I thought wrong...

I thought it would be great if I had twin babysitters come over once a week. These two girls are GREAT! They are 13 or 14 years old (bad I know that I am unsure of their age...to their benefit, I think they act like they are 15!!) honor students, creative, sweet, honest...you get the drift.

So Mikayla is totally excited to have these two girls come over tomorrow. She cleaned her play room, wanted to pick out a special outfit, and has talked non-stop about tomorrow. I thought I would be smart and start dropping hints that mommy might run an errand or two while the girls are here.

MAC: Will Daddy be here?
Me: Daddy will be at work...
MAC: Will their mommy be here?
Me: For a little while...
MAC: But I need a grown up to stay with me...YOU have to stay with me!
Me: But the girls are teenagers...they are like grown ups.
MAC: Don't leave me... (breaks into full blown sobbing and crawls into my lap)
Me: I won't leave you (because how can I?)
MAC: Don't leave me...sigh and gulp)
Me: I am staying with you, I'm staying...
MAC: Okay (big sigh)

Then we talked about maybe tomorrow if she's having a good time she might let me leave for a few minutes...Nope, nothing doin...

I thought, and I was wrong!

VACATION...

So we went to South Texas to visit my husband's grandparents...Mikayla's Great Grandparents, Nana and Papa!

They live in a retirement community...300+ brick and manufactured homes, one 9 hole par 3 course, a pool that is only used on once in the morning and once in the evening for water aerobics, 45 minutes to Padre, 25 minutes to the outlet mall (yippee) and 30 minutes to the Brownsville Zoo... the whole trip = HEAVEN!!!

Mikayla made her first trek to South Padre last year and she loved it. This year was even better! We must have picked up half of the washed up sea shells, played in the waves, fed the sea gulls (greedy buggers) and played in the waves again.

As we were leaving the beach Mikayla said:

Maybe next year we can go to the part of the beach that doesn't have salt in the water...

Don't know that we can accomplish that... *big grins*

She was a trooper both times we hit the outlet mall. Of course it helps that we park right by the Disney outlet. First trip she scored a princess towel, three princess cups, and a set of plastic figurines for the "Sleeping Beauty" movie.
Before we headed to the mall the second time, Papa let her grab a few handfuls of change ($13.40) so she could shop again... this time she paid...all in change... for two more sets of figurines (Cinderella and The Little Mermaid) plus a princess t-shirt (mom and dad had to chip in $12 but it was money well spent). Those little figurines allowed mommy and daddy a few hours of peaceful shopping with a few bribes on the coin operated rides and some skittles. Oh and now the little princess is addicted to Starbucks b/c the lady put her apple juice in a cup then put whip cream on top!!!

Our last day we went to the Brownsville Zoo. A very good little zoo if you are ever in the area. There was plenty of shade (much needed for a south Texas zoo), small enough that we were only there about 2 hours and tons of great exhibits. They had a few "free fly" areas for birds so they would just be sitting on the walkway or flying around our heads, there were camels (cool) and sea lions. The gorillas seemed to pretty personable too! Oh and at the end, Nana gave Mikayla some money to buy something from the gift shop...imagine that!

I failed to mention earlier that Nana and Papa have a golf cart! We pretty much rode in that every day. Some days it was just for the sake of driving, other days we helped daddy "fish" for golf balls, or we used it to go to the pool.

All in all it was a great trip. She was a Super Trooper on the 9 hour drive down and we managed to make it in under 8 1/2 hours on the way back (the trick was taking the toll road AROUND Austin on the way back...more mileage, less traffic!). I will say that in car dvd players with head phones ROCK, on top of me keeping a secret stash of coloring books and movies to keep the drive smooth.

JUMP

My little girl jumped off the diving board for the first time today!!! Albeit not to me (I was hiding behind the corner of the house where she is taking swimming lessons). It's amazing what she will do for other people...
I was sooooooooooo excited and proud of her!!! My baby is JUMPING into pools!!! Hopefully the swimming thing will catch on soon...

The Silence

I bring home dinner and when I walk into the house I notice that something is visibly different... it's quiet!

No Mikayla is not taking a nap, she is spending the night with my parents. So it's 6:15 on a Memorial Day Weekend Sunday night... and I will enjoy the silence and watch a movie with my husband.

I miss my little girl, but I will cherish the peacefulness of this evening!

Some More Wedding Non-sense

So it appears that Mikayla is OBSESSED with marrying Zeph! She keeps talking about it and the only thing I know to do is ignore it. My way of thinking is that if I ignore it, IT will go away...so far that hasn't happened.

Mikayla has been on this topic of kissing Zeph, which morphed to marrying Zeph, which has totally blown out of proportion to needing to have a baby shower with Zeph for the past two weeks!!! (I blame the baby shower part on all of the gifts that our cousins received this past weekend and the fact that Shrek and Fiona had triplets)

MAC: Mom, Zeph and I are going to have a baby shower!!!
ME: What?? Where??
MAC: We are going to live in Arlington and have a baby shower!! Will you bring me and Zeph a gift??


This is me ignoring that conversation...

Weddings, kissing and more

So last Thursday my little girl dropped a bomb on me...



MAC: First thing when I get to school I am going to kiss Zeph

Me: (learning that Zeph is short for Zephinias) What? Why?

MAC: Because I love him!

Me: Well, maybe you should ask him first...(thinking, maybe you should as ME first!)

MAC: Why?

Me: Well, beacuse not all little boys want to be kissed yet

MAC: Well he's thrree and I'm three so it's ok.



When we get to school, I ask the teacher if there really is a boy named Zephinias (hoping and praying this might be one of her imaginary friends..) and by golly there is a little boy named Zeph! I gave the teacher a heads up...don't want my little girl to be the class tramp!



We had a lovely weekend in Arkansas, celebrating the imminent arrival of a new baby cousin and visiting with family and friends. Upon seeing the soon to be mommy with the pregnant belly Mikayla asked me if baby Riley could come out of her mommies tummy so she could hold her. That brought on an ENTIRE conversation of why that's not possible. Luckily there was a new swing and a few dogs which I used as distraction devices! I was also holding and loving on another little cousin who is 9 months old...Mikayla informed me that I had to put him down because I don't love him, I only love her....I am sensing a little jealousy!



All of this leads me to today...

On the way to the mall to meet my mom for lunch Mikayla informs me of the following...



MAC: Mom, if you want to get pregnant and have a baby I can't be your baby anymore because I won't fit in your tummy. So you will have to get another baby because I am not your baby I am your big girl.



Once we find my mom (aka Lola) Mikayla informs us of her soon to be marriage to Zeph...

MAC: Lola, we need to go to my size clothes and pick out my wedding dress.

Lola: Who are you marrying?

MAC: Zeph... (almost like she was saying Duh)

Lola: Why?

MAC: Because we are three and in love!

Lola: (Big smile and giggles)

ME: But you don't need to get married until you are 30

MAC: How many more birthdays is that?

Lola: giggles...

ME: Too many to count!

MAC: Lola, do you want to come to my wedding to Zeph? Do you want to see us kiss?


I am beginning the ban on Disney movies!!! Even Shrek gets married and kisses the bride at the end....Jeesh!

A House Can Be Replaced But Memories are FOREVER....

So yesterday was one of those life altering days....

Four years ago my parents bought an old fraternity house...the house of the fraternity that my husband was a member of and I was a sweetheart for the chapter!!! I was still pregnant with Mikayla (by a few days) when they "closed" on the house. The property came with the Main House (DU House) and the Garage Apartments (the GAP). Our goal was/still is to make the main house our real estate office and the GAP will be totally renovated as a two unit garage apartment. After many revisions the city gave us permits to start re-habing the GAP in June 2009. Since August 2009 this rehab has been my main goal. It's finally to the point where cabinets, trim and doors and painting were all scheduled to happen this week.

Yesterday, between the hours of 2 and 3 am a fire broke out in the main house!! Take a moment...yes, the house burned down! (ok it's still standing, just missing the attic and most of the second floor) What a way to start a Monday.

At 6:45 am (I'm still sleeping) my dad calls and says there has been a fire at the DU House. ( I later discover I missed a text at 5 am from Michael's cousin who saw it on the news) Michael tells me he will swing by on his way to work. I get up, brush my teeth get Mikayla dressed when Michael calls to tell me that the DU House has been on fire, firefighters are still there and he's not certain but it looks like the GAP is still standing. My parent's are on their way from way west Fort Worth...I call and tell them what Michael said and load Mikayla in my truck and head over...

Two fire trucks are still there...along with the Fire Commanders (?) suburban and the Fire Marshal's Tahoe. They are done "fighting" the fire...in fact I think most of the fire fighters were packing up (which is a long process in and of itself) but there are a few still walking the house making sure there aren't any "flare" ups. The Fire Marshal is doing his thing by trying to ascertain where the fire started and possibly determine what started it.

What's truly amazing, is that the GAP the place I have poured my blood, sweat and tears into...and is located a mere 15 feet from the burned building...is ok. I mean it's OK! Not a stick of wood was touched by the fire or is damaged from smoke... amazing!

Mikayla and my mom sit across Thornton Street on a tire stop in the parking lot...looking like displaced people and we don't live there... we were just hoping to rehab it to have an office with some rental income. Mikayla asking questions and mom answering them.

I walk around taking pictures and answering questions when I can. I watch my dad do his "dad engineering" thing... which means he is doing his best to answer questions and being as helpful as he can walking around and amazingly not getting too dirty. I look over and see my daughter talking to my mom. I walk over and Mikayla points out that this beautiful, old pecan tree. She wants me to know that it's going to be ok because the tree just only got burned in the middle and the rest of the tree is ok. WOW! Not only was she incredibly patient for over an hour and a half but she was way insightful. To look at things through the eyes of my child...

So this leads me to the highlight of the morning. Mikayla got a very personal tour of a fire truck!! All of the guys were really great in dealing with her and she was able to get up in a fire truck. The fire fighter opened all of the nooks and crannies of the truck and showed her some pretty cool equipment. Of course when she got in the truck she had her hands covering her ears (the truck just running, no sirens, is kind of loud) she noticed the roll of stickers!! They gave her 10 or 12 for being great at the scene and she was in HOG HEAVEN!

So, to the old DU House...thanks for the memories. Luckily, it is just a house...it can and will be rebuilt. People are precious and memories are forever!