The Cain Family

Summer Goals

2011-06-13T14:28:00.002-05:00

Summer is finally here! D and I are so excited to have the summer off together for the first time. We have some big plans for the summer. Probably the biggest is remodeling our kitchen. I can't wait!:) Here are some other goals I/we have for the summer:

-Clean out ALL of the closets in our house.
-Take a bunch of clothes and home goods to Goodwill.
-Get back into running. I started for a few weeks in April and May, but the craziness of the end of the year took over. I might even enter a 5K. (Derek thinks I'll be a marathon runner one day...I think that's just crazy! I don't like to run that much.)
-Visit my sweet nephews-still working on this one, but we're planning to go out there at some point:)
-Get my CDL-unfortunately we have to drive the bus to our games next year. D has to get his too, but he was planning on it anyway. He's in this coaching thing for the long haul. (I plan to be the coach's wife for the long haul;) )
-Relax and rest. We've already met this goal...looking forward to more of it throughout the summer:)

I'll probably recap the fall, winter, and spring at some point...stay tuned!

Summer 2010

2010-09-26T13:20:00.002-05:00

We've been really busy recently, so the blog has been neglected. (So let'ts be honest, it was neglected for most of the summer....sorry about that!) I taught summer school this summer and Derek attended many workshops to prepare for the year. I enjoyed teaching summer school, but I don't think I will teach it all summer next year. I felt like I helped some kids who needed a little boost to finish 7th grade. Some of them are at Westbrook this year and it's fun to see them in the halls!
The day after summer school ended, we drove up to Arlington to spend some time with our family. We took a 10 day vacation with my parents, Courtney, and Michael to the northeast. We visited our grandparents in Delaware and Pennsylvania before sightseeing in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC. It was a really fun trip! Derek especially enjoyed seeing many of the historic places he will teach his students about this year. There's something special about going back to our nation's roots. It makes you feel really patriotic and connected to where it all started. I know I'm cheesy, but I love it!
The highlights of our trip were tours of Independence Hall in Philadelphia and the Capitol building in DC. We saw the Declaration of Independence and founding documents in the National Archives. We went to tons of museums including the Betsy Ross House, Benjamin Franklin's Print Shop and underground museum, Christ's Church, the International Spy Museum, the American History Smithsonian, the Air and Space Smithsonian, and the Holocaust museum. Everyone's favorite museum was the Newseum in DC. It's an amazing museum that captures the history and future of the news. They have hundreds of newspapers dating from the 1400s to present day. There are sections of the Berlin Wall, the only Guard Tower(Checkpoint Charlie) in the United States, and the radio tower from the Twin Towers. All of the exhibits are so well done! They also have excellent movies and 4D theatres. I highly recommend it for your next visit! The best part is that your ticket is good for two days, so you can actually process all of the information you're seeing. I wish more museums would do that!
Of course we couldn't forget the Phillies. We caught two of their games; one in Philly and the other in DC. Both stadiums are really nice. It's so different to have a stadium in the middle of a big city. I know Minute Maid is, but the Ballpark is still what I compare everything to. I'm a new Houstonian. (Go Rangers!) There was a fireworks show after the game in DC. Roy O had just been traded to the Phillies, so we watch his first game. Not his best showing, but it was fun to watch him play.
Between our three cameras, we took over 1000 pictures! My mom was wanting to make a photobook of our vacation. I had to talk her out of it because I wanted to make one for her! Here is the link to the book.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Acs3LZk2btGLnI

Obviously, it doesn't have all 1000 pictures, but I tried to choose the best ones. We had a great time!

We got to spend time with the Cains when we got back. Grandma C "rescued" Cooper from PetSmart while we were gone. He was SOOO excited to see her! We had a wonderful time catching up with the Cains;) Hopefully we'll get to see them again soon. We're talking about taking a trip to Oregon with them in the near future. We can't wait!!

Once we got back from Arlington, Derek set up his classroom and started more workshops for new teachers. We both prepared for the busy school year we had ahead of us. This year I'm coaching 7B volleyball. Derek is coaching 7th and 8th grade football, 7th grade basketball, and 7th and 8th grade track. We're already busy, but we're loving it! Coaching gives you an extra opportunity to work with kids and shape their lives. Our athletes have progressed a lot and the season is just starting. We can't wait to see how far they come this year!

I probably won't get to post again until volleyball is over, so here's your Cain summer recap. We have some exciting trips planned for the rest of 2010 and the summer of 2011, so be looking for the Fall 2010 update in a few months!

Swagbucks

2010-07-22T09:55:00.003-05:00

You may have noticed new buttons on the right side of my blog for Swagbucks. I've been earning $5 Amazon gift cards just for searching online. Awesome, huh?! Several of my friends have been earning Swagbucks for awhile now and I thought I'd join them. One of my friends has already earned 11 Amazon cards in just a few months! I'm so impressed!! They have tons of prizes in addition to the Amazon gift cards and they're adding more all the time.

To be honest, I was a little skeptical at first. I wasn't sure if I could actually earn enough Swagbucks to do any good. Well my friends, it took me a week to earn my first $5 card! Considering how much we use Amazon, I'd say it was well worth it.

So you're asking yourself, how did she do that so quickly? Here are my top 10 tips for earning Swagbucks:

1. Sign up for Swagbucks.
You can click the button on the upper right side of my blog to sign up. It's free and you can earn 30 Swagbucks just for getting started!

2. Search using Swagbucks
Most of my Swagbucks have been earned doing searches using the toolbar or Swagbucks.com. We're planning a trip, so I've been doing lots of research on places to go and things to do. Everytime I do a search, I use the search bar on Swagbucks instead of Google. You were going to do the search anyway, so why not earn some Swagbucks?!

3. Download the Swagbucks toolbar
The toolbar is really handy! The main feature I use is the search bar. Instead of using the Google search bar already on your internet browser, use the Swagbucks one. (Remember, you can earn Swagbucks for the searches you were going to do anyway.) The toolbar makes it even easier because you don't have to type in the Swagbucks address and then your search. Fewer steps and more Swagbucks...sounds good to me!
Another feature I like is the tips from TSG (The Swag Guy). Keep checking it for new messages about codes to earn even more Swagbucks!
Recently, I've been given a few Swagbucks each day just for having the toolbar downloaded. I didn't even have to search!!

4. Swag Codes
I know you're familiar with codes that you enter when you check out at online stores. You can get free shipping or a percentage off and it makes you happy because you're saving money. Well, Swagbucks has the same type of codes that help you earn more Swagbucks! Check the Swagbucks blog, TSG tips on your toolbar, Facebook, or the Swiget often for new codes. Once you have the code, go to the Swagbucks site, type in the code, and click "Gimme" to earn even more Swagbucks. Just don't wait too long because the codes expire quickly!

5. Facebook
Swagbucks has a Facebook page where people tell what they've searched for to earn Swagbucks. They have lots of great tips to earn more Swagbucks through surveys or codes! If you see people thanking TSG, go to your favorite code site quickly to find that code! You can also use Facebook connect (on the top right corner of the Swagbucks website) to share Swagbucks info with your friends.
Be honest...you go on Facebook about 4 times a day. Why not search for it using your Swagbucks toolbar and earn Swagbucks for it?!

6. Daily Polls
You can earn 1 Swagbuck a day for answering a poll question. Today's question was, "Does anyone use a fax machine anymore?" Two clicks and you've earned a Swagbuck. It's fun to see what question is asked each day. You can also submit your own question. If yours is chosen, you earn Swagbucks!

7. Mega Swagbucks Fridays
Fridays are like hitting the jackpot with Swagbucks. Instead of earning 5-20 Swagbucks, you're earning more like 20-50 for a search. You're also earning Swagbucks more frequently, so get out there and search on Fridays!

8. Surveys
You can earn 50-300 Swagbucks for a few minutes of your time. I answered a survey about internet usage and earned 250 Swagbucks in 15 minutes. That's way more than I would've earned for 15 minutes of searching. You can earn Swagbucks for filling out profile information on your interests, which helps to find surveys for you. I know that not everyone has a summer off like me, but you can still take surveys even on work days. Pause your favorite TV show during the commericals and take a survey. You'll earn free stuff AND you don't have to watch commercials. Definitely a win-win!

9. Shop and Earn
You know how you can earn American Airline miles for buying products from your favorite online stores? Well, you can earn Swagbucks the same way! Go to the Shop and Earn tab and find the online store. Click on the link and buy items from your favorite stores. You can earn 2 Swagbucks (or more!) for every dollar you spend. You can also save your favorite stores, so it's even easier to earn Swagbucks for shopping online. Another win-win, you get the item you were going to purchase AND earn Swagbucks to get more free stuff.

10. Swiget
Do you see that Swagbucks tool underneath the Swagbucks button on my blog? Well, you can use it to earn Swagbucks, too. You can search and earn Swagbucks, read the Swagblog(which has tips on codes and searches to earn even more Swagbucks...check back often because they update it several times a day!), see prizes that you can earn, and shop to earn more Swagbucks. All of those are great features, but my favorite one is the code. Simply click on the Code button and it will tell you if there's a code out there. Awesome! Put the Swiget on your blog to help your friends find the codes, too.

Swagbucks has been really fun and rewarding. One of my friends is planning to use her Amazon gift cards for Christmas gifts this year. Sounds like a pretty great idea to me! I know what you're thinking, "So you're telling me that I can buy gifts for my loved ones (or myself) by earning Swagbucks for doing things I'd already planned to do? How do I get started?!" Just click on the Swagbucks button in the upper right hand corner of my blog. You'll earn Swagbucks just for signing up AND you'll be helping me earn more Swagbucks by using my referral button. Another win-win!

Bonus Tip 11-Put a Swagbucks referral button on your blog and Facebook, so your friends can help you earn more!

Welcome to the wonderful world of Swagbucks! Happy earning:)

A Grandparent's Love

2010-05-09T23:13:00.002-05:00

Ted always had a soft spot for Court and I. We were his first "granddaughters." We were two lucky girls to have a grandpa like Ted next door as we grew up! Through the years I've learned that it isn't blood that makes you family. It's love, devotion, commitment, loyalty. Ted epitomized all of these and more. He was a wonderful, loving man. Always ornery, especially to those he loved most. He always was the life of the party. He didn't know a stranger. He was involved in our lives, even after we both moved from Byron Lane. There are very few memories of my childhood (really my life in general) that don't include Ted. We spent lots of time at their house coloring in coloring books, playing in yard, celebrating birthdays and holidays together. His son gave me my first piece of Aggie gear: a bib that said "Future Aggie Class of 20??" He was there for all of our milestones...our births, first steps, kindergarten, middle school, high school, college, graduations, weddings, and many more. We were both very honored that he and Mary Helen sat as grandparents at our weddings. I'm not sure what he's telling her here, but I'm sure she'll never forget.

You Love Me Anyway

2010-05-05T22:44:00.002-05:00

I can't believe that it's been over 6 months since we've last posted. We've had SO many changes in our life, which I'll share soon. (No, they don't include a baby Cain. Maybe soon, but not now:) )
I've been struggling recently with a few things. It's a very stressful time of the school year. I'm sad that the year is coming to an end because I will miss my kiddos a lot. At least I'll get to see them next year:) My grandfather died right after Christmas and I still haven't really allowed myself to grieve. (Working on that one.) One of my former coworkers lost her father this week. Several friends are hurting from different situations. It just seems like one thing after another....
The biggest burden on my heart is that we're searching for a church again. It's always tough and we left a church last week knowing that we wouldn't be back. It was one of those situations where we didn't even have to discuss it. We both just knew. We'd only been a handful of times. Everyone was very friendly and we were starting to feel comfortable. You know when you really want something so badly that you block out the little voice that's pointing out the flaws in your plan? That's where I was.
I don't know why it was so tough for me, but I was really heartbroken over the whole thing. I'm so thankful for a husband like Derek because he is such an amazing leader of our household. He truly seeks God's will for our family. What a blessing! I am one lucky girl to have him:)
I know that God has plans for us. I know that we will find a church home. I know that if we seek Him with our whole heart, we will find Him. I've discovered that I'm a micromanager. I didn't realize that, but I am. (I'm sure that's not as surprising to you as it was to me.) I've learned that it's difficult for me to let go and trust other people, much less God. In his heart a man plans his course, but God determines his steps.
I've been focusing on truly seeking God's plan. It's not easy for a Type A girl like me, but I'm working on it. In my efforts to find some praise and worship songs for our Christian group at school, I found this song by Sidewalk Prophets. They have several songs that I like, but I heard this one for the first time and I can't stop listening to it. It's called You Love Me Anyway. Here are some of the lyrics:

Still You call me to walk on the edge of this world
To spread my dreams and fly
But the future's so far, my heart is so frail
I think I'd rather stay inside.

But You love me anyway.
It's like nothing in life that I've ever known.
You love me anyway.
Oh Lord, how You love me.
How You love me.

It took all of my strength to simply be still
To seek but never find
All the reasons we change
The reasons I doubt
And why do loved ones have to die?

But You love me anyway.
It's like nothing in life that I've ever known.
You love me anyway.
Oh Lord, how You love me.

I am the thorn in Your crown.
But You love me anyway.
I am the sweat from Your brow.
But You love me anyway.
I am the nail in your wrist.
But You love me anyway.
I am Judas' kiss.
But You love me anyway.

See I am the man that called out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking ground
Yes then I turned away with this smile on my face
With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night, I still called out to You
So ashamed of my life....
But You love me anyway.
Oh God, how You love me anyway

Go listen to the song on You Tube. It's great! I hope it touches your heart as much as it touched mine. God will never give us more than we can handle. Sometimes He has to break us to make us more like Him. This world is not our home. We must cling to the One who promises us eternal hope. This world will constantly disappoint and hurt us. We constantly fall and sin. But God constantly loves us despite our failures and shortcomings. Thank goodness for the cross!!
My prayer every day is that I will be a light in a dark world and show others who God is through my actions. Oh Lord, how You love me even though I'm the thorn in Your crown, instead of the shining light that I should be! Show me Your plans and the path You want me to walk.

Courtney and Michael's Wedding Weekend

2009-10-26T19:12:00.012-05:00

My baby sister got married last weekend! We went and got our nails done on Thursday afternoon. It was my grandma's first pedicure:)The ceremony and reception were in the beautiful hill country of Austin. The weather was perfect and everything went really well. Here are some pictures from the rehearsal.

My dad and Court did great coming down the stairs! They're pretty steep and the wedding coordinator told them not to look down because it ruins pictures. At the actual ceremony, my dad grabbed the handrails to steady himself. There were flowers along the rail and my dad knocked one off as he walked down. Being the quick shortstop that he is, he caught the flowers. It looked like they both had a bouquet as they walked down the stairs! Everyone laughed:) It was much needed comic relief because my whole family was crying. Michael was crying too. It was very sweet!

Father Matkin married Derek and I, too!

The reheasal dinner was at the Iron Cactus, which is a neat Mexican food restaurant. We ate out on the patio. Derek and I sat at a table with all of my cousins! My one of my girl cousins got a Shirley Temple and two of the boys were making fun of her. Derek ordered one for each of them! Needless to say, he gets along well with my cousins:)

My aunt did my sister's make up. (She did my make up at my wedding too!)

The beautiful bride before the ceremony.

We went upstairs and took pictures of the reception hall before the ceremony. Their colors were purple and green.
The Head Table
The flowers were beautiful!

Court's bouquet was really pretty! She especially liked the white and purple calla lilies.

Michael gave Courtney a diamond heart necklace as a wedding present, which of course she loved!
Relaxing in the Bride's room with a little champagne and snacks!

Mom helping Court get dressed.

Family Pics
Matron of Honor with the Bride
Father of the Bride
My grandmother let my sister borrow a ring as her something borrowed, old, and blue. It's an opal, which is my sister's birthstone, with sapphires around it.

Three Generations Picture

Being the Matron of Honor, I didn't get many pictures at the wedding and reception. I'm sure I'll add to the post when my fam emails their pictures.

We had a mini family reunion this weekend as well because so many of our family members were able to come down! We hadn't been together since my wedding four years ago, so it was nice to see everyone. On Sunday we went to brunch at Chez Zee to celebrate three birthdays. My youngest cousin, Samantha, turned 10 on Sunday, my Aunt Vicki turned 50 last week, and my dad's dad, Grandvati, will turn 80 in November. Here's the group after lunch:

All of the "kids" have grown up quite a bit. Few of the cousins taking pics on the computer.

Tanner and I were really tired on Sunday after all of the events of the weekend!

We had a wonderful time and we can't wait to see everyone again this summer!

The Lost Get Found

2009-10-10T20:53:00.002-05:00

Each year God lays a different purpose for the school year on my heart. At the beginning of this school year I heard, "The Lost Get Found" by Britt Nicole and knew it was my "school song." Here the the lyrics:

The Lost Get Found
By Britt Nicole

Hello my friend, I remember when you were
So alive with your wide eyes
Then the light that you had in your heart was stolen
Now you say that it ain't worth stayin'
You wanna run but you're hesitatin',
I'm talkin' to me

Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out'
Cause somewhere
Somebody needs a reason to believe
Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found
The lost get found

So when you get the chance, are you gonna take it?
There's a really big world at your fingertips
And you know you have the chance to change it
There's a girl on the streets, she's cryin'
There's a man whose faith is dyin', love is callin' you

Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out'
Cause somewhere
Somebody needs a reason to believe
Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found
The lost get found

Why do we go with the flow
Or take an easier road?
Why are we playin' it safe?
Love came to show us the way
Love is a chance we should take
I'm movin' out of the way

Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out'
Cause somewhere
Somebody needs a reason to believe(Stand out)
Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out(Stand out)
'Cause somewhere
Somebody needs a reason to believe
Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found
The lost get found

So when you get the chance
Are you gonna take it?
There's a really big world at your fingertips
And you know you have the chance to change it

I tried to find it on for my playlist of songs that play on the blog, but I couldn't. It's new-ish, so maybe it will be on there soon. I did find other Britt Nicole songs to put on my playlist, so you could hear this amazing artist!

This year I have been co-sponsoring the school's Christian organization called CIA (Christian's in Action.) These kids have amazing hearts for the Lord and are truly seeking Him with their lives! They lead each other in song, worship, praise, and Bible study lessons every Friday morning. I am so blessed by these kids and hope to be an encouragement to them as well!

Two Cars?!?

2009-10-10T18:46:00.003-05:00

As nice as it would be to choose between a white car and a black car each morning, I do not have two cars. I wish that was the reason for the new black car though...it would be a lot more fun!

Here's the story of our new, new car:

My white car was totaled in an accident back in July. I was stopped at a light and a drunk driver rear ended me going about 60 mph. (Obviously it wasn't a normal street. It was one of those farm road highways. Hopefully no one would be going 60 on a city street!) My car was sent flying across the intersection as the other car spun around in the middle of the intersection. Definitely ranks up there as one of the scariest moments of my life! Of course the police and ambulances came to the scene, so my poor husband drove up to the accident with tons of flashing lights. (I'm sure it was one of the scariest moments of his life too!) Here is the damage to my car:

I am so thankful that my injuries were overwhelming minor! I spent the rest of the summer recovering from my sore muscles, whiplash, and a concussion. It definitely made for an interesting start to the school year! The only long term affects that I'm still dealing with are headaches from the concussion and weakness in my hands. (I can't open anything with a twist top, like water bottles or pickle jars.)

Even though Derek deals with car accidents every day, it has still been a stressful and confusing process for us. We were finally able to go buy a new car a few weeks after the accident. We decided to buy the same type of car because it was so safe. In a way, we did our own crash testing. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone though. Leave that to the professionals;) I LOVED my white car and wanted a new one just like it. Derek wasn't thrilled about the idea because he could only picture the damage to the white car. So we decided to avoid white. I really like the dark gray Accords, but we didn't like the interior choices. After MUCH debate we decided to go with black. The interior is the same as the white car, but D isn't as weirded out when he sees me driving it! As we were signing and dating all of the papers, I realized that we had been at the same car dealership exactly three months earlier buying the white car! Derek got me A&M license plates, which look really cool on the black car. I also have a Former Student license plate holder. There's no mistaking that I'm an Aggie!:)

Lori's New Car

2009-08-19T18:20:00.002-05:00

Here are the pics of Lori's new car. Instead of white, this time we went black. Isn't it purty?

New Crafts

2009-07-29T16:38:00.003-05:00

I've been looking on Etsy at all the cute things people create. I decided to try to monogram my own kitchen towels. I used a really cute font to print a template because I'm so not the girl who can freehand a bubble letter. Not even a C! After finding really cute fabric, I struggled for find a white towel. You would think that Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Target would have a nice white towel, but no! Thank you, Walmart! Even though I hit a few bumps in the road, I managed to finish the towel in one afternoon. Here's the final product:(Please ignore the brightness of the flash....I'm still figuring out my new camera.)

I had intended to machine stitch the C, but the fabric of the towel is too stretchy and I had a hard time turning it. So I took a few hours and stitched it by hand. It's definitely not perfect, but I think it's pretty good for my first one. Thanks to my parents' awesome Christmas gift (a fabulous sewing machine) I think I've found a new craft....sewing!

A Bet, a Dinner, and a little Trot

2009-07-23T16:27:00.004-05:00

Last week Derek's friend from work bet him that he couldn't go vegetarian for two weeks. Of course, Derek said, "Two weeks would be easy! What about a month?!" So we're officially vegetarians...for a month that is. Today marks the first week and to be honest, we really don't miss meat. We're actually eating more veggies and fruit, which we should anyway. Neither one of us are big fans of chicken breast, but would eat it for the protein. We did research to be sure we were getting enough protein and find good veggies to eat. Derek is much better about trying things than I am. I know you're shocked!! But we've been branching out and it's been fun. I'm sure that we'll eat meat again, but probably not every night. Let's be honest, I couldn't drive passed Roadhouse every day to get to school without eating there every once in awhile;)

Last night I made vegetarian pizza with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and fresh basil. I think it turned out well. Derek loved it! We also had some salad.

In addition to our new diet, we've started running. We have a half mile block by our house, which we've been running around. Derek suggested that we work toward a goal and maybe run a 5K. I did some research and found several different races. We plan to run our first 5K on Thanksgiving. Both Houston and Fort Worth have 5K runs on Thanksgiving called the Turkey Trot! Our goal is to finish it in 24 minutes. Wish us luck! Houston has another 5K in January...anyone want to burn those Christmas pounds with us?!

Weekend Projects

2009-07-23T15:46:00.004-05:00

A few weekends ago, my family came in town to do wedding stuff. We found a little time for some quick projects too!:)

Project #1: My mom helped me make this wreath for the front door.

Project #2: We finally planted some flowers in the cute flower pot my homeroom class made for me my first year of teaching. Each kid chose a paint color and put their handprint on the pot. After the paint dried, the room mom wrote their name on their hand. VERY cute teacher gift! We put the pot by our bench on our front porch. There are actually three different colors of flowers, yellow, light pink, and hot pink. With all of the rain and heat the flowers only seem to be opening one color at a time! Hopefully in the fall I'll get a picture of all three colors blooming at the same time:) Here is today's flower.

Project #3: I found this wooden dog bone at Stein Mart in March. I love the saying. It's so true!

I have been wanting to make a canvas for Cooper and Chloe to put on either side of it. Here is Cooper's canvas.

Here's Chloe's canvas.

I found a piece of scrapbook paper that had all of these words to describe your dog. I chose "loyal" and "wagging tail" for Chloe. She had the cutest tail wag! We called her our circle tail girl because her tail moved in a circle, not back and forth. I also put "Best Friends" for the picture of Cooper and Chloe sleeping on the sofa. Cooper's words are Squeaky Toys, Chew Toys, and Playful. If you know anything about this boy, you know he's CRAZY about his squeaky toys. Well, really his toys in general. (I shudder at the thought of the amount of toys our human kids will have.... At any given time, Cooper has at least two in every room....because that's how HE likes it!) I also put My Best Friend for a picture of Chloe sleeping on Cooper's back. He was looking at her as if to say, "You're my best friend!" So cute! I really like how they turned out. They're perfect with the dog bone. Here they are in our guest room.

Classroom Decor

2009-06-30T19:00:00.003-05:00

Here is the wall hang I made for my classroom:

I really like how the pink and brown turned out! Thanks for the input:)

PS-I may just take Shannon's advice and sell these on Etsy. How much would you pay for one?

A Little Bit of Creativity

2009-06-29T14:44:00.004-05:00

I recently made this wall hang for a friend's daughter who is a new Aggie.

I also made a similar one for my friend Tammi to put in her classroom next year. I really enjoy making them because they're fun and easy. I'm working on one for myself right now, but I'm having a hard time deciding on the colors. Of course pink! But do I want pink and yellow or pink and brown? Hmm....decisions.....decisions.... Life is so complicated in the summer!:)

The Cooper Chronicles

2009-06-29T11:41:00.005-05:00

I've often thought about writing a book about the crazy things our dog does. However, I don't think anyone would buy it except our family. So I'll just share them on our blog. Here is this week in the life of Cooper "T-Martin" "Charles" Cain:

The Cooper Chronicles

Part 1: Coop the Bird Dog

We always knew that Cooper would be an excellent hunting dog because he can sniff out all of his toys, even ones that have been MIA for months. If he "loses" a toy underneath the sofa or behind something, he barks and points right to it so we can get it for him. In some ways I feel guilty that we never let him use his abilities for hunting, but we're just not hunters. So our son has taken it upon himself to use his skills....in our backyard....twice. He favors blue jays for some reason. Maybe because they're brightly colored. Cooper caught his first bird when we lived in Flower Mound. The birds were taunting him and several of them flew down towards him. Well he jumped up and grabbed one and started running around the yard with it. He proceeded to pin it down and pull all of it's feathers out of its wings. By this time Derek and I were in the backyard and he just looked at us and pointed to the bird as if to say, "Ok I got it for you! Now finish it off!"His instincts are amazing to me since he's never been in that position before! This weekend he caught his first Houston bird. We were in the house and we heard him constantly barking at something. Unfortunately that's a regular occurrence, especially at night when people are walking their dogs. All of the sudden I heard birds screeching really loudly, so I went out to see what was going on. Cooper had another poor blue jay pinned and was pulling out its feathers. He only got the feathers on one of the bird's wings before I stopped him, but the damage had been done. The other birds were dive bombing Cooper anytime he went outside, so he didn't have doggie door privileges this weekend. When he caught his first bird, I think we were both so shocked that we praised him for it. Great parenting there! So of course he was all proud this time and HE was shocked when we yelled at him. I think he really did feel bad about it....either that or he felt bad that we were yelling at him;) Our little birdy friend wedged herself between a fence post and the fence in our yard for the entire weekend. TONS of other birds stayed up in the trees to protect and feed her. (I say her because Derek said he heard her babies. :( ) Neither one of us really knew what to do because we didn't want the bird to suffer or be eaten by an animal, especially a snake. That's the last thing we need in our yard!! We also didn't want to kill the bird because let's be honest, who really wants to kill a poor scared little bird that your dog hurt? I mean really! And even if we did have the heart to kill it, it's not like we have guns or anything. It wouldn't have been pretty or quick, which added to our issue with killing the bird. Thankfully, on Sunday afternoon the bird was gone. Now I realize the most likely scenario for our little birdy, but I chose to believe that she grew strong enough to fly away:) Yes, I am a science teacher. Yes, I teach all about ecosystems and predator/prey relationships. However, I do not wish to witness or think about those relationships occurring in by backyard. Thank you!

Part 2: Cooper and the Giant Water Dish

Two years ago this weekend we got our Cooper! We wanted to do something to celebrate him joining our family. He loves to go to PetSmart and pick out toys, however, he has WAY too many now. You can't go into a room of our house without finding one of his toys. Sometimes you can convince yourself that he just carries them from room to room and it seems like he has more toys than he actually does. (Or at least that's the delusional world I had been living in.) Well that changed when I found him snuggled up with TWO Green Men! Needless to say, we didn't take him to PetSmart yesterday. The Bed and Biscuit said that he really enjoyed playing in their play pools when he stayed there, so we decided to get him a little pool for the backyard. Last summer he conquered his fear of water at Grammy and Grandpa's house. (Remember this post?!) I just knew that he would LOVE his pool and be a soaking wet mess all the time. I figured we'd have to restrict his doggie door privileges to keep our house dry. We had already decided that he'd have specific times that he would get to play in his pool for several reasons. In addition to keeping our house dry, we also don't want to kill the grass with the dog pool. As Derek filled up the pool, I got the camera ready to capture the sheer joy that we knew Cooper would feel/show when he saw his pool for the first time. Here's his reaction:

We continued to play in the pool. I think he liked the cool water, but wasn't a fan of getting his face wet when he "rescued" his toys. It has been extremely hot here, so I know that the pool will be enjoyed all summer.

We are so happy that Cooper is a part of our family! He is such a sweet and loving boy! He protects us and provides much entertainment for our family. We love you, Coopie!

You've come a long way, baby!

Congratulations Courtni and Kent!

2009-06-25T20:33:00.006-05:00

The day before our cruise we flew up to Dallas for a special wedding. The bride is a good family friend of Cains'. Their families went to church together for years. Derek used to work for them at their printing company. The Busters are such a neat family and we always enjoy spending time with them! It was quite an honor to attend Courtni's wedding. She was a beautiful bride! They had an evening wedding with a dessert and finger food reception. It was so neat! Here we are at the reception:

The Cain Fam

Blue Steel...it wouldn't be a wedding without my hubby being silly!

What a handsome husband!!:)

We enjoyed catching up with many of our APC family friends who we don't get to see very often. Congratulations Courtni and Kent!!

Our Cruise- Celebrating Four Great Years! Updated

2009-06-18T16:57:00.008-05:00

In February, I tried to surprise Derek with a cruise for our four year anniversary. Unfortunately my husband checks our bank account quite often. (I think he was more relieved that someone had not stolen our credit card than he was excited about the cruise.) We went with our friends Tammi and Earl. Tammi and I worked together last semester. She is replacing me at Clear Lake next year. We had such a great time! We cruised on the Carnival Ecstacy for five days. Our cruise began on Saturday. We stood on the top deck and waved goodbye to Galveston with its yucky brown water.

On Saturday night we ate in the dining room. The service was excellent, but the food wasn't so great. Derek and Tammi both had steaks that were full of gristle. Needless to say, it was the only day we ate in the dining room.

On Sunday we had our first "Fun Day at Sea!" We layed out on the top deck and tanned. It was so nice that we fell asleep. Thankfully we used lots of sunscreen! We didn't get burned at all:)

Our first stop on the cruise was in Progreso, Mexico. It's located on the Yuacatan Penninsula, which is the site of many Mayan ruins. We decided to visit Dzibilchaltun, one of the major cities in the Mayan empire. The Mayans didn't live near the ocean, so they used sinkholes for fresh water. The sinkholes are called cenotes. You can swim in them today, but the water is very cold!

The Spanish explorers tried to convert the Mayans to Christianity. They tore down the Maya temples and built missions or churches. Here is the Spanish church.

The Mayans carefully designed their city. One neat feature they created was a sound system. The acoustics are excellent in the area near the church because this was the area that the Mayan leaders resided. If they spoke in the correct direction, they didn't have to raise their voices for the sound to carry across a huge field and into the buildings surrounding it. The Spaniards used this to their advantage and created a covering for the church, so that everyone could hear the service. Here is the entrance to the church.

The reddish rocks were placed in this pattern by actually chisling out each individual space for the rocks and then each rock was placed into the appropriate space. The column that you see above is the right column. Note the section of rock missing in the middle. The left column has a missing section that matches. They are at the same level, so we think it must have created a gate of some sort.

The ruins are being restored for their protection. As they are restored, the builders place a row of small rocks on top of the original ruins and then recreate the buildings as they once stood. It may be difficult to see, but if you look closely towards the top of each step you can see a row of small rocks.

The girls

The boys

A view from the top! You can see the Spanish church in the distance. This is the large field that their voices carried across.

This is the Temple of the Seven Dolls. It was named for the seven dolls found at the site when it was discovered. Archeologists aren't sure of the meaning of the dolls. The Mayan priests created this temple to help the farmers with their crops. During the fall and spring equinoxes, the sun shines through the doors of the temple. When the people saw this, they knew it signaled a change in their growing season, either to plant or harvest their crops. The Summer and Winter solstices were noted by the sun shining through the small windows of the temple.

Since the climate was extremely hot and dry, the Mayans did most of their traveling in the evening. They used crushed white rocks on their roads that would relfect the light of the moon, which allowed them to find their way from city to city. We really enjoyed seeing the ruins and learning about the Mayan culture!

After visiting the ruins, we went to a beach. The water was nice, but nothing compared to Cozumel. We had a great lunch...true Mexican fajitas! Derek took this amazing picture right before we left. Tammi and I on the beach.

We headed back to the ship after finding our Progreso magnet and postcards. Derek and I collect a magnet from every city we visit. We're up to 7 so far!:)

The second stop on our cruise was Cozumel, Mexico. We went snorkeling in the most beautiful water I've ever seen! I couldn't stop taking pictures of it:)

We rode a catamaran to a nice beach with tons to do! They had an inflatible rock climb, trampoline, and water slide. We opted out of the rock climb because it was covered with people! We enjoyed the trampoline for awhile and then decided to try the water slide. There was quite a line. I'm not sure if it was due to the slide's popularity or the length of time it took to get to the top. Kids didn't have too much trouble, if they were tall enough to reach the handles. It was the adults who really struggled. For some reason it seemed like the only people who wanted to climb up were those with little upper body strength!! Since Tammi and I are pretty much kid size, we did fine. Earl climbed up after us. The three of us slide down together and wondered what happened to Derek. Well he got stuck helping three ladies who had no business attempting the slide. One of them fell on him like the cheerleader in Dodgeball. (If you haven't seen the movie, you should because it's hilarious!) Needless to say, he had no strength to climb the slide after that. Here are the slide and trampoline. The slide is taller than it looks!!

We had time to eat lunch and shop in Cozumel. We ate at Pancho's Backyard. I didn't realize it at the time, but I ate there with my family when we visited Mexico several years ago. While we waited for our food, we enjoyed some Mexican music.

Tammi and I enjoyed Mexican margaritas! Mine was gone so fast we didn't get a picture. Tammi had the lethal margarita that couldn't be finished. There had to be 5 or 6 shots in it! Here's the lethal margarita.

While we were eating, it poured down rain! Thankfully it stopped while we shopped and boarded the ship.

Our food was really good! Derek had fajitas with the smallest tortillas we've ever seen!

Derek and I found our Cozumel magnet and postcards. We also got Ron Jon shirts. The only downside of Cozumel was that we got really sunburned being in the water all day. We kept putting on sunscreen, but it was no match for the Mexican sun! Here are a few pictures of the port of Cozumel we took as we were leaving.

We saw a cool submarine as we were waiting in line to board the ship. Check out the size of the ropes that keep the ship docked!!!

During our Fun Days at Sea and in the evenings we played lots of Bingo and participated in several karaoke sessions. Tammi became "famous" on our ship because she has a fabulous voice!

Derek showed up a few people with his rapping abilities.

The girls enjoyed singing "Goodbye Earl" to Earl:)

Here are the parade of animals that greeted us each day of our cruise. If you can guess all of the animals correctly, you get a prize!! (Extra bonus points for Saturday and Tuesday!)

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

We picked Cooper up after he got a bath. They always put really cute bandanas on him. This time he got a red one. What a cutie!!

We were all very tired after our busy week.

Happy Anniversary, baby! Eleven years ago the most important relationship in my life began with a man I do not deserve. You are the most loyal and caring man I know. You have taught me how to truly love someone. I have been blessed to spend each day with you, my best friend. I am honored that God chose me to be your wife! I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you. I love you very much!

Before and After

2009-06-07T18:21:00.009-05:00

We've had a few changes in our lives recently. Although they're not super significant, I thought I'd share them.

1. New Car

Before: 1999 Ford Explorer

After: 2009 Honda Accord

2. New Haircut

Before: LONG Hair

After: Short hair with a bonus look at me in my classroom:)

3. New Job

Before: 7th Grade Pre-AP Science Teacher at Clear Lake Intermediate

After: 7th Grade WAVE Science Teacher at Westbrook Intermediate

4. New Camera (my anniversary present:) )

Before:

After:

What a difference a few months make!!

Lots of Visitors and Awards Ceremonies

2009-06-01T19:29:00.008-05:00

MoM Cain, TiTi Dawn, Grandma, and Grandpa Holloway came to visit us two weekends ago! We had a great time with them, as always! We played lots of Greedy and relaxed. Derek took us on a tour of Galveston. We walked along the Seawall and drove around the Strand. I actually hadn't been down there since my senior year of high school. It's changed quite a bit! The weather was really nice during our visit. We actually had several huge rainstorms, one before and one after our tour. Such good timing:) Cooper LOVES TiTi Dawn almost as much as Grandma C! He thrives on attention (imagine that!) and loves to learn new things. We had a wonderful time with the Holloway side of the family and we can't wait for them to visit again!

Jessica and Robert also came to visit us to weekends ago. We had quite a houseful! I took them down to Kemah and we enjoyed a nice afternoon of shopping. Jessica and I found some cute ornaments at the Christmas store. We now have matching Candy Canes for our trees:) Derek and I are really blessed to have such great friends!

Last weekend the Vinson side of the family came to visit! They came straight up to my school, so Mom could talk to my kids. Holly Mae got to meet my kids too. She was very good! On Friday night Mom and I went to my kids' last band concert. They sounded very good and I'm glad we went. I will really miss them next year! My poor mom was embarrassed though. When I taught my kids about the urinary system, we talked about kidneys filtering the blood. To get them interested, I told them that my mom has three kidneys. Well every kid she met at the concert said, "Hey Mom! Mrs. Cain's mom has three kidneys...it's that so cool?!" So my mom is famous among 7th graders at Clear Lake;) Saturday and Sunday the boys did small house projects and the girls shopped. We decided which dress I'm going to wear in Courtney's wedding. Here it is: (It will be in Eggplant. )
http://www.billlevkoff.com/#/91/bill-levkoff-bridesmaid-dress-style-850/850/

We really like it! It's very elegant and different from the other girls' dresses. The Matron of Honor gets to be different, ya know;) (But the matron part makes me feel old.) Cooper and Abbey had a great time playing!! They don't have a constant Royal Rumble Fest, which is nice. Holly Mae pretty much stays out of the way. She actually doesn't mind Cooper much anymore. Grammy bought Cooper a Wubba toy for his birthday. It's waterproof and floats, so it would be fun to play with in the pool or at the lake. He carried it around while we ate dinner. When dinner was almost over, Derek looked under the table and Coopie had pulled the floaty inside out of the fabric! It didn't last an hour! So now he carries around the floaty inside. He still loves it though! Thanks for the fun toy Grammy! We were able to enjoy a full weekend with the fam because they didn't leave until this morning. They took Coopie on a nice walk before they left. He really enjoyed playing with them all weekend! Thanks for coming to visit! We look forward to seeing you again:)

School is quickly coming to an end! I have mixed emotions about it. I'm glad that the grading and planning will be over, but I have really bonded with my kids and will miss them very much! I think what's making it harder is the fact that I had it in my mind that I'd get to see them next year because they'd only be in 8th grade. Since I'm going to teach at the GT Magnet School, I won't see them anymore. The school is only across the highway, so it's not that far. I know I'll see them at their sporting events and concerts, but I'm not good with change:( I am looking forward to my new job though! The other teachers are really great and the program is amazing! I'll just miss my babies!

We've been having the usual end of the year awards ceremonies. The National Junior Honor Society induction was a few weeks ago. I was nominated by many of my students as a teacher who had influenced them. It was very nice to be honored at the ceremony! Last week we had our School Awards Ceremony. Each teacher got to choose one student as their Outstanding Student of the Year. It was so difficult to choose just one kid out of 140!! I chose this sweet guy:

This little guy is such a wonderful kiddo! He works very hard and makes good grades. He's a nice and caring person as well. Just an all around great kid. I've enjoyed teaching him and getting to know him this year. His mom is pretty fabulous as well! She helped with both of our field trips and is incredibly supportive. I look forward to going back to see this kiddo! I will probably miss him the most next year!

April and May

2009-05-15T22:08:00.019-05:00

We've been really busy for the past two months. Here are some of the many things we've done.

We went to Louisiana with this guy.

We got to see Papa!!

Cooper came with us and he got to stay in a hotel room for the first time. Before we left he got a bath and a really cute bandana.

Derek and I went to our first Houston Livestock and Rodeo with Tammi and Earl! We saw bull riding and the little kid version of bull riding...sheep riding. It was very cute! The main event (for us at least) was the Gary Allen concert. He was excellent! The stage was really neat. Because it was in an arena, it would've been difficult for everyone to see the show, so they created a stage that rotated around throughout the concert. We had a great time!

All of the staff at Clear Lake Intermediate were given duckies to take with us during Spring Break. Here are Tammi and I with our duckies at the Gary Allen concert. Our duckies also went and got pedicures with us during the break!

The second weekend of Spring Break, we went up to Arlington and celebrated J's 1st birthday...a few weeks late, but better than never! Derek and I bought him this shirt. He looks so darn cute! It says, "A is for Alligator." I wonder why????

In true baby fashion, my sweet nephew was more interested in the card than the presents!
Derek and I each got to spend some quality time with Jaxson! J adores his Uncle D:) One sweet memory I will cherish forever is relaxing on the hammock with J. It was a beautiful day, so we spent about half an hour outside, tummy to tummy, "talking" and laughing! J actually started mimicing me, which was really fun. He's such a smart little guy!
Wii Music has become a traditiona game for our family. My parents came over to the Cain's and we created a Handbell Choir just like New Year's Eve...but with Shannon!! You've gotta love the focus and concentration in this picture.....

We celebrated Jaxson's birthday with cupcakes. I think this was his third smash "cake" and the kid knew EXACTLY what it was! Shanno had the same Big Bird candle on her birthday cakes as a little one, so it was neat to see J using it too!

Pure joy.....

"Hey guys, check out my new hair gel!!"

The week after spring break, all of the 7th graders took a field trip to NASA. Project Longhorn is a program out at NASA where they raise longhorn steer for shows. The kids learned about the genetics and history of the longhorns. (Ok, yes, I do realize....longhorns....BUT actually most of the people out there were Aggies, so it all evened out.) These guys were "sparing" and the volunteers were cringing because the value of the longhorns is based on their horns. If they break, they don't grow back. (Thus the saw'em off)

We got to see a 5 day old baby longhorn. He was so cute! These are truly incredible animals!

As a special treat, we got to visit Rocket Park with the Saturn V Rocket and various other rockets that were actually used. The Saturn V rocket is possibly the most massive thing I've ever seen in my life! Now, I'm sure I've seen taller and bigger, but I cannot express how incredible it was to be in a building with a rocket. They are so tall when they're on the launch pad that the top parts are above the clouds...and it RAINS on them!! Crazy! As a newbie to Houston, I'm enthralled with everything NASA! As a side note, Derek and I actually visited Houston for our first anniversary. We visited Rocket Park but didn't get to see the Saturn V because the building was being constructed around it to protect it from the environment. It had started deteriorating due to the weather (humidity + sea air + metal rocket = lots of rust!!)

There are five F-1 engines that push the rocket off the ground. The fuel tank for these engines takes up at least a third of the entire rocket. The entire fuel cell is emptied in 6 1/2 minutes...only 2 1/2 of which are spent off the ground. The other 4 minutes are used to test each engine because it takes all five to get off the ground. Once it's emptied, the fuel cell is dropped into the ocean because it never made it out of Earth's atmosphere!!! Unbelievable!

The next "stage"/section of the rocket is used to get out of Earth's atmosphere. It has four smaller engines. The only thing in the white capsule is fuel. It takes longer to burn this fuel....so this part of the rocket is used for a whoppin' 30 minutes or so. (PS-NASA peps out there...the lady that presented this section of the rocket to the kids said different numbers each time, so if I'm off a bit please forgive me/her. She meant well. I took what she said and went with the average times.)

This is the fourth stage of the rocket (yeah I never did understand where three went....anyone know?) It controls the CM out in space. It has many "small" engines. It also is released when they're coming back to Earth. Again, the entire white section is filled with fuel.

The lovely brownish/tan section is where the astronauts sit. It's the only part of this massive machine that returns to Earth. The white rocket-shaped section on the top is called the LES, Lunar Escape System. It's only used if there is a problem on the launch pad and they need to get the astronauts away from the rest of the rocket. It falls off right after they launch, never making it to space.

The engine on the right is an F-1 engine with my kids standing next to it. They are all at least my height and most are taller. The rocket on the left is Little Joe. It was used to test the LES. I believe it was part of the Mercury Redstone missions.

I told you I was enthralled with everything NASA...plus I heard the presentation four times!!

The last weekend in March we had a bridal shower and bachelorette party for Jessica!
The beautiful bride openning presents.
We decorated the hotel room with cute pink and black decorations! Jessica loves confetti, so we COVERED the place.

We took Jessica to one of her favorite restaurants and then went bar hopping....well really just to one bar. Jessica and Natalie, her maid of honor at dinner.

All the ladies at the bar.

Derek bought us tickets to the Opening Day for the Astros!!! We went with Chris and Jerica. Unfortunately the Astros didn't win, but we still had a great time. We always enjoy hanging out with Chris and Jer! (Please ignore the crazy guy on the right.....)

Coopie hurt his foot (again), so we cleaned it up and put two layers of socks on him. He is pretty much used to this now, so he doesn't really fight us. He wore the socks for two or three days and then we took them off.

"If you can wear socks, I can wear socks....it's not that bad!"

We took our GT kiddos on a field trip to the San Jacinto Monument. The Texans defeated the Mexican army to gain their independence and become their own country at the Battle of San Jacinto. The Battleship Texas is also kept on this site. It was used during WWI and WWII in Africa and the Pacific. The kids really enjoyed seeing all of the neat things on the battleship!

Here is the San Jacinto Monument from the Battleship Texas.

My monkeys climbing up to the top!

Most of the living quarters are open. These bunks are for the unlisted men, of course!

There were lots of places for medical care. This is where they would perform surgery! It looked more like a dentist's office.

The officers' laundry was done for them but everyone else had do to their own laundry.

The ship originally had only one kitchen, but eventually the ship held 1700 men, so they added a dumb waiter and a second kitchen pictured below.

There wasn't a dining hall, but the officers had a very nice Officers' Quarters.

The ship was equipped with multiple battle stations.

These battle stations on the outside of the ship actually moved around. You can turn the gun and move the barrel up and down. Pretty cool!

A few of my favs...

A view from the top!!

After the battleship, we toured the monument and ate lunch. We had some free time, so we found a grassy spot and let the kids play. They organized themselves into teams for kickball. They play so well together!

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. I got these beautiful flowers from one of my kids! They still look just as good:)

The Man Family grew again! Derek bought Giant Peach Man for Cooper after Miss Chloe died. Giant Peach is twice the size of everyone else. The thought/hope was the it would be too big to be squeeked. Unfortunately that backfired...it's just twice as loud!

We're thinking about writing a new book: Coop and the Giant Peach.

In addition to all of these events, we had the Cain parents down for a weekend! It was a lot of fun. We took them to Kemah and heard a band. They were called Something Unique....and we definitely thought it was unique;) I also finished my first graduate course. 3 hours down, 33 more to go. So there you have it....the last few months in the Cain household!

Bruises and Butterflies

2009-03-16T19:48:00.004-05:00

I had a bruise on my left hip from pressing myself against the patient table at the emergency vet clinic to hold and comfort our "daughter" in her last few minutes with us. We had to let Chloe go two weeks ago tonight. The three of us have been through quite a lot in the past few weeks. Even though each day is better than the last, there is a hole in our family that we cannot fill. My heart feels like it is permanently bruised...it aches for my little girl.

We had taken Chloe to the vet every week we had her. I will elaborate more on her various illnesses later, but they started out with worms and diarrhea, went to an upper respiratory infection, and ended up with seizures. All of these illnesses point to distemper, which is a virus that affects many body systems, eventually reaching the nervous system. It is difficult to diagnose because it mimics other diseases. On March 1st we were up all night with her. We thought she had an ear infection and we had given her ear drops and cleaned her ears. Almost immediately she started screaming in pain, so we cleaned them out with water. She seemed to sleep better when she was laying on your chest and was propped up, so we took turns sleeping with her. During the course of the night she had four seizures. We had no idea what was happening other. She would chew constantly and her head would shake. It was awful! Derek took Monday off and dropped her off at the vet for observation. At first the vet thought she just had sensitive ears and maybe even a hole in her eardrum that caused the cleaning solution to get into her middle ear. She was due for another round of shots, so she stayed there for a few more hours before they were able to give her the shots. During that time the vet noticed she had a tick, where she would kind of jump a little bit every once in awhile. She had always done that so we didn't think much of it. He also noticed several other things that led him to diagnose her with distemper. He said to watch her, so we could treat her symptoms and sent her home with Derek. Our poor baby girl had at least three seizures from about 6:00PM to 8:30PM, each one worst than the previous one. We decided to take her to the Emergency Clinic for medicine to get her through the night. We were there for about an hour and half and she had five more seizures. Each time she would be very confused afterwards and look at us as if she had no clue who we were. After a minute or so, she would seem to remember everything, but she wasn't quite the same little lady. After discussing distemper with the vet, he told us that we could treat her symptoms and see how she does as the virus runs its course, but things would get much worse before they would get better. If she did survive, she could just have a tick or be completely blind or worse. When she was old, she would go through the same seizures again before she passed away. We just couldn't do that to her. Chloe was such a good little girl and we loved her more than ourselves. We decided to put her to sleep. Derek was there when his family had to put his childhood dog to sleep and he now wishes that he wasn't. We decided that if she was calm and ok, we would give her lots of loves and then leave before they gave her the shot. At first, I felt like that was abandoning her, but she was so relaxed and I'm thankful that we said goodbye that way. My last memory of my angel is the sweet vet tech walking out of the room with her looking back at us with a loving look in her eyes. God gave us His peace, knowing that we did the best thing for our Chloe girl.
Monday night and Tuesday were awful! We cried a lot and tried to stay "busy." We took Cooper to a great nature trail in League City and walked for about an hour. We took another walk around the "lake" behind our neighborhood in the afternoon. On our way back from our afternoon walk on Tuesday, we were greeted by a beautiful monarch butterfly. It flew around us for quite awhile and gave us both a sense of peace. We've seen quite a few butterflies since then and I think of our Chloe every time.

We each took a picture with Chloe before we left for the Emergency Clinic. Please excuse our appearances, we had been crying quite a bit. (especially me)
(Pictures to come soon.)

I am so thankful for my husband! He truly is my rock! I couldn't have gotten through those first few days without him! I am so blessed to have a man who I trust completely and who understands me, sometimes more than I do:) We've been taking lots of long walks with Cooper. The exercise, fresh air, and quality time as a family have done a lot to heal our hearts. Someone asked us if we would do it all over again, knowing what we do now. We would without question. Chloe made our lives great! We are so thankful that we could give her a loving home and a family for the last part of her life! Even though her time with us was way too short, she filled our hearts with a lifetime of love. We will never be the same! My mom gave us a sweet picture frame to put her picture in that says, "Forever Loved." Today has been especially hard, as I was home alone with Coop during my first day of Spring Break. My throat still burns and my heart still aches from time to time. I have a hole in my heart that's just big enough for a little angel girl. I will always miss our circle tail wagging little Chloe, but I am honored that I got to be her "Momma" for four weeks and five days.

Sweet Chlo-girl,
My little girl super hero...your Momma, Popsi, and Brother miss you like crazy! We are so happy for you that you're not hurting or sick anymore. We think of you often, especially when we see butterflies. I miss snuggling with you on the couch. I save you a spot every night. You brought us so much joy and happiness in your short time with us. Thank you for loving us! We love you more than ever and we look forward to the day when we get to see you again!! I love you, my angel girl!
Love,
Momma

Meet the Newest Cain

2009-02-05T14:23:00.004-06:00

Hi! My name is Chloe!

As you can see, I'm part hound and boy can I howl! I'm usually pretty quiet, unless I'm in my cage. I'm about four months old and a Momma's girl already! I love to follow my Momma everywhere she goes! We've shared a bond from the moment she put me in her car.

I joined the Cain Family last Wednesday night. Momma, Daddy, and Cooper came to the Galveston County Animal Shelter and they picked ME!!! I am such a lucky little girl!

I had a good first night, but Momma discovered that I had worms. She took me to the vet on Thursday. They gave me medicine for my worms. Dr. Murphy also checked me out and said I was just fine other than the worms, which aren't that bad. After we went to the vet office, Momma took me to PetSmart to get a few things. I got my super cute pink and green collar with matching leash!! (I think Momma is happy to have a little girl around...I sure do love to be dolled up!) I also got my very own girly football. It's purple and I love it!!

My big brother, Cooper, is the greatest brother in the world! He taught me how to use the doggie door the first night I was home. I haven't had too many accidents in the house either! I'm not a fan of staying in a cage, but it's not so bad if Cooper is right next to me. We hang out during the day while Momma and Daddy are at work. At night we love to chase each other with our toys! Cooper even lets me "win" sometimes, too. (I told you he was the greatest!) We also like to have "Royal Rumbles." It may look vicious, but we're just playing. Momma caught us in the act...and for the record, Cooper hadn't told me that doggies aren't aloud on the sofas, so I think I should get a free pass on the punishment.

After we play hard, we sleep hard.

Cooper let me use his extra bed.
It's pretty nice, but I would LOVE to have my own bed with MY name on it. Grammy, do you mind making just one more? Pretty please with sugar on top!!!

Cooper and I are like peas and carrots! We just love to hang out together!

I have a wonderful life with my brand new family! I'm the happiest(and luckiest) little girl in League City!! I can't wait to meet you, too!

Christmas- Part III??

2009-01-11T22:00:00.002-06:00

Well Cooper had a little Christmas Part III this weekend. Auntie Shan, Uncle Blake, and Cousie Jax sent Coopie some new toys! He got a yellow chicken (same material as the Man family), rubber rings, and a bone with meat in it. He was super excited! His instant favorite was the chicken, probably because it squeaks. Chicken is most definitely the favorite squeaky toy now! He wasn't quite sure what to do with the rings at first because he had never had any before. It took awhile before we got him to understand what to do. Once we did, there was no stopping him. Coop likes to pull Momma around the living room by his rings! He's also really funny to watch when he just plays with them by himself. He gets all tangled up!! The bone was a big hit as well! I got a really cute picture of his anxious little face waiting for the package to be opened. (Due to the computer issues, I'm scared to load it on the computer. I'll repost the pics when we finally get an external hard drive.) We have to pace him with the bone, so he doesn't get whiffy. D took it from him after a little while and put it up. Cooper goes over to where the bone is and just barks and whines for a long time! I don't think he even saw D put it up, but he can smell it! Coop was funny when we got all of his presents out of the box. I think he got a little bit overwhelmed! He was panting with excitement for the rest of the day! Thanks Auntie Shan, Uncle Blake, and JJ!!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T08:10:00.004-06:00

We spent New Years Eve with both families gathered at the Vinson home. We had great fajitas and chocolate fondu!! We had all pretty much agreed that we wouldn't stay up until midnight because we had to work or drive home the next day. After chocolate fondu, we started playing the Wii. We had four player Mario Kart and three player Wii Music: Handbell Choir going. It was a lot of fun! I've discovered that I'm the worst Mario Kart player!! EVERYONE beat me. The handbell choir is a lot of fun! It's like Dance Dance Revolution, but each player has two handbells. It's harder than it seems. At first the three Cains played and they were very good! Then they turned it over to the Vinsons (and former Vinson)....we were not so good. In our defense, we hadn't practiced together as much. THEN, we each took one handbell and six of us played together. That was such a great idea and we had so much fun!! We finished eating around 10 and it seemed like we played the Wii for thirty minutes....then next time I looked at my watch it was 11:45PM! We were all shocked! We got to watch the ball drop(round 2 of course) after all. Derek and I are so blessed that our families get along well AND live near each other! We recognize that it is very rare to have that and we don't take it for granted. I've heard that supposedly what you're doing as you celebrate the new year will indicate what your focus for the next year will be. If that's true, we are so happy that 2009 will be a year filled with great family time! May your year be filled with infinite blessings and joy!!

Christmas 2008- Part II

2008-12-31T12:27:00.004-06:00

We celebrated Christmas Eve-Part II on December 27 at the Vinson home. Pops was sick and stayed home with the Coop-Coop. The Vinson traditional Christmas Eve meal is finger foods...cut up fruit, homemade pizza, pigs in a blanket, homemade chicken nuggets, and a variety of crackers with a cheese ball. (I think I'm forgetting some of it, but it's probably because I don't eat all of it, being the picky eater I am.) It's a smorgasboard of yummy food! Then for dessert we put out all of the desserts we made and received during the Christmas season (or what's survived, rather) and enjoy bits and pieces of great desserts! We also get a cookie tray from Sam's. I don't what it's called but it's the one that most people get with all of the different cookies. We usually make chocolate covered preztels but this year Mom bought Utz chocolate covered pretzels...they were excellent!!! I have a feeling they will be added to our yearly meal. It was so nice to have almost everyone together for "Christmas Eve.'"

Christmas day was celebrated on the 28th with lots of great family time and really nice gifts! There are too many to list, but here are our big ones: I got a VERY nice sewing machine, carrying case, and sewing accessories. D got a table saw and a work bench for our endeavors in home decorating/remodeling. We gave my parents a Wii! It's been fun to play with them too! We discovered that Mom is a decent bowler, even though you wouldn't think so from watching her. She's also really good at tennis! Dad is good at most games, but especially Mario Kart! We had a great time spending the whole day with them!!

Christmas 2008-Part 1

2008-12-26T12:11:00.002-06:00

We spent this Christmas at D's parents' house. We added to the "Man" family with the addition of Cooper's new RED MAN. He absolutely LOVES Red Man. It was so much fun to watch him inspect his new toy and then become consumed with playing with it! He's such a funny dog and brings us much joy and laughter:)

D got his present from Coopie and me for his birthday: A Wii! We have had so much fun playing the different games together! Shannon, Blake, and Jaxson gave D a "shoot 'em up" game (Metal of Honor: World at War) which he was so excited to open!!! Wifey tried to get him the gun to go with it, but was unsuccessful:( You can play the game without it, but it's very difficult. I know he will spend many hours with his new favorite toy.

I am currently using my new present: A beautiful red Dell laptop! It is VERY nice!! It has SOOOO much more memory than our PC and is much faster. It will be great for grad school, which I start on January 20th (yikes!) The day we left to come up to Arlington, our PC gave me the blue screen of death and said "Shut down immediately!!" in the weird old school font. It was very scary! I'm nervous that we lost all of our pictures and files, but I guess we'll see when we go back home. Pops is going to help us buy a good external hard drive, so our new laptop doesn't get overloaded with the millions of pictures I take of Cooper;)

My mom and sis worked Christmas day and night, so my daddy came over to have Christmas dinner with the Cain Clan! The men and dog fried the turkey in the backyard. They have it down to a science..."two beers worth of time" Obviously it's a very manly process;) When they were finished, we had a WONDERFUL dinner prepared by the MoM! We also got a little Wii time in as we enjoyed our pie.

We're looking forward to spending a second Christmas Eve and day with the Vinson Clan in a few days!

Sorry no pics...I left my camera in League City:( Very unlike me...I usually live my memories through the lens of a camera, as D would say!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2008-12-19T18:45:00.005-06:00

Two weekends ago we put up our Christmas decorations. It was fun to find new places to put all of our decorations in our new house! We put our Christmas tree up for the first time in a few years. (We didn't put it up last year because we had a young pup lad.) We were really worried that Coop would be VERY interested in it, but he barely noticed! We rearranged the furniture and put our tree next to our enertainment center. Here is our tree all decorated.

Last Thursday we had a nice winter surprise: SNOW!! I didn't think that we'd ever see snow again when we moved to Houston, but we did. Cooper has played in snow each winter...what a lucky boy!:)

It wasn't snowing much at first.

But a few hours later, it really started coming down.

It was so much fun to make snowballs and throw them to Coop! He would go after them, and then they would break all over his face. He caught a few of them and then choaked a little bit. He didn't quite understand why they kept dissappearing.

Crazy Weather

The next morning there was a little snow on the roof tops and that's about it. A few days later the temperature was in the 60s and 70s. This weekend it's supposed to get up in the 80s. My car thermometer said it was 81 on my way home from school today. Then on Monday we're supposed to drop way down into the 40s!! No wonder everyone is getting sick! I lost my voice yesterday and still couldn't talk today. It really tests your classroom management when you can't talk above a whisper. My kids were such great listeners and we did just fine:) Hopefully the break will allow me to rest my voice. My freshman year in college I lost my voice for about two weeks...maybe longer. I don't remember exactly. I'm wondering if I'm allergic to something down here....hmmm. D hasn't felt that great either! Hopefully we'll both be all better soon:)

Let's Build a Fence

2008-12-19T18:27:00.003-06:00

Here are some pictures from November when D and my dad rebuilt our fence. Making a form for the concrete.

Before concrete and poles.

Concrete and pole:)

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the finished fence on my camera, but this is the fence last week.

When the fence was finished, Cooper sprinted around the back yard for about five minutes! He was so happy to have his freedom again...and so were we:) Thanks Daddy, for helping with the fence. We couldn't have done it without you!!

I got tagged

2008-11-16T16:08:00.003-06:00

My beautiful sister (in-law) tagged me! Here's what I've been up to for the past 10 years:

1 minute ago: Thanking my hubby for going to the grocery store for me.

1 day ago: Relaxing and trying to heal my hurting back.

1 month ago: Thinking about my sister on her 23rd birthday.

3 years ago: Getting ready to move back up to Dallas from College Station to live with my husband of 6 months...and student teach 6th grade math.

5 years ago: Being nursed back to health by my boyfriend from the worst flu of my life! (I lost 10 pounds and missed two weeks of college...he had the "in sickness and in health" vow already down.)

7 years ago: Conducting the Lamar band during marching season my senior of high school...and missing my boyfriend at A&M.

10 years ago: Celebrating one month of officially dating my high school sweetheart, Derek.

Thanks for tagging me, Shan! That was fun!!:)

Keepin' it cool

2008-10-25T18:20:00.004-05:00

After lots of research, we bought a new refrigerator to replace our other one. We tried just about everything we(and everyone else) could think of, but the freezer still stinks! Luckily the fridge is ok, so we're using it as a garage fridge:) Here's our new one!!!

It has a smooth surface and lots of room on the inside!

It's absolutely perfect! We love the ice and water dispensor! It has a child lock for when Coopie figures out how to work it;) MoM has seen videos of dogs learning how to work them. Since our dog seems to have a knack for figuring out how to do (and doing) the weirdest/craziest things in the world, it's a feature that we're thankful for!!

Things to fix from Ike:

1. Cut up and get rid of fallen trees. Check!

2. Rake yard. Check!

3. Clean out refrigerator. Check!

4. Get rid of smell in refrigerator. Half check.

5. Buy new refrigerator. Check plus!! It's awesome AND all of our appliances now match:)

6. Get fence fixed.

Almost there...

Ike Pictures

2008-10-25T17:49:00.005-05:00

This is what Ike did to our house/yard.

Front yard

Part of our back fence that was down.

The trees on our roof in the back yard.

"The Little Tree that Could"

This little tree supported the weigh of the big tree and kept it from crashing through our living room! Unfortuately, the Little Tree that Could was too damaged to save! We lost the largest and the smallest trees in our backyard. We're thankful that we still have two trees though! Most of our fence was still standing...or leaning actually. We still need to get it fixed, but everyone is very busy, so we're still waiting. We are so thankful and blessed that this is the only damage we had. Actually, I think the guys enjoyed chopping up the trees with chainsaws:)

My dog wears....

2008-09-28T22:10:00.007-05:00

Socks!

What about yours?

His new nickname is Prancer because he prances like a racehorse. He just loves it;)

Aftermath of Ike

2008-09-24T22:41:00.003-05:00

Our house made it through the storm! A sweet friend called me to tell me about the damage to our property. We had two trees on our house in the backyard, TONS of limbs and leaves on the ground in both the frond and back, and our back fence is down in two places. (Pictures will be posted soon.) We had no flooding, no major roof damage, and no broken windows! We didn't come back down here until last Wednesday because we didn't have power. We thought we had power on Wednesday, but it turned out that we didn't. So our awesome friends, Chris and Jerica, let us stay at their apartment with our crazy 65 pound lab!! THEN, Chris recruited a friend who got a gas chainsaw from his parents and the two of them helped D cut down the two trees in our backyard on Thursday!! We have some seriously great friends! We are INCREDIBLY blessed!!! They thought nothing of it as if we just borrowed a stamp or something. We knew they were awesome before now, but we were completely blown way by their generosity! (We love you Chris and Jer!!)
So D and I raked the leaves up and took the board off the windows this weekend. We're waiting for the insurance company to come check out our roof and fence. Meanwhile, Coop is really unhappy because his doggie door privileges are obviously revoked. Needless to say, they would be with or without the fence because the mosquitoes are horrible!! Several factors are playing into this: we don't think the city has been able to spray recently, plus there's just a ton of vegetation and such all over the place. I went to the mailbox, which is right across the street, and got 2 bug bites! So taking Coop out is pain! The bugs are bothering him too! Needless to say, he will be VERY glad when things get back to normal!
School has been cancelled now for two weeks. Teachers finally go back on Friday and then school resumes on Monday. It's been kind of nice to have a few weeks off, but we're wondering how this will impact our schedule. We have nine weeks tests that everyone in the district takes. Those are thrown off. Science Fair due dates have passed. Plus, we might end up going to school until the third week of June now!! Yuck! Hopefully the state can forgive some of these days!!! I'm not trying to complain...well I guess I am...I really do like my job, it's just overwhelming right now! And, as my loving hubby would point out, I'm a planner. I've gotten MUCH better about going with the flow since we've been married, but uncertainty just really unnerves me sometimes. Especially when 165+ kiddos and their parents are looking to me for answers about school deadlines and such. Actually, I've just been pretty overwhelmed with "starting over" in general. It's an adjustment...new grade level...new subject matter...new school. I know it'll all work out and I'll get used to it soon!
Slowly but surely our city is getting back to normal. A company came to pick up our tree limbs this week! That was exciting, but they didn't get the ones in the back. We're not worried because they didn't get take anyone's in the back. They said if it wasn't all taken the first time around, then just be patient and they'll pick the rest up soon. We are just so thankful that our house is ok!! Thanks to everyone who prayed for us and our house! We know that all of your prayers were answered! Our God is a great God!!! Please continue to pray for the community of Galveston and all those who have been affected by Ike.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-13T00:38:00.002-05:00

Right now as I type, the eye of Hurricane Ike is probably pounding our house. Derek, Cooper, and I are safe! We boarded up our house and left late Wednesday night. We arrived in Arlington around 4:30AM on Thursday. Derek drove the whole way and Cooper tried to sleep on my lap. We're thankful that we didn't get stuck in evacuation traffic! We feel helpless right now being so far away. The truth is that we couldn't do anything even if we were there. The only thing we can do is pray. (This is true all the time, but we like to think we're in control when we're not.) God is bigger than Ike. God will see us through this storm. I think the not knowing what's going to happen is the worst. The waiting and wondering. But God knows. God knows what will happen. We were praying that our house would be safe and spared. My mom-in-law reminded me that God will also see us through any damage that might happen to our house and belongings. I had been so focused on not getting damage, that I forgot how big our God is and how He cares for us at all times and in all ways. Our God is sovereign and reigns over all! We will continue to pray and wait, but wait in peace that God will carry us through the next few days and weeks after the hurricane.

"Even though my heart is torn, I will praise you in this storm!"

What we've been up to

2008-09-08T21:15:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging! I was trying to get much better at it this summer....and then July hit! July was the month of travel! We went to Arlington twice. Once for July 4th and once for TWO weddings. We each went to our own friends' weddings. I went to Brent and Abby's wedding in Arlington and D went to Jordan and Ashley's wedding in McKinney. Even though he had farther to go, at least his buddies were all there. I have NEVER been to a wedding alone before. Let me tell ya...it was really weird! I had a great time though! Everyone looked beautiful/handsome that weekend and we got to hang out with the Gators+fam on Sunday, which was nice! The following Thursday we went to CA for D's cousin Keith's wedding. We had so much fun with the fam! They had the coolest wedding! It was in a renovated movie theater. It fit their personalities perfectly!! We of course go to see the cutest little nephew in the world AND we got to meet Dylan, who is the coolest almost 3 year old ever! He's very smart and such an all around great kid!! We found out that he's going to be a big brother in April too:) Lots of exciting things happening on the Cain side of the fam!

My little, baby sister got engaged (I still can't believe it!!) She's planning her dream wedding for sometime next fall. I got to help her pick out her dress and try on lots of bridesmaid dresses! Planning a wedding is MUCH less stressful on this side of it:) We're so excited for them and we can't wait for fall '09!

I started back to work in August with a week of GT training, then new to the district training, and then staff development. School started on August 25th. I teach 6 classes of Pre-AP Science. I was very nervous about teaching middle school, but I actually really love it! My kids are so sweet and well behaved! All of the kids are very respectful. They say "Yes Ma'am" and "No Ma'am" without being reminded. They're considerate of others. If they're corrected, they say "I'm sorry Ma'am. It won't happen again!" I was very concerned that it would be the complete opposite, since I've been teaching 10 year olds. The transition has been very smooth and I look forward to a great year!

I've been listening to "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath a lot recently. I heard it a few times this summer and really liked it. I heard it on my way to school a lot the first week of school. I always pray for all of my kids throughout the year and especially before the year starts, before I even know them. The Lord is so amazing and always provides exactly what I need to reach them! The chorus of this song is:

Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see

Middle school is a time that kids are joining clubs, sports, and the arts for the first time. They're figuring out who they are and what they want to be. I know they come to me with so much baggage and so many needs. By the first week of the school year I knew about several kids whose parents are going through a divorce right now. Several kids had lost one of their parents within the last year...some even a few months previous. And those were the once I knew about it. Some kids switched from a school where most kids came from low SES families (and many of them come from low SES families) to our school. Our school had been a pretty small middle school until this year. Many teachers were complaining when 5 to 8 more desks were put in their rooms to accommodate the new students. If the teachers haven't heard of a kid they said "They must be a Westbrook kid." They say "Westbrook" as if it's the plague. All of these kids, along with the rest of my kids, are just 11 and 12 year olds trying to figure out how to deal with the changes going on in their lives. This song really spoke to my heart and I've been praying that God allows me to see my students as the kids they are first before I see them as my students. I sent home a parent sheet where they told me about their kid's study habits and personality. It was really great to hear those things from the parents' perspective before I really knew the kids. Many parents opened up and told me a lot more about their kid than I had gotten the past 2 years I've sent this home. God is so good! So this year is really starting out well and I know that things will continue to be really great!

Never a dull moment...

2008-09-08T20:53:00.004-05:00

We do a pretty good job of filling our weekends with sometimes more events than we can handle. I think that describes most people though. Every once in awhile our plans have to change because of our little black bundle of joy. He keeps us guessing, that's for sure. I hope you don't think that our Cooper is a constant pain! He really is a joy to be around most of the time. He's very obedient and mellow. Those aren't the "exciting" things he does, so I don't blog about them. So here's the latest "Cooper Story"

Last Saturday, we were going to meet my parents and sister in College Station. Derek and my dad were going to the game and my mom, sis, and I were going to come back here and do some shopping/girly stuff. So we were straightening the house and getting ready to leave. Cooper was hanging out in the living room with Derek. All of the sudden I heard this huge crash and Derek yelling, "I can't believe that just happened!!" over and over. So I ran in the room to find Cooper outside in the flowerbed on the other side of a broken window!!!!! (Note: I meant to take a picture, but I didn't get the chance. So just picture a 33in by 28in broken window. Thanks!) When we came out of shock, Derek told me what happened. Cooper had seen a squirrel and barked once. D told him to "leave it," which means to ignore/drop whatever has his attention. Well Cooper didn't "leave it" and the next thing D knew, he was sprinting (which is hard for him on our floors) across the room. Derek had pulled back the blinds to dust and I guess Cooper thought the window wasn't there anymore. He jumped right through it after that squirrel. The "best" part was just before he landed, he realized what happened. He turned back and looked at D as if to say, "What just happened?!?" He gave up on the squirrel and came running inside (through the doggie door, mind you.) This was Labor Day weekend so we were sure that no one could come out and fix our window and we'd have to be hot with guests all weekend. Luckily, we found someone!!! He came out and had the window fixed in two hours...right before D HAD to leave to meet my fam.

I thought Cooper managed to jump threw a window with not a scratch, but that's not quite true. A few hours later he was licking his paws and I found cuts on each of his front paws. They are healing slowly, but I'm still watching them. Luckily my mom and sis are both nurses and then knew just what to do to help him. This dog has had more leg wraps in his year and a half of life than most dogs ever get! He's a rough, tough, cream puff though;) He never cries or whimpers!

I have a theory about why we have so many crazy Coop stories. We've pretty much confirmed that he's part Lab, part Dalmatian. Labs are known to be very smart and Dalmatians are not so much. Most of the time the Lab is dominant and he's pretty smart, but every once in awhile the Dalmatian takes over and he just can't help himself! I feel bad for him because he quickly realizes his mistakes and feels badly.

Needless to say, Cooper is truly preparing us for parenthood! (Although I hope our kids don't do the same crazy things!)

I was watching the pictures go by on my computer earlier and I saw this one:

It's his first time in the pool. He was sooooo scared! You can see how much he loves the water now in his little swimming video below.

What a difference a year makes!!

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-07T15:37:00.010-05:00

We had a wonderful weekend with our family! We stayed with the Cain parents this weekend. Coop really enjoyed spending time with them! "Grandpa"/"Pops" even took him for a walk!! We took a VERY long family walk on Friday to the Vinson parents' house. Coop was so tired! We had a nice family 4th of July celebration on Friday at the Vinson house. It was so great to spend time with all of our family together:) We are so lucky that our parents get along very well and they live close to each other!

Cooper went swimming on Saturday at the Vinson house. He's getting over his fear of the water. It took D about 20 minutes of encouragement (and throwing Green man in the pool) before Coop would put his front feet on the top step. About 20 minutes later with the help of mommy, Coop was jumping in after Green man! Once he realized that it was fun, he wouldn't stop!!! We really do have a water dog;) Here's a video I took of him swimming:

Sorry for the lack of audio. We didn't bring the video camera...just the digital. What you can't hear is us cheering for him and Abbey barking at him as he gets out.

Abbey wanted to be involved, but she was NOT interested in getting in the pool. She would run to where Coop was getting out of the pool and bark excitedly at him! Then she'd run away to avoid getting wet when he shook off. Somehow she ended up soaked too:) We are so proud of our boy for overcoming his fear and enjoying the pool!!

Coop was so tired from his busy weekend of walks, playing fetch in the backyard with Grandma and Pops, playing in the pool, and running around with Abbey that he slept the entire way home! He kept finding new and weird positions to sleep in. He was so funny that I just had to get some pictures of him! Here's Cooper's version of sleeping in the car:

On Dad's lap

On Mom's lap

On the floor

How is that comfortable?!!!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend celebrating our nation's freedom!

Happy 4th of July
~The Cains

The New Addition

2008-07-03T12:13:00.002-05:00

My hubby wanted to complete the living room with a new addition:

I think it looks really nice! We will probably bring football season in "the right way" with a new HD receiver:) D is in heaven!!

Great Recipes

2008-07-02T16:01:00.003-05:00

Derek and I have been trying new recipes recently! The recipes came from a cookbook that my dad's cousin gave us for our wedding. It's a great cookbook and I've really enjoyed using it! I made Garlic Chicken Pizza the other night and it was great! Here's the recipe:

Garlic Chicken Pizza

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. rice or white vinegar
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. olive oil or vegetable oil, divided
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 c. sliced green onions, divided (I didn't include these)
1 T. cornstarch
1 (12 inch) Boboli bread shell
3/4 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
2 T. pine nuts (I didn't include these either)

Rinse chicken, pat dry with paper towels. Cut chicken into 1/2 inch pieces. In large bowl, combine the garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of the oil, red, and black pepper and half of the green onions. Add chicken pieces; stir to coat. Let stand 30 minutes at room temperature. Drain, reserving marinade. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat remaining oil in large skillet, add chicken pieces. Cook and stir about 3 minutes or until no longer pink. Stir cornstarch into reserved marinade. Add to skillet. cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Spoon evenly atop bread shell. Sprinkle with cheeses. Bake, uncovered, for 12 minutes. Top with remaining green onions and nuts. Return to over for 2-3 more minutes.
-Recipe by Lisa Schellhorn

*I would probably make a little extra marinade because I like a little more "sauce" on my pizza. Enjoy...it's yummy!

The Snake!!

2008-06-30T11:41:00.003-05:00

The other day D and I were leaving the house to run some errands. When we opened the garage door an unwelcome create slithered in!! The snake was about 2 feet long and very skinny! We were both shocked! I got in the car and my strong, protector hubby killed the snake:) Here are a few pictures of his work:

My Hero

One Year with Our Boy

2008-06-28T15:09:00.009-05:00

About this time one year ago, I went to pick Cooper up from the animal shelter. We had been looking at PetFinder.com at little pups in the area when we saw Coop and his brother Harley. They had been rescued from being pushed down a river on a raft. A nice family asked the teenage boys who were about to push the tiny pups down the river if they could take them. The family kept the brothers for about a week and then took them to the Burleson Animal Shelter. They had been at the shelter for a few days when we saw them online. We both agreed that we liked the name Cooper and I went to go get him. I hesitantly went into the dog run with these two tiny dogs and played with them for a little while. They were laying on an A&M blanket. Cooper had more white markings than his brother Harley and was the less aggressive one. I fell in love with both of them and wanted to take them both. I called D and he said we could get them both, but it probably wouldn't be the best idea since we hadn't raised a puppy before. (I can't image having two now!) I knew he was right, but I had a hard time splitting them up. The hardest part was that I couldn't take Cooper with me the first day because the shelter needed an ok from our landlord, whom we couldn't get in touch with. I drove home very disappointed and sad. We were both very concerned that someone would go and get our little one before we could get the ok from the landlord. Finally we got the ok around lunch time and I left my teacher workshop early to go get our boy! Harley and Cooper were both there still! The man working at the shelter asked me which one I wanted and I, of course, said "Cooper." Luckily he went back and got Coop because I couldn't have taken him from Harley! Cooper was very scared and upset, especially after they put in his microchip. They gave me a temporary leash...maroon, of course, and off we went! I'm not sure who was more nervous, Coop or me! I didn't quite know what to do. He was so upset and cried practically the entire way to the Cain's house. I decided that I should stop half way since it was such a long trip home and he was upset and probably hungry. Grandma Cain had gotten Coop his first toy, a squeaky ball! We played in the backyard for awhile and he warmed up to us! Even though he hadn't known me for that long, he knew that I was his owner. He followed me around the whole time! D came home from work and met the new little boy. They played and played in the yard! Then Coop met his Grammy and Cousie Ab. (Boy was she tiny!) D took Coop home and they stopped at PetSmart on the way to get him a new collar and name tag. Coop was very tired and D had to carry him in the store. He fit along D's forearm! Here is a picture of Coop the first day we had him: June 28, 2008

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

Coop has learned and grown a lot in a year! He can sit, lay down, shake, wait, stay, and heel. He's a great walking partner! He's a wonderful protector! The best thing about Coop is how loving he is! He is always happy to see us and other people, even if they're new people to him. He quickly accepts them once he knows we're ok with them. He loves to snuggle with us at night. He always gives you kisses if you pet him, and sometimes when you don't. His favorite time is what we call the Weekend of Coop. He knows when it's Friday and is extra happy in the morning. He can't wait to see us when we get home because he knows we'll be home for two full days with him! He loves summertime too, because he gets to spend the entire week with me! Cooper is a very social dog! Derek was told the first time he picked Coop up from PetSmart's PetsHotel that he was the most social and friendly dog they had ever seen. He plays really well with other dogs! When we were moving out of our house in Flower Mound, I took him to Doggie Day Camp because it would be too stressful for him to be at our house. I was a curious mommy, so I watched him play with the other dogs for a few minutes. He was the life of the party. He went around and greeted each dog. They all followed him around and wanted to play with him. There was this tiny MinPen, who was clearly the smallest dog of the bunch. The rest were all big like Coop. She was trying to stay out of the way of the pack. Coop very carefully went over to her as if to tell her that it was ok to play and they wouldn't hurt her. I was such a proud momma! Cooper has changes our lives for the better! He is the best dog in the world and he was well worth the wait! Cooper, we love you, boy. You're our sweetie and we're so proud of you!

June 28, 2008

The Man Cousins

2008-06-26T20:52:00.006-05:00

Cooper has a few toys that he really, really loves! His current fav is Orange Man. OM's former name was "Little Devil." (See previous post "Cooper is so big" for pic of OM.) Orange Man also has a cousin named Green Man. Green Man looks just like Orange Man, except, you guessed it, he's green! One HUGE difference between the two Lovelies is that Orange Man is silent. He used to squeak like Green Man, but his squeaker broke during one trip to the PetsHotel. This makes him our fav as well! The Man cousins have/had the LOUDEST squeakers EVER created in dog toys. Coop takes Orange everywhere! Orange goes around the house, outside, in his house/cage, and to bed. It is rare to see Coop without Orange. Orange has become a little security blanket for our Coopie. Orange Man was the original Man cousin. A few months after having Orange, we welcomed Green Man into our lives. Although he didn't get to play too often because of his volume level, Green Man quickly took Orange's place when he did get to play. Unfortunately, we had a little accident with the original Green. Mommy burned Green after Daddy put him up in our living room lamp. Poor Green sat burning next to the light bulb for about 10 minutes, with Coop barking at the lamp, until Mommy "rescued" him. Much to Coop's disappointment, the original Green didn't make the move to LC. We really didn't think that burned rubber was a good thing to put in a doggie mouth. Coop had to watch as Mommy threw him away. It was very traumatic!!

Side note: Coop, unlike most dogs, remembers where his Lovelies are at all times. They can be put in a drawer or in his toy box for weeks and Coop will still remember where they are! He will go by and cry or bark at the drawer or toy box wanting the Lovely. Crazy dog! So you can image the crying that followed putting Green in the trash can!

Rest assured, we have a new Green now, but he doesn't get to play much either. We are seriously considering getting a new Orange. The only thing that holds us back Orange's silent nature. Let me explain: A few weeks ago my mom and sis helped us get settled. We had a great time! Court's little dachshund, Abbey, came to visit too. Coop had the BEST time with Cousie Ab! They're about the same age and have played together since they were just a few weeks old. They love to play together, especially when they have Royal Rumbles! We only had a few issues when one pup would have a treat and the other wanted it. They're still working on the sharing thing. By the end of the week they had shared lots of treats and toys. Poor Orange got the raw end of that deal, however. Coop actually let Abbey play with his Orange Man!! Well Miss Ab saw Orange as more of a chew toy than a Lovely. (Her Lovelies are all stuffed animals, which wouldn't last two seconds with Coop.) She decided that Orange didn't really need both of his feet and preceded to eat one as Coop looked on in horror! He was actually quite upset and we couldn't figure out why for the longest time! After Ab left, Coop just couldn't let Orange live with only one foot...apparently complete amputation of both legs were the best thing for his Lovely. So here is the new Orange:

Coop still carries him around with pride EVERYWHERE he goes! Once a Lovely, always a Lovely!

We're Here...

2008-06-24T09:18:00.006-05:00

Yes, we are here...yes, we are alive...yes, we're unpacking like crazy!! We LOVE our house!! It's felt like home since the first day! It's clean(imagine that!) and well cared for (another huge difference from our rent house.) We have four bedrooms and two bathrooms, a large open kitchen, a huge living room, a dining room, a nice yard, and a great garage! Our neighbors are fabulous!! One of them helped us move our stuff out of the moving truck and into the house! Her three daughters came and helped too! While we were moving in two other neighbors came and introduced themselves. Yesterday another neighbor came over!! We've been welcomed here by very kind people! Everyone in League City is very friendly! We got great advice for where to eat in Kemah from the guy who sold us our furniture. Kemah is quite the place, by the way!! Please come visit us so we can take you there! We live about three miles from the water...it's great!!:) D LOVES working closer to home! Coop and I love it too! We actually get to eat dinner before 7 or 7:30 each night:) The weather is actually very nice, considering it's June. It rains a little bit each day. If you go outside right after it rains and take a deep breath, you can smell the ocean! How cool is that?!! Coop and I go for a walk each morning around 8 and it's still not too hot. We get a little sweaty, but it's not a big deal! It does get a little humid, but I actually think it's better here than back in DFW. I know that sounds strange, but I think we get a breeze off the gulf that cools us down. In fact, this morning during our walk we turned a corner and felt a HUGE breeze for as long as we were walking that direction. It happened to be toward the coast. Coop looked back at me as if to say, "Mom, that feels good!" So don't be scared that you'll roast if you come visit us:) As you can tell, the Lord has really blessed us with this move!! This is the perfect house for us in the perfect area! We have a great neighbors and live in a nice community. We would love to have visitors! You're welcome any time!!

Here are some pictures of our house. Note: I am quite embarrassed to post pictures of such a messy house, so please forgive the many boxes and messes! I have had many requests for pictures of the new bedrooom and furniture, so I must oblige. Consider these the "Before" pictures. I will post after pictures soon!

My mom and sister helped me paint our bedroom. Unfortunately, I didn't take any before pictures. Here's the before description: The walls were white except for a border created by using sponges and four random paint colors; gold, dark purple, fushia/magenta/pink, and green. I'm not against spong paint...I think it can look great. I just wasn't a fan of the color choices, especially with our bedding. Our vanity area had white walls with a beach wallpaper border, which wasn't nearly as offensive as the four random colored one, but we decided to take it down. My mom found this great product called Zinsser DIF Wallpaper Stripper. It's a blue gel that sprays from a bottle. It really helped in taking down the border!! The previous owners had painted over wall paper and added the border. This made it a little tricky to take down, but my mom did it all very well!!

D has been talking about wanting an accent wall, so we painted three walls "Ashen"/khaki and one wall "Lunar Eclipse"/blue. The colors are cool and calming:) The vanity is now the Lunar Eclipse blue. We left the bathroom the way it was: white walls with the beach border. It matches our shower curtain and I think the room would be quite boring without the border. I think we'll eventually change it, but I'm out of ideas right now. Painting wasn't too bad but required a little more attention than normal. The catch is that throughout the house we have the classic 80s "popcornish" texture. It's not nearly as bad as it could be, but I'm not a big fan. Try scraping your hand on the wall a few times and get cuts...then you'll be with me. I don't mind the way it looks:) The only exception to the textured walls is where the original owners put wallpaper...in the vanities and kitchen. Here are some pictures of our painted(messy) bedroom:

We got a new living room set. We found these fabulous couches at the Dump. It's a great place that sells retail furniture for 30%-60% off the original price. We actually got 10% off of that because they were having a sale!! They delivered the furniture the next day too...we were quite pleased and plan to shop at the Dump again! After our sofa purchase, we went to IKEA to look at coffee tables and tv stands. We found a few that we liked, but decided to wait until we had the sofas to make our final decision. I thought we would wait another week or so, which was fine. D surprised me on Sunday by going to IKEA and buying the coffee table and tv stand we wanted! He said he was going into work. He's been sick recently and has missed a few days. My hubby still spoils me, that's for sure! Here is our new living room:

As you can tell, Cooper is still loving the bed/sofa that Grammy made for him! Especially now that he's not allowed on the furniture! He still sleeps in our bed, but doesn't get up on the sofas. He's a really good boy and has transitioned well!

Check back for more pictures once we get the house unpacked! We miss you all!

Three days...

2008-05-27T21:07:00.003-05:00

As I sit here just three days before we make our move to Houston, I have mixed emotions. Tonight some of my best friends threw me a party! All most all of my work friends were there. It was so fun to spend time with everyone at this busy time of the school year! I am very honored that they came to say goodbye! I can't help but think about how amazing the past two years have been! I didn't think I even wanted to teach elementary school and it turned out to be better than I could've ever imagined! I have made so many wonderful friends and grown as a teacher! The Lord has blessed us beyond belief! Derek has made great friends at his office even though he was only there for a few months! We have lived in a great neighborhood and even made some friends here. Our house had a doggie door before we moved in, which Cooper has LOVED! We are very happy here! So we are very sad to be leaving our family and friends and moving to a new city!
I know that the Lord has big plans for us in Houston! Every step of the moving process has been quite easy, but more than that it's been clearly and carefully planned by the Lord. I got a job in the best middle school in the district. I really wanted to stay in elementary school. I interviewed for a 5th grade math job.(my "ideal" choice) On the way home from the interview, the principal of Clear Lake Intermediate called and asked if I was interested in teaching middle school science. We set up an interview for the next week, but he offered me the job before I even visited the school! I was really worried about teaching middle school, but the Lord made it clear that middle school was His plan for me. I had a job before May even began!
We found our house fairly quickly too! We went and looked at houses one weekend and found a house we wanted to make an offer on. For some reason I wanted to look a little more. We ended up driving around kind of randomly. MoM was looking at houses online for us and found a house down the street from the one we bought. It looked really nice and we decided to drive the neighborhood to see what it was like. As we made a turn we saw our future house. We didn't think much of it at first, but the more we looked at it and it's features, the more we fell in love. There was just something about the house that drew us to it. We had to go back and walk through it another weekend, which coinsided with my "interview." The moment we walked in the house, we knew it was the one for us! We could see ourselves raising a little family in the house. The Lord really answered our prayers for a clear answer to which job I should take and which house we should buy! I am truly in awe of the entire situation! We made an offer and a month later we will close on our first house! Throughout the processs, we were reminded that things happen in the Lord's timing. As soon as we thought we were in control, we would hit a tiny bump and the Lord would remind us to completely rely on Him. It seemed like the moment we did that, He showed us His clear plan and the tiny bump in the road got worked out! So as of Friday, we will officially be home owners! We can hardly believe it!
There is no doubt in my mind that this is exactly where the Lord wants us at this season of our lives! How could there be?!! This makes it a little easier to say goodbye to our current life and dive head first into our new adventure. We are looking forward to Derek living MUCH closer to home! We actually will work a few miles from each other. Derek says that if gas prices get too high we can start carpooling. Sounds like fun to me! With him working closer to home, we can get more involved in our church and community. We desire to make good, Christian friends who we can spend time with. We already have several friends who live in the area and we are so excited about making more! I know that the Lord has perfectly planned all of this for us, in fact, He's planted this desire in our hearts. We will live VERY close to U of H-Clear Lake, which means that I can start on my masters and not have to drive too far! We can confidently face our future knowing that the Lord has planned every detail! We will truly miss everyone in the DFW area. If you're in the Houston area, please call us! We'd love for you to visit! Thank you for your friendship! You have filled our lives with so much joy! We love you!

New Season, New City, New Jobs

2008-04-17T17:37:00.002-05:00

As spring arrives we have a big announcement:

Derek, Cooper, and I are moving to the Houston area in June! Derek was transferred through Progressive about a month ago and we've been VERY busy since then! I am happy to report that I will be teaching 7th grade science next year at Clear Lake Intermediate! I visited the school on Monday and LOVE it! The principal is great and the staff was so welcoming! I will miss my friends/teammates at Heritage very much!!! Derek and I have been house hunting for awhile. We have finally found a house that we love and we're in the process of negotiating the contract. I'll post pictures as soon. This is a new and exciting(and scary) process...buying our first home! We've been praying and really seeking the Lord's will for us. The Lord has blessed us more than we could've imagined! He's worked everything out perfectly and constantly reminded us that all things will happen in His timing, not ours. The family who owns the house appears to be a Christian family. We've been praying for them too! The Lord is so amazing and we're constantly praising Him for the many, many blessings He's given us in the past two weeks alone!

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."

Visiting Jaxson

2008-03-21T16:04:00.005-05:00

I get the pleasure of spending time with our nephew this week! He is such a joy! Very laid back little baby. He's a great mix of his mommy and daddy. We've even figured out that he has a little of his Uncle D...he likes to talk in his sleep:) Here are a few pictures of our precious little nephew!

Jaxson's first walk

Super baby!!

I love my dino outfit! Jax really does like to get dressed up:)

His socks look like little shoes!

It doesn't get much better than this!

Snow in Texas!!!

2008-03-03T21:09:00.004-06:00

Well today has been quite a special day. We welcomed our first nephew into the world and it snowed! Cooper absoluted LOVED the snow! He ran laps around the backyard. He ate the snow. He made a snowball...yes he really did! He's very talented! Coop kept running inside and outside, playing for as long as we could stand it! I captured some video of Coop and D playing, but in usual fashion, Coop didn't run any more laps. It is pretty funny though. I'll post the video soon, but here are some pictures!!

Snowball fight with Daddy.

Making snowballs

Eating snow...and lots of it!

Derek brought a bunch of snow into the house and put it in Cooper's bowl. He loved it!

Making a mess with my snow....you don't mind do you, Mom?

Introducing Jaxson Charles Howard

2008-03-03T21:07:00.003-06:00

Here's our favorite nephew, Jaxson Charles!

He was born at 10:40AM weighing 7 pounds and 1 ounce, 19.5 inches long!

Two more days

2008-03-01T14:49:00.002-06:00

We will have our precious nephew, Jaxson Charles, in two more days! We are so excited about becoming an aunt and uncle! We sent him some baby clothes, which of course included an Aggie hat, onesie, and socks! He will look so cute! Our favorite little Ag! It's hard to believe he will be the class of 2030!! We will post pictures of our favorite nephew very soon!

Luckiest Dog in the World

2008-02-11T21:33:00.000-06:00

Last weekend D bought Cooper a HUGE bone. Cooper LOVED it and was occupied for hours. Since then, D has given him several rawhides, which Coop of course is quite happy about. He's not quite as hungry as he used to be, so I'm thinking that he's filling up on rawhides. Oh well...there are worse things I suppose! Here's a few pictures from last weekend. D's still growing his beard. We all really like it. D especially likes not having to shave everyday. I'm a little jealous;)

Coop loves the Grandma!

D and the MoM enjoying a beer.

Fun weekend

2008-02-03T16:11:00.000-06:00

We've had a really fun weekend! We went down to Arlington on Friday night to hang out with MoM. Coop got to come too! He was a very good little boy:) MoM came up and spent the night on Saturday night. We took lots of pictures of the Coop. He spent lots of time hanging out on his bed. Cooper LOVES Grandma! According to Cooper, "She plays all the time, unlike Mom and Dad." On Sunday we went to church and then ate at Roma's. MoM and I got stombolis. They were HUGE! We were only able to eat half of them. It was really good. Then D dropped us off at the house and we went shopping. I got two pairs of shoes and MoM even found some shoes at DSW Shoe Warehouse. I've been wanting a pair of Puma type shoes to wear with jeans. Basically casual tennis shoes. I found some really cute NewBalance pink and gray shoes! I also got a pair of cute and comfy black shoes for work. They'll look good with pants and skirts:) We did really well!!! While we were shopping, D ran some errands. He got Coop a HUGE raw hide!! Cooper didn't quite know what to do with it because he can't put his mouth around it! It's been a really great weekend. We always enjoy hanging out with the MoM!!

Cooper is so big!!!

2008-01-28T19:22:00.000-06:00

Cooper is now 9 months old. I can't believe that we've only had him for 6 months! It seems like he's been a part of our lives forever. He's such a great dog! He adores his daddy! They play all the time. His favorite toy is his "Little Devil."

Our intermediate classes got cancelled, but we've still been working on heel and stay. His favorite command is "Wait" because he knows that he will just sit for a few minutes and then he will get another command to get up and do something else. It's actually one of our favorites too. He waits while we put food in his bowl. He won't eat until we say "Release." He waits at doors and to get out of his cage.
Grammy made a bed for him that he LOVES!!! It's gotten kind of cold on the tile, so he sits on his bed and chews toys and bones.

I know he's gotten bigger but it's not as noticable as before. He weighs alittle more than 50 pounds! I can barely pick him up now. I'm sad, but he is very excited about that!

D and I couldn't ask for a better dog! We look forward to many great years with our loyal pup!

It's been a little while...

2008-01-05T00:43:00.000-06:00

So it's been awhile since we've updated our blog! Here's what's been going on in the Cain household since October!
Derek is loving his new job! We are so thankful for the better hours:) Cooper and the wifey are glad to see him more! I've been working hard at school. Each day brings a new challenge. The week before Christmas break we took our students to camp for two days! It was very exciting! We hiked five trails and did lots of experiments including dissecting owl pellets. We stayed late one night and had a bonfire! We make smores and told campfire stories!! We had such a great time!:) I am very blessed to work with five fabulous ladies on my team! This semester has been wonderful because of them. My students are so kind and caring! This year's class is so different from last year. Last year my whole class was so innocent. This year I have a mix of immature kiddos and little adults. They keep me on my toes! We've worked very hard on building each other up and I'm so pleased with the way they treat each other. It's hard to believe that the year is almost half way over! Our parents are wonderful this year. They have been very supportive! I have fabulous room Moms who get together and pray for each class and teacher. How amazing!!:)
As I type this little Coop Coop is resting his head on my lap. He wanted me to write about his puppy classes. As you know, Cooper graduated from his puppy class in September! He was the valedictorian, for sure! We started Intermediate classes in November. He had a wonderful trainer and have learned things like how to heel and properly greet people. A few weeks before Christmas our classes were canceled because the trainer no longer worked for PetSmart. We are still working on the skills we learned and look forward to new classes which should start in March.
We spent Thanksgiving with D's family and Christmas with mine. Shannon and Blake came to visit over Thanksgiving, which was awesome! We've really missed them! I'm so glad to have another sister and a brother that I get along with so well!:) Blake taught Coop some new tricks, which Coop LOVED!!! Cooper was very fond of Shannon. It was fun for them to see how much Cooper looks like their black lab, Emmett. We wish Em and Coop could get together....they would have a ball! This year I had an extra special birthday present...my grandparents came in town! They stayed until a few days before New Years. We had a great time with them!:) Our cars took many trips down to Arlington over the holidays. Courtney and Abbey are still in town. Abbey loves to play with Coop...which is quite amusing! Most 10 pound dogs are afraid of our 50 pound bouncy lab! Needless to say, Holly Mae still dislikes the Coop. The Christmas season was filled with many blessings:)
And the news we've been dying to tell you.....
We're going to have our first nephew very soon!!! D's sister, Shannon, is pregnant with a little boy! We didn't want to tell everyone their good news before they got the chance, so we've been leaving the info off our blog. Shannon is 28 weeks pregnant. The peanut, as the nephew is affectionately know, is doing really well! Shan found out that she has placenta previa and will be spending the rest of her pregnancy on bed rest at the hospital. The peanut will come into this world sometime in the middle of February! We are overjoyed that we get to be Auntie L and Uncle D!!!:) Please be praying for Shannon and the peanut! It has been so exciting to hear about the new additions to your families! Congrats to Jason and Lauren on little Riley! Congrats to Paul and Jenn on little Cooper!:)

Cooper

2007-10-21T20:19:00.001-05:00

Our little Coop was neutered on September

21st. He had internal stitches but he kept messing with the incision, so they gave him an e-collar. He had to wear it for a week!! Derek was conveniently gone for training while Coop had to wear it. He HATED it! He kept running into things...usually my legs! I had lots of cuts and bruises. We were both very glad when he was finally allowed to take it off! Cooper is growing like crazy! He weighs about 35 or 40 pounds and is quite tall. We've had a few adventures recently. It rained a few weeks ago and Coop decided he'd help us out with the yard. He came in a chocolate lab instead of a black lab!! He was also having stomach issues that weekend. We had to keep cleaning his bedding and giving him baths. I think he got 4 baths in one weekend!!! Needless to say, we're all glad that he's feeling better and it isn't muddy anymore!:)

Aggieland!

2007-09-09T20:17:00.001-05:00

D and I went to the A&M game last weekend. D got really good seats in the Zone:) It was great having your own seat and not having to stand the whole time. We enjoyed being back in Aggieland! We got Cooper an A&M collar. It's WAY too big for him right now, but it should still fit when he's full grown!

Cooper is half way through his puppy classes. He's doing really well! Last week was very exciting because we learned how to "stay" and "come." It doesn't sound too exciting but when you have a 30 pound very excited/hyper Lab pup, come and stay are essential. He's also learning "leave it" which is VERY hard for him! He just sits and shakes because he can't get all of the treats that I put out on the floor. It's funny! When I let him get the treats, they're gone in a matter of seconds!

School is going really well! I have the smallest class...only 22 kiddos:) They are very sweet and just want to please! We get through the lessons a lot faster than last year, mainly because I know how quickly they can work. They also work faster than last year's group, so often I find myself looking for things to do to fill the class time. It's a good problem to have though. I'm excited about the possibilities!:)

Four Months Old

2007-08-23T20:06:00.001-05:00

Cooper turned four months old on August 21st! He's getting so big and learning lots of things! He's really doing well with the transition of me going back to school. D took a few days off this week so he could spend time with Coop! I think it was really good for their relationship!:) Cooper just adores his daddy! He spent a very long day by himself today because D was at work and I had Meet the Teacher night at school! I think he's adjusting to the change pretty well!

I really enjoyed meeting all of my kiddos and their parents! They are all so very sweet and I know we're going to have a great year! My mom bought me a beautiful dress to wear so I just had to post a picture of it:) I'm looking forward to the first day of school on Monday!

Redecorating

2007-08-19T13:37:00.001-05:00

Cooper decided the bathroom needed a little something more....

I know I'll look back and laugh, but it wasn't too funny today!:)

New Job

2007-08-18T12:09:00.000-05:00

Derek accepted a position with Progressive in their claims department yesterday! He is so excited about the opportunities with the company! He will start training in September. Two weeks of training will be out of town...most likely Cleveland and Sacramento! I wish I could go too!! We celebrated the good news with our parents at Mercado Juarez, D's favorite restaurant!!

Cooper started losing his teeth...he's lost the front two on the top and the bottom! No wonder he can't chew his food!! We haven't found any yet, so the Puppy Tooth Fairy can't visit;)

The Crazy Month of August!

2007-08-18T11:12:00.000-05:00

The past few weeks have been very busy for our family! We moved Court down to Austin and went to Michael's graduation the same weekend! It was the shortest graduation I have ever attended....1 hour and 15 minutes! Amazing for a college graduation! His parents threw a wonderful party for him that evening. Mom and I did some back to school shopping at the outlets in San Marcos in between graduation and the party! D and my dad took care of the little hotdogs! Poor Hol did NOT like being in the crate! Miss Abbey was very good though! Court has a nice apartment. Another dapple hotdog lives below them so Abbey has a little boyfriend! We came home Sunday evening and Cooper had dug up MoM's flower bed....he's becoming quite the little digger! At least it was the end of the season for the flowers!

Scott came to visit us on Monday! We had such a great time! We went to the mall and got some A&M shirts...we need more Aggies in the family! On Monday we celebrated my dad's birthday!! We went to the Rangers/Royals game on Wednesday night. The most excited play of the game: The Royals were batting with a runner on. The batter hits a weak ground ball and somehow ends up in a pickle running to second. Rangers don't cover well and the ball gets away. The runner already on base tries to run home and gets into another pickle. Again the Rangers don't cover well and the runner scores. At this point the batter is going for second and the catcher throws the ball toward second....NO ONE is covering and it rolls to the warning track in center. Two runners end up scoring and almost tying the game! **I'm sure I didn't tell this correctly...needless to say, the 2-8 play doesn't work so well for the Rangers!** Somehow the Rangers won 4-3 but it wasn't pretty! The best part of the evening were the dollar hotdogs!:) We also had a live Dot Race! Hopefully these teams can find some better players next season!!! I really enjoyed hanging out with Scott! It's such a blessing not only to know my second cousin but also be good friends with him! Cooper absolutely adores Scott! He kept looking around the house for Scott after he left:( D and I would love to have other visitors!:)

Cooper is still growing very quickly! He weighs 23 pounds now and is full of energy! The vet calls him the drug dog because he smells absolutely EVERYTHING! He also "buries" things around the house. Scott and I couldn't find the remote one day. Thursday, Cooper brought it to Derek like, " Look at my treasure Daddy!" Scott and I hadlooked EVERYWHERE in the living room for the remote on Wednesday! Thursday was quite an eventful day for Cooper. Before the remote incident, we had to induce vomitting for the first time! He is so good at finding things that don't belong there....and eating them! On Thursday morning he found a tack in our bedroom. D wasn't sure if he had eaten it or not, so we gave him some hydrogen peroxide. After sifting through all of Coop's breakfast, we came to the conclusion that he hadn't eaten it after all!! Somehow I know this won't be the last time we'll go through this...oh the joys of having a puppy!:) Cooper is such a smart dog! He has mastered sit, lay down, and speak. He knows lots of other things and is learning more every day! He will do ANYTHING for a treat! Puppy classes were cancelled this week so we're still working "watch me" and "check it out." It's clicker training and Cooper really responds well to it! Whenever he hears the clicker, he comes running! He learns very quickly! :) I'm excited to see what we learn next Tuesday!

I start teacher inservice on Monday. We've had a longer summer with school starting later this year. I've really enjoyed my time off, but I'm ready to start school again! We added 8 new classrooms and 3 computer labs to our building over the summer! Even with the month of daily rain, the rooms are ready! We are so excited and hope that it works for our growing population. We had 750 PreK-5th graders at Heritage last year and I'm sure we'll grow even more this year! I am in charge of the science curriculum for Heritage this year along with Safety Patrol and Student Council! It's going to be a busy year!

Our little boy!

2007-08-18T10:21:00.000-05:00

Derek and I got Cooper on June 28th! He was only about 7 pounds of sweet lab puppy. I went to KC that weekend and left him with D. They had a good time bonding but Derek was very glad for some extra help with our new little one! He is a very healthy, happy pup. Cooper has already learned how to sit and speak. We are working on lay down. He loves walks and spending time in the backyard! I took him to the vet last Thursday and he weighed 17 pounds!!! He's growing fast! Derek and I went out of town last weekend and I swear his legs grew 2 inches. Cooper is starting to look less like a little pup and more like an adult dog. It's amazing how fast he's grown in a month!!! We start puppy classes at PetSmart on August 7th! Derek and I are so blessed to have such a wonderful little pup in our lives!

July 25, 2007