Where Does the Time Go?

It's been a long time since I got on the blog! Time goes so fast. I had knee surgery and had to go to therapy every day. Jamie has been working a lot of hours so I was busy with Dallas. Let me tell you, she keeps me busy.

We had another snow storm here last night. We went out to eat at 6:00 and when it was time to go to bed, it had started to snow. This morning we got up and there was 7 inches on the ground! Fortunately, the ground doesn't freeze so the snow doesn't stick. It's already almost completely gone!

Dallas in in pre-school now. She just completed her first week, three days a week. It's made a difference with her already. She needed to go somewhere instead of staying home. Tomorrow they have swimming. It's a great pre-school.

Jamie is working at Dillards now. She like it but she gets tired out from so many hours.

I have a lot of flowers coming out but, with the snow, they may not be any good. I'll find out tomorrow. It's supposed to be in the 60s tomorrow and 75° Tuesday!

Wow! Time Goes Fast

I can't believe that I haven't written in two weeks. Why?
Knee?
Weather?
Olympics?

First: My knee
After the surgery, I did pretty good, except for falling twice. It was strange how my knee would just 'give out'. I had the surgery on Saturday, Sunday I walked with a walker and by Monday I was doing great. A little pain but not the horrible pains I had in my leg and foot every day. I went to the library and the post office Monday. I was doing really good... until this last Thursday. I don't know if our weather caused me to start having pains in my leg when I walk but it started Thursday. I went to the dr for my followup Friday. I told him that it hurt when I walked but even then it didn't hurt as much as it does now. I have to start therapy twice a week for four weeks. Today is Sunday and I'm back with the walker. I walked yesterday and today but it hurt really bad.

Second: The Weather
Maybe the weather is what caused my leg to hurt. I went out in the snow Thursday night with Dallas. Yes, I said 'SNOW'. We got 12 inches of snow in northern Texas! It is the most snow Texas has ever had. In fact, the snow we got in one day was more than Texas had in the last 30 years...all put together! We went on a tour of snowmen like people go on at Christmas to see the Christmas lights. I think 8 out of every ten houses had snowmen in the front yards. Dallas built a cute snowman. She said that she had to build it 'all by herself'. No help.

Third: The winter Olympics started in Canada this weekend. The first day, even before the opening ceremonies, a 21 year old man from Georgia (not the state but the country) was in his last practice run for the luge and he hit the wall, went over and was killed. So sad! We're watching the Olympics. Of course, I love Apollo Ono, the speed skater! He's so cute.

So, hopefully I'll be on here more often. Facebook takes a lot of my time now too. And I'm playing a game on the computer too. Addicted.

Pictures of Dallas

Here are some new pictures for 2010 of Dallas and Stella.

Dallas is in Gymnastics

Dallas has been to 4 classes in Gymnastics. She loves it and, believe it or not, she does what she's told. Her coach, Maria, is very nice and patient with these 3 year old children. There are usually only 4 little girls and they are just darling! So much fun to watch. Dallas is learning to do a cartwheel. Yesterday she went to the gym with Jamie and went to the playroom. She was dancing and the sitter said that it was really fun. There was a boy that is a little older than Dallas and he was break dancing. Dallas loves to dance and she started to do her cartwheel (as much as she's learned on it so far). She looked like she was breakdancing. Here are some pictures of her in gymnastics.

Pumpkin Patch

Sue, Dallas and I went to the Pumpkin Patch last Saturday. We had a really good time. Dallas got to ride on the ferris wheel and an airplane ride and she rode on a train.

House Cleaning with A Three Year Old

OK, I know it's frustrating to try keep a house clean with a three year old, very active child underfoot. Especially when you're a young mother and you want to have a nice clean house for your husband to come home or really so he doesn't think you've been doing nothing but watch soap operas all day! I've been through those days three times! Now I'm a grandmother of three. But it's only the youngest grandchild that is underfoot. Jamie and Dallas live with us. We love having them here, even though we have to give up the idea of having a neat and clean house 24/7.

It's not as frustrating now that I'm a grandmother instead of 'just' a mother. I figure I'll never have this house (which is only 3 years old too) neat and clean like I thought it would be. I take care of Dallas while Jamie is at work.

So this is the way I have to clean...I have to stop a minute because Dallas is trying to take things off from my desk and I have to get her busy again. I thought that she was going to take a nap. Didn't happen that way. When I think it's quiet in the living room with her watching Max and Ruby on the TV, in she walked, still ready to go, go, go.

I took my phone away from her and she's interested in another show now. Maybe she'll fall asleep.

This morning I took all of the chairs out of the kitchen so I could clean it good. I wanted to clean the counter and the walls behind the counter first. I didn't see Dallas take my spray bottle off from the counter. She did and she was spraying the walls that I didn't plan on washing. Then she sprayed me before I could get the bottle away from her. Counter tops clean, walls behind the counter tops clean and the walls that I didn't plan on cleaning but had to (or have streaked walls)are all clean. I thought that I'd mop the floor next. She left the room and was playing train with my kitchen chairs in the family room. I got the bucket and mop out. I already swept and vacuumed the floor. She saw me! "Me, I help you, Mamo!" (all of her sentences start with 'Me' since they all start with 'I'. So I got her little mop out too. Here's where the patience of a grandmother come in. She's dunking her little mop in the bucket and mopping. I tell her to mop in front of the refrigerator. That doesn't last and neither does the water in her mop. She has to keep dunking it in the bucket because she says there's no water in it. I just keep mopping and eventually, even with her help, I get the floor all mopped.

She isn't ready to quit. And I still have two bathrooms to clean. So off we go to the little bathroom. The bathroom she uses now that she's finally potty trained. And the tub is full of bath toys because, naturally, that's where she takes her baths and, naturally, there are going to be toys in the tub...until she's a teenager. We start our mopping and, again, she thinks she needs more water. Since this room isn't big, she dunks her mop in and knocks the whole bucket over on the floor! Good use for the toilet besides her potty training! We both were laughing while we mopped up the floor, rinsing them out in the toilet bowl. (Clean water, by the way). Again, it's the grandma patience I used. That done, we left the room with a nice clean floor. I decided to do the other bathroom later. I said that I was practicing patience but I didn't say I was a saint. A kitchen and one bathroom is enough for today.

Now it's time to vacuum. This is the game that Dallas loves! I can clean the family room, dining room and living room all at the same time. I have to chase her through the house with the vacuum cleaner. She yells "Get me, Mamo!" and the chase is on. I get every spot of the floor clean! She runs to the couch in the family room and jumps up on it. I'm always right behind her. Then she jumps off the couch and takes off running again, yelling "Get me, Mamo!", into the living room and jumps on the couch there with me right behind her. This goes on for a while as I try to get other spots while I have her trapped on the couches. It works! The carpet are clean! Did I mention that I have to pick up Tinkertoy, blocks, babies and sippy cups before I can vacuum? I think that's enough work for today. Jamie will be home from work in a couple of hours. Denny is watching TV, Dallas won't take a nap today and I'm sitting down for a rest. Hey, I got my exercise. While other women are taking walks for their exercise, I'm running through the house with a vacuum cleaner in hand. That's like running on a treadmill and lifting weights, in my opinion. In closing this story, I hate to tell you but all of the Tinkertoy, blocks and babies will all be in their natural spots on the floors before Jamie can come home from work. I'm glad that Denny was home to see it because I'll bet Jamie thinks that I didn't do anything all day. And she comes home tired! Awww, poor girl.

Dallas Turns Three!

Dallas is three years old now. Time for a two wheel bike with training wheels. Wow, I was still riding a three wheel when I was ten...well, maybe not that old! We didn't have knee pads or helmets back then. Probably should have. That's probably why there are so many goofy people in the world now...falling with no helmets! Anyway, she had a good birthday. Besides the bike, she got a Tinkertoy Set and a few other things. Dallas, Jamie, Sue, Denny and I went to Chuck E Cheese for her birthday and we celebrated with pizza. Dallas had Sue running all over the place. I think Sue was having a great time. When we got home, Dallas got a call from Kayla wishing her a happy birthday, she blew out her candles on the first try, and opened her presents. She had a lot of fun. Sue made a butterfly out of the tinkertoys. I wondered why she was so quiet! Real concentration. So now Dallas started her 4th year! I can't wait to see what new things and what new conversations she's going to have with us. So smart.

Here's a picture of Sue's butterfly.

Waterfall cheerleader!

We've been having just beautiful weather this week. In the 80s during the day. When it was really hot, Jamie would take Dallas to Centennial Park to run in the water park. She'd have her in her bathing suit and have nice towels to wrap her in when she was done. No way would Dallas get wet. She just wanted to run and play on the play equipment. Well, Monday afternoon, Jamie, Dallas and I headed to Centennial Park to play. Dallas had on her cute little cheerleading outfit, socks with ruffles and her tenny shoes. What did she do? As soon as she was 'released' from Jamie she ran as fast as she could! RIGHT INTO THE WATER! She was soaked. She still played on the equipment, shivering since it was a little chilly with the light wind that we had. Then back to the water she'd run. Her little skirt was so wet that it was hard to keep up and her socks slid into her shoes. So here's a picture of her trying to slap the water. It looks like she's cheering, doesn't it? We finally got her out of the park, turned the air off in the car and took her home. What a kid!

Dallas and the chicken bone

Dallas loves to chew on chicken bones. We first take all of the little bones out and the end of the bone that she could pull off. Then we give her the bone. She's so quiet in the restaurant since she's busy with it.

Dallas with her beads

Here are a few pictures of Dallas after she came in from playing in the yard. She loves her beads. She was 19 months old on the 25th, two days ago.