Now and Later

So, I have to blog about Eric's mishap! This is my first about Eric, but I'm sure first of many (you will understand after you read this).
We were on our way to swimming lessons with both boys. Eric decided to eat some candy he found in the console. I had bought Now and Laters for Cade at the gas station earlier that week. When Cade picked them out, I tried to talk him out of them b/c they are way too hard, but he had too have them. I picked up a package of starbursts b/c I knew he wouldn't like them. So he did not like the Now and Laters and ate the starburst instead. Anyways so the Now and Laters sat in the console...I sure wasn't about to eat them!
As Eric was eating the Now and Laters, he started to crunch on something and upon pulling the candy out, realized it was his tooth!! He said, "OMG, I just broke my tooth of on this candy!". I said, "Did you eat a Now and Later? Who in thier adult life eats a Now and Later?? Everyone knows how hard they are!"
Luckily the tooth was already a fake one, so we didn't have to call the Dentist till the next day. However, when he did finally go to his appointment, he called me on his way home and said, "I have bad news." The dentist apparently found a lot of other things going on in his mouth that needed work. Grand total...$2,400.00!!!!! And that's with insurance!!!! I asked if he asked the dentist if we have to pay Now or Later (ha ha)!!

Anyways, I say this is the first of many "Eric Blogs" b/c just in the past year we've had 2 other "Eric accidents". I wasn't blogging when these occurred so I'll fill you in. One was this past fall when Eric went hunting. He pulled down the hatch of our SUV right onto the back of his head and gave himself a 3 inch gash. He decided to stay out for another 5 hours, continuing his hunt, with an open wound. When he got home, he made me inspect it and said we needed to go to the ER. I said, you just spent 5 hours out in the wilderness, with an open wound and you think their going to sew that up??? I don't think so, infection has probably already set in!!
It ended up being fine. We put liquid bandage on it and now he just has a nasty scar.
The other accident occurred last Spring, when he shut his own fingers in his own car door! His fingers swelled really big and you could see the blood behind the nails. Upon googling remedies, he decided to burn a safety pin and stick it on each nail, putting a small hole in the nail, and releasing the blood...SO GROSS!!!! Anyways, they're fine now!
I told him I want to say he's so accident prone...but I don't want to jinx us forever!!!

My Swimming Fish

My littlest fish learns to swim!!! We've been doing lessons this past month and at first Cade didn't want to participate at all (stubborn 3 year old!). Then he realized how much fun Jack was having and started to participate. And now at the end of the session...HE SWIMS!!! We are so proud of him and he is very proud of himself. Hopefully this Summer he will remember and improve!

My big fish also did really well in swimming lessons. Jack already knew how to swim, but I wanted him to burn some of that night time energy! He had really good lessons in Connecticut, where his teacher let him be very independent in the water and he was doing really well. This teacher wouldn't "let him go" quite as much, but he still loved it and seemed to learn a little. He's most proud of his "ice cream scoops". I think we may be looking at the next Michael Phelps...

Mema's House

Hey everyone!! If you've read my facebook page you know I've been kidless for the week. It's been nice. I've done tons of shopping...thank god I have kids normally or I would be broke!!! I've also took naps and slept in (a little). Eric and I have gone out to eat twice and rented movies (that we want to watch), both of which rarely occur.
I will have to say I do miss them. My house is very quiet during the day and it's amazing how clean it stays w/o kids. So at times I have nothing to do!
Anyways my Mom sent some pics of the kids and what they have done without me. They look like they don't miss me near as much as I have missed them!! Two of the pics are from inaugaration day. They made hats and had a parade...so cute! The other little girl is thier cousin Izzy. She's Cade's age. My mom says she is being very politically correct with her black baby in the parade!
The pictures are so cute, I have to share!

Baby Girl Shower

The ladies of Aspendale (at least the ones I know the best) had a baby shower for me over the weekend. It was soooo nice!!! We went to eat out at La Madeliene, had cake, opened gifts and chatted for about 4 hours. It was a nice relaxing evening with the girls! I am so thrilled with all the girly stuff I got, I can't stop looking at it! Everyone was way too nice and Eric and I are very fortunate to have such great neighbors. Thanks ladies!! Here are a few pics of the party. Wish I had more, but my camera died!

Our New Patio

Eric and I had a patio poured this week and it turned out really nice. We needed something, since the one we got was only big enough for our grill. Eric talked to the concrete guys in the neighborhood (Hector and crew) and they came out, gave us an estimate, and then came back and poured all in about 3 days! I know, looking at the pictures you're thinking..."what's the big deal?". But, it will look nice once we add landscaping, maybe some flagstone, a fire pit and some new furniture and it will look just perfect. Of course this will all be a work in progress...so don't expect it took look perfect anytime in the near future.
Anyways...once we got it, Eric and I started thinking back about all the fun times we've had in our backyards with family and friends. I posted some pics of the patio we had in New Braunfels, and the deck we added to our house in West Hartford. Some fun memories from New Braunfels include backyard BBQs, sleeping babies in pack n plays so parents can hang out all night around the fire pit, Jack and Cade's babtism parties, Eric's pet deer "Dinner" hanging out and lots and lots of fun times with friends!! Some fun memories from our West Hartford deck inlcude "deck parties" after the kids are in bed, sitting very close to the patio heater on frigid nights, Easter fun with friends and, once again, many many fun times!!
Hope there's lots of great memories to come on our new patio...

Us in '09

Hey here's a look at us in '09 and a little bit about what we're bringing...
Eric and I working on 8 years of marriage (June 30th). We've actually been together for 10 years!!!! I can't believe how fast it's gone. Here's a look at who we are...
Eric loves his wife, his family, his dog, the Cowboys, duck hunting, his job and organizing everything (including our house, schedules and finances!!)
I love my hubby, my family, reading a good book, magazines and watching Law & Order (at least once a day!)
Jack loves bike riding, swimming, computer time and playing with friends.
Cade loves playing Wii golf, bike riding, lincoln logs, legos and going to school.

Hi Everyone!! Welcome to my blog. First of all, I want to say Happy New Year to everyone! Eric and I both have set resolutions, mainly being to become a healthier family. Of course that includes excercising, eating better and making each other happier! I've also decided to embrace my time at home with my kids and be the best Mom I can be. Apparently, here in TX that means you must blog...so here I am! Another reason though is 2009 is a big year for me and my family and I thought it would be nice to share it with the whole world...or at least the few family members who care to look at my blog! First off, Eric and I are expecting a baby girl (probably our first and last) in March (about 10 weeks from now). Secondly, I'm turning 30 in Febuary, E will be 35! Third, my oldest is starting Kindergarten in the Fall...I can't believe it!!! So you can see we will have a lot of news this year and I hope to share it with all of you. I should mention that I will be going back to work at some point and then I'm not sure if I will be able to keep up with my blog. So, in other words tune in for this year for sure!!!