Awesome Morning

This morning while we were standing in the driveway waiting for the bus we completed our usual morning routine: hugs and kisses for everyone and I always give a few words of encouragement for a wonderful day and a quick reminder to be a good girl and pay attention so she is ready to learn. Well the bus pulls up and Olivia climbs aboard, just then, the bus driver Miss Alice, whom Livie really likes waves me to the bus. This is rarely a good thing. In the few steps to the bus, my mind is racing with all the horrible things that my "spirited" child has been doing. Miss Alice smiles and says "What do you feed Olivia?" I'm thinking oh Lord what has she been doing? She continues. "Olivia is the best child on the bus, she is so well behaved. I don't know how you do it." I simply reply, "We take her to church and we just do our best." She then says "I wish all the kids on the bus acted like Olivia, she is an angel." I thanked her, pulled my mouth up off the ground and walked away. My heart swelled as I passed this wonderful info on to my parents and Rick.

As a parent you do your best. There are no books, no websites, and no television shows that can accurately tell you how to be a parent. They offer advice, which is nice, but their ideas don't always work with MY child. I try to be a good mom, I really do, and I want her to grow into a responsible Christian woman, but I always question myself. Am I too lenient? Am I too strict? How to you reach that perfect balance? If you know, tell me, because I sure don't.

It is nice however to get a small word of encouragement to let you know that what you are doing is not in vain. I HAVE A WELL BEHAVED CHILD ON THE BUS!!!!!!! That's right I'm yelling it out loud so all can hear. My child is doing what I taught her and it's awesome.

Dancer

This is Olivia's new baby. His name is Dancer. She loves him and he loves her. He is kind and gentle with her and loves it when she rides him, which is almost every night after school. Speaking of which, school is going very well, and Olivia loves everything about it.

I have been remiss

I know that I haven't blogged in a while, but I promise that I will try to cut a little time out to update a little more regularly. Things have been crazy. My Grandma passed not long after Mother's day, and of corse our family in Nebraska felt that they needed to make that experience just as painful and horrible as possible. That is all I'm going to say about that retched situation, except for the fact that we will not be going to Nebraska again to see any of them.

A lot has happened and I will do my best to fill you all in with pics of everything.

My Baby is Growing Up

In the period of 5 days, my baby got registered for school and lost her first two baby teeth. I don't know if my heart can take it. She isn't my little girl anymore. I know that technically she is still little, but soon she will be in school, and I will no longer have the control as to what she hears and is involved in. All I can do is be the best Christian mom I can be to her and spend a lot of time on my knees.

Introducing Moses

Moses is our new Guinea Pig. He is still a baby. He is about 2 months old in this pic, and is the size of your hand. He is now a little bigger at 3 months old. He is so sweet and just a ton of fun to play with.

Prayer Request

Sometimes I wonder if I could just go to sleep for about a week and hopefully when I wake up, everything will have fixed itself. Things for about the past 3 weeks have really sucked rocks. Between a sickness that has traveled the family and caused an emergency visit to Olivia's doctor with a double ear infection and a throat infection, to a refriderator on the fritz, to the death of my dog, to a grandma with serious health problems. Mix in with that tons of work, little sleep and a house that looks like a hurricane went through it. Nneedless to say, I'm exhaused and on the verge of tears most of the time. I know that eventually things will work out, but in this moment, it's hard to see light in all the darkness. In fact, I'm beating myself up right now, because I have so much to do, and should be up working and not taking a break at the computer.

Please, if you could remember us in your prayers it would be wonderful, I need some lifting up. I appreciate any good thoughts and prayers you could send our way.

Introducing Daisy

Well, we adopted a new puppy from a shelter, and her name is Daisy.  She is the exact opposite of what we were expecting.  She is a fireball.  She has attitude and even though she is only 2 months old she has lots of spunk.  She is also extremely sweet, smart and loves to play.  She will never replace Buck, but she has filled a hole in our hearts that we all needed and she is indeed a welcome and wonderful new member of our family.

McNay Art Museum

We recently went to the McNay Art Museum and I couldn't help but shoot a few pics.

In Loving Memory

This morning Buck died.  Apparently he had a twisted bowel and fortunately he died very quickly and didn't suffer.  It's really hard to explain to Olivia that nothing we did or didn't do made her puppy die.  She just doesn't understand why her animals keep dying.  I just don't understand either.

Dolly

Last week Olivia's Dolly died.  Livie got her when she was 5 months old, so needless to say it was really hard.  Fortunately Livie understands that eventually everything dies, and that when we are sad we need to lean on God and He'll help us, she did, and He did.  This was the first time that I watched my daughter's heart break.  I'm sure that I will see it again and again, but I was hoping that it wouldn't come so soon.  I have never felt such a pain for my child and at that moment I would have done anything to take it away.  I guess that just means I'm a mom.

Dolly

Buck

This is Buck.  Surprisingly he looks nothing like his mother.  Apparently dad was a Rot.  Fine with us.  He is the sweetest dog you could ever know, and I believe he may be part elephant, just look at his feet and you'll understand.  I will continue with more pictures as he grows.

Puppies

As you may or may not know, about 2 months ago a friend gave us a Brittany Spaniel one day before giving birth to 9 puppies.  Yes, she is still my friend.  Here are some of the pictures of the puppies.  We found homes for all of them but one, Charlie Buckets (AKA Buck).  He is staying with us.

Puppies

Santa

Livie was so excited to get to meet the "real" Santa.  She ran up to him and threw her arms around him and didn't hesitate to sit on his lap (unlike every other year).  It was really cool.

Santa

Ashley

We recently had a wonderful visit from Ashley, Rick's youngest daughter from his first marriage.  She and Olivia love each other and are best friends.  They are so lucky to have each other, and we are blessed to have them.

Japanese Sunken Gardens

Right before Christmas we went to the zoo and the sunken gardens.  Of course while we were there we took pictures.  These are Rick and my favorites.

Japanese Sunken Gardens

Christmas 2008

This year, instead of going to a photography studio and getting the standard Christmas picture, I decided to take Olivia to mission San Jose and see what we could get on our own.  I was hoping that we would get on picture good enough to send out, well, we got tons of amazing shots and it was really hard to pick just one.  Here are the ones that didn't quite make the cut.  I hope that you enjoy them as much as we had taking them.

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008