. he's obedient, but he's got tons of energy. oh well. he's athletic so maybe they'll pass him just so he can be on the peewee basketball team and lead them to their first championship. i'm kidding.

let's very quickly compare the pros and cons of new vs. old houses. new pro- great insulation, no spiders from the eighteenth century, windows that open, door that close, lock, and don't squeak, microwaves that are faster than microwaves, carpet that isn't stained (yet), garage for easy access to the car during bad weather (big help with kids. they sit in there forever waiting for dean and i to get ready. how sad that they are that eager to get out of the house.), clean walls that you can hang pictures on instead of breaking nails trying to hammer them into metal, new house smell, and rooms that are square instead of very awkward rectangles or even shapes i've never heard of. new house cons- no friedmans next door, very shallow sink in kitchen, not being able to figure out how to raise the temp in the house above 68. brrrr. old house pros- friedmans next door, didn't matter if the kids kicked down a wall. old house cons- don't get me started with the insects.

well, this has been a rediculously long blog. if you've hung in there, you are a true friend. don't feel bad for those who didn't hang in there. they won't know what bad friends they are because they didn't read that part. i'm fixing to go sleep so when my kids ask if they can wake up, i won't answer them. it's still considered sleeping if your eyes are open and the tv is on right? that's a good excuse not to respond to your kids. "leave me alone. i'm sleeping just like you are." until they sleep again.

the mckinney ledbetters

2006-12-02T19:33:00.000-08:00

i'm not sure why i don't feel like blogging but i really have to be in the mood to write or it comes out very choppy and confusing so tonight, i'm going to stick to posting some photos. i hope everyone who reads this knows that i love them and miss them and hope to see them soon. a lot has happened since i've blogged but i hope every had a wonderful thanksgiving. i know i did. have a wonderful evening.

Tired of the same pictures?

2006-11-14T05:56:00.000-08:00

I sure was getting tired of looking at my blog and seeing the same pictures every time so i thought it was time to blog again. it's kinda wierd but it seems like all the pictures i take look alike and i was trying to figure it out, and bam. it came to me. it's the same three kids every time. that wasn't the hardest mystery of my life but i'm glad i got to the bottom of it. sometimes, it's hard to tell if the pics are new or old. oh well.

boy, it's been half a month since i've blogged and so this will be quite the update. b/c my life is just ultra exciting. let's start with going to brownwood!! i sure do love it there. i forgot my camera, which made me very mad so i don't have any good pics of the family but you know i love you. we had a good weekend there b/c dean was with me and it's impossible to have a bad weekend with dean.

now for the big news... now i hope everyone thinks i'm athletic with this next story. my dad and i walked/jogged from my mom's house to sarah's house, a little over 9 miles. some would call it 9 miles but as we girls know, we like to give ourselves credit for every stride. have to step over a rock, count it. have to go around a tire, count it. i do. i got two little blisters, one on each foot. it was the perfect day and the perfect company. who wouldn't want to spend 2.5 hours talking and walking with their dad? and the good news is, i haven't exercised since then. i guess i gave myself a little too big pat on the back. and wednesday, paul got to meet my daughter and he was sure nice to her. he gave her a back and neck rub b/c she seemed really stiff. she's very unflexible. she's my daughter all right. it was really good to see paul. he got to go to the park with us and eat lunch with us and a good day was had by all. ***side note to my mom. tell dad that we should get a group of us together and thanksgiving morning, we should make the fartlek in record time. under two hours.*** thursday was a big day for me. not only did anna turn 3, (happy birthday, anna) but i got treated to bahama bucks by my sister in preparation for my drive home. we decided that it may be only a three and some odd hours trip, but it's the hardest one you can make. that dallas traffic is crazy with three kids by yourself. i never drive b/c dean is always with me when we go places (the joys of having one car) so the drive was a challenge. ian loves to draw in the car and gets confused that i can't turn around a look at his masterpiece while in bumper to bumper traffic. but i made it home without a scratch and with a much renewed sense of accomplishment. which is rare for me.

time for a new paragraph, eh. uh oh. my baby just woke up. better post the pics so i can feed her. here goes a good 5 minutes. hope to blog again soon.

brownwood or bust

2006-11-03T08:25:00.000-08:00

boy howdy, am i looking forward to spending a few days with the family. i get to spend several days there, which means i get to relax, instead of always going going going. just wanted to post a couple of pictures that i took this morning. and if you think they aren't the most quality pictures or bad placement of the heads or any other complaint, you try taking a picture of three kids and yourself by yourself with one of the little bambinos pulling the other three people's hair. i won't mention any names, abby, but i think people will be able to figure out who it was. i'll give you a hint. she's the young one with the hair in her mouth. and that's all i'll say. here goes. have lots of work to do today. love you guys.

"Candy, please."

2006-11-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

AKA trick or treat. well, for those of you who love trick or treaters (i'm sure i don't need a full finger to count you), here are some pictures of the kids semi-dressed for the outing. we're really cheap and thanks to tara and wayne and isaac and hannah (not you naomi. you had nothing to do with it.), we had sarah's costume. okay, so it was her 2year old birthday present from the friedmans but it was still cute. she had to wear some tights (not sure why she had to wear black tights) and it was so funny. she was walking down the sidewalk and didn't notice that her little yellow skirt was almost down around her knees because the tights were distracting her. so she had a big black gap between her short little top and her tiny little skirt. and it was hard for her to walk in those little high heels for long. the whole thing was very funny and i actually laughed out loud every time i saw her trying to keep up with the energetic dean and ian.

ian was superman, obviously. it wasn't a costume, it was an inflate-a-suit. and he thought he was strong. dean figured he'd get more use out of an inflate-a-suit than a regular costume and he was right. ian puts that thing on and goes around picking up the coffee table, the couch, and he carries sarah throughout the house coming to her rescue. it's so cute. he really does think he's strong because of the added muscle mass.

well, that was our story. i need to get rid of some of that candy. it was crazy how much they got. and good stuff too, unfortunately. i hate how much i love chocolate. but i'm doing okay with saying no to it. could be better though. until my next post in a couple of minutes.

2006-10-30T04:03:00.000-08:00

who knows?

2006-10-29T19:22:00.000-08:00

not me. i haven't weighed myself in a couple of days, and for good reason. boy, when dean's off, we're not very good at raw. we're always out and about the town and can't seem to find anything healthy to eat. okay, maybe we're not looking too hard. it could possibly be our fault. tonight, dean made some "spicy bean and guacamole tacos" thingy and they were quite possibly the tiniest things i've ever seen. but boy were they cute. the next 7 days will be purely raw since we're both feeling a little "yuck." by the way, the tacos are shown actual size. sort of.

well, these last couple of days has been really fun. friday, the kids and i spent a lot of time outside play catch and scooters (that's actually a pretty good workout. a couple of scoots and my thigh was feeling it. kinda embarrasing.) and bouncy ball and polly pockets. the weather was pretty cold and very windy but kids never care about that. thank you emmie for ian's winter hat. a little safety pin and it was a perfect fit. later that night, dean's friends jerome and craig came over and we played poker until about 1:45am. i was the only person to not win. but a good time was had by all. or so they say. and then we went to sleep. sleep, sweet sleep. how i love it.

dean had to work at 7 in the am. he just played with a paint sprayer all morning and came home with a lime green tint to his hair, glasses, a little on his jacket, and who knows where else. i wish he was able to have a little fun at work. poor guy. yeah right. i finally blow dried my hair for the day. i think that was number 2 or 3 since abby's been born. that's pretty sad huh. i really need to try a little harder these days. just because you don't weigh what you want, you don't have the right to give up all together. all the more reason to put on a little mascara. poor dean. oh well. when dean got off, we went to the mall and did a little shopping (window shopping that is) and let the kids play on the soft play. they got to ride the carousel in the mall and that was super cute. the loved it. dean bought me some bath salt and fizzy ball so i'm looking forward to using that. don't want to waste money:) and we got to watch the absolute cutest ice skating contest ever. there is an ice skating rink in the mall and the girls were about 8 years old and trying so hard but they were awful. people would clap really hard just from them being on one skate with the other in the air (very wobbly, very funny). but the sure had the right outfits on. there were even real judges and everything. ian loved it. on our way home, we decided that dean should go to a dallas stars hockey game with jerome and craig. so i stayed at their hotel with the kids while he went. we need to find a local babysitter. spur of the moment kind of thing. he had a lot of fun and got to see a couple of fights. next time it's my turn. and then we went home and went to sleep. phew, long paragraph.

today, we got to sleep in and it felt really good. then we went to super target, sams, and then walmart. not my kind of shopping but it's just nice to be out of the house. oh no, i didn't want to tell everyone (all 5 of you) but we ate at p.f. changs. i know, lettuce wraps aren't raw, but the lettuce is right? so how exciting is this? i ordered lettuce wraps for and appetizer (to split of course) and then, same thing for the entree. oh boy, was it good. but i exercised great willpower and passed on the fortune cookie. no need to eat that many calories in one meal. that would be disgusting. then, we came home, took a nap (not dean) and ate the tacos. and there's the update of my weekend. sorry for all the details. believe it or not, there's a lot more than that in this head of mine. i've really started to want to write a book lately but i just can't get it out of my head fast enough. any ideas for a book, anyone? love y'all. miss you tara.

6110

2006-10-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

today is day eight and you might be asking what we had for dinner last night. (that was a joke. i'm pretty sure nobody has ever wondered that about anybody else.) we had sonic. yup. that's right. we're still not off the raw thing but we talked it over with mike and we decided that we're allowed 3 free meals between now and when we see each other. dean and i learned a pretty good lesson in that if we're going to eat a freebie meal, we'd better still make it healthy, as we woke up this morning feeling a little bogged down. i was all for throwing up last night but dean said absolutely not. so he just worked out a little harder this morning. i'm proud of him.

didn't sleep so good last night. i either couldn't go to sleep or had nightmares when i fell asleep. it was awful. i could not get comfortable. usually, i don't wake up once between my head hitting the pillow and the alarm going off. i think that cheeseburger gave me nightmares. yuck.

not much else to report from mckinney. depending on the weather, i might take the kids to the park today. it's almost been two years since i've had a car and it's getting a little frustrating. but it's really good for us to walk places. wouldn't mind taking the kids to the mall or toys r us or something of that nature. oh well. i can be patient. until next time.

0621

2006-10-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

day four and still going strong. dean is actually doing the best out of all of us. i'm loving it b/c dean is doing a lot of the "cooking" and dirtying a lot of dishes. but it's really nice to have variety when eating raw. and the breastfeeding is going really well. so i'm encouraged. poor mike is having a hard time. i don't think that he's adding enough variety and is therefore getting very discouraged with it. but i know he'll stick with it.

the kids are doing really good. abby is growing so big and she has the sweetest disposition. i'm really happy that i didn't stop with two kids. three was the perfect number for me. abby fits so perfectly into our family. ian was so draining as a baby/toddler because he had so much energy. sarah was draining b/c she cried (cries) all the time. and i was a little scared to have another one but she has the best of both of them in her. i sure do love my family.

dean's work is going really well. i'm so excited to hear him say he was bored at work. who wouldn't rather be bored than super stressed out. it's going to start getting stressful once they take over the store when construction is finished. but until then, we're loving the good hours.

hope everyone has a great evening and i'm a little disappointed with my mom and sister b/c last i checked, they haven't blogged like they said they were going to. maybe next year. love you guys.

164.5

2006-10-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

well, today is day one. mike, dean, and i are going to go on a raw foods diet. i'm going to keep a journal of how i'm doing, how i'm feeling, and how the weight thing is going. i have to go 10 days, 30 is my preference, and hopefully, it will be until i reach my goal. my goal is to lose 25 lbs and i hope to stay on it until i get there. this blog is really good for me b/c if i quit, i have to tell everyone (all 5 of you) about it. we took some before pictures but i'm a little too insecure to put them on right now. so once i've gotten close to where i want to be, i'll be sure and post them.

10-20-06
so far, so good. i'm sure it's pretty obvious what i've eaten today. apple, banana, avacado, lots of raw sunflower seeds, carrots, grapes, salad (not a very good one. included corn off the cob, alfalfa sprouts, onion, tomato, super leafy lettuce, lemon juice (big mistake)), and i think a couple of other things i can't think of. i really need to get rid of those brownies from last night. not a great encouragement.

also a little hard, we just moved to some great eating, and now we can't eat out. oh well. like oprah says, nothing tastes as good as thin feels. if this doesn't work out with breastfeeding, i'll be very sad. but i'm trying to eat a little more than i would originally. and to all of you LNO people, i'm jealous. wish i was there. i'll keep you posted on the diet. (don't worry. i don't think you are super curious. it's for my own good, not yours.)

2006-10-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

we love big cities!!!

2006-10-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

okay, so it's 9:15 and the delivery guys just left!! that's right. in big cities, they know the value of customer service and deliver super late. so our fridge is here a day early. kinda like when tara's shutter was early... well, early or a year and a half late. one of those. i forget. anyhow, dean's with one of his high school friends, jerome. that's really neat that he gets to spend a little time with him. jerome's a good guy. almost time to put the kids to sleep so i'd better hurry up and blog some pictures since it takes forever. they are really sporatic pics so i'm not even going to explain them. enjoy, loyal friends.
p.s. the fridge was an awesome deal. they had it marked the wrong price and still gave it to for that price. it was about 70% off. neato huh.

2006-10-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

2006-10-15T19:50:00.000-07:00

2006-10-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

2006-10-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

2006-10-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

breaking the blogging rut

2006-10-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

man oh man, nobody is blogging anymore. this is really sad. i check everyone's blog all the time and still... nothing. well, i'll be the first to jump in. and just so everyone knows, the water's warm. anyhow, i've had a very nice time since being in mckinney. the first weekend, i had the pleasure of emmie and grandpa and christy for a night (plus the two extra kids they brought home to me. thanks for bringing the kiddos all the way mom and dad.) and that was wonderful. we'll have to do it again when you have more time to relax here. promise to be nice. and just before they left, mamaw and papaw and bryce came to visit. we had a lot of fun and once again, we'll have to do it when you can stay a little longer. (by the way, it just started raining really hard here. how nice.) then, it was another week of dean working normal people hours and i'm loving it. we went to the park a couple of times, went out to eat a couple of times, and all around had a wonderful week. then, just when life was getting mundane, yippee. jody and sarah and mikayla arrived for a couple of days. and we loved it. they left a couple of hours ago. we had a lot of fun shopping and playing games and going to market street and a pedicures (also known as a foot massage-sorry sarah. i was very ill prepared.) oh yeah, and ian and sarah ran a 1k saturday morning. it was so cute. that's what the pictures are of. they both did a pretty good job. i know sarah did it in 9 minutes and some-odd seconds. doesn't sound too good but if you know sarah, you'll be proud of her. ian was super dissapointed he didn't win. but there were 12 year olds in the race so i don't know what he was expecting. anyhow, i'm done writing. now i'll just post the pics and if you don't understand the pics, the just enjoy them as art:) love you guys and there, tara. finally a blog.

two firsts and a few more pics

2006-09-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

well, on the way to walmart, dean heard a wierd noise and pulled over. sure enough, we had a flat tire. our first since we've been married. so he got to change the tire in the hot sun. he did a wonderful job. a big screw was stuck in there. and when we got to walmart, we found out another tire has a big bolt in it. so i guess there are some disadvatages to living in a new house. running over lots of tire-damaging scrapnels. or whatever that word is.

event number two. we were at lowe's and i needed to change abby's diaper so i rushed off to the bathroom without dean. i was so involved with abby i forgot to look at the door and quickly entered the bathroom. a quick glance to my left and i thought "oh no. that poor guy is in the wrong bathroom." my dad immediately came to mind. but then, another thought came to my mind. hey, girls don't have urinals in their bathrooms. oops. so i went quietly back out the door and across the hall to the proper bathroom where abby was changed without any more hitches. it's just not like me to go into the wrong bathroom. i don't think anyone noticed though. feuw. hope everyone has a wonderful day. off to go put abby's crib together. and to all of you wanna-be visitors, make it a reality.

photography class

2006-09-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

thank you mark dumas for allowing me to attend your ever-so-cool class. i'm not sure i learned a lot about photography, but i did enjoy it. and to the model family, job well done.

our new (messy) home

2006-09-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

well, these are pretty awful pictures of the house, but it's the best i could do. i guess you guys will just have to come visit to see it.

driving, driving, driving

2006-09-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

our trip to texas was long and fun. i sure love my kids. all three of them did so well. i honestly don't know if any children have ever had better attitudes about being in a car so much. abby pretty much never cried and ian and sarah didn't fight hardly at all. all of these pictures are of the trip. most of them taken by ian.

the last breakfast :(

2006-09-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

how sad to say goodbye. i sure had a lot of fun and a great big thank you to anna for such yummy food. i already miss you guys, but there sure is a lot to do here. who wants to unpack when they can go to a different store every second? not me. lots of work to be done though. fun fun fun.

my last georgia post

2006-09-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

i wanted to say happy birthday to bryce and bryan yesterday. hope it was great and can't wait to see both of you next week. and to wayne last thursday. thanks for not sharing the cake last night. i sure was eyeing it last night. i guess next time i'll have to be more obvious and come right out and ask, since it didn't seem to work the way i went about it. also, thank you tara for having the risse family and ledbetter family over for dinner last night. sure beats ramen noodles. it was delicious. and to mike and misty and fam. we love you and thank you so much for coming all this way to say goodbye. can't wait to see you in november. and to anna. you've sure put a damper on my packing with all these outings we've been having, but it made moving fun, which is pretty hard. i've enjoyed this week a lot. if anyone ever is flying into dfw and need someone to pick them up, give us a call. we'll be there in no time. love you guys.

2006-09-24T05:26:00.000-07:00

ian and sarah actually have quite a few friends here. isaac, hannah, naomi, anna, naomi joy, caleb, and elizabeth, you will be greatly missed. hope i didn't leave anyone out. parents included in that list, obviously.

not without my daughter

2006-09-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

or something like that sarah. i forgot what you told me to put. anyhow, sorry i've been absent for so long ladies. as i said in my last post, for some reason dean thinks packing is more important than blogging. i can see if we were moving tomorrow morning or something...oh wait...we are. yikes. better make this short and sweet then. i wanted to comment on all the pics but they will have to be self-explanatory. i've been out to eat with friends and family a lot. the ol' "one last outing before the move" that turned into about 5 lasts but i'm enjoying it. so that's what most of these pics are. for those of you in tx, i'll see you in a couple of days. for those of you in georgia... :( i'm really going to miss you. love you guys.

don't tell dean

2006-09-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

i'm supposed to be packing so he might be a little upset that i'm shooting the breeze. if that's a bad saying, somebody let me know and i'll go back and edit. i'm not really sure what it means but it sounded appropriate. anyhow, tara just stopped by to see if i needed anything from the store. what am i going to do without her as my neighbor. this is going to be really sad. anyways, for those of you who don't know (which i don't think is anybody), we're moving back to tx!!! at the same time, we're moving back to tx:( :( i've made a couple of good friends here (misty included) and i'll be so sad to leave them. but i'm still very happy. by the way, we're moving to mckinney, tx, to be more precise. can't wait to see the family. love you guys.

on a sadder note, steve irwin died. for some reason, that is really sad to me. he got stung by a sting ray. kinda weird that a sting ray got the best of him and not something more dangerous. i'm not sure why i'm blogging about this, since i'm not the biggest fan or anything but it seemed sad.

on a happier note, mike, misty, dean, and i are doing a weight loss challege. loser has to watch the other couples kids for date night. and those of you who know me well know that i'll fight for that tooth and nail. date night, here we come.

well, sorry about no pics. i wouldn't have had time if i had to deal with that. so i love you guys and when my phone comes in, i'll be back to my old self and talking all day about nothing. good bye for now.

2006-08-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

this is crazy

2006-08-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

i'm not sure what is going on but this is blog number 2 in 2 days. how is that possible? i guess i'm just supermom. actually, it makes me less of a supermom b/c that means it's less time spent with the kiddos. okay, so today was a little momentous in that it was abby's first bottle feeding. i pumped 3.5 oz of milk in about 5 minutes and was a little nervous that she wouldn't take it from me but she loved it. didn't take long for her to figure it out. i better not make a habit of it though, b/c i don't want her to prefer that over the breastfeeding. how sad would that be. anyways, ian is becoming quite the photographer, as you can see. he loves it and gets so frustrated when a picture doesn't come out the way he wants it to. and he even tells me i need to straighten up my head or that abby is looking down. i promise that's the only time i take directions from my 4 year old son. it's usually the other way around. promise. well, i hope the pictures work. talk to you guys later. and misty and shaunna, thanks for the comments. at least i know someone likes me. eh hem to the rest of you. just kidding. goodbye for now.

2006-08-25T08:48:00.001-07:00

well, not much is going on here. dean's at work, although i really don't need to tell anyone that. he's never not been at work. we love his job. kinda. unfortunately, we haven't heard anything about mckinney but we're waiting patiently. well, maybe not too patiently. it's getting kinda frustrating. but either way, we'll be happy. dean will be a bit disappointed though. anyhow, the kids are doing well. ian and sarah play really good together and they love their new baby sister. ian is unbelievably sweet to her. he loves to hold her and he always says how pretty she is. sarah just kinda thinks she's one of her baby dolls. sometimes abby's her favorite baby of the moment, sometimes she's not. either way, abby doesn't seem to care. she's so easy going. and she's growing up so fast. she was smiling a bunch this morning and it was so sweet. it's not too often that she does that so it's really neat. mornings are her best times though. anyways, i'll let you know if we hear anything about mckinney. hopefully, it won't be an email. that will be sad. but oh well. more later.

2006-08-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

2006-08-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

sarah's birthday party

2006-08-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

well, we had a blast at sarah's party. as you can see, she was so excited about it. we enjoyed everyone's company and i think the kids had a pretty good time with the cake and all. her birthday is actually tomorrow so maybe i'll get her another present so she knows she's turning the big o3. (tears) how sad is that. can't think about it much longer. bye now.

2006-08-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

baby abby again

2006-08-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

i know it's crazy that the older kids aren't in my blogs anymore. but you guys know what they look like. one of these days, i'm going to get them all dressed so i can take a pic of them together. i bet that will be calm and work out well. yeah, right. anyways, i'm not the best photographer of infants so these aren't great but just so you can see her grow up. she weighed 7lb 7oz at her appt. yesterday so that's really good. she's growing faster than the other two did. i guess i have better milk this time. must be all the brownies. until next time...

more baby

2006-07-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

the new baby

2006-07-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

well, i'm finally making time to post some pics. it's crazy how none of these pictures really look like her but they are still pretty cute. she's changing every day and i don't want her to grow up. she's my last baby and i want her to stay newborn. today is her one week birthday, soon to be one month, one year, and so on. hope i don't cry. hopefully, we'll move to tx one of these days so that everyone gets to know her. love you guys.

2006-07-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

the kids are on their way home and i'm so excited!!!!! and emmie gets to meet her grandbaby. just thought i'd show her "meeting emmie" dress. there will soon be pics with her actually wearing it but i love love love it. hopefully, it will fit her. her appt went well today. she's down to 6lb 8oz but that's not too bad. he said she was very healthy and he was pleased with everything. and no shots today. how exciting. gotta go get abby ready for emmie.

2006-07-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

2006-07-24T15:26:00.001-07:00

2006-07-24T15:20:00.000-07:00

baby abby

2006-07-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

grrr

2006-07-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

okay, i was about done blogging when all at once, poof. gone. so i don't feel like rewriting. i'll do a quick overview.

belly's getting huge. appt. tomorrow at 10. dean took the pics. miss the kids like crazy. and finally, we got a new work table.

there. erase that, blogworld.

how sweet

2006-07-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

well, today was the day. dean's work threw me a "suprise" baby shower today and boy, was it bigger than i thought. and just about as awkward. but it turned out to be really neat and so so kind of everyone. we got a lot of baby stuff that we needed so that was really awesome. i tried to include some pics to show a few of the people there. how nice of them to spend their 15 min. off wish us. love you guys and good night.

more pics

2006-07-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Destin, FL

2006-07-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

well, this week, we went to the beach with sherry and bryan and bryce. what a fun time we had. but it's also nice to be back. i guess it's that way with all vacations. the kids really enjoyed it, and i hope we get to go back sometime soon. but not with the baby coming. maybe next summer. dean was so nice to the kids and helped them build a great sandcastle. i didn't get a picture of the best one but it was still pretty good.

i'm getting very sad b/c tomorrow is the big day. 18 days without the kids. and as much as i get frustrated with them and love date nights with dean, i'm really sad about it. i'm going to miss them so much. who am i going to talk to during the day? i guess i'll figure it out. but it sure is a long time without them. especially when it's been so long since i've been without them for even a day. but i'll get a lot of work done around the house to get ready for the baby and get some rest b/c it will be the last for a while. abigail, please come soon. we can't wait to meet you.

well, i hope i didn't put too many pictures. if i did, you don't have to look at all of them. but i sure love them. the beach was so pretty, as you can see. so to all of you who get to see my kids while they are away, give them lots of hugs and kisses and spankings. that's all kids need. and maybe a little food every now and then.

not much to report

2006-06-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

well, i haven't written in a while, probably b/c all of them would sound exactly alike, since my days are very similar. maybe that's why this pregnancy seems like it's taking forever. it's like it's been one long day, with dean working most of the day. uhg. well, 4.5 more weeks, but i'm hoping for less. about 2 weeks less. i get checked on friday so hopefully, we'll know more then. i'm looking forward to my in-laws coming. that will make time go by more quickly. we're going to the destin, fl next week (don't tell the drs.) and i'm hoping i have some energy for it. i'm going to need it with the heat and kids and all. but i get to be with my husband for a week!! how wonderful is that. i always have a little more energy when he's around.

hope everyone has a safe travel this weekend (the smiths and the dodsons) and i hope everyone knows that you're welcome to come visit. no matter what/when/why/how/etc. talk to y'all later.

yes, sarah and ian get hurt a lot. i know. this bruise was from falling off the bed. so i've concluded those beds are super dangerous. buyers, beware. and isn't she just too sweet when she's sleeping. wow, look. no tears!! they say "take a picture, it lasts longer." but nope, she woke up shortly after the pic was taken. drat. she was still cute though.

family pics

2006-06-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

baby naomi joy

2006-06-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

last one...

2006-06-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

for now... hehe. and then, sleep, oh peaceful sleep. how i love thee.

a few positive pics

2006-06-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

since that ian one was a little gruesome, i thought i'd post some cuter ones. last night was a better night. it was raining, and we went on the hammock and enjoyed a little photo session. and dean even came home earlier than i expected! how rare is that. especially with tomorrow (technically today) being inventory. crazy times. so i love you ladies (no guys are reading this right?) and feel free to call whenever you wish. and a big shout out (always wanted to say that) to naomi joy risse. holla! just kidding. i love you and can't wait to meet you on saturday, hopefully.

too tired for this

2006-06-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

i'm not sure why i'm up at midnight blogging. i couldn't sleep so here i am, trying to make my brain go. well, this has been an eventful night. it started out nicely with a peaceful nap, and then turned sour. when ian woke from his nap, tragedy struck in the form of a big red heart. too bad that heart was made of blood. yup, while running back to his bed, ian tripped on one of his toys (which is so ironic since there weren't any toys on the floor. just kidding. there were tons.) and hit his head on the side of his bed. right between the eyes. and as most mothers can attest, "those head wounds sure do bleed a lot." it was like a fountain. not a big gash, but it sure was deep. so i called dean, and he said he'd be right home. he was quick too, making a record breaking hour or so before he arrived. that work of his is getting so crazy. anyways, i brought him to see wayne and wayne and tara agreed that stitches were called for. it looked awful. so off to the e.r. we went. ian had a superb attitude.

just thought i needed to make a new paragraph. ...a superb attitude. that was, until they wrapped him up like a mummy (that's like holding a cat down on his back and holding his legs. fight mode kicks in.), blinded him with gauze (he likes to have his eyes free of any foreign objects, as most of you know.), and stuck him between the eyes to numb the pain (am i the only one who has noticed that you go through more pain to get rid of pain than the original pain itself. so wierd.) if you've ever seen the princess bride, ian looked like wesley when he was on the torture machine. his body made and "n", which i thought was pretty impressive of him, since dean was trying his hardest to hold him down. that boy is strong. and then he got two stitches while the p.a. kept telling him to "stop crying! i can't do the stitches if you're crying!" not quite that mean, but almost.

so, the last stitch in place, ian hops off the bed, asks about the sucker, and says "wow! that didn't hurt at all!" nothing wrong sometimes with a little short term memory loss. sometimes, it's for the best. and he and sarah happily enjoyed their sucker on the way home, without a care in the world.

wish i had a better picture, but alas, this is all that was taken of the tragedy.

Little Tara

2006-06-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

okay, so she doesn't look exactly like her momma. but she's still one of the cutest, easiest to take care of babies every. and i get to do it for another 2 days!!! how sad not three. little sarah and hannah get along very good. sarah likes to get right up to her face and say "a cookie?" it's so funny. hannah just looks at her. i need to get a picture of tara on here. how could i have one of hannah before tara. we'll have to fix that soon. love you hannah.

one of the many...

2006-06-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

luxuries of life. that's right, weekly pedicures. okay, so it's both of our third pedis in our life. hardly qualifies for weekly. but it sure was nice. it tickled, it hurt, it looked pretty. and no kids involved. we need to do this more often.

here i am

2006-06-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

well, i finally got dean to take a couple of pictures of me. not the best but at least you can see how big the baby is. or at least how big the belly is. i'm sure it's not all baby. but it's fun. less than 8 weeks to go. i'm so excited. dean was grilling steaks, asparagus wrapped in bacon, onions, mushrooms, and ribs when he took these pics. no wonder i look so happy right. love you guys.

you asked for it

2006-06-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

1. First name? Grace
2. Are you named after anyone? Don't think so.
3. When did you last cry? Hmm...I don't like gaining weight so a couple of nights ago while thinking about it.
4. Do you like your handwriting? Not at all. My brother mike always made fun of it so i've been very hard on myself about it.
5. What is your favorite lunchmeat? honey turkey
6. Kids? Great question. Lots of them. pregnant with third
7. If you had nothing else to do, what would you do? sleep. all day. or go on a date with dean
8. Do you have a journal? I never wanted to risk it with so many brothers. Hate for someone to find it.
9. Do you use sarcasm a lot? I try to fit it in whenever possilbe.
10. Do you still have your tonsils? I'm sure i would know if i didn't. so i guess so
11. Would you bungee jump? I'd rather skydive. i don't think i like the whole whiplash idea
12. What is your favorite cereal? probably oh's
13. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? I'm not sure what shoes you people wear. where i'm from, flip flops don't have laces.
14. Do you think you're strong? Sarah may be stronger, but i have more endurance. I keep going and going and going. But not when i'm pregnant.
15. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Depends on my mood. sometimes mint choc. chip. sometimes choc. chip cookie dough.
16. Shoe size? about 9
17. Red or pink? Red. i guess.
18. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? My tooth or my skin. or my impatience with the kids.
19. Who do you miss the most? Some people live by all the people they like. I miss every family member and friend:(
20. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? Blue shorts. very ugly. no shoes
21. Last thing you ate? A not so good stuffing and chicken casserole. but i tried.
22. What are you listening to right now? Sarah saying she didn't like dinner... can she have a yoohoo and cookie.
23. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Brown.
24. Favorite smell? clean laundry
25. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Sarah, but she was too busy eating BLTs, beans, and some other make-me-jealous food.
26. Favorite drink. Coke. none of that diet cr@p. although if i get a drink, that's what i get. but i really like water.
27. Favorite sport? i feel like i'm always in an eating contest. but i like to watch dean play tennis.
28. Eye color? brown
29. Hat size? who knows the answer to this one? nobody so far.
30. Do you wear contacts? i wished. green or purple ones. but no
31. Favorite food? potato pancakes, el cap, and dean's grilling
32. Scary movie or happy ending? my happy endings are when i talk dean out of scary movies. i hate that stuff. so definitely happy endings.
33. Favorite movie? maybe zoolander or something stupid like that. i like movies i can cry in too.
34. What color shirt are you wearing? my black and white "two crooks and a lady" shirt. barely fits anymore.
35. Summer or winter? summer when i'm not pregnant. but that's not very often.
36. Hugs or kisses? Neither from some, both from dean, and hugs from family and friends.
37. Favorite dessert? maybe cheesecake. or creme brulee
38. What books are you reading? about to start some book about elizabeth bronte or something like that.
39. What's on your mousepad? don't have one. have a laptop.
40. What did you watch on tv last night? so you think you can dance
41. Favorite sounds? any mother of preschoolers should say silence. or a really loud ipod while running. haven't heard that in a while.
42. Favorite kind of music? I guess alternative.
43. The furthest you've been from home? Canada with Sarah. Sorry christy
44. What's your special talent? I've thought long and hard about this since i've been born and couldn't come up with one. But dean just said i was a birthing machine. I'll claim that one.
45. When and where were you born? San Antonio- Aug. 19, 1982
46. Who sent this to you? Friends and loved ones.

This was a labor of love. it wouldn't copy/paste so i had to do it all by hand. you're welcome.

Days 2 and 3

2006-05-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

A sandpit is a bad idea for sweaty kids. I guess that's why all the nonparents suggested it. Grrrr.

We made it through. And now, we're stronger because of it:)

The Wilting

2006-05-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Oh, the excitement of a mini vacation

And so it begins. The first day filled with joy and energy and beautiful weather.