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Does anyone actually read this anymore?  I post so much on Facebook these days, I don't post here or even load pictures to Shutterfly anymore.  Hmmm, guess I need to rethink that huh?

I figure, if i have this darn thing, I need to update it.  Whether or not anyone reads it.  I found my old blog and was reading through that today.  I have been very bad at updating Madeline's baby book, so I think I can use the blog as a timeline. Good thing I was diligent with the blog isn't it?

Work is really crazy for me right now.  My company is combining all of our US operations into Houston...and not hiring any other people.  So, what that means is we all do 3 times the work, for the same pay.  Great 3 times the stress, and 3 times the cost in alcohol to relieve the stress.  Fabulous.  Honestly, I am starting to really feel the stress.  I guess the only good thing is, the last time I was this stressed, I lost 30 lbs.  I could use a 30 lb loss right about now. 

Two weekends ago we went to Moody Gardens to see Pat Green.  We took Madeline with us as it was a amiptheatre so kid friendly.  We stayed in the Hilton on the seawall.  She had no idea what a hotel was and when we got there, she was SO excited!  She kept saying "OH MOMMY!"  "This is so impressed!"....totally cute.  We got to see the Budweiser Clydesdales getting dressed for a walk down The Strand.  We could not get to the strand as it was Biker Rally weekend.  We certainly did not have enough leather on to be part of the crowd. 

The concert was fun although it was pretty muddy and wet.  We were prepared though.  Tarp, blanket, and chairs.  Some people brought nothing....so very sorry for them.  But man, it had been raining for days, and you have no seat, what do you expect?  No, we did not share!

Last weekend was her Christmas recital.  Their song was "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas".  She really was the best one of them all.  I will convert the video so I can upload it but she's a very good ballerina!

This weekend is spa day for me on Saturday and M has a gymnastics party on Sunday.  I would have normally declined since it's a new kid, but she LOVES the gymnastics place.  She will sleep good that night!

We are headed to Dallas for Thanksgiving this year.  I am hoping to finally meet Baby Sloane while we are there!  I cannot WAIT!  I just want to hold her so bad!

I hope someone still reads this, if not, its a good journal I suppose!

My 2 block walk to work on Monday mornings is always an interesting one.  Downtown Houston has a different life on the weekends and my walk is always a good sign of it.  I walk by The Wortham and behind Alley Theater, so its usually very crowded in that area. This morning the signs of the weekend were this: empty cigarette pack, banana peel, theater ticket, broken beer bottle.  I have seen clothing on occasion and that really makes me wonder! 

Today is Shawn's birthday and we have celebrated so many times already....I completely forgot to say Happy Birthday to him this morning!  What a terrible wife! 

My niece Melissa goes in tonight to start her induction for baby Sloane!  We are all very excited and wish them the best of luck! Love you!

August 10th.  Where does the time go?   I swear it was just April last week! LOL  They say time speeding up is a sign of aging.  Guess it's coming on fast!

We have had a busy summer.  Lots of hanging out with friends and family.  Soon the summer will be over for most, but summer in the normal sense doesn't mean much to us yet.  At least until Madeline goes to school.  The only real difference for her is that she has "Splash Day" every Wednesday during the summer.  One more thing for us to prepare for every week!

So, my job changed last week.  My company is combining all of our US Pipelines into our Houston offices.  I was giving a choice of where I wanted to move.  Basically, my skills were needed to get this up and running so I was asked to move.  I was told I could stay in my old position, but not sure how long it would have been before I was moved anyway.  So, I was given the job/area I wanted.  I am so extremely lucky to have been given a choice!  Anyway, I moved to the contracts area and will be doing that for the 5 pipes we are bringing here.  I will be traveling some in the beginning to learn the systems and such, but it will be a good move for me.  One more area of the pipe that I will know.  Talk about a valuable employee!  Whew!  I am losing my office though.  I have to move to a cubicle.  There are good and bad things about it so I am will just roll with it.

I took Madeline to Hula weekend before last.  She was very excited about it but in the end, it was not the right place for her.  The Halau here (hula troop) is all grown women and they are preparing for competition next year.  They did not have any time to spend with Madeline.  I think I might have found a private teacher but we will see.  She did have fun while we were there, but she was just mimicking what they were doing. 

I took Shawn to see George Strait on Saturday for his birthday.  It was at Reliant Stadium.  I bought the tickets not realizing they were club area seats.  It was awesome.  He has 3 opening bands and only one we wanted to see.  So, we sat in the bar area and ate/drank until we had to go to our seats.  Totally fun night.  I did get a signed picture of the Texans Cheerleaders for Madeline.  I am wondering whether or not I should have gotten one for Mo too! 

I don't have alot of pictures to share since lately Madeline has become camera shy.  She will run away when I get the camera out.  Hmmm, not sure what that's about.

Long time no write.  Not that I am too busy, I seem to forget. 

Since my last entry, life is just moving along.  July 4th we hung out at Becky's all day.  It was the first time Madeline had seen any fireworks up close.  She called them "Magical".  It was fun but OH so hot! 

Kylin Makena was born on the 17th.  She was breech so Christa's doctor scheduled her for a csection exactly one week prior to her due date.  She's so precious.  They just went home from the hospital today.

Saturday we went to Space Center Houston.  I had not been since I was about 8 so I really don't remember it at all.  It's very commercial now.  I was kind of disappointed.  We did a tour that took us to the astronauts training facility and then to where they have Saturn displayed.  I was in awe at how big these things are...and they FLY!  Wowzers.  Madeline's favorite part was the play area of course.

I am taking this coming Friday off to take her to the Circus.  She's very excited so I hope it lives up to her imagination!

Sorry, I seem to have been neglecting the blog!  I post all my pictures on Facebook now and I forget to put them here now too. 

We have been super busy this month.  Two baby showers, one included a trip to Dallas, birthday parties, etc.  Doesn't seem like we have had one minute to just slow down. Hopefully July will be a little less stressed. 

So, I have learned that Madeline's teacher, Ms. Janna, is in to disco.  Every morning they listen to classical music during breakfast so I had no idea the Finnish lady liked disco!  We were at a birthday party at the Inflatable Zone and "YMCA" came on and she started singing!  Now, we all know I love me some disco, but I do not recall hearing that song lately.  On that Monday when I picked her up, Ms.Janna says, "Madeline says she heard my song".....and the source of the groovy tunes was found!  Last Friday she started singing "Celebrate good times, come on!"...again, not me.  Makes me smile. She is a very musical little kid and I love that she remembers all these songs. 

I am slowly making my way to the current technology.  Chris Shields got a new iphone so I asked what he was gonna do with his old one.  He gave it to me!  I have been debating on whether or not to get one so this helps with trying it out.  I have yet to go to the AT&T store to activate it but I plan on doing that today.  I am curious to see if I like it since I did not care for the blackberry that I had.  I gave that to Shawn. 

Last Saturday, Shawn was playing golf but I needed a pedicure in the worst way.  Ladies, you KNOW what I mean!  So, I decided to take Madeline and let them paint her toes too.  She has been asking me for months now but I have been putting it off.  Nothing worse to me than peeling paint on a childs feet or hands. So, she got her first pedicure.  They trimmed her nails, then put lotion on (i had to ask them to) and then painted her toes in the color she picked.  Results below.

The next morning, the first thing she did was look under the sheet and check her toes!

As you all recall, we had Madeline swim lessons last year.  She learned survival swimming (roll and float) and how to swim to the side and hang on.  We talked about going back to Ms.Kathleen this year but she said she didn't want to go.  She really didn't like going in the first place, but I felt better that she learned a valuable lifesaving skill.  The deal was, if she did her float this year, she wouldn't have to go back......

Cut to Saturday before Memorial day.  She is begging to go to Bebe's and go swimming.  BIG talk about doing her float the whole time.  Well, it got cloudy and the pool was cold, but she was dying to swim....so I got in.  Then she got all wonky.  She was saying No, no no.  I figured I would just pull her in like we did last year and she would be ok.  Um no.  No retained skill in the float.  Scared her to death is what I did basically.  She got out of the pool and REFUSED to get back in.  SOOOO, I took her to toys r us and got some floaties (which I hate) and some other fun stuff to use in the pool. Back to Bebe's on Monday.  Took her a good HOUR before she would get passed her ankles in the pool, but she soon got comfortable.

So, last Saturday, we went to Callies to swim.  Again, took her LONG time to get in the pool, but once she did, she was fine.  Even went so far as to get her to take off the floaties...then the little daredevil was off!  Jumping in the pool over and over again!  She plum wore me out!  She is swimming pretty good now but the float is still not on the horizon yet.  We went back to Callie's on Sunday and I even had to get on to her for just walking to edge of the pool and getting ready to jump off....without telling anyone!  But, she had a blast and we will get it all worked out!  I am sure of it!

Madeline had her spring dance recital.  She was a kitty cat.  Here are the pictures.

Too busy and not enough to say.  Sounds like an oxymoron huh? 

Just had alot going on at work and at home lately.  Madeline is at the age where she is getting invited to alot of birthday parties now.  I am ok with it as long as it's not at someone's house.  That makes for an uncomfortable thing.  Last one was at a great park near our house and it was a wonderful day.  It was also during the swine flu scare so the park was pretty empty!  Yippee for us!

Last weekend was Mother's day.  We decided to go out on Saturday night to avoid the crowds. I am sure glad we did as it was even crowded that day too.  On Sunday we just took it easy as I wasn't feeling so well. 

Shawn is in California this week so its GIRLS week in our house!  Madeline and I were coloring last night and she kept saying, "Mommy, I just love you"....I can never hear that enough!

This Friday is her Spring recital.  We got her costume today...I am hoping she will keep the hat on.  Maybe if she sees the other kids with theirs on she will wear hers.  I hope so! 

Looking forward to next weekend with the holiday!  Love 3 days weeks, but I prefer with the holiday falls on a Friday...oh well. 

Here are some pics from Mother's day!  You can click the picture to view it larger.

We went to Dallas to see our Northern relatives (LOL) for Easter.  We drove up on Friday without much traffic which was nice.  Madeline kept saying "You can just drop me off at my cousins house and then you can go to Nana's and Papa's."  She was very upset when we said we had to go to Papa's first!  LOL.  The first thing she said when she heard Dan on the phone was "Papa!  Is that my cousins?".   Needless to say, she had a great weekend with all the girls.  She even had a sleepover on Friday night. 

Saturday, we met Susan and Maurice for lunch.  We met at Bass Pro (I know!) but it was was the easiest mid point for us.  Uncle Mo and Aunty Susan were impressed with her animal knowledge.  The BP up there has lots more animals than ours in Katy.  We had such a nice lunch and thoroughly enjoy spending time with them.  She did make Maurice and Susan change seats so Susan could sit next to her! LOL Poor Mo.

Uncle Chris, you will be happy to know she made sure to point out the pink gun to Daddy at the Bass Pro! LOL  *over my dead body*

Sunday she got up and checked out what the Easter Bunny brought.  She was very excited by her Snow White doll.  Nana gave her a big basket of stuff too!  She loves her new Dora flip flops. We went to Jen and Mike's for Easter lunch.  Ate too much as always but that's what holidays are for, right?

Long drive back on Monday and then back to the grind.