Friday, May 30, 2008

the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!



My nephew, Brandon and son, Brady have had their shares of "mishaps!" Both Brandon and Brady are always playing every video game, basketball 'one on one' game, race, monopoly or whatever, like it was the Olympics. Each game was the "championship!!" Well, here is what has happened to both in the past year. Brady has dislocated and had surgery on BOTH shoulders! He was playing football in high school for the original injury. But intramural basketball, fraternity boxing, jumping off cliffs into a lake and throwing snowballs at an annoying kid has been the subsequent reasons for the need for surgery. Brandon is recovering from a broken nose which resulted in surgery a few weeks back and he was diving for the ball last week (in what I am sure was another Olympic championship sand volleyball game) in which he spent 7 hours in the ER and looks like the elephant man.




That led to the discussion of how many times we have visited the ER during their childhood.
Lindsey's were limited to a few breaks, falling out of trees, head butts in soccer and high fever.
But Brady... not counting the many visits for pneumonia when he was a baby, we had to visit often. He almost had his ear completely severed by a golf club by a 4th grade classmate, we found out he was highly allergic to penicillin and then again visited for a really bad reaction to ibuprofen. (I was detained for a bit while they questioned me for possible abuse! That was a scary one, his blood vessels burst all over his face he was swelling so quickly.) Then we have the knee injuries, bleeding head from wake boarding... shoulder dislocations and the other normal ER visits.




But as I sit here writing this blog, I am listening to the yells of triumph and the screams of defeat while some sort of game (I am sure it is for the championship!!) is being played in my living room. Brady is 3 weeks shy of turning 21 and Brandon is 7 months older. I have a feeling that this is going to be the norm for these 2 cousins that have had the worst fights ever, but love each other dearly. When they become married, grown men with their own kids... I doubt it will be any different.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

"1st time to blog..."



Well, I have always wanted to create my own blog, but never seemed to find the time. I love to read other friend's blogs, but here I go! Alex and I have been "empty nesters" for 2 years now. Our oldest, Lindsey graduated from SFA in 2007, and our youngest will start his 3rd year at OSU this next fall. We all 4 love to read, travel, ski and mexican food! We all 4 love Harry Potter, going to the movies and just hanging out! We all love Jesus and each other.

"Lindsey"
SFA graduate, AXO, 1st grade teacher
Lindsey and her cousin Kristin live in a loft in downtown Dallas. They are having a blast!!! Lindsey is an awesome little teacher and she has made us very proud!



"Brady"
Junior at OSU, Phi Delta Theta fraternity, living at home this summer...
Brady lives at the fraternity house at OSU. He has some really neat friends, Trevor, John and Rhett. Brady just loves life!


"OSCAR!!"
Oscar is my sweet puppy. He is a Malchi. He is the best dog we have ever had. He loves everybody and everybody loves him!! He minds us so good. I love my puppy!

OK, now Alex and I. We have been having a blast "empty nesting!!" But we always knew we would. We love to go to movies, out to eat, go with our friends and just hang out at the house. We spend a lot of time swinging on the porch. Oh, and we are slowly redoing an old house... built around 1892, we are just taking our time and redoing a room at a time. I will show some of our rooms later.

I am teaching 3rd grade (5 years back at teaching!) and Alex is a VP for Government Relations for a company in Ft. Worth. He is the best husband and my very best friend. We have been married 26 years this June, pretty awesome huh?
I am so lucky to have a wonderful family.

(I just read this to my sister, Denise, and she said...."hey, what about me!!!" I know, yes we are sisters... more about us later... lots!! about my family growing up, too! My parents and sisters, nephews and neices are great!)

Well, here's to my 1st blog....