So many things...

OK I know for those of you who actually read this it has been a while since I blogged. I am going to try and make time each week to even write a small bit of what is going on. That way I don't have the monster updates hahaha

Lets see it has been since our snow in March since I blogged...so here we go
The kids started soccer and let me tell you Caitlin LOVES soccer.




She wants to go to practice everyday. She wants to play in the game the whole time, but has to learn to take turns so other teammates can play too. She is the biggest on the team and fast and loves to score goals. Austin is not as excited about soccer, but he tries his best. (cub scout motto we use often with him :-))



He enjoys it, but doesn't have the same drive or compassion for it.



He loves art. Both kids love to draw or do creative things, but Austin really can draw well. Right now he wants to be an artist when he grows up. And that leads into a sweet story I have to share.

Dan was working so the kids and I went to a little chinese place for dinner (one of thier favorite foods). While eatting I like to make conversation with the kids and so I looked at Austin and asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. OOo his face lite up and he said, "I want to be an artist mommy...a famous artist" He had this huge grin and you could see the wheels turning in his head. He continued on in detail and expression about him being a famous artist. He then said, "mommy when i paint my first famous painting I am going to sell it for one HUNDRED dollars and mommy I am going to give all that money to the children...then children in the hospital...so that way they can get the medicines they need to get better." By this time I was fighting back tears in the middle of this busy chinese resturant. I pulled it together and smiled through my tears and said, "OO honey that is very sweet and a kind thign to do and I bet those children would love that." He then continued, without much hestiation, on describing what his 1st "famous" painting would be and about the art store he wants to opne. BUT of course said it would "NOT be like Michaels where daddy works", but one where he could help kids to all kinds of art projects...like with clay and stuff. It was one of those parent moments when you know you are doing something right...My heart just smiled. See he really can be a sweet heart. ;-)



We had spring break in mid March and made a short trip up to Oklahoma City to see my family. I do not get to see them very often...so even 2 or 3 days is a lot. I usually try and spend tie with my girlfriends while I am there too, so it is usually non-stop the whole trip.

Then we had a busy busy week. We had Easter...lots of goodies from the Easter bunny, an egg hunt in the house and a day of true rest and family time. We didn't to much and that was very nice. BUT 2 days later our little girl turned 5!!. WOW so much has gone through my mind with that day. Thinking how fast time has gone by for one. Also knowing we have been in Texas since she was one month old. Kind of hard to believe too. Thinking back on the day she was born and her 1st birthday and all those 1st milestones. She is truely a joy to have around. A daddy's girl, tom boy, princess, and rockstar all rolled into one. She is very athletic...her shins all bruised up from playing hard and not being a wimp, but then lips that are so full of lip gloss that you almost cringe when she wants to give you a kiss. She is perfect just being Caitlin. :-) She had her birthday party a week and half after her actually birthday (man I will rethink that later)BUT her and Dan (who also had a birthday~32) got to celebrate together...we had dinner and gifts for Dan.
Here they are on her actual birthday:



She had to wait. :-) She had a roller skating party and LOVED it.



We rented the entire rink for 2 hours and could have 40 people skate. Plus it was by far the best cost to go over other party places. (And I love to roller skate too) I highly recommend this for new skaters. Caitlin is a pro, but she was one of the few.




She flows around the rink..while her friends held onto the wall. But by the end everyone was getting much better. She loved having everyone there and getting lots of cool gifts. We had a mix of butterflies and Hannah Montana stuff as her theme. She cried when we had to leave. She so far LOVES being 5!!! She thinks she is an adult now. Excited about starting kindergarten next school year and she thinks she can do everything by herself now. OOO my are we in for it!

We also got to go see my brother race in Dallas and that was very exciting. My whole family was at the races...something that doesn't happen very often now. It was a great day. I made Caitlin a shirt with uncle Robbie's number on it and made it sparkle with bling(rhinestones). The front said, "Go Uncle Robbie" and the back said, "Reynard 17"



It was very cute. The next day we had her birthday party at the skating rink...so my family was able to be there. So that was nice. PLUS she loves Robbie's girlfriend, Ashley. She has totally claimed her as her own. She always says, "I love my Ashley".

Lets see that puts us at the beginning of April now. :-)

Dan had his annual review with Michaels and they are still wanting him to move to Dallas...to be closer to his store. Of course they pulled every line of BS possible. "more time with your family, less expense in gas, shorter drive, not getting up as early, etc" of course they didn't mention the fact of trying to sell and buy a house in the wonderful economy we are having or the fact that we would have to pretty much still live 30-45 mins away to find an area we could afford that wasn't in the ghetto of Dallas. Of course Dan said if he had to drive 30 mins over on that side of town then we are just staying here...cause 30 mins over there could also be 2 hours with the traffic on the highway. So we are staying. I told him now if Michaels wanted to buy our house and give him a bigger raise then we could talk about Dallas. hahahaha but actually I cried over the thought of it. Moving is hard on me. Since I stay home it is harder to make friendships....not just a casual friend, but somebody (or bodies) I can actually do stuff with or talk too. Most of my friends are my kids friends parents. And a few I have gotten close too over the years. BUT I still miss my friends in Oklahoma a lot. Besides all of this Michaels is still something Dan enjoys most of the time. He of course has his moments where he is fed up and ready to find a new job. End of March and beginning of April he had a few of those moments. He worked a lot around then. He was getting ready for inventory and then had some BIG visits from pretty much every top VP in Michaels 2 weeks in a row. So he had a few days where he was at work by far more then home. I think both weeks Wed-Fri he put in a total of 48 hours(or more) in that 3 day time and he did it twice...I was feeling for him, but when the visits went well he of course came home tired, but with a very swollen head from his job well done. hahaha
He is an extremely hard worker and we are proud of him..even thought we miss him dearly when he is gone...after all of that he told his DM that if she called him on his day off again to come in to work he wasn't answering the phone...she laughed and he said, "NO really I won't answer it!" I was very proud then. :-)

I got to go to St Louis in mid April to see a bunch of friends. There was a race there. But my real reasons for going varied from that. I got to go see my friends wife and child who passed away in Feb. Tina was excited to have visitors and was going to the race, since her husband would have wanted her to do that and their child, Alexis..OOO my gosh she was so sweet and cute.



I wanted another one right there. :-) Or just to take her home with me. It was funny as I said that Dan called me on my cell. I think he knew what I was thinking hahaha. I told him I wanted one..he said it would be hard to work on that with me there and him in Texas. LOL Speaking of Dan..man he got a weekend with the kids in full force. I always think these are great weekends for him to spend with the kids and see truely what i do almsot every weekend, but man I felt a little bad for him. he skipped most of the Friday night activities, but Saturday was enough....9am, 11am, and a 1pm soccer games and soccer pictures at 10am. My list for the rest of the day was rest and have fun together...YES I made him a list! HAHAHAHA he made it through with blazing colors and the kids were still in one piece..so all was good. I wasn't too worried. He is awesome with them... just lacks patience at times. :-) BUT back to STL...I spent Sunday with Tina and Alexis and about an hour on Friday. I got to see a lot of Jason's family while I was there. I also made a trip over to the cemetary ..which was an actually funny ordeal. It was only 15 mins from my hotel and a friend of mine who I introdued to Jason 2 years ago went with me. It was raining and we had directions from his wife where he was at the cemetary. (He is burried in a national cemetary with the little white head stones. So it can get confusing with millions of them there. We of course wondered around in the rain for 20 mins looking for him. We knew he was laughing at us..two blondes in the rain with little umbrellas in the middle of cemetary..LOST! Well we weren't really lost...just misguided with the directions given. I went and printed a map of where he was and found out we needed 1HH not just HH...hahahaha ooo little details. We laughed on the drive over to the actual location. And then we turned the corner to the newer section with no grass but dirt..which had turned to mud in the rain. We knew he was laughing at us then. We decided to say hello and miss you from a distance. He would have loved for us to trot through the mud. But we were going to his house afterwards..so his wife might not have liked it too much :-)



I also got to see the little boy, Cody who I did the make a wish thing for 2 yrs ago. He was 11 yrs old with a brain tumor and it could not be surgically removed. Well now a 13 yr old with NO brain tumor and a head full of hair was an awesome sight. I keep in constant touch with his mother on his health and life. He has a girlfriend! :-) he still has to have regular check ups, but they have just been mmoved from once every 3 months to once every 6 months..which makes mom more nervous. They are a very special family to me! So seeing him was awesome.
I also did a little charity work while I was at the races. I was gathering auction stuff for a rider who has Chrones diesase. He had been misdiagnosised for several years, causing it to be a very severe case by the time he was actually diagnosised. He had to spend 6 weeks in th hosptial. So it was ok in my opinion to take an hour or so of my time on Saturday at the races to do that for someone I never personally met. But I did get to talk to him. He was a big time pro a few years ago..before getting sick and not knowing what was wrong.

Now we are at the end of April....Caitlin decided this week that she wanted to take her training wheels off her bicycle...again SHE IS 5 now! hahaha (we hear that once a day atleast) And after 30 mins of work...she was off on her own. She wasn't sure about stopping or turning, but she can go straight. When she wants to stop or turn she pulls into the grass and steps off the bike or falls over. hahaa I have lots of video and photos..but here is one.



We are still doing lots of cub scout stuff, soccer and dance. May will once again be a busy month for us. Mother's day, Sunday school for 2 more weeks for me, end of soccer parties(which I am not involved in planning :-D..a big deal if you know how I am) and planning Austin's 8th birthday party, mine and Dan's 11th anniversary, Caitlin's dance recital and all the end of school stuff...which seems like there is a lot of them. HAHAA I wouldn't want it any other way!
Check out my MonaVie website.. www.mymonavie.com/cheriek I really do love this stuff. Our whole family feels great, but my nails have never looked so good. HAHAHA I know odd. But that is all I have thought of the last few days. :-)