The Game of Tag about your Man

Things have been pretty serious around here, so here's some fun facts about my honey.

1. Who is your man? Jesse Duane, aka Jes.
2. How long have you been together? We met on a bus on a spring break mission trip in 2000. So I guess that's 7. We got married just over a year after we met, so married 6.
3. How long did you date? We dated for 7 months before we were engaged, 3 of which I was a summer missionary in Illinois. We got married 6 month later.
4. How old is your man? 30
5. Who eats more? Well, my grandfather likes to say he has a hollow leg because Jes can put away food like none other when he's really hungry. The older he gets, though, the less it is.
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did and I reciprocated right away. It was within the first week we met. Hey, when you know, you know...
7. Who is taller? Thank goodness, he is! I'm a lover of all things heels, so I married a tall man. He's 6'2" and I'm 5'9", so we've got a good few inch cushion there.
8. Who sings better? He would say I do, but I think it's really him.
9. Who is smarter? Well, that's not a fair question. Jes can tell you anything you would ever want to know about the workings of an airplane, car, physics, math problems and remembers random and vague facts about history and other obscure things he has learned. I, however, can fill you in on biological sciences, physical sciences, english, and pop culture, so it's pretty split.
10. Whose temper is worse? Oh, totally mine. Jes is so laid back and patient when I freak. Good thing...
11. Who does the laundry? Depends on what needs washing. I always do mine and Caleb's and any of Jes's clothes that he has not tinkered with an airplane in. He washes all those clothes that have or could possibly have chemicals in them. Jes's rule.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Most of the time Jes does.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do b/c I can't stand being closest to the door. It freaks me out even now.
14. Who pays the bills? I do, except when I was pregnant. I was so sick and out of it when I was first pregnant with Caleb that I didn't pay them for a month (except the house payment) and he took it over when we started getting notices that they were going to shut off our water and electricity! I took it back over after the kiddo was born.
15. Who is better with the computer? I a better and faster typer, but he's the troubleshooter in this family. Even my mom and dad ask him...
16. Who mows the lawn? We had a deal when we got married, Jes would mow and take care of the lawn and I wouldn't wear sweatpants around the house. So far, so good.
17. Who cooks dinner? When I'm working, which is 4 days a week, he's the cook for himself and Caleb. I do, however, have a dry erase board with the meals we have stuff for and where he can find the recipe, if applicable. Other times, I do it.
18. Who drives when you are together? If we take the truck, he always does, unless something is wrong. If we take the car, it depends.
19. Who pays when you go out? Depends on what Caleb is doing at the time and who has him.
20. Who is most stubborn? I think we are both equally stubborn. Sounds like fun times, huh?
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? He is. Maybe I'm the more stubborn one.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine, they just live 30 miles down the road. His are in Oregon.
23. Who kissed who first? Well, it was a mutual thing but he initiated.
24. Who asked who out? I don't know that there was ever that actual moment when he asked me out. We were inseperable on that mission trip and after and spent every waking moment together when we weren't in class.
25. Who proposed? He did. He took me back to that same bus and in the same seat where we met, he proposed. So sweet.
26. Who is more sensitive? Depends on the topic. He is very sensitive to my needs and just takes over and takes care when I need him to and don't have to ask, most of the time. With other people who are not family, he's less intuitive.
27. Who has more friends? I do.
28. Who has more siblings? He does. He has 2 younger sisters.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? He does!

Update on my Grandmother as of Thursday

Yesterday was a better day for my grandmother than Tuesday was. Honestly, on Tuesday, people would say that they hoped that she would get better and all I could do was think ok, fat chance. Yesterday gave us a little more hope.
They did manage to get the NG tube placed and we are now all watching to see if the nutrition that she is getting helps. If not, then this will be the deciding factor for us to make the hospice phone call. We are all hoping that her digestive system will be working well and will respond well to this new addition.
They did also decide to move her out of ICU and into a private room on the floor. My mom and grandfather were not too sure that this was a good move, but I figure that she just doesn't need that level of care anymore. I choose to view it as a positive step in the right direction. The other good thing about this is that it will allow us to accept help from my grandparents extensive list of friends. ICU is so very restrictive about who and when people can come in that all the people that they have known for years and people they go to church with are wanting to help and haven't been able to. Now we can give them something to do.
The only negative thing that came up was that she has developed a little bit of pneumonia in the left lower lobe of her lung. Again, with a woman who has extensive lung disease and has smoked most of her life, I was surprised that it didn't show up before now. She is now coughing, which is something that she was not doing in ICU, so that shows signs of responsiveness. She also has her eyes open as well. I was not at the hospital today, but I can only imagine that she is probably trying to talk too.
Please continue to pray for not only her health but also the health of our family. We are a small family and we are all trying to share the time at the hospital but it is very exhausting for all involved. Please also remember my grandfather through all of this. While he is relatively healthy, physically, he has a tendancy to be so negative about situations (large or small) that it directly affects his own health. We are trying everything to keep him eating and he has been staying with my parents, so we know that he is sleeping a bit too.
Also, I am praying that this whole situation will be a wake up call for some of the members of our family who have strayed from Him.
Thank you for all your prayers and I'll update as soon as I know anything different.

Update as of Tuesday on my Grandmother

The past few days have really been just a wait and see time. We've been watching to see if changes occur in her condition and that really didn't happen until today.
They have known throughout all this that she is having trouble swallowing, as would be expected. Because of this, she cannot take any nutrition, fluids or medication by mouth and is getting everything by IV. They tried to place a nasogastric tube (tube through the nose to the stomach) today, but my grandmother is maybe 5 feet tall and was roughly 85-90 pounds (before this) dripping wet and the tube was just too big. I got really frustrated at that b/c any person can look at her and the tube and see it's not going to work. Needless to say, the NG placement did not go well as she fought and they could not get it down to her esophagus.
She has also had some respiratory changes today. Her breathing is a little more labored and they determined that she may have some type of mucus build up in her lungs after an x-ray. She has been a chronic smoker and has emphysema, so that's to be expected too. They suctioned her out and put her on a bipap machine that just helps her breathe, not breathe for her.
We had a consultation with the doctor Tuesday and they told us that if there was no significant improvement by early next week then we needed to start talking long term care or hospice, which ever is applicable at the time. We did have a moment today when our family was at odds b/c one person refused to follow what my grandmother expressed as her wishes, but after a consultation with her physician we are all on the same page again. Just pray for stamina at this point for my family and that if it is His will that this is a quick transition from here to glory for my Memoy. We love you all and I'll update when I know something. Please check back for further updates.

My Memoy

Hello all. I am writing to ask you to pray for my grandmother (Wanda), my Memoy. She had a hemorrahgic stroke this morning around 8:00am. After an ambulance ride and all day wait in the ER, she was finally moved to the ICU at Baylor Dallas this evening. The problem with this type of stroke is that they cannot do any type of surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain and we just have to wait. She is paralyzed on her left side and had a bleed about 3 fingers wide (quite large) on the right. She is recognizing everyone and is trying to talk and move, but is obviously not able to do so as she did before this event. She seemed to improve during the mid day but has deteriorated throughout the evening. We have been prepared for the worst, but have also been informed that if she makes it 7 days then it is a huge hurdle she has overcome. After that, we are counting for 30 days to be up and then her risk of another event drops dramatically. Just pray that God's will in this will be shown and that she will know no pain. My Memoy is a very feisty lady and has never stopped moving and doing for others for as long as I have known her. She is a believer, so I know that Jesus is holding her right now, but it's still difficult to see someone who means so much go through so much. Thank you for all your prayers and help with Caleb (Kim). Just know that we love you and I will update as I know things.
Shannon

Caffeine Induced Blogging... Beware!

There are few things in my life that I am obsessive about. Those few things are, but not limited to, my honey, my son, and Starbuck, aka "the evil empire" as Jes refers to it. So, the fact that I pulled into McDonald's this morning for coffee was way against character. I have to say though, the roughly $1.83 iced vanilla coffee that I purchased was quite good! I'm usually not one for product endorsement, but while temps in the great state of Tejas are still high, this is a great way to get a caffeine fix. I will, however, still cross the street to the evil empire to get my roughly $4.50 cinnamon dolce latte when the temps dip!
This week, the pollen blew in. Fall has to be my favorite, visually, season but as for the other things that go with it, I dislike it greatly. There has been lots of nose blowing, coughing, Benadryl and Mucinex taking, and whining around the Mathis homestead. Not a fun time, but someone did tell me last night that the arrival of the swarms of crickets (anyone else grossed out by that?) signals that fall and cooler temps are just around the corner!!!
In school Caleb was weighed and measured last week. Who knew that they did that in Mother's Day Out, but we did learn that he is 38 inches tall and 37 pounds. My left bicep is showing the 37 pounds as he still is attached to my hip and loves to be carried. We may have to break that soon...
Jes started his new job on Monday and while he was a little nervous (as was I for him) he did very well and loves it! The only drawback is the traffic, but the trade off is worth it to him, and us!
I have no pictures to post today, but we are going on a date (!!!!!!!!!) tomorrow night with our Sunday School class. Our church does this every year where they provide 3 hours of free (!!!!!) child care and we all go out as a group. Since we are in a class with parents of preschoolers, we all consider this date night. I think it calls for a new top for me and shirt for Jes! I'm not normally one to shop, but we don't go out much and my pre-shoppers remorse is sleeping for now... Anyway, I will post pictures of that and anything else we do this weekend asap!

Last Week

I know I won't win any Mother of the Year awards for this, but I am finally posting the 3 whole pictures I took of Caleb on his first day of school. He started on Tuesday at Mother's Day Out at our church and has a great group of teachers, Aimee, Melissa and Debbie. I know Aimee personally and Debbie is in our Sunday School class, so we know two of them on the "inside". I'll have to make a point to get to know Melissa at some point, but seriously the dropping off and picking up process is so hectic that I make it half way out of the building before I even realize that I'm 2 kids lighter/heavier, which ever is applicable!





















These two pictures are Caleb's first day last year and this year. It's so amazing how much he has changed since this time last year. If you notice in the first picture, he is leaning heavily on that end table. This was because he could hardly walk! He had just taken his first steps a few weeks before and now look at him! It makes me sad and excited that he's growing up. Thankfully, he hasn't lost those kissable chubby cheeks, and hopefully he won't for sometime to come!






















Here's Caleb and his new Diego backpack. He picked this out a couple of months ago and we have saved it especially for school. It also makes my job a little easier as I can keep it loaded with the needed change(s) of clothes, diapers/pull-ups, and a snack for the ride home. I couldn't get him to hold his Backyardigans lunch box and the backpack, but he is just a walking advertisement for Noggin TV.


















Here are Caleb and Logan before getting loaded up with their stuff to go to their first day of school. I didn't get as much as a goodbye from Caleb this day, as he was just too excited and took off into the classroom. It is really hard to resist all the pretty puzzles and cars and such when you are this (or any) age!
Friday was a very busy day for us as well. Logan's mommy has been in the hospital trying to recuperate from surgery and he and his 3 sisters and 1 brother (all 2 years old) needed someone to watch them. They were desperate, so they called me! Caleb and I hung out with Logan, Maddie, Sammie, Candice, and Hudson all day and made a mess of their very organized toy closet (sorry Liz!). All the kiddos were very good and patient with me and we had a great time.

Caleb Dancing

Here is an often requested video of Caleb dancing to his favorite Veggie Tales. I think this video is about a month old. Enjoy!

Meet the Teacher

Last night was Meet the Teacher night at Caleb's Mother's Day Out. This year, Caleb's friend Logan Dixon will be attending the same school, but he is a year older than Caleb so they will be down the hall from each other. I wasn't able to attend Meet the Teacher as I had to work. Caleb went last year with Jes too, so maybe we're just making traditions!
















Caleb loves his nap mat and I have had to store it on top of my closet for the past 3 months so he wouldn't constantly lay on it. I had taken it out of the closet to wash turned around to check on something and this is what I found when I turned back around. He's so excited!


















Here's Caleb and Logan after Meet the Teacher. From what I heard, the two of them were having the best time in the back seat of the truck! Logan's mommy just had surgery so we get the pleasure of taking and bringing him home (the just live across the street from us!). No doubt who will be having more fun on those trips! Definately the passengers!
















Here are the boys again being silly!
They start school on Tuesday. I'll be sure to take pictures and post them!

Request of You *****UPDATED*****

I just talked to Jes and they offered him a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The salary is the same as what he is getting now, the insurance is better and is actually going to cost us less with a lower deductible too! He is going to call and formally accept the position first thing in the morning. He told them that he wanted to talk over everything with his wife before took it. So sweet, huh? Thank you so much for praying during this scary time for us! We love all of you!
Shannon (Jes and Caleb too)
___________________________

Jes and I really need you to pray for him tomorrow. Some of you know, most do not, that the place that he is working at is not doing well. They have been having major problems since being bought out by a larger group around 6-9 months ago. This problems aren't just minor issues. We're talking about not paying their vendors, bouncing paychecks, etc. Therefore, Jes has had his very stellar resume out for some time now looking around and seeing if he gets any bites. Well, he got a bite, a big one. He has an interview with a company at Love Field tomorrow at 2pm. Not only would this job cut about 40 miles per day off his commute but the insurance would kick in the first of the next month (October). He knows a few people down there who have vouched for him and this job would be doing the same thing he is doing now, so it's a lateral move, not a step down like most are. As of today, he feels like layoffs and closing of his current employer is emminent, which scares us to death, so this job is a God send.
Anyway, just pray for his clarity of mind and that he makes a great impression and that they hire him on the spot at the same salary he is at now. (Hey, aren't we supposed to ask for what we want???) If you could also just pray that my nerves would be calm. Since this has all started, my stomach has just been one big knot of nerves and acid. One of us has to be calm and levelheaded during all this... :)

Jaq and a Little Spice

As promised, here are a couple of pictures of Jaq. I guess he's about 4 months old here. He's SO active at this age that I couldn't get a great picture of him, but here's the best we could do.

Jes had to hold Jaq still to get this one. Yes, he does have a left ear!

Even though Jaq looks like some ferocious attack puppy here, he is really very sweet and LOVES Caleb!

My mom alerted me this morning that Starbucks has returned Pumpkin Spice Lattes to its menu, so this picture from times past is in honor of this very special day! :) (Don't worry, that's just milk in the cup)

Musings.

Whew! Where did the week go? It's already Thursday and I remember that I promised to post pictures. Of course, I've not done that, but will asap!
This past weekend, my mama and a bunch of ladies went to Women of Faith at the American Airlines Center here in Dallas. We had the best time. We laughed, cried, sang, and did all the things that girls do best when you get us together in a space. The theme this year was Amazing Freedom, so all the speakers touched on their own experiences with gaining freedom from certain situations. My favorite is Patsy Clairmont. She is a VERY lively lady who has the energy level of our son. I've decided that when I grow up I want to be like her. She challenged us to "live lively and love lavishly" which is now my new motto. Sandi Patti sang and blew us all away as did Nicole Nordeman. Of course one of the highlights of the weekend was my obtaining her new album, Recollection, which is in constant rotation in my CD player. I won't bore you with my professions of adoration of her music again!
Today, while Caleb was napping, I was catching up on all my recorded shows on our DVR. Last night a show called Crazy Sexy Cancer was on TLC and I have to recommend it. I, obviously, have no personal experience with cancer, but I have known many people, including my paternal grandmother and my good friend Amanda, who have had it. This show followed around a girl who was barely my age who had a rare, incurable form of the disease. She showed great strength, creativity and thought outside the box to find ways to live successfully with her disease. Many of you know that before I started this teaching gig, I worked in the medical field. For many years of my childhood, I wanted to be a cancer researcher and find the cure for the disease. I would tell anyone who asked that that was what I was going to do. I have great admiration for survivors of cancer and can remember vividly hearing about my grandmother being very ill and not being able to see her when I was a small child. Treatments are better now, so hopefully my grandchildren won't have to experience the same.
School, in most of our city, started back on Monday, as did I. I am teaching 4 classes so I'm a little overloaded this semester and will be up to my eyeballs in grading soon, but I will post pictures within the next few days. Hope all of you have a great weekend and happy and restful Labor Day!!!

Out

I got so tired of looking at Caleb with his tongue out, that I thought I would post a little. I am leaving tonight to go to Women of Faith with my mama and a group from her church. This seems to be a yearly thing for us as we have managed to score tickets each year for the past few years. I love going to these events and can't wait. It's a bonus that Nicole Nordeman will be there tonight and I LOVE LOVE LOVE her! I am even a member of her fan club. How silly is that? If you haven't heard any of her music, you should check it out. She has a very soothing voice with lyrics that sometimes just sneak up on you, they are so deep and meaningful. She will make you think. She is also a Dallas mama, so that is even better!
Tomorrow, Jes is taking Caleb out to meet some family of his that live nearby. They have some land and are out of the country quite a lot, so they have never met Caleb. It should be fun. I have, however, warned Jes to take along the Benadryl. If Caleb is anything like his mama, hay will do a number on him!
I will be back Saturday afternoon and am going to a spa thing at a friend of a friend's house. Anyway, somewhere in there I will update with some pictures of Caleb and our new baby, Jaq. I realized the other day that we hadn't posted the newest pictures of him. He is growing like a weed, as you will see.
I will leave you with a few of the most used quotes from Caleb lately:

"Hi Mama" (Constant...)

"Look, Mama" (I hear this one at least every 2-3 minutes)

"Me made mess!" (I guess we need to work on our pronouns...)

"Oh, Mama." (Usually said after falling or bumping into something)

"No Jaq, tired, night night, eat, Mama, Daddy, etc" (His favorite response to any question)

"I wuv YOU!" (My definite favorite!)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

The Tongues Have It

We don't know what has gotten into Caleb lately, but he's taken up a strange habit of licking things. Very often throughout the day you will hear me say, "Caleb, please don't/stop licking _______________." The blank could be myself, his daddy, the chair, his highchair, the cat (that's a fun one!), the door, the bar, etc. Anything that he can get his tongue on, you can guarantee that he's either tried to or succeeded in licking it. Hopefully this habit will pass!

I will leave you with the picture of Caleb that we get to see most often, now that he's in this phase!

Our Fun Weekend

This past weekend what quite fun and very busy for Caleb and I. Jes worked the weekend away, so the kiddo and I did our thing, just the two of us. On Saturday, we got up bright and early and drove to Tyler for a wedding of my former college roommate, Amanda.


















Caleb was so excited to be out of the car and just had to have his picture taken.

















Here's Amanda looking beautiful, as always, in her grandmother's wedding dress. It had not been worn since the '50s and was just perfect on her. Amanda married a wonderful man named Ken who loves her and her little girl, Eden, like none other!

Caleb and I drove back home after the 2pm wedding and crashed!

















This evening, Jes, Caleb and I went to a baseball game in Frisco. For our non-native readers, we have a minor league baseball team in Frisco, our neighboring city. We originally bought the tickets to see the Veggie Tales characters and Caleb talked all week and day about seeing Larry. When we got to the field, we were told that Larry went on sometime before 4. It was after 5:30, but don't despair, he was coming back. We waited through an incredibly loud concert and no Larry. We were so worried that Caleb would freak out, but lo and behold we had a closet baseball fan!

















Caleb LOVED the baseball game and probably had more fun than anyone in the whole place! He danced, cheered, jumped up and down, yelled at the batters and umpire, waved his arms to catch a t-shirt, and anything else you do at a game. I guess we know where we will be when he can start playing sports!
















All in all, it was a busy but fun weekend. I have the next 2 weeks off until fall semester starts, so Caleb and I will be playing and running around doing all the things we couldn't when I was in school!

One thing of note that we would like all of you to remember. Jes went for a job interview on Friday at a company in Farmer's Branch. While he is not particularly looking at leaving his current position, there are some very disturbing things going on in the company and he just might have to go elsewhere. So, the hunt has begun.

It's Done!

As of last night my classes for the summer are complete! I am still waiting on a lab grade from another instructor, so I can't post the grades and am not completely detached from the classes, but I don't have to grade another paper or give another lecture until August 27th, when fall starts. That makes me happy!
Caleb and I will be heading out of town tomorrow to Tyler for my friend Amanda's wedding. I will update with pictures when we get back. Today will be spent getting caught up on everything that I neglected while I was buried in paperwork!

Austin

Finally I am getting around to posting pictures from Jes and my trip to Austin. We had the best time and tried to do all kinds of things that we could never do with Caleb. We even worked in a movie, my first at the theater since I was pregnant! My mom got us a fabulous deal at the Radisson downtown, through her employer, and they even upgraded our room to a suite that overlooked the river.
Ok, on to the pictures!

















Cheesy, but we have so many of these pictures from our single days and I guess lack of things to take pictures of that we just had to do it on this trip. I think this was within the first hour of the normally 2-3 hour trip. We arrived in Austin over 5 hours later, mainly because of horrendous traffic and the non-ending rain that followed us the whole way.


















For our non-Dallas residents, this was a site of a huge gas explosion on the Wednesday before we left. It was right off the side of 35, and I couldn't resist taking a picture. This picture doesn't really do it justice, but the devastation of the business was amazing.

















Saturday morning, Jes and I went to the capital. We wandered around for a good while before we decided to move on. After we left here, we walked back to the hotel (most everything is within walking distance from downtown) and got the truck. It was just so humid that we couldn't stand another moment and drove around like the rest of the tourists!

















We went onto the UT campus and toured the LBJ library.

















We live on Fillmore Drive, so we had to get a picture of President Fillmore. Many people we know don't even remember him being a president, but this proves it, as much as a print from an old painting hanging in a library can!


















On the other side of campus was this museum that holds one of the only Gutenberg Bibles. We hotfooted it over here just to see it and we weren't disappointed! Now we can say we've seen one!


















Most of you know that I received my Master's degree from a UT branch, so I'm a HUGE UT fan! All you have to do is look in my closet to see that. All my t-shirts are either grey and orange or just orange. While we were on campus we stopped at the co-op (bookstore to you non-Longhorns) and picked up more UT paraphernalia! We tried to get tickets to go up in the Tower (they just reopened it after being closed for years), but they were sold out for a few hours past what we wanted to hang around for, so we vowed we would go back to go up.


















Our last morning in Austin, we drove to this restaurant that we saw on the Food Network. It is called Taco Xpress and they didn't disappoint! The breakfast tacos here were so great that we decided that when we do come back for that ride up into the Tower, we would have something other than breakfast here!
All in all, we had a great trip and were both sad and excited to get home to Caleb. He stayed with his Mawmaw and Pawpaw (my parents) all weekend and came home with new tricks that we are still discovering even now.
Next week is my last week of summer school and that means more grading than I will probably be able to do in those 24 hour periods. With that being said, don't expect to hear from us next week as I will be up to my eyeballs in papers, tests, etc, praying for a few more hours in the day. Have a great week!

See Ya Monday!

Saturday is Jes and my 6th wedding anniversary, so we are shipping the kiddo off to his grandparents and high tailing it south to Austin. We are so excited and when we get back we will have lots of pictures to post chronicaling our trip. See you then!

A Walk Down Memory Lane

I saw this fun high school memory list at It Coulda Been Worse and thought I would participate too!! It sounded like fun!

1. Who was your best friend? I had a group of friends from my school that I hung out with that included my best girl friends, Paige, Sarah and Christie, along with my boyfriend at the time and some other guys that I didn't really know that well. I don't keep up with any of them except for Paige who I recently was able to get into contact with again. We will forever be linked as our grandparents are long time friends!
2. Did you play any sports? No way! I was in the band and that took up every waking moment if I wasn't actually in class. I couldn't have survived anyway...
3. What kind of car did you drive? I had a 1985 Chevrolet Cavalier that shook violently at every stop light and had the check engine light permanently on, but the thing never died on me and even went to college with me!
4. It’s Friday night. Where were you? Well, if not at a football game with the band, then hanging out with the boyfriend or at a church or other band function.
5. Were you a party animal? I didn't have time. See number 2.
6. Were you considered a flirt? Not really. I had a few boyfriends, some real psychos, but flirt was not something that I think I was ever called.
7. Were you in the band, orchestra or choir? Again, band. I was one of the only freshmen in the top band, was squad leader, section leader, etc. Everything you could be, I was. I LOVED band and miss it to this day!
9. Were you ever suspended or expelled? I never even went to the principal's office. I'm still not entirely sure where it was located in our school...
10. Can you sing the fight song? Sadly, yes. After 4 years of teaching it to other people in band, it's one of those things permanently cemented in my memory.
11. Who was your favorite teacher? I wasn't the best student, so I would be more likely to pick my least favorites. Let's see, there would be the english teacher who tried to kick me out of her class for having mono, the academic decathalon teacher who tried to get me to forfeit my band trip to Orlando just to go to a local competition, or maybe the chemistry teacher who tried to convince our class that one of the elements was named after him. Sigh... The joys of public school systems! Yet another reason I will homeschool my kiddos!
12. What was your school mascot? We were the South Garland Colonels!!!
13. Did you go to the Prom? Oh you bet! And so did my mom and dad!
14. If you could go back, would you? No way!
15. What do you remember most about graduation? Just being so busy and having to clean up toilet paper from our trees of our house the next morning before church. I still don't know who did that.
16. Where were you on Senior Skip Day? In class. I was a good girl.
17. Did you have a job your senior year? Well, I worked with my mom at the company she worked at. I also had a short stint as a pizza girl at Papa John's when they were still pretty new in the area.
18. Where did you go most often for lunch? The cafeteria. See number 16.
19. Have you gained weight since then? Well, I had mono as a senior, so I gained weight that year. I have also had a child and aged over 10 years. I weighed just over a hundred pounds soaking wet when I graduated. You tell me.
20. What did you do after graduation? I went to East Texas Baptist University for my Bachelor's in Biology. Then on the UT Tyler for my Master's in Clinical Exercise Physiology. I have worked in the clinical field and have finally settled into academics and mommyhood.
21. What year did you graduate? 1996. Doesn't really seem like that long ago...
22. Who was your Senior Prom Date? His name was Bill. Not the guy I wanted to go to prom with, but the guy I wanted to attend with was too slow in asking me and had broken my heart earlier in the year, so my friend Bill took me. Sweet guy, just not my type.
23. Are you going/did you go to your 10 year reunion? No, they were charging like $160 to attend. Are they crazy??? Why would I pay that to see a group of people that I don't either remember or want to remember? Anyway, I'll probably go to the 20 year. Maybe it will be better than some of the 10 years I've heard about!

Most Recent ENT Update

Today, Caleb and I returned to the ENT's office to, once again, check out his ears for fluid. Unfortunately, Caleb has inherited my tendency to have wax in his ears. Granted, it drains well, but today there was just enough that the doctor couldn't see well if there was fluid. They did, however, determine that there was no redness or infection. Another tympanogram was done to measure the movement of his ear drum. The good news is that the right ear is moving normally now, however the left is still abnormal. He doesn't have any hearing loss and still isn't really a candidate for tubes as he has never had an infection or any other issues, so we're just in a holding pattern. They are supposed to call us Monday and let us know where to go from here. I just wanted to update you on the news from this doctor.

Our New Addition

While I would love to be posting right now about a new pregnancy in my house, human is not the species of the newest Mathis family member. Our new addition is of the more furry variety in the form of our new puppy, Jaq, pronounced Jack. Why the strange spelling for a normal sounding name? We have named all our animals after Disney characters and there was absolutely no reason to stop now.
















Here he is... His mom is a red Golden Retriever named Reba who wandered into Jes's hanger at work and dad is a deadbeat. We don't know who mom bred with, but we have our theories.
















As you can see, Caleb is just beside himself with excitement. He spent most of the evening jumping, literally, around the house saying "puppy" over and over again in octaves I have never heard come out of him! All day he talked about Daddy and Jaq and couldn't wait for them to get home.
I think the last time I lived in a house with a puppy I was 5 or 6 years old, so this will be a learning experience for me. Jes, however, seems to be the resident expert and I will defer all puppy raising duties to him!















So, here is our new family member. He is so sweet and calm and had already won us over! We just wanted to formally introduce our new baby!