fun with friends..

Several years ago, I learned about a baby who was fighting for her life. She had Leukemia, at such a tender young age. You can read about her story here . I heard about her battle from Jeff, her uncle was a co-worker of his. I set out to help however I could, with fundraisers, spreading the word etc. During that time I joined a group called Friends of Allie, created in this young girls memory. Through this group I started walking in Light The Night walks, raising money for LLS. FOA was a huge group and people in each town started creating there own message boards to keep in touch, share ideas, fundraise, deliver meals etc. Through this group I met a few ladies that are now great friends of mine. One of them, Kristi, not knowing much about me, but knowing I was looking to get out of daycare, let me know about an opening at her company. And that's how I got the job I got today. I had corresponded with her on this message board, primarily about kids we were praying for, who needed meals, donating baskets to the hospitals etc. And met her twice, at LTN functions. I now see her on a daily basis at work, and we've grown quite close.. Thankfully, considering we share a cube at work now!! LOL We also met George, a sweet lady from England... And Heidi.. Who lives a few hours away.

"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."~ Walter Winchell

Kristi and I try to get together with George a few times a year, George might think its only so we can have her great curry that she makes, but I promise its for the great stories, conversations and friendship she offers as well... She's got a sweet daughter who is just growing like crazy.

"Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait to hear the answer."

Heidi is also a very sweet lady. And what saddens me is that in the past 3 yrs we haven't gotten together, only communicated via email. Until she delivered her 3rd baby, and Kristi and I drove to see her in the hospital on a whim. But what breaks my heart most, is that this sweet lady and her family are being stationed in Germany. They will be moving in 2 wks. 3 yrs we wasted not seeing each other, and now for 3yrs they'll be on the other side of the world! Heidi is the mother to 3 gorgeous kiddos, 2 boys and her little princess. We've seen her 2 more times since she had her baby 2 months ago. One day she surprised us up at work after an impromptu trip to Dallas. And this past weekend us 4 ladies and our families (minus my hubby and grown son), met up at a park in Denton.

The weather was GREAT, the kids had a super fantastic time playing, I got to love on some babies.. and we got to spend some cherished time with each other...

Heidi, we'll miss you and your family dearly, but i know you'll be updating your blog with lots of cool pictures that we will all envy, and sharing great stories.. And we'll see you soon.. ((HUGS))

Us 4 moms and our kids

Just us moms!

Me getting some baby loves from sweet Sianna

Jimmy pushing the kids on the tire swing.

What a fun filled weekend!!!

Just a quick post to say what a busy but excitingly fun weekend I had!!! It was non-stop from the minute I got off of work on Friday!! This weekend left me feeling blessed in so many ways! This is just a short post; and hopefully tonight I’ll have time to sit down and write more detailed posts with pictures...

Friday night was Halloween; which of course meant trick – or – treating!!! How fun!! My friend Chance and her daughter Aslynn met up with us, and along with my cousin Regina and Jr and there kids, the kids headed out to the streets.. We then went over to Jeff’s parents so they could see them in there costumes and give them some treats... Something funny coming on that later...

Saturday we got up and got the kids ready for soccer, I went shopping for some supplies needed on Sunday, went to the soccer fields. We were met out there by my mom and my sister Johann; and Jeff and I headed off to Oklahoma!! We watched an OU football game against Nebraska! We got back home around 2 in the morning Sunday.

Yesterday we got up and I went to pick up the kids. Then came back and made a dish of Enchiladas and off we went to the Horse Park. Yesterday was Aslynn’s Make A Wish Granting party. Words can’t describe the joy I felt watching this sweet 10 yr old girl walk into the party room filled with her friends, family, and school staff... Celebrating her… She’s just got such a pure heart, spirit, full of smiles, funny jokes and hugs. She’s been a true blessing to our lives. I’ll have more to post on that later...

Tonight I’ll be heading to the DR. I’m not sure what’s going on but my eyes have been really itchy and red for weeks now; the skin under my eyes is also itchy. At first I thought it was due to a new face wash I was trying, but I now know that’s not the case. But my DR opened up a walk in clinic in a local grocery store, so I’m going to pop in there really fast this evening to see what he can give me!!!

OHHH... And I can’t forget a shout out!!! I got a photographer to photograph Aslynn’s party!!! Her name is Sara and you can see her work at http://www.sdsphotography.com/ and she is also doing a xmas photo shoot for there family as well!!! I’m SOOOO thrilled!! I’ve also booked a photo shoot with her on the same day as Aslynn’s family. I can’t wait to see her work! A lady I know uses her and I just love her pictures!! THANK YOU WENDY for helping me on this!!

Lots of pictures!!!

OK; I finally got the pictures to upload to our desk top (laptop still out of commission). Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks!! You should be able to click the pictures to view larger? I've never done my pictures like this before but with having so many to post I was trying to find a way to minimize them on my blog...

First; our Cheetah Girls Concert! Aleena had such a great time!! Below is a picture of the 2 of us before leaving the house, Aleena Marissah and Thalia waiting for the show to start, The Cheetah Girls on stage. and then a picture of Aleena with The Cheetah Girls about 5 ft behind her. I hate that the flash made her white like that.

How we spend our weekends!! Here is Jeff playing his 1st game of soccer (his team is currently in 1st place!!), Peyton doing some weird pose while playing defender??... My nephew Austin during one of his games.. And my niece Lacie loving on her baby!

A few random pictures.. Joey before going to his Homecoming dance, him with Aleena and Peyton.. Me and Peyton on the couch watching a movie before bed (yes I know I need a new pillow).. And this is how you will find Peyton on most nights. This child has such a great love of reading; he will read easily for an hour a night, and many weekends he'll read for well over 2 hrs. I love it!!!

Pumpkin Patch! We met up with some friends and there girls for a fun filled afternoon at the pumpkin patch; then went to McD's for dinner... I was so excited to have some kettle corn! LOVE that stuff!!!!

5th Grade Camp!!!! Aleena had such a GREAT time at camp!!!! She talked nonstop about it for hours that night. She was gone Mon-Wed. That Monday night we had some horrible weather, and tornados were hitting about 15 miles or so south of them. I as a Mother have never felt so helpless, sitting there watching the news. Praying with tears in my eyes that it wouldn't go near them. Aleena later told me that they were all bawling at camp, scared of what was going on outside. I'm glad it didn't stick around and they were able to enjoy the next 2 days. I picked her up from camp on Wednesday with intentions of taking her and her friend Aslynn to McD's to enjoy some ice cream. That would give us some free time to talk about camp. Both girls were starving when they got off of the bus so we got kids meals as well.

Pics; Aleena all packed and ready to go, giving me a pretend pouty face, self portrait (I really need to make sure I'm running around with makeup and hair done at all times ;-) ).. Aleena and her friend Aslynn at McD's, and the girls attacking there brothers on there arrival home.

Adding it all up.. and feeling Blah!

Yesterday was a rough day. I was utterly exhausted; and working in my department alone. Looking back on yesterday I ate way more junk then I needed/should have... And won’t step on the scale for a week…

I drank 2 cans of DR Pepper at work 150 calories each = 300
Cup of oatmeal, I’m not sure on the calorie count... But I’ll take a guess at 150
Tuna and crackers = 225
Bag of sunchips while waiting for the car to get washed = 350
Then heading to the concert we stopped off at Whataburger; and I just about had a heart attack just now while adding up the calories on there site!!! I got a Chicken sandwich meal for a whopping grand total of 1230 Calories
I had water at the concert….
Then on the way home everyone was hungry so we went through Burger King and I got a JR Whopper with Cheese no onion = 420 calories *sigh*

For a grand total of 2,675 calories!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!! I’m sick; I can’t believe I did that… I was so excited yesterday because I had to use a new whole on my belt last night. That’s OK… After I guzzle down this DR Pepper this AM (shh... I need a little wake me up this AM!), I’m sticking to just water and lettuce! J I’m hoping to be able to walk and get the kids again today. If not; I’ll be on the treadmill tonight or something. I’m going to have to work hard to get rid of the damage from yesterday. I’m going to justify it and say that I’ve been doing so good for awhile; that it’s NOT quite the end of the world that I did some major gorging yesterday?? Right??

Ok; On to the concert... We had a GREAT time!!! There were 2 opening acts that were OK... And the Cheetah girls were good. We had floor seats and just imagine the sheer joy in my baby girl’s eyes when the cheetah girls got on a stage less then 5 ft from us!! She really had a great time. As always; I have pictures... I’ll try and upload some in the next day or two and talk more about the concert and our time there.

Tom's Obituary

Thomas Edwin Ohland, 83, of McKinney, Texas, passed away Tuesday, October 14, 2008 in McKinney, Texas.

He was born March 18, 1925 in Grand Rapids, Michigan to George and Mildred (Terrell) Ohland. He was in sales in the paving industry, a member of AA and served in the U.S. Navy. He was also a volunteer at Medical Center of McKinney.

He is survived by sons, Wesley and wife, Theresa Ohland of Mt. Dora, Florida; Michael and wife, Kelley Ohland of Gilbert, Arizona; daughters, Judy and husband, Rolfe Myers of Plano, Texas; Terrie and husband Paul Day of Bedford, Texas; nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Marilyn Ruth Ohland in 2006, and brother, George T. Ohland.

A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at Charles W. Smith & Sons Funeral Home, 601 S. Tennessee Street, McKinney, Texas 75069, 972-562-7788.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Medical Center of McKinney Volunteer Scholarship Fund in Thomas Edwin Ohland's name

Thank you....

I just wanted to say a quick Thank You to those of you that voted for Lacie. She however didn’t make it to the 2^nd round. L

What a long weekend I had! Friday night Jeff and I stayed up watching 24. We are huge 24 fans; getting excited each season; counting down the days until it starts again. It’s been awhile since we’ve watched it, with the writers strike, and then the stars stay in jail for a while. So to get our fix and catch up we’ve been renting the prior seasons, so we watched the first 4 hrs of season 1. Joey had 2 friends spend the night Friday night. We got up on Saturday and went to our kids soccer games, where Peyton scored a goal!! Went home and had a quick lunch and ran back to the fields to watch my nephew Austin’s game. Then we headed back home where I did a quick clean through on my house. We went to my cousin Regina’s house, and my neighbor, for a cook out. We were joined by my sisters and mom, and there kids... My Aunt Debbie popped in for a bit as well. We had a great time just hanging out. Saturday night Joey had 2 more friends spend the night, got up Sunday morning and worked on some laundry and went out for the day. We went to Kohl’s where Jeff spent his gift card from his birthday, got a few things for Aleena’s Halloween Costume, I got some closed toed shoes! Now that it’s getting cooler I can’t keep wearing my sandals I love. Then we grabbed some Popeye’s chicken and headed to mom and dads. We dropped Aleena off over there before we went shopping; she wanted to watch I Love Lucy movies with mom. After eating with them and hanging out for a bit we headed over to the soccer fields for Jeff’s game; which they won, again. AND Jeff had his 1^st ever assist!! How awesome is that.
And today is Monday… Today my cousin Regina and I are heading to AAC to see The Cheetah Girls in concert. I took Aleena last year with my friend Jenny and her daughter, we had a great time and Aleena is so excited to go see them again...

PS... My laptop is still out of commission, so I’ll have to try and share pictures later... I’m hoping it gets fixed soon.

You're remembered......

We all remember exactly what we were doing exactly 7 yrs ago today. I pray that you still think about this day, still try to make the most out of each day. And continue to think about all of the families affected by this tragedy, and all of those serving our country.

Personal DNA

about you
You are an Analyst
Your attention to detail, confidence, sense of order, and focus on functionality combine to make you an ANALYST.
You are very curious about how things work, delving into the mechanics behind things.
Along those lines, how well something works is usually more important to you than what it looks like.
You find beauty and wonder mainly in concrete, functional, earthly things.
You are very aware of your own abilities, and you believe that you will find the best way of doing things.
Accordingly, problems do not intimidate you, as you believe in yourself.
You trust yourself to find solutions within the boundaries of your knowledge.
You don't spend a lot of time imagining how things could be different—you're well-grounded in the here-and-now.
It is important for you to follow a routine, and you prefer the familiar to the unknown.
You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.


If you want to be different:

Try to embrace the imaginative, creative part of your personality more often.

Try moving beyond the things that you find comfortable—open yourself up to a broader range of experiences.


how you relate to others
You are Encouraging

Your outgoing nature, understanding of others, and directness make you ENCOURAGING.
You want others to do well for themselves, and you generally believe in their abilities.
You often know what's good for people because of your caring nature and your worldview.
When you care about someone, you don't keep it to yourself: you are good at letting people know that you're thinking of them.
Because you trust people, you take violations of that trust very seriously.
You thrive in social situations, and even though you know who you like and who you don't like, you can interact well with many different types of people.
You have a healthy respect for people who have earned what they have, and you strive to be similar to successful others.
You are a loyal friend and a good listener.


If you want to be different:

Sometimes, in the course of being encouraging, you can be a bit judgmental—this can make it more difficult for others to follow your advice.

While you are an expert at getting the most out of the world and taking advantage of many experiences, you might gain some insight by taking the time to be alone, reflect on things, or just observe the goings-on in the world.