Nice But Busy Weekend

Friday night we picked out Jacob's costume finally. He decided to be Yoda. Can I just say that there are some really dumb costumes out there. Party City was our first stop and after about 20 minutes of indecision we decided to go to another store. We found a Halloween costume store. We found one Yoda costume left and it was Jacob's size. I was happy with that even though it cost $35! Why does a plastic mask and some cheapo cloth sewn to look like what Yoda wears cost so much? I decided it would be a good idea to post all of Jacob's old costumes on Craigslist and make some money. They are all in great shape so hopefully we'll sell them. I posted a lot of other stuff on their recently hoping to get rid of some stuff and make money at the same time. Craigslist was a great idea by whoever started it.

Saturday morning Jacob had a baseball game at 9 am. I had a Stake meeting from 10-12. So I went to Jacob's game dressed and ready to go to church because I would be leaving early. The score was very close when I left and I later found out that they won, go Red Raiders! After I got home from my meeting (which was amazing) we drove out to Breanna's grave to put flowers in her vase. It was a beautiful day! I love the drive out there I am so thankful that we chose a cemetery that is out of town a little ways. It was a hard day to go and visit. Sometimes I can go and I leave and I'm OK. I guess on Saturday I just needed a really good cry. As time goes one, it will be 2 years in January, I often think about how old Breanna would be and I imagine what she would look like and what she would be doing. It truly is so hard sometimes.

After that we made a quick stop at the grocery store and then Kevin had to go to work. Jacob and I (and my family too) went to the Kimball Art Museum in Ft Worth.

They were having a family festival and free admission on Saturday. They have an exhibit right now called "The Impressionists" that is here from Chicago for a limited time. The paintings were absolutely beautiful. I loved Monet's the most. Jacob recognized a few of the paintings from art class and from a t-shirt his art teacher wears. We also went through the normal exhibit at the museum and Jacob loved the statues and busts on display. Outside they had different things for the kids to do. Jacob chose to draw, of course.

After running around outside and taking pictures we went to the Ft Worth Botanic Gardens. We walked around for a little while and took more pictures (imagine that me taking pictures) and looked around at the beautiful gardens.

I guess this is his Kung Fu Panda move.

Just a pretty flower from the gardens.

I would love to go back again with Kevin and hike through some of the nature trails. It ended up being a great day. Jacob is so fun to be around he always makes us smile with his witty comments. Even though he drives me nuts and I would like to tape his mouth shut sometimes he is such a blessing in our lives. I think my mom loves the fact that Jacob talks SO much. I am a talker, I know surprising right. My mom used to say, "you just talk to hear yourself talk." I tell Jacob that same thing now, too funny.

Sunday was a busy day at church. We practiced for the Primary Program that is next week. The kids did a great job I can't wait to see them on Sunday. I love when they sing! At the very end of the program they are singing "If The Savior Stood Beside Me" and every time they sing it I cry. I'm going to be a mess on Sunday! Sunday after a yummy dinner of roast beef (we did a great job of making it) we went to a baptism. I can't believe in just over 6 months my baby will be getting baptized! We ended the weekend with a nice walk, the dogs loved it.

I love weekends!

Our New Dog?

We have thought about getting another dog for a while. We go back and forth on whether we want to potty train another puppy and what kind of dog should we get. Well my mom has a Cocker Spaniel (which is what Daisy is) named Lizzy. Lizzy has a pooping problem. For some reason every morning she feels it is necessary to poop in the house, only in the morning though. She has never really attached herself to anyone at my mom's house except my sister Olya. Anyway, my mom became increasingly frustrated with her and asked if we wanted her. I never actually thought it would happen. So she calls us on Saturday and asks if we want Lizzy. After talking about it Kevin and I decided no. That would mean double everything: food, grooming, heart worm medicine, shots, etc. On Saturday we stopped at my mom's house to get a few ingredients I was missing to be able to make cookies, I figure it is easier and more convienent to just go to my mom's then to the store (I'm sure she appreciates that). So as I am raiding the kitchen Jacob and Kevin our playing with Lizzy. Well wouldn't you know when we get home Kevin says maybe we should take Lizzy. Daisy does not let Jacob pick her up she will growl at him but Lizzy could care less Jacob can pick her up and carry her around and she if just fine. So we decided to take her for a 2 week trial because I will not have a dog that poops on the floor! Needless to say Jacob was so excited. I made sure that he understood that she might not stay and he said, "don't worry mom I will potty train her." Day 1 no poop, day 2 poop, day 3 poop, at this point I call my mom and tell her this might not work out. Day 4 and 5 no poop! Maybe this will work out, I sure hope so because I think Daisy likes having a friend around and Jacob is loving having both dogs and Kevin and I are too. But there is one other not so great thing about Daisy and Lizzy being together in the same house. Jacob will say to me, "mom Lizzy is giving Daisy piggy back rides." So maybe my dogs are well you know really happy...I get after Daisy every time she does it, she won't do it anymore when I am around I just hope poor Lizzy is safe at home while I'm gone. They seem to be doing well and hopefully Lizzy will continue to go poo outside and not on my carpet.

Can I just say that I am loving the weather, the high today was only supposed to me 68!!! I love the fall!

Mosquitoes Are Horrible!

OK I'm totally going crazy! My right ankle is itching so bad...why you ask. Oh maybe because I have 6 mosquito bites on one ankle, I got them at baseball practice Wednesday night. I guess that is better then 11 (that's right 11!!!) mosquito bites on the top of my feet and toes last week. I walked into my neighbors yard without shoes on to chat for a few minutes and every time I looked down there were mosquitoes on my feet. I have always been one to get a lot of mosquito bites. Once when I was in 10th grade my mom and I were cleaning out the garage and I was in my swimsuit by the end of the night I had over 70 bites. I promise to you that is a true story my mom counted them as she put medicine on them. What is up with mosquitoes liking me so much...I must be really sweet!
Kevin is playing softball with a city league, almost all of the guys on the team are from church. It is so much fun to watch him play.
I'm so glad it is Friday and a three day weekend! I might be able to catch up on some house work because I have an extra day, we'll see.
OK I have to write about a few conversations I had with Jacob this past week. On the way home from Kevin's work (half asleep) Jacob says:
"Mom why does a man and a woman have to be married to have a child."

Me: "Don't you think that every child deserves a mommy and a daddy?" "Plus Heavenly Father wants it to be that way."

I was able to respond to that pretty quickly I felt good about my answer and then Kevin adds, "it takes a man and a woman to have a baby." What...he was happy with my answer no need to add to it and have him ask anymore questions. Luckily for us he was back to sleep before Kevin gave his answer. Later that week Jacob was on the playground at school and I was subbing for another 2nd grade teacher and I had recess duty. He came by me and said something about making out I'm not really sure but I know it had to do with another boy and girl. Later that night I asked, "Jacob what does it mean to make out?"

Jacob: "To go on a date."

Me:"What does it mean to go on a date."

Jacob:"To kiss and hug."

Too funny I guess in a round about way he knows what it means. Oh my I hope this is not the start of many interesting conversations but I'm sure it is.

YOUR REAL NAME? Erin Marie Peterson

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name> plus'izzle') Eriizzle

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal) Yellow Monkey
YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, and current street) Marie Plainview

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name) Peterhig

YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink) Green Water

YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (Men: father's middle name and mother's middle name-Women: mother's middle name and father's middle name) Ann Gerald

YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one your {current or former} pets) Black Daisy

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Maggie Galant

NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers): Joesph Russell

TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Pierce Portland

SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Fall Daisy

CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now) Strawberry Capri

HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Special K Maple

My sweet husband...

OK so by the title you might think that I'm going to say all kinds of nice things about my husband well not really. So Kevin often makes cakes for his employees and they think it is fabulous...it's just Betty Crocker out of a box and frosting out of the tub. Anyway, they think it great, which it is but they do not realize how easy it is. So a manager from another store asked Kevin if he would be interested in making a cake for his son's birthday, Kevin agreed to do it. He finds out the cake needs to feed about 100 people...what tha? Kevin told him that we made a Sponge Bob cake for Jacob so we could do one again just bigger. I was not too keen on the idea all I could think about was all the work I would be doing and how it would be a disaster! Kevin really wanted to do it and so I didn't want to be a not nice wife and I agreed to help. He also thought that if there were a hundred people at a birthday party and he did a really good job on the cake maybe other people would ask him to make a cake for them and we could make a little money. (Side note...Kevin had written an email to the guy telling him that he wouldn't be able to do it because it was just too big of a cake. While he was writing the email I called and told him I really didn't think that it was a good idea. Smooth move on my part Kevin erased the email and didn't tell him no just to prove to me that he could do it. I never doubted that he could do it...I could just envision in my mind the time and mess it that was going to be involved.) So Kevin tells him it will only be $30 which will cover the cost of everything to make the cake. I explain to Kevin that he is going to need to put the cake on something because it is going to be so big. He brings home a piece of cardboard from work....I then had to inform him a cake that feeds 100 people is going to be way too heavy for a piece of cardboard. He went to Home Depot and bought a 4 ft by 2ft piece of wood and covered it with foil. He decided that he would make the cakes on Thursday and then frost them Friday afternoon and deliver the cake Friday night. Sounds easy, well here is how it really went: he goes to my mom's Thursday night to bake 5 cakes because she has 2 ovens and one is a convection oven. Well only the 2 chocolate cakes turned out because the setting wasn't right on the oven or something...I'm not quite sure. So he only brings home 2 cakes. As some of you know we had a pretty bad ant problem in our kitchen for a while but they seem to have pretty much moved on. Well Kevin was nervous that if he left the cakes out ants might get to them. He decided to take 2 large plastic cutting boards and put them in the oven and put the cakes on them so they are safe from any possible ants and if they are on the cutting boards they won't get the lines from the oven rack in them. He reminds me that they are in there and to not turn on the oven. So Friday he comes home from work and starts making the other cakes. He turns on the oven to pre heat it and begins mixing the cakes. A little while later he says it smells like plastic is burning. I was making dinner on the stove so I thought maybe something was burning. Well a few minutes later he opens the oven and this is what we see.

The cutting board on the left was clear and as you can see the other one was turquoise. Oh my gosh Kevin was so mad at himself. All I could think of to do was get the camera. Jacob kept saying great now you have to buy a new oven and you won't have enough money to buy me a Wii, too funny! Kevin had already filled the cake pan with batter so I took it to my neighbors and asked to bake it in her oven. Kev took the racks out back and let the oven cool down and got a garden tool from the garage and started scraping away. Why a garden tool I don't know I guess he thought it would work. The plastic actually came off with not too much effort.

Kevin unplugged the oven and unscrewed the heating coil to start cleaning that and was using a putty knife to try and scrape the plastic off and the knife slipped and sliced open his thumb pretty bad. The funny thing is just before that he said that the only thing that could make this cake making experience worse is if he ended up in the hospital. After he cut his finger we thought we would have to go and get it stitched up luckily he was OK. So after a little more clean up we pack up our stuff to make the cakes and head to my mom's house. At this point we decided three cakes would be enough so we only had two to make at my mom's. They turned out fine and we brought them home and placed the cakes on the board for the night. We woke around 7 am this morning to begin decorating. The guy wanted strawberry frosting the the middle of the cake so Sponge Bob's pants is a chocolate cake with strawberry in the middle and his body is just yellow cake. We went to Jacob's baseball game at 10 am and then came home to finish up the cake. Wow that is a long story, with all that said here is how the cake turned out.

I told Kevin I never doubted our ability to make it I just new it was going to be a headache and boy was I right! The cake is 2 ft 2 inches by 1 foot 1 inch. The oven is still not usable we need to get some acetone to take off the rest of the plastic and then give it a good clean. Good times!

Ice Skating for Addy's Birthday

Jacob was definitely a little worried about ice skating. We got him on the ice and about two minutes later he was begging to get off. Part of the reason was he needed different skates the first ones were too big. After A LOT of encouragement and new skates he decided to try again and he ended up liking it. I think we will stick to roller skating though. Kevin is a pretty good ice skater...me on the other hand I stink. My goal for the night was not to fall and I am glad to report that I reached my goal. Mainly because I never went too fast and I stayed close to the wall.

Getting on the ice for the first time and not having too much fun.

Trying to smile because mom asked him to.

Still in the not so much fun mode.

Deciding it was not so bad after all.

Having fun with dad. That sure is one cute kid!

Addyson blowing out the candles on her ice skate cake. Jacob and Ethan having fun together.

Addy and Jacob. Happy Birthday Addyson!

Today the AP asked if I wanted to do OCS again. I said yes! OCS (on campus suspension) is a full time sub job which means my pay goes up by $10 a day. It will be every day. I could just continue to sub a couple of days a week but the great thing about OCS is that it is so easy! I sit in a room all day with a couple of kids who are in there for various discipline issues. I try to talk with the kids and have some sort of influence on them that is positive. I help them with their assignments and I have to be really strict with them, OCS is not supposed to be fun. Most of them have had me in their regular class before so they expect me to be nice (you know because I'm a nice girl) and they are a little surprised when I am so strict with them, but I don't want them to want to come back to OCS. I have already agreed to sub several days over the next few months for other teachers so I will just have someone sub for me...a sub for the sub. Anyway...let's be honest I'm most excited about the $$$. It is nice to go to work and not have to worry about work when you leave, no papers to grade and no lessons to prepare. I can read, cut coupons, or do just about anything else I can take with me. I start on Tuesday because I have a sub job tomorrow and Monday.

Today the PTA president and I went shopping! I am the PTA board member over teacher appreciation (which I love!). We decided the teachers lounge needed a little updating it had floral print table clothes and curtains with an old country looking wall paper border. The border is gone and we got a new valance, tablecloths, center pieces, and large letters to hang on the wall that spell ASHWORTH (the name of the school). The teachers really loved the new look. Tonight we went to the AISD school board meeting where they were honoring the teachers at Ashworth for being an exemplary school. The teachers work so hard, it was nice to seem them recognized, I love Jacob's school and I feel so blessed that he goes there.

Daisy is about 95% back to herself. I took her off the pain medication which helped, that medicine really doped her up. She is still on the antibiotic and steroids for a few more days. She still has to wear the silly collar which hits the walls and furniture when she walks. She is eating and drinking on her own now so I don't have so syringe feed her beef broth anymore. I'm so thankful that she is almost back to her normal self.

Tomorrow night we are going ice skating for my nieces birthday...that should be fun. I am a terrible ice skater and Jacob has never been it should make for an interesting night hopefully their will be no trips to the ER!

OK I think I have rambled for long enough.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Today is Kevin's 34th birthday! Here are a few pictures of Kevin. I would like to post some baby pictures but we no longer have a scanner so I had to go with pictures that were already saved on the computer.

Kevin with his brothers and sister. He is in the striped shirt.

Kevin is the one holding Wendy.

Mountain biking with his brother Jeramie and his Dad. Kevin loves to go mountain biking.

Jacob and Kevin in the foam pit at the gym we used to go to in Vegas.

Snorkeling in the Bahamas.

Us in December 2006.
Kevin is an amazing husband and father and we love him so much...Happy Birthday Kev!

It is only 65 degrees right now!

The weather today is beautiful! I have my front door open and letting cool air in, I love it! OK I have some sad news to report about Daisy. She is doing much better but we had to take her to the doggie ER at 2:30 am Sunday morning. We took her to the groomers on Wednesday and they shaved her too short around her neck. She started scratching so much that she made herself bleed and cut open her skin. I called my friend Deb who breeds dogs and asked her what to do. She told us to give her a bath and then give her some Benadryl and then put socks over her feet and tape them so that she couldn't scratch them anymore. We did all that. Saturday night when Kevin got home from closing at work the sides of her neck were oozing greenish stuff and she was so hot and she was shaking so bad. I was crying thinking that my dog was going to die. Side note...after Breanna died we got Daisy and after everyone went home and everyone went back to work and I was left alone at home Daisy was my buddy, it was so nice to have her and to take care of her, we really bonded and I love her so much, the thought of losing her broke my heart. So I get online and I find a 24 hour medical place for animals and I call my mom and we took her in. She had a temperature of 104, dogs should be around 99 with 102 being the high. So almost $300 later they had shaved the area around her neck and washed it and got all the goop off, they prescribed her antibiotics, steroids, and pain medicine, and she has to wear an e-collar that she hates to keep her from scratching at herself. She won't drink out of a bowl so I have to give her water and beef broth out of a syringe. She won't eat her food but I have gotten her to eat doggie treats and a hot dog. She is better but I think she is so doped up on medicine that she kind of zones out. I also give her Benadryl to help with the itching and to help her sleep. I was supposed to work today but I can't leave her alone because I have to make sure she is drinking water and that she doesn't get the big collar thing stuck on anything. Poor baby... hopefully in a week she will be back to her happy self.

Daisy with her sad face and cone on her head. She must feel dumb with that thing on her head.

How is it September already?

I must say that fall is fast approaching and I couldn't be happier! Yesterday was my last day of my long term sub job. Today I might actually get my house back in order. We have been very busy around here and time is just flying by. Last weekend I went with some of my favorite people and had a girls weekend...so much fun! That night after we got back we went and played putt putt, Jacob was so excited he couldn't stand it! Tonight is Jacob's first practice for baseball for the fall season and his first game is on Saturday. Kevin is playing softball with some guys from church through the city of Arlington. Last night was supposed to be his first game but it was rained out. Tomorrow night I have my first nativity meeting of the year. Every year our Stake sets up thousands of nativity sets around the building with each room having a theme and being beautifully decorated. The whole community is invited and it is a really big event. I have been blessed to be a part of it for the last two years. I am in charge of decorating the bulletin boards around the church. It is A LOT of work but it is so worth it. Well here are some pictures of girls weekend and putt putt and one of Jacob.

Kevin went to check on Jacob before we went to bed the other night and this is how we found him sleeping.

Us displaying our mad putt putt skills. Kevin beat me by a few points.

We will definitely be doing that again sometime soon.

Bad boys bad boys what you gonna do...

So our night started out with a stop by a cop. Brittany was driving and all of the sudden I look up and she is about to run a stop sign. I yell stop and she slams on her breaks about a 1/4 of the way into the intersection. To Britt's defense the glare from the sun was really bad and she didn't even see the stop sign. Well that stop sign was supposed to be where we turned so she quickly made an illegal u-turn and that is when we saw the flashing lights. When the cop comes up to the window this is what Brittany said (in classic Britt style), "is this about the tragedy at the stop sign?" So he takes her info and she thinks for sure she is getting a ticket because the cop is taking a really long time. So of course we have to get some pictures of the moment. The first picture is with the camera sitting on Hilary's shoulder. We made sure to turn the flash off so the cop wouldn't see what we were doing. We got a better one as we were driving away. Luckily no ticket just a citation to get a TX drivers license...Britt has lived here for like 3 years! After the pull over fiasco we went to Cotton Patch Cafe and stuffed our faces with some good ol' fried food! After that we took a trip to Walgreen's where our check out guy was sure we had been drinking...little did he know it was just Dr. Pepper. I love DP but try not to drink it that often, well at the restaurant I had like 3 glass fulls lets just say I was a little hyper. At Walgreen's we got stuff to highlight my hair. Here are some pics from that. I really love how it turned out.

Britt mixing the goop to put on my hair.

No I am not naked behind that towel...just not fully clothed. The cap barely fit my big ol' head.

Hilary in the car after the "incident." Courtney and Hilary. Britt plucking Court's eye brows...she did all of ours, we all needed a good pluckage.

Hillary on the phone. Me with my new lighter hair and new glasses. The four of us at the mall.

Saturday morning Brittany left early (after staying up until 2:45 am) for her son's football game. She met us back at the mall for a little after the game. The three of us put the camera on the TV and set the self timer and took some pictures before we hit the mall. We had a great time. We laughed so much and never ran out of things to talk about. I love my friends!!!