Jon and Kate

Unless you have been living in a cave the past few months, it would be hard to have missed the drama surrounding the starring couple of the hit TLC show Jon and Kate plus 8. I love this show, rarely miss an episode and have always admired how Jon and Kate devoted their lives to their 8 children and doing what was best for them. Until now. As of late, the couple have both had infidelity rumors, accused of exploiting their children in many ways and so much time away from their home to be promoting the show or one of Kate's two books she has written. It really is saddening, even though we don't even know these people, to watch this family fall apart. Is there really a reality show curse on marriages? Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro. Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. Shanna Moakler and Travis Barker. Patridge Family kid Danny Bonaduce and his wife, Gretchen. Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston. Hulk Hogan and his wife, Linda. It is ridiculous.

From the start of these Jon and Kate rumors I did figure it was just rumors. People trying to make money. The couple are both still denying any truth to it all but like most Hollywood rumors, they usually turn out to be true. Even after all the denials.

If you have ever watched Jon and Kate's show you will recognize these two people as Kate's brother and sister-in-law. Aunt Jodie is a frequent sextuplet babysitter. Apparently they are estranged from Jon and Kate right now. The rumor on that is that TLC offered to pay the couple, since they are on the show so frequently, and Kate was livid about this.

Watch both of these:

Kate's brother says "Marriage is over"

and

Kate's brother about her parenting

It sad and hopefully this is all untrue.

Our Weekend FUN & Mother's Day!

Saturday..

We spent most of the day hanging out around the house and we went to an early Mother's Day Dinner at Fuji's Japanese Steak House. It was delicious!

Mother's Day Sunday..

I got up and finished my cake pops I had started the night before. They turned out really cute!

After everyone got ready we took the girls to the park to play and came home for more outside play.

James cooked chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and corn and I went on a cleaning frenzy! The weekends always seem to destroy my house with so many people coming and go, oh well.. it's clean now! This little dirty princess loves to be outside and in the dirt.. that's mommy's girl!

My Mother's Day was great! I am so blessed to have the two most amazing children that ever lived. Braelyn and Brylee, I am more than just proud to be your mommy. You have made our lives complete and I could never live without you.

And in case you didn't know, my mother, who has been in Heaven for ten years now, was the most amazing mother ever. There is no finer woman who ever walked the face of this Earth with greater strength, perseverance or kindness. She was loving and amazing. I pray that I turn out to be at least half the mother she was. Mom, you are missed more than you will ever know and will live in our hearts forever.

Short but Sweet

Chris and Kristie got to make a very short but sweet trip to Abilene this weekend. They were here long enough for Kristie and I to go work out while Chris watched the kids, dinner at Abuelo's, some shopping at Old Navy and a night at home with the kids. It was fun and Braelyn absolutely loves and adores her "Tistie and Stinky" and cried so much when they had to leave this morning. We all miss them so much when they aren't here!

No big plans for Mother's Day tomorrow but I did put in a request for a present ;)

Also Jeff's best friend, who is practically a brother, Zeb, is coming in town on Monday. Zeb is currently stationed in Japan as a US Marine and we are so proud of him. He has not been home since Brylee was born over a year ago and in the past three years we have only seen him twice. Living in Japan means fun but he doesn't get to come back very often. We are so excited!

Our new family additions..

My brother got a 40 gallon fish tank and somehow talked Jeff and I into letting him set it up. After he spent the majority of 3 hours getting it all put together, we were ready for fish. Don't get me wrong, I love fish! I had the world longest living Betta in high school for 3 years. I took such good care of it but I also remember what a pain it was cleaning out the tank and making sure the water was perfect for them to live in. So, that is obviously his job now. I have kids to take care of.. haha! Braelyn said she wanted a yellow fish named Nick but after the petstore we came home with a goldfish named Dora. :) Dylan named his black goldfish J.J.! Happy got a fish too but she just calls him "fish". The kids really do love the fish tank so it's an added bonus to the peaceful waterfall sounds it adds to my kitchen.

And here is my Happy who loves walking around in her tutu and does not go anywhere without her baby who she has to rock to sleep and pat on her back.

And in case you are still bored.. Here is Brylee shaking her booty with Braelyn and Dylan. These kids love to dance!

Busy, Busy

We had a busy weekend around here! Friday night we went to Nick and Maher's house for a BBQ with some friends. Maher's mom was here from Virginia and her family is orginally from Afghanistan so she made us some of her favorite Afghan recipes. It was delicious! Everyone had a good time just hanging out. Then the girls went to spend the night with Jeff's parents. I am sad to say that I didn't take hardly any pictures all weekend! :(

Saturday I picked up the girls and we went to Colleen's wedding in Buffalo Gap and after the wedding we came home to do nothing because the kids were sooo tired. Jeff and I spent most of the afternoon cleaning out my car and shampooing it all clean and smelling pretty. Then we went to dinner at Chili's and Braelyn slept the whole time. We woke her up to eat and she went back to sleep. Brylee also went to sleep about 8. They didnt wake up until Sunday morning. They slept almost 14 hours each! Ha, grandparents house must wear them out! Here they are passed out Saturday night about 8:30..

I don't think there is anything sweeter than these two cuddling princesses sleeping next to me. This is how they sleep every night except usually Braelyn holds Happy. They love each other so much. It brings tears to my eyes everyday. If there is one amazing thing about having babies so close in age, it is that.

Sunday we didnt do much at all. I finally went to the YMCA to start working out. I am excited because I can drop the kids off and work out and then take them down to the indoor pool to swim all year long. When Sam gets back (Hurry, Sam!), I am going to start taking classes with her. Jeff also traded his car on Sunday (are you surprised?) and got a bike. Hopefully it will be sold TODAY so he can get the car he really wanted. :)

Hope your weekend was great. Did you watch Lauren Conrad's episode of the Family Guy last night? It was pretty funny. Go look on Hulu.com!

****Guess I should add to my last swine flu post that there are now 9 confirmed swine flu cases in the big country. I am really not excited about that but so far, everyone is doing great and those who were infected are already healing fastly.

Swine Flu Part 2

Here is the latest of what I have heard here in Abilene. Although, I am sure my friends in DFW are getting an earful of it as well.

Posted on the BigCountryHomepage.com here in Abilene..

NEWS HEADLINES
- AISD has made major changes to policy because of the swine flu scare. Cancelled are all: field trips and off-campus activities. Staff members won't be able to travel. District says the objective is to reduce co-mingling classes or gatherings where students from other campuses or districts are included. This remains in effect until further notice.
-In addition to AISD, Brownwood, Sweetwater and Jim Ned ISDs have cancelled all field trips until May 11.
- World Health Organization raises its pandemic alert for swine flu phase 5, one step short of a full pandemic.
- Texas reports one death and 26 confirmed cases
- Texas Governor Rick Perry issued a disaster proclamation after the state saw the first U.S. death from swine flu.
- Texas UIL activities suspended until May 11
- TSTC West Texas and Cisco Junior College have cancelled its spring commencement.
- NO CONFIRMED BIG COUNTRY CASES. 14 flu swabs have been sent to Tarrant County to be tested. Some results are expected today.

CASES AND COUNT
- The Texas Department of State Health Services today announced that there are 26 confirmed cases of swine flu in the state.
- 180 confirmed domestic cases in 18 states: 51-NY, 26-TX (including 1 death), 62-CA, 10-SC, 5-NJ, 4-AZ, 4-DE, 3-ME, 2-CO, 2-KS, 2-MA, 2-MI, 2-VA, 1-IN, 1-MN, 1-NV, 1-OH, 1-KY
- 335 or more international cases (74 new cases, mostly in Mexico)

REGIONAL CASES
- Dallas ISD officials announced Thursday morning that they are closing Daniel Webster Elementary School because a student there has a confirmed case of swine flu.
- All Fort Worth schools are closed
- Hebron Valley Elementary (Lewisville) will be closed until May 7, school officials confirmed this afternoon. School officials say three probable cases of swine flu have been reported there.
- Health officials say there are now 11 probable cases in Dallas County and no new confirmed cases (3 confirmed earlier this week).
- Canyon Creek Elementary School in Richardson closed after a confirmed case of swine flu,
- The Cleburne school district in Johnson County began closing all its schools today after a report of four probable cases.

LIST OF SCHOOL CLOSURES: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/swineflu/schclosings.html.



Pretty scary that we are one stage short of world wide pandemic. Be praying for fast results to these tests and for the minds of those who are quickly working on ways to stop this virus. I am trying to really not freak out about this but I have very little comfort knowing that there are no confirmed cases in our area yet because they keep on telling us "it's coming..". Being that I have two kids who seem to get sick very easily (if Braelyn or Brylee are around someone who even has a cold, it turns into a full blown asthma attack for them and probably a trip to the ER), Jeff and I have decided to not take the kids out in public places (i.e. restaurants, grocery store, anywhere were they are groups of people) and only allow them to friends or family houses and home until this all settles a little. I'm sure there is much overreacting about this going on everywhere but if the WHO has this much reason to be concerned then I would rather be safe than sorry with really sick kids!



We are going Nick and Maher's house tonight for a BBQ (don't worry, everyone is well there) and then the kids are going to a sleepover at Jeff's parents house. Tomorrow we have a wedding to go to so after all that, look for an update post from our weekend.

BYE and HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND FROM HAPPY!

Go wash your hands right now :)

The latest news.. Swine Flu
Fort Worth ISD CLOSED

Here's what you need to know about the swine flu

Worst post ever? I know, just throwing those out there. Glad I live in Abilene right now with no confirmed cases!