TBT - 2008 Version

In lieu of a REAL post, I decided I'd do a Throwback Thursday picture post dedicated to the year 2008 (because I'm all lazy that way).  They are not in chronological order, because uh, lazy?  Here we go!



The mighty Cam, fierce soccer player.

Kelsey, before her first brain surgery.

And Kelsey after.  Look at girlfriend rockin' the plaids!

Hubs and the girls at church at Easter.

Kate all dolled up for Homecoming.

Pure, unadulterated joy through Bratz at Christmas.  Oh, yeah!

Band kid, Kelsey, who is 4'11" and marched with a bass clarinet.



The hubs, Cam and I waiting for high school band practice to be over!

The tree that ate my backyard and garage, courtesy of Hurricane Ike.

The Killing Fields

For some reason unknown we are having an unusually high number of geckos and lizards finding their way into the house this spring.  Add to that unusually high number a couple of cats who believe they are nature's great hunters.  Depending on which cat we're talking about, it can be pretty hilarious. For example, Toothless Teddy, (aka FatBoy/JoeBob/Teddy Bear) has not one tooth in his mouth and tries mightily to gum those poor things to death.  Whenever he actually is able to hold one in his mouth (as opposed to having it slip through the gums and run) he generally stalks around the house with his undead kill hanging out.

Khloe, on the other hand, is a seasoned killer.  On any given day we are picking up at LEAST 3 or more carcasses to dispose of.  The poor little things have been getting into our fireplace behind the glass and this is when Khloe displays patience that no one else (humans included) in the house has. She will sit for literal hours in front of the fireplace just waiting for one to poke enough of their body out that she can nab it.  Evidence:

Every once in a while, she'll try to flirt with them to entice them to come out:

And sometimes, she takes pity on FatBoy and will kill his catch for him and generously allow him to carry it around without having to fight to keep it between the gums.

Since I have all girl-children, there is at least of them who is terrified of any type of lizard - dead or alive and will act like this:


Fun times, friend, fun times.

"There"

The last couple of weeks since we lost dad have been pretty hard.  Beforehand, even if I didn't talk to him every day, I just had the knowledge that he was "there".  "There" if I needed advice, "there" when I needed to complain about motherhood, "there" just to listen when I needed him to.  Now there's this huge hole in the fabric of my life where dad used to be "there".

I know (and have spoken at times) all the platitudes about how he's in a better place, now he's not suffering, now he's with God, ad infinitum.  And, while all those things might be true, he's still not "there."  And that hurts.  Losing your parents is, unfortunately, one of the pieces of the normal progression of life.  It just is.  And it just sucks.

The manner of my parents deaths has been tough, as well.  My mother died from lung cancer over five years ago.  My dad died from prostate cancer.  Both cancers had spread into their bodies through blood and bone.  The way in which cancer emaciates the body and muddles the mind is horrible. Watching mom didn't seem near as bad, since her mind left long before her body did and she didn't exhibit any outward symptoms of pain.  For dad, the pain was excruciating and he mentally wasn't gone enough except for the last few days to be able to block it. No amount of pain medications seemed to keep him comfortable.  We've all heard the saying that cancer is a bitch.  And she is.  And because of it, I have two parents who aren't "there".

I want to take steps to try to be healthier so that my own girls have a mom as long as possible.  I want to at least attempt to be "there" for them for as long as I can.  I hope I never have to face the bitch, but if I do, at least I'll know that I tried to beat her.

TBT In Pictures

I thought I'd throw up a Throw-Back Thursday post with some of my favorite family pictures.

My 4 faves, right after we became a new family.

The unbridled joy in this pic slays me.

My two oldest and me.

Sandy-dog and Kels, just chillin...

Heck if I know...

My beautiful middle one.

Middle and mom.

A rare Halloween sighting of the elusive Moogle and Waldo.

Girls' annual San Marcos shopping trip!

Have a great one!

Life this week, as told in in gifs

Made it to another Friday, thank you, Jesus.



My girl children have been overly full of the drama this week.
The smallest things have usually ended this way:



Thanks to a craptastically put together spreadsheet I struggled with for
LITERALLY three days at work, I was a little stressed and irritable.



So after the stressful week, I politely asked the
wonderful hubby for a date night.



Which will lead to a fancy dinner tonight
at a great downtown Houston steak house.


A Rockets game...



And then a small glass of wine
and quality time with the hubs at home.



I'm out!

Still Alive!

The past couple of weeks have been brutal on the family with all the illness running rampant. As I alluded to in the last post, everyone in my household has had some form of upper respiratory infection, ear infection, bronchitis, etc. I blame this in part on the craptastic weather that we have here in our part of Texas. Our poor systems just can't handle the constant flip-flop of temperatures (rainy 30 degrees one day, up to a sunny 75 the next).

On top of all the ookiness (it IS a word - inclusively defined as all the phlegm, snot, and mucous filled sickness), Kelsey landed in the hospital due to cluster seizures caused by dehydration and electrolyte imbalance from being sick. To round the crappy month out, my dad's cancer has spread pretty rapidly and is beginning to affect his mental capacity. The altered mental status plus the uncontrolled pain from disease spread to the bone landed him inpatient, as well. Just like most of the nation, I'll be glad to see the back-end of this winter in my rearview. I've got a couple of posts scheduled for this weekend, a few product reviews coming up, and just life in general updates. Hope everyone is doing well!

So Much Sick...

Here at Casa Echeverry, EVERY.SINGLE.FAMILY.MEMBER. has had some sort of upper respiratory thing going on.  A couple of us have had ear infections and all five of us has that nasty cough that makes us sound like four-pack-a-day smokers.  Here's a good approximation of what it looks like at any given time in our house right now:


I know that our neighbors must think we're going deaf because in order to actually watch a TV program as a family, we have to turn the volume to DEAF-CON (heh) levels.  I don't know if I'm more horrified that the neighbors know the kids watch Family Guy on a daily basis, Supernatural on constant repeat, or Duck Dynasty in stereo.  That's some quality programming right there, but I digress...

At risk of sounding like a whiny wimp (especially to those who live in truly cold climates), I've just got to say that I'm soooo tired of this winter!  I'm tired of our Texas weather being freezing one day and in the sunny 70's the next.  I'm ready for summer, ready for heat, and ready for pool and beach. Ya'll! There's a reason I've never left Texas for any length of time (unless you count those few unfortunate years in Louisiana).  I find myself spending inordinate amounts of time and brain power imagining myself somewhere on a beach with a margarita as soon as humanly and financially possible.  As a matter of fact, I would like to go to here right now:

My view from the beach chair in Cozumel last year.

Okay, enough griping.  After I get more good drugs this evening, I'm hoping to be feeling better in a couple of days and then I'll be right back on the blogging track once again.

How is everyone else's winter?

Friday Faves

I am REALLY trying to be better about writing more.  It's difficult sometimes; when I have the time I don't have the urge and when I have the urge, I don't have the time.  The bottom line is that I procrastinate entirely too much sometimes.  Procrastinators of the world UNITE!  Tomorrow!

Anywho, I'm going to try to do a weekly Friday Faves where I just kind of recap the week of things that stood out or that I liked.  I just might have to get a pool going to see how many consecutive Fridays in a row I can keep it going!  Here we go!

ONE
These guys (or girls!).  I LOVE having fosters.  I love snuggling them up and socializing them and then giving them back when they get all adolescenty and snotty.

TWO
Three-day weekends.  Whenever I can take extra time off without having to use my personal bank, it's all good!  This is me right about now waiting to leave work:




THREE
My wonderful husband!  He loves me unconditionally and has proven that this week.  He's amazing and I don't know what I would do without him.




FOUR
Peace in my house during PMS week.  With three daughters and myself living under one roof, things can get a little dicey at LEAST once a month during that wonderful time.  This week, this week is PMS week but it hasn't been as near chaotic as it can be.  Substitute chocolate for mac and cheese and the picture below is a perfect example of occurrences at my house.


FIVE
Even given the emotions that number 4 brings, I love my family.



Everyone have a great and wonderful weekend!