Mr. Mom

I had an out of town conference this week. Only 2 days, 1 night, 36 hours total. But....in that 36 hours I was gone, there were some firsts for Lance.

Wednesday night with the kids. For a youth minister with young children this is a bit of a challenge. He had to pick them both up from school, get them fed, entertain them at church until their activities began all while still engaging with the youth and doing his job. This was not easy for him, but he pulled it off! And, I think has a new appreciation for "doing it all."

Thursday morning was the dentist for both kiddos - again, a new experience for him, but by all accounts it went really well.

Those of you who are "old enough" remember the movie Mr. Mom with Michael Keaton - it was hilarious and thankfully, I think dads have come a LONG way since then. Lance truly does alot with the kids and I'm so glad.

Now, a cute video that says it all about moms! Be careful, the song has to be played quite loud to get the full effect!


The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

40!!!!!

Today is Lance's 40th Birthday! Yippee!

We have some big fun planned for him!

This morning starts with a treat of donuts for breakfast. Tonight will be Texas Roadhouse (his favorite!).

The big surprise which he has just learned about is that he and I will be going to the Cowboys game Saturday night in Dallas. This is the last regular season game to ever be held in Texas Stadium. Should be an exciting night! We are also staying overnight at the Omni Mandalay in Las Colinas Saturday night while his parents keep the kiddos! I've had a hard time keeping this a secret from him until this morning!! This surprise involves us heading to Dallas 2 days earlier than we had planned. He will be busy packing today!

Happy Birthday babe! Hope you have a great day!

The story of us

Oh, how I lie! I promised vacay pics today, but I can't do that today. It's my 14th wedding anniversary and in honor of this day, I'm going to write the story of how we met.

Lance and I met in the fall of 1990 at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco. I was but a mere freshman girl and he a senior at Baylor University. We were involved in a college handbell choir together and neither of us really paid the other much attention. I was dating a boy from high school and I don't know what his reason was. :)

The director of our group would drop hints about each of us to the other occasionally and we'd both laugh (separately of course. She never did this in front of the other one)

By the spring semester, things weren't going well with the boy from home. I wasn't interested anymore. Fast forward to Easter Weekend...our college group went on a mission trip thru various prisons in Texas. We sat by each other on the bus a few times and began to talk. We had lots in common and some things not. I liked him, he was older and seemed to have things more "together" than the guys my age.

One of his friends, Brian, wanted to date one of my friends, Julie and convinced Lance to ask me to double with them. We did and Lance and I are still together. That was Brian and Julie's first and only date. They took us to various locations around town and campus for different courses of dinner. It was fun!

Lance and I spent the last month of his time at Baylor together everyday. We went dancing, walking, whatever, we just spent every evening together. I will never forget the first night he kissed me - we had been dating several weeks at this point. When I got back to my dorm that evening, I told my roommate that I would marry him. She laughed, but took my picture and it's wonderful to remember that moment that I "knew"!

Before he graduated, he asked me if I'd be interested in dating long distance. See, he was going to spend the summer travelling thru the Panhandle and then he was starting Seminary at Ft. Worth in the fall. I said yes and then began our 3 year 3 month long distance courtship. That summer of 1991 we saw each other only 3 times - once for a wedding, once for a funeral, and once for him to meet my family for the first time (which did not go well at all). I had a few doubts about the future of our relationship in August and early September of 1991, but then things changed. His paternal grandfather was tragically killed in a farming accident that fall and it deepened our relationshipo. He began driving to Waco every Saturday from about 8am to 10pm and we would spend the entire day together. It was great, but hard to see each other only once a week!

We did this until he graduated from seminary in May 1994 and moved to Odessa Texas. I had completed my classes in Waco by this point and was doing an internship in Dallas to complete my degree and graduate in August. I graduated on the 13th and on the 27th, we were married! My dad told me I had to finish college before I married and I did! I'm very thankful for this now!

Oh, how things have changed since this day 14 years ago. We've gone thru many hard days together and many joyous ones. We've served in 3 different churches and lived in 5 different homes. We've welcomed 2 beautiful children into our family. We've matured in many ways, but we still have our struggles. It's a continous journey. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. There are days we don't like each other much, but in the end, we are one another's best friend. There is no one else I would have chosen to go on this journey with. I know long after the kids are gone, we will still enjoy being together!

I love you, Lance!

He's coming home!

Lance is coming home tonight from his last overnight trip of the summer! Yippee! I'm so excited. Although this summer has been the easiest yet with the kiddos, they're older, they went to grandparents for a week, it's still not my favorite time of the year! I really admire single mothers - whether it's a permanent situation or whether it's long-term temporary - like military wives or women whose husbands work somewhere else and don't make it home often. I'm a single mom every year in June and July and while I love it the first week, the rest of the time, not so much!

These are the things we do while Lance is gone:

swim, swim, swim

see movies - we've seen WallE (very good!) and Kung Fu Panda (not so much!)

eat sandwiches and chicken nuggets for dinner - yes, really every night, well except when we have mac n cheese!

read books, play games, ride bikes, go to the park

I have little structure and it is summer, after all - but I'm ready for him to come home and have a little more structure.

I try to make things fun for them while he's gone so that they are making happy summertime memories. The hard part for my kids is that our vacations will never be in June or July like the rest of the free world and sometimes you just need Dad around to talk to for fix stuff.

N is starting to get to the age that he needs his Dad around more and I think we are going to have to get more creative to make that possible.

Money Money Money....Money!

So, what are you guys doing with your Economic Stimulus Payments? Don't be afraid to comment, I know you blog stalkers are out there not commenting!!!!

Lance and I were fortunate enough to receive a very large income tax refund this year and then the economic stimulus payment as well. This is only the second time in our marriage that we've even received a refund at all. We were thrilled, but I'm sure the Bush Administration is probably not thrilled with what we are using our money for. A small amount will go toward stimulating the economy, but the majority is going into the bank or toward our car loan.

What are we stimulating the economy with?

Lasik eye surgery for Lance.



He is very excited as he was worn classes for over 30 years! We knew this might very well be the last time we would have this much cash at our disposal for this purpose. The only other item is a new bed for L, she has been sleeping on the trundle from N's bed for 6 months now. It's time for her to have a "real" bed of her own.

I have a feeling that some of our money may go toward gas :)

Date Night Recap

Friday night was date night! The kids were at the church for Parent's Night Out and Lance and I had a few hours to ourselves. The question was....what are we going to do? Usually, I've had these evenings planned way ahead of time - that's just how I am - a planner. But, this time I was feeling a little puny and not completely in the mood. It seems we weren't the only parents feeling this way. A quick survey in the church hallway was that no one had a clue what they were going to do!

So, Lance and I went and had a pedicure together. I LOVE pedicures. Lance had never had one. I wasn't sure if he'd be up for it, but he was! The massage chairs are great. We got to have an hour long conversation with no interruptions - it was awesome! Now, some guys have been making fun of Lance, but I think they are the ones missing out!

After our relaxing pedicures, we went and had dinner and then headed to Hastings to pick out a movie for the next evening. We rented Juno. Very quirky, but very well done! Has a little of the Napoleon Dynamite vibe to it, if you know what I mean.

All in all, a great date night. No movie (which is normally our favorite thing to do) and yet we had great conversation. The type of conversation that is very hard to have around our house until 10pm and I'm a zombie. It was great to have conversation when I'm still awake and can piece thoughts together!

Yeah for date nights!

We are in the garage!

It's unbelievable, it's amazing, it's true!

One year and one month after moving into our house, we can now park one car in the garage. And you can almost get out of the car, too. You have to suck in, turn sideways and brush up against the car and storage cabinet, but we're in!

Thanks Lance for getting it cleaned up. I'm so excited that my black truck will be parked inside this summer instead of out! I'm go excited that I'll be able to get my car washed and it will last longer than 10 minutes. It's big news around here, folks!!!

We went from this.....




To this.....




As total disclaimer, neither of these is actually our garage, but you get the point. I'm so excited. Does this mean I'm officially grown up? A clean garage is cause for celebration!?! Oh yeah!