When it rains...

After running fever off and on for a few days and coughing to the point of vomiting for a third time, on Sunday we took Maggie to one of those acute child care afterhours clinics to be checked out. Turns out the poor, tiny thing has pneumonia. When it was all said and done she had been poked, prodded, x-rayed and given an antibiotic shot, that is apparently the consistency of maple syrup, in both legs. She was not a happy girl. We followed up with her pediatrician on Monday and he confirmed the diagnosis and we've been pumping her up with antibiotics ever since. I am happy to report that she is feeling much better and is about 95% back to normal.

As if MagB's being sick was not enough stress, on Monday as I was going to pick up her prescription, I failed to let the garage door open all they way before proceeding to back out and - for the 2nd time in as many years - I managed to knock the garage door off its tracks. Now one might think I would have learned my lesson having done this before - and I have. Really. After the first incident I learned that I need to open the garage door before I even get into the car - and that is what I do most days. It's just that on Monday it was freezing - like in the 2os or something ridiculous - and I had sick Maggie with me so I had bundled her up and decided that I should get her into the car before I opened the garage door and was met with the wintry blast of air. So imagine my surprise when, as I am backing out, I hear a nasty metal on metal crunchy, grinding noise. Oops. I realized immediately what I had done (having heard that noise before) so I pulled forward and got out to inspect the damage. It was not good. So I sat for a minute and debated what my next move should be. I knew I needed to call the garage door fixing people. Lucky for me I had the number. Stuck right there on the garage wall next to the opener - where the repairman left it after the last time he came out. But I also needed to get Maggie's antibiotics. Then there was the dreaded task of calling Michael to tell him what I had done. I knew he would not be near as tickled as I was by my 0-for-2 stat at the game of garage door limbo. (I mean really, who does this more than once?!) So I decided to go ahead and make the quick trip to the store and just leave the garage door hanging off its tracks. So I backed out and heard the crunchy, grinding noise again and realized that I was trapped in the garage as the door was hanging down too low to let me out. O.k. - call the repairman then... So I made the call and explained the situation and they sent someone out. I must say that these folks are good. Both times I have done this I could not imagine anyway in the world that someone would be able to fix what I had managed to do, yet somehow they did - and it took him less than 30 minutes. Amazing. Then I made the call to Michael, who being in a sick-indcuded haze of something, took the news quite well. Even more amazing. I am hoping for a more uneventful rest of the week!

I promise to post pics of Maggie's school holiday program soon! Love to all!

Giving Thanks

As we approach this Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the things I am thankful for. God has blessed us tremendously and I am grateful and humbled by his goodness.

I am thankful for Michael and Maggie and our little family. I can not even begin to scratch the surface of gratitude I have for being blessed with such a precious little girl. Maggie has brought so much love and joy into our lives. I just never knew it was possible to love someone so much. I am so blessed to be her mother and I think God every day for the privilege. I am also so very thankful for Michael. I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband and friend. I am thankful for his love for me and Maggie. He is a great daddy!

I am thankful for our families. We are both blessed to have such great families who love and support us and provide such great christian examples for us. It is my prayer that we can provide the kind of Christ-centered home for Maggie that our families provided for us. We love you all.

I am thankful for our friends. We have been blessed with many great friends - both old and new! We thank you for your friendship and for loving us just as we are!

I am thankful for our jobs. Especially in a time when so many are being let go from theirs. I am especially thankful that I have a job that I enjoy. And I pray that Michael will enjoy his new job as much as I do mine!

And above all I am thankful for our Lord, Jesus Christ without whom none of the above would be possible! I am thankful for his grace that surpasses all understanding and for his unending love for us, in spite of ourselves. I am proud to call him a savior and a friend. God is good. All the time.
Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

School Days

Maggie graduated to the toddler class this week at school. I must admit that I have been struggling with this transition since I got the notice from her school. When did our MagB become a Toddler? Yes, I realize that by standard definitions she is in fact a toddler. But to me she is still a little bittty baby. My little bitty baby. She's far too small to be taking a nap on a mat on the floor, and she's far too small to have to wear a uniform to school! But apparently some toddler, somewhere wore gang colors, or other inappropriate clothing, to day care one day making uniforms a necessity starting at 17 months. Whatever the cause I find it a little ridicaloo. But she does look so sweet don't you think? I just love the first picture. As I was snapping the pictures this morning (and fighting back tears looking at my grown-up girl) I would tell her to "Say Cheese" and she would say: "Sheese." I look at that picture and I can just see her saying "Sheese." So. Darn. Cute.

Today was the Turkey Feast Extravaganza at work. I am stuffed. In all honesty, I was stuffed by about 10 a.m. when we started snacking on Mexican Fudge and Artichoke Dip and Oreo Balls. It's the same thing every year - we just eat all day, until we are sick. We always have a ridiculus amount of food - and good food at that. Not a whole lotta work gets done on Turkey Feast Extravaganza day. Ahhh, and I get to do it all over again next week! I just love this time of year - starting with Thanksgiving and through New Years - it just seems that everyone perks up a little more during the holidays. Perhaps it's the knowledge that Santa is watching, or the festive holiday music playing everywhere. There's just something magical about the holidays.

That's all for now. Food coma setting in....

Trick or Treat

Maggie had her first trick or treating experience this Halloween. Here are some pics:

Here are some picks from Maggie's Fall Festival at school. She had so much fun just running around and playing. She LOVES to be outside.

Here she lays out all of the treasures (in this case, wood chips from the playground) she has collected while playing. She likes to collect things. When we go for a walk outside she will have her hands full of acorns and rocks and leaves and whatever else that catches her eye and she will carry them the entire way and when we get home she will put her newfound treasures in her toy shopping cart for safe keeping.

This was at the Fall Festival our neighboorhood had. It was unseasonable warm that day so we decide to forgo the costume for Mags. Here she is with daddy watching the critters.

And here is just random cuteness of our punkin with the pumpkins....

While we were at The Oaks this weekend for the game we celebrated Kate's mom's birthday on Saturday night at the Anderle homestead. Kate put Maggie at the piano and I snapped some photos of our budding musician. Now I don't want to brag, but I am quite certain that we may have a child prodigy on our hands. It would not be unusual as there are several talented musicians on Michael's side of the family. (Not to say that my side of the fam does not have any talents...they're just different talents :-)) Seriously, I was really taken by how she seemed to know just what to do. She did not bang on the keys like you would expect a small child to do (heck, I still do that!) but she had the whole one finger on the key thing down. She seemed to know what she was doing. Here are some pics:

And lastly, 'tis the season for tights! Hooray!!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

I Believe!

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Tag - I'm apparently it.

My sister Karrie blog-tagged me and I am supposed to write about 6 quirky (quirk, noun, a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism) things about myself and then tag 6 other bloggers. While I had to think long and hard (about 2 seconds) to come up with any quirks I possess, here goes:

1. I have a nervous habit of picking my eyelashes. No kidding - I am usually sporting at least one eyelash bald spot at all times.

2. I have to walk around the house every morning before I leave for work and say aloud as I check each socket: "Curling iron unplugged", "Iron unplugged" (whether I have used it or not that morning) to feel confident that the house will not burn down while I am away. (Nevermind the fact that both my curling iron and iron have auto shutoff features (a must-have in an OCD household)).

3. Along the same lines as #2 above, at least 3 of the 5 work days I have to turn around to go back and check that I have indeed closed the garage door - even though I know I have because I have audibly verbalized to Maggie "Garage door closed" as I watched it go down. (At 15 months, could Maggie already think her mom is a little loony? She might be right.)

4. I like corn as a whole, just not floating in my soup or hanging out in my rice as an individual kernal.

5. I prefer to write with a fine point Sharpie - perhaps this has something to do with my subconscious inner celebrity. I don't know.

6. According to my husband, I look at life through rose-colored glasses. Is this a bad thing?

7. Bonus quirk: I love to eat Macaroni and Cheese mixed with ketchup. Much yum. Try it.

So there it is - the stuff that makes me me. So now it's my turn to tag and I tag: (in no particular order)

Kylie
Jessica
Jenny
Dana
Kym
Maria
Riggins

Here are the rules: Link the person who tagged you. Mention rules on your blog. Tell about 6 quirks of yours. Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same. Leave a comment to let them know.

Enjoy!

Taking it Outdoors

Could it be that Maggie - at a mere 15 months old - is already addicted to TV? Noggin to be exact. No matter where she is in the house, to just hear Moose A. Moose's voice sends her in a toddle-run to the TV where she will grasp the armoire shelf with both hands and look straight up into the screen soaking it all in. As a parent, I am not proud of this, and I realize I am responsible. So measures must be taken to show our MagB that there are indeed more fascinating things than Puzzle Time and other Noggin fare. In short, we need to get out more. So on Sunday afternoon we visited the Heard Museum in McKinney. We have lived in this area for almost 4 years and had yet to visit this hidden little treasure full of nature trails and wildlife and all things out-doorsey. Including dinosaurs. Yes, dinosaurs. Lifesize dinosaurs. One of the exhibits at the Heard Museum is Dinosaurs Alive - which consists of a dozen or so lifesize, animatronic dinos along one of the nature trails there. It was pretty neat, though we only got to the 2nd dinosaur before Mags had decided that she was not thrilled with the giant moving creatures and had seen enough. So we found some tamer trails and some smaller, less-threatening caged animals that she quite enjoyed seeing. These are all the pics I got from the afternoon as in true Lisa fashion I failed to charge the camera battery and ran out of juice about 30 minutes in. Someday I'll learn. Next outdoor adventure stop: The Dallas Arboretum.

Here is Mags and daddy walking along one of the trails.

An encounter with a dinosaur. Don't ask me what kind - a realtively small one.

Exploring a small cabin along the trial.

Here is Mags in the butterfly house. She loved it in here watching all the butterflies. This is the last shot before battery failure.

Hope you all have a great week!

A Sneak Peek...

Of what's to come on Halloween!


Have a ducky day!

Just Because...

Got these at work today from Michael - just because. How sweet is that man? As hard as I tried today I just could not be in a foul mood. (Monday's and I are usually not friends.) The weather is beautimus and now these. It's been a great day.

Of course, when you have a sweet face like this greeting you every morning, how can any day be bad?

Have a great week!

Our weekend at The Oaks and Pigtails from H-E-double hockey sticks!

I just love this time of year. Fall is on its way, the weather will at some point be turning cooler and college football is in full swing! The Aggie's home opener was Labor Day weekend so we headed down for the game - excited about the start of another football season. What makes this year even more exciting is that we finally have a place to stay for football weekends. This means no more driving home in the wee hours of the morning after a game. Our dear friends, Kate and Brad, and Kate's parents have been hard at work fixing up an old family home in Pettibone, Texas, which has been nicknamed "The Oaks." This was our first weekend at The Oaks and we had such a great time just relaxing with friends. Even despite the Aggie's loss!

Here are some pics from the weekend.

The Oaks

This is our room. Notice how we just made ourselves at home and moved right in!

Riggin's (Don & Tianay's Lab) takes a swim in the tank.

Sleeping beauties.

Maggie & Daddy

Of course the place is fully equipped with satellite TV. When the TV was not tuned to football it was tuned to Noggin, much to MagB's delight

You can't really tell from this pic but Michael and Brad are hard at work assembling the grill to be used for the weekend festivities. This was a good half-day job. But their work paid off because we ate (and ate) like kings.

Exploring the place. Kate has impeccible fashion sense, don't ya think?

The following pics are from earlier this week in what I will call the unfortunate pigtail incident of September 08. Here's how it went down: Awhile back, one of the teachers at Maggie's school asked if I minded if she put a ponytail in Mags hair sometime. I said, "sure, why not," as we have often sported the Bam-Bam look at home. Fast forward a month or so and the same teacher, in passing, tells me she has been dying to put some pigtails in Maggie's hair now that she has the bangs. I tell her we have not tried that yet, but it would probably be cute. So on Monday when I pick Mags up, she is sporting pigtails - which were indeed cute - but also pulled so tightly I could not even imagine that she sat quietly while being coiffed to the point of looking like she had undergone a really bad face lift. But allegedly she did not make a peep....Until we got home that is.

As soon as we got home Mags got super-fussy and was inconsolable. She didn't want her milk, or a cookie, or her dinner, or to be held, or to be put down, or her binky, and she was crying like she was in some kind of pain. It was heart-breaking. Finally I deducted that it must be her head from the intense hair-pulling pigtails. So I try to take them out and these suckers were wrapped so tight that I don't even know where to start and I am already picturing what my sweet MagB is going to look like after we have to cut the pigtails out because I am just not sure there is any other way to undo what has been done. But I keep trying, and I am obviously hurting Mags in the process because she is just wailing, which is stressing me out because I just want to stop the hurt for her and then there is Michael, who is beside himself trying to get me to hurry. We finally managed to cut the rubber bands out, but the damage was done and poor Maggie continued to cry until she finally fell asleep. She woke up about an hour later and immediately continued her state of insolability. Michael and I were at our wits end. Surely it wasn't the pigtails if she was still crying? But what then? She couldn't tell us. At this point Michael tells me to put her in the car beause we are taking her to the ER because there is obviously something wrong with her and I'm like, O.k. but you are doing the talking because I have no idea what to tell them is wrong with her (Um, doctor, she won't quit crying and we don't know what to do!?) Anyhoo, we get her in her car set and set off to the ER and by the time we get there she is apparently over whatever it was that was distressing her so, because she is all smiles and "hey, let's play" as we pull into the parking lot. So we go home and she is completely fine the rest of the evening. Still have no idea what was wrong with her - but I'm sticking to the head hurting from the pigtails. Poor thing. Needless to say, I had to tell the teacher on Tuesday morning that, while the pigtails were cute, please no more until she is older and I can handle taking them out.

Here's Mags pre pigtail-breakdown.

Seriously I still have no idea how the teacher got these so tight? It just looks painful.

And I will leave you with this pic of Mags at dinnertime. She loves her some Chef Boyardee! Who doesn't right?

Love to all! Have a great week.

Maggie Moe?

I guess every mom does it at least once. Then they learn that some things are best left to the professionals. I'm talking about cutting hair. Which I did, on Mags, last weekend. Now usually I am not a cheap person. Just ask my husband. But for whatever reason I thought it best that I cut our MagB some bangs instead of shelling out $20 at the kid's cut place. Poor, poor dear. All day Sunday I was having to pull out the scissors to try to "undo" what I had done. In the end, it's not so bad - perhaps a little Moe-ish (think Three Stooges) - but not too bad.

Pre-bangs trim:

And After:

See. Not too bad. But next time we're paying for the salon cut.

I finally got some of the pics we had taken a few weeks ago to post. Here are just a few.

Hope you all have a great weekend!