The two most amazing gifts...

Three years ago yesterday, we buried my dad. It's not easy, and I don't know if it will ever get easier. Thanksgiving and this time of year is so hard without him; for he is so much of our traditions.

Thanksgiving is happening here in Abilene this year, at my house. Earlier, the living room was full of us all - cousins, aunts, uncles, soon to be fiancees, babies, my sister, and mom...when, here comes my mom with an early Christmas present for my sister and I.

I open up the card and immediately see the words "These last 3 years...." and I know what is coming. I am not ready to relive this, and especially not in front of everyone. As I begin to open the box, I see my dad....

Let me interject here and tell you how my dad LOVED Texas Tech. We buried him in one of his Tech dress shirts with his favorite Tech hat and even played the Fight Song at his funeral......

What I see inside that box is something I'll cherish forever...my mom took all of my dad's Tech clothing and had it made into a blanket for my sister and I. In the middle a "catch" phrase he used to always say to each of us...The tears overflowed, from us all...for he was right there in that room with us all. I look at my son who is taking it all in and I say "Reese...PawPaw" and he starts patting the shirt that has a basketball and says "Mamma...PawPaw".

I will forever and always be wrapped in who my dad is, who he was, and what he is to me....and now, I can wrap my son, my family in that same man...

I know many of you can't even begin to understand what I am talking about - what I feel, the emotions and heartache that are part of each and every day, but thank you. Thank you to those of you who have prayed for me, who have loved on me, told me you were thinking about me, written notes of encouragement, held my hand, given your shoulder, wiped away the tears. Life will never be the same, the hole will always be there, the void will wait for me until each morning comes. But I am loved, and I will make it...and will one day see him again...

I have been given two gifts in my life that are gifts I will never forget - gifts that mean more to me than money could ever buy. The Christmas before my dad died, he went out and bought my mom, me, my sister and each of our husbands a piece of jewelry engraved with a note from him. I was with him when he was looking for my mom - and I told him some things I liked, not even knowing what he was doing. When I opened mine that Christmas morning, I saw that he remembered and that mine was different from anyone's...that is my first favorite gift...the second gift came tonight.

Love you daddy, always and forever.

Britney

I am a huge fan of Bebo Norman - always have been. I don't buy many CD's these days, but I really for some reason was dying to get my hands on his new one. I like so many of the songs, but am captivated by the song "Britney".

A lot of people have heard of the song, and so if you have, feel free to move on. I wanted to know a little more about this song - the reasons behind it, why he wrote it, was it really meant for her...

I was then forwarded a YouTube video of it - it's not Bebo's video, rather someone who took the song and put it to clips of Britney's life. It really is a very moving video.

I do agree with it. I think the public and its fascination with Britney, in part, has caused her downfall.

I can't figure out how to post the YouTube video, so here is the link....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Q_wVfGAfA

So it's been awhile.....

My friend, Leslie, has a button on the side of her blog that says something like "30 posts in 30 days" and I thought about trying that, but as you can see, I would've failed miserably. I haven't even posted pictures of my sweet cowboy from Halloween....I know, I know...total slacker!

I'm trying to recall what's been going on since I last blogged and honestly, I can say not a whole lot - which can always be a good thing.

My sister and brother in law moved here last weekend. They are officially Abilenians. They are holed up in an apartment until they find a house and let me tell you I hear their pain on junky houses that are on the market...been there, done that, 5 months ago.

My mom came in town this weekend to help them with some house decisions (my mom is so good at that - she helped Garrett and I too!). So, we had a great weekend of family and mom, which is ALWAYS a great thing. Thanksgiving is going to be at my house this year - and over 25 people are coming...and at first I was nervous, but then realized I am so blessed to be able to have 25 people at my house to have a meal. Our old house would've been crammed packed and I'm so blessed to be able to have a home where we can all spread out and just enjoy our time together. So, on Saturday morning as we were all awake at 6 am due to my sweet son, mom and I start discussing the holidays and we decide to go ahead and decorate for Christmas.....

Ok, I know, a little premature, but think about it...Christmas is the most fabulous time of the year. You get to have your home looking so beautiful for about 5 minutes and then it's time to take it down. So, this year, I will get to enjoy my Christmas decorations for 6 fabulous weeks! I am totally stoked, well, except that Reese thinks the ornaments are balls and is getting lots of spankings for that....

I have always wanted a front window so that my tree could be there and when you drive by at night people could see it. And I'm happy to report, my tree looks amazing in my front window.

So other than that, we've all been sick, Garrett was gone last week for work, and I'm back to not being in love with my job. Life....what a gift! I'm just relishing these days with my 20 month old who continues to amaze me and grow so much everyday.

Here are some pictures of lately...please, enjoy!

My most perfect cowboy at Halloween...."Reese, what does a cowboy say?" "Haw Haw"!

We went to the carnival at church with the DelaGarza's...Yasmine and Rheauna were 'Fifi the poodle". Rheauna learned to walk just that Monday night, so it was fun. Also, neither of the kids (Reese or Yasmine had been allowed to eat popcorn until that night - thanks to my husband). It was a hit....and they shared, pretty well!

I went ahead and tried to get a "photoshoot" for our Christmas cards. It didn't come out as I want, so I think I'll have another one later this week.....but, here are some of the best ones we got!

And, while my mom was here, she wanted a Christmas card with her boys so we had a little photoshoot with the boys. We had been outside dancing around like freaks, trying to get the boys to laugh. After about 80 pictures outside, we came inside but the light was dwindling so the next thing I know, my brother in law picks up a lamp to use like a photographer would use those big crazy lights.....we got a GOOD laugh for a long time about that one!

And for those of you who know my mom, you understand this is so classic Tammy.......

She just didn't understand that she needed to look at me the whole time and we would try to take care of the boys looking at us......here she is laughing because my sister was doing a semi pole dance for the boys just to try to get a smile....you can tell my mom was the only one who thought it was funny!

Batman had his friends over......

I'm tired, I feel the onset of a sore throat and I'm cranky from a horrible day at work. So, this is a quick update....

My mom sent Reese the most precious Batman Pajama set in a little Halloween Treat Basket. It is the cutest thing you have ever seen with a cape on the back! And, yes, he is eating a cookie in these pictures. Every night when we put on hig PJ's he says "Pee Pee". He is recognizing when to go, he just can't always make it happen. If he does go Pee Pee in his potty he gets a few M&M's. Well, we are out! So he got a nibble of a cookie tonight because he PEE PEE'D IN THE POTTY!

And the second set of pictures is of this past week when Yasmine and Rheauna came over. Their cousin was killed in Iraq just over 2 weeks ago and they came over during the Prayer Service the night before the funeral. We had a great time together - as always........Be in prayer for the De la Garza, Fernandez, and Flores families. This hasn't been easy and it won't be easy. Marcus, the soldier killed, lost his dad right at 2 years ago, so this family has gone through some major loss in the last 2 years. Garrett and I went to his funeral and it was amazing to see so many people respecting him in they way they were.......

A little game we like to call.....

NO SLEEP!

Our sweet, sweet son has always been a good sleeper. He's not so much a napper, but nighttime has always been such good sleep for us all - FROM DAY 1!

Fast forward to 2 weekends ago when we went to the State Fair. Hotel sleep is a little tricky. He sleeps in a "big boy" bed, so we try to allow him to do that at hotels. We have to go through the whole process of pretending we are going to sleep so that he will go to sleep and after about 30 minutes, we can turn the TV on, read a book, lay out clothes for the next day......

Well, we did that. And two hours later, every piece of clothing was out of all the suitcases, all his toys were on the floor, a whole roll of toilet paper was unrolled, I could go on..... So finally, at 11:30, Garrett took him down 5 floors to the car and drove him around for an hour. He finally went to sleep.

Ok....two weeks later = tonight. Garrett was out of town working tonight and didn't make it home until after Reese went to sleep. Well, he usually spends about 30 minutes every night talking/playing until he finally tucks himself back in.

Let me point out that when one of us isn't home at bedtime, it is so hard to get him to go down. Garrett and I are both part of the nighttime routine and he knows and expects that.

So, after about 45 minutes, he was still chatting away. By this point, I heard his lawn mower go off, his horse go off and I heard his "Seek and Say" books being read. Next thing I hear is "Mamma?" I look towards his door and he is sliding his CD under the door.

Garrett gets home an hour after I laid him down, and went in to try and get him to go down. By this point, he has started to undress himself. Garrett and I talk about his trip, I play on the internet a bit, read some of my book and I start to hear crying. This is now 2.5 hours after bedtime. We both look at each other and say "Is he hurt?"

We walk in there to see PILES and PILES of clothes on his bed - he went ahead and cleaned out his dresser drawers for us, sweet kid.

I tell Garrett to put him in our bed with me. Immediately he starts in with "Ju Ju". We get him some juice, turn off the lights, cover him up and then the screaming of "NO" starts.

So here we are 3 hours after bedtime and he and Garrett are on another one of those car rides....I'm just wondering how long it will take to knock the kid out!

Oh and, in case you are wondering, he will still be up at 5:00 am. It doesn't matter what time he goes to sleep, 5:00 am is the official wake up call!

And if you are wondering - the kid is wide awake.....not even remotely close to sleepy!

Night night to all.......well all except the Rasors!

******Oh, and PS. I really HATE HATE it when people jump on the UT bandwagon. I mean, how lame? Here are my thoughts on that...if you LOVE LOVE LOVE a school as much as you claim you do, then why didn't you go to school there? Was it because you couldn't get in? Was it because you were scared of the "big" school? Don't like Austin? What? I just don't get it - my dad used to call these people "bandwagoneers"....and let me tell ya, they are everywhere. Really, this could quite possibly be the biggest pet peeve I have! And what's even worse than that? People who blog about it - about how much they adore their Longhorns, about their #1 ranking, about how amazing they are.....AGAIN, IF THEY WERE/ARE SO AMAZING, WHY DIDN'T YOU GO TO SCHOOL THERE??????? These are the same people who whine and mope when they lose. Lordy....

The Poomba Pa

We took Reese to the "Poomba Pa" on Friday night. If you notice, he is wearing his new "boos". We've had drama with the boots, but finally found a pair that fit and ever since, he wants to wear them EVERYWHERE. He's pretty cute - I'm not biased. Here is a sampling of our pictures - I took over 60 in the span of about 30 mintues!

State Fair Goodness

Last weekend we packed up and headed to the State Fair in Dallas. It was a lot of fun. We got to spend some good time with my dear, sweet friend Rachel and just have some fun. Enjoy the pictures!

Seriously?

His one and only ride - the little munchkin



This CornDog is the SHIG!
OH NO IT"S NOT!
Awwwwww
Garrett's brother and his girl At Pappasitos
Daddy, dip it in the "sot saush"
Enjoying the patio view

Eating my "cooka" and going to sleep all the way home