Greg & Rosanne's Visit!

My brother Greg and his wife Rosanne came to Houston for Spring Break! It has been fun visiting with them! The girls have been having a blast hanging out with their cousins. Here are a few pics from last night's dinner party.

Victoria's District Track Meet Finals

Victoria had her last track meet this past week. She threw discus and shotput. Out of the seven schools present, 21 girls, Tori took 3rd place in shotput! Way to go Tori!

Success! Bronze metal!

Ron's Birthday!

We had a quiet party at home this year to celebrate Ron's birthday. Best gift? Definitely the marshmallow gun from the girls or was it the new lawn mower? Nah! definitely the Marshmallow gun!

Yes, that is a blue cake.....it's his favorite color!

I'm on a roll...."Mother of the Year"...again.

I now truly believe that the last child in a family gets well let's see how can I say this tactfully....screwed? The first children in a family get a Mother who is on the ball, organized and enjoys each day of their child's life. She takes them to Library story times, fun activities, play dates at the park, and she sees that they know their ABC's and can read and write their name before kindergarten. But the last kid...gets a tired worn out Mother who doesn't see everything (the eyes in the back of her head are going blind) and doesn't think as clearly as she use to. Mom's getting old.

So, today as Mom and the 5 darling kids are climbing out of the the mini van...Mom thinks as she looks at her three year..."What a big girl she is becoming...oh she looks so cute climbing out of the van all by herself." (mom's singing to herself in her head --"La, La, La...") Then what does mom do? Slams her van door shut and locks it too...Mom stops for half a second and thinks...why is the three year old crying? Why is she crying so hard she is barely breathing? Why is she crumpling into my arms? Oh crud...Mom steps back to take in the big picture and assesses the surroundings. AH!! That's why...three of the 3 year old's fingers are slammed in the door nice and tight! Mom thinks to herself, "Open the door! Open the door!" BUT, the doors are locked. *Panic*...Mom thinks to herself... *Panic*... how do I unlock this door? (haha how many times have I unlocked this door before and right now in an emergency, I can't remember? DU-UH!)

Long story short...fingers swollen, luckily doctor says they are not broken, doctor has to drill into nail bed to relieve the blood and pressure. Not a good day today...I wonder when I will get my official "Mother of the Year" certificate. I must have earned it by now.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

Ding dong! Our doorbell rang last night while I was making dinner. Strange, I thought. Typically the kids are running in and out the front and back door this time of day...who could that be ringing the door bell (and they only rang it one time?!) it must be a neighbor?

Well, who do I find standing there? My sweet little 3 year old. I opened the door and I found this....

She said,"These are for you Mom. I love you!" WOW! Talk about making my day!

Now, I wonder...whose yard did she pick them from? ;O)

Victoria's 2nd Track Meet & Induction into NJHS!

Last night Tori had another track meet in Conroe. We barely made it in time to see her throw her last discus. Out of the 5 schools attending - 15 girls, Tori took 4th place in discus.
Her next event was shot put. We were able to watch her practice and then throw her three. I was so excited for her! She threw 26.11 and took FIRST PLACE in the event!!! That was so great seeing that there were so many competitors. Some of these gals were HUGE (and scary) and up walks Tori all dainty like and heaves this huge throw! The other competitors all said,"WOOOW!" I knew it must have been a great throw to get a reaction like that. She was especially excited to beat a gal on her own team who always seems to take first.

When we went back over to the stadium to pick up her things, bunches of friends would ask her,"how did you do?" She proudly told them she took first place. The kids were all patting her on the back and telling her how great that was. Her coach was really excited too! Tori was beaming...and so was I. :O)


She is in the pit, bent over getting ready to throw. (it's hard to see) (click on pic to enlarge)

See that huge girl behind Tori? That is the gal who is on her team and they are always battling it out for first and second place at practices. This gal is sort of what you'd call a bully...and she wasn't too happy that Tori beat her. :)

After the track meet, we raced back down the freeway to the school so Victoria could be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. Ron and I sat there beaming again as we watched our sweet daughter make another great accomplishment! What a great day! I will not soon forget it. Way to go Tori! We are so proud of you! :) xoxo

She is on the bottom row, front and center in the white shirt. (the tall gal)

Victoria's 1st Track Meet

Victoria went to a Tri-school track meet last week in The Woodlands. She threw Shot put and Discus. She walked away with 2nd place in the Shot put Event! Way to go Tori!

Drunk or Vertigo?

This past week I have been dealing with Benign Positional Vertigo. I have had this sickness only one other time in my life, and that was five years ago. I would not wish this sickness upon anyone!


It all began last week when I shifted my position in bed during the night and rolled over. I opened my eyes and the room was spinning. As I tried to move, the nausea hit and I knew right away what was wrong with me. I was quite upset because when I had this a few years back, it lasted for about a month. It was awful.


So, after seeing my ENT and having her do the Epley Maneuver on my head, things still did not improve as quickly as I'd hope. It has been a long week, of not moving my head in any direction and sleeping in a sitting up position. Thankfully, I am beginning to feel a little better this morning. I am still woozy and feel like I am tipping over to one side...but at least it is not as bad as last week. One good thing that came out of this...I did get all of my shows that I have DVR'd watched and I can tell you anything about any episode on HGTV! ;-)


If you have had BPV, and you have found something that has worked for you in easing the symptoms, please leave me a note. Thanks!

New Blog!

I created a new blog today...
http://toilettraining4toddlers.blogspot.com/

Red Velvet Cookies!

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

These so easy and delicious!

1 Box red velvet cake mix (just the mix, no other ingredients)

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 Eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix ingredients until combined.

Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto baking sheet about two inches apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Cool.

Cream Cheese Filling

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 8 oz. Package cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 1lb. Box of confectioner's sugar

1 tsp Vanilla
In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla.
Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.

Makes about 24 cookies or 12 cookie sandwiches

Sweet Valentine!

This past Valentines Day, I think, was one of the best ever. It began by Victoria and I meeting a bunch of the young women at the church to go to various ward members homes to sing to them "You are my Sunshine", deliver flowers, candy bags and tape hearts all over their front door! It was such pleasure to watch the receivers glow with joy!

The girls had their volleyball game, then Ron took all of us out to dinner! It was so sweet of him to give us each a sweet card and dinner. Later he and I went out just the two of us to shop! We had such a great time! I hope y'all had a wonderful VALENTINES DAY! xoxo

Another Win!

The girls had a volleyball game this past Saturday, and won all three of their games! Nice job ladies! Here are the pics...

Victoria serving.

Messed Up My Head?!

I did not know a Hurricane could messed with my mind, as much as Hurricane Ike did to mine. We were blessed not to have any hurricane damage to our home, but little did I know, I think I have some damage done to my head! HAHA!

The other night we had a severe thunder and lightening storm blow through in the middle of the night. It was the second major rain storm that we have had since Ike hit in September.

I woke up a bit scared as I listened to the wind howl and the the rain pulverize my windows along with bright flashes of lightening. After a long while, I finally fell back to sleep, but woke up to the power being out...again, the worry began...I had a little flash back of having no power for 13 1/2 days after Ike hit! :O)

I hope I can get over my new found mental craziness...shall we call it Hurricanitis? :O) This stinks!

To read more about our two weeks with no power please see my blog archives September, 2008.

Here is my favorite post on the hurricane... The video is of the tail end of the storm, at this point the storm was quite weak. http://rdvccbt.blogspot.com/2008/09/hurricane-pics.html

Volleyball Begins!

To keep Victoria in shape while in the off season, we sign her up to play volleyball wherever and whenever we can. She is currently on a team with two of her friends from the junior high school team. The three work well together, as if they can read each others minds.

The team they played this last weekend looked as if they were from the Amazon.

I will admit, when we walked into the gym, and saw the other team...they each looked around 5'8 +. I really doubted we would win and we'd surely be at the ER later in the day! haha!

Well, our team ended up winning all three games! Woo-who! I was so excited for them. way to go gals!

Make a Smilebox postcard

How much liquid Motrin do 5 flu'ish kids consume in a week?

Last week, my kids one by one began coming down with the flu! It is a mother of five's worst nightmare! I don't think Samsung planned for their WF 337 washer & dryer to do that many loads of clothing in a day. Possibly, the next time Samsung would like to test a washer and dryer before market, they will think of my family?

Is it possible to do 8 loads of laundry a day and dry it all too? Why, yes it is! Now, ask me if it's all folded and put away? ! HAHA! Nope. The towels and sheets still are not folded, they lay on a heap in my room on the floor, closely resembling Mt. Everest...but I do plan an attacking those before long.

A great big thank you goes out to Victoria for bringing this lovely bug into our home...it has truly been a joy cleaning up after all of you this past week!

xoxo Mom :)

PS the answer is...7 bottles of Motrin -- each girl ran a high fever for 5 days. Ya...it was a long week for me.

What Time is it?

So, I took the plunge...I signed onto Facebook. What was I thinking?? This is addictive!

I was laughing this morning when I was logging on...my home phone was ringing, my BlackBerry was bleeping saying I had a text message, I had emails in the inbox, the voicemail light was flashing, and Tiffany was calling me from the living room...so you all know where I am going here right? I think I am on technology overload...but, I am having so much fun on Facebook...I have found so many old friends from elementary school through high school, church youth groups, extended family and BYU! I have so many emails, I don't know if I will ever get through them! It has been great catching up with all of you and walking down memory lane.

YW Camp Kick-off Fun!

This last Friday and Saturday myself and 11 other brave adults took a caravan of young women on a 25 hour, 530 mile tour of fun around the Texas Hill Country. Meaning: we left town around 4:30pm, arrived in Austin around 9pm, stayed up until 3am laughing and playing games, up at 6am for breakfast and out the door by 7:30. Not bad for about 30 people and only 3 bathrooms! We then drove to Enchanted Rock State Park. It was really pretty and the yw seemed to have a great time hiking and enjoying the scenery. Here is a link to the park!
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/enchanted_rock/

Last Baskeball Game of the Season!

Last night was Tori's last game. They played their rival team and...lost. Oh well, that's okay, Tori had some good moments in the game and we are so proud of her for trying out for the team and making it! For a gal who had NEVER played b-ball before, she sure has done good!

Last night for the first time, I actually got on video, Tori making a basket! I was so excited!! It seems, each time she scored this season, I either had the camera off or I had forgot the camera at home! Haha, remember...you are reading the Mother of the Year's blog!

So, what's next on this young woman's agenda??? TRACK & YMCA VOLLEYBALL. Volleyball begins tonight and Track starts in two weeks. She will be running the 100 meters and throwing the Discus. Wow! Tori, in my eyes you are incredible! Way to be!

In the videos below, Tori is #31. She has the pony tail with ribbons and she's the pale white chick!

"She Shoots, She Scores!"


Steals the ball!