Oh my!

Most people would have looked at the last week of our lives as an absolute disaster, but not I! No, for me I saw the wonderful opportunity for a marvelous blog post so here we go....

Friday (May 30th) was the day that Brian and I left for sunny Florida, one of our favorite vacationing spots in the world, to attend John and Whitney's wedding!! We intentionally took the early flight in so that we would have time to do our own thing before the rehearsal dinner on Friday night. We got in around 11:00 and that is where the fun began. We’re standing at the luggage carousel watching everyone grab their bags and scurry away and then and nothing...no more bags. So a nice gentleman told us that we would have to make our way over to the baggage claim desk, a place that I have never had to visit before and hopefully will never have to do again. Fortunately for us, our bag just didn’t make it on the flight that we were on, but was already aboard the next flight and on its way to us. The nice people at baggage claim explained to us that as soon as the bag arrived at the airport they would have it delivered to our hotel. So we headed off without our bags and decided to take the "scenic" route to our hotel in Jupiter Beach. Before we went to the hotel, we decided to have a bite to eat and check out the town of Jupiter (where we were staying and the location of the wedding....also home to Burt Reynolds). We ate at a place that sat right on the water called the Crab Shack or something like that. I had shrimp scampi and Brian had snapper. Mine was not good at all! In fact, I blame that plate of shrimp scampi for my stomach issues (food poisoning) for the rest of the weekend and a week after we got home! We go to the hotel after this horrible run in with shrimp to find that our bags haven't made it there yet. I was not happy! I called customer service and explained to them that we had a rehearsal dinner to go to in just a few hours and that we weren't about to show up in our tee shirts, shorts and flip-flops! After no help what-so-ever from the customer service lady, we walk in to the rehearsal dinner in our tee shirts, shorts and flip flops. We were so embarrassed but thankfully John and Whitney have an amazing set of friends and family who were all more than understanding of why we looked like two vagrants who just wandered in from off the street and we ended up having a really nice time.

After the dinner (and after about three or four glasses of wine for me), we make our way back to the hotel to make sure that our luggage has arrived (it's 10:00 p.m. at this point) and guess what....still no luggage!! I decide to call the American Airlines customer service desk to give them a piece of my mind (remember I have had about three or four glasses of wine)! The conversation ended up with me yelling at the MOST annoying lady in the world who felt it neccessary to tell me over and over again that me not having my kuggage was not her problem because "she's in Dallas, what do I expect her to do"! Arrrgggghhh!!! I was more than mad...I was in tears!! Brian took over and found out that it wasn't the airline who was delaying our luggage, but the courier company that was hired to deliver the luggage to us. So, he got the number to the courier company and they explained that the person delivering the luggage had been involved in some sort of accident in Miami and would not be able to deliver the bag tonight, but that it had been put on the special delivery list and would be to us by 8:00 in the morning.

Unfortunately, we already had plans that involved us leaving around 7:00 a.m. to catch a fishing charter the next morning so it looked as if we would be fishing in the same clothes that we flew in with yesterday...Saturday morning comes and we were late for our fishing charter...I was getting sicker by the minute from the food the day before and to make it even worse we were still in the same clothes! We called the guy running the charter who told us that he had another boat going out in about an hour, but the port was about 45 minutes away. So we high tailed it up there and were the absolute last people to arrive, but we got there! Finally, something was going to go right for us! Nothing makes life better than an awesome fishing adventure in the middle of the ocean, that is, unless you got food poisoning the day before! I was sicker than a dog and when I was able to drag myself outside of the bathroom (one that EVERYONE was sharing because the guys bathroom was broken) I just kept catching the same stupid little sea bass ("just a 1/2" shy of a keeper") over and over again! In between my trips to the bathroom and sleeping in the cabin, I was periodically calling the hotel to check on our luggage arrival. 10:00 still no luggage....12:30 nothing.....2:30 still nada....4:30 Sorry! So here is our problem, we are still in the same clothes that we have now been in for two days and have now fished in and we have a wedding to attend to at 7:00. 7:15 our bags show up. Gee golly thanks. We missed the wedding, the wedding that we flew down here to see and neither American Airlines or the stupid courier company seemed to give a hoot! We did get to go to the reception which was BEAUTIFUL and lots of fun though so we didn't miss everything! You would think that this was enough of a weekend to wear anyone out, but not us...we got up on Sunday and drove around and looked at all of the beautiful houses and then headed off to the airport. Sadly, the food poisoning coupled with some motion sickness from the boat was still hanging over me pretty badly so when we got to the airport to find out that our flight had been delayed I was just ready to go home! I mean, what else could go wrong here? And then my phone rang. It was Jaiden explaining to me Sadie (our dog) had eaten something and when they investigated what it was they found that a duck...yes a duck had decided that out of all of the yards in Carrollton, ours would be the perfect spot to lay 6 eggs. Now there were only 5 eggs but eggs that the kids (our neice Emberlea was there also) knew would soon become baby ducks so improper disposal of the eggs was now out of the question. After Jaiden ran down all of the details of our newest "yard mate" I just smiled and handed Brian the phone...

A couple of days after we got home, I called animal control to find out how to get rid of our newest tenants when she told me...."Ducks are protected by the State of Texas and no one is allowed to move them, so enjoy 'em". I just hung up the phone and died laughing...it was the icing on the cake. Did anyone have any idea in the world that ducks were protected?!?!

So here we are. I finally got over my food illness a week later. The duck is still in the backyard swimming in our pool and nesting her now 9 eggs that should hatch by the end of this month. Her boyfriend also comes over and swims in the pool which is beautiful to watch, but has unfortunately just made a lot more work for Brian when it comes to keeping the pool clean. Sadie hasn't eaten any more eggs and strangly just watches the ducks as they swim around in the pool at night.

Now we are trying to get ready for our next wedding adventure at the end of this month in Las Vegas....We just can't wait! ; )

Strep, immobile and toothless!

So, Jaiden got strep throat on Tuesday. Not fun at all! And once again, she diagnosed herself with a MUCH worse disease than the one that she actually had. She told Grandmommy that she had just gotten back from the doctor and that the doctor said that she had a stroke...Luckily this time it stayed on a much smaller scale and I was able to contain it before a poster was made for her school wall! She is feeling much better now though, was begging to go swimming yesterday and made it back to school today! Thankfully for Brian and I it didn't last too long!

Anthony is still not crawling and still has no teeth. I have to say that I was very much for him not crawling for a while, but now it’s just starting to drive me crazy! Although he isn’t able to walk yet, he has found that when you hold him he can lean to wherever it is that he wants to go and, if you oblige, he can pretty much make it around the whole house touching everything that he wants. Shoot, I guess I wouldn’t walk either if I had someone do that for me either! I am almost positive that he could master a Segway if given the chance!

We’re looking forward to seeing the family on Kai’s birthday and then Brian and I are off to Florida! Boy, I can’t wait for that trip!!!

Just wanted to give a little update about what was going on in our world! Hope all is well with everyone!

Almost short of crazy....

So, things have been almost short of crazy around our household for the past couple of weeks. We have all had and passed on some type of flu bug for about the last two weeks which is never fun...especially when there is a whiny eight year old and a helpless 7 month old involved. Other than the occassional bout of sickies, we've all been good.

Brian is currently job searching which has not posed as being the easiest task with the market in it's current state! Also, to add to the complications, Anthony has figured out that his Daddy is currently looking for work and attests everytime Brian gets on the phone with a potential lead. Hopefully, we can bribe Grammy into coming over a couple of days again next week so that Brian can get something done! Brian has such amazing talents and ideas...I seriously doubt that he will be on the market for too long.

I, on the other hand, am once again a working girl...okay wait I'm not actually a "working girl", but I have been working. Four days this week. I can't say that I am enjoying it as much as I was when I was at home with the little guy but it's great that I am fortunate enough to work for a company that really lets me come and go as I please! The extra money has been nice and we are using it to pay for a trip to a wedding in Florida that we will be attending at the end of May (Congrats to John and Whit!). After that one is paid for, then we get to charge up the card for our Vegas wedding trip at the end of June (Congrats to Mike and Ly!). Weddings, weddings, weddings!

Jaiden took her reading TAKS test last month and missed...are you ready for this....two questions! That's it, two questions! She even got commended for her score. It's no secret that J-Bug struggles in school so when we got that news we were ecstatic (and shocked!) to say the least! At the end of this month we face the dreaded Math section of the TAKS and we are not looking forward to that one. We recently had her tested and the school has decided that she has a learning disability. I honestly believe that Jaiden is queen when it comes to working the system and boy did she work it this time. Who knows though, it could be something other than just her sheer laziness, but I am now just going to let the school decide that. Other than school, Jaiden is loving gymnastics! She is picking everything up relatively quickly and flips around the uneven bars like no ones business!

Anthony is now 7 months old! Can you even believe it? Time flies. He is sitting up by himself now and he is absolutely determined to crawl! He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth and has actually lunged himself forward a couple of times, but we are as of today, still immoblie! Thank you Lord! Not to say that I am not looking forward to the absolute cuteness that is a baby crawling, because I totally am, but this is my second time around...I learned from the first that once they start crawling it is a never ending chase for about the next four years! ; )

I haven't gotten any pictures up in a while, mainly because the computer that I normally use has been on the blitz and I am waiting now to get my laptop repaired, but as soon as all that gets worked out, I will get some pics up.

I hope that everything is going good for everyone! God bless and I will try and post again soon!

The "Surprise" Trip

On Friday Brian took Jaiden and her friend Daniela to Six Flags. We surprised them, or at least we thought we did, Grammy. I have to tell you...Jaiden could possibly win an Academy Award someday! See, what happened was Brian and I (last minute of course) decided that we would secretly plan this trip to Six Flags. So we invite Daniela (J's friend) over after Jaiden got out of gymnastics, then Brian and I told the girls that we had to go somewhere and that we were going to drop them off at Grammy's while we were gone. So, we drove up there and as we near the park the ooohhhs and aaaahhhs were abundant to say the least! I told Brian that he should at least "drive through" the park so that the girls could see it. So, he pulls up and stops the car and tells them to get out. They went crazy! While they went to the park, I took Anthony over to Grammy's and we hung out for a while. While I was hanging out with Grammy, she told me that she had already asked Jaiden about the Six Flags trip that her dad was taking her on the day before...

You now see where the Academy Award comes in to play! So, moral of the story....when you are trying to surprise someone, just don't, it never works out well! ; )

The Last Couple of Weekends...

We have had such a great time the past couple of weekends...


The weekend before last, Brian, Jaiden, Anthony and I went to Gladewater to celebrate my neice's second birthday. It was so great because we haven't all seen each other since Christmas! After Ella's party we all snuck over to Steve and Judy's (Cassie's parents) where we all hid in the garage and had a surprise 30th birthday party for my OLDER brother Doug! ; ) After the party cleared out, we all (Me, Brian, Jaiden, Anthony, Doug, Cassie, Ella, Ryan, Lindsay, Kai, Steve and Judy) sat in the living room and played with the toys from Ella's toy box. It was a great night. And, just when I thought that it couldn't get any better as we were leaving Lindsay and Ryan told me that I was going to be an aunt AGAIN!! Two of my sister-in-laws are having babies....How awesome is that!


On Wednesday, Anthony got his first haircut by his Aunt Jay! He was so good. Didn't cry for a second! Later on that evening, Jaiden went to her first gym/dance class and had a blast! It's held down at our rec center about half a mile away from the house and that place is awesome! It has everything! I am planning on starting a class on the first of April. I'm actually hoping that with the start date being what it is (4/1), I will just walk into the class and the instructor will say, "April Fools". Probably won't happen though.


So, on Friday, after Jaiden got out of school we headed down to my moms house. Luckily, Anthony was wonderful the entire trip! It took us about an hour longer with all of the bathroom stops, but the trip was nice. Jaiden and Anthony were both worn out from the trip so, when we got there they both fell asleep and Mom, Sean and I sat around and talked for a while. It was really nice to catch up or just talk to Sean. I noticed while I was sitting there that I hardly recognized anything about him. It was wierd. Sad and wierd, but I'm glad that we got the chance to talk. On Saturday, Jaiden, Sean, George and his daughter Melissa went to the Houston Rodeo and then saw Brad Paisley afterwards. Jaiden had a Blast!! She called during the concert saying "Can you hear this?" It was very cute! Me, Anthony and Mom went grocery shopping and then hung out around the house all day. We talked and laughed and played with the baby. It was really great. On Sunday, Mom did an Easter egg hunt for Jaiden and Jaiden ran around the front yard hunting them. It took a little longer than we had planned, but she finally found them all. : 0


After the hunt was over, we had a big lunch that mom and george had prepared. It was yummy. Then we had to pack up and get ready for out long trip home!

It was a great couple of weekends and I am so thankful for all of my wonderful family! I love them all and hate that we only see each other on special occassions and such, but with the way my family is procreating, we are bound to have a new birthday in just about every month of the year, so maybe I'll be seeing them more often in the coming years!

I'll post a slideshow of all of our most recent events later...it's kinda difficult getting pictures in here!

I hope that everyone has a fabulous Easter! God Bless!

Open House

So...tonight Jaiden had open house at her school from 5:00 - 6:30. And, because I am always sooo prepared for what is going to happen, at 6:10, I strapped Anthony on me (Brian had ran to the store to get something to try and fix my car) and we took off walking to the school. We did get there in time, but not with much to spare. Anyways, this story does have a point...and it is this. Jaiden starts the night off by showing me her "newspaper article" which is roughly the size of a posterboard. Each kid in the third grade had one and they are all hanging on the wall in the MAIN hallway. After we found it and were able to get close enough to the wall to read it (there were still a lot of people there) Jaiden starts to read...."I love my family because when I was a baby I had cancer." Of course I blurt out "CANCER!!!'

I'm not sure wether it was Jaiden's reading or my loud mouth, but we had an audience and anyone who knows me knows that I wanted to curl up in a ball and die!!!

Jaiden had mistaken 'surgery' for 'cancer'...you see the resemblance, right?!? Geez!

Unfortunately, the poster is still on the wall and with our tardiness, I didn't have a chance to tell the teacher that Jaiden's bio was thankfully not true!

It's Snowing.....

It snowed! I swear that Jaiden had shorts and a tee shirt on yesterday and tonight it is snowing! Boy, if that isn't some crazy Texas weather...'don't like the weather here, wait a minute, it'll change'! I couldn't get the camera to work real well, but here...

Other than that, things in the Barrera house are fair to middling. Anthony is coming down with a cold and we are praying that it doesn't turn into the croup again! He's also teething, so you can imagine the pleasure cruise that our house is! Other than all of that, he has mastered rolling over and does so ever time that you lay him on the floor. He is also sitting up on his own pretty well. He looses his balance pretty easily, but he's getting it. And, he is holding his own bottle (when he wants to) but still occassionally has those wierd spastic baby moments where he slings the bottle on to the floor or just slides the nipple across his face leaving a nice trail of formula or juice.

Poor baby....

Jaiden is doing okay in school. We have the Reading TAKS Test on Wednesday so we are hoping for the best! We just found out that she is struggling with multiplying her "3's". The rest of the class is now on "7's" and Jaiden is still on "3's". Thing is...they do a number each week and this is the first time that Brian or I have heard anything about her struggling. I understand that Jaiden should have said something to me, but isn't it also a bit on the teacher to send home a (failed) test, or shoot me an email to let me know that she should be working on them extra a bit before she is FIVE weeks behind the rest of the class? I dunno, but that is now our newest focus. Any tips or suggestions on memorizing times tables are greatly appreciated!

Tonight, Miss Jaiden was feeling a bit 'froggy'

Oh come on...it was cute!

Brian is still kickin' butt with his job and we are hopeful that he will get signed on full time. We were just talking about how amazingly blessed we are both being able to be home with the baby! It has really helped Anthony and Brian have a special bond that a lot of fathers aren't able to experience this early on. I was so worried after having him because the first three months or so Anthony was stuck to me (literally!) and would cry when Brian held him. I know that it broke his heart, but know, every time that Anthony sees his Daddy walk into a room, he gets the greatest little grin on his face and usually reaches for him when I am holding him and we're standing next to his Daddy. Thankfully, (and especially right now with him not feeling good), I still get my Mommy moments, so I am happy!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and I'll write again soon!