Memorial Day Weekend

We had such a great weekend, just hanging out together as a family.  Initially we had wanted to go down to Katy to meet Baby Leia, but since our car is STILL in the shop, that didn't happen.  That's ok, because the weekend turned out nice anyway.  Friday night we went to another Roughriders game and actually made it through all nine innings.  Afterwards there were fireworks which Shelby and Joey loved.  Saturday was pretty low key.  We tried Gloria's for the first time.  Eh, it was ok.  Not in my top 5 Mexican places though.  When we came home we blew up the water slide for the girls.  Joey loves the water.  We need to head down to the pool soon so she can really get all the way in.  Yesterday Jeremy and I spoke in church.  I think it went pretty well, and at least it's over and we don't have to do it again for a while (hopefully).  Tonight we went to a BBQ at a friend's house.  Shelby had tons of fun on the slip-n-slide and blowing up water balloons with all the other kids.  It was hot and muggy outside, but the weather was perfect in the shade of a tree.  All in all, it was a pretty good weekend!

Honesty

We had a lesson on honesty in RS a few weeks ago.  It was a great lesson and there were so many comments made that struck a chord with me.  One of my biggest pet peeves is dishonesty, both in personal and business relationships. 

Jeremy makes fun of me sometimes because he says I get worked up too easily.  This is true, but I think it's because I can't stand (or understand!) when people are dishonest.  Two things happened this week that highlighted such dishonesty:

1) Our car started to break down last weekend while in Beaumont.  The third mechanic we took it to was finally able to find the problem- a bad water pump caused water to get into the timing chain and mess it up.  Ok, no problem- we'll pay the $50 deductible and it should be covered under the warranty.  WRONG.  Apparently the dealership pulled a bait and switch and the warranty they gave us covered everything BUT the powertrain.  This was going to end up being an $1100 repair.  After a WEEK of calling the finance director, the service director, AND the GM at the dealership, they are finally writing us up a new contract and sending it over to the warranty company.  I was so angry at the obvious dishonesty.  The guy that did our paperwork originally STILL tried to tell me on the phone that the warranty we had was the best warranty available and covered everything. 

2) Last night was our annual HOA meeting.  I was unable to go due to two prior commitments, but I sent Jeremy with my list of questions and concerns.  Apparently the entire subdivision showed up and it turned into a mob scene, with the manager from the management company finally just giving up.  She couldn't answer anything as to where our money is going, why they are paying over $700 a year for the one phone at the pool that only dials 911, etc.  Then it was brought to everyone's attention that the developer (who currently controls the HOA) also owns the wastewater company, who charges everyone in our subdivision an exorbitant amount of money each month.  There is just so much wrong with the situation it angers me.  I am all for people building their businesses and becoming independently wealthy...just do it honestly!

Anyway, I am trying not to get too worked up over these issues.  In the end, I just have to worry about how I conducted myself in this life, and try to use situations like these to teach our kids how not to act.

Greased Lightning

Today was Shelby's first gymnastics meet.  The theme was "Greased Lightning" and it was really cute.  I wasn't really sure what the "meet" would be like since the kids in Shelby's age group are obviously really young and don't know routines or anything.  They had the kids do a full rotation - vault, bars, beam, and floor.  The kids then showed off some of the skills they have been working on and were given scores.  I was worried that Shelby would get up and all of a sudden get shy and not do anything, but she did great.  At the end each of the kids got to stand on the podium and receive their medals.  She also got a trophy and a tshirt.  She placed first on the beam and second on the floor.  She also got achievement ribbons for the bars and vault.

Joey was crazy during the meet and it was kind of hard to contain her.  So I didn't even realize that I didn't switch settings on the camera until I came home and saw that 99% of the pictures were blurry.  That stinks.  And the video we got wasn't great either since one of us would be trying to do the video and take pictures at the same time while the other one was wrangling holding Joey.  Or there was the video Jeremy tried to get of Shelby on the vault and some man came and put his daughter down in right in front of the camera just as Shelby was going.  Nice.  Oh well.  All in all it was great and we were so proud of Shelby.

Random Thoughts

Time again for more random thoughts.

Mom told me I need to thin my carrots and parsnips so that they don't grow together and look really gnarly.  I don't know how to do this.  I'm sure there is some sort of instructional video on YouTube or something.

Joey has been a different child this week.  I am sure it is still from teething, but I was not prepared for the make-your-body-go-limp-kicking-and-screaming tantrums.  Not at her age anyway.  I thought I had at least another year.

Shelby played with our neighbors tonight and I guess the little boys told her they were moving.  I had been waiting until their move date was closer to tell her because I knew it would upset her.  She went to bed crying and very upset over the news. 

Last night I spray painted the girls rocking chair.  I made the mistake of doing it in the garage.  With the door closed.  The fumes seeped into the house and now the house smells like paint and I have a migraine.

I hope the weather cooperates next week so we can play on the beach with cousins.

Jeremy just bought our tickets for Kings of Leon.  They are playing here on our anniversary.  So excited!

We went to the mall today and on the way home we drove through a particularly ritzy neighborhood.  Jeremy jokingly said, "Look at these houses, Shelby.  Isn't Daddy a bum?!" (because we don't live in a house like that.  I said, "First of all, you are one of the hardest working people I know.  Second of all, I wouldn't live in this neighborhood even if we could afford it."  And that's the truth.  One of the reasons we moved to this particular house was the lot size.  Those houses were ridiculously large and had ZERO yard.  I hate that. 
This has actually been weighing on me this week- moving up in life and all of that.  A roofer came out to inspect the roof after the numerous hail storms we've had this year.  He made a comment to Jeremy that we are pretty young to have this size house.  I never really thought about it before but I have to say I am pretty proud of us.  I am not saying this to brag.  I am saying this to remind myself that we might not have the best of the best, but I think we have done ok.  Instead of constantly being jealous of what others have and wishing for more, we should be grateful for the things we have. (And I am grateful!) 

Jeremy and I are speaking in church in 2 weeks.  I am actually excited about it.  As soon as Jeremy told me what our topic was I had to start making notes.  I had so many ideas running through my head I had to write them down before I forgot them.

Lemonade

We had such a nice, relaxing weekend!  Jeremy and I went to the Rangers game Friday night.  We left Joey knowing she was running a slight fever, because I was/am 99% sure it is just from teething.  I went over how to use the thermometer with the sitter and told her to call or text me if it went over a certain temp.  So we got to the stadium and Jeremy said he was going to leave his phone in the car charging.  When we finally made it to our seats I went to pull my phone out to make sure the sitter hadn't tried calling.  No phone.  What?!  I was SURE it had been in my purse.  We sat through a couple innings when I finally insisted we HAD to go to the car and check for my phone and at the very least check Jeremy's phone to be sure the sitter hadn't tried calling it.  We got back to the car and found my phone that had slid down the seat and found that the sitter had tried calling and texting us both.  Joey had a fever of 102.5.  Ugh.  So I called and instructed her to give Joey some Motrin and put her to bed.  At that point we weren't going to walk all the way back to the stadium so we just left.  Oh well.  We still had a good time.

Saturday I was supposed to go to a baby shower but it was canceled at the last minute so we had all day free.  We attempted to go to the pool, but it was still FREEZING, so we came home and set up the water slide and played outside for close to 4 hours with the neighbors.  My shoulders got a little crispy. 

Yesterday I woke up not feeling great so Jeremy nixed his breakfast plans.  At church, Shelby was so excited to sing for Mother's Day with the Primary.  She ran up and was standing right on the front row.  All of a sudden she was somehow shuffled behind some kids and we couldn't see her anymore.  When the kids got done singing we watched as Shelby pouted with her arms folded all the way back to us.  She was in tears by the time she got to me and was so upset that she had lost her spot.  I told her it was ok and that I could still hear her singing and she had done a wonderful job.  She said, "No I didn't, I didn't even sing!".  Haha!  She was really upset about it all, but she was over it by the end of church when she handed me my card and Hershey's kiss. 

We were supposed to have the missionaries over for dinner, but one of them ended up with strep, so we enjoyed our brisket, cheesy potatoes, rolls, and trifle by ourselves.  (By the way, trifle made with tres leches cake = HEAVEN.)  It worked out nicely since we didn't have to rush around doing any last minute straightening up before company comes over.

So, even though nothing went according to plan this weekend, it all turned out pretty great!

Arcade Fire

We hardly ever look at upcoming concerts in our area because we are usually so busy and it is hard to get away with two small kids. But, on Thursday, Jeremy was randomly looking at things online and saw that Arcade Fire was coming to Dallas on Saturday. We were lucky enough to be able to get a babysitter and go. It was so much fun!
This is such a terrible video because we were dancing around. And I am really hoping you can't hear me singing. Anyway, this is one of our (as a couple) favorite songs of ALL TIME. After Katrina, we had to live in Baton Rouge for 6 months. We hated it. For one thing, we do not like LSU, so it was a little awkward to be in the thick of it, you know? But mostly, it sucked because so many people were forced to live in Baton Rouge while their homes were being repaired, but their offices were open (like ours) in NOLA. That meant lots of commuters every day. We had to wake up at 4:30 every morning just to get to work by 7:30, and we wouldn't get home til almost 8 pm every night. The only good thing about it was LSU's radio station, KLSU, where they played lots of indie music, and where we heard this song for the first time:

Also, Happy Cinco de Mayo!  This was the first time in many years I haven't cooked SOMETHING for Cinco de Mayo.  We have just been busy...every day...and tonight it was soccer for Shelby.  This was the first time she has ever played in any kind of organized setting, and well...let's just say if it were basketball, she would be awesome!  She did have a blast though and I think she worked off enough calories for all of us, so I enjoyed an extra tortilla or two at Rosa's.

                                

Cutting the Cord

Yesterday I made the decision to deactivate my FB account. I came to the realization that the percentage of fights, anxiety, stress, jealousy, etc. caused by FB far outweighs the positivity that can come from connecting/reconnecting with family and friends. I am tired of some people being able to express their opinions, and then looking down at or judging others for expressing their own opinions. I am tired of the "checking in" feature that is usually only used to brag about where someone is or what they are doing. I don't like reading about certain groups of people getting together and leaving others out. I am tired of the super vague comments that leave everyone specualting as to what the person means. I think a lot of what goes on is very "high school", whether it is intended to be or not.

I decided that my true family and friends know about my blog, and if they want to keep up with our family, they can do so that way. Even though I usually only would check FB when we were in the car or while I was giving Joey a bottle, it is amazing the things I have been able to accomplish in the past 24 hours. My mind is no longer cluttered with everything going on on FB. I can focus more on what is important- me and my family.

So...if you are wondering why you no longer see me in your friend list, don't take it personally. I just needed to cut the cord!