Cute pics and a re-do

I have been wanting to get some good pics of all the kids, so on Sunday while the kids were dressed all cute, I got some.




Kylan 6 years old


Caleb 4 years old


Hannah 2 years old


Olivia 7 months old

I also had a high chair that has been through all the kids. The cover on it was cracking and a little beat up. So I took a vinyl table cloth that I already had and I made a new cover. So voila! There you have it! I can be frugal if I really try :) Yeah for me!!!

Poor, poor Caleb

At his last eye appointment, the doctor prescribed a drop for his good eye. It blurs the vision so he won't be able to peek out of the eye patch if he tried. We tried it out on Monday morning and he complained about it being blurry all day. Then we check it this morning and it is still dialated and he says it's still blurry. We only put in one drop yesterday. So today I put a drop in my eye to see if it is different for an adult and how long it lasts. After only a few hours, I was done. It's really annoying not being able to see, dang it! And if I think about it, Caleb really can't see out of his bad eye, so blurring the good eye can't be any fun right? So no wonder the kid is cranky! I had a dumb mommy moment, so I thought I would share it, for a good laugh :) I have been spending most of the day walking around with my one eye closed because it's no fun with it fuzzy. I sure can sympathize with Caleb now, and maybe I won't be so hard on him now.....well, we'll have to see about that. :)

What time is it?

Summertime!

We have been beating the heat at the Kimber-Lea pool. It's fun and wears the kids out. We definately have to have somewhere to go in this Texas weather.



Caleb in the water


Miss C showing off Olivia


Kylan playing around


Miss C with Hannah, don't they look like they could be sisters? Their hair is the same color :)

A little comparison

This is Hannah at about 8 months.


This is Olivia at 7 months, in the same outfit.

The picture doesn't show it, but I see a lot of similarities. But I also have other pictures to compare :)

Father's Day

Nate got a little spoiled for Father's Day. At least I think it's spoiled since I get the Anniversary/Birthday/Mother's Day celebrations all balled into one, but I'm not complaining, really I'm not :)

We made him a yummy lasagna with garlic bread for dinner. Then Kylan, and I made cookie cake, it was delicious! It probably would have looked better in the picture if I had waited until it cooled completely to frost it, but I was anxious to eat it :)


This may be a new family favorite, it had oreos in it, so who would'nt love it?


The kids colored him a service coupon book.


It turned out cute.


It has coupons for taking out the trash, and helping with yard work too. They were excited to give it to him.

He got an rc Apache helicopter also, which the boys are in love with as well. Then he got some bbq tools, and some clothes. It turned out pretty well.


This was my first Father's Day without my Dad. It was rough, but I tried to make the best of it and send him my own message.


I decided to send my Dad a balloon with my message. It was hard, but I had to do something.


I had to steer clear of the power lines.


It may have ended up in someone else's backyard, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Let's rewind a bit....

Caleb had his eye surgery in the middle of May. It was actually done on my birthday, the 10th. But who needs to celebrate when your an adult, right? Anyway, back to the beginning. We had to go to a pre-op appointment on May 3rd, so we drove to Houston with 3 out of 4 kids. Kylan got to stay home and sleep at a friends' house so he wouldn't miss another day of school (we were going on vacation the next week)So some Midland friends were nice enough to take him for us. It was a long drive, but we made it :) Lucky for us we have some fabulous friends that live in Houston, and they were even willing to put up with us and let us stay with them. You rock Bass family! So the pre-op went well, as well as it can with two extra kids. The girls were actually really good considering how long we were there.

Then a week later....Caleb, Olivia, and I flew to Houston on Mother's Day so we could be ready for the surgery on Monday. Let's just say the flight was something I wouldn't repeat. I will not fly with another baby again. Olivia did not like the pressure in her ears and she has a very high pitched scream cry that she unleashed on the poor other passengers. I finally got her to go to sleep on my lap and got to enjoy a little of the flight. We got to Houston and I have to mention I probably looked like a pack mule, I had Olivia strapped on me in the baby carrier, the diaper bag, a carry-on bag, and the baby's carseat with Caleb's booster seat in it....so as I was waddling through the airport, the pilot of our plane we just arrived on took pity on me and said he could help me carry some stuff. Well he ended up taking me all the way across the airport and to the desk for the rental car. He was so sweet! I'm so glad there are nice people still around :) I got to the desk and it was closed so I had to go wait for the shuttle to take me to Enterprise, we didn't have to wait too long, but boy was my back aching :) We got our rental car and headed out to our friends house. It was so nice of them to let us barge in on their Mother's Day celebrations, Thanks again! And I was even given the royal treatment, my lunch was made special, and the sandwich was great! Then we had a great dinner too! Nate totally got off the hook on that one :) We didn't get to visit for too long because we had to get up extra early for the surgery, we had to be there at 6:15 am, yes that's am people! I had to be up before the sun and it wasn't easy. I didn't sleep well, because I kept thinking of the surgery going bad and then waking up to check on Caleb. Then my friends dog decided she wanted some attention and came in to lick my hand, it was 4 in the morning. I wasn't really asleep anyway, so I got up and started getting ready to go. My friend was super duper nice to me because she was willing to watch Olivia for me while I was with Caleb (the hospital had told us that no siblings were allowed). So lucky for me she was on baby food and she took a bottle. She was really good for her and I am so glad since my friend had her own baby to take care of. This story is getting so long.....anyway we head out for the surgery, check in at 6:15 and we waited....and waited....and waited....his surgery was at 9:15. The hospital at least had a bunch of toys, otherwise I would have gone bonkers. Finally they took him back and I got to wait some more. It wasn't really that long, but it was hard. They finally took me back to recovery and that was the hardest part. He took about an hour to wake up and it was weird seeing him like that. He was so sweet and peaceful :) I'm sure glad I didn't have the baby with me, she would have been hard to take care of. I had to carry him out because his legs were really wobbly. We went straight to my friends house to get ready since we were flying out that afternoon to go to California for our trip. I ended up losing track of time and left too late, I got stuck in traffic and still had to drop off the rental car. Let's just say I was a basket case. I just about had a mental breakdown on the freeway. I thought for sure I was going to miss the flight. Anyway, it all worked out, after a lot of sweat and tears. I tried booking in across the airport, but had to carry even more that time since Caleb could barely walk. I added his backpack, and a hospital bag to my already overloaded self. It was a sight I'm sure. We flew to Phoenix, then on to Orange county. I have sort of blocked it out of my head since it went about the same as the other flight. Olivia does not like flying, and I felt really bad for the people around us, but I did try everything possible to keep her happy. What do you do, huh? Can't please all the people all the time. It was a rough couple days and I was ready for bed when we finally got to California. Did I mention it was my birthday that day? Oh boy! Nate and the family were nice though and had a cake for me and I got to open presents before bed, so it wasn't a total loss :) All I know is that I will never do it again :) It sure was an adventure.

After we got back to the real world, we had preschool graduation to attend.


Caleb now gets to move on up to Kindergarten! Way to go buddy!


I can't believe how fast time flies!