Sick Day

Sydney has a cold resulting in a nasty cough and an asthma flair up. This is our day today. Get up, cough a lot, eat breakfast, read Black Beauty, cough a lot, have lunch in Mama and Daddy's bed, cough a lot more...take a breathing treatment. The Pari nebulizer has one of our best friends since Sydney was 2. Today we will need to do this every 4 hours. She is an excellent patient. Based on extensive questioning her ears are fine, throat is fine, head is fine, nose is fine. Just coughing and "yucky feeling". Sydney doesn't complain when she is sick so when I suspect she doesn't feel well I have to bombard her with questions. No fever either. Hopefully this is allergy or crazy Texas weather induced and won't go on for long! By the way my hubby has this too and I am the only one well in the house which is unusual.

Weekend Wrap Up

Fashionista! My 8 year old quote of the day is "I know more about fashion than most people". Seriously she said that yesterday. True, she picks out her own clothes and cuts her own bangs. This costume was yesterday. Never mind that is was in the 40s with a wind chill in the 30s. By the way today will be in the 70s.

The great thing about winter making one last appearance is getting to have this one more time! Nothing better than grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch on a cold day.

This picture is not really relevant to anything other than it was a birthday gift from my mom and I love it. She always buys my birthday gifts at Williams Sonoma one of my very favorite stores. It's really pretty and I'm not sure if I can bring myself to actually use it! I have lots of chicken and rooster stuff in my kitchen so I guess it's a theme. I have a white Kitchen Aid mixer that I've had for 15 years (before the colored ones). I love it and use it often but it sticks out like a sore thumb. I think this week I will find some cool fabric and make a cover for it. I would love to find some red fabric with roosters on it. Wish me luck.

Family, Fun, Food and Chickens

Last night we celebrated Friday by going to visit cousin Tessie who lives in the country. This is where Sydney's hen Martina now resides. Last spring Sydney hand raised her from a chick for about 16 weeks before adding her to Tessie's hen house. Sydney is always so happy to see her. She also raised a rooster from the same batch of eggs but we had him a lot longer before we found him a home. As you can see by the picture above they are very happy to see each other! Sydney still struggles from time to time eating chicken. My advice is to never keep food as a pet.

Here is cousin Tessie with Sydney. After visiting the hens we headed over to our favorite cafe, Mary's on the Brazos. Mary's quite possibly has the best fried catfish in Texas but I don't know for sure because I haven't tried them all. I am still working my way through the best Mexican food of Texas. Fish isn't my favorite unless I am eating at Mary's. This was my number one craving when I was pregnant with Sydney and we ate there many, many Friday nights during that time so we have been making this trip for at least nine years, probably more. Mary's also has amazing home made pies. Rick and I had coconut and Sydney and Tessie had the chocolate.

Hard to believe my precious baby is growing up so fast!

Loves to Pose

Sydney loves to pose for the camera. Nine out of ten shots still have her cheesy fake smile since she was 4 but we are making progress. I kind of have to trick her into a real smile. She's got the posing part down but we still need to work on smiles. It seems like the more I try to help her smile naturally the more fake it gets. Here she is before dance tonight. Nice mud on the tap shoes.

Today we had lunch with her friend Angel and my friend Cindy(Angel's mom) . We are very close and try to catch up at least once a week. I didn't take any pictures today or I would show you how pretty Angel is. I have gotten habitually bad about not taking my camera along. We went to Chick-fil-a, a favorite of mine and the kids played.

Buddy is my 11 year old Maine Coon cat. We have had him for 10 of his 11 years and he is a really good cat but was in a kennel for the first year and isn't very sociable. He is very nosey though. Any time we have guests he wants to come look at them but doesn't want to be petted. He is also very scared of our Shih-Tsu. You would think by the looks of him that he isn't afraid of anything. Oh well, we love him a lot and hope he is around for a very long time.

Back to School

This week has been busy. Returning to school from a busy spring break week. With home school, it is much like any other part of life. Some days it's the best idea you ever had and other days you ask yourself "have I lost my mind?". This has been one of those amazing weeks were everything works together for the good of us all! Sydney and I intend to pray at the beginning of each school day. I have noticed that God blesses us when we ask him to be a part of this process...those days most definitely are the better days. I'm trying to figure out why is it that when something works for me I am not always consistent with doing it. Just wondering if I am alone with this.

Dogs and Horses

My daughter loves, loves, loves dogs and horses. So you can imagine what a wonderful day she had going to the Fort Worth Kennel Club dog show today. We have a huge complex here in Fort Worth for the stock show that houses all manner of beasts and well, as it turns out, in the same complex a horse show of some sort was going on. I am not a horse person but apparently it's a big, big deal in Fort Worth. She is about to have a bath because she has been slobbered on by the best of the best of dogs and horses today. Yuck! I think she inherited it from her dad who used to ride bulls and probably horses too. I didn't know him during those days of his youth. I would have been too young for him then anyway so I guess we met when we were supposed to.

Third Day Revelation Tour Widget

Third Day Revelation Tour

Rick, Sydney and I went to this concert last night and it was awesome! Click on the bar for music.

Park Day with Griffin and Carter

Here are pictures of our day at the park with our friends Griffin and Carter.

This is Griffin he is one of Sydney's oldest friends. I have been friends with his mom Jill since I was pregnant with Sydney and a little over a year before he was born. After Griffin was born our friendship became even closer because now we had kids in common as well as work. Now she is expecting her 3rd boy this summer. Our kids have always loved each other and been really good buds. Sydney plays well with boys as well as girls.

Here is Carter...he is 3 1/2 and plays very well with the big kids.

And then there is Sydney...on top of the play set!

Spring Break and stuff!

Spring break is here and I am so glad! We aren't planning on taking a full blown spring break but today with the amazing weather we spent the whole day outside with one of Sydney's oldest friends Taryn. They became friends in preschool when they were 3 and they have been friends since. Today we went to Calloway's nursery, then Central Market for lunch and playtime, then a local park. Here is a picture of them at our church's fall festival in 2005. Don't they look sweet in their princess costumes?

Here is another one from today...can you say juice mustache? And I'm pretty sure teeth need brushing! Sydney is the brunette and Taryn is the blond.

Sydney has been blessed to have a few really good and special friends, but today it was Sydney and Taryn joined at the hip! The rest of the week involves time with Griffin on Wednesday and Angel on Thursday and there was rumblings of Taryn again on Friday. I think I can leverage a little bedroom and playroom tidying out of this!

Here is my back fence with my Carolina Jasmine (some say it's Jessamine). Whatever! I love the way it always starts blooming in late February signalling the return of spring.

Weekend Fun

Yesterday was just a regular and boring day. We had school and I made caramelized onion dip to take to Mom's Night Out with our coop group. There was only a few of us there to brave the cold and rainy weather. The topic was organization...something I am not consistently good at. Like right now, my house is a disaster and here I sit! It's Saturday morning and Rick has already been to the office and to Lowe's to get our new chipper/shredder/leaf vacuum. We live in the city but we have 7 40+ year old trees on our lawn and they are really big and really leafy so it's a big mess and a drag to clean up after them in the winter. In Texas our winters are usually short and I'm not ready for it to be over but this year I am so over it! I long for spring and warm weather.

Still cold and rainy

I'm making 2 alarm chili right now and can't wait! Today was one of those days that really didn't go just as planned. My daughter started complaining of an ear ache last night so we had to make a trip to the pediatrician. Our Dr. was out of town so we had to see her partner and we both really liked her. Even with not feeling well we got through our lessons this morning and then Angel came over again and we were going to my favorite Chic-fil-A but the girls out numbered me went to McDonald's. We have a new one nearby with an indoor playground. Sydney was difficult and whiny but I'm sure it's the ear ache. There is no telling how long she has had it because she doesn't complain when she feels bad. Don't get me wrong, she is a diva and complains about Everything else, but not really when she feels bad. We had to go to Wal-Mart and pick up prescriptions and buy a few groceries. Of course this trip also involved a stroll through the toy department. Normally she doesn't go with me to Wal-Mart because of embarrassing tantrums thrown in the past. Today she was really good and wanted to look at everything, but we had time so I didn't mind too much and she was being extra good. She has had her ear medicine and antibiotics so we are good for the night.

Cold and Rainy

Today has been a lazy cold rainy day! It's hard to believe that yesterday I walked my dog in a short sleeved T-shirt. Now it's rainy and 41 degrees (wind chill 34). I'm thinking I will make chili for dinner.

There was a visitor today to join us for school. Sydney's good friend Angel who is also home schooled (and also has dyslexia) came for a few hours. She is also an only child so these play dates/school times together are rather coveted. The two of them are much like sisters and the day goes like this. School. Hugging, yelling, crying and more hugging and so on. The great thing is that Angel's mom and I are great friends and we don't get freaked out over who started it etc. It always gets resolved. It is always fun when your child has a playdate and you are friends with the other mom. It's a special friendship for me because most of her friends have parents who are much younger than I am. At 49 it's a little hard to find sane women who have an 8 year old!

It's my first time...

This is my first time to blog. I have been following blogs for a while and decided that this is a good way to document our life and share with family and friends.

My husband, Rick is my favorite person in the whole world and the love of my life. In May we will celebrate 24 years of marriage. He makes me laugh and he keeps me sane especially when the world around us turns upside down. I love him more than words can say. He loves everything about the game of golf, and is the hardest worker I know. Rick is one of only 2 people on this planet that are allowed to call me Susie, the other is my Sigma Kappa big sis Katrina who has called me Suzy-Q since the day I pledged in September of 1978.

Our daughter, Sydney was born in 2000 after 15 years of marriage. No infertility, just Rick's daughters that were keeping us on our toes (and still do). Also I have a problem with procrastination and at 39 I decided that it was now or never. That little 5 lb 8 oz girl rocked our world in ways we never imagined and we love her with every ounce of our being. She loves her daddy but she is a total mama's girl which was a surprise because I didn't know there was any such thing.

In 2006, After 18 years working as an executive assistant for an electronics retailer in Fort Worth I decided to stay home with my daughter Sydney. My friends say "retired" but I prefer not to use that term because it makes me feel old. Sydney was about to begin Kindergarten at a private Christian school and I just couldn't bear not being a part of her school days journey. Besides, the pace and circumstances of my job had become more than a little annoying. Little did I know that a few years later I would be home schooling her.

I loved my new life. I was at her school nearly every day volunteering, substituting, driving for field trips and being a leader on the Spiritual Life Team, a mom's prayer group where I met some of my dearest friends. When I asked God to give me godly women as friends He answered with a boat load. Her school was adjacent to our church so my favorite day of the week was Wednesday beginning with attending her chapel and then going to my Bible study class.

Sydney sailed through Kindergarten but early in 1st grade she began to struggle with reading and math. She became very anxious and stressed out within a couple of weeks of beginning school. Homework! Who decided that 7 year olds need 3 hours of home work! Well, it was probably 45 minutes worth, but for us it took hours. Long story short, we had Sydney tested and she has Dyslexia which causes her to have trouble mostly with reading and math and it was eventually decided that we would home school her.

Homeschooling is not a route that I ever thought I would take, in fact I pretty much though those people are nuts...but it became clear to us that this was going to be the best choice for our family and we love it! It was also a blessing when I had unexpected surgery in November to repair a hernia. This was my 3rd surgery in a little over a year but that's an even longer story. The best thing about homeschooling is that it is extemely flexible. After a week of recovery, we started school in my bed with books and lapboards spread out everywhere. I didn't have to stress about how she would get to school and back home. My having surgery stresses my daughter out like crazy so it was great for her to be here with me and not worried about me at school . I need to mention that I have an amazing mom who is beautiful and young...well to have a 49 year old daughter that is. With all three surgeries she came over and kept my house going...much better than I do as well. She cooked, cleaned, laundered, vacuumed and dealt with Sydney etc. She is a life saver and a wonderful mom.