Monday, July 27, 2009

reunion and events

In the past week or so, I haven't really gotten the camera out much, if even at all. Life has been moving fast lately. Seems we have one event after another. This coming week is no different. Tuesday night, I am having a fundraiser at CiCi's in Bedford from 5-9pm. I will get 10% of all receipts placed in the bucket...if you are in the area you should come by. I will be there with balloons for the kids until about 8 (or until I run out of balloons).


On Friday, 7/31, my team is having another Pink Bra contest at Baxter's in Hurst. These are always fun. We have women's categories and men's categories, so you should come by if you can.


This past weekend we traveled to the fine town of Haskell, TX for the annual Lackey Reunion. It is always nice to see everyone and how much kids have grown in the last year. I volunteered my grandfather's branch of the family to handle invitations & entertainment for next year. My siblings and I have had some entertainment ideas brewing for a while now, and we can put them into action. Traveling to Haskell makes me realize that there is more to life than the hustle that tends to consume mine. At one point, I had taken Joshua outside because he was getting a little wild inside and we wondered over to see the horses. There is an arena and youngsters were practicing and qualifying for rodeo events.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

conversations with josh

One night last week Jeff was giving Joshua his bath. The bath was done and Joshua needed to pull his plug. Jeff kept telling him to pull his plug. Finally Joshua says, "Hold on Daddy!". Jeff was speechless.

So today, I get to Joshua's room to pick him up and his teacher, Miss Izela tells me this...Today she was trying to get Joshua for potty time but he was busy playing. She said he finally looked at her and said, "Sela, hold on!". She said after another minute or so, he came over to do potty time.

potty training adventures

A few people had suggested putting Joshua in his big boy underwear and telling him that he couldn't mess them up. After much contemplating, I decided to give this a try. I cleared a good chunk of time that I knew that we would be at the house. We had been in his room, going through toys. Someone had sent me a text and I walked into the office to look at something else. I sat down at the computer and it had been about 7 minutes since I last asked if he needed to go potty.

From behind me I hear, "Uh-oh, I pee-pee."
I turned around as Joshua was stepping back from the puddle on the floor.
"It's okay. Let's go -".
"I splash Mommy".
"No-".
SPLASH.
"We don't splash in our pee-pee. Go, let's go get a pull-up on.".
"Okay" which sounds more like oh-kaaay.

conversations with josh

Here is a funny conversation that I had with Joshua recently...

Heading home from school one day Joshua asked, "My daddy at work?"
Mommy: "No, your daddy is at home."
Joshua: "My daddy at home?"
Mommy: "Yes."
Joshua: "My daddy at home fixin' my dinner?"
Mommy: laughing "No."

Monday, July 20, 2009

5 years

Today my father has been gone for 5 years. So much has happened in 5 years, things that I planned to have happen and many things that I didn't plan. I can remember his last 6 weeks in great detail. I remember him being wheeled from the E.R. room he had been sent to singing "On the road again". They wheeled him everywhere that day doing tests. I remember the E.R. doc that told my Dad exactly what was wrong with him but he needed tests to show it. Those tests showed it all. Cancer. Cancer is a funny thing. It isn't prejudice in anyway, shape or form. It doesn't care what you have done or what you want to do. It doesn't care that you have plans three weekends from now. It doesn't care who you are, who you want to be or you will become. Cancer is horrible.

Looking back, I wish that I would have asked Dad what he wanted to do before he couldn't. I remember asking him once if there was anything I could get him and I can still see his face. Tan with age and steel blue eyes saying, "Time, sweet time". It was the one thing that I couldn't get him. That was the moment that his cancer hit me. It was the single moment in time when I had that 'this is it' feeling. The moment I realized there was no turning back.

I wish I had taken the time to go fishing on the coast with him. We had talked about it many times, but nothing ever came of our talks, there was also tomorrow and next year after all. I wish that I had taken the time to listen more to his stories about his time in the Reserves. I wish that I had taken his advice to heart more often, it was always good advice, but I am very stubborn. Stubborn just like him, probably more so. The advise he gave on the old green swing. In giving advice, especially if he knew I wasn't going to want to hear it, he would look over his glasses at me. I would have to look away because I thought his blue eyes were going to pierce me.

Here is picture dated 11-6-77 with my Mom & Dad, Grandma & Papa (my Dad's parents) & Granny Lackey (my Dad's grandmother). Taken in Haskell at the Lackey Reunion...we will travel out west next weekend for this reunion.
This picture is my dad & I at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. The caption says we are standing in from on the mini train, but it is very hard to see in the picture and it dated 5-28-78. The same mini train that my husband, son & I rode on July 4th of this year.
This picture is at Lake Palestine, I am not sure if it is on the property that we have down there or not. I would say it is, but the area has so many houses nowadays, that you can't just see the lake from the land.
Here are my siblings and I fishing at Sandy Lake in Arkansas. My father taught us the art of catching Perch. The thing about catching Perch is that it is easy. You can pull many out and it keeps impatient people happy cause they are pulling something out of the water. My father took this picture. My arm was in a cast because I broke my elbow rollerskating.
This is at the Texas sign and dated 7-1988. My brother was 5, I had a bad looking perm. But I always remember stopping at the sign for pictures. It is a tradition that I will continue to do with my son. My father was a Texas history buff. I credit him with my love of Texas history and my proud-ness to be a Texan.
This is my father's blue truck. The night before we sold it after his death. My father always drove Ford trucks. The blue-green one would be considered a classic nowadays, the silver one, he crashed into a gas station in and this blue one. I once drove this blue truck to take Dad to a dentist appointment, he didn't want to get into my little car. The truck shimmied and didn't drive like my car. And Dad made me a nervous wreck the entire trip home...a whole 2.5 miles. I miss the old truck and think of him every time I see one like it. The guy that bought the truck, I believe painted it a different color and took the tool box off.
This is the memorial plaque that we got after Dad's funeral. I always thought it was ironic that he died from Lung Cancer and his pipe is in his pocket in this picture.
Taken today at the cemetery. This is the first time I have ever gotten Joshua out of the car/truck at the cemetery. I tried to explain what we were doing, but my words were lost on my 2 year old. Someday he will understand more. I think my father would think that Joshua is a pretty cool kid.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

been a long week

I have tried to have a less busy week. It worked out somewhat well, but this week just seemed to drag by. I made a significant dent in the work that was handed to me in my new position as Refund Analyst.

I scheduled a CiCi's fundraiser for me on July 28th. All people have to do is come in and leave their receipt in the basket and I will get 10% of the evening's sales, will probably be $80-100. I don't feel like I am meeting my goal for the 3-Day. I am working on a couple of other fundraisers for myself, but it is slow going. We do a pink bra contest scheduled for July 31 at Baxter's in Hurst, this will be our third and they are always fun....if we have the right crowd. If you can come out you should.

This morning I went walking with my team, I don't often walk with them. Actually, I have really fallen off the training wagon (see fundraising issue above). The girls are some really nice people. Joshua did good in the stroller for about 2 1/2 hours. He ate a good breakfast when we stopped...fruits & yogurt.

After we got home from the walk, I set out to clean/organize his room. All part of my Mission:Self Organization (more on another blog...coming soon...when I get it organized!). I thought I would try some big boy underwear on him. I stayed on him for about 30 minutes, asking every 5 minutes if he needed/wanted to sit on the potty. Each time the answer was no. Then, I got slightly distracted and missed a 5 minute asking point. At this time we are in the office and I am on the computer. Joshua says, "Uh-oh, I pee-pee". I turned around in my chair and he has taken a step back. I said, "It's okay, let's go sit on the potty now." As I stand up, he says, "I splash" and slams his hands right down into the puddle of pee. Y-U-K!!! "No, we don't play in pee-pee." Potty time and hand washing followed.

We went to my sister's tonight for dinner, dinner lead to pool time. Their pool exploded last weekend at my nephew's party and they have replaced it. Tonight, it was finally ready to be played in. Joshua did so well. He only initially fussed, but was soon kicking his legs and splashing everyone. I am glad he did so well.

Jeff will be home shortly. Tomorrow is semi-planned. Sometimes things just pop up out of nowhere and somethings are planned out.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

snapshots....on a sunday

Been super busy for the last 2 1/2 weeks...maybe longer it seems. Someday, it will all slow down right?? Right??? Oh well, here are some pictures to catch you up.
Joshua got his fourth haircut, but only his second professional haircut in June. My longer wavy haired kid would soon be replaced with a shorter, non wavy haired version.

For July 4th weekend, we went to the cabin in Arkansas. My step-dad, David, wanted to make sure we had enough fireworks....we did. And had lots of fun blowing them up. Joshua was indifferent to them, he just wanted to play and ride the 4-wheelers all weekend. Let me put it this way, he would not have gotten off the 4-wheelers if I hadn't made him.

On July 4th, my family trio went up the mountain to Queen Wilhelmina State Park. We stopped at the sign and took a timed family photo...not the best, but the best we could do in 10 seconds.
The whole purpose in going up to the State Park was to ride the miniature train. Joshua thought it was really cool and actually it was a tiny bit cooler at the top of the mountain.
Here he is at the engine.
Also on July 4, we of course went down to the Cossatot River for a swim. The first day we went, Joshua was all excited about going to the river, then we got down there started the hike to the water and he panicked, "no water, I no want water". On Day 2 he couldn't wait to get in the water.
Here he is sporting his new shirt he got at the Cossatot River visitor center, they do not often have little people shirts. Doesn't he look excited to be waving around that American flag? Yeah, I thought so too.
We stopped at the Texas sign for a family pic. Again in 10 seconds you don't get the best. Jeff stepped in a bed of ants when he got out of the truck. So in my running from the truck to the sign, I was having to leap over huge ant beds. I barely made it there in time for the shutter.
The weekend before July 4, we got a trampoline from my mother's neighbor. They have older triplets and were ready for a larger trampoline. It is a perfect size for our backyard and for Joshua. The shed in the background will be coming down soon, as well as, the sun room (you can't see it in the picture). My brother and his friend Josh and my cousin Daniel came over to help cut down some tree limbs in the backyard to make room for it.
On Friday the 10th, my 3-day team had a fundraiser at Baxter's in Hurst. We will have a Pink Bra Contest there on the 31st. You should come out if you can. They are always a lot of fun. On Saturday the 11th, my 3-day team had a fundraiser at the Grand Prairie Air Hogs game. It is a nice stadium. As we were leaving, the Air Hog was coming back around. He said he could take a picture with Joshua and then offered to hold him. Joshua willing leaped into his arms.