Give A Kid A Camera...

The kids recently discovered their Batman and Barbie cameras again, which both had film in them from who knows how long ago. Sooooo...I of course had them developed last week and here's just a few shots from the pile of things that Shelby and Thomas like to take pictures of. So many were worth posting but I don't want to fill my blog up.





Ahhh...yes, a Thomas classic. Anyone going to dental school? Thomas would make for good practice!! James gets so tickled at pics like this so I had to post it.



Daddy....are you okay?? Did we wear you out from playing so hard? Quick Thomas, let's take a picture of Daddy croaking!! This one was taken in our apartment - months ago!




Thomas took this one of Shelby coming out of her room! She looks genuinely surprised or freaked out or a combo. :)




And then we see pics like this....the kids bathroom sink! Is there a point to this? I don't know, but Thomas must have thought so.



Then he took a picture of his new baseball ceiling fan...he's so proud of his ceiling fan so I guess he felt the need to document it.



The things kids will take pictures of...

Gramm's and PawPaw's Visit

Here's a continuation of our weekend. Saturday was another full day for us. It started off with James and PawPaw playing a round of golf. They both had a great time and played well. PawPaw shot an 85 and James shot a 102 - not bad for a guy who doesn't get to golf much!!! :)After golf, we all headed out to Gringo's, our favorite Mexican place in Houston!!

PawPaw and Shelby waiting at Gringo's!

Thomas waiting patiently for dinner!!

Gramms ready for some Gringo's!

We came back home after a nice dinner, and the kids enjoyed playing outside with their new bubble wands. They are pretty cool and the puppy liked chasing them too.

"Woah, dude...look at that gigantic bubble I just made!!!"

After some outdoor playing and planting my oleanders in the yard, we enjoyed playing dominoes after the kids went to bed. This morning we enjoyed a great church service with Gramms and PawPaw and then they headed home. It was a great weekend so far!! Now, we are on our way to a birthday party. Have a great evening!!

Peace, Karen

J & K's Date Night!

I only have one picture with this post but had to tell about our awesome 8 hour date on Friday!! My mom and dad came down yesterday to be here when the kids got off the school bus. We first headed out at 2pm to our favorite place to bowl except this time, we played some pool - one of our favorite pastime things to do. And man, are we rusty at playing pool. It was pretty bad - LOL!! But, we had lots of fun and that's what's important right?? :)

We then played some air hockey and a few other games before heading out to eat around 5pm. We wanted to beat the Friday night crowd. We ended up going to a place we haven't tried yet called Carrabba's Italian Grill - it was sooooooo good. We even had dessert and cappuccinos after our meal to celebrate our Anniversary. It was nice to just sit and take our time eating. We spent almost two hours there. Very romantic!

We went to the Woodlands Mall after our meal and went to see a new movie called, Forbidden Kingdom. It's the new Jackie Chan/Jet Li movie. I know, not very romantic movie, but nothing else was really out for us to see. This was actually a really good movie with lots of humor and kung fu, which we like. :) We had a great time and it was a wonderful ending to our Anniversary celebration. I just wish we could have more dates like that but we'll take what we can get. A big THANK YOU to Gramms and PawPaw for watching the kids and entertaining them.

Presenting...Anniversary Art by Shelby and Thomas

Okay, I'm sure you are all pretty tired of Anniversary stuff but this will probably be it for today. I just had to share something. This morning, before school, the kids sat at the table "patiently" waiting for their breakfast when they decided to make me and James some Anniversary cards, or at least a 6 and 7 year old version of Anniversary Art.

This is Shelby's beautiful cut out red heart. In previous posts you might have seen where she's just learning to write in cursive. She wrote this in cursive and told us that it says, " Good Luck (although it looks like "look") and then Happy Anniversary with a big ole explanation point at the bottom. I can't really figure out how she spelled Anniversary in cursive but it's very cute!! Also, we are trying to figure out why she feels the need to wish us "good luck" on our 9th Anniversary!! Too precious!! We loved it and are displaying it proudly with our other cards.

Then we have a priceless piece of work from the BOY....Mr. Thomas! In the upper left-hand corner there is a green sticky "T" note that says, "Form: TJ, To: MD (that's us). Then he gives us a superman sticker, a horse sticker, a portrait of mine and James's heads on top of each other, and of course you can't have an Anniversary without a green crayola marker, which he taped to the paper!!! I also love his spelling of Anniversary and spoken like a true southern Texas boy, we get an "I love yoll!!!" at the bottom. That's my boy! Gotta love it!

Our Anniversary Lunch

Sipping on some tea...

Our nice waitress took this shot of us!

Leaving Lupe Tortilla after a great lunch (self-portrait)

Many of you know already, especially if you've already been reading my blog the last few days, but for those that don't...today is a special day for us. It's our 9th wedding Anniversary!!!!

I still can't believe it's been 9 years already!!! Seems like yesterday we were just in Hawaii - have I mentioned that's our favorite place on Earth??!! :)

Today, I went to pick up James (since his new job is so much closer to home I can actually do this!!) for lunch. We went to a place we've never been called Lupe Tortilla. Hee Hee...funny name. It was really good - except for the salsa!!! We mostly enjoyed just spending a little time alone together. Definitely a good Anniversary lunch and I wanted to share these pics with y'all.

Our Wedding Day!! Album Two...

Our beautiful wedding cake!
Signing our life away! And gladly!!

The wedding party!

The Happy Couple

Our farewell and new beginning!

Our Wedding Day!! Album One...

Staying with the Anniversary theme of the day, I thought it would be fun to

share a few pictures from our special day 9 years ago!

Enjoy!

One of my bridal portraits - taken

at Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, LA

with my mom and dad before ceremony

walking down with my dad

The "13-minute" ceremony!

Our very sweet and some said

"loud" smooch! :)

How we met and married...Part Six - The Finale!!!

James and Karen

Detroit, MI

Lake Erie

Thanksgiving and Proposal Day

November 1998

TODAY IS OUR 9TH ANNIVERSARY!!


Okay, here's the conclusion of my story about how James and I met and married. I hope you've enjoyed reading it. I have enjoyed writing all of this, although I have had to leave SO many things out. Just not enough time to write it all. But, it seems fitting that my conclusion be posted on this day, our 9th Anniversary!!!


I left off with me filing for divorce and wanting to see James in person again, finally after apart for almost 4 1/2 years...

Well, he agreed and wanted to see me too. So we met at South Park Mall this time, with one of my best friends, Erika, tagging along with me. We met James at the movie theater one Saturday in late March 1998. I cannot express in words the excitement I felt in my heart when I first laid eyes on him - for the first time in so long!!!! I was now 26 and James was 27, but I felt like I was back in high school. It was very cool to say the least and I just felt like something wonderful was going to happen to us.


He looked great by the way and I remember when he hugged me and greeted me, how good he smelled. I have always loved his cologne. And that smile with those dimples....I had really missed seeing that smile. :)


From that night...we pretty much became inseparable again!! Only this time, nothing was going to stop us, interrupt us, or end us. We were meant to be. By October of 1998, my divorce was finalized!! I have apologized to God countless times for not recognizing what He was trying to show me back in that summer of 1992!! If I had realized it, a lot of pain and misery could have been prevented. But God has forgiven me and I've also forgiven myself. Regret still tries to creep in sometimes.


In November of 1998, James flew to Detroit, MI with me (my parents were now living there because of my dad's job) to spend time with my folks and spend Thanksgiving together. They had met James back in the summer of '92 but had not seen him since my wedding in 1993. The trip couldn't have gone better - we all had a wonderful time! We went to Canada, had a wonderful Thanksgiving together, went to a Red Wings hockey game, James broke my dad's computer...you know, the usual stuff. :) James still feels bad about that computer!!


On Thanksgiving night, which was a very cold night in Detroit, James asked me to go for a walk outside when we got back to my parents house. I'm thinking he's nuts, but I say "sure, let's go freeze to death." It was outside on this walk, he was acting a little odd. I thought it was the cold but turns out it was his nerves. When we got back to the driveway, he got down on a knee and proposed to me with frost bite, chills, smokey breath and all. Everything he said to me that night was romantic, genuine, loving and filled my heart with an abundance of love and happiness. I immediately said YES once the shock wore off my face!!! We had talked about marriage and even looked at rings together but I had no idea he was planning to ask me in Detroit. He put the most gorgeous ring I've ever seen on my finger. As he likes to tell people...he "gave up buying his jet ski for my ring". :) So, I'm gladly wearing his jet ski on my ring finger.

James and I didn't believe in long engagements at this point. In November of 1998, he was 28 and I was 27. We didn't want to waste anymore time of not being together. We had already lost out on 5 years together!! The next few months was a whirlwind but it was the most fun planning our small, but perfect wedding. At least, it was exactly what we envisioned and wanted for our wedding day. Just close friends and family to share it with. It could not have been any better in our minds.

Our wedding took place on April 24, 1999!!!! One of the best days of my life. It was a beautiful wedding, ceremony and reception, topped off with a one-week honeymoon to Hawaii - our favorite place on the planet. We vow to actually live there one day. :) I think my parents like it a little too - they have been about 10 times it seems - not really, more like 5 or 6!!! But still!!!!

And that's the story of how James and I met, were apart, got back together again, got engaged, got married, and now here we are 9 years later!! We have since had baby#1 in July 2000, moved to Houston, TX in January 2001, had baby #2 in August of 2001, and now we moved to Spring, TX in Dec. 2007 (north side of Houston).


This is where we live, work, play, love, and worship God...together. And there's no one else on this Earth I would rather be with and go through this life with. God is the backbone of our marriage and James is about as close as you can get to the "perfect husband". At least, in my opinion.


I love you baby!!! Happy 9 years and many, many more to come!!! It just keeps getting better. You are a blessing to my life and I love “our story”!


JAMES + KAREN = FOREVER

The Dog Fairy & The Golden Reaper

I have no pics with this but I had to share a couple of things that Shelby did that are so cute!!

On Monday, the puppy lost another tooth and Thomas found it on his arm of all places. Shelby immediately went and got out her tooth pillow that she puts her own teeth in when they come out. She put Trinity's tooth in the pillow and hung it over the crate and said maybe the tooth fairy will come tonight. Thomas then said, "Yeah, she might get some dollars!!!" He said it as if Trinity would share with him.

I then told James about it and Shelby getting the pillow. So, Monday night after the kids went to bed, James took the dog tooth out and put one of Trinity's big dog bones inside - instead of money!! :)

Yesterday morning when the kids got up, that was the first thing Shelby went to check with Thomas not far behind her. I wish I had a picture of that moment but it was too early in the morning for me and I was not camera ready. But, the looks on their faces, especially Shelby's, was priceless!!! They were both so shocked that the tooth fairy would think to give a dog treat instead of money! How dare she!!! But, the kids thought it was pretty cool and of course they had to break the bone in half so they could each give Trinity a piece of the special prize from the "dog fairy". And I'm sure Trinity understood everything that was going on!! :)

Another thing happened just this morning on the way to school...

I'm driving down the road to school and up pops this large yellow lab from the ditch. It was a lost dog and I showed the kids because I was worried about him getting hit by a car. When I pointed him out to the kids, Shelby says, "Oh yeah, that's a Golden Reaper!!" I just cracked up - I couldn't help it. I knew she was thinking of Golden Retriever. LOL!! I explained it all to her though. It was cute. It made me smile, actually laugh this morning. :)

How we met and married...Part Five

ONE DAY UNTIL OUR ANNIVERSARY!!


I stopped last time with my wedding about to take place in September 1993 to the other guy. Here's what happened next...



I ended up inviting James and his best friend Trey to my wedding!! How messed up is that? What's more freaky is, they came!! So... James actually sat there in the church with his friend and witnessed me marrying this other guy, which by the way, I just don't feel like mentioning his name on my blog, in case you haven't noticed that by now. Most of you know who I am talking about anyway.



Later, I would learn that James and Trey discussed how they were going to stand up and object the wedding. I wish they would have!!! But no, they didn't do it and naive, no-backing-out-now, me went through with the whole thing. I don't remember seeing James in the main auditorium but I know they were sitting way in the back.



I remember him coming up to me afterwards at the reception when I was standing alone for a minute. He gave me a quick kiss (on the cheek), held my hands, and whispered congratulations in my ear with all sincerity, yet I remember his eyes seemed like they were trying to tell me something else. Then within an instant, he and Trey walked out the door and James was gone...again! Part of me wanted to run past all of my guests and chase him down in a wedding dress! The other part of me kept me right where I was standing and I let him go. Don't worry, our story doesn't end here. Duh!!! :)



I had to move to Austin right after the wedding and most horrible honeymoon in history of mankind and proceeded to spend the worst 8 months of my life living there. Or at least up to that point, it was the worst of my life. This is why I have never been and never will be fond of Austin, TX. Too many bad memories for me. If only I would have known then how bad things were going to get.



To make a very long story short, my first husband turned out to be very abusive...mentally, verbally and emotionally. Life with him was difficult and unpredictable on a daily basis. We thankfully, ended up moving back to Shreveport in Summer of 1994 after much begging from me. I was so homesick and felt alone. Being close to family and friends again definitely helped me. However, things on the home front just kept getting worse and most of those close to me had no clue what was really going on behind closed doors. I chose to keep it hidden just in case by some miracle he would change and things would get better. How many of us girls think our love can change a man?? Well, that was me.



In the midst of it all though, we actually ended up building a house together - call me crazy cause it's true - and moved into it in Summer of 1995. I could write a book on all of the horrible things I went through the following two years in this house, but I don't want to depress anyone or myself so we'll just skip over all that part and call them the "lost years". It's water under the bridge.



By Summer of 1997, things had become so unbearable for me, I ended up leaving our home to clear my head and went to stay with my grandparents across town for a while. During this time, I ended up calling James at work...out of the blue again. :) It had been almost 4 years since I had seen him or spoken. But as usual, it was like picking up right where we left off...almost anyway. I didn't even know if he was married by then, or if he had a girlfriend...I was just calling to surprise him and see how he was doing. He was shocked again to hear from me and actually guessed about five other girl names before he guessed it was me. We began talking regularly from that day. We decided not see each other in person because of my "sticky situation" at that time. Some nights I remember talking for hours on the phone!! I think we both went to work a lot of mornings drinking lots of coffee!! :)



By October of '97, I decided to move back home because my husband had finally promised he would attend Christian marriage counseling with me. I was still willing at that point to try anything...to save the marriage. This decision also meant that I had to eliminate any distractions, including James. So, we stopped talking again. James was not happy about this at all. :)



Unfortunately, the glimmer of hope I had for the marriage faded quickly...my ex-husband went to literally one counseling session with me and that was it. I continued to attend counseling for myself and also in hopes that he would return, but he never did. He always said I was the only one that needed to go because I was the problem and I was what needed to be fixed. It was ALL me. This was his attitude about me and our marriage.



I stayed in this loveless and Godless marriage until March 8th of 1998 when I finally filed for divorce - after 4 1/2 years of what I feel was wasted life, dreams, and regret. I do thank the good Lord that no children were born into this marriage. That was a true blessing! After I filed, I immediately had to move back to my grandparents with just my truck, my dog and clothes.



By the end of March 1998, I was talking to James on the phone again and since I knew the divorce was really going to happen this time, I finally wanted to see him in person!!



How did he react and what happened next?? …Read my conclusion to our story tomorrow morning!! Have a super day!!

Luv, Karen

How we met and married...Part Four

James at Disney World in Fall 1992 - this is what he looked like when I met him!!



James (2nd from right) with his Skate Team - 1992!



TWO DAYS UNTIL OUR ANNIVERSARY!

I apologize for dragging this story out but believe me, I am leaving A LOT of stuff out and I’m breaking this up in parts so that it’s not one humongous read at once. Also, I thought before I moved on any further I would include a couple of pictures above of James from 1992. It will give you an idea of what he looked like when I met him. He was dreamy - at least to me he was!!

Okay, last time I left off with "Taco Bell Night" in Summer of 1993...

During that summer, my parents were living away due to my dad's job so when I would drive into Shreveport from Ruston on weekends, I would stay at my grandparents house. Also, my fiance had moved to Austin, TX for a new job.

Around July 4th of 1993, I don't know what made me do it, but I was in town that weekend and I picked up the phone one evening and called James, totally out of the blue. And I got him. I remember feeling like my heart was in my throat. I was so nervous. I didn't know if he would speak to me, hang up on me, yell at me, or what? "Page Two-Paragrah Two" didn't leave him feeling all warm and fuzzy but, it was a risk I was willing to take.

Needless to say, he was VERY shocked to hear from me again. He was starting to get used to these out of the blue phone calls from me. :) We talked for a bit and then decided to meet and hang out. Seemed innocent enough, but I was VERY excited about seeing him. AND, he did NOT have a girlfriend at that time. We ended up meeting at Pierre Bossier Mall and went to see one of our favorite movies of all time...."Sleepless in Seattle". We still have our movie stubs from this date!!

We had a great time and he was just as I remembered except even more handsome and more mature - we were both 22 that summer. It had been almost a year since we had been together in person, since right before he left for Florida. After the movie, we just seemed to not want it to end - I remember us both feeling that way. So, he followed me all the way back to Pines Road in West Shreveport, close to my grandma's house, and we went to a Taco Bell to eat and talk. We actually talked more than ate. And since most Taco Bells stayed open until 2Am at that time, we sat there and talked for so long that we lost track of time. This was nothing new for me and James though based on several nights in Summer of '92. I remember James was really questioning me that night and wanting me to not go through with the wedding. It was a very deep conversation, especially to someone that I hadn't seen or talked to in months, but yet, somehow, it just felt natural with James. We could talk about anything.

I loved seeing him and being with him again. He had just graduated from LSUS that May and I was finishing up my degree that summer at Tech (and planning a wedding don't forget). Our long talk at Taco Bell that night probably would have prevented me from going through with the marriage had I not realized what time it was and left to go to my grandma's. I knew my grandparents would be worried. Which they were, and had called the cops on me. Hee Hee!! That was a first for me. I told James bye (again), vowed to call him soon, and left him standing in the Taco Bell parking lot.

Without going into great details, it was not a pleasant evening....when I got there my grandparents were understandably upset, I got upset, and besides the cops being called, my parents were called, and my fiance was called in Austin, TX. It was a big MESS - all because I just wanted to see and talk to James and we lost track of time.

Because of how Taco Bell Night ended, I ended up going back to Tech to finish out my summer, and never called James. I don't think I even went to Shreveport any more weekends before graduation. That night had scared me in numerous ways and I didn't want to disappoint anyone. So once again, I laid low. Deep down, my thoughts were always on James. I was hoping he would somehow find me and talk to me, but that never happened. And I was a little "sore" at him for not trying harder. After all, he knew where I went to college, it was only an hour away, and it would have been so simple to find me. I think we both were at fault for not trying harder.

I graduated from LA Tech in August of 1993 and went home to my grandma's to wait out one more month. I never saw or talked to James during that time.

My wedding to the "other guy" was all set for September 25, 1993.

More coming tomorrow.......(sorry Monica - you'll have to wait another day! I promise this story will conclude on Thursday!)

Have a great day!!

How we met and married...Part Three

THREE DAYS UNTIL OUR ANNIVERSARY!

Okay, let's see....I last left off with me telling my mom one late night in July of 1992, that I was going to marry James one day!!!

So here we go...

The rest of that summer, James and I were pretty much inseparable. It was definitely one of the best summers of my life!!! We became very close in such a short amount of time. It was almost scary. We skated together, went out to eat, worked together, went to movies, he even came to some of my softball games that summer to watch me play, and knowing that church and God were important to him was a huge plus to me.

However, our summer together was going to come to an end all too soon. James had to actually quit the job about two weeks too early because he had to head to Florida. He was accepted to work at Disney World of all places (lucky guy) for that Fall Semester for college credit. The bad thing was that he and I were going to be separated not just from Shreveport to Ruston, but we were going to be apart from Louisiana to Florida with no way of seeing each other.

Telling James bye that summer on his last day of work was very hard for me and I remember feeling "lost" the remaining two weeks of that job. I would look over at his empty desk like a lost little puppy. It was depressing!! Todd – my big Bro helped me a lot though - he was actually the only one that whole summer besides our parents that knew the truth about me and James, especially at our work.

We both had high hopes about it in the beginning and started out with good intentions of having a long distance relationship through letters and phone calls. It worked for about two months.

In the meantime of all this happening with me and James, my ex-fiance was slowly weaseling his way back in with calls, visits, flowers, gifts, and a short, manipulative man to go along with it. Eventually, I guess all of the attention worked on me and I gave in. By October, my wedding was back on and I broke up with James in a hand-written letter. The letter he likes to refer to as..."Page Two, Paragraph Two".

Nope, I couldn't even bring myself to tell him over the phone. I stopped taking his calls and eventually he stopped writing or calling me. I can only imagine how confused and frustrated he was with me and at me. I felt SO BAD!! Even now, I look back and regret how all of that went down. Being young and dumb came with a high price for me.

In January of 1993, when James was driving home from his semester in Florida, he actually stopped off at LA Tech and tried to find me. Unfortunately, I had already left to go home for the weekend. He said later that he thought about coming by my parents house but he knew my fiance would be there so he decided not to stir things up.

I decided to keep myself busy with school and wedding planning which allowed me to put James out of my head for the time being. I didn't see him again until one night in the summer of 1993. A night we like to call, "Taco Bell Night"!!

What happened on "Taco Bell Night" you might ask?? You'll have to read tomorrow to find out...

Pop's Birthday!!

I had to put a shout out on here today to my Papa!! He is 85 years old today!!! Woohoo!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!

(With my mom and grandma - December 2007)

How we met and married...Part Two

SIX DAYS UNTIL OUR ANNIVERSARY!

Last time I left off with me seeing James in a different light after Karaoke night in June 1992. Here's what happened next...

During this time, I was still engaged but my fiance was working for UPS and so during the week, he was usually in New Orleans and would drive up to Shreveport only on the weekends. By the end of June, James and I were quickly becoming close and talking A LOT more. Then the flirting started. It was innocent flirting...or so that's what I would tell myself.

Side note - James was big time into rollerblading with his friends and he was/is very good at it! Before the end of June that summer, he went with me to help pick out and buy my first pair of inline skates and we started skating together. He was gradually losing interest in little, cute Jamie at work. I think he started realizing how much we had in common.

It was around the beginning of July sometime that I made a move on him. It was an unplanned move that just kind of happened. He was very respectful of my engagement to another guy, but one day when we were alone in the copy room making copies of some maps that my infamous move happened. All I did was reach over and give him a shoulder rub. He later told me that no girl had ever done that. Brownie points for Karen!!!

That afternoon when work was over, I remember we went together to a music store (Music or Sound Warehouse??) to look at cd's. It was there, in that parking lot, when we were about to leave that we shared our first kiss. Awwwwwwe!!!!! Yes, I was a bad girl. An engaged woman and I'm kissing another guy. I'm not clear on who initiated our first kiss but I believe it was pretty mutual. :)

We spent that July 4th together, rollerblading in my neighborhood in Bossier City and it was that day, that I met one of James's best friends, Trey, who also just happened to live in my neighborhood. He was a skater too and I quickly became friends with Trey.

A few days later, I broke off my engagement. The guy I was engaged to immediately went nutso on me and started to try and "win" me back.

One night soon after that, James and I were helping Todd (our co-worker and friend) paint his rent house. We ended up talking and staying out way too late that night. I remember my dad was out of town on business. So, I hurried home asap and since I didn't have a cell phone at the time, my mom was of course sitting up very worried, wondering what in the world happened to me!

I explained it all to her and I remember distinctly telling her on that night that I was going to marry James one day!! :)

What happens next....well, tune in next time...I will continue with my story on Monday!! Gotta run for now. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Love, Karen

How we met and married...Part One

With our 9th Anniversary fast approaching in one week, it always makes me reminisce about how James and I met and came to be one. It was not an easy or fast road for us.

We met in the summer of 1992 while working at a college summer job together at Arkla Gas in Shreveport, LA. My dad was working for Arkla at the time. It was right before our senior years of college. He was going to LSU-S in Shreveport and I was going to LA Tech in Ruston, LA. We were both 21 when we met.

I remember the first day our job started - June 1, 1992 - and the first time I saw and met James. We were in a group of 3 college boys and 3 college girls. James and another guy, Todd, were the veterans of the group having done this same job the previous two summers. The rest of us were rookies.

The first time I saw James, I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, he is cute!!!!!" Then I quickly reminded myself that I was newly ENGAGED just about 3 weeks prior to this job starting. Everyone in the group quickly noticed my ring, knew I was engaged and the three guys, especially James, kept their distance from me. He says it was because I was already "taken" and plus, he thought the dress I wore on the first day of work was a "grandma dress"!!!

So, he and I weren't getting off to a great start. I actually became quick friends with the other guy named Todd who was from Arkansas -a good ole boy! Todd became like a big brother to me. Of course when it came time to start actually working, who was assigned to teach me the ropes...yep, it was James. I really didn't want to be stuck with him. I wanted Todd to teach me. So, there I was with James and the whole time he was more interested in this little young thang named Jamie (can't remember her last name now). She was a young sophomore attending Baylor University and other than that, all I can remember is she was a sorority girl and was as dingy as they come, but she was cute. I was getting so mad, almost jealous, just watching him watching her.

At the time, I really didn't understand why I was feeling that way either, especially being engaged to someone else. Ooops!! That first day at lunch, I remember somehow going to lunch with these two....yes, with James and Jamie. We went to Taco Bell and I remember it was raining. I also remember sitting there getting so mad again because he was bending over backwards to impress this girl and I definitely felt like the third wheel. I was trying not to gag on my taco while witnessing this.

Well, days went by and I continued to watch him flirting with Jamie. I would do things on purpose, like intentionally ignoring him, but none of that ever seemed to work well with me. Then one day, the six of us went to a movie together after work at what used to be the St. Vincent Mall theater. Any Shreveporters will know what I'm talking about. I remember it was a dumb movie called "Universal Soldier", but it was the first time I really remember feeling like the ice broke between me and James.

Soon after that, we went out to a restaurant called Garfield's one night after work with just Todd - again, some of you may remember it was in St. Vincent Mall. That evening, I got to witness James singing karaoke. Does anyone remember a song called, "Bust A Move"?? I saw him in a different light after that. He was so much fun - and did I mention very cute???

Things were about to start changing between me and James...
To be continued very soon.....stay tuned!!!!! :)

My Passage Today...

I really liked my passage today that I read and thought I would share.

The verse is 1 Peter 4:1-2
Therefore, since Christ has suffered in flesh, arm yourselves with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

Some thoughts:
The cross takes care of the past. The cross takes care of the flesh. The cross takes care of the world of its lusts and boastful pride. The cross is God's means of victory.

Have a great day!

Thomas's Marriage Philosophy

Something cute Thomas told me after church today:

He was telling us that he was never getting married in a million years. I asked him "Why not?" He said...."Well, I want my own place so I can have my own fridge, my own bed, and a couple of toys! If I had a wife, I'd have to share!!"

His priorities seem to be FOOD, SLEEP and TOYS! I guess a wife has not made the priority list yet. :)

Also, at least he's honest about the having to share part!!

Sacked Out!

Next up is Mr. T...

After having gotten up at the crack of dawn this morning for some unknown reason, Thomas became very cranky by early evening and let me emphasize on the crankiness!!! After noticing it was quiet in the house and that he had disappeared I went looking for him and took this camera shot. I opened his door and found him just like that. He was in nothing but underwear, wrapped up in one of his old baby blankets, laying on the floor beside his bed just sacked out. I guess it was a hard day's work for this 6 year old. And he was NOT a happy camper when his Daddy had to wake him up for bath time!!! :)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far! We have a long day tomorrow but I will try to post something else if I have time. Take care and good night everyone!

A Note To Little Brother...

Wow! It's already Saturday and I haven't posted anything since Tuesday. I better get on the ball. I have a couple of things from today that I thought you all would take delight in. First up is something from Miss Shelby.

This is a picture of her first ever cursive letter and is profound in more ways than one. First of all, she has been learning cursive at school the last few weeks and today when she and the boy weren't getting along so well, she felt the need to sit down and write her little brother a letter. Hopefully, you can read all the words. It is priceless and sooooooo Shelby!!

Second of all, our little seven year old baby girl is writing in cursive!! This is a neat but weird thing for us. :)

Classic Thomas-isms

Some funny things Thomas did today:

1. Peekaboo under his new bed! Note picture! See the eyeball? By the way, the scratch on Thomas's face was a gift from Trinity when he was annoying her Saturday. He was really concerned about showing up at church Sunday with that scratch on his face. :)

Some funny things Thomas said today: things we like to call "Thomas-isms"

1. "I miss the good ole days when Trinity was a puppy!" (She's 3 months old)

2. I asked him where his manners were at dinner last night and he said, "Oh man, I forgot my brain at school. I'll have to get it tomorrow."

3. Is Trinity made out of mud, water, and sand Daddy?" :)

Report Cards

Just a tidbit that we are quite proud of: Shelby and Thomas both made Straight A's again the 3rd 9 weeks of school and received several awards.

Whew I'm tired...

Trinity taking a siesta after Thomas went to school this morning!! What a sweet face and she actually likes pillows. :)

Our new family member...

Most of you know that back in February I brought home a Great Dane puppy and we named her Trinity. She is now 3 months old and weighs almost 40 pounds!! She is a mess and we love her! She is going to be a BIG girl. I haven't emailed a picture of her recently so thought I would send a couple just taken this morning with the kids. Shelby plays "Mother Hen" to Trinity while Thomas and Trinity, on the other hand, get into trouble together. (rolling my eyes here!) :)

Our New Home!

For those of you who haven't seen a picture of our new home in Spring, TX...well, here it is!!!! We really love it!! It's just the right size for us and we like the big backyard. Visitors are always welcomed!! :)

Welcome to Karen's Crazy Corner!

I am starting a family blog today. This is where I will start chronicling our daily or weekly events and pictures or if there is something really cute and funny that one of the kids does or says, I will post it here. I am excited about this but also feel completely clueless as I have never done a blog before. Please check often and comment about anything. This is something especially to share with our close family and friends. We would love to hear from all of you. I will not be emailing pics, news, etc....as much as I used to since it will now be on here so that's why I want you to check often. Be sure and bookmark our blog in your favorites!! Enjoy! :)