MY CRAZY LIFE

8/30/07

A TRIBUTE TO CHRIS HENDERSON
DECEMBER 29, 1971 AUGUST 25, 2007



Chris on the drums at
Mike's house.









Chris, Kip, and John











Chris escorting Cecile












Ronny, Mike, and Chris








Dona, Ronny, and Chris






What a Motley Crew!!
Daylen, Mike, Chris, and Kip
in Arlington


As I have been thinking about Chris over the past couple of days my mind has "classified" him as Mike's friend. On the way home from Mt Pleasant it dawned on me that Chris was my friend as well. I have known him since my high school years. He was one of those guys that was always there. When we would go back to east Texas we would always see him.

The best summer of my life was right after my friend Denise and I graduated from high school. Mike and Chris were always together and Denise and I were inseparable. It was only fitting that when I started dating Mike that Denise would date Chris. Not hard to do because he was such a cutie and his attitude and arrogance were so entertaining. We were devoted friends and where one or two were on the weekend, there you would find all four of us.

My first job was at Pizza Inn in Kilgore and they would come eat almost every Friday night. Then they would go across the street to Sonic, where Denise worked and get something there. When the two of us got off of work, we would meet up with them. The majority of the time we would find them at Mike's house "jamming".

The last time I seen him, he came to Waco to stay with us for a week. It was so nice to have him here making me laugh. He was in several accidents the previous year and having some ongoing issues with that. Just letting him hang out while we were working did good things for him. During that week he went and bought a Bible and some Christian Music. When he got back home, he continued to study and started going to church on a regular basis.

I'll see you in Heaven Chris.
Love Ya!!

8/28/07

First day of Fourth Grade!!






















Wow, how my baby has grown into a beautiful girl. I can not believe that she is already in fourth grade!! Ashley had a great day at school today. She says that her teacher is nice and loves Mickey Mouse. She has an A+ in my book already. This year the kids start to change classes and I remember how "grown-up" I felt when I got to change classes. It is amazing how much change happened over the summer.

Pay and I had a good day together, but he wanted to go get sissy. I insisted that she needed to stay at school to learn her letters and numbers. He was ok with that, but still wanted to call her and did not understand why we could not call and disturb her.

Mothers Day Out will start after the holiday and I am ready, but just don't know what I will do with my time. Don't get me wrong. It is not because I don't have plenty to do. Quite the contrary. I just don't know where to start.

Y'all keep Mike (and me) in your prayers over the next couple of days. We will be traveling to Mt. Pleasant to attend a funeral of a long time friend who died on Saturday. His name was Chris and in his mid 30's. Please lift his family up as well as I am sure the pain the are feeling is a heavy burden to carry. Mike is having an extremely hard time dealing with the reality of the death of his friend. He did ask Chris some time ago if he was a Christian, and Chris said that he did invite Christ into his life. But you know, most of the time people still think about what they could have done differently, and if they would have done it their loved one "might" still be alive.

8/20/07

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2








Our small HSM2 party was a hit. Bethann and Candice came over and the whole spread of everything you don't want your child to eat prior to going to bed was set before them. Even Payton joined in on the fun. They were so hyper that I couldn't hear the movie!!! With every song and dance number, the girls and Pay were up dancing, jumping, and posing. It was a lot of fun for us all!
Mike was commenting on how big the premier of this movie was and that there were probably more parties on Friday night than there was for the Super bowl. For those of you who have children old enough or young enough to be excited about this movie, how many of them were at a party or had a party at home?



8/16/07

GALVESTON














































Well, to set the tone for the vacation, I should tell you that I goofed on the day we were to leave. We rented a house on the beach and were to check in on Saturday the 11th, but I thought Sunday was the 11th. Only when we called the guy to set up the time to pick up the keys was I enlightened to what day it was. Since we paid for Saturday night, we were going to sleep there Saturday night (Sunday morning was more like it). The property manager was kind enough to meet us at the house at 12:30 am. It was nice and clean, with plenty of bedrooms for everyone. The kids were so excited to be there that we couldn't get them settled down for bed until 3 am.

Sunday, my dad got into town. He was expecting a piece of equipment to be delivered and was not sure if he was even going to come. Also, his car broke down, and was going to have to ride his motorcycle down and didn't want to do that. My grandmother graciously let him take her car. For those of you who know me well, you probably know that my dad is always working and rarely takes time out to enjoy his grandchildren (and daughters). He realised how talkative Payton is and had good time teasing the kids. Of course, seafood is a must when you are at the ocean. We found shrimp and dad fried it up for us. yummy!! But sadness came when he left on Monday. He missed his bed, dogs, work, and his own car!

Tuesday, we decided we would take time out from the beach and drive over to Houston to NASA. My nephew, Chris, loves science and wanted to go, as did the rest of us. It was wonderful to take my kids somewhere my mom use to take Sabrina and I when we were small. But, OMG how it has changed. Back to Galveston for dinner at The Rainforest Cafe. The ambiance and desert were great. The food....so so.

We were having to keep an eye on the weather due to the tropical storm, but Wednesday was the day to play in the ocean. I must say, and I have before on my blogspot, Payton does not like the water. Kind of hard to play in the water when he refused to go in. I tried to take him in earlier in the week just to wash the sand off of his body (and thinking he might have fun once he got in) and he freaked out and was squeezing my neck so hard I had to get out before I passed out. He is perfectly content to play in the sand.

Thursday, Happy 13th Birthday Chris!!
The time has come to leave. We were able to load the cars between storms being caused by tropical storm ERIN. Getting out of Galveston and Houston proved to be difficult at times because of the rain. But, we made it and I am very happy to be home!!

Maybe we can plan a vacation with dad again next year and have him stay 2 days!! Love ya Daddy! Glad you came.



8/9/07

What have I been up to ????






















































So, now I know, for the first time in my life, how it feels to be a (part-time) "stay at home mom" during the summer months. First of all, I must confess that I have not been that great at it! It is really hard to get chores, shopping, relaxing, re-modeling, etc... done with children. And I know many of you out there have more kids that I do!! Some of you have 3 times as many kids as me and do a much better job. My problem lies in the fact that my sweethearts do not play real well together. I always thought the 6 year age gap would be great. Maybe when they go to college. So, Ashley is constantly trying to tell Pay what to do, and I am trying to remind her that she is not his mother. And Payton whining because of _________. You feel in the blank.

Since this is confession time, I have to say that time management here at home needs some work. A lot of frustration could be alleviated if I would schedule my day better. Now, give me a specific task or my job and I am all over it!! But at home, not so good. Any of you moms with some inside information on what works for you, Please let me know and I will give it a try. My last confession is that I play on my kids webkinz website. It is very amusing and quite entertaining.

Let me think back as to what has happened since the beginning of the summer, which was my last blog entry. :(

I turned 34 and had a great birthday. I was with my kids all day and then Mike and I went shopping. We all went to Shogun and greatly enjoyed watching Payton as the cook lit the hibachi grill and put on a show.

Payton has been all about mommy. Most of the time, where ever I am, there he is!! He is starting to hang with dad more and ask for him during the day. But, he doesn't want me to go anywhere.

Ashley has been a busy girl this summer. She went to jazz dance camp and had a great time. Her dancing amazes me and I hope she will continue to presue dance. Another passion is singing and music. She went to music camp at our church in July. Although there was some tears, pep talk, hugs, and tickles, about not getting a solo or speaking part, she was chosen for a dancing part and we were happy with that. After dance camp started, she found out that she was going to do a dance with ribbons. Come to find out, one of her "dreams" was to do a dance with the ribbons. ;) The drama with some friends has not been excluded this summer either. I am sure you moms know about this kind of stuff.

Mike has recuperated from the wreck, but is still healing. I trust that God continues to keep him in His hands and guide him toward the life that He saved him for!!! Lately he has been very busy at work and ends up working at home at night.

And I am still a wife, mom, daughter, sister, granddaughter, friend, employee, co-worker, doctor, Mr. fix it, electrician, plumber, maid, tickle monster, role model, complainer, SUPER MOM!!!

About the pictures... I am proud of the work in the bathroom that I have done. The floor was tiled by me. The toilet was also set by yours truly. So pride and the sence of accomplishment I have goes without saying. The labor that has gone into our newly remodeled bathroom was overwhelming at times. It only took 4 years to get to this point. Ashley had a non-birthday party at Bath Junkie. Her birthday is actually in December, but she never got a party. So, this was special for her and fun for me. The only preparation was the gift bags!!! A good time was had by everyone. The scrapbook pages above are from the end of July. We went to the suspension bridge over the Brazos River and took pictures. We were going to eat our lunch at the playground first, but the ducks were charging us and wanting our food, so we had to make a run to the car.

And a huge thanks to Angela for threatening to delete me from your blog list. You got me going on the blog again. Let me see if I can keep up the work.