Happy Anniversary!!

Today is Randy and my 5th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it has been 5 years!! I still can't believe I found such a great guy and he liked me back!! 5 years later, we have survived buying a house, starting a new career, a hurricaine, 2 homeowners claims on our house (what a mess!!), a major car accident, a few deaths and a whole bunch of weddings. We have added a room onto the house, 2 new pets, and, of course, a beautiful baby girl, Jordana!! We knew having an interfaith marriage would be a challenge, but we have managed to compromise and learn to enjoy and respect the others religion. In these days, 5 years is a long time for a marriage..they say 59% of marriages end in divorce. (I think that number is going down). I can't imagine my life without this sweet, smart, loving, goofy man by my side. Everyday is an adventure and I am in it until the very end! Happy Anniversary!!

If a tree falls...

Tomorrow we are having 4 trees removed form our property. When we bought this house it had 18 trees in the backyard. The majority of them are pine trees and are over 2 stories tall. We can't have a sattelite dish because of the constant interference from swaying trees. A few years ago, Randy came home to find that one had fallen down. Luckily, it had gotten caught up in another tree's branches, so it didn't come crashing through our house like it should have. We had it cut down. Later on we had one more tree cut down but we left a 3 foot stump. Tomorrow, 2 of the perimeter trees that lean very far into our neighbors yard are coming down. One good hurricaine could send them crashing into our neighbors house, so they are history. We are removing a little sappling from the middle of the yard as well as a huge tree by our deck that we discovered is very diseased. So after tomorrow, we will have 12 left. Considering new constuction homes have NONE, we still feel lucky to have such a nice shaded back yard. I never realized how much goes into owning a home!! But we love ours!

To sleep, perchance to dream....

Last one for tonight. Jordana is a very mobile sleeper. She moves around alot in her crib. Every time I check on her, she is somewhere else, in another position. The first picture is of her sleeping with both legs out of the crib. There have been occasions when I found her with one foot out, or half of a leg, but never both legs! The second picture was one Randy took. He found Jordana sleeping sitting up in her crib. Moving her to a toddler bed is going to be a challenge!!

Walgreens 6510 crew

These are my girls (I feel like there is a "no boys allowed" sign on the front door!) I spend more time with them than I do my own family. I have managed 7 Walgreens, and this staff is, by far, my favorite. Smart, helpful, considerate and loyal; I find it a little easier to tear myself away from my family to go to work everyday. I can take vacation without worrying about the day to day activities. These girls get it done everyday. We survived Rita, the Parata and alot of maternity leaves (don't drink the water!!!) Now, with a clinic opening soon, I have total faith we will survive whatever happens. I hope I will always have such wonderful employees.

Worth every penny

My Nikon D-70 has been worth every penny! I took these pictures in New Braunfuls and Kerville. Using my 300 mm lens for the hummingbirds., I actually took the pix through a glass window, using the dining table as an anchor for my arm. The zebra photo was done on sport mode. Nikon has been a great camera for decades and I am hooked. Can you believe they started as a binocular company!?

Love of animals

Jordana's love of animals is so obvious. I guess she gets it from us. We took her to the wildlife drive thru in New Braunfels in July. At the petting zoo, she hugged as many goats as she could. They were good sports. I think they were just full from eating so much. She was saying "goat, goat" as she walked around. Thank goodness for video cameras!!!

Grandparents are wonderful!!

This picture on the right was taken in December of 2006. A rare moment with Poppa holding Jordana. He won't admit it, but he is smitten. The pix on the left is from Easter 2007. Jordana loves her Grandaddy. She loves when he goofs around with her!!!

Family happenings

It is so nice to have my family close by now. For years, I was the one who was far away, hopping a plane to go home or to visit family. Now my parents and sister are 20 minutes away, and my brother is about 45 minutes away (when traffic is bad). He is building a condo and it is a slow process. Mom is cancer free!! Breast cancer always seemed so far away from me. It was my sorority's philanthropy (both Delta Phi Epsilon and Kappa Epsilon), and I have many customers who are currently treating it, or are survivors. When I found out that 3 female family members have been affected, it was like a slap in the face. I am now a candidate for an early 'squishing' (mammogram). So is my sister, Barbara. Through all the treatments, Jordana was the best medicine for my mom.

family pix

Photo taken in November 2006.

Attempt number one

With friends all over the country, I decided a blog might be the best way to let y'all know what is going on in our crazy lives. Jordana is growing every day, her vocabulary with it. She loves to tell you what the animal say. Nay, for the horse, woof for the dog, maaaa for the goat. She does the elephant with hand motions, like a trunk and when you ask her what the pig says, she does not say oink, oink as any other child might, she snorts like a pig. Randy taught her that. She calls Hollie "La, La" and her stuffed rhino is "no, no". She loves school, coming home exhausted every day. On Friday she starts the OPUS music program, once a week.