Happy Sweet 16 Ashlyn!

Ashlyn is my niece...Ryan's sister's little girl. Today she turned 16. Where has the time gone? This is a picture of Ryan and I with her at the Blink 182 concert last fall...isn't she cute!

I still remember "meeting" Ashlyn for the first time. When Ryan and I first started dating he was at Southwest Texas. When he would come home he would stay at his Mom's house. The first time I went to his Mom's house he immediately took me over to see some pictures on the wall. There were 8 of the cutest little girl ever. It was Ashlyn and she was probably 3 in the photos. I was smitten from that point on.

Ashlyn is a good girl...makes good decisions...has good friends...IS a good friend and I am so happy with the relationship that we have. I have to watch myself because she is still young, but I am trying to be the cool Aunt.

Ryan and I tell her that nothing is too scary to call us for. If she is ever in trouble she can call us to help her and it will be between us, but she has to trust us. I don't think I will ever receive a call from her because she is mature and makes good choices.

She took me for a spin in her car tonight...I was so proud. She is a good driver! She got her license and you know she didn't even have to take a driving test? What are these people thinking not making a kid take a drivers test! If you have 7 driving times during your driver's ed then you don't have to pass a driving test. I don't get it.

Time is going by so fast. Before I know it she will be off to college! I just want to snuggle her forever.

Love,

Aunt Carrie

P.S. Hagen was Mr. Sensitive tonight getting his feelings hurt all over the place! What a drama queen! Aunt Kristen helped by giving him a shark puppet and he is now in his bed sleeping with "Bruce" the shark.

Dapper Doo...our love...our dog

I love Dapper. I really do! He is such a sweet dog and very well behaved for a big dog. He is about 85 pounds and is a Black Lab.

He sheds, he drips slobber, he snores, etc. But he has never chewed up any of Hagen's toys, never been on the couch, never been on any furniture, will stay put at the door until we say he can go, and listens well.

I am a nervous wreck when people come over to our house (especially with little kids) and Dapper is not put in a room. I'm afraid him licking the kiddo is going to gross out the parents. Dapper is a "space invader" also so I'm afraid people are going to be irritated by my dog. I get all uptight and usually am told to chill out because he is not bothering anyone.

BUT, Hagen has a love hate relationship with Dapper Doo also. Dapper is about the same height as Hagen so they are always face to face. Dapper's tail knocks him around all the time. Now when we get home from school, I use to have to hold Hagen so that Dapper wouldn't knock him down. Now, I go first and say "back up, back up, back up" over and over again to Dapper until we are all the way in the house.

Yesterday when we got home, Dapper was a WILD.DOG. He was running circles, ready for dinner, excited that Ryan came home the same time we did, etc. So while Dapper was running crazy he ran smack dab into Hagen..knocked him flat on the ground. My blood boiled...I could feel my heart beating almost out of my chest...Ryan saw my face turning purple and said, "Dapper out" and put him in the backyard while I could compose myself and help my banged up son. It pisses me off that he isn't more careful! He could have really hurt Hagen!

Dapper felt bad...you could tell the way he was holding his head low for the night, but he needs to...it's not safe!

This morning when I went to get Hagen up he almost knocked me over with his morning breath. When should he know how to gargle and brush his tongue? He NEEDS to be ready! Good Lord Almighty! He didn't want to go to school today and I asked him why. He said "Stone doesn't love me". What? Yes he does...you are his best friend. Poor baby is afraid his boyfriend doesn't love him. Put your big boy pants on and face the music little one...not everyone is going to be in love with you (I'm not sure why because you are as cute as can be) but to each his/her own.

Last night at dinner Hagen spit...not actual spit came out but made the spitting noise. I told him that was not appropriate and asked why he is spitting. He told me he had a spider in his mouth and he had to spit it out. What? Ryan looked at me all guilty. You see, my hubby dips. He said that Hagen caught him spitting in the yard and Hagen asked him what he was doing. Ryan told him he had a bug in his mouth and had to spit it out...like father like son...nice.

Later skaters,
Carrie

Fort Worth Stockyards!

Yesterday was family day. We decided that we were going to go to the Stockyards and Rodeo!

I got up early to get my haircut and then we were off! We left around 10:30 and didn't get home until about 5:30...long day but so fun! Hagen kept saying he was excited to see the "Gong-ies". We have no idea what he was saying. I said, "Donkey's?" He said, "No, Gong-ies". Oh, OK...we'll look for them too!

We got there and it was raining a bit...not too much though. It wasn't too crowded either. THEN, a few hours into it it got more and more crowded and more rain! That's OK though because most of it was covered or inside.

We ate corn dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy and got Hagen a straw cowboy hat and a metal sign that is silhouettes of cowboys on horses for his room. Funny thing Hagen said while eating his cotton candy...it was sticking all over his fingers. He said, "Look at this little fella...he's stickin on my fnger." Those words are not misspelled...that's how he says it. Where does he get these words from?! Fella?

We saw cows, horses, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, pigs, turkeys, rabbits, and more. It was so fun! Now, the poop I could do without. We also saw a Donkey and Hagen got so excited that the Donkey from Shrek was there!

It was nearing 2:00 so we headed towards the arena for the rodeo. It was a LONG line! Hagen and I stayed inside and Ryan went to get tickets. He walked up to the ticket counter and said 2 adults and a 2 year old. She asked him for what day...he said for now. She said the Saturday shows have been sold out for weeks and are sold out. Oops...we had no idea it was sold out!

So we will be checking out the rodeo in Mesquite at sometime...we were bummed we couldn't make it.

We walked into the children's area and there were 2 one week old and 2 2 week old baby goats. it was a photo opportunity. You sit on a bale of hay and they put the goats on yoru lap and take a photo. Hagen was SO excited! Until it was his turn. He sat down and they put the baby goat on his lap. They are the size of a cat...he got scared, started shaking, and it was over...no cute photo. I wanted to take one home...a goat...

We stopped at Chili's and Best Buy on the way home, watched a bit of TV, took showers, and Hagen went to bed quick. While I was tucking Hagen into bed tonight he told me that my pony tail is pretty like his friend Isabelle's at school...Aww, he's already looking for a girl just like Mama! Ryan and I had a dinner of string cheese and Bud Light and played Wii.

The sad thing is that I looked at the clock and it was 10:45 and I told Ryan what time it was...we both locked up the house, turned the lights out, and hurried to bed...we haven't been up that late in a long time! It's sad that we just stop everything to hurry to bed! What dorks!

I had a great day with my boys...even though we all smelled like cow patties at the end of it!

Tata,
Carrie

P.S. Hagen HATES Sugar Snap Peas...even in his beloved ranch dressing. I was shocked! Of all the things he eats he won't eat sugar snap peas??

P.S.S. We told Hagen the other night that if he ate all his dinner he can have some pickles for desert! He said, "No Mama, you don't have pickles on your shirt!"

Ryan is funny...witty if you will.

Ryan and I are watching MTV and a commercial for Jersey Shore came on. I love ALL reality TV and that includes Jersey Shore.

So yes, it is full of ridiculous people and Ryan says, "That guy is so douchey". Uh...Ryan, I think you are alot douchey for saying douchey. Sorry honey...

ALSO the other night I was checking my naked self out and told Ryan that I am getting alot curvy. He said, "I'm getting curvy too!"

We are taking Hagen on a special outing on Saturday to the rodeo in Fort Worth. He doesn't know it yet because he has to take a good nap at school and no fighting. Yes, I said no fighting. It seems that our little tater tot is trying to show that although he is little he is strong. So he is hitting. I picked him up from school yesterday and he said he got in a fight. He said he hit Burke (you know, his loverboy). I asked him if Ms. Wikita put him in time out and he said no he put himself in time out.

Well today when I picked him up he said he didn't fight! But later he said he tackled his friends and was put in time out by Ms. Wikita. I'm kinda proud because he is sticking up for himself and holding his own, but I don't want him to be an angry shorty...you know?

SO, the dilemma is to go to the rodeo or not. We will end up going but I want it to be a reward for behaving good. I keep telling him that we are going on a special outing...he asks where and I say a surprise. All night tonight he was asking what the surprise is. "Can't tell you Hagen...it's a surprise!" He keeps saying he is ready to go on his special outing. He went to Home Depot with Ryan tonight because EVERY LIGHTBULB in our house burnt out at the same damn time and he made sure to tell Ryan that Home Depot was NOT his special outing!

This week at school they are learning healthy habits. They are talking about healthy foods (what Hagen eats), unhealthy foods (what Mama eats), and exercise. Tomorrow we have to bring his favorite fruit to share with his friends. So after school we went to Market Street and I let him pick out his favorite fruit! He picked strawberries, then blueberries, then blackberries, then raspberries, then watermelon...the little seedless ones. I grabbed some blueberries and he took the watermelon. He was SO excited!

We got home and put the watermelon on the counter for me to cut up later. Hagen was excited to show Daddy and he reached up to grab it and it rolled off the counter and split...glad I got the blueberries!

XO,
Carrie

Hello world!

Tonight we went to our 2nd session of little gym! Hagen is quite the character...he is definitely not shy and displayed really good listening skills while watching the teacher. He is really good at the balance beam and loves the bubbles! He did sock a girl in the face while popping the bubbles. It was totally on accident but I couldn't help but feel that I have a bully on my hands!

Daddy came too so it was the 3 of us getting our toddler workout on!

I do have an announcement...our little pee wee of a boy (2 years and 8 months old) is now 26 pounds! Woo Hoo! Still little but getting bigger! He lets us know all the time that he wants to do things himself...he says it with a long drawn out Texas twang "I wanna do it mySEAAALLFF". Cute!

The other night Ryan and Hagen were playing with blocks making Mama a princess castle. Ryan finds it funny to put things in the back of Hagen's pants...like a block. Hagen turned to him the other night and said, "Don't put that in my pants...it's germy"! Oh, OK...

I picked Hagen up from school last week and his teacher had to tell me a story. She had a funny conversation with Hagen...it went like this:
Hagen: "Miss Angie, what is your Mama's name?"
Miss Angie: "Michelle, what is your Mama's name Hagen?"
Hagen: "Princess"
Miss Angie: "I thought your Mama's name is Carrie?"
Hagen: "No, it's princess"

That's right baby, Mama's name is princess...and "curry".

We had a fun weekend and hung out. Saturday night we went to Cheesecake Factory with my parents and brother (the little one...the nice one) and his family. We had a wonderful dinner and my little boy even ordered his own food...cheeseburger and fruit. We then rode on the carousel and did a little shopping. On Sunday the Cowboy's were playing at 1:00 so I did my best to keep Hagen and I away from Ryan so that he could watch the game. He deserved it...I was out most of the week before for the funeral and Ryan was at home nursing Hagen back to health...he had RSV so had to cancel his trip last minute to join me in KC for the funeral to stay home with Hagen.

Hagen and I went to the grocery store, Lowe's, car wash, etc. On Monday morning I told Hagen to tell his teacher what he got to do this past weekend (thinking he would say something about the carousel) and he said "I went to the car wash!" I guess it IS the little things in life!!

While putting Hagen to bed tonight I was smoothing his hair while singing "you are my sunshine" and he stopped me and said, "Mama, stop petting me!". Totally ruined my moment...

One last thing...Ryan was not home for dinner tonight so Hagen and I ate dinner together. We had baked talapia, brown rice, and spinach salad. He loved it! Weirdo! I was shocked that he was eating it all like it was the best meal ever so I texted a picture to my Mom and Merrilee to show how crazy it was! Hagen told me to put my phone down and eat my dinner...you are right Hagen...that is rude and I'm sorry. I make him turn the TV off while we eat so that we can talk and there I am on my phone. I felt about 2 inches tall at that moment.

Nite nite all,
Carrie

Grandpa's funeral

I've been worrying about not posting for awhile, but needed to think about how to word things first before coming on here and having Diarrhea of the mouth!

Grandpa's funeral was wonderful. It was perfect. It was great in the fact that the extended family was able to come together to focus on the situation and getting along. There have been hurt feelings, etc. in the past that had us all worrying about how people were going to behave. There was alot of hugging, talking, enjoying each other's company...it could not have gone better.

My Grandpa was a fireman for 20+ years and at the funeral, there were lots of firemen and even the color guard at his grave site. It was just awesome.

Grandpa had a great life, was a hard worker, and his legacy will live on through all the memories at the lake.

NOW...this is the part that I had to take a few days on how to post it without going absolutely insane.

Most don't know this but I have an older brother that lives maybe 10 minutes from me that I haven't seen or talked to in about 2 1/2 years. He has only met my sweet baby a couple of times, his wife (she devil) has only met Hagen once, he has 3 BEAUTIFUL babies...a 7 year old girl Madeline, and 6 year old identical twin boys Shane and Reid.

I'm not sure what happened, but they have cut themselves out of our family. They haven't spoken to my parents in about 3 years, then cut me out, and my little brother is barely hanging on.

They have known that Grandpa was not doing well for about a year if not longer. My Dad called to say that Grandpa had passed and he said that he and his wife would be coming to the funeral and leaving right afterwards.

A part of me was hoping that this would be a reconciliation...not a time to discuss what went wrong, but maybe a time to think about how precious life is and to just move forward.

Well, about 10 minutes until the funeral was to start I saw her...standing by the door by herself, arms folded in front of her. I knew how uncomfortable she must have been so I walked up to her to hug her and say it was nice to see her. She put her hands up to block my hug and said DON'T.TOUCH.ME. and walked away...all of this was in front of 3 of my Grandfather's Friends. I started crying and my uncle took me outside. I couldn't breathe...never cried that hard.

I got myself together and then saw my brother. I made eye contact with him and said hi and started walking towards him and he put his hands up and said, No...and walked away. I lost it...went to the bathroom and had to pull myself together because I was about to walk into my Grandpa's funeral where I was the token family member to stand up and talk.

It was a perfect funeral (if I can say that)...tons of people, Father Gauthier officiated the ceremony and he was friends with my Grandpa since the '60's, my speech went well, and there was so much love in the air.

BUT, I could not get over how horrible my brother and sister in law were. Why come? Why bother? Do you know that neither one of them even came up and gave my mom a hug after her father just passed?! How SICK! I'm disgusted with them...I'm beyond hurt...how dare they come and show up and do such a thing.

I am SO sorry I had to vent...this would have been much worse if I hadn't taken a few days to think about what to write...this is a family journal so I had to mention it.

XO,
Carrie

Annoying gift idea for the man in your life!

OK, so I've been working tonight at home with my little man running around like a caged animal and my big man every bit as annoying!

There is a gadget that is the main culprit...it would be a remote controlled helicopter. It is great for distracting Mom when she is working late on a Friday night, it hovers just over her head while she is confirming interviews with people she is trying to recruit, it is hard to steer so it could even crash into the laptop while she is sending important emails to potential employees!

Go get one...they sell them at Brookstone and it is the best man toy there is...Ryan loves it...I hate it...Hagen runs from it because he has a helicopter magnet embedded in his head obviously.

You are welcome,
Carrie

P.S. I am going to be out for at least 3 days next week so that is why I am working late...I am by no means an overachiever that I look like right now.