Things to be thankful for in 2008
1. Watching the wonder, awe & discovery of Patrick in pre-K
2. Patrick insisting on writing his own name and knowing how to spell mine
3. Patrick’s first seasons in soccer & tee ball
4. Coaching a game of Patrick’s tee ball and getting pictures
5. Discovering that I am a RUNNER
6. Finishing 3rd in the Turkey Trot
7. Year end workout totals – over 700 miles
8. Finally reaching single digit sizes - totally skipping size 8 – hello size 6!!!
9. Cleaning out my closet and giving away double-digit clothes
10. Being a bridesmaid in Jennifer and Eric’s wedding
11. Being nominated sassiest bridesmaid
12. Pink zebra print shoes
13. Being a bridesmaid in Stacy & Champ’s wedding
14. Pink leopard print wine glass hostess gift from Stacy
15. Tech win over #1 Texas – Triumphant "I Hate Eric Fisher" Day
16. Amazing family pictures (Thanks Jamie!)
17. Becoming a full-fledged “texter”
18. Getting an iPod
19. Strengthening friendships
20. Rekindling old friendships
21. Beginning new friendships
22. Taking the FaceBook plunge
23. Learning how to enjoy “alone time”
24. Re-discovering Dr. Seuss & sharing his rhymes with Paddy
25. Asking Coach Leach to be my Valentine
26. Being there when Coach Hays announced his retirement
27. Spending special moments with Mammy before she “made her date”
28. Completing the annulment process, it being affirmed in the Lubbock Diocese
and sent on to San Antonio Archdiocese
29. Michael Crabtree, Graham Harrell, Baron Batch and Stephen Hamby
30. My homemade Tech tshirt dress with the skull and cross bones ruffle made by my mom
31. Listening to Patrick’s versions of “Crank that Crabtree” and “The Matador Song”
32. My Trailblazer being paid off!!!
33. Sunday “dinners” with Grandpa/Great Papa/Daddy/Walter

I'm sure there are plenty more blessings I have to be thankful for. . .know they are in my heart, as are you.
MAY THE BLESSING OF THE LORD BE UPON YOU!!!!

All aboard The Polar Express!

The Ploar Express came to Lubbock this year! So Mom and Dad treated us all to the trip. Patrick reading the book before we left.
Us with the conductor. Patrick now wants to be a conductor when he grows up. And a fireman.
He was most psyched about the hot chocolate.
The chocolatiers and the elves encouraged dancing in the aisles. They didn't have to encourage Patrick much. He danced all up and down the aisle. And played air guitar.
Watching Patrick talk to Santa was the best moment of the night. His TRUE BELIEF and innocence brought tears to my eyes. Then I laughed because P was convinced that we went through Africa to get to the North Pole - and he told Santa this.

My next favorite moment of the night was when Doodah made up her own version of the 12 Days of Christmas 8th day. She sang - loudly - "8 Lords a-milking." Uh, okay Doodah. So we sang the rest of the verses like that. She also had her own version of "Up on the Housetop." Apparently the reindeer in her version were Nixon and Dixon instead of Vixen and Blitzen. Love the holiday Marsha-isms.

Random pictures from the Fall

Patrick as the "keeper of the keg" at the Baylor game. He makes me proud.
Me, my folks, Josh and Patrick (with his eyes closed) at the Will Rogers statue before Baylor.
Me, Josh, Meghan and Patrick (again covering his eyes - he hates being in pictures these days) at Will for Baylor.
Meghan decided to wear shoulder pads to the game (she was Crabtree for Halloween and had them). Before the game she decided to take them off, and this was her attempt at doing it on her own. She was all flailing around the tailgate looking like the Headless Raider Fan. We laughed HARD!
The Tyes and the Kittens post game.
Me and Patrick at Halloween. Me in the Darth Momma shirt.
Luke, I am your Mother.
I LOVE this SMILE! So him!
Who needs blocks or legos when you have grapes and toothpicks! Patrick made about 6 "airplanes" with toothpicks and grapes at the Homecoming tailgate party.
Look at those sticky fingers!

Turkey Day with My Turkey

Patrick started "hunting turkeys" on Tuesday evening. His catch is in the pickle jar.

He forgot his apron, so he had to put it on to cook them. Then he decided that chefs don't wear shirts when they cook. I told him Uncle Josh was probably the only chef who cooked without a shirt. But he had to wear his turkey hat he made at school.

Then we needed more turkeys - the stuffed beanie baby-sized one wasn't enough. So he colored and cut out more.
And then grilled them. This was Tuesday night. We had to take the (water)gun he used to hunt, his "turkey finder," grill, apron and jar of turkeys to Doodah & Papa J's to help cook Thanksgiving Day dinner.

This was all going on while I put together the Christmas trees - without directions. The branches are color-coded and the directions weren't in the box, so it was pretty much a guessing game. Yes, I tried going by length, but they were all very similar. It seriously took me 2 hours to put 6 layers of branches together. Once I got the branches where I thought they went, the plugs didn't line up. Two hours and several glasses of wine later, I came to the conclusion that Christmas tree decorating and PMS aren't a good mix.

Mommy I'm Proud of You and 2 more WOWs from today

This is going to be a long post.
1. Patrick and I were driving home from my parents' house after Thanksgiving day. Out of nowhere he says "Mommy, I'm proud of you." As I tear up I say why, and he said because you won your race. Which leads me to #2. . .

2. I ran in the 2 mile Lubbock Turkey Trot. I came in 3rd place in the 30-35 age range. I just wanted to run, I never expected to place. Adling was the one who encouraged me to stay until they announced the winners. 19:02 is what I ran. As cheesy as I am, I wore my medal all day around my family. I am still surprised I didn't have to surrender it to Paddy. But back to #1, he is proud of me. And it makes me smile that I make him proud.

3. This is the real WOW moment of the day. Long story short, I called 911 for one of my neighbors. I checked in on her today and I told her I was glad she was able to spend today with her family. She held my face in her hands and called me an angel and said she was able to spend the day with her faimily because of me. WOW! WOW!

Ther are so many things - little things and BIG THINGS that I have to be thankful for. . . my son, my mom, my dad, my brother, my loved ones), my faith, my house, my health, my job and the list goes on and on. . . I hope this feeling of gratitude continues to fill my heart - and yours.

This one's for Michelle. . .

10 Years Ago I . . .
1. lived and died working for Tech athletics. I kinda missed those days. . .
2. drove a red Eclipse. It's true that red cars attract police and you get more tickets. Atleast that's my story. It know couldn't have anything to do with the driver.
3. worked for Tech Athletics. Getting paid to watch baseball.
4. took a roadtrip to the Big XII baseball tournament in OKC while on crutches with Matty. He was such a good man to put up with my antics.
5. discovered the art of heckling. Thank you Snead, Gus, Dr. Gus, et. al.

5 Things on Today's To-Do List
1. Trekking class - finally I can go back on Tuesdays!
2. Event checklist for Groundhog Shadow Day
3. Watch the 3 episodes of CSI:NY I have DVRd
4. Finish laundry
5. Bake some chicken

5 Snacks I Enjoy
1. Honey Teddy Grahams
2. Grapes
3. String cheese
4. Goldfish (I'm glad that Patrick shares)
5. Clementines

5 Places I've Lived
1. 79th St, Lubbock
2. 93rd St, Lubbock
3. 324 Wall Hall, TTU campus
4. N. Erskine, Lubbock
5. the apartments that Adam managed on 4th street (I can't remember the name)

5 Jobs I've Had
1. Cocktail watitress/back-up singer at Kyle's
2. Red Raider Camp/First Year Experience Coordinator
3. Development Officer, Covenant Children's Hospital
4. Science Teacher - just kidding (Mandy, that one's for you)
5. IT Division Event Manager

Now the rest of you, TAG!

The New 'Do

I cut 6 INCHES off! I am still learning how to "do" it - I've never been goo at hair. But I am loving how sassy it makes me feel!

I also went shopping this weekend for size 6s. MAN did THAT feel good! Away with the 10s. HELLO 6s!

OS who???

Patrick loves playing in the truck beds at tailgates! This game he played with this skeleton the whole time. He was hilarious.

He also found the roasted corn. This was his first ear.

This was his second ear.

And then he had to have popcorn.

Me and Jenn tailgating. This ice sculpture made it almost not like we were in a parking lot!

These are the people that sit behind us. The guys were talking about taking Patrick hunting and camping. He was all about that idea. We were also invited on their bus trip to Norman.

Last day being a Little Buck

Patrick's last soccer game was Saturday. Here he is with his team and their trophies.

He's so proud of his trophy. His favorite part is that the ball spins on top.

This story has to be told

I ordered my "Christmas dress" from Ann Taylor online this week. It came today and it was TOO BIG! YAY! Officially a size 6!!! But that's not the story.

I called Ann Taylor to see if I could do an even exchange for a size 6. The guy on the phone was so nice. After he confirmed my address as being in Lubbock, he asked if I was at the Tech-Texas game last week. I said I SURE WAS! And so we talked Tech football and Crabtree and Harrell and Heisman. He said he watched it - in Cincinnati!!! He said it was the game of the year. Then I asked him if he was going to watch tomorrow and he said yes and he was pulling for the Red Raiders to go the whole way! I LOVE IT! I am making Red Raider friends all the way to Cincinnati by exchanging my Christmas dress. GO TECH!! GO B in a SIZE 6! (Sorry for the shameless self plug. I'm really excited!)

Happy Birthday, Meghan!

HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY, MEGHAN!!!
One can never have too many pictures with Raider Red!
And what birthday blog before this momentous RED RAIDER football game would be complete without a picture of Ruffin (I still LOVE that name) and Larry Brown??!!
How 'bout it Red Raiders, let's give Meghan a W for her birthday!
Hugs from Raiderland, girl!

Is he a Rock Star or The Count?

I know one day my son will hate me for this post, but it's too precious - and TOO PATRICK - not to. Please don't question my parenting for posting these pictures. Paul sent me these. Apparently Paddy busted out singing the old Spiderman cartoon song and rocked out with Paul's Guitar Hero guitar. Paul referrenced Risky Business. Yeah. That's my Paddy. I think I have my hands full. (Any one else see a little bit of Uncle Josh in these pictures?)






Last week in school they studied the letter Nn and noctural animals. And his obsession with bats started. Along with the #5 crab and the Double T scoreboard, Patrick has been coloring and cutting out bats. 11 to be exact. Eleven. Ah. Ah. Ah.

ATLC Basement Halloween Hauntings

I forgot to post the picture of me and my co-workers who dressed up.


And my favorite picture of Patrick on Halloween. This was 2005 - his 2nd Halloween. It's going to be hard to beat this costume. Ukulele and all. (He looks so little. Far cry from Luke Skywalker this year.)

How about those #2 RED RAIDERS

Spotted pic! Can someone tell me who is ERIC FISHER??!!

The scoreboard with the almost final score. I too distracted with the W to get the final!

Had to take a sec and tailgate with the fam

Post game at Crossroads with Averi

Me not necessarily hating Eric Fisher.

Halloween

Here is Paddy as Luke Skywalker. (You can tell by his green light sabre.)

We went to the Science Spectrum for their Spooky Science Carnival. He was all about the xylophone. He must have spent 15 minutes rocking out!
He loves riding these little cars.

On the way home, we stopped at Jenn and Eric's. He was sad Ava wasn't there. His sugar high crashed quickly. But not before he got a picture with Jennifer. I'm sad I didn't get a picture of Patrick's sign he made for Eric. I said ERIC FISHER HAS COOTIES! And had a picture of Crabtree. He was very intrigued by the smoke machine.

I made myself a shirt that said "Darth Momma" on the front and "Luke I am your mother" on the back. I am so proud of Kim for wearing the mail carrier costume! AWESOME!

Pumpkin time

We were a little late in picking out our pumpkins this year, so the most creative picture I could think of was to actually put Patrick IN the pumpkin bin. As a rambunctios 4 year old, he loved this!

He was acting like he couldn't get out. There was a bus load of elderly people there from a nearby assisted living facility who really thought he was in danger. So this of course, made him ham it up even more.
They really weren't impressed with me letting him stand on the pumpkins. But I thought this Camptain Morgan-esque pose was a must since he was wearing his pirate shirt.
Patrick's 2 jack-o-lanterns are the ones with faces. Mine is the Double T. Every year I try carving - or scarfing as Paddy says - a Double T and it never turns out right. This year a part fell off and it's being held on by a toothpick. Note to self for next Halloween - don't try carving another Double T even if it IS Tech-UT weekend. GO TECH!