S'mores anyone?

Saturday we went over to Uncle Jerry's for a cookout and to do some swimming. We had a great time. After we ate, we went out for dessert at a place called the Dessert Gallery. You could get a slice of any type a cake you could think of! They also had s'mores that you could get so Jerry, Kenzie and I got that. They brought them out on a platter then lit this gel stuff in the center so you could roast your marshmallow and make your own s'mores. Kenzie thought it was the coolest thing (well, I did too!!)

Parks

There are several parks in the area also. We've been to 2 that are just down the road from us. There are pictures of each below. They are mixed up but you get the idea. One of them we went to has a ton of ducks and geese that just hang out waiting for people to feed them. They will come right up to; they are so used to people they don't seem to be scared, well, until Aydan started to chase them around!

One of the things that we just love about being here is that there is so much to do all the time! We can't cram it all into one day or even in a weekend! So far, we've mainly gone to the beach and to the local parks. We haven't even explored downtown Houston yet, except for visiting my Uncle Jerry. Its so great to have family in the area. Both my Aunt and my Uncle are only 30-40 minutes away.

Our first weekend felt like a vacation! Then Danny started his job that Tuesay, which makes this start to feel more like real life. I am hoping to get a job soon so I can go out and communicate with adults for part of the day. I can kind of go crazy sitting in the apartment all day long with the kids.

Well, now that we finally have our connection with the rest of world hooked up, I will be updating everyone with whats going on so be sure to check back often or send me an email.


Covered basketball court area at the park.









Aydan likes to chase the birds away.

The beach

Galveston beach is 30 minutes from our place so we have been going there every Sunday since we've been here. The kids love it; Aydan loves the sand and Kenzie likes playing in the water. When we were there last Sunday, the jelly fish were horrible, as you can see in one of the pics below. We heard someone say they saw dolphins, so we looked out into the water and sure enough you could see their fins come up out of the water and go back in. I tried to get a picture but it was so far away that you couldn't see it on the camera. It was awesome! I would love to see them close up!



The last time we went to the beach you had to be careful and watch out for jelly fish. They were so bad; kids were catching them with nets and collecting them in buckets like this. There were around 30 in this bucket when I took the picture. Danny even got a small sting by one when we first got there, before we knew they were a problem. So needless to say, we didn't get in the water after that. The kids played in the sand and I tried to get a tan. Instead of a nice brown glow, I ended up looking like someone painted me red! Its finally starting to go away; next time I might use some sun screen!


Kenzie made a new friend, Anna.

Danny and Aydan playing in the sand.

FINALLY!!!!!

Wow!! Its been a while and I am sure everyone has been waiting and waiting for a new post to make sure we are still alive!! Sorry but I never knew it would take so long for our internet to be activated. By the way our new email address is dkmabracken@verizon.net.

So we obviously made it down about a week and a half ago. It was a long drive, especially with the kids but they actually did pretty well. I dont even know where to start since we have a million and a half pictures that we have taken. I thought about making a slideshow with all of them which I still might do, but for now I will just show you a few of the better ones. These first few are from our first day or two here. The area is beautiful! Palm trees everywhere and the bay right behind our place. Its pretty easy to get around in too; its not crazy busy in our area and everything we could ever need is all right here. Right now we are still trying to adjust to apartment living. Its very different from what we're used to. Having to deal with loud neighbors once in a while and not being able to do laundry in our apartment kinda stink but we will just have to get used to it for now.


These rockets are right ouside Space Center Houston, which is just up the road 2-3 blocks.

Typical road in our neighborhood. We love palm trees and they are everywhere!!

They have been doing some maintenance to the pool and the landscaping so we have not used the pool yet.

Danny and the kids checking out the water on our first day here. This bay is right behind our apartment complex.

Busy Week

This has probably been one of the busiest weeks that we have had in a long time! We have been trying to get everything packed that we want to take and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the stuff that we cant or dont need to take. I will say that this is the most UN-organized packing-job that we have done, but thats what happens when you dont have much time to get done! I wish there were more time in a day, or a another me would be nice too!

We are also trying to fit in time to see family and friends before we go. Tonight we have a cookout at Mom and Dads, then we are off to Dannys Moms for his little bros 8th grade graduation party! I cant believe he is that old already!! He was around Kenzies age when Danny and I met!

It looks like we may have an apartment lined up for when we arrive, which will be great! Otherwise we will be staying w/ my aunt until we find a place, which we really appreciate the offer but we hate to barge in on another family. This apartment complex is right on Clear Lake, which is about 30 min. south-east of Houston. It is a smaller neighborhood called Nassau Bay, which will make for an easier transition for us. Its very family-oriented and has great schools; we have done our research on the internet on tons of different neighborhoods. Its so hard, not being able to see it in person, but luckily my Uncle Jerry is down there and he has checked out several places for us to see what he thinks. He thinks we will really love that area, so we are very excited.

We leave in a couple days and it still doesnt seem real to me. I was telling Danny the other day that it just feels like we are going on vacation or something! I am sure it will hit me when we are on the road heading down. I am not looking forward to that long drive, especially with the kids! Hopefully they will sleep a lot! ;)

I am not sure if I will have time to post again before we leave and once we are there it might take a few days before we have internet access, but dont worry, I will post as soon as I can. Keep us in your prayers!!

Be prepared.... long story to follow!!

As many of you know, Danny and I have been wanting to relocate our family down to the Houston area for the past year. We wanted to get out of our small town and see what else was out there for ourselves and for our kids. We want our kids to see and experience things that we never got to do or see. Some people dont understand why we want to do this and it is hard to explain.

It has been a long and very difficult process for us, full of ups and downs. We would get overwhelmed at times trying to figure out things from getting new jobs there, finding somewhere to live thats safe, meeting new people and so on. We even put our house up for sale in hopes of it selling right away so we could continue on our move. Little did we know that we were trying to sell a house as a recession was beginning. What luck! Months would go by without any interest in the house at all.

And, I have to be honest, for the past couple of months we had pretty much given up on the whole idea. Nothing was going our way and we had come to accept the fact that it probably wasnt going to happen, at least not at this point in our lives.

Ok, now that you know the background story a bit better, I will move on to the real story. About 2 weeks ago, Danny had a voice mail on his cell phone from an old supervisor of his from when he worked at PTC. Danny called him back, wondering what he would have wanted. Well, this man had called Danny because around the beginning of this year, Danny applied for a job in Houston at a steel tube plant, very similar to PTC. Well he never heard anything back so we pretty much forgot about it. This man that was Dannys supervisor in Fairbury, is now working at this plant in Houston and was looking at the resume Danny had sent down and was calling to see if Danny was still interested!

When Danny told me about this, I was in complete shock! What are the chances that the one plant Danny applies for in a city as large as Houston, is where his old boss is working now! We couldnt believe it! We were so excited, but trying not to get too excited because things hadnt been going our way in a long time and we didnt want to jinx it. So, his supervisor wanted him to come down and look at the plant to make sure he would be interested, so they arranged that about a week later.

Danny drove there (16 hr drive) and met with him to talk about it. They offered him the job and he accepted it. He is to start on Tuesday, May 26th. He is so excited about this job; its 4 days a week, 10 hour days, so he will be off friday-sunday, it offers great benefits, and great starting pay as well. This is what we have been praying for!

Now comes the hard part of preparing for this huge move! We plan on leaving Saturday May 22 so we can get there sometime Sunday since Danny needs to start that Tuesday. Its going to very difficult to get through all of the good-byes but we know that this is what we want to do. We will have each other, and also it helps a lot that we have family in that area as well! They have been so helpful throughout this whole process.

We pray that God gives us strength during this transition and we really feel that all of this has been a blessing from God. We have learned to try and stay positive even when things arent going your way and never give up on what you want. Through the good and the bad, it has brought our family closer together and has brought us closer to God, knowing that He will always be there to help us through it all.

Being a Mom..

To me, being a Mom means..
*patience
*cleaning up spit up and changing dirty diapers w/out even thinking twice about how nasty it is.
*getting up in the middle of the night to a crying child and while holding and comforting them all the frustration disappears.
*watching Alvin and the Chipmunks over and over again, (and actually liking it!!)
*laundry, laundry, and more laundry.
*dishes, dishes, and more dishes.
*getting to bed late and getting up early
*cherishing every moment with my family
*helping w/ homework
*being understanding
*playing with my kids when I know there is cleaning to do; there will always be time to clean; your kids are only young once.
*watching my kids make mistakes and learn from them
*giving up my food if my kids are still hungry
*CONSTANTLY picking up toys around the house!
*putting my kids first
*reading bedtime stories
*listening to my daughter read
*getting upset with them and having their smile melt it all away
*watching them learn and grow
*wishing there were 2 of me; one to spend time w/ my family and one to do all the housework
*having good days and bad days
*SACRIFICES!

I could go on and on but I think you get the idea.

What does it mean to you to be a Mom?