Our East Texas Time

We were able to get away for a couple of days this past weekend-- to the piney woods of East Texas! We have some great friends over in that part of Texas that we try to see as often as possible!
Ron and Gwynn Shultz along with their children and grandchildren have become such a dear part of our lives. I met Ron and Gwynn almost ten years ago now, when I was a freshman at ACU. Their neice, Lori, is my very best friend and we traveled from Abilene to Tyler several times during college to see them.
After I married David, they just welcomed him and we have all just become such good friends. They truly are a blessing to us and it is a blessing everytime we get to see them!
What a fun time we had! From supper at Jared and Holly's (their son and daughter-in-law), spending time at Holly Lake with the whole bunch (and watching Benjamin "fish"), visiting and catching up, and attending services at Shiloh Road, we really enjoyed our time together and can't wait to see them again. We love you, Ron & Gwynn!
And of course, I did manage to get a little "Canton Fix" along the way-- although I didn't buy a single thing. I think David is still perplexed over that one!

Benjamin's Big Day

Our good friend Hollye had mentioned to Benjamin a couple of times that it would be fun to have him come out and stay with her and Gary for a day this summer while she is off of school.
Well, last Thursday I took her up on it to get some things done around the house-- it always poses a certain number of challenges to have one's own agenda while there is a toddler running around!
Gary and Hollye, along with their son Cade, live outside of Muleshoe on their farm. Of course, one of Benjamin's first words was "tractor" so we all knew he would have a blast spending an entire day out there. Since Gary and Hollye have become our resident babysitters, Benjamin just loves going over to their house. We really consider them his "local grandparents" since our parents both live at a distance, they are so sweet to him and he just adores them.
Benjamin's day was filled with fun. From riding on the tractor with Cade, to visiting all of the animals, he had such a good time. And of course, decided to fore-go his nap! What a stinker!
I thought I would post the photos from Benjamin's debut on a John Deere (at least one that isn't "his size.")
We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends out here that treat us like family!

First Fruits (and veggies)!

Amidst the hectic week, we were actually able to enjoy the first "crop" from our little garden. We had our first major zucchinis that we picked and ate last week. Now, we are knee-deep in our little harvest! And the cucumbers, peppers and tomotoes aren't too far behind. There is something so satisfying about enjoying something you planted, tended and grew yourself! However, Benjamin could care less about the veggie garden, he does love all of the flowers, and seems to always have his nose (or whole face) in one.
Along with our zucchini, we have also been enjoying apricots by the truckload. We have five apricot trees along the side of the house and in the back yard that always seem to do so-so, usually do to hail or wind damage in the spring. But, this year we have so many sweet little apricots, we don't know what to do with ourselves. I picked pounds and pounds of them last night and am going to try my hand at putting them up in the morning! We'll see how it goes, I am certainly a novice, I never dreamed I would be making homemade preserves-- but if all goes well, some of you may get your very own jar in the near future!

It's Over!

Well, VBS is over. It was a lot of fun (a whole lot of work) and just an over all good week. Benjamin was one busy boy the last two weeks, helping mommy in any and every way with VBS. He even had his own class, where he played with play dough, went "fishing" and learned his own memory verses (or words!). He even learned to "tweak his beak," as in...when you're happy and you know it tweak your beak! He sometimes gets started tweaking and it's hard to stop him. He also fell in love with octopuses. (We had an island theme and decorated with fish), he wanted to take one home with him when we cleaned up, but it just didn't work out!
Overall, I am relieved that it all went well and I hope that we have in some way reached out to the community. Although, I am not certain I will be in charge next year! It was just fun seeing the kids learn, watching Benjamin in his own little class and getting to see my friend Koti everyday when she came to help me out! What a great friend!
Only 360 days until the next year's VBS...

Viruses and VBS

Life has a funny way of slowing you down at times. I have been fast and furiously working on VBS stuff; remind me again why I agreed to help coordinate this?!? Benjamin has been nothing but sweet and patient this whole time. However, Tuesday night up at church, Hollye and I both noticed how warm the little guy felt.
After getting him home, I realized his temperature was over 102-- yikes! We put him to bed loaded up on Motrin and kisses and hoped he would be better in the morning. When he woke, his fever was around 99, which relieved me. However, an hour later it had spiked to over 102 again. When we got to his doctor in Lubbock, he had reached 103.5 and was visibly miserable-- I felt so bad for him. We have never seen Benjamin quite like this. Granted, we've had the occasional earache and cold, but this was definitely different.
What was more concerning was that they couldn't find anything wrong with him at his appointment, so they sent him down to the lab for blood work (horrible experience) and other tests. The strep test came back negative and we had to sit on the blood work until the morning when we were told that the only conclusion was viral. And, as we all know, we just have to "let it run its course--" which is what we are doing.
The last couple of days have been a little rough, but today we can definitely see our little guy coming back! He slept all night and has eaten fairly well today.
Although VBS has taken a back seat, I have come to the conclusion that it's time to learn to just roll with the punches. Everything will work itself out.

Austin City Limits

It's sort of strange to me to go back to my hometown of Austin now that my parents and two of my brothers no longer live there. It doesn't quite seem like home anymore, but yet it is so familiar and still feels great to go back.
We just returned from the River City where David had a long conference to attend and Benjamin and I went along for the ride- for one thing, I just hate staying alone when David is away, and the other, my parents are still in that area, so we didn't want to miss out on this one.
We arrived on Tuesday and it seems like we didn't stop going until we returned to Muleshoe late Saturday night.
While David was at his conference, my parents drove into town to hang out with us-- or should I say to hang out with Benjamin, a.k.a., "Bubba." They wore that kid out! From riding the Zilker Park train (something I enjoyed as a child), to shopping, to enjoying the kiddie rides at Gattiland, Benjamin was well-entertained!
Benjamin also had his first overnight adventure! He spent the Thursday night in Marble Falls with Grandma and Grandpa. To our surprise, and dismay, he didn't miss Daddy or Mommy one bit! What a big boy!
We were also able to catch up with some good friends along the way. In Austin, we had supper with my high school friend, Stephanie. It was so much fun to see her! She means the world to me and it was just great to get to hang out with her for awhile. We also stopped in to dear old Anderson High School, where we were allowed to take our own personal tour and reminisce about my fun four years there. On the way back, we stopped by Amber and Frank's in Abilene. We just love catching up with them-- they had so much to do with us getting together and they are such wonderful people.
We rolled back into Muleshoe so late last night that Benjamin slept through the whole process of car seat to crib-- and then he kept on sleeping until almost nine this morning!
It was such a fun trip, but it is always good to get back home, too.

Weekly Update...a little late!

I originally posted this on Wednesday, but because of technical difficulties, it never showed up!


Wow, here it is Wednesday and I am just now sitting down to update the blog! Those holiday weeks really throw ya off!
We had a great weekend with David's brother and his wife. Benjamin has still been walking aroung saying "Arweee, Saaaam, Arweee, Saaaam," as he affectionately named Aunt Arly and Uncle Sam. They were so sweet to bring him up a brand new football which he just can't get enough of. They were also able to tour the big town of Muleshoe and experience one of our crazy wind storms first hand.
We had a good Memorial Day, too-- relaxing. After relizing the local Alco had sold out of kiddie-pools, Benjamin made peace with living it up in the sprinkler with Midnight. Brandi, of course, wanted no part of this silliness. He also decided to scope out the dog bowls, I was a little concerned that he was maybe too interested in this. This morning, he watched Midnight eating, and it just looked like he may have wanted his own little bowl of kibbles!
Our weekend did have a cloud hanging over-- we had some very sad news Saturday morning about a girl at David's school who lost her little brother. This little boy's name was Matthew and he was just about Benjamin's age. Benjamin had even "chatted" with him at a recent basketball tournament. Little Matthew was run over by his next door neighbor's car Friday night after our high school graduation. This tragedy has just rocked our little town. As a mother of a toddler, I have just squeezed Benjamin a little more the last few days. David went and visited the family and said that they are just trying to cope as best they can. Please keep the Cisneros family in your prayers. Please also pray for their next door neighbor, Tommy, as he is overwhelmed with guilt and struggling as well. I couldn't imagine being in either of their positions.
Please also keep David in your prayers as he closes out this school year and prepares for the next.
Thank you all.

Weekly Update

This week is already in full swing, it seems like it should already be Friday! It is the last week of school for Muleshoe, so David is starting to wind things down before summer school begins. Today was a big day for Benjamin. Not only did he turn 20 months old today-- he also had a very fun time in Lubbock with his pal, Jaden. We went to church in Abilene with Jason and Jami West and now they are up in our neck of the woods, Snyder, to be exact. Shortly before we moved to Muleshoe, they had Jaden and three months ago they added Jaxon to their family. Jami and I met up at a large park with all the boys (the little boys, the big boys had to work) and a picnic for a fun time. Although we didn't get to visit as much as we would have liked (chasing after toddlers somehow limits conversation), we had a great time watching Jaden and Benjamin play on the playground. It was also fun to meet little Jaxon-- he's already getting so big! Jaden enjoyed all of the fun features of the actual play area, while Benjamin seemed to enjoy running after the ducks. As I was talking to Jami as she was packing up, we both agreed that if anyone told us four years ago at one of our infamous Abilene "Diva Lunches" that four years from that moment, the two of us would be at a park in Lubbock, standing by Jami's new minivan after playing for a couple of hours with our three boys, we would have said you are nuts! And after closely seeing the cool gadgets in that minivan, I'm ready to drive one myself! We also agreed that back then, we never would have pictured ourselves in minivans! Funny how the road of life takes you.
The rest of the week is probably going to be pretty busy, too! We are excited that Sam and Arly (David's youngest brother and his wife) are coming up for the holiday weekend. That should be a lot of fun for all of us, we can't wait!
Well, I am sunburned and tired-- not the best-feeling combo. I think it's time to turn in.
Have a great week!

Growing Up too Fast

I've been helping out with our church's upcoming Senior Sunday and it's really got me to thinking about how quickly Benjamin is already growing up. It seems like it was just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. I looked at all the baby pictures of our seniors and thought, wow, their parents probably thought the time wouldn't pass as quickly as it has. I know that sooner than later there will be a day that we no longer cuddle up and read Goodnight Moon or Green Eggs and "Sam". I know that this little guy isn't always going to be giddy at the railroad crossing when he hears a "choooo choooooooo". I know that Elmo songs will soon be a thing of the past (I'm pretty much okay with this one). One day, Benjamin will be where our church's seniors are. They year 2022 is just around the corner!

Weekly Update

This week has gotten off to a great start-- make that a start. David threw out his back last week and is still recuperating. He is going to physical therapy this week and technically should not be going to work, but we all know there is only a week and a half of school left!

Benjamin was extremely excited about his Monday morning trip to the zoo with his pal, Sully. Imagine our surprise when Koti and I pull up to the zoo and realize that it is closed on Mondays. After a half an hour car trip over there with two toddlers, all we could do is laugh at ourselves. We ended up at the park-- for about ten minutes. It was so chilly, we just sort of gave up. We took ourselves to Wal-mart and then ate our picnic lunch over at the nearby "Java Loft." For some reason it never occurred to either of us to find out ahead of time if they were open!

Benjamin's noggin is healing up well. Most of you know that he took a tumble last week and ended up in the ER getting the liquid stitches. It certainly hasn't slowed him down a bit, though.

Currently, we are all ready for the summer. I am one of the co-coordinators of our church's VBS this year and that has been keeping us hopping! We have also been working on the yard a lot. We have added a vegetable garden this year and can't wait to enjoy the rewards! Benjamin just loves being outside, so any time we can, we're heading out back to work (or play).

That's all for now.

It's About Time

Well, we finally did it. We finally created a blog! I feel so....current! We are so excited that we have a new way to keep up with our family and friends. Sometimes it can be difficult living miles away from family and any new way to keep in touch with those we love is a good thing. Blog on.