Titans Win!

The Titans beat Mesquite Poteet last night and moved to 2-1 for the season. Only a dedicated coach's family would endure a one-hour start delay and sticky drizzling rain to watch the game in its entirety (dedication and the fact Grandma, Chris' mom, was in town to watch)!! The things we do, I tell ya! :)

Our Little "Turtle"

Campbell started Preschool today in his little Turtles class! He had several friends from last year's Penguin class and then some new friends he is excited about. Some of these are from Meet the Teacher last week and the others today. So cute I could just eat him up. :)

With his friend Rayna from last year.. he is the tallest in the class and she is the smallest. She is such a cutie!!

First Day! Nice smile, right?

Getting to know our new friends.

Ms. Cindy and Ms. Wendy!

Ugghh.. So Close!

Titans lost tonight to McKinney Boyd. It was a crazy and fun game, but this makes three years in a row to lose a hard fight. Mesquite Poteet next week! Go Titans!

Oh My!!!

That's pretty much all I can say right now!! hehe
www.people.com

The Season is Here!

Football season officially started last night and the Titans got off to a great start beating the Denton High Broncos 52-22!! Hopefully, this is a good sign of the rest of the season!!! The kids, as always, had a blast. They even got to ride back to the school on the bus with Daddy and just loved it. Good luck the rest of the season and we will be there every week to cheer you on!

Chris gives Campbell is play sheet after the games and Campbell really thinks he is a coach. It is so cute. Someone will ask him what play he is calling and Campbell will pull out the play sheet (from his shorts where he keeps it since Chris keeps it in the back of his pants during the game) and says a different color each time. Like "I call the Blue!" Chris gets such a kick out of it!

Kindergarten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, yesterday it came... the first day of Kindergarten. Carley was so excited and ended up having a great day! Her teacher is Ms. Anderson and she really liked her. I hope this year starts a really fun and happy school experience. My friend sent the below to me and it perfectly states it best....

The Transfer of a Trust by Susan Wojciechowski
The realization has finally hit me - my child is starting kindergarten. The syndrome hits me every year just when school is starting. It's always the same. At 7am, the school bus whizzes to a stop at the end of my driveway. My child waves an uncertain goodbye and climbs aboard. The door whooshes shut and the bus rumbles slowly out of sight. I go back on the porch for another cup of tea, a peaceful cup at last. I spread the paper open in front of me and I start to cry. I snap the paper to attention and pretend to read. My tears blur the words into a muddy jumble. This in nonsense. I should be glad school is back in session. No more sticky kitchen floor, no more sliding door left open, no more trail of Kool-Aid across the rug. It's no use. I want to jump in the car and follow the school bus to school. I want to peek around the corner of the building to make sure my baby has found the right classroom, has not gotten knocked over by bullies, has remembered to carry her lunch box off of the bus. But more than that, I want to glimpse into her classroom. I have no need to check the bulletin board or the lesson plans. I want to look into the teachers soul. I want to find some hint of assurance that she is worthy to continue what I have these past years begun. For, when each of my children turned five, they were suddenly snatched from me. I had, up till then, been the overwhelming influence on their development. Their values were my values, their world was shaped by what I wanted them to see, hear, experience. All at once a teacher, a stranger was taking my place. And so, I cry on the first day of school. I cry because my child is entering a world which I cannot, now matter how desperately I long to, intrude. I cry because some stranger is taking over the job, not of teaching my child math or reading, but of nurturing his development of self. And I wonder if she'll do it with the dedication I demand. Each September I fight an overwhelming urge to rush to school to remind the teacher what a very special little person my child is; that he is not just one of a roomful of pupils - he is MY CHILD, would she please, please treat him/her accordingly. Would she be so kind as to try to get to know his/her complex personality, his/her weaknesses. Would she try never to humiliate him or belittle him; would she notice his bad days and on those days treat him ever so gently because he is, after all, not just one of a sea of little bodies - he is special. He's mine. But of course I can't do that, can't dictate caring to every teacher my children will encounter. I only can hope that each one of them will know that for all the fantastic educational tools a teacher might use and for all her mastery of subject matter and exciting lesson plans, and for all of her intelligence, her most basic responsibility will be unfulfilled if the element of caring is missing. And the key to that, in my mind, lies in seeing each pupil as somebody's precious child. So I sit on my back porch, drinking a peaceful cup of tea and pretending to read and hope that my children's teachers wee them as unique, complex, fragile, vulnerable beings. I can only hope that the reason they are teachers after all, is to bring each student ever closer to his potential, not just as a mind, but as a heart and soul as well.

It wouldn't be Chris without a few tears!!! :)

Looking in through the window. Hopefully, she didnt see us peeking in the blinds from the outside window!!!!!!!! ;)

First day!

With our neighbor, Max! They are only one day apart and were even born at the same hospital! Now, off to Kindergarten together!!

Meet the Teacher Night

Ms. Anderson is so nice!

Happy Birthday, Nana!

This past weekend we went to Tyler and celebrated Nana's birthday. Carley wanted to stop and get decorations to surprise her, so we grabbed balloons, signs and a Pin the Tale On the Donkey game. It is so sad that none of the kids except Stephanie (9 yrs) had heard of it before!! How long has it been since you played Pin the Tale On the Donkey??!! :) It was a fun morning! Then we went to the zoo and later swam at her friend, Lori's, house. We had to leave early Sunday afternoon to get back and ready for school Monday morning!

Hi Again.. It's Been A While

Hi everybody. I cant believe it has been so long since I posted. Well, I guess I CAN believe it. HA!

We had a great summer with the kids. We just did small things here and there, but it really was a fun summer. Here are some pics of the kids and I at Chuck E. Cheese then at Macy's grand opening in Allen just a few weeks ago. It was such a fun day! They gave away free tickets and did the Hokey Pokey at Chuck E. Cheese and then the kids got their faces painted and a balloon animal at Macy's. I got a free eye shadow set, so it was a good day for me, too! :)

Chemo, Here We Come!

Christy will begin chemo Monday with her first 5 hour treatment. She will have a treatment every three weeks with a total of six treatments (so 18 weeks total.) The doctor tells her she will probably be sick the week after treatment and feel better the following two weeks. Then sick for a week and better for two weeks ... and so forth. SHe should begin losing her hair after the first treatment. We are glad to be continuing through the process, but I know she is scared of being sick and losing her hair. Her fabulous best friend is a hair stylist and will shave it all off for her once it starts falling out. However they are going to dye it all kinds of colors and cut it in all kinds of shapes to make it fun first! Thank goodness for her friends.. they are so awesome. Please keep her in your prayers..

Here's To "8"!!

Today, Chris and I have been married for 8 wonderful years!!! This time eight years ago I couldn't get out of the bathroom due to a case of the "nervous poos"! HAHAHA! (I had to post that because on top of being nervous for the wedding, I was nervous I wouldn't be able to get of the bathroom long enough to even get married!! A crazy memory, I know, but a funny one at that. ) Then all my girls and I had a wonderful time sipping mimosas and getting our hair done (that none of them really liked, I think) and then a long afternoon before it was FINALLY time to go to church to get ready.

After getting to the church, all I wanted to do was get my dress on!! I made myself wait as long as possible and that was so hard. Then it was time for the ever-memorable photographer that drove us all crazy to start taking pictures. "Oh wait, do that again so I can get a picture!" eeekkk!Then down time AGAIN until the wedding started. We all killed the time by chatting and basically twiddling our thumbs, except for Ronna that is... she was the only smart one and kept sneaking off to the groomsmen room to take shots of Gold Schlogger! ;)

Then they called all the bridesmaids in and I was back there in that big room all alone. I heard my dad go into the church kitchen and I stayed quiet because I didn't want to see him and start crying! :) Then he came to get me and we walked to the sanctuary. My only regret is being so anxious to get down to Chris that I didn't wait for the doors to shut so they could then be reopened when it was time to walk. Oh well. Then I married the love of my life with absolute certainty God created us to be together!

After the ceremony and what seemed to be HOURS of picture taking with the annoying photographer, we finally headed to the most fun reception I have ever been to! It was then and only then did I realize my bridesmaids all HATED the shoes I got them for the wedding - they were all in their own flip flops! HA! (I am so sorry girls!) We loved it and wish we could throw that kind of party again!!! One of our favorite moments was leaving in the Jamaican wigs in the limo. I know it was really goofy, but we are goofy people - you all should know that by now for sure!! :)

Happy Anniversary, Honey!!! I love you the same today as I did on July 14, 2001!!!

Freebie Lists

This pic confirms Josh Duhamel is now at #1 on my "Freebie List"!!! This might be the best pic EVER of him! (courtesy http://www.people.com/) Chris's #1 is now Jamie Pressly. Both beat out Matt McConaghey and Kelly Preston (which I never really understood anyway!) ;)

Healing

thank you all for you emails asking about my sister, Christy. She is healing at home now, but I never imagined before now what a HORRIBLE disease breast cancer is. I have known people who have battled it, but of course did not see the levels they had to go through to get better.

Her surgery went well Tuesday and she was home at my parents on Wed afternoon. (She is healing there for a few weeks so her husband can work more to help make up for her time off, which is UNPAID! Can you believe that?) Thursday night she had a whole in one of her drainage tubes so she had to go back to the hospital Friday morning at 5:30 a.m. (the same check-in and waiting area) and go back under anaesthesia for the doctor to replace the tube. She was home around 10:30 again and slept until 4ish. The rest of the evening was one of her best yet, as she was able to go to Dairy Queen in Whitehouse to celebrate Brianna's 3rd birthday with us.

Her morphine pump is out and removed so she is now on regular pain medicine. She has lots of visitors so that is keeping her spirits up and her mind off of things. Along with being extremely difficult physically to cope with (she hates "looking down" because it makes "her feel so nauseated" ) the emotional side is extremely difficult as well.

She will heal for a few more weeks before starting her chemo. Chemo will be 6 treatments, one every three weeks. No radiation is needed, though. Then, after chemo, she will have her reconstruction. She looks to be updating her Caring Bridge site, so if you want to take a look it is
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/christycampbellnorrell.

Thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers - and if any of her friends are reading this, THANK YOU for your continued and never-ending support and love for her. It really is helping.

In the meantime, OH I WISH THEY WOULD HURRY UP AN FIND A CURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE!

Found the tortillas in the pantry, honey! Sorry about that. ;)


Man, I can't wait to receive my "wife of the year" award! I deserve it!

Happy Father's Day, Sweety-Baby-Honey!

Because of all the chaos last week, we totally didn't realize it was Father's Day! So, at 10 p.m. Saturday night, the kids and our nieces made Chris beautiful Father's Day cards and we hatched a plan for a surprise breakfast of sausage taquitos in the morning! "Dad will LOVE that" Carley said!! To start things off Sunday morning, Chris woke up first so I had to tell him to stay in bed! I woke up the kids and got started in the kitchen. The sausage I pulled out of the freezer the night before was 'game' sausage, so it was packed in like a two pound package - it was like the never ending bowl of sausage! After getting the sausage and eggs made, I went to the fridge to find we were out of Tortillas! NICE! All we had was one can of croissants biscuit things. Then, Chris got up and the kids yelled, "Surprise, Happy Father's Day!" He got so excited to see the taquitos, but then quickly deflated when I told him we had no tortillas to make the taquitos. :( After church, we went to get him a sun hat for football camp this week and then to Wall Mart to get a canning pot and mason jars. Yep, you read that right. He wants to try and make pickles out of the cucumbers he grows in the backyard. It took forever and phone call to his aunt, but we finally found all the supplies. Then his Aunt Betty reminds him it takes about 6 months for the pickles to be ready to eat and all the wind escapes from his sail... and a few choice words took its place! ;) The best part of the day would probably be the 4 hour nap the entire house took Sunday afternoon!! Happy Father's Day baby-sweety-honey!!

Even though your day wasn't quite what you deserve, you are the BEST father and husband a family could ever ask for!!!!!!!! I love you!

Top 10 Reasons You are The Best Dad Ever

10. You throw the BEST birthday parties!

9. You expose us to TONS of things mom would never DREAM of showing us! EW!

#8. You risk your life for us!

#7 We get to beat you up in hotel rooms!!

#6 You show us the world from a higher perspective!

#5 You're a fabulous (a sexy!) chauffer!

#4 Who else would we have fun catching a turtle while mowing a yard with??

#3 You always need a good fishin' buddy!

#2 You teach Campbell how to be suave with the ladies!
and the #1 reason you are the best dad in the world....

Without You There Wouldn't Be Us !

Doing Well

Hello everyone. Just giving a quick update on my sister.. she had her double mastectomy yesterday and is actually on her way home from the hospital as I type!! She is doing really well so far, but I am sure the rest of the week will be tough. the doctors confirmed the cancer is not in any lymph nodes, so that is WONDERFUL news. After she heals more, she will start her round of chemo. I am not sure how long that will last yet. Thanks for your prayers and well wishes and keep praying for successful recovery!

WHOOP!

Chris and I took the kids to an Aggie baseball game Sunday. They were playing in the Regional tournament in Ft. Worth at TCU. Although they aggies got stomped, we had a really good time! The kids were soooooo good, too! Sitting in the shade helped with all that, I am sure! They both brought their gloves in hopes of catching a foul ball. Our cousin, Bradley, was there (he is a Senior at A&M) and actually did catch a foul ball. So, he gave it to Carley and Campbell. They were really excited!

Campbell's favorite part of baseball is the catcher! He loves playing the catcher and makes Carley be the pitcher and Chris the umpire. We watched girls college softball on T.V. Sunday night and he says, "I don't want to watch the girl catcher, I want the boy catcher!" It was really funny! Apparently, he is not a softball fan. ;)

Getting the foul ball from cousin Bradley

(They guy in the gray shirt on the back row.

They sat in a different section, so Chris and the kids went over to visit.)

Carley took this one!

Playing baseball just outside the field with our new ball!

Pickin' Sweet Corn

For years, Chris has looked forward to the kids being old enough to go to his Uncle Leonard's farm to pick sweet corn. He had so much fun doing this as kid himself! So, this past weekend while in Sealy to visit Leona (Grandma), we took the kids into Ganado, Tx (about an hour from Sealy) to Uncle Leonard and Aunt Betty's farm to teach Carley and Campbell (and myself) how to pick corn. They had what looked like miles of crops surrounding their home. Only a few rows were actual sweet corn that we were able to pick, the rest was regular corn and maize that we couldn't go into because we didn't want to damage anything. Uncle Leonard already lost quite a bit of his crop from the high winds this spring.

Campbell loved going in the barn and seeing all the massive farm equipment - tractors with tires bigger than Chris and seed equipment that the kids had to use a ladder to climb up on!! Carley's favorite part was "Champ" the dog! She loved him! Campbell did too and actually wanted us to take him home with us. I think we have enough doggies Campbell, but maybe next time! It was a great experience and so quiet and peaceful out there! We left Leona's Sunday afternoon after church and the kids slept about 3 hours of the 5 hours it usually takes us to get home!!! We had a great weekend! Then, enjoyed a wonderful Memorial Day resting and relaxing! :)

Naturally, I uploaded the pictures in the reverse order!! UGGGHH.. why does blogspot upload them this way?!!! So frustrating!

On the way back to McKinney!

Carley bringing in the corn for lunch! YUMMY!
Uncle Leonard and Aunt Betty shucking corn

Carley and Campbell got the hang of it quick! And really enjoyed it, too!

Goofball! (he has had a haircut since then, by the way!!) ;)

Actually in the fields picking the corn.

Carley was so fast - we were amazed.

Man that's a big tire!

Farmer Campbell

Never-ending crop fields!