100 Things. . .

My friend, Melissa at Mama Loco, and Lauren, posted this over on her blog today and I thought it would be fun to do too. Feel free to copy it and post it to yours as well. Bold whatever you have done.

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables. (does a lima bean in science class count?)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you're not sick.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagra Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen and Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to truly be satisfied.
38. Seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David.
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.- with Gavin
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class. (does kickboxing count?)
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served in a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Been to the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the paper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had Chicken pox.
89. Saved someone's life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit--through work. . .on a daily basis.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

Catching up. . .

It has been quite a while since I blogged last. . .not sure where to start. We had a great Thanksgiving here in Lubbock with both of our families and then the month leading up to Christmas just flew by! I took the kids to a Christmas party for the families that I work with and they met Pancho Clause:

The kids also got to go on the Polar Express! Lots of fun for the kiddos but mommy had to take some dramamine. . .the train swayed back and forth pretty bad. . .not good for those who get motion sickness and lets not forget that half of the hour long ride was done going backwards!

We spent Christmas in Lubbock with both sides of the family. My dad and his sister (who I have never met) even came in to town--so that was interesting. Gavin got LOTS of costumes for Christmas. . .his favorite.

Rachael got the normal kind of girly stuff. . .Barbies, babies, princess costumes, etc.

Rachael is still doing dance and is so freaking cute!

The kids and I went to Belton over New Years. We left Larry at home since he had to work but we still had fun. We went hiking. . .now, I lived in Belton most of my life and never in my life went hiking there. . .but apparently you can! A few pictures:

While we were in Belton we stayed at my aunt and uncle's house. My uncle was either really tired or had a little too much Evan Williams and passed out in the living room floor. . .I took that opportunity to take a picture with him! LOL

And on Gavin's first week back in preschool after the holidays he had "horrible hair day". . .

That about sums up the past couple of months. Gavin will start playing baseball again soon and we have Rachael's dance recital to look forward to. My birthday is coming up and I will begin the last of my years in my 20's. . .its a little scary.

Life is too short. . .

This past weekend I was out of town at a women's conference. I left Larry in charge starting early Friday morning until Sunday evening. It seemed as though everything was going smoothly. He managed to get the kids up on Friday morning, dress them (with clothes that I set out of course), drive Gavin to school, take Rachael to get donuts and to the mall, pick Gavin up from school, get home, feed them lunch and dinner, etc. He then got Rachael to dance class on Saturday morning and they all lived through the weekend. . .I am very proud! I never had any doubts that he could do this. . .he is probably a better dad than I am a mom but it is hard to do it alone! One funny thing about the weekend happened after I got back. When I returned home on Sunday evening I decided to take a bath. I went in to the bathroom and started running the bathwater only to see small red flakes and crumbs floating around in the bathtub. I wasn't sure what it was at first so I asked Larry what happened in the bathtub. I was thinking the worst--that someone had vomited in there but I was not really prepared for what he was about to say. He told me that he had to soak a pan in there. Why you ask? Well, before I left I stocked the refrigerator with foods that would be easy for Larry to make for himself and the kids. One of the things that I left for them were pizza rolls. Everyone knows that if you cook the pizza rolls too long they explode and get all over the pizza pan. Well, apparently he did not take this into consideration and made a big mess on the pizza pan. Instead of washing it and scrubbing with a sponge he decides that soaking in the bathtub would be more appropriate. So. . .the tub was a little greasy and had some crumbs in it but it came clean with a little scrubbing. . .the pan. . .spotless!

While I was away I learned of the very sad news that a dear friend's husband died very suddenly in a tragic accident at work. She has two children about the same age as mine. . .we were actually pregnant at the same time with our sons. I could barely contain myself from just breaking down right where I was--the news just really hit home for me. I realized how much I take for granted every day of my life. It feels like everyday I do the things that I do just to get through the day . . .to make it to the weekend or to make it until Thanksgiving or Christmas or after the New Year, etc. It has been a long time since I have really stopped and just been thankful for and enjoyed all of the wonderful blessings that I have been given in my life. I have been blessed in so many ways. I just hope that from now on I can remember all of these things on a daily basis and know that I may not always have everything that I know and love and things can happen in an instant that could turn my world upside down.

Sad realization. . .

Obviously I am not as good a mom as I should be. It is apparent to me that I do not supervise my children nearly as well as I should. Last week after leaving them alone at the kitchen table to color I came out of the bathroom to find them colored pink and blue. They immediately had a bath where I realized that they were not coloring with washable markers and Gavin's face was stained blue for the better part of 24 hours. Rachael's was not quite as bad since she chose pink as her new skin color and it seemed to blend better than blue.



Today they asked if they could use their scissors (safety scissors that they have used many times before). I gave them each a sheet of paper and let them go to town. They cut about a million itty bitty pieces of paper and then I noticed that it was unusually quiet. I was only sitting in the next room which is open to the room they were in--just around the corner with a pass through window separating the two. I got up to check on them when I found Gavin with his scissors and Larry's shoe. The shoe laces. . .well, lets just say that they are no longer operable. Rachael was diligently working on the other shoe but either did not have enough time or was not strong enough to cut through the shoe lace with the dull safety scissors. The scissors and the children are now in time out--the scissors will stay there indefinitely. This is the second indefinite time-out for the scissors. The last time it lasted about 6 months after Gavin cut a piece of my dining room curtains. At least it wasn't their hair I guess!



I wonder what other fun things they have in store for me today. . .

First Parent/Teacher Conference. . .

So we had our first parent/teacher conference with Gavin's PreK teacher today, Ms. Rankin. Larry and I both went to hear whatever the news may be. Gladly, the news was mostly good! Gavin is doing great in PreK. . .his fine motor skills are advanced--he must get that from Larry because I am certainly no artist. He is on target for most everything else but does need to work on his letter recognition. We started working on that tonight while he took his nightly poo. He always makes us sit in the bathroom with him so I brought in the flashcards. May as well take advantage of those few moments right?

Day One. . .

November 2, 2008 -- our blog starts today which just happens to be one of the longest days of my life. Today is the first day after we set our clocks back an hour. Which for some people means they gain and hour of sleep and others it means that the bars are open an extra hour. For me, it just meant that the kids would wake up an hour earlier and behave as if they have been taken over by demons the entire day. I should back up to give some history. . .

Larry and I (Megan) were married April 20, 2002. Shortly after we married we had a son, Gavin Drake born May 1, 2004. Seventeen months later we welcomed our daughter, Rachael McKenna born October 11, 2005 in to the world. The kids are currently 4 and 3 years old. . .and our lives have never been the same. Each day is something new, exciting, surprising, hilarious and even unbelievable. It's hard to imagine how we would spend our time without these two to keep us busy.

In the past year Gavin has done gymnastics, t-ball and now is on his first soccer team. He scored his very first goal on Saturday and we were SO proud. . .he was too! His papa and nana each promised him $5 if he were to score a goal. He walked off the field after his quarter was over and promptly asked for his $5 from each person! He had already planned to buy a costume with the money--he loves to dress up! We went to the store today with the intention of buying a pilot costume but he ended up with an Army man costume. He has been wearing it all afternoon.


Rachael is now in dance. She does tap, ballet and gymnastics during each class. She loves to demonstrate her skills to anyone who will watch. Maybe they will both be performers of some sort.

To get us started. . .here are a few photos from recently: